In a release, a department spokesperson said Raymond Ramos III, a four-year veteran of SAPD, was taken into custody while he was off-duty. He has since been placed on administrative duty.

According to an SAPD preliminary report, officers were dispatched just before 3 a.m. to a home in the 9200 block of Rhoda Avenue for what was described as a “major accident” with a “single motor vehicle.”

Bexar County online records show Ramos, 25, was arrested by SAPD and booked into the Bexar County Adult Detention Center.

Jail records show Ramos was released on bond Thursday afternoon.

The department said it is conducting separate criminal and internal investigations into Ramos’ arrest.

According to a KSAT Investigates analysis, Ramos is the sixth SAPD officer arrested this year.

Read also:

• Records: SAPD officer charged with family violence accused of throwing, striking wife with glass cup
• Man charged with intoxication assault in connection with I-35 rollover crash, SAPD says
• ‘I’ll kill you and your family’: Man allegedly held woman hostage in Cibolo home, police say
• SAPD officer fired after failing to search suspect found with contraband during jail intake

Trump has said multiple times in recent weeks that the warring parties have been on the cusp of a deal without anything coming to fruition. A spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry said in a live phone call on state television that mediators were active and nothing had been finalized to end the conflict that began Feb. 28 when the U.S. and Israel jointly attacked Iran.

Trump opened an Oval Office event Thursday afternoon saying: “We just made a great settlement of the war with Iran.” He offered scant details, other than to say he expects an agreement to extend a fragile ceasefire that started in April to be finalized “over the next few days.”

Extending the terms of the ceasefire gives U.S. leaders more time to negotiate over Iran’s nuclear program, the main reason Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used to justify launching the war. Netanyahu’s office said Thursday that Israel is not a party to the emerging agreement between the U.S. and Iran.

The announcement came after two days of back-and-forth attacks between the U.S. and Iran had pushed the Middle East closer to the resumption of a full-scale war.

Trump had threatened further escalation earlier Thursday, posting on social media that the U.S. would hit Iran “VERY HARD TONIGHT” and take “total control” of its oil and gas industries. A few hours later, Trump posted on social media that significant points in the negotiations “have been brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved.”

Esmail Baghaei, the spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, said in his phone call on state television that text of a deal is “mostly finalized.”

"The problem is that the contradictions in America’s position has caused turbulence to this process,” he said Thursday night.

A major sticking point in negotiations has been Iran's nuclear program, which the U.S. and Israel fear could lead to an atomic weapon, but which Tehran says is for peaceful purposes. Another key issue is Iran’s stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping lane for transporting oil and natural gas.

Trump again moves quickly from threats to negotiating

Trump's rapid shift Thursday from dire threats to promoting peace negotiations again underscored his whipsaw approach to the war. He suggested on Monday that a deal to end the conflict could be reached in a matter of days.

Then back-and-forth strikes rattled the Middle East this week. The first involved attacks between Iran and Israel, followed by the two rounds of fire between the U.S. and Iran, which targeted countries where U.S. troops are based. The U.S. strikes began after Trump blamed Iran for downing an American attack helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz. Both pilots were rescued safely.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry said the U.S. attacks had “effectively rendered the ceasefire ... meaningless,” without saying it was abandoning it.

After Trump threatened more attacks were to come on Thursday, Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, responded on social media that “wrong strategies and impulsive decisions” would wreak havoc on energy markets and “create an endless quagmire that you will be stuck in for years.”

It wasn't the first time Trump threatened escalation before giving negotiations another chance. In April, he warned Iran that “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again” if it didn’t agree to his terms, before extending a ceasefire.

Trump threatened to seize Iran's main oil terminal

Iran’s monthslong disruption of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has crimped global energy supplies, driven up fuel prices and made food and other basics more expensive well beyond the region.

Trump had threatened Thursday to seize Kharg Island, the heart of Iran’s oil industry, through which 90% of its exports pass.

But Trump himself soon voiced doubts about taking over the oil terminal, saying in an interview with Fox News: “I don’t know that America has the stomach for it, to be honest.”

“I don’t want to have boots on the ground," Trump said. "But if I wanted to, we could put a small group of soldiers and take over the place.”

Tensions persist over Iran's nuclear program, Strait of Hormuz

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a social media post that the U.S. would extract funds from frozen Iranian accounts to offset the costs of damage to American allies and any tolls Iran imposes for ships to transit the Strait of Hormuz.

Beyond the deadlock over the strait, the two sides also remain at odds over Iran's nuclear program. Tehran insists its nuclear efforts are peaceful. The U.S. and Israel fear Tehran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium could be used to build an atomic weapon.

Iran has insisted that any deal to end the war must also end fighting in Lebanon between its ally militia Hezbollah and Israel. But Netanyahu appears intent on pursuing his goal of destroying the militant group.

Iranian student says hope dwindles as attacks escalate

A 25-year-old student in northern Iran says Iranians are fearing “chaos” amid the war with the U.S. and Israel and multiplying crises at home.

The student, who lives in the city of Babol, said many Iranians are struggling to afford groceries in the face of mass job losses and triple-digit food inflation. He spoke on the condition of anonymity out of security fears.

“Everything is going wrong and there is no hope among the people,” the student added.

The student first spoke to The Associated Press before the war when he participated in widespread anti-government protests. He now says his chief concern is that Iran “maintain territorial integrity and deterrence” in the face of attacks by the U.S. and Israel.

US fires on another merchant ship to enforce blockade

The U.S. military's Central Command said Thursday that it struck a Guinea-Bissau-flagged tanker attempting to evade the American blockade on Iranian ports. It said the M/T Jalveer was transporting Iranian oil when it was disabled late Wednesday after its crew failed to obey U.S. orders.

It's the ninth merchant vessel the U.S. military says it disabled to enforce the blockade.

Three Indian sailors were killed when American forces struck the Palau-flagged M/T Settebello on Tuesday, India's minister overseeing ports and shipping said Thursday on X.

U.S. Central Command said American forces issued warnings before firing on the ship, which it accused of trying to evade the blockade.

The leader of the International Maritime Organization, a United Nations agency, condemned the attack.

___

Madhani reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Will Weissert, Collin Binkley, Michelle L. Price and Konstantin Toropin in Washington; Sheikh Saaliq in New Delhi; Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Victoria Eastwood and Amir-Hussein Radjy in Cairo; Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, and Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City contributed to this report.

It was June 12, 2025, when Richards learned that her husband of 15 years had died in floodwaters on the city’s Northeast Side.

Stevie Richards, 42, was among 11 people whose cars were swept up by a sudden wall of water near Loop 410 and Perrin Beitel.

Most ended up in Beitel Creek nearby.

“It’s very challenging for me because it still seems like just yesterday it happened,” Richards said. “But with my faith and my belief, I just hold onto that to try to make it through the day.”

Memories of the day she lost her husband play on repeat in her mind.

Richards said the morning began with a phone call from her husband, initially saying he had a change of heart about going to work and was heading home.

While she was on the phone with him, she said Stevie suddenly described being caught up in flooding.

She could hear the situation grow more and more dire over the phone, eventually ending with the call disconnecting.

“My husband was my life. Literally. And with him being gone, things are just different, totally different. It’s never going to the be the same,” she said.

What began with grief eventually led to anger for Richards.

A native of Houston, she said flooded roads were nothing new to her or her husband.

The type of deluge that ended his life, though, was something she said she had never seen.

“I feel like nothing was done to prevent something like this from happening, so it makes me angry,” she said.

Although it appears some repairs have been made in the area, a bridge near Perrin Beitel and Vicar Street that was damaged by the careening cars remains in ruins.

Richards, who still lives in the area, has to pass by that sight almost every day.

“I can’t close my eyes because I’m driving,” she said. “I’ll turn away.”

With her faith, she said she has slowly been working through her anger and feels she now is taking steps toward living in peace.

“I had to actually take a road to get to this point because that life-changing morning, yeah, it just does not go away,” she said.

Another thing that Richards said has helped with her healing is holding onto the good memories she has of her husband.

Read also:

• Takeaways from NWS report on June 12 Beitel Creek flood: Record rain, timeline and what ’exacerbated the situation’

The National Weather Service said it received more than a dozen reports of tornadoes Wednesday across northern Missouri, Iowa, Kansas and Illinois. Trees and utility wires were reported down across the region.

In Des Moines, Iowa, a 54-year-old man died at a homeless encampment in a park after being hit by a tree that “broke apart and fell during strong storms,” police said in a statement. The man was found critically injured Thursday morning and died at the scene, authorities said. There were no immediate reports of other deaths or injuries from the storms.

Severe weather continued Thursday, with the National Weather Service issuing tornado watches or warnings for parts of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri and Wisconsin. Strong storms delayed or halted flights at airports in some cities, including Chicago, Philadelphia and Newark, New Jersey. Parts of the Northeast and mid-Atlantic also strained under high heat and humidity.

A home vanishes before residents' eyes

Shane Tipton, of Unionville, Missouri, drove home from his factory job Wednesday afternoon unaware that severe weather was on the way, said his daughter, Kylie Rouse. As he stepped out of his truck, he saw a twister bearing down — and hurried into his mobile home to evacuate his 87-year-old dad, Jimmie Tipton.

They made it back to the truck, drove just far enough away and watched as the tornado obliterated the home. Shattered cabinets, furniture and appliances littered the ground. Clothes hung in trees. They believe they lost one of their hunting dogs, who has been missing since it struck.

“Everything's destroyed,” Rouse told The Associated Press in a phone interview Thursday. “It was scattered clear for miles. If my grandpa would have been in there, there's no way that he would be alive.”

They returned to the scene Thursday to hunt through the debris for Jimmie Tipton's prescriptions. Rouse has started an online fundraiser through GoFundMe to help them recover.

Storm damages animal shelter in Illinois

Residents of Springfield, Illinois, believe a tornado touched down in their area late Wednesday. Two buildings at the Animal Protective League shelter in Springfield were heavily damaged, but none of the nearly 150 cats and 28 dogs housed there were injured, said Deana Corbin, the group's executive director.

“It pretty much wiped out our shelter facility, took the roofs off both of our buildings,” Corbin said. “It’s a miracle. We were so blessed to not have any injuries of either people or animals.”

The community pitched in to take in all the cats and dogs temporarily, including a local animal control center, veterinarians and residents, she said.

Damage also was reported at Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport in Springfield.

Weather service meteorologist Frank Pereira said the system that produced the storms, including high winds and hail, was moving eastward Thursday, fueled by cool air from Canada clashing with warm, humid air from the South.

Record high temperatures expected along East Coast

Potentially dangerous heat and high humidity arrived Thursday and was expected to continue Friday for a swath of the East Coast from the mid-Atlantic to the Northeast, where daily high record temperatures could be broken in numerous places, the weather service said. Temperatures in the mid-90s Fahrenheit (mid-30s Celsius) were expected, but with the humidity it could feel like 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) or more, the service said.

Philadelphia declared a heat health emergency for Thursday and Friday, activating cooling centers, home visits by field teams, outreach to people experiencing homelessness and other services. New York City officials were also urging residents to take precautions, including drinking plenty of water and finding a cool place to stay if they do not have air conditioning.

Severe weather wreaks havoc on air travel and power

At various points Wednesday and Thursday, ground stops were issued at Chicago's O’Hare International and Midway International airports, and at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.

More than 1,000 flights going into and out of Chicago had been delayed or canceled, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking website.

Strong winds blew part of the roof off an apartment building in the Chicago area, forcing residents to leave, according to NBC 5 Chicago. Elsewhere, barns collapsed in Wisconsin and buildings were crushed in rural northern Missouri, photos and video online showed.

Commonwealth Edison Company, which provides electric service across northern Illinois, said the storms had downed poles and wires. On X, it wrote that it expected “80% restoration by Saturday, June 13 at 11 PM.”

___

Associated Press reporters Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa, and Hallie Golden and Gene Johnson in Seattle contributed.

McALLEN — Conservation groups are trying to stop the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from exchanging hundreds of acres of land with SpaceX.

This month, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife allowed a land swap deal with SpaceX to move forward that would give SpaceX 715 acres of land in the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge in exchange for 683 acres of private land that is adjacent to another refuge, the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge.

The conservation groups suing include the Center for Biological Diversity, Save RGV, and the South Texas Environmental Justice Network. They are joined by the Carrizo/Comecrudo Nation of Texas, a nonprofit indigenous group that considers the land that SpaceX is now occupying and seeks to develop as sacred. However, the tribe is not officially recognized by the federal government.

The groups said they hope to preserve the land to protect the diverse wildlife there, including the endangered ocelot. They argue SpaceX’s presence in the area has also begun degrading the land, particularly through rocket test launches that send debris onto refuge lands.

SpaceX did not immediately respond to questions about the land exchange.

“Our protected public lands are being gifted for the benefit of the world’s richest man, who could trash them while playing with his exploding rockets,” said Laiken Jordahl, national public lands advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge was built by decades of conservation work and funded by millions of taxpayer dollars to protect our vulnerable wildlife like ocelots and piping plovers.”

Jordahl added: “We’re not letting Trump and his political cronies lock the American people out of Texas’ cherished public lands just to give Elon Musk another payday.”

In the lawsuit, filed on Wednesday, the groups argued that the land swap is inconsistent with the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act, a law that lays out the mission and management of refuge lands, and that by approving the exchange, the Fish and Wildlife Service violated the National Historic Preservation Act, a statute enacted to protect historical sites from development.

They also argued that the environmental analysis of the land exchange did not meet the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act, and accused the agency of working with SpaceX to come up with “unfounded” scores to rate the land they would be giving up against the land the agency would be obtaining.

As part of an environmental assessment published in May, the agency evaluated habitat quality using “Biological Importance Scores.” A score was assigned to each parcel of land based on three equally weighted criteria: habitat quality, refuge connectivity, and critical habitat. The refuge land proposed to be given to SpaceX scored lower than the land the Fish and Wildlife Service would obtain.

Additionally, the conservation groups argued that the agency’s analysis of the swap didn’t meet the requirement of the National Environmental Policy Act, alleging that they did not consider reasonable alternatives and did not take a hard look at the impacts the deal would have due to SpaceX’s expansion.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, declined to comment on active or pending litigation.

Environmental assessment

In June, the Fish and Wildlife Service determined that the land exchange would not have significant adverse effects on public health or safety, historic or cultural resources, tribal sacred sites for federally recognized Tribes, ecologically critical areas, wetlands or floodplains, or on designated wilderness or research and natural areas.

The agency began holding talks with SpaceX over a potential land exchange in 2023. The goal, the agency said in their May environmental assessment, was to reduce the fragmented ownership of the land and consolidate them.

The assessment looked at whether the land exchange furthered the purpose of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge, whether it fulfills the conservation mission of the National Wildlife Refuge System, and whether it provides a net conservation benefit to the refuge.

Most of the land being offered up by the agency was acquired in the 1990s through condemnation for the protection of natural resources located on them, including endangered species habitat, coastal wetlands and barrier islands.

Industrial development

Since then, the surrounding area has experienced significant industrialization and development, especially because of SpaceX’s presence and expansion there. The industrial activity and the fragmented pattern of private land ownership led to increased disturbance from noise and lights and elevated levels of habitat fragmentation. The agency said those factors diminished the value of the land for purposes of conservation.

“The resulting changes in land use and landscape context have impacted the ability of these parcels to function as effective components of the regional conservation network,” the agency said.

Those parcels of land are also fragmented by private land owned by SpaceX, including the SpaceX Massey Test Site used for tests of space launch vehicles and land being developed by SpaceX for residential, commercial and possibly other uses.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said it expects SpaceX will use the acquired land for residential, commercial, or institutional development in addition to infrastructure or other manufacturing activities.

The parcels that SpaceX would be giving the agency in return are adjacent to the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge and the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge.

One set of land parcels is known informally as “Las Palomas” and is surrounded by land belonging to the Lower Rio Grande Valley refuge. Another set of parcels lies between the communities of Laguna Heights and Laguna Vista. That set of land is contiguous with a portion of the Laguna Atascosa refuge.

The conservation groups pointed out that the refuge land that would be handed over to SpaceX include portions of the Palmito Ranch Battlefield National Historic Landmark, the site of the last Civil War battle, and warned that SpaceX could choose not to preserve its historic values.

However, the Fish and Wildlife Service said it signed a contract, known as a programmatic agreement, with SpaceX, the Texas Historic Commission and the National Park Service on May 11. A programmatic agreement allows federal agencies to continue managing historic properties.

In 2024, SpaceX was in talks with Texas Parks and Wildlife on a different land swap deal that would have given SpaceX 43 acres from Boca Chica State Park.

In exchange, SpaceX would have transferred 477 acres near the Laguna Atascosa refuge. The conservation groups sued to stop that land deal as well before SpaceX pulled out of the deal.

Reporting in the Rio Grande Valley is supported in part by the Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc.

In a statement released before a scheduled Friday ribbon-cutting ceremony at the bridge, the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority said that “Canada and the United States have agreed to delay the opening of the bridge, taking the necessary time to resolve any outstanding issues.” It didn't elaborate on what those issues are or how long the delay would last.

The 1.5-mile-long (2.4-kilometer-long) Gordie Howe International Bridge spans the Detroit River and connects the Motor City with Windsor, Ontario. The bridge is jointly owned by Canada and Michigan and was expected to open to traffic later this month.

But the opening had been thrown into question after Trump in February demanded in a social media post that Canada turn over at least half of the bridge’s ownership to the U.S. federal government and agree to other unspecified demands in one of the Republican president's many salvos over cross-border trade issues.

Michigan officials and the White House had been in contact for months about the bridge following Trump's post, with the understanding that the opening would move forward Friday. Invitations for the bridge’s opening went out this week following a conversation between Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles.

“This project is a powerful example of bipartisan and international cooperation, and the governor looks forward to attending the ribbon-cutting ceremony when it happens,” a statement from Whitmer spokesperson Bobby Leddy said.

New bridge a “long-term play”

Internal disagreements within the Trump administration threw those plans into question, as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick pushed back on the opening, according to two people with knowledge of the matter who insisted on anonymity to discuss the private talks.

The White House did not immediately return a request for comment Thursday.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney hinted Wednesday that the opening could be delayed, while downplaying any concerns.

“There is no big drama. If it takes a little longer it will take a little bit longer, but this will benefit Canadians, Americans, business, tourists, residents for decades and decades to come,” Carney said on his way into Parliament.

Even with the delay, officials remained optimistic that the bridge — a roughly $4.4 billion project — is still expected to open.

“We need to keep this very much in perspective,” said Sandy Baruah, president of the Detroit Regional Chamber and former U.S. assistant secretary of commerce. “Our organization, the state of Michigan and others have been working on this bridge for 20 years. If it opens July 1, Aug. 1 or Sept. 1, I’m not going to get overly agitated about it. This is a long-term play.”

Named after the late Canadian Hockey great Gordie Howe, who spent 25 seasons leading the Detroit Red Wings, the bridge is expected to be another vital economic artery between Canada and the United States.

The construction project was negotiated by Rick Snyder, the former Republican governor of Michigan, and paid for by Canada to help ease congestion at the existing Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit-Windsor tunnel. Work has been underway since 2018.

U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin, a Michigan Democrat, said she’s taking people at their word that the holdup is “a minor hiccup.”

“This is probably the most bipartisan issue in the state of Michigan, so it’s ridiculous that we can’t just seal the deal,” Slotkin said.

Commerce and border crossings

Detroit and Windsor have been neighborly for generations, with residents in both countries frequently crossing the shared river border for entertainment and shopping. Windsor's population in 2021 was about 230,000. Like Detroit, the Canadian city's economy has a strong focus on manufacturing and the auto industry.

Commercial trade between the two cities primarily has been across the nearly century-old and privately-owned Ambassador Bridge, which is closer to downtown Detroit than the Gordie Howe Bridge.

The Ambassador Bridge had been the busiest commercial border crossing between the United States and Canada until last year, when truck traffic along the Blue Water Bridge connecting Port Huron, Michigan, to Sarnia, Ontario, surpassed the Ambassador Bridge's numbers, according to the Bridge and Tunnel Operators Association.

In 2025, about 2.1 million trucks crossed the Blue Water Bridge compared to just over 1.8 million that used the Ambassador Bridge. About 3.5 million passenger vehicles used the Ambassador Bridge last year, while 1.6 million crossed via the Blue Water Bridge.

Combined, more than 9.2 million vehicles crossed the border on those two bridges in 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

More than 3.7 million cars and SUVs also traveled between the United States and Canada last year via the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel.

Both bridges and the tunnel are working at full capacity, and the new bridge will help improve the efficiency of commercial and personal traffic between the two countries, Baruah said.

“This is what government is supposed to do, make it easier for business to conduct commerce,” he said.

___

Cappelletti reported from Washington.

Jeffery Lee, 49, is scheduled to be executed at 6 p.m. However a federal judge ruled Tuesday that nitrogen executions are unconstitutional and blocked the state from using the method to put Lee to death. The state filed an appeal Thursday asking the Supreme Court to set aside the ruling and allow the execution.

“If that ruling stands, it would be unprecedented in American history. Not only does it portend the first-ever permanent ban on a legislatively enacted method, but it would expand the concept of cruelty well beyond the bounds of the Eighth Amendment,” lawyers with the Alabama Attorney General's Office wrote. The Supreme Court has never ruled that a state's execution method violates the Constitution.

Lee's lawyers asked the high court to keep the execution on hold, saying in a response that Alabama is asking it to intervene at the eleventh hour “to allow an execution that has been found unconstitutional to proceed.”

Prison officials said Lee did not request a final meal Thursday but had potato chips, Skittles, water and a Sprite in the hours ahead of his possible execution.

His case has put a spotlight on the nitrogen method and the sharp disagreements over its use.

The execution method involves strapping a respirator to the person’s face and replacing breathable air with pure nitrogen gas, causing death from a lack of oxygen. Nitrogen has been used in eight executions in the United States — seven in Alabama and one in Louisiana. Lee was scheduled to be the ninth person put the death by nitrogen.

U.S. District Judge Emily Marks ruled Tuesday, after an appeals court reversed her initial finding that the method was constitutional, that Lee had shown by a “preponderance of the evidence that the protocol constitutes cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment.”

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision Wednesday night, rejected Alabama's request to stay the ruling. The court earlier said the three minutes that it could take for an inmate to lose awareness is an “intolerable” time frame, “given the suffering that would likely take place under Alabama’s nitrogen hypoxia protocol.”

During the previous Alabama nitrogen executions, the inmates shook, pulled at the restraints and exhibited labored breathing. During the state’s last execution by nitrogen gas, 30 minutes elapsed between Anthony Boyd exhibiting signs of being impacted by the gas and state officials closing the curtain to the viewing room to signal the execution was complete.

The state has maintained that the method is constitutional and causes no more suffering than other execution methods.

A jury convicted Lee of two counts of capital murder for killing Jimmy Ellis and Elaine Thompson while robbing a pawnshop on Dec. 12, 1998. Prosecutors said Lee entered Jimmy’s Pawnshop with a sawed-off shotgun and shot Ellis, the owner of the store, and Thompson, a store employee.

A jury voted 7-5 that Lee should receive a sentence of life imprisonment. However, a judge overrode that recommendation and sentenced Lee to death. Alabama in 2017 ended the practice of judicial override and no longer allows a judge to disregard a jury’s sentencing decision in death penalty cases.

Bestselling author John Grisham called on Gov. Kay Ivey to honor the jury's decision and commute Lee's sentence to life without parole.

“The practice of a judge overriding a jury was declared unconstitutional and so indefensible that Alabama itself abolished it in 2017,” Grisham said in a statement. “Jeffery Lee’s jury made its decision, the Alabama Legislature later agreed that juries, not judges, should decide life or death sentences.”

Marks did not block the state from using its other authorized execution methods, lethal injection and the electric chair. However, it is unclear if the state could swiftly change the method.

With the Knicks’ 29-point comeback win Wednesday night, San Antonio is down three games to one and are now on the brink of elimination.

The Spurs will take the court Saturday night for Game 5 at the Frost Bank Center. If necessary, Game 6 will be back in New York City followed by a Game 7 back at the Frost Bank Center (June 19).

The Silver and Black have quite the hill to climb to storm back in the series, but there is some history in San Antonio’s favor.

In 2016, Cleveland trailed 3-1 against Golden State in the NBA Finals and won the series. The Spurs find themselves in a similar position.

Game 5 between the Spurs and Knicks will air at 7:30 p.m. Saturday live on KSAT 12. KSAT’s pregame coverage begins with an hourlong Race to Seis special at 6 p.m. on KSAT 12 and KSAT Plus before shifting over to KSAT Plus exclusively at 7 p.m.

More Race For Seis coverage on KSAT:

• Courtside ticket priced at nearly $115K for NBA Finals Game 5 at Frost Bank Center
• Inside the numbers: An unbelievable Game 4 between Knicks and Spurs, with tons of numbers to note
• Knicks come from 29 down and beat the Spurs 107-106 for a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals

Canadian journalist Lyse Doucet won the Women’s Prize for Nonfiction with “The Finest Hotel in Kabul: A People’s History of Afghanistan.”

Both prizes come with a 30,000 pound ($40,000) purse and are open to female English-language writers from any country.

Evans wrote fiction for two decades before writing “The Correspondent" during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it was released quietly in 2025. A story told through years’ worth of letters from retired lawyer Sybil Van Antwerp to friends, family and famous writers, it gradually climbed bestseller lists and became a book club favorite. A film adaptation starring Jane Fonda is in the works.

Former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who chaired the fiction judging panel, said the novel “captured our hearts” by “elevating an ordinary life in the most heartfelt of ways.”

Evans said she “developed a very thick skin for rejection and failure” during the years of writing without getting published.

“Why did I keep going? I didn’t know how not to, I guess,” she told The Associated Press.

“I was writing the book that I wanted to read,” she added. “I guess the book that I was wanting to read was the book a lot of people were wanting to read.”

She said “The Correspondent” is in part a cry against the loss of handwritten letters — “the real tale of history” — in our digital age.

“If you want to know what happened somewhere, you need to read somebody saying to their mom, ‘This is what happened to me today,'" she said. "And so I feel a grief about that. There’s something I probably was reaching for when I was writing the book, which was the preservation of the memory of that.”

Doucet, the BBC’s chief international correspondent, profiles staff and guests of Kabul’s once-glamorous Inter-Continental Hotel – scarred but still standing -- to provide a microcosm of Afghanistan’s turbulent recent history.

Labour Party politician Thangam Debbonaire, head of the nonfiction jury, called it “a perfect work of narrative non-fiction” that is “informed by decades of excellent reporting.”

Doucet, who has been visiting Afghanistan as a journalist since the 1980s, said she wrote the book to provide a fuller picture than the “snapshot” of news coverage allows.

“My experience from decades of covering countries and people in the hardest of times is that people still have to get up every day and find an everyday courage to get through the day,” she said. "And even in the darkest of places … people find humor to bring light, they try to live with hope to bring some kind of relief and they try to live with humanity.”

Previous winners of the fiction prize, founded in 1996, include Zadie Smith, Tayari Jones and Barbara Kingsolver.

The sister prize for nonfiction was founded in 2024 to help redress a gender imbalance in publishing. In 2022, only 26.5% of nonfiction books reviewed in Britain’s newspapers were by women, and male writers dominated established nonfiction writing prizes.

Last year’s nonfiction winner was British physician Rachel Clarke’s account of an organ transplant, “The Story of a Heart.”

The NCAA banned Sorsby from participating in football after court filings showed the student athlete placed at least $90,000 in sports bets while attending Texas Tech and playing football at two other universities. He placed bets on his own team while playing at Indiana, and when in Texas, where sports betting is illegal, sent money to people in other states to bet on his behalf, according to court filings.

Sorsby sued to regain his eligibility, and on Monday a state district judge in Lubbock blocked the NCAA from prohibiting Sorsby from playing most of the upcoming season. The judge’s order also stipulates Sorsby must continue treatment for his gambling disorder and sit out the first two games of the season. The NCAA is appealing.

The judge set a Feb. 8 trial on the matter, after the football season concludes.

The ruling sparked criticism from officials at other universities and threats to cancel sporting events that include Texas Tech.

In a letter sent Thursday on behalf of Texas Tech, Paxton’s office warned the Big 12 that any effort to “disadvantage” the university would be illegal, prompting a swift reprisal from the attorney general’s office.

“The total exposure — for both the Big 12 and its members, jointly and severally — will be substantially more than $200 million,” said the letter signed by Thomas York, chief of the agency’s antitrust division.

The letter, first reported by The Athletic, came a day after Texas Tech Board of Regents Chair Cody Campbell said there would be a legal fight if teams or conferences boycott the university, calling it “an antitrust violation” on the Don’t @ Me with Dan Dakich show.

The Big 12 Conference and Texas Tech didn’t immediately respond to comment requests.

In late April, Texas Tech announced 22-year-old Sorsby was diagnosed with gambling disorder and would be admitted into a rehabilitation center in Arizona.

In a statement posted on the Texas Tech website, university athletic director Kirby Hocutt defended Sorsby’s eligibility and asked for critics to understand the nuance of Sorsby’s addiction.

“A young man in treatment for a clinically diagnosed addiction exercised his legal right to seek a remedy in court, and a judge agreed with him,” Hocutt said. “Our role has been to support his recovery, not to engineer his eligibility.”

Sorsby transferred to Texas Tech from the University of Cincinnati in January and has not yet played a game on the team.

Sorsby’s legal team for the lawsuit includes Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock. A spokesperson for the speaker’s office referred questions about Sorsby’s case to Burrows’ private law practice.

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

This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.

The S&P 500 jumped 1.8%, coming off a back-to-back drop that had yanked it back to where it was in early May. The Dow Jones Industrial Average leaped 929 points, or 1.9%, and the Nasdaq composite rallied 2.5%.

Stocks immediately veered higher in midday trading after Trump said on his social media network that “discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran have been brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved” and that the time and place of a signing will “be announced shortly.”

A deal to end the war with Iran could reopen the Strait of Hormuz and allow oil tankers to carry crude again from the Persian Gulf to customers worldwide. The price for a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude sank 2.6% to $87.71. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 2.9% to $90.38, though it’s still above its roughly $70 price from before the war.

Worries had been high because the United States and Iran launched attacks over the past several days threatening a more than monthlong tenuous ceasefire.

High oil prices caused by the Iran war have sent inflation painfully upward, and a report on Thursday showed that prices at the U.S. wholesale level increased by more in May than economists expected. The effect is worldwide, and the European Central Bank on Thursday became the first major central bank to raise interest rates in response.

Higher rates can keep a lid on inflation. But they also slow economies and undercut prices for all kinds of investments, including stocks and cryptocurrencies. They hit investments seen as the most expensive in particular, and some critics are calling the artificial-intelligence industry a bubble where investment inflated too far.

Big swings for AI stocks have been yanking the U.S. stock market up and down over the last week, as they went from roaring to records to suddenly turning lower. The big concern is whether such stocks shot too high, too fast because of AI mania, and their careening moves have sometimes reversed direction by the hour.

AI stocks had already been rolling back up their roller coaster early Thursday, before Trump made his announcement on Iran.

Marvell Technology climbed 11.1%. It’s coming off a manic stretch where it plunged 16.7%, soared 9.6% and then fell more than 5% for two straight days. Just before that, it had a one-day surge of 32.5% that was its best in history when Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang suggested it could be “the next trillion-dollar company.” It was worth a bit more than $190 billion at the time.

Companies involved in the making of chips, meanwhile, jumped to some of the market’s biggest gains. Lam Research leaped 12.7%, and KLA climbed 12.9%.

They helped offset an 8.5% drop for Oracle. It reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected, but it also said it expects to raise $40 billion in cash this fiscal year through borrowing and sales of its stock. That comes after it raised $48 billion last fiscal year to help pay for AI investments.

Other companies’ stocks have also been punished recently for announcing heavy spending on AI, as the question remains whether such investments will produce the profits and productivity that AI proponents are promising.

All told, the S&P 500 jumped 127.31 points to 7,394.30. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 929.97 to 50,848.75, and the Nasdaq composite rallied 640.16 to 25,809.66.

In the bond market, Treasury yields eased sharply as falling oil prices meant less upward pressure on inflation. The yield on the 10-year Treasury dropped to 4.45% from 4.55% late Wednesday, which is a significant move for the bond market.

A sustained drop in oil prices could allow the Federal Reserve to keep its main interest rate on hold this year, instead of hiking it as many traders suspected it may have to because of high inflation and a solid U.S. job market. Following Trump’s announcement, traders ratcheted back their bets for a possible increase to the federal funds rate this year, according to data from CME Group.

The Fed could even resume its cuts to interest rates under its new chair, Kevin Warsh, if inflation pressures subside enough. Trump appointed Warsh, and Trump has been loudly calling for lower interest rates.

Stocks of smaller companies can feel the biggest benefit from easier interest rates because many need to borrow money to grow, and the Russell 2000 index of the smallest U.S. stocks jumped a market-leading 3%.

In stock markets abroad, indexes rose modestly in Europe following a mixed finish in Asia.

London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.5%, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.7% for two of the world’s bigger moves.

___

AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.

According to Better Business Bureau Heart of Texas Senior Director of Communications Jason Meza, reports of fake and low-quality World Cup products are already surfacing.

“Better Business Bureau is witnessing a little bit of chatter in our local area regarding counterfeit items, things that were promised, and really low-quality, subpar items that end up in their mailbox or on their doorstep,” Meza said. “A lot of this is online.”

With many fans searching for official jerseys, collectibles, and other World Cup memorabilia, scammers are taking advantage of the heightened demand by advertising products that may not match their online descriptions.

Meza advises consumers to be cautious of deals that seem too good to be true.

“We all want the bargain. We all want a deep discount,” he said. “But knowingly, you get what you don’t pay for in this sense. Are you paying for a subpar quality item? Inspect those products carefully.”

Warning signs of counterfeit merchandise can include poor-quality packaging, misspellings, grammatical errors, blurry logos and websites that rely heavily on stock photography instead of original product images.

“A lot of stock photos end up on storefronts, and then you get the item and it’s totally not what it was presented as,” Meza said. “If you’re shopping from a source you’ve never purchased from, check a few websites and read the reviews.”

Beyond disappointing customers, counterfeit sales can have broader consequences. Meza noted that counterfeit operations are sometimes linked to criminal enterprises and other illegal activities.

For consumers who discover they have purchased counterfeit merchandise, the Better Business Bureau encourages reporting the seller. Complaints can be filed with the online marketplace where the purchase was made, the Better Business Bureau, or a state’s attorney general’s office.

Read also:

• Impersonation scams on the rise: RBFCU warns of increased AI bank fraud

According to the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), troopers were dispatched to the crash just before 5 a.m. on March 31 in the 3110 block of Stagecoach Road, which is located near Nickerson Farms Road.

In its investigation, troopers said a Harley-Davidson motorcycle was traveling eastbound on Stagecoach Road when the motorcycle driver “failed to negotiate a curve” and lost control of it. The driver and passenger were both thrown from the motorcycle, DPS said.

Investigators said the passenger, later identified as Kaitlyn Marie Johns, 35, was pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver, who was identified as Richard Wayne Klatt, 40, “sustained serious but non-life-threatening injuries” as a result of the crash, according to a DPS spokesperson. He was transported to a San Antonio-area hospital for additional treatment.

Three weeks after the crash, the agency said an arrest warrant was obtained for Klatt.

On June 4, Klatt was taken into custody by Guadalupe County Precinct 1 Constables at an IHOP located in the 2700 block of North Hwy 123 Bypass in Seguin and later booked into the Guadalupe County Adult Detention Center. The manslaughter charge is considered a second-degree felony.

Records show a judge set his bond at $250,000. As of Thursday afternoon, Klatt remains in custody at the jail.

DPS said the crash investigation remains ongoing.

More recent crime coverage on KSAT:

• ‘It’s unacceptable’: Texas state senator, Wembanyama condemn attacks on Spurs fans in New York City
• Man charged with intoxication assault in connection with I-35 rollover crash, SAPD says
• Road rage victim urges drivers to stay alert after Memorial Day shooting on Interstate 35

A lawsuit brought by former Republican gubernatorial candidate Duke Rodriguez and other plaintiffs challenges the process used by Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's administration to eliminate an income cap and copays for childcare assistance before the Legislature had a chance to weigh in or approve funding.

Rodriguez, who lost his party’s nomination in New Mexico’s recent primary, called it “executive overreach.”

Jacob Candelaria, an attorney representing Rodriguez and the other plaintiffs, told Judge Elaine Lujan that the administration announced the program's expansion first and later asked for the Democratic-controlled legislature to “rubber stamp” the policy.

“This is a fundamental perversion of the separation of powers,” Candelaria said, asking the judge to protect the “constitutional interests” of New Mexicans by allowing the lawsuit to proceed.

Holly Agajanian, the governor's chief general counsel, disputed claims of executive overreach and suggested that the plaintiffs were asking the court to referee a policy disagreement on the merits of universal child care.

“We are not in a constitutional crisis,” Agajanian told the judge.

If the Legislature and state child care agency were required to double back and draft new regulations authorizing universal child care, Agajanian said that could create months of confusion for families about who is eligible to receive free care.

The state argued in court filings that the lawsuit was moot. Lujan Grisham signed legislation in February enshrining the program into law, provided state finances remain healthy.

The judge could issue a ruling Thursday on whether the lawsuit can proceed. A potential pause on the program would put thousands of New Mexican families back on the hook for daycare payments and create a headache for businesses.

Ilene Harding, who runs seven daycare centers in the Albuquerque area, said the expansion has boosted enrollment and streamlined billing.

“We’ve always been financially solvent, but it’s given us stability,” Harding said.

The challenge comes as New Mexico looks to cement its place as the first U.S. state to cover daycare bills for all families regardless of income, provided parents or legal guardians are working, in school or qualify for an exemption. The stakes extend nationwide as policymakers from New York to California look for models to reduce costs for families and expand public investment in childcare.

New Mexico’s program, which is financed in large part with revenue from oil and gas production in the state, was among the nation's most generous before November’s expansion, waiving costs for families making up to 400% of the federal poverty rate or roughly $132,000 per year for a family of four.

Legislative analysts already have raised questions about the sustainability of New Mexico's expanded program, noting earlier this year that the state’s Early Childhood Education and Care Department started overspending just weeks into the November launch.

This week, the state agency proposed new regulations aimed at shoring up the program’s sustainability. Potential guardrails include copayments for higher-income families in the event of a significant drop in oil prices or enrollment in free childcare surging beyond state projections.

Trump announced the nomination on social media amid pressure from Congress to name a permanent replacement for Tulsi Gabbard, who announced her resignation last month. Trump faced intense pushback over his decision to name Bill Pulte, head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, as acting director. The job oversees the coordination of 18 intelligence agencies.

The resulting uproar led to a standoff in Congress after Democrats said they would refuse to renew foreign intelligence powers unless Trump pulled Pulte’s nomination and named a permanent nominee.

“Few people anywhere in the Legal Community are respected at the level of Jay,” Trump wrote. “I encourage the United States Senate to confirm Jay as soon as possible.”

Speaking later Thursday in the Oval Office, Trump said he still plans to keep Pulte in the role “for a little while” after earlier saying he wants Pulte to downsize the office. He called Clayton an “incredible talent” and said, “Nobody has better credentials.”

As the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, Clayton oversees the most prestigious of the Justice Department’s prosecution offices, with a vast portfolio ranging from terrorism and espionage cases to security fraud and public corruption.

He took over from interim U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon, who resigned in February after refusing to carry out orders from the Justice Department to drop corruption charges against Mayor Eric Adams. The case was eventually dropped after prosecutors from Washington submitted a request to a judge.

Republicans hope to move quickly on nomination

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., says the Senate could move “fairly quickly” to confirm Clayton as director of national intelligence if the White House submits his paperwork soon.

He praised Clayton, saying he has a “great reputation.”

Democrats are holding up the renewal of a key surveillance law, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, in protest of Trump’s decision to temporarily tap Pulte. They say they won’t support an extension of the law, which expires at midnight Friday, until Trump withdraws Pulte’s appointment.

Trump previously said Pulte would take over on June 19. It is unclear whether the Senate could move quickly enough to confirm Clayton before that date.

“I don’t know what realistic is, but we’re gonna probe the limits of it,” Thune said.

Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said that he has “known and respected” Clayton for decades and that if Trump had named him as the DNI nominee last week, “lots of pain might have been avoided.”

“His intelligence, temperament and deep commitment to public service will make him a terrific DNI,” Himes said.

Asked about Clayton’s nomination, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said, “Pulte has to go.”

“He cannot be in the DNI role,” Schumer said. “It’s too important.”

Trump's pick has led SDNY during a tumultuous period

Clayton navigated his way through a 14-month tenure in the Southern District of New York without clashing with the federal judges in the busiest court in the nation, unlike his counterparts in upstate New York and New Jersey. After his interim term expired after 120 days, the judges of the Southern District appointed him as U.S. attorney.

Clayton was sworn in April 2025 on the same day three prosecutors resigned, saying they felt pressured to admit wrongdoing or regret about prosecuting the case against Adams.

Then, weeks later, the office had to withstand controversy over the Trump administration’s firing of one of its most respected and successful prosecutors, Maurene Comey. She claims she was fired because of Trump’s dislike of her father, former FBI Director James Comey.

Under Clayton, the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office facilitated the unsealing of thousands of pages of court records from the prosecutions of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell — documents that were made public as part of the Justice Department’s release of records related to the late sex offender and his longtime confidant.

Clayton filed documents with the court explaining the process the government followed in releasing the materials.

Clayton has also overseen the prosecution of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores, on drug trafficking charges.

Clayton has overseen cases involving national security threats

Several recent terrorism cases brought by Clayton’s office touch on the global threats and influences that he’ll be navigating if confirmed as director of national intelligence.

They include the May arrest of Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, an Iraqi and Iranian citizen accused of plotting 20 attacks in Europe and Canada and planning to attack a Manhattan synagogue and Jewish centers in Los Angeles and Scottsdale, Arizona, in retaliation for the U.S. war on Iran.

“There are foreign nations and terrorist organizations that see our success as a threat. A threat that they want eliminated,” Clayton said at a recent press briefing. “That is a stark truth.”

“And don’t take my word for it,” he added. “Take their words and their actions. When your enemies tell you something, and when they act, you should know that they mean it.”

The first Trump administration tried in June 2020 to install Clayton, then the chairman of the SEC, as U.S. attorney in Manhattan, but backed down and instead allowed Deputy U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss to serve in the post. The reversal came after then-U. S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman agreed to step down, following assurances that probes into Trump allies would not be disrupted and that Strauss could lead the office.

At the time, the office was looking into dealings by Rudy Giuliani, who was serving as Trump’s personal attorney, and was also investigating the actions of a state-owned Turkish bank.

___

Neumeister and Sisak reported from New York. Associated Press writers Eric Tucker, Mary Clare Jalonick and Seung Min Kim in Washington contributed to this report.

With a capacity crowd of 80,824 watching at the iconic Azteca Stadium, co-host Mexico started the largest World Cup tournament in history by getting goals in each half while three red cards were shown — two for South Africa and one for Mexico.

Quiñones, who was the top scorer in the Saudi league this season, gave Mexico the lead in the ninth minute. Jiménez added the second goal on a header in 66th.

South Africa players Sphephelo Sithole and Themba Zwane were both given red cards, forcing the team to finish the match with only nine players. Mexico defender César Montes was then given a red card in injury time.

With his 46th international goal, and his first in three World Cups, Jiménez tied Jared Borgetti for second place for the Mexican national team. He is six goals shy of leader Javier “Chicharito” Hernández.

Quiñones, a 29-year-old forward who was born in Colombia, was one of six starting players who made their World Cup debut for El Tri.

Mexico, coming of a first-round exit at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, has three points in Group A and will next play South Korea next Thursday in Guadalajara.

South Africa will play the Czech Republic on the same day in Atlanta.

This year's World Cup has 48 teams, the most in history. It is being held in Mexico, Canada and the United States.

___

AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup

Maybe it's the kind of contraption that has carried space aliens to the White House to force a meeting with America's leader.

But come closer and you'll see the contours of the eight-sided cage, 30 feet (9 meters) in diameter and shaped, with careful precision, like the MMA league's signature Octagon.

That is, a STOP! sign flipped on its edge, with wire-mesh sides and padded corners fitted with different sponsors' logos: Morgan & Morgan, Bud Light, Dodge Ram, Corona Extra and Polymarket, which identifies itself as the world’s largest prediction market.

Overhead looms The Claw, a four-sided mass that arcs more than 90 feet (27 meters) into the air and features lights, speakers, thick snakes of wiring and four large screens so fans not seated right next to the Octagon can follow the cage fighting below.

Think more of the four-sided, metal grabby thing that tries to grasp stuffed animals at a video arcade rather than what house cats have — hence the extraterrestrial vibes.

And surrounding all that are risers filled with gray folding chairs forming a temporary arena expected to seat 4,000-plus people for the seven UFC fights being staged on Sunday to celebrate the 80th birthday of President Donald Trump and the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence’s signing.

‘Quite attractive to a lot of people’

For non-UFC fans, all of this might be disorienting under any circumstances. But the temporary arena is covering nearly the entirety of the White House's South Lawn, where Marine One usually lands to ferry the president to out-of-town trips and gobs of kids scramble in the grass during the Easter Egg Roll every spring.

More than $60 million and tens of thousands of hours of labor have been poured into building the arena, according to a court filing from the National Park Service, which oversees the South Lawn and is contesting a lawsuit meant to block the event.

The White House says the UFC is covering the costs, though the filing states that seven agencies — including the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Aviation Administration — have “allocated significant resources and manpower.”

Fighters, their entourages and assorted support staffers are expected to take over the driveway and part of the West Wing when they're not fighting. But they'll enter the arena via curtained-off walkways with access to the Octagon.

They, as well as ordinary attendees of Sunday's spectacle, will have picturesque views of the White House's Executive Residence and its storied Truman Balcony on one side and the Washington Monument towering in the distance on the other. All of it will be accentuated by swirling spotlights, and perhaps even sweat and blood pouring off the fighters pummeling each other.

A packed pre-event schedule includes a press conference at the Lincoln Memorial with UFC chief Dana White and the fighters on Friday night.

There's also a ceremonial weigh-in for combatants on Saturday at the Ellipse, a park near the White House where organizers expect 120,000-plus visitors to watch Sunday night's proceedings on large screens after winning free tickets in a lottery.

Stunt athlete Travis Pastrana is also set to do a potentially death-defying backflip on a dirt bike on the White House lawn as part of the preshow extravaganza.

Trump has called the Octagon and its Claw “quite attractive to a lot of people.” He's even suggested that maybe the temporary structure could become permanent, like the Eiffel Tower, which he notes was originally built as part of the 1889 World's Fair but then was never taken back down.

Only the president knows how serious that suggestion really is.

The fights will go on rain or shine — despite a lack of covering

Work on the arena began May 20 and has continued for weeks. During a walk-through for reporters on Thursday, construction noises — particularly sanding and hammering — could be heard. Giant cranes were carrying materials around overhead, though that was for the $400 million ballroom that Trump is building nearby, not the UFC fight.

The remaining grassy lawn around the arena, on the other sides of the White House, has been fitted with supplemental spotlights. But the grass that normally grows between the White House and the start of the risers for the arena is now gone, with nothing but dusty dirt that will need to be resodded when this is all over — unless the president really does decide to leave the arena up permanently.

There's also a large Freedom 250 logo standing between the White House and the arena. Nearby, crews removed the tables and yellow patio umbrellas from Trump’s refurbished Rose Garden and were power-washing that space, as well as the colonnade to the Oval Office, in preparation for the fights.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed a cooperation agreement with UFC that will pair the two to provide fight training and health and diet regimens, while promoting teamwork and leadership among youth around the world.

“We are so polarized,” Rubio said. “There are only a handful of things that bring people together in one place at one time, united by their interest in one thing. We need more of those.”

Later Thursday, crews began testing the sound system, unleashing a deep rumbling — and sometimes unsettling bass notes — throughout the West Wing. During a subsequent Oval Office event, the music from the lawn was loud enough that the 1970s hit "Boys are Back in Town” rollicked in the background as Trump spoke.

Sunday's event starts at 8 p.m. ET. As darkness falls, crews will illuminate The Claw in red, white and blue, and the mass of lights will offer projections that make it seem as though the entire structure has been enveloped in a twirling stars and stripes pattern.

The weather forecast calls for hot and muggy conditions with thunderstorms possible. The underside of The Claw's tower features an overhead cover that should keep the fighters reasonably dry should it rain — and Trump is also likely to watch from a protected, covered area.

But everyone else would almost certainly get wet.

White has vowed that even heavy lightning — when The Claw might make a conspicuous target for bolts — wouldn't stop the show.

“I don’t care if it snows," White said.

Golf Digest cited multiple sources as saying Mickelson is no longer welcome at The Farms Golf Club in Rancho Santa Fe, California, where the six-time major champion has played and practiced for decades. The unwanted contact was said to have happened earlier this spring.

Mickelson, the chief recruiter in the launching of LIV Golf, has only played once this year because of a serious family health matter that has not been disclosed. He did not play the Masters and PGA Championship, and is no longer exempt for the U.S. Open.

Golf Digest said it verified the identity of The Farms employee and was withholding her name to protect her privacy. It said she declined to participate in the reporting of the story.

A spokesperson for Mickelson told Golf Digest, “Any misunderstanding has been cleared up. Phil continues to attend to a family health matter and is uncertain when he will be able to return to professional golf.”

Golf Digest cited sources in reporting Mickelson approached the woman in the clubhouse and made nonconsensual and inappropriate physical contact with her. The woman rejected his advances and reported it to her supervisors.

Officials at The Farms reviewed and investigated, Golf Digest reported, and then confronted Mickelson on the course. Mickelson, 55, was told to leave the premises.

The Farms said in a statement to Golf Digest, “Following a staff member report of member misconduct, the club provided immediate and ongoing support to the staff member, conducted a thorough independent investigation of the incident and took decisive action. This individual is no longer a member of The Farms Golf Club.”

“To protect the safety and privacy of our staff and member, we are unable to speak further on the matter.”

Golf Digest cited multiple sources in confirming the member was Mickelson.

The Farms, located about 10 miles from Torrey Pines, is a private club where several top players are members such as Annika Sorenstam and Xander Schauffele, both of whom have primary residences in Florida.

The development adds to what has become a dark chapter for Mickelson, who is married with three children and was once one of the most beloved public figures in golf for his bold and creative game, and for the time he spent after rounds signing autographs.

Mickelson was a relief defendant in an insider trading scheme in 2016 in which he was not criminally charged but agreed to repay nearly $1 million he made in a single trade. Noted gambler Billy Walters was involved in that case and sentenced to five years in prison.

Walters wrote an autobiography in 2023 in which he claims Mickelson has wagered more than $1 billion over the last 30 years, including one day in 2011 in which Mickelson was said to have placed 43 bets on Major League Baseball that resulted in $143,500 in losses.

Mickelson became the oldest major champion in golf history when he won the 2021 PGA Championship. A year later, he was a central figure in helping to launch Saudi-funded LIV Golf. He lost major sponsorships when he was quoted in early 2022 as calling the Saudis “scary mother (expletives)” and that he was only thinking of joining the league to gain leverage over the PGA Tour.

The Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia is ending its financial support of LIV after this year.

___

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

Trump had threatened major strikes on Iran and to seize control of its oil and gas industries as escalating attacks between the countries pushed the Middle East closer to full-scale war.

The threats to seize Iran’s Kharg Island oil terminal came after the U.S and Iran traded strikes for a second straight day, pushing the Middle East closer to the resumption of a full-scale war. It was the third time this week that back-and-forth strikes have rattled the Middle East.

Here's the latest:

Trump again threatens federal takeover of DC

The president’s comments came in response to a question about the possibility of Janeese Lewis George winning the District of Columbia’s mayoral primary next week.

“I wouldn’t like it,” Trump said. “And maybe we’d take back Washington, run it on the federal basis. We won’t put up with it. We’re not going to lose our businesses.”

George is one of the front-runners vying to replace Mayor Muriel Bowser and identifies as a democratic socialist.

Trump has claimed the US has essentially reached a deal with Iran before, so why is this different?

“Because they’ve taken a pounding,” Trump explained Thursday when asked why he was confident.

But his answer was vague as he described it as a “very strong memorandum of understanding,” that he described as “a little conceptual.”

He said of Iran, “They want to make the deal a lot more than I do.”

Trump believes Iran Supreme Leader has signed off on emerging deal

“I understand the answer is yes” Trump said when asked if Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei has agreed to the deal.

Khamenei was wounded in the opening salvos of the U.S. and Israeli bombardment of Iran and has been in hiding since.

Iran has not yet confirmed that it’s agreed to terms with the U.S. on a settlement to end the war

Trump says Pulte will continue to be acting director of national intelligence

Trump is insisting that Pulte will stay in the temporary role despite the president’s announcement earlier Thursday that he’s chosen Clayton as the permanent nominee.

“He’s only there for a little while,” Trump said of Pulte. Pressed on Pulte’s lack of national security credentials, the president responded “but he’s intelligent, unlike a lot of other people.”

Trump was also vague on whether he’ll take any executive actions to address the potential lapse in surveillance authorities after midnight Friday.

“Congress wants me to do it, and let’s see what happens,” he said.

Trump opens up more protected ocean areas to fishing

Trump opened three marine protected areas in the Pacific Ocean to commercial fishing with a proclamation Thursday that he said will boost the U.S. seafood industry.

Trump has targeted marine protections created in the era of Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush that he said stifle the country’s ability to compete in the global seafood marketplace. He moved to reestablish fishing in Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument off New England in February.

Thursday’s move focused on portions of Mariana Trench Marine National Monument, Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument and Rose Atoll Marine National Monument. The monuments are protected zones in remote areas of the Pacific.

Environmental groups have criticized Trump’s moves to allow fishing in protected zones, which they said provide vital habitat for rare sea life.

US stocks jump and oil prices ease

U.S. stocks have rallied to their best day in two months and oil prices have fallen after Trump said he had called off new military strikes on Iran.

Trump’s comments raised hopes Thursday for a potential deal to get the global flow of oil going again.

The S&P 500 jumped 1.8%, coming off a back-to-back drop that had yanked it back to where it was in early May.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average leaped 1.9%, and the Nasdaq composite rallied 2.5%. Strong gains for chip stocks helped offset a slide for Oracle. Treasury yields eased sharply in the bond market.

Rubio says UFC fights are a great uniter for a polarized America as White House prepares for cage match

“There are only a handful of things that bring people together in one place at one time, united by their interest in one thing. We need more of those,” Rubio said.

He lauded the popularity of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and the diversity of fight audiences as he signed a sports diplomacy agreement with UFC president Dana White.

He said the White House event on Sunday could have been a concert or a “Shakespeare in the Park” production, “but this one will have people watching probably … a billion people over the world will be watching America celebrate its 250th birthday with the White House in the background.”

National Mall vandalism investigated

The U.S. Park Police is investigating after someone marked the numbers “86 47” on the grass of the lawn west of the Washington Monument.

“The cause of the discoloration has not yet been determined. Grass samples have been collected for testing,” Park Police said in an email.

The same numbers got attention after former FBI Director James Comey was indicted in April over a photograph he posted on social media of seashells arranged to say “86 47.” The Justice Department contends the numbers amounted to a threat against Trump, the 47th president. Comey has said he assumed the numbers reflected a political message, not a call to violence.

According to Merriam-Webster, 86 is slang meaning “to throw out,” “to get rid of” or “to refuse service to.”

“The deranged vandalism on our National Mall will not be tolerated,” the Department of Interior said in an email. “Any threat against the President is taken very seriously by the Department.”

Trump claims he’s close to making a deal with Iran aimed at winding down conflict

“We just made a great settlement of the war with Iran,” Trump said at the start of an Oval Office event. “And we’re going to be, subject to finalization of documents, which should get done over the next few days, probably have a signing, maybe in Europe.”

Trump started the day by again threatening to hit Iran “very hard” with new strikes. Hours later, he returned to social media to say that he decided to cancel plans to escalate the fighting because progress had been made in the talks with Iran and suggested anew that a deal is within view.

But Trump on multiple occasions over the last several weeks has claimed that the warring parties have been on a cusp of a deal without anything coming to fruition.

Taiwan’s opposition leader met US lawmakers

The leader of Taiwan’s opposition party met five U.S. lawmakers at a time when Washington is seeking to stabilize ties with Beijing despite their differences over the self-governed island, including U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.

Cheng Li-wun, chairperson of Taiwan’s Kuomintang Party, is on a two-week trip to the U.S. to promote her party’s approach to peace in the Taiwan Strait through dialogue and to explain its stance on Taiwan’s defense budget and purchase of U.S. weapons. Her party opposes the formal independence of Taiwan.

Taiwan’s media reported that Cheng on Wednesday met with Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., Rep. John Rose, R-Tenn., Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Tenn., Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., and Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla. Mast chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Fleischmann’s office confirmed the meeting.

Thune says Senate could move ‘fairly quickly’ to confirm Clayton

“I don’t know what realistic is, but we’re gonna probe the limits of it,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said after Trump announced on social media that he would nominate Jay Clayton for director of national intelligence.

Democrats are holding up the renewal of a key surveillance law, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, in protest of Trump’s temporary pick for the job, federal housing regulator Bill Pulte. The law expires Friday at midnight.

Trump has previously said that Pulte will take over from the outgoing director, Tulsi Gabbard, on June 19. It is unclear whether the Senate could move quickly enough to confirm Clayton before that date.

Rubio signs sports diplomacy agreement with UFC ahead of cage fight at the White House

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has signed a cooperation agreement with the president of the Ultimate Fight Championship that will pair the two institutions in providing fight training, health and diet regimes and promote teamwork and leadership for youths around the world.

Rubio signed the agreement with UFC chief Dana White at the State Department on Thursday, just three days before the UFC will stage a cage match at the White House. Sunday’s match will be held in conjunction with Trump’s 80th birthday and the celebration of America’s 250th independence anniversary.

The partnership will be part of a broader sports diplomacy initiative that has been operating for decades. It has involved golf, tennis, figure skating, American football, soccer and other athletes. Under the program, program, UFC athletes and coaches will serve as U.S. sports ambassadors, leading training clinics for young international athletes.

Trump picks Jay Clayton, ex-SEC head and current US attorney, as director of national intelligence

Trump says he plans to nominate Jay Clayton, the former head of the Securities and Exchange Commission and current U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, as director of national intelligence.

Trump announced the nomination on social media on Thursday amid pressure from Congress to name Tulsi Gabbard’s permanent replacement. Trump faced intense pushback over his decision to name Bill Pulte, head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, as acting director after Gabbard announced last month that she was stepping down because of her husband’s cancer diagnosis.

The situation led to a standoff in Congress as Democrats said they would refuse to renew a foreign intelligence powers unless Trump pulled Pulte’s nomination and named a permanent nominee.

“Few people anywhere in the Legal Community are respected at the level of Jay,” Trump wrote. “I encourage the United States Senate to confirm Jay as soon as possible.”

Pentagon ends lockdown over ‘air quality’ issue

The Pentagon has stood down from a lockdown over what officials described as an “air quality issue.”

“Subsequent testing confirmed no hazard exists, and normal operations have resumed,” the Pentagon’s top spokesman, Sean Parnell, said in a social media post.

The lockdown lasted for about two hours and prompted a response from hazmat teams of the Pentagon’s internal police force as well as the team from nearby Arlington, Virginia.

Trump calls off threatened strikes against Iran after indicating progress in talks

Trump says he’s called off new military strikes on Iran hours after threatening to escalate the 3-month-old war.

The president said in a social media post Thursday that he made the move “based on the fact that discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran have been brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved.”

Trump also suggested that progress has been made in talks to extend the fragile ceasefire, writing that “discussions and final points have been, in both concept and great detail,” approved by United States, Israel, and other regional allies. He did not offer details.

Trump on multiple occasions over the last several weeks has claimed that the warring parties have been on a cusp of a deal without anything coming to fruition.

Targeting Iran’s Kharg Island carries major risks

Kharg Island has emerged as a focus of the war launched by the United States and Israel. The Persian Gulf island is home to a terminal through which Iran exports most of its oil.

Strikes on oil infrastructure on Kharg — or a ground invasion — would severely curb Iran’s oil exports, a key source of revenue for the Islamic Republic.

An assault would also mark a major escalation that could provoke even heavier retaliatory attacks on Gulf infrastructure. That would further drive up oil prices that already threaten the world economy.

▶ Read more

A look at the scene on the White House South Lawn for Sunday’s UFC event

It looks from afar more UFO than UFC.

Maybe it’s the kind of contraption that has carried space aliens to the White House to force a meeting with America’s leader.

But come closer and you’ll see the contours of the eight-sided cage, 30 feet in diameter and shaped like the MMA league’s signature Octagon.

Overhead looms The Claw, a four-sided mass that arcs more than 90 feet into the air and features lights, speakers, thick snakes of wiring and four large screens so fans not seated right next to the Octagon can follow the fighting in the cage below.

And surrounding all that are risers filled with gray folding chairs forming a temporary arena expected to seat 4,000-plus for the seven UFC fights being staged on Sunday to celebrate the 80th birthday of President Donald Trump and the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence’s signing.

▶ Read more

Iran’s parliamentary speaker responds

Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf warned in a social media post Thursday that “wrong strategies and impulsive decisions” would wreak havoc on energy markets and “create an endless quagmire that you will be stuck in for years.”

Iran’s monthslong stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz has disrupted global energy supplies, driven up fuel prices and made food and other basics more expensive well beyond the region.

Hazardous materials units respond to the Pentagon

The Pentagon Force Protection Agency’s hazardous materials team was responding to an unknown issue and parts of the Pentagon were under a shelter-in-place order while officials investigate.

“The Pentagon has sophisticated systems to ensure the safety of the building and its occupants. Those systems have detected an air quality issue necessitating precautionary measures until we determine its significance,” Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said Thursday. “The Department is executing standard protection protocols, including a shelter-in-place order for the affected area.”

The Arlington County Fire Department also sent units, including its hazardous materials team, according to a posting on its X account. Questions to the media office were referred to the Pentagon.

Iranian student says hope dwindles as attacks escalate

A 25-year-old student in northern Iran says Iranians are fearing “chaos” amid the war with the U.S. and Israel and multiplying crises at home.

The student, who lives in the city of Babol, said many Iranians are struggling to afford groceries in the face of mass job losses and triple-digit food inflation. He spoke on the condition of anonymity out of security fears.

“Everything is going wrong and there is no hope among the people,” the student added.

The student first spoke to The Associated Press before the war when he participated in widespread anti-government protests. He now says his chief concern is that Iran “maintain territorial integrity and deterrence” in the face of attacks by the U.S. and Israel.

— Amir-Hussein Radjy

Tensions persist over Iran’s nuclear program and the Strait of Hormuz

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a social media post that the U.S. would extract funds from frozen Iranian accounts to offset the costs of damage to American allies as well as any tolls Iran imposes on ships seeking passage through the Strait of Hormuz.

Beyond the deadlock over the strait, the two sides also remain at odds over Iran’s nuclear program. Tehran insists its nuclear efforts are peaceful. The U.S. and Israel fear Tehran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium could be used to build an atomic weapon. That was a main reason they cited for going to war Feb. 28.

Trump doesn’t back down on Bill Pulte

After bipartisan pushback to Pulte’s temporary appointment as director of national intelligence, Trump said last week that he would not permanently nominate him to the position. But Democrats, and some Republicans, want his appointment pulled immediately and for Trump to nominate a replacement that can be confirmed by the Senate.

On Tuesday, though, Trump announced that Pulte would not only take over as acting director — he’d also start earlier than expected, on June 19.

One of several possible replacements could be Pete Hoekstra, Trump’s ambassador to Canada and a former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. The White House has reached out to Hoekstra about the job and conversations are ongoing, according to a person familiar with the outreach who requested anonymity to discuss the private conversations.

— Mary Clare Jalonick, Lisa Mascaro and Seung Min Kim

GOP leaders lobbied the White House, to no avail

Congressional Republicans have lobbied Trump all week to quickly nominate a permanent replacement for director of national intelligence. But he said he needs more time to do so.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Republican leaders have “made our views known” to the White House.

Trump has said he’s interviewing five candidates for his pick to lead the agency permanently, after the resignation of Tulsi Gabbard.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said the president has made it very clear that Pulte will serve a “very short term — a sort of renovation role” to help the Office of the Director of National Intelligence be “renovated and downsized.”

But Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee led by Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut said in a letter to the president that Pulte is a “uniquely poor choice” to serve even in the acting capacity.

House vote to extend FISA spy tool fails and it could lapse as Friday deadline looms

A rare lapse in a law that allows the United States to gather intelligence abroad appears likely after the House failed Thursday to temporarily extend the program, in a protest of President Trump ’s refusal to name a permanent head of the nation’s intelligence agencies.

Trump has doubled down on his temporary pick for director of national intelligence, federal housing finance regulator Bill Pulte, even though Pulte has little experience for the job. Democrats say they won’t support the renewal of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, known as FISA, unless the Republican president withdraws Pulte’s appointment and nominates a permanent replacement.

The House vote collapsed in bipartisan fashion, with some Republicans and nearly all Democrats rejecting the temporary measure. The Senate may try its own vote later Thursday, but hopes are dimming to prevent what could be an unprecedented lapse in the surveillance tool. The law expires Friday at midnight.

▶ Read more

Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark said the notice came shortly before the start of the league's executive board meeting to discuss its options in the Sorsby situation.

The temporary injunction issued Monday by a Texas district court prevents the NCAA from enforcing its permanent ban of Sorsby, a decision that sent shock waves across college sports. The transfer QB had been ruled ineligible after he acknowledged years of gambling that included at least 40 bets on his own team while he was a freshman at Indiana. Texas Tech said he has completed a month-long inpatient treatment program and will continue to receive treatment and support while being monitored.

The letter from the Texas AG's office was addressed to Yormark and Kansas Chancellor Douglas Girod, the chairman of the Big 12 board of directors. It specifically references a conference bylaw that, with a supermajority vote, could result in sanctioning a school that has "engaged in any action or a course of conduct materially adverse to the best interests of the conference taken as a whole.”

The AG's office said any sanctions against Texas Tech for “acting consistent" with the district court injunction “would be a per se violation of federal and state antitrust laws — a naked horizontal agreement among competitors to disadvantage Texas Tech by cutting off access to the resources it needs to compete.”

Beyond any antitrust exposure, the letter said, the Big 12 would also face liability for “breach of contract and tortious interference" for any sanction that results in the alteration of Texas Tech's scheduled games.

The letterwas signed by Thomas York, chief of the antitrust division, and Kimberly Gdula, chief of the litigation division. The attorney general, Ken Paxton, is the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate race in Texas this fall.

Yormark said the conference is taking time with its legal counsel to understand the concerns of the state.

Since NCAA rules call for a permanent loss of eligibility for any player who wagered on his own team, the judge’s decision sent shockwaves through college sports, including in Texas Tech’s own league. The executive board met as planned Thursday in preparation for a meeting Monday of the Big 12's full board of directors, which is made up of presidents and chancellors from the league's 16 schools.

“We had a good and informative discussion. Sentiment among the executive board was no different from what we heard from the ADs earlier this week,” Yormark said. "Our discussion with the full board will determine our course of action, and all options remain on the table.”

The board meeting came two days after a conference call among Big 12 athletic directors, who expressed strong opposition to Sorsby playing for the Red Raiders for what will be his final college season. Some of those ADs even suggested maybe not playing Texas Tech if he does.

Sorsby transferred to Texas Tech in January for a reported multimillion-dollar deal after playing the past two seasons at Cincinnati, another Big 12 school. The Texas native first spent two seasons at Indiana.

___

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

For Richard Rackley, owner and pitmaster of Left Field BBQ, the challenge is becoming increasingly familiar.

“It’s very tough,” Rackley said. “We are in a state where the cost of beef is rising. So we have to find other alternatives to offer customers, such as pork, chicken, or we have to be creative with our menu.”

Each weekend, Rackley spends the early morning hours preparing smoked meats for customers at his pop-up business on San Antonio’s South Side near Mission Road.

Brisket remains the centerpiece of Texas barbecue, but it is also one of the most expensive items for pitmasters to purchase. Rackley said brisket currently costs around $5 or more per pound, making profit margins increasingly tight.

“There’s not a lot of profit in brisket. There never was,” he said. “It’s just using every part of the brisket to utilize what you can to make that profit.”

To offset higher costs, Rackley has expanded his menu and focused on reducing waste. In addition to offering breakfast items, he repurposes brisket trimmings into other products.

“We take our trimmings from the brisket, we make our own sausage, we make our own burgers out of it, and we render the fat from the tallow,” Rackley said. “We can resell the tallow, or we use the tallow to cook extra items. It’s literally using every part of the beef. Every part, no waste.”

Industry experts have cited shrinking cattle supplies and the effects of drought conditions as major contributors to rising beef prices. Rackley said another emerging concern is the potential impact of the screwworm, a parasitic pest that threatens livestock.

Despite the challenges, Rackley believes barbecue operators can weather the uncertainty by working together.

“If I could offer any advice, it would be to team up with other businesses to help support each other, lean into each other and help each other grow,” he said.

While beef prices may continue to fluctuate, one thing remains constant: Texans’ appetite for barbecue.

For pitmasters like Rackley, adapting to changing conditions is simply part of keeping a beloved tradition alive.

Read also:

• San Antonio woman turns crochet hobby into booming Spurs-inspired business

Healey told Starmer in a letter that the government’s Defense Investment Plan falls “well short of what is required at this dangerous time.”

Publication of the plan has been delayed amid reports of disagreement between the Defense Ministry and the Treasury.

Healey was followed out the door several hours later by Al Carns, a decorated war veteran who served as a prominent junior minister in the defense ministry. He said he could not defend “a level of investment I know to be inadequate to the task." Carns has been suggested as a possible contender in the anticipated contest to challenge Starmer’s leadership.

Starmer said in a letter to Healey that he was sorry to see him go, but insisted that the funding plan would provide “sustainable and fair” spending increases that would keep the U.K. safe.

Late Thursday the prime minister appointed Dan Jarvis, formerly the security minister, to the defense secretary post.

Critics say too little, too late

Starmer has pledged to boost U.K. defense spending to 2.5% of gross domestic product by 2027 and 3% by 2035. But many in the military say that isn't fast enough.

“You have been unable, and the Treasury has been unwilling, to commit the resources that the nation needs to defend the country at this time of rising threats,” Healey wrote in his resignation letter.

He said that the spending plan put forward by the Treasury, and presented to him on Monday, would see defense spending rise to just 2.68% in 2030, after hitting 2.6% next year.

Healey said that isn't enough with growing demands on defense and British military commitments, citing the Iran war, Russia's all-out invasion of Ukraine and threats from Moscow.

“I am now left with no other option than to submit my resignation,” he said.

Gen. Richard Barrons, who helped lead a defense review that underpins the investment plan, said the government is “actively going backwards” by refusing to fund its own review.

“It diminishes the U.K.’s standing within NATO, weakens our credibility with allies, and increases our vulnerability to the realities of 21st-century conflict,” he said. “Allies and adversaries alike will be paying attention.”

The government said that it was delivering “the largest sustained boost to defense spending since the Cold War.”

“This country is safer because of the decisions Keir Starmer has made and we will continue to act in our national interest,” it said in a statement.

Healey is considered a safe pair of hands

Healey has been U.K. defense secretary since the Labour Party government was elected in July 2024, and he's regarded as a capable and serious minister.

He has played a key role in bolstering international support for Ukraine and assembling a multinational coalition to help guarantee security if a ceasefire is reached. Healey also has helped spearhead a maritime security force that would help keep the Strait of Hormuz open to shipping if the Iran war ends.

The United Kingdom and other NATO member nations have faced pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to increase military spending. Trump has long questioned the value of the military alliance and complained that the United States provides security to European countries that don’t pull their weight.

The U.K. military is also seeking to reverse years of decline in the face of an increasingly assertive Russia, which fully invaded its neighbor Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, and increasingly tests the defenses of European nations with overt and covert activity.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, informed of Healey's resignation by The Associated Press during a news conference in Brussels, said that Healey is someone “I respect very much.”

“What we are seeing all over the alliance is countries increasing their defense investments, and of course it is not easy, because in the end there is always a trade-off with other expenses, which are also important,” Rutte said.

Healey’s resignation is likely to further stoke talk that Starmer’s days as prime minister are numbered. Already bruised by a series of missteps since Labour returned to power less than two years ago, Starmer has faced calls within his party’s ranks to stand down.

In a sign of his waning authority, Starmer appears to have been unable to bridge the gap between Healey’s department and Treasury chief Rachel Reeves over defense spending.

Olivia O’Sullivan, head of the U.K. in the World program at the Chatham House think tank, said the resignation “significantly undermines Starmer,” especially since the prime minister has had “a relatively assured track record on defense and foreign affairs.”

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham is widely expected to challenge Starmer for the leadership, if he returns to Parliament in a June 18 special election.

Justin Crump, a former British tank commander who heads security consultancy Sibylline, said that Healey's resignation “should not have been allowed to occur in a well-run government.”

“It just further underlines a lack of control here, a lack of clarity, a lack of resolution, a gap between words and delivery,” he said.

___

Mark Carlson in Brussels, and Pan Pylas and Brian Melley in London, contributed to this report.

The videos were posted after the Spurs’ historic 107-106 loss Wednesday night to the New York Knicks.

In the videos, Wembanyama and his teammates walked off the team bus outside the Ritz-Carlton Hotel located on West 28th Street in the NoMad (North of Madison Square) neighborhood of New York City.

One video, which faced the players as they walked towards the hotel’s entrance, appeared to show an object thrown in the direction of Wembanyama and another person walking to the left of him.

A second object appeared to hit a pole next to Wembanyama as he walked by. He turned around as security personnel began to surround him and escort the third-year pro inside the hotel.

Knicks fans throwing stuff at Wemby and the Spurs as they arrive at their hotel😬 pic.twitter.com/R2qGunsxBW

— KingCharge (@KingCharge) June 11, 2026

A second video shared to social media showed the first object emerge from the crowd behind Wembanyama, who held a red bag in his right hand, as he and his teammates walked toward the hotel.

Knicks fan NAILS Victor Wembanyama in the head with an EGG outside his hotel in New York after Game 4 💀 pic.twitter.com/oxQyxgnemh

— clip 🛸 (@clippedszn) June 11, 2026

Multiple New York Police Department officers were seen on patrol in both videos. It is unclear what was thrown in Wembanyama’s direction.

KSAT has reached out to the Spurs and NYPD for comment on the videos.

Dozens detained after Game 4, police say

In a Thursday statement sent to KSAT, a NYPD spokesperson acknowledged wanting Knicks fans to celebrate wins safely but also condemned crowds who engaged in “reckless” behavior.

“Once again, there were large crowds of people who engaged in incredibly reckless and dangerous behavior last night both during and after the game,” NYPD said. “This demonstrates exactly why the NYPD has increased our presence in and around Madison Square Garden.”

The department said “large crowds of unruly fans” gathered during Wednesday night’s game in areas north of Madison Square Garden between Fifth and Eighth avenues. Officials believe those crowds grew to as many as 10,000 people.

In all, police said 60 people were detained. Nineteen of them were formally arrested while the other 41 were released with criminal court summons, officials said.

An NYPD spokesperson said 10 of the department’s officers were injured in the aftermath of Game 4. One officer was “struck in the head with a glass bottle,” NYPD said.

The Spurs have yet to comment on the incident.

Game 5 between the Spurs and Knicks will air at 7:30 p.m. Saturday live on KSAT 12. KSAT’s pregame coverage begins with an hourlong Race to Seis special at 6 p.m. on KSAT 12 and KSAT Plus before shifting over to KSAT Plus exclusively at 7 p.m.

More recent Race for Seis coverage on KSAT:

• Knicks come from 29 down and beat the Spurs 107-106 for a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals
• San Antonio couple harassed in New York despite not wearing Spurs gear, warns fans traveling to city
• Ricos billboard shows Spurs spirit in the heart of Times Square ahead of Game 4 of NBA Finals

The Justice Department highlighted cases against three Guatemalan nationals that they say underscore the dangers of improper vetting of sponsors in a program that seeks to unite kids with relatives or family friends after they enter the U.S. Officials said they are investigating numerous other so-called super-sponsors — those who gained custody of more than three unrelated children — to determine whether the sponsors took the kids in fraudulently.

“We will not accept half measures when it comes to securing the border, protecting American lives and saving children from exploitation,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told reporters.

Taking custody of multiple unrelated migrant children is not a crime. The sponsors may be caring and well-intentioned, but senior administration officials calling them out suggests that authorities harbor suspicion about them and may subject them to deeper scrutiny.

Under the Biden administration, officials tried to release children to eligible adult sponsors within 30 days, reuniting many families quickly. But the approach also yielded errors, with some children being released to adults who forced them to work illegally, or to people who provided clearly false identification and addresses.

Under Trump, the administration tightened rules aimed at preventing traffickers from illegally bringing children into the country and that has also led to a dramatic increase in federal custody times for kids. As of May, children are held in federal custody for an average of 206 days before they’re released, compared with an average of 37 days when Trump took office. At the same time, the number of total children in custody has steadily dropped.

Striking a balance to release children to vetted sponsors and shielding them from danger has proved a contentious partisan disagreement.

Democrats “want to claim that Republicans, because we’re enforcing the laws, it’s inhumane, somehow,” Blanche said after criticizing the vetting procedures under the Biden administration. "What’s inhumane about taking care of our kids?”

The cases announced Thursday include charges against a woman who, authorities say, was living in the U.S. illegally, schemed with others to smuggle kids across the border, then used fake identities to gain custody of them in exchange for money. Her attorney, Michael J. Goldberg, said “the only comment I can make is that the case will be tried in court and not in a press conference.”

In another case, a woman is accused of falsely claiming that she was siblings with a teen who had entered the U.S. illegally in her application to become the teen’s sponsor.

Critics of the Trump administration have raised concerns over wellness checks carried out by immigration officers at elementary schools, immigration officers showing up and detaining sponsors at reunification meetings with children, and newly required documentation that's created a “paperwork barrier” and led to a recent lawsuit.

Shaina Aber, executive director of the Acacia Center for Justice, which provides legal services for unaccompanied migrant children under contract with the government, said the administration has not acknowledged the harm it has caused to kids by “subjecting them to indefinite detention and eroding nearly every avenue for legal relief.”

Aber added: “If the administration is concerned with the well-being of unaccompanied children, the answer can’t be to take them away from loved ones, try to undermine their representation, and detain them in group facilities with well-documented risks of isolation, abuse, and mental health deterioration.”

Even sponsors willing to undergo the new vetting procedures have been forced to wait through unnecessary delays.

A Chicago father who is a U.S. citizen and had a valid birth certificate for his child was kept waiting for five months before the government could schedule a fingerprinting appointment. During the wait, his toddler daughter was sexually abused in federal custody, a lawsuit claimed. The government did not respond to repeated requests for comment on the case.

_____

Gonzalez reported from McAllen, Texas.

Debbie Cohran, who lives about 500 feet (152 meters) from the aerospace facility in Garden Grove, wasn’t told to evacuate until several hours after the leak started, according to her complaint. Her suit said she experienced nausea and headaches for several days afterward.

Melanie Rose Burciaga of nearby Westminster had just given birth to her first child and had to leave the hospital when the evacuation orders came in, her lawyer said in a lawsuit.

And Juan Diego Orozco was part of a street repair crew working in Garden Grove on the day the overheating started. He said he suffered a headache and went to the hospital due to difficulty breathing and vomiting, his lawyer said.

More than 100 individuals — including some families with pets — as well as local businesses are suing GKN Aerospace, saying the U.K.-based company was negligent in maintaining a safe facility, especially since it’s located in a large population center.

Ten of the cases were filed as class actions in federal court, while 21 are in state court and cover one to 31 plaintiffs. The suits seek compensatory and punitive damages.

Sarah Hasse Blodgett, a spokesperson for GKN Aerospace, did not immediately respond Thursday to questions seeking comment about the lawsuits and their claims.

Adam Zimmerman, a professor at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law who is not involved in the litigation, said the federal cases will likely be consolidated and the state cases will likely be moved under one judge, to ensure they are handled efficiently. Some of those state lawsuits may be moved to federal court, he said.

Pressure on the company increased on Wednesday when FBI agents served a search warrant at the facility to collect documents and records related to the “storage, use, or disposal” of methyl methacrylate, the chemical inside the affected tank.

The Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday that it had joined the FBI to “search for and seize evidence of potential federal environmental crimes." The agency declined to provide more information, saying it doesn't comment on criminal investigations.

GKN Aerospace makes cockpit windows, canopies and windshields. The tank that overheated starting on May 21 contained 6,000 to 7,000 gallons (22,700 to 26,500 liters) of methyl methacrylate, which is highly flammable. The liquid is used in the manufacturing of plastics and coatings, such as Plexiglas.

Health officials said no contamination or fumes were released, and they plan to monitor the air for several months. Exposure to the chemical can cause serious respiratory problems, neurological issues and irritation to the skin, eyes and throat, according to the EPA.

Although the tank did not explode, tens of thousands of residents were evacuated from the area for three to five days until crews were able to stabilize the tank.

Blodgett said that the company was cooperating with federal authorities.

GKN Aerospace senior vice president Steve Carlin spoke at a community meeting Tuesday, saying he was sorry that the event occurred, and that it was especially unsettling because the company has a long history with the community.

Many of the lawsuits say the company had a duty to maintain the tank, cooling system, valves and monitoring systems to keep the community safe.

The complaints say the residents were forced to leave their homes and had to pay for hotels, food and other daily needs, which created a financial burden. They also said they experienced anxiety during the evacuation process and continue to be concerned about exposure to chemicals.

Businesses in the area also suffered. The emergency happened over Memorial Day weekend -– a time when many restaurants and food service companies bring in some of their best revenue of the year.

“Our data shows approximately 3,000 businesses were forced to shut down because of the evacuation, and at least another 3,000 businesses right outside the evacuation zone while not forced to close, but had their revenue dropped considerably because of the tank failure and evacuation,” said lawyer Richard McCune, who has filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of Big Rob’s Pizzeria and Fruit Caboose Concessions.

Lawyers say the FBI investigation will help their legal cases.

“We trust that the search will uncover important information and materials related to this crisis,” said lawyer Sean Litteral, who represents Jonathan Sanchez, a father of two children, including an infant born just days before the crisis.

The Minneapolis-area attacks last summer by Vance Boelter, 58, sparked the largest police search in state history and reverberated across the country, with elected officials fearing that escalating threats and polarization could lead to more violence.

There were brief sobs from the courtroom gallery where family members of Melissa and Mark Hortman, who were both killed, sat alongside Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, who were injured, as the June 14, 2025 attacks were described in detail.

Disguised in a tactical uniform and realistic mask that covered his entire head, Boelter drove a police-style SUV with flashing lights to the legislators' homes. Again and again Boelter simply said “yes,” as his attorney questioned him about his actions, including whether he pressed a pistol to Melissa Hortman’s head and fired.

He also stopped outside the homes of two other lawmakers in the Minneapolis suburbs that night. At one, he knocked but no one answered. At the other, he was apparently frightened away when a police officer, believing he was a fellow officer, approached him as he sat in his vehicle.

U.S. Attorney Daniel N. Rosen told reporters after the hearing that the death penalty was only taken off the table after Boelter agreed to the longest possible prison sentence for the six federal charges: two consecutive life terms, plus 40 years.

“Political violence is a scourge plaguing America,” Rosen said. “Those that would commit political violence at any level should take heed: the Justice Department will seek and obtain the longest prison terms available for your crimes.”

Boelter also faces state charges, including two counts of murder and four counts of attempted murder as well as charges of impersonating a police officer and animal cruelty. The Hortman family’s golden retriever was gravely injured in the shootings and had to be euthanized. The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office said Thursday that the federal plea agreement does not affect the state's case, which had been on hold pending the resolution of the federal case.

Boelter, wearing his orange jail sweatshirt and sweatpants as he sat in the courtroom between two of his attorneys, listened closely as U.S. District Judge John Tunheim talked through each of the six charges and their maximum sentences. Tunheim accepted the guilty pleas and said he would set a date soon for sentencing.

Boelter was captured near his home in rural Green Isle, about an hour's drive from Minneapolis, the day after the shootings, which prosecutors have said were politically motivated but which remain in many ways unexplained.

“Dad went to war last night,” Boelter messaged his family that morning. “Words are not going to explain how sorry I am.”

After Boelter's arrest, authorities released a rambling handwritten letter they say he wrote FBI Director Kash Patel, confessing to the attacks but not explaining why he targeted the Hortmans or the Hoffmans. In messages to reporters, Boelter referred repeatedly to a yearslong “investigation” he said he'd been carrying out, sometimes suggesting it was about the COVID-19 vaccine.

Boelter, an evangelical Christian with politically conservative views who had traveled to Congo as a preacher and missionary, spent much of his life in the food service industry. He had been struggling to earn a living before the shootings, after the failure of a security company he'd founded.

John Hoffman said in a lawsuit filed against Boelter in April that his left arm and hand likely would never fully recover and that he also had permanent injuries to his digestive and urinary systems.

Yvette Hoffman was left with permanent physical weakness, the lawsuit said, while their adult daughter, Hope Hoffman, who was there and called 911 but was not shot, suffered severe psychological trauma.

___

Fingerhut reported from Des Moines, Iowa.

Trump had doubled down on his choice of Bill Pulte for acting director of national intelligence, even though the federal housing finance regulator has little experience for the job. Democrats say they will not support the renewal of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, known as FISA, unless the Republican president withdraws Pulte's appointment and nominates a permanent replacement as director of national intelligence.

The House vote collapsed in bipartisan fashion, with 19 Republicans and nearly all Democrats rejecting the temporary measure, 198-218. The Senate tried to approve its own versions, but also failed, dimming the chances to prevent what could be rare lapse of spy powers. The law expires on Friday at midnight.

After those votes, Trump announced he was tapping Jay Clayton, a U.S. attorney who previously served as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, as his permanent pick as intelligence director. But the president’s move did not seem able to break the standoff over Pulte before the deadline.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, when asked about Clayton, said “Pulte has to go.”

“He cannot be in the DNI role,” said Schumer, D-N.Y. “It’s too important.”

The impasse could soon result in limitations on what intelligence the U.S. government can collect abroad just as World Cup games begin in cities around the country and ahead of celebrations for the nation’s 250th anniversary. While the provision has expired briefly before, this would be the first lengthy lapse, at a time when the U.S. and Iran have been engaged in missile strikes that are testing a fragile ceasefire in the war.

A lapse would not automatically deprive the government’s authority to conduct surveillance, but could open the door to court challenges of the program. That could lead to stale intelligence, lawmakers said, including the type of information included in the president’s daily briefing.

“We have done everything we possibly can,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, who blamed Democrats for the breakdown and said he would not be recalling lawmakers back to Washington as they left for weeklong recess. “It is detestable, it is dangerous, it is going to jeopardize the security of this country.”

Democrats said Trump and the Republicans are the ones putting national security at risk by installing Pulte to the job. Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said Pulte has “weaponized” his position in the federal government to go after Trump's critics.

Jeffries said it was a window into the White House's thinking that Trump “could put Bill Pulte forward and the country wouldn’t react adversely to it.” He said the president must ”come to the table and demonstrate leadership so we can reopen good faith negotiations about how best to extend surveillance authority.”

Trump has said wants Pulte to begin downsizing intelligence agencies.

GOP leaders lobby the White House, to no avail

Congressional Republicans have lobbied Trump all week to quickly nominate a permanent replacement.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Republican leaders had “made our views known” to the White House. But on Thursday he blamed Democrats for the FISA impasse. "This critical tool is set to go dark on Friday, and what the consequences of that will be, we cannot predict,” he said.

Thune praised Trump's choice of Clayton and said the Senate could move “fairly quickly” to confirm him.

Trump had said he was interviewing five candidates for intelligence director the resignation of Tulsi Gabbard but that he wouldn’t let Democrats “extort us” over the pick.

The president wants Pulte to serve in a "sort of renovation role,” Johnson said, to help the Office of the Director of National Intelligence be “renovated and downsized.”

But Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee led by Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut said in a letter to the president that Pulte is a “uniquely poor choice” to serve even in the acting capacity.

Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers skeptical of Pulte have pointed to his lack of intelligence experience and also his record at the Federal Housing Finance Agency. In the position, he has been linked with criminal referrals over allegations of mortgage fraud by public officials Trump sought to punish, including New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat; Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.; and Lisa Cook, a board member of the Federal Reserve.

Himes also welcomed Trump's pick of Clayton as a “terrific DNI” saying had he been nominated earlier, “lots of pain might have been avoided.”

FISA will lapse at midnight Friday

Section 702 of FISA allows agencies such as the CIA, National Security Agency and FBI to collect communications from foreign targets overseas without a warrant.

While members of both parties who cite privacy issues have long wanted to limit the authority, there was broad bipartisan support to renew it, especially after Republicans and Democrats recently worked out a compromise bill.

Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, has worked with Republicans on the compromise legislation to renew the authority. But he called Pulte’s appointment to replace Gabbard “a live hand grenade” disrupting the process.

“Let me be clear -– while I am glad to see the president finally come to his senses, before the Senate can take up a FISA extension there needs to be a clear guarantee that Mr. Pulte will not serve as acting DNI,” Warner said in a statement.

Warner said either Gabbard must remain in place or the administration must designate her Senate-confirmed principal deputy, Aaron Lukas, as the acting head through any transition.

Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, have warned the administration to prepare “for a potential significant gap in foreign intelligence collection.”

___

Associated Press reporters Joey Cappelletti, Kevin Freking and Eric Tucker contributed to this report.

The NCAA banned Sorsby from participating in football after court filings showed the student athlete placed at least $90,000 in sports bets while attending Texas Tech and playing football at two other universities. He placed bets on his own team while playing at Indiana, and when in Texas, where sports betting is illegal, sent money to people in other states to bet on his behalf, according to court filings.

Sorsby sued to regain his eligibility, and on Monday a state district judge in Lubbock blocked the NCAA from prohibiting Sorsby from playing most of the upcoming season. The judge’s order also stipulates Sorsby must continue treatment for his gambling disorder and sit out the first two games of the season. The NCAA is appealing.

The judge set a Feb. 8 trial on the matter, after the football season concludes.

The ruling sparked criticism from officials at other universities and threats to cancel sporting events that include Texas Tech.

In a letter sent Thursday on behalf of Texas Tech, Paxton’s office warned the Big 12 that any effort to “disadvantage” the university would be illegal, prompting a swift reprisal from the attorney general’s office.

“The total exposure — for both the Big 12 and its members, jointly and severally — will be substantially more than $200 million,” said the letter signed by Thomas York, chief of the agency’s antitrust division.

The letter, first reported by The Athletic, came a day after Texas Tech Board of Regents Chair Cody Campbell said there would be a legal fight if teams or conferences boycott the university, calling it “an antitrust violation” on the Don’t @ Me with Dan Dakich show.

The Big 12 Conference and Texas Tech didn’t immediately respond to comment requests.

In late April, Texas Tech announced 22-year-old Sorsby was diagnosed with gambling disorder and would be admitted into a rehabilitation center in Arizona.

In a statement posted on the Texas Tech website, university athletic director Kirby Hocutt defended Sorsby’s eligibility and asked for critics to understand the nuance of Sorsby’s addiction.

“A young man in treatment for a clinically diagnosed addiction exercised his legal right to seek a remedy in court, and a judge agreed with him,” Hocutt said. “Our role has been to support his recovery, not to engineer his eligibility.”

In a statement, Paxton said state antitrust laws protect the university from a “coordinated effort to harm a competitor.”

“Texas Tech acted consistent with a lawful court order and no athletic conference has the right to punish a member institution for respecting the judicial process,” he said.

Sorsby transferred to Texas Tech from the University of Cincinnati in January and has not yet played a game on the team.

Sorsby’s legal team for the lawsuit includes Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock. A spokesperson for the speaker’s office referred questions about Sorsby’s case to Burrows’ private law practice.

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

Work Location: GMG Headquarters (Detroit, MI)

Description

The Senior Director of Sales is responsible for driving multiplatform revenue growth, advancing digital transformation, and shaping enterprise sales strategy across Graham Media Group. This leader partners with executive leadership and local market teams to strengthen sales performance, expand digital and integrated advertising opportunities, and support long-term business growth.

The Senior Director develops and executes enterprise revenue strategies across digital, streaming, branded content, and advertising while fostering a high-performance, accountable sales culture. This role requires a strategic, data-driven leader who can identify growth opportunities, align local execution with enterprise priorities, and build scalable frameworks that drive consistent results across markets.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute a comprehensive multiplatform revenue growth strategy aligned with enterprise business objectives and evolving market opportunities.
• Serve as a strategic advisor to station leadership, helping local markets identify, prioritize, and capitalize on revenue opportunities across digital, linear, streaming, sponsorship, branded content, and emerging media solutions.
• Lead enterprise sales transformation efforts that drive digital confidence, innovation adoption, and strategic selling capabilities across markets.
• Partner with station management teams to create scalable growth plans that balance local market needs with corporate priorities.
• Identify whitespace opportunities, emerging verticals, and new revenue streams to expand market share and accelerate long-term growth.
• Establish performance frameworks and KPIs to evaluate revenue effectiveness, sales productivity, pipeline health, and customer outcomes.
• Provide strategic oversight for digital sales initiatives, ensuring strong alignment between product capabilities and market demand.
• Drive enterprise understanding of advanced digital marketing solutions, including SEO, SEM, social, OTT/CTV, streaming, mobile, display, branded content, audience targeting, and performance marketing.
• Guide market leaders on integrated sales strategies that maximize customer value and revenue potential across platforms.
• Stay ahead of emerging digital trends, competitive shifts, technology innovations, and consumer behavior to continuously evolve go-to-market strategies.
• Champion a culture of consultative, strategic selling that grows the capabilities, confidence, and digital fluency of local sales organizations.
• Develop a high performing team of direct reports through clear expectations, accountability, and measurable outcomes.
• Serve as a trusted coach and subject matter expert to market sales leaders, elevating enterprise sales effectiveness.
• Understand skill gaps and work with appropriate internal teams and external partners to close through best-in-class sales methodology training.
• Lead advanced customer growth and retention strategies through performance reporting, cross-channel attribution insights, and conversion optimization recommendations.
• Partner with market teams on key client relationships, executive presentations, and strategic growth opportunities to improve retention and expand wallet share.
• Provide thought leadership around marketing effectiveness, customer ROI, and integrated campaign performance.
• Support high-value client retention efforts through strategic consultation and executive-level engagement.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree preferred; advanced business or marketing education is a plus.
• Minimum of 10 years of progressive sales leadership experience, including digital media, integrated advertising, agency leadership, or multiplatform revenue environments.
• Proven success leading enterprise or multi-market sales strategies with measurable revenue growth outcomes.
• Deep expertise across digital marketing solutions, including SEO, SEM, social media advertising, OTT/CTV, streaming, mobile, display, branded content, audience targeting, attribution, and performance marketing.
• Demonstrated ability to influence senior leaders, drive organizational change, and build alignment across geographically distributed teams.
• Strong executive presence with exceptional communication, presentation, and storytelling skills across in-person and virtual environments.
• Expertise in leveraging data, analytics, and technology platforms to inform strategic decision-making and sales performance optimization.
• Proficiency with Salesforce, Microsoft Office Suite, Google Marketing Platform, Google Ad Manager, Meta/Facebook Ads Manager, and related sales enablement technologies.
• Strong understanding of data-driven advertising technologies, attribution models, and conversion optimization strategies.
• Ability to thrive in a dynamic, evolving environment while balancing strategic priorities and executional excellence.
• Willingness and ability to travel regularly across Graham Media Group markets.

To apply, please submit your resume to: careers@grahammedia.com

Graham Media Group is an Equal Opportunity Employer. In addition to complying with the requirements of federal law, GMG will comply with applicable state and local laws prohibiting employment discrimination. Any offer of employment is conditional upon the successful completion of a pre-employment drug screening, investigative background check, employment/education verifications and reference checks.

Ruggs, a former first-round draft pick and Raiders wide receiver, drove his sports car at speeds up to 156 mph (251 kph) in the city on Nov. 2, 2021, slamming into a vehicle that killed driver Tina Tintor and her dog, Max. Tintor was 23.

Prosecutors at the time said his blood-alcohol level taken within the required two hours after the crash was 0.16%, which is twice the legal limit for drivers in Nevada. Before the crash, he was at TopGolf, a sports entertainment venue in Las Vegas, according to prosecutors.

Ruggs pleaded guilty in May 2023 to felony DUI causing death and misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter. He was sentenced in August 2023 to a three- to 10-year prison sentence. The earliest he was eligible for parole was August 2026.

Ruggs will go before the parole board again three months before Aug. 24, 2027, his mandatory parole release date, according to Kathi Baker, executive director of the Nevada Board of Parole Commissioners.

“Mr. Ruggs, and our office, continue to feel the grief and loss suffered by Ms. Tintor’s family,” Ruggs’ attorneys David Chesnoff and Richard Schonfeld said in a Thursday statement, adding that they were disappointed by the parole board’s decision to deny parole.

The attorneys said there is “overwhelming evidence” of Ruggs’ accepting responsibility for his conduct and engaging in community outreach efforts related to DUI prevention, including completing educational programs while in custody.

—

This story has been updated to correct the day that Henry Ruggs' parole was denied. It was on Thursday, not Friday.

Rollins rode through the Chaparrosa Ranch, where the first New World screwworm was located, on horseback. She met the cattle infected by the flesh-eating parasite.

One of the cattle infected by the parasite is a three-week-old calf. Rollins and the rancher who owns the baby cow said the animal has fully recovered.

Screwworm flies lay their eggs in wounds or orifices of warm-blooded animals. When they hatch within 12 to 24 hours, the resulting larvae eat further into the host, which can cause severe, often deadly damage if not treated.

The pest had largely been gone from the U.S. for decades. As of Thursday, the nearest case to San Antonio is in Gillespie County.

Rollins also stated, “The food supply is completely safe,” after discussing the status of the calf.

Since February, the secretary said more than a one hundred million, Panama produced, sterile flies were released in Texas.

The pest was an annual warm-weather scourge of cattle ranchers from at least the 1930s through the 1960s, until the U.S. eradicated it by breeding sterile male flies and dropping swarms of them from planes to mate with wild females.

The U.S. was declared free of indigenous screwworms in 1966, though there were still outbreaks into the 1970s.

According to the USDA, the last screwworm case was reported in 1982, and “only a handful of imported cases have been reported since then.”

>> What to know about New World screwworms: a flesh-eating pest reappearing in Texas

The rancher in La Pryor described his process of detecting the parasite that infected his 3-week-old calf.

The rancher said he didn’t know what was wrong at first, but they were concerned enough to contact Texas Animal Health through a veterinary office in Pearsall.

The rancher received confirmation two days later that the calf was infected by the New World screwworm.

“They started dropping flies immediately within 24 to 48 hours,” the rancher said Thursday.

Since then, the rancher said there hasn’t been another fly affecting his animals. He encourages people to reach out for help if they suspect a potential screwworm infection.

What you can do

• Check for and treat wounds on your animals — even small ones like tick bites — to keep the flies out
• Report any suspected cases
• Texas Animal Health Commission: (800) 550-8242
• Texas Parks & Wildlife: (512) 389-4505

More information can be found on the USDA’s website.

Read also:

• How to protect your pets and animals from screwworm
• What to know about New World screwworms: a flesh-eating pest reappearing in Texas

• HOT & HUMID TODAY: Heat index near 100°
• WEEKEND: Isolated rain Saturday, scattered rain around Coastal Plains Sunday
• MONDAY-TUESDAY: Heavy rain, street flooding possible

FORECAST

TODAY & FRIDAY

Temperatures will rise into the 90s and heat index values are forecast to peak near 100° this afternoon. A quick downpour may pop up during the early afternoon hours, but conditions will stay dry this evening. Friday may have a few pop up showers during the morning hours, followed warming and clearing in the afternoon.

WEEKEND

A surge of deep moisture will arrive on Saturday. This will help produce isolated downpours in the afternoon hours (30%). Temperatures return to the 90s.

Sunday, the atmosphere becomes saturated. This will allow for downpours to become more widespread (40%). These downpours will produce heavy rainfall for some.

Most rainfall accumulations at the end of the weekend will be east of San Antonio.

MONDAY & TUESDAY

These are days we’ll be monitoring closely. By Monday, the entire atmosphere will be saturated with moisture. A weak front will shift into the area during the day Monday, helping to wring out all of that moisture. Widespread heavy downpours are expected (60%). This will continue into Monday night and potentially into the first half of Tuesday. Street flooding is a concern during this timeframe.

QUICK WEATHER LINKS

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

In a statement to KSAT, the New York Police Department (NYPD) said 19 people were arrested and 41 others were released with criminal court summons Wednesday night.

In addition to the arrests, 10 members of the New York Police Department were injured. The statement said one of those officers was hit in the head with a glass bottle.

People also climbed on top of NYPD patrol vehicles and shattered windshields, causing “significant damage” to four patrol vehicles.

Approximately 10,000 people had formed at multiple areas north of Madison Square Garden between Fifth and Eighth avenues, officers said.

“As the game progressed, the crowds became increasingly destructive, and there were many incidents of incredibly reckless and dangerous behavior,” New York police said.

The people involved jumped on top of moving vehicles, ignited fireworks in the middle of large crowds, threw glass bottles at crowds and officers, physically fought each other, broke into a tractor-trailer and stole items inside before throwing them at crowds and officers, the statement said.

The behavior of those involved in the incidents “demonstrates exactly why the NYPD has increased our presence in and around Madison Square Garden,” police said.

A full statement on behalf of the New York Police Department can be read below:

This is an exciting time for the Knicks and for fans across New York City. The NYPD wants New Yorkers to be able to enjoy these celebrations, but our primary responsibility is to ensure that everyone can do so safely. Once again, there were large crowds of people who engaged in incredibly reckless and dangerous behavior last night both during and after the game. This demonstrates exactly why the NYPD has increased our presence in and around Madison Square Garden.

The New York Police Department

Read also:

• Law enforcement gears up for Spurs-Knicks Game 5 in San Antonio after fans attacked in NYC

The woman, who may have been exposed to the virus while aboard the Dutch MV Hondius cruise liner in April, had gotten off the ship and then flown to San Francisco before traveling to the isolated British territory of Pitcairn Island through Tahiti, according to two U.S. officials and an internal government document obtained by The Associated Press.

The exact amount of the total evacuation payment is still being assessed because the operation is still underway. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a medical case covered by U.S. privacy laws.

The costly effort to pick up the woman has added to the expense of rapid evacuations for diplomats and private U.S. citizens from the Middle East since the start of the Iran war as well as preparations for possible evacuations from Ebola-stricken countries. All have stressed the State Department budget for unforeseen emergencies, known as the “K Fund,” and brought its balance to the lowest level in seven years.

State Department emergency budget strained by multiple evacuations

Another internal document said the State Department is looking at transferring as much as $50 million into that emergency fund from other accounts — $35 million from the budget for embassy security, construction and maintenance and an additional $15 million from an account that pays for broader diplomatic programming. No decision on the transfers has yet been made.

One of the officials said the State Department has another option, to ask Congress to replenish the fund. However, the official said the department is expected to be able to handle payments for both ongoing and “emerging contingency needs.”

The official would not say what the potential shortfall is but insisted that the department is “well positioned" to support diplomats, other U.S. government employees and private Americans who have been forced to leave the Middle East because of the Iran confict, as well as U.S. citizens who may need assistance due to developments such as the Ebola outbreak in Africa.

How the US is evacuating an American exposed to hantavirus from a remote island

The State Department declined to comment on the specifics of the woman’s case on Pitcairn Island but said that “when an American is at risk abroad and unable to access commercial transportation, the Department of State seeks to provide appropriate assistance to get them home to the United States or to another safe location.”

After the woman departed the cruise liner where the hantavirus outbreak occurred, the ship continued to other destinations in the South Atlantic, with some passengers falling ill and at least three dying. The unidentified American woman was stuck on Pitcairn, an island with only about 50 inhabitants, no airport and infrequent maritime options to depart.

Pitcairn is well-known as the island on which Fletcher Christian and other British mutineers from the HMS Bounty took refuge after the 1789 events that toppled Capt. William Bligh, which have entered into the public lexicon with books and films about the “Mutiny on the Bounty.” Their descendants make up most of the island's current population.

Complicating matters, British authorities had sought urgent American assistance in evacuating the woman from the island, which is their territory, according to the government document about the cost of the evacuation and the second U.S. official.

But initial attempts to send her to Tahiti, a French dependency, about 1,350 miles (2,160 kilometers) — or a 30-hour sea journey — from Pitcairn, were rejected by French Polynesian authorities. They did not want to allow her in because she had not disclosed her exposure when she transited the island on her way to Pitcairn.

The U.S. is transporting the woman, who was not symptomatic, from Pitcairn to Easter Island, another remote location in the Pacific about 1,400 miles (2,253 km) away, which is a territory of Chile and has direct flights to Santiago, so she can return to the United States for any necessary treatment.

All of those factors mean the process of getting her moved from Pitcairn to Easter Island took many weeks to arrange, the officials said.

The government document, which was confirmed as accurate by the two officials, said moving the woman from Pitcairn eventually was arranged via the “Titaina Explorer” trimaran yacht owned by a wealthy Frenchman, who uses it for personal exploration in the South Pacific. Pitcairn has no airport and only limited sea access.

The officials said the woman had no political or celebrity connections and they did not know exactly when she will return to the U.S. Maritime tracking sites show that the Titaina Explorer departed Pitcairn Island on June 5. The voyage to Easter Island can take up to 10 days depending on the speed of the boat and the weather.

Claude Corps, named for the company’s popular AI chatbot, will hire and embed 1,000 fellows trained in the use of Claude at a wide range of organizations for a year. Anthropic President Daniela Amodei told The Associated Press the company hopes the program will expand and become a pillar of its strategy to help humankind realize the benefits of AI while also managing its risks.

Amodei said Claude Corps will be evaluated after its first year to see if it should continue and expand.

“We’re hoping it’s a good idea that can take root and that other people can build on and learn from, whether that’s public or private,” Amodei said in an interview at Anthropic headquarters in San Francisco. “But I think my hope is that we’ll learn, the people who do it will learn, and we’ll be able to come back and do it again next time even better.”

Anthropic's commitment includes paying the Claude Corps members and providing at least 400 host organizations with a $10,000 grant and free credits to use Claude.

Anthropic says it wants to balance profits and social impact

Philanthropy is built into the way Anthropic’s co-founders believe the company should be run, Amodei said. Amodei, her brother Dario, who is Anthropic’s CEO, and the company’s five other co-founders have already pledged that they will donate 80% of their wealth. They established Anthropic as a public benefit corporation, a designation that for-profit companies select to balance financial goals and social impact.

Anthropic, which is valued at $965 billion, is moving toward going public on Wall Street, announcing earlier this month it submitted a confidential filing for an initial public offering.

Amodei, interviewed before the SEC filing, said she could not comment about IPO plans but said the company’s values are very clear to anyone looking to invest in it.

“There’s decisions and choices that we might make that might feel in conflict with just the pure commercial interests of the business and we’re going to be really open about that,” she said. “I think we have been very well served by our inclination to just be very honest about who we are because people who like that really like us. And for people, if it’s not what they like, they don’t work with us. And I think that’s actually better for everyone.”

Anthropic has been outspoken about the risks inherent to the breakthrough technology. It warned last week that companies should coordinate a way to pause development of advanced AI systems if humans risk losing control of the self-improving technology. It collaborated with Pope Leo XIV as he developed his encyclical on AI and the need for increased regulation. And it found itself in a high-profile fight with President Donald Trump’s administration when Anthropic refused to allow the U.S. military unrestricted use of its AI technology.

Amodei said Anthropic is an “unusual” company because its business teams and research teams are run separately.

“Sometimes research says things like ‘AI is doing bad things’ and we really want to be open about what those things are,” she said. “Because I don’t think there’s a way for the broader community that is the world to adapt to these changes if we don’t understand the challenges.”

Bella DeVaan, director of the Charity Reform Initiative at the progressive research organization the Institute of Policy Studies, said she is skeptical that any AI company will willingly set aside enough of its profits to support all the people affected by the adoption of AI.

“The fox can't guard the henhouse,” said DeVaan, who has studied the donations of the ultra-rich. “They can’t be responsible for their own regulation or for their own definition of what their altruistic mandate is. That has to be determined by the public.”

Like Pope Leo outlined in his encyclical, DeVaan is calling for more stringent government regulation of AI companies. Without government intervention, she worries AI will create a permanent underclass of workers. She said governments also need to do their own research about the potential benefits and harms of AI rather than leaving it up to the AI companies.

Anthropic announced separately Wednesday that it will donate $200 million to support an economic framework to help workers displaced by AI. It will start with investment into studying the issues created by AI adoption.

“We can’t understand what the societal disruption might look like if we don’t study it, publish it and talk about it,” Amodei said.

Claude Corps aims to enlist AI-minded people early in their careers

To create Claude Corps, Anthropic partnered with CodePath, the San Francisco-based nonprofit created to help first-generation and low-income students enter the tech workforce through higher education courses and career support.

CodePath CEO Michael Ellison said he had long been thinking about redesigning AmeriCorps to account for AI adoption. The federal agency for volunteer service was gutted by Trump administration cuts last year.

“I think we need programs that are meeting folks where they are when you’re looking at the traditional late adopters — from nonprofits to governments, to schools,” Ellison said. “We’re putting humans into the organizations that serve the majority of Americans as a way to bring them along and bring our communities along.”

He said CodePath will manage the initiative, which will accept fellowship applications through July 17. Ellison said the fellowship will be available to a wide range of young people early in their careers.

“We are intentionally trying to be extremely accessible,” he said. “We’re not requiring that you have a certain degree. We want the initial group of fellows to be representative of a broad section of the population in this country.”

Jennifer Blatz, CEO and president of StriveTogether, a Cincinnati-based nonprofit network that helps prepare young people for better economic opportunities, said she was thrilled her organization was chosen to host two Claude Corps fellows.

Though her nonprofit already uses AI to analyze some of the data it gathers on the impact of its programs, she hopes that Claude Corps can help standardize its usage in her organization and throughout its network, which spans 27 states. Blatz said she wants both her network and the people it supports to understand “AI is a tool – not the whole strategy.”

“AI can help us work smarter, but trust building and community collaboration, that’s a deeply human part of the work,” she said. “And that’s not going away just because we use this tool.”

_____

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

Building on her work helping foster children, Trump said the new federal guidance will give child welfare agencies the ability to act as a guardian for children in foster care for the purposes of opening an account.

The first lady, speaking at a news conference at the Treasury Department, said the move “gives foster children the same chance at asset ownership and long-term wealth as every other child.”

The accounts will be open for contributions on July 4. To qualify for an account, a child must also be a U.S. citizen born between Jan. 1, 2025, and Dec. 31, 2028.

The White House Council of Economic Advisers estimates that a Trump Account balance for a baby born in 2026 will be $5,800 by age 18 and $18,100 by age 28 if no other contributions are made.

The first lady said 23 governors, all Republicans, have pledged to allow state agencies to begin the process of enrolling children in the program. “I urge every governor and business leader to help fund these accounts," she said.

There are roughly 330,000 children in the U.S. foster care system, according to the National Council for Adoption. One in 5 of them is at risk of homelessness after aging out of foster care, and only half gain employment by the time they are 24, the National Foster Youth Institute says.

“Those outcomes are unsettling, but we refuse to accept them as inevitable,” Bessent told the news conference. “We are affirming that the American dream belongs to every child.”

A provision of President Donald Trump’s tax and spending legislation that he signed into law last summer created Trump Accounts. Under them, the Treasury Department gives $1,000 to babies so long as their parents open an account. That money is then invested in the stock market by private firms, and the children can access the money when they turn 18.

Employers and billionaires across the country have pledged to make matching Trump Account contributions for employee benefits. Among them are Michael and Susan Dell, who announced a $6.25 billion donation, and hedge fund founder Ray Dalio and his wife, Barbara, who pledged $75 million for kids under 10 in Connecticut, where the Dalios live.

Italian prosecutors are investigating Montgomery, Alabama-based Caddell Construction, a major builder of U.S. diplomatic missions. Two of its managers in Italy were arrested this month on suspicion of labor exploitation, one while boarding a flight to leave the country and another planning to flee, prosecutors said.

The investigation is led by prosecutor Paolo Storari, who also has spearheaded probes into sweatshops supplying luxury brands. So far only Caddell has been named as a target, not any of its subcontractors.

The consulate probe was launched about six months ago and involves some 70 workers, mostly from India. Prosecutors allege Caddell illegally deducted room and board from wages and forced them to work 10-hour days, six days a week. Some were paid as little as 500 euros (less than $580) monthly after room and board were deducted, prosecutors said. Minimum wage for construction workers in Milan starts at 13.39 euros (over $15) an hour, according to the Cassa Edile benefits fund.

Caddell and the U.S. State Department said they are investigating the allegations and cooperating with Italian authorities.

The consulate project is part of a construction boom in Milan over the past two decades that has modernized the skyline and raised the international profile of Italy’s fashion and finance capital.

Workers describe unpaid wages and threats

The AP spoke to four workers from Kenya and one from India at a trade union center where officials were organizing assistance, including legal help and housing. The workers provided documentation and spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation and to protect the ongoing investigation.

The Kenyan workers said they had been hired by Caddell after working on a multi-million-dollar extension of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi.

Two showed employment letters on Caddell stationery signed by a company representative promising annual salaries topping 25,000 euros (nearly $29,000).

They said they were not paid anything close to that and were threatened by human resources personnel at the job site after they questioned management.

“When you go to the office to ask any question, you are being told, ‘Either you work or you will be returned to your country. That’s the amount you are supposed to be paid,’’’ one Kenyan electrician said. He added that he was paid just 800 euros ($925) a month after being promised 2,300 euros ($2,660).

Another Kenyan electrician said he was threatened with defamation after presenting an AI summary of Italian labor law and was told the 25,000 euros in the employment letter was “for visa purposes,” not a promise of payment.

US government and Caddell say they are investigating

The State Department said it is investigating the allegations made by prosecutors and that U.S. law enforcement is working with Italian authorities.

“The U.S. government does not tolerate labor exploitation,” the department said in a statement.

Caddell said it was “fully cooperating” with Italian authorities and conducting its own “comprehensive inquiry into this matter to ensure all our global subcontractors and consultancies are in compliance with all labor standards and legal requirements.”

“Caddell is committed (to) treating and paying workers fairly. We will continue to work with authorities in good faith to ensure the welfare of those who work on this important project,” the company said in a statement.

More than a decade ago, Caddell paid millions to the U.S. government to settle allegations it made false claims to gain access to government incentives. Caddell did not reply to a request for comment on that case.

Fired workers seek help

All five of the workers who spoke to the AP, ranging in age from their late 20s to early 50s, said they were fired without cause this year. One of them said he returned from visiting family in Kenya to find that he no longer had a job or place to stay.

Four of the workers were trained electricians, including the Indian worker whose resume showed he had more than a decade of experience working for other companies in Persian Gulf countries.

The Indian worker said he was promised a monthly salary of 2,500 euros (nearly $3,000). Instead, he had a pay slip showing his actual pay amounted to around 500 euros (less than $580) per month. It listed an hourly wage of 1.55 euros ($1.80).

The Kenyans said they reached out to authorities after learning of the investigation.

“I believe in justice,” one said. “Also the workers there should not be afraid. They should come and speak up.”

Two said they are currently sleeping in parks, while one is staying with a friend. One said he had been offered a job at a Caddell site in another country but declined after his treatment in Milan.

Caddell is a major diplomatic contractor

Caddell became a leader in building U.S. diplomatic missions when the State Department launched a major security upgrade after the 1998 bombings of U.S. Embassies in Tanzania and Kenya killed more than 250 people.

“Very few contractors can meet the strict requirements to even bid on secure work necessary for diplomatic facility projects,” Caddell said on its website marking its 40th anniversary in 2023. At that point, the firm counted 39 projects in its embassy portfolio valued at $7.4 billion. It has added four projects since then.

The Milan consulate campus is being built on a 10-acre (40,000-square meter) site at a former shooting range. The current U.S. Consulate is in a high-rise building designed by acclaimed Italian architect Gio Ponti.

Plans for the campus called for about 500 “locally employed workers,” according to the U.S. State Department. The project includes restoration of a century-old building, along with a five-story consulate building, restored gardens, a reflecting pool and a large outdoor gathering area.

Work is continuing under court supervision. Workers no longer have their room and board deducted. They are limited to 45 hours and guaranteed two days off a week.

Pay records appear to bolster allegations

The pay stubs presented by the workers listed apparent charges of 510 euros (around $590) a month for housing and more than 300 euros (around $350) monthly for food. But those deductions only account for a portion of the difference between the promised wages and actual pay.

Unions intend to seek damages for the workers to recover at least what they earned “through hard work and commitment,” said Laura Malguzzi, a labor representative at the Fillea Cgil union federation representing construction workers.

Malguzzi said she was surprised that the pay stubs presented by the workers appeared to document the alleged exploitation. Union experts are still studying the documents, which do not conform to Italian standards, and could not verify their origins.

“They probably had in their minds the absolute certainty that they were untouchable,’’ Malguzzi said.

The Kenyan workers said they begrudgingly accepted a $200 monthly salary in Nairobi, where unemployment is rampant. But they expected better from a U.S. company operating in Europe.

“They can just hire you, and you just go running,” one worker said of the company. “Because you are poor you have nothing. And you have nothing you can do.”

The anticipation builds as the public address announcer begins to reveal the second starter, a 6-foot-7 forward from Indiana. When he finally reaches the player's name, the fans scream it right along with him.

“O! ... G! ... AN-UN-OBY!!!!”

Early Thursday morning, fans again chanted Anunoby's name, this time in a bar outside the arena as they celebrated one of the most memorable moments in New York Knicks history.

Anunoby's tip-in with 1.2 seconds remaining in Game 4 put the Knicks on the verge of a title and moved him into the discussion for NBA Finals MVP.

Anunoby is not the kind of player who usually wins awards, and he might be the least-known of the Knicks' starters. But his teammates understand Anunoby's value far exceeds his reputation.

“So regardless of what the outside world thinks of him, we know what we have in our locker room, and we have a superstar in that locker room,” guard Jalen Brunson said.

Anunoby is the only player on the Knicks' postseason roster who has won a ring, but he was injured and didn't play for Toronto in the 2019 NBA Finals. But there's no way New York would have a chance at its first championship since 1973 if he wasn't front and center now.

From scoring to stopping, Anunoby might to be asked to do more than any Knicks player. He not only finished with 33 points in Game 4 but also made the biggest defensive play of the game when he chased down De'Aaron Fox to block his shot with 11 seconds left and the Spurs leading 106-105.

Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns said that's what he expects from a player who seems to save his best for the biggest moments.

“Every time I talk to him, I say, I already know what OG Anunoby is going to do in the fourth quarter, and he did exactly what I thought he would do,” Towns said. “He gave us a chance to win, and that’s all you could ask for from the best two-way player in the NBA.”

The Knicks couldn't believe Anunoby was only voted to the All-Defensive second team, certain there aren't five better defenders in the NBA. It was those defensive skills that made him most attractive when the Knicks acquired him from the Raptors in 2023, giving up two of their most promising players on a developing team in RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley.

Anunoby was also known as a reliable 3-point shooter from the corners, and he made one as time expired to give the Raptors a victory over Boston in the 2020 playoffs. He hardly celebrated after the shot went through, just as he was one of the few people inside Madison Square Garden who appeared completely calm after his basket in Game 4.

“Just, the game wasn’t over,” Anunoby explained. “I looked up to see the time. If it would have been 0:00, I would have been more excited, but it was just 1.2 left. So just knowing, get a stop now, just stay with it, staying present, not getting too happy because the game is not over yet.”

Anunoby is averaging 23.8 points in the series, shooting 58% from the field and 55.6% from 3-point range. He finished 10 for 15 in Game 4, including 7 for 9 behind the arc.

When Anunoby limped off the court with a hamstring injury late in the Knicks' victory over Philadelphia in Game 2 of the second round, there was concern this run could be in jeopardy just as it was picking up steam. When Anunoby was hurt at the same time in the 2024 playoffs, the Knicks blew a 2-0 lead against Indiana and ultimately lost the series in Game 7, when Anunoby gamely tried to return after missing four games but it was clear he could hardly move and was yanked after five minutes.

This injury was not as bad. Helped by extended time off when the Knicks swept the 76ers, Anunoby was able to return in time for the start of the Eastern Conference finals.

Having him on the floor now — and soaring through the air in the final seconds of Game 4 — could be what it takes to end a 53-year title drought.

“OG, he’s been amazing since he’s got here,” fellow forward Josh Hart said. “This whole playoff run, he’s been amazing on both ends of the ball. He’s a winning player and he made a winning play.”

___

This story has been corrected to show that Anunoby returned from injury at the start of the Eastern Conference finals, not semifinals.

___

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

A video shared online showed at least one egg tossed in the direction of the San Antonio Spurs superstar as he entered his hotel, flanked by security, following the team's game 4 loss to the Knicks.

It was not clear who threw the egg. The video showed taunting fans swarming the hotel, a few blocks south of Madison Square Garden.

A few seconds after the egg cracks on a street sign, Wembanyama turns around and confronts a person standing near the hotel's entrance, before continuing inside.

The Spurs did not immediately respond to a request seeking clarity on whether the object struck Wembanyama.

The confrontation followed a historic collapse by the Spurs, who now find themselves on the brink of elimination after blowing a 29-point lead to the Knicks. Wembanyama missed two key free throws in the game's final minutes.

The Knicks victory prompted scenes of bedlam and jubilation across New York City, as ecstatic fans packed the streets, set off fireworks, scaled lampposts and at times clashed with police.

According to the New York Police Department, 56 people were taken into custody for charges that ranged from assault to disorderly conduct.

“Once again, there were large crowds of people who engaged in incredibly reckless and dangerous behavior last night both during and after the game,” the police department said in a statement.

An NYPD spokesperson said they had nothing on file about the egg incident.

Experts said the El Nino, a natural warming cycle, should further heat a globe already warming from fossil fuel pollution and will likely turbocharge extreme weather across the planet. Meteorologists forecast it will rival — or exceed — a record El Nino that began in 1997 and helped trigger billions of dollars in damage from heat waves, floods, droughts, tornadoes and wildfires.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officially confirmed the existence of the El Nino, which is a warming of the Pacific near the equator that affects weather patterns across the globe. NOAA's announcement said there's a 63% chance that the El Nino will get so intense this late fall and early winter that it “would rank among the largest El Nino events in the historical record going back to 1950.”

The warm, deep waters of an El Nino affect weather patterns by bringing “a lot of extra heat to the surface, fueling a lot of extreme events for a lot of places around the world,” said Clark University climate scientist Abby Frazier.

She said, especially in the Pacific, “it can get dire very quickly.”

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres described El Nino as an “urgent climate warning.”

“El Nino conditions will pour fuel on the fire of a warming world,” Guterres said in a video message.

El Nino's impacts spawn winners and losers

The weather pattern's effects vary by region. El Nino often dampens — but doesn't eliminate — Atlantic hurricane season activity, but increases it in the Pacific. So while the U.S. East and Gulf coasts may get a break, Hawaii and other islands are more in danger, Frazier said.

The drought-stricken Middle East could benefit, climate scientists said. Other places are looking at more danger. Parts of western South America — where the first El Ninos were noticed decades ago — often get heavy rain and floods, along with an extra warm summer. India faces more intense heat waves, while drought, wildfires and heat threaten Australia.

Northeastern Africa is likely going to get weather whiplash from intense drought to dangerously heavy rains, said Columbia University climate scientist and El Nino expert Muhammad Azhar Ehsan.

In the U.S., El Ninos can cause more intense storms with heavier rainfall in the South, but they also tend to generally benefit the U.S. agriculture industry, said Jon Gottschalck, operational branch chief at NOAA's Climate Prediction Center.

Michael Ferrari, meteorologist and head of research at the investment research firm Moby, said conditions for grains and seed, especially soybeans, look favorable in 18 major growing states, but are more mixed when it comes to dairy and cattle.

The northern Rockies and Southwest — where there’s an “off the charts” snow drought — could get some strong summer rains, Gottschalck said. The biggest effect in the U.S. is often in the winter, when the south can get wetter and the Pacific Northwest warmer and drier.

But overall, temperatures raised by the weather pattern can dampen American economic growth, said Stanford climate economist Marshall Burke. Several climate scientists forecast that 2027 will be the hottest year on record because of lagging effects of this El Nino, which is expected to peak in the fall or winter.

“We have pretty clear evidence that the U.S. economy grows more slowly when temps are above normal,” Burke said.

Strong early signs

The weather extremes caused by an El Nino also depend on when it develops.

Usually El Ninos form in the summer, peak in the late fall or early winter, and peter out the next spring, scientists said.

However, Ehsan's team forecasts that this El Nino will peak a month or two earlier based on strong early signs from recent weeks. Princeton University climate scientist Gabriel Vecchi said large El Ninos like these also tend to last longer.

The early indications — including warmer water pushing toward the surface of the Pacific — have been so strong and noticeable that forecasters have all been predicting the same ultra strong El Nino, Vecchi said, adding that El Nino forecasts often are all over the place at this time of year.

Scientists predict stronger El Ninos as the world warms from the burning of coal, oil and gas, Frazier and others said. But she said it is too early to say if this El Nino is part of that.

Even before it officially formed, this El Nino has gotten nicknames ranging from “super” to “Godzilla.”

“Instead of scared, we can ask people to be prepared,” Columbia's Ehsan said

___

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.

When the San Antonio Spurs claimed their first NBA Championship in 1999, the city’s skyline was sparser, its economy was different and many of today’s major businesses weren’t here yet.

“I think of jumping back to sophomore year of high school and driving downtown next to the Alamodome in my aunt’s car, honking our horn,” said Will Garrett, vice president of Talent Development and Integration at Port San Antonio. “There were probably the two Marriotts there, Tower Life Building — there wasn’t the skyline even that we see today.”

New factories, research centers and a changing downtown have helped reshape San Antonio over the past two-plus decades.

Manufacturers and tech employers arriving in the region have created better-paying technical jobs, according to economic development leaders.

Sarah Carabias Rush, president and CEO of Greater SATX, said the transformation has been sweeping.

“There was no Joint Base San Antonio yet. Most of today’s manufacturers were not here,” she said.

San Antonio’s population has grown roughly 22% since 2014, according to the city’s U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program, San Antonio-New Braunfels MSA, 2014-2025. Jobs in tech, professional services and advanced manufacturing have expanded during that same period — changing the kinds of career pathways available to residents.

Momentum builds for next generation

Community and business leaders say the growth is about more than numbers — it’s about the city’s long-term competitiveness.

“We are seizing the momentum as a community,” Carabias Rush said. “We are coming together and investing as one in the things that matter — in our people and in our place — so that we can be economically competitive for generations to come.”

More companies mean more pathways to careers that require different, higher-level skills, leaders say.

Carabias Rush also pointed to the energy surrounding San Antonio’s NBA franchise as a symbol of the city’s rising profile.

“Thinking about our Spurs and the way that we are investing in our downtown — the exciting energy that that’s going to create for this region is only going to help accelerate the growth and the momentum that we’re seeing,” she said.

As San Antonio continues to grow, city leaders and residents are watching closely to see how the expansion affects neighborhoods and families across the region.

The benchmark 30-year fixed rate mortgage rate rose to 6.52% from 6.48% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. Despite the increase, the average rate remains below 6.84%, where it was a year ago.

Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, often sought by borrowers refinancing a home loan, also rose this week. That average rate climbed to 5.84% from 5.79% last week. A year ago, it was at 5.97%, Freddie Mac said.

When mortgage rates rise they can add hundreds of dollars a month in costs for borrowers, reducing their purchasing power.

Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, from the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy decisions to bond market investors’ expectations for the economy and inflation. They generally follow the trajectory of the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans.

Rates have been mostly trending higher since the conflict between the U.S. and Iran began in late February, disrupting the flow of crude oil from the Persian Gulf to customers worldwide. That’s sent oil prices sharply higher, helping drive up inflation.

Expectations of higher oil prices as the war drags on have kept long-term bond yields elevated, causing mortgage rates to mostly trend higher.

The yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury note was at 4.53% in midday trading Thursday on the bond market, up from 4.47% a week ago. It was just 3.97% in late February, before the war broke out.

As recently as late February, the average rate on a 30-year mortgage had slipped just under 6% for the first time since late 2022. It’s hasn’t fallen below that threshold since. Two weeks ago, it climbed to 6.53%, its highest level since August 28.

While average long-term mortgage rates remain lower than they were at this time last year, their mostly upward trajectory and uncertainty over how much higher they may go has kept many would-be homebuyers on the sideline.

Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes declined in the first three months of the year compared to a year earlier, extending a nationwide housing slump that dates back to 2022 when mortgage rates began to climb from pandemic-era lows. Sales were essentially flat in April, but accelerated in May to their fastest pace since December.

Still, sales of existing U.S. homes continue to hovering close to a 4-million annual pace, far short of the historic norm that is closer to 5.2-million.

The latest mortgage applications data suggest home shoppers who can afford to buy at current rates are not holding out for them to move lower.

After declining in recent weeks, mortgage applications, which include loans to buy a home or refinance an existing mortgage, jumped 10.8% last week from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Applications for both home purchase and refinancing loans rebounded.

The increase in mortgage applications is an encouraging sign for the housing market heading into the second half of the year after a lackluster spring homebuying season.

“However, if inflation continues to outpace wage growth, eroding purchasing power alongside still-elevated mortgage rates, household budgets will come under increasing pressure, posing a meaningful drag on housing demand heading into the summer,” said Jiayi Xu, an economist at Realtor.com.

Each one of the 49 people killed, now known as the 49 angels, on June 12, 2016, left behind a legacy.

To honor their memories, News 6 journalists compiled stories learning about every victim through interviews, news articles and social media. All 49 articles can be found at ClickOrlando.com/Pulse49.

[WATCH: News 6 special on Pulse]

Before they were victims, the 49 were mothers, fathers, recent graduates, veterans, breast cancer survivors, dreamers, artists and so much more.

Those stories include 33-year-old Rodolfo Ayala-Ayala’s who was known as “Rody” by friends. Ayala served as the platelet supervisor at OneBlood, the center that collected blood donations for many Pulse shooting survivors.

“He was the sweetest, most genuine person. (He) cared for everyone and would do anything for you, and he’ll be sorely missed here,” Kelly Gollert, the director of manufacturing for OneBlood, said after his death.

Brenda Lee Marquez McCool, 49, was a mother to 11 children, beat cancer twice and often went dancing at the Pulse nightclub with her son. She was at the nightclub with her son, Isaiah Henderson, on June 12, 2016.

More than anything, Jason Benjamin Josaphat, 19, dreamed of traveling the world after he finished a degree in accounting.

“He would just look at you and laugh,” his mother, Myrlande Bébé, said. “He loves to smile. He was just fun.”

Two days after the shooting Luis S. Vielma’s co-workers and friends at Universal Studios Orlando raised their wands near the Hogwarts castle in the 22-year-old’s honor. He was studying to be a physical therapy assistant at Seminole State College.

Xavier Emmanuel Serrano Rosado, 35, was at home on stage. A video on YouTube viewed thousands of times shows Rosado gracefully gliding across the stage of Orlando’s Parliament House in a leather cape and top hat, to the delight of the audience.

In the five years since the shooting, the OnePulse Foundation was formed to honor the victims and assist the survivors, as well as their families through a variety or means.

The 49 Scholarship program works with the families and loved ones of those killed, to award scholarships to those who “embody love, hope, unity, courage and unconditional acceptance.”

The scholarships honor the victims’ legacies.

The healthcare scholarship was named in honor of Stanley Almodovar III, who was a devoted advocate for the LGBTQ+ community, and a nursing scholarship was named for Amanda Lizzette Alvear, who dreamed of becoming a nurse.

This week the U.S. Senate voted to make the former nightclub site a national memorial. The OnePulse Foundation has plans for a reflection area, memorial and museum in the SoDo area of Orlando.

To read about all 49 angels click here.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that its producer price index — which captures inflation before it reaches consumers — jumped 6.5% from May 2025. It rose 1.1% from April, as it did the previous month. Wholesale gasoline prices surged by more than 23% from April to May, and nearly 70% from a year earlier.

Inflationary pressures, intensified by the energy shock caused by the Iran war, are frustrating Americans five months before midterm elections that will determine whether President Donald Trump's Republicans keep full control of Congress.

Gasoline prices have been falling in recent days, but the cost of a gallon of regular gasoline has been above $4 since March, according to motor club AAA. And the U.S. driving season, which pushes prices higher each year, has just begun.

Excluding volatile food and energy prices, so-called core wholesale prices rose 0.4% from April and 4.9% from May 2025.

The wholesale inflation numbers came out a day after the Labor Department reported that consumer prices rose 4.2% in May from a year earlier, most in three years. Gasoline prices were up nearly 41% from May 2025. Airfares were up almost 27%.

Inflation is running well ahead of the Federal Reserve's 2% target. The central bank is expected to leave its benchmark interest rate unchanged as its meeting next week. But financial markets expect the Fed could raise rates by the end of the year in an effort to curb price increases.

Wholesale prices can offer an early look at where consumer inflation might be headed. Economists also watch it because some of its components, notably health care and financial services, flow into the Fed's preferred inflation gauge — the personal consumption expenditures, or PCE, index.

Stephen Brown, chief North America economist at Capital Economics, wrote that the producer prices “that feed into the PCE price calculation rose by much more than we expected ... It supports our view that the Fed will hike interest rates toward the end of the year.’’

After the United States and Israel attacked Feb. 28, Iran shut the Strait of Hormuz, causing the biggest disruption in oil supplies in history. Energy prices rocketed. S&P Global Energy warned Thursday that U.S. crude oil inventories are drying up as the summer driving season approaches.

“The bottom line is that U.S. inventory levels remain above estimated minimum operating thresholds,'' said S&P Global Energy's Aaron Brady. “However, with continued disruption to Middle East flows, draws are likely to extend into the third quarter, even in the event of a near-term diplomatic resolution.'' More big, sustained drops in inventories ”would likely signal entry into a ‘danger zone’ for the U.S. refining system.”

Some of them aren’t too enthusiastic.

“I think they’re all a waste of time,” said Shirley Prior on the choice of candidates in Makerfield, where a special election on June 18 has drawn interest from journalists around the world. That level of attention is all-but unheard of for a midterm by-election to fill one of the 650 seats in the House of Commons.

If Andy Burnham from the center-left Labour Party wins, there’s a strong chance he will replace embattled Prime Minister Keir Starmer as leader of both party and country. He's up against Reform UK, a hard-right party hoping to prove that this longtime Labour stronghold is fertile ground for its anti-immigration message, with potentially seismic consequences for British democracy.

This district has elected Labour lawmakers for 120 years, but Burnham is not a shoo-in. Reform, led by the veteran anti-immigration politician Nigel Farage, won 24 of the 25 council seats up for grabs in local elections in this area last month.

“I always voted Labour because my dad, my grandad, everybody voted Labour then,” Prior said. “I’ve never done that for a lot, a lot of years.”

Immigration is a top issue

The election is taking place amid heightened tensions over immigration. A stabbing in Belfast this week, for which a Sudanese man has been charged with attempted murder, triggered violent protests in Northern Ireland in which cars and houses torched.

In the constituency’s main town of Ashton-in-Makerfield, 200 miles (320 kilometers) northwest of London, some voters echo Reform claims that recent arrivals are straining housing and public services.

“Immigration’s too high, all the services are being put under pressure and Labour just keep inviting more and more people into the country and it’s the taxpayer who has to pay for them,” said retiree Phil Arrowsmith.

Annual net migration to the U.K. reached more than 900,000 in 2023, under the previous Conservative government, before falling to 171,000 last year.

That decline has done little to boost a Labour government that has floundered since winning election in July 2024.

Starmer has struggled to deliver promised economic growth, repair tattered public services and ease the cost of living, and been hamstrung by repeated missteps, including his decision to appoint Peter Mandelson, a scandal-tarnished friend of Jeffrey Epstein, as Britain’s ambassador to Washington.

A dismal performance in local elections last month sparked a clamor from Labour lawmakers for Starmer’s resignation. He has refused, but Cabinet minister Wes Streeting quit so he can run in a leadership contest that could come soon.

Burnham, the popular mayor of Greater Manchester, also harbors leadership ambitions, but needs a seat in Parliament if he wants to challenge Starmer. An opening emerged when Josh Simons, the Labour lawmaker for Makerfield, stepped down to trigger a special election.

Burnham said he understands that voters are “fed up” and calls the large Reform UK vote “a cry for real change” that Labour must heed.

The ‘King of the North’ eyes power in London

The Makerfield constituency is a capsule of British history, a collection of former coal-mining communities turned commuter suburbs. The slag heaps and slum housing in the area described by George Orwell in his 1937 book “The Road to Wigan Pier” have been replaced by suburbs of tidy modern houses amid Victorian workers’ cottages, interspersed with farmers’ fields.

Though far from the city center, it is part of Greater Manchester, and Burnham gets honks and thumbs’ ups from passing drivers as he walks down the street in his smart-casual uniform of dark jeans with a navy blue shirt and jacket.

The 56-year-old has been mayor of the region of 3 million people since 2017, a period that has seen central Manchester boom, with skyscrapers blooming on postindustrial sites. Many residents praise him for championing the city, and for taking a piecemeal public transport system under municipal control as the Bee Network.

For a decade and a half before that he was a lawmaker in Parliament, and a minister in Labour governments. He doesn’t emphasize that part of his CV, preferring the outsider status that has seen him nicknamed the King of the North.

“What we’ve built in Greater Manchester needs to go national,” Burnham told reporters during a campaign event this week. “I know what it is to turn places around.”

Many predict a close contest

The campaign is an odd mix of the local and the international. Some voters cite immigration as a top concern. Others mention struggling main street shops, potholes and petty crime.

Burnham’s main rival is Reform UK candidate Rob Kenyon, a 41-year-old plumber and local councilor who came second to Labour here in the 2024 national election. He says he’s an unpolished regular bloke, though opponents have criticized him over crude, sexist and anti-vaccine comments on social media.

Reform voters are also being targeted by Restore, an even more hardline anti-immigration party.

Michael Poultney, a retired teacher and Labour supporter, thinks the unpopularity of Starmer’s government means Burnham faces a stiff challenge.

“Without his personal vote, I think we would struggle,” he said. “Keir Starmer has done reasonably well on the international stage, but the government are yet to be in control of the economy.”

Burnham insists he is running for the people of Makerfield, not his own ambition, and is not taking victory for granted.

“I am making no assumptions beyond the 18th of June,” Burnham said.

But he stressed that “this is a change byelection.”

“I will take the fight for the changes I want to see in politics as far as I can take it,” he said.

Bruel, 67, denies the allegations.

He was brought Wednesday before four investigative judges at the court in Nanterre, in the western suburbs of Paris, following a two-day police custody.

The Nanterre prosecutor’s office said the formal investigation concerns allegations of rape in 2008 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, west of Paris, attempted rape in 2010 in Brussels, and sexual assault and sexual harassment in Perpignan, in southern France, and Ajaccio, Corsica, both in 2019.

The judicial investigation also continues into other allegations of rape, attempted rape and sexual harassment between 2010 and 2019 in three French cities and in Nyon, Switzerland, according to prosecutors.

Some allegations that had previously been dismissed without further action were reexamined and included in the case, the prosecutor’s office said.

Bruel was released under judicial supervision and barred from leaving France. He was ordered to surrender his passport, undergo psychological treatment and post bail of 500,000 euros ($576,760). He is also prohibited from contacting his accusers or members of their families and from entering massage parlors, where some of the alleged offenses are alleged to have occurred.

Bruel’s lawyers said in a statement the singer would cooperate fully with the investigation and remains available to the judicial authorities.

In recent weeks, a series of media reports, notably by French investigative website Mediapart, brought into public attention allegations by multiple women spanning several decades against Bruel, prompting additional complaints to be filed.

Prosecutors said accusations by other women that appear to be barred by the statute of limitations have nevertheless been attached to the case file so investigating judges can gain a broader understanding of the allegations. Complaints filed in other jurisdictions could later be added to the Nanterre investigation.

Bruel became one of the biggest stars in the French-speaking world in the late 1980s and 1990s. His popularity was so intense that French media coined the term “Bruelmania,” drawing comparisons with Beatlemania.

Hit songs from his 1989 second album have became part of French popular culture, addressing universal themes including love, heartbreak, nostalgia and childhood and bringing together generations of fans. Bruel later built a parallel acting career, appearing in dozens of film and television productions.

Last month he canceled all shows planned this summer in France, Canada, Switzerland and Belgium and at the end of the year in Canada.

— San Antonio wins and extends the series.

— New York wins and becomes NBA champions.

That's it. It's one or the other. After 1,321 games — 1,230 in the regular season, 84 in the playoffs, six more in the play-in tournament and one between the Spurs and Knicks that decided the NBA Cup — it really is that simple. If Wembanyama and the Spurs win in San Antonio, the season lives for at least one more game. If the Knicks win, all that'll be left in this season will be a parade.

The Spurs trail the series 3-1 and Wembanyama understands the reality. Of the previous 38 teams that trailed 3-1 in the NBA Finals, 37 wound up watching the other team celebrate the title. And if that bit of history didn't look daunting enough, the Spurs will try to climb out of this 3-1 hole after the biggest collapse in NBA Finals history — wasting a 29-point lead in a Game 4 loss at New York.

“I think it’s going to go one of two ways,” Wembanyama said shortly after Wednesday's 107-106 loss in Game 4, a game where the Spurs were outscored 55-25 in the final 21 1/2 minutes. “One of two ways. A bad one and a good one. The bad one would be giving up. The good one would be getting stronger through this, getting more together. I know this is what we’re going to do.”

Thursday was an off day for the teams, at least in terms of formal practices. Both sides are scheduled to practice in San Antonio on Friday, and then Game 5 is there on Saturday night — with the Knicks one win away from what would be their first championship in 53 years.

New York won Games 1 and 2 of the finals in San Antonio — rallying from double-digit deficits in both games — to take command of the series. The Knicks, with a win Saturday, would become the first team since Houston in 1995 to go 3-0 on the Spurs' floor in a single postseason series.

“Our mentality has to be 0-0, the way it’s been,” Knicks guard Jalen Brunson said, repeating the mantra he's cited time and time again in this postseason run. “It has to be that way, and I feel like us moving forward with that mindset can really benefit us. There's nothing to celebrate. It’s not over yet, not even close.”

It's common sense for the team with a 3-1 lead to hold off on celebrating. But in this case, there's also some truth to what Brunson is saying.

Yes, the 3-1 deficit has been proven to be virtually insurmountable in NBA history; the only team that successfully escaped its grip in the finals was LeBron James' Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016, when they rallied to beat the Golden State Warriors for that title.

This series, however, isn't exactly a statistical runaway.

The Knicks have outscored the Spurs by a total of eight points over the four games. Shooting is basically even; the Knicks are at 44%, the Spurs at 43%. The Knicks have made 52 3-pointers, the Spurs 49. Free-throw percentage, Knicks 79%, Spurs 78%. The Knicks have three more rebounds and both teams have exactly 90 assists through four games.

“Just take this one game at a time,” said Spurs guard De'Aaron Fox, who took heavy criticism for electing to try a layup — which was blocked — in the final seconds of Game 4 instead of taking time off the clock with a one-point lead. “It obviously looks like a steep hill, but this is something that’s happened before. Take this thing one game at a time. We’ve been in a position to win all these games. We’ve been up double digits. We have to figure out what we need to do to be able to put some of these games away.”

It has been a baffling problem for the Spurs.

They led Game 1 by one with 1:51 left, then lost after the Knicks finished on an 11-0 run.

They had the ball in a tie game with 11 seconds left in Game 2, then lost after Wembanyama threw a pass that Stephon Castle never saw and became a turnover that led to Brunson's game-winning free throw.

And now, this — a 29-point lead wasted in Game 4, and they still led by one until Anunoby's tip-in with 2.1 seconds left.

"We have to try to put this behind us," Fox said.

If they don't, the Knicks' 53-year wait for a title could end Saturday night.

___

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

The FDA last month gave its first OK to fruit-flavored vapes — essentially endorsing them as a less-harmful alternative to traditional cigarettes. The decision came despite the agency’s longstanding position that such flavors appeal to children and must show extra health benefits to warrant approval for adults.

Health groups and Washington lawmakers quickly condemned the decision and have called for an explanation.

A six-page FDA memo released this week provides more details about the agency's rationale. In it, FDA regulators appear to sidestep previous statements about the risks of sweet vaping flavors while acknowledging shortcomings in the data submitted by vape manufacturer Glas Inc.

To meet federal standards, companies must show that their products benefit public health. In practice, that means demonstrating that their vapes help adult smokers switch or quit cigarettes, while not attracting underage use by teens.

Smokers who tried Glas vapes were much more likely to completely switch from cigarettes over the course of a three-month study, according to the memo.

But the data did not show “statistically significant differences” between adults using the company's mango and blueberry flavors and those using a tobacco-flavored e-cigarette.

That means the new vapes failed to meet the same bar as a handful of other flavored products previously sanctioned by the FDA, including menthol-flavored vapes from Juul and NJOY. Those companies showed that adults who used menthol were significantly more likely to cut down or quit cigarettes compared with those vaping tobacco flavors.

Elsewhere, FDA regulators explained that the Glas flavored vapes “did not have to demonstrate added adult benefit,” because young people were unlikely to use them. Glas requires users to unlock each e-cigarette with an age-verifying cellphone app.

The agency's authorization also runs counter to recent FDA guidelines advising companies that fruit and dessert flavors would have to meet “a high evidentiary burden" for adult use, given their risks to children. Tobacco-flavored products are not popular with teens and generally face lower regulatory hurdles at the FDA.

The FDA document is also unusual in its brevity.

Previous FDA memos on new vaping products typically run dozens of pages. For example, last year’s document authorizing Juul’s menthol e-cigarettes was more than 90 pages and included detailed scientific data from research involving 50,000 people.

The short memo on Glas does not include key details, such as how many smokers the firm studied.

Previously, the FDA almost always posted such memos immediately after announcing an authorization. The document on Glas appeared on the agency's website more than a month after regulators OK’d the products.

The agency has faced questions from members of Congress about the decision. Last month, 10 Democratic senators sent a letter to the agency requesting more information about the authorization, calling it a “shortsighted and reckless decision.”

The application from Glas, which also included menthol and tobacco-flavored vapes, followed a winding path to authorization. The small, Los Angeles-based company submitted a marketing request to the FDA in 2021.

In February, FDA scientists authorized several of the flavors. But that decision was blocked by a senior official reporting to then-FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, according to internal memos later released by the agency.

The mango- and blueberry-flavored products were finally OK’d during Makary’s last full week leading the agency. He resigned the post after months of criticisms from industry stakeholders, including tobacco companies that have lobbied President Donald Trump's Republican White House for looser regulations on vaping flavors.

A spokesperson for the company could not immediately provide comment when reached Thursday morning.

___

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.

Frustration grew after the Corpus Christi City Council voted last week to again push back a decision on building an almost billion-dollar water treatment plant, even as projections show the coastal community facing mandatory water restrictions in early 2027.

After the vote, the governor’s office didn’t hold back.

“The moment for leadership arrived, but the Council met it with a whimper and a complaint,” said Robert Black, Abbott’s chief of staff.

Instead of taking “meaningful steps to meet the long-term water needs of their citizens,” council members “chose to bicker, blame, and hide behind excuses and ‘studies’ rather than take action,” Black said in a statement.

Black underscored the governor’s frustration with city leaders. In March, when water levels in two of the city’s main reservoirs fell to historic lows, Abbott said: “Corpus Christi is a victim not because of lack of water. They’re a victim because of a lack of ability to make a decision.”

Abbott threatened a state takeover if Corpus Christi, the state’s eighth-largest city, couldn’t get its act together. “We can only give them a little time more before the state of Texas has to take over and micromanage that city and run that city,” he said.

Hinojosa criticized Abbott’s rigid approach.

“Let’s be clear: this is not just a city issue, this is a crisis that requires a governor who shows up as a partner with local communities — bringing together state and federal resources to get this right — not someone who threatens to cut off funding unless a city does exactly what his insiders want,” Hinojosa said last week.

Asked what she would do differently, Hinojosa told The Texas Tribune she would seek to regulate industrial use.

“As Governor, I’d sign an executive order to ensure citizens of Corpus have the water they need by making industry cut back when water is at risk and pay to fund solutions so we never wind up here again,” she said.

Hinojosa, an Austin state representative, accused Abbott of prioritizing Corpus Christi’s industrial sector over residents. The city’s large-volume customers consume more than half of the city’s water supply, including Valero Energy Corp. and ExxonMobil (both have donated to Abbott’s campaign, $25,000 this year from Valero and $15,000 from Exxon in 2024).

“Industry guzzles two-thirds of the water and needs to pay its fair share,” Hinojosa said last week in a statement. “Instead, Abbott wanted the citizens to pay so his donors could keep getting water cheap.”

Over the past decade, the city promised a sufficient water supply as it courted large companies to build refineries, natural gas export terminals and other industrial facilities along Corpus Christi Bay.

The City Council in September halted efforts to build a $1.2 billion desalination plant — capable of treating around 30 million gallons of seawater a day beginning in 2029 — citing concerns about the cost and environmental impact from salty discharge into the bay.

But a historic drought and rising demand has placed the city on the path of reaching, by early 2027, a Level 1 emergency — the point when supply is six months from falling short of demand, triggering mandatory restrictions. The city water department recently asked the City Council to reconsider the Inner Harbor desalination project, now with a whittled-down $978.8 million price tag.

After a marathon 15-hour meeting last week, the council voted 7-2 to delay a decision until Sept. 1. Most of the more than 100 community members who spoke during the meeting opposed the project. Some doubted an environmental study that concluded the plant’s discharge wouldn’t affect the bay’s sea life.

But project supporters, saying the city’s livelihood is on the line, view a desalination plant as a drought-proof solution to future dry spells. The water department’s proposal is fully permitted and about 60% designed.

Corpus Christi received a $2.75 million loan from the state in 2017 for the project’s initial stages. In 2020, the state provided $222 million more in loans for the plant, and two years later, another $535 million, of which $10 million has been disbursed.

“Governor Abbott and the State of Texas have done their part,” his chief of staff Black said. “We have expedited funding and permits for new wells, paid for pipeline upgrades, fully permitted the Inner Harbor Plant, and provided more than $800 million in funding for water projects.”

Hinojosa said the governor has fallen short of addressing the expected shortage.

“For more than a decade, Abbott has traveled to Corpus Christi for photo ops and ribbon-cutting ceremonies while failing to solve the impending crisis,” she said. “The people of Corpus Christi deserve leadership, and as governor, I’ll deliver it.”

Council Member Gil Hernandez, who made the motion to delay consideration of the desalination plant until September, said there is no rush to make a final decision on a project that would take about three years to build.

“It does us no good in this water crisis that we’re in right now,” Hernandez said. “That desal plant is not an emergency decision.”

The city has taken other action to find short-term water sources, he said, including more than a dozen wells drilled in Nueces County as part of the Evangeline Groundwater Project. The city hopes to drill nearly a dozen additional wells in Sinton, about a 30-minute drive north of Corpus Christi. That project, however, has been delayed by objections by the city of Sinton and other water users who say the effort threatens their underground water supplies.

“We made the decisions to get us water quickly through those other projects, and that’s going to meet our needs,” Hernandez said. “Desal really is a long-term play for us.”

Mayor Paulette Guajardo said that the governor’s position supports her intent to move forward on the Inner Harbor project.

“The Governor’s Office has made it clear: Corpus Christi cannot afford endless delays when it comes to securing our water supply,” she wrote on Facebook. “That is why I voted against tabling the Inner Harbor Seawater Desalination Project. … Leadership is not about finding excuses to postpone difficult decisions.”

City Manager Peter Zanoni said he appreciates the governor’s efforts to help Corpus Christi survive the drought, such as allowing the city to pull around 40 million gallons of water a day from Lake Texana even if levels fall below 50% — a situation that normally triggers an automatic 10% reduction in pumping. The city has not yet had to curtail pumping because recent rain brought the reservoir to nearly full capacity.

Zanoni added that the water department has been working with the governor’s office several times a week to discuss future water projects.

“He has been a leader in helping us bring on numerous water supply projects,” Zanoni said. “The governor is one who likes certainty and predictability, and likes to make decisions, and so I would leave it at that.”

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

In a statement, Castro said Alejandro, a San Antonio high school student, was on his way to a soccer game when ICE agents surrounded his home, detaining him and his father, Jairo.

They have been detained for more than three weeks, according to Castro, and Alejandro missed his final days of 10th grade.

Castro said he met with Alejandro and his father on May 26 during an inspection of the detention center. Alejandro told Castro he misses his mother and “was having trouble eating.”

“They are asylum seekers and have done everything the right way,” Castro said.

KSAT 12 has reached out to ICE for comment.

More recent immigration coverage from KSAT:

• Alamo Heights children, stepmother released from ICE detention facility in Dilley
• McAllen family released from ICE custody after being detained, separated by ICE, Rep. Castro says
• ‘Same cruelty, but there’s more secrecy’: Congressmen Castro, Casar recall Dilley ICE facility visit

While Spurs fans are hoping for a miracle, the Knicks have a chance to win it all at the Frost Bank Center. This may tempt Knicks fans to head south to see their team win its first NBA championship in 53 years.

As of Thursday, there are still dozens of seats available anywhere from the upper deck to courtside, Ticketmaster’s website shows.

However, once again, the ticket prices are through the roof.

For nosebleeds, the highest seat in the arena goes for over a thousand dollars.

Courtside tickets range from $31,500 to $115,000. On the visitor’s side, KSAT found a single seat priced at $114,581.25.

Civic Park at Hemisfair and the Rock at La Cantera will be hosting watch parties this weekend. Tip-off for Game 5 is set for 7:30 p.m.

More Race For Seis coverage on KSAT:

• Inside the numbers: An unbelievable Game 4 between Knicks and Spurs, with tons of numbers to note
• Knicks come from 29 down and beat the Spurs 107-106 for a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals
• Taylor Swift attends Knicks’ record-breaking rally over Spurs in Game 4 of the NBA Finals

• RESIDENTS RECEIVE LETTERS: Residents in Val Verde County, west of Del Rio, received letters from government detailing the possibility of a physical wall
• WHAT’S AT STAKE: Cave paintings, which date back thousands of years and are considered some of the best in North America, could be damaged
• WHAT’S NEXT: It’s unclear what the timeline will be for border wall construction, if any wall is built at all

The letter

Raymond Skiles Jr., whose family has owned land near Langtry since the 1940s, recently received a letter in the mail. He shared the letter with KSAT 12 News, which appeared to indicate the federal government’s plans to construct a physical border wall directly through his property.

“There’s been no communication verbally. No one to pick up the phone and give a call,” Skiles said. “The documents don’t say you can discuss this or make suggestions for improvement by calling some person."

Many others like Skiles along the Rio Grande, from Big Bend up to Lake Amistad, have received correspondence from the government. Skiles, whose permanent home is in Alpine, believes the verbiage and letters change depending on where you live.

The Big Bend region has had quite a bit of pushback, including from state lawmakers. While this part of Val Verde County is considered part of the Big Bend region, those who live here feel as though they are getting lost in the shuffle.

“It appears there’s more attention being given here for — ‘By God, we’re going to build a wall’ — as opposed to a little further upstream,“ Skiles said. ”There’s uncertainty that has not been taken off the table."

Why it matters

This area of Texas is rugged and desolate. Skiles’ property, which sits directly next to the Judge Roy Bean Museum, is historic in several ways.

After a trip down to the Rio Grande, Skiles said he would lose access to it should a wall be built.

Skiles took KSAT to several cliff overhangs just off the river, where humans have lived for thousands of years.

“We’re standing on human deposited debris: ash from fires, fiber from all kinds of purposes that were woven. And even all these rocks that are kind of fist-sized that are fractured,” Skiles said. “We call them ‘fire-ring’ rocks.”

However, the crown jewel of this area is the rock art that these pre-historic societies left behind.

Hundreds of vivid painting exist throughout the lower Pecos River where it meets the Rio Grande.

“The oldest of the murals: the Pecos River-style, which are really the most abundant —and I consider the most majestic of all the rock art traditions — were first produced around 5,700 years ago,” said Dr. Carolyn Boyd, an archeologist and founder of Shumla, whose goal is to decode, study and preserve the art. ″Some of these sites span 100 feet long, hundreds of feet long and 30 feet in height. But what’s really astonishing is that artist continued to keep producing this rock art traditions for more than 4,000 years. So, think about that for just a minute: that’s about 175 generations of human experience."

Additionally, the government has also deemed the art important.

“In January of 2021, the federal government designated this region, the Lower Pecos Archeological District, as a National Historic Landmark,” said Boyd. “Yet, here we are today — faced with the possibility that the very government that assigned this designation (and) recognized its importance — may be responsible for its destruction through the (border) wall.“

What are the concerns

On a normal day, those who study and preserve the art said it is extremely fragile.

“Quite often, these cave paintings do spall off. And nature, over several thousands of years, has damaged them that way,” Skiles said. “You add dynamite or whatever blasting is required to the 35-foot steel bollard wall, and I have no doubt that those will be seriously damaged.“

Based on the maps he’s seen, Skiles showed KSAT where the wall would cut across a canyon and, possibly, right over the top of the thousands-year-old rock art.

“It’s a little scary to think how it might damage these treasures of our human culture,” Skiles said.

“We now know of about 80 sites that would be south of the proposed wall and about 13 sites that are within 500 meters north of that wall,” Boyd said.

Skiles said the concerns span the political spectrum.

“I’ve never seen such a community-wide, native response, you know, anything that unified people as much,” Skiles said. “And I’m talking Republicans, extremists, tree huggers.”

Skiles believes that the physical barriers are good deterrents in populated areas, but questions why one is needed in the barren, rugged territory of the Val Verde County and the greater Big Bend region.

“Even if you decided, ‘OK, lets put in some barriers.’ Taking the time to look at the landscape and say, ‘Well, look right over there, for a quarter-mile are sheer 100-foot cliffs,’” Skiles said. “Do we really need put a 35-foot steel wall on top of a 100-foot cliff?”

The government’s response

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), an agency within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), sent KSAT the following statement through a spokesperson:

For all border wall construction projects, CBP conducts outreach to solicit feedback from landowners and interested stakeholders to seek input on the project’s potential impacts to the environment, cultural resources, quality of life and commerce, including socioeconomic impacts. CBP’s goal is to mitigate impacts to environmental resources to the greatest extent possible while still meeting the U.S. Border Patrol’s operational requirements. While the public outreach period for the Val Verde County project closed in February 2026, the materials can be found online and include details about the project and a map of the planned alignment: https://www.cbp.gov/document/environmental-assessments/border-barrier-and-waterborne-barrier-system-val-verde-and

(Please note that CBP.gov is not being updated during the DHS shutdown)

U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Both Skiles and Boyd said they never received any correspondence detailing when the public outreach period started or ended for Val Verde County.

Negotiations are underway on the border wall portion through the Big Bend region, The eastern part of the region, which includes Val Verde County and the rock art, remains in question.

KSAT will continue to follow up on this story.

SpaceX is likely to become the biggest IPO ever, with proceeds of around $75 billion. SpaceX hopes to become the first company to send people to Mars. In fact, part of Musk’s future compensation depends on SpaceX eventually establishing a colony of at least 1 million people on the red planet.

Why SpaceX is going public now

In a video conference on Musk's social media platform X, he told JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon that people have suggested for the last 10 years that he take SpaceX public. He's doing it now because the company plans to put 100,000 next-generation Starlink satellites into orbit. Deploying AI data centers in space is a “massive new growth base and you need capital for that,” he said.

Going public provides access to the capital that SpaceX needs. But it also exposes it to more scrutiny from shareholders and more regulatory oversight. That includes filing quarterly financial reports, which critics say incentivizes short-term thinking over longer-term planning and creates unnecessary costs for a company. Securities regulators are currently soliciting public comment on a proposal to require public companies to file the financial reports only twice every year.

How the IPO impacts the company

Musk will hold the majority of a special class of shares, giving him control over decisions related to company strategy, finances and personnel. On the latter, because of his ownership of most of these Class B shares, the only person who can fire Musk as CEO ... is Musk.

The company credits Musk with being the “driving force” behind its growth, innovation and success. But what happens if Musk is no longer in the picture? SpaceX warns that the loss of Musk could disrupt its ability to execute its strategy as well as hurt its “reputation and relationships with customers, partners and other stakeholders.”

The company also warns that finding a replacement with the same skills and experience as Musk would be time-consuming, if not nearly impossible. As Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives wrote Wednesday, “At the end of the day Musk is SpaceX and SpaceX is Musk.”

Some big investors are unhappy. Officials from pension funds for firefighters, teachers and other workers in California and New York sent a letter to SpaceX last month decrying some of the provisions in its IPO, including the “super voting shares,” mandatory arbitration of shareholder claims instead of the possibility of lawsuits and how much power Musk will hold over the company.

They said they could become owners of SpaceX stock because they hold index funds, which automatically buy stocks after they get included in certain indexes.

What could make or break SpaceX

Currently in the test phase, the gigantic reusable Starship rocket is key to SpaceX realizing Musk's ambitions. Much of the commercial space business hinges on SpaceX developing Starship’s capability to be fully reusable and hearty enough for a quick turnaround between flights. If that doesn't happen, SpaceX warns that putting data centers and satellites in space will take longer and cost more money, meaning it risks customers bailing on the company.

Analysts say that by pioneering reusable rockets, SpaceX has established a clear lead on competitors such as Blue Origin, led by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. The Starlink satellite business competes with, among others, AST SpaceMobile – which is relying on a SpaceX rocket to send its latest generation of satellites into orbit next week.

The prospectus filed last week says SpaceX’s biggest potential market is the sale of business-oriented artificial intelligence products designed to transform how people get work done. It’s an opportunity SpaceX predicts would be worth $22.7 trillion if it could somehow dominate rivals like Anthropic, OpenAI and Microsoft in a highly competitive industry. But the prospectus shows no clear path to profitability for the xAI business, which merged with SpaceX earlier this year.

Why Wall Street is paying attention

If the SpaceX IPO is as successful, the stock could quickly join the Nasdaq 100, a widely followed index that tracks the 100 largest non-financial companies in the composite. That's important because some popular funds, such as the $460 billion QQQ exchange-traded fund, mimic the index and will automatically buy whatever is listed in the index.

Nasdaq recently changed its rules to allow select companies to enter the Nasdaq 100 after just 15 trading days.

S&P Dow Jones Indices, on the other hand, is sticking to established and more traditional thresholds that will not allow SpaceX or other companies with gargantuan IPOs faster entry into its S&P 500 index. That means even high-profile companies will still need to wait for their stocks to trade a full 12 months before they can enter the index.

Companies want to be in the S&P 500 in particular because it's arguably the most important index on Wall Street, with trillions of dollars either mimicking it exactly or benchmarked against it. Vanguard's VOO fund that tracks the S&P 500 has roughly $950 billion invested in it, for example.

Leo issued an impassioned plea to recognize the dignity of migrants from the port of Arguineguín, in the Canary Islands. In 2020, the port was dubbed “dock of shame” because of the squalid conditions migrants were forced to live in for months during a spike in arrivals.

“Human dignity has no passport and does not lose its value when crossing a border,” Leo said, with rescue ships docked behind him and a simple wooden cross made from a shipwrecked migrant boat nearby.

Leo is spending the final two days of his weeklong trip to Spain in the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago closer to Africa than the Iberian Peninsula and a key point of entry for migrants who make the perilous Atlantic crossing from West Africa.

He is fulfilling a wish of Pope Francis to visit the islands to commemorate the thousands of lives lost at sea.

With two migrants standing by him, Leo threw a bouquet of flowers into the sea. The gesture recalled one Francis made in 2013, at the start of his pontificate, when he visited another migration flashpoint in Lampedusa, Sicily and denounced the “globalization of indifference” that the world showed migrants.

A visit to the ‘dock of shame’

The Canary Islands have long been a stepping stone for migrants trying to reach Europe from West Africa and Morocco. Some experts consider the Atlantic route they take to get here more deadly than the more well-known central Mediterranean smuggling route from Libya and Tunisia to Italy.

Migrant arrivals in the Canary Islands peaked in 2024 at nearly 47,000. Following pressure and deals between the European Union, Spain and the governments of several West African nations, arrivals have fallen dramatically, with just over 3,000 people landing there in the first five months of 2026.

Upon his arrival, Leo went straight to the port in Arguineguín, where in 2020 arrivals reached such numbers that migrants were forced to sleep on the dock in makeshift camps in the open air.

Many spent weeks just a blanket and no showers. Potential asylum seekers had no proper access to legal advice and some people were held for weeks, much longer than the three days that the law allowed. The ombudsman later forced the government to shutter the makeshift camp and relocate the migrants in hotels that had been emptied by COVID-19.

A challenge to uphold dignity

At the port on Thursday, Leo sat under a shaded platform while a fierce midday sun baked down on the migrants and aid workers. He heard testimonies from rescue workers, humanitarian workers and the personal story of a Nigerian victim of human trafficking. Nearby a banner, recalling the port's former nickname, rebaptized it “Dock of Hope.”

“Dear migrants, before saying anything else to you, I want to bow before your dignity,” Leo said to them, bowing his head slightly.

Addressing the Nigerian woman and other women who have been trafficked and forced into prostitution, Leo assured them: “If others have put a price on your body, know that God has never ceased to recognize your inestimable worth,” he said.

He urged countries of origin to create the security and economic conditions so people are not forced to flee, and for transit countries to protect migrants so they don’t fall prey to smugglers. And he appealed to the “conscience of Europe, which cannot claim to uphold human dignity while growing accustomed to the Mediterranean and the Atlantic becoming unmarked graves.”

In one of the most powerful speeches of his pontificate, dedicated entirely to migration, Leo listed the rights of migrants to flee or remain. But he didn't mention the right of nations to control their borders or limit asylum requests as he has done in the past. And significantly, he insisted that if one is Christian, one cannot ignore the plight of migrants.

“May history not accuse us of turning the pain of those who suffer into a common sight along our shores,” he said. “Today, here by the sea, every individual that arrives asks us what remains of our humanity. Sooner or later, it will be known whether we protected life or whether we yielded to indifference.”

Among the migrants waiting for Leo was Mame Amandou Neang, a 56-year-old who arrived in the Arguineguín port from Senegal earlier this year.

“This is a great honor,” said Neang. “We hope that if we see him, all our problems will stay behind us, we will forget our problems, because we have many things to forget for the moment.”

The International Organization of Migration’s Missing Migrants Project has recorded some 6,600 deaths on the Atlantic route from West Africa since it began keeping record in 2014. But it admits their estimate is a vast undercount due to the lack of information on the route and the phenomenon of “invisible shipwrecks.”

Since 2020, Spanish migrants rights group Walking Borders estimates more than 25,000 dead or missing trying to reach the Canary Islands.

Leo follows in Francis' footsteps in prioritizing migrants

Francis had made the plight of refugees a hallmark of his papacy, following the Gospel mandate to “welcome the stranger.”

Leo has followed suit, insisting especially on the dignity of migrants in his native United States amid the Trump administration’s crackdown and mass deportation program.

Next month, on July 4, the American pope will spend U.S. Independence Day on the island of Lampedusa, where Francis in 2013 first denounced the “globalization of indifference” the world shows migrants.

___

Winfield reported from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain. Brito contributed from Barcelona, Spain.

___

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

And then the New York Knicks pulled off the best comeback that the league’s title round has ever seen.

Down 29, the Knicks rallied to beat the Spurs 107-106 on Wednesday night to take a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals. It was the biggest comeback in finals history ... and a whole lot of other things happened in Game 4 as well, some that swung the pendulum completely San Antonio’s way and some that wound up letting New York do its share of rewriting the NBA history book as well.

A look inside the numbers:

A 29-point comeback

Above all else, there was this: The biggest comeback in the finals.

San Antonio 81, New York 52 was the score with 9:40 left in the third quarter. No team had ever rallied from 24 points down in a finals game and won; the Knicks outscored the Spurs 55-25 over the final 21 1/2 minutes to pull this off.

Boston trailed the Los Angeles Lakers by 24 points in Game 4 of the 2008 finals, before winning 97-91 — another 30-point swing, just like what the Knicks pulled off on Wednesday.

There even were records within the record, such as:

— The Knicks were down 27 at the half. The biggest halftime deficit successfully overcome in a finals game was 21 points (41-20) by the Baltimore Bullets over the Philadelphia Warriors on April 13, 1948.

— The Knicks were down 15 going into the fourth, tying the biggest end-of-three-quarters deficit ever overcome in a finals game. Chicago trailed Portland 79-64 on June 14, 1992.

Only a 1-point lead

The Knicks never led by more than one point and won — the first time any team has done that this season.

The last time it happened, in any game, regular season or playoffs? Game 1 of the 2025 NBA Finals, when Indiana beat Oklahoma City 111-110.

Down 20 (or more), again

There had been three comebacks from 20-point fourth-quarter deficits in the last 30 years of playoff basketball ... until three weeks ago, that is.

The Knicks were down by 22 in the fourth and beat Cleveland in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals. They were down by 20 in Game 4 against the Spurs and won again.

So, the Knicks in that situation in these playoffs: 2-0.

The rest of the NBA in that situation in the last 30 postseasons: 3-751.

2 with 33

Jalen Brunson scored 36 points and OG Anunoby had 33 for the Knicks. Anunoby had the tip-in that ended up being the winning basket for the Knicks, but two teammates having that many points in a finals game also put that duo in title-series lore.

They became the 10th set of teammates with at least 33 points apiece in a finals game.

Elgin Baylor and Jerry West did it six times for the Lakers from 1962 through 1966. Kyrie Irving and LeBron James did it twice for Cleveland against Golden State, once in 2016 and again in 2017.

The other duos to do it: Philadelphia’s Hal Green and Chet Walker (1967); the Lakers’ West and Wilt Chamberlain (1970); the Lakers’ Magic Johnson and Jamaal Wilkes (1980); the Lakers’ Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy (1985); Portland’s Clyde Drexler and Jerome Kersey (1990); the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal (2002); and Golden State’s Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant (2017).

27-point halftime lead

San Antonio led 76-49 at the half, the 27-point margin tying the third-largest in finals history.

(Technically, that was the biggest halftime lead on the road, but more on that in a moment.)

Boston led the Los Angeles Lakers by 30 (79-49) at the half of Game 1 of the 1985 finals. The Lakers led Miami by 28 (64-36) at the half of Game 6 of the 2020 finals in the bubble; the Heat was the designated “home” team for that game, but it was played in the neutral site of Walt Disney World.

The Knicks also had a 27-point lead at the half of a finals game in 1970; they led the Lakers 69-42 at the break of Game 7 that year.

76 points at the half

San Antonio had 76 points at halftime, the most by a road team in an NBA Finals game and tied for the third-most by any team in the title series.

The other first-half scoring outputs that reached that number: Cleveland scored 86 against Golden State in Game 4 of the 2017 finals; Boston scored 79 against the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 1 of the 1985 finals; and the Celtics also scored 76 against the St. Louis Hawks in Game 1 of the 1960 finals.

The most by a road team in the first half of a finals game, before Wednesday, was a 73-point first half by the Lakers over the Celtics in Game 2 of the 1962 finals.

14 3s in a half

San Antonio made 14 3-pointers in the first half, an NBA Finals record for any half. The previous record was 13 by Cleveland in the first half against Golden State on June 9, 2017.

The Spurs also made eight 3s in the second quarter, one shy of the NBA Finals record for most in a quarter. Golden State made nine in the first quarter against Cleveland on June 7, 2017 and Boston made nine in the fourth quarter against the Warriors on June 2, 2022.

The other teams with eight in a quarter: Phoenix against Milwaukee in the 2021 finals and Dallas against Boston in the 2024 finals.

1:02

Only 62 seconds into the game, Spurs coach Mitch Johnson — or more specifically, whoever makes the call in the second row of the bench area and relays that information — wanted a timeout called to review a foul that was called on San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama.

Great move by the review caller. Turns out, New York’s Karl-Anthony Towns was pinning Wembanyama’s arm, the call got overturned, Towns went to the bench with his second foul of the game and that helped set the tone for the Spurs’ huge opening half.

___

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

Judge Kristina Escalona, who presides over Bexar County’s 186th Criminal District Court, sentenced Sadaqat Abbasi, 34, to 35 years in prison for the burglary conviction and the maximum term of 20 years in prison for each of the two sexual assault convictions.

Abbasi’s two sexual assault sentences will run concurrently with his 35-year prison sentence for burglary.

According to a news release, a Bexar County jury found Abbasi guilty on April 10 of burglary and sexual assault.

In November 2023, the victim began communicating with Abbasi after viewing a fake dating profile he had created, the release said. Abbasi learned personal details about the victim, including her home address.

On the night of Nov. 19, 2023, Abbasi unlawfully entered her residence and forced his way into her bedroom, where he sexually assaulted her, the DA’s office said.

Several months later, investigators said the DNA database linked Abbasi to the case along with two other previously unsolved sexual assault investigations.

In March 2025, Texas Rangers arrested Abbasi in Comal County, where he faced multiple sexual assault allegations. The release said investigators uncovered assaults occurring in both Bexar and Travis counties between 2016 and 2023.

Read also:

• 2 men accused of making, selling meth in northeast Bexar County, BCSO says

Brandon, who lives in Rockwell, North Carolina, is worried that new Medicaid work requirements starting next year could jeopardize her health coverage. She had expected to qualify for a medical frailty exemption, but new guidance introduced by President Donald Trump's administration last week has thrown that into question.

The interim final rule released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services means being sick with extreme exhaustion and memory challenges related to her treatments may not be enough for Brandon to evade the new work requirements. She will have to attest and later prove that those symptoms “significantly impair” her ability to fulfill the mandates.

If the government doesn’t accept her case, she could lose her coverage and the twice-monthly maintenance chemotherapy that keeps her multiple myeloma in remission. Working is “outside of the realm of possibility for me,” she said in an interview.

“I was always a push-through-it person — you know, ‘Oh, you’re tired. Push through,’” Brandon said. “It’s hard to explain to people you can’t push through it.”

Health analysts have sounded the alarm about the Republican Trump administration’s newest guidance, which differs from what states had been expecting. Experts said it will put more Americans at risk of losing health insurance and force states to scramble in their already harried efforts to implement the changes on time.

“This will mean more paperwork for Medicaid patients — specifically for the sickest Medicaid patients,” said Adrianna McIntyre, a professor at Harvard University’s school of public health. That, she said, "is going to push in the direction of more people needlessly losing coverage.”

Medical frailty rules may mean paperwork nightmares for sick people

The new Medicaid restrictions, which Democrats have criticized, were part of Trump’s big tax and policy law in 2025. The change affects those covered through an expansion in most states that gave more lower-income people access to the government’s safety net healthcare program.

Expansion enrollees age 19 to 64 will have to show that they work or do community service at least 80 hours a month or are in school at least half the time. There are exceptions for those considered medically frail or in addiction treatment programs, among others.

Last week’s announcement from CMS caught states off guard with a new definition of medical frailty. The law had said medically frail people include those who have substance use disorders, disabilities or serious medical conditions. But the CMS rule went further, saying someone’s condition must “significantly impair” their ability to work, volunteer or attend school at the rates required in the law for them to be granted an exemption.

In 2027 and once in 2028, the patient can attest that they meet this definition. But when they try to renew coverage in 2028, they’ll need to prove it.

Advocates said it is unclear what kind of documentation could prove that point. They said doctor notes may be required — something some providers don’t feel comfortable writing. Medicaid enrollees fighting disease may carry the bureaucratic burden.

Brandon, who tried to prove she couldn’t work to access disability benefits during her active cancer treatment and failed, said she’s worried about the hoops she and other patients may need to jump through.

“It’s not that easy — you may have to go through four doctors,” Brandon said. “If you’re already battling an illness like this, you don’t have the physical or the mental or the emotional energy to do that all the time.”

States and advocates are confused by the government's approach

States have been planning to use Medicaid claims data and other data sources to automatically exempt eligible enrollees whenever possible.

On a call with reporters last week, the CMS administrator, Dr. Mehmet Oz, endorsed that approach, saying he hoped most people would be helped "without ever having to talk to anybody.”

Asked to clarify how the rule should be implemented, the agency told The Associated Press in an email that it “chose not to allow states to categorically exclude individuals from work requirements based solely on a diagnosis or condition type.” For renewal in 2028, it said, “verification through claims data or other documentation will generally be required.”

But state Medicaid officials and consultants said Medicaid claims data doesn’t prove someone is significantly impaired from working, and they don’t know of any existing data that does. That has left them confused about how to honor the government's rule.

“States are going to be asked to make a determination using information that doesn’t exist in their systems,” said Kinda Serafi, a partner at the legal and consulting firm Manatt Health who is working with states to make the changes.

One state, Nebraska, started the new Medicaid work requirements ahead of schedule. But it used diagnostic codes to identify people who are medically frail, and therefore will likely have to rework its system, said Sarah Maresh, healthcare access program director at the advocacy group Nebraska Appleseed.

Maresh said she was concerned doctors in the rural state who are already reluctant to take Medicaid patients may stop.

“They’re already drowning in paperwork, so to require them to do an additional step of certifying whether someone is able to work, I think is concerning,” she said.

Preparing for the Jan. 1 kickoff of the new policies is an immense and expensive task. A $200 million federal allotment is flowing to states to help, and CMS has partnered with technology companies to provide free and discounted services, but the tab for the additional technology requirements and more staff is likely to exceed $1 billion, according to an AP analysis. That extra cost will be borne by a mix of federal and state tax dollars.

Republicans say the rules will save Medicaid for those who need it most

Democrats have slammed the Medicaid work requirements as attacks on healthcare coverage for struggling Americans.

Republicans promoting the new rules, though, say they are commonsense measures to eliminate government freeloading and preserve benefits for people who need them most. Oz last week, citing a report by the conservative American Enterprise Institute think tank, said able-bodied people on Medicaid spend an average of 6.1 hours a day “watching TV or just hanging out.”

“This is a concern, not a criticism,” he said. “Work requirements are going to turn this around, we hope."

Current enrollees who don’t meet the work requirement threshold said that’s a misrepresentation of their experience.

Mids Meinberg, a 42-year-old freelance writer from New Jersey who lives with chronic depression and diabetes, said that even with his health issues, he’s proud to have found a meaningful career. But his conditions make him unable to work 80 hours a month. He said he thinks there are many people with disabilities who are “too disabled to work but not disabled enough for the state to think they can’t work.”

Brandon, in North Carolina, said she wants the government to understand that she’s “not just sitting around wasting time or being a drain on society.”

“I’m pouring into my grandchildren,” she said. “We’re valuable, and we can still contribute to our communities even if it’s not working.”

The billionaire owner of the Head sports goods business lost a 65-64 vote to Alexander Ospelt, a lawyer from Liechtenstein who got a four-year term to lead the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS).

Eliasch also loses his membership of the International Olympic Committee, one of the most exclusive clubs in world sport. The 100-plus invited members include royal family members, former government leaders, industrialists, sports officials, athletes and Oscar-winning actress Michelle Yeoh.

In his concession speech, Eliasch aimed an allegation at the Olympic body and urged FIS to protect its independence before congratulating Ospelt.

“The IOC tried to influence the outcome of today’s vote. Against this we must stay firm,” Eliasch said.

He also stood in the IOC presidential election won by Kirsty Coventry 15 months ago.

In a statement on Thursday, the IOC congratulated Ospelt on his win without directly addressing Eliasch's claim, adding: “We thank Mr. Johan Eliasch for his work as FIS president and IOC member.”

The FIS congress in the Serbian capital Belgrade started with shows of power by 75 member federations; the votes hinted at problems ahead for Eliasch.

The agenda was changed on an 88% vote to bring the presidential election forward as the first item of business. The weighted voting used by FIS gives two or three votes to established ski nations instead of a one-member-one-vote system by other federations such as soccer body FIFA.

Then there was a 60% vote to use paper ballots instead of electronic voting, which seemed to reflect some mistrust in the FIS administration.

The 64-year-old Eliasch served as FIS president for five years that were marked by constant sparring with ski nations including Austria and Switzerland over issues such as his management style and spending of the ski body's cash reserves.

A dual citizen of Sweden and Britain, Eliasch was not supported by either of those national federations to stand for re-election. He complied with FIS rules by getting a passport and nomination from the country of Georgia.

The new president

FIS rules mean Ospelt becomes president officially one day after the election, leaving Eliasch to oversee the rest of the congress business of what was now his last day in office.

“It’s been a great privilege to serve you,” said the outgoing president, who had said the election would be a win-win as he could “get my life back” if he lost. “Either way I am very happy.”

Ospelt, who has been a member of the Eliasch-chaired FIS council, said he would start his new job with “great joy and humility.”

“I will be the president for all of you. Let’s be united,” he said.

Ospelt does not immediately become an IOC member, though he would probably be invited to join as head of the sports body that oversees about half of the medal events at each Winter Olympics.

___

AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing

By Thursday afternoon, the court had not yet released a decision, said Naji Abbas, director of prisoners and detainees at Physicians for Human Rights — Israel, a nonprofit group.

Hussam Abu Safiya, who served as director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, became of the face of health workers struggling to treat patients throughout the Israel-Hamas war. He led the facility through an 85-day siege by the Israeli military, releasing videos in which he pleaded for help. Fourteen doctors from Gaza are still being held in Israeli prisons, PHRI said.

In a screen grab from his brief appearance on Wednesday, Abu Safiya, 53, was shown handcuffed and sitting in white prison garb. His face was pale and gaunt and he had lash-like marks on both arms. Multiple clips circulating on social media from the court showed Israeli officials quickly turning the video off as people jostled to see the doctor.

His lawyer, Nasser Odeh, can be heard in the video telling Abu Safiya that onlookers cannot see him, saying guards turned off the monitor and they are waiting for the judge to enter and decide whether to allow his image back on screen.

“Many people are present to show solidarity and support. The media is also both inside and outside the court,” Odeh said in the video.

Journalists' footage of the brittle doctor spread on social media, prompting renewed calls for his release. The Israeli military has said Abu Safiya is being investigated on suspicion of cooperating with or working for Hamas, the militant group that rules Gaza. Medical staff and international aid groups that have worked with Abu Safiya have denied those claims.

According to PHRI, he was recently placed in solitary confinement, a move his son, Elias Abu Safiya, said in a video posted on social media was made shortly after his appeal. Israel has yet to charge Abu Safiya with a crime.

“How can a person be punished for seeking to know why he was detained?” the younger Abu Safiya asked.

A son of the doctor was killed earlier in the war

Israel’s Justice Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday. The Israeli Prison Service denied claims that the doctor, a trained pediatrician, was being mistreated. In a statement, it said all detainees receive professional medical care and any allegations of abuse or mistreatment made through official channels are examined.

After the hearing Wednesday, Odeh said he had a message from the doctor.

“I am a pediatrician who provides medical care to patients, the wounded, and the most vulnerable in the Strip,” Odeh said, relaying the doctor’s words. “I carried out my work in accordance with international law and humanitarian standards. My detention is unjust and arbitrary.”

In the weeks leading up to his imprisonment, Abu Safiya fought to maintain his composure as Israeli forces surrounded the hospital, releasing grainy video dispatches from the facility under siege. When a drone strike killed Abu Safiya’s son near the hospital, the doctor spoke with tears in his eyes.

“Everything we have built, they have burned,” he said, his voice cracking. They killed my son. ... I buried my son in the hospital yard.”

The war between Israel and Hamas began on Oct. 7, 2023, after the Gaza-based militant group led an attack on southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage. Since then, nearly 73,000 people have been killed in the Israeli offensive in Gaza, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants. The ministry is staffed by medical professionals and the United Nations and other independent experts view its figures as the most reliable count of casualties.

___

Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

The ECB’s rate-setting council raised its benchmark rate to 2.25% from 2%, where it had been for a year. The move comes ahead of rate-setting meetings next week at the Fed, the Bank of Japan, and the Bank of England.

Oil prices have risen sharply due to Iran choking off the flow of crude oil through the Strait of Hormuz, the sea passage for a fifth of the world’s oil and fuel products during normal times. Raising rates aims to dampen the consumer price inflation fed by higher costs for products made from crude such as gasoline, diesel fuel, cooking gas and heating oil.

International benchmark Bent crude was trading at around $93 per barrel on Thursday, up from around $73 on the eve of the war. That has helped push inflation to 3.2% in May in the 21 countries that use the euro currency, above the ECB’s target of 2%.

But ECB policymakers must also consider the impact of higher borrowing costs on an economy showing only mediocre growth. That has led analysts to think Thursday’s hike will be a one and done affair, aimed mainly at signaling to financial markets that the bank is determined not to get behind the curve if inflation spirals higher.

The bank's future decisions depend to a great extent on how long energy prices remain elevated and how high they go, ECB President Christine Lagarde said at a post-decision news conference. She said the bank was “well positioned to navigate the uncertainty caused by the war” and would “closely monitor the situation and follow a data-dependent and meeting-by-meeting approach.” She said the bank was “not pre-committing to a particular rate path.”

She said oil prices were expected to “lift inflation further over the summer” and that inflation was expected to remain “well above target” into the first half of next year. The Strait of Hormuz has been closed to most ship traffic for 103 days now.

Central banks in Australia and the Philippines have raises rates since the start of the war, and attention is focusing now on decisions in larger economies. For its part, the U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to keep its key interest rate unchanged when it meets next week with new chair Warsh, appointed earlier this year by President Donald Trump.

Warsh advocated for rate cuts last year and Trump repeatedly attacked Warsh’s predecessor, Jerome Powell, for not cutting borrowing costs deeply enough. Yet with inflation jumping to a three-year high as gas prices have spiked in the wake of the Iran war, even Trump and his officials have started to shift their focus more to a push to keep rates unchanged.

The Fed is likely to change the statement it issues after each meeting by removing language that had suggested that its next move would be a cut. That would open the door for a rate hike down the road. Many Fed officials have warned that if inflation doesn’t begin to cool soon, a rate hike may be necessary by the end of the year.

Raising benchmark rates influences what lenders charge throughout the economy, increasing the cost of borrowing money to buy things and thus dampening demand for goods. Higher central bank rates can send interest costs higher for home purchases, investment in new factories, and government borrowing.

The ECB may be able to get by with only one or two increases because the inflationary surge may be milder than feared, said Carsten Brzeski, global chief of macro at ING bank.

That is because consumers burned by the post-pandemic spike in inflation are in no mood to pay higher prices, leaving businesses little choice but to swallow higher energy costs: “The pass-through of higher energy and input prices to final consumption will be limited due to a lack of ability and willingness of consumers to actually pay for these higher prices,” he wrote in an emailed comment.

——

Rugaber reported from Washington.

The number of Americans filing for unemployment aid for the week ending June 6 rose by 4,000 to 229,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s the most since early February, before the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Iran, but still considered a healthy level. It's also more than the 216,000 new applications forecast by analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet.

Weekly filings for unemployment benefits are considered a proxy for U.S. layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market.

Despite concerns that the conflict in the Middle East could further squeeze a flagging labor market, hiring has picked up in recent months following a miserable 2025 that saw fewer than 200,000 job gains. For comparison, about 1.5 million jobs were added in 2024.

U.S. employers delivered a surprising 172,000 new jobs in May and the economy is averaging 188,000 job gains in the three months since the Iran war began in late February. That’s the best three months of hiring since early 2024. The unemployment rate remains historically low at 4.3%.

Job openings also rose in April as employers posted 7.6 million vacancies, up from 6.9 million in March and the most since May 2024.

The government reported Wednesday that rising gas prices — triggered by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz off Iran’s southern border — pushed U.S. consumer inflation in May to 4.2%, its highest level in three years. Despite recent declines, prices for oil and gas remain elevated, which can squeeze consumers’ budgets and make businesses think twice about hiring.

With inflation well above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, most analysts expect officials at the U.S. central bank to stand pat on its benchmark interest rate when they meet next week. That meeting will be the first with new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh, who replaces Jerome Powell after his eight-year run as the U.S. central bank’s leader.

Lower interest rates can boost the economy and hiring, but also tend to stoke inflation, leading a number of Fed policymakers to say they are actually willing to consider an interest rate hike this year. That could potentially help bring inflation down, but higher borrowing costs generally make businesses more reluctant to hire.

Optimism over artificial intelligence has also injected a degree of uncertainty about the job market due to the investment required to develop it and because the powerful technology could alter or even replace some jobs.

Among the companies that have cut jobs recently are Verizon, UPS, Amazon, Disney, Starbucks and Walmart.

Weekly jobless aid applications have stabilized in a range mostly between 200,000 and 250,000 since the U.S. economy emerged from the pandemic recession. However, hiring began slowing about two years ago and tapered further in 2025 due to President Donald Trump’s tariffs, his purge of the federal workforce and the lingering effects of high interest rates meant to control inflation.

The Labor Department’s report Thursday showed that the four-week moving average of jobless claims, which evens out some of the weekly volatility, rose by 4,250 to 219,000.

The total number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits for the previous week ending May 30 jumped by 24,000 to 1.8 million, slightly more than analysts predicted.

The agency’s 2026 STAAR EOC Analysis broke down the statewide results in spring 2026 for the Algebra 1, Biology, English 1, English 2 and U.S. History exams.

Once again, North East ISD and Northside ISD both scored above the state’s passing rate in all five subjects, according to the TEA.

However, San Antonio ISD’s passing rates on all five exams were below state averages.

Coincidentally, the schools in Region 20, which includes 58 districts in and around Bexar County, had the same passing rate as the state average on all five exams.

Here’s how scores from San Antonio’s three largest districts and Region 20 schools compare to state averages:

Algebra 1

State averages show that 18% of students failed to meet the grade level standard; 82% passed the test, of which 30% mastered.

Compared to statewide scores from spring 2025, the percentage of Texas students who passed or mastered the test increased.

North East ISD: 13% of students did not meet the standard; 87% passed the test, of which 32% mastered.

Northside ISD: 15% of students did not meet the standard; 85% passed the test, of which 26% mastered.

San Antonio ISD: 25% of students did not meet the standard; 75% passed the test, of which 19% mastered.

Region 20: 18% of students did not meet the standard; 82% passed the test, of which 26% mastered.

Biology

State averages show that 7% of students failed to meet the grade level standard; 93% passed the test, of which 35% mastered.

Compared to statewide scores from spring 2025, the percentage of Texas students who passed or mastered the test increased.

North East ISD: 5% of students did not meet the standard; 95% passed the test, of which 45% mastered.

Northside ISD: 5% of students did not meet the standard; 95% passed the test, of which 39% mastered.

San Antonio ISD: 12% of students did not meet the standard; 88% passed the test, of which 20% mastered.

Region 20: 7% of students did not meet the standard; 93% passed the test, of which 34% mastered.

English 1

State averages show that 29% of students failed to meet the grade level standard; 71% passed the test, of which 13% mastered.

Compared to statewide scores from spring 2025, the percentage of Texas students who passed increased by 5 percentage points. However, the rate of students who mastered the test decreased.

North East ISD: 24% of students did not meet the standard; 76% passed the test, of which 16% mastered.

Northside ISD: 22% of students did not meet the standard; 78% passed the test, of which 13% mastered.

San Antonio ISD: 46% of students did not meet the standard; 54% passed the test, of which 5% mastered.

Region 20: 29% of students did not meet the standard; 71% passed the test, of which 12% mastered.

English 2

State averages show that 28% of students failed to meet the grade level standard; 72% passed the test, of which 9% mastered.

Compared to statewide scores from spring 2025, the percentage of Texas students who passed or mastered the test increased.

North East ISD: 23% of students did not meet the standard; 77% passed the test, of which 12% mastered.

Northside ISD: 21% of students did not meet the standard; 79% passed the test, of which 9% mastered.

San Antonio ISD: 42% of students did not meet the standard; 58% passed the test, of which 5% mastered.

Region 20: 28% of students did not meet the standard; 72% passed the test, of which 8% mastered.

U.S. History

State averages show that 7% of students failed to meet the grade level standard; 93% passed the test, of which 37% mastered.

Compared to statewide scores from spring 2025, the percentage of Texas students who passed the test decreased by 1 percentage point. The rate of students who mastered the test remained at the same rate as last year (37%).

North East ISD: 4% of students did not meet the standard; 96% passed the test, of which 53% mastered.

Northside ISD: 5% of students did not meet the standard; 95% passed the test, of which 44% mastered.

San Antonio ISD: 11% of students did not meet the standard; 89% passed the test, of which 26% mastered.

Region 20: 7% of students did not meet the standard; 93% passed the test, of which 38% mastered.

TEA said the STAAR test results for grades 3-8 will be released on Tuesday, June 16.

More recent education coverage on KSAT:

• Teens’ reading and math scores have stagnated, US test results show
• Texas Education Agency launches dashboard tracking educator misconduct reports
• San Antonio ISD’s six-figure travel tab: Hawaii, conferences and a district in deficit

But is time finally up for the BBC science fiction series that has entertained generations of fans?

The British broadcaster has canceled a Christmas special previously announced for later this year, and showrunner Russell T. Davies has confirmed his exit.

Davies had been due to write the Christmas episode, announced when the last season ended in May 2025.

The BBC said Wednesday that it, Davies and production company Bad Wolf “have collectively decided not to go ahead” with the Christmas episode. The broadcaster said it was determined “to push forward to invest in the long-term future of the show.”

It said it would put out a tender for production companies to work on the series. A deal between the BBC and Disney+ to co-produce and distribute the show ended in 2025 after two seasons.

First broadcast in 1963, “Doctor Who” follows the adventures of a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey who travels in the Tardis, a time-and-space machine that from the outside resembles a mid-20th century British police telephone box.

Its longevity is due in part to its premise: the central character can regenerate into a new body when the old one wears out, so the show can outlive any individual star. More than a dozen actors have played the role, most recently Ncuti Gatwa.

Davies, who revived the show in 2005 after a 16-year hiatus and returned as showrunner in 2022, said the Christmas episode had not been written and no actor had been approached to play the central role of the Doctor.

Davies, who has also written dramas including “Queer as Folk,” “It’s a Sin” and the recent “Tip Toe,” said the show’s future was “unpredictable” in an Instagram post.

“You’ll have to wait a bit longer for new Doctor Who … but you’ll be waiting for MORE Doctor Who than a one-off. So it’s worth it!” Davies wrote. “It’s all up for grabs, which is so Doctor Who — exciting and unpredictable and new! Here comes the future.”

The King of movie-spoofs is here - actor & comedian Marlon Wayans is live in the studio on the premiere date of the new “Scary Movie.” We chat about the return of this hilarious franchise.

Are you seeing more cracks & breaks in the concrete around your home? Baird Foundation repair has a budget-friendly way of getting of those hazards around your home.

Is hard water leaving your skin, hair & dishes dry & crusty? Kinetico SA can give you home a soft water makeover, but the best part there’s a chance to get a ton of freebies if you book your installation now.

The NBA Finals are leading to long nights & stressful days for many of us. We saw how Wemby learned from Shaolin monks last summer, so we tried to find a similar training here in town - sort of.

After clanking his shot off the rim at the buzzer on what would have been the Game 2 winner, Wembanyama did the same on two key free throws late in Game 4 on Wednesday night. With the chance to put his team up by three with 1:47 left, he instead went 0 for 2, and the New York Knicks took the lead and went on to win 107-106 on OG Anunoby’s tip-in with 1.2 seconds left.

“It’s just a shot,” Wembanyama said. “You might work on your form hours and hours. At the end of the day it’s just a shot, so you need to shoot it the normal way.”

Wembanyama and the Spurs are now on the brink of elimination, down 3-1 in the best-of-seven series. It mattered little that the 7-foot-4 big man from France scored 24 points and had 13 rebounds.

It mattered more that the Knicks held Wembanyama to eight points in the second half on the way to rallying from 29 points down, the largest comeback in finals history. Game 5 is Saturday night San Antonio.

“It’s going to go one of two ways,” Wembanyama said. “One of two ways, a bad one and a good one. The bad one would be giving up. The good one would be getting stronger through this, getting more together. I know this is what we’re going to do.”

Wembanyama enters Game 5 on the edge of possible discipline after being called for a flagrant foul early in the second half for a right elbow to Karl-Anthony Towns’ chin. Because of the NBA’s flagrant foul point system, he now has three and is one more away from an automatic one-game suspension.

“Of course I’m going to be a little more careful, but it’s not going to change much,” Wembanyama said.

An officiating decision in the aftermath of Game 3 going the other way would have put him in danger of already staring down a suspension. The NBA acknowledged officials missed Wembanyama striking Knicks guard Jalen Brunson in the head but did not retroactively make it a flagrant.

“The league’s going to do what they’re going to do,” New York coach Mike Brown said before Game 4. “They aren’t going to listen to me. They aren’t going to listen to nobody else.”

Wembanyama early in Game 4 looked to be getting under the skin of his opponents. After scoring on Mitchell Robinson and letting him hear about it while going back down the court late in the first quarter, he took a forearm to the face and appeared to say, “I’m in your head, bro,” while pointing to his right temple.

A similar play happened early in the second, when 6-foot guard Jose Alvarado jostled with Wembanyama before ultimately pushing the 7-4 big man’s right leg to get him to the ground.

Things changed after halftime. San Antonio had its biggest lead of the night at 81-52 when Wembanyama elbowed Towns, and the Knicks outscored the Spurs 55-25 the rest of the way.

Wembanyama played all but three minutes of the first half, which coach Mitch Johnson called normal. Johnson said Wembanyama, who ended up playing nearly 44 minutes, got a little more playing time to try to close it out.

“With two days after this, what was at stake, we wanted to win the game and try to put it away,” Johnson said.

Asked if that caused him to wear down as the game went on, Wembanyama responded: “Substitution patterns, I don’t know. It’s not really my expertise. But, yeah, I guess I did.”

___

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

The 44-year-old Williams' doubles partner, 19-year-old Canadian Victoria Mboko, was forced to withdraw from the draw on Thursday because of a knee injury she sustained in a singles match against Karolina Pliskova in the last 16 on Wednesday.

In her first professional match since the 2022 U.S. Open, Williams teamed up with Mboko to beat third-seeded duo Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Erin Routliffe 7-6 (2), 6-2 at the grass-court event on Tuesday. They were scheduled to face Leylah Fernandez and Laura Siegemund in the quarterfinals.

Williams is set to play doubles at the Berlin Open in Germany next week. Her partner has yet to be announced, though British newspaper The Times of London reported it was Karolina Muchova.

Williams won 23 Grand Slam singles titles — including seven at Wimbledon — before stepping away from the game, saying at the time she was “evolving” away from tennis rather than "retiring."

___

This story has been corrected to say Mboko was injured in the last 16 of the singles, not the last 32

___

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

The statewide ad buy, first shared with The Texas Tribune, comes in at more than $800,000, according to Talarico’s campaign, a sizable spend nearly five months out from Election Day. It is a sign of the Austin Democrat’s cash-flush campaign coffers and his focus on bringing Latino voters back to the fold, following recent election cycles when their swing to the right powered landslide wins for Texas Republicans.

The ad is set to air on Telemundo during every U.S. and Mexico group stage match of the tournament. It will first go up Thursday during Mexico’s match against South Africa, and continue during five other games over the next two weeks: U.S. vs. Paraguay on Friday, Mexico vs. South Korea on June 18, U.S. vs. Australia on June 19, Mexico vs. Czechia on June 24 and U.S. vs. Turkey on June 25. The World Cup will be hosted in Houston, along with 15 other cities across the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

“Since the beginning of this campaign, I’ve pledged to be a senator that represents all 31 million Texans, including the nearly 8 million Texans who speak Spanish,” Talarico said in a statement to the Tribune. “Building a movement to take power back for working people requires uniting together on one team to take power back for ourselves and our communities.”

Talarico is facing Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Republican nominee, in what will be a vastly expensive battle. Talarico’s ad buy, fueled by his record-breaking fundraising, is the first by either candidate in the general election.

In the 30-second ad, a narrator in Spanish emphasizes Talarico’s background as a teacher and public education advocate, his plans to defend Social Security and Medicare, and his push to raise taxes on billionaires.

“Talarico’s shown he has the grit and determination, but he’s still depending on your vote,” the narrator says in an English translation. “And just like that, we’ll all be yelling: ¡Talaricooooooooo!”

The spot is a continuation of Talarico’s efforts to shore up support from Latino voters, who helped power his Democratic primary win. Ahead of the March contest against U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, the Austin Democrat aired ads in Spanish, maintained a social media presence in Spanish and leaned on influential figures such as Carlos Eduardo Espina, a popular Latino content creator who promoted Talarico to his millions of TikTok followers.

Recent polling has shown Talarico and Paxton running essentially even. A public poll fielded by Texas A&M University, Siena Research Institute and ReconMR from June 1 to June 4 found Talarico winning Latino voters by 12 percentage points over Paxton. The Austin Democrat maintained a net positive 11-point favorability rating among Latinos, with a quarter unsure, while Paxton was 12 points underwater with 20 percent unsure.

Meanwhile, in surveys across the country, Latino voters have cooled on President Donald Trump over rising everyday costs and the administration’s high-octane deportation campaign. A scattering of special elections, including a Democratic upset in a North Texas state Senate district, also have measured a fizzling of Latino support for down-ballot GOP candidates.

Latino voters made up nearly one in four votes cast in Texas during the 2024 general election, according to estimates by VoteHub. Republicans, led by Trump at the top of the ticket, made significant gains with Latinos that cycle, especially in South Texas. Those voters are expected to play a significant swing role in this year’s midterm elections, when Democrats hope backlash to the Trump administration and broader political tailwinds can help power them to their first statewide victory in Texas since 1994.

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

The kingdom slapped a ban on Lebanese fruits and vegetables in 2021, saying they were being used to smuggle drugs. In one notable case, Saudi Arabia announced it had seized over 5 million pills of the amphetamine drug Captagon hidden in a shipment of pomegranates coming from Lebanon.

Months later, the wealthy Gulf country extended the ban to all Lebanese products after Lebanon's information minister at the time, George Kordahi, publicly criticized Saudi Arabia's war against Iran-backed rebels in Yemen.

At the root of the diplomatic crisis was Saudi Arabia's regional rivalry with Iran and its displeasure with the influence of the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon. The ban came at a time when Lebanon's economy was already reeling from a major financial crisis and the collapse of its currency.

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement Wednesday that the reversal of the ban at the order of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman came as a result of “positive steps taken by the Lebanese state.”

It did not specify what those steps were, but over the past year, the Lebanese government has announced plans to disarm all non-state groups, including Hezbollah. Before the outbreak of the latest Israel-Hezbollah war, the Lebanese army had made progress on implementing the plan in southern Lebanon.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in a statement thanked Prince Mohammed for the decision, which he said “will contribute tangibly to reviving the national economy and providing support to broad segments of Lebanese producers and exporters.”

The current government of Lebanon, which came to power last year with promises of reform, has sought to rebuild ties with the Gulf countries. Before the outbreak of the latest war, Lebanese officials were courting Gulf tourists to return to the country in hopes of reviving the economy, and some Gulf countries had lifted travel bans preventing their citizens from visiting Lebanon.

OG Anunoby tipped in the miss of Jalen Brunson’s long 3-point attempt with 1.2 seconds remaining to complete the rally, giving the Knicks a 3-1 lead and three chances to win the championship.

It looked impossible early, when the Spurs rolled to a 27-point halftime lead. But Brunson helped bring the Knicks back with 36 points and Anunoby finished with 33.

Game 5 is Saturday night in San Antonio.

No team had come from more than 24 points down in a finals game, when Boston did it against the Lakers in 2008, since the NBA began keeping detailed play-by-play for all four quarters in 1997. The Spurs pushed their lead to 81-52 in the third quarter.

___

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

The exchange came shortly after the U.S. launched a second round of airstrikes overnight Thursday. Bahrain is the headquarters of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.

The new assault across multiple Iranian cities came as efforts to negotiate an end the war appeared to have stalled, with Iran insisting it would maintain its grip on the Strait of Hormuz. Talks have also faltered because of Israel's attacks against the Iranian-allied Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon. On Monday, Iran and Israel targeted each other.

In a first exchange of missile fire from Iran and airstrikes by the U.S. on Wednesday, Iranian missiles were launched at missiles at Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan. Those came in the wake of American strikes in reprisal for the shooting down of a U.S. helicopter in the strait.

The U.S. Central Command said it completed its latest round of airstrikes just before the sun rose Thursday in Iran. It said the strikes targeted military surveillance, communications and air defense sites and were carried out by the U.S. Air Force, Marines and Navy. It did not elaborate on the damage done by the strikes.

Explosions from the strikes echoed around Iran’s capital, Tehran, as well as in the port city of Bandar Abbas and other southern areas along the strait.

Here's the latest:

Iran’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement Thursday saying the U.S. attacks had “effectively rendered the ceasefire ... meaningless,” without saying it was abandoning it.

Iran's says US attacks have rendered ceasefire meaningless

Iran’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement Thursday saying the U.S. attacks had “effectively rendered the ceasefire ... meaningless,” without saying it was abandoning it.

Pakistan expresses concern over tensions

Pakistan on Thursday expressed deep concern over rising tensions between the United States and Iran and urged both sides to adhere to a ceasefire understanding, saying Islamabad would continue efforts to promote dialogue and diplomacy.

“Pakistan reaffirms its support for the peaceful resolution of all outstanding issues,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Tahir Andrabi told a news briefing in Islamabad.

India says 3 Indian mariners killed on tanker hit by US military

An Indian official says three Indian mariners were killed on board a tanker targeted by the U.S. military over allegedly violating America’s blockade on Iran.

Indian Ports, Shipping and Waterways Minister Sarbananda Sonowal announced the three mariners’ killing on X in the attack on the Palau-flagged tanker Settebello.

“Sadly, three Indian seafarers initially reported missing are now confirmed dead after two bodies were recovered,” he wrote. It wasn’t clear where the third body was.

The U.S. military’s Central Command had accused the Settebello of having “violated the ongoing blockade by attempting to transport oil from Iran.” It fired into the ship’s engine room to stop it.

Kuwait closes its airspaces as it intercepts incoming fire

Kuwait says it has closed its airspace over ongoing Iranian attacks and said flights were being diverted to alternative airports, without elaborating.

Flights had been circling outside of Kuwait for some time before the announcement after it said its air defenses were firing.

Kuwait International Airport had taken a direct Iranian hit in recent days, which killed one person and wounded dozens.

Kuwaiti air defenses fire at incoming missiles, Bahrain sounds alerts

Kuwait's military said its air defenses were firing Thursday morning after Iran threatened retaliation for U.S. airstrikes overnight. Bahrain separately sounded its missile alert sirens in the island kingdom that hosts the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet headquarters.

After hearing the horrendous way it affects livestock, many were left asking: What about my fur baby?

The parasitic fly targets animals with wounds and lays its eggs in any openings, leaving the eggs to hatch into maggots and burrow into the animal to feed on living flesh. It is notorious for devastating the cattle and livestock industry and, so far, cases have been caught in young calves and a goat in South Texas. However, a dog from New Mexico that visited Andrews County in West Texas also has a confirmed case of the screwworm.

“It’s not a time to panic,” said Guy Loneragan, dean and professor for the Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine. “We have been preparing for this for almost 18 months or longer in many cases, and there is a plan to address it.”

Local, state and federal officials are working to track screwworm cases and containment efforts, including the release of sterile flies to mate with the screwworm so she will lay unfertilized eggs. Experts, including U.S. Agriculture Sec. Brooke Rollins, say the screwworm outbreak may continue for a few months at least.

Since the New World screwworm targets any warm-blooded mammal, including humans, pets are at risk of screwworm infestation.

Here are some things pet owners need to be aware of:

Can screwworms affect my cat or dog?

Short answer: yes. The screwworm can affect all warm-blooded animals and in different ways. For example, the screwworm tends to infect any open wound on an animal. For pet owners, this could be any regular, everyday wound, such as tick bites, small scrapes and cuts from being outside, or if their cat or dog gets into a fight with another animal.

It can also invade any openings on the body — the mouth, eyes, nose, even the reproductive areas. The screwworm will lay eggs on the edge of the wound or opening, which hatch quickly and become maggots. One female can lay 200-300 eggs at a time, and may lay up to 3,000 eggs during her 10- to 30-day lifespan.

“There are lots of areas that can become infested,” said Loneragan.

According to Texas A&M AgriLife, the maggots have sharp mouth hooks that can tear at the tissue of the animal it’s in. The wound becomes larger and deeper as more eggs hatch and larvae continue to feed on the animal. The infestation could be fatal for dogs and cats, depending on the location of the infestation and the severity, along with the timing of the diagnosis.

Loneragan said birds can also become infested, but it’s not very common.

“That’s beneficial to us because it means that migrating birds aren’t moving this around to the best of our knowledge,” Loneragan said.

What symptoms should I look for?

If an animal becomes infected, owners will know based on how the animal acts. The maggots feeding into their flesh causes discomfort and intense pain in some cases. There may be some discharge coming from the infected area that can help pet owners identify the infection.

“The animals will demonstrate they are uncomfortable or a wound is causing a lot of pain,” Loneragan said. “Discharge coming from the area is described as having a foul, putrid smell.”

Other signs include seeing animals bite or lick at their wounds, and unusual restlessness. In some cases, according to A&M AgriLife, the animal may become aggressive or lethargic from irritability.

When should I take my pet to see a veterinarian?

Pet owners who suspect a case in their cats or dogs should contact their local veterinarian and the Texas Animal Health Commission right away.

Loneragan said the Food and Drug Administration has made certain medicines available, including antiparasitic chewable tablets or topical solutions, to veterinarians to treat both dogs and cats. In the rare case that either a wild bird or a pet bird does get infected by the screwworm, there are FDA-approved antiseptic products to treat them too.

Is screwworm treatable?

Yes, as long as the infection is caught and treated early. Loneragan said that pet owners need to report any suspicions or concerns they have to their veterinarian. The veterinarian can come up with a treatment plan that best fits the animal, the type of wound they have, and where it is.

“Treatment generally will involve removing the larvae, then using a product that would kill any remaining larvae that is too small to see or can’t be seen,” Loneragan said.

Larvicides and insecticides are two products that help veterinarians treat the infections after the maggots are removed. Screwworm may seem scary, especially given its prominence in the media, but Loneragan said the parasite is treatable. Moreover, veterinarians have tools available to treat a wide variety of animals, he said.

“Ultimately, the sooner you can get to the veterinarian, there are excellent treatment options they can prescribe and implement,” Loneragan said.

How can I keep my pets safe?

The most vital thing pet owners can do during this screwworm outbreak is to be extra vigilant and check their animals every day. Owners should inspect their pets for any wounds or openings that could be vulnerable to the screwworm. Keep pets clean and make sure there aren’t any insects, flies or maggots laying on them.

Loneragan said this is also an important time to establish a good relationship with your local veterinarian, if you don’t have one already. Veterinarians will help diagnose and report cases, which will also help officials track where the screwworm is. Many of the treatments also have to be prescribed by a veterinarian.

Texas A&M AgriLife recommends that if a pet is near the U.S.-Mexico border, or traveling to or from Latin America, then that pet should be monitored more regularly. It’s also recommended to use flea, tick and mite medications as needed for parasite management.

There are some scenarios, such as the screwworm flying inside a home, that can only be avoided through fly control techniques.

“They’re a fly. They’re going to move around and can fly between spaces or in spaces,” Loneragan said. “Implement the usual fly control in the house you would normally do, whether it’s a fly swatter or whatever. At that stage, you would be going after all flies.”

Is it contagious?

The infection from a New World screwworm is not contagious like the common cold. Loneragan said just because one pet has it does not necessarily mean another in the house might get it.

However, owners should be extra vigilant if they have multiple pets. For example, a household with more than one dog might have a situation where the dogs fight and scratch each other.

“Now you’ve got two dogs that you really ought to pay close attention to while those wounds are healing,” Loneragan said.

What about stray animals and wildlife?

Stray animals are more susceptible to open wounds and are vulnerable because they live outside, so it’s important that caretakers of stray cats or dogs are also checking for signs of an infection. Similar to inside pets, stray animals will show pain or may have discharge around the wound. If any symptoms are found, Loneragan says to call the local animal control to report it.

“Those things ought to be brought to the attention of animal control very quickly,” Loneragan said. “They can work with the veterinarians they usually do to address it and can implement the same sort of treatment plans if appropriate.”

If you suspect a case of the screwworm in wildlife, don’t approach the animal any closer than 25 yards and report the sighting to the local Texas Parks and Wildlife Department or to the Texas Animal Health Commission. According to A&M AgriLife, commonly infested areas of wildlife include the head and neck, along with the umbilical region for newborn animals. Deer are also susceptible to infestation where their antlers shed from their skull or if their antlers are damaged while they grow.

Birthing season for wildlife can also put female animals and their young at risk for infection, causing high mortality for both. Screwworm also has the potential to severely reduce the population of large mammals, such as the white-tailed deer, mule deer and bighorn sheep.

The restart of No. 6 reactor at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Station earlier this year was meant to spur a movement to bring more nuclear reactors online. Kashiwazaki-Kariwa is one of three plants whose cooling pools will be full in five years, according to the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan.

“Without solid (fuel management) plans, our power generation will stall sooner or later,” Kashiwazaki-Kariwa General Manager Takeyuki Inagaki said.

After decades of seeking permanent storage for highly radioactive spent fuel, the government is considering Minamitorishima, a remote Pacific island south of Tokyo. But the selection has faced skepticism and criticism stemming from Japan's arbitrary actions on spent fuel and radioactive waste management.

Only 15 of Japan’s 54 reactors have restarted since the March 2011 Fukushima disaster, when a 9.0 earthquake off Japan’s northeastern coast and a subsequent tsunami caused meltdowns at three reactors operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, or TEPCO. About 160,000 people fled from Fukushima and some areas remain unlivable.

Kashiazaki-Kariwa, also run by TEPCO, was shut down after the Fukushima disaster as part of a nationwide nuclear power stoppage.

The spent fuel in a cooling pool at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa No. 6 reactor, which is 88% filled, can be seen from a top-floor observation area. TEPCO has installed filtered venting systems and devices to prevent hydrogen explosions among additional safety measures based on lessons from Fukushima.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is pushing to bring more nuclear plants online, resulting in more spent fuel. Without a viable permanent storage plan, there are worries that reactors will have to close when storage space runs out.

Fuel recycling plan has stalled

There are two options for dealing with spent nuclear fuel: direct disposal as waste or recycling to extract plutonium and uranium for reuse.

Japan insists on recycling, saying it will help the resource-poor nation's energy needs while reducing the toxicity and volume of radioactive waste. But a reactor designed for plutonium reuse, a key part of the recycling, has failed. Reprocessing also won’t be able to handle all the spent fuel, adding to a plutonium stockpile that already is large enough to arm thousands of atomic bombs.

Experts say Japan should also consider the direct disposal option.

As of December 2025, cooling pools at 17 Japanese nuclear power plants held more than 17,000 tons (15,422 metric tons) of spent fuel, using nearly 80% of total storage capacity, according to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

Beyond the large amount of radioactive waste from normal reactors, Japan also “has to deal with massive and largely unknown high-level nuclear waste from the Fukushima disaster,” said Lila Okamura, a Senshu University professor and expert on environmental politics and nuclear waste management.

Choosing a final disposal site for spent fuel and building a facility would require 100 years and tens of thousands of years to monitor the storage deep underground. For a generations-long project, Japan should plan carefully and not rush the current plan that is full of uncertainties, Okamura said.

A remote island is a possibility

Weeks after Kashiwazaki-Kariwa's No. 6 reactor came back online for the first time in 14 years since the Fukushima disaster, Industry Minister Ryosei Akazawa approached Ogasawara village to request a feasibility study for a high-level radioactive waste site on Minamitorishima, an island administered by Ogasawara, which is part of Tokyo.

“With a lot of spent fuel accumulating at nuclear power plants across the country, a final disposal of radioactive waste is a crucial challenge that must be resolved,” Akazawa said in a letter to Ogasawara Mayor Masaaki Shibuya.

The government-owned Minamitorishima, about 2,000 kilometers (1,242 miles) south of Tokyo, has no permanent residents. The Japanese army is constructing a firing range for long-range, surface-to-ship missiles as a deterrent to China. The island also has deep sea deposits rich with rare earth minerals.

“The move seems political,” said Satoshi Takano, a member of a government panel looking at final disposal of spent fuel. “There will be little opposition from a government-owned remote island.”

Some experts say the island, which sits on a geologically stable tectonic plate, could be suitable. Many residents on Ogasawara and two nearby islands raised concerns about safety and tourism.

“I was baffled when I heard about the plan,” Ogasawara assembly member Yusuke Hirano told an assembly meeting. “I think nuclear waste is incompatible with islands that are a UNESCO Natural World Heritage site.”

Struggling to find a final disposal site

Finding a community willing to host a highly radioactive dump site has been difficult, even with a raft of financial enticements. Minamitorishima is the fourth location to have a feasibility study since the government started looking in the early 2000s.

The whole review process will take about two decades. Municipalities participating in the first stage can receive up to 2 billion yen ($12.8 million) in government subsidies. The next stage would bring up to 7 billion yen ($44.7 million). Funding details for a final study haven't been disclosed.

The world’s first final disposal site for spent nuclear fuel is set to open in Finland later this year. Britain, Germany and the United States have abandoned reprocessing largely because of high costs and technical challenges, while several other countries are discussing plans for direct disposal sites.

Inagaki, the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa general manager, said TEPCO is transferring spent fuel from No. 6 reactor to other reactors at the plant with more space, but the utility hopes to resume shipments to a dry cask storage in northern Japan as a near-term solution. Other utilities with nearly full pools have announced plans to build dry-cask storage at their plants.

Many residents worry about Japan's growing stockpile because high-density storage of spent fuel could also increase overheating risks.

Mie Kuwabara, a civil activist in Niigata, wondered “where will it go next?”

“It's irresponsible to accelerate restarts and produce more spent fuel without deciding its final destination,” said Kuwabara, who also is skeptical about using Minamitorishima.

“It's like saying that it's OK to put a facility there because nobody is around to complain if there is a problem,” Kuwabara said. “It's scary.”

After years of a strained relationship between Greg Abbott and the Texas GOP, the governor has emerged as a key sponsor of the event. Dustin Burrows, after presiding over a wave of conservative wins in his first term leading the House, will be the first sitting speaker to address the convention. And party leaders are lining up behind Abraham George in his reelection bid to continue chairing the party.

It’s a stark change from the Texas GOP of years past. In just the last five years, one party chair resigned to primary Abbott, another endorsed against then-House Speaker Dade Phelan, convention attendees booed U.S. Sen. John Cornyn and as recently as last year, George entertained censuring GOP lawmakers who voted for Burrows.

With Attorney General Ken Paxton’s defeat of Cornyn in the primary runoff two weeks ago, party leaders hope to have allies in the governor’s mansion, atop the speaker’s dais and in Cornyn’s Senate seat next year, passing a new batch of conservative priorities approved by convention delegates this week.

That’s if Republicans can hold the line against Democrats in November. Paxton, Abbott, Burrows and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick are scheduled to address the convention Friday. The subtext of their united front, spelled out in warnings from Patrick and others in recent months, is that Republicans need to shelve lingering grudges and support the entire ticket.

One of the biggest lingering intraparty feuds dissolved last week when Secretary of State Jane Nelson, an Abbott appointee who opposed the Texas GOP goal of closing its primaries, leading the party to sue her in federal court, announced she is resigning her post in five weeks.

In a statement to The Texas Tribune, George noted that the governor, lieutenant governor and House speaker — the “Big Three” of state government — and many other elected officials and candidates are partnering with the conservative grassroots to put on the convention.

“Since becoming Chairman, one of my top priorities has been uniting every corner of the Republican Party of Texas to fight and win the 2026 midterms,” George said. “This convention has been a major step toward that goal.”

Yet, the undercurrents that brought the Texas GOP civil war to a boiling point in 2024 have carried through, albeit more quietly, among some of the party’s rank-and-file activists. The party rules, platform and legislative priorities adopted at the convention will set the tone for next year’s legislative session, helping determine whether the party will partner with GOP lawmakers on policy goals or reprise its heckler role on the fringes of Texas politics.

The Abbott and Burrows redemption arcs

The shift in the Texas GOP’s messaging comes after Abbott and the Burrows-led Texas House pried loose longtime party priorities that had gotten stuck in the lower chamber, sometimes for years on end after sailing session after session through the Patrick-led Senate.

For Abbott, it was the culmination of a multiyear arc dating back to his pandemic lockdown measures, which led to a fraying of his relations with the Texas GOP and his reputation among the hardcore activists who form the state party’s backbone. But after weathering attacks from the right in his 2022 primary, Abbott became a leading foil to President Joe Biden on immigration, revving up his Operation Lone Star border crackdown as the GOP base was fuming over a record spike in illegal immigration.

The governor also took ownership of a longtime conservative goal, private school vouchers, then launched a campaign to oust the House Republicans who thwarted it in 2023. By the end of the runoffs the following year, Abbott helped flip enough seats to secure the bill, which passed with all but two GOP members voting in favor.

The governor’s primary warpath won him extra goodwill among the grassroots by ushering in an insurgent freshman class that, beyond supporting vouchers, had run on shaking up the Capitol and steering the House rightward, setting the stage for stalled priorities — like restrictions on foreign land purchases — to reach Abbott’s desk.

Burrows’ relations with the state party started from an even deeper pit than Abbott’s. The Lubbock Republican won the speakership in January 2025 by banding with Democrats to defeat the House GOP caucus’ pick, carrying on a practice of courting the minority party dating back to former Speaker Joe Straus’ election in 2009. The GOP grassroots, after years of frustration with the San Antonio moderate and his lieutenants for stonewalling certain right-wing bills, feared more of the same from Burrows.

The abrupt path to redemption for Burrows and the House began when the chamber passed the voucher bill in late April 2025. Then the avalanche of GOP priorities followed.

Burrows’ rapprochement with the Texas GOP started coming into focus over the summer, while House Democrats camped out across the country to stall Republican-drawn congressional maps. In the meantime, the Texas GOP’s governing board met in the state Capitol to draft a report intended to outline Republican members’ transgressions against the party and its legislative priorities.

The morning of that meeting, Abbott brought the party leaders together with Burrows at the Governor’s Mansion, marking the two sides’ first meeting since Burrows took over the gavel. There, mere weeks after he had dismissed George as “not worth responding to,” the speaker discussed the conservative bills passed in the first half of the year and the state’s efforts to corral the absconding members.

“We have an open line with the speaker,” George told the Tribune after the meeting. “You don’t have to agree all the time. We probably are still going to have some disagreements. That’s part of the process.”

When the Democrats finally returned to Austin, the Legislature passed the congressional maps and capped off the year with a final batch of GOP wins: a bill to crack down on the manufacturing and distribution of abortion pills and legislation — once allegedly opposed by Abbott — restricting which restrooms transgender people can use in government buildings and schools.

The “bathroom bill,” as it was known, began its journey through the Legislature 10 years prior, once forming a major fissure between Texas Republican leaders before ending up as one of last year’s marquee wins for conservatives.

Despite this year’s unity push, some grassroots activists maintain it was the party’s threats to ban House Republicans from the 2026 primary ballot, should they run afoul of party principles, that pressured Burrows and the chamber into action.

Former Texas GOP Chair Matt Rinaldi, who oversaw the introduction of that mechanism, said it “definitely helped” move the needle. So, too, did the party structure that allows the grassroots to set the legislative priorities that lawmakers can be censured for defying.

“If the Republican Party is just a cheerleading society for elected officials in general elections, they’re not an institution of power, and that’s the case in virtually every other state,” Rinaldi said in an interview with The Texas Tribune. “But here in Texas, it is a center of power, and they have a seat at the table.”

Corporate dollars start to flow again

The Republican Party of Texas is the state’s affiliate of the national party, organized to elect Republican officials and enact conservative policies — the latter increasingly coming to the fore in the last 10 years. But some Republican lawmakers view the state party as a band of far-right activists who use the party label and institution to browbeat Republicans who don’t tout the party’s brand of conservatism.

When the last GOP convention rolled around in 2024, the party’s finances were in their worst shape since 2017, with party leaders having alienated traditional corporate donors through their activism, including then-Chair Rinaldi’s attacks on House leadership and his dismissal of calls for the party to distance itself from an influential GOP group, Defend Texas Liberty PAC, with ties to white supremacists. In those donors’ places, the party increasingly relied on contributions from Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks, the West Texas oil barons who funded Defend Texas Liberty and used it as their latest means of financing political opposition to more moderate House Republicans. Dunn-associated groups continue to be some of the party’s top donors, the Texas GOP’s latest campaign finance filings show.

With the 2026 convention coming to Houston, event finances threatened to again become a headache for the party.

Christin Bentley, a retiring member of the State Republican Executive Committee, emailed fellow members of the party governing board earlier this week alleging that the party was taking a $651,000 loss to run the convention. In a response on Wednesday morning, George said the deficit was currently closer to $100,000.

“When you factor in the registrations that will be paid over the next couple of days, that budget shortfall will not only be covered but we will turn a profit,” he wrote.

The George R. Brown Convention Center, the site of this week’s gathering, is one of the most expensive venues available to the party, located in the heart of downtown in a city that’s more than 600 miles away for some attendees. Adding to the potential costs for attendees is the convention’s timing, coming as global soccer fans arrive for the World Cup, with games beginning in Houston the day after the convention wraps.

Helping allay the financial burden on the party and attendees, Abbott’s campaign gave $150,000 to the state GOP in March, according to campaign finance reports, one of the party’s largest ever convention sponsorships by an elected official. In addition, Burrows gave $50,000, while Patrick gave $75,000. Other sponsoring electeds have kicked in as much as $50,000 each.

The Abbott campaign is also subsidizing tickets and lodging for some senior and young adult attendees, organizing cross-state buses and establishing an incentive program for county parties to fill their allotted delegate seats.

Abbott’s campaign declined to put a number on his overall contribution, but George told the conservative site Texas Scorecard in February that the governor was pitching in $2 million to fund or subsidize various convention programs. Abbott’s contributions, George told the party executive committee that same month, could help bring back corporate donors that hadn’t supported the convention in 10 to 12 years.

“Some of the major corporate sponsors are now thinking they can come back when they hear the governor is the top sponsor,” George said. “They like to be nice to the governor and I guess they want to be part of that.”

As of Wednesday, George said the party had raised $1.3 million through the convention, nearly offsetting the cost of running it and more than the $900,000 brought in at the last convention.

Campaign finance reports later this year will reveal the complete sponsorship picture, but current backers include the Associated Builders and Contractors, and American Energy Works, an advocacy group linked to energy executive and former state Rep. Jason Isaac.

Texans for Lawsuit Reform, a perennial convention presence and one-time GOP kingmaker, has stepped up as a top sponsor this year, its first time since at least 2018. The group’s rival, the Texas Trial Lawyers Association, and a new organization, Republicans Against Texans for Lawsuit Reform, are also sponsoring the event.

However, the party’s old top-dollar corporate sponsors don’t appear to be making a comeback, with none of the companies who dropped their support named on the convention’s public list of backers.

Sponsors at the 2018 convention, the last held in person before Rinaldi took over as chair, included Verizon, Anheuser-Busch, the United States Postal Service, Saulsbury and CenterPoint Energy. The Houston utility provider was one of the few corporate sponsors to remain through Rinaldi’s tenure and is among the sponsors again this year.

Rinaldi said the decline of corporate sponsors began at the 2020 convention, a trend he attributed to companies’ broader retreat from political activity during President Donald Trump’s first term. Notably, sponsors for that year’s event, before it moved online, included Comcast, Fenoglio Boot Co., Anheuser-Busch, Charter Communications, the Texas Medical Association, Chevron and other energy companies.

George told the Tribune that, for the first time in years, the party has sold out its convention exhibit hall, where sponsors, conservative media and activists pitch their missions to attendees.

Abbott’s convention sponsorship helps bolster his relationship with the party, but the programs to maximize attendance are also an opportunity to convert attendees into committed party organizers — future blockwalkers, phone bankers and campaign volunteers supporting the Republican ticket in November and beyond.

Additionally, the convention dovetails with Abbott’s pledge to spend millions bringing Harris County back under Republican control this fall.

In bolstering the party, Abbott is raising it up as a partner to combat the political headwinds of the 2026 election, when Democrats hope their Senate nominee, Austin state Rep. James Talarico, can harness the favorable climate to defeat Paxton. Even a close loss at the top of the ticket could help Democrats narrow Republicans’ margin in the state House and limit GOP redistricting gains in Texas — an outcome that could decide the balance of power in Congress.

Abbott campaign spokesperson Eduardo Leal said in a statement that the governor was “proud to support this year’s convention and looks forward to joining Texas Republicans as we work together to defeat the radical left from gaining a foothold.”

“Unity drives victory, and Republicans across Texas are united on delivering results for Texans and keeping Texas the strongest conservative state in America,” Leal said. “Party activists play a critical role in turning out voters, and their grassroots efforts will be essential to success this fall.”

Setting the tone

Mere weeks ago, Texas Republicans were locked in a bitter primary battle between Cornyn and Paxton, with Paxton calling the incumbent a Republican-in-name-only career politician and Cornyn labeling his challenger corrupt and a threat to the party’s success.

Since Paxton’s landslide win, party leaders from Abbott on down have eagerly moved to put the bad blood behind them. Patrick has nominally endorsed the GOP railroad commissioner nominee, Bo French, who the lieutenant governor once called on to resign as Tarrant County GOP chair. And Abbott has broken bread with comptroller nominee Don Huffines, who tried to primary the governor in 2022.

Two years ago, the Republican Party was more focused on beating each other.

The 2024 convention took place the week of early voting in the primary runoffs, days before party activists hoped to oust Phelan from the speakership. In his address to the gathering, Paxton celebrated his political survival after his impeachment by the Phelan-led House and proclaimed the son of Beaumont would “lose not only the speakership but also his House seat.”

Although Phelan would survive his runoff by 389 votes, six of his allies lost their runoffs, and by December, Phelan scrapped his bid to retain the House gavel.

During the convention, delegates approved an overhaul of the party’s censure process, creating the means to ban incumbents from the next primary ballot if they ran afoul of party principles. Last year, the Texas GOP’s governing board censured five House Republicans using the new rule, but, in a tacit reflection of the chamber’s rightward turn, stopped short of trying to bar them from the ballot.

With Burrows at the helm, the lower chamber passed more than 40 bills from the state party’s list of legislative priorities, more than the Legislature had passed in any of the years since it began compiling the running shortlist.

George, as chair of the party, has warmed up to Burrows, guiding the party through the transformative period. Their relationship began with the party running ads in Burrows’ district opposing his election as speaker. But by last October, the first-term GOP chair was trying to balance the relationship between the House, the White House and members of the State Republican Executive Committee.

During deliberations leading up to the censure votes, George warned the governing board that the Trump administration was watching their livestream and that White House officials had “strongly expressed” their opinion on censuring and potentially blocking candidates from the primary ballot. Near the end of the meeting, George briefly cleared the room for Trump political director Matt Brasseaux to speak privately with the executive committee, where he told them the administration did not support gatekeeping ballot access, according to sources in the room.

Since the end of the session, George has been laudatory of Burrows for passing conservative priorities but acknowledged that tension remains. The announcement that Burrows would speak in Houston and sponsor Friday’s “Lonestar Liberty Grassroots Club Breakfast” drew mixed reactions, with activists still faulting him for partnering with Democrats to win the gavel.

George, who hopes to be reelected for a second term during the convention, faces a challenge from his current vice chair and former running mate, D’rinda Randall. And it is George’s cordial relations with elected leaders that, in part, are animating Randall’s supporters, who charge that the incumbent chair has been too welcoming to establishment Republicans.

Randall’s running mate is David Covey — the candidate who nearly defeated Phelan in the former speaker’s 2024 primary runoff.

Despite his mixed reputation among the party rank and file, Burrows, a former convention delegate and precinct chair, has publicly conveyed his respect for the role played by the state GOP and its local chapters. In a statement to the Tribune, Burrows campaign spokesperson Kim Carmichael said the speaker “will deliver a message of working together to help all Republicans win in the November election.”

“These conventions are where it all starts: grassroots conservatives coming together to shape our platform and chart the path forward,” Burrows posted on social media after speaking at the Lubbock County GOP Convention in March. “If we want to keep Texas red, we can’t take anything for granted. Now more than ever, we must stay united, focused, and ready to fight for the values that make our families, our economy, and our state strong.”

But even as Abbott and Burrows make overtures to the party through the convention, some delegates are intent on ensuring elected Republicans continue to toe the party line.

On Monday, convention delegates submitted numerous proposals to expand the ballot banning process, including extending the scope of “censurable offenses” beyond two years and turning the two-year ban into one that would apply for life. Despite lingering discontent from those who unsuccessfully tried to bar members from the 2026 ballot, one by one, the panel tasked with reviewing the party rules batted down nearly every tweak to the measure, including efforts to beef up the punishments.

In testimony the morning after the panel rejected those proposals, outgoing SREC member Paul Hale remained set on holding Republicans accountable for ceding power to Democrats early in the 2025 legislative session.

“Some people need to answer for it. There needs to be accountability,” Hale said. “What would these people have to do — how far would they have to go to rouse you enough to want to hold them accountable?”

Disclosure: Anheuser-Busch, CenterPoint Energy, Comcast, Texans for Lawsuit Reform, Texas Medical Association and Texas Trial Lawyers Association have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

A heat wave may be the most obvious health threat. But infectious diseases can spread in a crowd, and experts are set to scrutinize wastewater, hospital visits, even social media for any signs that an outbreak might be brewing.

Measles, one of the most contagious diseases, is among the top concerns, sparking a warning this week from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO. With a nearly six-week stretch of packed stadiums, bars and tourist sites in 16 cities, officials are on the lookout for a long list of infections, from the stomach bug norovirus to mosquito-borne dengue fever.

“This is truly a marathon,” said Palak Raval-Nelson, Philadelphia's health commissioner.

The mass gatherings come at a tense moment for budget-strapped health agencies in the U.S. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, hit hard by Trump administration staffing cuts, already was grappling with a growing Ebola outbreak in central Africa and a cruise ship hantavirus outbreak. While CDC officials have advised state and local health departments behind the scenes, its expected World Cup disease surveillance dashboard still was “in final development” days before games began, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

“Our public health professionals are pretty stretched,” said global health specialist Rebecca Katz of Georgetown University, who is leading an unusual new hub to help.

At the Health Security Operations Center, a joint effort between Georgetown and MedStar Health, workers are analyzing data from around the country so they can alert health authorities, even emergency rooms, to any early signs of trouble. The center is issuing daily “situation reports” about disease trends around World Cup host cities and team base camps to several hundred local and federal public health groups, emergency management and hospital officials and others who’ve signed up.

“It's important that we don't become alarmist,” said MedStar emergency medicine specialist Dr. Shane Kappler. “We're trying to be the insurance policy.”

Measles is a top concern for potential World Cup spread

Already more than 2,000 people in the U.S. have come down with measles this year, nearly as many as during all of last year, according to the CDC. Patients can spread measles before the rash appears and they realize they're sick. Not too long ago, the U.S. seldom saw measles except from international travel by unvaccinated people.

Now with frequent U.S. outbreaks, "actually a lot of our international partners are worried about measles being exported to them after the games,” said Georgetown’s Katz.

Measles is spreading in Canada, too, and has exceeded 11,000 cases in Mexico, according to PAHO. It’s urging soccer fans to be sure they’re vaccinated, with a health campaign saying a single measles patient can spread the virus to up to 18 unprotected people.

Is Ebola a concern at the World Cup?

Brown University’s Dr. Craig Spencer, who survived Ebola while working in the West Africa outbreak over a decade ago, said he’s repeatedly asked about the risk of Ebola during the World Cup — but “for me, Ebola is not the No. 1 or No. 2 or even No. 3 threat.”

“I am concerned about importation of measles, I am much more concerned about the importation of other infectious threats that may not seem as scary to us as Ebola,” Spencer said.

Many health experts agree that the risk of Ebola spreading in the U.S. is very low. That’s partly because of government travel screenings and restrictions on people recently in outbreak-affected areas. Moreover, Ebola spreads by contact with bodily fluids from someone showing symptoms, not through the air like measles or respiratory viruses.

“One fortunate thing about this virus is you’re most contagious when you’re really quite ill. It’s not like COVID, where you could be sitting next to someone who doesn’t even know they’re infected and perhaps contract the virus,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, director of Brown’s Pandemic Center.

How to spot brewing diseases

There’s precedent for germs invading major sporting events. Canadian scientists linked a community measles outbreak to the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, and clusters of norovirus had to be contained during the Olympics this year in Milan and in 2018 in South Korea.

One way to detect signs of trouble: People with certain viral or bacterial infections shed genetic material that sophisticated testing of wastewater can spot. For example, measles can appear in wastewater days before an emergency room sees its first patients.

This week's surveillance reports from Katz's center note that wastewater testing recently found diarrhea-causing rotavirus, hepatitis A and norovirus in some parts of the U.S., something to watch as soccer crowds arrive.

In Dallas, officials ramped up wastewater screening including at the international airport, casting a wide net rather than looking for specific illnesses, said Dr. Phil Huang, director of Dallas County Health and Human Services.

His team also is enhancing the usual mosquito testing, checking not just for West Nile virus that regularly spreads in the U.S. but for viruses more common in other countries like dengue and chikungunya.

Public health officials have been preparing for months, said Philadelphia’s Raval-Nelson, including with mock emergency drills and communications with counterparts around the country.

“I don’t want to send a message that there’s one key thing," she said. “We have the frameworks in place to carry out what we need to.”

___

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.

Mexicans milling through the busy Hidalgo metro station pointed and laughed, occasionally snapping pictures of the face-lift that has become the subject of a cascade of internet memes.

The cosmetic makeover that authorities have attempted to give the capital as visitors arrive from around the globe also has become a symbol of criticisms that the government is prioritizing its superficial appearance for World Cup fans over fixing critical structural issues that have long plagued the city.

“People make fun of it because it's a failed aesthetic, it doesn't make a lot of sense,” said Silvia Escamilla, 28, who was hustling to work among a crowd of Mexican commuters. “All these renovations are like putting makeup on the city, because the infrastructure they could actually invest in just isn’t there.”

Decorations cover the problems

For weeks, Mexico City workers have plastered walls and metro cars with cartoon axolotls, the mole salamander that has become a city mascot. They also have painted bridges purple and planted Mexican marigold flowers typical of Day of the Dead celebrations in November.

The 22 million residents of the sprawling capital, known as Chilangos, have jokingly referred to the renovations as the city's “axolotlization.” They have posted videos of flooded underpasses next to freshly painted murals of axolotls and crumbling stairs and potholes painted bright purple.

Hidalgo station, in the heart of the downtown, has perhaps become the subject of more memes than anywhere else in the city.

When city workers installed the chandelier near the metro entrance and rows of Victorian wall lamps in May, social media users were quick to joke that authorities were trying to make the gritty metro system look like it was in a European city.

Social media creators mock the changes

Residents began to show up at the station in elegant dresses in videos layered over Mozart music. One social media influencer descended the marble stairs dressed as the Beast from the classic Disney cartoon “Beauty and the Beast.” Another arrived as Napoleon Bonaparte in a white wig and French military uniform.

“May you have an elegant metro connection,” one social media influencer said as he strolled through throngs of commuters dressed in a tuxedo and top hat. Another filmed herself selling pink dresses aboard one of the metro trains, yelling to passengers that the items matched the “etiquette” of Metro Hidalgo.

Many more posed next to marble floors and walls torn up by construction ahead of the soccer tournament being hosted by Mexico, the United States and Canada.

The humor highlights larger issues

The crush of jokes amused Mexicans for weeks, but also cut to the core of a deeper problem in the city, said Aldo Solano Rojas, an art historian in Mexico City who has criticized the remodel.

Failures to prioritize issues like the metro's crumbling infrastructure and holes in the major municipal roadways show the government “doesn't understand the real needs of the city,” he said.

“State presence, at its best, is reflected in well-maintained sidewalks and adequate transportation infrastructure that doesn't collapse every day,” Solano Rojas said. “It's not reflected in frivolous, superficial axolotl murals while the streets are flooding.”

The criticisms come in the midst of wider social unrest in Mexico City as the country's teachers union, families of Mexico's 130,000 missing people and a range of other social movements use the proximity to the event to pressure authorities.

The government also has faced accusations of displacing sex workers and street vendors in an effort to clean up the streets. Despite the tensions, city workers on Wednesday were still racing to complete construction ahead of the opening ceremony and first match.

Mirna Baranco looked fondly on the renovations, but the 46-year-old laughed at the chandelier over Hidalgo construction workers. She nudged her boyfriend and pointed.

“I've already seen it all over the place on Facebook, but not in real life,” she said.

Baranco understood the criticisms, but said she didn't think it was necessarily a bad thing that authorities were making changes to be more attractive to international visitors. The World Cup has helped push local governments to make needed renovations, even if some look a little out of place, she said.

The changes show that “Mexico isn't just how others stereotype us, as a country with narcos,” Baranco said. “Mexico has a lot to give the world.”

The 7.8 magnitude offshore quake, one of the strongest to hit the Philippine archipelago in a half century, struck Monday off the southern province of Sarangani and has left at least 47 people dead and injured 688 with 31 still missing.

More than 45,000 people remained displaced, about half in emergency shelters, after the quake damaged more than 12,600 houses in farming towns and cities. Many were still too traumatized to return home due to aftershocks, provincial officials said.

Sarangani reported 20 dead from the quake, the highest toll from the affected provinces, mostly due to a landslide that buried houses in the coastal town of Glan, according to the government's Office of Civil Defense, which deals with major disasters.

Glan Mayor Victor James Yap said power has not been restored to his province and 10 of 31 villages in his town of more than 100,000 people remained inaccessible mostly due to landslides. He asked the government to immediately deploy air force helicopters to deliver food and other aid to the stricken areas.

“We need food and water but it’s difficult to transport them to some of our villages which remain isolated,” Yap told DZMM radio network. “Choppers are needed to transport food because people there are already very hungry.”

A key access road to the town has been reopened and will allow the delivery of fuel as early as Thursday, but the town remained without power and cellphone services were still spotty, according to Yap.

The Office of Civil Defense said more than 26 million pesos ($426,000) worth of food packs, cash and other aid have been provided so far and 180 government and military planes, helicopters, ships and trucks have been deployed to respond to the disaster.

About 3,400 government and military personnel were involved in search efforts for the missing, debris-clearing in roads, damage assessment and other disaster-mitigation work, it said.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Wednesday visited the hard-hit city of General Santos city, where he inspected damaged hospitals and schools and discussed recovery efforts. He ordered the release of 100 million pesos ($1.6 million) for the repair of the partly collapsed city hall and 50,000 pesos ($820) for the families of each of the victims who died in the quake.

Most of the deaths from the quake were caused by falling debris from collapsed buildings and landslides in Sarangani, the coastal city of General Santos, and the outlying provinces of South Cotabato and Davao Occidental.

Two swimmers drowned and one remained missing off General Santos after being swept out to sea shortly after the quake hit. Waves of up to 1.4 meters (4.6 feet) above tide level were measured in the country’s south and smaller waves washed ashore in Indonesia and Palau and as far away as southern Japan.

The earthquake was one of the strongest to hit the country since an 8.1 magnitude quake and tsunami on Aug. 17, 1976, that killed about 8,000 people.

The Philippines is often hit by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of seismic faults around the ocean.

___

Associated Press journalist Jim Gomez contributed to this report from Manila, Philippines.

Demonstrators wearing masks tore bricks from the walls outside homes and smashed sidewalks with sledgehammers to toss at riot police. In one place, the unruly crowd used sections of a dismantled picket fence to take cover on the street.

The clashes with police came several hours after a 30-year-old man from Sudan appeared in a Belfast court charged with attempted murder in a stabbing attack that left a man seriously injured and triggered anti-immigrant violence.

Hadi Alodid, 30, was ordered held in jail after appearing by video in Belfast Magistrates’ Court, where a detective said he blinded Stephen Ogilvie in the left eye during the knife attack. He was also charged with possessing a knife and threatening to kill a radiographer while being treated for a hand injury after the assault.

When police arrived at the crime scene, they found Alodid on the man, armed with a kitchen knife, the detective said. Alodid later told hospital staff: “I’ve killed someone, I don’t know if they are dead,” and said, “I will kill you."

He refused legal representation through an Arabic interpreter and did not enter a plea.

Police were prepared for more violence after masked men on Tuesday set fire to several homes they believed to house immigrants, burned trash bins, torched a Belfast bus and pelted police with objects.

Firefighters rescued several people from burning houses and more than two dozen people were left homeless.

Anselme Shima, a Belfast resident originally from Congo, said he saw smoke from burning vehicles near his home.

“I’ve lived on my street for almost 10 years, I have a good relationship with my neighbors, but last night was a horrific one,” he said. “We don’t know what to do. I’m scared. Seeing this, I’m wondering if I’m next.”

Families, one with a baby, were rescued and taken to police stations for safety, Police Service of Northern Ireland Chief Constable Jon Boutcher said.

“These weren’t just families from ethnic minority communities, these were families from across communities that were caught up in this vile behavior last night," Boutcher told the BBC. “There is absolutely no excuse for it.”

Boutcher said 200 more officers would be on the streets Wednesday and the PSNI was calling in support from other forces. Bus and train operators in Belfast said they would stop services early because of expected protests.

Ogilvie’s family appealed for an end to the violence and said migrants “make a deeply valuable contribution to our country.”

“We do not want this terrible tragedy to be used to divide people or fuel hostility,” the family said in a statement.

Politicians from both parts of Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government condemned the violence. First Minister Michelle O’Neill of Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein said it was “thuggery.”

“Groups of masked men burning families out of their homes is nothing less than disgusting cowardice,” she said.

Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly, of the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party, said that “taking frustration at the evil actions of a person out on those who had no part in it is utterly wrong.”

The attack was caught on video

Monday’s attack, caught in video footage that quickly spread on social media, was seized on by anti-immigration activists. Ogilvie, a man in his 40s, was hospitalized with deep cuts to his head, face and back.

Police said Alodid entered Northern Ireland from the neighboring Republic of Ireland in 2023, applied for asylum and was given a five-year permit to remain.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland said there is no information to suggest the attack was terrorism-related.

Protests were encouraged online by far-right activists, and the street violence erupted despite politicians' calls for calm.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the stabbing attack as “sickening,” but said violence against people based on their background would not be tolerated.

“The scenes in Belfast last night were shocking and completely unacceptable," Starmer said on X. “There is no justification for the violence and disorder that we saw threatening our communities, nor for those who encouraged it, online or elsewhere.”

Northern Ireland Justice Minister Naomi Long said social media agitators who “yesterday would have struggled to find Belfast on a map” were “weaponizing” the fears of local people.

“If you’re driving people from their homes based on nothing but the color of their skin, you can’t dress that up any other way, it’s racism, and those bad faith actors need to take a step back,” she told the BBC.

Some raise questions about the Irish border

Some politicians said the stabbing should spark a review of the open border between Northern Ireland, which is part of the U.K., and the Republic of Ireland.

The border is a highly sensitive issue. Allowing the free flow of people is a major pillar of the peace process that largely ended decades of violence known as “The Troubles.” The conflict involving Irish Republican and British Loyalist militants and U.K. security forces left almost 3,600 people dead before a 1998 peace accord.

Much of Tuesday’s violence took place in working-class areas where former paramilitary groups still hold considerable sway over the streets.

Last week a separate case of a university student who was stabbed to death in Southampton, England, in December was seized on by activists and U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who blamed immigration for the violence, an idea rejected by Starmer and other British politicians.

Henry Nowak, who was white, was killed by Vickrum Digwa, a Sikh who falsely claimed to police that he was the victim of a racist assault by Nowak. When police officers arrived, they initially treated the wounded Nowak as a suspect before noticing his injury and trying to resuscitate him.

Digwa was convicted of murder and sentenced last week to life in prison with a minimum 21-year term. A protest over Nowak’s death turned violent, with some attacking police with chairs and rocks. Several people were charged with violent disorder.

___

Lawless reported from London. Brian Melley contributed to this story.

Leo called Gaudí’s unfinished temple, one of the world’s most visited monuments, a “sign of unity and harmony for all of Spain,” an ongoing building project like the lifelong journey all Christians make to find God.

“We are all the living stones of this edifice,” Leo said from the altar of the basilica, with Spanish King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia sitting to his side and a hundreds-strong choir filling the basilica with song.

The service was the highlight of Leo’s weeklong visit to Spain, the first by a pope in 15 years to the once-staunchly Catholic European country that, like many others, has experienced secularizing trends.

The trip, though, has underscored how the country of 50 million people, which experienced a religious crisis after its 20th century dictatorship ended, still has plenty of faithful Catholics who have turned out in droves to welcome the American pope.

An estimated 120,000 people lined the streets around Sagrada Familia for the event, with streets closed to traffic and a heavy police presence, given the attendance of the royal couple and Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. The crowds remained after Mass to watch as Leo inaugurated the basilica's final Tower of Jesus Christ that has made it the world's tallest church.

Speaking in Catalan and Spanish, Leo blessed the tower and its illuminated ceramic cross from outside the basilica, surrounded by bishops craning their mitre-capped heads to look up. An angelic boy's choir sang as a spectacular light show lit up the basilica's stained glass windows from the inside and fireworks shot off its facade.

Honoring Catalonia's Christian traditions

Earlier Wednesday, Leo celebrated a more ancient sacred monument, traveling to Montserrat, a mountain complex outside the city that is dear to many Catalans. The complex, which includes an 11th-century Benedictine abbey and a 16th-century basilica, is revered for its Black Madonna statue and is home to a boy's choir that has existed since the 13th century and is Europe's oldest.

Thousands of faithful arrived early at the monastery, with groups of nuns and schoolchildren singing and waving signs and photographs of the pope outside the basilica. Bells rang out over the spire-like rock formations that top Montserrat and the valley below as Leo arrived in a golf cart.

In recent years, the Montserrat abbey has faced numerous accusations from survivors of clergy sexual abuse and was included in the Spanish ombudsman’s 800-page report on the crisis in 2023. The report found 15 victims and three alleged perpetrators linked to the abbey.

“It’s very painful because there are members of the church who committed errors,” said the Rev. Cesario Escarda, a Toledo priest, as he waited for Leo at the abbey. “What the pope wants to do is shine a light on the truth and ask forgiveness and bring in the victims and listen to them and accompany them.”

The Bible carved in stone

The highlight of Leo’s visit, though, was his Mass at Sagrada Familia to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the death of its famed Catalan designer, Gaudí, who died at age 73, three days after he was hit by a tram.

A century after construction began during the pontificate of Leo’s namesake, Pope Leo XIII, the basilica has become one of the world’s most visited but unfinished monuments, annually drawing upward of 5 million visitors a year.

Commemorating Gaudí's death, Leo said he wanted to give thanks to all the supporters, artists and workers who “cooperated in the construction of an architectural masterpiece, which is also an eloquent catechesis made of stones, colors and light.”

Gaudí, who is on the path to possible sainthood, spent four decades designing and building the temple as the summary of the Christian faith carved in stone. The most important stories of Jesus’ life, the Nativity and Passion, are etched into the basilica’s east and west facades. A third facade facing south, the Glory, will serve as the basilica’s main entrance when finished.

The temple is an architectural and geometrical masterpiece inside and out, an art nouveau celebration in form and symbol of Christianity and God’s creation through stone and light.

“Much more than a monument, the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia remains a work in progress today, reminding us that the Christian life is always a journey, because it is a project that God is carrying out,” Leo said in his homily.

A total of 18 sandcastle spires rise up from the top and pierce Barcelona’s skyline: 12 to symbolize Christ’s 12 apostles, four for each of the four Evangelists who recorded Christ’s life in the Gospels, one topped with a star over the apse honoring the Virgin Mary and, tallest among them, the Tower of Jesus Christ.

When the final Christ tower was finished at a height of 172½ meters (564 feet) last year, it made Sagrada Familia the world’s tallest church. Construction is expected to be fully complete within a decade.

“The entire structure of the Sagrada Familia is striking,” said Laura Rincón, who was on hand outside along with two friends for the Mass, after she finished work in a nearby shop. She said that she was sure the pope would be impressed by the church she marvels at every time she passes by.

“If you look at it just for its architecture, it is amazing,” she said. “Inside, its columns make you feel like you are inside a forest.”

An interior that looks like a forest

The cross-shaped interior, with the altar at the apse, is an homage to light and nature. Treelike columns soar to the sky, colored by constantly changing light filtered through stained glass windows like the sun poking through leaves in a forest.

“Nature is my teacher,” Gaudí once said. “Everything comes from the great book of nature, always open that we must read.”

The colors of the window glass have meaning: The blues and greens of the eastern portal windows, where the facade depicts Christ’s birth, look more joyful and are most brilliant when the sun rises and light passes through. The coarser shades of red and orange, illuminated by the setting sun on the western portals, color the side of the basilica that depicts Christ’s Passion. Behind the altar and above the cross are yellows and gold that glimmer in the noonday sun.

Historian Mònica Santín, who leads tours of the basilica, said that in designing Sagrada Familia, Gaudí was guided by two books: the Gospels and nature.

“The way he lets in the natural light is also an invitation to the Christian mystery,” she said, citing the three facades depicting Christ’s birth, death and glory.

“And when you enter inside, it is all light,” Santín said. “What is that the symbol of? We can’t see God, but we perceive his light all around us. I think that is how you can read this message, and it is fascinating.”

___

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

The long road back to the top of the NBA is almost complete for the New York Knicks, and the step they took Wednesday night was unforgettable.

The Knicks came from 29 points down and moved to the brink of their first championship since 1973 by beating the San Antonio Spurs 107-106 in Game 4 of the finals on OG Anunoby's tip-in with 1.2 seconds remaining.

“That has to be the most iconic shot in the history of New York basketball,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said.

It's certainly high on the list — as high as Anunoby leaped when Jalen Brunson's long 3-point shot bounced off the front of the rim, with his right hand stretching high to softly flick it in.

“Right hand from God,” Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns said.

The Knicks, who have just two titles in their 80-year history and hadn't even been to the NBA Finals since 1999, have a 3-1 lead and three chances to win the best-of-seven series — starting with Game 5 on Saturday night in San Antonio.

It looked impossible early, when the Spurs rolled to a 27-point halftime lead. But Brunson helped bring the Knicks back with 36 points and Anunoby finished with 33.

The Knicks weathered a playoff storm

No team had come from more than 24 points down in a finals game, when Boston did it against the Lakers in 2008, since the NBA began keeping detailed play-by-play for all four quarters in 1997. The Spurs led 81-52 in the third quarter.

“We’re a resilient group. We’ve been through a lot,” Anunoby said. “We’ve come back plenty of times when we’re behind. Just staying with it, weathering the storm, not being too down or angry or frustrated.”

The only bigger comeback on record in any playoff game was 31 points by the Los Angeles Clippers against Golden State in Game 2 of a first-round series in 2019.

“You look at it when you’re down 29 of, ‘OK, let’s get it to 20.’ There’s three minutes left in the third quarter, we’re down 18, you’re thinking, 'Let’s get it to 10,” forward Josh Hart said.

“In the fourth quarter, you’re like, this is winning time. Anything can happen.”

And it did.

The Spurs started out awesome but then were awful

The Knicks had their 13-game winning streak snapped in Game 3 and seemed headed for a second straight defeat throughout the first half, when Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs opened the biggest halftime lead by a visiting team in the finals.

But the young Spurs, who made 11 of their first 16 3-pointers, went cold in the second half, going 3 for 17 behind the arc as the Knicks outscored them 58-30.

“We got on our heels — we missed some shots,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “It’s disappointing, to say the least.”

Delirious fans inside Madison Square Garden sang along to Journey's “Don’t Stop Believin’” a few minutes after watching something that seemed almost impossible.

Wembanyama had 24 points and 13 rebounds but shot just 9 for 25 from the field.

Road teams had won the first three games, only the second time that had happened in the finals. San Antonio was well on its way to making it 4 for 4.

Knicks scrap watch party and fans have nothing to cheer early

President Donald Trump wasn’t at this game — Taylor Swift was — but the same restrictions remained around Madison Square Garden as when he attended Game 3. That angered the Knicks, who decided not to go forward with plans to hold an outdoor watch party outside the arena.

Inside the building in the first half, there wasn’t much for the hosts to be happy about, either.

But the Knicks gave themselves a chance by limiting the Spurs to 14 points on 4-for-20 shooting in the third quarter, using a 13-0 run to get back in it and cutting it to 90-75 heading to the fourth.

These Knicks, who erased a 22-point deficit in the fourth quarter against Cleveland in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, just don’t quit. Even when the comeback seemed for naught when Stephon Castle was fouled after the Knicks had taken the lead and made two free throws to put San Antonio back ahead with 30 seconds left, the Knicks had one more rally in them.

Dylan Harper scored 21 points and De'Aaron Fox and Devin Vassell each had 18 for the Spurs, who will try to regroup and send the series back to New York for Game 6 next Tuesday. Only one team — Cleveland in 2016 — has recovered from a 3-1 deficit in the finals.

“I think it began before (the fourth quarter),” Wembanyama said of the Spurs' collapse. “I can’t really explain it right now. I don’t know. ... We clearly weren’t the most hungry in the second half.”

Fans booed Wembanyama when he came on to the floor to warm up about an hour before the game and the Knicks tried to get rough with him, with Mitchell Robinson called for a flagrant foul for hitting him above the shoulders and Jose Alvarado reviewed for one after going below the belt.

Wembanyama — who was also called for a flagrant — stood up OK against the Knicks but will regret the two free throws he missed with 1:47 left and San Antonio leading 104-103.

The Spurs broke to a 12-2 lead, giving them a double-digit advantage in the first quarter of all four games. They kept pouring it on and led 41-22 after one, then extended it to 57-32 when Julian Champagnie’s 3-pointer made them 11 for 16 behind the arc.

___

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

And make no mistake: Those 4 1/2 seconds will never be forgotten by the Knicks. Or by the San Antonio Spurs.

The situation: Game 4 of the NBA Finals, Knicks down by one in a game where they trailed by as many as 29 points. They call timeout with 5.7 seconds left, just as Jose Alvarado nearly committed a backcourt violation that would have cost the Knicks the basketball.

Here's how it happened.

5.7 seconds left ... the play begins

The timeout comes and New York's Josh Hart is distraught. He blamed himself for missing an assignment at the other end, which allowed San Antonio’s Stephon Castle to hit two free throws that put his team up 106-105.

“I’m sitting there just hoping my guys make a play,” Hart said.

OG Anunoby inbounds the ball for the Knicks. The Spurs elect to not have a defender impede his vision, using all five of their players to guard the four who were moving about for New York. Jalen Brunson shakes free of a couple of defenders, including the Spurs' Victor Wembanyama, the league's Defensive Player of the Year, and catches the inbounds pass near midcourt.

4.3 seconds left ... Brunson shoots

Brunson takes one dribble and lets a shot fly from about 31 feet, over Wembanyama's outstretched left arm. The shot, in the air for about 1.2 seconds, misses and hits the rim. It's short, and the ball bounces off the iron into the air.

Anunoby — with nobody in his path — sprints from the out-of-bounds spot into the lane, just in case.

“I just went and crashed,” Anunoby said. “Tried to get a tip-dunk or something. The ball went over my head, so I couldn’t really dunk it. So, I tried to tip it in softly.”

With 2.5 seconds left, Anunoby leaps. The Spurs have a few Knicks boxed out, including Karl-Anthony Towns. But Anunoby is unnoticed and gets in front of the Spurs' Dylan Harper and Devin Vassell.

“I was contesting the first shot,” Wembanyama said. “Turned around and saw him up there. That’s all I saw.”

2.0 seconds left ... Anunoby tips the ball

Anunoby throws his right arm into the air as he leaps, just out of the reach of the airborne Vassell. He gets his thumb and a couple of fingers on the ball, hoping to knock it back toward the rim — which he does.

“Right hand from God,” Towns called it.

Anunoby falls to the floor. The ball gets over the front of the rim. Brunson's fist goes into the air. The Garden waits.

1.2 seconds left ... ‘Bedlam here at The Garden!’

Announcer Mike Breen thought Brunson's 3-point shot would be good. In the end, Breen yelled “Bedlam here at the Garden! They can't believe it!” as Anunoby's shot went through the net.

Hart — who also missed a go-ahead layup in the final moments — will never be able to thank him enough.

“I’ve got a special shoutout for OG, man,” Hart said. “He saved me, at least for this game, a lifetime of regret.”

Had the rebound of Brunson's miss bounced in a different direction, Anunoby wouldn't have gotten there.

“Bounced off the rim the right way,” Harper said. “He tipped it in the right way. It went in. I could play, ‘Wish I could have did this, wish I could have did that.’ But at the end of the day, he tipped the ball, and it went in.”

The one-point lead matched the Knicks' biggest all night.

It was all they needed.

“That has to be the most iconic shot in the history of New York basketball,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said. “I’m not you guys. You guys know better than me. But it was just unbelievable.”

___

Reynolds reported from Miami.

___

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

Swift wore a blue T-shirt with “Stevie Knicks” printed in orange lettering and was seated courtside on Wednesday night next to Ben Stiller. She attended along with singers Este and Alana Haim, who also had Knicks-related references on their shirts: “Knickole Kidman” and “Knickleback.”

They were joined midway through by third Haim sister Daniella, and the quartet witnessed the biggest comeback in finals history as the Knicks rallied from a 29-point deficit to win 107-106 on OG Anunoby's tip-in with 1.2 seconds left.

Swift jumped around in celebration, waving a rally towel after leaving the court for the bowels of the Garden. She may be back soon.

Less than a year after their August engagement announcement, reports of Swift and Kelce’s impending nuptials have reached a crescendo. TMZ and the New York Post’s Page Six recently started insisting Swift and Kelce will marry at the Garden in early July, despite their close connections to everywhere from Kansas City, Missouri, and Nashville, Tennessee, to Cleveland and Rhode Island.

Swift and the Haim sisters were among several celebrities in the house, including Tate McRae and Hailey Bieber, and regulars like Timothée Chalamet and Spike Lee. Swift and Kelce attended Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals between the Knicks and Cavaliers, not far from where the Kansas City Chiefs tight end is from in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

This is the latest sporting event for Swift, who along with Kelce also attended a game during the NHL's Stanley Cup Final a year ago in Sunrise, Florida.

The Madison Square Garden wedding reports remain unconfirmed, and a spokesperson for Swift has not responded to The Associated Press’ requests for comment about the wedding plans. The arena’s calendar of upcoming events lists nothing from June 29-July 6.

Swift first performed at Madison Square Garden in 2009, during her “Fearless” tour, and she celebrated her 30th birthday at the arena 10 years later as part of iHeartRadio’s “Jingle Ball.” She has since graduated to larger venues when she swings through the New York area; her Eras tour shows were just across the river at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

___

AP Entertainment Editor Mallika Sen contributed to this report.

___

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

Swift wore a blue T-shirt with “Stevie Knicks” printed in orange lettering and was seated courtside on Wednesday night next to Ben Stiller. She attended along with singers Este and Alana Haim, who also had Knicks-related references on their shirts: “Knickole Kidman” and “Knickleback.”

They were joined midway through by third Haim sister Daniella, and the quartet witnessed the biggest comeback in finals history as the Knicks rallied from a 29-point deficit to win 107-106 on OG Anunoby's tip-in with 1.2 seconds left.

Swift jumped around in celebration, waving a rally towel after leaving the court for the bowels of the Garden. She may be back soon.

Less than a year after their August engagement announcement, reports of Swift and Kelce’s impending nuptials have reached a crescendo. TMZ and the New York Post’s Page Six recently started insisting Swift and Kelce will marry at the Garden in early July, despite their close connections to everywhere from Kansas City, Missouri, and Nashville, Tennessee, to Cleveland and Rhode Island.

Swift and the Haim sisters were among several celebrities in the house, including Tate McRae and Hailey Bieber, and regulars like Timothée Chalamet and Spike Lee. Swift and Kelce attended Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals between the Knicks and Cavaliers, not far from where the Kansas City Chiefs tight end is from in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

This is the latest sporting event for Swift, who along with Kelce also attended a game during the NHL's Stanley Cup Final a year ago in Sunrise, Florida.

The Madison Square Garden wedding reports remain unconfirmed, and a spokesperson for Swift has not responded to The Associated Press’ requests for comment about the wedding plans. The arena’s calendar of upcoming events lists nothing from June 29-July 6.

Swift first performed at Madison Square Garden in 2009, during her “Fearless” tour, and she celebrated her 30th birthday at the arena 10 years later as part of iHeartRadio’s “Jingle Ball.” She has since graduated to larger venues when she swings through the New York area; her Eras tour shows were just across the river at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

___

AP Entertainment Editor Mallika Sen contributed to this report.

___

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

Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs were able to pull out of Game 3 at Madison Square Garden with a win, which brought the series to a 2-1 Knicks lead.

After the Spurs won on Monday night, videos surfaced on social media of Silver and Black fans being assaulted in New York City.

The altercations have drawn reactions from players on both teams, in addition to elected officials.

Fans can expect Game 4 to be even more tightly contested as the pressure continues to build for both the Spurs and the Knicks.

Another win for the Spurs on Wednesday would tie the series. However, a loss would put San Antonio in a hole.

Myra Arthur, Ernie Zuniga and Larry Ramirez will be live from New York City covering all the action during our Wednesday newscasts, leading up to the Race for Seis special at 6:30 p.m. on KSAT 12 and KSAT Plus.

Another livestream previewing Game 4 will air at 7 p.m. exclusively on KSAT Plus. ABC will carry exclusive live coverage of Game 4 at 7:30 p.m. live on KSAT 12.

More Race For Seis coverage on KSAT:

• San Antonio Spurs fans remain positive ahead of Game 4 in NBA Finals
• Map: Where to watch the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals for Game 4
• A gift from France: How Victor Wembanyama and the Statue of Liberty mean the same to San Antonio and New York

Academy Sports + Outdoors partnered with Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Texas on Wednesday to surprise nearly a dozen kids with a shopping spree.

Each child was given a $200 gift card and told they could shop for whatever they wanted inside the store — from clothes and shoes to sporting equipment and school essentials.

For many of the children, a kind of surprise like this was unexpected.

“It was crazy. I didn’t expect it,” said Vivian David, one of the recipients. “Wow, I’ve never won anything in my life. Just randomly hearing you’re getting 200 bucks, now that’s awesome.”

As San Antonio basketball fans focused on the Spurs’ Finals matchup against the Knicks, some of the children used the opportunity to show support for their hometown team and buy Silver and Black merch.

“I got a backpack for basketball,” said Neftali Torres. “I’m a Spurs fan, grew up a Spurs fan and I’m a basketball player myself.”

The children were specifically selected through Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Texas. It’s an organization that provides mentoring for young people throughout the region.

The nonprofit serves children ages 6 to 18 from a variety of backgrounds, including some from single-parent households and communities facing economic challenges.

Organizers said the shopping spree was about much more than buying new items. It was a chance to show the children they matter, and they have support from their community.

“It’s a blessing because I can get stuff I need for school, anything I need,” recipient Antonio Neri said. “I really am blessed for that. I’m really happy.”

“It’s a really good opportunity,” said Anabella Vega, marketing and events manager for Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Texas. “It might help their parents out and ease financial burdens. It might help them to get some Christmas gifts or go back-to-school shopping because sometimes they might not be able to.”

“I think it’s an amazing thing for helping the community,” said Kyle Estep, logistics manager for Academy Sports + Outdoors. “When I was a kid, this kind of stuff would have made my day, or made my week. So, seeing stuff like that happen for someone else is amazing. It’s great to see them smile.”

While the new shoes, clothes and sports gear will eventually wear out, organizers hope the message behind the giveaway lasts much longer.

Read also:

• Ricos billboard shows Spurs spirit in the heart of Times Square ahead of Game 4 of NBA Finals

Mexico jointly hosts the soccer tournament with the U.S. and Canada and kicks off festivities Thursday with a star-studded event, even as some critics say the government has spent too much time and money catering to international visitors at residents' expense.

The games begin as Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum walks a political tightrope, navigating a deteriorating relationship with the U.S. ahead of July trade negotiations, along with political scandals and security concerns following a burst of violence in a World Cup host city in February.

Pressure has mounted as guests flood into Mexico City. Residents say authorities have prioritized the competition over pressing social needs.

On Wednesday night, more than 1,000 relatives of Mexico's missing people marched toward the stadium where the opening match was set to be played Thursday carrying candles and photographs of their missing loved ones.

Earlier in the day, Sheinbaum also said it was unclear whether Mexico City could host its free fan festival on opening night because a teachers' union protest camp has blocked access to the plaza.

“Mexico wants to project an image to the world that doesn’t exactly square with reality,” said Carlos Pérez Ricart, a political analyst at the Mexican Center for Research and Economic Education. “The World Cup is putting the president in a vulnerable situation … The government is under extreme pressure.”

World Cup is a showcase for the country

FIFA's logo, orange Mexican marigold flowers, giant soccer balls and other decorations line streets across Mexico’s capital and the two other host cities, Guadalajara and Monterrey. Fans buzzed with excitement as they strolled through Mexico City's streets.

The competition is expected to bring in $3 billion for hotels, restaurants and sports venues, according to the Mexican Soccer Federation.

Thursday's fan festival and opening match, where Mexico will face off against South Africa, are expected to draw more viewers than much of the competition, with Colombian superstar Shakira and others scheduled to perform.

If all goes off without a hitch, it will be a feather in Sheinbaum's cap, said Pérez Ricart, showing the world that Mexico is “modern and capable of organizing high impact events.”

‘Everything is under control’

Mexican authorities have fortified security following violence that paralyzed host city Guadalajara in February. More than 100,000 soldiers, sailors, National Guard members and police officers are expected to be deployed across the three host cities, yet social tensions have posed the greatest obstacle, particularly in Mexico City.

For more than a week, the country’s teachers' union has toppled World Cup statues and blocked roads in an annual push for better working conditions. The night before the inauguration, more than a thousand family members of Mexico’s more missing people also marched through the streets of Mexico City in protest of a crisis fueled by years of cartel violence and impunity.

As they walked toward the Aztec Stadium, where the opening match is slated to be held, some families shouted while others walked in silence, making few demands. A number government officials arrived to the protest and told the families they could only advance until “the last mile” before the stadium.

“We just want to be seen,” said Adriana Lozano, 56, from Los Cabos, who has been searching for her son for nine years. "What we are looking for is peace. We want this to end because so many young people are disappearing.”

Sheinbaum had denied there was any social unrest ahead of the tournament, but on Wednesday she acknowledged that “if for some reason the Zócalo cannot be used for the opening, there are 18 venues where people can watch it free of charge.”

“Everything is under control,” she added.

‘The prices are sky-high’

Airports across the Americas were filled with fans. Panama City's airport — one of the main gateways between North and South America — was a sea of multicolored jerseys from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Spain, Germany and elsewhere.

“This year we’re defending the title, and we’ll follow Argentina to the ends of the earth,” shouted Emilio Sosa, a 29-year-old from Buenos Aires on his way to Los Angeles.

David Botero, a 43-year-old Colombian, was traveling to Mexico City with his family to watch Colombia’s opening match on June 17 against Uzbekistan.

“What matters is that we’ll get to see our team up close," Botero said.

Others, like 66-year-old Dr. Jose Luis Muñoz, struck a more skeptical tone as he read and smoked a cigarette next to a park in downtown Mexico City that once teemed with street vendors. It has since been cleared out by authorities in an effort to clean up the streets. Muñoz said some of his fondest memories were taking his children to games during Mexico’s 1986 World Cup and celebrating their home team's winning streak.

“I was so excited, and that joy I passed on to my children,” he said.

This year, though, he was priced out from attending games. Tickets cost hundreds of dollars.

“The prices are sky-high. Many people aren’t going to be able to go unless they’re foreigners with a lot of money,” Muñoz said. “It feels very discriminatory."

Still, he added, he will root for Mexico's team from home with his children and grandchildren.

___

Associated Press journalists Nayara Batschke contributed to this report from Mexico City.

But the amended plan would only save a typical customer less than $4 per month compared to what SAWS originally proposed.

The water utility is looking to raise additional revenue, in large part, for billions of dollars’ worth of capital expenses, including upgrading wastewater treatment plants, replacing pipes and installing backup generators.

Last month, SAWS trustees recommended a four-year series of rate hikes that would raise a typical residential bill by up to $18.51 by 2029 — a 32.7% increase. That equates to an extra $222 per year.

Following a review of the utility’s proposal, though, city staff presented an amended series of smaller rates hikes with which they said the water utility agrees.

The size of the increases for 2028 and 2029 in the newest proposal could vary, resulting in a total monthly increase somewhere between $14.80 and $16.92 on an average residential bill — or 26.1% to 29.9%. That works out to an extra $178 to $203 per year.

Residents could see their bills increase as early as July 1, with subsequent increases each January. But any increase requires City Council approval, and there are skeptics among the 11 members on the dais.

Councilwoman Marina Alderete Gavito (D7) brought up the financial squeeze that residents face from the gas pump to the grocery store, as well as concerns about frequent leaking pipes.

“I’m not against utilities coming and asking for what they need. You know, (I) approved the last CPS (Energy) rate increase because, to me, there was a plan that I was confident in. I’m not confident in this plan, especially when I’m seeing instances like I saw this week,” she said, referring to a recent water leak situation.

SAWS CEO Robert Puente said if the utility isn’t approved for a rate increase this time, it would be back in the fall to try again.

“These are needs that have to be met,” he said. “Although it is very frustrating to see these breaks, water flowing down the street, to address them, we have to spend money to change out those pipelines. We have to spend money on a replacement project that helps us get ahead and identify those lines that need to be changed out.”

Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones is part of the SAWS board and is in favor of an increase. She acknowledged rising prices SAWS customers face elsewhere but said “that doesn’t make the need for these water projects any less important or any less urgent to address.”

“It doesn’t change the fact that we have 100-year-old pipes in our community,” she continued. “It doesn’t change the fact that climate change and prolonged droughts have impacted the life cycle of our infrastructure. And it doesn’t change that we have a wastewater treatment facility plant that was built in 1965 and is in desperate, desperate need of upgrades.”

SAWS rates last went up in 2020, though the utility also restructured its rate system ahead of 2023, which did not affect its overall revenue. The restructuring resulted in many residential bills dropping, though there was an increase in commercial rates.

You can see the full set of proposed rate changes — original and amended — below:

Read also:

• South Side resident seeks answers on aging SAWS pipes as water concerns persist
• Project Marvel hotel plans change as SAWS says downtown plant too expensive to relocate
• ‘We’re battling inflation’: Neighbors unhappy about looming SAWS rate hike

The new U.S. assault across multiple Iranian cities came as efforts to negotiate an end the war again appeared stuck, with Iran insisting it would maintain its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, which has disrupted global energy supplies and sent oil prices higher.

It was the third time this week that back-and-forth strikes have tested a two-month shaky ceasefire.

Trump has urged Iran to sign a deal to end the war and suggested earlier this week that an agreement could be reached in days.

But Iran has proved resilient despite weeks of heavy bombing. It is betting that its ability to effectively close the Strait of Hormuz — a crucial passageway for oil and natural gas — gives it a strong bargaining chip.

Iran’s United Nations envoy said the U.S. should refrain from threats of force if it wants a deal.

Still, both countries seem to be looking for a way to end the conflict — if they can manage to sell it as a win at home.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears intent on pursuing goals that make compromise harder: the collapse of Iran’s theocratic government, the elimination of its nuclear program, and the destruction of the Iranian-allied Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon. On Monday, Iran and Israel targeted each other.

US strikes Iran and Iran fires back at Gulf States

The U.S. Central Command said it had “completed” its latest round of airstrikes just before sunrise in Iran. The military command said the strikes came “in response to Iran’s unwarranted and continued aggression” and targeted “Iranian military surveillance capabilities, communication systems and air defense sites.” It did not elaborate on the damage done by the strikes, which it said were carried out by the U.S. Air Force, Marines and Navy.

Explosions from the strikes echoed around Iran’s capital, Tehran, as well as the port city of Bandar Abbas and other southern areas along the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran responded by launching strikes on Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan, and Kuwait closed its airspace as its air defenses fought off the attack. Kuwait’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation said flights were being diverted to other airports, without elaborating.

“This measure comes in light of the state of Kuwait being subjected to sinful Iranian aggressions and the potential risks that may result from this on civil aviation traffic in the region,” Kuwait said.

Kuwait International Airport took a direct Iranian hit in recent days, killing one person and wounding dozens. On Wednesday, Iran responded to U.S. strikes with attacks on Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan, all of which host U.S. troops.

Israel early Thursday also warned residents in the north to seek shelter after the detection of suspected incoming fire from Lebanon, while the U.S. Embassy in Jordan issued a warning that “reports indicate missiles, drones or rockets are in Jordanian airspace.”

There was no immediate acknowledgment from Jordanian state media about the reports of missile fire, but Iran said it again targeted Jordan's Muwaffaq Salti Air Base on Thursday.

Trump says US is sneaking oil past the Strait of Hormuz

Since the U.S. and Israel started the war with Feb. 28 attacks on Iran, the conflict has shaken the global economy, driven up energy prices worldwide, and made food and other basics more expensive.

The international benchmark for crude oil traded above $93 a barrel on Wednesday, up more than 25% since the start of the war.

Trump said the U.S. military has since last month undertaken a “secret mission” to sneak oil shipments past Iran’s forces in the Strait of Hormuz. He said ships were slipping through at night, aided by the destruction of Iranian radar equipment.

Trump said as a result more than 100 million barrels of oil have evaded Iran’s chokehold on the strait. There was no immediate confirmation of that figure, which roughly equals five days of oil shipments through the waterway before the war began.

The military’s role was not immediately clear. Capt. Tim Hawkins, a Central Command spokesman, said U.S. forces “communicate and coordinate” with commercial ships in the area, but gave no details on military support being offered.

The U.S. Central Command on Wednesday refuted Iran’s claims that the Strait of Hormuz is closed, saying commercial ships are continuing to transit in and out.

US and Iranian strikes shake the Mideast

Earlier Wednesday, the U.S. military said an American aircraft fired “precision munitions” into the engine room of the Palau-flagged vessel M/T Settebello as it attempted to breach the naval blockade with a shipment of Iranian oil. It was the eighth merchant vessel disabled by U.S. forces in waters off Iran.

India’s foreign ministry said three Indian sailors were missing after the Settebello was struck, while 21 others were rescued. Its statement did not mention the U.S. military or the blockade.

Hawkins of the U.S. Central Command said American forces warned the crew before firing on the ship.

The U.S. military said strikes earlier Wednesday targeted “air defense, ground control stations, and surveillance radar sites."

Iran said U.S. strikes hit two water reservoirs in the southern city of Sirik, temporarily cutting off water to thousands of people. U.S. Central Command had no immediate comment. Tehran later claimed attacks in Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned the American attacks as a violation of Iranian sovereignty.

Still, efforts to mediate a deal continued. Following consultations with the U.S., a delegation from Qatar arrived in Tehran for talks earlier Wednesday, according to an official with knowledge of the visit who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the talks.

The exchanges of fire came a day after a U.S. Army attack helicopter crashed near the Strait of Hormuz. The helicopter collided with an Iranian drone, according to a U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. It wasn’t clear whether the collision was intentional.

A drone boat rescued the helicopter’s two crew. Trump said they were uninjured.

Big disagreements stand in the way of a quick peace deal

Wary of high gas prices in the run-up to congressional elections in November, Trump seems to be looking for a quick win. But he is also making demands that will be tough for Iran to swallow.

The U.S. wants to see Iran give up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium. While Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful, that uranium is a short technical step from weapons-grade levels.

Iran is refusing to give up the uranium and demanding relief from sanctions. It also wants the release of frozen assets even before a final agreement is in place, something Trump rejected.

Iran has insisted that any deal to end the war must also end fighting between its ally Hezbollah and Israel. Israel has instead intensified its military campaign against the Lebanon-based militant group.

___

Price reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Konstantin Toropin and Will Weissert in Washington; Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations; Natalie Melzer in Nahariya, Israel; David Rising in Bangkok; Bassem Mroue in Beirut; Michelle L. Price in New York; Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia; and Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City contributed to this report.

According to a preliminary federal notice released Monday, the latest regulatory waiver will apply to more than 100 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border in the region, from near the Closed Canyon trail in Big Bend Ranch State Park through the entirety of Big Bend National Park and into remote parts of southeastern Brewster County.

In the notice, Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin wrote that the administration is bypassing a wide range of laws “to ensure the expeditious construction of barriers and roads” along the southern border.

While U.S. Customs and Border Protection continues to insist it will not build a 30-foot-tall steel border wall in either the state or national park, the agency’s current plans call for a mix of vehicle barriers, surveillance technology and patrol road upgrades in the parks as part of a project dubbed “Big Bend 4.” A CBP spokesperson confirmed that the latest waiver is intended for that project.

This week’s waiver comes after six former superintendents of Big Bend National Park penned a letter to Mullin urging him to not take such a step.

“This is devastating news, giving CBP unfettered authority to do anything they want within the national park,” said Bob Krumenaker, the park’s most recent former superintendent who now chairs the Keep Big Bend Wild advocacy group .

Technically, this latest regulatory waiver isn’t new: It’s a revision of a similar one issued in May for a different stretch of the border.

In Monday’s notice, Mullin wrote that last month’s filing – which initially applied to part of the Rio Grande east of Big Bend National Park – contained an “incorrect” description of the area covered by the waiver. The new filing contains updated GPS coordinates, changing the area of the border where federal laws will be bypassed.

The stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border covered by the Trump administration’s latest regulatory waiver for border security infrastructure is located between these two points on the map, according to GPS coordinates in a preliminary federal notice released Monday.

Park supporters have been particularly concerned about the potential for new road building along the Rio Grande, which Krumenaker said in a statement advocates will “continue to do everything possible to deter.”

“Their utter disregard for the will of the people, the taxpayers’ money, the actual data showing minimal numbers of border crossings inside the park, and the values that Texans and all Americans hold dear as represented by the National Parks leave us without sufficient words to express,” he said.

In a statement, a CBP spokesperson said the agency is coordinating with the National Park Service, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and other agencies.

“While there are priorities for new border wall and detection technology in (the Border Patrol’s) Big Bend Sector, the combination of barriers, roads, and technology (cameras, infrared illuminators, and other detection technology) in the areas adjacent to the Big Bend National Park and State Park are still in the planning stages, while CBP focuses on other higher priority locations,” the agency said.

The latest waiver will allow CBP to ignore a wide range of federal laws as it moves to install or upgrade a mix of surveillance technology, vehicle barriers and patrol roads in the parks, as the agency’s latest map of the Big Bend 4 project calls for.

“These horrific plans are an affront to the millions of Americans who treasure Big Bend,” Laiken Jordahl, an advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. “Politicians who’ve never set foot here are signing a death warrant for this wild and beautiful place.”

The Center noted that the latest waiver notice, as written, allows for the installation of new border fencing, barriers, roads, lighting, cameras, and sensors.

The latest development comes as Customs and Border Protection is gearing up to begin construction on an actual 30-foot steel border wall through other parts of the Big Bend region outside the parks within weeks.

Amid months of shifting plans and public confusion about what exactly the administration is seeking to build in the region, anti-wall advocates have continued to sound the alarm about the physical wall plan, saying the approximately 175-mile border wall through Hudspeth, Jeff Davis and Presidio counties is still a threat.

Jordahl’s group, along with West Texas residents, has already sued the Trump administration over an earlier federal regulatory waiver intended to speed up the steel border wall. He said the Center for Biological Diversity will fight the new waiver “with everything we’ve got.”

___

This story was originally published by Marfa Public Radio and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service this month approved moving forward with the deal with SpaceX, which would surrender 683 acres (276 hectares) the company owns in exchange for federal land in the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge. The 103,000-acre (41,700-hectare) refuge spans four counties along the Texas border and is home to animal habitats and historical landmarks.

Maps show the land SpaceX would acquire would be closer to the company’s launchpad near the U.S.-Mexico border.

The exchange would be the first time the U.S. government has swapped land in the area with SpaceX, said Laiken Jordahl, a spokesperson with the Center for Biological Diversity, which filed the lawsuit alongside other opponents.

The lawsuit asks a federal court in Washington to halt the exchange, which has worried SpaceX opponents in the area who have long criticized the company’s expanding footprint over lost access to beaches and concerns over exploding rockets.

“Rather than exercising its enforcement authority to protect the Refuge from SpaceX’s activities and to require mitigation to address the harm SpaceX has caused, the Service seeks to give SpaceX over 700 acres within the Refuge,” states the lawsuit, which was filed by the Center for Biological Diversity and other groups.

A spokesperson for the Fish and Wildlife Service said the agency does not comment on ongoing litigation.

Earlier this month, the agency issued a final environmental assessment report that determined the exchange would cause no significant impact to the area. The report said the federal government believed the acquisition would represent a “net conservation benefit” and provide “substantial long-term conservation value and improving landscape-scale habitat connectivity across refuges in South Texas.”

SpaceX did not return an email seeking comment.

The lawsuit was filed as the company is preparing to go public, putting Musk on the path to become the world’s first trillionaire.

The space exploration company first broke ground in Texas more than a decade ago and has expanded rapidly, so much that SpaceX employees last year voted to incorporate their own local government called Starbase.

Montgomery capped a 2-for-5 night with a game-ending, two-run homer in the 10th inning to lift the Chicago White Sox to a 6-5 win over Atlanta Braves. He became the fifth player in MLB history to hit a walk-off homer in his debut, joining Billy Parker (1971), Josh Bard (2002), Miguel Cabrera (2015) and Carlos Pérez (2023).

Montgomery was still buzzing hours after his 343-foot, opposite-field shot cleared the fence in left field.

“I don't know if I would be considered calmed down at this point,” Montgomery said. “Just been enjoying it, sharing it with my family.”

White Sox manager Will Venable said he isn't worried about the 23-year-old getting ahead of himself after one game.

“We haven't had anybody with a debut like that, but I think he's as grounded as they come,” Venable said. “This is a guy that has really high expectations of himself. I'm sure he envisioned himself doing this, what he did last night. To be honest, his idea of what he can do in this league is as high as anybody else's. It was exactly what he expected.”

Montgomery didn't slow down Wednesday night, hitting two doubles and scoring the first run in a 2-1 win over the Braves.

“He just goes up there with extreme confidence, putting really good swings on pitches,” Venable said. “I think his swing decisions have been great. He's a very talented hitter and for him to come up and be so comfortable and be locked in and show what he's able to do early has been awesome.”

Montgomery spent the start of his second day of his big league career responding to the text messages he continues to receive — “The number shrinks and grows as I answer them, but more come in,” Montgomery said — and spending time with his parents and family, who were sitting behind home plate Wednesday night.

His mother, Gretchen Montgomery Willock, posted a video of the family celebration in the stands that went viral on social media. On Wednesday, she posted, “Let me tell you about a dream I had last night.”

“It's not really something you can imagine,” Montgomery said. “You just kind of go into it with your expectations and do whatever the game brings.”

One of the top prospects in the White Sox organization, acquired from the Red Sox in the December 2024 trade that sent Garrett Crochet to Boston, Montgomery was hitting .315 for Triple-A Charlotte. He became the 12th White Sox rookie to debut this season, the second-highest total before the All-Star break since the 1944 Cincinnati Reds had 13, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

The influx of youth has helped the White Sox go 29-18 since April 17, second only to the New York Yankees (30-17), despite injuries to Munetaka Murakami and Everson Pereira. among others. The White Sox are 5-4 since Murakami, a rookie from Japan who leads the team with 20 homers, injured his right hamstring on May 29.

Colson Montgomery joined that list Tuesday. He is day to day with a sore back and was not in the lineup Wednesday. The second-year shortstop, a relative veteran of 135 MLB games, said his younger teammates are feeding off each other to pick up the slack.

“You get up here, and it's like, these are my boys, my teammates, this is nothing new,” Colson Montgomery said. “That's why a lot of our young rookie guys are coming up here and they're thriving because they're just being themselves and they know they can be themselves. ... We have a lot of guys in the minor leagues who are coming up and they’re ready to show their impact.”

___

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

The game averaged 23.8 million viewers and peaked at 26.3 million late in the fourth quarter, according to data released by Nielsen on Wednesday. That’s the largest television audience since Super Bowl 60 on Feb. 8.

The finals are averaging 19.1 million, the second most-watched since ABC and ESPN took over the broadcast in 2003. That represents a 114% increase over last year’s series between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers.

“NBA Finals All‑Access with The Pat McAfee Show” averaged 1.1 million on ESPN, making it the most-watched NBA alternate telecast on the network.

___

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

Chris and Susan said they experienced the aggression while attending the Yankees-Red Sox game.

“We were verbally harassed by a group of men who were, I guess, Knicks fans, and they looked at us, and they were speaking in Spanish in a mocking tone,” Susan said. “They started circling us and saying, Knicks in 4, Knicks in 4.”

Besides being caught off guard by the incident itself, she said what surprised her was that she and her husband were not wearing anything that referenced the Spurs.

“We were actually wearing Yankees gear,” Knicks said.

Susan, a native San Antonian who lived in New York for 14 years, was in the Big Apple with her husband, who was visiting for the first time.

The couple said they were warned before leaving not to wear Spurs gear, but they packed their Victor Wembanyama jerseys anyway, thinking they would have an opportunity to sport them.

“The first time I heard it, I thought, of course I’m going to wear my jersey, Susan said. “This is a big deal and so what? I’m just as crazy. New York made me that way.”

On Monday, she and her husband said they had not seen anyone repping the Silver and Black despite looking.

That night, they said they planned to attend a watch party in Bryant Park, but when they got to the entrance, the park was already at capacity. That turned out to be a good thing since Susan said the vibe in the air was off.

“We just saw that there was like this dangerous element of, you know, a group of younger people that were looking for trouble, and you could just tell that it was not going to end well for some people,” Susan said. “We knew not wearing our jerseys was a wise choice.”

The couple said they decided to try going to a bar to watch the game, but everywhere was packed, so they eventually went back to their hotel.

On the way back, the couple said they were pleasantly surprised to see a Spurs fan wearing a Tim Duncan jersey.

“I was wearing my Meta glasses, which can capture video and cameras,” Susan said. ”I took a quick picture of him just cause I was proud of him.”

Her husband was also glad to see another Spurs fan but said the fan was walking toward Bryant Park and was worried.

“I’m like, ‘oh my gosh, there comes this guy wearing this jersey,’” Chris said. ”He zoomed past us, and he was heading toward Bryant Park, and I was like, I kind of felt sorry for him because he was headed into a hornet’s nest.”

The next day, they said they saw the same man in the Duncan jersey in a video making the rounds on social media.

The man was being attacked.

>> ‘It’s unacceptable’: Texas state senator, Wembanyama condemn attacks on Spurs fans in New York City

Chris said the behavior of some Knicks fans tainted his New York expectation and a special chance to support the Spurs as they are on the sport’s biggest stage.

“Over there, we can’t wear our jerseys because we know we’re going to end up paying a price for it. That’s sad,” Chris said. “I wish it didn’t have to be that way.”

Spurs fans through and through, the couple said they are calling Spurs in seven. They advise Spurs fans in New York or traveling to New York to be extremely careful if they decide to wear their Spurs apparel in public.

“Trust your instincts,” Susan said. ”Your instincts are usually right.”

Read also:

• Law enforcement gears up for Spurs-Knicks Game 5 in San Antonio after fans attacked in NYC
• Spurs fan describes tense moments outside Madison Square Garden after Game 3 of NBA Finals

The accusation came in a new, 149-page report alleging that the forced displacement of West Bank Palestinians resulted from a concerted state policy, and not just the actions of violent settlers. While much of the displacement is driven by settlers who build outposts on Palestinian land, the report asserts that the process could not occur without the support of the government.

The international community overwhelmingly considers the settlements illegal. Israel, meanwhile, views the West Bank as disputed territory and says its final status is subject to negotiations.

U.N. data says that over 100 West Bank villages have been fully or partially emptied out between January 2023 and April 2026. At the same time, the United Nations has tracked more than 7,280 instances of individual Palestinian displacement because of demolition of homes and structures by Israeli forces, a figure that includes people who were displaced more than once.

Israel has in the past denounced such accusations — including allegations of “ethnic cleansing,” a term referring to forced expulsions of population by violence — as reflecting longtime unfair bias. It did not immediately respond to the report.

Amnesty says settler violence is sanctioned by the state

“These abuses are not the result of a few ‘bad apples.’ Settler violence is a core component of a state-sanctioned campaign of ethnic cleansing," said Agnès Callamard, the head of Amnesty. “What we are witnessing is deliberate, state-led annexation, in complete violation of international law unfolding before the eyes of the entire world.”

Israeli leaders have condemned particularly grave violence by Jewish settlers but tend to denounce them as exceptions. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government is dominated by settler leaders and supporters, and key Cabinet ministers are pushing for a formal annexation of the territory.

The government has come under heavy criticism from Palestinians and rights groups for accelerating settlement expansion, which they say is aimed at preventing the establishment of a future Palestinian state there. Over 700,000 Israelis now live in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war and claimed by the Palestinians as parts of a future state.

Amnesty says it has identified dozens of bills in Israel's parliament, the Knesset, to extend Israeli civil law and jurisdiction over settlement blocs, as well as over courts that try Palestinians. Recently, the parliament approved a measure making the death penalty the default punishment for West Bank Palestinians convicted of killing Israelis.

Last year, U.S. President Donald Trump said he would not allow Israel to annex the West Bank. The U.S.-brokered ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas militant group that aimed to stop the war in Gaza also acknowledged Palestinian aspirations for statehood.

Villages in remote areas are most vulnerable, rights groups say

Amnesty says the large-scale displacement of Palestinian Bedouin communities in the territory is caused by settler violence, advancement of new settlements and the Israeli takeover of large swaths of unregistered land. Rights groups have raised the alarm about this form of displacement before 2023, but say it dramatically intensified after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel that year that triggered the war.

Rights groups say Bedouin herding communities in remote areas of the West Bank are most vulnerable to displacement. Unlike Palestinians in cities and towns across the West Bank, the villagers are less able to withstand the pressure from often-armed settlers as they establish new outposts around Palestinian villages.

The anti-settlement monitoring group Peace Now says that 212 of at least 363 existing outposts in the West Bank were created since 2023. The outposts are built without permission from Israeli authorities, who sometimes dismantle them but often turn a blind eye or even legalize them retroactively.

Amnesty said its report looked into 27 hamlets and villages in the West Bank where Palestinians were displaced between 2023 and 2025. Researchers interviewed dozens of Palestinians and lawyers, spoke with witnesses of settler violence, watched over 420 videos and analyzed government statements and other reports.

The group also said the international community has failed to act to stop the displacement.

Dror Etkes, who runs the settlement watchdog group Kerem Navot, said that since the October 2023 attack, settlers have taken about 12.5% of West Bank territory — land that Palestinians can no longer access or cross safely.

These graveyards form when whale carcasses fall to the sea floor, becoming a sustaining snack for nearby critters. This one, located up to 23,000 feet (7 kilometers) below the surface of the southeastern Indian Ocean, spans the largest area and is so far the deepest and oldest found.

A whale's sheer size and the unique chemistry of its bones are the keys to forming these unique underwater neighborhoods, said Xikun Song, a biologist with the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering.

“At the same time, the very nature of the deep ocean makes these sites exceptionally difficult for scientists to locate,” Song, who was involved with the latest find, wrote in an email.

Researchers explored the remains during multiple deep-sea submersible trips in 2023, collecting samples and mapping the extent of the necropolis. They found five carcass sites and fossils, including skulls belonging to beaked and baleen whales. The oldest bones date back 5.3 million years.

Feeding and living on the carcasses were myriad creatures, large and small, including sea cucumbers, squat lobsters and saltwater clams. Many of them are likely species that have never been documented, according to findings published Wednesday in the journal Nature.

“The potential number of specimens is just astounding,” said paleontologist Stephen Godfrey with the Calvert Marine Museum in Maryland, who wasn't involved in the research.

Many factors likely conspired to preserve the bones for millions of years, according to the study authors. They’re dense enough to outlast attacks from bone-eating worms, and located deep enough in the ocean to avoid getting buried by dust and loose particles. The bones also were coated with a light layer of minerals from the surrounding seawater, which may have prevented them from degrading.

Why did so many whales die here? Maybe they were already living in the area and died of natural causes. A few could have perished from exhaustion or illness caused by deep-sea diving. The area's shape, akin to the letter V, could also have funneled the remains to their resting spot, the authors wrote.

Such discoveries are important because they clue scientists into the vibrant communities that find a way even in remote, hard-to-reach environments.

Studying the whale graveyards “is important for understanding how life can adapt to such extreme conditions, not only due to the lack of light and oxygen but also to the incredibly high pressure,” said study co-author and paleontologist Giovanni Bianucci with the University of Pisa in Italy in an email.

___

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 13 websites purported to be affiliated with consulting companies that advertised job openings for current and former holders of security clearances. But the companies were all fakes and the job postings were a sham, officials said.

The internet domain seizure is part of a broader effort by Western law enforcement and intelligence agencies to sound the alarm about alleged Chinese government plots to recruit workers who can be duped into disclosing sensitive information.

Last week, for instance, the English-speaking Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance — Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.K. and the U.S. — issued a bulletin warning that China is targeting personnel from those countries on job websites to get access to classified or sensitive information.

The bulletin said spies for Chinese military intelligence have been posing as workers acting on behalf of private businesses or think tanks, advertising for bogus jobs such as foreign policy or defense analysts and pressuring candidates to provide “non-public” information.

According to an FBI affidavit filed in connection with the website seizure, the fake websites relied on fraudulent or stolen identities and AI-generated photographs to give them the appearance of legitimacy, and advertised generic “consulting” jobs geared toward current or former U.S. government employees.

“These websites are often linked or referenced within the entities’ job postings on LinkedIn and other hiring platforms,” the affidavit said.

Applicants and recruits were offered money for reports related to their work and for sensitive information, the Justice Department said. The operators of the plot, who officials allege to be tied to Chinese intelligence services, used cryptocurrency and online payment systems to hide their real identities, officials said.

Law enforcement officials identified the websites through information from targets who came forward to report what they believed to be suspicious interactions.

“A lot of this information came from doing interviews, interviews with people who came forward that something didn’t seem right,” Dan Wierzbicki, the special agent in charge of the counterintelligence and cyber division of the FBI’s Washington field office, said in an interview.

“They provided information and said, ‘Hey, this is kind of weird, we’re kind of getting paid by a cryptocurrency or an online payment system that’s not typical,'” he added.

He said the FBI believes there are other websites serving a similar purpose and is seeking the public's help in identifying them.

A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington called allegations of Chinese espionage “entirely fabricated” and “malicious slander.”

___

Associated Press writer Didi Tang in Washington contributed to this report.

Omar Artan, who was named as Africa's best male referee in 2025., said he plans to be at the next World Cup and urged Somali youth to be proud of their country.

Artan was set to be the first referee from Somalia to officiate at a World Cup after making FIFA’s final list for the tournament.

He was denied entry to the U.S. at Miami International Airport on Saturday over unspecified “vetting concerns,” U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement, without giving details of the concerns. FIFA subsequently cut him from the tournament's referee list.

Artan was issued a visa to travel to the U.S. last week, according to the Somalia Embassy in Kenya, which processed it. The U.S. is co-hosting the tournament with Mexico and Canada, and Artan was due to meet up with other World Cup referees at their training base in Miami.

Arriving in the capital, Mogadishu, he thanked the Somali government and public as well as FIFA for their support.

“I promise you, God willing, that I will attend the next one,” he said as hundreds of supporters at the airport waved Somali flags. “I want the Somali public to take comfort in this and remain confident.”

Later on Wednesday, thousands of soccer fans packed the stadium in Mogadishu for a welcome ceremony for Artan, with patriotic songs echoing through the arena as supporters waved the nation's flag and cheered him on.

Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre also hosted Artan, writing in a post on X that the referee had “already won the hearts of millions and secured his place in history.”

“He devoted himself to ensuring that football was decided by merit, yet fate denied him the stage he so richly deserved,” Barre said.

The U.S.'s highly unusual move to deny a FIFA-appointed match official permission to enter a World Cup host country drew outrage across the world and raised questions among some fans about America's capacity to host the competition.

Somalia is one of nearly 40 countries subject to new travel restrictions under the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration.

On Wednesday, the United Nations’ top human rights official called for a “massive rethink” of immigration policies especially in the United States around the World Cup.

Hundreds of supporters, government officials and members of Somalia’s football community gathered hours before Artan arrived at Aden Adde International Airport.

As he disembarked, supporters waving Somali flags crowded around him before draping him in the flag.

He was then escorted by police officers to the airport’s VIP terminal, where he was welcomed by Somalia’s sports minister and other dignitaries, and spoke to journalists.

“It is up to all of us to defend the Somali name,” Artan said. “Somalia belongs to us, whether it is in a bad state or a good state. That flag belongs to us, and that passport belongs to us.”

In a country where decades of war and the rise of the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist group have limited the potential of many in Somalia, Artan's denial brought disappointment but reminded people what is possible if they chase their dreams.

Artan's expected milestone at this year's World Cup “stands no matter what,” the World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus — from neighboring Ethiopia — wrote Tuesday on X. “You reached the summit of your profession and inspired a generation back home just by getting there, and being kept off the pitch you earned doesn’t change that.”

The defendant, Vance Boelter, was scheduled for a change-of-plea hearing Thursday morning in federal court in Minneapolis.

“The Attorney General has authorized and directed the government not to seek the death penalty against Defendant Vance Luther Boelter in accordance with the terms delineated in a proposed plea agreement,” assistant U.S. attorneys Bradley M. Endicott and Matthew D. Forbes wrote in a letter to the court Wednesday.

The Justice Department had said earlier in the week that it decided not to pursue the death penalty. While the Trump administration has pushed for greater use of capital punishment, there were questions about whether Boelter’s case would qualify for it.

Boelter’s attorneys did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. The court filing did not detail the terms of the plea agreement.

Former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman, and state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette Hoffman, were shot by a man who came to their doors in the early hours of June 14, 2025, disguised as a police officer and driving a fake squad car. The Hortmans' golden retriever was so gravely injured that he had to be euthanized.

Boelter, 58, was captured near his home in rural Green Isle late the next day after what prosecutors have called the largest search for a suspect in Minnesota history. He faces federal and state murder, attempted murder and other charges. His state case has been on hold pending the resolution of his federal charges.

Minnesota abolished capital punishment in 1911 and has never had a federal death penalty case.

Daniel Borgertpoepping, a spokesperson for the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, said the federal plea deal would not affect Boelter's state charges.

Under federal law, to obtain the death penalty against Boelter, prosecutors would have to show he committed the killings during another “crime of violence.” Boelter's underlying charge was that he stalked the victims.

A federal judge in New York earlier this year barred prosecutors from seeking the death penalty against Luigi Mangione in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, ruling that stalking doesn’t count as a violent crime.

Prosecutors have called the attacks on the Minnesota politicians political. When they announced the federal indictment in July, they released a rambling handwritten letter they say Boelter wrote to FBI Director Kash Patel in which he confessed to the shootings. However, the letter didn’t make clear why he targeted the Hortmans or the Hoffmans.

In some messages to media, Boelter referenced a vague and cryptic “investigation” he had been carrying out, sometimes suggesting it was about the COVID-19 vaccine.

Friends described Boelter as an evangelical Christian and occasional preacher and missionary, who held politically conservative views and had been struggling to find work.

When Minnesota's legislative session convened in February, Hoffman got a warm welcome as he walked up the stairs into the Senate chamber. He said in a lawsuit filed against Boelter in April that his left arm and hand likely would never fully recover, and that he also had permanent injuries to his digestive and urinary systems.

Yvette Hoffman was left with permanent physical weakness, the lawsuit said, while their adult daughter, Hope Hoffman, who was there and called 911 but was not shot, suffered severe psychological trauma.

___

Johnson reported from Seattle. Former AP reporter Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis contributed.

Attorneys presented opening statements in the trial of Jonathan Rinderknecht, who has pleaded not guilty to starting what became one of the most destructive wildfires in California history. Whether prosecutors can prove to jurors that Rinderknecht, 29, started a fire in Los Angeles on Jan. 1, 2025, and that it then turned into the Palisades Fire will be at the center of the trial.

Prosecutors say the Jan. 1 fire burned undetected deep in root systems before flaring back up on Jan. 7. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt O'Brien told jurors that security camera footage shows where and when the fire ignited atop a hill, and investigators were able to place Rinderknecht nearby because he called 911 for help 16 times in quick succession on the evening of Jan. 1.

O'Brien said that Rinderknecht was the only person there that evening. He said that after firefighters arrived, Rinderknecht followed them up the hill to take videos of them putting out the blaze. Investigators later seized a barbecue lighter from his car that he admitted to having with him on the trail.

Defense attorney Steve Haney said Rinderknecht was on the hilltop near the fire's ignition that night, but only to watch the fireworks after dropping off Uber passengers nearby. Haney said multiple witnesses as well as first responders will testify that they heard fireworks in the area around the time the fire ignited.

“When all the evidence is in, there will be one thing missing: proof that Jonathan Rinderknecht started that fire on Jan. 1,” Haney told jurors.

The Palisades Fire ultimately killed 12 people and destroyed thousands of homes as it incinerated hillside neighborhoods in Pacific Palisades and the city of Malibu. Rinderknecht faces at least five years in prison if convicted of charges that also include malicious destruction by means of a fire.

O'Brien, in his opening, painted a picture for the jury of a troubled young man who was lonely and angry at the world after a recent breakup.

“He wanted revenge — revenge against society because he blamed society for all his troubles,” he said.

O'Brien also showed jurors a prompt that Rinderknecht had entered into ChatGPT six months earlier. “So on the far left, we're going to have a burning forest and then you have a bunch of people running away from that,” the prompt began.

Haney reminded jurors it didn't matter if they liked his client or “approve of the way Jonathan uses his computer.” He said Rinderknecht’s behavior after the fire, from calling 911 to cooperating with investigators, demonstrated his innocence.

Haney played an audio recording of Rinderknecht’s conversation with a 911 operator during which he reported a fire in the Pacific Palisades.

When federal investigators knocked on Rinderknecht's door, he didn’t hide or refuse to answer, Haney said. Rinderknecht even agreed to drive back to the Palisades to help investigators pinpoint the start of the fire.

“It’s the voice and actions of a man who was trying to stop the fire,” Haney said.

Leading up to the trial, Haney has argued that Rinderknecht is being made as a scapegoat for the Los Angeles Fire Department’s failure to fully extinguish the Jan. 1 blaze.

Judge Anne Hwang has ruled that the defense can’t introduce evidence or arguments about alleged negligence by the Fire Department, saying it was irrelevant and could confuse the jury. Defense attorneys had planned to include testimony from a firefighter that the fire was visibly smoldering when first responders left before it reignited days later.

Prosecutors began presenting their case by calling witnesses with California State Parks and the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area to establish that the fire affected areas with federal jurisdiction.

They also called Special Agent Michael Montevidoni with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, one of the lead investigators in the case.

Montevidoni spent hours on the stand explaining to jurors how investigators gathered evidence and interviewed more than 100 of Rinderknecht's friends, family and acquaintances.

Prosecutors also introduced a multitude of digital records into evidence obtained from his phone, email, Uber, OpenAI and various social media accounts.

Montevidoni said he reviewed thousands of conversations between Rinderknecht and ChatGPT, during which Rinderknecht lamented wealth disparity and climate change in the world and his inability to do anything about it.

These conversations led up to early hours of Dec. 31, 2024, during which Rinderknecht sent angry messages to a woman that he had a prior romantic relationship with. At the same time, he vented to ChatGPT, Montevidoni said.

“It was consistently showing anger and frustration,” Montevidoni said.

The crash occurred near Muzaffarabad, the regional capital, during an ongoing protest and strike called by the Joint Awami Action Committee, a recently banned alliance of various groups.

The military didn't suggest any link between the protest and the crash.

Witnesses said that the helicopter crashed shortly after takeoff from a helipad. Ambulances arrived at the scene and transported the victims to a nearby hospital.

“Rescue and recovery teams immediately reached the crash site,” the military said, adding that a board of inquiry had been ordered to determine the exact cause of the crash.

Residents in Muzaffarabad said that the helicopter was carrying an unspecified number of paramilitary Rangers deployed by the government for security duties in the region, where tensions have been high since the weekend, when members of an outlawed group attacked police and security forces, killing four personnel.

Witnesses said they saw smoke billowing from the crash site, and several ambulances were seen transporting the victims.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed sorrow over the crash, paying tribute to those killed. In separate statements, they conveyed sympathies to the victims' families.

Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, also expressed deep sorrow over the loss of life and extended condolences to the families of those killed, according to the statement.

Such crashes aren't uncommon in Pakistan. In September, an army helicopter on a routine flight crashed in northern Pakistan, killing two pilots and three technicians on board.

Former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Scott Erickson must also pay $1.17 million in punitive damages.

That is in addition to the $176 million in damages for wrongful death and emotional distress that jurors ordered Grossman and Erickson to pay parents Nancy and Karim Iskander last week, after finding them negligent in the deaths of Mark, 11, and Jacob, 8.

“This verdict sends a clear message that everyone must be held accountable when their selfish actions put innocent lives at risk,” Brian Panish, the Iskander family's attorney, said in a statement Wednesday.

Erickson's attorney, Jeff Braun, said they respected the verdict.

“In the coming days, we will review the verdict with our client and discuss the appropriate path forward,” Braun said in a statement. “Today, however, our focus is on acknowledging the extraordinary loss the Iskander family has endured. We extend our sincere condolences to them and continue to keep them in our thoughts.”

Grossman's attorney, Esther Holm, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Grossman was sentenced in 2024 to serve 15 years to life in prison after being convicted of second-degree murder, gross vehicular manslaughter and hit-and-run driving in a separate criminal trial. She is a co-founder of the Grossman Burn Foundation and the wife of a prominent burn doctor.

The boys’ parents also filed lawsuits in civil court against both Grossman and Erickson, who was driving ahead of her when the Iskander brothers were killed. That trial began in April.

The deadly crash occurred on the evening of Sept. 29, 2020, in Westlake Village, a city on the western edge of Los Angeles County.

Panish, the Iskander family’s attorney, argued that Grossman and Erickson were both driving recklessly after drinking margaritas together. The two were dating at a time when Grossman and her husband were separated.

Panish said Grossman was driving 73 mph (117 kph) when her car struck the boys in a crosswalk on a road where the posted speed limit was 45 mph (72 kph).

He said Grossman was following Erickson, who was also speeding and narrowly missed the family.

Holm, Grossman's attorney, denied that her client was intoxicated. She said Grossman was distracted when she saw the boys’ mother dive out of the way of Erickson’s vehicle.

Braun, Erickson's attorney, called the boys’ deaths a tragedy but emphasized that the vehicle he was driving “made no contact with the children.”