• TODAY: Feels like 100+° in the afternoon, a 20% chance stray shower
• NEXT WEEK: No rain & hot!
• TROPICS: Eyes on potential development NEXT weekend

FORECAST

SUNDAY

Hope you’ve been enjoying your weekend! It definitely feels like summer out there and that weather pattern will continue today. Morning clouds with plenty of peeks of sun throughout the day. It’ll be hot and humid with a high near 90°, but humidity will make it feel like 100°. There is a small chance (20%) to see a stray shower at any given moment today.

NEXT WEEK

High pressure builds in next week, keeping rain out of the forecast for a while. In fact, it’ll be the longest we’ve gone without measurable rain for quite some time. Temps will climb this week, too.

TROPICS

There are early indications that we could have *some* tropical development in the Gulf next weekend. Right now, there are no indications that Texas would see any impacts from a potential system, but we will keep you posted!

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Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his ruling Civil Contract party are looking for a strong mandate for a new geopolitical course. The opposition they face includes some parties that are vocally pro-Russian.

Casting his vote on Sunday, Pashinyan said that Armenia would continue strengthening its independence, statehood, democracy and rule of law. "The European Union is our main partner in democratic reform implementation and we will continue that path,” he said.

He also stressed that there were no tensions between Armenia and Moscow, saying, "our relations with Russia are institutional and based on mutual respect,” the Armenpress news agency reported.

Russian officials have hit Armenian exports with a barrage of restrictions in recent weeks, while high-ranking officials, including President Vladimir Putin, have made thinly veiled threats comparing Armenia’s path to that already taken by Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Armenian investigators said they issued six arrest warrants for members of the opposition Strong Armenia party the day before the election, accusing them of buying votes. The nation's Central Election Committee confirmed Saturday that the party could run after a member of another opposition party, Republic, appealed for Strong Armenia to be barred over corruption allegations.

Commenting on the arrests Sunday, the head of the Strong Armenia party, Russian Armenian businessman Samvel Karapetyan, said that they “would not change the minds of Armenian voters.”

Karapetyan is under house arrest for allegedly advocating for the government’s overthrow, a charge that the billionaire has rejected as politically motivated. He was escorted to a polling station where he spoke briefly to the media before returning home.

“The Armenian people will make the right choice and Armenia will finally have a legitimate government,” he said.

Trump offers support as Putin urges caution

Armenia’s National Assembly must consist of at least 101 members who are elected for five-year terms. Parties must win at least 4% of the vote to take a seat, while blocs made up of three or more parties must hit 8%.

Two political blocs and 17 parties are taking part in Sunday's election. Most pollsters and experts have predicted Pashinyan, who came to power in 2018 following sweeping street protests, will come out ahead.

“I think Armenians expect, first of all, a peaceful, independent and prosperous Armenia from this election, as we have today,” said Hripsime Grigoryan, a Civil Contract member of the outgoing Parliament.

Pashinyan has spoken on several occasions about the need for a balanced foreign policy ensuring Armenia maintains good relations with the United States, Europe and Russia, as well as regional powers such as Turkey and Iran.

Despite this, Pashinyan has attracted far more enthusiasm in the West than in Moscow. He has been endorsed by several European leaders, as well as U.S. President Donald Trump.

“Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, of Armenia, a great friend and Leader, is making his Country strong, wealthy, and very secure,” Trump wrote on social media, urging Armenians to “Make (Armenia) Great Again.”

This has displeased the Kremlin. Speaking to journalists after Russia’s Victory Day parade on May 9, Putin said if the Armenian people saw benefits in joining the European Union then “we will certainly have nothing to say against it.”

Yet he also reminded reporters, “We are currently living through everything that is happening in respect of Ukraine. And how did it start? It started with Ukraine’s joining or attempting to join the EU.”

Opposition wants closer ties with Russia

Unlike the Civil Contract party, most of Armenia’s opposition supports building stronger relations with Moscow.

The Strong Armenia party seeks to develop business ties with Russia and has accused Pashinyan of attempting to start a war with Moscow.

Other potential contenders include former President Robert Kocharyan, who leads the Hayastan bloc and also has accused Pashinyan of undermining relations with Russia, and the Prosperous Armenia Party, led by pro-Russian business owner Gagik Tsarukyan.

These parties also have strongly criticized Pashinyan for attempting to normalize relations with neighboring Azerbaijan. The Armenian leader and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev initialed a document on moving toward a peace deal at the White House alongside Trump in August.

The two countries were locked in a decades-long conflict over the fate of Karabakh, a breakaway region that had been controlled for decades by ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia. Azerbaijan took control of the entire Karabakh region during a rapid offensive in 2023.

“I want this government to change because the condition of our country is getting worse,” Sahakyan Elina, a supporter of the Prosperous Armenia Party, told The Associated Press at a rally Thursday. “I don’t want to live with my enemies in unity.”

EU criticizes Moscow's pressure

Russian officials have slapped new restrictions on Armenian produce in the run-up to the parliamentary vote, banning the import of Armenian flowers, certain types of cognac and wine, eggplants, potatoes, dried fruits, fish and more.

Russia says the bans are related to violations of agricultural import rules.

The European Commission on Thursday described the move as “nothing short of economic coercion.”

“By extending export restrictions on Armenian products, Moscow is weaponizing economic relations for political pressure. We know this playbook all too well,” the commission said in a statement.

Moscow also controls a significant portion of Armenia’s energy and infrastructure and supplies it with cheap gas, which is a point that Putin has been quick to drive home in his meetings with Pashinyan.

Putin also has stressed that Armenia cannot join the EU and remain within the Eurasian Economic Union, a Russian-led customs bloc.

“Being in a customs union with the European Union and the Eurasian Economic Union is impossible,” Putin said. “It’s simply impossible by definition.”

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Associated Press writers Katie Marie Davies in Manchester, England, and Sam McNeil in Brussels contributed to this report.

The crowd cheered and shouted “This is the youth of the pope!” as Leo arrived for the Mass at a central Madrid plaza. He looped around the plaza and surrounding streets in his popemobile to a crowd packed several rows deep of people eager to witness the first papal visit in 15 years.

Sunday’s Mass fell on the Catholic Corpus Domini feast day, which often features processions of faithful through towns and cities led by a priest carrying the Eucharist. In Spain as in other predominantly Catholic countries, the processions often feature elaborate floral carpets arranged along the route.

According to Spanish organizers, the 16 flower carpets decorating the half-kilometer (mile) procession route off Plaza Cibeles were prepared by a Spanish florists association from Galicia. Florists used more than 30,000 flowers, most the yellow and white colors of the Holy See flag, for the carpets that feature decorations such as the Holy See keys.

Leo, who arrived in Spain on Saturday at the start of his weeklong visit, has been keen to highlight the long tradition of Catholic devotion here to encourage especially young generations to find their faith in a once-staunchly Catholic country where religious observance has largely been on the wane.

In his homily Sunday, Leo honored Spain's tradition of the Corpus Domini processions, saying the floral carpets express the “spiritual sentiments of this country” through “altars erected in the streets.”

“This is not an exhibition, a remnant of folklore or a simple display of beauty,” he said. “It is a profession of faith in the presence of the risen Lord, who is alive and continues to walk among us.”

He said the continued observance of such devotional practices points to what Spain can and should be for the world.

“Herein lies the task of Spain today and in the future: to ensure that the religiosity which has shaped and defined this country for centuries is not a museum of the past to be visited, but a school of faith from which to draw even today,” he said.

At the end of the Mass, Leo carried a gilded monstrance, or container, holding a Eucharistic host and walked over the floral carpets, as children dropped additional petals before him and the crowd tossed petals from behind the barricades.

A vigil draws huge crowds as Leo arrives

The huge turnout in Spain began the day of Leo's arrival, when an estimated 600,000 young Spaniards attended a vigil service Saturday night. They knelt for several minutes in silent prayer alongside Leo, suggesting that there is indeed interest in the faith among young people despite Spain’s heavily secularized society.

“Let me take the opportunity to tell all of you: Don't ever be afraid of thinking about a vocation to the priesthood or religious life, or other services in the church!” Leo told the crowd.

Irati Valda and Javier Hormazal, a young couple, held up a cardboard sign announcing they are going to get married on June 13 and were ushered up close to receive Leo's blessing during the vigil.

“To see so many young people together, it's incredible. Half a million people in silence, this is something you will only live once," Valda said.

A form of popular piety dating back centuries

For Sunday's Mass and procession, local organizers said 1.2 million people had turned out on a brilliant spring morning at the central plaza and surrounding streets, with more trying to get in.

The tradition of laying flower carpets — and destroying them when the procession tramples them — dates back two centuries and is popular also in Latin America, where elaborate sand designs are also made. The painstaking displays are considered an offering to the Eucharist.

Poland has already had its tradition of Corpus Domini flower carpets recognized by UNESCO, and Spain's Galicia region is trying to have its tradition listed along with other countries as part of the world’s intangible cultural heritage.

Wildly popular religious processions, pilgrimages and feasts continue to be held in most Spanish regions. The most recognizable are Holy Week processions during the final week of Lent where brotherhoods and robed penitents parade ornate statues of Christ and the Virgin Mary through cities, towns and villages alongside marching bands. Such processions draw the faithful as well as droves of non-believers and tourists.

Spanish towns and cities also regularly honor local patron saints with fiestas. Religious pilgrimages to local shrines mix piety with communal festivities and music. In Andalusia, the El Rocío pilgrimage fetches a million people that make a long, dusty journey over the Pentecost weekend on horseback and decorated covered wagons to venerate an icon of the Virgin Mary.

Leo arrived in Spain on Saturday and urged its people to put an end to polarization and work for unity. Later Sunday he is to meet privately with members of his Augustinian religious order and address cultural leaders.

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AP visual journalist Helena Alves contributed to this report.

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

Israel’s police said they had killed one attacker. Large cohorts of Israeli soldiers carried out searches in the area, on the ground and by air, for additional assailants. The number of places where people were shot initially raised concerns that there could be multiple, coordinated attackers.

Rescue services Magen David Adom said it received the first reports of a shooting at a gas station near the town of Kokhav Yair, located on the Israeli side of the boundary with the West Bank, at around 10:30 a.m. Several other shooting reports were received soon afterward, in the towns of Tsur Natan, Tsur Yitzhak, and close to the Israeli settlement of Sal'it, located inside the West Bank.

Police identified the attacker as a Palestinian citizen of Israel from the nearby Arab town of Taybeh.

Residents in the area were instructed to stay at home and children were kept in lockdown at school, according to the regional council head.

“Since Oct. 7, the scenario we were expecting was terrorist crossing into our towns from over the boundary, I don't think that anyone imagined that we would discover the attackers were Israeli citizens,” Oshrit Gani Gonen, the regional council head for the area that includes the towns where the shootings took place, told Israeli media.

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This story has been corrected to include the right location where the Israeli man was killed. That shooting took place on the Israeli side of the boundary with the Israel-occupied West Bank, not inside the West Bank

The U.K., France and Germany, the so-called E3 group of European nations, have been prominent backers of Ukraine following Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. The U.K. and France lead the “coalition of the willing” initiative to provide security guarantees for Ukraine as part of a peace process.

The meeting on Sunday evening comes in the wake of a large-scale Ukrainian drone attack that targeted Saint Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city, underscoring Kyiv’s growing ability to hit deep inside Russia. Gov. Alexander Beglov said three people sustained minor injuries in Saturday's attack, during which residents were advised to stay indoors.

With the front line barely moving as swarms of drones hinder advances, both sides have sought an edge by launching long-range strikes. The war that followed Russia’s invasion of its neighbor is more than four years old, with no end in sight.

The St. Petersburg attack, which came less than 24 hours after the end of the city's flagship economic forum, was an embarrassing blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to cast the conflict as a distant event that doesn’t affect Russian daily life.

Putin on Friday rejected Zelenskyy's offer for a meeting, saying he sees “no point” in it.

Meanwhile, a Russian attack Sunday killed three people and wounded one as they were waiting for a bus in Balabyne in Ukraine's southern Zaporizhzhia region, the head of the regional military administration, Ivan Fedorov, wrote on his Telegram channel.

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

Sunday's ballot was scheduled after the main political parties failed to agree by a March deadline on who should replace former President Vjosa Osmani. The first inconclusive election in February 2025 left the country without a functioning government for much of last year, forcing a second election in December.

The prolonged crisis has negatively affected Kosovo’s economy, already hit hard by the global energy crisis and rising fuel prices. One of the youngest and poorest countries in Europe declared independence from Serbia in 2008, after a 1998-99 war that ended in a NATO bombing that forced Serbia to withdraw.

Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s center-left Vetevendosje party has held a clear parliamentary majority since the early election in December. But Kosovo’s president is elected by at least 80 lawmakers in the 120-member assembly, requiring a broader political consensus.

Kurti is being challenged by the two main opposition parties, the Democratic Party of Kosovo and the Democratic League of Kosovo, which have accused him of seeking to impose full control over all political institutions in the country.

“Today is a sunny Sunday, a very important day for democracy in Kosovo," Kurti said after voting. “I hope the people of Kosovo once again will show their maturity as always, with a very high turnout.”

Osmani is running on the opposition LDK list in the election, having turned against Kurti after he refused to back her for a second term. Osmani on Sunday expressed “great optimism” that the election will "take us out of the repeated crisis that has damaged our country, both domestically and beyond our borders.”

While the key players blamed each other for the crisis, their inability to reach a compromise has fueled disappointment among Kosovo’s around 2 million voters, who want the government to focus on the economy and living standards instead.

Analysts still don't expect major changes in the election outcome compared to the previous vote in December.

Arton Smajli, 42, a resident of the capital, Pristina, said that “we are tired, but the will for change is greater than that.”

Sejdi Shala, 73, is also optimistic the election will bring "stability of the institutions and the society.”

The institutional vacuum, without a stable government, has delayed access to the EU and other international funds available to the country. European Council President Antonio Costa, during a visit last week, urged Kosovo to end the political stalemate and unite over the goal of EU integration.

Kosovo has been recognized by the United States and most EU countries, but not by Serbia and its allies, Russia and China. Pristina and Belgrade have been told they must mend relations to move forward with their EU membership bids.

Keiko Fujimori, a conservative and daughter of a disgraced former president, and Roberto Sánchez, a nationalist congressman, are on the ballot after beating 33 other candidates in the first round in April, but neither earned even 20% of support. Pollsters estimate that roughly 30% of voters remain undecided.

Sunday’s results are expected to be tight, and if the earlier vote was any indication, the outcome may not be known for days. Electoral authorities took more than a month to officially declare Fujimori and Sánchez the winners of that vote.

Voting is mandatory for Peruvians from the ages of 18 to 70. More than 27 million people are registered, and of those, about 1.2 million are expected to cast ballots from abroad, mainly in the United States and Argentina.

Voters are still evaluating the candidates

Official results from April’s election showed Fujimori obtained 17% of the vote, while Sánchez garnered 12%. More than six weeks later, a nationwide poll conducted by the firm Ipsos found that similar shares of voters were supporting Fujimori and Sánchez, with about 3 in 10 saying they were undecided.

Fujimori is linked to the authoritarian and corrupt legacy of the government of her late father, Alberto Fujimori, in the 1990s. She became Peru's first lady in 1994 after her parents’ separation.

Sánchez is one of the closest allies of jailed former President Pedro Castillo, whom many perceive as corrupt and chaotic. Castillo’s 16-month term saw more than 70 Cabinet changes.

Surging crime, particularly extortion, remains the overarching concern. A 2025 national survey carried out by the state’s National Institute of Statistics and Informatics found that 84% of respondents in urban areas feared becoming victims of a crime in the following 12 months.

Experts attribute the increasing power of organized crime in Peru to the profits that decades-old criminal groups are earning from illegal gold mining in the Andes and the Amazon.

Campaigns mostly focused on crime-fighting strategies

For most of her fourth presidential campaign, Fujimori promised to crack down on crime. Her proposals include implementing technology to track extortions, militarizing borders and increasing the presence of police and military personnel in high-risk areas. Fujimori, 51, has also said that prisoners will be required to work and “repay society.”

In the only debate prior to the runoff, Fujimori defended her father’s government and promised to defeat crime just as he defeated the Shining Path, a violent extremist group. She told voters that should she win, they will be able to leave their homes and return without having become victims of a crime.

Meanwhile, Sánchez, a former minister now popular with rural voters, has pledged to combat corruption within the police force and promote reforms that would enable the military to support security efforts.

The 57-year-old, who wears a wide-brimmed peasant hat gifted by Castillo, told debate viewers that he would be open to “all options to generate jobs and progress” but also emphasized his support for Chinese investments.

He also has tried to ease the concerns his candidacy is generating among investors, saying he will not nationalize any assets of transnational companies that extract minerals or gas from Peru.

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Garcia Cano reported from Mexico City.

Lokudu and several of his colleagues work all day at the hospital treating an influx of patients. Notifications of suspected cases come even late at night.

“I have not received my allowance (and) what happened to others could happen to me as well,” Lokudu told The Associated Press. “Despite all the infection prevention and control measures we are implementing, we do not know what may happen.”

Health authorities believe the outbreak, which took the eastern region of Congo by surprise after spreading silently for weeks without detection, started in the bustling mining area of Mongbwalu in Ituri province.

Mining conditions conducive to virus spread

Mongbwalu has emerged as the epicenter of the rare Bundibugyo type. The town attracts large numbers of laborers who work in large gold mines with muddy pools of gold deposits, narrow pits and caves. They live in low-income areas including crowded camps and have little access to proper health protocols.

The conditions increase the possibility of transmitting the disease, which spreads through close contact with bodily fluids of the sick and deceased such as sweat, blood, feces and vomit.

There also has been widespread skepticism regarding the disease, making the job of medical treatment more difficult for Lokudu and his colleagues, while some of the health workers and first responders have died from the disease.

“It is one thing to be far away and hear statistics being reported, but what is happening on the ground is enormous,” Lokudu said. “People are sacrificing their rest and comfort for this cause. There should be recognition that they deserve compensation. These workers should receive their salaries regularly.”

The Congolese government did not respond to a request for comment from the AP.

Minimal resources available

Congolese authorities have confirmed 452 cases including 82 deaths. On Thursday, the Central African nation recorded 71 new cases in a day, which authorities said is a sign of “active community transmission.”

The rare Bundibugyo type has no approved vaccines or treatment, so health workers have been targeting symptoms. The government said at least five people have recovered from Ebola since the outbreak was officially confirmed by Congo's Ministry of Health on May 15.

The disease “had a big head start,” according to World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Hospitals in the region could not test for the right type of Ebola that had begun spreading several weeks before confirmation.

Health workers are handling the disease with minimal resources as agencies have been scrambling to bring aid into the region. Masks, gloves, boots and medications were initially all in short supply.

“There has been an erosion of the health system,” said Heather Kerr, country director for the International Rescue Committee in Congo. “There has not been investment in the health system, and this has been going on for years.”

Tough conditions for health workers

“During the first week, we did not even have time to go home and eat. The second week was the same. We only eat once a day, what amounts to breakfast in the evening,” said Alice Bamuhinga, a nurse at the Mongbwalu hospital.

Even with widespread skepticism and disregard for health protocols, many in the town are becoming aware of the outbreak's grave reality.

Asero Jeanne had five children. Two died from the disease within two weeks. When her daughter became ill, the family thought it was malaria and neighbors advised them to avoid the hospital, saying “anyone who went there would die immediately,” according to Jeanne, 52.

The daughter died after three weeks of moving between hospitals and home, followed by a son who died days after. Then Jeanne became sick.

“I saw about 20 people die,” Jeanne said. “I watched them being taken to the morgue, yet God is allowing me to leave here alive. I thank the doctors.”

World Health Organization offers a plan

Tedros, the WHO director-general, on Friday launched a $518 million plan to combat the outbreak, saying “containing Ebola depends on political commitment, sustained financing, and the trust and engagement of communities.”

Efforts to contain the disease also have been hindered by the conflict between the government and Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group, in addition to attacks by Islamist militants.

For health workers on the front line of Congo's Ebola outbreak, the work has become harder as the disease spreads faster than their current treatment capacity.

“Despite the alerts we receive and the teams we have on site, we lack the means to travel into the field,” Lokudu said. “As a result, there are alerts we are unable to investigate.”

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Adetayo reported from Lagos, Nigeria.

Monaco is the glamorous traditional high point of the F1 season and the 19-year-old Mercedes driver could join some of the sport's greatest names as a winner.

It's almost impossible to overtake on the narrow, twisty street circuit, so his pole position is especially valuable. He starts ahead of two of the most successful F1 drivers ever, with Max Verstappen second for Red Bull and Lewis Hamilton third for Ferrari.

“I just need to get a clean start, don’t try to do the magic start,” Antonelli said Saturday. Hamilton said that to have a shot at winning, he might need rain, which is unlikely to affect the race.

After a winless rookie season, Antonelli took his first F1 victory at the Chinese Grand Prix in March and has followed up with wins in Japan, Miami and Canada to lead teammate George Russell by 43 points. He would be the youngest champion in F1 history.

Mercedes has won all five Grand Prix races so far this year and is aiming for a sixth. Russell hasn't won since the opening race in Australia and starts sixth for Sunday's race after admitting he was “bamboozled” by how the Mercedes car better suited Antonelli's driving style.

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

A four-goal, third-period rally by the Hurricanes nearly made NHL history and in process sent shockwaves through T-Mobile Arena.

And this game ended in a way perhaps befitting all the craziness, a shot from Vegas defenseman Shea Theodore off the skate of Brandon Bussi — the backup goalie put in the game in the third period after not playing for two months — that went into the net at 5:38 of double overtime to give the Golden Knights a 5-4 victory over Carolina.

“I have experienced a lot of games in playoffs,” Golden Knights coach John Tortorella said. “I haven't experienced one like this.”

Almost overlooked was the four-point night by Vegas' Mitch Marner, who also produced the fastest hat trick in Cup Final history.

The Golden Knights took a 2-1 series lead. The teams take two days off before meeting in Game 4 on Tuesday night in Las Vegas. Teams with a 2-1 series lead went on to win the Cup 46 of 57 times, or 80.7%.

Carolina had been 6-0 in overtime this postseason. The Hurricanes were trying to become the first team to win after trailing by at least four goals in the third period, but now clubs in that situation are 0-109.

“We just left our foot off the gas,” Theodore said on the ABC broadcast. “I think we have to be sharper in the third, but I liked the resiliency out of our group. I liked the way we started that second overtime, and I felt like we were more on our toes.”

This was the 10th time the first three games of a Cup Final were decided by a point. The last time was in 2016 between Pittsburgh and San Jose.

The Golden Knights seemed to have it in hand after scoring four times in the second, including a natural hat trick by Marner.

But Jordan Martinook, Taylor Hall and Jordan Staal scored goals for the Hurricanes. Their goals, occurring 39 seconds apart, are the fastest three in a Cup Final game.

Andrei Svechnikov jammed in a puck on a six-on-four power play with 1:42 left to force overtime.

“I love that we feel like we can come back from anything, but you can’t put yourself in a hole like we did,” Martinook said. “The second period, for them to come out like that and take total control of the game, it’s something that can’t happen, especially this time.”

Marner’s scoring outburst came over a 6:10 stretch of the second period, and he had four points in the period. He had the secondary assist on Tomas Hertl’s goal midway through the period.

The last time a player had four points in a period of the Cup final was in 1919 when Frank Foyston of the Seattle Metropolitans pulled off that feat.

Marner nearly added to the total in the third period, but failed to capitalize on a breakaway and a penalty shot. Those missed chances came back to bite the Golden Knights.

The Hurricanes made the comeback after changing goalies to open the third, going with Bussi, who made 18 saves. Frederik Andersen had given up those four goals on 16 shots.

Carolina also rallied without forward and former Golden Knight William Carrier, who had an upper-body injury in the second period.

Vegas’ Carter Hart stopped 29 shots.

Vegas twice thought it took the lead early in the second period, but the Hurricanes successfully challenged both goals to keep the game scoreless.

The Golden Knights received a major boost when defenseman Brayden McNabb took the ice. He took a puck in the face in the first period Thursday night at Carolina and didn’t return to the game. McNabb, who had on a cage to protect his face, is Vegas’ best defensive defenseman. He was on the first defensive pair with Theodore.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

The 24-year-old right-hander's record-setting pitch was low and outside to Kyle Karros in the third inning.

“It’s one of those things: It is what it is,” Misiorowski said. “I’m going to keep going, trying to get strikeouts, and if that’s what it takes to get strikeouts, then so be it.”

Misiorowski (7-2) has thrown the 12 fastest pitches by a starter. His previous high was 103.4 mph against St. Louis on May 25.

He threw 52 pitches 100 mph or faster Saturday night, including a record 45 of at least 101 mph. He allowed just an unearned run while striking out eight in seven innings, lowering his ERA to 1.50 in a 7-1 victory over the Rockies at Coors Field.

"Miz has got great extension and great velocity, so that doesn’t surprise me," Brewers manager Pat Murphy said about the 103.7 mph fastball. “But we've got to get off that — the harder the better, and all that. He’s got to throw the ball in the zone and throw his other pitches in the zone. As I say often, good hitters can time up anything.”

Misiorowski threw a record 57 pitches 100 mph or faster in the May 25 game, including 40 of 101 mph or more.

The fastest pitch overall since tracking began was clocked at 105.8 mph by Cincinnati reliever Aroldis Chapman in September 2010 at San Diego, according to Statcast.

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

The American pontiff traveled to Spain dozens of times as a priest, but this is the first visit here by a pope in 15 years. And Spaniards turned out in droves to welcome Leo, with an estimated 500,000 people — many of them young — cheering “This is the youth of the pope” at a raucous evening prayer vigil in Plaza de Lima in Madrid, where Leo was treated to a rock star's welcome.

Leo's visit signals a return of papal attention to Europe’s Christian roots after Pope Francis largely stayed away from the traditional centers of Christianity in favor of smaller Catholic communities farther away.

Leo is seemingly keen to bring his message of peace, unity and human dignity to a continent sorely polarized over migration, the Russia-Ukraine war and anxiety over artificial intelligence.

The pope, known as León XIV in Spanish, opened his weeklong trip in Madrid, greeted at the airport by the country’s Catholic monarchs, King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia, and Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. He told reporters, while traveling, that he was particularly heartened by reports of a spiritual awakening among young people in the once staunchly Catholic but now secularized country.

During his welcome address, Leo appealed to Spaniards, especially political leaders, to put polemics aside and invest in educating young people to appreciate diversity and complexity rather than shunning them.

“Today, the temptation to gain popularity by fanning the flames of polarization seems to have grown rather than diminished, and human dignity continues to be violated,” Leo said.

He appealed to Spain’s place at the heart of Christian Europe to serve as a model for the rest of the continent, while also recalling the country's 800-year Moorish past, when cities like Toledo and Córdoba became, he said, “centers of dialogue between languages, religions and knowledge.”

“For the love of truth, I invite everyone to set aside the divisive and polarizing narratives of your societal reality and history,” he said. Doing so will help Europe “overcome sterile simplifications through the fruitful appreciation of complexity.”

Spaniards find themselves increasingly divided over issues including immigration, feminism and political corruption, while historically Spain was riven by territorial and independence movements.

Spain's parliament prepares for first-ever papal speech

The highlight of Leo’s visit to Madrid will be his speech on Monday to a joint parliamentary session of the Congress of Deputies and the Senate — the first by a pope. Such speeches are rare and often become one of the most important of a pontificate.

But Leo will find a highly polarized legislature, with the government Socialist party hammered by a series of corruption scandals. Conservative parties, including the Popular Party and Vox, have called for Sánchez to step down before a general election due by next year, and have roundly criticized his government’s migration policies.

Spain’s Socialist-led government has bucked a general trend in Europe and the United States by announcing it will grant legal status to potentially hundreds of thousands of immigrants living and working in the country without authorization. Sánchez has highlighted the benefits of legal migration to the Spanish economy with an aging workforce and low birth rate.

Despite some expected protests of Leo’s visit, his speech to parliament in particular is something of a milestone for Spain’s Catholic Church. Shaped by the anticlerical violence of the country’s 1936-1939 civil war, the church has dealt more recently with a credibility crisis over revelations of decades of clergy abuse and cover-up.

And yet there are signs of renewed interest in all forms of spirituality, Christian and otherwise, especially among young Spaniards, said sociologist Narciso Michavila Núñez, president of the GAD3 consulting firm that polls young people about their faith, among other things.

In recent surveys, he said, pollsters are registering newfound interest in faith among Gen Z Spaniards. Michavila and others cite the popularity of Spanish pop star Rosalía’s new hit album “Lux,” which is overtly spiritual.

“The truth from a common view is not that God is in fashion. What is new in this moment, in this visit of the pope, is that God in the Spanish society is not a taboo anymore,” he said.

Leo pointed to the signs of a spiritual awakening in comments to reporters en route to Madrid. But he also acknowledged that he's facing stiff competition from Bad Bunny, who is holding two concerts this weekend.

“If they are confronted with the question ‘Do you want to go see Bad Bunny or do you want to go to see the pope?’ I think many will see Bad Bunny,” Leo said. “But I think there will also be a few here to see the pope. And that says something, you know.”

Pope to meet with abuse victims and migrants

In a sign that the clergy sexual abuse crisis continues to overshadow papal trips, Leo confirmed he would meet with survivors during his visit. The Spanish Catholic hierarchy is belatedly reckoning with decades of abuse and cover-up.

“Abuses are still an open wound,” he told reporters.

Spain's king also cited the church’s sexual abuse crisis in the country in his welcome speech, but he insisted such cases “neither are nor can be representative of the immense ecclesial community.”

“Your clarity and firmness, which I also wish to acknowledge, are essential in the process of healing and repairing the harm inflicted: they are essential for the victims, for the faithful, for the church, and for society,” Felipe told Leo, in an apparent reference to a recently launched church-state reparations system for some victims of clerical abuse.

Leo’s trip is the first papal visit to Spain since Pope Benedict XVI came in 2011 for World Youth Day.

After Madrid, the other highlights of the trip include Leo’s visit midweek to Barcelona, where he will celebrate Mass in the Sagrada Familia basilica on the centenary of the death of its famed architect, Antoni Gaudí.

Leo will also fulfill a wish of Francis by ending his visit with a two-day stop in the Canary Islands, the Spanish archipelago closer to Africa than the Iberian Peninsula and a key destination for migrants leaving West Africa.

Leo will meet with migrants and the humanitarian organizations providing care for them. He is expected to toss a wreath of flowers into the sea, in memory of migrants killed during the treacherous Atlantic crossing. He’ll do so from the port in Las Palmas that in 2020 earned the nickname the “Dock of Shame” because thousands of migrants were forced to sleep in the open for weeks on end during a spike in arrivals.

Francis had made reaching out to migrants and refugees a hallmark of his papacy, and Leo has followed suit by demanding dignified treatment of migrants, especially in his native U.S.

“For those of us who are immigrants and find ourselves in this situation of having family far away, someone like the pope — who is an important figure for the entire world — coming here is truly something that makes me say ‘wow,’” said Constantina Nchama, an immigrant from Equatorial Guinea.

“It’s something that happens once in a lifetime,” she said. “I’m very, very excited about that, truly.”

___

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

Georgia's Republican-led Legislature will convene June 17 for a special session focused on redistricting for the 2028 elections. The agenda includes new voting districts not only for Congress, but also for the state House and Senate — and potentially even the state's utility regulatory commission.

It will mark the first time since a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling weakened minority voting protections that a state legislature will attempt to redraw its own districts. Mississippi Republicans and New York Democrats also could undertake legislative redistricting before their 2027 and 2028 elections, respectively.

Ir remains to be seen, though, how many legislatures will follow, and whether the outburst of mid-decade redistricting will extend down to county commissions, city councils and school boards that make myriad decisions affecting people's lives. The impact could be widespread.

“The stakes here are not political, they are deeply human,” said Joe Kennedy III, founder of Groundwork Project, a nonprofit that supports local civil rights and democracy organizations.

What's fueling the redistricting movement?

Voting district boundaries typically are redrawn once a decade after each U.S. census to account for population changes. But last summer, President Donald Trump urged Texas Republicans to redraw congressional districts to try to win additional seats in the midterm elections. Other states followed with their own partisan gerrymandering.

Then a 6-3 Supreme Court ruling in late April jumpstarted even more redistricting. The court struck down a majority-Black congressional district in Louisiana as an illegal racial gerrymander, providing grounds for Republicans in other states to reshape districts with large minority populations that have elected Democrats.

Why is Georgia redrawing its districts?

A federal judge ruled in 2023 that some of Georgia’s congressional, state Senate and state House districts were drawn in a racially discriminatory manner. The Legislature quickly approved revised maps with new majority-Black districts, though they resulted in little change to Republican majorities in the 2024 elections.

Republican Gov. Brian Kemp has called lawmakers into special session to again redraw districts in light of the Supreme Court’s decision in the Louisiana case. That could allow Republicans to undo the court-ordered changes they made in 2023 and potentially redraw other Democratic-held minority districts to the GOP's advantage.

Republicans have yet to unveil details of their plans. But Democratic state Rep. Tanya Miller, who is running for attorney general, denounced the upcoming redistricting as a means of “rigging maps to maintain power.”

How many seats are at stake?

Several months before the Supreme Court ruling, a report by Fair Fight Action and Black Voters Matter forecast that Republicans in 10 Southern states could eliminate 191 Democratic-held legislative seats — including 140 districts with Black or Hispanic majorities — if the Supreme Court gutted federal Voting Rights Act protections for minorities.

“If anything, our report was an understatement,” Cliff Albright, co-founder and executive director of Black Voters Matter, recently told The Associated Press. “What’s at stake is the future of this democracy.”

Other analysts don't expect that many seats to be redistricted. But they do expect the Supreme Court's decision to ripple through states.

“We’re going to potentially see a lot of frenzied efforts at every level, including at the local level, to try out undoing district maps and configurations that have performed quite well in providing improved representation for communities of color,” said Kareem Crayton, vice president of the Washington office of the Brennan Center for Justice.

What states have pending court cases?

The precedent from the recent Supreme Court decision already is being applied in several states. In light of the ruling, a federal appeals court is allowing Alabama to use a state Senate map approved by Republican lawmakers in this year's election instead of one imposed by a federal judge who found the state had diluted the voting power of Black residents. The change affects two state Senate districts in the Montgomery area.

The Supreme Court has sent legislative redistricting cases filed on behalf of Black voters in Mississippi and Native Americans in North Dakota back to lower courts for further consideration in light of its Louisiana decision. The Washington attorney general has asked the Supreme Court to do the same for legislative redistricting cases involving Hispanic voters in that state.

What's stopping states from redistricting?

About half the states have provisions in their constitutions prohibiting mid-decade redistricting of state legislative seats, said Justin Levitt, a law professor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles who runs the “All About Redistricting” website.

But even in states where it's allowed, lawmakers may have fewer reasons to redraw their own districts than those for Congress, Levitt said. Politicians who promoted congressional redistricting for the 2026 midterms often justified it as a way to counter gerrymandering in other states and win as many seats as possible for their party. They had extra motivation because a swing of only a few seats nationally in the November elections could affect control of the closely divided U.S. House.

By contrast, most state legislative chambers already are dominated by one party.

”There’s a lot less incentive, if you already control the state legislature by 10 or 12 seats, to eke out an incremental one or two at the expense of really ticking off your own party membership, or at the expense of maybe risking losing seats in a broader way,” Levitt said.

Could local governments also redraw districts?

The Supreme Court decision making it more difficult to prove Voting Rights Act violations already has affected some local governments.

Plaintiffs have voluntarily dismissed a challenge to commission districts in Meriwether County, Georgia. A federal court has accepted new legal briefs in a challenge to Board of Supervisors districts in DeSoto County, Mississippi. And Indiana's attorney general has asked a federal appeals court to take note of the Louisiana case when deciding a challenge to how judges are selected in Lake County.

Over roughly the past four decades, data from the University of Michigan shows that cities, counties and school boards have been involved in more than three-fifths of the 466 lawsuits alleging violations of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which forbids providing minorities less opportunity than other voters to elect the representatives of their choice.

But that doesn't necessarily mean local governments will rush to redistrict as a result of a weakened Voting Rights Act. The Supreme Court decision cleared the way for officials to justify redistricting based on partisan ambitions. But many local offices are officially nonpartisan.

The race for governor between Sand and Republican Zach Lahn stands to be one of the most competitive in the country as Iowans face a state budget deficit, struggling agricultural economy and cancer crisis.

Even as Sand downplays party politics, Democrats are putting faith in him to blaze a trail in the state after struggling electorally in recent cycles.

“We are all in on flipping Iowa,” said Beshear, chair of the Democratic Governors Association and a potential presidential candidate in 2028. “It’s certainly time for a change, and I think the people of Iowa know that Rob Sand will always put them first and lead in a way that lifts families up and doesn’t leave them out.”

Sand, who was unopposed on the primary ballot, learned who his opponent would be after Tuesday’s primary settled an unpredictable five-way Republican contest.

Little known before his bid for governor, Lahn made a splash as a business owner criticizing farm consolidation and tax breaks for corporate giants, a regenerative farmer who subscribes to Robert F. Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” movement and a former political operative who galvanized Iowa’s conservative grassroots.

Iowa has open races for both governor and U.S. senator for the first time since 1968, plus three battleground congressional races. National attention on the state has soared in recent months, drawing President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance to Iowa.

Democrats will have an uphill climb with a 200,000-person deficit in statewide voter registration, and they are outnumbered in every House district. Sand, along with Senate candidate Josh Turek, say they can win over independents and Republicans who are frustrated with party politics and a Republican trifecta in Washington and Des Moines that they blame for the state's challenges.

Turek will face U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, who already has portrayed Turek as a liberal puppet for party leader Sen. Chuck Schumer.

Lahn has also rejected Sand's nonpartisan pitch.

“Rob Sand is not a moderate,” Lahn said in his victory speech Tuesday. “He’s a liberal career politician pretending to be someone he’s not.”

Sand says divided government is a good thing

Sand is vocal about his dislike of partisanship, his distrust of both political parties and his desire for divided government in Iowa. He says he thinks most Iowans feel the same.

Even if Sand is elected governor in November, he will likely have to work with Republican majorities in the state House and Senate, which recently passed bills to restrict the executive’s power that outgoing Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law.

“I’m not here to tell you that the answer to 10 years of one-party control is to give the other party 10 years of one-party control. I don’t think that’s right,” Sand said Tuesday after casting his primary ballot. “But I do think that it’s time to say enough to the people who have had 10 years of one-party control. It’s time for balanced government in Iowa.”

Neither Sand or Lahn use their party's traditional blue or red in campaign materials, opting instead for green. They both say they aren’t beholden to their party establishments and that Iowans want a new direction, though Lahn’s Republican Party has held a statehouse trifecta for nearly a decade.

Sand’s campaign has given about $750,000 to the Iowa Democratic Party already this cycle, funding that Republicans call hypocritical for a candidate who claims he is not a party man. The Sand campaign says that sum reflects his investment in a state party-run coordinated campaign that will help him get elected as governor, even as it also supports candidates up and down the ballot.

Beshear brings national support as he considers his own future

As Democrats continue to debate what went wrong in 2024 and the direction of the party, Beshear has offered up his own example as the leader of a red state for lessons on how the party can go forward.

Beshear said he is trying to be a “voice of reason in the chaos” of Trump’s administration and that he is comfortable being listed among the names of Democrats considering a presidential bid in 2028, even as he said he is focused on the critical midterms.

In addition to rallying with Sand, Beshear will also be at a “Beers with Beshear” fundraiser for congressional candidate Sarah Trone Garriott, who wants to unseat Republican Rep. Zach Nunn in the competitive House district that includes Des Moines. Beshear said he will see Turek too.

The Democratic Governors Association, which Beshear chairs, gave the Iowa Democratic Party about $140,000 so far this cycle, according to filing reports.

The San Antonio Spurs are down 0-2. They say they’re unfazed.

Such is the state of things in the NBA Finals, where both teams were taking a travel day on Saturday. Practices resume Sunday and Game 3 of the title series is Monday night at Madison Square Garden, where President Donald Trump will be watching alongside fans who are willing to pay nearly $10,000 for seats so far from the court that 7-foot-4 Spurs center Victor Wembanyama will look tiny.

The Knicks insist they’re not celebrating yet. The Spurs insist they’re not defeated yet.

“Every single day, we chip away and try to be the best that we can be. ... Even with the series it is now, next game, mindset has to be 0-0 again,” said Knicks guard Jalen Brunson, the late-game hero in both the Game 1 and Game 2 wins that New York got in San Antonio to take an absolute stranglehold on the series. “It’s just how it has to be. You can’t be comfortable. You can’t be satisfied with anything. Just got to continue to push forward.”

That’s all they’ve done for a month and a half now.

They’ve won 13 consecutive games, the second-longest single-season playoff run in NBA history behind only a 15-game winning streak by Golden State in the 2017 postseason. They have a chance to be the first team in NBA history to make it through the last three rounds of the playoffs — the conference semifinals, conference final and NBA Finals — unbeaten.

“One of the things that we preach is being present,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said. “In order to be present, you can’t think about the past, you can’t think about the future. For all of us as humans, that’s hard as heck to do. I constantly, boom, flick myself in the head, tell myself, ‘Be present, be present, be present.’ I obviously mention it to the group, too. With those guys being who they are, they’ve really embraced it, and they’re really trying to live it every single moment during this run.”

They don’t get rattled, even on this stage. Counting the NBA Cup final, which isn’t recognized in standings or official league stats, the Knicks are 4-1 against the Spurs this season. The four wins by New York all have something in common: the Knicks trailed by double digits in each of those games.

— Cup final in Vegas, the Spurs led by 11 (and lost by 11).

— Regular-season game at MSG, the Spurs led by 12 (and lost by 25).

— Game 1 of the finals, the Spurs led by 14 (and lost by 10).

— Game 2 of the finals, the Spurs led by 12 (and lost by one).

“We just need to figure it out,” Wembanyama said. “We need to keep working on it.”

The only Spurs win over New York was the regular-season game at home, where they won by two after trailing by 19 and never leading by more than six.

Go figure.

“It was going to take everything to win the series anyway,” Spurs guard Stephon Castle said. “Putting ourselves in this type of predicament is going to be tough, but I don’t think it’s anything we can’t handle.”

The Knicks have an idea of what’s coming on Monday.

The Garden will be shaking to its core, since people who spent the kind of money that they’re spending to come see a basketball game likely won’t decide to sit quietly in their seats. The energy in the city will be beyond compare, with a 53-year wait for another NBA championship now just two games away and oddsmakers — who have the Knicks at -550 to win the series — basically saying it’s inevitable. And the Spurs will come out throwing whatever punches they have left to throw.

“Knowing them, there’s going to be another level,” Brunson said. “We have to be prepared and be ready to match it and play for 48 minutes. No matter what goes on in the game, we have to have each other’s back, what’s going on, who is on a run, what’s not, who is up, who is down, making sure we are playing together for 48 minutes is really important.”

If the Knicks could use a cautionary tale, they need look no further than Mikal Bridges. He was with Phoenix when the Suns took a 2-0 lead in the 2021 finals against Milwaukee. The Bucks and Giannis Antetokounmpo won that series in six games. It’s a different situation now — those two Suns wins were in Phoenix, not on the road — but it is a reminder that two wins aren’t enough.

“It’s still 0-0 as far as we’re concerned,” Knicks forward Josh Hart said. “Being up 2-0 means really nothing. This (San Antonio) team is going to come out on Monday with an unbelievable amount of energy and desperation, and we’ve got to be better.”

___

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

Loved ones gathered to say goodbye to Joey, remembering him as funny, warm and full of ambition. His aunt said he had talked about following in her footsteps and becoming a nurse.

As the family grieves, relatives said they have felt supported by the wider San Antonio community, especially Spurs fans.

“We feel like the city of San Antonio has shown more than enough love for my nephew,” said Moses Rodriguez, Joey’s uncle. “We got a lot of loving and caring people in San Antonio.”

Another uncle, Joey Lopez, said the family is grateful for the support.

“We’re thankful from the bottom of our heart,” he said.

In the days since the accident and Joey’s death, his family and authorities are reminding people to be safe while celebrating and to always buckle up when they get on the road.

The family said the support from San Antonio has helped them as they continue to mourn Joey’s loss.

Read more:

• ‘Feels like a nightmare’: Teen dies after falling from truck during Spurs playoff celebration
• Teen dies from injuries after falling from truck during Spurs celebration, family says
• Family not giving up hope, say teen declared ‘brain dead’ after falling from truck during Spurs postgame celebration
• ‘Fighting for his life’: Teen on life support after falling from truck during Spurs celebration
• Teen hospitalized after falling from vehicle while celebrating Spurs victory near SW Military, SAPD says

Reyes Antonio Chaires Jr., 44, was pronounced dead at 4:38 p.m. Saturday. He had been transported by ambulance and admitted to the hospital on Thursday.

Chaires was booked into the Bexar County jail on June 3, 2026, on a charge of possession of a controlled substance. He was originally arrested by the San Antonio Police Department.

His cause of death will be determined by the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office, though BCSO said they believe detoxing may have been a contributing factor.

The Castle Hills Police Department is leading the death investigation. The Texas Commission on Jail Standards has been notified, per state requirements.

Separately, the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office Internal Affairs Unit is conducting a concurrent administrative investigation.

According to a KSAT Investigates analysis, Charies’ death is the fifth Bexar County jail inmate death this year.

Read also:

• Inmate dies after possible medical episode inside Bexar County jail, BCSO says

The results from this positive vibe shift have been spectacular all season, and it's working again at the U.S. Women's Open. After Korda started poorly this week at Riviera, she shook it off and responded with two straight stellar rounds that have put the World No. 1 in prime position to win the title she covets most of all.

Korda shot her second straight 4-under 67 on Saturday to claim a share of the lead in the 81st Open, ending with three consecutive birdies and finishing even with Sei Young Kim at 6-under 207.

“It’s always amazing to be in this position,” Korda said. “That’s what we work so hard for, to be in this spot. So whatever happens tomorrow happens, but I’m going to give it my all and see what the outcome is.”

Korda, already a three-time major winner after dominating The Chevron Championship in April, has played her way into prime position to contend for her second straight major title and first U.S. Open championship.

It won't be simple: Seven players were within two shots of the top of a leaderboard crowded with major winners. First-round leader Jennifer Kupcho and 2015 U.S. Women’s Open champion In Gee Chun were a shot back at 5 under after 69s, while second-round co-leader Ruoning Yin, Mexico’s Gaby Lopez and Japan’s Nasa Hataoka were 4 under.

But Korda's surge in Southern California is her latest superlative in a year already featuring three wins, three second-place finishes and a spot atop the world rankings in her first seven starts.

“I’m not going to get too frustrated,” Korda said. “I think last year I really, really wanted it, and the more you want it, sometimes the more you stiffen up and you get a little bit more nervous. So I play my best golf when I’m happy, free Nelly and I’m kind of joking around out there. That’s kind of the attitude that I’m going to have (Sunday).”

Korda was seven shots off the lead and struggling with her driver after that opening-round 73. Her big sister, six-time LPGA Tour winner Jessica Korda, encouraged her to strengthen her grip, and Nelly promptly got into contention by posting Friday’s lowest score and then surging steadily up the leaderboard on moving day.

Korda chipped in from the fringe for birdie on the third hole Saturday, and she nailed an 18-foot birdie putt on the sixth. She finished with her birdie spree, reaching the par-5 17th green in two before smashing her 154-yard approach shot to 4 feet on the 18th.

Korda had never posted consecutive rounds in the 60s in a U.S. Women’s Open, not even last year when she tied for second at Erin Hills.

She believes that experience and her ongoing work on her mental game have put her in a prime position to execute Sunday. Her attitude shift was a necessary self-improvement decision encouraged by her parents, her time with a sports psychologist and even her fiance, who sometimes implores her to be a bit more positive.

“So there has been a bunch of work that I’ve done with other people, but I would say the person that makes the biggest change is myself,” Korda said.

Several players traded the lead on a sunny afternoon in front of the week’s biggest crowd at this 100-year-old country club in Pacific Palisades.

Kim was one shot off the lead after each of the first two rounds, and the South Korean star carded a steady 68 after a birdie on 17 to stay right on pace with Korda.

“I tried to keep my patience and just waited for a chance,” said Kim, a 13-time winner on the LPGA Tour. “When the chances came to me, I just made it. ... When I finished, that was the first time I saw the scoreboard with a lot of good golfers, especially Nelly and then Gaby, who I played with. It always feels great to play with great players. I’m competitive, so it’s really like I’m lucky to play with them.”

Both second-round leaders are also still firmly in contention.

Southern California native Alison Lee was one shot off the lead on the back nine before making three late bogeys and finishing at 3 under. Lee, who gave birth to son Levi 15 months ago, would be only the fourth mother to win the U.S. Open and the first since Juli Inkster in 2002.

Yin made three bogeys on the front nine before getting back to 4 under with two late birdies. Her 71 made her the first golfer in U.S. Open history with seven consecutive rounds of even par or better.

England's Charley Hull carded Saturday's low round at 65, making seven birdies and moving just three shots back of the lead. Asterisk Talley, a 17-year-old amateur from California’s Central Valley, shot a 66.

___

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

FORECAST HIGHLIGHTS

• SUNDAY: Staying hot & humid. 20% chance stray shower
• NEXT WEEK: No rain & hot!

FORECAST

SUNDAY

Sunday looks even drier, with only a 20% shot at a stray shower. Showers are expected to be short-lived and limited to small areas, so you shouldn’t need to cancel any outdoor plans. Expect similar heat and humidity, feeling like 100° during the afternoon.

NEXT WEEK

A ridge of high pressure will begin to build into the area on Monday. This “heat high” is known for keeping things hot and dry, especially in the early summer. his will bring rain chances down and temperatures up. Most of next week will be quiet, humid, and warm.

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.

No suspects were in custody hours afterward, Toledo Deputy Police Chief Joe Heffernan said, and officials urged people who were at the festival to come forward with any photos or videos on their phones for possible leads.

The shooting happened near the Old West End Festival, an annual gathering of live music and home tours.

Heffernan said it appeared that at least two people fired weapons and they were “probably shooting at each other.”

Two of the victims were in critical condition, Heffernan added. The ages of the victims ranged from 14 to 61, with most of them in their early 20s.

“I am deeply concerned about the situation in Toledo tonight,” Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said in a statement. “Summer festivals should be safe spaces for families to spend time together without fear of violence.”

Multiple videos posted to social media showed people running amid the sound of gunshots and emergency officials tending to others who appeared wounded.

Fire Chief Allison Armstrong said it was difficult to get to the hospital due to closed roads and traffic from people leaving the festival, but emergency responders were able to transport all patients from the scene within an hour.

Kevin Berry was sitting in the neighborhood arboretum listening to live music with friends when he heard a handful of gunshots ring out.

“Everybody hit the deck,” he said.

When Berry looked back up, he saw a gun being tossed to the ground less than 50 feet (15 meters) away from him. Officers who were already on site for the festival responded immediately.

Berry, who has medical training and served in the Navy, walked around looking for anyone who might need help and saw at least five people with gunshot wounds.

“The folks who were hit were spread out around the arboretum area,” he said.

The Old West End Festival is a two-day celebration in Toledo’s historic district that includes live music, food vendors, home tours and shopping. Berry described it as the “kick-off to Toledo’s summer festival season.”

George Kral, safety director for the city, said officials were discussing with organizers whether it would continue through the weekend.

“This is one of the most iconic festivals in Toledo,” he said, “and it’s a shame that something like this had to ruin it.”

Iran said that it targeted American military assets in both countries, after the U.S. attacked surveillance facilities on Qeshm Island and near Sirik that Iran said were used to protect borders and “ensure the security of navigation in international waters." Tehran called the attack a ceasefire violation.

Later Saturday, U.S. Central Command said U.S. forces had shot down two Iranian attack drones over the Strait of Hormuz.

The latest exchanges came as the Trump administration presses Iran to make a deal to end the war, which has strained the global economy and threatened a hunger crisis in some of the world's most vulnerable countries.

Pakistan’s interior minister, Mohsin Naqvi, arrived in Iran on Saturday as part of mediation efforts.

Meanwhile, the U.S. is seeking to ratchet up economic pressure on Iran. The U.S. Treasury Department is considering allowing Gulf allies to tap into frozen Iranian assets to pay for damages they sustained in the war, according to a person familiar with Secretary Scott Bessent's thinking who spoke Saturday on condition of anonymity to share internal deliberations.

Iran says it targeted US air base and Navy

The U.S. military said earlier that it had shot down several Iranian missiles and drones launched toward the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf Arab allies, and struck some of the Islamic Republic’s coastal surveillance radar sites in response.

“The attack drones posed an immediate threat to regional maritime traffic,” U.S. Central Command said.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it had targeted the Ali Al Salem air base, which hosts U.S. forces in Kuwait, and the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet in Bahrain, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.

The U.S. military said there were no reports of harm to U.S. personnel.

Earlier in the week, Iranian drones heavily damaged a passenger terminal at Kuwait’s main airport, killing one person and wounding dozens.

The U.S. military kept up its blockade on Iranian ports in response to Tehran’s grip on the strait, a crucial corridor for global oil and natural gas shipments. Energy prices have spiked, posing political problems for U.S. President Donald Trump's Republican Party before the midterm congressional election.

Deals remain elusive

Trump increasingly appears to be boxed in. U.S. and Iranian negotiators reached a tentative agreement a week ago to extend the ceasefire by 60 days and start a new round of talks on Iran’s nuclear program. Trump, however, has called for unspecified changes, and Iranian officials have shown no public sign of agreeing to the deal.

The fighting in Lebanon, where Israeli forces have seized large swaths of the south while saying it targets the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group, also challenges efforts to end the Iran war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has demanded that any lasting truce extends to Lebanon.

The Trump administration has touted the latest ceasefire agreed to earlier in the week by the Lebanese government and Israel after U.S.-brokered talks in Washington. However, Hezbollah has rejected the agreement.

Ratcheting up financial pressure

Miad Maleki, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and former Iranian sanctions expert at the Treasury Department, said it's significant that the U.S. is signaling it could allow Gulf countries to access some of the $24 billion in frozen Iranian assets stored abroad.

Iran had been seeking some of the funds as part of a deal, and rather than offering Tehran that concession, the U.S. is pressuring them to move quickly.

“So the U.S. government is saying: ’Hey, not just that we’re not going to give you these funds. As a matter of fact, we’re going to take these funds from you, and we’re going to help Gulf states to take it,” Maleki said.

Allowing Gulf states to use the frozen assets would also bolster U.S. ties there, he said. It would send a clear signal that America is sticking with its partners as they've sustained attacks and repercussions from the war.

However, Maleki said some Gulf states may be reluctant to use the funds out of concern that they could face retaliation from Iran for doing so.

___

Michelle L. Price reported from Bridgewater, New Jersey. Munir Ahmed contributed to this report from Islamabad.

Ridden by jockey Jose Ortiz from 12 lengths off the lead, Golden Tempo surged from the back of the pack to win the 158th rendition of the race. The victory came five weeks after his last-to-first charge to win the Kentucky Derby.

“Golden Tempo is amazing. Jose is amazing,” said DeVaux. “I think he needed to do this to kind of show that he was meant to win the Derby and that he is a horse that belongs in that conversation of being one of the top 3-year-olds.”

Golden Tempo held off Commandment to win by a length and a quarter at odds of 6-1. Commandment was second and favorite Renegade placed third.

“I followed them closely in the second turn,” Ortiz said. “They started to pick it up, so I did as well. I was just waiting for the right time to go all in. When I asked him to go, my horse responded.”

DeVaux, after becoming the first woman to train a Kentucky Derby winner, is the second in four years to do so at the Belmont. Jena Antonucci won it with Arcangelo in 2023. DeVaux is the first woman to win multiple Triple Crown races.

“It’s overwhelming,” DeVaux said. “All the credit goes to Golden Tempo, who won the race, and Jose did a wonderful job of making it happen. But I’m just so fortunate to be in this position. It’s history-making, and I’ve kind of shied away from it, but I’m really grateful that I am that person.”

DeVaux was born in Saratoga Springs and began her training career there, but she doesn’t call herself a Saratoga native. She spends most of her time in Kentucky now and said she grew up in southern Florida. But after all the support she’s received from the town, she has started to embrace it.

“Everyone is kind of calling me the hometown girl,” DeVaux said. “So that’s kind of fun. I’m going to miss our appetizer (at) Saratoga, as we call it, the ‘Bellatoga.’”

Golden Tempo was the third choice in the race. There were concerns about whether he could pull off another big comeback win in a field that included Renegade. The Todd Pletcher-trained horse finished second to Golden Tempo by a neck in the Derby.

The pace was not nearly as fast as it was at Churchill Downs, yet Golden Tempo still was able to close in time to win the 1 1/4-mile race in 2:03.49. It didn’t matter, as he was the best in the field of nine horses.

“He wasn’t going to get that setup as he did in the Derby,” Ortiz said. “We all knew that, and I was a little worried about it. He needed some kind of setup. But today, there wasn’t one and he showed up today and won.”

Golden Tempo won two-thirds of the Triple Crown after DeVaux and owners decided to bypass the Preakness. He is the second horse in as many years to win the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont after not running in the middle jewel.

“We made our decision, and we won today and we’re going to be happy about that,” DeVaux said.

This was the third and final time for the Belmont at Saratoga in upstate New York, while its traditional home on the border of Queens and Long Island is getting demolished and rebuilt. Run at 1 1/4 miles because of the track at Saratoga, the race is set to return to Belmont Park next year when it will return to its traditional 1 1/2-mile distance.

“It’s so meaningful,” DeVaux said. ”A lot of family here. Saratoga, it’s been wonderful to have such a historic race here. ... It’s so meaningful because the town gets to have this and celebrate it along with us.”

Golden Tempo paid $14 to win, $7.32 to place and $3.88 to show. Commandment paid $7.02 to show and $4.08 to place, while Renegade paid $2.52 to place.

Ortiz followed Renegade, ridden by older brother Irad, just as he did in the Derby. It worked out just the same in the first Saturday in June as the first Saturday in May.

“He was bouncing a bit today, which made me very happy because I wanted him to be a little bit sharper today,” Jose Ortiz said. “You can see him, he’s very relaxed. He does what I ask him to do. That’s the main thing.”

Co-owner Vinnie Viola dedicated the race to his late friend Dominic DiPrisco, who died Wednesday at age 70. Viola prayed to DiPrisco Saturday morning, hoping for an extra push in the Belmont Stakes.

“I know you’re in heaven, and I love you, and this race is for you,” Viola said. “It means more than I can express in words right now.”

Ortiz won the Belmont Stakes for the second time, nine years after his first aboard Tapwrit in 2017.

“We just wanted him to get better and keep winning these kinds of races,” Ortiz said. “We’re very happy with him. It’s all about him.”

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AP Sports Writer Stephen Whyno in New York contributed.

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AP horse racing: https://apnews.com/hub/horse-racing

Kai Havertz put the four-time champions in front with a header from a free kick in the second minute but Antonee Robinson tied the score in the 37th with a left-foot volley from the top of the arc following Christian Pulisic’s corner kick.

Sané scored off a short pass from Havertz, a diagonal shot between the legs of Miles Robinson that appeared to take a slight deflection off the defender and beat goalkeeper Matt Freese to the far post.

The 16th-ranked United States has lost nine straight games to European opponents dating to 2022.

Hosting the World Cup for the first time since 1994, the Americans open against Paraguay on Friday, then play Australia and Turkey. The U.S. hadn’t lost its last match heading into a World Cup since 2002.

No. 10 Germany starts against Curaçao on June 14 in a group that includes Ivory Coast and Ecuador.

The match drew a sellout crowd of 63,636 to Soldier Field, site of the 1994 World Cup opener. Chicago refused to bid to host 2026 World Cup matches, citing what it said was a lack of financial assurances by FIFA.

The U.S. played without top defender Chris Richards, sidelined since tearing a pair of left ankle ligaments on May 17.

Germany was missing 18-year-old midfielder Lennart Karl, ruled out for the World Cup after injuring a thigh in training. Oliver Baumann started in goal as Manuel Neuer rested while recovering from a calf muscle issue.

Freese started in goal for the 15th time in 18 matches.

Die Mannschaft went ahead after Tyler Adams' foul just outside the penalty area. Joshua Kimmich's free kick was headed in by Havertz at the top of the 6-yard box for his 22nd international goal.

Robinson scored his fifth international goal after Jonathan Tah's headed clearance attempt on Pulisic's corner kick went just outside the area. Robinson celebrated with a cartwheel and a backflip.

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

Now he's back in much friendlier territory and took the T-Mobile Arena ice Saturday for Game 3 before a Vegas fan base that has cheered him, the roars growing louder with each postseason game.

That continued during introductions, so loud it was difficult to hear Hart's name. The only player who received a louder ovation was defenseman Brayden McNabb, back after taking a puck in his face Thursday night in Game 2.

Hart has given those fans plenty of reasons to get behind him, his play in goal a major reason why the Golden Knights are in the championship round of the playoffs. The series is 1-1.

“Just really fortunate to be here in Vegas,” Hart said. “It’s a great culture of people.”

The chants in Carolina stemmed from Hart being one of five 2018 Canadian world junior hockey players acquitted of sexual assault last July. The NHL ruled those players were eligible to sign deals beginning Oct. 15 and to play starting Dec. 1. Hart signed a two-year, $4 million contract with Vegas.

But Hart could have been suiting up on the other side. The Hurricanes considered signing him and Michael McLeod — one of the five involved in the scandal — but decided against taking such a step.

Hart entered the Stanley Cup Final playing at such a high level that he put himself in the conversation for the Conn Smythe Trophy, which goes to the NHL playoffs MVP.

He took a 12-4 playoff record into Game 1, a 2.22 goals-against average and a .924 save percentage. Against the Hurricanes, however, Hart has a 3.90 GAA and .855 save percentage.

Not all of it his fault. The Golden Knights' defense had several unusual lapses in the first two games, putting Hart in position to make some difficult saves. Even so, the expected goals against Hart and the Golden Knights was 4.47 at five-on-five, according to Natural Stat Trick, and the Hurricanes lit the lamp six times at even strength.

Vegas coach John Tortorella again defended Hart’s play when asked how the goalie was handling the situation.

“Carter’s played very well,” Tortorella said.

Hart looked as if he would run his postseason winning streak to eight games Thursday night, taking a shutout into the final 9:40 of Game 2. But then the Hurricanes scored three times and again in overtime to win 4-3.

Now Hart and the rest of the Golden Knights will try to regroup. They are used to being in this situation, having lost Game 2 in three of the four playoff series this year, the first two at home before eliminating Utah and Anaheim each in six games.

But Vegas hasn't dealt with this kind of loss. The Golden Knights have snatched victories from other teams; this time they had it done to them.

Game 3 will tell where Hart and his teammates stand.

“It's in the past,” center William Karlsson said. “There nothing we can change, so now we just look ahead.”

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AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno contributed to this report.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Castro's celebration of his 95th birthday with top officials and military leaders at the Ministry of Interior in Havana on late Friday offered Cuba's socialist government an opportunity to close ranks and project defiance as the Trump administration escalates its pressure campaign on the fuel-starved island.

State TV broadcast footage of Castro, clad in his olive-green military uniform, entering a packed theater to a standing ovation, followed by his grandson and bodyguard, Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez, and Cuban President Miguel Diáz-Canel.

Diáz-Canel delivered an effusive tribute to the “heroism and dignity" displayed by Castro and his late brother, the central figure of the Cuban revolution, Fidel Castro. He praised Raúl Castro, who served as defense minister of Cuba for nearly 50 years, for his “courage and loyalty (that) made him a target from a very early age for the intelligence services of our enemies."

In a more direct response to provocations by the Trump administration, Diaz-Canel warned that “there will be a decisive and resolute battle" if the U.S. acts on its threats to invade the island.

“Raúl is Raúl," he said, echoing the slogan that has appeared in billboards across Havana and in a flood of social media posts since the May 20 U.S. indictment of Raúl Castro on murder charges — an apparent attempt to mobilize national unity to counter the government's image of isolation. “Raúl is Cuba, and Cuba is untouchable.”

Friday's late-night celebration, two days after Castro turned 95, marked a rare public appearance for the low-profile but influential Cuban army general. Although he formally retired from politics in April 2021, Castro is believed to wield considerable political power.

The Justice Department’s indictment unsealed last month accuses Castro of ordering the 1996 shootdown of civilian planes flown by Miami-based exiles. It was the steepest in a series of escalations since the Trump administration all but cut off Cuba’s oil supplies in January, exacerbating the island's long-running problems like blackouts and a public health crisis.

The Trump administration demands that Cuba’s socialist government release political prisoners, implement major economic reforms and change its way of governance to avoid becoming a national security threat. Cuba has said it poses no threat to the U.S.

The explosion occurred at a home in The Overlook at Bear Creek subdivision, which is located approximately nine miles south of Fredericksburg near U.S. Highway 87.

Deputies said the cause of the explosion was likely a propane gas leak.

The explosion, which ignited just before 8:30 a.m., happened after one of the residents attempted to use the stove, GCSO said. The first sheriff’s deputy arrived on scene just before 8:40 a.m.

Both residents were rushed to San Antonio-area hospitals for further treatment.

Investigators said the home is lined with propane and electric utilities, but the source of the gas leak remains unclear at this time.

The sheriff’s office said it are working with various agencies to determine the cause of the incident and the investigation remains ongoing.

Read more:

• 2 hospitalized after house explosion in Gillespie County, fire officials say
• Gillespie County house explosion likely caused by propane gas leak, sheriff’s office says

Carlos Favela, who worked for the sheriff’s office for two years, was stopped at a checkpoint by U.S. Border Patrol officers Thursday night.

On Saturday, the sheriff’s office said Favela has since resigned from the agency.

When he was stopped, the sheriff’s office said an undocumented immigrant was inside the vehicle.

BCSO said Favela will be issued a notice of proposed dismissal, in accordance with its policies, and was placed on unpaid administrative leave pending termination.

“Of course, we have to let due process run its course, but my intention is to separate this person from the agency as soon as possible,” Salazar said. “He will never wear this uniform again.”

BCSO said Favela will be dishonorably discharged immediately, and is no longer associated with the agency.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is conducting a criminal investigation. The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office is simultaneously conducting a separate internal investigation.

Read also:

• Bexar County to pay $300K to detention applicant whose job offer was pulled over wife’s La Santa Muerte altar

A judge in the 186th District Court ordered on June 2 that David Ruiz be given a sanity evaluation, records show. The evaluation is scheduled for June 18.

San Antonio police said Acosta was found dead on July 1, 2025, at a home in the 19200 block of Reata Trail in the Stone Oak area. The home is located near Blanco Road outside Loop 1604.

On that day, SAPD Chief William McManus said the department was investigating a “high-profile” murder.

McManus said the victim, later identified as Acosta, and a family member, later identified as Ruiz, were involved in an argument or altercation, which may have led to the stabbing. Ruiz is Acosta’s nephew.

Investigators said Ruiz had stabbed Acosta multiple times.

According to Ruiz’s arrest warrant, he was driving to San Antonio and had contacted Acosta’s son on June 30. The son offered to have Ruiz come and stay with him and his father.

Later that day, Ruiz called Acosta’s son and told him that he was “two hours away” and elected to stay the night at a different, unspecified location, according to documents.

The affidavit states that Acosta himself called Ruiz on July 1 and asked Ruiz to stay at his home. Records reference a “family group chat,” indicating Acosta texted the group that Ruiz had officially arrived at his home.

Acosta also told the group chat about his plan for him and Ruiz to meet up with other relatives at a later time, the affidavit states.

After the stabbing, SAPD said Acosta’s son identified Ruiz as the suspect in a single-photo lineup. Acosta’s son also gave officers a description of Ruiz’s vehicle.

Ruiz was later booked into the Bexar County jail on a $250,000 bond, where he currently remains in custody, court records indicate.

Related coverage on KSAT:

• Man indicted by grand jury in connection with fatal stabbing of Las Palapas founder, records show
• What we know about the murder of Las Palapas’ founder in North Side neighborhood
• Suspect in murder case of Las Palapas founder booked in Bexar County jail on $250K bond, records show

Just after 12:30 a.m. Saturday, officers initially responded to the scene for a report of an injured person in the 2100 block of Vance Jackson Road. A caller reported there was an unresponsive body in a vacant parking lot.

Police said when officers arrived, they found the male with multiple gunshot wounds to the torso. The male, who has not been identified, was pronounced dead at the scene.

No shooters or witnesses were found at the scene when officers arrived, SAPD said.

Additional information was not immediately available. The investigation is ongoing.

Read also:

• Prostitution crackdown lands at least 9 men in jail, BCSO says
• Affidavit: Leon Valley shooting suspect was aiming at someone else when he killed teen in 2021

The drive-thru food distribution took place at the Boeing Center at Tech Port, where 600 households received fresh produce, pantry staples, meats and dairy products. Many families shared their gratitude for the help.

“Very, very thankful. We’re blessed,” mobile food drive recipient Yolanda Agueros said. “Everything is getting so expensive, and I only have one paycheck a month, so this helps a lot.”

The drive-thru food distribution was the fourth and final distribution funded by a $100,000 grant from Boeing to help fight food insecurity.

“This was an easy way to give back. So we know the area codes around Boeing, San Antonio, the most populous in the nation,” said Richard Delgado, senior community investor at the Boeing Company. “So it makes sense to bring the food drive here to the Boeing Center at Tech Port to really make that investment.”

With children now out of school, many families are looking for other resources to fill those gaps. That’s what brought Marisa Cisneros to the distribution.

Cisneros said she’s never received food assistance before, but with five children at home, she needs help providing breakfast and lunch.

“It’s a lot, and then food is expensive right now,” Cisneros said. “So, but everything is good. I’m grateful for the help that they give out here.”

The volunteers organized the mobile food drive to make it a seamless process for neighbors.

First, families picked up a meat, then drove down the line to grab the fresh produce. The next table had a box of staple pantry items like grape juice, almonds, tuna and coffee. At the end of the line, there were dairy products and some frozen food.

“It depends on how they ration it,” Delgado said. “This normally is a couple of weeks of food that they’re getting.”

“Then you get to make different things because some of these things you don’t get to buy at the store,” Agueros said. “So, you’re eating something different.”

For those who couldn’t make it out to this event, the San Antonio Food Bank has plenty of other resources available. Click here to learn more.

To find a food distribution site near you, click here to enter your ZIP code.

Read also:

• San Antonio Food Bank calls on students to give back this summer break
• Where San Antonio kids can eat for free this summer

Many analysts favor Pashinyan's Civil Contract party to retain control of parliament, but with many opposition parties running on pro-Russia platforms, the Caucasus nation's place on the international stage has been thrown into the spotlight.

In the months ahead of the election, Russian President Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials have warned Armenia that joining the EU could come at the expense of massive economic damage by disrupting Armenian trade ties with Moscow and its allies.

“These are the first elections in Armenia’s history where geopolitical orientation has become a decisive issue,” Mikayel Zolyan, an analyst and former member of the Armenian Parliament, told The Associated Press from Yerevan. “Until now, Armenia has remained within Russia’s sphere of influence, and this was taken for granted, but now, for the first time, this is being called into question.”

Armenians disappointed with Moscow over Karabakh

Relations between Moscow and Armenia soured in 2023 after Azerbaijan took control of the Karabakh region. The mountainous area had been controlled for decades by ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia, part of a long conflict between the neighboring countries.

Armenian authorities accused Russian peacekeepers deployed to the region of failing to stop Azerbaijan’s onslaught. Moscow, busy with the conflict in Ukraine, has rejected the accusations, arguing its troops didn’t have a mandate to intervene.

“It turned out that Russia’s image as a guarantor of Armenian security was not based in reality, and it all collapsed after the Karabakh war,” said Alexander Iskandaryan, director of the Caucasus Institute in Yerevan.

Pashinyan has begun cautiously weakening ties with Moscow, joining the International Criminal Court in 2023 and suspending its participation in the Moscow-dominated Collective Security Treaty Organization in 2024.

Armenia also officially declared its aspirations to join the EU and hosted the European Political Community summit in Yerevan in early May.

A convincing win in the parliamentary vote would give Pashinyan a mandate to continue the trend and finalize a deal with Azerbaijan.

Western ties could bring benefits

Western nations have sought to show some of the advantages that closer ties could bring.

In August, U.S. President Donald Trump hosted Pashinyan and Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev to sign an agreement declaring an end to their decades-long hostilities and including provisions for the creation of a new transit corridor between Azerbaijan to its exclave of Nakhchivan. An agreement in February could pave the way for a U.S. company to build a new nuclear reactor in Armenia.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also has said that Europe is ready to invest in Armenia's energy industry and its “booming digital scene.”

Trump has endorsed Pashinyan and called him a “great friend” and a leader who is making his country “strong, wealthy, and very secure!”

Opposition parties back Moscow ties

Much of Armenia’s opposition is still dominated by pro-Russia groups and many are also against normalizing relations with Azerbaijan. Key opposition figures have called for Pashinyan to stand down over the loss of Karabakh.

Nineteen political forces, including two blocs and 17 parties, are taking part in the elections.

Pashinyan’s main rival is the Strong Armenia Party, which wants closer business ties with Russia and accuses Pashinyan of attempting to spark a war with Moscow. The party is led by Armenian-Russian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan, who is on trial for calling for the overthrow of Armenia’s government. He denies the charges.

Armenian investigators said Saturday they issued six arrest warrants for members of the opposition Strong Armenia party, accusing them of buying votes.

It came just hours after Armenia’s Central Election Committee confirmed that the Strong Armenia Party could run in the elections, after a member of another opposition party, Republic, appealed for them to be barred, citing allegations of corruption.

Other potential contenders include former President Robert Kocharyan, who leads the Hayastan bloc and has accused Pashinyan of “seriously undermining” relations with Russia.

Russia applies economic pressure

Russia, which has a military base in Armenia, has warned that Yerevan’s Western turn could have dire political and economic consequences.

Putin has compared Armenia’s course to that of Ukraine in thinly veiled threats and has suggested Russia's conflict with Ukraine started with its attempts to join the EU.

In recent weeks, Russian has introduced new restrictions on Armenian produce after citing sanitation violations, banning Armenian flowers, certain types of cognac and wine, eggplants, potatoes, dried fruits, fish and more.

Armenia’s membership in the Eurasian Economic Union, a Russian-led customs union, was placed under formal review during a members’ meeting in Kazakhstan in May, with threats to suspend it completely it by December.

During the Kazakhstan summit, the governments of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan also demanded Armenia hold a referendum on whether it would remain in their group or seek EU membership. Pashinyan has rejected the need for such a vote.

Armenian government statistics show 38% of Armenia’s exports went to countries within the Eurasian Economic Union in 2025, the vast majority heading to Russia. In comparison, just 8% of trade went to the EU.

The Russian measures prompted von der Leyen to announce Thursday that the 27-nation bloc would send 50 million euros ($58 million) to support Armenia. In a statement, she said Russia is “weaponizing” economic relations and its ban on imports was “nothing short of economic coercion.”

Facing an uncertain future

Russia could exert further pressure on Armenia because it controls a significant portion of the country’s energy and infrastructure and supplies cheap gas.

“It’s completely unrealistic to say that Armenia can somehow overcome Russian influence in a short period of time,” analyst Zolyan said.

Armenia’s civil society also is concerned by what they have described as Russian-backed disinformation campaigns ahead of the vote. Moscow denies any interference.

Daniel Ionnisyan, head of the Union of Informed Citizens, an independent election watchdog, told the AP that his organization has documented instances of Russian interference through social media campaigns, cyberattacks, vote buying and bribery of journalists.

That echoes findings of a delegation from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which visited Yerevan in May and said foreign interference included illicit political financing, cyberattacks, economic coercion and direct attempts to manipulate the electoral process.

“These hybrid tactics aim not only to sway public opinion but to secure long-term geopolitical leverage over Armenia,” the delegation said.

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Associated Press writer Sam McNeil in Brussels contributed to this report.

President Emmanuel Macron confirmed her death Saturday, saying he and his wife Brigitte had learned with “great sadness” of the passing of a woman who marked French history, and changed the lives of millions through her charity work.

“A great lady of the heart has departed,” Macron said.

For more than half a century, Chirac was the fixed point in her late husband’s restless climb — through Parliament, two terms as prime minister, 18 years as mayor of Paris and, in 1995, the presidency.

Beyond the ceremonial role of first lady, Chirac became a political presence in her own right, closely watched for her influence around her husband, who died in 2019, and for the dry discipline with which she handled his reputation as a womanizer, a subject she later addressed with unusual frankness.

Swarmed by photographers in Corrèze in 1998 — after rumors that Jacques Chirac had been unreachable the night Princess Diana died because he was with an actress — she stepped from her car and deadpanned: “Calm down. I’m not Claudia Cardinale. Or Lollobrigida.”

She appears in the official photographs with her chin lifted, blond hair lacquered into place, a small handbag on her arm, looking less like a spouse than like an institution.

But the caricature never quite contained her.

The Chanel suits, dark glasses, nasal voice and withering judgments became part of the national image.

Beneath them was a relentless worker and a cold-eyed political operator who, almost alone among the wives of French presidents, built a base of power that was her own.

She was born Bernadette Thérèse Marie Chodron de Courcel on May 18, 1933, in Paris, into money, lineage and Catholic duty.

Her father’s family included soldiers, industrialists and diplomats; an uncle had served as an aide to Charles de Gaulle in wartime London.

But her life would be most marked by her time at the prestigious Sciences Po university in Paris, where she met Jacques Chirac, a handsome and much-courted young man whose appetite for politics would come to define them both.

They married in March 1956. The union lasted 63 years and was, by her own account, a long lesson in endurance.

Jacques Chirac was famous for his warmth, appetite and instinctive connection with crowds. Bernadette’s gifts were different, observers said.

She was controlled, socially formidable, devout, exacting and sometimes devastatingly funny.

The Catholic philosopher Jean Guitton called her the last queen of France, and she did little to discourage the idea.

Her husband’s reputation as a womanizer was an open secret she chose, after much pain, to meet with dry humor.

“At first, it was hard. I was very heartbroken, and then I got used to it,” she said years later in a television documentary. “I told myself that was how things were and that I had to accept it with as much dignity as possible.”

Sent to tend her husband’s rural stronghold in Corrèze while he pursued power in Paris, she did far more than tend it. In 1971, she was elected municipal councilor in Sarran. In 1979, she became a general councilor in Corrèze and held the seat until 2015.

Her influence grew after Jacques Chirac became president in 1995. The role of first lady in France has no constitutional power, but she made the Élysée a place where her approval mattered.

She could be loyal, cutting and unforgiving, and understood that campaigns are made not only of speeches and polls but of debts, slights and resentments.

Yet she also carved out a space for female authority inside a male political culture that had little interest in sharing power — making it quietly clear that she would not be reduced to “the wife of.”

By 2023, her severe glamour and political instincts had become familiar enough for Catherine Deneuve to play her in “Bernadette,” a comic movie about her years at the Élysée.

Her deepest grief stayed mostly private.

The Chiracs’ elder daughter, Laurence, developed severe anorexia after meningitis in adolescence and attempted suicide more than once. She never fully recovered and died in 2016 at 58.

That ordeal pushed Chirac toward the charitable work that reshaped her public image.

In 1994, she took over a medical charity that collected coins to support children in hospitals. To millions of French viewers, the woman once mocked for hauteur became the face of hospitalized children and families living around hospital beds.

She continued running it until 2019, when she handed it to Brigitte Macron, the wife of France's current president, and became honorary president.

By then, she had long since become a political force in her own name.

“My husband no longer does politics, but I do,” she said to journalists, after Jacques Chirac left office in 2007.

She famously nicknamed Dominique de Villepin, the Élysée official she distrusted, “Nero,” yet also reportedly helped engineer her husband’s reconciliation with Nicolas Sarkozy, the former protégé who had betrayed him politically.

Her 2001 memoir, “Conversation,” written with journalist Patrick de Carolis, sold hundreds of thousands of copies and introduced the French to a franker, funnier and more independent woman than many had assumed.

After Jacques Chirac left the Élysée, his health declined and his public voice faded. Hers remained sharper for longer. Asked how he was, according to French media, she answered in her flat, unmistakable voice: “He keeps the dog.”

Age and grief eventually drew her out of public view.

By the time Jacques Chirac died in 2019, she was too fragile to take part in the public farewell where France and foreign leaders honored him.

The Élysée said Saturday that Macron was inviting the public to pay tribute to Bernadette Chirac opposite the presidential palace.

Ament's first love was a “terrible” clay wheel skateboard and his passion blossomed on a family trip to California, where he skateboarded and felt the g-forces on urethane wheels on paved asphalt streets and then poured through the pages of Skateboarder magazine on the 20-hour drive home to Montana.

Ament found pictures of decks and ramps that he used as inspiration for designs that his dad, George, would help him build — like how to craft a kick tail and create the perfect tail radius — and took his skateboard to compete in larger contests around the state.

“I think the idea that he was helping me build something was the most important thing to him,” Ament said. “He gave me a life skill.”

Ament's other major life skill, as bassist for the Pearl Jam band he co-founded, also has served him well and provided him with the means to help fund the creation of world-class skateboard parks in Montana. Many are in small, isolated communities, including at least one on every state Native American reservation by the end of the year. Construction starts in two weeks for one on the last reservation on the list, Northern Cheyenne.

“I think a lot of people don’t understand artists,” Ament said on a Zoom with The Associated Press. “I think skateboarding is probably even more of an art than it is a sport.”

Ament has found the parks can help kids survive and thrive outside of daily isolation, a message spread in the short documentary “Paving the Way.” Ament created original music for the film — which captures skateboarding’s power to foster creativity, challenge stereotypes and build community, spotlighting Indigenous youth on the Flathead Reservation — that premiers Sunday at the Tribeca Festival in New York.

The film tells the story through skater and artist Alishon Kelly, who perseveres with her love of skateboarding even with a broken foot. “Paving the Way” is directed by Keelan Williams and was nominated for the Big Sky Award at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival.

“I think what he captures really well is just, when you have that thing inside of you, you just feel the need to be created,” Ament said. “I think it explains it really well, how cathartic it can be, how it helps you understand other aspects of your life.”

At the film’s backbone is a partnership between Jeff’s Montana Pool Service — a nod to the large bowl at the center of a skate park — and the Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes, as five new skateparks rise across the Flathead Reservation.

“We’re reminding people of our first peoples,” Ament said. “I think most people in this country have no idea that they even exist. I think there’s even been certain people in our government that are trying to kind of rewrite history, erase history. You even hear young people, say, younger people than me, talk about the Native people as if they’re immigrants.”

The 63-year-old Ament delivered the commencement speech at MSU-Northern in Montana last month and touched on the importance for the graduates to be being open to getting out and seeing the world, even if they come from areas that can seem disconnected from their rural hometowns. He met with some of the students after the ceremony and found the experience “gave me hope. I think sometimes I don’t always see the best of the younger generation. They’re almost to a person, so gung-ho about getting out, getting after it.”

There also are plans in the works to get “Paving the Way” out in the world — Ament hoped for distribution beyond Tribeca, where Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder was the focus of a film in the festival last year — now available on YouTube or PBS — but wanted to make sure the film is somehow available to those in Indigenous communities and to show them the hope, resilience and joy that can be found at the skateboarding parks.

“These parks are where we come together and where we look out for each other,” said Terrence Lozeau, a skater featured in the film. “You see little kids watching the older ones and learning.”

As for Ament's day job, Pearl Jam returns in September to headline the Ohana festival in Dana Point, California, in its first performance since drummer Matt Cameron left the band in May after 27 years. The band has kept the identity of his replacement under wraps and will make it official at the Sept. 27 festival.

“I think the big question is, if it’s going to work out that this is our future drummer,” Ament told the AP. “It’ll be the first show, so there’s a little bit of a trial happening. It’s exciting. It’s taken a little bit longer than we thought it would take. We’re not in any massive rush either."

Ament said the band has started writing new songs but would like to play a few dates with the new drummer before Pearl Jam hits the studio again next year.

“I think we need to get out and play like 10, 15 shows with whoever our drummer is and just kind of get that part going before we make a record,” Ament said.

Puerto Rican sensation Bad Bunny is performing two shows of his 10-concert Spanish tour in the capital.

Speaking to reporters aboard the papal plane before his arrival in Madrid on Saturday morning, Leo acknowledged the appeal of Bad Bunny when he referred to anecdotal reports of a newfound spiritual awakening, especially among young people in Spain.

The American pope said he understood that young adults are sensing a lack of meaning in their lives and mused that his visit might help “awaken” something in them.

“If they are confronted with the question ‘Do you want to go see Bad Bunny or do you want to go to see the pope?’ I think many will see Bad Bunny,” Leo said. “But I think there will also be a few here to see the pope. And that says something, you know.”

He's wasn't wrong: About 500,000 people, many of them young Spaniards, poured into a Madrid plaza for an evening prayer vigil on Saturday. They shouted “This is the youth of the pope!” as Leo zoomed around in his popemobile, and then jammed to a Spanish rendition of the 1970s American musical “Godspell.”

Leo is opening a weeklong visit to Spain on Saturday. After Madrid, the trip will also take him to Barcelona and the Canary Islands. He’s hoping to bring a message of unity in a country polarized with political and church scandals.

Leo was also asked about news that plans are moving ahead for his beloved Chicago Bears to move to Hammond, Indiana. The board of the team voted this week to move forward with a stadium development project in Hammond.

Asked if he had any words of consolation for Illinois, the Chicago-born pope quipped: “That’s out of my pay (scale).”

In other sporting comments, Leo confirmed that he would root for the United States in the upcoming World Cup, and showed his true team colors when asked about whether supports Real Madrid or the Barcelona soccer team: “That’s easy,” he said. “The pope is for all teams, but Prevost is Real Madrid,” he said, referring to his birth name.

Pope recalls his father's service on D-Day anniversary

Leo fielded a host of questions as he greeted journalists traveling with him. He spoke about Ukraine and Lebanon and his recent proclamation that the Catholic Church’s “just war” doctrine — which establishes the criteria when war can be morally justified — was “outdated.”

With Saturday marking the 82nd anniversary of the D-Day landings on June 6, 1944, Leo also told a French journalist that he would like one day to visit Normandy, France, as pope.

“My father was there,” he said.

It was a reference to Leo’s father, Louis Prevost, who served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and participated in the D-Day landings at Normandy as part of Operation Overlord, according to the Pentagon.

Prevost also commanded an infantry landing craft, and after 15 months overseas, attained the rank of lieutenant junior grade, according to a note on the Pentagon website published soon after Leo’s election.

After the war, Prevost became a teacher and school principal in Chicago, got married and he and his wife, Mildred, had three boys. The future pope, Robert Prevost, was the youngest, born on Sept. 14, 1955.

___

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

Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun called the strike against its military a “flagrant violation” of the country's sovereignty and international law during an “ongoing escalation that threatens stability and security in the south."

An airstrike on a vehicle on a road linking Nabatiyeh city with Marjayoun town killed a brigadier general, a captain and another soldier, the army said, without releasing their names. Another airstrike on Saksakiyah village killed six people and wounded four, the state-run National News Agency said.

Lebanon's army said the “continued, deliberate, and repeated Israeli aggression” aims to thwart efforts toward a solution "that would restore stability, establish a comprehensive ceasefire and lead to the Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Lebanese territories.”

The Israeli military confirmed hitting a vehicle and said it was “moving suspiciously” toward soldiers near Kfar Tibnit village, after the military received “concrete indications” that the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group would direct fire toward Israeli soldiers from the same area.

The military said it operates against Hezbollah and not against the Lebanese army.

Meanwhile, Israel's military announced the deaths of two soldiers in southern Lebanon, without the dates they died.

The latest ceasefire, announced in Washington, came through U.S.-brokered talks between Israel and Lebanon’s government, which accuses Hezbollah of dragging the country into war and made efforts to disarm it before the latest hostilities. Hezbollah has refused the truce.

Israeli troops have seized around a fifth of Lebanon, pushing farther into the country’s south than at any time since the end of Israel’s 1982-2000 occupation. More than 3,500 people have been killed in Lebanon since the war began March 2 when Hezbollah fired rockets at northern Israel, two days after Israel and the U.S. began attacking Iran.

Israel has since launched a ground invasion of Lebanon and carried out attacks that have displaced more than 1 million people. The fighting has killed at least 31 Israeli soldiers and three civilians.

On Friday, Aoun and Lebanon's prime minister criticized Iran for opposing the latest ceasefire deal, saying Tehran should not use their country as a “bargaining chip” in its talks with Washington. Iran wants a ceasefire deal with the United States to include the situation in Lebanon.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi responded Saturday on X, saying that after Aoun's comments, “one would think it’s Iran that has occupied a fifth of Lebanon, displaced a quarter of Lebanese and is bombing his country on daily basis.”

“Had Lebanon been a bargaining chip for Iran, we’d have a deal long ago. Save Lebanon from your real foe, Mr. President,” Araghchi added, in reference to Israel.

The Israeli military said that soldiers shot at a vehicle perceived to be accelerating toward them near Hebron. It said an initial inquiry found that the three Palestinians wounded were uninvolved civilians.

Israeli military activity, and settler violence against Palestinians, have surged in the territory since the war in Gaza began in October 2023.

The baby's father, Bethlehem University lecturer Fahd Abu Haikal, told The Associated Press that a bullet struck the windshield before piercing his right hand and striking his son and wife in the back seat Friday evening. Another bullet struck the hood, according to AP journalists who saw the car.

The bullet passed through Sam Fahd Abu Haikal’s face.

“He was the entire world,” Haikal said of the boy, who turned seven months on Friday.

The mother was in critical condition, with shrapnel close to her heart.

The baby's body was wrapped in a Palestinian flag. His father carried him. The men placed the small bundle at their feet and bowed in prayer.

The father demanded justice. “At the end they tell you it was a mistake,” he said. “Nothing is called a mistake.”

The baby’s grandmother, Feryal Abu Heikal, was also in the car. She said that they were driving near a checkpoint and stopped when they saw Israeli military vehicles and soldiers in the distance. She said she initially thought the gunfire was warning shots.

“The scene was horrific to see a 7-month-old baby with a smashed face,” she said. “What kind of army in the world does this?”

Israeli soldiers are rarely punished in such cases

Israeli soldiers accused of harming Palestinians are seldom penalized, and were indicted in fewer than 1% of cases based on 2,427 complaints alleging wrongdoing between 2016 and 2024, according to Israeli rights group Yesh Din.

On Saturday, the Palestinian Red Crescent said that eight people were wounded in settler attacks on the town of Huwara, near Nablus, including from tear gas inhalation and rubber-coated metal bullets.

Israel's military said that riots broke out between Israelis and Palestinians, with rocks and batons, after a reported theft of livestock and soldiers dispersed them. The military said that it was aware of footage showing a soldier using violence against a Palestinian and it was under review. Images appeared to show someone being thrown to the ground and beaten.

Huwara has seen numerous attacks in recent years. In February 2023, scores of Israeli settlers rampaged there, burning dozens of cars and homes, after a Palestinian gunman killed two settlers.

The United Nations said last month that more than 1,000 Palestinians including at least 240 children have been killed in the West Bank and east Jerusalem since the war in Gaza began with the attack by Hamas-led militants on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

More than 700,000 Israelis live in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories captured by Israel in 1967 from Jordan and sought by the Palestinians for a future state. The international community overwhelmingly considers Israeli settlement construction in these areas to be illegal and an obstacle to peace.

Strike kills at least 7 in Gaza

An Israeli strike on Saturday in Gaza City killed at least seven people, including two women, a girl and her father, all from the same family, according to Shifa Hospital. Director Mohamed Abu Selmiya said that a tent near the Rimal school was struck.

Israel's military said that it attacked what it called militants in the area.

Meanwhile, Hamas said that negotiators chaired by Khalil al-Hayyah began a new round of talks in Cairo with mediators from Egypt, Qatar and Turkey, in an effort to break a deadlock and move forward in implementing the Gaza ceasefire deal that took effect in October. The previous round of talks was a month ago.

Spokesperson Hazem Qassem said the talks were aimed at fully implementing the ceasefire's first phase and ending Israel’s near-daily attacks in the territory. The fragile ceasefire began in October. While the heaviest fighting has subsided, the truce has seen almost daily Israeli fire.

Nickolay Mladenov, the head of the U.S.-created Board of Peace that oversees the ceasefire, acknowledged last month that the truce has stalled over the key issue of disarming Hamas.

Qassem said the talks will discuss “approaches acceptable to all parties" to implement the second phase, including addressing weapons of Palestinian militant groups and the entry of an international stabilization force.

___

Samy Magdy reported from Cairo, and Sam Mednick from Tel Aviv, Israel.

The Ugandan trader was awaiting clearance from authorities for trucks to pass through the Mpondwe border post on Thursday after they were prevented from entering or leaving Uganda as part of escalating measures to prevent cross-border Ebola contagion.

“Our things are here rotting,” she said.

On May 28, about two weeks after Congo declared an outbreak of Ebola in the eastern Ituri province, Uganda closed its western border in a decision that reflected growing fears of cross-border contagion. Exceptions were made only in emergency cases, including for the outbreak response, humanitarian, cargo or security reasons.

But in recent days, as the spread of Ebola in eastern Congo appeared to outpace the response, authorities in the Ugandan frontier district of Kasese have tightened the measures.

Traders say they are frustrated by the slow movement of cargo trucks. Some at the Mpondwe border post told The Associated Press that while they knew the tough measures are provoked by fear of Ebola contagion, they felt that holding up the trucks was excessive.

Sylvia Asiimwe, a clearing agent, pointed to the queue of trucks stretching over a mile on the Ugandan side. At least seven were carrying fish imported from China and destined for the Congolese cities of Beni and Butembo.

Asiimwe was adamant those Congolese towns are in the province of North Kivu, not the Ebola epicenter of Ituri. “The fish is going to spoil,” she said. “So much money.”

‘Ebola has wasted our work’

The Uganda-Congo border is several hundred miles long and crossed by numerous footpaths beyond formal border posts. Trade is often booming along the route up to Mpondwe, and there is kinship between the Bakonzo people on the Ugandan side and the Banande on the other side.

Mpondwe is Uganda's top border post for informal exports that were valued at an estimated $131 million in 2023, according to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics.

After the recent border closure, some shops were shuttered and young men, deprived of casual work, sat on stools dolefully.

“The situation is bad,” said Ismail Mumbere, who often works as a vendor of roadside snacks on the Ugandan side. “A lot of people earn from here, in many businesses. But now the government has told us there is Ebola. Ebola has wasted our work.”

The current outbreak in Congo is suspected to have infected over 1,000 people. The number of confirmed cases is much lower because many suspected victims succumb to their symptoms outside hospitals and without firm proof they had Ebola.

Congolese authorities, as of Thursday, have confirmed 452 cases with 82 deaths in total. Seventy-one new cases were confirmed within 24 hours, which the authorities said is a sign of “active community transmission”.

The World Health Organization, while declaring the current outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, discouraged border closures. But the U.N. agency also acknowledged that neighboring countries are at high risk of contagion.

“With movement of cargo, and maybe trucks, is mobility of people, and we want to reduce that,” said Arafat Bwambale, a surveillance officer for Kasese, defending the measures.

Officials were trying to stop Congolese nationals from crossing to Uganda by way of more than two dozen footpaths along the Mpondwe border, he said.

All available vaccines and treatments for Ebola don’t work for patients with the rare Bundibugyo type spreading in Congo, making the outbreak worrisome.

Ugandan authorities are cautious after 19 confirmed cases

Uganda has confirmed 19 Ebola cases, all linked to the outbreak in the neighboring country after some Congolese nationals sought treatment in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, before it was known there was an outbreak.

The disease was believed to have been spreading for days or weeks before the outbreak was declared May 15.

Uganda has had multiple Ebola outbreaks of its own since 2000, when the disease killed more than 200 people.

Ebola, named for a tributary of the Congo River, was first discovered in 1976 in simultaneous outbreaks in Congo and present-day South Sudan. Outbreaks are believed to start with the virus spilling over into humans from an infected animal such as a fruit bat. These cross-species infections often happen when people handle and eat wild meat, according to experts.

Once Ebola has infected one person, the virus then spreads through close contact with sick or deceased patients’ bodily fluids, such as sweat, blood, feces or vomit.

Tracing and isolating contacts is seen as key to stopping the spread of Ebola, in addition to getting medical workers proper protective equipment.

Bwambale, the surveillance officer, said the nearest referral hospital in Kasese has an isolation center and is equipped with a lab that can return results on a sample within six hours. In recent days, samples taken from 41 people in the Kasese area tested negative for Ebola, which manifests as hemorrhagic fever.

Still, authorities appeared to be planning more restrictions.

A meeting of the local Ebola task force was likely to come up with “a more restricted way on how both the cargo or the trucks get into the country in a systematic way,” Bwambale said.

That alarms traders for whom the Mpondwe border post is the primary route of business.

Masika, the plantain dealer, said she would not order more goods from Congo until the current outbreak was over. But she would be in trouble if the cargo already in transit didn’t reach various locations in and around Kampala, where the fruits, deep fried or boiled, are a staple of breakfast menus in restaurants.

Masika said she couldn’t countenance a loss of 50 bags, each worth roughly $44.

“We are begging them to help us and open (the border),” she said. “We will not go back to Congo.”

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

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

The dismissal on Friday was granted under Washington's Anti-SLAPP laws, which are designed to prevent meritless lawsuits intended to silence opposing points of view on matters of public interest.

Redd, a drummer and vibraphone player who has toured with everyone from Dizzy Gillespie to Ray Brown, had presided over holiday “Jazz Jams” at the Kennedy Center since 2006. He called off last year’s performance shortly after Trump’s handpicked board at the Kennedy Center voted to add the president’s name to the facility.

“The Center sued Mr. Redd because he publicly and rightly objected to adding Donald Trump’s name to the Kennedy Center, a living memorial to former President John F. Kennedy," Lisa J. Banks, one of Redd's lawyers, said in a statement. "The lawsuit against Mr. Redd was political retribution, pure and simple, by the Trump Kennedy Center, and the Court correctly saw it as such in dismissing the case with prejudice.”

Redd told The Associated Press in an email Saturday morning that he is “very pleased with the judge's ruling.”

The motion to dismiss, filed in March, argued that Redd wasn't contractually obligated to perform. It included the contract provided by the Kennedy Center, which the artist never signed.

Representatives for the Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the suit's dismissal.

After bursting onto the scene at 15, Andreeva became a Grand Slam champion at 19 when the Russian ended the run of 114th-ranked Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska with a 6-3, 6-2 victory in the French Open final on Saturday.

“I’ve done a lot of visualizations before. Not just this tournament, but I’ve had dreams, I’ve had a lot of thoughts on how it’s going to happen, if it’s going to happen, when it’s going to happen, where,” Andreeva said, still hardly breathing as she talked quickly in true teenage style. "The feeling in real life is so much better than in your dreams.

“I can call myself a Grand Slam champion,” Andreeva added.

The biggest challenges for Andreeva have not been on the court — she already has one of the best attacking baseline games in the sport — it's been the mental side. And her stubbornness.

“Her attitude is difficult,” said Conchita Martinez, Andreeva's coach and a former Wimbledon champion. “You tell her something, and maybe she’s not open to listening. ... When she works hard and when she listens and she does everything, she has no limits.”

Andreeva acknowledged as much during the trophy ceremony.

“I know I can be a tough cookie sometimes and it’s pretty hard to put up with me,” Andreeva said.

The victory took Andreeva one step further than Martinez, who lost the 2000 French Open final to Mary Pierce.

Pierce presented the winner’s trophy to Andreeva, who became the youngest woman to win the clay-court Grand Slam since Monica Seles was 18 when she claimed her third straight French Open in 1992.

“You’re so young and talented. It’s so annoying,” the 24-year-old Chwalinska told Andreeva.

Andreeva took the unusual step of thanking herself “for believing in myself, always giving my 100%, even when it’s tough, trying every day to be better as a person and as a player, believing that I can do this, fighting so many demons inside of me.

“Only I know how tough it was for me,” Andreeva added. “How nervous I was throughout these two weeks.”

Andreeva also thanked her psychologist, who she said was watching from Florida: “Everything that you’ve told me I’ve been trying to use these two weeks.”

Chwalinska opens up about depression

Chwalinska was attempting to become the first qualifier to capture the Roland Garros title. She was a promising junior alongside four-time Roland Garros champion Iga Swiatek before she began struggling with depression in 2019.

“Tennis is such a tough sport. It’s so individual. We start so early. We are basically kids when we start,” Chwalinska said. “People are expecting that we are going to behave like adults already and we are just kids really. So the pressure is huge.”

Andreeva was born in Siberia and moved to Sochi and eventually France to develop her tennis career.

She drew a loud applause from the crowd on Court Philippe-Chatrier when she spoke a few words of French during the trophy presentation.

“Thanks for your support today and over these past two marvelous weeks here in Paris,” Andreeva said in French. “It was very important for me.”

Breakthrough at 15

Andreeva has been considered a Grand Slam contender since she burst onto the scene as a 15-year-old at the 2023 Madrid Open, where she became the third-youngest player to win a main draw match at a WTA 1000 tournament and made the quarterfinals.

Lately, Andreeva has had to contend with playing under neutral status and without her country’s flag because of the war with Ukraine.

When she beat Marta Kostyuk in the semifinals, Kostyuk refused to shake her hand, as has been the custom for Ukrainian players facing Russians ever since the war started in 2022.

“Every person doesn’t want to have a war in the world,” Andreeva said. “I never think about those things when I play.”

Mastering the wind

The final was played under a mostly sunny sky, though wind was a factor in the first Grand Slam final for both players.

Chwalinska double-faulted on the opening point of the match, but she was the first player to hold serve in the fifth game for a 3-2 lead.

But then Andreeva won nine stright games to take control as she found a way to hit through the wind and answer Chwalinska’s array of spins and drop shots.

Whereas Chwalinska would retreat to handle high balls in the wind, Andreeva often would move forward and take balls on the rise.

“She definitely handled wind much better than me,” Chwalinska said. “She was not running away from the ball.”

Andreeva produced 25 winners to Chwalinska’s 10 and also had fewer unforced errors: 26 to 29.

There was a strong Polish presence in the crowd.

When Chwalinska was introduced, fans held aloft red-and-white Polish flags and chanted her name: “Ma-ja, Ma-ja.”

Andreeva had little support from the crowd, although there was a shout of “Davai, Mirra!” (“Go, Mirra”) in Russian late in the match.

Alexander Zverev plays Flavio Cobolli in the men’s final on Sunday to conclude the wildest Grand Slam in recent memory.

___

AP Sports Writer Samuel Petrequin contributed to this report.

___

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

Today on Texas Eats NOW:

ALETEO AT THE MONARCH

222 South Alamo Street San Antonio, Texas 78205

Perched on the 17th floor of The Monarch Hotel, Aleteo is one of San Antonio’s newest rooftop dining destinations. Opened in 2026, the restaurant offers sweeping views of the downtown skyline while showcasing the bold flavors of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. Led by chef Jae H. Lee, Aleteo combines refined cuisine, handcrafted cocktails, and a sophisticated atmosphere that has quickly made it a popular destination for date nights, celebrations, and special occasions.

The menu highlights coastal Mexican flavors through dishes such as fresh ceviches, aguachiles, Octopus Maya with bone marrow, beef rib mole, and lechon asado. Guests can pair their meals with mezcal-forward cocktails and a curated selection of agave spirits while dining beneath a striking canopy inspired by monarch butterfly wings. House-made tortillas crafted from volcanic stone-ground masa further elevate the experience, helping establish Aleteo as one of downtown San Antonio’s most exciting culinary additions.

BRASSERIE MON CHOU CHOU

312 Pearl Pkwy, San Antonio, TX 78215

Brasserie Mon Chou Chou is a celebrated French restaurant located in San Antonio’s Historic Pearl district. Founded by a team of French expatriate chefs, the restaurant has earned a loyal following for its approachable take on traditional French cuisine, combining classic techniques with a lively, welcoming atmosphere. The name, which translates to a term of endearment similar to “my darling,” reflects the warm hospitality and comforting flavors that define the dining experience.

The menu showcases French comfort food inspired by family recipes and regional specialties. Popular dishes include tableside raclette served over baguette, rich lobster bisque baked in puff pastry, steak frites, rabbit à la moutarde, and a rotating selection of imported cheeses presented from an elegant cheese trolley. Guests can also enjoy French favorites such as coq au vin, French onion soup, crème brûlée, and chocolate pot de crème, all served in a vibrant dining room that captures the charm of a classic Parisian brasserie.

Today on Texas Eats NOW:

QUICK QUACK CAR WASH

9631 Potranco Rd, San Antonio, TX 78251

Quick Quack Car Wash is bringing fast, eco-friendly car care to San Antonio with its signature duck-themed branding, modern wash technology, and convenient drive-through experience. Known for delivering a complete exterior wash in just a few minutes, the company has built a loyal following through its combination of speed, value, and customer-friendly amenities, including complimentary high-powered vacuums at every location.

To celebrate its newest San Antonio location, Quick Quack is offering 12 days of free car washes from June 3 through June 14, giving drivers an opportunity to experience services such as triple-foam polish, paint sealant, tire shine, and the company’s Ceramic Duck coating. The brand is also highlighting its Unlimited Wash Club promotion, which allows new members to receive their first month for $9.99 and enjoy unlimited washes for 30 days. With multiple locations across the city, Quick Quack continues to provide a convenient and affordable option for keeping vehicles looking their best.

SARI-SARI FILIPINO RESTAURANT, MARKET, & BAKERY

5700 Wurzbach Rd, San Antonio, TX 78238

Sari-Sari Filipino Restaurant, Market, & Bakery is a beloved family-owned destination that has been serving authentic Filipino cuisine in San Antonio for decades. What began in 1995 as a small neighborhood market operating from the Valenzuela family’s garage has grown into one of the city’s most recognizable Filipino culinary institutions. Today, the restaurant, bakery, and market continue to celebrate Filipino culture through traditional recipes, warm hospitality, and a wide variety of specialty products.

Guests can enjoy classic Filipino favorites such as chicken adobo, pork sinigang, and the restaurant’s famous Texas Size Crispy Pata, a massive deep-fried pork dish designed for sharing. Sari-Sari is also known for its Kamayan feasts, where guests gather around banana leaf-covered tables filled with traditional dishes meant to be enjoyed family-style. Adjacent to the restaurant, the market and bakery offer authentic Filipino groceries, baked goods, and hard-to-find ingredients, making the destination a one-stop shop for experiencing the rich flavors and traditions of the Philippines.

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

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The June 21 runoff comes at a pivotal moment for Colombia, which under Petro emerged as one of the world’s most vocal advocates for protecting the Amazon and transitioning away from oil, gas and coal, the main drivers of climate change.

Petro opposed new oil and gas exploration contracts, vowed not to pursue fracking, a technique used to extract oil and gas from underground rock formations that has environmental consequences, and sought to position Colombia as a global leader on climate issues. Colombia recently hosted a first-of-its-kind international summit focused on a global transition away from fossil fuels.

Analysts say Cepeda would likely represent continuity of Petro’s priorities. He has emphasized Indigenous rights, environmental conservation and reducing Colombia’s dependence on fossil fuels, while signaling support for continuing Petro’s efforts to shift the country toward renewable energy and away from new oil and gas development.

De la Espriella, meanwhile, has campaigned on a platform centered on security and economic growth. He has voiced support for expanding Colombia’s extractive industries, including fracking, and has argued the country should make greater use of its underground resources.

“While both candidates claim that they value the conservation of the Amazon ecosystem, the choice that voters face is between an approach that focuses on maintaining a pristine ecosystem versus one based on productive exploitation,” said Elizabeth Dickinson, deputy director for Latin America at the International Crisis Group, a nonprofit think tank.

“On issues of climate, this is a choice between prioritizing green energy and reinvigorating fossil fuels,” she added.

Representatives for Cepeda and de la Espriella did not respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press.

Competing visions for development

Petro has repeatedly clashed with Trump over migration, climate policy and security cooperation. Earlier this year, the two sparred publicly on social media after Petro refused to allow U.S. military deportation flights carrying Colombian migrants to land, prompting Trump to threaten tariffs and visa restrictions before the countries reached a deal.

Espriella, on the other hand, was recently endorsed by Trump, who praised the candidate’s positions on law enforcement and security and said the election was important to U.S.-Colombia relations.

Colombia contains a significant portion of the Amazon rainforest, one of the world’s most important tropical forests, which is increasingly under pressure from deforestation, illegal mining, drug trafficking and climate change.

Petro’s administration tried to combat those things by promoting greater Indigenous participation in environmental policy and sought to strengthen cooperation among Amazon nations. On the international stage, he became one of the most vocal advocates for protecting the rainforest and moving away from fossil fuels.

Supporters of expanding oil and gas production argue Colombia remains heavily dependent on oil and gas revenues and foreign investment, and warn that a rapid transition away from fossil fuels could strain public finances and economic growth.

The tension between economic dependence on extractive industries and environmental protection is likely to shape whichever administration takes office.

How candidates differ on crime and resource extraction

Illegal gold mining, drug trafficking and deforestation have expanded across large areas of the rainforest in recent years, often under the control of armed groups. Rising gold prices, persistent demand for cocaine and the expansion of transnational criminal networks have made environmental crimes more profitable than ever.

"The greatest threat to conservation of the Amazon ecosystem is the expansion of organized crime,” Dickinson said. “The challenge for both of these candidates will be to hold back that criminal expansion into these industries.”

She said criminal groups have increasingly invested in illegal mining and deforestation, turning environmental destruction into a lucrative business model.

That reality has fueled competing visions on security.

Cepeda has signaled support for continuing negotiations with armed groups, building on Petro’s “Total Peace” policy, which sought to reduce violence through negotiations with guerrilla groups, drug-trafficking organizations and other armed actors. Supporters say dialogue offers the best chance of reducing violence, while critics argue some criminal organizations have used the process to consolidate territorial control.

Even under Petro, violence against environmental defenders spiked, said Andrew Miller, advocacy director at Amazon Watch, a nonprofit focused on environmental protection and Indigenous rights. Colombia has repeatedly ranked among the world’s deadliest countries for environmental activists despite the administration’s environmental agenda.

De la Espriella has promised a tougher approach centered on military force and restoring state authority.

Gimena Sánchez, Andes director at the Washington Office on Latin America, a nonprofit focused on human rights, said Indigenous communities are particularly concerned about how aggressive security operations could affect territories that have long been caught between armed groups and the state.

“The history of militarization of Indigenous peoples throughout the Amazon, but especially Colombia, has been devastating,” she said.

What Amazon communities that would be impacted are asking for

Alex Rufino, a member of the Ticuna Indigenous people in Colombia’s Amazon region, said environmental protection cannot be separated from social investment.

He argued that discussions about the rainforest often overlook the people who live there and the challenges they face, including poor access to education, healthcare, housing and employment.

“There are more than a million people living and caring for this territory,” said Rufino, from the Amazonian city of Leticia.

He said stronger social policies could help address some of the underlying pressures driving environmental destruction, including coca cultivation for the cocaine trade, recruitment into armed groups and illegal economic activity. Better access to education, healthcare, housing and jobs, he argued, would give residents alternatives to economies that often contribute to deforestation, illegal mining and conflict.

Climate change is increasingly visible across the region, highlighting droughts in recent years that lowered river levels and contributed to the deaths of fish and pink river dolphins. There are also growing concerns over mercury contamination linked to illegal mining. Studies in Colombia’s Amazon have detected mercury in fish consumed by local communities and elevated levels in some residents, raising alarms about long-term health impacts.

So as politicians in Bogota, the capital, debate security strategies, energy policy and economic growth, many Amazon residents say the next government must first listen to the people living in the rainforest itself.

For Rufino, that means recognizing that the Amazon is not simply a source of oil, minerals or timber, but home to communities that have protected it for generations.

“The dialogue should focus on speaking from the Amazon and with the Amazon,” he said. “With the people. With young people. With women. With elders.”

___

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The protest near Parliament in New Delhi marked the movement’s first step into street politics after weeks of dominating social media feeds and news headlines, attracting widespread support among young Indians.

The immediate trigger for Saturday’s protest was the reported irregularity in a recent exam that quickly became a broader outlet for frustration over India’s education system and limited job opportunities.

“Time to turn this tiny joke into a revolution,” the official CJP account on X posted Friday. Young people in India make up more than a quarter of the population.

Protesters seek minister’s resignation within the week

Abhijeet Dipke, founder of the online movement, joined the protest after arriving from the U.S. Police had laid steel barricades at the arrivals section of New Delhi’s international airport.

Dipke said in a social media post shortly after arriving that police granted permission to the Cockroach Janta Party, or CJP, to hold the protest, adding: “Cockroaches gather at Jantar Mantar.”

CJP organizers have demanded the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Supporters chanted slogans including, “Cockroaches are coming, Dharmendra Pradhan is going!”

Participants were encouraged to bring India’s national flag and a book, which organizers said symbolized the right to education and equal opportunity for all. Organizers urged them to remain peaceful and avoid confrontations with police.

Mansi Sehgal, a 26-year-old protester, said the protests began around exam issues but the deeper problem is that people haven’t had a space to speak up or ask questions.

“CJP is doing that. So, this is literally the first thing that people can connect and ask questions,” she said.

“This is a long fight. We are seeing that’s it’s nearly a month that we are demanding (Pradhan’s) resignation,” Dipke said at the protest venue.

Late Saturday, the CJP in a statement said the party is giving the government seven days: Either Pradhan resigns or Prime Minister Narendra Modi removes him.

“If no action is taken within seven days, this movement will spread across the country,” it added.

‘Cockroaches’ face tough challenge

The event was an early test of whether the movement can channel its online popularity into a broader grassroots support around growing frustration among young Indians over education, jobs and economic prospects.

Another challenge is how the party would navigate the kind of pushback that earlier protest movements have faced under Modi’s government.

Over the past decade, authorities have sought to stamp out protests against his government, including demonstrations against a controversial citizenship legislation and farmers’ protests. Some protest movements have faced legal action against organizers and activist arrests, which critics say reflects a broader effort under Modi to suppress dissent.

But despite challenges, protesters expressed optimism for change.

"This is a youth-first movement,” said Satya Prakash Yadav, a student. “Youth is the future and we will ensure that our future is secure.”

The online party has risen swiftly

The CJP emerged only three weeks ago. Supporters proudly call themselves “cockroaches," a term that India’s Chief Justice Surya Kant used to disparage critics and some unemployed youth during a May hearing.

Dipke, a political communications strategist and Boston University student, used the insult as inspiration for a parody political party. CJP’s Instagram page has now amassed more than 22 million followers.

The cockroach has become a wry badge of endurance and political articulation. Videos and memes lampooning unemployment, corruption and political dysfunction have drawn millions of views online. Parody CJP accounts have adopted the cockroach as a political symbol in satirical commentary.

The movement’s messaging blends self-deprecating humor with political criticism. Supporters jokingly describe themselves as unemployed and perpetually online.

They also say they are shut out of meaningful influence. CJP supporters argue that ordinary Indians, particularly young people, under Modi have fewer opportunities, with limited job opportunities and rising unemployment.

It’s a gimmick for Modi supporters

The group’s rise echoes a trend across South Asia of youth movements born out of social media playing a central role in anti-government protests, including uprisings in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and unrest in Nepal.

Young people in India have expressed growing disillusionment with traditional politics. Many are critical of Modi’s ruling Hindu nationalist ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, citing concerns over rising religious polarization, widening inequality and mounting economic pressures.

The movement’s skeptics, particularly supporters of Modi’s party, dismiss it as little more than a social media gimmick. They argue its online popularity may not translate into street mobilization and that its rapid rise is likely fleeting.

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Associated Press journalists Shonal Ganguly and Piyush Nagpal in New Delhi contributed to this report.

The Navy had selected 31 sailors to promote from the rank of captain to one-star admiral, but Hegseth recently intervened to strike nine people from the list, including three women and two Black men, according to a defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss information not permitted to be released publicly.

As a result, the Navy is not promoting a single woman to the one-star admiral rank this year even though women make up about one-quarter of all Navy officers and nearly one-third of the sea service's midgrade ranks, according to military data from 2024.

The Associated Press spoke with eight female Navy officers of varying ranks and time in service after Hegseth's cuts, which were reported earlier by The New York Times, became public. They spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of retribution from their superiors.

The more junior officers said they saw the development as a sign that their careers would become politicized if they rose too far in the ranks, and some said they felt they now had a limit on how far they could be promoted. Some said it made them feel less valued within the military and wondered whether that wasn't part of the intent.

The Pentagon has not offered any rationale on why the women, or any of the other six people, were removed from the promotion list.

The Pentagon says promotions are based on merit

Sean Parnell, the Pentagon's top spokesman, said on social media this week that “military promotions are given to those who have earned them” and that the Pentagon “will never consider the color of a service member’s skin or their gender as a factor in promotions." The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request seeking further comment.

The Navy's process for choosing which officers to promote to the one-star rank has been relatively constant and transparent over the years. The service convenes a group of officers, called a promotion board, that examines the records of eligible officers and chooses the most qualified.

The board that selected the initial slate of 31 officers for promotion was directed by then-Navy Secretary John Phelan, an appointee of President Donald Trump, to “recommend for promotion the best qualified officers within their respective competitive category.”

The order from Phelan, who later abruptly departed his post in April, said the board should consider an officer's performance, competence and character, among other traits, as part of those qualifications.

It also said that given China's prominence in the Trump administration's National Defense Strategy, “special consideration shall be given to officers who have excelled in their knowledge of the political military affairs and U.S. strategic interests in the Indo-Pacific region, and operational contingency planning for Indo-Pacific war plans.”

Hegseth has long argued, without offering evidence, that women in the military benefit from preferential treatment and are not suited for combat roles.

"For too long, we’ve promoted too many uniformed leaders for the wrong reasons based on their race, based on gender quotas, based on historic so-called firsts,” Hegseth told hundreds of military leaders in September.

The approach, he asserted, made the Pentagon “less capable and less lethal.”

Navy leaders and other top officials had approved promotion list

Phelan's order said the Navy cannot discriminate based on criteria such as race and sex, and it specifically noted that “this guidance shall not be interpreted as requiring or permitting preferential treatment of any officer or group of officers on the grounds of race, religion, color, sex.”

The full list of 31 people to be promoted was approved by Phelan, other Navy leaders and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, before it reached Hegseth, who chose to make the changes, the defense official said.

While Hegseth is within his rights to intervene in the list, “it’s just not the norm” and its “a break from tradition” said Katherine Kuzminski, a researcher specializing in military recruiting and retention at the Center for New American Security think tank. She said that promotions historically have been seen “the services’ business.”

Kuzminski noted that “this is a decision that’s not being made by the U.S. Navy — it’s being made by the secretary of defense” and said Hegseth's growing interference in operational aspects of the military services such as promotions is creating “tension" about what “normal” will look like going forward.

Some of the more senior Navy officers who spoke with the AP expressed concerns about the message it sends to the next generation of young sailors.

In addition to pulling the recent promotions of three women to admiral, Hegseth shortly after he took office fired Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the service's top officer and the first woman to hold the job. He never explained his rationale.

Since then, he also has fired two other female three-star admirals without explanation.

Some of the officers who spoke to the AP said that while they were encouraging female sailors to stick with the Navy, they acknowledged that message is coming at a difficult time.

Kuzminski said the rhetoric and actions surrounding women in the military “affects individual service member decision-making and it also affects family unit decision-making,” including whether people make a career of the military.

Kuzminski said that following the monthslong hold on military promotions by Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., during the Biden administration, surveys showed that partisan politics spilling into the day-to-day lives of troops affected their decision-making.

One officer said this impact was not confined to women.

In conversations with other sailors in her unit, she said that male sailors were hesitant to deal with what appears to be a growing politicization of simply following the orders of previous administrations.

Phillips, the son of Charles' sister Princess Anne, wed Harriet Sperling, a nurse working for the National Health Service, in a church ceremony in the southwestern English village of Kemble.

They were joined by more than 100 guests including Prince William, Princess Catherine, Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice and other royals.

The bride wore a high-neck lace gown designed by Emilia Wickstead.

Phillips, 48, is the son Anne and her first husband Mark Phillips. He is the late Queen Elizabeth II’s eldest grandson, and William and Prince Harry’s first cousin.

Phillips split from his first wife Autumn Kelly, with whom he has two children. His engagement to Sperling was announced last year.

Well-wishers cheered when the bride and royals arrived, and after the ceremony guests held umbrellas in heavy rain to throw rose petals over the couple as they left the church.

Buyer was sentenced to 22 months in prison in 2023 for trades made while working as a consultant and lobbyist. He was ordered to forfeit more than $350,000, representing the amount of the illegal gains, and pay a $10,000 fine. He was released in 2025.

The Supreme Court in May rejected Buyer's appeal without comment or noted dissent.

In granting “a full, complete, and unconditional pardon,” Trump cited Buyer’s career as a judge advocate general in the Army and in the House that was “distinguished and highly productive.” The pardon was dated Thursday and released by the White House late Friday.

Buyer said the pardon “corrects a politically motivated prosecution” and that it was “horrific to be imprisoned for a crime that I did not commit.” He maintains that he is innocent.

Trump used his Truth Social media platform on May 31 to share a pair of letters requesting a presidential pardon for Buyer, a lawyer and Gulf War veteran who left office in 2011. He was a House prosecutor at Democratic President Bill Clinton’s 1998 impeachment trial and in 2016 he served on Trump’s transition team focusing on veterans’ issues.

A letter signed by more than 40 former Republicans in Congress said Buyer was “targeted by the deep state” because of his involvement in Clinton’s trial.

“Like you, Mr. President, Steve has been the victim of lawfare conducted by the Biden Administration,” they wrote in the April 2025 letter.

A second letter, from five current House Republicans, said pardoning Buyer would bring justice to his case. The June 2025 letter was signed by Tom Cole of Oklahoma, Ken Calvert of California, Marlin Stutzman of Indiana, Jack Bergman of Michigan and Pete Sessions of Texas.

Buyer, 67, was convicted in connection with insider trading involving the $26.5 billion merger of T-Mobile and Sprint, announced in April 2018, and illegal trades in the management consulting company Navigant when his client Guidehouse was set to acquire it in a deal publicly disclosed weeks later.

The Constitution gives a president broad power to grant pardons for federal crimes. The pardons do not erase a recipient’s criminal record but can be seen as act of mercy or justice.

Officers were initially responding to a “separate accident minor” just after 2 a.m. Saturday near Interstate 35 North and Northeast Loop 410.

Shortly after arriving, police said the driver collided with the rear of the patrol vehicle, causing a “domino effect of crashes.”

The officer was taken to a local hospital for precautionary evaluation, according to an SAPD preliminary report.

The driver, identified as a 41-year-old man, was evaluated for intoxication, police said. The report did not specify if the man was arrested in connection with the crash.

Additional information was not immediately available.

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The Iranian Football Federation's secretary-general, Hedayat Mombeini, and its vice president, Mehdi Mohammad Nabi, were among 14 backroom staff and officials without U.S. visas before games in Los Angeles and Seattle, according to Iranian state television.

It was unclear whether the federation’s president, Mehdi Taj, had been issued a visa.

The team’s participation in the World Cup has been complicated by the Iran war. Problems with processing visas had earlier led Iran to move its training base from Tucson, Arizona, to Tijuana, Mexico, which is on the border with California.

The federation accused the U.S. of “vindictive behavior” in refusing visas for “key managerial and administrative members” of the team.

The decision had “effectively denied the Iranian national team the opportunity for a level playing field and a competition free from discrimination,” according to a statement on the federation's website. It added that the federation would pursue the matter through world soccer authority FIFA.

The Iranian Embassy in Ankara, meanwhile, responded to an earlier social media post from U.S. Ambassador Tom Barrack, in which he congratulated his embassy staff for processing the Iran team’s visas.

“You cannot whitewash conduct that violates FIFA regulations and breaches the United States’ host obligations merely by praising yourselves,” the Iranian post read. “This represents the worst possible form of politically biased interference in sport.”

One U.S. official earlier told The Associated Press that all players on the Iranian team were approved for visas, while a second official said visas had been issued for players, coaches, trainers and some support staff. A third official suggested that some applicants affiliated with the team had been rejected for requesting visas “under false pretenses.”

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the visas publicly.

The squad has been preparing for the World Cup at a training camp in Antalya. The team said that it has already received visas from the Mexican Embassy in Ankara.

The players, dressed in blue blazers over white T-shirts, left the luxury Mardan Palace hotel in Antalya on Saturday afternoon. They boarded a private jet at the Mediterranean city's airport and were due to fly directly to Mexico.

Iran plays its first two games in Inglewood, California, against New Zealand on June 15, and Belgium six days later, then heads to Seattle to face Egypt on June 26. Iran and the U.S. could meet in the round of 32 on July 3 in Arlington, Texas, if both teams come second in their groups.

In March, U.S. President Donald Trump had discouraged Iran from participating in the tournament, saying he didn’t think it was “appropriate” and raising concerns over players’ “life and safety.” A day later, Iran’s national team pushed back, saying “no one can exclude” it from playing.

Iran finalized its team on Monday, including 17 home-based players whose clubs haven't played since February because of the war. Star forward Sardar Azmoun was dropped in March, reportedly because of a social media post that angered Iranian authorities during the war.

Iran’s sports minister said in March that it would “not be possible” for the team to participate in the World Cup, but the republic’s soccer federation said in May that it was moving ahead with a team. The federation had insisted that all players and staff be granted visas, including those who had military service in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

___ Seung Min Kim and Matthew Lee contributed to this report from Washington.

The crash happened around 11:50 p.m. Friday in the 2000 block of Northwest Loop 410.

The 22-year-old woman was a passenger in a red Honda Civic traveling eastbound on Northwest Loop 410. Police said the driver was traveling at a high rate of speed when they lost control.

The vehicle struck a concrete center median several times before coming to a stop, police said.

The woman suffered serious bodily injuries and was taken to a local hospital.

SAPD said the driver was evaluated at the scene and found to show signs of intoxication. The driver was taken into custody at the scene, police said.

The investigation is ongoing.

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It also comes against the backdrop of the U.S. and Israel’s war with Iran, mounting political violence in President Donald Trump's orbit and growing fears of artificial intelligence-fueled disruptions, creating a complex threat environment for authorities.

Overseeing the sprawling security apparatus is a legion of federal agencies, state and local police departments and private entities. Their responsibilities range from securing stadiums and fan zones to escorting teams and protecting dignitaries.

Their tools include hunter drones that can shoot nets over objects in restricted airspace, bag-inspecting robot dogs, giant X-ray trucks and thousands of AI-powered cameras trained on public spaces soon to be thronged by fans.

In the U.S., it’s “78 Super Bowls over 39 days,” said Andrew Giuliani, executive director of Trump’s World Cup task force, which is overseeing the multiagency effort.

“There’s never been a summer like this in American history from a security angle,” said Giuliani, son of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

“We’re as prepared as we can be.”

An unprecedented security collaboration

The tournament has the same high-level federal security designation as the Super Bowl, just below a presidential inauguration or a national political convention, ensuring federal, state and local coordination. It coincides with other major events linked to the 250th anniversary of America's founding.

So far, Giuliani said, there are no credible threats.

The Department of Homeland Security, focused on Trump’s immigration enforcement crackdown and hit by a funding lapse only recently resolved, estimates up 7 million people will visit the U.S. for the World Cup.

The U.S. Secret Service, under scrutiny after security breaches and attempts on Trump’s life, is in charge of protecting world leaders who show up to cheer on their countries. Trump has expressed interest in attending a match.

“I feel very comfortable where we’re at, and we feel like we have a zero-fail mission,” Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told Congress this week, noting that the Secret Service was understaffed by about 860 agents. “But it’s going to be complicated.”

Officials have indicated they are confident they can keep Trump safe because they will be integrating his usual security into the robust World Cup plan on days he may watch a match.

The FBI has spent two years developing its security plan, incorporating lessons from other major events such as the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and New Year’s Eve ball drop in New York and testing them at smaller ones, including last week’s Israel Day parade in the city.

"We prepare for the worst day,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Amit Kachhia-Patel in New York told The Associated Press. “And that’s how we go into any single event."

To help cover security costs, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has distributed $625 million to the 11 U.S. host cities. An additional $250 million is being directed toward tracking and neutralizing suspect drones.

The disbursement of those funds was held up by the department's funding delay, which the Republican administration has argued hindered security planning.

Others involved in the planning effort said the federal government could have played a more hands-on role even before the shutdown.

John Cohen, a former senior DHS official who has been briefing state leaders before the matches, said the government was largely absent from planning meetings last year and did not begin sharing threat intelligence with host regions until recently.

“With an event of this magnitude, one would expect the federal government would’ve played a more active role,” Cohen said. “It felt like a missed opportunity to showcase that collaboration.”

Evolving threats from drones and AI

In January, thousands of officials involved in World Cup security gathered for exercises simulating crowd surges, vehicle attacks and mass shootings.

A month later, the U.S. and Israel launched a war with Iran.

“The security picture fundamentally changed,” said Stefano Ritondale, chief intelligence officer at Artorias, a defense intelligence company not involved in the security preparations. “There’s a major difference in preparing for a lone wolf radical who rams his car into a public place and a terrorist who is bankrolled by a foreign country we’re at war with.”

Among the greatest concerns are drones.

Since the last World Cup in Qatar in 2022, drones have become a prominent weapon in conflicts including Russia’s war in Ukraine and Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

“If there is one threat that keeps me up at night, it is from drones,” said New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, whose department is partnering with the FBI on drone mitigation.

Drones are prohibited over stadiums and fan zones, and Kachhia-Patel said the FBI has a “full suite of options” to thwart incursions. They include agents monitoring the sky and a “variety of means” to safely down the devices, he said without elaborating.

Before this year’s World Cup, the growing sophistication of AI videos was a particular concern, with officials warning that state actors can harness the technology to sow misinformation and panic.

On match days, the FBI will activate joint operations centers in each host city, bringing together local, state and federal law enforcement agencies to monitor and investigate threats.

“If there’s a video that shows an explosion going off at a site, and it’s AI generated, we have people on the ground who can validate whether or not that’s true,” said Kachhia-Patel.

A scoring opportunity for private tech

Some AI companies have pitched themselves to police departments in host cities, promising to comb through data and surveillance on game days to prevent threats, including unruly fan behavior.

“We know sports fanaticism around here in terms of the NFL and baseball to some extent, but nothing like international soccer,” said Jake Becchina, a police spokesperson in Kansas City, Missouri, which is hosting six matches.

The department has contracted with Peregrine Technologies, which promises to sift through police data and publicly available information such as team practice locations and the country affiliation of popular bars, to get ahead of possible conflict.

In Dallas, a recent $120 million tech upgrade will give local police body cameras capable of real-time translations, helping law enforcement communicate with international visitors soon to descend on the region.

Several drone detection and mitigation companies are joining efforts to help federal agencies secure the skies.

One of those companies, Fortem, has claimed to have signed a multimillion-dollar contract with DHS before the World Cup for an unusual drone mitigation strategy: quadcopters that can shoot nets at encroaching drones to trap them in midair. A spokesperson for DHS declined to discuss the contract.

Just as the teams will aim to perform their best on the pitch, Giuliani said the security planning was a unique chance to “show off American exceptionalism."

“If we do our job right,” Giuliani added, “nobody will be talking about security at the World Cup.”

____

Santana reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington contributed to this report.

The attack came a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin refused an offer to meet his Ukrainian counterpart.

St. Petersburg Gov. Alexander Beglov said three people sustained minor injuries in the attack. He advised residents not to go outside and warned of possible disruptions to mobile internet service, while regional Gov. Alexander Drozdenko said 141 drones were shot down over the surrounding Leningrad region in what he called an “unprecedented attack.”

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 376 Ukrainian drones.

“Last night, our drones covered a distance of about 1,000 kilometers to the St. Petersburg region — to the enemy navy’s arsenals and a base in Kronstadt,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X, adding that drones also hit an oil depot in Russia's southern Krasnodar region.

The renewed attack on St. Petersburg is the latest embarrassing blow to Putin’s efforts to cast the conflict as a distant event that doesn’t affect Russian daily life.

A Ukrainian drone strike set ablaze an oil terminal in the city and hit a nearby naval base Wednesday, hours before the opening of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Putin’s annual showcase for investment.

Speaking at the forum, Putin said Thursday that Russia will strengthen its air defenses to counter recent Ukrainian drone attacks, which have reached deep inside his country and cast a cloud over the event in his hometown of St. Petersburg.

Putin on Friday rejected a proposal by Zelenskyy for a face-to-face meeting on the 4-year-old conflict, saying he sees “no point” in it. Thursday’s letter, the first public message Zelenskyy has written directly to Putin since Russia sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, was a sweeping critique of the Russian leader’s 26 years in power, as well as some taunts about his age.

Responding to Putin's dismissal of the proposed meeting, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Saturday that things would “only get worse for Russia.”

"Failures will get more humiliating," he wrote on X, warning that there are “no safe places in Russia that can be exempt” from Ukrainian long-range attacks, and that the intensity of attacks “will continue to grow.”

With the front line barely moving as swarms of drones hinder advances, both sides have sought an edge by launching long-range strikes.

In Ukraine, one person was killed and three wounded overnight into Saturday in the Dnipropetrovsk region, as Russian forces struck three districts nearly 30 times with drones and artillery, regional head Oleksandr Hanzha said.

In Zaporizhzhia, seven people sought medical care after a Russian drone strike started a fire at a parking lot, according to regional head Ivan Fedorov.

Russia targeted Ukraine overnight with 272 strike drones, and air defenses shot down 249 of them, the Ukrainian air force said Saturday.

Leo is expected to double down on his messages of unity amid polarization, peace as war rages, welcome for migrants and hope for young Spaniards in the era of artificial intelligence.

In a sign that the clergy sexual abuse crisis continues to overshadow papal trips, the Vatican confirmed late Friday that Leo would meet with survivors during his visit. The Spanish Catholic hierarchy is belatedly reckoning with decades of abuse and cover-up in the once-staunchly Catholic country.

Leo’s June 6-12 visit, the first to Spain by a pope in 15 years, has three distinct chapters, in Madrid, Barcelona and the Canary Islands, each with its own focus.

But Leo isn’t the only VIP who'll be paralyzing much of Madrid this weekend. Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny is holding two shows of his 10-concert series in the Spanish capital while the pope is in town.

Madrid, June 6-8

The highlight of Leo's visit to Madrid will be his speech June 8 to both chambers of the Spanish parliament. Even though St. John Paul II visited Spain five times and Pope Benedict XVI three, no pope has ever addressed Las Cortes Generales, as the parliament is known.

Such speeches are rare and often become one of the most important of a pontificate. The last time a pope addressed a foreign legislature was in 2015, when Pope Francis delivered a speech to a joint session of the U.S. Congress.

Leo will find a legislature that is highly polarized, with the ruling Socialist Party of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez hammered by a series of corruption scandals and far-right groups such as Vox harshly criticizing the Socialists’ migration policy.

Leo will also meet with the Spanish royals and preside over a prayer vigil for young people that will recall the last time a pope visited Spain: 2011, when Madrid hosted World Youth Day with Benedict.

Barcelona, June 9-10

Leo arrives in Barcelona in time to celebrate the June 10 centenary of the death of the great Catalan architect, Antoni Gaudí.

Leo will celebrate Mass in Gaudí’s unfinished masterpiece, the Sagrada Familia, and will inaugurate its central spire, the Tower of Jesus Christ, which has made the basilica the world’s tallest church.

While Catalonia’s beloved native son is on the path to possible sainthood, no announcements on his canonization are expected.

Leo will also visit another place of spiritual importance to Catalans, the Our Lady of Montserrat abbey on the sacred mountain outside the city.

Canary Islands, June 11-12

By traveling to the Canary Islands, Leo is fulfilling a wish of Pope Francis to minister to the many migrants who arrive on the Spanish archipelago after risking their lives to reach Europe from Africa.

Leo will spend two days in the Canary Islands, which are closer to Africa than the Spanish peninsula, visiting two of the seven islands and meeting with migrants and the humanitarian organizations that provide care for them.

Spain’s Socialist-led government has bucked a general trend in Europe and the U.S. by announcing it will grant legal status to potentially hundreds of thousands of immigrants living and working in the country without authorization. Sánchez has highlighted the benefits of legal migration to the country’s economy with an aging workforce and low birth rate.

Migrant arrivals in the Canary Islands peaked in 2024 at nearly 47,000, but have fallen dramatically, with just over 2,000 people landing there in the first four months of 2026.

___

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

The 15-year-old opening batter is the youngest cricketer to get an India call-up. If he plays against Ireland on June 26 in Belfast he will overtake Sachin Tendulkar, who was 16 when he made his test debut against Pakistan in November 1989.

Sooryavanshi set the Indian Premier League alight this season, finishing as the highest run-getter with 776 in 16 innings. He scored at a remarkable strike-rate of 237.31 and hit 72 sixes.

“He has forced us to pick him with how well he’s played,” chief selector Ajit Agarkar said. “I know his age…how young he is and (it is) early in his career. But...we can see the kind of talent he has and we are hopeful, if he gets the opportunity to play for the country, he will show the same ability.

“Playing for the country will mean tougher challenges, but he has shown tremendous temperament. He has picked himself through his performances – he single-handedly carried Rajasthan Royals in the IPL playoffs. Like everyone else who’s watched him play, we have high hopes of him.”

Sooryavanshi made his first-class debut at 12. At 13, he became the youngest to get an IPL deal when Rajasthan bought him for the 2025 season. He scored 252 runs in seven games at a strike-rate of 206, including a 35-ball century – the second-fastest in IPL history.

He then starred in India’s win at the 2026 Under-19 World Cup, smashing 175 off 80 balls in the final against England – the highest individual score in any ICC global tournament final.

Shreyas Iyer will captain a full-strength India squad in Ireland and England, a precursor to the Asian Games T20s in Japan. He replaces Suryakumar Yadav, who has been dropped.

Iyer led Kolkata Knight Riders to a third IPL title in 2024 before guiding Punjab Kings to the final in 2025. He had previously steered Delhi Capitals to the final in 2020 – the only player to lead three different franchises to a final.

Yadav’s reign comes to an end due to poor form in both IPL and international cricket.

India will play two T20s in Ireland on June 26 and 28, and another five in England next month.

The squad for Japan also includes pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, underlining India’s challenge for gold ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Squads for Ireland and England tours: Shreyas Iyer (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammad Siraj, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.

India squad for Asian Games: Shreyas Iyer (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.

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

The fired employees included four intelligence analysts and a supervisory analyst. The FBI declined to comment.

“This action is manifestly unjust, completely unsupported by the facts, and subverts standard FBI policy and procedure,” their lawyer, David Laufman, said in a statement. “These individuals deserved far better for the exceptional and faithful public service they rendered to protect our country.”

The January 2023 intelligence product produced by analysts in the FBI's Richmond, Virginia, field office emerged as a political flashpoint after it was issued, with Republicans in Congress repeatedly citing it as part of their broader contention that the FBI during the Biden administration was targeting conservatives.

Then-director Chris Wray repeatedly denied that charge and the FBI has said the document was quickly retracted and an internal review was launched. Merrick Garland, the attorney general under President Joe Biden, has said he was “appalled” by the memo.

Earlier Justice Department investigations into the memo challenged the analytical tradecraft but did not find intentional misconduct by the analysts involved.

The firings are part of a broader personnel purge under Patel, a Trump loyalist who over the last year, has pushed out dozens of employees who either contributed to investigations of the president or who were perceived as not in alignment with the administration’s agenda. The Justice Department has engaged in similarly sweeping firings of prosecutors since Trump took office last year.

In February, for instance, the FBI fired a group of counterintelligence agents who participated in the investigation into President Donald Trump over his retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.

The Richmond memo, which emerged from a domestic terrorism investigation, sought to examine a potential link between what it called “Radical Traditionalist Catholic” ideology and racially and ethnically motivated extremists. It warned of the potential for violence and also highlighted what the authors described as “new avenues for tripwire and source development.” FBI leadership quickly condemned those findings once the document became public.

An internal FBI review described in a 2023 letter to Congress and based on interviews with 26 people “found that all individuals involved in the creation, review and approval of the product failed to adhere to analytic tradecraft standards and failed to recognize that the product, as drafted, equated the subjects' interest in their self-described form of religion with racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist (RMVE) ideology without sufficient evidence or articulable support.”

The failure to adhere to standards, including on proper domestic terrorism terminology, “created the appearance that the FBI conducts investigative activity based on religious affiliation,” the letter said. “One of the FBI's most fundamental principles is that investigative activity may not be based solely on the exercise of rights guaranteed by the First Amendment.”

A Justice Department inspector general report in 2024 summarized the earlier FBI review by saying that though there were departures from proper analytic tradecraft, “no evidence of a malicious intent or an improper purpose” were found.

MS NOW earlier reported the firings.

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Tucker reported from Los Angeles.

Becerra leaned on his more than 35 years in public office, including as state attorney general and U.S. health secretary, to argue that he was the most qualified candidate in a crowded field.

“The people of the great state of California, in the greatest nation on earth, have spoken — loudly and proudly,” Becerra said in a statement. “We are never backing down. November, here we come.”

It was not yet clear who Becerra would face in the general election. His top rivals came down to Republican Steve Hilton, a former Fox News commentator backed by President Donald Trump, and Democrat Tom Steyer, a billionaire climate activist who poured $215 million of his own money into his campaign.

Born and raised in Sacramento by Mexican immigrant parents, Becerra has a wife and three daughters. He has said his family’s immigrant background mirrored his “underdog” gubernatorial campaign, in which he initially failed to garner substantial support before surging in the final months.

After one of the top Democratic contenders, Rep. Eric Swalwell, was accused of sexual assault and dropped out of the race, Becerra benefited from an opening to coalesce Democratic support. He quickly racked up key endorsements from labor groups and Latino legislative leaders.

Becerra has vowed to maintain the state’s mantle as a chief antagonist to President Donald Trump. As attorney general, he filed more than 120 legal actions against the first Trump administration on everything from immigration to climate policy.

The president has also been in a spat with the state over its drawn-out vote count. Trump made baseless claims about mass fraud Thursday, and on Friday, federal prosecutors said they opened investigations into allegations of election fraud. Hilton called for California to limit mail ballots to those who request them, rather than sending them to all registered voters.

During the campaign, Becerra’s rivals scrutinized his leadership as health secretary during the COVID-19 pandemic and the unaccompanied migrant children crisis in 2021, when Becerra’s Department of Health and Human Services was responsible for shelters where they were housed. Some of them were criticized as having inadequate living conditions, and there were also concerns about authorities failing to thoroughly vet sponsors with whom some children were placed.

If elected, Becerra said, he would declare states of emergency to address high energy costs and housing shortages and to freeze home insurance rates.

Though California is one of the nation’s most diverse states, Becerra would be the first Latino to hold the office since the late 1800s.

Newsom was barred by term limits from seeking a third stint in office.

Seager belted a two-run homer homer in the sixth inning that put the Rangers ahead in a 3-2 win over the Cleveland Guardians on Friday night. The five-time All-Star shortstop and two-time World Series MVP missed the previous 19 games because of lower back inflammation.

That homer also snapped a career-worst 0-for-29 slump in his 12 big league seasons, since his previous hit May 6.

“It was just nice to get out there with the guys again,” Seager said. “You obviously want to help.”

He went deep off Cleveland rookie Parker Messick right after a double by Wyatt Langford, who was also activated from the IL before the game. Seager’s eighth homer of the season made it 3-2.

“It's definitely good to have them back,” said Rangers manager Skip Schumaker, who saw good signs early in the game. “Their timing looked right the first at-bat, both of them. ... Good news on both ends.”

Langford, the left fielder, had missed 39 games since going on the injured list April 22 because of a right forearm strain. They batted 1-2 in the lineup and their consecutive extra-base hits came in their third at-bats.

Seager, still hitting .181 in his 43 games, went into the series opener in an 0-for-27 slide that included 11 strikeouts. He had been hitless in his previous seven games, also a career worst, since an RBI single on May 6 at Yankee Stadium after he hit a home run earlier in that game.

“I’m excited to see, really for the first time in some time, our group together. Still missing (second baseman) Josh Smith, but beyond that, we have not had our group together in a long time,” Chris Young, the team’s president of baseball operations, said before the game.

“Look at the past week, 10 days, and there have been a lot of positives with the way we’ve played,” Young said. “And now getting Corey and Wyatt back in this lineup, I think will be very big for us. I’m excited to see what that does for everybody.”

The Rangers (31-32) have won six of their last seven games.

“Honestly, in a weird way, it’s an easier way to come back for me and Wyatt when the team’s going (good),” Seager said. “You've just got to hop on the train and keep going. So it’s definitely nice to be playing good and just to be able to be back out there.”

Utility man Cody Freeman and outfielder Alejandro Osuna were optioned to Triple-A Round Rock to make room on the roster. Utility player Sam Haggerty was designated for assignment after he was activated from the bereavement/family medial emergency list.

Langford and Seager played in two rehab games together this week at Double-A Frisco. That was after Langford played two games with Round Rock.

Seager hadn't been in a big league game since May 13. At that point, the 32-year-old shortstop had started 42 of the Rangers' first 43 games. He said then that physically he felt “completely fine” after playing all of their 24 games in a 27-day span.

The Rangers had a day off after that and planned for Seager to get an extra break by sitting out the series opener at Houston. But he didn't play at all in that series after waking up one morning with back spasms.

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

World No. 1 Nelly Korda jumped into the hunt for her first Women’s Open title by shooting the day’s lowest round at 67, leaving her just two shots back after struggling Thursday.

Opening-round leader Jennifer Kupcho, Sei Young Kim and Mexico's Gaby Lopez were in a group of six at 3-under 139, while Korda and three others were at 140.

The venerable course at this 100-year-old country club is hosting its first U.S. Women’s Open, and it remained unforgiving for the world’s best. Only two players managed a bogey-free round Friday — including China's Yin, who semi-jokingly called Riviera “passive aggressive" despite being the only player in the field to shoot two sub-70 rounds so far.

“I love it,” Yin said. “I always say that the more difficult (the course), the better.”

Yin carded her second straight 69 in the same city where she earned her first LPGA Tour victory in 2023, a couple of months before she won the Women’s PGA Championship. She tied for fourth at last year's U.S. Open at Erin Hills.

Lee played under par for the second straight day at Riviera, highlighted by back-to-back birdies just before the turn. The new mother’s first two rounds are an extension of a strong start to the season that includes a third-place finish at the Mizuho Americas Open four weeks ago.

“To win in basically my backyard, where I grew up, would be super cool,” Lee said. I don’t want to get ahead of myself ... but if you’d told me I would be in this spot at the beginning of the week, I probably would have started crying.”

The 31-year-old Lee grew up in suburban Valencia and had a stellar junior career before playing at UCLA and embarking on her pro career. She is a two-time Solheim Cup participant, but she has yet to win on the LPGA Tour while managing just two top-10 finishes at 44 majors.

“I'm not going to lie, it’s been very tough,” Lee said. “I’ve gone through a few stages, a few slumps, if you want to call it, in my career, even since I was like 15 years old. ... no matter what I did, no matter how much I practiced, it just wasn’t going my way.”

Lee then took most of last year off for the birth of her son, Levi. While she says her sleep rhythms are regularly interrupted by her 13-month-old these days, her parents and extended family in Valencia have relieved some of the burden during the Open.

Levi was in attendance for Friday's round, but Lee's partner only brought him out to watch the 18th hole because the youngster has a tendency to get excited: He yelled “Ball!” during his mom's backswing at The Chevron Championship earlier this year.

With family around her, Lee is finally having the moment she had long anticipated.

“I feel like I’ve definitely underachieved what I could have done out here on tour,” Lee said. “It’s definitely been really frustrating. I’m at a point now where I’ve truly accepted it, but like I said, that’s part of why I want to come back and play. I feel like I was so close so many times.”

Kim was one shot behind Kupcho after the opening round, and she was thrust into the lead early in the second despite shooting 1 over on the front nine. She bogeyed the 18th to drop her share of the lead in one of the day's final groups.

Kupcho scuffled to a second-round 73 after carding the only 66 of the tournament so far on Thursday.

Among the players who missed the 36-hole cut were world No. 3 Hyo Joo Kim, three-time major champion Lydia Ko, five-time major champion Yani Tseng and Michelle Wie West, who largely left golf in 2023.

The 36-year-old Wie West returned to competition last month at the Mizuho Americas Open, but she isn't currently planning to play beyond this U.S. Open.

She shot 7 over at Riviera — the former club of her late father-in-law, Lakers icon Jerry West — after using the final year of her exemption from winning the 2014 U.S. Open. Her husband, Jonnie West, was her caddie.

“Obviously, I would be lying to say I wasn’t disappointed,” Wie West said. “I would have loved to have made the cut today, but I had a blast, honestly, playing here at Riv. Such a special week to have played it, and to have family, friends, a lot of familiar faces coming out. It was a lot of fun. I hit some good shots, hit some good putts and kind of felt that feeling again, which is awesome.”

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

The red-hot Knicks are going home, two wins away from an NBA championship that the capital of the world has been waiting to see for generations.

Jalen Brunson hit a go-ahead free throw with 9.5 seconds left after a turnover by Victor Wembanyama moments earlier, then Wembanyama missed a jumper at the end of New York’s 105-104 win over the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night for a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals.

“What a ballgame,” Knicks coach Mike Brown marveled.

Karl-Anthony Towns had 21 points and 13 rebounds, while Brunson and Mikal Bridges each scored 20 for the Knicks. They have won 13 straight, the second-longest streak by any team in NBA playoff history.

“New York City showed up,” Towns said. “The fans showed up. The energy showed up. And we found a way to get it done.”

The Knicks are now just the third team to win the first two games of a finals on the road, joining Michael Jordan and the 1993 Chicago Bulls, and Hakeem Olajuwon and the 1995 Houston Rockets.

Both of those teams won championships, the Bulls needing six games to oust the Phoenix Suns, the Rockets going home after winning those first two games in Orlando and sweeping the Magic. The Knicks, seeking their first championship since 1973, are in position to join them.

Wembanyama, after a very quiet first half, scored 29. De’Aaron Fox had 20 for San Antonio.

“We can't change the past,” Wembanyama said, “We're already thinking about Game 3.”

The series now shifts to New York. Game 3 is at Madison Square Garden on Monday night.

President Donald Trump — a native New Yorker — plans on attending Monday. And ticket prices on the secondary market, for the worst seats at MSG, were approaching $9,000 apiece on Friday night, with Knicks fans evidently willing to pay tippy-top dollar just to be in the building as the team nears what would be its first championship in 53 years.

The Spurs were down 14 midway through the fourth and came all the way back — scoring the next 14 points to tie the game. Wembanyama's three-point play with 57 seconds left gave the Spurs their first lead in nearly two full quarters, putting San Antonio up 104-102.

“We showed tremendous desperation, urgency and competitive response,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “Hopefully we can try to bottle that up ... and try to play to that same level.”

But the Knicks got the last three, Brunson — the hero of Game 1 for the Knicks — getting them all.

Brunson scored on the next possession, just his seventh basket in 24 shots on the night, and the game was tied. Wembanyama missed a long jumper, OG Anunoby got the rebound for New York with 30 seconds left, the Knicks called time and the stage was set.

The Spurs got a stop, but Wembanyama threw the ball away. Brunson got fouled, the Knicks had the lead back and before long Spurs fans were filing out of the arena — possibly for the final time this season.

The Spurs called time with 7.5 seconds remaining. Fox took the inbound pass, then set up Wembanyama for a jumper that would have won it. The shot bounced off the rim, and it was over.

“We had to get a stop. We hadn’t gotten a stop all quarter,” Towns said.

They got their stop. Next stop: New York, where the hottest team in basketball knows an NBA title is just two wins away.

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

A person with knowledge of the NCAA's decision told The Associated Press on Friday night that the NCAA for the second time denied Texas Tech's petition to restore the quarterback's eligibility. He was ruled ineligible after he acknowledged gambling on sports, including on his own team while at Indiana.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity to the AP because there was no announcement about the appeal decision from either the NCAA or the quarterback's current school.

That came while the NCAA and Sorsby were still waiting for a ruling from a Texas judge after the quarterback filed a lawsuit May 18 seeking a temporary injunction against the NCAA in hopes of playing this season for the Red Raiders after transferring from Cincinnati.

A two-hour hearing was held Monday in the 99th District Court in Lubbock County, where Texas Tech is located. As of Friday, there still was no decision from Judge Ken Curry.

Texas Tech had said May 26 that it was appealing after the NCAA denied the school’s initial petition to have Sorsby's eligibility reinstated.

University president Lawrence Schovanec at that time wrote in a letter to the Texas Tech community that the school felt “the NCAA’s ruling should be reversed or modified.”

The school had ruled Sorsby ineligible May 18, the same day he filed his lawsuit. Tech had to do that to be able to pursue a request for his reinstatement that it submitted to the NCAA the following day. That was denied May 22.

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

Dodgers two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani greeted her leading off the bottom of the first inning as he customarily does with the umpire in each of his at-bats.

Pawol, 49, umpired during spring training for the third straight year but she did not get one of the permanent staff openings. Instead, she is part of MLB's call-up list.

She worked her first game of the automated balls and strikes challenge system on April 17 when the Giants visited the Nationals.

She became the first female major league umpire on Aug. 9, 2025, and worked a total of five big league games last season. In 2024, she became the first woman to umpire big league spring training games since Ria Cortesio in 2007. Pawol has been a minor league ump since 2016 and has worked at Triple-A since 2023.

Pawol was flirting with potential history early in Friday's game.

Angels starter Reid Detmers tossed three hitless innings before allowing a single to Freddie Freeman in the fourth.

Dodgers starter Roki Sasaki pitched no-hit ball through the first four innings before giving up a double to Nick Madrigal in the fifth.

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This story has been corrected to show Jen Pawol previously umpired this season.

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

That opportunity was thrown away, however, after the young Wembanyama tossed the ball to Stephon Castle, who was facing the other way.

Jalen Brunson then hit a go-ahead free throw with 9.5 seconds left, before Wembanyama missed a jumper at the end of New York’s 105-104 win over the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night for a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals.

The Spurs now head to Madison Square Garden for Game 3 on Monday night, with the Knicks two wins away from an NBA championship that New York City has been waiting to see for generations.

Karl-Anthony Towns had 21 points and 13 rebounds, while Brunson and Mikal Bridges each scored 20 for the Knicks. They have won 13 straight, the second-longest streak by any team in NBA playoff history.

The Knicks are now just the third team to win the first two games of a finals on the road, joining Michael Jordan and the 1993 Chicago Bulls, and Hakeem Olajuwon and the 1995 Houston Rockets.

Both of those teams won championships, the Bulls needing six games to oust the Phoenix Suns, the Rockets going home after winning those first two games in Orlando and sweeping the Magic. The Knicks, seeking their first championship since 1973, are in position to join them.

Wembanyama, after a very quiet first half, scored 29. De’Aaron Fox had 20 for San Antonio.

President Donald Trump — a native New Yorker — plans on attending Monday. And ticket prices on the secondary market, for the worst seats at MSG, were approaching $9,000 apiece on Friday night, with Knicks fans evidently willing to pay tippy-top dollar just to be in the building as the team nears what would be its first championship in 53 years.

The Spurs were down 12 midway through the fourth and came all the way back. Wembanyama’s three-point play with 57 seconds left gave the Spurs their first lead in nearly two full quarters, putting San Antonio up 104-102.

Brunson scored on the next possession, just his seventh basket in 24 shots on the night, and the game was tied. Wembanyama missed a long jumper, OG Anunoby got the rebound for New York with 30 seconds left, the Knicks called time and the stage was set.

The Spurs got a stop, but Wembanyama threw the ball away. Brunson got fouled, the Knicks had the lead back and before long Spurs fans were filing out of the arena — possibly for the final time this season.

The Spurs called time with 7.5 seconds remaining. Fox took the inbound pass, then set up Wembanyama for a jumper that would have won it. The shot bounced off the rim, and it was over.

Read also:

• Priced out of MSG, New York Knicks fans fly to San Antonio for a cheaper NBA Finals experience
• ‘We feel like we’re the better team’: Spurs coach, stars remain confident despite losing Game 1

But at least three prominent members of his administration will be, representing the Democratic Party in a trio of governor's races that may test the resilience of the Biden brand two years after he left the White House under a cloud of disapproval.

Two Biden Cabinet members — former U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland of New Mexico and former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra of California — advanced to the general election ballot for governor in their states this week. They joined Keisha Lance Bottoms, a former senior adviser, who secured the Democratic nomination in Georgia's governor's race last month.

Their rise comes as a bitter feud erupts among Biden's allies, including some who worked in the White House, about the Biden family's reemergence in the public spotlight just five months before the high-stakes midterm elections. Hunter Biden is mixing it up with admirers and critics on social media, while Jill Biden is rehashing the tortured saga of the last presidential race in a new memoir. Biden himself has his own book coming out later this year.

As candidates shift toward the general election phase of the midterms, it's unclear whether the Biden connections will help or hurt the Democratic gubernatorial hopefuls come November.

“I will put my experience to work for the people of our state,” Haaland told cheering supporters this week as she accepted her party's nomination.

She did not, however, mention Biden’s name as she ticked through her experience as a single mother, her time in Congress and her leadership of the Interior Department.

Biden who?

One former Biden White House aide, Rodericka Applewhaite, suggested that some Democrats on the ballot this fall were intentionally avoiding asking the former president to help with their campaigns.

Applewhaite is among the Democratic operatives publicly criticizing the Biden's public reemergence in recent days — especially Jill Biden's book tour.

“The Bidens are burning a lot of good will that they built up over a very long time in what seems to be days," she said, offering the former president and his family a pointed suggestion. "Step aside and let us have the battles that we need to have today.”

On the ground in California, Georgia and New Mexico, Biden alumni are navigating their Biden connection in different ways.

Haaland and Becerra are eager to focus on President Donald Trump in their campaign materials, but neither referenced Biden in their primary night speeches to supporters. Nor does either cite Biden’s name in the biographies listed on their official campaign websites.

Biden did not issue a public endorsement in the New Mexico or California contests ahead of Tuesday’s contests either. Democrats have focused on hammering Republicans over Trump's time in office.

“It’s laughable that Republicans have become so desperate to avoid talking about Donald Trump that they are now trying to go after our candidates for advocating for their states and getting results when they served in the executive branch," said Kevin Donohue, a spokesperson for the Democratic Governors Association. Democrats, he said, “are focused on affordability” while “Republicans are all in on Trump’s cost-raising agenda.”

That hasn't stopped Republicans from highlighting both candidates' old boss.

In fact, Republicans are actively planning to highlight Democrats' ties to the Biden administration as a weakness in the weeks ahead, according to Kollin Crompton of the Republican Governors Association.

“Deb Haaland turned her back on New Mexico to push Biden’s failed policies and the Green New Scam. New Mexico deserves a leader, not a career politician who forgot where she came from,” Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte, who chairs the campaign organization, said in a statement.

Georgia is another story.

Lance Bottoms points to her work with Biden on her campaign website. She asked for, and received, Biden's formal endorsement just ahead of Georgia's primary, which she shared widely on her campaign's social media platforms. She also said she'd invite the former president to campaign with her this fall. “As I am moving around this state, people are missing Joe Biden more and more each day," she told CNN.

Bottoms was the first of two candidates Biden endorsed since leaving office, and he called her with congratulations after her primary victory on May 19.

But even Bottoms has not highlighted her time in the administration on the campaign trail. Her stump speech regularly mentions her time serving as Atlanta's mayor and career as a prosecutor but quickly pivots to issues like affordability and the Trump administration's agenda.

“I spoke with him this morning, so he called to congratulate me,” Bottoms said of Biden after her primary win. But then she immediately pivoted. “At the end of the day, we all want the same things. We want to live in great neighborhoods, we want great schools, we want access to health care.”

Biden's bad numbers

Americans had a dimmer view of Biden's presidency when he left office than they did at the end of Trump’s first term or Barack Obama’s second, according to The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Around one-quarter of U.S. adults at the time said Biden was a “good” or “great” president, with less than 1 in 10 saying he was “great."

It was a stark illustration of how tarnished Biden’s legacy has become, with many members of his own party seeing his Democratic presidency as merely mediocre.

Americans were similarly likely to describe both Biden and Trump as “poor” or “terrible” — about half said this characterized each president’s time in office — but about 3 in 10 said Biden was “average,” while less than 2 in 10 said this about Trump.

The Biden family has faced fresh scrutiny in recent weeks, sometimes even from former aides.

The former president's son, Hunter Biden, drew criticism for recently appearing on the podcast of far-right conspiracy theorist Candace Owens. He has garnered attention by posting online about his experience with addiction and criticisms of the media.

Former first lady Jill Biden has shocked some Democrats for comments she made as part of a book tour for her memoir, “View from the East Wing," which was released Tuesday. The former first lady said in an interview with CBS News that she was “frightened” by her husband's performance during the infamous debate against Trump. The fallout eventually prompted Biden to drop out.

In the memoir, she writes that Biden’s senior aides “insisted he needed to run” for reelection. Her memoir includes a retelling of her husband’s decision to end his candidacy and the family’s reaction to the former president’s cancer diagnosis last year.

Throughout her book tour, she has faced tough questions about the former president's health and cognitive abilities while in office, as well as her role in pushing him to seek reelection despite widespread public concerns.

The former first lady described it as “heartbreaking” that the Democratic Party abandoned her husband during an interview on ABC’s “The View.”

“That’s why Joe had to decide to get out, because he had lost the support of the Democratic Party,” she said.

Such comments have sparked a fight among allies, especially after former Biden spokesperson Andrew Bates questioned to the New York Post "why that painful conversation for the party needed to be publicly re-opened now."

Jill Biden shot back, “I want to say to Andrew, call me up and say it to my face.”

The meeting between the two had come just after the Vermont senator announced a plan for the public to take a 50% ownership stake in artificial intelligence companies such as OpenAI, using their stock to create a public wealth fund that would spread the fortune generated by AI behemoths.

Altman told Sanders that he, too, wants the public to have equity in AI companies. Though the CEO said he couldn’t support Sanders’ threshold of 50%, he nonetheless wanted to work with him to advocate for the general idea, according to people with knowledge of the conversation.

The nearly hourlong meeting in Sanders’ Senate office this week, held at Altman's request, highlighted the inherent tension between AI powerhouses and policymakers as Americans are increasingly asked to accept the costs of the AI boom even as they remain unconvinced of its direct benefits. Yet it's also creating odd political bedfellows fueled by populism as politicians from Sanders to President Donald Trump embrace giving the public a stake in AI's growth.

Speaking to reporters on Air Force One on Friday, Trump described a potential partnership “where the American people can benefit from the success of AI" and said executives from leading AI companies will visit the White House, “probably next week,” to discuss the idea.

“There’s something very interesting about it, where it almost becomes a partnership with the American public,” Trump, a Republican, said Friday.

When reporters noted to Trump that Sanders, a self-proclaimed democratic socialist, had proposed public ownership in AI companies, he pointed to similarities in their coalitions. The economic views of Trump voters and voters who supported Sanders for president, Trump said, “aren’t that far apart.”

Trump has embraced government investment in private companies in his second term, scrambling his party’s politics. His administration last year secured a 10% stake in the struggling Silicon Valley company Intel, and it considered a government takeover of Spirit Airlines earlier this year, although the airline couldn’t reach a deal and ultimately closed.

Public backlash is becoming harder to ignore

The positioning of leading figures such as Trump and Sanders comes as concerns about AI are emerging far beyond Washington.

In Michigan, Democrats recently clashed over Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s appearance with Altman at the site of a major data center. Candidates such as New York Democratic House hopeful Alex Bores have also made AI regulation a campaign issue by tapping into voters’ angst about the technology.

“This is a real change to society,” Altman told reporters this week. “I think it’s possible both that people can use AI a lot and like using it and also have anxiety about what it’s going to do for the future.”

Data center projects across the country have drawn opposition from residents concerned about electricity demand, water consumption and environmental impacts. Some states once eager to attract the facilities, including Ohio and Virginia, have moved to reconsider tax incentives.

“We need to pass legislation right now that says there’s not going to be any further data center development until they agree to pay for their own electricity, build their own grids and pay for their own water supply,” Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, a leading Republican skeptic of Big Tech, told The Associated Press.

Before arriving in Washington, Altman stopped in Michigan on Monday to appear alongside Whitmer, a Democrat, at the building site of a 1.65 million-square-foot data center. Whitmer’s team claimed the project will create more than 2,500 union construction jobs.

But it also drew criticism from local activists and some Democrats, including Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who called the project “disgusting.” She said she was “so disappointed” in Whitmer.

“It’s a very controversial topic right now and it’s coming from the ground up,” Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat, said about the grassroots pushback. “People feel very strongly about it."

Whitmer, however, told reporters after the event that “one thing’s very clear, everyone has a cellphone in our pocket.”

“We are all, more and more, consuming technology and data and these data centers are going to get built. So, my thought is if we can hold them to a high standard and do it in Michigan, that’s the best way to do it,” she said.

The tensions extend beyond data centers. On college campuses, commencement speakers have been interrupted by boos when discussing artificial intelligence. About 70% of college students see AI as a threat to their job prospects, according to a 2025 poll by the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Altman acknowledged those concerns. He said that while “the impact on jobs has been less than many people in our field expected," he understands “that college students have a lot of anxiety about the future."

Washington searches for an AI bargain

The idea that AI’s expansion is inevitable is increasingly shared by leaders across the political spectrum, even as they disagree sharply about how to manage it.

That reality was at the center of Altman’s conversations in Washington. In addition to Sanders, Altman met with Trump administration officials such as Michael Kratsios, the White House's chief science and technology adviser, and congressional leaders from both parties.

Sanders' team emphasized that the two did not reach an agreement on the main points that the senator made to Altman, including the 50% figure so the public has decision-making power. Sanders also expressed opposition to the growing election spending by the AI industry.

“Unfortunately, Sam Altman did not commit to any of those,” said Sanders' spokesperson Jeremy Slevin.

Altman, in emerging from the conversation, described it as “great,” adding that the two “obviously don’t agree on everything.”

Policy makers are also looking at how AI should be governed

Congress this week released a bipartisan framework that would establish the first broad federal approach to AI regulation while temporarily preempting many state laws.

Anthropic, one of OpenAI’s top competitors, has proposed mechanisms for coordinating pauses on advanced AI development if systems become too powerful.

The Trump administration has also begun constructing its own oversight structure, signing an executive order to establish a process for reviewing national security risks posed by advanced AI systems before their public release.

Sanders said he found the administration's move notable after years of warnings that regulation could slow American innovation.

“Even these guys are beginning to catch on that there are legitimate concerns that have to be dealt with," Sanders said.

Gov. Greg Abbott announced an updated disaster declaration during a news conference, authorizing the use of all state resources to fight the reappearance of the flesh-eating parasite, which has been largely gone from the United States for decades.

Here’s what to know.

Flesh-eating larvae

Despite the name, New World screwworms are a type of fly, not worm, which can infest warm-blooded animals like livestock, wild animals, pets, occasionally birds, and in rare cases, people.

Screwworm flies lay eggs in the wounds or body openings of warm-blooded animals. After they hatch, the larvae burrow into their hosts as they eat their flesh.

As more maggots are born and eat into the host, the wounds become larger. The parasites can cause serious, often deadly damage if they aren’t treated.

Fortunately, Texas State Veterinarian Dr. Lewis “Bud” Dinges said infestations are “highly treatable.”

“We have many tools in our toolkit today to prevent devastating impacts that we didn’t have before,” Dinges said during Friday’s news conference.

Few cases so far

On Wednesday U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed a screwworm infestation case in La Pryor in Zavala County, roughly 100 miles southwest of San Antonio and 50 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border.

Larvae were identified in the umbilical area of a three-week-old calf, which Dinges said is now doing well and its navel wound is “healing nicely.”

“The herd has been inspected for additional infestations. There have been none,” Dinges said.

The USDA has set up an online dashboard to track the number of cases and detections through fly traps.

Dinges said at Friday’s news conference despite the confirmed case in the calf, they haven’t found any flies in the traps yet.

Later on Friday, though, USDA confirmed a second detection of screwworm in a one-month-old calf, also in Zavala County, less than six miles from the first case.

Longtime gone

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

The United States was declared free of indigenous screwworms in 1966, though there were still outbreaks into the 1970s. According to the USDA, the last case of screwworm was reported in 1982, and “only a handful of imported cases have been reported since then.”

The USDA said sterile insect techniques also helped eliminate an outbreak from the Florida Keys in 2017.

The deadly flies were detected in Mexico late in 2024, after years of containment at the southern end of Panama.

Quarantine zone

A 12-mile quarantine area has been set up around the detection area in La Pryor, and no warm-blooded animals are allowed out without being inspected.

When Texas previously faced screwworms, the flies moved extensively because humans put animals into vehicles and ”drove them great many miles,” said Prof. Phillip Kaufman, the head of the Texas A&M University Department of Entomology.

“If we can stop that, we have a much better chance of keeping this infestation — and even eliminating this initial infestation — our chances increase considerably."

More sterile flies needed

Since female screwworm flies normally mate just once, the release of sterile male flies can drive down the population.

The question is now whether there are enough?

Assistant Surgeon General Michael Schmoyer, who is also the head of the USDA’s New World Screwworm Directorate, said it took about 500 million flies each week when the screwworms were driven out of the U.S. and through Mexico and Central America in the latter part of the 20th century.

The U.S. currently has just one joint facility with the Panamanian government, producing about 100 million sterile flies each week.

Another facility in Mexico could open this summer that is expected to produce an additional 60 million to 100 million flies.

The USDA also partnered with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build a facility in South Texas, which Schmoyer described as the size of two Costco’s.

However, Schmoyer said the facility is not expected to reach its phase one levels of production — 100 million flies per week — until November 2027, with it hitting its full, 300 million fly-capacity in 2028.

Abbott said a high volume of flies are needed as quickly as possible and pushed for the Texas facility to be finished by May 2027, offering “any and all assets and resources by the state of Texas to accelerate the completion of that construction project.”

“Here’s a reality about the cycle of this,” Abbott said,“ and that is this is likely to spread over the course of the summer. During winter months, it may kill off the flies or reduce their number. We cannot make it through a second summer."

Schmoyer said over 130 million flies have been released in Texas since January, and they “use the science” to determine the best place to disperse them.

He also pointed to the more than $700 million worth of applications the USDA received in response to a $100 million “grand challenge” it issued for projects to fight screwworms.

“It took 500 million in the past,” Schmoyer said of the sterile flies. “We are looking at building up to that number, but we’re also using science and technology and innovation to do whatever we can to make the best use of the flies that we have and hopefully decrease that number.”

Food safety

Officials stressed screwworms are a “food production issue” and “not a food safety issue.”

The insects do not infest meat, fruit, vegetables, or other food sources.

What you can do

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

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Read more:

• ‘Nobody wants to see this happen’: Rancher reacts to flesh-eating screwworm’s Texas reappearance
• What to know about screwworm in Texas

FORECAST HIGHLIGHTS

• TONIGHT: Widely separated downpours possible
• THIS WEEKEND: Stray showers
• EXTENDED: Drying out & warming up next week

FORECAST

RAINFALL TOTALS SO FAR

A round of storms that moved in from Mexico overnight brought that good rainfall to San Antonio along the stretch of 281.

EVENING

Those headed to outdoor watch parties should stay weather aware, with lightning the primary risk if a downpour develops overhead.

GO SPURS GO!

TOMORROW

Rain chances start to decrease tomorrow, but some isolated afternoon downpours are still possible. Rain chances sit at 30%. Otherwise, it’ll be partly cloudy and warm.

SUNDAY AND BEYOND

A ridge of high pressure will begin to build into the area on Monday. This will bring rain chances down and temperatures up. Most of next week will be quiet, humid, and warm.

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The exchange of strikes comes as the Trump administration ramps up pressure on Iran to make a deal to end the conflict.

U.S. Central Command said on social media Friday night that Iran fired seven ballistic missiles toward Kuwait and Bahrain, with U.S. forces intercepting six of the missiles and a seventh failing to reach its target. The military said there were no reports of harm to U.S. personnel.

The ballistic missiles were fired after the U.S. earlier in the day shot down four Iranian drones that were launched toward Strait of Hormuz.

“The attack drones posed an immediate threat to regional maritime traffic,” U.S. Central Command said on social media.

Kuwaiti’s military said forces were intercepting missiles and drones attacking the country, while Bahrain activated air raid sirens and told residents to move to the nearest safe location and follow official instructions.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it targeted the Ali Al Salem airbase, which hosts U.S. forces in Kuwait, and the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet in the tiny Gulf island nation of Bahrain, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.

The U.S. military is enforcing a blockade on Iranian ports in response to Tehran’s chokehold on the crucial corridor for global oil and natural gas shipments, which has sent energy prices spiking and posed political problems for President Donald Trump's Republican Party ahead of the midterm congressional elections.

U.S. Central Command said it hit the radar sites, including an island in the strait, “to defend against further attacks.”

Trump promises a quick end to US-Iran conflict

It was the latest in back-and-forth attacks that have strained the tenuous ceasefire in the war and efforts to reach a deal to extend that truce. Earlier this week, Iranian drones heavily damaged a passenger terminal at Kuwait’s main airport, killing one person, wounding dozens and briefly closing the airfield.

Despite the attacks raising new concerns that the ceasefire could collapse, Trump told reporters Friday that “the situation with Iran seems to be going quite well.”

“We’re going to come out of Iran very quickly and it’s going to be very strong one way or the other, whether it’s a piece of paper or the very tough way,” Trump said at an event with farmers in Wisconsin. “The very tough way is maybe the easier way, but we’re going to come out, and your fertilizer prices are going to go way down, just like they were four months ago.”

Trump increasingly appears to be boxed in on a conflict that has settled into a holding pattern. U.S. and Iranian negotiators reached a tentative agreement a week ago to extend the ceasefire by 60 days and start a new round of talks on Iran’s nuclear program. But Trump has called for unspecified changes and Iranian officials have shown no public signs of signing off on the deal.

Asked on Friday why it was taking so long, Trump told NBC’s “Meet the Press” it was because “it’s a very hard thing for them,” citing their “great independence” and the fact that “they’re strong, they’re proud.”

“There are things they never thought they’d be doing that they’re going to have to do. They’ve got no choice, and it takes a little while,” he said in the interview.

Trump said the Iranians still have 21% to 22% of their missiles.

Israeli strikes on Lebanon continue

His administration also has touted the latest ceasefire agreed to this week by the Lebanese government and Israel after U.S.-brokered talks in Washington. However, the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group has rejected the agreement and new attacks have put it at further risk.

The Israeli military on Friday struck multiple parts of southern Lebanon and issued evacuation warnings for nine villages, including one that has sheltered thousands of people displaced by the fighting. The strikes killed nine people in six locations in southern Lebanon, the state news agency reported.

The Israeli military said two soldiers were wounded, one severely, in an encounter Friday with militants in southern Lebanon.

The fighting in Lebanon, where Israeli forces have seized large swaths of the south, also threatens efforts to end the Iran war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz because Iran has demanded that any lasting truce extend to Lebanon.

Besides the drone interception in the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. military said earlier Friday that its forces boarded a sanctioned oil tanker linked to Iran in the Indian Ocean as the United States seeks to prevent Iran from profiting off its oil and other goods.

The U.S. also targeted Iran’s energy sector with new sanctions on a group of people, firms and tankers.

__

Magdy reported from Cairo.

A memo from Lesley Stahl, Jon Wertheim and Bill Whitaker to fellow staffers expressed anger — and grief — over the recent firings at the show, and said the three had had “a hard time” deciding whether to remain.

“Here’s why we are staying: We don’t want to see ‘60 Minutes’ die,” the three wrote in the joint memo obtained by The Associated Press on Friday.

They expressed their regret over the recent firings of colleagues implemented by Bari Weiss, the new CBS News editor-in-chief, and the executive producer she installed last week, Nick Bilton. He replaced Tanya Simon, who was let go after a 30-plus year tenure with the show. Also dismissed were correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega, among other top staffers. Scott Pelley was then fired this week after a tense confrontation with CBS News bosses.

“We want to express how sorry we are that these principled, fair and honest journalists were treated so shabbily, with such indecency," the three correspondents said in their memo. But they said they were “working to build trust” with Bilton, their new boss, and left open the possibility that they could leave later, if need be.

“If we can continue doing the work that made this show what it is — committing acts of independent, fearless journalism and storytelling — we’re here for it," the three wrote. “If not, we leave.”

“Here’s to Season 59!” the note ended.

Persuading the three to remain was a crucial step in Bilton’s task of getting the show back on track for the next season, which launches in September.

The show is suddenly down four correspondents. In addition to the three dismissed, Anderson Cooper — whose primary job is on-air work for CNN — said earlier this year he was leaving of his own accord after two decades.

Turmoil had been evident at “60 Minutes” for more than a year. Much of it came after President Donald Trump sued the show over its editing of a 2024 interview with then-Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.

That became part of a broader shake-up at CBS News after Weiss was named to the new role of editor-in-chief by parent company Paramount late last year following David Ellison’s arrival as the network’s corporate leader.

Ellison’s company, Skydance, merged with CBS parent company Paramount, which later settled the Trump lawsuit for $16 million. That upset some at “60 Minutes” and many believe it indirectly led to the departure last month of popular longtime CBS late-night host Stephen Colbert, who had called the settlement “a big fat bribe.”

CBS News has been at the center of the American broadcast-news ecosystem since its radio days before the dawn of television, though Weiss earlier this year announced the shutdown of CBS News' radio operation. The network's nightly newscast was seen for decades as one of the most widely trusted institutions in the nation under longtime anchorman Walter Cronkite.

___

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

Speaking to a crowd of hundreds in a costal resort town, with Tuesday's primary around the corner, the first-time candidate pitched himself as a man with an imperfect past who remains Democrats' best chance to oust Republican Sen. Susan Collins in November.

“When politically motivated, serious and false accusations are made against me, Maine, you have my back,” Platner said. “The state of Maine raised me. And the state of Maine saved me.”

Last weekend, his campaign wrestled with stories about sexually explicit messages that Platner sent to several women while he was married. Then on Thursday, The New York Times reported about his relationships with previous girlfriends. Some viewed him positively but others described him as volatile and insulting.

One woman said Platner twisted her arm during an argument and locked her in a room. Platner called that allegation untrue.

While some Democrats have been alarmed by Platner’s checkered past, there was little hesitation in Friday’s crowd, which gave Platner a standing ovation before he even started talking.

Platner is the last candidate in the running for the nomination after Gov. Janet Mills suspended her campaign, and the party faithful appear eager to rally behind a candidate they hope can defeat Collins. Some argued that the need for Democrats to take back control of the U.S. Senate is too important to cast aside flawed candidates.

“I’ve always believed in redemption. And so, I just think people deserve a second chance, and should be allowed to continue changing,” said Brendan O'Keefe of Seal Cove.

Galen Lowe of Bar Harbor said he believed that Platner was leveling with voters about his past.

“It’s refreshing to have someone actually own up to stuff that they’ve done and say, yeah, that wasn’t such a great idea. I’m working to be a better person," he said.

Key to the Senate

Platner is key to Democrats hopes' to win a Senate majority, and he's maintained support from prominent politicians like Sens. Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Ruben Gallego. He appeared Friday evening with progressive Rep. Ro Khanna of California, as well as Democratic candidates for U.S. House and governor.

“We reject, unequivocally, misogyny. But you know who else rejects it? Graham Platner," Khanna said. “He understood that those years that he came back were not the best years of his life.”

Platner faced renewed scrutiny last weekend after reports that he and his wife, Amy Gertner, have had marital difficulties and sought counseling after he allegedly sent sexually explicit text messages to other women.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Gertner had told the campaign in August about the messages, which she had discovered on his phone last year, to make sure they weren’t a liability to the campaign. Platner’s campaign team reportedly decided that the texts were private and being handled by the couple, who were married in 2023.

Genevieve McDonald, a former campaign staffer for Platner, told The Associated Press that the candidate was “sexting multiple women while married” and that “the campaign tried to assess that as an election vulnerability.”

Shortly after the news came out, Platner posted a five-minute video taken by Gertner, who avoided speaking directly about her husband’s reported texts but dubbed the broader coverage as “gossip” and said “being married is hard.”

Voters worry that more scandals lurk

Gertner's emotional comments about working on her marriage have resonated with some women, who say they are shocked that a former campaign aide would betray someone's trust and the issue should remain between the couple.

“It’s none of my business as far as I’m concerned,” said Joanne Mason, a local Democratic leader from south-central Maine. “And I would hope that people wouldn’t judge any one person on their own private marriage.”

Valerie Tate, a Democrat from Belfast, described Gertner's honesty about trying to work on their mental health and marriage as admirable.

“That is not a scandal,” Tate wrote in an email. “That is integrity. Personal growth is not a disqualification from public life. For many of us, it is precisely what made us worthy of it.”

However, Tate conceded that her mind wasn’t fully at ease. With the public still learning about Platner’s past, there is a chance something could emerge as a dealbreaker for voters.

“Of course, there is that concern as there would be in any race with somebody we don’t know all the dramas and the journeys they’ve been on," she wrote. "Something could come out that would be disqualifying.”

Past controversies simmer

This isn’t the first time Platner has faced questions about his past. He had a tattoo recognized as a Nazi symbol, which he had covered up after starting his campaign.

Platner has said he didn't realize the meaning of the tattoo. However, a former girlfriend told the Times he joked about it being a Nazi symbol and called it “my Totenkopf.”

There’s also been much attention on Platner's former Reddit posts, which were dismissive of military sexual assaults and used homophobic slurs, for which he has apologized.

As revelations have emerged around Platner, at least two feminist political groups — National Organization for Women PAC and Vote for Equality — encouraged Maine voters to vote for Mills, who will still appear on the ballot.

Platner has never held elected office and has fashioned a progressive, populist-style campaign focusing on issues such as income inequality, lack of health care accessibility and the rising cost of housing. In return, he's attracted thousands at his rallies and campaign events and collected millions in campaign funds to further boost his messaging.

But some Democrats are also wrestling with the question of whether more controversial information surrounding Platner could come out ahead of the November election.

“I think a lot of people are afraid,” said Deb Dagnan, chair of Maine’s Piscataquis County Democrats. “They’re waiting for the other shoe to drop after he gets the nomination. Then what do we do?”

___

Kruesi reported from Providence, Rhode Island.

It doesn’t guarantee that the 2,000 bartenders, servers, cooks and dishwashers at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, will walk off the job. But it gives them the option to do so after contract talks have stalled with the stadium’s food service provider.

The vote comes days before the stadium near Los Angeles will host the U.S. team’s opening World Cup match against Paraguay. Union member Yolanda Fierro said that unless a deal is reached workers could go on strike for the June 12 match.

Fierro said workers are concerned about pay and security on the job amid ramped-up immigration enforcement under President Donald Trump's administration. Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said this week the U.S. Department of Homeland Security told him federal authorities would be at the matches to assist with security but not civil immigration enforcement.

“What good is the World Cup for Los Angeles when workers don’t earn enough to pay the rent and must choose between showing up and being kidnapped by ICE?” said Kurt Petersen, co-president of UNITE HERE Local 11. "If we’re forced to strike, those $100,000 FIFA suites will have nothing but bottled water and Doritos.”

Legends Global, which handles hospitality at SoFi, said the company has a longstanding relationship with the union and is committed to reaching an agreement through contract negotiations.

“We look forward to delivering an outstanding hospitality experience for fans at the FIFA World Cup matches at SoFi Stadium,” the company said in a statement Wednesday.

Petersen said contract talks have been moving at a “glacial” pace. He said Legends has agreed to minimal wage increases for cooks and dishwashers and freezes for some suite attendants and bartenders even as the World Cup is expected to reel in ample revenue. The union is also asking Legends for protections from subcontracting and potential federal immigration raids.

Cesar Zamora, a bartender at the stadium, said he is a lifelong soccer fan and is heartbroken to see his employer not making the needed changes before this major event.

“The FIFA World Cup will generate enormous profits, but we are still fighting for basic respect and security,” he said in a statement. "We deserve better, and if that means going on strike, I’m ready.”

Community groups in other World Cup host cities such as Atlanta and Miami also have called for a halt on U.S. immigration enforcement during the matches, fearing arrests near stadiums and watch parties could damp the festivities.

The World Cup is expected to draw millions of fans to soccer games played in June and July in 11 U.S. host cities as well as in Canada and Mexico.

Solari, who had struggled with Parkinson’s disease for at least a decade, was found dead near an indoor pool at his house in the provincial town of Ituzaingó, about 30 kilometers (18 miles) west of the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires, authorities said, without identifying a cause of death.

His family confirmed his death on social media, saying they would hold a public funeral to allow people to bid farewell to the rock legend. Fans began gathering at his home, with some bearing flowers and wearing T-shirts printed with his nickname. Crowds filled a large plaza in downtown Buenos Aires to mourn, commune and sing Solari's hit songs. People wept. Strangers hugged.

Eros Ruarte, 19, said he woke up Friday to his mother breaking the bad news.

“'I said, no, mom, you can't say that.' I couldn't believe it, that the Indio had died. ... He is the biggest idol in the world. I grew up listening to him," he said from the impromptu wake. “I heard his songs from my mom, my uncle.”

As the lead singer of Patricio Rey y sus Redonditos de Ricota — known more simply as “Los Redondos” — Solari became a countercultural icon for disaffected Argentines coming of age as their country transitioned from a bloody military dictatorship to a democracy characterized by newfound freedoms but also instability and hyperinflation in the 1980s.

During the consumerist frenzy that gripped Argentina the 1990s, under the free-market policies of then-President Carlos Saul Menem, Solari's classic rock anthems, punchy dance tunes and cryptic lyrics gave voice to a spirit of rebellion against the excesses of capitalism and influences of foreign powers. Los Redondos released 10 studio albums, eschewing major record labels to maintain artistic independence.

The band broke up in 2001, but Solari found continued success as a solo artist, releasing five more albums under his own name that mixed mainstream rock and electronic influences and drawing hundreds of thousands of fans to parks and stadiums across Argentina.

At a massive concert in 2016, he announced that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. “Mr. Parkinson is nipping at my heels. But here I am,” he said. The crowd went wild. He later retired from touring, speaking candidly in interviews about the debilitating effects of the disease.

Tributes poured in from politicians, artists and soccer stars across the country.

The Argentine Soccer Association said Solari's voice “became a popular rallying cry” and “echoed in the stands” of the soccer-crazed country.

The Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, a prominent activist group which sought to find relatives who had been killed or “disappeared” by the 1976-83 dictatorship, said the singer “inspired society as a whole to doubt, to question and to think critically.”

Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Argentina's former president who is serving a corruption sentence under house arrest, posted one of his famous lyrics on social media, popularized as a call to live courageously: “Just living costs you your life.”

Solari is survived by his wife, Virginia Mones Ruiz, and 25-year-old son Bruno.

Brendan Banfield, a former IRS law enforcement officer, claimed he shot Joseph Ryan after he came across Ryan attacking his wife on the morning of Feb. 24, 2023. But prosecutors said Brendan Banfield and Brazilian au pair Juliana Peres Magalhães set Ryan up in a scheme to get rid of Christine Banfield, a pediatric intensive care nurse.

Judge Penney Azcarate called Banfield’s actions evil and calculated.

“The disregard of the life of your wife, someone you supposedly loved, is almost unfathomable,” she said in handing down the sentence, which is mandatory in Virginia for an aggravated murder conviction. The scheme involved “luring a completely innocent man into your deadly trap; continuing on after the murders without a care; and not once — not once — thinking of the impact” on the Banfields' 4-year-old daughter. Brendan Banfield “took everything from her,” Azcarate said.

In addition to murder, jurors in February convicted Banfield of child endangerment because the couple’s daughter was home during the killings. Azcarate sentenced Banfield to an additional five years on that charge and three more years on a firearms charge.

Speaking at his sentencing, Banfield proclaimed his innocence. Banfield said he loved his wife and, although he had affairs, he never intended to leave her.

Azcarate was unmoved, citing his lack of remorse as a reason she felt no hesitation in ordering him to remain behind bars for life.

During Friday's hearing, Christine Banfield’s older sister, Danielle Hocker, described her sister as kind, caring, reliable and selfless. She said they grew up chasing fireflies and sleeping next to each other on the floor in sleeping bags.

“When she was born, 'I' became ‘we’,” Hocker said. “I haven’t stopped saying ‘we’ when I speak about my childhood after her death, except now when I do, it takes my breath away — a pause filled with love that has nowhere to go.”

Ryan’s mother, Deidre Fisher, told the court that her son was an “extremely caring” person who was a caretaker for his grandmother and other loved ones.

“Joe was a guy who believed in fighting for the underdog, and even actual neglected dogs,” Fisher said, with a small laugh. “He would walk into an animal shelter and ask for the oldest, ugliest dogs, bring them home and love them for years.”

Ryan's aunt, Sangeeta Ryan, said Banfield “didn’t just take Joe and Christine from us. He tried to erase the truth of who they were.”

During Banfield's trial, Magalhães testified he had told her he wanted to marry her and have children with her, but he needed to “get rid of” his wife first. He didn’t want a divorce because “she would have more money than he would” and because he wanted custody of the couple’s daughter, said Magalhães, who was 21 when she started working for the Banfields in 2021.

Magalhães also testified that she and Brendan Banfield staged the scene at the home in Herndon, Virginia, to look as if they had shot a violent intruder. The pair had pretended to be Christine Banfield on a fetish website to lure Ryan to their house for a sexual encounter involving a knife.

On the day of the killings, Magalhães waited in a car outside the house with the daughter. When Ryan arrived, she called Brendan Banfield, who was waiting at a nearby McDonald's. The pair took the child to the basement and then went to the bedroom, where they encountered Ryan. Brendan Banfield shot Ryan and then stabbed Christine Banfield with the knife Ryan had brought. When Magalhães saw Ryan moving, she fired a second shot that killed him.

On Friday, Banfield emphasized that there was dissent within the police department over the theory that he had impersonated his wife, saying it would have been impossible for him to send some of the messages.

Some media have dubbed the case the “au pair affair.” Magalhães pleaded guilty to manslaughter after agreeing to testify against Banfield. Magalhães was sentenced to 10 years in prison after Banfield's trial.

Dennis Rene Rodriguez, 15, was last seen around 6:30 p.m. on May 1 after he was dropped off at the Helotes Festival Grounds with his girlfriend, located at 1220 Leslie Road.

Rodriguez was wearing a dark colored shirt and black basketball shorts at the festival, according to BCSO. He’s 6 feet, 4 inches tall and was last seen with white and red shoes.

Rodriguez did not return home in the last five weeks, BCSO said, and ceased communication with his mother roughly three weeks ago.

BCSO warned people who are hiding or keeping Rodriguez away from home could face criminal charges.

Any information about Rodriguez’s whereabouts is encouraged to contact BCSO at 210-335-600 or email missingpersons@bexar.org.

Read also:

• Bexar County to pay $300K to detention applicant whose job offer was pulled over wife’s La Santa Muerte altar

The second case was found in a one-month-old calf 5.6 miles away from where the first case was detected on Wednesday, according to a USDA social media post. USDA deployed mobile response teams and increased surveillance in the area in response to the detection, the post said.

Abbott’s expanded order authorizes the use of “all available resources of state government to respond to this disaster,” he said shortly before signing the declaration during a news conference in Austin.

The order further reassigns all resources from across the state as needed and makes available all state personnel, including those from university systems, to speed the shipment of sterile flies into Texas and the construction of a sterile fly facility in South Texas.

The sterile flies are intended to break the reproduction cycle of the parasitic fly.

“Here is the reality of this cycle. This is likely to spread over the course of the summer. During winter months, it may kill off the flies or reduce their number, but we can’t make it through a second summer,” Abbott said. “So I am pushing for the facility in the state of Texas, under construction right now, to be completed by May of next year, as opposed to November of next year.” 

The state is prioritizing resources for Zavala County and nearby Uvalde County. 

USDA established a 20-kilometer “infested zone” that prevents the movement of animals from the area without an inspection. A much wider surveillance zone — including Uvalde, Lima Grande and Crystal City —  surrounds the quarantined area in Zavala County.

Abbott was briefed on the screwworm situation Friday by state and federal officials. At a news conference afterward, he said his order — which expanded a disaster declaration he issued in January — directed all state agencies to be ready to respond. 

Abbott said the federal government is covering the cost of building facilities to raise and distribute sterile flies, adding that state agencies don’t need additional funds to meet his order but money will be provided if necessary.

“We need a high volume of sterile flies as quickly as possible. It’s great news we are getting the volume that we are getting both from Panama, as well as Mexico, but listen, it’s critical that the new facility that is being constructed right now be completed even faster,” Abbott said. 

USDA representatives praised the federal response, saying their projections showed the screwworm was expected to arrive in Texas last year and that their efforts, combined with the state’s, had held it back until now.  

The governor’s expanded disaster proclamation follows a series of emergency declarations by county judges, including those in Kinney, Jim Webb and Uvalde counties. 

State law gives broad authority to the Texas governor and health commissioner in times of crisis, including the ability to waive laws that hinder state agencies’ ability to appropriately respond to screwworm. 

A sample from a 3-week-old calf from La Pryor in Zavala County tested positive for the country’s first case of New World screwworm, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said June 3.

The infested calf was doing well, officials said, and an inspection of its herd found no other cases of screwworm. There have been no other signs of screwworm in the country so far.

The USDA said in a social media post earlier that it had activated personnel on the ground and was working with local partners. The federal agency also said issues with screwworm shouldn’t immediately cause food supply chain issues, as screwworms do not infect meat, fruits or vegetables.

However, an outbreak of screwworm threatens to do $1.8 billion in damage to Texas’ economy, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture estimate. An outbreak also could increase already record-high beef prices nationwide, given the state’s importance to the cattle industry. 

Screwworm in the flesh of an infested animal will cause significant damage to the wound, as flies repeatedly cycle in and out, lay eggs, and enlarge the wound, leading to illness and death. 

Even if the animal survives, there’s usually extensive damage to the animal’s hide and health. 

Cattle are particularly susceptible to screwworm due to their inability to protect an open wound, and their large frame can allow eggs to develop in multiple locations from a single cut. 

“Texas livestock producers and all Texans must now be vigilant in their efforts to manage and combat the invasive pest,” Farm Bureau President Russell Boening said in a statement after screwworm had been confirmed in Texas.

Some South Texas officials are frustrated by what they say has been a lack of communication from the USDA. 

“It’s a complete lack of information,” said Val Verde County Judge Lewis Owens.

As cases of screwworm continued to pop up in Mexico over the last year, some within 25 miles of the Texas border, Owens said border counties have been kept in the dark over the exact location of the cases. The situation, he said, has left them unable to provide answers to their communities.

“A little bit of communication goes a long way,” Owens said.
”If we know what the hell’s going on, then I can tell my constituents. If we don’t, then the anger goes up.”

Owens also took issue with Rollins blaming the proliferation of screwworm on President Joe Biden’s “open border” policies, which she said enabled the illicit movement of cattle throughout Mexico.

“These flies do not fly to new areas on their own,” Rollins said during a call with media and officials on Thursday. “If they move, it’s because they are moving with the animal.”

Owens pointed out that the USDA, under the Biden administration, closed ports of entry to cattle from Mexico in November 2024. The Trump administration announced their reopening in February 2025 only to shut them down again in May 2025.

Crossings have been shut down, Owens said, adding: “So, let’s not keep blaming individuals or blaming other parties.”

Nowell Borders, an Edinburg rancher with ranches in Mexico, said he was concerned about his animals but was more worried about wildlife that will be much more difficult to catch and check for screwworm.

“Deer is a several billion dollar business in Texas and hunting, and I think it could be a detriment, a huge detriment to wildlife,” Borders said.

Borders owns a 100,000-square-foot facility in South Texas that he has offered as a pop-up production facility for sterile flies.

Scientists say dispersing sterile screwworm flies is the most efficient way to eradicate the pest. The sterile male flies reproduce with female screwworm flies, which can mate only once in their lifetime, producing unviable eggs.

The USDA is building a facility in Edinburg that will produce 300 million sterile flies per week. However, that facility is not expected to begin operating until fall 2027.

“I specifically offered anybody and everybody from Texas A&M, anybody and everybody from any state agency, offering to ensure construction can be conducted 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to make sure the facility in Texas will be up and running even faster than what is currently scheduled,” Abbott said Friday.

Federal officials are also working with Mexican partners to launch a facility in Metapa, Mexico that is expected to open later this month. Currently, the only active sterile fly production facility is in Panama. Sterile flies from that facility have been shipped to dispersal facilities in Mexico and Edinburg to help spread sterile flies to needed areas.

The USDA has dispersed more than 130 million sterile flies in Texas since January.

Borders said a pop-up facility on his property could be up and running in about a month. The federal government has, so far, not taken him up on his offer.

For now, he’d like the USDA and state partners to start dispersing sterile flies as far north as San Antonio as soon as possible.

“I think that’s the most important thing you could get going,” Borders said. “They need a facility to start, like, last week.”

Michael Schmoyer, associate administrator with the USDA, said the agency responded swiftly to the first confirmed case, with officials on site and deploying sterile flies within hours.

Eleven containers, each carrying 80,000 to 100,000 sterile flies, have been deployed, Schmoyer said.

Earlier this year, the USDA began dropping sterile flies over a 50-mile area north of the Texas border and will now drop 4 million flies a week over the infestation area.

This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.

The developments came a day after President Donald Trump made baseless claims of mass fraud in California's drawn-out vote count from Tuesday's primary. Late-tallied Democratic-leaning mail ballots were continuing to eat into the vote totals for the president's preferred candidates for governor and Los Angeles mayor.

The announcement by U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, Trump's appointee as the top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, and the visit to Los Angeles County's ballot tabulation center marked an escalation in the president's campaign against the Democratic-dominated state, whose notoriously prolonged vote count has been a magnet for election conspiracy theories. Trump weighed in again Friday while participating in a roundtable discussion in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, claiming without evidence that Democrats were rigging the election.

“You look at what’s happening — it’s getting tighter and tighter and tighter,” he said. “And the people who were supposed to win, bad things are happening. It’s a crooked state.”

Trump has often said that changes to vote totals as late ballots are counted are a sign of fraud, when they're merely a reflection of more ballots being counted.

On Thursday, Trump said his Department of Justice was investigating the California count. By Friday morning, Essayli posted on X about ongoing investigations without providing details, saying only that California’s elections have “serious structural vulnerabilities.”

An assistant U.S. attorney came to the main ballot processing center Friday morning, according to a statement from Mike Sanchez, a spokesman for Los Angeles County's Registrar-Recorder. The prosecutor “was provided an overview of the public observation program, and participated in a walkthrough of the ballot processing operations,” Sanchez said.

He added that “election officials routinely host observers representing a wide range of interests.”

It was not the first time Trump's Justice Department has taken an interest in California's elections. Last fall, it sent observers to monitor polling sites in five counties, including Los Angeles, during the special election asking voters to change California's congressional map.

GOP candidate calls for change in mail ballot law

Also on Friday, Republican Steve Hilton, who is Trump's favored candidate for governor, called for a sweeping overhaul in California's election laws to limit mail ballots to only those who request them, rather than being sent to all registered voters. He also called for an Election Day deadline to accept them rather than the seven-day grace period the state currently allows as long as they are postmarked by the final day of voting.

Hilton said in an interview that the U.S. attorney's office might know more than his campaign does, but noted his team has been monitoring the count and has seen nothing that seems illegal.

“We certainly haven’t seen anything of that nature that would warrant legal action,” Hilton said.

Still, Hilton said the sluggish count has made California “a national and international laughingstock.” He proposed the state government send an emergency detachment of state workers to California's 58 counties to speed up the vote count.

Jesse Salinas, president of the California Association of Clerks and Election Officers, said he welcomed Hilton's eagerness to help but the proposal would do no good.

“It'd be more disruptive than helpful at this point,” said Salinas, who's also the clerk and registrar for Yolo County.

Anyone who handles a ballot or machine used in the vote-counting process would have to be trained by the very people working feverishly to tally mail ballots that poured in Tuesday. And, added Salinas, his own vote-counting facility is already full, with no more room for any additional staff.

Hilton, who has been endorsed by Trump, is battling two Democrats for one of the two slots on the November ballot. Reality television star Spencer Pratt, another candidate backed by Trump, is likewise competing with City Councilwoman Nithya Raman for the chance to face Mayor Karen Bass in the November election.

Because Democrats usually vote by mail, and held onto their ballots unusually late in the crowded primary, their votes are often tallied after those of more Republican-leaning voters who might have cast ballots early. The net effect is that Republican candidates appear at their high water marks in the first batch of returns on election night, only to see their leads whittled away in the days or weeks that follow, when election workers complete the lengthy process of tallying late-arriving mail ballots.

Matsui, 81, has been in Congress since she replaced her late husband, former Rep. Bob Matsui, in the Sacramento-based seat in 2005.

In a statement referencing the upcoming runoff, Matsui vowed to “earn the trust of voters for another term in Congress.”

She faced a primary challenge from fellow Democrat Mai Vang, a member of the Sacramento City Council, and is one of several older Democrats challenged by younger insurgents this year. The second slot on the general election ballot has not yet been determined, but Vang issued a statement saying she was optimistic with the direction in which the count was moving.

“This is what people power looks like,” Vang said.

Two other House Democrats facing younger challengers, Reps. Brad Sherman in Los Angeles and Mike Thompson in Northern California, advanced to the general election as well.

But California's House primaries were most significant for being the first test of whether Democrats are able to add five potential pickups after they persuaded voters to let them redraw the electoral map last year.

The redistricting was sold as a countermeasure to Republican efforts to gain seats by reworking maps in states they control, including Texas.

Heading into Tuesday’s election, Democrats worried that California’s primary format, which sends the top two vote-getters to the general election regardless of party, could lead to them getting locked out of a seat they drew to their advantage in the San Diego’s suburbs.

That did not happen, as San Diego City Councilwoman Marni von Wilpert advanced to face Republican Jim Desmond, a San Diego County supervisor.

Democrats are at risk of being shut out of another district they expected to pick up, in Sacramento’s suburbs — though the danger of that dimmed Friday as Democratic former state Sen. Richard Pan moved into the top two for the first time. Tens of thousands of more ballots remain to be tallied, and it is too soon to know who will make it to November.

Another redrawn district, which straddles Orange and Riverside counties in Southern California, favors Republicans. GOP Rep. Ken Calvert has advanced to the November election in the 40th District but does not yet know who his opponent will be. He had a bruising primary fight with fellow Republican Rep. Young Kim, whom Democrats drew into a new district that includes areas Calvert previously represented.

In San Francisco a wealthy progressive challenger was unable to crack the top two slots to fill retiring Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s seat. Instead state Sen. Scott Wiener and San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan will face off to replace the former House speaker.

And in the Central Valley, Republican Rep. David Valadao, widely considered one of the most vulnerable House Republicans, is waiting to see if he will face centrist Democrat and Assemblywoman Jasmeet Bains or progressive political science professor and school board member Randy Villegas in November.

Several races cannot be called yet because of California's typical drawn-out election count, in which mail ballots that tend to come from more Democratic areas are counted later, eroding conservatives' traditional leads in votes reported on election night.

Trump has previously seized on the count to baselessly alleged fraud and did so again Thursday, adding that his Justice Department would investigate the state over it. A federal prosecutor toured Los Angeles' main vote-counting facility on Friday.

The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, a state corporation that already has leases in the refuge's coastal plain, had the winning bid on three tracts and Hex Energy LLC on two, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced. The tracts cover about 72,000 acres. Nearly 690,000 acres had been offered. Winning bids totaled $3.7 million.

The federal agency's state director, Kevin Pendergast, said a “new era of active leasing and exploration is just beginning to unfold.”

While there is no active drilling underway, the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority’s board last month authorized additional spending for efforts including a seismic survey program aimed at locating oil formations, as well as lease purchases in this latest sale. A message seeking comment from Hex Energy was not immediately returned.

Opponents of drilling in the refuge's coastal plain have pointed to a lack of industry interest in the prior two sales held there and ongoing changes in Alaska’s arctic region due to climate change as proof the region should be off-limits to drilling. There is pending litigation over the leasing program, dating to President Donald Trump’s first term.

The Gwich'in consider the coastal plain sacred because the caribou herd they rely upon calve there. The Gwich'in people's reliance on the coastal plain “will be irreversibly damaged if it is disturbed,” Karlas Norman, first chief of the Venetie Village Council, said in a statement. "Even though we saw minimal bids, we will not rest until this sacred place is permanently protected for our children and for generations yet to come.”

But supporters of development see the coastal plain, which is roughly the size of Delaware, as a potential untapped resource that could boost U.S. oil production and generate new revenue and jobs. Voice of the Arctic Iñupiat, an advocacy group whose members include leaders from Alaska Native communities on the North Slope, hailed the sale a success.

A statement from the group said the sale represented "the culmination of decades of advocacy by North Slope Iñupiat leaders, in particular leaders from Kaktovik, for their right to self-determination on their homelands, including responsible exploration and development.” Kaktovik is the only community within the refuge.

“The Trump-Vance administration is doing the right thing by advancing policies, including those that permitted the sale, supported by our community," Kaktovik Mayor Nathan Gordon Jr. said in the statement.

The Trump administration has taken a keen interest in Alaska, and his tax and spending bill passed by Congress last year included provisions mandating lease sales in three regions of the state. In addition to the refuge's coastal plain, leases have also been offered in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and in Cook Inlet, an aging basin that has provided natural gas for Alaska's most populous region for decades.

There were no takers in the Cook Inlet auction in March. But there were hundreds of bids, including from major oil companies, for what was the first sale since 2019 in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska — despite pending litigation challenging the leasing program. The Trump administration has moved to open more lands to drilling in the reserve and rolled back protections there. The petroleum reserve is where ConocoPhillips Alaska is developing the large Willow oil project.

On Alaska's vast, petroleum-rich North Slope, the major oil fields of Prudhoe Bay and Kuparuk lie between the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Bill Groffy, principal deputy director of the Bureau of Land Management, in an interview said Alaska has “some major resources.”

“The ability to go and utilize those resources is something the president wants us to look at, and the secretary wants us to looks at,” he said, referring to U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.

The arctic refuge's coastal plain could contain 4.25 billion to 11.8 billion barrels of recoverable oil, according to U.S. Geological Survey estimates, but there is limited information about the amount and quality of oil.

The coastal plain, bordering the Beaufort Sea in northeast Alaska, features rolling hills and tundra and provides habitat for wildlife including musk oxen and migratory birds.

The team's participation in the World Cup has been complicated by Iran's war with Israel and the United States. Problems with processing visas had earlier led Iran to move its training base from Tucson, Arizona, to Tijuana, on Mexico’s border with California.

One U.S. official said all players on the Iranian team were approved for visas and were in the process of receiving them. A second official said visas had been issued for players, coaches, trainers and some support staff.

The second official could not say if any Iranian applicants had been denied. A third official said athletes and “necessary support staff” had been issued visas, but suggested that some applicants affiliated with the team had been rejected for requesting visas “under false pretenses.”

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the visas publicly.

It was not immediately clear when the Iranian team’s passports would be returned to them to allow them to travel, but the official said it could be as early as Friday or Saturday.

The squad has been preparing for the World Cup at a training camp in Antalya, Turkey, before departing for Tijuana. The team said it has already received visas from Mexico’s embassy in Ankara.

U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack credited the U.S. Embassy in Ankara for processing visas for the Iranian team. “Sports transcends borders, and we look forward to welcoming competitors and fans from around the world,” Barrack wrote in a social media post Friday.

Iran plays its first two games in Inglewood, California, against New Zealand on June 15 and Belgium six days later, then heads to Seattle to face Egypt on June 26. Iran and the U.S. could meet in the round of 32 on July 3 in Arlington, Texas, if both teams place second in their groups.

President Donald Trump in March had discouraged Iran from participating in the tournament, saying he didn’t think it was “appropriate” and raising concerns over players' “life and safety.” A day later, Iran’s national team pushed back, saying “no one can exclude” it from playing.

Iran finalized its team Monday, including 17 home-based players whose clubs have not played since February because of the war. Star forward Sardar Azmoun was dropped in March, reportedly because of a social media post that angered Iranian authorities during the war.

Iran's sports minister said in March that it would “not be possible” for the team to participate in the World Cup, but the republic's soccer federation said in May it was moving ahead with a team. The federation had insisted that all players and staff be granted visas, including those who had military service in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Joseph Magnano, 23, did not speak during the arraignment at Superior Court in Hartford but later hugged officers outside the courtroom. Many displayed badges over their street clothes.

Magnano was fired by the Hartford mayor after the fatal shooting of Steven Jones on Feb. 27. The shooting drew wide public outcry and questions about the police department’s policies when responding to people in mental distress.

The president of the local police union continued to defend Magnano while speaking to reporters Friday. The union has filed several grievances with the city over his firing, seeking to have him reinstated.

“They told him he was a criminal for doing what he was trained to do,” James Rutkauski said.

Magnano's lawyer, Patrick Tomasiewicz, declined to comment after the hearing. Free after posting $50,000 bail following his arrest last month, Magnano is due back in court on July 21. He is expected to enter a not guilty plea at some point.

Jones, 55, who had a history of mental illness, was holding a large knife on a city street when officers arrived on that winter day.

Police body camera video shows three officers, over several minutes, repeatedly telling Jones to drop a knife. The officers also tell him they’re there to help.

“Steve, you’re OK. We’re going to make sure you’re OK,” Officer James Prignano says. “Just drop the knife. We’re going to go talk to somebody, OK?”

Jones can’t be heard saying anything in the videos.

About 12 minutes after the 911 call, Magnano arrives, draws his pistol and shouts at Jones to drop the knife, telling him, “You’re going to get shot.” A woman is heard screaming, “Don’t shoot him!”

The videos show Prignano motioning at Magnano, appearing to tell him to back away. As Jones slowly walks toward Magnano, the officer gives a final warning before shooting at him nine times, about 30 seconds after he got out of his cruiser. Jones died four days later.

Connecticut Inspector General Eliot Prescott, who filed the manslaughter charge and is prosecuting the case, said an investigation found Jones was not an imminent threat and the shooting was not justified.

In his own incident report, Magnano, who had been on the force for a year and four months, said he was “fearful of Jones making a sudden lunge towards either an officer or citizen.”

Hartford Police Chief James Rovella has not commented publicly on the shooting. He and several high-ranking officers also went to court Friday. “It's too early to comment,” he said.

Jones’ relatives did not attend the hearing but local NAACP officials were present Friday.

“They take an oath to protect and serve,” Corrie Betts, president of the Greater Hartford NAACP branch, said of police. “So when they’re called to a mental health call and an individual ends up dead, is that protecting and serving?”

Officers responded around 8:35 a.m. Friday to the 1100 block of I-35 southbound near Loop 337.

Police said a 30-year-old New Braunfels man was walking on the sidewalk of the frontage road when he was struck by a flatbed truck exiting a nearby business onto the frontage road.

The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.

The 43-year-old driver, also from New Braunfels, was not injured and remained at the scene. Police said he will not face criminal charges.

The NBPD Traffic Unit conducted a full traffic reconstruction investigation. The crash area was closed for about three hours, according to police.

The crash remains under investigation.

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An estimated 60,000-70,000 Bosnians live in St. Louis, with many arriving in the early 1990s during the Bosnian War and the breakup of Yugoslavia.

Bosnia faces Panama on Saturday in an international friendly at St. Louis' Energizer Park and plays World Cup group matches in Toronto (vs. Canada), Los Angeles ( vs. Switzerland) and Seattle (vs. Qatar).

“We should be able to create an atmosphere like a home match,” said Elvir Kafedžić, a Bosnia-born St. Louisan and an assistant coach for the city’s MLS team, St. Louis City SC.

He was only 9 1-2 when he fled Bosnia in 1992 with his mother and brothers to escape the war.

“Unfortunately, I remember a lot of it,” said Kafedžić, whose story mirrors many who rebuilt in St. Louis after meandering across Europe.

“We kind of tumbled through some different countries like Montenegro, the Czech Republic, Sweden and wound up in Germany," Kafedžić explained.

That ended when Germany stopped granting temporary protection to Bosnians in the late 1990s.

“We didn’t have anywhere to go back to in Bosnia. And we already had some relatives living in St. Louis. So in 1999 we made the move with my mom and two older brothers."

Bosnia defeated Italy

Bosnia qualified for the World Cup two months ago, defeating four-time World Cup champion Italy 4-1 on penalties after a 1-1 draw. The deciding penalty was converted by Esmir Bajraktarević, a Bosnian-American from Appleton, Wisconsin.

“That day you could see cars flying Bosnian flags in the streets,” Kafedžić said of the St. Louis scene. “All the restaurants, all the coffee shops were packed wall-to-wall with strangers hugging each other. For me, this goes beyond soccer. This shows who we are, the pride, where we come from and how deeply we’re connected to our roots.”

Bosnia's World Cup team is led by 40-year-old captain Edin Džeko and 18-year-old winger Kerim Alajbegović. Džeko has scored at least 50 goals playing in the English Premier League, Italy’s Serie A, and the German Bundesliga.

Bosnia’s only other World Cup appearance was at Brazil in 2014, where it was narrowly eliminated in the group stage. The team’s first World Cup goal was scored by Vedad Ibišević in a 2-1 loss to Argentina.

Ibišević played high school soccer in St. Louis, starred at Saint Louis University and followed up with a successful professional career, primarily in the Bundesliga.

“Little Bosnia” in St. Louis

St. Louis surfaced as a destination for Bosnian refugees because it offered jobs, reasonable housing prices and had a small community in place.

“We all came looking for a better life because everything was taken away from us at home,” Kafedžić said. “You can’t put in words how thankful we are.”

A swath of the city’s South Side is known as “Little Bosnia,” anchored by rows of tidy red-brick houses, bars, cafes and bakeries and a replica wood fountain that mimics one in the capital Sarajevo, known as the Sebilj.

“It represents Sarajevo in the heart,” said Jasmina Silić, working across the street from the monument at the Skala Bar on Gravois Avenue, the fulcrum of the community.

A reminder of the war

Skala is located just a few doors away from the “Association of Survivors of the Srebrenica Genocide,” a constant reminder of the war and the ethnic cleansing committed by Bosnian Serb forces.

More than 8,000 Bosnian Muslims died in Srebrenica, which was declared a genocide by the United Nations, the International Court of Justice and others. It’s estimated that 104,000 died from the war, 2 million were displaced, and 83% of the civilian deaths were Bosnian Muslims.

Bosnian imprint

Bosnia's influence is all over St. Louis, a metropolitan area of almost 3 million on the banks of the Mississippi River.

The best-selling food at St. Louis’ MLS stadium is Bosnian fare from a restaurant called the “Balkan Treat Box.” Saint Louis University houses the Center for Bosnian Studies, and several books document the diaspora including “Bosnian St. Louis: Between Two Worlds” by Patrick McCarthy and Akif Cogo.

It tells of tragedy, resilience and the community’s ties to Europe.

“One woman in St. Louis still carries the keys to her house in Bosnia,” they wrote. “Another man describes his feelings toward Bosnia as a divorce he did not want from a woman he still loves.”

Bosnia was a multi-ethnic and multi-religious nation before the war, predominantly Muslim but with a large number of Croatian Roman Catholics and Serbian Orthodox Christians.

The mix binds the World Cup team, a symbol of pride and reconciliation.

“A lot of people from here go to Bosnia every year to see families,” said Silić, speaking at the Skala Bar. ”The team represents unity because it’s all three religions and everybody is one like it used to be when it was still Yugoslavia.”

___

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

Richards tore two ligaments in his left ankle while playing for England's Crystal Palace on May 17. He has been ruled out for Saturday's friendly against Germany, but the U.S. is holding out hope that he might be able to play in its World Cup opener next week against Paraguay.

“Chris Richards is on the right path to coming back and being completely with the squad,” midfielder Weston McKennie said. “I think everyone trusts his body and what he feels and the coaching staff as well. He’s an important piece of the group, (with) his energy, his leadership on and off the field. And so obviously we’re just all behind him and can’t wait to have him back and out with the group."

During the 15-minute portion of practice that was open to the media, the 26-year-old Richards showed no signs of any issues as he warmed up with the rest of the team at Endeavor Health Performance Center, the practice home for Major League Soccer's Chicago Fire.

Richards, who missed the 2022 World Cup because of a hamstring injury, is considered the best central defender for the United States.

“His training and his evolution is well, but he still is not ready to compete and to play,” U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino said before practice.

Pochettino and the U.S. are running out of time when it comes to making a decision on Richards. They can replace injured players on their 26-man roster until Thursday.

“Maybe this is the final of the World Cup, maybe he can play,” Pochettino said of Saturday's game at Soldier Field, “but the advice of the medical area is not to play.”

The U.S. is coming off a 3-2 victory over Senegal on Sunday. Following its matchup with Paraguay, the U.S. also has Group D games against Australia on June 19 and Turkey on June 25.

Germany also is playing its last friendly before its World Cup opener on June 14 against Curacao. It also has Group E games against the Ivory Coast on June 20 and Ecuador on June 25.

“We’ll be going into this game with a lot of players that haven’t played against them yet, and players that have,” McKennie said, “so I think the new energy, the new style, the new, just circumstances in general leading into a World Cup, I think it’s going to be a great test for us.”

The U.S. has 13 players who were on Gregg Berhalter's roster for the 2022 World Cup, including 11 who made an appearance in Qatar. Berhalter was fired 10 months into his second stint as U.S. coach, but he took over the Fire when he was hired as head coach and director of football in October 2024.

Berhalter got a chance to catch up with his son, Sebastian, a midfielder on the U.S. team, and some of his former players with the Americans practicing at the Fire's facility.

“When I got them, they were young. They were babies and they were just learning what it takes to be a professional athlete,” Gregg Berhalter said. “And now when I see them, they're men. They have kids. They're adults, and they know exactly what it means to maintain themselves as professionals. And it's an amazing thing to see.”

___

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

The San Antonio Food Bank and the Food Bank of New York City are facing off in a fundraising challenge to see which city can raise the most money during the NBA Finals series.

“It’s a friendly challenge with a serious purpose,” said Eric Cooper, president and CEO of the San Antonio Food Bank.

The campaign, dubbed “Slam Dunk on Hunger,” encourages basketball fans to channel their excitement for the NBA Finals to help families facing food insecurity.

“This campaign to Slam Dunk on Hunger will run all the way through the series until that final buzzer of the final game rings,” Cooper said.

“No matter who wins the series, I think both communities will benefit,” Cooper continued. “The victory will go to those families that are food insecure that would benefit from the funds raised.”

While the Knicks currently lead the Spurs in the NBA Finals, the San Antonio Food Bank said it’s currently ahead in the fundraising challenge.

According to Cooper, the San Antonio Food Bank raised about $30,000 following Game 1, roughly $5,000 to $6,000 ahead of its New York counterpart.

Still, food bank leaders said more support is needed.

The San Antonio Food Bank expects to help approximately 140,000 people each week throughout the summer across South Texas, a time when demand for food assistance remains high.

“My dream is that we bring home that trophy and families bring home some groceries, because we all came together in such a great cause,” Cooper said.

The fundraising competition will continue through the end of the NBA Finals series. Donations made during the campaign will count toward each city’s total, with proceeds helping provide food assistance to families in need.

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KSAT reached out to BCSO for more information.

Based on jail booking information, it appears the suspects were all rounded up between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.

Those arrested include: Abdul Ali Mohammad, 31; Shawn Blue, 33; Roger Galan, 64; Jose David Garcia, 72; Joseph Guevara, 29; Jay Anthony Hernandez, 20; Juan Rubio, 34; Nathan Thomas, 30; and Ernest Valdez Jr., 49.

All the rounded up suspects were charged with solicitation.

The crackdown appears to be part of an ongoing effort by BCSO.

Back in December, KSAT rode along with undercover detectives as they made arrests related to prostitution and illegal drugs along Austin Highway.

More than 20 people were arrested during that crackdown, known as “Operation: Police Navidad.”

This is a developing story. We will update as more information is made available.

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The judge said the policy threw countless immigrants' lives “into indeterminate legal limbo,” and accused the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services of ignoring the law.

The Senate passed legislation to fund President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement agencies early Friday morning, after weeks of delays and fierce backlash to an unrelated $1.776 billion settlement fund that threatened to derail the bill.

The American job market continues to show surprising strength, shrugging off the high costs of the Iran war. Employers added 172,000 jobs in May – roughly double what forecasters had expected – and the unemployment rate remained at a low 4.3%.

Here's the latest:

US military says it shot down Iranian drones

The U.S. military says it shot down four Iranian drones that were launched toward the Strait of Hormuz and then struck some of the Islamic Republic’s coastal surveillance radar sites in response.

U.S. Central Command said on social media that the “attack drones posed an immediate threat to regional maritime traffic.”

The military is enforcing a blockade on Iranian ports in response to Tehran’s chokehold on the crucial corridor for global oil and natural gas shipments, which has sent energy prices spiking.

It’s the latest in back-and-forth attacks that have strained the tenuous ceasefire in the war.

▶ Read more

Trump tries to speed up his own event to get back to Washington

After a lengthy speech that spent little time on farming issues, Trump turned to other officials who had been scheduled to speak at his agricultural roundtable.

The president read through the list, which included Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and said, “We’ll go pretty quickly because I have to get back to fighting a war in Iran.”

“This is a hell of speaker’s list. We might be here all night,” Trump said. “I got to get back to a place called Wash— and protect you.”

He didn’t finish the word, perhaps because Trump actually isn’t scheduled to return to Washington.

He is instead set to fly to his estate in Bedminster, New Jersey, for the weekend, then attend Game 3 of the NBA Finals in New York on Monday night. That means he likely won’t be back in Washington until at least early Tuesday morning — the war in Iran not withstanding.

Trump, in Wisconsin, can’t stop talking about Washington pet projects

The president flew to Wisconsin to talk agriculture with farmers but spent large stretches of his speech talking his recent efforts to spruce up Washington.

Trump extensively detailed efforts to improve the Lincoln Memorial’s Reflecting Pool and fountains around the nation’s capital. At one point, he showed off charts that not everyone attending could see.

Even when he finally returned to comments about farmers, Trump said, “I’m up here today. I don’t need this. I got elected.”

He also added, “What the hell do I have to be here for?” while noting, “I could be home right now at the beautiful White House, enjoying someone else on television talk.”

The White House said Trump would be hitting the road ahead of November’s midterm elections to promote Republican candidates.

Trump touts support for farmers at Wisconsin rally

“We love the farmers, we love everything about your state,” Trump told his audience at a rally being held in a barn in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, on Friday.

Rallying for his party ahead of the midterm elections, Trump described the Republican party as the only option for farmers. He said Democrats’ policies are “just outstandingly bad” and “really bad for the farmer.”

Trump reiterated his confidence that the war in Iran will soon come to an end and gas prices will fall.

“As they say in the farming business, we had to take care of business,” Trump said.

Energy Department says an advanced nuclear reactor is the first to reach a crucial milestone

Energy Secretary Chris Wright says a microreactor being developed by Antares Nuclear Inc. at the Idaho National Lab reached “criticality” on Thursday. The milestone occurs when a nuclear reactor achieves a self-sustaining chain reaction capable of producing energy.

Antares is the first private company to bring an advanced reactor to criticality under a pilot program begun last year by the Trump administration. The program is meant to supercharge nuclear energy production in the U.S. The administration has set a goal of achieving criticality in at least three test reactors by July 4.

Skeptics warn that microreactors may not be safe or feasible and have not proved they can meet electricity demand for a reasonable price.

▶ Read more

US stock market has its worst day since October

A sell-off in big technology companies weighed down the broader market. Bond yields surged as a strong jobs report boosted expectations that the Federal Reserve will be forced to hike interest rates at some point this year.

The S&P 500 slumped 2.6% Friday, finishing with its first losing week in the last 10. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 695 points, or 1.4%. The Nasdaq composite fell 4.2%.

Nvidia and Broadcom were among the heaviest weights on the market. Oil prices fell.

Trump calls for military to accelerate use of AI while protecting Americans

The president issued a memo Friday that calls for the U.S. military and national security agencies to accelerate their use of artificial intelligence, while protecting civil liberties and maintaining oversight of autonomous weapon systems.

The memo addressed much of the president’s Cabinet, including the secretaries of defense and homeland security as well as the attorney general and director of national intelligence.

Trump is requiring an updated directive on autonomous weapon systems “to ensure the deliberate adoption of AI systems that respect the chain of command and operational authorities.” The memo also restricts the use of AI to “censor free speech, embed ideological bias, or conduct unlawful surveillance against the American people.”

The memo comes at a time of growing anxiety over AI in American society, including helping the military identify targets on the battlefield.

Trump prosecutor says there are ‘multiple election fraud’ investigations in California

Bill Essayli, the U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles, gave no details about the investigations in a post on X, but said they involved the FBI.

His disclosure came a day after Trump announced that his Department of Justice was investigating California’s routinely drawn-out vote count following Tuesday’s primary there.

Essayli also noted the Trump administration is seeking California’s voter rolls, though it has lost every single court case in its bid for state records. Its latest appeal is currently before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

“My office will not look the other way,” Essayli wrote. “We will investigate and prosecute.”

US defends Israel-Lebanon agreement, again blames Hezbollah for pursuing a ‘pointless war’

The Trump administration is defending this week’s agreement to extend an Israel-Lebanon ceasefire and create Hezbollah-free zones in southern Lebanon as the best chance for peace between the two countries in years.

A U.S. official said Friday that Wednesday’s agreement is the first step in a process that must end with the demilitarization of the Hezbollah militants, full security control south of the Litani River by the Lebanese Armed forces, and the restoration of complete sovereignty to the Lebanese government.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the negotiations publicly, claimed that Iran had wanted to prolong the conflict and “claim credit for saving the day” by trying to undermine the talks but that the June 3 agreement had “exposed that cynical strategy.”

— By Matthew Lee

Trump says he’ll stay as Kennedy Center chairman, hints at a continued fight to overhaul the building

After a federal judge blocked Trump’s planned renovation of the arts center, Trump on Friday said he’s staying involved in efforts for a major restoration to the building.

“I’m the chairman, so we’ll just keep it going, somebody has to do it,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.

It’s a change in tone from the president, who last week said he was turning the center over to Congress even as he berated the judge, who also ordered Trump’s name stripped from the center.

Trump appeared more defiant on Friday after he said people “asked me in the strongest of language to stay involved.”

“I’m going to look at his ruling on that,” Trump said. “We have to bring it back.”

US boosts Ebola funding in Africa by $38 million

The Trump administration says it is contributing another $38 million toward efforts to end the growing Ebola virus outbreak in Africa, bringing its total contribution since last month to more than $200 million.

The State Department said Friday that the money, in addition to bilateral assistance already being provided to affected countries like the Congo and Uganda, would go to U.N. agencies like the International Organization for Migration, UNICEF, and the World Food Program, as well as to private relief groups like World Vision and the International Medical Corps.

The administration has been criticized for slashing foreign aid and dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development but officials have said the new process is more efficient and cost effective.

Trump, a former New Yorker, has a couple of favorite Knicks players

“Brunson is fantastic. Towns is fantastic,” Trump said of NBA All Stars Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns. “They just have a great team.”

Trump is expected to travel to New York on Monday to catch Game 3 between the Knicks and San Antonio Spurs.

Trump says baseball should have adopted a salary cap ‘a long time ago’

Asked about major league baseball potentially imposing a salary cap after this season, Trump said, “You don’t have a salary cap, you don’t have a sport.”

“Because they can’t help themselves,” he said. “You know, in sports, they can’t help themselves.”

The president added, “I know so much about sports. they should have done it a long time ago.”

Baseball’s five-year collective bargaining agreement expires on Dec. 1.

The sport’s owners last week made their first proposal of a salary cap since 1994, when a 7 1/2-month strike caused the cancellation of the World Series.

Trump says he’s exploring arrangements to give the federal government a financial stake in AI companies

The president said Friday that executives from leading AI companies will visit the White House “probably next week” to discuss the concept, which was pitched by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman last year.

Trump described it as a partnership “where the American people can benefit from the success of AI.”

“There’s something very interesting about it, where it almost becomes a partnership with the American public,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One.

It comes days after Trump signed an order on AI establishing a framework for the federal government to vet advanced AI systems for security risks before they’re made public.

Trump leaves open the possibility of calling Taiwan’s president

The president isn’t backing away from the possibility of speaking directly with Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te, a move that would be seen as provocative by Beijing.

Trump had first said in May that he intended to talk to Lai as he weighs whether to approve a $14 billion arms sale for Taipei that China is urging him to scrap.

Asked on Friday if a call is still planned, Trump responded, “I’ll always talk to him.”

Such a call would mark the first direct dialogue between sitting American and Taiwanese presidents in many decades. Trump raised China’s ire when he took a congratulatory call from Taiwan’s then-President Tsai Ing-wen after winning the 2016 presidential election but before taking office.

Roughly 1,000 US troops in limbo after canceled deployment

About 1,000 American troops who’ve been sent to Poland are in limbo after their deployment was canceled, said a U.S. military official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters.

The troops are part of an armored brigade combat team of some 4,000 troops whose deployment to Poland was called off amid Trump’s shifting pronouncements on troops levels in Europe. They are still awaiting confirmation they’ll be sent back home, the official said.

The military also is still waiting for details from the Pentagon on how to satisfy Trump’s latest order to send 5,000 troops to Poland, that official said. The working assumption is that they will come from units already in Europe, rather than an additional deployment from the U.S., the official said.

— By Emma Burrows

Trump isn’t too sympathetic about fans who can’t afford high ticket prices for the NBA Finals

Asked what his message is to Americans who can’t afford to attend the NBA Finals because of high ticket prices, Trump responded, “They can watch it on television.”

He noted to reporters aboard Air Force One that watching the games on television was “semi-free” for many people, adding of high ticket costs, “That’s the way life is, you know.”

Trump plans to attend Game 3 between the Knicks and Spurs in New York – meaning he won’t have to follow his own advice about watching it on television. As president, however, he also doesn’t have to buy a ticket.

US military spent $32M to send gear ahead of nixed deployment, military says

The U.S. military spent $32 million to send equipment to Poland for a 4,000-soldier deployment that was canceled last month, according to U.S. Transportation Command, the military agency largely responsible for moving troops and gear across the globe.

A ship was chartered to take one unit of troops to Europe and bring another back, Transportation Command said. It’s hard to say how much money would have been saved if the deployment was canceled before the troops and equipment began to move.

However, a U.S. military official said the unscheduled move of personnel and equipment back from Europe is most likely not a cost the Pentagon budgeted for and would be an additional expense. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters.

— By Emma Burrows and Konstantin Toropin

Trump confirms he’ll be at NBA Finals in New York on Monday

Speaking to reporters on Air Force One on Friday, Trump said he plans to be at Madison Square Garden to see the New York Knicks take on the San Antonio Spurs on Monday. He clarified his plans a day after saying he was going to a game, possibly on Monday.

A New York native, Trump has said he was invited by Knicks owner James Dolan. “They just have a great team,” Trump said of this year’s squad.

Asked about sky-high prices for tickets to the Finals, Trump said it’s a product of the Knicks’ success. “They can watch it on television,” he said of fans. “That’s the way life is, you know.”

Trump wants to see more cuts in the intelligence community

Trump said Friday that he wants Bill Pulte, his new acting director of national intelligence, to cut the office, which has already been significantly scaled back during the president’s second term.

Trump noted that the size of the office as been “way too high for way too long,” and that “if he cut, I wouldn’t mind.”

“Bill Pulte is very good, he’s very talented,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One as he traveled to Wisconsin. The president said in an earlier interview with the Wall Street Journal that he has asked Pulte to start the process of firing employees.

Trump’s zig zag on US troops in Europe is potentially costing millions, officials say

U.S. defense officials say Trump’s recent back-and-forth on troop levels in Europe is upending service members’ lives and potentially costing taxpayers millions of dollars.

Trump first said he would pull 5,000 troops from Germany after a spat with its chancellor. The Pentagon then cancelled an impending deployment of a similar number of troops to Poland. That was followed by Trump saying that he would be sending 5,000 U.S. troops to Poland.

The abrupt changes are forcing the military to “retroactively engineer” a policy in line with the president’s latest pronouncement, one of the officials said. Both officials were briefed on the decisions and spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters.

— By Emma Burrows

Legal advocacy group reacts to the ruling on Trump immigration policies

The policies are part of a ongoing efforts by the administration to tighten U.S. entry standards for travel and immigration, in what critics say unfairly prevents travel for people from a broad range of countries.

“This ruling reaffirms a basic principle: the federal government cannot shut down lawful immigration pathways or discriminate against people based on where they come from,” said Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, which represented the plaintiffs in the case.

“These unlawful policies caused enormous harm to families, workers, asylum seekers, and communities across the country,” he said, “who were left in limbo, unable to work, access protections, or move forward with their lives.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Who did these Trump immigration policies affect?

The halted policies apply to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which approves applications for immigrants to work and become citizens.

The agency, which resides in the Homeland Security Department, often grants asylum but only for those already in the United States when they apply.

Immigration judges grant asylum for those who are stopped at the border; the ruling does not affect them and neither did the policies that sparked the lawsuit.

Judge blocks a Trump policy that made it harder for immigrants to stay and enter the country

The policies enacted after the National Guard shooting last year meant that immigrants from 39 African, Asian, Latin American, and Middle Eastern countries have been “categorically barred” from receiving final decisions on, among other things, their asylum, work permit, green card, and citizenship applications.

In Friday’s ruling harshly criticizing the administration, U.S. District Chief Judge John McConnell Jr. said the policy “threw the lives of countless immigrants living in the United States into indeterminate legal limbo,” and he accused the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services of ignoring the law.

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Rubio meets top Philippine diplomat over the South China Sea and other issues

Secretary of State Marco Rubio affirmed the strength of the two countries’ alliance to Philippine Foreign Minister Theresa Lazaro during Friday’s meeting in Washington.

A State Department statement said their discussion included economic priorities and the South China Sea, where Beijing has been aggressive in its territorial claims over disputed islands and atolls.

The South China Sea is a vital global trade route with rich undersea deposits of gas and oil.

In particular, Beijing and Manila have clashed over Scarborough Shoal, which China prefers to call Huangyan Dao.

On Sunday, the Chinese naval and air forces conducted “readiness patrols” near the shoal, after Philippine and U.S. forces conducted a five-day drill in the same waters.

Treasury warns banks of ‘red flags’ tied to customers in the US illegally

The Treasury Department’s financial crimes arm wants banks to help identify payroll schemes tied to people living in the country illegally, as part of the Trump administration’s latest measure to clamp down on immigration.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network — also known as FinCEN — issued an advisory Friday to banks that tells them to watch out for identity theft, payroll tax fraud, and money laundering schemes tied to hiring unauthorized workers.

Trump in May signed an executive order that requires banks to take a closer look at the citizenship of their customers.

The order directs bank regulators and government departments to look for signs that people without legal status are opening accounts or obtaining loans or credit cards. However, the order is less aggressive than banks had previously expected, as earlier reports suggested the White House was drafting an order that would make collecting customers’ citizenship information mandatory.

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Democratic Wisconsin senator says Trump’s stop in the swing state shows he’s nervous

Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin says Trump’s visit to a rural swing district in Wisconsin shows he knows Republicans are in trouble in the midterms.

The stop on Friday for a farmer-focused round table in Chippewa Falls marks the first time Trump has visited Wisconsin in his second term. It comes just four days after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. toured a dairy farm in the congressional district held by Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden.

“They know they’re in trouble,” Baldwin said of Republicans. “They know across the country they’re in trouble.”

Baldwin says Trump’s visit is “not going to do the job in convincing our farmers they are doing better than they’re doing. They know the reality.”

Trump is scheduled to be joined by Van Orden, one of his most vocal supporters. Democrats have targeted that district this year.

US boards an oil tanker linked to Iran in the Indian Ocean

American forces have boarded a sanctioned oil tanker linked to Iran in the Indian Ocean, the U.S. military said Friday as the U.S. pushes to prevent the Islamic Republic from profiting off its oil and other goods.

U.S. Indo-Pacific Command posted on X that the U.S. forces boarded the MT Davina. The post lacked further details, but U.S. forces around the world have been directed to stop ships tied to Tehran or those suspected of carrying supplies that could help its government.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy is enforcing a blockade of Iran’s ports as part of an effort to force Tehran to open the Strait of Hormuz and accept a deal to extend a tenuous ceasefire in the war.

US set to hold latest oil and gas lease sale for Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

The Trump administration’s push to expand oil and gas development in Alaska faces a new test Friday, with the latest lease sale set for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Opponents of drilling in the refuge’s coastal plain have pointed to a lack of industry interest in the prior two sales held there and ongoing changes in Alaska’s Arctic region due to climate change as proof the region should be off-limits to drilling. But supporters of drilling see the coastal plain, which is roughly the size of Delaware, as a potential untapped resource that could boost U.S. oil production and generate new revenue and jobs.

A coalition of conservation groups this spring sent a letter to leaders of 11 petroleum companies including major ConocoPhillips and Hilcorp, both major players in Alaska, urging them to not participate in the sale. The letter cited ongoing litigation over the leasing program, dating to Trump’s first term, and warned of “financial, operational and reputational risks.”

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Trump looms large over upcoming primary elections in Washington, DC

The last time Washington, D.C., residents chose a new delegate to Congress and a new mayor in the same election, gas was $1.33 a gallon and George H.W. Bush was president.

This fall they’ll do it again — under starkly different circumstances.

As the city heads toward pivotal primaries this month to pick candidates for those roles, Trump’s influence on the nation’s capital is shaping up as a major campaign issue. The fresh slate of candidates is weighing how best to approach Trump’s Republican administration and congressional control over the heavily Democratic city’s affairs.

“It’s going to be a big sea change in city politics, no matter how the elections shake out,” said Amanda Huron, a professor at the University of the District of Columbia who teaches courses on D.C. history and politics. But Washington’s lack of full autonomy brings “all sorts of peculiarities around the city’s governance.”

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Senate OKs $70B immigration bill after rejecting efforts to permanently ban Trump’s settlement fund

The Senate passed legislation to fund Trump’s immigration enforcement agencies early Friday, after weeks of delays and fierce backlash to an unrelated $1.776 billion settlement fund that threatened to derail the bill.

Senators voted 52-47 to pass the $70 billion legislation to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol for the next three years, through the end of Trump’s term, after Democrats had blocked the money for months. The bill will now head to the House, which is expected to take it up next week.

The final vote came just before 5 a.m., after Republicans narrowly defeated multiple attempts by members of both parties to add language to the bill that would permanently ban Trump’s settlement fund for allies who believe they’ve been politically persecuted.

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Cooper, 28, was held on suspicion of two counts of domestic violence and one count of criminal mischief, according to Douglas County jail records. He was arrested by Parker Police at 11:16 p.m. Thursday and booked into jail at 2:38 a.m. Friday.

Cooper had his first appearance Friday in the 23rd Judicial District Court and is due back in that court Monday for a disposition hearing.

The Broncos said in a statement to The Associated Press that they “are aware of the matter and are gathering more information.”

The AP left a message with Cooper's agent seeking comment.

Cooper's arrest stemmed from an argument between him and his girlfriend, who was also arrested, according to a police affidavit. Cooper's girlfriend accused him of cheating and threw his phone against a wall in Cooper's apartment and a physical struggle ensued, according to the report.

Besides the legal case, Cooper could also potentially be subject to discipline under the NFL’s personal conduct policy.

A seventh-round draft pick out of Ohio State in 2021, Cooper is entering his sixth season with the Broncos. He has started every game since 2023 and has 31 1/2 career sacks. He's had at least eight sacks in each of the last three seasons, including a career-best 10 1/2 sacks in 2024 when he signed a four-year, $54 million contract extension.

The Broncos began the football field portion of their offseason program earlier this week and Cooper participated in the Thursday practice that was open to media members, although he didn't participate in 11-on-11 drills.

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

The group is called the Korean Jackals, a fan community built around a shared passion for the Spurs despite a 14-hour time difference and an ocean separating them from San Antonio.

Two members of the group, Dongwook Kwon and Taesung Kwon, spoke — with the help of their friend, and translator, Tami Kang — about how the Spurs’ international reach continues to inspire fans far beyond Texas

Taesung Kwon said his journey as a Spurs fan began more than a decade ago during the 2012-2013 season.

He regularly watched game highlights and was drawn to the team’s defensive style and unselfish ball movement.

At the time, his favorite player was Spurs legend Tony Parker.

As players came and went, his loyalty to the franchise never wavered. Today, his favorite Spur isn’t the team’s biggest star.

“Wemby is too obvious,” Taesung Kwon said. “K.J. — Keldon Johnson.”

The Spurs’ playoff run has brought excitement and emotion to fans around the world. Dongwook Kwon said one of the most memorable moments came during Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

“I was so nervous, so nervous,” Dongwook Kwon said. “And when the Spurs won Game 7, I cried.”

Like many international NBA fans, members of the Korean Jackals often sacrifice sleep to follow their team. Spurs games that tip off in the evening in San Antonio are frequently broadcast early the next morning in South Korea.

Despite the long hours and early alarms, the group remains committed to supporting the Silver and Black.

As the Spurs Race For Seis, the Korean Jackals will be watching from afar — coffee in hand, sleep-deprived, but energized — proving that Spurs fandom extends well beyond South Texas.

Read also:

• Free options to watch Spurs against Knicks in NBA Finals; Start with KSAT 12 in San Antonio
• Former Spur Danny Green talks NBA Finals, expresses gratitude for the Alamo City
• Spurs nonprofit ticket giveaway sends local youth volunteers to NBA Finals

The jury found both Rebecca Grossman and Scott Erickson, a former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher, negligent in the deaths of 11-year-old Mark Iskander and 8-year-old Jacob Iskander.

The damages awarded Wednesday were for wrongful death and emotional distress. The trial judge will ultimately determine how much each defendant has to pay.

Court resumed Friday as jurors must still decide whether to award punitive damages to the boys' parents, Nancy and Karim Iskander.

Grossman was sentenced in 2024 to serve 15 years to life in prison after being convicted of second-degree murder, gross vehicular manslaughter and hit-and-run driving in a separate criminal trial. She is a co-founder of the Grossman Burn Foundation and the wife of a prominent burn doctor.

The boys' parents also filed lawsuits in civil court against both Grossman and Erickson, who was driving ahead of her when the Iskander brothers were killed. That trial began in April.

The deadly crash occurred on the evening of Sept. 29, 2020, in Westlake Village, a city on the western edge of Los Angeles County.

Brian Panish, the Iskander family's attorney, argued that Grossman and Erickson were both driving recklessly after drinking margaritas together. The two were dating at a time when Grossman and her husband were separated.

Panish said Grossman was driving 73 mph (117 kph) when her car struck the boys in a crosswalk on a road where the posted speed limit was 45 mph (72 kph).

He said Grossman was following Erickson, who was also speeding and narrowly missed the family.

“This was a totally preventable collision," Panish told the jury in closing arguments Wednesday. “They went out for a walk, and they never came home.”

Grossman's attorney, Esther Holm, denied that her client was intoxicated. She said Grossman was distracted when she saw the boys' mother dive out of the way of Erickson's vehicle.

“Ms. Grossman was not driving impaired," Holm told the jury. “She did not see the children, as her attention was diverted by Ms. Iskander.”

Erickson's attorney, Jeff Braun, called the boys' deaths a tragedy but emphasized that the vehicle he was driving "made no contact with the children.”

For the Spurs, it’s the organization’s first NBA Finals appearance since 2014. San Antonio is seeking their sixth NBA championship.

The last time the Spurs and the Knicks met in the NBA Finals was back in 1999, when San Antonio won its first title.

On the road to the NBA Finals, the Spurs defeated the Portland Trail Blazers, the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Oklahoma City Thunder to win the Western Conference title.

KSAT 12 is the official broadcast home for all of the NBA Finals action. KSAT will host live pregame coverage with our Race for Seis special live at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday on KSAT 12 and KSAT Plus.

Another livestream previewing Game 1 will air at 7 p.m. exclusively on KSAT Plus. ABC will carry exclusive live coverage of Game 1 at 7:30 p.m. live on KSAT 12.

After Friday night, the Spurs will head to Madison Square Garden for Games 3 and 4.

If necessary, Games 5 and 7 would return to San Antonio, with Game 6 in New York.

More Race for Seis coverage on KSAT:

• Map: Where to watch the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals for Game 1
• Share your photos celebrating Spurs in the NBA Finals on KSAT Connect!
• Spurs players express gratitude and confidence ahead of life-changing experience in NBA Finals

The nearly $70 billion package, which cleared the Republican-held Senate in a middle of the night vote and now heads to the House, was declared a “rotten bill” by the Democratic leader and an "ATM for ICE” by pro-immigrant advocates.

But for those aligned with Trump’s campaign promise for the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history, it all but guarantees an uninterrupted flow of money to carry out the administration's immigration enforcement operations — and comes on top of some $170 billion Congress already approved for the department last summer, as part of Trump's big tax breaks bill.

“We’re going to continue to arrest people, we’re going to continue to detain people and we’re going to keep deporting people,” Trump border czar Tom Homan told CBS News on Friday.

He hinted at summer sweeps of enforcement actions coming next to New York City.

More money, fewer guardrails

The work of Congress comes at a pivotal time for the Republican president and his party as they face restless voters before the midterm elections. About one in three U.S. adults know someone who has been impacted by Trump’s immigration operations, according to an AP-NORC poll conducted in April. And as America celebrates its 250th anniversary, most say it’s no longer a great place for immigrants.

The funding package from Congress is just a slim dozen-page bill that carries none of the usual guardrails or directives typically demanded in legislation. It turns loose $30 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations, and billions for the Border Patrol, and others, prepaying the department’s operations into 2029.

“Their options are limitless in terms of what they can do with this money,” said Vanessa Cardenas, the executive director at America's Voice, a longtime advocacy organization for immigrants.

“That is such a hard thing to accept as a taxpaying citizen that our dollars are going to this massive, mass deportation machine, while Americans are struggling to meet health care costs, and have access to food and they’re paying so much in gas.”

The administration has sought to shift the debate over its immigration operations, installing new leadership at Homeland Security in the aftermath of violent scenes of immigration enforcement earlier this year and the shooting deaths of Americans Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

Rather than the dramatic street sweeps, the administration is working behind the scenes on actions that are stripping immigrant groups of their ability to remain in the U.S., by doing away with Temporary Protected Status or making it more difficult to secure green cards.

The so-called Dreamers, young immigrants brought illegally to the U.S. as children, have reported delays in renewing their Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status, exposing them to potential deportation.

But protests on American streets continue, including over detention conditions at the Delaney Hall facility in New Jersey.

At the same time, Homeland Security continues to hire more ICE agents — it's hosting an employment fair next month in Florida — build more detention facilities and partner with countries around the world to take people who are being deported from the U.S.

In a statement, the department said Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin are “laser focused on ensuring the hardworking men and women” of ICE and Customs and Border Patrol are fully funded. It said the package from Congress “will ensure our critical national security operations continue despite any Democrat attempts to hold our great patriotic employees hostage in the future.”

Power of the purse becomes a blank check

Typically a funding package from Congress would run hundreds pages or more, with a range of specific instructions about how the money can be spent and on what timelines.

Congress, after all, holds the power of the purse, and often uses that constitutional role to put checks on the administration.

But after Democrats refused to fund Homeland Security earlier this year following the violence in Minnesota, Republicans retaliated by using the congressional budget resolution process to muscle the package through on their own, outside the traditional appropriations channels.

It’s the same process both parties have used in the past, most recently on Trump’s 2025 tax cuts bill.

“All this important oversight" that typically comes with the appropriations process "doesn’t happen,” said Bobby Kogan, a former staff member of the Senate Budget Committee who's now at the Center for American Progress, a think tank.

Overnight, Democrats in the Senate worked to exert that authority, offering amendments to ensure Congress had some say in the process. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, for example, sought to protect “Dreamers” from deportation as their DACA renewals are being delayed. But those efforts all failed.

Deportations not enough, for some

Meanwhile the administration is under enormous pressure to deliver on its promise to boost deportations to some 1 million a year, after the Republican president's first year numbers fell short.

Mike Howell, president of the Oversight Project, is a leader of the Mass Deportation Coalition that is pushing the Trump administration to stick to its promises.

“Everyone’s talking about it like ICE is about to get another massive cash injection, and that’s not how I see it at all," he said. "They're getting like life-support money.”

“We’re not asking them to keep going,” Howell said. “We're asking them to start.”

Howell said there's little chance the Trump administration will be able to reach the president's deportation goals unless it drops its priority to go after what they call the “worst of the worst.”

His group put out a framework earlier this year that proposes more comprehensive sweeps to arrest immigrants, particularly in the workplace. He also wants to see the Trump administration make it more difficult for immigrants who are in the U.S. to use the banking system, get social services and obtain drivers licenses. Republicans in Congress have offered bills tackling some of those issues.

The administration has been amping up its own rhetoric and recently posted a new website that characterizes immigrants as “aliens” — with outer-space themes — and suggests ways the White House is working to prevent people from staying in the U.S.

The S&P 500 sank 2.6%, its biggest one-day drop since October 10, when the Trump administration threatened to impose a 100% tariff on imported goods from China. The losses helped push the benchmark index to its first losing week in the last 10.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.4%, while the Nasdaq composite slumped 4.2%.

Tech stocks dragged the broader market lower as companies that had powered the S&P 500 to a series of records the past two months saw losses. Nvidia fell 6.2%, Broadcom dropped 7.9% and Micron Technology slid 13.3% for the biggest loss among stocks in the S&P 500.

Shares in Meta fell 5.5% following a published report that the social media giant may seek to do a new stock offering to raise funds for spending on AI infrastructure.

Stocks within the S&P 500 were not far from being evenly split between gainers and losers. But, many of the bigger tech stocks have pricey values that tend to give them outsized influence on the broader market.

Meanwhile, bond yields jumped after a report showed the U.S. added a surprising 172,000 jobs in May, according to the Labor Department. It is the latest report showing that employment remains solid, despite the squeeze inflation is putting on businesses and consumers.

The latest reading on employment comes two weeks before Kevin Warsh heads his first policy meeting as chair of the Fed. Policymakers are widely expected to keep rates steady at the June 16-17 meeting despite pressure from President Donald Trump to lower borrowing costs. Longer-term, the market sees a better than 60% chance the Fed will push rates higher by the end of the year, according to CME FedWatch, and little to no chance of a cut.

“Any hopes of a Fed rate cut have effectively been eliminated with this morning’s strong jobs report,” said Ronald Temple, chief market strategist at Lazard, in a research note.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.54% from 4.50% just before the report was released. The yield on the 2-year Treasury, which more closely tracks the Fed’s actions, jumped to 4.16% from 4.04% just prior to the report.

The Fed has been holding interest rates steady as it tries to gauge the ongoing impact from rising inflation. Prices were already ticking higher from the impact of tariffs. The U.S. war with Iran has essentially blocked crude oil shipments from moving through the Strait of Hormuz.

The price of Brent crude, the international standard, fell 2% to settle at $93.09. It was about $70 per barrel before the war. The surge in oil prices prompted a jump in fuel prices. That has fueled a broader rise in inflation as prices for anything being shipped move higher and threaten to slow economic growth.

A measure of inflation preferred by the Fed showed that prices rose 3.8% overall in April. That marked the biggest increase in two years.

Wall Street has been anticipating that negotiations to end the war will eventually be successful. American and Iranian negotiators reached a tentative deal last week to extend their ceasefire, but the agreement has not been finalized.

The latest round of corporate earnings is coming to a close. Lululemon slumped 8.6% after trimming its revenue and profit forecasts.

Most reports from companies have been surprisingly good and helped Wall Street on its record run. Encouraging profits and forecasts helped overshadow lingering worries about the direction of the economy amid tariffs and high energy costs because of the U.S. war with Iran.

With earnings now in the background, analysts have been warning that the tech companies benefiting from interest in artificial intelligence may have become too expensive. That could result in a slowdown for a market that has posted a solid gain in 2026, with the S&P 500 up 7.9% for the year.

All told, the S&P 500 fell 200.57 points to 7,383.74 on Friday. The Dow dropped 695.15 points to 50,866.78, and the Nasdaq lost 1,121.53 points to close at 25,709.43.

Markets were mixed in Europe after markets in Asia fell.

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AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Matt Ott contributed to this report.

Leon Valley police, with help from San Antonio police officers, arrested Alan Maxwell, 40, on Thursday.

Maxwell is charged with murder in the death of Erick Torres, 17, in April 2021, according to the affidavit. A Crime Stoppers tip sent last December to police helped them solve the case.

Although police initially believed the shooting was a result of road rage, the affidavit said Maxwell intentionally fired into the car where Torres was riding, believing it was carrying someone else.

The scenario detailed in the court document said Maxwell was upset with his then-girlfriend who he had caught with another man.

Maxwell chased the car, in which the woman and other man were riding.

At some point, police said, Maxwell fired shots at the vehicle as it traveled along Huebner Road, but no one was hit.

The affidavit said Torres and two other men were in a different car, also traveling on Huebner Road near Evers Road, when it was hit by gunfire.

Torres and one of his friends were shot.

The friend was able to get out of the car and get help from neighbors along nearby Peachtree Street.

The third person in the the vehicle drove Torres to a hospital where he died.

Based on the information in the affidavit, it appears Maxwell mistook their car for the one carrying his girlfriend.

Leon Valley police obtained a warrant for his arrest earlier this week, then took him into custody during a traffic stop Thursday.

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Trump noted that the size of the office has been “way too high for way too long” and that “if he cut, I wouldn’t mind that."

“He'll do a very good job,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One as he traveled to Wisconsin for an event on agriculture. “He'll watch it closely, but Bill Pulte is very good, he's very talented.”

The Republican president said in an earlier interview with The Wall Street Journal that he has asked Pulte to start the process of firing employees. In the interview, Trump said he has already conveyed his view to Pulte, who has served as head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency but has no apparent national security expertise.

“I’d like to see it smaller. I think there are a lot of people in there that shouldn’t be there,” Trump said, which the Journal said was in reference to intelligence community officials who had served in the Democratic administrations of Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama.

Trump told the Journal that he wants Pulte to “start the process” of firing personnel and that the eventual permanent director of national intelligence should continue it. The president has indicated that he would not formally nominate Pulte for the position.

“Frankly, it might be good for him to shake it up before people come,” Trump said. “Because, if he (Pulte) reduced the size, in conjunction with me … and in conjunction with possibly the person coming in … he can do a lot of the hard work and we wouldn’t have to saddle somebody that goes in.”

Pulte was tapped by the president earlier this week in a surprising move that has been met with bipartisan resistance in the Senate, which confirms presidential nominations. The temporary appointment has now snarled the renewal of a critical national security surveillance program on Capitol Hill, with Democrats key to the vote pointing out that they did not trust Pulte — whose office oversees 18 intelligence agencies — to help administer the surveillance program.

Trump told reporters on Air Force One that Pulte will stay in the position depending on how long it takes to get his successor confirmed. The president also said he was considering five people who were “all very good, all people that you know very well, all people that do that kind of thing.”

“They're very respected people,” Trump said of his intelligence candidates, without naming them.

Under Pulte’s predecessor, Tulsi Gabbard, the DNI office had already taken steps to scale back its size. In August, the Trump administration said that the office’s budget would be cut by more than $700 million per year, while slashing the size of its workforce.

At the time, Gabbard said the office had become “bloated and inefficient” while she announced the roughly 40% workforce reduction.

Gabbard resigned last month after revealing her husband’s cancer diagnosis.

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Kim reported from Washington.

The three-time AL MVP will rest and have limited activity before getting re-evaluated and having additional imaging in about four to six weeks. The Yankees said in a statement that Judge is expected to return “at some point this season.”

“Very disappointed,” Judge said before the Yankees opened a three-game series against the Red Sox. “That’s why we went through every measure we could to get an expert to take a look to see what was going on in there, but definitely not what you want to hear — any fracture or anything like that.”

“He really is going to have some downtime,” general manager Brian Cashman said. “So once he gets cleared to have the imaging and stuff like that, hopefully it comes back positive at that point and then we can start mapping out a return to play protocol and expect him back and get a clearer picture of when that would be.”

Judge underwent a CT scan on Thursday and had an MRI earlier in the week when he met with a specialist. The Yankees initially said Judge had shoulder soreness before clarifying the injury was to a rib on his right side, which was first revealed when Judge underwent testing on Monday, the team’s off day.

Judge said he first experienced pain while making a diving catch on April 26 in Houston and added that crashing into the right-field fence to complete a catch on May 3 against Baltimore “didn’t help.” The pain intensified last weekend, when he was 2 for 12 against the Athletics, leading to an array of tests and findings from Dr. Gregory Pearl, a vascular surgery specialist in Dallas.

“I kind of felt the symptoms for the past month and we did everything we could to make sure, we could be out there,” Judge said. “In Sacramento it just got a little worse. So, I fought it as long as I could.”

Including a stint on the COVID-19 injured list in July 2021, Judge is on the IL for the 10th time since debuting Aug. 13, 2016. He missed 45 games with a fractured right wrist in 2018, 54 games with a strained left oblique in 2019 and 42 games with a fractured toe in 2023 after crashing into a wall while making a catch at Dodger Stadium.

In 2023, the Yankees went 19-23 while Judge was on the injured list. In 2019, they were 37-17 and 25-20 the previous season.

“Obviously you’re not going to replace Aaron Judge, and we all know how important he is to our club, but we’re also very confident in our ability to go out there and absolutely have the expectation to continue to win games,” manager Aaron Boone said.

The Yankees recalled Spencer Jones from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre for his second stint with the team to replace Judge.

Jones went 4 for 24 on May 8-21 after being called up to replace Jasson Domínguez, who injured the AC joint in his shoulder while crashing into the left-field fence on a catch against Brandon Nimmo on May 7 against Texas.

Judge has a rib injury for the second time in his career.

He was diagnosed with a stress fracture in one of his right ribs in March 2020. The injury occurred when he dived for a ball in September 2019, but Judge didn’t miss any time because of the 2020 season being delayed by the pandemic.

The 34-year-old is hitting .248 with 17 home runs and 38 RBIs. But he has just one homer in his last 18 games since May 10 and ended an 11-game homer and RBI drought with a game-ending, two-run drive on May 24 against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Judge entered the game against Tampa Bay in a 1-for-24 slump that dropped his batting average to .246. He was hitless in 15 at-bats before singling in the first inning.

“That was probably the biggest thing,” Judge said. “I just couldn’t swing the way I wanted to.”

Judge won the batting title last season, when he hit a career-high .331 with 53 homers and 114 RBIs in 152 games. He missed 10 games from July 26-Aug. 4 with a flexor strain in his right elbow that he sustained on a throw to home July 22 in Toronto. He underwent a plasma-rich injection and did not require offseason surgery.

Giancarlo Stanton played 17 games in the outfield when Judge was hurt last season. Stanton has been out since April 24 with a strained right calf and started taking live at-bats on the field Wednesday, though he was ruled out for New York’s upcoming road trip.

José Caballero started the first two games against Cleveland and has made four starts in right field since being acquired from Tampa Bay at the July 31 trade deadline. Max Schuemann made his first career start in right field Thursday and made a diving catch on Steven Kwan in the second along with a leaping catch on Brayan Rocchio in the seventh.

Judge had started 52 games in right field. Jones made his fifth start in right field Friday and Cody Bellinger has started two games.

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

The microreactor being developed by Antares Nuclear Inc. at the Idaho National Lab reached “criticality” on Thursday, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said. The milestone occurs when a nuclear reactor achieves a self-sustaining chain reaction capable of producing a steady release of energy.

Antares is the first private company to bring an advanced reactor to criticality under a pilot program begun last year by the Trump administration meant to supercharge nuclear energy production in the U.S. The demonstration was conducted in partnership with the Energy Department and other contractors with support from the U.S. Army.

“We are very excited by this news today,” Wright said Friday on a call with reporters. “I think June 4th will be a historic day in the American nuclear renaissance.”

Antares and its partners "have shown America can do bold things,” Wright added. “America has great technology, great entrepreneurs that are ready to drive energy innovation to power our future, lower energy costs and make our country more powerful."

Trump administration pushing to ramp up nuclear power

The achievement shows that the Trump administration’s push to remove regulatory barriers is helping to advance new nuclear technologies, Wright said.

President Donald Trump signed executive orders in May 2025 intended to speed up the development of nuclear power, including steps that grant Wright authority to approve some advanced reactor designs and projects. Trump's orders limit some authority of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the independent safety agency that has regulated the U.S. nuclear industry for five decades.

Skeptics warn that nuclear energy poses risks and say microreactors may not be safe or feasible and have not proved they can meet demand for a reasonable price.

While the Antares system is years away from commercial use, achieving criticality is a notable step. The California-based company, which is initially targeting military applications, said it expects to begin producing electricity by late 2027 and see its systems deployed in the field by the end of 2028, CEO Jordan Bramble said Friday.

"Nuclear in America has been defined for too long by delays, by companies that said they would and then didn’t,” Bramble said in a written statement.

At a briefing on Friday, Bramble said achieving criticality “is the first step on a roadmap toward producing electricity ahead of deploying this technology for customer sites.”

“Microreactors are a technology that’s here today," he added. “2026 is the year where microreactors are becoming real. We’re months to years out from being able to start deploying this technology to military installations.”

July 4 goal for test reactors

The Trump administration has set a goal of achieving the criticality milestone in at least three test reactors by July 4 — the nation's 250th anniversary.

Officials have selected 11 advanced reactor projects, including Antares, to move their technologies toward deployment.

In February, the Pentagon and the Energy Department for the first time airlifted a small nuclear reactor from California to Utah, demonstrating what they say is the country's potential to quickly deploy nuclear power for military and civilian use. The nearly 700-mile flight transported a 5-megawatt microreactor manufactured by Valar Atomics in southern California to Hill Air Force Base in Utah.

The reactor — which did not have nuclear fuel — eventually will be able to generate up to 5 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 5,000 homes, said Isaiah Taylor, CEO of Valar Atomics. The company hopes to start selling power on a test basis next year and become fully commercial in 2028, he said.

Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the transport flight, which attracted significant news coverage, was little more than a publicity stunt.

He offered a similar response to the claims by Antares and Wright.

“This stunt is a rudimentary first step that has absolutely no bearing on whether the Antares reactor will be safe or commercially viable,” Lyman said in an email Friday.

The Energy Department's statement that the test “confirms that the reactor can operate safely” is false, Lyman said, adding that more testing of the reactor is needed.

The administration has not resolved how nuclear waste will be disposed, although Wright has said the Energy Department is in talks with Utah and other states to host sites that could reprocess fuel or handle permanent disposal. States including Tennessee, Nebraska and Idaho have expressed interest in handling nuclear waste.

“They can watch it on television,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Friday as he flew to Wisconsin for an event with farmers, after he was asked about tickets that have climbed as high as $8,000 each when the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs square off in Manhattan for the first time in the series.

"It’s sorta semi-free to watch it on television,” the president added. “That’s the way life goes.”

Trump further noted that if the Knicks weren't successful — as they haven't been most seasons since last advancing to the finals in 1999 — “you could go very easily.”

The president of course doesn't have to purchase tickets to attend major sporting events. Trump has been to a lot of them in his second term, including the 2025 Super Bowl, Daytona 500 and Ryder Cup.

But a centerpiece of his reelection campaign was a promise to tame inflation and bring down the price of groceries and other cost-of-living essentials. He has increasingly come under pressure to make good on that pledge as November midterm elections draw nearer — and as the war in Iran has caused gas prices to spike and global commodities markets to wobble, raising new fears about inflation and the strength of the U.S. economy.

A longtime Knicks fan, Trump said on Air Force One that he watched Game 1, which New York won 105-95 in San Antonio. “I think the Knicks have an amazing team the way they played," he said.

“Started off slow and it just got stronger and stronger," Trump said of Game 1. He pointed to Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns when asked to name his favorite player on the team.

Trump was also asked about Spurs star Victor Wembanyama having stood with his arms crossed for the national anthem before Game 1. That touched off a conservative firestorm online, even though Wembanyama is French, meaning his country's anthem wasn't being played.

Trump was complimentary of Wembanyama, saying that he “looks like he's gonna be a great player.” But he ducked a chance to weigh in on the national anthem controversy, suggesting he'd not seen Wembanyamba's crossed arms.

"Is that what he did? What did he mean by that?” Trump asked, before recommending that reporters seek the answer from Wembanyama himself.

Trump confirming his attendance for Game 3 follows NBA Commissioner Adam Silver saying on Wednesday that a presidential appearance at a finals game might be unifying in “our increasingly divided society.”

“It creates a sense of connectivity among people," Silver said. "It creates a sense of belonging, and I feel that every day.”

___

Weissert reported from Washington.

__

An earlier version of this story said the Knicks were last in the NBA Finals in 1994. The last year the team competed in the Finals was 1999.

The Bears' board of directors voted Thursday to move forward with a stadium development project in Hammond, Indiana. The team had been doing its due diligence on a tract of land near Wolf Lake, but it said Friday that an exact site had not been selected.

“We believe a world-class stadium project in Hammond will transform the region, connecting Northwest Indiana to the South Side of Chicago through the Loop and across neighborhoods and suburbs stretching north of the city," the Bears said in a statement that the team attributed to chairman George McCaskey and team president Kevin Warren. "It will bring Chicagoland together and deliver new opportunities to its residents and businesses.”

Indiana Gov. Mike Braun welcomed the team's announcement. A committee in the Indiana House of Representatives passed a bill in February that established a Northwest Indiana Stadium Authority to finance, construct and lease a stadium.

“We look forward to building a partnership as strong as the ’85 Bears defense, creating opportunities and economic growth that will benefit our state and the Bears organization for decades to come," Braun said in a statement. “An NFL franchise in Northwest Indiana will be an economic boost to the entire region like we haven’t seen before.”

The Bears, a charter NFL franchise, have played in Illinois since the team’s founding in 1920 as the Decatur Staleys. They moved to Chicago in 1921 and called Wrigley Field home before they started playing at Soldier Field in September 1971.

The Bears’ lease runs through 2033, but they can pay a fee to break the lease early. Soldier Field is about 40 miles south of Halas Hall — the team's headquarters in Lake Forest, Illinois — and Hammond is about 20 miles south of the team's lakefront stadium.

Matt Hill, a spokesperson for Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, said the governor "remains open to a sensible solution that protects taxpayers.”

“The Bears have built a storied legacy in Illinois for over 100 years but have spent the last six years, and especially the last few months, shifting their position on a stadium location," Hill said in a statement. “That has hindered their progress. Today appears to be another instance of that after Illinois leaders have been working with the Bears in good faith.”

The Bears also had been considering Arlington Heights — about 30 miles northwest of Chicago — as a potential location for their new stadium.

The Illinois Senate passed a bill early Monday morning that would have cleared the way for Arlington Heights and Chicago to create local stadium authorities, creating a pathway for the Bears to avoid paying property taxes on a new stadium in Illinois. But the House adjourned without taking up the measure on the last day of the state’s spring legislative session.

State Rep. Kam Buckner, whose district includes Soldier Field, posted on social media that he spoke with Warren on Friday morning.

“He ended the conversation by committing to continue discussions around their pursuit of a new stadium in Illinois,” Buckner said.

While the Bears said as recently as May 21 that Hammond and Arlington Heights were the only sites under consideration, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has been lobbying for the team to stay in the city.

The mayor's office issued a statement that said the city "will continue to engage in discussions grounded in the interests of our residents."

The Bears still have to secure NFL approval for the location of their new stadium. NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said the team has kept the league apprised of all developments.

The Bears have been pursuing a new home for years, but the process has been hampered by repeated twists and turns.

The team announced in September 2021 that it had signed a purchase agreement for 326 acres of land in Arlington Heights. The $197 million deal with Churchill Downs Incorporated was finalized in 2023.

In September 2022, the team unveiled a nearly $5 billion plan for Arlington Heights that called for an enclosed stadium that could host Super Bowls and Final Fours. The conceptual illustrations also provided for a year-round entertainment district with restaurants and shopping.

But the Bears shifted their focus toward building a new stadium next to Soldier Field after Warren was hired as team president in January 2023, replacing the retiring Ted Phillips. The plan to transform Chicago’s Museum Campus got an enthusiastic endorsement from Johnson and a tepid reception from Pritzker and state legislators when it was announced in April 2024.

The team switched gears again in May 2025, announcing it had made “significant progress” with local leaders in Arlington Heights.

Amid lingering efforts to secure tax incentives in Illinois, along with as much as $855 million in public money for infrastructure at the Arlington Heights site, the Bears began to take a closer look at possible options in Northwest Indiana.

Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. said the Bears decided on Hammond because it's “a successful city of opportunity and possibility, an excellent choice for such a significant investment.”

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/NFL

Danny Green, a former Spur-turned-ESPN analyst, said returning to the city where he spent most of his career brought back a lot of great memories.

“Being in the building for the game yesterday (Wednesday), it felt like I didn’t need a credential, which says a lot for the ‘White House of the NBA,” Green told KSAT on Thursday.

Green wore the Silver and Black from 2010-2018. In all, Green has been an NBA champion three times: San Antonio (2014), Toronto (2019) and Los Angeles (2020) during his 15-year NBA career.

“In the building, people showed me so much a lot of love and energy, but also being able to spend time here again is such a blessing,” Green said.

While back in town, Green has made his ESPN colleagues aware of he what believes are the best food spots in San Antonio. One of those recommendations was Mi Tierra Cafe, located in Market Square.

As for the series, Green said the Spurs played well in Game 1 Wednesday night, but he suggested they bring more tenacity and improving their shooting.

“I like that they are confident, and they been through a lot with OKC,” Green said. “They gotta bounce back, but they got to bring some tenacity. Bring some nasty — and a sense of urgency.”

In addition to his analyst role with ESPN, Green also has a podcast he co-hosts called “Inside the Green Room” with ESPN Radio and MSG Networks host Harrison Sanford.

Green said his transition from professional athlete to an on-air personality was seamless, crediting former NBA player Rick Fox and legendary ESPN Sportscenter anchor Stuart Scott as key influences.

More recent Race for Seis coverage on KSAT:

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• Spurs enter NBA Finals while sports bets boom in revenue, despite remaining illegal in Texas
• San Antonio Spurs, NBA unveil renovated spaces at Denver Heights Community Center

Attorney Yaakov Roth, speaking during an exchange with U.S. Appeals Court Judge Patricia Millett, said only Congress could halt the $400 million project. The administration has been asking the court to allow it to press on with the ballroom without congressional approval.

At issue is an April 16 order from U.S. District Judge Richard Leon for Trump’s Republican administration to halt aboveground work on the 90,000-square-foot (8,400-square-meter) ballroom. Leon, who was nominated to the bench by Republican President George W. Bush, allowed for construction to continue on belowground work on a bunker and other “national security facilities” at the site.

The hearing Friday centered on who has standing to challenge government steps once they have already been taken and whether that standing overrides national security.

In response to hypothetical scenarios put forward by Millett, Roth agreed that the government could bulldoze the Statue of Liberty and the White House — and the descendants of immigrants who came through Ellis Island and the enslaved people who built the White House would not have legal standing to oppose the move after the fact.

Millett, nominated to the bench by Democratic President Barack Obama, asked Roth when the construction on the ballroom was a “fait accompli?”

“Was it when you started doing the underground work, which is now totally completely integral and connected and inseparable from a massive ballroom on top?" she asked. "When did it become impossible for courts to stop this project?”

Roth replied: “I think it would have been improper to enjoin it even on Day One."

The exchange was one of many during the two-hour hearing before the three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The hearing concluded without a decision by the judges.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation sued to challenge the project in December, a week after the White House finished demolishing the East Wing to make way for a ballroom that Trump said would fit 999 people.

It is hard to determine how the judges might rule. While there were numerous questions for Roth over the administration’s authority and changing explanations of how it is moving forward, plaintiff attorney Tad Heuer also faced numerous questions.

The judges pressed Heuer on standing in the case and on how basic aesthetic questions can override the national security concerns.

“We have never opposed the underground construction of the bunker, which is where the government until recently has said the national security concerns lay,” Heuer said. He said construction should be halted until Congress weighs in.

“Congress can allow ballrooms to be built — it’s its property,” Heuer said.

Government lawyers have argued that the project includes critical security features to guard against a range of threats, such as drones, ballistic missiles and biohazards.

“These upgrades, alterations, and improvements are essential to protecting the President, his family, and his staff, as well as the White House itself, and the entire project flows from them,” they wrote in a court filing.

In its announcement Thursday, S&P Dow Jones Indices said its index committee weighed responses received from a “wide range of market participants,” but ultimately decided not to make any changes to its criteria for determining when a company should be added to the S&P 500, S&P MidCap 400, or S&P SmallCap 600 indexes.

Some of the criteria for inclusion include headquarters in the United States, listing on NYSE or Nasdaq and profitability over the past year.

S&P also requires companies that complete IPOs to be traded on an “eligible exchange” for at least 12 months before they can be considered for inclusion into an index. The committee weighed shortening that requirement to six months, but opted not to do so.

The committee also decided against creating exceptions to its guidelines solely based on market capitalization, or how the stock market gauges a company’s value.

The move by S&P comes as other major U.S. index operators have taken steps to add very large companies soon after they make their stock market debut.

In March, Nasdaq announced new guidelines that allow for expediting the addition of large companies fresh off their initial public offerings into its benchmark Nasdaq 100 Index.

Nasdaq's guideline change is meant to ensure that the index, which tracks the 100 largest, non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq, accurately reflects the market sooner, rather than possibly months after a very large company goes public.

In its decision, S&P noted that there may be trade-offs in sticking to its guidelines for index eligibility, but said its current approach provides its indexes “substantial market coverage and sector balance.”

Many pension plans and mutual funds use S&P and Nasdaq indexes as an investing benchmark.

The moves by S&P and Nasdaq come as several of the biggest artificial intelligence companies in the U.S. are setting the stage for blockbuster IPOs this year.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is expected to go public this month with plans to raise up to $75 billion, which would make it the largest-ever stock market debut.

Meanwhile, Anthropic, the maker of the Claude chatbot, announced Monday its plans for a proposed IPO, while OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT, is planning an IPO as soon as this fall.

Employers added 172,000 jobs in May – roughly double what forecasters had expected – and the unemployment rate remained at a low 4.3%, the Labor Department reported Friday.

Job growth was down slightly last month from a revised 179,000 in April.

Hiring has bounced back this year from a miserable 2025, showing resilience in the face of economic uncertainty and painfully high energy prices since the Iran war started in late February.

The job gains are broad-based. Local governments added 55,000 workers, restaurants and bars 48,000, healthcare companies 35,000.

In another sign of job market strength, Labor Department revisions added a combined 93,000 jobs in March and April. Job growth averaged 188,000 a month from March through May, marking the best three months of hiring since early 2024.

“The hiring recession is over. American firms are hiring again,’’ said Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union. "The job rebound is happening in almost every industry ... This is encouraging news for job seekers and for the U.S. economy. The labor market has stabilized and is showing early signs of a genuine rebound.’’

With just five months to go before consequential midterm elections in the U.S., Americans have grown increasingly frustrated by rising costs, and it’s unclear if the strong job numbers this year will change their gloomy view of the economy.

Inflation data last week showed that in addition to gasoline, prices for groceries, clothing and electricity are also on the rise, indicating that inflation may be growing more entrenched.

Polls show that Trump’s approval rating on the economy is falling sharply after being reelected largely on the promise of taming inflation.

And despite the pickup in hiring, wage gains were modest. Average hourly wages rose 0.3% from April and 3.4% from May 2025.

Many young people are still finding it tough to catch a break on a job, and workers who have been laid off have struggled to find another. Nearly 28% of the unemployed in April had been jobless for more than six months, the largest share since December 2021.

But the labor market is clearly improving. Last year, employers added just 9,700 jobs a month, the fewest outside of a recession since 2002. Hiring has rebounded, averaging 114,000 new jobs a month so far this year.

Friday's report "really is a positive surprise, particularly given the headwinds from the Iran conflict, which clearly led to much higher energy prices and which are going to act to slow economic activity to some degree,’’ said Ryan Nunn, research director at Yale University’s Budget Lab.

The economy, Nunn said, has been boosted by a surge in investment in artificial intelligence. Also helping are lower tariff rates since President Donald Trump has effectively lowered the massive import taxes he imposed last year – and the Supreme Court in February struck down his most sweeping levies, setting the stage for businesses to get back money they'd paid.

Big tax refunds — the product of Trump’s 2025 tax cuts — have given the economy a lift, offsetting the impact of higher energy prices. But the refunds have mostly been pocketed, and gasoline prices have remained above $4 per gallon since March.

U.S. financial markets retreated after the jobs data was released Friday. Healthy hiring has raised the odds that the Fed's next move will be an interest rate increase, a sharp change from the start of the year when central bank officials had still penciled in two rate cuts for 2026.

Wall Street now expects a rate hike in December, which would be sharply at odds with Trump’s repeated demands for a cut. An increase by the Fed could lead, over time, to higher borrowing costs for mortgages, auto loans, and business loans.

“Higher rates are coming, particularly when inflation is above target and clearly moving in the wrong direction,” said Dario Perkins, an economist at TS Lombard. “The only question is when.”

Uncle Giuseppe’s Marketplace, which operates 12 grocery stores across New York and New Jersey, is on a hiring spree. President Mike Nelson announced last fall that he wanted to add 1,000 workers over the next year, pushing the company's payroll over 3,500.

Nelson says his problem is finding skilled workers.

“We’re looking for a butcher who can cut meat in the store and engage with our customers and give them cooking ideas and speak to them about what makes the product special,” he said. “You don’t find that everywhere now.”

Like other grocery stores, Uncle Giuseppe’s has benefited as Americans cut back on dinners out as the cost of living marches higher. The company is marketing specials to lure inflation-scarred shoppers, like a $39.99 chicken Parmesan and pasta meal for a family of four that includes a loaf of bread and a salad.

Michael Wieder, the co-founder of the baby products maker Lalo, is also hiring a few new workers.

Wieder is feeling optimistic because he expects $2 million in tariff refunds after the trade policies of President Trump were shot down by the courts. He is planning to use that money for hiring, but gotten less than $50,000 back to date.

He has roughly 20 employees who work in marketing, operations, customer service and other areas for his New York company. He said he's looking for applicants that will embrace artificial intelligence. Lalo has already been using AI tools in areas like marketing and plans to launch an AI tool on Monday that helps parents potty train their children.

“We’re evaluating the type of people we hire in this rapidly changing environment,” he said.

_____

AP Economics Writer Christopher Rugaber contributed to this report.

Anne D'Innocenzio reported from New York.

Thursday's letter, the first public message Zelenskyy has written directly to Putin since Russia sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, was a sweeping critique of the Russian leader’s 26 years in power as well as some taunts about his age.

Speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Putin described Zelenskyy’s open letter proposing the meeting as “boorish.”

“Is it a way to create conditions for personal meetings and talks, or create an environment which makes any personal meetings impossible?” Putin said at a question-and-answer session at his annual St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. “I think it’s the second.”

Putin added that a Russian businessman whom he didn’t identify traveled to Kyiv last month and met with Zelenskyy to hear his offer of a personal meeting.

However, Putin said that he currently sees “no point” in such a meeting, especially after a May 22 drone attack by Ukraine on a college dormitory in the Russian-controlled Luhansk region that Moscow said killed 21 and wounded scores of others.

In response to Zelenskyy’s barbs about his age and long stay in power, the 73-year-old Putin pointed at other global leaders who are older, adding that “the main thing isn’t age; the main thing is the ability to work.”

He also mocked Zelenskyy's rocky Oval Office meeting in 2025 and thanked U.S. President Donald Trump for “educating” Zelenskyy “before the eyes of the whole world” and teaching him a proper dress code.

“There is still a lot to be done,” he said.

Zelenskyy acknowledged shifting U.S. priorities, saying it would be wrong to simply wait for the Trump administration to return its attention to ending the fighting in Ukraine while it remains heavily focused on the Iran war.

In Washington, Trump said Thursday it “would be great” if Putin and Zelenskyy meet.

Putin has previously offered for Zelenskyy to come to Moscow for talks, an offer that the Ukrainian leader pointedly rejected. Putin said last month he doesn’t exclude a meeting in a third country, but only when there is a deal to sign.

On Thursday, Putin again rejected Zelenskyy’s push for an immediate ceasefire, arguing that Moscow wants a comprehensive settlement, not a temporary truce.

Putin said Russia is open for a compromise on Ukraine in line with understandings reached at his last year’s summit with Trump in Anchorage, Alaska, adding that Ukraine needs to accept them to make a deal to end the conflict.

“Naturally, the Ukrainian side would like us to suspend the advances made by Russian troops,” he said. “But it would be better to end the war by agreeing to the compromises that were discussed in Anchorage.”

Asked about Iran, Putin voiced hope for an eventual deal to secure lasting peace. He shrugged off claims that Moscow provided Iran with satellite images, saying that Tehran could use widely available commercial ones.

"As for weapons, Iran hasn’t asked us for them and we haven’t supplied any weapons to Iran,” he said, adding that Russia stands ready to take enriched uranium for storage as part of a potential peace deal, and that Moscow has stayed in contact with Iran, the U.S. and Israel.

Global turbulence

In a speech earlier Friday at the forum, Putin said developing countries have gained an increasingly important role in the global economy, while the share of output by Western countries has shrunk.

He accused the West of undermining the global economy and finances with unilateral sanctions. By freezing Russian assets abroad through sanctions, Western nations eroded trust in their own currencies, he said.

“The sanctions and blocking of Russia’s sovereign reserves have irreversibly impacted the standing of international currencies, the dollar and the euro,” he said. “Just like Russia, any other country could lose access to their legitimate assets in dollars or euros, as well as Western financial and payment systems.”

He alleged that high state debt had helped undermine global trust in Western institutions.

“The roots of the current global turbulence lie in the transition from a vertical, hierarchical model, which served the interests of a small number of states, to a more complex, distributed and multipolar one,” Putin said. “Russia views global changes not only as a threat but also as immense opportunities. And to capitalize on them, we aim to act swiftly and pragmatically.”

The Russian leader said the world needed a “modern, flexible and responsible financial architecture — free from risks, bans and barriers.”

Putin stresses Russia's macroeconomic stability

Putin played down Russia’s economic slowdown and sought to emphasize its macroeconomic stability. He noted that Russia’s state debt is a fraction of that in Western countries and its budget deficit is considerably smaller, compared with the West.

The forum comes at a time when Russia’s economic outlook has clouded amid the conflict in Ukraine. The government raised taxes and increased domestic borrowing to keep its budget deficit under control.

On Thursday, Putin told heads of international media on the forum's sidelines that it was an exaggeration to say Russia's economy was struggling. He noted that his government had taken deliberate steps to cool the economy to keep inflation under control.

Putin has used the St. Petersburg forum, likened to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to showcase his country’s economic advances and encourage foreign investment. While Western officials and business leaders have stayed away after Putin sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, Russia has sought guests from elsewhere to underline its declared goal of promoting a “multipolar world.”

Saudi Arabia sent a large delegation this year, and the presidents of Uzbekistan and Tanzania and vice president of China also gave speeches Friday. A U.S. official, Rodney Mims Cook Jr., head of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, is attending for the first time in years.

Cook was singled out in the audience during a question-and-answer session following Putin's speech. Cook praised the beauty of St. Petersburg and Putin thanked him for the remarks about his hometown and asked to convey his greetings to Trump.

Hours before the forum opened Wednesday, a Ukrainian drone attack set ablaze an oil terminal in St. Petersburg and also hit a nearby naval base.

Putin declared that Russia was “calmly and resolutely” moving to reach its goals in Ukraine. He acknowledged the damage from Ukrainian drone attacks deep inside Russia and vowed to build up defenses.

“They do inflict a certain damage,” he said. “For us, it means only one thing: we need to strengthen our security, strengthen air defenses, and we will do that.”