The Cowboys will kick off their second week of training camp Monday, Aug. 3, wearing pads for the first time since reporting. Players will tell you that’s when training camp really starts.

On Saturday, the team practiced in shells (helmets and shoulder pads instead of full pads) in front of a large opening ceremony crowd.

Now that the first week has concluded, KSAT 12 Sports anchor Larry Ramirez will share his top takes from the week.

Larry’s takes

The opening ceremony was fantastic. The energy was high, and the stands were nearly full, perhaps an indication that Cowboys fans believe this team can make a serious playoff run.

Last season, the stands were about half empty for the opening ceremony.

Defensive coordinator Christian Parker is just what this defense needed. His energy and communication skills are top-notch, and both sides of the ball can feel it, not just the defense.

“Several offensive players have told the media that during their interviews,” Larry noted.

Defensive tackle Quinnen Williams is the real deal and loved by his teammates on both sides of the ball.

The New York Jets traded Williams to the Cowboys midseason last year, and Dallas is beyond excited to have him. He is 6-foot-3, 312 pounds and fits perfectly in Parker’s 3-4 scheme. Williams has expressed his desire to improve a unit that struggled mightily last season, and he has not disappointed in his first training camp with Dallas.

Running back Javonte Williams has been sharp, decisive and reliable with the ball. He is coming off his first 1,000-yard season in the NFL, running for 1,201 yards and 11 touchdowns in his first season with the Cowboys, both career highs. He’s proving he’s the Cowboys’ lead back.

In an annual sit-down with team owner Jerry Jones, Jones was asked about this squad and what he likes about it.

“Fresh,” Jones said, repeating it three straight times before explaining why. He credited the new players added through the draft and free agency, as well as new defensive coordinator Parker, for making this team fresh. Jones believes the Cowboys will end their two-year playoff drought.

Just what Cowboys fans want to hear.

Read also:

• Dallas Cowboys kick off 2026 training camp with Opening Ceremony in Oxnard

The deal was finalized late Saturday night ahead of Sunday's trade deadline and was first reported by ESPN. It's rare for an All-Star to be traded in the middle of the season, only happening a handful of times before Saturday night.

“Kelsey is one of the league’s most dynamic players,” Mercury GM Nick U’Ren said. “She is a fierce competitor with a winning mentality who impacts the game on both ends of the floor. Her combination of shooting, explosiveness and decision-making allows her to create offense at a high level and makes her one of the league’s most complete guards. We have wanted Kelsey here for a long time, and we’re excited to finally bring her to Phoenix as we continue to build on our foundation.”

Plum will wear No. 0 for the Mercury. She is a free agent at the end of this season and has been sidelined since June 21 because of a lower leg injury. She practiced earlier this week and was expected to play Sunday in the Sparks' game against Portland before getting traded. Phoenix's next game is Monday at Chicago.

Plum was averaging a career-best 23.9 points and 6.4 assists before getting hurt. Los Angeles has struggled without her, including its last six games.

Phoenix is currently 11-19 and six games behind the New York Liberty, who sit in eighth place. New York edged Phoenix 94-92 on Saturday.

The Mercury are coming off a WNBA Finals appearance last season, but have seldom looked like that team despite returning stars Alyssa Thomas and Kahleah Copper.

Akoa Makani is averaging 9.4 points and 2.5 assists this season in 16 games. She was injured earlier in the season with a hamstring issue.

Los Angeles acquired Plum before last season in a blockbuster deal that sent the No. 2 pick to Seattle. The Sparks had hoped they could accelerate a rebuilding effort. Seattle used that pick on Dominique Malonga, who was an All-Star this season.

___

AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

“My heart is broken, my chest is heavy, my eyes burn from the tears I've shed. We lost one of our beautiful Associates tonight,” In-N-Out owner Lynsi Snyder said in a statement released early Sunday on social media. “In-N-Out will be mourning with the families and praying for them as they tread through a very painful season.”

The FBI on Sunday encouraged the public to submit images and videos related to the shooting Saturday in Twin Falls that left seven other people wounded, some critically.

The In-N-Out had opened just about a week earlier, on July 24, as part of the California-based company’s recent expansion to Idaho.

Authorities are notifying victims' relatives

Snyder did not identify the worker. Officials were still trying to notify relatives of victims and so were not yet releasing the names, ages or other details about the people hurt in the shooting, Twin Falls spokesperson Josh Palmer said Saturday.

Police who responded to the shooting found the body of the suspected gunman in an area near the restaurant, Palmer said. He did not know if the suspect was included in the fatality count. Some of the people injured were in critical condition, Palmer said.

Police were still trying to determine the shooter's identity and motive, Twin Falls Police Chief Matthew Hicks said in a news conference earlier Saturday.

“We believe the threat to the community is over,” Hicks said. “It was a very chaotic scene.”

Another police briefing was planned for Sunday afternoon.

Palmer said investigators were interviewing witnesses to the shooting. The restaurant is in a busy shopping plaza, and hundreds of people were in the area when it happened around 2 p.m.

Witnesses describe chaotic scene

Lane Koehn, 34, said he was at a stoplight near the In-N-Out when he saw a person with an AR-style rifle emerge from the drive-thru. A man with a pistol started firing at the shooter.

He then saw someone in an In-N-Out uniform drag a person, also wearing a uniform, bleeding from a gunshot wound to her chest across the parking lot. The employee, Koehn and the man with the pistol stayed until paramedics arrived for her.

“She was pretty bad off, but I don’t know. I hope she made it,” Koehn said.

Koehn said he was told by police to evacuate because the shooting was still active.

He said the shooter fired at least three or four rounds and it was not clear whether or not anyone in particular was targeted.

Video taken by a driver from across the street captured a shooter, who appeared to be dressed in black, walking up to a white car carrying a long rifle, opening the driver-side door and popping the trunk. The person then walked to the trunk and reached inside. At that point the driver who shot the video left quickly, fearing that the man might be getting more weapons.

Twin Falls resident Haley Dodaro, 43, and her mother went to In-N-Out for lunch Saturday afternoon. While waiting in the drive-thru line, they saw people running across the road and workers bolting out of the restaurant. At first, Dodaro thought there might have been a fire, but then a man directing traffic in a reflective vest said there was a shooter.

“So that’s when we knew there was a shooting. People were running out crying and screaming. It was very scary,” Dodaro said in a text message to The Associated Press.

Employee told people to get down

Nayeli Rodriguez, 40, of Burley, was inside waiting for food with her daughters when she heard shots from the kitchen. An employee said it was a shooting and told people to get down. Rodriguez said an older man tried to protect her and her daughters, and they were among the last to run outside.

“We were trying to get as far as we could and some angels let us in their car,” Rodriguez said, also via text message. “I left my car there in the parking lot.”

Police said multiple people were taken to St. Luke's Magic Valley Medical Center. Hospital spokesperson Taylor Marschner said in a statement that it was “working closely with law enforcement and emergency responders as they manage the situation.”

Twin Falls, a city of about 56,000 people, is about 130 miles (205 kilometers) southeast of Boise and about 75 miles (120 kilometers) north of the Nevada border.

The fires burned more than 8.2 square miles (about 21 square kilometers) around Spokane, the second largest city in Washington, and were among dozens across the western U.S. — stretching the ability of federal, state and local agencies to fight them. No deaths have yet been reported from the fires in the Spokane area.

Grassland in flames in parts of Idaho and Oregon

Meanwhile, crews using bulldozers and helicopters continued for the 10th day to fight a fire that has burned nearly 525 square miles (about 1,360 square kilometers) of grassland in western Idaho and eastern Oregon. The area is home to cattle ranches, and authorities said the fire is threatening more than 600 homes and 800 other structures.

The weather in the area was expected to remain sunny — and dry — well into the week, with temperatures rising to more than 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) on Wednesday. Officials say the fire was caused by lightning.

The National Weather Service issued warnings about the air quality in eastern Washington, eastern Oregon, western and central Idaho and western Montana. It issued red flag fire warnings for parts of Utah and Montana and western Nebraska, and extreme heat warnings for the southern parts of Arizona, California and Nevada and northern Montana.

High winds make it hard to fight fires in Spokane area

While the high temperature Sunday in Spokane was forecast to remain below 80 F (27 C), wind gusts from 35 mph (56 kph) to 45 mph (72 kph) were expected later in the day, said Benjamin Cossel, public information officer for the federal response team from California called in Saturday night to deal with the Spokane-area fires.

“We have weather working against us, and we have terrain working against us,” Cossel said.

There were three fires in the Spokane area: the Old Trails Fire, the Fairview Fire and the Meadowview Fire, and the state issued air quality warnings. Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson declared a state of emergency Saturday, and the National Weather Service issued a “particularly dangerous situation” red flag alert for eastern Washington.

Cossel said that as it gets warmer during the day, cool air that's now closer to the ground and keeping winds at bay will rise, allowing those winds to move through the area. The Spokane River cuts through the city of about 229,000 people, and there are steep canyons on both sides that channel the wind.

“They push the fire through the canyons, up, up the slopes, and then outside the slopes and around,” he said. “It's very, very hilly, very, very steep slopes, a lot of canyons that create really turbulent, really challenging sort of wind scenarios.”

Spokane sets up shelter for impacted residents

Authorities in Spokane set up a shelter at the city's main convention center.

Several larger fires continued to burn in less populated areas northwest of Spokane, including one about 80 miles (129 kilometers) from Spokane that has burned about 210 square miles (544 square kilometers). Another fire in eastern Oregon, about 70 miles (113 kilometers) to the northwest in the Stinkingwater Mountains, has burned about 336 square miles (870 square kilometers).

“The whole northwest is heavily impacted right now,” said Keila Vizcarra, the spokesperson for the federal team from California handling what's been named the Big Grass Fire in western Idaho and eastern Oregon.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents the 4,400 cabin crew at the airline, announced the strike on its Facebook page. WestJet confirmed the strike and canceled 495 flights Sunday, according to FlightAware, snarling travel plans in Canada in the middle of a three-day weekend. The airline said Sunday that the strike led to travel being canceled for 250,000 travelers.

Key issue is how flight attendants are paid for work performed while still on the ground

A key issue in the dispute is how flight attendants should be paid for duties performed while still on the ground. The union said some of that work is unpaid, while the company said its staff was indeed compensated, citing pay through a “credit hour” system rather than an hourly rate.

“We presented a proposal that would have set a new standard for cabin crew in Canada, making WestJet the only airline to offer an hourly rate covering all time before and after flights, plus a double-digit wage increase in year one among other priorities the union raised,” said Alexis von Hoensbroech, CEO of the WestJet Group. “Unfortunately, it wasn’t accepted.”

The airline's proposal included a 13% wage increase in October, increases of 2.5% each January for the next three years, retroactive wage payment to last January and additional pay for all hours worked, which is equivalent to another 12% of salary increase, according to WestJet. The proposal also boosted other benefits such as meal per diems, vacation allowance and maternity leave.

Alia Hussain, president of the union chapter that represents the cabin crew, said negotiators “tried until the very last minute to get a fair deal that recognizes the value of the work cabin crews do.”

“WestJet’s offer did not go far enough," Hussain said.

Both sides said they were willing to resume negotiations to reach an agreement.

Flight cancellations leave travelers stranded

Meanwhile, travelers whose flights were canceled struggled to find accommodations or alternate flights.

Keavin Ly, a systems administrator for an animation studio, was stuck in Squamish, British Columbia, with his girlfriend after the couple spent the week rock climbing. They were supposed to fly back to Los Angeles on Sunday morning. The airline offered to reschedule their flight for Aug. 4, but they're scrambling to figure out where to stay between now and then.

“Inconveniently, our Airbnb and car rentals are done, and everything’s booked,” said Ly, 29. They were entertaining the idea of sleeping in the back of a friend's rental car, he said.

Ly had planned to take time off from work to watch a friend compete in a national billiards competition, but now he fears he'll miss it. And his girlfriend will miss shifts as a nurse, he said.

“We’re pretty much at the behest of the airline striking a deal, the cabin crew with WestJet, but all in all I hope they get what they’re looking for and they deserve to get compensated more," Ly said.

The airline said it could not operate any of its scheduled flights on Boeing 737s or 787s, and travelers will be refunded or reaccommodated. WestJet said it would contact people who reserved with them directly via email, while those who booked through a travel agent or third-party platform should reach out to them.

WestJet Encore flights operated on a Q400, as well as code-share flights operated by airline partners, remain unaffected. 

Airline and union under pressure to resume bargaining

Canada’s Minister of Jobs and Families, Patty Hajdu, called the strike “a disappointing development.”

“A strike or lockout does not mean an agreement can’t be reached; the expectation is that parties can and should come to an agreement at the bargaining table,” Hajdu said in a statement. “The federal government will always maintain that the strongest deals happen at the table. Canadians are counting on them to put their best efforts forward to reach a deal at the bargaining table.”

Last August, when Air Canada flight attendants went on strike over a similar issue, stranding more than 100,000 travelers during peak travel season, Hajdu directed Canada’s labor board to order them back on the job.

The union defied the order, forcing Air Canada back to the bargaining table where the parties hashed out a tentative deal. That work stoppage lasted three days before the sides came to an agreement.

WestJet caught the union off guard by publicly releasing its offer to the flight attendants, said John Gradek, a faculty lecturer on aviation management at McGill University in Montreal.

“This is a bargaining strategy on the part of WestJet to intimidate the union,” said Gradek. “I don’t think the union is happy this has gone public. Right now, the union is kind of trying to figure out what the next steps are going to be. The WestJet offer forces the union to come back to the table and get very specific.”

Gradek estimates the dispute is costing WestJet between Canadian $10 million and $15 million (U.S. $7.13 million and $10.69 million) a day.

Gradek doubts the dispute will last a week. He expects the federal government will give the two sides another day or so before intervening but isn’t sure the government will order the union back to work.

“They may try a different strategy,” he said. “They may want to sit in on the negotiations themselves.”

___

Associated Press writer Bernard Condon contributed to this report. Bussewitz and Condon reported from New York.

The attack happened in Kabal, a town in Swat Valley in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where demonstrators had gathered near a police station, chanting antimilitant slogans and demanding peace, district police chief Omar Khan said.

According to witnesses, shortly before the attack, speakers at the rally said that ensuring security and eliminating militancy were the state’s responsibility. They also accused authorities of failing to act decisively against militants, saying residents wanted to live without fear after years of violence that devastated the region.

Bilal Faizi, a spokesman for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial emergency service, said the attacker struck dozens of people who were chanting antimilitant slogans and demanding peace. Police official Omar Khan said at least nine civilians and five officers were among the dead.

President and prime minister offer condolences

Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the bombing, expressing deep sorrow over the loss of life. In separate statements they offered condolences to the families of those killed, prayed for the recovery of the wounded and directed authorities to ensure the wounded receive the best possible medical treatment. Zardari and Sharif also said Pakistan’s fight against terrorism would continue until it is eradicated.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi also condemned the attack. In a statement, he extending condolences to the families of those killed and prayers for the speedy recovery of the wounded.

The Swat Valley was once a stronghold of Islamic militants who imposed a strict interpretation of Sharia, or Islamic law, before the Pakistani military launched a major operation in 2007 that drove them out and restored government control.

However, militants have resurfaced in Pakistan’s Swat Valley in recent months, fueling fears that the Pakistani Taliban are seeking to regain a foothold in the region. In response, residents have repeatedly staged anti-Taliban rallies to protest the militants’ presence across the valley.

Suspicion falls on Pakistani Taliban

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing, but suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP. The TTP is separate from, but allied with, Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers. Many of its leaders and fighters have found sanctuary in Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power there in 2021.

Pakistan has long accused Afghanistan’s Taliban government of harboring TTP militants, an allegation Kabul denies.

Pakistan has experienced a surge in militant attacks in recent years, particularly targeting police and security forces.

On Friday, Pakistan's military spokesman Ahmad Sharif Chaudhry said that Pakistan has recorded 3,145 “terrorism incidents” since January. He said Pakistan had killed 2,084 militants since January, while 819 Pakistanis, including soldiers, police officers and civilians, had been killed.

Chaudhry also said Afghanistan-based militants had carried out 28 suicide attacks in Pakistan since January and alleged that most were carried out by Afghan nationals or people associated with Afghanistan’s security forces. He said the TTP and other militant groups were carrying out attacks inside Pakistan with the support of Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers and Pakistan would continue to target the TTP and its support infrastructure.

___

Associated Press writers Rasool Dawar in Peshawar and Ishtiaq Mahsud in Dera Ismail Khan contributed to this story.

Kaptur, 80, was a passenger in a vehicle headed to a church service “when the car she was traveling in was struck,” the statement from her office said. The statement said she is “active, alert” and “looks forward to returning to a full schedule soon.”

The House is on its summer recess so she was not expected in Washington this week.

Kaptur, the longest-serving woman in House history, is in a rematch for her closely watched seat against former state Rep. Derek Merrin. In 2024, she won by just more than the 0.5% margin that would have triggered an automatic recount, with a libertarian candidate snagging about 4% of the vote.

Her office said first responders from the Toledo police and fire departments arrived promptly on the scene and had “medical professionals helping to take care of those involved in the crash.” The statement said “we look forward to any additional information from Toledo Police as they investigate the accident.”

The Toledo Police Department’s traffic division did not immediately respond to an AP query.

___

Smyth reported from Columbus, Ohio.

Since then, all her meals have come from local residents, and she isn't sure when her next one will come. Yet Dikra is certain she does not want to go back.

“I want to stay. I want to go to Spain,” Dikra said, who asked that her last name be withheld for safety reasons.

By Sunday afternoon, Dikra was among the last remaining migrants in the city after tens of thousands of the 60,000 migrants that had breached the border with Morocco on Thursday and Friday walked back to that country. At least 72 people died in the crossing, and the humanitarian crisis the sudden rush of people caused reignited a debate around immigration in Europe and beyond.

In Tangier, Dikra said she worked as a cleaner, but decided to leave alongside her sister and cousin, in part to escape her alcoholic father. She hopes to make use of a hairdressing diploma in continental Spain — from which she remains separated by the Strait of Gibraltar and the European Union's complex asylum system.

Migrants wonder what will happen with holdouts

Abdel Karim, 35, also from Morocco, waited outside Ceuta's official migration reception center on Sunday, asking for updates about what officials were saying they would do with the holdouts still in the city.

Karim was unemployed in Morocco, and had lived in continental Spain years ago, before he was expelled from France where he was living on the streets.

“In Morocco, I'm seen as a deportee,” Karim said. “Those who are deported know what it means — stress, depression, anguish.”

Karim said he saw posts on social media about those making the crossing and took advantage of the chaos. He crossed with 10 euros in his pocket, he said, and pointed to his blistered feet. In Spain, Karim said he wants to do whatever work he can find, and remained unfazed about how he would get there.

Ceuta and its sister city Melilla are not part of the European Union's Schengen area, and those traveling to mainland Europe must go through border checks upon arrival.

At a beach in Ceuta, hundreds of migrants who had arrived days earlier gathered on Sunday evening. Some crowded around an army truck where Spanish soldiers distributed water.

Senegalese migrant Cesse Aliou, 25, rested with a group of sub-Saharan men and women outside the nearby shelter. In Morocco, Aliou said he earned 279 euros ($322) a month at a call center, but the work wasn't stable.

So he boarded a train in Casablanca to Tangier and then to Fnideq, where he said he swam to Ceuta.

Across the street, on another wooded patch near the shelter, a group of migrants began fighting over water that local residents had brought to the area.

“We are very tired. To eat, to sleep, it's very difficult here," said Aliou, pointing to the scuffle. “You see how the situation is.”

The collision laid bare the danger at the most volatile front of Europe’s wildfire emergency. Strong winds drove flames deeper into the region of the Greek capital and forced fresh evacuations, France guarded a still-burning scar four times the size of Paris, while Spain’s major fires stopped advancing.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis expressed “sorrow for the tragic accident” and extended condolences to the families of the firefighters killed in the crash.

"The loss of the Greek coordinator and the Danish pilot at the time they were attempting the major fire in Porto Gremeno fills us all with grief," Mitsotakis said in a statement.

The aircraft were Bell helicopters operating over the Psatha area west of Athens, each with a two-person crew. Foreign firefighting and helicopter crews are often deployed in Greece to help tackle wildfires during the country’s hot, dry summers.

The two crew members who were recovered alive were a Greek and a British national.

The flames had spread rapidly, threatening communities and an industrial district as violent gusts prevented firefighting aircraft from collecting water from the sea. The blaze carried a grim resonance in a region where the 2018 Mati wildfire killed 104 people, Europe’s deadliest blaze this century.

Farther west, containment brought no end to the emergency. France’s largest wildfire remained held within its perimeter after forcing 224,000 people to flee in what may have been the country’s largest civilian evacuation outside wartime.

Hot spots still burned within a 420-square-kilometer (162-square-mile) scar, thousands remained unable to return home, and nearly 3,000 firefighters were deployed against the Gironde megafire and a second, still-uncontained blaze in Provence.

Together, fires in France and Spain have driven roughly a third of a million people from homes and vacation sites, emptied communities at the height of the European summer and stretched emergency services across simultaneous disasters.

Record fire damage underscores Europe’s growing wildfire threat

The mass evacuations in France and Spain are the latest measure of a wildfire threat growing across Europe.

The continent entered 2026 after its worst fire year on record, with more than 10,000 square kilometers (3,860 square miles) burned in 2025. Over the past four decades, wildfires have been linked to nearly 800 deaths across much of Europe, according to the European Environment Agency.

Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent. It has warmed more than twice the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.

Human-caused climate change made the extreme fire-weather conditions behind this year’s French blazes at least twice as likely, scientists at World Weather Attribution found in a rapid analysis conducted while the fires were still burning.

Gale-force winds cripple aerial assault near Athens

Nearly 500 firefighters and 23 aircraft were deployed, but gale-force winds drove flames through dry forest and crippled the response, preventing some aircraft from reaching the sea to collect water.

Authorities ordered the evacuation of Kandili, Agia Skepi and Toutouli as smoke rose over the mountains. Crews were particularly concerned about Porto Germeno, a seaside community on the Gulf of Corinth.

The fire began Friday near Agios Vasileios before sweeping toward Porto Germeno and into the forested mountains west of Athens. Firefighters evacuated 254 people by sea Friday and another 12 Saturday — often the last escape route when fire and smoke cut the few roads from coastal communities.

Wildfire meteorologist Theodore Giannaros estimated the blaze had affected 40 to 50 square kilometers (15 to 19 square miles), though authorities had issued no official figure.

Elsewhere in Greece, flames threatened homes on Kefalonia, forcing evacuations from inland communities as aircraft made water drops over the Ionian island. Firefighters battled another blaze near Nea Tenedos on the peninsula of Halkidiki.

Earlier this week, two firefighters died fighting a fire on Crete, while a third was killed on the Peloponnese.

“A pristine forest, a paradise, was surrendered to the hands of the fire,” local farmer Minas Tzortzanis said Saturday. “There are no words to explain what has happened. Destruction. Total destruction.”

France holds off renewed flames

In southwestern France, the Gironde megafire remained held within its perimeter Sunday but continued to burn after scorching 420 square kilometers (162 square miles) of forest in 10 days.

“The fire is now fixed, which does not mean that the fire is extinguished,” the Gironde prefecture said, using the French firefighting term for a blaze whose advance has been stopped.

The region remained under France’s highest red forest-fire alert. Dry conditions, soaring temperatures around Bordeaux and afternoon winds threatened to rekindle the flames.

In Le Porge, local officials said about 150 homes were destroyed. Mechanic Matthieu Plessis returned Saturday to the ruins of a house that had been in his family for seven generations.

“There are places I don’t even recognize anymore,” he said. “You don’t even know what was here anymore, or who lived where.”

Firefighters from Ukraine, Lithuania and French Polynesia were expected Sunday and Monday to reinforce the operation.

Provence fire stops advancing but remains uncontained

In southeastern France, nearly 1,500 firefighters battled a separate blaze in the Var department that tore through about 18 square kilometers (7 square miles) in little more than a day.

The Gros Bessillon fire was stabilized Sunday after its perimeter held overnight, but it remained uncontained. Some 2,500 people were evacuated as flames threatened nearby communities.

It was the fourth major fire to strike central Var since July 19. A smaller blaze near Brignoles earlier in the week forced actor George Clooney and his family, along with about 700 other residents, to evacuate before it was brought under control.

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said France’s fires were generally under control but warned that conditions remained volatile. He appointed a national coordinator to oversee reconstruction in fire-ravaged areas.

More than 1,170 square kilometers (452 square miles) have burned across France this year.

Spain’s deadly fire siege eases

Spain’s major fires — which have killed at least 13 people, produced the country’s largest recorded wildfire and prompted a national emergency — were no longer advancing on Sunday.

In Zamora province near the Portuguese border, more than 20 ground and aerial units guarded the perimeter of the Fermoselle fire against flare-ups in the rugged Arribes del Duero landscape. Most evacuees had returned home, according to local media.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has called for a national pact to confront wildfires, warning that climate change is making them increasingly destructive.

___

Adamson reported from Paris. Associated Press writers Nicolas Garriga in Lacanau, France; Michael Varaklas in Megara, Greece; and Colleen Barry in Milan contributed to this report.

Nazca's municipal government said the plane departed from the nearby city of Ica and was operated by Peruvian company Aerodiana. On its website, the airline said that it has offered scenic flights over the Nazca lines for the past 14 years using Cessna Grand Caravan planes.

The Nazca Lines are a group of extensive geoglyphs scraped into the desert around Nazca hundreds of years ago by Peru's Indigenous inhabitants. The lines form images of animals that can only be fully appreciated from planes or viewing towers.

Among the dead were seven Italian citizens between the ages of 18 and 54, two 52-year-old Spaniards and two Germans of 77 and 78 years, Peru's Transportation Ministry said. The other two fatalities were the pilot Américo Salazar and copilot Irenka Guanilo del Carpio, it said in an official report.

President Keiko Fujimori expressed regret over the accident and said a “temporary suspension” of the airport was being considered, though the decision will be made once she receives reports from the relevant ministries.

Peruvian authorities said the accident is under investigation. Aerodiana was not immediately available for comment.

Moreno, who has been publicly restrained in recent months as the bitter custody dispute has played out between Miller and his daughter Emily, said in a lengthy post: "If there are any basic standards of character required to hold elected office, Max Miller fails them. He should not serve in the House of Representatives.”

Moreno wrote that Miller “needs serious psychological help. He is a danger to my daughter, and I hold my breath every minute he has custody of my granddaughter."

Miller said Sunday that he will remain in his race for reelection before a Wednesday deadline to replace him. Democrats have seen a new opportunity in the northeast Ohio congressional seat as the Republican incumbent has faced mounting pressure over the domestic abuse allegations in a bitter and drawn-out custody battle with his ex wife.

“I’m not dropping out of this race and I’ll win in November,” said Miller, who denied abusing his former wife and his daughter.

Custody dispute has escalated in recent weeks

Accusations against Miller, who has been endorsed by President Donald Trump and was a White House adviser during Trump’s first term, have been public for years but have recently drawn increased scrutiny as back and forth in the case has escalated.

Emily Moreno has said that Miller scalded, hit and threatened her while they were married. Miller denied those allegations in the video, as he has in the past.

“It's incredibly upsetting,” Miller said, as he went through a list of the allegations.

Miller also said he had nothing to do with a broken collarbone on their 2-year-old daughter that led Emily Moreno to contact authorities. The pair, who were married in 2022 and finalized their divorce last year, have presented different theories about how the injury occurred, according to court filings and police reports detailed in an article in the magazine Mother Jones that first revealed the child’s injury.

Miller accompanied his announcement with the release of a voluminous cache of investigative and court documents related to the custody dispute.

Spokesperson for Miller's ex wife says video was ‘shameful’

A spokesperson for Emily Moreno, Stefan Mychajliw, said Sunday that the video was “shameful.”

“No loving parent would have ever used their daughter as a PR pawn to save their own political career,” Mychajliw said. “Miller can lie and spin on X, but he cannot do so under oath in a court of law. We are confident that justice will prevail in court.”

Sen. Bernie Moreno's statement on Sunday came after he had declined to comment on the specific allegations for months. Last week, a spokeswoman issued a statement saying the senator “will not litigate these matters in the media or respond to baseless public attacks.”

“Senator Moreno’s top priority is the safety and well-being of his daughter and granddaughter,” said the spokeswoman, Reagan McCarthy.

Potential GOP candidates eye Miller's seat

The senator’s statement was prompting some hand-wringing behind the scenes in his home state, where Trump-endorsed candidates like Miller typically win with ease. The White House did not respond to a request for comment Sunday.

Miller's Democratic opponent, Brian Poindexter, said no one facing such accusations “belongs in the halls of power.”

State Rep. Mike Dovilla, a U.S. Navy veteran and former presidential appointee to the Office of Personnel Management, and Kevin Coughlin, a former state senator and representative who ran for the U.S. House in 2024 and 2026, were among Republicans whose names were being floated should Miller drop his fall House bid, according to a high-ranking Republican who discussed the sensitive subject on condition of anonymity.

Democrats have recently called on Miller to resign, requested a congressional ethics investigation and suggested more help could be directed in the fall toward his Democratic opponent, union ironworker Brian Poindexter.

Miller won reelection two years ago with just over 51% of the vote.

___

Smyth reported from Columbus, Ohio.

The shooting was reported Saturday evening at Glen Fair and Glen Echo.

On Sunday, the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office told KSAT three juveniles are involved in the shooting, including the victim who was shot in the lower body.

The teen is recovering and is expected to make a full recovery, BCSO said.

Additional information was not immediately available. The investigation is ongoing.

Read also:

• 16-year-old La Vernia HS student killed in rollover crash, police say
• SAPD: Woman shot, critically injured while riding in vehicle south of downtown; Shooter flees

The remarks by Doron Spielman, spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office, were some of the first public comments since U.S. President Donald Trump announced the agreement.

Spielman told The Associated Press that Israel's intelligence assessment is that Hamas remains committed to rebuilding its military rather than genuinely demilitarizing. He said the Israeli military would not withdraw from Gaza — where it controls more than 60% of the territory — before Hamas disarms.

“Our assessment is that if we redeploy before Hamas is truly disarmed, it will quickly expand its presence throughout Gaza, rebuild its terrorist infrastructure, once again threaten Israeli communities, and seek to carry out another Oct. 7-style attack,” he said, referring to the Hamas militant attack on Israel in 2023 that triggered the war in the Gaza Strip.

“Disarming means physically giving up the weapons. Nothing less,” Spielman said.

His comments come days after Hamas said that it would begin disarming as part of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire signed nine months ago to end the nearly three-year-long conflict. It marks a potential breakthrough in ending the conflict, but many hurdles, conditions and long timelines remain.

Hamas says it has agreed to disarm but the process is littered with obstacles

Trump’s 20-point ceasefire plan calls on the militant group to surrender its weapons and destroy its vast network of tunnels. It also envisions Israeli forces withdrawing from Gaza, the arrival of a new technocratic Palestinian government, deployment of an international security force and the rebuilding of the battered Palestinian enclave.

Hamas disarming has been a sticking point and has deadlocked negotiations for months. In announcing the deal on social media on Thursday, Trump said it would be carried out in “carefully structured phases.”

A copy of the agreement obtained and verified by the AP said that all weapons held by the Hamas-run police will be transferred to the U.S.-backed Palestinian technocratic committee, known as the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, upon its arrival in the enclave. It’s not clear when that would happen since it is contingent on other steps.

A process to decommission and store heavy weapons and to dismantle military production sites and tunnels will begin after the arrival of the Palestinian committee and the deployment of international forces. The process will be linked to a phased Israeli withdrawal, according to the agreement.

The areas Israel controls in Gaza have been mostly destroyed and depopulated. Most of the territory’s 2 million Palestinians are in the other part, where hundreds of thousands live in squalid tent camps and destroyed neighborhoods.

Israel appears unlikely to pull back significant forces or make other concessions ahead of its October elections. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces a tough reelection battle, with his far-right coalition partners urging him to keep up the pressure on Hamas and leave forces in Gaza, and opponents accusing him of failing to prevent the Oct. 7, 2023, attack.

Hamas-led militants attacked Israeli communities then, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 others hostage. Israel responded with a punishing military offensive that has killed more than 73,000 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

The ministry, which was part of the recently dissolved Hamas-run government, maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and international organizations. It does not distinguish between civilians and militants but says women and children make up around half of all fatalities.

Israel warns Hamas is rearming

While Spielman said Israel greatly appreciates Trump’s commitment to its security and to finding a durable resolution, the government's position on disarmament is based on detailed intelligence saying that Hamas continues to rearm, recruit fighters, and rebuild its military capabilities.

The White House did not provide additional comments on Sunday, when asked specifically about Israel’s assessment that Hamas remains committed to rebuilding its military.

U.S. officials, who briefed reporters on the disarmament agreement last week, said that Israel had been consulted at every step of the negotiations and was not being asked to do anything more than what it had committed to as part of the ceasefire and hostage release agreement signed last October.

It's unclear what exactly Israel conveyed to the White House. Two people with knowledge of the deal told the AP that Israel had communicated its issues with it to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who's part of the Trump-led Board of Peace. One of them said that among the points Israel wanted was freedom to conduct military operations in Gaza. They spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

According to another person familiar with the deal, the Israelis raised two other issues: that Qatar and Turkey not be involved in verifying the stages of the agreement, and that Hamas’ weapons be destroyed after confiscation. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Israel continues to strike Gaza

Since the ceasefire was signed last October, Israel has continued striking Gaza, saying it’s targeting Hamas and its infrastructure.

Local Gaza hospitals said at least 17 were killed in the latest Israeli strikes, including children. A strike on a residential apartment in southern Gaza killed three family members, including their 4-year-old child, according to Nasser hospital, where the bodies arrived.

The Israeli military said the strikes had targeted militant operatives.

___

Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed to this report.

The emerging deal “would include the Immediate, Complete, and Total OPENING OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT, and an end to Iran’s nuclear threat,” Trump wrote in a Saturday evening social media post.

“Based on this request, I have agreed, for the future benefit of the WORLD and, likewise, the survival of a successful and prosperous Iran, to cancel the attack, subject to being able to rapidly make a DEAL,” Trump said.

However, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said on Sunday that the Strait of Hormuz “will in no way return to the status it was before February 28th,” the day the war started.

On a call with Iranian state TV, he added that Iran is discussing shipping through the strait with Oman, on the other side of Hormuz, but that there’s no current talk about reopening the crucial waterway.

Trump has announced halts to strikes in Iran on several occasions since the United States and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, only for things to unravel and fighting to resume again.

Iran’s defense minister said on X that the country was “neither surprised nor passive” following Trump’s announcement and said Iran continues to remain alert in the face of concrete threats from the U.S.

While Iran’s leaders appear united in a war strategy signaling strength and endurance, a struggle for control seems to be brewing within the theocracy’s leadership between those who oppose all negotiations with the U.S. and others who count on military pressure to win at the negotiating table.

The latest proposal would bring sides back to negotiating table

A regional official says the proposal announced by Trump over the weekend calls for the U.S. and Iran to return to negotiations and continue working out many of the issues that have stymied prior progress on the deal.

The official, who is involved in the mediation efforts, said the proposal calls for reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and halting attacks across the region, including by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq on the Arab Gulf countries and Jordan.

The U.S., in exchange, will end its naval blockade on Iran and allow Tehran to export its oil as stated in the tentative ceasefire deal, he said.

No deal has been reached yet, but mediation efforts are underway, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to talk to the media.

Trump said that Israel is joining his commitment to end the war by implementing the ceasefire deal. Israel did not publicly comment on the announcement.

Saudis concerned about Iran retaliation

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto leader, spoke with Trump by phone Saturday and raised concerns about the U.S. potentially escalating the conflict with Iran, according to the Saudi press agency.

The Saudis, according to a person briefed on the substance of the call but not authorized to comment publicly, are concerned that Tehran could respond with attacks on the energy infrastructure of the kingdom and other Gulf countries. The call happened before Trump’s social media announcement, the person said.

The crown prince sought clarity from Trump on what potential new action he was weighing to take against Iran, the person said.

A White House official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and requested anonymity, confirmed the leaders spoke Saturday but did not offer any detail.

Iran has repeatedly attacked vessels attempting to transit through the Strait of Hormuz without its authorization as part of its ongoing conflict with the U.S.

___

Madhani reported from Washington. Toqa Ezzidin in Cairo, Giovanna Dell'Orto in Jerusalem, Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, and Natalie Melzer in Nahariya, Israel, contributed.

The film also made $572 million from over 73,500 screens internationally, with China contributing $121 million alone, adding up to a $927 million worldwide debut that is second only to “Endgame” ($1.2 billion).

Tom Holland’s run as the comic book webslinger has been a mighty one. “No Way Home,” his third standalone Spider-Man movie, made over $1.9 billion worldwide to become the eighth-highest earning movie of all time, not accounting for inflation. It was also the first movie since the beginning of the pandemic to cross the $1 billion mark.

But the triumph of “Brand New Day” also comes on the heels of another major movie featuring Holland and Zendaya: Christopher Nolan’s“The Odyssey,” which slid to second place in its third weekend in theaters with $51 million. Their combined might helped propel the biggest weekend of all time for North American movie theaters, with an estimated $430 million in total ticket sales, according to Rentrak.

“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” started strong, with a record $168 million opening day from 4,487 theaters in the U.S. and Canada, besting “Avenger: Endgame’s” $157 million Friday. The studio predicted it would lead to a $325 million opening weekend, which would still have beaten the second-place record. It takes the place of “Spider-Man: No Way Home” which opened to $260 million in December 2021. In the realm of best opening weekends in North America, they’re followed by “Avengers: Infinity War” ($257 million in 2018) and “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” ($247 million in 2015).

Expectations were always high for “Brand New Day,” which was directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and cost a reported $225 million to produce, not including marketing expenses. But there were worries it wouldn’t attract the same level of mass audience enthusiasm as its predecessor which integrated past Peter Parker actors Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield into the mix. In reality, interest was higher than ever. “Brand New Day” also received strong reviews from critics and audiences. It currently has a 90% on Rotten Tomatoes; Audiences gave it an “A” CinemaScore and a five-star rating on PostTrak.

Ticket buyers were predominately male (about 61%) and many were on the younger side, with slightly more than half the audience under the age of 25, according to PostTrak exit polls. The biggest group was between the ages of 18 and 24, which made up 36% of the audience; 27% were between the ages of 25 and 34. The box office analytics company EntTelligence estimates that about 24.1 million people attended “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” this weekend.

It’s also the biggest ever opening for Sony Pictures.

Tom Rothman, the Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, praised “the incomparable Tom Holland” in a statement. Rothman famously pushed back the production of the movie to allow Holland to act in “The Odyssey” as well.

Cries about the death of the superhero movie have been looming since “Endgame” with more than a few high-profile flops in the years since, including several from the once-impenetrable Marvel Studios. Still, when they work, they really work, most notably with “No Way Home” and “Deadpool & Wolverine,” which made over $1.3 billion.

Marvel Studios president and ‘Spider-Man’ producer Kevin Feige said in a statement, “This debut reflects the enduring power of Marvel’s characters, and the connection they continue to have with fans around the world — and, as audiences saw, it sets up exciting things to come.”

Producer Amy Pascal added that it “reinforces that moviegoers are hungry for stories that are both spectacular and deeply human.”

This year has also seen a resurgence of moviegoing from younger audiences, who have made hits out of movies like “Obsession,” “Backrooms” and “The Drama,” which also starred Zendaya.

They’re also helping blockbusters soar, and in a business that is partly propelled by momentum, “Spider-Man” had the benefit of coming after “The Odyssey,” which fell only 43% in its third weekend. “The Odyssey” has now earned $395.5 million domestically, bringing its global total to $911.4 million. The film will soon open in South Korea (Aug. 5), China (Aug. 14) and Japan (Sept. 11). Its studio, Universal, also became the first this year to surpass $4 billion globally thanks in part to “Michael,” which it distributed internationally, and “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.”

A slew of animated PG-rated holdovers rounded out the top five: “Toy Story 5” was in third place with $6.3 million, followed by “Minions & Monsters” in fourth and “Moana,” in fifth. And there were bright spots further down the chart as well. In sixth place with $2 million, “Hadestown: The Musical” surpassed “Hamilton” to become the highest grossing live theater capture release ever with a running total of $18.2 million.

Paul Dergarabedian, the head of marketplace trends for Rentrak, said the “Spider-Man” effect could help the summer movie season surpass the $4 billion mark for the first time since the Barbenheimer summer of 2023, and the third-ever billion dollar August.

“This is perhaps the most important summer moviegoing season in the history of the business,” Dergarabedian said. August, he added, "could set up a home stretch of the box office year like no other and one that could push us over that $10 billion mark."

Top 10 movies by domestic box office

With final domestic figures being released Monday, this list factors in the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Rentrak:

1. “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” $355 million.

2. “The Odyssey,” $51 million.

3. “Toy Story 5,” $6.3 million.

4. “Minions & Monsters,” $5.8 million.

5. “Moana,” $5.3 million.

6. “Hadestown: The Musical,” $2 million.

7. “The Invite,” $1.2 million.

8. “I Want Your Sex,” $600,000.

9. “Young Washington,” $477,727.

10. “Obsession,” $470,000.

The sheriff said deputies were assisting the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department with the drowning.

In the post, Nolasco reminds residents to use caution when swimming in the Nueces River, warning that the waterway can be unpredictable.

“Currents, sudden changes in water level, and hidden hazards can make swimming more dangerous than it looks,” the sheriff said.

Additional information was not immediately available. KSAT has reached out to the Uvalde County Sheriff’s Office for more information.

Read also:

• 16-year-old La Vernia HS student killed in rollover crash, police say

Trump is not getting a glowing endorsement on his immigration approach from Americans overall, the new survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found. Only 39% of U.S. adults approve of his performance on immigration, a decline from 49% at the beginning of his second term.

Despite that, about 8 in 10 Republicans continue to approve of how Trump is handling immigration. That’s a slight decline from the beginning of Trump’s second term, when about 9 in 10 Republicans approved, but his support on the issue within his base has been mostly stable since last summer despite a chaotic year of immigration enforcement actions.

Republicans are also more likely to approve of how Trump is handling immigration than the economy or Iran. In just the past month, Republican approval of Trump's handling of Iran dropped slightly in AP-NORC polling

The poll found that about half of U.S. adults say Trump has “gone too far” on deporting immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. That number has also remained steady for over a year, despite multiple immigration crackdowns that deployed federal law enforcement to large cities and at least 10 deaths involving encounters with immigration officers since the mass deportation campaign began. Republicans, however, are much less likely to say Trump has overstepped in his immigration enforcement actions.

Overall, Trump’s popularity has fallen since he took office last year, but the findings highlight the relatively muted impact of the past year’s aggressive immigration enforcement on his public standing. That’s a contrast with views of his handling of Iran, where he’s seen more recent signs of slippage, even among his own supporters.

Immigration remains a strong issue for Trump with Republicans

Americans remain divided on whether Trump has overstepped on immigration.

About half of U.S. adults say Trump has “gone too far” when it comes to restricting legal immigration, in line with the last time the question was asked in February. Roughly half — 47% — say Trump has exceeded his authority when it comes to deporting immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. In each case, about 3 in 10 say Trump’s actions have been “about right,” and closer to 2 in 10 say he hasn’t gone far enough.

Few Republicans – about 2 in 10 or fewer – say he’s “gone too far” on deporting immigrants in the country illegally or restricting legal immigration.

Most Americans, however, say he’s gone too far when it comes to using traffic stops to find and arrest immigrants living in the U.S. illegally — a practice that was at the center of two recent ICE shootings in Maine — and when it comes to sending federal immigration agents into U.S. cities. Republicans were also less likely to see these as oversteps.

James Leatherman, a 68-year-old Republican from San Antonio, is overall supportive of Trump’s handling of the presidency and backs him on immigration in particular.

“You cannot come in here illegally — you’re breaking the law,” he said.

More Americans disapprove than approve of the way ICE is enforcing immigration laws. About half of Americans “strongly" or “somewhat" disapprove of the agency's approach, while roughly 3 in 10 “strongly" or “somewhat" approve. There's a wide partisan split, though: About 6 in 10 Republicans approve of ICE’s approach, compared with about 2 in 10 independents and just 4% of Democrats.

Eric Coursen, 76, an independent from Chincoteague, Virginia, agrees with the president that there were issues with the immigration system. He said doesn’t believe in open borders — but he’s deeply opposed to how the administration has been enforcing immigration law.

“It’s like taking some bread when you’re hungry and you take it, you’re going to shoot that person rather than just, you know, get them for theft?” he said. “It’s just overkill.”

Trump’s approval on the economy remains low

About 3 in 10 U.S. adults, 32%, approve of how Trump is handling the economy. That’s down from 40% at the start of his second term, and marks a shift from his first presidential term when the economy was a stronger issue for Trump.

During Trump’s first term, his lowest approval on the economy was 40% in December 2017. Now, his rating is well below that.

Roughly 7 in 10 Republicans – 69% – approve of how Trump is handling the economy. That’s roughly in line with the share who approve of how he’s handing the presidency, but it’s slightly below the 78% who approved early in Trump’s second term.

Leatherman, despite his support for Trump, said he's feeling the pinch of higher prices in his budget. “I almost have to go to the bank to get a loan before I go grocery shopping,” he said.

About 7 in 10 U.S. adults describe the nation’s economy as “very” or “somewhat” poor, in line with April. Republicans are more optimistic, with about 6 in 10 saying that the U.S. economy is doing well, compared with about 2 in 10 independents and roughly 1 in 10 Democrats.

More Republicans approve of how Trump is handling healthcare

Healthcare has never been a strong issue for Trump. Unlike with immigration and the economy, a clear majority of U.S. adults has disapproved of Trump’s performance on healthcare across both presidential terms. That hasn’t changed in the new poll, which found that only about 3 in 10 Americans approve of how Trump is handling healthcare, in line with when the question was last asked in December.

He’s seen a rebound on the issue among his own supporters since late last year, though. Roughly 71% of Republicans now approve, compared with 59% in the December poll.

That shift comes as Democrats kicked off 100 days until the midterm elections last week, with leaders saying they’ll focus on healthcare cuts, in addition to the cost of living and the war in Iran. Democrats and independents continue to overwhelmingly disapprove of Trump’s handling of healthcare.

___

The AP-NORC poll of 1,165 adults was conducted July 23-27 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 6.0 for Republicans overall and plus or minus 5.4 for Democrats overall.

Most of the 60,000 migrants who swam, scrambled and later charged into the tiny Spanish exclave in North Africa this week had walked back to Morocco by Sunday, but some stayed on in the hills surrounding the city. Spanish civil guard ships continued searching for bodies in the waters near the stretch of urban beach that tens of thousand of migrants had breached days earlier.

Shops in Ceuta reopened, and the usual blend of residents and tourists in the city of 84,000 were filling the open-air terraces, restaurants and cafes.

But the city that prides itself on being home to four cultures was still grappling with the aftermath of the border surge, with locals disagreeing on what caused it and who exactly is to blame.

Border surge breathes new life into Europe's immigration debate

At least 72 migrants died, including some who drowned and others who were killed in a stampede to cross a breakwater barrier, Spanish authorities said Sunday. The humanitarian crisis caused by the sudden rush of people has reignited a debate around immigration in Europe and beyond.

“It's not the young men's fault,” said Mohamad Abdelkader Driss, 44, a waiter at a fried fish restaurant in town. “If you open the border, of course everyone comes in, but the young men aren't to blame. The authorities are responsible.”

Some migrants who returned to Morocco described a border that was effectively open and said authorities did little as they watched thousands of people cross.

The unauthorized arrivals on Thursday and Friday of 50,000 to 60,000, mostly young men, swelled Ceuta's population by more than half. Abdelkader lamented what happened, but said that those who breached the border behaved relatively well.

“It could have been much worse,” he said.

Far-right politicians call for remaining migrants to be expelled

Over the weekend, far-right, anti-immigrant Spanish politicians and well-known right-wing influencers descended on the city, sparking counterprotests that included members of the Spanish city's large Muslim population, many of whom are of Moroccan descent.

Alvise Pérez, a far-right Spanish politician and member of the European Parliament, called on Saturday evening for migrants to be expelled as he faced an angry crowd of rival protesters. Pérez eventually had to shelter in a bar as residents banged on the windows, until police escorted him away.

Among the counterprotesters on Saturday was 20-year-old Ceuta resident and student Noor Ahmed. She denounced the protest and presence of figures like Pérez in her city as opportunistic.

“They just want to take advantage of the humanitarian crisis Ceuta is currently experiencing,” Ahmed said.

Santiago Abascal, the leader of the far-right Vox party, visited Ceuta on Sunday, slamming the Spanish government for the surge in migrant arrivals, which he called “an invasion.”

“The frontiers of Ceuta and Melilla are the walls of our home and homeland, and they are not being protected by a corrupt and traitorous government,” he said.

Ceuta's tradition of tolerance comes under strain

Some locals, even acknowledging Ceuta's population of Christians, Muslims, Jews and Hindus that normally live in relative harmony, worried about what the week revealed about the city.

Eva Barrientos, a resident of Ceuta who works at a logistics company, came to the protest on Saturday evening to see what Pérez and the other right-wing figures had to say. She was confident that something similar would happen again and questioned the loyalty that some of Ceuta's foreign-born residents had to Spain.

“In Ceuta, we have always lived together. We have four cultures living very well, without any problems,” she said. “But the only thing we are realizing now is that there is an enemy within.”

And she accused some foreign-born residents of having more loyalty to Morocco than the country in which they lived.

Pope Leo XIV on Sunday said he was “following with concern the alarming situation in Ceuta, asking God … that solutions of peace, stability and justice may be found.”

Migration has been one of Pope Leo’s priorities, which he underlined during a recent visit to the Canary Islands in Spain, one of Europe’s main migrant entry ports.

The crash happened just before 4 a.m. in the 12000 block of U.S. Highway 87, near Chihuahua Street. Responders arrived to find a 2015 Lexus RX3 rolled over on its side and on fire.

The teenager, who has not been identified, was the only occupant in the vehicle and was found dead inside, police said.

Police said the girl was traveling northbound on U.S. Highway 87 when, at some point, she left the roadway for an unknown reason, entered a grassy area, and struck a brick-and-mortar “City of La Vernia” sign before rolling over.

La Vernia police confirmed to KSAT the girl was a student at La Vernia High School.

In a statement, a La Vernia Independent School District spokesperson said the district’s thoughts are with everyone affected by the tragedy.

The district said counseling resources will be available for students and staff.

The full statement can be read below:

“As we prepare to welcome students back for the first day of school tomorrow, our thoughts are with everyone affected by this tragedy.

“La Vernia ISD has taken steps to ensure support is available for those who may need it. Our campus teams are prepared to provide counseling resources for students and staff, with additional support available through neighboring school districts if needed.

“Our focus remains on supporting our students, staff, and families while providing a safe, caring, and welcoming environment as we begin the new school year.

“Out of respect for the privacy of those involved, we will not be providing additional details at this time. We appreciate your understanding.”

Additional information was not immediately available. The Texas Department of Public Safety is leading the investigation.

Read also:

• Motorcyclist ejected, killed in crash on South Side, San Antonio police say

Fidely Alvarez Mauricio, 10, and Neidy Alvarez Mauricio, 13, were found, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.

In the updated alert, it’s unclear if Pedro Alvarez-Castillo, 48, was also found. Police said Alvarez-Castillo was wanted for possibly abducting the children.

KSAT has reached out to the San Antonio Police Department to confirm if Alvarez-Castillo was located.

ORIGINAL STORY: Two children are missing, according to an AMBER alert, and the San Antonio Police Department said they are believed to be in grave or immediate danger.

Fidely Alvarez Mauricio, 10, and Neidy Alvarez Mauricio, 13, were last seen at 1 a.m. Saturday in the 1200 block of Logwood Avenue on the South Side, police said. They were last seen with Pedro Alvarez-Castillo, 48, who police said is wanted for possibly abducting the children.

Neidy was last seen wearing pink pajama pants, a black shirt, sandals and a black shower cap. Fidely was last seen wearing a black and white striped gown and sandals.

SAPD asked anyone who sees them to call 911, or anyone with information regarding this child abduction to call 210-207-7660.

If the constitutional amendment passes, supporters hope to elect at least four conservative, anti-abortion justices to the seven-member court by 2033.

Kansas is considering the change amid concerns that increasingly contentious and expensive judicial elections in other states are making their courts more partisan and less independent. Spending in a single state Supreme Court race in Wisconsin last year topped $100 million.

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, a term-limited Democrat who opposes the measure, said gerrymandering and dark money have put the Legislature out of step with the state and, “to think you can make the judicial branch a part of that dysfunctional system is frightening.”

Republicans have a long list of rulings they question

GOP lawmakers cite multiple rulings by Kansas courts over the past two decades as reasons for change.

Most recently, a district court judge earlier this month reinstated a three-day grace period for voters to return mail ballots after Election Day, which GOP lawmakers had eliminated. Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson, seeking the Republican nomination for governor, called the decision “outrageous” and urged people to vote yes on the ballot question.

The same judge — a finalist to fill the most recent Supreme Court vacancy — blocked enforcement of a 2025 law banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors. Masterson described him as “radical.”

The list of rulings Republicans criticize also includes rulings on education funding back to 2004. Supreme Court decisions forced lawmakers to increase funding to comply with the state constitution.

“If we elect our Supreme Court, they won't force you to spend money on schools,” Masterson said in remarks in November to a conservative group, the Marion County Patriots for Liberty, the Marion County Record reported.

Abortion remains a key issue on both sides

Electing state Supreme Court justices gained currency among Republicans after a 2022 public vote affirming the high court’s landmark 2019 decision that Kansas' bill of rights guarantees bodily autonomy and access to abortion. Total spending by both sides has exceeded $12 million.

Legislators who worked to overturn the Supreme Court's protections, including Masterson, helped write this year's proposal.

Seven weeks after that 2022 vote, Attorney General Kris Kobach, then a GOP candidate for the office, told a Republican club in Wichita that electing justices would “slowly and quietly” put anti-abortion justices on the high court.

The vote-yes campaign's biggest donor — providing $1.7 million toward the campaign's $3.7 million in spending — is a Nashville-based nonprofit that supports Republican candidates, groups and causes. Kansans for Life, the state's most influential anti-abortion group, has spent at least $87,000 over the past 11 days on mailers and texts.

“Kansans can bring an end to this reign of abortion by voting ‘yes,’” Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue, said in an editorial written by a staffer on the anti-abortion group’s website.

Meanwhile, the national and state affiliates for abortion provider Planned Parenthood contributed another $1.6 million toward the vote-no campaign's $8 million-plus in spending.

Jamie Swan, an engineer and college teaching assistant who knocked on doors for abortion rights in 2022, is doing the same to try to halt the proposal.

“I really believe that this is just a power grab,” she said.

Kansas legislators have no say in appointments

Backers of the Kansas proposal brush aside arguments that electing the justices will give wealthy donors control over the Supreme Court.

“Globally and over history, even in its imperfection, the best system is democracy,” said Elizabeth Patton, state director of the low-tax, small-government group Americans for Prosperity, which has spent $935,000 to promote the vote-yes campaign.

Twenty-two states elect their top court’s judges, eight in partisan races. Governors in 26 states appoint them. In South Carolina and Virginia, legislators pick the justices.

Kansas elected justices for nearly 100 years before voters amended the state constitution in 1958. The governor now picks one of three finalists named by a nominating commission controlled by attorneys. Legislators have no role.

A review of every state’s current and past constitutions shows that the last state to add an amendment like the one Kansas is contemplating was Mississippi in 1914. Since then, 18 states’ amendments went the opposite way.

Voters weigh in every six years on whether a justice remains on the bench through a yes-or-no ballot question, but they’ve never booted a sitting justice. Conservatives say that means justices face no consequences for errant decisions.

Retirements and deaths allowed the term-limited Kelly to appoint four of the current justices. Recently, she picked a district court judge who blocked enforcement of longstanding abortion restrictions in 2023.

“We don’t have a good way to fight back,” said state Sen. Mike Thompson, a conservative Kansas City-area Republican, who backs the measure.

Curator Marcus Lobbes and his team were greeted with boos and whistles as they took to the stage at the end of Saturday evening's performance of “Götterdämmerung,” German news agency dpa reported. However, there was warm applause for the singers and musicians, and particularly for conductor Christian Thielemann.

Festival organizers said ahead of the performance that it would be the first time AI took part on stage at the event, “not as a character, but as an image-generating force.” They said that singers would be “the fixed point within a visually seething cosmos of light, texture, history, and association, amidst projections that erupt, constantly shift, and merge into one another.”

The AI-assisted projections included scenes from previous performances of Wagner's “Ring” cycle and historical themes, and drew from images pre-selected by Lobbes, the director of the Academy for Theater and Digitality in Dortmund, and his team.

The collage that the technology projected on stage puzzled the audience, dpa reported, with images including former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, the towers of the World Trade Center after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, and a special postage stamp marking German reunification in 1990.

The festival website said that “every performance will be unique — because the images and associations never stand still.” Two more performances are scheduled.

Officers were dispatched to a local hospital just before midnight Saturday after the woman was taken there by another person.

The woman, 25, was a passenger in a vehicle traveling in the 800 block of Probandt Street when the driver recognized another vehicle belonging to someone they had previous issues with, according to SAPD’s preliminary report.

Both the driver and the woman attempted to flee, but the other vehicle began firing at them, striking the vehicle multiple times and hitting the woman in the upper torso, police said.

The woman was in critical condition when officers arrived at the hospital, police said. It is unclear if the driver was injured in the shooting.

SAPD said the vehicle driven by the shooter, identified as a 32-year-old man, fled in an unknown direction.

No arrests have been made, and the investigation is ongoing.

Read also:

• Motorcyclist ejected, killed in crash on South Side, San Antonio police say

Wildberries, Russia's largest online marketplace, is sometimes described as the country’s answer to Amazon. In under two weeks, Ukraine has struck over a dozen of the retailer’s depots, part of Kyiv’s aerial campaign aimed at undermining Moscow's war effort, hurting its economy and making people feel the consequences of the Kremlin’s all-out invasion of Ukraine.

Russian air defenses overnight shot down 635 Ukrainian drones, including over occupied Crimea and the Black and Azov Seas, according to the Defense Ministry in Moscow. The ministry did not say how many were launched or struck targets.

Meanwhile, Russia attacked Ukraine with 133 drones during the night, 24 of which hit targets, according to the Ukrainian air force. Later on Sunday, separate Russian attacks on the Ukrainian cities of Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv killed at least two people, according to local officials.

Ukraine's campaign against Wildberries

Ukrainian drones targeted a Wildberries warehouse in the Samara region, some 800 kilometers (500 miles) from the Russian-Ukrainian border, according to local Gov. Vyacheslav Fedorishchev. He said a fire had broken out but there were no casualties.

Kyiv’s campaign against Wildberries first hit the company's sites in Elektrostal, just east of Moscow, and in the Tambov region July 18. Strikes followed on facilities across western and southern Russia, as well as Russian-held Crimea. At least nine people have been killed and scores wounded.

Two people were killed as a Ukrainian drone struck a residential building in the Saratov region east of Samara, local. Gov. Roman Busargin said.

He added that the strikes damaged civil infrastructure in Engels, where the deaths took place, and the regional capital, Saratov.

Both cities have been frequent targets for Ukrainian attacks in recent years. Engels hosts a military airbase, while Saratov is home to a large oil refinery.

In Russia’s Bashkortostan region further north, local Gov. Radiy Khabirov said that air defence had repelled a large-scale drone strike on “industrial facilities” in the city of Ufa. He did not specify what exactly was struck, but said that a blaze was being put out.

In the Udmurt Republic further northwest, three civilians died and two more were wounded in a Ukrainian drone strike, according to acting regional head Olga Abramova.

Abramova said air defenses shot down two Ukrainian drones and “prevented an attempted attack” by Kyiv. She said a civilian car was damaged in the strike, without clarifying if drone debris was the cause.

In Ukraine, one person died on Sunday as a Russian guided bomb struck a residential building in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, according to local administration head Ivan Fedorov. Another attack on Sunday killed one person and set fire to a postal terminal on the outskirts of Kharkiv, in the northwest, said regional administration head Oleh Syniehubov.

• RAINFALL TOTALS: Areas got upward of 4″.
• TODAY: A few morning showers south of San Antonio. Highs returning to the upper 90s and near 100 degrees.
• THIS WEEK: Hot, mostly sunny, and rain chances remain limited.

FORECAST

RAINFALL TOTALS

Saturday’s storms brought heavy rain to the Hill Country and Rio Grande Plains, with over 3 inches recorded in parts of Edwards, Real, Uvalde, and Kinney counties.

SUNDAY

Expect isolated showers and storms to continue south of San Antonio. Sunday, followed by clearing skies. Despite highs reaching the upper 90s to near 100 degrees, lower humidity will make the heat feel more manageable through Monday.

HOT & DRY

A hot, dry pattern returns as high pressure builds, bringing sunshine and highs near 100°F next week. Aside from slight humidity increases and isolated coastal showers late in the week, widespread rain is not expected.

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.

Just after 2:30 a.m. Sunday, officers responded to the crash in the 14000 block of State Highway 16 South.

Police said the motorcyclist, identified as an unknown man, was reportedly driving at a high rate of speed when he struck the back of a vehicle. The man was ejected from the bike and was pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver of the vehicle was found to be intoxicated at the time of the crash and was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated, SAPD said. However, SAPD noted in its preliminary report that the driver’s intoxication did not contribute to the crash.

The investigation is ongoing.

Read also:

• Five officers shoot, kill West Side man waving gun near park, SAPD says

The Mutiara Sentosa 2 ferry was traveling from Indonesia's second-largest city of Surabaya in East Java to the city of Makassar in South Sulawesi, with 232 passengers and 39 crew members, when the fire broke out between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. in waters off Sumenep regency, according to Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency, or Basarnas.

The ferry operator, PT Atosim Lampung Pelayaran, reported the incident to the Surabaya search and rescue office about an hour later, Basarnas said in a statement. It said the company received information from the ferry's captain that the vessel was on fire near the northern tip of Madura island, but contact was later lost.

By 9:45 a.m., authorities determined the ferry was about 19 nautical miles north of Buruan Sapudi island after communicating with the nearby cargo vessel Meratus Project 3, which was unable to approach the burning vessel closely because it was carrying a flammable load.

Footage released by the National Search and Rescue Agency showed thick black smoke billowing from one side of the ferry and spreading across much of the ship while videos circulating on social media and messaging groups showed terrified passengers, mostly wearing life jackets, could be seen clustered on the deck and upper sections of the vessel awaiting rescue, some jumping into the sea as orange flames and black smoke billowed from the burning vessel.

The ferry was reported to be nearly engulfed by flames, with passengers gathered on the bridge and bow. A tugboat and another passing vessel moved in and began evacuating passengers shortly before 10 a.m., the statement said.

By Sunday afternoon, several nearby vessels managed to rescue 225 passengers and crew and recovered five bodies. At least 41 people remained unaccounted for.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known and remained under investigation.

Search and rescue teams dispatched a rescue vessel from Surabaya, although officials estimated it would take about six hours to reach the scene. A rigid inflatable boat from the Sumenep rescue post was sent toward the location but later returned to shore because of rough seas and high waves. The Indonesian Navy also deployed a warship to assist.

The 160 meters (525 feet) long and 25 meters (82 feet) wide ferry serves the Surabaya-Makassar route, a voyage that typically takes around 40 hours and is primarily used by domestic travelers and cargo transport between Java and Sulawesi.

Indonesia is an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands where ferries are a common method of travel. Disasters occur regularly, with weak safety enforcement often blamed.

___

Karmini reported from Jakarta. Associated Press writer Edna Tarigan in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report.

The blast on Saturday evening at the Balzi Rossi, an upscale Italian establishment in central Moscow, killed three people, including the woman bomber, Russian state media said, citing local officials.

“Yesterday, a brutal terrorist act was committed in Moscow that claimed human lives. The victims are currently in the city’s hospitals, where they are receiving all necessary care,” Sobyanin wrote on social media Sunday.

He added that a probe into the attack was underway. “Those responsible for committing this crime will certainly be found and will face the punishment they deserve,” he wrote.

At least 21 people were wounded when the explosive device detonated at the restaurant on Kudrinskaya Square, the National Anti-Terrorism Committee said late on Saturday, according to Russian state news agency Ria Novosti.

A woman attempted to smuggle the bomb into the establishment, but a security guard refused to let her in before the bomb exploded, reported Ria Novosti. The Moscow Investigative Committee said on Saturday evening the attack was still being investigated.

As of early afternoon on Sunday, there was no further information from Russian authorities, and no one had publicly claimed responsibility.

According to Ria Novosti, the restaurant was closed for a private function on Saturday evening.

Footage released by Russian state media showed heavily armed law-enforcement officers, several ambulances and other emergency vehicles at the site.

Earlier this year, Russia’s Federal Security Service announced that authorities would tighten security around senior military and government officials, after a series of assassination attempts in Russian cities that followed the Kremlin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

So far, Russian authorities have not drawn any connections between Saturday's blast and these earlier attacks or the war in Ukraine.

Russia previously said Kyiv was behind a car bombing in Moscow last April that killed Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik, a deputy head of the main operational department in Russia’s General Staff. Ukraine did not publicly claim responsibility.

But Ukraine's SBU security service earlier said it had organized the killing in December 2024 of Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, who headed the Russian military's nuclear, biological and chemical protection forces.

Kirillov was killed by a bomb hidden in a scooter outside his apartment building in Moscow, a day after Ukraine’s security service leveled criminal charges against him.

Among other prominent victims of bombing attacks in Russia were Daria Dugina, the daughter of influential nationalist thinker Aleksandr Dugin, and Vladlen Tatarsky, a well-known pro-Kremlin military blogger.

Kyiv denied involvement in the attack on Dugina, and did not respond to Russian accusations that it was behind Tatarsky’s death.

Desperate to save his job as chair of the Democratic National Committee, he is avoiding media appearances, monitoring his critics' social media posts and refusing — at least so far — to make any substantive changes at his troubled organization.

A half dozen state leaders and other committee members, most of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal conversations, described Martin as defensive and extremely distrustful of others, even some people on his own team, as calls for his resignation grow louder among Democratic operatives who lament his leadership decisions, lackluster fundraising and even his tendency to lash out in anger.

But there is no sign that the organization's membership plans to replace Martin before the midterm elections in November, even as some wonder how much longer he can hold on. The drama threatens to undermine the party's momentum in the battle to retake control of Congress from President Donald Trump's Republican Party.

“I sense no movement from the DNC to make a change, and so that decision’s up to Ken. And he’s told me he’s in it, so I trust him on making that decision," said Colorado Democratic Party Chair Shad Murib, a DNC member and strong Martin supporter. “What we’re seeing right now is a whole group of folks who live on Twitter and consultants fighting harder against Ken Martin than they’ve ever fought against Donald Trump.”

Martin did not grant an interview request. In a recent Substack post, Martin defended himself this way: “If the question is whether the Democratic Party will be ready to win — everywhere, at every level, in this election and for the decade ahead — the answer is a resounding yes.”

Martin's critics are everywhere all at once and some want him out

As one of its most important responsibilities, the DNC is tasked with building out the party's national infrastructure, including fundraising, to support the Democrats' next presidential nominee. Yet few members of the next class of White House prospects are willing to speak out on Martin’s behalf.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, who has traveled to key states in recent weeks before a potential presidential bid, praised the DNC for embracing a new primary calendar that promotes more diverse states such as South Carolina and Nevada.

But Moore declined three separate times to answer directly when asked whether he has confidence in Martin heading into 2028.

“My confidence is in the people,” Moore told The Associated Press. “My confidence is in making sure that we have a system in place that actually allows the people’s voices to be heard."

He said he is not looking for "wins on behalf of a political structure or party bosses.”

Others have been explicitly critical of Martin.

Shannon Watts, the former leader of Moms Demand Action and a member of the DNC’s finance committee in 2024, criticized Martin’s lack of communication with donors and key stakeholders. She said she was ready and willing to help Martin after he took over last year, but he never called.

She did, however, get a call from a DNC staffer urging her to delete a social media post that was critical of Martin. Such calls have become common occurrences in recent months.

“Ken needs to step aside. I think Ken knows he needs to step aside," Watts said. “There’s a reason he’s worried he’s going to be fired and it’s because he’s not up to the job.”

Even those close to Martin, including senior members of the DNC leadership, privately complain that Martin is not doing more to maintain ties with committee members, donors and prominent outside officials. He was known for building strong relationships in his previous post as leader of the Association of State Democratic Chairs, which is largely why he was elected national chair.

His allies are baffled as to why he has not done the same in his new job. There are also lingering frustrations over how Martin handled the follow-up report on the 2024 election. He promised to release the document, then withheld it, then eventually made it public while saying it was too flawed to be helpful.

Dems look to a possible change but there's no clear alternative right now

Few expect Martin to be replaced before the fall elections, largely because no clear alternative has emerged as the midterms loom. But members are looking toward the DNC's winter meeting after the November contests — and before the 2028 presidential primary process begins in earnest — as the most likely time to make a leadership change.

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley has fielded calls to discuss a candidacy to replace Martin, according to a person with knowledge of the conversations who requested anonymity to discuss private discussions. O'Malley, who did not respond to a request for comment, finished a distant third in the DNC chair election last winter.

The growing chorus of criticism has shaken the confidence of Martin's loyalists.

They were especially concerned about an essay this week by Rufus Gifford, the finance chairman for President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign, who warned that the DNC under Martin’s leadership was “spiraling toward irrelevance."

“At this point, I think there is no saving Martin’s chairmanship. He is a good man with good intentions but simply not meeting this critical moment,” Gifford wrote on Substack. “As Democrats, the only solution is to acknowledge the problem and fix it. Now.”

One Martin ally likened the fallout from Gifford's statement to the day after Biden's disastrous debate performance that effectively forced him to abandon his reelection campaign.

Martin has stayed on the road but remained quiet

Martin got a lifeline this week from New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic leader, who said while campaigning in Pennsylvania that Martin “has my full support.”

Jeffries noted that Democrats have won the overwhelming majority of elections since Martin took over the DNC, which also coincides with Trump's return to the White House. Jeffries also played down the party's financial challenges.

Federal filings show that the DNC reported about $16.3 million in the bank with more than $18 million in debt at the end of June, compared with the Republican National Committee reporting more than $128 million in cash and no debt.

The DNC under Martin used the party’s Washington headquarters as collateral to secure a $15 million line of credit last fall. His critics seized on the decision as an example of financial mismanagement, although the building was used as collateral under former party chairs as well.

DNC officials note that the committee has actually raised more money under Martin than it raised in 2018, the last time the party did not have the White House in a midterm year.

“The current DNC has raised the most money of any DNC without the White House in the 198-year history of the Democratic Party," Martin wrote recently on Substack.

While Martin has avoided national media appearances, which are considered a major responsibility for the chair, he has been traveling almost constantly to support party officials and key stakeholders across the country.

He visited six states over the past two weeks alone. This past week, for example, he met with civil rights leaders in Nashville, Tennessee, and mayors from across the country in Atlanta.

Kansas Democratic Party Chair Jeanna Repass said Martin should be praised for his commitment to strengthening state parties at a critical moment. Indeed, instead of hoarding the DNC's cash, Martin is distributing it aggressively to needy state parties, just as he promised while campaigning for the chairmanship.

“This is a ridiculous conversation to be having right now,” Repass said. “If people don’t like Ken, they can have a conversation with him in two years. But right now, we all need to be behind the chair and keep our heads down and do our jobs.”

___

Associated Press writers Steven Sloan in Oklahoma City, Mike Catalini in Bethlehem, Pa., and Matt Brown in Washington contributed to this report.

“The world has lost one of mountaineering's greatest climbers,” the company, Elite Exped, said in a statement, adding that all the lives lost were being mourned. “No words can ease the pain of this unimaginable loss.”

The 10-member expedition was swept away by an avalanche Thursday on Pakistan’s Broad Peak.

Rescuers found four bodies and recovered three of them Friday in harsh weather that hampered flights by search and rescue helicopters. Rescuers backed by military helicopters had resumed a search earlier on Saturday for the others.

“The loss of these courageous climbers, who came from different nations united by their passion for the mountains, is an immeasurable loss to the global mountaineering fraternity,” said Irfan Arshad Khan, the president of the Alpine Club of Pakistan.

Khan paid tribute to the military and civilian rescuers and sherpas who took part in the search mission. “The mountains inspire us with their beauty, but they also remind us of the immense risks faced by those who venture into the high Himalaya and Karakoram,” he said.

Earlier on Saturday, a local police official, Tahir Khan, said the remains of Omani climber Nathira Ahmed were being flown to the capital, Islamabad, while the bodies of American climber Mallory Geis and Nepalese climber Bahadur Gurung remained at a hospital in Skardu, the main city in Pakistan’s northern Gilgit-Baltistan region.

China’s embassy in Pakistan said a Chinese mountaineer also was among the missing after the avalanche, Xinhua News Agency reported Sunday.

The expedition was led by Purja, the Nepal-born former British Army soldier widely known as Nims Dai. He climbed the world’s 14 highest peaks in a record 189 days in 2019, an achievement featured in the Netflix documentary “14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible.” His record was broken in 2023.

Purja's company described him as “a leader who inspired millions through his courage, humility and unwavering belief that human potential is far greater than we often imagine.”

A statement from Geis’ family said “Mallory was a bright light who was loved deeply by her family and friends. She will be profoundly missed.”

The expedition was Geis’ first try at an 8,000-meter peak in Pakistan, while it was expected to be the final one for Sakhi, who was a guide for Moving Mountains, a travel company based in Pakistan. Sakhi also was a geographer and high-altitude photographer who has climbed some of the world’s major peaks, according to the Moving Mountains website.

Accidents are common on climbing expeditions in northern Pakistan because of avalanches, falling ice and rock, high altitude and rapidly changing weather.

___

Khan reported from Peshawar, Pakistan. Associated Press writer Tim Reynolds in Miami contributed.

Skubal got the news during the Tigers' 8-6 win over the Athletics and was emotional after the game as he prepared to leave the team that drafted him in 2018 and developed him into a star to join the two-time defending World Series champions.

“I’m excited to be a Dodger," he said. "I’m excited to get down there and meet all those guys and chase three championships in a row. That’s hard to do, so I’m so excited to a part of that. But it’s a lot of different emotions. Definitely kind of a roller coaster a little bit.”

Skubal is the latest star to join the high-priced roster for the Dodgers that already has big-name players like Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Mookie Betts. If everyone is healthy, he could be part of a rotation with Ohtani, reigning World Series MVP Yamamoto, fellow two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow. The Dodgers lead the majors with a 3.36 ERA from their starting pitchers and now add Skubal to the mix.

The Dodgers are in first place in the NL West and were already the favorites to become the first team to three-peat since the New York Yankees from 1998-2000 before adding Skubal. They began the season with a $323.3 million opening-day payroll for their 40-man roster and a $163.7 million tax for a $487.1 million total. They will pay Skubal about $9.5 million for the remainder of the season.

ESPN first reported the deal and said the Tigers would receive three minor league prospects in right-handers River Ryan and Brady Smith and outfielder Zyhir Hope.

Skubal is eligible for free agency after the World Series. He has a $32 million salary, a record total in arbitration, after the team offered $19 million, and is expected to sign a massive contract in the offseason.

The 29-year-old lefty said in July that it was his preference to finish the season with the Tigers and to compete for a World Series championship, which has eluded the franchise since 1984. Skubal took the loss in the decisive Game 5 of the division series against Cleveland in 2024 and then got a no-decision in a 15-inning loss to Seattle in Game 5 of the division series last year.

He said it was “very tough” to leave the Tigers having fallen short of the goal of winning a title.

“Ever since that ’24 Game 5, the failure that I experienced on the mound, I’ve used that as fuel to try and bring a World Series to the city of Detroit. I truly did,” he said. “That whole offseason I’ve never been more motivated and then go in and we lose Game 5 again. That failure kind of sparks some more motivation, just to dig deeper and see how good you can truly be. The goal was always to win a World Series for the city, for the organization that took a chance on me. It’s tough. I love all those guys in there. They’re some of my best friends.”

Detroit planned to contend again this season, bolstering the Skubal-led rotation by giving two-time All-Star pitcher Framber Valdez a $115 million, three-year contract in free agency and retaining three-time All-Star infielder Gleyber Torres with a $22 million deal.

The Tigers, though, got off to a rough start and are currently 2 1/2 games out of the last wild-card spot in the American League.

“It’s crazy. Going into the season, this isn’t what I planned on doing,” Skubal said. “But circumstances change, situations change, and I’m very appreciative of everything the Tigers have done for me.”

They bounced back in June and most of July to get into playoff contention with Skubal leading a rotation and three All-Stars in the lineup: rookie infielder Kevin McGonigle, catcher Dillon Dingler and outfielder Riley Greene.

With a chance to possibly persuade management to keep Skubal by improving its playoff positioning, Detroit lost ground by dropping four of its last five games at home, including Skubal’s last start that was made even more memorable by a late-inning collapse.

The Tigers led Baltimore 7-0 after six innings Wednesday and lost 10-9 in 12 innings. Skubal started the game, recorded his 1,000th career strikeout and was cheered at every opportunity by a crowd of 34,406.

“I’ve watched this guy rise to the top of the sport,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “He’s carried us a lot. I’ll forever be grateful that our paths crossed and the things that he did for this organization and for a couple of playoff teams. His presence, his work ethic, his example, his dominance. There’s so much to go through, it’s hard to capture in one quote or kind of one setting. But I’m very grateful that I was able to manage him for the time that I did.”

Skubal is 7-5 this season with a 2.79 ERA and 116 strikeouts in 96 2/3 innings. He is 61-42 with a 3.04 ERA over seven seasons, all in Detroit. In two postseasons, Skubal is 2-1 with a 2.04 ERA in six starts.

Skubal had a minimally invasive surgery on May 6 to remove a loose body from his pitching elbow and returned to pitch on June 13.

“The way the surgery went is exactly how it was supposed to go,” he said in July.

___

AP Sports Writer Larry Lage in Detroit contributed to this report

___

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

After the game, the Dodgers acquired the biggest prize on the trade deadline market, getting two-time reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal from the Detroit Tigers for three minor league prospects.

The Red Sox have won four straight, including the first two games of the series against the Dodgers. The Red Sox 13-3 since the All-Star break and 22-4 since the start of July.

The only hits allowed by Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto through seven innings were home runs by Ceddanne Rafaela in the first and third innings. Yamamoto retired 13 consecutive hitters after Rafaela's second blast.

Monasterio's double to left field ended Yamamoto's streak. Monasterio moved to third on Jarren Duran's bunt single before scoring on Wong's double-play grounder.

Teoscar Hernández had three hits, including a two-run homer off Boston left-hander Payton Tolle in the second. Tolle allowed two runs on nine hits in six innings. Justin Slaten (2-4) pitched a scoreless seventh.

Red Sox left-hander Aroldis Chapman pitched a perfect ninth for his 27th save.

Yamamoto (11-7) allowed three runs on four hits in eight innings.

The Red Sox held out All-Star first baseman Willson Contreras, who had concussion testing after he was hit by a pitch on the side of his helmet Friday night.

Before the game, Dodgers left-hander Cole Irvin was designated for assignment. Irvin allowed six runs in Friday night's 9-4 loss to Boston. The Dodgers recalled right-handers Kyle Hurt and Wyatt Mills and placed right-handed pitcher Will Klein on the injured list with right elbow discomfort.

Up next

Red Sox LHP Jake Bennett (6-4, 2.74 ERA) was scheduled to face Dodgers RHP Emmet Sheehan (4-7, 4.95) on Sunday night.

___

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

Police who responded to the shooting found the body of the suspected gunman in an area near the restaurant, Twin Falls city public information officer Josh Palmer said. He did not know if the suspect was included in the fatality count.

Officials were still working on notifying the family members of victims and so were not yet releasing the names, ages or other details about the people hurt in the shooting, Palmer said. Some of the people injured are in critical condition, Palmer said.

Police were still trying to determine the shooter's identity and motive, Twin Falls Police Chief Matthew Hicks said in a news conference earlier Saturday.

“We believe the threat to the community is over,” Hicks said. “It was a very chaotic scene.”

Palmer said investigators were still interviewing witnesses to the shooting. The restaurant is in a busy shopping plaza, and hundreds of people were in the area when it happened around 2 p.m.

Lane Koehn, 34, said he was at a stoplight near the In-N-Out when he saw a person with an AR-style rifle emerge from the drive-thru. A man with a pistol started firing at the shooter.

He then saw someone in an In-N-Out uniform drag a person, also uniformed, bleeding from a gunshot wound in her chest across the parking lot. The employee, Koehn and the man with the pistol stayed until paramedics arrived for her.

“She was pretty bad off, but I don’t know. I hope she made it,” Koehn said.

Koehn said he was told by police to evacuate because the shooting was still active.

He also said the shooter fired at least three or four rounds and it was not clear whether or not anyone in particular was targeted.

Video taken by a driver from across the street captured a shooter, who appeared to be dressed in black, walking up to a white car carrying a long rifle, opening the driver-side door and popping the trunk. The person then walked to the trunk and reached inside. At that point the driver who shot the video left quickly, fearing that the man might be getting more weapons.

Twin Falls resident Haley Dodaro, 43, and her mother went to In-N-Out for lunch Saturday afternoon. While waiting in the drive-thru line, they saw people running across the road and workers bolting out of the restaurant. At first Dodaro thought there might have been a fire, but then a man directing traffic in a reflective vest said there was a shooter.

“So that’s when we knew there was a shooting. People were running out crying and screaming. It was very scary,” Dodaro said in a text message to The Associated Press.

Nayeli Rodriguez, 40, of Burley, was inside waiting for food with her daughters when she heard shots from the kitchen. An employee said it was a shooting and told people to get down. Rodriguez said an older man tried to protect her and her daughters, and they were among the last to run outside.

“We were trying to get as far as we could and some angels let us in their car,” Rodriguez said, also via text message. “I left my car there in the parking lot.”

The In-N-Out opened just about a week earlier, on July 24, as part of the company’s recent expansion to Idaho.

Police said multiple people were taken to St. Luke's Magic Valley Medical Center. Hospital spokesperson Taylor Marschner said in a statement that it was “working closely with law enforcement and emergency responders as they manage the situation.”

Twin Falls, a city of about 56,000 people, is about 130 miles (205 kilometers) southeast of Boise and about 75 miles (120 kilometers) north of the Nevada border.

___

Bellisle reported from Seattle, and Raza from Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

The woman in her 70s with apparent heat stroke was found in a car, Kumamoto officials said, as they raised the death toll from the quake to 36. The magnitude 7.1 hit Kumamoto Prefecture on Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu on Tuesday.

This latest death was what officials and experts had worried about amid high temperatures. Kumamoto authorities were to start delivering leaflets to those taking shelter in their cars, urging them to stay in cool places and take sufficient liquids, and regularly take exercise to avoid blood clotting risks.

NHK public television said the woman was found dead Thursday in a car without gas.

”It’s heartbreaking,” said Kumaoto Gov. Takashi Kimura, referring to the death of the woman, as he called on evacuees taking shelter in their cars to keep refueling their vehicles to run air-conditioning, or consider moving to air-conditioned evacuation centers to avoid similar risks.

The prefecture’s main challenge is the lack of fresh water still affecting nearly 47,000 homes, and fuel shortages as Japan suffers sweltering heat, stoking fears of heat-related illness.

Japan Meteorological Agency said temperatures reached an “extreme heat” level of 36.6 degrees Celsius (97.8 degrees Fahrenheit) in Kumamoto city Saturday and that they could go higher Sunday.

More than 9,000 people remain at crowded shelters, such as converted community centers, school gyms and classrooms, many of them lacking air-conditioning. Many others slept in cars parked at town hall parking lots and parks, or outside of their homes, for privacy.

Due to fuel supply shortages in hard-hit areas, there have been long lines of cars outside of gas stations that have resumed operations as fuel delivery gradually restarted.

Experts have long criticized Japan’s crowded conditions at emergency shelters, arguing that a lack of sanitation and privacy creates additional stress and increases the risk of health problems for disaster-hit people.

Water, food and other necessities, including portable toilets, as well as air conditioners and partitions, were being delivered to improve conditions at the evacuation centers, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told a government task force meeting Saturday.

“The government is determined to do everything we can,” Takaichi said.

On Saturday, authorities ended a massive dayslong search-and-rescue operation at the Aeon Mall, in the town of Kashima, after extracting five people and the bodies of seven others. The site was one of the hardest-hit sites, after an explosion that followed the quake caused the walls and a floor to collapse.

The explosion, which the company said it believes was due to a gas leak, occurred after about 3,000 shoppers had been evacuated to a parking lot following the quake, but some employees remained inside. The mall’s second floor collapsed.

The overall number of missing in the hit prefecture remains unknown, and search operations pressed on, with thousands of Self Defense troops, police, rescue workers and sniffing dogs deployed.

Takaichi urged rescue personnel not to leave anyone behind.

At another hard-hit site in Kumamoto Prefecture, a chimney collapsed at the Nippon Paper Industries factory in Yatsushiro city, trapping 11 employees. Nine have since been confirmed dead and two were rescued, officials said.

The earthquake has left 105 people injured in Kumamoto, authorities said, and two in addition to the reported deaths are being investigated to determine if they are quake-related.

The prefecture said reports of power loss have fallen to fewer than 900 households, but local power company serving Kyushu said it had no immediate reports of outages.

Over 180 homes were destroyed, officials said, and more than 3,800 buildings were damaged, with 20 of them severely affected, according to Kumamoto prefectural assessments.

She wanted to savor every moment.

“Back in high school I was on my speech team and my informative speech was on women in baseball,” said Hodel, a 43-year-old athletic trainer from Duluth, Minnesota. “So as soon as I saw this happening a couple years ago it was my goal to come.”

That moment finally arrived on Saturday night, when Mo’ne Davis and the Los Angeles Queens rallied for a 10-8 victory over Denae Benites and the New York Heights in a rainy debut for the first women's professional baseball league in the United States in almost 30 years.

“Growing up I played softball,” said Koehler, 33, of St. Paul, Minnesota. “I wanted to play baseball because going professional was always like the dream, but there (were) no opportunities. ... So now that that’s actually an opportunity and something that girls can look up to I think is amazing.”

Maggie Foxx picked up the league's first hit on a two-run single for Los Angeles in the first inning. Benites connected for the WPBL's first homer, a two-run drive to center in the bottom of the fourth.

The Queens trailed 8-4 before scoring two runs in the sixth and four more in wet and windy conditions for the final frame of the seven-inning contest.

“When I walked on the field I started crying because of how much this moment meant, and how much it meant to everybody,” Foxx said. “It means everything to us.”

A steady rain fell for much of the day, soaking the 101-year-old home of the WPBL's inaugural season. But much of the crowd of more than 4,000 started lining up hours before the game, hoping to grab a Davis bobblehead on the way to the metal bleachers.

The line for the main merchandise booth stretched all the way to the outfield along one side of the ballpark.

“Having a daughter, it’s really exciting to give her exposure to female professional athletes,” said Antonietta Mabry, 47, an accountant from Columbus, Ohio. “It’s such a rare thing, so it’s really cool to give her some really positive female role models and examples.”

Mabry was accompanied by her husband, Jason, a 48-year-old auditor, and their daughter, Rosalee. The 9-year-old Mabry got her glove autographed by San Francisco second baseman Amanda Gianelloni.

The Firebells and Boston Hunters — the league's other two teams — play on Sunday. A couple players from each team helped the grounds crew pull the tarp off the field after the rain subsided.

“I’m excited to be here because I play softball and I really like it and it’s really cool that I get to see professional women play,” Rosalee Mabry said.

The WPBL paid tribute to the past, present and future of women's baseball during a rain-delayed pregame ceremony. The crowd cheered as the lineups for the Queens and Heights were announced.

But the biggest ovation of the night was for 99-year-old Maybelle Blair, who threw a ceremonial first pitch to San Francisco's Kelsie Whitmore, one of the biggest stars of the WPBL. Blair, who serves on a WPBL advisory board, played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which ran from 1943-54 and inspired the 1992 movie, “A League of Their Own.”

“I think that's pretty incredible,” Benites said. “Maybelle's been sticking with us since the beginning of this journey. She's paved a path for us, really. ... She's a special person and I'm so happy that she got to make it out here and do that today."

Lindsey Keirsey, 42, a high school history teacher in Fenton, Missouri, said she is obsessed with the AAGPBL and “A League of Their Own.” She attended the game with her husband, Drew, 43, and their four children, Hadley, 17, Nolan, 15, Elam, 11, and Abbott, 10.

“We go to St. Louis Cardinals games all the time,” Hadley Keirsey said. “As much as I love baseball, I think it’s an amazing opportunity to see so many women be able to play and just break ground like that. Even though it’s just a sport, I think that if we can do things like this and let women play in sports like this, women can do so many more things.”

___

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

Trump added that the emerging deal “would include the Immediate, Complete, and Total OPENING OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT, and an end to Iran’s nuclear threat.”

“Based on this request, I have agreed, for the future benefit of the WORLD and, likewise, the survival of a successful and prosperous Iran, to cancel the attack, subject to being able to rapidly make a DEAL,” Trump said.

He said that Israel has agreed to join the U.S. in the commitment to try to complete the agreement with Iran that would bring about an end to the war.

Iran did not offer any immediate public reaction to Trump's announcement.

It’s the latest abrupt shift in the 5-month-old conflict

The president's announcement marked another remarkable turn in the conflict — only a day after he suggested to reporters that he was close to resuming heavy military strikes to force the regime to come to the negotiating table.

The U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, starting a war that Trump said was aimed at destroying Tehran’s missile capabilities, preventing it from obtaining a nuclear weapon and ending its support for allied armed groups. But the stated goals and timelines for the conflict have repeatedly shifted.

An interim agreement reached in mid-June halted the fighting and was supposed to pave the way for a permanent deal, but it crumbled within weeks as Iran resumed attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

The announcement came after Trump's call with Saudi crown prince

Earlier Saturday, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto leader, in a phone call with Trump raised concerns about the U.S. potentially escalating the conflict with Iran, according to a person familiar with the leaders’ discussion.

The discussion, which was first reported on by the news outlet Axios, came as Trump weighed whether to carry out new strikes on Iran.

The Saudis, according to the person briefed on the substance of the call but not authorized to comment publicly, are concerned that if the U.S. targets Iran’s energy infrastructure or carries out massive strikes on bridges or power plants that Tehran could respond by carrying out attacks on the kingdom’s and other Gulf countries’ energy infrastructure.

The crown prince during Saturday’s call sought clarity from Trump on what potential new action he’s weighing to take against Iran, the person said.

A White House official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and requested anonymity, confirmed the leaders spoke on Saturday but did not offer any detail about their conversation.

Saudi Arabia earlier this week joined the U.S. in striking multiple logistics and weapons sites used by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq, but has been urging the U.S. and Iran to get back to the negotiating table to find an endgame to the conflict.

The crown prince also dispatched his brother, Saudi Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman, to Washington on Wednesday for separate meetings with Trump and Vice President JD Vance to discuss Iran strategy.

And Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday at the White House, their first in-person meeting since launching the war in February. The Israeli leader has urged Trump to continue to prosecute the war against Iran.

The war is unpopular, and November midterms are looming

The stakes for continued U.S. military action are high for Trump and his party as the conflict, unpopular among many Americans, has jolted the world economy just months before critical midterm elections in November.

The president had vowed to take retaliatory action after the U.S. military thwarted a surprise attack earlier this week by Iran on a U.S. base in Jordan.

Trump on Friday displayed his growing frustration with the conflict, telling reporters that “we just want to win” in Iran and that the U.S. will hit Iran “very hard” until they can’t take it anymore. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt echoed the president, noting that Tehran last month signed a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. on a truce but then quickly “broke it, shot at commercial ships, and killed American soldiers.”

U.S. officials were on edge ahead of Trump's Saturday evening statement. And Trump himself in his social media post said that the U.S. military was “locked and loaded” and prepared to display “levels of Military Terror, Strength, and Power not seen since World War II.”

Earlier in the day, the U.S. State Department issued new security alerts for Americans in 10 countries in the region to exercise heightened caution due to the escalating tensions with Iran.

The warnings — covering Bahrain, Israel, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates — urged U.S. citizens to prepare for the possibility of flight cancellations, temporary airspace closures and other travel disruptions.

Iran carries out new attacks in Gulf

Meanwhile, Kuwait’s military said Saturday that its forces responded to drone attacks by Iran.

In a statement, Maj. Gen. Saud Abdulaziz Al-Otaibi, spokesperson for Kuwait’s Defense Ministry, said the drones hit “a number of vital facilities,” including a government structure in the country’s north. He said there were no casualties.

The British Navy said Saturday that a tanker was struck and a separate explosion hit close to a vessel in the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Oman. No casualties were reported in either incident, it said. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Organization said an unknown projectile hit the vessel on Friday 11 nautical miles northeast of Lima, Oman. The attack damaged the vessel’s engine room.

The group said that on Saturday a large splash and an explosion were reported close to another tanker while it was sailing 21 nautical miles northwest of Khasab city.

• SUNDAY: Lingering morning showers possible before skies clear. Highs returning to the upper 90s and 100s.
• NEXT WEEK: Hot and mostly dry pattern returns.

FORECAST

STORMS POSSIBLE SUNDAY MORNING

Lingering showers are possible for areas south of San Antonio between 6 and 10 AM. A brief thunderstorm may be possible, but the activity will be generally tame. All rain activity should be clear by midday.

DRIER AIR MOVES IN

Skies will gradually clear through the day, and humidity levels will begin to drop. Temperatures will still be hot, with highs returning to the upper 90s and near 100 degrees. Thankfully, the drier air will make conditions feel slightly more comfortable compared to the muggy heat of the past week.

EXTENDED OUTLOOK

The weather pattern turns hot and dry again. Highs through next week are expected to remain near the upper 90s to low 100s, with warm mornings and lows generally in the mid to upper 70s.

Rain chances will be limited, so continue to stay hydrated, take breaks from the heat, and limit prolonged outdoor exposure during the hottest parts of the day.

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.

Mallory Geis, 39, was discovered Friday after the avalanche on Broad Peak in the Skardu District of Pakistan, the family confirmed in a statement shared with KSAT 12.

The family described her as “a bright light who was loved deeply by her family and friends” who “will be profoundly missed.”

They said they are grateful for the outpouring of love and support they have receieved, and are asking for privacy to process the “unimaginable loss.”

Mallory Geis was among a group of climbers who went missing after the avalanche. All 10 were confirmed dead, climbing company Moving Mountains said Saturday.

The expedition was Geis’ first try at an 8,000-meter peak in Pakistan, while it was expected to be the final one for Sakhi, who is a guide for the company, as well as a geographer and high-altitude photographer who has climbed some of the world’s major peaks, according to the Moving Mountains website.

Geis, 39, lived in San Antonio. She announced on social media earlier this year that she was closing her Pilates studio to take “a giant leap of faith into the unknown to see where life goes. I have a sneaking suspicion there will be lots of helmets, harnesses, and crampons involved.”

Kimberly Hardman, a climber based in Alaska, met Geis at a Colorado women’s ice climbing weekend in January and they instantly connected and talked about climbing all over the world.

Geis was relatively new to ice climbing but was a natural athlete with experience mountaineering after climbing in Nepal, according to Hardman, who said Geis respected the mountains and understood the risks of climbing.

She didn’t go into it blindly, Hardman said.

“She was wanting to learn and grow,” Hardman said. “That’s what brought her to her happy place.”

Karrar Haidri, vice president of the Alpine Club of Pakistan, said the climbers lost contact with base camp Thursday while attempting to scale the mountain.

Broad Peak, at 8,047 meters (26,401 feet), is the world’s 12th-highest mountain. It lies in Pakistan’s Karakoram range, home to five of the world’s 14 peaks above 8,000 meters, attracting climbers from around the globe.

The expedition comprised five Nepali climbers in addition to the Omani and American climbers, Pakistani climber Sohail Sakhi, a Chinese climber identified only as Wang and one other foreign climber, according to the Alpine Club.

China said it was trying to verify whether any of its nationals were among the 10 climbers missing.

“We will provide assistance to Chinese citizens in need and are also willing to offer help in accordance with the needs of the Pakistani side,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Friday in Beijing.

The expedition leader was the renowned mountaineer Nirmal Purja, a Nepal-born former soldier in the British army widely known as Nims Dai. He climbed the world’s 14 highest peaks in a record 189 days in 2019, an achievement featured in the Netflix documentary, “14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible.” His record was surpassed in 2023.

Moving Mountains, a travel company based in Pakistan, announced late last month that the expedition team was on its way to the small town of Askole and wished them a safe journey climbing Broad Peak.

__

Associated Press journalists Munir Ahmed and Riaz Khan in Peshawar, Pakistan, E. Eduardo Castillo in Beijing, Hallie Golden in Seattle and Josh Kelety in Phoenix contributed to this report.

The shooting happened just after 1:30 p.m. Saturday at a business in the 300 block of North Frank Luke Drive.

Police said a man in his 60s was found with a gunshot wound to the chest. The man was pronounced dead at the scene.

Two people were detained in connection with the shooting — one person was stopped while exiting the business, and another was detained nearby, SAPD said. It is not yet known how either person is connected to the shooting.

The business, which appeared to be related to robotics, was open at the time of the shooting, according to police. It is unknown whether the victim was an employee of the business.

A weapon was also recovered at the scene.

SAPD said its investigation is ongoing.

Read also:

• SAFD: Worker rescued after falling 20 feet from silo onto scaffolding at Southwest Side business

Acting Police Chief Jesse Salame said officers were responding just after 7:45 p.m. in the 600 block of Aurora Avenue, near Alderete Park and Loma Park Elementary School, to reports that the man was waving a handgun across the street from his house, which he said the department has been notified of multiple times within the last month.

Officers gave multiple verbal commands for the man to drop the weapon. Salame said the man appeared as though he would comply, at first, but ultimately did not.

At some point, Salame said the five officers “perceived a threat” and fired shots at the man.

Salame said there is, at this point, no evidence the man fired his weapon, which had bullets loaded. None of the officers were injured.

The officers were all placed on administrative duty, Salame said, pending the results of the investigation.

This story is developing. Check back later for updates.

Read also:

• 2 detained after man killed in shooting on Southwest Side, SAPD says

San Antonio police responded just before 8:30 a.m. in the 500 block of Alametos Street after a 16-year-old girl reported someone had assaulted her, according to the preliminary report.

Crime Stoppers released an image of the potential suspect Saturday.

The teenage girl was walking home from a school event and entered an elevator. The preliminary report said an unknown suspect also walked into the elevator and assaulted the teenage girl.

Once the elevator doors opened, the teenage girl escaped and called police.

After an unsuccessful search, the suspect remains at large, SAPD said.

“Officers are investigating whether the student was potentially followed from the campus area,” Cruz said in a letter to Edison High School families.

After Tuesday’s assault, the campus and neighborhood saw heightened security by increasing patrols, Cruz said.

“We appreciate the vigilance of the student who reported the incident,” Cruz said. “Student safety is a top priority at San Antonio Independent School District schools, and we want to keep families informed of situations as soon as we are able.”

SAPD will lead the investigation with help from SAISD district officers. It remains ongoing.

Crime Stoppers is asking for anyone with tips related to the case to call 210-224-7867. Anyone who submits information that leads to the arrest of the person responsible may be eligible for up to $5,000.

Read also:

• Government Hill neighborhood experiencing rare crime wave, homeowners say
• Free back-to-school haircuts in San Antonio aim to boost student confidence, ease costs for families

A ridge of high pressure was holding heat close to the ground — what’s known as a heat dome — from Arizona to Montana, though the good news was that it will be relatively short-lived, National Weather Service meteorologists said.

Dangerous heat and warnings were plaguing the region, and the National Weather Service on Saturday forecast a number of cities that were expected to hit record highs. By late afternoon, Las Vegas reached 115 Fahrenheit (46 Celsius), the hottest temperature of the year and just one degree off the daily record of 116 F (47 C).

Phoenix was expected to reach 116 F (47 C), while El Centro, California, was expected to hit a record 118 F (48 C). Even parts of Montana were expected to broil, with a record 104 F (40 C) forecast for Great Falls.

The high in Las Vegas was 10 degrees above normal, and meteorologists warned of dangerous heat through Sunday, when the high was expected to be 114 F (45 C), according to weather service meteorologist Morgan Stessman.

Overnight lows in the upper 80s to low 90s will make the situation especially dangerous because it does not allow people’s bodies to recover. “There's just no relief overnight,” Stessman said.

People were urged to stay indoors and keep hydrated.

At the Justa Center in Phoenix, which caters to seniors but opens to the public as a cooling center in the afternoon, the biggest challenge was keeping up with the need for water and electrolytes, operations director Rudy Soliz said. About 200 people come in daily.

“Anybody can come in, get a meal, sign up, get checked in through the cooling center, sit down, relax, watch a little TV, you know, catch themselves before they move on to another cooling center or their destination,” Soliz said.

Several cities near record temps

The August record for Las Vegas is 116 F (47 C), while the hottest on record was 120 F (49 C) in July 2024, which also was the hottest summer on record, Stessman said.

In Montana the entire east side of the state was under an extreme heat warning, though by Sunday much of the state was forecast to be in the 70s, according to weather service meteorologist Jeff Kitsmiller.

Still it was not as bad as a heat wave in mid-July when some places broke all-time records, including Billings, which reached 111 F (44 C) on July 12, Kitsmiller said.

“That was a rare heat wave,” he said. “This one fits for this time of year.”

The Montana Rescue Mission, a homeless shelter in Billings, opened its doors earlier than usual to provide relief from the heat. Dozens of people were expected throughout the day, and the shelter planned to provide dinner, beds and breakfast, a receptionist said.

Great Falls Parks and Recreation's four swimming pools and three splash pads were crowded, said Katy Houseman, who works at one of the city's recreation centers.

“They’re definitely hitting the pools and doing the splash pads outside and then trying to hide inside where there’s air conditioning,” Houseman said. “It's super, super hot today.”

Heat exacerbates wildfire risks

Forecasters warned that this heat wave, combined with drying from past heat, will add to wildfire risks across the West.

“We’re definitely worried about that” in Montana, where fires already were burning and high winds were forecast for the weekend, Kitsmiller said, adding that most of the state was under a red flag warning.

In Nevada, Stessman said, “with this heat dome setting up, we’ve lost some of the moisture that we did have — like relative humidity in the afternoon bottoming out in the single digits in quite a few places.”

The U.S. Forest Service wanred of enhanced wildfire risk through Sunday in most of Southern California except the coastline.

Extreme heat and drought also have created dangerous wildfire conditions in the Pacific Northwest.

Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson declared a state of emergency Saturday after unusually high temperatures and high winds exacerbated record wildfires across the state. He also banned most outdoor and agricultural burning through the end of September.

Ferguson’s proclamation went into effect ahead of an unprecedented “particularly dangerous situation” red flag alert by the National Weather Service, which rated the weather risk as “extreme” across Eastern Washington.

The Old Trails Fire, a fast-moving wildfire driven by the strong winds and high temperatures, swept across northwest Spokane before jumping the Spokane River and prompting the evacuation of thousands of people.

A red flag alert also was issued for eastern Oregon, where crews battled several large fires including the Rowe Creek Complex blaze, which has grown to 490 square miles (1,269 square kilometers) with 57% containment.

Climate change makes heat waves and wildfires more frequent

Climate change from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas is causing larger, more intense and longer-lasting heat waves — which lead to more intense droughts and contribute to larger, more destructive wildfires.

This year’s weather is also expected to be affected by an El Nino phenomenon, a natural warming of the equatorial Pacific that alters weather patterns and spikes temperatures across the globe.

The current El Nino is expected to rank as among the most intense since the weather service began tracking in 1950, experts said. It has already broken records for intensity at its early stages, United Nations officials said Friday.

___

Associated Press writer Martha Bellisle in Seattle contributed.

___

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

Pittsburgh is sending prospects Omar Alfonso, a catcher, and Luis Cruz, an outfielder, to New York for Doval.

The 29-year-old Doval, an All-Star in 2023 when he served as the closer for the San Francisco Giants, provides Pittsburgh with a much-needed experienced arm as the Pirates try to hang around in the crowded race for a National League wild-card spot.

Pittsburgh's bullpen has been an issue all season. The club has blown 20 saves this season, perhaps the biggest reason the Pirates entered Saturday at 55-56 despite scoring the second-most runs in the majors. The latest setback came on Friday night, when a two-run lead in the eighth inning in Cincinnati morphed into an 8-7 loss.

Doval went 3-1 with a 4.54 ERA in 44 games this season for the Yankees. He has had issues with walks recently, issuing at least one free pass in four of his last five appearances with New York, including two while taking the loss against the Chicago White Sox on July 29. Doval has only thrown 56% of his first pitches for strikes this season, among the worst first-strike percentages in the majors.

The durable Doval is one of only eight pitchers to appear in at least 60 games in each of the last four seasons.

Pittsburgh is hoping a new setting provides a fresh start. The Pirates could also use the help. The club designated former closer Dennis Santana for assignment last month and has few viable right-handed options near the back end of the bullpen.

___

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

Bob McGowan, who managed Pastore since his run on “The Sopranos,” told The Associated Press that he learned of his death Saturday from another client and actor on the show, Vincent Curatola.

He said Pastore was found in his home on New York’s City Island after not being heard from for a few days.

McGowan said he had been trying to reach Pastore about a possible job.

“He was the most loyal client, and he always gave to charity,” McGowan said, “and he was the kind of guy who would help anybody, which is rare in my business.”

Robert Attermann represented Pastore for more than 30 years, before his time on “The Sopranos.” While Pastore will be remembered as “Big Pussy,” he was so much more, Attermann said in an email to the AP.

“Vinny was one of the kindest, most generous people I have ever known,” Attermann said. “He treated everyone with warmth and respect, never turning down a fan who wanted a photograph or an autograph. He genuinely appreciated the people who supported him and always made them feel valued.”

Attermann said Pastore loved being an actor and was passionate about his craft while always encouraging young actors, “taking the time to offer guidance and support whenever he could.”

Michael Imperioli, a longtime friend and collaborator, said on Instagram that it seemed as though he had known pastore forever.

“We did lots of work together and traveled all over the USA as well as Italy and Australia. Lots of good times. Lots of laughs,” Imperioli said. “Vinny was a kind-hearted brother who cared deeply about his family and friends. I will miss him always.”

Pastore appeared in movies dating back to the 1980s including roles in big films such as “Goodfellas” and “Awakenings,” both in 1990.

He often played gangsters. And it was one of those roles he is best known for: his 30-episode run as Bonpensiero, the friend of Tony Soprano who becomes an FBI informant.

Pastore was born in the Bronx and grew up in suburban New Rochelle, New York. He enlisted in the Navy during the Vietnam War and later attended Pace University, according to his biography on IMDb.

He is survived by his daughter, Renee Pastore.

The social media posts of the world's most powerful man are going on sale Saturday when his Truth Social business begins offering sneak peeks of them to Wall Street traders willing to pay up. The move raises the prospect of big profits for Trump's company and big questions about insider trading and using public office for private gain.

Similar fast speed feeds are sold by other social media firms and media providers, but Truth Social doesn't just distribute the news, it makes it, regularly rattling markets as Trump posts policy changes on everything from war to central bank leadership to tariffs.

“If this was the CEO of a public company, this would be jail time," said Irene Aldridge, head of Able Alpha Trading, which doesn't plan to buy the service. “We have a President of the United States who has the front seat to all the action, who makes all the decisions, and he's disclosing this ahead of time to a select group.”

Trump's company says critics just aren't capitalist enough

Asked about the propriety of the new service and whether White House lawyers had vetted it, Trump’s press office declined to comment, referring questions to Truth Social’s publicly traded parent. That company, Trump Media & Technology, issued a statement blasting Democratic critics for mischaracterizing the service “out of ideological opposition to free markets or a failure to grasp the distinction between public and nonpublic information — or, quite possibly, both.”

A prolific poster, Trump has sent stocks, bonds and currencies soaring and plunging with his online musings and threats. That presents opportunities for so-called high frequency traders that specialize in buying and selling within milliseconds, exploiting tiny, fleeting difference in prices.

Profits aplenty betting on oil, stocks and currencies

Just this month, Trump has threatened on Truth Social to slap higher tariffs on Canada, kill a nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia and widen the Iran war. With advanced knowledge, traders betting on a plunge in the Canadian dollar, a drop in nuclear energy stocks and a jump in oil futures could have raked in big profits.

“For the big guys, it’s going to be something they need,” said Joe Saluzzi, co-founder of Themis Trading, who estimates about 100 of high frequency firms might be willing to pay for the service. “It’s market-moving information.”

Dubbed Truth API, the service comes as these firms are spending more on feeds and servers that bypass slower internet connections with direct lines to news and data sources. The chance for profits is greater than ever thanks artificial intelligence’s ability to read posts and articles more accurately for market-making changes and Trump’s penchant for making news online.

When Trump makes surprise announcements, traders pounce

Traders profit when prices jump up and down, and with his taste for cliffhangers, threats and policy reversals America's first reality-TV president provides plenty of potentially market-moving content.

The reversals are especially profitable, allowing traders to win both ways — jumping ahead of stocks moving up or down to a post threatening something, then cashing out within thousands of a second, then betting the other way.

In addition to Trump, the service will include posts from other “high ranking” Truth Social contributors, including possibly his two oldest sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, who along with the father are heavily followed by users.

Truth Social has said that the information will be released to the traders and the general public at the same time so there really isn't an issue of fairness. But Themis Trading's Saluzzi, a critic of high speed trading, says that's a red herring because when the posts are received, not when they are released, is what matters.

“Somebody who buys the info and has a system built to process it will be able to act quicker than you and me,” said Saluzzi, adding in reference to everyday, small stock buyers, “The loser is always the retail investor."

Trump posts about a company he likes, and stocks jump

Aside from policy scoops, another reason to sign up has emerged in recent months: Trump is posting more about publicly traded companies, praising ones he likes in a way that sets off buying frenzies.

“The pimping of specific companies — obviously Wall Street would like to know that before other people,” said Dylan Hedler-Gaudette, a federal ethics rule expert at the watchdog Project on Government Oversight. “It's a real mess.”

In April, moments after Trump praised Palantir Technologies in a post that included its stock symbol, the price briefly jumped the most it had in an entire year. Later that month, Trump posted, “Congratulations on Intel doing such a great job,” and the stock immediately jumped in after-hours trading.

Just which firms are signing up for the feed is unclear. Asked for comment, none of the half dozen most well known high-speed traders such as Citadel Securities and XTX Markets replied. If just three sign up for the $100,000 a month fee, that would double revenue at Trump Media, which reported taking in $3.7 million last year.

Trump Media needs big money customers

The company can use their business.

Stock in the Truth Social parent has plunged 75% since Trump took office last year as the company keeps reporting hundreds of millions in losses despite the president's help driving traffic to its site by posting major decisions there.

In fact, the president breaks news on Truth Social so often that the White House press office will copy his posts into an email when responding to questions from the media seeking details on policies. If his posts aren’t available yet, journalists are sometimes told, “Wait for the Truth.”

Another problem for Truth Social is looming if the Democrats take control of Congress and launch investigations, as vowed by Massachusetts Senator Sen. Elizabeth Warren in a statement Friday specifically attacking the new service: “We will haul in those responsible for this open corruption to answer to the American people.”

If the losses keep mounting for the company, though, some predict the president will push things further, using the platform even more for policy announcements.

“That’s absolutely going to happen,” warns Craig Holman, a lobbyist for the good government group Public Citizen. “Trump knows how to sell products.”

—-

AP reporters Will Weissert and Josh Boak contributed from Washington.

Owner Idalia Hernandez said Sunday, Aug. 2 will be the shop’s final day. The store, located next to Mi Tierra Café, has long been a stop for locals and visitors looking for authentic Talavera pottery, clothing, and other handmade pieces.

“It’s absolutely beautiful,” said Meghan Stout, a shopper visiting from Temple, Texas. “The bags are beautiful. I love them.”

Hernandez personally sources the merchandise sold inside the store. Over the years, Hernandez said the business became more than a place to shop — it was also a way for her to share her Mexican culture with people from around the world.

“I have very good customers, and they love my merchandise,” she said.

Hernandez, who is originally from Mexico City, moved to the United States in 1986 on an L-1 visa.

“We were successful there, but we started feeling that the crime was coming,” Hernandez said.

She, her husband and two daughters chose San Antonio, where Hernandez built Los Pueblitos and a wholesale business.

While she’s closing the doors to her little shop at Market Square, Hernandez said she’s not retiring.

“Not yet. I like to work,” Hernandez said, laughing.

She’ll keep her wholesale business running but wants to slow down, and at 72 years old, it’s definitely well earned.

“My life is going to be easier for me,” Hernandez said. “I have two grandsons, and I want to enjoy more to go to the games … and I want to be more closer to them.”

Los Pueblitos will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Sunday, its final day. Items are marked up to 50% off.

Read also:

• Broadway transformed: A look at new developments, closures reshaping San Antonio corridor

The crash happened just before 1:30 a.m. Saturday at West Commerce and Southwest 24th streets.

The motorcyclist, identified as Hector Hernandez, 67, was traveling southbound onto Southwest 24th Street from westbound West Commerce Street when he attempted to make a turn, according to a preliminary report.

Witnesses told officers Hernandez had a flashing yellow signal light at the time of the turn.

A Ford vehicle traveling eastbound on West Commerce Street had a “protected” green signal light and struck Hernandez, the report states.

Hernandez was pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver of the Ford remained at the scene and was evaluated for intoxication, police said. The driver showed no signs of intoxication.

Read also:

• Wrong-way driver dies hours after crash on South Side, police say

Around 9:30 a.m., firefighters and SAFD’s technical rescue team were dispatched to Steves & Sons Inc. located in the 200 block of Humble Avenue after a 911 call reporting the fall.

SAFD Battalion Chief David Prado told KSAT that when crews arrived, the worker was conscious and alert but had his arm wedged between a silo and a steel I-beam. Co-workers had placed the worker on a makeshift pallet to stabilize him until rescuers arrived.

“The worker was conscious and alert,” Prado said. “He had fallen approximately 20 feet. He was still 30 feet in the air on the scaffolding.”

Prado said SAFD spoke with the responsible party on site and confirmed the worker had been wearing a harness before the fall.

“I’m not sure how he fell. Either he took his harness off, or he unclipped from the anchor,” Prado said. “When we found him, he did have his harness on still. For whatever reason, it was disconnected.”

The fire department said the worker had no serious trauma and was taken to a local hospital for precautionary reasons.

The cause of the harness disconnection is under investigation, Prado said.

Read also:

• Wrong-way driver dies hours after crash on South Side, police say
• Motorcyclist killed after crash at West Side intersection, SAPD says

Riley shot a 7-under 63 to reach 15 under on Saturday and took a one-shot lead at Detroit Golf Club, where the relatively easy course will give a lot of players on the tightly-packed leaderboard a chance to win the last Rocket Classic.

Riley closed with consecutive birdies, making a 54-foot putt at No. 17 and a 10-footer at 18 to pull into a first-place tie with Michael Brennan

Riley is aiming for his third career win and first since the 2024 Charles Schwab Challenge — and to get into the postseason.

He has missed 10 cuts, including last week’s 3M Open, and is No. 146 in the FedEx Cup standings.

The Rocket Classic and next week’s Wyndham Championship are the last two tournaments left before the top 70 advance to playoffs.

Riley had an opportunity to win the season-opening Sony Open as the third-round leader before closing with a 71 and falling into a tie for sixth.

“There’s been a lot of ups and downs,” he said. “I’m just excited that I’ve started to put the things together and have a chance.”

Brennan (64) had a strong round with seven birdies, but missed a 9-foot putt to bogey 18 and lost a share of the lead.

Rasmus Hojgaard (61), Chris Kirk (66), Rickie Fowler (67) and Cameron Young (68) were three shots back.

Xander Schauffele (67) is in a group another stroke back, going into the final round on Sunday.

Hojgaard became the third player in as many days to match the course record with a 61, giving him the lead before Brennan's birdies put him ahead.

First-round leader Peter Malnati opened with a 61 before plummeting to 4 under with a 71 and 74.

Young matched the mark on the second day, putting the third-ranked player in the world in a three-way tie for the second-round lead with Patrick Cantlay and Patrick Fishburn.

Young, playing for the first time since a second-place finish at the British Open, was in the final group on Saturday and had a rough round.

He missed 11-foot putts at Nos. 1 and 3, settling for par. His drive at No. 2 went wide right, landing on a berm with the ball above his feet, leading to another par.

The 24-year-old Brennan, a former Wake Forest star, is shooting for his second win and first since last year's Bank of Utah Championship in his first start as a professional.

Brennan also has a chance to improve his shot at being in the postseason after entering the tournament No. 106 in the FedEx Cup standings. He made eight straight birdies, one shy of the PGA Tour record, on Thursday to open with a 65 and shot a 67 on Friday.

Hojgaard of Denmark is vying for his first win on the PGA Tour after missing the cut in his last three starts — and just making it to the weekend at 3 under in Detroit.

Kirk, who was in a three-way playoff at last year's Rocket Classic before Aldrich Potgieter won it, earned his sixth career victory at the The Sentry early in 2024. Fowler's sixth and last win was the 2023 Rocket Classic.

The PGA Tour is moving to a new model for 2028, effectively creating two tours and Rocket Mortgage decided not to exercise its option to host another tournament next year.

The Detroit-based company isn't interested in continuing to spend $15 million a year to be part of the second tier in the new era and didn’t want to double the costs to be part of the elite tier.

___

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

Pirro’s office, in a court filing on Friday, moved to drop criminal charges against a former Olympian, David Hearn, who had been accused of deliberately damaging the pool after it underwent a renovation ahead of the nation’s 250th birthday celebration last month.

Trump, in a posting on social media, acknowledged that there “may have been some contractor difficulty” in the installation of a new pool liner. But he continues to insist “the major damage was caused by VANDALS!”

“I disagree 100% with Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, on the Reflecting Pool,” Trump added in his post.

The dismissal was an embarrassing setback for a Justice Department that had previously echoed Trump's claims and billed the prosecution as accountability for damage at a Washington landmark, a pet project of Trump. Pirro's decision to drop the case is also a rare moment during Trump's second term of an aide or political appointee openly defying him.

The president, without providing any clear new evidence, continued to allege on Saturday that the majority of the damage to the pool was caused by vandals.

Government lawyers in their 20-page court filing on Friday said that additional documents provided by the Interior Department since the indictment of Hearn show that the damage was the result of a botched installation by a contractor as well as “the rush to complete the project prior to events associated with the America 250 celebration in the weeks surrounding Independence Day 2026.”

In addition, a recent visual inspection revealed damage throughout the pool, including in the middle — where prosecutors say a vandal would not likely have attempted to peel the lining.

Hearn, a former Olympic canoeist, was accused of pulling up a two-foot square piece of the pool’s lining.

“Given all of this newly discovered information, it is difficult to attribute the widespread damage to the Reflecting Pool to vandalism, let alone to establish that fact beyond a reasonable doubt,” Pirro, a Trump appointee, said in her filing, which asked a judge to formally dismiss the case.

Pirro in the court filing also blamed the Interior Department for providing “less than fulsome information at the outset of the case.”

The filing added that had “DOI been forthcoming with the information clearly in its possession, the government would not have sought a grand jury indictment.” It was a jarring turn in position from Pirro, who claimed the government's case was built on “tremendous evidence” when she announced the indictment against Hearn last month.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum in a posting on X appeared to push back against Pirro's criticism, claiming some of the acts of vandalism were captured on video.

“We also provided the U.S. Attorney’s office expert and eyewitness testimony to the damage done by vandals and provided every piece of evidence they asked for in the requested time line detailing each area of damage at the pool,” Burgum added.

Hearn's legal team on Saturday criticized both Trump and Pirro and said it was weighing "legal remedies” on behalf of their client.

“Trump is mad at Pirro because she finally admitted what we made clear in our legal filings all along: Trump’s botched renovation was responsible for the damage — not Davey Hearn," the legal team said in a statement. “However, her claim that she and her office were previously duped by Interior is nonsense. Starting immediately after the arraignment, our motions repeatedly proved that the administration was to blame for the Reflecting Pool failures, not Davey.”

Trump on Saturday also posted a nearly four-minute video that appears to have been taken from a security camera, in which three individuals can be seen with their hands in the pool, including one for an extended period.

The president claimed the video shows “material is being cut with a knife or a box cutter, for all to see!”

It's not clear from the video, which appears to be shot from some distance, that any vandalism occurred. Workers can also be seen standing nearby and don’t appear to notice the people sticking their hands in the water.

In May, Trump announced plans to beautify the Reflecting Pool this spring. Virginia-based Atlantic Industrial Coatings was awarded a $14.7 million no-bid contract to repaint and waterproof the pool’s concrete floor.

Atlantic Industrial Coatings did not respond to requests for comment.

Water was drained and Trump directed that the bottom be painted with what he called “American flag blue.”

But problems emerged within days of the project's completion, with chunks of the new liner peeling off.

Trump was quick to blame vandals. And the National Park Service reported to the U.S. Park Police a June 9 incident in which it claimed a sharp knife or razor cut the pool’s new liner.

The work on the Reflecting Pool is just one of a number of projects Trump has spearheaded across the nation’s capital. Most prominently, he demolished the White House’s East Wing to build a $400 million ballroom and plans to build a towering arch between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.

___

Associated Press writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report.

Several of the events are on a first-come, first-served basis, so arriving early is recommended.

Check out this list of where you can find free resources in the San Antonio area:

• Acts of Hope Center: The back to school event will take place at 11 a.m. on Aug. 2 at 3910 West Avenue. Children must be present to receive supplies.
• Amazing Church Texas: The annual back-to-school event will take place starting at 10 a.m. on Aug. 1 at 5407 Bandera Road. The event feature free backpacks with school supplies and hair braiding on a first-come, first-served basis.
• Bexar County Department of Military and Veterans Services: The sixth annual Military and Veterans Health & Wellness Fair, dedicated to support local military members, veterans and their families, will take place from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Aug. 6 at the Wonderland of the Americas. The fair will feature a backpack giveaway, veteran resources and a mobile health clinic.
• BiblioTech and Bexar County Commissioner Justin Rodriguez: The third-annual Back to School Bash will take place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Aug. 1 at the BiblioTech EDU, 626 N. Flores St. The family-friendly event will feature 200 free bags of school supplies, free immunizations and more. Click here for more details.
• CentroMed: Parents who schedule a well-child appointment at CentroMed will receive a free backpack with school supplies for their child while supplies last. The offer runs through Aug. 14. Click here for more details.
• District 10’s Back to School Bash: Families will have access to free school supplies, backpacks, food and resources from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Aug. 1 at Blessed Angels Community Center, located at 14078 Nacogdoches Road.
• JBSA Youth Programs Back to School Supply Bash: JBSA Youth Programs will host free back-to-school supply giveaways at Lackland from 10 a.m. to noon on Aug. 1. Children must be present to receive a bag of supplies sorted by grade level, and free games and activities will also be available.
• San Antonio Parks and Recreation: The Back to School event will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Aug. 8 at Miller’s Pond Community Center & Park, 6176 Pearsall Road. The event will feature free backpacks and school supplies, a community resource fair and more. Click here for more information.
• Second Baptist Church Community Center: The back to school giveaway will take place from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Aug. 7 at 3310 East Commerce St. The giveaway will feature free haircuts, school supplies and a special appearance by the Spurs Coyote.

This list will be updated as more places announce back to school giveaways.

Read also:

• San Antonio mother praises new one-stop shop workforce institute at Alamo Colleges
• How 15 new parks help Uvalde heal four years after Robb Elementary School shooting

Several places are also hosting back-to-school giveaways to help families transition to the new school year.

>> Back-to-school start dates for districts in San Antonio, surrounding areas

Beyond back-to-school preparations, free outdoor movies, live music — including a stop from Benson Boone — and a locals day at the San Antonio Zoo are among the highlights on San Antonio’s August calendar.

What else can you do in San Antonio in August? Check out the fun list of events below:

Aug. 1-9 events:

• BLOCKBUSTERS & BITES: The Rock at La Cantera will host a back-to-school night featuring a free movie screening of “Monster’s University” at 6:30 p.m. on Aug. 7. The first 100 guests will receive a free small popcorn. Click here for more details.
• MOVIES BY MOONLIGHT: Hemisfair will host a free movie screening of "Forrest Gump" from 7 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. on Aug. 4.
• ROCKFIT: The free monthly fitness and wellness series will take place from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Aug. 8 at The Rock at La Cantera. More information can be found here.
• LOCALS DAY AT SAN ANTONIO ZOO: As part of Locals Day, Bexar County residents can get a discounted entry to the San Antonio Zoo on Aug. 6.

Aug. 10-16 events:

• BI-ANNUAL PEARL SIDEWALK SALE: Pearl’s sidewalk sale is scheduled to take place from Aug. 13-14. Click here for more information.
• FREESTYLE EXPLOSION: Stevie B, Lisa Lisa and other freestyle artists will perform at 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 15 at the Frost Bank Center. Tickets are available here.
• HERMANOS ESPINOZA: You can catch the group perform their “Linaje” tour at 8 p.m. on Aug. 14 at the Freeman Coliseum. For tickets, click here.
• MARIO AGUILAR: The comedian will perform his “Diezmadre” tour at 9 p.m. on Aug. 15 at the Aztec Theatre. Tickets can be found here.
• SUPER FUN SATURDAY: Hemisfair’s free monthly event will take place from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Aug. 15 at the Yanaguana Garden. Guests are invited to dress in their brightest neon and dance on Hemisfair’s glow dance floor. For more information, click here.

Aug. 17-23 events:

• BENSON BOONE: The singer will perform his “Wanted Man” tour at 8 p.m. on Aug. 20 at the Frost Bank Center. Tickets for the show can be found here.
• CHILDREN’S ENTREPRENEUR NIGHT MARKET: Pearl will host a children’s entrepreneur night market from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Aug. 19. The market will feature young entrepreneurs who will create, price and sell their products.

Aug. 24-31 events:

• FOURTH FRIDAY: The Rock at La Cantera will host its free monthly Fourth Friday event at 7:30 p.m. on Aug 28, featuring rock n’ roll band Jason Kane & The Jive.

Recurring events:

• BACK TO SCHOOL GIVEAWAYS EVENTS: Several organizations in San Antonio are hosting free back-to-school supply giveaways as the new school year approaches. Click here to read a list of participating places.
• CINEMA & SIPS: The Rock at La Cantera will host an outdoor movie screening of “The Dark Knight” starting at 8 p.m. on Aug. 6. More information can be found here.
• DOG DAYS OF SUMMER: The San Antonio Botanical Garden is welcoming pups back for its Dog Days of Summer event. Visitors can bring their dogs to explore the garden daily from 8 a.m. to noon through Aug. 31. In addition to regular admission, guests must pay $5 per dog. Click here for more details.
• DINOSAURS IN MOTION: The DoSeum’s newest exhibit is open now through Sept. 7, featuring 14 life-sized dinosaur sculptures made entirely from recycled metal. For more details, click here.
• DOWNTOWN THURSDAY: The City of San Antonio launched Downtown Thursday, a pilot program offering a weekly lineup of arts, culture and more every Thursday night through Aug. 27. More information can be found here.
• FARMERS & ARTISANS MARKET: The Mission Marquee Plaza will host its market from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Aug. 1 and Aug. 15. Guests can shop and explore handmade crafts, sourced foods and more.
• FARMERS MARKET: Browse from several local vendors offering farm-fresh produce and more from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Saturday at Pearl. Click here for more information.
• GILLESPIE COUNTY FAIR: The 138th annual event will take place from Aug. 27-30, which will include two days of pari-mutuel horse racing, livestock shows, agricultural and household exhibits and more. Admission price varies by day and age. The fair will be open daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. at the Gillespie County Fairgrounds & Exhibition Hall, 530 Fair Drive. Click here for more details.
• HAMILTON: The Broadway musical will be performed through Aug. 9 at the Majestic Theatre. Tickets can be found here.
• MAKERS MARKET: Shop from over 40 local artisans and makers from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Sunday at Pearl. More information can be found here.
• OUTDOOR FAMILY FILM SERIES: The Mission Marquee Plaza will showcase a free movie screening of “Monsters University” from 7 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. on Aug. 1. The film series will continue with “A Minecraft Movie” on Aug. 15 and “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” on Aug. 20.
• SOUND OF DOWNTOWN - THE JUNE MOONS: The free community event, which features live music and local food trucks, takes place from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. every Thursday through Aug. 27 at Travis Park.

This list will be updated as more events are announced.

What’s trending?

• San Antonio Girl Scout troop sells thousands of cookie boxes to earn dream trip to NYC
• San Antonio Zoo opens hands-on water life exhibit focused on ocean conservation
• Two beluga whales relocated to SeaWorld San Antonio from closed Canadian marine park
• ☃️ A look inside JW Marriott San Antonio’s immersive holiday ‘ICE!’ experience
• Witte Museum plans to lead Holiday River Parade as grand marshal, River Walk official says

Pro Football Hall of Fame member, and former Cowboys great, Charles Haley addressed the crowd at the beginning of the ceremony.

During media availability, Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer was asked about whether he felt the energy surrounding the ceremony.

“Yeah, I feel it,” Schottenheimer said. “I think it’s a big day. We try to throw great practices every day whether we’re by ourselves or no one’s out here — that’s where the music helps. The coaches should always drive the energy. This is pretty special because we love having the fans come out here in Oxnard, California. We feel like this is really our second home. It should be a great day.”

Compared to the first two days of camp, fans will get to see the Cowboys be more physical.

“We say play on the edge without going over the edge,” Schottenheimer told the media. “We’ll be in shells (wearing helmets and shoulder pads instead of full pads) today, which is different. It’s part of the NFL-mandated ramp-up. First two days you’re in helmets, and now you’re in shells.”

While the coach wants the players to get after it, he also wants to see them come out of practice healthy.

“The biggest thing we emphasize is run your feet. You got to run your feet — once your feet stop, then guess what happens: guys coming from your left or right or front or behind get tangled up. I think that’s where we can get better,” Schottenheimer told the media.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones presented the mayor of Oxnard, Luis A. McArthur with a $25,000 check, an annual donation celebrating the partnership between the Cowboys and Oxnard.

Read more Campin’ with KSAT coverage:

• Dak Prescott’s patience wearing thin entering Year 11 with the Cowboys
• Quinnen Williams embraces Cowboys culture, championship mindset at training camp
• Cowboys rookie Caleb Downs impresses early at camp, welcomes tough test against offense
• Franchise-tagged George Pickens reacts positively to Jerry Jones’ remarks on future in Dallas
• Cornerbacks thrive under new DC Parker at Cowboys training camp, position battles headline first practice
• Dallas Cowboys open training camp in Oxnard with Super Bowl mindset
• Cowboys open 2026 training camp with focus on defensive overhaul
• Cowboys set to open training camp with revamped defense, no holdouts
• Dallas Cowboys 2026 training camp: Key storylines to watch in Oxnard

From small spaniels to large labs, the canines were judged on factors including how long they could stay on their board, the size of the wave and their confidence. In its 10th year, the contest in Pacifica, about 14 miles (22 kilometers) south of San Francisco, includes a pet adoption event and fundraising for local animal charities.

The dogs, sporting their colorful life vests, stood ready on their surfboards and were assisted by human participants, who spotted the best wave to carry the board to the beach. Spectators erupted in applause and cheered with each successful ride.

Sophia Sadlowski first put her Miniature Pinscher, Rusty, on her surfboard to capture fun photos when he was just a puppy.

"And then ... he didn’t want to get off,” said Sadlowski, of Huntington Beach, California. “I walk over to the beach, and I put him on a wave, and he surfed it.”

Small-, medium- and large- sized dogs competed in heats and then the highest scoring dogs in each heat faced off for the top prize. The day also included tandem contests, where multiple dogs, as well as dogs and humans, shared the surfboard.

Rusty's life jacket was green with animal print and a shark fin sticking up out of his back and his goggles gave the impression he was a fierce competitor for the small-sized and tandem dog competitions. Sadlowski said Rusty was in his first surf competition at four months old, and she and her pup are now both cancer-free.

“He was four months old, and he took third place. So we've been surfing since," Sadlowski said. “We got hooked.”

The strikes follow a major Russian attack two days earlier that killed at least 10 people and wounded more than 50 others across Ukraine, as Moscow apparently looks to exploit Kyiv’s critical shortage of Western-supplied anti-ballistic missile defenses. The relentless cycle of attacks dims the potential of reaching a diplomatic end to Russia’s more than 4-year-old invasion of its neighbor.

Deaths and damage across Kyiv

A five-story residential building in the city's Solomianskyi District was damaged by falling debris and a fire broke out. Rescue workers evacuated 35 people from the upper floors of the building and two people died, with eight reported injured, including two children, according to Ukraine’s state emergency service.

In the Darnytskyi District of Kyiv, seven people were killed and another 14 injured after the attack caused fires and damage to houses, vehicles, an administrative and non-residential building, the emergency services said.

Elsewhere, emergency workers extinguished a fire in a non-residential building in the capital’s Shevchenkivskyi district. There was no additional information about earlier reports by the district mayor that people were trapped in another residential building.

Damage to commercial and residential buildings was reported in two other city districts.

Lithuania’s foreign minister said the country’s embassy in Kyiv was damaged when missiles struck nearby overnight.

Russia’s defense ministry said Saturday it had launched a “massive strike” against “Ukrainian military-industrial complex facilities and logistics centers in Kyiv.”

Zelenskyy presses for more air defense

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has pressed the United States and other Western partners over Ukraine’s need for more Patriot anti-ballistic missile defense systems to counter missile attacks from Russia.

“Every package of ballistic missile interceptors saves the lives of our people. And every night without them results in more casualties,” he wrote on X following the latest attacks.

The Ukrainian leader late Friday said he spoke to U.S. Vice President JD Vance and discussed a meeting with President Donald Trump earlier this week in Washington, which Zelenskyy described as “positive and productive.”

“The Russian air strikes on our country continue and air defense, specifically interceptors for Patriot systems against ballistic missiles, remains a top priority,” Zelenskyy said Friday in a post on Telegram.

At a NATO summit in Ankara in July, Trump said the U.S. would give Ukraine a license to make Patriot systems, but he appeared to move away from that commitment on Friday during a Cabinet meeting at the presidential retreat in Camp David, Maryland, saying he had not yet made a final decision on the matter.

Resident describes more frequent attacks

From a basement shelter where she was taking cover as a second air alarm sounded for another wave, Liudmyla Nakonechna, 64, described how she was woken by loud explosions at 1:30 a.m.

“I ran into the corridor and was standing there when the bathroom door was blown off its hinges and struck me in the leg,” said Nakonechna, whose health is poor after undergoing cancer treatment. “I heard the sound of shattering glass. My balcony was covered in glass and it was completely blown apart, while the windows in my bedroom were also blown out.”

Nakonechna had not taken cover in a shelter since Russia’s full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, but the stress became too much, she said.

“It’s getting worse by the day,” Nakonechna said. “Whereas before there was an attack once every two weeks, or maybe once a week, now it happens practically every day. It is incredibly hard to bear this psychologically.”

In other developments

— A Russian airstrike killed one person and wounded five more in the city of Kherson in southern Ukraine, local officials said Saturday.

— In Russian-occupied Crimea, the Moscow-appointed head of the city of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said Saturday that a 60-year-old woman was killed and two other people wounded in a drone attack on the city.

— Ukrainian drones struck three Russian oil refineries overnight in the Russian republic of Bashkortostan, Zelenskyy said Saturday. The refineries “process millions of tons of oil each year” and are located nearly 1,600 kilometers (994 miles) from Ukraine, Zelenskyy said on social media.

The Russian online news outlet Astra reported Saturday that a Ukrainian drone set an oil refinery in Ufa, the capital of Bashkortostan, ablaze. Local officials said debris from a downed drone caused “smoke” at an unnamed “industrial zone.”

Ukraine’s almost daily long-range drone and missile strikes using domestically developed weapons have battered Russian oil facilities for months. The operation has brought a fuel crisis that is embarrassing the Kremlin more than four years after Russia’s all-out invasion of its neighbor.

— A sanctioned Russian container ship, the Yanina, sank in the Black Sea after being hit by Ukrainian drones, Zelenskyy said Saturday, listing the ship as among “facilities that sustain the war effort.”

Russia’s state nuclear energy company, Rosatom, whose shipping subsidiary FESCO operates the vessel, said the ship was carrying “civilian goods” such as frozen food and construction materials.

At least 67 migrants died, including some who drowned and others who were killed in a stampede to cross a breakwater barrier, the Spanish government said Saturday. The sudden arrival of 50,000 to 60,000 migrants in the territory on Thursday and Friday sparked a humanitarian crisis and reignited the immigration debate in Europe and beyond, though most of the migrants soon went back.

Critics of Spain’s socialist government, notably right and far-right politicians, seized upon the dramatic images of crowds storming into Ceuta, which sits on the Strait of Gibraltar at the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea and has been a Spanish possession since 1580. Spain’s migration policy has focused on granting legal status to workers lacking authorization who entered the country before 2026 to boost its economy, in contrast with the anti-migration and pro-deportation policies promoted across much of the EU and in the U.S.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez slammed the reaction of some EU leaders to the events in Ceuta, saying calls for Spain to be suspended from the EU's borderless Schengen zone were “driven by prejudice, fake news, ignorance, or political interest.” Despite the Ceuta crisis, Spain in recent years has had fewer illegal migrants cross into the country than Mediterranean neighbors Italy and Greece.

On Saturday morning, a handful of migrants who swam to Ceuta's urban Tarajal beach were met by soldiers who escorted them across the border.

“We are relentless against those who break the law,” Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told journalists.

Asked how the breach could have happened given the heavy security on both sides of the border and whether Morocco posed a threat to Ceuta, Marlaska defended the government in Rabat.

“The events require an evaluation by Spain and Morocco,” he said. But it was the cooperation with its neighbors that allowed Spain “to revert the situation in 24 hours.”

“Morocco is not a threat to Ceuta, or to the rest of Spain. It is a reliable partner,” Marlaska said.

EU leaders call for coordinated response

Other European Union countries called for urgent talks and a coordinated response to the situation in Ceuta.

“We cannot allow uncontrolled mass crossings, the instrumentalization of migration or other hybrid threats to create the perception that illegal entry into the European Union is possible. That a migrant’s illegal entry can turn into legal stay,” a letter to top EU officials, released Saturday by the Danish prime minister’s office, said. “Such a perception would encourage further attempts, undermine confidence in our common migration policy and have repercussions for all Member States.”

Leaders of Italy, Denmark, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia and Sweden signed the letter asking the EU’s current Irish presidency to convene a videoconference of interior ministers.

Sánchez also asked for a videoconference of EU interior ministers to “enable us to establish a common response to situations of this kind and reaffirm that the security of our external borders is a shared responsibility of all Member States, and not only of those on the Union’s front line.”

Italy has threatened to suspend the open-border Schengen agreement with Spain and was reimposing border controls for people arriving from Spain by air and sea. Ceuta is not part of the Schengen area, however, and border checks are carried out when traveling from the exclave to continental Spain or other European countries in the Schengen zone.

“In the current international context, the European Union cannot afford this kind of selfish, polarizing and unlawful reaction,” Sánchez wrote in his letter.

Migrants head back into Morocco

Hundreds of migrants continued to make their way back to Morocco on Saturday. Hungry and angry, some barefoot or shirtless and others nursing visible injuries, they said they were leaving Ceuta after what they described as degrading treatment on the Spanish side of the border.

Migrants walked along a long stretch of wave breakers before slipping into Morocco through a small breach in the border fence. Most of the migrants were Moroccans, while a smaller number were from sub-Saharan Africa.

“I decided to come back on my own,” said Ouail Lamzeiz. “I spent eight days in Ceuta, and I was about to get a bed at the migrant center, but I hadn’t eaten for days. Even the Moroccans there didn’t help,” he added, showing a document supporting his account.

Migrants said they spent their nights sleeping in the forests around Ceuta because they could not find shelter, and that they often fought over food.

Othmane El Merzoug asked passersby for a phone call so he could reach his family and ask them to send money for the journey back to his hometown, about 189 miles (305 kilometers) from the border.

Life along the border was disrupted

Along Ceuta’s Tarajal beach, sunbathers largely ignored the streams of migrants walking toward the border.

Ceuta resident Mohamed Abdelatif, 21, said the border rush had ruptured the city's peace.

“The reality is, it’s not good,” Abdelatif said, before wading into the water with his girlfriend.

To reach Ceuta, on the northern African coast, migrants often swim from the Moroccan town of Fnideq, covering about 3 miles (5 kilometers) to reach Spanish territory. In response to the influx, Spain deployed its armed forces and additional police in Ceuta. On the Moroccan side, security forces clashed with migrants. Authorities used water cannons, tear gas and warning shots to try to turn back migrants.

On Saturday, the road linking Fnideq to the border crossing bore the scars of the unrest. Burned-out vehicles sat along the roadside, while the acrid smell of smoke still hung in the air. Water cannons remained stationed nearby.

“Life in this city has been disrupted as a result of the border incident,” said Ceuta President Juan Jesús Vivas. “The return of people has begun satisfactorily, but the process must be completed.”

Some migrants remain determined to stay

But some who made it to Ceuta say they do not intend to go back. Among them was Mohamed Hatri, a 23-year-old Moroccan.

“They’ve closed everything down so that we can’t buy anything to eat, to force us to return to our country,” he said, adding that he and others were determined to stay “whether we’re hungry or not." —— Oubachir reported from Fnideq, Morocco. Renata Brito in Barcelona, Spain and Elena Becatoros in Athens, Greece contributed to this report.

Allegations against U.S. Rep. Max Miller, a White House adviser during President Donald Trump's first term, have been public for years but have recently drawn increased media scrutiny amid an escalating legal back-and-forth with his former spouse, who is the daughter of U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio. That has Democrats sensing Miller could be vulnerable in a district he won two years ago with just over 51% of the vote.

Over the past week, they have called for Miller to resign, requested a congressional ethics investigation and suggested more help could be directed in the fall toward his Democratic opponent, union ironworker Brian Poindexter. Miller has denied the abuse allegations and filed defamation lawsuits against his ex-wife and a second accuser.

The House Majority PAC, a super political action committee aimed at electing a Democratic majority, said it is monitoring the race's dynamics as part of its strategy to push deeper into GOP territory in this year's midterm elections.

“HMP is willing to do whatever it takes to take back the House, and nothing is off the table,” spokesperson CJ Warnke said.

Republicans stick by Miller

as Trump advisers keep tabs on the situation

Republicans have so far remained in Miller’s corner, saying he has delivered for his district and is electable in November.

At the same time, the difficulties that Miller faces have not escaped the attention of the president’s inner circle as they work to retain GOP control on Capitol Hill. Trump's closest advisers are actively monitoring the situation, according to a Republican with knowledge of White House discussions who requested anonymity to discuss the politically sensitive matter.

The deadline for replacing Miller on the ballot is Wednesday, though no Republican has publicly pushed to take that step. Republican Gov. Mike DeWine told Ohio's Capital Journal that the accusations were troubling and “very serious” but that Miller's fate should be up to voters.

The tension comes as Republicans are defending their narrow majority in the U.S. House in the November races.

Terry Casey, a longtime Republican consultant in Ohio, said Miller remains in a strong position to win the Republican-leaning district, which stretches south from Cleveland and was won decisively by Trump two years ago.

That is unless Poindexter, who has been endorsed by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, can attract money significant enough to step up his advertising in the 7th Congressional District's multiple media markets.

“Unless serious people are willing to put in serious money, I’d say beginning around $2 million, it’s all nothing but lip exercises,” Casey said.

The National Republican Congressional Committee declined to discuss whether it would match any influx of Democratic cash. Miller has significantly outraised Poindexter, although the Democrat's campaign said it has seen a surge in social media followers in recent weeks.

Democrats call for an ethics investigation and some say Miller should resign

At issue in the couple's long-running dispute are claims leveled by Miller’s ex-wife, Emily Moreno, that he scalded, hit and threatened her while they were married. Miller has denied the allegations.

A recent article in the magazine Mother Jones revealed a new point of contention in their legal battle: a broken collarbone on their 2-year-old daughter that led Moreno to contact authorities. The pair, who were married in 2022 and finalized their divorce last year, presented different theories about how the injury occurred, according to court filings and police reports reviewed by the magazine.

Earlier this week, U.S. Rep. Shontel Brown, a Cleveland Democrat, said it “would be wise” for Miller to resign. The House Democratic Women’s Caucus called for an ethics investigation.

“The recent reports of domestic violence and child abuse against Representative Max Miller are deeply disturbing and Congress can’t ignore them,” Democratic Reps. Teresa Leger Fernández of New Mexico, Emilia Sykes of Ohio and Hillary Scholten of Michigan wrote in their letter. “Allegations of violence against women and children have to be met with the utmost seriousness.”

Bernie Moreno declined to comment on the allegations raised by his daughter or on Miller’s response, but his spokeswoman issued a statement saying the senator was focused on his family.

“Senator Moreno’s top priority is the safety and well-being of his daughter and granddaughter,” said the spokeswoman, Reagan McCarthy. “While he will not litigate these matters in the media or respond to baseless public attacks, he will do whatever it takes to ensure a just outcome for his family.”

Miller's controversies escalated in July and he is facing a lawsuit by an ex-girlfriend

Miller has denied all allegations of abuse. He did not respond to inquiries left with his campaign, his Washington office or on his personal cellphone.

Last spring, his spokesperson provided documentation to The Associated Press that showed several allegations that he had abused his daughter had been investigated by the Cuyahoga County Division of Children and Family Services and were deemed unsubstantiated. He has sued Emily Moreno for defamation.

The couple's dispute escalated this week.

On Thursday, lawyers for Emily Moreno asked a judge for a temporary restraining order barring Miller from contact with her attorney, Andrew Zashin. The filing alleges that Miller shouted insults at Zashin and goaded him to “Come at me!” outside a court hearing last May, then physically grabbed Zashin during a different proceeding on Tuesday.

The court filing quotes Miller’s own lawyer as saying his client “just can’t control himself.” The attorney did not return a call seeking comment.

Earlier this month, Miller’s ex-girlfriend, former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham, filed a lawsuit against him. She accused Miller of violating terms of a confidential settlement agreement they struck to resolve his 2021 lawsuit against her.

That lawsuit alleged Grisham defamed him in her book and in a Washington Post op-ed when she said a former White House staffer — later identified as Miller — had physically abused her while they were dating. While the book is vague on the specific allegations, Politico reported at the time that Grisham and Miller’s relationship ended “when he pushed her against a wall and slapped her in the face in his Washington apartment after she accused him of cheating on her.”

Grisham alleged in the new lawsuit filed July 7 that Miller dragged her name into his dispute with Moreno and violated their agreement not to disparage each other.

A campaign distraction for Miller that could turn off some voters

For Poindexter, the Democratic candidate, the accusations against Miller provide a possible path to an upset in November if some conservative-leaning voters opt for him or enough Republican voters are turned off by the domestic abuse allegations and stay home.

“These are serious allegations and deserve the full attention of law enforcement,” Poindexter said in a statement. “If all the allegations against Congressman Miller prove to be true, Max Miller should be in jail, not worried about retaining a seat in Congress.”

Jim Trakas, a former state lawmaker and GOP party chair in northeast Ohio, said Miller is not helped by the fresh developments so close to the election.

“It's a difficult year for any incumbent,” he said. “Now you have to spend time on this when you want to focus on the main event, which is the pocketbook issues.”

Trump asserted in his Truth Social post that he would keep acting Attorney General Todd Blanche in his current role and press ahead on the “Anti-Weaponization Fund” if Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina refuse to back the former federal prosecutor who was a key member of Trump’s defense team at a time when the Republican battled four indictments.

The administration needs their votes, but both lawmakers have protested Blanche's selection because of a lawsuit settlement that created a $1.8 billion fund to compensate people who feel mistreated by the criminal justice system and provided Trump and family members with immunity from tax audits.

In a sign of apparent progress Friday, Trump pronounced the fund “dead.” As negotiations continued into the night, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Chuck Grassley, rescheduled a committee vote for Blanche that had been postponed earlier in the week.

A spokesperson for the committee said Grassley, R-Iowa, would like to see Blanche confirmed before the August recess and that putting the Tuesday vote on the calendar “gives more time for the White House to secure the votes for the President’s nominee.”

But by Saturday morning, those plans were in jeopardy with a new announcement from Trump that appeared to put the fund back on the table — and dinged the two senators who are leaving Capitol Hill when their terms end in January.

“If Senators Cornyn and Tillis, both upset because I wouldn’t Endorse them (they lost, and quit, respectively!), aren’t going to approve Todd Blanche, one of the most respected professionals, according to everybody, in the Country, to be the United States Attorney General, then I will keep Todd as Acting A.G., and push hard” to restore the fund. The president insisted, as he previously has, that the fund “takes care of those who have been so badly treated” during the administrations of Democratic Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

Tillis, who is retiring, took note of the president's turnabout by saying in a post on X that despite Trump's comments Friday, he “clearly intends to resurrect the payout pot for punks either by inappropriately establishing another bogus fund or pushing Congress to vote for a bill that the majority of Republicans in the Senate would be against.”

He added: “It’s unfortunate that Todd Blanche, who I consider qualified for the job, will not be confirmed because of this reversal. Hopefully, we can resolve this by Tuesday."

Blanche had said at a hearing two months ago that the anti-weaponization fund would not move forward after Republican senators revolted and held up an immigration funding bill.

But Tillis and Cornyn, who lost reelection this year after Trump endorsed his primary opponent, said they want to ensure that the White House does not reverse course, especially as Trump continues to argue that a fund is needed.

The Department of Justice has provided the senators with language that says Blanche’s May 18 order establishing the “Anti-Weaponization Fund” is “rescinded and shall have no force or effect,” according to a document reviewed by The Associated Press.

Cornyn and Tillis have said they also want clarification on a separate part of the settlement that would grant Trump and members of his family immunity from tax audits. Cornyn said this week that it was his understanding the audits could extend to more than 100 Trump Organization subsidiaries in the future.

“Todd Blanche said it was limited to the parties to the litigation — and it was retrospective, not prospective,” Cornyn said. “And all we’re doing is asking them to put that in writing.”

Earlier this week, authorities said cyberattacks targeted over 30 water systems in Minnesota. The source of the attacks is being investigated, but they came amid warnings that Iranian hackers have been focused on such systems.

The reports in Michigan surfaced after the state received a federal cyber alert Tuesday about attempts to tamper with operational technology at water systems.

Soon after, the state received “a small number of reports from Michigan communities indicating activity consistent with what federal agencies described,” said Dale George, the director of communications at the state's Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy. He later said nine systems were impacted.

“All systems continued to operate safely, issues were addressed by local operators, and there are no known impacts that posed a public health concern,” George said in an statement.

The FBI, which is investigating, has not publicly identified a culprit and a spokesperson declined to say Thursday who the bureau thought might be responsible. The FBI, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and other agencies warned in an advisory last week that Iranian hackers have been targeting water and wastewater systems and the operational controls of other critical infrastructure sectors.

“The FBI is aware of recent public reporting around Water and Wastewater (WWS) sectors," the agency said in a statement Saturday. "The FBI and our interagency partners are fully engaged to protect critical infrastructure and we remain well-equipped to protect against cyber threats of all varieties.”

Digital warfare has become ingrained in military conflict, and local water plants or healthcare facilities often lack the funds and know-how to install the latest software patches or take other security steps. That has made them a favorite target, both because of the relative ease of penetrating them and because of the panic such disruptions can cause.

Iran’s interest in the operations of water systems inside the U.S. dates back years. In 2016, the Justice Department charged a group of Iranian hackers in connection with a cyberattack targeting a small dam near New York City.

Minnesota IT Services said that as of Thursday, there were no active requests from Minnesota communities for residents to modify usage of their drinking water. The state agency said most of the confirmed attacks involved technology that water systems use to remotely monitor and control equipment. It said that being impacted meant investigators confirmed there was malicious activity involving the system’s technology and didn’t mean every impacted community had their water service disrupted.

For a few hours on Monday, the city of Braham asked residents to minimize water use as they tried to determine why the water plant was offline. The city of about 1,700 people, located about 70 miles (113 kilometers) north of Minneapolis, said in a news release that the water plant outage was due to a cyberattack, but it didn’t cause any issue with water quality.

The city said the attackers shut down the operating controls that shut down the well and water treatment plant. That left the city for a time only able to provide residents with the water held in the water tower.

In Plymouth, a city of about 80,000 located outside of Minneapolis, officials said on social media that their water infrastructure communications had been restored by Tuesday afternoon following a cyberattack.

During a Cabinet meeting on Friday at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland, President Donald Trump claimed without evidence that recent cyberattacks in Minnesota were the fault of the state, including Democratic Gov. Tim Walz.

Waltz responded on social media, saying Trump "knows exactly who is responsible for this attack, and knows that other states were hit too."

KSAT has compiled back-to-school start dates for all the Bexar County and surrounding school districts.

The start dates span throughout August, with Comal ISD starting the latest, on Aug. 25.

Here are the start dates for the 2026-27 school year:

• Alamo Heights ISD: Aug. 19
• Boerne ISD: Aug. 11
• Catholic Schools - Archdiocese of San Antonio: Aug. 17
• Comal ISD: Aug. 25
• East Central ISD: Aug. 10
• Edgewood ISD: Aug. 11 (The start date for Gardendale Early Learning Program is Aug. 17)
• Floresville ISD: Aug. 11
• Fort Sam Houston ISD: Aug. 12
• Great Hearts: Aug. 11
• Harlandale ISD: Aug. 12
• Hunt ISD: Aug. 19
• IDEA Public Schools: Aug. 11
• Ingram ISD: Aug. 12
• Jourdanton ISD: Aug. 11
• Judson ISD: Aug. 12
• Kerrville ISD: Aug. 19
• KIPP Texas Public Schools: Aug. 10
• La Vernia ISD: Aug. 3
• Lackland ISD: Aug. 12
• Lytle ISD: Aug. 11
• Medina Valley ISD: Aug. 12
• Natalia ISD: Aug. 12
• New Braunfels ISD: Aug. 17
• North East ISD: Aug. 17
• Northside ISD: Aug. 10
• Pleasanton ISD: Aug. 12
• Poteet ISD: Aug. 11
• Randolph Field ISD: Aug. 13
• San Antonio ISD: Aug. 12 (First day of school for Third Future Schools is Aug. 4)
• Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD: Aug. 13
• School of Science and Technology: Aug. 12
• Seguin ISD: Aug. 19
• Somerset Academies: Aug. 12
• Somerset ISD: Aug. 17
• South San Antonio ISD: Aug. 10
• Southside ISD: Aug. 12
• Southwest ISD: Aug. 24
• Uvalde CISD: Aug. 10

Read also:

• Where to find back-to-school giveaways in San Antonio

The second half kicked off Saturday with what seemed a clear aim of ending Infantino’s decade-long presidency.

“No option should be off the table,” said European soccer body UEFA, whose president Aleksander Čeferin has led the fight against Infantino in a seismic week for FIFA.

“The current FIFA leadership has not only lost UEFA’s confidence but also that of many other members of the football family.”

Later Saturday, the governing body for North and Central American and Caribbean soccer (CONCACAF) called for accountability, saying: “A (World Cup) proposal of this magnitude does not reach that stage by accident. It is a symptom of leadership that has stopped putting football first. This recent unilateral and egregious act of poor governance and leadership follows a pattern of missteps and similar behavior. A full review of this leadership must now take place.”

Infantino had proposed creating a $20 billion company to run the World Cup with private investors but drew backlash that grew every day since Tuesday’s announcement.

Infantino was forced to scrap the plan early Saturday after his senior adviser who sat on a White House panel resigned and Asia’s soccer body joined Europe and North America in opposing it.

UEFA's blistering statement

UEFA, the governing body of European soccer, issued its blistering statement hours after FIFA announced it was withdrawing its private equity plan.

“We cannot keep going on like this with secret schemes on fast-track timescales, cooked up by faceless individuals and of dubious benefit to the game," UEFA said. “We must identify those responsible and hold them to account.

“It is right that, in the coming days and weeks, UEFA will work with its associations and in close cooperation with other confederations to reflect on how this happened and devise a plan to make sure that it cannot occur again.”

Norwegian soccer federation president Lise Klaveness, an elected member of the UEFA executive committee, said steps must be taken to protect the integrity of the sport.

“The entire framework of international football cooperation was unnecessarily put at risk in pursuit of individual interests rather than the best interests of the game,” Klaveness said Saturday. ”This has been visible to many for a long time, including those of us elected to positions intended to safeguard checks and balances and provide ongoing oversight. We have to recognize that these mechanisms have not worked well enough.”

The president of the Asian soccer confederation, Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, said “the future of global football must always be shaped through proper consultation, collective dialogue and respect for the established governance structures of our game."

Infantino' audacious bid fell apart after UEFA’s 55-member nations agreed Thursday to boycott the World Cup and all other FIFA competitions. CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation also said they opposed the plan.

CONCACAF's statement added that FIFA leaders have “a duty of service over power. Where that duty is not upheld, accountability cannot be optional.”

FIFA's internal revolt

There was also an internal revolt.

Infantino’s senior adviser, Carlos Cordeiro, a former Goldman Sachs banker who represented the soccer body on the White House Task Force for the World Cup, resigned on Friday and urged other senior FIFA staff to speak out.

Hours later, FIFA chief operating officer Kevin Lamour issued a statement to The Associated Press, saying FIFA staff were deceived by Infantino’s lack of openness in planning the sale over recent months and that the project must not continue.

“It is the project of one person,” wrote Lamour, a longtime colleague of Infantino at both FIFA and UEFA. “Not only must this project not go ahead … but the time has now come for football political leaders to ask themselves the right questions and make the right decisions.”

Infantino had proposed spinning off FIFA’s commercial businesses — including World Cups and Club World Cups for men and women — into a $20 billion subsidiary with 20% owned by private investors.

The “anchor investor,” described by FIFA, is a New York-based investment firm launched by Joshua Kushner, the younger brother of U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

This is not Infantino's first big plan to flop

A tumultuous week in international soccer is at least the third time Infantino has rocked it with an ambitious plan many in the sport saw as reckless.

But the fallout from FIFA’s Kushner-backed plan is the first time UEFA has acted quickly to create momentum for removing the man who was its former long-time employee.

In 2018, Infantino pushed a secretive offer of $25 billion from Japan’s SoftBank to create new competitions, that posed a long-term risk to continental events for clubs and national teams.

In 2021, Infantino proposed playing World Cups every two years instead of four — an idea that also angered the International Olympic Committee where he is an elected member.

Both plans created big rifts in the sport and were eventually dropped by FIFA.

Despite the turmoil, Infantino was re-elected unopposed in 2019 and 2023.

The third time shapes to be different.

Here is the calendar for the FIFA presidency

Nov. 18 is the deadline for candidates to enter the next presidential contest, exactly four months ahead of the vote in Rabat, Morocco, where FIFA has its African headquarters.

FIFA statutes allow Infantino one more four-year term in office. The failed spinoff venture seemed like a way to create a commissioner-like role for Infantino beyond 2031, likely paying much more than his current annual salary and a bonus deal of more than $6 million.

It would take 106 votes to ensure a majority in a contested election. Continents surely do not vote uniformly en bloc, but most of Europe’s 55, plus Asia’s 46 and CONCACAF’s 35 FIFA members would be a solid base.

The Qatar FA issued a statement in support of Infantino on Saturday.

Its president, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Thani, said: “We welcome FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s decision to withdraw the FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal in the interest of the global football community.

"While the proposal had merit, we applaud the wisdom behind prioritising unity among Member Associations. The Qatar Football Association fully supports President Infantino’s efforts to continue growing and strengthening the game globally.”

___

Associated Press writer Joseph Wilson contributed to this report from Barcelona, Spain.

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and AP World Cup coverage

During the search on Saturday, officers, along with the Texas Search and Rescue group, found the remains in the 17200 block of Wiederstein Road.

The department said it received the missing person report on July 7 involving a 49-year-old man.

The identity of the remains has not been confirmed. Additional forensic testing will be conducted to positively identify the remains and determine the cause and manner of death, according to police.

The release states investigators are looking into whether the remains belong to the missing man.

Additional information was not immediately available. The investigation is ongoing.

Read also:

• SAFD: Worker rescued after falling 20 feet from silo onto scaffolding at Southwest Side business
• Wrong-way driver dies hours after crash on South Side, police say

For Greece, the danger carried grim resonance: a 2018 wildfire at the seaside community of Mati, near Athens, killed 104 people, making it Europe’s deadliest wildfire this century.

In southwestern France, firefighters held a vast wildfire within its perimeter, with about 198,000 people now allowed home after what may have been the country’s largest peacetime evacuation.

Major fires in Spain were also no longer advancing, and Portugal’s main blaze was under control.

A second French fire stopped expanding overnight after racing across 10 square kilometers (4 square miles) in six hours Friday — “faster than a horse at full gallop,” according to the prefecture. But it remained active Saturday and 2,500 people were still unable to return home.

The gains in western Europe marked a sharp turn from the height of the crisis, when fires in France and Spain alone drove a third of a million people from homes and vacation sites, emptied towns during the summer holiday season and stretched firefighters, aircraft and emergency services across simultaneous emergencies.

Europe is Earth’s fastest-warming continent, heating at more than twice the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union’s Copernicus climate service. Rising temperatures and prolonged drought leave vegetation drier and more combustible, allowing fires to spread faster and burn more intensely.

Gale-force winds drive Greek fires

Nearly 500 firefighters battled Saturday to protect Porto Germeno, a popular resort on the Gulf of Corinth, as flames tore through thick pine forest and smoke blocked out the sun.

The fire broke out Friday near the neighboring coastal village of Agios Vasileios. About 300 people were evacuated by sea, and authorities issued further evacuation orders Saturday.

“A pristine forest, a paradise, was surrendered to the hands of the fire,” said Minas Tzortzanis, a 60-year-old farmer and local resident. “There are no words to explain what has happened. Destruction. Total destruction.”

Theodore Giannaros, a wildfire meteorologist at the National Observatory of Athens, estimated that 40 to 50 square kilometers (15 to 19 square miles) had been affected. Authorities had not issued an official burned-area figure.

The operation also included specialized forest-fire teams, crews temporarily deployed from France and Romania, 19 water-dropping planes and 11 helicopters.

New fires erupted elsewhere in Greece. A blaze east of Nafpaktos prompted evacuation alerts for at least four villages.

“The very strong to gale-force winds continue to create exceptionally difficult conditions,” Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Minister Evangelos Tournas said.

Extreme turbulence was preventing some aircraft from collecting water or approaching the fires closely enough to make drops, he said.

Evacuation orders remain in western France

The Gironde fire has burned 420 square kilometers (162 square miles) of pine forest west of Bordeaux, an area four times the size of Paris.

It remained contained within its perimeter Saturday but had not been declared “fixed” — the point at which crews determine that a fire is no longer advancing. Active sectors and buried hot spots persisted.

Authorities reopened more communities Friday, but several remained largely deserted Saturday. Much of the forested Cap Ferret peninsula stayed evacuated because a nearby hot spot could flare again, cut its limited road access and trap returning residents.

“Today, the fire is still not fixed. It is contained,” Lt. Col. Eric Pitault told reporters.

Crews used tactical burns overnight. Along 240 kilometers (149 miles) of fire edge, heat could remain hidden underground and erupt again.

Renewed blaze remains active in southern France

In the Mediterranean Var region, defensive lines around the Gros Bessillon fire held overnight and no additional ground burned, Var Prefect Simon Babre told French media Saturday.

The blaze had been declared fixed earlier in the week before mistral gusts revived embers Friday and sent it racing through dry hills in temperatures approaching 42 C (108 F).

It remained active Saturday, with 1,300 firefighters deployed and about 2,500 people still unable to return home. The fire’s sudden return “defies understanding,” Babre said.

Twenty French departments were under an orange heat warning Saturday, mostly in the east and southeast. Eight departments faced a high forest-fire risk.

Returning residents confront what the fire erased

For residents returning to the Gironde fire zone, the easing emergency brought a first reckoning with what had been lost.

In Le Porge, one of the communities hardest hit, Matthieu Plessis returned Saturday to the ruins of a home that had been in his family for seven generations.

Just over a week earlier, smoke had turned the afternoon almost to night as flames raced along both sides of the road. Now the 40-year-old mechanic drove through blackened forest and struggled to identify what had once stood there.

“There are little details here and there that I recognize, but otherwise everything is unrecognizable,” Plessis said. “You don’t even know what was here anymore, or who lived where.”

He had to force open the property’s gate because its key had burned. A chimney and twisted metal frames were among the few clues to where the rooms had been. The tools and machinery from his bicycle-repair business were gone.

“It’s not easy. I’m trying to stay strong and help other people now,” Plessis said. “I don’t want to spend the next 10 years feeling sorry for myself.”

___

Adamson reported from Paris. Elena Becatoros in Athens, Greece, and Michael Varaklas in Porto Germeno, Greece, contributed to this report.

Noh, the 25-year-old Californian with only one LPGA title, played bogey-free on the back nine at Royal Lytham & St. Annes and finished at 7-under 206 to lead over five players.

One of them is Ryu, who is trying to become the first player since fellow South Korean Inbee Park to win three straight majors in the same year. Ryu was headed in that direction with a pair of birdies on the front nine to build a four-shot lead.

Her slide began with a bogey on the par-5 seventh, the start of five bogeys in an eight-hole stretch that cost her the lead and put her in a chasing mode the rest of the sunny day along the Lancashire coast of England.

Ryu finished with four straight pars for a 74 and saw the bright side. She kept double bogeys off her card, including the 10th hole when she was against a back lip of a pot bunker. She chipped it forward in the sand and got up-and-down from there for bogey.

Plus, she's still in range of adding a third major this year to victories in the Women's PGA Championship and Evian Championship.

“Tomorrow supposed to be wind the same as today," Ryu said. “Today my shot was a little higher than the other two days. So I'm just trying to keep lower and no bunker.”

Nelly Korda, the No. 1 player who captured the first two majors of the year, had her round ruined by a pair of double bogeys, one on the 18th hole that gave her a 73 and left her eight behind.

As surprise as Ryu's collapse was the emergence of Noh, who decided to return home last week instead of playing the Women's Scottish Open. She had missed her last three cuts coming into the final LPGA major of the year, and had not registered a top 10 since last October.

But she overcame a rocky start with three straight birdies starting on the par-3 ninth, including a birdie putt from 12 feet on the 10th, and avoided mistakes on the firm links coming in.

Noh, at No. 69 in the women's world ranking and No. 95 in the Race to CME Globe on the LPGA Tour, has only contended one other time in a major when she missed a playoff by one shot in the 2021 Evian Championship.

“It was good for me to go home and reset, refresh and come here with a different mindset,” Noh said of her decision to skip the Scottish.

The chasing pack also includes Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand, one of only two players to have been No. 1 in the world without winning a major. Thitikul closed with nine straight pars for a 72 to join the pack at 4-under 209.

Esther Henseleit of Germany (67), Lucy Li (69) and Shiho Kuwaki of Japan (72) also were three back. Kuwaki had a chance to get into the final group, but she missed a 10-foot birdie putt on the 18th. None has won a major. Henseleit won Olympic silver in France two years ago. Li is best known for qualifying for the U.S. Women's Open in 2014 at age 11.

Noh said her fiancé, who plays amateur golf, has been a big support in reminding her to put some enjoyment into the game. They played last week at Sahalee, a tree-lined course near Seattle.

“Good practice for this week avoiding all those trees, helping me avoid these bunkers,” she said.

Now comes the big test, with a strong pack of contenders behind her and a chance at winning her first major championship.

“Just focus on playing the round,” Noh said. “I don't want to think too much about the lead. Just settle into a good tempo and have fun out there.”

___

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

Authorities released an early note in the investigation into the disappearance of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, hoping that someone will recognize the writing style. A second note said Guthrie died shortly after she was kidnapped and “is buried in nature now.” Both notes initially were sent to a Tucson television station days after Guthrie went missing from her home outside Tucson on Feb. 1.

Desperate plea

“We are begging for help. We are desperate. We need someone to come forward. Someone knows something. Someone suspects something. Someone recognizes the writing in the ransom demand notes,” Guthrie wrote on her Instagram account, alongside a photo of her mother.

“Someone has noticed something different, strange, troubling or just unusual - perhaps with someone they deeply love," she wrote. "Perhaps they are afraid to come forward. Perhaps they are conflicted. Perhaps they are angry or upset for being in this situation. There is a way out - to tell what you know.”

Guthrie went on to say they “wanted to find out what happened to her, so that we can give her the dignity of a proper goodbye - a celebration of her remarkable life that she so deserves.”

Missing since February

Saturday is the six-month mark since Guthrie disappeared. No suspects have been arrested. The investigation has been dogged by unanswered questions, such as how many people are believed to have taken part in her abduction and whether she was taken by someone who knew her.

The FBI in Washington did not respond to questions about the ransom notes, including whether both messages sent to the Tucson station have been deemed legitimate.

In releasing the notes, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said “we believe these distinctive linguistic characteristics may be recognizable to someone who knows or has interacted with the notes’ writer.”

Ransom notes released

The first note, sent Feb. 2, said Guthrie was safe but scared and would be released unharmed once her captors received $4 million in cryptocurrency, with the ransom amount increasing if the first demand was not met. It said Guthrie would be released within 12 hours if the payment was received. It also included a threat to kill her if the ransom wasn’t paid.

“Your mother is aware of this and her life is in your hands,” the first note read. “It is in the best interest of everyone to have this completed as soon as possible.”

The second note was sent Feb. 6 and said Guthrie died shortly after she was taken. “She is buried in nature now,” it said. “Nothing you could have done could have changed the outcome.” The note ended with an apology: “We are truly sorry.”

The sheriff’s department said the notes reveal a distinctive pattern of word choices and provide insight into the writer’s mindset. The agency said someone who knows the notes’ writer may recognize the patterns.

Authorities similarly used a suspect’s own writings as a tool to apprehend Theodore “Ted” Kaczynski, branded the “Unabomber” by the FBI. Kaczynski, who killed three people and injured 23 others with mail bombs over a 17-year span, pressured The Washington Post, in conjunction with The New York Times, to publish his 35,000-word manifesto in 1995.

Signs of preparations

The sheriff’s office also said Friday that two videos recovered from Guthrie’s doorbell camera might be from two separate days and indicate an unidentified male prepared ahead of when Guthrie was taken. Authorities are seeking information on anyone who was behaving differently, changed their physical appearance, suddenly left the Tucson area, or had a noticeable or unexplained interest or disinterest in the case.

“Investigators continue to pursue every available technological and investigative lead,” the sheriff’s office said. “However, community members remain a vital resource as we seek to provide answers for Nancy’s family.”

The FBI had released surveillance videos of a masked person who authorities said appeared to tamper with a camera on Nancy Guthrie’s front porch and block it with a plant. They described the person as a male about 5 feet, 9 inches (1.75 meters) tall.

Today on Texas Eats NOW:

FORK & SPOON

651 N Business IH35, Ste 1150, New Braunfels, TX 78130

Fork & Spoon is a locally loved German-American restaurant in New Braunfels serving hearty breakfasts, traditional German specialties, and Texas-inspired comfort food. The family-friendly eatery has built a loyal following with generous portions and a menu that blends classic diner favorites with authentic German recipes. Guests can enjoy everything from oversized pancakes, French toast, and brisket omelets to house-made spätzle, bratwurst, currywurst, and crispy schnitzels.

The restaurant embraces the area’s rich German heritage while adding a Texas twist to many of its signature dishes. Favorites like the Texas Schnitzel, topped with a creamy jalapeño and onion sauce, showcase that fusion of flavors. Whether stopping in for breakfast, brunch, or a comforting dinner, Fork & Spoon continues to be a destination for diners looking for satisfying meals made with homestyle recipes and welcoming hospitality.

PIATTI RISTORANTE & BAR

255 E Basse Rd, Ste 500, San Antonio, TX 78209

Piatti Ristorante & Bar is a neighborhood Italian restaurant in San Antonio known for its handcrafted pastas, wood-fired pizzas, and warm, inviting atmosphere. Since opening in 1987, Piatti has focused on fresh ingredients, scratch-made recipes, and approachable Italian cuisine served in a casual yet refined setting. The menu features house-made sourdough ciabatta, antipasti, fresh salads, handmade pasta dishes, seafood specialties, and classic pizzas prepared in a wood-fired oven.

Guests can pair their meal with an extensive selection of Italian wines, local craft beers, and signature spritz cocktails, especially during the restaurant’s popular happy hour. Weekend brunch and seasonal menu offerings provide even more reasons to visit, making Piatti a longtime favorite for everything from casual lunches to special celebrations. Its commitment to fresh flavors and neighborhood hospitality has helped make it a staple of San Antonio’s dining scene.

WILHELM & WERNER

240 S Seguin Ave, New Braunfels, TX 78130

Wilhelm & Werner is a Texas-style brasserie located inside the newly reimagined Faust Hotel in downtown New Braunfels — a landmark building that dates back nearly a century. Built just before the Great Depression, the hotel never had its full moment in the spotlight until the current renovation brought it back to life. The restaurant features both a dining room and a full bar, with outdoor seating and a live music program rounding out the experience.

The menu reflects the farm-to-table ethos of the Hill Country around it. Brunch standouts include a savory cornbread waffle that is deep-fried, finished with smoked paprika brown butter and pure maple syrup, then topped with buttermilk-dredged fried chicken. The house-made pappardelle pasta is part-cooked in water and finished in the pan with thyme-infused brown butter and Parmigiano-Reggiano to build a rich, starchy coating. The rabbit pie — one of the restaurant’s top sellers — braises local rabbit with aged sherry vinegar, bacon, pearl onions, and roasted peas, all under a game-fat crust. Rounding out the spread is Sunday’s Best, a rotating dessert of house-cultured buttermilk ice cream with burnt Texas honey caramel, pecan crumble, seven-day fermented local blackberries, and a brown butter cornbread crumble.

SOUTHERLEIGH

9800 Airport Blvd, San Antonio, TX 78216

Southerleigh is the new airport outpost of the Southerleigh restaurant group, co-founded by husband-and-wife team Jeff and Allison Balfour. Jeff Balfour, a Galveston native, built his culinary reputation in San Antonio on a modern take on Texas cross-cultural cuisine — rooted in the coastal classics of the Gulf Coast and layered with the comfort of Southern cooking. The new Terminal B location joins the Pearl and Hot South locations as part of the Southerleigh family, with the design team working to capture the spirit of both sister restaurants while creating a space that stands on its own within the airport environment.

The menu brings the flavors that made the brand a San Antonio staple directly to travelers. On offer are fried chicken, grilled shrimp with a buttery sauce, coleslaw, and fried pickles — approachable Southern plates that deliver on the quality the group is known for.

BAKERY LORRAINE

9800 Airport Blvd, San Antonio, TX 78216

Bakery Lorraine is a San Antonio-based artisanal bakery specializing in French pastries, macarons, viennoiseries, and breakfast items. The brand has been recognized as one of the best bakeries in Texas, and its new Terminal B airport location — led by co-founder Charlie Biedenharn and the broader Bakery Lorraine team — marks a major expansion, bringing the bakery’s handcrafted offerings to a wider audience of travelers passing through San Antonio.

The airport location carries the full lineup of Bakery Lorraine’s classic counter items, including croissants, pop pastries, and quinamons, as well as their signature French macarons available in three-pack, six-pack, and twelve-pack formats. The traditional French macaron remains Biedenharn’s personal go-to — a bite-sized representation of the precision and craft that has defined the brand since its founding.

CREDENCE

9757 Katy Fwy #170, Houston, TX 77024

Credence is a restaurant concept from Levi Goode, a fifth-generation Texan and two-time James Beard Award nominee. The Houston restaurant is built around an open fire kitchen, with the flame serving as the literal and culinary centerpiece of the dining room. The concept draws on South Texas ranch culture, campfire-style cooking traditions, and the finest regional ingredients. Adjacent to the main dining room is Sidebar, a reservation-only speakeasy and live music venue.

Chef de Cuisine Frank Hernandez leads the kitchen through a menu that showcases the range and precision of open fire techniques. The open fire branzino is prepped with extra virgin olive oil, a spice rub, and a signature butter — a garlic and parsley compound butter that has become one of the restaurant’s most recognized elements — before being grilled on a rack. Other standout dishes include the devil crab, hot fried quail, and a heritage half chicken served over cornbread gnocchi.

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

In an interview as he becomes chair of the National Governors Association, the potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender ticked through Trump's efforts to restrict voting by mail, obtain voter information from states and possibly deploy federal troops or agents to polling places. Moore said there was a role for the NGA, a bipartisan group, to ensure states are able to oversee elections as designed by the U.S. Constitution.

“I don't think that the president is trying to hide the ball on this,” Moore said. “It's not even am I concerned about what the president could do? I'm concerned about what he's already doing in broad daylight.”

Moore's national profile is expanding and so is speculation about the White House

The 47-year-old governor's national profile is rising as he assumes the top leadership post for the nation's governors on Saturday, a role once held by Bill Clinton when he was governor of Arkansas. Moore is the subject of frequent speculation that he will announce a presidential run, a prospect he rules out, saying he will not “get distracted” before the November elections.

His travel to early presidential testing grounds such as South Carolina and Nevada, though, suggests he may run. Moore is proving himself a savvy digital communicator and crafts an image as a newcomer to politics while voters demand change.

The centerpiece of his agenda as NGA chair — a national program to build communities and draw young people into the workforce through service-oriented work — could be a pillar of a future campaign.

“Service will save us as a society because I know service saved me,” he said, recalling his time in the Army.

The “Service United” campaign opens with $10 million in philanthropic support to build on similar work Moore has done in Maryland, including a $5 million expansion of an apprenticeship program in the state announced this week.

“It's an opportunity to help people with a career path,” said Bechara Choucair, the executive vice president and chief health officer at Kaiser Permanente, which is building a youth mental health corps with Service United.

Dame Louise Richardson, the president of the Andrew Carnegie Foundation, which is supporting the program, said she hopes to “see the day when you meet somebody, they don't just ask, ‘Where did you go to college?’ but they ask, ‘Where did you do your service year?’”

The contours of the initiative have drawn support from some Republicans, including Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, the outgoing NGA chair.

“One of the things I like is the apprenticeship model and getting kids out of the classroom and into more workforce learning,” Stitt said. “So I think that's brilliant.”

Divisions between parties run deep despite nods at bipartisanship

But that optimism masks the challenge facing Moore as he takes the helm of one of the few remaining political groups that bring top Republicans and Democrats together. For all the nods at bipartisanship, the divides between — and within — the parties run deep.

Even as he spoke warmly of Moore's program, Stitt warned against anything resembling a “big government program.”

Moore, meanwhile, spoke of public frustration with the government’s response to dramatic changes in the workforce, driven by advances in artificial intelligence that could erode entry-level work that has long helped young people start their careers. He said the White House has complicated the dynamic.

“We want to say that if a person goes on to a four-year college or chooses not to go to a four-year college, they still need to have pathways to long-term wages and wealth," Moore said. “What we have seen from the federal government thus far has just been simply executive orders that have told the states to stay out of it.”

Moore and Trump have sparred frequently and there's potential for more

Moore has a challenging relationship with Trump, who sought to bar him and Gov. Jared Polis, D-Colo., from a White House meeting organized by the NGA earlier this year. The president relented after Stitt intervened, though there is little to suggest that the relationship has recovered, raising the potential of another confrontation at the next NGA meeting, traditionally held February in Washington.

When asked about Trump, Moore noted his enjoyment at working with governors from both parties before saying “the president of the United States seems to consistently take an ideological view when it comes to securing the future of this country."

The White House did not comment on Moore's characterization.

But Moore also is contending with divides among his fellow Democrats.

At home in Maryland, where he is seeking reelection this fall, he has at times struggled to win over Democrats in the legislature, which reconvenes next week to consider a constitutional amendment on redistricting after an earlier effort he backed fell short.

Moore says party bosses should not rule

The Democratic National Committee is in turmoil. A string of democratic socialists has won primaries from New York City to Denver, prompting debate over whether the party is moving too far to the left and threatening its potential victories in the fall. Upcoming elections in Michigan and Wisconsin will further tug at the divide.

Moore did not take a firm stance with either of his party's ideological wings. He batted away questions about democratic socialists potentially imperiling Democratic wins, insisting it was up to voters to decide who their nominees would be.

“Party bosses shouldn't be determining who members of the party are,” he said, without specifying whether he was referring to Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York as one of them. “The people should be the ones to have a final say on that.”

At the same time, Moore made clear that he did not support some of the left flank's positions.

“I know where I am on issues,” he said. “I don't believe in abolishing the police. I don't believe in abolishing prisons. I don't believe in open borders.”

Democrats sound alarm about Trump role in midterms

But perhaps the biggest test for Moore will be navigating the management of this year's elections without denting the bipartisan tone that typically defines the NGA. He will be in the middle of Republicans who are calling for tougher rules, particularly around voter identification and deadlines for mail ballots, and fellow Democrats who warn of voter suppression.

Democratic Gov. Josh Stein of North Carolina, who leads one of the most politically competitive states that includes a marquee Senate race this fall, echoed Moore's concerns about federal interference.

“I don’t think you can be a clear-thinking person and not be concerned because all the signals are very worrisome,” he said in an interview. “But that said, I have confidence that if the voters come out in droves and vote the way that they want to vote, that the government will represent their wishes.”

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said that "if Democrats really cared about securing our elections, they would pass the SAVE America Act,” referring to a strict proof-of-citizenship voting bill that is stalled in the Senate.

Stitt expressed confidence that states would hold elections without federal intervention while noting his support for the voting bill. But he also rejected federal intervention and said: "States should control their own elections.”

Moore said he used to associate states’ rights arguments with segregationists like Bull Connor, the infamous public safety commissioner in Birmingham, Alabama, who turned fire hoses and dogs on peaceful protesters during the Civil Rights era.

Now, Moore said, the Trump era has reshaped his views and reinforced “the importance of having actually strong governors.”

“It was kind of motivating as a kid to watch it because even though there wasn’t a platform for us to play professional baseball when I was growing up, playing Little League and youth baseball, like there was a vision that there could be,” Schroder said. “And we’re here now.”

They sure are.

The inaugural season of the Women’s Pro Baseball League begins on Saturday — weather permitting, with rain in the forecast — when Denae Benites and the New York Heights face Mo’ne Davis and the Los Angeles Queens. The other two teams in the league — the Boston Hunters and San Francisco Firebells — play on Sunday.

Each team will have 15 active players for the seven-inning games. The 15 regular-season games for each club and the playoffs will be held at Springfield's Robin Roberts Stadium, a historic ballpark that has a seating capacity of 5,200 and opened in 1925.

“What excites me most is having the chance to compete against players who have been my teammate, as well as Team USA players, and other athletes I’ve always considered rivals,” Japanese right-hander Ayami Sato, one of Los Angeles' top pitchers, said Friday through a translator. “Being able to play against them in this league is something I’ve been really looking forward to.”

The opening weekend of the WPBL marks another major moment in a scattered history for women's professional baseball in the United States. The AAGPBL, which ran from 1943-54, was the first professional women’s league in the U.S. There were at least two attempts to start a league in the 1990s, but each one was short-lived.

The WPBL was co-founded by Justine Siegal, who became the first woman to coach for an MLB team with the Athletics in 2015. And its players, taking the field in an era of unprecedented popularity for women's sports, have big dreams.

The fledgling league got a lift Thursday when it announced a media rights deal with ESPN and the Scripps Sports Network to air regular-season and postseason games in its inaugural campaign.

“We want to make this thing last forever and ever,” Los Angeles infielder Ashton Lansdell said. “We want this to become the MLB of women’s baseball.”

Lansdell, Benites, Schroder and Kelsie Whitmore were named team captains on Friday. Schroder plays for Boston, and Whitmore was selected by San Francisco with the No. 1 overall pick in the draft.

“We were talking earlier today, I was telling them we’re a family now,” Whitmore said. “This is our new team, this is our crew, all 15 of us. And my goal is just to lead them the best way that I can, both on and off the field.”

Whitmore and the Firebells will be managed by Matt Williams, a five-time All-Star during his 17 years in the major leagues. Former Boston Red Sox closer Keith Foulke is the manager of the Hunters, and former big league infielder Eric Young is the skipper for the Queens. Rachelle “Rocky” Henley, a former player with a long history in women's baseball development, rounds out the managers with the Heights.

With only 15 active players for each team, the managers and their coaching staffs are going to be busy as they execute their strategy for each game.

“When I saw them play down in (Florida) this spring, it was like, ‘Wow. These aren’t women playing baseball, these are athletes playing baseball,’” Foulke said. “And I just want to bring that passion to my club, to the league, help build this and just be able to go out there and have a good time, put on a good product.”

___

This story corrects Ayami Sato's team to Los Angeles.

___

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

Around 8:30 p.m. Friday, officers responded to the crash in the 5200 block of Roosevelt Avenue, near Loop 410.

The man was traveling northbound in the southbound lanes of Roosevelt Avenue when a second vehicle traveling southbound approached, according to a preliminary report.

Both drivers switched lanes simultaneously to avoid each other but moved into the same lane, police said.

The man, identified in the report as Luis Martinez, 63, was initially reported to have sustained non-life-threatening injuries. Martinez was taken to a hospital, where he died several hours later, SAPD said.

The report states Martinez showed signs of intoxication at the time of the crash.

It was not immediately clear whether the driver of the second vehicle was injured.

Read also:

• ‘This was my peace, and they ruined it’: Woman speaks out after being attacked at North Side park

The Danube River, which runs through 10 countries from southwestern Germany to the Black Sea, has receded to never-before-seen lows along much of its course, exposing rocks, sand bars and old shipwrecks that have rarely been seen before.

In Budapest, Hungary's capital, the national water authority measured the Danube's water level at 23 centimeters (9 inches) on Wednesday morning, well below the previous all-time low of 33 centimeters (13 inches) set in 2018.

The river is expected to further ebb in the coming days with no significant rain in the forecast and temperatures expected to rise to over 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit) across the region.

Drought upends boat traffic

As Danube levels sank to a new low on Tuesday, photographer Gábor Kertész went to the base of Budapest’s Margaret Bridge — typically underwater but now an exposed shoal — to document the sight.

“The bare rocks, the dry sand bars around the bridge pillars ... it’s all shocking to see how things were before and how they are now,” he said. “Where will this lead, what will happen? We don’t know that yet, but this must be the result of climate change.”

Much of Central Europe has been under a prolonged drought for most of the year, and successive heat waves have accelerated evaporation and caused waterways to dry out.

According to the Hungarian Meteorological Service, 90-day precipitation totals are between 80-130 millimeters (3.1-5.1 inches) lower across nearly the entire country compared to multi-year averages.

The low water level has forced popular cruise ships, where passengers usually disembark for sightseeing in Budapest, to dock far upriver, while cargo ships have stopped operating nearly entirely, according to Hungary’s Ministry of Transport and Investment.

In Bulgaria, where the Danube forms a border with Romania, police on Tuesday evacuated 186 tourists from a cruise ship that had run aground near the port city of Vidin.

The ship Viking Ullur, which had been scheduled to take on supplies in Vidin, was unable to reach the port after running into a shallow shoal, according to Bulgaria’s state news agency BTA.

Bulgarian border police said that the ship was running low on drinking water when it went aground, and that its 52 crew members might have to remain onboard for an extended period depending on navigation conditions and refloating options.

Viking strongly disputed reports that there had been a shortage of food or drinking water on board the Viking Ullur at the time of the incident. A representative of the company said the ship was “well stocked with food and potable water for all guests and crew,” and that there were sufficient provisions to support those on board for up a week after the incident.

In Serbia, hundreds of small boats and dozens of cargo ships were marooned on the dried out river bank near the northern city of Novi Sad.

One house boat owner, Radovan Segrt, who runs river excursions on his vessel, told The Associated Press that the water in the Danube had withdrawn “some 15 to 20 meters (50 to 65 feet) from its shore.”

“The summer season is over now, as far as boat riding is concerned,” he said.

Low water levels force nuclear plant shut downs

The receding waters are also affecting nuclear energy production in numerous countries where water from the Danube is typically used to cool reactors.

In Romania, where Danube water flow had fallen to 1,630 cubic meters per second, around a third of a typical July average, authorities shut down a reactor unit at the Cernavoda power plant on Tuesday for safety reasons and announced another would be shut down soon after.

Similarly, Hungary’s Paks nuclear plant, which supplies nearly half of the country's electricity, began powering down a reactor on Wednesday due to restricted cooling-water supplies. That came after two successive reductions in power output in two reactors over the previous two days.

Drought exposes treasures and dangers

The exposed river bed can also pose dangers. Last week, authorities in Budapest closed the Margaret Bridge after a bomb dating from World War II was exposed at its base by the receding water levels.

Treasure hunter Zsolt Horváth was using the extreme conditions to fish metal objects from the exposed bank with a powerful magnet on Tuesday. He said he got a lot of pleasure from finding things like an old radio amplifier or bullet casings from the World Wars.

Horváth said that while "having so little water in the Danube is a blessing for this kind of activity, otherwise, it’s a curse.”

___

CORRECTS: A previous version of this story, based on information from the Bulgarian agency BTA, inaccurately stated that the Viking Ullur, which ran aground in Bulgaria, had run out of food and water. Police said they only stated that the ship was short of water, and the operator denied even that.

___

Associated Press writers Stephen McGrath in Leamington Spa, England, Veselin Toshkov in Sofia, Bulgaria, Béla Szandelszky in Budapest, Hungary and Radul Radovanovic in Novi Sad, Serbia contributed.

Suddenly, the 2-year-old blue heeler mix wanted nothing to do with Brian’s textured brown skin or furiously rattling tail. Ripley was never in danger because Brian had his venom glands removed years ago.

Dog trainer J.J. Belcher of Sublime Canine in Tucson, Arizona, said the single shock delivered one recent morning from an electronic training collar should be sufficient to keep Ripley away from venomous snakes that can sicken or even kill a dog. Belcher said Ripley can come back in a year for a free training session to make sure the lesson stuck.

Ripley’s owners, Amber Schneider and Wendy Timm, said they opted for the training because the dog regularly hunts small animals.

“We have an acre of natural desert and respect all the snakes, but she’s very curious about wildlife,” said Timm. “We are doing this because we want to keep our dog safe.”

How common are dog-snake interactions?

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals says as many as 150,000 dogs are bitten by venomous snakes each year in the United States. In the rattlesnake hot spot of Arizona, emergency veterinarian Dr. Sarah Carotenuto says the Veterinary Specialty Center of Tucson treats four to six dogs daily for rattlesnake bites, along with an occasional cat.

Training programs to protect canines from poisonous snakes are offered around the U.S., especially in the Western deserts, woods and grasslands that are home to western diamondbacks. The snakes can reach over 5 feet long (1.5 meters) and strike in less than a second when they feel threatened.

There are also classes from Illinois to Florida to guard animals against eastern diamondbacks, timber rattlers and other venomous snakes.

Carotenuto said the snakebite survival rate for pets is 94% with quick treatment, which can cost thousands of dollars depending on how much antivenom and hospitalization is needed.

“Do bring us your dog quickly, but please don’t bring us the snake!” emphasized Carotenuto. Some people have brought in the guilty snake, but it’s unnecessary to identify the exact species before administering antivenom effective against all kinds of rattlers.

Which method is best?

Carotenuto, who teaches at the University of Arizona’s College of Veterinary Medicine, said she’s participating in a research study there into whether rattlesnake-aversion training works, and which method is most effective.

Like Belcher, most trainers insist that the use of the electronic collar is necessary to ensure a dog will avoid poisonous snakes.

“It’s a very fast and effective form of training,” said Belcher, who has traveled around the Western U.S. for more than two decades teaching rattlesnake avoidance to thousands of pet and working dogs, including search-and-rescue animals and the occasional police dog.

He acknowledged the growing debate about the use of electronic training collars, a method that the American Humane Society has opposed as cruel.

The ASPCA doesn’t explicitly oppose electronic collars, but insists they be used correctly.

“This type of training can be highly effective — however, we recommend that such training be conducted only under the guidance of a trainer knowledgeable in the principles of avoidance learning,” said Pamela Reid, vice president of ASPCA's behavioral sciences team.

“It is imperative to weigh the dog’s risk of a snakebite against the potential fallout from using an electronic collar,” she said.

Training a dog to come reliably when it’s called and to “leave it” when it is interested in something dangerous “can go a long way toward keeping a dog safe,” she said.

Belcher said he has developed an alternative positive-reinforcement program for clients who are squeamish about electronic collars, but nobody has wanted to pay the $2,500 he would charge for the multiple sessions. A single visit with the collar costs $125.

Another trainer, Mike Parmley in Salt Lake City, teaches as many as 500 dogs every year, usually in small classes of four to six. He uses an electronic collar set on a low level, emphasizing, “You don’t have to shock the hell out of the dog.”

He aims to help dogs steer clear of the Salt Lake area's Great Basin rattlesnakes.

“They are a pretty big problem up here in the foothills,” said Parmley, who owns Barley’s Canine Recreation Center. “They came out a lot earlier this year because of a trend of warmer weather, and we had more than 100 dogs signed up by early June.”

Other steps to prevent encounters with snakes

Here are some tips from trainers and veterinarians for protecting your dog:

— Learn about snakes in your area. Venomous snakes exist across the U.S., with various rattler species not only in the West but as far east as New York and North Carolina.

— Clear your yard of long grass and other foliage or debris that can attract small rodents hunted by snakes. Trimming back growth can eliminate hiding places.

— Stay on well-worn trails while hiking and keep your dog on a leash.

— Don’t let your guard down even if your dog has had avoidance training. A viper can surprise and attack a person or pet without warning.

— Seek emergency care immediately if your dog is bitten because the venom will move quickly through its body, destroying tissue.

___

For more AP pet stories, go to https://apnews.com/hub/pets

Toss in a crescendoing meteor shower and a six-planet parade on the same day, and the heavens will be overflowing with awe.

Daytime darkness will descend Aug. 12 across the Iberian Peninsula close to sunset — plus slivers of Greenland and Iceland — as the sun, moon and Earth align perfectly in the sky.

Starting near the North Pole before tracking south, totality will last up to two minutes and 18 seconds, an appetizer for an even longer solar show next year — a 6 ½-minute extravaganza that will sweep from Spain to North Africa and the Middle East.

It will take 1 ½ hours for the umbra, or moon’s sun-blocking shadow, to race along the 5,130-mile (8,260-kilometer) course, most of it over an empty Atlantic. Maximum totality will occur off Iceland’s west coast. By the time it reaches a small patch of Portugal and then Spain with its massive crowds, totality will have dwindled to a minute or so. The spectacle will end in the Mediterranean.

Eclipse chasers gear up for the solar spectacle

Hundreds of millions more on the sidelines are in for a treat as well.

A partial eclipse will delight as far away as Alaska and Siberia, enveloping Canada, the northern U.S., and much of Europe and West Africa.

The closer to totality’s course, the more the sun will vanish behind the moon – 94% coverage in Dublin and 83% in Oslo, Norway. Montreal will see an 18% bite out of the sun, tapering to 9% in New York and 2% in Norfolk, Virginia.

Special eclipse glasses are crucial. even if a morsel of sun is showing.

Adding to the cosmic wonder, the day begins with six of our neighboring planets forming an arc in the sky before dawn and end with the Perseid meteor shower peaking after nightfall under the new moon. Streaking meteors could photobomb totality, with some of the brighter planets and stars visible in the background.

Eclipse mapmaker Michael Zeiler is chasing an even more elusive interloper: the northern lights.

For his 13th total solar eclipse, Zeiler will be on a cruise ship in a Greenland fjord, sailing as a guest lecturer. He’ll point a video camera toward the north to capture any aurora forming during totality. A massive outburst from the sun would be the icing on his eclipse cake.

“What gets me excited is viewing rare phenomena,” Zeiler said in an email.

He’s not the only one revved up.

See who's hosting solar eclipse watch parties and science experiments

The European Space Agency will host a live webcast from Spain’s Astrophysical Observatory of Javalambre and a public celebration in Leon. NASA will provide its own coverage, as will the Italian-based Virtual Telescope Project and others.

“For me, it’s not just a scientific moment. It’s not just an incredible alignment of heavenly bodies. It’s also a very human moment,” said ESA’s director of science Carole Mundell. “It’s a real human connection between us with our feet planted on the Earth and the cosmos.”

Two of ESA’s space telescopes will observe the eclipsed sun and its corona, or outer atmosphere. Proba-3, the space agency’s artificial eclipse-making satellite duo, will be in the wrong part of its orbit during totality as seen from Earth, but will try to sneak in some before-and-after shots.

U.S. college research teams are also pitching in, launching more than 60 high-altitude balloons from Spain and Iceland to study Earth’s atmosphere and other changes during the eclipse when the temperature momentarily drops. They launched 10 times as many balloons during the 2024 total solar eclipse that captivated North America.

“A couple of minutes isn’t a lot of time, but it’s still plenty to affect the atmosphere and to make that cold, dark shadow of the moon on Earth,” said Montana State University’s Angela Des Jardins, who leads the NASA-funded balloon project.

Southwest Research Institute’s Amir Caspi also expects a scientific bonanza from his study aboard a NASA high-altitude plane. Four cameras will record the corona in nine wavelengths as the jet chases the eclipse at 460 mph (740 kph), extending totality to nearly three minutes in the air. Caspi anticipates thousands of images gathered from each camera during those precious 180 seconds.

"It’s true the eclipse is short, but it’s still incredibly valuable," he said.

And there's more to come

An exceptionally long total solar eclipse is in store for 2027, yielding nearly three times more observation time.

The southern tip of Spain will take center stage on Aug. 2, 2027, with up to six minutes and 23 seconds of totality extending into Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Somalia.

Then on Jan. 26, 2028, a ring-of-fire eclipse will round out Spain’s celestial trifecta — “a lucky coincidence,” according to ESA’s Mundell.

It’s all the more extraordinary considering Spain’s last full solar eclipse — not counting the Canary Islands — occurred two days before the Titanic’s sinking in 1912. Because that rare hybrid eclipse toggled between a ring-of-fire and just a few seconds of totality for Spain, some consider 1905 for the country’s last pull-out-all-the-stops solar eclipse.

The Royal Observatory of Belgium’s Andrei Zhukov can’t get enough of them regardless of their length or origin. His Proba-3 science mission has created more than 60 simulated total solar eclipses over the past two years, with the longest lasting five hours and 38 minutes from two satellites flying in formation.

“We’re looking forward to more eclipses,” Zhukov said, “natural or artificial.”

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

The Manchester low-rise is home to “No. 10 North,” the flagship of new Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s pledge to be a different kind of U.K. leader. Burnham was mayor of Greater Manchester before vaulting back into national politics, and one of his first acts was to set up a branch office in the city. It’s both symbol of and engine for his pledge to give local leaders more powers and spread economic growth around the country.

Burnham calls it “a North Pole that balances the South Pole" of Westminster politics in London. Critics have called it a gimmick.

It’s certainly a novelty. While past British leaders have spent weekends in their local constituencies, or at the prime minister’s official Chequers country retreat, none in living memory has had a large-scale office outside London. Burnham plans to work there at least one day a week, alongside a full-time staff of aides, experts and civil servants.

“It’s not another office," Burnham said Friday. "It is a fundamental change to the way the country thinks about growth and investment."

The king of the north goes nationwide

Burnham believes Manchester holds the key to avoiding the fate of Keir Starmer, his predecessor as Labour Party leader and prime minister.

Starmer stepped down in July after two years in office, following missteps, policy U-turns and his failure to get Britain’s sluggish economy growing.

During nine years as Manchester mayor, Burnham was praised standing up to central government on behalf of a proud, battle-scarred northern city that gave birth to the Industrial Revolution, movements for social change and a dynamic music scene. He gained the nickname King of the North for his championing of the city — and his political ambition.

Burnham promoted what has been called “Manchesterism,” a form of business-friendly socialism that involves harnessing private investment for major projects and decentralizing government to give communities more control over housing, transport, training and public services.

The city center boomed during his mayoralty. Skyscrapers sprouted from vacant lots, service industries grew, a thousand coffee shops bloomed and a municipally run network of bright yellow buses and trams crisscrossed the city.

Now Burnham wants to replicate the approach across the country, using No. 10 North as the engine room for redistributing wealth and economic opportunities to areas blighted by shuttered industries, lost jobs and an exodus of young people.

In a first step, Burnham announced Friday that mayors will get to keep a greater share of income and business tax revenue from their areas, calling it the “biggest transfer of power, funding and responsibility from Westminster in a generation.”

Many of the details haven’t been announced, however, including how much new money mayors will be getting.

Rob Ford, professor of political science at the University of Manchester, said Burnham’s bold early moves suggest “he does mean business in terms of changing the overall mechanics of government.”

“We have one of the most centralized countries out of all developed democracies in terms of how much money and decision-making power gets hoovered into the center, how little there is for the provinces to do,” Ford said. “He does seem quite determined to change that, but that’s a huge job.”

Burnham's critics point out that Manchester’s boom hasn't spread to all its outskirts, and the anti-immigration party Reform UK has been a beneficiary of voters’ discontent.

Supporters welcome the government’s northern tilt

It’s envisioned that No. 10 North will eventually get a brand-new headquarters as part of an inner-city redevelopment project. For now, it shares a building with a chain pub, a civic register office and a branch of the cyberintelligence agency GCHQ.

It’s very different to cramped, stuffy 10 Downing St, a 350-year-old townhouse awkwardly converted into the hub of a government that has grown too big for it.

Supporters say No. 10 North is already a breath of fresh air. Rose Marley, chief executive of Cooperatives UK, an umbrella group for member-owned businesses, felt the difference when she was invited to a meeting there.

“It was so refreshing that it wasn’t us having to travel to London all the time,” she said. “Westminster might start realizing how bad the trains are and how much it costs when they have to come back the other way.”

Marley, who advised Burnham when he was mayor, likens the impact to when the BBC moved production of some programs to Salford in Greater Manchester.

“For the first time ever, the likes of me were asked onto the BBC sofa,” she said. “It meant voices like mine started to appear on the sofa and a diversity of thinking started to be heard.

“The voices that are furthest away from what you’re saying and what you believe, that’s when you need to listen the most," she said. "Westminster really does need to listen to all the parts of the country.”

Burnham urged to look beyond Manchester

Most Mancunians are proud of their city, and many support the idea of it getting more control over its own affairs.

“I think it makes sense,” said Sam Turner, a nursing lecturer. “Because the north is very different to the south, there are different house values, there’s different land values, with different salaries.”

But Ford says Burnham will need to show that he is giving power to all parts of the country, not just Manchester.

“You could go to Liverpool down the road, or Leeds, or Sheffield and they’ll say, ‘Well, you know, an office in Manchester isn’t necessarily an office for us,’” Ford said. “So that’s an argument he still has to win.”

Lesley Lebbon, visiting Manchester from Newmarket in eastern England, said No. 10 North is “a start,” but that other regions need attention, too. She’d like to see “more No. 10s, maybe an East and a West No. 10.”

Still, “I like the idea of what No. 10 North represents,” she said. “I think any progress has got to be better than no progress.”

Infantino’s decision came after his senior adviser who sat on a White House panel resigned and Asia’s soccer body joined Europe and North America in opposing it.

“Having listened carefully to all the views, it has become clear that the project has created divisions of a nature that, regardless of the level of support, are no longer in the interest of the objective set out in the first place,” Infantino said in a statement early Saturday. “Our purpose has always been — and will always be — to unite and improve. As a result, this proposal will not proceed.”

Infantino had proposed creating a $20 billion company to run the World Cup with private investors including the Kushner family, but drew backlash that grew every day since Tuesday's announcement.

UEFA’s 55-member nations agreed to boycott the World Cup and all other FIFA competitions over Infantino’s plan on Thursday. North America’s CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation also said they opposed the plan.

“Some things are simply too important to sell,” UEFA said in a statement. “The FIFA World Cup belongs to football. It always will. And so long as Europe has a voice, it will never be for sale.”

Infantino’s senior adviser, Carlos Cordeiro, a former Goldman Sachs banker who represented the soccer body on the White House Task Force for the World Cup, resigned on Friday and urged other senior FIFA staff to speak out.

“I cannot stand by while FIFA considers selling a stake in the World Cup,” Cordeiro said in a statement, just hours after FIFA insisted: “Nobody is selling football.”

Hours later, FIFA chief operating officer Kevin Lamour issued a statement to The Associated Press, saying FIFA staff were deceived by Infantino's lack of openness in planning the sale over recent months and that the project must not continue.

“It is the project of one person,” Lamour, a longtime colleague of Infantino at both FIFA and European soccer body UEFA, wrote. “Not only must this project not go ahead … but the time has now come for football political leaders to ask themselves the right questions and make the right decisions.”

Infantino has proposed spinning off FIFA’s commercial businesses — including World Cups and Club World Cups for men and women — into a $20 billion subsidiary with 20% owned by private investors.

The “anchor investor,” described by FIFA, is a New York-based investment firm created by Joshua Kushner, the younger brother of U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

The next FIFA competition is the Women’s Under-20 World Cup starting Sept. 5 in Poland — which UEFA members said they would boycott.

The misstep could prove costly for Infantino, particularly after the interventions by Lamour and Cordeiro.

Reelected unopposed in 2019 and 2023, Infantino is allowed one more four-year term under FIFA statutes. The deadline for the next presidential contest is Nov. 18, exactly four months ahead of the vote in Rabat, Morocco, where FIFA has its African headquarters.

Infantino's job seemed secured despite long-term unease with his style and previous attempts to force through unpopular projects, but could become more tenuous with the failed private equity proposal.

___

AP Sports Writer John Marshall contributed from Phoenix.

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and AP World Cup coverage

The death toll rose to 34, the Kumamoto prefectural government said, as rescuers raced to find those still missing after the quake triggered a mall explosion, toppled a factory chimney and flattened homes.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi stressed that authorities must secure water supplies by doing “whatever it takes” and called for close coordination with the military and other relevant agencies. The earthquake left thousands of homes without power, but electricity was fully restored by Friday evening. The local power company also said there were no immediate reports of remaining outages.

The magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu on Tuesday. As search operations entered a fourth day, it wasn’t known how many people remained missing.

More than 1,500 buildings were damaged, including 179 that were destroyed, according to preliminary assessments by Kumamoto officials.

Officials said one more death and its connection to the quake is under investigation. At least 96 people were injured, including six seriously.

Debris collected at a severely damaged century-old Japanese inn

In Yatsushiro City, another hard-hit area in southern Kumamoto, Kinparo, a 116-year old Japanese inn, was severely damaged, with its roofed main entrance collapsed to the ground, white walls cracked and rooftiles fell.

On Friday, three days after the quake, workers were removing parts of the gate, which is part of a registered historic property that needs to be restored.

Started in 1910, the three-story ryokan with traditional architecture and its hot bath have attracted many fans from the region and across Japan.

“The damage is tremendous and it would require significant repairs, and I can’t even think if or how I can do that,” inn owner Keisuke Matsumoto said. “But it’s a valuable family inn that has been handed down for generations since my great-great grandfather built it, so I do hope to preserve it.”

Inside, his mother Misao Matsumoto said she was not injured in the quake but “I’m mentally discouraged. It’s very painful to see parts of what I’ve lived with and enjoyed for decades crumble to that state.” But she said experts of historic buildings will come in to discuss the reconstruction, so “I have to hang in there.”

Across the street from the Kinparo inn, a fish cake shop owner unable to resume his business due to the water cutoff was giving away tube-shaped fish cakes while they are still edible.

Signs for the “chikuwa” fish cake hang from the ceiling. “I just wanted to cheer up this neighborhood,” said shop owner Shinichiro Katayama. He says he cannot clean or check his fish cake machine is intact until the water supply resumes. “I don’t even know if the machine still works. When water supply is back that would be my first step toward a recovery.”

Thousands are without water as heat soars

Kumamoto authorities said nearly 80,000 homes remained without water. More than 9,000 people were staying in shelters, where power sources were being added to provide air conditioning.

Fuel has also become scarce as power outages disabled gas stations and quake damage disrupted deliveries from other regions. Many have resorted to sleeping in their cars for privacy, but with the fuel shortage, they struggle to keep the air conditioning running in sweltering temperatures.

Japan's weather agency and the Ministry of the Environment issued an extreme heat alert for Kumamoto city Friday as temperatures peaked at 36 C (97 F).

Hirokazu Sato, who lost his home in the earthquake, said he and his wife and three children would remain in their car until they can move into temporary housing.

“I don’t know how soon I’d be able to move in,” said Sato. “We need to have the air conditioning on throughout the day and night, which uses up gas.”

Kumamoto is also a major industrial hub, and there are concerns that the quake could possibly disrupt semiconductor and auto-parts supply chains for months to come.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, a global chip giant that operates a lab in Kumamoto, said all personnel were safe and operations were gradually resuming after postquake inspections found the structure was sound, although detailed inspections and impact assessments were still underway.

Searches continue, with the number of missing unknown

Japanese officials had described Friday afternoon as a crucial point for rescue efforts as some experts say survival chances decline after the first three days.

With search dogs, rescuers continued looking for survivors across the Kumamoto area, including at the collapsed Aeon Mall in the town of Kashima, one of the hardest-hit sites. The complex was bustling with thousands of people when the quake happened.

The company said about 3,000 shoppers were evacuated to a parking lot before an explosion happened in another part of the mall, where some staff remained working. The mall’s second floor collapsed, trapping people. Seven of the 11 rescued were confirmed dead, but officials did not say if anyone else is missing.

A search operation had ended at a Nippon Paper Industries factory in the Yatsushiro city where a chimney collapsed in the quake, officials said. Of the 11 people dug out there, nine were confirmed dead.

Smaller-scale searches continued Friday at the sites of collapsed houses in badly hit towns in southern Kumamoto. Authorities haven't supplied a firm figure for how many people are missing.

____

Ono reported from Tokyo. Associated Press writer business writer Yuri Kageyama contributed to this report.

“This is the first fire I'm experiencing real-time, and I can tell you it’s vicious,” said Pauner, 64. “It’s underground, it comes out at any moment, and no matter how much we try to extinguish it, re-extinguish it, re-extinguish it, it keeps restarting.”

“It’s like a steamroller that’s constantly, constantly rolling,” said Pauner, wearing shorts, boots and sunglasses on a string around his neck on a road through cultivated pine trees, as the ground smoldered.

Pauner is among the untold numbers of volunteers who have mobilized to support firefighters battling the biggest wildfires in years in France.

“I’m protecting my forest, and my home,” he said, pouring his watering can into a smoking ditch as if watering a garden, then huffing in the heat.

Hundreds of thousands forced from their homes

The wildfires that tore through cultivated forests on an Atlantic coast also known for towering sand dunes and tourist resorts devastated 42,000 hectares (about 162 square miles) west of Bordeaux, driving nearly a quarter-million people out of their homes and vacation sites.

Many other places in France have been hit by fires this summer, including in the Mediterranean Var region where a blaze in the Gros Bessillon mountain ridge flared up again on Friday, driven by violent winds, local authorities said. Several towns in the area were evacuated.

Europe is facing an extremely hot summer, fueling wildfires from the Atlantic coast to the eastern Mediterranean. The United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, Greece and Turkey battled blazes this week.

As cooler, more humid air moved into southwest France this week, authorities allowed two-thirds of the 224,000 evacuees to return home, including some more on Friday.

But the ground still simmers in many places.

“It’s stabilized, but not totally stopped,” French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told RTL radio. “Hot spots remain.”

Volunteers like Pauner — what he calls “little eyes” on watch to report flare-ups to firefighters — do what they can with limited resources. Others have mobilized their trucks and giant jerrycans to supply water to fire crews.

Drought has left forests dangerously dry

Prolonged drought and climate change have created fire-prone conditions. Pauner said the region endured more than two months without significant rainfall, leaving vegetation exceptionally dry.

In the smoking forests, fire crews used rakes to dig down into the smoldering forest floor so buried embers can be doused with water, a long and painstaking job. Ukraine became the latest country to send help, dispatching 70 people and 10 vehicles in the coming days, Nunez said.

Investigators suspect that contractors clearing away vegetation inadvertently ignited the blaze last week. But other fires have been attributed to arsonists or criminal negligence.

Nunez said police have made 308 arrests in connection with blazes this summer — more than 120 of them involving minors — and that 33 people have either been convicted or are being held pending court rulings.

Elsewhere in Europe, fires are also burning

Blazes continued in other parts of Europe.

Many parts of Greece were listed at high or extreme risk of wildfires, with strong winds. Three Greek firefighters died fighting fires this week on the southern island of Crete.

Firefighters were tackling 73 wildfires around the country, 51 of which broke out on Friday, Fire department spokesman Col. Vassilis Vathrakogiannis said.

The fire department and coast guard used boats to evacuate more than 250 people from one of the largest fires, in Boeotia, and evacuation orders were issued for several other fires, including one on the western fringes of the Greek capital.

Gale-force winds were hampering aircraft from dumping water on the wildfires, he said.

In England, where half the country is gripped by drought, firefighters battled a wildfire on an east coast heath in Suffolk, near a nuclear power station that fire services said wasn't threatened. More than 100 firefighters were deployed.

“I wouldn’t say it is under control,” said Henry Griffin, a fire officer.

___ Macpherson reported from Paris. Elena Becatoros in Athens, Greece, Danica Kirka in London, Jamey Keaten in Geneva and John Leicester contributed to this report.

Cunningham made the comments before the Fever's game Friday night against the Portland Fire. Outside, a group rallied for the second straight game in support of Cunningham and her recent comments about transgender athletes.

“I think at the end of the day, I come in and I do my job,” Cunningham said. "I think everyone who knows me personally, they know that I’m full of love. I’m bubbly. I love the people around me. I love basketball. I love inspiring the next generation and doing that in a positive light. And so that doesn’t even cross my mind. Doesn’t cross my teammates’ minds.

“And again, I’m here to play basketball, but I’m also here to be me, and I’m not gonna like shadow that or hide or, you know, dim my light just because maybe people don’t agree with that.”

Portland's rally came after a similar rally for Cunningham earlier in the week before the Fever's game at the Seattle Storm. Both rallies only attracted about two dozen participants and a bevy of onlookers.

“I have honestly had nothing to do with them,” Cunningham said. “I think it’s people just practicing their rights of freedom of speech and doing what other fans have been doing since the WNBA has started. And so props to them, props to everyone who is able to be competent and be bold and courageous enough to to speak their truths.”

Another rally was planned for Sunday in Minneapolis when the Fever play the Minnesota Lynx.

In Seattle on Tuesday, two Cunningham supporters sat courtside at Climate Change Arena holding signs. A co-owner of the Storm, Celeste Keaton was later fined an undisclosed amount and suspended for five games by the WNBA for an exchange with the two supporters.

The Storm also apologized for the incident, but did not provide details about the exchange, releasing a statement that said: “We remain committed to creating a welcoming and respectful environment for anyone who attends a Storm game.”

The Seattle rally promoted statewide ballot initiative, IL26-638, that would bar transgender students from participating in girls’ athletics at Washington schools. It also praised Cunningham, who voiced support for barring transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports in recent interviews.

“I am here to be a cheerleader for Sophie Cunningham, who has so bravely put her head above the parapet to protect women and girls in our sports and in our locker rooms,” said Amy Souza, who was among those at the Portland rally. “I was an organizer of this event, I was a co-organizer of the Seattle event. I’m also here, standing in solidarity with those teen girls who, unfortunately, were harassed when they were just trying to be fans of the sport, fans of Sophie Cunningham.”

Cunningham was booed by the Moda Center crowd in Portland when she entered the game midway though the first quarter. Many waved small pink, blue and white transgender flags.

The Fever downed the Fire 112-98 for their fifth straight win. Cunningham finished with 13 points and Caitlin Clark had her fourth career triple-double with 26 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.

Coach Stephanie White said she was concerned that the controversy was distracting from the team's play.

“You know there is a frustration, of course, because we want to we want to talk about basketball and we want to continue to work on our game and we want to continue to grow as a team.,” White said. “But I also understand this is part of our growth edge as a league, right? It’s part of our growth as a league, and we have to to be able to manage, we have to be able to insulate as much as we can, and then we have to be able to lead with conversation.”

___

AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

I’Ashea Myles of the Davidson County Chancery Court issued a temporary injunction to Jalen Washington and 18 other players to retain their eligibility.

“Defendant shall recognize Plaintiffs as eligible for the 2026–2027 basketball season and shall not deny or impede their recruitment, transfer, or certification on the basis of the challenged eligibility determination,” Myles wrote in her 33-page ruling.

A few hours later, U.S. District Court Judge Charlotte N. Sweeney in Colorado granted a preliminary injunction giving student-athletes from the high school Class of 2022 another year of eligibility for the upcoming school year. Former Minnesota basketball player Cade Tyson was among the 12 athletes named in the Colorado case.

Sweeney ruled that the injunction should cover the entire class of 2022 high school graduates facing similar circumstances.

Myles, who heard motion arguments July 22, also ordered that the transfer portal open at noon Monday until 8 a.m. on Aug. 10 for any player wanting to enter and schools wanting to reach out.

The NCAA referred The Associated Press to a statement from President Charlie Baker on X on proposed legislation to regulate college sports. Baker called the “chaos” from Friday's rulings are why it's “long past time” leaders in college sports call for the immediate passage of the Protect College Sports Act.

“Failed professionals will continue to use college sports as a fallback option — robbing the next class of young athletes of college scholarships," Baker said.

On June 23, the NCAA approved a new eligibility model for Division I athletes that will allow five seasons of competition over a five-year period that begins with their full-time enrollment or the academic year following their 19th birthday, whichever occurs first.

Washington, who played last season at Vanderbilt, was the lead plaintiff in the complaint filed July 6 by the Texas Trial Group seeking the injunction. Others include Chendall Weaver, last at Texas; A.J. Storr, Mississippi; Jason Edwards, Providence; Daniel Egbuniwe, St. Bonaventure; and Zachary Davis, Memphis.

“On the eve of congressional consideration of the Protect College Sports Act, the NCAA points to its inevitable judicial losses as evidence that Congress should grant it broader legal protections,” the Texas Trial Group said in a statement to The Associated Press.

"The timing is difficult to ignore. First create the litigation. Then point to the litigation as the reason judicial oversight should be curtailed. No one should be surprised to learn that Mr. Baker is a career politician paid millions of dollars a year to essentially running a lobbying campaign under the guise of a `voluntary association.'”

Myles wrote in her 33-page ruling granting the injunction that “the NCAA has not applied the challenged eligibility rules uniformly among similarly situated student-athletes" with a pattern of extending years of eligibility to “certain groups of players.”

She noted a waiver for the 2025-26 season for those who played at least one season at a junior college or NAIA school, and Myles wrote each plaintiff played against students who got waivers to play additional seasons or attended junior colleges.

The chancellor's order also enjoined the NCAA from enforcing its rule of restitution against the athletes and colleges they play for this season.

___

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

Dozens and often hundreds of immigrants' cases a day are being assigned to individual judges in courthouses across the country, in what are known as “mega” master hearings, which have seen a significant increase this year. More than 1,300 such hearings were held in June alone, a nearly threefold jump from the previous June, according to data analyzed by Mobile Pathways, a nonprofit that tracks immigration court data to help immigrants, their lawyers and other organizations.

At the same time, the data shows, courts have severely cut the length of time many people are getting to prepare for complex immigration proceedings, from about six months to often just a little more than a month.

They're subsequently missing hearings, receiving deportation orders and being told they've abandoned any asylum claims at unprecedented rates.

“The combination of collapsed lead times and packed hearing blocks is a schedule designed for people not to have their case heard,” said Bartlomiej Skorupa, chief operating officer of Mobile Pathways. “The data shows valid claims are closed before being adjudicated.”

Those who favor stricter immigration laws see the swift hearings as a course-correction for a longstanding problem.

“There’s no credibility in the system that never reaches an end,” Andrew Arthur, a fellow at the conservative Center for Immigration Studies, said.

Still, he worries that these rapid-fire hearings could affect judges’ performance.

“You don’t want to put so many cases on that the judges get burned out or that there’s a danger of denying due process to anybody,” Arthur said.

The Justice Department office that handles immigration courts said in a statement that judges were adjusting their schedules to resolve cases more quickly, while making sure all cases get handled fairly and lawfully. It said court delays harm immigrants who have valid claims, and that the public interest is served when the government deports people without legal grounds to stay.

Immigration courts are overwhelmed

Attending immigration court in Harlingen, Texas, on days where there are mega master hearings can mean waiting outside in the hot, crowded entrance for over an hour until the lobby can accommodate the next wave of people. Adults with cases often are accompanied by relatives and attorneys, and detained children are brought in with shelter case managers and legal advocates.

The courts call it a “mega” day when a judge has more than 50 cases scheduled. Although the practice is not new, it became much more frequent starting in mid-May.

On a recent day, about 90 cases were scheduled with Immigration Judge Delia Gonzalez. More than 20 people did not show up, but even so she ran out of time to hear each case and rescheduled a handful of people who had waited more than eight hours.

“There’s a real limit to how many cases a judge can hear with any care in one morning,” said former immigration judge Elizabeth Young. “When you cram that many hearings into a single docket, you’re working through a list, not holding court.”

Some immigrants requested more time before their next hearings, presenting evidence of having been defrauded by unscrupulous attorneys profiled in local news reports. Others without any attorney asked for more time to figure out the proper evidence filing procedures.

A Colombian man who submitted more than 1,500 pages as evidence in his asylum claim said he still wanted to obtain more documentation from members of the military, businesses and politicians back home.

Gonzalez declined the requests. Most cases lasted less than five minutes.

There is no leeway for no-shows

That same day in West Valley City, Utah, Immigration Judge Brock Taylor was assigned 159 cases. By noon, Taylor recited a dozen names of people from Mexico, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela who failed to show up. Without elaborating, he said each was properly notified of their hearing date and failed to appear. He ordered them removed from the United States and they would have no right to appeal.

In Chicago, attorney Peter Meinecke, a lawyer for the Resurrection Project, which runs a legal clinic for immigrants, said one of his clients was issued a removal order when he couldn’t attend a mega master hearing across the country in Seattle after a vehicle accident fractured both of his legs and confined him to a wheelchair.

At the start of the second Trump administration in January 2025, about 20% of people missed scheduled immigration court hearings nationwide, according to Mobile Pathways. As hearing notice times shrunk, that no-show rate doubled to 40% by this June, the organization said. A nonprofit group that tracks and analyzes immigration court data and gives that information to immigrants and other organizations.

Deportation orders have risen alongside the no-show rates. Almost 33,000 deportation orders were issued in January 2025. This June, there were about 79,000, according to Mobile Pathways' data. And once a deportation order is issued, an immigrant’s asylum claim is almost always considered “abandoned.”

The national rate of cases considered abandoned is now nearly five times the historical average dating back to 2009; in New York and Chicago specifically, it’s roughly six times higher, according to Mobile Pathways.

“That’s a recipe for disaster, because more people are going to be ordered removed in absentia who truly have a valid case,” said Katie Fleming, a director at Acacia Center for Justice, a network of legal service providers.

Some people have even been issued deportation orders while they were inside the building that houses the Chicago immigration court, but confused about where to go and how to get help, according to Alex McGriff, an attorney for the National Immigrant Justice Center, which runs a legal help desk there.

“The court ordered them removed despite the fact that they were not absent,” McGriff said.

The backlog is shrinking, but caseloads are not

Advocates for stricter immigration policies call the strategy a time-saver.

“It really is economizing the judge’s time,” said Arthur, the Center for Immigration Studies fellow. “It is increasing the number of final orders that are going out, so that’s decreasing the backlog entirely.”

The backlog, which grew significantly under the Biden administration, has decreased for the first time in at least 10 years. The number of pending cases with the Executive Office of Immigration Review, which oversees immigration courts, decreased from 3.7 to 3.5 million in fiscal year 2025 and continued to drop this year.

“It can be a tough job when you’re doing it at scale,” Arthur said.

Attorneys representing immigrants have similar challenges keeping up as their own caseloads intensify.

Jaime Diez, a veteran immigration attorney based in Brownsville, Texas, recently had almost 20 cases called in one day, nearly 10 times his previously normal pace.

“Due process is being thrown out of the window,” Diez said standing outside the courtroom with a six-inch thick file for one client. “It’s very worrisome, I don’t know how long it’s going to last.”

___

Mayes-Osterman reported from Chicago and is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Associated Press writer Elliot Spagat contributed from West Valley City, Utah.

The president likes to vilify high rates as an affront to the size and strength of the U.S. economy, saying that America deserves the cheapest borrowing costs in the world. Trump for months publicly pressured the Federal Reserve to slash its benchmark rates, claiming it would be “Rocket Fuel!” for growth and make housing more affordable.

But since the war in Iran began at the end of February, borrowing money has become more expensive, meaning fewer families can afford mortgages or auto loans. The government is getting squeezed, too — as it has spent $827 billion so far this fiscal year to service the national debt, more than it has devoted to national defense.

The scope of the problem became clear this past week when Kevin Warsh, the Fed's new chair picked by Trump, said in his second press conference on the job that inflation continues to run hot but offered no clear guidance on how to fix the problem.

Interest rates are rising, even though Trump pledged they would fall

Rates on 30-year U.S. Treasury bonds hit their highest levels in nearly two decades, the exact opposite of what Trump had pledged to voters. The 10-year U.S. Treasury note saw its interest rate shoot up above 4.7% on Friday, surpassing what the president inherited when he returned to the White House last year.

But Trump has largely ignored the jump in interest rates and has portrayed the economy as booming, even though the government recently reported that the annual growth rate for the prior three months was a sluggish 1.5%.

“We have the most successful environment that we’ve ever had,” Trump told his Cabinet on Friday. “There’s never been anything like it from the standpoint of investment into our country.”

Neither Trump nor his Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, discussed interest rates during the public portion of the meeting. But White House spokesman Kush Desai said the end of the Iran war would ultimately reduce energy costs and allow the Fed to reduce rates. “Oil prices — and thus overall inflation — will plummet again when President Trump forces a successful resolution with Iran, further paving the way for additional interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve,” Desai said.

Higher interest rates are weighing on voters ahead of the midterm elections

The prospect of higher borrowing costs has become troublesome for Republicans in the November elections, as Trump’s own policies helped drive the increase.

His tariffs that began last year caused rates to jump so quickly that he backed off and reformulated them. Trump has championed the construction of data centers for artificial intelligence, but the bonds financing those projects appear to have helped push up interest rates. And the war in Iran has fueled rising oil prices.

Republicans had hoped to show clear progress on affordability to voters ahead of the midterms. Trump can point to a low unemployment rate and solid consumer spending as proof that the economy remains stable, yet there are few signs that these arguments have connected with the public.

One possible reason why Trump's economic messaging has struggled is that voters care more about whether their incomes are outpacing inflation, according to research released in June by Georgetown University's Juan Felipe Riaño and the University of California, Berkeley's Francesco Trebbi.

Trump and Republicans not only promised lower interest rates in the 2024 elections, but they indicated that prices could fall outright if their policies were in place. But over the last 12 months, inflation has nearly kept pace with hourly wage gains — and that understates the extent of the problem because debt service costs are not included in the consumer price index.

“It cut against Democrats in 2024, and if prices and borrowing costs keep outrunning wages into the fall, the same logic points at Republicans now,” Riaño, the Georgetown University economist, told the AP.

Housing affordability has been a sore point for voters

Earlier this year, the Trump administration directed Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the two mortgage firms under government conservatorship, to buy at least $200 billion in home loans to bring down mortgage rates.

Earlier this year, Republicans had hoped to campaign on falling rates and a bipartisan bill to increase home construction to help defend their House and Senate majorities. One GOP lawmaker, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss strategy, said the hope was that Trump would sign the bill as mortgage rates fell below 6%, which could improve housing affordability and public sentiment toward the overall economy.

However, Trump called the bill a “big yawn” and allowed it to become law without his signature. And the mortgage company Freddie Mac said Thursday that 30-year rates were averaging 6.66%, essentially unchanged from a year ago.

Markets don't expect interest rates to drop before the election

Warsh, the Fed chair since May, has said he has been content to let the financial markets do more to set the rates, rather than the central bank. Even though the Fed has held its benchmark rate steady this year, the markets on their own have chosen to charge a premium for holding U.S. government debt.

“Markets reflect the higher inflation, policy uncertainty,” said John Silvia, the CEO of Dynamic Economic Strategy. “They are the product of events.”

Warsh on Wednesday portrayed that as a positive, even if the result goes against what Trump expected from his new Fed chair.

“Market participants are learning to play the ball, not the referee — and market prices will continue to respond in the direction and magnitude they see fit,” Warsh said. “This is, in my view, a change for the better — and we are just getting started.”

But time might not be on Trump's side for fixing high interest rates. The next Fed meeting on rates will conclude on Sept. 16. Markets currently expect Fed officials to vote to raise rates in order to reduce inflationary pressures, according to CME FedWatch.

Trump told reporters at Camp David on Friday morning that administration officials had “agreed not to have a fund” that compensates his political allies, yet made clear that he disagrees with that decision.

The comments came hours after an early morning social media post in which Trump said people who had been prosecuted by the Justice Department — many of them for their involvement in the violent Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol — “are suffering still, many ruined, and I felt that they should be given compensation for what has been done to them.”

Trump’s reluctant declaration that the fund won't be created came as Republican Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, both members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, say they won’t support Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general until they see that promise in writing. They have been working for weeks with the White House and Blanche, who is now the acting attorney general, to produce a document to that effect, but both senators have said they aren’t satisfied so far.

“The President made it clear today that the so-called Anti Weaponization Fund is still alive, which is exactly why we are attempting to formally end it,” Tillis said after Trump’s initial social media post.

As negotiations continued late Friday, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley rescheduled a committee vote for Blanche that had been postponed earlier in the week.

A spokesperson for the committee said Grassley would like to see Blanche confirmed before the August recess and putting the Tuesday vote on the calendar “gives more time for the White House to secure the votes for the President’s nominee.”

Cornyn, Tillis want promises in writing

Blanche said at a hearing two months ago that the anti-weaponization fund would not move forward after Republican senators revolted and held up an immigration funding bill.

But Tillis, who is retiring when his term ends in January, and Cornyn, who lost reelection this year after Trump endorsed his primary opponent, said they want to ensure that the White House doesn’t reverse course, especially as Trump continues to argue that a fund is needed.

The Justice Department has provided the senators with language that says Blanche’s May 18 order establishing the “Anti-Weaponization Fund” is “rescinded and shall have no force or effect,” according to a document reviewed by The Associated Press.

Cornyn and Tillis have said they also want some clarifications on a separate piece of the settlement that would grant Trump and members of his family immunity from tax audits. Cornyn said this week that it was his understanding that the audits could extend to more than 100 different Trump organization subsidiaries into the future.

“Todd Blanche said it was limited to the parties to the litigation — and it was retrospective, not prospective,” Cornyn said. “And all we’re doing is asking them to put that in writing.”

Blanche nomination is delayed in the Senate

The Judiciary Committee postponed the vote on Blanche’s nomination that had been scheduled for Thursday morning after Tillis and Cornyn said they needed more from the administration before they could provide the necessary votes.

After the meeting was delayed, Trump said in a social media post that he might pull Blanche’s nomination and resubmit it after Cornyn and Tillis leave office next year. But the two sides continued to negotiate through Thursday afternoon, when Blanche, Cornyn and Tillis met on Capitol Hill.

On Friday, a person familiar with the negotiations said talks had been positive but the senators were still awaiting a new offer from the Justice Department. The person requested anonymity to discuss the private negotiations.

The two senators have repeatedly said the Justice Department seemed interested in reaching an agreement, but the White House wouldn’t budge even to aid the confirmation of Trump’s loyal former personal attorney, who has aggressively pursued the administration’s priorities as acting attorney general.

“I think as far as Blanche and the Department of Justice, we were pretty much on the same page,” Cornyn said Thursday. “But then when the president got wind of it, he wasn’t willing to go along with it.”

Tillis said Blanche “has been forthright, thoughtful and patient” but attributed the holdup to an “incompetent personal adviser” to the president, even as Trump himself continued to advocate for the fund.

Behind the scenes, Trump legal adviser Boris Epshteyn is being blamed as an obstacle to an agreement that would let Blanche move forward, according to three people who have direct knowledge of the discussions and requested anonymity to discuss them.

Saying the AP’s “sources are wrong,” White House communications director Steven Cheung said “anyone trying to assign blame to the President or his team has no earthly idea of what is going on and clearly is trying to deflect from the issue at hand — Todd Blanche will be an exceptional Attorney General and he should be confirmed immediately.”

Also on Friday, Trump’s attorneys notified a court it would appeal a judge’s scathing ruling that characterized the settlement of the president’s lawsuit against the IRS as an improper exercise in self-dealing. The judge in her order earlier this month referred one of Trump’s attorneys for potential disciplinary action and criticized Blanche’s involvement in the settlement, given his prior representation of Trump.

Blanche has said he disagrees “with the judge’s insinuations” about him.

Settlement fund could have benefited Jan. 6 rioters

Even as they are usually deferential to Trump, a number of Republican senators have expressed strong objections to the settlement.

“The criminals who assaulted police officers and defiled our nation’s Capitol are not ‘great American patriots’ who are ‘victims of government abuse,’” Tillis said, echoing Trump’s comments about the rioters who could potentially have received payouts. On his first day back in office, Trump pardoned more than 1,500 people who had been charged in the attack.

Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana said Thursday that the majority of Senate Republicans aren’t comfortable with the settlement fund.

“Blanche said it’s dead, and he testified that it’s not coming back,” Kennedy said. “But for whatever reason, somebody didn’t want to put it in writing.”

___

This story has been updated to correct the year of the Capitol riot. It was 2021, not 2001.

___

Associated Press writers Eric Tucker and Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.

School presidents from both conferences voted to back the bill after receiving last-minute concessions over language regarding third-party name-image-likeness deals and the so-called “associated entities” that often broker those arrangements between players and schools.

More details need to be worked out, but the headline is that the bill still has a chance to earn the 60 votes it needs to halt debate and head to an up-or-down vote before the Senate heads for summer break next Friday.

The summer recess is increasingly looking like an intractable deadline for the Protect College Sports Act, a bipartisan effort headed by Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.

After the conferences, which had balked at large sections of the bill, put out a short release announcing they supported the act “as currently drafted,” Cruz put out a short statement on social media thanking the leagues and saying: “Let's save college sports.” And Cantwell said: “Good. Now progress can be made in protecting women and Olympic athletes and moving the legislation closer to the President’s desk.”

President Donald Trump, who has also been seeking fixes for an industry that now pays its players millions, got involved late Thursday, which helped push the parties back to the negotiating table.

Cody Campbell, the Texas Tech regent who has played a big role in shaping this policy, called the SEC and Big Ten support “ a major breakthrough that moves us closer to a Senate vote — and a better future” for college sports.

Increased salary cap, new language entice holdout leagues

The most groundbreaking part of the reworked deal is the $27.5 million that schools would be allotted to retain players, in addition to the $21.3 million cap that already exists.

It could represent a major reworking of the House settlement — the groundbreaking agreement that governs paying players. The idea is that the extra money will take the place of payments from “associated entities” that were allowed above and beyond the $21.3 million cap. It was those payments that, many schools complained, obliterated any idea of a cap or controlled cost.

The SEC and Big Ten sought stronger language in the bill to guarantee that any third-party deals are truly outside deals and not coming from the schools’ multimedia-rights partners, which currently arrange the majority of those deals.

Among the questions still unanswered are whether the new cap will comport with the House settlement, which had very specific instructions about the hard cap (22% of a certain part of athletic department revenues, which equals $21.3 million this season).

Also, what would happen to the College Sports Commission, the main NIL enforcement arm that spends the bulk of its time analyzing third-party NIL deals that would be greatly reduced under this arrangement?

Even with a victory, a long road remains for bill

Even with Friday night’s victory, the bill has a long road ahead. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., has been a staunch opponent of the bill since the beginning. Before the latest compromise, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said that “as written today,” the act “creates chaos and eliminates opportunity for student-athletes.”

Whether the SEC’s approval is enough to get those senators and others from SEC states on board is one issue. If the bill clears the Senate, it would still then need to pass the narrowly divided House, which flailed on another college bill called the SCORE Act, for more than a year.

There’s also the matter of whether smaller conferences, long in favor of the bill, would remain so now that their bigger competition is being allowed to directly pay players more than double what was previously allowed.

Compromise comes on a day where NCAA loses two more court rulings

Almost everyone involved in college sports agrees that the status quo isn’t working.

The news broke only hours after the NCAA lost a pair of key court cases involving its new rule that would give most Division I athletes five years to complete five seasons of eligibility.

Using those losses as another chance to urge for passage of the bill, NCAA President Charlie Baker said “It is long past time leaders across college sports call for the immediate passage of the bipartisan Protect College Sports Act.”

Two-time national champion hoops coach Dan Hurley of UConn used social media to outline the stakes in more colorful terms: “Somebody please come and fix College Sports. It’s a complete (expletive) show,” he said, using an emoji where the expletive would go.

___

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

Hernandez said she was walking the trails Monday afternoon, a route she always takes, when she was approached by two men.

Before she knew it, they pushed, took off her glasses and began hitting her, she said.

“I walk with a 15-pound weight vest, so I was fighting these dudes with a vest on,” Hernandez said.

She said she wears a pouch on the vest with her wallet, cars keys and headphones. The thieves, she said, demanded money from her. They also drove off with her vehicle after taking the keys.

“I couldn’t believe it. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, if I’m going to die right now, I’m going to die fighting back’,” Hernandez said.

She told KSAT another parkgoer was walking their dog in the distance and one of the attackers noticed them. That’s when they stopped hitting her and ran off.

“He had his back facing us with his dog,” Hernandez said. “Even though the man didn’t see us, I believe him being there is what saved me.”

She said she fractured a bone near her elbow while fighting for her life.

KSAT reached out to the San Antonio Police Department to learn more details about the case. SAPD said the investigation is still ongoing, and no one has been arrested.

The department said they were able to track Hernandez’s vehicle with a locator app and recovered it at an apartment complex.

Hernandez said the emotional toll has been painful. A place she once used for relaxation has now turned into a nightmare.

“This was my peace, and they ruined it,” she said.

Now, she hopes sharing her story encourages others to be cautious.

“Just be aware of your surroundings,” Hernandez said. “Even though we get comfortable in our zone, still be aware of your surroundings.”

While she says she never expected something like this to happen to her, she hopes others learn from her experience.

KSAT asked SAPD about other related assault or robbery calls to Friesenhahn Park in the last six months. They said there hasn’t been any reports made from the location except Hernandez’s.

Read also:

• Edison High School student assaulted walking home from campus, principal says
• Government Hill neighborhood experiencing rare crime wave, homeowners say
• ‘Habitual offender’ originally accused in connection with San Antonio murder won’t face prison time

The regional Gilgt-Baltistan government identified the three recovered bodies as Nepalese climber Pur Bahadur Gurung, Omani climber Nathira Ahmed and American climber Mallory Geis. It said the bodies had been transported to a hospital.

The announcement came hours after officials said search teams had located the remains of four climbers. They did not immediately identify the fourth body that was spotted. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Bad weather continued to hinder the rescue effort Friday, Gilgit-Baltistan region Chief Minister Amjad Hussain said in a statement.

The climbers lost contact with their base camp after an avalanche struck Broad Peak while they were attempting to scale the mountain, said Karrar Haidri, vice president of the Alpine Club of Pakistan.

“The team has been out of communication since Thursday,” said Haidri, adding that army helicopters were part of the search-and-rescue operation.

The search for the missing climbers continued until Friday evening and would resume Saturday, authorities said.

Broad Peak, at 8,047 meters (26,401 feet), is the world’s 12th-highest mountain. It lies in Pakistan’s Karakoram range, home to five of the world’s 14 peaks above 8,000 meters, attracting climbers from around the globe.

Accidents are common during climbing expeditions in northern Pakistan because of avalanches and rapidly changing weather.

Team included climbers from around the world

The expedition comprised five Nepali climbers in addition to the Omani and American climbers, Pakistani climber Sohail Sakhi, a Chinese climber identified only as Wang and one other foreign climber, according to the Alpine Club.

China said it was trying to verify whether any of its nationals were among the 10 climbers missing.

“We will provide assistance to Chinese citizens in need and are also willing to offer help in accordance with the needs of the Pakistani side,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Friday in Beijing.

The expedition leader was the renowned mountaineer Nirmal Purja, a Nepal-born former soldier in the British army widely known as Nims Dai. He climbed the world’s 14 highest peaks in a record 189 days in 2019, an achievement featured in the Netflix documentary, “14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible.” His record was surpassed in 2023.

Moving Mountains, a travel company based in Pakistan, announced late last month that the expedition team was on its way to the small town of Askole and wished them a safe journey climbing Broad Peak.

The expedition was Geis’ first try at an 8,000-meter peak in Pakistan, while it was expected to be the final one for Sakhi, who is a guide for the company, as well as a geographer and high-altitude photographer who has climbed some of the world’s major peaks, according to the Moving Mountains website.

Geis, 39, lived in San Antonio. She announced on social media earlier this year that she was closing her Pilates studio to take “a giant leap of faith into the unknown to see where life goes. I have a sneaking suspicion there will be lots of helmets, harnesses, and crampons involved.”

Kimberly Hardman, a climber based in Alaska, met Geis at a Colorado women’s ice climbing weekend in January and they instantly connected and talked about climbing all over the world.

Geis was relatively new to ice climbing but was a natural athlete with experience mountaineering after climbing in Nepal, according to Hardman, who said Geis respected the mountains and understood the risks of climbing.

She didn’t go into it blindly, Hardman said.

“She was wanting to learn and grow,” Hardman said. “That’s what brought her to her happy place.”

___

Khan reported from Peshawar, Pakistan. Associated Press journalists E. Eduardo Castillo in Beijing, Hallie Golden in Seattle and Josh Kelety in Phoenix contributed to this report.

During the first week of Dallas Cowboys training camp, head coach Brian Schottenheimer announced this year’s leadership council.

The group includes quarterback Dak Prescott, wide receiver CeeDee Lamb, running back Javonte Williams, offensive linemen Tyler Smith and Tyler Booker, tight end Jake Ferguson, defensive linemen Kenny Clark and Quinnen Williams, safety Jalen Thompson, outside linebacker Rashan Gary and punter Bryan Anger.

It’s a good mixture of veterans who know the Cowboys culture very well and some newer players who are still learning.

Former Green Bay Packer finds home in Dallas

In March, the Green Bay Packers traded Gary to the Cowboys. Green Bay selected him 12th overall in the 2019 NFL Draft.

He spent his first six NFL seasons with the Packers, and now he’s a newcomer with the Cowboys.

Gary impressed the Cowboys enough to earn a spot on the leadership council. During his media availability Friday, he explained what it meant to him.

“It’s an honor and privilege man, first to wear the star,” Gary said, “and it’s an honor and privilege to come into an organization that allows me to be myself and lead.”

Booker embraces leadership role

Booker was drafted by the Cowboys 12th overall in the 2025 NFL Draft. As a rookie, he started and appeared in 14 games. Booker is honored to be on the council.

“To be seen as a leader by so many great men on this team and, all my coaches, it really means a lot,” Booker told the media. “I just feel like, me being able to be vocal and be seen as a leader is a blessing. It has been bestowed upon me by God, and I just have to continue to use it.”

Schottenheimer puts players in charge

Wednesday, Schottenheimer said the leadership council could have included more players.

“It could have been 15 names, but I had to cap it somewhere. I felt that these guys were the perfect fit,” Schottenheimer said. “It’s their council. It’s not mine.”

The 11-player council is in place to help the coaching staff connect with the players.

“We’ve got a few of those guys that report to me every couple of weeks with issues and problems and things that we’ll try to address,” Schottenheimer said.

Read also:

• Franchise-tagged George Pickens reacts positively to Jerry Jones’ remarks on future in Dallas
• Dak Prescott’s patience wearing thin entering Year 11 with the Cowboys

The students spent nearly two weeks participating in the Destination Imagination Summer Experience, an international program that challenges students to solve real-world problems through science, technology, engineering, the arts and teamwork.

KSAT’s Alexis Scott first met the students in June as they prepared for the trip of a lifetime.

During their time in China, the students joined participants from around the world in workshops and team challenges designed to test their creativity, collaboration and problem-solving skills.

Throughout the program, students were presented with timed scenarios that required them to work together to develop innovative solutions using STEM concepts and critical thinking.

One of the highlights, the students said, was the opportunity to collaborate with their peers from another country.

“We were able to be partnered up with a Chinese team, where we were able to collaborate our ideas and perform with them at the closing ceremony,” Roxy De Leon said.

Beyond the competitions, the students visited cities like Beijing and Shanghai. They also immersed themselves in Chinese culture by visiting historic landmarks and museums.

“My favorite thing has been going to China’s Natural History Museum,” Nayli Hernandez-Cruz said. “I think we all learned a lot about animal species and things that we’ve never seen before.”

Destination Imagination has been inspiring students around the world for decades through hands-on learning experiences that emphasize teamwork, innovation and creative problem-solving. The Summer Experience brings together students from multiple countries to collaborate across cultures while tackling STEM and fine arts challenges.

While students from across Texas participated in this year’s experience, the Las Palmas Leadership School for Girls team was the only group from San Antonio to qualify for the international program.

School leaders said the opportunity allowed the students to strengthen their STEM skills while gaining a broader perspective of the world through cultural exchange and collaboration.

For the four young women, the experience was about much more than competition. It was a chance to represent their school, their district and their city on a global stage — bringing home new friendships, new experiences and memories that will last a lifetime.

Read also:

• San Antonio high school students participate in hands-on research during summer Texas Biomed program
• Free back-to-school haircuts in San Antonio aim to boost student confidence, ease costs for families
• South Side church collects hundreds of backpacks to help kids in need

According to a Friday report from ESPN’s Shams Charania, the soon-to-be fourth-year NBA veteran signed a “long-term” contract extension with Nike that includes a new signature shoe line.

While a shoe design and a release date have yet to be determined, Nike released a video late Friday morning that showcased a “VW” logo for Wembanyama’s initials — just above Nike’s iconic swoosh logo.

The game looks different from here. pic.twitter.com/AVHEztAvHZ

— Nike Basketball (@nikebasketball) July 31, 2026

Wembanyama’s original deal with Nike, which was signed in 2022, was set to expire in October.

“We are proud to continue supporting Victor Wembanyama’s journey with Nike,” the company said in a statement to The Athletic. “As one of the most unique and influential athletes in the world, Victor is a generational talent who continues to inspire the game’s next generation. We are excited about all that we’ve built together and look forward to more wins ahead.”

The new deal continues what has already been a busy summer for the French native.

Three weeks ago, Wembanyama signed a five-year, $252 million maximum extension to remain in San Antonio.

More recent sports coverage on KSAT:

• Tyler Booker optimistic about offensive line progress at Cowboys camp
• Romo on leave from CBS Sports after arrest on suspicion of operating vehicle under the influence
• Incarnate Word kicks off training camp ahead of crucial 2026 season

Water is reaching toward County Road 202 Friday evening and access to the road has been closed, according to a social post from the Live Oak County Office of Emergency Management.

Additionally, the 151 through 199 blocks of County Road 369 in the city of George West are closed due to rising floodwater.

As of 6 p.m. Thursday, County Road 436 remains closed due to major flooding, Live Oak County said through a social media post. County Road 438 is also closed due to flood risks.

“The Nueces River is on the rise,” Live Oak County Judge James Liska said.

The river is currently cresting near 40 feet around the city of Three Rivers as of the time of this posting. The National Weather Service urged residents to be aware of potential major flood risks.

The Nueces River is expected to stay above 35 feet and in a major flood stage through the weekend.

“At 40 feet, significant flooding reaches miles from the main channel, flooding homes in the flood plain near Three Rivers to Lake Corpus Christi,” according to the NWS.

People in need of shelter can visit the George West Junior High School, located at 904 Houston St. The school is open 24 hours and pets are welcome.

“Up to 4 feet of water is in River Creek Acres Subdivision, flooding several homes. Kellner Camp along County Road 336 floods, with water several feet deep surrounding homes,” the NWS said. “Antelope Lane is flooded cutting off access to J.I. Hailey Subdivision at Jones River bend. Water approaches the base of homes along the river in Buckeye Knoll Subdivision, 2 miles west of Swinny Switch.”

Subdivisions along the Nueces River should be aware of what risks may come if the floodwaters approach homes.

Liska said even if the water doesn’t flood inside homes, there’s potential it could prevent people from leaving.

“Your road may end up like this,” Liska said pointing to a flooded County Road 438. “You may not be able to get out of your home.”

Read also:

• Small window for storms Saturday evening
• Why 2 flood disasters in just over a year are taking an emotional toll on Hill Country families

• SATURDAY STORMS: Best chance from 5pm to 10pm
• SEVERE? FLOODING?: Not likely. Gusty winds can’t be ruled out. Average rainfall less than 0.50″, isolated 1″+ possible
• SUNDAY: Rain pushes south, AM lingering showers

FORECAST

SATURDAY

The first half of the day will see mostly sunny skies and hot conditions. A weak front will begin to stir up clouds and eventually showers and storms near 3 pm across the Hill Country. These storms will shift south towards San Antonio roughly between 4pm and 10pm. Severe weather is unlikely, but we can’t rule out gusty winds with any of the stronger storms. Rainfall will generally be less than a half of an inch. An isolated spot or two could see up to an inch. Isolated, brief street flooding is possible.

Our advice: Keep your Saturday evening plans, but be prepared to duck inside for half an hour or so, should a storm approach your area. Rain chances for San Antonio sit at 40%

SUNDAY

A few lingering showers are possible early on Sunday. However, rain should push south, leaving us with clearing skies. Humidity will be slightly lower, while temperatures will return to the upper-90s.

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.

Earlier this week, Head Coach Brian Schottenheimer made it clear the offense’s ability to build on its strong 2025 season will hinge largely on the offensive line.

On Saturday, Tyler Booker — the Cowboys’ top selection in the 2024 draft — expressed confidence in the unit.

Booker was asked specifically about the interior offensive linemen facing some of the top defensive tackles in the NFC East this season.

“Confidence is the is the biggest thing that we have to have,” Booker said. “Yes, we have to play them, but at the end of the day, they have to play us as well. We’re no scrubs over here either. We’re here for a reason. We play for the Dallas Cowboys and we have to wear that as a badge of honor.”

Booker also pointed out the team’s close bond as a strength. The linemen spent significant time together this offseason, including a trip to Cabo.

Booker highlighted his relationship with right tackle Terence Steele, a San Antonio native entering his seventh NFL season.

“Terence is somebody that I’m very thankful for. He’s been there for me every single step of the way since I got drafted,” Booker said. “If I was ever lost in my rookie year, he was just help me on and off the field as even as far as taking care of my body.”

Question marks still remain along the offensive line, and those will be tested as camp progresses into padded practices.

Read also:

• Franchise-tagged George Pickens reacts positively to Jerry Jones’ remarks on future in Dallas
• Dak Prescott’s patience wearing thin entering Year 11 with the Cowboys

Bexar County court records show Juan Gabriel Medina, 41, was originally charged with murder following a deadly March 31, 2022, shooting.

An SAPD incident report obtained by KSAT revealed Medina as the person who allegedly shot and killed a victim identified as Davian Corey Mendoza.

Court records indicate Medina’s murder charge was waived before he was sentenced to 10 years deferred adjudication for unlawfully carrying a weapon as a previously convicted felon — which means he will not face any time behind bars. The charge is considered a second-degree felony.

Visiting Judge Kevin M. O’Connell presided over the case in Bexar County’s 290th Criminal District Court.

The shooting

According to the incident report, three San Antonio police officers responded to a shooting call at approximately 7:15 p.m. to an apartment complex. The complex’s location was redacted in the report.

Upon arrival, the first officer said they saw Medina walk down a flight of stairs and admitted he was “the one” who fired a weapon. Moments later, the second responding officer placed Medina in handcuffs, the report states. The first and third officers then entered the unit where the shooting took place.

Shortly after entering the unit, the first officer said they saw Mendoza “laying on the living room floor” with a gunshot wound to his face. San Antonio fire crews were called to the scene.

The first officer later saw a “firearm” outside the unit “laying next to the doorway” and elected to leave it there until crime scene investigators arrived, the report states.

Medina told police he was there to help a woman move out of the apartment. According to Medina, the woman wanted to move out “due to family violence” involving Mendoza.

At some point, police said Medina and Mendoza got into an argument about the woman’s birth certificate. The argument escalated when Medina said Mendoza appeared to reach into his pocket for something.

Medina, according to the report, demanded to know what Mendoza was reaching for. Mendoza pulled out a knife. Police said Medina asked Mendoza to put the knife down.

According to Medina, he reached for and grabbed a pistol from the woman’s sister. Medina pointed the weapon at Mendoza before he shot him in the face.

The gunowner — as well as another witness who lives at the apartment — corroborated Medina’s account about why he was there, the argument with Mendoza, Mendoza’s knife and his shooting of Mendoza in separate interviews with SAPD, the report states.

In the report, the first officer wrote that they transported Medina to SAPD headquarters for questioning. After he spoke to detectives at headquarters, detectives told the first officer to “release” Medina while their “investigation continues.”

The officer then dropped Medina off at his mother’s home, according to the report.

“No further action taken,” the SAPD report concludes.

Medina’s indictment

On March 25, 2024 — nearly two full years after the deadly shooting — a Bexar County grand jury indicted Medina in connection with the 2022 murder of Mendoza. KSAT obtained a copy of the indictment Friday.

Following the second paragraph of the indictment, the document labeled Medina as a “habitual offender” after he was convicted of separate felonies in 2005 and 2011, respectively.

An SAPD spokesperson told KSAT that an officer conducted an April 11, 2024, traffic stop on Medina. Police then learned of his active warrant and took him into custody.

At the time, Medina was facing more than a murder charge. Jail and court records show he was also booked into the Bexar County Adult Detention Center on the following charges:

• unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon (third-degree felony)
• possessing between four ounces and five pounds of marijuana (state jail felony)

According to court records, the third-degree felony and state jail felony charges were dismissed Friday morning.

DA’s office recusal

After obtaining the SAPD incident report and March 2024 indictment, KSAT reached out to the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office for comment Friday.

In a statement to KSAT, the DA’s office said it “filed a motion for recusal” in Medina’s case long before Thursday’s sentencing.

Court records show the motion was filed Aug. 28, 2024 — just four months after police arrested Medina during the traffic stop. The DA’s office spokesperson said the court granted its request on Oct. 3, 2024.

“As a result, our office had no involvement or oversight in the outcome of this case,” the Bexar County DA’s Office spokesperson said. “If you have any additional questions, please contact the (290th Criminal District) court directly for more information, as well as the appointed attorney pro tem, who handled the case.”

Though the DA’s office did not explain why it wanted to recuse itself, KSAT asked the spokesperson for its reason behind the decision in a follow-up question.

KSAT also emailed the court coordinator inside the 290th Criminal District Court for comment Friday on Medina’s sentencing. This story will be updated with responses from the DA’s office and the court.

More recent courts coverage on KSAT:

• Ex-Stockdale ISD teacher accused of improper relationship with student gets 13-year prison sentence
• Woman charged in connection with North Side murder takes plea deal, sentencing on lesser charge
• Man accused in connection with North Side murder takes plea deal, sentenced to 25 years in prison

Pickens delivered a strong debut season in Dallas last year. This season, he is playing under the franchise tag, and no long-term extension is expected this summer. Yet owner Jerry Jones has kept the door wide open, saying it is absolutely on the table that Pickens could remain a Cowboy for the rest of his career.

Pickens did not hold back in his response.

“Super excited,” Pickens said. “I’m always super happy when someone thinks highly of me, so shoutout to Jerry Jones.”

That optimism is matching what he has shown on the field.

Pickens has hit the ground running since arriving in Oxnard, and he points to offseason work with his teammates as the reason the transition feels smoother this time. The offense spent time together in Park City, Utah, building connections before camp opened.

“We had the camaraderie going for a while before we actually got out here and it’s been kind of smooth now,” Pickens said. “My first year when I first got here, I was kind of like some of the other guys just trying to get my groove, trying to know some guys while I’m getting the groove, while I’m trying to learn the plays. That’s why I commend the defense, because a lot of guys go through that right now, and it’s going super good.”

With chemistry already forming and the long-term picture still unresolved, Pickens and the Cowboys offense are using these early days in camp to keep pushing forward.

More Cowboys Camp coverage on KSAT:

• Dak Prescott’s patience wearing thin entering Year 11 with the Cowboys
• Quinnen Williams embraces Cowboys culture, championship mindset at training camp
• Cornerbacks thrive under new DC Parker at Cowboys training camp, position battles headline first practice

The 19-year-old Agbayani, the son of former Mets fan favorite Benny Agbayani, is a middle infielder who hit .268 in 10 games for Fort Myers in low Class A this season. The sixth-round 2025 draft pick, a native of Hawaii, has been limited by injuries.

“It means a lot," Benny Agbayani said on a conference call Friday afternoon. “He wanted to get drafted by the Mets when he was first coming out of high school. That's all he knew. That's all Dad talked about. It's a great opportunity for him and I'm just going to support him as much as I can.”

The Alomars (father Sandy Sr. and sons Roberto and Sandy Jr.) and Wilsons (father Mookie and stepson Preston) are the only father-son combos to play for the Mets.

“It’s great to have him wearing a Mets jersey and continuing the legacy,” Benny Agbayani said.

The 23-year-old Amick batted .217 with 23 homers in 86 games for Double-A Wichita this season, playing first and third base. He was a second-round draft pick in 2024.

Minter had a 2.35 ERA in 23 innings with 20 strikeouts and only two walks. He didn't make his season debut until May 26, going more than a year between major league appearances. His 2025 season ended after 13 appearances when he injured his left lat muscle in his back and needed surgery.

Minter signed a two-year, $22 million contract with the Mets in 2025. His 2024 season with the Atlanta Braves also was cut short by a torn labrum in his left hip, but when he's been healthy he's been one of baseball's most effective late-game lefties. The 33-year-old, who was a second-round 2015 draft pick by the Braves, has a 3.18 ERA with 456 strikeouts in 382 2/3 innings over 420 career appearances.

“He is playoff tested. He is proven,” Twins manager Derek Shelton said. “When you do the background on the human being, you find really good stuff.”

Minter likely will be the first of multiple Mets players moved before the trade deadline on Monday. They have the second-worst record in the National League.

The Mets scratched Friday's scheduled starter, Freddy Peralta, because interim manager Andy Green said trade talks involving the right-hander have intensified. Kodai Senga started against the Miami Marlins instead.

“It just became a prudent path for us,” Green said. “There’s enough going on right now.”

The Mets also placed left-hander Cionel Pérez on the injured list with a left forearm strain and recalled pitchers Xzavion Curry and Jonathan Pintaro from Triple-A Syracuse.

The Twins, who started a nine-game trip Friday at Seattle, have a 4.92 relief ERA that ranks fifth-worst in the major leagues. They lead the American League in runs and entered Friday one game out of a wild-card spot.

"We said that we were going to go out, we were going to buy, we were going to be aggressive in that market," Shelton said. “I think (Twins general manager Jeremy Zoll) has kind of done that at the front end of it and there’s still three days left.”

___

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

The Big Ten calls its reputation as a top-heavy conference unfair.

Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti considers those three College Football Playoff championships — from Michigan in 2023, Ohio State in 2024 and Indiana in 2025 — testaments to the league’s strength from top to bottom.

“You cannot send your top teams out into the CFP unless they’ve played — and have them be successful, which we have been very successful — if they’re not going through a gauntlet in the regular season,” Petitti said this week. “This idea that the middle of our conference isn’t hard is just not right.”

The balance of power between college football’s heavyweight conferences has been a major talking point at the leagues’ media days.

Petitti spoke to reporters while standing beside the Big Ten’s three recent CFP trophies. Illinois coach Bret Bielema said the SEC was living in the past. Indiana coach Curt Cignetti said “there’s no doubt” the Big Ten is best.

“The numbers speak for themselves,” Cignetti said. “We don’t run a hype machine up here in the Midwest. We believe everything is earned, not given. When we fall short, we say, ‘We fell short.’ We don’t cry a river, whine and complain. That’s why we’re the best.”

SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey argued his league’s case a week earlier.

“When you look at our schedule, no one has created the kind of weekly competition that exists in the Southeastern Conference,” Sankey said.

Five different SEC schools combined to win 13 national titles from 2006-22, but no SEC team has reached any of the last three championship games.

Both have evidence to support their claims

In the first two years under a 12-team CFP format, seven different SEC schools have made a combined eight playoff appearances. The Big Ten had four schools total seven playoff berths.

Certain metrics support the idea that the 16-team SEC is stronger than the 18-school Big Ten at the bottom. ESPN’s Bill Connelly produces the SP+ rankings, a predictive measure rating each team’s efficiency while adjusting for tempo and an opponent’s strength.

The Big Ten had three of the top four teams in the 2025 season-ending SP+ rankings, while the SEC had nobody in the top five. But seven Big Ten programs ranked below the lowest SEC team on the list: No. 67 Kentucky.

Recent head-to-head results favor Big Ten

Over the last two seasons, the Big Ten went 10-7 against the SEC, including a 3-0 playoff record and a 5-2 mark in other bowl games. The Big Ten won as an underdog in all five of those non-playoff victories.

Illinois produced two of those upsets, beating South Carolina in the Citrus Bowl in 2024 and defeating Tennessee in the Music City Bowl last season. So Bielema had reason to feel good about himself and his conference this week when he commented that SEC backers “kind of want to live in 2005 forever.”

The 2005 reference was curious because Texas won the title that season when it was still a Big 12 member, a year before the SEC began a string of seven straight titles. Bielema said he chose 2005 because that’s the year before his head coaching career began at Wisconsin.

“The transfer portal and revenue share or NIL, however you want to describe it, when those two elements came into college football, the whole world changed,” said Bielema, who went 29-34 while coaching SEC school Arkansas from 2013-17. “I mean, it’s overly obvious to say that, but I think anything to predate that is just a different time in college football. It just is.”

Big Ten capitalizes on changing times

Fourteen of the 22 playoff games over the last two years have featured Big Ten teams, including two in which conference rivals faced off. No wonder even Big Ten coaches with SEC backgrounds claim bragging rights.

“I just look at what the stats are, you know, and the last three years, the national champion has come out of this conference,” said Purdue’s Barry Odom, who went 25-25 at Missouri from 2016-19. “You also look at the number of playoff wins compared to any other conference, we’ve won twice as many as the next conference in the playoffs.”

UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava has experience playing in both conferences after reaching the playoff with Tennessee in 2024.

“I think it’s two great leagues — two great, physical leagues,” Iamaleava said. “I think the SEC brings a lot of physicality, but over the years, it’s kind of leveled out in terms of the playing field.
I think everybody is able to get high-level athletes. ... I think there’s definitely a lot of tough SEC teams, so that every week is going to be a game, but I feel the same way in the Big Ten.”

The intensity of the debate frustrates coaches eager to settle it on the field, perhaps with more head-to-head matchups.

“You never hear in the NFL, ‘Wow, the NFC’s better than the AFC,’” Washington coach Jedd Fisch said. “You don’t ever hear, ’Check us out, we’ve won the Super Bowl the last few years.' We’ve kind of made this some competition rather than just take a step back and say, ‘Who cares?’ Let’s play.”

___

AP freelance writer Luke DeCock contributed to this report.

___

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

ODESSA — A growing chorus of Texas lawmakers is calling on the state’s electric grid managers and utility regulators to halt an expansive and increasingly controversial project to build transmission lines that would cut through several thousand acres of private property to deliver electricity to oil companies in the West Texas oil fields.

State Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, on Friday said that the Public Utility Commission of Texas should reject the applications to build the infrastructure. The Legislature would work on changing the application process — that they first created in 2023 — next year, when lawmakers meet for their 90th legislative session, he added in a letter.

“These concerns demonstrate the need for a complete overhaul of the … process before these applications can advance,” Schwertner, who chairs the Senate Committee on Business and Commerce, wrote.

Backing Schwertner’s letter on Friday, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on X wrote that while the transmission lines were necessary, they should not come at the expense of private property rights.

“The testimony made it abundantly clear the current process being utilized by the PUC for proposing and approving transmission lines is broken and must be reformed,” Patrick wrote, referring to a legislative hearing earlier this week. “If these lines are going to be built, which many believe must be built, then the PUC’s transmission approval process must not only prioritize strengthening the grid, but also protect Texas landowners and communities.”

Schwertner’s and Patrick’s comments follow a tense legislative hearing earlier this week regarding the Permian Basin Reliability Plan, a transmission project designed by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the state’s grid managers. More than 100 people testified — Tanya Tucker, the American country singer, broke out in song — for 15 hours before a panel of lawmakers, saying residents did not have sufficient notice from utilities or the administrative process surrounding the proposal.

Many called for regulators to reject a proposal to build three 765kv transmission lines to carry electricity from East to West Texas and satisfy the growing electricity demands of the state’s oil and gas industry. If built, such lines would be the biggest transmission lines in Texas. And residents expressed concerns about the damage construction of these lines would cause along some of the routes, including swaths of Central Texas, where many rivers cut through Hill Country. It is estimated to cost about $33 billion, a cost that ratepayers will foot.

“I joined hundreds of landowners who waited all day to testify at the Capitol. Multigenerational landowners and new property owners alike delivered the same message: These lines are misguided, the routing options are poor, and they threaten Texas and our way of life,” said Jada Jo Smith, founder and president of Hill Country Preservation Coalition, a group consisting of landowners whose property is in the route the lines would cross. “We hope the PUC heeds the concerns of the Legislature and thousands of Texas landowners by denying the current applications.”

The utility commission did not respond to requests for comment by the time of publication.

Mark Bell, president of the Association of Electric Companies of Texas, said the group supports further review of the proposed routes for the transmission lines.

“As we heard during Wednesday’s hearing, it’s become clear that the existing transmission routing process has been inadequate for the geographic expanse of these projects, and we will continue to work with affected landowners, communities, legislative leaders and all stakeholders as we meet our shared goal of a stronger, more reliable Texas grid,” Bell said.

Oncor Electric, a transmission company building much of the planned lines, said it was reviewing the comments made by state officials today and emphasized the need to proceed with construction as planned. 

“As emphasized by state regulators and grid operators during this week’s Senate hearing, the timely implementation of these projects remains critical for meeting Texas’ growing energy needs and maintaining the reliability of our state’s electric grid,” said Kerri Dunn, senior communications director for Oncor. “We have consistently engaged with state officials and landowners throughout the development of these projects and are committed to continuing to work with them to help address concerns while supporting the infrastructure essential to Texas’ future.”

The plan to build the transmission lines was approved by lawmakers during the 2023 legislative session. The bill directed ERCOT to draw the blueprint for new transmission lines, and the utility commission to approve it. At the time, it received little pushback. The proposal passed with near-unanimous support in the Texas House and Senate.

The oil and gas industry has spent years pushing for the proposal in Austin, arguing that there is not enough electricity to power fossil fuel production. Industry leaders told the Texas Tribune that the project should not be delayed.

Todd Staples, president of the Texas Oil and Gas Association, an industry trade group, said there is a critical shortage of electricity transmission in the Permian Basin that is preventing new production.

“This has been needed for more than 10 years, and while West Texas’ needs have not been met, West Texans have been paying for build-out of new transmission in Houston, in San Antonio, in the Rio Grande Valley, and West Texans have been paying for that. And West Texas producers who are fortunate enough to be connected to the grid have been paying for that,” Staples said. “And now, when it’s time to build-out West Texas, we’re saying let’s wait. But every year, hundreds of billions, if not billions, are built around this state. This is not a new concept.”

On Wednesday, lawmakers said they didn’t believe the bill called for a project of this magnitude. They pressed regulators for hours about its scale and costs and questioned whether the timeline residents have to consider such projects is enough.

“If we’re going to confiscate people’s property, we need to make sure that we have taken every opportunity … any other possible ways that we can solve the problem before we do that,” said state Sen. Kevin Sparks, R-Midland, whose district would stand to benefit from the proposal.

State Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brennan, said that the proposal should be paused.

“I just want to make sure that we are fully aware. We voted on House Bill 5066, and I’m not sure we knew what that was going to become,” Kolkhorst said. “I just want to make sure we’re doing this right.”

— Paul Cobler contributed to this story.

The Texas Oil & Gas Association 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 Texas Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

Buckingham’s letter came less than two weeks after the city of Presidio and Presidio County’s economic development organization sued the Trump administration saying the federal government’s plans to install barriers and other detection technology on the border along the Rio Grande will damage communities and cause flooding in the Big Bend area. 

In Friday’s letter, Buckingham told CBP and its contractor Barnard that the latter had trespassed and “significantly altered” the GLO-managed land by using “heavy construction equipment to blade the terrain and remove all vegetation in its path.” The pictures that the GLO provided show land that has been dug up and crushed by excavators. It’s not clear what the land is being cleared for. 

“This is not about border security — it’s about the sovereignty of the state of Texas. It is absolutely unacceptable for any federal contractor to enter and deface Texas state lands,” Buckingham said in a written statement. “As the steward of over 13 million acres, it is my duty to defend the people of Texas’s interests and immutable control of their state lands from any encroachment — and I won’t apologize for it.” 

Turmoil around the prospective CBP plans for expanding the border barriers in Presidio County has grown over the past weeks as residents organize to oppose the border wall. Hundreds of neighbors who own land across the border have received letters throughout the year from CBP, urging them to let contractors on their land or risk losing it through eminent domain. 

Buckingham said in the letter that Barnard illegally entered three different sections of land, part of a 10,000-acre hunting, recreation and grazing lease held by Trans Pecos Ice LLC, a property management company, but managed by GLO. 

She said the damage by the company devalued the GLO’s lease and the ability for it to generate revenue. The agency manages 13 million acres of land, including leases that make money for the Permanent School Fund.

“I am committed to maintaining a positive relationship with CBP, but we will not allow rogue actors who breached our agreement to undermine the incredible work we do for Texas,” Buckingham said in a news release.  

The letter said that Trans Pecos may have given Barnard permission to cross the GLO lands to access other patches of the border that the company privately owns, but emphasized that the lease with the GLO doesn’t allow modifying the state’s land. The federal government has awarded Barnard, a Montana firm run by a donor of President Donald Trump, several federal contracts worth billions of dollars to build the border wall.

“We are still investigating the extent of the communications between Trans Pecos and Barnard. Regardless, the lease does not allow for any land modifications, excavation, or construction on the property without the GLO’s express written consent, which has not been given to Trans Pecos, Barnard, or CBP,” the letter said. 

Local media have previously reported collaboration between both companies to build the wall on Trans Pecos’ border land across Presidio, Jeff Davis and Hudspeth, the same counties where the financial organization is leasing soil from the GLO. 

A CBP spokesperson said Friday evening that the agency has been made aware of the situation and that the contractor is responsible for verifying where they have legal access to property.

“CBP values its partnership with the TX GLO, and we are working to resolve this issue with the Contractor and the TX GLO to ensure this does not happen in the future,” the spokesperson said.

Barnard didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The Tribune has also reached out to Benjamin Siddons and Ryan Seiders, Trans Pecos’ registered agent and manager, respectively, according to Secretary of State’s filings, but they have not responded. Seiders is also the co-founder of popular cooler brand Yeti.

The GLO has not received any response from CBP, Barnard or Trans Pecos yet, the agency told The Texas Tribune. The GLO didn’t answer a question about the nature of the project CBP is developing on the land.

In the letter, the GLO urged CBP, Barnard and Trans Pecos to return the land to its original condition and to develop a “proposed reclamation plan to present to GLO for approval.”

There were no U.S. strikes on Iran overnight, but Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said it had struck another two tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, and Kuwait said it intercepted drones.

Meanwhile, Hamas confirmed Friday that it will disarm in a potential breakthrough for ending the war in Gaza, but major obstacles remain.

Here are the most important developments across the Middle East today:

Trump considering new strikes on Iran

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt expressed the U.S. administration’s frustration anew, charging that Tehran last month signed a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. on a truce but then quickly “broke it, shot at commercial ships, and killed American soldiers.”

“President Trump is not going to stand by and allow this terrorist behavior to occur,” Leavitt said in a statement on Friday evening. “Iran will continue to pay until they come to the table in, what President Trump deems, a meaningful way.”

Leavitt issued the fresh warning after Trump earlier on Friday told reporters that “we just want to win” in Iran and signaled that he expected U.S. military action to continue for some time.

“We’ll be hitting them very hard,” Trump said in an exchange with reporters during a meeting with members of his Cabinet at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland. “You know, at some point they’re going to say, ‘We just can’t take it anymore.’”

Other developments on the Iran conflict

Iran fired drones at Kuwait, a Gulf country hosting U.S. forces, and said it had also fired at oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for global oil and gas shipments, which has been largely closed by the fighting.

Kuwait’s Defense Ministry said Friday its armed forces had shot down drones inside Kuwaiti airspace. It said the Iranian attacks had targeted several vital military facilities, causing material damage from falling shrapnel but no casualties. It did not specify how many drones were intercepted. Iranian state media said Iran had targeted an air base in Kuwait with drones in retaliation for U.S. strikes on Thursday.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard claimed to have hit two oil tankers attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian state media said four other tankers had turned around. The report did not provide further details on the tankers’ ownership, or whether there were any casualties.

Gaza: Deal reached for Hamas to disarm, Israel to withdraw

Hamas said it will begin disarming as part of a deal announced by Trump that also requires Israel to end its strikes and withdraw from Gaza.

Hamas also said that laying down its heavy weapons, which would come later in the process, was contingent on the creation of a Palestinian state, something Israel’s current government adamantly rejects.

Reflecting the hurdles of the potential disarmament, a series of Israeli airstrikes shook Gaza again on Friday, killing at least one Palestinian and wounding at least four, including a child, according to officials in hospitals near the attacks. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the agreement, calling it the only good news in recent days from a troubled region. The deal must be implemented “without any questions, skepticism, or determination to undermine it,” he told reporters.

Israel has not officially commented on the Hamas deal, which is part of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire announced last October. That agreement called for Hamas to disarm and hand over power to an independent Palestinian administration. Israel was to withdraw and an International Stabilization Force was to be deployed.

But progress stalled, with Israel saying everything hinged on Hamas disarming, and Hamas accusing Israel of violating the agreement by continuing to carry out regular strikes on Gaza.

The war in Gaza began after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killed around 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians, including those killed since the ceasefire, Gaza’s Health Ministry says.

The Associated Press is tracking the progress of Trump's plan to end the Israel-Hamas war.

Elsewhere in the region:

1. Saudi Arabia has announced a plan for a defense alliance of 14 countries to strengthen maritime security, safeguard freedom of navigation and secure international trade routes and energy supply corridors in the Red Sea region. The Iran war has severely disrupted global shipping. Yemen's Houthi rebels have declared a blockade on Saudi Arabia over a separate but related conflict, putting at risk another major trade corridor .

2. Saudi Arabia's Defense Ministry said Thursday that the coalition is “defensive in nature,” and that access “remains open to all willing countries.” Oman and the United Arab Emirates were the only two Gulf countries that did not back Saudi Arabia’s statement. Turkey, Egypt and Pakistan were among those that joined the proposed alliance.

3. A Houthi official, speaking Friday on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to brief the media, said the Saudi initiative won't protect its vessels — that would happen only after the Saudis lift their blockade on Yemen. Large crowds of Yemenis, meanwhile, took to the streets in the capital, Sanaa, and other Houthi-controlled areas to show support for the Iran-backed rebels and their Red Sea attacks against Saudi Arabia. The rallies were organized by the Houthis.

4. In southern Lebanon, Israeli forces set off explosions Friday to destroy an underground tunnel network under the Crusader-built Beaufort Castle that Israel says had been used by Hezbollah militants as a command center. The 12th-century castle, also known as Al-Shaqif, was seized by Israeli forces in May. It was recently added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List over Israel’s objections.

5. Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun said the Israeli operation sent “negative messages” ahead of upcoming talks in Rome. Israeli and Lebanese negotiating teams are set to meet again there to continue hammering out a plan under which Israel would withdraw from southern Lebanon in exchange for Hezbollah’s disarmament.

___

Madhani reported from Washington and Becatoros contributed from Athens, Greece. Associated Press writer Fatma Khaled contributed to this report from Cairo.

Both notes initially were sent to a Tucson television station days after the 84-year-old mother of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie went missing from her home outside Tucson on Feb. 1. Authorities have not said whether Nancy Guthrie is still alive.

Saturday is the six-month mark since Guthrie went missing. No suspects have been arrested in her disappearance. The investigation is dogged by unanswered questions, such as how many people are believed to have taken part in her abduction and whether she was taken by someone who knew her.

In her latest video about her mother's disappearance, Savannah Guthrie said earlier this week that her family has been living an unending nightmare and pleaded with the kidnappers to “tell us where to look for her.”

The FBI in Washington did not immediately respond to questions about the ransom notes, including whether both messages sent to the Tucson station have been deemed legitimate.

In releasing the notes, the Pima County Sheriff's Department said “we believe these distinctive linguistic characteristics may be recognizable to someone who knows or has interacted with the notes’ writer.”

The first note, sent Feb. 2, said Guthrie was safe but scared and would be released unharmed once her captors received $4 million in cryptocurrency, with the ransom amount increasing if the first demand was not met.

It said Guthrie would be released within 12 hours if the payment was received. It also included a threat to kill her if the ransom wasn’t paid.

“Your mother is aware of this and her life is in your hands,” the first note read. “It is in the best interest of everyone to have this completed as soon as possible.”

The second note was sent Feb. 6 and said Guthrie died shortly after she was taken. “She is buried in nature now,” it said. “Nothing you could have done could have changed the outcome.” The note ended with an apology: “We are truly sorry.”

Investigators hope the writing itself will help identify its author

The sheriff’s department said the notes reveal a distinctive pattern of word choices and provide insight into the writer’s mindset. The agency said someone who knows the notes’ writer may recognize the patterns.

Authorities similarly used a suspect’s own writings as a tool to apprehend Theodore “Ted” Kaczynski, branded the “Unabomber” by the FBI. Kaczynski, who killed three people and injured 23 others with mail bombs over a 17-year span, pressured The Washington Post, in conjunction with The New York Times, to publish his 35,000-word manifesto in 1995. Federal authorities encouraged its publication, leading Kaczynski’s brother and sister-in-law to recognize the syntax and anti-technology themes and tip off the FBI, bringing to a close the agency’s longest and costliest investigation at the time.

In a statement Friday, the sheriff’s department also appealed to people who may know something about the case, saying it may be difficult to come forward due to a personal relationship with someone involved or just for their own safety.

“We recognize relationships and loyalties change over time as do people and their perspectives,” the sheriff’s department wrote. “It is not too late to come forward.”

Authorities say new evidence suggests the kidnapping was planned

The sheriff’s office also said Friday that two videos recovered from Guthrie’s doorbell camera might be from two separate days and indicate an unidentified male prepared ahead of when Guthrie was taken. Authorities are seeking information on anyone who was behaving differently, changed their physical appearance, suddenly left the Tucson area, or had a noticeable or unexplained interest or disinterest in the case.

“Investigators continue to pursue every available technological and investigative lead,” the sheriff’s office said. “However, community members remain a vital resource as we seek to provide answers for Nancy’s family.”

The FBI had released surveillance videos of a masked person who authorities said appeared to tamper with a camera on Nancy Guthrie’s front porch and block it with a plant. They described the person as a male about 5 feet, 9 inches (1.75 meters) tall.

On Feb. 4, Savannah Guthrie and her siblings first shared a video statement saying they were aware of media reports of a purported ransom letter and that they were ready to talk and listen, but they wanted proof that their mother was alive. Camron Guthrie, the brother of the “Today” co-anchor, said the following day that the family had not heard directly from whoever took their mother.

A day after the second note was sent, Savannah Guthrie said on Feb. 7 that the siblings received a message and “understand,” without sharing details. She said they were begging for their mother to be returned to them. “We will pay,” Guthrie said.

The family has continued to share their pleas for information in videos posted to social media.

Two men who were previously detained have filed a lawsuit

Also, two men detained and released early in the investigation into Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance are seeking a combined $3 million against a southern Arizona sheriff’s department. In a legal claim, they say they were wrongfully held by law enforcement.

The claim made Thursday against Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos’ department centers on the separate detentions of Carlos Alfredo Palazuelos and Daniel Maddow on Feb. 10. It said they were released hours later but have suffered from having been mentioned in the investigation.

Nanos’ office declined to comment on the notice of claim, a necessary precursor to filing a lawsuit against government entities.

___

Associated Press writer Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City contributed.

The leadership change came as police continue searching for people involved in a fatal, gang-related shootout at a food festival near the Space Needle last weekend. A 15-year-old was arrested at the scene and has been charged with assault, but charging documents say the gun he was seen firing wasn't involved in the deaths of two bystanders.

Wilson and then-Police Chief Shon Barnes faced criticism for being slow to release key information about the shootout on Sunday, including whether suspects remained at large.

Barnes, who was the city's second Black police chief, has been credited with boosting the recruitment of officers and helping reduce crime downtown. A number of Black community organizations, a major business group and several City Council members issued statements criticizing Wilson's decision to replace him Thursday.

At a news conference Friday with Andre Sayles, a Seattle deputy chief the mayor named as interim chief, Wilson credited Barnes for his service and said that as mayor she had a clearer window into the operations at the Seattle Police Department than her critics.

The lack of communication about a mass shooting at a major public event in Seattle was not the only reason she asked Barnes to resign, she said.

“There were multiple factors,” Wilson said. “The events of Sunday played into it.”

Sayles told the news conference the department would boost police staffing at public festivals for the remainder of the summer. He also said he believed investigators are close to finding and arresting additional suspects in the shootout.

The gunfire erupted in the waning hours of the Bite of Seattle, an annual three-day festival that draws hundreds of food and retail vendors and performers. Three people, including a suspect, were killed, and four people were wounded. One of the people injured was a 2-year-old boy.

Government lawyers said in a 20-page court filing that additional documents provided by the Interior Department since the indictment of David Hearn show that the damage was the result of a botched installation by a contractor as well as “the rush to complete the project prior to events associated with the America 250 celebration in the weeks surrounding Independence Day 2026.” In addition, a recent visual inspection revealed damage throughout the pool, including in the middle — where prosecutors say a vandal would not likely have attempted to peel the lining.

“Given all of this newly discovered information, it is difficult to attribute the widespread damage to the Reflecting Pool to vandalism, let alone to establish that fact beyond a reasonable doubt,” said the filing from U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, which asked a judge to formally dismiss the case.

Hearn's lawyers said in a statement that the case against him should never have been brought.

“Its dismissal today does not erase the abuse of government power in arresting and charging a patriotic American who did nothing wrong. The government’s approach was ready, fire, aim. The administration owes Mr. Hearn an apology,” the lawyers said.

The dismissal marks an embarrassing setback for a Justice Department that had billed the prosecution as accountability for damage at a Washington landmark where President Donald Trump had launched a massive renovation project before the country's 250th anniversary celebrations. Trump, without providing evidence, has alleged the damage was caused by vandals.

But the case has long been saddled with evidentiary problems and challenges. Hearn has for weeks maintained his innocence and his supporters have characterized the prosecution as a politically motivated attempt by the Trump administration to deflect blame and scapegoat others.

Earlier this week, Hearn's lawyers sought access to grand jury transcripts because of what they said were “irregularities” in the process. They said a National Park Service official testified that the pool already was damaged before Hearn allegedly touched it, couldn’t quantify any damage attributable to Hearn and said the same repairs would have been required regardless of his conduct.

“The witness’s testimony established that the pool had substantial preexisting damage requiring repair before any alleged conduct by Mr. Hearn,” his lawyers wrote. “According to the witness, the pool was leaking more than one million gallons of water per week; its expansion joints had exceeded their service life; and the liner already contained a rip.”

Hearn pleaded not guilty earlier this month to one felony count of property destruction and had a trial scheduled to start Sept. 28 in D.C. Superior Court. The charge, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years upon conviction, accused Hearn of causing at least $1,000 in damage to the pool.

In court papers Friday, prosecutors said they had only recently received new information that undermined the basis for the prosecution.

“It was not until after these documents were produced that (prosecutors) first became aware of information showing that the damage was the result of a botched installation and not vandalism as initially represented” by the Interior Department. Prosecutors could “only rely,” they wrote, on the initial information suggesting that the damage was caused by vandals.

Hearn has told The Associated Press he was detained by National Guard troops and U.S. Park Police for five hours after stopping by the pool during a bike ride on June 19. He said he reached in to examine the pool’s newly peeled coating and briefly touched a chunk attached to the side of the pool, but said he obeyed a park worker who told him to let go of it.

Hearn, 67, of Bethesda, Maryland, competed in three Summer Olympics, earning his best finish, ninth, at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee says on its website.