The blaze sent huge plumes of black smoke into the sky and drew a massive firefighter response.

“There have been fatalities at this point,” Dallas Fire-Rescue Deputy Chief Mark Berry said at a news conference, adding the mission has changed from rescue to recovery. “Let us work through the recovery phase and get a total number.”

Dozens of firefighters searched through the smoldering rubble of the building on the outskirts of downtown Dallas Thursday afternoon, even as colleagues continued to drench the blackened debris.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known, but Assistant Chief James Russ of Dallas Fire-Rescue said during an earlier news conference that the blaze broke out after someone reported a gas leak. Neighbors said they heard a loud boom like an explosion.

Russ said at least four people were taken to a hospital with injuries and that “it is unknown how many possible fatalities we may have.”

Firefighters rushed to the scene as flames and black smoke billowed into the sky. Some trained their hoses on piles of smoking debris while others removed lumber and other burned wreckage to look for anyone trapped underneath. Little more than a blackened shell of the original building remained.

“The fire is contained, but our members are still working on the scene to do primary searches,” Russ said.

A nearby street was lined with firetrucks, ambulances and police vehicles with their lights flashing.

Julie Jensen said she was at home less than a block from the burning building when she heard a noise like an explosion that left her ears ringing.

“I was sitting on my couch watching TV — stuff flew off our walls,” Jensen said.

Jensen said she saw rising smoke and neighbors running when she looked out the window. She grabbed her family’s cat and left, finding a nearby parking lot to wait until she knew it was safe to return.

Sal De La Rosa was at work at a nearby auto repair shop when “all of a sudden we just heard and felt this huge boom.”

“We felt where the building kind of shook a little bit,” Del La Rosa said.

He said a co-worker went outside and saw thick, black smoke rising into the air.

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Associated Press journalists Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas, and Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed.

According to a Transguide camera positioned at Loop 410 and Crossroads Boulevard, the roads are cleared as of Thursday afternoon.

Two vehicles were previously stopped on the I-10 westbound on-ramp. One of the vehicles was flipped over, according to the Texas Department of Transportation’s Transguide camera.

At this time, it is unclear if any injuries have been reported in connection with the crash.

KSAT has reached out to authorities for more information in connection with the crash

More recent news coverage on KSAT:

• Why did SAPD pull, throw people off a tow truck after Spurs win? We asked the person who filmed the viral video.
• Man accused of killing grandmother inside Shavano Park home during mental health crisis, BCSO says
• SAPD: Nursing assistant accused of exploiting 79-year-old woman at nursing home with Alzheimer’s

It’s the question an organization spent a year trying to answer. Now that a new survey has been published, survivors are chiming in too.

“In Texas, I was attacked by my boyfriend at the time. I was attacked and beaten with a hammer. It was brutal. I had staples in my head and stitches on my face and broken ribs,” survivor Ashley Ressell said. “And getting an attorney, it’s a financial burden.”

Ressell, who no longer lives in Texas, said it was a miracle she survived.

However, at the time, in her mental and physical state, getting a protective order seemed overwhelming and almost impossible

“Is it a three-month order? Is it a six-month order? I was going for, eventually, a lifetime protection order was appropriate in this scenario,” Ressell said.

Luckily, she found the Texas Advocacy Project that helps domestic violence survivors, and they got her the right protective order.

At the same time, the organization was working on publishing a year-long study on protective orders, seeing how every county in the state handles that process, and looking for gaps.

“Protective orders are mandated by statute. The law states one thing, and then there are what is called local rules that can layer on top of those laws,” Texas Advocacy Project CEO Heather Bellino said.

Bellino said sometimes those “local rules” tend to make things harder for survivors.

“In some counties, you must have a recency of violence,” she said, explaining that there are some limits on the length of time that has passed.

Ressell said that type of rule signals a lack of understanding of victims and what they go through.

“I think a lot of people think that protective orders are just you get a paper signed, and you’re good to go, but you don’t really take into account your physical state, your mental state. You don’t know when the abusers even, you don’t know if they’re in jail, out of jail, these kinds of things,” Ressell said.

The research team also found that about 23% of the counties surveyed required a police report to be filed in order for a survivor to file a protective order.

Bellino and Ressell mentioned that it can be dangerous for some victims to make an immediate police report, and rules like that deny them the protection they desperately need.

“Imagine when you’re going to get a protective order, it’s because you’ve been harmed and you are in deep crisis and you just need somebody to believe you and to hear you and to say this will not happen again and if it does, there are real consequences,” Bellino said.

One of the most striking findings from the survey was that three Texas counties do not offer protective orders at all, an issue Bellino and her team intend to address.

“The way the laws are stated, a protective order doesn’t necessarily have to happen where you live. It could also happen where the abuse occurs. So if one county over another county has a smoother pathway, we’re going to want to assist them in understanding that smoother pathway so that we can get them that safety that they so deserve,” Bellino said. “If it’s not safe to apply for a protective order in that area, perhaps may be getting to shelter somewhere else is and establishing your residency, whether temporary or not.”

Bellino also said another big issue she found is that some counties make it difficult for victims to get a protective order if they’ve already filed for a divorce.

Then there’s the other problem: only 183 of Texas’ 254 counties responded to the survey.

Bexar County, one of the largest in the state, did not respond to any of the three attempts.

“That’s hard, right? But without being able to have a good conversation with them, we don’t always know the reason why,” Bellino said about not being able to contact many of the counties.

After hearing that, KSAT reached out to the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office. A spokesperson said they did not receive the survey requests.

Since KSAT intervened, someone with the county’s Collaborative Commission on Domestic Violence reached out to “discuss this oversight directly.” The Texas Advocacy Project stated that they are now in communication with Bexar County and are obtaining the necessary information.

“We know that the Family Justice Center (is) there and we know there are a lot of attorneys helping victims to get protective orders in that area. We just were not able to add them in to our report this time,” Bellino said.

About 28% of Texas counties aren’t on the report, which was published April 18.

“Those counties that did not respond are the ones that we’re going to try to work the closest with to understand what their process is and to insert ourselves as a helpful arm,” Bellino said.

The goal now is to see what changes need to be made, whether it’s training, adding resources or even changing laws.

“This is not a study that is supposed to be a, ‘I gotcha, you’re not doing this right and we’re going to come get you.’ We are here to help them to see the shortfalls. Even celebrate the wins. Where can we support better? Where do you need more training? Where can we make legislative changes?” Bellino said.

Survivors applaud the effort and help counties will take a look at their processes and re-evaluate.

“Just hoping that it becomes easier. Like it is a very serious thing and everybody should have the right to defend themselves on the other end, but it should be as easy as X, Y, Z,” Ressell said.

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

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

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

The families of detainees and their supporters said Thursday that immigrants being held at Delaney Hall in Newark have been subjected to pepper spray and physical force as the situation inside deteriorates.

“Unrest within Delaney Hall is directly related to its rampant inhumane conditions and the Trump administration’s refusal to dedicate appropriate resources for basic human needs like food and health care," Amol Sinha, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, said in statement.

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill said state health officials were “denied full access” to the facility to conduct an inspection Thursday. The Democrat said they were allowed to inspect only a limited area.

U.S. Sen. Andy Kim, a New Jersey Democrat, said his office received multiple calls Thursday about physical force being used against detainees. He did not say who made the calls.

“The people inside Delaney Hall deserve their day in court and to be treated humanely, not violently,” Kim said on social media.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees federal immigration enforcement, and the GEO Group, the private contractor that runs Delaney Hall, didn't immediately respond to emails seeking comment. DHS has previously denied there is any hunger strike, abuse or poor conditions inside the center and dismissed criticism as political posturing.

Thursday's developments followed violent confrontations Wednesday night between protesters and U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement officers.

Groups of demonstrators, many wearing gas masks and other face coverings, linked arms in a human chain, videos and photos posted on social media show.

Some used trash cans, old mattresses, umbrellas and other materials as makeshift shields and barricades as they confronted U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement officers. Others attempted to block people and vehicles from entering and exiting the building or threw orange traffic cones and other objects in the direction of the ICE officers lined at the entry gate.

The group chanted, “You will hang!” and, “Every cop, every fed, shoot yourself in the head," and other taunts at the officers, many of whom wore helmets and tactical vests.

The ICE officers used pepper spray to try and disperse the protesters, according to videos posted to social media. Some used their batons to beat and push back protesters as the officers attempted to clear the roadway for vehicles.

DHS said about six demonstrators were arrested for assaulting law enforcement officers.

Earlier Wednesday, Democratic members of Congress from New York City toured the facility as part of an oversight visit.

Reps. Jerry Nadler, Daniel Goldman and Adriano Espaillat, who all represent Manhattan, described dire conditions where people held in the facility are fed small portions of often spoiled food and their varied medical needs are ignored.

The Palm Beach County Sherriff's Office said Thursday that deputies responded just after 3 a.m. to the scene of an apparent suicide at a furniture store showroom in Lake Park, Florida. The sheriff's office said the victim was believed to be Lemieux.

The NHL Alumni Association announced Lemieux’s death in a post on social media.

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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org

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Just three days ago, Lemieux was the Montreal Canadiens’ torch bearer prior to Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final at Bell Centre. Former teammate Chris Nilan reposted a photo of him, Lemieux and Sergio Momesso from the arena with the message: “You never know when you’re going to see someone for the last time. Rest in Peace, Mon Ami.”

“Today is a dark day for the Canadiens family and the entire hockey community," Canadiens owner Geoff Molson said. “A fierce competitor who rose to the occasion in big moments, Claude was a relentless, courageous and tenacious player who led the team to the highest honors. He embodied the very essence of being a Montreal Canadiens player. Today we mourn the untimely passing of one of our champions. Our thoughts are with his family on this difficult day.”

As a player, the 6-foot-1, 215-pound Lemieux was a mix of talent and abrasiveness, not afraid to cross the line in the name of competition over 21 seasons in the NHL. He wound up with nearly 400 goals, about the same number of assists and nearly 1,800 penalty minutes, the epitome of a guy you wanted on your team but dreaded facing on the ice.

“Just hard-nosed, hard-nosed player,” said Montreal coach Martin St. Louis, a former star for Tampa Bay. “When I played against Claude, you had to fight for every inch on the ice with him. He competed hard. He always toed the line. He was a hard player to play against.”

Lemieux won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP after scoring 13 goals in 20 games for the New Jersey Devils to help them win their first championship in 1995.

A year later with the Colorado Avalanche, he was suspended for two games for a hit from behind on Detroit's Kris Draper that fueled one of the nastiest rivalries in the history of the NHL. Lemieux returned to score the first goal in Game 3 of the final against Florida on the way to the Avalanche sweeping the Panthers to win the Stanley Cup for the first time in their first season since moving from his native Quebec.

Darren McCarty, a truculent member of the Red Wings who had multiple fights with Lemieux, posted a broken heart emoji on social media and heard the news from Draper. McCarty said Lemieux the person was totally different than the player, and the two later met for an interview with smiles about their clashes.

“Sad day: another brother gone," McCarty said in a video message posted to YouTube. "If you’re struggling out there, no matter what, just reach out for some help. It can never be that bad. It’s a sad day, no matter what. Rest in peace, Claude.”

Colorado president of hockey operations Joe Sakic, who was teammates with Lemieux on the Avalanche, said the organization was devastated.

“‘Pepe’ was a terrific hockey player, a fierce competitor and a champion in every way. He was also a loyal friend who would do anything for his teammates and someone you could always count on,” Sakic said. "Gone but never forgotten. Rest in peace my friend.”

Lemieux also won the Cup with Montreal in 1986 and returned to the Devils to be a part of their title run in 2000. He played 1,449 regular-season and playoff games with six different teams from 1983-2009, finishing with Phoenix, Dallas and San Jose.

His 80 career playoff goals rank ninth in league history. Commissioner Gary Bettman called Lemieux “one of the greatest big-game players in hockey history.”

Lemieux had become an agent in the years since his playing career ended and represented Carolina’s Frederik Andersen, New Jersey's Timo Meier, Detroit's Moritz Seider and Boston's Hampus Lindholm among more than a dozen clients in the NHL.

Part of a hockey family, Lemieux's brother Jocelyn and son Brendan also played in the league. Brendan's feisty style over more than 300 games most resembled his father's.

At a gathering in December to celebrate the 30-year anniversary of Colorado's '96 Stanley Cup championship, Lemieux said of winning, “When it’s happening, when you’re in the middle of it, you don’t quite appreciate it as much as you should.” Late former teammate Chris Simon was represented during the on-ice ceremony by his children. He died in 2024 at 52.

“It’s very difficult, and especially with Chris passing at such a young age,” Lemieux said. “We have to count our blessings — be grateful for the days that we have and enjoy and appreciate those times when we get together.”

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Associated Press writer David Fischer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and AP Sports Writers Pat Graham in Denver and Aaron Beard in Raleigh, North Carolina, contributed to this report.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

No anguished friends or relatives to tell the judge about Florencio Moran, Nazario Vásquez Villegas, Anthony Manson and Chuen Kok ’s abruptly shortened lives. No one to confront Santos face-to-face about his psychosis-fueled rampage through Manhattan’s Chinatown neighborhood nearly seven years ago, or to hear him apologize.

No one to see him sentenced to 40 years to life in prison.

“There are no victim impact statements here today. There’s nobody here to tell this court about their lives and how their absence is a loss,” Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Alfred Peterson told Judge Laura A. Ward.

“But I’m certain this court and this city understands the value of every life, and the gift of life that we’re afforded to live and make choices and have free will,” Peterson said, haltingly and emotionally at times. “That gift was taken away by Randy Santos.”

Santos, convicted in February of first-degree murder, sat solemnly between his court-appointed lawyers, listening through headphones as a Spanish interpreter translated the proceeding. A Chinatown activist who arranged Kok’s funeral watched quietly from the courtroom gallery, a few feet from Santos’ family.

Addressing the court in English, the 31-year-old pleaded for a sentence short enough to allow him to “be somebody” after prison.

He told the judge that his mind — which his lawyers said had deluded him into believing he had to kill 40 people or would die himself — "is much better now” with daily medication. And he promised to use his time in prison to finish school, improve his English and learn a trade.

“I just want to say, I’m very sorry for what I did,” Santos said. “I apologize to the people for what I did. I feel very bad about what I did. I wish it never happened.”

Ward described Santos' case as the “coming together of three horrible symptoms of this city: homelessness, mental illness and narcotics abuse.” Those, she said, “are the constant in all our violent crime cases.”

Peterson called the case “a study in how the life of a young man can go off track so horribly," and said Santos “clearly has his own challenges in life, much like the victims.”

Santos' lawyers argued at trial that his schizophrenia, diagnosed months before the killings, had polluted his mind with irrational thoughts and left him prone to violence. They tried, unsuccessfully, to convince a jury that he was not criminally responsible for the killings and that, instead of prison, he should be sent to a psychiatric treatment facility.

Santos has gone back and forth from jail to psychiatric treatment facilities since his arrest.

“We ask that Mr. Santos not be sentenced to die in prison," defense lawyer Arnold Levine told Ward, asking for a sentence of 20 years to life behind bars. "He is not incorrigible or beyond redemption or hope.”

Ward said she sympathized with Santos, but that she had a "difficult time getting past the fact that Mr. Santos targeted the most vulnerable people in our society. People who were doing nothing but sleeping on the street, homeless.”

Prosecutors had asked for a sentence of 50 years to life in prison. In addition to the murder charges, Santos was also convicted of attempted murder for assaults that left two other men severely injured.

Before determining the sentence, Ward said she reviewed surveillance video of the attacks. Among other things, the footage showed Santos repeatedly lifting a 4-foot (1.2 meter) bar over his head and bringing it down on the head of one victim.

A couple out on a date on saw Santos beating another man with the same weapon, which he had found on the street, prosecutors said. The lone survivor of the half-hour killing spree, critically injured 49-year-old David Hernandez, staggered to a nearby street where police officers were trying to revive another Santos victim.

Police later found Santos carrying the bar, which was covered with blood and hair. Testing showed it had his DNA on one end and blood from some of his victims on the other, prosecutors said. The victims ranged in age from 39 to 83.

After court officers led Santos out of the courtroom in handcuffs, the Chinatown activist, Karlin Chan, said the sentencing gives the community closure.

“He knew what he was doing,” Chan said, dismissing Santos' apology as performative. “At the end of the day here, he's going to a place where he deserves to be: jail.”

The state court in Wiener Neustadt, south of the capital, found the 21-year-old defendant, an Austrian citizen known only as Beran A. in line with Austrian privacy rules, guilty on multiple charges including those related to the concert.

The concert plot was thwarted, but Austrian authorities still canceled Swift’s three performances in August 2024.

His defense attorney said Beran A. admitted to the charges related to the concert plot during the opening day of the trial last month.

In brief final words to the court before it adjourned to consider a verdict on Thursday, Beran A. said: “I would just like to say that I am sorry.”

Beran A. allegedly planned to target people outside the Ernst Happel Stadium with knives or homemade explosives. Tens of thousands of Taylor Swift fans, known as Swifties, had traveled to Austria to attend the performances of the American singer’s record-setting Eras Tour. Devastated by the cancellations, many gathered in central Vienna to trade friendship bracelets and commiserate.

Beran A. also allegedly networked with members of the Islamic State group ahead of the planned attack. Prosecutors have said they discussed purchasing weapons and making bombs, and that the defendant also sought to illegally buy weapons in the days ahead of the performance, as well as swearing allegiance to the militant group.

Authorities searched his apartment on Aug. 7, 2024, and found bomb-making materials. The concerts were scheduled to begin the next day.

“Having our Vienna shows canceled was devastating,” Swift wrote in a statement posted to Instagram two weeks later. “The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many people had planned on coming to those shows.”

He was tried alongside Arda K., another 21-year-old whose full name also has not been made public. They, along with a third man, Hasan E., who was arrested and remains in pretrial detention in Saudi Arabia, allegedly planned to carry out simultaneous attacks in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates during Ramadan 2024 in the name of IS.

Only Beran A. was charged in connection with the concert plot. The two defendants were found guilty of charges including traveling and training for terrorist purposes, and being part of a terrorist organization, the Austria Press Agency reported.

The court also found the pair guilty of contributing to attempted murder, a charge linked to Hasan E.'s alleged stabbing of a security officer in Mecca in March 2024. Hasan E. also attacked and wounded three other officers and a woman before he was arrested, according to prosecutors.

Beran A. and Arda K. did not carry out their alleged plans in the UAE and Turkey. Beran A. returned to Vienna and later allegedly began plotting to attack the Swift concert there.

Arda K. was given a 12-year sentence. The two men listened stoically to the verdict and the sentencing, APA reported.

Beran A.'s lawyer, Anna Mair, said after the verdict that she would discuss with her client in the coming days whether to accept the verdict.

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Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

Ernie will be live starting at 7 p.m. at The Rock at La Cantera.

KSAT will livestream the excitement in this article and on KSAT Plus. Delays are possible; if there is not a livestream available, please check back at a later time.

Tipoff for Game 6 is set for 7:30 p.m. at the Frost Bank Center. The Thunder currently lead the series 3-2.

The winner of the Spurs-Thunder series will face the New York Knicks in the 2026 NBA Finals.

More Race For Seis coverage on KSAT:

• Spurs thank fans, urge respectful celebration as team’s season continues
• Where to watch Spurs game tonight in San Antonio for free
• SCHEDULE: NBA sets TV broadcasts, tipoff times for Spurs-Thunder Western Conference Finals

Jannik Sinner had won everything there was to win in tennis over the past three months: five straight Masters 1000 titles — three of them on clay — and 30 straight matches.

And with Carlos Alcaraz, his biggest rival, out due to an injured right wrist, it seemed almost a foregone conclusion that Sinner would raise the Coupe des Mousquetaires trophy and complete a career Grand Slam.

That’s why Sinner’s meltdown amid the Paris heat wave was so stunning Thursday — especially after he came within just one game of concluding his second-round match in straight sets when he led 5-1 in the third.

The top-ranked Sinner struggled with dizziness and was beaten by 56th-ranked Juan Manuel Cerundolo 3-6, 2-6, 7-5, 6-1, 6-1 after wasting two chances to serve for the match.

“I didn’t feel very well on court,” Sinner said. “I struggled, starting to feel very dizzy, very low on energy. ... In the beginning, I was hitting very clean, very good, and then I just kind of hit the wall.

"I didn’t have energy, really. I was very, very flat. The whole body. I don’t remember last time I felt this weak,” Sinner added.

Sinner said that when he woke up on Thursday he “didn’t feel very well.”

Sinner bent over on the clay court in apparent exhaustion multiple times and was hardly even running for shots as the match wore on, resorting to drop shots and serve-and-volley tactics to try and shorten the points.

He attempted to cool himself with a hand-held fan on changeovers and put bags of ice around his neck.

The temperature at the start of the match was 29 degrees C (84 F) and rose to 32 C (90 F).

“It was warm but not crazy warm,” Sinner said. “I feel like it was quite OK to play. Really it was nothing against the heat, nothing against the weather. It was just me today, but it happens.”

Cerundolo didn’t celebrate too much when it was over, just producing a little wave to the crowd.

“It’s tough for him,” Cerundolo said. “I couldn’t win more than three games by set. So I think I was a little bit lucky. … He was deserving to win in this match. But then I don’t know what happened. … I feel sorry for him and hope he recovers.”

When Sinner served for the match a second time at 5-4 in the third set, he bent over at 0-40 and then walked to his chair. He asked for assistance and left the court. His entire light blue outfit was soaked through with sweat.

After losing the set 7-5, Sinner received medical attention and left the court. Minerals were added to his drink when he returned but Sinner wasn't able to recuperate.

Sinner lost 18 of the last 20 games. Asked if he considered retiring before the match ended, Sinner said that in the “fifth set we all know everything can happen. I was in a tough spot."

Sinner's previous loss came Feb. 19 in the Qatar Open quarterfinals. He had won five straight Masters titles while dropping just three sets.

“We’ll definitely do some tests to be sure of what happened today," he said.

“Let’s hope we’re ready for Wimbledon,” Sinner added. “To be ready there, we need to recuperate well and do things right now.”

But Sinner has a history of struggling in the heat. He admitted he was lucky at the Australian Open in January against Eliot Spizzirri when the roof was closed and the third-round match swung his way. And he had to retire from a match in Shanghai in October that was contested amid extreme humidity.

“Shanghai was very tough. Humidity very high. Australia was very, very warm,” Sinner said. “Here, I mean it was warm, but it was OK. It was not like I was dying because of the heat. I think today was completely different scenario.

“It’s tough to accept, of course, because of the position where I’ve been in and everything considered,” added Sinner, who sportsbooks had listed at around -300 to win the tournament.

On the same Court Philippe Chatrier last year, Sinner wasted three match points against Alcaraz and lost an epic final.

French teenager advances, Shelton loses

In other matches, 17-year-old Frenchman Moise Kouame became the youngest man to reach the third round of a Grand Slam since Rafael Nadal was also 17 at 2003 Wimbledon. Kouame beat Adolfo Daniel Vallejo 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 2-6, 7-6 (8).

Felix Auger-Aliassime — at No. 4 the highest-seeded player left in the top half of the draw after Sinner's exit — beat Roman Andres Burruchaga 4-6, 6-0, 7-5, 6-1.

Fifth-seeded Ben Shelton was upset by 62nd-ranked Belgian opponent Raphael Collignon 6-4, 7-5, 6-4; and Frances Tiafoe required nearly five hours to overcome Hubert Hurkacz 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-7 (1), 6-4.

Also, Cerundolo’s older brother, Francisco, beat Hugo Gaston 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-1.

In women’s action, Naomi Osaka put on another fashion show for her walk-on before beating Donna Vekic 7-6 (1), 6-4.

Defending champion Coco Gauff beat Mayar Sherif 6-3, 6-2; and top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka — the runner-up last year — defeated Elsa Jacquemot 7-5, 6-2.

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AP Sports Writers Samuel Petrequin and Jerome Pugmire contributed to this report.

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

In the latest edition of their fierce rivalry, Canada's victory ended the Americans' quest to retain the trophy that they had won for the first time since 1933.

Thursday's quarterfinal came three months after the Milan Cortina Olympics gold-medal game, which the Americans won 2-1 in overtime.

Canada remains on course for its 29th title at the worlds. It will play Finland in the last four.

Celebrini scored his sixth goal at the worlds, Crosby got his first, and Dylan Holloway and Connor Brown also scored. Mark Scheifele had two assists, and Greaves turned away every shot he faced.

“He is calm and tonight came up with the big save when we needed it,” forward John Tavares said of Greaves. “He was the best player on the ice tonight, for sure.”

The 19-year-old Celebrini broke the deadlock with 1:29 remaining in the opening period on a power play with a shot from the slot to beat U.S. goalie Devin Cooley.

Earlier, Canada wasted a five-minute major penalty for Ryan Lindgren’s illegal check to the head of defenseman Evan Bouchard and game misconduct.

Holloway doubled the advantage midway through the middle period on a rebound off his own shot from the right circle.

The Americans pulled Cooley with 2:22 left in the third before Brown and Crosby finished the scoring with a couple of empty-net goals.

In their most-recent matchup at the worlds, Canada won 4-2 in the semifinals in 2021 and went on to capture gold. The U.S. took bronze.

Matthew Tkachuk lost a chance to become the first American in hockey’s Triple Gold Club. He won the Stanley Cup back-to-back with the Florida Panthers and claimed the Olympic gold in Milan.

"In the third period we played really, really good and their goalie made some incredible saves,” Tkachuk said. “They ultimately were better for most of the game and so deserved to win.”

Led by the teenage captain Celebrini, Canada is powered by an NHL-laden roster with established forwards such as Tavares and Ryan O'Reilly. The Canadians cruised through the preliminary stage with seven wins and topped their group.

The Americans had a much younger, less-experienced team and only made the last eight by beating Austria 4-1 in the final group-stage game.

Finland, Switzerland, Norway advance

In Zurich, Finland beat Czechia 4-1 in a game between the 2022 and 2024 champions, respectively, to set up a semifinal against Canada.

Finland was 2-0 up after the opening period on goals from Sakari Manninen and Anton Lundell. In the second, Konsta Helenius made it 3-0 before Filip Hronek scored for the Czechs on a two-man advantage. Lenni Hameenaho closed out the scoring in the third.

Also in Zurich, Switzerland came from a goal down to knock out Sweden 3-1 at a packed Swiss Life Arena with tennis great Roger Federer in attendance.

Roman Josi started the rally with a goal and assisted on the other two — from Denis Malgin and Calvin Thurkauf.

The Swiss will next face Norway, which dispatched Latvia 2-0 to make the last four for the first time.

The semifinals are scheduled for Saturday.

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

“You know, I never thought I would run for governor, so I guess I should know better than to say any of it. Never say never,” Whitmer said when asked about the remarks during a one-on-one session Thursday afternoon at Michigan’s annual Mackinac policy conference.

“At this juncture, I’ve got nothing to announce,” she added.

Whitmer has long been viewed by some Democrats as a possible White House contender after her decisive election victories in the closely contested state that Republican Donald Trump has carried twice in presidential votes. Whitmer is term-limited and will be done after this year.

For months Whitmer had offered only cautious answers about her political future. She seemed to put an end to the speculation during an interview earlier Thursday, telling Fox 2 Detroit that “I think there will be a robust group of people running for president. I will not be one of them in 2028."

But she backtracked later in the day, saying she wanted to “correct the record.” Whitmer said she was answering the “100th question of the morning about it” and said she wasn't making any plans.

“I guess I’ll smile and say, ‘I’m going to stay focused’ and leave it at that for now," Whitmer said.

Whitmer has previously said she plans to take time before deciding on her next move politically.

“I don’t know that I’ll put my name on the ballot again. I’m just not sure,” Whitmer said at an April breakfast in Detroit. “But I also am 54 years old. I got a lot of gas in the tank.”

The Mackinac conference has become a hub of presidential speculation, with former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Elissa Slotkin — both considered possible 2028 contenders — also in attendance.

“If there was someone I believed in, I'd be all in,” Slotkin told The Associated Press. “But I'm not taking it off the table because I want to be a part of that next generation of leaders.”

Day and Young MC issued statements on social media disputing Freedom 250’s announcement on Wednesday. Scheduled performers also include “Milli Vanilli,” the pop duo from the 1980s who were discredited after it was revealed that their frontmen, Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan, were only lipsyncing. One of the actual singers, Jodie Rocco, told The Associated Press that neither she, her sister Linda Rocco, nor any of the studio vocalists who performed under the group’s name after the scandal had been asked to come.

“My sister and I were shocked to see our name, ‘Milli Vanilli’, as one of the performers,” Jodie Rocco wrote in an email.

Milli Vanilli won a Grammy in 1990 for Best New Artist, but the award was rescinded after the scandal broke. Pilatus and Morvan released a 1993 album under their own names, “Rob & Fab,” that sold poorly. Pilatus died in 1998, while Morvan has attempted a solo career and published a memoir, “You Know It’s True: The Real Story of Milli Vanilli,” that brought him a Grammy nomination for “Best Audiobook, Narration, and Storytelling recording.”

Efforts to reach Morvan and determine whether he will perform at the National Mall were not immediately successful.

A Freedom 250 spokesperson did not immediately respond Thursday to a request for comment. Freedom 250, which Trump launched late last year, describes itself as a “national, non-partisan organization leading the celebration of our Nation’s 250th birthday.” Trump appointed Keith Krach, who served as an under secretary of state during his first term, as the organization’s CEO.

Trump and his supporters have long had a contentious relationship with the music community; Celine Dion, Elton John and Guns ’N Roses are among the many artists who have objected to their music being played at Trump rallies.

In an Instagram post, Young MC questioned whether the National Mall shows would be nonpartisan. “The artists were never told about any political involvement with the event,” he wrote, adding that he hoped to “perform in D.C. in the near future at an event that is not so politically charged.” Day posted on Instagram that “Contrary to rumor, Morris Day & The Time will not be performing at the 'GREAT AMERICAN STATE FAIR.”

Young MC and Milli Vanilli were among those on the roster for an “I Love the 90s” concert on June 26. Day was listed for June 27. Other performers announced include the Commodores, Flo Rida and Martina McBride. The Great American State Fair is scheduled to run June 25-July 10.

At least one “I Love the 90s” act will be there: Vanilla Ice.

“He is proud to help celebrate America’s 250th Anniversary!” a representative for the “Ice Ice Baby” rapper wrote in an email to the AP. “Everyone is welcome to attend and celebrate USA’s Birthday and our Freedom!”

Joseph Martin Finnegan, 27, was arrested at the scene on Wednesday afternoon.

Sheriff’s deputies said they found Finnegan inside the home, located on Long Bow Road near Northwest Military Highway, covered in blood.

They also found the victim, Finnegan’s grandmother, dead inside the home.

Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar told reporters Wednesday the victim had called 911 herself, asking for help from BCSO’s Specialized Multidisciplinary Alternate Response Team or S.M.A.R.T.

He said she told dispatchers that her grandson was having mental health problems.

The home is less than a mile from the City of Shavano Park’s police department, yet officers did not respond immediately.

“We weren’t notified,” said Bill Hill, city manager and spokesperson for Shavano Park. “The specific request was for Bexar County’s mental health team to react and specifically requested that Shavano Park not respond.”

Hill said, in hindsight, though, that may not have been the best plan of action.

He said Shavano Park police officers are all trained to handle mental health calls, and Finnegan is no stranger to the department.

“We’ve been called to that residence and that particular suspect over 10 times, dating back to 2016,” Hill said. “He’s been charged multiple times, and the charges have either been dropped or not accepted by the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office.”

KSAT 12 News sent an email to the district attorney’s office, asking for a response to Hill’s statement. As of Thursday afternoon, no one had replied.

A spokesman for BCSO said that the agency’s records show at least half a dozen calls to the home within the past two years involving Finnegan.

One neighbor said after the call on Wednesday, the area instantly became a crime scene.

“Police cars, ambulance, all sorts of emergency vehicles,” said the neighbor who asked to remain anonymous.

He told KSAT 12 News the murder was shocking and referred to the victim as “very nice,” someone who was willing to help everyone.

The neighbor said he believes there’s a need for a thorough review of the response to the victim’s 911 call.

He said someone should’ve advised her to get to safety while waiting for deputies to arrive.

“Maybe stay on the phone. Maybe walk outside. Maybe walk to a neighbor’s,” he said.

As of Thursday afternoon, the victim’s name had not been released.

Read also:

• Man accused of killing grandmother inside Shavano Park home during mental health crisis, BCSO says

In a letter sent Thursday to Superintendent Matias Segura, TEA officials said Texas Council for International Studies failed to demonstrate a record of turning around campuses with repeated failing accountability ratings and, in some cases, partnerships with the nonprofit had produced worse academic outcomes.

District leaders applied for the partnership in March under the SB 1882 program, which can shield campuses from certain state sanctions when districts turn over operations to outside organizations. But without the partnership protections, Dobie, Webb and Burnet middle schools remain on a collision course with state intervention if accountability scores do not improve this year. Under state law, Education Commissioner Mike Morath must either close campuses or replace the elected school board with an appointed board of managers when a campus receives five consecutive failing accountability ratings. The state also has taken over entire districts, such as Fort Worth, for having chronically failing schools.

According to the letter, the district is still free to pursue the partnership, but would not receive a reprieve from accountability ratings that is offered under the SB 1882 program.

The decision comes as Dobie, Webb and Burnet students finished the school year Thursday. Earlier in the spring, the middle schools completed state standardized testing. Those results, expected this summer, will heavily shape the accountability ratings that could determine whether the state intervenes in Austin ISD.

Neither Austin ISD nor Texas Council for International Studies immediately responded to a request for comment.

The state’s rejection marks another escalation in a monthslong effort by Austin ISD leaders to prevent state intervention at the campuses, which have faced mounting accountability pressure for years. Trustees approved the partnership earlier this year despite criticism questioning the timeliness and transparency of the process.

Public information records previously obtained by Austin Current showed Texas Council for International Studies was the only organization to submit a bid to operate the three schools. Board members approved the sole bidder just days before the March 31 deadline to submit an application for SB 1882 benefits in a high-stakes move to skirt state intervention. According to Thursday’s letter, district leaders submitted additional information to the state in May before the application was ultimately denied.

Texas Council for International Studies has led 16 SB1882 partnerships since 2019 across San Antonio, Edgewood and Longview ISDs with mixed results. The nonprofit, which was founded as a partner organization focused on supporting students and schools implementing the International Baccalaureate programs in Texas, meets only two of three criteria for SB1882 partnerships added by state education leaders as of March 2020, according to TEA’s letter.

While it has been in existence for at least three years and managed multiple campuses, Texas Council for International Studies does not have a track record of managing campuses to academic success or significantly improving academic performance, TEA’s letter said.

Only five of the 16 campuses led by Texas Council for International Studies under SB1882 partnerships since 2019 faced “D” or “F” ratings at the time the partnerships were approved and three of those schools have either received worse ratings or failed to improve since, according to TEA.

Earlier this year, Austin ISD leaders expressed confidence in contracting Texas Council for International Studies as an operational partner for Dobie, Webb and Burnet middle schools. In a March board meeting, Segura said “After spending time with the partners and understanding their structure, having conversations with the staff at these schools, meeting with principals, I am confident this partner and this iteration will help us be successful.”

Executive Director of Governance, Accountability and Board Services Joshua Jeon previously told Austin Current that the district intended to move forward with the partnership even if the state were to deny SB1882 benefits.

This is a developing story.

Baseball owners hadn’t proposed a firm cap since 1994. Their effort prompted a 7 1/2-month strike that forced the cancellation of the World Series for the first time in 90 years.

MLB's proposal would cap spending in 2027 at $245.3 million, using figures for luxury tax payrolls that include $20.1 million for benefits and the pre-arbitration bonus pool, and establish a payroll floor of $171.2 million. The Los Angeles Dodgers, baseball's biggest spenders, had a $415.2 million payroll on opening day this year — around $170 million over the proposed cap.

“The cap is pretty much a nonstarter,” Pittsburgh outfielder Bryan Reynolds said.

Owners said they would discuss a phase-in schedule that would give teams like the Dodgers time to comply with the cap and an escrow system with the union as part of a proposed seven-year deal, that all current contracts would remain guaranteed and there would be no prohibition of guaranteed contracts under the cap system.

MLB said it would centralize local media revenue from the 30 teams equally and give players a 50-50 split as part of a proposal that would eliminate the current revenue-sharing plan among the clubs.

“Our salary cap and floor proposal levels the playing field while sharing baseball revenue with the players 50/50 as we grow the game together,” MLB spokesman Glen Caplin said in a statement. “Further, by sharing media revenue equally as part of our proposal, we can address another top fan concern of local TV blackouts.”

Baseball’s current five-year deal, agreed to in March 2022 after a 99-day lockout, expires Dec. 2. While a lockout next winter is expected, talks are not likely to intensify until late February or early March 2027, when the possibilities of losing regular-season games and revenue near. If regular-season games are lost, negotiations may become a standoff of which side can tolerate the most economic loss.

“Billionaire owners are not seeking to cap their profits or asset values, only player salaries,” union head Bruce Meyer said in a statement. “This isn’t out of generosity or a desire to protect the game’s well-being. It’s a play to control costs, increase profits and maximize franchise values — all at the expense of players past, present and future.”

Based on 2026 opening day figures, eight teams would have to cut payroll to get under the cap. The teams over are the two-time reigning World Series champion Dodgers, New York Mets ($379.2 million), New York Yankees ($339.6 million), Toronto ($319.5 million), Philadelphia ($315.2 million), Boston ($263.7 million), San Diego ($260.1 million) and Atlanta ($247.9 million).

Twelve teams would be required to increase payroll by a total of $617 million based on 2026 numbers: Miami ($81.8 million), Cleveland ($95.7 million), Tampa Bay ($108.2 million), the Chicago White Sox ($108.6 million), St. Louis ($114.4 million), Washington ($119.1 million), Pittsburgh ($122.6 million), Minnesota ($125.6 million), Milwaukee ($130.9 million), the Athletics ($139.2 million), Colorado ($142.2 million) and Cincinnati ($148.8 million).

Owners and the union agreed to a luxury tax in 2003 designed to slow spending, but teams feel it has had little or no impact on the Dodgers and Mets in recent years. The last small-market MLB club to win a World Series was Kansas City in 2015, although Cleveland, Tampa Bay and Milwaukee all lead their divisions as of Thursday, while the Mets and Red Sox are in last place.

MLB said its revenue has grown by 247% since 2003 and player payroll has increased by 149% in that span.

Deputy commission Dan Halem and MLB executive vice president of baseball operations Morgan Sword presented the cap plan to players during a bargaining session at the commissioner's office, one day after the union made its economic proposal. Owners say a cap is needed to improve competitive balance and restrain wealthy teams from assembling starrier rosters than their smaller-market brethren.

Players want expanded free agency and salary arbitration rights along with almost doubling the major league minimum, increasing the money high-revenue teams share with the less-wealthy clubs and establishing penalties for teams that drop below payroll floors. The union said MLB's proposal did not address those issues.

Other U.S. major sports leagues operate under a cap. The NBA had a cap in its initial season in 1946-47, then dropped that and began its modern version in 1984-85. NFL players and owners adopted a cap for the 1994 season, and the NHL did so in 2005-06 after a lockout wiped out the entire 2004-05 season.

The Dodgers shattered MLB's spending record with a combined $515 million in payroll and luxury tax last year en route to their second straight World Series title. Los Angeles' total was seven times the $68.7 million payroll of the Marlins, the lowest-spending team, and more than the payrolls of the bottom six clubs combined.

Players say a cap would hurt them and enrich owners, and they say they will never agree to one. Without a cap, MLB stars have landed lucrative, guaranteed contracts that outpace what the biggest stars in other U.S. sports leagues make. Juan Soto's $765 million, 15-year contract with the Mets is believed to be the biggest ever in team sports and is far greater than the largest deals in the NFL (Patrick Mahomes at $450 million over 10 years) and NBA (Jayson Tatum at $314 million over five years).

MLB's last salary cap proposal in 1994 offered players a 50-50 split of revenue in a system that would have forced teams to maintain payrolls of 84-110% of the average. Salary arbitration would have been eliminated and the threshold for free agency would have been lowered from six years’ major league service to four — with the provision that a player’s former club could match any offer until he had six years.

MLB's offer came on June 14 that year, and players struck on Aug. 12. MLB withdrew the cap proposal the following Feb. 6 after pressure by the National Labor Relations Board. The strike ended on March 31 after U.S. District Judge Sonia Sotomayor — now a Supreme Court Justice — issued an injunction restoring the work rules of the expired labor contract. Two days later, owners accepted the union's offer to return to work without an agreement. A deal wasn't reached until 1997.

“For generations, our members have fought against cap systems because they harm players at all levels, erode or eliminate contractual guarantees, pit player against player, lead to more work stoppages, not less, and get worse for players over time,” Meyer said. “Caps don’t lower ticket prices for fans, eliminate tanking or ensure teams are run with equal competence. They suffocate competition by offering owners an all-purpose excuse for inaction and mediocrity.”

___

AP freelance writer John Perrotto contributed to this report.

___

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

The American love affair with French luxury goods and their cultural cachet and craftsmanship has spanned the younger country's history, and a new exhibit explores the story of how these treasures shaped a cultural exchange that marks 250 years of Franco-American relations.

Among the standouts in the exhibit’s cabinet of curiosities: the Givenchy coat worn by former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy; a Cartier lunar module replica from Apollo 11; and a medal commissioned by Benjamin Franklin at the “Hidden Treasures” exhibit at The Shed in Manhattan.

The organizers behind the exhibit, Comité Colbert, represent the top French luxury “maisons,” or houses — including fashion, perfume, jewelry, hospitality and spirits. They asked 65 luxury maisons and cultural institutions to excavate archives and unearth pieces that embodied the Franco-American bond.

The exhibit, which runs through the end of May, comes at a time when American consumers account for a major share in the demand for French luxury goods. Those luxury houses are taking notice — and expanding in the United States.

“American people love French elegance — the ‘je ne sais quoi’ of French luxury,” said Bénédicte Épinay, president and CEO of Comité Colbert. “It’s a deep link starting at the 18th century and still alive.”

France was a ‘dominant’ culture when the US was born

Just as Comité Colbert is honoring France’s bond with the U.S., the U.S. is celebrating its own 250 milestone — its semiquincentennial.

“The U.S. is a relatively young country,” said James Burroughs, professor of commerce at the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce. “For much of our existence, we were a relatively modest economy. We were overshadowed by dominant cultures like France.”

The link between the two countries can be seen in perhaps the most renowned American symbol, the Statue of Liberty, a gift from France dedicated in 1886. But even before that — and even before French historian Alexis de Tocqueville famously wrote his epic work about U.S. democracy in the 1830s — Americans turned to France as arbiters of taste.

To commemorate France’s support during the Revolutionary War, one of America’s Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin, turned to French artists and the Paris mint to commission the Libertas Americana medal in 1782. Exhibit attendees can get an up-close look at the medal's design. Each item on display was presented in shipping containers to symbolize the trans-Atlantic voyage between both countries.

In an effort to market French luxury goods to U.S. audiences, one French Champagne company’s unique approach is on display at the exhibition. An ad from Champagne giant Veuve Clicquot from 1964 shows how the company paired its Champagne with hamburgers to appeal to American audiences and to break away from the image of saving a glass of Champagne for special occasions.

“Luxury," Burroughs said, “is always about status and signaling.”

Fashion, unsurprisingly, has been front and center

Much like its role in the French luxury sector, fashion brought the star power to the exhibit.

Givenchy offered Kennedy Onassis’s pink, brushed-cashmere wool coat from her 1961 visit to France for the exhibit. Madonna’s revealing pinstriped Jean Paul Gaultier dress from his 1992 runway show to benefit AIDS research is also on display.

French luxury houses are catering to their American audiences by bringing their designs to the United States as well. The French fashion maisons from Dior, Louis Vuitton and Chanel have all staged their runway shows in the U.S. in recent months.

“European luxury goods companies are in the process of getting deeper into the USA,” Luca Solca, luxury goods senior analyst at Bernstein, said in an email. “In the past, only the two coasts and Las Vegas had luxury stores. American consumers are step by step warming up to European luxury. In a similar vein to what Chinese consumers did many years ago.”

These brands are not only holding extravagant runway shows in the U.S. but are expanding their businesses across the U.S. Hermès opened a new location in Nashville last year.

“What the French have done really well ... in the last 15 years, is that they have opened up their range of products to create offers that are very relevant to the mass American consumer,” said Thomaï Serdari, New York University marketing professor and director of the luxury and retail MBA.

French jewelry brand Boucheron featured a dramatic diamond Belle Époque style necklace at the exhibit replicated after the necklace the brand sold to Irish-American couple Marie-Louise Mackay and her husband, John William Mackay in 1899. The couple, who amassed their fortune through silver mines, commissioned 50 pieces from the house.

Looking to capture a new generation of collectors, the brand now has three U.S. stores under its umbrella since opening on Madison Avenue in 2024. Hélène Poulit-Duquesne, Boucheron's CEO and incoming president of the Comité Colbert, told The Associated Press that the brand has plans to open a fourth store in the United States before the end of the year.

After increased growth from spending during the pandemic, the luxury sector is now grappling with tariffs from the Trump administration and economic uncertainty. The European Commission agreed to a deal with President Donald Trump on a 15% tariff on goods last year before the Supreme Court ruled against Trump’s call in February.

For the luxury houses, Épinay said, tariffs are in the past.

“Politics and economics, it’s up and down," she said. "We’re here to celebrate this strong cultural link between us.”

Iran did not immediately confirm any deal, and the official noted that President Donald Trump has yet to sign off on it.

The emerging memorandum of understanding came as the fragile ceasefire in the war between the U.S. and Iran appeared to be wavering. The latest flare-up in fighting happened less than a day earlier, when Kuwait intercepted missiles fired from Iran, according to U.S. Central Command.

Proposal addresses Strait of Hormuz

The memorandum makes clear that Iran will not be able to impose tolls on the Strait of Hormuz and that Iran will have to remove all mines from the vital waterway within 30 days, according to the official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

During the war, Iran has effectively closed the strait, which had been the conduit for about a fifth of the world's traded oil and natural gas. Its closure has sent oil prices skyrocketing around the world. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent predicted Thursday at a news briefing that the cost of oil could “come down very quickly” once a deal is finalized.

Iran has said it's letting some commercial vessels pass — about two dozen daily in recent days, compared with more than 100 a day before the war — but the Islamic Republic also has charged tolls for at least some ships. It set up a formal gatekeeper agency earlier this month, spurring a new round of U.S. sanctions this week.

Under the tentative agreement, the U.S. would gradually lift its naval blockade on Iranian ports and would also agree to relax sanctions, allowing Iran to sell more of its oil.

Yet even as word of the potential deal emerged, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed additional sanctions on the Iranian military's oil sales arm. The new penalties, first reported by The Associated Press, extend the Trump administration’s economic pressure campaign on the Islamic Republic.

A second U.S. official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private diplomacy, said the broad outlines of an agreement have been reached but stressed that until Trump signs off on it, there is no deal. The official said there still are questions about whether Trump will accept the proposal.

Details of the tentative pact were first reported by the news outlet Axios.

Nuclear issue remains unresolved

Among the first issues to be negotiated during the 60-day ceasefire is what will happen to Iran’s highly enriched uranium, the first official said. The Islamic Republic has 440.9 kilograms (972 pounds) of uranium that is enriched up to 60% purity, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Iran has not publicly committed to giving up the stockpile. It is believed to buried under a trio of nuclear sites that were badly damaged by U.S. airstrikes last year.

Nuclear analysts have said that Iran might consider China or Russia, which have close relations with Tehran, to be a potential acceptable third party to take possession of the enriched uranium. But Trump said Wednesday that he “wouldn’t be comfortable” with such a plan.

Iran also has insisted that any deal must include an end to Israel’s military operations in Lebanon against the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah. Tensions deepened Thursday in Lebanon as Israel conducted an airstrike on a southern suburb of the capital, Beirut, and other strikes in the southern coastal city of Tyre. At least 14 people were killed across the country’s south.

Kuwait reports an attack

Kuwait announced that its air-defense systems intercepted incoming missiles and drones on Thursday, without detailing what had been targeted. Iran said it had retaliated for strikes earlier in the week by firing on a U.S. base in a Gulf state it did not name.

The Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry condemned Iran for what it called “blatant aggression," and U.S. Central Command called the attack on one of America’s top allies in the Persian Gulf an “egregious ceasefire violation.” Kuwait repeatedly came under fire from Iran and Iranian-backed Shiite militias in Iraq before the April ceasefire began.

The exchange took place after U.S. officials said late Wednesday that American forces launched more strikes on Iran, shooting down four one-way attack drones that posed a threat around the strait and hitting an Iranian ground-control station in Bandar Abbas that was about to launch a fifth drone.

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard acknowledged the attack around Bandar Abbas International Airport and said via the state-run IRNA news agency that it launched a retaliatory attack on the air base that launched the assaults. The Revolutionary Guard did not specify whether the response targeted Kuwait, which houses U.S. Army Central’s forward headquarters, air bases and a naval base.

On Monday, the U.S. said it conducted what the Pentagon called “self-defense” strikes on missile launch sites and minelaying boats in southern Iran.

Although they have traded strikes and accusations of ceasefire violations, Washington and Tehran have not returned to full-scale hostilities and keep negotiating.

Later Thursday, Iran's defenses destroyed “a hostile aircraft” around the southern city of Jam, the area's governor, Masood Tangestani, told state broadcaster IRIB. No other information was immediately available.

___

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Metz reported from Ramallah, West Bank. Associated Press writers Konstantin Toropin in Washington and Jennifer Peltz and Farnoush Amiri in New York contributed to this report.

Jacob Baker, 36, of Pahoa, Hawaii, was described by police as “armed and extremely dangerous,” and Hawaii Police Chief Reed Mahuna said authorities were deploying “significant resources and personnel” in trying to find him.

Authorities said they believe he is involved in the deaths of three men: a 69-year-old man found partially submerged in a cement pond, a 79-year-old man who was found just 400-500 feet ( (122 to 152 meters) away, and a third man, also 69, whose body was found about 19 miles (31 kilometers) away. The causes of death were not immediately disclosed.

“These are a tragic series of events and our thoughts are with those who are grieving at this time,” Mahuna said at a news conference Wednesday. “The Hawaii Police Department understands the fear and concerns incidents like this bring to our community.”

Authorities said they had not identified a motive but were confident Baker was involved in all three homicides. Mahuna did not release information on how police identified Baker as a suspect or what evidence may connect him to the killings. He said investigators had not identified any connections among the victims, other than two of them lived near each other.

Women accuse Baker of threats and harassment

The slayings happened just days after two women had requested temporary restraining orders against Baker, saying he had threatened and harassed them at a farm; one woman was staying there and the other co-owned it. A judge denied both applications, saying there was not enough proof of harassment provided.

One of the women claimed in her petition that Baker had threatened to kill several women who were staying on the property, and had caused a number of them to move or end their stays. She included a link to a video that allegedly captured at least one threat, but the link had either been removed or was incorrect as of Thursday.

The other woman alleged in her petition that Baker had threatened women and a disabled man, and said he would trespass on the property, take things that didn’t belong to him and say his intention was to squat on the property.

No attorney was listed for Baker, who had 20 other cases in the court record in the past two decades, many of them traffic infractions. There were also a handful of criminal or administrative citations including letting a dog wander, failure to appear in court and simple trespassing.

In most of those cases, Baker represented himself.

Three men found dead over two days

On Monday at around 8 p.m., police found a 69-year-old man at a residence partially submerged in a cement pond, Mahuna said. Police did not initially know whether foul play was involved, but preliminary autopsy results showed the death was a homicide, the chief said.

On Tuesday, the 79-year-old man was found dead with apparent blunt force injuries shortly after 12:30 p.m., Mahuna said.

Later Tuesday, at around 10 p.m., police responded to a property about 19 miles (31 kilometers) from the other two killings on a welfare check request and found a 69-year-old man dead with injuries, Mahuna said.

Mahuna said guns were not used.

Local resident says Baker seemed ‘kind of angry’

Stephen Shaffer said Baker had lived on his ex-wife's property in Puna, where they grow 50 kinds of fruit, and Baker climbed coconut trees for her. But after several months, he said, she sought a temporary restraining order against Baker. Shaffer said he didn't know details of their falling out, only that his ex-wife felt threatened by Baker and wanted him to move out.

“He just seemed to me, kind of angry,” said Shaffer, who lives on the same property as his ex but in a separate dwelling. He added that others who lived in the area were concerned about Baker, but Shaffer didn’t elaborate.

Shaffer said police have been by the property numerous times as they hunt for Baker; it's not immediately known where or when Baker was last seen on the island of Hawaii, also known as the Big Island. The island is the largest in the Hawaiian chain at more than 4,000 square miles (10,360 square kilometers).

“There’s a lot of tension in the air here,” Shaffer said. "We’re still in shock, trying to figure this out.”

He added, "We’re being very vigilant. I know there’s a possibility he could come back this way.”

An account on Threads that appeared to belong to Baker had gone silent between mid-December and early May, when he began posting what appeared to be older content from months or even years before. Between May 4 and May 20, he posted more than 40 videos, many with him talking directly to the camera about various topics including harvesting coconuts. None appeared to threaten violence.

Puna, on the eastern side of the island, is a rural but fast-growing area known for affordable housing prices. It's also an area where lava flows have wiped out entire communities over the years. The landscape is lush and tropical mixed with barren lava fields.

Officials were asking the public to report any information about Baker and any suspicious activities in the areas of the homicides to police, and urged people not to approach Baker.

____

Collins contributed from Hartford, Connecticut, and Lauer contributed from Philadelphia.

The Justice Department has opened an investigation into whether E. Jean Carroll, the longtime advice columnist who has said President Donald Trump sexually assaulted her in a Manhattan department store 30 years ago, lied during the course of civil litigation against the Republican president, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Also, a federal judge has declined to halt Trump’s executive order, creating a federal voter list and limiting mail voting, clearing the way for potential sweeping changes in how American elections are run shortly before this year’s midterm elections.

Here's the latest:

US sanctions more Iranian oil sales despite officials saying tentative deal has been reached

The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday announced additional sanctions on Iran’s military oil sales even as one U.S. official said that Tehran and Washington had reached a tentative agreement to extend the ceasefire and start nuclear negotiations.

The latest penalties -- first reported by The Associated Press -- are part of the Trump administration’s sprawling and ever-growing economic pressure campaign to get Iran to capitulate to its demands. But both Republican and Democratic administrations have levied countless sanctions against Iran for decades to no avail.

The action puts additional sanctions on Sepehr Energy Jahan -- the oil sales arm of Iran’s armed forces -- which facilitates the shipment of millions of barrels of Iranian crude oil to China. In a news release, Treasury claimed that Iran’s military generates revenue through these sales “via an array of front companies to help fund its reconstitution and threaten its neighbors.”

“The Treasury Department will continue to increase pressure on Iranian oil sales to deprive the Iranian regime and its military of the financial resources it needs to threaten U.S. allies and partners in the Middle East,” Secretary Scott Bessent said.

Acting AG says there’s ‘no limit’ on who can apply for payments from Trump administration settlement

Todd Blanche said there’s “no limit to who can apply” for the Trump administration’s new $1.776 billion settlement fund to pay individuals who believe they were targeted politically.

The acting attorney general, attending a law enforcement symposium in Dallas on Thursday, declined to rule out payments to people who violently stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

“You have to define something and then stick to it,” Blanche told The Associated Press at the symposium. “So that’s something I’ve been hesitant to try to do because it’s very fact intensive.”

He said “the example that comes to mind” of someone who might receive a payment is a parent who is pushed out of a school board meeting and charged with assault.

Blanche is facing questions about the fund from the Senate. GOP leaders have put a Homeland Security funding bill on hold until the administration agrees to some parameters on the settlement money.

About 8% of the country lacked health insurance in 2025, new data shows. That could rise next year

The proportion of Americans without health insurance held steady at around 8% of the population in 2025, according to new findings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The national survey results published Thursday show the uninsured rate has stayed down from where it was a few years ago.

However, changes from the Trump administration could increase this rate in the years ahead. Massive changes to Medicaid and the expiration of Affordable Care Act subsidies may lead to more uninsured individuals. Around 5 million fewer people are expected to enroll in those plans in 2026 compared with 2025, according to the healthcare research nonprofit KFF.

The survey also indicates a possible increase in the percentage of insured Hispanic Americans, which could be due in part to immigration changes.

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Milli Vanilli and Morris Day say they won’t perform at Trump-linked Freedom 250’s DC shows

A day after the Trump -affiliated Freedom 250 announced the “first wave” of performers for “The Great American State Fair” shows on Washington’s National Mall in June and July, Milli Vanilli and Morris Day are among the scheduled acts who have said they will not be appearing.

Day and Young MC issued statements on social media disputing Wednesday’s announcement from Freedom 250, while Milli Vanilli singer Jodie Rocco told The Associated Press that neither she, her sister Linda Rocco, nor any of the other group members had been asked to come.

“My sister and I were shocked to see our name, ‘Milli Vanilli’, as one of the performers,” Jodie Rocco wrote in an email.

Freedom 250 has not responded to requests for comment.

Other scheduled performers include the Commodores, Flo Rida and Martina McBride.

The president launched Freedom 250 last year to celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday. The organization describes itself as nonpartisan.

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FACT FOCUS: Trump says Obama and Biden spent ‘hundreds of millions’ on reflecting pool. They did not

Trump has claimed that the administrations of former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden spent “hundreds of millions of dollars” to fix the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and alleged that renovations he is currently overseeing will be much more economical. This is false.

The Obama administration spent at least $34 million on a massive, two-year reconstruction project that ended in 2012. No major repairs to the pool were done during the Biden administration.

Trump has repeatedly said that his administration’s work on the pool will cost only $1.5 million, but records show that at least $14.8 million in contracts have been awarded for the project so far.

The reflecting pool, which is more than 2,000 feet long, was originally built in the 1920s. It sits between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument and is one of the most iconic sites in Washington.

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Immigration lawyers raise concerns about new green card policy

Attorneys from the American Immigration Lawyers Association are warning that they don’t think anyone should assume they’re safe from a new green card policy announced last week.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced Friday that immigrants applying for a green card would have to do so in their home countries except in “extraordinary circumstances.”

In later statements, the agency has said the policy wouldn’t affect people who provide an “economic benefit” or “skilled professionals who have followed the law.”

Immigrants and lawyers have been trying to assess how broadly the new guidance will be applied and who might get a green card in the U.S.

AILA lawyers said during a news conference Thursday that they didn’t think anyone, including those in the country on the highly coveted employment-based H-1B visa, should assume that the new policy wouldn’t affect them.

The association provides legal education to its 18,000 members.

Bessent says Americans could be saving less because of optimism

The Treasury Secretary responded to a question about a report earlier Thursday showing Americans are saving the smallest proportion of their paychecks in about two decades, outside the pandemic. He said it could be because wages aren’t going as far, which he termed a “doomer” view, or because they are more optimistic about the economy and the stock market.

Consumers do step up their spending when they are more confident of their job and income prospects. But consumer confidence surveys show Americans have a decidedly gloomy outlook on the economy right now, and their perception of the job market is also negative.

Thursday’s report showed that after-tax, inflation-adjusted incomes have fallen 1.1% from a year ago, a key reason consumers were forced to dip into savings to maintain their spending. Credit-card balances have also jumped as gas prices have spiked.

Bessent won’t confirm that the tentative agreement to extend the ceasefire is in place

The Treasury secretary was repeatedly peppered with questions about reports that U.S. and Iranian negotiators have agreed to a memorandum of understanding.

But Bessent claimed that he hadn’t spoken with Trump on the matter before taking part in the White House briefing with reporters.

“It’s always a mistake to get out ahead of the president,” he said. “So, it is all going to be the president’s decision.”

Bessent, however, underscored that Trump has made clear that there can be no deal without Tehran agreeing to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, dispose of its highly enriched uranium and pledge to never have a nuclear weapons program.

Bessent says he doesn’t have presidential aspirations

During his session with reporters in the White House briefing room, it was noted that the Treasury secretary was following Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the podium -- both of whom are widely expected to run for president in 2028.

Asked to laughs about his own aspirations to be president, Bessent responded with a dose of humor himself.

“No,” he said with a smile, “I just think it just means they’ve run out of things on the food chain.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is on maternity leave, and Vance, Rubio, and now Bessent have taken turns holding weekly briefings in her absence.

Treasury secretary and Oman ambassador discuss Strait of Hormuz

Bessent told reporters at a White House briefing that he spoke with Oman’s ambassador to Washington, Talal Alrahbi, earlier on Thursday, and the Gulf envoy assured him that his country had “no plans for tolling the strait.”

Trump, during a Cabinet briefing on Wednesday, warned Oman, a U.S. ally, not to enter into any agreement with Iran to share control of the strait or the U.S. will “have to blow them up.”

Bessent downplayed the president’s rhetoric.

“I think the president wanted to punctuate freedom of navigation in the strait,” he added.

Bessent says he had first meeting with new Fed chair

The Treasury secretary said he had breakfast Thursday with Kevin Warsh, the new chair of the Federal Reserve, who was just sworn in last week to replace former chair Jerome Powell.

Bessent provided some cover for Warsh by not repeating the Trump administration’s calls for him to immediately cut the Fed’s short-term interest rate, which Trump regularly demanded of Powell.

Instead, Bessent said, “I believe he will do the right thing to balance inflation and growth.” Such phrasing suggests the Fed should consider addressing inflation, which it typically does by keeping rates elevated or even raising them. Financial markets increasingly expect the central bank to raise its key rate, rather than cut it, by early next year.

Treasury secretary says the $250 bill with Trump’s picture is up to Congress

Speaking at the White House, Scott Bessent did not take a personal position on the idea of a new $250 bill with Trump’s picture.

He said it’s up to Congress, where legislation to allow a new currency note has stalled.

Bessent affirmed that the Treasury Department does “prepare things in advance.” That’s a tacit confirmation of a Washington Post story that reported said the agency has produced a mockup of a new $250 bill. The design has Trump’s picture and a 250th anniversary logo celebrating the nation’s founding.

The secretary noted that, at least for now, U.S. law does not allow a living person to appear on currency. A bill by Rep. Joe Wilson, a Republican from South Carolina, would provide an exemption allowing Trump’s image to appear.

“It’s all up to Capitol Hill,” Bessent said. “We will stick to the law.”

Bessent says oil prices may fall ‘very quickly,’ cites UAE leaving OPEC

Asked about rising oil prices, the U.S. Treasury secretary told reporters that a large number of ships are waiting to “come out of the gulf.”

He said that, once an agreement has been reached between the U.S. and Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz, “I think the oil market is going to be very well supplied on the other side.”

“We could see prices come down very quickly,” Bessent said, also noting that prices could further ease because “we saw the UAE leave OPEC.”

US Treasury secretary touts Trump accounts at the opening of White House press briefing

Scott Bessent called Trump’s benefit for newborns “the most important benefit for young people since the GI Bill.” He said almost 6 million children have been signed up for the accounts, which will launch on July 4.

The accounts are meant to give $1,000 to every newborn whose parents open an account. That money is then invested in the stock market by private firms, and the child can access the money when they turn 18.

Bessent is part of a rotating cast of Cabinet members leading White House press briefings while press secretary Karoline Leavitt is on maternity leave.

Trump officials: Kenya facility for Americans exposed to Ebola abroad to be operational this week

A new camp in Kenya where the Trump administration plans to send Americans who are exposed to Ebola abroad will be operational with 50 quarantine beds starting Friday, according to a senior administration official.

The government is still working on bringing in additional isolation and biocontainment units for Americans who may contract the disease, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to freely discuss details of the facility with reporters on Thursday.

While no Americans have yet been identified to be sent to the facility, 30 members of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps have so far been trained and deployed to staff the camp at Kenya’s Laikipia Air Base, the official said.

The U.S. government has been in conversation with Kenya’s president on the establishment of the facility, said another senior administration official on the call who spoke on the condition of anonymity to brief reporters.

Trump approval still pending, US official says

Another U.S. official said the broad outlines of a tentative deal have been reached but stressed that until the president signs off on it, there is no deal.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private diplomacy, said there are still questions about whether Trump will ultimately accept the agreement.

US and Iranian negotiators reach tentative deal to extend ceasefire and launch nuclear talks

U.S. and Iranian negotiators have reached a tentative agreement to extend the ceasefire by 60 days and launch talks on Iran’s nuclear program, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter.

The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said Trump still needs to sign off on the emerging memorandum of understanding.

The tentative agreement worked out by the two sides comes at a moment when the fragile ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran appeared to be wavering.

The U.S. military earlier on Thursday accused Iran of violating the ceasefire after Kuwait reported coming under attack following an American strike against the Islamic Republic. It was the latest flare-up of fighting to threaten ongoing negotiations to end the war.

Details of the tentative agreement were first reported by the news outlet Axios.

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Vance tells Air Force graduates to use AI but ‘never submit to it’

In his commencement speech at the U.S. Air Force Academy, Vance said technology is evolving faster than military institutions have been accustomed to. He endorsed Pope Leo XIV’s recent message warning against outsourcing moral decisions to technology.

“If the warfare of the future is to live up to the moral values of our ancestors, decisions over life and death must be made by humans and not machines,” Vance told graduates Thursday at a ceremony in Colorado Springs.

Vance said he was confident in the class of 2026, saying they will follow in the footsteps of service members who pulled off a daring rescue of two aviators whose fighter jet was downed by Iran in April.

“Your Air Force, your future force, went in there and did the impossible,” he said.

Iran’s UN envoy calls US action against Venezuela, Iran and now Cuba `dangerous’

Iran’s U.N. ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani, told the U.N. Security Council on Thursday that the U.S. actions reflect a pattern “of coercion, intimidation and interference” which violates the U.N. Charter, threatens the countries’ sovereignty and independence, and endangers international peace and security.

U.S. forces arrested Venezuela’s president and the Trump administration now oversees the country, and it’s pressuring Cuba by blocking the delivery of oil.

Iravani defended Iran’s right to respond to the U.S. and Israeli attacks against Iran on Feb. 28 and to close the Strait of Hormuz, accusing unnamed countries of ignoring the root causes of the current situation in the region and unfairly shifting the blame to Iran.

“Iran’s actions are lawful and consistent with international law,” Iravani said. “Iran could not allow such a critical waterway to be used as a corridor for hostile action and military aggression against its sovereignty, territory and vital interests.”

Trump’s DOJ sues 4 Democratic-run states over denying undercover license plates for federal agents

It’s the latest front in the wider struggle between the White House and Democratic-led states over the Republican president’s immigration crackdown.

The Department of Justice alleges in separate lawsuits filed Wednesday that Maine, Massachusetts, Oregon, and Washington state are imposing unconstitutional restrictions it says impede law enforcement and threaten agents’ safety.

“By denying undercover license plates to DHS components, including ICE, while issuing them to their own state agencies, these governors are pursuing discriminatory and obstructionist policies against federal law enforcement,” said acting Attorney General Todd Blanche in a statement.

“These actions undermine federal immigration enforcement, allow dangerous criminals to escape justice, and terrorize American communities,” Blanche added.

The Justice Department filed individual suits in U.S. district courts in the respective states. The four state governments are accused of trying “to obstruct the Federal Government’s immigration enforcement efforts, even though control over immigration and the nation’s borders is an exclusive federal power.”

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US boosts Ebola response aid to Congo and Uganda by $80M

The Trump administration says it’s boosting its Ebola response assistance to Congo and Uganda by $80 million, bringing the U.S. contribution to those efforts to more than $112 million over the past two weeks.

The State Department said Thursday the additional money would pay for personal protective equipment for health care workers, Ebola test kits, supporting health screening at airports and other points of entry into Central and East Africa, and contact tracing of potential virus victims in the Congo and Uganda.

The U.S. has been criticized for massive reductions in assistance since Trump began his second term, including dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development. But current officials say the new aid procedures are more effective and less costly.

In addition to the bilateral assistance it has pledged, the State Department said it also committed $50 million to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs to fund up to 50 Ebola clinics and has earmarked $300 million through the agency for regional humanitarian initiatives.

Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says she won’t run for president in 2028

She put to rest speculation about a potential 2028 presidential bid, saying Thursday that she won’t join what’s expected to be a crowded primary field after leaving office at the end of this year.

Whitmer has long been viewed by some Democrats as a possible White House contender after her decisive election victories in the closely contested state Trump has carried twice in presidential votes. For months, however, Whitmer had offered only cautious answers about her political future.

But she delivered her clearest response yet in an interview Thursday with Fox 2 Detroit.

“I think there will be a robust group of people running for president. I will not be one of them in 2028,” Whitmer said.

Her comments came during Michigan’s annual Mackinac policy conference, where Whitmer is set to be honored and deliver remarks later Thursday.

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Justice Department scrutinizing statement Carroll made that no one else was paying her legal fees

It later became public that a Chicago-based organization backed by Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn, had helped fund Carroll’s case.

Trump’s lawyers in the civil case accused Carroll of concealing that information, which they said called into question whether the case was politically motivated.

Oil prices climb, but US stocks hold near their records

Oil prices are clawing back some of their sharp drops from earlier in the week Thursday, but U.S. stocks are remaining near their records as companies like Dollar Tree, Snowflake and Hormel Foods keep piling up profits.

The S&P 500 edged down by 0.1% from its all-time high set the day before. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 219 points, or 0.4%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.2% lower after both indexes also set records the day before.

Stocks appear to be less beholden to swings in the oil market, where prices climbed Thursday following the latest threat to the ceasefire in the United States’ war with Iran. U.S. Central Command said Kuwait had intercepted missiles launched by Iran late Wednesday night, following earlier “defensive” strikes by the U.S. military on missile launch sites and minelaying boats in southern Iran.

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Trump says he’s been invited to watch the Knicks play in the NBA Finals

Trump told reporters Wednesday that New York Knicks owner James Dolan has invited him to the NBA Finals, when the Eastern Conference champion Knicks host either the Oklahoma City Thunder or the San Antonio Spurs next month at Madison Square Garden.

New York, which is riding an 11-game postseason winning streak after sweeping the Cleveland Cavaliers in the conference finals, is scheduled to host Game 3 on June 8 and Game 4 on June 10.

Trump, a New York native, said he initially planned to attend Game 5 of the conference finals at MSG before the Knicks finished off the Cavaliers in four games. The president called Dolan a “great guy” and marveled at New York’s run.

Trump called the club’s return to the finals for the first time since 1999 “great to see.”

Trump has routinely dropped in on prominent sporting events during his time in politics. He’s taken in the College Football Playoff championship and caught a prime-time NFL game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New York Jets just days before the 2024 election.

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Texas Tech (58-7) will play Tennessee on Saturday. Mississippi State (43-20) will play the Texas in an elimination game on Friday. Tennessee defeated Texas 6-3 on Thursday.

The Red Raiders took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when leadoff hitter Mia Williams was hit by a pitch and Lis followed with a home run. Texas Tech added two more in the second inning on RBI doubles from Lauren Allred and Williams.

The Red Raiders scored four runs in the fifth inning on a single by Lis for her third RBI of the game, an RBI-single by Kaitlyn Terry, and a one-out single by Mihyia Davis in which two runs scored invoked the run rule with one out.

Canady (26-6), the two-time national pitcher of the year, allowed two hits and struck out five in four innings. Terry pitched a 1-2-3 fifth inning.

For Mississippi State, Alyssa Faircloth (16-8) allowed four runs in 1 1/3 innings. Peja Goold gave up four runs, three earned, in three innings.

This is the first time since 2007 that neither Oklahoma nor Florida has been in the WCWS. Mississippi State eliminated Oklahoma in the Super Regional round and Texas Tech defeated Florida in another Super Regional.

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

Rolando Cisneros, 52, pleaded guilty to the following charges:

• aggravated kidnapping
• aggravated assault with a deadly weapon
• assault family violence with previous conviction
• assault family violence by impeding breath

According to a news release, the Court agreed that Cisneros’ hands were used as a deadly weapon related to these charges.

Cisneros is now listed as a habitual offender due to previous convictions for felony family violence offenses, the DA’s office said.

The decades-long sentence follows a New Braunfels Police Department investigation.

The victim had arrived at a New Braunfels resident’s front door in a “panicked state” on Oct. 14, 2024, and asked for a ride to escape an abusive relationship, the district attorney’s office said.

Officers later spoke with the victim and noticed bruises across her entire body, the release said.

The woman told New Braunfels police officers that she had only been dating Cisneros for a few months, but he had become “increasingly abusive,” the district attorney’s office said. The woman attempted to leave the relationship, but Cisneros later found and injured her.

Throughout the weekend of Oct. 12, 2024, officials said Cisneros struck the woman repeatedly with an extension cord that had a knot tied on one end, threw items at her and hit her with his hands.

The woman told New Braunfels police that Cisneros also threatened to stab her if she tried to leave him. At one point, the victim tried to cry out for help, but Cisneros placed one hand over her mouth and the other around her throat while telling her to “shut up,” according to the release.

After Cisneros left for work on Oct. 14, the woman fled in an attempt to find safety.

“Through the help of the concerned citizen who alerted police, the victim was able to find safety,” the DA’s office said.

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

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

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

More recent crime coverage on KSAT:

• Man arrested for threats to kill Erika Kirk ahead of Turning Point USA event in San Antonio, affidavit says
• GCSO: San Antonio woman arrested, found with 200+ grams of meth in traffic stop

Executive producer Tanya Simon will be leaving about a year after being named to the job following 30 years at the venerable Sunday evening program. The moves cap a period of turmoil for the venerable newsmagazine that premiered in 1968 and is known for its ticking stopwatch.

In a memo to staff Thursday, Weiss and CBS News President Tom Cibrowski said their goal was “building a show that thrives in the 21st century.”

“That requires a new approach,” Weiss and Cibrowski wrote, defining it as "expanding ‘60 Minutes’ beyond a one-hour television broadcast, deepening its role across CBS News, and holding everything we produce to the ambition, fairness, and fearlessness that have defined ‘60 Minutes’ at its best.”

Bilton, they said, “embodies the energy and ambition that animated the founders of the show. We cannot imagine a better fit.” Bilton is also a former New York Times technology columnist.

Others let go as well

Also let go, according to a person familiar with the situation who spoke on anonymity: correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi, whose segment about Trump administration deportees in a Salvadoran prison was abruptly pulled by Weiss, running a month later; and Cecilia Vega.

Sweeping actions like those announced Thursday had been widely expected from Weiss, founder of the Free Press website. Since she was hired in October by CBS parent company Paramount Global’s new management, she has fast become a headline-maker and polarizing figure in journalism.

In his own lengthy memo to staff, Bilton, who comes to his new post without traditional broadcast experience, said “60 Minutes” was “without exaggeration, the most important television journalism brand this country has ever produced.”

“The fact that this show has remained a fixed point in a culture is part of why this show still matters as much as it does,” he wrote. “I don’t want to lose that. But the world we are reporting on, and the world we are reporting to, where people consume their news, has moved. And if we don’t move with it, in the ways that matter, we won’t be here for the next sixty years. I want to do everything humanly possible to ensure that we are.”

A bumpy period for ‘60 Minutes’

In July of last year, to the dismay of many at the show, Paramount settled with President Donald Trump out-of-court after he sued “60 Minutes” for how it had handled an interview with Kamala Harris, his 2024 election opponent.

In December, the show, at Weiss' direction, held off at the last minute showing Alfonsi's report about the deportees, saying greater effort was needed to secure an interview with administration officials. Alfonsi complained privately that the decision was political. The story aired a month later with additional administration comments, but no on-camera interviews with officials.

The episode, and others, has had critics watching to see if Weiss is moving the network in a Trump-friendly direction. Since her appointment, Trump administration officials have been more visible on CBS News, in interviews that she sometimes helped arrange. The president himself was interviewed by Norah O’Donnell on “60 Minutes” on Nov. 2.

In February, Anderson Cooper exited the show, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family, but raising questions about whether it had anything to do with Weiss's leadership. Cooper had contributed stories to “60 Minutes” as part of a job-sharing arrangement with CNN, where his prime-time “Anderson Cooper 360” has aired since 2003.

District officials said the move will help manage the $35 million budget deficit and improve efficiency as they search for ways to cut costs.

So just because your child is eligible to be picked up and dropped off by the bus doesn’t mean they will. In previous years, bus stops were created for students living outside a two-mile radius from campus. However, moving forward, parents will need to pre-register their children, so a bus stop can be created in their neighborhood.

“We want to make sure that we are going to stops that have students in them,” stated NISD’s Director of Transportation Tesilia Soliz.

Soliz says last school year, more than 35,000 students used the school bus to get to and from school. But often, bus drivers would make stops with no kids in sight.

KSAT asked NISD bus driver Mirna Cortez if she picks up a child at every stop. “Not all the time,” Cortez answered.

Near Culebra Road and Loop 410, Shecaniah Gray walks her daughter Nova to her bus stop daily. She didn’t know that she needed to pre-enroll for next year’s transportation, but says that she will so her daughter can use the bus again in August.

“I feel like there’s a lot of parents working, and they can’t really take their kids to school, so the bus is their easiest route to get them to school,” Gray shared.

Another parent who says she’s already enrolled told KSAT off-camera that she hopes the new system helps the district by not wasting any unnecessary gas.

But the district says it’s too soon to say how much money they will save. KSAT also asked the district about what other measures they will take to cut expenses next school year.

The district declined to interview, saying the school board is still working on it. But sent a statement reading in part:

“The district is committed to a transparent, thoughtful process that minimizes the impact on the classroom and ensures the long-term financial health of northside.”

New or returning families will need to register by June 30. If you miss the deadline, the district says it’ll take one to two weeks after the first day of school for a stop to be created.

To register, click here.

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Court records show Shane James Jr. appeared in court Thursday morning before Judge Cliff Brown, who presides over Travis County’s 147th Criminal District Court.

Brown determined James’ trial will begin with jury selection on Monday, Oct. 26. The announcement comes less than a year after he was declared competent to stand trial in Travis County.

James has been accused of killing four people in the Austin area in December 2023.

On Dec. 5, 2023, James shot and killed Emmanuel Pop Ba, 32, during a carjacking in the 7300 block of Shadywood Drive, the Austin Police Department said.

Officers said Sabrina Rahman, 24, was on the porch of a nearby home and witnessed the shooting. Police said James, who was 34 at the time, shot and killed her — narrowly missing her baby in a nearby stroller.

Several hours later, investigators said James broke into a home in the 5300 block of Austral Loop and shot two women. The third and fourth Austin-area shooting victims, who later died, were identified as Katherine Short, 56, and Lauren Short, 30.

James — who was also accused of shooting an Austin Independent School District police officer, an Austin PD officer and a bicyclist — was taken into custody on that same day.

The Bexar County connection

According to the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office, James, who is now 37, shot and killed his parents in northeast Bexar County before he allegedly killed four people in Austin.

Bexar County Sheriff’s deputies forced entry into a home that was leaking water on Dec. 5, 2023, in the 6400 block of Port Royal. Upon entry, deputies said they found the bodies of a man and a woman inside.

During a news conference the following day, Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar identified the victims as James’ parents: 56-year-old Shane James, Sr. and 55-year-old Phyllis James.

As of Thursday afternoon, there did not appear to be any 2023 charges filed against James Jr. in Bexar County’s online justice portal.

KSAT reached out to the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office Thursday for an update on James’ case. So far, the agency has yet to respond to KSAT’s request.

More recent coverage of this story on KSAT:

• Man accused of killing his parents in Kirby, 4 others in Austin found competent to stand trial

She practices yoga. She performs free flow dance. And while she works, she frequently listens to house music tuned to 432 hertz, a frequency lower than typical concert pitch.

Music recorded in 432 hertz (cycles per second) is taking off on social media platforms and music streaming services, where users can find an increasing number of tracks and playlists employing the alternate tuning, everything from meditation soundscapes to reggae songs recorded by Ziggy Marley.

Scientists say there’s no robust evidence that music tuned to 432 hertz has any special benefits or healing properties. Some musicians and listeners say it helps them connect with nature, relax or concentrate.

“There are frequencies going on right now that are higher than what we can hear and lower than what can hear. And they’re not special because they’re one of the billions and billions of frequencies that we’re receiving right now,” said Susan Rogers, a Berklee College of Music professor emeritus who worked as Prince’s sound engineer during the 1980s. “To set one aside and say that it is the frequency of the universe is, as far as the science community is concerned, nonsense.”

To Sanchez, who provides telehealth services for a healthcare management organization in California, it doesn’t matter if the feelings she has while listening to 432 hertz music have a scientific explanation.

“It helps me focus and be engaged with the patient I’m assisting, and it also helps me relax,” she said. “When it comes to music, it could activate different feelings in people, the vibrations of it. It’s not like a one-size-fits-all."

The story behind 440 and 432 hertz

Throughout history, as people sang or played music together, they tuned their instruments to the same pitch to create a harmonious sound. Singers and musicians often chose a musical note — typically the A above middle C on a piano — as a reference point.

The music genre known as “432 Hz” is characterized by its tuning, in which the A above middle C is pitch-adjusted to vibrate at 432 hertz instead of the standard 440 hertz. The lower frequency is noticeable to the naked ear, sounding like slightly lower notes. Some people feel the alteration produces a warmer, more harmonious sound that resonates with the human body and the natural world.

Most orchestras and musicians now tune their instruments to 440 hertz. But that wasn't always the case.

Until the 19th century, musicians tuned instruments according to local standards, which varied from one country to the next, said Fanny Gribenski, a music historian at New York University. “For most of music history, people are just singing within their own vocal range,” she added.

Eventually, there were orchestras and musical groups tuning to higher frequencies, and some composers became concerned that singers would be unable to perform music from the past, Gribenski said.

“The idea that it should be mainly a lower frequency than the ones that were in use at the time is really the cultural concern for protecting music from the past, protecting the voices of singers,” she said.

At the same time, as international travel became more widespread, the desire for a common tuning frequency grew. In 1939, representatives from multiple European countries and the U.S. agreed to accept 440 hertz as the international standard.

Artists continued to experiment with pitch over the decades that followed. In the 1980s and ’90s, sound engineers sometimes took a recorded song and sped it up or slowed it down to achieve a brighter or slower sound, moving away from the frequency of 440 hertz, Rogers said.

But Rogers doubts that retuning a whole band or orchestra to 432 hertz would improve its sound since many modern instruments were designed sound prettiest while tuned to 440 hertz.

“Some of those instruments might sound a little sweeter, but it’s likely that most won’t,” she said.

Higher pitch generally means more brilliance, or perhaps a little more power in some instruments, Gribenski said. For those listeners who appreciate the lower 432 hertz music, “I wonder if there is a sense of deceleration, slowing down slightly, and also taking one step down from the bright sounds of modernity,” she said.

Working and 432 hertz music

Fans of working while accompanied by a 432 hertz soundtrack cite a variety of reasons.

Amelia Beamer, who handles marketing at the North Carolina pharmacy her parents own, Andrews Apothecary, says she thinks taking work breaks to listen to music tuned to 432 hertz helps with her attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. She's noticed that she feels more focused if she listens before she starts a project.

Beamer works for 25 minutes, takes a five-minute listening break and then returns to the task at hand. She also listens to other frequencies, such as music tuned to 528 hertz.

“It definitely helps me feel more grounded and more centered,” Beamer said of 432 hertz music. “It helps me slow down and to take some intentional space and time for myself.”

Diana Wolf Torres, who creates videos and writes a newsletter about robots, frequently gets migraines and is sensitive to noises. If a gardener is using a leaf blower next door, she has difficulty ignoring it. Listening to music tuned to 432 hertz or other sounds such as white noise while wearing noise-canceling headphones helps.

“I just want to be there and get it done and feel like I’m doing my best writing possible, and anything that keeps me in the zone is a fantastic tool,” Torres said.

Torres doesn't think there's any science or special properties behind 432 hertz music but that “maybe some people find this lower tuning more soothing.” She noted that most listeners won't know if music labeled 432 hertz on social media is labeled accurately.

“What does it matter? If you're getting an effect, are you really going to check the resonance? Do you care?” Torres asked.

Sanchez, the telehealth worker, also enjoys listening to tunes fixed to other alternative frequencies, such as 528 hertz and 963 hertz.

“It’s something worth exploring and finding out for yourself whether it has any benefits or not,” Sanchez said. “For me, I find that grounding is beneficial to my overall wellbeing, so I see how it helps my livelihood."

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Share your stories and questions about workplace wellness at cbussewitz@ap.org. Follow AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health at https://apnews.com/hub/be-well

Speaking after training Thursday, Pochettino said he and U.S. Soccer Federation CEO JT Batson discussed the possibility of staying on during dinner Sunday at Jean-Georges, a highly rated and pricey restaurant in New York.

“He asked if we are open to listen (to) the project of the federation for the next four years,” Pochettino said. “And we said: Of course that we are open. Do you think that if we have a commitment with another people, we are going to waste time to listen?”

Pochettino agreed in September 2024 to a contract through the World Cup. He said until Sunday “we didn’t have (any) idea about if the federation was happy with us or not happy, wanted us for the future.”

Pochettino said it was good that his name was linked to big clubs, it means “we are doing something good.”

“The problem is ... the opposite, no one asks for you," he said.

Pochettino maintained not much significance should be made of AC Milan's discussions.

“My representatives, maybe, possible, because they need to do their job," he said. “Do you think all the people that represent different coaches have no conversation with different clubs?”

Pochettino avoided revealing whether he was personally involved in a meeting.

“If I met someone, what happened? What is going to change if I met someone?” he said. “We have friends everywhere and my representative works for me into trying to find the best possibility for the future. That is normal.”

Discussion of Pochettino's future isn't impacting players.

“I think I’m someone that lives in present day and right now he’s here and we’re working with him,” winger Tim Weah said. “It’s an amazing feeling having such a prestigious coach coaching us.”

Batson was unfazed by Pochettino's job talks.

“He had standing offers from other places to come and he wanted to be here,” Batson said. “There has been a longer list of outreach than what has even been reported."

Pochettino, 54, was hired after coaching at Espanyol, Tottenham, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea.

Batson wouldn't say whether the USSF has reached out to Pep Guardiola or Jurgen Klopp, two high-profile coaching free agents.

Matt Crocker, who as USSF sporting director recommended Pochettino be hired to replace Gregg Berhalter, quit last month to take a job with the governing body of Saudi Arabian soccer. Batson said a single sporting director in charge of both the men's and women's programs might not be hired.

“The men’s and women’s soccer ecosystems in the U.S. and around the world are different and so we need to think about how we’re structured to reflect that,” Batson said. “I would not expect a like-for-like sporting director going forward.”

Lineup tentatively set for World Cup opener

Pochettino said he decided last winter on his starting lineup for the World Cup opener against Paraguay on June 12.

“The only thing that can change is because watching them in training,” he said.

Asked when he decided on the lineup, he responded: “before March.”

Pulisic’s scoring drought

Pochettino is confident of a turnaround by Christian Pulisic, the top U.S. player. Pulisic ended his AC Milan season scoreless in 19 games since Dec. 28 and has gone eight U.S. matches without a goal since November 2024.

“He is going to score in World Cup. Yes, I really trust in that,” Pochettino said. “He has very good attitude, very good commitment. He’s trying so hard to get his best level and I think he will achieve it for sure.”

Pulisic skipped last year's CONCACAF Gold Cup, wanting to take vacation time. He offered to play in last year's pre-tournament friendlies but Pochettino turned him down.

“I was disappointed with him,” Pochettino said. "He was disappointed with our decision not to include him in the two friendly games.”

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

The S&P 500 added 0.6% to its all-time high set the day before after drifting between small gains and losses in the morning. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 24 points, or less than 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.9% as both indexes also set records.

Stocks turned higher after oil prices gave back most of their own morning gains following reports of the tentative U.S.-Iran agreement, which still needs President Donald Trump’s approval. The price for a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude oil settled at $88.90 after regressing from an overnight high above $92.50.

Oil prices have been swinging as hopes rise and fall that the United States and Iran may reach a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and get crude flowing again from the Persian Gulf to customers worldwide. They have climbed enough that a report on Thursday showed a measure of U.S. inflation accelerated last month to its worst level in three years, roughly matching economists’ expectations.

Even with worries about expensive oil and high inflation, the U.S. stock market has run to records largely because U.S. companies keep making more money. Stock prices tend to follow the path of corporate profits over the long term, and companies have been routinely topping analysts’ expectations for the first three months of 2026.

Dollar Tree’s stock soared 17.9% after it became the latest to report fatter profit than analysts expected. CEO Mike Creedon said improved store conditions helped the retailer make more profit off each $1 in sales during the latest quarter despite tariffs adding to its costs. The company also gave a forecast for profit over the full year that topped analysts’ expectations.

Kohl’s rallied 20.6% after the retailer reported better results for the latest quarter than analysts had feared, while Best Buy climbed 15.8% following its own better-than-expected profit report. Hormel Foods climbed 12.5% after a strong performance for its Jennie-O ground turkey and exports of Spam luncheon meat helped it report a better profit than analysts expected.

Snowflake rose 36.5% after saying artificial intelligence continues to be a strong driver for its business, and profit and revenue for the latest quarter exceeded expectations.

They helped offset a dip for Salesforce, which fell 0.8% even though it also reported a better profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Its stock has been under pressure because of worries that AI-powered rivals could steal away its business, even as Salesforce touts its own AI offerings.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 43.27 points to 7,563.63. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 24.69 to 50,668.97, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 242.74 to 26,917.47.

In the bond market, Treasury yields eased after oil prices gave up much of their gains and reduced the upward pressure on inflation.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.45% from 4.48% late Wednesday.

High yields in bond markets worldwide recently have threatened to slow economies and undercut prices for stocks and all kinds of other investments. High yields have already forced the average long-term U.S. mortgage rate to its most expensive level in nine months, and they could curtail companies’ borrowing to build the AI data centers that have supported the U.S. economy’s growth recently.

A report on Thursday said the pace of sales of new U.S. homes unexpectedly slowed last month, as higher mortgage rates weighed on the housing market.

In stock markets abroad, indexes dipped across much of Europe and Asia. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.3% for one of the world’s larger losses.

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AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.

A vote by the league's Board of Governors made the plan official for the next three seasons. The “3-2-1 Lottery” proposal expands the event to 16 teams, flattens odds of winning the No. 1 pick and will try to deter teams from tanking by lowering lottery chances for teams that have the worst records.

They can still win the lottery, but they’ll have to buck odds to do so. The three worst teams will have 5.4% odds of winning, while teams that finish with the fourth- through 10th-worst records will all have 8.1% chances of winning.

“Since October, the league office has met with key stakeholders to discuss current competitive incentives and solicit ideas aimed at discouraging tanking,” the league said Thursday in announcing the move. “That process led to the creation of the 3-2-1 Lottery.”

ESPN reported the vote was 29-1, with Memphis casting the lone dissenting ballot.

The vote on Thursday fulfilled a promise from Commissioner Adam Silver, who vowed that the league — which has changed the lottery system about a half-dozen times in the last 40 or so years — would strongly address the tanking issue before next season.

Starting with next year’s lottery, the 16 participating teams will all get somewhere between one and three lottery balls — the 3-2-1 part — awarded in this manner:

— The losers of the No. 7 vs. No. 8 play-in games in both conferences will get one lottery ball each.

— The No. 9 and No. 10 seeds going into the play-in tournament will get two lottery balls each.

— The remaining 10 teams that miss the playoffs and the play-in will all get three lottery balls — with the exception of the three worst teams in the standings. They will enter “draft relegation” and have one of their lottery balls taken away, which is the anti-tanking part of the plan.

Tanking was a huge — and from the league standpoint, regrettable — talking point this season. The Utah Jazz were fined $500,000 “for conduct detrimental to the league” over the way two top players were held out of the fourth quarter of a pair of games, one of which the Jazz actually won. The Jazz had reason to limit their win total this season; too many victories would have meant risking a chance to have a top-eight pick in next month’s draft, a pick that Utah wound up securing.

Utah was among five teams — draft lottery winner Washington, Indiana, Memphis and Brooklyn were the others — that had winning percentages below .180 after the All-Star break. There had never been a season where so many teams lost so regularly after the break, until now.

Under the new plan, the teams that finish with the three worst records cannot fall below the No. 12 pick. But the best odds of winning No. 1 would go to the other seven teams that miss the play-in and the playoffs.

The No. 9 and No. 10 play-in seeds would also have a 5.4% chance of winning the lottery, and the losers of the No. 7 vs. No. 8 play-in games would both have a 2.7% chance.

There are other caveats within the new plan, including that no team can win back-to-back No. 1 picks and that the NBA will now have “expanded disciplinary authority” to address tanking — with potential moves including lowering teams’ lottery odds or even changing draft positions.

The new rules will be in effect through 2029. The Board of Governors will have to vote again, at some point, to either extend the new plan or come up with a different one before the 2030 lottery.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba

The national survey results, released Thursday, show the all-ages uninsured rate has stayed significantly down from where it was several years ago, but the ranks of the uninsured could soon expand as the Trump administration’s sweeping changes to the health landscape begin to take hold.

Massive changes to Medicaid, the government’s safety-net health program for low-income Americans, passed into law last year could result in 10 million more uninsured individuals over a decade, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates.

And the expiration this year of certain Affordable Care Act subsidies — which had offset premium costs — is also contributing to reduced participation in marketplace health programs. Around 5 million fewer people are expected to enroll in those plans in 2026 compared with 2025, according to the healthcare research nonprofit KFF.

The government has multiple programs for tracking Americans’ insurance status, which can give different numbers depending on factors like timing and question wording. Many researchers consider the U.S. Census Bureau to be “the official scorekeeper,” said David Howard, an Emory University health policy and management professor.

But the CDC survey results tracks closely with that, and they offer the first complete data for all of 2025 — the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term in office.

The Trump administration has sought to expand access to low-premium catastrophic health insurance plans and lower drug prices for Americans who don’t have health insurance. It has also suggested that projected insurance enrollment declines indicate a drop-off of fraudulent and ineligible enrollees, rather than eligible Americans.

Although the share of insured and uninsured stayed roughly the same in 2025 as the year before, the number of uninsured grew by about 800,000 — 300,000 of them children. The growth of the overall U.S. population helps explain that.

The survey results also suggest a possible increased insured rate among Hispanic Americans. But that may in part reflect the effects of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, if uninsured members of that group left the country, Howard said.

Most Americans 65 and older have health insurance through the federal Medicare program. It's different for younger Americans, many of whom are covered through a patchwork of public and private insurance programs.

The percentage of Americans under 65 who were uninsured rose in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s — from 12% in 1980 to more than 18% in 2010. It fell following passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, which expanded Medicaid programs and enacted measures to make affordable health insurance available to more people.

By 2016 it dropped nearly to 10%, before rising to 11 to 12% during Trump’s first administration, according to historical survey data from the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics.

The COVID-19 pandemic saw the rate of uninsured fall again, as a result of government policies put in place to preserve coverage as people faced disruptions related to the pandemic. The rate hit an all-time low in 2023, falling below 9%.

It’s not clear yet how big the increase in uninsured Americans will be this year, but experts agree it will likely rise in the coming years as a result of changes to the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid.

“The decisions being made now — in Congress, state legislatures and state Medicaid agencies — will determine what happens next," Nancy Brown, chief executive officer of the American Heart Association, said in a statement Thursday.

“Policymakers should act immediately to protect and expand access to affordable coverage, strengthen Medicaid and maintain pathways that make coverage and care accessible,” she said. “Without deliberate action, including reversing dramatic cuts to coverage, uninsured rates will continue to rise, putting quality health care further out of reach.”

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

The announcement vaults Anthropic ahead of its chief rival, ChatGPT maker OpenAI, both in market value and in reported revenue. Anthropic said it's now making annualized revenue of $47 billion from selling its technology to people and organizations using Claude to write code and do other work and personal tasks on their behalf.

Anthropic was formed in 2021 by ex-OpenAI leaders and now both AI firms, along with Elon Musk's rocket and AI company SpaceX, are all expected to become publicly traded. All three are also still losing more money than they make, fueling concerns of an AI bubble.

San Francisco-based Anthropic said the new round of funding was led by investment firms Altimeter Capital, Dragoneer Investment Group, Greenoaks Capital and Sequoia Capital.

“This funding will help us serve the historic demand we are experiencing, stay at the research frontier, and bring Claude to more of the places where work happens,” said a written statement from Anthropic's chief financial officer, Krishna Rao.

Anthropic also on Thursday launched its newest AI model, called Claude Opus 4.8, boasting that it is even better at coding and other professional work than previous models.

Anthropic’s meteoric rise and Claude’s growing popularity have left OpenAI playing catch-up despite its early lead in making ChatGPT a household name that sparked a commercial AI boom.

OpenAI last reported in March it was heading toward a $852 billion valuation after a $122 billion fundraising round. SpaceX was valued at $800 billion last year, but its value grew to $1.25 trillion after the space exploration company merged with Musk's xAI in February. Musk recently announced plans for one of the biggest stock sales ever and will be able to pitch the offering to investors as soon as next week.

OpenAI also cleared a major hurdle toward its initial public offering ambitions after a federal court last week dismissed a lawsuit from Musk, an OpenAI co-founder and early donor, after a weeks-long jury trial over whether the company had betrayed its original nonprofit mission. Musk has said he plans to appeal.

Despite its newfound success, Anthropic has also faced obstacles this year — particularly a bruising legal fight with President Donald Trump's administration over how AI tools like Claude can be used in warfare. Trump in February ordered all U.S. agencies to stop using Claude and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared the company a supply chain risk after an unusually public clash between the Pentagon and CEO Dario Amodei. Anthropic sued in a dispute that is still working its way through two federal courts.

At the same time, Anthropic has been in talks with the White House over the cybersecurity capabilities and risks of its most powerful model, Mythos, which is not yet widely available to the public.

Anthropic also had an influential role at the Vatican ahead of Pope Leo XIV 's call Monday for robust regulation of AI and for its developers to work for the common good rather than profit.

The sweeping manifesto called “Magnifica Humanitas” (Magnificent Humanity), Leo’s first encyclical, repeatedly blasted the concentration of power and data in the hands of so few people in the private sector as a danger.

Cody Campbell’s response to that talk: You broke it, we’re trying to fix it.

“My take is, it’s pretty rich for these people who created the problem in the first place to say that all of the sudden, they have the solution to the problem,” he said.

The billionaire head of the Texas Tech board of regents spoke to The Associated Press on Thursday, a day after Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., presented a bipartisan bill they hope can put teeth behind a lot of rules already in place to guide college sports through its multibillion-dollar metamorphosis.

While leaders of conferences and the NCAA said they would review the bill to decide whether to support it, critics emerged almost as quickly. Among them were Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who wants more limits on coaching salaries; and Reps. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., and Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., who want to see language that outlaws athletes from becoming employees of the schools.

A players group also expressed skepticism and the AP spoke to experts who predicted the bill would face a tough climb to get 60 votes in the Senate and a majority in the House.

“It's turning back the clock two to three years, and I don't think that's realistic,” said Michael LeRoy, a labor and sports law professor at Illinois, speaking to the realities of how much more expensive payrolls have become since name, image and likeness payments became allowable. “Players are getting paid in the millions of dollars. The underlying premise is to get a more uniform ceiling. That certainly is needed, but collective bargaining would do that.”

Schools have used third-party NIL deals to blow past the $20.5 million in revenue sharing that some envisioned as a “salary cap” when terms of the lawsuit settlement that set rules for college sports were approved.

Bill could address issues that trigger growing calls for collective bargaining

The spiraling spending has led some big names, including Tennessee athletic director Danny White, to suggest a collective-bargaining agreement between players and — schools? leagues? the NCAA? — could solve problems by bringing cost certainty to the industry while also giving it the antitrust protection it so desperately seeks.

It could also open the door to athletes becoming employees of the schools, which many view as a backbreaking financial burden that would invite the demise of Olympic and women's sports in college, and maybe football and basketball themselves.

Campbell, who was part of a group formed by President Donald Trump to tackle problems in college sports and has long been a strong voice in trying to shape its next chapter, says the Cruz-Cantwell bill provides many of the same benefits as collective bargaining, including limited antitrust protection.

“We created something that could actually be passable on a bipartisan basis,” Campbell said. “And while it's not perfect, and it never will be, there are many, many good elements in it. I think that college sports should be universally pleased with the outcome.”

Campbell said he views one of the bill's most divisive elements — a provision that would provide conferences the option to pool their media rights — not as a threat but as a genuine option for the leagues. The Southeastern and Big Ten Conferences are against media pooling, arguing that the numbers don't add up.

Campbell said the proposal addresses long-running concerns about out-of-control coaches salaries but also suggested the language in the 111-page bill could be amended to make the legislation even tougher.

He said it gives the year-old College Sports Commission the legal authority to approve and reject third-party NIL deals and would shield it from lawsuits that could come under the current system.

Campbell also said he has little time for the increasing conversation coming out of the SEC — headlined by Georgia president Jere Morehead and its football coach, Kirby Smart — that suggests those leagues might be better off splitting away from the system completely, making their own rules and playing games among themselves.

“If this was the solution, why didn't they come up with it over the last several decades as this thing started to crumble?" Campbell said. "If you created this mess, I don't see how you can stand up and say you're the one who's going to fix it.”

Despite bipartisan nature, bill faces an uphill climb

The AP spoke to a handful of legal experts familiar with college sports, none of whom predicted an easy road for the Cruz-Cantwell bill.

“It might be trying to bite off too much at this point to get passed this year,” sports attorney Mit Winter said.

Cantwell acknowledged to the AP in an interview that she knows despite its bipartisan nature, the bill is hardly a slam-dunk to pass.

Among those who gathered with Campbell to help draft the legislation were Condoleezza Rice, Yankees President Randy Levine and Gerry Cardinale of the private equity firm Redbird Capital. It was a group, according to a Yahoo Sports report, that SEC commissioner Greg Sankey was referencing when he said “it's interesting in Washington where the voices of influence come from.”

Campbell, however, views it as a smart group that doesn't have as many conflicting interests as the leagues and NCAA themselves.

“And if we can’t get it done," he said, "then they can have their way and let chaos continue to persist.”

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AP Sports Writer Eric Olson contributed to this report.

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

Zelenskyy said he hasn’t yet received a reply to a letter he sent earlier this week to U.S. President Donald Trump and Congress asking for more of the American-made ammunition. He warned that deliveries to Ukraine are falling dangerously short as the Iran war diverts and depletes U.S. stocks.

“I believe (the U.S.) must act quicker. We are being very persistent,” Zelenskyy told reporters during a visit to Sweden.

Zelenskyy is keen to secure more deliveries of foreign weaponry that it can’t produce itself as it battles Russia’s full-scale invasion, which began on Feb. 24, 2022. In exchange, he's offering to share the cutting-edge drone expertise that Ukraine has built up during the war.

Russia has used its long-range ballistic missiles to damage Ukraine’s power grid and hammer cities.

The Ukrainian capital is bracing for further heavy bombardments. But no foreign diplomats are known to have heeded Moscow’s recommendation to leave Kyiv before what the Russian Foreign Ministry said earlier this week would be upcoming “systemic strikes” on Kyiv.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said Thursday that all diplomatic missions in the capital have continued operations.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres warned an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Ukraine later Thursday that the current escalation and intensification of attacks risks getting out of control, with “unknown and unintended consequences.” He said that more civilians have been killed in the first four months of this year than in the same period in the past three years.

Guterres called for more diplomacy, immediate de-escalation and “a full and unconditional ceasefire.”

Sweden's advanced fighter jets

Ukraine plans to buy 20 advanced Gripen fighter jets from Sweden for 2.5 billion euros ($2.9 billion), with Sweden also donating 16 older Gripen models once the purchase goes through, Zelenskyy announced on his trip to Sweden.

The money for the jets will come out of a 90 billion-euro ($105 billion) loan to Ukraine that the European Union recently approved, Zelenskyy said during a trip to Sweden.

The combat aircraft will be especially helpful in stopping Russian planes that launch powerful glide bombs at Ukraine, he said at an aircraft hangar standing in front of Gripen jets alongside Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.

Ukraine will get the older models early next year and the new models from 2030, Kristersson said. The planes will be equipped with weaponry, and Sweden will provide maintenance and training, he said.

Ukraine eventually wants 150 Gripen jets, Zelenskyy said.

Meanwhile, Sweden is “extremely eager” to learn from Ukraine’s drone warfare experience, Kristersson said.

Ukrainian drones limiting Russian advances, analysts say

Zelenskyy says Ukrainian specialists have helped countries in the Middle East — specifically the Gulf Arab region — strengthen their air defenses during the Iran war. They have helped at American military bases in the Middle East as well, he says.

Ukraine has also entered into joint drone production agreements with countries in the European Union, which fears that Russian President Vladimir Putin has military ambitions beyond Ukraine.

Ukrainian drones that patrol the 1,250-kilometer (780-mile) front line and strike deeper at supply routes have pinned back Russia's bigger army.

“Ukraine’s successful midrange and front-line drone strike campaigns are limiting Russia’s ability to transport personnel to the front line and to supply and sustain front-line positions,” the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said in an assessment late Wednesday.

Russia has occupied about 20% of Ukraine so far. That includes the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia seized in 2014. The cost of capturing that land has been huge, with the head of the U.K. intelligence agency GCHQ saying Wednesday that almost 500,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in the conflict.

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

Today on Texas Eats NOW:

PINKERTON’S BARBECUE

107 W Houston St, San Antonio, TX 78205

Pinkerton’s Barbecue is an award-winning Texas smokehouse in downtown San Antonio known for its Central Texas-style barbecue, scratch-made sides, and rustic lodge-inspired atmosphere. Founded by pitmaster Grant Pinkerton, the restaurant has earned national recognition for its expertly smoked meats, full-service bar, and commitment to traditional Texas barbecue techniques. With May 28 recognized as National Brisket Day, Pinkerton’s serves as a fitting destination to celebrate one of Texas’ most iconic barbecue staples.

The menu is centered around prime-grade brisket smoked over mesquite and post oak, creating a rich bark and tender interior packed with smoky flavor. Guests also line up early for the restaurant’s massive “Dino” beef ribs, which regularly sell out, along with St. Louis-cut pork ribs, whole-hog pork, and house-made duck sausage. Scratch-made sides like bacon macaroni and cheese, jalapeño cheese rice, and mustard potato salad round out the experience, while the fully stocked bar offers craft cocktails, bourbon, beer, and Ranch Waters to pair with the barbecue feast.

BUSSIN’ Q BBQ

125 Lamar St, Ste 106, San Antonio, TX 78202

Bussin’ Q BBQ is a family-owned barbecue restaurant in downtown San Antonio that has built a strong following thanks to its oversized portions, bold flavors, and social media-famous creations. Founded by chef Anthony Bueno, the restaurant puts a creative spin on Texas barbecue while still honoring traditional post-oak smoking methods. On National Brisket Day, Bussin’ Q continues to showcase the larger-than-life barbecue flavors that have helped the restaurant gain attention across South Texas.

One of the restaurant’s most talked-about menu items is the “Dino-Ritto,” a massive smoked beef rib wrapped inside a tortilla with macaroni and cheese and queso. Other favorites include brisket grilled cheese sandwiches, loaded fries, and smoked meat platters stacked high with barbecue staples. Bussin’ Q focuses on rich, smoky flavors and eye-catching presentations that have helped the restaurant gain viral attention online while continuing to grow its loyal customer base across San Antonio.

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O’Brien, who graduated from Harvard in 1985 and led The Harvard Lampoon humor magazine, quipped that the university had produced “more Nobel laureates or white-collar criminals” than any other in the country. “So whether you choose good or evil, know that you are among the very best.”

While he joked about “Justice Department spies” being in attendance, he also defended international students — which the Trump administration has attempted to block Harvard from hosting — and criticized what he described as a broader erosion of compassion in American public life.

“Our current leadership in Washington believes that empathy is a weakness,” O’Brien said.

He returns to campus during one of the most fraught periods in Harvard's recent history. The school faces mounting legal and financial pressure from President Donald Trump 's administration, which sued the school in March over accusations its leadership failed to address antisemitism on campus.

Months earlier, a judge sided with Harvard in another lawsuit and ordered the administration to reverse billions of dollars in funding cuts. Harvard says it was being illegally penalized for refusing to adopt the Trump administration’s views.

O'Brien joked that he too was suing the university over everything from uncomfortable dorm furniture to his “less-than-spectacular undergraduate sex life,” claims he said had “more merit than those filed by the president of the United States.”

Reflecting on how his Harvard background shaped the way people perceived him early in his comedy career, he urged grads not to let Harvard define them.

“Maybe my wish for you is not that Harvard becomes the last thing people know about you,” O’Brien said, “but instead that Harvard become the least important thing people know about you.”

Student speaker Andrew O’Donohue, who completed a doctorate studying democratic institutions and judicial independence, described how federal funding tied to his research was wiped out by Trump administration cuts before Harvard stepped in.

“When students self-censor, when professors fear being punished, when scientists worry that research funding is allocated based on politics,” O’Donohue said, “our universities will not produce the next great artist, doctor, scientist, educator, lawyer, entrepreneur, public servant, or innovator.”

Recent Harvard commencements have grown much more political.

Last year, students cheered speakers who defended diversity and international students in the face of Trump administration attacks. The year before was marked by walkouts and chants of “Free Palestine” after weeks of campus protests over the war in Gaza.

This year, graduate workers who are on strike picketed in Harvard Yard, blaring vuvuzela horns, drums and cowbells whenever an administrator spoke. More than 4,000 grad workers want higher pay, stronger protections and an independent process for harassment and discrimination complaints, among other issues. Dozens of pro-Palestinian demonstrators silently held signs condemning the university's “Complicity in Palestinian Genocide.”

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Associated Press writer Leah Willingham in Boston contributed.

More than 20 people were injured in the strikes, according to Shifa Hospital. Video from the scene showed flames pouring from an upper-floor window of a building, while bystanders rushed to carry wounded people, including children, to ambulances.

Mohammed Shawish, who was wounded and lost his wife in the strikes, broke down in tears as he held her body at the hospital morgue, saying, “I married my wife for love. For God’s sake, I chose her because of love.”

The strikes took place on the first day of Eid al-Adha, or the “Feast of Sacrifice,” an Islamic holiday celebrated by millions of Muslims worldwide. The Israeli military said Wednesday evening it had launched strikes in the northern Gaza Strip targeting two Hamas militants.

Among those killed was Hamas fighter Imad Isleim. On Thursday, mourners carried his body wrapped in a white shroud with a Hamas flag draped over it. His death came as a “shock” to the family, even though they knew it could happen at any time, his cousin Nidal Isleim said.

The strikes came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel was expanding its control in Gaza.

“Right now we are tightening the grip on Hamas," Netanyahu said Thursday at the Jordan Valley Conference in the occupied West Bank. “We are now in 60% of the territory of the Gaza Strip. You know that? We were at 50%, we moved to 60%."

He said the next step was to move to 70% control, with Israel “tightening the grip" on Hamas "from every direction.”

“We will deal with the remnants,” Netanyahu said. "But the most important thing is to continue leveraging our power, to increase it.”

The conference was part of a broader discussion on the war, Iran, Hezbollah, Gaza and regional strategy.

"There is still more work. What is happening right now is truly a global change. There is no doubt about that,” Netanyahu added.

Earlier this week, an Israeli strike killed Mohammed Odeh, the newly appointed leader of Hamas’ military wing, the Qassam Brigades, less than two weeks after his predecessor was also killed.

Across the Gaza Strip, 16 people were killed and 39 others wounded over the past 48 hours, Gaza’s health ministry said in an update on Thursday. The ministry is part of Gaza’s Hamas-run government, but is staffed by medical professionals who maintain and publish detailed records viewed as generally reliable by the international community.

Since a fragile ceasefire came into effect last October, 922 people have been killed in Gaza and 2,786 others injured, according to the ministry.

Bessent said at the White House that authorizing the new currency will be up to lawmakers on Capitol Hill, but that “we've created the bill” because “we have to be prepared.”

The secretary downplayed the idea that the administration is pushing the matter, despite Trump's penchant for infusing his name and likeness across the nation's capital and into the observances of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Yet he also insisted there is nothing inappropriate about Trump's visage being part of the seminal national celebration.

“The president doesn’t do it; the House and the Senate have to do it,” Bessent said at the White House, referring to legislation, introduced by Representative Joe Wilson, R-S.C., that would direct the Treasury Department’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing to put Trump’s face on the new bill to mark the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding.

A Treasury Department spokeswoman said the agency has carried out “appropriate planning and due diligence” to implement a potential congressional mandate “to produce a $250 commemorative note which will appropriately recognize the 250th Anniversary of our great nation.” The spokeswoman did not mention Trump.

If passed and signed into law by Trump, Wilson's bill would mark an extraordinary recognition for a sitting U.S. leader and comes as Trump has sought to place himself at the center of this year's seminal Independence Day commemorations. The Department’s preparation for the languishing legislation suggests some enthusiasm for the idea on the part of the Trump administration.

Report: Trump ally has pushed to expedite the new currency

The agency's explanation follows a Washington Post report stating that U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach, a Trump appointee, has been pushing the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to expedite the process for a new currency note. The paper also reported that the former BEP chief, Patricia Solimene, was reassigned after pushing back.

The Treasury spokesperson declined to comment on Solimene's current status but confirmed that Michael Brown, a top Beach aide, became acting director of engraving and printing on May 18.

Beach did not respond to an Associated Press request for comment.

Wilson's legislation, which so far has languished in Congress, is intended to create an exception to existing law that bars any living person from appearing on U.S. currency; the bill would allow current and former presidents to be featured.

Bessent confirmed the measure is designed for one person.

“Donald J. Trump,” he said emphatically, repeating the full name that the president himself often uses in the third person.

According to the Post report, Beach last fall provided the Bureau of Engraving and Printing with the design for the new bill. It featured Trump's portrait — the same one that adorns banners hanging on some federal buildings in Washington — and a 250th anniversary logo. Trump's signature also was included, a design element that would differ from other paper money.

British artist Iain Alexander told the Post he designed the bill and said he'd discussed it with the president. Alexander did not respond to an AP request for comment.

The newspaper also reported that the Solimene resisted pressure from Beach and Brown and stressed to them the lengthy legal and procedural process required to issue new currency. Solimene was reassigned against her will, the Post reported, paving the way for Brown to oversee the bureau.

Trump has aggressively spread his name and likeness

A new currency note would be the latest example of Trump expanding his personal brand in his official capacity since returning to the White House in 2025.

Beach and Bessent already streamlined approval of a commemorative 250th anniversary coin featuring Trump. The Treasury Department has asserted that those special coins fall outside the prohibition on living presidents appearing on money. In 1926, the nation's 150th anniversary, then-President Calvin Coolidge appeared on a commemorative half-dollar coin that was official legal tender.

The Trump administration has had banners featuring his portrait hung on the Department of Justice and other federal buildings. And his slate of appointees to the Kennedy Center governing board added his name to the national performing arts facility that Congress originally designated as a memorial to assassinated President John F. Kennedy. That renaming is being challenged in court because of the federal law establishing the center as the official memorial to the 35th president.

Bessent noted that unless Wilson's exception passes, current law sets just two conditions for him to consider on currency: that “In God We Trust” in some place and that only deceased individuals be depicted, with their names described below their portraits.

“It’s all up to Capitol Hill,” Bessent said. “We will stick to the law.”

___

Barrow reported from Atlanta.

Springsteen and Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello announced the festival Wednesday while performing together at Nationals Park in Washington as Springsteen winds down his Land of Hope and Dreams American Tour.

At the concert Wednesday, Springsteen played many of his most political songs, including “American Skin (41 Shots)” about a fatal police shooting and “Streets of Minneapolis,” in response to the killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents. “The Gestapo tactics of this president and this administration will not stand here,” Springsteen said.

“This American tragedy can only be stopped by the American people: you. There is no one coming to save us. We’ve got to do it ourselves,” he said. “So join us and let’s fight for the America that we love. Do you hear me, Washington?”

The one-day, two-stage Power to the People festival is set for Oct. 3 at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland, and is being billed as about "freedom, justice, equality and rock ’n’ roll.” A portion of the proceeds from all ticket sales will benefit the organizations VoteRiders and HeadCount.

“It’s about the power everyday human beings have when they come together through music, art, community and action," Morello said in a statement. "We’re honored to bring this incredible lineup to the DC area for a day that celebrates the spirit of activism, creativity, and hope.”

The festival will also include Dropkick Murphys, Jack Black, Serj Tankian, Killer Mike, Taylor Momsen and the Linda Lindas, among others.

Springsteen has long criticized President Donald Trump, who in turn has called for a boycott of Springsteen’s shows, calling him a “total loser who spews hate.”

On Wednesday, Springsteen led the crowd in an “ICE out!” chant, encouraging the audience to make their voices heard all the way to the White House.

“Our democracy, our constitution, our rule of law are being challenged right now as never before by a reckless, racist, incompetent, treasonous president and his ship of fools administration,” said Springsteen.

“God bless Alex Pretti, God bless Renée Good, God bless you and God bless America,” he said before launching into the final song of the night, “Chimes of Freedom.”

___ This story has been corrected to show that Springsteen mentioned Alex Pretti before Renée Good.

A white cargo plane with aid donated by the European Union delivered masks, gloves, boots and medications — all of which are in short supply — to the northeastern town of Bunia at the heart of the outbreak in Congo's Ituri province. U.N.-branded forklifts lifted several cases into trucks.

Health workers with scant supplies have been struggling to contain an outbreak of the Bundibugyo virus, a kind of Ebola that has no approved treatment or vaccine. In some areas, doctors have resorted to wearing expired medical masks while treating suspected patients.

Dangers faced by health workers have been heightened by anger among residents over the stringent medical protocols for dealing with the bodies of victims, which clash with local burial rites. Residents have launched at least three attacks against health centers in Ituri province.

Congolese Health Minister Samuel Roger Kamba said that during outbreaks people in remote communities can feel overwhelmed by an incoming flood of information and people.

“We’ve seen in every epidemic that there’s always resistance,” Kamba said. "Communities always ask themselves, ‘What’s going on?’ And in epidemics like this one, it is really risk communication and community engagement that ultimately change perceptions.”

Aid donated by the EU is expected to arrive in batches over the next eight days, Jérôme Kouachi, head of emergency operations at UNICEF in Congo, told The Associated Press.

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was on his way to Congo to see the efforts first-hand. The WHO has declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, in the hope of ramping up aid.

The United States on Thursday said it is increasing its aid to Congo and Uganda by $80 million, bringing its commitment to more than $112 million since the outbreak.

The additional money would pay for personal protective equipment for health care workers, Ebola test kits, support for health screening at airports and contact tracing, the U.S. State Department said.

Dr. Jean Kaseya, the Africa Centres for Disease Control director-general, said that the organization on Monday believed it had secured funding pledges of nearly $500 million toward Africa’s emergency response, but that as of Thursday afternoon the amount had dwindled to $290 million as partners withdrew or reduced pledges.

He also said that the Africa CDC hoped to have treatments and a vaccine for the Bundibugyo virus by the end of the year, and that there were some vaccine candidates already in the works.

The Congolese government has confirmed more than 1,000 suspected cases, with at least 220 deaths, since it declared an outbreak on May 15. But the virus had been spreading undetected for weeks, and the WHO suspects it is much larger than what has been reported.

The virus has also reached neighboring Uganda, which has confirmed seven cases and one death.

On Wednesday, the Congolese government said the first survivor to recover from the virus had left a health center.

“We are trying to catch up,” Congo Foreign Minister Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner said earlier this week. “It is a race against the clock.”

The response on the ground has been hampered by multiple challenges, including customs' red tape, insufficient storage facilities, bad roads and weak telecommunications, humanitarian agencies said in a report on Thursday.

Tedros on Wednesday called for a ceasefire in a region where armed groups have staged violent attacks for decades. “We cannot build community trust or isolate the sick while bombs are falling,” he said.

Tucked in the northeastern part of Congo close to the Ugandan border, Ituri province has been reeling from attacks by the Allied Democratic Force, a rebel group allied with the Islamic State group, and a coalition of ethnic militias. In early May, the ADF killed at least 40 people and burned several homes in Ituri.

The illness has also been reported in two Congolese provinces south of Ituri — North Kivu and South Kivu, where the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group controls many key cities, including Goma and Bukavu. The rebels have reported two cases. The region’s main airport in Goma, which doubles as a staging ground for humanitarian efforts into the region, has been closed since January 2025, when M23 seized the city.

The conflict has precipitated one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, with at least 7 million people displaced in eastern Congo.

—-

Ope Adetayo reported from Lagos, Nigeria. Mathew Lee contributed from Washington and Mogomotsi Magome contributed from Johannesburg, South Africa.

The person who confirmed the existence of the investigation was not authorized to publicly discuss an ongoing inquiry and spoke on the condition of anonymity. The perjury investigation is being led by the federal prosecutors’ office in Chicago, and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has had no involvement because of his prior work as Trump’s personal attorney, the person said.

A lawyer for Carroll declined to comment through a spokesperson on Thursday.

It’s the latest in a series of investigations that Trump's Justice Department has opened into perceived adversaries of the Republican president. The actions, including securing an indictment last month against former FBI Director James Comey, have raised alarm from Democrats and former officials that an institution meant to make prosecutorial decisions independent of the White House is being weaponized against the president's political enemies.

Carroll has said a flirtatious, chance encounter with Trump in 1996 at Bergdorf Goodman’s Fifth Avenue store in Manhattan ended violently. She said Trump slammed her against a dressing room wall, pulled down her tights and forced himself on her. Trump has called the allegations a “made-up scam," and he has attacked her motivations, saying they were politically driven or arose from a desire to promote her memoir.

A jury in 2023 found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll and defaming her, and she was awarded $5 million. The following year, another jury awarded Carroll $83.3 million in a defamation case related to Trump's social media posts about her.

The Justice Department is scrutinizing a statement Carroll made in the course of the civil litigation that no one else was paying her legal fees. It later became public that a Chicago-based organization backed by Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn, had helped fund Carroll's case. Trump's lawyers in the civil case accused Carroll of concealing that information, which they said called into question whether the case was politically motivated.

A month before the first trial in 2023, then-Trump lawyer Alina Habba sought to delay it, saying in court papers that new revelations about Hoffman partially funding Carroll’s case “raises significant questions as to Plaintiff’s credibility, as well as her motive for commencing and/or continuing the instant action.”

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a Dec. 30, 2024, ruling, upheld the $5 million jury award from 2023. The court addressed Carroll’s credibility after Trump accused her of lying, during a deposition, about how her case was funded.

The court cited Carroll’s explanation that when the question about Hoffman's contributions was first posed to her in 2022, she had forgotten about “the limited outside funding” received in September 2020.

“It showed that Ms. Carroll simply was not involved in the matter of who was or was not funding her litigation costs,” the appeals court said.

Hoffman has defended the financial assistance, saying in a social media post that “supporting women fight for progress and justice in philanthropy, politics and business has been a longstanding priority of mine, as is supporting America against the threat of Trump.”

A court entry earlier this month said Trump will not have to pay the award until the U.S. Supreme Court gets a chance to review the case or reject an appeal. The appeals court agreed to a request by one of Trump’s lawyers that it let Trump delay the payment to Carroll, though he was required to post a $7.4 million bond to cover any additional interest costs, a request Carroll’s attorney had made.

The Carroll investigation was first reported by CNN.

____

Associated Press reporter Larry Neumeister in New York contributed to this report.

The top three candidates competing for the nomination in the Aug. 4 primary are debating on Thursday at the state party’s annual policy conference. It is one of their first big opportunities to sharpen contrasts before a statewide audience.

With the primary season wrapping up across the country, the contentious race in Michigan is increasingly seen as a test case for where the party and its base are headed into the November election and beyond.

Appearing on the Mackinac Island stage and seeking to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters are U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and former public health official Abdul El-Sayed. The Republican nominee is Mike Rogers, a former congressman who lost the 2024 Senate race to Democrat Elissa Slotkin. No Michigan Republican has been elected to the U.S. Senate since 1994.

Here’s where things stand in the race:

Messy primary or clarifying vision?

The race's first widely televised debate did not go off without fireworks. The candidates all spent time taking shots at each other, with El-Sayed being the most aggressive in his criticism of the other two candidates.

“Messages are great and you actually need to know how to deliver them,” McMorrow shot back at El-Sayed.

The crowded primary could help Democrats clarify a path forward, giving voters a chance to decide among three distinctly different visions for the party’s future. But a bruising primary also carries risks, as candidates sharpen attacks against one another in ways that could leave the eventual nominee weakened.

“I think primaries can be good. As long as folks aren't too chippy. Unfortunately, people are getting a little chippy in the race,” Peters said. “But as long as you have a primary that's civil, you get a stronger candidate coming out of the primary that's ready to take on the general election."

Stevens, a fourth-term congresswoman representing a district just outside Detroit, is seen as the more moderate, establishment-aligned candidate. She has endorsements from senators in battleground states, including Ruben Gallego of Arizona and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada. Stevens has described herself as a “staunchly pro-Israel Democrat.”

El-Sayed has taken the progressive lane, earning early backing from U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. El-Sayed has called for “Medicare for All” and higher taxes on the wealthy and has described Israel’s actions in Gaza as a “genocide.” He has drawn criticism, including from within the party, for campaigning with controversial streamer Hasan Piker.

McMorrow was first elected to the Michigan Senate in 2018 and gained national attention for speeches rebuking Republicans She has carved out a position somewhere between her two main rivals. She has criticized the Democratic establishment and said she would not support New York's Chuck Schumer to be Democratic leader in the U.S. Senate again.

One issue the candidates aligned on during Thursday’s debate was eliminating the filibuster, the longstanding Senate rule that effectively requires 60 votes to advance most legislation in the 100-member chamber. Trump has repeatedly urged Senate Republicans to eliminate it, but Senate Majority Leader John Thune has made clear there is not enough support within the GOP conference to do so.

Peters and Slotkin both told The Associated Press on Thursday that they were not planning to make an endorsement in the primary. They said had become more contentious than they had hoped.

“It is messy. Messier than I would have liked. I think it's important in any primary that the candidates focus more on what they want to do and their positive affirmative plan,” Slotkin said.

Winner will face Rogers

Rogers lost to then-U.S. Rep. Slotkin by fewer than 20,000 votes in a state that Republican Donald Trump carried on his way to a second term.

This time, Rogers will not benefit from having Trump atop the ballot. But Rogers heads into the general election with advantages of his own, including an uncontested primary.

In a telephone interview Wednesday, Rogers acknowledged the difficulties in the last campaign, saying the financial disadvantage he faced after a tough primary “made it really difficult” to win the general election.

But he said this year is different.

“This is a change election. People want to talk about Washington. This is about Michigan,” Rogers said.

It may prove difficult to localize a race shaped by national issues such as tariffs and gas prices, both of which are hitting Michigan hard. Outside spending is expected to climb into the nine figures. The Republicans’ U.S. Senate campaign organization has reserved $45 million in ads, compared with $20 million by Democrats.

“They're going to spend a lot of money trying to make you not like me. We're going to spend our money trying to tell people what we're going to do for them and make their lives in our state better," Rogers said.

The strike hit an apartment building, but the target of the attack wasn't immediately clear. White smoke billowed from a residential neighborhood in the suburb of Choueifat, close to Beirut's international airport.

Tensions have been increasing in southern Lebanon, where Israeli troops recently crossed the strategic Litani River, which the Israeli military has used as a de facto boundary. Large areas to the south are under Israeli military control, despite the Washington-brokered ceasefire from April 17.

This was the first attack close to Beirut since May 6, when an Israeli strike killed a military official with Hezbollah militant group’s elite Radwan Forces in another southern suburb.

Overnight, Israeli forces pounded Tyre, Lebanon's fourth-largest city, and killed at least 14 people across the south of the country in their ongoing military escalation against Hezbollah before the Lebanon-Israel talks in Washington.

Five women and children and a Lebanese soldier were among those killed in the strikes. Dozens of others were wounded, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry and the state-run National News Agency, or NNA.

The Israeli military said, meanwhile, that one of its soldiers was killed in a Hezbollah drone attack in northern Israel.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam condemned the widespread attacks on Tyre and Nabatiyeh, describing them as “onslaughts” and calling the ongoing displacement “collective punishment.”

“This only strengthens our resolve for the necessity of an immediate ceasefire, working toward a complete Israeli withdrawal from our land,” Salam said in a social media post.

Lebanese minister seeks end to Tyre attacks

On Thursday afternoon, the Israeli military issued another evacuation warning for Tyre and its suburbs.

Considered one of the oldest metropolises of the world, Tyre has several archaeological sites, some of them submerged. The city was officially declared a UNESCO World heritage site in 1984.

Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi said in a statement Thursday that he's been following “with deep pain and profound concern” the ongoing Israeli attacks on Tyre.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday announced an expansion of the Israeli military's attacks in Lebanon, apparently sparked by Hezbollah's use of fiber-optic exploding drones that have struck Israeli troops in Lebanon and reached some of Israel's northern border towns. The Israeli military said that it has launched hundreds of attacks targeting what it said were Hezbollah military assets.

Lebanese and Israeli military officials will hold their first security talks on Friday in Washington. Despite the nominal ceasefire, Israeli attacks have recently intensified, while largely sparing Beirut.

Hezbollah has dismissed the talks, and has repeatedly called on Lebanon's leadership to withdraw from them. The militant group believes that Beirut doesn't have the leverage to stop the war and have Israel withdraw its troops.

“The ruling authority persists in pursuing a downward trajectory, compromising both sovereignty and rights under the pretext that it is compelled to continue direct negotiations with the enemy,” Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc said in a statement Thursday.

The group instead endorsed its key ally Iran, which has made ending the war in Lebanon a condition for its own talks with Washington brokered by Pakistan.

“Yet, instead of seizing this opportunity, the Lebanese authorities are attempting to undermine it — actively working to obstruct it, even at the cost of their own people’s blood,” the statement said.

Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said that Netanyahu instructed the military “to deepen our operation in Lebanon” to protect the communities of Israel’s north.

Mencer said that Israel would continue U.S.-mediated negotiations with Lebanon in Washington, saying that the talks aim to disarm Hezbollah and reach “a peace agreement that will strengthen security and stability in our region and promote prosperity and peace."

Further north in the city of Sidon, an Israeli drone struck an apartment building where some displaced families lived, killing five people and wounding 21 others, among them five children.

Mohammad Al-Gharbi, who lived across the street from the building in Sidon, woke to the sound of the explosion.

“I was in my room when part of the wall and shattered glass fell on me, and everything was thrown into chaos,” he said. “This building that was hit had six apartments occupied by poor families who had fled from the south to escape the attacks there, only to be hit here.”

In the nearby coastal town of Adloun, an Israeli drone struck a car with a family that was fleeing, killing six people, of which four were two children and their parents, the Lebanese Health Ministry said. Another drone strike that came without warning killed two people on a motorcycle near Tyre. The target of the attack wasn't immediately clear, NNA reported.

Elsewhere near the city of Nabatiyeh, the Lebanese military said that a soldier was killed in an Israeli drone strike while he was riding his motorcycle.

Hezbollah attacks target Israeli forces

The Israeli military said Thursday that a soldier in northern Israel was killed in a Hezbollah drone attack and two reservists were wounded.

Hezbollah says it has carried out dozens of drone and rocket attacks targeting Israeli troops in southern Lebanon and northern Israel. The group said Thursday that it launched several attacks on Israeli troops and tanks that have crossed the Litani River into the town of Zawtar al-Sharqieh near Nabatiyeh, as close-range fighting continues.

More than 1 million people in Lebanon have been displaced by the Israel-Hezbollah war, which was sparked when Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel on March 2 in solidarity with Iran, two days after the Iran war began.

At least 3,269 people have been killed in Israeli strikes since the start of the war, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry, with more than 9,800 wounded.

According to Netanyahu’s office, at least 23 Israeli soldiers and a defense contractor have been killed in or near southern Lebanon and two civilians have been killed in northern Israel, the vast majority by drones.

___

Bassem Mroue in Beirut, Koral Saeed in Abu Snan, Israel, and Natalie Melzer in Nahariya, Israel, contributed to this report.

Animals use various techniques to navigate including following the stars and remembering key landmarks. Birds, fish and turtles orient themselves using Earth's magnetic field as a compass. But it's not yet clear how exactly they do this.

Pigeons are a well-known group of frequent flyers that can traverse hundreds of miles (hundreds of kilometers) in a single day. For thousands of years, humans have used them to carry news, notes and military messages.

Scientists have long tried to untangle how pigeons travel without getting lost. Some think the birds detect magnetic cues using light-sensitive molecules in their eyes, while others suggest it happens in the beak or inner ear.

“The magnetic sense has been this mystery for almost 100 years,” said Martin Wikelski with the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Germany.

In a new study, Wikelski and other researchers decided to draw back the curtain on pigeons' navigational secrets. They searched for magnetic clues in the birds' organs and found a strong signal in an unexpected place: the liver.

Specialized immune cells in the pigeon's liver break down red blood cells and store iron. When scientists temporarily stripped pigeons of those immune cells and let them fly, the birds “just couldn't find their way,” said Christian Kurts with the University of Bonn in Germany. That suggested the iron-rich liver cells might play a role in their sense of direction.

The birds' magnetic compasses only got scrambled on overcast days. That's because they also use the sun as a navigational guide.

Scientists have previously wondered whether immune cells could be involved in magnetic sensing, but the new study published Thursday in the journal Science is the first to present a full-fledged theory.

“I would never have guessed it, but once it was explained to me, it makes sense,” said behavioral ecologist Albert Kao with the University of Massachusetts Boston, who had no role in the study.

The immune cells are located near nerve fibers in the liver. That might be how they transmit their “magnetic sense” to the brain “and help the pigeons to navigate,” said study co-author Clivia Lisowski with the University of Bonn.

The researchers think other birds and animals like mice could operate using a similar magnetic GPS. But outside experts say more work is needed to verify the pigeons navigate this way and to firm up how these signals get to the brain. While the researchers found the strongest magnetic signal in the pigeons' livers, such immune cells have also been spotted in other areas including the beak and spleen.

It's possible this magnetic puzzle doesn't have a single answer, wrote veterinary pathologist Simon Spiro and biologist Hal Drakesmith in an accompanying editorial. The birds could use different techniques to sense magnetic fields depending on the task, be it traveling long distances or finding a specific destination.

“Indeed, it could be prudent to have more than one way of getting home in the dark,” they wrote.

—-

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

The grandson, identified as Joseph Martin Finnegan, 27, has officially been charged with murder, Bexar County jail records show.

The woman, whom Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said he believes is in her 70s or 80s, called BCSO to request help for Finnegan, who was experiencing a mental health episode.

The woman made the call just before 5 p.m. Wednesday.

According to Shavano Park city officials, the woman specifically requested for BCSO’s SMART (Specialized Multidisciplinary Alternate Response Team) unit to come to the home on Long Bow Road for “mental help for her grandson that was not mentally doing well.”

The woman also called for BCSO’s SMART unit because a “marked Shavano Park police unit” would have drawn unwanted “attention to the situation,” the city said in a Thursday morning statement. The unit dispatched to the home consisted of one Bexar County Sheriff’s deputy and “two civilian mental health professionals,” according to Shavano Park city officials.

The sheriff said the woman was in contact with a deputy, but the victim never responded by the time BCSO arrived at her home approximately 30 minutes later on Long Bow Road.

Salazar said no one answered the BCSO deputy’s first knock at the door. However, Shavano Park city officials said the deputy looked through a window and saw Finnegan covered in blood and “immediately engaged with the male subject at gunpoint.”

A Shavano Park Police Department officer later responded to the home.

“(The deputy) could see the victim lying on the floor covered in blood inside the residence,” Salazar said.

The woman was pronounced dead on the scene with heavy amounts of trauma to her neck and face, according to the sheriff. As of Thursday morning, the woman has yet to be identified.

Salazar said a “pointy, edged weapon” and a “heavy blunt object” were recovered by deputies at the scene.

According to Salazar, this is not the first time that Finnegan has found himself behind bars.

“The city police here (Shavano Park) know him. They’ve dealt with him many times,” Salazar said. “He’s got a long criminal history, and a long mental health history, as well.”

Finnegan had multiple reports of violence against the Shavano Park Police Department, “but, fortunately, nothing to this extent,” Salazar said.

Finnegan was booked into the Bexar County Adult Detention Center on a $250,000 bond, court records show. He is expected back in court on Aug. 25.

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The fire happened at the Utumishi Girls School, which has more than 800 students, in the Gilgil area of central Kenya, Education Minister Julius Ogamba said, adding that 79 students were injured in the disaster.

Detectives were questioning students to determine whether any wrongdoing triggered the fire, and Ogamba said authorities were trying to find out whether the school's fire safety manual had been adhered to.

The victims were not yet been identified, a source of anger and frustration for parents who gathered outside the ruined dormitory. Some of them angrily confronted police guarding the site, demanding to see the remains of still-uncollected victims.

Bernard Omwandho, a representative of the parents’ association, urged calm as the police investigation continued.

“Most of the parents who are still here are those whose daughters are being questioned,” he said, adding that he hoped that those being questioned will be “able to at least shed some light or give us a hint on what really transpired.”

The school is located about 120 kilometers (75 miles) northwest of the capital, Nairobi. The government-owned secondary school is managed and sponsored by the Kenya Police Service. Many of the students are the daughters of police officers.

Elizabeth Rioba, a mother of two girls at the school, said she was relieved to see her daughters but expressed concern because one of the girls saw her friend get stuck while trying to jump out of a window.

“She’s very traumatized, but I’m relieved she’s OK and I’m sad for all these children who have died,” she told The Associated Press.

The Kenya Red Cross said several students were evacuated and are receiving treatment in various hospitals. The group said it sent psychological support teams for students and their families.

Kenyan President William Ruto expressed his condolences in a statement. “No words can truly ease the pain of losing young lives filled with promise, hope, and dreams for the future,” Ruto said. “As a nation, we mourn with the parents, guardians, teachers, and fellow students who are enduring this unimaginable tragedy.”

Fires at schools have been a cause of concern for education officials in East Africa, where classrooms and dormitories are often crowded, and there’s usually no firefighting equipment in place. Officials sometimes cite poor electrical connections as sparking blazes.

In 2024, 21 students burned to death in a school fire in central Kenya. Ruto declared three days of mourning.

Kenya’s deadliest school fire in recent history occurred in 2001 when 67 students died in a dormitory fire in Machakos County.

In 2017, 10 students died in a school fire in Nairobi. A student was charged with murder.

San Antonio - Today at 10:30 a.m., we’re diving into bold Cajun dishes at Beyond Flavor, putting the flavors to the test at Cappy’s Restaurant, checking out creative Spurs-inspired nail designs and getting expert automotive care tips from O’Brien’s Automotive -plus, we meet a local artist turning her Spurs pride into art.

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee in Washington, late Wednesday rejected the request by Democrats and civil rights groups that had argued Trump’s order would likely be found unconstitutional because the states and Congress, not the president, have the power to set election rules. Nichols agreed with the Republican Trump administration's contention that it was too early to block the order because it has yet to be implemented.

Nichols' ruling leaves the door open for further challenges when the Trump administration moves to implement the president's directive. A separate lawsuit seeking to block the executive order is underway in Boston. No matter how rapidly the administration acts, no voting changes are expected during primary elections, which continue into next month.

“The Court recognizes that the Postal Service may ultimately issue a final rule that directly affects Plaintiffs or their members, or that the Government may develop State Citizenship Lists that omit specific individuals due to particularized flaws,” Nichols wrote. “Plaintiffs may, of course, renew their motions if and when those future actions occur. Until then, however, Plaintiffs cannot show that preliminary injunctive relief is warranted.”

The Trump administration has yet to formally issue lists of eligible voters, and those who filed the initial request for a temporary halt said they'd be back if the administration moves in that direction.

“We are ready to resume the fight if and when the administration takes those next steps,” said Juan Proaño, chief executive officer of the League of United Latin American Citizens, one of the organizations that sought the stay from Nichols.

Democratic party organizations that sought the order issued a joint statement with similar promises. “We are confident we will prevail in the end when this illegal and completely unworkable executive order is fully adjudicated,” the statement said.

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

Trump issued the order in March after a bill he supported to overhaul voting stalled in Congress. The order would have had the federal government create a list of eligible voters and then directed the U.S. Postal Service to deliver mail ballots only to those on the list. Election officials argued it was ripe for abuse and could cause chaos, and the postal union has objected to the idea of mail carriers policing ballots.

Since his 2020 presidential election loss to Democrat Joe Biden, Trump has groundlessly claimed mail voting is rife with fraud and has launched a federal investigation into that year's vote, even though repeated audits and investigations, including ones run by Republicans, found it was free of widespread fraud. Trump also has said he wants to “take over” election administration in Democratic areas.

Democrats and civil rights groups argued it was urgent that Nichols issue a restraining order in the midst of primary season and with states already gearing up for the fall midterm elections.

This was Trump's second executive order seeking to overhaul elections and voting. His initial election executive order, issued just months after he took office in his second term, has been blocked by multiplefederal judges. That order sought to require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote, among other changes.

Jacob Wenske, 26, faces two felony charges of making a terroristic threat causing public fear, charging paperwork obtained by KSAT Investigates shows.

San Antonio police investigators said Wenske replied to an April social media post about the group’s three-day women’s leadership summit by writing, “I know exactly where to bomb.”

In a separate post within the same thread, Wenske wrote, “I can’t wait to be the valet for her escort,” a warrant for his arrest states.

An email from an account registered to Wenske stated, “Death to Erika Kirk and every single speaker there!! America will live on without those scum on this earth. Every Christian nationalist shall perish in the bombing that will take place at every single Turning Point rally and event,” according to the warrant.

Court records indicate his bond has been set at a combined $120,000.

Kirk is a scheduled featured speaker at Turning Point USA’s Women’s Leadership Summit, which will take place June 5-7 at the San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter on the River Walk.

Erika Kirk became CEO of Turning Point USA, a conservative nonprofit, after the fatal shooting last September of her husband, Charlie Kirk, at a Turning Point event in Utah.

Read more reporting on the KSAT Investigates page.

Assistant City Manager David W. McCary and ACS Director Jon Gary are scheduled to present the agency’s yearly metrics at the Public Safety Committee meeting at 2 p.m. Thursday at City Hall.

According to the meeting’s agenda, ACS receives approximately 90,000 calls for service each year. About 60% of the cases are deemed critical.

Dangerous dogs and bites

ACS is responsible for investigating dangerous dog affidavits. Statistics show a significant increase in those cases over the past two years.

In 2024, ACS responded to 301 dangerous dog cases. That number jumped to 523 in 2025.

The agency has already responded to 348 cases from October 2025 through April 2026, which puts the city on track to surpass last year’s total.

Animal bites, scratches

ACS also investigates incidents involving animal bites and scratches. After an incident, the agency ensures that quarantine requirements are met.

Data show that the agency responded to 3,090 bite and scratch cases in 2024. That number rose to 3,810 in 2025.

From October 2025 through April 2026, ACS has already responded to 2,153 cases. At this rate, San Antonio is on track to see an increase in bite and scratch cases.

ACS has created an interactive map that shows active dangerous and aggressive dog reports across the city.

Residents can search “Animal Care Services Dangerous Dog Registry” and highlight their neighborhood to see which streets and homes are listed.

As of Thursday, May 28, there are 331 dogs listed on San Antonio’s registry.

For her walk-on before a second-round win at the French Open, the tennis star wore a metallic gold bomber jacket over her sequined gold playing dress, offset by an ivory train in a look that mixes sportswear with couture.

“The inspo was, I don’t want to say Victorian, but you know the ladies that have the dresses with the poof in the background?" Osaka said. “(It's) so terrible of me to not know the correct term of that.”

The term Osaka was looking for is likely bustles, which were padded undergarments used to add fullness to dresses in the mid to late 19th century.

After the walk-on, Osaka took off the train and jacket and handed the garments to a ball kid to remove them before the match against Donna Vekic on Court Simonne-Mathieu on Thursday.

“I like to keep people on their toes and I think it’s really fun,” Osaka said in her post-match interview on court, refusing to reveal if she has a new outfit for every possible match of the tournament. “There’s a community I feel like that’s been built over my on-court outfits. So I just like to just keep you guys guessing.”

Osaka won 7-6 (1), 6-4 to reach the third round at Roland Garros for the first time since 2019.

“It means a lot,” she said. “I just feel so grateful. It’s another milestone.”

For her opening match two days earlier, Osaka walked on in a ceremonial black skirt and sleeveless beaded bodice before revealing her gold dress, which she said reminded her of the Eiffel Tower sparkling at night.

“Athletes are in show business,” Osaka said after beating Laura Siegemund in her opener. “Grand Slam walk-ons are the only time that I possibly feel like I’m an entertainer.”

Osaka's opponent says walk-ons ‘problematic’

Siegemund said Osaka’s walk-ons were “yet another example of big names being treated differently” in tennis.

Siegemund told Eurosport Germany she didn’t mind the outfits but found it “a bit problematic” that it took Osaka so long to get ready and lesser-known players were under pressure to unpack their gear as fast as possible to avoid time violations.

“I came here to play tennis, not to put on a fashion show," Siegemund added after losing to Osaka. "If other people want to do a fashion show, they can do that. It’s fine for me.”

Vekic had no issues.

“It’s just something different,” Vekic said. "Some people take tennis way too seriously. Just relax. It’s just an outfit. It’s no big deal. She has an opportunity to do that so why not.”

___

AP Fashion Writer Colleen Barry in Milan contributed to this report.

___

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

By a 5-4 vote, the justices sided with Terry Pitchford, who was sentenced to death for his role in the killing of a grocery store owner.

“In this case, whether due to confusion, oversight, an overly hurried jury selection process, or some other cause, things broke down,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote for the court. Chief Justice John Roberts and the court’s three liberal justices joined with Kavanaugh.

There were 11 white jurors and one Black juror in a trial with similarities to that of another Black man on Mississippi’s death row, whose conviction the high court overturned seven years ago.

It’s unclear what happens next in Pitchford's case. Justice Neil Gorsuch, who dissented, suggested the state still could argue Pitchford’s conviction should be sustained. If his conviction is overturned, the state could seek to retry him.

“Mr. Pitchford is now entitled to a fair trial in the state court,” Joseph Perkovich, who argued the case for Pitchford at the Supreme Court, wrote in an email.

Doug Evans, a now-retired prosecutor with a history of dismissing Black jurors for discriminatory reasons, had excused four other Black people at Pitchford's trial. Black people make up more than 37% of Mississippi’s population.

The Supreme Court ruled 40 years ago in Batson v. Kentucky that jurors could not be excused from service because of their race and set up a system by which trial judges could evaluate claims of discrimination and the race-neutral explanations by prosecutors.

Pitchford’s case focused on whether his lawyers did enough to object to Judge Joseph Loper’s rulings and whether the state Supreme Court acted reasonably in ruling they had not.

Pitchford’s lawyers made the necessary arguments and the state high court acted unreasonably, Kavanaugh wrote.

In dissent, Gorsuch wrote that Pitchford had to show that no fair-minded judge could rule as the Mississippi court did and that the record in the case was crystal-clear in his favor.

“As I see things, Mr. Pitchford has failed to satisfy either of these standards,” Gorsuch wrote, joined by Justices Samuel Alito, Amy Coney Barrett and Clarence Thomas.

In 2019, the Supreme Court overturned the death sentence and conviction of Curtis Flowers, because of what Kavanaugh then described as a “relentless, determined effort to rid the jury of Black individuals.” Evans was the prosecutor in that case, and Loper presided over the final two of Flowers’ six trials.

Pitchford, now 40, was 18 when he and a friend decided to rob the Crossroads Grocery, just outside Grenada in northern Mississippi. The friend shot store owner Reuben Britt three times, fatally wounding him, but was ineligible for the death penalty because he was younger than 18. Pitchford was tried for capital murder and was sentenced to death.

The case has been making its way through the court system for 20 years. In 2023, U.S District Judge Michael P. Mills overturned Pitchford’s conviction, holding that the trial judge did not give Pitchford’s lawyers enough of a chance to argue that the prosecution was improperly dismissing Black jurors.

Mills wrote that his ruling was partially motivated by Evans’ actions in prior cases. A unanimous panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the ruling.

Evans did not respond to The Associated Press' attempt to reach him for comment when he retired.

___

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

• MORNING FOG POSSIBLE: Damp ground may lead to patchy low visibility at sunrise
• QUIETER PATTERN AHEAD: Dry stretch builds in with more sunshine late week
• WARMER WEEKEND: Highs climb into the upper 80s and low 90s under partly sunny skies

FORECAST

TODAY

A drier weather pattern is developing allowing for more sunshine heading into the afternoon. Temperatures will gradually rise to near 90.

THIS WEEKEND

Skies are expected to remain partly to mostly sunny, with afternoon highs climbing into the upper 80s and low 90s. Overnight lows will stay mild, generally in the upper 60s to lower 70s.

Humidity levels will remain manageable through the end of the week, although conditions may still feel muggy at times due to saturated ground from recent rains.

EXTENDED FORECAST

Looking ahead to the weekend and early next week, rain chances gradually return as a more active upper-level pattern develops across the region. Isolated showers and thunderstorms could begin to redevelop Sunday night into Monday, with rain chances increasing slightly into Tuesday. Current forecast guidance suggests only scattered coverage, with most locations expected to remain dry for extended periods.

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O’Hara was an outsider brought in with a mandate to reform the police department after the 2020 killing of George Floyd, which led to federal and state investigative findings of excessive force and racist policing practices. O’Hara had spent most of his career in Newark, New Jersey, where he instituted changes after that department was put under a federal consent decree for patterns of excessive force and unconstitutional stops and searches.

The challenges in Minneapolis were clear before O'Hara arrived in late 2022. For a time, it had seemed the department itself might not survive. In 2021, more than 43% of voters supported disbanding the department as the city reeled from Floyd’s killing and the massive protests and widespread rioting that followed.

O'Hara was faced with a daunting challenge

Policing experts had noted the monumental task that faced the city’s next police chief, who would have to rebuild community trust and a department whose morale had dipped so low that it was hemorrhaging officers.

“I don’t think there was a bigger challenge to any American city than what Minneapolis faced when he arrived,” said Chuck Wexler, executive director of a Washington think tank, the Police Executive Research Forum. “They had gone from 850 to 500 officers, violent crime was significantly up, trust with the community was broken, a police station had burned down and a federal consent decree would face the next chief. Then you had the politics of Minneapolis.”

Coming in as an outsider to lead a large department is daunting, even without being asked to reform and rebuild, said Renée Hall, president of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives who moved from Detroit to lead the Dallas Police Department from 2017 to 2020.

“It’s extremely challenging to walk into an organization, where you don’t even know where the light switches are, where the bathrooms are. And that’s just the basics,” Hall said. “You have to learn the officers, the community, the politics of that particular city, and try to learn and navigate the existing relationships, like unions or officer associations and who is tied to whom and who is fighting for whom.”

Hall said outside hires can face resentment from those within an organization who supported internal candidates. They also have to earn the trust of the community, which she said takes time.

Local politics muddy the chief's departure

After the police disbandment measure failed, O'Hara joined the bureaucracy of a deeply progressive city that is regularly buffeted by political battles between the mayor and the City Council, and among council members.

Those battles were on full display Wednesday, when a City Council news conference about O'Hara's resignation quickly turned into an opportunity for the council's resolute progressives to attack Mayor Jacob Frey, who has long portrayed himself as a “pragmatic progressive.”

The resignation “is a symptom of a much larger problem, which is simply that Mayor Frey continues to be unable to effectively manage the Minneapolis Police Department,” said Council member Robin Wonsley, a cornerstone of the council's progressive bloc.

Frey, who just weeks ago pushed to have O'Hara reappointed as chief, fired back at criticism that he didn’t move aggressively enough when allegations of the chief's potential misconduct emerged.

“I don’t make decisions based on rumors and anonymous complaints,” he said in a statement, adding that he would work with the council to find a replacement. “I took action promptly after receiving the investigative report. … Decisions this serious have to be grounded in facts, evidence and completed investigations. Anything less would be irresponsible.”

O'Hara did not return a message seeking comment Wednesday. His attorney, Doug Kelley, released a statement touting successes during O'Hara's tenure, including diversifying and increasing the department's ranks, the decreasing violent crime rate and mitigating violent clashes during the immigration crackdown.

“The circumstances of Chief O’Hara’s departure should not define his service," Kelley wrote. "He was proud to serve Minneapolis, remains grateful to the officers and community partners who did difficult work under extraordinary pressure, and hopes the city continues moving forward. He understandably looks forward to returning to his young family in New Jersey.”

O'Hara's tenure was tumultuous

The resignation came just months after Minneapolis was plunged into the national spotlight amid a federal immigration surge that left three civilians shot, two fatally. O'Hara faced criticism he hadn't done enough to stop the crackdown.

Violence plagued the city in 2025, including deadly attacks on state politicians in the Minneapolis suburbs; gunfire that erupted at a popular city picnic spot; and a shooting during Mass at the Church of the Annunciation that left two children dead and more than a dozen people injured. O’Hara called the church attack a “ truly unthinkable tragedy. ”

Critics say dozens of complaints were filed against O'Hara, from accusations that he was rude to the public to the recent investigation into an ultimately unproven allegation he had a sexual relationship with a city employee. Most of the complaints have not been made public, and 17 complaints are still being investigated. Investigators closed 17 more without any disciplinary actions.

An independent investigator did not find evidence to substantiate the alleged sexual relationship with a city employee, but a second report released this week said O'Hara likely deleted the employee's contact from his phone during the investigation and that he talked to another employee about the probe despite being told it was not to be discussed.

That recent report led to a written reprimand; Frey told O'Hara he would be disciplined and that he could be terminated. Frey said O'Hara chose to resign instead.

Frey appointed an interim chief Tuesday from inside the department, and he has 30 days to nominate a successor under the city's charter. ___

Lauer reported from Philadelphia.

Though voting began in early May ahead of the June 2 primary, Democrats have been returning their ballots at a slower pace than normal after a chaotic campaign full of surprises. Unlike recent races for governor, there's been no clear front-runner or political superstar (think Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger or Democrat Jerry Brown).

“I’m kind of pinching my nose and voting this go-around rather than being excited,” said Colin Culver, a 21-year-old San Diego resident who ultimately voted for Tom Steyer, a billionaire former hedge fund manager turned climate activist.

Democrats have been particularly perplexed given the state's top-two primary system, which places all candidates on a single ballot regardless of party. There are roughly 60 candidates vying to succeed termed-out Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom. They include six major Democrats and just two prominent Republicans.

With the large number of Democrats running, party leaders feared months ago that the two leading Republicans, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and conservative commentator Steve Hilton, could advance, locking out Democrats. That scenario has grown less likely after former Rep. Eric Swalwell dropped out of the race after being accused of sexual assault, but the scandal further rattled anxious Democrats. President Donald Trump endorsed Hilton in April, which may have coalesced GOP support behind him and decreased the odds of a Republican upset in a state that hasn’t had a Republican governor since 2011.

But the fear among voters remains. Some Democrats are waiting to cast their ballots to see if one candidate breaks away from the pack in the final days, relying on polling to help make their decision. Others have struggled to make up their minds, reluctantly choosing a candidate after being unimpressed with the field.

Voters are returning their ballots later than normal

Even Democrats who typically have a high turnout in primary elections — often older, white voters — have been slow to drop off their ballots, said Paul Mitchell, a Democratic strategist tracking ballot returns.

“My joke is: Call your Democratic parents and tell them to turn in their ballot,” he said. “They are holding onto the ballot because they have seen this kind of topsy-turvy governor’s race. They’re waiting to make sure they’re making the right choice.”

About 11% of the state's roughly 23 million voters had voted as of Wednesday night, according to Mitchell's tracker. That includes about 15% of Republicans, 11% of Democrats and 8% of voters registered with no or another party. That breakdown is unusual because Democrats in recent years have tended to vote early while many Republicans wait until Election Day.

Democrats toggle between candidates

Former state attorney general and federal Health Secretary Xavier Becerra and Steyer are among the top Democrats voters are weighing.

A poll conducted in mid-May by the Public Policy Institute of California found that Becerra and Hilton each have the support of about 2 in 10 likely California primary voters. Steyer, Bianco and former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter each drew the support of between 10% and 15% of likely voters in the survey. No other candidates were polling in double digits.

Support for Becerra has increased from only 5% in a PPIC poll conducted in late March and early April, when Swalwell was still in the race.

Some voters aren't relying on the polls to make their choice. That includes San Francisco native Mary O’Neal, who voted for former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa because she liked his record leading the city from 2005 to 2013. Although he's been on the debate stages, he's failed to generate significant support.

Fresno native Alexa Duran, 22, a recent graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, said she’s leaning toward Becerra, despite her concerns about his refusal as attorney general to investigate the killing of a Latino man by an officer in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2020.

“I know he has tons of political experience, but I’m just not sure if he’s the right candidate,” Duran said.

David Murayama, a 29-year-old attorney in Los Angeles, said that although Steyer was an appealing candidate at first, he felt like he couldn’t trust a billionaire to follow through on his promises. He ended up voting for Becerra, the candidate he considered the “lesser evil,” he said.

Amber Larson, 41, a judicial analyst for the state living in Chico, likes Ramsey Robinson, a socialist candidate. But casting her ballot for him would be a “waste” because of his slim odds, she said.

She doesn't want to support a longtime politician — Becerra — and she's skeptical of billionaires — Steyer.

“Are we at a point where only a billionaire can beat an establishment, career politician?” Larson said, referencing Steyer spending millions to largely self-fund his campaign.

She planned to go with Steyer anyway because she likes his energy affordability plans and since he's one of the leading candidates.

“I don’t want to throw my vote away,” she said.

___

Associated Press journalists Jaimie Ding in Los Angeles and Terry Chea in San Francisco contributed to this report.

It’s unclear whether prosecutors had implicated Rodríguez in any crimes or whether investigators were moving toward an indictment. A Justice Department spokesperson said in an email “there was never an investigation into her to shut down.”

But DEA records obtained by The Associated Press earlier this year show she consistently surfaced on the radar of federal law enforcement dating to at least 2018, though she has never been criminally charged in the U.S. like several other senior Venezuelan officials.

The directive to pause scrutiny into Rodríguez was meant to avoid upsetting the administration’s efforts to stabilize Venezuela after the capture of her predecessor, Nicolás Maduro, among other reasons, a current official said. It was not clear whether the White House, which deferred comment to the Justice Department, was involved in the decision.

“Everybody has been told to stand down,” one of the former officials said.

The former officials, who had been briefed on the development, as well as the current official all spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss internal deliberations.

Rodríguez, a U.S. attorney representing her, and the Venezuelan Communications Ministry didn’t respond to requests for comment.

The move eases pressure on Rodriguez

Removing the threat of potential indictment, even temporarily, eases pressure on Rodríguez as the Trump administration seeks to work with the acting leader to stabilize Venezuela after Maduro’s ouster and open the country to U.S. investment.

President Donald Trump praised Rodríguez as a “terrific person” shortly after the U.S. military took Maduro and his wife to New York to face federal narcotics charges. Both have pleaded not guilty.

In recent months, the U.S. has lifted sanctions against Rodríguez and recognized her as Venezuela's sole head of state, allowing her to re-establish ties with western banks and more freely work with U.S. investors seeking to tap into the world's largest petroleum reserves. As ties between the two governments have deepened, some have held out the Venezuelan playbook — characterized by oil blockades, indictments of top leaders, and threats of military intervention — as a model to drive regime change from within as the U.S. pressures other longtime adversaries in Iran and Cuba.

Rodríguez and her brother, Jorge Rodríguez, the head of the National Assembly, were hit with U.S. sanctions during Trump’s first term for their role in undermining Venezuelan democracy and cementing Maduro's authoritarian rule.

Rodríguez “is doing a great job,” Trump wrote on social media in early March. "The Oil is beginning to flow, and the professionalism and dedication between both Countries is a very nice thing to see!”

In recent months, Rodríguez has hosted ceremonies with a steady stream of American oilmen, some of them partaking in high-profile delegations led by U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum.

Election talk deferred amid Trump's praise

Missing in all the mutual backslapping is any talk of elections, even as Rodríguez last month blew through a 90-day limit set by Venezuela's high court to fill Maduro's position on a temporary basis.

“I don’t know,” she responded in English when a visiting U.S. journalist earlier this month shouted out a question about her time frame for holding elections. “Some time.”

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has demanded the administration explain its favorable treatment of Rodríguez, calling her a “central figure in Nicolás Maduro's repressive regime.”

“Sanctions have been lifted on Ms. Rodríguez without any indication that she has taken concrete and meaningful actions to restore democratic order,” Sheehan, joined by Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent last week.

Rick de la Torre, a former CIA chief of station in Caracas, said that the decision to shield Rodríguez fits well with the Trump administration’s foreign policy goals in Venezuela.

“She’s a lifelong Marxist and was a senior leader of one of the world’s most corrupt regimes but the U.S. is providing her with breathing space and carrots to lay the foundation for democracy and U.S. investment,” said de la Torre, the CEO of Tower Strategy, which advises companies on Venezuela.

“There’s a shelf life to her utility, however. At some point she will face justice.," he added.

Rodríguez has been on DEA's radar since 2018

The DEA had amassed a detailed intelligence file on Rodríguez dating to at least 2018, and has received allegations about her ranging from drug trafficking to gold smuggling, the AP reported earlier this year. One confidential informant told DEA in early 2021 that Rodríguez was using hotels in the Caribbean resort of Isla Margarita “as a front to launder money,” the records show.

Her name has surfaced in nearly a dozen DEA investigations — several of which remained ongoing as recently as this year — involving field offices from Paraguay and Ecuador to Phoenix and New York. She had even been linked to Maduro’s alleged bag man, Alex Saab, whom U.S. authorities first arrested in 2020 on money-laundering charges, the records show.

Rodríguez deported Saab this month as part of a purge of insider businessmen who are accused of having enriched themselves through corrupt dealings with Maduro.

It's unclear in which Miami investigations Rodríguez's name surfaced. Two of the former officials said Rodríguez has also come up in meetings with investigators in Tampa tasked last year by former Attorney General Pam Bondi with looking into financial crimes in Venezuela.

At the time, Rodríguez was serving as Maduro's vice president. Justice Department policy requires the attorney general to personally approve the charging of any foreign head of state, who are normally immune from prosecution under international and U.S. law.

Halting high-profile criminal probes of foreign leaders

The pausing of the investigations into Rodríguez comes as the Trump administration has similarly tapped the brakes on ongoing federal investigations into another prominent Latin American leftist, Colombian President Gustavo Petro.

The DEA had also designated Petro a “priority target” over alleged ties to drug traffickers that had been probed for months by federal prosecutors. The New York Times reported in March that U.S. officials recently assured the Colombian government Petro does not face charges in those cases.

Duncan Levin, a former prosecutor who worked for the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn, said it would be “deeply troubling” for law enforcement to be “told to stand down from a legitimate investigation for political or transactional reasons.”

“The White House cannot use criminal enforcement as a diplomatic light switch,” Levin told AP. “DOJ decisions are supposed to be based on law, evidence, policy and public safety — not on whether a foreign official is useful to the administration at a given moment.”

___

This story was first published on May. 27, 2026. It was updated on May. 28, 2026 to make clear that the details attributed in the original story to an unspecified official were shared by a current official.

___ Durkin Richer reported from Washington and Mustian from New York. AP Writer Regina Garcia Cano in Mexico City contributed to this report.

___

This story is part of an investigation that includes the FRONTLINE documentary “Crisis in Venezuela,” which aired Feb. 10, 2026, on PBS. Watch the documentary at pbs.org/frontline, in the PBS App and on FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel.

The new nonprofit, Stop AAPI Hate Action, will be a political and advocacy arm dedicated to getting more Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders registered to vote — and to mobilize current voters, ensuring they make it to the polls. The initiative was sparked in part by President Donald Trump's pressure — and moves by Republican lawmakers — to redraw voting maps and strip parts of the Voting Rights Act.

The organization announced Thursday that this initiative will build on Stop AAPI Hate's name recognition and reputation for elevating conversations about racism, discrimination and allyship. It's a major step for the group, which has also done policy work and advocacy over the past six years, Manjusha Kulkarni, the organization's co-founder, exclusively told The Associated Press.

“Those pieces — alongside what we're seeing from our community in terms of data — really motivated and inspired us to make this move," Kulkarni said. "Because we see how our communities are being harmed and exactly what needs to be done to address the harm, and prevent it in the future.”

Stop AAPI Hate Action will be established as a social welfare organization that can get involved in political campaigns.

Trump's immigration policies fuel more anti-Asian racism since COVID-19

A majority of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders believe President Donald Trump has done more harm than good on immigration and border security in his second term, according to an AAPI Data/AP-NORC poll.

Stop AAPI Hate's annual report — released in May, AAPI Heritage Month — found roughly half of AAPI adults said they or someone they personally know were negatively impacted by immigration policies or anti-immigrant attitudes in 2025. Last year, Trump signed an order restricting H-1B visa holders — thousands of whom come from Asian countries — and added a $100,000 annual fee for highly skilled foreign workers.

Plus, Chinese nationals face a plethora of anti-China laws in various states.

Navia Gutta, 28, was rattled by an encounter last summer at a Chipotle restaurant in Atlanta, where a woman approached her and a friend, calling the two — who are Indian American — “murderers” and “rapists." It escalated and she threatened to call U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to deport them “back” to India, which the woman called a “dirty country.” Both of them were born in the U.S.

“Our hands were shaking and we full-on cried in the car,” Gutta said. “It made me realize that I grew up still very privileged, and I felt like I lived in a bubble up until then, because nothing like that had ever happened to me."

She later shared the experience with Stop AAPI Hate, and after talking at great length with a staff member was emboldened to volunteer with the group.

“It made me realize I would love to be a part of this solution,” Gutta said. “I would love to educate people. I would look at these issues and continue educating myself further because I think politics can be really scary.”

Reaching AAPI voters in red states, too

Stop AAPI Hate Action is ready to dive head first into the November midterms. That does not mean blindly advocating for all Democratic candidates, Kulkarni said. The group's main goal is to support candidates who share core values on immigration policies and civil rights.

“It is really, at its core, about harnessing the pain felt at an individual level and turning it into a collective power,” Kulkarni said. “This really has been an existential threat to our community."

The nonprofit is also not trying to compete or duplicate other AAPI-focused civic engagement organizations. The group is looking beyond blue states and swing states. A primary goal is to flip red districts with a significant presence of Asian American voters and turn them blue. There are areas in Republican-run states “that deserve to be reached out to,” said Andy Wong, Stop AAPI Hate Action managing director of advocacy.

“The ones in Iowa and Nebraska and Alaska and other places where there are competitive purple districts — many of them with GOP incumbents," Wong said. “We are going to reach voters in those places,” by enlisting phone bank volunteers who speak Korean, Vietnamese, Cantonese and Mandarin.

That effort starts in July, and they plan to focus on reaching people who only turn out to vote in big general elections. To help build rapport, they also plan to match volunteers with voters of the same ethnicity.

Building longevity as a voting bloc

This new political entity is not a one-and-done operation, Stop AAPI Hate staffers say. The Asian American and Pacific Islander community is one of the fastest growing populations in the U.S., which means with each election year, there's potential for new voters.

But the political parties have overlooked this fact, and failed to invest in voter outreach and other civic engagement, Kulkarni said. “We’ve really been an afterthought. We're 24 million people."

Stop AAPI Hate sees the next few years not just as an opportunity to win over voters but also to increase AAPI power as an entire voting bloc. Kulkarni says some data indicates Latino, Black and Asian Americans who moved somewhat to the right during the 2024 election are edging back to the left.

“Where you see that especially is the South Asian or Indian American community specifically. You've seen that in some of the other (Asian American communities)," she said. "How do we harness that?”

The group needs to build an infrastructure to get people involved not just when there's a major election, Wong said. They also hope to empower Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders who are already doing the work to become leaders in their patches.

“They're putting in the phone calls. They're showing up at public hearings, delivering comments,” Wong said. “It’s about building long-term civic and political power.”

The National Assembly voted 254-0 — a rare show of unanimity — to adopt a bill repealing Code Noir, or Black Code, the 1685 decree King Louis XIV signed to govern slaves across France’s colonies.

The law turned human beings into chattel, allowing them to be worked, beaten, sold, raped and murdered.

And the realization that France never formally did away with it left many aghast. Debate in the chamber turned raw on Thursday.

Steevy Gustave — a lawmaker descended from enslaved people on the Caribbean island of Martinique, now a French overseas department — told colleagues that the repeal was necessary, “but no vote alone can repair centuries of shattered lives.”

“We are not descendants of slaves,” he said, bursting into tears. “We are descendants of human beings born free, then reduced to the worst — reduced to slavery.”

The code’s reach was total. Article 44 declared the enslaved “movable property” — assets a master could acquire like real estate. Those who fled faced branding, the amputation of their ears, and even death. The word of an enslaved person counted for nothing.

Code Noir’s 60 articles “should never have survived the abolition of slavery” in the 19th century, President Emmanuel Macron said last week.

“The silence, even the indifference, that we have maintained for nearly two centuries toward this Black Code is no longer an oversight,” Macron said. “It has become a form of offense.”

Like French presidents before him, Macron stopped short of an apology.

France ran the third-largest slave trade, shipping about 1.4 million Africans to plantations whose sugar wealth built the French cities of Nantes and Bordeaux. The French empire later spanned four continents.

Others see the repeal as something more telling — a symptom, they argue, of a country that has yet to reckon fully with that past, one of many slow steps along the way.

Calls for France to face its past

In law, officially eliminating it is the easy part, observers say. Code Noir lost all authority in 1848, when France abolished slavery.

France didn't relinquish its slave colonies: the four oldest — Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana and Réunion — were made full French overseas departments in 1946. That means they're governed from Paris like any other.

Their roughly 1.9 million people, most descended from the enslaved, are French citizens.

Despite being fully part of France, the overseas departments remain among its poorest territories. Unemployment runs roughly double the mainland rate, and more than three-quarters of households in the Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte live below the national poverty line.

Shocked to find the law wasn't annulled

Before he discovered the truth, the French lawmaker who put forward the proposal to repeal the law didn't know it still existed.

Max Mathiasin, from Guadeloupe, had bought copies of the text over the years and left them on his shelf.

“As the great-great-grandson of people who were enslaved, I had never been able to read it in full,” he said. “This was made by human beings — against human beings.”

For him, the vote is “a way of restoring our ancestors, restoring our humanity” before a France whose motto is liberty, equality, fraternity. “It means living up to the Republican promise.”

That promise, he says, is still unkept at home.

“In Guadeloupe,” Mathiasin said, “in the most important positions, in the structures of the state, they are white.”

A colonial exception that never ended

The Foundation for the Memory of Slavery is chaired by a former prime minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, and its deputy director is Pierre-Yves Bocquet — both white men.

Bocquet calls Code Noir the birthplace of France’s “colonial exception” — the principle that the French Republic’s founding rights could be suspended for those under its rule.

The principle outlived the empire, he said: “Even today, we accept that people in the overseas territories can have fewer rights than in mainland France.”

France is hardly the only country still holding fragments of empire — the United Kingdom, the United States and the Netherlands still have overseas territories.

But what sets France apart, observers say, is that it made its slave colonies equal departments of the Republic, not dependencies it governs from afar.

The state insists that the overseas departments are France like anywhere else, even as the people who live there say they are treated as less.

Most major colonial powers, including Britain, Spain and Portugal, had laws governing slavery in their colonies. In each case, those laws fell away when slavery itself was abolished, leaving no single text to repeal.

France’s Code Noir was different, experts say: a single, named royal law that no one ever formally erased, even after France abolished slavery.

France is 'still in a form of apartheid’

For Max Relouzat, 81, president of the Association for the Memory of Slaveries, the repeal matters, because so little else has.

His African ancestor had no name under the law, only a number and a registration code — the family that lived in Martinique was given the name Relouzat at emancipation, likely after Nelouzat, a village in the Auvergne region of central France.

What galls him, he said, is what the symbolism leaves untouched: systemic racism in France.

“Under the cover of departmentalization, a colonial system was maintained,” Relouzat said. “If the overseas departments are part of France, why is there a ministry for the overseas?”

In France, he said, “we are still today in a form of apartheid … a form of colonial continuity.”

‘Racism is the legacy of slavery itself’

For some who have fought longest, Thursday isn't the milestone it appears.

For Florence Alexis, a slavery expert and daughter of the Haitian writer Jacques Stephen Alexis, the real turning point came 25 years ago. In 2001, the Taubira law made France the first country to call the slave trade, and slavery, crimes against humanity.

“That is what changed my life,” Alexis said.

For her, racism is the legacy of slavery itself, not of one edict.

“When I was a child at school, they called me the little monkey,” she said. “People made animal cries when I walked past — as they still do in football stadiums today.”

Paris-born Élodie Léon, 29, whose family is from French Guiana, welcomes the repeal, but resents the delay.

“Symbolic neglect is also neglect,” she said.

“It shocks me,” said Muriel Jean-Baptiste, a Paris-born nurse whose parents are from Martinique. “A law that treated Black people as property was left sitting there.”

The history of reparations

At the Taubira law’s 25th anniversary on May 21, Macron floated the idea of reparations — something that France has long stayed away from addressing.

He called it “a question we must not refuse,” but one on which “we must not make false promises.”

He committed no money, instead defining repair first as truth-telling, education and historical work.

The wealthiest of France's plantations were in Saint-Domingue, in the Caribbean, where the enslaved rose up and won independence in 1804 as Haiti. France then forced the freed to pay reparations for the loss of their masters — a debt cleared only in 1947.

France isn't alone. In the United States, federal reparations legislation has stalled for decades. California approved an apology, but no cash.

But the timing of Macron's latest speech was awkward. Two months earlier, France abstained when the U.N. General Assembly voted 123-3, with 52 abstentions, to call the trans-Atlantic slave trade the gravest crime against humanity.

And this month at the Africa Forward Summit in Kenya, days after declaring himself a “pan-Africanist,” Macron seized a microphone and ordered the room to quiet down.

“As soon as he sets foot on the African continent,” French opposition lawmaker Danièle Obono said, “he can’t help but behave like a colonizer.”

The repeal of the nCode Noir, said Bocquet, “will have no direct effect.” Whether it helps France fight racism and inequality in its overseas territories, he said, “remains to be seen.”

“It is easy for the French authorities, and for Macron, to do this,” Alexis added. “Because it commits them to nothing.”

Northeast Texas could provide the U.S. Army with part of its critical lithium supply if a proposed federal bill is passed under the National Defense Authorization Act.

East Texas Congressman Nathaniel Moran and U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn proposed a bill that would allow private-sector companies to mine for lithium beneath military depots. The goal of this bill, called The Army Organic Industrial Base Mineral Partnerships Act of 2026, is to provide the military with a steady supply of U.S.-based lithium, rather than rely on foreign countries.

The bill could also be a boon for East Texas, a region long dependent on timber, agriculture and oil.

The Army uses lithium to power equipment, like drones or night vision goggles, and support submarines, wheeled vehicles and airplanes. Lithium, a metal that is used medically to treat mood disorders, also has applications in batteries and technology. Most notably, lithium powers the batteries used in electric cars.

For the most part, the U.S. relies on other countries, such as China, to provide critical minerals like lithium for military operations.

Bowie County, which is the furthest northeast county in Texas and is within the Texarkana metropolitan area, resides on one of the largest deposits of lithium brine in the U.S. It is also home to the Red River Army Depot, a roughly 15,000-acre U.S. military base, which already has existing lithium mining projects in the surrounding area.

If approved, the legislation could create new jobs and tax revenues for Bowie County, Moran said. It would establish Texarkana as the army’s premier hub for lithium battery production, Cruz said in a statement.

“Anything that creates investment in jobs is good for our community,” said Bowie County Judge Bobby Howell.

Lithium is often found in salty water aquifers thousands of feet below the ground. The Smackover Formation, which spans from Central Texas to the Florida Panhandle, provides lithium in levels comparable to Chile, one of the leading countries in lithium production.

Most of the production on the Smackover Formation has been in southern Arkansas, but those operations are expanding into East Texas.

Bringing private sector into military mining

EnergyX, an Austin-based lithium mining company, set up shop on former army depot land to get an idea of how best to extract the mineral from the brine in the region.

Milda Saenz, chief of staff for EnergyX, sees the potential for military connections as a positive thing for the industry. But she’s skeptical on this bill’s impact on the entire industry. Plus, there are several unanswered questions, including which federal agency would oversee mineral leasing on military land and how companies would gain access to those rights.

“We’re glad to hear that the politicians realize that the United States needs to open their resources if they want to become competitive globally, especially securing our national security, national resources and supply chains,” Saenz said.

There is no mechanism currently in place for commercial organizations to access the lithium beneath military installations on the Smackover Formation, said Scott Norton, executive director and CEO of TexAmericas Center. TexAmericas is an industrial real estate developer and manager based in Texarkana. The state named the company a local redevelopment authority to create jobs by redeveloping former Department of Defense property into functional space for commercial and industrial businesses.

Norton said EnergyX will have the option to expand into a full-scale mining operation in the acres that surround the military depot. Saenz said the company is working through its plans, with hopes of growing in phases over the next few years.

Weighing lithium’s environmental risks

East Texans have had a hard battle over the last two years to protect their water supply from overconsumption and pollution. Lately, AI data centers, because of their use of water and impact on the environment, have led to major pushback by the populace.

Lithium extraction, which requires companies to pump brine water from thousands of feet below the surface, could cause alarm. However, the process currently puts the water – minus the minerals – back where it was found.

Moran believes there is a way to mine for lithium that doesn’t harm the environment or water supply.

“We want to do this in a responsible way, a thoughtful way, a reasonable, prudent way,” Moran said. “One that is as a good steward to our natural resources, but also one that understands the significant national security interests wrapped up into becoming independent from China and our adversaries when it comes to critical minerals.”

Howell said he hasn’t heard any pushback from his constituents. Largely, he said, the community sees these projects as a benefit because they bring in well-paying jobs and support the local economy.

EnergyX’s process, for example, is a little different from the processes seen in other countries, such as Chile and Australia. It aims to have little to no environmental impact. It extracts the brine that has lithium in it, which sits thousands of feet below the surface, pumps it through an extraction process and sends the unused brine back to the Smackover Formation the same day.

“We are super clean,” Saenz said. “We are super clean while extracting. We use very little water and get lithium in the cleanest way possible and the fastest way without making any impact on the land or water.”

East Texas’ next big boom?

Lithium mining operations have been cropping up across East Texas over the last five years. Local economists have called it East Texas’ “next big boom.”

“Texas has a lot of potential,” said Brent Elliott, an economic geologist and mineral resource specialist with the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas at Austin. “We have some of the highest lithium values from brines anywhere in the United States, and it just makes sense because we’re already mining it. There’s been a legacy and historical development of those brines in the past as part of oil and gas production, so it just seems like a no-brainer.”

And the possibilities for communities like those in Bowie County are exciting to the economic development leaders trying to expand the regional economy. Norton, with the TexAmericas Center, said lithium production projects create jobs not just within the industry, but in those that support it, such as education, truck driving, retail and healthcare.

“It’s a great opportunity for not just the Department of War and Red River Army Depot, but also the entire region when it comes to capital investment and job creation,” he said.

But as with any relatively new industry, there are some kinks to work out, said Elliott.

Arkansas has been the hub for lithium mining in the region and has built out rules and regulations that support companies, landowners and those who own mineral rights. Texas is a little behind in the sense that it doesn’t have as extensive rules and regulations as more established lithium mining regions, Elliott said.

“Texas is probably a much friendlier state as far as developing businesses and industry with the oil and gas as the precedent,” Elliott said. “We could probably catch up to Arkansas production pretty quickly. But it is the Wild West until we get some things in place.”

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

As part of the I-35 Northeast Expansion Program, TxDOT will close the north and south I-35 main lanes at Loop 1604 for bridge beam work.

The closure is scheduled from 8 p.m. Friday, May 29, to 9 a.m. Saturday, May 30, weather permitting.

Detour information​​

All northbound and southbound I-35 main lanes at Loop 1604 will be closed.

Northbound I-35 traffic will be detoured to the northbound I-35 to the eastbound Loop 1604 direct connector to Pat Booker Road.

Southbound I-35 traffic will be detoured to the southbound I-35 to the westbound Loop 1604 direct connector to Lookout Road.

The second closure is the northbound I-35 exit ramp at Splashtown Drive.

The closure is scheduled from 9 p.m. Friday, May 29, through 5 a.m. Monday, June 1.

Detour information​​

Drivers who need to access the northbound I-35 frontage road should follow posted detour signs.

Motorists should continue on northbound I-35, then use the next exit ramp at Binz-Engleman Road to access the northbound I-35 frontage road.

You can find the latest information and progress on the NEX Central Project at this link.

Read also:

• Drivers heads up: New round of construction begins on I-10 near downtown

“It’s been so eye-opening to see who my people are,” Adler said. “I feel the love, I feel the compassion, the care — it’s nice to have a family again.”

Adopted by an American family when he was 9 months old, the 36-year-old is one of thousands of children who were stolen from Chilean families during the 17-year dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet and among hundreds who have been reunited with their birth families thanks to DNA tracing and organizations that are helping Chilean adoptees investigate their pasts. Others are also working toward justice for the families ripped apart.

The American family that adopted Adler in 1990 raised him in an affluent Chicago suburb.

“My parents didn’t steal me; they didn’t name me Kyle out of malice. They saw me as who they wanted me to become, and there’s a lot of love that was put into that,” Adler said of his adoptive parents Mike and Connie Adler. Adler believes neither of them knew the circumstances surrounding his adoption. He said neither were initially supportive of his decision to find his birth mother before they died in 2022.

He grew up to be an overachiever who in adulthood wanted more meaning to his life, he said.

“Suddenly now I found myself where I didn’t know what to do. I knew I was adopted and at that point, I was just like, I need to find my mom.”

The day he was taken

Adler’s biological mother, Ana Maria Navarrete, was a 19-year-old single parent working nights at a fish shop in the seaside city of Coronel, some 533 kilometers (331 miles) south of the capital. She had named him Marcos Antonio Navarrete.

She could only afford a room for herself, so she hired a woman who took Adler into her home as a baby and looked after him. Navarrete told The Associated Press she visited him whenever she was not working.

One day, the caregiver told her he was taken by an American couple after a local priest made arrangements for a baby “in need of a family.”

“And she let them have him,” Navarrete told AP, furious and ashamed. The AP could not independently verify all the details of what occurred.

A police investigator told her the baby had likely been taken as part of a wide-reaching counterfeit adoption network that involved adoption agencies, immigration officials, judges, nurses and even doctors.

No one was held accountable, Navarrete said, and “those years afterward were some of the worst years of my life.”

Lacking family support, she said she eventually surrendered the idea she would get her son back.

No justice

“Justice for the poor did not exist in Chile and it still does not,” said Constanza Del Rio, founder and executive director of Nos Buscamos, a nonprofit organization with online data for thousands of cases. The government estimates more than 20,000 children were stolen from families.

Children of the poor and Indigenous populations were targeted during the Pinochet regime from 1973 to 1990, said Jimmy Lippert Thyden González, who was also illegally adopted and became a human rights lawyer.

“It was an effort to eliminate and eradicate the poor class. It was a way of eradicating the Indigenous population, the uneducated population,” he said.

Uncovering the past

In early 2017, Adler came across the Nos Buscamos Facebook group while Googling the term “Chilean birth mom search” online, he said. And that’s when he messaged Del Rio.

Within three months, Del Rio had confirmed Adler's origin story and organized a virtual reunion.

Initially, Adler felt crushed to find out he was adopted illegally, sending him into an identity crisis that led to years of therapy.

Then last year, Adler finally felt ready for answers.

A DNA test provided by genealogy platform MyHeritage, a global family history company based in Israel, confirmed a match between Adler and 56-year-old Navarrete of Santiago and “made it official,” he said.

MyHeritage partners with both Nos Buscamos and Connecting Roots, and other nonprofits doing similar work, to provide free at-home DNA testing kits for distribution to Chilean adoptees and suspected victims of child trafficking.

Tyler Graf, the founder and CEO of Connecting Roots, traveled with Adler.

Graf had also reunited with his birth mother Hilda Quezada Godoy decades after he was taken from her, and said it is now his mission to track others taken from families in Chile.

“Now it’s time to mend these families and bring everyone back home so they can see where they came from,” Graf told the AP.

Fighting for justice for the families that were separated

Lippert Thyden González sued the Chilean government two years ago and hopes to lead the fight all the way to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. He also founded the organization Grafting Hope, a nonprofit focused on educating U.S. lawmakers and fighting for the rights of survivors of counterfeit adoptions.

The Chilean government didn’t immediately respond to several messages seeking comment from AP.

“I want justice. Not just for me, but also for him because I don’t know the type of life he had,” Navarrete told AP days after reuniting with her son.

Navarrete is working with a law firm and hopes those involved will get jail-time.

The reunion

“My birth mom’s just been wanting me to be alive,” Adler said ahead of boarding the flight from Miami in February.

The two were reunited two days after her 56th birthday on Valentine’s Day and an AP team was with them in Miami and Chile.

Tears flowed as Adler exited the international arrivals gate in Chile. Both mother and son were wearing white as Navarrete ran to embrace him. The tall, dark-haired son bent over to bury his face in his mother's hair.

“I’m so happy to be finally meeting him, my dream has finally come true,” Navarrete said.

The emotional reunion led to a fruitful week together visiting the beach in Coronel, the hospital where Adler was born and the house where he was taken from. They recovered a copy of his original birth certificate, and he met one of his four siblings. In Miami, he had previously met another sister and her daughter.

Back in Santiago, the two enjoyed keepsakes Adler brought with him as gifts: A framed graduation diploma, childhood photographs and a pair of baby shoes his adoptive parents had kept.

Adler is not a Spanish speaker so Connecting Roots provided a translator. These days, translation apps help them continue the conversation.

Navarrete said the time spent with her son was joyful but it also made her relive much of the pain of the past 35 years.

“It took me so long to find him. And then to spend a week together only to have him leave,” Navarrete said amid tears, “it's like I found him but I've now lost him all over again.”

She said she's hopeful the family will reunite in December. For Adler, the road to forgiveness continues but he hopes Navarrete is able to let go of the trauma.

“I’m not just the son that you lost, I’m the son that you found. I’m back to being your son,” he said.

___

The story has been updated to correct that Lippert Thyden González sued two years ago, not three years ago.

Join KSAT 12 Meteorologist Justin Horne this Thursday, 5/28, for a fun, fast giveaway sponsored by Circle K.

• 📍 Location: Circle K, 3890 N. Loop 1604 E.
• 📅 Date: May 28
• ⏱️ Line starts: 8:00 a.m.
• 👕 T-shirt giveaway starts: 9:00 a.m.
• 🎟️ Cost: FREE to the first 100 people in line

Giveaway details (read this part!)

• First 100 KSAT viewers/Spurs fans in line get a shirt
• Limit one (1) T-shirt per person, while supplies last
• Sizes are subject to availability and not guaranteed; recipients will receive the size available at the time of distribution
• No exchanges

Bring your Spurs energy, be ready to “Honk the Horne,” and let’s show up strong for our silver and black.

GO SPURS GO — and don’t forget to watch Larry, Mary and Ashley for the latest in Spurs news!

You can read the Official Rules & Regulations here.

A venue spokesperson told KSAT that tickets were officially sold only to people within a 150-mile radius of the arena to honor the local fanbase that’s been there for the team, win or lose.

As the Silver and Black approach a pivotal moment in the race to the NBA Finals, the Spurs are taking notice of how the celebration is spilling into the streets.

“Thank you for being the best fans in the NBA. Let’s celebrate safe, respect our city and each other, and show up for the Silver & Black the right way. Por Vida!” the team said in a statement.

KSAT asked San Antonio police whether there had been any arrests resulting from the street takeovers on Southwest Military Drive and East Commerce Street.

Surprisingly, SAPD said it only arrested one person after Game 4 on Sunday.

More Spurs coverage on KSAT:

• Thunder top Spurs 127-114 in Game 5, move a win away from a return to NBA Finals
• ‘We’ve got to fly them to OKC’: Kornet prays with nuns before Game 4 blowout win over Thunder

The proposal is widely popular in Brazil ahead of presidential elections in October, and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva sponsored the move and has repeatedly promoted it. The amendment approved late Wednesday, which must now also pass the Senate, is part of a push within the region that has been lauded by labor rights groups but highly criticized by the business sector.

Currently, Brazilians work five eight-hour days and four hours on a sixth day for 44 hours total. The amendment would end the six-day workweek without reducing pay for at least 37 million people and establishes a 40-hour weekly work limit. It would guarantee two consecutive 24-hour rest days each week, preferably Saturdays and Sundays.

“People who have this workweek from Monday to Saturday are the ones that have to work the hardest and are paid the least,” lawmaker Paulo Pimenta, Brazil’s government whip in the lower house, told his peers as they voted. “We need to be brave and do justice.”

Many opposition lawmakers voted for it after months of pressure from their constituents, but some continued to criticize the initiative.

“I don't care if this is an election year. I think we need to be responsible. This will be a problem for many companies," lawmaker Kim Kataguiri said. “We are doing this in a rush and workers should know they might end up worse than they are now if business leaders stop hiring.”

The amendment would give businesses 14 months to adapt, which was a key point in negotiations. Many business leaders and lawmakers wanted the changes to be made gradually over 10 years.

“This was built with a lot of responsibility, thinking about workers and families in Brazil,” said lawmaker Leo Prates, who drafted the amendment in the lower house. “We need to accomplish this for the Brazilian people.”

The lower house votes late Wednesday sent the amendment to the upper house. Brazil’s Senate has not set a date for its vote and could make changes before Lula’s approval for the constitution to be amended.

Lula's main rival in the election, Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, wants to replace the current workweek system with a more flexible payment-by-the-hour strategy, which so far seems to be popular only among some business leaders.

Other Latin American nations have also recently shortened the workweek.

In February, Mexican lawmakers approved a proposal by President Claudia Sheinbaum to trim the 48-hour workweek. Working hours will be shortened gradually to a 40-hour workweek by 2030.

Chile in 2023 passed the so-called 40-Hour Law, which reduced its workweek to 40 hours as of last year. It applies to all workers under Chile’s Labor Code, without reducing pay.

But Argentina has bucked that trend under libertarian President Javier Milei and may extend its 48-hour workweek. A labor overhaul package passed earlier this year extends the maximum workday from eight to 12 hours and scraps overtime pay, among other measures that Argentine labor unions say favor companies over employees.

___

AP journalists Megan Janetsky, Isabel DeBre and Nayara Batschke contributed to this report from Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Santiago, Chile.

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Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

Dong Guangping, 68, was aboard a 3.3-meter (10.8-foot) rubber boat in the waters off a western South Korean island on Monday night when he was detained by South Korea's coast guard for allegedly violating the country’s immigration law.

The coast guard sought a warrant to formally arrest him, but a local court on Thursday refused, saying it's “difficult to recognize sufficient grounds and necessity” for his arrest. The coast guard said later Thursday it will hand him over to an immigration office but will continue to investigate him.

Dong's prospects are unclear. Investigative authorities could pursue his arrest again or indict him without his physical detention. If Dong applies for refugee status, South Korea’s Justice Ministry said it will review it.

While Dong's possible submission of evidence of his political oppression in China could increase his chances for getting refugee status, observers still note that South Korea's acceptance rate for refugee status applications has been less than 2% in recent years.

Dong, a former police officer in China, had previously been detained in China several times for his activism. He was imprisoned for three years in 2001 for “inciting subversion of state power” and spent more than eight months behind bars after being arrested in 2014 for participating in a memorial for victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, according to past statements from Amnesty International.

It is his fourth known attempt to flee China. Appearing at the court hearing Thursday, he told reporters that he hopes to go to Canada via South Korea to reunite with his wife and daughters, who already resettled there, according to South Korean media.

He previously escaped to Thailand and Vietnam, but authorities there deported him back to China. Dong also unsuccessfully tried to swim to a Taiwanese island.

In a post Wednesday on X, Sheng Xue, a Chinese Canadian activist, praised Dong's braveness. She said Dong had discussed fleeing by boat with her, though she felt it was too dangerous. She said she talked again to Dong through Messenger, after he arrived in South Korea.

“Dong Guangping said that when he reached Korean waters, he was already in a state of unconsciousness. He hadn’t slept for over 50 hours and had been blown by sea winds for over 30 hours,” she said.

A local coast guard office handling Dong's case said he had no major health issues when he was detained. The office said Dong told investigators that he came from Weihai city in China’s eastern Shandong province though he’s refused to respond to most other questions.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning, asked about Dong's case at a regular briefing Wednesday, answered that she was “not familiar with that.”

South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson Park Il told reporters Thursday that Dong's case would likely be handled in line with the local law, though he referred questions to immigration authorities at the Justice Ministry.

Danielle Hickey, a spokesperson for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, told The Associated Press in an emailed statement that the department could not comment on individual cases but that the country has a “proud tradition of protecting refugees and supporting their resettlement with compassion, respect, and dignity.”

Dong is not the first Chinese dissident to flee to South Korea by boat, though such an incident is highly unusual. In 2023, Kwon Pyong, another Chinese dissident, reached South Korea on a jet ski, saying he was trying to escape persecution in China for mocking its communist leadership. He was initially detained in South Korea but later reportedly moved to the U.S. to seek asylum.

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Associated Press writers Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul and Kanis Leung in Hong Kong contributed to this report.

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This version corrects the pronoun referring to the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson to “she.”

Inflation jumped to 3.8% in April compared with a year ago, the Commerce Department said Thursday, up from 3.5% in March and the highest since May 2023. On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.4%, down from the 0.7% jump in March but still higher than the inflation-fighters at the Federal Reserve would prefer.

Thursday’s inflation report also showed that in addition to gasoline, prices for groceries, clothing and electricity are also on the rise, indicating that inflation may be growing more entrenched. Inflation is notably above the Federal Reserve's target of 2%, which means Fed policymakers may decide to forego any cuts to their key short-term interest rate this year. Some officials have signaled that the central bank's most substantial move under new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh could be a rate hike, rather than a cut.

Yet Trump and some his top officials are showing little concern about higher prices and the impact of the Iran war on Americans' financial health. Consumers have a dim view of the economy and have soured on the Trump administration's economic policies. Thursday's report showed that Americans' after-tax, inflation-adjusted incomes fell for the third straight month, while spending, adjusted for inflation, barely rose.

Trump has said that increases in gas prices — up more than 50% since the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Iran — amount to “peanuts.” He previously said he does not consider Americans’ personal finances “even a little bit” when mulling his options on the war.

And on Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said higher prices would be “transitory,” reviving an ill-fated term used by former Fed Chair Jerome Powell to describe the 2021-22 inflation spike that became a forceful political tailwind for Trump in his campaign for a second presidential term.

Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core inflation rose to 3.3% in April from 3.2% the previous month. It is the highest core figure since October 2023. One positive sign in the report: Core prices rose just 0.2% in April from March, down from 0.3% the previous month.

Dan North, senior economist at Allianz Trade North America, acknowledged the core price increase isn't “huge,” but added, “it’s the wrong way, and we think it will continue in the wrong way because there are so many inflation pressures in the pipeline.”

Americans' incomes were unchanged in April from March, in part because farm incomes fell after a large government aid package ended last month. Adjusted for inflation, personal income actually slipped 0.1% last month.

Spending rose 0.5% in April from March, though most of that reflected price increases. Adjusted for inflation, spending rose just 0.1% in April, down from 0.3% the previous month.

“Signs of stress are building inside the American household across the economy,” Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM, a tax advisory firm, said. “Inflation-adjusted spending, disposable income ... point to a slowing in May spending as inflation approaches a peak on the back of a historic supply shock."

The U.S. economy grew at a modest 1.6% annual pace from January through March, according to a separate report from the Commerce Department Thursday. The country’s gross domestic product — the nation’s output of goods and services — rebounded from a lackluster 0.5% expansion the last quarter of 2025 when growth was hobbled by the 43-day federal government shutdown.

The first-quarter growth, which covered the first month of the Iran war, was a downgrade from the 2% expansion Commerce initially reported.

Resilient consumer spending — mostly by upper-income households — and ongoing investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure are helping propel modest growth.

Growth in consumer spending, which accounts for two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, slowed to 1.4% in the first quarter from 1.9% at the end of 2025 and was down from the 1.6% preliminary first-quarter estimate. But business investment, likely driven by spending on artificial intelligence, rose at a 7% pace.

Gas prices averaged of about $4.50 a gallon nationwide for three weeks this month before slipping to $4.43 on Thursday, according to the AAA motor club. Gas averaged $2.98 a gallon the day before the Iran war began.

Yet the cost of many other goods and services have picked up in recent months, raising concerns among many Fed officials that inflation is being pushed higher by tariffs and other factors in addition to the war. The cost of services such as dental visits, car repairs and veterinarian visits have been rising sharply, and clothes, toys, and groceries are also seeing outsize price gains.

Rapid investment in artificial intelligence centers also appears to be driving up the cost of computer equipment and software, adding to inflationary pressures. Electricity prices have also spiked from a year ago.

KSAT has compiled a list of some districts in the area providing summer meals, which can be viewed below:

San Antonio Food Bank

The San Antonio Food Bank is partnering with more than 100 community centers, public libraries, schools, and more to provide no-cost meals, groceries, and snacks to kids throughout Southwest Texas this summer.

Through its Summer Meals Sites, children 18 and younger can enjoy no-cost breakfast, lunch, and snacks—no registration or ID required.

The meals are available at schools, parks, libraries, community centers, and other neighborhood locations listed, making it easy for families to access nutritious food close to home.

For a full list of the food bank’s summer meal sites, visit its website.

San Antonio Independent School District

San Antonio Independent School District will continue to provide meals during the summer at no cost to children ages 18 years and younger from June 1 through July 31.

Students who continue to be enrolled in school past the age of 18 but under the age of 21, and who are identified as disabled through a special education program, are also eligible for free meals.

For a full list of SAISD’s summer meal sites, visit the district’s website or call 210-554-2290 for more information.

North East Independent School District

North East Independent School District is participating in the Summer Food Service Program.

NEISD’s free summer food service program begins June 4 and ends July 31.

Meals will be provided to all children without charge to all children 18 and younger.

Meals sponsored by NEISD School Nutrition are available at several schools and must be eaten on site, according to the district. Times vary by location.

For a full list of the district’s summer feeding sites, click here.

Northside Independent School District

Northside Independent School District will provide free breakfast and free lunch to all children 18 and younger, regardless of whether they are students in the district.

There’s no cost to participate, and no registration or identification is required.

A full list of summer feeding sites can be found on the district’s website.

IDEA Public Schools

IDEA Public Schools will offer free breakfast and lunch to children 18 and younger, whether or not they attend an IDEA school.

The summer meals program runs from June 1 through July 31 and is open to children in the community. Meals must be eaten in the cafeteria at any participating IDEA campus, Monday through Friday.

Breakfast will be served from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m., and lunch will be served from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Food service will be closed on federal holidays, as well as from June 29 through July 4.

Click here for more information.

Somerset Independent School District

Somerset Independent School District will provide free summer meals for children through the Seamless Summer Option Program.

Meals will be available for all children 18 years and younger at the following campuses.

Barrera Elementary

• Breakfast: 8:30 – 9:15 a.m.
• Lunch: 11:30 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.

Somerset High School

• Breakfast: 8:30 a.m. – 9:15 a.m.
• Lunch: 11:30 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.

Meals will be provided on weekdays from June 1 to June 31. Click here for more information.

There are many more food service sites across Texas! Click here to find the closest one to you or call 211 to speak to a live operator.

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Crews were dispatched to the explosion at approximately 8:30 a.m. Wednesday at a home in The Overlook at Bear Creek subdivision, which is located around nine miles south of Fredericksburg near U.S. Highway 87.

Upon arrival, the crews found a two-story home on a six-acre lot “fully involved in fire,” Fredericksburg fire officials said. The home sustained extensive damage, and a detached structure on the same property was damaged by flying debris.

One of the two people injured was airlifted to a San Antonio area hospital for treatment. An ambulance took the other person to a hospital since weather conditions prevented a second helicopter from flying safely, according to fire officials.

There are no road closures at this time. However, officials said that people should avoid the area to allow first responders to access the scene safely.

“This appears to be an isolated incident, with no further damage to the surrounding community,” a Fredericksburg fire news release said.

No further evacuations are expected to happen following the explosion, authorities said.

The cause of the explosion is under investigation by the Gillespie County Sheriff’s Office, the City of Fredericksburg, the Gillespie County Fire Marshal’s Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

Several other agencies also responded to the scene, including the Comfort Volunteer Fire Department, Willow City Volunteer Fire & Rescue, and others.

This is a developing story. Check back later for updates.

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According to the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), the upper level of I-10 westbound will be reduced to one lane for repairs from Poplar Street to Cincinnati Avenue. Alternating closures are expected in this area through the fall.

Throughout the duration of the partial closure, TxDOT said the lower-level of the I-10 westbound will still be open for travel. However, drivers should expect delays coming from I-35 on the West Side and South Side.

The construction is part of major repairs to portions of I-35 and I-10 in the downtown area.

The project includes $25.9 million in improvements spanning 5.5 miles along the corridor: I-35 from South Laredo Street to I-37 and Camden Street, and I-10 from I-35 to Hildebrand Avenue.

Read also:

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In two international studies, about 1 in 5 patients given the experimental drug saw their virus reduced to levels low enough for the immune system to keep in check.

“We have not had a treatment which has come to this level of cure,” Dr. Seng Gee Lim of the National University Health System of Singapore, who helped lead the GSK-funded studies, told reporters before presenting the findings at a scientific meeting in Barcelona, Spain.

The data also was published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Chronic hepatitis B can cause liver cancer or liver failure, and kills about 1.1 million people around the world each year. Improvements to today’s lifelong therapy, which can be hard to stick with or to access in some countries, have been sought for decades.

The new findings “represent a major step,” Dr. Anna Lok, a hepatitis expert at the University of Michigan who wasn’t involved in the research, wrote in the journal. But she cautioned that more study is needed to see how long that remission-like state lasts.

The drug is bepirovirsen, nicknamed “bepi” and developed by GSK and Ionis Pharmaceuticals. It is under fast-track review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, with a decision expected in October. Regulators in Japan, China and Europe also are considering the drug.

Hepatitis B is a serious liver infection spread through contact with blood or other bodily fluids, including childbirth. A highly effective vaccine can prevent it. For people who are infected, many have an “acute” illness that lasts several months. But for some — about 1.7 million people in the U.S. and more than 250 million worldwide — it becomes a chronic form that gradually damages the liver.

Standard treatments, including daily pills, reduce levels of the virus and prevent liver damage. But a true cure is elusive because hepatitis B has an unusual ability to hide in the body, ready to rebound if therapy stops.

The new drug attacks hepatitis B by binding to its genetic components, suppressing viral replication as well as a key protein, the “S” or surface protein, and stimulates the immune system, said GSK vice president Melanie Paff.

The trials included 1,838 patients assigned to get either a bepi shot or a dummy shot weekly for six months, in addition to their regular pills. If the virus was undetectable for six months after stopping the shots, they could stop their regular pills, too. In about 20% of the bepi recipients, the virus remained undetectable for six more months after they stopped all treatment — that “functional cure” — something no patients given the dummy shots achieved, the researchers reported.

Bepi recipients who started the study with lower levels of that S protein were slightly more likely to achieve a functional cure, Lim said. He is doing additional research to try to determine why only some people respond.

As for how long the functional cure lasts, GSK has tracked a small number of patients from earlier-stage studies and found most still faring well up to three years later, Paff said.

Lim said side effects included mild injection-site redness or pain and a temporary rise in enzymes that can indicate liver stress.

Lok, the Michigan hepatitis expert, noted the trials didn’t include patients with cirrhosis, high S protein levels or other complicating factors.

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

The World Meteorological Organization also forecasts an overheating Arctic that warms nearly 3 degrees Fahrenheit (1.66 degrees Celsius) between now and 2030 and a dangerous drought with potential wildfires for the Amazon, a crucial part of Earth's natural defenses to lessen human-caused climate change. A hotter globe from the burning of coal, oil and gas means more extreme weather including floods, droughts and heat waves, scientists said.

The projections by the U.N. climate agency and the United Kingdom's Meteorological Office said there's a 75% chance that the average global temperature between 2026 and 2030 will be more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) higher compared to pre-industrial times. That threshold is the agreed-upon limit of warming — averaged over 20 years — set in 2015 by the Paris climate agreement.

A U.N. science report a few years later detailed how exceeding that 1.5 mark means more likely death, danger and species loss. Even though it's only a few tenths of a degree, some of the planet's ecosystems, such as coral and glaciers, can't handle the strain.

Passing warming limit has consequences, but no cliff

There’s a 91% chance that at least one of the next five years will shoot past the 1.5 degree threshold and an 86% chance that one of those years will smash the record for Earth’s hottest year set in 2024, the WMO report said. The WMO projects each year between now and 2030 to be between 1.3 degrees Celsius (2.3 degrees Fahrenheit) and 1.9 degrees Celsius (3.4 degrees Fahrenheit) since the late 1800s.

“It’s important to note that (1.5) is not kind of a cliff edge that we’re going to fall off,” said report co-author Melissa Seabrook, a climate scientist at the U.K. Meteorological Office. “Every kind of 0.1 of a degree has more and more severe impact.”

She pointed to unprecedented May heat in Europe this week.

An entire year or more above the 1.5 degree mark “means a whole range of extreme weather events, probably many so hot/wet/dry that it exceeds anything we’ve experienced in the past and thus crucially, anything our city planning, agriculture etc. has anticipated,” Imperial College of London climate scientist Friederike Otto, who wasn’t part of the report, said in an email. “This will mean many people will lose their lives, we are in for a lot of food price shocks, and more intense wildfires.”

Nearly all the shorter-term forecasts call for a strong El Nino — a natural warming of parts of the central Pacific that alters weather worldwide and spikes global temperatures — to form soon. The WMO report said it could stretch all the way to 2028. Because of that, Seabrook said 2027 will likely break the 2024 heat record.

And if the next five years do average more than 1.5 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times, that means Earth will have warmed a quarter of a degree Celsius (0.45 degrees Fahrenheit) in a decade, which is faster than the previous rates of warming. Those were closer to two-tenths of a degree Celsius per decade.

Climate scientists are debating whether global warming is accelerating, “which obviously is quite scary,” and if these projections come true it would give additional evidence to those who see a speeded up rate of change, Seabrook said.

Accelerating warmth forecast in the Arctic

The projections, based on the averaging of about 200 runs of computer simulations using 13 different climate models from various countries, show warming in the Arctic rising 3.5 times faster than the rest of the globe, because there's less ice and snow that had been reflecting solar radiation to space, Seabrook said. It becomes a vicious cycle.

“As the temperature warms, more sea ice melts, the worse this makes it,” Seabrook said.

Winters in the Arctic from 2020 to 2025 on average were 2.1 degrees Fahrenheit (1.2 degrees Celsius) warmer than the 1991-2020 average. The WMO projects the next five winters will average 5.1 degrees Fahrenheit (2.8 degrees Celsius) warmer than that recent normal, Seabrook said.

The report also forecasts Arctic sea ice to continue to shrink in the summer.

Amazon may get drier, sparking fire worries

The report calls for even warmer and unusually dry conditions in the Amazon basin, and that could be devastating for both local residents and the planet as a whole, Seabrook said.

People rely on the Amazon for water and the hotter, drier conditions should increase wildfire risk, Seabrook said, threatening to turn the Amazon, which now sucks heat-trapping carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, into a region that worsens the problem.

Africa's Sahel area, which has been extra dry, is likely to get more than normal rain and that could lead to flooding, Seabrook said.

United Nations officials said efforts to curb climate change haven't been enough.

“Despite the progress of recent years, it’s clear that global heating is still outpacing global efforts to contain it, and the baking temperatures in Europe, India and elsewhere show yet again the brutal human and economic impacts of humanity still burning colossal amounts of coal, oil and gas,” U.N. climate chief Simon Stiell said about the WMO report.

“Whether it’s extreme heat, mega-storms, floods, massive wildfires or droughts hitting food supply and prices,” he said, “every nation is already paying a huge price from this global climate crisis.”

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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.

Every Friday during the school year, Miss Anastasia leads a 10:30 a.m. story time with books, songs and plenty of animated voices for babies, toddlers and young children.

This summer, she will host two reading sessions: one from 9:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. and another from 10:30 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Miss Anastasia has been leading story time with The Twig Book Shop for 26 years.

“We started inside, but we’ve kind of grown out of the inside, so now we have it underneath this pretty awning,” she said.

KSAT’s Sarah Acosta and Sarah Spivey recently brought their children, Dotty and Everett, to see the crowd of families who show up for the weekly readings.

Miss Anastasia said reading out loud to children is one of the most important things parents and caregivers can do.

“It stimulates the brain, it has that connection between parent and child, it increases their vocabulary, it makes them feel safe,” she said. “If you read to your baby, then one day your baby will read to you.”

She said story time is also meant to be a screen-free space where families can slow down and connect.

“For little children, they just want a human face,” she said. “There’s just nothing that can compare with all the dimensions and all of the senses of a real person versus a flat screen.”

The free story time is open to anyone, and Miss Anastasia said toddlers are welcome — even the ones who like to wander.

“If they wander off, you just wander off with them,” she said. “Even if they got just a few minutes of it, it’s priceless.”

The Labor Department reported Thursday that jobless claims were up to 215,000, up from 210,000 the week before. The four-week moving average of claims, which smooths out week-to-week volatility, rose by nearly 6,300 to 209,000.

“Initial claims are still impressively low, near historic lows,” Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics, wrote in a commentary. “The uptick from last week to this week is trivial in a labor market of 159 million workers.″

The number of Americans signing up for unemployment benefits — a proxy for layoffs — has stabilized in a low range of mostly 200,000 to 250,000 a week since the U.S. economy emerged from a brief but nasty pandemic recession in 2020.

The total number of people collecting jobless aid rose by 15,000 to 1.79 million the week that ended May 16.

The persistently low number of claims suggests that most U.S. companies have not resorted to layoffs. But even if they’re not cutting jobs, employers haven’t been adding many either. Last year, companies, nonprofits and government agencies added fewer than 10,000 jobs a month, weakest hiring outside recession years since 2002.

Job creation has picked up a bit so far this year — to an average of 76,000 a month from January through April. By contrast, employers added 122,000 a month in 2024 and averaged nearly 400,000 a month from 2021 through 2023 as the economy roared back from COVID-19 lockdowns.

But the United States now needs fewer jobs to keep the unemployment rate from rising. President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and ongoing Baby Boomer retirements means that the monthly “break-even rate″ of monthly hiring may be as low as zero. And the unemployment rate — 4.3% in April — has, in fact, remained low by historic standards.

The Iran war has clouded the economic outlook as higher energy prices squeeze consumers and businesses. Iran responded to U.S. and Israeli attacks by turning to economic warfare — closing the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil passes, and causing the biggest disruption of global oil supplies in history. In response, U.S. gasoline prices have surged to an average of $4.43 a gallon from an average $2.98 a gallon on the eve of the conflict, according to AAA.

A day before Major League Baseball is expected to make a salary cap proposal, the union outlined its initial economic proposals during a bargaining session at the players' association office in Manhattan. It included what it called a “competitive integrity tax” that would penalize teams dropping below a payroll floor and called for the luxury tax threshold to rise to $300 million next year.

Baseball’s labor contract expires Dec. 1 and MLB is expected to institute a lockout, management’s equivalent of a strike under federal labor law. Players have vowed they never will accept a salary cap.

“Attendance, viewership, interest — by any measure you want to use, our game is moving in a positive direction,” Baltimore pitcher Chris Bassitt, a member of the union's eight-man executive subcommittee, said in a statement. “We’ve put forward proposals designed to continue that trend. Support, incentivize, and reward clubs who are committed to competing, especially small-market clubs. Compensate players fairly for the work they are doing.”

MLB clearly is not in favor of what the union presented and maintains the players' plan would decrease revenue sharing.

“We understand their proposals are designed to benefit players. Unfortunately, they do not address and in fact exacerbate the competitive balance problem our fans are telling us we must address,” MLB spokesman Glen Caplin said in a statement. "The MLBPA’s proposal would reduce the amount transferred to lower-revenue clubs, weaken the competitive balance tax and lead to even more payroll disparity than exists today. For example, under the union’s proposal, the Dodgers would pay less in luxury tax payments, giving them an additional $70 million to spend on payroll.”

Marcus Semien and Sean Manaea of the Mets and Eugenio Suárez of Cincinnati attended the session while other players participated online.

“The players’ proposals provide increased revenue sharing initially guaranteeing every small-market club a minimum of $240 million in revenue every season,” interim union head Bruce Meyer, who replaced Tony Clark in February, said in a statement. “This enhanced revenue sharing includes added protections to ensure clubs prioritize winning over profiteering.”

According to details obtained by The Associated Press:

— The luxury tax threshold, which starts at $244 million this season, would rise to $300 million in 2027 and then increase by $15 million annually. Penalties such as moving back a team’s pick in the amateur draft would be eliminated. Surcharge levels, currently as much as 110%, would drop to 10% above the preceding level.

— Free agent eligibility, which has been six seasons of major league service since the 1976 agreement would drop to five for players who have reached age 30 by Nov. 1. A team could retain the player by making a qualifying offer. If a player in that group refuses the qualifying offer, he would become arbitration eligible.

— The minimum salary would rise from $780,000 this year to $1.5 million next season, $1.65 million in 2028, $1,825,000 in 2029, $2 million in 2030 and $2.2 million in 2031.

— Salary arbitration eligibility would expand and teams would have to offer at least $3 million to eligible players. The threshold increased from two years to three years in 1986 and the so-called super 2 class with those of two to three years began in 1991 at 17% and it increased to 22% in 2013. The union proposed it be expanded to 44%. In addition, salaries in cases decided by arbitration panels would be guaranteed and the union asked that some salaries used for comparisons be given 120% of their value.

— The pre-arbitration bonus pool, established at $50 million in the 2022-26 deal, would increase to $180 million next year and then rise by $15 million annually. Players coming up to the major leagues for the first time who sign multiyear deals either before opening day or during the first 21 days of the season would become ineligible.

— The qualifying offer for players with six years of service would be eliminated. It has diminished the markets of some free agents since it began after the 2012 season because of penalties on signing teams.

— The amateur draft lottery would expand from six teams to eight.

— Rules instituted in 2022 designed to decrease service time manipulation would be expanded, such as ensuring a full year of service to eligible prospects who finish among the top five in MVP voting.

— Lower-revenue teams who lose players as free agents would get increased benefits and low-revenue teams would get more draft selections.

— A competitive integrity tax would be imposed on teams who do not reach 50% of the lowest tax threshold and teams further below would face surcharges. Teams would be penalized for not spending revenue-sharing money they receive on payrolls.

— Each small-market team would be guaranteed at least $240 million in revenue annually and teams would keep more ballpark-related revenue.

— Low-revenue teams with winning records or reaching the playoffs would get more revenue sharing money and local media revenue would be shared among teams more extensively.

A five-year deal was reached on March 10, 2022, the 99th day of a lockout, preserving a 162-game regular-season schedule. That was the sport’s ninth work stoppage and first since a 7 1/2-month strike in 1994-95 caused cancellation of the World Series for the first time since 1904.

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

Trump told reporters on Wednesday that New York Knicks owner James Dolan has invited him to the NBA Finals, when the Eastern Conference champion Knicks host either the Oklahoma City Thunder or the San Antonio Spurs next month at Madison Square Garden.

New York, which is riding an 11-game postseason winning streak after sweeping the Cleveland Cavaliers in the conference finals, is scheduled to host Game 3 on June 8 and Game 4 on June 10.

Trump, a New York native, said he initially planned to attend Game 5 of the conference finals at MSG before the Knicks finished off the Cavaliers in four games. The president called Dolan a “great guy” and marveled at New York's run.

“Boy, what a team,” Trump said. “They have some really great players.”

Trump called the club's return to the finals for the first time since 1999 “great to see.”

“The Knicks have really suffered for years," Trump said to laughter. “They're doing (well) right now.”

Trump has routinely dropped in on prominent sporting events during his time in politics. He's taken in the College Football Playoff championship and caught a prime-time NFL game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New York Jets just days before the 2024 election.

The Knicks have a history of having high-profile celebrities sit courtside at MSG, including filmmaker Spike Lee, who has clashed with Trump in the past.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

Sinner was serving for the match at 5-4, 0-40 in the third set when he bent over on the court and then walked to his chair. He asked for assistance and left the court. Hs entire light blue outfit appeared soaked through with sweat.

When he came back with an ice pack around his neck, he proceeded to lose the next point with a poorly sliced backhand wide and lost the third set 7-5. Sinner left the court again.

He won the first two sets 6-3, 6-2.

The temperature at the start of the match was 29 degrees C (84 F), and was forecast to rise to 33 C (91 F).

Sinner is on a 30-match winning streak stretching back to February.

Sinner also struggled in the heat at the Australian Open against Eliot Spizzirri in January. The roof was closed and the third-round match swung his way.

Sinner is attempting to complete a career Grand Slam by winning his first French Open title.

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

In a Facebook post, the sheriff’s office said its deputies conducted the traffic stop around 6:30 p.m. in the 200 block of Austin Street, which is located in Seguin.

Deputies found a 40-year-old woman, identified as Anna Vasquez, with 254 grams of methamphetamine, GCSO said.

Vasquez is suspected of distributing narcotics throughout Guadalupe County, according to the sheriff’s office.

She was later booked into the Guadalupe County Jail on a charge of delivery of a controlled substance, the post said.

According to jail records, Vasquez faces a $50,000 bond.

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The 27-nation EU's fine follows preliminary findings last year that Temu was exposing consumers to a high risk of products sold on its platform like baby toys and small electronics that didn't comply with EU consumer safety rules.

The bloc's executive arm issued the penalty under the Digital Services Act, or DSA, a wide-ranging rulebook that requires online platforms to do more to keep internet users safe from harmful content or dodgy goods, under the threat of hefty fines.

It's the second time Brussels has issued a fine under three-year-old DSA, following a $120 million penalty last year for Elon Musk's social media site X.

Temu said it disagreed with the decision and considered the fine “disproportionate.”

The decision relates to the commission's first DSA evaluation of Temu in 2024 “and does not reflect the current state of our systems,” the company said.

“Temu engaged constructively with the Commission throughout the process and has since taken further steps to strengthen risk assessment, platform governance, and user protection," it said in a statement.

The company is popular because it offers cheap goods - from clothing to home products — shipped from sellers in China. The platform has 92 million users in the EU and is owned by PDD Holdings Inc., which also owns the popular Chinese e-commerce site Pinduoduo.

The European Commission said Temu failed to identify, analyze and assess the systemic risks of illegal goods for sale on the platform and the resulting harm to European consumers.

Investigators had carried out a “mystery shopping exercise” that turned up a number of "non-compliant" products, including many electronic device chargers that failed basic safety tests. They also found a very high percentage of baby toys that posed safety risks, either because they contained chemicals at levels that exceeded safety limits or because they had parts that came off and could be a suffocation risk.

The commission said failing to do proper risk assessments is a particularly serious breach of the bloc's digital rules.

Risk assessments are “not box‐ticking exercises," European Commission Executive Vice-President Henna Virkunnen said.

“Temu’s risk assessment underestimates concrete risks, lacks specificity, is not grounded in solid evidence, and is not comprehensive,” she said in a prepared statement. "It leaves regulators, users, and the public in the dark about the true scale of potential harm posed by illegal products sold on Temu. Now it is time for Temu to comply with the law.”

Temu has until the end of August to submit an “action plan” to remedy the problem. It could be hit with additional daily, weekly or monthly fines if it fails to comply.

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AP writer Sam McNeil in Brussels contributed to this report.

A bonus: The brilliant star Antares will photobomb Sunday's spectacle for a celestial three-for-one.

A blue moon occurs every two to three years when a second full moon squeezes into a single month. May 1 saw this month’s first full moon.

Since the moon's orbit isn't a perfect circle, the upcoming full moon will be farther from Earth than usual at a distance of 252,360 miles (406,135 kilometers), making it seem a bit smaller and dimmer. It's the opposite of a supermoon when a full moon comes closer to us than normal. The most recent supermoon, for instance, was just 225,130 miles (362,312 kilometers) away.

The Virtual Telescope Project’s Gianluca Masi, who will provide a live webcast from Italy, said Sunday’s micromoon will appear about 6% smaller and 10% dimmer than that of an average full moon — “differences that are subtle enough to likely go unnoticed by most observers.”

The scene will be especially thrilling south of the equator across the Pacific.

For stargazers in Argentina, Chile, New Zealand, eastern Australia, parts of Antarctica and a smattering of other islands, Antares will vanish temporarily as the blue micromoon passes in front of it.

The red supergiant star, 550 light-years away, is known as the “heart of scorpion” in the constellation Scorpius. A light-year is almost 6 trillion miles (9.7 trillion kilometers).

There won't be any disappearing act for those looking up elsewhere in the world, with Antares constantly visible alongside the full moon.

And despite the name, this blue moon won’t appear turquoise, sapphire or any other shade. The term simply refers to the uncommon occurrence of two full moons in one month.

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

Caesars became an iconic name after the opening of Caesar's Palace on the Las Vegas Strip in 1966. However, its roots date back to the 1930s in Reno, Nevada.

Fertitta Entertainment will pay $5.7 billion and take on close to $12 billion in debt from Caesars, putting the total value of the deal at about $17.6 billion.

As part of the agreement, Caesars can seek competing bids through July 11.

Caesars investors will get $31 in cash for each share they own, a 49% premium over the share price before chatter about a possible tie-up between the two entertainment companies began in February.

Shares of Caesars Entertainment Inc., which are up 15% since merger rumors emerged, rose almost 2% before the opening bell Thursday.

Yet the eerily empty Bamy Hotel is not a refuge for adventure-seeking tourists or international business travelers these days. Since late last year, only a small number of people have been staying there, and they aren't on vacation. They are being held against their will.

Under an opaque $7.5 million deal with the Trump administration, Equatorial Guinea's all-powerful president, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, has turned this hotel owned by his family into a prison for asylum seekers deported from the United States.

The hotel is just a way station, though. Of the at least 32 people imprisoned there since November — all of whom had previously been granted protection from U.S. judges, their lawyers said — 25 have been forced to go back to home countries across Africa where their lives might be in danger. The rest face pressure from authorities to leave.

“Government people would come all the time and say: Where is your passport? You need to go back to your own country,” said a 26-year-old man from an East African country imprisoned at the hotel. Out of fear of retaliation, he spoke on condition of anonymity, as did two other deportees interviewed by The Associated Press.

The Trump administration uses deportations to third countries as a legal loophole, immigration lawyers say, to indirectly force asylum seekers back to their home countries.

Because Equatorial Guinea is run by an authoritarian government — as are some other countries that have signed similar deals — it is difficult for foreign journalists to visit and report directly on conditions there. AP traveled to the island of Bioko as part of a recent visit by the first American pope, and is the only international news organization to visit the hotel detaining migrants.

Pressured to return to countries they fear

Trapped for now in a country many had never heard of before arriving, men and women from Angola, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Mauritania wander the hotel’s long corridors and gaze out the windows at the shimmering pool they are not allowed to use.

They haven’t faced any physical abuse, but they feel intense psychological pressure knowing they are likely headed back to home countries they fear.

“I am scared and depressed,” said the East African man.

Because of his ethnicity and the fact he fled his home country, he said he would be imprisoned or killed if forced to return. All of the asylum seekers at the hotel face a high risk of persecution back home, human rights experts say.

Under a series of murky and often-secret agreements, the Trump administration has deported thousands of people to nearly two dozen countries that are not their own, advocates say, all part of the broad U.S. crackdown on immigration. The countries with agreements are mostly in the developing world, according to the group Third Country Deportation Watch, including roughly a dozen in Africa. Experts say countries accepting the deportees may be doing so to earn goodwill in negotiations with the U.S. over trade, migration or aid.

The Trump administration declined to comment on the details of its deal with Equatorial Guinea. A State Department spokesperson said, “we remain unwavering in our commitment to end illegal and mass immigration.”

The Obiang administration did not respond to a request seeking comment.

Trapped in the surreal and the mundane

As the man from East Africa at the Bamy Hotel recounted his journey, a government minder who spoke little English sat nearby, scrolling on his phone in an otherwise empty conference room.

After traveling from Africa to Brazil, the man said, he arrived in August 2024 at the U.S. border, where he was detained. He then was shuffled between immigration centers in California, Arizona and Louisiana — before landing in Equatorial Guinea almost six months ago.

The deportees' daily routines at the hotel are mundane, though the setting makes it all seem surreal, he said.

They sleep in fancy rooms that rarely get cleaned, he said, and they are served rice and meat at white cloth tables set up inside the hotel's restaurant. After being sickened by the food several times, the East African man said he eats the bare minimum.

A local lawyer brings new toothbrushes, cellphone SIM cards, and, for women, sanitary products.

Medical care has been uneven. The East African man was driven to the hospital right away after complaining of an eye problem. But when he came down with malaria and typhoid, he was not taken to a hospital until his condition had greatly deteriorated, requiring an IV. Other detainees have had similar experiences, he said.

Recently, the East African man complained to a police officer about his situation. The officer responded by saying his problems would go away if he went to the hotel’s fourth floor and jumped out the window.

“What can I do now? It’s become worse,” he said, his frail body shaking. “I started losing my mind.”

The US has strong ties to, and criticisms of, Equatorial Guinea

Equatorial Guinea is one of the richest countries in Africa thanks to its oil resources. It is also rife with corruption and human rights abuses, according to U.S. officials.

A former Spanish colony, the country fell into economic despair after gaining independence in 1968. Its fate shifted in the 1990s when U.S. companies started drilling for oil along its vast coastline. The subsequent boom transformed the economy, yet over half the population still lives in poverty.

The country's oil-fueled wealth has been largely pocketed by Obiang and his family, according to rights groups. Obiang’s 57-year-old son and heir apparent, Teodoro “Teodorin” Obiang Nguema, chronicles his lavish lifestyle on TikTok — soaking in infinity pools, feasting on lobster, traveling on private jets — even as citizens of Equatorial Guinea are banned from the platform.

The younger Obiang, who serves as vice president, has faced international sanctions because of corruption across his father’s administration. But the U.S. lifted sanctions, allowing the younger Obiang to travel to a high-level U.N. meeting in New York last September, just weeks before the deportations to Equatorial Guinea began.

There are virtually no critical voices in Equatorial Guinea, where the government has been accused by rights groups and the U.S. State Department of detaining, torturing and even killing those that dare to speak out.

Despite that, its largest foreign investors are U.S. businesses, and its military receives funding for training from the U.S. government.

East African migrant awaits his fate

The deportees still at the Bamy Hotel know they can be sent home any day.

Representatives of the U.N.'s International Organization for Migration, and its refugee agency, visited the hotel in November, and promised the deportees they would come back. They never did.

The East African man is the only one among them that has been allowed to see a lawyer, though it's not clear why.

While Equatorial Guinea has no asylum policy, his lawyer made a formal request with the prime minister's office — a long shot worth taking if there was any chance of being released from the hotel.

He was told to plead for mercy with the country's vice president, but his asylum claim was rejected.

The next morning, authorities deported five other people, leaving him anguished as he awaits his fate. He was told he would be next.

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Associated Press writer Tim Sullivan in Minneapolis contributed to this report.

Akeem Jonathan Brown, 34, was booked into the Guadalupe County Jail on May 14 on charges of driving while intoxicated, evading arrest and unlawful carrying of a weapon, jail records show.

Details about the cases are unknown at this time, and KSAT has reached out to Cibolo police for more information.

Jail records show that Brown was released from jail on May 14.

In December, the school was ordered to close after receiving unacceptable ratings from the Texas Education Agency, according to the San Antonio Report.

The school’s open-enrollment contract is set to expire on July 31, according to a letter sent from the TEA to school board President Brian Dillard and Brown. The letter was obtained by the San Antonio Report.

Essence Preparatory Public School had “academically unacceptable performance ratings of an F in 2022-2023, a D in 2023-2024, and an F in 2024- 2025,” Commissioner Mike Morath said in the letter.

A school spokesperson provided KSAT with a statement on Brown’s arrest, which can be read in its entirety below:

The Essence Prep Board of Directors is aware of the reported incident. As this is a personnel matter, we are unable to comment on specific details.

The Board of Directors continues to oversee all operations and ensure appropriate processes are followed. 

As previously announced, Essence Prep will cease operations at the end of the current school year and will not reopen for the 2026–2027 academic year.

The Essence Prep Board’s priority remains on the students, families, and staff and supporting the school community through this transition.

Essence Preparatory Public School spokesperson

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But progress stalled over concerns about the inclusion of White House ballroom security funding in the package and the creation of a $1.8 billion fund to finance claims of government mistreatment. The stumble has not only delayed action on a top GOP priority but also is raising questions about other parts of the party's legislative agenda, including whether Republicans can enact another catchall, party-line bill referred to in Washington parlance as “Reconciliation 3.0.”

Republicans have spent recent weeks laying the groundwork for such a bill, which they hope will serve as a final sales pitch to voters going into the midterms.

Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise, both of Louisiana, have been meeting with committee and caucus chairs to screen for proposals that have strong buy-in from the rank and file. They are aiming to follow up on last summer's big tax and spending cuts bill with a measure that would increase Pentagon spending by hundreds of billions of dollars and would include cuts elsewhere to help pay for it, which they are couching as tackling government waste and fraud.

It's a high-stakes gambit in an election year. Success will reinforce the GOP's message of being able to deliver on legislative priorities. Failure will underscore some of the Republican fractures under Trump that could leave voters seeking an alternative.

Here's a look at the coming debate as Republicans hope to pass a bill before leaving for their August recess.

House Republicans sound confident

Johnson navigated the House GOP's slim majority in passing Trump's tax and spending cuts bill last summer. The vote was 218-214. At the time, Republicans could afford to lose three votes from within their ranks. They lost just two.

They'll have a thin margin of error again, but Johnson said he's even more confident of success this time around.

“It will be just as beautiful, but not as big, so it’ll have less provisions and less things to get everybody to yes on," he said.

Rep. Jodey Arrington, chairman of the House Budget Committee, said Republicans are just as motivated as they were last year on the tax cuts bill.

“This one, I think you’ll have potentially money to support our troops in conflict," said Arrington, of Texas. "I can’t imagine a Republican not wanting to support our troops and military community in a time of conflict.”

The Trump administration has called on Republicans to provide $350 billion to defense through a reconciliation bill.

But Rep. Brendan Boyle, the lead Democrat on the House Budget Committee, said Republicans will have a more difficult path than they did with Trump's big tax and spending cuts bill.

“I think it will be for a couple of reasons. First is the president’s approval rating. He was at a much higher level a year ago than he is right now,” said Boyle, of Pennsylvania. "Number 2, we are much closer to the November midterm elections. So, if you’re one of a dozen or a couple dozen House Republicans who are really vulnerable in a swing district, you have to think even more carefully about voting for something that has even more health care cuts in it.”

The tax cuts bill that passed last summer reduced spending on Medicaid by more than $900 billion over a decade. It also reduced spending on nutrition assistance by about $187 billion over a decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Caution in the Senate

Senate Majority Leader John Thune called a third reconciliation bill to get around the filibuster a “potential option,” hardly a ringing endorsement.

“We haven’t made any commitments on that, but we’re hearing people out,” said Thune, of South Dakota.

Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina said lawmakers should know what will be in the bill before the legislative process begins. That way, it's less likely to unravel.

“If it just becomes another exercise where you’re not really sure what’s going to be the end product, then I think it’s a mistake even to pursue it,” Tillis said. "We ought to be smart about it if we do a third one, but it is kind of a moonshot.”

Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said she worried about the strategy.

“A third reconciliation may or may not happen. I’m just being direct," she said.

Little time and fractured relations

The House is expected to be in session for about 24 more days before it breaks for its August recess. That leaves little time to pass a budget blueprint in both chambers, which is the first hurdle for pursuing party-line tax and spending bills. Committees would also have to wrap up their work advancing their portions of the legislation.

Another hurdle could be Trump's treatment of current senators whose votes he will need for any package to become law. Trump endorsed opponents of two senators who faced stiff primary challenges and eventually lost — Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and John Cornyn of Texas.

Cassidy has already shown more willingness to buck the president. Fresh off his primary loss, he voted last week to advance a bill that seeks to force Trump to withdraw from hostilities with Iran.

What could make it into the bill

Lawmakers said they could tweak and resurrect some proposals that did not pass muster with the Senate parliamentarian for inclusion in last year's reconciliation bill. For example, Republicans tried to prevent states from providing Medicaid coverage for immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally.

Rep. August Pfluger of Texas, chairman of the Republican Study Committee, said the bill should rest on three pillars, making the country more affordable and secure while reducing fraud.

Among the group's recommendations is a proposal to eliminate the capital gains tax on the sale of homes to first-time homebuyers, which they say would incentivize the market, and a proposal to impose a 5% tax on funds sent by noncitizens back to their home countries.

Arrington said he would also like to tighten the rules for the earned income tax credit, a program that increases the financial reward for working but that also has a high rate of improper payments. He also called for prohibiting immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally from living in housing units financed by a housing tax credit paid to developers who construct and rehab affordable housing for renters.

“There's a lot more work to be done to build on what we did in the first one with Medicaid and SNAP (nutrition assistance), with respect to fraud,” Arrington said.

___

Associated Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick and Stephen Groves contributed to this report.

Three months on, he still has no force to lead as none of the five countries that pledged troops have come through with any significant contributions.

Efforts to shore up the fragile ceasefire have stalled as Hamas has refused to disarm and Israel has seized more territory while continuing to strike what it says are militant targets, often killing civilians.

The Iran war has meanwhile made it more difficult for Arab and Muslim leaders to openly cooperate with the United States and Israel, which many in the region view as aggressors, and the resulting global energy crisis has sapped their resources.

Indonesian commitment of 8,000 troops is on indefinite hold

The biggest blow to the planned force came about a week after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, when Indonesia put its commitment of 8,000 troops on indefinite hold. Some 1,000 were to have been sent in April, followed by the remainder in June.

Indonesia's pledge was by far the largest of the group, which also includes Morocco, Kazakhstan, Kosovo and Albania. U.S. Maj. Gen. Jasper Jeffers, who spoke at the Board of Peace event, was to command the force.

Indonesia suspended its plans over what Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin said last week seemed to be a lack of commitment from a distracted Washington, saying “we have not yet received any implementation guidelines.”

“New dynamics have emerged,” he told parliament. “Because the intensity of the conflict between U.S. and Iranian forces remains very high, the BoP has tended to be left behind. Since the BoP has been left behind, the ISF has also been left behind.”

US attack on Iran influenced Indonesia's decision

Domestic issues may have factored into Indonesia's decision, said Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat, director of the Indonesia-Middle East/North Africa desk at Jakarta's Center for Economic and Law Studies.

The Iran war is extremely unpopular in Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country. The economy is suffering from soaring prices as a result of the conflict, and there is widespread skepticism of the Board of Peace.

“If you talk to the people on the street, I don’t think they believe that the Board of Peace will actually help the people of Gaza,” Rakhmat said. There are also concerns about sending troops to the Middle East when the economy is faltering, he added.

Indonesia lost four peacekeepers who were part of the United Nations mission in Lebanon during fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah. That has further soured public opinion on such international commitments, he said.

Board of Peace blames stalled ceasefire on Hamas

The U.S. military’s Central Command declined to comment or make Jeffers available for an interview, referring all queries to the Board of Peace.

Board of Peace spokesman Brad Klapper also declined to comment on Indonesia's decision or the future of the stabilization force, pointing instead to May 21 remarks made at the U.N. by Nickolay Mladenov, a former Bulgarian defense minister who Trump appointed director of the Board of Peace.

Mladenov said the international force would not be able to begin operations until there was agreement and implementation of a second phase of the ceasefire, which would see Hamas disarm and Israel begin to withdraw. Israeli troops control some 60% of Gaza.

Mladenov has blamed the deadlock on Hamas, saying its disarmament is “non-negotiable” and is holding up progress on other fronts, including Israel's withdrawal and reconstruction.

“You cannot build a future with armed groups running the streets, hiding in tunnels and stockpiling weapons,” Mladenov said in Jerusalem this month. “You cannot deliver reconstruction with militias on every corner.”

Hamas blames delays on Israel

Hamas says Israel has repeatedly violated the ceasefire, holding up its further implementation, and has accused Mladenov of siding with Israel.

Israeli strikes have killed more than 880 Palestinians since the ceasefire, according to local health officials. Israel says it was responding to violations of the truce.

Hamas is also demanding Israel withdraw from areas seized since the start of the ceasefire, according to an Egyptian official with knowledge of the discussions, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss closed-door talks. Egypt has long served as a mediator with Hamas.

Many of the countries that have pledged forces have refused to send troops without a deal on Hamas disarming, the official said.

Token forces committed and none yet known to be on the ground

Kazakhstan has said its support for the stabilization force would be limited to “the humanitarian component,” including sending medical units with a field hospital. Its Foreign Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

Albania's Defense Ministry also declined to comment on its troop commitment, saying it was a “dynamic and ongoing process.”

Earlier this month, its chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Arben Kingji, told reporters that while the military had “participated in reconnaissance activities,” no troops had yet been sent. He said only a few would be dispatched as part of the stabilization force headquarters, without giving numbers, adding that further contributions would be considered.

Kosovo, which is expected to send 20 troops, said in April that it was in the “final phase of preparations.” The Defense Ministry did not reply to a request for an update.

Morocco's Foreign Ministry also did not reply. At the inaugural meeting of the Board of Peace, Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita said it would deploy “high-level military officers to the joint military command of the ISF.”

Indonesian turnaround can't be ruled out

Despite the delays from Indonesia, Rakhmat said it was too early to rule out eventual participation in the stabilization force.

President Prabowo Subianto is a former army general who has been keen to raise Indonesia’s profile on the world stage and wants to avoid jeopardizing economic ties with the U.S., Rakhmat said.

“Prabowo wants to strengthen ties to Washington and sign different agreements with the U.S., so to completely withdraw and completely cancel the plan, I don't think it's on the table,” he said.

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Associated Press reporters Samy Magdy in Cairo, Edna Tarigan in Jakarta, Yuras Karmanau in Tallinn, Estonia, Akram Oubachir in Casablanca, Morocco, and Zana Cimili in Pristina, Kosovo, contributed.

“My concern is that they are restricting access to really, really important things, information, ideas to prisoners as a way to say they’re doing something,” said Laney Hawes, co-founder of Texas Freedom to Read Project.

TDCJ is no longer accepting any donated books, instead funneling donations through Windham school district hardback books, which provides educational services to prisoners. Additionally, inmates can no longer receive hardback or used books sent directly to them unless they are first reviewed and distributed by the district, which book and criminal justice advocates say will result in fewer material reaching inmates.

“Windham School District’s book donation process includes review of hardcover, softback and used books,” district spokesperson Danielle Nicholes said. “Windham reviews books for quality and suitability.”

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice implemented the policy in April after 385 books that entered prisons tested positive for synthetic drugs last year. Those drugs included meth, fentanyl, marijuana, and PCP, which can be turned into liquid and sprayed on books and sniffed.

The agency is banning hardback books because they are harder to scan for contraband and in used books, officials sometimes can’t detect the difference between a coffee stain and tampered pages with the testing kits and software they use. TDCJ received 450,000 books last year — many of them are donated or sent in by family members.

“This is literally a matter of life and death for us here at the agency, we had to look at every single step that we could take to prevent that dangerous contraband from coming in, taking more lives and hurting more folks, and that’s both staff and incarcerated individuals,” said Timothy Fitzpatrick, director of classification and records at TDCJ.

In 2025, there were 129 overdoses of inmates; it’s not clear how many of those overdoses involved drugs found in books.

Book and prison advocates say such a blanket measure is unnecessary because nonprofits, such as Austin-based Inside Book Project, inspect their books closely for contraband before they donate them or send them directly to inmates. The inmates they work with say the policy unfairly punishes them because TDCJ staff also are responsible for bringing in contraband. TDCJ officials said none of the 385 books flagged last year were brought in by staff.

Advocates say the latest policy is a book ban cloaked as a safety measure.

“But one of the biggest concerns we had is, did they bring in all the solutions they could, or did they just say, let’s just make the easiest solution we can and just say this and this,” Hawes said.

Texas bans 10,827 book titles from prisoners, including The Color Purple, Alex Cross, and ‘Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky. Banned categories include books that facilitate an escape and criminal schemes; demonstrate how to manufacture weapons, explosives, or drugs; incite violence; and contain nudity or sex.

Fitzpatrick said banning those titles as well as curbing hardback books and used books is to ensure that incarcerated individuals aren’t exposed to dangerous information or substances.

TDCJ developed the list “through literally decades of review and discussion and consideration,” Fitzpatrick said.

Inside Book Project sends between 30,000 and 40,000 books per year to TDCJ and about 80% of them are donated from the public. Most of the books the organization sends to inmates are used and about 15% of them are hardcover. The organization has already turned away hundreds of donated books because of the new policy.

“It’s going to mean we’re going to be spending a lot more money purchasing books, and also going to be forced to restrict what we’re sending people like a lot of trade books are hardcover, a lot of legal books are hardcover and textbooks,” said Scott Odierno, the organization’s coordinator.

He said his organization checks books twice before sending them to TDCJ and his group rarely finds contraband hidden in the pages. But, TDCJ destroys many of Inside Book Project’s donated books over discolored pages and “unknown substances” without the agency saying if it ever verified that the books contained illicit chemicals, Odierno said.

“We have a very rigid policy of checking all of our books for any contraband and things like that. So, we’ve gone above and beyond what they’ve required for years, but it feels like they take advantage of the resources we provide,” Odierno said.

According to TDCJ, in addition to inspections by mailroom staff and K9s, books sent to inmates are also placed in a machine that looks for abnormalities within the cover and pages, such as a stain or items hidden inside the book, according to TDCJ. Books with abnormalities are then further inspected and tested for illegal substances.

Some of the letters that Odierno have received from inmates and reviewed by The Texas Tribune include complaints about how under the new measure, prisoners with more money can afford to buy new books while indigent inmates will not, creating inequities. Inmates can buy digital books that they can read on tablets.

Another complained that the measure punishes inmates for the actions of “a few,” including TDCJ staff who inmates accuse of smuggling in contraband as well.

Contraband can enter facilities from being tossed over the perimeter fencing, smuggled in by visitors and through the mail. In the past, they have often come from TDCJ staff, although none were caught sneaking in contraband with books last year, according to agency spokesperson Amanda Hernandez.

“We know that some [contraband is] coming in through our staff, and when we find them doing it, they are walked off a unit, arrested for all of those things,” she said.

Under the new policy, if inmates receive a hardback or used book, they will have 90 days to send the books elsewhere or the books will be destroyed.

Any book donations will now need to be sent to Windham where they have a process in place to accept, deny, and distribute donated books.

Although TDCJ says it’s been collaborating more with advocacy groups in recent years, Texas Freedom to Read and Inside Books Project, which has worked with the state for 27 years, want more conversations with the agency before it implements more policies that reduce literature and learning materials to inmates.

“If books really are changing lives, then this prevents some of that rehabilitation. This prevents some of that growth,” Hawes said. “This prevents some of the solace and the safety and the peace. In a place that may not have a whole lot of that, and we want to find ways to give more of that and not less.”

Her son, Jordan, an honors student in Garland, Texas, got in trouble with school officials this February for distributing flyers on campus about a protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Students all over North Texas were planning a walkout, and the teen was eager to participate.

Instead, administrators suspended him and warned further punishment was possible.

“I didn’t even let him go near the school” the day of the protest, Comfort said. “No new behavior could have been seen to warrant any kind of new discipline.”

Still, that afternoon, an email came from the school: Jordan was being assigned to the district’s Disciplinary Alternative Education Program. An administrator later said Jordan was facing a six-week placement for being disruptive, according to Comfort. If he behaved well and took behavior and anger management classes, he could be out in five weeks, she recalled.

These programs, known as DAEPs, were designed as punishments for serious misbehavior. Over the last three decades, though, they have become a central part of Texas’ school discipline system, with more than 100,000 students attending them each year not only for offenses such as bringing a weapon to campus but also violations like insubordination and failure to follow dress codes.

Now, with House Bill 6, passed last year, Texas lawmakers made it easier to send disruptive students to these alternative schools. They said the legislation was prompted by complaints from administrators that more children were misbehaving and struggling with structured school environments after the pandemic.

Before COVID-19, educators were moving away from using DAEPs as a punishment, state data shows. Then the number of students sent to them jumped up again after schools fully reopened. 

School districts have a lot of leeway over when students are assigned to DAEPs and how the programs are run. Local educators almost never have to answer to any other entity, including the justice system, and parents often have limited recourse to get placements overturned. 

Although the Texas Education Agency has oversight of DAEPs, it only requires that such campuses provide an “academic and self discipline program that leads to graduation” and does limited monitoring. Yet, the agency acknowledges their shortcomings: As soon as a student enters a DAEP, the agency considers them at risk of dropping out. Indeed, research shows less than half of ninth graders who are placed in one of the programs graduate from high school on time. 

TEA officials did not respond to interview requests or a list of emailed questions, including about the role agency officials play in monitoring DAEPs. 

Garland Independent School District spokesperson Typhani Braziel said in an email that district administrators could not comment on Jordan’s situation due to federal privacy laws but that it was “addressing it in accordance with established policies and procedures.”

Critics warn of the many ways in which DAEPs mirror the criminal justice system. They are largely full of Black and Latino students — and mostly boys. Kids in these schools must follow far stricter rules than on regular campuses; a few districts even require them to wear jumpsuits. They can get early release for good behavior. 

It’s “jail-like,” said Paige Duggins-Clay, chief legal analyst of the Intercultural Development Research Association, an education policy and legal advocacy group in central Texas. She’s noticed a change this year in how educators are approaching discipline and DAEP placements. It seems like, she said, “school districts feel like House Bill 6 gave them full license to do whatever they want to get rid of kids they don’t want to deal with.”

Texas’ zero-tolerance discipline

When Comfort got pregnant at 18 in 1997, a Garland school administrator tried to send her to the district’s alternative program. She refused, telling them, “I’m not a bad student.”

At the time, DAEPs were brand-new, created as part of zero-tolerance discipline reforms sweeping the nation. The 1995 Texas Safe Schools Act required school districts to remove students who had committed a serious infraction, such as assault or a drug-related offense, and provide them with an alternative setting. 

Other states crafted similar laws to remove students deemed to be safety threats from their campuses, often using alternative schools for discipline. In Texas, though, such schools are a particularly integral piece of the system. 

Texas lawmakers created a list of behaviors that require a mandatory DAEP placement, which has grown over time. Still, educators must consider factors such as a student’s disciplinary history and disability status when assigning the punishment. 

District administrators also can, and do, send students to DAEPs at their discretion. 

The number one reason students are placed in alternative schools is for “violation of local code of conduct,” according to state data. Nearly 36,000 DAEP placements were assigned under that catchall in 2024-25, compared to fewer than 12,000 for assault. Just 208 were related to a student possessing a weapon. (That year, about 5.5 million students were enrolled in Texas public schools.) 

“DAEPs were designed originally to be for more serious offenses and more serious behaviors,” said Renuka Rege, a senior staff attorney at Texas Appleseed, a nonprofit advocacy group. “But unfortunately, they’ve been expanded.”

Comfort, though, still assumed DAEPs were for only the worst behavior problems. “These are the kids that bring knives to school or the kids that make it impossible for other kids to learn,” she said. “That’s what I thought it was.”

That all changed when Jordan got punished.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott had threatened to withhold state funding from school districts whose students participated in ICE protests. Teens across the state, including in Garland, still took part. Comfort said that as far as she knows, no one else at Jordan’s school was subsequently assigned to a DAEP, including friends who helped him with the flyers.

In 2025, Texas Appleseed promoted a bill that would have prohibited DAEP placements for minor infractions, such as attendance violations and rude language. At the same time, a coalition of superintendents urged the legislature to significantly overhaul Texas’s discipline code to give educators more flexibility in how they punished students.

Texas Appleseed didn’t get traction. The superintendents did.

It was the third time in six years that state lawmakers expanded the list of reasons why a student can be sent to alternative schools. In 2019, they’d passed a law requiring DAEP placements for teacher harassment. Four years later, they passed another one requiring that any student caught with an e-cigarette be sent to the alternative program.

House Bill 6, passed last June, allowed districts to send students to DAEPs for being disruptive and mandated they be sent for harassing school employees or disorderly conduct with a firearm. It also eliminated time limits on in-school suspensions and reinstated out-of-school suspensions for young students. However, lawmakers did rollback some mandatory placements for those caught vaping that had sent hundreds of students to the alternative schools.

State Senator Charles Perry, the bill’s co-sponsor, said at a May 2025 hearing that he anticipated students would be deterred from misbehaving if their peers were punished for being disruptive. “I hope there’s not many kids that end up in that situation,” he said, “but at the same time, the benefit of the whole in this area has to be dealt with.”

David Vinson, superintendent of Conroe Independent School District near Houston who was among the educators pushing for the law, said administrators want to make schools safer for teachers and other students.

“There were so many situations where this repetitive behavior wasn’t getting solved,” Vinson said.

“I do not want to put a kid in a DAEP,” he added. “But I’ve got to think about the other 21 kids I have in a class.”

Families often can’t appeal DAEP placement

Laura Wickwire pulled into the parking lot of North East Independent School District’s administrative building in San Antonio in May 2025 armed with documents. Her son, Kevin Jenkins, was facing a 75-day DAEP placement after someone hacked his email account and used it to send threats to educators earlier that month, she said. 

Wickwire was hopeful district officials would reconsider. Kevin, 15 at the time, had been the victim of cyberbullying for over a year. He was the subject of dozens of false reports made to school tip lines that alleged he had a weapon or was suicidal, she said. His school email account was hacked repeatedly, including one time when Wickwire and Kevin himself received a death threat from the address. 

The district was well aware of the problem. It had given him a new username and reset his account three times. He couldn’t even log in at the time some of the emails in question were sent, Wickwire and Kevin said. 

In the end, none of the materials Wickwire prepared mattered to the single district employee to whom the family made their case. The staffer stressed that she could only consider the May threats. “I literally was so mad,” Kevin said. “She was like, ‘I don’t care.’”

North East ISD spokesperson Aubrey Chancellor said in an email that the district uses impartial hearing officers, who consider mitigating factors including a student’s intent and disciplinary history. “All allegations of bullying are taken seriously and investigated,” she said. “Decisions made by the Hearing Officer are determined by evaluating the evidence provided against a preponderance of the evidence standard.”

No more than 90 minutes into Kevin’s hearing, Wickwire said, the official issued her decision: The 75-day placement was upheld.

“She made her decision before we even entered that building,” Wickwire said. The family had no option to appeal — North East’s policy is that a hearing officer’s decision is final.

State law does not require that school districts offer families the chance to appeal most DAEP placements. Texas also doesn’t lay out how such a process should work if offered nor how families should be informed of the option. Nor does the state track the outcomes of meetings about DAEP placements, but advocates say it’s uncommon for punishments to be changed at any point.

For parents who have the resources to find other options, it’s common to withdraw a student facing a DAEP placement and instead enroll them in private school. Students assigned to DAEPs typically cannot enroll in a different public school before completing the punishment.

Comfort pulled her son out of the Garland district to homeschool him with a virtual program for the rest of the year. She’s still figuring out where he will go for his senior year. Wickwire also pulled Kevin out of school and started paying for him to attend an online private school.

No fresh starts as punishments follow students

Sharenda Claros thought she was giving her son, Brandyn, a fresh start when she moved her family from San Antonio an hour away to Seguin in the summer of 2025. 

For two weeks, he attended the regular middle school. He started making friends and planned on joining the soccer and basketball teams. But then, the records from his old charter school arrived. (Officials from that school declined to comment, citing privacy laws.)

Seguin assigned him to a DAEP for a year as a result of an accusation that he had physically threatened students at his old school, something he denies. Police investigated and the district attorney declined to pursue charges — information that was shared with Seguin officials, Claros said. 

It didn’t matter. Almost every day of this past school year, Brandyn’s eighth grade year, he dressed in the required all-black clothing and took a bus from his subdivision into the heart of town. At 8 a.m. sharp, when his school opened, he entered and stood still as a guard waved a metal detector wand over his body.

He spent almost all of the next seven hours in silence, clicking through computer programs in most of his classes. He said there were only a couple teachers he felt comfortable asking for help if he got stuck; most just redirected him to the videos on his screen. 

Brandyn learned little, Claros says, and became completely disinterested in school. 

“It’s like setting him up for failure,” she said. “I feel like they know that.” 

Seguin officials said they could not comment on specific students and referred all questions about how their DAEP operates to the district’s Student Code of Conduct.

Brandyn’s experience in Seguin is not unusual. Statewide, students at DAEPs most often work individually, generally on computer programs, and have to follow strict rules. Typically, students are forbidden from speaking in class, unless granted permission, according to an analysis of handbooks from 75 districts. 

The students often must walk single file, with their hands behind their back. Dress codes ban facial hair, jewelry, even sandals or hair dye, according to the analysis. If students don’t follow the rules, extra days can be added to placements.

For example, in the White Settlement school district near Fort Worth, the handbook notes students spend their first week of DAEP doing school work while sitting on stools in a cubicle facing a wall. Only if students behave well enough during those five days are they allowed the right to sit on a chair. 

In the far west Texas district of Andrews, jumpsuit-clad students who misbehave may be forced to do “physical conditioning.” And in the Commerce school district about 70 miles northeast of Dallas, students must even eat lunch in cubicles in silence.  

Andrews did not respond to requests for comment. Commerce spokesperson Heather Kilgore said the district’s DAEP was a “structured disciplinary setting.” 

White Settlement DAEP principal Charlie Etheridge said the stool and cubicles are designed “to provide safety and limit student interaction” and that students who behave well gradually see a lessening of restrictions. 

On the Texas Education Agency’s website regarding discipline, officials note that “state regulations are intended to ensure that all students are treated with dignity and respect, as well as educated in a safe environment. Behavior management techniques or discipline management practices must be implemented in such a way as to protect the health and safety of the students and others.”

In Seguin, district officials worked with Claros to reduce Brandyn’s placement. If he had 30 consecutive days in which he did all his work and broke no rules, he could return to his regular campus.

Between the number of rules he had to follow and a disruptive mood disorder and ADHD diagnosis that can make it hard for him to sit still, there was little chance of that happening, Claros said.

“It’s kind of annoying, because they see me as somebody I’m not,” Brandyn said. “I feel like they see me as a dangerous person, and I’m not a dangerous person.”

Students with disabilities are more likely to end up in DAEPs, and when they do they are unlikely to get the services and accommodations they are owed under federal law, advocates said.

“They’re placed more often. A lot of times we find that they struggle more, and we find that they stay longer,” said Colleen Potts of Disability Rights Texas, a nonprofit legal group. “Not every kid learns the same, and the DAEP does not have the ability to be individualized like the main campus would.”

Claros worries constantly about what messages her son is internalizing about himself in these crucial years and how he’ll handle it when he goes from such a restrictive environment to a regular high school next year.

“This is the stage I believe is a make-or-break stage,” Claros said. “He may think this is okay in the future. He may feel like, ‘Oh, I have to be locked up.’”

This story about DAEPs was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education.

The seven villagers entered the cave in Xaisomboun province on May 19, but heavy rain triggered flash flooding that blocked the exit, according to Lao and Thai rescue teams involved in the operation.

Thai rescuer Chakkit Taengtang posted video of himself in the cave saying divers were delivering food and water to the five and planning to extract them as soon as possible.

All of the villagers are men, according to a Facebook post by the Lao group Rescue Volunteer for People.

“I’m still shaking. Our team made it happen,” Bounkham Luanglath, a member of the Lao rescue team, said in a voice message to The Associated Press. He said the search for the missing would continue.

A video posted by the rescue group appeared to show the moment divers emerged from the water and discovered the trapped men. In the footage, the men are wearing headlamps and sitting on a rock surrounded by floodwater.

Other videos showed rescuers inside and outside the cave cheering, jumping and hugging each other in joy after the discovery.

Another villager who went into the cave with the seven was able to escape when the flooding began, and he raised the alarm about the trapped men.

Rescue workers from neighboring Thailand arrived at the site over the weekend. Those helping out included several divers who took part in the complicated 2018 rescue in northern Thailand of 12 schoolboys and their soccer coach who were trapped for more than two weeks in a cave.

Miiko Paasi, a Thai-based Finnish diving instructor who participated in the rescue of the schoolboys and joined the search effort in Laos, said in a social media post that the men were “healthy and in good spirits,” but he warned that the extraction would not be easy.

The cave is in a rugged, remote area in Xaisomboun province’s Longcheng district, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of the capital, Vientiane. Rescuers have detailed on social media the challenging mountainous terrain and heavy rain that has hampered their work.

Videos shared online by Thai rescuers showed that reaching the cave’s entrance requires a steep hike of roughly 4 kilometers (2.5 miles). The entrance is also steep and rocky and barely wide enough for a single person.

It's not clear why the villagers went into the cave. Bounkham has said that the cave was frequented by local residents looking for gold, despite repeated warnings about safety.

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Associated Press journalists Tian Macleod Ji and Haruka Nuga in Bangkok contributed to this report.

The Asian elephant was put to sleep Tuesday at the zoo where she lived for almost a half-century. Zoo officials said some age-related conditions accelerated in recent weeks, and she showed signs of a falloff in kidney or liver function. A necropsy revealed arthritis and large, inoperable uterine tumors that are impossible to diagnose in elephants through exams or imaging, the zoo said.

“She was a wonderful elephant,” interim zoo director Craig Piper said in an interview Wednesday, as heavy-hearted staffers absorbed the loss of an animal some had tended for over 30 years. “She served as a tremendous ambassador for elephants and for elephant conservation.”

Since Happy’s death, the zoo's 57-year-old Patty is the last elephant on exhibit in the United States’ largest city. The zoo’s parent institution, the Wildlife Conservation Society, decided 20 years ago to stop acquiring pachyderms.

Born in the wild in Asia, Happy was brought to the U.S. as a 1-year-old. She was named for a character from “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” before arriving at the zoo in 1977.

Happy keenly engaged with her keepers and was easy to motivate with favorite treats, such as watermelon or strawberries, said Keith Lovett, the zoo’s director of animal programs. Piper said she sometimes stashed treats in her ear to save for later.

In 2005, she showed researchers that elephants can recognize themselves in a mirror — a sign of self-awareness seen in only a few other species. During the experiment, Happy faced her reflection and repeatedly used her trunk to touch an "X" painted above her eye, a mark she could see only in the mirror.

She was paired with other elephants until her last partner died in 2006. Happy then lived separately from Patty and a third elephant out of concern that they wouldn't get along, though Lovett said the animals could see, smell and touch each other over a divider. The third elephant, called Maxine, died in 2018.

Zoo officials said the median life expectancy for Asian elephants in U.S. zoos is about 45 years. Their life expectancy in the wild is more difficult to pinpoint.

During Happy’s lifetime, zoo elephant exhibits came under increased scrutiny. Some experts said urban animal parks were too small for creatures that roam extensive distances in the wild. Animal rights activists argued that zoo enclosures were no place for big-brained, social pachyderms.

Some zoos phased out their exhibits and sent elephants to sanctuaries, though some other zoos remain committed to keeping and breeding the creatures, arguing that they help keep people interested in saving wildlife.

One activist group, the Nonhuman Rights Project, sued the Bronx Zoo in 2018, seeking to have Happy declared a “person” for legal purposes and moved to a large animal sanctuary. It was the first such case about an elephant, according to the group.

Citing a principle that’s used to challenge the legality of a person’s imprisonment, the activist group said Happy was “an extraordinarily cognitively complex and autonomous nonhuman being” who was unlawfully deprived of her liberty and suffered from being pent up in a exhibit without other elephants.

Zoo officials said Happy was assiduously cared for and had space for swimming, foraging and other natural behavior. Uprooting her from her longtime home could harm her, the zoo said.

New York’s top court ultimately rejected the activists’ claim, by a 5-2 majority. Colorado's highest court later issued a similar ruling about five elephants in a zoo there.

Still, two of the New York high court judges wrote pointed dissents. One called Happy’s captivity “inherently unjust and inhumane” and “an affront to a civilized society.”

The Nonhuman Rights Project has continued pursuing cases about elephants in various other states.

The group's executive director, Christopher Berry, said in an statement Wednesday night that Happy “will always be remembered as the elephant who opened the courtroom doors to consideration of nonhuman animals’ legal rights.”

Happy spent her final weeks, by her choice, in an off-exhibit barn and yard within her enclosure, Piper said. In a zoo version of hospice care, staffers provided hydration, nutrition and pain management, he said.

Meanwhile, Patty is doing well, the zoo said.

The Wildlife Conservation Society said in 2006 that once there was only one elephant, the animal might be moved to another zoo if circumstances were right. Piper said the zoo will be “really thoughtful and careful” in contemplating whether to move Patty from her home of 53 years.

Officer Michael Schwab, a 17-year veteran of SAPD, was handed the suspension in late March for rules violations including consorting with persons of ill repute and conduct and behavior.

While taking a prisoner to jail and in the presence of a probationary officer in late October, Schwab received and accepted a call from an inmate being held in jail on accusations of aggravated sexual assault of a child, records show.

The inmate, who is listed in discipline paperwork as having the initials A.G., had previously been incarcerated on allegations of possessing sexual content depicting children, according to records.

Schwab brought discredit to the department and himself by knowingly accepting a phone call from a jail inmate, the suspension paperwork states.

Schwab’s suspension ran from April 20 to May 9, city records show.

Read more reporting on the KSAT Investigates page.

One day might not seem like much in the grand scheme, but it was a seismic delay in plans for the unprecedented and daring invasion, which would deploy nearly 160,000 Allied troops in Normandy. Ultimately it came down to a recommendation from a shrewd Scottish meteorologist, Group Capt. James Stagg, who had to tell everyone, including Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Allied leadership, something they didn’t want to hear: The weather was going to be catastrophically bad. And no, he wasn’t certain about it.

The tense 72 hours before the invasion are brought to life in “Pressure,” in theaters May 29, on the eve of the operation’s 82nd anniversary. An adaptation of David Haig’s acclaimed stage play, the film sheds light on this bit of history that would effectively change the course of the second World War.

The very different styles of Brendan Fraser and Andrew Scott

Filmmaker Anthony Maras assembled a unique group of actors for the task at hand, calling on Brendan Fraser to play Eisenhower and Andrew Scott to play Stagg.

“I didn’t think I was an Ike Eisenhower when Anthony Maras sent me the script,” Fraser said. “I got on a Zoom call and he said, ‘You gotta do this man.’ Me? Why? ‘It’s because he’s you, he’s like you. He’s just a regular guy.’ Really? I mean, I thought Eisenhower was this, you know, stern, staunch, something on coin.”

Fraser went deep in his preparation, reading and listening to everything he could get his hands on to help him understand the man who would ultimately have to make the decision. The research even continued on set. Maras laughed that right before they shot Eisenhower’s famous “soldiers, sailors and airmen” speech, something that they’d rehearsed many, many times, he looked up and saw Fraser reading yet another biography. But he appreciated that the Oscar-winner was passionate about knowing everything he possibly could to get it right.

“He cared intensely for his troops,” Fraser said. “It was my responsibility to honor their memory and to comport myself in a way that puts a human face on the seemingly academic decisions that go into an operation as massive as this.”

Scott was the opposite in terms of how he approached his role. Yes, he read Stagg’s book and wanted to have a working understanding of the metrological jargon he’d have to be spouting. While history was important, for him, character was king. And he liked that Stagg is not the most immediately likable person, but he has integrity.

“The thing with Stagg is that he’s just not interested in charm … or being liked at all,” Scott said. “I think that’s to be admired actually, because he’s just there to do a job. So I like the fact that at the beginning of the movie, you’re like, whoa, this guy is not pleasant.”

Maras said that for Scott, it was all about the inner, emotional life of the character — which was essential for a part that would require so much internal conflict.

“With Andrew, he has a quality to him where he can seemingly be doing very little — he’s sitting down, rearranging his tie, he can be reading a phone book — and you can’t look away,” Maras said.

In the shadow of ‘Saving Private Ryan’

The actors weren’t the only ones feeling pressure of the assignment: Maras also had a behemoth looming in attempting to stage, however briefly, the D-Day invasion.

“You’ve kind of got to be crazy maybe to attempt it, given that Spielberg did it so masterfully,” Maras said.

But unlike “Saving Private Ryan,” which focused on the men storming the beach, “Pressure” is about the ones making the decisions. It’s a different perspective. Still, once they make the call to go, there would have to be at least some of the operation shown to juxtapose with the “bloody tense, wire-type atmosphere of the control room,” Maras said.

Inspired by Peter Jackson’s World War I documentary “They Shall Not Grow Old,” and the existence of dozens of hours of pristine 35 mm black and white film from the event, Maras decided that perhaps archival footage, colorized, would be the way to go. It was a different way to present D-Day that gave it immediacy, he said, as opposed to looking like history.

‘Pressure’s’ relevance to today

Ultimately, “Pressure” isn’t just a history lesson, or even a character drama with big personalities and even bigger stakes: It’s a portrait of leadership and ego clashing with facts and science. And its relevance to the present day is the reason Maras wanted to make the film in the first place.

“How do you bring your best self to the table to make the decision? How do you have the humility to acknowledge when you don’t know something? And how do you have the wisdom to determine who to trust? … Eisenhower in the end showed that he was a maestro at that,” Maras said. “What I love about the Stagg character is he’s someone who feels compelled to tell someone something that they don’t want to hear, that they violently don’t want to but they need to hear. The world needs more of that.”

Years later, John F. Kennedy, on the way to his own inauguration, asked Eisenhower what gave them the edge on D-Day. His response? “We had better meteorologists than the Germans.”

“When life or death depends on you understanding the facts, it probably has a way of like cutting up the BS and getting to it,” Maras said. “It’s a very clear example of a time where the Allied worlds’ future was at stake and they listened to someone who knew what he was talking about and they did all right.”

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For more coverage of summer films, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/movies

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department announced Wednesday that it has acquired the property, which will become Silver Lake State Park. The former Silver Lake Ranch, where sheep and cattle grazed, features steep canyons and rolling hills located around 150 miles west of San Antonio, between Rocksprings and Uvalde in Kinney and Edwards counties.

It will be larger than any state park other than Big Bend Ranch State Park, which covers more than 300,000 acres. An opening date has not yet been set.

“The opportunities to explore nature’s wonders are truly bigger in Texas,” Gov. Greg Abbott said in a press release. “… This future state park will grant generations of Texans with a deeper understanding of the land that helps make our state the natural envy of the world.”

Money from a $1 billion fund approved by lawmakers and voters in 2023 will transform Silver Lake Ranch into the newest state park. Courtesy of Maegan Lanham/Texas Parks & Wildlife Department

It’s the first land purchase made with the $1 billion Centennial Parks Conservation Fund approved by the Legislature to expand and create parks and approved by voters in 2023. The fund has already been used to develop the new 3,118-acre Post Oak Ridge State Park in Lampasas, which opened earlier this year, and expand Enchanted Rock State Natural Area by adding 3,073 acres to the 1,685-acre park.

Silver Lake Ranch was partially owned by the Moody Foundation, one of the largest private charitable foundations in Texas that’s been around for more than 80 years. The foundation gifted its portion, totalling nearly 88% of the ranch, to TPWD. The agency purchased the remainder of the property for $11.85 million using funds from the Centennial Parks Conservation Fund and the tax from the sale of sporting goods.

“The Moody Foundation is proud to help preserve this remarkable stretch of Texas Hill Country and make it accessible for generations to come,” said Ross Moody, who has served as a Moody Foundation trustee since 1986. “Silver Lake Ranch represents the natural beauty, history and spirit of our state, and we are honored to make this gift to Texas Parks and Wildlife to ensure it remains protected and enjoyed by all Texans for years ahead.”

According to a 2022 report by Environment Texas, Texas lags behind most others states in state parkland: The state ranks 35th in the nation for state park acreage per capita, with about 636,000 acres of parkland for a population of over 29 million as of 2019. The report suggests that Texas needs to add 1.4 million acres of state parks by 2030 to meet the needs of its residents.

TPWD plans to expand park coverage statewide. Park planners have told the Tribune that land acquisitions must check a lot of boxes, one of them is to be located within the Texas Triangle formed by Houston, San Antonio and Dallas-Fort Worth.

The new park has limestone cliffs rising above rolling hills covered in live oak and juniper, with miles of river frontage along the West Nueces River, along with spring-fed Silver Lake and two water holes. Several creeks cross the property including Sycamore Creek, Lost Creek and North Spring Creek.

Silver Lake, which is fed by a spring and covers 30 acres, will be a centerpiece of the new park when it opens to the public. Courtesy of Maegan Lanham/Texas Parks & Wildlife Department

It’s home to white-tailed deer, turkey, javelina and dove. The greenthroat darter fish can be found in Silver Lake, and portions of the property have been identified as potential habitat for the endangered golden-cheeked warbler.

TPWD staff plan to develop the park in phases. Once a plan is developed, TPWD will share it with the public and solicit feedback. During the planning process, the agency will offer guided tours and limited day use via existing ranch roads.

“This is an exciting addition to our state park system,” said David Yoskowitz, TPWD’s executive director, who thanked the Moody Foundation for the donation. “Silver Lake is sure to become a destination for park visitors and be the backdrop of memories made for generations to come.”

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

The government’s largest-ever claim for compensation relates to contamination with per- and polyfluoroaklyl substances, known as PFAS, at 28 bases. Human-made PFAS are commonly referred to as “forever chemicals” because they don't break down naturally.

Australia filed the suit in the Federal Court of Australia against Minnesota-based 3M Company and its subsidiary 3M Australia.

3M said it would fight Australia’s claim.

“3M has never manufactured PFAS in Australia and ceased sales of the products at issue in Australia around two decades ago,” 3M said in a statement. “Despite this, the (Australian) Department of Defense continued to use PFAS-containing firefighting foams for nearly two decades longer.”

PFAS has been used since the 1950s in household and industrial products that resist heat, stains, grease and water. The firefighting foam containing PFAS was effective against fuel fires.

The Australian Defense Department warned residents near its Richmond Air Base outside Sydney in 2018 to reduce their consumption of locally produced fish and eggs, after PFAS was found in nearby groundwater.

Attorney-General Michelle Rowland on Thursday accused 3M of withholding information about environmental risks the foam posed.

“The Commonwealth (of Australia) is seeking more than AU$2 billion ($1.4 billion) in damages to recover significant past and future expenses incurred in investigating and managing contamination resulting from the historic storage and use of this foam,” Rowland told reporters.

Assistant Defense Minister Peter Khalil said his department had already spent AU$1.3 billion ($920 million) on managing and mitigating environmental impacts of the foam. The department had removed 200,000 metric tons (220,000 U.S. tons) of contaminated earth from bases and treated 13 billion liters (3.4 billion gallons) of contaminated water, Khalil said.

“We are prepared to take on powerful corporations when Australians and Australian communities have been impacted,” Khalil said.

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This story has been corrected to show the lawsuit has been lodged in an Australian court.

U.S. Southern Command posted video on social media showing a boat resting on the water before being struck by an explosion. The last few seconds of the video show smoke and fire rising from the boat.

A day earlier, U.S. forces had launched a strike on an alleged drug vessel in the eastern Pacific, killing one man and leaving two survivors. Southern Command said it “immediately notified the U.S. Coast Guard to activate the Search and Rescue system for the survivors.”

The Trump administration’s campaign of blowing up alleged drug-trafficking vessels in Latin American waters, including the eastern Pacific and the Caribbean Sea, has gone on since early September and killed at least 196 people in total. The military has not provided evidence that any of the vessels were carrying drugs.

The Pentagon watchdog said last week that it will evaluate whether the U.S. military followed an established targeting framework when carrying out the attacks on alleged drug-smuggling boats. The six-phase Joint Targeting Cycle include a military commander’s intent, target development, analysis, decision, execution and assessment.

The Pentagon inspector general’s office said the review was “self-initiated.” It will not probe the legality of the strikes, which have drawn intense scrutiny from some Democratic lawmakers and military legal scholars.

The Trump administration says the U.S. is at war against the Latin American drug cartels, which it says are responsible for the scourge of fatal drug overdoses plaguing many American communities.

Apart from social media and messaging, Tencent’s WeChat offers payment services called WeChat Pay, or Weixin Pay, in mainland China. Tencent said in a statement that the feature will be available to U.S.-based PayPal users first, with more markets to follow.

Since cashless payments have become increasingly common in China, the move is likely to provide greater convenience to foreign visitors.

WeChat Pay and Ant Group’s Alipay, part of the Alibaba e-commerce empire, are widely available across China including in taxis and restaurants.

Making cashless payments easier for tourists aligns with China’s efforts to bring in more foreign tourists, said Gary Ng, a senior economist for Asia Pacific at French bank Natixis.

Tourism contributed more than 4% of China’s economy in 2024, official data show.

China has been expanding visa free access to travelers from dozens of countries including the U.K., Spain and Australia. That change has not yet been extended to U.S. travelers, who still need a visa to enter China, except for brief transits for those heading on to third countries.

The number of foreign visitors, excluding those from Hong Kong and Taiwan, plunged during the COVID-19 pandemic, when China closed its doors to most foreign arrivals and imposed stringent quarantines in many places.

But it has since surged past the nearly 32 million visitors recorded in 2019, to over 35 million last year.

Ng said the PayPal move also aligns with a global trend of integration of payment platforms through mutually recognized cross-border QR codes.

Ivan Su, a senior equity analyst at Morningstar, said the impact of the QR code option with PayPal initially may be limited in terms of its overall benefit for Tencent given the current low volume of U.S. travelers to China.

WeChat Pay has allowed users to link their foreign bank cards since 2019. Tencent also said it will also be offering a transaction fee waiver for first time users linking their international bank cards to WeChat to encourage wider use of that option.

Tencent said such transactions by foreign travelers in China jumped nearly 80% year-on-year in January-April.

The 2 1/2-year investigation and prosecution that followed came to a close Wednesday with the sentencing of his personal assistant Kenneth Iwamasa, who bought him the drugs, gave him injections, and found him dead in the hot tub of the house they shared on Oct. 23, 2023. The 54-year-old “Friends” star had told Iwamasa to shoot him up “with a big one.”

Here’s a chronological look at the end of Perry’s life, drawn from federal court documents, a medical examiner’s investigation and law enforcement reports.

The final month

Sometime in September of 2023 — Perry asks Iwamasa to help him get illegal ketamine. Working with his regular doctor, Perry had been receiving legal ketamine treatments for depression — an increasingly common off-label use of the surgical anesthetic. But he wanted more. Perry’s family members would later say they had known Iwamasa for decades, and trusted him to help keep the actor sober.

Sept. 30, 2023 — Told by a patient that he knew a prominent person willing to pay big money for ketamine, Dr. Salvador Plasencia meets with Perry and Iwamasa at their home in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles. Plasencia texts a doctor friend, Mark Chavez, who agrees to obtain ketamine for him. “I wonder how much this moron will pay,” Plasencia texts Chavez. Later the same day, Plasencia returns to Perry’s house, where Iwamasa pays him $4,500 in cash for four vials. Plasencia gives Perry two injections, and teaches Iwamasa how to do it.

Oct. 2, 2023 — Iwamasa texts Plasencia seeking more ketamine, referring to it in code as “dr pepper.” Plasencia appears, gives Perry the injections, and leaves behind more vials.

Oct. 4. 2023 — Iwamasa injects Perry without help for the first time. He texts the doctor that he had found “the sweet spot” to put the needle into his boss, but that trying different spots on Perry had led to them running out of ketamine and says they need more. Plasencia texts Chavez asking if he can keep supplying the drug so they can become Perry’s “go-to.”

Oct. 8, 2023 — In a late night meetup at a Santa Monica shopping plaza, Plasencia sells Iwamasa four vials of ketamine for $6,000 in cash.

Oct. 10, 2023 — Iwamasa drives Perry to a public parking lot in Long Beach to meet with Plasencia. The doctor sells them more ketamine and gives an injection to Perry as he sits in a car. The same day, Perry asks a friend about other sources. She sends him to Erik Fleming, a licensed drug counselor she knows who has relapsed into addiction.

Oct. 11, 2023 — Fleming messages Iwamasa that he can get ketamine from a dealer he knows, Jasveen Sangha, who prosecutors dub “The Ketamine Queen.” Fleming says she only deals “with high end and celebs.”

Oct. 12, 2023 — Plasencia goes to Perry’s house, where he is paid $21,000 in cash, some of it owed to him for previous ketamine buys. While there, he injects Perry. The actor immediately freezes up and his blood pressure spikes. The assistant said the doctor told him, “let’s not do that again.”

Oct. 13, 2023 — Perry gets a sample of Sangha’s ketamine and tries it. He and Iwamasa ask for 25 vials of it, for which they pay $5,500 to Sangha and another $500 to Fleming. Fleming drops it off at Perry’s house a day later.

Around Oct. 20, 2023 — Perry receives his last legal ketamine treatment from his regular physician.

The final week

Oct. 23, 2023 — Iwamasa pays $6,000 to Fleming and Sangha for 25 more vials of ketamine.

Oct. 24, 2023 — Iwamasa gives Perry six to eight injections, a daily dosage that would continue until the actor’s death.

Oct. 25, 2023 — Fleming makes a third and final delivery of another 25 vials of ketamine for another $6,000. This batch includes the fatal dose.

Oct. 27, 2023 — With the supply coming from Sangha, Perry and Iwamasa had been out of touch with Plasencia for about two weeks. Plasencia texts Iwamasa, saying he had more to offer: “I know you mentioned taking a break. I have been stocking up.”

The final day

Oct. 28, 2023, about 8:30 a.m. — Using syringes from Plasencia and ketamine from Sangha, Iwamasa gives Perry an injection.

About 11 a.m. — Perry plays pickleball.

About 12:45 p.m. — Iwamasa gives Perry his second shot of the day, and the actor begins watching a movie.

About 1:30 p.m. — Iwamasa gives Perry his third and final injection of the day while Perry sits in or near his backyard Jacuzzi. “Shoot me up with a big one,” Iwamasa remembers Perry telling him. Iwamasa leaves to run errands.

About 4 p.m. — Iwamasa returns home to find Perry face down in the Jacuzzi. Paramedics arrive minutes later and declare Perry dead. When Iwamasa talks to police, he does not mention Perry’s illegal ketamine consumption, or his role in it, and hides evidence of it. Sangha and Fleming learn of Perry’s death and delete their message history.

The aftermath

Dec. 15 — An autopsy report is released, saying the acute effects of ketamine were the primary cause of Perry’s death, with drowning as a secondary cause.

January 2024 — A search warrant is served at Perry and Iwamasa’s home. Over the course of several interviews, the assistant admits to his role in Perry's illegal drug use. He points investigators to Fleming and gives them information on Plasencia, whom they have already identified.

March 2024 — A search warrant is served on Fleming's sister's home, where he was staying. He gave up Sangha to prosecutors and became an essential witness along with Iwamasa.

Aug. 7, 2024 — Iwamasa pleads guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death. He will be sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison.

Aug. 8, 2024 — Fleming pleads guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death. He will be sentenced to two years in prison.

Oct. 2, 2024 — Chavez pleads guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine. He will get eight months of home detention.

July 23, 2025 — Plasencia pleads guilty to four counts of distribution of ketamine. He will get 2 1/2 years in prison.

Sept. 3, 2025 — Sangha pleads guilty to three counts of distribution of ketamine, one count of using her home for a drug operation and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death. She will get 15 years in prison.

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A version of this story first moved on Aug. 16, 2024.

Marcus is a two-year captain of the varsity soccer team. He’s been a member of two undefeated district championship teams.

He was named First-Team All-District twice and a three-time First-Team Academic All-District. He’s also a member of the Surf National Team.

He’s part of a collection and distribution effort to give used soccer cleats to children in need in Africa.

Marcus maintains a 4.0 grade point average and is ranked in the top fifteen percent of his class.

Marcus plans to attend the Colorado School of Mines, play collegiate soccer and major in mechanical engineering.

Those processes can require significant amounts of water, energy and chemicals — part of the reason denim has become a growing target for sustainability efforts across the fashion industry, which is among the world’s biggest producers of greenhouse gas emissions.

Brands are responding to wider awareness by marketing their jeans as “sustainable,” touting regenerative cotton, recycled fibers and low-water manufacturing techniques. But figuring out if that's true is far more complicated. For one, sustainability is difficult to define — and there isn't a universal set of standards.

Last week, Chinese fast-fashion giant Shein acquired Everlane, a brand known for transparency and sustainability efforts, highlighting broader tensions over scale and affordability. Improvements in sustainable processes typically cost more, making it difficult for companies with fast production cycles and low prices to adopt them widely. Consumers are left to navigate a complicated web of tradeoffs involving farming practices, chemical processes, labor ethics and a wide range of prices.

Experts say people can find sustainable denim by learning how jeans are actually made.

It all starts with cotton farming

Most jeans are made from cotton, a crop that can require large amounts of water, fertilizer and pesticides.

Beth Jensen, chief impact officer at the nonprofit Textile Exchange, said many brands still lack full visibility into where their cotton comes from. Because denim production often spans multiple countries and suppliers, it can also be difficult to track labor conditions.

“We as an industry, collectively, have a long way to go on this,” she said.

As concern grows over fashion’s environmental impact, some brands have looked to solutions like regenerative cotton, which focuses on soil health, biodiversity and reducing synthetic chemical use. But as Jensen said, what’s feasible on a farm in California might not be in a place like India or Australia because of their different climates.

Why producing denim is labor and energy-intensive

After cotton is harvested, it is spun into yarn and dyed — typically with indigo, a process that can involve significant water use and chemical treatments. It's then woven into denim fabric, and cut and sewn into jeans.

Jeans then usually go through finishing treatments to create different shades, fades and distressed textures. Bill Curtin, owner of New Jersey-based BPD Washhouse, said denim-finishing is divided into “wet” and “dry” processes.

The wet process involves washing jeans with water, chemicals and treatments that lighten or tint the denim. Historically, brands have used pumice stones to achieve a worn, stonewashed look — with stones often shipped from Mexico, adding transport emissions and cost to the process. Many facilities are now switching to enzyme-based alternatives and ozone technologies that use less water.

The dry process creates abrasions, whiskers and ripped details either by hand or with laser technology, which Curtin said is more efficient and less labor-intensive.

Many stretchy jeans also contain fabrics like polyester or elastane — fossil fuel-derived synthetics that can shed microplastics over time.

But making sustainable denim is challenging

Fashion designer Maria McManus spent years wanting to add denim to her low-impact line but couldn’t find a way to do it that aligned with her values. The culprit, she said, was always the washing process.

“From a water and chemical perspective, it’s very invasive,” she said.

So instead she sourced dark, raw denim from Japan — indigo, minimal processing — and skipped the wash stage altogether, avoiding the faded and distressed look that define most commercial jeans. It was a deliberate constraint, and it held for years.

A breakthrough came when she collaborated on a collection with Agolde, a larger denim brand. Along with its parent company Citizens of Humanity, it's respected in the fashion industry for its focus on regenerative cotton farming.

Working with the company gave McManus access to infrastructure her small brand couldn’t build alone — a consulting agency that connected her with regenerative cotton farmers, a vetted indigo-dyeing process using biochemical rather than petrochemical dyes, and rigorous supply chain traceability.

But even that process, she said, isn’t simple. Organic and regenerative cotton crops can fail. Supply chains are hard to verify. “You know when they tell you their harvest failed” that they're honest, she said of one supplier. “I know I can trust them because really, what they should have done as business people or capitalists was just get regular cotton — because nobody is testing this stuff.”

But that often leads to higher prices. A pair of jeans from McManus’ brand is nearly $700 — a function of small production runs, she said. “It’s truly a units game.”

Finding the most sustainable pair of jeans

Experts say consumers should be wary of vague sustainability claims and instead look for brands that provide detailed information about their sourcing and manufacturing processes.

Dana Davis, a strategic fashion adviser who led sustainability efforts for the label Mara Hoffman, encouraged shoppers to look beyond a single product page and examine whether brands discuss labor rights, textiles and manufacturing sites across their entire business — not just in a capsule collection.

“If a brand really explains the whys behind why they’re doing these things, then you can get a sense of, ‘OK, this feels authentic,’” Davis said. But she added that “greenwashing” — overstating sustainability claims — can make it difficult for consumers to figure out what's legitimate.

Certifications can help, though Davis cautioned there is no single label that guarantees sustainability. One worth seeking out is the B Corp certification, which evaluates companies’ social and environmental performance. Some tree-based fibers like lyocell, a material commonly blended into jeans, may come from sources vetted by Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), indicating the wood pulp was sourced from responsibly managed forests.

But one of the simplest ways to reduce denim’s environmental footprint is also the least glamorous: To buy fewer jeans, wear them longer, wash them less and shop secondhand.

According to a life cycle assessment by Levi Strauss & Co., if 34.2 million people — or the equivalent of 1 in 10 Americans — bought a pair of secondhand jeans this year instead of new ones, it would avoid roughly 1.5 billion pounds (roughly 0.7 million metric tons) of carbon dioxide, equivalent to the emissions of about 150,000 gasoline cars.

“The most sustainable thing you can do,” Jensen said, “is use a product that’s already been made.”

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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.

Talarico has given Democrats their best chance in years of winning a Senate race in Texas and has boosted their still-uphill chances of retaking the majority in the U.S. Senate in November. Talarico, a former middle school teacher and a state lawmaker from Austin, laid out a clear strategy for the months ahead: Litigating Paxton’s scandals to a weary electorate.

“Ken Paxton is the most corrupt politician in America,” Talarico told a crowd of about 1,000 supporters who packed a dance club in downtown Houston. “He has failed the character test. He has put his own interests above the laws of Texas. Those are not my words, those are the words of Ken Paxton’s fellow Republicans.”

He also sought to tie what he called the “rot” at the heart of the nation's political system to the everyday problems faced by many voters, driving home the concerns over rising costs that have been part of Democrats' wider messaging strategy for this year's midterm elections.

"In America, we have an affordability crisis because we have a corruption crisis," Talarico told the crowd.

Talarico's messaging is tougher than in the primary

It was a stark pivot from the more sunny, spiritual theme of Talarico's Democratic primary campaign. Now, he's leaning into the same arguments against Paxton that Republican Senate leaders feared would make the attorney general a weaker candidate than Sen. John Cornyn, who Paxton beat in Tuesday's Republican runoff.

The diverse crowd in Houston held signs emblazoned with “Talarico,” but with a new twist. On the flipside was the campaign's new theme: “THE PEOPLE vs. KEN PAXTON.”

Phrased like a court case aimed at the state's chief law enforcement officer, the theme was launched on the day that also marked the third anniversary of Paxton's impeachment on allegations he used his office to benefit a wealthy political donor.

Paxton was acquitted on all 20 articles of impeachment, which has emboldened him and fueled his supporters. Many of them have long held that he and President Donald Trump, who endorsed him, have been victims of political persecution.

But the message seemed to resonate with many at Talarico's rally.

Monique Green, a retired elementary school teacher from Houston, said the most important part of the “The People vs. Ken Paxton” sign she clutched to her chest while standing in line to meet Talarico were its first two words.

“It’s a declaration that it’s about us," she said. "We are the ones, all of us, what we can definitely do together. And he inspires us to act. He doesn’t just talk — he believes.”

Campaign aides said Talarico had raised $600,000 in small, on-line donations within two hours of Paxton’s win in the Republican Texas runoff Tuesday, the most lucrative two hours for his campaign since he announced he was running in September 2025.

Turning personal attacks into campaign slogans

One of the first speakers at the rally was the Democratic state representative who co-led Paxton’s impeachment, Ann Johnson, alongside a Republican lawmaker.

Talarico emphasized that the impeachment over corruption allegations was brought by the Republican majority in the Texas statehouse, Paxton's own party. After his rally, he said he is making the campaign about Paxton’s record because “he has escaped accountability for years.”

Paxton's campaign declined to comment. But after Talarico finished speaking, Paxton posted a link to his campaign's donation page on the social platform X with a personal attack on his opponent: “James Talarico and his big vegan allies have raised a fortune trying to stop the America First agenda. I need your help!” he wrote.

It echoed a line from Paxton after his runoff victory on Tuesday, and Talarico had a response ready for his supporters at the Houston rally: "I’ve been eating barbecue since before Ken Paxton’s first indictment,” he said.

The vegan jab is part of Paxton’s attempt to seek out what he considers weak points in Talarico’s campaign, including past statements in which Talarico said God is nonbinary and that there were six biological sexes. And in a strategy reminiscent of Trump, Paxton also has been testing nicknames for his opponent.

They included “TalaFreako," which Talarico turned to his advantage Wednesday night. He told his supporters they could go to his campaign website and buy T-shirts stamped with the new nickname.

In an interview with CBS News ahead of Wednesday's rally, Talarico responded to the claims about his beliefs on gender, saying that what he means is that “God cannot be defined by human categories" and there were “two sexes, men and women."

“I also know there’s a very small percentage of people who have these chromosomal abnormalities, and I believe that they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect,” he said.

Food Bank President and CEO Eric Cooper said the need is only expected to grow as students across 29 counties are released for summer break.

“Our busiest time of the year is the summer,” Cooper said. “We’ll be making tens of thousands of meals over the summer months to make sure kids don’t miss those meals.”

Cooper said summer is the busiest because families have to budget extra for both childcare and additional groceries during the 11 weeks students are out of school.

“Just in Bexar County, there’s about 200,000 kids that were fed at school that will now be home and hungry.”

Not to mention, Cooper said it comes at a time when families are already facing rising prices at the grocery store and at the fuel pump.

“Our goal is to not cut back, but to meet the demand,” Cooper said.

Alongside school districts across the state of Texas, the San Antonio Food Bank will prepare summer meals for students in its culinary center that will be distributed to nearly 200 sites across the community.

A list of the food bank’s summer meal sites can be found on its website.

The San Antonio Food Bank is also delivering boxes of groceries to families who sign up to help them prepare meals for their children at home.

Cooper said families will be fed, but stressed their programs are reliant on funding, donations and volunteers.

“We need food donations, we need financial support and volunteers,” Cooper said.

To find ways to help the food bank or request assistance, visit the San Antonio Food Bank’s website or call the help line at (210) 431-8326.

Read also:

• LIST: Where San Antonio kids can eat for free this summer

Rockwell Boulevard residents have dealt with unbearable flooding on their property since the 1980s, according to Onesimo Barrera, who lives in the neighborhood just inside of Southwest Loop 410.

“I got a pump that’s been pumping for eight days today,” Barrera said. “I call 311, I don’t know, 10 times. I call the councilman day after day.”

The flooding in their home led them to hoist their furniture up onto cans to salvage what they can of their belongings.

“San Antonio needs to do something,” Lisa Barton, Onesimo’s daughter, said. “And then (Barerras) damages, who is going to pay for that? I mean, it just doesn’t make sense. It’s ridiculous, and then my mom’s in a wheelchair, she can’t get out. He has to carry her.”

The Barreras said the issue stemmed from a neighbor dumping dirt on their property and clogging a drain.

“The drainage ditch is full,” Barrera said. “Maybe once, twice a week with a load, he drives in there and unloads it.”

The City of San Antonio told KSAT in an email this issue stems from a situation on private property.

“Construction on private property appears to have diverted the natural flow of surface water, negatively affecting nearby properties,” a spokesperson for the city wrote. “The Department is currently assessing how the city can help alleviate the situation and reduce these impacts.”

The Barreras want the issue to be handled much faster than it is currently being addressed.

“Code compliance takes, I don’t know, 30 days,” Barton said. “But I mean, you’re talking about a whole city against one person, and you’re telling me that a whole city can not take care of that one person with the drainage.”

The city sent a truck to their home to pump out some water, but Barrera said it didn’t do much.

“They came the other day, pumped two trucks full,” Barrera said. “It didn’t make a dent on that, and it’s gonna keep raining during the rainy season.”

One of their neighbors had a similar problem with standing water in their backyard, but the issue is very secluded to Rockwell Blvd because all of the water from nearby streets flows down to them, Barrera said.

“It has to be changed,” Barrera said. “I mean, the city can not expect me to live like this.”

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The incident happened around 2 p.m. Monday on the Jewell Lake trails at Leon Creek Greenway.

The woman told officers that she was walking on the trail when an unidentified man approached her from behind and attempted to sexually assault her, SAPD said.

Officers said the woman was able to take a picture of the man on a cellphone during the assault.

Authorities said the suspect is approximately 20 years old and 5 feet, 5 inches tall with a medium build. Police said he has a beard and short black hair.

This comes just about a week after another assault was reported on a Northeast Side trail.

Henry Bassuk, the president of the San Antonio Park Police Officers Association, released a statement on Wednesday raising “renewed safety concerns.” He said San Antonio’s trail and park network does not have “adequate staffing levels.”

“The Park Police Division remains critically understaffed,” he said. “When manpower drops and patrol presence decreases, criminals notice.”

SAPD told KSAT “due to recent events,” the department and Park Police have increased their presence to “ensure the safety of the community.”

Detectives with SAPD’s Special Victims Unit are leading the investigation.

Anyone who may recognize the man or have been a witness to a crime near the trial is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 210-224-STOP.

Crime Stoppers may pay up to $5,000 for information that leads to a felony arrest in this crime.

Read also:

• New Braunfels man killed in Guadalupe County motorcycle crash, DPS says
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KSAT spoke with Samantha Mayorga, who captured the moment during postgame celebrations on Southwest Military Drive, to find out what happened in the moments just prior to the forced removal.

“At that time, what was going through my head was like, ‘Oh my God, why are they not asking?’” Mayorga said.

Honking and gathering in the streets is a long-standing San Antonio tradition after a Spurs win. Mayorga said she initially believed the tow truck was part of the celebration.

“I thought it was like a family-owned tow truck with their family on there,” Mayorga said.

She later learned, however, that the tow truck operator was reportedly working with the San Antonio Police Department and responding to a call at the time.

“These kids were basically hijacking the tow truck,” she said. “I didn’t know that Texas Towing is working with SAPD, and they were actually on a call.”

The video showed one person being pulled from the truck, falling to the ground, then appearing to say something to officers before being forced down again moments later.

Seconds after that, the same person appears to step toward officers with his hands raised before being shoved toward the sidewalk as officers yell for people to leave the roadway.

“At that point, like, come on,” Mayorga said. “You’ve been thrown twice — get off the road."

Still, questions remain online about what happened before the physical confrontation.

Mayorga said she did not personally hear whether verbal commands or warnings had been given before SAPD pulled people off the truck.

“There’s a lot going on. It’s loud,” she said. “There were plenty of comments on the video saying that the cops had been asking them and had already told them to get off. I didn’t witness them telling them to get off before.”

SAPD said in a statement to KSAT that officers responded because of the danger the situation posed and because of reports that people were attempting to break the rear window of the truck.

“Officers responded to a call for several individuals who had jumped on top of a tow truck flatbed, placing themselves, the driver, and others on the roadway in danger,” SAPD said in the statement. “It was also reported the individuals were attempting to break the rear window of the truck. This incident is under investigation.”

Mayorga said she did not see anyone attempting to damage the vehicle.

Ahead of Game 6 on Thursday, city leaders and law enforcement are again preparing for potential celebrations while urging fans to prioritize safety.

“Certain people that are breaking rules, they’re pretty much just messing it up for the tradition that San Antonio is known for to celebrate the Spurs wins,” Mayorga said.

Mayorga owns Xquizitskillz, a tattoo and barbershop, with her husband. She said they are offering 15% services to law enforcement to thank them for keeping people safe during the celebrations.