As of 9:24 a.m., more than 700 customers are affected by the outages, according to the Medina County Power Outage Map.

Most of the outages are happening along U.S Highway 90, located west of San Antonio, the outage map shows.

At the moment, there is a Flood Warning in effect for Medina, Bandera and Uvalde counties until 8 a.m. Tuesday.

Read also:

• LIVE COVERAGE: KSAT tracks storms in San Antonio, Hill Country, surrounding areas

Buffett also said in his statement that he wants all of his remaining Berkshire Hathaway stock worth nearly $146 billion donated to charity by the end of 2034. Previously the plan was for his three children to distribute his remaining fortune within 10 years of the 95-year-old investor’s death.

“Of course, mortality is unpredictable, but my remaining shares will be donated to the four foundations one way or the other by December 31, 2034,” Buffett said in a statement. “The goal is to have the grants grow annually to each of the three foundations managed by each of my children and the annual grant to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation grow at a somewhat greater rate.”

Buffett and the Gates Foundation did not immediately respond Tuesday to questions. CNBC said Buffett is scheduled to give the channel an exclusive interview on this topic Wednesday morning.

The majority of Buffett’s charitable gifts — worth more than $61 billion — have gone to the Gates Foundation since he announced the plan to give away his fortune in 2006. He has been giving blocks of Berkshire Hathaway stock to the Gates Foundation and the four foundations run by his three children regularly.

Gates denies any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes and has not been accused of any wrongdoing. He said he only met with Epstein because he thought it might help him raise money for charitable causes.

Epstein, who was accused of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls, was found dead at the Manhattan federal lockup in August 2019 and his death was later ruled a suicide by New York City’s medical examiner.

Buffett already said in 2024 that he planned to cut off donations to the Gates Foundation after his death and let his three children decide how to distribute the rest of his fortune. The decision he announced Tuesday will accelerate that plan.

Buffett and Gates used to be exceptionally close friends who talked often, played bridge online and even took vacations together. Gates also served on the board of Buffett’s conglomerate for years and the legendary investor sat on the board of the Gates Foundation. But Buffett told CNBC in March that he hadn’t talked to Gates for months since before the Epstein files were released in the fall of 2025.

In the past, Buffett stood up for Gates. Three years ago, Buffett cut off a man who was presenting a resolution at the Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting after he questioned Gates’ character because of his ties with Epstein. Peter Flaherty was arrested that day for trespassing even though he had been approved to make the presentation beforehand. The charge was later dropped, but the incident led to a lawsuit, which is still pending in the courts.

Buffett said to CNBC “it is astounding to me that anybody could be that successful as a con person” but Epstein found a way to exploit the weaknesses of others. Buffett would not discuss Gates’ involvement, but said he doesn’t want to be involved with anything that could be investigated later.

Gates discussed his ties to Epstein with the staff of his foundation recently. Gates appears multiple times in the Justice Department’s release of documents connected to its investigation of the late financier. The Justice Department’s files include email correspondence between Gates and Epstein about philanthropic projects, calendar entries documenting dates they got together, and photos of Gates at events the two men attended.

The foundation announced that it hired someone in March to assess the foundation’s past engagement with Epstein and review its policies to vet any future philanthropic partnerships. Gates and the rest of the foundation’s board expect to get an update on that investigation sometime this summer.

Buffett told CNBC that he’s amazed at how many wealthy and powerful people have been caught up in the Epstein scandal.

“I mean, it, here you had a guy that was a convicted guy, a sensational con man, and the percentage of people that he knocked off,” Buffett said. “I mean, whether it was, he found their weakness. It might have been sex. It might be power, it might be, whatever it might be. And I don’t see how anybody could have pulled that off.”

Buffett said he’s glad Epstein never came to Omaha, where he has lived for more than six decades. Buffett is regarded by many as the world’s greatest investor who built up Berkshire over the years by buying insurance companies like Geico, major utilities, manufacturers and well-known brands like Dairy Queen and the BNSF railroad.

Buffett stepped down as Berkshire CEO in January after 60 years of leading the company, but he remains as chairman and the largest shareholder. Greg Abel is now CEO of Berkshire Hathaway.

The S&P 500 added 0.2% to recover some of its 0.8% loss from the prior day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 142 points, or 0.3%, as of 10:15 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.3% higher.

Stocks got help from easing yields in the bond market, which fell after a report said U.S. consumers had to pay prices for gasoline, food and other costs of living that were 3.5% higher last month than a year earlier.

While that’s more than nearly everyone would like, it wasn’t as bad as May’s 4.2% inflation rate or the 3.9% that economists expected for June. Less bad inflation could take pressure off the Federal Reserve, which is considering raising interest rates.

Higher rates can keep a lid on inflation, but they also slow the economy and hurt prices for all kinds of investments.

Following the inflation report, traders see less than a 15% chance that the Federal Reserve will raise its main interest rate at its next meeting later this month. That’s down from the nearly 42% probability seen the day before, according to data from CME Group.

Rebounds for several big, influential stocks of computer chip companies also helped steady the market. They’ve been swinging sharply in recent weeks on worries that they shot too high in the euphoria around artificial-intelligence technology.

Micron Technology rose 1.8%, and Nvidia added 0.5%. A day before, they were two of the heaviest weights on the S&P 500 after falling 4.4% and 3.5%, respectively.

To be sure, big risks remain for inflation. Fighting in the Middle East is threatening to close or slow traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that oil tankers use to ship crude from the Persian Gulf to customers worldwide.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, rose another 2.6% to $85.43. Following its leap of nearly 10% on Monday, it's back to where it was before the United States and Iran signed their interim deal to halt their fighting in the middle of last month.

Wall Street’s other big focus this week is the start of earnings reporting season, as companies tell investors how much profit they made from April through June.

The pressure is on companies to deliver big growth to justify how high their stock prices have jumped. Indexes are near records despite the recent swings caused by worries about AI stocks.

Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo all on Tuesday reported fatter profits for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Their reports showed strength for their trading desks and suggested spending by U.S. consumers remains resilient.

Their stocks rose following the results, including jumps of 8.1% for Goldman Sachs and 2.1% for Bank of America.

On the losing end of Wall Street was IBM, which was the single heaviest weight on the S&P 500. It dropped 24.8% after CEO Arvind Krishna said performance for its software and infrastructure businesses fell short of expectations last quarter.

IBM’s customers in late June shifted their spending toward servers, storage and memory to get ahead of expected price increases caused by the AI boom.

“These conditions require our teams to execute perfectly, and this quarter we faltered,” Krishna wrote in a letter to investors. “We did not adapt and move quickly enough, and numerous large deals failed to close on the timelines we expected, driving the majority of our shortfall.”

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury dropped to 4.57% from 4.62% late Monday. It halts a run higher from 3.97% before the war with Iran began.

Fed Chair Kevin Warsh will answer questions from lawmakers on Capitol Hill later in the day for the first time since taking over leadership of the central bank. In his prepared testimony, he pledged to make high inflation “a thing of the past” but offered no signal about the Fed’s next steps.

Besides the Fed's upcoming meeting on interest rates, July is full of potential flashpoints that could shake the stock market and potentially knock it lower before rising again by the end of the year, according to Thomas Carroll, strategist at Stifely Nicolaus. That includes Middle East tensions, earnings reports from the biggest U.S. stocks and volatile jobs data.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe following a stronger finish in Asia.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.7% after SoftBank Group Corp. rose 3.3%. It’s a big investor in AI, and Chairman Masayoshi Son gave a speech at a company event in Tokyo where he derided the idea that there is a bubble in investments in capacity for AI.

Stocks rose 1.4% in Shanghai after the government reported China’s exports jumped 27% in June from a year earlier as AI drove strong demand for computer chips and other technology.

___

AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.

Down the street, U.S. President Donald Trump will welcome new Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi to the White House after strongly backing the political novice’s bid for office. Iraq has been under pressure to disarm Iran-backed militias that attacked U.S. bases and diplomatic facilities after the U.S. and Israel instigated the Iran war.

The U.S. launched more strikes on Iran early Tuesday, hours after Trump vowed to reinstate an American blockade of Iranian ports and charge ships 20% of their cargo for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran responded with more attacks on Middle East allies, leaving the ceasefire deal in tatters and under the threat of all-out war. The U.S. military said it will resume its naval blockade on Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET.

The Latest:

Warsh vows to crush inflation but offers no hint on the Fed’s next move

Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh’s written testimony to Congress says the Fed will make high inflation “a thing of the past,” but provides no signal about the central bank’s next steps.

Fed policymakers “have no tolerance for persistently elevated inflation,” Warsh will say when he testifies Tuesday before a House committee. “And we share a resolute commitment to restoring price stability.”

Yet about half of the 19 members of the Fed’s interest rate-setting committee expect they will have to raise the central bank’s key rate by the end of the year to defeat inflation, while nearly half have penciled in no change or even a rate cut. Warsh faces a stiff challenge in reconciling the divided committee while navigating a rapidly-changing economic outlook.

▶ Read more

Lindsey Graham’s sister prepares for her Senate swearing-in

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Lindsey Graham’s sister, Darline Graham, will be sworn in Tuesday afternoon as his temporary replacement after his unexpected death over the weekend, and will serve out the rest of his term ending in January.

Graham earned a masters degree in rehabilitation counseling and has worked as an optician and at various state agencies. She’ll be the first woman to represent South Carolina in the Senate.

“It is such an honor,” she said, as dozens of Graham staffers and campaign advisers stood behind her during a statehouse news conference. “Lindsey has always been there for me. And now, I will be there for him.”

▶ Read more

Trump to welcome Iraq’s new prime minister to the White House

Al-Zaidi has been under pressure to disarm a network of Iran-backed militias operating in the country, some of which launched attacks on U.S. bases and diplomatic facilities after the U.S. and Israel launched their war against Iran.

Trump is scheduled to greet the Iraqi leader Zaidi at 11 a.m., followed by an Oval Office meeting.

Renad Mansour, director of the Iraq Initiative at the Chatham House think tank, expects that “the U.S. will put significant pressure on al-Zaidi” to move ahead with disarmament “and Zaidi will respond by saying, ‘But I need support — intelligence support, technical support, armed support.’”

“There is a scenario in which, if the Iraqi government starts going after these groups, they will also go after the government,” Mansour said. “And this is a scenario that I think that the Iraqi government is apprehensive about.”

‘Dangerous.’ ‘Brazen.’ ‘Unprecedented.’ ‘Uncharted territory’

Reaction has been swift and severe to the issue of subpoenas to five New York Times journalists who reported on security questions involving Trump’s new Qatari-gifted Air Force One.

“The subpoenas are an extraordinary escalation in President Trump’s efforts to threaten and intimidate independent news organizations and have a chilling effect on the work of journalists across the country,” said Jodie Ginsberg, CEO of the Committee to Protect Journalists.

The White House Correspondents Association holds its rescheduled dinner celebrating the First Amendment in less than two weeks, with Trump planning to attend. The first was scuttled when a shooter opened fire in what prosecutors say was an attempt to kill the president.

“The WHCA condemns any act of intimidation against journalists, including attempts to pressure them into revealing sources,” said a statement from the group’s president, Weijia Jiang.

▶ Read more

What does the Supreme Court want from Congress?

Security is central to the court’s budget request of $228 million — roughly 10% more than the last fiscal year.

Nearly $15 million of that would go to expanding personal protection for justices, with six more agents for each.

Another $2 million would fund more Supreme Court police officers and an off-site residential security post to speed emergency responses.

The U.S. Marshals Service reported 564 threats to the hundreds of federal judges around the country during the last fiscal year, and justices have not been immune: Barrett’s security detail had to defuse a fake 911 call at her house, and her sister was the victim of a bomb threat. A would-be assassin was arrested near the home of Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Chief Justice John Roberts has condemned the threats, saying it’s “dangerous, and it’s got to stop.”

June inflation report shows complicated outlook for Trump on economy

The White House will have reasons to rejoice in the June release of the consumer price index, as prices fell 0.4% on a monthly basis in large part because of tumbling oil prices tied to the now deteriorated ceasefire with Iran.

But prices still rose 3.5% over the past 12 months, well above the Federal Reserve’s inflation target of 2%.

And the monthly decline could be short-lived, with oil prices jumping again as fighting intensifies in the Middle East.

Prices for the global benchmark of Brent crude oil have risen nearly 8% in the past five days of trading to about $81 a barrel on Tuesday, a sign that inflation could soon pick up again as the American public begins to focus on the November midterm elections.

Attacks resume across the Mideast

The U.S. military’s Central Command said it struck several areas in Iran, targeting “coastal defense systems, missile and drone sites and maritime capabilities.” Iran acknowledged the strikes, but provided no immediate casualty or damage assessments.

“These strikes will continue imposing a heavy cost on Iranian forces and degrade their ability to attack innocent civilians and commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz,” the U.S. military said.

Moments after the military announced the new strikes, Trump called it “another major attack” and said the U.S. was “putting the blockade back.”

Iran responded with attacks targeting Bahrain, Jordan and three tankers that traveled through the strait.

Here's Trump's rationale for charging tolls in the strait

U.S. Central Command said on social media that it “will enforce the blockade against vessels transiting to or from Iranian ports and coastal areas” beginning Tuesday at 4 p.m. EDT, and will “support traffic flow through regional waters for all vessels not violating the blockade.”

A notice to mariners released Monday by the U.S. military warned of using force if ships don’t comply. It also said the military will let through humanitarian shipments.

The statement follows Trump declaring that the U.S. would be reinstating the naval blockade and charging a 20% toll on eligible cargo.

“We’re protecting a very rich portion of the world,” Trump said. “We’re spending money. And so, what we’ve done is, we are going to be reimbursed for protection.”

Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, would not say whether the military would be collecting tolls, and referred questions to the White House.

Trump to address the nation on Thursday

The president posted on social media that he would be “making a Speech to the Nation” at 9 p.m. EDT on Thursday.

Trump appeared to refer to himself in the third person in the post.

He did not disclose the details of his planned speech, but the announcement comes after Trump said he would block Iran-related ships from traveling through the Strait of Hormuz and that the U.S. would charge a 20% fee on all cargo going through the waterway.

Asked in an interview with Hugh Hewitt what his Thursday address will be about, Trump made it sound like nothing out of the ordinary.

“It’s just going to be a speech like a lot of my speeches,” he said, without offering any more detail.

Below is a list of the current road closures:

• County Road 311
• County Road 442
• County Road 441
• County Road 343
• County Road 445
• County Road 4516 at County Road 365
• County Road 381 at FM 471 North
• Old River Road
• County Road 251
• County Road 241
• County Road 422 at Parker Creek
• County Road 429 at Seco Creek
• Pecan Drive at Oak Street
• Old Fredericksburg Road near Bear Creek
• Both directions of U.S. Highway 90 outside Sabinal
• Old School Road and Privilege Creek Road
• 1100 block of Hackberry
• Maple Street (State Highway 173-State Highway 16)
• Bandera Boulevard
• Deer Creek Road
• Peaceful Valley Road
• Chaparral Court
• Elm Pass
• Chipman Lane
• Lower Mason Creek Road
• Winans Creek
• South Seco Creek
• Mazurek Road
• Williams Creek Road
• 1st Street in Bandera
• Gass Road
• Specht Road
• Scenic Loop near Blue Hill Drive
• Ave. C 22nd Street
• Elm Slough Crossing in the 400 block of 15th Street
• Elm Slough Crossing in the 400 block of 16th Street

The first map below shows the latest road conditions at low water crossings in Bexar County. Below that you will find a statewide map of current road closures from the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT).

• Avoid these notorious roadways prone to flooding during heavy rain in San Antonio
• Find the latest on the storms here from KSAT’s meteorologist, including forecasts, warnings and watches and an interactive radar.

Bexar County low-water crossing status

Read more about the map below and find the full version at BEXARflood.org.

About the map above, via Bexarflood.org:

“Each dot on the map indicates a location of a Bexar County HALT sensor - HALT stands for High water Alert Lifesaving Technology. The sensors detect rising water and send real time information to this website: green means the road safe, yellow means the water is rising and red means the road is closed. By subscribing to alerts through this website, you can receive text or email alerts when low water crossings you choose to monitor have water over the road.

“Bexar County has installed more than 150 HALT systems in our community to warn drivers to turn around with either flashing lights or a combination of flashing lights and gates.

“The map was developed through a partnership between Bexar County, the City of San Antonio and the San Antonio River Authority. These partners monitor local weather and road conditions 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.”

• Get weather alerts based on your location from the free KSAT 12 Weather app. Click to download on iPhone OR click to download on an Android phone.

Hill Country and statewide road closures

Read more about the map below and find the full version at DriveTexas.org.

More tips from KSAT:

Remember, ‘Turn Around, Don’t Drown’: Tips for staying safe while driving in the rain

Read more: CPS Energy offers power outage tips

Live Doppler Radar

It was the first time in almost two weeks that Ukraine said it had downed Russian ballistic missiles, which are harder to stop than drones or cruise missiles and have pummeled the country in Moscow's 4-year-old full-scale invasion.

Ukrainian air defenses likely used the U.S.-made Patriot surface-to-air guided missile system that is the most effective way of countering ballistic missiles, but ammunition for it has been in short supply amid the Iran war despite European efforts to make up for the shortfall.

Paris cheers Ukraine along the Champs-Elysees

Along the cobblestoned Champs-Elysees in Paris, crowds cheered Ukrainian troops marching in the annual Bastille Day parade, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy received an ovation from European leaders who showed solidarity with Kyiv. Ukrainian aviators trained in France flew aboard two Mirage 2000B fighter jets alongside French air force pilots.

Zelenskyy was in France seeking a remedy to his country's air defense problem, and he announced Monday that Ukraine is joining with nine other nations to form a coalition that will build a shared ballistic missile shield for Europe. Ukraine and its partners could jointly develop a mass-produced, low-cost system in the next 12 months, he said.

The Bastille Day parade featured about 500 troops from the ″coalition of the willing″ group of countries that have pledged to help with Ukraine’s postwar security. French President Emmanuel Macron called it a ″great honor″ to welcome them to the parade.

Tuesday's attack in Kyiv caused fires at two warehouses and also damaged a school, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement it targeted military manufacturing facilities that produce long-range missiles and drones.

Moscow is seeking to choke off Ukrainian strikes on oil facilities deep inside Russia that have caused critical fuel shortages, frustrating the public and, Western analysts say, are hindering the Russian army’s advance on the front line.

Ukraine’s air force said one ballistic missile and 25 drones struck 17 locations, while falling debris was reported in 10 locations.

Ukraine seeks to bolster air defenses ahead of winter

Ukraine urgently needs to improve its air defense shield before winter. Much of the country is at the mercy of Russian missiles that have hammered its power grid since 2022, making winters almost unbearable.

President Donald Trump said at the NATO summit last week that the U.S. will give Ukraine a license to make Patriot systems itself. However, they are expensive, in high demand and take a long time to produce, so it will likely be years before any Ukrainian-made systems are ready to deploy.

Ukraine strikes more Russian oil facilities

Ukraine, meanwhile, kept up its long-range onslaught on Russian targets, especially oil facilities.

An attack in southern Russia's Krasnodar region caused a fire at the Afipsky Oil Refinery that was later put out, authorities there said.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine also hit an oil refinery in the city of Salavat in the Bashkortostan region, some 1,400 kilometers (900 miles) from the Ukrainian border. Bashkortostan Gov. Radiy Khabirov confirmed an attack on an industrial area in Salavat, but didn’t say what was hit.

In addition, the Ukrainian navy struck four Russian tankers operating as part of Moscow's so-called shadow fleet of aging tankers of uncertain ownership and safety practices that are dodging international oil sanctions and a patrol boat, Zelenskyy said.

Ukraine claimed Monday it struck 105 Russian vessels in the Sea of Azov next to the Crimean Peninsula between July 6-13.

The Russian Defense Ministry said its air defenses overnight intercepted 288 Ukrainian drones.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has rebuffed ceasefires offered by Zelenskyy.

“This war must be brought to an end, and all reasonable diplomatic proposals are on the table,” Zelenskyy said on social media.

—-

Eva Van Dam contributed from Paris.

___

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

Prices dropped 0.4% from May to June, the largest monthly drop in four years, the Labor Department said Tuesday. On a yearly basis, inflation declined to 3.5%, down from a year-over-year gain of 4.2% in May and lower than many economists expected.

Yet oil prices rose for a second day Tuesday as the United States renewed attacks on Iran and President Donald Trump announced a new blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route for about one-fifth of the world’s oil. And many Americans have soured on the economy after five years of elevated inflation, posing a risk to Trump and Republicans in the upcoming midterm elections.

Still, excluding the food and energy categories, core prices were unchanged in June, a positive sign that underlying inflation is cooling. On a yearly basis, core prices rose just 2.6%, down from 2.9% the previous month. Core inflation remains above the Federal Reserve’s target of 2%.

The core figures suggest that the gas price spike from the Iran war, while it pushed up airfares and some other costs, hasn't so far led to broad-based, sustained inflation, economists said.

“This reading is very much in the camp that the inflation we've had this year is transitory,” said Michael Metcalfe, head of macro strategy at State Street Markets. “Yes, gas prices went up, but nothing else did, more or less.”

Benign report could make Fed rate hike less likely

Tuesday's report likely reduces pressure on the Fed to boost its short-term interest rate to combat inflation. Last month, Fed officials left their key rate unchanged at about 3.6%.

“Today's report gave some breathing room for the Federal Reserve in deciding whether and when to raise interest rates,” Kathy Bostjancic, chief economist at Nationwide Financial, said.

Fed Chair Kevin Warsh, in written testimony to the House Financial Services Committee, said Tuesday that the Fed has “no tolerance” for high inflation which he pledged would become “a thing of the past.” Yet he provided no hints about what steps the Fed may take in coming months. Warsh will face questions later Tuesday from members of Congress.

More goods and services saw slower price gains than expected

A wider range of prices cooled last month than economists had forecast. Electricity prices, which have been elevated by spiking demand from data centers, fell 1% from May to June, though they are still 4% higher than a year ago. Clothing prices dropped 0.6% from May to June but are 3.9% more expensive than a year earlier.

Groceries rose 0.2% from May to June and are up 2.7% from last year, while apartment rental costs cooled, rising just 0.1% last month and 2.8% from a year ago.

The inflation-fighters at the Fed remain sharply divided over next steps, according to minutes of their June 16-17 meeting. About half of policymakers support raising interest rates by the end of the year to cool borrowing, spending, and price increases, the minutes showed. Another half are willing to wait for signs that inflation may resume falling as gas prices decline, though the minutes predate the recent flare-up of violence in the Middle East.

And the situation in the Middle East continues to change hour to hour. On Tuesday, the price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, climbed 4.6% to $87.13 after the United States and Iran each said the Strait of Hormuz is under its control. Gas prices have also risen about 6 cents a gallon in the past week, to a nationwide average of $3.86 a gallon.

“Today’s number is a very good reading, but so much is going to depend on what happens in the Middle East," Bostjancic said.

Next steps

Many Fed officials have flagged massive investments in the build out of artificial intelligence infrastructure as a factor that could worsen inflation by pushing up prices for memory chips and other semiconductors, as well as electricity. With chips so much more expensive, companies like Apple, Microsoft, and Dell have announced price increases for laptops, tablets, and video game consoles.

Other Fed officials have offered conflicting views on what steps the Fed could take next. On Monday, Fed governor Christopher Waller said he was worried about core inflation, which he noted had risen from 3% last December to 3.4% in May, according to the Fed's preferred measure. He pointed out that the cost of more than two-thirds of services have risen by 3% or more compared with a year ago.

“If we get another hot reading on core inflation this week, then the (Fed) will need to consider tightening monetary policy in the near term,” Waller said in a speech in New York.

But last week John Williams, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, said that if core inflation stays at a 0.2% monthly pace for the rest of this year, the Fed could avoid hiking rates. Tuesday's data is along the lines of what Williams wants to see.

Other signs of where prices are headed are mixed. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said last week that a survey found that nearly half the companies in its region that have paid tariffs still plan to lift their prices further.

Separately, Walmart last week said it was rolling back prices on thousands of items, including ground beef, potato chips, toys, and clothes. President Donald Trump praised the move on social media and sought to take credit for the reduction, though the company did not mention Trump in its announcement.

Heavy rainfall is underway across several areas along U.S. Highway 90 from Hondo to Uvalde and northward into Bandera County.

>> ⚠️FLOOD RISK CONTINUES⚠️: Heavy rain has fallen overnight, especially west of San Antonio

Rounds of heavy rainfall will continue across the area through the morning hours, with more rounds potentially later Tuesday.

Read also:

• Map: Emergency road closures in San Antonio, Bexar County, Hill Country and Texas

According to court records, a status hearing is scheduled to begin at approximately 9 a.m. before Judge Joel Perez inside Bexar County’s 437th Criminal District Court.

KSAT is livestreaming Simpson’s Tuesday morning court appearance in this article. Delays are possible.

During Simpson’s most recent court appearance in May, Perez told the court that an outside judge is reviewing “extensive” evidence connected to the case. Once Perez reviews the judge’s findings, he “will decide what to disclose to the defense.”

Authorities linked Simpson, 55, to his wife’s murder since she was first reported missing on Oct. 6, 2024, after a party at The Argyle in Alamo Heights. While Suzanne Clark Simpson’s body has not been found, her husband was taken into custody on Oct. 9, 2024.

In addition to murder, court records show that Simpson has also been charged with tampering with a corpse and possessing prohibited weapons — both third-degree felonies.

In February, KSAT reported that Simpson’s defense team accused the Olmos Park police chief of mishandling evidence and violating a gag order.

Simpson’s attorney alleges that Olmos Park Police Chief Fidel Villegas violated the gag order and allowed Olmos Park Mayor Erin Harrison to privately review physical evidence in the case.

The motion, which seeks personnel files, claims Villegas gave Harrison access to all physical evidence in the department’s possession after a judge had prohibited disclosure of evidence to non-parties.

Background

Investigators said the couple was involved in a dispute with one another prior to Suzanne Simpson’s October 2024 disappearance.

Simpson reported Suzanne Simpson missing the following evening. Despite extensive searches, her remains have not been found.

Bexar County court records show that Simpson was charged with murder on Nov. 7, 2024. He was indicted one month later.

His business partner, James Cotter, has also been charged in connection with the case.

Cotter is accused of helping Simpson hide an AK-47 that was illegally modified. Authorities said the firearm was modified into a “machine gun” that was not correctly registered.

In October 2025, a judge ruled to have Cotter’s GPS monitor removed.

Surveillance footage gathered by investigators showed Simpson driving with three large trash bags, a heavy-duty trash can and a “large bulky item” wrapped in a blue tarp the day after his wife’s disappearance, an arrest warrant affidavit previously revealed.

If convicted, Simpson faces up to life in prison.

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

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

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

More recent coverage of this story on KSAT:

• Potential Brad Simpson murder trial date delayed by ‘extensive’ review of evidence, judge says
• Defense motion alleges Olmos Park police chief violated gag order, mishandled evidence in Brad Simpson case

The picture of Cardinals cool, Walker chased down Kyle Schwarber, shut up a rambunctious Philly crowd and introduced himself to a much wider baseball world.

Walker used six swings to swat six homers, besting Schwarber in a dramatic final round that silenced all those boo birds and made him the first St. Louis Cardinal to win the Home Run Derby on Monday night.

Schwarber hit 11 homers during his 15-swing turn in the final round. Philly fans, who jeered everyone but Schwarber and Bryce Harper throughout the night, quietly headed toward the exits when Walker’s winning shot soared over the left field wall.

“I was once told you don’t boo nobodies,” Walker said. “So it feels pretty good.”

The 24-year-old Walker sported the Derby champions' chain, slipped on a leather jacket and still wore his batting gloves as he broke down what it took to take down Schwarber on his home turf. He earned a $1 million prize for winning the Derby, which is more than his 2026 salary of $799,400.

“My thought was Philly is brutal,” Walker said. "I mean, honestly. But I think it’s pretty special because they love their players and that’s what you want from your home, like, where you play. I mean, I’d never hear people cheer so loud for, like, Schwarber and Harper. And those guys did their thing, for sure.

“But, you know, I can’t hate them, because that’s their guy, so I just got to play the game.”

Walker played a pretty great game in the first half for the Cardinals.

Walker is a first-time All-Star and having a breakout season in St. Louis. He already has a career-high 22 homers this season after struggling with a combined 11 over the previous two years.

Those final six in Philly all flying high with Iron Man on his bat are now stamped on the Derby highlight reel.

His cap backward just like Hall of Famer and Derby great Ken Griffey Jr., Walker celebrated with his family immediately on the field. His father rejoiced in recalling how Walker started hitting long home runs when he was 6 years old.

“When things got tough, they were always there in my corner to talk to them about it,” Walker said of his family. “They kept the energy levels high. They kept the feelings high.”

He fulfilled this childhood dream in striking fashion. Walker hit his seventh homer with two swings remaining and his eighth on the next swing to earn bonus swings. Needing to hit four straight homers to win, the right-handed Jordan knocked one off the top of the center field fence 401 feet away. He reached 10 homers and Philly fans booed with all their might, only for Jordan to finish the sensational surge and celebrate as fireworks shot off around him.

"You can’t say enough about how he was able to kind of slow the moment down, too, and lock it in,” said Schwarber, a Derby runner-up for the second time. “All of our fans were we’re raring and trying to will me to it.”

A revamped Derby format delivered great drama

MLB ditched its timed clock this season and returned to a swing format, with each hitter continuing to swing if he went deep on his final one.

The extra time between swings gave hitters time to track their home runs — and Philly a smidge more time to unleash those throaty boos at Contreras and Walker.

Each player had 20 swings in the first round and the top four advanced. Hitters were seeded for the second round, where No. 1 faces 4 and 2 meets 3.

Each player got 15 swings in the second round, with batters homering on their final swings continuing until not homering.

Boston’s Willson Contreras, Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero, New York's Ben Rice and Kansas City's Jac Caglianone, and Chicago White Sox first baseman Munetaka Murakami also participated.

Philly came ready to celebrate its slugging stars

Phillies fans were wildly optimistic that Schwarber and Harper could somehow reach the final and crown the franchise's third Derby champion.

Harper hit only eight in the first round and was the final slugger to try and advance. Schwarber could only watch as Harper failed to join him. Schwarber, then with the Chicago Cubs, made the finals in 2018 at Nationals Park before losing to Harper when he played with the Nationals.

Schwarber and Harper — the first pair of teammates to participate in the Derby since 2018 — received roaring ovations when famed ring announcer Michael Buffer introduced them ahead of the competition.

As for the other six sluggers in the field, all wearing their home jerseys with red, white and blue uniform numbers?

Yeah, they were about booed out of the ballpark, with the loudest jeers saved for Rice. He gamely laughed as he walked out of his Liberty Bell entrance.

Harper — who said earlier Monday this would be his last Derby — waved his arms and exhorted the crowd to get louder as he walked to the home plate platform placed at second base. Harper about broke the ring ropes as he shook them like a pro wrestler, and the Philly crowd went bonkers for the star known as The Showman.

The ball-shagging kids in the outfield were even booed.

The Derby’s public address announcer implored the fans to cheer during some quiet stretches when homers — non-Phillies edition — were hit.

The fans did get a rise when Caglianone smoked one into Ryan Howard territory into the third deck in right field. Contreras socked ’em into the rarified air of the left field upper deck. One homer cleared the last row of stands in that section and bounced off the concourse in front of a bar. His 490-footer was the longest of the first round.

This was the first Home Run Derby and All-Star Game held at Citizens Bank Park since it opened in 2004 and the first derby in Philadelphia since Barry Bonds outslugged Mark McGwire in 1996 to win an afternoon event in front of thousands of empty seats at Veterans Stadium.

This derby was sold out and aired on Netflix for the first time, with the streamer getting into the game this season with a three-event package. Netflix already aired the opening night game, and the third attraction is the Field of Dreams game between the Minnesota Twins and Philadelphia Phillies on Aug. 13.

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

Ali al-Zaidi, a businessman with no political background, emerged as a consensus candidate in Iraq after months of deadlock over the premiership following last year’s parliamentary elections. When al-Zaidi was formally installed as prime minister-designate in April, Trump said in a social media post that it was the “beginning of a tremendous new chapter between our Nations — Prosperity, Stability, and Success like never seen before.”

But Trump’s interest and involvement in the next leadership in Iraq began long before that statement.

Iraq’s dominant parliamentary bloc, the Coordination Framework, a coalition of Shiite parties allied with Iran, initially said it would back former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whom the Trump administration views as too close to Tehran. The Republican president publicly announced his opposition to al-Maliki and threatened to cut off aid to Iraq if he was appointed, adding that “if we are not there to help, Iraq has ZERO chance of Success, Prosperity, or Freedom.”

The issue of Iran is likely to loom large in the discussions Tuesday. Iraq has been under pressure to disarm a network of Iran-backed militias operating in the country, some of which launched attacks on U.S. bases and diplomatic facilities after the U.S. and Israel launched their war against Iran in February. Officially, the Iraqi government has given non-state armed groups until the end of September to disarm, but some of the most powerful militias have said they have no intention of doing so.

A Trump administration official said ahead of the Oval Office meeting that the U.S. will make “informed” decisions based on Iraq’s efforts to disarm Iranian-backed militias inside its borders. The official was granted anonymity to discuss the administration’s strategy ahead of al-Zaidi’s visit.

Renad Mansour, director of the Iraq Initiative at the Chatham House think tank, said he expects that “the U.S. will put significant pressure on al-Zaidi” to move ahead with disarmament during his Washington visit “and Zaidi will respond by saying, ‘But I need support — intelligence support, technical support, armed support.’”

“There is a scenario in which, if the Iraqi government starts going after these groups, they will also go after the government,” Mansour said. “And this is a scenario that I think that the Iraqi government is apprehensive about.”

Al-Zaidi received Trump’s blessing, despite the fact that he was chairman of a bank, Al-Janoob Islamic Bank, that was among the financial institutions banned by Iraq’s central bank in 2024 from dealing in dollars amid pressure from the U.S. to crack down on money laundering and funneling of funds to Iran.

Since taking office, al-Zaidi has made a public show of cracking down on corruption. His government has conducted raids and arrested dozens of current and former lawmakers and government officials accused of corruption, including some affiliated with former Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.

The Iraqi premier’s delegation to Washington includes a number of Iraqi businessmen and government officials, and al-Zaidi’s office said in a statement that the aim of the visit is to “strengthen economic and development partnerships, attract investment, and expand the role of U.S. companies in implementing infrastructure projects” and to further develop the oil-rich country’s energy sector.

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This story has been corrected to show Trump said “if we are not there to help,” not “if we are there to help.”

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Follow the AP's coverage of Iraq at https://apnews.com/hub/iraq.

The latest exchange of fire leaves in tatters an interim deal meant to pause the fighting, reopen a waterway that is key to world energy supplies and give negotiators time to hammer out a permanent end to the war. Instead, fighting has once again engulfed the region, threatened the global economy and brought warnings to commercial airlines. Unless a diplomatic solution is found quickly, it could intensify into all-out war.

The focus of the conflict now is the strait, through which a fifth of all traded crude oil and natural gas passed in peacetime. Iran effectively shut the passage during the war by attacking and threatening ships — a tactic that proved its greatest strategic advantage. It sent the price of oil, fertilizer and other goods soaring at a time when world leaders were already struggling to address rising costs.

The interim deal was supposed to reopen the waterway, but Iran has attacked ships moving through the strait on a route overseen by the U.S. military that is outside Tehran's control.

The U.S. has now threatened to reopen the strait by force — but experts say that will require a much bigger armada if not tens of thousands of American ground troops. It’s possible Trump will back down, as he has previously.

Attacks resume across the Mideast

The U.S. military’s Central Command said it struck several areas in Iran, targeting “coastal defense systems, missile and drone sites and maritime capabilities.” Iran acknowledged the strikes but provided no immediate casualty or damage assessments.

“These strikes will continue imposing a heavy cost on Iranian forces and degrade their ability to attack innocent civilians and commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz,” the U.S. military said.

Iran responded with attacks targeting Bahrain, Jordan and three tankers that traveled through the strait.

Two of the ships were associated with the United Arab Emirates and were set ablaze for a time. The Emirati Defense Ministry said the attack on the tankers Mombasa and Al Bahiyah killed one mariner and wounded eight others. The Emirates threatened to retaliate.

Dutch shipping firm Stolt Tankers said that one of its ships came under attack. The attack on the Stolt Magnesium off Oman sparked a fire in the engine room, but the company said all the mariners were safe.

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said the Mombasa and Al Bahiyah “ignored repeated warnings.” Iran has targeted ships that use a route through the strait that passes near Oman outside of its territorial waters.

Hours after the U.S. said it ended its campaign of strikes, the Iranian city of Bushehr on the Persian Gulf was hit in at least four locations, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. It again raised the possibility that Gulf Arab states were attacking Iran in retaliation.

Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, sounded its missile alert sirens three times early Tuesday. Jordan’s military said it intercepted four missiles from Iran. Jordan hosts U.S. forces and has come under attack by Tehran in recent days.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency warned airlines against operating in the airspace of Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, as well as over the Gulf of Oman.

It said in a bulletin that “unpredictable military developments, combined with the possible use of missiles, drones, combat aircraft and air-defense systems, create a high risk to civil flights.”

Interim deal is in peril

Exchanges of fire in recent days had already cast doubt on the interim peace deal — now almost halfway through the 60-day period in which negotiators were supposed to agree to a final accord, which also was meant to address Iran’s disputed nuclear program and other issues.

But Trump's vow to impose a blockade further imperils it. Washington lifted a blockade it imposed in mid-April as part of the deal. The U.S. military said it will resume it at midnight Wednesday in Dubai.

“We are reinstating the THE IRANIAN BLOCKADE,” Trump said on social media Monday.

He said the U.S. would impose a fee for protecting other ships: 20% of the value of cargo to help cover “any and all costs necessary to do the job of providing safety and security.”

That's a change to longstanding U.S. policy. The U.S. Navy has fought for freedom of navigation on the seas since the Barbary Wars in the early 19th century and the War of 1812. It's also a departure from recent U.S. promises that the strait would remain open to all without tolls — recently offered by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on a trip to the region.

Under the interim deal, Iran agreed that passage through the strait would remain free of charge for 60 days — but the agreement left open what would happen after. Iran asserts it has the right to manage traffic through the strait and potentially charge fees. The U.S. has disputed that.

Any attempt by the U.S. or Iran to charge fees would violate global norms on freedom of navigation and raise tensions, likely causing further economic disruption far beyond the region.

The price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose to a one-month high of over $87 in trading Tuesday, still well below the nearly $120 reached at the height of the war but threatening to raise costs everywhere.

Mediators working to prevent a return to full-scale war

Regional mediators are still trying to get the United States and Iran back to the negotiating table, according to two regional officials.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the delicate diplomatic process, said Pakistan-led mediation was working around the clock to reactivate the ceasefire.

Meanwhile, Lebanese and Israeli delegations were expected to meet in Rome on Tuesday to continue U.S.-mediated negotiations. Shortly after the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah joined the conflict in support of its ally, Iran, and began attacking Israel. Israel responded with a ground invasion of Lebanon.

Last month, Lebanon and Israel announced a “framework agreement” outlining the withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon in exchange for the disarmament of Hezbollah. Implementation has stalled.

Before the fighting around the strait intensified, Israel’s war against Hezbollah in Lebanon repeatedly threatened to derail the interim deal. A truce now exists in Lebanon, but it remains unclear whether it will hold if the U.S. and Iran return to full-scale war.

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Associated Press writer Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report.

Fed policymakers “have no tolerance for persistently elevated inflation,” Warsh will say when he testifies at 10 a.m. Eastern before a House committee. “And we share a resolute commitment to restoring price stability.”

Yet about half of the 19 members of the Fed's interest rate-setting committee expect they will have to raise the central bank's key rate by the end of the year to defeat inflation, while nearly half have penciled in no change or even a rate cut. Warsh faces a stiff challenge in reconciling the divided committee while navigating a rapidly-changing economic outlook.

In keeping with his stated policy of providing less guidance about the Fed's policies, he did not signal in his testimony whether rate increases would be necessary to combat inflation, which has reached 4.1%, according to the Fed's preferred measure, far above its 2% target. He will deliver the testimony to the House Financial Services Committee Tuesday morning and then face questions from committee members.

The renewal of the Iran war has caused oil prices to climb again after they had fallen back to nearly their prewar level. Gas prices had fallen about 20% from their peak but have also increased in the past week and are still about 35% higher than they were when the U.S. attacked Iran Feb. 28.

The government's latest report released Tuesday showed that prices dropped 0.4% in June from May, the largest monthly drop in four years. On a yearly basis, inflation declined to 3.5%, down from a year-over-year gain of 4.2% in May and lower than many economists expected.

Some Fed officials have argued that underlying inflation, even excluding the impact of gas prices, remains elevated and may require higher interest rates to defeat.

Another factor that could boost inflation for the rest of this year is the massive investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure by the so-called “hyperscalers,” such as Google parent Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta Platforms. The spiking demand for memory chips and processors has sent semiconductor prices soaring, leading to price hikes for laptops, tablets, and video game consoles.

Warsh said Tuesday that AI investment is “the most striking feature of the economy right now" and said the Fed is “monitoring the implications” for inflation and jobs.

Other Fed officials have stepped in to provide guidance as Warsh has declined to do so. Fed Governor Christopher Waller on Monday said that another “hot” inflation report Tuesday would mean the Fed would have to consider raising rates “in the near term.”

But last week John Williams, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, said that if core inflation stays at a 0.2% monthly pace for the rest of this year, the Fed could avoid hiking rates. Williams' approach implies the Fed would keep rates steady for some time while it monitors incoming data.

Tau is one part of a toxic duo fueling Alzheimer’s but prior attempts to develop drugs that can target the protein have failed. Two Alzheimer’s drugs, lecanemab and donanemab, try to clear buildup of the better-known amyloid protein and can modestly slow cognitive decline.

The new findings suggest Biogen's diranersen did more than lower tau levels. The study of about 400 people found signs that it also slowed cognitive decline, in one small subset enough to be comparable to amyloid therapy, according to results presented at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference in London. Biogen is planning a larger study to try to prove the drug’s benefit.

“This is really quite promising if it were to hold up” in that next-step testing, said Jessica Langbaum of the Banner Alzheimer’s Institute in Phoenix, who wasn’t involved with Biogen’s study.

“This is early days,” cautioned Dr. Reisa Sperling of Mass General Brigham, who also wasn’t involved in the study. But “I think it will reinvigorate interest and investment in lots of tau mechanisms, and the field needs that.”

It’s one of multiple novel attempts to fight the mind-destroying disease, including a possible tau vaccine, an experimental heart drug that might do double-duty for some people at high risk of Alzheimer's, and ways to help medicines more easily get across the so-called blood-brain barrier.

New approaches are needed to fight the leading cause of dementia

It’s not clear exactly what causes Alzheimer’s, which affects more than 7 million Americans and tens of millions worldwide. That sticky amyloid protein starts building up to form plaques in the brain about two decades before symptoms appear. But amyloid alone isn’t enough to cause Alzheimer's. Many scientists believe that amyloid buildup eventually triggers an abnormal form of tau to form tangles in neurons, setting off symptoms.

Diranersen is what’s called an antisense oligonucleotide that doesn't attack tau buildup but instead instructs a tau-producing gene to produce less.

“If you lower tau production, you are lowering the amount of the abnormal tau that needs to be cleared by the microglia, by the clearance mechanism in the brain. And so you are enabling the normal clearance mechanism to have more capacity to clear the tau,” said Dr. Cath Mummery of University College London, who led the new study.

Today’s anti-amyloid drugs are given through the bloodstream via infusions or injections. Diranersen is injected into the fluid surrounding the spinal cord, a straighter path to the brain.

Biogen's tau drug missed a key study goal — but was still encouraging

Biogen’s study included people with mild cognitive impairment or mild Alzheimer’s, randomly assigning them to different doses of diranersen or a placebo. Back in May, Biogen and partner Ionis Pharmaceuticals announced that the lowest dose — given every six months — had the strongest effect. That was a counterintuitive surprise and meant the study didn't meet its planned goal of showing that higher doses brought greater benefits.

Still, scientists had been anxiously awaiting details about how much that twice-a-year spinal shot really helped. Five of six different brain tests showed diranersen recipients’ memory and other cognitive abilities still worsened but more slowly than those given dummy shots, Mummery said. In one test of the lowest dose, that translated to a 26% reduction in cognitive decline — “approximately the same” change seen in earlier tests of amyloid drugs, she said.

Side effects included injection site pain and a temporary state of confusion that could appear a few days after the shot and last about a week, she said. But there were no signs of brain inflammation, which can affect recipients of anti-amyloid drugs.

Alzheimer's researchers also target tau in a broad new study

The University of California, San Francisco, last week opened a first-of-its-kind study known as the Alzheimer’s Tau Platform. Funded by the National Institutes of Health, it will test a variety of experimental anti-tau therapies against and in combination with today’s amyloid treatments. First up is a vaccine called AADvac1 designed to train the immune system to recognize and fight a specific worrisome portion of the tau protein, said UCSF's Dr. Adam Boxer.

The “platform” approach will expand to locations around the country, allow addition of other tau drugs to test and include people with Alzheimer’s-related protein buildup who aren’t yet showing symptoms, he said.

Other studies hint at new ways of attacking Alzheimer's

Researchers told the Alzheimer’s meeting that an experimental cholesterol-lowering drug called obicetrapib might do more than help heart health. They're exploring if it also might lower buildup of Alzheimer's-related proteins in people who carry a genetic risk for the disease.

Why? That gene, called APOE4, also affects how the body processes cholesterol. Obicetrapib maker NewAmsterdam Pharma plans to begin a study soon to test if the drug's cholesterol effects also can mitigate the Alzheimer's risk in people carrying one or two copies of that gene.

Companies also are trying to get Alzheimer’s drugs into the brain faster and at higher volumes, by penetrating the protective lining meant to protect the brain from harm. Denali Therapeutics' CEO Ryan Watts describes it as “hitching a ride” with iron that naturally gets into the brain. His company is pursuing drugs that target tau and amyloid using that “transport vehicle” technology.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

FORECAST HIGHLIGHTS

• FLOOD WARNINGS: Comal, Bandera, Edwards, Kinney, Medina, Uvalde Counties through 11am
• MORNING COMMUTE: Rain, street flooding in spots for San Antonio
• FLOOD RISK CONTINUES: Flash flooding likely in spots through Thursday AM

FORECAST

THIS MORNING

There are ongoing flash flood warnings across Comal, Bandera, Edwards, Kinney, Medina, Uvalde Counties from torrential rains. Some of these areas have seen over 7″ to 12″ inches, and flooding is ongoing. We need to monitor Hondo Creek, Sabinal & Frio Rivers.

In Bexar County, you’ll want to use caution during the morning commute. While most of this rain is light-to-moderate, it is adding up, causing some street flooding.

REST OF TODAY

Flooding rains will continue to be possible at times. It remains impossible to pinpoint where bullseyes of rainfall will be, but all areas, especially along and west of I-35 need to be weather aware. Anyone who lives or is staying along a creek or river will want to monitor water levels closely.

TONIGHT & WEDNESDAY

More rounds of heavy rain are forecast to develop tonight into Wednesday. Like this morning, pockets of very heavy rainfall will set up across the area. The most likely areas to see flooding will be those along Highway 90, mainly west of San Antonio, north into the Hill Country. A Flash Flood Watch remains in effect through Thursday.

THURSDAY AND BEYOND

The heaviest rainfall will slowly shift west toward the Rio Grande on Thursday. By Friday and into the weekend, rain chances will decrease, while temperatures warm.

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Arredondo’s defense team is seeking testimony from federal agents who responded to the Robb Elementary School shooting, arguing that their accounts are critical to preparing for his state criminal trial.

The hearing stems from a federal lawsuit filed by Arredondo after U.S. Customs and Border Protection declined to make certain agents available for testimony.

Arredondo faces 10 counts of abandoning or endangering a child in connection with the law enforcement response to the May 24, 2022, shooting at Robb Elementary School, where 19 children and two teachers were killed.

His state criminal trial is scheduled for next year. KSAT will have a crew in Del Rio, but cameras are not allowed in federal court.

Read also:

• Trial date set for former Uvalde school police chief in Robb Elementary shooting criminal case
• Ex-Uvalde schools police chief sues CBP, seeking agents’ testimony in his criminal trial
• Attorney for ex-Uvalde CISD PD Chief Arredondo ‘not surprised’ by Adrian Gonzales’ not guilty verdict

Reaction in the media world has been swift and severe to the issue of subpoenas to five New York Times journalists who reported on security questions involving the new Qatari-gifted Air Force One — a legal maneuver seen as a troubling escalation of the Trump administration’s campaign to control and intimidate independent media outlets.

“The subpoenas are an extraordinary escalation in President Trump’s efforts to threaten and intimidate independent news organizations and have a chilling effect on the work of journalists across the country,” said Jodie Ginsberg, CEO of the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Media advocates and analysts expressed dismay at the tactic, even after months in which news organizations drawing President Donald Trump’s ire have been attacked both in courtrooms and in the court of public opinion; media access to corridors of power has been blocked; and a Washington journalist’s home has been searched by federal agents.

“They have used the levers of power to intimidate and demonize professional journalists who report stories that are unfavorable to the administration’s desired narrative,” said Frank Sesno, a former CNN White House bureau chief who is now a media and public affairs professor at George Washington University.

He called Friday’s subpoenas “dangerous and uncharted territory, but merely an extension of what we have seen from this administration and president.”

“Don’t like a poll? Sue the Des Moines Register," he said. "Don’t like the way an interview is edited? Sue ‘60 Minutes.’ Don’t like the coverage of the gifted Air Force One? Order the FBI to investigate and subpoena the journalists for what is, by the way, a story that is in the public interest.”

Some of the subpoenas were delivered to reporters at home

Some of the subpoenas were delivered to reporters at their homes, the Times said. Sought by Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, they seek to force the reporters to testify before a federal grand jury in Manhattan this week.

The new jet in question, a present from Qatar that Trump's administration spent $400 million to retrofit and upgrade, entered service last week. But the Republican president used an older model Air Force One jet to leave a NATO summit in Turkey.

The Times, citing anonymous sources, reported that the switch had come at the urging of the Secret Service and that the newer plane lacked some of the advanced security features of the older aircraft, including antimissile capabilities. On social media, Trump denied security concerns.

The subpoenas were issued after FBI Director Kash Patel and other Justice Department officials met at the White House on Friday to talk about the matter, according to a person familiar with the discussions who was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity. The Times said the meeting lasted around eight hours.

The fact that the operation was conducted from the White House itself was particularly egregious to analysts like Sesno, who called the coordination “unprecedented.”

“This graphically illustrates the pressure and influence the White House and president have brought to bear on law enforcement that is supposed to be independent and driven by facts, not politics,” he said.

The National Press Club called on the Justice Department to immediately withdraw the subpoenas.

“Every American should understand what is at stake,” Mark Schoeff Jr., the club’s president, said in a statement. “When federal agents arrive at the homes of journalists with subpoenas, it is not ordinary law enforcement. It is an extraordinary assault on the freedom of the press that strikes at the heart of the First Amendment.”

Also expressing solidarity with the Times journalists was the White House Correspondents' Association — which, in less than two weeks, holds its rescheduled dinner, with Trump planning to attend the event that celebrates the First Amendment. The first dinner was scuttled when a shooter opened fire in what prosecutors say was an attempt to kill the president.

“The White House Correspondents’ Association stands with the New York Times reporters who were targeted for doing their jobs to uphold the public’s right to know how its government operates,” said a statement from the group’s president, Weijia Jiang. “The WHCA condemns any act of intimidation against journalists, including attempts to pressure them into revealing sources.”

Trump's administration has initiated multiple lawsuits against media outlets

Trump’s animosity toward news outlets whose agenda runs counter to his own isn't new. But in his second presidential term, he has launched an escalation, often harnessing the levers of the federal government or attempting to do so. These efforts have taken place both in actual courtrooms and in the court of public opinion.

The president has sued various news organizations whose coverage he dislikes. He has also threatened to revoke TV broadcast licenses. His Federal Communications Commission chairman is seeking to penalize shows like ABC’s “The View,” where some hosts speak out against Trump, by having the FCC explore revoking its exemption from equal-time rules.

The legal skirmishes include an escalating dispute between the media and Trump’s Defense Department over reporters’ access to the Pentagon. The Times has filed two lawsuits over a policy requiring journalists to be accompanied by escorts at the military complex.

The White House has also battled with The Associated Press over the news organization's refusal to follow Trump’s executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico. And it has battled with The Wall Street Journal over reporting about Jeffrey Epstein and his ties to the president — including an article that described a sexually suggestive letter that the newspaper said bore Trump’s signature.

Last month, the Justice Department issued and then withdrew subpoenas that sought to compel reporters at The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal to testify before a grand jury, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Post confirmed that one of its journalists received a subpoena from the Trump administration as part of a broader crackdown on media leaks that in January also included the extraordinary step of an FBI search of the home of another journalist at the newspaper and the seizure of her electronic devices. The media world was stunned by the search of the home of reporter Hannah Natanson, who was covering Trump’s transformation of the federal government.

The Times is now gearing up for battle against what its lawyer David McCraw has called “this brazen act.”

In an internal memo seen by the AP, the newspaper's executive editor, Joseph Kahn, criticized the subpoenas, praised his journalists' work and said: “We expect to prevail. We have the best legal team in the business. ... The law protects news gatherers from this sort of retaliatory abuse of prosecutorial power. It is essential that the courts reaffirm that protection and quash this overreach. We are confident they will in this case.”

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Jocelyn Noveck covers the intersection of media and entertainment for The Associated Press.

Tuesday, July 14

At least two main lanes on U.S. Highway 281 southbound at Brook Hollow Boulevard are flooded, according to the Texas Department of Transportation.

Drivers are encouraged to take an alternate route to reach their destinations.

For more information on traffic, you can click here to view our traffic page on KSAT.com. To view more on the current weather conditions, click here.

Click the links below for current road closures.

• San Antonio road closures
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The nation's largest bank by asset size, JPMorgan said that revenue in every line of its business hit record levels in the quarter, including its markets division, where revenue grew 35% over the same period last year. Revenue in its equity markets division skyrocketed 86%.

JPMorgan earned $6.14 per share in the period, beating analyst estimates of $5.59 per share and 2025's $5.24. Managed revenue came in at $58 billion, also topping the estimates of analysts surveyed by FactSet.

JPMorgan shares were down 2.4% before the opening bell.

IPOs and mergers expected to stay hot through 2026

CEO Jamie Dimon said that revenue from the New York bank's investment banking division rose 30%, accelerating to the highest level since 2021 as the thirst for initial public offerings and mergers and acquisitions remained strong.

According to investment research analysts, both merger and acquisitions and initial public offerings are expected to continue at a blistering pace through 2026.

Global M&A activity accelerated in the second quarter of 2026, with announcements up 64% year-over-year and closings up 33%, according to Morgan Stanley. It was the sixth straight quarter that the volume of deals grew on a year-over-year basis.

The jump in M&A volumes were driven by deals of $10 billion or more, which accounted for 43% of the quarter’s announced volumes, the most in more than six years, Morgan Stanley said. The bank’s research arm forecast that 2026 global M&A announcements will reach $6.4 trillion, topping 2021’s $6.1 trillion.

The story was similar in the IPO market, where 48 IPOs raised a quarterly record of nearly $105 billion, according to Renaissance Capital. The bulk of the proceeds came from SpaceX’s offering, which brought in $75 billion, more than all U.S. IPOs combined in 2024 and 2025, Renaissance said.

Renaissance expects the IPO market to extend its hot streak into the second half of this year, also driven by larger deals such as Korean memory chip giant SK Hynix’s “mega-listing” on Friday that raised $26.5 billion.

Iran war the main source of market volatility

Markets have been swinging wildly up and down since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran in late February, with military strikes from both sides interspersed with pauses in fighting and vague temporary truces.

Investors’ concerns that the war will last a long time has triggered high volumes of selling in financial markets, while hopes for a resolution and a freer flow of crude oil has inspired optimism and buying.

Though volatile markets can cause anxiety for individual investors, high-speed Wall Street trading desks can take advantage of the wild gyrations. Big swings in markets tend to increase activity on trading desks, leading to higher commissions and fee revenue for the banks.

Big banks all reported strong second quarter results

Wells Fargo also reported its second-quarter results on Tuesday, posting a 22% jump in net income over the same period last year. Wells said it earned $6.4 billion in the period, or $2 per share, up from $5.5 billion a year ago. Revenue of $22.6 billion also topped estimates.

Wells CEO Charlie Scharf said the San Francisco bank was benefiting from a strong economy and its newly unleashed ability to invest after years of government oversight. Wells’ said its investment banking revenue grew 20% from last year and markets revenue was up 24%.

“After years of not being on a level playing field with our competitors because we couldn’t grow our balance sheet, we are carefully deploying capital to grow and support our clients by taking risks that we think are prudent through economic cycles, not just the strong environment we see today,” Scharf said.

Shares of Wells Fargo fell 1.9% in premarket.

New York investment bank Goldman Sachs and commercial banking giant Bank of America also posted strong second quarter results, both beating Wall Street expectations.

Goldman earned $6.6 billion in the period, or $20.98 per share, on $20.3 billion in revenue. Its shares rose 4% before the opening bell.

Bank of America’s profit rose to $9.1 billion in the April-June period, up 27% from a year ago when it posted $7.2 billion in profit. Bank of America’s shares lost 1.3% in early trading.

“Seeing my grandma and all these people affected made me feel like I had to do something, even if it was from the U.S.," said the 18-year-old, who has spent the last couple weeks preparing food for volunteers at the Doral, Florida headquarters of the nonprofit Global Empowerment Mission.

Izaguirre is one of thousands of people who have participated in an exceptionally large grassroots humanitarian effort based at GEM, supported by donations from across the U.S. and beyond and still going strong nearly three weeks after the catastrophe.

Hundreds of volunteers still show up each day at GEM's warehouses in Doral, where about half the population is of Venezuelan descent. They sort donated supplies –– curated to address the latest needs –– and prepare them for transport to Caracas on daily flights.

GEM's system, facilitated by the U.S. State Department, has given members of the Venezuelan diaspora and others an outlet to support the ongoing crisis, and a trusted mechanism to send aid amid widespread concern about theft and corruption on the part of Venezuelan officials.

“Whatever we can get to the Venezuelan public is what counts,” said Izaguirre.

The effort also underscores the stunning dynamic shift between the U.S. and Venezuela since President Donald Trump ordered then-Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro’s capture in an early morning raid on Jan 3. With military personnel again on the ground, the U.S. has assumed a response role that would have been unimaginable before January, when Trump said the U.S. would “run” the country and seized control of its oil exports.

“This is a whole different animal,” said GEM founder and president Michael Capponi, who was denied entry to Venezuela while trying to deliver aid during the reign of Maduro, who long rejected humanitarian help, equating it to foreign intervention. “We land a private plane, it gets unloaded by U.S. soldiers, it goes in a truck we pay for and to a warehouse that we completely control. It doesn’t touch the hands of the Venezuelan government.”

GEM quickly activated a supply chain

The 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes struck 39 seconds apart on June 24, killing at least 4,500 people with thousands more still missing. They destroyed and damaged over 850 buildings, leaving 17,000 displaced and ravaging critical infrastructure providing electricity, clean water and sanitation.

GEM's headquarters became a donation collection point almost immediately. Some donors were initially skeptical that aid could reach those who needed it without being stolen or misused by a notoriously corrupt government, Capponi said. After GEM made its first successful aid distribution, the movement grew bigger than he'd seen in decades of global response.

Companies like Goya, Walmart and Amazon contribute supplies while professional sports teams have donated funds. But much of the aid is still amassed from thousands of individuals' contributions.

“They’re going to Walmart with their credit card, buying 15 cans of food and bringing it in a shopping bag,” said Capponi. “It doesn’t sound like a lot, but when it’s 2,000 people... it’s an enormous amount of aid.”

Lines to drop off aid at GEM have at times been so long police had to help manage traffic. Supplies arrive from across North America: Two brothers drove a U-Haul of goods from Canada. Another group arrived from Mexico. Trucks have rolled in from Nevada, Texas and California.

As many as 1,000 volunteers across three warehouses sort and pack. They fill pallets with essentials like diapers, and assemble individual care packages with enough sustenance and hygiene items to last two people about five days. They also tuck in notes of encouragement: “Te queremos Venezuela,” one reads. “We love you, Venezuela.”

GEM aims to deliver at least 100,000 care packages monthly for the next three-to-six months, while also addressing upcoming needs, like longer term housing.

Volunteers have taken vacations from work to put in hours at the warehouses, said Billy Richardson, director of U.S. logistics. Others arrive after work. “We almost have to kick them out at the end of the day,” Richardson said.

Mariela Vila showed up because she remembers how affected she was when Hurricane Maria pummeled her homeland of Puerto Rico in 2017. “The Latino community in general gathered together to help Puerto Rico, and that made me feel really well,” said Vila, 25, who has worked full-day shifts at GEM since the effort began. “So I felt the need to help Venezuela.”

U.S. assumes a complicated role

Nearly one million pounds (454,000 kilograms) of supplies have been deployed so far from GEM headquarters to its recently leased Caracas warehouses. GEM collaborates with local nonprofits and trusted community members to organize distributions in the hardest hit areas, often twice daily.

But it is the U.S. State Department that facilitates the shipments with the Venezuelan government, making it possible for GEM to operate in the country, even getting help from the U.S. military. On Saturday, U.S. Marines landed an amphibious landing craft on a Venezuelan beach and unloaded GEM packages that were then passed to 2,000 people lined up for aid.

Partnerships with GEM and additional nonprofits allow the U.S. to tap into existing logistics and donation mechanisms, a State Department spokesperson told The Associated Press, adding that the effort with GEM leverages "the Venezuelan American diaspora and private partners who want to donate.”

Several other U.S.-based humanitarian groups told The Associated Press they also have been able to operate without interference from Venezuelan officials. Some depend on collaborations with established local nonprofits.

Despite the U.S. presence, some still question whether the Trump administration is doing enough to help Venezuela, especially since it controls billions of dollars in oil revenue.

“There are a lot of transparency questions that linger on the use of that fund in a moment in which Venezuelans really need that money to be used for the protection of Venezuelans,” said Laura Cristina Dib, Venezuela program director at the human rights organization Washington Office on Latin America.

John M. Barrett, U.S. charge d’affairs for Venezuela, told reporters last week that the interim government has been “fully compliant in terms of our requests to advance this massive humanitarian response" and that revenue from Venezuelan oil production, currently controlled by the U.S. Treasury, is being made available for relief efforts.

Asked for further details, the State Department spokesperson said “State and Treasury are supporting the Venezuelan interim government’s budgetary operations, improving Venezuela’s liquidity and access to capital during the recovery," adding that the U.S. has contributed over $386 million to earthquake response independent of the oil revenue.

Venezuela's recovery is only beginning

In the coastal city of Maiquetía last week, Yoniel Reyes sat inside a tent, examining the contents of a GEM package he’d just received during an aid distribution, packed and sealed 1,300 miles away in Doral. There were instant meals, bottles of water, canned food, hydration powder and hygiene kits.

“I never imagined I would be receiving aid from the U.S.,” said Reyes. “We Venezuelans are thankful, very thankful.”

——

Associated Press videojournalist Juan Pablo Arraez contributed to this report from Maiquetía, Venezuela.

——

Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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More than 70 people were injured in the Sunday night tragedy, with 24 of them still in critical condition, according to a statement by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration.

Initial details about the victims, which have not been updated since Monday, said 18 of the dead were women and nine were men, all Thai except one bar employee from Laos. The injured included 41 women and 34 men.

The blaze at the Rong Beer Na Ladprao bar, the city’s deadliest in 17 years, broke out shortly before midnight in a northern part of the Thai capital. Firefighters needed half an hour to bring it under control.

The bar, which in Thai calls itself a brewery or beer hall, claimed to accommodate as many as 600 customers. It was not clear how many were present Sunday night.

An investigation into the cause of the fire and whether the bar was following safety regulations is ongoing. Most of the people who were killed were found trapped in windowless bathrooms where they may have sought to escape the flames, police said.

Bangkok governor orders safety survey and better enforcement

Bangkok Gov. Chadchart Sittipunt said Tuesday he has ordered the city’s administration to conduct a sweeping survey of such establishments to assess risks. The city will also step up enforcement of existing laws to improve safety standards, he said.

Former patrons of the bar and other mourners visited the site Tuesday, adding to the growing pile of flowers leaning on the guardrails cordoning off the location of the blaze.

Handwritten messages in Thai and other languages, including Korean, were left alongside white flowers, expressing condolences to the victims.

Debris from the bar, including melted musical instruments and blackened chairs, lay scattered along the sidewalk, moved there Monday by officials investigating the cause of the fire.

University student Thanakon Phoklang said he was passing by and wanted to pay his respects.

“It was regrettable,” he said. “It’s impossible to feel anything else.”

The public clamor for answers and action concerning the tragedy has included relatives of the dead who went to Bangkok’s Institute of Forensic Medicine to collect their bodies on Tuesday.

Families weep as they retrieve bodies

Gathering at a loading area for vehicles, family members wept as they walked with coffins that were then loaded into an ambulance and taken away.

Namthip Tubsuk, a mother of two and teacher nicknamed “Ice,” died in the fire, according to her aunt Jittiya Phaiklaw, who focused on reports alleging exit doors had been locked.

“They shouldn’t have locked the doors,” Jittiya said. “If they were afraid the customers would get away, they could have had the security guard staff minding them away.

Jutatip Surakumhang, a friend of Namthip, said an apology was owed.

“I feel there must be someone coming out to apologize to everyone who died. There were deaths deserving an apology. It was heartbreaking,” Jutatip said.

The bar issued an apology and condolences Monday on Facebook and vowed to cooperate with investigations into the fire.

The relatives and friends of another deceased victim, 35-year-old Bangkok native Top Sarobol, also came to the forensic institute to accompany his body. They wept as his coffin was brought out and loaded into the van to be returned home.

“For his family, it is hard to accept it. His grandmother is old. She always said let her grandson cremate her,” his friend Nuttakarn Sevoy said. “But the reality is opposite of what we wanted.”

Speculation about the causes of the tragedy has been rampant but mostly unconfirmed, while experts have drawn general conclusions about fire safety in Thailand.

Engineering expert suggests problems should be probed

On Monday, the president of the Thailand Structural Engineers Association, Amorn Pimanmas, told reporters outside the bar that, while he had not inspected the venue, he observed some risk factors that could worsen fire hazards.

He said the building is enclosed, has low ceilings and may have used foam as decorative materials, without adequate flame-retardant treatment. Combined with limited air ventilation, smoke would accumulate quickly, he said, creating toxic air that could be the main cause of death for many victims.

He also noted that officials said the bar was licensed as a restaurant with a live music venue rather than an entertainment venue because it was located outside the designated zoning for such businesses. Amorn said that would exclude it from the stricter fire safety requirements for entertainment venues.

“There must be some kind of revolution regarding fire safety procedures, and I think law enforcement is also very important,” he said. “It’s not that we don’t have the law, but it’s the problem of how the law could be strictly enforced from now on. I think the government should answer this question.”

___

Pimuk Rakkanam in Bangkok contributed to this report.

Gov. Kathy Hochul is set to sign an executive order Tuesday morning imposing the country's first statewide moratorium on hyperscale data centers, which house thousands of computer servers and require massive amounts of energy and a steady supply of water to keep cool.

“As data center development threatens to hike up utility bills, deplete our natural resources, and create uncertainty for New Yorkers, it’s my responsibility to take action and lead,” Hochul, a Democrat, said in a statement.

The order will pause state permitting for new large data centers and direct state regulators to create standards that address environmental impacts, energy demand, water usage and other factors, the governor's office said.

Tech companies and other backers have argued moves to block the construction of data centers hurt job growth for local communities and cede ground to China in a race to lead in the rapidly growing AI industry.

Earlier this year, Maine seemed poised to establish a similar moratorium. But the measure was vetoed by the state’s Democratic Gov. Janet Mills because it would have blocked a proposed data center in a town that has struggled following the closure of a local mill. Moratoriums have been proposed in at least a dozen states but have not gotten far, though some counties and municipalities have imposed their own temporary bans.

The decision in New York also carries political significance for Hochul's reelection campaign and the state's tight congressional races this fall, as Democrats move to address affordability concerns over high utility bills and other pocketbook issues. The governor this year softened New York's ambitious goals to reduce greenhouse gases, citing rising energy costs for consumers.

Hochul’s Republican opponent in the governor’s race, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, opposes a statewide moratorium and says local governments should be allowed to strike deals with tech companies for data center projects that promise enough economic benefits.

The state Legislature this year approved its own moratorium bill, but Hochul's office described the legislation as complex and said it needed additional work. Instead, the governor is opting for an executive order that would take effect immediately once signed.

New York, at this stage, has not been a destination for the biggest hyperscale data centers.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster announced at a news conference at the Statehouse on Monday that Nordone would serve the remaining months on Graham's current term, which expires in January. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said afterward that she will be sworn in Tuesday afternoon.

Nordone will be the first woman to represent the state in the Senate.

“It is such an honor,” she said, as dozens of Graham staffers and campaign advisers stood behind her, some with eyes glassy from welling tears. “Lindsey has always been there for me. And now, I will be there for him.”

Graham died on Saturday at age 71. He never married or had a family of his own, but Nordone was often by his side for the political touch points of his career, speaking at events and appearing in some of his campaign ads.

After their parents died at a young age, Graham was left to raise his sister, for whom he later became legal guardian. They were very close, and she was there as he filed reelection paperwork earlier this year, along with her children and grandchildren.

“To Lindsey, I miss you more than I can even put into words," Nordone said, emotion rising in her voice. "But I'm going to do this. I got it.”

Introducing Nordone, McMaster said the two had spoken “in the wee hours of Sunday morning” after Graham's death, and he asked her to serve.

“I had wondered what you would say, and I was humbled by your quickness to see the duty that you had to serve,” McMaster said. He added that President Donald Trump “thought it was a great idea” when he later told him of his pick. Trump announced his support for Nardone to fill the seat earlier Monday.

Nordone has worked as an optician and at various state agencies, including the South Carolina Commission for the Blind and the Department of Employment and Workforce. She lives in Lexington, is a graduate of the College of Charleston and has a master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling.

How will a special primary work?

A special election will be held next month to pick a new Republican nominee in the general election for Graham’s seat. He had been seeking a fifth term this year.

The rare open Senate seat has ignited a scramble among South Carolina’s most ambitious conservatives, who have been eager to climb the political ladder.

Republicans just finished a sprawling and bruising contest to figure out their nominee for succeeding McMaster, who is wrapping up his second term. State Attorney General Alan Wilson won the nomination, overcoming a field that included Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, Rep. Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman — all of whom are now eyeing Graham’s seat following his death over the weekend.

According to South Carolina law, a one-week filing period for a special primary election begins on the second Tuesday after the candidate’s death, or July 21.

The special primary election would be held on the second Tuesday after that filing period closes, or Aug. 11. Any necessary runoff would follow two weeks after that, or Aug. 25.

From that point, the new nominee would have just over two months to campaign for the general election on Nov. 3.

All of this is problematic according to federal law, which requires military and overseas ballots to go out 45 days before any federal election. For the special election primary, that would have been June 27. Federal Election Commission officials didn’t immediately return a message seeking clarity about the process.

Who could replace Graham?

Graham died on Saturday night, and a preliminary medical examiner report said he suffered a tear in his aorta, known as an aortic dissection.

In the hours after Graham's death was announced, South Carolina’s Republican circles were already swirling with rumors about possible replacements.

Evette, who has served nearly eight years alongside McMaster and received his endorsement in the governor's race, is one possibility. She lost the June 23 runoff to Wilson.

Mace and Norman could run in the special primary as well. Neither of them are running for reelection to their House seats.

But another Republican from the state, Rep. Russell Fry, could be a possibility. The two-term lawmaker represents the growing area around Myrtle Beach, and he's been a top Trump ally.

Businessman Mark Lynch, whom Graham defeated in the primary, may jump into the race. So could Mark Sanford, the state's former governor who served two separate stints in the House.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who lived in South Carolina before joining the Trump administration, has fielded calls about potentially replacing Graham but doesn’t have interest in the role and enjoys working for the president, according to a person who insisted on anonymity to describe private conversations.

How does Graham's death affect the general election?

No Democrat has won a Senate seat in South Carolina in decades, and Republicans in recent history typically take statewide seats by double digits. When Graham last ran in 2020, he defeated his Democratic opponent, Jaime Harrison, by a 10 percentage point margin.

So while history suggests that Graham was en route to a fifth term, Republicans are carefully surveying the landscape.

Charleston pediatrician Annie Andrews won the Democratic nomination last month and has raised more than $8 million in the race, and she had just under $3 million cash on hand at the end of May, according to federal filings. Graham had taken in $6 million, with just over $4 million on hand.

In a statement Sunday, Andrews called on South Carolinians to join her “in setting partisanship aside and offering gratitude" to Graham for his service.

Harrison, noting that he and Graham “had our share of political disagreements,” wrote on social media that he “always appreciated that even in our fiercest political battles, we could still share a conversation, a laugh, and a mutual respect for South Carolina and the institutions we were both privileged to serve.”

___

Associated Press writer Fatima Hussein in Washington contributed to this report.

___

Kinnard reported from Charleston, South Carolina, and can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP.

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Until Ken Paxton sued to stop it.

A Trump-appointed judge, who previously worked at the Texas attorney general’s office, agreed that it was an unconstitutional overreach and struck down the policy nationwide.

Today, the threshold for mandatory overtime pay remains at $35,568, where the first Trump administration set it in 2019.

Over four years, Paxton’s office ran this same play more than 100 times, filing quick-turn lawsuits asking friendly judges to block President Joe Biden’s signature policies for the whole country. Texas was the tip of the spear, leading almost four times as many lawsuits as the next-highest state and marshaling unprecedented agency resources toward the cause.

This litigation machine had a profound effect on everyday life for millions of Americans, many of whom have never set foot in Texas. Because of these lawsuits, nursing homes are not required to keep a nurse on-site 24 hours a day; trans students cannot call on federal protections against discrimination at school; new housing built with federal dollars does not have to meet higher energy efficiency standards; and states are not required to track or reduce highway emissions.

Paxton’s record against Biden is his sword and shield on the campaign trail, where he portrays himself as the bulwark against the progressive agenda of a power-mad president, stymying him especially on protections for immigrants, the environment, the LGBTQ+ community and abortion access.

He called on this record of “relentless challenges” when he was impeached in 2023, warning that his removal from office would enable Biden’s liberal policies to proceed unchecked. In the GOP Senate primary, when Sen. John Cornyn aired out the indictments, investigations and infidelities that have long hung over Paxton’s political career, the attorney general ran ads calling himself a “conservative fighter who sued Biden over 100 times.”

He won in a landslide.

Now facing Democratic nominee James Talarico, Paxton has continued to trumpet his record against the Biden White House, frequently claiming an 80% win rate, which a Texas Tribune analysis found is overstated. A lawsuit’s lifecycle is complicated, and there are many ways to measure a win. By the most generous metrics, Texas got the outcome it wanted in about two-thirds of the cases it was involved in — lower than the number Paxton touts, though still plenty to throw a wrench in the works.

“It’s not always about winning. It’s often about delay, and dragging things out and making it more painful and making it harder to affect any sort of changes,” said Josh Blackman, a professor at South Texas College of Law Houston. “On that front, Paxton was extremely influential.”

Madison Cercy, a spokesperson for Paxton’s Senate campaign, did not respond to a question about how Paxton calculated his win rate, but said in a statement that his “results speak for themselves.”

“He filed more than 100 lawsuits against the Biden Administration, repeatedly stopped unconstitutional overreach, and secured major victories that protected Texas, defended our sovereignty, and forced the federal government to follow the law,” Cercy said. “Texans know Ken Paxton was the conservative fighter leading the charge against Biden.”

Border battles

Suffice to say, Paxton and Biden got off on the wrong foot. After the 2020 election, Paxton sued to overturn Biden’s win in four states, a long-shot ploy the Supreme Court swiftly rejected.

When it became clear Biden was going to be the next president, the upper echelons of the agency geared up for battle, said Chris Hilton, the former head of the general litigation division.

“There was a feeling of ‘game on,’” he recalls. “It’s gonna be four years of this. Let’s do it.”

It didn’t take long. On Day One, Biden issued a blitz of executive orders and directives, including a 100-day pause on most deportations.

“That’s not federal law, that’s Joe Biden made-up law,” Paxton recounted in a speech at the Grapevine Republican Club in April. “So we sued Joe Biden on Day Three. That’s actually pretty fast for a lawsuit against a sitting president.”

Paxton filed in Victoria, where one judge hears all cases. Drew Tipton, a Trump appointee, ruled in Texas’ favor, blocking the deportation pause for the entire country.

The opening shot had landed.

“No matter what the federal government was doing, they knew that if they weren’t dotting their i’s and crossing their t’s, they were going to get called to account,” Hilton said. “An executive order comes out, it was going to get challenged.”

Over the next four years, immigration became the central sparring ground between Paxton and Biden. With Congress largely immobile on immigration, the Biden administration tried to push reforms through the executive branch — an approach many presidents have taken, but one that leaves their policies subject to court challenges, said Colleen Putzel-Kavanaugh of the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute.

“A lot of the state litigation is, honestly, symbolic,” she said, noting it’s how states can flex their limited power over this uniquely federal policy area. Still, Paxton sued Biden more than 20 times on immigration alone and managed to derail major priorities, like ending the Migrant Protection Protocols, also known as the Remain in Mexico program.

In 2018, President Donald Trump’s first administration began requiring some asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico for their hearings, leaving more than 70,000 migrants in squalid, dangerous conditions on America’s doorstep. Biden’s Homeland Security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, reversed course, saying the policy had reduced border crossings “by imposing substantial and unjustifiable human costs on the individuals who were exposed to harm while waiting in Mexico.”

Paxton filed a lawsuit in Amarillo, more than 700 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border, where Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk has heard nearly all cases since Trump appointed him to the bench in 2018.

Paxton frequently exploited a loophole in the structure of Texas’ federal judiciary system to guarantee his cases would be heard by a Trump-appointed judge. Because of the state’s size and unequal population distribution, nine judicial divisions had just one judge for parts of the Biden administration; Trump appointed seven of them.

Of the lawsuits Paxton filed in Texas, 90% were guaranteed to be heard by either a Trump-appointed judge or Reed O’Connor, a Bush appointee who has become a reliable conservative arbiter.

There’s nothing illegal about a lawyer seeking a favorable venue, but Steve Vladeck, a Georgetown law professor and critic of this practice, has written that Paxton turned a “loophole into an art form” during the Biden administration.

“If litigants like Texas are regularly able to obtain nationwide injunctions from judges whom they have hand-picked to hear their complaints, it should go without saying that public faith in the independence of the federal judiciary will be undermined,” Vladeck wrote in an 2022 amicus brief.

Kacsmaryk ruled that Remain in Mexico should be restored, as the Department of Homeland Security had “failed to consider several of the main benefits” of the policy. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed, with Judge Andrew Oldham, who previously worked as Texas’ deputy solicitor general, writing that the Biden administration was trying to “supplant the rule of law with the rule of say-so.”

The case made its way to the Supreme Court, which ruled that the Biden administration was within its rights to strike down the Remain in Mexico policy — a year and a half after Kacsmaryk prevented it from doing so, and only after several thousand migrants had been sent back to Mexico to await their hearings.

And after the high court sent the case back to Kacsmaryk for review on other grounds, he promptly restored the policy again. Paxton was jubilant, posting on social media that the Biden administration had “played games all the way to SCOTUS,” but its “open-border agenda won’t survive my legal attacks.”

Rochelle Garza represented asylum-seekers who had to await their hearings in Mexico. Having seen the human toll of that policy, she said it was unconscionable Paxton pushed so hard to ensure it could continue.

“Ken Paxton didn’t have to look into the eyes of a woman who gave birth in a tent,” said Garza, the Democratic nominee for attorney general in 2022. “Every time I talk about it, I see the faces of the people I worked with, and knowing that someone like Ken Paxton is entirely okay with adding to the pain and suffering of people just seeking protection of our country is maddening.”

Texas ran a similar playbook on myriad immigration policies, asking Trump-appointed judges to grant nationwide injunctions to delay implementation of Biden priorities for months or years of litigation.

Texas sued over Biden’s revocation of Title 42, a COVID-era order that made it easier to remove undocumented immigrants; the administration’s guidance on who to prioritize for deportations; a program to grant temporary status to some migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela; and a program called Keeping Families Together that would have allowed undocumented spouses to remain in the country while they applied for green cards.

The relentless drumbeat of litigation gave Paxton headlines on an issue that emerged as Republicans’ most potent political cudgel. The attorney general gave speeches from the steps of the Supreme Court, went on Fox News and put out press release after press release, presenting himself as the last refuge against Biden’s “unwavering determination to get as many illegal aliens into this country as possible.”

During a tough reelection campaign in 2022, as his GOP primary opponents hammered him on long-standing securities fraud charges and abuse of office allegations from his top deputies, Paxton cited this record in campaign ads and on the trail. He won the primary and beat Garza by 10 points in November — evidence, Hilton said, that voters don’t care about his alleged indiscretions.

“They care about what he’s done with the office, what the office has produced,” he said. “You can agree or disagree with the policy decisions, but he’s squeezing all the juice out of that office.”

Culture warrior

When Gov. Greg Abbott was attorney general during the Obama administration, he famously quipped, “I go into the office, I sue the federal government, and then I go home.” During the Biden administration, it was more of the same — although Paxton’s lawyers often skipped the trip home.

“I’d often get a call that would say, ‘Hey, we need to be on file with this in less than 24 hours, get whatever resources you need, just make it happen,’” Hilton recalls. “We’d work all night and get something together.”

Paxton threw more resources at the agency’s political work, as the agency’s other, more bureaucratic obligations fell by the wayside. Those leading the charge against Biden developed a playbook to speed things along by filing “minimally viable lawsuits” they could later refine, as former Paxton deputy Aaron Reitz said on a podcast in 2021.

With these lawsuits, Paxton plunged the office into the culture war clashes that were riling his most conservative supporters. He sued aggressively over COVID restrictions and tried to combat the Biden administration’s strong stance on expanding LGBTQ+ rights.

One of Biden’s Day One directives was to fully enforce Bostock v. Clayton County, a 2020 Supreme Court decision that established workplace discrimination protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Citing this seminal ruling, Biden issued guidance to ensure employees and students would be allowed to use the bathroom, changing facilities, pronouns and names that align with their gender identity.

To block these policies, Paxton returned to Kacsmaryk’s courtroom. Before joining the bench, Kacsmaryk worked at a religious liberty law firm and wrote frequently on the threat that enabling LGBTQ+ rights would create for “Americans who continue to believe that marriage and sexual relations are reserved to the union of one man and one woman,” as he argued in a 2015 essay.

He sided with Paxton on a 2021 lawsuit over the Biden administration’s first attempt at defining how workplaces must ensure they are not discriminating against LGBTQ+ employees, in which Paxton argued Texas was being forced to put “subjective views of gender” over the privacy of state employees.

Rather than appeal, the Biden administration issued a new policy. Texas sued, and Kacsmaryk struck it down again.

Equality Texas, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group, tracked more than 40 anti-trans actions by Paxton and his office during the Biden administration. Brad Pritchett, the group’s executive director, said being in the attorney general’s sights for so long had left trans people exhausted and terrified, and prompted dozens of families to leave the state. Even when Paxton lost, the press releases and competing rulings created confusion and fear over what was still legal, he said.

“He’s manipulated the AG’s office and diverted taxpayer resources and dollars into these cases,” Pritchett said. “These cases don’t benefit Texans, they’re just designed to harm people who are transgender.”

Paxton ran the same play when the Biden administration attempted to shore up reproductive rights after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and allowed states like Texas to ban nearly all abortions.

Biden issued guidance reminding emergency rooms of their obligations under federal law to perform life-saving abortions, and telling pharmacists they could not discriminate in filling prescriptions for medications that can also be used to induce an abortion. Paxton sued over both policies, accusing Biden of trying to turn every emergency room into a walk-in abortion clinic and “intimidate every pharmacy in America.” Federal judges blocked both measures nationwide.

The oil and gas docket

In December 2022, the Biden administration waded into the swampy marshland of the Clean Water Act. For five decades, presidential administrations, businesses and states have fought over what wetlands and waterways should be protected from pollution by this landmark environmental legislation.

When the Biden administration tried to find a middle ground between Obama’s more sweeping protections and Trump’s narrower interpretation, Texas took a stand.

“It’s time to start suing,” Texas Railroad Commissioner Christi Craddick said during an agency meeting. “I think the AG’s going to have a good time with this one.”

Biden campaigned on an ambitious environmental agenda to cut greenhouse gas pollution, increase renewable energy and, in a comment many in his party saw as a gaffe, “transition” the country away from oil and gas. These plans sent panic through Texas’ oil and gas industry, which employed almost half a million people and paid $27.3 billion in state and local taxes in 2024, according to an industry report.

Texas elected officials vowed to fight. Abbott directed state agencies to “use all lawful powers and tools to challenge any federal action,” and Paxton filed more than two dozen lawsuits on this issue alone.

The oil and gas economy actually boomed during the Biden era, with Texas boasting record levels of crude oil production, which those in the industry said was in spite of increased regulations, not because of them. Ed Longanecker, the president of the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association, said Paxton was instrumental in holding off the worst of the new rules.

“He’s always been a fighter against federal regulatory overreach, and it’s clear for obvious reasons that he has an affinity for oil and gas, given its dominance in Texas,” Longanecker said.

Many of these lawsuits struck at the heart of Biden’s environmental agenda, like when Louisiana and Texas teamed up to block executive actions pausing new liquefied natural gas export permits and oil and gas leases on public lands and offshore waters.

For environmental groups, Paxton often served as a frustrating blocker. In 2024, the Biden administration added the dunes sagebrush lizard to the endangered species list after years of advocacy from environmental groups like the Center for Biological Diversity. This 2.5-inch lizard lives exclusively in the West Texas dunes, where oil and gas production has been encroaching on its territory, the groups argued.

Paxton sued, saying the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had not relied on the best scientific and commercial data available in adding the lizard to the list. He called the designation a “backdoor attempt to undermine Texas’s oil and gas industries.” The lawsuit paused the work of protecting the lizard’s environment. After Trump took office, the Department of the Interior rescinded the lizard’s endangered designation and settled the lawsuit.

Laura Parker, a lawyer for the center, said it can be hard for people to understand why a tiny lizard, or rare mussel species, or the lesser prairie chicken are worth preserving. But “humans will suffer if we continue to lose the life that exists around us,” she argued.

“In the balance of trying to consider industry and economy, and also trying to consider the environment, the scales tilted way too far to the point where industry is prioritized over people,” Parker said.

In a red state with much of its economy and identity tied up in oil and gas, defending the industry has served Paxton well. He’s long been funded by two of the state’s wealthiest oil and gas magnates, Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks, and has garnered widespread support from the conservative-leaning industry. He has hammered his opponent, state Rep. James Talarico, on the issue, saying the Austin Democrat “attacks the industries we love here, the oil and gas industry, the industries that provide energy and provide jobs to Texas.”

“It plays well with voters in general, not just because of the dominance of oil and natural gas in Texas, but just because of the political makeup of our state,” Longanecker said. “He’s a fighter and people like that.”

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

Assess spending rate

People who have just retired or are about to are particularly vulnerable to sequence-of-returns risk, which means that a bad market shows up early in your retirement. Not only does that early retirement sell-off feel bad, it actually is bad because it imperils your portfolio’s ability to last throughout your retirement years. In  Morningstar’s 2025 retirement spending research, we found that the people most likely to run out of money in retirement were  the ones whose portfolios lost value in the first five years of their retirements.

Retirees who are pulling cash flows from their portfolios can address that risk by adjusting their spending down to ensure that more of their portfolios are in place to recover when the market eventually does. And those adjustments don’t need to be radical to make an impact. In  our retirement income research, we found that even small tweaks like forgoing an inflation adjustment following a bear market help ensure that spending lasts over a whole 30-year period and can lead to more lifetime income than a strategy that ignores market movements.

If you haven’t yet retired, assess your planned in-retirement spending and identify where you would be willing to make cutbacks. Turbocharge savings if you can afford to do so. Catch-up contributions are available to all retirement savers over age 50. And if you’re between 60 and 63, you can make a “super-catch-up” contribution to your company retirement plan, for a total of $35,750 in 2026. High-income heavy savers may also be able to take advantage of after-tax 401(k) contributions, which enable them to stash even greater amounts in their company retirement plans.

Pull cash flows from safer assets

In a turbulent market environment in which equities have declined, it’s best to pull any portfolio cash flows from safer assets and leave your stock positions undisturbed. That’s the general logic behind  the Bucket approach to portfolio construction. In good years for the stock market, like 2023-25, you’d be harvesting appreciated equity assets to supply your income needs. In bad ones, like 2022, you’re not touching stocks but instead sourcing cash flows from high-quality bonds, cash, or a combination of the two.

If your portfolio is riskier than it should be, it’s not too late to shift into a more situation-appropriate asset allocation.

Play the long game with Social Security

Social Security is a secure, inflation-protected source of income, much like a paycheck. But the lifetime benefits of delaying Social Security are hard to ignore: a higher income stream that also happens to be fully inflation-protected and will last as long as you do. Delayed filing can be particularly impactful if you’re the higher earner in your family and you have a younger spouse who will receive that higher benefit for their lifetime.

In  our retirement income research, we found that delaying filing up until age 70 did enlarge lifetime income, but the benefits are greatest if you have some other source of funds to draw from until your benefits start. And the benefits are also obviously more valuable for people with above-average life expectancies, in that they stand to receive those higher streams of inflation-protected income for a longer period of time.

Revisit inflation protection

Inflation is a key risk for retiree portfolios because the income from your safe investments is going to buy you less and less as you age. Moreover, retirees tend to spend more on healthcare, where prices have historically increased faster than the general inflation rate.

Many retirees focus on nominal bonds and underrate the value of inflation-protected bonds as a component of their retirement plans. You can address that by adding an inflation-protected bond fund to your portfolio; most of the better target-date series allocate roughly one-fourth of their bond portfolios to inflation-protected bonds. Alternatively, you could build a laddered portfolio of Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities that will mature and supply you with living expenses throughout your retirement.

Investigate tax-saving strategies

The early retirement years are typically an excellent time to consider strategies like converting traditional IRA balances to Roth or accelerating withdrawals on traditional IRAs and 401(k)s. Without income from work and because you won’t be subject to required minimum distributions until you’re 73, your income, and in turn the taxes you’ll owe on those conversions and withdrawals, will be lower.

_____

This article was provided to The Associated Press by Morningstar. For more retirement content, go to https://www.morningstar.com/retirement.

Christine Benz is director of personal finance and retirement planning for Morningstar and co-host of The Long View podcast. Subscribe to her free newsletter, Improving Your Finances.

Related Links:

Your Retirement Countdown, With Christine Benz

https://www.morningstar.com/retirement/your-retirement-countdown-with-christine-benz

5 Things You Need to Know About RMDs This Year

https://www.morningstar.com/retirement/5-things-you-need-know-about-rmds-this-year

Retirees Don’t Need to Fear a Lost Decade. They Need a Plan

https://www.morningstar.com/retirement/retirees-dont-need-fear-lost-decade-they-need-plan

ODESSA — Mexico and the U.S. may frequently spar, but the two nations are bound by energy — networks of pipelines that stretch from Texas to its southern neighbor to deliver the lion’s share of Mexico’s natural gas.

This longstanding economic relationship is at risk as the Trump administration backs out of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a free-trade pact President Donald Trump spearheaded and that was enacted in 2018 as a replacement for NAFTA to bolster trade between the three countries.

Trump administration officials said they would instead negotiate amendments annually for a decade until the agreement expires in 2036.

Further complicating the issue is the U.S. war on Iran, as ceasefire talks collapse — which is all but likely to throw global energy markets into further disarray.

For at least two decades, Mexico has sought U.S. gas to support its electricity demand across the residential, industrial and power sectors, and its dependence has skyrocketed. In 2005, Mexico received 750 million cubic feet of natural gas a day from the U.S., said Ira Joseph, a fellow at Columbia University’s Center for Global Energy Policy. Last year, that number jumped to 7.5 billion cubic feet a day, according to the Energy Information Administration.

At least 90% of that natural gas comes from Texas, which has become one of the bigger beneficiaries of the economic arrangement.

“Today Mexico faces a high dependence on natural gas from abroad,” Energy Secretary Luz Elena González Escobar said at an April press conference. “We are importing 75% of the natural gas we consume in the country.”

Mexico has taken steps to shore up its own natural gas reservoirs, announcing in April that it would seek to ramp up fracking, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo’s administration said. The effort is meant to lessen its dependence on U.S. producers.

Experts are skeptical of this plan, arguing it would take years and a dramatic increase in oil and gas production to make up for the billions of cubic feet of natural gas the country imports a day to meet its growing demand. As nations move to insulate themselves from global energy shocks by decreasing their reliance on others, experts said Mexico is embarking on an opposite path.

“The Texas energy industry is strategic for not only (Mexico’s) power generation, but also industrial competitiveness,” said Adrian Duhalt, a fellow at Southern Methodist University’s Texas Mexico Center, which researches the relationship between the two. “We cannot imagine … the importance of the natural gas from Texas for Mexico’s power generation and manufacturing activities.”

The country has historically struggled to drum up its own supply. In 2013, former president Enrique Peña Nieto introduced a constitutional reform that broke a 75-year monopoly by Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, a government-run oil company charged with most of oil and gas production. The reform introduced bidding rounds for oil and gas exploration and production, including the development of hydraulic fracturing, Duhalt said.

But there wasn’t enough immediate building — or production — to transform Mexico into a standalone producer of natural gas, despite a surplus of crude oil. In 2018, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador rose to the presidency and halted new contracts, dramatically setting the reform’s goals back. And Pemex alone is unlikely to have the needed resources and infrastructure to deploy large-scale projects, Duhalt said.

And Mexico predominantly focused on crude oil production, Duhalt said, which also contributed to the sustained shortage of natural gas.

“Historically, Pemex contributions to the government represented a large percentage of government revenues,” Duhalt said. “So to maximize that rate in the short term, the government prioritized crude oil production, and natural gas was left on the back burner.”

The end result has been a tight-knit relationship that could put Mexico’s energy security at risk, experts said, as geopolitical conflicts deepen and trade agreements unravel.

The Permian Basin, a vast oil field in western Texas, is the nation’s largest producer of oil and gas. It contributes at least half of U.S. oil. An excess of natural gas resides in these oil deposits, too, that producers have grappled with disposing of for years.

Roughly 90% of Mexico’s natural gas is the product of Texas, said Aparajita Datta, an energy policy associate at the University of Houston, a transaction bolstered by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which Trump has said he wouldn’t renew. Rejecting the agreement — which keeps natural gas prices low for buyers — could be imperiled by the time the agreement expires in 2036.

And it could add new pressure for Mexico, which will pay higher prices, and Texas, which is overstocked with natural gas reserves.

Still, Datta added, the U.S. can store its excess reserves for 100 days, giving it more time and leeway to navigate market disruptions. Mexico, on the other hand, can only save any natural gas for three days.

“From the Mexican perspective, I benefit from piped natural gas from Texas, because I get rates that are cheaper than shipped liquefied natural gas and make sure that I have energy security for, let’s say, a war,” Datta said. “I am constantly dependent on my neighbor, where … there’s been policy uncertainties, all of this geopolitical movement that’s happening that essentially then puts my energy security at risk.”

The longstanding bond in energy between the two countries is particularly vulnerable as political tensions rise between them, Joseph, the Columbia fellow, said.

“It could become part of the geopolitical football,” Joseph said. “Obviously, the border relationship between the U.S. and Mexico, whether you’re talking about immigration or the most recent form of the trade agreement. This could potentially disrupt this big form of trade between the U.S. and Mexico.”

• FLOOD WATCH: In effect tonight through Thursday
• BEXAR COUNTY: Intermittent rain tonight through Friday morning
• • AMOUNTS: Widespread 1″ to 3″, Bullseyes: 6″+
  • RISKS: Street & creek flooding, lightning
• WEST & HILL COUNTRY: Highest rain potential, Bullseyes 8″+
• • RISKS: River & street flooding
  • • RIVERS ON ALERT: Rio Grande, Nueces, Frio, & Sabinal

FORECAST

An active pattern is taking shape across South Texas. Disturbances, combined with a boundary and ample moisture, will create a flood risk.

WHEN: Tonight through Thursday

CONCERN: Street flooding in urban areas. River and creek flooding will also be possible, mainly west of San Antonio. If you live or plan to be along any area river, make sure alerts are turned on your phone and you remain weather aware.

HOW MUCH RAINFALL?

• SAN ANTONIO: Widespread 1-3″ over the next four days, however, some spots could see more than 6″
• WEST & HILL COUNTRY: Higher totals, Some bullseyes over 8″ to 10″

TONIGHT & TUESDAY MORNING

Rain, heavy at times, should become widespread overnight then periodically come and go through Friday morning.

In this type of setup, it’s impossible to know where the heaviest of the rainfall will be, but flash flooding will be a concern at any point through Thursday night. The Tuesday morning commute is likely to be affected by rain, but we’ll have to wait and see where where street flooding becomes an issue.

TUESDAY

Heavy rainfall is forecast to continue into Tuesday, with a few breaks in the action during the day. Odds favor most of the rain to be focused in the morning hours, but some redevelopment in the late afternoon & evening will be possible.

WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY

More heavy rain is forecast to setup in the area Wednesday and Thursday, with the focus slowly shifting west towards the Rio Grande. Rainfall totals of up to 3-6″ will be possible, with some isolated spots seeing more than 8″ in and around the Rio Grande and Edwards Plateau areas. River flooding will be a concern and will be closely monitored. Those who live or have plans to be near the Frio, Nueces or Rio Grande should pay particularly close attention to the forecast.

THURSDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH WEEKEND

While some lingering rain is possible Thursday afternoon, for the most part activity will wind down. Only spotty rain is possible over the weekend.

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.

Federal authorities have offered limited information about the July 7 shooting beyond saying Salgado Araujo tried to hit an agent with his van, prompting calls for an independent investigation and pressure from protestors and Democratic lawmakers for ICE and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, to release evidence.

The Texas Tribune has repeatedly posed detailed questions about the Houston shooting in emails to ICE and Homeland Security, but federal officials have not addressed most of them.

Separately, the FBI’s Houston office — which is leading an investigation into the potential assault on a federal officer — said Monday that it does not discuss ongoing investigations and redirected all questions to Homeland Security.

Here is what we know and still don’t know about the Houston shooting.

What happened during the shooting?

Hours following the shooting, Homeland Security released a statement saying Salgado Araujo had tried to ram an ICE vehicle, refused to follow multiple verbal commands and “weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over” an ICE agent before the officer fired his weapon in self-defense.

Three men who were also in the van have since disputed that narrative, saying in written and oral comments that ICE vehicles rammed Salgado Araujo’s work van and the agents were not at risk of being run over. An agent ran toward them from the side and yelled “Stop!” before firing from the van’s passenger side, hitting Salgado Araujo in the abdomen, according to accounts provided to The Washington Post by a lawyer for some of the men, who remain in ICE custody.

As of Monday, no video footage had emerged fully showing what happened during the shooting.

Homeland Security said agents involved in the incident were not wearing body cameras, blaming Democrats for the lack of the equipment. In addition, ICE vehicles had no dashcam footage of the incident, according to U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia, a Houston Democrat who said that information was provided by acting ICE Director David Venturella. The department didn’t respond to the Tribune’s repeated questions about why dashboard camera footage was not available.

Homeland Security also didn’t address multiple detailed questions about the circumstances of the shooting, including how many ICE agents were involved, how many shots were fired at the van and whether an ICE vehicle had rammed Salgado Araujo’s van at any point.

Who killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo?

Homeland Security has refused to identify the ICE agent who fatally shot Salgado Araujo, citing rising violence and threats against federal officers involved in the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations.

The Atlantic reported last week that the unidentified agent was “a veteran with more than two decades’ experience,” attributing the information to an unnamed senior ICE official.

It’s also unclear if the agent remains on duty while separate investigations by the FBI and Homeland Security’s inspector general continue. The agencies have either declined to answer this question from the Tribune or ignored it.

Local authorities have similarly been kept in the dark, according to Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare, who has launched an independent investigation into the shooting. During a Monday news conference, he said his office would usually know the identity of state or local officers involved in fatal interactions within 12 hours.

“We’re almost a week in and no one on the state level knows who they were or where they are right now,” Teare said. “That’s unacceptable.”

Which agency gave the tip to ICE?

In a Thursday statement, Homeland Security said it received a “credible tip” from unspecified “law enforcement partners” that led ICE agents to watch a Houston residence where two white vans had been seen. Salgado Araujo was driving a white van.

The identity of the law enforcement agency remains unclear.

Homeland Security didn’t respond to repeated questions about which agency provided the tip. The Texas Department of Public Safety, the Houston Police Department, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office and the Precinct 6 constable’s office have told the Tribune that they did not supply the tip.

ICE has also said agents were engaged in a “targeted operation.” The New York Times reported the agency was seeking at least one Guatemalan man with a prior removal order.

The agency has declined to answer questions about its operational plan that day and who it sought to arrest, but Garcia has announced that Salgado Araujo was not the intended target. He had no criminal history and was in the process of obtaining legal authorization to be in the U.S. after being sponsored by one of his U.S. citizen sons, according to his family.

The three other passengers in the white van, which include Salgado Araujo’s brother, were Mexican. They do not have prior deportation orders or a criminal record, according to local congressional staff and available public records. Homeland Security spokespeople did not clarify the criminal or immigration history of the passengers.

Homeland Security officials also did not respond to questions about their situations or the intended target.

Will federal authorities share evidence?

After mounting calls for transparency and accountability, local authorities have vowed to pursue independent investigations of the shooting but caution there are challenges to gaining access to evidence held by federal authorities.

“We’ve attempted to communicate with any number of federal agencies. We’ve had varying success in that,” Teare, the district attorney, said Monday, adding that his office has yet to speak with Homeland Security’s inspector general office.

Houston Mayor John Whitmire said last week that Police Chief Noe Diaz asked the FBI to “start sharing information” and that Diaz has a meeting with the agency’s Houston bureau chief this week.

A spokesperson for the FBI’s Houston office declined to answer whether it would share evidence with local officials, directing the Tribune to Homeland Security, which didn’t respond to the question.

Teare said his investigators have visited the shooting scene, collected surveillance footage from area businesses and fielded “well over 100 communications” from the community. He also is in contact with the Hennepin County attorney’s office in Minnesota, which is investigating the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents in January.

“In all likelihood, this will take many, many months — potentially years — before we finally get the answers that we all need,” Teare said. “But we will not rest and we cannot do it without the support of the public and the support of our commissioners.”

This was not the first deadly shooting by federal immigration agents during the second Trump administration in Texas or across the country. It is also not the latest: An ICE agent fatally shot a motorist Monday in Maine.

Lomi Kriel, Uriel J. García and Gabby Birenbaum contributed to this story.

Every year, flash floods happen across the city as heavy storms move through the area, often during hurricane season. Bexar County officials monitor 178 low-water crossings, updating road closures when they occur.

Drivers warned to ‘Turn Around, Don’t Drown’

While more seasoned residents know which places to avoid, newer residents may not know which areas are most prone to flooding:

Salado Creek at I-35:

When heavy rain falls, the water pools up on the access roads, resulting in closures in the area.

Basse Road and 281:

After heavy rains, Olmos Creek will quickly rise, flooding the roadways it runs through.

Pinn Road:

Pinn Road and Highway 151 has been the scene of some notable high-water rescues before. Leon Creek runs below the road, leaving it prone to flooding.

Lower levels of I-35:

The lower levels of I-35 tend to shut down after heavy rains lead to flash floods on the highway.

While those are some of the most well-known flooding spots, intersections around San Antonio can also flood, depending on where the rain falls.

San Antonio Fire Department’s 10 most dangerous low-water crossings since 2015

• Old Seguin Road at Salado Creek (46 rescues)
• Old O’Connor Road, located north of Lookout Road (31 rescues)
• Hollyhock Road, positioned 600 feet west of Babcock Road (20 rescues)
• Pinn Road (14 rescues)
• Spencer Lane, located east of Balcones Heights (13 rescues)
• Ira Lee, north of Austin Highway (12 rescues)
• Sleepy Hollow at Sunburst (10 rescues)
• Gibbs Sprawl Road at Rosillo Creek (10 rescues)
• West Commerce Street from Pinn Road to Military Drive (9 rescues)
• North Loop, around 150 feet from West North Loop (8 rescues)

Find the latest on the storms here from KSAT’s meteorologist, including forecasts, warnings and watches and an interactive radar.

For more information on traffic you can click here to view our traffic page on KSAT.com. To view more on the current weather conditions, click here.

Click the links below for current road closures.

• San Antonio road closures
• Bexar County road closures
• TxDOT highway conditions

Below is a map of notable low water crossings in San Antonio.

The increase in exports in June was much better than economists had expected. Exports rose 19.4% year-on-year in May.

Imports in June surged 36%, better than May’s 27.4% year-on-year growth, with analysts attributing the expansion in part due to the Iran war driving up import costs.

China recorded a trade surplus of $125.6 billion in June, widening from $105.4 billion in the previous month.

“With the rapid growth of AI, our imports and export of products in this field are robust," Wang Jun, vice minister of China’s General Administration of Customs, said at a news conference in Beijing.

He said trade in electronic components, computer spare parts, and other computing hardware jumped nearly 57% to 5.1 trillion yuan ($760 billion) in the first half of the year. Other products such as AI glasses, AI translating devices, powered exoskeletons and other smart products are also evolving.

“Trade values took another big leg up in June,” Julian Evans-Pritchard, head of China Economics at Capital Economics, wrote in a note Tuesday. “This predominantly reflects the recent surge in semiconductor prices on the back of the AI boom. But even putting that aside, foreign demand for Chinese goods remains robust.”

China's exports of vehicles, especially EVs, and other tech-related products have boomed as rapid adoption of AI increases the need for semiconductors and other electronic equipment.

The strength in export manufacturing has helped to offset prolonged weakness in domestic spending and investmentdue to a prolonged downturn in the property industry.

In January-June, China’s exports climbed 17.6% from a year earlier, while imports jumped 26.6%, according to the customs data.

Policymakers including those in the U.S. and in Europe have express alarm over rising trade deficits with China. In order to bypass barriers such as higher tariffs, Chinese businesses have been moving factories to regions like Europe. China has also been exporting more to Southeast Asia, Latin America and Africa.

Wang, the customs official, acknowledged the threat from rising trade barriers.

“We still face serious risks and challenges in the second half of the year,” he said.

While China's export growth is likely to continue, it is becoming increasingly fragile, said Wei Li, head of Multi-Asset Investments at BNP Paribas Securities (China). Robust shipments in autos and AI-related items will remain dependent on global demand and regulatory barriers, he said.

Exports to Southeast Asia in June surged nearly 35% from a year ago, while those to the European Union and Latin America increased more than 18% and 28%, respectively.

Exports to the United States climbed almost 14% from a year earlier. China's shipments to the U.S. have risen in recent months, partly due to declines in shipments a year earlier after President Donald Trump returned to office last year and implemented higher tariffs.

China is set to announce its economic growth data for the April-June quarter on Wednesday. Chinese leaders have set an annual growth target of 4.5% to 5% for this year, slightly lower than the 5% growth in 2025.

Last week, the International Monetary Fund raised China’s annual growth forecast by 0.2 percentage point to 4.6%. But it said it expects China’s economy to expand just 4.1% in 2027.

Chinese leaders have sought to boost consumer spending through various initiatives, including trade-in subsidies for autos and home appliances. But many ordinary Chinese have been feeling the pressure from a slowing economy and avoiding big-ticket purchases.

___

AP Videographer Borg Wong contributed from Beijing.

The justices are appearing before a House appropriations panel as the court seeks millions of dollars to beef up security amid a rise in threats to the judiciary.

Judges around the country have seen a rise in threats of violence and intimidation, including a fake swatting call to police about Barrett’s home in May.

The hearing comes two weeks after the conservative-majority court finished handing down a series of major opinions, including a decision that increased President Donald Trump’s power over federal regulatory agencies and another that rejected his wide-ranging tariffs, sparking harsh personal criticism.

It's the first time justices have testified before Congress since 2019, and the two justices could face wide-ranging questions as they seek to keep focus on the budget.

Security is central to the Supreme Court's budget request

The Supreme Court requested a total of $228 million for next fiscal year, a roughly 10% increase over the year before. Nearly $15 million of that would go to expanding personal protection for justices, with six more agents for each.

Another $2 million would fund an off-site residential security post aimed at making emergency responses faster, as well as increasing the number of Supreme Court police officers.

The U.S. Marshals Service, responsible for protecting judges, reported 564 threats in the government fiscal year that ended in September, an increase from the year before.

That total includes threats to the hundreds of federal judges around the country, though the nine-member Supreme Court has not been immune.

In May, Barrett’s security detail worked with police to quickly deal with the call determined to be swatting, or a fake 911 call designed to provoke a police response. Last year, her sister was the victim of a bomb threat in Charleston, South Carolina, police said. No bomb was found.

In 2022, shortly after the leak of a draft opinion overturning the Roe v. Wade abortion decision, a would-be assassin was arrested near the home of Justice Brett Kavanaugh with weapons and zip ties.

Chief Justice John Roberts has condemned the threats to all U.S. judges, saying during a speech in March that criticism of judicial opinions is understandable, but personally directed hostility is “dangerous, and it’s got to stop.”

Iran responded with attacks targeting Bahrain, Jordan and two tankers associated with the United Arab Emirates traveling through the strait, killing one mariner and wounding eight others. The Emirates threatened to retaliate against Iran, potentially drawing the nation home to Abu Dhabi and Dubai back into fighting with Tehran.

The attacks come as Iran and the U.S. both vie for control of the strait through which a fifth of all traded crude oil and natural gas once passed in peacetime. The price of benchmark Brent crude oil rose to a one-month high of over $84 in trading early Tuesday, still well below the nearly $120 reached at the height of the war but threatening to make costs everywhere higher.

Trump insists strait will be open

The U.S. military's Central Command said it struck areas around Abu Musa, Bandar Abbas, Bushehr, Chahbahar, Jask and Konarak, targeting Iranian “coastal defense systems, missile and drone sites and maritime capabilities.” Iran acknowledged strikes around those areas, but provided no immediate casualty or damage assessments.

“These strikes will continue imposing a heavy cost on Iranian forces and degrade their ability to attack innocent civilians and commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz,” the U.S. military said.

Moments after the military announced the new strikes, Trump called it “another major attack.”

“We’re hitting them very hard. And it’ll continue, and we’ll see what happens,” he told reporters in the Oval Office. “We’re knocking out all of their offensive capability and we’re controlling the straits. We’re putting the blockade back.”

Trump also provided new details on his administration doing an about-face and suggesting it will charge tolls for ships going through the strait, after previously suggesting that it wouldn’t.

“We’re protecting a very rich portion of the world,” he said. “We’re spending money. And so, what we’ve done is, we are going to be reimbursed for protection.”

It's a change in U.S. policy that, until now, said the strait should remain open to all without tolls — as it was before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28. Any attempt by the U.S. or Iran to charge fees would violate global norms on freedom of navigation and raise tensions, likely causing further economic disruption far beyond the region.

The U.S. Navy has fought for freedom of navigation on the seas since the Barbary Wars and the War of 1812.

Attacks resume across the Mideast

The United Arab Emirates’ Defense Ministry said early Tuesday that Iran attacked two tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, killing one mariner and wounding eight others.

The Emirati Defense Ministry said Iran launched two cruise missiles at the tankers Mombasa and Al Bahiyah.

The attacks set both tankers ablaze, though the fires were extinguished.

Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard claimed the attack on the tankers, saying the vessels “ignored repeated warnings.”

“They chose to pass through a minefield and were subsequently targeted and disabled,” the Guard said.

Bahrain also came under renewed attack early Tuesday morning as Iran retaliated over the latest round of U.S. airstrikes. Bahrain sounded its missile alert sirens twice, urging the public to seek shelter. There was no word on any damage or casualties from the attack.

The Emirati Defense Ministry said the attack on the tankers killed one Indian national and wounded six Indians and two Ukrainians.

“The UAE reserves its full right to respond to this escalation and to take all necessary measures to protect its territory, its citizens and residents,” the Defense Ministry added.

The Emirates used similar language before launching attacks against Iran during the war. Fighter jets could be heard overheard Tuesday morning in Dubai.

The U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi and the U.S. Consulate in Dubai alerted Americans early Tuesday that consular appointments had been canceled through Wednesday “due to the regional security situation.”

Jordan’s military said it intercepted four missiles from Iran, according to a statement carried by the kingdom’s state-run Petra news agency. Jordan hosts U.S. forces and has come under attack by Tehran in recent days.

Trump says Iran failed a test

Earlier Monday, Trump told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt that the agreement reached last month was “built to test” Iran, adding that “when you’re dealing with sleazebags (agreements) don’t mean much.”

“They didn’t honor the test,” the president said.

Iran asserts it has the right to manage traffic through the strait and potentially charge fees in accordance with the interim peace deal. The U.S. has disputed that.

The American military and the United Nations' International Maritime Organization have tried to establish a route through the strait along the coast of Oman that would be outside of Iranian control. Iran has attacked ships using that route, saying the U.S. is violating the interim peace deal. The U.S. has attacked Iran in response, drawing Iranian attacks on U.S.-allied Arab states.

Exchanges of fire in recent days had already cast further doubt on the interim peace deal. Washington had lifted a blockade it imposed in mid-April as part of that deal, which also called for the strait to be fully reopened.

“We are reinstating the THE IRANIAN BLOCKADE,” Trump said on social media. “All other countries will have fair and open use of the Strait.”

The president said the U.S. would be “reimbursed” by 20% of the value of cargo to help cover “any and all costs necessary to do the job of providing safety and security.”

The U.S. military said it will resume its blockade of Iranian ports at midnight local Wednesday in Dubai.

___

Boak, Weissert and Toropin reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Mae Anderson in New York, Christopher Weber in Los Angeles, Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut, Munir Ahmed in Islamabad and Stella Martany in Irbil, Iraq, contributed to this report.

Graham, who had turned 71 just two days before passing away on Saturday night, was far younger than many of his Senate colleagues and appeared to have been in good health. He suffered a tear in his aorta, according to a preliminary report from the medical examiner.

It was the second time in less than a month that emergency personnel were dispatched to the home of a U.S. senator. In early June, Mitch McConnell, the former Republican Senate leader, was hospitalized for undisclosed reasons.

After weeks of increasingly dire speculation about his health, he finally revealed on Sunday that he had fallen and suffered from mild pneumonia. He released a photo, complete with a copy of the day’s newspaper.

Graham’s death and McConnell’s hospitalization have come amid an ongoing reckoning about the nation’s aging leaders, two years after the disastrous presidential debate that sparked widespread panic among Democrats about then-President Joe Biden’s capacities and accusations of a cover-up.

Some politicians have continued to obscure details about their health challenges, asking for privacy despite their public positions, and fueling conspiracy theories.

“I think we need some transparency,” Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said Monday. “I wish Sen. McConnell and his team would have done that earlier, I think it would have resolved a lot of questions.”

Mitch McConnell

McConnell, who at 84 is only the third-oldest member of the Senate, was admitted to the hospital on June 14 with barely any explanation. Aides said he was “receiving excellent care," but offered no details about his condition.

The dearth of information fueled a wave of speculation about his prognosis, with Laura Loomer, a Trump ally and conspiracy theorist, claiming on social media that a "high level source close to the White House” had told her he was “officially brain dead.”

But McConnell, who will retire from Congress at the end of January after serving as the longest-ever Senate leader, said in a statement that he is on the mend. He said a fall had led to his hospitalization and that he was “briefly unconscious" and treated for mild pneumonia.

“You all know how folks of my generation often hesitate to share the vulnerability that comes with growing older," he said. “Even in the public eye, I feel that same instinct – I can’t help it.”

That wasn't enough to put speculation to rest. On social media, many refused to believe the veracity of a photo his office released that included the front page of the “Sports” section of The Washington Post.

Conspiracy theories about McConnell’s health are “a symptom of our times," said Sen. Rand Paul, who is also from McConnell's home state of Kentucky. Paul said people should “give him a break.”

“People think they have a right to know everyone’s medical problems," he said, "but I don’t know, where does it begin and where does it end?”

Donald Trump

The oldest person ever elected president has long offered only the rosiest picture of his health.

“Everything checked out PERFECTLY," he boasted after his last physical in May, adding that he took yet another cognitive test aimed at detecting early dementia and has “aced them all.”

His past medical reports have been criticized for offering limited detail and including statistics that some health professionals have viewed with skepticism.

When he first ran for president in 2016, Trump declined to release his health records, breaking with longtime precedent. He instead offered a four-paragraph note from his doctor declaring that he would be “the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.” Rep. Ronny Jackson, White House doctor during Trump's first term, later drew headlines when he extolled the president's “incredibly good genes."

When he was infected with COVID-19 in the midst of his 2020 reelection campaign, Trump's doctors and aides withheld key details of his treatment and tried to downplay the severity of his illness.

And after an attempted assassination at a Pennsylvania rally, Trump aides kept the public in the dark for days, declining to discuss the extent of his injuries or release medical records after assuring he was “fine.”

Thomas Kean Jr.

The obfuscation extends beyond the septuagenarian and octogenarian set. New Jersey Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. spent four months missing without explanation before he finally disclosed late last month that he had been in treatment for depression.

He said in a brief floor speech after his return that he had remained silent about his condition because he is a “private person by nature."

He won an uncontested primary during his absence, despite missing more than 100 votes in the House, and is running for reelection.

The approach stood in contrast to Sen. John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat, who disclosed his hospitalization for clinical depression the day after he was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for treatment. He also suffered a stroke while running for office.

Joe Biden

Biden's halting gait, frail appearance and frequent verbal stumbles eventually doomed his 2024 reelection campaign. After a debate in which he frequently lost his train of thought, he chose to withdraw from the race, sparking an unprecedented swap at the top of the Democratic ticket that ultimately paved the way for Trump's return to office.

Many others have refused to retire. California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat, died in office in 2023 at the age of 90, after years of declining health, including a bout of shingles. Though she returned to the Senate after her illness, she appeared frail and confused at times. It was later revealed that her office had failed to disclose in real time that she had contracted encephalitis while recovering.

Longtime Republican Rep. Kay Granger of Texas spend the final months of her more than two decades in Congress suffering from “unforeseen health challenges” that made travel to Washington difficult.

Eleanor Holmes Norton, 88, the longtime House delegate for the District of Columbia, announced earlier this year that she would not run for reelection amid questions about her competency.

___ Associated Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick and Lisa Mascaro in Washington contributed to this report.

Dennis Sochor, who has been on death row since the 1980s, would become the oldest inmate Florida has executed in history — at least for now. Later this month, Florida is also set to execute an 80-year-old prisoner who would be the state’s first octogenarian to receive the death penalty.

The executions highlight the nation’s aging death row population and the busy death row chamber in Florida, which has already carried out nine executions this year, more than every other state combined.

Sochor is scheduled to receive a three-drug injection starting at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke. He was convicted of killing a woman on Jan. 1, 1982, just hours after meeting her at a New Year’s Eve party.

Just weeks earlier, Florida executed another 74-year-old inmate, Dusty Ray Spencer, over the killing of his estranged wife. He is currently the oldest inmate to ever die by lethal injection in Florida, and Sochor will be exactly one week older if Tuesday’s execution is carried out as scheduled.

It’s unclear why Florida set the executions for the three prisoners consecutively.

Maria DeLiberato, legal director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, noted that in Florida, the governor has practically sole discretion when it comes to the scheduling of executions. In many other death penalty states, the scheduling is up to the courts.

The office of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, did not respond to an email seeking comment about the state’s recent executions.

A New Year's Day killing

According to court records, 18-year-old Patricia Gifford was celebrating the upcoming New Year with a friend at a Fort Lauderdale area bar when they met Sochor and his brother.

The four spent several hours talking, but after the friend became ill and went to sleep in her car, Gifford left with Sochor and his brother to get breakfast. But instead of going for food, Sochor stopped his truck in a secluded area and attacked Gifford when she refused to have sex with him, according to investigators.

Sochor was later arrested in Georgia in 1986 on unrelated charges and extradited to Florida. Sochor’s brother told police that Sochor was responsible for Gifford’s disappearance, and Sochor himself confessed on tape to choking Gifford and disposing of her body, which was never found. A jury found him guilty of first-degree murder and kidnapping in 1987, and he was sentenced to death.

Last week, the state Supreme Court denied Sochor’s appeals. His attorneys had argued that the state violated his right to a fair trial by failing to disclose a 2022 letter sent to Sochor’s brother from a South Florida detective asking for information about the location of Gifford’s body. The attorneys also claimed that the execution drugs wouldn’t effectively keep Sochor sedated.

A final appeal was still pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Oldest inmates executed in Florida

According to Florida Department of Corrections records, the oldest inmates previously executed by the state were both 72: Samuel Lee Smithers on Oct. 14, 2025, for the 1996 killings of two women and R. Charlie Gifford on Feb. 21, 1951, for the 1950 shooting of a state representative, Charles Schuh Jr.

Nationwide, the oldest U.S. inmate executed in modern times was Walter Leroy Moody Jr., 83. He was put to death in Alabama in 2018 for a wave of Southern mail bombs that killed a federal judge and a Black civil rights attorney in 1989.

A total of 16 executions have been carried out this year in the U.S., with Florida, so far, carrying out more than all other states combined.

But restoring oil tanker traffic in the vital Middle East shipping corridor to prewar flows likely will require a much bigger armada of U.S. warships if not tens of thousands of American troops on Iranian soil, experts say. Despite on-and-off fighting, Iran can still target vessels in the narrow Persian Gulf waterway with drones and missiles that have been hidden in a country a third of the size of the continental United States.

“Iran has been preparing for this type of asymmetric conflict for decades now,” said Jason H. Campbell, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute and a former Pentagon official. “I think they’re starting to demonstrate why no other U.S. president since Reagan has elected to engage at this level of conflict with Iran, because they have that ability to completely disrupt the Strait of Hormuz.”

Trump said Monday that the U.S. is reimposing its blockade on Iran's ports and will charge other ships for safe passage through the strait. Iran has insisted it controls the waterway, through which 20% of the world's oil normally flows, while both sides have exchanged fire over the past week in a series of skirmishes that threaten a return to all-out war.

It underscores the bind that Trump is in as commercial shipping remains stifled in the strait, oil prices are rising again and Iran has shown no sign of capitulating. The war has been unpopular with many Americans and could factor into the upcoming midterm elections with gas prices high.

“They thought the situation was under control, and now they’re seeing renewed escalations, and the markets responding negatively to this,” said Eric Lob, a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's Middle East program and a professor of politics and international relations at Florida International University.

“It's really a kind of test of wills to see how much economic pain the Iranians are willing to absorb and then how much economic pain and even political liability this could be for Trump and the Republicans heading into November," Lob said.

Securing the strait could require ground troops

Before he was a scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington, Campbell was a researcher at RAND, where he worked in coordination with the U.S. military to simulate war-game scenarios against Iran.

“The things they’re doing now are precisely the types of things that were discussed and came up in really all of these types of situational scenarios,” Campbell said.

Iran produces parts for its weapons across different facilities to reduce their risk of being attacked, Campbell said. Its military units are often allowed to operate without waiting for orders from Tehran. They don't often mass in one place, making airstrikes less effective.

“It's very difficult to envision any scenario where you could satisfactorily secure the Strait of Hormuz absent ground forces,” Campbell said.

Doing so would require tens of thousand of troops, Campbell said, not only to take out Iran's hidden munitions but to secure hundreds of miles of coastline and large swaths of inland territory. The U.S. troops would likely face insurgent attacks.

Standing up that kind of force would take a few months and include “very high costs," Campbell said.

Trump insisted Monday evening that “the strait is open. It will be open,” and that the U.S. has made significant progress degrading Iran's capabilities in just a few months. Iran vowed to fight back against any U.S. interference in the strait.

Risk of US losses goes up with an increased presence

Another way to facilitate commercial traffic safely through the strait would be the continuation — and escalation — of U.S. warships guiding civilian vessels, experts say. But it comes with its own challenges and costs.

The U.S. conducted an escort operation in the 1980s when Iran had targeted shipping as part of its war with neighboring Iraq. The U.S., which supported Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein with intelligence, weaponry and other aid, escorted Kuwaiti oil tankers — which were reflagged as American.

Such an effort today would require a substantial number of U.S. warships at a time when the fleet is smaller than it was in the 1980s, said Michael Eisenstadt, a former U.S. military analyst.

“You’d still need a very large chunk of the U.S. fleet being dedicated to this on an open-ended basis,” said Eisenstadt, who now directs the Military and Security Studies Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

He said it is a much more complicated environment today as Iran has amassed advanced capabilities, including its ability to launch drone and missile strikes.

“If we were to do what we need to do in order to make this work, which might involve putting people ashore in order to clear anti-cruise missile and drone launch sites, the losses of U.S. service members can go up, and if you’re going to do an escort operation also, the losses can potentially go up,” Eisenstadt added.

Iran's threats alone can scare away ships

Commercial vessels have been avoiding traditional routes through the strait out of fear of Iranian mines. Iran has demanded that ships use a route near its coastline and that it can potentially charge fees under an interim deal to end the war. Ships have been increasingly navigating a southern route along the coast of Oman under a U.S. overwatch operation that guided them using drones and aircraft.

Capt. Tim Hawkins, U.S. Central Command spokesman, said mine clearance operations are ongoing for some traditional routes through the strait but that “alternative pathways have been open.”

The southern route hasn't stopped Iranian attacks on ships, leading the U.S. military to strike Iranian air defense systems, radar sites, missile and drone equipment, and small boats.

But Iran's threats alone can be enough to halt commerce in the strait, said Noam Raydan, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy focused on energy and maritime risks in the Middle East.

“They don’t need to launch drones and missiles — they can just use the marine radio channel to make some threats,” Raydan said. “And this in itself is enough to scare off a lot of seafarers.”

Clayton Seigle, a nonresident scholar in energy security at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the Trump administration has not followed through on promises it made early on in the war to militarily assist shipments that became a liability of the conflict.

“Those naval escorts, U.S. warships, larger commitments like boots on the ground never came because I think that the rhetoric got a little ahead of our risk tolerance,” Seigle said. “And when push came to shove, the United States was not ready to deploy its Navy, to deploy its other military forces in the capacity that would be needed to even have a shot at neutralizing those threats.”

___

Amiri reported from New York.

It was shortly after the 2012 presidential election and Republicans had lost badly to President Barack Obama.

Graham was calling with an outlandish proposal — “getting the band back together” — on a bipartisan plan for immigration reforms.

The move was classic Graham.

He has been called the “bridge.” The “dealmaker.” The senator at the center of all the action. And, more recently, “the Trump whisperer.”

Graham embodied a sort of institutional secret sauce that kept the Senate moving — and talking and arguing and laughing — with his hyperkinetic insistence on doing something when the place would otherwise seem destined to grind to a halt of atrophy and dysfunction.

After Graham’s sudden death over the weekend, it is unclear who, if anyone, will fill his role.

“Few have been able to frustrate and anger, amuse and engage me in a single conversation the way Lindsey could,” said Sen. Chris Coons, the Democrat from Delaware, who celebrated Graham’s birthday over dinner after the NATO summit in Turkey just days before the South Carolina senator died.

“I will miss having him as a partner in the Senate.”

Graham stayed at the center of the action

Many lawmakers like to see themselves as central to the action, but Graham was among the few actually positioned squarely at the heart of virtually every debate. With his relentless ability to adapt to the political times, he gave voice to issues at home and abroad, and insisted on drawing others into the arena.

There was almost no bipartisan gang in Congress that didn't count Graham as a member — from the gang of eight he hatched with Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., to pass immigration reform through the Senate in 2013, to his recent effort with colleagues to impose sanctions on Russia over its war against Ukraine.

“We didn't agree on everything in our bipartisan immigration proposal,” Schumer said Monday, “but we agreed it was worth trying, because doing nothing was worse.”

At a time when Congress is increasingly broken, with lawmakers unable to carry out its basic legislative functions, let alone act with civility toward one another, Graham played a unique role in bringing the sides together.

The heartfelt statements and stories shared on Graham's passing, from other prominent senators as well as the back benches of the House, reflected the breadth and depth of his partnerships.

“We talked at all hours of the day or night, and traveled through all kinds of weather, meeting dictators and democracy defenders,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who joined with Graham on the Russian sanctions bill.

Blumenthal said their views often differed, “but he listened to me,” the senator said, "and sought to bridge our differences.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., opened the day's session noting Graham's empty desk in the chamber, covered with a black drape and white flowers.

Graham's friendship, he said, “made this job richer and its burdens lighter.”

His political shapeshifting drew criticism

Not that Graham was always successful. There have been plenty of times when GOP senators walked out of their private lunch meetings during a particularly stalemated time in Congress, simply shaking their heads at the latest plan from Graham to break the gridlock.

Graham’s political shapeshifting brought his detractors, to be sure, as did his unbridled pursuit of military intervention abroad.

His bipartisan immigration work with Schumer and the Democrats left Graham almost permanently outcast by the nativist and anti-immigration flank of his party.

And most decisively, Graham’s rapprochement with Trump, after having declared their relationship finished following Trump's role in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack at the Capitol, damaged the senator's credibility among some would-be partners.

Still, Graham’s proximity to Trump during the president's second term kept him central to the action, the one senators of both parties would lean on to understand the White House's view.

“Many of us consider him the Trump whisperer,” said Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who served as a manager in Trump’s first impeachment. Trump was later acquitted by the Senate.

“If we wanted to know what the president’s thinking was, or how he might be moved on something, you would go to Lindsey to discuss it,” Schiff said.

Graham's “voice is going to be really, really missed in terms of the relationship that Senate Republicans have with the president and his team,” Thune said on CNN, because "he was so good and so effective at talking to the president.”

Senators say Graham's humor lightened the load

In the chamber of 100 senators, with big personalities and bigger egos, Graham's self-effacing humor made it more bearable, helping to smooth the edges and bridge the divide.

He had “a wonderful sense of humor that he used to cut through the tension,” Schiff said.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., in her own statement, told a story of seeking Graham’s support for her bill to ensure visas for Afghan refugees.

“I remember standing outside of a little phone booth in the Republican cloakroom last year as he spoke with the Vice President, holding up a sign that said ‘Save the Afghans’ and he put the phone on hold and said ‘OK OK I will go on your bill even if it gets me in trouble,’” she said.

“I will miss him.”

It was among several wildfires in western Europe as the region bakes under its third red-alert heat wave this year.

In Spain, 10 people were still unaccounted for Monday from a fire that ripped through a remote southern expatriate community last week, killing 13 people in one of the country's deadliest blazes.

The Fontainebleau forest fire is unusual for its proximity to the French capital — about 70 kilometers (42 miles). The region hosts the Fontainebleau Chateau favored by Napoleon and is popular with visitors from Paris and beyond.

French President Emmanuel Macron said all necessary means were being deployed to fight the fire of ″exceptional scale.”

Two water-dumping planes were deployed over the area along with hundreds of firefighters, regional fire service spokesperson Paul Laurain told public broadcaster France-Info.

The head of the regional administration, Pierre Ory, told French media that an investigation is underway and that arson was being considered a possibility.

A new fire has broken out in another section of the forest, Ory said. The initial fire is still not contained and was continuing to spread at a moderate rate.

“Winds are turning, which is significantly complicating the work of the firefighters," he said.

Trains to and from the bustling Gare de Lyon train station were disrupted late Sunday but were returning to normal Monday morning. A section of the busy A6 highway leading southeast of Paris was shut down because of fire risk.

Large fires in southern France have already scorched thousands of hectares (acres) since last week, disrupting the Tour de France cycling race and stretching firefighting resources.

France is experiencing the peak of its third heat wave of the summer, with temperatures surpassing 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) across western and central areas and around 37 C (98 F) in Paris.

Spain reeling from deadly wildfire

A 93-year-old British national died Sunday in a hospital from injuries sustained in the Los Gallardos wildfire, elevating the death toll to 13.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez was expected to visit the site of the fire on Monday. Regional authorities said the blaze was contained Sunday after affecting some 70 square kilometers (27 square miles) of forest and farmland — larger than the size of Manhattan.

Spain is experiencing extreme heat, which combined with wind and little rainfall is creating the ideal conditions for small wildfires to grow unchecked.

Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, with temperatures increasing twice as fast as the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.

Homes evacuated in UK due to fires

In the U.K., people were evacuated from several dozen rural homes in north Wales after a wildfire broke out across a mountainside on Sunday, British media reported.

Wildfires also burned in several locations across England as another heat wave — the third this year — brought hot, sunny and dry conditions.

The Met Office said record heat waves since May have led to 2026 becoming the first year to record temperatures of 35 C (95 F) or higher on six separate days. That broke the previous record set in 1976 and 2020, when five days were recorded with such temperatures.

Natural England’s fire severity index has put much of England at “very high” risk of wildfires, with some areas in southern England and the Midlands at “exceptional” risk.

___

Naishadham reported from Madrid. Eva Van Dam in Paris and Sylvia Hui in London contributed.

___

A previous version corrected the age of a British national who died Sunday.

Congo since May has been battling the outbreak of a type of Ebola with no approved treatment or vaccine. Last week, the Congolese health minister, Roger Kamba, said the virus had spread to two more provinces.

The striking staff at Rwampara General Hospital in Ituri province, the epicenter of the outbreak, includes epidemiologists, case investigators, drivers and gravediggers who say they have not been paid by Congolese authorities. The protesting staff shut the hospital and blocked the road leading to it, even burning a tire outside.

“We don’t know how it is possible to not have been paid for two months,” Bahati Claude, a health worker at the hospital told The Associated Press. “We don’t want to give up the job.”

The treatment center is different from the one in Ituri where a study of two badly needed treatments began earlier this month.

Congolese authorities declared the Ebola outbreak on May 15, after the disease had been transmitting for weeks without official detection, according to the World Health Organization. The outbreak is caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus, and the delay in confirming the outbreak came in part because tests were done for a more common type of Ebola.

During a visit to Ituri last week, Congo's health minister said the government is verifying a list of those working to control the outbreak, as some unrelated names have been added to the payroll.

“We must ensure that these payments reach the right people,” Kamba said. “We have faced a few challenges, notably changes to the lists, which have led to complaints from people saying they are not being paid even though they are working. We have the means to sort this out.”

There are 1,926 confirmed cases in the country, including 702 deaths, according to Congolese authorities.

Meanwhile, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted Monday on X that a second U.S. citizen, a humanitarian worker in eastern Congo who had contracted Ebola, was transferred to Germany. The first American to test positive for the virus was a doctor working in Congo during the early weeks of the outbreak.

The dismissal comes nearly four years after Brennand shot then-17-year-old Erik Cantu during a traffic stop outside a North Side McDonald’s in October 2022. The shooting drew national attention and led to Brennand’s firing from the San Antonio Police Department.

Brennand had been charged with aggravated assault by a public servant and was scheduled to stand trial next week.

During a hearing Monday morning, prosecutors asked the court to reset the trial, citing a new investigation involving Cantu.

According to prosecutors, Cantu — who has been arrested six times since the 2022 shooting — is under investigation in connection with an incident involving his current girlfriend that allegedly occurred July 1.

In a statement, the DA’s office said the charge was dismissed due to the ongoing investigation into Cantu.

“We can confirm that the case can be re-filed at a later date following the completion of the investigation,” a Bexar County DA’s Office spokesperson told KSAT.

Brennand says he always believed he would be cleared

Speaking publicly after the dismissal, Brennand said he feels relief after nearly four years of fighting the charge.

“A lot of emotions coming in. I knew I was innocent from the first day,” Brennand said. “The fact that it took so long is kind of surprising, but I’m blessed to have it.”

Watch KSAT’s full interview with Brennand in the video below.

Brennand credited his faith and legal team for helping him through the case.

“I stayed true to my faith. I trust in God I trust the attorneys, the paralegals, the experts and everybody that has been backing me,” Brennand said.

When asked whether he wants to return to the San Antonio Police Department, Brennand said he hasn’t decided.

Brennand’s attorneys said they were prepared to raise questions during the trial about communications between the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office and the Wren Collective, a criminal justice reform organization based out of Austin.

The defense had subpoenaed Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales, his former first assistant and representatives of the Wren Collective to testify.

Co-defense attorney Nico LaHood alleged the communications would have been relevant to the prosecution’s decision-making process and would have been significant if presented during trial.

“The DA’s office was taking instructions from an Austin group called the Wren Collective on what to do in this case,” LaHood said.

LaHood, along with co-counsel Jason Goss, also argued that any future attempt to refile the case would violate Brennand’s constitutional right to a speedy trial because Brennand asserted that right before the charge was dismissed.

Whether prosecutors choose to pursue the Brennand case again — and whether any charges are filed against Cantu in the separate investigation — remain open questions.

More related coverage of this story on KSAT:

• ‘I could just strangle you right now’: Erik Cantu accused of threatening woman, police say
• Records: Case against ex-SAPD officer James Brennand dismissed following new Erik Cantu accusation

Neill achieved his highest level of fame in “Jurassic Park” playing paleontologist Alan Grant, who is summoned to an island off Costa Rica where a theme park has been built to house herds of cloned dinosaurs. He co-starred alongside Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum and Richard Attenborough.

Neill earned an Emmy nomination for his performance in the title role of the 1998 miniseries “Merlin” and another as narrator of 2017’s “Wild New Zealand.” Neill also earned three Golden Globe nods — for “Merlin,” “One Against the Wind” and “Reilly: Ace of Spies.”

Some notable reactions:

Steven Spielberg

“Sam was exceptionally collaborative. It was a stretch for him to play a character who acted as though children were messy and smelly because this was the opposite of the loving father he was to his children. I adored making all the Jurassic movies with him. Along with Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum, we will always have our Jurassic family and Sam will never be forgotten by us or his many millions of fans around the world.” — in a statement.

Laura Dern, actor

“Sam was my beloved lifetime friend… He showed me the depths of loyalty, protectiveness, and love, always with the driest of wit. He was a true and noble gentleman, wrapped up in my dream leading man. I will love you forever, Dr. Alan Grant.” — via Instagram.

Richard E. Grant, actor

“Knew @samneilltheprop for 3 decades and finally worked with him on ‘PALM BEACH’ in 2018. An officer and a Gentleman in the truest sense. Guided and helped me through a very difficult time in my Life … Sail on, kind Sir. — via Instagram.

Cillian Murphy, actor

“Like everyone who knew and worked with Sam, I admired him and adored him in equal measure. He was one of the kindest, funniest and gentlest people, and one of the finest actors … RIP.” — in a statement.

Nicole Kidman, actor

“Sam was one of the greats, a joy to be around,” she said. “We met when I was just 18 and he took me under his wing and we stayed friends for life. He was charming, kind, funny and intelligent. He will be greatly missed, and my heart goes out to his family.” — in a statement to the Sydney Morning Herald.

Billy Zane, actor

“I’m deeply saddened by the untimely loss of my dear friend, @samneilltheprop. We first crossed paths years ago through our work, but what I came to treasure most was the man himself—funny, endlessly curious, wickedly intelligent, generous, and always able to make you feel at ease. ... He carried himself with grace, humility, and a wonderfully mischievous sense of humor that made every conversation a pleasure. ... Rest peacefully, Sam. You’ll be missed more than words can say.” — via Instagram.

Colin Trevorrow, director

“Sam Neill was a deeply soulful and beautiful man. He was a friend and collaborator at a challenging time, and his strength gave us all strength. I’ll remember him for his tranquility, his love of wine, and for the calm assuredness he brought to his characters. It’s not every lifetime you get to befriend a legend. Forever grateful.” — via Instagram.

Christopher Luxon, prime minister of New Zealand

“Sir Sam Neill was one of the greats. He started out when there was barely a film industry in this country to speak of. For more than fifty years he took New Zealand stories to the world and his talents helped make our film industry into what it is today — one of our greatest cultural exports.” — via X.

Jacinda Ardern, former prime minister of New Zealand

"It was just a few weeks ago that I had the profound joy of sitting with Sam Neill, talking about life, politics, and home. He was such a thoughtful, curious, and decent person. Someone who was principled, unafraid of speaking his mind, and willing to take up a fight when he saw injustice. ... We’ve lost another incredible kiwi, and I feel profoundly sad. All my aroha to his whanau and friends. And to you, Sam, you have our gratitude and admiration. Rest easy. Moe mai rā" — via Instagram.

Anthony Albanese, prime minister of Australia

“Sam Neill starred in so many beloved Australian stories and he earned a special place in Australian hearts. Wry and dry, thoughtful and laconic, Sam fought illness with the same dignity, humour and conviction that gave strength to his every performance. He will be much mourned and long remembered. May he rest in peace.” — via X.

Laura Tingle, Australian journalist and Neill’s former partner

“I think Sam Neill was the greatest theatrical creation of little Nigel Neill, a little boy with a stutter who was sent off to boarding school at eight years of age and spent his life in flight ever after that and showing off to make friends in new places. And I think that the humanity of that is what made him so approachable and so loved by so many people who saw all his work in television and movies.” — in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

Sharon Lawrence, actor

“My condolences and appreciation for the immense joy and mastery Sam Neill brought our industry. Do yourself a favor and find ‘DEAN SPANLEY’ on a streamer- he’s wonderful and it will soothe someplace in your spirit that needs it now. — via Instagram.

Joel Tobeck, actor

“This man made me feel like I could fly. Even when I was all over the place in his presence he made it ok. We loved to talk rugby. RIP my old mate. Sam Neill, a true gentleman.” — via Instagram.

Rachel Griffiths, actor

“Such a shock — loved by so many — I’ll be cracking two paddocks tonight,” referring to wine from the actor’s vineyard, via Instagram.

Kylie Minogue, singer

“Vale Sam,” a Latin term for “farewell” that’s often used in Australia and New Zealand, via Instagram.

Toni Collette, actor

“I love you, dear Sam. You hero. You legend. You sweetheart. Our great friend. You are already missed so very much. Continue in peace wherever you are.” — via Instagram.

Lesley-Ann Brandt, actor

“Sending love and condolences to your family. A remarkable man and artist. NZ loses a giant and one of its greatest gifts.” — via Instagram.

Kate Mulvany, actor

“It was the greatest of honours to shout at Sam onscreen and to laugh ourselves silly offscreen. He was truly the most wondrous human. Not was. Still is. Will always be. Such is his incredible legacy of life, art, advocacy and love.” — via Instagram.

Despite the alert being discontinued, San Antonio Police Department acting Police Chief Jesse Salame told KSAT “Ozana Cisneros remains actively missing.”

“The alert has not produced any leads, and SAPD continues to investigate,” Salame said Monday night.

In a statement, DPS said the agency “continues the activation of an amber alert until the requesting agency asks that it be discontinued.”

According to the initial alert, which was issued Thursday, the infant was last seen at 6 p.m. June 10 in the 300 block of Roosevelt Avenue.

DPS said Ozana Cisneros was last seen with Maximina Cisneros, 19, who was wanted in connection with the alert. SAPD confirmed Maximina Cisneros, who is the infant’s mother, was found Friday near the 200 block of Parkview Drive.

She was taken to a local hospital with unspecified injures, police said.

Around 9 p.m. Friday, SAPD found skeletal remains in a nearby South Side park during their search for Ozana Cisneros. SAPD said at the time it’s unclear if the remains found are human and if it’s connected to the AMBER Alert.

On Monday, Texas Search and Rescue confirmed to KSAT they joined the investigation.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Immigrant rights groups identified the man who was killed in Biddeford as a 26-year-old native of Colombia. The Colombian Embassy said it was in contact with U.S. authorities about the Colombian national's death and “is providing the necessary consular assistance to his family.”

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE, said in a post on X that agents were surveilling an address for a person with a final order of removal from the country. When ICE tried to stop a vehicle driven by someone coming from that address, the "vehicle attempted to flee the scene and, fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon,” the department said.

Prior to the brief ICE statement on the incident, Maine U.S. Sen. Angus King said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told him the officer opened fire after the man tried to use his vehicle as a weapon against ICE agents in Biddeford, a coastal city roughly 15 miles (24 kilometers) southwest of Portland. The agents involved didn’t have body cameras, he said.

When asked about the contrasting statements, King told CNN that that's what the investigation is all about.

“Did this young man actually try to run over an ICE agent or was he in danger of running over other people in the street?" he said. “Was there a reasonable expectation of bodily harm or deadly force to justify this shooting?”

DHS did not immediately respond to an email seeking clarity on what led to the shooting.

King, an independent, said Mullin also told him the officers were in Biddeford to serve an arrest warrant but that it was not for the person who was shot. King said Mullin told him that earlier information that the man was the target of an enforcement action was incorrect.

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, said Mullin told her the Homeland Security Department’s Office of Inspector General is investigating in cooperation with the FBI.

Messages seeking comment were left for the inspector general’s office and the Maine Department of Public Safety.

The Maine attorney general’s office, which is also investigating, said initial statements suggest the motorist was trying to flee in the direction of the agent. The office said the agent who killed him has been placed on leave.

Witness says he heard driver say, ‘I tried to stop’

Daniel Boucher said he looked out his third-floor window after hearing a “pop, pop, pop” sound and saw a small car “turned 90 degrees to the curb” with an SUV behind it. The driver was wounded and the car started moving down the street until the SUV hit it, Boucher said.

“His face was bloody. His head was bloody,” Boucher said, getting choked up. “I clearly heard the victim say, ‘I tried to stop.'"

Boucher said he saw an ICE officer bring a medical bag to where the man was lying before an ambulance and fire truck arrived. At one point, Boucher said, the agent who shot the man walked close to him.

“I was emotional and I just let him have it, and he looked at me and said, ‘He tried to run me over,’ or something to that effect," Boucher said. "I don’t remember his exact words.”

Video from a security camera at a nearby business, obtained by the AP, shows a white vehicle approaching an intersection at a modest speed before making several slow circles. A law enforcement SUV blocked its path and two officers open the driver’s door and dragged out a limp body.

It was not clear from the video at what point shots were fired.

The man was authorized to work in the US, advocates say

Two advocacy groups — the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and Presente! — said the man who was killed was authorized to work in the U.S.

After the shooting, his family contacted the Immigrants’ Rights Coalition, but they weren't ready to speak publicly about the shooting, said the group's executive director, Mufalo Chitam.

Mary Hayes, who lives close to where the shooting happened, said the man lived nearby with his wife and daughter.

“I watched a wife fall to her knees looking at her husband’s dead body on the ground,” Hayes told the AP as she held a piece of cardboard with “No ICE Stop ICE” written on it. “I watched a little girl crying with a little pink backpack on because she’s never going to see her father again.”

Sadie Dilboy said the man killed in the shooting regularly came to her laundromat and would bring his daughter, who he'd give quarters to buy candy from the vending machine.

“He was such a good person,” she said. “He was always cleaning up.”

Anti-ICE protesters gather near the scene

Several hundred demonstrators gathered in Biddeford on Monday night to wave anti-ICE signs and call for the agency to be abolished.

“We will always be a city of immigrants,” said Maine Speaker of the House Ryan Fecteau, a Democrat from Biddeford.

A handful of pro-ICE and pro-Trump protesters demonstrated across the street.

Some demonstrators had gathered in the city within hours of the shooting. Amy Goodman arrived with a sign that said “Stop Killing Us” and directed it toward police working at the scene.

“Sadly, it’s something we’re seeing a whole lot more often lately, and I’m mad about it,” she said.

A recent uptick in Trump's immigration crackdown

On July 7, an ICE officer fatally shot 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, of Houston, after federal agents driving unmarked vehicles pursued him while he was taking his construction crew to a job site.

The shootings come amid a Trump administration push to carry out its mass deportations agenda. During the five-day period at the end of June, ICE arrested more than 10,000 people.

The figures indicate that while the administration is no longer cracking down on individual cities, the arrests are surging. The administration’s enforcement efforts were widely condemned last winter after the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minnesota.

Hundreds of Maine ICE arrests since Trump’s return

ICE had a significant presence in Maine earlier this year, which prompted several protests. Immigration officials later said in late January that they had ceased “enhanced operations” in Maine after hundreds of arrests.

A Homeland Security spokesperson said at the time that some Maine arrests were of people “convicted of horrific crimes" including aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child.

Court records show that while some had felony convictions, others had unresolved immigration proceedings or had been arrested but never convicted of a crime.

ICE arrested 546 people in Maine between the start of Trump’s second term and March 11, 2026, the most recent data available, according to ICE arrest data provided to the University of California, Berkeley Deportation Data Project and analyzed by the AP.

About 45% of arrested people had criminal backgrounds. During the equivalent 416-day period before Trump took office, roughly 69% of those arrested had criminal backgrounds, the data shows.

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Willingham reported from Boston and Brook reported from New Orleans. Associated Press reporters Michael R. Sisak in New York, Aaron Kessler in Washington, Kate Brumback in Atlanta and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed to this report.

On Monday, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced that her government will file complaints with the U.S. Department of Justice and with prosecutors in states where 17 Mexican people had died in a federal detention center or during immigration enforcement in the U.S.

Sheinbaum also said the Mexican government will file civil lawsuits against companies that operate immigrant detention centers — fulfilling a promise made shortly after Salgado Araujo was shot to death in Houston to seek justice for what she called human rights violations against Mexicans living in the U.S.

“This is probably one of the toughest moments in the relationship since 1985,” said Tony Payan, executive director of the Claudio X. Gonzalez Center for the U.S. and Mexico at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.

Sheinbaum called on Mexico’s political parties to unite in support of Mexicans living in the U.S. and urged officials to submit inquiries and statements condemning human rights violations of Mexicans.

“I don’t think this situation appears acceptable to anyone,” she said. “This is an issue for all Mexicans.

Sheinbaum said Mexican Foreign Minister Roberto Velasco notified the U.S. ambassador to Mexico of the plan to file the complaints.

“He appeared receptive to our concerns,” she said.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not respond directly to complaints by the Mexican government but said there had been no spike in deaths, maintaining a rate of 0.008% among their detained population as of May 29.

The agency added that detainees receive a higher standard of care than most prisons that hold U.S. citizens and that all detainees receive due process, proper meals, water and medical treatment. Attorneys and family members of detainees have disputed that claim.

The action by the Mexican government comes at a time when the relationship between the U.S. and Mexico is in the worst state that it has been in decades, experts say.

Turning to the U.S. legal system is nothing new for the Mexican government. Seeking to hold U.S. companies accountable for the proliferation of U.S. weapons into Mexico, the country in 2021 filed a $10 billion lawsuit against gun manufacturers that was thrown out by the U.S. Supreme Court

In 2022, Mexico sued gun dealers for allegedly supplying military-style weapons and ammunition to Mexican drug cartels. The case is ongoing.

In the past, Republican and Democratic administrations have seen these cases as annoyances, or frustrations, but the overall relationship between the countries was not impacted, said Eric L. Olson, former associate director of the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center.

“I think it would be fair to say that the stakes are a little more elevating in this case,” he said.

The last time Payan recalls U.S.-Mexico relations being similarly strained was in 1985 after the death of a U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency agent, Enrique “Kiki” Camarena Salazar, who was killed by Mexican cartel members.

The incident prompted the DEA to launch a manhunt in Mexico, the agency’s largest homicide investigation, and President Ronald Reagan partially closed the border for a few days.

The relationship between the U.S. and Mexico began to sour over immigration and trade during President Donald Trump’s first term, but relations have worsened during his second term as Trump designated major drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and Mexican officials were indicted for allegedly conspiring with drug traffickers, said Carlos Heredia, professor of international studies at the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics in Mexico City.

The Tribune reached out to the U.S. State Department after hours and did not receive an immediate response.

Adding fuel to the fire is a breakdown in trade negotiations.

The U.S. opted to not renew the United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement for another 16 years, leaving the agreement in effect but subject to annual review until 2036.The parties could continue to negotiate its renewal without a clear timeline or choose to terminate it.

If the U.S. walks away from the agreement, as Trump has threatened, that would put Mexico in a tough spot because it’s heavily dependent on access to U.S. markets, Payan said.

That places every aspect of the U.S.-Mexico relationship back on the table, he said.

“Every aspect of the bilateral negotiation is now under threat,” said Heredia, who argued that it was important that Mexico take action in the aftermath of the deaths in U.S. custody or by federal agents.

“In the same fashion that the United States says that [a Mexican official] is a threat to the national security of the United States, we can rightfully say that ICE is a threat to the security of Mexicans because of the racial profiling,” he said.

Payan doesn’t think the complaints filed by the Mexican government will risk anything because pursuing justice through the court system is a slow process.

“It doesn’t add any heat to an already hot relationship,” Payan said.

Olson disagreed, arguing that the Trump administration has a propensity to take offense on issues and letting that bleed into unrelated matters.

“I think the risks are higher,” he said.

Going forward, Olson expects issues that would not normally cause a rift between the two countries to become more irritating and carry more weight because both sides are pointing fingers instead of viewing each other as partners on issues.

“I think as long as that’s the kind of mindset on both sides, then I think you can expect more and more irritants to pop up — more problems, more conflicts,” he said.

Reporting in the Rio Grande Valley is supported in part by the Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc.

Disclosure: Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc. and Rice University have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in The Texas Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

Officers responded to the crash at approximately 6:15 a.m. on the Interstate 35 southbound main lanes near O’Connor Road.

In a preliminary report, SAPD said the driver of a silver SUV was “distracted” when he rear-ended an 18-wheeler that was stopping due to heavy traffic.

Officers believe the SUV driver did not make an attempt to brake before the collision.

San Antonio fire officials later pronounced the SUV driver, a 27-year-old man, dead at the scene, police said. The driver of the 18-wheeler, a 32-year-old man, was not injured in the crash.

On Monday, the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the 27-year-old as Cimmeron Dwayne Kee.

He died of blunt force injuries, the medical examiner’s office said, and his death was ruled an accident.

According to the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), the collision prompted the closure of all I-35 southbound main lanes.

Read also:

• Man dead after two-vehicle crash on Northwest Side, SAPD says

The blaze at the Rong Beer Na Ladprao bar was the city’s deadliest in 17 years. It broke out late Sunday in a northern part of the Thai capital, and firefighters needed half an hour to bring it under control. The fire left 25 people hospitalized in critical condition, city officials said.

Bangkok Gov. Chadchart Sittipunt said most of the deaths were caused by smoke inhalation.

By daybreak Monday, the site had been cordoned off as dozens of forensic officers sought clues about what caused the fire. The bar's street-facing windows were blown out, and debris littered the sidewalk, including charred television sets, speakers and an electric guitar. Associated Press journalists looking through the shattered windows could see empty beer bottles still sitting atop burned tables.

The bar, which in Thai calls itself a brewery or beer hall, claimed to accommodate as many as 600 customers. It was not clear how many were present Sunday night.

According to Bangkok’s Erawan emergency services center, 73 people were hurt. The Bangkok city government said there were 28 dead, one more than Erawan’s tally.

The dead were trapped in bathrooms

National Police Chief Kittharath Punpetch said most of the dead were found trapped in windowless bathrooms near one of the rear exits, where they may have sought shelter from the flames.

He said the exit was not used, and people may have been blocked from reaching it by a table set up in a hall to sell candy, or because it was too dark to find the way out.

Access to another exit near the kitchen might also have been narrowed by shelving units and lockers, said Kittharath, who visited the scene Monday. There were signs that at least some of the exit doors might have been locked, he added.

Investigators focused on the ceiling above a performance stage, where they found materials that may have been used as decorative elements, he said. Police will examine whether flammable materials were used in the interior and how electrical wiring was installed across the ceiling.

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul told reporters that a musician who was performing at the bar told him he saw smoke coming out of a circuit breaker near the stage before the power went out. Then an explosion was heard, and thick smoke quickly filled the place.

Video posted on social media showed people fleeing as flames shot out of the single-story building and black smoke billowed into the sky.

Buddhist monks prayed for the dead

Several Buddhist monks visited the site Monday to pray for the victims, while nurses handed out face masks to help protect people from lingering smoke and fumes from the building.

A registration site was set up to gather information from relatives looking for loved ones.

Singer Sukanya Wongwongwai said she was performing nearby when she heard about the fire and rushed to the scene because several of her bandmates were performing at the bar. She said one of them died, three were hospitalized and one had not been located. Her band later announced on Facebook that the missing member was also found hospitalized.

“From what I heard from people who were inside when the fire started, everything went dark. The power was out, and there was smoke everywhere, so they couldn’t locate other people,” she said.

In a statement posted on Facebook, the bar offered apologies and condolences and said it was cooperating with investigators. It said the bar’s owner suffered serious injuries and was in an intensive care unit.

Mourning family members identify the dead at a morgue

Family members gathered at Bangkok's Institute of Forensic Medicine to identify the dead.

Keo Oudone Poungpany, 24, was at the institute to identify his younger brother's body. Both of the brothers, migrant workers from neighboring Laos, were working as bar employees when the fire broke out.

Poungpany said he was using a restroom outside the bar when the fire began.

He described walking back toward the bar and encountering dozens of people running away from the flames and hearing loud noises.

From the outside the bar, he began shouting for his brother. “The heat was unbearable, I couldn’t get back in,” he said.

“For now, I want to bring my younger brother’s body back home,” Poungpany said. “I want to bring him home to my parents. My parents are waiting for their kids to come back together, but now one is gone.”

In 2022, 14 people were killed by a fire at a music bar in the eastern part of the country. And more than a decade before that, 67 people were killed and more than 200 injured in a fire during a Jan. 1, 2009, New Year’s Eve celebration at the Santika nightclub in Thailand's capital. That blaze was apparently sparked by an indoor fireworks display.

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This report corrects the total number of dead from the 2009 fire at Bangkok's Santika nightclub to 67. The number 66 in previous versions was based on an earlier story that had not been updated.

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Sahatthaya Kraikhunthot contributed to this report.

With heavy rain in the forecast and the threat of flash flooding, cabin owners, resort operators and emergency crews along the Frio River are urging visitors to stay alert and prepared.

>> Click here for the latest forecast

That means checking the latest weather forecasts, signing up for emergency alerts, avoiding flooded areas, following guidance from emergency crews and knowing what areas around a property could become hazardous during heavy rainfall.

Emergency crews have been monitoring conditions and preparing around the clock as more rounds of rain move through the area.

Officials say conditions can change quickly, especially during periods of prolonged rainfall when the ground becomes saturated and waterways begin to rise.

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Experts, such as Ed Zapata, chairman of the San Antonio Board of Realtors, have explained that many factors have contributed to high prices over the years.

“Mortgage rates, cost of living, insurance, insurability is also a really big factor,” Zapata said. ”So I think it’s not just one component, but supply; increasing that supply is really gonna help us get a tackle on one of the pieces of the puzzle for affordability.”

However, he said the core piece this new legislation targets is the supply, and getting more housing supply on the ground.

Zapata said inventory is low everywhere, which may seem surprising to people in San Antonio, considering how many new subdivisions are popping up on all sides of town.

“I know in San Antonio, it seems like we have a lot of inventory right now, but we have a lot of people moving into San Antonio. More businesses coming into San Antonio,” Zapata said.

Zapata said San Antonio has six months of supply, meaning if everything in the economy remains the same, the area will run out of that inventory in six months.

However, San Antonio is better off than Texas in general, which is around five and a half months, and much better than the nation overall, which is around four and a half months.

Zapata said the new law addresses this shortage by cleaning up red tape in decades-old policies.

“It clears up policies so developers can have reliability,” he said. ”It will clean up barriers to entry; it will reduce costs.”

The law also, for the first time, limits how many homes big investors can buy, capping it at 350 single-family homes.

That helps the law clear the way for many types of potential homeowners.

“Young professionals need a certain housing. Military needs certain housing, right, and our retirees,” Zapata said. ”So I’m really encouraged about this bill because it also has provisions on the different types of housing.”

The bill also covers many other programs involving affordable housing:

• Lifts the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program cap and extends protections for tenants in RAD buildings.
• HUD to prioritize projects based in or primarily serving communities designated as opportunity zones for any competitive grants relating to housing development or preservation.
• Creates a $200 million annual competitive grant program for local governments and tribes that demonstrate measurable increases in housing supply, incentivizing reforms such as streamlined permitting, density bonuses and zoning changes.
• Increases the loan limits of FHA-insured manufactured housing loans, adds the construction of accessory dwelling units as an acceptable use for FHA-insured property improvement loans, and directs HUD to conduct a study on the cost-effectiveness of off-site construction techniques.
• Reauthorizes Preservation and Reinvestment for Community Enhancement (PRICE) grants to fund the repair, preservation, and improvement of existing manufactured homes and manufactured home communities.
• Permanently authorizes and reforms HUD’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program to better address the needs of low- to moderate-income households following major disasters.
• Makes changes to the USDA’s Rural Housing Service programs, including decoupling rental assistance from maturing mortgages, permanently establishing the Housing Preservation and Revitalization program for multifamily rental housing, and authorizing technology improvements and increased staffing.
• Adds a disclosure to the Uniform Residential Loan Application informing applicants they may be eligible for a Veterans Affairs (VA) Home Loan to increase awareness of and access to the program.
• Prohibits the Federal Reserve from creating a central bank digital currency through 2030.

While the bill pushes many changes, experts are telling people not to expect things to change overnight.

“This is a long-term policy structure, and it’s a step in the right direction, right,” Zapata said. ”No one policy is going to solve the affordability mix, but this will help us in the long run to get more houses on the line.”

There are also some things the bill does not include: interest rates, rising construction costs, labor shortages, tariffs, and inflation.

Read also:

• Could San Antonio renters finally get a break? Report shows rent prices going down

Jimmy Aldape, who lives close to the intersection of Preston Hollow Drive and Preston Court Drive, said he is on edge now but had a sense of ease after an inspection of his home following the explosions.

“That’s when they told me that I was clear,” Aldape said. “I didn’t have any leaks. So I felt better, more secure.”

He said when a CPS Energy crew came to his home again this past Saturday, he just thought the utility was just following up.

According to Aldape, they inspected his hot water heater, furnace, stove and attic before heading outside.

He said after speaking to a crew member, feelings of uncertainty and uneasiness came on in a big way.

“He goes, ‘We didn’t find any leaks inside, but we did find a small leak outside,’” Aldape recalled. “‘It’s out by your meter, but we’re taking care of it’.”

Aldape said being told by CPS Energy it was being repaired was not reassuring, since he was told a few months ago his home was previously inspected and no leaks were found.

He questions if the issue they found is really fixed.

“I am worried about moving forward. How do I know that for sure?” Adalpe asked. “My issue is, what if those explosions did something to some of these other houses out here that aren’t yet known?”

KSAT emailed CPS Energy about neighbors’ fear of another explosive or dangerous event possibly happening again.

An official with the utility sent KSAT a statement that read, “CPS Energy is actively providing gas-related services to customers who requested them in the Preston Hollow neighborhood to help them better understand their home’s gas system and stay informed.”

Aldape said he needs more than that to stop worrying.

“I have my grandchildren here. I fear for their safety,” he said. “I think the least thing that CPS (Energy) should do is they should come and replace my gas items and just cap off my line.”

More coverage of this story on KSAT:

• City, CPS Energy officials quiet on home explosion details as council members look to improve response
• NTSB releases initial findings of investigation into 2 North Side house explosions
• A look at what’s next for victims of 2 North Side home explosions

Harris County officials still don’t know the names of the agents who were present when an ICE officer shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston, leading the county’s district attorney’s office to investigate this case like a criminal investigation to figure out who fired the shot.

“We will investigate it like we do all criminal investigations,” said Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare during a Monday joint press conference with County Commissioner Rodney Ellis. “We are good at identifying individuals who don’t want to be found.”

Teare called the lack of cooperation from federal agencies unacceptable and unprecedented, but his office is determined to get answers for Araujo’s family and Harris County residents.

“In all likelihood, this will take many, many months — potentially years — before we finally get the answers that we all need, but we will not rest, and we cannot do it without the support of the public and the support of our commissioners,” he said.

Ellis said he will present a proposal to the commissioners’ court to fund an independent investigation into Salgado’s death, and he believes the funds will remain as long as needed.

“His family deserves answers, Harris County residents deserve answers, the American people deserve answers,” he said.

Ellis didn’t have specifics on how much funding would be needed for the independent investigation, but promised the district attorney’s office would have what it needed to solve this case.

“The government exercised its greatest power, the power to take life. It also has the responsibility to answer for its actions,” he said. “History will judge how this moment was handled. Harris County should be able to say we did everything within our power to preserve evidence and uncover the facts.”

An ICE agent killed 52-year-old Salgado Araujo on Tuesday after agents in unmarked vehicles stopped him and three others on their way to work, building homes in North Houston. Aside from patchy videos from local businesses along the streets near where Salgado Araujo died, there’s no footage from the ICE agents’ point of view because the agents were not wearing body cameras.

ICE agents were not targeting Salgado Araujo the morning he was killed, according to U.S. Rep. Sylvia R. Garcia, D-Houston, and were instead looking for a different man. ICE has yet to identify who that man is.

An ICE spokesperson said agents opened fire because Salgado Araujo “weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer, resulting in our officer firing his weapon in self-defense.”

But the three men who were in the van with Salgado Araujo on Tuesday and are now in immigration custody in Conroe dispute ICE’s account of what happened. Law enforcement was not in the vehicle’s way, one man said, adding that officers approached from the side. The witnesses said Salgado Araujo never attempted to ram ICE over with his van, according to written accounts relayed by their lawyer.

Ruby Powers, a Houston immigration attorney who is representing Salgado Araujo’s brother, Victor Hugo Salgado Araujo, said the district attorney’s office has interviewed her client, who was in the passenger seat of the van during the shooting. She said Victor Hugo Salgado Araujo told her that “at no point was any officers’ life in danger” and that he  “didn’t know it was ICE until his brother was shot.”

Powers said she’s working to get him out of detention so that he can be a witness in the investigation.

Precinct 4 Commissioner Lesley Briones, whose region includes the area where the incident occurred, said there is a need to take action locally because of the series of inconsistent statements and lack of transparency from the federal government.

“Over the past week, I’ve heard from many Harris County residents on this issue. Their message, and my message, is clear: we demand full transparency and accountability,” she said in a statement read at the press conference.

Teare said his office is going to treat this investigation like they do every officer-involved shooting where someone loses their life and once again called for witness information.

“We have an incredibly robust Civil Rights Division that goes out to these scenes and works collaboratively with the investigating agency and finds the truth,” Teare said.

Teare said it was hours after the shooting before investigators from his office were able to get onto the scene. He refused to give details about what their investigators have found but mentioned he was proud of the community support and made another call for witnesses to send any information to their office.

“Anytime a member of our community loses their life at the hands of law enforcement, we run the risk of losing the credibility we worked so hard to build up with the communities,” Teare said.

The Harris County district attorney also said ICE involvement in Harris County is making it harder for his office to prosecute violent criminals because the tactics of ICE are scaring away witnesses.

“I have sexual assault cases of children that I can’t prosecute because the outcry witnesses are too scared to participate,” Teare said. “We have aggravated robbery victims who will not come forward and call the police because they are afraid of their status, allowing people out there to prey on victims without any repercussions.”

Uriel J. García contributed to this story.

Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in southern Utah have ancient cliff dwellings, petroglyphs and scenic canyons, as well as coal and uranium deposits that state officials want made available for development.

Trump, a Republican, issued proclamations under the Antiquities Act to reduce their size by about 90% each. He took similar actions during his first term, but those were reversed by President Joe Biden, a Democrat.

The latest move comes as Trump and other Republicans have drastically reshaped the management of vast taxpayer-owned lands concentrated in Western states. Trump administration officials and congressional Republicans have sought to expand drilling, mining and logging on public lands, while removing protections for imperiled species and rolling back rules for conservation.

“They took the land from the people quite honestly,” Trump said at a signing event at the White House Monday. “We’re giving it back.”

President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, established Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in 1996, and President Barack Obama, also a Democrat, created Bears Ears National Monument in 2016 under the Antiquities Act. The 1906 law gives presidents the powers to protect sites considered historic, archaeologically significant or culturally important.

Davina Smith-Idjesa, a citizen of the Navajo Nation and co-chair of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, said tribal leaders had braced for a reduction since Trump was elected to a second term. She said it was “heartbreaking” and accused federal officials of sidestepping their legal responsibility to consult with tribal nations that would be impacted.

“From a Navajo perspective, Bears Ears is not simply a piece of federal public land,” Smith-Idjesa said. “This is a living cultural site that holds our histories, our ceremonies, our traditional foods and medicines and our ancestors’ footprints.”

‘Big day for Utah’

Utah officials had long fought against the monument designations and argued that the state should be in charge of controlling its own lands. Trump in his first term reduced their size, calling their creation a “massive land grab.” Combined they spanned more than 3.2 million acres (13 million hectares), an area nearly the size of Connecticut.

Trump reduced them Monday to less than 303,000 acres (123,000 hectares) combined.

That's a greater reduction than his first term, when he left Grand Staircase Escalante at 1 million acres (405,000 hectares) and Bears Ears at 213,000 acres (86,000 hectares).

“This is a big day for Utah,” Utah Gov. Spencer Cox as he stood next to Trump at the White House. “These monument designations are supposed to be the smallest area as possible to protect the antiquities.”

Bears Ears was the first national monument created at the request of tribal nations that consider the land sacred. The landscape contains ancestral villages, ceremonial and burial sites and features in some tribes’ creation and migration stories. Its designation honored five tribes in the region — Navajo, Hopi, Zuni, Ute Mountain Ute and Uintah-Ouray Ute.

Home to hundreds of thousands of objects of cultural and scientific significance, Bears Ears is jointly managed by an agreement between tribal nations and federal agencies.

Grand Staircase-Escalante consists of cliffs, canyons, natural arches and archaeological sites, including rock paintings. It holds large coal reserves, while the Bears Ears area has uranium.

The national monument designation provides sweeping protections not just for significant geological features or artifacts but also for the surrounding landscape, banning drilling, mining and new construction nearby. Proponents of Trump’s move to downsize say the protective boundaries stretch too far and hinder mining for critical minerals.

Trump asserted Monday that people can not hunt, fish or “virtually not even walk” on the monuments. That's false: Hunting, fishing, camping and other recreation are permitted under state and federal regulations, said Steve Bloch, legal director for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, a conservation group.

Biden designated or expanded more than a dozen monuments and had a goal to conserve at least 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030.

Trump’s policies are largely the opposite: He wants to tap into the natural resource wealth of federal lands that total more than 100,000 square miles (260,000 square kilometers) and offshore areas under federal control, such as in the Gulf of Mexico and off Alaska.

That’s drawn backlash from Democrats who warn of the wholesale disposal of treasured landscapes for commercial gain.

“Today’s executive action is another chapter in this administration’s war on the West," Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico said Monday. He added that Trump was “turning the Antiquities Act on its head."

Land sale proposals fell flat

Trump Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said last year that federal officials would review and consider redrawing monument boundaries as part of a push to expand U.S. energy production.

Trump in his current term has used proclamations to lift commercial fishing prohibitions within expansive marine monuments in areas of the Pacific Ocean and in the Atlantic Ocean off the New England coast. Those monuments were created by Democratic and Republican administrations. The effort to boost the fishing industry, which has been challenged in court, marks a dramatic shift in federal policy by prioritizing commercial interests over efforts to allow the fish supply to increase.

Some Republicans have tried to sell or transfer federal lands to states or other entities. Those efforts have largely fallen flat: A push by some GOP lawmakers in the House to sell public lands ran into bipartisan opposition, while another proposal by Sen. Mike Lee of Utah to sell more than 3,200 square miles (8,300 square kilometers) of federal lands was removed from Republicans' big tax and spending bill.

The U.S. Supreme Court last year turned back a lawsuit from Utah officials who sought to wrest control of vast areas of public land within the state from the federal government.

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Hannah Schoenbaum reported from Salt Lake City.

The San Antonio Police Department confirmed the infant’s mother, Maximina Cisneros, 19, who was wanted in connection with the alert, was found Friday near the 200 block of Parkview Drive.

She was taken to a local hospital in “stable condition,” police said.

The 7-month-old infant, Ozana Cisneros, is still missing, according to SAPD. She was last seen June 10 with her mother.

SAPD said they are searching for Ozana Cisneros with help from other agencies, including the FBI, Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Rangers.

Around 9 p.m., SAPD found skeletal remains in a South Side park during their search for Ozana Cisneros. SAPD said it’s unclear if the remains found are human and if it’s connected to the AMBER Alert.

On July 13, Texas Search and Rescue confirmed to KSAT they joined the investigation in search of Ozana Cisneros.

TEXSAR is a non-profit team that does not self deploy, according to an email sent to KSAT. They are requested by law enforcement agencies or other public safety officials.

According to the AMBER Alert, Ozana Cisneros is 2 feet tall, has black hair and brown eyes.

Anyone with information on her whereabouts is urged to call 911.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Read also:

• AMBER Alert issued for 7-month-old last seen south of downtown; Woman wanted in connection with alert

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported last week that a fan named Terry Thompson had wagered $18.5 million with FanDuel and was eventually rewarded with a personalized video from Harper.

In the video, Harper addressed the fan by name and even mentioned the man's young son. Harper shared a screenshot Monday of the request on Cameo, an app that allows users to pay celebrities to record custom videos. FanDuel obtained the video through a partnership with Cameo.

“Had I known FanDuel’s true intent, I would not have made the video,” Harper said. “The same is true had I known anything about Terry or his situation, or about any alleged ‘partnership’ between Cameo and FanDuel.”

The Inquirer reported Thompson lost $1.5 million, according to a lawsuit that the Public Health Advocacy Institute filed in March in Common Pleas Court in Philadelphia on behalf of Thompson and against FanDuel and DraftKings. Thompson also was reported to have lost money to DraftKings.

The video was marked with FanDuel's logo. Harper said in the video he reached out at the request of Thompson's VIP manager on the site, “your host Bryttanni at FanDuel."

Harper addressed the situation on a social media post Monday, hours ahead of his scheduled participation in the Home Run Derby.

“I did not know FanDuel would do this,” Harper wrote. “I did not consent to it, and FanDuel had no right to do it.”

Asked for comment, FanDuel said it was "committed to fostering a culture of responsible gaming and protecting our customers.

"Unlike illegal offshore sportsbooks, FanDuel employees are trained to recognize and flag signs of problem gambling and offer resources and tools, and we continue to review and strengthen our policies to ensure we have the industry’s strongest consumer protection initiatives.”

Cameo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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

On April 28, BCSO received a report of more than 100 firearms stolen. The man who made the report estimated the weapons were worth more than $200,000.

The agency said it received reports of the stolen weapons in the 1100 block of County Road 108.

BCSO obtained a search warrant for the location, where sheriff’s deputies recovered some of the firearms.

They also stumbled upon “a huge cockfighting ring” with 54 roosters, according to BCSO spokesperson Joshua Hamby. Forty-two of them were still alive, and 12 were found dead.

Multiple people were arrested at the scene, Hamby said. Some face charges of animal cruelty, evading arrest and gambling, in addition to a possible charge relating to the stolen firearms located at the property.

BCSO has not released the identities of those arrested. The investigation is ongoing.

Read also:

• 7 people detained at suspected chop shop in Von Ormy, BCSO says
• Records: Case against ex-SAPD officer James Brennand dismissed following new Erik Cantu accusation

But through her brother's decades of public service, Nordone has been by his side, supporting him in speeches, appearances and even campaign ads.

Besides being a frequent attendee at Graham's political events, Nordone is woven deeply into her brother's personal and political biography. After both of their parents died in just over a year, Graham, then age 22, became legal guardian for his 13-year-old sister.

Now, after South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster tapped Nordone to serve in Graham's seat until January, Nordone is heading to Washington, tasked with representing the interests for which her brother advocated with passion.

A special primary held next month will sort out what Republican moves forward in the general election to face Democrat Annie Andrews in November.

From brother to legal guardian, Graham raised his sister

While Graham was in his early 20s, his life — and that of his sister — was turned upside down. Their mother died in 1976 after battling Hodgkin's lymphoma. Fifteen months later, his sister, then 13, discovered their father after he suffered a heart attack in his sleep and died.

Graham was just beginning law school at the University of South Carolina. With both parents gone, he pivoted, saying that his chief goal was to ensure his sister was cared for.

“I can remember the day my father passed away, standing in the living room of that house, absolutely scared to death,” Nordone told NPR in 2015. “Lindsey wrapped his arms around me and promised me he would always be there for me and always take care of me.”

Making regular treks from school in Columbia to Seneca, where his sister was being looked after by relatives, Graham kept tabs on his sister from then on and became her legal guardian. After he became a military lawyer in the Air Force, he adopted her, to ensure that she would receive his military benefits.

Graham’s bond with his sister was indelible

Graham, who never married or had children of his own, once joked as he ran for president in 2016 that his sister could be among a “rotating” cast of White House hosts standing in as first lady.

But the bond between the two, aside from being integral to Graham’s own biography, was evident in their public appearances. When Graham filed his candidacy paperwork in March for this year’s election, Nordone was by his side, along with her children and grandchildren.

“What have I learned in this life I’ve led? I take nothing for granted. I count every blessing, every day,” Graham said then, going on to recount how he and his sister forged through life together from that point. “I understand what a blessing my life has been and the only way I can pay you back for the blessings I’ve received is to be the most thoughtful, relevant, aggressive senator.”

Nordone married, had children and ultimately grandchildren and has worked with people with disabilities. Talking to C-SPAN in 2015, Graham said of his own life that his sister's success “is the highlight of it, by far.”

Bob McAlister, a former consultant to Graham on several campaigns, reflected on how the difficulties in their growing up bonded the siblings in a way that most would not understand.

“He grew up with nothing,” McAlister said. “The back of the bar where he and his sister grew up was always kind of top of mind to him. ... And I think the way he and Darline grew up just had an indelible impact on him, and for some reason, it gave him the drive that he had to do what he did.”

“A lot of people have different ideas about Lindsey from what they’ve seen on TV and all that, but everything about him can be traced back to his boyhood, the way he grew up, the way he took care of his sister," McAlister added.

Graham's sister played a political role in his life, too

Graham often talked about his background, and the plight he shared with his sister, in campaign appearances, and she was there for many of them.

She also popped up in a 2014 campaign ad, as Graham sought a third Senate term, saying he brought assurances after their parents' deaths that he would take care of her.

“He never let me down. Never. I don’t see how he did it, to take on the responsibility of raising a little sister,” Nordone said. "That came from within for Lindsey.”

Trump recommended Graham's sister as interim appointee

Hours ahead of McMaster's announcement, President Donald Trump said on social media that he had recommended that the governor pick Nordone, calling the selection “a fabulous tribute to Lindsey, who loved her dearly!”

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

The progress came as a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed a motorist in Maine on Monday, and Houston prosecutors complained the administration was still withholding critical information in their investigation into a fatal shooting by an ICE officer last week.

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said the evidence turned over by U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Daniel Rosen's office included previously withheld hard drives containing statements, police body camera video and other materials in the Minnesota killings. Federal prosecutors also turned over Good’s badly damaged SUV, she said.

“The wonderful thing now is we have all the evidence,” Moriarty said. “Any time the government is responsible in whatever way of taking the life of a community member we need to have a full and thorough investigation.”

Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, was shot and killed in her vehicle while leaving an anti-immigration enforcement protest in Minneapolis on Jan. 7.

Her death and that of Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse shot and killed days later during a Jan. 24 protest, sparked outrage across the country and calls to rein in immigration enforcement.

The Minneapolis immigration crackdown, dubbed “Operation Metro Surge,” ended in February after being billed as the largest immigration enforcement operation ever.

At least nine people have been killed nationwide since the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement campaign began last year. No one has been charged in connection with the deaths, and the federal government has suggested state prosecutors don’t have jurisdiction to investigate federal officers.

Lawyers for Good’s family said the transfer of evidence represented “an important and meaningful step towards justice and accountability.” The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which took custody of the evidence, declared that “great strides have been made” to ensure a “thorough and complete review” of the shootings.

But a lawyer for Pretti's family said Rosen's office, in a meeting Monday afternoon, wouldn't confirm any cooperation agreement between state and federal agencies.

“No family should be required to beg federal authorities to do their job,” Steve Schleicher said in a statement. “Without a public commitment by federal authorities to cooperate with the state, it is difficult — if not, impossible — to pursue justice that holds the individuals accountable for Alex’s death.”

Spokespersons for Rosen's office, as well as ICE and the federal Department of Homeland Security, which oversees immigration enforcement, didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment Monday.

Legal wrangling in another ICE-related shooting may have led to evidence release

Moriarty on Monday declined to provide details on what prompted the federal government to turn over the evidence.

But documents recently filed in a lawsuit brought by state and local officials suggest the breakthrough came after federal officials sought evidence state investigators gathered in the investigation of ICE agent Christian Castro.

Castro, 52, was charged with assault and falsely reporting a crime in connection with the Jan. 14 nonfatal shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis. Prosecutors say Castro fired through a Minneapolis home’s front door and shot Sosa-Celis in the thigh while in pursuit of another man.

State and local prosecutors said they would provide evidence in Castro's case as soon as the federal government agreed to share its evidence in the shootings of Pretti and Good.

“We are willing to share evidence with you if the exchange is reciprocal,” Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans wrote in a legal filing to federal officials.

Moriarty and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison later amended their lawsuit to add details about the federal government’s refusal to share the evidence collected in the fatal shootings.

Days later, they said in a court filing that the FBI, U.S. Attorney's Office and state officials “have recently re-engaged in discussions about the prospect of mutual information sharing.”

Ellison, in a statement Monday, said he remains “deeply troubled” it took more than half a year for federal officials to hand over the materials.

“It should never have taken this long,” he said. “I hope that this is the beginning of a major course correction on the part of the federal government.”

Moriarty added that she's not yet prepared to drop the lawsuit against the Trump administration, which seeks access to evidence in the three shootings.

Houston investigators complain feds are leaving them in the dark

Prosecutors in Houston, meanwhile, echoed similar concerns about obtaining critical information from federal officials as they look into last week’s death of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican national who had lived in the U.S. for decades.

DHS has acknowledged officers stopped Salgado Araujo while looking for someone else, but maintains the homebuilder rammed an ICE vehicle while attempting to leave the scene. The agency says that prompted an officer to open fire in self-defense, though it has yet to provide evidence to back up that claim.

Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare said Monday that his office doesn’t even know the identities of the ICE officers involved or where they are nearly a week later.

“The federal government has not invited us in,” Teare said. “The federal government is not collaborating with us with this investigation.”

The man killed Monday in Maine was from Colombia. Federal officers claimed he tried to use his vehicle as a weapon against officers pursuing him for deportation. The shooting took place in Biddeford, a coastal city of about 23,000 people roughly 15 miles (24 kilometers) southwest of Portland.

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Associated Press reporter John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, contributed to this story.

No casualties were reported, but the attacks marked an escalation not seen since a Saudi-led coalition struck Houthi-controlled areas several years ago. Saudi Arabian officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the airstrikes in Yemen.

Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, in a video statement on Telegram, warned airlines against flying through Saudi airspace, saying these warnings should be taken "seriously until the blockade on Sanaa International Airport is lifted.”

The internationally recognized government in Yemen said earlier that the strikes that hit Sanaa International Airport were meant to prevent an Iranian plane from landing.

The Houthis vowed to retaliate for the strike, which marked the first major escalation between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia following a period of relative calm.

The U.N. Security Council, in an emergency meeting on the developments Monday afternoon, officials expressed concern about the risk of a wider escalation.

“Yemen and the wider region cannot afford another cycle of escalation,” U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for political affairs Khaled Khiari told the 15-member council. “We call on all actors to constructively engage in negotiations under UN auspices.”

For years, a Saudi-led coalition based in Yemen’s south has fought the Houthis in the north.

Saree said on Telegram earlier on Monday that Saudi Arabia launched the airstrikes in what he called the end of a period of “de-escalation.” He warned that “this aggression will not go unanswered or unpunished.”

In the latest Telegram update, Saree said the strikes in Sanaa were aimed at “closing it to humanitarian flights carrying patients and stranded individuals to and from Sana’a International Airport.”

Yemen’s civil war began in 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, and much of northern Yemen and forced the government into exile. A Saudi-led coalition, including the United Arab Emirates, intervened the following year to try to restore the government to power. Tensions rose earlier this year between U.S. allies Saudi Arabia and the UAE as their yearslong partnership in the war in Yemen broke down, leading to the UAE pulling out of Yemen.

The official spokesperson of the Saudi-led Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen, Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki, said Monday evening on X that air defenses dealt with ballistic missiles launched by the Houthis toward the southern region without providing further details.

The attack on the airport in Sanaa comes after tensions between the two sides flared earlier this month. The Houthis alleged that Saudi planes violated their airspace to try to prevent an Iranian plane from carrying a Houthi delegation to Tehran for the funeral of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Yemen's defense minister, Gen. Taher al-Aqili, said in a post on X that the airport’s runway was struck Monday to stop an Iranian plane transporting the Houthi delegation from returning from the funeral.

In a video statement released shortly before the strikes, al-Aqili warned against infiltrating Yemeni airspace with Iranian aircraft.

“At this moment, we say that our patience has run out. Accordingly, we will respond appropriately to this treacherous and brutal act, and we will confront and deal with the hostile aircraft violating Yemeni airspace and sovereignty by all available means,” he said.

The Houthis said the plane was diverted to Hodeida Airport, where it landed.

Video footage by the Houthi-controlled al-Masirah broadcaster appeared to show a missile striking a runway at Sanaa airport followed by a loud explosion.

A statement from the government in the south said that all airports in Yemen were “closed until further notice, with immediate effect.” The Yemeni defense ministry issued orders to evacuate the airport and surrounding areas.

Rashad al-Alimi, who leads Yemen's ruling Presidential Leadership Council, said Iran had made a request to operate a flight by Iranian airline Mahan Air from Tehran to Sanaa to return the Houthi delegation.

The council, which denied the request, said in a statement Monday that Houthis had insisted on receiving the Iranian flight “outside the legal and sovereign frameworks governing civil aviation.”

Hans Grundberg, the U.N.'s special envoy for Yemen, said in a statement that his office is monitoring Yemeni airspace developments and expressed concern about the risk of wider escalation. He called on involved parties to engage in dialogue that preserves the “relative calm Yemen has experienced since 2022.”

Houthi-controlled areas were last targeted by the Saudi-led coalition before a U.N. brokered truce to cease hostilities came into effect in 2022.

At approximately 8:34 a.m., a man reported his white truck stolen, a BCSO spokesperson said Monday. The man had a GPS monitor in his vehicle, which led authorities to its whereabouts in the 17100 block of Benton City Road.

Deputies were dispatched to the Benton City Road location in south Bexar County where they found a 21-year-old man inside the stolen white truck, the sheriff’s office said. The unidentified man was later detained.

BCSO said six others were detained at the property. Some of the detainees had active warrants, including Xavier Andres Servin, 29, and Raul Alaquinez, 45.

Servin faces eight charges in four separate counties:

• Engaging in organized criminal activity (Bexar County Sheriff’s Office)
• Smuggling aliens (Edwards County Sheriff’s Office)
• Burglary (Kendall County Sheriff’s Office)
• Criminal mischief worth between $2,500 and $30,000 (Kendall County Sheriff’s Office)
• Theft of a firearm (Kendall County Sheriff’s Office)
• Burglary (Atascosa County Sheriff’s Office)
• Criminal mischief worth between $2,500 and $30,000 (Atascosa County Sheriff’s Office)
• Theft of property worth between $2,500 and $30,000 (Atascosa County Sheriff’s Office)

Alaquinez had an active warrant for theft between $2,500 and $30,000 in Frio County.

During BCSO’s search on the property, deputies found a second stolen vehicle.

The sheriff’s office said deputies are continuing to investigate the area, which may result in more arrests.

Read also:

• Records: Case against ex-SAPD officer James Brennand dismissed following new Erik Cantu accusation
• Person dies in ‘severe flash flood’ on Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland

According to an SAPD incident report obtained by KSAT, a police officer was dispatched on a July 1 “threats” call to The Park at Sutton Oaks Apartments in the 1000 block of Locke Street.

Upon arrival, the officer spoke to a 20-year-old woman, who said she had been in a dating relationship with Cantu, 21, for a “couple of months,” the report states. She called police because he allegedly made “comments that were concerning” to her.

‘Wherever the f--- I wanna go’

The woman said Cantu arrived at the complex approximately one hour before she called police. The two were set to pick up food from a nearby Wendy’s, according to the report.

On their way to the restaurant, police said Cantu and the woman entered into a “verbal altercation” after he admitted that “he was sleeping with other women when he met her.”

When she received her food, authorities said the woman threw the bag of food at Cantu “out of anger.” According to the woman, Cantu then told her, “I could just strangle you right now, but I’m tryna (trying to) be a changed man.”

When Cantu, who was driving, got onto a highway, the woman told SAPD she asked him where he was taking her.

“Wherever the f--- I wanna go,” Cantu told the woman, according to the report.

Talk of weapons

During her interview with police, the woman told the officer that Cantu “pulled out a pocketknife and opened it” in front of her.

While she said Cantu didn’t “display the knife in a threatening manner,” the woman admitted to the officer that the presence of the knife “caused her concern,” SAPD said. She also alleged Cantu may have mentioned “something” about a firearm during the car ride, but she said she “never” saw one.

The 20-year-old woman told Cantu she wanted to “get out of the vehicle.” In response, police said Cantu suggested the woman jump out of the vehicle “while it was moving” or he would “push her out” himself.

After an unspecified amount of time, Cantu pulled into a gas station. At the gas station, according to the report, Cantu told the woman to get out of the vehicle before “I kick your a--.” Cantu left the woman at the location.

The woman, who feared Cantu would return to the gas station, told the officer that she called an Uber to take her home.

At this time, Cantu has not been arrested or charged in connection with this case.

Cantu’s recent probation sentencing

Cantu was sentenced June 8 to two years of deferred adjudication on a 2025 burglary of a habitation charge when he was accused of breaking into the home of his child’s mother. Cantu was indicted on the charge one week before he was sentenced.

At the time, the June 8 sentencing meant he would not serve any additional time behind bars.

While SAPD said its investigation into the case is ongoing, one of Cantu’s probation orders handed down at his June 8 sentencing was that he was not allowed to drive for two years.

The allegation’s connection to James Brennand

James Brennand, the ex-SAPD officer accused of shooting Cantu in 2022, returned to a Bexar County courtroom Monday morning.

Bexar County prosecutor Neil Cordero asked Judge Joel Perez in Bexar County’s 437th Criminal District Court to delay Brennand’s trial, which was previously set for July 20, due to the new investigation into Cantu.

According to Cordero, the terroristic threat accusation is “still in the investigation phase” and the charge has not been filed with the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office.

The charge is considered a Class A misdemeanor.

“We believe the Court should continue (delay) this case because, at this time, the State of Texas would be greatly disadvantaged in proceeding to trial with this investigation pending over our named complainant,” Cordero told Perez.

Perez denied the state’s request.

Approximately 75 minutes after Monday’s hearing ended, Bexar County court records showed that the aggravated assault by a public servant charge against Brennand was dismissed due to “further investigation.”

After the dismissal, KSAT reached out to the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office for comment on Monday’s development.

“The purpose of the motion was to allow us time to properly investigate and assess the implications of this new development and its potential impact on the current case against James Brennand,” a Bexar County District Attorney’s Office spokesperson told KSAT in a statement. “As a result of the judge’s ruling in denying the motion, we decided to dismiss the case due to the pending investigation of Mr. Cantu’s latest allegations.”

While the DA’s office declined additional details on Brennand’s dismissal, the spokesperson said the case can be refiled at a later date after the “completion” of the Cantu “investigation.”

More recent coverage of this story on KSAT:

• Records: Case against ex-SAPD officer James Brennand dismissed following new Erik Cantu accusation
• Erik Cantu won’t serve additional prison time, receives 2-year deferred adjudication sentence

Astronomers have detected a type of sugar in space that's also found in raspberries and self-tanners. The sugar, called erythrulose, lurks in what's called the interstellar medium: thin clouds of gas and dust littered between stars.

Sugar does more than sweeten tea and powder doughnuts. Different varieties fuel our cells and even make up DNA. Scientists are itching to know how sugars form because they're a key ingredient for life as we know it.

Using two dish-shaped radio telescopes in Spain, researchers collected data from a large gas cloud near the center of the Milky Way. They identified the sugar in gas form by comparing telescope signals to samples in the lab. It's the latest kind of sugar detected in space — in a region crossed by NASA's twin Voyager, the farthest spacecraft to ever travel from Earth.

The results were published Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy.

Scientists have found interesting chemistry in our galaxy, including building blocks for genetic material and parts of the cell. They spotted a cousin to table sugar near the center of the Milky Way about 25 years ago, and black grains from asteroid Bennu retrieved by NASA’s Osiris-Rex spacecraft yielded other sugars, including a key DNA ingredient.

The latest sugar isn’t essential for life, but can easily convert to a form that’s thought to be crucial to kick-starting life on Earth. And it’s one of the most complex sugars spotted so far, said astrophysicist Erika Hamden with the University of Arizona.

It's “a pristine example of the stuff that’s just floating out in the galaxy,” said Hamden, who had no role in the new research.

These interstellar investigations are all about understanding how life got started. Did faraway comets or space rocks deliver the essential ingredients to us? Or were the essential components already here that eventually gave rise to our solar system?

The new sugar lends evidence to the latter theory. Researchers want to look for more sugars in space and learn about how they convert to different forms.

Finding them in one spot means they're likely also hiding in distant corners of the galaxy along with other important bits, said study author Izaskun Jiménez-Serra, an astrophysicist at the Center for Astrobiology in Spain.

“The key ingredients for the origin of life could be present in other regions across the galaxy, opening the possibility for life to develop elsewhere in the universe,” Jiménez-Serra said.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

The U.S. military then began another round of strikes against Iran on Monday.

Lindsey Graham’s sister, Darline Graham Nordone, has been named as her late brother’s temporary replacement in the U.S. Senate. Graham, one of Trump’s closest allies in Congress and an advocate for U.S. military aggression in Iran, died Saturday at 71 after a tear in his aorta.

The Latest:

Trump says US will seek Strait of Hormuz tolls as reimbursement for ‘protecting’ other countries

Moments after the U.S. military announced a new round of strikes on Iran, Trump called it “another major attack.”

“We’re hitting them very hard. And it’ll continue, and we’ll see what happens,” he told reporters in the Oval Office.

The president added: “We’re knocking out all of their offensive capability and we’re controlling the straits. We’re putting the blockade back.”

Trump also provided new details on his administration doing an about-face and suggesting that it will charge tolls for ships going through the Strait of Hormuz, after previously suggesting that it wouldn’t.

“We’re protecting a very rich portion of the world,” he said. “We’re spending money. And so, what we’ve done is, we are going to be reimbursed for protection.”

Trump scales back 2 Utah national monuments

The move to shrink Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments unravels protections established by former presidents for areas with unique archaeological and historical features.

It comes as Republicans under Trump have sought to drastically reshape the management of vast taxpayer-owned lands concentrated in Western states. Republicans have moved to expand oil and gas drilling, ramp up logging and remove habitat protections for imperiled species.

The altered monuments had been designated under the Antiquities Act, a 1906 law meant to preserve important sites. Democrats and conservationists warn of the disposal of treasured landscapes for commercial gain.

US military has begun another round of strikes against Iran, US Central Command says

“These strikes will continue imposing a heavy cost on Iranian forces and degrade their ability to attack innocent civilians and commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz,” the command said on social media.

The strikes are just the latest volley between the two nations that began last week after Iran attacked a series of merchant vessels off the coast of Oman.

Trump offers no details on Thursday night address

When asked in an interview with Hugh Hewitt what his Thursday address will be about, Trump made it sound like nothing out of the ordinary.

“It’s just going to be a speech like a lot of my speeches,” he said, without offering any more detail.

Trump says memorandum of understanding was ‘built to test’ Iran

“Memorandum of understanding when you’re dealing with sleazebags don’t mean much,” Trump said during an interview with Hugh Hewitt.

Trump said he questioned why the U.S. was entering into a memorandum of understanding to create a ceasefire with Iran rather than moving toward a full deal first. Trump last week declared the ceasefire was “over.”

“They didn’t honor the test,” Trump said.

Trump promises at least 2 more rounds of strikes on Iran are coming

“We’re going to hit them very hard tonight and we’re going to hit them hard tomorrow — and there’s not a damn thing they can do about it,” Trump told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt. “They have nothing. They have nothing going, other than they have big mouths.”

The president did not elaborate but him saying that more strikes were coming previously preceded a new round of U.S. military strikes on targets in Iran.

Darline Graham Nordone, sister of Lindsey Graham, picked to fulfill remainder of his US Senate term

Lindsey Graham’s sister, Darline Graham Nordone, has been named as her late brother’s temporary replacement in the U.S. Senate.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster announced at a news conference at the Statehouse on Monday that Nordone would serve the remaining months on Graham’s current term, which expires in January. A person familiar with the appointment process but not authorized to speak about it publicly said Nardone would be sworn in Wednesday. She will be the first woman to represent the state in the U.S. Senate.

“It is such an honor,” Nordone said. “Lindsey has always been there for me. And now, I will be there for him.”

Graham died over the weekend at age 71. He never married or had a family of his own, but Nordone was often by her brother’s side for the political touch points of his career, speaking at events and appearing in some of his campaign ads.

Senators deliver emotional tributes to Lindsey Graham after his sudden death

Graham’s desk was covered in black cloth and a vase of white roses as the Senate opened Monday afternoon.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune eulogized Graham as a friend and a statesman, saying he “died with his boots on” because he had just returned from his 10th trip to Ukraine.

One day “we will laugh together again,” Thune said, tearing up during his opening remarks.

Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the seniormost Senate Republican, said he was used to being the butt of Graham’s jokes. He “always brought a smile to your face and levity to the halls of Congress,” Grassley said.

Grassley said the Senate could “show our appreciation” for Graham by passing a bipartisan package of Russian sanctions that Graham introduced on Friday, just before his death on Saturday.

US military’s tally of deaths in the Iran war has risen to 14

That’s after a Navy pilot died in a helicopter crash on July 1 in the Arabian Sea. The Navy initially called it an emergency landing and said there was “no indication the emergency was caused by hostile action.”

The Pentagon’s war casualty count added one non-hostile death in July. A U.S. Central Command spokesman confirmed it was the pilot.

It’s the first death since 13 service members were killed in two separate incidents in March at the beginning of the war.

A total of 414 service members have been wounded, including a U.S. Air Force member added Monday.

While Iran and the U.S. have resumed strikes, it’s unclear if that’s what led to the injury. U.S. Central Command and the Air Force wouldn’t offer details. Most troops were wounded in March, while 34 were wounded in April and three in June.

Trump to address the nation on Thursday

The president posted on social media that he would be “making a Speech to the Nation” at 9 p.m. EDT on Thursday.

Trump appeared to refer to himself in the third person in the post.

He did not disclose the details of his planned speech, but the announcement comes after Trump said he would block Iran-related ships from traveling through the Strait of Hormuz and that the U.S. would charge a 20% fee on all cargo going through the waterway.

US military to resume Iranian blockade

The U.S. military says it will resume its blockade of Iranian ports Tuesday at 4 p.m. EDT.

U.S. Central Command said on social media that it “will enforce the blockade against vessels transiting to or from Iranian ports and coastal areas” and will “support traffic flow through regional waters for all vessels not violating the blockade.”

A notice to mariners released Monday by the U.S. military warned of using force if ships don’t comply. It also said the military will let through humanitarian shipments.

The statement follows Trump declaring that the U.S. would be reinstating the naval blockade and charging a 20% toll on eligible cargo.

Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, would not say whether the military would be collecting tolls as part of the blockade and referred questions on Trump’s post to the White House.

UN maritime organization is against charging fees for passage through international straits

The International Maritime Organization, the United Nations agency which oversees safety and security measures in international shipping, said the group was waiting to find out more about Trump’s proposal but said its stance on tolls remains unchanged.

“We have always been consistent on its stance on fees – IMO stands firmly against charging fees for passage through straits used for international navigation. There is no legal basis through which to introduce mandatory tolls simply to transit through a strait,” the organization said in a statement.

Rubio has previously said the US wouldn’t allow tolls in the Strait of Hormuz

Trump’s announcement comes after Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Gulf leaders late last month and said the U.S. would not support Iran charging fees for ships to go through the Strait of Hormuz.

“That’s international waterway. There isn’t a nation on Earth that supports having to pay money to go through the Straits,” Rubio told reporters in Bahrain on June 25.

Rubio also said there was “zero support among the Gulf countries for any sort of toll or fees or anything that charges for the use of international waters. The president’s made it clear that’s not going to happen. It’s not going to be a part of this. It cannot be a part of this.”

Judge blasts Trump’s IRS lawsuit as filed for ‘improper purpose,’ recommends attorney discipline

A federal judge said Monday that Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS over his leaked tax returns was filed for an “improper purpose” as she referred attorneys for disciplinary actions.

The ruling from U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams amounts to a stinging rebuke of the Republican president’s lawsuit, characterizing it as an exercise in self-dealing in which he sued an entity that is effectively under his control.

The suit concluded in May with a settlement agreement that created a since-abandoned $1.776 billion fund meant to compensate allies of the president, as well as immunity from tax audits.

“This was an attempt to use the Court to provide some legitimacy to an agreement to confer immunity to people and entities affiliated with the President and to earmark billions of dollars from American taxpayers to redress grievances not defined in the law,” the judge wrote.

US military uses drone boats in a first-of-its-kind attack

U.S. Central Command says it used drone ships to hit an Iranian ship maintenance facility and submarine, calling it first.

“Three Corsair unmanned surface vessels hit the port at Bandar Abbas Naval Base, marking the first time American forces have employed sea drones in combat operations,” the command said on social media Monday.

The post featured video of the drone boats approaching a dock that had a submarine sitting on top of it followed by aerial footage of the explosion on Sunday.

The strike comes despite the Trump administration’s claim that it has completely destroyed Iran’s navy.

The Corsair drones also were used to help rescue a pair of Army aviators from the waters off Oman early in June after their Apache helicopter was struck by an Iranian drone.

ICE involved in fatal shooting in Maine, state House speaker says

Democrat Ryan Fecteau posted on Facebook that the shooting Monday in Biddeford, outside Portland, involved U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, that the State Police and Maine Department of Public Safety were at the scene, and that he expects the FBI to investigate.

Few details are available. ICE, the FBI and the Maine Department of Public Safety did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Project Relief, an immigrant rights advocacy group, posted that “a young person” from its community was killed “during an encounter with ICE in Biddeford.” Protesters have already begun gathering at Mechanics Park in Biddeford.

This would be at least the ninth death from an encounter with federal immigration officials since the start of the Trump administration’s mass deportations agenda and the second in a week, following the killing of a Houston man.

EU rallies dozens of nations to pledge $1 billion for recovery fund in Gaza

The European Union coordinated efforts to raise 900 million euros ($1 billion) in aid for Gaza, working with 65 governments and organizations including the White House and the United Nations, the bloc’s top diplomat said Monday.

Kaja Kallas announced the fund after a meeting of the Palestine Donors Group in Brussels.

“The EU is the most credible supporter, for the Palestinian people. We are the largest donor and the strongest backer of the two-state solution,” she said.

The meeting was the second gathering of the Team Gaza Initiative, an effort by the EU to rally support for recovery projects like sanitation and farming in the destitute and war-ravaged coastal enclave of some 2 million people.

Ukraine fears Graham’s death leaves weaker link to Trump

Just days before his death, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham was standing in Kyiv’s St. Michael’s Square, giving Ukrainians reason for optimism: He said new hard-hitting bipartisan economic sanctions against Russia were within reach back in Washington.

Now Ukraine’s leaders are devastated. Graham had been one of Kyiv’s closest allies in Washington and a trusted intermediary with Trump, who had a strained relationship with Zelenskyy. They fear that without Graham, Ukraine’s ability to influence could be diminished across a broad range of issues.

“Huge and absolutely unexpected loss,” said Oleksandr Merezhko, a lawmaker with Zelenskyy’s party. “He was the closest link between Ukraine, our president and Trump,” he added. “Our position in Trump’s entourage might be weaker.”

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Ukraine and nine other countries announce a coalition to protect Europe from ballistic missiles

Ukraine and nine other countries have formed a coalition to protect Europe from ballistic missiles. The 10 countries announced the agreement at talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Paris on Monday, taking advantage of Kyiv’s experience of fighting Russia.

“Our goal is to build a shared ballistic missile defense capability for Europe,” their statement said.

Zelenskyy went to France seeking help against Russia’s ballistic missiles, which have pummeled his country in the more than four years since Moscow launched a full-scale invasion.

Putin was unyielding after Kyiv’s long-range attacks on refineries, tankers and terminals have caused widespread fuel shortages. “Wherever they attempt to strike Russian territory, we will respond in kind, but our strikes will be several times more powerful,” Putin told pro-Kremlin activists.

Trump says all but Iran will have ‘fair and open’ use of strait — after paying US a 20% toll

A fifth of the world’s oil and gas passed through the strait without paying any fees before Iran asserted control over it after the start of the war.

Iran says it has the right to manage traffic through the strait and potentially charge fees in accordance with an interim peace deal reached last month. The U.S. and others dispute that, citing international law on freedom of navigation, and the American military has tried to establish an alternative route outside of Iranian control.

The European Union’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, called for the strait to be open, as it was before the war. “Freedom of navigation has to be respected,” she said.

Trump says Gov. McMaster should appoint Graham’s sister to finish his term

Trump says he’s recommended that Lindsey Graham’s sister be named as his temporary replacement in the U.S. Senate.

Trump posted on social media Monday that Gov. Henry McMaster should appoint Darline Graham Nordone to fulfill the rest of Graham’s term, which expires in January.

Graham died over the weekend at age 71, and McMaster is expected to announce his pick later Monday afternoon.

After their parents died at a young age, Graham was left to raise his sister, whom he later adopted. The pair were very close, and Graham’s sister was by his side as he filed reelection paperwork earlier this year.

The Democratic Party’s direction also is at stake in Michigan and Wisconsin

Following the downfall of Graham Platner in Maine, progressives view the Upper Midwest Senate races as their last chance to shape the Democrats’ Senate caucus and prove their theory of the case in the midterm elections.

In Michigan, Rep. Haley Stevens is running against progressive Abdul El-Sayed for the state’s Democratic Senate nomination in a race Democrats must win to hold the seat held by Sen. Gary Peters, who is retiring and has endorsed Stevens.

In Wisconsin, democratic socialist state Rep. Francesca Hong has surged in the state’s Democratic gubernatorial primary against more conventional Democratic lawmakers, including former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes and current Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez.

Michigan voters choose nominees on Aug. 4. The primaries in Minnesota and Wisconsin are Aug. 11.

▶ Read more

What happened to Minnesota nice?

In Minnesota, the two leading Senate candidates have clashed over electability, their ties to corporate interests and willingness to fight Trump’s administration.

Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, backed by progressive Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, says her opponent, Rep. Angie Craig, is backed by “secretive dark money groups.”

“The very folks who are standing in the way of the things that people need to be able to afford their lives, who are Democrats, are funded by these corporate special interests,” Flanagan told The Associated Press.

Craig counters that Flanagan has raised campaign funds from major companies, and that if she becomes the Democratic nominee, Republicans would focus on her ties to an ongoing fraud inquiry into the state’s Medicaid programs. “To stop Donald Trump, we’ve got to win elections,” Craig told the AP.

The next big races between moderates and progressives are in pivotal Midwestern states

Progressives hope to prove economic populism resonates beyond deep blue enclaves. Democratic Party leaders worry progressive candidates could damage their brand and imperil their chances of retaking either chamber of Congress.

August primaries in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota will be another gauge of Democratic voters’ frustration with the establishment. The Upper Midwest is a battleground for progressives and moderates. The outcomes could impact Democrats’ chances in the upcoming midterms and shape their party’s future direction.

How will a special primary work?

South Carolina law requires a one-week filing period beginning July 21, for a special primary to be held on Aug. 11. A runoff if necessary would be held on Aug. 25, leaving the nominee just over two months to campaign for the general election on Nov. 3.

All of this is problematic according to federal law, which requires military and overseas ballots to go out 45 days before any federal election. For the general election primary, that would have been June 27. Federal Election Commission officials didn’t immediately return a message seeking clarity.

“You watch a Triple-A game, most everybody that’s coming out of the bullpen left-handed or right-handed is throwing 95-plus,” the Boston Red Sox manager said. “Back in the day, it was you'd get a lead and you'd get to the lower part of a bullpen and you’d see some guys coming out throwing 88.”

Heading into the All-Star break, velocity is on track to set a record for the sixth straight season.

Four-seam fastballs averaged 94.7 mph through Saturday, up from 94.5 mph last year, 93.7 mph in 2021 and 91.9 mph when Major League Baseball first started tracking in 2008. The average was 94.4 mph for the first half of 2025, and this year's final figure could increase by a tick.

“Definitely expecting anybody you’ve never heard of to throw a 95-plus,” said the New York Mets' Marcus Semien, a three-time All-Star who made his major league debut in 2013, when four-seamers averaged 92.7 mph. “Before you'd know who the guys were who were throwing 98. Now, you just expect that this new guy is probably throwing 98. So that shows how everybody’s trained.”

Expectations have changed. In David Auburn's “Proof,” which won the 2001 Pulitzer Price for Drama, a mathematical research work is described as “streamlined: no wasted moves, like a 95-mile-an-hour fastball. It’s just ... elegant.”

That figure no longer is notable.

Right-handed pitchers are averaging 95.2 mph in 2026, up from 95.0 mph last year. Right-handed relievers are averaging 95.6 mph.

The Triple-A average of 93.6 mph is up from 92.7 mph when tracking started at that level in 2022.

“People are learning the biomechanics of the body a lot better and it’s easier to figure out why people are throwing hard,” said Athletics pitcher Hogan Harris, whose four-seam average has increased from 92.6 mph as a rookie in 2023 to 95.0 mph this year. “There’s so many young kids throwing hard now and then you see a lot younger people in the big leagues, so my thought is they see a guy that’s throwing 100 when he’s 22 and, boy, he’s not going to throw 100 when it’s 30, so let’s get in there now.”

Six pitchers are at 100 mph in average four-seam velocity led by a pair of relievers, the Athletics' Mason Miller (101.3 mph) and the Los Angeles Dodgers' Edgardo Henriquez (100.6 mph).

Milwaukee's Jacob Misiorowski, a 24-year-old starter, is averaging 100.5 mph, up from 99.3 mph as a rookie last year. He has thrown a big-league high of 670 pitches at 100 mph or higher. The Brewers skipped his start Sunday because of arm fatigue.

“I think it’s always been there,” Misiorowski said. “Jumping up that next tick was really cool, so I think I’m happy where I’m at and I think is free and easy.”

As velocity increases, so does pitch mix among fastball types.

Four-seamers are 30.4% of pitches this season, down from 31.8% last year and 35.8% in 2019.

Sinkers increased from 15.5% last year to 16.6% and cutters from 7.5% to 7.8%. Offspeed pitches rose from 13.6% to 14.3%.

“It is exponentially harder to hit and I hit .200 in my career, so that should show you how well I would do in the game today. The thing that I think gets me when I watch games is it’s not just one fastball anymore," said New York Mets interim manager Andy Green, whose last big league season with extensive playing time was in 2006. “It’s easy for us that played a couple of decades ago to malign the offensive players for not hitting from a batting average perspective what used to be hit, but there’s so much to contend with, so much information, so much awareness of what hitter handles what fastball shape. The game’s gotten harder, there’s no doubt about it."

Big league batters are hitting .244, just below last year’s .245 and above the .243 in 2024.

"At the end of the day, us as hitters have to find a good pitch to hit and put a good swing on it," Chicago Cubs star Alex Bregman said.

Hard-throwing has become part of youth player development, according to San Diego closer Mason Miller, who leads all pitchers with a 101.3 mph average for his four-seamer.

“It’s kind of just been that trajectory,” he said. “But it’s hard to be successful for a long time and healthy for a long time doing it.”

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AP Baseball Writers Jay Cohen and Janie McCauley contributed to this report.

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

The National Weather Service is predicting that more than 90 temperature records across the U.S. will be tied or broken this week through Wednesday — and most of those will be overnight heat records.

Health experts say overnight temperatures that fail to cool down are even more dangerous than daytime temperatures that soar.

It has already been a sweltering start to the summer across much of the U.S. due to the long-lasting heat dome expected to blanket much of the country this week. The blistering temperatures over the past few weeks have caused heat-related deaths in New Jersey and helped fuel wildfires in the West.

No relief from the heat at night this week

Temperatures were not forecast to drop below 80 F (27 C) at night in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Miami; Tampa, Florida; Galveston, Texas; and Charleston, South Carolina, the National Weather Service said.

Over the next few days, places in the Midwest and Northeast known for frigid winters will see nighttime temperatures remain above 70 F (21 C), including Fargo, North Dakota; International Falls, Minnesota; and Portland, Maine.

Hot temperatures at night pose a bigger danger

Health experts say that high overnight temperatures are particularly dangerous because there's no time for the body's core temperature to cool down and recover from daytime heat.

“That’s where the health outcomes are amplified, particularly for the elderly and vulnerable communities,” said University of Georgia meteorology professor Marshall Shepherd.

Just a few degrees of increased body temperature can lead to heatstroke or put too much strain on the heart.

Dangers of heat can sneak up on you

If temperatures at night don't cool down your body, the health risks more often show up the next day, said Kristie Ebi, a public health and climate scientist at the University of Washington.

“Mortality starts the second or third day" because the body's unable to cool, she said on Monday.

Being proactive is crucial during a heat wave

Early warning signs include heavy sweating, muscle cramps and headache. “It’s hard to know you’re getting in trouble with the heat. This is why we need to be more proactive," Ebi said.

It's important to find a way to cool off, whether stepping into air conditioning or wrapping a cold towel around your neck.

And health experts say don't forget to check in on friends and family members, especially those who are older, pregnant or who have health challenges that might make it more difficult to handle the heat.

How to beat the heat without air conditioning

Even without air conditioning at home, there are ways to find relief.

Stop by a library or a mall. Sit in front of a fan and spray water on your skin. Put your feet in cold water. Soak your clothes in water. And of course, drink plenty of water.

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Associated Press reporter Seth Borenstein in Washington contributed.

Mariano Rajoy, a member of Spain’s conservative Popular Party, made the comment in a column for Spanish outlet El Debate ahead of Tuesday’s World Cup semifinal match between the European neighbors.

“They’ve won every match they’ve played at this World Cup and are currently top of the FIFA rankings. They also have an exceptionally strong squad. That said, one thing they don’t have is any French players," Rajoy wrote on July 10.

On Monday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot told French broadcaster BFM TV that “France has no skin color. Any contrary claim stems from stupidity, racism or a combination of the two."

A day earlier, French Football Federation President Philippe Diallo wrote on X that “Mariano Rajoy’s remarks about the French team carry intolerable whiffs of racism,” adding that “they also raise questions about the deplorable climate that gives rise to such sentiments. Our players do not need a certificate of nationality from a former Spanish prime minister.”

A spokesperson from Rajoy's Popular Party on Monday said the remarks were sarcastic and made without malice.

“These columns are written without ill intent,” spokesperson Borja Sémper said. “This expression is used without ill intent.”

Spain's ruling Socialist government swiftly condemned the remarks by Rajoy, who was prime minister from 2011 to 2018.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez referenced the comments without naming his predecessor, writing on X: “There are those who still measure belonging by surname, place of birth, or skin color. Others measure it by our roots in a country and our will to contribute to it. Playing soccer. Caring for our elders. Or opening businesses. France, we’ll see you in the semifinals. May the best one win and may racism lose."

France will face Spain on Tuesday at the home of the NFL's Dallas Cowboys in Arlington, Texas. France midfielder Warren Zaire-Emery was asked about the comments the day before the game in a news conference at the venue and said he hadn't seen them.

“This French team has players from different backgrounds and origins,” Zaire-Emery said through a translator. “So does the country. We are a united group, a united team, and that’s all that matters.”

Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares also spoke out Monday, saying the Popular Party's leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, needed to disavow the remarks.

It's not the first time France's team has faced racism during this year's World Cup.

Earlier this month, France captain and star player Kylian Mbappécondemned a Paraguayan senator over remarks she made following Paraguay’s loss to France in the round of 16.

Celeste Amarilla, a senator from Paraguay’s Liberal Radical Party, posted a series of comments on X mocking the French player’s origins, upbringing, education and appearance after France won on July 4 with a penalty by Mbappé.

The statement released Monday was signed by top economists, along with computer scientists and some executives at tech companies including Anthropic, Google and OpenAI.

“AI may become radically more powerful over the next 10 years,” says the letter organized by Stanford University's digital economy lab. “This could drive an unprecedented transformation of our economy, larger than the Industrial Revolution, but unfolding over a vastly shorter time frame. It could bring risks, including large-scale job displacement, as well as opportunities such as major gains in living standards.”

The letter, which has only four sentences, says leaders must “build the incentives, guardrails, and institutions needed to steer AI in a direction that complements humans and benefits society.”

The Stanford lab says the letter has so far been signed by more than 200 economists and AI researchers, including 16 winners of a Nobel Prize.

Computer scientist and AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio was among the signatories and said in a separate statement that based on the trajectory of AI development, “it is highly plausible that AI will drastically transform our economies.”

“We must be intentional and make collective, democratic choices, rather than letting market forces play out and risking leaving most citizens behind,” wrote Bengio, a professor at the University of Montreal.

They do this in a grassroots, community-led way: helping families preserve photos, documents and memories; recording oral histories; and building a digital archive and museum exhibits so these stories are accessible for education and the public.

Their work makes the region’s history more complete by adding an African American lens to the broader San Antonio story, from Spanish colonial days through the Texas Republic and beyond.

KSAT Community Phone Bank

To strengthen efforts to preserve, share and celebrate the stories of African descendants across San Antonio and the Southwest, KSAT Community will host a phone bank benefiting SAAACAM.

The live televised “Every Story Matters” fundraiser runs 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 12. Representatives from SAAACAM will be available to help collect contributions and answer your questions.

Community contributions help sustain free educational programming, public exhibits and long-term preservation of oral histories. Donations also support development of a future cultural center envisioned as a hub for sharing personal stories, learning from one another, honoring those who came before and ensuring the community’s history is not lost.

With traditional funding for museums and cultural organizations shrinking, community giving is increasingly critical to protect irreplaceable local history and expand access to learning opportunities.

Donations can be made through SAAACAM’s Givebutter page. From $10 to $100, every gift supports preservation, education and the long-term goal of a permanent home for these stories.

SAAACAM is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit preserving and sharing the history and cultural heritage of African descendants in San Antonio and the Southwest. Through community-led archiving and digitized exhibits, it brings a holistic African American lens to regional history and serves as a steward of historic resources. SAAACAM is a member of leading museum and oral history associations.

KSAT Community operates in partnership with University Health and Randolph-Brooks Federal Credit Union. Click here to read about other KSAT Community efforts. Interested in partnering with KSAT Community? Get in touch by filling out this form.

U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams accused Trump and his lawyers in a scathing ruling of having manipulated the court system when he sued a federal agency under his control, bypassing a requirement that parties in a lawsuit must have adverse interests. The lawsuit ended in a settlement that granted the president immunity from tax audits and established a $1.776 billion fund to compensate Trump allies who believe they have been unjustly persecuted.

The judge stopped short of explicitly voiding the deal shielding Trump from tax scrutiny but said the government cannot claim in official proceedings that the agreement was the result of a legitimate legal process.

“Whether Executive Branch actors can privately agree to give themselves and their former clients blanket immunities and billions of dollars in tax monies for legally undefined grievances was never an issue advanced to this Court,” said Williams, an appointee of President Barack Obama. “The question is whether the Parties could do so by claiming to be adverse and engaging the legitimacy of a court proceeding. The answer is a resounding ‘no.’”

The ruling comes just ahead of a key confirmation hearing

Though the practical impacts of the ruling may be limited since the lawsuit was voluntarily dismissed months ago and the administration has already abandoned the $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” that came out of it, the order nonetheless amounts to a scathing rebuke and tees up a politically uncomfortable line of questioning for Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche as he faces the Senate Judiciary Committee for his confirmation hearing on Wednesday.

“The nature of the suit itself and the conduct of the Parties and counsel from its filing make plain that this was an attempt to use the Court to provide some legitimacy to an agreement to confer immunity to people and entities affiliated with the President and to earmark billions of dollars from American taxpayers to redress grievances not defined in the law," Williams wrote in her ruling.

She added: "Ensuring that our courts are used only for the express purpose created by the Constitution is the obligation of every judge and an obligation that this Court must discharge in light of the matter before it.”

The $10 billion suit against the IRS and Treasury Department in January accused the agencies of a failure to prevent a leak of the president’s tax information to news outlets between 2018 and 2020.

In May, however, the administration announced that it was settling the case and creating a fund to compensate people who believe they've been mistreated by the criminal justice system. The fund was quickly shelved amid bipartisan backlash, though the Trump administration has said it intends to proceed with a separate element of the deal affording Trump and family members protection from tax audits.

From the start, the judge had appeared skeptical of the complaint and assigned a group of attorneys to determine whether there was a conflict in the case since, as sitting president, Trump was suing “entities whose decisions are subject to his direction.”

Even after the settlement was revealed, she directed Trump attorneys to lay out their positions on whether the parties in the case were truly adverse to each other, whether the dismissal of the lawsuit was premised on deception and whether the case should be reopened.

She made clear in her ruling that she was not satisfied by the lawyers' answers.

“After a review of the record, and the Parties’ statements, the Court declines to adopt or accept the credulous exercise of divorcing President Trump’s current job title from an understanding of what happened here,” she wrote.

The ruling also raises the possibility of disciplinary actions

The judge referred Trump attorney Alejandro Brito, who filed the case, for possible disciplinary action before the state bar in Florida and said another lawyer, Daniel Epstein, will not be granted permission to file within the Southern District of Florida for up to a year.

A spokesman for the Trump legal team responded to a request seeking comment from Brito with a statement that blamed the IRS for allowing the president's tax returns to be leaked.

The judge also ordered that her ruling be sent to the state bars in New York and the District of Columbia, where ethics complaints have been filed against Blanche and Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward.

Williams pointed to Blanche’s congressional testimony in early June in which he revealed that the fund was no longer moving forward. Though nothing had been filed in court, Blanche appeared confident in his testimony that he “could speak for, and bind, both sides of this matter,” Williams said.

“Acting Attorney General Blanche’s apparent capacity to speak for both Plaintiffs and Defendants, sign a ‘settlement’ document on behalf of all Parties to this action, and then repudiate part of that agreement, demonstrates that there was only one party whose interests were being represented throughout this case,” the judge wrote.

The judge also raised ethical concerns about Blanche and Woodward’s involvement in the settlement given Blanche’s past representation of Trump as well as Woodward’s previous defense of Jan. 6 defendants and a co-defendant in Trump’s classified documents case.

“Instead of either recusing because of their previous representations or vigorously defending this lawsuit as required to do so by DOJ policies and procedures, these lawyers agreed to a ‘settlement’ involving a staggering amount of money potentially benefitting former clients,” she said.

Blanche denied in a CNN interview last spring that he had developed the settlement terms, saying, “The president has outside counsel, and their counsel, the Department of Justice, not me."

___

Associated Press writers Fatima Hussein and Michelle L. Price contributed to this report.

“Audiences on every sofa and in every movie (theater) seat would feel the impact of this unlawful merger,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who is leading the case, said in a news conference from Los Angeles. He said the deal would result in higher prices, fewer movies and TV shows and lower quality of content overall.

A Paramount-Warner combo would bring together two of Hollywood's last five legacy studios. It would also mean putting Warner's HBO Max, libraries filled with fan favorites like “Harry Potter” and even CNN under the same roof of Paramount-owned CBS and the Paramount+ streaming service.

In Monday's complaint, the states said such a tie-up would also “inflict substantial harm” on movie theatres and basic cable distributors. Bonta's office said the states are asking Warner and Paramount to not close this merger “until after the judicial process concludes." And if the companies do not agree, the coalition would then file a temporary restraining order.

Paramount said Monday's lawsuit “distorts settled antitrust law" and maintained that its merger would instead create a "stronger competitor against dominant streaming and technology platforms who have harmed the market for theatrical exhibition and jobs in the entertainment industry.”

The company, which was bought by Skydance just last year, vowed to “vigorously defend” the transaction.

Warner deferred to Paramount for comment. Beyond California, states joining Monday's lawsuit include Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Washington.

Where Paramount's takeover of Warner stands

Monday's antitrust case arrives at a pivotal time for the Paramount-Warner transaction — which, after months of what became a very public bidding war with Netflix, received shareholders’ stamp of approval in April and then a blessing from President Donald Trump's administration just last month.

The companies have hoped to close their deal sometime in the third quarter of this year, recently signaling an effort to complete the process in the coming weeks. The states’ lawsuit could throw a wrench in those plans, at least for now.

The clock is ticking. Paramount also pledged to give shareholders some compensation if that process isn’t complete by Sept. 30 — in the form of a 25-cent per share “ticking fee” for every quarter past that date. And it’s agreed to a regulatory termination fee of $7 billion.

Beyond the U.S., Paramount has touted additional regulatory clearances it says it’s received in a handful of other countries, including China, Canada and Australia. Meanwhile, other reviews remain in progress, including in the European Union and the U.K. — which has separately suggested it may intervene.

Including debt, Paramount’s proposed purchase of Warner is valued at nearly $111 billion (or $31 per share) based on current outstanding shares.

Critics decry merger

Warner and Paramount argue that merging will be good for growth in the industry and give consumers access to more content, especially if HBO Max and Paramount+ libraries are combined. But critics have decried what further consolidation could mean in an industry already controlled by just a few major players.

Monday's lawsuit from the states pointed to movies that make their way into theaters and the wider TV landscape — noting that a combined Paramount-Warner could control nearly a third of both the theatrical film distribution market as well as basic cable programming.

Such a combination would create “a massive company with unprecedented power and influence over news and entertainment across the globe,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is among those challenging the deal. Beyond consumer impacts, she also said the merger would “put jobs and businesses nationwide at risk.”

Thousands of actors, directors, writers and other industry professionals have already voiced “unequivocal opposition” to the deal. Monday's challenge garnered applause from groups like the Writers Guild of America, who warn that consolidation would result in "fewer jobs, lower wages for entertainment workers, less variety of programming, and higher prices for consumers”

Paramount argued on Monday that delaying the merger “will only harm entertainment workers who have already suffered over recent years as technology has disrupted their livelihood."

The company added that the states' case would “shield” larger streaming rivals like Netflix from meaningful competition.

Political questions

Throughout Paramount's quest for Warner, questions of political influence have also piled up — with criticism falling largely along party lines in Washington. No Republicans signed on to the states’ case on Monday.

Democrats have long expressed skepticism about whether regulators working under Trump would scrutinize the deal as heavily. Several attorneys general joining Monday's lawsuit took aim at the Justice Department's decision to not challenge the deal — pointing in particular to the president's close relationship with the billionaire family of Paramount CEO David Ellison.

“Something happened and perhaps that something had to do with a mega-billionaire named Ellison," Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes told reporters on Monday. “We are seeing more and more instances where the Trump DOJ is just rolling over for corporate consolidation," she added.

Last month, DOJ leadership released a lengthy statement in support of the deal — maintaining a Paramount-Warner combo would “increase competition across the media and entertainment ecosystem, with benefits for American consumers and workers.” The Justice Department had maintained that politics would not play a role in its review.

Trump himself previously made public comments about Warner’s future, despite backpedaling on what he once suggested his personal role would be in approving a merger.

Many eyes are on CNN, a network that has long attracted ire from Trump and his allies.

Paramount’s CBS has already seen significant turmoil and shifts in editorial leadership since coming under Skydance ownership last year — and if Warner merger goes through, the reach of that could grow. Several Trump administration officials have also been far from shy from sharing their hopes for CNN under Paramount ownership, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth telling reporters in March that “the sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better.”

___

Mikella Schuettler contributed from Phoenix.

Homeowners who live along Dhaka View, not far from Grissom Road, spent the day Monday cleaning up the mess created by weekend flooding.

>> Click here for the latest forecast

They say their street has been the site of repeated floods, including one KSAT 12 News covered in June 2025.

Jonathan Clemente, a military veteran whose home was hit hard last year, said he feels like he has weather-related PTSD.

“Cause I can’t really fall asleep, and I’m just worried about the rain,” he said. “Now the rain that’s coming the next four days and (Monday) night, it might flood again.”

Clemente’s home took on water during both of the most recent flooding incidents. He said he had just finished making repairs and replacing items from the storm last year.

“I got my dining room table, and I just got that three weeks ago and unfortunately I didn’t even get it out of the box,” Clemente said.

He also showed off a brand-new refrigerator, still in the wrapping, which he said is destroyed now.

“I’ve been through this already,” Clemente said, explaining how he still is able to smile, despite the ordeal.

“I have my prayers, I have my support groups and people in San Antonio,” he said. “I really, really appreciate everyone here.”

Down the street, Miguel Simmons’ home escaped any serious damage from the most recent flooding.

However, he said he will have to replace the landscaping that was uprooted and ruined.

“Destroyed, and I need to repair it all the time,” he said.

Simmons said he has lost count of the number of times he has made those same repairs. He suspects, though, that the damage to his home may be more extensive.

The foundation, he said, appears to have shifted, causing interior doors to swing open after he shuts them.

Both homeowners blame a nearby creek for causing their problems.

They and other neighbors say they have been calling on the City of San Antonio to make changes in the area that will prevent the problem.

In an email to KSAT 12 News on Monday afternoon, a spokesman for the city’s Public Works Department said in summer 2025, staff had mowed the area and performed regrading of a channel on Dhaka View and Heath Circle.

The statement said the department has been monitoring the area ever since.

It also said work is slated to begin in mid-to-late 2027 on a project to reduce flooding in that Lower French Creek drainage area.

It is part of a $13 million bond project approved in 2022.

In the meantime, Simmons said he would like to move on, but selling his home now is not an option.

He said the damage caused to the area is an obvious red flag for potential homebuyers.

“The other neighbors tell them, ‘No, no, no, because it’s flooding,” he said.

The situation, Simmons said, has left him feeling he has few options other than to stay put and hope for help to arrive.

Read also:

• Person dies in ‘severe flash flood’ on Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland
• Viewers share photos, videos of heavy downpours and street flooding in San Antonio

On June 8, 2026, Cantu, 21, was sentenced to two years of deferred adjudication after he took a plea deal on a 2025 burglary of a habitation charge.

The deferred adjudication sentence came weeks after he received credit for time served for both a 2024 misdemeanor assault case and a two-year prison sentence after violating his probation twice.

Following a July 13, 2026, continuance hearing and a new allegation against Cantu, Brennand’s aggravated assault by a public servant charge was dismissed by the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office.

If convicted, Brennand — whose trial was expected to begin July 20, 2026, — could have faced up to life in prison.

Here’s a timeline charting the two’s legal troubles from the night of the shooting to the present day:

Oct. 1, 2022: San Antonio Police Department records showed that Erik Cantu evaded ex-SAPD officer James Brennand in a maroon BMW sedan near U.S. Highway 281 and Bitters Road. Records showed that Brennand did not engage in the pursuit but documented the car’s license plates.

Oct. 2, 2022: Brennand encountered Cantu in the parking lot of a McDonald’s on Blanco Road. Brennand, who said he recognized the BMW from the night before, approached the vehicle and opened the driver’s side door without announcing himself as an officer.

Cantu, who was eating a burger in the car with then-17-year-old Emily Proulx, reversed the vehicle and attempted to drive away, police records showed. Brennand fired multiple shots at the BMW, striking Cantu. Proulx told investigators that after the shooting, Cantu stopped the car near a Las Palapas restaurant and surrendered to responding officers. He was taken to a hospital for gunshot wounds.

Oct. 3, 2022: Brennand was placed on administrative duty, the San Antonio Police Department said.

Oct. 5, 2022: Brennand, who had been with SAPD for seven months, was fired from the police department. Bodycam footage of the shooting was made publicly available.

Oct. 7, 2022: Charges filed against Cantu were dismissed by Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales. Cantu was initially charged with evading arrest with a vehicle and aggravated assault.

“We have since reviewing (sic) the footage. I’ve instructed my office to dismiss the cases against this young man,” Gonzales said.

Oct. 11, 2022: Brennand was charged with two counts of aggravated assault by a public servant. SAPD Chief William McManus called the shooting video “horrific.”

Cantu’s attorney, Brian Powers, told KSAT that the teenager was unconscious and on life support.

Oct. 12, 2022: Brennand was released from jail after posting a $200,000 bond.

Oct. 13, 2022: SAPD officials said that Cantu was not driving a stolen vehicle. Brennand had initially said he suspected the car Cantu was driving was stolen.

SAPD confirmed that the license plates did not belong to the vehicle but that it was not stolen.

Oct. 19, 2022: Cantu’s family hired civil rights attorney Ben Crump to assist in Cantu’s representation.

Oct. 28, 2022: KSAT requested the additional video from Brennand’s body-worn camera and other officers, in addition to the police report, under the Texas Public Information Act.

City of San Antonio officials argued against releasing the information and requested that the city keep the records private under an exception in state law.

Nov. 4, 2022: Cantu’s family said that the teenager was no longer on life support after undergoing extensive surgery.

Nov. 23, 2022: Cantu was released from the hospital. A Bexar County court hearing for Brennand was rescheduled due to an assigned judge being out of court for the week.

Dec. 1, 2022: Brennand was indicted by a Bexar County grand jury for two counts of aggravated assault of a public servant and one count of attempted murder.

Dec. 2, 2022: Emily Proulx, the passenger in Cantu’s car the night of the shooting, also hired attorney Ben Crump in a precursor to a civil lawsuit.

Dec. 6, 2022: Cantu was hospitalized again for organ complications related to the shooting.

Feb. 24, 2023: Brennand had his first hearing in a Bexar County courtroom. He was represented by attorney Nico LaHood.

June 9, 2023: Brennand made his second court appearance. Prosecutor Daryl Harris told the judge he was still collecting evidence.

“I’ve also been made aware of some incidents involving the defendant in his employment as an officer that could be probative to this matter,” Harris said in court.

July 14, 2023: Cantu and Proulx were arrested and charged with theft. According to authorities, the duo stole a car charger and air freshener from a Walmart.

Aug. 21, 2023: Cantu sat in on a court hearing for Brennand. Harris and the defense updated the judge on the case.

Oct. 20, 2023: Brennand’s attorneys filed a motion seeking a change of venue in his upcoming trial. His attorneys argued that Brennand would not receive an impartial jury due to the extensive media coverage the incident received.

Oct. 23, 2023: Cantu was named as a suspect in two felony evading arrest cases that occurred less than a week apart, according to SAPD records.

In the first case, the driver of a vehicle traveled 100 miles per hour in a 65 mile-per-hour zone and evaded police in a pursuit. Six days later, an SAPD bike patrol officer attempted to stop a driver who also evaded authorities.

Investigators linked Cantu to the cases from a physical description, the car’s license plate and an Instagram handle on the car. The records showed that a woman, who claimed to be six months pregnant with Cantu’s child, said she was assaulted by Cantu in August.

An SAPD spokesperson said Cantu had not been formally booked on any of the charges.

Nov. 13, 2023: Cantu was taken into custody on a felony warrant for evading arrest with a vehicle, Bexar County court records showed. Authorities had responded to a disturbance call where a woman, who identified herself as the mother of Cantu’s girlfriend, said he would not leave the apartment.

Cantu was taken into custody and was issued a criminal trespass warning, an incident report stated.

March 7, 2024: A Bexar County judge heard arguments for a change of venue in Brennand’s trial. The judge did not rule on the matter and said that he would view the presented evidence before making a decision. Court records obtained by KSAT revealed that Brennand no longer faced an attempted murder charge in connection to the Cantu shooting.

March 20, 2024: Brennand’s request for a change of venue was denied. 437th District Court Judge Joel Perez ruled that Brennand will be tried in Bexar County.

March 25, 2024: The Bexar County District Attorney’s Office announced that it would be recusing itself from Erik Cantu’s evading arrest cases.

April 15, 2024: Cantu and Proulx filed a civil lawsuit against Brennand. The lawsuit stated that Cantu and Proulx were seeking “money for each element of damages that will fairly and reasonably compensate Cantu, Jr. and Proulx for their harms and losses suffered in the past and those which will, in reasonable probability, be suffered in the future as a result of the injuries incurred by Plaintiffs.”

May 1, 2024: Brennand’s trial was set for Nov. 12, 2024, on a charge of deadly conduct with a firearm.

June 24, 2024: A judge denied a request from the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office to recuse itself from a pair of cases involving Cantu. The judge said the district attorney’s office must move forward and prosecute Cantu.

Nov. 7, 2024: Cantu was arrested after a warrant for his re-arrest was issued the month before. Prosecutors said he repeatedly violated terms of his community supervision in his felony evading arrest cases.

Court records obtained by KSAT revealed that Cantu had skipped court-ordered drug screenings on Sept. 11 and Oct. 9. The records also showed that he operated a motor vehicle on Oct. 8, in violation of the conditions of his community supervision.

Dec. 3, 2024: Cantu was transferred to a county counseling facility after a judge ruled that he had violated his probation. Cantu’s attorney argued that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) stemming from the 2022 shooting has affected his decision-making.

March 6, 2025: Brennand was issued a new trial date set for April. Prosecutor Neil Cordero told Judge Joel Perez that the state was close to being fully prepared for trial.

March 26, 2025: Sources told KSAT that issues with evidence led to another delay in Brennand’s trial. His trial was postponed without a new date set.

May 10, 2025: Cantu completed a program at the county counseling facility and was refitted for a GPS monitor. As part of his conditions, he was barred from driving for the remainder of his probation and was required to wear a GPS monitor.

June 27, 2025: Brennand’s trial received a new start date of Oct. 17 for jury selection. Testimony was set to begin three days later on Oct. 20.

Sept. 22, 2025: Cantu was arrested again on an assault charge stemming from a 2024 case. An arrest warrant affidavit stated that Cantu threw a woman to the ground and repeatedly assaulted her on Sept. 28, 2024. The warrant for his arrest was not issued until Sept. 18, 2025, nearly a full year later.

The district attorney’s office filed a motion to revoke Cantu’s community supervision.

Sept. 26, 2025: A Bexar County judge denied a request to delay Brennand’s trial. Defense attorney Jason Goss made the request where he argued that attorneys involved with Brennand’s defense would be tied up with a different trial less than two weeks before its proposed start date.

Oct. 13, 2025: Cantu appeared in court nearly one month after his latest arrest. Judge Stephanie Boyd agreed with Cantu’s attorney to give the defense additional time to review medical records related to the 2024 assault charge. Cantu is expected to be back in court on Nov. 18.

Brennand, the officer accused of shooting him, awaits a trial date.

Nov. 18, 2025: Judge Stephanie Boyd sentenced Cantu to eight years probation after he violated the terms of his probation last year.

Dec. 4, 2025: Cantu is arrested once again, this time for stealing Proulx’s tablet from her apartment and messaging her friends.

Dec. 6, 2025: Proulx asks the court and District Attorney’s office to drop the charges against Cantu for stealing her tablet.

Dec. 15, 2025: In a courtroom on Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office said that court security deputies took Cantu into custody on two motion to revoke probation warrants for evading.

It is unclear when Cantu will make his next court appearance on the evading arrest charges.

March 30, 2026: Cantu made a court appearance for a probation revocation hearing.

Due to discovery issues with the witness’ attorney, the hearing was originally delayed from March 2, 2026, to March 26, 2026. According to county court records, the court appearance was delayed a second time with Boyd temporarily out of the courtroom during the week of March 26, 2026.

No decision was made during the March 30 hearing, which meant he was expected back in court the following day.

March 31, 2026: Cantu made his second court appearance in as many days.

Again, however, no action was taken regarding his probation.

April 1, 2026: Cantu returned to court. In the first case of Judge Stephanie Boyd’s morning docket, she agreed with prosecutors’ position to revoke his probation.

As a result, Boyd sentenced Cantu to two years in prison with credit for time served.

April 17, 2026: Brennand appeared before Judge Joel Perez in Bexar County’s 437th Criminal District Court.

Perez tentatively scheduled jury selection for Brennand’s trial for July 20.

April 20, 2026: Cantu was sentenced to time served by Judge Mary Roman inside Bexar County’s Court at Law No. 8. The case stemmed from a 2024 Class A misdemeanor assault.

Ultimately, Roman decided the “time served” sentence was adequate due to the two-year sentence Cantu received from Boyd on April 1.

May 22, 2026: According to Bexar County jail records, Cantu was designated as a parolee in absentia on the evading arrest violations and was released from custody.

June 1, 2026: Cantu was indicted on the Dec. 4, 2025, burglary of a habitation charge, which was considered a second-degree felony.

June 8, 2026: In lieu of going to trial, Cantu accepted a plea deal and pleaded no contest on the burglary of a habitation charge. Boyd sentenced him to two years of deferred adjudication, which means he will not serve any additional time behind bars.

July 1, 2026: According to a SAPD incident report obtained by KSAT, a police officer was called to an East Side apartment complex after a woman — who said she had been dating Cantu for a “couple of months” — accused Cantu of making threatening “comments that were concerning” to her.

July 13, 2026: After the July 1, 2026, incident involving Cantu came to light, prosecutors in Brennand’s case asked Judge Joel Perez in Bexar County’s 437th Criminal District Court to delay the start of the trial beyond July 20, 2026.

Perez, however, denied the state’s request.

Less than 90 minutes after Perez’s denial, the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office elected to dismiss Brennand’s case due to “further investigation.”

At this time, Cantu has not been arrested or charged with any crime in connection with the July 1, 2026, incident.

More recent Erik Cantu coverage on KSAT:

• Erik Cantu won’t serve additional prison time, receives 2-year deferred adjudication sentence
• Erik Cantu sentenced to 2 years in prison on evading arrest charges

Graham, 71, died Saturday evening after a tear in his aorta, according to a statement from his office Sunday. The shocking news came as another prominent Republican senator, former Republican leader Mitch McConnell, has been hospitalized for almost a month. McConnell broke a weekslong silence about his health Sunday, saying he was still recovering after suffering from pneumonia and falling in his home.

The continued absence of McConnell, R-Ky., and the surprise death of the South Carolina senator have shaken Republicans who were already at odds with Trump and stalled on several priorities as they return from a two-week recess. And the reduced Republican numbers in the 53-47 Senate are sure to add confusion to what was already expected to be a chaotic and difficult few months before the November midterm elections.

Despite consolidated power in Washington, Republicans have been unable to move much of their legislation forward as the Senate, House and White House have disagreed on legislative priorities and as Trump has criticized Senate Republicans, in particular, for not passing his legislation to require proof of citizenship for voters. Graham, who was one of Trump’s closest friends in the Senate, often served as a pivotal intermediary.

“He was a great — like a gauge, a temperature gauge of the Senate,” Trump said of Graham on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, noting he had talked to Graham on Saturday. “He could go in and get something approved. He would just get people on his side.”

As the Senate convened Monday, Graham's desk was draped in black cloth and held a vase of white roses, as is customary when a senator dies in office. In his opening remarks, Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said “it's difficult to count the ways in which Lindsey's friendship made this job richer and its burdens lighter.”

Graham "was as loyal as they come and a trusted adviser,” Thune said.

Republican priorities are stalled

The Senate left town two weeks ago after a rough few weeks for Republicans. Trump blocked senators from confirming one of his own nominees, asked them to fund parts of his White House ballroom project despite opposition and forced them to defend the Iran war even as they questioned the strategy and endgame.

He also refused to sign a bipartisan, election year housing bill that had passed overwhelmingly in both chambers, arguing that they should pass his bill to require proof of citizenship, the SAVE America Act, instead. The housing bill became law Friday at midnight after he declined to sign it but did not veto it.

The alliance between Trump and Senate Republicans has also been weakened after the president endorsed the opponents of two Republican senators who had been reliable votes, John Cornyn of Texas and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. Cassidy challenged Trump directly on the Iran war in a Capitol meeting between Trump and Republicans just before they left town.

Senate’s agenda is uncertain

Republicans return to a number of important agenda items, including the confirmation of Trump’s pick for attorney general, Todd Blanche, and the confirmation of Jay Clayton, whom Trump selected to be director of national intelligence and later temporarily blocked. Both will testify in confirmation hearings this week.

Senate Republicans also must find a way to navigate Democratic opposition and Trump’s continued ire to keep the government open and prevent a government shutdown when the current fiscal year ends on Sept. 30. Graham was a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, as is McConnell.

Graham also sat on the Judiciary Committee that will consider Blanche’s nomination and is the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, which has been under pressure from House Republicans and Trump to move a budget package with increased defense spending for Iran.

There is also bipartisan legislation to move forward on a package of Russia sanctions that Graham and Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut had announced on Friday after an agreement with the Trump administration.

Blumenthal told The Associated Press on Sunday that Graham was “absolutely focused on this moment” as they announced the sanctions package after months of negotiations. He said he hopes Graham’s memory will inspire the Senate to move forward.

“We’ve really reached this moment where all of the stars are aligned and we will be lacking Lindsey’s spectacular advocacy,” Blumenthal said.

Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., also urged passage of the sanctions bill as they spoke about Graham on the Senate floor Monday.

Graham’s death came after a trip to Ukraine

Senate leaders have not announced how they will honor Graham, who died after a tear in the inner wall of the aorta, called an aortic dissection, related to hardening of Graham’s arteries, according to his office. An official cause of death will be disclosed after toxicological and microscopic testing, his office said.

Graham, a prominent South Carolina Republican and former Air Force lawyer who served in Congress for more than three decades, had just returned from a trip to Ukraine. Thune said it was Graham's 10th trip to the country, and he “died with his boots on.”

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster on Monday appointed Graham’s sister, Darline Graham Nordone, as his temporary replacement in the Senate. She will serve for the remainder of his term, which ends in January.

A special election will be held next month to pick a new Republican nominee in the general election for Graham’s seat. He had been seeking a fifth term this year.

Possible candidates include three Republicans who fell short for the party’s nomination for governor this year — Rep. Nancy Mace, Rep. Ralph Norman and Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette. Also in the mix is Rep. Russell Fry, who was elected to the House in 2022.

McConnell not expected to return immediately

McConnell’s Sunday announcement revealed for the first time that a fall led to his hospitalization, breaking the silence about his condition after weeks of mounting speculation about his health.

The Kentucky Republican, who is retiring in January, said in a statement that he was “briefly unconscious” around the time he was first taken to the hospital in June and has undergone a battery of tests to try to determine what led to his fall. He said he was also treated for mild pneumonia and has been moved to a rehabilitation facility.

“My doctors have confirmed that I didn’t break any bones or suffer a concussion. I didn’t have a heart attack or a stroke. I don’t have any tumors or hemorrhages,” McConnell said, adding that he is now “regaining my strength.”

He said he cannot return to the Senate “quite yet.”

Ryan Berlanga, 31, took the sentence as a part of a plea deal.

Berlanga was seen on footage strangling a kitten to death on Nov. 9, 2025, at an apartment complex in the 7400 block of Yarrow Boulevard.

On the day after the incident, the department posted several photos on Facebook of Berlanga wearing a red hoodie in an effort to ask for the public’s help to identify him.

Investigators later charged on a separate cruelty to non-livestock animals charge on Oct. 23, 2025, court records show.

With community assistance and media coverage, a San Antonio Police Department spokesperson said investigators identified Berlanga as the suspect.

A warrant was later issued for Berlanga’s arrest, the spokesperson said. On Nov. 18, 2025, SAPD said that Berlanga turned himself in without further incident.

According to an arrest affidavit, a person who called police provided footage that showed Berlanga killing the kitten.

The affidavit states there was also blood at the scene.

Berlanga was charged on two counts cruelty to non-livestock animals, which is considered a third-degree felony. Both counts will be served concurrently.

More coverage of this story on KSAT:

• Man arrested after allegedly strangling kitten to death on camera, San Antonio police say
• Suspect in Southwest Side kitten killing case had previous arrest for harming person, records show
• Southwest Side neighbors worry suspected cat killer could lash out at humans

Police at the scene said investigators were looking in the 600 block of East Theo Avenue for Ozana Cisneros, who was last seen June 10 with her mother. On Thursday, the Texas Department of Public Safety issued an AMBER Alert for the infant.

It’s unclear if the remains found are human and if it’s connected to the AMBER Alert, police said.

“We understand the concern from the community and the questions that they have but this is all the information we’re releasing at this time,” Lt. David Bacarreza told reporters.

>> Mother wanted in connection with AMBER Alert hospitalized, SAPD says search for baby underway on South Side

Earlier Friday, authorities found Maximina Cisneros, Ozana’s mother, at a home in the 200 block of Parkview Drive, less than half a mile from the park.

Maximina Cisneros, 19, was wanted in connection with the AMBER Alert. Police said Friday she was hospitalized in “stable condition” with unspecified injuries.

On July 13, Texas Search and Rescue confirmed to KSAT they joined the investigation in search of Ozana Cisneros.

TEXSAR is a non-profit team that does not self deploy, according to an email sent to KSAT. They are requested by law enforcement agencies or other public safety officials.

According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, Ozana Cisneros was last seen at 6 p.m. June 10 in the 300 block of Roosevelt Avenue.

DPS said Ozana Cisneros was last seen with Maximina Cisneros, 19, who was wanted in connection with the alert.

The San Antonio Police Department confirmed Maximina Cisneros, who is the infant’s mother, was found Friday near the 200 block of Parkview Drive.

On July 13, Texas Search and Rescue confirmed to KSAT they joined the investigation in search of Ozana Cisneros.

TEXSAR is a non-profit team that does not self deploy, according to an email sent to KSAT. They are requested by law enforcement agencies or other public safety officials.

Ozana Cisneros is still missing. She is 2 feet tall, has black hair and brown eyes.

Anyone with information on Ozana Cisneros’ whereabouts is urged to call 911.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, climbed 9.6% to $83.30 after the United States and Iran each said the Strait of Hormuz is under its control. Fighting in the region has kept oil tankers from using the strait to deliver crude to customers from the Persian Gulf, which drives up fuel prices worldwide.

The gains for oil prices accelerated immediately after President Donald Trump said he’s reinstating a blockade to prevent tankers carrying Iranian oil from using the strait. He also called for 20% payments on all cargo shipped through it to reimburse the United States for providing protection in the area.

Brent’s price, though, remains well below its wartime peak of nearly $120 per barrel for its most actively traded contract.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 fell 0.8%, coming off its fourth winning week in the last five. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 138 points, or 0.3%, and the Nasdaq composite sank 1.6%.

Chip stocks like Micron Technology helped lead the way lower. Micron fell 4.4%, eating into what had been a stellar rise of 243.1% for the year so far.

Real profits are behind the rise because the AI rush has created surging demand for computer memory and other computing building blocks. But worries are rising that stock prices have shot too high and that the demand may not be sustainable if AI doesn’t deliver as much profit and productivity as expected.

Nvidia fell 3.5%. Because it’s the largest stock on Wall Street by value thanks to the euphoria around AI, it was the single heaviest weight on the S&P 500.

The day’s losses began in Asia, where South Korea’s Kospi index dropped 8.9%. That included a 15.4% plunge for SK Hynix’s stock in Seoul, the worst since it began trading in 1997.

The South Korean tech giant just launched shares of its stock trading in the United States on Friday, raising roughly $26.5 billion. Those shares jumped 13.1% in their first day of trading, but they fell 9.3% Monday.

Other areas of the AI industry held up a bit better, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s shares in Taiwan rose 1%. The chipmaker said its revenue in June soared nearly 68% from a year earlier, bringing its total revenue growth for the first half of the year to 35.6% from a year earlier.

But TSMC’s stock that trades in the United States fell 2.9% later in the day.

All told, the S&P 500 fell 60.06 points to 7,515.34. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 138.37 to 52,498.64, and the Nasdaq composite sank 408.43 to 25,873.18.

Much of Wall Street’s attention this week will be on profit reports from companies saying how much they earned during the spring. On Tuesday alone, Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo are all releasing their latest quarterly results.

Analysts are forecasting that companies in the S&P 500 index will deliver overall growth of 23.6% from a year earlier, according to FactSet. If they’re right, it would be the second straight quarter of growth better than 20%.

Companies across industries will need to deliver strong growth to justify the big moves their stock prices have made. Indexes are near records despite their sharp recent swings due to worries around AI stocks.

Companies usually turn in results that top analysts’ expectations, including in 37 of the past 40 quarters, according to FactSet. If they do so again by the usual margin, earnings growth for S&P 500 companies in the latest quarter could end up being the best since 2021.

In the bond market, Treasury yields rose with the price of oil. The yield on the 10-year Treasury climbed to 4.61% from 4.56% late Friday and from just 3.97% before the war with Iran began.

Yields have risen worldwide on worries about expensive oil and high inflation, which could push the Federal Reserve and other central banks to raise interest rates. Higher rates can keep a lid on inflation, but they also slow the economy and hurt prices for all kinds of investments.

In stock markets abroad, indexes moved modestly in Europe.

In Asia, the swings were sharper, beyond South Korea’s plunge. Stocks fell 2.1% in Shanghai, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 1.9%

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AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.

The government said it is banning the group behind the attacks, the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right, or IMCR, also known as Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia.

It also banned Iran’s powerful paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which it said is a threat to national security. The move makes it illegal to support the groups. Committing sabotage on their behalf will be punishable by up to life imprisonment.

Parliament must approve the bans, which the government expects to take place by the end of the week.

Security Minister Angela Eagle said in a statement that the IMCR has claimed seven attacks in the U.K. The group had said online that it was responsible for a string of arson attacks on Jewish sites in London in recent months, including fires at synagogues and Jewish charity ambulances, as well as a Persian-language media organization critical of Iran’s government. No one was injured in the blazes.

“Sitting behind IMCR were members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force, who almost certainly directed IMCR attacks across Europe,” she said. The Quds, or Jerusalem, Force is the Guard’s expeditionary unit.

Britain also imposed sanctions on the IMCR that will allow authorities to freeze any assets it has in the U.K.

The IMCR sprang up online earlier this year and has also claimed responsibility for synagogue attacks in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Law enforcement officials and intelligence experts say Iran-backed proxy groups are behind a growing number of attacks in Europe, most targeting the Jewish community and opponents of Iran’s Islamic government.

They typically work by recruiting members of criminal groups to carry out sabotage and other attacks.

Earlier this month, two Romanian men were given prison sentences over the stabbing of a journalist from a Persian-language television station, an attack the judge said was carried out on behalf of the Iranian state.

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said Monday she had summoned the Iranian ambassador to “condemn Iran's malign behavior” and stress Britain's commitment to protecting the Jewish community.

A group under Russian military intelligence also designated as a threat

Authorities said Monday that Britain is also designating the GRU Volunteer Corps, a group controlled by Russia’s military intelligence agency, as a national security threat. The U.K. says the group conducts foreign intelligence collection and hostile covert operations on behalf of the GRU.

Authorities said the new measures will make it easier for police and intelligence agencies to tackle what they call “thugs for hire," or anyone supporting the proxy groups.

“We have already taken tough action against the Iranian regime and those linked to it, and against Russian operatives and networks targeting our country. These new powers will make it easier to prosecute and lock up anyone carrying out their dirty work here in Britain," Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement.

There was no immediate comment from Iran. Tehran long has denied orchestrating attacks abroad, despite such cases stretching over the decades since the 1979 revolution.

The U.K. banning the Revolutionary Guard came after it has been declared a terror group by the United States and the European Union.

Britain has resisted following suit, though it has sanctioned people it says are members and supporters of the Guard.

The bans announced Monday are not under counterterror legislation, but under a new law giving the government powers to tackle proxy organizations carrying out hostile activity on behalf of foreign states.

According to Bexar County court records, Brennand’s aggravated assault by a public servant charge, which was considered a first-degree felony, was dismissed due to “further investigation.”

Watch KSAT’s full interview with Brennand following his case dismissal below:

Monday morning’s court proceedings

Approximately 90 minutes before the dismissal, prosecutors’ motion to delay Brennand’s trial was denied.

The denial, which was made by Judge Joel Perez, initially meant that the trial of Brennand, 31, was on track to begin with jury selection next Monday.

Erik Cantu was sentenced on June 8 to two years of deferred adjudication on a 2025 burglary of a habitation charge when he was accused of breaking into the home of his child’s mother. Cantu was indicted on the charge one week before he was sentenced.

At the time, the June 8 sentencing meant he would not serve any additional time behind bars.

Prosecutor Neil Cordero told the court Monday that their reason for the delay stemmed from new information involving a new criminal investigation into Cantu.

According to an SAPD report obtained by KSAT, a 20-year-old woman told officers she was in a car with Cantu on July 1 in the 1000 block of Locke Street when he allegedly “made concerning comments that placed her in fear.”

The woman said Cantu, who was driving the vehicle, then stopped the vehicle and “demanded” she get out of the car, the report said.

While SAPD said its investigation into the case is ongoing, one of Cantu’s probation orders handed down at his June 8 sentencing was that he was not allowed to drive for two years.

Cordero said the terroristic threat accusation, which is considered a Class A misdemeanor, is “still in the investigation phase” and the charge has not been filed with the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office.

“We believe the Court should continue (delay) this case because, at this time, the State of Texas would be greatly disadvantaged in proceeding to trial with this investigation pending over our named complainant,” Cordero said.

Jason Goss, a co-defense attorney for Brennand, successfully argued to Perez that his client’s right to a speedy trial would be ignored if the state’s request was granted.

“The state doesn’t have the same due process rights as the defendant (Brennand), especially when their complainant (Cantu) continually and will not stop committing new offenses, new crimes or alleged new offenses or new crimes.”

After the dismissal, KSAT reached out to the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office for comment on Monday’s development.

“The purpose of the motion was to allow us time to properly investigate and assess the implications of this new development and its potential impact on the current case against James Brennand,” a Bexar County District Attorney’s Office spokesperson told KSAT in a statement. “As a result of the judge’s ruling in denying the motion, we decided to dismiss the case due to the pending investigation of Mr. Cantu’s latest allegations.”

While the DA’s office declined additional details on Brennand’s dismissal, the spokesperson said the case can be refiled at a later date after the “completion” of the Cantu “investigation.”

Background

In October 2022, police records show that Brennand, who was 27 at the time of the shooting, fired multiple shots at a BMW driven by Cantu, who was 17.

Brennand, who was fired from SAPD three days after the shooting, was captured on body camera footage opening the door of Cantu’s vehicle and shooting at him as Cantu attempted to drive away.

The shooting drew national attention. Cantu suffered serious injuries and spent months recovering.

Brennand’s trial was expected to last two-and-a-half weeks.

If he was convicted, Brennand could have faced up to life in prison.

Read also:

• Erik Cantu won’t serve additional prison time, receives 2-year deferred adjudication sentence
• San Antonio father sentenced in child’s death violates deferred adjudication terms

The aorta is our largest artery, like a highway that arches up from the heart and then curves back down through the abdomen — carrying oxygen-rich blood to the rest of the body as other arteries branch off from it.

What doctors call an aortic dissection happens when a tear in its inner lining lets blood rapidly leak between its other layers, according to the American Heart Association. That reduces blood flow to vital organs, and sometimes can lead to a rupture that pours blood into surrounding tissues. It often can be caused by an aortic aneurysm, a weakened spot on the artery that can bulge like a balloon.

Risk factors include high blood pressure, high cholesterol that in turn stiffens arteries — called atherosclerosis — and smoking. It's more common in older people but also can be caused by certain genetic conditions in younger people.

A preliminary medical examiner's report shared by Graham's office said the aortic dissection was related to artery hardening.

Symptoms tend to be sudden, with severe stabbing-like pain, often in the chest or back but sometimes in the neck, jaw or abdomen depending on where in the aorta the tear happened. According to the heart association, people also may suddenly lose consciousness, have clammy or sweaty skin, experience stroke-like symptoms such as sudden weakness on one side of the body, or show signs of shock, including rapid heart rate or confusion.

Fast treatment improves the chances of survival. Depending on where the tear occurred and its extent, surgeons may try to repair it or patch the torn section of the aorta.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

“Our goal is to build a shared ballistic missile defense capability for Europe,” the 10 nations said in a statement in Paris at talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

He was asking two dozen leaders for help in developing measures against Russia's missile attacks that have pummeled his country and made the rest of Europe wary of Moscow’s wider ambitions on the continent.

Zelenskyy and the leaders of Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom said they recognized “the growing threat posed by ballistic missiles,” which are harder to stop than cruise missiles or drones.

“We believe that protecting Europe requires a comprehensive solution, in the form of an integrated missile defense architecture, to deter and neutralize future missile threats,” the statement said. “We recognize Ukraine’s unique experience, gained through its defense against the war of aggression waged by Russia.”

The statement gave no time frame for setting up the defense system and said the plan remained open to other countries.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine and its partners could, within the next 12 months, jointly develop a mass-produced, low-cost system with missiles that would let Europe supply itself with new antiballistic capability and provide it to others around the world who need protection.

Putin shows no sign Russia is backing down

Russian President Vladimir Putin was unyielding, vowing Monday emphatic retaliation to Kyiv's recent long-range attacks on refineries, tankers and terminals that have caused widespread fuel shortages.

“Wherever they attempt to strike Russian territory, we will respond in kind, but our strikes will be several times more powerful,” Putin told a meeting with pro-Kremlin activists.

European foreign ministers were meeting separately in Brussels where they discussed Ukraine’s needs and Russia’s threats to the continent.

Zelenskyy is keen to accelerate efforts with European countries to develop its air defenses ahead of winter, when Russia usually intensifies its attacks to deny Ukrainians electricity, heat and water.

Ukrainian officials were in Paris to present a proposed Anti-Ballistic Program and meet with government leaders, national security advisers and defense companies who might take part, Zelenskyy said.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s pledge last week to give Ukraine a license to produce Patriot air defense systems to counter the ballistic missiles could mark a major breakthrough for Kyiv. However, experts and Ukrainian officials warn that turning the idea into reality would probably take years. It was unclear how quickly a European system could be built.

Ukraine wants to push Putin into negotiations

Kyiv and its European backers want to press home Ukraine’s recent successes and compel Putin to negotiate an end to the fighting, although Moscow has shown no willingness to compromise despite peace efforts by the Trump administration.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow will closely follow the Paris meeting but dismissed its aspirations.

“This is a coalition of warmongers,” Peskov said. “They are driven by the profound delusion that it’s possible to inflict a strategic defeat on our country, so this is a coalition of the deluded, a coalition of those who incite the war.”

Ukraine’s advances in drone technology have given it an edge recently, analysts and Western officials say. Its strikes on supply routes behind the front have robbed the Russian army of momentum and made its progress slow and costly, they say.

Ukraine says it hit 105 Russian vessels in 8 days

Ukrainian forces struck 105 Russian vessels in the Sea of Azov next to the Crimean Peninsula between July 6-13, said Robert Brovdi, commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces.

The vessels included tankers, dry cargo ships, a ferry and tugboats, Brovdi said on the Telegram messaging app.

The campaign is part of a broader Ukrainian effort to isolate the Crimean Peninsula, which is enduring its worst fuel crisis since it was illegally annexed by Moscow in 2014, and disrupt Russian logistics. Crimea is a key rear base for Russian forces occupying parts of southern Ukraine.

It was not possible to independently verify the claims, and Russian officials made no immediate comment.

European leaders demonstrate their commitment to Kyiv

The Paris meeting of the so-called Coalition of the Willing, which brings together more than 30 countries and about 25 heads of state and government, appeared to be a demonstration of a long-term commitment to Ukraine and a warning to Russia, as Moscow tests Europe's resilience.

Zelenskyy’s trip to the French capital followed the death of U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of Kyiv’s staunchest supporters in Washington. Lawmaker Oleksandr Merezhko called Graham "the closest link between Ukraine, our president and Trump.”

The trip also comes amid a major reshuffle of Zelenskyy's government that saw Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko step down Sunday.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said he would summon the Russian ambassador to France and impose sanctions against Russian hackers. He told BFMTV-RMC that the issue is about “a vast cyber campaign aimed at sabotage and espionage, carried out by Russia in about 10 European countries.”

Ukraine's neighbors have also felt the war's impact.

In the latest incident, a drone launched during Russian overnight attacks on Ukraine’s Odesa region crashed and exploded on Moldova’s territory, Moldova’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Monday. It said the incident was “serious and unacceptable.”

Ukraine fires over 300 drones toward Moscow

Ukraine has aimed at targets deep inside Russia with its domestically developed long-range drones and missiles.

Russian air defenses downed 350 Ukrainian drones heading toward Moscow since late Sunday, including 50 near the capital, the capital's Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.

Moscow regional Gov. Andrei Vorobyov said 81 Ukrainian drones were downed overnight, adding that three people were killed and three were injured by the attack in the Pionersky settlement in the western part of the Moscow region.

The Ukrainian air force, meanwhile, said Russia launched 134 long-range strike drones and three guided aviation missiles at Ukraine.

A strike on port infrastructure in Ukraine’s Odesa region set fire to a docked merchant vessel carrying fertilizer under the flag of Togo, killing five crew members and wounding 10, said regional military administration head Oleh Kiper.

Russia says it thwarted a major Ukraine drone operation

Russia’s Federal Security Service said it had thwarted a Ukrainian plan for a drone attack on the Ukrainka air base in the far eastern Amur region and the Shagol air base in the Chelyabinsk region in the southern Urals.

Small drones were smuggled into Russia’s Bryansk region using air balloons and bigger transport drones, then taken by car near the air bases by Ukrainian agents, who were arrested, the security service said.

A covert Ukrainian operation a year ago, dubbed Operation Spiderweb, destroyed or damaged nearly a third of Moscow’s strategic bomber fleet with drones carried secretly into Russia, according to Ukrainian officials.

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Novikov reported from Kyiv, Ukraine. Lorne Cook in Brussels and Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed.

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

You might be right, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has released nearly 400 million sterile flies in Texas since the start of the year in an effort to eradicate the New World Screwworm (NWS) outbreak.

The majority of the sterile flies have been released along the Texas-Mexican border and in counties where there have been confirmed cases of NWS.

Rear Admiral Michael Schmoyer with the USDA says using sterile flies is the most effective way to disrupt the spread of NWS by disrupting their mating cycle.

The normal lifecycle of an average fly is about 21 days, and they don’t travel very far on their own, only far enough to find their source of food.

The sterile flies are left in areas where there’s a confirmed case of NWS; the larvae are covered in a green dye. Schmoyer says most people won’t be able to tell the difference between any flies.

“In your house, you are very unlikely to see an NWS fly. The important thing to remember is that these particular flies are relatively solitary,” Schmoyer said. “They like to be in wet, and hiding, moist or humid environment. And when they come to feed, they come to feed where the animal has an injury.”

The USDA is urging people to report injured animals to the family veterinarian, the city health department or the county health authorities.

For the most up-to-date information from the USDA and to report a case, click here.

Read also:

• New World Screwworm detected in cow in Medina County; Bandera County passes declaration measure

The shooting came less than a week after a federal immigration officer fatally shot a Houston man after an altercation with agents while he was driving to work.

Sen. Angus King, an independent from Maine, said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told him the agent opened fire after the man “weaponized” his vehicle against ICE agents.

Authorities have released few other details about the shooting. The FBI is leading the investigation. Gov. Janet Mills said the Maine State Police are working with the state attorney general’s office, chief medical examiner’s office and federal officials to determine what happened. ICE didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

Maine death follows Houston shooting

Department of Homeland Security officials said in a statement that Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican national, ignored commands while trying to evade arrest during an enforcement operation on July 7. The department said he attempted to ram his car into an agent, who opened fire in self-defense.

Araujo's family said he was on his way to work at a construction job. He died on the way to the hospital.

The shooting drew immediate criticism from immigrant rights groups and some Democrats, who called for an independent investigation.

Video footage in several previous shootings has contradicted the accounts of federal officers. No immigration officers have been charged in those fatal encounters.

Man shot during vacation trip traffic stop

A fatal late-night traffic stop in Texas in March 2025 marked the earliest deadly shooting by federal officers during the nationwide immigration crackdown. It took almost a year for records in the fatal shooting of the 23-year-old U.S. citizen to be disclosed.

A Homeland Security Investigations team was conducting an immigration enforcement operation with local police when agents stopped Ruben Ray Martinez on his way from San Antonio to South Padre Island. Family members said he had just turned 23 and was with his best friend on his way to celebrate.

DHS officials said Martinez was told to exit the vehicle, refused and instead “intentionally ran over” an agent. Another agent fired shots through the open driver's window, striking Martinez, who died at a hospital. The HSI agent was treated for an undisclosed knee injury.

Martinez's mother said she was contacted by investigators with the Texas Rangers who told her there was video that contradicted the account given by federal agents. Federal and state authorities have declined to comment on potential discrepancies.

Nurse shot during Minneapolis protest

A Border Patrol officer shot and killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old nurse, during a Jan. 24 protest against the Metro Surge immigration operation in Minneapolis.

Federal authorities immediately described Pretti, a U.S. citizen, as an armed agitator who was a threat to officers. But bystander video showed Pretti was on the ground and had been holding a cellphone during the interaction with officers.

The video showed an officer appearing to pull a gun from Pretti's waistband and step away before the first shot was fired by another officer, followed by more shots. Pretti had a permit to possess a firearm.

State and local officials pushed back against the federal officials' initial characterizations of Pretti, with Gov. Tim Walz calling the comments “despicable.”

Driver shot behind the wheel of an SUV

Renee Good, a U.S. citizen, was repeatedly shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis on Jan. 7. Videos show she was turning the wheels of her car away from officer Jonathan Ross when he opened fire. Trump administration officials have repeatedly defended Ross, claiming his life was at risk from the moving vehicle.

Good’s death caused a firestorm across the country. The U.S. Justice Department said it wouldn’t share information on the shooting with state authorities.

State and local officials subsequently sued to try to stop the immigration sweeps. Protesters with whistles trailed officers who, in response, deployed tear gas and other chemical irritants.

Cook from Mexico shot during a traffic stop

ICE agents fatally shot Silverio Villegas González during a traffic stop Sept. 12 in suburban Chicago. Relatives said the 38-year-old line cook from Mexico had dropped off a child at daycare that morning.

At the time, DHS officials said agents were pursuing a man with a history of reckless driving who was in the country illegally. They alleged Villegas González evaded arrest and dragged an officer with his vehicle.

Homeland Security said the officer opened fire fearing for his life and was hospitalized with “serious injuries.” However, local police videos showed the agent walking around and dismissing his injuries as “nothing major.”

DHS has said the death remains under investigation.

Farmworker fell from greenhouse roof during ICE raid

Authorities were arresting dozens of farmworkers July 10 at Glass House Farms in southern California when Jaime Alanis fell from the roof of a greenhouse and broke his neck. The 57-year-old laborer from Mexico died at a hospital two days later.

Relatives said Alanis had spent a decade working at the farm in Camarillo, about an hour east of Los Angeles. Officials said he fell about 30 feet (9 meters) from the greenhouse roof.

Homeland Security said Alanis was never in custody and was not being chased by immigration authorities.

Man struck on California freeway after running from officers

A man fleeing from immigration officers outside a Home Depot store in southern California died after being hit by an SUV as he tried to cross a freeway on Aug. 14.

Police in Monrovia, northeast of Los Angeles, said ICE agents were conducting enforcement operations when the man was hit while running across the eastbound lanes of Interstate 210.

The man, identified by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network as Roberto Carlos Montoya Valdez, 52, of Guatemala, died at a hospital.

Homeland Security said Montoya Valdez wasn’t being pursued by immigration authorities when he ran.

Gardener from Honduras killed on Virginia interstate

A pickup truck fatally struck Josué Castro Rivera on a highway in Norfolk, Virginia, as he tried to escape authorities during a traffic stop on Oct. 23.

Castro Rivera, 24, of Honduras, was heading to a gardening job with three passengers when ICE officers pulled over the vehicle, according to his brother, Henry Castro.

State and federal authorities said Castro Rivera ran away on foot and was hit by a pickup truck on Interstate 264.

Homeland Security said Castro Rivera’s vehicle was stopped as part of a “targeted, intelligence-based” operation and that Castro Rivera had “resisted heavily and fled.”

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Bynum reported from Savannah, Georgia, and Lauer reported from Philadelphia. Associated Press reporters Ed White in Detroit; Sophia Tareen in Chicago; Leah Willingham in Boston and Michael Biesecker in Washington contributed.

In 2023, Neill disclosed he had been diagnosed with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, a rare type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He died on Monday in Sydney, according to a statement posted to the actor’s social media page.

His death was “sudden and unexpected,” the statement said, adding that he “remained cancer free” when he died. A cause of death wasn’t specified. “Sam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterized his whole life,” his family wrote.

Tributes were paid by fellow actors and directors, including Steven Spielberg, who helmed the first “Jurassic Park” movie.

“I adored making all the ‘Jurassic’ movies with him. Along with Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum, we will always have our Jurassic family and Sam will never be forgotten by us or his many millions of fans around the world,” Spielberg said in a statement.

Actor Sharon Lawrence wrote on Instagram: “Condolences and appreciation for the immense joy and mastery Sam Neill brought our industry."

Actor came to world's notice with ‘Dead Calm’ and ‘My Brilliant Career’

Neill was one of a host of actors and directors who achieved international fame after an explosion of Australian films that began in the late 1970s, along with Paul Hogan, Mel Gibson, Geoffrey Rush, Russell Crowe, Jane Campion, Peter Weir and Gillian Armstrong. His range was remarkable, playing opposite Helena Bonham Carter in the Alan Ayckbourn comedy “Sweet Revenge” to chopping off Hunter’s finger in “The Piano” to poking his own eyes out in the sci-fi horror “Event Horizon.”

He portrayed both saintly and sinner: In “Omen III: The Final Conflict,” he played Damien the Antichrist, and he also played Cardinal Thomas Wolsey in “The Tudors.”

The actor first came to the attention of international audiences in Armstrong’s 1979 film “My Brilliant Career,” which also introduced Judy Davis. He later appeared in Phillip Noyce’s “Dead Calm,” a classy thriller set at sea and co-starring the then-relatively unknown Nicole Kidman.

Neill twice co-starred with Meryl Streep, in Australian director Fred Schepisi’s “Plenty” and — again for Schepisi — in “A Cry in the Dark,” a film about the sensationalized aftermath of a dingo killing a baby in the Australian Outback.

He earned an Emmy nomination for his performance in the title role of the 1998 miniseries “Merlin” and another as narrator of 2017’s “Wild New Zealand.” Neill also earned three Golden Globe nods — for “Merlin,” “One Against the Wind” and “Reilly: Ace of Spies.”

Richard E. Grant, a longtime friend who co-starred with Neill in 2019’s “Palm Beach,” described him in a post on Instagram as “an officer and a gentleman in the truest sense.” Grant said Neill had “guided and helped me through a very difficult time in my life.”

‘Jurassic Park’ was his best-known film

Perhaps Neill achieved his highest level of fame in “Jurassic Park,” playing paleontologist Alan Grant, who is summoned to an island off Costa Rica where a theme park has been built to house herds of cloned dinosaurs.

His character was thoughtful and reasonable, a scientist who warned the mastermind of the theme park before the chaos: “Dinosaurs and man, two species separated by 65 million years of evolution have just been suddenly thrown back into the mix together. How can we possibly have the slightest idea what to expect?”

Grant survived the harrowing events when the creatures get loose, but didn’t return for “The Lost World: Jurassic Park II” in 1997. He came back for the third episode in 2001 and “Jurassic World: Dominion” in 2022.

“It’s probably a little late to learn these things,” he told the New York Daily News in 2001, “but I finally feel I’ve worked out how to be an action hero. I’m happier with Grant this time. He’s gnarly and grizzled, but he looks like he knows what he’s doing.”

Early life in Northern Ireland and New Zealand

Born in 1947 in Northern Ireland, Neill emigrated to New Zealand at the age of 7. He was born Nigel Neill, but told interviewers he started to go by Sam because there were too many Nigels at his school.

His family settled in Dunedin on the South Island and he was sent to boarding school in Christchurch. After college, he took the lead in “Sleeping Dogs” in 1977, the first feature made in New Zealand in more than a decade.

Neill’s other film roles included playing a Soviet submarine officer who memorably dreams of a home in Montana in “The Hunt for Red October” and an investigator in director John Carpenter’s “In the Mouth of Madness.”

On the small screen, Neill played the malign Chester Campbell in TV’s “Peaky Blinders” and Thomas Jefferson in the four-hour CBS miniseries, “Sally Hemings: an American Tragedy.” On Apple TV+, he was on “Invasion,” playing Oklahoma Sheriff John Bell Tyson, a man late in his career searching for his purpose. In 2024, he starred opposite Annette Bening in the Peacock series “Apples Never Fall.”

Beloved in New Zealand as an unassuming celebrity

The actor became known in New Zealand as a modest and unassuming person who didn't embrace celebrity. On social media, he often posted images of his farm animals, many of them affectionately named after celebrities and friends, like Laura Dern the chicken, Kylie Minogue the duck and Helena Bonham Carter the cow.

New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon mourned Neill as “one of the greats” in a statement posted to social media.

“He started out when there was barely a film industry to speak of,” Luxon wrote. “For more than fifty years he took New Zealand stories to the world and his talents helped make our film industry into what it is today.”

Neill was also a vintner and under his Two Paddocks brand, he produced pinot noir and riesling wines from his winery in the Central Otago region of New Zealand’s South Island.

His memoir “Did I Ever Tell You This?” came out in March 2023 and he was awarded a knighthood in recognition of his “outstanding contribution to film,” a title approved by the late Queen Elizabeth II.

“I can’t pretend that the last year hasn’t had its dark moments,” Neill told The Guardian in 2023, referring to his cancer diagnosis and treatment. “But those dark moments throw the light into sharp relief, you know, and have made me grateful for every day and immensely grateful for all my friends.”

He is survived by his four children and eight grandchildren.

___

Kennedy reported from New York.

The construction worker, later identified as 63-year-old Baltazar Rubio-Olvera, was removing dirt from the school’s crawl space with a mini-excavator.

>>Construction worker dies at Converse Elementary School, Judson ISD says

According to a news release, Rubio-Olvera became trapped between the equipment and a concrete beam, which led to his death. As a result of the incident, OSHA opened an investigation into Rubio-Olvera’s death.

The organization said it cited D.L. Bandy Constructors Inc., Rubio-Olvera’s employer, with one violation for “removing the rollover protective structures from mini-excavators” and “adding fabricated parts” to make the equipment fit inside the crawl space.

The agency also issued 15 “serious” violations related to confined space hazards, which include:

• The apparent failure to identify and evaluate permit-required confined spaces
• Conduct required atmospheric testing
• The lack of adequate ventilation and communication
• The failure of adequately training its employees
• Designate confined space personnel
• Implement required entry and rescue procedures

The staffing company, Pacesetters Personnel Services, was also issued two violations for allegedly failing to ensure permit-required confined space entry procedures were followed as well as failing to provide confined space training to temporary workers, the department said.

OSHA proposed $276,399 in penalties against D.L. Bandy Constructors, Inc. and $23,170 for Pacesetters Personnel Services.

According to the release, the companies have 15 business days from the receipt of the citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director or contest the findings before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

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How much of the money will be delivered, and when reconstruction of Gaza can begin, is unclear. The ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas militant group that took effect in October is effectively stalled.

European Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Šuica announced the fund after a meeting in Brussels of the Palestine Donors Group, which includes EU and Middle East nations along with international organizations and financial institutions.

“The ceasefire in Gaza remains fragile, and the situation on the ground for civilians is not getting better," Šuica said. She said the money will move through “trusted partners" but didn't give details.

Few places in the Palestinian territory of over 2 million people have been left unscathed, and the United Nations, World Bank and EU estimate that reconstruction will cost $70 billion.

The U.N. has said Gaza has more than 60 million tons of rubble, enough to fill nearly 3,000 container ships. It will take over seven years to clear, with additional time for demining.

The meeting also brought together Nickolay Mladenov, the head of the Board of Peace set up by U.S. President Donald Trump to lead Gaza's reconstruction; Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner; Ali Shaath, the head of the new Palestinian committee meant to administer Gaza’s daily affairs but still unable to enter; and Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa.

Mladenov has made clear that the next steps in implementing the ceasefire are stalled over the difficult issue of disarming Hamas militants in Gaza.

“We are investing not only in the Palestinian future but also in the regional stability, shared security and just and lasting peace for everyone together,” Mustafa said, calling for “a resilient, sovereign, contiguous and viable Palestinian state" — something Israel's current government has opposed.

The Palestinian Authority seeks a role in Gaza’s reconstruction, but the U.S. 20-point plan only makes a reference to the possibility of a future Palestinian state.

Meanwhile, EU ministers discuss the West Bank

Separately, top diplomats from the 27-nation EU debated how to respond to increased Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank.

The bloc's executive, the European Commission, has tabled options including cutting off trade with Israeli settlements in the territory.

Nations like Ireland and Spain are calling for forceful action. The Czech Republic, Germany and others alongside the commission are more cautious, seeking to apply incremental pressure. Some nations have signaled they would veto sanctions.

Do sanctions “have a meaningful impact or not? What role could they play as a political message, and would this be escalatory in a wrong direction?” said Bulgarian Foreign Minister Velislava Petrova-Chamova.

The EU's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said the European Council's legal service had found that severing trade ties with Israeli settlements in the West Bank — not technically sanctions — would require a majority vote and not total unanimity from bloc members.

Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel said a clear majority in the EU agrees on severing commercial ties with the settlements. He dismissed arguments that tough action would boost Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s chances in an election in October: “I hope that now it’s time for decisions.”

“Surgery. Prehab. Return to martial arts practice. Go again. Final fight of the contract. Please God!” McGregor wrote on Instagram on Monday.

McGregor’s first fight in five years lasted only 1 minute, 9 seconds because of a knee injury sustained while attempting an opening roundhouse kick on Saturday.

McGregor’s return to the octagon was highly anticipated but ended in disappointment when he awkwardly landed on his right knee in the opening seconds. McGregor went to the mat two more times in failed attempts to continue before the scheduled five-round match was halted by the referee.

On Sunday, McGregor's manager, John Kavanagh, said his client did not have a previous knee injury.

“That opening jump switch kick was drilled daily for months, multiple times in warmup. Never an issue,” Kavanagh wrote on Facebook. “Knee went when he (threw) the very first kick. Doesn’t get any worse than this.”

Following the fight, McGregor also said he had no previous injury.

“I was throwing kicks, planted and jumping, all throughout camp as well as backstage before the fight,” McGregor said on X. “I had no injury / injuries going into the fight."

___

AP MMA: https://apnews.com/hub/mixed-martial-arts

Spurs Sports & Entertainment will host 10 community conversations across San Antonio to gather public input on the proposed Spurs downtown arena. Each meeting is scheduled to begin with an open house at 6:30 p.m.

The meetings are part of the next phase following the November 2025 election.

SS&E said they want to hear what residents value, what kind of experience they want in a new arena and how the project can represent San Antonio.

Residents also have the opportunity to ask questions about the proposed arena.

Dates and locations are below:

• Monday, July 13 – Pope Francis Center located at 263 Felisa
• Tuesday, July 14 – Alamo Community College: Dr. Bruce H. Leslie Boardroom located at 2222 N. Alamo St.
• Wednesday, July 15 – St. Philip’s College TSC Conference Room 216 located at 1801 Martin Luther King Dr.
• Thursday, July 16 – St. Vincent de Paul located at 4222 SW Loop 410
• Thursday, July 16 – San Antonio Shrine Auditorium located at 901 N. Loop 1604 W.
• Monday, July 20 – San Antonio Food Bank located at 5200 Historic Old Highway 90
• Monday, July 20 – San Antonio Board of Realtors located at 9110 Interstate 10 W.
• Tuesday, July 21 – St. Paul’s Community Center located at 1201 Donaldson Ave.
• Wednesday, July 22 – Our Lady of the Lake University Library located at 411 S.W. 24th St.
• Thursday, July 23 – Morgan’s Wonderland located at 5223 David Edwards

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The fire at the Iconic Village apartments broke out in the early morning hours of July 20, 2018.

The flames killed Dru Estes, 20, of San Antonio; Belinda Moats, 21, of Big Wells; Haley Michele Frizzell, 19, of San Angelo; David Angel Ortiz, 21, of Pasadena; and James Phillip Miranda, 23, of Mount Pleasant.

Four of the five victims were students or former students at Texas State University.

Investigators determined that the fire was intentionally set, which led to an arrest in 2023. However, a grand jury no-billed the case in April, 2025. The Hays County District Attorney’s Office said at the time that jurors did not have sufficient evidence to indict the suspect.

“We believe someone knows something that can help,” San Marcos Fire Marshal Jonathan Henderson said in a news release. “Even small details or conversations that may have seemed insignificant at the time could prove valuable today.”

“Eight years have passed, but our commitment to finding answers has not changed,” Henderson said. “We remain dedicated to seeking justice for the victims, their families, the survivors, and everyone whose lives were forever changed by this tragedy. Someone knows something, and we are asking them to come forward.”

Anyone with information related to the fire can contact 512-393-7388.

The series of executions, due to be carried out by the end of this month, highlights the nation’s aging death-row population. One of Florida's prisoners scheduled to die in July, a man convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend's parents in 1986, is 80 years old and would be only the second known octogenarian to be executed in the U.S.

For some, it renews questions about the humanity of administering capital punishment to inmates who might soon die from natural causes. For others, it illustrates how lengthy appeals designed to ensure constitutional protections and prevent innocent people from being executed can also delay justice.

“Is this intentional, as though to say, we’re not going to let a natural death help you escape executions?” asked the Rev. Dustin Feddon, a Catholic priest who has been ministering to Florida death row inmates since 2013. Noting the church's opposition to capital punishment, he added: "To execute those that are the most frail and elderly is even more cruel and unusual.”

Marilyn Gifford, whose sister's killer is set to die Tuesday, doesn't see it that way.

“I’m just happy it’s ever happening in our lifetime,” she said. “I wish my mother was alive to see it.”

Death warrants follow decades on death row

On June 25, Dusty Ray Spencer, who was convicted of fatally stabbing his wife in 1992, became the oldest person executed in Florida in modern history. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the 74-year-old's appeal that his liver disease rendered him susceptible to excruciating pain from lethal injection.

Dennis Sochor, convicted of killing 18-year-old Patricia Gifford just hours into 1982 after meeting her at a New Year’s Eve party, would be just a week older if his execution is carried out on Tuesday. Marilyn Gifford said she and her family plan to be there.

Dominick Anthony Occhicone, 80, has spent nearly four decades on death row after being sentenced in the murders of his ex-girlfriend's parents. He is scheduled to die July 28 and would become the second oldest prisoner known to be put to death in the U.S., after 83-year-old Walter Moody Jr. Moody was executed in Alabama in 2018 for killing a federal judge and a Black civil rights attorney.

There are three inmates older than Occhicone on Florida’s death row.

The scheduling of executions is up to the governor

It's unclear why Florida set the executions for the three prisoners consecutively. Maria DeLiberato, legal director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, noted that in Florida, the governor has practically sole discretion when it comes to the scheduling of executions. In many other death penalty states, the scheduling is up to the courts.

About half of Florida’s 242 death row inmates have exhausted their appeals and could see their death warrant issued at any time. The family of Michael Sheridan spent a year calling and writing to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, requesting he sign a death warrant, before Sheridan's killer was executed earlier this year.

DeSantis' office did not respond to an Associated Press request for comment. He oversaw a record 19 executions in 2025, more in a single year than any other Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. The state has executed nine inmates so far this year.

DeSantis said last year his goal is to bring justice to victims’ families who have waited for decades.

“Some of these crimes were committed in the ’80s,” the governor said last year. “Justice delayed is justice denied."

Death row gets older

The average age of inmates executed in the U.S. has crept up from the 30s to the 50s over the past half-century, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. While some inmates committed capital offenses later in life, lengthy appeals and mandatory reviews have resulted in many spending decades on death row, sometimes developing medical conditions that can complicate efforts to execute them.

Occhicone has several age-related ailments, including kidney and prostate problems, according to his attorneys. He needs help getting in and out of the shower, they noted.

Under Supreme Court precedent, those who were under 18 when they committed their crimes cannot be put to death. But advanced age alone doesn't provide a legal case for avoiding execution, said Gerod Hooper, an attorney with Florida’s Capital Collateral Regional Counsel, a state agency that provides post-conviction legal representation.

“You’d have to say it’s unconstitutional to execute this 80-year-old because he’s mentally deficient, he doesn’t have capacity to be executed," Hooper said. "Or because of some underlying medical condition, the drug cocktail they inject would cause undue pain and suffering.”

Death row inmates with dementia in Utah and Alabama have avoided execution and later died of apparent natural causes. An inmate in Idaho received at least one stay of execution because of cancer and other health problems, but state officials continue to push for his death.

‘He could live another 20 years’

At the time of Gifford’s disappearance, Sochor was free on probation from a 1980 rape conviction.

“I knew him as a child, and he was a bully,” said Frank Frandel, who grew up as a family friend in Portland, Michigan. “I could believe he could be violent like that.”

Frandel offered no sympathy for Sochor's advanced age, pointing out that Sochor’s father will turn 99 this year.

“He could live another 20 years,” Frandel said. “So no, I don’t feel sorry for him being at that age.”

The 18-year-old, who once found classes boring and put in only enough effort to pass, found renewed purpose to come to school everyday.

“It motivates me. I like making connections with the kids, I like helping them,” Dillon said.

It began in his junior year when he enrolled in career training courses. Soon, Dillon said, his grades improved. He graduated in June from Chief Leschi Schools in Washington and is now considering going to college for a teaching degree.

Administrators at the school say a shift in focus to technical training and career readiness is paying off, with more students not only staying in school but graduating on time.

Those gains are emblematic of progress across the U.S. Bureau of Indian Education, which oversees 183 primary and secondary schools serving over 40,000 students. In 2015, just over half of high schoolers at BIE schools graduated within four years. That number soared to a record high of 79% by 2025.

Some BIE educators attribute that surge to local innovations. Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Billy Kirkland says they reflect the Trump administration’s commitment to Native American students, including efforts to strengthen teacher training. In addition, the way graduation rates are reported across BIE schools was changed to address flawed data collection that previously depressed the numbers.

But concerns loom that changes reshaping the BIE under the Trump administration — including the planned dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education and continued fallout from cuts instituted by DOGE — could undermine progress and prevent struggling schools from improving.

Reporting standards net more accurate data

The surge in graduation rates reflects, in part, more accurate reporting rather than a sudden leap in student academic improvement, according to agency officials.

For years, school administrators across the system used flawed methods to track graduation rates, often counting students who had transferred to other schools as dropouts.

“We had to come to a consensus and set an accountability framework for our schools,” said Carmelia Becenti, the agency’s chief academic officer.

Beginning in 2018, BIE began standardizing data collection methods. In the years since, Becenti said, the data has painted a more accurate and encouraging picture.

An AP analysis of BIE data found that graduation rates across the system are up 55% since new reporting standards began rolling out, with nine of its secondary schools reporting 100% growth or higher.

New approaches help students connect

Less than one-third of BIE schools are operated by the agency itself. The rest are run by tribes and receive federal funding. At some of those, educators say data collection is only part of the story.

Don Brummett, superintendent of Chief Leschi Schools, said his staff has been working to correct a “disconnect” between the high school's previous laser focus on getting students ready for college and many students’ goals of finding a job upon graduation.

“We devalued the trades. That was a mistake,” Brummett said.

The school launched its career and technical curriculum in 2020 with funding from the Puyallup Tribal Council. Since then, Brummett has seen students who might otherwise have dropped out instead enter health sciences, education and fisheries management and find new motivation to stay in school.

Dillon, the recent graduate, said hands-on job training was a better match for his learning style.

“It was kind of the first time I felt excited to go to school,” said Dillon, reflecting on his time helping second graders practice reading skills and learn the life cycle of a frog.

Between 2019 and 2025, Chief Leschi Schools reported four-year graduation rates rose from 53% to 87%.

A focus on trades is just one of the ways tribal-controlled BIE schools have innovated to keep students on track. At Choctaw Central High School, a BIE school operated by the Mississippi Band of Choctaw, administrators said a COVID-era experiment in virtual learning contributed to a surge in graduation rates from roughly 70% to 93%.

“For certain kids that have more responsibilities at home, kids that need to work, we saw that (virtual learning) gave them a flexible schedule and an opportunity to earn their diploma,” said principal Alaric Keams.

When pandemic lockdowns lifted, the district maintained a virtual learning option for all high schoolers.

But not all tribal governments have the resources to pay for these kinds of programs or take over management of BIE schools.

Peter Lengkeek, chairman of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, says the BIE-operated high school serving his community is chronically understaffed and crumbling under a backlog of deferred maintenance, including a gymnasium with sinking walls and a rodent infestation. It has reported graduating fewer than 60% of students on time in recent years.

“If we were able to, we would step in and try to remedy a lot of these things,” said Lengkeek. “We have to rely on the government to fulfill its treaty promise.”

Tribal leaders push back against education changes

From the dismantling of the federal Department of Education to DOGE reductions that swept out longtime staffers, as well as repeated threats of deep funding cuts, tribal leaders fear the progress that has been made could be undermined.

In November 2025, the Department of Education began handing off oversight of dozens of programs that serve Native students to BIE.

At a tribal consultation session in February in Washington, D.C., dozens of tribal leaders spoke in opposition, saying the transition could overwhelm the already understaffed and stretched BIE with additional responsibilities. Several accused the department of ignoring its legal responsibility to seek their input before moving forward.

“We are here too late,” said Herschel Gorham, lieutenant governor of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes. “The ink was dry on the agreements before the tribes were ever notified. That should never, ever happen.”

Jason Dropik, executive director of the National Indian Education Association, said turmoil at the agency's Washington office trickles down to schools, pointing to a Trump administration executive order that aimed to turn the BIE into a school choice system but was scaled back after an outcry from tribes.

“That caused some delays and disruptions to services,” Dropik said. “When drastic changes go into motion without tribal consultation, there can be unintended consequences for our students.”

Lengkeek worries the BIE could be consumed by political upheaval while schools like the one serving his community continue to underperform.

“This system holds the future of our nations in its hands,” Lengkeek said. “We need stability. We need increased funding. We need infrastructure.”

——

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

Lawyers for Robert Tulloch, now 43, and prosecutors reached an agreement, avoiding a three-day planned resentencing hearing. In court Monday, a shackled Tulloch held his head down and appeared to breathe heavily as the horrific details of the stabbings were recounted.

Tulloch was automatically sentenced to life without parole after pleading guilty to first-degree murder in the 2001 stabbing deaths of Half and Susanne Zantop. But the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that mandatory sentences of life without parole are unconstitutional for juveniles, and later applied that decision retroactively.

The rulings gave hundreds of juvenile lifers a shot at freedom, including five men serving life sentences in New Hampshire for murders they committed as teenagers. Tulloch’s resentencing hearing, the last of the five, would have begun Monday in Grafton County Superior Court in North Haverhill, New Hampshire.

A daughter of the victims requests the longest possible sentence

Tulloch apologized to one of the professors’ two daughters, Veronika Zantop, who joined the hearing remotely, and talked about how she and her family were affected by the death of her parents.

A psychiatrist with two sons, one of them the same age Tulloch was when he committed his crimes, she said she can appreciate that brain functioning can change over time. But she does not believe it's true for Tulloch, saying he meticulously planned the killings and followed through in a cold, predatory manner.

“This wasn't a crime of passion or retribution,” she said. “He wasn't using substances, he wasn't psychotic. There was just sheer depravity.” She urged that he stay in prison “for the longest possible sentence.”

Tulloch abandoned his prepared statement.

“After listening to that, I feel disgusted by even thinking I could say anything that would mean anything,” he said.

Tulloch's lawyers asked for a 30-to-40-year minimum sentence

In a court filing last week, Tulloch’s lawyers argued that a minimum sentence in the range of 30 to 40 years is appropriate, based on a review of other murders committed by juveniles in New Hampshire and cases nationwide that were affected by the Supreme Court rulings.

Judge Lawrence MacLeod resentenced Tulloch to a minimum of 45 years to life. He could be considered for parole in 2046 when he's 62 years old, the same age Half Zantop was when he was killed.

MacLeod said he reviewed the applicable law, the circumstances of Tulloch's offenses, his conduct while in prison, the outcomes of the other New Hampshire cases and Veronika Zantop's statement.

“The agreed upon sentence provides certainty that Tulloch will remain incarcerated for a substantial period of time, allows Tulloch to pursue some measure of rehabilitation, and it secures important protections for the community,” New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella said in a statement.

Attorneys Richard Guerriero and Oliver Bloom said Tulloch’s prison records show he has matured, and that after some initial misconduct early on, he’s had no major infractions since 2012 and no minor infractions since 2017.

Quoting from Tulloch’s therapy records, they said he has expressed “significant remorse” for what he sees as a heinous and unforgivable crime, his “warped youthful thinking,” and his “good capacity for empathy.”

The teens came up with a plan to kill, steal money and live overseas

According to Tulloch’s friend, James Parker, the teens were bored with their lives in Chelsea, Vermont, when they concocted a plan to kill strangers, steal their money and move to Australia. For several months, they knocked on doors in New Hampshire and Vermont pretending to be conducting a survey on the environment before being let in by the Zantops. Susanne Zantop, 55, was head of Dartmouth’s German studies department and her husband, Half Zantop taught Earth sciences.

Parker, who was 16 at the time, told prosecutors Tulloch stabbed Half Zantop and then directed Parker to attack Susanne Zantop. Tulloch also stabbed her. Fingerprints on a knife sheath and a bloody boot print linked the teens to the crime, but after being questioned by police, they fled Vermont and hitchhiked west. They were arrested at an Indiana truck stop weeks later.

Parker, who cooperated with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to being an accomplice to second-degree murder, was released from prison on parole in 2024 at age 40, having served nearly the minimum term of his 25-years-to-life sentence.

“I think it’s unimaginably horrible,” Parker said during his parole hearing when asked by a board member what he thought of what he did. “I know there’s not an amount of time or things that I can do to change it, or alleviate any pain that I’ve caused.”

Many states have banned life sentences for juveniles

The Supreme Court rulings addressed only mandatory life sentences without parole for juveniles, leaving the U.S. the only country that allows discretionary life sentences for minors. Twenty-eight states and the District of Columbia have banned the practice, while another five states allow it but have no one serving such a sentence, according to the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth.

New Hampshire lawmakers have rejected attempts to end life sentences for juveniles, but Tulloch's case could bolster future attempts. After Tulloch argued in 2018 that sentencing juveniles to life without parole violated the state constitution, the judge asked the state Supreme Court to weigh in, but it declined. Last July, MacLeod agreed with Tulloch, finding that the constitution categorically prohibits such sentences as “cruel or unusual” punishment.

Among the juvenile lifers nationwide who have been resentenced after the U.S. Supreme Court rulings, more than 75% have received sentences of less than 40 years, according to a study published in 2024 in the Journal of Criminal Justice.

In New Hampshire, one man was resentenced to life without parole after refusing to attend his hearing or authorize his attorneys to argue for a lesser sentence. Others received sentences of 25-, 40- and 45-years-to-life.

Dean was clinging to a one-shot lead when he hit into a pot bunker on the 18th hole and splashed out to 3 feet. The massive grandstands on both sides of the green were about two-thirds full, and they offered applause for the winning putt that Dean would love to hear on the weekend.

At least the 32-year-old Dean, who once delivered groceries to pay the bills, now has a chance.

He finished one shot ahead of Andrew Wilson. Aldrich Potgieter, who made bogey on the final hole to finish two shots behind, got into the Open later Monday when Louis Oosthuizen withdrew because of a back injury.

The R&A created this final qualifier to give 12 players a last chance to make the field, and to give the spectators at Royal Birkdale something more to watch than players chipping and putting during a long practice round.

“To see the amount of people out here today, it's been great,” said Dean, who will be playing in his third British Open, his first since Royal Troon in 2024. “We stopped at a local Premier Inn and we had a few people ask if we were playing in the qualifier today, which obviously you don't usually get. Yeah, I think it has drawn a lot more people.”

The top two alternates — Potgieter and Matti Schmid — were required to play to keep their status on the reserve list. They were joined by a collection of players who narrowly missed various qualifying opportunities. They remained the top two alternates when the competition ended, and the list was filled out by order of finish from Monday’s competition.

Dean lost out on a 3-for-1 qualifier at West Lancashire two weeks ago and was invited to compete. It paid off most handsomely on the back nine. He was tied for the lead when he hit 6-iron for his second shot on the par-5 14th hole that rode the wind and bounced along the firm turf to 4 feet.

“Probably the best 6-iron I've ever hit,” Dean said.

He made his British Open debut at Royal Birkdale in 2017 and tied for 70th. Dean is No. 268 in the world and currently 67th in the Race to Dubai on the European tour. This was a good addition to the schedule as the final major of the year. Plus, he's getting married on Tuesday.

“It was cheaper,” he said, referring to the unusual day of the week to exchange vows.

Dean also is the only player at Royal Birkdale to spend time delivering groceries, a part-time job he started during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and kept for nearly four years to help fund his career when he didn't have a card and was mostly playing one-day events.

“I had a great time doing it,” Dean said. “Met some really good friends and grounded me really well.”

Wilson birdied the par-5 17th to give himself a chance but had to settle for a par on the 18th.

The last chance to win came down to Potgieter, but his flip wedge to the 17th went some 20 feet long and he made par, and his drive on the 18th landed near the spectator railing. His approach from the rough was one pace from clearing a pot bunker, instead bouncing back into the sand. By the end of the day, it didn't matter.

Schmid moved up to first alternate.

___

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

Blaney drove like NASCAR's King while ruling the Cup Series race from qualifying through every stage in a weather-delayed victory which left the Team Penske Ford driver in contention for the points championship.

Blaney won every stage after starting on the pole and led 171 laps in his win. The race was delayed 3 hours, 9 minutes by rain and lightning and ended at 1:45 a.m. on Monday.

The 171 laps led are the most at a drafting-style track since Petty led 184 of 200 laps for his first Daytona 500 win in 1964.

As a result, Blaney is third in the NASCAR points race, only 65 behind leader Denny Hamlin. Tyler Reddick is second.

Even Blaney was shocked to learn he is in the thick of the championship race heading into Sunday's race at North Wilkesboro, North Carolina.

“Really?” Blaney asked when told he is only 65 points out of the lead. “Wow! Wow!”

It was a race to remember for Blaney and Team Penske. Blaney's dominance began when he won the pole while joined by Team Penske teammate Joey Logano on the front row. He then survived the long weather delay to answer every challenge while winning Stage 1, Stage 2 and then surviving a three-wide battle on the final lap.

“I couldn’t ask for a better weekend,” Blaney said. "Sat on the pole, won both stages and won the race.

“My car was incredibly fast, leading. I could defend moves without having to throw, like, low-percentage blocks. I just never really did that.”

Blaney knew he had the speed to recover if he briefly lost the lead.

“Some moves are kind of unbeatable to defend as the leader,” he said. “I would just let people get to my inside. If they passed me, great, I think I can probably develop a run to get them back.”

Blaney's crew chief, Jonathan Hassler, made the crucial decision to keep the No. 12 Ford on the track after Blaney brushed the wall with 29 laps remaining. Blaney worried he felt a “terrible” vibration following the contact with the wall but Hassler was able to quickly determine there was no serious damage.

“We were able to get some pictures really quick, see that the damage wasn’t too bad,” Hassler said. “Obviously we saw there was a little bit. ... We looked at it, there were 30 cars on the lead lap, not a lot of laps left. Our chance to win was to stay out, take a little bit of a risk. Fortunately it worked out for us.”

Blaney fought off challenges from Bubba Wallace and Christopher Hill, who finished second, on the final lap. Carson Hocevar and Ty Gibbs rounded out the top four. Wallace was penalized for passing below the double yellow lines and finished 29th instead of second.

Blaney said he didn't have the best-handling car but enjoyed being able to rely on his superior speed with the race on the line.

“That was kind of a fun dynamic of my car is really fast, handles a little worse than theirs,” Blaney said. “Their car handles better but isn’t quite as quick down the straightaway. Fun how all that played out.”

Now Blaney will continue to chase the Toyotas of Hamlin and Reddick for the points lead. Blaney's strategy is simple: "Just keep doing what we’re doing."

Asked if he can win the championship, Blaney said “I don’t think it’s out of the question.

"We just have to keep doing what we’re doing. That surprises me we’re that close. I think before San Diego I was like 160 out. It shows you how quick things can kind of ebb and flow. ... Never know when we can get there or not."

___

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

After the long holdup, Jay-Z started the show at 12:17 a.m. Monday and told the audience that “somebody rushed the door” and that he didn't want to start performing and have “people get trampled” on their way in.

“Really sorry for the inconvenience, but I had to make sure everybody was OK,” he told the crowd before thanking them for their patience and promising a “good time tonight.”

In a statement, the Yankees, Jay-Z's Roc Nation and Live Nation said hundreds of people in large groups without tickets “stormed over peaceful ticketholders, and in some cases, breached security" and the stadium had to shutter entrances for an extended period of time before being able to cautiously reopen.

Video from outside the stadium showed a large crowd of people standing around an entrance. A different video from inside the stadium showed people rushing inside through an open door before several security guards were able to stop additional people from entering.

A spokesperson for the New York Police Department said it did not have information about arrests at the stadium over the incident.

Mahdi Mohammad Sadeghi, who worked at the global electronics company Analog Devices, was accused of helping an Iranian business associate get around American export control laws. U.S. prosecutors say the business associate’s Tehran-based company makes navigation systems for the military drone program of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. Authorities say the scheme included the creation of a front company in Switzerland.

The second defendant, Mohammad Abedininajafabadi, called Abedini in court documents, was not on trial. He is believed to be in Iran after an apparent prisoner exchange for an Italian journalist.

Sadeghi was found guilty on three of the five charges. He showed no visible reaction to the verdict, which came early in the fourth day of jury deliberations. He and his lawyers did not comment as they left court, and he will remain free until sentencing Oct. 13.

Sadeghi, a 43-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen, chose not to testify. A father of two, he lost his job at Analog Devices due to the charges. Although he was arrested in December 2024, long before the current war with Iran, his trial has unfolded during the conflict.

“At its core, this case is straightforward. You cannot send goods, especially the goods at issue in this case, to Iran. Period. Full stop,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Alathea Porter told the jury. “The defendant knew that, and conspired with Mr. Abedini to do that.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jared Dolan, in his closing remarks, said documents, text messages and photos proved that the illegal acts were the “fruits of this relationship” between Sadeghi and Abedini.

“The evidence established that he knew what Abedini was doing because he told him in writing,” Dolan said. “He helped him anyway.”

Sadeghi's attorney, William Fick, told jurors that the scheme laid out by the prosecution “makes no sense” and was full of holes. He said Sadeghi was only offering advice to a longtime friend about how to get business with the semiconductor company, and wasn’t responsible for procuring the parts for Abedini.

Fick said there was no proof the parts ended up in Iran, and he disputed that the Swiss company was a front.

“If you look at the world through dirty glasses, everything looks dirty,” Fick said. “That is fundamentally what the prosecution is asking you to do here.”

Fick also said prosecutors hadn't shown Sadeghi gained anything from the alleged plan — although the prosecution pointed out that they didn't need to prove a motive.

“He had nothing to gain and everything to lose,” Fick said. “He has lived in the country for decades. He was a well-regarded, respected employee on his way up in the company.”

Prosecutors had hoped to introduce evidence during the trial related to an Iranian drone used in a 2024 attack that killed three U.S. troops at a remote base in Jordan.

However, before the trial, defense attorneys sought to exclude any evidence related to Abedini’s role in drone manufacturing or attacks on American troops.

The judge agreed, ruling that prosecutors could only give general evidence about Abedini’s Iranian company and how its technology had potential military applications, including for drones. During a hearing in February, prosecutors acknowledged they didn’t have evidence that Sadeghi “knew anything” about the technology he was accused of exporting was allegedly used on the drone involved in the Jordan attack.

Both defendants have been charged with export control violations. Abedini is separately charged with conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization that resulted in the deaths of three service members.

Abedini was arrested at an airport in Italy on a U.S. warrant in December 2024, but was released a month later and returned to Iran. Three days after his arrest, Italian journalist Cecilia Sala was detained while reporting in Iran. Sala, who was believed held as a bargaining chip for Abedini’s release, returned home in January 2025.

Officers responded to the crash just after 9 p.m. at the intersection of Gillette Boulevard and South Zarzamora Street.

Police said the 63-year-old woman was attempting to cross the main lanes of South Zarzamora Street when a vehicle traveling southbound struck her.

The woman, later identified as Maria Del Carmen Santos, was walking in an area not marked as a crosswalk, according to police.

Santos was pronounced dead at the scene. According to the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office, her cause of death was blunt force injuries.

The driver remained at the scene and was cooperating with investigators, police said, and no charges have been filed yet.

The medical examiner’s office ruled Santos’ death an accident.

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WASHINGTON — Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Sherman, is running to be the top Republican on the House Oversight Committee, an influential panel known for its investigative power and frequent partisan brawling.

Fallon, a former state senator who has represented his North Texas district since 2021, is the only declared candidate in the race to succeed Chairman James Comer, R-Kentucky, who is term-limited out of leading the panel next Congress. Republicans can serve a maximum of three terms atop a committee, with occasional exceptions.

Under Comer, the Oversight Committee investigated the Biden administration — including the former president’s use of an autopen — and recommended prosecution of his son and brother. The panel also has probed the origins of the pandemic, the Jeffrey Epstein files and social services program fraud.

Fallon is not the only Texan looking to lead a committee on Capitol Hill. Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Amarillo, is considering a run for the top Republican spot on the House Armed Services Committee, according to a spokesperson for his office.

Jackson, like Fallon, is in his third term. His predecessor in the 13th Congressional District, former Clarendon Rep. Mac Thornberry, served as both chair and ranking member of the Armed Services Committee during part of the Obama administration and throughout President Donald Trump’s first term.

Jackson, a retired Navy officer and close Trump ally, would have competition if he chooses to run. Reps. Rob Wittman, R-Virginia, and Trent Kelly, R-Mississippi, have both announced their intent to run; Wittman, however, is facing tough reelection prospects after Virginia’s redistricting effort upended his seat to favor Democrats.

The House Armed Services Committee is responsible for negotiating the annual National Defense Authorization Act, which sets military policy and governs how defense appropriations are spent — giving the panel’s leaders significant power. As a must-pass bill, the NDAA has a long bipartisan history, but has become more contentious in recent years.

If Fallon and Jackson run and are successful, their ascension would help mitigate some of the looming loss of seniority the Texas delegation will experience next year, due to a series of retirements, primary losses and redistricting. Texas currently has three committee chairs, but one — Lubbock Rep. Jodey Arrington, who sits atop the Budget Committee — is retiring at the end of his term.

Fallon has served on the Oversight Committee for all three of his terms in Congress, and he was selected as a member of the bipartisan House task force investigating the 2024 assassination attempt on Trump.

In a letter to fellow committee members, Fallon said he would use the perch to continue the panel’s investigations into federal fraud and look into Marxist indoctrination coming from both “foreign adversaries and domestic extremists.”

“Looking ahead, we must counter the left’s ceaseless attacks on President Trump so that he can focus on delivering real results for the American people,” Fallon said. “Too many people on the other side of the aisle seem to hate President Trump more than they love our country.”

Republicans select committee leaders through the leadership-controlled House Steering Committee, whose nominees are then voted on by the full GOP conference. Fallon is currently about halfway up the Oversight dais — a ranking of seniority among Republican members — but several more senior committee members already chair other panels or are leaving Congress. And Republicans are not bound to elevate their most senior members, giving newer members a chance to lead.

A source close to Fallon said he has been talking with GOP colleagues about his Oversight bid “throughout this past Congress,” and “based on my knowledge, no one else has expressed interest in running as well.”

Jackson, meanwhile, has accumulated less seniority than either Kelly or Wittman. But he noted to Politico that Republican leaders consider factors beyond seniority and argued that his 25-year Navy record “counts for something.”

The GOP, whose majority is already slim, is facing a tough midterm election, with Democrats favored to take the lower chamber come 2027. If Republicans keep the majority, their committee leaders would be chairs, with the power to set hearings, issue subpoenas and pick which bills to advance. If not, they would be ranking members, leading the minority party in committee.

If Fallon wins the Oversight race and Republicans are in the minority, his role would become much more defensive. Democrats would likely use subpoena power to probe the Trump administration on everything from the Epstein files to ICE conduct to government contracts.

“God forbid we would go into the minority and I would become a ranking member,” Fallon told Fox News in an interview. “We have to defend President Trump because these folks are infected with wokeness and all they’re going to do is talk about impeachment, 25th Amendment and take their eye off the ball again for American prosperity.”

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

She did it in “Furiosa” and the upcoming “Dune: Part Three.” Now she's under the blazing California sun for “Lucky,” a propulsive Apple TV crime thriller that has her trading blows with goons, bloodying her otherworldly face.

“Listen, I’ve been to the desert so many times at this point it’s kind of unreal. I don’t look like a desert creature, and yet I’m always there and I love it,” says the actor. “People like to see me struggle, and they like me to survive. And, luckily, I enjoy doing it, too, so it works out.”

Taylor-Joy plays the title character in an adaptation of Marissa Stapley's novel about a con artist who wakes up in a hotel room and realizes she's been betrayed by a close ally and is forced on the run.

Lucky is soon pursued by both the FBI and a ruthless crime boss over a missing $10 million. Her widowed father isn't much help: He raised her to be a criminal but is now behind bars, only helping from a phone call.

“She’s at an inflection point when we meet her in the book and in the show where she’s got to chart her own course. She’s got to take things into her own hands, and she’s got to really decide how she wants to live her life,” says Lauren Neustadter, an executive producer.

A character evolves

The seven-episode series premieres Wednesday, and even in the first episode, Lucky has to fight her way out the closed trunk of a car and slam a screwdriver into the neck of a bad guy, finding herself alone in the desert. “How can someone so small cause so much trouble?” a goon asks.

“We see this character evolve from beginning to end. She starts off being all about the con, and the question is, ‘Where will that go? How will she evolve and who will she become?’ And I think that it’s one of the things that makes this show so special,” says Neustadter.

The series co-stars Annette Bening, Drew Starkey and Timothy Olyphant, with a female-centric soundtrack that includes a stirring theme song by Fiona Apple and tunes by Sleater-Kinney and Siouxsie Sioux.

Bening plays a cold-blooded mob leader who gets stuck between trying to save her son and tangling with her brutal boss and former lover. She's as likely to order a killing as be executed herself.

“She is an abused woman and she’s an abuser,” Bening says. “So, she’s so intriguing. I thought the writing was really good. And I did want to play this kind of borderline sociopathic woman.”

Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine media company approached Taylor-Joy with the book, asking her to not just consider leading the series as an actor but also offering to make her debut as an executive producer.

“I remember crossing my fingers and thinking, ‘God, I really hope I like this book.’ And then I did and I fell in love with Lucky and I felt that I had something to contribute in this space, which I think if you’re coming on as an executive producer is the feeling that you want to have,” says Taylor-Joy.

The show — created by Jonathan Tropper and written and showrun alongside Cassie Pappas — is a crime thriller but with a family drama at its heart, one that prompts Lucky to wonder if there's another way to live.

“Thematically, that’s what Jonathan and I were really drawn to, is this idea of how much does family affect who you are versus how much can you break that path and write yourself a new one,” says Pappas.

Lucky leans into grifting skills to survive

Lucky has grown up grifting with her dad, stealing money-filled envelopes at birthday parties and faking injuries to get free hotel rooms. Now on the run, she leans into those skills to survive but also yearns for a better life.

“We all struggle against sort of the restraints of our past and the baggage we were given by even good parents and getting to a point where we can figure out who we are,” says Tropper. “Hers just has much higher stakes because the act of her trying to figure that out could get her killed.”

For Taylor-Joy, in addition to leaping off trucks, dodging killers and stealing cars onscreen, she got to make casting decisions and advise on the look and sound of the show behind the camera.

“I think we had a wonderful time making it, and I think you can feel that on the screen, despite the screwdrivers through the head,” she says with a laugh.

On Monday, a group of financial regulators is set to issue guidance intended to remind banks and other financial institutions of their know-your-customer requirements with respect to credit risk management, particularly as it relates to borrowers who are not authorized to work in the U.S.

The newest warning is one of several measures the Trump administration has taken to discourage people in the U.S. illegally from interacting with the larger U.S. financial system. The measures, over the last nine months, are designed to strongly encourage banks to remove them as customers while not expressly mandating that the banks do so.

The joint announcement is planned from three of the nation's bank regulators: the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the National Credit Union Association. The agencies said that banks should take into account that people in the U.S. illegally may not be able to repay a loan because of deportation. In short, they say, people working in the U.S. illegally pose overall risk to the financial system.

There is limited data on how many people in the U.S. illegally have bank accounts and have loans through the banks.

This comes as part of President Donald Trump’s executive order signed in May that requires banks and other financial institutions to take a closer look at the citizenship of their customers. That order started the most recent wave of banking regulation changes, ordering bank regulators and government departments to look for signs that people without legal status are opening accounts or obtaining loans or credit cards.

Among other things, the guidance being issued Monday advises financial institutions to “identify, measure, monitor, and control these risks through safe and sound underwriting practices that assess a borrower’s willingness and capacity to repay according to the terms of the credit obligation” according to a news release.

In May, Treasury’s financial crimes arm — also known a FinCEN — issued an advisory to banks telling them to watch out for identity theft, payroll tax fraud, and money laundering schemes tied to hiring people who are not authorized to work in the U.S.

The advisory calls on financial institutions to be alert for more than a dozen red flags that indicate an individual is in the U.S. illegally.

The White House has also taken other measures to discourage people in the U.S. illegally from using the financial system. The Treasury last November announced that it would reclassify certain refundable tax credits as “federal public benefits,” which bars some immigrant taxpayers from receiving them, even if they file and pay taxes and would otherwise qualify.

Tax experts said immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally by their parents as children, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, recipients, and immigrants with Temporary Protected Status would be affected by the planned change.

___

Sweet contributed from New York.