Prosecutors are seeking to convince a state judge this week that they have enough evidence against 23-year-old Tyler Robinson to proceed to a trial.

Robinson is charged with aggravated murder in the assassination of Kirk on the Utah Valley University campus last September. Kirk’s parents and widow, Erika Kirk, were in the courtroom for the first time, along with Donald Trump Jr., President Donald Trump’s son.

The hearing marks the most significant presentation of evidence in the case so far. After the hearing concludes, state District Judge Tony Graf must determine if the case should proceed.

Here's the latest:

Judge weighs whether to ‘publish’ evidence

State District Judge Tony Graf is considering several things when deciding whether graphic videos of the shooting and other evidence should be “published,” a legal term that means shown in court.

In some cases, he has found that videos can be shown in court and on the livestream of the hearing. In other cases, he is allowing video to be introduced as evidence but says it can’t be shown in the courtroom or on the livestream.

Tyler Robinson’s defense team has argued that some of the videos may have been altered, with clips taken from longer videos. They’ve also said some evidence may violate Robinson’s due process rights in part because the people who made or edited the videos aren’t in court to testify.

But the prosecution team has generally taken the stance that the records are public and should be published in court. In some cases, they have asked that redacted versions be published.

An attorney for the press has argued that the public has the right to see the exhibits, since they will be used by the court to decide whether the case proceeds.

The judge is also considering whether some of the video or written evidence is so prejudicial that it would make it hard to find impartial jurors if the case goes to trial.

Judge allows statement verifying video of event from woman who isn’t in court

David Sturgill with the Utah County Attorney’s Office is asking former State Bureau of Investigation Agent David Hull to describe the evidence he collected during the shooting investigation.

Hull says phone tips from members of the public poured in, along with many cellphone videos of the shooting taken by people who attended the event. Prosecutors want to present some of those videos, including one from a woman who also wrote a statement confirming she took it.

But defense attorney Kathryn Nester has objected to the video and the written statement, saying they shouldn’t be admitted in part because the woman isn’t present in court to testify about them. It’s difficult for the court to assess a witness’s reliability when the witness isn’t there to be cross-examined, Nester says.

State District Judge Tony Graf says the evidence is allowable under a rule governing “reliable hearsay.”

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The spelling of David Hull's last name has been corrected

Officer’s body camera battery apparently died shortly after the shooting

Defense attorney Kathryn Nester asked former Utah Valley University police Officer Chris Bagley about security plans, body camera footage and any evidence found on the day Charlie Kirk was shot.

Bagley said he wasn’t given any tactical or operational plans before the event.

After the shooting, Bagley looked on the roof of the Losee building, but says he didn’t find any spent casings at that point. His body camera stopped recording while he was on the roof.

“I think my battery died. I don’t know,” Bagley says. He didn’t go back to the roof once his body camera was charged because it was too chaotic, he said.

He has about 27 minutes of body camera footage from that day, Bagley said.

State investigator describes leading the investigation into Kirk’s shooting

Hull, who now works for the Utah Department of Public Safety, says he investigated major crimes when he worked for the State Bureau of Investigation.

He explained how SBI helps other law enforcement agencies process crime scenes and investigate after serious incidents.

Hull says he wasn’t familiar with Charlie Kirk or Utah Valley University before he was asked to help with the shooting investigation. He was eventually tasked with leading the investigation.

Utah state investigator takes the stand

Former Utah Valley University police Officer Chris Bagley is done testifying.

David Hull, a former Utah State Bureau of Investigation agent, is called to the stand.

Preliminary hearing resumes after lunch break

Court is back in session for Tyler Robinson’s preliminary hearing after an hourlong lunch break.

Defense attorney Kathryn Nester is expected to continue her cross-examination of former Utah Valley University police Officer Chris Bagley.

Members of the press are camped outside the courthouse

Television crews, photographers and writers are camped outside the Fourth Judicial District Courthouse in Provo, Utah.

Seats inside the courtroom are limited, so many members of the press are covering Tyler Robinson’s preliminary hearing from the sidewalks outside. They’re watching the building entrances to see who is coming and going, hoping for any opportunity to interview those involved with the case.

Security is tight, and surveillance teams can be seen on rooftops. A drone buzzes overhead occasionally.

Charlie Kirk’s parents and his widow, Erika Kirk, are at the hearing today. So is Donald Trump Jr. and far-right influencer Jack Posobiec.

Robinson’s parents have also been attending the hearing.

The court breaks for lunch

The judge has called a break for lunch. Tyler Robinson’s preliminary hearing will resume after the hourlong break.

Utah is an ‘open carry’ gun law state

Utah is an open carry state, former Utah Valley University police Officer Chris Bagley told defense attorney Kathryn Nester.

Utah state laws allow adults to carry guns openly or conceal them without a permit, though there are restrictions for people ages 18 to 20.

There are some exceptions at public colleges, however. Utah Valley University says it follows state law and allows gun owners to carry a concealed firearm if they have a permit.

Nester is questioning Bagley about the report he wrote after the shooting, including his observation about finding an empty pistol holster on the ground after the crowd fled.

Bagley acknowledged that he never took custody of the holster and doesn’t know if it was ever fingerprinted.

Defense begins cross-examination of former university officer

Defense attorney Kathryn Nester is cross-examining former Utah Valley University police Officer Chris Bagley.

She asked Bagley if he ever attended a meeting to discuss how officers would keep people safe on the day of the shooting. Bagley said he did not.

Bagley said there were six officers working that day. Thousands of people attended the event.

There were no metal detectors being used to screen the crowd, and no drones being used for security, Bagley said.

He also said there were no law enforcement officers on the roof, stairway or walkway when he arrived to work that day.

Officer describes seeing a ‘sniper pad’ disturbance in gravel rooftop

Former Utah Valley University police Officer Chris Bagley says he saw a disturbance in the gravel rooftop of the Losee building that looked like a “sniper pad,” where someone might have been lying in a position that would allow them to shoot a weapon.

The disturbance included spots that looked like they were made by two elbows and two knees, as well as a spot where someone might have laid a gun down. Bagley says he put police tape around the scene to keep people from going near it.

He then realized that they probably did not have a shooter in custody, Bagley said, and so called to have the building searched and secured.

Bagley also went to watch some surveillance video, which showed an individual run to the edge of the roof and drop down. He found a shoe print in the grass on the north-east side of the building, he said.

Preliminary hearing resumes after break

Court is back in session after a 15-minute break. Judge Tony Graf is talking to attorneys about how exhibits are being handled in court.

Charlie Kirk’s parents and widow left the courtroom before the shooting was described

The three of them walked out of the courtroom about a minute after former Utah Valley University police officer Chris Bagley started testifying about Kirk’s arrival on campus the day he was shot.

Kirk’s mother, Kathryn Kirk, clutched a pocket-sized packet of tissues. She had been listening to the proceedings with her head bowed and eyes closed. Widow Erika Kirk had been leaning her head on the shoulder of a blonde woman sitting to her right.

Defendant Tyler Robinson has meanwhile been sitting quietly between his attorneys at the defense table, looking at the exhibits on a monitor and occasionally taking notes. He’s wearing a gray suit, a pale pink shirt, and a tie, with his wrists shackled to a chain around his waist.

Bagley says he spotted something ‘out of place’ on a rooftop

Before a 15-minute recess Monday, former Utah Valley University police officer Chris Bagley said that shortly after the shooting last September, he ran up a public staircase to reach the roof of the Losee Center building, which he knew had a clear line of sight to the location where Charlie Kirk was sitting when he was shot.

On the roof, he spotted something “that looked out of place to me,” Bagley said. It was a red-and-black screwdriver.

Officer describes hearing a shot and chaos erupting

Bagley says he could see the right side of Charlie Kirk as the conservative activist spoke on campus.

Kirk was answering a question when Bagley heard a gunshot, he said, and chaos erupted.

People got up and started running.

Within a few moments, Bagley says he heard officers over the radio say that someone was in custody, so he began assessing the crowd for injuries.

Then he began working to “preserve the crime scene,” Bagley said.

He spotted a pistol holster that had been left on the ground, but knew that he had heard a rifle shot rather than a pistol shot, Bagley added.

Officer details the start of his workday on the day Kirk was shot

Bagley says that on the day of the shooting, he got to work around 11 a.m., and his job was to secure an area near a campus building called the Hall of Flags.

Bagley is using aerial drone photos to describe the layout, including whether there is a clear line of sight or view between different places on campus and the courtyard where Charlie Kirk was shot.

Officer describes the university setting where Kirk was shot

Former Utah Valley police officer Chris Bagley is describing the university campus where Charlie Kirk was shot.

He is using a drone image of Utah Valley University taken in December to set the scene, including a parking garage and campus buildings.

But Robinson’s defense team says he hasn’t adequately shown that he took the photo or that it accurately depicts the campus.

State District Judge Tony Graf says Bagley has first-hand knowledge of the area, so he is allowing it to be used as evidence.

Robinson’s parents are sitting in the courtroom gallery

They are a few rows behind Kirk’s parents and his widow, Erika Kirk, who is watching the proceedings with a furrowed brow.

The first witness has been called

Prosecutors have called Spanish Fork Police Officer Chris Bagley to the stand. Bagley was an officer at Utah Valley University when Charlie Kirk was shot there last year.

Donald Trump Jr. is attending the preliminary hearing

Trump Jr. was among the conservative political figures who spoke at Kirk’s memorial service last year.

Robinson, 23, is charged with aggravated murder in Kirk’s assassination. Robinson’s attorneys have not commented on his guilt or innocence, and the preliminary hearing will determine whether there is enough evidence to allow the criminal case to proceed.

As many as 50 exhibits are expected during the hearing

Chief Deputy Utah County Attorney Chad Grunander told state District Judge Tony Graf that the exhibits will include several videos of the Sept. 10, 2025, shooting, which occurred as Kirk was addressing a crowd of thousands at Utah Valley University.

The videos will be shown on a courtroom monitor that is being set up so that it won’t be captured by the press videographer in the courtroom, Graf said.

Courtroom spectators told to treat the hearing with respect

The judge says people in the courtroom need to show proper decorum during the preliminary hearing.

Spectators aren’t allowed to display pins, clothing, photos or other visible demonstrations of support for anyone involved in the hearing. That includes things like shaking heads, Graf said.

Decorum rules like these are common during court proceedings.

Most witnesses will also be kept out of the hearing until it is time for them to testify, Graf said.

The hearing will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. MT each day, with two 15-minute breaks and a one-hour lunch break at noon. It is expected to last a week.

Preliminary hearing begins for man accused of killing Charlie Kirk

State District Judge Tony Graf is going over his rules for the hearing, including some limitations on the use of technology such as cellphones and laptops.

Graf says the court has the duty to protect and uphold the rights of Tyler Robinson, the man accused of killing the Turning Point USA founder, and those of Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk.

Kirk’s widow arrives at the courthouse

Erika Kirk has arrived at the Utah courthouse for the preliminary hearing of the man accused of killing her husband, Charlie Kirk.

Three men escorted her into the building several minutes before the hearing was expected to begin.

Charlie Kirk’s parents, Robert and Kathryn Kirk, arrived separately.

Court hearing in Kirk’s death draws the curious, heavy security

Armed officers with binoculars are on the roof of the courthouse where Tyler Robinson faces a key hearing in the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk.

More officers are on the ground outside the courthouse. A drone was also flying overhead. Robinson’s defense team arrived at Utah County court with a dolly to move boxes of documents.

The focus of the hearing is whether there’s enough evidence to send Robinson to trial and whether the death penalty will be an option if there’s a conviction.

Shelly Juber, who lives nearby in Orem, got one of the 14 courtroom seats set aside for the public.

“I’m a trial watcher, true-crime enthusiast. … My grandson’s girlfriend was there the day it happened,” she said, referring to Utah Valley University.

A former Utah judge says prosecutors will likely clear the legal bar to pursue a murder case

For Tyler Robinson to be found guilty at trial, prosecutors will have to prove without any reasonable doubt that he killed Kirk. But the criteria for this week’s preliminary hearing are less strict.

Mark Kouris, who was a prosecutor and state judge in Salt Lake City, says there’s a low threshold for prosecutors to show the case against Robinson should proceed to trial.

“Effectively, it’s 51% — there’s a 51% chance they did it,” Kouris, now an adjunct professor at the University of Utah’s S.J. Quinney College of Law, said in an interview. “This standard is extremely low, and the chances of them not getting through it are, quite frankly, almost nothing.”

Kirk’s family says his death ‘irrevocably impacted our lives’

Charlie Kirk’s family thanked supporters for their kindness and prayers ahead of Monday’s preliminary hearing.

“Every court proceeding serves as a painful reminder of his death,” Erika Kirk, his widow, said in a statement posted on X, “and the loss that has irrevocably impacted our lives and the lives of his children.”

She added that the public outpouring “has sustained us during the darkest days of our lives.”

The statement was posted on behalf of Kirk’s parents, Robert and Kathryn, his widow and his sister Mary.

“Out of respect for the judicial process, we will not be commenting further at this time,” the brief statement said.

Kirk’s widow has said she forgives the man accused of killing him

Erika Kirk forgave defendant Tyler Robinson during her husband’s memorial service in September.

“My husband, Charlie, he wanted to save young men, just like the one who took his life,” she said as she struggled to hold back tears.

“I forgive him because it was what Christ did. It is what Charlie would do,” she added.

Her declaration was an outlier among prominent conservatives, including President Donald Trump, who said in September on Fox News that he hopes Robinson gets the death penalty.

Erika Kirk took the helm of Turning Point USA, the conservative youth movement that her husband co-founded, shortly after her husband’s death.

She is expected in court throughout the week with her husband’s parents, Robert and Kathryn Kirk.

Robinson’s attorneys tried to block the death penalty

State District Judge Tony Graf said recently that prosecutors violated his restrictions on talking outside the courtroom when Deputy Utah County Attorney Christopher Ballard told a media outlet his office had ample evidence to convict Tyler Robinson of killing Charlie Kirk.

Robinson’s lawyers argued the comments were intended to influence potential jurors. As a punishment, they wanted the judge to block prosecutors from seeking the death penalty.

But Graf said that was too severe, and that Ballard's comments weren’t malicious.

The judge said any potential bias issues could be addressed by expanding the jury pool or more closely questioning potential jurors when the case goes to trial.

Will Robinson face the death penalty?

Starting with today’s hearing, the focus of the case shifts to whether there is enough evidence for a trial and whether the death penalty is warranted, said Paul Cassell, a University of Utah law professor and former federal judge.

Cassell said evidence made public to date in court filings suggests prosecutors have “an overwhelming case.”

“This seems like the proverbial slam dunk at this stage of the case, where the only issue is whether there is a sound basis for moving forward with a trial on the merits,” he said.

A death sentence is an option in Utah only when a crime has aggravating circumstances. Prosecutors will argue in Robinson’s case that Kirk’s shooting endangered others in attendance.

What information is publicly known about the case?

Authorities have said DNA consistent with Robinson’s was found on the trigger of the rifle used to kill Kirk, the fired cartridge casing, two unfired cartridges and a towel used to wrap the rifle.

Robinson’s parents had confronted him after authorities released a surveillance photo of the suspect and details about the rifle, authorities have said. His parents convinced him to meet with a family friend, a retired sheriff’s deputy who reportedly helped arrange for Robinson to turn himself in.

Prosecutors have said Robinson left a note for his roommate, who was also his romantic partner, that read: “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I’m going to take it.” They also said he wrote to his roommate in a text message about Kirk: “I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out.”

Defense attorneys unsuccessfully sought to block prosecutors from using recorded statements from Robinson’s roommate during the hearing. The defense wanted the roommate to testify in person so Robinson could exercise his right to challenge the credibility of witnesses against him. Graf said the time for challenging witnesses would come later.

What to expect during today’s hearing

The proceeding will resemble a mini-trial, with prosecutors planning to offer DNA evidence linking Robinson to the suspected murder weapon, testimony from investigators, autopsy findings, witness statements and video of Kirk’s killing. They are not required to present all their evidence and can use secondhand information or hearsay.

After the hearing concludes, state District Judge Tony Graf must determine if the case should proceed.

Prosecutors need only demonstrate that there are reasonable grounds to believe Robinson killed Kirk. The standard is lower than for a trial, where prosecutors have to prove guilt “beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Prosecutors will lay out their case against the man accused of killing Charlie Kirk

Charlie Kirk’s widow and parents are expected this week in a Utah court where prosecutors seeking the death penalty will argue that the man charged with killing the conservative activist should stand trial for murder.

The five-day preliminary hearing that starts today will be the first time members of Kirk’s family are in the Utah courtroom with defendant Tyler Robinson. The hearing will be livestreamed.

Robinson turned himself in after the shooting. Prosecutors allege that he also sent a text message confession to his partner and left a note saying he had an opportunity to kill one of the nation’s leading conservative voices, “and I’m going to take it.”

He has not entered a plea in the case, however.

Robinson, 23, is charged with aggravated murder in the Sept. 10 assassination of Kirk, who was addressing a crowd of thousands at Utah Valley University. His attorneys have not commented on his guilt or innocence.

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It marks the 100th anniversary of the publication of Ernest Hemingway ’s book “The Sun Also Rises” that launched the future Nobel Laureate to literary fame and put Pamplona on the map for millions of people around the world.

On Monday, the festival kicked off with a firework blast over a jam-packed plaza. The first of eight bull runs is on Tuesday.

Hemingway’s 1926 novel captivated generations of readers with its sexy Jazz Age tale of American and British bohemians trying to fill some inner void with the distractions of exotic travel, vast quantities of alcohol and the anguishing pursuit of impossible love.

Its success established “The Sun Also Rises” as a cornerstone of the American literary canon, right up there with F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby.” It also popularized the term “lost generation” to describe the tight-knit group of early 20th-century writers expatriated in Paris. Hemingway's terse style forever changed American literature. In Spanish, its title is translated as “Fiesta.”

Hillmann, who hails from Chicago, was 19 when Hemingway’s vivid depiction of the bull running festival first enthralled him, especially descriptions of average Spaniards risking their lives sprinting through the streets to guide the bulls to the bull ring during the nine-day festival.

“I sat there for about six hours, well past midnight, reading the book," Hillmann told The Associated Press in Pamplona as he looked down on the pen where the bulls are held before being set free on the cobblestoned route. “And by the time I was done with that book, I was going to be a writer and I was going to be a bull runner."

Since that literary encounter, the 44-year-old Hillmann has run with the bulls in Spain hundreds of times, counting both his trips to Pamplona and his participation in dozens more bull runs in other Spanish towns. His infatuation with Hemingway and Pamplona has never waned, even though he nearly died one time that he was gored by a bull horn.

Hillmann’s appreciation led him to earn a doctorate in English, and now it is his turn to teach “The Sun Also Rises” at East-West University in Chicago, and write about bull running.

Americans are the biggest group of foreign bull runners

Hillmann is just one of many Americans inspired to travel to Spain to see the festival firsthand. While running with bulls is a cherished local custom for Spanish daredevils, Americans are still the leading group of foreigners who run at the San Fermin festival. In 2022, 16% of the bull runners were Americans, the largest percentage among foreigners and four times more than those from neighboring France, according to Pamplona’s City Hall.

Dallas-based tour operator Bruce Anderson, whose company “Running Of The Bulls” has helped thousands of Americans attend San Fermin over the years, says that Hemingway’s work made the festival a bucket-list destination. This year, his company is bringing 1,400 people to the festival, with over two-thirds from the United States.

“There’s a lot of energy, a lot of excitement around just remembering that book and the impact that it’s had,” said Anderson, himself a lifelong Hemingway fan. He spoke in Pamplona’s art deco Café Iruña, which features heavily as a drinking spot in “The Sun Also Rises” and today houses a life-size statue of Hemingway bellying up to the bar.

And Anderson, with his thick white beard, is something of a Hemingway look-alike. Local Spaniards often call out to him: “Papa!” – a nickname for their adopted hero.

It is impossible to avoid Hemingway in Pamplona

Hemingway is etched into the landscape of Pamplona. Hotels and bars have busts of him or signs up that he was once there. Outside the Pamplona bull ring, which also has a statue of the writer, a huge banner hangs in honor of the novel, including a quote that shows how the festival left the writer speechless: “At noon of Sunday, the 6th of July, the fiesta exploded. There is no other way to describe it.”

When Hemingway made his last visits to Pamplona, he would frequent the Perla Hotel; his suite still has furniture from the 1950s when he stayed there. The room, which overlooks the bull run route, also has two glass bookcases holding dozens of copies of “The Sun Also Rises.”

“Hemingway did a lot for Pamplona because he made it known around the world,” said Fernando Hualde, who worked for four decades as a receptionist in the hotel.

Hemingway’s legacy has become complicated over time

Hemingway’s local legacy, however, is mixed.

Beside a feminist critique of his hyper masculine public persona, Hemingway has drawn criticism from the animal rights movement for his praise of bullfighters. In “The Sun Also Rises,” he spills far more ink on descriptions of their bravery than on the bull runs.

Animal welfare activist Brook Spurling said during a protest against the San Fermin bullfights that “Hemingway wrote about many, many themes that today would not be accepted into society. He writes about hunting, about war, and we don’t want to be appreciating these themes today.”

Hualde says that some Pamplona residents rue his early promotion of the festival due to the ills of overtourism the sleepy provincial city is now experiencing.

Pamplona has 200,000 residents and receives over a million more people for the festival. While most are Spaniards, around 15% of the revelers are from abroad. And many, especially the younger visitors, follow Hemingway’s example of drinking to excess.

Some locals take pride in spots that weren’t touched by Hemingway. Local literature professor Gabriel Insausti of Pamplona’s University of Navarra recalls being in a bar with a sign that read “Hemingway was not here.”

“In general, Hemingway has become a product of a franchise associated with San Fermin festival that has obscured his novel,” Insausti said. “People know who Hemingway is, but they haven’t read his novel.”

But the power of Hemingway’s English prose lives on

Hillmann said that the high percentage of inexperienced foreigners today makes the Pamplona bull runs particularly dangerous. The last death was in 2009 but gorings and other injuries are common. Novice runners can easily panic and make a wrong move that can cause a pileup or send someone into the path of a bull.

He was badly gored in 2014 when he said a bad maneuver by a fellow runner left him exposed to a bull. He thought he was dying, such was the quantity of blood gushing from his leg.

After another goring in 2017, Hillmann told the AP from his hospital bed in Pamplona that he would not stop running. “People think this is just crazy people running. There is real art. If you pay attention, you can see it,” he said then.

Hemingway's granddaughter, the actress Mariel Hemingway, recalls being treated “like royalty” when she attended San Fermin years ago. Mariel, who has written and spoken about her grandfather's battles with mental illness that led to his suicide in 1961, is convinced his work will endure.

That fascination with death is likewise timeless.

“Identity, love, purpose, and how to rebuild after profound loss ... those themes haven’t ever changed. That’s what’s great about my grandfather,” Mariel Hemingway told the AP from her home in Idaho.

“I think he captured something that will never go away.”

Former Utah Valley University Officer Christopher Bagley said he witnessed Kirk's shooting as the conservative activist spoke to a crowd of thousands last year. Soon after, he went to a nearby gravel rooftop, where it appeared someone had been lying prone with a clear sightline to Kirk's location, Bagley said.

“It looks like a sniper pad,” Bagley said, adding, "you’ve got markings of elbows, knees and feet.”

The testimony came as Kirk’s parents, Kathryn and Robert, and widow, Erika, were in the courtroom for the first time since the case began, along with Donald Trump Jr., President Donald Trump’s son.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for defendant Tyler Robinson. A five-day preliminary hearing that began Monday marks the most significant presentation of evidence to date in the case.

Robinson's parents also were present, sitting a few rows behind the Kirks as the hearing began. The 23-year-old defendant is charged with aggravated murder in the Sept. 10 assassination of Kirk, a conservative activist and ally of President Donald Trump, at Utah Valley University. Robinson turned himself in the day after the shooting.

Prosecutors allege he confessed in a note left for his roommate, who was also his romantic partner, that read: “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I’m going to take it.”

Robinson has not yet entered a plea, and his attorneys have not commented on his guilt or innocence. They have, however, sought to get the death penalty taken off the table, so far unsuccessfully.

A low threshold for prosecutors

Robinson sat quietly between his attorneys on Monday, looking at the prosecution’s exhibits on a monitor and occasionally taking notes. He wore a gray suit, and his wrists were shackled to a chain around his waist.

Charlie Kirk's parents and widow walked out of the courtroom when a police officer started testifying about Kirk’s arrival on campus the day he was shot. They later returned.

The proceeding resembles a minitrial, but prosecutors need only demonstrate that there are reasonable grounds to believe Robinson killed Kirk. The standard is lower than for a trial, where prosecutors must prove guilt “beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Prosecutors as a result should have little trouble advancing their case, said Mark Kouris, a former prosecutor and state judge in Salt Lake City.

“This standard is extremely low and the chances of them not getting through it are, quite frankly, almost nothing," said Kouris, now an adjunct professor at the University of Utah’s S.J. Quinney College of Law. “

Bagley, the prosecution's first witness, said he could see the right side of Charlie Kirk’s body as Kirk spoke on campus. Kirk was answering a question when Bagley heard a gunshot.

“I saw him go to the left ... I could no longer see the right side of his body,” Bagley said. “Then everybody started getting up and started to run, more of a chaos situation.”

Defense attorney Kathryn Nester asked Bagley about finding an empty pistol holster on the ground after the crowd fled. Bagley acknowledged he never took custody of the holster and didn't know if it was fingerprinted.

Nester repeatedly objected to evidence introduced by prosecutors, but was overruled by the judge. Any evidence from this week’s hearing would have to be reintroduced again to be used at trial.

Roommate's recorded testimony could be focal point

Prosecutors can use secondhand information, or hearsay, to help present their case. They expect to present between 40 and 50 exhibits during this week's hearing.

Chief Deputy Utah County Attorney Chad Grunander told state District Judge Tony Graf that the exhibits will include several videos of the Sept. 10 shooting, which occurred as Kirk was addressing a crowd of thousands at Utah Valley University. The videos will be shown on a courtroom monitor that is being set up so that it won’t be captured by the press videographer in the courtroom, said Graf.

Prosecutors have said they plan to present DNA evidence linking Robinson to the suspected murder weapon, autopsy findings, witness statements and video of Kirk’s killing. They are also expected to argue the shooting endangered others at Kirk's campus event — an aggravating circumstance that could make the crime punishable by death under Utah law.

Once the hearing is finished, Graf must determine whether there is enough evidence for the case to proceed to trial.

Robinson's roommate is not expected to testify in person during the hearing. Still, the roommate's recorded testimony could be a focal point for prosecutors.

In addition to the alleged confession note, Robinson reportedly texted his roommate that he targeted Kirk because he “had enough of his hatred,” prosecutors have said.

Erika Kirk says court proceedings are a 'painful reminder'

Before his death, Kirk and the organization he co-founded, Turning Point USA, galvanized the conservative youth vote to help Trump win a second term.

The Republican president has said he hopes Robinson receives the death penalty.

Erika Kirk said during his memorial service that she forgives Robinson.

Ahead of Monday's hearing, she thanked supporters in a statement for their kindness and prayers.

“Every court proceeding serves as a painful reminder of his death,” she wrote, “and the loss that has irrevocably impacted our lives and the lives of his children.”

She added that the public outpouring “has sustained us during the darkest days of our lives.”

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Brown reported from Billings, Montana.

“All I did was ask for a review,” Trump said when asked about it during an unrelated Oval Office event. “I didn’t say, ‘You have to do this.’”

Trump confirmed that he called FIFA President Gianni Infantino and asked for a second look at the punishment against Balogun in the United States’ 2-0 win against Bosnia-Herzegovina last week in Santa Clara, California, near San Francisco. But he said FIFA made the final call to lift Balogun’s mandatory one-game ban for a foul tackle, allowing him to play in Monday’s round of 16 match with Belgium in Seattle.

FIFA’s decision to suspend the one-game ban was celebrated by many in the United States but brought condemnation in the international sports world, where some called it an outrageous intrusion. The Belgian soccer federation challenged Balogun's eligibility for Monday's match, and the UEFA soccer body in Europe called FIFA's move “incomprehensible and unjustifiable.”

Trump criticizes the referee's red card call

In remarks on Monday, Trump called the referee's decision a “horrible” call. He said it would have been a stain on the tournament if Balogun, the U.S.' leading scorer at this year's World Cup with three goals, was held out against Belgium and the U.S. lost. He praised FIFA for suspending the punishment.

“I didn’t think it was a foul,” Trump said. “I thought it was two great athletes that crashed into each other and got entangled.”

The Republican president, who said he understands sports “really well,” acknowledged that he did not initially know what a red card is or the consequences it brings. When he learned it would lead to a one-game suspension for Balogun, he said, he decided to step in. He also took issue with the use of video review to issue the red card, arguing that slowed-down reviews can make plays look more aggressive.

“Belgium has got a great team,” Trump said. “We have to have our best players, and they have to have their best. And if we win or we lose, it’s fair.”

FIFA president defends the decision process

Soon after Trump addressed the controversy, Infantino issued a statement detailing his call with Trump and defending the independence of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee.

“During our conversation, I explained that there was an ongoing legal process involving FIFA’s independent judicial bodies and that the case would be decided in due course by the competent bodies,” Infantino said in a statement on X. “That is how FIFA’s system works, and it is a principle that I will always uphold."

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who joined Trump at the White House event, credited the president for taking action. "On behalf of all Americans, thank you for getting rid of that ridiculous red card,” Cruz said during his remarks. “It was spectacular.”

Separately, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said it was the right decision to lift the punishment for Balogun.

In rare comments during a photo op ahead of his meeting with Chile’s foreign minister, Rubio questioned why Belgium would want to win a match “if everyone will argue you didn’t really win it because their best, or their leading, scorer was not on the pitch.”

He joked that it was becoming an “international incident” ahead of a NATO summit in Turkey this week.

Trump also blamed the referee. Brazil's soccer federation defended him

Trump took a swipe at the official who made the call, describing Brazilian referee Raphael Claus as “a little bit suspect if you check his past.” He did not elaborate.

Claus has been considered one of Brazil’s best referees in the last few years, often picked to officiate the nation’s most important matches, including the final of the 2024 Copa America.

During a match-fixing investigation by Brazil’s Senate in 2024, lawmakers scrutinized referee assignment practices but did not accuse Claus of wrongdoing.

On Monday, the Brazilian soccer federation defended Claus as one of the world’s leading active referees, praising his technical expertise and ethics. “There is nothing in his record that calls his integrity into question or supports any suspicion of wrongdoing,” the federation said in a statement.

The Sao Paulo Football Federation in a statement expressed “its unwavering support” for Claus in the face of “regrettable insinuations that attempt, without any basis, to cast doubt on his integrity and professional career.”

How did Balogun get the red card?

The foul against Balogun was called after he planted his cleated foot on the ankle of Bosnian defender Tarik Muharemovic during their round of 32 match. The referee didn’t initially signal a card, but a slow-motion review resulted in the red card.

Balogun later said he thought a yellow card, a formal warning, would have been fair.

FIFA's decision drew quick rebuke on Sunday from Belgium coach Rudi Garcia, who said it sounded like an April Fools' Day joke. Meanwhile U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino applauded FIFA’s move, saying his team was punished enough by losing Balogun for the remainder of last week's game.

As the drama played out on the pitch last week, it was immediately clear from the perspective of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, White House FIFA Task Force leader Andrew Giuliani and Trump administration officials that the process used to issue the red card to Balogun was improper.

Discussions over the red card and what to do about it dominated the flight from Santa Clara back to Washington. The consensus of the group, according to a senior U.S. official with knowledge of the talks, was simply: that the slow-motion replay was improper, so shouldn’t the red card be nullified?

The next day, Trump officials continued to dig into the rules, consult lawyers and speak with U.S. Soccer about the matter, according to the official, who insisted on anonymity to discuss private conversations.

Trump was also briefed on updates as he prepared to speak with Infantino, whom the U.S. president has talked with multiple times a week since the World Cup, which is being hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, began June 11.

___

Kim reported from Ankara, Turkey. Associated Press photographer Manny Ceneta contributed from Washington. Associated Press writer Eléonore Hughes contributed from Rio de Janeiro and writer Tales Azzoni contributed from Madrid.

Platner denied the allegation and said he would be considering next steps for his campaign.

“Regardless of the inaccuracy of the reporting but mindful of the political reality it will inflict, we’re taking the time to reflect on the best path forward,” he said in a video released on social media.

Jenny Racicot, who lives in Maine, told Politico that Platner entered her home in 2021 while drunk and assaulted her. Racicot said she had been in an on-and-off relationship with Platner, but she cut off contact with him after that night and told him the incident wasn’t consensual. A voicemail left at a number listed for Racicot seeking comment did not receive an immediate response.

An email and phone message from The Associated Press seeking comment were sent to Platner’s campaign on Monday.

“Any accusation of non-consensual behavior is categorically false,” Platner said in his video.

As of Monday, Platner had canceled a handful of campaign town halls planned in Maine.

Several lawmakers and groups that have supported Platner, including Sen. Bernie Sanders and the organization he founded, Our Revolution, as well as Rep. Ro Khanna, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Khanna has supported Platner through several scandals but said last month on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that “if there was evidence of violence, I would not support him. If there was evidence of sexual assault, I’d have zero support for him.”

Platner secured the nomination to become Maine’s Democratic Senate candidate last month, but state law does include a provision for Democrats to replace him ahead of the general election.

According to the statute, party officials may select a new nominee if a candidate who won the primary withdraws by 5 p.m. July 13. The replacement candidate must be named by July 27.

The Associated Press generally does not name victims of sexual assault, but in this case Racicot spoke in an interview with Politico.

The furor centered on a phone call that President Donald Trump made last week to FIFA head Gianni Infantino to make the case that U.S. striker Folarin Balogun should not have been suspended for Monday’s matchup with Belgium because of a red card penalty in a game last week. FIFA lifted the suspension and cleared Balogun to play.

The decision appeared to be the first time since 1962 that punishment for a World Cup offense was suspended in the tournament, increasing scrutiny on Infantino’s control of FIFA and his close association with Trump.

The European soccer governing body UEFA said FIFA “crossed a red line” and called Sunday’s decision by FIFA’s disciplinary committee “unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable.” Infantino denied having a role in the decision. Trump called it a “horrible” call and took credit for getting FIFA to review the foul, but said he did not demand an outcome.

The Royal Belgian Football Association said it informed the U.S. Soccer Federation it was contesting Balogun’s eligibility.

But FIFA’s appeals committee dismissed Belgium’s legal challenge less than eight hours before scheduled kickoff of the round of 16 match in Seattle. The appellate panel said Belgium had no standing to challenge the decision.

It was unclear whether Belgium could pursue an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland.

Balogun’s red card was assessed by Brazilian referee Raphael Claus for stepping on an opponent’s ankle last Wednesday during the Americans’ 2-0 win over Bosnia-Herzegovina, triggering an automatic one-game suspension. Claus did not initially issue a red card but showed it after a video review.

FIFA’s disciplinary committee on Sunday provisionally lifted the suspension for one year.

UEFA vs. FIFA reignites

European soccer officials reacted with outrage.

“When the certainty of rules is no longer guaranteed by its guardians, the integrity of the game is at stake and the credibility of a competition is undermined,” UEFA said in a statement.

“Sometimes rules are open to interpretation. In this case not,” it said. “When the certainty of rules is no longer guaranteed by its guardians, the integrity of the game is at stake and the credibility of a competition is undermined.”

UEFA has often clashed with Infantino during his decade in FIFA power.

Infantino’s predecessor Sepp Blatter, forced from office in 2015 in fallout from corruption scandals, posted Monday on social media:

“Red cards are not overturned by political phone calls,” said Blatter. “They are overturned by rules, evidence and independent bodies.”

The Swiss Football Association declared that the “credibility of the competition depends on clear rules that are applied consistently.”

Coaches speculated about the implications of the decision going forward.

“What about the next red card? What happens then?” Norway coach Ståle Solbakken said. “Is there going to be some committee somewhere that is going to take that card away? It’s a bad, bad, bad, bad, bad decision that will hurt the World Cup.”

England coach Thomas Tuchel wondered whether yellow cards to English defender Declan Rice and French midfielder Michael Olise could be reversed.

Trump’s comments

Trump on Monday called the referee’s decision a “horrible” call while admitting he was confused about the rules and punishment surrounding red cards.

“I didn’t think it was a foul,” Trump said. “I thought it was two great athletes that crashed into each other and got entangled.”

He also acknowledged calling Infantino.

“All I did was ask for a review,” Trump said. “I didn’t say, ‘You have to do this.’”

Infantino issued a statement saying: “FIFA’s judicial bodies are independent. They operate autonomously.”

“I explained that there was an ongoing legal process involving FIFA’s independent judicial bodies and that the case would be decided in due course by the competent bodies,” he said of his conversation with Trump.

Infantino’s relationship with Trump previously sparked concern among soccer officials. European soccer leaders walked out of a FIFA Congress in Paraguay last year due to a three-hour delay caused by Infantino arriving late because he was with Trump in the Middle East.

After Infantino awarded Trump the first FIFA peace prize in December, Norway’s governing body filed a letter supporting an ethics complaint against Infantino that accused him of violating provisions in FIFA’s code of ethics requiring political neutrality.

Belgium’s legal options

Belgian officials prepared in Seattle through the night into Monday to get a hearing with a FIFA-appointed appeals judge, and their eventual defeat might not be the end.

“Regardless of the sporting outcome of the match,” the Belgian federation said, ”(we are) deeply concerned by the way these events have unfolded and will continue, in the hours, days and months ahead, to pursue every available avenue to uphold the fundamental principles of ethics, sporting fairness and the interests of football as a whole.”

Balogun’s tackle

Balogun was sent off directly for planting his cleated foot on an ankle of defender Tarik Muharemović.

That kind of challenge has been a routine red card all season in competitions worldwide, and Balogun could have expected a two-game ban for serious foul play under the FIFA disciplinary code.

Still, similar challenges by star players have gone unpunished at this World Cup — by Argentina’s Lionel Messi against Algeria and Morocco’s Achraf Hakimi vs. Brazil. Bernardo Silva of Portugal got just a yellow card against Congo.

“I think a yellow card would have been fair,” Balogun later suggested.

FIFA’s interventions

This World Cup has been remarkable for FIFA under Infantino seeming to rewrite the norms of disciplinary action even before the tournament began.

A pattern of pardons opened FIFA to suggestions of executive intervention in the statutory independence of its judicial bodies, including the disciplinary committee that formally reprieved Balogun.

Cristiano Ronaldo was cleared to play in Portugal’s opening World Cup game despite getting a red card for serious foul play in a qualifying game against Ireland last November. He struck an opponent with an elbow.

Ronaldo served his mandatory ban in Portugal’s final qualifying game but he was reprieved from an expected two-game ban because FIFA introduced the idea of probation. An imposed three-game ban was less meaningful as two games were deferred during a one-year probationary period.

At the opening game on June 11, South Africa’s Themba Zwane got a red card against Mexico for a similar offense to Ronaldo’s and FIFA imposed a three-game ban with no probation. Zwane did not play again at the World Cup.

Three players sent off in their teams’ qualifying games last year were surprisingly told by FIFA in May they could serve their bans in a future competition instead of at the World Cup, which was the long-standing norm.

Ecuador midfielder Moisés Caicedo, Argentina defender Nicolás Otamendi and Qatar defender Tarek Salman all had their bans waived for the World Cup.

___

See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

On Monday, police identified the motorcyclist as Nicholas Moreno, 27, of San Antonio.

Officers responded just before 3 a.m. Saturday to the two-vehicle crash at the intersection of Schertz Parkway and Wiederstein Road.

Police said Moreno was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the motor vehicle sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

Schertz police said its investigation is ongoing.

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David Streever, who is a U.S. citizen, was on a trip to Finland when two officers showed up to his Rochester home in June and presented his wife with a warning notice informing him that the email he sent months earlier was considered a threat, his attorneys said. Streever sent the email in January to Todd Lyons, then the acting director of ICE, after an immigration officer fatally shot Minneapolis resident Renee Good during an anti-ICE demonstration.

In the email, Streever called Lyons “a monstrous human being” who “will never know peace.” He said the agency violated his First Amendment rights in a lawsuit filed Monday in Washington D.C.

Streever is one of at least two residents of upstate New York who was served with a federal warning in June in the wake of criticizing ICE online. The Philadelphia-based Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression is representing Streever, and said it filed the lawsuit because Streever's right to free expression was violated.

“This is very clearly within the protection of the First Amendment,” said Adam Steinbaugh, an attorney with the foundation. “It was in the context of political speech.”

Representatives for ICE previously declined to comment on the warning to Streever, citing an ongoing investigation, and the agency did not immediately comment Monday. The suit also names Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, whose office released a statement that said “Any allegation DHS and its components are attempting to ‘squash’ free speech is categorically FALSE.”

“Anyone who assaults or threatens our law enforcement officers will face the consequences," the statement said.

The entirety of the three-paragraph email, which carried the subject line “What's next,” and referenced a leader in Nazi Germany: “You are a monstrous human being and will go down in history as America’s Reinhard Heydrich, the butcher.

“The way you are protecting the obvious execution in Minnesota, even as we see the videos, will lead to your downfall. Even Trump will turn on you before the end, and you will be a sad, despised man who eats himself alive with shame at your own pathetic weakness.

“You will never know peace. You will seek to lose yourself, to escape the burden of knowing the truth about yourself. But wherever you go, you will find yourself. You will torment yourself until your last day on Earth.”

Federal agents also attempted to confront Streever at a hotel in New York City when he returned from Finland, but they were turned away by hotel staff, Steinbaugh said.

Federal officials went to Streever's house the same week that officials visited Paigelynne Gonyea, a poll worker, at a voting location during New York’s primaries to confront her about a social media post.

Gonyea believes the warning stemmed from writing “I think today is a great day for Jonathan to be indicted,” in a post with a picture of Jonathan Ross, the ICE officer who shot and killed Good. She posted it in January, after Ross had already been identified by the news media.

Lauren Bis, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, shared an image of a different social media post from Gonyea in which she said Gonyea shared Ross’ address. Part of that post was redacted.

Bis said in a statement in June that Gonyea “committed a federal crime by posting the address of an ICE law enforcement officer online” and “if you doxx our officers, we will investigate you, and you will be brought to justice.”

A representative for the New York Attorney General's Office has said the office is aware of the two residents' contact with federal agents. The representative has said the office has been reviewing the interaction between Gonyea and federal agents that took place at the polls.

Belgium said it’s appealing the suspension of the penalty. Infantino’s predecessor Sepp Blatter said “red cards are not overturned by political phone calls." Norway’s coach called it “bad, bad, bad, bad, bad.”

Trump rang a ceremonial bell Monday as the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq opened, reflecting how much he's counting on the stock market as he promoted the launch of Trump Accounts for children, which Republicans created in their 2025 tax and spending cuts bill.

And Trump will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa on Wednesday at the NATO summit in Turkey, as Kyiv tries to refocus his attention on the conflict with Moscow and as Trump publicly mused about Syria’s role in the Middle East.

The Latest:

Woman accuses Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner of sexual assault, report says

A woman who previously dated Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner said he drunkenly forced her to have sex after she told him to stop, according to a Politico report released Monday.

Platner denied the allegation and said he would be considering next steps for his campaign.

“Regardless of the inaccuracy of the reporting but mindful of the political reality it will inflict, we’re taking the time to reflect on the best path forward,” he said in a video released on social media.

Jenny Racicot, who lives in Maine, told Politico that Platner entered her home in 2021 while drunk and assaulted her. Racicot said she had been in an on-and-off relationship with Platner, but she cut off contact with him after that night and told him the incident wasn’t consensual.

An email and phone message from The Associated Press seeking comment were sent to Platner’s campaign on Monday.

Obamacare rolls shrank dramatically in many states over the past year, new federal data shows

States across the country saw steep drops in the number of people covered by the Affordable Care Act over the past year, with Ohio and Oklahoma each losing nearly one-third of enrollees, according to new federal data that provides the first complete 50-state breakdown of sharp enrollment declines following the January expiration of enhanced subsidies.

The data, posted in late June by the Trump administration and first reported on by The Associated Press, reveals how changes in each state’s insured population led to around 2.6 million fewer Americans having Obamacare plans in February compared with the same time last year.

It captures not only how many people signed up for or were automatically reenrolled in plans in 2026, but how many paid their first monthly premiums to keep coverage, according to Cynthia Cox, a vice president and director of the ACA program at the healthcare research nonprofit KFF, who reviewed the dataset. She said it accounts for people who were retroactively removed from coverage after a nonpayment grace period ended.

FIFA president says disciplinary committee acted with independence

In its decision to let Balogun play against Belgium, FIFA cited article 27 of its disciplinary code, which says a “judicial body” can “fully or partially suspend the implementation of a disciplinary measure.” Balogun could yet get that one-game suspension on top of any future punishment if he commits a similar offense again in the next year.

While FIFA didn’t elaborate on how it reached its decision, the global soccer organization’s president, Gianni Infantino, insisted in a social media post that FIFA’s disciplinary committee acted with independence and judged cases such as Balogun’s on “applicable regulations and the specific facts.” Article 27 doesn’t lay out any requirements for which cases are eligible under the rarely used rule.

Trump says he’s building a White House helipad for a new, more powerful Marine One

President Donald Trump said Monday that he’s building a granite helipad on the White House lawn, insisting that the landing area is needed to accommodate new, more powerful presidential choppers.

Confirmation of the project came as construction crews had already begun working on the helipad on the South Lawn, where the president had UFC build a temporary arena for a cage fight celebrating his 80th birthday. He said the project would be privately funded and estimated its cost at up to $6 million.

“It’s got the seal of the White House on it in granite, in carved granite,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “It’s really a beautiful thing.”

The president did not offer details on how long the work would take. It is the latest major construction project he has overseen in an effort to increasingly mold the White House in his own image.

Trump tells lunch guests they won’t have to talk to each other while music plays

Trump offered his playlist as he wrapped more than 40 minutes of remarks in Washington, D.C.’s heat that was held shortly after an earlier, lengthy press event in the Oval Office.

“Should we put on a little music, yes?,” he asked. “This way you don’t have to talk to each other. You just have to listen to music.”

“So we’re going to put on a little music, the Trump playlist, OK, and we’ll have a little fun,” Trump said.

“YMCA” began to play as the White House press pool was escorted back indoors.

Rapper Nicki Minaj returns to White House for launch of Trump accounts

Minaj got a shout-out from Trump as he spoke at a Rose Garden luncheon after an earlier event to highlight the accounts.

The musical artist had joined Trump in January for an earlier announcement about the “Trump Accounts” for children born during his second term.

Trump said Monday that Minaj is “great” and “so respected.”

Minaj has described herself as Trump’s “number one fan.”

Rubio also wades into the red card controversy

In rare comments during a photo op ahead of his meeting with Chile’s foreign minister, Secretary of State Marco Rubio echoed Trump by saying “it was the right decision to reverse” Balogun’s penalty.

Rubio acknowledged that “there’s a lot of drama around” the decision. But he mused about why Belgium would want to possibly win a match “if everyone will argue you didn’t really win it because their best, or their leading scorer was not on the pitch.”

Rubio joked that maybe it was “turning into an international incident” ahead of the NATO leaders summit in Turkey this week.

“Maybe we’ll bring it up at NATO tomorrow or with the Belgians and everybody else,” Rubio told reporters Monday, laughing. “I just hope the match will go on, everyone will be at full strength and the winner will be the winner.”

Trump says Cruz only SCOTUS appointee who would get 100 Senate votes

Calling Sen. Ted Cruz “a friend of mine,” in the Oval Office earlier on Monday, Trump said the Texas Republican was the only potential Supreme Court nominee who could get unanimous approval for the post from the Senate.

Trump talked at length about how the two were “great friends” before they duked it out for the GOP nomination during the 2016 presidential campaign, “but then it came together better than ever before.”

Cruz has been laying the groundwork for a possible run at the presidency again, stumping for Republican candidates in early-voting states including South Carolina. Frequently floated by Trump for a post on the high court, Cruz has said he would decline it, preferring to stay in politics and policy.

Trump says he’s putting ‘a lot of love’ back into the White House

Trump reviewed several of his White House renovation projects at a lunch on the Rose Garden patio for his investment accounts that bear his name for children born during his second term.

He referenced work being done to the columns on the Pennsylvania Avenue entrance to the mansion and said he was having layers and layers of paint removed.

Trump also talked about the ballroom he’s building and his decision to replace the lawn in the Rose Garden with patio stone.

“We’re putting a lot of love back into the White House,” he said.

Nonprofits and brands navigate this partisan 250th in search of a unifying tone

The United States’ 250th birthday carries ambitions to galvanize Americans behind nationwide community-service drives and patriotic brand launches. Well-known U.S. nonprofits hope to inspire a record-setting level of volunteerism, while major companies such as Walmart and Coca-Cola are sponsoring tributes and selling limited-edition merchandise.

But the private sector’s unifying ambitions have been met with a mixed response, complicated by an uneasy national mood. Fewer Americans see their country as exceptional compared to 10 years ago, according to a recent survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, part of a broad decline in patriotic sentiment. Views of the American flag — a prominent feature of semiquincentennial celebrations — are divided by politics, age and race.

▶ Read more

Hamas dissolves Gaza government, plans power transfer to UN-backed committee

The Hamas militant group said Monday it had dissolved its government in Gaza and is preparing to transfer power to a technical committee backed by the United Nations as part of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal.

Hamas did not say whether it planned to take the crucial step of disarming or handing over security to an international force, but described its decision as evidence of its commitment to Gaza’s reconstruction after years of war.

It was unclear if the move, announced by a lower-level official, would lead to any meaningful change on the ground.

The Board of Peace, led by Trump with the mandate of governing and rebuilding Gaza, said it would assess the impact of the Hamas announcement based on “actions, not promises” and stressed in a statement on X that the technocratic committee must control all weapons in Gaza, as laid out in the ceasefire agreement.

Netanyahu urges US not to sell F-35s to Turkey

Speaking Monday on the morning show “Fox & Friends,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan “calls openly for the annihilation of Israel.”

Turkey and Israel have acrimonious relations. Erdogan frequently accuses Israel of committing genocide in its war in Gaza, triggered by the deadly Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel.

Turkey was barred from the F-35 program in 2019, after it purchased Russian-made S-400 missile defense systems. However, Trump, who has warm relations with Erdogan, has hinted ahead of his planned visit to Ankara for the NATO summit that the sales could soon resume.

Netanyahu said selling Turkey F-35s would “upset the power balance in the Middle East, which is ultimately guaranteed by Israeli air superiority and also, I think, by America’s posture in the Middle East.”

Israel’s Air Force depends on hundreds of U.S. fighter jets, including F-35s, F-16s and F-15s.

Trump points to George Washington to justify enriching his family

The president has drawn sharp criticism after financial disclosures showed his family made more than $1 billion in crypto last year.

He says his sons are running the family business, the Trump Organization, while he’s president.

“I don’t talk to them,” Trump said, adding, “I’m allowed to, I think.”

But he also said he doesn’t bother because being president is more important: “This office is a much higher calling.”

Trump also offered a dubious history lesson, suggesting that, as president, George Washington had two desks — one for business matters and another for the presidency.

“He had two desks in the same room,” Trump said. “And so, you’re allowed to. But I choose not to. I don’t talk to my kids about, you know, this stuff.”

Trump confirms he’s building a helipad on the White House lawn

The president argued that landing Marine One on the South Lawn, as has been done for years, was tough on the grass. He said the process has sometimes singed the grass or even torn it away.

“The hardest thing to get is a helipad,” Trump said. “There’s no harder zoning thing to get.”

He added “we’re building a helipad” that will feature the presidential seal and be made of granite.

The plan marks yet another building project for Trump, who has shaped the White House and its grounds in his own image in myriad ways.

Trump questions dangers of TikTok because he’s No. 1 on it

Asked whether SpaceX shares would be donated for use in Trump Accounts, the president instead talked about how TikTok helped him become president again.

Citing a news segment about the social media app’s purported dangers, Trump said he had seen that he is “No. 1 on it,” then questioned how dangerous it could actually be.

“I think it helped me win the election in a landslide, if you want to know the truth,” he said.

As for SpaceX, Trump said he’s “a cheerleader for geniuses” and speaks to many of them, including Elon Musk, who founded the rocketmaking company.

Trump says he called FIFA president to review red card, called it a ‘horrible’ call

Asked about his role in getting Balogun’s red-card penalty suspended, Trump acknowledged calling Infantino and asking that FIFA take a second look.

The president said he didn’t initially know what a red card was or what its consequences were. When he found out that it could keep Balogun out of Monday’s match against Belgium, Trump said he felt compelled to intervene.

“All I did was ask for a review,” Trump said to press at the White House. “I didn’t think it was a foul,” he added. “I thought it was two great athletes that crashed each other and got entangled.”

He said the red card was a “horrible” call, arguing that the slowed-down video review made it look worse than it was.

“That’s very unfair,” he said. “How do you penalize them for a game that hasn’t been played?”

Trump warns of ‘communists’ who want to destroy US

“Capitalism” has been the word du jour of the Trump Accounts event, with speakers talking about how the investment vehicles will energize children about financial investing.

But Trump found a way to weave in a reference to the opposing socioeconomic system of communism — applying the label to the Democratic socialist candidates whose primary wins have energized many anti-Trump voters.

Asked by a reporter if the program would go down as one of his “signature policy achievements,” Trump took the opportunity to accuse these candidates in the upcoming midterm elections of being “communists” who “want to destroy our country.” The rhetoric is reminiscent of similar narratives he has employed throughout his political career.

Cruz thanks Trump for intervening against ‘ridiculous’ red card

Speaking alongside the president, Sen. Ted Cruz began his remarks by thanking Trump for working to get FIFA to reverse Balogun’s red card penalty of a one-game suspension.

“On behalf of all Americans, thank you for getting rid of that ridiculous red card,” Cruz said. “It was spectacular. There was a reason the FIFA trophy sat here for as long as it did.”

Cruz appeared to be referring to a White House visit by FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who in a rare move brought the World Cup trophy.

Trump thanked FIFA over the weekend after he and the White House intervened to enable Balogun to play in Monday’s match against Belgium.

Trump says he believes an end to the Russia-Ukraine war is close

“I think we’re getting much closer than people realize. And President Putin wants it to end, I will tell you that very strongly,” Trump said Monday while talking to press at the White House. He added that Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also wants to end the war “now.”

The war and efforts to end it are forecast to be a central topic at the upcoming NATO summit this week. Trump plans to meet with Zelenskyy at the meeting in Turkey.

“I think we’re going to get it ended,” Trump said. “It’s been a terrible situation.”

Cruz tries to make Trump Accounts relatable to kids in Oval Office

To the children assembled for the investment accounts event, Sen. Ted Cruz tried to break down the stakes in a way they might grasp: McDonalds.

Referencing a brand no doubt recognizable to all of them, the Texas senator said the Trump Accounts and their stock market investments mean the children could go into the restaurant knowing they “now own a little bit of McDonalds.”

Cruz made a similar reference for the kids, feeling a different connection to aeronautics manufacturer Boeing, the next time they fly in an airplane.

Can older kids get any bonuses for their Trump Account?

Yes, thanks to contributions from some of the country’s wealthiest investors and executives.

Dell Technologies founder Michael Dell and his wife, Susan, pledged to give $6.25 billion targeted so children 10 or under can get $250 in seed money if they live in ZIP codes with a median family income of $150,000 or less.

Trump announced that Sanjay Mehrotra, CEO of Micron Technology, would give $250 million. Hedge fund founder Ray Dalio and his wife, Barbara, pledged $75 million so kids under 10 in qualifying ZIP codes in Connecticut can get $250. And Trump said investor Brad Gerstner would donate $250 to Trump Accounts for every child under 5 in Indiana.

Corporations are being urged to add such contributions to their benefits packages through what Bessent calls the “50 State Challenge.”

Trump: ‘Nobody cares’ about World Cup red card controversy

The president preemptively waved away potential questions from the press about the White House’s involvement in getting FIFA to reverse a red card against U.S. star Folarin Balogun.

After introducing the press at an Oval Office event on Monday, Trump said: “They don’t want to know anything about soccer slash football. Fortunately, they won’t be asking any questions on that. Nobody cares about that, right?”

Trump said he wanted to keep attention on his administration’s new investment accounts for U.S. children, the topic of Monday’s Oval Office event.

The S&P 500 rose 0.7% and pulled back within 1% of its all-time high, even though the majority of stocks within the index fell. The strength for companies in the artificial-intelligence technology industry sent the Nasdaq composite 1.1% higher, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 155 points, or 0.3%, to a record.

AI stocks have swung sharply in recent weeks on worries that their prices shot too high. Doubts are rising about whether all the dollars flowing into AI chips and data centers can possibly create enough gains in productivity and profits to make back all the investments.

Broadcom was one of the strongest forces lifting the S&P 500 and rose 3.7% after announcing long-term agreements to provide silicon products to Apple. It was coming off two straight losses of more than 2% on Wednesday and Thursday at the end of last week, before Friday’s holiday in advance of the Fourth of July.

The global appetite for AI from investors will face an additional test later this week when SK Hynix, the South Korean maker of computer memory, plans to raise $28 billion by selling shares of stock that will trade in the United States on the Nasdaq. That would make it one of the biggest U.S. offerings ever, behind SpaceX’s IPO from last month, which raised $75 billion.

SK Hynix’s stock in Seoul has already more than tripled so far this year because of the AI boom, but its day-to-day swings have included sharp losses in recent weeks. It fell 14.6% on Thursday alone, for example.

SpaceX, which owns the xAI business, has seen its stock likewise swing following its ballyhooed initial public offering.

It erased an early gain to fall 1% in the last day of trading before it’s scheduled to join the Nasdaq 100 index of the largest non-financial stocks on the Nasdaq. That inclusion will force funds like the QQQ exchange-traded fund, which mimic the index, to buy SpaceX themselves.

Elsewhere in AI, TeraWulf climbed 4.9% after it said Anthropic agreed to a 20-year deal to use its data center in Kentucky. TeraWulf expects the deal to bring in roughly $19 billion in revenue. TeraWulf is in the midst of transitioning its business away from mining bitcoin and into high-performance computing.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 54.19 points to 7,537.54. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 155.84 to 53,055.91, and the Nasdaq composite rallied 288.49 to 26,121.16.

In the oil market, prices drifted after OPEC+ announced Sunday that seven of its members plan to expand oil production by a combined total of 188,000 barrels per day in August. It was the fifth straight month that OPEC+ members have agreed to raise output, moves that tend to weigh on oil prices.

The price of a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, fell 0.2% to $71.99. That’s close to where it was before the United States and Israel attacked Iran in late February and sent prices spiking.

In the bond market, Treasury yields eased a bit. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.47% from 4.49% late Thursday.

A report showed that growth last month for U.S. recreation, finance and other services businesses was roughly in line with economists’ expectations. The survey by the Institute for Supply Management said that some businesses said they were seeing lower prices for gasoline and diesel, easing inflationary pressures.

In stock markets abroad, indexes fell modestly across much of Europe and Asia. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was an outlier and rose 1.1%.

___

AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed to this report.

Confirmation of the project came as construction crews had already begun working on the helipad on the South Lawn, where the president had UFC build a temporary arena for a cage fight celebrating his 80th birthday. He said the project would be privately funded and estimated its cost at up to $6 million.

“It’s got the seal of the White House on it in granite, in carved granite,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "It’s really a beautiful thing.”

The Republican president did not offer details on how long the work would take. It is the latest major construction project he has overseen in an effort to increasingly mold the White House in his own image.

The helipad can handle new choppers, Trump says

Some of Trump's major White House construction projects have relied on public money, even when the president initially suggested otherwise. Still, Trump said that Sikorsky Aircraft, a subsidiary of defense contracting giant Lockheed Martin, would be paying for the helipad.

Asked about the cost of the project and a timeline for its completion, Lockheed Martin responded with a statement reading in part: “This specific contribution was made to the Trust for the National Mall, the National Park Service’s nonprofit organization” and “conducted in full accordance with all applicable laws and regulations.”

In 2024, Sikorsky completed a new fleet of helicopters for use as Marine One, and President Joe Biden took the first flight aboard a modern VH-92A Patriot helicopter on his way to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago — the same day the military announced Sikorsky delivered the last of the 23 new aircraft.

But Trump said the newer aircraft were more powerful than Vietnam War-era choppers that long had been used as Marine One, and that the modern ones were too potent to land on the White House lawn without damaging the grass.

"It’s not that the grass gets discolored — it gets ripped out,” the president said.

Indeed, the new aircraft has indeed seen limited service because their exhaust vents aim heat downward, scorching the White House South Lawn.

The Marines and Sikorsky have spent years trying to find a solution to the problem, which has meant that the new helicopters haven't been used at the White House. Trump recalled telling a group of gathered military generals that a White House helipad would solve those problems.

The president said Sikorsky was building the helipad and paying the "full cost” because they “felt a little bit guilty” that the new fleet of helicopters was too powerful to land at the White House.

Trump also said he told builders to “do a beauty” and suggested granite rather than simply laying concrete and painting it white.

“You’re landing on granite, which is the strongest stone,” the president said, noting that the completed landing pad could also be used for other events, like outdoor White House news conferences. He added that the helipad will allow officials to “finally retire 45-year-old helicopters” that had been used as Marine One.

Trump's other projects to remake the White House include tearing up part of the Rose Garden for a patio space reminiscent of his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and affixing partisan plaques to the wall of the colonnade for a Presidential Walk of Fame.

Trump also had crews redo the bathroom attached to the Lincoln Bedroom and renovate the Palm Room, place new flagpoles on the north and south lawns and demolish the entire East Wing for a sprawling ballroom.

Efforts to improve presidential helicopters go back decades

While the term “Marine One” is applied to a variety of helicopter models that transport presidents, the most iconic and longest serving helicopter to take on the mission is the specially modified VH-3D Sea King helicopter that first entered service in 1978.

In the early 2000s, President George W. Bush, a Republican, began an effort to modernize the helicopter fleet, but the program ran into cost overruns, leading it to be scrapped by President Barack Obama's administration.

Obama, a Democrat, restarted the program, but new, technical issues emerged, and it wasn’t until May 2014 that the military finally awarded Sikorsky a contract to build the next presidential helicopter -- the VH-92A Patriot, which were the aircraft delivered in 2024.

A Marine Corps spokesman, Capt. Jacob M. Sugg, declined to comment on matters pertaining to the White House property. But he said the Marine One squadron currently consists of nine Sikorsky VH-3D Sea Kings that were first deployed in the 1970s, as well as six Sikorsky VH-60Ns deployed in the late 1980s and 10 of the newer VH-92A Patriots.

Trump says ‘a lot of love is being put into the White House’

Later Monday, Trump addressed a lunch in the Rose Garden patio space and detailed yet another White House construction project, this one to revamp the columns on the building's north side.

Crews have erected scaffolding and Trump said, “We’ve taken about 150 years of paint off of the columns," noting that, “If you don’t strip the paint off, it gets worse and worse and worse.”

“A lot of love is being put into the White House,” Trump said.

He didn't say who would be covering the cost of the column work.

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Hours before kickoff, FIFA dismissed Belgium's challenge to the most-debated political intervention in a World Cup in decades. That means forward Folarin Balogun is eligible to play on Monday night in Seattle. A win would send the U.S. to the quarterfinals, which would be the best U.S. result at a men’s World Cup since 2002.

Balogun had faced a mandatory ban from Monday's match after receiving a red card last week. But FIFA lifted his suspension on Sunday following a call Trump made to the global soccer organization’s president, Gianni Infantino.

Here’s a deeper look at the controversy.

Why Balogun and the red card matter

Born in New York to Nigerian parents, raised in London, and playing in the French league, Balogun's birthright citizenship made him eligible for the U.S.

Securing his commitment to play on the American team was a coup and it has paid off; the 25-year-old leads the team's World Cup scoring with three goals.

All was well until Wednesday when he stepped on opponent Tarik Muharemovic's ankle in a 2-0 win over Bosnia-Herzegovina in the round of 32.

The decision to send off Balogun was disputed — his movement seemed clumsy but not malicious. But once a referee decides to issue a red card, the punishment is usually straightforward: the player is excluded from the rest of the game and — until now, at least — a suspension for the next game is automatic.

If the ban had stayed in place, replacing Balogun in the lineup posed a big challenge for coach Mauricio Pochettino.

The U.S. has plenty of attacking players in wider or deeper roles, but few with the combination of physical power and goal-scoring ability for the center-forward role that the rest of the offense focuses around. Likely replacement Ricardo Pepi hasn't scored in four World Cup games.

FIFA's explanation and what it didn't say

There is typically no appeals process against the automatic one-game ban, only for longer sanctions usually applied to the most serious fouls like violent conduct or racism.

In its decision to let Balogun play against Belgium, FIFA cited article 27 of its disciplinary code, which says a “judicial body” can “fully or partially suspend the implementation of a disciplinary measure.” Balogun could yet get that one-game suspension on top of any future punishment if he commits a similar offense again in the next year.

While FIFA didn't elaborate on how it reached its decision, Infantino insisted in a social media post that FIFA’s disciplinary committee acted with independence and judged cases such as Balogun’s on “applicable regulations and the specific facts.” Article 27 doesn't lay out any requirements for which cases are eligible under the rarely used rule.

Last year, FIFA suspended two games of a three-game ban for one of soccer's biggest-ever stars, Cristiano Ronaldo. That left him free to play in the opening games of the World Cup for Portugal. He did serve the remaining one game ban in a qualifier.

Balogun's case seems to be the first since 1962 in which a sending-off during a World Cup match didn’t result in a suspension. On that occasion, the president of host nation Chile argued for Brazilian midfielder Garrincha to be allowed to play the final after he had kicked a Chilean opponent.

How Trump got involved in ‘great injustice’

“Thank you to FIFA for doing what was right, and reversing a great injustice!” Trump said Sunday on social media after Balogun's suspension was lifted. On Monday, Trump defended his outreach to Infantino, saying he merely pointed out that the referee's call against Balogun seemed like a bad one and warranted a closer look.

Infantino and Trump have developed a well-known relationship. The Swiss soccer official became a regular visitor to the Oval Office as the U.S. prepared to host the World Cup. He gave Trump a FIFA Peace Prize at the World Cup draw in December, an award the organization hasn't presented to anyone else before or since.

FIFA’s statutes prohibit governments from intervening in the independence of soccer bodies managing their own affairs. FIFA regularly suspends member federations where governments have interfered in decision-making.

Pochettino, the U.S. coach, applauded FIFA’s move Sunday and said the initial on-field ruling against Balogun was “completely unfair.”

Backlash from Belgium over FIFA decision

The Belgian soccer federation said it was “astonished” when the news of FIFA's intervention broke. Coach Rudi Garcia likened the decision to April Fools' Day.

On Monday afternoon, a FIFA appeals judge dismissed Belgium’s legal challenge fewer than eight hours before kickoff. The Belgian soccer body “is not a party to the proceedings and, as such, has no standing to appeal the decision,” FIFA said in a statement.

FIFA’s disciplinary code says suspensions of two games or less typically can’t be appealed — though that would generally apply to teams wanting a suspension lifted, not re-imposed.

It was unclear if Belgium can, and how soon, pursue an appeal to the Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sport which is on standby to rule on urgent World Cup cases.

As Europe woke to the news Monday, the Instagram account of Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever's cat, Maximus — a social media celebrity in his own right — weighed in with a picture captioned: “Red card? I'm still going to play!"

Other prominent soccer voices weigh in

European soccer body UEFA criticized FIFA for an “incomprehensible and unjustifiable decision” and warned “the integrity of the game is at stake.”

Norway coach Ståle Solbakken weighed in after his team stunned Brazil on Sunday to reach the quarterfinals.

“What about the next red card? What happens then?” he said. “Is there going to be some committee somewhere that is going to take that card away?”

Former England great Wayne Rooney said on the BBC: “Infantino, he should be ashamed of this because I think the sportsmanship of this game is in question here.”

Ex-Sweden striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic was a prominent voice welcoming the decision.

“First of all, he should not get a red card and then they should have come quicker, this call," Ibrahimovic said on Fox Sports. "I’m happy for the U.S. team because the U.S. team has been amazing but Balo has been super-amazing.”

England coach Thomas Tuchel predicted this could set off a flood of complaints and appeals over other on-field decisions affecting key players at the World Cup.

“Where to draw the line is the question that I ask,” he said after England beat Mexico 3-2 for a quarterfinal spot.

“Our yellow card from the first minute against Declan Rice, we can now debate endlessly. I think it's not a yellow card. Do we get this back?”

___

Graham Dunbar in Geneva contributed to this report.

___

See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

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Fifth-seeded opponent Alex de Minaur could barely touch the serve and the Australian’s weak return didn’t even go past his own service line.

Cobolli reacted by leaping into the air and pumping his fist. He launched a ball into the crowd before moving forward to shake hands with De Minaur.

Then the Italian moved on to the performance he’d been waiting for.

Cobolli put his racket down and went back out into the center of the court and launched himself into the most iconic celebration in soccer: twirling in mid-air like Cristiano Ronaldo, he then landed on the grass with his feet planted wide and jerked his arms down by his side.

The mostly English crowd knew just what was going on and shouted “Siuuu” along with Cobolli.

“I love his celebration. I love him,” said Cobolli, who was once a promising soccer player himself in Roma’s youth system. “I will cheer for Portugal (against Spain at the World Cup ) tonight because of Ronaldo.”

In his previous match, Cobolli performed a surfing celebration borrowed from Brazil striker Matheus Cunha.

Antonelli and Sinner

While four-time champion Italy failed to qualify for a third consecutive World Cup, the country has no lack of sports stars and a few of them were in the spotlight at the grass-court Grand Slam on Monday.

Cobolli’s 7-5, 7-6 (4), 6-3 victory over a fellow top-10 player to reach the quarterfinals was a statement win as he attempts to back up his run to the French Open final.

At the same time over on Centre Court, Jasmine Paolini ended the run of rising Filipino player Alexandra Eala with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 victory to return to the last eight at a Grand Slam for the first time since back-to-back runs to the Roland Garros and Wimbledon finals two years ago.

Watching Paolini from the Royal Box was Kimi Antonelli, the 19-year-old Italian driver who leads the Formula One standings for Mercedes.

“I met Kimi afterward,” Paolini said. “I’ve been following him a lot lately. I’m becoming an F1 fan. He seems like a real nice kid and very down to earth.”

Coinciding with Italy’s troubles in soccer, Antonelli and defending Wimbledon champion Jannik Sinner — who plays Jan-Lennard Struff on Tuesday for a spot in the semifinals — have become the country’s most popular athletes.

Cobolli, too, is rapidly gaining attention after his run to the Paris final, where he pushed Alexander Zverev to five sets.

De Minaur led 5-2 in the second set and was up a break twice in the third. But Cobolli wouldn’t be deterred.

“Alex is a stratospheric player. So beating him three sets to none makes me feel like I’m ready,” Cobolli said when asked if he’s ready for another deep run. “This gave me a lot of answers, and I think it provided a lot of answers to my opponents, too.”

World Cup and gelato

After the victory over De Minaur, Cobolli’s grandfather had to go and find a new house for their team in the Wimbledon village since they had only reserved through the first week.

Now they can maintain Flavio’s nightly routine during the fortnight: dinner cooked by his father and coach, Stefano, and shared with his best friend, Watford midfielder Edoardo Bove, before watching a World Cup match and downing a tub of gelato (pear and white chocolate is Cobolli's flavor for the tournament).

“An Italian family give us all the house here in Wimbledon,” Cobolli said. “So it’s really cool.”

Cobolli’s quarterfinal opponent will be Arthur Fery — the 23-year-old British player who grew up just five minutes from the All England Club.

Paolini doesn't let Federer distract her

Besides the challenge presented by the 21-year-old Eala, who eliminated defending champion Iga Swiatek in the previous round, the 5-foot-4 Paolini also had to try and not to let the presence of Roger Federer in the Royal Box distract her.

At one point, Antonelli sat right next to Federer, the owner of a men’s record eight Wimbledon singles titles.

“He is my idol,” the 30-year-old Paolini said of Federer in an on-court interview. “I was like during the match, ‘Please stay focused, stay focused. Don’t think about he’s here.’ I was watching all the finals and all the tournaments he was playing here.”

Paolini’s next opponent will be Marta Kostyuk, the Ukrainian player who reached her first Wimbledon quarterfinal by beating American qualifier Ashlyn Krueger 6-4, 6-4.

It was the hottest day of the tournament so far, as the temperature rose to 32 degrees Celsius (90 Fahrenheit), prompting players to place bags of ice around their necks on changeovers.

Another women’s quarterfinal will feature Linda Noskova against Elise Mertens.

The strong performance by Italian players follows similar results at the French Open, where three men reached the quarterfinals despite Sinner’s second-round meltdown in a Paris heat wave.

___

AP Sports Writer Ken Maguire contributed to this report.

___

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

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Mohammad Nazeer Paktiawal, 41, suffered “an adverse drug reaction” to an unidentified substance, which triggered anaphylaxis and exacerbated his asthma, according to the document. His March 14 death at a Dallas hospital was ruled to be an accident.

Paktiawal’s sudden death in ICE custody has drawn outrage because he had risked his life fighting as an ally of U.S. Special Forces in Afghanistan for a decade.

Out of more than 50 ICE detention deaths during President Donald Trump’s second term, Paktiawal’s is the first to be ruled an accident, according to tracking by The Associated Press. Most of the others have been blamed on natural causes or suicide.

An advocacy group, AfghanEvac, and two members of Congress on Monday called on Texas authorities to release his autopsy report, which they have sought to withhold by arguing its disclosure would interfere with a pending criminal investigation.

“This family has a right to know what happened,” said Shawn VanDiver, president of AfghanEvac. He asked authorities to explain what substance triggered the allergic reaction, how it got into his system and why the date of the injury on the death certificate was listed as the day before Paktiawal was taken into custody.

“What’s happening here smacks of a cover-up,” added Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat who said he would ask the Department of Homeland Security to release the autopsy.

Paktiawal was evacuated with thousands of others from Afghanistan when U.S. troops pulled out in 2021. He entered the U.S. through a legal process and requested asylum to stay. That claim was pending when ICE arrested him at his home in Richardson, Texas, on March 13 as he was getting some of his six children ready for school.

ICE has defended its decision to target Paktiawal for deportation, noting he had been arrested on food stamp fraud and theft charges. He had not been convicted in either case.

ICE did not respond to questions Monday, referring to its previously released report on Paktiawal's death, which said he was screened at its Dallas field office and denied any medical conditions or allergies. Hours later, he began experiencing shortness of breath and chest pain in a holding room and was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital.

The next morning, hospital staff noted swelling of his tongue while he was eating breakfast and gave him epinephrine, a drug that treats allergic reactions. He was pronounced dead about 40 minutes later after life-saving measures were unsuccessful.

The certificate lists the cause of death as “anaphylaxis complicating acute asthma exacerbation.” Anaphylaxis is a severe allergic reaction typically triggered by food, drugs or insect venom. The document lists the toxic effects of methamphetamine, heart disease and cigarette smoking as contributing factors.

Relatives said they did not know Paktiawal to use meth, and a second autopsy performed for the family could not confirm whether he had meth in his system because no blood remained for testing, VanDiver said. His wife has said that he relied on an inhaler for asthma, but ICE agents rejected her attempt to give them the device when he was taken into custody.

"What accident are they talking about?" Paktiawal's younger brother, Naseer Paktiawal, asked Monday. “We just want the truth.”

Naseer remembered his brother as a special forces soldier who fought in the most dangerous parts of Afghanistan. After settling in the U.S., Paktiawal became a truck driver and worked at a market and bakery, laboring long hours to support his family, his brother said.

The cause and manner of death were established by the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office after an autopsy.

County authorities have refused to release the report, citing statements from ICE officials that doing so would interfere with a federal investigation into the death. They have asked Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office for permission to withhold the record under a “law enforcement exception” to the state’s open records law.

In response to the AP's request for the report, Dallas County official Jennifer Rose wrote that “its release would interfere with the detection, investigation, and prosecution of a crime."

Paxton’s office hasn’t ruled on the matter, but previously granted a similar request from another Texas county to withhold the autopsy report of a Vietnamese man who died in ICE custody in July 2025, records show.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Crystel Franco
• Delisha Delgado
• Erica Texas
• Lashes and Sheers

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Betty Jane’s Bakeshoppe
• Cake Elegance By Victor
• Lucy’s Bakery
• Oh Yeah Cakes
• The St Anthony Hotel Culinary Team

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Crystel Franco
• Erica Texas
• Lashes and Sheers

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Flash flood warnings were issued Monday for parts of New York, Philadelphia and New Jersey as rounds of storms moved through the area.

On Sunday, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani warned about heatstroke and shared locations of pools and cooling centers. By Monday, he was urging people to leave basement apartments immediately if they saw water rising in their homes.

Heavy rain stranded cars on flooded highways across northern New Jersey and caused part of the roof of a BJ’s Wholesale Club in Ocean Township to collapse. Video from the store showed the roof over the bakery cave in and a torrent of water rushing down, sending tables of baked goods and at least one shopper clutching a cart skidding away. Two people were briefly trapped but managed to escape, and no injuries were reported, according to the Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office.

“Nothing too serious. They have us running from call to call,” said Capt. Leroy Marshall of the nearby Lakewood Police Department.

The rain and storms broke the heat dome that settled over much of the Northeast last week.

LaGuardia Airport in New York set a record high Thursday of 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius). Low temperatures in many places barely made it below 80 degrees F (26.7 C), preventing people from cooling off even at night.

Officials in New Jersey were investigating at least 29 deaths that were possibly heat-related. The people were found dead on the street or in homes without air conditioning. They ranged in ages from their 30s to their 80s, New Jersey Department of Health Commissioner Raynard Washington said.

Autopsies and other investigations will be needed before the deaths are officially blamed on the heat, Washington said.

Other states have not announced possible deaths from the heat.

Severe storms moved from Michigan to the East Coast as the heat wave broke over the weekend. About 450,000 people remained without power across the country, most from the storm damage, according to poweroutage.com.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Brides by Elizabeth
• David’s Bridal
• Galdina’s

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Acorn Hill Animal Hospital
• Acres North Animal Clinic 17203 Jones Maltsberger
• CityVet Castle Hills
• Lauri Jehl, DVM
• VCA Health Associates

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Lili Soto - Simply Guitar
• Musical Arts Center, San Antoni
• Robert A Diaz
• Simply Guitar Converse, TX

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• 1st Choice West Realty - Centerview Dr.
• Dennise Pedrosa - Pedrosa Real Estate Group
• Janet Favela The Pink Realtor
• Mario Victoria
• Robert A Diaz

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Bradley Kayser, MD
• Dr. Stella Koretsky
• Pendleton Wickersham, MD

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• BILT Marketing
• Boudoir by Samantha
• Goddess Glow Photography
• Kevin R Conlon Photography
• Ricky Arellano UnoNunoMedia

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

FORECAST HIGHLIGHTS

• STRAY STORM TODAY: Mainly in the Hill Country
• HOT: Daytime temps slowly climb, upper-90s by Wednesday
• WEEKEND RAIN CHANCE: Deeper moisture ups rain chances by Saturday

FORECAST

TODAY

There are a few storms in the Hill Country that could produce some street flooding in isolated spots. This activity will be around until sunset, with a small chance (20%) of it reaching San Antonio metro area.

THIS WEEK

Daytime temperatures will slowly climb, peaking Wednesday and Thursday, with highs in the upper-90s.

MORE RAIN CHANCES?

A surge of moisture arriving from the Gulf on Friday should at the very least give us more cloud cover. But, downpours, some heavy, should also arrive with this airmass. As of now, our best chance for downpours will be on Saturday (30%).

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.

Taylor made his mark Saturday at the Prefontaine Classic, the prestigious track and field showcase held annually at Hayward Field on the University of Oregon campus.

The Harlan alum shocked the Olympic-level competition around him — and himself — by winning the men’s 200-meter dash with a personal-best time of 19.75 seconds into a headwind.

Taylor bested Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo (19.93), who won the gold medal in the 200-meter dash at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

“Whenever I crossed the line, the first thing I thought of was, ‘Look at God,’” Taylor told NBC Sports during a post-race interview. “I came out here — and if I’m being honest — I was praying a lot, but I was expecting to get second, third, fourth. You know, he’s (Tebogo) an Olympic champion. I really never thought that I had the chance to beat him."

Taylor, who also told NBC Sports he had trained all week in Lane 3, was coincidentally positioned to run in Lane 3.

“I came out here really, really pumped up,” Taylor told NBC. “Whenever I stepped on the line, I was like, ‘God, just do You.’ So, all glory to God.”

After he signed his national letter of intent with Texas Tech, Taylor elected to compete in national track competitions instead of going toe-to-toe with opponents around his age.

Last spring, Taylor clocked a 100-meter dash win in 9.92 seconds at the 2025 UIL Class 6A State Championships, which shattered the previous national high school record.

In January, he broke another high school record by posting a 300-meter dash win (32.45 seconds) to win the USATF division race at the Virginia Showcase.

Last month at Texas A&M, Taylor became the first high schooler to complete the 200-meter dash in under 20 seconds (19.97).

Current U.S. Olympian Noah Lyles, who won the gold medal in the 100-medal dash two years ago in Paris, had owned the high school record (20.09) in the 200 when he set it at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials.

More recent Big Game Coverage on KSAT:

• San Antonio’s basketball reputation keeps rising, fueled by Wagner’s newly crowned NBA champions

A federal grand jury in West Virginia indicted Kriisa last month, and the case was unsealed Monday following his arrest by federal agents on Saturday in Kentucky. A 6-foot-3 guard from Estonia, Kriisa began his college career in 2020 at Arizona, where he became a fan favorite for his feistiness and long-range shooting.

Kriisa, 25, is expected to appear in federal court in West Virginia this week on five counts of wire fraud, U.S. Attorney Matthew Harvey said.

“Financial fraud schemes erode trust and cause real harm to victims who believed they were helping someone in need,” Harvey said in a news release.

Kriisa led the Pac-12 in assists during his two full seasons at Arizona before transferring to West Virginia. Kriisa was suspended the first nine games of his lone season at West Virginia after admitting he received impermissible benefits while at Arizona.

Kriisa transferred to Kentucky in 2024, but was limited to nine games due to a foot injury. He transferred to Cincinnati for his final year of eligibility and started 12 games before suffering a separated shoulder in February.

From 2022 through June 2 of this year, he posed as other people, including his own mother, and falsely claimed that he and his family urgently needed money to deal with an emergency, the indictment says.

The indictment alleges that, in August 2022, Kriisa falsely told one victim that he had gotten a loan to repay her and then a few months falsely told her he planned to sell his organs to get money to repay her. Between 2022 and 2024, he contacted the same victim, posing as his own mother, and asked for money to pay for cancer treatments for his mother and to save the family's farm, the indictment says.

In April 2025, he signed a written agreement falsely promising to repay that victim $100,000 by February 2026.

From November 2025 through early February of this year, Kriisa repeatedly asked a second victim for money, sometimes posing as a made-up person named “Irene.”

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Apple Pest Control
• Dentech
• Eradicate
• Lonestar Pest Solution in Windcrest
• Philip’s Pest Control

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Maids on a Mission
• The White Glove Maid Service

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Dr Greenthumb Residential & Commercial Services
• Hollywood Crawford-Garage Doors & Openers
• Samuel’s Handyman Services
• Will Fix It

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Dr. Cassandra Elkins, Medical Center Dental Group
• Dr. Talena Meilinger, Ideal Dental, Bulverde Road
• Eric D Cornelius DDS PA
• Nautical
• Nautical Dental

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Plus, Jada gets some skating lessons from Skating with Vee. The pro offers lessons for all skill levels.

If you’re craving something sweet for your next event, Big Nasty Cakes can help with three signature flavors that she sells by the slice.

Speaking of summer entertaining, Fischer and Wieser is in studio with some peach-inspired skewers and their new pie jams that you can find at H-E-B.

All that and more on SA Live today.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Credit Human
• Frost
• Laura Mershon
• RBFCU
• Security Service FCU
• Wells Fargo Bank

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Buffalo Wild Wings
• Dos Sirenos Brewing
• Embers
• Wayne’s Wings
• Wingstop

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• 7 Monk’s Cafe
• Green
• Kerbey Lane All Day Cafe
• Vegan Ave

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Blü Prime Steakhouse
• Myron’s Steakhouse Alon Center
• Saltgrass
• Tejas Steakhouse & Saloon
• Texas Roadhouse

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Today on Texas Eats NOW:

LA FRITE BELGIAN BISTRO

728 S Alamo St, San Antonio, TX 78205

La Frite Belgian Bistro is San Antonio’s premier Belgian bistro, bringing European bistro culture to the heart of Southtown for 17 years. Built on a foundation of Belgian heritage and culture, the welcoming atmosphere is intentional — guests are encouraged to linger, chat with neighboring tables, and feel at home in what the owners describe as San Antonio’s European dining room.

The kitchen, led by executive chef Luis Nahara, is known for its mussels above all else, sourcing Prince Edward Island mussels fresh three times a week and going through over 200 pounds weekly. Beyond the mussels, the table rounds out with dishes like a Belgian endive lettuce salad, a steak au poivre, and a duck confit, one of the few San Antonio restaurants to carry it as a permanent menu item. Daily prix fixe specials rotate alongside the regular menu, giving returning guests a reason to come back throughout the week.

CANDY’S OLD FASHION BURGERS

115 Plaza De Armas, Ste 107, San Antonio, TX 78205

Candy’s, formally known as Candy’s Old Fashion Burgers, is a downtown San Antonio institution built on a simple premise: old-fashioned burgers packed with flavor on every single bite. Founded in 2006 by Tony Vasquez, a lifelong restaurant worker who traced his inspiration back to the classic burger spots of Austin’s East 1st Street where he grew up, the restaurant has since become a true family affair. Tony’s daughter Melissa took over ownership two years ago, and her daughter — the third generation — now helps run daily operations, having grown up inside the restaurant since she was a baby.

The burgers are made with 100% fresh, never-frozen local beef patties cooked old-fashioned style — thick and juicy, never smashed — and always served on toasted buns loaded with tomatoes, pickles, and mustard. The Royale is a standout, a single patty piled high with smoked bacon and extra cheddar cheese, while the jalapeno cheddar cheeseburger features grilled jalapeños for a measured kick. The crowd favorite, though, is the chili cheeseburger — topped with the restaurant’s own blended chili and melted cheese that folds into the burger like a second sauce. The menu also extends to hand-breaded shrimp, tater tots, fish, french fries, onion rings, and a blackened chicken sandwich, rounding out a full menu of no-frills, deeply satisfying eats.

Follow Texas Eats and David Elder on Facebook and Instagram for more food info, pictures, videos and giveaways.

• Facebook: @TexasEatsTV
• Instagram: @texaseatstv
• TikTok: @ElderEats
• Twitter: @TexasEatsTV

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Fish City Grill 281 North
• Pappadeaux
• Sea Island
• Smashin Crab

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

In a DPS preliminary report, troopers identified the motorcyclist as Wilfredo Mattei, 29.

Troopers attempted a traffic stop on a black sport motorcycle at approximately 9:50 a.m. Monday near the intersection of the Loop 410 access road and Marbach Road.

Mattei, however, refused to stop. He led troopers on a brief chase, the report said.

Troopers said Mattei later abandoned the motorcycle near the intersection of Vance Jackson Road and Wall Street when he attempted to make a run for it.

Mattei was taken into custody following a foot pursuit, DPS said. He was taken to a local hospital for further treatment.

After his release from the hospital, the report said Mattei will be charged with evading arrest on foot, evading arrest with a motor vehicle and resisting arrest.

DPS said its investigation remains ongoing. Further information was not readily available.

More recent news coverage on KSAT:

• BCSO identifies couple killed in suspected murder-suicide in southwest Bexar County
• San Antonio city officials seek public input on neighborhood hazards, disaster preparedness
• Man charged with intoxication manslaughter in connection with Southeast Side crash, SAPD says

All of the ballistic missiles launched by Russia struck their targets, underscoring Kyiv’s need for more U.S.-made Patriot interceptor missiles — a point Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will likely reiterate at a NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, this week.

Fifteen people were killed in the capital of Kyiv, which was Russia's main target, and 56 were injured, according to administrative head Tymur Tkachenko. Another seven people were killed in the wider Kyiv region and 29 were injured, according to Ukraine's emergency service.

Emergency workers searched for survivors in the rubble of residential high-rises in two locations that suffered direct hits.

Moscow has stepped up attacks on Kyiv in retaliation for Ukraine’s recent long-range strikes, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. Those Ukrainian attacks have caused severe fuel shortages and put pressure on President Vladimir Putin.

On Thursday, a Russian strike killed 31 people in Kyiv, the deadliest attack in the capital this year.

Ukraine’s advances in drone technology have given it an edge in recent months, analysts and Western officials say, striking supply routes behind the front line, stripping the Russian army of momentum on the battlefield and slowing its advance.

But Russia now is exploiting vulnerabilities in Ukraine’s air defenses, which remain heavily reliant on the Patriot missile systems to intercept ballistic missiles it can rarely shoot down. The war in the Middle East has strained the global supply of Patriot interceptors — a shortage now felt keenly in Ukraine.

Zelenskyy notes gaps in stopping ballistic missiles

Ukraine’s air force said Russia fired 351 drones and 68 missiles overnight, targeting mainly Kyiv, and all 29 ballistic missiles struck their targets.

“To intercept ballistics, we need the means for interception,” air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said on national television. “Russians are certainly using the fact that there is a serious deficit of interceptor missiles now, in Ukraine and the world.”

Ahead of the NATO summit in Turkey, Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces had performed well against drones and cruise missiles but not against ballistic missiles — a shortfall he blamed on insufficient supplies of interceptors. He urged U.S. and European partners at the summit to bolster Ukraine’s air defense and protect civilians.

“As long as Patriot missiles remain in our allies’ stockpiles, Russia is only encouraged to keep ‘vanquishing’ residential buildings. The United States and Europe have enough strength to stop this terror,” he said on X following the attack.

Russia's Defense Ministry said any increase in the supply of drones, missiles and ammunition produced in the West "will not go unnoticed and will be countered by a corresponding increase in the number and power of retaliatory strikes by the Russian armed forces on Ukrainian territory.”

Ukraine’s Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said Russia is deliberately ramping up ballistic missile attacks on a scale unseen before, exploiting the acute shortage of Patriot interceptors. “Fewer such missiles are produced worldwide each month than the enemy fires at Ukraine in that same period,” he said.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said the attack targeted weapons factories in Kyiv, including sites it said produce drones, armored vehicles and missiles, as well as facilities repairing air defense systems and fuel and energy infrastructure in the capital and surrounding region. The claims could not be independently verified.

Russia’s attacks have repeatedly hit civilian areas. More than 16,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed in the war, according to the United Nations.

“These are residential buildings. Places where people slept and lived their ordinary lives,” Tkachenko said in a post on Telegram.

A residential building in the Podilskyi district partially collapsed, he said. In the Darnytsia district, several multistory buildings were damaged and people were believed to be buried in the rubble.

In Kyiv's suburb of Vyshneve, about 600 residents were evacuated due to the risk of unexploded munitions, Ukraine's Emergency Service said.

Witnesses recount their harrowing escapes

Khrystyna Piatetska, 20, a resident of Kyiv’s Darnytskyi district, said she began screaming after the first strike, which was followed by a second blast that blew out the windows in her apartment building.

The lights went out, a burning smell filled the air and the stairwell was thick with smoke, she said.

“When we were leaving the building, bodies were lying there,” Piatetska said. “When we got downstairs, cars started exploding, and we came out from under the rubble straight into the fire.”

Halina Ivanivna, 61, said she was awakened by the first strike about 2 a.m. Moments later, her apartment building began collapsing around her.

“Everything was falling down,” she said. Water poured through the building as smoke filled the air while emergency crews rushed to evacuate residents.

About five minutes after the initial impact, a second strike hit, she said.

Ukrainian strikes reach from Russian-held Crimea to Siberia

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses downed 613 of 625 Ukrainian drones overnight.

Ukraine’s military said its Special Operations Forces struck the Omsk oil refinery in western Siberia, nearly 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles) from Ukraine’s border. That appeared to be the farthest oil refinery in Russia's east that Ukraine has ever struck, and added to a long list of key refineries hit in recent months.

Omsk regional Gov. Vitaly Khotsenko confirmed a Ukrainian attack on the refinery in a Telegram post but provided no details, saying only that “most of the drones” targeting the facility were destroyed and that there were no casualties.

The Omsk refinery is Russia’s largest, boasting a capacity of around 460,000 barrels a day, said Gary Peach, oil markets analyst at Energy Intelligence. As of the end of June, it was producing close to capacity, accounting for 12% of all Russian refining output, Peach said.

“Depending on the extent of the damage, a sustained outage of even part of Omsk’s capacity will exacerbate Russia’s woes on the domestic fuel market and make the need to find import replacements even more urgent,” he said.

Russia has been grappling with a widespread fuel crisis from Ukraine’s repeated strikes on refineries and other infrastructure inside the country. Gasoline shortages and fuel rationing have been reported in multiple regions, with drivers waiting for hours to fill their tanks.

In Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014, an energy provider reported a blackout across the peninsula following Ukrainian attacks early Monday. The Moscow-appointed head of the city of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said the attacks cut power that was restored with backup equipment.

Ukraine’s military confirmed it struck several Russian energy and military facilities used to supply Russia’s armed forces with fuel and support its war efforts.

In the Russian city of Yaroslavl, two people were wounded in an attack in which over 70 Ukrainian drones were downed, according to regional Gov. Mikhail Yevrayev. He didn’t say if any facilities were damaged, but the Astra online news outlet said they caused a fire at an oil refinery.

Ukrainian drone attack on the Leningrad region north of Moscow damaged unspecified infrastructure at the Luga training ground, as well as in the areas of Baltic Sea ports of Ust-Luga and Vysotsk, Gov. Alexander Drozdenko said.

___ Associated Press writers Volodymyr Yurchuk in Kyiv, Ukraine, David McHugh in Frankfurt, Germany, and Susie Blann in London contributed.

___

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

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Little Italy
• Marco’s Pizza Binz Engleman Rd
• Mattenga’s Pizzeria
• Mellow Mushroom
• Sofia’s Pizzeria

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Acenar
• Las Palapas
• Los Barrios
• Pappasito’s Cantina
• Pepe’s Taco and Salsa Jones Maltsburger
• Rosario’s

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Dallah
• India Taj-Palace Heubner
• John the Greek Thousand Oaks
• Mina & Dimi’s Greek House
• Pasha’s Mediterranean Grill

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

A BCSO spokesperson identified the two people as Ana Laura Rennie, 55, and Robert James Rennie, 58.

The sheriff’s office said Ana Rennie’s manner of death was homicide and Robert Rennie’s was suicide.

The couple was found dead with gunshot wounds at a home in the 15000 block of Escalante Pass, which is located near State Highway 16 and Watson Road.

Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said he believes Ana Rennie and Robert Rennie were a married couple who lived at the home.

Upon arrival, Salazar said a woman, who is believed to be the daughter of one of the spouses, told deputies she went to the home to check on them because “she had not heard” from the couple for “at least a day.”

When the daughter went inside the home, investigators said she found their bodies. Ana Rennie had at least one gunshot wound to her upper body, while Robert Rennie died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to Salazar. A handgun was recovered at the scene.

In an interview Saturday morning, Salazar told KSAT that one bullet left the house and entered a nearby home. The sheriff said no one was injured as a result of that bullet entering the house.

Domestic violence homicide trends

“We believe that there is a domestic violence history between the two, unfortunately,” the sheriff said Saturday.

According to Salazar, there was a case of misdemeanor family violence involving the couple, but the case was later “dismissed” due to a “missing witness.” It is unclear who was charged with the misdemeanor.

The sheriff believes Friday night’s incident — BCSO’s fifth domestic violence-related homicide investigation out of 10 homicides so far this year — is the continuation of a disturbing trend in Bexar County.

Last year, BCSO said nine of the 15 homicides the sheriff’s office investigated were related to domestic violence.

“I’d be remiss if I didn’t take this opportunity to remind the community that domestic violence is what I believe to be — and what we believe to be at the sheriff’s office here — an escalating crime," Salazar said. “It doesn’t go away.”

The sheriff said anyone in need of domestic violence services can call (210-335-6000.

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

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

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

If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health or thoughts of suicide, call 988 or text TALK to 741-741.

You can also reach out to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) or the National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI) at 210-223-7233 (SAFE) or 800-316-9241. You can also text NAMI to 741-741.

More recent news coverage on KSAT:

• One Year after Hill Country Flood
• Park visitors say it’s ‘scary’ seeing ICE officers at Phil Hardberger Park
• SAPD: 3 teens accused of robbing Northside ISD student connected to similar crime 2 weeks earlier

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Culebra Meat Market
• Granzines
• HEB
• Penshorn’s Meat Market
• Schott’s

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Little Italy
• Mare e Monte
• Mare e Monte on Huebner
• Olive Garden
• Pazzo Pastaria- Nacogdoches Rd

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Broadway Daily Bread
• Cinderella Bakery
• Dough Baby
• HEB
• Nadler’s

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Barbecue Station
• Blanco BBQ
• Dee Willie’s BBQ
• Smokey Mo’s BBQ
• Texas Pride BBQ Adkins Tx

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Box St. All Day - Hemisfair
• Crepeccino
• Magnolia Pancake House
• Max & Louie’s New York Diner
• Snooze

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Chris Madrid’s
• Diana’s Burgers - Zarzamora
• The Ridge at the Hill
• Whataburger
• Willie’s Icehouse 281/Thousand Oaks

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Today on Texas Eats NOW:

SAN ANTONIO MISSIONS

5757 US-90, San Antonio, TX 78227

Nelson Wolff Stadium is the longtime home of the San Antonio Missions, the Double-A affiliate for the San Diego Padres. Established in 1888, the Missions are one of the most storied franchises in minor league baseball, bringing affordable family fun to the Alamo City for more than 120 seasons. This July 4th, the stadium serves as the centerpiece of the H-E-B Independence Day Celebration as San Antonio joins the rest of the nation in marking America’s 250th birthday.

The night is packed from first pitch to final burst, with the Missions facing off against the Amarillo Sod Poodles on the diamond while fans enjoy all the trappings of a full-scale Fourth of July celebration. A hot dog eating contest gets the crowd fired up, and country artist Wade Bowen headlines a postgame concert on the left field berm before a fireworks display caps the evening. With baseball, live music, and a sky full of fireworks all in one place, the stadium delivers everything the holiday calls for.

DORP CREAMERY

310 W Grayson St, San Antonio, TX 78212

Dorp Creamery is a local ice cream concept serving up Asian-inspired flavors with a handcrafted approach. Founded by Michael Chue, the inspiration behind the business was to fill a gap in the San Antonio dessert scene after Chue found himself craving the kind of Asian-influenced ice cream he grew up enjoying in New York. Operating out of a truck, Dorp produces small-batch ice cream made from scratch using a rich custard base, aged before churning for a smooth, premium texture.

The menu features bold, creative flavors including ube, black sesame, matcha, and Thai iced tea, alongside the mango sticky rice ice cream that has earned viral attention on social media for its thick consistency and standout taste. Through pop-ups and local markets, Dorp has built a loyal following among San Antonians looking for something far outside the ordinary scoop shop experience.

THE BRUNCH SPOT

8022 Kitty Hawk Rd, Converse, TX 78109

The Brunch Spot is a family-owned restaurant in Converse serving scratch-made Southern comfort food with a modern twist. Founded by Tabby Pryor and led in the kitchen by her son, Nehemiah, the restaurant has earned a loyal following for its generous portions, welcoming atmosphere, and menu packed with hearty breakfast and lunch favorites. Guests can also enjoy handcrafted specialty coffees, lattes, and brunch cocktails to complete the experience.

Menu highlights include the signature Chicken & Waffles, featuring a fluffy Belgian waffle paired with crispy fried chicken, as well as the Chicken Fried Chicken served with eggs, breakfast potatoes, a biscuit, and rich cream gravy. Loaded omelets, buttery biscuits, and perfectly seasoned breakfast potatoes round out a menu that celebrates classic Southern flavors made fresh every day.

THE NEWSTAND COFFEE

1900 Broadway, Ste 106, San Antonio, TX 78215

The Newstand Coffee is a stylish neighborhood café in Midtown San Antonio that combines specialty coffee, house-made breads, and creative comfort food with a vintage-inspired atmosphere. Located inside the historic Jefferson Bank building, the café is known for its retro design, relaxed vibe, and an adjoining boutique featuring curated vintage clothing, books, and home goods.

The menu features hand-crafted sandwiches served on fresh-baked breads, including favorites like The Tribune with Texas Angus beef and The Times egg salad sandwich. Guests can also enjoy all-day breakfast items, fresh pastries, and specialty coffee made with beans from regional roasters, alongside seasonal drinks that make The Newstand a popular destination for breakfast, lunch, or an afternoon coffee break.

Follow Texas Eats and David Elder on Facebook and Instagram for more food info, pictures, videos and giveaways.

• Facebook: @TexasEatsTV
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• TikTok: @ElderEats
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Here are this year’s finalists:

• 7 Brew
• Brevity Coffee Co.
• Dutch Bros Coffee
• Reunion Coffee
• Velvet Espresso, Inside Book Nerds, Castle Hills

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Benjie’s Munch
• Chrispy Eats 4822 Foster Rd
• Cone N Swirl
• Las Palapas
• Tacos el Regio

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Buffalo Wild Wings
• Burger Boy
• Las Palapas
• Olive Garden
• Whataburger

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Bunz Handcrafted Burgers
• Burger Boy
• Elsewhere Too
• Five Guys
• McDonald’s

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July. 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Ding How Chinese Restaurant
• Singhs Vietnamese
• South Garden Chinese Restaurant
• Thai Bird
• Tongs Thai Austin Highway

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Benjie’s Munch - Bitters
• Boudro’s Texas Bistro
• Embers
• Max & Louie’s New York Diner
• Tejas Steakhouse and Saloon

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Chris Buckley
• Emily Bradshaw at Burn Boot Camp Helotes TX
• Matthew Cavazos
• Willie Nelson

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Chris Buckley
• CORE Physical Therapy
• Movement State Physical Therapy and Sports Rehab-- N Loop 1604 W
• The Program

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

With high inflation hurting Trump's popularity, the Republican president has tried to get more Americans to focus on their 401(k) investments, claiming that his policies should get the credit for any gains, particularly as the November midterm elections draw closer.

“It’s going to go up — I think the market’s going to go through the roof,” said Trump after formally launching the start of trading.

Only 33% of U.S. adults approve of Trump’s economic leadership, according to a June survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Still, the act of ringing the opening bell suggests why the president’s emphasis on the stock market might not help his party much with voters this fall.

The Oval Office event was promoting the launch of Trump Accounts, which were created as a vehicle for children to have investments in stock indexes as part of Republicans' big 2025 tax and spending cuts bill.

In championing the accounts, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has emphasized that many Americans have no direct exposure to stocks.

This means that millions of people are not benefiting from investments that largely accrue to more affluent households or that the benefits they’re receiving are for retirements decades away.

Bessent declared before the bell ringing that “38% of American families do not have any exposure to our great equity markets.”

The S&P 500 stock index posted gains of 17.9% in 2025, but that came after annual returns of 25% in 2024 and 26.3% in 2023, during the presidency of Democrat Joe Biden. The benchmark stock index has risen roughly 10% so far this year.

But just as inflation crushed public support for Biden, Trump has also seen his approval fall prey to a cycle of rising prices. Trump won the 2024 election by promising to bring down costs, but his tariffs and the start of the war in Iran created new inflationary pressures.

The consumer price index has climbed 4.2% over the past 12 months, up from 3% when Trump started his second term in January 2025.

Trump, however, is betting that the stock investments that are being seeded by the government and by some prominent companies and billionaires will give future generations a deeper stake in the U.S. economy. The accounts already have gotten a boost from billionaires beyond the $1,000 from the government.

Michael Dell, the founder of Dell Technologies, and his wife, Susan, appeared by Trump on Monday as they have pledged $6.25 billion for the accounts, while there have been separate pledges by billionaires including investor Ray Dalio and SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell, who said Monday that she would donate stock in the Elon Musk-led company to the accounts.

Trump jokingly acknowledged that children had missed the stock market gains that have occurred so far because of the delay in launching the Trump Accounts.

“We should have acted faster,” Trump said.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Arthur Murray Dance Center
• Dance Life Studio
• Studio 360 Dance & Fitness

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Alamo Heights Gymnastics Academy - Sandau
• Altitude All Stars
• Powerhouse
• Woodlands Elite San Antonio on San Pedro Ave.

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Khamenei's flag-draped coffin, and those of his family members who were killed Feb. 28 in an airstrike at the start of the war launched by Israel and the United States, sat aboard a truck decorated to resemble the ornamental grating that surrounds the shrine of an imam. The massive turnout was encouraged by Iran's theocracy as a sign of strength, and it came as the Islamic Republic negotiates with the U.S. over a permanent end to the war.

Helicopter images aired on Iranian state television showed a massive crowd stretching from Tehran’s Azadi, or Freedom, Square for kilometers (miles) down a multilane street of the same name. The crowd appeared to be larger than the one that turned out for the 2020 procession for the late Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, which drew over 1 million people.

Authorities offered no immediate crowd count as the truck crept down the street. People alongside the truck and elsewhere on the route carried placards, signs and banners calling for Trump's death.

“Today that we are here for the funeral for our leader, it’s a very tough day,” mourner Fatima Hassan said. “We are not here to say goodbye to him. We are here for revenge. And we will take revenge.”

Sea of mourners gather for Khamenei

Mourners reached out to touch the truck, and some threw scarves and other items for attendants to brush against the coffin, a common practice in Iran seen as a blessing. Attendants, some on the ladders of fire trucks, sprayed misted water across the crowds to cool them in the heat.

Authorities appeared concerned about the dangers of having a large crowd alongside the procession, with officials on loudspeakers urging the public to walk slowly, not to push and to stay to the edges of the street.

The coffins were taken through the streets of Tehran on a roughly 12-hour journey to Mehrabad International Airport, and Khamenei’s casket was flown later Monday to the Shiite seminary city of Qom, according to state television. He will be honored there Tuesday.

Authorities have shut down streets, airspace and daily life for the mourning, which began Saturday and will end Thursday as Khamenei is buried at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, his birthplace. Khamenei was 86.

“This is the last time I am seeing him,” said a weeping Maryam Alizadeh. “Our generation lived with him for decades.”

Calls for Trump's death grow as the funeral goes on

As the funeral has gone on, mourners have increasingly called for Khamenei’s death to be avenged. Mourners and the signs they carry have called for the killing of both Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Such signs were seen again Monday along the procession’s route, with one effigy of Trump being hanged.

"We are here to show that his path will continue, and every single one of these people will continue down his path with clenched fists, and soon we will certainly avenge his death against the U.S and Israel,” said mourner Sahar Zaraatgar.

U.S. federal authorities have been tracking Iranian threats against Trump and other administration officials for years, stemming from Trump’s ordering the 2020 killing of Soleimani, who led the elite Quds Force. Iran has repeatedly denied plotting to kill Trump, though hard-line propaganda footage long has suggested Trump was in Tehran’s crosshairs.

Trump, meanwhile, promised to destroy Iran’s civilization during the war, among other threats.

Negotiations over the war remain on hold

The U.S. is eager to press ahead with negotiations with Iran aimed at fully reopening the Strait of Hormuz, rolling back Tehran's disputed nuclear program and reaching a permanent end to the war. Talks appear to be on hold until after the burial.

The funeral was in part a show of unity as Iran demands a measure of control over the strait, a vital waterway for global energy that it shut down during the war. The U.S. has rejected those demands, and the sides are divided on other key issues, including the nuclear program and the conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, has yet to make an appearance in the funeral ceremonies, which are unfolding over several days. He is believed to be in hiding after reportedly being wounded in the airstrike that killed his father.

At the height of the war, before an April ceasefire, Israel targeted top Iranian leaders, in at least one case likely using their public appearance to fix their position. It has also threatened to kill the younger Khamenei.

___

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

King Charles III’s estranged son arrived Monday in the land of his birth for a series of charity engagements. But for most royal watchers that’s just background noise.

For the past 10 days, British tabloids and news broadcasts have been filled with speculation about whether Harry’s wife, Meghan, will accompany him and, more importantly, whether they will bring their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, so they can finally get to know Grandpa Charles. But everything is up in the air as Harry seeks to arrange protection for his family after a government committee refused to authorize taxpayer-funded security.

“With just days to go until Harry’s first public engagement in the UK on Tuesday … very little is guaranteed at all,” the Times of London reported on Saturday. “For Archie and Lilibet to meet the king, it’s now or never,’’ wrote the Telegraph.

The kids' trip hinges on adequate security measures

Harry, a British army veteran who served in Afghanistan, is visiting to attend events ahead of the next Invictus Games, the Paralympic-style competition he founded to motivate and inspire military veterans around the world as they work to overcome battlefield injuries. The games will be held in Birmingham next year.

Not on the official schedule but very much in the media spotlight is a decision Tuesday at the High Court in London, where the judge will reveal his verdict in Harry’s invasion-of-privacy lawsuit against the publisher of the Daily Mail.

The decision about whether to bring the children, according to reports based on off-the-record briefings and unidentified people close to the royals, hinges on whether the U.K. government agrees to provide security for Harry and his family. It is an issue that has hung over every trip the prince has made to Britain since he and Meghan decamped to North America six years ago.

British authorities say Harry isn’t entitled to blanket protection because he is no longer a working member of the royal family and they will assess his security on a case-by-case basis, just like any other celebrity. Harry says it is unsafe for his children to travel to Britain without protection because his family remains a target simply by virtue of their royal status.

The decision rests with a government committee known as Ravec that rules on who should get state-funded protection.

The outcome could be problematic for the royal family, which is trying to show that it provides value for money after months of embarrassing headlines about the links between the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and the former Prince Andrew, now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.

“In the paranoid atmosphere of waiting for more Andrew shoes to drop, Ravec and the royals themselves are terrified of public blowback if taxpayers are asked to fund protection for the House of Sussex,’’ royal commentator Tina Brown wrote on X. “The issue is not a hill that either the king or the government wants to die on, and who can blame them?’’

Harry wants his children to get to know their grandfather

After initial reports that Archie, 7, and Lilibet, 5, would visit the U.K., plans began to wobble after the Daily Telegraph reported that Ravec had again rejected Harry’s request for protection.

The Times of London reported that Harry was “distraught” after the decision and told friends he wouldn’t let his children be “chased by paparazzi” through the streets of London.

By Sunday, it was clear the family wouldn’t accompany Harry when he arrived in the capital, though there was still a chance they would join him later in the trip.

Then on Monday, plans for the prince's accommodation fell into disarray. First, there were reports that Harry would stay at Buckingham Palace while he was in London, but within an hour, it became clear that the palace was not an option. At least for now.

Nonetheless, Harry has said that he wants to reconcile with his 77-year-old father, who is being treated for an undisclosed form of cancer. And he really wants his children, who first met the monarch during celebrations for the late Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022, to spend time with their grandfather now that they are old enough to remember the experience.

Harry's relations with the palace have been tense

Tensions within the House of Windsor have heightened ever since Harry and Meghan gave up their royal duties and moved to California to pursue lucrative media deals, free from the pressures of royal life in London.

They reached a new low after Harry published an explosive memoir that included unflattering depictions of the royal family and damning allegations of a toxic relationship between the monarchy and the press.

Harry’s description of royals leaking information about other family members in exchange for positive coverage of themselves is just one of the tawdry allegations in his book, “Spare.” The prince was especially scathing about Queen Camilla, accusing her of feeding private conversations to the media as she sought to rehabilitate her image after her longtime affair with Charles when he was heir to the throne.

After losing a court battle over the security issue last year, Harry said he hoped to rebuild relations with his family, even as he suggested that the royals had sought to prevent him from receiving police protection to punish him for walking away from royal duties.

“I would love reconciliation with my family. There’s no point in continuing to fight anymore,” Harry told the BBC. “I don’t know how much longer my father has.”

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Belle of the Ball Boutique
• Good Goods
• Julian Gold
• Tejas Rodeo Company Store

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Boysville
• Goodwill
• Plato’s Closet
• The Thrift Thru

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• H&M
• Men’s Warehouse
• Penner’s
• Tejas Rodeo Company Store

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Chasing Camila on Main Street
• Defiant Boutique 4704 Broadway SA,TX 78209
• Marianita’s Boutique 3008 Nogalitos
• Pinkberry Boutique on Hackberry
• Tejas Rodeo Company Store - Bulverde Texas

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Americus Diamond
• Good Goods
• James Avery

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Aera’s Alterations
• Blanco Alteration Tailors
• Midtown Laundry & Dry Cleaners

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July. 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Horizons & More
• McNealno’s Irish Pub
• Silver Fox
• Talley’s Pub

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• 1Watson
• 505 Rooftop Bar
• Rosario’s
• Tenfold
• The Moon’s Daughters

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Márquez and his father, who also survived, spoke through layers of concrete, hearing Leonel suffer, shout for help and inhale suffocating smoke as he waited for a crane to remove the columns crushing him. But it never came. After several hours, Leonel's cries gave way to silence, Márquez said.

But even that, terrible as it was, was not what disturbed him the most. The worst, Márquez said, was trying to recover his families' tangled remains with little more than his bare hands and a saw. He sliced off limbs to free the corpses of Leonel and his mother but was forced to abandon his sister, who was eight-months' pregnant, grandmother and other relatives beneath the ruins — and with their bodies, the hope that if he couldn't save them, he could at least give them proper burials.

“It’s unfair. It’s inhumane, everything that is happening,” 26-year-old Márquez said from the overflowing makeshift morgue at La Guaira port. "We couldn’t get my brother out because we didn’t get a response from the state ... and after 11 days, we are still requesting a crane.”

Márquez is one of countless Venezuelans who, after days of torment, has been left alone to search, if not for signs of life, then for loved ones’ remains — and for some semblance of closure.

International rescue teams, quietly acknowledging the possibility that no more victims would be found alive after 12 days under the rubble, are preparing to depart. Local authorities are turning their focus to finding shelter for thousands of displaced people. But the recovery of the dead has become a pressing, and horrifying, task for Venezuelans still missing their loved ones.

“I found her hand, but her torso is crushed," said Norely Rodríguez, trying to get her 5-year-old daughter out of the ruins in the hardest-hit state of La Guaira. “I want to see if I can get her out whole."

Residents say they are alone in the search for their dead

Many say that just as they were left without government help to rescue survivors in the immediate aftermath of the quakes, so too are they now under-equipped to unearth their dead nearly two weeks later.

The more time passes, the more gruesome the recovery process becomes, said William Gomez, a firefighter in La Guaira. “It has been difficult because the bodies are already in an advanced state of decomposition, decomposed to such an extent that many times when we try to remove them, they fall apart.”

Authorities announced that the death toll rose on Sunday to 3,342, with another 16,740 people injured. Beyond that is an untold toll: those whose bodies have yet to be found. There are no official statistics on how many people are buried under the rubble, but more than 30,000 reports of missing people have been sent to a website set up by the Venezuelan opposition.

Over the weekend in La Guaira, no government civil defense crews or security forces could be seen helping families dig. The vast majority of those working their way through the wreckage were civilians using their bare hands or rudimentary tools like pickaxes and shovels, occasionally accompanied by firefighters and Mexican rescuers who remain in the country.

“We are the ones helping ourselves: our family. Nobody else helps us except for a few volunteers,” said Yeikhary Urbina, who found the bodies of her mother and brother on Saturday suspended under piles of concrete, seemingly locked in an embrace.

Search teams from Italy, Argentina, Spain and other countries have already returned home. The Venezuelan government has not yet called off the search for survivors. But officials have pivoted from promoting heroic rescue stories on social media to announcing reconstruction plans under a program called Venezuela Reborn.

“Venezuela is entering a process of infrastructure recovery, of housing recovery,” acting President Delcy Rodríguez told state TV on Saturday.

Anger over recovery effort mounts

Families with missing loved ones face fresh horrors as they scour the rubble. Some have searched for days to find corpses of loved ones so decomposed, they cannot tell them apart.

Others have dug and dug only to find nothing at all. “She kept asking, ‘Why did God play this trick on me?’" Geraldine Perdomo said of her sister, who was feverishly clawing at the ruins of her home for anything that would confirm the death of her two daughters.

And some, like Márquez, have agonized for days to extract their loved ones' bodies only to lose them again in the chaos of the impromptu morgue beneath grain silos at the La Guaira port, where a near-constant stream of bodies has been arriving since the June 24 quakes.

Márquez said that on Sunday, a week after delivering their corpses, he heard authorities had located his mother and grandfather. But Leonel, he said, "is still missing because of the negligence here.”

He and many other residents of the country’s public housing blocks — built years ago for low-income families by former socialist leader Hugo Chávez — say their complaints of negligence long predate this disaster. High-rise buildings housing hundreds of apartments pancaked in the earthquakes, reviving questions about substandard construction.

Alexander, a 42-year-old police officer who lived in one of the towers, was trembling with fury at the government on Sunday — for not addressing what he said were long-running resident concerns that his concrete housing complex was shoddily constructed, for not sending rescue teams in time to save his wife and three daughters, and now, for not delivering heavy machinery to help him recover their bodies.

"Not a single person from the government was here," he said, requesting to be identified only by his first name because, as a government employee, he feared retaliation for criticizing authorities.

After 11 days of searching, he reached the last missing member of his family — his 12-year-old daughter, her corpse decomposed but intact.

“She was waiting for me to pull her out,” he said, cradling the black plastic body bag in his arms.

___

DeBre reported from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Bar 414 at The Gunter Hotel
• Horizons & More
• Las Palapas
• Paloma Blanca
• Rosario’s

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• 54th Street
• Acenar
• Down on Grayson
• Horizons & More
• Vino Grotta

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Aquaduck Beer Garden
• Bogart’s
• Finnegan’s Sports & Spirits
• Horizons & More
• Shady Lady

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Bar 414 at The Gunter Hotel
• Horizons & More
• Rosario’s
• St. Anthony Club, The St. Anthony Hotel
• The Esquire

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Dos Sirenos Brewing
• Horizons & More

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Beauty Secrets, Bandera Rd.
• Diamond Wax Bar
• Esti.Alice
• Waxed Culture

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Anachacho Coffee & Cantina, The St. Anthony Hotel
• Anaqua Garden Bar
• Bar 3 Oak
• HEAT nightclub
• Horizons & More

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• All Star Tattoo
• Firme Copias

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Bellagio Nail Bar Alamo Ranch
• Broadway Nails & Lash
• Jade Nail Salon
• Spellbound Beauty

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Esti.Alice
• Float on Fredericksburg Road
• Honeywine Studio
• Somatic Therapies Massage Center

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.

Here are this year’s finalists:

• Erica Texas
• Hair Diva
• Honeywine Studio
• The Colour Lounge

>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALIST <<

We received thousands of nominations across nearly 80 categories in this year’s SA Picks. Each category was then narrowed down to three to five finalists, based on those nominations.

Choose your favorite and vote by using the link below. Voting is open from July 6th through July. 22nd, and you can vote for each category once per day during that time.

A special thanks to our SA Picks sponsor, Gamez Law Firm!

Click here to vote for your favorite finalists in SA Picks 2026.