The 21-member group is legally mandated to address how domestic violence victims are killed and make recommendations to the state legislature. It comprises survivors, law enforcement officials, advocates, health professionals and other experts, each with unique input.

KSAT reported on the new task force in February, promising to follow through on the process at every step.

The first subject the task force addressed was stalking, which is rampant in abusive relationships.

“Someone said that it can be described as homicide in slow motion, and that was one of those moments that stopped me in my tracks,” said Texas Advocacy Project CEO Heather Bellino.

Bellino said stalking is incredibly difficult to address because it can look different for each abuser.

For example, the Texas Council on Family Violence laid out an explainer on stalking laws: “Receiving flowers to a new home address might be viewed as a lovely gesture to someone who has never been stalked; however, if a survivor receives those flowers at an address they worked hard to keep secret from their abuser, the gesture becomes terrifying.”

“That pattern might not look as frightening if you don’t know what they’re saying between the lines,” Bellino said.

Technology has played a huge part in the way stalking has developed.

“We’ve had so many victims come to us that say, ‘I don’t know why or how he knows where I am,’” Bellino said. ”There could be a tracker in your car, there can be a tracker on your phone.”

A new law that went into effect in September 2023 made the consequences of stalking harsher and expanded the types of actions that can be considered stalking.

The crime of stalking under Texas’ Penal Code is a third-degree felony unless “the actor has previously been convicted under this section,” making it a second-degree felony. That increases the maximum potential prison term for a conviction from 10 to 20 years.

While the new law also lowers the threshold for evidence, Bellino said it could go further, because proving stalking can be difficult and burdensome.

“If you’re being stalked, you need to keep a log of it. You need to be able to show proof. All of it is the onus on the victim,” Bellino said. ”We want to create easier ways for victims to be able to document the harm that they are feeling, and wouldn’t it be great if we just stopped people from stalking?”

Bellino also said that because the survivor knows the situation best, community members need to believe survivors immediately when they say they’re being stalked. Early intervention is what saves lives.

One solution the task force came up with was an awareness campaign.

“It can prevent future violence from occurring,” Bellino said. “We need to be able to recognize signs, we need to be able to understand for stalking that it’s pattern-based abuse.”

Bellino said the obvious but necessary solution will end up being money.

“Apply the funding and the allocation of resources,” she said.

The task force is now discussing strangulation, then will move to firearms, before putting together a report full of recommendations they will present to state legislators in late 2027.

Bellino said she feels real change could come from this group.

“I think that there’s a lot of promise that we can really move the needle and prevent future homicides,” she said. “We’ve all been in this work for quite a long time, and yet there’s still the aha moments that occur where we see there’s a gap in service.”

If you or someone you know is dealing with domestic violence, there is so much help for you. KSAT has a list of resources on its Domestic Violence webpage, which also explains how to identify different types of abuse.

If it’s an emergency, text or call 911. For wrap-around services, including the Battered Women and Children’s Shelter, call Family Violence Prevention Services at 210-733-8810.

You can also contact the Bexar County Family Justice Center, which also provides wrap-around services at 210-631-0100.

For legal and social services across Texas, call the Texas Advocacy Project at 800-374-HOPE or apply for help online at any time.

Read also:

Around 1:30 p.m., Union Pacific Railroad police found a male’s body near Pue and Wolf roads, just outside Loop 1604.

The six bodies in Laredo were discovered in a potential human smuggling event Sunday afternoon during an inspection at a rail yard in the 12000 block of Jim Young Way, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Salazar said authorities believe the body found in Bexar County was part of the same load.

Watch the full Monday afternoon news conference below:

He said after the bodies were found in Laredo, Union Pacific and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents went back to patrol the Pue and Wolf roads location, where they had received an alert that one of the containers had been open.

Salazar described the boxcars as “basically airtight,” estimating temperatures can reach up to 150 degrees. Because the boxcars cannot be opened from the inside, authorities believe smugglers either found the male’s body and dumped it out to avoid accountability, or the male was leaning against the door when it was opened and he fell out.

>> What we know about the 6 people found dead in a Laredo boxcar, another found near Bexar County railroad

Salazar said the male was in possession of a Mexican voter registration card. The Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office will determine his identity and cause and manner of death.

Salazar said on Saturday evening, the San Antonio Police Department got a call from a person out of state who said they had received a message from a relative believed to be in one of the boxcars.

The relative said “it was getting very, very hot, and that they were having some physical trouble as a result of it,” Salazar said.

SAPD was dispatched to a location in the city several miles up the road, Salazar said, but nothing was found. Authorities believe the person who sent the message was among the six deceased found in Laredo.

The train originated from Del Rio, Salazar said. When it arrived at a station near where the body was found Monday, the train split, with half going to Laredo and the other half going to Houston.

Salazar said it remains unclear whether the full group was larger than seven people.

“It’s quite possible that load of people may have been somewhat bigger than the seven bodies we’re up to now, or it’s possible that may have been it,” Salazar said.

Union Pacific said it is “working closely with law enforcement to investigate.”

Anyone who has information or believes they may have seen something suspicious is urged to contact the sheriff’s office.

Read also:

• South Side home buyer finds man killed by gunshot wound to head, SAPD says
• Teen charged with murder in connection with shooting at East Side apartment complex, police say
• Man shot in head during argument on South Side, police say

Republicans' rush to gerrymander congressional districts across several Southern states after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling hollowed out the Voting Rights Act is confusing voters and creating logistical headaches for local election officials. The changes are hitting while primary season is in progress.

The chaotic upheaval to an election season that could determine which party controls the U.S. House is the latest fallout from an intensely partisan gerrymandering battle initiated by President Donald Trump last year to protect Republicans' slim majority.

The Supreme Court's decision last month severely weakening the Voting Rights Act required Louisiana to reconsider a map drawn in 2024 with two majority minority congressional districts that elected Black representatives. The GOP-controlled Legislature could eliminate one or both in a state where roughly 30% of the population is Black.

The ruling also encouraged Republicans in Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee to consider eliminating four Democratic districts among them, three represented by Black lawmakers. Florida has a new map meant to cost Democrats four of their eight seats, out of 28.

In Louisiana, 66-year-old New Orleans resident Sallie Davis voted early last week. Her ballot allowed her to vote for Democratic U.S. Rep. Troy Carter, but a sign at her polling booth showed his race crossed off with a ballpoint pen. She was confused and frustrated — especially when a poll worker told her to go with what the sign seemed to convey. She's now worried that her entire ballot will not be counted.

"I was supposed to believe a piece of paper with an X on it marking out the person I wanted to vote for,” she said, her voice breaking as she recounted her experience later. “I think I have been disenfranchised. I think my vote, that I just voted on, it's not going to count or something. I think it's illegal.”

Primaries postponed, deadlines compressed

Louisiana's primary is Saturday, and a week of early voting there began May 2, two days after Republican Gov. Jeff Landry declared an emergency and suspended congressional primaries to give lawmakers a chance to draw a new map.

The Louisiana secretary of state's office said nearly 179,000 primary ballots had been cast as of Friday, including about 53,000 absentee ballots returned by mail. The ballots included U.S. House races, but votes in those contests won't be counted.

In a “60 Minutes” interview that CBS aired Sunday, the governor started to say, “It's not a big deal,” but didn't complete the word “deal.”

“If anyone has a grievance, take it to the United States Supreme Court,” he said.

In Alabama, South Carolina and Tennessee, Republicans said new maps, increasing GOP seats, would better reflect their states' conservative values. Alabama lawmakers passed legislation Friday allowing a do-over of congressional primaries.

Alabama’s primary is May 19, and voting in congressional races will occur then as planned, with the old districts. But the state doesn't expect to count those votes because the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday allowed it to switch to different districts.

Mississippi held its primaries in March, but a federal court has ordered it to redraw its state Supreme Court districts, and Trump is pushing Republicans to redraw the state's four congressional districts.

A special session of its Legislature is set for May 20. Renovations of the House chamber will force members to meet at the Old State Capitol, where, decades ago, Mississippi lawmakers passed Jim Crow laws suppressing Black voting.

“Modern-day voter suppression relies on election administration errors and chaos, and that’s what we’re going to see play out in all of these states,” said Amir Badat, a Jackson, Mississippi, voting rights attorney and activist.

Tennessee continues yearlong fight

Tennessee was the first state to enact a new map since the U.S. Supreme Court decision, but Trump's push for redistricting started in Texas last year. Democrats countered in California and tried but ran afoul of the courts in Virginia.

Tennessee’s new map divided Memphis among three congressional districts. Before its enactment last week, the state’s elections coordinator told county officials in a memo that it would mean reprogramming election systems, retraining poll workers and possibly adjusting precinct boundaries, meaning some voters’ polling places could change.

Tennessee’s congressional primaries will go forward Aug. 6 as planned, with candidates required to qualify by Friday.

In South Carolina, lawmakers could move all the state's June 9 primaries to August, or just the congressional races. While mail balloting is limited because the state requires an excuse, more than 6,800 mail ballots already had been sent to voters — with 260 returned — as of Friday, the state Elections Commission said.

A separate election for congressional primaries would cost $3 million and the time for preparations would be compressed, Conway Belangia, the commission's executive director, told lawmakers Friday.

“It will be difficult, but it will be possible,” he said.

Activists see problems ahead for voters

Michael McClanahan, the NAACP's Louisiana State Conference president, is hearing “total confusion” as voters call him and ask, "Is there an election?”

“People say, ’I ain’t going to vote because the governor’s suspended the election,'" he said. "But he didn’t, he only suspended one aspect of it.”

In Alabama, Senate Democratic leader Bobby Singleton said he has been fielding calls from confused public officials.

“These are the people who are the head of elections,” he said. "They don’t know what to do.“

Voting rights activists see a harbinger for Memphis voters in problems that arose in Nashville, Tennessee, in 2022, when Republican legislators divided the state's capital city into three congressional districts to take a seat from Democrats. A state report said more than 3,000 Nashville-area voters were assigned to incorrect districts and more than 430 cast ballots in the wrong races in the November 2022 election.

“It’s going to be really hard for the election commissions to be able to keep up with this short timeline,” Matia Powell, executive director of the voting rights nonprofit Civic TN, said during a conference call Friday with other voting rights activists in the South.

Some fear confusion will lead to distrust and apathy

Anneshia Hardy, executive director of Alabama Values, which provides support to voting and civil rights groups, said people will lose trust in elections if they believe the rules can change every two years.

“Once people stop believing that the process is stable and fair, disengagement is going to increase, and that's one of the biggest dangers here,” she said. “Democracy doesn’t just depend on voting systems existing but really on people believing that their participation matters.”

At least a few Democratic voters who went to the Louisiana Capitol on Friday to protest the gerrymandering expressed doubt about whether they still have a political voice.

Davis came to the State Capitol in Baton Rouge and had a bullhorn with her for a protest in which she yelled, “Whose vote? Our vote!”

David Victorian, a 79-year-old Vietnam veteran from Baton Rouge, said: “I’m concerned for the survival of the democracy that we’re supposed to be living in.”

___

Hanna reported from Topeka, Kan. Associated Press writers Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, S.C., and Kim Chandler, in Montgomery, Ala., contributed.

A seventh body was discovered along railroad tracks in southwest Bexar County on Monday, according to Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar, who is a Mexican resident believed to be connected to those found in Laredo. He has not yet been identified.

The female victim was identified as a 29-year-old Mexican national, according to a Webb County news release, while one of the male victims was a 27-year-old from Honduras. Two other male victims were identified as Mexican nationals.

One of the male victims is a 14-year-old boy, the Webb County Medical Examiner told ABC affiliate KGNS.

Six of the bodies were discovered just after 3:30 p.m. Sunday during a rail yard inspection in the northern part of town.

Hyperthermia was determined to be the cause of death for five of the victims discovered in Laredo, the Webb County Medical Examiner’s Office said, and it is likely the cause of death for the entire group, though formal investigations remain pending.

Salazar said his office believes the train originated in Del Rio and had a door open to allow people to load in before the train split, with half going to Houston and half going to Laredo.

The medical examiner said she believes the “individuals originated from Mexico and Honduras.” The office said it is working closely with the Mexican Consulate to facilitate communication with the families of the deceased.

The Department of Homeland Security is investigating the case as a potential human smuggling event, according to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson.

The discoveries took place a little more than a year after two guilty verdicts were reached in the 2022 migrant smuggling tragedy along Quintana Road, which left 53 people dead, making it the nation’s most deadly.

Referencing Sunday’s tragedy, Laredo Mayor Victor D. Treviño said in a statement that it is “a reminder of the ongoing humanitarian challenges along the border and the need for solutions that prioritize both security and human life.”

Read more:

• 6 found dead inside railroad boxcar, Laredo police say
• Body found near railroad tracks in southwest Bexar County, sheriff’s office says

Is this the most wide open Preakness ever?

The morning line odds suggest it could be after Iron Honor was installed as a 9-2 favorite following Monday's draw.

With Kentucky Derby winner Golden Tempo held out of the race and a sizeable field of 14 horses currently in it, there's no clear choice to beat. Any number of entrants could conceivably be favored by the time the race starts Saturday at Laurel Park.

Taj Mahal (5-1), Chip Honcho (5-1), Incredibolt (5-1) and Ocelli (6-1) are the other top picks on the morning line. Napoleon Solo (8-1) was next, and trainer Chad Summers saw little reason his horse couldn't prevail.

“It’s the right opportunity with the right field, and we’ve already beaten the morning line favorite,” Summers said.

That's because Napoleon Solo was fifth in the Wood Memorial and Iron Honor was seventh. Iron Honor did win the Gotham Stakes in February.

Chad Brown, who has won the Preakness twice, trains Iron Honor. He chalked up the horse's seventh-place showing at the Wood Memorial on April 4 to getting bothered in the first turn and never really relaxing throughout that race. The decision was then made to take the blinkers off the horse.

“We’ve given him a change to get over that experience, and he seems to be in a good place right now training just the way we want him,” Brown said last week. “He’s been training very consistent, very relaxed.”

No Preakness favorite — when the race started — has had odds of 9-2 or longer since at least 1940. Often, it's the Derby winner going off at a short price, but now Golden Tempo is the third in the past five years to skip this race.

Perhaps that explains why this could be the largest Preakness field in 15 years. The previous time 14 horses made it to the starting gate was in 2011.

Post time Saturday is 7:01 p.m. at Laurel, which is hosting the middle race of the Triple Crown this year as Pimlico in Baltimore is rebuilt.

Three horses from the Derby are in the field — Ocelli, Incredibolt and Robusta (30-1). Great White (15-1) is also back after being scratched from the Derby when he threw his jockey just before the race began.

Ocelli was third in the Derby as a 70-1 shot. Incredibolt was sixth and Robusta was 14th.

Jose Ortiz, the jockey from Golden Tempo’s Derby win, is on Chip Honcho this time.

Taj Mahal is trained by Brittany Russell, who has won several meet training titles in Maryland. Taj Mahal has three wins in three starts, all at Laurel. He'll be on the inside after drawing the No. 1 post Monday.

“It is what it is. We'll just have to see how it goes,” Russell said. “He's a good gate horse, he has speed. So that'll help us.”

___

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

According to the KSAT Weather Authority team, the rainfall totals were highest around Bandera and the Stinson Municipal Airport.

>> Click here for the latest forecast

KSAT viewers shared photos and videos of the explosive storms from the North Side, the West Side, Medina Valley and other areas.

San Antonio’s next best chance to receive some more rainfall does not come until next weekend. Take a look at some of the submissions to KSAT Connect below!

QUICK WEATHER LINKS

• WATCH LIVE: Doppler Radar
• Hourly and 10-Day Forecast
• Download FREE KSAT Weather Authority App: Up-to-date forecast information and livestreams from trusted local meteorologists.
• KSAT Connect: Share your weather photos.

Officials said Pedro Sanchez-Moreno, 44, was last seen around 8:15 a.m. Sunday in the 1400 block of Kedros, which is located in a far west Bexar County neighborhood near State Highway 211 and Potranco Road.

Sanchez-Moreno is 5 feet, 9 inches tall, has brown eyes and gray hair. He may be traveling in a white 2003 Ford F-150 with the Texas license plate WKL4529, DPS said in a news release.

The agency said Sanchez-Moreno’s disappearance could pose “a credible threat to their own health and safety.”

Anyone with information on Sanchez-Moreno’s whereabouts is asked to call the San Antonio Police Department at 210-207-7660.

More news coverage on KSAT:

• New charges filed against former San Antonio fire union president stemming from 2024 arrest
• Voter says cease-and-desist letter won’t silence her criticism of Kendall County Judge candidate’s past
• Wembanyama won’t face ‘further discipline’ following ejection-worthy elbow in Game 4, ESPN reports

The decision follows a Supreme Court ruling in April that struck down a majority-Black U.S. House district in Louisiana as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander, significantly weakening a provision of the federal Voting Rights Act.

Alabama officials had pointed to the Louisiana case as reason for the Supreme Court to end a judicial order to use a court-imposed House map until after the 2030 census. The high court overturned that order and directed a lower court to reconsider the case in light of the Louisiana decision. That could free the state to instead use a map approved in 2023 by the Republican-led legislature that includes only one district where Black residents comprise a majority.

Anticipating a court reversal, Alabama officials recently enacted a law allowing it to void the results of a May 19 primary for some congressional districts and instead hold a new primary under the revised district boundaries. It’s up to Republican Gov. Kay Ivey to set a date for a special primary election, though it must occur by August.

In a dissent to Monday's brief ruling, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the Louisiana case had reversed only one of the grounds upon which the Alabama case had been decided. Although the Voting Rights Act violation is gone, Sotomayor said a lower court could still find that Alabama had intentionally discriminated against Black voters in violation of the 14th Amendment.

The decision was a setback for Black residents and groups that had waged a legal fight for several years to get a second Alabama congressional district where Black voters had an opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice.

Evan Milligan, the lead plaintiff in the Alabama congressional case, said Monday that he is disappointed in the decision but added that it could be a “call to action” for voters.

“We are not defeated by this,” Milligan said.

Alabama is one of several states trying to change their congressional district boundaries before the November elections as part of a nationwide redistricting battle being won, so far, by Republicans.

Voting districts typically are redrawn once a decade, immediately after a census, to account for population changes. But President Donald Trump urged Texas Republicans last year to redraw congressional districts to their advantage in a bid to hold onto a narrow House majority in the midterm elections.

Democrats in California countered with their own redistricting. And numerous Republican-led states have followed. The high court’s Louisiana ruling provided fuel for Republicans to intensify their redistricting efforts.

So far, Republicans think they could win as many as 14 additional seats in the November elections from new districts enacted in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Florida and Tennessee. Democrats think they could win up to six additional seats from new districts in California and Utah. But Democrats suffered a major setback when the Virginia Supreme Cour t overturned a voter-approved redistricting amendment that could have yielded four more seats for the party.

___

Lieb reported from Jefferson City, Missouri, and Chandler from Montgomery, Alabama.

Talarico, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, has advocated for temporarily lifting the federal gas and diesel tax to help combat soaring fuel prices since the U.S.-Israel war in Iran began in February. On Monday, Trump said he would move to suspend the 18.4-cents-per-gallon gas tax, which primarily funds federal highway and mass transit programs.

“I applaud President Trump’s support for a federal gas tax suspension,” Talarico said in a statement. “Lowering prices at the pump should be a bipartisan commitment. I urge Senator Cornyn to drop his opposition to suspending the gas tax. He should join President Trump and me in supporting this critical tax relief for Texans.”

Cornyn previously panned the proposal as “not really a solution” and one that would “explode the deficit.” But on Monday afternoon, after Trump endorsed the idea, he said he would be open to a temporary gas tax holiday.

“There’s a difference between a temporary suspension and a permanent suspension,” Cornyn told reporters at the Capitol. “I don’t know exactly what the president has in mind. I think a temporary suspension getting through this sort of bumpy time because of uncertainty about energy prices — I could live with that.”

Cornyn is in the midst of a viciously competitive primary runoff election against Attorney General Ken Paxton, a hero of the hard right. With Republicans more broadly grappling with how to minimize the political backlash to rising costs and a new war in the Middle East, Democrats are seizing on a favorable national political climate, Trump’s low approval ratings and a bruising Senate GOP primary contest to support their effort to flip a statewide seat for the first time since 1994. Early voting in the Republican runoff begins in a week.

Talarico criticized Cornyn’s previous opposition to lifting the gas tax, arguing that the senior senator is “never worried about the deficit when it comes to billionaire tax cuts or new foreign wars, but when we start talking about lowering gas prices for working people, suddenly he’s a deficit hawk.”

“We should lower the deficit, and we should do it by closing billionaire tax loopholes and ending this disastrous new war,” Talarico said on CNN.

According to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan budget watchdog, a monthlong gas tax holiday would cost the federal government $3.5 billion, and a six month holiday would cost $21 billion. With the gas tax set at 18.4 cents per gallon and the diesel tax at 24.4 cents per gallon, a tax holiday would cover only a small percentage of the price at the pump. Average gas prices stood at just over $4 a gallon in Texas on Monday, according to AAA, up by almost 50% since a year ago.

Cornyn said Monday that he would be interested in proposals for how the federal government would make up the shortfall caused by a gas tax holiday. Talarico has said he would look to fill that gap through revenue from proposals he’s unveiled to “close billionaire tax loopholes,” including by ending the “carried interest loophole,” which allows investment managers to claim a lower tax rate by treating capital gains as profit rather than income; ending the “buy, borrow, die” loophole whereby the ultrawealthy skirt taxes by borrowing against their wealth to access tax-free cash flow; and restricting offshore bank accounts that his campaign said lead to more than $100 billion in annual lost revenue.

The woman, identified in the lawsuit as Nadia Alvarez, is seeking more than $1 million in damages, according to court documents.

The City of San Antonio, the Fiesta San Antonio Commission and Consejo Real De Reyes Feos Anteriores Inc. were listed as defendants in the lawsuit.

Alvarez was one of the five people injured in the shooting on April 28, 2024, that left Albert Cisneros Jr., 20, and Mikey Valdez, 18, dead.

>> SAPD releases bodycam footage of deadly Market Square shooting during Fiesta

Multiple San Antonio police officers, as well as Cisneros and Valdez, fired gunshots in the incident. The lawsuit argues that the officers prolonged a shooting at a crowded public event.

According to the lawsuit, the defendants were aware that the Fiesta event had previously been targeted by people with criminal histories and did not notify people of the potential risks.

The suit states that the defendants did not take the proper efforts to prohibit people from bringing guns to the event, and there was not “adequate” security to prevent harm to bystanders.

“The risk of innocent civilians being caught in a crossfire was real, unreasonable, and preventable,” the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit also said that the defendants’ alleged negligence involves the failure to require the use of metal detectors and restricted points of access.

Alvarez is seeking damages to compensate for her losses, which include physical pain and suffering, mental anguish, disfigurement, physical impairment, lost earnings and medical expenses, the suit said.

Attorneys are requesting a jury trial for this case, according to the lawsuit.

More coverage of this story on KSAT:

• SAPD releases bodycam footage of deadly Market Square shooting during Fiesta
• SAPD: 2 dead, 4 injured in shooting at Market Square Fiesta event
• SAPD confirms fifth victim wounded in shooting at Market Square during Fiesta

A 29-year-old woman from Mexico and a 24-year-old man from Honduras were among the six deceased individuals found inside a shipping container at Union Pacific Railyard on Sunday afternoon, according to Webb County officials. The other four individuals were all male and included one teenager, though their identities had not yet been confirmed.

The Webb County Medical Examiner determined that the woman died due to hyperthermia, or overheating. Hyperthermia is also suspected to have caused the death of the other five individuals, though formal examinations for them are still pending, according to a news release issued by the county.

Corinne Stern, the county’s medical examiner, found identification cards and cellphones that indicated the individuals were from Mexico and Honduras, according to the Associated Press. Their fingerprints were also shared with the U.S. Border Patrol to help confirm their identities and nationalities through the Missing Alien Program.

The medical examiner’s office is also working with the Mexican Consulate to confirm the identities of individuals, notify their families, and repatriate their remains.

Laredo Mayor Victor D. Trevino issued a statement lamenting the deaths, which he called a “tragedy.”

“In our close-knit binational community, every loss is felt deeply,” Treviño said. “Our hearts are with the families and loved ones affected, and we thank our first responders for their efforts during this difficult time. Our community stands united in prayer and compassion.”

The six people were discovered at approximately 3:30 p.m. on Sunday in a Union Pacific train boxcar. It is unclear where the train’s route originated or when the individuals boarded the train.

Union Pacific did not respond to questions but issued a statement saying the company “is saddened by this incident and is working closely with law enforcement to investigate.”

Migration to the U.S. continues to be a high-risk endeavor.

Immigrant deaths are a common occurrence for the Webb County Medical Examiner’s office, which serves 11 counties on the South Texas border, Stern told the AP.

“This spring has been busier than it was this time last year,” she said.

In 2025, at least 131 people died along the U.S.-Mexico border, according to the International Organization for Migration. About 15% of those cases were due to extreme environmental conditions and lack of access to water, food, and shelter.

In 2022, 53 people from Mexico and Central America died after being transported in a sweltering tractor trailer the driver abandoned in Southwest San Antonio.

In that case, considered by officials to be the deadliest migrant smuggling case in U.S. history, 64 migrants were packed into the trailer without water or air conditioning, on a June day that reached 100 degrees.

Federal prosecutors indicted two Texas men over the deaths. Both of them pleaded guilty and await sentencing.

Alex Nguyen contributed to this story.

His nomination comes as the Trump administration has increasingly signaled it is backing away from promises to dismantle FEMA, an agency that has faced withering criticism by the president. The nomination of Hamilton, who argued abolishing FEMA was not in the country’s best interests, is the latest indication of that change.

If confirmed, Hamilton would be the principal adviser to Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on emergency management and FEMA’s first permanent administrator in Trump’s second term. The agency has gone through three temporary leaders, including Hamilton’s brief tenure from January to May 2025.

He would take over an embattled agency still reeling from Kristi Noem’s turbulent leadership of the Department of Homeland Security, of which FEMA is part. FEMA’s workforce has been worn down by mass staff departures, policies that hamstrung operations and a 75-day-long DHS shutdown that ended April 30.

Hamilton will need to ensure the agency is prepared for summer disaster season, just weeks away, while answering to Trump, who is likely to expect major reforms after a council he appointed recommended sweeping changes last Friday.

“Now is the opportunity to stabilize FEMA,” said Michael Coen, the agency’s chief of staff in the Obama and Biden administrations.

Fired after defending FEMA

Hamilton, who had never been a state or local emergency management director and who had publicly criticized FEMA in the past, was a controversial choice when Trump named him temporary leader in January 2025, just days before the president floated the idea of “getting rid” of FEMA.

His rupture with DHS officials began as he defended a federal role in supporting disaster-impacted states, tribes and territories.

“Once the conversation shifted to, ‘Now we’re going to abolish,’ I immediately expressed concern,” he said last September on the “Disaster Tough” podcast with John Scardena, a former FEMA incident management team leader.

DHS officials even subjected him to a polygraph test, accusing him and other officials of leaking details of a private meeting. He passed, but said he knew his dismissal was inevitable.

At a May 7 appearance before a House Appropriations subcommittee, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, a Connecticut Democrat, asked Hamilton if he believed FEMA should be abolished.

“I do not believe it is in the best interest of the American people to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency,” he replied. The next day, he was fired.

Hamilton will have to rebuild trust

Defending FEMA despite knowing it would likely cost him his job garnered respect and trust among people whose job it is to lead communities through crisis, said Scardena, now president of the consultancy Doberman Emergency Management Group, which trains emergency managers.

“He won myself over and I think a lot of people by what he did,” Scardena said.

But multiple current FEMA employees who requested anonymity for fear of retribution for speaking publicly told The Associated Press they had concerns over some of the actions taken under Hamilton.

In 2024, Hamilton shared posts on X promoting misinformation about FEMA spending during Hurricane Helene.

During his temporary leadership, FEMA ceased door-to-door canvassing to reach survivors after disasters, and canceled a multibillion-dollar resilience grant program, since restored by a federal judge. The Department of Government Efficiency gained access to internal FEMA networks containing survivors’ private information. FEMA staff were fired for fulfilling a reimbursement payment to New York City for housing undocumented immigrants as part of FEMA’s Shelter and Services program.

Hamilton has said he believes FEMA needs major reform. He has said that he wants FEMA to move faster, that the agency is saddled with responsibilities he sees as outside its remit, and that some states have become too dependent on the agency. A Trump-appointed council last week urged sweeping changes to FEMA, which would require congressional action.

“I think he’s going to need to rebuild trust across the agency,” said Deanne Criswell, FEMA administrator under former President Joe Biden, adding that she believes Hamilton cares about FEMA and she appreciated his outreach to emergency management directors and former officials during and after his tenure.

Senate confirmation process could raise questions of experience

Hamilton could face pushback in the Senate confirmation process over never having led an emergency management agency, a common stepping stone to becoming administrator of an agency with over 21,000 employees.

Federal law requires the FEMA administrator to have “a demonstrated ability in and knowledge of emergency management and homeland security” and at least five years of “executive leadership and management experience.”

Hamilton trained as a Navy hospital corpsman before spending a decade as a Navy SEAL on SEAL Team Eight. He then became a U.S. State Department emergency management specialist handling overseas crisis response, then directed emergency medical services at DHS.

Spurs, just above the drop zone, moved two points clear of relegation rival West Ham.

Tottenham went ahead in the 50th minute with a lovely strike by Mathys Tels.

However, Tels’ foul on Ethan Ampadu with 15 minutes left led to a Leeds penalty that Dominic Calvert-Lewin converted with aplomb.

Spurs takes on Chelsea away and Everton at home in their last two games, while West Ham is away at Newcastle before facing Leeds at home on the final day of the season.

One of the two will join the already relegated Burnley and Wolves in next season’s Championship.

Spurs came into the game on a high after two consecutive victories but though they dominated the first half in terms of possession and shots on goal they didn’t break the deadlock until five minutes into the second half.

Pedro Porro’s corner kick was cleared to an unmarked Tels, who coolly struck into the far corner of the net from 20 meters out. It was the center forward’s first goal since Jan. 7.

Tels, however, turned villain 24 minutes later when his high foot was adjudged to have made contact with Ethan Ampadu’s head inside the box.

The referee pointed to the spot and Calvert-Lewin, who was denied a first-half penalty after a video review, confidently dispatched the spot kick.

Both sides suffered through an edgy last few moments and a remarkable 15 minutes of added time but there were no more goals and Spurs, for whom goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky was outstanding. They will content themselves that their destiny remains in their hands.

“We played a good game but there was big pressure," Tottenham coach Roberto De Zerbi said. “We didn’t play calmly. We wanted to win immediately without passes. When you are fighting for relegation you can’t play every game calmly.

“Leeds played a good game and we hope they play like that against West Ham in the next game.”

Spurs have taken eight out of a possible 12 points since De Zerbi’s debut defeat at Sunderland on April 12.

“We deserve to stay up," he said. “We will fight until the end. . . . Even if we had won today it wouldn’t have been finished yet.”

Hull secures playoff spot

Hull will play Southampton or Middlesbrough in the Championship playoff final after second half goals from Mo Belloumi and Joe Gelhardt gave it a 2-0 win over Millwall in London.

Belloumi’s 64th-minute strike with his left foot broke the deadlock in the second game of the two-leg affair and Gelhardt made sure with a low shot that squirmed past the Millwall goalkeeper.

The win means Hull have one match to secure a place in the Premier League for the first time since it was relegated in 2017.

Southampton and Middlesbrough drew the first leg 0-0 on Saturday and will play their return tie on Tuesday.

The playoff final is set for Wembley on May 23.

___

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

The league announced on Monday that the Cowboys will visit the New York Giants in the first NBC “Sunday Night Football” game of the season on Sept. 13 and they will host the Philadelphia Eagles on Fox on Thanksgiving Day Nov. 26.

The full schedule will be released on Thursday with other matchups revealed in the coming days.

This is the eighth time in the past 15 years the Cowboys and Giants are opening the season against each other. It also marks the 15th time the NFC East rivals are meeting on NBC's Sunday night package, the second-most played matchup since the network started the package in 2016.

Dallas is always a national television draw as “America's Team,” and New York could get more primetime exposure with Super Bowl winner John Harbaugh in his first year coaching the Giants and Jaxson Dart established as the franchise quarterback coming off his eventful rookie year.

This also could be the NFL debuts for a pair of former Ohio State teammates: Giants linebacker Arvell Reese, taken with the fifth pick, and Cowboys safety Caleb Downs, drafted not long after at No. 11.

This will only be the third time, and first since 2014, that the Eagles will be the Cowboys' Thanksgiving opponent.

Dallas has won its past four Thanksgiving games, including a 31-28 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs last year.

The late afternoon Thanksgiving game is traditionally the most viewed of the regular season. Last year’s game averaged 57.23 million viewers on CBS, making it the most-watched regular-season game in league history.

This will be the second straight season Philadelphia will have the spotlight on Thanksgiving week. Jalen Hurts and the Eagles hosted last year's Black Friday game and lost to the Chicago Bears 24-15.

Monday's announcements mean the Cowboys know the dates for three of their 17 games. It was announced a couple of weeks ago their game in Rio de Janeiro against the Baltimore Ravens will take place in Week 3 on Sept. 27 and air on CBS.

Dallas at New York in Week 1 also means neither of those teams will be the visitor at Seattle on Wednesday night, Sept. 9, when the defending champion Seahawks unveil their Super Bowl banner and kick off the season. Chicago, Arizona, Kansas City, the Los Angeles Chargers or a title-game rematch against New England are the remaining possibilities.

___

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

The league announced on Monday that the Cowboys will visit the New York Giants in the first NBC “Sunday Night Football” game of the season on Sept. 13 and they will host the Philadelphia Eagles on Fox on Thanksgiving Day Nov. 26.

The full schedule will be released on Thursday with other matchups revealed in the coming days.

This is the eighth time in the past 15 years the Cowboys and Giants are opening the season against each other. It also marks the 15th time the NFC East rivals are meeting on NBC's Sunday night package, the second-most played matchup since the network started the package in 2016.

Dallas is always a national television draw as “America's Team,” and New York could get more primetime exposure with Super Bowl winner John Harbaugh in his first year coaching the Giants and Jaxson Dart established as the franchise quarterback coming off his eventful rookie year.

This also could be the NFL debuts for a pair of former Ohio State teammates: Giants linebacker Arvell Reese, taken with the fifth pick, and Cowboys safety Caleb Downs, drafted not long after at No. 11.

This will only be the third time, and first since 2014, that the Eagles will be the Cowboys' Thanksgiving opponent.

Dallas has won its past four Thanksgiving games, including a 31-28 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs last year.

The late afternoon Thanksgiving game is traditionally the most viewed of the regular season. Last year’s game averaged 57.23 million viewers on CBS, making it the most-watched regular-season game in league history.

This will be the second straight season Philadelphia will have the spotlight on Thanksgiving week. Jalen Hurts and the Eagles hosted last year's Black Friday game and lost to the Chicago Bears 24-15.

Monday's announcements mean the Cowboys know the dates for three of their 17 games. It was announced a couple of weeks ago their game in Rio de Janeiro against the Baltimore Ravens will take place in Week 3 on Sept. 27 and air on CBS.

Dallas at New York in Week 1 also means neither of those teams will be the visitor at Seattle on Wednesday night, Sept. 9, when the defending champion Seahawks unveil their Super Bowl banner and kick off the season. Chicago, Arizona, Kansas City, the Los Angeles Chargers or a title-game rematch against New England are the remaining possibilities.

___

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

Thune and Senate Republicans returning to Washington on Monday were facing questions about the plan, which GOP senators added to a spending bill after a man was charged with trying to assassinate Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner last month. Trump has said that his proposed new ballroom would cost around $400 million and be paid for with private money, but the White House had not previously proposed a number for security costs.

“Keeping the leader of the free world safe is an expensive proposition,” Thune said. ”The Secret Service has a job to defend and protect the president, and we need to make sure they have the tools to do it.”

Democrats say they will try and defeat the plan, which Republicans added to a spending bill that would restore funding for immigration enforcement agencies that the Democrats have blocked since February.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer noted that Trump said a few months ago not one penny of taxpayer money would be used for the ballroom.

“Well, give me a break. He’s put a billion dollars in the budget for it. This staggering waste of taxpayer dollars has nothing, nothing to do with security and everything to do with Trump’s ego,” Schumer said.

Unclear path forward in Senate and House

Republicans are using a partisan budget maneuver to push the spending legislation through Congress without any Democratic votes. But Schumer said Democrats will fight it in other ways, including by pushing the Senate parliamentarian to strike the ballroom security money from the budget bill and by offering amendments that force Republicans to vote on it.

It’s unclear if the security money will even have enough backing among Republicans to advance. While most GOP lawmakers have remained quiet on the proposal as they spent their recess out of Washington, some have publicly questioned whether they would support it.

“I’m going to look at it very carefully and make sure those things are in the national interest,” said Rep. Rob Wittman, a Virginia Republican who was in the Capitol last week to briefly gavel in a pro forma session of the House.

“I want to know the exact nature of the expenditures that would go there for security. So I think it’s a little premature to look at that and say, you know, yes or no to it," Wittman said.

Rep. Mike Haridopolos, R-Fla., also said he wanted to hear more details. He asked colleagues to recognize the “volatile times” and the need to ensure the president, members of Congress and guests can gather in a safe location.

"If Republican and Democratic members can take a step back and say this is a real security issue, then maybe it will get done. But if Democrats dig in, it’ll be really challenging to pass that, as you can only imagine,” Haridopolos said.

The House has not released its bill yet, but the Senate is expected to start voting on its version of the legislation next week.

Trump has said ballroom will be 'heavily fortified'

The Senate bill would designate the money for the U.S. Secret Service, including for “security adjustments and upgrades” related to the ballroom project. Trump and other Republicans have been pushing the project since Cole Tomas Allen was charged with storming the April 25 media dinner at the Washington Hilton with guns and knives.

The legislation says the money would support enhancements to the ballroom project, “including above-ground and below-ground security features,” but specifies it may not be used for non-security elements.

Republican senators were scheduled to get a briefing on the money at a party lunch on Tuesday. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., was also expected to attend.

White House spokesperson Davis Ingle praised Republicans last week for including the money for the “long overdue” project, saying it would “provide the United States Secret Service with the resources they need to fully and completely harden the White House complex, in addition to the many other critical missions for the USSS.”

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. Trump has said it should include bulletproof glass and be able to repel drone attacks.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has sued to block construction of the project, but a federal appeals court said last month that it can continue in the meantime.

The league announced Game 5 between the Frost and Victoire would not take place in Laval, Quebec, as planned because of player safety concerns related to an illness.

Two people with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press the illness is limited to Montreal. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because the PWHL is not revealing that information.

The PWHL said medical assessment has determined that the symptoms are not consistent with hantavirus.

The rodent-borne disease has drawn attention in recent days after several Canadians were identified as contacts linked to a deadly outbreak aboard an Antarctic cruise ship, though no Canadian cases have been confirmed.

It was not immediately clear when the game will now take place, though the league expects to provide an update within the next day.

“The decision was made following consultation with medical personnel and in accordance with the league’s commitment to the health and wellbeing of players, fans, staff and all those involved in the competition,” the PWHL said.

The winner will face the Ottawa Charge in the Walter Cup Final after they defeated the Boston Fleet in the other first-round matchup. Minnesota won the title in each of the league’s first two years of existence and is going for a three-peat.

The regular-season champion Victoire and third-seeded Frost have alternated wins, splitting each of their two games at home, including Montreal's 1-0 triple-overtime win in Game 2. The Frost forced Game 5 with a 3-1 win at Minnesota on Friday night.

The teams flew together by charter to Minnesota for Games 3 and 4, but traveled back to Montreal separately on Saturday.

The PWHL said earlier in the day that Games 3 and 4 of the best-of-five final at Ottawa were set for May 18 and May 20. It was also not clear if those dates would be affected by the postponement.

___

AP women’s hockey: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-hockey

The policy research group Texas 2036 analyzed the state’s enrollment data and projected that about 100,000 fewer students would attend public schools by the end of the current decade. However, some projections show that number growing by nearly half a million over that time.

Hispanic students accounted for 81% of this school year’s enrollment drop, Texas 2036 found. Students learning English and those from low-income families experienced some of the sharpest declines. Over the past year, federal and state leaders increased anti-immigration rhetoric, in some cases detaining Texas students and prompting fear across communities. 

Meanwhile, the rate of Texas families having children has declined in recent years. Districts have lost students to other schooling options, with more families expected to opt out of their public neighborhood campuses as the state launches school vouchers later this year.

Texas educates about 5.5 million public school students, 53% of whom are Hispanic, 24% are white and 13% are Black.

“What stands out in the data is that public school enrollment is falling even as Texas continues to grow,” said Carlo Castillo, a senior research analyst at Texas 2036, in a statement. “In many parts of the state, population gains are no longer translating into public school enrollment growth. That points to a broader structural shift policymakers and district leaders will need to plan for.”

The nonprofit shared the findings just ahead of Monday’s education committee hearing for the Texas House. The focus included updates on enrollment trends and the stability of Texas’ school funding system. 

The state funds public schools based on attendance. Some districts have cut programs and shuttered campuses recently, despite a nearly $8.5 billion increase to public education funding approved last year. 

As the hearing began, Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath laid out the enrollment drop to lawmakers, noting, “We cannot tell you the precise cause of this.”

In recent years, growing immigration helped public schools manage the slump in birth rates, Bob Templeton, who studies Texas’ education demographics, said during the Monday hearing. 

Now, districts will serve higher concentrations of students with significant needs, but they will have less funding due to drops in the number of children born and slowing immigration, Templeton said. He estimated that public school enrollment could drop by roughly 500,000 in the next four to five years. 

“This is not another blip or a one-off,” Templeton told lawmakers. “This is an inflection point.”

Districts in urban areas, the Panhandle and along the southern border disproportionately experienced the enrollment decline, according to the Texas 2036 report. The 2.1% decline in Hispanic enrollment — or 61,781 students — represents “the single largest year-over-year reversal” among the four major demographic groups. 

Mary Lynn Pruneda, the director of education and workforce policy for Texas 2036, told The Texas Tribune that her group could not determine to what extent increased immigration enforcement contributed to the enrollment loss. 

Rep. Gina Hinojosa, an Austin Democrat running for governor, said during a press conference Monday, “I wouldn’t be surprised if it is contributing to it.”

Disclosure: Texas 2036 has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

The move came after the Virginia Supreme Court on Friday struck down a constitutional amendment that voters narrowly passed just last month. The 4-3 state court decision found that the Democratic-controlled legislature improperly began the process of placing the amendment on the ballot after early voting had begun in the Virginia's general election last fall.

Democrats argued unsuccessfully that the U.S. Supreme Court has held that, even if early voting is underway, an election does not happen until Election Day itself.

The appeal is the latest twist in the nation’s mid-decade redistricting competition. It was kicked off last year by President Donald Trump urging Republican-controlled states to redraw their lines and was supercharged by a recent Supreme Court ruling severely weakening the Voting Rights Act.

“The Court overrode the will of the people who ratified the amendment by ordering the Commonwealth to conduct its election with the congressional districts that the people rejected,” wrote lawyers for Virginia Democrats and the state's Democratic Attorney General, Jay Jones. They added, “The irreparable harm resulting from the Supreme Court of Virginia’s decision is profound and immediate.”

The filing is a sign of Democratic desperation after the Virginia decision deprived them of four winnable House seats in the mid-decade redistricting race that President Donald Trump kicked off last year. Democrats are still favorites to recapture the House of Representatives, but their GOP rivals have claimed to have gained more than a dozen seats through redistricting. The voter-approved Virginia map would have partly offset that.

Democrats are taking a legal long shot in asking the justices to reverse the Virginia court's ruling. The Supreme Court tries to avoid second-guessing state courts' interpretations of their own constitutions. In 2023, it turned down a request by North Carolina Republicans to overrule a state Supreme Court decision that blocked the GOP's congressional map.

Politically, the appeal could help a party struggling to compete with Republicans in the unusual mid-decade redrawing of congressional boundaries by providing fodder for election-year messaging about a partisan Supreme Court. The court recently allowed Louisiana Republicans to proceed with redistricting after the justices struck down a majority Black district as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.

Democrats have been set on their heels because, days after the Virginia ballot measure passed, the Supreme Court's conservatives reversed decades of rulings and effectively neutered the Voting Rights Act, paving the way for Southern states to eliminate some majority Black districts and further pad Republican margins in Congress.

The Virginia amendment had been launched long before that ruling. It was intended as a response to Republican gains in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio, and to blunt a new map in Florida that just became law. Once the Virginia amendment passed, it briefly turned the nationwide redistricting scramble into a draw between the two parties.

That was unraveled by the Virginia Supreme Court's decision. The justices are appointed by the legislature, which has flipped between the two parties in recent decades, and the body is generally not seen as having a clear ideological bent.

__

Riccardi reported from Denver.

Judge Joel Perez sentenced Kapri Cheatom, 31, to 20 years in prison after rejecting her request for deferred adjudication in connection with Danilo’s death.

The 20-year sentence is the maximum, per a plea deal.

Prosecutors said Danilo Coles died Feb. 6, 2022, after suffering severe physical abuse at the hands of his father — Derrick Coles — and Cheatom.

Danilo moved to San Antonio about a month before his death after the grandmother, who had been caring for him, died.

The case faced years of delays and courtroom setbacks before both defendants were ultimately convicted.

Three months after Danilo’s death, charges against Cheatom were dismissed.

The case then stalled for nearly a year before questions emerged about why no indictment had been filed. In August 2023, the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office said a technical error caused the delay. Cheatom and Coles were eventually indicted in September 2023.

In October 2025, Coles was convicted and sentenced to 45 years in prison.

During Monday’s sentencing hearing, Cheatom’s defense attorney argued her failure was not stopping the abuse. Prosecutor Willem VanZeben, however, said she actively participated in it.

“She (Cheatom) was striking Danilo,” VanZeben told the court. “She admits to striking him five times."

Prosecutors also argued Danilo had no one else advocating for him.

“We looked everywhere we could to find anyone who could come in here and speak for Danilo, or somebody who knew or interacted with him when he was alive, and there is no one,” VanZeben said in court. “The only people he had in the world was Derrick (Coles) and Kapri. Derrick killed him, and Kapri encouraged him every step of the way.”

Before sentencing Cheatom, Perez said the extent of Danilo’s injuries made it impossible for someone in the home not to recognize the abuse.

“The injuries to this child are too extensive to not have noticed, to not have known, to not have done something about it,” Perez said. “You failed to protect this 12-year-old boy.”

Cheatom will receive credit for time served and will be eligible for parole after serving half of her sentence.

More recent coverage of this story on KSAT:

• Father sentenced to 45 years in prison in connection with 12-year-old son’s death in 2022
• Father convicted on 5 of 6 charges in 12-year-old son’s death following years of delays
• Father’s Bexar County trial in death of 12-year-old son begins after years of delays

Rodríguez was speaking at the International Court of Justice in The Hague on the final day of hearings in a dispute between her country and neighboring Guyana over the massive mineral- and oil-rich Essequibo region.

“We will continue to defend our integrity, our sovereignty, our independence, our history,” said Rodríguez, who assumed power in January following a U.S. military operation that ousted then-President Nicolás Maduro. Venezuela is “not a colony, but a free country,” she added.

Speaking to Fox News earlier on Monday, Trump said he was “seriously considering making Venezuela the 51st US state,” according to a post by Fox News' co-anchor John Roberts on social media. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the matter.

Trump has made similar comments about Canada.

White House spokesperson Anna Kelly later declined to comment on Trump’s plans in an interview of her own with Roberts on Fox News. Kelly said the president is “famous for never accepting the status quo,” and praised Rodríguez for “working incredibly cooperatively” with the U.S.

Rodríguez went on to say that Venezuelan and U.S. officials have been in touch and are working on “cooperation and understanding.”

Before addressing Trump's comments, Rodríguez defended her country’s claim to Essequibo at the United Nations' highest court, telling judges that political negotiations — not a judicial ruling — will resolve the century-old territorial dispute.

The 62,000-square-mile territory, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana, is rich in gold, diamonds, timber and other natural resources. It also sits near massive offshore oil deposits currently producing an average 900,000 barrels a day.

That output is close to Venezuela’s daily production of about 1 million barrels a day and has transformed one of the smallest countries in South America into a significant energy producer.

Venezuela has considered Essequibo its own since the Spanish colonial period, when the jungle region fell within its boundaries. But an 1899 decision by arbitrators from Britain, Russia and the United States drew the border along the Essequibo River largely in favor of Guyana.

Venezuela has argued that a 1966 agreement sealed in Geneva to resolve the dispute effectively nullified the 19th-century arbitration. In 2018, however, three years after ExxonMobil announced a significant oil discovery off the Essequibo coast, Guyana’s government went to the International Court of Justice and asked judges to uphold the 1899 ruling.

Tensions between the countries further flared in 2023, when Rodríguez’s predecessor, Maduro, threatened to annex the region by force after holding a referendum asking voters if Essequibo should be turned into a Venezuelan state. Maduro was captured Jan. 3 during a U.S. military operation in Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, and taken to New York to face drug trafficking charges. He has pleaded not guilty.

Rodríguez did not address the referendum in her remarks, but she told the court that the 1966 agreement is designed to allow negotiations between Venezuela and Guyana to resolve the territorial dispute. And she accused Guyana’s government of undermining the agreement with the “opportunistic” decision to ask the court to address the dispute.

“At a time when the mechanisms established in the Geneva agreement were still fully in force, Guyana unilaterally chose to shift the dispute from the negotiating arena to a judicial resolution,” she said. “This change was not accidental; it coincided with the discovery in 2015 of the oil field that would become world-renowned.”

When hearings opened last week, Guyana’s foreign minister, Hugh Hilton Todd, told the panel of international judges that the dispute “has been a blight on our existence as a sovereign state from the very beginning.” He said that 70% of Guyana’s territory is at stake.

The court is likely to take months to issue a final and legally binding ruling in the case.

Venezuela has warned that its participation in the hearings does not mean either consent to, or recognition of, the court’s jurisdiction.

___

Garcia Cano reported from Mexico City.

Three separate arrest affidavits filed in March reveal six new Class A misdemeanor charges against retired SAFU president Christopher Steele, 59.

Four of the charges stem from evidence showcased in Steele’s 2024 arrest and accusation of attempting to frighten Valarie Frausto, who was the San Antonio Fire Department’s interim deputy chief at the time, out of applying for the fire chief’s position.

The remaining charges accuse Steele of conducting the same act on a separate woman with “intent to harm of defraud” her, according to an affidavit.

Steele faces the following six Class A misdemeanor charges:

• Three counts of online impersonation
• Three counts of impersonating a private investigator

If convicted, Steele could face jail time and a fine determined by a judge.

“The newly filed charges reflect the seriousness of the alleged actions and the importance of holding individuals accountable, particularly when the evidence shows laws were clearly violated,“ Frausto said in an email to KSAT.

KSAT reached out to Steele’s lawyer for comment but had not received a response as of Monday afternoon.

San Antonio fire union President Joe Jones sent the following statement to KSAT on Monday:

The San Antonio Professional Firefighters Association is thankful our District Attorney’s office continues to pursue justice in this case. The environment Mr. Steele and his associates created within our department was an unhealthy and extremely toxic situation that our Firefighters and Paramedics were forced to endure. While these new charges do not address the multiple perversions of professionalism, high standards, and subcultural norms that occurred and persist to this day, we sincerely hope Fire Chief Frausto will feel some level of satisfaction in knowing that legal justice is still a possibility.

Joe Jones, San Antonio Fire Union President

More coverage of this story on KSAT:

• Ex-San Antonio fire union president’s stalking charge against current SAFD chief dismissed
• Former fire union boss indicted for stalking current San Antonio fire chief
• Why is a former fire union boss’ arrest not in Bexar County’s public court records?
• Former fire union president arrested for trying to scare highest-ranking female firefighter out of applying for chief
• Former San Antonio firefighters union president arrested on stalking charge

CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott said the Trump administration was no longer planning to construct the wall within the national park following pushback from residents, the Examiner reported this week.

“Big Bend National Park has some just, like, unbelievably huge granite cliffs. It would be kind of silly to put like a 30-foot border wall on top of a 90-foot granite cliff,” Scott said in an interview with the Examiner. “So what we’re trying to convey is that we are going to have meaningful border security in that entire area.”

Scott’s comments only referenced the national park and did not detail whether CBP’s withdrawal from wall construction also included the nearby Big Bend Ranch State Park or private property in the region.

In a statement on Monday, a CBP spokesperson said the agency would “use and improve” existing roadways in the region.

“By deploying cameras, sensors, and barriers in strategic areas, CBP is restricting unlawful vehicle access while utilizing the natural barriers that already exist in the area,” a statement from the agency said.

Instead of a wall, federal officials will pave roads along the border in the national park and make use of drones and other digital surveillance equipment, Scott said. News of the cancellation comes after weeks of upheaval in Texas as elected officials from both political parties and residents asserted that construction in the park would be a waste of resources.

In February, Trump administration officials waived over two dozen environmental laws to clear the way for a 150-mile-long border barrier through West Texas, including Big Bend National Park.

Then in early April, an interactive map on the CBP website showed the agency planned to instead install “virtual wall” technology in the region that would alert Border Patrol agents when people cross the border. CBP officials took down the map in late April, and it is not currently available on the agency’s website.

Opponents of the wall being built in Big Bend have expressed skepticism that federal officials’ will make good on their statements about withdrawing from construction in the region, and point to the repeated altering and subsequent removal of the online map. Local residents near Big Bend sued the Trump administration in mid-April, arguing that federal officials waived the regulations illegally in pursuit of the construction project.

Funds acquired through the “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” President Donald Trump’s key spending package, direct CBP to construct a multifaceted barrier system, or a “Smart Wall,” across the southern border with Mexico. The proposed barriers would include bollard walls and patrol roads, as well as surveillance technology and floating buoys placed in the Rio Grande.

The Border Patrol’s 517-mile Big Bend Sector has historically been the least busy of the nine sectors, with agency apprehensions in the region accounting for 1.3% of more than 237,000 across the U.S.-Mexico border in fiscal year 2025. 

The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil climbed 2.9% to settle at $104.21 after President Donald Trump said the U.S.-Iran ceasefire was on “life support” after he rejected Iran’s latest proposal to end their war. The rejection raises the stakes for Trump’s trip this week to China, where he could urge President Xi Jinping to pressure Iran into making concessions. Xi has influence because China is the biggest buyer of Iran’s sanctioned crude oil.

The war has already sent the price for a barrel of Brent up from roughly $70 and delivered a blast of painful inflation through the global economy. That’s because it has shut the Strait of Hormuz and kept oil tankers stuck in the Persian Gulf instead of delivering crude to customers worldwide.

Still, the U.S. stock market has set a run of records on hopes that the war will not keep oil prices high for very long. Companies are meanwhile producing bigger profits than analysts expected, while signals suggest the U.S. economy is holding up even though households are feeling discouraged by expensive gasoline and tariffs.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 0.2% from its prior all-time high set on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 95 points, or 0.2%, and the Nasdaq composite added 0.1% to reach its own all-time high.

The majority of stocks within the S&P 500 fell, even though the overall index rose. Among them was Mosaic, which reported much weaker results for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

The fertilizer company is benefiting from higher prices for its products, but it’s also contending with much higher prices for sulfur and other raw materials because of logistics snarls created by the war with Iran. Mosaic’s stock fell 1.8%.

Stocks of companies whose customers have the least cushion to absorb higher gasoline prices also struggled, and Dollar General fell 7.6%. Businesses with big fuel bills likewise had sharp losses, including drops of 4.3% for Royal Caribbean and 3.2% for Southwest Airlines.

Helping to offset that was Fox, which climbed 7.6% after reporting stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

More than four out of every five companies in the S&P 500 that have reported their results for the latest quarter so far have topped profit expectations, and they’re on track to deliver overall growth of nearly 28%, according to FactSet. If that turns out to be the case, it would be the best growth since the end of 2021.

It’s not just U.S. companies muscling past analysts’ profit expectations. Globally, companies are on track for their strongest growth in more than four years, according to Deutsche Bank strategists led by Binky Chadha. The boom in artificial-intelligence technology has helped corporate profits rise at a faster rate than overall economies.

Outside of earnings reports, Beazer Homes USA soared 34% after Dream Finders Homes offered to buy it in a deal valued at roughly $704 million. A combination would create the country’s seventh-largest homebuilder, and Dream Finders is asking Beazer’s shareholders to push its management and board to OK the deal after making several attempts itself.

Dream Finders rose 5%.

Tech stocks were also strong, continuing their big run amid the AI boom. Gains of 2% for Nvidia and 6.5% for Micron Technology were the strongest forces pushing the S&P 500 upward.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 13.91 points to 7,412.84. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 95.31 to 49,704.47, and the Nasdaq composite gained 27.05 to 26,274.13.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed across Europe and Asia. France’s CAC 40 fell 0.7% for one of the world’s bigger losses, while South Korea’s Kospi soared 4.3% thanks to gains for Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and other tech stocks benefiting from AI.

In the bond market, Treasury yields ticked higher. The 10-year yield rose to 4.40% from 4.38% late Friday.

Yields had moderated a bit this month, but they remain well above where they were before the war with Iran began. Higher yields can raise rates for mortgages and other kinds of loans going to U.S. households and businesses, which in turn can slow the economy. Higher yields also tend to push downward on prices for stocks and other kinds of investments.

A report on Monday said the pace of sales for previously occupied U.S. homes was weaker last month than economists expected.

___

AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Matt Ott contributed to this report.

Passengers began flying home aboard military and government planes Sunday after the MV Hondius anchored in the Canary Islands. Personnel in full-body protective gear and breathing masks escorted the travelers from ship to shore in Tenerife, an effort that concluded Monday.

“If they stayed longer on the ship, the situation could have been difficult,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization. He said citizens of the countries passengers are returning to should know “there is nothing to fear, the risk is low, this is not another COVID.”

Three cruise ship passengers have died, and six people with confirmed or suspected cases of hantavirus are being quarantined, according to the WHO. The lab results of the American who tested positive were inconclusive, WHO spokesperson Sarah Tyler said Monday.

Health authorities say it's the first-ever hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship. While there is no cure or vaccine for hantavirus, the WHO says early detection and treatment improves survival rates.

The ship's captain, Jan Dobrogowski, issued a video message Monday praising passengers and crew for their courage and perseverance, and he called for respect for their privacy.

“I could not imagine sailing through these circumstances with a better group of people, guests and crew alike,” he said.

New cases in France, United States

The French woman who tested positive for the hantavirus is in intensive care in stable condition at a Paris hospital, French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said Monday. He said four French passengers who returned Sunday have tested negative but remain in isolation at the same hospital.

One of 18 evacuated passengers flown to the U.S. also tested positive for the hantavirus but is not showing symptoms, while another had mild symptoms, U.S. health officials said.

After landing early Monday, 16 American passengers — one of them a British-U.S. dual citizen — were taken to the University of Nebraska Medical Center, which has a federally funded quarantine facility and a biocontainment unit for treating people with highly infectious diseases. They were being assessed to determine if they had close contact with any symptomatic people and their risk levels for spreading the virus.

An American who tested positive for hantavirus on the cruise ship was taken to the Omaha campus' biocontainment unit and will be tested again. The passenger “is doing well and not having symptoms at this time,” said Dr. Angela Hewlett, the unit's medical director.

The others taken to Nebraska will be monitored in quarantine for several days. They arrived “in good shape, good spirits,” said Dr. Michael Wadman, the quarantine unit's medical director.

Two additional American passengers, a couple, arrived Monday at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. One of them has mild symptoms and will be tested for hantavirus.

“It doesn’t necessarily mean, just because someone has symptoms, that they’re going to end up having this illness,” said Dr. Brendan Jackson of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Some public health experts have accused the U.S. government of being slow to respond to the hantavirus outbreak. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. rejected the notion that cuts at his agency had left the U.S. less prepared.

“We have this under control," Kennedy said Monday, “and we’re not worried about it.”

WHO recommends close monitoring of former passengers

Oceanwide Expeditions, which owns and operates the cruise ship, said that 25 crew and two medical professionals remained on board Monday as the Hondius departed the Canary Islands. It was expected to arrive in Rotterdam on Sunday.

The Hondius left the southern Argentine port of Ushuaia on April 1 and a Dutch passenger died on board April 11. It wasn’t until early May that the WHO said it was reacting to a suspected hantavirus outbreak on the ship, which by that time was off the West African island nation of Cape Verde.

South African health authorities said on Monday that the condition of a British man admitted to a hospital in Johannesburg and being treated for hantavirus was gradually improving. He was evacuated from the ship on April 27 after becoming ill.

The Dutch couple who presented the first two cases had traveled through Argentina, Chile and Uruguay before boarding the ship, the WHO said. They visited sites where the species of rat known to carry Andes virus was present.

Health officials say risk to public is low

Hantavirus usually spreads from rodent droppings and is not easily transmitted between people. But the Andes virus detected in the cruise ship outbreak may be able to spread between people in rare cases. Symptoms — which can include fever, chills and muscle aches — usually show between one and eight weeks after exposure.

Tedros of the WHO advised that returning passengers should stay in quarantine, either in their homes or in other facilities, for 42 days. He added that WHO cannot enforce its guidance, and that different countries may handle monitoring of passengers without symptoms in different ways.

Numerous countries have said their people will be quarantined or hospitalized for observation.

___

This story has been corrected to show that it is the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, not the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention.

___

Corder reported from the Hague, Netherlands. AP journalists Jamey Keaten in Geneva; Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin; Mike Stobbe in New York; Collin Binkley in Washington and Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed.

Challenger Ricky Gleason’s past has become a flashpoint in the bruising May 26 Republican runoff against incumbent Kendall County Judge Shane Stolarczyk.

Toni Lott created the meme this spring after court records circulated in the community described Gleason’s 2006 arrest for misdemeanor family violence in Bexar County and a five-figure child support judgment issued against him by a district judge in the Texas Panhandle several years ago.

Lott said she altered a political ad for Gleason by changing the information contained in its bullet points and adding the name of a made up political action committee: Citizens Against Grifters.

Lott messaged the meme to three people, who shared it with other people before it eventually made its way to Gleason.

In late March, Lott and one of the original recipients of the meme received cease-and-desist letters from an attorney representing Gleason.

The letter accuses Lott and the meme recipients of defaming Gleason and publishing materially false information about a public figure.

“It was pretty obvious to me that he was trying to intimidate me,” said Lott, who claims she never posted the meme publicly.

The author of the cease-and-desist letter, attorney Dennis Postiglione, told KSAT Investigates in a phone interview that publication is defined as anything communicated to a third party.

The letter formally demands that Lott and the other resident retract, correct and clarify the graphic.

“It feels like power and control versus what he’s running on, which is character and being open and honest, transparent,” said Lott.

“It’s a line too far,” Gleason told KSAT during a recent sit-down interview. “Cease and desist letters — that’s not slapping down your First Amendment right for speech. That’s trying to let someone know, ‘Hey, what you’re saying is materially wrong, and we’d like you to stop.’”

Gleason pointed out the meme was recently included in a mailer sent to some Kendall County voters that also contained court records showing his oldest son’s unredacted medical information.

Lott said she was not part of the mailer and does not know who mailed out the materials.

Gleason calls allegations of family violence from both ex-wives false accusations

In a candidate questionnaire released to Kendall County voters last month, Gleason addressed his previous family violence arrest and claimed that he was found not guilty.

Bexar County court records obtained by KSAT Investigates through a public records request show a different outcome in court.

In January 2006, Gleason was arrested in San Antonio for misdemeanor family assault causing bodily injury, more than a year after his first wife told police Gleason struck her, grabbed her and pushed her during a dispute at their Northwest Side apartment.

The case did not go to trial and did not end in a verdict. Instead, court records show it was dismissed in September 2006 after Gleason completed classes.

Gleason said anger management was a good description of the classes he took but that those classes had occurred a long time ago.

“This thing is so far in my past. It’s behind me,” said Gleason. “There was no conviction in this at all. This was just something we went to court for. It was a false accusation and the judge allowed for a dismissal.”

When reached for comment, Gleason’s first ex-wife told KSAT Investigates there were other incidents in which Gleason physically assaulted her. She only followed through with one report to police.

Allegations of family violence against Gleason were also included in publicly available records filed in early 2013 while he was in the midst of a divorce from his second wife.

In a January 2013 request for a protective order that was granted by a Bexar County judge, Gleason’s second ex-wife wrote that Gleason “engaged in conduct that constitutes family violence.”

The order includes a publicly available two-page affidavit written by the woman that details specific acts of violence.

In September 2011, the woman wrote Gleason showed “physical aggression” toward her for the first time by pushing her over a bed footboard and bruising her upper thigh. She wrote that Gleason then pushed her into their master closet during the same incident.

Less than a year later, in August 2012, the affidavit accuses Gleason of putting his hands on her mouth and using his body weight to hold her down on a bed. Additional records obtained by KSAT state that the woman escaped from the couple’s home in Boerne that night only partially clothed and drove one of the couple’s vehicles to her mother’s home.

Months later, in December 2012, the affidavit states Gleason pushed his second wife into a garage shelving unit, which left a large bump on her head.

The affidavit also claims Gleason had thrown both of the couple’s dogs across the room on separate occasions during the marriage.

Gleason’s divorce from his second ex-wife was finalized in September 2013.

Gleason, after KSAT recited portions of his second ex-wife’s affidavit, denied assaulting the woman and said he never threw the couple’s dogs.

“These accusations — they stem from broken relationships," Gleason said. “And I have regrets that those relationships were broken, but they’re just not true.”

Gleason’s second ex-wife agreed to speak with KSAT Investigates for this story on the condition her name would not be used and her face would not be shown.

“I absolutely believed that he was capable of killing me,” the woman told KSAT.

She described Gleason as being physically, emotionally and financially abusive during their two-year marriage. In all, they were in a relationship for five years.

“It changed the trajectory of my life, and my life has not been the same since,” the woman said. “I think I’ve had enough distance and enough healing and growth that I feel strong enough to say something.”

The woman recalled the August 2012 incident when she fled their Boerne home partially clothed.

“He was capable of hurting me and he could have killed me if he wanted to. He put the weight of his body on my body and his legs on my legs and then he pinned both of my arms down on the mattress. And I couldn’t move,” the woman told KSAT Investigates. “And I remember crying and begging him to get off of me and he was just yelling at me and cussing at me and he was spitting on my face, and I couldn’t move. And then he put his hand over my mouth and my nose, and I couldn’t breathe. And it was in that moment that there was this wave of like primal fear that just overcame my body.”

She told KSAT that Gleason eventually got up and went to another room. At that point, she grabbed the first car keys she could find and ran out of the house wearing only what she had worn to bed.

The woman, who described the incident as the “scariest night of my life,” told KSAT she returned home a few days later.

KSAT asked her why her only report to law enforcement about Gleason was a January 2013 complaint accusing him of violating the protective order by changing the locks on their home.

“He instilled a lot of fear that, if I talked, it would be a very scary environment for me,” the woman told KSAT.

She told KSAT she entered the relationship debt-free. Due to Gleason’s financial issues, the woman was saddled with tens of thousands of dollars in debt after the divorce.

“I’ve worked very hard to get my financials back on track. I had a kid when I was 20 years old and have paid child support most of my adult life,” Gleason said. “And so, yeah, money was tight.

Gleason has never been arrested or criminally charged in connection to allegations made by his second ex-wife.

‘Snake-bitten’ child support order hangs over Gleason

Publicly available records show Gleason and his first ex-wife have been in and out of court in Moore County, which is located north of Amarillo, for much of the last decade as part of a drawn-out custody and child support dispute over their son, Kaiden, 21.

In 2019, Kaiden’s mother successfully petitioned the court to allow Kaiden to resume living with her after he had temporarily lived with Gleason in Boerne.

The petition included a sworn affidavit from the woman claiming that Kaiden had been physically and emotionally abused by Gleason and his third wife while living with them.

The affidavit included a photo of Kaiden with a large bruise on his upper arm.

Kaiden flew in from the Texas Panhandle to speak with KSAT for this story.

Kaiden said he has never been abused by Gleason or his stepmother. The court records filed while he was a teenager nearly seven years ago represented the opposite of what was happening in his home life.

Kaiden claimed he moved in with Gleason in 2018 to get away from an unhealthy living situation in the panhandle, but he later decided to move back to Moore County.

“I just missed all my friends up there (in the Texas Panhandle),” Kaiden Gleason said. “I needed a break from everything. Get in a better head space and figure out where I was going to go from there.”

KSAT could find no record that Kaiden’s living environment in Moore County created immediate danger to his physical health or safety.

Kaiden said the bruising shown in the photo included with the court affidavit was caused by him sucking on his own arm.

Neither Gleason or his current wife have been arrested or charged in connection to the allegations in the filings.

There has been no finding that the court records filed by Gleason’s first ex-wife contained any false statements.

Court records from the same Moore County case show that Gleason in the summer of 2023 was ordered to pay his first ex-wife more than $22,000 plus interest in child support as well as to pay back $9,965 in overpayments garnished from her tax returns.

More than a year later, in November 2024, the attorney for Gleason’s first ex-wife filed paperwork to enter the order since Gleason’s attorney had still not signed it.

Reached for comment by KSAT, the ex’s attorney, Stacy Grant, estimated that the amount owed by Gleason has ballooned to $37,568.

Grant said a recent push to get Gleason to pay on the child support order has nothing to do with him running for political office.

“If him running for judge is causing him to finally take this seriously, then good,” Grant told KSAT.

“It stems a 17-year period. A lot of bad blood went through that,” said Gleason, when asked about the child support case.

Gleason and his attorney, Kurt Rudkin, claim that even though they both attended the 2023 hearing via Zoom — in which the child support judgment was awarded to Gleason’s ex — they were unaware the final order was on file with the court because a clerk sent it to an incorrect email address for Rudkin.

In a letter written by Rudkin late last month, the attorney said Gleason “never received a penny” of the overpayments garnished from the ex’s tax returns and that the funds are likely still with the Texas Attorney General’s Office.

During an April 30 hearing in the case, Rudkin referred to the child support matter as “probably one of the most snake-bitten cases I’ve had in a long, long time.”

During the same hearing, Grant confirmed both sides have unsuccessfully attempted to locate the funds at the AG’s office.

In late April, Grant filed a motion to enforce the child support order. A hearing on the issue is expected to take place later this year.

Gleason does not regret entering the race

Gleason’s opponent, Judge Shane Stolarczyk, was reached via telephone by KSAT, but he declined to address specific issues from his opponent’s past.

KSAT asked Stolarczyk about the cease-and-desist letters sent by an attorney for Gleason.

“When I heard about the cease-and-desist letters, I was very disappointed,” Stolarczyk told KSAT Investigates. “It is imperative for our citizens to hear the truth about their candidates.”

Gleason told KSAT he does not regret entering the race for Kendall County Judge.

“It’s obviously taken a toll, right?” Gleason said. “And we expected some of that with walking into the political arena that there would be some mudslinging and everything.”

If he is elected, Gleason said he will bring back a culture of “good service” for all parts of the growing Kendall County community.

“Our administration will be about the future of this county, and we have a bright future in this county,” Gleason said.

Read more reporting on the KSAT Investigates page.

The San Antonio Spurs are facing the Minnesota Timberwolves. San Antonio advanced after defeating the Portland Trail Blazers in Game 5 of the first round.

This marks the Spurs’ first trip to the Western Conference semifinals since 2017.

The San Antonio-Minnesota series schedule with tipoff times and TV designations is as follows:

*-if necessary

TBD-to be determined

Click here to preview how the Spurs match up against the Timberwolves.

More recent Race For Seis coverage on KSAT:

• San Antonio Spurs draw Minnesota Timberwolves in second round of NBA playoffs
• Spurs fans find smashed car windshields after Game 5; BCSO investigating
• A new era in San Antonio: Spurs, fans and prices evolve since last playoff success
• Shaq calls Wembanyama first perfect big man in NBA history

The 2-1 decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is in place “pending further order” of the court.

Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office on Monday afternoon asked the U.S. Supreme Court to vacate the stay, arguing Busby’s appeal is meritless and was improperly brought before the appeals court.

In his appreral, Busby argued that a federal district court improperly denied his request for funding to test him for intellectual disability. The appeal also provided two new tests from experts, including one provided by the state, that his lawyers argue prove Busby is intellectually disabled.

Defendants determined to be intellectually disabled are ineligible for execution under Eighth Amendment protections against cruel and unusual punishment.

Busby was sentenced to death out of Tarrant County in 2005 for the kidnapping and murder of 78-year-old Laura Crane after he robbed her and suffocated her by wrapping her face with tape.

Judge Stephen Higginson ruled in favor of a temporary stay of execution, arguing that Busby’s appeal could be significantly shaped by a pending U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a separate case. That case, originating from Alabama, could determine how courts consider the cumulative effect of multiple IQ tests in determining a defendant’s eligibility for the death penalty.

“In a matter of life and death, we must be certain that we apply the proper constitutional rule as to whether and how to determine intellectual disability before states may execute defendants for capital crimes, especially when it is a rule that the Supreme Court imminently will clarify,” Higginson wrote.

Busby’s stay of execution is Texas’ third in just over a year and the first in 2026, as death row inmates David Wood and Robert Roberson both had their cases returned to trial court for review in 2025. Busby previously had his sentence stayed twice, once in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic and again in 2021 by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

The Texas court also vacated the sentence of Clarence Curtis Jordan in April, joining 19 others who have been removed from death row in Texas due to ineligibility due to intellectual disability.

Busby’s execution was scheduled to be Texas’ 600th since the U.S. Supreme Court reimplemented the death penalty in 1976. Two other death sentences are currently scheduled in the state, with the next slated for November.

Cummins, who worked as a senior vice president at Serco, a government contractor that works with local and federal agencies, would take over a TSA bruised by the longest partial government shutdown in history which ended late last month.

During periods of the shutdown, employees at the TSA, currently overseen by acting administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill, went without pay, thousands didn't show up to work and hundreds quit entirely. It left travelers frustrated over delays and missed flights and politicians pointed fingers over who was to blame for shutting down the Department of Homeland Security.

Cummins has experience in transportation at Serco, and says on a LinkedIn profile, which appears to have been taken down, that he was co-awarded a “dozen patents in transportation systems." His profile also touted that he was the director of operations for the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City in 2002.

A spokesperson for Serco did not immediately return a request for comment from Cummins.

Behind the scenes, it’s been Jessica Pegula, the 2024 U.S. Open runner-up, organizing the top tennis players in their protest with the Grand Slams over the share of tournament revenues devoted to prize money.

It comes naturally to Pegula, who grew up in a household of sports managers: Her parents own the NFL’s Buffalo Bills and the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres.

“I think it maybe does (come naturally) just because I feel like I’ve taken on a bit of a leadership role with it,” Pegula said.

Already this year, No. 5-ranked Pegula was named to lead a new 13-person panel to suggest changes to the women’s tennis calendar, rankings points rules and the requirements about competing in certain events. Now she's taking on the prize money issue, too.

“I’m not afraid to go up to any type of player and go like, ‘Hey, are you interested in this or not?’" Pegula said. "Some players, they don’t care, sometimes they’re not worried about it. Sometimes they’re like, ’Yeah, for sure, I’m 100% in.' I’ve been reaching out to players on the men’s and women’s side.”

Sabalenka said last week the players should consider a boycott for a bigger slice of tournament revenue, while Sinner said there’s a lack of respect.

“At the end of the day the players are the ones that have the big voices,” Pegula said. “It’s been nice to see Aryna and Jannik kind of step out. I know a lot of other players feel the same way. But to have the two No. 1s very outspoken about it, that’s kind of what it takes to get them to listen.”

Players' share dropped in Paris

Whereas in the NFL and NHL athletes take home about 50% of the revenues, at most tennis events the number isn’t even half of that. The upcoming French Open is allegedly devoting under 14.9% to the players — down from 15.5% in 2024, according to a players’ protest statement issued last week.

Roland Garros organizers announced last month they were increasing overall prize money by about 10% for an overall pot of 61.7 million euros ($72.1 million), with the total amount up 5.3 million euros from last year. But the players’ said that the the underlying figures tell a very different story.

“It’s crazy. It’s an insane difference. Obviously they’re different sports. They’re run differently," Pegula said, comparing tennis to the NFL. "But tennis has been a very old-school sport. I think it’s one of the things that needs to change. Sometimes change is good. Sometimes that means fighting for things.”

The same group of players sent a letter a year ago to the heads of the four Grand Slams seeking more prize money and a greater say in decision-making. Wimbledon increased its 2025 total pot by 7%, the U.S. Open by 20% and the Australian Open this past January by 16%.

Still, the players say the Grand Slams don’t match the rate of 22% at regular ATP and WTA Tour events.

“The slams have kind of just gotten away with paying not that much because we’re a very individual sport,” Pegula said. “It’s hard to get players to come together. We’re not on a salary where football players or basketball players can afford not to play.”

Organizers at the French Open, which starts in less than two weeks, have not responded to requests for comment.

Wimbledon is due to announce its prize money next month and Pegula said the players have not had a response from the All England Club.

“We’re just going to kind of continue to talk amongst ourselves,” she said.

One of the big issues affecting tennis governance is that there are seven organizing bodies: The four Grand Slams, the ATP, the WTA and the International Tennis Federation.

“That’s what makes it so hard is that our sport is super fragmented. Hard to get everybody on the same page,” Pegula said. “That’s why it’s been huge to actually have the top 10 men and women really come together. I’m hoping that will get the Slams’ attention.”

Pegula advances in Rome

Before she gets to Paris, Pegula has been perfecting her clay-court game at the Italian Open, where she reached the quarterfinals with a 7-6 (6), 6-2 win over Anastasia Potapova on Monday. She routed Rebeka Masarova 6-0, 6-0 in the previous round.

Pegula will next face three-time Rome champion Iga Swiatek, who beat four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka 6-2, 6-1.

Sabres' playoff run

In between her matches and prize money activist duties, Pegula has been struggling to watch the Sabres’ run to the playoffs for the first time in 15 years due to the time difference between the U.S. and Europe.

The Montreal Canadiens beat the Sabres 6-2 in Game 3 on Sunday night to take a 2-1 lead in their second-round playoff series.

“My gosh, I am so upset that I have not been able to see any of the games,” Pegula said. “I would give anything to just be at a playoff game. … I love it so much. It’s my favorite thing.”

___

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

Today on Texas Eats NOW:

COOL CREST MINIATURE GOLF

1402 Fredericksburg Rd, San Antonio, TX 78201

Cool Crest Miniature Golf is one of San Antonio’s most historic attractions, offering nearly a century of family fun on the city’s Near Northwest Side. Originally opened in 1929, the Art Deco-inspired venue is recognized as one of the oldest continuously operating miniature golf courses in the United States. Unlike traditional mini golf courses filled with novelty obstacles, Cool Crest focuses on natural landscaping, rolling terrain, and skill-based play surrounded by tropical plants and shaded pathways.

The venue features two distinct 18-hole courses, including the original 1929 course known for its long fairways and unique par-3 chip shot hole. In recent years, Cool Crest has expanded into a full entertainment destination with food, drinks, and live music. Guests can enjoy local favorites from Schilo’s Food Truck, featuring bratwurst and root beer, while Metzger Biergarten offers craft beer, wine, and an outdoor gathering space. With its blend of history, recreation, and community atmosphere, Cool Crest continues to be a beloved San Antonio landmark.

OASIS SNACK DELIGHTS & PURIFIED WATER

8373 Culebra Rd, Ste 208, San Antonio, TX 78251

Oasis Snack Delights & Purified Water has become a popular West Side destination for creative snacks, refreshing drinks, and family-friendly service. Owned by brothers Juan Pablo and Cristobal Flores, the business started as a neighborhood water shop before evolving into a bustling snack spot known for its colorful menu and welcoming atmosphere. The brothers transformed their father’s dream into a local gathering place where customers can enjoy both classic treats and inventive creations.

The menu features loaded hot dogs, hot Cheeto corn cups, fruit cups, mangonadas, and fresh aguas frescas in unique flavor combinations. Signature items like the Oasis Dog and the “Trifecta” agua fresca have helped the shop gain attention for its bold flavors and eye-catching presentation. Combined with friendly service and a lively environment, Oasis Snack Delights & Purified Water continues to stand out as a hidden gem for snacks and desserts in San Antonio.

Follow Texas Eats and David Elder on Facebook and Instagram for more food info, pictures, videos and giveaways.

• Facebook: @TexasEatsTV
• Instagram: @texaseatstv
• TikTok: @ElderEats
• Twitter: @TexasEatsTV

Starmer said he would “face up to the big challenges” and restore hope to the country, in part by forging closer ties with the European Union, six years after the U.K.'s acrimonious departure from the bloc.

“I know I have my doubters and I know I need to prove them wrong, and I will,” Starmer said during a speech in London intended to kickstart his fightback against detractors.

It did not appear to have the intended effect. In the hours after the speech a steady stream of Labour lawmakers spoke to the media or posted on social media saying Starmer should resign, either now or soon.

Several of those calling for him to go were ministerial aides, in an apparently coordinated move aimed at putting pressure on Starmer's Cabinet to deliver an ultimatum, perhaps at its weekly meeting on Tuesday.

Labour despondent at election losses

Labour has been plunged into gloom by heavy losses last week in local elections across England and legislative votes in Scotland and Wales. The elections have been interpreted as an unofficial referendum on Starmer, whose popularity has plummeted since he swept to power in a landslide less than two years ago.

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 and policy U-turns on issues including welfare reform. He has been further hurt by his disastrous decision to appoint Peter Mandelson, a scandal-tarnished friend of Jeffrey Epstein, as Britain’s ambassador to Washington.

Last week’s elections saw Labour squeezed from both right and left, losing votes to both Reform UK and the “eco-populist” Green Party. The result reflects the increasing fragmentation of British politics, long dominated by Labour and the Conservatives.

Starmer had hoped to regain momentum with his speech and an ambitious set of legislative plans to be set out in a speech Wednesday by King Charles III at the State Opening of Parliament.

In Monday's speech, he vowed to prove to millions of people “tired of a status quo that has failed them” that the government is on their side.

He said Labour is in “a battle for the soul of our nation,” and warned Britain will go down “a dark path” if Reform UK, the anti-immigration party led by Nigel Farage, comes to power.

Starmer told an audience of party lawmakers and activists that the government will take control of Britain's energy, economic and defense security and make the country fairer. He announced plans to nationalize what is left of the once-mighty British Steel, a move that could save some industrial jobs in an area where working-class voters have deserted Labour for Reform UK.

Starmer also pledged to put Britain “at the heart of Europe” and forge closer ties with the 27-nation EU. Farage, who spearheaded the Brexit campaign, and Reform UK oppose any move to get closer to the EU.

Brexit has been a drag on the British economy, and President Donald Trump's “America First” economic and foreign policy has spurred Britain to seek closer defense, security and economic cooperation with its European neighbors.

Labour supporters are largely anti-Brexit, which failed to deliver the benefits its backers promised. But Starmer has been reluctant to reopen a debate that bitterly divided the country. He has ruled out seeking to reenter the EU, or to rejoin the bloc's customs union or single market, things that would make a big economic difference.

Rivals weigh making a move

British politics allows parties to change leader midterm without the need for a new election.

None of the high-profile Labour politicians considered potential challengers to Starmer — including former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham — has yet called for him to resign.

Rayner did not explicitly call for Starmer to quit, but accused him of presiding over “a toxic culture of cronyism” and said the government must “stay true to Labour and social democratic values” and ease the cost of living for working people.

Labour lawmaker Catherine West, who had vowed to trigger a leadership challenge if Monday's speech didn’t mark a major turning point, said she would hold off for now, though she urged Starmer to resign by September.

More than 60 other lawmakers, out of Labour's total of 403, also urged him to announce a departure date, with the number ticking up in the hours after the speech.

“I don’t think we saw a plan from the prime minister this morning in order to implement the kind of change that this country needs,," lawmaker Chris Curtis told Sky News.

Another legislator, Joe Morris, said: “the message from last week’s elections was clear: The prime minister has lost the confidence of the public.”

But some who attended Starmer's speech said kicking out the man who led them to victory in 2024 would be counterproductive.

“You can't be changing prime ministers two years in,” said Kevin Craig, a former local councilor in London. “It's really important we stay grown-up now.”

President Donald Trump said Sunday that Iran’s response to his latest proposal was “TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!”

Also, Trump will travel to Beijing this week for a rescheduled summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. But Beijing’s deep economic ties to Iran, as well as trade tensions over tariff threats stretching back to Trump’s first term, could crimp the meeting, even though the Republican president has for years effusively praised Xi.

Trump also said Monday that he would indefinitely suspend the federal gas tax, though Congress needs to approve the move. The war continues to send fuel prices skyrocketing and rattle world markets. After Trump’s comment on the weakness of the ceasefire, the price for a barrel of Brent crude oil climbed 2.9% to $104.18.

Here's the latest:

Trump taps Lake, Mastriano for ambassadorships

The president is choosing two loyalists and failed statewide political candidates as his nominees for two vacant ambassadorships.

Trump is nominating Kari Lake, who most recently served as the acting head of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, as the U.S. envoy to Jamaica. While she ran the agency which oversees Voice of America, Lake had effectively shut down the government-run news outlet. But a federal judge earlier this year ruled that Lake did not have the legal authority to take such actions.

Lake was the GOP’s gubernatorial nominee in Arizona in 2022 and then the party’s Senate nominee in 2024. She lost both times.

Trump is nominating Doug Mastriano to be U.S. ambassador to the Slovak Republic. He ran for Pennsylvania governor in 2022, losing to Democrat Josh Shapiro.

Democrats ask the Supreme Court to halt a Virginia ruling blocking new congressional districts

Democrats on Monday filed an emergency appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to halt a Virginia ruling invalidating a ballot measure that would have given their party an additional four winnable U.S. House seats.

The move came after the Virginia Supreme Court on Friday struck down a constitutional amendment that voters narrowly passed just last month. The 4-3 state court decision found that the Democratic-controlled legislature improperly began the process of placing the amendment on the ballot after early voting had begun in the Virginia’s general election last fall.

Democrats argued unsuccessfully that the U.S. Supreme Court has held that, even if early voting is underway, an election does not happen until Election Day itself.

▶ Read more

Supreme Court temporarily extends women’s access to a widely used abortion pill

The Supreme Court is leaving women’s access to a widely used abortion pill untouched until at least Thursday, while the justices consider whether to allow restrictions on the drug, mifepristone, to take effect.

Justice Samuel Alito’s order Monday allows women seeking abortions to continue obtaining the pill at pharmacies or through the mail, without an in-person visit to a doctor. It prevents restrictions on mifepristone imposed by a federal appeals court from taking effect for the time being.

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

▶ Read more

White House says 17 CEOs will travel to China as part of the US delegation

Executives who are scheduled to join Trump in Beijing this week represent American tech, finance and agricultural companies, according to a White House official.

The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the executives include Apple’s Tim Cook, Blackrock’s Larry Fink, Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman, Boeing’s Kelly Ortberg, Cargill’s Brian Sikes, Citi’s Jane Fraser, Cisco’s Chuck Robbins, Coherent’s Jim Anderson, GE Aerospace’s H. Lawrence Culp, Goldman Sachs’ David Solomon, Illumina’s Jacob Thaysen, Mastercard’s Michael Miebach, Meta’s Dina Powell McCormick, Micron’s Sanjay Mehrotra, Qualcomm’s Cristiano Amon, Tesla/SpaceX’s Elon Musk and Visa’s Ryan McInerney.

—- Aamer Madhani

Satellite images appear to show oil slick drifting south of Iran’s Kharg island

The images from Monday reviewed by The Associated Press appear to show an oil slick drifting in the Persian Gulf southward from the island, Iran’s primary crude oil terminal.

The slick is believed to be the same one observed last week off the western side of Kharg Island.

The slick was first observed a week ago through Satellite images. It’s unknown whether the spill was caused by a malfunction, an airstrike or something else.

On Monday, it looked like the slick had spread out, apparently dissipating. It is currently 47 miles (75 km) wide and appeared to be 28 miles (45 km) south of Kharg Island.

US warns banks to watch for suspected Iranian money-laundering networks

The Treasury Department wants U.S. banks and other financial institutions to monitor for suspected Iranian money laundering networks that use their funds to smuggle sanctioned oil through shell companies and crypto networks.

The move, which effectively deputizes the global financial system to help disrupt Iran’s sanctions-evasion infrastructure, comes as the U.S. and Iran reached another impasse over how to end their war while their ceasefire has grown increasingly shaky.

The Trump administration is calling on banks to flag certain customers who may launder funds for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard — including newly formed companies moving unusually large amounts of money, firms that route payments through multiple intermediaries or transactions connected to Iranian crypto firms, among other indicators.

▶ Read more

Trump to sign executive orders on beef supply

The two orders, according to a White House official, are meant to address short-term supply issues in the U.S. beef market.

The official, who was granted anonymity to discuss the orders in advance of their signing, said the plans will expand beef imports and support the renewal of America’s domestic cattle herd.

The orders were first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

—- Seung Min Kim

Officials tout new website for mothers

Trump administration officials shared more details Monday about the website they stood up in time for Mother’s Day, at the URL moms.gov.

“It is one-stop shopping for IVF, for prenatal care, for postnatal care, for nutrition, for baby formula, and of course, for TrumpRx,” Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in the Oval Office.

The website centralizes government-led guidance on nutrition and health surrounding pregnancy and links out to Trump’s website for discounted drugs, TrumpRx.

The site also prominently displays a link to a pregnancy center resource called Option Line run by the anti-abortion group Heartbeat International. It signaled the administration staking out its side on the abortion debate as the Supreme Court weighs whether to restrict access to abortion pills by mail nationwide.

Trump likens Jimmy Lai to Comey as he plans to discuss case with Xi

The U.S. president said he’ll bring up the plight of Jimmy Lai in China this week but he compared the pro-democracy activist to one of his most detested foes.

“Jimmy Lai, you know, he caused a lot of bedlam,” Trump told reporters Monday. “It’s like saying to me, ‘if Comey ever went to jail, would you let him out?’ That might be a hard one for me.”

Trump is referring to former FBI director James Comey, whom he fired in 2017 over his handling of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 elections. The Justice Department is now prosecuting Comey on charges of making threats against the president. Its first indictment of Comey was dismissed.

“Jimmy Lai, he caused lots of turmoil in China. He tried to do the right thing. He wasn’t successful, went to jail, and people would like him out,” Trump said. “And I’d like to see him get out too.”

Asked about hantavirus, Trump says ‘I hope it’s fine’

Trump made the comment Monday in the White House as countries around the world repatriated passengers from a cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak.

“I hope it’s fine. All I can do is everything that a president can do, which is something — which is actually somewhat limited,” Trump said.

Among the cruise ship passengers who tested positive were a French woman and an American. Some experts have said U.S. authorities were slow to respond, but Trump said he thought the response was, “I think fine.”

“The one thing with this one is that it’s much harder to catch,” Trump said. “It’s been around for a long time, people are very familiar with it.”

What is a gas tax holiday?

A gas tax holiday is a temporary suspension of the federal gas tax, currently set at 18.4 cents per gallon on gasoline and 24.4 cents per gallon on diesel fuel. That does not include state taxes, which often are higher.

The tax provides more than $23 billion per year in revenue for federal highway and public transit programs.

The president cannot suspend the federal tax on his own. Congress would have to approve the move.

Both the House and Senate are controlled by Republicans.

Trump says he’ll suspend federal gas tax

Trump answered yes when asked if he would suspend the federal gas tax amid higher prices stemming from the war with Iran.

He said the price of oil and gas would drop “like a rock” as soon as hostilities are over. Asked how long the suspension would last, he said “until it’s appropriate.”

The president cannot suspend the federal tax on his own. Congress would have to approve the move.

The federal gas tax is 18.4 cents per gallon of gasoline and 24.4 cents per gallon of diesel, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Trump says Iran went back on allowing the US to remove its highly enriched uranium

Trump claims that Iran told his administration that it would allow the U.S. to come in and help extract its highly enriched uranium but went back on that in its latest ceasefire proposal.

“They changed their mind because they didn’t put it in the paper,” he said.

Trump added that besides taking the uranium, the U.S. wants Iran to “guarantee no nuclear weapons for a very long period of time and a couple of other minor things, but they just can’t get there. So they agree with us and then they take it back.”

Iran has not publicly agreed to give up its enriched uranium and insists its nuclear program is peaceful.

Trump says Iran ceasefire is on ‘life support’

President Trump on Monday said the Iran ceasefire is on “life support” after he rejected the country’s latest proposal for not including a nuclear concession.

Asked if the ceasefire was still in place, Trump said he’d say it’s “unbelievably weak” and on “life support.”

“I would call it the weakest right now after reading that piece of garbage they sent us,” Trump said during an unrelated appearance in the Oval Office. “I didn’t even finish reading it.”

Democrats vow to fight $1 billion Senate security proposal for White House ballroom

Republicans returning to Washington on Monday are facing questions about a $1 billion Senate security proposal that could help pay for President Trump’s ballroom as Democrats say they’ll try to defeat it.

Senate Republicans added the money for White House security to a spending bill that would restore funding for immigration enforcement agencies Democrats have blocked since February. The steep security proposal was put forward after a man was charged with trying to assassinate Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner last month.

Republicans are using a partisan budget maneuver to push the spending legislation through Congress without any Democratic votes. But in a letter to colleagues Monday morning, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats will fight it in other ways, including by pushing the Senate parliamentarian to strike the ballroom security money from the budget bill and offering amendments forcing Republicans to vote on it.

▶ Read more

Trump administration announces new rule establishing a fertility benefit

Trump held an event in the Oval Office on Monday to announce that the Labor Department was issuing a new regulation to formally create a fertility benefit option for employers that could be offered to workers outside normal health insurance plans.

The Trump administration said in October that it had struck a deal with a drugmaker to reduce the cost of fertility medication.

Trump asked his guests at the event to speak quickly because generals were waiting for him to discuss the war in Iran.

Two regional diplomats say one issue frustrating Trump is Iran’s demand for war damages

They noted that, traditionally, reparations are paid by the defeated side and Trump is wary of the term “reparations” appearing in Iranian proposals, as agreeing to it could be seen as acknowledging defeat.

Both diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the ongoing negotiations.

One diplomat added that Pakistan is working to broker a memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran aimed at ending the war and maintaining broader dialogue on unresolved issues.

He said Islamabad has support from other regional countries, and that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir have been in contact with both sides, as well as regional governments, to help ensure the ceasefire holds, the war ends and the parties agree to in-person talks next week.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

— Munir Ahmed

Iranian sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz?

Maritime experts say granting Iran exclusive sovereignty over the strait — or allowing it to collect tolls on ships passing through — would violate a basic and enduring principle of international maritime trade: freedom of peaceful navigation. It’s an ancient idea that was codified by the United Nations’ Convention on the Law of the Sea, which took effect in 1994.

Before the war, the strait was an international waterway through which ships were meant to pass freely.

Agreeing to Iranian sovereignty would cement the country’s control over the waterway — eroding the freedom of navigation on which global trade depends and potentially making other global choke points subject to geopolitical power plays.

Suspect’s lawyers seek to have Justice Department officials recused from the case

Cole Tomas Allen’s lawyers are asking U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden to disqualify at least two top Justice Department officials from direct involvement in prosecuting him because they could be considered victims or witnesses in the case, creating a potential conflict of interest.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro were attending the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner when Allen ran through a security checkpoint and fired a shotgun at a Secret Service officer, authorities said. Defense attorney Eugene Ohm said the defense likely would seek to disqualify Pirro’s entire office from involvement in the case.

McFadden didn’t rule from the bench on that question but asked Allen’s attorneys to elaborate on the possible scope of their recusal request.

Allen is scheduled to return to court on June 29.

Man charged in White House correspondents’ dinner attack pleads not guilty

The California man accused of storming the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner while armed with guns and knives has pleaded not guilty to charges that he attempted to kill President Trump and fired a shotgun at a Secret Service officer who tried to stop the attack.

Cole Tomas Allen was handcuffed and shackled and wearing an orange jail uniform when he appeared in federal court for his arraignment Monday.

Allen didn’t speak during the brief hearing. One of his attorneys entered the plea on his behalf.

▶ Read more

Oil prices rise after Trump rejects Iran’s latest peace proposal, but US stocks hold steady

Oil prices are rising as the war with Iran threatens to drag on for longer, but the U.S. stock market is nevertheless holding near its record heights.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil rose 1.7% to above $103 Monday after President Trump blasted Iran’s latest proposal to end their war as totally unacceptable. The rejection keeps the two sides in an uneasy limbo, one that’s already driven the price of Brent up from roughly $70 per barrel before the war.

But the S&P 500 slipped just 0.1% from its record. The Dow fell 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite sank 0.2%.

▶ Read more

Voter confusion and headaches for election officials follow hasty GOP push to redraw US House seats

Thousands of Louisiana voters have already cast early ballots for congressional candidates in what soon could be the wrong districts. Alabama’s primaries are a week away, but the state could force a do-over for voting on U.S. House races. A new congressional map in Tennessee upended races that had been underway for months.

Republicans’ rush to gerrymander congressional districts across several Southern states after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling hollowed out the Voting Rights Act is confusing voters and creating logistical headaches for local election officials. The changes are hitting while primary season is in progress.

The chaotic upheaval to an election season that could determine which party controls the U.S. House is the latest fallout from an intensely partisan gerrymandering battle initiated by President Trump last year to protect Republicans’ slim majority.

▶ Read more

Trump’s deal making with Xi may determine Hong Kong jailed activist Jimmy Lai’s fate

Pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai once hoped Trump could help stop the imposition of a controversial national security law. The law not only took effect but was also used to sentence him to 20 years in prison.

Ahead of an anticipated trip by Trump to Beijing to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping next week, Lai’s son said his family is now hoping that Trump can help secure his father’s release.

Lai, a prominent critic of Beijing, founded a pro-democracy newspaper that was shut down during a crackdown following the city’s massive anti-government protests in 2019.

Trump is expected to discuss trade, the Iran war and Taiwan with Xi. But he said he is also planning to bring up Lai, telling conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, “there’s a little bitterness, I would say, with him and Jimmy Lai.”

Lai’s son says his family is hopeful that Trump could help, adding that it’s easier to resolve than many of the other complex geopolitical issues the leaders will discuss.

▶ Read more

World shares are mixed and oil rises after Trump rejects Iran’s response to ceasefire proposal

World shares were mixed Monday after Wall Street set more records, and oil rose more than 2% following U.S. President Donald Trump’s rejection of Tehran’s response to the latest U.S. proposal on ending the war in Iran.

U.S. futures edged less than 0.1% lower.

In early European trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.2% to 10,253.99. Germany’s DAX fell less than 0.1% to 24,328.17, and France’s CAC 40 lost 0.8% to 8,049.31.

In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.5% to 62,417.88 after briefing reaching another record high in intraday trading at above 63,300. Technology-focused investment holding company SoftBank Group, one of Japan’s largest stocks, fell more than 6%.

South Korea’s Kospi gained 4.3% to 7,822.24. It also hit an all-time intraday high, led by gains from tech-related stocks including Samsung Electronics and memory chipmaker SK Hynix.

▶ Read more

Iran war could make Trump’s trip to China a bit chillier than his first-term visit

Long before this week’s trip to China, Trump was already predicting on social media that Xi Jinping would “give me a big, fat hug when I get there.”

But Beijing’s deep economic ties to Iran, as well as trade tensions over tariff threats stretching back to Trump’s first term, could crimp the good feelings when Trump flies to Beijing this week — even though the Republican president has for years effusively praised Xi, making it clear he sees China’s leader as a competitor strong enough to warrant his respect and admiration.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said that Beijing is willing to work with the U.S., based on equality and mutual respect, to expand cooperation, manage differences, and add stability to a turbulent world. The diplomacy between the leaders “plays an irreplaceable strategic guiding role” in the bilateral relation, he said.

There will be plenty of ceremonial splendor, but the grandeur is not expected to rival Trump’s first visit to China in 2017, which Beijing dubbed a “state visit-plus.”

▶ Read more

Today on Texas Eats NOW:

MCADOO’S SEAFOOD COMPANY

196 N Castell Ave, New Braunfels, TX 78130

McAdoo’s Seafood Company brings Texas Creole and Cajun flavors to the heart of downtown New Braunfels inside a beautifully restored 1915 federal post office building. Known for its historic charm and lively atmosphere, the restaurant combines upscale-casual dining with fresh seafood, handcrafted cocktails, and Southern hospitality. Guests can dine in intimate dining rooms, relax at the popular Treasury Bar, or enjoy live music in the covered outdoor courtyard.

The menu features a variety of seafood favorites, including fresh oysters, seafood fondoo, Cajun enchiladas, shrimp and cheese grits, and blackened pasta dishes packed with Gulf Coast flavor. Signature appetizers like crab cakes and coconut shrimp are complemented by house cocktails and decadent desserts such as crème brûlée and blueberry lavender cheesecake. With its unique setting and flavorful menu, McAdoo’s Seafood Company continues to be a destination dining spot in New Braunfels.

SOUTH BARBECUE

2100 N Main Ave, San Antonio, TX 78212

South Barbecue offers a modern take on South Texas barbecue under the direction of James Beard-nominated pitmaster Andrew Samia. Located near downtown San Antonio, the restaurant has earned a strong reputation for smoked meats, flavorful sides, and a welcoming neighborhood atmosphere. The renovated Monte Vista space features a polished yet relaxed design with green booths, a full bar, and a pet-friendly patio that gives guests a comfortable place to enjoy barbecue throughout the day and into the evening.

The menu highlights classic Texas barbecue staples like brisket, pork ribs, turkey breast, and jalapeño cheddar sausage, alongside standout sides including creamed elote, borracho beans, and mustard potato salad. Unlike many traditional barbecue spots, South Barbecue stays open until 10 p.m., making it a convenient option for lunch, dinner, or late-night cravings. With its balance of quality smoked meats and modern comfort food, South Barbecue continues to stand out in San Antonio’s competitive barbecue scene.

Follow Texas Eats and David Elder on Facebook and Instagram for more food info, pictures, videos and giveaways.

• Facebook: @TexasEatsTV
• Instagram: @texaseatstv
• TikTok: @ElderEats
• Twitter: @TexasEatsTV

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling, stemming from a Louisiana lawsuit, blocks a 2023 Food and Drug Administration rule allowing mifepristone to be delivered by mail — a provision commonly used to get around Texas’ abortion ban. With the Supreme Court’s temporary pause on the 5th Circuit’s ruling scheduled to expire Thursday evening, the future of Texans’ access to mifepristone remains unclear.

Abortion advocates condemned the ruling as a gateway into a national abortion ban, while anti-abortion groups heralded the 5th Circuit’s decision as a first step in the right direction.

Here’s what to know about the drug, court ruling and more.

Are abortion pills illegal in Texas?

Mifepristone and misoprostol, pills commonly taken to end a pregnancy, are not illegal in Texas and often prescribed to manage miscarriages, but it is illegal to supply them for elective abortions because of Texas’ ban on abortions.

Providing abortion pills in violation of the state’s abortion ban can result in criminal charges. Over the summer, a North Texas man was charged with capital murder after slipping mifepristone into his girlfriend’s food and she miscarried. That case is still pending.

Additionally, state law allows private citizens to sue virtually anyone who assists in providing abortion, including medical professionals, companies that facilitate the movement of abortion pills into the state and family or friends who purchase pills for a pregnant person. Any individual can file the suit to seek up to $100,000, a provision commonly referred to as a “bounty hunter” law.

Women who seek out abortions or take abortion pills are exempt from criminal charges or lawsuits under Texas’ abortion restrictions.

Despite Texas laws that penalize the supply of abortion pills, thousands enter Texas from 22 other states with “shield laws.” Texas has sued medical providers in New York, Delaware and California who have sent abortion pills over alleged violations of Texas’ abortion restrictions, but those states’ shield laws provide civil and criminal protections over their healthcare providers against Texas’ legal actions. These providers continue to provide prescriptions, often through telehealth appointments, to people in states like Texas that have abortion bans.

Roughly 25% of abortions nationwide are done through telehealth, an estimate that is “likely an undercount” because it may not include those having abortions illegally, University of California Davis Law professor Mary Ziegler, said.

What does the ruling restrict and why?

The 5th Circuit’s ruling on May 1 only restricts mail access to mifepristone, one of two drugs commonly used in medication abortions, including in managing miscarriages. The FDA approved mifepristone in 2000, and also approved two generic versions of the drug in 2019 and 2025. Multiple studies have shown the drug to be a safe and effective means of ending a pregnancy.

In 2023, the FDA established a rule allowing doctors to prescribe mifepristone remotely and for the drug to be mailed to patients, including those in Texas from other states where abortion is legal. The May 1 ruling overturned that rule, arguing it was put in place without proper FDA review of the drug’s effects.

If the 5th Circuit’s ruling stands and the 2023 rule goes away, people will not be charged with a crime for possessing or using mifepristone and the drug would still be available for in-person prescription. Mifepristone is solely used in ending pregnancies, unlike the second drug it is commonly paired with, misoprostol, which is used to treat ulcers but prescribed off-label to end pregnancies.

Pairing mifepristone and misoprostol helps the body to safely speed up the passing of pregnancy-related tissue, which is particularly important during miscarriages to avoid complications like increased bleeding, infection, scarring of the uterus and future invasive procedures.

The Supreme Court’s temporary block of the 5th Circuit’s ruling on May 4 restored medical providers’ ability to provide the drug through mail after a brief pause. The court extended the order on Monday, setting it to expires on May 14 at 5 p.m. EST unless the court extends the block further. On May 7, Texas joined 22 other states in filing an amicus brief to the Supreme Court asking them to let the 5th Circuit’s ruling stand.

Rachel Rebouche, a University of Texas at Austin law professor, said the Supreme Court’s order was unsurprising and likely designed to offset disruption in medical care caused by mifepristone’s sudden unavailability. The court’s one-page order did not provide an explanation for the block.

“It’s really hard to have a legal status for a drug that thousands and thousands of people use flicker,” Rebouche said. “Just maintaining the status quo is a way to damp down the confusion that occurs when something changes overnight.”

Will out-of-state organizations that mail abortion pills stop sending them to Texas?

While mailing of mifepristone is expected to stop if the Supreme Court’s temporary block expires and the 2023 FDA rule goes away, abortion pills will still be mailed into the state. That’s because providers will likely switch to misoprostol-only prescriptions, Ziegler and Rebouche said.

Studies have shown misoprostol-only abortions to also be safe, and the prescription is commonly used around the world, Ziegler said, but may come with additional side effects and potential for complications.

Shield laws would not protect the continued mailing of mifepristone under the 5th Circuit’s ruling and the 2023 FDA rule’s withdrawal because mailing the drug would violate federal regulations and result in penalties. But, the switch to exclusively sending misoprostol would likely make that moot, Ziegler and Rebouche said.

What are anti-abortion advocates saying about pulling the 2023 FDA rule?

Texas Right to Life president John Seago described the ruling as a restoration of a “common sense safeguard,” but stopped short of calling the ruling a full win, as he and other anti-abortion groups have urged the federal government to get more involved in halting abortion access.

“This is not an ultimate victory by any stretch of the imagination,” Seago said.

Seago said that the FDA could pause distribution of abortion pills nationally, and suggested that President Donald Trump could enforce a 150-year-old federal law called the Comstock Act to ban mail access to mifepristone and misoprostol. Texas joined Florida in filing a lawsuit in December seeking to challenge the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, arguing the agency did not properly evaluate the drug and also citing the Comstock Act.

“The rhetorical point we’ve been making is, we expect more and have higher expectations of the federal government, [and] for the FDA there’s a couple of things immediately they can do,” Seago said.

Rebouche said the FDA or Trump administration can’t simply “snap their fingers” and suspend availability of the two drugs, both because the FDA has not shown an immediate harm from the drugs and because any changes would likely be immediately sued and enjoined by a court.

“Somewhere, a court will do that, because there isn’t credible evidence that mifepristone is in any way dangerous or not effective,” Rebouche said.

What are abortion advocates saying about the latest ruling?

Groups that support and help assist access to abortion nationwide called the 5th Circuit’s ruling and subsequent stay from the Supreme Court “chaos” as access to mifepristone was limited and subsequently restored over the course of a few days. They say the latest court actions further chills people from trying to obtain the drug because they think it’s illegal, even though the drug itself is not.

“Today’s stay gives patients and providers only a brief moment to breathe as the dust settles on the most severe blow to abortion access since Dobbs,” Reproductive Freedom for All President and CEO Mini Timmaraju said on May 4 when the Supreme Court issued its temporary block.

In states where abortion is still legal, advocacy groups have pushed for legislators to pass and bolster shield laws allowing residents in states like Texas to maintain access in part through telehealth prescriptions. The courts’ rulings underscore the unpredictable nature of the courts and need for federal abortion protections, Timmaraju said in her statement.

“Blocking the baseless in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone from going into effect for a week may help to offset some disruptions to care following the Fifth Circuit ruling last week — but the underlying threat to access remains just as dire as it was before,” said Kelly Baden, vice president for public policy at the Guttmacher Institute in a statement.

When will a permanent decision be made about mifepristone?

It is currently unclear when the 5th Circuit or the Supreme Court may rule more definitively on the 2023 FDA rule, as the blocking of the 2023 rule came “very quick on the draw” in the appellate court case, Ziegler said.

Disclosure: University of Texas at Austin has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

The president cannot suspend the federal tax on his own. Congress would have to approve the move.

Lawmakers from both parties have pushed for a gas-tax suspension, saying it would provide much-needed relief for families and businesses that rely on their cars and trucks to get to work and school and run everyday errands.

As of Monday, the average national gas price was $4.52 a gallon, according to the AAA motor club, 50% higher than the average price of just under $3 a gallon before Trump began the war against Iran.

What the gas tax supports

The federal tax is currently set at 18.4 cents per gallon on gasoline and 24.4 cents per gallon on diesel fuel, an amount that does not include state taxes, which often are higher. The tax provides more than $23 billion per year in revenue for federal highway and public transit programs.

Asked by reporters at the White House how long the tax should be suspended, Trump said, “Until it’s appropriate.” While the tax is only a small percentage of the price of gas, “it’s still money,” Trump said.

As gas prices have spiked, the Trump administration has released millions of barrels of oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve and temporarily lifted sanctions on some Russian and Iranian oil shipments already at sea. The U.S. is negotiating with countries reliant on Middle East crude to join a coalition to police the Strait of Hormuz, where about one-fifth of the world’s traded oil normally flows.

Trump needs Congress — and they're beginning to react

Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri said on social media Monday that he will introduce legislation to suspend the gas tax. Democrats have previously sponsored similar legislation. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., also said in a post on X that she will introduce a bill “to suspend the federal gas tax in light of Trump’s recent remarks.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Monday he has not “been a fan” of a gas tax suspension, but added: "You know, I’ve got some colleagues out there who think it’s a good idea. So, we’ll hear them out.''

Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, said he'd prefer to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to “normalize gas prices" without legislation. “Obviously, any time you suspend the gas tax, that leaves a big hole in the highway trust fund, which also has implications down the road,” he said.

The ongoing spike in gas prices has set off alarms among some Republicans that it could hurt the party's chances in the midterm elections. Trump has previously said higher fuel prices are worth paying to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.

That hardline message appeared to soften Sunday as Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the Trump administration was “open to all ideas,” including a suspension of the gas tax, during an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

A bill sponsored by Democratic Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Mark Kelly of Arizona would suspend the federal tax through Oct. 1. A similar measure was sponsored in the House by Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas of New Hampshire.

"Trump’s war of choice with Iran is driving up gas prices across the country — and Americans shouldn’t have to bear the additional economic burden of Trump’s reckless decision making,” Blumenthal said in introducing the bill.

Several states, including Indiana and Georgia, have recently suspended their taxes to alleviate high prices amid the war. Kentucky and Utah have reduced their state tax. Other states are weighing similar suspensions or tax reductions.

There are drawbacks, industry group says

The gasoline tax is the single largest source of revenue for federal highway and public transit programs.

While proposed bills would offset any lost Highway Trust Fund revenue with general funds, the tax suspension could raise the federal deficit and jeopardize the long-term sustainability of investments for highway and public transit programs, according to the American Road & Transportation Builders Association, which represents the transportation construction industry.

The group cites studies showing that many retailers do not pass on the full amount of the gas tax reduction to consumers. Research also suggests that state and federal gas taxes are just one component of a complex pricing scheme that includes the global price of oil and other factors.

___

Associated Press writer Kevin Freking contributed to this story.

Justice Samuel Alito’s order Monday allows women seeking abortions to continue obtaining the pill at pharmacies or through the mail, without an in-person visit to a doctor. It prevents restrictions on mifepristone imposed by a federal appeals court from taking effect for the time being.

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

The case before the court stems from a lawsuit Louisiana filed to roll back the Food and Drug Administration’s rules on how mifepristone can be prescribed. The state claims the policy undermines the ban there, and it questions the safety of the drug, which was first approved in 2000 and has repeatedly been deemed safe and effective by FDA scientists.

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

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

The current dispute is similar to one that reached the court three years ago.

Lower courts then also sought to restrict access to mifepristone, in a case brought by physicians who oppose abortion. They filed suit in the months after the court overturned Roe.

The Supreme Court blocked the 5th Circuit ruling from taking effect over the dissenting votes of Alito and Justice Clarence Thomas. Then, in 2024, the high court unanimously dismissed the doctors’ suit, reasoning they did not have the legal right, or standing, to sue.

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

The FDA has eased a number of restrictions initially placed on the drug, including who can prescribe it, how it is dispensed and what kinds of safety complications must be reported.

Despite those determinations, abortion opponents have been challenging the safety of mifepristone for more than 25 years. They have filed a series of petitions and lawsuits against the agency, generally alleging that it violated federal law by overlooking safety issues with the pill.

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

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

Both sides took the silence as an implicit endorsement of the appellate ruling. Alito is both the justice in charge of handling emergency appeals from Louisiana and the author of the 2022 decision that declared abortion is not a constitutional right and returned the issue to the states.

___

Mulvihill reported from Haddonfield, N.J.

___

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

Officers responded at approximately 1:30 p.m. to the 8900 block of Prairie Hill Street after a neighbor told 911 someone inside the house may have been shot.

The victim is believed to be a man in his 30s. The man was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

According to a police report obtained by KSAT, a prospective buyer was looking to purchase a home on Prairie Hill Street from the original homeowner on May 5 — three days before the shooting.

One day later, on May 6, the buyer told police that the victim approached them and asked for work. The buyer agreed to hire the victim to help “cleaning the property” in exchange for money and food, the report states.

The victim also volunteered to look after the property while the buyer was out of town, SAPD said. The buyer told detectives that they messaged the victim, but the victim didn’t respond.

The buyer’s discovery

According to the SAPD report, the buyer returned to the property on Friday with two other people to continue cleaning the property.

Upon arrival, the buyer told detectives that they found the victim “laying on the ground” with “blood on the floor.” The buyer then notified the original homeowner and later called SAPD.

Police officers said they spoke with multiple people who heard about a “scuffle” between the victim and a neighbor, but they could not provide evidence of a fight to SAPD.

While on scene Friday, detectives said a neighbor walked out of a nearby residence and told an officer that he “fought” the victim. Police said the neighbor had “injuries to his face” and was detained for questioning.

Following the questioning of the neighbor, investigators said “there was not enough probable cause” to take the neighbor into custody.

At this time, no suspects have been taken into custody. The department said its investigation is ongoing.

More coverage of this story on KSAT:

• Man with apparent gunshot to head dies inside South Side home, authorities say

Cole Tomas Allen was handcuffed and shackled and wearing an orange jail uniform when he appeared in federal court for his arraignment. Allen didn’t speak during the brief hearing. One of his attorneys entered the plea on his behalf.

Allen’s lawyers are asking U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden to disqualify at least two top Justice Department officials from direct involvement in prosecuting him because they could be considered victims or witnesses in the case, creating a potential conflict of interest.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro were attending the event when Allen ran through a security checkpoint and fired a shotgun at a Secret Service officer, authorities said. In a court filing last week, Allen’s attorneys argued that it creates at least the appearance of a conflict of interest for Blanche and Pirro to be making any prosecutorial decisions in the case.

McFadden, a Trump nominee, didn’t rule from the bench on that question but asked Allen’s attorneys to elaborate on the possible scope of their recusal request. Defense attorney Eugene Ohm said the defense likely would seek to disqualify Pirro’s entire office from involvement in the case. Ohm acknowledged that a bid to disqualify the entire Justice Department would be unlikely.

“That would be quite a request,” the judge said.

McFadden gave prosecutors until May 22 to respond in writing to the defense's request. The judge asked the government to specify whether it believes Pirro and Blanche could be considered victims in the case.

“That might add some clarity here,” McFadden said.

In their filing, Allen's attorneys suggested that the appointment of a special prosecutor might be warranted.

Allen is scheduled to return to court on June 29.

A Secret Service officer was shot once in a bullet-resistant vest during the April 25 attack at the Washington Hilton hotel, which disrupted and ultimately prompted an early end to one of the highest-profile annual events in the nation’s capital. The officer fired five shots but didn't hit anybody, authorities said.

Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, was injured but was not shot.

Besides the attempted-assassination count, Allen also is charged with assaulting a federal officer with a deadly weapon and two additional firearms counts. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted of the attempted assassination charge alone.

Allen was placed on suicide watch after his arrest, but jail officials removed him from that status after several days. Allen’s attorneys complained that he had been unnecessarily confined in a padded room with constant lighting, repeatedly strip searched and placed in restraints outside his cell.

Allen told FBI agents that he didn’t expect to survive the attack, which could help explain why he was deemed to be a possible suicide risk, a Justice Department prosecutor has said.

Allen was outfitted with an ammunition bag, a shoulder gun holster and a sheathed knife when he took a photo of himself in his room at the hotel just minutes before the attack, according to prosecutors. In a message that authorities say sheds light on his motive, Allen referred to himself as a “Friendly Federal Assassin” and alluded obliquely to grievances over a range of actions by Trump's Republican administration.

Authorities have alleged that Allen on April 6 reserved a room for himself at the Hilton where the event would be held weeks later under its typical tight security. He traveled by train cross-country from California, checking himself into the hotel a day before the dinner with a room reserved for the weekend.

Trump was rushed off the stage by his security team at the Saturday night event and appeared at the White House two hours later, still in his tuxedo, to talk about the attack and the suspect.

“When you’re impactful, they go after you. When you’re not impactful, they leave you alone,” the president said. “They seem to think he was a lone wolf.”

The lawsuit comes after state authorities disclosed that ChatGPT gave information to the shooter about what time and location would maximize victims on campus, as well as the type of gun and ammunition to use. Authorities say he was also told that an attack can get more media attention if children are involved.

“OpenAI knew this would happen. It’s happened before and it was only a matter of time before it happened again,” Vandana Joshi, whose husband Tiru Chabba was one of two people killed, said in a statement Monday. Six people were also wounded.

The lawsuit, filed Sunday in federal court, says OpenAI should have built ChatGPT with guardrails to let someone know that police may need to investigate “to prevent a specific plan for imminent harm to the public.”

OpenAI has denied any wrongdoing in what it called a “terrible crime.”

“In this case, ChatGPT provided factual responses to questions with information that could be found broadly across public sources on the internet, and it did not encourage or promote illegal or harmful activity,” Drew Pusateri, a spokesman for the company, said in an email to The Associated Press.

Separately, in April, Florida’s attorney general said there was a rare criminal investigation into ChatGPT over whether the AI tool offered advice to Phoenix Ikner that enabled the April 2025 shooting in Tallahassee. The 21-year-old has pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and several counts of attempted murder. Prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty.

Investigators said Ikner, a Florida State student, was on campus for an hour before he walked in and out of campus buildings and green spaces while firing a handgun. The shooting took place on a weekday just before lunchtime near the school's Student Union, which has food and shops. The lawsuit says Ikner asked ChatGPT about the busiest times there.

Joshi's husband, a 45-year-old father of two from Greenville, South Carolina, was a regional vice president of the food service vendor Aramark Collegiate Hospitality. The other man who was killed, Robert Morales, 57, was a campus dining coordinator at Florida State.

OpenAI “put their profits over our safety and it killed my husband. They need to be responsible before another family has to go through this,” Joshi said in a statement released by her lawyer.

OpenAI is currently valued at $852 billion.

Several lawsuits have sought damages from AI and tech companies over the influence of chatbots and social media on loved ones’ mental health.

In March, a jury in Los Angeles found both Meta and YouTube liable for harms to children using their services. In New Mexico, a jury determined that Meta knowingly harmed children’s mental health and concealed what it knew about child sexual exploitation on its platforms.

___

Associated Press reporter Ed White in Detroit contributed.

Also among the streaming offerings worth your time this week, as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists: The Netflix true crime documentary “The Crash,” pop-punk paragons The All-American Rejects return with their fifth studio album and Season 2 of Stanley Tucci's gastronomic tour “Tucci in Italy” lands on Disney+

New movies to stream from May 11-17

— Théodore Pellerin slyly infiltrates the inner circle of Archie Madekwe’s pop musician Oliver in the psychological thriller “Lurker,” streaming on HBO Max on Friday, May 15. The film explores the parasocial relationship of internet fandoms, and the power dynamics within the entourage of an on-the-cusp star. It was written and directed by Emmy-winner Alex Russell (“The Bear,” “Beef”), who looked to “obsessive thrillers” like “Whiplash” and “Black Swan” for inspiration.

— The Netflix true crime documentary “The Crash” looks into a 2022 car crash in Ohio, in which 17-year-old Mackenzie Shirilla slammed her car into a brick building at 100 mph, killing her boyfriend and his friend, and the conflicting narratives around that night. It begins streaming Friday, May 15. Also coming to Netflix? “Black Phone 2,” streaming on Saturday, May 16, which sees the return of Ethan Hawke’s The Grabber (who, yes, was killed in the first movie) who is intent on getting revenge against Mason Thames four years later.

— AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr

New music to stream from May 11-17

— On Friday, May 15, a new collection from the Colombian superstar Maluma, titled “Loco x Volver,” drops. It’s a celebration of his culture and then some: from the reggaetón/dancehall hybrid “Pa’ la seca” with Ryan Castro to “Con El Corazón” with the late great Yeison Jiménez and everything in between, these are songs that celebrate his roots while modernizing folkloric sounds.

— Pop-punk paragons The All-American Rejects are back, preparing to release their fifth studio album and first full-length in nearly 15 years, since 2012’s “Kids in the Street.” It’s called “Sandbox.” Expect what they’re known for: Big hooks, big chords, big choruses and bigger fun.

— AP Music Writer Maria Sherman

New series to stream from May 11-17

— “Pop Culture Jeopardy!” has a new home for its second season. The game show, hosted by Colin Jost, makes the jump to Netflix beginning Monday, with a new episode dropping each weekday through June 5. Sample categories include “bummer movie endings,” “Broadway on the big screen” and “TV of the 2010s.” If trending topics make up your FYP on TikTok, this one’s for you.

— Stanley Tucci is fresh off a world tour to promote “The Devil Wears Prada 2” and now he’s taking us to Italy for season two of “Tucci in Italy.” In the new episodes, the actor visits regions like Sicily, Campania and Sardinia to meet with locals and eat food native to those areas. Travel along on Disney+ and Hulu beginning Tuesday.

— Fans have to wait until 2027 for a new season of “Heated Rivalry” but there’s another series available in the hockey romance genre. “Off Campus” debuts its first season on Prime Video on Wednesday. It’s about the love lives of a group of college hockey players. Each season follows a different relationship. The leads of Season 1 are Belmont Cameli and Ella Bright, while Season 2, starring Antonio Cipriano and India Fowler, begins filming very soon.

— Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser’s long-awaited “Yellowstone” spinoff debuts Friday, May 15, on Paramount+. “Dutton Ranch” takes place one year after the events of the series finale of “Yellowstone” and characters Beth and Rip have relocated to Texas. They’ve got a new ranch now but if we’ve learned anything from the other shows, owning land can be very dangerous. Annette Bening and Ed Harris also star.

— Alicia Rancilio

New video games to play from May 11-17

— U.K. developer Supermassive Games has built its reputation on horror gems like “Until Dawn” and “The Quarry” that evoked classic movies like “Friday the 13th.” For its latest thriller, “Directive 8020,” the inspiration appears to be “Alien” and “The Thing.” You are 12 light years from Earth when your colony ship crashes on Tau Ceti f. The organisms there aren’t happy to meet you, and they are quite adept at imitating their prey. Can you trust your crewmates? Can you prevent the predators from hitching a ride when you try to return home? Things start getting squishy Tuesday on PlayStation 5, Xbox X/S and PC.

— Lou Kesten

Trump in December authorized an $11 billion arms package for Taiwan — the largest weapons sale ever to the island — but has not yet moved forward with delivery and even acknowledged that he's discussed the sale with Xi. He's groused that Taiwan “stole” America’s semiconductor business and called on Taiwan to pay the U.S. for protection.

All the while, Trump has, with the threat of hefty tariffs, prodded Taipei to agree to massive investments in U.S. semiconductor manufacturing and to purchase billions of dollars’ worth of U.S. liquefied natural gas and crude oil.

The president during an Oval Office exchange with reporters on Monday said that he expected Xi would ask him to hold back on arming Taiwan.

“I’m going to have that discussion with President Xi,” Trump said about China's strong opposition to the U.S. providing weapons to Taiwan. “President Xi would like us not to, and I’ll have that discussion.”

Trump's rhetoric is fueling speculation in Beijing, Taipei and Washington about America’s commitment to help the island defend itself and whether the Republican president could be persuaded to cede ground on the long-standing U.S. posture toward the island.

Taiwan’s backers are concerned that Taipei will be “on the menu” when Trump and Xi sit down for talks, said retired U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery.

“I do worry that we have a transactional president and a transactional opportunity could arise, and then we would have a challenge,” said Montgomery, now with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington think tank that supports robust U.S. backing of Taiwan.

Rubio says US policy is unchanged

The Chinese have signaled they intend to make Taiwan a central part of the talks. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi raised Taiwan during a call with Secretary of State Marco Rubio to prepare for the trip, and urged the United States to “make the right choices” about its policies toward the island in order to safeguard “stability” between the two nations, according to a statement by the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

But Rubio said U.S. policy has not changed. “We don’t want to see any forced or compelled change in the situation,” he told reporters in Rome on Friday, saying it “would be destabilizing to the world.” He noted that Taiwan would not be “a feature of our trip, but it’ll certainly be an item that’s discussed.”

White House officials have underscored that Trump, who also approved $330 million in aircraft parts for Taiwan's military in November, has already approved more in military sales for Taiwan in the first year of his second term than the roughly $8.4 billion that Democratic President Joe Biden approved over his four years in office.

Taiwan has been under pressure from the Trump administration to increase its defense spending, and on Friday its lawmakers broke months of gridlock to approve $25 billion in arms purchases. It was significantly less than the $40 billion proposal put forward last year by Taiwan President Lai Ching-te. A senior Trump administration official, who spoke to reporters on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House, said it was disappointing that the parliament did not fully fund Lai's proposal.

Taiwanese government officials have expressed concern about China's rhetoric ahead of the summit, though they've also taken some comfort from Rubio's measured comments.

“(China) may attempt some maneuvering during the talks, but the U.S. has repeatedly reiterated, through both public and private channels, that its policy toward Taiwan remains unchanged,” National Security Bureau Director-General Tsai Ming-yen told reporters.

Xi may look to loosen US-Taiwan ties

The key question, China experts say, is just how far Xi will try to go in his effort to prod Trump closer to Beijing's view.

China sees the self-ruled Taiwan as a renegade province, to be annexed by force if necessary. It prohibits countries it has diplomatic relations with from having formal ties with Taipei. Since establishing diplomatic relations with modern China in 1979, the U.S. has managed to stay within the framework of Beijing’s demands while maintaining informal support for Taiwan and providing it with arms.

As part of the U.S. ambiguity on Taiwan, Washington acknowledges Beijing’s position that Taiwan is part of China but does not explicitly endorse it. The U.S. has also historically stated it “does not support” Taiwan’s independence and opposes unilateral changes to the status quo between Taiwan and China.

But analysts say Xi could seek to persuade Trump — who already has demonstrated a willingness to blur the lines of traditional diplomacy — to loosen ties with Taiwan through curbs on U.S. arms sales or with informal limits on visits by prominent U.S. officials to the island. In February, Trump suggested he broke from longstanding U.S. policy and consulted with Xi on arms sales to Taiwan.

“Even if we don’t see something as dramatic as a formal shift in declaratory policy, this time around, there is always a risk that President Trump may make an off-the-cuff remark given he’s not necessarily somebody who appreciates the nuances of longstanding policy language,” said Patricia Kim of the Assessing China Project at Brookings Institution in Washington.

White House sits out Japan-China rift

A row between U.S. ally Japan and China has also raised speculation about the strength of Trump's commitment to Taiwan. In November, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said a Chinese attack on Taiwan was of concern to the region and could constitute “a survival-threatening situation” for Japan, requiring the use of force.

Trump made back-to-back calls with Takaichi and Xi that same month, though he's remained largely silent about the spat.

“I know they have a little bit of an edgy relationship,” Trump said as he hosted Takaichi for talks in March.

Additionally, Trump’s backing of Taiwan faced scrutiny after the 2026 U.S. National Defense Strategy omitted direct mention of the island.

The best-case scenario for Taiwan

One card Taiwan holds is its robust semiconductor sector, the world’s largest, which the U.S. relies on to maintain an edge in its advanced-technology race against China.

“Trump at the very least realizes the role that Taiwan plays in the U.S.’s economic growth,” said Lev Nachman, a political science professor at National Taiwan University. “So I think that is sort of the main silver lining in thinking that nothing drastic will change in terms of policy toward Taiwan.”

While Trump is known for his transactional nature, his administration has not viewed difficult aspects of the U.S.-China relationship as “fungible” issues that can be traded, said Edgard Kagan, a former senior State Department official who served under Trump and Biden on East Asia policy issues.

“The president understands leverage. My experience of being in meetings with him, he has a very, very acute sense of how to use it,” said Kagan, who is now the China Studies chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “And so I think that the idea that there’s going to be a trade where the president sort of sacrifices U.S. interests in Taiwan in order to get other things — I think it’s unlikely based on my own experience of how he operates.”

In the end, whether the island comes out of the Xi-Trump summit on a stronger or weaker footing will likely be judged by the leaders’ public statements.

Trump on Monday reiterated that he's confident that Xi won't take military action against Taiwan under his watch.

“I think the best-case scenario Taiwan can hope for is that Taiwan is not talked about publicly or, at the very least, in a minimal way,” Nachman said.

___

Mistreanu reported from Taipei. Associated Press writer Giada Zampano in Rome contributed to this report.

Missouri’s football program announced in a statement that Hardy was shot early Sunday morning and that the All-America running back underwent surgery for the gunshot wound later that day.

WJTV 12 News reported Hardy was shot in the upper leg, according to police, and the Laurel (Mississippi) Leader-Call reported the shooting happened at an outdoor concert at a bike club in Laurel.

“There had been a scheduled concert there of some rappers, or maybe a couple of different rappers,” Laurel police Sgt. Macon Davis told the Leader-Call. “It drew a large crowd, and then gunshots rang out at the end.”

Three people of interest were in custody, Davis told the Leader-Call. He described the scene as a “melee," saying at least two people were injured and it was a miracle others were not.

The Associated Press left Davis a voicemail requesting more information.

Missouri said it would provide more information on Hardy’s status as it becomes available.

“Ahmad is deeply loved by his teammates, coaches, friends, family and fans,” the statement said. “We will continue to stand beside him and his family through this difficult time, offering our love, prayers, strength and support. A timeline for his return to football activities is unknown at this time.”

Hardy earned first-team Associated Press All-America honors last season and was one of three finalists for the Doak Walker Award given annually to college football’s top running back. He rushed for 1,649 yards to rank second among all Bowl Subdivision players.

Hardy is from Oma, Mississippi. He started his college career at Louisiana-Monroe but transferred to Missouri before the 2025 season.

___

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

Sanctions were also slapped on seven centers suspected of indoctrinating the children or training them to serve in the armed forces, either for Russia or pro-Russian militias inside Ukraine.

Over 130 people and “entities” are now under EU travel bans and asset freezes over the abductions.

EU headquarters said the measures target “those responsible for the systematic unlawful deportation, forced transfer, forced assimilation, including indoctrination and militarized education, of Ukrainian minors, as well as their unlawful adoption and removal to the Russian Federation and within temporarily occupied territories.”

Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, about 20,500 children have been unlawfully deported or forcibly transferred to Russia or Russian-held territories in eastern Ukraine.

EU officials say many of the children are stripped of their Ukrainian identity and culture, given Russian passports and put up for adoption. Some are forced into schools for indoctrination or into military camps.

“Russia is trying to erase their identity,” Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braže said Monday at a meeting with EU counterparts in Brussels, where the sanctions were endorsed. “When you look at the Genocide Convention, it’s one of the features of the genocide crime. So, it’s very serious.”

The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for war crimes, accusing him of personal responsibility for the abductions.

Around 2,200 children have been returned, but identifying them is complicated. Those taken at a young age can be difficult to recognize just a few years later. Getting them home is a harrowing task, and while Ukraine has reintegration structures in place some may face a long period of adaption when they return.

The EU on Monday was hosting, alongside Canada, a meeting of the 47-country International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children to increase diplomatic pressure on Russia and rally support for work to verify and trace those who are taken.

“War has really many faces, but stealing the children is really one of the most horrific,” EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos said ahead of the gathering. “We should stop this, and Russia should pay.”

The officials targeted by Monday’s sanctions include the heads of children’s camps, government representatives and military officers in charge of youth training.

One of the 16 named was Lilya Shvetsova, head of the “Red Carnation” camp in occupied Crimea. The EU said she supervised “activities aimed at shaping the political and ideological views of children present at the facility, including Ukrainian children.”

Like others on the list, she was determined to be “supporting and implementing actions and policies contributing to the deportation, forced transfer, forced assimilation, including indoctrination, or militarized education of Ukrainian minors.”

Apple Corps Ltd, the company founded by the Fab Four, announced Monday that it will open a new seven-floor fan experience at the company's early headquarters. The building is the place where the band's “Let It Be” album was recorded and its rooftop was the site of the Beatles' last public performance on Jan. 30, 1969.

The attraction in central London will allow fans access to the rooftop, studios and extensive Beatles archives.

“It was such a trip to get back to 3 Savile Row recently and have a look around. There are so many special memories within the walls, not to mention the rooftop. The team have put together some really impressive plans and I’m excited for people to see it when it’s ready,” Paul McCartney said in a statement announcing the attraction.

“Wow, it's like coming home,” Ringo Starr said in a statement.

An opening date for the attraction has not yet been announced.

Interest in the Beatles remains high, with four biopics in production. Peter Jackson's 2021 documentary series, “The Beatles: Get Back,” relied heavily on footage filmed during the “Let It Be” recording sessions and of the farewell rooftop performance.

In 2023, artificial intelligence helped create the final Beatles recording, the song “Now and Then,” which relied on recordings by the original Beatles.

The stalled diplomacy and recent exchanges of fire could tip the Middle East back into open warfare and prolong the worldwide energy crisis sparked by the conflict. Iran still has a chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for global oil and gas shipments, and America is blockading Iranian ports.

Asked at the White House if the ceasefire was still in effect, Trump said it’s on “life support.”

“I would call it the weakest right now after reading that piece of garbage they sent us,” Trump added. “I didn’t even finish reading it.”

Trump also said he supported a suspension of the federal tax on gasoline — just over 18 cents per gallon and 24 cents for diesel. Congress, which is controlled by Republicans, would have to approve. The tax brings in more than $23 billion each year.

His pledge came after fuel prices surged past $4.50 a gallon last week. Trump predicted that the price of oil and gas would drop “like a rock” as soon as hostilities are over.

The two sides remain far apart

Trump has demanded a major rollback of Iran’s nuclear activities, while Iran is pushing for a more limited agreement that would reopen the strait and lift the blockade ahead of further negotiations.

On Monday, Trump claimed that Iran had said it would allow the U.S. to come in and help extract its highly enriched uranium but went back on that in its latest ceasefire proposal. “They changed their mind because they didn’t put it in the paper,” he said.

Iran has not publicly agreed to give up its uranium, saying it has a right to enrich and that its nuclear program is entirely peaceful.

Two regional officials told The Associated Press that Iran has offered to dilute part of its highly enriched uranium and transport the rest to a third country. Russia has previously offered to take it. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive diplomacy.

Trump is expected to use a trip this week to China to urge President Xi Jinping to pressure Iran. Beijing is the biggest buyer of Iran’s sanctioned crude oil, giving it leverage.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who launched the war with Trump on Feb. 28, has also demanded that all of Iran's highly enriched uranium be removed from the country.

He told CBS’ “60 Minutes” in an interview that aired Sunday that if that can't be accomplished with negotiations, Israel and the U.S. agree “we can reengage them militarily.”

Iran's proposal included far-reaching demands

Iran's proposal asked that the U.S. recognize its sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, formalizing its control over the international waterway. Iran has effectively closed the strait since the start of the war, allowing only a small number of ships to pass and charging tolls.

But experts say such an arrangement would likely violate international law that provides for freedom of navigation. That proposal is also likely to be widely rejected by the international community. The strait was open to international traffic before the war.

Iran is also demanding war reparations from the U.S., the lifting of international sanctions, the unfreezing of Iranian assets held abroad and an end to the war between Israel and Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah, according to Iranian state TV.

Israel and Hezbollah have continued to exchange blows, mainly in southern Lebanon, since a nominal ceasefire took hold last month.

“We did not demand any concessions — the only thing we demanded was Iran’s legitimate rights,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Monday. “The American side still insists on its one-sided views and unreasonable demands.”

Pakistan still trying to negotiate a deal

Two regional diplomats familiar with the ongoing talks said that Pakistan was continuing its efforts to broker a compromise.

One of the diplomats said Pakistan was trying to arrange a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the war and paving the way for a broader dialogue on issues where the two sides remain divided.

Pakistan had hoped to help finalize the memorandum last week, but the effort did not materialize, and mediators are still working on various proposals, the diplomat said.

The diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the behind-the-scenes diplomacy, added that Islamabad is receiving support from other regional countries in its peace efforts.

Iran keeps up its executions

Meanwhile, Iran executed another man it accused of spying for both the CIA and Israel's Mossad intelligence service. Iran's state-run IRNA news agency said Erfan Shakourzadeh had worked on satellite communications and relayed classified information to those intelligence services.

Iran has carried out a string of executions since nationwide protests swept the country in January. Activist groups have long accused Iran of carrying out closed-door trials during which defendants are unable to fully defend themselves. Iran's judiciary chief has repeatedly said that Tehran would increase the speed with which it carried out hangings to fight back against its enemies at home and abroad.

___

Magdy reported from Cairo and Kim from Washington. Associated Press reporter Munir Ahmed in Islamabad contributed.

Heather Diane Aguilar, 48, was taken into custody for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, SAPD said.

Officers responded to the stabbing just after 3 a.m. Sunday in the 1200 block of Art Wall Way.

According to police, officers were told that the man and a separate witness were having a physical altercation.

SAPD said Aguilar stepped in and allegedly stabbed the man with a “sharp item.” The man was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries.

Aguilar was booked into the Bexar County Adult Detention Center on a $50,000 bond, jail records show.

SAPD’s investigation is ongoing.

Read also:

• BCSO: Man dead after suffering gunshot wound, found unconscious outside far West Side home

James Brennand, 31, has been charged with aggravated assault by a public servant, a first-degree felony. In October 2022, police records showed Brennand fired multiple shots at a BMW driven by Erik Cantu, who was 17 at the time.

Court records describe Monday’s court appearance as a “pre-trial motions hearing.”

During Monday’s hearing, Judge Joel Perez allowed for files from SAPD’s internal affairs (IA) to be given to the defense under a protective order. The City of San Antonio had previously filed a motion preventing those files from being turned over.

Watch Monday’s full court appearance below.

Last fall, Perez — who presides over Bexar County’s 437th Criminal District Court — denied Brennand’s request for a trial delay.

When Brennand made his first 2026 court appearance last month, Perez tentatively scheduled jury selection for July 21.

Background

Brennand, who was fired from the San Antonio Police Department three days after the shooting, was captured on body camera footage opening the door of Cantu’s vehicle and shooting at him as Cantu attempted to drive away.

Brennand made his most recent court appearance in April.

The shooting drew national attention. Cantu suffered serious injuries and spent months recovering.

In unrelated developments, Cantu, now 21, was sentenced to two years in prison on April 1 after he violated his probation multiple times.

Weeks after the first sentencing, Cantu was sentenced to time served by Judge Mary Roman inside Bexar County’s Court at Law No. 8. The case stemmed from a 2024 Class A misdemeanor assault.

Cantu was on probation at the time of the assault.

Ultimately, Roman decided the “time served” sentence was adequate due to the prison sentence Cantu received on April 1 for violating his probation multiple times. This means he will not serve any additional prison time due to the misdemeanor assault conviction.

If found guilty of the charge, Brennand could face up to life in prison.

More recent coverage of this story on KSAT:

• Erik Cantu receives time served sentence stemming from 2024 misdemeanor assault case
• Trial for former SAPD officer accused of shooting Erik Cantu multiple times set to start in July
• Erik Cantu sentenced to 2 years in prison following probation violations
• High-profile court cases set to dominate 2026 in Bexar County, South Texas

Gregory Ix, executive vice president of leasing at Big V Property Group, the owner and manager of the Northwest Side retail center, said that Cavender’s is slated to open later this year. CoStar reported in March that Cavender’s had bid $750,000 for two Off 5th leases — one in San Antonio and another in Cypress.

The Saks Off 5th at 5819 Worth Parkway announced its plans to close in February after New York-based Saks Global filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection at the start of the year, prompting the closure of over 50 of its off-price storefronts.

Read more of this story at the San Antonio Business Journal website.

Editor’s note: This story was published through a partnership between KSAT and the San Antonio Business Journal.

More SABJ coverage on KSAT:

• San Antonio scores new indoor sports and entertainment venue

SAPD identified the suspect as Damion Saldana in an updated preliminary report obtained by KSAT on Monday.

Officers responded to the shooting around 7:50 p.m. on May 7 in the 4800 block of Lord Road, which is located near South W.W. White Road.

The victim, who has yet to be identified, was pronounced dead at the scene, SAPD said.

Officers determined that Saldana had fled the scene in a black SUV, the report stated.

Authorities later found the vehicle and four people were detained for further questioning, police said.

Saldana was booked into the Bexar County Adult Detention Center on a $250,000 bond, where he remains in custody, records show.

Read also:

• West Side argument ends after suspect runs over man with vehicle, SAPD says
• Man shot in head during argument on South Side, police say

According to ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania, Wembanyama will face no additional “suspension” or “fine” following his ejection on Sunday night.

There will be no further discipline for Spurs star Victor Wembanyama after he was ejected for elbowing Naz Reid in Minnesota on Sunday night, sources tell ESPN. No suspension, no fine. Wembanyama will play in Game 5 against the Timberwolves on Tuesday night in San Antonio. pic.twitter.com/GOGCbIcbQP

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) May 11, 2026

Wembanyama was kicked out of the game early in the second quarter of Game 4 after he threw an elbow that connected with the neck of Timberwolves forward Naz Reid.

Referees deemed the foul a “Flagrant Foul Penalty 2,” which the NBA describes as “unnecessary and excessive contact committed by a player against an opponent.”

Status alert: Victor Wembanyama has been ejected Sunday after being assessed a Flagrant 2 foul. pic.twitter.com/G02YylonQE

— Underdog NBA (@UnderdogNBA) May 11, 2026

A player who commits a “Flagrant Foul Penalty 2″ is automatically ejected from the game, according to league protocol.

The Spurs were able to cling to a four-point lead entering the fourth quarter. However, Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards scored 16 of his 36 points in the final period to help Minnesota tie the best-of-seven series at 2.

Game 5 is scheduled to tip off at 7 p.m. from the Frost Bank Center. The game will air on NBC.

More recent Race For Seis coverage on KSAT:

• Late Timberwolves rally guides Timberwolves past Spurs after Wembanyama’s ejection
• Wembanyama gets ejected early in Spurs-Wolves Game 4 for elbowing Reid and drawing a Flagrant 2 foul

Existing home sales edged up 0.2% last month from March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.02 million units, the National Association of Realtors said Monday. Sales were unchanged compared to April last year.

The latest sales figure fell short of the roughly 4.12 million pace economists were expecting, according to FactSet.

Sales have been hovering close to a 4-million annual pace now going back to 2023, far short of the historic norm that is closer to 5.2-million.

And home prices continued to rise nationally last month, albeit at a slower rate. The U.S. median sales price increased 0.9% in April from a year earlier to $417,700, an all-time high for any April on data going back to 1999, NAR said. Home prices have risen on an annual basis for 34 months in a row.

The U.S. housing market has been in a slump since 2022, when mortgage rates began to climb from pandemic-era lows. Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes were essentially flat last year, stuck at a 30-year low. They have remained sluggish so far this year, declining from a year earlier through the first three months of this year.

“This spring homebuying season, so far all the way through April, we can say we are not predicting any increase compared to one year ago,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist.

While average incomes are now rising at a faster pace than U.S. home prices, affordability remains a major hurdle for aspiring homeowners.

Years of soaring home prices, especially in the early part of this decade when rock-bottom mortgage rates fueled a buying frenzy, have left many would-be homebuyers frozen out of the market. And a chronic shortage of homes for sale nationally, due partly to years of below-average new home construction, has helped prop up home prices even in a multiyear sales slump.

Homes purchased last month likely went under contract in February and March, when the average rate on a 30-year mortgage ranged from 5.98% — its lowest level in three and a half years — to 6.38%, according to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac. The average rate was at 6.37% last week.

While the average rate has remained below where it was a year ago, it has been fluctuating since the war with Iran began, as surging energy prices fuel anxiety about higher inflation.

Those who can afford to buy are benefiting from more properties on the market, although home inventory levels remain well below historical norms.

There were 1.47 million unsold homes at the end of April, up 5.8% from March and up 1.4% from April last year, NAR said. That’s the most homes on the market for the month of April going back to 2019, when the month-end inventory stood at 1.83 million homes.

That’s still short of the roughly 2 million homes for sale that was typical before the COVID-19 pandemic.

April’s month-end inventory translates to a 4.4-month supply at the current sales pace. Traditionally, a 5- to 6-month supply is considered a balanced market between buyers and sellers.

“We really need to see 30% growth in inventory, but we’re not really seeing that,” Yun said.

One factor helping boost the supply of homes for sale is many properties are sitting on the market longer. Properties typically remained on the market for 32 days last month before selling, down from 41 days in March, but up from 29 days in April last year, NAR said.

As homes take longer to sell, asking prices have started falling in many metro areas, especially in the South and Midwest. The national median home listing price was down in April from a year earlier, according to Realtor.com.

• RAINFALL: Ranged from 0.25″ to 1.00″
• QUIET TODAY: Warm afternoon
• TEMPS THIS WEEK: Becoming hot by Wednesday
• NEXT RAIN CHANCE?: Not until the weekend

FORECAST

RAINFALL

TODAY

Low humidity and pleasant temps with lots of sun. A high in the low-80s. No need to worry about storms waking you up tonight -- it’ll stay quiet the rest of the week.

REST OF THE WEEK

We’ve hit a lull in the pattern. Don’t expect much until things gets more active by the weekend. Even then, only small, isolated chances for rain are in the forecast.

That said, it’s also important to keep in mind that late May is often San Antonio’s most active stretch. There is more hope for rain down the line!

QUICK WEATHER LINKS

• WATCH LIVE: Doppler Radar
• Hourly and 10-Day Forecast
• Download FREE KSAT Weather Authority App: Up-to-date forecast information and livestreams from trusted local meteorologists.
• KSAT Connect: Share your weather photos.

A child was originally hospitalized in critical condition, but a University Health spokesperson later told KSAT the child is now in fair condition.

The hospital’s trauma unit is treating the child for burns suffered in the first explosion.

Crews responded to the initial fire around 6 p.m. Tuesday in the 15000 block of Preston Hollow Drive, which is located near Thousand Oaks Drive.

Around 8:30 p.m., however, KSAT crews heard a loud “boom” and saw flames shooting out of a second home nearby.

CPS Energy sent KSAT an updated statement just before 10 p.m. on Thursday, where a spokesperson for the utility said for the first time, “Electric and gas services in the Preston Hollow subdivision are clear and safe.”

Marc Whyte, the District 10 councilman, said his office and the city are currently working on creating a website to give out updates on the investigation as they become available.

CPS Energy will keep its customer response unit at the Northeast Senior Center through Sunday.

In an updated statement sent on Sunday, the utility said its CPS Energy Customer Response Unit and gas team members are helping customers relight gas pilot lights and answering questions about natural gas service upon request.

CPS Energy is also arranging debris cleanup in the area and has assisted more than two dozen customers since Tuesday.

CPS Energy said if any customers at any point smell gas, they should leave the house immediately and call CPS Energy at 210-353-HELP (4357) or 911.

North East ISD teacher, pastor among those injured

Two adults and one child suffered burns and were hospitalized after the first explosion. Two additional adults were hospitalized as a result of the second explosion.

One of those hospitalized is a teacher at MacArthur High School. A North East Independent School District spokesperson told KSAT that the injured educator is Kimberly Nowell, who teaches math at the school.

Nowell’s husband, Tim, is a pastor at Wayside Chapel, a North Side church located in the 1700 block of Northwest Loop 410.

On Monday, May 11, a hospital spokesperson said Tim Nowell is in serious condition, while Kimberly Nowell remains in critical condition.

The couple’s teenage daughter also attends the school, according to a letter sent Wednesday to MacArthur High School parents and guardians.

“I have already met with our staff to inform them of this tragic situation,” MacArthur High School Principal Joaquin Hernandez wrote in the letter obtained by KSAT. “Additionally, Ms. Nowell’s classes are being supported with the assistance of our counselors and administrative team. Our priority is to ensure students have immediate access to support.”

According to Wayside Chapel, Nowell is a “student pastor” who has served in that ministry for more than 17 years.

Jason Uptmore, the church’s lead pastor, released a statement to KSAT on Wednesday afternoon.

“We are grateful that Tim, Kim, and Ali (the couple’s daughter) are stable,” Uptmore said, in part. “Tim and his family are deeply woven into the fabric of who we are as a church. We recognize that the road ahead will be long, but we are committed to walking with them.”

A Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC) spokesperson identified the other two explosion victims to KSAT as Mayte Reeves and Jose Ochoa.

Reeves was previously in critical condition, but is now listed as “serious.” Ochoa is in good condition and has been released from the hospital, the BAMC spokesperson said.

SAFD’s response

The first fire was extinguished “very quickly” and was likely related to a natural gas buildup, the fire department said.

The first house sustained significant damage and will likely be demolished.

In all, 10 homes along Preston Hollow Drive were evacuated following the explosions, SAFD Chief Valerie Frausto said.

Some residents can return home

Whyte told KSAT all residents except for six households on Preston Hollow Drive can return home Wednesday night, April 22.

The six households who cannot return include the two homes where the explosions occurred and immediate neighbors on that side of the street.

Police said the residents on the other side of Preston Hollow Drive are on a different power grid, but the ones where the explosions happened are not.

Affected residents being housed in temporary accommodations

In a Facebook post from Whyte, impacted residents are being housed in Airbnbs temporarily as crews work to continue clearing the homes under evacuation orders.

As of 5 p.m. Wednesday, the utility said its unit has “connected with more than two dozen residents.” Any additional impacted customers are encouraged to call 210-353-2783.

A CPS Energy spokesperson said the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will lead the investigation into both explosions. Going forward, the utility will “coordinate any updates” with NTSB, the spokesperson said.

According to the agency’s statement earlier Wednesday, it shut off power in the area to keep customers safe.

Click here for the latest update on power outages.

In a statement Tuesday night, District 10 Councilman Marc Whyte, whose district includes Preston Hollow Drive, said, “CPS will work with all displaced people on hotel costs.”

“Any displaced residents should call our office tomorrow and we will help them be reimbursed,” Whyte said.

In a follow-up statement on Wednesday afternoon, the councilman said he is standing “with those affected as they begin the recovery process.”

“We are deeply grateful for the swift and professional response from our first responders, as well as the continued support from the Red Cross, CPS Energy, and the Northeast Senior Center,” Whyte said on Wednesday. “Their efforts have been critical in ensuring public safety and assisting those in need.”

Whyte also said anyone impacted by Tuesday’s explosions are asked to contact the District 10 office.

If anyone thinks they smell gas in their homes, CPS Energy said they should leave their house immediately and call CPS Energy at 210-353-HELP (4357) or 911.

Lawsuits filed against CPS Energy

Jose Ochoa and Mayte Terrie Reeves filed a joint lawsuit on Monday, April 27, in Bexar County district court, accusing CPS Energy of negligence after they were injured in the explosions.

Two days after the April 27 filing, court records show Reeves and Ochoa nullified the suit and sought a different law firm to represent them.

The residents officially filed their new lawsuit on May 5, according to documents obtained by KSAT Investigates. Lyons & Simmons, LLP, a Dallas-based law firm, now represents Reeves and Ochoa.

Lyons & Simmons, LLP is the same firm that took on the lawsuit of an East Side family injured in a 2021 house explosion.

Last year, a Bexar County jury ordered CPS Energy to pay the family $109 million in damages. A CPS Energy spokesperson later said the utility only paid the East Side family $3 million.

On April 21, Ochoa and Reeves’ home was the second to explode in the 15000 block of Preston Hollow Drive.

According to the lawsuit, Ochoa and Reeves were evacuated after the first explosion but were then told it was safe to return home.

Their lawyers claim the explosion at their home was “entirely preventable.”

“Though Plaintiffs (Reeves and Ochoa) survived, the Explosion and resulting fire left them catastrophically injured and permanently scarred,” the suit alleges. “They face a long, painful road ahead and their lives have been irreparably altered.”

As a result of the explosion, the victims are requesting a jury trial and are seeking $1 million each in damages.

Lawyers are also accusing CPS Energy of being negligent by “failing to hire, equip, and train competent and skilled workers” to safely operate its natural gas system around the home.

“CPS Energy had actual, subjective awareness of the risk but proceeded with a conscious indifference to the rights, safety, or welfare of others,” the new lawsuit states. “CPS Energy’s conduct, acts, and/or omissions, singularly or in combination with others, constituted gross negligence which proximately caused the Explosion and Plaintiffs’ injuries and damages.”

A CPS Energy spokeswoman told KSAT after Ochoa and Reeves’ April 27 lawsuit that the utility does not comment on active litigation.

Timothy Nowell, Kimberly Nowell and their daughter — who were all injured in the first house explosion — filed their own lawsuit alleging accusing CPS Energy of negligence on May 8.

The Nowell family, who is also represented by Lyons & Simmons, LLP, is seeking more than $1 million each in damages following the blast.

NTSB takes role of lead investigator

In a statement to KSAT on Thursday, April 23, the National Transportation Safety Board confirmed that it is investigating the natural gas-fueled explosions on Preston Hollow Drive.

The NTSB said its investigation will be centered around witness statements, available incident footage, the weather around the time of the explosions, pipeline operating practices and procedures, pipeline maintenance records, the extent and path of released gas or hazardous liquid and other information.

The federal agency expects to release a preliminary report in approximately 30 days, which will “contain factual information gathered during the initial phase of the investigation.”

A probable cause of the explosions, as well as any contributing factors, will be released in a more comprehensive report in approximately 12 to 24 months, the NTSB said.

When the homes were built

Bexar County property records show one of the homes involved in the explosions was built in 1993.

The other home was built in 2000, according to records.

More coverage of this story on KSAT:

• 5 hospitalized, 3 in critical condition, after home explosions on North Side, SAFD says

The announcement ends Teach for America’s teacher placement partnership with the district, which has lasted for more than 15 years. Other partnerships will remain untouched.

SAISD currently has 25 full-time teachers through Teach for America, whose contracts will end at the end of the school year and will not be renewed.

There are 22 other teachers on SAISD campuses whose contracts extend until the end of next school year, and those teachers will remain until their contracts expire.

The district said its announcement does not impact Teach for America’s summer and tutoring programs, and that those partnerships will continue as is.

SAISD said it is focused on developing internal pathways for teacher development.

“While some corps members remain in the district after two years of service,” the district said in a statement, “our focus is shifting to retention and career pathways.”

“To increase the likelihood of teachers staying in the classroom longer,” the statement continued, “SAISD is focused on replacing external corps members with internal Homegrown candidates through our certification support pathways and registered apprenticeship work.”

One of these programs includes its teacher apprenticeship program at Travis Early College High School, which offers students the opportunity to graduate with an associate’s degree in education, and paid opportunities to teach while they finish college.

The first batch of students will graduate this month, but only 15 of them will become apprentices and won’t lead their own classrooms for two more years.

Despite this, SAISD said it does not anticipate the shift will increase teacher vacancies.

“SAISD has a variety of pathway programs and support to bring in additional support,” a spokesperson told KSAT. “We hire and onboard hundreds of teachers a year.”

While the district spokesperson did not specify its exact plan to replace the 25 teacher positions, they provided examples of its other pathways used to develop “homegrown” teachers:

• Teacher Residents: a paid, benefits-eligible clinical teaching experience that offers a year of guided support before taking over a classroom independently
• Alamo College Network: Support of registered apprenticeship path, seamless transition into bachelor’s degrees and SAISD employment
• Traditional clinical teacher pipelines
• Partnerships with Ready-to-Work, SAISD Foundation and ESC Region 20

Every year, the district paid Teach for America $4,000 per teacher who worked for SAISD in their first two years of service.

That represents a cost savings of $200,000 over the next two years, which a district spokesperson confirmed factored into its decision to terminate the partnership as it faces a deficit.

In a statement to KSAT, Teach for America said it appreciates its continued collaboration with SAISD, and that it will continue supporting the more than 70 alumni members of the program currently serving as teachers and staff within the district.

Teach for America added that it continues to provide teachers and assistance for other districts in the San Antonio area.

Related teacher shortage stories:

• Federal government certifies SAISD program that prepares HS students for teaching careers
• Amid teacher shortages, San Antonio programs let HS students start educator career track early

Officers were dispatched to the crash just after 10:30 a.m. Sunday at Las Palmas Shopping Center near South General McMullen and Wallace Street.

A man driving a black pickup truck was heading southbound on General McMullen and attempted to make a left turn, police said.

However, the pickup truck driver did not yield to traffic and struck the motorcycle, SAPD stated.

The motorcyclist, identified as a 37-year-old man, was ejected from the vehicle. He was later taken to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries, police said.

The pickup truck continued to head east into a parking lot and struck two additional vehicles, SAPD said.

Police at the scene told KSAT that the driver of the pickup truck is not expected to face charges, calling the crash “just an unfortunate accident.”

SAPD said its investigation into the crash is ongoing.

Read also:

• Motorcyclist critically injured after losing control, striking guardrail on North Side, SAPD says

The House, which is dominated by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s allies, voted 257-25 with nine abstentions. The two impeachment complaints against Duterte, which will now be elevated to the Senate for a trial, mark an initial setback to her plan to seek the presidency in 2028.

Shortly before the impeachment vote in the House, Senate President Vicente Sotto III, who had vowed to immediately put the vice president to trial, was ousted by 13 of 24 senators, including supporters of the vice president and her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte.

It's not immediately clear how the vice president's impending impeachment trial would be affected by the Senate leadership change, but Sotto told reporters that he and his allies would insist that the proceedings against the vice president should be immediately taken up once submitted.

A standoff in the Senate

A tense standoff ensued when Sen. Roland dela Rosa, an ally of former President Duterte — who is facing trial before the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands — suddenly appeared in the Senate after months of absence. National Bureau of Investigation officers tried to run after dela Rosa but failed to reach him as he dashed into the Senate's plenary hall and sought the protection of fellow senators.

Rodrigo Duterte was arrested in March last year and detained in the Netherlands on charges of crimes against humanity. The charges are in connection with deadly anti-drugs crackdowns he ordered while he was in office.

Dela Rosa once served as the national police chief under Duterte, and was the first to enforce the bloody campaign against illegal drugs that left thousands of mostly petty suspects dead. Philippine police officials have summoned dela Rosa to appear before them for an investigation into his role in the Duterte-era killings.

In The Hague, the ICC on Monday unsealed an arrest warrant for dela Rosa for the crime against humanity of murder of “no less than 32 persons” allegedly committed between July 2016 and the end of April 2018, when he headed the national police.

It remains unclear how the warrant would be enforced as dela Rosa remained in the Senate’s protective custody.

Duterte had survived an impeachment bid last year

The vice president has generally denied any wrongdoing without answering the criminal allegations against her in detail. Her lawyers said Monday they were ready to defend her in a trial.

“While questions of constitutional significance remain pending before the Supreme Court, we are fully prepared to defend the vice president before the Senate,” the lawyers said in a statement, adding that “it is incumbent upon the prosecution to discharge the burden of proof.”

She has repeatedly accused Marcos, his wife and his cousin, former House Speaker Martin Romualdez, of corruption, weak leadership and attempting to muzzle her because of speculation she may seek the presidency in 2028 when Marcos’ six-year term ends.

Last year, she was also impeached by the House but survived by successfully petitioning the Supreme Court to declare the impeachment bid unconstitutional on a technicality.

Rep. Gerville Luistro, who heads the House Justice Committee, said the impeachment complaints included several criminal allegations, like huge bank transactions over the years that Duterte has not declared as required by law and misuse of confidential funds of her office as vice president and as education secretary, a post she once held under Marcos.

Luistro also cited threats made by the vice president during an online news conference in 2024 to have Marcos, his wife and Romualdez killed by an assassin if she herself was assassinated, as their political disputes escalated. The vice president then warned that her threat wasn’t a joke.

The vice president later said she wasn’t threatening him but was expressing concern for her own safety. Her threatening remarks set off a criminal investigation and national security concerns.

“These are matters that go into the integrity and accountability and fitness of a public official occupying the second highest position in our government,” Rep. Leila de Lima, who endorsed one of two impeachment complaints against Duterte, told fellow lawmakers.

“Impeachment is not political persecution,” de Lima said in response to allegations by Duterte's followers.

The vice president's husband, Manases Carpio, has filed criminal complaints against Luistro and other legislators and officials after government records of the couple’s bank transactions were made public in a recent House hearing. They said that violated the country’s bank secrecy law.

The vice president remains popular, based on independent surveys. Sara Duterte and President Marcos were running mates in a whirlwind alliance in the 2022 election but have since had a bitter falling out.

She has accused Marcos of allowing the ICC to carry out what she described as the “kidnapping” of her father in violation of Philippine laws.

___

Associated Press journalists Joeal Calupitan and Aaron Favila contributed to this report.

The Knicks swept the Philadelphia 76ers 4-0 on the road Sunday behind another impressive offensive performance, tying the NBA postseason record with 25 3-pointers in a 144-114 rout.

New York's 19.4 point-per-game margin of victory is the largest through the first two rounds of the NBA playoffs since the league expanded to 16 teams in 1984.

The Knicks have won seven straight.

“It’s just us being very locked into the moment,” Knicks forward Karl-Anthony Towns said.

New York awaits the winner of the Cleveland-Detroit series, which the Pistons lead 2-1.

The win gives the Knicks multiple days to rest up, get healthy and focus on avenging last season's disappointing 4-2 series loss to the Indiana Pacers in the East finals.

The Spurs were winning by two when Wembanyama was ejected for a flagrant 2 foul for throwing an elbow. Minnesota took advantage and Anthony Edwards had 16 of his 36 points in the fourth quarter for a 114-109 win.

On Monday, the Thunder will look to sweep the Los Angeles Lakers and return to the Western Conference finals. Detroit is at Cleveland in the earlier game.

Monday's schedule

— Game 4, Detroit at Cleveland, 8 p.m. EDT (NBC/Peacock)

Series: Detroit, 2-1.

Odds: Cleveland by 3.5.

The Cavaliers are favored in their home arena, where they are 5-0 in the playoffs. Detroit could be thin in the backcourt as Caris LeVert (right heel contusion) and Kevin Huerter (left adductor strain) are questionable.

— Game 4, Oklahoma City at Los Angeles Lakers, 10:30 p.m. EDT (Prime Video)

Series: Oklahoma City, 3-0.

Odds: Oklahoma City by 10.5.

Things don't look promising for Los Angeles in what could be LeBron James' last game in a Lakers uniform. The Lakers have lost all three games by least 18 points — and OKC's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander hasn't even played all that well. Luka Doncic is still out and Austin Reeves hasn't been productive since returning from an oblique injury.

Tuesday's schedule

— Game 5, Minnesota at San Antonio, 8 p.m. EDT (NBC, Peacock)

Series: Tied, 2-2.

Odds: San Antonio by 9.5.

Victor Wembanyama will look to control his emotions — and flying elbows — and the Spurs hope to regain the upper hand in the series when the return home.

Sunday's recap

— Knicks 144, 76ers, 114 to sweep the series 4-0. The Knicks are back in the Eastern Conference finals.

— Timberwolves 114, Spurs 109 to even series at 2-2. Victor Wembanyama gets ejected.

— Washington has the first pick in the NBA draft in what many view as the most talented class in years.

Spurs coach calls out officials after Wembanyama ejection

Spurs coach Mitch Johnson wasn't upset at Wembanyama for getting ejected on Sunday for a flagrant 2 foul for throwing an elbow — in fact, quite the contrary.

Johnson said Wembanyama needs to “protect himself,” while adding that officials are not doing enough to look out for the 7-foot-4 league MVP finalist as teams get physical with him.

“The level of physicality that opponents have been trying to impose on him since his first days in the league, combined with the lack of protection from the referees, is really disappointing,” Johnson said. “And to a certain extent, it’s starting to become downright nauseating."

Wembanyama finished with four points, four rebounds and three fouls in 13 minutes.

Awards watch

A breakdown of this season's NBA awards:

— Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year: DeAndre Jordan, New Orleans.

— Hustle Award: Moussa Diabaté, Charlotte.

— Defensive Player of the Year: Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio.

— Clutch Player of the Year: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City.

— Sixth Man of the Year: Keldon Johnson, San Antonio.

— Sportsmanship Award: Derrick White, Boston.

— Most Improved Player: Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Atlanta.

— Rookie of the Year: Cooper Flagg, Dallas.

— Executive of the Year: Brad Stevens, Boston.

Among the announcements still to come:

— Most Valuable Player: Gilgeous-Alexander, Wembanyama or Denver's Nikola Jokic.

— Coach of the Year: Johnson, Detroit's J.B. Bickerstaff, or Boston's Joe Mazzulla.

Betting odds

Defending champion Oklahoma City (-165) is favored to win the NBA title, according to oddsmakers.

The Thunder are followed by San Antonio (+350), New York (+650), Detroit (+1800), Minnesota (+5000), Cleveland (+6000) and the Los Angeles Lakers (+50000).

Key dates

— Monday through May 17: NBA draft combine.

— May 17 or 19: Eastern Conference finals begin on ESPN and ABC.

— May 18 or 20: Western Conference finals begin on NBC and Peacock.

— June 3: Game 1, NBA Finals on ABC. (Other finals dates: June 5, June 8, June 10, June 13, June 16 and June 19).

— June 23: Round 1, NBA draft.

— June 24: Round 2, NBA draft.

Quote of the day

“I used to think Philly was a sports town, I don’t know if it is anymore,” Knicks guard Josh Hart said after the 76ers and the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers were both swept out of the second round.

Stats of the day

— Minnesota's Anthony Edwards (302 points) became the sixth player in the play-by-play statistical era (1997-98) to record 300-plus fourth quarter points in the postseason before turning 25. The others are Kobe Bryant (625), James (493), Jayson Tatum (388), Kevin Durant (388) and Dwyane Wade (357).

— The Knicks' 144 points were most in franchise history in a postseason game.

___

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba

That's the message from a leading pediatricians group, which just released the first new guidance in 13 years about this unstructured time at school and how it needs to be protected.

The updated policy statement by the American Academy of Pediatrics comes after years of shrinking recesses and worsening children’s health.

The group “has always supported play – free play for kids – but it’s been increasingly threatened over time,” partly by the drive for higher test scores, said Dr. Robert Murray, a lead author. “It has a very powerful benefit if it’s used to the fullest.”

The new guidance, published Monday in the journal Pediatrics, is similar to the previous policy statement but cites the latest research on why these breaks are essential for kids’ academic success and mental, physical, social and emotional growth.

For example, new evidence shows that kids need pauses between concentrated bouts of learning so the brain can hold and store the information. Researchers also say recess gives kids a chance to navigate relationships and build confidence, which is just as important for older kids as younger ones.

Murray and his colleagues also stressed the importance of physical activity in preventing obesity, a condition that now affects about 1 in 5 U.S. children and teens.

Given these benefits, they recommend that recess be protected and never withheld for academic or punitive reasons, as sometimes happens in schools.

“If the child is disruptive or rude and disrespectful, recess is one of the things that teachers use to punish kids,” Murray said, adding that students struggling with behavioral issues or grades are often the ones who need recess most.

But those students aren’t the only ones losing out. Recess has been waning for all kids. Since the mid-2000s, up to 40% of school districts nationally have reduced or eliminated recess, according to data from the group Springboard to Active Schools in collaboration with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Today, the duration of recess varies widely across U.S. schools, ranging from less than 10 minutes to more than an hour a day, the pediatrics group said. Older kids generally get less time than younger ones.

Ideally, studies show, kids should get a minimum of 20 minutes a day and multiple breaks. In other countries such as Denmark, Japan and the United Kingdom, students get breaks after every 45 minutes to 50 minutes of classroom instruction.

“They should get a long enough period of time where they can de-stress and blow off steam and prepare for the next class,” Murray said.

Dr. Lauren Fiechtner, a childhood obesity expert at Mass General Brigham for Children in Boston, said she’s glad about the updated recess recommendations. She’s seen the importance of recess as both a doctor and mother of two. She recalled how her 8-year-old son learned how to play basketball at recess and now loves the game.

Fiechtner, who wasn’t involved in creating the guidance, agrees with the recommendation that middle and high school students need recess, too.

“As kids get older, they’re more on their screens. So it’s really helpful, I think, for outdoor activity and recess to be happening,” she said. “Recess is great. We all kind of need recess.”

___

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.

Naz Reid took the fateful elbow to the neck from a frustrated Wembanyama and finished with 15 points and nine rebounds to help the Timberwolves finish strong after some shaky stretches.

“Pain is weakness leaving the body,” Reid said. “That’s it.”

Edwards hit a 27-footer to bring the Wolves to within 94-91, turning to shout at the crowd for some help down the stretch. His catch-and-shoot 3-pointer from the wing with 5:12 left put them up 98-97, their first lead since midway through the third quarter.

Then the big men went to work without Wembanyama patrolling the paint. Rudy Gobert, who had 11 points and 13 rebounds, converted a three-point play with 3:02 left off a high-low feed from Reid and later threw down a dunk for a 107-101 lead with 1:56 to go after a slick pass from Julius Randle.

Reid’s follow shot with 40 seconds left gave the Wolves a seven-point lead, before Dylan Harper had a rebound, a drawn foul, a steal and two free throws to help the Spurs pull within three.

After managing to corral a full-court baseball toss from inbound passer Jaden McDaniels as De'Aaron Fox undercut his leaping catch and caused a loose ball, Ayo Dosunmu drew a foul and sank two free throws with 9.8 seconds left to put the game out of reach and tie the series at two games apiece.

San Antonio hosts Game 5 on Tuesday, with Wembanyama’s status to be determined by the league following the Flagrant 2 foul call and automatic ejection he was levied for the excessive contact to Reid.

Harper and Fox each scored 24 points and Stephon Castle added 20 as the Spurs guards unflinchingly took the baton from their 7-foot-4 superstar and turned the rest of the night into a midrange clinic with an array of pull-up jumpers in and around the paint.

“Just trying to be what the team needed me to be,” said Harper, the second overall pick in the NBA draft last year. “I think I did OK. Obviously the main goal is to win. We didn't get that done.”

The crowd at Target Center went wild when Wembanyama walked off the floor with Minnesota leading by two, but the Wolves never fully took advantage of the gift created by his absence. They've long had a tendency of losing their edge, particularly defensively, when an opponent's star player is missing.

“When every team is missing their best player, everybody plays free. They get more shots, more confident,” Edwards said. “So I think it was a lot harder on us.”

After committing six turnovers in a 20-point third quarter, the Wolves found themselves in another eight-point hole early in the fourth following Fox's 3-pointer before delivering another clutch finish.

“We have a resilient group of guys. No matter the circumstances, we are going to keep fighting and give everything we have and keep trusting one another,” Gobert said. “Just making the right play. That’s who we are. We might not be always consistent with that, but I feel like when it matters, we raise our level.”

___

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

Officers responded to the shooting around 10:30 p.m. in the 200 block of Grosvenor Boulevard, not far from Southwest Military Drive and Pleasanton Road.

According to an SAPD preliminary report, the 36-year-old man arrived at the location after arguing over the phone with the suspect.

Police said two men were arguing in the street when one of them pulled out a gun and shot the other before leaving the scene in a vehicle.

Officers arrived to find the victim lying in the street with a gunshot wound to the head. He was taken to a hospital in critical condition.

San Antonio police detectives are investigating the shooting and have not released information about a possible suspect.

Read also:

• 6 found dead inside railroad boxcar, Laredo police say
• Ex-San Antonio police officer James Brennand scheduled to make pre-trial court appearance

Google shared limited information about the attackers and the target, but John Hultquist, chief analyst at the tech giant’s threat intelligence arm, said it represents a moment cybersecurity experts have warned about for years: malicious hackers arming themselves with AI to supercharge their ability to break into the world’s computers.

“It’s here,” Hultquist said. “The era of AI-driven vulnerability and exploitation is already here.”

It comes at a time of leaps in AI's abilities to find vulnerabilities, including the Mythos model announced a month ago by Anthropic. Among those trying to bolster their defenses is President Donald Trump's White House, which has shifted its approach in how it plans to vet the most powerful AI models before their public release.

After following through with a campaign promise to repeal Democratic President Joe Biden's guardrails around the fast-developing technology, the Republican administration and its allies are now sending mixed signals about the government playing a larger role in AI oversight.

“Some people don’t want there to be a regulatory response to this and others do,” said Dean Ball, a senior fellow at the Foundation for American Innovation who was previously a White House tech policy adviser and a lead author of Trump’s AI policy roadmap last year.

“I don’t like regulation,” Ball said. “I would prefer for things not to be regulated. But I think we need to in this case."

Google says it found evidence of AI helping in cyberattack

Google said it observed a group of prominent “threat actors” planning a big operation relying on a bug they had found. The vulnerability allowed them to bypass two-factor authentication to access a popular online system administration tool, which Google declined to name.

The company called it a zero-day exploit, a cyberattack that takes advantage of a previously unknown security vulnerability. “Zero-day” refers to the fact that the security engineers have had zero days to develop a fix for the vulnerability.

Google said it notified the affected company and law enforcement and was able to disrupt the operation before it caused any damage. But as it traced the hackers' footprints, it found evidence they had used an AI large language model — the same technology that powers popular chatbots — to discover the vulnerability.

Google didn't reveal which AI model was used in the cyberattack, only that it was most likely not Google's own Gemini or Anthropic's Claude Mythos. Google also didn't reveal which group it suspected in the attack but said there was no evidence it was tied to an adversarial government, though the company said groups tied to China and North Korea have been exploring similar techniques.

Hultquist said that compared with government spies who typically work slowly and quietly, criminal hackers have some of the most to gain from AI's “tremendous capability for speed” in finding and weaponizing security bugs.

“There’s a race between you and them to stop them before they can essentially get whatever data they need to extort you with, or launch ransomware,” he said in an interview. “AI is going to be a huge advantage because they can move a lot faster.”

Anthropic's Mythos has sparked a panic and call for regulation

Trump's Commerce Department announced last week that it signed new agreements with Google, Microsoft and Elon Musk's xAI to evaluate their most powerful AI models before their public release, building on previous agreements the Biden administration made with Anthropic and ChatGPT maker OpenAI. But the announcement later disappeared from the Commerce Department website.

It was the latest example of jumbled signals from the Trump administration in the month since Anthropic announced a new model it called Mythos that it said was so “strikingly capable” at hacking and cybersecurity work that it could only release it to a small group of trusted organizations.

Anthropic created an initiative called Project Glasswing bringing together tech giants including Amazon, Apple, Google and Microsoft, along with other companies like JPMorgan Chase, in hopes of securing the world’s critical software from “severe” fallout that the new model could pose to public safety, national security and the economy. But its relationship with the U.S. government was complicated by a public and legal fight with the Pentagon and Trump himself over military use of its AI technology.

Its top rival, OpenAI, has since introduced a similar model. The company said Friday it was releasing a specialized cybersecurity version of ChatGPT that would only be available to “defenders responsible for securing critical infrastructure” to help them find and patch vulnerabilities in their code.

Ball said he's optimistic that, over the long term, AI tools that are increasingly good at coding will make us safer from the routine cyberattacks afflicting hospitals, schools and other organizations. In the meantime, however, he said there are “untold trillions of lines of software code” supporting the world's computing systems that are at risk if AI tools are unleashed to exploit all of their bugs.

It could take years to harden all of that software — a process that Ball believes would be aided by coordination from the U.S. government.

In the meantime, Ball predicts a “transitional period" where cybersecurity risks rise significantly and “the world might actually be more dangerous.”

But Paris is expected to use the two-day Africa Forward Summit, which it is co-hosting, to push a new Africa policy that focuses more on English-speaking countries and offers what it calls a “partnership of equals." Its new defense agreement with Kenya marks the direction it hopes to go.

France has long maintained a policy of economic, political and military sway over its former colonies dubbed Françafrique, which included keeping thousands of troops in the region. But after years of criticism from leaders and opposition parties in those countries over what they described as a demeaning and heavy-handed approach, France has been forced to withdraw most of those troops.

The summit — France's first in an English-speaking African country — will be attended by more than 30 heads of state and government, including from Francophone countries. On his arrival Sunday, French President Emmanuel Macron said France may disagree with West African governments but “never disagrees with the people.”

Kenya’s newly ratified defense agreement with France has been criticized by civil society groups for granting too much immunity from local law to French troops, a sensitive issue in a country where a similar agreement with the United Kingdom has left a trail of hard-to-prosecute crimes against locals.

At a time when many African nations, particularly in the Sahel region, are reducing or expelling foreign military presences in what they say is a quest to reclaim their sovereignty, Kenya is hosting a growing international military presence.

The Kenya-France Defense Cooperation Agreement was signed on Oct. 29, 2025, by Kenya’s Defense Minister Soipan Tuya and French Ambassador to Kenya Arnaud Suquet and ratified by parliament on April 8. The same month, it also ratified defense agreements with countries including the Czech Republic, China and Italy.

While defending the defense agreements, parliament defense committee chair Nelson Koech said Kenya's treaties with advanced militaries provide training and intelligence-sharing opportunities that will make its defense stronger.

Koech said the agreements were not a “surrender of sovereignty,” adding that newer agreements guarantee that foreign troops will be tried in Kenya in the event of serious crimes such as murder.

A month ahead of the summit, a contingent of around 800 French troops arrived in Kenya aboard a navy ship.

The agreement grants visiting French forces primary jurisdiction over their personnel for on-duty offenses, echoing broad legal protections in past UK pacts that shielded British soldiers from Kenyan courts amid scandals like the 2012 murder of a young woman named Agnes Wanjiru and the deadly 2021 Lolldaiga ranch fire.

A British soldier is due to be extradited after Kenyan courts found him answerable for the 2012 death of Wanjiru, who was last seen alive in his company near the British troops’ training grounds in Nanyuki, central Kenya.

His African American studies professor lectured about what is known today as the Tulsa Race Massacre — the days in 1921 when white mobs carried out a scorched-earth campaign against an outnumbered Black militia protecting the fabled Black Wall Street, a prosperous all-Black community.

“I actually told a teacher, ‘I’m from Tulsa. That’s not true,’” Solomon-Simmons recalled. “And of course, I was wrong.”

That day planted a seed for the then-aspiring attorney, who went on to lead a reparations campaign for the living survivors of the massacre and their descendants. Nearly 105 years later, no one has been compensated for what they lost, and none of the culprits have been held accountable.

That fight for reparations is the subject of Solomon-Simmons’ first book, “Redeem a Nation: The Century-Long Battle to Restore the Soul of America,” which is intended as a blueprint for justice in historic atrocities that Black Americans endured but never received reparations for. The book hits shelves Tuesday.

After the massacre, more than 35 city blocks of the neighborhood known as Greenwood were leveled in fires, an estimated 191 businesses were destroyed, and roughly 11,000 Black residents were displaced. The state of Oklahoma declared the death toll to be only 36 people, although many historians and experts who have studied the event put the death toll between 75 and 300.

Greenwood, founded in 1906, had been a bustling city within a city, with Black-owned grocery stores, soda fountains, cafes, barbershops, a movie theater, music venues, cigar and billiard parlors, tailors and dry cleaners, rooming houses and rental properties.

“If you can ignore Greenwood, which was the beacon of Black prosperity and Black progress in the history of this country, then you can ignore Black people in general,” Solomon-Simmons recently told The Associated Press. “I think that’s why people around the nation are so focused on the work that we’re doing, because they understand what it means to all of Black America.”

Solomon-Simmons’s book comes just months before the United States will mark 250 years since its founding in 1776. That was 89 years before the institution of chattel slavery — meaning an enslaved person was held as legal property of another — was abolished. The civil rights attorney questions the idea that Americans can truly celebrate the country's accomplishments when it has yet to pay reparations, which historians say informs modern day disparities in wealth between Black and white people.

“We cannot talk about what America has been and will be, without making sure that these issues are discussed and we get reparatory justice for both” slavery and the Tulsa massacre, Solomon-Simmons said.

'America has never had a soul'

In 343 pages, Solomon-Simmons does more than recite the history of the massacre or make a legal thriller out of his reparations campaign. For him, securing justice for the survivors and descendants of the massacre is also about healing a nation whose earliest promises of equality for all rang hollow.

“When I speak of repairing America’s soul, I do not mean restoring something that was once whole,” Solomon-Simmons writes in the book. “America has never had a soul. … There was no moral center to recover.”

He suggests that America's soul cannot be repaired if it is forced to choose between rebuilding the nation or repairing Black America. They must do both, he says.

“The struggle for justice in Greenwood is not about returning to a mythical past. It is about proving whether America can build a soul at all through truth, through justice, through repair.”

Reparations for slavery and other historical racial injustices has been debated in the U.S. since Reconstruction, through the Civil Rights Movement and for much of the 21st century. Jennifer L. Morgan, a professor of history at New York University, said such debates are complicated by the question of exactly who pays the reparations and exactly who receives the payment.

“I don’t think that we’re talking about individuals who owe anybody else reparations. I think we’re talking about states, about institutions, about the nation,” Morgan said. “America is still grappling with reparations because America is still grappling at the legacy of slavery, racial discrimination, Jim Crow, and violent exclusion of Black people from the body politic.”

Some opponents of reparations argue there are no living culprits or direct victims of enslavement, much less people with verifiable claims of harm that can be presented in a court of law.

Solomon-Simmons disagrees.

“We know who did the massacre — the perpetrators are still living in Tulsa,” he said referring to the city and the chamber of commerce, which plaintiffs alleged had a hand in obstructing Greenwood's recovery.

There is one remaining massacre survivor involved in the reparations lawsuit: 111-year-old Lessie Benningfield Randle.

“If we cannot get her reparations while she’s alive, for the massacre, it’s gonna make it that much harder for us to get reparations for enslavement, Jim Crow, redlining and all those things that we are owed,” Solomon-Simmons said.

Fight for Tulsa reparations continues

In the book, Solomon-Simmons reflects on what committed him to the reparations fight.

While in law school, he was introduced to high profile civil rights attorneys working for the Reparations Coordinating Committee — the late Harvard Professor Charles Ogletree Jr., who mentored Barack and Michelle Obama; and the late Johnnie Cochran, who is widely known for defending O.J. Simpson during his trial for murder of his ex-wife. Solomon-Simmons became a law clerk for the committee.

After witnessing Ogletree argue a Tulsa reparations case in federal court in 2004, Solomon-Simmons said the practice of law stopped being just a credential for speaking, writing, or teaching. It became a calling.

In 2020, Solomon-Simmons led a lawsuit on behalf of 11 plaintiffs, including the last three known living survivors of the massacre, against the City of Tulsa and seven defendants. The suit was the first of its kind in state court and the first to get far enough to see a judge. In 2024, the Oklahoma Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuit. In the final days of the Biden administration, the Justice Department released a report saying it had determined there is no longer an avenue for criminal prosecution over the massacre.

But the fight continues, Solomon-Simmons says, for cash payment to Randle and other descendants, as well as the return of land stolen after the massacre and during a period of urban renewal in Tulsa.

In 2025, the city’s first Black mayor, Monroe Nichols, endorsed a broad proposal dubbed Project Greenwood, which calls for financially compensating Randle, funding a scholarship program for descendants of victims, and designating June 1 as Tulsa Race Massacre Observance Day.

Solomon-Simmons also runs the nonprofit Justice for Greenwood, which he founded a year before the community marked the centennial of the massacre in 2021.

“One thing I’ve learned from this work, and as a lawyer in general, is that people want justice,” he said. “People want reparations, but people (also) want acknowledgment. They want to be seen. They want people to understand that something happened to them and their family, and they want an apology.”

___

Aaron Morrison is the race and ethnicity news editor at AP.

Let's explain: Winger, the president of Monumental Basketball, was the Wizards' representative inside the sequestered room where the NBA draft lottery was taking place Sunday. The first ball was 4, the second ball was 2.

“I knew it was us,” Winger said.

He was right. The third ball — 1 — made it official. The fourth ball was a 13, which meant nothing. The 4-2-1 combination ensured that the Wizards had won the lottery and earned the right to pick No. 1 in next month's draft, a huge step forward for a team that finished with the league's worst record this season. And for the next 45 minutes, before the rest of the world found out during a television broadcast, Winger was essentially stone-faced.

“I could have celebrated by myself, looking around for somebody to high-five,” Winger said. “There wouldn't have been anybody there.”

The celebrations came later. Winger, Wizards great John Wall, vice president of player personnel Travis Schlenk, coach Brian Keefe and assistant coach David Vanterpool posed on stage after the lottery ended, all smiles. There haven't been a lot of moments worth smiling about in Wizards-land over the last three years. That may be changing.

“It’s our fans that have endured the most," Winger said. "And to me, this No. 1 pick is for them. It's a reward for hanging in there with us. It’s a reward to continue to support us despite sometimes really bad basketball. They knew and they supported a multiyear teardown, a multiyear reinvention of the franchise.”

It will be Washington's first time with the No. 1 pick since they chose Wall in that spot in 2010. Wall was the Wizards’ on-stage representative for the lottery.

“They could be a team that I feel should be in playoff contention next year,” Wall said.

Washington had a 14% chance of winning the No. 1 pick, tied with Brooklyn and Indiana for the best odds. The Wizards had basically a 50-50 chance of getting either a top-four pick or the No. 5 spot.

But three consecutive years of losing — the three worst seasons in the franchise’s 65-year history — paid off for a team that went 17-65 this season and even allowed Miami’s Bam Adebayo to score 83 points for the league’s second-highest single-game total ever.

The Wizards swung deals to land All-Stars Trae Young and Anthony Davis earlier this year, and now they can add whichever college player they want.

“This is another step in our journey," Keefe said. "Obviously, it’s a great day and we’re looking forward to going through the process and finding who we’re going to take with that pick, but I’m just thrilled for everybody that works with the organization and most importantly the community.”

Winger brought a photo of his family with him into the lottery room, perhaps the bit of luck he needed. And there is a certain symmetry to how the 4-2-1 combination was what delivered for the Wizards; those numbers add up to 7.

“The day I was born,” said Keefe, born April 7, 1976.

Utah will pick No. 2, Memphis will pick No. 3 and Chicago will pick No. 4.

The Los Angeles Clippers got the fifth pick — via a trade with the Pacers, who were shut out of the draft entirely — followed by No. 6 Brooklyn, No. 7 Sacramento, No. 8 Atlanta, No. 9 Dallas, No. 10 Milwaukee, No. 11 Golden State, No. 12 Oklahoma City, No. 13 Miami and No. 14 Charlotte.

The draft begins June 23 in New York. The draft combine in Chicago starts on Monday.

No. 1 pick possibilities

There are four candidates that generally are considered front-runners to be the No. 1 pick, all coming out of college after one year.

— BYU’s AJ Dybantsa, who led the nation in scoring at 25.5 points per game.

— Duke’s Cameron Boozer, the AP player of the year who averaged 22.5 points and 10.1 rebounds.

— Kansas’ Darryn Peterson, who averaged 20.2 points in 24 games.

— North Carolina’s Caleb Wilson, who averaged 19.8 points and 9.4 rebounds on 58% shooting.

“Obviously we’re going to find out on June 23 where I’m going to land," Dybantsa said. "I’m betting on myself to be a No. 1 pick. I think I’m very adaptable, I can play anywhere.”

It's now possible that Boozer could be selected by the Bulls or the Jazz — two teams that his father, Carlos Boozer, played for in his NBA days.

“It could be surreal, for sure," Cameron Boozer said.

Last of this format (probably)

This was the eighth, and likely final, year of this version of an NBA draft lottery, with the worst teams having a 14% chance of winning.

Framework fell into place last month on changes meant to further discourage tanking, and the league’s Board of Governors is expected to ratify that plan in the next few weeks — with general managers meeting in Chicago on Tuesday to discuss them presumably for one last time.

The three worst teams, starting next season, would have a 5.4% chance of winning — with the next seven teams all having an 8.1% chance of winning. The lottery would grow from 14 to 16 teams if the plan, as expected, is approved.

___

AP Sports Writer Andrew Seligman and freelance reporter Scott Held contributed to this report.

___

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba

Cox died in Marietta, Georgia, according to the Atlanta Braves. He had a stroke in 2019 and heart issues that complicated his recovery.

“Bobby was the best manager to ever wear a Braves uniform. He led our team to 14 straight division titles, five National League pennants, and the unforgettable World Series title in 1995. His Braves managerial legacy will never be matched,” the Braves said in a statement.

Cox took over a last-place team in June 1990 and led the Braves to a worst-to-first finish in 1991, losing the World Series to the Minnesota Twins in seven games. That was the start of what was to become a record 14 consecutive division titles, a feat no professional team in any sport had accomplished.

He managed the Braves for 25 years and led Atlanta to its first World Series title in 1995, retired after the 2010 season and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2014.

Cox ranks fourth all-time with 2,504 wins, fifth with 4,508 games, first with 15 division titles including a record 14 in a row, first with 16 playoff appearances and fourth with 67 playoff victories. Only Connie Mack, John McGraw and Tony La Russa had more regular-season wins than Cox.

“He was the first one to the park every day," Atlanta manager Walt Weiss said of Cox. "He’d have his spikes on at 12 o’clock. I never saw a manager wear spikes, but that was one of Bobby’s trademarks. He just loved the game. He loved the game, and he loved leading a group of men trying to win a championship.”

Cox also was first in being ejected from 158 regular-season games. Weiss, who called Cox instrumental in bringing him back to the Braves as a bench coach, was asked if he might get tossed in Cox's honor.

“It’s a different game now, you know, a very different era,” Weiss said. "Nobody can do it like Bobby, believe me.”

Cox's death came four days after that of fellow Atlanta icon Ted Turner, who as owner of Braves lured Cox back to the team in 1990.

The Braves retired Cox’s No. 6 jersey in 2011, when he joined the team’s Hall of Fame.

“RIP my second father,” Andruw Jones wrote on social media. The 10-time Gold Glove winner with Atlanta in July will become the sixth who played for Cox with the Braves to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Cox spent 29 seasons as a major league manager, including four with Toronto. He managed 16 postseason teams. He brought an old-school approach to the dugout. He always wore spikes and stirrups, and his fatherly demeanor inspired loyalty from his players.

Hall of Fame pitcher Greg Maddux said players around the league always wanted to know what it was like playing for Bobby Cox: “The first word that comes to mind is respect. He had that from players. When Bobby talked, we listened. We wanted to play for him.”

Cox was the first NL manager to win at least 100 games in a season five times. He was Manager of the Year four times and the only one to win in consecutive years (2004, 2005). He also had close ties with his successors, Fredi González and Brian Snitker.

He regularly attended games and spring training before a stroke in 2019 that affected his speech and movement. Cox recovered enough to visit the Braves later that season, watching a game from the press box level. His wife, Pam, said in 2020 that heart trouble slowed his recovery from the stroke.

His long marriage survived a 1995 confrontation in which he was accused of hitting his wife in the face. He was charged with simple battery and in custody for an hour. The following day, Bobby and Pam appeared at a news conference and each denied he hit her in the face.

Cox said the couple would seek counseling. The charge was eventually dropped.

Despite all his regular-season success, Cox won only the one World Series title in five tries. He led the Braves to Atlanta’s first major professional sports championship in 1995, beating the Cleveland Indians in six games to win the World Series. Cox said critics usually focused on the World Series losses instead.

The Braves lost in 1992 to Toronto in six games and in 1996 in six to the New York Yankees before being swept by the Yankees in 1999.

“It’s a game of breaks when you get down to a four-game, must-win series,” Cox said. “We’ve played well. We’re proud of what we’ve done. They always ask that, though. It is irritating, to be honest with you.”

Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on May 21, 1941, Cox graduated from Selma High School in California in 1959 and attended nearby Reedley Junior College before signing with the Dodgers for a $40,000 bonus.

He spent seven years in the Dodgers’ farm system before being traded to the Braves’ organization, playing one year at Richmond (1967). He was traded to the Yankees for Bob Tillman and Dale Roberts and played third base for his only two seasons in the majors (1968-69) before bad knees forced him to retire at age 30.

Cox began the first of six years as a minor league manager in 1971. He returned to the majors in 1977 as a first base coach for the Yankees, who went on to win the World Series.

His first major league managerial job came with the Braves in 1978. The best season of his first stint in Atlanta was an 81-80 finish in 1980, and he went 266-323 in four seasons.

The Toronto Blue Jays hired Cox in 1982, and he led them to their first American League East championship in 1985, in his fourth and final year there. He was lured back to the Braves as general manager by Turner, their outrageous owner and visionary media mogul, in 1986.

As GM, his Atlanta teams never had a winning season. Cox did develop players key to the Braves’ success in the ’90s: Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Jeff Blauser, Mark Lemke, Dave Justice, Javy Lopez and Ron Gant. He also had two No. 1 draft picks who excelled, Steve Avery and Chipper Jones.

Cox returned as field manager on June 22, 1990, after Russ Nixon was fired.

Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman played the first 12 seasons of his career with the Braves. He recalled Cox giving him 80 plate appearances in spring training when he was 19. Freeman has a jersey signed from Cox saying, “To Freddie, keep on hitting.”

“He lived a great life,” Freeman said. "Everyone loved him in baseball. Braves country loved him.”

Cox usually shied away from the limelight and was uncomfortable when talking about himself.

“Honestly, I’m just doing my job. I let everything else fall where it may,” he said.

___

AP freelance writer Dan Greenspan contributed from Los Angeles.

___

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

The gap between young and older Americans' views of the job market now is greater than in any other country among the 141 surveyed, according to the Gallup World Poll. In the United States, 43% of those aged 15-34 believe it’s “a good time” to find a job in the area where they live, well below the 64% of those aged 55 and over who say the same.

Around the world, it's the opposite. Globally, the median share of younger people who say it’s “a good time” to find work in their local job market is 48%, compared with 38% among older people.

The findings reveal a generational rift in Americans' views of economic opportunity, with young people feeling increasingly downtrodden about job prospects, while older people still largely think it's a good time to find work. The schism is likely to continue fueling generational divides in politics, where younger voters have focused on economic issues such as housing costs and have registered less faith in institutions.

“It’s an incredibly new phenomenon,” Benedict Vigers of Gallup said of young Americans' pessimism. He added that last year was the first time in Gallup’s decades of polling that young Americans were more pessimistic about the job market than their peers in other developed countries. “Has this happened in most other advanced economies? The answer is a resounding no.”

Younger and older Americans differ on how easy it is to find a new job

Young people, with fewer physical limitations and family responsibilities — along with an ability to adapt more quickly than older counterparts — normally are more optimistic about their ability to land work.

But the new Gallup analysis finds the U.S. is one of only five countries where younger people are at least 10 points more pessimistic about the availability of work than older ones, joining China, Hong Kong, Norway, Serbia and the United Arab Emirates.

Among the 141 countries surveyed, younger Americans ranked 87th in job market expectations. Even that is striking, Vigers said, because young Americans have long stood out globally for their optimism about job opportunities. Other countries, such as New Zealand and Canada, had lower levels of optimism among the youngest group, but there was no significant generational divide.

The divergence between younger and older Americans happened suddenly. Every U.S. age group registered a drop in confidence in the job market after 2023 — following a post-COVID rebound in 2021 and 2022 — but those 34 and younger saw the largest decline in recent years. The share of younger Americans saying it was “a good time” to find a job plunged by 27 percentage points from 2023 to 2025. That's comparable to the rate of decline for young people during the 2008 global financial crisis, which also saw a drastic drop in confidence for older Americans. But that hasn't happened in the last few years. In fact, older Americans’ views have barely dropped.

Older Americans also have a sunnier view of the economic landscape more generally, according to recent AP-NORC polling. About 8 in 10 adults under 35 describe the U.S. economy as very or somewhat poor, according to an AP-NORC poll conducted in April. Only about 6 in 10 adults 55 and older say the same, although a majority still see the U.S. economy negatively.

John Della Volpe, a pollster who regularly surveys U.S. youth for the Harvard Kennedy School's Institute of Politics, said young people are frequently frustrated at how prior generations don't understand their current economic challenges.

“It's just another thing that drains their mental health — 'my parents don't understand that their pathway at this stage in life that I'm in was so much easier,'” Della Volpe said.

Job market optimism among younger adults approaches Great Recession levels

Younger Americans’ job market views now register close to the level they did in 2010, when the country was still deep in the Great Recession. This is not the first Gallup poll to find striking levels of pessimism among young Americans — they also register notably high levels of anxiety about pocketbook issues compared with people their age in other countries.

A separate Gallup survey on perceived U.S. job prospects found pessimism emerging at the end of 2024 and continuing into 2025. That coincides with the beginning of President Donald Trump’s second term and the rise of artificial intelligence, which many fear will transform the labor market and eliminate many entry-level jobs.

The new poll finds the most frustrated groups of young people are those who haven’t secured a first job yet, college graduates and young women. But the heightened pessimism spreads across all subgroups of younger Americans, including men and those who haven't attended college.

“Whoever they are, they are more pessimistic than they were three years ago,” Vigers said of young Americans.

The older Americans who have a less dire view of the job market are themselves more likely to be retired and not looking for work. They’re also more likely to own their own homes, a longtime building block of American prosperity that has increasingly seemed out of reach to younger people.

Day-to-day financial concerns were a key issue in the 2024 election, particularly for younger voters, and Trump improved on his previous performance among this group as he ran on a platform of economic prosperity, fighting inflation and affordability. But like other groups that were important parts of Trump's 2024 coalition, some younger Americans have soured on the president as inflation continues, recent AP-NORC polling finds.

About 8 in 10 adults under 35 disapprove of how Trump is handling the economy and the cost of living, the recent AP-NORC poll found, compared with about 6 in 10 older adults.

___

The Gallup World Poll results are based on telephone interviews conducted among approximately 1,000 U.S. adults from June 14 to July 16, 2025. The margin of error is ±4.4 percentage points for the U.S. sample.

___

Associated Press writer Linley Sanders in Washington contributed to this report.

He chose to be an infertility specialist to help people. Thirty years later, scientific advancements made that easier than ever but created more ethical dilemmas.

As co-director of a fertility clinic in suburban Washington, D.C., Gordon grew troubled over helping create surplus embryos, which would often languish in storage or be discarded. With the expansion of genetic testing, couples could choose the sex of their baby. They could screen out painful or fatal diseases, but also milder impairments like hearing loss.

“It’s too morally problematic,” Gordon thought. “I don’t know where you draw the line.”

In 2018, his wife pushed him to change how he practiced. They both believed in the sanctity of embryos as part of their Christian faith. But as Allison Gordon looked around the home where they had raised four children, their comfortable life now seemed bought by “ill-gotten gains.”

John Gordon soon bought a practice in Knoxville, Tennessee, and aligned it with his evolving faith-based views. His Rejoice Fertility clinic does not discard viable embryos, genetically test them or donate them to science. It also limits how many embryos it creates.

His career pivoted alongside a growing debate over in vitro fertilization. Recent legal decisions have prompted questions about IVF, from the U.S. Supreme Court ending federal abortion rights to the Alabama Supreme Court designating embryos as children. IVF remains popular in polling though, and President Donald Trump has taken steps to expand access.

Trump’s conservative Christian base is less supportive of IVF. The Catholic Church has long opposed IVF, and evangelicals are increasingly grappling with it. In 2024, the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest U.S. Protestant denomination, called for IVF restrictions when it destroys “embryonic human life.”

Gordon believes his practice addresses many moral concerns. He was 55 when he made this intimidating shift: “I don’t like changing toothpaste brands.”

But, he said, “I need to practice in a way that I can live with the decisions I’m making.”

The discarded embryo dilemma

Rejoice draws patients from around the country. Evangelical brochures and a wooden cross sit in the waiting room. Outside the recovery area, a Bible verse reads: “Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

In January, Maggie and Cade Lichfield, Latter-day Saints in Knoxville, held an ultrasound photo, their second since a pregnancy was confirmed after three failed embryo transfers. They understand IVF’s controversies but appreciate that Rejoice does not genetically test or discard embryos.

“You’re still letting God be God,” Maggie Lichfield said. “He is in control.”

Domenic and Olivia D’Agostino thought they would forgo IVF for religious reasons until they found Rejoice, nearly two hours by car from their Tennessee home.

They didn’t know a non-discard facility existed. “That was the biggest one for me because in my eyes there’s not much difference between discarding an embryo and abortion,” Domenic D’Agostino said. “We just weren’t really willing to do that.”

It felt providential. Gordon shares the couple’s interest in Reformed theology and the idea that God is sovereign over all things — including the vagaries of fertility treatments.

“My favorite thing that he does is he prays with us before transfers,” Domenic D’Agostino said. “He focused in on the sovereignty of God in it and submitting to God’s will in this process.”

A conversion experience

Gordon was raised Jewish outside Boston, the son and grandson of physicians. He received a premier education: prep school followed by Princeton, then medical school at Duke and residency at Stanford.

He met his wife at Duke, where she earned a doctorate in engineering. Allison Gordon grew up Christian in a small North Carolina town. A minister and a rabbi presided at their wedding; for years they maintained an interfaith marriage.

It wasn’t until their oldest son was in third grade and hospitalized with a life-threatening ailment that Gordon had a conversion experience. “I got down on my knees, and I said, ‘OK, you’ve got my attention, Lord.’”

After their son recovered, the couple joined a mainline Presbyterian church, where Gordon was baptized in 2000. Today they are part of the conservative evangelical Presbyterian Church in America. Elders of their church, Christ Covenant, support Rejoice’s mission.

Rejoice does not require employees or patients to share Gordon’s religious beliefs. Sarah Coe Atkinson, Rejoice’s senior embryologist, said, “I don’t necessarily believe in everything he believes in, but I believe in what we’re doing in terms of helping these embryos become lives.”

She oversees the lab, which accepts almost any embryo, no matter its condition. “Sometimes the ugliest embryos make the prettiest babies,” she likes to say.

When a couple received a donated embryo that had been frozen for nearly 31 years, Rejoice provided their care. The child, born in 2025, broke what is believed to be a record for the longest-frozen embryo to result in a birth.

To train others, Atkinson created a library of antiquated embryo storage devices and how to open them, cataloged in a binder with plastic sheet protectors. Instructions for an old glass ampule recommend a face shield with the warning: “Might explode.”

A Christian approach to IVF

Medical experts estimate about 1.5 million frozen embryos are stored in the U.S., though advocates say that number could be higher.

Gordon strives not to add to that. He tailors treatments around patients’ ideal family size. He specializes in offering IVF cycles with less fertility medication, which is more affordable and generally results in fewer eggs. Patients can also fertilize fewer eggs. Other clinics offer these options but Rejoice is unusual in prioritizing them.

The downside is if patients go through their small number of embryos and need another IVF cycle, which typically costs between $8,000 and $10,000 at Rejoice. Despite that expense, Gordon said his patients largely want to create fewer embryos because of their beliefs.

Emily Martin is haunted by the handful of embryos she has in storage. “I would wake up in the middle of the night just like, ‘Oh, what have we done?’ And just this heaviness,” she said.

An anti-abortion Christian in Knoxville, she wishes she had found Rejoice before making more embryos than she would use at another clinic. “That portion is something that’s not being talked about enough,” she said.

In rare cases when his patients have unused embryos, Gordon asks them to be placed for adoption. Embryo donations are known as embryo adoptions within conservative Christian circles, which view embryos not as property but as children.

The clinic recently launched Rejoice Embryo Rescue, which Gordon calls an “orphanage.” Rejoice stores donated embryos and works with agencies, most of them Christian, that specialize in coordinating embryo adoptions.

Adrienne and Colby McKnight had considered traditional adoption before they heard about adopting embryos through their homeschooling community in Augusta, Georgia.

They adopted an embryo they named Gloria, which had been frozen 11 years. When the embryo transfer did not end in pregnancy, they grieved but remained grateful.

“Really it’s just giving her a chance at life and just freeing her from being frozen,” Adrienne McKnight said. “Either way she gets to continue on. She gets to be with the Lord.”

Through Rejoice, they recently adopted two more embryos.

Bridging the worlds of IVF and religion

“It’s hard to be torn between your faith and your work,” Gordon said. Invoking a biblical passage, he said Christians are called to show “faith through our works.”

Rejoice has allowed him to reconcile those two things, though it’s been challenging. His relationship with the physician he bought the clinic from deteriorated, resulting in legal disputes.

Gordon has also faced criticism from other Christians and anti-abortion activists who believe any form of IVF is unethical.

“He’s moving in the right trajectory,” said Matthew Lee Anderson, a Christian ethicist at Baylor who opposes IVF. “It’s impressive that he’s taken the steps that he has to change how he is doing business, and I hope for more.”

Gordon does not regret starting over and plans to bring on more doctors.

One Sunday after church, he was back at the clinic. In the lab, Atkinson prepared a North Carolina couple's frozen embryo so it could be transferred that afternoon.

As the embryo thawed, it unfurled in a culture dish, its cells plumping with rehydration. There in the lab was a chance at life, soon to be sent off with hope — and at Rejoice — a prayer.

Four weeks later, there was welcome news: The patient was pregnant.

___

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

The incident happened just after 6 a.m. Monday in the 7400 block of West Military Drive, located near Marbach Road.

SAPD said there was an argument between the two men at the location.

The altercation ended after one of the men ran over the other with a vehicle, pinning him against a car, police stated.

The victim was later taken to a hospital with serious injuries, according to SAPD.

Further information was not readily available. Check back later for updates.

Read also:

• Man shot in head during argument on South Side, police say
• Motorcyclist suffers life-threatening injuries after crash on West Side, police say

Zbigniew Ziobro was a key figure in the government led by the nationalist conservative Law and Justice party that ran Poland between 2015 and 2023. That administration established political control over key judicial institutions by stacking higher courts with friendly judges and punishing its critics with disciplinary action or assignments to faraway locations.

Ziobro announced in January that he had been granted asylum in Hungary, then led by nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

On Sunday, Ziobro told right-wing Polish broadcaster Republika that he had arrived in the United States the previous day — coinciding with the inauguration in Budapest of Orbán's successor, Péter Magyar, who defeated the longtime leader in an election last month. He said that he was using a document granted to him along with his right to asylum, Polish news agency PAP reported.

Current Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government came to power in late 2023 with ambitions to roll back the judicial changes made by its predecessor, but efforts to undo them have been blocked by two successive presidents aligned with the nationalist right.

In October, prosecutors requested the lifting of Ziobro’s parliamentary immunity to press charges against him. They allege among other things that Ziobro misused a fund for victims of violence, including for the purchase of Israeli Pegasus surveillance software.

Tusk’s party says Law and Justice used Pegasus to spy illegally on political opponents while in power. Ziobro says he acted lawfully.

On Monday, the national prosecutor's office said in a social media post that it was investigating the whereabouts of Ziobro, and looking into whether other individuals assisted him in "fleeing and evading criminal liability, thereby obstructing the investigation into the justice fund."

Current Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek said in a post on X Sunday evening that Poland had invalidated Ziobro's travel documents, including his diplomatic passport, and that Warsaw will ask the U.S. and Hungary about the legal basis for Ziobro to leave Hungarian territory and enter the United States.

Ziobro's travels raise the possibility of tension between Warsaw and Washington.

Polish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maciej Wewiór told The Associated Press that “we don’t want this issue to become political."

“Our relationship with the U.S. goes much deeper than what happens with Ziobro," he said. "But we do want our citizen to eventually return to Poland and face justice.”

Julian’s Pizzeria is opening a new location. We check out the dog-friendly spot and the new items on the menu.

Breakfast tacos, Mexican cuisine - all plant-based. Plantaqueria is a modern twist on the classic Mexican food we all know. We visit their downtown location & try the menu.

Two H Jewelry create handmade necklaces, bracelets and earrings with a South Texas & Mexican flair. We show you some that would be perfect for your Fiesta outfits.

Simply Tiffs show’s us how to make swim spray at home an all natural way to take care of your skin heading into pool season.

Spurs spirit goes around the world - we meet a super fan from Japan in town for the playoffs.

It didn’t work out that way.

The El Paso Democrat helped craft a bill party leaders introduced at the start of Joe Biden’s term to create an eight-year pathway to citizenship for the millions of undocumented immigrants living in the country. But the Democratic legislation never got enough buy-in within the party and was deemed a non-starter by Republicans.

The episode was instructive for Escobar, who succeeded Beto O’Rourke in Congress halfway through Donald Trump’s first term and, in short order, made her name as an authority on immigration among House Democrats.

“It was a real wake-up call for me on the politics within my own party,” Escobar said. “It really was during that first two years of the Biden administration that I realized, No. 1, we’re not going to get this done as a Democratic-only bill. No. 2, it really is going to need to be bipartisan if it’s going to stick. And No. 3, I think we’re going to lose elections because of immigration.”

After Republicans rode the issue to a House majority in 2022, Escobar changed tack. She teamed up with Republican Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, a Cuban American who represents a heavily Hispanic district anchored in Miami, to write an immigration reform bill called the Dignidad, or Dignity, Act. Crafted “in some respects in secret” to avoid momentum-sapping backlash, Escobar said, the compromise that emerged included a pathway to work and travel authorization for long-term undocumented residents and a mandate for employers to check staffers’ work authorization status.

They re-introduced the bill last year, with a key change to make it more palatable to Republicans, as the political battlefield on immigration was veering from the now-quiet border to Trump’s mass deportation push.

In turn, the new Dignity Act has sparked an emerging debate that reflects the shifting political realities for both parties around immigration. Democrats, acknowledging that some Biden-era immigration policies were out of step with the electorate, reined in a key sticking point of the bill’s prior version by removing the pathway to citizenship beyond DACA recipients. Yet, there would still be a way for undocumented immigrants to get temporary legal status, a point that’s the crux of the GOP’s disjointed response to the bill.

What emerges is a picture of an uneasy Republican coalition in which business leaders, grassroots conservatives and the Hispanic voters who helped power Trump’s 2024 victory all lack alignment on how to proceed.

Through the careful building of a coalition — Escobar and Salazar only let cosponsors join in bipartisan pairs — the Dignity Act is now up to 40 cosponsors, half in each party. In Texas, that includes Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, and Rep. Monica De La Cruz, R-Edinburg, both in the moderate wings of their party.

But at the same time, the Dignity Act has unearthed a wave of conservative opposition, led by a fellow Texan, Flower Mound freshman Rep. Brandon Gill. Gill has been the tip of the spear in the pressure campaign against the bill, calling it a betrayal of conservative values and tantamount to offering amnesty, a dead letter in the GOP.

“The glue that held that [2024 GOP] coalition together was the mass deportation message that we ran on, because that is something that — particularly for working-class voters — resonates,” Gill said. “Because they’re the ones whose communities are being transformed. They’re the ones whose wages are being suppressed or whose jobs are being taken by this mass influx of illegal aliens that Democrats, by the way, created.”

To that end, Gill, an emerging force in the GOP, has sparred with Salazar about the bill on social media and made a point of endorsing candidates in Republican primaries who share his commitment to a more hardline immigration policy.

The Dignity Act doesn’t have support from GOP House leadership, and has no obvious pathway to passage at the moment. But despite the backlash, Escobar still sees a window — though narrow — for action, especially as Trump’s polling on immigration slips.

“There is an acknowledgment from the [Republican] side that the status quo cannot remain,” Escobar said. “I do think this is the moment. If we don’t get it done before August recess, it’s going to be really hard to get it done in the future.”

What’s in the bill

For decades, the basis of any immigration compromise has been a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants — a priority for many Democrats — in exchange for heightened border security, a Republican priority, and stricter employment verification. Efforts to break through the impasse have repeatedly fallen short, establishing bipartisan immigration reform as one of Congress’ legislative white whales.

The Dignity Act has a different framework. It includes a modified version of the DREAM Act, which would offer conditional permanent residency status and eventual citizenship to DACA recipients, or people brought to the U.S. as children who have lived most of their lives here.

But aside from Dreamers, there’s no pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants in the bill — the key change from the 2023 version. Instead, they can earn legal status through the Dignity Program — a seven-year pathway contingent on passing a criminal background check, paying $7,000 in restitution plus taxes owed and providing proof that the applicant worked or was in school for at least four of the seven years. Dignity status, which authorizes holders to work and travel freely, would last for seven years and could be renewed indefinitely for recipients in good standing.

“Dignity is not amnesty,” Salazar said at a press conference last year. “Dignity does not grant a path to citizenship to anybody. Dignity is the Solomonic way to fix a 40-year problem.”

Crucially, the Dignity Program is only eligible to immigrants who arrived in the U.S. before the end of 2020 — meaning any migrants from the Biden era are ineligible. And those who have achieved Dignity status are barred from claiming means-tested federal benefits or entitlement programs.

Escobar said a common criticism she heard “and totally understood” during the Biden administration was frustration over new arrivals getting work authorization while older immigrants who had been in the U.S. for decades never did.

“Even within the immigrant community, with mixed-status families, there was a sense that it was profoundly unfair,” Escobar said. “And this bill tackles that head-on.”

The funds generated from the Dignity program would go to apprenticeship and skills training programs for U.S. citizens.

The bill also reforms asylum and employment practices and bolsters border security. It phases in a requirement that employers use E-Verify to confirm the work authorization status of their employees. It funds border security infrastructure, including “physical barriers,” and technology and raises pay for some Border Patrol agents. And it overhauls how asylum works, including an end to the controversial catch-and-release practice.

Asylum cases would need to be determined within 60 days, and applicants would be screened and held in newly built humanitarian campuses. Those whose asylum cases are denied or who fail their credible fear interview, which establishes eligibility for asylum based on potential for persecution or torture in their home country, would be subject to expedited removal.

In addition, the bill would expand opportunities for legal immigration, doubling the per-country annual cap for green cards, removing children and spouses from being counted toward caps on employment-based visas, and making changes aimed at whittling down visa backlogs.

The politics of dignity

As Republicans attempt to hold their coalition together for the midterms, Gill said he sees immigration policy — and mass deportation — as a unifying force, especially for keeping working-class voters under the GOP tent.

“That’s the glue that held the coalition together,” Gill said. “So I think to betray that, to go back on our word on the core thesis of the last election cycle, from a political standpoint, would fracture and, in many ways, just dissolve that coalition entirely.”

Across the Republican conference, Gill said there is “virtually no tolerance or appetite for amnesty of any kind.” He said GOP members who support the bill have told him they are mainly interested in codifying border security. But he thinks Democrats cannot be trusted on the issue.

Salazar argues the exact opposite, telling Politico that “what I’m doing is I’m really trying to preserve the Republican base that gave victory to Trump,” particularly the new Hispanic voter converts.

A White House official said the Trump administration is “always happy” to review congressional proposals but declined to weigh in further on the bill, saying they were “focused on enforcing the current immigration laws and deporting the millions and millions of criminal illegal aliens that Joe Biden let in our country.”

Among Dignity Act supporters, the list of cosponsors includes numerous members in competitive districts, but also some of the more ideologically driven politicians in both parties. Escobar said there’s a Democratic wait list for members to get on the bill once they can be paired with a new GOP cosponsor.

The proposal has earned the support of business groups and immigration advocates alike, from the libertarian group Americans for Prosperity to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to the liberal pro-immigration group FWD.us.

In the Lone Star State, the Texas Business Leadership Council and the Texas Restaurant Association have signed on as endorsers.

Justin Yancy, the president of the TBLC, said he often hears from construction and agriculture industry leaders, in particular, about the need for immigration reform. While his organization strongly supports the goal of a secure border, Yancy said, he also wants to see new pathways to legal immigration, such as those in the Dignity Act, in order to meet labor needs.

A mass deportation strategy, by contrast, is not economically viable, he said.

“Deporting everyone would be catastrophic for the economy — not just in Texas, but around the country,” Yancy said. “That’s just a nonstarter.”

Texas, Yancy said, needs “more employees, not fewer”. And people eligible for Dignity status under the bill would not be taking jobs, he said, given labor shortages that are causing economic upheaval in key industries.

The vociferous opposition of Gill and others speaks to the increasingly strained relationship between big business groups and the GOP. Gill said if the GOP wants to be the party of the working class, it has to reject business’ arguments on immigration.

“Mass migration does, in many ways, at least in the short term, benefit large businesses who basically view these people as labor input,” Gill said. “But the people who are harmed are the people whose jobs are taken away. And those are the people who don’t have fancy lobbyists in Washington, who can’t spend millions of dollars on political campaigns, but they’re the ones who show up and vote.”

But while Gill still sees immigration as Republicans’ strongest issue, Escobar thinks there’s an opening for bipartisanship.

She saw the recent head-rolling at the Department of Homeland Security, including the ouster of Kristi Noem as secretary and Greg Bovino as Border Patrol sector chief, as evidence that the White House recognized it needed to change tactics on immigration.

“Does that mean they will embrace the Dignity Act?” Escobar said. “I think it depends on whether a lot of these groups lobby the White House directly. Because ultimately, if Donald Trump gives his blessing, it’s done.”

Disclosure: Politico, Texas Business Leadership Council and Texas Restaurant Association have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

No more trips to and from Houston, listening to pop and Christian music.

No more hauling whiskey from Laredo, tangerines from Brownsville, solar panels to the Hill Country.

No paycheck.

Viera’s life abruptly changed when Texas, following the dictates of the Trump administration, canceled commercial driver’s licenses, or CDLs, held by legally present noncitizens, including asylum seekers, refugees and DACA recipients. Texas was one of the first states to take action.

She heard about the cancellations in December as men unloaded office chairs she’d hauled to San Antonio in the beloved semi she named Pink Panther.

Viera, a 40-year-old DACA recipient who moved to Houston from Guatemala when she was 9, hurriedly checked her status online, fingers trembling as the page loaded on her phone. Her stomach dropped. She’d lost her CDL a week before.

Can I drive back to Houston? What should I tell my boss?

Bigger questions followed.

Did my husband also lose his trucking job? How am I going to pay for my son’s tuition?

Noncitizen truckers and bus drivers have increasingly been targeted by “America first” Republicans who say correcting poor state oversight of immigrant drivers and removing non-English speakers from the roads would improve public safety.

“Licenses to operate a massive, 80,000-pound truck are being issued to dangerous foreign drivers – often times illegally,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy said in September when he directed states to crack down on noncitizen CDLs. “This is a direct threat to the safety of every family on the road, and I won’t stand for it.”

Four days later, the Texas Department of Public Safety announced that it would no longer issue or renew “nondomiciled CDLs” — licenses given to noncitizens who are in the country legally.

DPS began canceling previously issued nondomiciled CDLs in December, with 6,407 licenses revoked and more than 3,300 that once expired will be evaluated for “renewal eligibility under the new rule change,” the agency said.

Texas officials continue to turn up the heat. House Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, recently directed legislators to study whether noncitizen CDL holders cause an increase in accidents, followed by recommendations “to protect public safety.” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick directed senators to strengthen safety standards for trucking schools and beef up enforcement of English-language requirements. Attorney General Ken Paxton in late April began probing five Texas trucking schools, accusing them of endangering Texans by certifying drivers who were not proficient in English.

For Gov. Greg Abbott, English proficiency requirements make sense. “Every commercial driver license operator on Texas roadways must be able to communicate clearly in English to ensure compliance with traffic laws, follow safety directions, and prevent accidents,” he said.

These safety concerns confuse Viera, who speaks and understands English well, attended middle and high schools in the Houston area, earned her CDL at Houston Community College and says she has a “sparkly clean record.”

“Just because I’m not a U.S. citizen, does that make me a dangerous driver?” Viera said. “I know a lot of U.S. citizens who have had reckless driving incidents.”

Bhupinder Kaur, director of operations at international humanitarian nonprofit UNITED SIKHS, said the policy “has no basis on safety, it is basically just targeting immigrant communities.”

Lawsuits challenging CDL revocations have been filed in several states, including a California petition — filed by lawyers with the Sikh Coalition and Asian Law Caucus — arguing that about 20,000 licenses were canceled without proper notice or the opportunity to be heard.

In Florida, a federal lawsuit by 19 truck and bus drivers seeks to block new state rules, arguing they violate the rights of drivers who face “financial ruin” without evidence of misconduct, fault or dangerousness.

Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia denied a request to block federal CDL rules while two other legal challenges continue.

“Am I just having a bad dream?”

After learning her CDL was canceled, Viera phoned her 19-year-old son Alex, the eldest of four. With tears falling, she asked, “Am I reading this right or am I just having a bad dream?” He started crying, too.

Before hanging up, her son decided to drop out of flight school after a year, abandoning a dream of earning a commercial pilot’s license because tuition costs were too high. His mom picked him up in Florida and drove him home.

Viera said she “felt like a loser” watching her son, who loves being in the sky, pack up his dorm.

“If it wasn’t for my status, he wouldn’t be going through this,” she said. “He doesn’t deserve going through this because he’s a U.S. citizen.”

To help his family, but against his mom’s wishes, Alex enlisted in the Air Force.

Viera’s youngest turned 1 in April. Her husband also lost his job as a truck driver in December but found a new gig as a diesel mechanic, though the family struggles to make ends meet.

They sold two of their semi trucks, but Viera is holding tight to Pink Panther.

She feels betrayed by the state she’s traveled extensively and gotten to know so well.

“I feel like a Texan, like a real Texan,” Viera said. “I mean, I’ve seen and driven through so much of the state, much more than most people.”

“You become addicted to the job”

For some drivers, playing a vital role in the state’s economy is alluring.

“It’s a fulfilling job because at the end of the day, you’re very tired and you feel like you have done good for the economy and you have added to making Texas better,” said Eunice Kamanu, a nine-year truck driver based in Fort Worth before her CDL was recently rescinded. “You become addicted to the job.”

Kamanu said she always dreamed of being a trucker, long before immigrating to Texas from Kenya in 2010 as an asylum seeker. Most of her deliveries brought sand to drilling sites for fracking, taking her to the state’s most remote areas — her favorite assignments.

“I really enjoy being out in the dust, wearing boots,” said Kamanu, 51.

To make ends meet after losing her job, she started working as an Uber driver, a transition made by many other former truck drivers, including Viera. But her income was slashed by about 75% — not enough to support her five kids. Her mom and siblings also depend on her.

“We work so hard,” Kamanu said. “We try so much to be on the right side of things and work hard to provide for our families. I feel like it’s very, very unfair after all I have done and accomplished.”

Across the nation, as many as 200,000 immigrant drivers could be pushed out of the trucking industry by the CDL crackdown, according to the Department of Transportation — even as the U.S. faces a shortage of up to 80,000 truck drivers.

Madhav Pappu, a clinical associate professor at Texas A&M’s business school who focuses on transportation and supply chain management, said the compounding labor challenge is one factor contributing to higher freight rates — costs that may be passed on to consumers.

Losing drivers could also devastate small businesses, Pappu added.

“When you pull these drivers off the highway, what’s going to happen to the fleet?” he said. “Some of the smaller companies can’t afford to have these trucks sitting on the side, and that leads to a disproportionate amount of smaller companies either closing their doors or being absorbed by some of the larger ones.”

On the other hand, John Esparza, president and CEO of the Texas Trucking Association, said he doesn’t think the crackdown on noncitizen truckers will have a major impact on his industry because they make up “a relatively small number” of drivers in the state. There were nearly 724,000 active CDLs in Texas as of late April, DPS said.

“The industry’s really grown accustomed to being really resilient and challenged on a daily basis from a number of obstacles that can come up,” Esparza said.

A DPS spokesman said Texas drivers were notified that their nondomiciled CDLs had been canceled. None of the four truckers who spoke to The Texas Tribune, however, said they had received notice, including Viera, Kamanu and Roberto Linares, 52, who has been driving for nearly two decades but learned his CDL was rescinded weeks after the fact.

“I went to work and I told my manager what’s going on — they couldn’t believe it, they didn’t even know either,” said Linares, who lives in Mansfield, a small city near Arlington, under temporary protective status from El Salvador.

He’s now making about $600 a week as a yard helper, and his 13-year-old daughter had to quit her school soccer club because uniforms and other dues are too expensive.

“It feels like someone stole something from you,” said Linares, who said he has been driving trucks for decades. “But I have faith that the government is going to make an exception for us drivers who were doing everything right.”

“They cut my wings”

The Texas crackdown on noncitizen CDLs has also strained trucking schools.

Oaty Don Scott, who owns and runs Trucker Certified CDL, said class sizes have shrunk at his online school, where about 10% of students were legal noncitizens.

Trucker Certified CDL was among the five schools being investigated by the attorney general’s office for allegedly certifying unqualified and non-English speaking drivers.

Scott said trucking school is rigorous and safety is the core of all instruction. Every student at his school has been proficient at speaking and reading English, he said.

Zachary Delgado, owner of Fast Track CDL, which is also under investigation by Paxton’s agency, said graduates still have to pass a test with DPS to get a CDL. “I’m 100% confident in our business. We don’t do anything illegally,” he said.

Owners of four of the five schools under investigation responded to questions from the Tribune, and all defended their practices, including three who said they hadn’t received any direct communication from the attorney general’s office before Paxton announced the probe in a press release.

“I didn’t learn about the investigation until I got the email from you,” Delgado said.

CDL courses in Texas can range from $2,000 at a community college to an average of $5,000 at a private school, according to Get CDL Texas, an online resource for drivers.

Rina Flores, a school bus driver in Houston, said she invested thousands of dollars in trucking school after immigrating from El Salvador 19 years ago to provide a better life for her two daughters.

As a bus driver for Lamar ISD in Harris County, Flores said she carried the most important cargo: children.

“When you pick up the student, you are the first face they see,” she said. “So the best attitude as a bus driver: you smile, you say good morning, you say, ‘I am here for you. If you need anything, raise your hand or call my name. I will listen to you.’”

She said losing her CDL in December felt “like they cut my wings.”

Flores’ adorned her bus with stickers bearing words of encouragement, including: “Everyone is welcome. Everyone belongs” and “Believe in yourself.”

Another says: “In a world where you can be anything, be kind.”

When Flores lost her job, she left the stickers on bus No. 5023, figuring the kids could still benefit from the messages.

Coworkers also encouraged her to leave them up in hopes she can return to work. In the meantime, she’s working in an office and misses her students.

Disclosure: Houston Community College has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

If children fall asleep during a lesson, change the pacing. If a kid with dyslexia feels humiliated reading aloud to peers, do not force them to do it. If 60% of the class passes the test, fantastic. But focus on what could have helped the 40% who struggled.

“You start with where your students are, and you set goals. You do your lesson; you analyze your data; and then you adjust and you reflect,” said Minnis, who teaches eighth-grade reading to students with disabilities at Legacy Middle School in San Antonio. “A lot of times, teachers teach to the middle rather than looking at the outliers, because the outliers can be scary.”

Minnis credits her approach to National Board Certification, often recognized as the most respected and demanding teaching certificate in the country. Roughly 1,200 out of 382,000 Texas teachers — less than 1% — hold the credential. The state rewards those who earn it with salary raises of up to $9,000 under a pay-for-performance program known as the Teacher Incentive Allotment.

But that could change by the end of the year as state leaders question the credential’s worth.

Texas’ new, nearly $8.5 billion school funding law requires the State Board for Educator Certification to evaluate whether National Board Certification aligns with state law. The state board will determine if the national certificates will continue to qualify educators for raises under the Teacher Incentive Allotment.

During legislative debates last year, a prominent Republican state senator said the national certificate did not align with Texas’ goal of rewarding teachers based on merit. Other elected officials have since argued that the National Board’s emphasis on equity conflicts with state mandates prohibiting such practices.

“There’s this thing about, ‘Well, Texas knows what’s best for Texas,’” said Rep. Harold Dutton, D-Houston, a supporter of the national certificate. “That seems to be part of the problem that we’ve got, without recognizing that we don’t need to reinvent the wheel.”

About 620 nationally certified educators receive Teacher Incentive Allotment raises, according to the Texas Education Agency. Teachers say revoking the certification as a pathway to salary increases would show that Texas leaders do not value the highest quality of teaching — that is, those who center their practice on the most important person in education: the child.

“It literally makes you a better teacher,” said Minnis, who attained the credential in 2010. “One of the most important things in national certification is: How does a teacher create a safe, equitable learning environment for all students?”

Teachers sum up the National Board Certification process in two words: writing and reflection.

The program measures whether educators understand the content they teach, their effectiveness in evaluating what students need and their ability to keep children engaged and help them learn.

Teachers have five years to complete the certification. They demonstrate their effectiveness through a computer-based assessment of multiple-choice and free-response questions. They collect samples of students’ work and specify how they will help each grow. They videotape themselves during class instruction, analyzing each decision and interaction. They detail how they serve as leaders and collaborate with colleagues. They scrutinize test results, identifying patterns and adjusting instruction.

“It was harder than my master’s,” said Keke Powell, a second-grade teacher in the Hays school district. She earned her national certification last year. “You have to be able to really be elaborate and specific on what you’re trying to say. Whoever is reading your story, if they cannot paint a picture of what you’re trying to do and say, then it needs to be fixed.”

During the 2025 lawmaking session, legislators boosted educator salaries based on years of experience and district size. They funded training programs and enacted a ban on uncertified teachers. And they expanded the Teacher Incentive Allotment — which serves roughly 42,000 teachers across more than 800 school districts — so more educators could qualify.

Before agreeing on a review of National Board Certification, the Texas Senate proposed phasing it out of the state’s pay-raise program. Former state Sen. Brandon Creighton, a Conroe Republican who crafted the bill, acknowledged that teachers invested time and money in the certification.

But the certification did not align with the spirit of the Teacher Incentive Allotment, Creighton said during a February 2025 Senate floor debate. Removing it would ensure that Texas compensates teachers based only on their daily performance in the classroom, he noted.

“It’s a low percentage of teachers that are applying for that or working within that framework now,” Creighton said at the time, referring to the national credential. “We stuck with a framework that is generally merit-based across the board.”

Months later, during a Texas State Board of Education discussion, some Republicans offered more concrete reasoning for their objections to the National Board: references to diversity, equity and inclusion.

“About 10% of the training that a teacher would go to is based on DEI, gender identity and sexual orientation — and how to help transition children — which violates our state law and violates parental rights,” board member Julie Pickren said during the April meeting.

Pickren pointed to a National Board document that details standards the most accomplished teachers hold themselves accountable to. The nearly 100-page file explains how such teachers cultivate learning spaces inclusive of all children and offers examples of what that could look like in practice.

Pickren read aloud an excerpt: Teachers design and implement lessons that help students develop awareness of, sensitivity to, and respect for others. For example, accomplished teachers are aware that children may begin to question their sexual identity at a young age. Teachers know that acceptance of their curiosity will make them feel safe and secure. In such instances, teachers may feature children’s literature in which diverse gender roles are portrayed.

The Houston-area Republican said focusing on equity and inclusion would confuse Texas teachers and conflict with federal and state requirements that schools avoid educating students about gender identity and sexual orientation.

But “none of that is true,” said Peggy Brookins, president and CEO of the National Board.

Brookins clarified that the National Board does not train educators — on sex, gender or any topic — nor does it assign learning materials.

The certification is based on evidence teachers submit showing how they adapt to their students’ needs, she emphasized. The board evaluates how that aligns with what accomplished instructors and education experts deem best practice.

Contrary to Pickren’s concern about violating parental rights, for instance, the national standards highlight that accomplished teachers communicate frequently with parents about their children’s education.

Nevertheless, Brookins asserted that not every example written for teachers — such as the one Pickren referenced — applies or makes sense in the differing educational and political environments of each state.

“We do not engage in politics. We engage in policy,” Brookins said. “And the policy is to help teachers go through the process of board certification, to work with states to say, ‘How do we make this happen in support of teachers becoming accomplished teachers?’”

Alayna Siemonsma, a 28-year educator who coordinates services for students with dyslexia in the Montgomery school district, considers National Board Certification “the best professional development I’ve ever had the opportunity to be a part of.”

“I would hope that people in those positions — like our lawmakers, like our State Board of Education members — would reach out to people who are nationally board certified,” Siemonsma said, “and have conversations with them directly about what this process entails and how it has made an impact on our craft, on our teaching, on our colleagues, and, of course, on the growth of the students that we serve.”

A Texas Tech University report released this month found that Texas students taught by nationally certified teachers experienced about 3.5 months of additional learning in math and 1.5 months in reading. Low-income students, children learning English and kids scoring below grade level saw the most significant boost in test scores. The report found that students experienced an 18% reduction in the likelihood of suspension and a 10% decrease in chronic absences.

The researchers recommended that Texas continue to recognize the national certificate in the Teacher Incentive Allotment.

The National Board has long prepared teachers to support students who historically need more support, lead researcher Jacob Kirksey said in an interview.

“Understanding that they have historically understood ways to prepare teachers to support these populations is something, again, worth considering from the state level,” Kirksey said.

Lawmakers required the State Board for Educator Certification to decide by Dec. 31 whether to continue including the national certification in the allotment. The Texas Education Agency, which works closely with the board, contracted with six educators to complete the review.

Agency officials did not provide information on the reviewers when asked by The Texas Tribune.

According to a recent presentation to the state certification board, the evaluators have collective expertise on National Board Certification, can interpret Texas law and know state standards for learning materials.

If the board revokes it from the state program, teachers could still earn pay raises for their students’ academic growth — but only as measured by their districts’ standards. The board could also conduct a subsequent review of the national certification and reinstate it at any time.

Still, nationally certified teachers question why state lawmakers decided on the current path.

Dropping National Board Certification from the incentive program would mark a sharp reversal from just four years ago, when lawmakers pushed for its continued inclusion and recommended that educators with the credential receive more money than currently allocated.

Teachers see the upcoming decision as a simple math equation: If National Board Certification equals positive student outcomes, they deserve pay raises.

“I always just take it back to, everybody should be more educated about what good teaching looks like and how all teachers can make a difference,” said Minnis, the eighth-grade reading teacher. “I would ask everybody who has a stake in this. What do you think accomplished teaching looks like? What are we looking for? What are your standards? Why do you think somebody should get TIA?’”

“What’s going to be funny,” Minnis added, “is it’s always going to go back to, ‘Oh, like the national standards.’”

Disclosure: Texas Tech University has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

Every year, flash floods happen across the city as heavy storms move through the area, often during hurricane season. Bexar County officials monitor 178 low-water crossings, updating road closures when they occur.

Drivers warned to ‘Turn Around, Don’t Drown’

While more seasoned residents know which places to avoid, newer residents may not know which areas are most prone to flooding:

Salado Creek at I-35:

When heavy rain falls, the water pools up on the access roads, resulting in closures in the area.

Basse Road and 281:

After heavy rains, Olmos Creek will quickly rise, flooding the roadways it runs through.

Pinn Road:

Pinn Road and Highway 151 has been the scene of some notable high-water rescues before. Leon Creek runs below the road, leaving it prone to flooding.

Lower levels of I-35:

The lower levels of I-35 tend to shut down after heavy rains lead to flash floods on the highway.

While those are some of the most well-known flooding spots, intersections around San Antonio can also flood, depending on where the rain falls.

Find the latest on the storms here from KSAT’s meteorologist, including forecasts, warnings and watches and an interactive radar.

The wave of violence in the conflict-torn state of Guerrero started on Wednesday when a powerful group known as Los Ardillos began to fiercely attack the communities in a rural mountainous region.

Thousands of people – including children and the elderly – were forced to flee in just a span of days after what they say were years of mounting attacks. At least one person was injured, said an organization representing the community, People’s Indigenous Council of Guerrero – Emiliano Zapata (CIPOG-EZ).

Videos show families fleeing their homes early in the morning Sunday – on Mother’s Day – cloaked by darkness with nothing more than backpacks. Others images shared with The Associated Press show heavy gunfire of gunfire echoing over farms and drones rigged with explosives laying in the brush.

“These have been days of terror,” said Marina Velasco, a representative for CIPOG-EZ. “They’ve been bombing communities with drones, and how can one defend themselves from a drone, with bombs falling from the sky.”

Community groups and local religious organizations said Los Ardillos have sought to take over the land for years in their battle for territory with a smattering of other rival criminal groups.

Velasco said families have fled to nearby towns, where many now take refuge in a soccer field. Velasco said while there is a small presence of state actors, communities like these have largely been “abandoned” by Mexican forces in the face of attacks from criminal groups. Mexico’s federal government and local state authorities in Guerrero did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The organization CIPOG-EZ has documented 76 people in the region slain by the conflict with the group in recent years, and 25 more who have gone missing.

Cartels have been using drones and more elaborate weapons for years to wage war, a sign of how entrenched the conflict is in regions like Guerrero, where cartels have splintered into rival factions. Increasingly, communities have taken up arms themselves to fight back against groups like Los Ardillos.

The bloodshed comes as Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has come down more heavily on cartels than her predecessor as she has faced mounting pressure from President Donald Trump, who has threatened to take military action against the groups, which Sheinbaum has called “ unnecessary.” The push by Sheinbaum has resulted in a sharp dip in homicides – around 40% – since she took office, a figure which the government has boasted even as it’s been r oiled by a number of scandals in recent weeks.

For more information on traffic you can click here to view our traffic page on KSAT.com. To view more on the current weather conditions, click here.

Click the links below for current road closures.

• San Antonio road closures
• Bexar County road closures
• TxDOT highway conditions

Below is a map of notable low water crossings in San Antonio.

• Avoid these notorious roadways prone to flooding during heavy rain in San Antonio
• Find the latest on the storms here from KSAT’s meteorologist, including forecasts, warnings and watches and an interactive radar.

Bexar County low-water crossing status

Read more about the map below and find the full version at BEXARflood.org.

About the map above, via Bexarflood.org:

“Each dot on the map indicates a location of a Bexar County HALT sensor - HALT stands for High water Alert Lifesaving Technology. The sensors detect rising water and send real time information to this website: green means the road safe, yellow means the water is rising and red means the road is closed. By subscribing to alerts through this website, you can receive text or email alerts when low water crossings you choose to monitor have water over the road.

“Bexar County has installed more than 150 HALT systems in our community to warn drivers to turn around with either flashing lights or a combination of flashing lights and gates.

“The map was developed through a partnership between Bexar County, the City of San Antonio and the San Antonio River Authority. These partners monitor local weather and road conditions 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.”

• Get weather alerts based on your location from the free KSAT 12 Weather app. Click to download on iPhone OR click to download on an Android phone.

Hill Country and statewide road closures

Read more about the map below and find the full version at DriveTexas.org.

More tips from KSAT:

Remember, ‘Turn Around, Don’t Drown’: Tips for staying safe while driving in the rain

Read more: CPS Energy offers power outage tips

Live Doppler Radar

Wembanyama was whistled for an offensive foul as soon as he struck Reid, who had swarmed the NBA Defensive Player of the Year outside the paint along with teammate Jaden McDaniels after the 7-foot-4 Wembanyama rebounded a missed 3-pointer by the Spurs.

Wemby appeared to say "What does that mean?" after the refs ruled a flagrant-2 and ejected him. https://t.co/JgwvVsiCj9 pic.twitter.com/GW2iTsI47m

— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) May 11, 2026

After a video review of the play, with the fans at Target Center chanting, “Kick him out! Kick him out!,” the foul was upgraded to a Flagrant 2 for excessive contact above the neck.

It was Wembanyama’s first ejection in his NBA career. When the penalty was announced, Wembanyama appeared to ask teammate Harrison Barnes: “What does that mean?”

Either the Wolves take advantage of a game without Victor Wembanyama and they win Game 4 to tie up the series OR the Spurs flaunt their deep roster and pull off a soul-crushing road win to set up the knockout at home on Tuesday.

Time will tell. The pressure is on Minnesota.

— Mary Rominger (@KSATMaryRom) May 11, 2026

After he slapped hands with each of his Spurs teammates on his way off the floor, with the arena sound system blaring Michael Jackson’s “Beat it!,” Reid sank both free throws to give the Timberwolves a 38-34 lead. Wembanyama finished with four points, four rebounds and three fouls in 13 minutes.

With Reid, Julius Randle and McDaniels in their frontcourt, the Timberwolves have had plenty of muscle and tenacity to send at Wembanyama, even if he’s been good enough offensively to overcome it. He had 39 points on 13-for-18 shooting from the floor in Game 3.

Dylan Harper was SHOCKED like all of us watching the elbow. pic.twitter.com/FHjPuDkPLr

— NBA on NBC and Peacock (@NBAonNBC) May 11, 2026

The Spurs were defeated 114-109 after a late rally by the Timberwolves, tying the series at 2-all. Game 5 will be played at 7 p.m. Tuesday inside the Frost Bank Center.

AP Sports Writer Dave Campbell contributed to this report.

Read more:

• Spurs suffer loss after Wemby’s first career ejection, Timberwolves tie series
• Spurs playoff run boosts sales for displaced San Antonio vendors after Painted Tree closure

But Beijing’s deep economic ties to Iran, as well as trade tensions over tariff threats stretching back to Trump’s first term, could crimp the good feelings when Trump flies to Beijing this week — even though the Republican president has for years effusively praised Xi, making it clear he sees China’s leader as a competitor strong enough to warrant his respect and admiration.

Trump lately isn't very fond of long plane rides or extended stretches away from the White House or his properties in Florida and New Jersey. He arrives in Beijing on Wednesday night and the next morning will take part in a welcome ceremony and meet one-on-one with Xi before the two leaders tour the Temple of Heaven — a religious complex dating to the 15th century symbolizing the relationship between Earth and heaven.

Trump will attend a state banquet on Thursday evening and then have a tea and working lunch with Xi on Friday before leaving, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said Sunday. She said they will discuss creating a new Board of Trade to keep their countries talking on economic issues, as well talking up key industries like energy, aerospace and agriculture.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said Monday that Beijing is willing to work with the U.S., based on equality and mutual respect to expand cooperation, manage differences, and add stability to a turbulent world. The diplomacy between the leaders “plays an irreplaceable strategic guiding role” in the bilateral relation, he said.

There will be plenty of ceremonial splendor, but the grandeur is not expected to rival Trump's first visit to China in 2017, which Beijing dubbed a “state visit-plus.”

“Even before this whole conflagration with Iran, they weren’t going to go state visit-plus like last time, just because things are tense,” said Jonathan Czin, a former director for China at the National Security Council during the Biden administration.

Xi's ‘better understanding’ of Trump

On Trump's first-term trip, China rolled out the red carpet for his arrival, with a band playing military music and children waving flags and chanting “Welcome.”

Xi offered a tour of the Forbidden City. Trump and first lady Melania Trump even had a private dinner there. Trump was the first foreign leader since the People’s Republic of China was founded in 1949 to experience what was once reserved for emperors.

The following morning brought another welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People and featured a military parade. There also was a state banquet in Trump’s honor with video highlights from the Chinese leader’s previous visit to Florida and a clip of Trump’s granddaughter Arabella singing in Chinese.

Ali Wyne, senior U.S.-China research and advocacy adviser for the Washington nonprofit the Crisis Group, said the “Chinese delegation will likely do its utmost to ensure that Trump leaves Beijing believing that he has just concluded the most extraordinary state visit of his two presidencies.”

But, he said, the “pomp and circumstance would serve a different role now than they did when he first visited Beijing” because “Xi has a much better understanding of Trump, and the administration’s own national security strategy and national defense strategy recognize China as a near-peer.”

Expectations for what gets accomplished could be lower this time, said Czin, now a fellow at the Brookings Institution. He predicted that the Chinese may not offer major breakthroughs on trade or anything else because they are “working backward from our midterm elections” with the theory that the closer they get to Election Day “the more leverage they are going to have.”

The GOP is focused on retaining control of Congress, even as polling shows most Americans are unhappy with Trump’s economic policies and believe that the United States went too far in Iran. Still, the White House argues that Trump's previous firm hand with Beijing on tariffs — which the Supreme Court subsequently struck down — means the U.S. will remain in a strong position.

“President Trump cares about results, not symbols,” Kelly said. “But even still, the president has a great relationship with President Xi, and the upcoming summit in Beijing will be both symbolically and substantively significant.”

Trump and Xi may see a lot of each other this year

Trump could meet with China's leader four times in eight months.

After his visit to Beijing, Trump plans to host Xi at the White House. Trump might also attend the November Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Shenzhen, China. And Xi could come to the Group of 20 summit the following month at Trump’s resort in Doral, Florida.

Czin noted that Xi also is not very fond of travel, meaning not all of the planned encounters may happen. He said China's leader also does not “do personal connections” like the kind Trump relishes, noting Xi led a Chinese military purge in January that included replacing officials with long-standing personal ties to his family.

Wyne, though, said Xi also “appreciates that he is unlikely to deal with another U.S. president who admires him as greatly and embraces as narrow a view of strategic competition.”

That means Xi may “attempt to pocket as many economic and security concessions from Trump as possible,” Wyne said.

Trump has long praised Xi

Trump told The Wall Street Journal's editorial board in 2024 that Xi “was actually a really good … I don’t want to say ‘friend.’ I don’t want to act foolish. ‘He was my friend.’ But I got along with him great.”

Trump even suggested at the time that military force might not be required to ensure that Chinese troops do not encroach on Taiwan, simply because China’s leader “respects me,” despite Trump more recently discussing potentially selling arms to Taiwan.

Trump has continued to praise the bilateral relationship since returning to the White House, even after his Beijing visit, originally scheduled for March, was postponed due to the early stages of the Iran war.

He unsuccessfully prodded China to get involved in reopening the Strait of Hormuz after Iranian forces choked it off and disrupted global economies. But China did use its leverage as the largest purchaser of Iranian oil to encourage Iran to agree to what has been a fragile ceasefire.

The White House says it expects Trump to apply pressure on China with regards to Iran. Beijing has strong economic ties to Tehran, and the war could hurt its economy, which was already projected to grow more slowly. If China can help establish lasting peace, though, that might boost its standing in negotiations on trade issues with the Trump administration.

Trade issues a sticking point

During his 2017 visit, Trump announced $250 billion in nonbinding trade deals, some of which never materialized. A round of trade deals announced in 2020 and worth $200 billion mostly never came to fruition before Trump's first term ended.

More recently, Trump’s announcement last year of steep global tariffs prompted China to cut off purchases of U.S. soybeans and clamp down on exports of rare earth minerals needed by American factories.

Tensions have eased somewhat since the U.S. reached a trade truce last fall that has limited tariffs on both sides. The White House says there have been more recent discussions about extending the trade truce, and that both sides support doing so.

Trump “doesn’t travel anywhere without bringing deliverables home to our country,” according to Kelly. “Americans can expect the president to deliver more good deals for the United States while in China,” she said.

____

Associated Press writer E. Eduardo Castillo contributed from Beijing

• UNTIL 2AM: Storms likely, some strong/severe
• • MAIN THREAT: Damaging gusts, quarter-sized hail
  • IMPACT: Some power outages & trees snapped
  • ACTIONS: Have a way to get warnings, secure loose outdoor items, park car in garage or away from trees if possible
• NEXT WEEK: Quiet and warm with plenty of sun

FORECAST

SUNDAY NIGHT (UNTIL 2AM)

We are starting the night with a Severe Thunderstorm Watch being issued for most of South Central Texas until midnight. In addition, the Storm Prediction Center has placed parts of the Hill Country and the Austin Metro Area under a Level 3 (out of 5) risk, and the San Antonio Metro area under a Level 2 risk for severe storms tonight.

Some of these storms could turn strong to severe, with the main threats being damaging wind gusts, quarter-sized hail, and locally heavy rainfall, which could cause brief street flooding.

The greatest threat with any storms tonight are damaging straight-line wind gusts of 70 mph or greater. While it is impossible to pinpoint exactly where these gusts will occur. Have a way to get warnings if the power goes out. Make sure your cell phones and devices are charged. Storms should move out quickly, with most areas clearing by early Monday morning.

EXTENDED FORECAST

Behind the cold front, weather conditions become quieter and more comfortable. Monday temperatures will dip slightly, with highs in the upper 70s to low 80s, followed by a gradual warming trend through the week. Expect plenty of sunshine and dry weather, with highs returning to the 90s by late week.

QUICK WEATHER LINKS

• WATCH LIVE: Doppler Radar
• Hourly and 10-Day Forecast
• Download FREE KSAT Weather Authority App: Up-to-date forecast information and livestreams from trusted local meteorologists.
• KSAT Connect: Share your weather photos.

San Francisco-based startup Andon Labs has put an artificial intelligence agent nicknamed “Mona” in charge at the eponymous Andon Café in the Swedish capital. While human baristas still brew the coffee and serve the orders, the AI agent — powered by Google’s Gemini — oversees almost every other aspect of the business, from hiring staff to managing inventory.

It is not clear how long the experiment will last, but the AI agent appears to be struggling to turn a profit in Stockholm’s competitive coffee trade. The cafe has made more than $5,700 in sales since it opened in mid-April, but less than $5,000 remains from its original budget of $21,000-plus. Much of the cash was spent on one-time setup costs, and the hope is that it eventually levels out and makes money.

Many cafe patrons have found it amusing to visit a business that's run by AI. Customers can pick up a telephone inside the cafe and ask the agent questions.

“It’s nice to see what happens if you push the boundary,” customer Kajsa Norin said. “The drink was good.”

Experts worry about AI's role going forward

Experts say ethical concerns abound, ranging from technology's role in humankind's future to conducting job interviews and judging employee performance.

Emrah Karakaya, an associate professor of industrial economics at Stockholm’s KTH Royal Institute of Technology, likened the experiment to “opening Pandora’s box" and said putting AI in charge can cause many problems. What might happen, he said, if a customer gets food poisoning? Who’s to blame?

“If you don’t have the required organizational infrastructure around it, and if you overlook these mistakes, it can cause harm to people, to society, to the environment, to business,” Karakaya said. “The question is, do we care about this negative impact?”

Founded in 2023, Andon Labs is an AI safety and research startup that says it focuses on “stress-testing” AI agents in the real world by giving them “real tools and real money.” It has worked with ChatGPT maker OpenAI, Claude’s Anthropic, Google DeepMind and Elon Musk’s xAI, and the startup says it is preparing for a future where “organizations are run autonomously by AI.”

The Swedish cafe is billed as a “controlled experiment” to explore how AI might be deployed going forward.

“AI will be a big part of society in the future, and therefore we want to make this experiment (to) see what ethical questions arise when we have AI that employs other people and runs a business,” said Hanna Petersson, a member of Andon Labs’ technical staff.

The lab previously held pilots that put Anthropic’s Claude AI in charge of a vending machine business and a San Francisco gift store. The vending machine simulation revealed some worrying traits: The AI agent told customers it would issue refunds but never did, and it also intentionally lied to suppliers about competitor pricing to gain leverage.

AI agent struggles with inventory orders

Mona got to work after it was prompted with some basic instructions, Petersson said. The team told it to try to run the cafe profitably, be friendly and easygoing, and figure out operational details by itself but ask for new tools if needed.

From there it set up contracts for electricity and internet, and secured permits for food handling and outdoor seating. The agent then advertised for staff on LinkedIn and Indeed, and set up commercial accounts with wholesalers for daily bread and bakery orders. It communicates with the baristas via Slack, often messaging them outside of working hours, which is a workplace no-no in Sweden.

Other problems have arisen, particularly related to inventory.

The AI agent has placed orders for 6,000 napkins, four first-aid kits and 3,000 rubber gloves for the tiny cafe — plus canned tomatoes that aren’t used in any dish the cafe serves.

And then there’s the bread. Sometimes the agent orders far too much, while other days it misses bakeries’ daily deadlines, forcing the baristas to strike sandwiches from the menu.

Petersson said the ordering issues are likely due to the AI assistant’s “limited context window.”

“When old memory of ordering stuff is out of the context window, she completely forgets what she has ordered in the past,” Petersson said.

Barista Kajetan Grzelczak said he isn’t worried about being replaced by AI just yet.

“All the workers are pretty much safe,” he said. “The ones who should be worried about their employment are the middle bosses, the people in management.”

Nathan is a member of the varsity football and basketball teams where he made academic all-district and all-state. He’s also a member of varsity track.

He’s a member of the National Honor Society and the National FFA Organization. Nathan maintains a 4.0 grade point average and is ranked sixteenth in his class.

He performs community service by volunteering to sing at retirement homes and cutting down trees.

Nathan plans to attend West Texas A&M University, major in animal science and become a veterinarian.

With one frustrated swing of his right elbow on Sunday night, Wembanyama changed the course of Game 4 — and perhaps the series.

Ejected after striking Timberwolves center Naz Reid in the throat early in the second quarter, Wembanyama was confined to watching his teammates admirably overcome his notable absence before fading down the stretch in a 114-109 defeat that evened the series at two games apiece.

“It was a whole lot of grabbing and pushing and shoving, but that’s a part of the game,” said Spurs rookie Dylan Harper, who matched his career high with 24 points. “The next man has got to step up. I think we all did a great job of controlling what we can control.”

Wembanyama was swarmed by Reid and Jaden McDaniels after grabbing an offensive rebound following a missed 3-pointer. With McDaniels tugging on his left arm, Wembanyama snapped and jabbed his right arm back toward Reid — and struck him square in the neck.

Television replays showed Harper behind the scrum with a stunned expression, his mouth agape. McDaniels quickly bearhugged Wembanyama to try to avoid escalation, and the 7-foot-4 Wembanyama took a seat on the bench while the officials reviewed the video with the fans at Target Center chanting, “Kick him out!”

The foul was upgraded to a Flagrant 2 for excessive contact above the neck. That penalty triggers an automatic ejection, immediately swinging the balance of a pivotal game in the series toward the Timberwolves. The Spurs had the lead after their 115-108 win in Game 3 on Friday.

When the penalty was announced, Wembanyama appeared to ask teammate Harrison Barnes, "What does that mean?” He slapped hands with each of his Spurs teammates on his way off the floor, with the arena sound system blaring Michael Jackson's “Beat it!”

Wembanyama finished with four points, four rebounds and three fouls in 13 minutes.

“I’m glad he took matters into his own hands. Not in terms of hitting Naz Reid — by all means, being very clear about that,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “I'm glad Naz Reid is OK, and I didn’t want him to elbow him, but he’s going to have to protect himself.”

Johnson raised a concern beyond simply how the Timberwolves have been playing Wembanyama, who was the first overall pick in the 2023 draft.

“The level of physicality that opponents have been trying to impose on him since his first days in the league, combined with the lack of protection from the referees, is really disappointing,” Johnson said. "And to a certain extent, it’s starting to become downright nauseating.”

With Reid, Julius Randle and McDaniels in their frontcourt, the Timberwolves have had plenty of muscle and tenacity to send at Wembanyama, even if he's been good enough offensively to overcome it. He had 39 points on 13-for-18 shooting from the floor in Game 3.

“You never want anyone to get hurt, but you could see the frustration. I could see where he's coming from,” Harper said. “We've got his back, and I think he can learn from that, and he just knows not to do that again.”

Now the series shifts back to San Antonio for Game 5 on Tuesday, with the league certain to assess the play for potential further punishment, but Johnson dismissed any concern about a suspension.

“There was zero intent," he said. "I think it would be ridiculous.”

___

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

One the 17 American passengers evacuated from the MV Hondius tested positive for the hantavirus but is not showing any symptoms, U.S. health officials said late Sunday.

Earlier, one of the five French passengers developed symptoms on their flight home, French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said in a statement, and all were put into strict isolation with plans to be tested.

Passengers were evacuated off the MV Hondius following its arrival in Tenerife, the largest island in the Spanish archipelago off the West African coast.

Earlier, officials from the Spanish Health Ministry, the World Health Organization and the cruise company Oceanwide Expeditions had said none of the more than 140 people who were then on the Hondius had shown symptoms of the virus.

The aircraft carrying the Americans was due to arrive in Omaha, Nebraska, early Monday.

The Americans would first be taken to the University of Nebraska Medical Center, which has a federally funded quarantine facility, to assess whether they have been in close contact with any symptomatic people and their risk levels for spreading the virus.

The medical school also has a special unit for treating people with highly infectious diseases that was used early in the pandemic for COVID-19 patients and previously for Ebola patients.

“One passenger will be transported to the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit upon arrival, while other passengers will go to the National Quarantine Unit for assessment and monitoring. The passenger who is going to the Biocontainment Unit tested positive for the virus but does not have symptoms,” said Kayla Thomas, a spokesperson for the Nebraska Medicine hospital that will help care for the passengers.

From the ship, all of the passengers were escorted to shore by personnel in full-body protective gear and breathing masks. Spanish passengers were the first to leave, flown to Madrid and taken to a military hospital. Hours later, a plane that evacuated French passengers landed in Paris, where it was met by emergency vehicles.

The planes arriving in Tenerife were to fly out passengers from more than 20 countries in an evacuation effort that was expected to last until Monday.

Japan’s Foreign Ministry said a Japanese national arrived in Britain on a chartered flight arranged by the British government and will be under health monitoring by British authorities for up to 45 days.

Three people have died since the outbreak began, and five people who left the ship earlier are infected with hantavirus.

Health officials say risk to public is low

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reiterated that the general public should not be worried about the outbreak.

“We have been repeating the same answer many times," he said. "This is not another COVID. And the risk to the public is low. So they shouldn’t be scared, and they shouldn’t panic.”

Even so, those disembarking and workers at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife wore protective gear during the evacuation process, including hazardous-materials suits, face masks and respirators. Video obtained by The Associated Press showed passengers on the tarmac donning similar suits and being sprayed with disinfectant.

Passengers were relieved to be on their way home, another WHO official said. “It’s been great seeing all the buses coming out and people really happy to be on land again and being repatriated,” said Diana Rojas Alvarez, the WHO health operations lead, who is on Tenerife.

Authorities have said the disembarking passengers and crew members will be checked for symptoms and will be forbidden from having any contact with the local population. They were to be taken off the ship only when evacuation flights are ready. Tedros and Spain’s health and interior ministers are supervising the operation in Tenerife.

Hantavirus usually spreads when people inhale contaminated residue of rodent droppings, and the disease is not easily transmitted between people. But the Andes virus detected in the cruise ship outbreak may be able to spread between people in rare cases. Symptoms usually show between one and eight weeks after exposure.

Passengers and disembarking crew members left behind their luggage and were allowed to take only a small bag with essentials, a cellphone, a charger and documentation.

Some crew, as well as the body of a passenger who died on board, will remain on the ship, which will sail on to Rotterdam, Netherlands, where it will undergo disinfection, Spanish authorities said.

The journey to Rotterdam takes about five days, the cruise company said.

Passengers will be monitored

The WHO is recommending that passengers' home countries "have active monitoring and follow-up, which means daily health checks, either at home or in a specialized facility,” said Maria van Kerkhove, the organization's top epidemiologist.

“We are leaving this up to the countries themselves to actually develop their own policies,” she added. “But our recommendations are very clear.”

Numerous countries have said their people will be quarantined or hospitalized for observation.

In the U.K., for example, authorities have said passengers will be hospitalized for 72 hours of quarantine, followed by six weeks of self-isolation.

The French had planned a similar protocol, but after Sunday's flight, the prime minister said the five passengers would be kept in the hospital "until further orders."

A Dutch evacuation plane touched down Sunday evening in the Netherlands city of Eindhoven, with disembarking passengers wearing masks and carrying belongings in white plastic bags. The 26 aboard included eight Dutch citizens, as well as people from India, Germany, Argentina, Belgium, Greece, Portugal, Ukraine, Guatemala, the Philippines and Montenegro, the Dutch Foreign Ministry said.

The Dutch citizens were being taken home by medical transport and will self-quarantine for six weeks. Local health services were arranging quarantine locations for others.

The acting director of the Centers for Disease Control, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, said Americans would first be flown to the University of Nebraska. After that, he told CNN’s “State of the Union,” they will be given the choice of staying in Nebraska or going home, where their conditions would be monitored by state and local health agencies.

He made the comments before the report one passenger had tested positive.

He noted that seven Americans who left the cruise have been in the U.S. for roughly two weeks, and they are living across the country.

Australia is sending a plane, expected to arrive Monday, to evacuate its people and those from nearby countries, such as New Zealand, and unspecified Asian countries, said Spanish Health Minister Mónica García, who added that the evacuation flight was expected to be the last to leave Tenerife.

Norway sent an ambulance plane to the island with personnel trained to transport patients with high-risk infections, its Directorate for Civil Protection told public broadcaster NRK.

British medics parachute into remote territory

Elsewhere, British Army medics parachuted onto the remote South Atlantic territory of Tristan da Cunha, where one of the 221 residents has a suspected case of hantavirus.

The patient was a passenger on the MV Hondius and disembarked last month.

The U.K. Defense Ministry said a team of six paratroopers and two medical clinicians jumped Saturday from a Royal Air Force transport plane, which also dropped oxygen and medical equipment.

Tristan da Cunha is Britain’s most remote inhabited overseas territory, about 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers) from the nearest inhabited island, St. Helena. The group of volcanic islands has no airstrip and is usually accessible only by a six-day boat voyage from Cape Town, South Africa.

___

Naishadham reported from Madrid. Associated Press writers Angela Charlton in Paris, Jill Lawless in London and Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin contributed to this report.

The bodies were discovered just after 3:30 p.m., Laredo ABC affiliate KGNS reports, during an inspection at a rail yard in the 12000 block of Jim Young Way.

Laredo police confirmed six people were deceased at the scene, and no one else was found alive inside the boxcar.

Union Pacific said it is “working closely with law enforcement to investigate.” The railroad did not release additional details.

The investigation remains ongoing. Police said more information will be released as it becomes available.

Read also:

• BCSO: Man dead after suffering gunshot wound, found unconscious outside far West Side apartment complex
• San Antonio family pleads for help after deadly hit-and-run on Southwest Side

The 53-year-old father of four fears the strain will worsen if the war drags on, saying long hours waiting for fuel have sharply cut his income and made it increasingly difficult to support his family in Dhaka, the nation's capital, including a daughter at university and a son in college.

“My family was managing fairly well through ride-sharing," he said. “But after the fuel shortage began, I would buy fuel one day and run the bike for two days. As a result, I had to sit idle for one day, which reduced my income.”

The strain in Islam's household reflects a broader squeeze in Bangladesh, heavily dependent on imported fuel, where energy shortages have disrupted daily life, slowed industrial output and raised concerns about economic growth as global tensions push up costs and strain supplies.

Conditions have eased slightly in recent days, with shorter queues at fuel stations after the government increased supplies, but concerns persist across sectors.

Across Asia, governments are facing similar strains as the war-driven surge in energy prices rattles economies dependent on imported oil and gas.

The continent is exposed because it relies on imported fuel, much of it passing through the Strait of Hormuz — a chokepoint for about a fifth of global oil and natural gas trade.

Higher fuel costs are leading to inflation and squeezing household budgets, while industries from manufacturing to transport are facing rising operating costs and supply disruptions.

The Asian Development Bank in late April cut growth forecasts for developing Asia and the Pacific, warning that war-driven energy disruptions would slow economies and fuel inflation. It now expects growth of 4.7% in 2026, with inflation rising to 5.2% as oil prices climb and financial conditions tighten.

Many are hoping for a quick end to the conflict and a return to normal.

“If this situation continues, we will have to move back to our village and find some other way to earn a living,” Islam, the struggling father said. It is not possible to survive in Dhaka by doing ride-sharing under these conditions.”

Energy crunch weighs on Bangladesh’s economy

Rising energy prices are also expected to strain Bangladesh’s finances, with the government likely to spend an additional $1.07 billion on LNG subsidies in the April-June quarter alone if global prices remain high.

Bangladesh has sought supplies from its big neighbor India, which has responded positively as it has diversified sources, including Russia, of fuel.

Already, authorities have imposed austerity measures to manage the crisis as global lenders warn of slower growth in the nation of more than 170 million people. Gas and diesel shortages have triggered more frequent power cuts in industrial zones.

The government has also shut fertilizer factories to divert gas to power plants, restricted evening hours for shopping malls and introduced fuel rationing.

The World Bank said in April it expects growth in Bangladesh to slow to 3.9% in the fiscal year ending in June 2026, warning that a prolonged Middle East conflict could fuel inflation, widen the current account deficit and strain public finances through higher energy subsidies.

Jean Pesme, the World Bank’s division director for Bangladesh and Bhutan, said the economy already faced “pre-existing vulnerabilities and challenges, in particular on the economic and employment front.”

The rising costs now are “obviously making the fiscal situation more difficult.”

He also warned that authorities should be cautious in raising fuel prices, saying higher costs could hurt farmers and agriculture.

Bangladesh garment industry is hit as exports slow

The energy crunch is also driving up costs and threatening Bangladesh’s garment exports, the backbone of its economy, business leaders say.

Anwar-Ul Alam Chowdhury, president of the Bangladesh Chamber of Industries, said exports to Europe and the U.S. could face a significant setback. Shipments have fallen between 5% and 13% in recent months, he said. He worries that customers could lose confidence in Bangladesh’s ability to deliver and that competitor nations such as India, Vietnam and Cambodia could gain market share if the crisis persists.

Chowdhury said factory output has dropped by 30% to 40% for various reasons and that the situation has worsened since the U.S. and Israel launched their war against Iran, while business costs have risen by about 35% to 40%.

Bangladesh, the world’s second-largest garment exporter after China, earns about $39 billion annually from the sector, which employs around 4 million workers, mostly women from rural areas.

Alvi Islam, director of Arrival Fashion Limited, said manufacturers are facing higher costs for petroleum-based materials such as sewing threads, poly bags — plastic bags used in packaging — and cartons, while spending more on diesel generators to cope with frequent power cuts.

His company, which exports products worth about $40 million annually, now runs generators at least four hours a day during production.

“For that reason, the cost of doing business for exporting garments has increased quite significantly in past one month,” he said.

Workers worry about livelihoods

Garment worker Mosammet Runa, 35, said she fears for her family’s future if the war continues.

“Millions of people like us depend on this industry. It is how we survive,” said Runa, who, along with her husband, earns about $400 a month to support their family of six.

She said a prolonged conflict could wipe out jobs and called for an end to the fighting.

“We are innocent people. The world should not make us victims," she said.

___

AP journalist Al Emrun Garjon contributed to this report.

A crowd of about 300 supporters and political allies gathered outside the Klong Prem Central Prison to greet the 76-year-old billionaire populist.

Thaksin was a telecommunications magnate who founded his own political party in 1998 and served as prime minister from 2001 until a military coup ousted him in 2006 while he was abroad. His ouster triggered nearly two decades of deep and sometimes violent political polarization, while his political machine staged several comebacks even as Thaksin himself stayed in self-imposed exile to escape what he said was political persecution through the courts.

His three children, including former prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, and other family members also arrived early to welcome him.

Thaksin emerged from the prison gate in a white polo shirt and blue pants and was embraced by his family. He smiled brightly as he walked around to greet his supporters who chanted “we love Thaksin,” and gave red roses to him. He then left without speaking to reporters.

He arrived at his residence in western Bangkok about an hour later. In a video streamed by Thairath News, Thaksin was seen rolling down the car window to greet a small group of supporters waiting at his home, responding to reporters' shouted questions that “I was in hibernation, I can't remember anything now.”

Thaksin was the first elected prime minister in Thai history to serve a full four-year term. Policies like a national healthcare scheme and projects to build roads in less developed parts of the country drew devoted support from the poorer segments of society, particularly in the rural north and northeast, but his popularity and sometimes high-handed style created deep fractures between his base and the country’s urban elites, royalists, and military.

He was charged with abuse of power over allegations including using his position to benefit his own business interests and illegally approving a state lottery project that caused losses to the government.

Thaksin was convicted in absentia, but returned to Thailand to be sentenced in 2023 as the Pheu Thai Party, his most recent political vehicle, formed a government. He was widely believed to have reached a secret accommodation with the traditional royalist establishment. He was originally sentenced to eight years in prison, but it was commuted to one year by King Maha Vajiralongkorn, which he was granted permission to serve from a suite in Bangkok’s Police Hospital on medical grounds.

After protests that he had received unwarranted special treatment, the Supreme Court in September 2025 ordered Thaksin to serve his sentence in prison.

A Justice Ministry panel agreed last month to grant him parole as part of a review of more than 900 eligible prisoners’ cases, citing his good behavior in prison, his age and the low risk that he would repeat his offense.

After his release, Thaksin will be on probation for four months, during which he must reside at his declared home in Bangkok, wear an electronic monitoring bracelet, and report regularly to probation officials.

Thaksin’s daughter Paetongtarn became the country’s youngest prime minister in 2024 but was removed from office by the Constitutional Court in August 2025 after a recording was released of a compromising phone call with former Cambodian leader Hun Sen.

The Pheu Thai party managed only a third-place finish in this year’s general election.

Dozens of people cheered on the team at the downtown celebration, despite the loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. The series is now tied.

District 1, Centro San Antonio and the city of San Antonio’s Downtown Office teamed up to host this event. It had food, games and live mural painting.

Ricardo Rodriguez was one of the featured artists.

“It’s such an honor,” he said.

The celebration was not just for the Spurs, but also for moms.

“There is nothing else to top my day than watching the Spurs,” Mary Alice Hernandez said. “My family is por vida. That’s what the Spurs mean to me.”

Game 5 is set for 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Frost Bank Center. The city is hosting another watch party at Mexico Ceaty at the Rivercenter. Click here for details.

Read also:

• Late Timberwolves rally guides Timberwolves past Spurs after Wembanyama’s ejection
• River Walk restaurant hands out 700 free conchas to downtown honkers after San Antonio Spurs win

Click here to see reported outages across the state of Texas.

Naz Reid took the fateful elbow to the neck from a frustrated Wembanyama and finished with 15 points and nine rebounds to help the Timberwolves finish strong after some shaky stretches.

Edwards hit a 27-footer to bring the Wolves within 94-91, turning to shout at the crowd for some help down the stretch as the Spurs quickly called timeout. His catch-and-shoot 3-pointer from the wing with 5:12 left put them up 98-97, their first lead since midway through the third quarter.

Then the big men went to work without Wembanyama patrolling the paint. Rudy Gobert got a three-point play with 3:02 left off a slick feed from Reid and later threw down a dunk for a 107-101 lead with 1:56 to go after a pass from Julius Randle. Gobert had 11 points and 13 rebounds.

Reid’s follow shot with 40 seconds left gave the Wolves a seven-point lead, before Dylan Harper had a rebound, a drawn foul, a steal, and two free throws to help the Spurs pull within three. Ayo Dosunmu sank two foul shots with 9.8 seconds left to put the game out of reach and tie the series at two games apiece.

San Antonio hosts Game 5 on Tuesday, with Wembanyama’s status to be determined by the league following the Flagrant 2 foul call and automatic ejection he was levied for the excessive contact to Reid.

Harper and De’Aaron Fox each scored 24 points and Stephon Castle added 20 as the Spurs guards unflinchingly took the baton from their 7-foot-4 superstar and turned the rest of the night into a mid-range clinic with an array of pull-up jumpers in and around the paint.

The crowd at Target Center went wild when Wembanyama walked off the floor with Minnesota leading by two, but the Wolves never fully took advantage of the gift created by his absence. They’ve long had a tendency of losing their edge, particularly defensively, when an opponent’s star player is missing.

After committing six turnovers in a 20-point third quarter, the Wolves found themselves in another eight-point hole early in the fourth following Fox’s 3-pointer.

Read more:

• Wembanyama gets ejected early in Spurs-Wolves Game 4 for elbowing Reid and drawing a Flagrant 2 foul

Iranian state television reported that Tehran rejected the U.S. proposal as amounting to surrender, insisting instead on “war reparations by the U.S., full Iranian sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, an end to sanctions, and the release of seized Iranian assets.”

Washington’s latest proposal addressed a deal to end the war, reopen the strait and roll back Iran’s nuclear program.

Trump's rejection of the Iranian response included no details. In an earlier post, he accused Tehran of “playing games” with the United States for nearly 50 years, adding: "They will be laughing no longer!"

Trump is giving diplomacy “every chance we possibly can before going back to hostilities,” the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, told ABC earlier.

Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen or heard publicly since the war began, “issued new and decisive directives for the continuation of operations and the powerful confrontation with the enemies” while meeting with the head of the joint military command, the state broadcaster reported, with no details.

Drone attacks target Gulf Arab nations

The fragile ceasefire was tested when a drone ignited a small fire on a ship off Qatar and the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait reported drones entering their airspace. The UAE said it shot down two drones and blamed Iran. No casualties were reported, and no one immediately claimed responsibility.

Qatar's Foreign Ministry called the ship attack a “dangerous and unacceptable escalation that threatens the security and safety of maritime trade routes and vital supplies in the region." The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center gave no details about the ship's owner or origin.

Kuwait Defense Ministry spokesperson Brig. Gen. Saud Abdulaziz Al Otaibi said forces responded to drones but did not say where they came from.

Iran and armed allied groups such as the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group have used drones to carry out hundreds of strikes since the war began with U.S. and Israeli attacks on Feb. 28.

Iran says it's on ‘full readiness’ to protect nuclear sites

Trump has reiterated threats to resume full-scale bombing if Iran does not accept an agreement to reopen the strait and roll back its nuclear program. Iran has largely blocked the strategic waterway that's key to the global flow of oil, natural gas and fertilizer since the war began, rattling world markets.

The U.S. military in turn has blockaded Iranian ports since April 13, saying it has turned back 61 commercial vessels and disabled four. On Friday, it struck two Iranian oil tankers it said were trying to breach the blockade. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard navy says any attack on Iranian oil tankers or commercial vessels would be met with a “heavy assault” on U.S. bases in the region and enemy ships.

In an interview posted late Saturday, an Iranian military spokesperson said forces were on “full readiness” to protect sites where uranium is stored.

The U.N. nuclear agency says Iran has more than 440 kilograms (970 pounds) of uranium enriched up to 60% purity, a short, technical step from weapons grade.

“We considered it possible that they might intend to steal it through infiltration operations or heli-borne operations,” Brig. Gen. Akrami Nia told the IRNA news agency.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an interview with CBS that aired Sunday said the war isn't over because the enriched uranium needs to be taken out of Iran. “Trump has said to me, ‘I want to go in there,’ and I think it can be done physically,” he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Saturday that Moscow’s proposal to take enriched uranium from Iran to help negotiate a settlement remains on the table.

The majority of Iran’s highly enriched uranium is likely at its Isfahan nuclear complex, the International Atomic Energy Agency director-general told The Associated Press last month. The facility was hit by U.S.-Israeli airstrikes in the 12-day war last year and faced less intense attacks this year.

Iran warns against French-British effort in the strait

Iran's deputy foreign minister warned against a planned French-British effort that aims to support maritime security in the Strait of Hormuz after hostilities are over.

“The presence of French and British vessels, or those of any other country, for any possible cooperation with illegal U.S. actions in the Strait of Hormuz that violate international law will be met with a decisive and immediate response from the armed forces,” Kazem Gharibabadi said on social media.

French President Emmanuel Macron responded by saying it won't be a military deployment but an international mission to secure shipping once conditions allow.

Several attacks against ships in the Persian Gulf have occurred over the past week, and a U.S. effort to “guide” ships through the strait was quickly paused.

South Korea announced initial findings from an investigation that said two unidentified objects struck the South Korean-operated vessel HMM NAMU about one minute apart while it was anchored in the strait last week, causing an explosion and fire. Officials have yet to determine who was responsible.

Netanyahu denies telling Trump the war would cause regime change

In the interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes,” the Israeli prime minister denied New York Times reporting that he made a hard sell for Trump to start the Iran war by saying it would bring about regime change.

“We both agreed, you know, that there was both uncertainty and risk involved,” Netanyahu said. “And I remember that we — I said and he said — that the danger, there’s danger in action, in taking action, but there’s greater danger in not taking action.”

Asked whether he said in that February meeting that Iran would be so weakened it could not choke off the Strait of Hormuz, he said “the problem” of the vital oil shipping corridor “was understood as the fighting went on.”

“I don’t claim the perfect foresight," he said.

Netanyahu also said he wants to “draw down to zero” the military aid provided by the U.S., which he said now stands at $3.8 billion per year.

Israel has been a leading recipient of U.S. military aid for decades, but the war in Gaza, with its high number of civilian casualties, has caused that aid to come under greater scrutiny as American public support for Israel declines.

Netanyahu, however, offered an extended timeline, saying he wants to see the aid cut off over the next decade.

___

Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Munir Ahmed in Islamabad; Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel; Tong-hyung Kim in Seoul, South Korea; Julia Frankel in Jerusalem and Josh Boak in Washington contributed to this report.

In all, the SEC got 12 of its 15 teams into the field.

Regional play starts Friday, with the top 16 seeds hosting. The eight teams that get through super regionals the next week will play in the Women's College World Series, which starts May 28 at Devon Park in Oklahoma City.

Alabama (49-7) didn't catch a break in the seeding — the Crimson Tide could face Belmont superstar pitcher Maya Johnson in regional play. Johnson leads the nation with a 0.66 earned run average and was the No. 3 overall pick in the Athletes Unlimited Softball League draft.

Texas (42-10) returns pitcher Teagan Kavan, who was the Most Outstanding Player of the Women's College World Series last year and led the Longhorns to the SEC Tournament title this season. The Longhorns beat Alabama in the SEC championship game.

Oklahoma (48-8) is the No. 3 overall seed, despite losing in its opening game at the SEC Tournament. The Sooners have won four of the past five national titles and reached the semifinals last year. Oklahoma coach Patty Gasso, also the USA national coach, has won eight national championships.

Nebraska is seeded fourth. The Cornhuskers (46-6) beat UCLA to win the Big Ten tournament title on Saturday. Nebraska's Jordy Frahm led Oklahoma to a national title in 2023 as Jordy Bahl before transferring, then later getting married and changing her name.

The SEC has Arkansas (42-11) as the No. 5 seed, Florida (48-10) at No. 6 and Tennessee (42-10) at No. 7.

UCLA (47-8) is the No. 8 seed. Megan Grant just set the single-season record with 38 home runs. Jordan Woolery, who bats behind her at third in the lineup, has 107 RBIs and was the Big Ten Player of the Year.

Florida State (49-8) is No. 9 overall. The Seminoles won the national title in 2018 and were runner-up in 2021 and 2023.

Texas Tech fell all the way to No. 11 overall, despite a 52-6 record. Star pitcher NiJaree Canady led the Red Raiders to the championship series last year. She has more help this year, including pitcher Kaitlyn Terry.

The other top 16 seeds that will host include No. 10 Georgia (38-18), No. 12 Duke (39-14), No. 13 Oklahoma State (38-15), No. 14 Oregon (40-12), No. 15 Texas A&M (36-17) and No. 16 LSU (37-17).

___

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

Dhahran, Saudi Arabia-based Aramco said it successfully shifted some oil exports to a pipeline to avoid the Strait of Hormuz, which has been disrupted by the war.

On Sunday, the price of Brent crude, the international standard, rose 2.58% to to $103.91 per barrel. That’s below its heights above $119 during the war, but it’s still much more expensive than its roughly $70 level from late February before the fighting began.

Aramco President and CEO Amin Nasser said the company's East-West Pipeline, which runs across Saudi Arabia from its Eastern oil fields to the Red Sea, is now operating at its maximum capacity of 7 million barrels of oil per day. Nasser said the pipeline is “helping to mitigate the impact of a global energy shock and providing relief to customers.”

Still, that’s only a fraction of Aramco’s typical production. Aramco produced 11.1 million barrels of oil per day in the fourth quarter of 2025, for example.

Aramco reported a profit of $32.5 billion for the quarter ending March 31, up 25% from the same period a year ago. The state-owned company reported a 12% decline in annual profits in 2025.

Before the war, 20% of the world’s traded oil typically flowed through the strait every day, as well as large supplies of natural gas, fertilizer and other petroleum products. Iran effectively seized control of the critical waterway after the U.S. and Israel attacked it on Feb. 28. A U.S. naval blockade imposed last month also complicates its use.

“Recent events have clearly demonstrated the vital contribution of oil and gas to energy security and the global economy, and are a stark reminder that reliable energy supply is critical,” Nasser said in a statement. “Despite these headwinds, Aramco remains focused on its strategic priorities and is leveraging both its domestic infrastructure and its global network to navigate disruption.”

He never followed through, instead sticking with his goal of winning tournaments.

He's glad he did.

The 28-year-old PGA Tour rookie from Norway shot 2-under 69 on Sunday to earn a two-shot win over Rickie Fowler and Nicolai Hojgaard at the Truist Championship for his first victory on the PGA Tour.

Reitan, who chose golf over soccer at a young age, won twice previously on the European Tour but this week proved to be his breakthrough moment. He finished at 15-under 269.

“I don’t have any words, to be honest,” Reitan said. “This is way more than I expected and for it to happen this quickly is just unreal. Yeah, a dream come true.”

Reitan said stepping away from the game for a bit after losing his DP Tour card helped him gain perspective.

“It helped me find my game again,” Reitan said. “It helped me discover my talents again. Yeah, that was something really important to me, which I try to remind myself of every single day. So that was definitely a huge thing for me getting back and starting to play some good golf again.”

Alex Fitzpatrick, the third-round leader, finished three shots back after shooting 73.

Reitan started the round one shot behind Fitzpatrick, but was even par for the day after 13 holes and one shot behind Fowler, who had surged to the lead after shooting 30 on the front nine.

“The first nine was ‘let’s go have a good day,’ and back nine was, ‘hey, we actually are in a spot where we can go win this,’” Fowler said.

But Fowler, who started the day seven shots behind, couldn’t sustain the momentum.

Playing four groups ahead of the leaders, Fowler missed a 6-foot birdie putt on 16, opening the door for Reitan, Fitzpatrick, and Hojgaard to pull into a four-way tie for the lead after all three made birdie.

Reitan took the lead for good when he hit his iron on the par-5 15th onto the green and two-putted for birdie.

Meanwhile, Fitzpatrick’s wedge got caught up in the thick rough and his chip barely made the fringe, leading to a par and dropping him back one shot.

Hojgaard made bogey on 16 to fall two back.

Fowler’s chances ended when his approach shot on the 18th hole landed in the deep rough on the left side of the green and his chip came out short leading to bogey. He finished with a round of 65.

Fitzpatrick was the last man standing in Reitan's way, but he faltered again on 17 as his chip from the deep rough never made the green and he made double bogey.

Reitan played the final three holes of the Green Mile in even par and secured the win with a par on 18.

Reitan’s best previous finish was a tie for second last month at the Zurich Classic when he and playing partner Kris Ventura lost by one stroke to Fitzpatrick and his brother, Matt.

When he was young, Reitan had two loves — soccer and golf.

He realized pretty quickly he was better at golf, and his parents would take him to Spain every Christmas to give him a place to practice. On Sunday, he thanked them for making that investment in him.

“They have made golf a very, very high priority in our household,” Reitan said. “They have definitely made a great, great effort to at least help me get to the place I am today and I couldn’t be more grateful.”

It was a disappointing day for Cameron Young, the world's No. 3 player.

Looking for his second straight PGA win after a victory last week at Doral, Young started the day just two shots off the lead but had a double bogey on the second hole and never recovered with just one birdie the rest of the day.

He finished with a 74 and tied for 10th, six shots behind.

___

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

Deuce McBride started in place of the injured OG Anunoby and hit seven 3-pointers, going 4 for 4 in the first quarter when the Knicks had another record with 11, and scored 25 points. Brunson had 22 points and Hart and Karl-Anthony Towns each scored 17 in the Knicks' latest lopsided playoff victory.

The Knicks' 19.4 point-per-game margin of victory is the largest through two rounds since the playoffs went to 16 teams in 1984.

“It's just us being very locked in to the moment,” Towns said.

The Knicks advanced to the East finals for the second straight season and will play the winner of the Cleveland-Detroit series. The Pistons lead 2-1.

The Knicks last season reached the conference finals for the first time in 25 years before losing to Indiana. The Knicks then fired coach Tom Thibodeau and replaced him with Mike Brown, who has guided them to seven straight playoff wins, starting with the last three games against Atlanta.

“Our guys tried to take it to another level with their focus on the details and their energy and effort level,” Brown said. “That's a lot of the reason why we're playing pretty good basketball.”

Knicks fans made a habit of scooping up tickets by the thousands at the Sixers' arena for playoffs games over the years, and in Game 4, they may have made the loudest statement yet. They raised brooms outside the arena and waved “Always Knicks” towels once inside, all while noisily neutering the few Sixers fans that didn't make a few extra bucks on the secondary market and stuck around.

The 76ers' franchise failed to stop Knicks fans in their effort to buy tickets.

The 76ers were greater failures in trying to stop the Knicks on the floor.

Game 4 was a laugher from the tip, with the Knicks using the 3-point arc as a starting point for their personal pop-a-shot game.

With Knicks fans on their feet and exclaiming “Deuuuce," McBride hit one, two, three, four — four! — 3-pointers in succession for a 20-6 lead and the Sixers were already on their heels. McBride became the first Knick (since play-by-play tracking began in 1997) to hit four 3s in the first quarter of a playoff game.

New York's 3-point records were just heating up.

Brunson added two in the period (six total) to help make the Knicks 11 of 13, which tied the NBA mark for most makes in a quarter.

The Knicks totaled 18 3s in the first half to score 54 points off the long ball, compared to 57 total for the 76ers. Overall, that was an 81-57 lead and helped power the Knicks toward their first best-of-seven series sweep since the 1999 East semis against Atlanta.

The Knicks scored 80-plus points in the first half twice in five road playoff games this season.

The second half was a mere formality, and the Sixers are headed home after a gutsy 3-1 series comeback to beat Boston in the first round.

“The energy was a big gap between their energy and our energy, I thought," Sixers coach Nick Nurse said.

Joel Embiid ended another injury-riddled season with 24 points, Tyrese Maxey had 17 and the Sixers still have not advanced out of the second round since 2001.

“I came into this year not knowing where I was going to be (with health), how long I was going to play, if I was even going to play based on how the knee was the last few years,” Embiid said. “I came in just hoping for the best and I feel like we're in a position where we figured out the knee. It hasn't been an issue.”

Towns had 10 assists. Hart hit four 3-pointers and celebrated by stripping off his jersey and tossing it to a woman in Sixers gear.

“My right hand remembered that the goal was to make 3s,” Hart said. “Happy to have her back.”

If the sweep and the Knicks' fan takeover didn't saddle the Sixers with enough bad news, there was one final cutting blow to the ego — Philadelphia's two first-round 2018 draft picks are still playing: Mikal Bridges and Landry Shamet, of course, for the Knicks.

___

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

But the Trackhouse Racing driver was in another league Sunday, schooling the stars of the Cup Series at Watkins Glen International.

Starting from the pole position, van Gisbergen scored his seventh Cup Series victory — all on road or street courses — and his second consecutive on the 2.45-mile track by leading 74 of 100 laps in his No. 97 Chevrolet.

“We weren’t very good in practice, and then qualifying was amazing, and then today, what a race car,” van Gisbergen said. “And then (crew chief) Stephen (Doran) made great calls. I wasn’t sure how it was going to work, and then to run them down like that, it's very, very special to do two in a row.”

Pitting from the lead under green with 24 laps remaining, van Gisbergen emerged in 24th and was nearly 30 seconds behind leader Ty Gibbs.

Extending his Cup record of wins by a driver born outside the United States, the New Zealand native needed only 17 laps to retake the lead from Gibbs, winning by 7.288 seconds over Michael McDowell.

“He’s made it pretty clear, especially at these tracks, he likes to be on offense, so we put him there and just let him go do his thing,” Doran said of the call to make a late stop for four tires instead of pitting earlier and conserving fuel as many others did.

Gibbs finished third, followed by Chase Briscoe and points leader Tyler Reddick.

McDowell, who started second, also had to charge through the pack after falling to 27th on his last pit stop. He occasionally thought he could keep pace with the race winner but soon realized van Gisbergen was playing possum.

“It felt like he was just pacing himself off me, and he’d take back off,” McDowell said. “We still got a little work to do, but it’s a good building block.”

Dating to Mexico City last June, van Gisbergen has now won six of the past seven races on road or street courses in Cup.

“It’s not easy,” van Gisbergen said. “Everyone’s really good. McDowell was good. Connor (Zilisch) was good. Tyler Reddick. There were some really good guys and a lot of pressure. So just stoked to execute every facet of our game. And speechless. This is so cool.”

Trackhouse sweep

The win by van Gisbergen came a day after a win in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series by rookie teammate Zilisch, who finished 20th Sunday after a tire problem late in the race. It still was a strong showing for Trackhouse, which qualified all three of its cars in the top five after compiling only four top-10 finishes in the first 11 races.

“Just frustrating because we had a really good day going,” Zilisch said. “At worst, we were going to get ourselves our first top five and walk out of here with something. But congrats to Shane, Trackhouse and everybody who makes this happen.”

Stumping for his uncle

Chase Elliott is known for avoiding public stances on NASCAR topics, but the eight-time Most Popular Driver concluded a Saturday media availability by volunteering a strong opinion.

With the vote on the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2027 set for May 19, Elliott made an impassioned plea to elect his uncle Ernie Elliott, who built engines for Hall of Famer Bill Elliott, Chase’s father. Ernie Elliott is on the ballot for the first time this year.

“I don’t talk about this stuff a lot, but you don’t have to dig very far into the Elliott racing story to recognize how much of a family effort it was,” Chase Elliott said. “I don’t think the story has the same ending, throughout the course of the 1980s and even leading into my career, without Uncle Ernie and what he meant to all of us. He’s meant a lot to my career. There are a lot of very, very deserving names on the list, but he is one of the very deserving that doesn’t get talked about enough for the credit that he deserves.”

One and done

The first May race at Watkins Glen might mark the only time that NASCAR runs the road course in the spring. NASCAR has already announced a September 2027 return to the Glen on a date to be determined. The 2024 race was held Sept. 15, and the other 42 Cup races at Watkins Glen were held in July or August.

NASCAR won’t unveil next year’s schedule for a few more months, but new CEO Steve O’Donnell reaffirmed on the Fox prerace show that Homestead-Miami Speedway, which will take over from Phoenix Raceway as this season’s finale, likely will be the final race in 2027.

Up next

The All-Star Race will make its debut May 17 at Dover Motor Speedway. Christopher Bell is the defending winner of the exhibition event, which was held the past three years at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway.

___

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

Her transfer comes after days of pleading by her family and others who described her condition as critical. Her foundation said she has been granted a prison sentence suspension on bail. It was not clear for how long her sentence is suspended, the foundation said.

Mohammadi had been imprisoned since December in Zanjan prison. She lost consciousness twice and was transferred to a local hospital on May 1.

A statement from her foundation, shared with The Associated Press, said the suspended sentence is not enough and that Mohammadi needs “permanent, specialized care.”

The statement added that “we must ensure she never returns to prison to face the 18 years remaining on her sentence. Now is the time to demand her unconditional freedom and the dismissal of all charges.”

Mohammadi’s Iran-based lawyer Mostafa Nili said on social media the transfer order was issued following the decision of the Legal Medicine Organization — government-appointed medical examiners — “which stated that, due to her multiple illnesses, she needs to continue treatment outside prison and under the supervision of her own medical team.”

There was no immediate comment from Iranian authorities.

Mohammadi’s brother Hamidreza Mohammadi, who is based in Oslo, Norway, had said medical examiners previously recommended her transfer to Tehran but the decision was blocked. He blamed Iran’s intelligence agency.

“I’m relieved now. I can breathe lightly,” her brother told the AP in a message.

The 53-year-old rights activist and champion of women’s rights was awarded the Nobel in 2023 while in prison and has been jailed repeatedly throughout her career. Her current imprisonment began when she was arrested in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad.

Mohammadi’s family said her health had been deteriorating in prison, in part because she was heavily beaten during her arrest. She had a heart attack in March and has a blood clot in her lung since before her imprisonment that needs blood thinners and monitoring to manage it.

Since being taken to the Zanjan hospital’s cardiac care unit, Mohammadi’s blood pressure had been swinging between extremely low and extremely high, and she was receiving oxygen to breathe and can’t talk, according to her brother.

The Nobel committee had called on Iranian authorities to immediately transfer Mohammadi to her dedicated medical team in Tehran, saying that “without such treatment, her life remains at risk.”

Barcelona beat Madrid 2-0 at Camp Nou just a few hours after the club announced the death of Flick’s father.

“I will never forget this day," Flick said. “It was a tough day for me. It starts with this (news that) my father passed away, but here, my team is fantastic.”

Flick's father reportedly died overnight. The club did not give any additional details.

“FC Barcelona and the entire blaugrana family wish to send all our love to Hansi Flick after the passing of his father,” Barcelona said in a statement. “We share in your sorrow and our thoughts are with you and your family during this difficult time.”

Barcelona and Madrid players wore black armbands and there was a moment of silence before kickoff.

Barcelona entered the last clasico of the season leading Madrid by 11 points with four rounds remaining in La Liga. It comfortably defeated Madrid with first-half goals from Marcus Rashford and Ferran Torres.

“Flick has been very important for us,” midfielder Frenkie de Jong said. "He has very clear ideas, but inside there is a lot of freedom for the players. This way we can show our quality.”

Barcelona players threw Flick up in the air during the title celebrations.

“This is like a family and they gave everything today and I’m really proud,” Flick said. "It’s amazing, in this stadium, and also in the clasico against Real Madrid, to win La Liga.”

___

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

Officers were dispatched to a hospital just after midnight Sunday in the 22000 block of Stone Oak Parkway for reports of a male with apparent gunshot wounds.

Police said the 31-year-old man told officers he was leaving the area when he heard a loud noise and believed his vehicle was being shot at.

After that, police said the man felt a burning sensation in his torso and took himself to a hospital after realizing he had been shot. The man suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

SAPD said it does not have any information on the shooter at this time. The investigation is ongoing.

Read also:

• Woman arrested after man suffers life-threatening injuries in South Side stabbing, SAPD says