Netanyahu, who voted just after midday, faces an array of parties seeking to drive him from power. Opinion polls have suggested a tight race with his main rival, former military chief Gadi Eisenkot. Over 7 million people are eligible to vote, and tens of thousands have reportedly arrived from overseas.

The race is widely seen as a referendum on Netanyahu’s nearly unbroken 17-year rule, which had left Israelis bitterly divided on a host of issues even before the deadliest attack in its history. The resulting wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran, along with settler violence in the occupied West Bank, have stoked worldwide outrage, straining ties with Israel’s closest allies and fueling a rise in antisemitism.

Among Israelis, the election is widely seen as a struggle over the character of the state, pitting Netanyahu and his ultranationalist and religious allies against those seeking to preserve its liberal and secular foundations.

Nearly 45% of eligible voters had cast ballots by 2 p.m., the highest voter turnout since 1973, according to figures from the Central Elections Committee. Exit polls late Tuesday will provide the first indication of how Israelis voted, with official results tallied in the coming days.

Arab turnout could be crucial

In Israel's fragmented parliamentary politics, no single party has ever won an outright parliamentary majority. There is a chance that neither Netanyahu's coalition nor the group of parties hoping to remove him has enough support for a majority. That could set off weeks of negotiations before a leader is declared.

“This is a very moving and fateful moment,” Netanyahu said. He told journalists after voting that he believes the Arab parties that could make or break the election “are receiving massive, truly massive, support. They are heading to the polls in unprecedented numbers.” He did not provide evidence, and in past elections has warned of high Arab turnout to energize his own right-wing voters.

Eisenkot encouraged voters to ignore the ”scare tactics.”

Israel's Arab-led parties could emerge as kingmakers — if other parties agree to join forces with them.

“Our vote will change the government,” Mansour Abbas, head of the Islamist Ra’am party, said while voting, adding that he hoped turnout would surpass 70% in Arab communities. Arabs in Israel make up about 20% of the population.

Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, known for taunting Palestinian detainees and saying some Palestinians in Gaza are “not even people,” warned that “it will be Mansour Abbas’ government” if Netanyahu and his allies don't win.

A rights group, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, filed a complaint with the election commission, warning that widespread delays could be suppressing the vote among Palestinian citizens. Anyone in line when polls close, however, can vote.

Emotions run high among some voters

Some voters' emotions ran high. In Kiryat Shmona, a Netanyahu stronghold near the border with Lebanon, one man kicked and tore down a poster of Eisenkot.

The election is Israel's first national vote since the Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war in Gaza and related conflicts. In Tel Aviv, families of some killed on Oct. 7 or former hostages held a moment of silence. “Remember all those whose voices are no more,” said Yona Adam, whose daughter Mapal Adam was killed.

Around 330,000 young Israelis, many facing compulsory military service under the shadow of war, are eligible to vote for the first time.

Eisenkot started the day by visiting communities attacked on Oct. 7. “If someone in the government had a shred of responsibility, they would start the morning here" in the communities near Gaza, he said.

Standing in a cheering crowd, Eisenkot called on all Israelis to vote to get rid of “the worst government Israel has known.” He noted that victory wasn’t certain, adding that “we are on perhaps the most critical day since the founding of the state.”

Eisenkot's Yashar party said it filed an urgent complaint over nine incidents in which its ballot slips were missing, damaged or turned over inside voting booths, and suggested a “systematic and deliberate” sabotage attempt.

The acting director-general of the elections committee, Dean Livne, said the overall number of reports about irregularities or issues at polling stations was much lower than in previous elections.

Security, military conscription and integrity are top issues

Israel has found itself increasingly isolated over its conduct in Gaza and the West Bank. Public support among Americans has plummeted, and partners in Europe and elsewhere have slapped sanctions on Israel. Netanyahu faces an international arrest warrant over alleged crimes against humanity in Gaza, allegations he denies.

Also hanging over the election are lingering tensions with Iran. Netanyahu ramped up threats ahead of the vote, warning Tehran it would face “a devastating blow” if it attacked Israel.

Netanyahu's supporters see him as a steady hand and a consummate statesman who has led Israel through a war of redemption after the country's darkest hour. They think he is protecting Israel's security and Jewish identity in the face of international pressure and liberal elites at home.

His detractors see him as a polarizing leader who, beset by an ongoing corruption trial, dragged out the war in Gaza and its hostage crisis for political reasons. They say he is undermining Israel's independent judiciary and weakening its democratic underpinnings. And they accuse him of abetting a system that has allowed ultra-Orthodox religious Jews to avoid military conscription.

“The present government is driving the country into the ground,” voter Angela Bengur said in Jerusalem.

Eisenkot is viewed by supporters as a capable leader with sterling security credentials who, along with his likely governing partners, could act as a bulwark against creeping illiberalism. As someone personally touched by the conflict — his son and two nephews were killed in Gaza — his backers believe that he feels deeply the pain that still courses through Israel.

Parties that likely would support Eisenkot have vowed to improve Israel's international standing and work to conscript ultra-Orthodox men while bolstering the independence of the judiciary.

The elections are about “who serves and who evades service — who takes an active part in building this country and who doesn’t," said voter Nisso Shitrit in Jaffa.

___

Associated Press writers across Israel contributed.

From Oct. 19 through Sunday, 23.4% of registered Texas voters had cast a ballot or voted by mail, according to data from the Texas secretary of state. In 2018, the turnout was 24.3% in the first seven days of early voting.

Derek Ryan, a Republican consultant and data analyst, expects the pace of early voting to increase this week, leading to a busy day at the polls on Friday, when the early voting period closes. Election Day is Nov. 3.

“We could see anywhere between maybe 20 to 30% of the votes that get cast in this election get cast on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week,” he said.

Ryan predicts that as many as 10 million Texans may turn out to vote, which would put 2026’s final turnout in the neighborhood of 2018’s 53%.

Beyond the numbers showing enthusiasm for a non-presidential election year, experts warn against reading too much into early voting numbers. Texas voters do not register by political party, making it difficult to discern the partisan makeup of early voters. Consultants analyze past primary participation and use demographics to estimate trends.

Early voting data also offers an incomplete picture because each county self-reports daily results to the state.

“I think there’s sometimes a tendency to over-interpret early vote numbers because we don’t have good benchmarks,” said Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University. “It’s an evolving process, and every election tends to be a little unique.”

An analysis of the first seven days of early voting found those who had previously voted in a Democratic primary accounted for 35% of ballots cast, slightly ahead of 33% for Republican primary voters, Ryan said. About 29% had not previously voted or participated only in a general election, while 4% had mixed primary participation.

The early Democratic numbers were unprecedented, Ryan said.

“This is actually new territory,” he said. “I don’t think that I ever recall a point where voters with previous Democratic primary history have outnumbered voters with previous Republican primary history. … In 2022 and 2024 at this point, even in those earlier days, Republican primary voters were making up larger shares.”

Vinny Minchillo, a GOP strategist, said the initial Democratic surge shows their enthusiasm remains higher than the GOP’s, but it also has driven Republican turnout across the state.

“Their enthusiasm numbers and polls are not what the Democrats are, but that doesn’t mean they’re not going to show up,” Minchillo said. “After the first or second day of early voting, you’ve seen Republicans getting out. … So I have to say on behalf of Republicans everywhere, I am cautiously optimistic.”

Matt Angle, a Democratic strategist, said strong turnout in urban counties, coupled with rural voters accounting for less than 25% of all votes cast, was good news for Democrats.

“If you’re looking at turnout based on where it’s coming from, voter history and the racial makeup, then Democrats are doing better. They’re ahead of the pace that was in 2022 for sure,” Angle said. “There’s every reason to be optimistic but also it’s important to be realistic — we don’t know how people are voting.”

Harris County, the state’s most populous county, set a record for turnout for the first day of early voting in a midterm when more than 127,000 voted. Dallas County set a record for the most early votes on day one of any election when more than 88,000 people cast a ballot.

Angle said Democrats want around 40% of the final vote to come from large urban counties and less than 25% to come from rural counties — and the early vote shows those benchmarks being met. He’s also looking for stronger turnout among Latino communities.

“Hispanics have figured out that Republicans target them and are openly hostile to Hispanics as a group,” Angle said. “I think they’re reacting accordingly.”

Data compiled by Ryan shows Hispanic voters comprised 18% of early voters as of Sunday — 1 percentage point more than 2024 and 2 points above 2022. Angle said Democrats want Latino voters to make up about 24% of the final vote.

Ryan said he’ll be looking to hear from the more than 2.1 million Texans who voted in one of the last four Republican primaries but have yet to vote in the general election.

“For Republicans to have any chance of victory, they’re going to need to see a significant number of that 2.1 million to show up to vote,” Ryan said. “We’ll start really knowing what the picture looks like by Thursday or Friday.”

A record 19 million Texans are registered to vote in the Nov. 3 election — 7.7% higher than the number of voters registered ahead of the November 2022 midterm.

Disclosure: Rice University has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune within the past five years. The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in our journalism. Find a complete list of them and more information about our financial and disclosure policies here.

The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index jumped 7.5 points to 91.7 in October from 84.2 last month. September's reading was the lowest in the board’s survey since April 2014 and below the lowest level reached during the pandemic.

Even with the improved outlook, Americans remain flustered by the economy after five years of elevated inflation, potentially posing a risk to President Donald Trump and Republicans in the midterm elections next Tuesday.

Respondents’ views of their present situation rose by 6.9 points to 72.6 while their short-term outlook climbed 8.6 points to 120.4.

“The recovery was in line with retail gasoline prices easing from September to October,” said Fergus McCormick, a senior economist for The Conference Board. “Yet, despite the increase in October, consumer confidence remained on the long-term downward trend that’s persisted over the past few years.”

According to the auto club AAA, the average price for a gallon of regular gas in the U.S. was $4.27 Tuesday, down from $4.48 a month ago. Last year at this time, a gallon of regular in the U.S. averaged $3.05.

Write-in responses to the board’s survey, collected between October 1-21, were still broadly pessimistic this month, with frequent references to the high cost of energy, goods and services.

Trump has continued to blame high prices on his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden, yet inflation has risen since Trump’s inauguration last year.

Earlier this month, the government reported that consumer inflation accelerated in September as goods and services became more expensive, evidence that rising prices remain an economic challenge just seven days before midterm elections that have focused heavily on affordability.

The consumer price index rose 3.7% in September compared with a year ago, according to the Labor Department, up from 3.4% in August. On a monthly basis, costs jumped 0.6% from August to September, the biggest gain in five months.

Six weeks ago, the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate for the first time since 2023 in an effort to tamp down that stubbornly high inflation, and the central bank signaled another rate hike could occur later this year, though few expect it at this week’s Fed meeting.

The quarter-point increase lifted the Fed’s key rate to about 3.9% and, over time, could result in higher borrowing costs for mortgages, auto loans and credit cards.

The most recent measure of the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge — the personal consumption expenditures price index, or PCE — rose 3.4% in August from a year earlier. That’s slightly better than July’s 3.7% year-over-year increase but up from 2.8% before the Iran war began on Feb. 28. It was 2.5% when Trump was inaugurated in January 2025.

The government issues its September PCE data Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Iran war, which Trump often describes as a “little detour,” has emerged as an unforced liability for a president who promised to keep the U.S. out of foreign wars. Republican strategists privately acknowledge it’s severely damaging party efforts to retain control of Congress as gasoline price hikes drive up costs across the economy and new hostilities emerge.

And two former FBI officials charged with lying to Congress about investigations involving Hunter Biden have a preliminary hearing Tuesday. Lawyers for Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides call the charges baseless and politically motivated, the latest in a series of splashy investigative actions by the Justice Department as Americans go to vote.

Here's the Latest:

Some Trump supporters feel betrayed

Keeping the U.S. out of “forever wars” was a central tenet of the Republican leader’s “America First” campaign pledge.

Sean O’Brien, 21, a student at Auburn University in Alabama, said Trump’s decision to wage war against Iran left him “very disillusioned.”

O’Brien even attended the Conservative Political Action Conference, a major gathering for the political right, earlier this year. Now, he’s rethinking his allegiances.

“At the moment, I expect to vote Democratic,” said O’Brien, who considers himself an independent.

GOP strategists have seen warning signs for months

Early in the summer, five Republican strategists involved in key races or advising campaign leadership told The Associated Press they’d begun seeing warning signs that the war could hurt their candidates if it didn’t wind down soon.

Trump appeared more confident in June after forging an interim ceasefire agreement with Tehran, but the deal quickly unraveled.

At that point, campaign officials in some battleground races became more forceful during internal conversations about how House districts Trump won easily were becoming competitive, said the Republican strategists, who were not authorized to comment publicly on the internal party data and spoke on condition of anonymity.

By Labor Day, they said internal campaign polling showed voters were more frequently tying the war to higher prices for groceries and travel, and that while Trump dismisses the affordability crisis as a hoax, his argument has not resonated with voters.

Trump insists costs of war have been no big deal

Diesel prices continue to hover near all-time highs in the U.S., yet Trump has consistently downplayed the conflict’s economic impact. For months, he’s been insisting that the war’s end is near, only to threaten now that a new round of bombing could very well be in the offing once the election passes.

And he dismisses elevated gas prices as a temporary inconvenience, worth paying to defang Iran. At a weekend rally in Michigan, Trump said said he has no regrets.

“Somebody said, ‘If you had it to do again ... ,’” Trump told the friendly audience. “I said, ‘Are you kidding?’ I thought gas would be double or triple. And it’s a small price to pay for taking a nuclear weapon away from maniacs.”

Voters are tired of elevated gas prices

Nearly eight months in to a war that Trump predicted would last a matter of weeks, high energy costs and voter fatigue are weighing heavily on Republican candidates.

Regardless of the outcome of the Nov. 3 elections, an AP-NORC poll published last week found that voters from both major political parties want the next Congress to focus on making life more affordable and ending the Iran war, which has had enormous ramifications for the global economy.

The situation has only become more complicated as Republicans make their case to voters. The conflict has spread, with Iran-backed Houthi rebels carrying out attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil infrastructure and airports. Now the State Department is reducing staffing at four U.S. embassies in the Middle East after receiving intelligence that Iran has stepped up efforts to target Americans.

Republicans try to shake voter frustration over the Iran war

GOP strategists privately acknowledge that the Iran war is severely damaging their push to retain control of Congress for the final two years of Trump’s presidency.

They point to voters like Noor Dubow, who says he’s regularly voted for Republicans who align with his economic views, even though he’s never been a fan of Donald Trump or the president’s dehumanizing rhetoric toward immigrants. Not this year — Dubow says his early midterm election ballot tipped more toward Democrats because of his frustration over Trump’s war with Iran.

“Where are the Republicans in Congress?” asked Dubow, 44, a dispatcher at a trucking logistics firm in Columbus, Ohio, where he has a bird’s eye view of the surging fuel prices disrupting the economy. “Why aren’t the Republicans holding Trump accountable?”

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Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker steps up spending in Mississippi, Kansas and South Carolina

The billionaire Democrat, who is on the cusp of reelection and considering a 2028 presidential bid, is directing some last-minute campaign spending on Senate Democratic nominees in traditionally Republican states.

Pritzker’s Ready for the Fight PAC is making a $1 million ad buy for Scott Colom against Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi and spending $500,000 for Adam Hamilton against GOP incumbent Roger Marshall in Kansas.

Shared first with The Associated Press, the plan also includes money for voter turnout in Mississippi and South Carolina, where Democrat Annie Andrews wants to unseat Sen. Darline Graham. All three would be upsets as Democrats seek to flip the Senate.

Meanwhile, Illinois first lady MK Pritzker said she donated $500,000 to Democrat Amy Acton’s gubernatorial campaign in Ohio because of her opponent’s controversial ad featuring her estranged mother.

Political ad spending in the midterm elections has set a new record

With spending on campaign ads now reaching $11.21 billion, the 2025-2026 midterms have become the most expensive ever, according to AdImpact, which tracks media spending.

A week out from Election Day, total spending and reservations has topped the $11.20 billion spent in 2023-2024 period, which included the presidential contest.

The latest figure has not been adjusted for inflation.

Trump vows to appeal temporary hold on renovation of Washington golf course

The president says he’ll appeal a federal judge’s order putting a temporary hold on his plans to renovate a Washington golf course.

“The Development of this World Championship Public Facility must begin, immediately, if it is to be completed in a timely and seasonal manner,” he posted on social media.

Trump said the East Potomac Golf Course could hold major events once renovated and would remain public with reduced rates for residents of the nation’s capital.

Judge Ana Reyes’ preliminary injunction temporarily bars the removal or damage of any more trees on the course, ordering the administration to give 10 days’ notice in writing before making any “irreparable modification” to any of the course’s “forms or features.”

“The Court earlier stated, ‘I am not the Lorax. I do not speak for the trees.’ The Court still does not speak for the trees. It speaks only for the rule of law,” Reyes wrote.

Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones will launch this year’s online volunteer registration.

A livestream including Jones and organizers will begin at 10 a.m. Delays are possible; if there is not a livestream available, check back at a later time.

The dinner is held at the Henry B. González Convention Center. Organizers said the goal is to serve 25,000 meals to people in need.

People interested in volunteering can find more information on the event’s website.

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• San Antonio’s Raul Jimenez Thanksgiving Dinner marks 47 years of serving the community

Meanwhile, Finland’s president and Norway’s prime minister spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin, officials said, in their first known direct contact since shortly after Russia's all-out invasion of Ukraine began on Feb. 24, 2022.

Many Western officials have accused Putin of masterminding a campaign of disruption across Europe and have sought to diplomatically isolate the Russian leader.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Finnish President Alexander Stubb later spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, according to Zelenskyy's office.

A ceasefire takes hold in a southern Ukraine city, officials say

A local pause in fighting started at 3 a.m. to allow an aid mission into the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky this week. Food and medical supplies are running perilously low in Oleshky, where drones and land mines restrict movement for the up to 2,000 people still there.

The humanitarian truce is a high-stakes operation for Moscow and Kyiv, with both sides keen to win U.S. President Donald Trump’s favor. Earlier attempts at limited ceasefires have quickly unraveled or never took hold due to the deep mistrust between Russia and Ukraine.

Russian and Ukrainian negotiators and their militaries confirmed in separate statements that the Oleshky ceasefire had begun.

Nordic leaders say Putin call was ‘frank and substantive’

The phone calls with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders followed an Oct. 20 meeting in Oslo between the two Nordic leaders, Zelenskyy and U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff.

Stubb and Støre said they initiated the call with Putin, speaking with him for 90 minutes, to discuss the war and upcoming trilateral talks involving delegations from Russia, Ukraine and the United States that are expected to take place next month in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The talks will seek to lay the groundwork for detailed peace negotiations.

The two European leaders spoke on behalf of their countries but not all of Europe, they said in statements.

“The discussion was frank and substantive,” Stubb said.

Denmark’s prime minister said she was “very skeptical” of reaching out to Putin, saying she sees “no signs that Russia desires peace with Europe” and noting that the call was not coordinated with other European leaders.

“I believe we should keep Europe united, rather than going it alone,” Mette Frederiksen said.

The Kremlin gave no hint that Moscow is ready to back down from its key demands, saying in a statement that “achieving a just and long-term peace is possible only if the legitimate interests of the Russian Federation are fully and unconditionally taken into account.”

Zelenskyy said Russian attacks, including relentless strikes on Ukraine’s power grid, must stop in order to open a path to peace.

“There must be peace, de-escalation is needed, and Russia must stop dragging out the war,” Zelenskyy said on X.

Melania Trump and Pope Leo worked for a truce in Oleshky

According to her office, Melania Trump led talks with civilian negotiators from Russia and Ukraine after meeting with U.N. officials who briefed her on the situation in Oleshky.

The partly occupied Kherson region of Ukraine that includes Oleshky has been subject to repeated Russian drone attacks on soldiers and civilians.

Pope Leo XIV spoke this month with Zelenskyy and Putin, urging them to allow humanitarian aid into Oleshky and the safe evacuation of civilians, the Vatican said.

Negotiators involved in the aid mission said doctors, medicines, food supplies and water would be taken to Oleshky before evacuation corridors are opened.

Moscow and Kyiv have blamed each other for the humanitarian crisis.

Under international law, the occupying power — Russia — must ensure civilians under its occupation live safely. Ukraine has repeatedly tried to negotiate with Moscow to establish a humanitarian corridor for evacuations and aid delivery.

Kherson residents take advantage of the lull in fighting

The local ceasefire is due to continue until 22:59 p.m. local time on Sunday, according to Davyd Arakhamia, a lawmaker with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People party.

Its geographical scope was unclear, though it was centered on Oleshky and other nearby parts of the Kherson region.

Oleshky is about 550 kilometers (340 miles) southeast of Kyiv, where the Dnipro River separates Russian and Ukrainian forces. Oleshky sits across the Dnipro River from the city of Kherson, the region’s administrative capital. Russian forces seized Kherson early in the full-scale invasion, but retreated across the river several months later.

In Kherson, the city streets were busier than usual and long lines formed at bus stops as residents used the truce to run errands.

“It’s unusual when it’s this quiet,” said Oleksandra Kostenko, who runs a small coffee kiosk. “We’re used to it being loud — the buzzing, the booming.”

But she fears Russia will use the lull to stockpile drones.

“It will end, and they will terrorize us,” Kostenko said.

Kherson bears the deep scars of war — windows boarded up, anti-drone nets stretched over streets and shattered glass littering sidewalks.

Yuliia Orlova was waiting for a bus to visit her mother in a district along the Dnipro that is usually too heavily shelled to reach.

“It seems quiet today, so I decided to go see my mom,” she said.

Russian missiles kill at least 3 civilians in Ukraine, officials say

Minutes after 3 a.m., multiple ballistic missile explosions shook Kyiv and air alerts sounded across the country.

Russian ballistic missiles damaged the grounds of a university in Kyiv, killing one person and leaving 12 wounded, city officials said. In Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, authorities said attacks late Monday killed two people and wounded four others.

In total, Russia launched 16 ballistic missiles and more than 280 drones at 11 regions of Ukraine, Zelenskyy said.

___

Susie Blann and Derek Gatopoulos contributed to this report from Kyiv.

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

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church’s Holy Synod said Monday that 14 people were killed in Merti district on Oct. 20 and a further 46 in Shirka district on Oct. 24. Both districts are in Oromia’s Arsi Zone.

More than 20 people were seriously wounded and 20 homes were burned down, the church said, describing the killings as “brutal and merciless massacres.”

Oromia regional government spokesperson Hailu Adugna blamed the Oromo Liberation Army, or OLA, for the attacks. He accused the rebels and their allies of trying to provoke ethnic and religious conflict to divert attention from military losses in northern Ethiopia. He presented no evidence supporting the accusations in the statement.

Adugna expressed sorrow over the deaths and destruction and said that regional authorities had begun taking action against those responsible. He pledged assistance to people wounded or displaced.

The OLA couldn't be reached for comment. Its leader, Kumsa Diriba, also known as Jaal Marroo, denied that his fighters target civilians in an interview with The Associated Press published in February.

“Our war is not against the people,” he said at the time.

The OLA is one of seven groups in the Ethiopian Peoples’ Forces Alliance for Survival, formed in September with the aim of removing Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government. Other members include the Tigray People’s Liberation Front and the Amhara Fano National Movement.

The church said that the attacks violated constitutional protections for religious freedom and the right to life. It called on authorities to publicly condemn the killings and prevent further violence.

Oromia, Ethiopia’s largest region and home to roughly 40 million people, has endured a conflict between government forces and the OLA since 2018. Other armed groups and criminal gangs also operate there, with civilians facing killings, extortion and kidnapping.

U.N. investigators have accused the OLA of killings, rapes and kidnappings. Human rights monitors have also documented abuses by government forces, including indiscriminate drone strikes, extrajudicial killings and disappearances.

Sarah Kimani, Amnesty International’s media manager, told the AP in a January interview that the organization’s research documents summary executions, torture, abductions and rape by both government forces and the OLA.

She said that internet blackouts and restrictions on independent media and civil society concealed the extent of civilian suffering.

“What we have been able to document now is just the tip of the iceberg,” Kimani said.

___

Amir Aman Kiyaro contributed to this report from Hamburg, Germany.

Israelis vote for parties, which then form alliances to create a majority coalition. No single party has ever won a 61-seat majority in the 120-member parliament, or Knesset.

Opinion polls suggest a tight race, with no clear winner expected, setting the stage for weeks or even months of negotiations among around a dozen parties expected to win seats in the Knesset.

Here is the latest:

A new UN-commissioned report says Gaza ceasefire has not stopped Israel from committing genocide

A ceasefire agreement in Gaza has not stopped what a group of independent experts commissioned by the U.N. says is genocide carried out by Israel in the territory, the team said in a new report Monday. They also accused Israeli forces of crimes against humanity, including torture and rape, in the West Bank.

The report Monday said Israel was “continuing to commit genocidal acts with the genocidal intent to destroy, in whole or in part, the Palestinians in Gaza.”

In response, Israel’s mission in Geneva called for the commission’s dissolution and said on X the report marked an example of the body’s “misinformation campaign to demonize the state of Israel and portray its very existence as criminal.”

Israel has long criticized the commission’s output and denied accusations of genocide in Gaza and sexual assault by its forces.

Highest voter turnout by mid-afternoon in 50 years, elections committee says

Almost 45% of Israelis have voted by 2 P.M., according to Israel’s Central Elections Committee, the highest voter turnout by this time in more than 50 years. Voter turnout is six percentage points higher than this time in the previous elections in 2022.

Numbers were similar for soldiers. 48% of soldiers had voted by mid-afternoon, compared with 44% by this time in the previous election, according to the Israeli military.

Acting director-general of the Elections Committee, Dean Livne, noted that several polling stations are facing exceptionally long lines, which he attributed to unprecedented voter turnout.

Winter weather hits Israel on election day

Israelis are turning out to vote in high numbers despite rainfall and blustery weather in parts of the country. The meteorological service said at midday that thunderstorms were developing in several parts of central and southern Israel, with a risk of flash floods.

Police reported several road closures in the south.

High turnout in Arab communities could shape the result

Palestinian citizens, whose families remained in Israel after the 1948 war surrounding the country’s creation, make up 20% of the population but have historically turned out to vote at lower rates than Jewish citizens. In Israel’s most recent election in 2022, roughly 53% voted.

Leaders of the two Arab-led slates running are hoping that frustration with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will motivate voters to turn out.

Turnout could have multiple effects on the election result and whether Netanyahu retains power.

The higher the turnout in Arab communities, the more seats their parties could win. It could also raise the number of votes required to clear the 3.25% threshold that parties must surpass to enter the Knesset, making it harder for smaller parties to win seats. That could prove decisive for smaller parties at risk of not qualifying, including Yoav Hendel’s center-right Reservists-Economic Party and Ofer Winter’s far-right Amcha Yisrael party.

Israel’s Arab-led parties could decide the election

If anyone would partner with them.

Netanyahu and his chief rivals have said they won’t form a coalition with any other Arab-led party after the election – even if that means months of gridlock and another round of voting.

It’s a measure of where Israel’s long-marginalized Arab minority finds itself three years after the Oct. 7 attack. Their speech is heavily policed, their leaders have been branded as traitors, and at one point their parties were outlawed before a court lifted the ban. Yet in a tight race, Arab politicians are poised to play a potentially decisive role in choosing the next prime minister — a rare opportunity to wield their influence.

Voting for better healthcare and schools

Lotem Beiden Ben Aharon, 42, said she voted for Yair Golan and the Democrats because of healthcare and education. She said that under Netanyahu’s government, doctors’ appointments have become harder to come by, as more and more physicians “run away from Israel.” She moved with her daughter Geffen, 4, from the city of Rehovot to Tel Aviv for better schools, but she said teachers are being poorly paid.

“Golan seems like the best option for a change here in Israel," she said, “I’m probably going to be disappointed.”

Rights group files complaint about delays in Arab towns

An Israeli rights group has filed a complaint with the country’s election commission, warning that widespread delays could be suppressing the vote among Palestinian citizens of Israel.

Though delays could be a result of high voter turnout, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, or ACRI, said in its complaint to Israel’s Central Elections Committee that delays had been reported in at least 18 communities. It asked the committee to investigate “whether these delays are deliberate.”

ACRI also reported “a large presence of Israel Police and National Guard” officers at a polling station in the Negev Desert, raising concerns that officers were using crowd control as a pretext to prevent people from entering to vote.

Most Palestinians in annexed east Jerusalem can’t vote

Tareq Ahram, 36, a Palestinian lawyer in Jerusalem, lives under Israeli rule but cannot vote.

Sitting in front of his grandfather’s bakery just outside the Old City, he said that if he could vote he would vote for peace.

Israel captured east Jerusalem, along with Gaza and the West Bank, in the 1967 Mideast war. Israel annexed east Jerusalem in a move not recognized internationally and views the entire city as its capital. The Palestinians want east Jerusalem to be the capital of their future state.

Palestinians in east Jerusalem, unlike those in Gaza and the West Bank, can apply for Israeli citizenship. But most choose not to because it would recognize Israeli claims to the city. Those who do face a long and uncertain bureaucratic process.

“We Palestinian Jerusalemites are a huge bloc of people,” Ahram said. “If we could vote, it could change things.”

There are over 350,000 Palestinians in east Jerusalem.

Election committee data shows voter turnout is high in rural areas

By midday, rural areas in Israel’s south and north showed exceptionally high voter turnout in comparison with previous years, according to data released by Israel’s Central Election Committee.

Small villages around Beer Sheba, including many Bedouin villages, had already reached 40 to 50 percent voter turnout, compared with the national average of 31 percent. While the total number of votes in these villages is small, it could point towards higher-than-usual voter participation among Palestinians with Israeli citizenship. Palestinians who remained within Israel after the 1948 war surrounding its creation, and their descendants, today make up about 20% of the population, but have traditionally had low voter turnouts and sometimes boycotted national elections.

Itamar Ben-Gvir played into this fear. “Voter turnout in the Arab sector is off the charts – unprecedented!” he warned his supporters from outside the Arab town of Kfar Kassem in central Israel, encouraging them to vote for his party if they want the country to remain Zionist and Jewish.

It could be weeks or months before the winner is known

It might even require another election.

Shortly after polls close at 10 p.m. local time (2000 GMT), Israel’s three main television broadcasters will release exit polls estimating how many seats were won by each party.

The exit polls usually provide a good indication of how people have voted. But they also could vary and may not be borne out by the official results, which will be released in the coming days.

If, as expected, neither coalition pulls off a clear victory, then the coming weeks will see intense negotiations and bargaining among party leaders as they try to get to 61 seats.

The Associated Press calls thousands of elections in the United States, but doesn’t declare winners in foreign elections.

Eisenkot speaks to crowd after voting

People chanted “Our next prime minister!” after Eisenkot voted in Herziliya, a city north of Tel Aviv.

After voting, Eisenkot called on all Israelis to vote to get rid of the “the worst government Israel has known.” He said victory wasn’t certain, adding that “we are on perhaps the most critical day since the founding of the state.”'

Gadi Eisenkot’s name tells a story of his parents’ North African heritage

Eisenkot grew up in southern Israel with parents who were among the more than 100,000 Jews who emigrated from Morocco in the 1950s.

If elected prime minister, he would be the first Israeli of Middle Eastern or North African descent to lead the country. The demographic, known as Mizrahim, now accounts for more than half of Israel’s Jewish population and is, on average, poorer and more conservative than Israelis of European ancestry. Mizrahim have affectionately called Eisenkot “dialna” — or “ours” in North African Arabic dialect.

Eisenkot’s last name comes from a word in Amazigh, an indigenous North African language widely spoken in Morocco, and means “antelope,” said Amazigh scholar and Williams College professor Brahim El Guabli.

He said the spellings of many Moroccan Jewish names like Eisenkot were altered upon their arrival to sound more European and help them assimilate in Israel.

Netanyahu returns to warnings about Arab voter turnout to rally supporters

After casting his ballot, Netanyahu told journalists that Arab-led parties were “heading to the polls in unprecedented numbers.”

The prime minister gave no evidence to support his claim but told supporters the stakes of the election were “securing the Jewish state, ensuring our security and safeguarding our future.”

Arab-led parties predict that motivated voters will turn out in record numbers, and AP journalists observed busy polling places in multiple Arab towns on Tuesday.

But Netanyahu has a history of using fear tactics and anti-Arab sentiment to galvanize supporters. In 2015, he warned that Arabs were heading to the polls “in droves” in an effort to scare complacent right-wing supporters into voting. In this election, Netanyahu has claimed Hamas has called on Palestinian citizens of Israel to vote to oust him and campaigned on the slogan, “Right or Palestine,” a Hebrew rhyme meant to suggest that the 77-year-old veteran leader is uniquely equipped to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.

A different campaign unfolds in Israel’s Arab towns

In Jewish-majority cities and towns, billboards promoting mainstream parties like Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud and Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar are hard to miss. But they’re few and far between in predominantly Palestinian Arab cities. In Nazareth and the surrounding northern Israeli towns, posters promoting the two Arab-led slates — Ra’am and the Joint List — line the streets, reflecting the parties’ hopes for strong voter turnout in Arab communities.

Netanyahu’s face appears along highways or on rare billboards urging voters to turn out and vote against him. The stark contrast illustrates the growing isolation of Palestinian citizens of Israel, even as Arab-led parties could win enough seats to help determine the next government. Apart from Yair Golan and his left-leaning Democratic party, candidates from mainstream Jewish parties have barely campaigned in these communities.

Turnout by noon climbs above 31%, election commission says

Israel’s Central Elections Committee says that more than 31% of Israelis — more than 2.3 million people — had voted by noon, the highest midday voter turnout since 1977.

If the trend continues, it could put Israel on track for the highest voter turnout in decades by the end of the day.

Voter turnout among soldiers also stood at around 30%, according to the Israeli military. This was higher than in the previous election in November 2022, when voter turnout by midday stood at around 25% for soldiers.

Netanyahu casts his ballot as supporters cheer

The Israeli prime minister cast his vote at a Jerusalem school where his supporters sang and cheered him on. The area of Gonenim is a strong Netanyahu base.

Some of his supporters stood on tables, trying to look over a makeshift security barrier separating them from the voting area.

Earlier, while waiting for Netanyahu, they chanted in Hebrew: “Bibi king of Israel.”

In his final campaign stretch, Netanyahu was busy on social media, from posting a fake image of a nuclear attack on Tel Aviv — underlining the perceived threat from Iran — to claiming that liberals were coming out in droves to vote against him.

He has also embraced the endorsements of U.S. President Donald Trump.

“This is a very moving and fateful moment. My wife and I are truly overwhelmed,” Netanyahu said after voting. “We know what is at stake, and since I am not allowed to say things explicitly, I will say: Vote correctly.”

The party of Netanyahu's rival alleges attempts to sabotage voting

The party of Gadi Eisenkot, Netanyahu's key rival and former army chief, filed a complaint with the Central Elections Committee, saying it has noted several incidents in which the party’s ballot slips were missing, damaged or turned over inside voting booths.

The party Yashar said this suggests a “systematic and deliberate” sabotage attempt rather than accidental errors.

The party called on the election commission to restore the ballots and carry out frequent inspections at polling stations.

Israel's election commission moves to dispel claims of voting irregularities

The commission overseeing the elections said in a statement that it has so far found no indication of systematic attempts to sabotage the voting.

It followed online reports and complaints by several parties about missing ballot slips and other irregularities at polling stations.

The committee said it was addressing every isolated incident brought to its attention.

A crowd at a polling station in northern Israel raises hopes of high Arab turnout

Voters swarmed around Maha Karkabi-Sabbah, a candidate on the Joint List, outside a polling place in the northern Arab town of Shefa-Amr. She said this gives her some optimism that turnout among Palestinian citizens of Israel could be high.

“Our issues are the worst they’ve ever been under this government,” she said, citing high crime, personal safety and Israel’s conduct toward Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.

“People feel ... that they should do whatever it takes to change reality here,” she added.

Anger toward Netanyahu drives young Arab voters

Mahmoud Aidi, a 35-year-old nurse from the Galilee, drove up to his polling station in the town of Maghar with a car full of signs for the Arab-led Ra’am party and its leader, Mansour Abbas.

A Palestinian citizen of Israel, Aidi said the growing challenges facing his community made him a fan of any candidate who could help get Netanyahu out of power. He mentioned crime, housing, jobs and education as key issues.

“Not much is needed to encourage people to vote this time,” he said.

Head of Israel's election commission says fewer irregularities are being reported

According to Dean Livne, acting director-general of the Elections Committee, the overall number of reports about irregularities or issues at polling stations by mid-morning was much lower than in previous elections.

Police believe the arrest of three people in southern Israel who are suspected of being involved in voting bribe attempts was a single incident and not part of a larger campaign, Livne added.

Israeli voters say they are casting ballots for a better future

At a polling station in Jaffa, a mixed Jewish-Arab area of Tel Aviv, voters said the elections were pivotal for the kind of country they want Israel to be.

“I believe we deserve a country with a good quality of life, where we can raise our children and grandchildren in peace and security,” said Haim Ron, 69, who said he was voting for Netanyahu's leading rival, Eisenkot.

The election is “about the last three years, and about the future we want for our children here,” said voter Noa Sabban.

Israelis can choose from a multitude of parties

Ahead of the vote, 38 parties were registered for the election but some later dropped out. Parties must reach a minimum threshold of 3.25% of the popular vote to get seats in the Knesset, and only around a dozen parties are expected to cross this threshold.

Israelis vote by placing a slip of paper for their party in a blue envelope. Ballots are counted by hand at each polling station by both showing and reading aloud the slip in each envelope.

More than 15,000 cameras have been set up at polling stations to document possible irregularities, along with thousands of volunteer monitors and those associated with the major parties.

Emotions are running high as Israelis vote

“This is critical. And it’s never been as critical,” said Noga Mizrahi, a voter in Jerusalem, speaking of the elections. She said she had come from kibbutz Nirim, which was attacked on Oct. 7.

In Kiryat Shmona, a Netanyahu stronghold near the border with Lebanon, a man kicked and tore down a poster of Eisenkot, the prime minister's chief rival.

In Tel Aviv, some families of those killed in the Hamas-led 2023 attack and families of former hostages held a moment of silence.

“Remember all those whose voices are no more,” said Yona Adam, the mother of Mapal Adam, who was killed.

At a polling station set up in a Jerusalem school, some said they were voting for change while others said they only trusted Netanyahu to keep them secure.

“He’s not responsible for Oct. 7,” said Nisim Cohen, a reservist.

He said he wants Netanyahu to win the election and continue the wars in Gaza, Lebanon and with Iran until Israelis can sleep peacefully.

Politicians and officials begin to vote

Mansour Abbas, the soft-spoken 52-year-old leader of the Islamist party Ra’am, voted in his mountainside hometown in the Galilee.

Ra’am is expected to win at most a handful of seats in the Knesset, but Abbas could emerge as an unlikely kingmaker if neither Netanyahu nor the bloc of parties opposing him win enough seats to form a majority.

Abbas said he was hoping record turnout in Arab communities could help unseat Netanyahu’s right-wing government. “Our vote will change the government,” he said.

Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, also voted. He’s perhaps the most visible of Netanyahu’s allies, with his public taunting of Palestinian detainees.

“God willing I will become defense minister, it will be good for the soldiers and good for the people of Israel,” Ben-Gvir said.

Leading Arab party says some of its activists have been arrested

Ra’am, a leading Arab political party, says at least three of its activists were arrested overnight. It filed a complaint with Israel’s election commission on Tuesday and said the arrests were carried out “without justification” in Bedouin towns in the Negev Desert.

Israel’s police said three people were arrested overnight on suspicion of planning to bribe citizens to vote for Ra’am and denied attempting to interfere with the election.

Mansour Abbas, the Ra’am party leader, said after he voted that the arrests were undemocratic and “an attempt to influence the election results.” He also said that some polling places had reported shortages of Arabic language ballots and encouraged supporters to vote regardless of unforeseen challenges.

Rising crime is motivating Palestinian citizens of Israel to vote

The spokesperson of the Abraham Initiatives, an organization that promotes coexistence and equality in Israel, says that rising crime is prompting more Palestinian citizens of Israel — roughly 20% of the population — to vote.

The organization has tallied 186 crime-related killings in Arab communities so far in 2026. Last year, 252 Palestinian citizens were killed in violent crimes, making 2025 the deadliest year on record.

Lama Yassin said voters linked the unchecked violence to “years of government neglect and a failure to protect our communities.”

“We are demanding the most basic responsibility of any government: to protect the lives of its citizens,” she said.

Netanyahu's rival meets with voters in a southern community attacked in 2023

Eisenkot, Netanyahu's top rival, was up and meeting voters as polls opened in Ofakim, one of the communities in southern Israel that was attacked by Hamas-led militants on Oct. 7, 2023.

He said that if those in “the government had a shred of responsibility, they would start the morning here," near Gaza.

The visit was likely aimed at reminding voters of the security failures ahead of the deadliest militant attack on Israel in its history, and of Netanyahu’s refusal of a state commission of inquiry into them.

Eisenkot lost his son and two nephews to combat in Gaza. Speaking to the residents, he also repeated his vow to dismantle or destroy the militant Hamas group's “governing force” within 18 months of forming the next government.

“This is a commitment I will uphold,” he said.

Polls open across Israel in a tense election

Thousands of volunteer Israeli election observers were in place at polling stations across the country to monitor the election.

Eyal Sher said he volunteered with a civil society group called Elections Guards because he wanted to play a role in such a critical vote.

“We have a corrupt government that will do anything to stay in power," he said. "Every vote counts and we want to make sure the procedures are kept intact.”

According to Israel’s Central Election Committee, more than 7.3 million Israelis are eligible to vote, including around 330,000 young Israelis who spent their high school years in the shadow of war.

The polling stations — around 12,000 of them — will close in most places at 10 pm. Ballots are manually counted at each polling station immediately after voting ends.

Netanyahu’s legacy is on the line in the vote

Netanyahu has been Israel’s most dominant politician for nearly two decades, and a poor showing could end the 77-year-old’s lengthy career on a bitter note and open the door to a new era in Israeli politics.

A victory would cement his image as the ultimate political survivor. Earlier this month, Trump backed Netanyahu's reelection, but the late endorsement still marked a setback for the Likud politician who had billed his tight ties to the Republican president as a selling point for staying in power.

Netanyahu has been a master at forming coalitions with religious and nationalist partners. But opinion polls now suggest a tight race between his bloc and the one led by Eisenkot, which says Netanyahu should be held accountable for Oct. 7 and the failure to turn battlefield victories into diplomatic achievements.

Scars of Oct. 7 weigh heavily on Israelis

The deadliest day in Israel’s history has featured prominently in the campaign, but there has been almost no debate over Israel’s wartime conduct in Gaza, which led to an international arrest warrant against Netanyahu.

Israel's occupation of much of southern Lebanon and parts of Syria, as well as its two wars launched against Iran, also has broad support among Israelis.

The candidates have instead focused on Netanyahu’s role in the security breakdown on Oct. 7; his efforts to exempt ultra-Orthodox Jews from military service and a 2023 judicial overhaul seen by critics as an assault on Israel’s democratic institutions.

Meanwhile, the Houthis accused government forces of killing two people in a strike at a gas station near the besieged city of Taiz, where fighting has been intensifying between the two sides.

For weeks, the Houthis have largely encircled Taiz — the capital of Taiz province and Yemen's third-largest city — and cut off most supply routes from government-held areas, but government forces have fought back.

Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Tuesday. Read our full coverage here.

Explosions sound over Saudi Arabian capital after attack warnings issued

At least four explosions were heard over the Saudi capital, Riyadh, according to witnesses Tuesday. It wasn't immediately clear whether the explosions were from impacting missiles and drones or air defense systems destroying them in flight.

Saudi authorities said they had intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles fired by Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

The explosions were heard after Saudi Arabia issued attack warnings for the capital and other areas of the country including Abha City, Najran City and Khamis Mushait Governorate.

The alerts were later lifted without any immediate reports of damage.

Authorities also said air defenses had intercepted and destroyed three ballistic missiles launched by Houthi rebels in Yemen toward Saudi Arabia's eastern region earlier Tuesday.

The Houthis said on social media that they had hit the Ras Tanoura refinery in the eastern region with a ballistic missile, but the claim could not be verified and Saudi Arabia issued no immediate comment.

The Houthis say a strike on a gas station killed at least 2

The Houthi-run Health Ministry blamed the Saudi-backed government forces for a strike late Monday on a gas station in Taiz. They said that two people were killed and several wounded.

Ministry spokesperson Anees al-Asbahi accused government forces of targeting the gas station. The Yemeni military had said in a post on X that its forces had launched airstrikes targeting Houthi positions.

Houthi-controlled Al-Masirah TV aired footage showing two body bags and the wounded receiving treatment at a hospital.

The TV station also reported that the government launched airstrikes on Tuesday on the Houthi-controlled port city of Mokha and the Dhubab district near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

The Associated Press couldn’t independently verify the station's claim.

An eyewitness in Mokha told the AP over the phone that she heard two explosions at around 4 a.m., one near the port and the other farther away. She spoke on condition of anonymity fearing reprisals by the Houthis.

Meanwhile, Saudi-led coalition spokesperson Brig. Gen. Turki al-Malki posted on X overnight that coalition forces had intercepted four Houthi drones targeting the kingdom’s south and three ballistic missiles aimed at its eastern region.

He didn't provide further details or evidence. The AP could not verify the claim.

— By Fatma Khaled in Cairo

Iran says tanker catches fire after hitting naval mines in Strait of Hormuz

Iran's army said Tuesday an oil tanker struck naval mines and caught fire east of the Strait of Hormuz after switching off its tracking systems and attempting to pass through a restricted area.

The army said the unidentified tanker was damaged in the incident, according to Iran’s state-run news agency IRNA. No casualties were reported.

Iran’s navy warned that the Strait of Hormuz remains closed and unsafe for vessels attempting to pass without authorization, saying ships must coordinate with Iran’s armed forces to ensure safe passage.

Drone shot down in Baghdad

A drone was shot down Tuesday near Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, Iraq’s Security Media Cell, affiliated with the country’s security forces, said in a statement.

No damage or casualties were reported. The Green Zone houses a number of embassies — including that of the U.S. — and government buildings.

In the weeks after the U.S. and Israel launched a war with Iran on Feb. 28, Iran-backed groups in Iraq regularly targeted U.S. military and diplomatic facilities in the country with drone attacks. The attacks have subsided in the months since the fighting died down.

Egypt's support for Saudi Arabia could lead to ‘aggression’ on Yemen, Houthis say

A Houthi official said Tuesday that the Egyptian parliament's decision to support Saudi Arabia in the conflict with the Iran-backed rebels could draw the Arab world's most populous nation into what he called an “aggression” against Yemen.

Houthi political bureau member Mohammed al-Bukhaiti told the AP in a video interview that the Egyptian support would be considered as a “hostile action” since the kingdom is allegedly the aggressor in Yemen.

Egyptian lawmakers approved the measure requested by President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi in a closed session on Monday as concerns grow among ordinary Egyptians that their country of over 100 million people could be drawn into the conflict in Yemen.

Egypt’s highest security body had earlier pledged to provide “all necessary and possible forms of support” to Saudi Arabia to defend its “security and stability,” protect its resources and territorial integrity, and safeguard Islamic holy sites.

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This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.

“My comment was ill-judged, and I now understand that it hurt many people in China and in Chinese communities around the world,” Mbappé said in a statement Tuesday.

“I apologize to everyone my words have upset," he said. "This was absolutely not my intention. I have deep respect for the Chinese people and their history, and I am sincerely sorry."

Mbappé's face appears in ads across China, from subway stations to inside elevators.

Beverage maker Dongpeng, dairy giant Mengniu and cheese maker Milkground said in similarly worded statements Tuesday that they were ending agreements with the soccer star, each saying they oppose “any words and actions that hurt national sentiment.”

The companies did not specify what prompted their decisions, but they released their statements after a clip that appeared to show Mbappé being interviewed ahead of going on the French online talk show “The Bridge” circulated on X.

In the video, Mbappé is asked about his favorite meme of himself, and the soccer star replies that it was “a video someone made of a guy ... I think he was a Chinese dictator” before the video shows an altered image depicting Mbappé's face on the blue-suited body of Mao Zedong.

China Media Group also said that it has suspended broadcasts of matches in the Spanish league, La Liga, and other games featuring the French soccer star, and removed advertisements featuring him. The media conglomerate demanded an apology from Mbappé and his club, Real Madrid.

The Spanish league was quick to try to protect its television business in China. It said in a statement that it “deeply regrets the offense caused to Chinese fans by Kylian Mbappé’s recent comments. These remarks were made in a personal capacity and do not represent La Liga.”

The league said it would create a “communication protocol” for its players and clubs while working with stakeholders in China to prevent any future incidents.

Soccer fans online jokingly call the star — who's said to overshadow many of his teammates and even the teams he plays on — a dictator, and memes showing him as Mao or other autocratic leaders are widely circulated.

Mao Zedong was a revolutionary who led the Communist Party during its crucial early days, winning a civil war against the ruling Nationalist Party in China, and then founding the modern day People’s Republic of China.

Mao is revered by many even today. However, he leaves behind a complex legacy of authoritarian rule, having led campaigns like the Great Leap Forward, an industrialization project which led to a famine that killed an estimated 30 million people.

China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Guo Jiakun said in response to a question about the controversy that “words and actions that hurt the feelings of the Chinese people will naturally be met with joint opposition from all sectors of Chinese society.”

Social media platform RedNote joined the criticism, saying in a separate statement that the company had a content partnership with Mbappé that ended on Dec. 31, 2024, and that it would “remove related promotional materials.” It expressed opposition to “any conduct that hurts national sentiment.”

Mbappé's account on RedNote was banned from accepting new followers Tuesday.

Mbappé has featured in advertising campaigns in China for products from electrolyte drinks to milk and cheese. In one commercial for Dongpeng, Mbappé delivers a slogan in Chinese; in an ad for Mengniu, he appears alongside Argentine soccer star Lionel Messi.

On Chinese social media, there were comments criticizing the soccer star.

The hashtags “Dongpeng ends partnership with Mbappé” and “Several brands end partnerships with Mbappé” topped Weibo’s trending list. “Football fans boycott Mbappé” was also trending, with some users expressing anger at his remarks or telling him not to come to China.

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Associated Press video producer Olivia Zhang contributed to this report from Beijing, and AP writer Joseph Wilson from Barcelona.

Port of Corpus Christi will open doors to the public around 10:30 a.m., with the rally beginning at 12:30 p.m. Trump will take the stage at 2 p.m., according to the Republican National Committee.

>> READ MORE: President Trump’s planned Corpus Christi rally draws mixed reaction from Texas voters

His visit to Corpus Christi replaces a previously scheduled appearance in Waco, and is the third Texas stop in October for the midterm elections.

Trump was in San Antonio earlier this month, urging voters to back Republican candidates in closely watched races.

It remains unclear who will join Trump on stage. However, after the Corpus Christi event, the president is scheduled to travel to Lubbock for another rally later Tuesday evening.

President Donald Trump to make campaign stop in Corpus Christi

More election coverage on KSAT:

• What to know about early voting in Bexar County for Nov. 3 midterm election
• Attorney General Ken Paxton, Rep. James Talarico face off in contentious U.S. Senate race
• Greg Abbott, Gina Hinojosa offer competing visions for Texas in governor’s race

The S&P 500 rose 0.3% and pulled within 1.5% of its all-time high set earlier this month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 9 points, or less than 0.1%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.5% higher.

The majority of stocks within the S&P 500 were falling, but gains for influential AI-related stocks made up for that. It's a calm moment for such stocks following weeks of swerving on worries about whether their boom is under threat because of how expensive it’s become for companies to borrow money to build data centers and buy more AI chips.

Broadcom climbed 3.3% after announcing a $63 billion financing deal where several Wall Street firms will help Anthropic get access to its XPU AI accelerators and networking solutions.

Elsewhere in the industry, Nvidia rose 0.8% and was the second-strongest force lifting the S&P 500 behind Broadcom. CoreWeave, a company that’s borrowed money to buy AI chips that it rents out to customers over the cloud, rose 3.3%, though it’s been careening between big gains and losses almost minute by minute in recent days.

General Motors climbed 4% after saying it’s moving its stock from a listing on the New York Stock Exchange to the Nasdaq. The automaker said the Nasdaq, which is home to several of the world’s biggest technology stocks, is a fit for its tech-driven strategy. The move could also allow GM to join the Nasdaq 100 index, which would force investment funds that mimic the index to buy it.

GM began trading on the NYSE in 1911.

JetBlue Airways flew 11.5% higher even though it reported a larger loss for the summer than analysts expected. CEO Joanna Geraghty said it expects to make more in operating profit off each $1 in revenue during the final three months of the year, even though fuel prices remain high.

Investors may have been bracing for something worse after the airline’s stock came into the day with a loss of nearly 48% for the year so far.

Another travel company, Royal Caribbean, also helped lead the market and rose 7.5%. The cruise operator delivered a stronger profit for the summer than analysts expected, while raising its profit forecast for the full year.

They helped offset a drop of 1.6% for Boeing, which reported a larger loss for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

Coca-Cola slipped 0.4% even though its profit and revenue for the third quarter topped analysts’ expectations.

Sherwin-Williams fell 2.8% after delivering a weaker profit than analysts expected. High mortgage rates have helped chill the housing industry, which in turn pressures demand for the paints and coatings the company sells.

“Customer sentiment and the leading indicators we track point to muted demand over the remainder of the year and into 2027,” CEO Heidi Petz said. At the same time, her company is dealing with inflation pushing up costs for raw materials.

Companies overall are under pressure to deliver big growth in profits. Expectations are high among financial analysts and investors, and that’s what allowed their stock prices to run to records recently despite high inflation, high interest rates and other concerns weighing on the market.

In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady a day before the Federal Reserve is set to announce its latest decision on interest rates. The Fed last month hiked the fed funds rate for the first time in three years in hopes of slowing inflation, but the widespread expectation on Wall Street is that it will hold rates steady this time.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury edged down to 4.99% from 5.00% late Monday.

Helping to keep yields in check was a dip for oil prices. The price for a barrel of Brent crude slipped 0.4% to $110.24.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed across Europe and Asia. Stocks jumped 3.1% in Seoul and fell 1.3% in Shanghai for two of the bigger moves.

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AP Writers Elaine Lai and Matt Ott contributed to this report.

The risks laid out by the San Francisco company in its filing Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission included discussion of bad actors potentially using AI models to build deadly weapons or the technology itself going rogue with untold consequences.

Of the 335 pages outlining Anthropic’s finances, executive compensation, dividend policy and the like, 93 pages are devoted to “risk factors” — the things that could hurt potential shareholders’ investments. Rival SpaceX’s listed risk factors, in comparison, took up 38 out of more than 250 pages.

In selling itself to investors, Anthropic presents its own initial public offering as a step toward mitigating the risks it believes AI poses.

“To build AI is to harness cognition itself, and anything so powerful can be used for ill as well as good,” wrote the company’s founders in a letter to prospective shareholders in the IPO filing. “Anthropic is a deeply values-driven organization, founded in large part to help the world realize AI’s benefits and avoid its dangers.”

The technology's potential benefits include leaps in curing diseases and productivity boosts across every sector of the economy, the company said.

Still, the potential liabilities are many. They range from the mundane — the possibility it won’t be able to retain key staff or navigate regulatory roadblocks — to involvement in cyberattacks and the spread of dangerous misinformation.

Here is a look at some of the risks Anthropic details:

The technology's rapid development

Anthropic said it's possible its models could develop so quickly the company won't be able to implement adequate safety measures, “which could increase the likelihood of safety incidents, regulatory intervention, or reputational harm, and could adversely affect our business."

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei warned in September that within six to 12 months AI could be capable of leading a swarm of agents that could take over the entire internet. The warning — and now Anthropic’s move to sell shares — comes as worries about AI grow inside and outside the industry about increasingly powerful systems that solve problems beyond human capacity but could also act on their own to carry out other, more harmful tasks.

As AI systems “become more autonomous and capable of taking consequential actions with less human oversight,” the SEC filing said, there’s a risk that such systems could “take harmful actions independently and at scale without human intervention.”

“Even if our own models do not cause such harm, a significant safety incident involving any frontier AI could trigger broad reputational damage to the AI industry, public backlash, and sweeping regulatory responses that could adversely affect our business,” Anthropic said.

Now that the AI models are themselves contributing to Anthropic’s own research and development, it’s possible that AI could progress “beyond our ability to evaluate and safeguard new models,” according to the filing. This, the document said, could adversely affect Anthropic’s business.

Malicious actors could cause mayhem with the technology

The filing discussed concerns that advanced AI systems, if not developed and operated with enough safeguards and oversight, “pose catastrophic or existential risks to humanity, particularly if such systems were misused, replicated, weaponized, or allowed to operate with a high degree of autonomy.”

The company said it would be harmed if use by bad actors causes damage, “or if our model guardrails or safeguards fail to prevent such misuse.”

Anthropic sketched out the prospect of bad actors using AI models to build chemical weapons or authoritarian rulers turning to the technology to crack down on their citizens. In September, the company disclosed that it had blocked efforts to use its AI models for malicious activity such as cyberattacks, surveillance and research that could have led to biological weapon development.

The company could run up against limits on processing powe

r

Compute — the computing power or resources needed to build, test and improve AI models — is expensive and in high demand. Anthropic notes that if it's unable to secure adequate compute, or if “we fail to direct our compute effectively across our workloads, we may be unable to train models that remain competitive with those of our competitors or adequately serve our customers.”

Anthropic mentioned community opposition to data centers as a risk to its business. Data center development “has prompted public controversy and regulatory scrutiny regarding environmental impact, land and water use, and the allocation of limited power resources,” the filing said, adding that if regulators impose new requirements or charges as a result, its ability to do business could suffer.

In addition, the company relies on a small number of customers, including SpaceX and Microsoft, and distribution channels for a large portion of its revenue. This means that even if just one of its big customers decides to scale back — or drop the company altogether — Anthropic said it could see its prospects and finances suffer.

Mitigating the risks

In some ways, AI's enormous risk, combined with its enormous potential, is Anthropic's main selling point. The company has tried to position itself as a responsible AI company, and courts business customers by emphasizing safety-mindedness.

“We believe that frontier AI companies must invest in safety and alignment to help ensure the responsible diffusion of this technology,” the filing said.

Brian Mulberry, chief market strategist at Zacks Investment Research, said IPO deals have to display “very clearly” what risks people face when they invest their money in a newly public stock.

“One of the things that’s great about our capital markets here domestically is the level of transparency that you must commit to, to be a publicly traded corporation on a U.S. exchange requires you to outline those risks in a very clear way, so that people understand if they want to participate by offering their hard-earned money and help finance this type of a deal,” he said.

___

AP Business Writer Bernard Condon and AP Technology Writer Kaitlyn Huamani contributed to this story.

Residents along Heather Meadow in the Blue Ridge Ranch neighborhood have watched car after car veer off the road, and they say the problem is only getting worse.

‘It looked like a tornado had hit this fence’

Just before 3 a.m. on Oct. 10, a car rammed into Judi Granados’ backyard in Blue Ridge Ranch. San Antonio police found the driver conscious, but injured. A crash report says the driver couldn’t explain how the crash happened.

“It looked like a tornado had hit this fence,” Granados said.

Granados says the stretch of road where the crash occurred doesn’t make the incident any easier to understand.

“Now this area, this is a straight angle, don’t understand how he managed, but it was roaring. It’s just sad that we had to go through this and you know it’s not even comfortable to sit in your backyard,” she said.

Repeated crashes, repeated coverage

KSAT has covered at least three crashes in the Blue Ridge Ranch neighborhood in the past year alone.

“Who wants to move into these houses if they’re gonna hear or we’re not gonna have roundabouts or even speed bumps,” she said. “Thank God for KSAT 12. They’ve come out several times to try to do something about this, but apparently City Hall’s not listening.”

City allocates $150K for traffic calming

San Antonio’s Public Works Department said it has allocated $150,000 for traffic calming efforts in the area, including curve warning signs. A spokesperson says the work should be completed by spring 2027.

When asked how the $150,000 will be divided, Public Works says the breakdown will be determined during the design phase, which is still underway.

Granados said recently installed speed display signs showed some early results, but she believes stronger measures are needed.

“People slow down a little bit, but I think we do need an enforcement of speed bumps because there’s people, more people that even in the daytime, they drive faster there,” she said.

Public Works says road safety is a shared responsibility and encourages drivers to remain alert, obey posted speed limits and avoid distractions. Residents can report roadway or traffic concerns by calling 311.

More of this story on KSAT:

• ‘Getting really bad’: Residents fear for safety as speeding cars continue to damage Southeast Side homes
• Crashes in Southeast Side neighborhood still prevalent as city plans to install speed bumps
• Southeast Side residents call for more safety measures after speeding vehicle nearly hit couple

But this year, when Dubow cast his early ballot in the midterm election, he found himself tipping more toward Democrats because of his frustration with Trump's decision to go to war with Iran.

“Where are the Republicans in Congress?” asked Dubow, 44, a dispatcher at a trucking logistics firm in Columbus, Ohio, where he has a bird's-eye view of the disruption that surging fuel prices are having on the economy. "Why aren't the Republicans holding Trump accountable?”

The Iran war, which Trump often describes as a “little detour,” has emerged as an unforced liability for the president, who once promised to keep the U.S. out of foreign wars. Republican strategists privately acknowledge the war is severely damaging the party's push to retain control of Congress for the final two years of Trump's presidency as rising gasoline prices drive up costs across nearly every sector and new hostilities emerge.

Voters are tired of elevated gas prices

High energy costs and voter fatigue over the nearly 8-month-old war — one Trump predicted at the onset would last a matter of weeks — are weighing heavily on Republican candidates.

Regardless of the outcome of the Nov. 3 elections, an AP-NORC poll published last week found that voters from both major political parties want the next Congress to focus on making life more affordable and ending the Iran war, which has had enormous ramifications for the global economy.

The situation has only become more complicated for Republicans making their case to voters. The conflict has spread, with Iran-backed Houthi rebels carrying out attacks on Saudi Arabia's oil infrastructure and airports. A Saudi-led coalition has responded with its own deadly attacks on Houthi-held territory in Yemen.

Over the weekend, the State Department said it was reducing staffing at four U.S. embassies in the Middle East after receiving intelligence that Iran has stepped up efforts to target American personnel in the region and elsewhere.

Trump insists costs of war have been no big deal

Diesel prices continue to hover near all-time highs in the U.S., creating trouble for Republicans in typically conservative states such as Iowa, Kansas, Ohio and Texas who find themselves knotted in competitive races with Democrats.

Yet, Trump has consistently downplayed the conflict's economic impact as he rallies his supporters to try to keep the GOP's grip on both chambers of Congress.

Trump repeatedly insists the war's end is near, only to threaten that a new round of bombing could very well be in the offing once the election passes — often within the same campaign speech or a single exchange with reporters.

He also argues that elevated gas prices are a temporary inconvenience worth paying to defang Iran.

Trump at a weekend rally in Michigan said he has no regrets about launching the war and even argued that its economic impact has been less severe than he had expected.

“Somebody said, ‘If you had it to do again ... ,’" Trump told the friendly audience. "I said, ‘Are you kidding?’ I thought gas would be double or triple. And it’s a small price to pay for taking a nuclear weapon away from maniacs.”

The president's mixed message on Iran has left Republican candidates in a difficult, if not untenable, position, said Christopher Borick, director of the Lehigh University Opinion Observatory.

“Trump's messaging on the war is resonating with a shrinking portion of the electorate,” Borick said. “For voters disappointed with the direction of the conflict, there's little by way of the president's claims that would change their negative outlook.”

GOP strategists have seen warning signs for months

Only a few elected Republicans have parted ways with Trump over the Iran conflict. Trump, for his part, has insisted the midterm elections would have no bearing on how he approached the conflict.

But some party strategists have been sounding the alarm for months.

Early in the summer, five Republican strategists involved in key races or advising campaign leadership told The Associated Press they'd begun seeing warning signs that the war could hurt their candidates if it didn't wind down soon.

In June, after Trump forged an interim ceasefire agreement with Tehran, he and White House officials appeared more confident. But the deal unraveled within weeks.

At that point, campaign officials in some battleground races became more forceful during internal conversations about how House districts Trump won easily in 2024 looked as though they were becoming competitive, said the Republican strategists, who were not authorized to comment publicly on the internal party data and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Oil prices peaked in May, fell in June and surged again in September as Trump threatened to escalate the conflict before backing off and suggesting a deal could be around the corner. The national average has hovered above $4 per gallon since the middle of June.

As the Labor Day holiday passed, strategists said internal polls showed voters were more frequently tying the war to higher grocery prices and travel costs.

Trump has dismissed critics who argue that the war is driving an affordability crisis for Americans as pushing a “hoax” or “scam” invented by Democrats. But internal campaign polling suggests Trump's argument has not resonated with American voters, the strategists said.

Some Republican voters are frustrated

In interviews, even some Republican voters who say they support Trump's decision to launch the war admit gas prices are testing their patience.

Clay Coey, 59, said he sometimes cringes when he fills the tank of his 2010 Chrysler Sebring, even as he says he's willing to temporarily pay higher gas prices to eliminate what he sees as a major security threat to the U.S.

“Do I like it? No, I drive this old beast,” said Coey, an auctioneer from DeWitt, Michigan. “However, there does come a point in time where you have to sit here and say, ‘What is worth the cost?’"

Some voters say Trump fumbled by predicting the war would be over in a matter of weeks.

Elizabeth Marlett, 61, of Moville, Iowa, said she wished Trump had avoided setting a timeline for the conflict and wished he would order the U.S. military to act more forcefully to force Tehran to capitulate. Still, she's sticking with Trump.

“We need to support our commander in chief, even if things take longer than expected," said Marlett, a small-herd beef rancher from Iowa's GOP-heavy northwest. “That’s life, and we can’t run from something we’ve started.”

Meanwhile, Trump's decision to start the war has been seen by some supporters as a betrayal of a central tenet of the Republican leader's “America First" campaign pledge: the promise to keep the U.S. out of the sort of “forever wars” that bogged down some of his recent White House predecessors.

Sean O'Brien, 21, a student at Auburn University in Alabama, said Trump's Iran decision left him “very disillusioned.”

O'Brien earlier this year attended the Conservative Political Action Conference, a major gathering for those on the political right. Now, he's rethinking his allegiances.

“At the moment, I expect to vote Democratic,” said O'Brien, who considers himself an independent.

___

Beaumont reported from Sioux City, Iowa. AP journalists Patrick Aftoora-Orsagos in Columbus, Ohio, and Jacqueline GaNun in DeWitt, Mich., contributed to this report.

State Rep. Gina Hinojosa filed suit against Abbott on Oct. 19 after he refused to hand over records she requested under the Texas Public Information Act.

Travis County court records show a judge granted a temporary restraining order Monday in favor of Hinojosa, a Democrat currently representing Austin’s House District 49.

>> Greg Abbott, Gina Hinojosa offer competing visions for Texas in governor’s race

Hinojosa had requested access to the same Abbott-Musk communications previously sought by The Texas Newsroom.

Abbott’s office produced 1,374 pages in response to that earlier request, but nearly all were blacked out, according to her lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges that Abbott argued some of the communications were “intimate and embarrassing.”

Under Texas law, a sitting legislator can request government records, including confidential ones, for legislative purposes.

Abbott’s office acknowledged it had already collected and assembled the documents but still refused to let Hinojosa inspect them, the lawsuit alleges.

Hinojosa’s lawsuit details an extensive financial relationship between Abbott and Musk, including more than $54 million in state grants to SpaceX, $1.7 billion in school tax breaks for Musk’s Terafab project, and at least $500,000 in direct contributions from Musk to Abbott.

The lawsuit also notes Musk asked Abbott if he would “have his back.” According to the filing, Abbott responded, “I said 100%.” The next day Musk filed paperwork to reincorporate SpaceX in Texas.

Hinojosa is not seeking to make the communications public. Texas law would require her to keep any confidential records private and allows Abbott to require a confidentiality agreement before inspection.

A hearing on a temporary injunction has been set. Abbott’s office has not yet responded publicly to the court order.

Read also:

• What to know about early voting in Bexar County for Nov. 3 midterm election

The shooting happened just before 11:30 p.m. near North Onslow and Lamar streets, not far from the Freeman Expo Hall.

According to police, a man arrived at a home looking for someone, when at some point, a fight broke out between him and the people inside.

As he returned to his vehicle, shots were fired at him, police said.

The man then fled from the scene and crashed into a parked vehicle nearby at the corner of East Carson and Ash Streets, before walking and calling for help, SAPD said.

Police treated the man for his injuries and transported him to the hospital in critical condition, as he reportedly had gunshot wounds to his abdomen and arm.

At the original location on North Onslow Street, police said officers detained two people for questioning.

Authorities are working to determine whether the shooting was an act of self-defense or whether charges will be filed, police said.

Read also:

• Suspect in shootout with undercover SAPD officers identified

The attack, reportedly carried out by criminals known as bandits, happened on Friday in Binnari community located in the Karim-Lamido local government area of Taraba state, and also wounded 52 other people and displaced thousands, according to Ladan Ayuba, the state head of the National Emergency Management Agency.

Attacks by bandits are common across northern Nigeria where armed groups carry out attacks against civilian populations.

Fifty-two bodies have been recovered so far, including 15 from the Benue River, NEMA officials said.

A Taraba police spokesperson said the figure is not definite as more bodies are still being recovered. “We still have men on the ground, and the more we recover bodies, we will put them in account,” Victor Mshelizah told The Associated Press.

Amnesty International Nigeria director Isa Sanusi said the gunmen used the river to their advantage. “What happened was that people were chased towards the river, they launched into the river trying to escape the bandits," Sanusi said.

Nigeria faces a very complex security crisis where civilians are regularly attacked by bandits who carry out large-scale kidnapping for ransom and control illegal mine sites, and also by Islamist groups such as Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province.

Their 28-year age gap was reportedly a record difference between opponents in a WTA Tour match.

The 18-year-old Austrian Tagger was born in 2008, the year Williams won the last of her seven Grand Slam singles titles at Wimbledon.

Now ranked No. 599, Williams was playing her first singles match for two months since the U.S. Open, where she lost in the first round to Sofia Kenin.

Williams now has lost 16 straight singles matches on tour going back to July last year.

She matched the 53rd-ranked Tagger with each landing 63% of their first serves, though Williams won just 60% of those points and her opponent won all of hers.

Williams created no break-point chances and Tagger took four of the 16 she had.

Kenin also lost her round of 32 match, beaten 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-4 by Kaitlin Quevedo.

___

See AP’s full tennis coverage here

“We certainly have a bigger footprint there now than we used to,” said the Rev. Peter Donohue, Villanova’s president. “People do know who we are, just because it’s the pope’s school.”

The pope graduated from Villanova with a degree in mathematics in 1977. He belongs to the Augustinians, the religious order that founded the university near Philadelphia in 1842. Now his alma mater is finding new and inventive connections to his papacy.

On Sunday, the men's and women's basketball teams from Villanova will open the season in Rome with a Catholic university matchup, playing Notre Dame 6 miles (9.6 kilometers) from the Vatican in what organizers are calling the Eternal City Tip-Off. The doubleheader comes only weeks after Villanova hosted a sustainability conference in Rome and awarded a cardinal with the inaugural Pope Leo XIV Sustainability Medal.

“It’s crazy,” Donohue said. “We’re taking over Rome.”

Villanova saw applications jump more than 10% during the first admissions cycle after the pope’s 2025 election.

“We claimed it was ‘the Pope Leo effect,’” Donohue said.

Pope Leo's alma mater is a basketball powerhouse

Villanova is the only American university that can claim a pope as a graduate — a distinction that has elevated its profile alongside a run of athletic success.

The school won the NCAA men's basketball championship in 1985, 2016 and 2018. Three alums dubbed the 'Nova Knicks were instrumental in the New York Knicks winning the NBA title this year.

Over Halloween weekend, the power of Catholic school basketball will be in full effect as 6,000 Villanova fans and 1,000 Notre Dame fans travel to watch their teams compete.

“The voice of the people of God will be very strong on the Villanova side,” Leo said in September.

The festivities were planned long before Leo’s recent cancer diagnosis and surgery. The sports-loving pope is scheduled — health permitting — to hold a private audience inside the Vatican on Saturday for the teams and their traveling fans. Philadelphia Archbishop Nelson Perez will also celebrate a private Mass for them in St. Peter’s Basilica.

Ed Hastings, who played on Villanova’s 1971 basketball team that lost the national championship to UCLA and now teaches at Villanova, will appear on a sold-out panel in Rome. He will be discussing sports and spirituality, bringing together “the passions of my life,” he said.

St. Augustine, who inspired the Augustinian religious order, wrote about self-knowledge. “And I learned a lot about myself through sports,” Hastings said.

On campus, connections to Pope Leo are a source of pride

The Rev. Bernie Scianna, Villanova's vice president for mission and ministry, is a friend of the pope, having met him almost three decades ago through their Augustinian order.

Scianna has seen an uptick in interest in Catholicism at the school, which has around 10,000 students and a large Catholic population. Last year, 24 people joined the Catholic Church on campus, most of them students, though fewer than 10 typically do each year. There are 56 people in the current class of potential new members.

“It’s really a great feeling for us to be in this moment,” he said.

Villanova has long sent students to Italy and the Vatican for internships and study abroad programs, but those opportunities are growing.

Senior Mike Whaley just returned from a fall break trip there with his humanities class. He had visited the Vatican on a previous student trip, where he was an altar server at a private Mass for Villanova students celebrated by then-Cardinal Robert Prevost.

“So, my fun fact at parties is that I served Mass for the now Pope Leo XIV,” Whaley said.

Megan Zuzarth, another senior, also was in Rome recently with her business school class.

The pope's connection to Villanova makes him even more relatable once you realize “he probably sat right here or he walked these halls,” Zuzarth said. “He’s one of us.”

Church bells rang at Villanova for hours after Leo’s election.

Cathleen Kershner, now a junior, was wrapping up her final exams. “I get a text from my grandma and she was like, ‘Your pope! He’s your pope!’”

Before he was pope, they knew him as Bob

Donohue was at a Chicago restaurant when he heard the Vatican conclave had chosen a new pope.

“It’s Bob!” he screamed. A manager brought out Champagne to celebrate the new pope, who was born and raised in Chicago.

Donohue, a fellow Augustinian, was two years ahead of Pope Leo at Villanova. Before assuming the presidency, he chaired the school’s theater department.

As a child, while “other people were playing basketball and football, I was taking tap dancing classes,” he said.

His background in musical theater has been surprisingly useful as he navigates fundraising and donor relations. “I tell everybody it’s the biggest acting job I’ve ever had,” he said, “and the longest run I’ve ever had.”

Villanova has not been immune to the financial pressures many universities face, but it’s faring better than most. The school has undertaken renovations and expansion projects and recently opened a new campus at a nearby shuttered Catholic college.

The Pope Leo effect certainly has not hurt.

“We’re very proud of him, and very proud that he’s an Augustinian, and very proud that he is leading the church,” Donohue said. “Whatever we can do to help him, we’re trying to do that.”

___

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

A crash has closed the eastbound State Highway 151 ramp to Loop 410 Tuesday morning.

The crash was reported around 6:45 a.m. According to the Texas Department of Transportation, both eastbound lanes are closed.

Drivers should expect possible delays and seek alternate routes, if possible.

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

British nationals Mohmed Ahmad Abdulkarim and Nouman Essghir, both aged 24 and from London, were charged under the National Security Act, the Crown Prosecution Service said. They are due to appear in court later Tuesday.

Abdulkarim is charged with assisting Iran's intelligence service and Essghir with entering a prohibited place for a purpose prejudicial to the U.K.

RAF Fairford, in western England, has been used by American bombers to strike Iran during this year’s war.

Essghir was arrested outside the base on Sept. 27, when armed police officers and army bomb-disposal experts swarmed the rural area. Scores of residents were evacuated from their homes as police and army bomb-disposal experts searched for explosives.

Police later said they had found a quantity of an accelerant — gasoline — in vans at the scene, but no explosives.

Essghir was initially released on bail before being re-arrested last week. Abdulkarim was arrested in the past week. Six other men have been arrested and released on bail as investigations continue.

British authorities have linked Tehran to the incident, which led the U.S. to pull its bombers from RAF Fairford. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said that the apparent plot was “almost certainly” directed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.

Iran has denied involvement, although it has previously said that it considers any base used to attack its territory a legitimate target.

Earlier this month, the head of Britain’s MI5 spy agency warned that both Iran and Russia were expanding their attacks against the U.K., and that the RAF Fairford incident was not unique.

Ken McCallum, who leads the U.K.’s domestic security service, said Tehran is seeking to intensify its attacks in Britain beyond the traditional targets of Iranians opposed to the country’s Islamic authorities. He said more than 50 people have been arrested over Iran-linked plots in the past year.

“We have seen a range of incidents in recent months that we believe have been directed by the Iranian state, and as the director general of MI5 said just the other week, we are working together to intervene, identify and respond to that threat,” said Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor, the head of National Counter Terrorism Policing in the U.K.

___

A previous version of this story incorrectly said Abdulkarim is a British-Iranian national. He is British.

NEWTON — Roughly a billion federal dollars are pouring into Deep East Texas to improve access to high speed internet. Now, the question is how to help residents use it.

The Deep East Texas Council of Governments launched the Pineywoods Broadband Coalition, which will promote technology education and workforce development in the region, reflecting a larger statewide initiative to bring broadband and technology knowledge to the rural areas.

“Before we started this work, 50% of our region was underserved or unserved with high-speed broadband. We’re starting to see that table flip, and it’s good news,” said Connor Sadro, the broadband director for the council.

Internet connection is different for each community across the region. While some have full connection — they can conduct video calls or stream movies — others can barely get single websites to load on their phones or tablets, let alone access all the internet has to offer. This severely limits their access to resources such as telehealth or remote work.

The next few years could change all of that. As the region gains connectivity, Sadro wants to help people who weren’t previously connected to the internet to navigate it confidently. He also wants to make sure to prepare for any physical impact of these buildouts on aging infrastructure and make sure the workforce is ready for the thousands of jobs that access will open up.

Sadro said this initiative won’t cost the council anything at the outset, as it has resources and volunteers to take on the work. But as leaders develop plans, they may require funding, at which point, those leaders would seek local, state and federal grants to help pay for any incurred costs.

The first initiative of the coalition, digital navigation and adoption, would create training opportunities for people who have never had their own laptop before. This technology training would help the community learn basic computer operations, such as how to charge a laptop, get it started and basic computer troubleshooting. It would also teach them how to navigate things like telehealth appointments and video chats.

The second initiative is coordinated infrastructure and funding initiatives, which will help leaders deal with the physical impacts of broadband build-outs.

The high-speed internet grants the region has received cover a variety of types of access, including fiber optics and satellite internet such as Starlink. While access to Starlink won’t have a huge impact on physical infrastructure already in place in cities and rural areas, fiber will since it involves digging up the ground to install it.

Expanding fiber optic lines has already caused damage to water and gas lines, many of which were first installed in the 1970s and haven’t seen an upgrade since. The second initiative would bring together experts in that type of infrastructure to map out where utility lines currently exist so there’s less opportunity for disruptions.

The third initiative is economic development and workforce. If the council can successfully bring the entire region online, it opens up more jobs for locals. Those jobs could be anything from fiber optic splicers to opening up opportunities for people to get online certifications

“If we bring the internet to this region, if we fill that gap of 50% underserved and unserved then 10,000 jobs are on the table,” Sadro said.

The coalition’s launch came as the council celebrated the buildout of the first phase of a larger regional broadband network that started in Newton County. The network will eventually span six counties, but the first phase should be completed by the end of November, said Lonnie Hunt, executive director of DETCOG.

“More than half of the beneficiaries who will be served by this project are low-to-moderate income households,” Hunt said.

The first phase of this particular project costs about $9 million, which has been allocated from a $51 million grant from the Texas General Land Office Grant and a match from the T.L.L. Temple Foundation, which serves East Texas. The remaining $42 million will not be released until the next two phases are bid out, Sadro said.

The Newton project is one of several that are ongoing to expand connectivity since the council conducted a broadband study in 2019. That study has helped shape the region’s methods for expanding access to high speed internet and backed up grant applications.

The coalition was proposed and approved by the council’s board of directors at a Thursday meeting in October. The board is composed of community leaders, such as city council members and county judges, from across 11 counties.

Sadro hopes this pool of individuals will either step up to lead or suggest the right person for the job to support the region as it goes through these infrastructure changes.

Disclosure: T.L.L. Temple Foundation has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune within the past five years. The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in our journalism. Find a complete list of them and more information about our financial and disclosure policies here.

A longtime resident of Collin County — the hometown of U.S. Senate nominee Ken Paxton — Slack said she looks like a typical conservative: a Baylor University alum who goes to Bible study every week.

But as the GOP became more hardline over the past decade, she felt her center-right values — which she said did not change — grow increasingly distant from the party she’d long supported. Slack stuck with Republicans in 2016 and 2018. But as the Trump era wore on, she began to evaluate her votes race-by-race, and ultimately cast ballots for the top two Democrats in 2024: Kamala Harris for president and Colin Allred for U.S. Senate. This fall, she’s planning to vote for James Talarico.

“It’s kind of funny, because in my mind, I don’t know that I’ve accepted that I’ve switched,” Slack said. “The other night at dinner, one friend was like, ‘You’re a Democrat now. Just accept it!’”

Slack is among a cohort of voters the GOP has struggled to retain in recent cycles — college-educated, suburban women. The party has been able to withstand the bleeding in Texas by picking up new cohorts, especially non-college educated voters of color. But as corporate relocations and booming growth make Texas’ suburbs larger and more diverse, the voting trends in places like McKinney are enormously consequential for both parties as they battle for control over a red state whose hue has become dangerously pale for Republicans this cycle.

Nowhere are the patterns of suburban growth and political transformation more on display than Collin County — where Paxton got his political start as a state representative in 2003 and eventually rose to serve as attorney general. While nearby Tarrant County has long been considered the Texas bellwether, statewide Democrats are bullish about their chances of winning there, as their candidates have in recent cycles. 

Instead, Talarico’s path to victory may require doing what no federal Democrat has done since 1970 when Lloyd Bentsen defeated George H.W. Bush in his first Senate run: win Collin County.

For Paxton, the results will be a testament to how the area has shifted as its most famous politician’s career has grown, with some of his most ardent supporters and passionate detractors having been along for the ride.

The dueling campaigns recognize the importance of the county too. Collin County is the most populous county in America that a statewide Democratic candidate has never won this century.  Talarico kicked off his final statewide tour in Plano on the eve of early voting, one of several visits he’s made to the county this cycle. Paxton, meanwhile, was at a Tex-Mex restaurant in Allen on the first day of early voting, a town he hit in February, May and August.

“For 10 years, it’s been getting a little purpler,” said Shelby Williams, a former Collin County GOP chair and Plano City Council member now running for County Commission, who noted that Republicans spent years turning Collin County from blue to red decades ago. “If we can take it from them, they can take it right back from us. And we’re watching that unfold election cycle after election cycle, chipping away a little bit.”

Driving that political swing is massive growth and a more diverse population.

The county’s population has more than doubled since 2000, climbing to nearly 1.3 million. And it’s not slowing down any time soon. Four of the five fastest-growing cities in the nation are located in Collin County — Celina, Princeton, Melissa and Anna.

Over half of the population has at least a bachelor’s degree, and the median household income is $121,600 — second highest in the state.

Perhaps most importantly, Collin County has become one of the most diverse places in Texas — about 45% white, 23% Asian, 17% Hispanic and 12% Black. It is home to the state’s second largest Asian population, a group where Republicans have made significant gains in recent cycles. This year, however, anti-Indian rhetoric among GOP candidates has emerged as a flashpoint in the race, which could play a meaningful role as to whether the county swings blue.

“Collin County’s been moving towards a blue county for a while now, and that had a lot to do with our population growth,” said Jeremy Sutka, the Collin County Democratic Party chair. “There’s already a path that was heading there. What’s happening in 2026 is really a matter of whether or not we can accelerate that path.”

The politics of growth

Situated between downtown Dallas and the Red River, Collin County metamorphosed from a wheat and dairy farming community to a key part of the metro economy as the region boomed and suburbanized in the second half of the 20th century. 

By 2000, the county had nearly 500,000 residents and, like suburbs across the state, was firmly Republican. 

In the past quarter century alone, the county has continued to explode with growth. Through a combination of good schools, abundant housing and attracting the corporate headquarters of companies including FedEx, Frito Lay and Toyota North America, Collin County has transformed from a collection of commuter towns into an economic engine in its own right.

That growth has enabled Collin County’s shift from Republican stronghold to purple. For much of the 21st century, Collin County voted for the GOP at higher rates than the state as a whole did. But by the 2020 presidential campaign, Collin County crossed the rubicon, voting to the left of the state for the first time in decades, while still supporting Republican candidates. In 2018, when U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz won the state by less than 3 percentage points, he held Collin County by about 6 percentage points. 

Six years later, Cruz won his Senate race by a much larger 8-percentage point margin. But he only won Collin County by 5 percentage points.

Ross Hunt, a GOP operative in Dallas, said Collin County’s purpling has come from its economic opportunity, driving people to move there for jobs over ideology.

“Collin is sort of a dark horse county for the Democrats,” Hunt said. “Collin County used to be so red, and they’ve taken advantage of the fact that many of the immigrants into DFW have been motivated by economic factors.”

Republicans cautioned against solely blaming transplants for Collin County’s shift. 

Williams, the former Collin County GOP chair, pointed out that in 2018, exit polling showed that Democrat Beto O’Rourke won the native Texan vote, while Cruz won transplants en route to his narrow victory.

“Everybody blamed the people from California,” Williams said. “But if you looked at the data, it wasn’t the people from California. It was the natives that voted, for a variety of reasons. Some of the greatest patriots I’ve ever met are people who came from California, and they knew exactly why they left and where they were going.”

Even Paxton, whose father was in the Air Force, spent part of his childhood in California, before he would later move to Texas and eventually base his law practice in McKinney.

South Asian blowback

Democrats also believe the party is poised to make gains with the county’s significant Indian and Muslim American communities — though doing so could be an uphill battle. 

Texas Republicans have traditionally overperformed with South Asians relative to the bloc’s voter trends in the rest of the country. The GOP over several years has in particular made significant strides with Indian American voters, the most frequently Democratic group nationally among Asian American voters. Trump narrowly won several Asian-heavy precincts in Frisco in 2024, according to VoteHub, after a campaign in which the Collin County GOP hung Trump-Vance signs in Hindi, Telugu, Gujarati and Tamil. And the Texas GOP chairman from 2024 through earlier this year was Abraham George, an Indian American and a former Collin County GOP chair himself.

Polling from Asian Texans for Justice, a nonpartisan statewide organization working to build Asian political power, found that there has been a significant shift toward the GOP in Texas since 2022. Forty percent of Asian Texans identify as Republicans, according to the organization’s 2026 polling, while only 31% consider themselves Democrats — close to the inverse of where Asian Texan partisanship stood in 2022. 

But Collin County’s South Asian community has been at the center of a massive wave of hate from right-wing activists and influencers in places like Frisco, where city council meetings have become derailed by anti-Indian racism during public comment. Those sentiments have in many cases been echoed by GOP officials. Few, if any Texas Republicans, have explicitly condemned the recent wave of anti-Indian racism that has stemmed from policy concerns about H1-B visas.

Those tensions were inflamed in September, when, in the aftermath of an improbable University of Texas football win, Republican railroad commissioner nominee Bo French posted a photo of mostly South Asian students storming the field in Longhorn orange, writing “the problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined.” The post fueled a political fire storm, causing multiple people from his own party to call for him to apologize — which he never did. 

Already, Sutka said, early voting data shows increased turnout in neighborhoods with significant Indian populations.

Nabila Mansoor, the Asian Texans for Justice executive director, said she expected heightened political activity in Collin County given the wave of anti-Indian hate — a trend that could resonate beyond 2026 as the community, like the county itself, continues to grow.

“It’s been really heartening to see how activated the community has [be]come, and then how how quickly the South Asian community got together to really fight against some of these forces that were infiltrating those communities and trying to prevent some of this racist rhetoric that you’re seeing come out of these places out in North Texas,” Mansoor said. “

Split-ticket voting

On a September block walk in Frisco with Brittany Black, a Democratic candidate for a Collin County statehouse district Trump won by 16 percentage points, the evidence of recent transplants was everywhere; window and car decals for non-Texas sports teams covered the neighborhood.

Black said corruption rose to be the district’s number two issue over the summer — a trend that has inspired her to tie Paxton, who was impeached by the Texas House over bribery allegations and ultimately acquitted by the Texas Senate, into her discussion of her race as much as possible. She thinks the top of the ticket frustration with Paxton in his home county can trickle down the ballot.

“I’ve heard a lot more people than ever saying that they’re just not going to vote,” Black said. “They’re just like, I can’t bring myself to vote for a Democrat, but I can’t vote for this guy either.”

That attitude could contribute to significant levels of split ticket voting — a phenomenon that could end up keeping downballot Republicans safe. Sutka said, for example, he drove by a house in downtown McKinney that had yard signs for both Talarico and Republican county clerk Stacey Kemp.

Anne Bramlett, a senior in Lavon, is one such longtime Collin County voter who has moved away from the GOP. Bramlett considers herself a lifelong Republican, but has not voted straight ticket in years over frustrations with the GOP’s stance on Medicaid funding, a critical lifeline for her adult son with autism who lives in a Medicaid waiver group home. She plans to vote for Talarico for Senate and Democratic governor nominee Gina Hinojosa, but also her local Republican state representative, Candy Noble. Further down the ballot, she was still deciding.

“Locally, I’ve always voted for the Republicans in the commissioners’ court and judge [races],” Bramlett said. “But I’m kind of straying away from that too. I’m just looking carefully at what they say and what they believe.”

Her husband, Bramlett said, is a Republican and Trump voter who is torn over the U.S. Senate race. He won’t vote for Talarico given the Democrat’s positions on social issues like abortion. But he is concerned about the allegations of corruption and infidelity surrounding Paxton, Bramlett said, and he might skip the race altogether.

Disclosure: Baylor University has been a major financial supporter of The Texas Tribune. The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in our journalism. Find a complete list of them and more information about our financial and disclosure policies here.

• SPOTTY SHOWERS: Today’s rain chance sits at 30%
• HEAVY RAIN WEST OF SA ON THU: Lighter, scattered activity for San Antonio
• HALLOWEEN: Still looking nice, mild, likely quiet

FORECAST

SPOTTY SHOWERS TODAY, WEDNESDAY

An influx of moisture is making things a bit more sticky this morning. Eventually, this could lead to a few showers today. Any shower activity will be isolated (30%). Otherwise, expect mostly cloudy skies and highs near 80. Wednesday’s forecast looks similar, but with a slightly lower rain chance.

RAIN CHANCES ON THURSDAY/FRIDAY

Thursday, moisture from Tropical Storm Vance will surge north ahead of a storm system. This will set up a corridor of heavier rain along the Rio Grande, mainly west of San Antonio. Still, San Antonio has a chance to see some passing showers from Thursday through late Friday. As of now, rainfall totals in San Antonio will likely stay below half an inch. Those along the Rio Grande could see totals of 1-3″.

HALLOWEEN UPDATE

By Halloween, a quieter pattern will be taking over. While we can’t rule out a shower, the odds of rain are low. More sunshine will push highs above 80 during the afternoon. By trick-or-treat time, much of the area will be in the 70s, making for comfortable conditions.

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It is the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak in history and nearly half of the 10,060 confirmed to have the virus have died, according to data from Congo’s Ministry of Health. That also makes it the deadliest outbreak of the disease in the country’s history.

The outbreak declared in May is caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus, for which there is no approved vaccine or treatment. Response teams are battling armed conflict, poor roads and violence from residents fueled by mistrust and misinformation. Those obstacles compound the challenge of persuading people to report symptoms and accept care in communities that have endured years of violence and repeated epidemics.

Compared to the West Africa Ebola outbreak of 2014-2016 – history’s largest and deadliest with more than 28,000 cases, including over 11,000 deaths – this has had at least three times the number of cases and number of deaths in the time since it was declared.

It has spread farther across Africa than any previous Ebola outbreak, reaching three regions with cases recorded in Kenya and Nigeria as well. It’s so far been recorded in five countries including Uganda and France, both of which have no active cases at the moment.

A recurring problem in the spread in Africa is what appears to be lax surveillance efforts as most of the first cases were confirmed long after people started showing symptoms or after traveling.

African health ministers are to hold a virtual summit on Wednesday to strengthen the continent's collective response. “Ebola is crossing borders. Our response must move faster, with stronger coordination, greater solidarity and decisive political leadership,” Dr. Jean Kaseya, head of Africa CDC, has said.

At least 2,600 patients have recovered from the disease in Congo, bringing rare moments of joy to affected communities. A viral video this week showed health workers in full protective gear dancing as the last two patients were discharged from a treatment center in Mongbwalu, Ituri province.

“The outbreak is far from over, but every life saved is worth celebrating,” World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said of the video.

80% of new cases in Congo are outside of monitored contacts

In Congo, the disease has spread to 66 health zones across eight provinces, from three zones when it was first declared in May. Responders have told The Associated Press that they’re seeing treatment centers in some of those health zones getting overwhelmed, people still skeptical and violent toward them, and health workers are regularly going on strike to protest delayed or unpaid wages.

“Some people still don’t seem to understand the seriousness of the situation even though they are directly exposed to the risk,” said Sephora Bgosi with the Ebola burial team in Ituri province, the epicenter. “Ebola disease is extremely dangerous and can be deadly," said Bgosi.

About 80% of recorded cases are still coming from outside of monitored contacts, showing there are ongoing chains of transmission that health authorities are not aware of. At least 95% of recorded cases are supposed to be coming from known contacts for officials to say the outbreak has largely been brought under control, the Africa CDC has said.

At least half of deaths recorded are among people who have not been admitted to treatment centers, a sign that people are still not reporting symptoms at all in many areas.

In many zones, health workers are battling challenges ranging from basic needs such as adequate vehicles to complex ones like persuading families to release their relatives who are sick with the disease or who have died from it and need to be buried safely.

Last week at the Nia Nia health zone in Ituri province, some Ebola responders, including surveillance and community engagement officers, went on strike over unpaid bonuses owed since late August, a common trend across many affected localities.

More than five months since the outbreak was declared, health workers are still being attacked by angry villagers, including on Saturday when a nurse was killed and another health worker severely injured while responding to an Ebola alert in Bafwasende, Tshopo province.

The outbreak is impacting Congo’s healthcare services

The outbreak has disrupted essential health services that are already underfunded and overstretched and has shifted attention away from other disease outbreaks the country is battling, such as cholera.

More pregnant women are dying as they avoid hospitals over fear of infection and isolation, causing maternal mortality to double in some provinces soon after the outbreak was declared.

It has also disrupted routine healthcare services such as childhood vaccinations, interrupted schooling for children where millions are already out of school, caused trauma and stigma for affected families and further stretched the livelihoods of many already struggling with hardship.

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Asadu reported from Abuja, Nigeria.

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For more on Africa and development: https://apnews.com/hub/africa-pulse

The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

It said the operation “resulted in the killing and wounding of many members of these terrorist groups and the destruction of a number of their vehicles.” It did not specify who the groups were or the precise location of the strikes.

The operation sparked an outcry in Syria, where officials said the Jordanian operation killed several civilians and was carried out without notifying Syrian authorities.

Syria’s civil defense agency said it had recovered the bodies of seven people killed in strikes in the southern Daraa and Sweida provinces. Five members of one family, including three children and a woman were killed together in a strike that hit a tent in rural Daraa province and three other family members were injured, it said. An 80-year-old man and a 60-year-old man were killed in separate strikes, it said.

The Syrian government said the Jordanian operation took place “without prior coordination or notification with the Syrian side.” It said Syrian authorities were investigating the circumstances of the incident and had opened communication channels with Jordan to discuss the situation.

Syria's General Authority for Ports and Customs later announced the closure of Syria's main border crossing with Jordan.

Earlier on Monday, Jordanian authorities arrested three men for last week's attack, which also wounded more than two dozen people. The arrests followed a dawn shootout, and all three men were wounded, officials said.

The attack struck the Greek Orthodox Church during a funeral in Karak, about 90 kilometers (55 miles) south of the capital, Amman, on Friday. Karak is home to a minority Christian population.

The attack shocked the nation, and Jordan declared three days of mourning for the victims. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack and the attackers' motive remained unknown.

Later on Monday, the Public Security Directorate identified the three arrested men as brothers Hazzah Zaidan Mohammad and Mishal Zaidan Mohammad, and their brother-in-law Ahmad Sami Hussein. All three are Jordanian. They were taken into custody in Karak, south of Amman.

The agency's chief described the gunmen as “takfiri,” a term used for Sunni militants, but said they were not tied to any organized group.

“They only represent themselves,” Maj. Gen. Obaidallah Abd Rabbo Al-Maayta told a news conference. He also said a large cache of munitions was found in the abandoned house where Jordanian forces apprehended the men.

Jordan’s Interior Minister Mazen Al-Faraya said the attack by the three was the result of “a terroristic, extremist way of thinking.”

“If this way of thinking is not resolved, we will see incidents like this again,” he told reporters.

Jordan's King Abdullah II had ordered authorities to respond with “an iron fist” against what he called the outlaws of Islam and anyone attempting to undermine the unity of the Jordanian people.

“We vowed the terrorists would not escape punishment, and no proponent of dark ideologies that divide Jordanians will be tolerated,” he said in a statement on Monday.

Relatives of the victims said the arrests brought them some relief.

“Despite the profound and immense tragedy, what happened today has eased our grief — and the grief of the Jordanian people — not just for us, the families of the martyrs," Khaled al-Borqan, himself a survivor of the attack and a relative of three of the people killed, told Al-Mamlaka.

“Despite the sadness and pain, the news brought us joy,” Fares Halaseh, an uncle of one of the victims and a survivor of the attack, told the TV station.

But the pain remains, he added. "We will not forget this agony for years to come.”

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Associated Press writers Kareem Chehayeb and Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report.

“Knife in the chest,” the Tampa Bay Rays shortstop said.

Tampa Bay's first World Series game at Tropicana Field in 18 years turned into a record-setter for Brewers batters.

Milwaukee became the first team to score eight runs with two outs in a World Series inning, routing the Rays 10-1 on Monday night to take a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Turang's two-run single was the second of a postseason-record seven straight two-out hits against starter Freddy Peralta and relievers Cam Booser and Cole Sulser.

Milwaukee turned a 2-0 lead into a 7-0 advantage with hits on three straight pitches by Turang, Garrett Mitchell and Cooper Pratt. The Brewers went on to score eight runs in a 17-pitch span to open a 10-run advantage. Jackson Chourio had a single and a double in the inning, part of his four-hit night.

"Worst feeling in the world, feeling like you let your team down,” a downcast Booser said in the quiet Tampa Bay clubhouse.

Among 25 previous teams that fell behind 3-0 in a World Series, 21 were swept and four lost in five games. Of 43 teams to trail 3-0 in any best-of-seven postseason matchup, only the Boston Red Sox against the New York Yankees in the 2004 American League Championship Series rebounded to win.

“It’s kind of that chip and a chair mentality," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “We’ve got a seat at the table. We’ve got to do something with the chip. Obviously the only thing we can do is win tomorrow.”

Coming off a pair of one-run wins at American Family Field, the Brewers took a 2-0 lead in the third when Christian Yelich and William Contreras hit opposite-field, one-out RBI singles on consecutive pitches.

“They were very disciplined at the plate,” Peralta said. “Just tried to hit the ball the other way.”

Chourio singled with one out in the fifth and Christian Yelich walked with two outs. Contreras grounded to third and Junior Caminero threw to second as umpire Dan Bellino signaled a forceout. But the call was reversed in the New York replay operations center by umpire Alfonso Márquez, giving Contreras an infield single that loaded the bases.

Caminero may have had a better chance of throwing out Contreras at first base.

“I knew the speed at first base wasn’t necessarily the best in that situation,” Caminero said through a translator. “So going into the moment, once I got the groundball I was going to second base all the way.”

Booser relieved and Turang’s 106 mph one-hopper hit the dirt just past the infield grass, bounced off Walls' glove and into short center field.

“I’d like to have that one back. Those are plays that you’d like to make, that you expect to make even though they may be on the tougher end,” Walls said. “That was pretty much the turning point in the game there.”

Walls dropped to a knee and held out his glove at shoulder level trying to make what would have been an excellent stop, then tumbled as the ball bounced past him.

“You just try to get your eyes as close to where the ball is going to be, the height of the hop,” he said. “Ideally, I guess if you want to talk about fractions, if you can get your glove behind the ball and work more backwards you have a better chance to make the play than if you’re slightly above it having to kind of work down a little bit, which is where I kind of felt I was.”

Mitchell grounded an opposite-field RBI single through the shortstop hole vacated with Walls shifted toward second for the left-handed batter. Pratt followed with a smash off the glove of a diving Caminero that rolled into the left-field corner for a two-run double.

Sal Frelick sliced an opposite-field double that hit the wall on a hop in the left-field corner, scoring Pratt and chasing Booser.

David Hamilton greeted Sulser by lining a shoulder-high fastball into center for a run-scoring single and a 9-0 lead. Chourio then lofted an opposite-field RBI double that hit just in front of the warning track.

Boston set the previous Series high of seven runs with two outs in the fifth inning of the 2007 opener against Colorado, a feat matched three years later by San Francisco in the eighth inning of Game 2 against Texas, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The Los Angeles Dodgers were the only prior team with eight two-out runs in any postseason inning, scoring 10 with two outs in the first inning of Game 3 against Atlanta in the 2020 NL Championship Series.

Griffin Jax said he'll put the Series deficit out of his mind when he starts Game 4 on Tuesday.

“We just got our butts kicked tonight. I don’t think there’s really much else to say,” Jax explained. “We’ll just kind of forget it and try to sleep it off and come back tomorrow ready to fight.”

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

The stunning triumph of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva over Flávio Bolsonaro on Sunday, with 51.8% of the vote to 48.2%, limits U.S. President Donald Trump’s drive to tighten his grip on the Western Hemisphere and cements Latin America’s most populous country and largest economy as a counterweight to Washington. A Bolsonaro victory would have left Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum as the only progressive president among the region’s powerhouses.

More broadly, Brazil’s vote — held the same day Serbia’s opposition scored a stunning win — opened a stretch of high-stakes elections that could reshape global politics, with Israel on Tuesday holding its first national election since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack and the U.S. midterms on Nov. 3.

For the Trump administration, which has wielded punishing tariffs, severe sanctions and military force to reassert its dominance in the region, Lula’s victory complicates its campaign to enlist Brazil in its military coalition against cartels and to gain preferential access to the country’s critical minerals, analysts say.

As congratulations poured in from Brazil’s allies and rivals around the world, Trump suggested Monday, without providing evidence, that Lula’s reelection was “rigged.” His ally Bolsonaro has refused to concede and called for the result to be annulled.

“I thought it had a very bad look, the way it was tabulated,” Trump told reporters before flying to Mississippi for a rally.

But Trump also said he had not formally endorsed either candidate and spoke warmly of Lula. “I like Lula. I get along with him very well,” he added.

Both governments have reasons to cooperate. Washington wants access to Brazil’s vast trove of rare earths to reduce its defense industry’s reliance on China. Lula wants foreign investment and tariff relief for Brazilian exporters.

“Lula is pragmatic enough to work out some kind of modus operandi with the Trump administration,” said Will Freeman, a fellow for Latin America studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, adding that the Bolsonaros’ allies in Washington would likely lose sway after the family’s second electoral defeat. Flávio’s father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, lost to Lula in 2022.

“I’m not sure anyone in the Trump administration, beyond a few individuals, will want to keep making the Bolsonaros the central issue in the U.S.-Brazil relationship,” he said.

Trump's missing piece

Across much of Latin America, voters fed up with rising crime have rewarded presidential candidates promising to restore order. From Peru’s Keiko Fujimori to Colombia’s Abelardo de la Espriella and Chile’s José Antonio Kast, newly elected conservatives have courted Trump while taking their cues from El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, whose sweeping gang crackdown has sharply reduced homicides at the cost of mass arrests and suspended civil liberties.

Trump has reinforced that shift with electoral endorsements, financial bailouts and pledges of military aid.

“The U.S. is certainly putting its finger on the scale to try to help the more hard-line right-wing elements in the region,” said Kenneth Roberts, a professor of government at Cornell University.

Brazil would have been Washington’s most consequential addition. Bolsonaro had promised to join the U.S.-led security coalition “with great enthusiasm and great honor,” making his alliance with Trump part of his pitch to voters.

Lula, by contrast, has championed Brazil’s long tradition of nonalignment, cultivating ties with competing powers. His government deepened trade ties with China and sought greater global influence through BRICS, a group of emerging economies.

Trump’s heavy-handed support for the Bolsonaros played into that message. The double-digit tariffs he imposed on a range of Brazilian goods to punish Brazil for prosecuting former President Jair Bolsonaro over a coup plot to oust Lula stirred a nationalist backlash that the leftist leader channeled into the rallying cry “Brazil belongs to Brazilians.”

“To the extent that the regional superpower becomes a threat to Brazil’s democratic institutions, defending Brazilian national sovereignty also becomes a form of defending Brazilian democracy,” Roberts said.

In his victory speech late Sunday, Lula described the outcome as “a demonstration that this country does not accept being anyone’s backyard.”

Lula's red lines

Brazil resisted joining the Shield of the Americas, a U.S.-led military coalition targeting cartels.

When Washington in May designated Brazil’s two largest criminal factions, the First Capital Command and the Red Command, as terrorist organizations, Lula warned the labels could become a pretext for American intervention.

Countries along the main northbound cocaine and migrant routes, many of them heavily dependent on the U.S. market, have been more accommodating. In Ecuador, U.S. troops have joined local police in raids targeting suspected drug networks across the coastal lowlands. Honduras, Guatemala and Colombia have also agreed to joint military operations, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says, though Guatemala’s government has denied it.

“Brazil is not Honduras. It’s a large country with a very independent history and a military that would not look kindly upon foreign troops in its own territory,” said Brian Winter, a veteran Latin America analyst and editor-in-chief of Americas Quarterly, a policy journal. “The Trump administration will have to walk a certain line here.”

On critical minerals, Lula wants Brazil to control its resources and preserve its freedom to sell beyond the U.S.

Brazil holds the world’s second-largest known reserves of rare earths, used in powerful magnets for guided missiles, smartphones, wind turbines and electric vehicles.

Last month, USA Rare Earth, in which the U.S. government holds a stake, completed its $2.8 billion takeover of Serra Verde, the Brazilian firm that owns one of the few mines outside of Asia producing all four rare earths needed for those magnets. Alarmed by the expanding U.S. role, Lula’s administration fast-tracked legislation tightening oversight of critical minerals.

“Revisiting the Serra Verde–USA Rare Earth deal may not be the first thing that Lula does when he’s reelected, but it’s on his radar,” said Monica de Bolle, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

Brazil also produces about 90% of the world’s niobium, a critical element for jet and rocket engines and other military hardware, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Any Brazilian export restrictions could disrupt supply chains for U.S. defense manufacturers.

“Brazil has leverage,” de Bolle said. “With Lula, the U.S. is on shakier ground.”

Compromise at home and abroad

For all his defiant public statements, Lula has sought peace with Trump. His White House visit in May to discuss trade, organized crime and critical minerals undercut the Bolsonaros’ claim that only they could deal with Washington.

More bargaining with Trump surely lies ahead over tariffs and with Brazil's Congress, where conservatives expanded their ranks in the Oct. 4 elections, depriving Lula of the backing he needs to institute meaningful reforms. After three previous terms, Lula confronts voters impatient for safer streets and relief from the high cost of living.

“Lula has his hands tied,” said Guilherme Casarões, an associate professor of Brazilian studies at Florida International University. “Pretty much everything he has tried to do has been blocked in Congress.”

Across Latin America, coalitions that united against a common opponent have often splintered as the realities of governing set in. Trump’s new allies are already losing support in Chile, Bolivia and Peru, suggesting the region’s rightward turn may be less durable than it appears. Lula bucked the anti-incumbent trend, but his support could evaporate quickly as he bargains with opponents — in Congress and beyond Brazil’s borders — to deliver the results voters expect.

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Associated Press writer Mauricio Savarese in Sao Paulo contributed to this report.

And that crazed, violet-clad “Ballhalla” home crowd roared at every chance — watching the Golden State Valkyries move one win away from a championship in their second season with a 64-55 victory against Atlanta in Game 5 of the WNBA Finals on Monday night.

Stokes had 13 points, eight rebounds and three blocks, and Burton contributed a nearly identical stat line with 13 points, eight rebounds and four blocked shots as Golden State got defensive once more to shut down Angel Reese and the Dream.

The Valkyries have leaned on Stokes' steady presence and postseason experience during this remarkable run.

“We’re not here without Kiah,” Burton said. “Every single day, every single game, from the beginning. Just her veteran experience as well. It's more than just defense.”

Reese finished with seven points, 15 rebounds and five assists — a big difference from her two standout performances in the first two games of the series at Chase Center. Reese shook her head when whistled for the second of her three offensive fouls with 7:43 to play.

“I still believe in our team, I still believe we can win this,” Reese said.

Fans screamed and clapped thunder sticks following the final buzzer as Stokes spoke from the floor to chants of “MVP!”

“We appreciate you,” a smiling Stokes said. “We got one more.”

On a night leading scorer Gabby Williams struggled to find her shooting touch, Golden State found that “strength in numbers” mantra coach Natalie Nakase has praised all season long and everybody made an impact. Veronica Burton had 13 points, eight rebounds and her postseason-best four blocks — tying Diana Taurasi in 2009 for most by a guard in a Finals game.

On Saturday, Nakase had changed up her lineup for a 67-62 Game 4 win by inserting Tiffany Hayes and Kaila Charles into the starting five. She stayed with those two Monday night, and it worked again. Hayes, who played 10 seasons for Atlanta and came out of retirement two years ago, had 12 points — and Nakase has said she wants to win it all for the veteran guard.

Williams began 2 for 11 and missed all four of her three 3-point tries, but she converted a three-point play with 9:08 remaining put the Valkyries ahead 49-42 and finished with nine points on 3-for-14 shooting and six rebounds.

Atlanta will now try to stave off elimination at home Thursday in Game 6 and force a deciding Game 7 back here at Chase Center on Saturday. The Dream hurt themselves with 17 turnovers that led to 21 points for Golden State.

“Nothing’s changed, we win two games we’re champions,” Dream coach Karl Smesko said.

Stokes hit a key 3-pointer with 2:46 to go in the third quarter and another with 7:21 left in the game, which ignited chants of “Ki-ah! Ki-ah!” from the rocking, rally-towel waving sellout crowd at Chase Center.

“It feels pretty special,” she said. “I always know what I brought to a team, I always understood my value but just to hear an arena full of 18,000 fans it just really makes me feel appreciated and loved.”

Stokes has recorded three or more blocks in six straight games, tying her with Lisa Leslie in 2003 for the longest such streak in a single WNBA postseason.

The Valkyries used a dominant second half after they led 25-22 at the break, the lowest scoring first half combined score in WNBA Finals history.

Rhyne Howard’s three-point play with 4:59 left in the third pulled Atlanta within 34-31, but after that it was Stokes, Burton and the Valkyries coming up with all the crucial plays on both ends.

"That’s just been our staple all season, we really rely on our defense,” Stokes said.

Golden State owner Joe Lacob promised a championship within five years in a bold declaration when the expansion franchise was granted to the Bay Area three years ago, yet this season has exceeded even what he could have envisioned.

Neither team could find a flow from 3-point range in the first half as they combined to shoot 5 for 29 from deep — 3 of 16 by Golden State and 2 for 13 by Atlanta.

Earlier Monday, the league announced Game 6 would be played at 17,000-seat State Farm Arena in Atlanta starting at 12:30 p.m. EDT on Thursday — a time when many fans on both coasts will be working.

“I’d like to see it be a national holiday for all WNBA championship games so whatever somebody can do,” Smesko said. “I hope everybody gets to see it somehow and I know that for some people it’s not realistic, they have jobs and won’t be able to make it. So I’m disappointed for that but I’m really hopeful that as many people can see the game as possible.”

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See AP’s full WNBA coverage here

The Milwaukee Brewers are one victory from their first World Series title after routing the Tampa Bay Rays 10-1 on Monday night thanks to a trio of young players who have shined in October.

Chourio bookended Milwaukee’s eight-run fifth inning with two of his four hits, and Turang's two-run single opened a barrage of scoring with two outs.

“He was tremendous. Locked in. Gives us a big lift,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said about Chourio, who has eight hits in three Series games.

Gasser, a rookie left-hander, pitched one-hit ball and faced the minimum through six innings as Milwaukee rolled to a 3-0 lead in this Fall Classic. Game 4 is Tuesday night at Tropicana Field, where many Brewers fans showed up Monday and cheered from behind the visitors’ dugout.

“It is really cool when you go on the road in such an intense atmosphere to have that support,” Gasser said. “Normally it’s 35,000 against nine, but tonight we had 20,000 people behind us.”

Gasser allowed a line-drive single to Yandy Díaz leading off the bottom of the first and then retired 14 straight before Victor Mesa Jr. walked to begin the Tampa Bay sixth.

With the help of a caught stealing and a double play, Gasser became the first starter to face the minimum 18 batters through six innings of a World Series game since Arizona's Curt Schilling in 2001 — and the first lefty to do it since Sandy Koufax for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1965.

Chourio finished 4 for 5 with a double. Turang and William Contreras each went 3 for 5 as Milwaukee racked up 16 hits off “Fastball Freddy” Peralta and five relievers to win its eighth straight game — tying the record for a single postseason.

“I think that you could say this is one of my better games,” Chourio said through a translator. “Really I was just taking every at-bat like it could be my last and trying to find any way I could to get on base.”

Of the 43 previous major league teams to fall behind 3-0 in a best-of-seven postseason series, only the 2004 Boston Red Sox rallied to win four straight when they beat the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series.

“It’s kind of that chip and a chair mentality,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “We’ve got a seat at the table. We’ve got to do something with the chip. Obviously the only thing we can do is win tomorrow.”

Gasser became the first starter for Milwaukee to get an out in the sixth inning this postseason. He’s allowed one run in 15 innings over three starts, all on the road.

Peralta, the MVP of the ALCS against Cleveland, ran out of gas against the Brewers. He was charged with five runs and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings against his former team.

After a pair of tense, down-to-the-final-pitch, one-run games in Milwaukee, the Brewers put this one out of reach in the fifth with a postseason-record seven straight hits — all with two outs.

It was the first time in World Series history a team scored eight two-out runs in one inning.

“I was sitting in the dugout getting ready to go. There was two outs, and next thing you know, 40 minutes later, I have to go out on the field,” Gasser said. “It was special. I had a smile on my face the whole time. It’s just surreal when something like that happens.”

Chourio began the rally with a one-out single and stole second with two outs. Christian Yelich walked, and Peralta exited after Contreras’ infield single loaded the bases.

It seemed the inning was over when third baseman Junior Caminero fielded Contreras’ bouncer and threw to second for an apparent forceout. But the call at second was overturned to safe after a replay review, and Cam Booser entered.

Turang ripped a liner that shortstop Taylor Walls couldn’t corral on a short hop. It bounced off his glove and rolled into shallow center field for a two-run single.

“Knife to the chest,” Walls said.

Garrett Mitchell followed with an RBI single, Cooper Pratt grounded a two-run double down the left-field line and Sal Frelick lined a run-scoring double to make it 8-0.

“It’s definitely deflating,” Cash said. “How could it not be?”

Cole Sulser replaced Booser and allowed an RBI single to David Hamilton and an RBI double to the 22-year-old Chourio, who became the second-youngest player with four hits and a stolen base in a World Series game behind Ty Cobb in 1908.

Brandon Woodruff pitched the ninth for the Brewers, allowing one run and two hits in his first appearance in 3 1/2 months. The two-time All-Star had been sidelined by a shoulder injury that originally was thought to require surgery.

Also seeking its first championship, Tampa Bay made uncharacteristic mistakes on the bases and defense during the first two games in Milwaukee. Then the Rays completely unraveled at home in their first Series game at Tropicana Field since 2008.

Wearing their white Devil Rays uniforms, they were eager to play in front of their fans at the quirky, cavernous Trop, which had its roof shredded by Hurricane Milton in October 2024 and needed major renovations.

But the cowbell-ringing, towel-waving Rays fans among a sellout crowd of 40,388 couldn’t help the home team against the surging Brewers.

Griffin Jax is scheduled to start Game 4 for Tampa Bay. Milwaukee hadn’t announced a starter.

Of the 25 previous teams that took a 3-0 lead in the World Series, 21 swept and four won in five games.

With a victory in Game 4, the Brewers would become the first team to sweep an LCS and World Series since the 1976 Cincinnati Reds.

“We've been preparing for this day a lot,” Chourio said. “We have one more to lock in for tomorrow to complete the mission.”

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

But supporters also warned that a Congress increasingly dominated by the far right and the agribusiness caucus could undermine those efforts to protect the forest and combat climate change.

Lula defeated Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, son of far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro, in Sunday’s runoff with 51.78% of the vote to 48.21%. After trailing in the first round, Lula staged a comeback to win by 4.4 million votes.

“The Amazon can breathe a sigh of relief!” said David Lapola, a Brazilian scientist and lead author of a chapter on so-called tipping points in an upcoming United Nations climate report. Scientists debate the threshold beyond which the dense, humid Amazon rainforest could shift to a drier ecosystem, with irreversible consequences for biodiversity and the climate. The forest absorbs vast amounts of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that drives global warming. About 60% of the Amazon lies in Brazil.

Flávio Bolsonaro contests the loss

Lula’s victory reflected shifts in voter support and higher turnout nationwide. In the Amazon, Indigenous communities and advocacy groups mobilized voters and, aided by court rulings last week, helped secure government transportation for those living in remote areas.

The Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil, known as APIB, was among the organizations that went to court to secure Indigenous voters’ access to the polls. Lula’s victory reflected the “strength of grassroots mobilization in defense of democracy, life and Indigenous peoples’ rights,” it said in a statement.

Flávio Bolsonaro refused to concede Monday and said he would ask the electoral court to nullify the results. He faces a high hurdle: presenting evidence of fraud sufficient to overturn Lula’s winning margin and persuading the court before the results are certified Dec. 18. Early signals from Brazil’s institutions and regional leaders, including conservative presidents who oppose Lula, suggest the outcome will be accepted at home and abroad.

Flávio Bolsonaro had pledged to pursue policies aligned with those of his father, who governed from 2019 through 2022. Deforestation surged under Jair Bolsonaro as his administration weakened environmental enforcement agencies and loosened regulations. Lula’s government last week announced the lowest Amazon deforestation rate on record.

Environmentalists express concern despite a Lula win

Lula is expected to continue efforts to curb deforestation and finance a sustainable economy through international donations as well as public and private funding. While he was the clear favorite for environmentalists, climate scientists and others who want to protect the Amazon, Lula has put forward policies that have drawn criticism. Most recently, he has supported efforts to drill for oil in offshore waters near the Amazon.

Still, Flávio Bolsonaro presented a stark choice that for many environmentalists felt would put the Amazon and Brazil's overall environmental protections at risk. He had denied climate change while casting himself as an environmental defender. However, he offered few details on forest protection or financing, calling for “modernizing” environmental laws and giving Amazon landowners more decision-making power — proposals environmentalists warned could weaken safeguards and accelerate deforestation.

Brazil’s Climate Observatory, a nonprofit coalition of 172 organizations, welcomed Lula’s reelection but said seven in 10 incoming lawmakers oppose the climate and environmental agenda. It cited recent measures weakening pesticide rules, Indigenous land rights and environmental licensing, and urged Lula to broaden his alliances and strengthen ties with Congress.

“The goal of ending deforestation across Brazil’s biomes must be pursued relentlessly,” the group said.

Amazon Watch, a nonprofit focused on environmental protection and Indigenous rights, also welcomed Lula’s victory while warning of legislative obstacles.

“A Congress strengthened by forces seeking to open Indigenous lands to mining and weaken environmental protections remains a serious threat,” said Ana Alfinito, an Amazon Watch legal adviser.

WWF Brazil said the country’s vast biodiversity and share of the Amazon give it a strategic role in addressing climate change. It credited Lula with strengthening Brazil’s leadership through international cooperation.

“Maintaining this leadership is essential to mobilizing other countries, raising the ambition of global commitments and turning agreements into concrete action,” the organization said.

Election results bring money for forest protection

Claudio Angelo, the Climate Observatory’s head of international policy, said Lula’s reelection had already delivered a result: a $500 million pledge Monday from the Netherlands to the Tropical Forest Forever Facility, a Brazil-backed fund launched at last year’s U.N. climate summit in Brazil.

The initiative pays developing countries to keep forests standing but has struggled to secure an initial $10 billion by year’s end. The Dutch pledge brings commitments to $7.8 billion.

Angelo said prospective donors had put plans on hold pending the election results, calling the Dutch pledge a vote of confidence in Lula’s victory.

“There was justified concern that a Flávio Bolsonaro victory could derail the TFFF, that Brazil would pull out and the fund would miss its $10 billion target,” Angelo said.

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

The Cowboys linebacker raised the ball in celebration after making the clutch play the Eagles’ defense could not deliver.

Look at Dallas now, playing for a division title that's up for grabs.

Dak Prescott threw for 212 yards and three touchdowns, two to CeeDee Lamb, and the Cowboys handed the Eagles their fifth straight loss, 38-21 on Monday night.

The Eagles (2-5) are spiraling into a disaster of a season with their longest skid since 2016.

Javonte Williams ran for a career-high 155 yards and a touchdown for the Cowboys (3-4), who still have realistic designs on an NFC East title. The New York Giants lead the division at 4-2-1, and the Cowboys are the only team with two division victories.

“Come out, get a division win on the road in a hostile environment right before we get to go home for a couple of weeks, I think it was massive,” Prescott said.

Philadelphia lost eight straight games in 2012 and had a seven-game skid in 1994.

Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts is expected to miss the rest of the season because of blood clots in his lungs. McKee provided little encouragement that he can turn the season around, completing 23 of 35 passes for 211 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

Prescott finished long drives with scores that McKee was unable to match. The Eagles are 3-6 without Hurts since he became the starter in 2021.

With Dallas trailing 21-20 late in the third quarter, Lamb hauled in his second TD on a beautiful 16-yard floater from Prescott in the corner of the end zone. Prescott ran in the 2-point conversion for a 28-21 lead.

Brandon Aubrey kicked field goals of 55, 27 and 24 yards. The final kick extended Dallas’ lead to 31-21. Williams capped the scoring and the first 150-yard rushing game by a Dallas player since Ezekiel Elliott in 2018 with a 2-yard TD. The Cowboys finished with 204 yards rushing.

“Javonte, man, the power, the acceleration, it was there tonight. He looked great,” Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said.

Overshown sealed the win with the pick in his first game since he suffered a hamstring injury in Week 1.

“Our division, we're in it,” Overshown said.

Unlike the Eagles.

McKee orchestrated the first Eagles touchdown drive in the third quarter this season when they ran almost 10 minutes off the clock and he hit rookie Makai Lemon for a 4-yard touchdown and a 21-20 lead.

The Eagles didn't score again and are running out of chances to salvage their season.

“Football is going to deal you some tough hands at times,” coach Nick Sirianni said. “Can you get up and keep fighting?”

High-scoring game early

The Cowboys got a field goal on their opening drive, and the Eagles came right back and made it 7-3 on Saquon Barkley’s 8-yard touchdown run. Barkley returned after missing the last two-plus games with a hamstring injury and had 37 yards rushing on the drive.

Barkley entered with 36 yards rushing all season. He still seemed bothered by the hamstring and had to visit the sideline medical tent. Barkley also missed long stretches getting treatment for his back on the sideline and finished with 62 yards on seven carries. The Eagles also played without wideout DeVonta Smith.

Prescott threw touchdown passes of 9 yards to Lamb and 21 yards to George Pickens that helped the Cowboys stretch their lead to 20-14 at halftime. Pickens’ catch was particularly impressive, as he escaped tight coverage by safety Andrew Mukuba in the back of the end zone and dragged his left foot sideways for the score.

“Stuck to the run. Had great balance,” Prescott said. “When you’re able to do that, we should put ourselves in position like this. It was a great environment. We knew we had to win. We came out and got it done.”

Eagles' defense offers little resistance

The Eagles allowed 416 total yards with an average of 6.4 yards per play and 25 first downs. Philadelphia has allowed at least 375 yards in each game of its losing streak.

Lurie is an Eagles Hall of Famer

Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie was inducted into the team's Hall of Fame.

Lurie bought the Eagles on May 6, 1994, and since the turn of the century they have been one of the top franchises in football. The Eagles are one of three teams to play in four Super Bowls since 2004 and have won the only two titles in franchise history under Lurie's ownership.

Lurie was flanked by Eagles Hall of Famers including Brian Dawkins and Donovan McNabb and gave a brief halftime speech. However, unlike other Hall of Fame inductees, Lurie did not hold a pregame news conference. Sirianni remained the only team representative addressing Hurts’ condition since he was injured.

Injuries

Eagles: Kick returner Britain Covey suffered a knee injury in the first quarter.

Up next

Cowboys: Host Arizona on Sunday.

Eagles: At Washington in a Sunday night matchup of struggling NFC East rivals.

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See AP’s full NFL coverage here

Gasser faced the minimum over six dominant innings, pitching the Milwaukee Brewers to the brink of their first championship in a 10-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday night.

He's the first starter to face the minimum over six in a World Series game since Curt Schilling for the Arizona Diamondbacks in Game 7 of the 2001 Fall Classic.

The last lefty to do it was Koufax, a Hall of Famer who spun his gem in Game 5 of the 1965 World Series.

The 27-year-old rookie nicknamed Bobby Diesel allowed a single to Yandy Diaz leading off the game but erased him on Chandler Simpson’s fielder’s choice. Catcher William Contreras then threw out Simpson attempting to steal second after Simpson slid off the bag.

Gasser retired 12 in a row until a leadoff walk to Victor Mesa Jr. in the sixth. Nick Fortes followed with a double-play groundout, and Taylor Walls grounded out to second on Gasser's final pitch.

Gasser, who began the season in Triple-A Nashville, earned the win with six scoreless innings on one hit, one walk and three strikeouts. He is the first Brewers starter this postseason to record an out in the sixth inning.

“It’s a special opportunity that we all have to be here,” Gasser said. "To be nervous or scared would only be cheating myself and my teammates.”

Second baseman Brice Turang, who helped Gasser with three hits and two RBIs, was hardly surprised Gasser kept his cool.

“He’s very chill,” Turang said. “He drives chill, too. He’s really slow at driving. Everything about him is just chill.”

A second-round pick by San Diego in 2021, Gasser joined Milwaukee in a then-maligned deal for All-Star closer Josh Hader in 2022. He made his major league debut in 2024 but had Tommy John surgery on his left elbow after just five starts.

He struggled to regain his form until late in 2026, when he finished the regular season with a 1.67 ERA in his final six appearances.

“A big word is belief,” Gasser said. “I haven’t changed much over the years from mechanics to velocity. I think it always comes down to, ‘Do you believe in yourself?’"

No question, the Brewers believe in him.

Milwaukee has won four straight road postseason games, three of them started by Gasser. That includes five scoreless innings in Game 3 of the NL Championship Series at Dodger Stadium.

Prior to this year, Milwaukee had lost 12 straight postseason road games since 2018, matching the longest skid in major league history set by the Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins from 1925-87.

“He’s been great for us all year, all postseason,” Brewers captain Christian Yelich said. “And he’s got that steady heartbeat. The moment’s never too big for him, and you know when he goes out there, you’re gonna have a great chance to win the game.”

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

The prosecution of Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides, announced Friday, is the latest in a series of splashy and politically charged investigative actions the Justice Department has undertaken in the run-up to next week’s midterm elections.

The case accuses the former officials of falsely playing down their knowledge about a laptop the Justice Department says Hunter Biden abandoned at a computer repair shop in 2019. But beyond that, it represents a Trump administration broadside against a since-disbanded FBI task force that was set up to monitor foreign influence. Congressional Republicans have long criticized the task force, saying it tried to discredit their own investigations into the Biden family.

Defense lawyers are expected to challenge the case at a preliminary hearing Tuesday in Washington's federal court, including by highlighting the unusual fact that the ex-FBI officials were charged via a criminal complaint signed by a magistrate judge rather than an indictment voted on by a grand jury. The Justice Department is thought to have repeatedly struggled in high-profile cases to persuade grand juries in the nation’s capital to return indictments.

It is a very intricate saga

The prosecution, a rare Justice Department criminal case against a former employee, revisits a tangled saga that roiled the final weeks of the 2020 race after the New York Post revealed the existence of a laptop it said had been dropped off by the younger Biden at a Delaware computer repair shop about a year earlier.

The Post said it had obtained a hard drive of the laptop from Rudy Giuliani, a close ally of President Donald Trump, and reported on some of the contents of the computer, including emails that appeared to show some of Hunter Biden's foreign business dealings.

The curious circumstances of the laptop’s discovery raised concerns among Democrats and former intelligence officials about the possibility of Russian involvement, particularly when the Trump administration’s own intelligence community had assessed that Moscow was attempting to undermine the candidacy of Democratic nominee Joe Biden, who went on to defeat Trump in 2020, and as Giuliani had traveled abroad looking for dirt on the Bidens.

But Trump's then-national intelligence director, John Ratcliffe, quickly sought to quell speculation about the laptop's provenance by saying there were no signs it had anything to do with Russian actors. The FBI said it had nothing to add to Ratcliffe's statement and investigated the younger Biden on gun and tax charges that later resulted in felony convictions. President Joe Biden pardoned his son in late 2024.

The accused led the Foreign Influence Task Force

The FBI officials under scrutiny, Floris and Benavides, were leaders of the Foreign Influence Task Force, which was established in the first Trump administration to police influence campaigns staged by Russia and other nations aimed at sowing discord, undermining democracy and spreading disinformation.

In that capacity, the FBI officials briefed Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson in August 2020 as the lawmakers were doing their own investigation into Hunter Biden’s work in Ukraine. News of the briefing leaked, and the senators lashed out at the FBI, saying their efforts to scrutinize the Biden family had been discredited and falsely linked to Russian disinformation.

The criminal complaint accuses them of lying to lawmakers in 2023 by denying contemporaneous knowledge of the Biden laptop or participating in internal FBI conversations about it. Their lawyers have denied any allegations of wrongdoing.

The task force was disbanded in February 2025 by then-Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Vassell teamed up with Dick’s Sporting Goods to provide shoes for the school’s varsity basketball teams. The players could hardly wait to try them on after the surprise was revealed.

The Spurs guard also presented a $10,000 check to Harlandale’s athletic department, saying the visit was about more than basketball.

🥹🥹 I’m glad I was able to make a positive impact! Hope u guys enjoy the shoes and have a great season! GSG🖤🤍

— Devin Vassell (@Yvngdevo) October 27, 2026

Vassell said he remembers what it meant when professional athletes gave back to young players when he was in high school.

“I remember I had a guy named Zach Graham who played in the league for about a year or two. He used to have basketball camps back at my high school and he used to just give a lot of knowledge and help us out,” Vassell said. “It was just super important that he was able to do that, and I’m trying to do that to the next generation.”

For Harlandale girls basketball sophomore center Perla Valenzuela, the moment was especially meaningful. She said she has been a Spurs fan since she was 8 years old and was excited to meet one of the players she watches.

“I just feel very ecstatic. He’s one of the people that I go watch,” Valenzuela said. “I love the Spurs.”

Valenzuela said the gift also carried a deeper meaning for students and families on the South Side.

“Some of our parents can’t afford this, so getting this gift is a big thing,” she said. “Because we’re from the South Side, we’re supposed to be the poor neighborhood, so him giving back, it just inspires me to do better with my life.”

Ethan De La Rosa, a junior point guard on the boys basketball team, said he was caught off guard by the visit.

“I was shocked. I did not know that this was going to happen,” De La Rosa said. “I was not expecting to see an NBA player here at school, and to get shoes from him was a great experience.”

Vassell’s visit resonated across campus and highlighted the connection between the Spurs and the South Side, a community known for passionately supporting the team.

“I’ve been blessed in this position to be able to give back, and I feel like it’s just a calling for me and my family to be able to give back to certain communities,” Vassell said. “I want to be able to impact everybody. The game is bigger than just basketball.”

Read also:

• NBA GMs pick Spurs to win 2027 championship, Harper as breakout player

U.S. futures edged higher and oil prices extended losses.

South Korea’s Kospi jumped more than 4% and was trading 3.6% higher at 5,667.99 by midday. Computer chipmaker SK Hynix surged 7% and Samsung Electronics gained 4.8%.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 added 2.2% to 63,542.77. Testing equipment maker Advantest jumped more than 10% and OpenAI investor SoftBank Group climbed 7%.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gave up early gains, slipping 0.2% to 23,174.44, while the Shanghai Composite edged 0.1% lower to 3,692.58.

Traders were watching for any major announcements from a closed-door high level meeting, or plenum, of China's ruling Communist Party.

Taiwan’s Taiex rose 0.5%.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.3% to 8,838.10.

On Monday, the S&P 500 rose 0.7% and more than recovered its losses from last week, pulling within 1.8% of its all-time high set earlier this month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.3%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.8%.

The strongest lift for the market came from Nvidia, which rose 2.4%. That helped the chip company recover some of its drop from three straight losing weeks, its longest such streak since June.

But stocks elsewhere in the artificial-intelligence industry remained unsettled. They’ve been swerving on worries about whether their industry’s boom is under threat because of how expensive it’s become for companies to borrow money to build data centers and buy more AI chips.

Meta Platforms bounced up and down after outlining plans to raise $35 billion by selling stock to help pay for its AI investments. It also said Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices and Broadcom have already indicated they may buy a total of $5 billion of stock in its offering.

Anthropic, one of the key players of the AI boom, gave details Monday about how much money it’s losing as it prepares to sell its stock on the publicly traded U.S. market for the first time.

SpaceX, Elon Musk’s rocket company that also runs the xAI business, had similar swings after it announced a roughly $40 billion deal with an entity managed by Apollo Global Management to lease AI computing power.

Profit reports from huge tech companies this week could offer more details about how spending on AI is going, and whether it’s producing the profits and productivity that proponents promised.

Alphabet and Microsoft will report their latest quarterly results on Wednesday, with Amazon to follow on Thursday.

Roughly one out of every three stocks in the S&P 500 is scheduled to report its latest quarterly results this week.

In stock markets abroad, Brazilian stocks fell sharply after President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won reelection in a result that surprised investors. They worry he could increase government spending and put more pressure on the country's debt. The Bovespa stock index in Brazil dropped roughly 14%.

In the U.S. bond market, yields fell for longer-term Treasurys. The yield on the 10-year Treasury eased to 4.98% from 5.00% late Friday.

The two-year Treasury yield rose to 4.71% from 4.69% late Friday. It more closely tracks expectations for what the Federal Reserve will do with overnight interest rates, and the widespread expectation is that it will wrap up its latest meeting Wednesday without changing the federal funds rate.

The Fed last month hiked the fed funds rate for the first time in three years in hopes of slowing inflation, which has remained much higher than anyone would like.

In other dealings early Tuesday, Brent crude oil, the international standard, fell 0.8% to $109.82 a barrel. U.S. benchmark crude also dropped 0.8%, to $100.93 per barrel.

The dollar rose to 157.65 Japanese yen from 157.50 yen. The euro slipped to $1.1173 from $1.1176.

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AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed to this report.

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes issued a preliminary injunction that temporarily bars the government from removing or damaging any additional trees on the East Potomac Golf Course. The administration must give 10 days’ notice in writing before making any "irreparable modification” to any “forms or features” of the course while the lawsuit is active.

“The Court earlier stated, ‘I am not the Lorax. I do not speak for the trees.’ The Court still does not speak for the trees. It speaks only for the rule of law,” Reyes wrote.

Reyes expressed astonishment that the government has asked her to “not to believe the sitting President” and disregard Trump’s statements about his plans for the golf course renovations.

“This started as a case about golf. That good walk spoiled. But it has become much more,” Reyes wrote. “It now forces the Court to reconcile assertions by President Donald J. Trump with the sworn testimony of multiple government employees and the argument of senior Department of Justice attorneys.”

On Oct. 18, Trump announced plans on social media to close the golf course for 15 months, starting Nov. 15, and redevelop the 106-year-old park and course despite a court challenge by the D.C. Preservation League and two golfers. A day later, Trump posted that the work would start immediately.

Reyes, who was nominated to the bench by Democratic President Joe Biden, previously ordered the administration to suspend work on the project until at least Oct. 26.

Trump was asked about the case late Monday night as he arrived back at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland following a rally in Mississippi and indicated that work on the golf course will proceed as planned.

“It has the go-ahead. The judge feels that she would like to approve it as it goes along. And I didn’t know she was an architectural critic of golf courses,” Trump said sarcastically.

He added of the judge: “She knows nothing about that, so we’ll appeal that” while also calling his planned overhaul a “beautiful project for Washington, D.C.”

Trump later in a social media post reiterated a statement he made Oct. 18 that the course would close for 15 months. “We are closing the East Potomac Golf Course Site as scheduled on November 15th in order to renovate and rebuild for Competitive (with other such projects!), Safety, Modernization, and Aesthetic reasons," he wrote.

The plaintiffs challenging the project, DC Preservation League and two golfers, claim the work is inflicting irreversible damage. At a hearing, the judge excoriated the government after workers cut down at least 400 trees over a holiday weekend with little notice to the plaintiffs.

The course renovation project is part of the Republican president’s aggressive campaign to leave his personal imprint on Washington’s historic landscape. Those plans include construction of a huge ballroom at the White House, a massive arch and the creation of a National Garden of American Heroes in West Potomac Park. DC Preservation League is part of a coalition of organizations, including the Cultural Landscape Foundation and one D.C. resident, who have filed lawsuit challenging those plans.

Reyes rejected the administration’s request for her to recuse herself from the case. The government questioned her impartiality and accused her of engaging in “egregious” behavior from the bench during an emergency hearing in the case.

In Monday's ruling Reyes stressed that she had hoped the parties could have resolved their dispute without judicial intervention. She noted that she had denied plaintiffs’ previous requests.

“The Court would much prefer not to have to resolve Lorax v. Once‑ler redux. Indeed, for months, the Court declined to intervene,” she wrote.

But she said the government forced her hand by bulldozing hundreds of trees without any notice, doing “what it assured all it would not do.”

Reyes quoted from a golf-related opinion written by the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, a conservative icon, in stressing the temporary nature of her own decision.

“Here, golf and government have again clashed,” Reyes wrote. “By issuing this preliminary injunction, the Court does not end the round: it simply marks the ball until the parties can fully and fairly litigate this case.

Democracy Forward President & CEO Skye Perryman, whose organization is co-counsel representing the plaintiffs, called the ruling “a big win that will rightly protect East Potomac Park from further irreparable harm.” She added, in an email, that the move will stop activities “while the case continues, and we are eager to argue the case in court.”

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An earlier version of this story incorrectly referred to Perryman as “he.” This version corrects her identity to “she.”

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Associated Press reporters Gary Fields and Will Weissert contributed.

Hours before that discussion began, community members and advocates gathered outside Balcones Heights City Hall on Monday evening, urging city leaders to reconsider the city’s participation.

The demonstration included Rebecca Flores, who leads the Bexar County Democratic Party’s Immigration Committee, Texas Sen. Jose Menendez and dozens of other community members outside the building on Hillcrest Drive.

The gathering follows an August call to action from state and federal lawmakers who urged six Bexar County cities to reconsider their partnership of the 287(g) agreements with ICE. Balcones Heights was among the cities named, along with China Grove, Hollywood Park, St. Hedwig, Sandy Oaks and Von Ormy.

Under the 287(g) Task Force Model, trained and authorized local officers can perform certain immigration enforcement duties while carrying out routine police work, under ICE oversight. ICE said the program is intended to strengthen cooperation between federal immigration authorities and local law enforcement.

Flores said she worries the agreement could affect residents’ trust in local police, particularly among people who fear being questioned about their immigration status.

“This is so harmful to their community,” Flores told KSAT during an interview. “Eighty percent of the people that live here in Balcones Heights are minority.”

Flores also expressed concern about immigration detention and the potential effects on families.

Menendez also called on city leaders to end the agreement, arguing that it could discourage people from visiting businesses or reporting crimes.

“I think it’s going to really be a huge deterrent,” Menendez said. “I think it’s a mistake. I think they should stop.”

Menendez’s office is located at Wonderland of the Americas, a property owned by the city of Balcones Heights. He said he may reconsider his lease if the city continues with the agreement.

“I cannot be in a city that allows its law enforcement to become immigration officers,” Menendez said.

The financial incentives available to participating agencies were another concern raised during the demonstration.

According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, eligible agencies participating in the 287(g) program may qualify for reimbursement for certain officer salaries, benefits and overtime, along with equipment and technology stipends. The funding available depends on program requirements and qualifying enforcement activities.

Adam Castillo, a resident advocate, said he hopes city leaders will weigh the community’s concerns when considering the financial benefits.

“Hopefully the council will listen to us and side with us instead of the money,” Castillo said.

Other community members also spoke during the City Council meeting, echoing the words of Flores and Menendez.

KSAT attempted to speak with the Balcones Heights mayor and other City Council members during Monday evening’s meeting but was unable to do so. We also requested a written statement from the City of Balcones Heights.

Our newsroom also reached out to the six Bexar County cities identified in the August appeal. As of Monday evening, their decisions to work with federal immigration authorities had not changed.

A request for response was also submitted to U.S. Reps. Marc LaHood, Carrie Isaac, and Chip Roy during the August call to action and prior to Monday night’s council discussion. Our team has not heard back from their offices.

The debate continues over how local police should work with federal immigration authorities and how those partnerships affect public safety, community trust and local resources.

For more information, visit ICE’s 287(g) program page or read KSAT’s previous report on the lawmakers’ request.

The Fed's Oct. 27-28 meeting will be the fourth of Chairman Kevin Warsh's tenure, which has been marked by questions regarding his independence from President Donald Trump, who appointed him earlier this year. It also comes just six days before midterm elections that have been shaped by affordability concerns as gas prices have soared and grocery prices remain elevated.

High mortgage rates have become another elevated cost for consumers, with the average 30-year mortgage reaching a three-year high of 7.4% earlier this month before slipping last week to 7.32%. A year ago, the rate was just under 6.2%. Oxford Economics estimates that the sharp increases this year has put home buying out of reach for another 5 million households. Further rate hikes by the Fed could push mortgage rates even higher.

With all those moving parts, here's what to watch for from the Fed's meeting:

Slim chance of a rate hike

After inflation came in hotter than expected last month, Wall Street investors and some economists expected the Fed to lift rates at Wednesday’s meeting by a quarter-point, to about 4.1%. The Fed is charged with combatting inflation, and typically seeks to cool spending and bring down inflation by boosting borrowing costs.

Yet several top officials on the Fed’s rate-setting committee in speeches downplayed the likelihood of a rate hike in October. Investors now see almost no chance of an increase in the Fed's rate, currently at about 3.9%, according to futures prices.

Philip Jefferson, vice chair of the Fed's board of governors, noted that longer-term interest rates had shot higher in financial markets and added that, “my colleagues and I will need to come to our own judgment, which may take more time.”

Joseph LaVorgna, chief economist at SMBC Americas and a former top Trump administration official, said that the central bank will hold back just before the election.

“The Fed doesn't want to poke the White House in the eye six days before an election,” LaVorgna said.

Forward guidance — or not

The comments from Jefferson and others raise questions about one of Warsh’s signature initiatives: His disdain for so-called “forward guidance,” a term for the clear signals about the central bank's next moves provided by previous chairs. Warsh has said that such direction commits the Fed to a specific path and limits its ability to respond to economic data.

Yet the speeches this month by top officials appeared to some economists to be very much like forward guidance — just not from the chairman.

“Either he blessed this message from them and he was on board, in which case, one would have to question the credibility of this idea that that he doesn’t like forward guidance,” said Aditya Bhave, head of U.S. economics research at Bank of America. “But the other possibility is that he wasn't on board."

In that case, Warsh could implement a surprise rate hike, which would “end forward guidance by showing markets that they can’t listen to the guidance anymore."

Still, most economists see the odds of a hike as quite low.

Sizing up Warsh's independence

At the Fed's last meeting in September, Warsh defied Trump's preferences and raised rates, a step that defied concerns that the new Fed chair would turn out to be, in the words of Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, “a sock puppet” for the president.

Trump had said before choosing Warsh in January of this year that he would only pick a Fed chair who would cut rates.

James Knightley, chief international economist for Netherlands-based bank ING, said that September's rate hike, in defiance of the White House, largely assuaged those concerns.

“So far I think the markets have been encouraged by what they've seen,” Knightley said.

Yet since the September meeting, Trump has renewed his efforts to fire Fed governor Lisa Cook. If he is successful, it would open up another slot on the Fed's board for Trump to fill. The Supreme Court in June blocked an earlier attempt to remove her.

Trump also said after last month's Fed meeting that he had called Warsh beforehand and told him he “might as well” vote to raise rates because other officials on the rate-setting committee had publicly called for a hike. Trump said the committee is “hostile” and “political.”

Warsh declined at last month's news conference to comment on any communications with Trump, despite news reports that he has spoken often with the president. With the scope of Warsh's communications with Trump unclear, Derek Tang, an economist at Monetary Policy Analytics, said, “I think there is still a question mark there” regarding the chairman's independence.

Warsh's characterization of inflation

Inflation has come in hotter than most economists expected for two months in a row, heightening concerns that gas price spikes could raise costs across the economy. Diesel fuel reached an all-time high of $6.53 in late September, and has only fallen to $6.35 since then.

High diesel costs raise the price of shipping all sorts of goods, including groceries, cars, and nearly everything else. Businesses could then pass on the costs to consumers, spreading inflation to more parts of the economy.

Bhave notes that inflation hasn't been at the Fed's target of a 2% annual rate for a single calendar quarter since the final three months of 2020 — nearly six years ago.

If Warsh reiterates some of what he's said before — that inflation is too high, and the Fed intends to return it to 2% in a “timelier” fashion — economists and investors will see such comments as a sign the Fed will likely hike rates at its next meeting in December.

Signs of dissent

The Fed's September decision to lift rates was unanimous. Many Fed watchers, however, expect there could be two or even three dissents among the 12 officials who vote on rates. Beth Hammack, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, and Lorie Logan, president of the Dallas Fed, are considered the most likely to vote in favor of a rate hike this week.

Both have expressed concerns that the Fed's key rate isn't high enough to slow the economy and cool inflation.

Ironically, dissents could help Warsh and the Fed, some economists say, by illustrating that there is still support for higher rates on the committee.

Five professional leagues in North America were in action at the same time on Monday night, a phenomenon known as a sports equinox.

Major League Baseball and the NFL vied for the most viewers while the NBA, WNBA and NHL gave their diehard fans games to watch.

Monday marked the 33rd sports equinox, the first since Oct. 27, 2025, and the fourth instance with women's professional basketball included, according to Sportradar.

Here's a guide on how to sample a little bit of this and that in the sports smorgasbord:

World Series Game 3 becomes a rout

The Tampa Bay Rays hosted the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 3 of the World Series, with the game starting shortly after 8 p.m. EDT on Fox. After the Brewers won the first two games by one run, they scored eight with two outs in the fifth inning on the way to winning 10-1, with Brandon Woodruff finishing it off on the mound.

Milwaukee is one victory away from the franchise's first championship in nearly six decades of existence. Game 4 is Tuesday night.

Cowboys beat the Eagles on ‘Monday Night Football’

Even though the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys entered with 2-4 records, the NFL always draws a lot of interest and millions care about the NFC East matchup that kicked off at 8:15 p.m. on ESPN.

With quarterback Jalen Hurts on injured reserve because of blood clots, the reeling Eagles continued their free fall. Dak Prescott threw for three touchdowns, Javonte Williams ran for 155 yards and the Cowboys rolled to a 38-21 win.

Cooper Flagg returns in NBA action

Reigning NBA Rookie of the Year Cooper Flagg and Kyrie Irving returned to the Dallas Mavericks' lineup for their game at the Miami Heat. That game tipped off at 7:30 p.m. on NBA TV, well before baseball and football got underway.

Flagg dominated with 29 points and 11 assists as the Mavs sent the Heat to an 0-4 start.

In the middle of the World Series and “Monday Night Football,” the NBA had Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors visiting Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets at 10 p.m. on NBCSN and Peacock.

Valkyries take WNBA Finals lead

The WNBA was vying for eyeballs against MLB, the NFL, NBA and NHL for the first time since 2000, when the league did it three times in September of that year.

The Golden State Valkyries hosted Angel Reese and the Atlanta Dream in Game 5 of the Finals at 8 p.m. on USA Network, CNBC and Peacock. With the best-of-seven series tied at two games apiece, the Valkyries won 64-55 to move one win away from their first title in their second season.

Game 6 is Thursday in Atlanta.

Stars shine around the NHL

The NHL had some of its top scorers skating in three games.

The New York Rangers and Los Angeles Kings were on the ice at Madison Square Garden in a game that started at 7 p.m. on NHL Network. The Kings scored three times and chased Rangers goaltender James Reimer before either baseball or football started.

In a game that started at 8:30 on ESPN+, Toronto lost 5-2 at Calgary but not before captain Auston Matthews became the second-fastest U.S.-born player to reach 800 career points, doing so in 703 games.

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See AP’s full sports coverage here

The allegations from the Justice Department were revealed Monday in newly unsealed court documents that shed light on a closed-door fight that represents an unmistakable escalation in the administration's targeting of Comey, a longtime critic and foe of President Donald Trump who has faced two other criminal cases since the Republican returned to the White House last year.

The effort to prosecute Comey is also part of a series of politically charged investigative actions the department has undertaken in the run-up to next week's midterm elections.

“Well, they’re back — again,” Comey said in a video statement Monday. “It would almost be funny if it weren't such an appalling abuse of the Department of Justice — one that we cannot become numb to. Nothing’s changed with me; I’m still innocent, I’m still not afraid of these people — and I still believe in the independent federal judiciary.”

The Justice Department said it had filed what's known as a “criminal information” to extend the statute of limitations for charges in the case.

"Filing a criminal information to toll the statute of limitations is a widely recognized practice in federal court and has been approved by multiple Circuit Courts of Appeals. This is an ongoing criminal investigation, and we will not comment further,” a department spokesperson said.

Asked about the Comey case, Trump told reporters upon arriving back to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland late Monday following his rally in Mississippi that “I don’t know much about it. I just heard about it.”

He added, “He’s a dirty cop, James Comey. But I know nothing about it.”

An information can be filed without the approval of a judge or a grand jury's finding of probable cause to a court. Comey’s lawyers made clear that they intend to fight the charges as invalid because the Justice Department did not file an indictment, which must be voted on by a grand jury, inside the 10-year statute of limitations required under the law.

“For the third time in little more than one year, the Department of Justice has attempted to charge Mr. Comey with a federal crime. Mr. Comey steadfastly maintains his innocence,” his attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald, said in a statement.

The allegation was previously investigated

The latest allegation concerns an October 2016 New York Times story related to a secret court order that required Yahoo to scan emails for messages potentially linked to a foreign terrorist organization. The story cited two government officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity about the order from a judge on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that Yahoo was barred from publicly disclosing.

Federal authorities, including prosecutor John Durham, began investigating the disclosure in early 2017. Durham, who later investigated the FBI's conduct as it scrutinized potential ties between Russia and Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, wrote a classified memo in December 2018 recommending no criminal charges against anyone in connection with the disclosure, Comey’s attorneys said in a recent court filing.

In January 2019, the U.S. Attorney’s office for the District of Columbia opened a second investigation of the same matter under the code name “Tropical Vortex.” But that investigation was closed without any charges filed in February 2020.

“Both times the Government determined that no charges should be brought against anyone. Now, ten years after the article was published, the Government filed an “Information” against Mr. Comey that was not approved by a judge nor issued by a grand jury. It purports to charge Mr. Comey with crimes that he did not commit,” Fitzgerald said.

Prosecutors in a newly unsealed filing said investigators found evidence that Comey “sought to correct misinformation which had appeared in the press by way of Reuters the day before” that New York Times story was published, directed his staff to speak to a journalist at the newspaper related to accuracy concerns “and thereby illegally transferred classified information.”

The criminal information was filed under seal on Oct. 5, 10 years after the 2016 story was published. “But,” Comey's lawyers said, “the applicable statute of limitations explicitly demands an indictment within 10 years of the offense; an information does not suffice.”

They have asked a judge to dismiss the information, a request that is still pending.

Trump and Comey have a long and uneasy history

The first criminal case against Comey, filed in federal court in Virginia, accused him of having lied to Congress in 2020 but was dismissed by a judge who concluded that the prosecutor who brought the charges was illegally appointed. A separate pending indictment charges the former FBI director with threatening Trump through an Instagram photo of seashells in the numerical arrangement of “86 47,” a case Comey has sought to dismiss.

The prosecutions are part of a Trump retribution campaign that has even extended to Comey's daughter, Maurene, who was fired from her job as a Justice Department prosecutor in New York last year in a termination that a federal judge on Monday ruled was illegal.

Comey was the FBI director when Trump took office in 2017, having been appointed by then-President Barack Obama, a Democrat, and serving before that as a senior Justice Department official in President George W. Bush’s Republican administration.

But the relationship was strained from the start, including after Comey resisted a request by Trump at a private dinner to pledge his personal loyalty to the president -- an overture that so unnerved the FBI director that he documented it in a contemporaneous memorandum.

Trump fired Comey in May 2017 amid an FBI investigation into potential ties between Russia and Trump’s campaign. That inquiry, later taken over by special counsel Robert Mueller, found that while Russia interfered in the 2016 election and the Trump team welcomed the help, there was insufficient evidence to prove a criminal collaboration.

The two men have been bitterly at odds ever since Comey's firing.

Comey in 2018 published a memoir, “A Higher Loyalty,” that painted Trump in deeply unflattering ways, likening him to a mafia don and characterizing him as “untethered to truth.” Trump, for his part, has repeatedly claimed that Comey should face charges for “treason” — an accusation Comey dismissed as “dumb lies” — and called him an “untruthful slime ball.”

The Justice Department has made a series of splashy moves in recent weeks , including a criminal complaint last Friday charging two former FBI officials with lying to Congress about their participation in investigations concerning Hunter Biden, and the search by federal agents of the Washington home of Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.

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Associated Press writer Will Weissert contributed to this report.

Moore has not played since getting concussed on a late hit at Southern California in late September. He resumed practicing earlier this month but remained in the concussion protocol.

“I'm not anticipating him being back, no,” Lanning said during his weekly news conference in Eugene.

Moore returned to school as a senior instead of declaring for the NFL draft when he could have been a top-10 pick. The Ducks were ranked No. 2 in the AP Top 25 ahead of this season and Moore was considered a candidate for the Heisman Trophy; they are now 4-3 and unranked.

Moore, 21, threw for 926 yards and nine touchdowns with no interceptions in four games this season.

“I think if it was up to Dante in any shape, way, he would want to be out there playing for the guys. But unfortunately, it’s not really up to Dante. It’s not really up to me,” Lanning said. “We can control the setting at practice where he’s able to do things for us, where that’s not always the case in the game. And you know, we said before that this is a serious deal that he’ll 100 percent be able to make a full recovery from. That hasn’t changed, definitely feel that way. But for him to be out there on the field for us right now, that’s not going to happen.”

Lanning declined to speculate about whether Moore might return to Oregon next season.

“We’d love to have Dante out there. He’s still going to be a big part of this team and helping us move forward, finding opportunities for us to be better. I can tell you, we’re getting one of the best scout team quarterback looks every single week in practice, and he looks good out there,” Lanning said.

Moore threw for 3,565 yards, with 30 touchdowns and 10 interceptions last season. Oregon had just one loss in the regular season, at home to Indiana, before losing to the Hoosiers again in the College Football Playoff semifinals.

A five-star recruit, Moore started five games for UCLA as a freshman, throwing for 1,610 yards with 11 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He transferred to Oregon and spent 2024 as Dillon Gabriel’s backup, eventually taking a redshirt.

Dylan Raiola took over for Moore against the Trojans, throwing for 289 yards and two touchdowns in a 41-27 victory. But Raiola, who previously started two seasons at Nebraska, struggled in a 17-15 loss to UCLA, completing 6 of 19 passes for 43 yards with two interceptions.

Third-stringer Brock Turner started the next week against Nebraska, but he was ineffective. Raiola relieved him and found Jamari Johnson for a 4-yard scoring pass with 28 seconds left that gave Oregon a 17-14 win.

Raiola was 27 of 41 for 246 yards last Saturday in a 21-10 loss at Illinois, which effectively ended the Ducks’ hopes for a playoff berth. The next day, Oregon fired offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer.

The Ducks host No. 20 Northwestern on Saturday.

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Sign up for Top 25 poll alerts here. Visit the Top 25 here and see AP’s full college football coverage here.

“I'm here because Cindy’s doing great, but I just got to make sure. I can’t take a chance,” Trump told the crowd, his voice audibly hoarse, as he worked to boost Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, who is facing a surprisingly stiff challenge from Democrat Scott Colom.

Colom was spotted at the rally site, too, creating the rare spectacle of Trump's staunchest supporters interacting directly with a figure the president would soon go on to denigrate as a “Marxist radical” and “fake" and “shameless phony who pretends to be a moderate” from the stage.

Mississippi, among the nation’s most reliably Republican states, is not where the Republicans envisioned needing a late-October stop from the president. But Colom is one of many Democratic underdogs who have managed to expand the House and Senate battleground maps because of widespread voter discontent over inflation, the Iran war and other aspects of Trump’s second presidency.

He said he had planned to go to the rally site to listen to what was on Trump supporters' minds.

"They actually deserve a senator that will listen to them, that actually cares about what they think, actually cares about what they’re going through,” Colom said ahead of the president's arrival.

Trump's event kicks off a week of aggressive campaigning that will include more stops in states he won comfortably in 2024, including Texas, South Carolina and Iowa. Trump also plans to hold a rally Saturday in Salina, Kansas, officials announced late Monday, marking his second visit to the state in less than two weeks.

Democrats, including progressives, are expanding their efforts

Top Democratic candidates and their surrogates were also greeting voters — more than 30 million of whom have already cast ballots, according to data collected by The Associated Press from election administrators across the country — as they try to end Republicans' threadbare majority in the House, reclaim control of the Senate and claw back power in state capitals.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris, Democrats' 2024 presidential candidate, campaigned in Wisconsin with Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, who faces Rep. Tom Tiffany, a Trump ally, in the governor's race. If elected, Crowley would be the first Black governor to lead the battleground state.

“This is a tight race because the stakes are so high,” Harris said at an event billed as a “Women for Crowley” rally.

Meanwhile, in Michigan, Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed distanced himself from an ad created by a group called Rebellion PAC that blames high grocery prices on U.S. support for Israel.

“This ad is not affiliated in any way with the Abdul for Senate campaign,” a spokesperson for El-Sayed, Roxie Richner, said in a statement about the spot, which features a couple discussing U.S. support for Israel as they shop for groceries.

“Apparently it’s costing us a lot of money to drop bombs on Gaza,” the woman says.

The ad had been condemned by U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, who narrowly lost to El-Sayed in the Democratic primary.

The way to win Michigan “is not by blaming the high costs of our goods on the only Jewish homeland in the world,” Stevens wrote on X.

El-Sayed, who would be the country’s first Muslim senator, has denounced antisemitism while fiercely criticizing Israel for its military operations in Gaza — a position that has been a frequent point of attack for both Republicans and supporters of Israel in his party.

Vance campaigning in other Republican states

Vice President JD Vance returned to Kansas to stump for Sen. Roger Marshall, who finds himself in a tight contest with Democratic nominee and pastor Adam Hamilton. Hundreds of people were gathered inside the warehouse of a steel-fabricating company in north Topeka in a state where Democrats haven’t won a Senate race since 1932.

Marshall, who has raised far less money than Hamilton, told the crowd that Trump is on the ballot, even if his name doesn’t appear, because of how Democrats will thwart his agenda if they win control of Congress.

“Democrats are coming out like it’s a presidential year,” he said, calling on the GOP to match Democrats’ energy.

Jace Sullivan, a 50-year-old electrician from Topeka who describes himself as “85% Republican,” said Trump supporters need to “circle the wagons” and get out to vote.

Wearing a red “JD Vance for President 2028" shirt, he said he thinks Trump is rightly working to keep Iran from getting nuclear weapons.

“Gas prices are high and it does suck, but it’s a means to an end,” Sullivan said.

Trump, at the Mississippi rally, said he had, in fact, expected gas prices to rise even higher than they had.

“It worked out fine and it’ll be over soon,” he said of the war with Iran.

Earlier, Vance was in Belgrade, Montana, to campaign with Republican Aaron Flint, who is facing Democrat Sam Forstag in the race for the state’s 1st Congressional District, and Republican Senate candidate Kurt Alme.

Despite the visits to ruby red states, Sen. Tim Scott, who serves as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, told The Associated Press Monday that GOP candidates are “closing very strongly” in races across the country, including South Carolina, which Trump is set to visit for the second time in as many weeks to stump for GOP Sen. Darline Graham.

“One of the reasons why we will be in the majority is because he has invested the time and the energy on the campaign trail,” Scott said on the sidelines of U.S. Rep. Russell Fry’s 3rd Annual Freedom Fry event.

Trump to rally in another reliably Republican state

But it's Trump's visit to Mississippi that perhaps brings the midterm landscape into the sharpest relief with just a week of campaigning left.

To be sure, Hyde-Smith, who is vying for her second full term, remains the favorite in a state Trump won three times by an average of nearly 20 percentage points.

But Colom, a local prosecutor who would make history as Mississippi's first Black senator since post-Civil War Reconstruction, is looking to parlay inflation, Trump's lagging popularity and Hyde-Smith's mistakes into an upset.

Senate Democrats’ super PAC has been a late entry in the contest, with a $1.2 million investment. Mississippians have not chosen a new Democratic senator since 1947, and Democrats last won a Senate race there when that senator, the onetime segregationist John Stennis, won his last reelection in 1982.

In New York, meanwhile, one of the party’s most vulnerable House members pulled from Trump’s campaign playbook. Rep. Mike Lawler, who is in a tight race with Democrat Cait Conley in New York City’s northern suburbs, manned a McDonald’s drive-thru — mimicking something Trump did two years ago, even as Lawler has tried to emphasize his independence from the president.

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Barrow reported from Atlanta and Colvin from New York. Associated Press reporters John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas; Meg Kinnard in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; Laura Turbay in St. Paul, Minnesota; Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix; Seung Min Kim in Belgrade, Montana, and Anthony Izaguirre in New York contributed.

• TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY: Spotty rain, not much accumulation
• THURSDAY/FRIDAY RAIN: Our best shot at rainfall
• • IMPORTANT: More rain west of SA, less rain east.
  • FLOOD RISK: Low
• HALLOWEEN: A 20% chance for rain, but likely staying dry and comfortable for trick-or-treating

FORECAST

A more active pattern takes shape this week. In a general sense, expect a steady dose of cloud cover and several opportunities for rain.

TUESDAY SHOWERS

Spotty showers possible at any point tonight through Tuesday, but the showers will be isolated (30%). Stray showers are possible again Wednesday, but Thursday and Friday is our best shot at rain.

MORE CHANCES THURSDAY & FRIDAY

Another disturbance will combine forces with the leftover energy and moisture from (Pacific) Tropical Storm Vance Thursday into Friday. The best chances for more significant rainfall will be west of I-35, however, San Antonio’s rain chances do increase late Thursday into the day Friday. A combination of clouds and rain should keep temperatures down.

HALLOWEEN FORECAST

As for Halloween, there’s only a very small 20% chance for rain. So, conditions are looking comfortable, with temperatures in the 70s.

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• Hourly and 10-Day Forecast
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The University of New Mexico Health System told people not to show up at its main hospital in Albuquerque and canceled appointments at its more than 30 clinics. It said it was working to resolve the issue, the extent and nature of which was not immediately clear.

The hospital network conducts about 900,000 outpatient visits and receives 100,000 emergency room visits each year, according to its website. It operates the state’s only Level 1 trauma center.

Presbyterian Healthcare Services and Lovelace Health System, two other major healthcare providers in New Mexico, said they were coordinating with the UNM Health System, including taking additional patients.

The UNM Health System said in a statement that its hospitals and clinics began resuming operations in phases later in the day.

Multiple UNM Health System employees said they heard messages across their computers while working late Monday morning that claimed to have stolen student and employee data and patient information.

A spokesperson for the health system wouldn't comment, saying that the incident remains an active law enforcement investigation. FBI spokesperson Margot Cravens in Albuquerque said the agency was “assisting our partner” but declined further comment.

The Associated Press left emails and phone messages seeking comment from the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office and the Albuquerque Police Department.

The incident comes amid growing concern about the security of digital systems that underpin essential services, from banking to medical care.

Incidents affecting hospitals, including demands for ransom, have been going on for a decade, said Josephine Wolff, a professor of cybersecurity policy at Tufts University.

Breaching a system to play a message on computers is pretty unusual, Wolff said. Monday's incident, she said, shows "how much work we still have to do to get better at defending ourselves.”

On Monday afternoon, at the main entrance to its Albuquerque hospital, employees in turquoise staff shirts sat on chairs that blocked the waiting room and told patients their appointments might be canceled.

At a medical center in the Albuquerque suburb of Rio Rancho, two security guards at the entrance told patients arriving for appointments to reschedule.

UNM's Health Sciences Center, the state's largest academic medical center, canceled classes Monday and Tuesday. Employees in its hospital and medical group were expected back at work Tuesday.

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Yu reported from Phoenix. Associated Press writer Susan Montoya Bryan contributed from Rio Rancho, New Mexico.

The NFL, Apple Music and Roc Nation announced Monday night that Jay-Z will be the featured performer for the halftime festivities on Feb. 14 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said he had one request when the league first reached an agreement with Roc Nation: that Jay-Z take the stage himself “whenever the moment felt right to him.”

“From ‘Reasonable Doubt’ to standing on the Super Bowl halftime stage, this has been a journey,” Jay-Z said in a statement. “Thirty years of music, work, and culture on the world’s biggest stage. This run continues to be a dream come true.”

After days of speculation, Jay-Z is set to return to the stadium where he closed his celebration of the 30th anniversary of “Reasonable Doubt,” the mogul's 1996 debut album. The concerts included three sold-out shows at Yankee Stadium and sold-out performances in London and Paris ahead of a stop at SoFi Stadium over the weekend.

Jay-Z’s Roc Nation has partnered with the NFL since 2019 to advise on and help produce the league’s entertainment presentations, including the Super Bowl halftime show. At the time, Jay-Z said he had told Goodell, “If this is about me performing at the Super Bowl, then we can just end this conversation now.”

Seven years later, Jay-Z is ready to perform after all.

Jay-Z, born Shawn Carter, has won 25 Grammy Awards and received 89 nominations, the second-most in history behind his wife, Beyoncé — who has performed at two Super Bowls. His catalog also includes the albums “The Blueprint” and “The Black Album,” and hit songs such as “Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem),” “99 Problems” and “Empire State of Mind,” his collaboration with Alicia Keys.

Last year, “Reasonable Doubt” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

His recent concerts brought out a rotating cast of guests. At SoFi Stadium, his daughter Blue Ivy played piano on “The Story of O.J.” and “Dead Presidents,” while Scarface, John Legend and DJ Khaled joined him on opening night. Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and Too $hort appeared during Saturday’s finale.

Earlier in the run, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Eminem and Nas were among the guests at Yankee Stadium.

Jay-Z has built a career as an executive and entrepreneur. The Brooklyn rapper co-founded Roc-A-Fella Records and founded Roc Nation in 2008, building it into an entertainment company that works with artists and athletes.

Jay-Z became the first rapper inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2017 and joined the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2021. He is also a four-time Emmy winner.

Roc Nation will executive produce the halftime show, with Hamish Hamilton directing.

The halftime show has collected Emmys in recent years. Bad Bunny's performance in February won a record seven, including best variety special (live), while Kendrick Lamar's show last year won for music direction.

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See AP’s full NFL coverage here

On Monday, the district attorney’s office said Daniel Hernandez Jr. was sentenced for the murder of Ricky De Los Santos, 18.

Hernandez shot De Los Santos with an AK-47-style rifle over a pair of shoes. KSAT reported Hernandez met up with De Los Santos in the 2000 block of South Loop 1604 eastbound for a shoe deal.

Bexar County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived and spoke with De Los Santos during his final moments alive. He told deputies Hernandez shot him.

De Los Santos died later that night.

Through further investigation, authorities learned that Hernandez and De Los Santos had been close friends. Sheriff Javier Salazar said the two had known each other since they were children.

More of this story on KSAT:

• Search continues for weapon used by suspect accused of killing lifelong friend, BCSO says
• Teen driver charged with murder in shooting death connected to botched shoe sale, BCSO says

The home-side Harlandale Indians are 5-3 overall and sitting in third place in District 14-5A-2 with a 5-1 mark. Sam Houston beat Harlandale last Friday night 32-27 to snap the Indians’ five-game winning streak.

Harlandale can still win the district title if they can beat Brackenridge and then top first-place McCollum (6-2, 6-0 district) in the annual Frontier Bowl in the final week of the regular season.

Brackenridge enters this district clash 6-2 on the season and 4-2 in District 14-5A-2. They’ve won four in a row and sit just behind Harlandale in the district standings.

Both teams are playoff bound, but Brackenridge wants to play spoiler. If they win, they will jump above Harlandale in the district standings and ruin the Indians’ hopes of winning a district crown.

Harlandale will host Brackenridge on Friday at 7 p.m. at Harlandale Memorial Stadium.

Read also:

• How Madison Mavericks long snapper balances football and Type 1 diabetes

Kane scored 73 goals for club and country last campaign — he was Europe's top scorer — and smashed scoring records in Germany for Bayern Munich and at the World Cup, where he captained England to a third-place finish.

The 33-year-old Kane says winning the prestigious individual award was built on so much more.

“Anything is possible with hard work, when no one else is watching, to go through the ups and downs, to learn through resilience, determination and self-belief,” an emotional Kane said in a message to young players, after reflecting on his early career struggles.

“My journey wasn’t straightforward. I wasn’t the kid who went straight to the top. I had to experience the downs,” he added. “I had to fight my way to be the very best right now. I hope that can give you inspiration as well.”

Kane was followed in the voting by Kylian Mbappé, Lamine Yamal — voted best young talent for a third straight year — 2024 winner Rodri and record eight-time winner Lionel Messi.

Kane thanked his teammates, coaches, parents, children — “It's past your bedtime” — and wife Kate, “ my best friend. We’ve been through ups and downs for sure. You’re my biggest supporter. You always want the best for me.”

Kane led Bayern to the Bundesliga and German Cup double, scoring a hat trick against Stuttgart in the cup final. Bayern also reached the Champions League semifinals.

At the World Cup, he scored six times to pass Gary Lineker as England’s all-time leading World Cup scorer and placed himself among the all-time top five in tournament history. His lineup lost to Argentina in the semifinals but beat Mbappé's France for third place, England's best World Cup placing in 60 years.

An Englishman hadn’t won the Ballon d’Or since Michael Owen in 2001.

“It's massive for England, for our country. (The ceremony) being here in London was a good omen for me,” Kane said. “It's been too long. Certainly (there have been) incredible English players... To put us back on the map, to put us here with this trophy I'm extremely proud. Playing for England is my biggest honor, the thing I love to do the most.”

England coach Thomas Tuchel told Kane the Three Lions are “lucky to have you as our leader.”

“I ran out of superlatives to describe your performances a long time ago, but I’m delighted to see that you have now been formally recognized by the football world,” Tuchel said.

Fans packed the streets and climbed light poles near the London Palladium, where the event was held, for a glimpse of the arriving athletes. Kane stopped to sign autographs on his way in.

They stayed through the ceremony and chanted Kane's name as he left the theater near Oxford Circus after midnight.

Kane planned to celebrate with family and friends, but just a little.

“We have a cup game on Wednesday so it can't get too messy,” Kane said, noting he has an early Tuesday flight back to Munich in time for team training.

Monday’s ceremony was held in London for the first time in recognition of the inaugural winner 70 years ago, England’s Stanley Matthews in 1956.

Putellas hat trick of awards

Earlier, Spain star Alexia Putellas won her record-equaling third women’s Ballon d’Or after leading her former club Barcelona to multiple trophies last season including the Women’s Champions League.

Putellas, who joined London City Lionesses in the offseason, also helped Spain win the Women’s Nations League last December.

The 32-year-old midfielder ended Spain teammate Aitana Bonmati’s three-year reign.

Putellas won the prestigious award in 2021 and 2022, tore her ACL and saw Bonmati rise to stardom. Bonmati, who completed her women’s Ballon d’Or three-peat in 2025, was not on this year’s shortlist after breaking her leg in December.

There wasn’t a women’s Ballon d’Or until 2018, when Ada Hegerberg won it.

Putellas urged young players to approach the sport with “love and passion.”

“Believe in yourself, that’s the most important thing,” she said. “If you have a dream, go for it, even if at some point you have to start from zero.”

Putellas had joined Barcelona in 2012 and called her time at the Catalan club “something special.”

“I'm really grateful for having 14 seasons as a player (at Barcelona),” she said. “What I experienced last year was like a perfect story.”

___

See AP’s full soccer coverage here

The 2-1 decision sets the Trump administration and state officials up for another legal showdown on the matter on Tuesday in front of a federal district judge, giving the federal government a very short window to compel California to sequester votes before the Nov. 3 elections.

The decision marks the latest in a string of legal setbacks for President Donald Trump’s administration as it seeks to assert greater federal control over state-run elections. Noncitizen voting has been a central focus of Trump’s political messaging for years, although available data indicates it is exceedingly rare.

Although the panel primarily ruled it was premature for an appeals court to get involved, two of the three judges also wrote separate concurrences making it clear they wouldn’t support setting aside ballots at this late date. They questioned the accuracy of the federal government’s list of alleged noncitizen voters and argued that to set aside votes risks disenfranchising citizens.

One judge dissented, arguing that federal law bars noncitizens from voting and compels California to vet the potentially illegal ballots before they are counted. The failure to do so, he wrote, would cause irreparable harm to the election.

Trump administration sued California officials over list of 20,000 names

The Republican administration sued election officials in the heavily Democratic state in mid-October, accusing them of failing to meet a 48-hour deadline to review a list of 20,000 people it alleged were likely noncitizens on the state’s voter rolls. The administration asked the judge to stop the state from counting those ballots until immigration status checks could be completed. The Justice Department made similar demands Monday in Washington, another state with races that will help determine control of the U.S. Senate and House.

Both state and federal law prohibit noncitizens from voting. But California officials say it’s not even clear the administration’s purported 20,000 noncitizen voters are actually not U.S. citizens. In court papers, Los Angeles election officials said the majority of a random sample of voters that the Department of Justice identified as immigrants seemed to have been born in the United States. The Justice Department, for its part, has said there is as much to lose from keeping the potentially illegal ballots in the count.

After a district judge had scheduled an Oct. 27 hearing on the issue, the federal government appealed to the 9th Circuit Court, arguing that a faster decision was needed to prevent the further counting of votes.

But two of the three 9th Circuit Court judges rejected that argument on Monday, writing that the federal government “failed to allow the district court adequate opportunity to consider” their initial request to sequester the ballots in question.

The time-sensitive emergency that the federal government used to justify the appeal, wrote Gabriel Sanchez, a circuit judge appointed by President Joe Biden, was at least in part “the product of the United States’s own decisions” to file so close to the elections, after votes had already started to get counted.

The federal government was delayed “in realizing that existing California state law governs the issuance and processing of ballots, in recognizing that California has millions of registered voters and processes ballots on a schedule aligned with that scale, and in communicating to the court its desired relief,” Sanchez wrote.

One judge wrote that setting ballots aside would invite ‘electoral chaos’

He wrote that setting aside the ballots at this stage “would transform California’s election rules for an election that is already underway” and “usher in electoral chaos.”

Judge Mark J. Bennett, who was nominated by Trump, also said that the federal government’s arguments weren’t supported by the law, writing that it appeared the administration had no power under the Constitution to force California to separate the ballots.

Judge Patrick Bumatay, who was appointed by Trump, forcefully dissented against the ruling. He argued that federal law precludes “California from commingling ballots likely cast by aliens with legitimate ballots, because it encourages and induces illegal voting. Stopping that practice for those identified as likely noncitizens is the bare minimum.”

Bumatay also affirmed the federal government's arguments about the need for an urgent ruling to sequester the ballots. While he conceded that the federal government could potentially prosecute fraudulent voters after the election, Bumatay said that the federal government “has an interest in stopping the illegal voting in the first place.”

California's attorney general called ruling a ‘welcome speed bump’ against Trump's attacks

California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat, hailed Monday’s ruling against the Republican administration as a “welcome speed bump to Trump’s disgusting attacks on the Constitution and our country’s democracy.”

In a statement, he urged voters to cast ballots early and “participate in democracy, don’t become disillusioned.”

The 9th Circuit decision sends the case back to a federal judge in Southern California, who will hear arguments from both sides on Tuesday at 1 pm.

Neither the Justice Department nor the Office of the U.S. Attorney in the Central District of California immediately responded to an emailed inquiry asking for comment.

According to the Republican National Committee, Trump will take the stage at the Port of Corpus Christi at 2 p.m.

His visit to Corpus Christi replaces a previously scheduled appearance in Waco, and is the third Texas stop in October for the midterm elections.

Trump was in San Antonio earlier this month, urging voters to back Republican candidates in closely watched races.

Ahead of the rally off the coast, voters shared sharply different views about the president and his visit.

“I think it’s a good thing. I think he’s doing a great job for the country,” said Ismael, a Texas voter. “If people don’t see it that way, they don’t have any business being in America. You want to raise a flag, raise the American flag. Stand up for America, embrace America, love America.”

Another voter, Liz, said she has no interest in attending.

“What he does is anything he wants, and not what we want,” she said. “I want a president that represents the people, and he’s not something I would go see.”

The visit is expected to help build support for Republican Eric Flores, who has Trump’s endorsement and is challenging Democratic U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez in Texas’ 34th Congressional District. The district stretches from Brownsville to Corpus Christi.

It remains unclear who will join Trump on stage.

The Texas U.S. Senate race could also be a focus. During his San Antonio visit earlier this month, Trump urged voters to support Republican Ken Paxton, who faces Democrat James Talarico.

Gates are scheduled to open at 10:30 a.m., with the rally beginning at 12:30 p.m.

After the Corpus Christi event, the president is scheduled to travel to Lubbock for another rally later that evening.

More election coverage on KSAT:

• What to know about early voting in Bexar County for Nov. 3 midterm election
• Attorney General Ken Paxton, Rep. James Talarico face off in contentious U.S. Senate race
• Greg Abbott, Gina Hinojosa offer competing visions for Texas in governor’s race

According to the Republican National Committee website, the rally is scheduled for Oct. 27 at the Port of Corpus Christi.

Doors to the event open at 10:30 a.m. The program begins at 12:30 p.m., with remarks starting at 2 p.m.

Those wanting to attend the event must RSVP through the event’s website. There is a maximum of four tickets per sign-up.

It’s unclear who will be joining Trump at the rally.

The president attended a rally at Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio earlier this month, urging voters to back Republican candidates in closely watched races.

Read also:

• Takeaways from President Donald Trump’s rally in San Antonio

Trump intensified his anti-Muslim rhetoric against Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed on Sunday, portraying him as a threat to national security and questioning his loyalty to the United States in remarks that drew a sharp rebuke from a former top Arab American ally, Bishara Bahbah, a founder of Arab Americans for Trump.

Attorney General Todd Blanche on Sunday defended the Trump administration’slawsuit to block certification of Alaska’s Senate results if Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan loses the race and argued that the legal challenge was a necessary step to avoid confusing voters in the closely watched midterm race.

Here's the latest:

Sen. Ted Cruz rallies South Carolina Republicans ahead of midterms

Headlining a fundraiser hosted by U.S. Rep. Russell Fry, the Texas Republican cracked jokes about Democratic candidates like James Talarico and predicted a win for Republicans like Sen. Darline Graham.

Like Fry and other speakers, Cruz called for Republicans to unify around Graham, commending Fry — who lost the special GOP nomination to Graham — for “standing up and fighting” for his former opponent.

Cruz is among the Republicans thought to be mulling a presidential bid in 2028, so spending time in South Carolina — home to the GOP’s first southern presidential primary — serves dual purposes. He’s been stumping with South Carolina gubernatorial nominee Alan Wilson, with whom he’s friends, and did so earlier this year during the Republican primary for governor.

Judge extends block on Trump’s renovation of DC public golf course

A federal judge has agreed to extend an order blocking the Trump administration’s renovation plans for a century-old public golf course in the nation’s capital.

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes issued a preliminary injunction that halts tree-cutting and other work at the East Potomac Golf Course. On Oct. 18, Trump announced plans on social media to close the golf course for 15 months and redevelop it despite a court challenge.

Reyes previously ordered the administration to suspend work on the project until at least Oct. 26.

Democratic candidate for House in Iowa tells supporters that Washington is broken

More than 100 supporters in Des Moines, Iowa, chanted and cheered on Monday for Democratic House candidate Sarah Trone Garriott.

Trone Garriott, who faces incumbent Republican Zach Nunn in his tough reelection bid, criticized Trump and Nunn for “chaotic” tariffs, closed healthcare clinics and the war in Iran.

“I am going to stand up to the president and bring this war to an end,” she said.

Trone Garriott, a minister and state senator, also asked supporters to share their “good word” with neighbors to counteract Trump’s negative messages against her, including from the Oval Office in a pro-Nunn video.

“Tell them who I am. Tell them how you know me,” she said. “Your word is more powerful than any attack ad could ever be.”

After speaking, she played the violin in a trio that capped off the night with a couple of songs for the crowd.

Trump wraps by rushing through his typical speech ending

The president spoke for just shy of 90 minutes, but offered a different conclusion than usual.

“Let’s make the next two years bigger, better, stronger than ever before,” Trump told the crowd. “Because we will make America powerful again, wealthy again, healthy again, strong again, proud again, safe again. And most importantly, we will make America great again.”

While hitting the same themes, that was a truncated version of Trump’s usual ending.

At nearly every rally he usually proclaims “We will make America strong again, we will make America proud again” and lists off each individual promise to improve different attributes of the country before finishing with “We will make America great again.”

Senator makes brief comments at Trump’s rally — very brief

After more than an hour on stage, Trump invited the candidate he came to Mississippi to champion, Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, to the stage.

“Is this not the best president in our lifetime?” she asked before leaving.

Trump, who relishes giving long speeches, often invites candidates and others to the stage during his rallies. He is fond of asking them to keep things brief, but was delighted with Hyde-Smith’s nine total words.

“That was a record,” he said after she spoke. “That was great.”

Trump pledges he won’t mess with the mighty Mississippi River

Musing aloud about needing a river and an ocean to go along with the gulf and lake he renamed, Trump said there is one river that’s off-limits.

He said it had been suggested that he rename the Mississippi River, but he said he won’t do it.

“I promise I will never change the name of the Mississippi,” Trump said while in the state.

As for an ocean, Trump said he’s thinking about calling the Atlantic Ocean the “American Ocean” and thinks “Europe will be thrilled.”

Trump bristles at Obama’s suggestion he’s spending too much time on construction projects

Trump responded to former President Barack Obama mocking his focus on building a White House ballroom and other construction projects.

“We have to have a beautiful, beautiful well-kept White House,” he said, adding that it was “the symbol of our country.”

The president insisted that, in making White House improvements, “I didn’t take any time.”

“I literally do it when I walk home from the Oval,” Trump said of the short trip from the Oval Office to his living quarters.

He said he’d “look up and say, ‘Boy, that wall is really bad. Let’s go.’”

Those comments followed Trump telling reporters earlier Monday that Obama “doesn’t notice dirt and filth” of the White House before he rehabilitated it.

Trump said then that he was “a very clean person” but, “You have to explain that to Obama” because the former president doesn’t understand and is “not smart at all.”

More than 30 million early votes have been cast

More than 30 million people have cast an early vote in the midterm elections as of Monday, according to data collected by The Associated Press from election administrators across the country.

Nearly 4 million additional early votes have been reported since Friday.

Trump now says he ‘never liked’ the short-lived ceasefire with Iran

The president told the rally crowd of the ongoing war in Iran, “We did a little ceasefire, which I never liked very much.”

He added that he considered the deal “sort of a waste of time. But, you know, you like to listen to professionals.”

Trump didn’t elaborate, but that was a reference to the ceasefire he said his administration had reached with Iran in June. The deal quickly collapsed while failing to achieve any of its goals, including negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program.

What he says now is in stark contrast to when he announced the deal, calling it a “big day for world peace” that could “mark the start of a new “golden age of the Middle East.”

Sen. Tim Scott predicts Republicans will hold majority ‘without much of a question’

On the sidelines of U.S. Rep. Russell Fry’s 3rd Annual Freedom Fry event, Scott told The Associated Press that GOP candidates are “closing very strongly” in races across the country, including South Carolina.

Scott, who serves as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, called the Senate map “very competitive” for his party. He also said that Trump’s second visit to South Carolina in as many weeks to stump for GOP Sen. Darline Graham was evidence of the president’s “lots of energy,” not cracks in Republicans’ hold on the seat.

“One of the reasons why we will be in the majority is because he has invested the time and the energy on the campaign trail,” Scott said, noting he spoke with Trump on Sunday and has stumped with him in several states lately.

El-Sayed and Bernie Sanders advocate for universal healthcare in Michigan town hall

Sanders said he sees enough public support for universal healthcare that progressives needed to “make an offer that the Democratic leadership cannot refuse.”

“There’s no great secret there are divisions within the Democratic Party. Abdul and I are on one side — the more progressive side — but it is where I believe the American people are,” Sanders said. “What we need is for millions of people to stand up, demand Medicare for all.”

Sanders and El-Sayed both said taxes on billionaires would fund the health plan.

El-Sayed referenced the national implications of his race against Republican Mike Rogers, which will help determine control of the Senate.

“If you don’t want the Supreme Court to have five Trump nominees on it, if you want to make sure that your politicians work for you, this one is for all the marbles,” El-Sayed said.

Trump says he’s rallying in deeply Republican Mississippi because ‘I can’t take a chance’

“I’m here because Cindy’s doing great,” the president said of Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, who is running for reelection against Democrat Scott Colom.

“But I just got to make sure I can’t take a chance. I can’t take it,” he added.

Trump is in the midst of a whirlwind travel schedule taking him to 30-plus campaign stops ahead of Election Day. But he has largely stuck to reliably red states, or to conservative areas in swing states, which better ensures especially adoring rally crowds.

Stumping in Kansas, Vance blames high gas prices on Democratic policies

The vice president sought to offset the political damage done by high fuel prices, which threaten to cost the GOP its congressional majorities.

Vance spoke at a rally in Topeka to help rescue Kansas Republican Sen. Roger Marshall, who is in a tough race with Democrat Adam Hamilton. Hamilton has made high fuel prices a key issue.

Vance said Democrats’ weakness in foreign policy left the U.S. at the mercy of “tinpot dictators in the Middle East” before Trump began his second term. He also blamed Democratic green energy “scam” policies for the closing of refineries in California.

“It takes a certain amount of audacity to say they’ve done anything about gas prices,” Vance said.

Appeals court declines to rule on federal bid to set aside California ballots of alleged noncitizens

The court declined to rule on whether California elections officials can count roughly 20,000 ballots that the Justice Department alleges belongs to noncitizens voters.

The decision sets the federal government and state officials up for another legal showdown on the matter on Tuesday in front of a federal district judge, giving the federal government a very short window to compel California to sequester votes before the Nov. 3 elections.

The Republican administration sued election officials in the heavily Democratic state in mid-October, accusing them of failing to meet a 48-hour deadline to review a list of 20,000 people it alleged were likely noncitizens on the state’s voter rolls.

Trump takes the stage in Mississippi

The president has begun addressing his rally in Corinth, Mississippi.

“We’ve been doing the rounds. We’ve been doing the rounds,” Trump said of his crisscrossing the country on behalf of Republicans.

Trump acknowledged that the president’s party often doesn’t do well in midterm elections, but added, “Nobody’s ever campaigned like I have for midterms.”

He was championing Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith while her Democratic challenger, Scott Colom, was spotted at his rally site, too.

Kamala Harris tells Wisconsin Democrats to turn ‘anger into action’

The former vice president stopped at a Democratic Party office in Milwaukee and attended a rally at a downtown hotel with gubernatorial candidate David Crowley. He is locked in a tight race with Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who is endorsed by Trump.

“This is a tight race because the stakes are so high,” Harris said at the event billed as a “women for Crowley” rally.

She praised Crowley, saying “unlike others who are constantly looking in the mirror, David is looking at the people.”

Harris urged Crowley supporters to tap the anger, sadness and depression they’ve been feeling into action to elect Crowley.

Tiffany said in a statement that Harris was bringing her “California playbook to Wisconsin.”

“Wisconsin rejected Kamala Harris once, and now it’s time to reject David Crowley,” Tiffany said.

Trump defeated Harris in swing state Wisconsin by less than a percentage point in 2024.

House Democrats say they’ve recruited 275 congressional election observers

Democrats in the U.S. House have recruited a record number of observers to fan out across the country and monitor the polls in November’s midterms, New York Rep. Joe Morelle, ranking member of the Committee on House Administration, told reporters Monday.

Morelle said the 275 congressional staffers will carry on a longtime tradition in the chamber of volunteers observing the election process to “protect free and fair elections.”

Republicans also participate in the congressional observer program.

Spokespeople for Rep. Bryan Steil, the Wisconsin Republican and chair of the committee, didn’t immediately respond to an inquiry about how many volunteers they’d gathered.

The news comes as Democrats, Republicans, watchdog groups and the DOJ are also preparing to send thousands of monitors to the polls on Election Day.

Bernie Sanders blasts ‘racist, Islamophobic’ ads targeting El-Sayed

Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont, said recent anti-Muslim ads about the Democratic candidate for Senate in Michigan were the result of “unbelievable and disgusting racism that we’re seeing from Trump and the Republican Party.”

“Billionaires are flooding the airwaves with racist, Islamophobic ads because they have nothing to say about the important issues facing working people,” Sanders said during a rally with El-Sayed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, billed as a Students Versus Billionaires town hall.

El-Sayed’s race against Republican Mike Rogers will help determine control of the Senate. Arab American groups have condemned anti-Muslim rhetoric during the campaign, including Trump’s calling El-Sayed a “jihadist.”

El-Sayed disavows ad critical of US support for Israel

The Michigan Senate candidate is distancing himself from an ad that blames high grocery prices on U.S. support for Israel.

“This ad is not affiliated in any way with the Abdul for Senate campaign. Abdul is focused on pushing back against Trump’s agenda that is raising prices for Michiganders. No one speaks for Abdul but himself and his campaign,” a spokesperson for El-Sayed, Roxie Richner, said in a statement.

The ad shows a couple discussing U.S. support for Israel as they shop for groceries. “Apparently it’s costing us a lot of money to drop bombs on Gaza,” the woman says.

It was created by a political action committee called Rebellion PAC and shared on social media by Cenk Uygur, host of the popular progressive show The Young Turks. It was condemned by Rep. Haley Stevens, who narrowly lost to El-Sayed in the Democratic primary.

“This type of fearmongering about Israel is wrong,” Stevens wrote on X.

Late in his tight race, Kansas GOP Sen. Roger Marshall is making ‘radical Islam’ a key issue

Marshall called “radical Islam” the biggest threat facing the U.S. while speaking during a rally in Topeka that was headlined by Vice President JD Vance.

At least 1,000 people gathered for the rally, which is part of the GOP’s efforts to rescue Marshall. The senator’s race against Democrat Adam Hamilton is considered a tossup even though Democrats haven’t won a Senate seat in Kansas since 1932.

Marshall said unrest in France shows what happens under “weak moderate” leadership and predicted that if Democrats control the Senate, they will let radical Muslims into the U.S.

“Radical Islam is trying to erase Western civilization from the history books,” Marshall said. “I refuse to let America burn because we refused to face down radical Islam.”

Trump administration attempting to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey again

The Trump administration is attempting to prosecute Comey for what it calls disclosing classified information, employing the unusual maneuver of bypassing a grand jury — a move Comey’s lawyers say makes the case legally invalid.

The allegations from the Justice Department came in documents unsealed Monday in federal court in Washington.

It would be the third criminal case that the Justice Department has brought against the longtime critic and foe of Trump since the Republican president’s return to the White House last year.

Alaska Senate candidate cites ‘brain fog’ in marking himself as an independent

Dan J. Sullivan says he mistakenly marked himself as an independent when he voted in the August primary.

The retired teacher earlier this year filed to run as a Republican against the GOP incumbent, also named Dan Sullivan.

He cited “brain fog” from months of the campaign in listing himself as independent on his absentee ballot envelope. He said he’s “pretty sure” he marked himself as a Republican when he voted early for next week’s general election.

The ballot lists him as Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., with no party affiliation. The senator is listed as Dan S. Sullivan, Republican and incumbent.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice sued to block certification of the race if the incumbent loses, citing potential confusion with the other Sullivan.

The race is headlined by the incumbent and Democrat Mary Peltola, a former U.S. representative.

Rep. Russell Fry says South Carolina GOP unity ‘getting better’ as Election Day approaches

He lost the Republican special Senate primary to Darline Graham, but the U.S. House member says it’s time for his party to rally around her as their general election nominee.

Fry told reporters ahead of his 3rd Annual Freedom Fry on Monday in Myrtle Beach that South Carolina has “never had a more strange, radical leftist nominee” for the Senate than Democrat Annie Andrews, expressing confidence that Graham would win despite the race appearing to tighten.

Some conservatives have criticized the selection of Graham as their nominee, mounting a write-in campaign for Rep. Ralph Norman, who lost the special Senate primary runoff.

Trump urged Graham to run in the special GOP primary after the death of her brother Lindsey Graham earlier this year, and later this week will make his third trip to stump for her in the state since August.

Vice President JD Vance is headlining a Kansas rally to help an incumbent GOP senator

Hundreds of people gathered for the rally inside the warehouse of a steel-fabricating company in Topeka.

It was the vice president’s second visit to Kansas to help boost GOP candidates, particularly U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall, who’s in a tossup race with Democrat Adam Hamilton.

A small group of labor union members stood along a street leading toward the entrance of the steel fabricating plant holding signs that promoted Hamilton’s support for unions.

A few of the attendees had “Stop Schumer” signs, a reference to Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, who stands to become majority leader if Democrats take control of the chamber.

The hotly contested race in Kansas, where Democrats haven’t won a Senate race since 1932, has buoyed the party’s hopes.

Damage in New Mexico alone after more than four days of flooding — only the latest in a deadly autumn of soaking rains in the U.S. Southwest — could total $300 million, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said.

The latest town to evacuate was tiny Bluff in southeastern Utah after San Juan River flooding swamped parts of cities and towns upstream in Colorado and New Mexico.

With parts of his town of 250 underwater, Mayor Josh Ewing was worried by a forecast for yet more heavy rain this weekend. After a few days of sunny, dry weather, more rounds of rain are predicted Friday night and again on Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.

“It’s the second flood that really gets you, you know, because everything is completely saturated. And so we’re trying to recover fast enough to be on alert for what might happen," Ewing said.

New Mexico assesses damage, awaits aid

Upstream from Bluff, in Farmington, New Mexico, Pagosa Springs, Colorado, and elsewhere along the San Juan and Animas rivers, hundreds of homes remained evacuated or cut off by flooded roads. Many homes were still without power as officials assessed when it would be safe for residents to return and have their utilities turned back on.

President Donald Trump on Monday announced federal disaster assistance would be available to New Mexico with 25% to be matched by agencies in the state. Earlier in the day, Lujan Grisham expressed concern about the matching requirement but said she would “frontload” state resources for flood recovery.

She estimated that the costs of debris removal, road and bridge repair and other “longhaul” recovery could amount to as much as $300 million.

“I don’t care if it’s a billion dollars. The goal here is to identify every state, every federal, every local resource and get it where it belongs,” Lujan Grisham said.

At least two deaths were reported in New Mexico. Isabelle Beulaygue, 39, was swept away while attempting to cross a flooded arroyo in a vehicle Saturday in Santa Fe, authorities said.

About 50 miles (80 kilometers) south in Socorro County, 64-year-old Grace Clark was swept away as floodwaters rose and trapped residents in their homes. Valencia County Fire Chief Matthew Propp said nine other people were rescued as teams worked overnight to find residents.

Between 200 and 300 people in San Juan County, New Mexico, were rescued in the last few days, according to county spokesperson Devin Neeley.

Damage spread onto the vast Navajo Nation spanning parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.

Lupita Villa, her husband and three young children evacuated their rental home along the San Juan River in Farmington on Thursday. When they returned on Saturday, they needed muck boots and waders to reach the front door. Once inside, they found their laminate floors warped under several inches of muddy floodwater and much of their furniture destroyed.

The family is staying with relatives on higher ground while they plan next steps. Villa said her children are struggling to understand that their former home is now unlivable.

“They just keep asking, ‘When can we go back?’” Villa said.

Colorado residents still cut off by washed-out roads

The crisis continued in southern Colorado’s Archuleta County. After more rain brought another surge in San Juan River flooding through the hot springs resort town of Pagosa Springs last weekend, the river was back below flood stage Monday for the first time in more than three days.

No further rescues were reported after air operations that included the rescue of two people, three dogs and two cats from a recreational vehicle washed downstream in floodwaters Friday.

But all evacuated areas remained closed. Responders were landing in helicopters to check on people still unable to leave their homes due to the floodwaters and road damage.

“We do have a number of people cut off still but we’re accessing those with the National Guard and our search and rescue crews,” Archuleta County Sheriff Mike Le Roux said.

Utah town surveys desert that now looks like a sea

Officials throughout the region cautioned people to avoid entering floodwaters after wastewater treatment plants got flooded. If you are exposed, they said, take a shower or bath as soon as possible.

In Montezuma Creek, 14 miles (22 kilometers) downstream from Bluff, the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority reported its wastewater treatment lagoons were “completely breached,” potentially contaminating the San Juan River with bacteria and pathogens.

The river crested Monday lower than expected in Bluff. The water stopped mostly short of a highway that runs through town, said Ewing, the mayor and a local firefighter who took part in flood rescues.

It was cold comfort, though, after floodwaters hit seven more homes and four businesses overnight to bring the local flood toll to 17 homes and five businesses since a surge on Friday.

Unlike flooding that followed a levee break Friday, Ewing said, the latest surge happened after a day of warnings that higher water was on the way.

“It’s kind a weird thing when you’ve lived in red rock country to feel like you live by the sea now. Our flood plain is just filled,” Ewing said.

___

Gruver reported from Fort Collins, Colorado. Associated Press writer Jessica Hill contributed to this report from Las Vegas.

Police Chief Jesse Salame said it started after a suspect, identified as Jacob Luna, 31, was driving in the 1700 block of Horal Street and realized he was being followed.

It turned out he was being followed by undercover SAPD officers.

“He waved a gun out the window and the officers reported that he fired his weapon at them,” Salame said. “The officers returned fire at the suspect, and this ended up back here behind us at Horal, at the intersection of Horal and Marbach.”

Investigators said Luna tried to flee from officers in his vehicle and caused several collisions on Horal Street before ultimately crashing into a tree next to the Burger King parking lot.

On Monday, debris from the incident still littered the street and sidewalk on Horal, and the indentations of the suspect’s car were visible on the tree.

Even though he crashed, police said Luna tried to run.

A witness who asked not to be identified told KSAT they drove up to the scene and saw a wounded man running from the Burger King to the parking lot of the Taco Bell on Marbach Road, a few yards from the Burger King.

Police did not say where they arrested Luna, only that he collapsed near the crash.

They also said he had multiple gunshot wounds and was taken to the hospital in critical condition. According to SAPD, he is expected to survive.

The incident was scary for those in the area at the time of the shooting.

“There were a couple other vehicles caught in the crossfire,” Salame said on Sunday. “There were no bystanders, thankfully, that were injured.”

The witness said someone near the drive-through had their back window shot out.

The chief said his officers were following Luna to verify his identity to serve a felony narcotics warrant to arrest him.

According to the department, four veteran officers with eight to 10 years on the job were involved in the shooting:

• Officer A. Espinoza #1172, eight years of service
• Detective S. Elderkin #2025, eight years of service
• Officer J. Torres-Rosado #1149, nine years of service
• Detective A. Vargas #2138, 10 years of service

All four have been placed on administrative duty, which is standard department practice, following an incident where officers fire their weapons.

Police said Luna was booked on two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and possession of a controlled substance, penalty group 1/1-B, 4 grams or more but less than 200 grams.

The incident is still under investigation.

More of this story on KSAT:

• 4 undercover officers shoot wanted man on West Side after he fires at them from vehicle, SAPD says

But the Tampa Bay Rays love their quirky ballpark, especially after being forced out for a season because of destruction from Hurricane Milton.

A sellout crowd of more than 40,000 towel-waving, cowbell-ringing fans will welcome the Rays back for Game 3 of the World Series on Monday night after a pair of gut-wrenching, one-run losses in Milwaukee.

The Brewers lead 2-0 and are two wins away from the franchise’s first World Series title. The Rays need to win four of five games to secure their first championship in their 29th season.

When Milton swept through downtown St. Petersburg on Oct. 9, 2024, shredding the roof and causing extensive damage to the Trop, there were concerns the Rays would never play again at the only place they had called home since the franchise’s debut in 1998.

Nearly $60 million was spent to replace the roof and rebuild the stadium before the Rays returned 18 1/2 months later to start this season. They played their 2025 home games across the bay in Tampa at Steinbrenner Field, the spring training home of the New York Yankees.

During the renovation, the Rays were sold to a group led by real estate developer Patrick Zalupski. The new ownership team spearheaded an agreement to build a 31,000-seat ballpark in Tampa near the home of the NFL’s Buccaneers.

In August, the Rays received county approval on a financing plan for the $2.3 billion project that features what they’re calling their “forever home” within a mixed-use entertainment district.

The new stadium is scheduled to open in 2029. The Rays and their fans are hoping a World Series banner will hang in the stadium.

“We love playing at the Trop. We played so well at the Trop all year,” second baseman Richie Palacios said Sunday. “It’s going to be exciting to go out there and put on a show for our fans and hopefully bring them a couple more wins.”

The Rays and Brewers tied for the best home record in the regular season, going 55-26. Though Rays fans have often been criticized for not showing up — the team finished 28th in attendance at 1.4 million — they’ve rocked the Trop throughout the postseason and made sure to give the rival Yankees an earful in the AL Division Series when the crowd included plenty of New Yorkers.

Large crowds also gathered at the Trop for watch parties during Games 1 and 2 while the Rays and Brewers played at American Family Field in Milwaukee.

“These Milwaukee fans have been really loud. I know our fans are going to be really loud and excited to see us come back and kind of reset ourselves a little bit,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said.

Tropicana Field hosted only two World Series games in 2008 when the Rays split at home and then lost three in a row in Philadelphia. The 2020 World Series was played on a neutral field in Arlington, Texas, because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Rays lost that series to the Dodgers in six games.

One of the Trop’s most distinctive features is its catwalk system, consisting of four circular steel rings suspended beneath the stadium’s non-retractable, cable-supported roof that stabilize the structure.

Sometimes the catwalks interfere with baseballs. It happened in Game 2 of the ALDS when Yankees rookie Spencer Jones hit a towering flyball off a catwalk that was caught by Victor Mesa Jr., who ran over to center field from right field to make the play.

A batted ball that strikes either of the lower two catwalks is a home run, per stadium ground rules. A batted ball that hits either of the two upper catwalks is in play.

“It’s very much a different place,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “It seems like a great place, and you have to make adjustments to it. That’s part of being a big leaguer. You have to make adjustments to it.”

Brewers first baseman Jake Bauers played some outfield for the Rays in 2018 and couldn't figure out the ceiling.

“I think the biggest challenge is the roof is the same color as the baseball,” Bauers said before Game 3. “It never got easier for me when I was playing home games here, but I think it goes to as long as you don’t take your eye off of it, you’re going to be all right.”

The Trop also is the only ballpark in the majors where fans can touch stingrays. Seven cownose stingrays that weathered Hurricane Milton returned to the stadium for opening day inside the “Cownose Clubhouse,” a 10,000-gallon touch tank experience located just beyond the right-center-field fence.

“They have stingrays in the outfield here? I didn’t know that,” Brewers reliever Aaron Ashby said.

Second baseman Brice Turang asked if the stingrays can be touched. They can.

“That’s really cool,” he said.

If Milwaukee wins two of the next three, Turang and Ashby could pose for photos with the stingrays and the World Series trophy.

___

This story has been corrected to show that the 2020 World Series was played in Arlington, Texas, not San Diego.

___

See AP’s full MLB coverage here

The announcement is the latest sign of the administration’s attempts to sow doubts about the election or its outcome in states with races that will help determine control of the U.S. Senate and House.

In a letter to Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, the Justice Department said it had identified 1,500 votes cast by the more than 400 people in prior elections. It asked the state to set aside any ballots they might cast in next month's midterm until state officials can confirm they are legally eligible to vote. The state has more than 5 million registered voters, and the state issues mail ballots to all of them.

One listed voter last cast a ballot in 1994

At a news conference, Neil Floyd, the acting U.S. attorney in Seattle, said he believed the 405 voters identified so far represented “the tip of the iceberg.”

“Because of limitations the state has placed on our investigation, we’ve only been able to uncover a fraction of the total number,” he said.

Hobbs said he was reviewing the DOJ's request. His office noted that the data shared by the department included the last time each of the 405 people voted. One was in 1994.

“The timing of this request — one week before the General Election — is no doubt intended to cast unfounded suspicion on the results," Hobbs said.

Much of the list was built based on “recent contacts” with suspected noncitizens, Floyd said, because federal officers are now routinely checking to see if the people they interact with are registered to vote.

Lack of state cooperation a problem, DOJ says

Without access to those state records, proving someone illegally voted will be difficult, Floyd said. The Justice Department has demanded information including addresses, dates of birth, driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers.

The effort is the latest by the administration to identify noncitizen voters, even though noncitizen voting is exceptionally rare. President Donald Trump has repeatedly sought to undermine public confidence in elections.

Meanwhile, Washington officials have noted that changes in U.S. Postal Service operations have disenfranchised thousands of legitimate voters.

Voting is underway

The Washington request marks the third time this month that the Justice Department has brought a direct state challenge as voting is underway. All three states — Washington, California and Alaska — have House or Senate races that will help determine the balance of power in the nation's Capitol.

The race for Washington’s 3rd Congressional District is one of the most competitive in the country in this year’s midterm elections. Democrats are counting on Rep. Maria Gluesenkamp Perez winning reelection as crucial to their strategy of retaking the majority in the U.S. House. She has won twice in a district that also has supported Trump each time he’s been on the ballot.

The Justice Department sued in California as part of a similar attempt to require the state to set aside mail ballots from up to 20,000 people the federal government suspects may not be citizens. Another lawsuit filed in Alaska last week seeks to delay certification of the vote if the Republican incumbent doesn't win.

In California, a panel of federal appellate judges heard rare Sunday arguments and questioned the timing, constitutionality and authority of the Justice Department’s demand. On Monday, they declined to rule on the expedited timeline the DOJ requested and sent it back to a lower court.

The Elections Clause of the U.S. Constitution gives state legislatures the power to set the time, place and manner of congressional elections.

Prior allegations have been overstated

Los Angeles County Assistant Registrar-Recorder Monica Flores said in a court filing that her staff went through a sample of 200 records from the Trump administration’s list. They found the sample included canceled or inactive registrations, people with no voting history and voters who appeared to have been born in the United States.

The Justice Department told Washington it anticipates sending the state an additional list of people it suspects are not citizens prior to Election Day. It also noted that some of the people it suspects registered without citizenship may have since become naturalized.

Investigations into prior allegations of noncitizen voters have revealed far fewer instances than the Trump administration has claimed. In Nevada, Trump’s administration alleged there were 1,500 potential noncitizen voters on the rolls but subsequent investigation found zero.

In Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, the county recorder, who is a Trump supporter, announced that there were 207 possible noncitizens on the county’s rolls. The Republican County Attorney determined there were actually eight. ___ Boone reported from Boise, Idaho.

San Antonio police accuse Felix Roberto Juarez, 52, of possessing more than 50 videos of child sexual abuse material. Jail records show he was booked on Saturday.

An affidavit described a SAPD detective searching an iCloud account belonging to Juarez, also known as “Felix Truvere.”

According to Bexar County court records, the alleged offense was committed in July, and a warrant was signed a month later.

Juarez gave the detective his iCloud email address, and police found at least 50 photos and videos of child sexual abuse on Oct. 7, according to the affidavit.

His email address in the affidavit and the detective identified Juarez as “Felix Truvere.”

Juarez was arrested at Cool Crest Miniature Golf & Metzger Biergarten the day he was scheduled to perform at the on the Northwest Side venue.

The venue said it cut ties with Juarez entirely.

“The individual recently apprehended on our property was an independent performer and was not an employee of Cool Crest. This individual will no longer perform at our venue,” Cool Crest Miniature Golf & Metzger Biergarten said on social media. “We unequivocally condemn the alleged conduct, which is contrary to our values and the safe, family-friendly environment we strive to provide.”

According to his website, which appeared to be taken down as of Monday, the country musician has 20 shows scheduled through March 2027. KSAT reached out to Juarez for comment and to ask if the shows are expected to continue.

Read also:

• Ramón Ayala Jr. arrested, released on bond amid sexual assault accusation filed earlier this year

It is a pattern KSAT Investigates has documented for nearly a decade.

Jessie Pyles, a disabled Army veteran, and his wife Caroline Born hired Carlos Elizondo in February to repair and refinish their back patio. The $1,800 project called for Elizondo to flip over and refinish usable boards, replace damaged ones and build new steps.

Instead, Pyles said, Elizondo collected payments before disappearing from the job at their North Side home this spring.

“There’s screws sticking up,” Pyles said, describing the unfinished deck and the hazards left behind.

The couple said they were unaware of Elizondo’s criminal history when they hired him.

Pyles said he later searched the contractor’s name online and discovered KSAT’s previous investigations into complaints from homeowners across the San Antonio area.

“I typed in his name and it autofilled to San Antonio, and it brought up all your news reports,” Pyles said.

The unfinished deck is the latest allegation involving Elizondo, whose history with customers and the criminal justice system has been the subject of repeated KSAT Investigates reports.

A pattern KSAT has reported for years

In February, KSAT Investigates reported that homeowners in Converse and Canyon Lake had accused Elizondo of accepting payments for deck and awning projects before leaving the work incomplete.

In one case, Shantel Brown said she paid Elizondo more than $5,000 toward a deck and patio-covering project at her Converse home in 2024. She said the work remained far from finished months later and that she ultimately hired another contractor to correct the work that had been done.

Brown told KSAT that Elizondo returned only $600 of the $5,200 she said he owed her.

In Canyon Lake, Diane Michelle Brosnan said she paid Elizondo $3,400 toward a $6,600 project involving decks and a metal covering. She said he tore down her existing back deck, completed only a fraction of the work and eventually abandoned the project.

Mason Weems, another Canyon Lake homeowner, told KSAT he paid Elizondo $2,500 toward a $5,000 project to extend his back deck and build a metal roof. Weems said the contractor supplied about $270 worth of lumber and labor before disappearing.

Those complaints followed years of similar allegations reported by KSAT.

In 2020, KSAT Investigates reported that Elizondo had been accused of abandoning fencing, lawn care and deck projects after collecting payments from customers. Some customers said they initially knew him as Rene Elizondo or C. Rene Elizondo, rather than Carlos Elizondo.

In 2021, KSAT reported that Elizondo had been arrested in connection with two additional felony theft cases. One involved allegations that he accepted payments for deck work he did not complete.

And in 2023, KSAT reported that Elizondo had pleaded no contest to four felony theft cases. The report also detailed how customers had struggled to recover money after projects were left unfinished.

The complaints have come from homeowners in multiple jurisdictions, including Bexar, Comal and Hays counties.

A convicted felon on probation

Court records and previous KSAT Investigates reporting show Elizondo has been arrested on 15 theft charges since late 2014.

In 2017, a Bexar County judge sentenced Elizondo to four years in jail after prosecutors sought to revoke his probation on previous theft convictions.

KSAT reported at the time that Elizondo had repeatedly posed as a law enforcement officer while soliciting customers for lawn care and fencing work.

He was released from custody in January 2019 after serving less than a third of that sentence, according to KSAT’s reporting at the time.

Elizondo later returned to contracting, despite statements made by his attorneys during court proceedings that he would no longer work in that career field.

During a 2017 sentencing hearing, his attorney told the judge that Elizondo’s contracting days were over. Another attorney made a similar representation during a later court proceeding.

Elizondo is on felony probation in Bexar County through the summer of 2028. His community supervision in a separate felony case in Hays County was transferred to Bexar County in July 2023, according to records reviewed by KSAT.

The Hays County documents refer to the punishment as “zero tolerance supervision.”

Questioned on camera

KSAT Investigates found Elizondo on Sept. 15 working at a neighbor’s property about 100 feet from Pyles’ home.

Investigative reporter Dillon Collier questioned Elizondo about the complaints from homeowners who say they paid him for work that was never completed.

“Carlos, you’ve got a trail of victims from Converse to Canyon Lake. You’re still doing it. What’s up?” Investigative reporter Dillon Collier asked.

After seeing the KSAT camera, Elizondo began packing up his equipment and quickly drove away from the neighborhood with his truck’s tailgate still down.

The encounter came as Pyles is left dealing with the unfinished work at his home, including exposed screws, missing boards and steps that were removed.

San Antonio police continue to investigate the latest theft allegation. Police officials confirmed to KSAT this month that the case has been forwarded to the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office for review.

The latest allegation has not been adjudicated in court and Elizondo has not been criminally charged in connection to it.

For Pyles, the experience is a costly reminder of what he wishes he had known before hiring Elizondo: a Google search would have revealed the history documented in years of KSAT Investigates reporting.

The project has brought ongoing traffic changes along San Pedro Avenue and nearby streets as crews work on the future transit line. For some residents, the disruption has been frustrating, especially when visible progress appears slow.

In August, Southtown resident Anthony Carlisle said construction was affecting daily life outside his home.

“One of the first things that we walk into is the porta potty sitting right basically outside our front door,” Carlisle said at the time, also expressing frustration about late-night construction.

That portable toilet has since returned, and Carlisle said overnight construction has been reduced. However, he said he has not seen much progress in the past couple of weeks and is concerned about whether VIA can complete the project on time.

VIA told KSAT in July that it is working simultaneously in several areas in order to be as efficient as possible.

To view construction updates along your commute and in your community, visit VIA’s website.

Read more:

• When will San Pedro construction be complete? Here’s what VIA says about progress on the Green Line.
• Price of progress: Southtown residents concerned about VIA Green Line construction

The criminal complaint unsealed Monday claims Matthew Ungelsbee sent at least four plain white envelopes with a powdery substance to elected officials in Chicago. They were postmarked in Springfield, Illinois, on Oct. 19 and had Unglesbee's name handwritten in the return address section.

Unglesbee, of Quincy in southwestern Illinois, is charged with mailing threatening communications and perpetrating a hoax. He was scheduled to appear in court Monday afternoon. Court records did not list a defense attorney, and a phone number for Unglesbee could not be found. A Facebook message to a Matthew Unglesbee in Quincy was not immediately returned.

FBI agents interviewed Unglesbee at his home on Sunday and he told them all the letters contained salt, court records show. He claimed he’d sent the letters after hearing someone talk about similar mailings in the news earlier this month.

Testing confirmed the white substance was not dangerous. The records did not identify the substance.

A motive was unclear. But Unglesbee said he knew the congress members would “take it serious” because the powder might be perceived as anthrax, which he knew was dangerous and could prompt a response by hazmat teams, according to the complaint.

“Unglesbee claimed he was joking but recognized the recipients would not know he was joking and could perceive it as a threat,” the complaint stated.

Investigators said none of the recipients opened the letters. The most recent envelope was received Oct. 23 at the office of a U.S. senator, records show. It contained a white powdery substance and a handwritten note reading “HAH enjoy the gift,” according to the documents.

The investigation began after an anonymous tipster reported overhearing Unglesbee in a restaurant talking about mailing a suspicious substance to members of Congress. The tip was received Oct. 16, and the FBI tracked Ungelsbee down after the envelopes arrived at the congressional offices days later.

The recipients of the mailings were not named. Authorities searched Unglesbee's home and found a fifth envelope addressed to another congress member's Washington, D.C., office, the records show.

Earlier this month, federal authorities said they were investigating letters with “suspicious substances” that had been mailed to congressional and election offices nationwide. That investigation by the FBI, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and U.S. Capitol Police was first disclosed in a message from the Senate Sergeant at Arms obtained Oct. 15 by The Associated Press.

Unglesbee denied involvement in those mailings.

The ruling is tailored to Maurene Comey but its import stretches beyond her case, repudiating the claim of President Donald Trump’s administration that the Constitution permits such firings for any reason. Administration officials have cited that belief repeatedly in a sweeping purge of the federal workforce.

Comey, an assistant U.S. attorney for a decade, was fired in July 2025 despite consistently receiving “the highest accolades from supervisors and peers alike," Judge Jesse M. Furman found.

The judge said her firing violated laws passed by Congress that were intended to abolish the spoils system, under which newly elected presidents regularly purged government workers and replaced them with loyalists.

Furman's decision didn't address the validity of Comey's claim that she was fired because she is the daughter of James Comey, whom Trump has long viewed as an enemy.

Trump fired James Comey as FBI director in May 2017 as the bureau was investigating ties between Russia and the Republican’s successful 2016 campaign for the White House. Trump in the years since has repeatedly called for Comey to be jailed, and his Justice Department has worked with mixed success to make that happen.

Hours after Furman's ruling Monday, unsealed court filings showed that the Justice Department had quietly brought another criminal case against James Comey, accusing him of leaking classified information.

Furman, who was nominated to the bench in 2011 by then-Democratic President Barack Obama, granted Maurene Comey retroactive reinstatement and back pay from the date of her firing through Dec. 20, 2025, when she began a new, private-sector job.

In a statement, the Justice Department said it disagreed with this decision and would appeal.

Comey’s lawyers, Ellen Blain, Nicole Gueron, Deepa Vanamali and Margaret Donovan, lauded the ruling.

“This hard-earned victory belongs to Ms. Comey, to all civil servants, and to all fighting for the rule of law,” they said in a statement. “This decision reaffirms our bedrock system of checks and balances: the President is not above the law.”

Comey was fired two weeks after leading the prosecution of music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, which ended in a conviction on prostitution-related charges but an acquittal on others. She also worked on the sex trafficking prosecutions of Jeffrey Epstein, the financier who killed himself in jail a month after his arrest in 2019, and Epstein’s former girlfriend and longtime confidant Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted in 2021 and is serving a 20-year prison sentence.

The Justice Department during the Trump administration has fired scores of career employees, including prosecutors and FBI agents, who participated in investigations of Trump or who were perceived as opposed to the administration’s agenda. Some of those firings have also resulted in federal lawsuits.

The firing of Maurene Comey was seen as particularly personal, given her father’s longtime adversarial relationship with Trump.

An earlier criminal case accusing James Comey of having lied to Congress in 2020 was dismissed by a judge who concluded that the prosecutor who filed the charges was illegally appointed. A separate pending indictment charges the former FBI director with threatening Trump through an Instagram photo of seashells in the numerical arrangement of “86 47,” a case he has sought to dismiss that some legal experts have greeted with skepticism.

In his ruling on Maurene Comey's termination, Furman said the Justice Department's claim that Congress is barred from regulating the removal of federal prosecutors “flies in the face of nearly two centuries of Supreme Court precedent.”

Furman added: “Indeed, to accept Defendants’ argument would be to unsettle the very equilibrium established by this Nation’s constitutional system.”

He didn't rule on Comey’s claim that her firing violated her free speech rights, though he said he was inclined to dismiss it because she is now in private practice and no longer seeks reinstatement to her old job.

___

Tucker and Durkin reported from Washington.

There isn't a timetable for Williams' return and one won't be set until after the surgery, general manager Sam Presti said Monday — but given the history of such injuries, it's reasonable to think Williams could miss the rest of the season.

“Dub, as everybody knows, is as tough as they come,” Presti said at a news conference in Oklahoma City, where the Thunder were set to host Phoenix later Monday. “He's an elite competitor. Even last night, just miraculous in terms of his outlook and the way he's looking forward to attacking this. We're going to be with him the entire way.”

It was a double gut punch for the Thunder on Monday, with the team also revealing that forward Cason Wallace will need surgery to repair a left labral tear. Like Williams, Wallace was injured on Sunday in Oklahoma City's 108-101 win over the Los Angeles Clippers.

The timetable for Wallace's return also will be set after surgery, but such procedures typically require several months of rehabilitation. Williams was an All-Defensive team selection in 2024-25; Wallace was picked to that team last season.

“Tough night last night,” Presti said. “There's no way to paint that differently. We say within our walls all the time there's a difference between being positive and being optimistic. Not going to sit up here and say this is exactly where we want to be or this is how we'd like to have it, but at the same time, we're extremely optimistic about the recovery for both the players. Most importantly, things could have been a lot worse.”

The Thunder have experienced major injury-related challenges in recent years, including Chet Holmgren missing the entirety of what would have been his rookie season with a foot issue. The team's 2024 first-round pick, Nikola Topic, missed all but 10 games in the previous two seasons — first because of a torn ACL, then with testicular cancer. And Williams missed 49 regular-season games a year ago with an array of issues, mostly wrist and hamstring problems.

“We’ve had some tough, uniquely tough, circumstances over the last few years,” Presti said. “One of the things I tried to say to the staff this morning when I talked to them was we can’t get to the point where we feel like this is a common situation. But that being said, it’s our situation.”

Williams was injured on a drive with 1:14 remaining against the Clippers. He was tended to almost immediately by medical personnel after going down underneath the basket on the Thunder’s offensive end.

Williams’ ankle was draped by towels and players from both teams reacted with dismay and disbelief as a stretcher was brought out. The game was stopped for about five minutes.

Williams — who has averaged 17.9 points in 251 games over his first five seasons — has already been an All-Star and an All-NBA selection, and he was a huge part of the Thunder team that won the 2025 NBA title.

The Thunder entered this season as a co-favorite with the Spurs to win the NBA title. Oklahoma City will — in time — likely make some decisions about applying for a disabled player exception or even using its stockpile of future draft picks to try and make trades and keep a title-hopeful team in contention.

Those conversations, for now, can wait.

“I haven't thought about anything related to the roster spot,” Presti said.

___

See AP’s full NBA coverage here

Some voters told KSAT they had to make selections more than once before they appeared correctly on screen. Others said they noticed a selection they did not intend to make while reviewing their ballot. A smaller number of messages described scanner problems or uncertainty about the handling of paper ballots when a scanner was unavailable.

KSAT has not independently verified every viewer report.

Christine Welde, co-chair of the Bexar County Democratic Party’s Election Integrity and Voter Protection Committee, said her group has received similar reports. Welde, who also said she has worked as a Bexar County poll worker, said she experienced a touchscreen issue while voting at Cornerstone Church.

“I can tell you my personal experience. I voted at Cornerstone Church. I selected up to five times, one, two, three, four, five, finally got it to register and then it registered, not the candidate that I intended to select,” Welde said.

Welde said she has not seen evidence that voting machines are intentionally changing votes. She said touchscreen sensitivity or calibration could be a possible explanation, but she believes election officials should clearly communicate what they find.

Kris Coons, chair of the Bexar County Republican Party, told KSAT her party has not received calls from voters reporting that they selected one candidate and saw another candidate selected on screen.

“I’m not hearing that right now from really, I haven’t, I’ve received no phone calls about that happening at all up in the Republican party about that,” Coons said. “They pushed a button and apparently that’s not what they meant to push, you know.”

Coons said voters who believe there is a problem should stop before submitting their ballot and immediately ask an election judge for help.

“If there is a concern, if there is a problem, just stop what you’re doing,” Coons said. “Call over the election judge and let them know what happened.”

The Bexar County Elections Department said it is aware of concerns suggesting voting machines are “switching” selections and is communicating with the voting-machine manufacturer to determine whether any action is needed.

In a statement, Elections Administrator Michele Carew said reports of mismatched selections are “almost always” related to touchscreen sensitivity, rather than machine malfunction.

The department is asking voters to confirm each selection before moving to the next screen, review all selections before printing a ballot and verify the printed paper ballot before casting it.

“If a printed ballot appears not to match a voter’s intended choices, the voter should notify a poll worker immediately — before casting the ballot — so the issue can be resolved,” Carew said in the statement.

The county said state law does not provide recourse once a ballot is cast.

Bexar County Elections has also said its voting machines are not connected to the internet and that the county uses pre-election Logic and Accuracy testing, chain-of-custody procedures and post-election audits.

Early voting in Bexar County ends Friday. Election Day is next Tuesday.

READ MORE:

• Long lines at polls not deterring Bexar County voters in 2nd week of early voting
• San Antonio Public Library ‘Learn’ program helps voters, residents navigate technology
• Social work degrees could be hit by proposed federal loan limits, association says

The crash happened around 1:40 p.m. near Village Parkway and Wood Bow on the city’s West Side.

According to SAFD, the person was taken to a hospital in critical condition. It’s unclear if they were in the vehicle at the time of the crash.

Arunima Jaiswal, a resident of the home, said she was in the middle of a meeting when she heard a loud crash. Her mom came into the room and told her to come outside for an emergency.

“I came out and was shocked to see the garage just completely destroyed,” Jaiswal said.

Photos from the scene show a silver SUV in the driveway with heavy damage to its rear and passenger sides. The vehicle appears to have struck the front of the house, tearing through the garage and leaving the roofline and exterior wall damaged.

Jaiswal said she was lucky her and her mother were in areas toward the back of their home when the crash occurred.

Additional information was not immediately available.

Read also:

• 15-year-old hit by vehicle in Converse with no sidewalk; driver cites sun glare, police say

James’ defense attorneys plan to pursue an insanity defense, raising questions about how Texas law defines legal insanity and what happens if a jury agrees with the defense.

What happened during the December 2023 shootings?

Investigators believe the violence began Dec. 4, 2023, at James’ family home in Kirby, where his parents, Phyllis James and Shane James Sr., were killed.

The following morning, the shootings continued in Austin. Here’s a timeline of events:

• 10:41 a.m. Dec. 5, James is accused of shooting an Austin Independent School District police officer near Northeast Early College High School.
• 11:59 a.m. Dec. 5, a man and woman were fatally shot near South 1st Street and William Cannon Drive.
• 4:57 p.m., a cyclist was shot and injured on West Slaughter Lane.
• 6:50 p.m., in the 5300 Block of Austral Loop, two women were found dead inside their home and shootout with police.
• 7:14 p.m., at the intersection of South Highway 45 and FM 1826, James was arrested after a vehicle chase that ended in a crash.

What is an insanity defense in Texas?

An insanity defense does not simply mean a defendant has a mental illness.

Under Texas law, a defendant may be found not guilty by reason of insanity if, because of a severe mental disease or defect, the person did not know the conduct was wrong at the time of the alleged offense.

Defense attorney Nico LaHood, who is not involved in this case, explained the distinction.

“The element of the crime is that you have to intentionally commit the crime,” LaHood said. “And if you are legally insane, that means that you cannot decipher between right and wrong.”

The defense must prove its claim by a preponderance of the evidence, a lower standard than the requirement than what prosecutors must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

“The burden is on the defense because it’s an affirmative defense,” LaHood said.

In practical terms, the defense must show that it is more likely than not that the defendant met the legal standard for insanity.

Does a not-guilty-by-reason-of-insanity verdict mean someone goes free?

A successful insanity defense does not automatically mean a defendant is released.

A verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity triggers a separate legal process to determine whether the person should be committed to a mental health facility.

LaHood said people found not guilty by reason of insanity in serious cases can spend years in an institution.

“Not guilty by reason of insanity is not the, I think it’s not the victory that people think it is,” LaHood said. “You don’t just walk out the door and go back in society.”

He added that people found not guilty by reason of insanity in murder cases can remain institutionalized for decades.

What happens next in the James case?

Jury selection is expected to last up to three days, with testimony scheduled to begin Thursday.

If James is convicted in the Austin case, he faces an automatic sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Read also:

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The newly developed StarGate drone, a six-rotor aircraft fitted with an enclosed evacuation capsule, was used in two separate missions over the past week, according to the 475th Separate Assault Regiment.

One of the rescued servicemen, a 24-year-old from the 1st Territorial Defense Brigade identified by his call sign, “Izyum,” told The Associated Press he waited two days to be evacuated and was unable to walk 20 kilometers (12 miles) out of the combat zone. The soldier's name was not given for security reasons and in accordance with Ukraine's military protocol.

“The injury tore off half of my foot, so a lot of blood was lost already,” he said in a video interview from his hospital room. “I think if that incredible little bird hadn’t flown in, well, getting out from there would have been unrealistic.”

The drone, carrying an orange-and-black, cigar-shaped stretcher, landed in a field where tall grass was tangled with fiber-optic spool cable, raising fears among Izyum and fellow soldiers that it could get stuck.

The flight to safety lasted less than 15 minutes.

“From the bottom of my heart, I am so grateful that they actually flew in and picked me up,” he said.

The 475th regiment, also known as Code 9.2, had tested StarGate for several weeks before deploying it on the battlefield.

It said both rescued men had sustained “severe limb injuries and were at positions in the gray zone, approximately 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the state border with Russia,” referring to a strip of territory separating Ukrainian and Russian forces.

The drone was designed to evacuate injured soldiers from high-risk areas where heavy artillery fire and hostile drone activity make rescue operations dangerous.

Developed by Ukrainian technology company SkyFall, the drone is intended to reduce rescue times from hours to minutes, reaching hard-to-access combat zones that are currently served by unmanned ground vehicles.

The Associated Press was granted exclusive access to the drone earlier this month, ahead of the final stage of testing.

The manufacturer says the drone can carry 150 kilograms (330 pounds) and is equipped with signal jammers and autonomous navigation to counter Russian electronic warfare systems. A company spokesperson said SkyFall planned to create a dedicated unit for the rescue drones, providing pilots and deployment specialists.

“Service members who weren't sure if they would ever make it out of their positions are now able to return home and hug their children,” the spokesperson told the AP. The person spoke on condition of anonymity, citing security risks facing Ukrainian military technology personnel.

The commander of the Code 9.2 regiment, identified by the call sign “Flint,” said aerial evacuations could significantly improve rescue efforts.

“In the future, we plan to make changes to the staffing structure of our regiment and create a separate medical aviation unit within the medical company,” he said. “It will specialize directly in evacuating wounded soldiers from the battlefield by air transport.”

Izyum, who hopes to return to beekeeping after the war, said he expects aerial rescue operations to expand.

“I think this needs to be developed and expanded because we have a lot of guys who cannot get out of the situations they find themselves in,” he said.

“Having to walk very many kilometers with that level of shelling that is going on, whether walking yourself or carrying a wounded person — let’s just say making it out of there is not very likely.”

The department wants to limit federal loans for students who earn less than those without a degree. Nothing is final, but social work, which often requires a master’s degree, could be affected.

Will Francis, executive director of the National Association of Social Workers in the Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana Chapter, said the profession is needed now more than ever.

“Social workers sort of serve as that glue between the different community systems that allow folks to be healthy and happy,” Francis said.

Social workers can be found in schools advocating for children and in hospitals, where they may help families navigate mental health or treatment options.

“We’re really worried by these new rules,” Francis said. “Cutting in half the amount of dollars that folks in the social workspace can access as loans is pretty devastating.”

State data from the Texas Department of State Health Services shows almost 8,000 social workers were needed to meet demand in 2022. By 2036, that number jumps to more than 18,000.

“If we’re limiting the amount of dollars folks can access through loan repayment, or if we really devaluing social work as a profession, we could see that gap be even larger and Texas could fall behind all the rest of the other states,” Francis said.

UTSA, Trinity University, the University of the Incarnate Word and Our Lady of the Lake University were contacted over several weeks, and none would go on the record about how the change could affect students or the social work workforce.

Ali Fletcher, a UIW student, said earlier this month she was concerned about the proposal.

“I feel as if that is a huge blow to pretty much half of the population, honestly, in America,” Fletcher said.

A recent article from the National College Attainment Network said students should expect fewer disruptions to undergraduate programs, but master’s programs could see more of an impact.

The federal government said it is looking to propose an earnings test next summer, which would go into effect by 2029, saying in part, “If a program cannot show that it leaves its graduates financially better off than if they had never enrolled, it should not be underwritten by federal taxpayers.”

Francis acknowledged that starting salaries can be low, but said the job is crucial.

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McALLEN — A section of border wall that the federal government planned to build along a beloved South Texas wildlife refuge could end up cutting through the refuge instead.

The federal government is considering changing its plans for a border wall that it intended to build on a levee that runs adjacent to the Sana National Wildlife Refuge. The change is an attempt to resolve a legal dispute in which government contractors are accused of trespassing on property near the refuge belonging to Hidalgo County Irrigation District No. 2.

During a hearing in federal court on Oct. 14, Assistant U.S. Attorney Lance Duke said the federal government was considering taking up the suggestion proposed by the irrigation district to relocate the border wall currently under construction.

“My client is in the process of looking into, basically, moving the wall from its current expected path — where we were originally planning to go through [the irrigation district’s] property — and instead move it through the wildlife refuge,” Duke said. “We recognize that will probably just create additional litigation from other interested parties.”

A spokesperson for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not confirm the agency was considering relocating the wall through the refuge but said it was aware of the lawsuit.

“CBP remains committed to enhancing border security at Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, while continuing coordination with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other relevant federal and state partners,” the spokesperson said. “CBP is aware of the pending litigation and remains confident in its legal authorities and assessments.”

In July, CBP moved forward with plans to construct 2.8 miles of border wall on a levee located adjacent to the wildlife refuge.

However, the irrigation district, a public corporation that distributes water to cities, farmers and ranchers, alleged that government contractors trespassed on their property during construction, specifically on the 60 feet of land it owns on either side of an irrigation canal.

The irrigation district sued Spencer Construction LLC and Royal Concrete Products LLC in September, seeking a restraining order against the contractors to halt construction.

A state district court in Hidalgo County issued a temporary restraining order against the contractors on July 30, which a federal judge extended after the U.S. government removed the case to federal court. A temporary restraining order is still in place.

During a hearing in August, the general manager of the irrigation district, Anthony Stambaugh, testified the contractors did not ask permission to enter onto their property.

He added that the presence of a border wall within their property would tighten the space around the canal, making it difficult for crews to conduct maintenance or repairs on the canal in a timely manner.

Lance Kirby, the attorney for the irrigation district, told the judge the issue would be resolved if the border were built 15 to 20 feet south of the current alignment.

“It’s music to my ears. It’s what we’ve been hoping for and asking for all along,” Kirby said in response to Duke’s announcement.

However, Duke had argued that Texas trespass law could not prevent the federal government from building a border wall on land it does not own. He added that a border wall at the proposed location was inevitable, even if the federal government had to move forward with condemnation.

The Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, sometimes referred to as the jewel of the national wildlife refuge system, is a 2,000-acre haven for wildlife that sits along the Rio Grande, south of the city of Alamo.

It’s a well-known and treasured destination for many who grew up in the Rio Grande Valley where school field trips to the refuge are like a rite of passage.

Its property has been a potential target for border wall construction since President Donald Trump first began pushing forward his border security agenda in 2017.

Border wall plans there activated members of the community to hold public demonstrations to spare the refuge from construction. Then in 2019, congressional lawmakers succeeded in protecting the refuge and other sensitive areas by assuring that appropriated funds could not be used to build a border wall there.

However, during Trump’s second term, CBP has been able to work around those restrictions through the One Big, Beautiful Bill, Trump’s signature funding bill which bypasses the appropriations process to fund border wall construction.

“I am concerned by reports that the federal government may reroute approximately 2.8 miles of border wall through the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge,” said U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Democrat from Laredo who was among the lawmakers who had secured protections for the refuge and other areas.

Cuellar added language to the Homeland Security Appropriations bill the 2027 fiscal year that would preserve those protections, but Congress is unlikely to take up the bill for a vote until the end of the year.

“I support strong border security, but there are better ways to secure our border than building through a wildlife refuge or cutting communities off from the Rio Grande,” Cuellar said, adding that the government should be investing in Border Patrol personnel, technology, intelligence, ports of entry, and infrastructure that address border security needs.

“DHS and CBP need to be transparent about any proposed change in the alignment at Santa Ana, including where the funding would come from, how the refuge would be affected, and what alternatives are being considered,” Cuellar said.

Reporting in the Rio Grande Valley is supported in part by the Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc.

The 25-year-old allegedly communicated that he was “gonna hijack this” plane — although he used an expletive — and “crash ur row only,” according to a copy of the criminal complaint. The document doesn't specify exactly how the message was sent or to whom it was directed.

Las Vegas police said they detained the man after a report of a person making “terroristic threats” on the Saturday night flight that had been headed to Newark, New Jersey. He was arrested on charges of making a threat or providing false information regarding an act of terrorism, which carries a possible sentence of 1 to 20 years in prison.

An attorney listed for the man did not immediately return a request for comment. His initial court appearance is scheduled for Tuesday.

The scheduled redeye flight returned to the airport less than an hour after departing, according to Flightradar24 data.

United confirmed that the flight with 150 passengers on board returned safely to Las Vegas to address a “potential security concern.” The flight was delayed overnight and departed for Newark on Sunday morning.

The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed it will investigate the incident and said in an email to The Associated Press there have been over 1,400 unruly passenger incidents so far in 2026.

—-

Associated Press writer Rio Yamat contributed to this report.

Higher Education Minister Philippe Baptiste announced “substantial change” to the platform next year, before its replacement in 2028.

Ministers also pledged up to 4 billion euros ($4.5 billion) in loans for school renovations, alongside smaller classes, more teaching and higher education posts and increased student grants.

The concessions target the school grievances that helped ignite the unrest.

But the movement has widened to include workers demanding relief from rising living costs, making the government’s task tougher than simply resolving a dispute over university admissions.

The promises came after a turbulent few weeks

The announcements followed France’s worst unrest in years on Oct. 17, when demonstrations over school funding and rising living costs descended into rioting and looting across the country.

Groups of protesters set fires, looted shops, clashed with police and attacked public buildings, briefly storming Marseille’s City Hall and setting Limoges’ 19th-century town hall ablaze. The fire brought down the Limoges building’s roof and clock tower.

About 2,400 people were arrested in connection with the demonstrations, in which hundreds of thousands marched peacefully.

Two high school student groups welcomed some concessions, but called for protests to continue. Their representatives spoke after meeting with Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu earlier Monday.

“We have managed to address some of the students’ demands,” said Nathanaël Combary of the high school group Renouveau Lycéen. “I emphasize the term ‘some.’”

Other representatives were more critical. “We have received crumbs compared to what we are asking for,” said Clément Vieillot of the Mouvement Cachan 94 student group.

He pointed to students’ demand for 250,000 more university places, compared with the government’s pledge of 15,000 additional places in higher education.

Further demonstrations are planned.

Admissions changes will fall to the next president

The 2028 deadline puts a central concession to protesters beyond President Emmanuel Macron’s time in office, leaving his successor’s government to deliver it.

Macron can’t seek a third consecutive term in 2027, and far-right leader Marine Le Pen leads polling before the first round of presidential voting on April 18. A winner-takes-all runoff is scheduled for May 2.

Le Pen's National Rally party has sought to capitalize on the unrest, presenting itself as a force for law and order and urging voters to channel their anger into support for her presidential bid.

The university admissions replacement system still has to be designed, and legal changes may be needed — leaving crucial decisions unresolved even as the government seeks to persuade students to end their protests.

The platform, called Parcoursup, allows students to apply to universities and other higher education courses and receive admissions decisions. A record 1.05 million people applied through it this year, according to the Higher Education Ministry.

It has been a focus of the protests, with students criticizing unclear selection criteria and unequal access to their preferred courses.

French government commits to education reforms

For the 2027 admissions round, institutions would publish more detailed selection criteria. The platform would provide explanatory information with each rejection, and institutions would have to give applicants the reasons for their decisions if requested.

A committee involving students and teachers would produce initial recommendations for the replacement system by the end of November. The government said that it would introduce legislation if the proposed changes require it.

The government also promised 15,000 additional places in higher education across 2027 and 2028, mostly in vocational and technical programs, and increases in student grants linked to inflation from the start of the 2027 academic year.

To address demands for better learning conditions, the government pledged to cap some first-year high school classes at 28 students from 2027, starting with more disadvantaged schools. It also promised to cancel planned cuts to teaching positions at secondary schools and create 500 additional jobs.

The building plans would extend still further into the next presidency. The government proposed up to 4 billion euros ($4.5 billion) in low-interest loans to regional authorities for school renovations through 2030. A separate 1 billion-euro ($1.1 billion) state plan would fund university renovations through 2029.

Violence has lessened

Another round of nationwide demonstrations on Saturday saw less violence. Authorities estimated turnout at 410,000, while organizers put it at nearly 800,000.

Authorities deployed 70,000 police officers and gendarmes to prevent a repeat of the previous weekend’s widespread destruction. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said Monday that 1,435 people had been arrested nationwide in connection with the latest weekend’s protests.

Earlier Monday, the French president promised “concrete measures” to address students’ demands during a visit to the southern port city of Marseille.

“I have asked the government to address the legitimate demands at the root of this protest movement,” Macron said.

Macron and his centrist government have faced criticism for failing to address students’ grievances since high school blockades began in mid-September. The protests have led to mass arrests and scrutiny of police riot control weapons blamed for life-changing injuries suffered by some teenagers.

The demands for better-resourced schools, particularly in poorer communities, come as France grapples with record poverty and record public debt.

___

Nicolas Garriga and Jeffrey Schaeffer contributed

Lula, who convinced an extra 10.4 million voters to support him in the runoff, is expected to take office on Jan. 5, 2027, for his fourth non-consecutive term. He will serve as a counterweight in a region where leaders are shifting to the right and aligning with U.S. President Donald Trump. Bolsonaro, son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, promised to cozy up to the Trump administration.

President Donald Trump suggested on Monday, without providing evidence, that Lula’s reelection was “rigged.”

“Elections have to be indisputable and it looked very bad to me,” Trump told reporters before flying to Mississippi for a rally. He added, “I thought it had a very bad look, the way it was tabulated.”

Trump also said: “It looked like another rigged election, frankly.”

At a news conference Sunday, Bolsonaro said he planned to request an annulment of the election following a chaotic extension of voting at the request of both candidates. But in a video on his social media channels on Monday he did not repeat that message and promised to organize opposition to Lula.

Bolsonaro said he will press the electoral court to nullify the election results, which it has never done before.

That would be a high hurdle: Bolsonaro would have to present evidence that the 4.4 million votes by which Lula won the election were fraudulent — and convince the full eight-member electoral court of that. He would need to do that before the election results are certified on Dec.18.

“I am going to gather elected lawmakers and senators to organize our strategy and make the lower house and the Senate our fortress against barbaric acts that are set to happen in another four years of Lula,” Bolsonaro said.

Bolsonaro also said he visited his father in house arrest on Monday. Jair Bolsonaro, who is now serving a 27-year sentence for a coup attempt, unsuccessfully contested his loss to Lula four years ago.

Early signs from Brazil’s institutions and from leaders across the region, including conservative presidents who oppose Lula, suggest the results will be respected nationally and internationally.

Even with the vote extension, Lula’s win was decisive. The soon-to-be 81-year-old incumbent won more than 64 million votes compared to just under 60 million for Bolsonaro, a margin of nearly 4%.

President of Brazil’s electoral authority, Kassio Nunes, who was appointed to the Supreme Court by ex-president Jair Bolsonaro, was among those who recognized Lula’s victory Sunday.

“This is a really uphill battle for Flavio Bolsonaro. Important Brazilian power brokers are closing ranks behind Lula, sometimes begrudgingly," said Brian Winter, Brazil analyst and editor-in-chief of Americas Quarterly.

“I sense that Brazilian power brokers that matter don’t really want to go down the path of a truly contested election,” he said.

The numbers behind Lula's victory

The key to Lula’s win was the additional 14.1 million voters who showed up for the second-round election, including those who voted for other candidates in the first round. Analysts say three-quarters of those votes went to Lula, handing him the victory. And notably, the first round set a record for the number of Brazilians who decided not to vote, while the second round had the least number of abstentions ever.

Lula gave his digital campaign to lawmaker André Janones, who mounted a fierce and persistent social media operation that mobilized many of those previously uncommitted voters. Janones' key tool was a channel on messaging app WhatsApp called “Lula's Army,” which gathered almost 11 million people and mobilized them to campaign via social media for the incumbent.

Janones “basically embraced the right’s style of aggressive politics, very intense, constant messaging,” said Oliver Stuenkel, a professor of International Relations at Fundação Getulio Vargas in Sao Paulo.

“The defeat in the first round jolted the Lula campaign into action. The strategy during the first round was lackluster and saw a lot of infighting,” Stuenkel said.

Juliano Cortinhas, international relations professor at the University of Brasília, said Lula's social media initiative in the runoff was also key to pressuring Meta, the owner of Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook, to end what the president's campaign denounced as bias helping Bolsonaro.

Brazil’s top electoral court ruled on Oct.15 that Meta must adopt measures that assure equal treatment of the two presidential candidates, which the company later said it addressed.

There was “external interference we were suffering by major platforms,” Cortinhas said. “It wasn't only Meta, many others were using their algorithms to repost many images and many messages of the far-right, and they did not do the same to the left.”

It was the first time since 1989 that a candidate came from behind in the first round to win in the second.

Results show voter turnout surged overall, particularly in wealthier metropolitan centers, but Lula achieved his highest gains in lower-income municipalities where his base was already established. He mobilized former non-voters, those who voted blank in the first round and supporters of third-party candidates.

Jorge Henrique Oliveira Sena, a 26-year-old maintenance worker in Brasilia, was one of those who didn’t vote in the first round. Neither candidate excited him much, but he cast his vote for Lula. “It’s not a question of supporting, but between the two, I had more of a connection with him,” he said.

Brazil's voting system and Sunday's disruptions

Brazil holds general elections every four years, and its electronic voting machines have made the tallying process quick and secure.

Brazilian authorities adopted electronic voting machines in the 1990s to combat fraud and the system has been largely reliable since then. Results are usually reported mere hours after polls close.

In the lead-up to the 2022 vote, Jair Bolsonaro repeatedly cast unfounded doubts on Brazil’s electronic voting system. No significant fraud has ever been detected.

But the usually swift voting process was thrown into disarray Sunday after a last-minute decision to extend voting nationwide at both candidates’ requests.

Lula made the request because of issues with public transportation in metropolis, Sao Paulo, and the northeastern city of Salvador, two of his strongholds. Bolsonaro requested it after heavy rains in the south, which he won by a strong margin in the first round.

The decision was made by a Supreme Court justice mere minutes before polls were set to close at 5 p.m. and the speed of Brazil’s counting process meant many polling stations didn’t receive the news until they were already wrapping up.

Yet given the reliability of Brazil's voting system and Lula's win by a significant margin, a path to annul the results could be difficult for Bolsonaro.

Benjamin Gedan, senior fellow and director of the Stimson Center Latin America program, said Bolsonaro's rejection of his loss was not surprising.

“False claims of fraud are becoming commonplace, though that does not make them any less dangerous," he said. He noted “Lula’s margin of victory, and the quick recognition of the result by conservative leaders in the region."

Nevertheless, Lula still faces challenges moving forward, including political polarization in the country, a possible fiscal crisis and a right-wing Congress in which Bolsonaro's party will have more seats than any other. Bolsonaro himself remains a senator, though his term ends in January.

“We shouldn’t underestimate the power of the Bolsonaro family," said Winter, the Brazil analyst. "They can make life difficult for Lula for weeks and months to come.”

___

Savarese reported from Sao Paulo. AP writer Will Weissert in Washington contributed.

Nigerian Health Minister Muhammad Pate said the woman, the country’s first case in the current outbreak, left the capital, Abuja, early Monday with his approval. Her condition had improved significantly, and she was stable, conscious and able to communicate, he said.

“This does not mean she is not still infectious, hence the strict protocols in place,” Pate wrote on X. Her husband, a Swiss diplomat in Nigeria, has shown no symptoms.

Switzerland’s Federal Office of Public Health said the couple arrived Monday on a medical evacuation flight. The woman was being treated at Geneva University Hospital, while her husband was in isolation at Zurich University Hospital. The agency said both hospitals were equipped to care for them and that there was no risk to the Swiss public.

The World Health Organization’s regional director for Africa, Mohamed Janabi, said the evacuation was arranged because the couple are Swiss citizens and that Nigerian medical teams had stabilized the woman after treating her through the acute phase of the illness.

Nigeria will continue monitoring 52 other contacts, Janabi said.

“With the evacuation of the patient and her husband, Nigeria currently has no Ebola cases,” he said, stressing that vigilance remained critical.

Pate said containment measures remained in place and urged Nigerians to remain vigilant.

The woman tested positive after returning to Abuja from Uganda. Nigerian authorities said Friday they had yet to establish how she contracted the virus.

Switzerland’s foreign ministry told The Associated Press last week that she had not visited Congo and was believed to have been infected while traveling to Uganda with her husband.

The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the first patients in Nigeria and Kenya had both traveled through Uganda’s Entebbe International Airport on Oct. 3. Uganda had previously reported Ebola cases but later declared itself free of the virus.

Kenya has recorded nine cases, including two deaths, since confirming its first case earlier this month.

On Monday, Kenya released 20 people from quarantine following their exposure to the virus as contacts of the country's first case, while 98 others were expected to be released starting next Tuesday.

“Each of the 20 contacts was assessed against the release criteria, including 21 days without any symptoms since their last exposure,” the Kenyan Ministry of Health said in a statement.

The spread of Ebola beyond Congo has heightened longstanding fears among health authorities about the rapid transmission of the rare Bundibugyo virus.

The latest figures from Congo’s health ministry show more than 9,900 cases, including more than 4,800 deaths, since the outbreak began in May.

The WHO has said the outbreak is the fastest-spreading Ebola outbreak on record and is on track to surpass the death toll of the deadliest: West Africa’s 2014-2016 outbreak, which killed 11,000 people. Nigeria was among the countries affected, recording 20 cases before its outbreak was declared over after three months.

___

Banchereau reported from Dakar, Senegal. Evelyne Musambi contributed from Nairobi, Kenya.

The screwworm — actually a fly larva that burrows into the flesh of livestock, pets and even humans — has threatened the $113 billion U.S. cattle industry. Containment efforts have cost jobs and trade in border communities, cutting off a source of cattle as the U.S. struggles to rebuild drought-depleted herds. Reopening crossings could help ease that squeeze, although experts caution that shoppers shouldn't expect quick relief on beef prices.

The port at Columbus, New Mexico, is the third to resume Mexican cattle imports under new safeguards, which include tests, shots and inspections that happen before an animal even gets close to the border.

Officials and ranchers in the two countries say layers of treatment and inspection give them confidence that imported livestock won't carry screwworm through the ports. But flies can buzz across the border on their own, meaning ranchers, hunters and pet owners should remain vigilant.

The parasite was an annual livestock scourge before being largely eradicated in the U.S. in the 1960s. It reappeared in Mexico in 2024, and the first confirmed U.S. case was in Texas in June.

More than 60 cases have been confirmed in Texas and New Mexico, with infestations of cattle, sheep, goats, horses and dogs. Last week, the first case in U.S. wildlife was confirmed after a hunter found screwworm in an elk.

Before the current outbreak, the U.S. was importing about 1 million head of cattle per year. It will take time to get back to that number while keeping a sharp eye on the risks to animal health, said Dudley Hoskins, undersecretary for the Department of Agriculture.

“As long as we can manage and mitigate that risk at an acceptable level, we will continue to process the safe and legal movement of cattle through these ports,” he said, watching as cattle lined up in the chutes at Columbus.

New Mexico is key for cattle imports

About a third of all Mexican cattle imported to the U.S. each year pass through Columbus and the Santa Teresa port near El Paso, Texas. Gerardo Fierro, executive director of the New Mexico Border Authority, pegged the value of the cattle trade for the area at $1 billion.

Fierro said the community watched as jobs, cattle sales and even tax revenue from the diesel fuel used to transport the animals evaporated due to the closures. Ranchers were no longer crossing into New Mexico and spending money on supplies, lodging and food, and farmers had no customers for their alfalfa and grain.

“This means a lot,” he said of the reopening.

Another border crossing for cattle in Arizona is due to open in late November.

Layers of safeguards ensure cows are clean

New Mexico state veterinarian Samantha Holeck said the rigorous process for getting cattle ready starts at their home ranches, where private veterinarians check for tuberculosis and other diseases and deliver medications that prevent screwworm.

At the next stop, veterinarians accredited by the Mexican government look for open wounds, signs of illness or other injuries. Then a head-to-tail inspection is done by the USDA while still in Mexico.

The last hurdle? Dipping — as it's commonly known — involves the cows being immersed in vats of insecticide to get rid of any missed parasites.

Flies have lots of ways to move around

Holeck said the protocols developed over recent years helped to buy more time, and the USDA is using fly traps and drones to survey areas.

The government has a longstanding program to breed sterile male flies and drop swarms of them from planes to mate with wild females, causing the flies to die out. The government is building a $610 million factory in Texas that can produce 300 million sterile flies per week. That will augment production at facilities in Mexico and Panama.

“That’s our sharpest tool,” Hoskins said.

Beef prices are a bigger problem

Mexican ranchers once again have a market for their feeder cattle, but experts say it will take time for U.S. ranchers to rebuild herds that have dwindled to record lows due to years of persistent drought. Constrained supplies have pushed prices higher.

Tom Paterson, president of the New Mexico Cattle Grower's Association, was among those who met with U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins last week in Columbus.

“I agree with the secretary,” he said, “when she says that food security is national security.”

The filing sets up the San Francisco company for a Wall Street debut next month, potentially eclipsing the record $86 billion raised by SpaceX in its initial public offering in June. An Anthropic IPO would also put the company ahead of OpenAI in going public, setting the stage for a pair of blockbuster stock debuts by rival AI developers.

An IPO could give Anthropic enormous resources to accelerate its expansion. The amount the company ultimately raises remains uncertain, as do its final valuation and offering price. But even at lower estimates, it would turn the five-year-old startup into one of the world’s most valuable companies, potentially adding billions of dollars to the fortunes of CEO Dario Amodei and his sister and co-founder, Daniela.

The 335-page filing showed Anthropic’s revenue is growing rapidly, reaching more than $16 billion in the first half of the year — 14 times its revenue from the same period last year. But like many other tech companies going public, the company behind the Claude chatbot has yet to turn a profit.

Despite the losses, Anthropic, valued earlier this year at $965 billion by private investors, is reportedly set to see that value rise to $1.5 trillion or possibly $2 trillion, although its final valuation has not been established. At $1.5 trillion, Anthropic would rank among the world’s most valuable public companies, alongside Tesla.

As for money raised, the offering could bring in as much as $100 billion, according to reports, surpassing the record set by SpaceX.

In a regulatory filing, Anthropic said it will list its stock on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol "ANT."

A Wall Street debut is planned in a jittery market

In the filing, the company said it could use some of that money on acquiring other businesses and technology as well as investing in infrastructure to grow its business to take on rivals.

Formed in 2021 by former OpenAI leaders, Anthropic is locked in a fight for dominance with that company. But they have plenty of other competitors, including Google, newer startups in the U.S. and China and SpaceX, which has an AI business. Anthropic, OpenAI and SpaceX’s AI division have all been losing more money than they make because of the huge costs of resources in building AI, fueling concerns of a bubble.

The need for cash may explain why Anthropic is rushing to tap public markets this year, and not waiting until next year, as is OpenAI's plan. Adding to the pressure is the possibility demand for AI shares could drop, or even collapse. Investors have become jittery about the massive financing needs of the sector, and several tech companies have pulled IPO plans recently.

David Hsu, a management professor at the University of Pennsylvania, said he sees the filing more as a move to diversify the company’s financial base.

“Obviously, they feel great, or at least good enough, on the safety aspects relative to OpenAI, and so that puts them in a position to really stay on track now to go public (first),” Hsu said.

In addition to helping plug any cash shortfall, the IPO will shower extraordinary wealth on Anthropic’s seven founders, including Amodei and his sister. The filing didn't directly state their ownership stakes, but other figures disclosed suggest each will end up with 1.4% of the company, a windfall of as much as $28 billion a person should the company go public at the top expected value.

Risks aplenty, but a big payoff to the founders

Dario, 43, and 39-year-old Daniela, who is Anthropic's president, are already worth $15.5 billion each, according to Forbes, which ranks them as the 176th and 177th richest in the world.

Anthropic reported a net loss of $80.7 billion in the first half of 2026, although that included a one-time, $72.4 billion charge for an accounting adjustment related to financing agreements, according to the filing. In the same period a year ago, Anthropic lost $13 billion.

The document includes some unusual provisions, including granting those two and their five other co-founders 50.1% of shareholder votes through a special class of shares. Anthropic also has appointed independent, financially disinterested members of a so-called Long-Term Benefit Trust, holding power to appoint directors, that is designed to ensure the company doesn’t put financial interests ahead of public safety.

Another unusual feature of the filing is its long list of “risk factors," a required disclosure for every public company but in this case one that runs nearly 100 pages — and makes for riveting reading.

Among the risks are the quotidian — the possibility it won't be able to retain key staff or navigate regulatory roadblocks — and the horrific. The latter includes the prospect of “malicious actors” using AI models to build chemical weapons, authoritarian rulers turning to the technology to crack down on their citizens and the possibility that its AI models could go rogue and “pose catastrophic or existential risks to humanity.”

Calls for an AI slowdown

Anthropic and other leading companies have touted the technology's potential to cure diseases and speed economic growth. But it also threatens major disruptions to jobs by reducing the need for human labor.

A string of hacking incidents by rogue AI agents also has raised fears the technology will slip free of human control to carry out harmful, life-threatening tasks.

In September, Amodei said the AI industry should slow its fast-moving development to give safety measures time to catch up. Without such a slowdown, Amodei warned AI could be capable of letting loose a swarm of agents that could take over the entire internet within six to 12 months.

He offered a plan in a post on his website to increase checks on the industry, noting that Anthropic is already undertaking part of this on its own. As for other steps, though, he said that would require coordination across the industry and with governments around the world, including authoritarian ones.

Clashes with the U.S. government

Anthropic has tried to set itself apart from other AI companies as the “good guys,” focusing on safety and responsible development as opposed to growing at all costs. Some of this sentiment stems from the company’s dispute with the U.S. government, which broke out in February when the Trump administration accused Anthropic of endangering national security and designated the company a supply chain risk.

Anthropic sued the Pentagon in March for what it called an “unlawful campaign of retaliation” over its refusal to allow unrestricted military use of its technology. The legal challenge intensified a dispute over how AI can be used in warfare and mass surveillance.

ChatGPT maker OpenAI made its own deal to work with the Pentagon hours after the government punished Anthropic for its stance. Anthropic also filed a separate and narrower case involving a different rule the Pentagon is using to try to declare Anthropic a supply chain risk.

A California judge ruled in Anthropic’s favor in the first case and a Washington, D.C. judge sided with the government in the second. Both sides are appealing the decisions.

——

Bernard Condon reported from New York. Associated Press writer Kaitlyn Huamani contributed from Los Angeles.

Organizers of the Ballon d’Or event mistakenly published multiple “winners” of the men’s award on its website Monday hours before the ceremony.

One announcement read, in part, “Harry Kane wins 2026 Ballon d'Or” — and similar articles described Lamine Yamal and Kylian Mbappé also winning.

It turned out the organizer France Football had prepared many announcements — to be ready for when the winner is announced — but they were accidentally posted well ahead of the gala at The London Palladium.

“Some profiles of nominees prepared by BallonDor.com were inadvertently published online,” the organizer said in a statement to the BBC.

“These articles had been prepared for all nominees and should in no way be considered as an indication of the final results or rankings.”

___

See AP’s full soccer coverage here

Today on Texas Eats NOW:

DIA DE LOS MUERTOS | LA PANADERIA

301 E Houston St, San Antonio, TX 78205

La Panaderia is celebrating their culture this season with a full Dia de los Muertos celebration. The bakery has community altars at all five of their locations throughout the season, along with hand painted calaveras on display at every location, so guests can take in the cultural side of the holiday along with the bread.

Pan de muerto is the yearly staple, joined this season by concha muertos, a combination of a concha and a pan de muerto, plus pumpkin conchas and Talavera pan de muertos that are decorated by hand and take about five minutes apiece, which keeps them in limited quantities. New savory options include a Hawaiian burger with grilled pineapple, grilled jalapenos, and bacon built on brioche buns made from the same dough as the conchas.

TEXAS EATS HALLOWEEN | THE GREY MOSS INN

19010 Scenic Loop Rd, Helotes, TX 78023

The Grey Moss Inn opened in 1929, and co-owner Martha Valadez said the restaurant has plenty of haunted history: glassware once flew off a shelf behind the bar with no explanation and was caught on the restaurant’s cameras, and during remodeling the faucets on the well tank shut off on their own.

The new menu is built around grilled, from-scratch cooking. The milanesa is made with filet mignon rather than the traditional sirloin, and the traditional fajitas come with chicken and beef, rice and borracho beans. The queso with housemade chorizo is a guest favorite, served with homemade corn and flour tortillas, and the lineup also includes enchiladas and ribeye tacos topped with avocado, cilantro, cheese and serrano.

TEXAS EATS HALLOWEEN | THE MENGER HOTEL

204 Alamo Plaza, San Antonio, TX 78205

Located minutes from the River Walk and steps from the Alamo, the historic Menger Hotel reigns as the oldest continuously operating hotel west of the Mississippi. The hotel is known for being haunted and that includes the second floor King Ranch suite, where Captain Richard King died, and where one guest reported waking around midnight feeling watched.

The Colonial Room is the restaurant inside the Menger Hotel, serving lunch and weekend brunch. The kitchen’s signature mango ice cream traces back to the mango trees that once grew on the property, when the chefs of the day began turning the fruit into desserts. The Reuben sandwich is another favorite as it’s built on rye bread with fresh corned beef, Swiss cheese and housemade thousand island dressing, served with fries and a pickle spear.

TEXAS EATS HALLOWEEN | OWL CREEK FARM

12355 Military Dr W, San Antonio, TX 78253

Owl Creek Farm in West San Antonio offers family-friendly fall activities during the day before transforming into Nightmare at Owl Creek, an outdoor Halloween attraction featuring haunted trails, spooky mazes, and terrifying encounters after dark. The farm’s daytime activities include a seasonal pumpkin patch, petting zoo, pony rides, hayrides, bounce houses, and play areas where families can interact with goats, sheep, horses, pigs, and other farm animals. At night, visitors can explore six themed attractions, including the creepy Haunted Doll Trail, the wooded Dark End Woods Maze, the carnival-inspired Freak Show, and the winding Barn Maze. Guests looking for milder scares can try the Cowboy Trail or the extraterrestrial-themed Contact Zone, both designed with younger visitors in mind. With a mix of daytime autumn fun and nighttime frights, Owl Creek Farm offers two different ways to celebrate Halloween in San Antonio.

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According to the Bexar County Elections Department, more than 284,000 voters cast ballots during the first week of early voting.

On Monday morning, voters were back at it by the dozens.

A new feature on the elections website, which updates in real time, showed the wait at some polling places exceeded one hour.

>> What to know about early voting in Bexar County for Nov. 3 midterm election

One of those locations was the Great Northwest Library, where Michelle Salinas and dozens of people patiently stood in line.

“It doesn’t matter,” she said in response to the expected wait time. “Does it affect me? Yes, but it is what it is.”

For Salinas, this was the second attempt to vote.

She showed up at that location last week but had to leave before voting in order to go to work.

For Devon Setliff, the entire experience was a first.

“It’s the first time I’ve ever voted. It’s the first time I’ve ever wanted to vote,” he said.

Setliff cast his ballot last week but returned Monday to use the library’s services.

He says his first experience with voting lasted about 45 minutes, a small price to pay.

“I feel like this is an important time in our lives where we need to do that because, you know, some changes need to happen,” Setliff said.

After several decades of taking part in elections, Raymond Nunez arrived at the polls well-prepared for the wait as well as what was on the ballot.

He said he studied the candidates and issues ahead of time.

“Get here early,” Nunez said, discussing his strategy. “Know who you’re voting for.”

When it comes to where to vote and how long it might take, the Bexar County Elections Department’s website offers information in an interactive style.

A map showing locations and real-world wait times is available at the link here.

Early voting is open from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. every day this week through Friday.

More Vote 2026 coverage on KSAT:

• Vote 2026: Understanding the school bonds on the ballot
• Bexar County sees increase in early voting turnout compared to 2022 midterm
• KSAT is tracking voting problems in Bexar County. Here’s how to report yours

The S&P 500 rose 0.7% and more than recovered its losses from last week, pulling within 1.8% of its all-time high set earlier this month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 146 points, or 0.3%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.8%.

The strongest lift for the market came from Nvidia, which rose 2.4%. That helped the chip company recover some of its drop from three straight losing weeks, its longest such streak since June.

But stocks elsewhere in the artificial-intelligence industry remained unsettled. They’ve been swerving on worries about whether their industry’s boom is under threat because of how expensive it’s become for companies to borrow money to build data centers and buy more AI chips.

Meta helps lead the swings

Meta Platforms bounced up and down after outlining plans to raise $35 billion by selling stock to help pay for its AI investments. It also said it could raise another $60 billion by selling shares of a new class of its stock once it begins trading. Meta’s stock initially dropped more than 2%, but it quickly flipped to a gain and then pulled back to a loss of 1.9%.

Meta said Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices and Broadcom have already indicated they may buy a total of $5 billion of stock in its offering. Those are strong signals of interest from chip companies that stand to benefit from additional AI investments. But they also give fuel to critics of “circular financing” who say it raises the risk if AI isn’t as successful as expected.

One big company at the center of the AI boom, Anthropic, gave details Monday about how much money it’s losing as it prepares to sell its stock on the publicly traded U.S. market for the first time.

Worries remain about borrowing for AI

SpaceX, Elon Musk’s rocket company that also runs the xAI business, had similar swings after it announced a roughly $40 billion deal with an entity managed by Apollo Global Management to lease AI computing power. Its stock initially fell nearly 2% before flipping to a gain of 1.9% and then finishing with a dip of 0.4%.

Musk warned over the weekend that hundreds of companies that rent out AI computing power are under threat because of the difficulty in borrowing money, saying on his social-media platform, X, that they could face “guppy-level death and consolidation.”

CoreWeave, a company that’s borrowed money to buy AI computing power that it rents to customers over the cloud, has been at the center of investors’ worries in recent weeks. On Monday, it dropped 5.5% quickly after trading began, only to flip to a gain of 6.6% before moderating to a rise of 1.8%. Such minute-to-minute swings have become commonplace for it in recent days.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 53.09 points to 7,676.77. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 146.42 to 52,361.58, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 214.04 to 26,169.38.

It’s a big week for profit reports

Profit reports from huge tech companies this week could offer more details about how spending on AI is going, and whether it’s producing the profits and productivity that proponents promised.

Alphabet and Microsoft will report their latest quarterly results on Wednesday, with Amazon to follow on Thursday.

Companies across all industries are under pressure to report strong growth in their profits. Expectations for big growth are what allowed stock prices to run to records recently despite worries about high inflation, high interest rates and other concerns.

Verizon Communications fell 3.5% even though it reported a stronger profit for the summer than analysts expected, as its revenue fell short of forecasts.

Roughly one out of every three stocks in the S&P 500 is scheduled to report its latest quarterly results this week.

Brazilian stocks tumble following mixed moves in other markets

In stock markets abroad, Brazilian stocks fell sharply after President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won reelection in a result that surprised investors.

The worry among investors is that he could increase the government’s spending and put more pressure on its debt. The Bovespa stock index in Brazil dropped roughly 14%.

Other governments around the world are also feeling pressure because of high debt loads and strained budgets, including the United States. France has been at the center of the worries recently following violent protests in the country.

But yields on French government bonds eased Monday, and its CAC 40 stock index rose 0.8% for one of the world’s better moves. Indexes also rose in other European markets following a mixed finish in Asia.

The European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan will be meeting to vote on interest rates later this week.

Yields ease ahead of the Federal Reserve’s meeting

In the U.S. bond market, yields fell for longer-term Treasurys. The yield on the 10-year Treasury eased to 4.98% from 5.00% late Friday and from more than 5.30% earlier this month.

The two-year Treasury yield rose to 4.71% from 4.69% late Friday. It more closely tracks expectations for what the Federal Reserve will do with overnight interest rates, and the widespread expectation is that it will say on Wednesday that it is leaving the federal funds rate alone following its latest meeting.

The Fed last month hiked the fed funds rate for the first time in three years in hopes of slowing inflation, which has remained much higher than anyone would like.

Oil prices swing

The price for a barrel of Brent crude swung between gains and losses through the day before settling at $110.74, down 0.9%. It remains near the high end of its range since the war with Iran began. The highest price for the most actively traded contract in the market for Brent crude since then is nearly $120, reached in March.

___

AP Business Writers Michelle Chapman and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.

Koenig died Monday at his home in the North Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, talent agent Zachery McGinnis said in a statement.

In “Star Trek,” Ensign Chekov was the sole Communist-bloc member of the spaceship Enterprise bridge staff. His friendly, supportive presence showed how the rival nations (in the far-off future in which the show was set) were capable of working together.

Speaking Russian-accented English, Chekov embodied stereotypical Russian personality traits, including fierce pride, love of poetry and blind loyalty.

“Star Trek” ran on NBC from 1966 to 1969 and has had an almost unprecedented afterlife as fans, or Trekkies, kept interest in the show alive.

Koenig was born Sept. 14, 1936, in Chicago, the son of a businessman. He graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1958, then studied acting at New York's The Neighborhood Playhouse for two years. He began getting television roles in the early 1960s, appearing on “Mr. Novak” and “Ben Casey.”

“My heart is heavy,” Koenig's castmate, George Takei, who played Hikaru Sulu, said in a post on the social platform X. “Walter was more than Chekov. He was a writer, a teacher, a thoughtful man, and a loyal friend.”

Koenig was the best man at Takei’s 2008 wedding to Brad Altman, his partner of more than two decades.

“Walter’s legacy extends far beyond the screen. Through countless convention appearances and interactions with fans, he shared his kindness, wit, and appreciation with everyone fortunate enough to meet him. He understood what Star Trek meant to people and embraced the community that grew around it,” McGinnis said. “Thank you, Walter, for the memories, the inspiration, and for boldly going where few have gone before.”

McGinnis said Koenig died surrounded by his daughter and niece.

Koenig's son, Andrew, was also an actor, best known for playing Boner on the sitcom “Growing Pains.” Andrew Koenig died in 2010 at 41. Walter Koenig said his son had taken his own life.

Koenig played Chekov in seven “Star Trek” movies starting in 1979, as well as innumerable other spinoffs, including writing a “Star Trek” book, “Chekov's Enterprise,” in 1980. The TV show has also inspired two spinoff TV series with new casts, and conventions that draw thousands of fans.

After “Star Trek” ended, Koenig continued acting and wrote scripts for “Family,” “The Incredible Hulk” and other shows. He also taught part time at UCLA and other schools.

Koenig also worked in the burgeoning field of computer games, including some with a “Star Trek” theme. In 1995, he took a role in the CD-ROM game “Maximum Surge.”

“I'm at a point where I could opt in my life for complacency and a bit of predictability, or I could have one last holler — one last try for adventure,” Koenig told The Associated Press in 1995. “I'm of the opinion that adventure is still a very enticing and exciting option.”

He returned to the science fiction genre with occasional appearances in the syndicated 1990s TV series “Babylon 5.”

Koenig's death leaves William Shatner, who played Capt. James T. Kirk, and Takei as the only surviving members of the original series' main cast. Leonard Nimoy, Nichelle Nichols, James Doohan and DeForest Kelley, who played Spock, Uhura, Scotty and Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy, have died.

Gomez is the team captain and four-year member of the varsity volleyball team. She’s also a member of the varsity basketball team and she plays sand and club volleyball. She’s the president of the Pilates Club, the vice president of the Gardening Club, the Parliamentarian of the Student Council, a member of the National Honor Society, the choir and is a student ambassador. Gomez maintains a 4.3 grade point average. She plans to play collegiate volleyball, major in political science, attend law school and become a lawyer.

A lawsuit filed Monday on behalf of six such citizens — essentially representing the wider public audience — argues that it’s not only the rights of news organizations that are violated when Trump bans them from White House premises. Even more fundamentally, the lawsuit argues, such bans violate the public’s right to independent reporting about its president and government.

“The ultimate injury here … is to the democratic public,” says the suit, filed in federal district court in New York against Trump and three key aides, including the White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles.

“The First Amendment protects the public’s right to know what its government is doing,” said Katie Fallow, deputy litigation director at the Knight First Amendment Institute, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of the plaintiffs, along with the Media Freedom & Information Access Clinic at Yale Law School.

“The White House cannot decide what information Americans receive by punishing critical reporting," Fallow said in a statement. "When the White House expels reporters because of their coverage and threatens others with expulsion, it isn’t just the press that suffers — the public loses access to independent reporting and gets something closer to government propaganda.”

The Trump administration, asked for comment on the lawsuit, responded in a statement that it attributed to an unidentified White House official: “No person may demand access to the Oval Office.” It said media that peddle “misinformation and defamation are completely capable of reporting their manufactured stories from directly outside.”

The plaintiffs all rely on White House news for their work

The six plaintiffs are all people who say they rely on independent and diverse White House reporting for their teaching, journalism or advocacy. They include a noted human rights advocate, a political journalist, a Yale history professor, a high school civics teacher, a legal journalist, and a student journalist at the University of Pennsylvania.

The complaint filed Monday recounts how various news organizations that have been targeted by Trump are already battling the administration in the courts. These cases include the current lawsuit by CNN, MS NOW and Politico, whose journalists were banished from the White House in September.

A federal judge recently extended an order preventing the White House from enforcing the ban while the case makes its way through the legal system. Still affected, though, is CNN’s pool coverage of Trump. The White House has been denying the network its usual slots in the video pool covering the president’s activities and travel, and CNN has threatened further action.

Also continuing is the legal case involving The Associated Press, whose reporters were barred last year from the Oval Office, Air Force One and some events in retaliation for the outlet’s decision not to follow Trump’s lead in changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico, which lies partially in Mexican and other waters, to the Gulf of America.

The New York Times is also involved in litigation, over a Pentagon policy requiring escorts for journalists on its grounds. And ABC is fighting back against the Trump administration in a dispute over renewal of its broadcast licenses.

This lawsuit seeks more wide-ranging relief

The new lawsuit filed Monday, though, is different from previous legal action against the president — first, in that the plaintiffs are ordinary citizens, shifting the focus from news gatherers to news consumers, and thus implying a much larger pool of stakeholders.

The lawsuit reframes the current debate over White House access in at least one key way. The public right to receive information is part of established law, said Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight Institute. However, nobody has yet asserted this right in relation to the White House press corps and the issues currently at stake.

“We wanted to put the injury to the public at the center of the conversation,” Jaffer said.

“It’s one thing for CNN to say, ‘We are here because the public needs us,’” he said. “It’s another for a member of the public to say that interference with the White House press corps undermines our right to information about the government.”

In addition, the litigation seeks more wide-ranging relief.

The suit, which names Trump as defendant along with Wiles, White House Communications Director Steven Cheung and Secret Service Director Sean M. Curran, calls not merely for reinstatement of access that has already been impacted, but for a broad injunction that would protect from retaliation every news outlet that covers the White House —- now, and in the future.

“Defendants' policy of restricting the access of disfavored news organizations deprives the public of the reporting of those organizations," the complaint says. It also "inevitably deprives them of the independent reporting of other news organizations as well, since every journalist who reports from the White House must now account for the possibility that a critical or ill-advised word about the president may result in their access being summarily restricted or revoked."

“Plaintiffs ... seek a declaration that the policy is unconstitutional because it imposes restrictions on a limited public forum that are viewpoint-based and unreasonable," the complaint adds. "They also seek an injunction barring defendants from enforcing the policy.”

Plaintiffs include a human rights advocate, a high school teacher and a student journalist

Plaintiff Ethan Young, a student at the University of Pennsylvania and editor-in-chief of The Daily Pennsylvanian, said in an interview that White House reporting has become increasingly important at his college newspaper during Trump’s second term.

“Over the last two years we’ve seen college campuses be a key avenue where President Trump’s policies have really affected people across the country, and Penn’s campus is no stranger to that,” he said.

“So I use White House reporting almost daily to look at what’s happening in both national higher education trends, but also just general federal policy changes, to see what might impact Penn,” Young said. “You never know what policy could have an impact on the Penn student body.”

Especially important to Young and his colleagues at the paper is a diversity of news outlets to choose from.

“We are not in the room. We are not in Washington,” Young said. “The benefit of having access to a variety of publications ... means I am constantly seeing different questions being asked of White House officials.”

And more often than not, he said, that means he’ll get the answer to a question he has, too.

The other plaintiffs are:

— Kenneth Roth, former longtime executive director of Human Rights Watch and a lecturer at Yale’s law school and school of global affairs.

— Daniel Froomkin, media and political journalist and editor of Press Watch, a nonprofit that encourages political journalists to “fulfill their essential mission of creating an informed electorate and holding the powerful accountable.”

— Beverly Gage, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and professor at Yale University.

— Peter Schmidt-Nowara, a social studies and civics teacher at Brooklyn Technical High School in New York.

— Benjamin Wittes, editor-in-chief of Lawfare and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

The company's voluntary exit offer was available to eligible employees in Canada, India, the United Kingdom and the United States, the company's Chief People Officer Amy Coleman wrote in a blog post Monday.

“The Voluntary Exit Offer is new for us,” Coleman wrote. “We’ll learn from it. At the same time, we’ll keep helping people focus on the work that matters most, build new skills and, where it makes sense, find new opportunities across Microsoft.”

The company, which releases its quarterly financial results Wednesday, had approximately 223,000 full-time employees at the end of June.

Shares of Microsoft Corp., based in Redmond, Washington, hit an all-time high this month. The stock rose about 1% on Monday.

In May, Microsoft planned to offer buyouts to about 8,750 people, or 7% of its U.S. workforce, according to two people familiar with the plan who were not authorized to speak about it publicly. In July, the company said it was cutting 4,800 jobs, about 2.1% of its global workforce, including a large number of workers at its Xbox video game business.

The gusher of investment in data centers — likely topping $700 billion this year — to power artificial intelligence has made memory chips, computer processors and other equipment, as well as electricity, more expensive. Economists expect it will continue to push up inflation at least through the end of this year.

Microsoft has been ramping up its AI capabilities for several years. In 2024 the company revealed a new class of AI-imbued personal computers that centered on fusing its AI assistant, called Copilot, into the Windows operating system for PCs, where Microsoft already has the eyes of millions of consumers.

And in October 2025 Microsoft introduced a new artificial intelligence character called Mico, a floating cartoon face shaped like a blob or flame that embodies the software giant’s Copilot virtual assistant.

The enormous sums involved in building and maintaining artificial intelligence models, the pursuit of artificial general intelligence, which can surpass humans at many tasks, and widespread AI adoption all have led to an air of excitement around the technology that has helped propel stock market gains.

“These companies are now burning through cash to win the AI race, and public equity is the cheapest source available, particularly in a rising interest rate environment,” said Michael Field, chief equity analyst at Morningstar.

But amid the billions — even trillions — at stake, worries about an AI bubble are looming in the background along with concerns about keeping the technology under human control. Some experts fear tech companies and venture capitalists are pouring too much money into a still-nascent technology.

Amid that anxiety, some AI companies have put off going public. SB Energy, which plans to build a large data center in Ohio; Nscale, which supplies compute capacity to Anthropic under a potentially multibillion dollar contract; and Singapore-based DayOne Data Centers have delayed their offerings at least until December and possibly into next year, according to IPO research firm Renaissance Capital.

Here's a look at some of the biggest AI-focused companies.

Anthropic

Anthropic, which filed paperwork Monday for an initial stock offering on Wall Street, was formed in 2021 by former OpenAI leaders. The maker of the Claude chatbot was recently valued at $965 billion, making it one of the world’s most valuable startups. It has been a meteoric rise for what was once a little-known research laboratory in San Francisco. Its value is reportedly expected to rise to $1.5 trillion or possibly $2 trillion.

In its regulatory filing, Anthropic said it will list its stock on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol “ANT.”

OpenAI

The maker of ChatGPT began in 2015 as a nonprofit dedicated to developing AI for the common good. It is now a company valued at $852 billion. The company had been looking to go public this year as well, but CEO Sam Altman has said that timeline would be extended amid concerns about AI safety.

While OpenAI may have helped set off the current AI boom, Anthropic’s meteoric rise and Claude’s growing popularity have left the ChatGPT maker playing catch-up.

In an unsuccessful lawsuit against OpenAI and its top executives, Elon Musk, an OpenAI co-founder, claimed the company had strayed from its founding mission in pursuit of greater profits. OpenAI had countered that Musk was simply seeking a bigger slice of the company. OpenAI has not yet reported that it has filed initial IPO paperwork with the SEC.

SpaceX

Elon Musk’s SpaceX was valued at $800 billion last year, but its value grew to $1.25 trillion after the space exploration company merged in February with Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI. The company went public in June with an offering that raised $86 billion, breaking the record for the largest IPO, which had been set by Saudi Aramco in 2019 when the oil giant went public and raised $26 billion.

Musk arranged for SpaceX to buy xAI earlier this year despite protests from some SpaceX investors, who argued that the deal amounted to a bailout and raised ethical concerns because Musk was a controlling shareholder in both companies. Revenue has soared to $14.6 billion, the company reported earlier this month.

Several AI heavyweights are already public companies

Google developed the Gemini AI assistant in response to a competitive threat posed by OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which came out in late 2022. Gemini AI models are integrated into Google search and other products such as Maps. The market value of Alphabet, Google's Mountain View, California-based parent company, was $4.54 trillion at the beginning of June, up from $2.3 trillion a year earlier. That growth suggests that Alphabet’s spending spree on AI is producing dividends so far, despite investor worries about some of its peers' massive AI investments.

Meta's AI push has included the rollout of its AI agent Muse, which can help with daily tasks. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said last week on a call with analysts that more than 10 million people in the U.S. and Canada have set up accounts for Muse, which the company launched in August. He noted that Muse requires significant computing power to run, but said the company expects to improve its cost efficiency by more than 10 times in the next year, “which will enable it to be profitable once the revenue lines are at scale.”

Microsoft, which went public 40 years ago, likely would have been running behind in the AI race were it not for a timely multibillion-dollar investment in OpenAI. Microsoft provided the computing power and financial backing that helped OpenAI build ChatGPT. In turn, Microsoft was able to use the same technical foundation to power its own AI assistant, now called Copilot. The once-exclusive partnership has since evolved as both companies have turned to other partners to advance their AI ambitions.

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Associated Press writer Damian J. Troise contributed to this report.

The San Antonio Police Department said Jacob Rigo Luna, 31, was taken into custody around 6:15 p.m. near the 1700 block of Horal Drive with multiple gunshot wounds. He was taken to a hospital in critical condition.

On Monday, police told KSAT he was booked on three criminal offenses. Records show Luna faces two counts of aggravated assault and a drug possession charge.

Four undercover SAPD officers were following Luna because he had an active drug warrant connected to him. Salame said police drove and trailed Luna to a hotel and gas station to verify it was the suspect the officers were looking for.

At some point, Luna realized he was being followed, and he waved his gun out the vehicle’s window, Salame said.

Watch the full interview below:

Luna fired his weapon at the officers following him, Salame said. All undercover officers fired back at Luna, according to an SAPD spokesperson.

It’s unclear if SAPD and Luna exchanged gunfire while driving on the West Side. KSAT has reached out to SAPD for clarification.

“There were a couple other vehicles caught in the crossfire,” Salame said on Sunday. “There were no bystanders, thankfully, that were injured.”

An SAPD preliminary report names the four officers who shot at Luna:

• Officer A. Espinoza #1172, eight years of service
• Detective S. Elderkin #2025, eight years of service
• Officer J. Torres-Rosado #1149, nine years of service
• Detective A. Vargas #2138, 10 years of service

In an attempt to detain Luna, the report said the suspect caused multiple traffic collisions, including hitting another vehicle. Luna eventually crashed into a tree and attempted to flee away from officers on foot, Salame said.

The report describes Luna collapsing to the ground a short distance away from the crashed vehicle, which is where police took Luna into custody. SAPD also found a handgun inside the crashed vehicle.

Though he was found in critical condition, SAPD said Luna “is expected to survive.”

All four officers who shot at Luna were placed on administrative leave, which is a common practice for police shootings.

One passenger was taken into custody, and another got away while SAPD chased Luna down.

Read also:

• S.A. country musician accused of having child sexual abuse videos on his phone, SAPD says

POSITION OVERVIEW

The Photographer will be an engaging visual storyteller, responsible for shooting and editing news content under tight deadlines for broadcast and digital platforms. This position demands an individual who can work independently as well as alongside reporters and other team members to create impactful stories that resonate with our audience. Our ideal candidate is a proactive, motivated professional with a knack for innovative storytelling and a dedication to excellence in news production.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Operate cameras and editing equipment to produce high-quality video and audio for news broadcasts and digital platforms.
• Engage with the community to capture news stories, demonstrating a connection to the stories and the people they affect.
• Utilize creative editing and graphics to enhance storytelling, ensuring content is modern, clean, and distraction-free.
• Serve as a field producer & photographer on location, collaborating with the news team to plan and execute coverage.
• Identify opportunities for digital video content, including vertical video for social media, OTT, and website.
• Manage a complex shooting and editing schedule to meet deadlines ahead of time.
• Ensure brand consistency through the use of graphics, clean visuals, and on-screen text that align with our guidelines and storytelling needs.
• Act as a problem solver in the field, resolving technical issues under pressure and contributing to the team’s success under deadline constraints.
• Other related duties as assigned.

KEY QUALIFICATIONS

• Minimum 2 years of professional news photography experience, showcasing exceptional non-linear editing, lighting, and production skills.
• Proficiency with ENG/SNG operations, and capable of operating microwave trucks. Satellite truck experience is a plus.
• A strong understanding of computer/IT workflows and File Transfer Protocols.
• Demonstrated capability in innovative storytelling, with a preference for NPPA-style reporting.
• Ability to work independently and make decisive judgments in the field.
• Strong news judgment and digital media savvy.
• Ability to lift and carry up to 50 lbs. of gear and shoulder an ENG camera for extended periods.
• Willingness to work evenings, weekends, and holidays as required, as well as be on-call for breaking news and travel for assignments.
• A collaborative attitude and excellent communication skills to work effectively with management, colleagues, and community members.
• A valid driver’s license and a clean driving record.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Broadcast Journalism/Production degree.
• Advanced proficiency with Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe Cloud products, and creatively inclined to explore new technologies.
• Previous recognition for high performance in news gathering and news production.

Interested candidates, please submit your resume and cover letter detailing your relevant experience to Jason Foster, Operations Manager, jefoster@ksat.com

KSAT12

1408 N St Mary’s

San Antonio, TX 78215

KSAT 12 is an Equal Opportunity Employer. In addition to complying with the requirements of federal law, KSAT 12 will comply with applicable state and local laws prohibiting employment discrimination.

Any offer of employment is conditional upon the successful completion of a pre-employment drug screening, investigative background check, employment/education verifications and reference checks.

The girl was walking along the road near Canterbury Lane and Kerry Brook Drive when she was hit, Converse PD said. She was taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The driver stayed at the scene and told officers the glare reduced his ability to see, police said.

No arrest was made, and no citation was issued.

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Many in Iran are anxious about a possible return to all-out war. Israeli and American leaders have been sharpening their threats before elections in both countries, while Iranian leaders have remained defiant.

The war in Yemen and strikes by Iran-backed Houthi rebels against Saudi Arabia were also discussed, according to two regional officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak with reporters.

The four countries agreed Monday to continue talks on expanding cooperation among them, particularly about regional peace and security, a statement said. No details were given about a date or place for a future meeting.

Saudi Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman, Pakistani army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir and Ibrahim Kalin, the head of Turkey’s intelligence service, attended the talks, hosted by Maj. Gen. Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Monday that Iran supports any agreement that would deepen regional cooperation, resolve differences and make greater use of the shared resources and capabilities of Islamic countries.

Delegations from the other Middle Eastern countries sought to avoid further turmoil in the region.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned in a televised address on Monday that renewed attacks on Iran would destabilize the region and hurt countries that aren't party to the conflict.

“It is our hope that all parties will refrain from any actions that could drag our region into a new spiral of violence,” Erdogan said.

Saudi Arabia said in a statement that the delegations hoped to find “ways to de-escalate tensions, enhance regional security and promote its stability.”

Qatari mediators also traveled to Tehran on Sunday, working in coordination with the United States, as part of efforts to de-escalate regional tensions, according to a regional official speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks.

Pakistan and Qatar helped broker an agreement in June aimed at having Iran fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz to shipping, ending a U.S. blockade of Iranian ports and opening negotiations on a broader settlement addressing Iran’s nuclear program. The deal unraveled quickly, however, as both sides renewed attacks.

Iran and Israel trade accusations

With worries about renewed fighting before Israel's election on Tuesday and the U.S. midterm election on Nov. 3, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said over the weekend that Iran hadn't closed the window of diplomacy and that messages were being passed to the U.S. through intermediaries.

With negotiations long stalled, he said that the U.S. appears to be persisting in unilateral demands and that U.S. President Donald Trump and other American officials repeatedly use the phrase “complete surrender,” which Baghaei said no Iranian accepts.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, repeated his warning on Sunday that Iran or its proxies could launch an attack before the election to disrupt the vote, citing intelligence.

“The (military) is ready both to defend and to strike,” he said in a video statement. “You will suffer disproportionate blows far greater than you can imagine.”

Israel’s Channel 12 reported Sunday night that Netanyahu and his military chief of staff clashed over an instruction by Netanyahu to carry out an “action” that the army believes could quickly trigger a resumption of the conflict with Iran.

Netanyahu’s office later described the report as “fake news.”

In Tehran, when asked whether Iran was planning attacks, Baghaei on Monday said that “the Israeli regime is highly skilled at carrying out false-flag operations.”

“The Islamic Republic of Iran will not hesitate to exercise its inherent right to self-defense to protect Iran’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence,” he said.

Front in the Iran war widens

Yemen has become a widening front in the Iran war that began in February, with the Houthis increasingly launching attacks on Saudi Arabia because it supports Yemen’s internationally recognized government battling the rebels.

The conflict has intensified since forces from the internationally recognized government and Saudi-led coalition launched airstrikes on Houthi-held Sanaa International Airport in July, shattering a 2022 ceasefire deal that largely stopped the fighting in Yemen’s civil war.

Early Monday, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said that the rebel group had fired ballistic missiles at military gatherings and weapons depots belonging to Saudi-backed government forces in Aden and Lahj provinces. He said that the attacks destroyed military equipment and caused casualties, but didn't provide evidence. The Associated Press couldn’t independently verify the information.

Houthi media said that airstrikes targeted a solar power system and a water well in Sanaa, but offered no proof. In the port city of Mokha, recently seized by the Houthis, residents said that rockets hit several buildings, including a hospital.

Doctors Without Borders, or Médecins Sans Frontières, said Monday that three strikes hit Mokha, one landing just 150 meters (nearly 500 feet) from Mokha General Hospital, where its teams work in maternity and pediatric wards.

The statement came after the Houthi-run Health Ministry accused Saudi-backed forces of targeting the hospital. The Saudi-backed forces haven't commented.

All staff and patients were safe, MSF said, adding that the strike damaged the hospital building.

Days earlier, a missile struck near Aden’s airport as an MSF plane carrying humanitarian workers was preparing to take off, forcing staff to seek shelter instead of boarding, the organization said. Aden’s airport is the main entry point for humanitarian workers, supplies and medical equipment to the southern parts of Yemen.

Houthi-run al-Masirah channel also reported strikes in Saada, in northern Yemen, and in southwestern Taiz province, where the rebels and Saudi-backed government forces have been fighting for weeks.

The spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition said that an operation in Houthi-controlled territory destroyed five tunnels used for storing ballistic missiles, four ballistic missile launchers and other missile storage.

Meanwhile, Egypt’s parliament on Monday approved a request from President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to provide military support to Saudi Arabia to help defend against Houthi attacks.

___

Victoria Eastwood and Fatma Khaled in Cairo, Natalie Melzer in Tel Aviv, Israel, Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Ahmed al-Haj in Aden, Yemen, and David Rising in Bangkok, contributed to this report.

A fight broke out before the shooting Saturday night, and it appears that none of the victims were intended targets, according to Tallahassee police. The youngest victim is 11 years old.

Authorities arrested Anthony Rivers III on Sunday and charged him with attempted second-degree murder and possession of a firearm by a delinquent, police said in a statement. Court records did not indicate whether Rivers has an attorney who could comment on the charges.

The teen appeared in court Monday for a brief hearing, where a judge ordered that he remain in jail. Prosecutors will move his case to adult court, State Attorney Jack Campbell said.

A surveillance camera captured some of the shooting, Campbell said, but he said investigators are searching for more video and want to talk with witnesses to piece together what happened.

The shooting erupted near a street corner just outside Bragg Memorial Stadium after Florida A&M lost to Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Eleven people were hit by gunfire and another person — a grandmother of one of the shooting victims — was injured while running away. Six of those hurt were minors, police said.

Police Chief Lawrence Revell said the area was so crowded at the time that ambulances were unable to get through to where the shooting happened.

Officers carried the wounded through the crowds to emergency vehicles so that the victims could be taken to hospitals, he said.

The shooting stemmed from an isolated dispute between just a few people, Revell said. Investigators are looking for others who might have been involved and more arrests are possible, he said.

At least three of the victims suffered serious injuries, authorities said. One was in critical condition as of Sunday, police said, but no other updates have been released on the wounded.

Video surfaced on social media of people fleeing in terror. The area was packed with people leaving the game and homecoming celebration.

Deputies were conducting a traffic stop Monday morning near Stevens Parkway and Potranco Road.

All three people fled on foot and were last seen wearing black clothing, BCSO said. Deputies and partnering agencies have established a perimeter and are actively searching the area.

As a precaution, Langley Elementary School and Bernal Middle School were placed on secure status due to the nearby activity, according to Northside Independent School District spokesperson Barry Perez. As of 10:30 a.m., the schools are no longer on secure status, Perez said.

Northside ISD police are on campus at both schools, he said.

There is no immediate threat to the public, BCSO said. Residents are encouraged to keep their doors locked, remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity by calling 911 or BCSO at 210-335-6000.

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Immediately after the stabbing, she was arrested and has since appeared before a judge several times.

In court, family members of the girl told the judge she had been bullied.

But the parents of the young boy who was stabbed said the bully was not their son.

“We just wanted our son’s name cleared because it makes it seem like he’s the one that’s bullying,” the victim’s father said. ”He’s been the victim of bullying since the fifth grade.”

The parents, who asked not to be identified, said they dropped their son off at school on the morning of the stabbing and shortly after received a call that he had been stabbed.

“I go to the nurse’s office, and I see him sitting on the chair, like just bleeding. I was like, ‘What happened?’” his mother said.

According to his dad, his son told him the school was conducting a lockdown drill, and just before it ended, he told his classmate — the girl accused of stabbing him — “to be quiet before we get in trouble.”

“He says the next thing he knows is that he feels like something warm on his back and he looks back and he sees her with the knife in her hand, and he gets up to try to get away from her, but he collapses on the ground and loses conscience for a brief moment,” his father said. “When he comes back, she stabs him in the front, and shortly after that, the officer came in and tackled her down.

The father said in court they learned an officer had to pull their weapon on the girl.

He said his son was stabbed four times.

“He was stabbed on his back, like once on each side, once on (the right) side, on the left side, and once on the back, in the center, and right below his abdomen,” the father said.

The boy’s parents said thankfully there was no internal bleeding and he needed 11 stitches. Their son is recovering and has returned to school, but he is still shaken.

“He doesn’t come home with the same fire he used to come home (with),” the parents said. ”He still has nightmares, and you know I told him it’s OK; you know mommy and daddy are here.”

The parents said they do not harbor any hate or evil towards the girl and express compassion for her, but said she needs to face the consequences for attacking their son.

“We hope she gets all the help she needs, but we’re seeking justice for our son,” the father said.

Read also:

• Judge orders psychological evaluation for 11-year-old accused of stabbing student at Metzger Middle School
• 11-year-old accused of stabbing student at Metzger Middle School will remain in custody
• Girl stabs boy at Metzger Middle School, Judson ISD board member says

Regina Meyer Martinez, 47, was found dead Feb. 22, 2024, behind apartments in a wooded area in the 2500 block of Babcock Road.

Martinez was found near a homeless camp, according to police.

San Antonio police said Martinez had multiple stab wounds.

Crime Stoppers may pay up to $5,000 for information that leads to felony arrests in the case.

Tips can be made by calling Crime Stoppers at 210-224-STOP, texting “Tip 127 plus your tip” to CRIMES (274637) or using the P3 Tips app. Tipsters can remain anonymous.

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The 37-year-old was given an eight-month sentence, suspended for a year.

He had faced up to three years in prison after pleading guilty to a count of affray in July for the attack on the dance floor of Tape, a private club in the swanky Mayfair neighborhood in February 2023.

Video footage played in court showed Brown having to be pulled away from the victim, his former friend Abraham Diaw, after striking him twice in the head with a bottle.

“The repeated use of a glass bottle in that way, especially aimed at the head, was plainly dangerous. It carried the risk of delivering a more serious injury than was ultimately sustained,” Judge Tony Baumgartner said in Southwark Crown Court.

Despite the seriousness of the attack, Baumgartner said Brown did not qualify for a custodial sentence because he pleaded guilty and there were several mitigating circumstances, including stable employment and charity work. The judge acknowledged Brown’s previous convictions but said he had maintained a clean record in recent years.

Previous brushes with the law

Brown has faced repeated legal trouble since his felony conviction in the 2009 assault of his then-girlfriend, Rihanna, hours before the pair were due to perform at the Grammys.

He has been arrested in several U.S. states over altercations but was either not charged or prosecutors later dropped the charges. In 2019 he was arrested in Paris and questioned on suspicion of rape, but was released without charge.

In return for his guilty plea, prosecutors dropped charges of assault, attempting to cause grievous bodily harm and having an offensive weapon, a bottle.

Brown’s friend and vocal coach Omololu Akinlolu also pleaded guilty to affray and was given a four-month suspended sentence.

Affray is the use or threat of unlawful violence that leads someone to fear for their safety.

Brown has apologized for the attack

Prosecutor Heidi Stonecliffe said Brown played a leading role in the attack.

“By any circumstances, when one watches that footage, it is Mr. Brown that moves first,” Stonecliffe said.

Defense lawyer Sallie Bennett-Jenkins said Brown apologized to all those at the club that night, though she emphasized the attack lasted no more than 20 seconds.

“This is an ugly and unattractive incident,” Bennett-Jenkins said. “It is something which undoubtedly would have caused distress to those who are present and for which Mr. Brown … offers a profound apology to all those present.”

Diaw was discharged from the hospital with head and knee injuries, Stonecliffe said.

Crowds greet Brown outside court

Brown was cheered outside the courthouse by fans who came from as far as Italy and the Netherlands.

His face was covered by a black mask and dark glasses and his bleached hair was mostly hidden from view under a black ball cap. He wore a black leather jacket and light-colored turtleneck.

He blew a kiss to one fan and appeared to sign an autograph for another as he moved through a pack of photographers and onlookers.

Not everyone was cheering for him. When he arrived at court in the morning, a lone voice could be heard shouting at him to ask when he was going to learn that violence is not OK.

Brown left the United Kingdom after the brawl but was arrested in May 2025 at a Manchester hotel after flying to the city for a concert. He had been free on bail of 5 million pounds ($6.7 million), which allowed him to tour Europe and North America the past two summers.

Brown rose to stardom as a teen in 2005 and won his first Grammy for best R&B album in 2011 for “F.A.M.E.” He earned his second in the same category for “11:11 (Deluxe)” in 2025.

Bauza died suddenly late Sunday, his family said in a statement. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner reported that he died at his home from hypertensive cardiovascular disease.

Beginning in 2001, Bauza amassed more than 400 voice acting credits in a career that gave voice to beloved characters in animated Looney Tunes series including “Puss in Boots,” “Muppet Babies,” “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” and countless others. He won three Children's and Family Emmy Awards, from 2022 to 2025.

“Looney Tunes will always have a special place in my heart,” Bauza said in an interview with The Associated Press this year. “I watched them on Saturday mornings originally. It's not just the voice but the overall aesthetic has influenced me as an artist.”

Raised in Scarborough, Ontario by Filipino immigrant parents, Bauza found his passion for voice acting as a teenager. In high school, he would deliver the P.A. system morning announcements in various cartoon voices.

In voicing Looney Tunes characters, Bauza faithfully and reverentially channeled Mel Blanc. So great was his affection for Blanc that, in conversation, he would even toss out an impression of Blanc outside the recording booth. Bauza last year told The New York Times: “Mel Blanc is like the voice of God for me.”

Bauza's Looney Tunes work included such feature films as “Space Jam: A New Legacy” (2021), “The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie” (2024) and this year's “Coyote vs. Acme.” That film, in which Wile E. Coyote takes the Acme Corporation to court for its defective products, became a modest cause célèbre after Warner Bros. opted not to release it.

After an outcry from fans, partly stoked by Bauza, the film eventually found a distributor in Ketchup Entertainment and surpassed $100 million at the worldwide box office. While the film was in limbo, Bauza argued for its release at the 2024 Annie Awards, in the voice of Daffy Duck.

“He’s the go-to cartoon character above anyone else when it comes to begging and pleading,” Bauza explained. “It seemed appropriate.”

Before becoming one of the most recognized personalities in the often anonymous field of voice acting, Bauza pursued working in animation production. After graduating from the film program at Toronto's Centennial College, Bauza first worked as animator and character layout artist. Initially, he did voice acting on the side.

Channing Dungey, chairman of Warner Bros. Television Group and U.S. Networks, called Bauza “a unique voice talent who brought joy and laughter to millions.”

As a voice acting professional, Bauza sometimes chafed at celebrities brought in to replace him in bigger-budgeted productions. Bauza occasionally voice-matched for stars including Bill Hader on “Bob's Burgers” and Antonio Banderas as Puss in Boots.

“From my experience working several times in the feature film format, there's always the reminder that it is ‘temporary dialogue’ and ‘Chris Pratt will be voicing all the Looney Tunes in this feature film' — no, just kidding,” Bauza told The AP.

But even in productions where A-list stars took the spotlight, Bauza said there was still room for “nine-to-fivers like me” to color in the scenery. Bauza, who seldom went more than a few minutes without slipping into the voice of Bugs or Daffy or some other character, was rarely anything but grateful at being part of the Looney Tunes legacy.

“The Looney Tunes were here before I was born and they're definitely going to be here long after I leave this realm,” he said shortly before the release of “Coyote vs. Acme.” “I just feel like the luckiest guy.”

“Can you guys put pressure on them?” Embiid said with a laugh. “I want to play tomorrow, so start writing articles and put pressure on them so they’ll let me play.”

Not even the power of the pen can aid Embiid in playing consecutive games.

The Sixers smartly rested their All-Star center — no one game in October in the NBA is worth the potential of long-term harm — and then they went out and got smoked Sunday night by the Detroit Pistons.

LeBron James is in Philadelphia, and that's a good thing. Jaylen Brown has an NBA Finals MVP on his resume and is serving up one-liners about lamb and gravy in his rivalry with a former Boston teammate.

No matter the star power added to the roster, the natural growth of homegrown talent such as Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe, the 76ers have always since his 2016 debut — and will always — win as much and go as far in the postseason as Embiid will take them.

The Sixers were outrebounded 54-37 and trailed by 21 points in their first loss of the season to the Pistons. The Pistons pounded the inside and scored 24 second-chance points. They got the kind of looks that only get tougher to attempt when Embiid is in the lineup.

So yes, with the Sixers already thin in frontcourt depth, it was up to James to man a bulk of the minutes at center. The 41-year-old James won the opening tip for the Sixers.

The Pistons won everything else.

“We’re going to have those moments where we have different lineups out there throughout the course of the season,” James said. “I think the more minutes we get, the more games that we get under our belt, the more time we get, we’ll know what works well for us.”

James scored 18 points, grabbed two rebounds and was a minus-22 going up against Paul Reed, and the Sixers were left to hope his presence at center was nothing more than a cameo.

The Sixers were a whopping plus-49 with Embiid on the court over the first three games and minus-25 with him off it.

“I mean (heck), we've got an MVP over there,” James said as he looked in the direction of Embiid's locker.

“I'm not here to have a sustainable role at the five. We've got Joel Embiid at the five. I don't see it being a sustainable role but it's a role that we know we can tap into if we needed. But sustainable playing the five? If I was to say I was signing here to have a sustainable role at the five, I don't think none of us would actually want that.”

The Sixers also played without big men Dominick Barlow (back), Jabari Walker (knee) and 7-foot-6 center Tacko Fall. Fall has yet to play this season with a left quadriceps strain.

“We've got a 7-7 guy over there who hasn't played. That would help," James quipped.

Even with Embiid and his 11 boards in the lineup against the Bucks, the Sixers were still outrebounded 62-39.

Maxey, a first-time All-Star starter last season, had a suggestion to fix the rebounding woes.

“Some of our tall guys could come back,” Maxey said with a smile. “That would be great. We've just got to hit, box out, try to fight. We've got to figure it out.”

James took inspiration from Detroit's bench where Taurean Prince sat and watched the game. Prince didn't play but he is responsible for one of the great viral interview moments in NCAA Tournament history when he deadpanned the definition of a rebound after his Baylor team was outrebounded by Yale.

“In the great words of Taurean Prince, who I saw tonight on the bench,” James said, “a good friend of mine, so, the ball goes up into the air. You go grab the ball. That's what we've got to do, man. They got more of those than we did.”

So the Sixers did what they do so many times when Embiid doesn't play and took the loss.

Let him sit. One game won't hurt. It's when those absences start stacking up that always doom the Sixers.

Even if one of the greats can take his place.

___

See AP’s full NBA coverage here

KSAT spoke with multiple voters who said voting machines changed or removed their selections during the process.

Though they all blamed the machines, the Bexar County Elections Department is pointing to user error as the likely culprit in such cases.

Technical issues with voting tabulators have also forced polls to temporarily collect ballots in emergency ballot boxes at multiple locations. Election officials, though, say those ballots will also be counted.

Switched votes?

KSAT spoke with three Bexar County voters on Thursday who said their selections were either changed or dropped.

All of them caught the issues, though, and their ballots reflected the choice they wanted to make.

Ashton Lasater told KSAT over the phone that while voting in Converse Community Events Center on Thursday morning, she watched her selection change for governor from Gina Hinojosa (D) to Greg Abbott (R) after she had made her selection and while her hand was away from the screen.

Lasater said she fixed the choice and continued, but later saw while reviewing her choice that her selection of John Rosenthal (D) for Texas Railroad Commissioner had changed to Bo French (R). She was able to change it back, but she said it took two taps.

Another woman voting at the Wonderland of the Americas Thursday, who declined to give her name, said she got to the end of her ballot and saw several selections she was sure she made weren’t recorded and had to go back to enter them again.

Letty Gonzales told KSAT her vote for James Talarico (D) in the U.S. Senate race changed to Ken Paxton (R) twice on the machine she was using at the Macedonia Baptist Church.

Though she ultimately ensured her printed ballot had her choices, Gonzales was left concerned.

“You know, most times when I am voting, I’m pretty much rushing through this during my lunch hour, you know, during the day and wanting to get back to work,” she said. “I noticed that, I was careful to triple check, but others that are rushing in and out to vote, or just simply counting on the machines to do the right thing and not have any issues.”

“I’m just worried that other people may not pay attention to the choices, and it’s switching their selections,” Gonzales said.

Gonzales reported her experience to the Bexar County Elections Department on Thursday and the man she talked to had said he would pull the machine.

However, when KSAT visited the polling site Thursday afternoon, an election judge said there was nothing wrong with the machine and it had not been pulled. He said they received three new machines, though.

A Bexar County spokesman responded to KSAT questions with an emailed statement.

“In nearly all cases where discrepancy is reported, it is the result of a voter’s inadvertent selection of a candidate or not reviewing their selections before finalizing it.

We encourage all voters to carefully verify their printed ballot summary before casting it. If a voter believes their printed ballot does not match their intended selections, they should immediately notify a poll worker so the issue can be addressed immediately.”

Bexar County Elections Department

Tabulators and Emergency Ballot Boxes

At least three early voting locations have had issues with the “tabulators” that voters feed their ballots into after making their selections.

KSAT reported on issues at the Leon Valley Conference Center on Tuesday, and voters reported issues at Parman Library on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, though others said it was fine by the time KSAT visited the site Thursday afternoon.

Alex Ortiz told KSAT when he went to vote at Wonderland of the Americas, he said the judge told him the machine was broken and they were putting his ballot in a “strong box.”

“With what’s going on in the world today, and things are changing, I just didn’t feel comfortable. But I went ahead and voted, you know, hoping that my vote will be registered later in the day,” he said.

Had the election judge come out and told the line of voters what was going on earlier, Ortiz said he may have just decided to vote another day.

“I want to see my vote with my eyes physically put in that machine,” he said. “That way I know my vote counted.”

In a statement through a county spokesman, Bexar County Elections Administrator Michelle Carew assured that votes like Ortiz’s would be counted.

“When a tabulator is unavailable, voters are offered the option to place their completed ballot into a secure, sealed Emergency Ballot Box.

These ballots are:

• Individually accounted for in the site’s chain‑of‑custody logs

• Stored in a locked compartment that can only be accessed by bipartisan election officials

• Transported and scanned as soon as the tabulator is restored or replaced All emergency ballots are counted in the same manner as ballots scanned on site.

They are included in the unofficial election results once they are processed through a functioning tabulator. No ballots are lost or discarded during these outages.”

Michele Carew, Bexar County Elections Administrator

The Bexar County Elections Department used near identical language in an infographic posted to social medica Thursday.

Tell us about your issues

If you’ve had a problem voting in Bexar County, let KSAT know by filling out this form.

When sharing your experience, include as many details as you can, including:

• The date and approximate time you tried to vote
• The polling location
• What happened
• Whether you were able to cast a ballot
• Whether you reported the issue to an election worker
• Any response you received

More election coverage on KSAT:

• KSAT is tracking voting problems in Bexar County. Here’s how to report yours
• Attorney General Ken Paxton, Rep. James Talarico face off in contentious U.S. Senate race
• How would Bexar County’s next district attorney fix the office? 3 candidates outline their plans
• Nirenberg and Von Dohlen face off for Bexar County Judge

During rare weekend arguments, two of the three judges on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals appeared skeptical of a lawsuit brought by President Donald Trump's administration in mid-October. The lawsuit accuses California officials of failing to meet a 48-hour deadline to review 20,000 names the administration flagged as likely noncitizens on the state's voter rolls.

The administration asked a federal judge to require the state to withhold counting those ballots until the voters’ immigration status could be verified. The district judge scheduled a hearing for Oct. 27, days after the case was assigned, but the federal government appealed to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, seeking an expedited decision.

Justice Department attorney Matthew Donnelly told the panel that California is causing irreparable harm “by allowing noncitizens to vote in violation of their own state laws. The damage is irreversible and irrevocable.”

The Trump administration has made efforts to identify noncitizen voters a priority this year, even though noncitizen voting is exceptionally rare.

Circuit Judge Mark Bennett, a Trump appointee, questioned whether the appellate court even has jurisdiction to hear the case even before a ruling by the lower court.

Donnelly argued that the schedule set by the lower court judge was too slow and effectively a denial of the government's request, as state elections officials process thousands of mail ballots every day.

Judge Gabriel Sanchez, appointed by former President Joe Biden, questioned whether the federal government was violating the Tenth Amendment, essentially commandeering the state to enforce a federal law that makes it a misdemeanor for a noncitizen to vote.

The federal government is simply asking California to enforce its own law, which also bans noncitizens from voting, Donnelly said. He argued the state's refusal to comply with the federal request to set aside the ballots for review was “frustrating the purpose” of the federal law against noncitizen voting.

The Elections Clause of the U.S. Constitution gives state legislatures the power to set the time, place and manner of congressional elections, Bennett said. The executive branch may be “unhappy with what they’re doing, and doesn’t like the manner,” Bennett said, but under the Election Clause the state has the right to determine those issues — including how it sorts out any noncitizen voters.

Attorney Seth Waxman, representing Los Angeles County Clerk Dean Logan, said the federal government's list was unreliable and that segregating the ballots for a review process would effectively disenfranchise thousands of eligible voters.

Even if election staffers spent just three minutes checking each of the expected 2.75 million mail ballots against the government's list, the process would take 140,000 man-hours, Waxman said — or about 16 years of working time.

Waxman cited a review of 200 records from the Trump administration's list conducted by Los Angeles County staffers. Assistant Registrar-Recorder Monica Flores said in a court filing that the sample included canceled or inactive registrations, individuals with no voting history and voters who appeared to have been born in the United States, which the filing notes “is strong evidence of citizenship.”

If the administration disagrees with how California runs its elections, it can ask Congress to change that process, said attorney Sam Siegel, representing California Secretary of State Shirley Weber.

The federal government has provided no credible evidence to support its suspicions, said Siegel.

“It has no basis in law or in fact,” he told the panel. “We just dispute the premise that noncitizens are voting."

But Judge Patrick Bumatay, who was appointed by Trump, said everyone has an interest in ensuring that only eligible citizens vote. He suggested that granting the administration's request for an emergency order could provide clarity.

“Without an injunction, you will never know” if that is happening, Bumatay told Siegel.

Bennett said the panel would try to issue a ruling as quickly as possible.

___ Boone reported from Boise, Idaho.

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This story was first published Oct. 25, 2026. It was updated Oct. 26, 2026, to correct the name of the attorney who represents California's secretary of state. He is Sam Siegel, not Siegal or Seigel.

“I'm the one that said do it,” Trump told reporters as he landed for a campaign rally in Florida.

The lawsuit, filed late Thursday, centers on one of the president's longstanding complaints in the Senate race — the presence of a second candidate named Dan Sullivan, who Republicans fear could siphon away votes from the incumbent in what's likely to be a photo-finish contest with Democrat Mary Peltola, the state's former congresswoman.

The second Sullivan, who is Daniel J. Sullivan from the tiny fishing community of Petersburg, has said he decided to run on his own, but Republicans have contended he is a Democratic plant to siphon votes away from their candidate.

The lawsuit by the Republican president's Department of Justice in federal court in Alaska demands that the state be blocked from certifying a Peltola win if Daniel J. Sullivan remains on the ballot. “The United States accordingly brings this lawsuit to protect the integrity of the 2026 Senate election in Alaska,” the lawsuit says.

The legal challenge came 11 days before the Nov. 3 election and months after the final ballot was set. It is the latest example of the Department of Justice bolstering Trump's political operation, targeting his enemies and suing Democratic-controlled states before the election.

At a forum in Anchorage Friday night, Peltola called the lawsuit “just flagrant, flagrant corruption in my opinion." She told reporters that the legal fight was “another diversion from the issue that Alaskans want to talk about, which is affordability” and an example of how her Republican opponent was "using his connections in Washington, D.C., to manipulate the situation.”

“I am very concerned about Alaskans' voices not being heard,” Peltola said.

Democrats and many voting rights advocates have long feared that the administration will try to block certification of elections that Trump’s party loses, much as he unsuccessfully tried to do when he lost the 2020 White House race to Democrat Joe Biden.

The Alaska Supreme Court rejected a previous Republican effort to remove Daniel J. Sullivan from the ballot, and the state's Republican officials made the decisions about how to list him on the ballot. He will appear without a party designation next to his name, while the senator will be listed as the Republican incumbent. Alaska's ranked choice voting system also will allow voters to select both of the men if confused.

Alaska’s other Republican senator, Lisa Murkowski, alluded to that in a social media post criticizing the lawsuit. “Alaskans don’t need any help voting for their preferred candidates, and the State of Alaska has already handled this by clearly distinguishing the candidates on this year’s ballot,” wrote Murkowski, who has endorsed the incumbent Sullivan. “The Department of Justice should never have filed this lawsuit.”

Peltola and Sen. Sullivan were top vote-getters in nonpartisan primary

The senator received more than 68,000 votes in the August primary, while the challenging Sullivan got 4,107, about 2% of the total vote. Peltola, who had previously served one term in the House, was the top vote-getter in the nonpartisan primary. Both parties expect that whoever wins in November will do so by a tight margin in a state of 738,000 people.

The campaign for Sen. Dan Sullivan did not address whether the senator supports the Department of Justice's intervention. “We'll let the DOJ complaint run its course,” campaign spokesman Nate Adams said in a text message. “Alaskans can tell the difference between a Democrat sideshow and Senator Sullivan's strong record of delivering for Alaska.”

Daniel J. Sullivan, whose presence on the ballot is at issue in the lawsuit, did not respond to a request for comment.

“Donald Trump knows that Dan Sullivan is going to lose the election, so now his Department of Justice is filing a sham lawsuit to overturn the will of Alaska voters and steal an election when he loses,” said Devan Barber, executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

In a statement Friday, the Department of Justice noted that Alaska's election officials, who are Republicans, determined the other Sullivan's campaign was an attempt to “mislead” voters and wanted him removed from the ballot. Both a state court and Alaska's Supreme Court disagreed and kept the second Sullivan on the ballot.

"The Justice Department, consistent with the National Voter Registration Act enacted by Congress, is taking the necessary steps to ensure that this frivolous candidacy does not undermine the integrity of Alaska’s election or the will of its voters,” the department's statement said.

Concerns about the Department of Justice's role in the election had already reached a fever pitch this month after it filed an unusual, last-minute lawsuit demanding California segregate ballots from 20,000 voters who the Trump administration believed could be noncitizens. California said that it appeared many of those identified were indeed citizens and that they had no time to carefully investigate, as the administration threatened to prosecute the state's election workers if there was illegal voting.

U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche denied the action was a prelude to challenging certification of the midterm results in that state, adding that such a move may happen under a “doomsday” scenario but was unlikely.

“It is not DOJ’s intention to, and it’s never our intention to, improperly interfere with elections or the state certification process," he told reporters Thursday in Virginia before the Alaska lawsuit was filed.

The lawsuit was signed by Associate U.S. Attorney General Stanley Woodward, who represented Trump allies and Jan. 6 defendants before becoming one of the top appointees at the department.

Constitution gives states the power to run elections

Derek Muller, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame, said the lawsuit would likely only kick in if Republicans narrowly lose the Alaska Senate race and that it probably would not survive long. “The statute simply doesn't let the Department of Justice enjoin certification,” Muller said. “The lawsuit could well be mooted by a wide Democratic victory or a narrow Republican one, and if not, the court will likely dismiss it next month.”

The U.S. Constitution grants states the power to run their own elections. Elections for federal office like the Senate must comply with standards set by Congress. That division of power has frustrated Trump, who repeatedly has tried to seize control of election procedures through executive orders that courts have blocked.

The final step for a state election is formally certifying the winner, the act that the administration's lawsuit seeks to prevent, it requests, “pending an investigation to determine whether votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan were meant to be cast for Senator Sullivan."

The process in Alaska is complicated by the state's ranked choice voting system, which Trump opposes, and many expect it to take weeks before a winner is known. Also on the state's ballot is an initiative to repeal that system.

Trump has stepped up complaints about a ballot with dueling Sullivans

Trump has complained about Daniel J. Sullivan's presence on the ballot, making reference to it during a rally in Alaska this month and in repeated social media posts, including one this week where he called it “CHEATING.”

“We are looking at powerful legal options to remove the fraudulent Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. from the Ballot, and holding the Democrats accountable for their Election Interference, in the pursuit of Justice and Fairness,” the president wrote on Wednesday.

Clogging a ballot with third-party candidates to siphon off votes from the other major party is a long-standing tactic in the country's two-party system. Republicans have been linked to an effort to persuade Ohio voters to support a socialist in that state's Senate race, which could help Republican Sen. Jon Husted fend off a challenge from former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown.

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Associated Press writers Becky Bohrer in Juneau, Alaska, Haven Daley in Anchorage, Alaska, Ali Swenson in New York and Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington contributed to this report.

In Israel, the country's defense minister strongly denied that the military has clashed with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his reported instructions for an “action” against Iran ahead of national elections on Tuesday.

Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Monday. Read our full coverage here.

Saudi-led coalition says it destroyed Houthi missile launchers

An operation in Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen destroyed five tunnels used for storing ballistic missiles, four ballistic missile launchers and another missile storage facility, according to the spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Iran-backed Houthis.

Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki said the operation also aimed to cut the Houthis' supply lines between areas under their control and targeted rebel fortifications and military equipment along the front lines inside Yemen.

In a post on X, al-Malki said the coalition would continue to use “deterrent operational measures” to protect against the Houthis' “brutal attacks” inside the kingdom and in Yemen.

Houthis say Saudi-backed forces struck hospital in Red Sea port city

Yemen’s Houthi-run Health Ministry said Monday that Saudi-backed forces targeted a hospital in the Red Sea port city of Mokha, which the Houthi rebels recently seized. It did not provide evidence for the claim, and The Associated Press could not independently verify it.

In a statement, the ministry said the attack caused extensive damage to the hospital, but did not say whether there were any casualties. It also said Saudi forces on Sunday targeted a children's hospital in Taiz province, causing damage.

Earlier on Monday, two residents of Mokha, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, said Mokha General Hospital and at least 10 houses were damaged after a rocket struck a nearby four-story residential building. The AP could not independently verify the claim, and it was not clear if this was the same incident that the Health Ministry was referring to.

There was no immediate comment from the Saudi-backed forces.

— By Ahmed al-Haj in Aden, Yemen

Houthis say they fired missiles at Yemeni government forces

The Houthi rebels claimed Monday that they struck military gatherings and weapons depots belonging to Saudi-backed government forces in Aden and Lahj provinces.

The Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a statement that the rebels fired ballistic missiles at the sites, inflicting losses. The claims could not be independently verified.

The Houthis continue to target government forces and their allies inside Yemen. The Yemeni government accused the rebels on Sunday of targeting displacement camps on the outskirts of the southern port city of Aden. The government didn’t provide evidence to support its claim.

Israel’s defense minister denies clash with the army over Iran

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Monday dismissed reports regarding rifts between the political leadership and the Israeli military over Iran as “completely baseless and false.”

In a post on X, Katz also said Israel had no intention to strike Iran before Tuesday’s national elections but that it would respond “with great force” if Iran attacks first.

Israeli Channel 12 reported Sunday evening that Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel's military chief of staff clashed over the Israeli prime minister's instruction to carry out an “action” that the army believes could quickly reignite the conflict with Iran. The report did not specify the nature of the action. Netanyahu’s office later described the report as “fake news.”

Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan seek closer cooperation

Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan agreed Monday to continue talks on strengthening cooperation, particularly on regional peace and security, Iran’s state-run news agency IRNA reported.

Maj. Gen. Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, hosted the four countries’ first quadrilateral meeting in Tehran.

Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, Pakistan’s armed forces chief Gen. Asim Munir and Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin attended.

The IRNA report did not specify when or where the next meeting would take place.

Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said renewed attacks on Iran would destabilize the region and hurt countries that are not party to the conflict. In a televised address on Monday, he said reports about potential attacks had already driven fuel prices higher.

UN chief ‘alarmed’ by Israeli settler violence

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said Monday he was “deeply alarmed” by surging Israeli settler violence and settlement expansion in the West Bank.

Speaking in Cairo on one of his final trips as U.N. chief, Guterres called for lifting Israeli restrictions on humanitarian aid to Gaza and removing obstacles to the Security Council’s peace plan, warning that “the specter of ethnic cleansing” was looming ever larger.

He said lasting peace in the region depends on Palestinians’ right to self-determination and that a two-state solution, with Jerusalem as the capital of both states, is the only viable path.

Guterres also called for restoring stability around Iran and the Strait of Hormuz and ensuring safety around Yemen’s Bab al-Mandeb Strait.

Egypt's parliament approves help to Saudi Arabia

Egyptian lawmakers on Monday approved President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi’s request to support Saudi Arabia in countering Houthi attacks.

The decision comes amid growing public concern that Egypt could become involved in Yemen’s long-running conflict.

Egypt’s highest security body had pledged to provide “all necessary and possible forms of support” to Saudi Arabia to defend its security and stability, protect its resources and territorial integrity, and safeguard Islamic holy sites.

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This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.