Starmer’s former chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, is due to testify to a group of legislators investigating how Mandelson, a scandal-tainted friend of Jeffrey Epstein, was given the key diplomatic job despite failing security checks.

The House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee will quiz McSweeney on Tuesday morning, before the whole house debates a demand by the opposition Conservative Party for Parliament’s Privileges Committee to investigate Starmer’s explanations of how Mandelson came to be appointed.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said that Starmer had “misled the House of Commons repeatedly” when he said that “full due process” was followed over Mandelson’s appointment.

It's a potentially dangerous day for Starmer, who has spent weeks fending off calls to resign over the Mandelson saga. Starmer fired Mandelson in September after new details emerged about the ambassador's friendship with Epstein, a convicted sex offender who died in prison in 2019.

Police opened an investigation into Mandelson in February over allegations that he passed on sensitive government information to Epstein when he was a member of the U.K. government in 2009.

McSweeney, a protégé of Mandelson who served as Starmer’s top aide, resigned in February, saying he took responsibility for appointing him as ambassador. He's certain to be asked about allegations by Olly Robbins, the former top civil servant at the Foreign Office, that Starmer’s staff pressured officials to rush through the confirmation so that Mandelson could be in the post at the start of the second term of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Ian Collard, the senior security official who briefed Robbins on the security checks, also said that there was “pressure to deliver a rapid outcome,” though he said that it didn't affect his judgment.

Starmer has denied that anyone in his office put pressure on the civil service.

The prime minister fired Robbins earlier this month after the revelation that Mandelson was approved for the job against the recommendation of the government’s security vetting agency. Starmer has called it “staggering” that Foreign Office officials failed to tell him about the security concerns.

Critics say Starmer’s decision to appoint Mandelson in the first place is evidence of bad judgment by a prime minister who has made repeated missteps since he led the center-left Labour Party to a landslide election victory in July 2024.

Starmer already defused one potential crisis in February, when some Labour lawmakers urged him to quit over the Mandelson appointment. He could face a new challenge if, as expected, Labour takes a hammering in local and regional elections on May 7, which give voters a chance to pass a midterm verdict on the government.

It would require a large number of Labour lawmakers to vote with the opposition on Tuesday for Starmer to be referred to the Privileges Committee, which has the power to suspend lawmakers, including the prime minister, from Parliament, for breaches of the rules.

Starmer urged Labour lawmakers to “stick together” and vote against the motion, calling it a “stunt” timed to damage the government before the May elections.

Censure by the committee exerts considerable moral pressure on politicians to resign. Its investigation into lockdown-breaking gatherings in government offices during the COVID-19 pandemic helped end the political career of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Johnson quit as a lawmaker in 2023 after the committee found that he had repeatedly misled Parliament over the “Partygate” scandal.

The plot was thwarted, but Austrian authorities still canceled Swift's three performances in August 2024. The singer's fans, known as Swifties, who had flown to Austria from across the globe to attend a performance of her record-setting Eras Tour were devastated, but rallied to turn Vienna into a citywide trading post for friendship bracelets and singalongs.

The defendant, a 21-year-old Austrian citizen known only as Beran A. in line with Austrian privacy rules, faces charges including terrorist offenses and membership in a terrorist organization. He could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.

He is facing trial alongside Arda K., whose full name also has not been made public. They along, with a third man, planned to carry out simultaneous attacks in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates during Ramadan in 2024 in the name of the Islamic State group. Beran A. and Arda K. never carried out their attacks.

Beran A.'s defense attorney, Anna Mair, on Monday told The Associated Press that her client plans to plead guilty to most of the charges but she did not specify which ones. Only Beran A. is charged in connection with the Taylor Swift plot.

He allegedly planned to target onlookers gathered outside Ernst Happel Stadium — up to 30,000 each night, with another 65,000 inside the venue — with knives or homemade explosives. The suspect hoped to “kill as many people as possible,” authorities said in 2024. The U.S. provided intelligence that fed into the decision to cancel the concerts.

Beran A. also allegedly networked with other members of the Islamic State group ahead of the planned attack. Prosecutors say they discussed purchasing weapons and making bombs, and that the defendant also sought to illegally buy weapons in the days ahead of the performance. In addition, he swore allegiance to the militant group.

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

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

The trial is being held in Wiener Neustadt, about an hour south of Vienna. The proceedings are set to continue May 12.

Three attacks planned in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and UAE

Prosecutors have also filed terrorism-related charges against Arda K. in the trial in connection with the plan for simultaneous attacks in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.

The third man in that plot, Hasan E., allegedly stabbed a security guard with a knife at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on March 11, 2024. He was arrested and remains in pretrial detention in Saudi Arabia, Austrian prosecutors said.

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

The Vienna plot drew comparisons to a 2017 attack by a suicide bomber at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, that killed 22 people. The bomb detonated at the end of Grande’s concert as thousands of young fans were leaving, becoming the deadliest extremist attack in the United Kingdom in recent years.

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Dazio reported from Berlin.

Despite a tenuous ceasefire, the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed. Much of Asia, including resource-poor Japan, relies on that route for its oil shipments.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 1% to 59,917.46 after the central bank opted to keep its key interest rate unchanged at 0.75%.

The Bank of Japan said that while the economy was still growing moderately it was expected to slow as the war pushes for crude oil and other products higher. The vote by its monetary policy board at 6-3 was not unanimous. Pressures have been growing for Japan to gradually raise interest rates after keeping them near or below zero for years to combat deflation.

“There are various risks to the outlook," it said in a statement. “For the time being it is necessary to pay particular attention to the impact of the future course of the situation in the Middle East.”

Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea's Kospi edged up 0.4% to 6,641.02.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng dipped 1.1% to 25,642.69, while the Shanghai Composite shed 0.3% to 4,074.47.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.6% to 8,710.70.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude to be delivered in June climbed $1.85 to $110.08. Brent to be delivered in July, which is where more of the trading is happening in the oil market, rose $2 to $103.69 per barrel.

Brent prices were at about $70 per barrel before the war and have briefly shot to nearly $120. Benchmark U.S. crude added $1.43 to $97.80 a barrel.

The U.S. Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, and Bank of England will also be announcing interest-rate decisions this week.

On Monday, the S&P 500 inched 0.1% higher to its latest all-time high, at 7,137.91, a downshift following weeks of big gains driven by strong corporate profit reports and hopes that the economy can avoid a worst-case scenario despite the war.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.1% to 49,167.79. The Nasdaq composite index edged 0.2% higher.

Investors are also looking ahead to earnings reports from some of Wall Street’s most influential stocks, including Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms, Microsoft and Apple.

In the bond market, Treasury yields ticked higher following the rise in oil prices. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 4.33% from 4.31% late Friday.

In currency trading early Tuesday, the U.S. dollar inched down to 159.04 Japanese yen from 159.42 yen. The euro cost $1.1702, down from $1.1720.

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Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama

“We just didn’t quit,” Theodore said.

Game 5 in the best-of-seven series is Wednesday night in Las Vegas.

The Golden Knights appeared to have won the game earlier in OT when Pavel Dorofeyev tapped in a loose puck with 9:41 left, but the apparent score was waved off when it was determined Vegas was offside.

“It was good we never stopped,” Theodore said. “It sucks that one got called back, but it was good to get it done.”

Vegas’ Brett Howden scored his second goal of the game on a tip-in with 9:35 remaining in the third period, and that forced overtime after Utah had stormed back with four straight goals.

“I liked the way we responded in the third after they scored,” Howden said. “We stuck with it.”

The Golden Knights raced out to a 3-0 lead with two goals in the first and one early in the second by Dorofeyev, Howden and Cole Smith.

Utah countered with four straight scores, capped by Clayton Keller’s wrist shot off a deflection for a 4-3 lead at the 5:10 mark of the third period.

“I’m proud of the way our guys responded to adversity,” Utah coach Andre Tourigny said. “It was a hard-fought game. We know how good they can be and I think we responded well in the second half of the game.”

Utah’s Karel Vejmelka stopped 31 shots. Carter Hart made 29 saves for Vegas.

Facing a three-goal deficit, Utah’s Nick Schmaltz and Ian Cole scored 29 seconds apart in the second period to set the Mammoth’s comeback in motion. Schmaltz got Utah on the board at the 8:04 mark, and Cole followed with a 50-foot slap shot at 8:33 of the second.

Michael Carcone tied it on another slap shot at 1:44 of the third.

Dorofeyev flicked home a wrist shot to put the Golden Knights in front just 72 seconds into the first. Howden then threaded another wrist shot past Vejmelka’s skate for a short-handed goal with 1:22 left in the period.

Smith’s tip-in at 3:27 of the second gave the Golden Knights their third goal.

“We started really well, lost ourselves for a bit,” Vegas coach John Tortorella said. “Momentum swung to their side, but we hung in there.”

Utah fell behind early after struggling to create scoring chances during the first period. The Mammoth tallied three shots on goal over the first 20 minutes. Only one came outside of a power play.

Vegas allowed 30 shots on goal over the final two regulation periods and overtime.

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

Nikola Jokic snapped out of his prolonged funk with a triple-double, Spencer Jones provided a spark while subbing for injured Aaron Gordon, and the Nuggets staved off elimination with a chippy 125-113 win over the injury-riddled Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 5 of their playoff series Monday night.

“I think we're a multidimensional team that can win a variety of ways,” said Jones, who scored 20 points and keyed a third-quarter spurt that gave Denver its big cushion.

Jokic had 27 points, 16 assists and 12 rebounds for Denver, which trimmed its deficit to 3-2 in the best-of-seven series. Jamal Murray scored 24 points as the Nuggets, who led the NBA in scoring, enjoyed a breakout after being held under 100 points twice in Minneapolis.

Jokic posted his 23rd playoff triple-double, third on the career list, as the Nuggets stopped a three-game skid and played the way they did most of the regular season in securing the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference.

Game 6 is Thursday night in Minneapolis.

“They’re a championship team. They have championship DNA," said Julius Randle, who led Minnesota with 27 points. "They’re going to come out and have a sense of pride on their home court. They did that tonight. So, credit to them. We get to go back to Minnesota and have a chance to close it out.”

The Timberwolves, who trailed by 27, were without their starting backcourt of Anthony Edwards (hyperextended knee) and Donte DiVincenzo (ruptured Achilles), both of whom got hurt in Game 4, and they briefly lost center Naz Reid to a rolled right ankle late in the third quarter Monday night.

DiVincenzo underwent surgery Sunday, and Edwards is out indefinitely — but an MRI confirmed the absence of structural damage, meaning he could return to action if the Timberwolves advance.

Game 4 star Ayo Dosunmu added 18 points for Minnesota, but Rudy Gobert was finally neutralized. He scored his only bucket with 20 seconds remaining in the third quarter with the Wolves trailing by 25.

The Nuggets need to win the next two games to become just the 14th of 299 teams facing a 3-1 deficit to come back to win an NBA playoff series. Denver was the last team to accomplish the feat, doing it twice in the bubble in 2020, against the Jazz and Lakers.

The Wolves started out sloppy with nine first-quarter turnovers and finished with 25. Jokic swished a 29-foot 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Denver a 60-51 halftime lead.

“It’s just a good win and then you move on,” Nuggets coach David Adelman said. “Tomorrow we’ll sit down and talk with the guys, get them right, give us a chance to go through things on Wednesday and try to win on Thursday.”

Jones, who scored 11 points in the first four games of the series, had 11 in a six-minute stretch in the fourth quarter when the Nuggets pulled away. He sank a trio of 3-pointers and added a breakaway dunk after learning just before tipoff that he'd start in place of Gordon (calf).

Jaden McDaniels, whose meaningless layup in the final seconds of Game 4 drew the wrath of Jokic and led to a dustup that resulted in ejections and fines and only added more fuel to an already-heated playoff rivalry, got into early foul trouble and scored 13 points. He was razzed by the Ball Arena crowd every time he touched the ball.

“We just ended up losing the day,” McDaniels said, “but we’re going to win the next one.”

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

The crash occurred Monday when a long-distance train crashed into the rear car of the stopped commuter train at Bekasi Timur Station outside Jakarta. The car was one designated for women only, a common accommodation to stop harassment.

A total of 84 injured people were taken to hospitals for treatment, said Bobby Rasyidin, CEO of state-owned railway company PT Kereta Api Indonesia. The bodies of the dead were taken to a hospital for further identification.

Rescue teams completed the evacuation of all victims from inside the wreckage about midmorning. "There are no further casualties,” said Mohammad Syafii, the head of the National Search and Rescue Agency.

All 240 passengers on the Argo Bromo Anggrek long-distance train were safe, officials said.

Police were investigating the cause of the accident, Jakarta Police Chief Asep Edi Suheri told reporters at the scene.

The Indonesian Ministry of Transportation said in a written statement that authorities believe the incident began when another commuter train hit a stalled taxi near Bekasi Timur Station.

That led staff to stop a second commuter train at the station, where it was struck by a long-distance commuter train.

“As for the chronology of events, we are leaving it to the National Transportation Safety Committee to investigate the cause of tonight’s train accident in greater detail,” Rasyidin said.

Accidents are common on Indonesia’s aging railroad network. In January 2024, two trains collided in West Java province, killing at least four people.

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Associated Press writer Niniek Karmini in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report.

A jury had previously convicted him of 13 charges, mostly related to sexual assault of three women.

Accusers and their families told Judge Jessica Peterson they continue to suffer from the trauma caused by Chasing Horse, 49, and struggle with their faith after he exploited his position as a spiritual leader.

“There is no way to get back the youth, the childhood loss, my first time, my first kiss, the graduation I never got to have,” said Corena Leone-LaCroix, who was 14 when Chasing Horse assaulted her. “The life that little girl could have lived has been taken from me forever.”

The Associated Press typically does not use the name of alleged sexual assault victims unless they come forward publicly, as Leone-LaCroix has.

Chasing Horse, wearing his navy blue Clark County Detention Center uniform, stared straight ahead as victims read their statements and remained quiet as he was escorted out of the courtroom. He’ll be eligible for parole after serving for 37 years, and has continued to deny the charges against him.

“This is a miscarriage of justice,” he told the judge on Monday.

Peterson said she was struck by his continued denial of the charges despite the evidence shown in trial.

“You preyed on these women’s trusts and their spirituality, and you manipulated them for your own personal gratification," she said before she announced his sentence. When the hearing adjourned, more than a dozen people in the courtroom clapped.

Other charges in Canada are still pending

The sentencing wraps a yearslong effort to prosecute the former actor after he was first arrested and indicted in 2023. That initial arrest reverberated around Indian Country, with law enforcement in other states and Canada following up with more criminal charges. Those charges are still pending.

The British Columbia Prosecution Service said Chasing Horse was charged with sexual assault in February 2023, though the date of the alleged offense took place in September 2018 near Keremeos, a village about four hours east of Vancouver. In November 2023, the case paused due to Chasing Horse’s charges in the United States, but resumed the following year.

After all of Chasing Horse’s appeals have been exhausted, British Columbia prosecutors will assess next steps, Damienne Darby, communications counsel for the British Columbia Prosecution Service, said in an email.

A warrant against Chasing Horse remains outstanding in Alberta, the Tsuut’ina Nation Police Service in Alberta said in a statement following Chasing Horse’s conviction in January. The Tsuut’ina Nation Police Service said that it is in contact with the Alberta Crown Prosecutors Office regarding the warrant.

January trial focused on his role as spiritual leader

Chasing Horse was born on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, which is home to the Sicangu Sioux, one of the seven tribes of the Lakota nation. Following his appearance as the young Sioux tribe member Smiles a Lot in Kevin Costner’s Oscar-winning film “Dances With Wolves,” Chasing Horse traveled across Indian Country to attend powwows and perform healing ceremonies.

During his trial, Nevada prosecutors said Chasing Horse used his reputation as a Lakota medicine man to prey on Indigenous women and girls.

Deputy District Attorney Bianca Pucci told the jury that for almost 20 years, Chasing Horse “spun a web of abuse” that ensnared many women.

Jurors heard from three women who said Chasing Horse sexually assaulted them. The jury returned guilty verdicts on some charges. He was acquitted on others.

Needing medical help

Multiple victims described how they participated in his ceremonies or went to Chasing Horse for medical help.

Chasing Horse allegedly told Leone-LaCroix when she was 14 that the spirits wanted her to give up her virginity to save her mother, who was diagnosed with cancer. He then sexually assaulted her and told her that if she told anyone, her mother would die, according to Pucci. The sexual assaults continued for years, Pucci said.

Chasing Horse denied the allegations and his attorney questioned the main accuser’s credibility, calling her a “scorned woman.” His attorney had filed a motion for a new trial, arguing that a witness was not qualified to talk about grooming and that the statute of limitations had expired. That motion was denied.

Victims and their family members testified that they struggle with their faith as a result of Chasing Horse’s actions. The mothers of the victims said Chasing Horse betrayed their trust and abused sacred traditions.

“Even to this day I struggle to regain my faith and spirituality,” said Lynnette Adams, the mother of Siera Begaye, one of the other victims.

The AP typically does not use the name of alleged sexual assault victims unless they come forward publicly or approved the use of their names, as Begaye has.

Begaye said she still faces complications after suffering an ectopic pregnancy as a result of the assault and being forced to undergo surgery.

“I am choosing to see this moment as a fresh start," Begaye said. "I will rebuild my life, reclaim my voice and continue fighting for the future I deserve."

U.S. President Donald Trump seems unlikely to accept the offer, which was passed to the Americans by Pakistan and would leave unresolved the disagreements that led the U.S. and Israel to go to war on Feb. 28. And U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared to rule out any deal that excludes Iran's nuclear program.

“We can’t let them get away with it,” Rubio said in a Fox News interview Monday. “We have to ensure that any deal that is made, any agreement that is made, is one that definitively prevents them from sprinting towards a nuclear weapon at any point.”

With a fragile ceasefire in place, the U.S. and Iran are locked in a standoff over the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s traded oil and gas passes in peacetime. The U.S blockade is designed to prevent Iran from selling its oil, depriving it of crucial revenue while also potentially creating a situation where Tehran has to shut off production because it has nowhere to store oil.

The strait’s closure, meanwhile, has put pressure on Trump, as oil and gasoline prices have skyrocketed ahead of crucial midterm elections, and it has pressured his Gulf allies, which use the waterway to export their oil and gas.

Renewed demands to end blockade

Frustration among many nations is mounting, with renewed demands Monday to end the blockade that has had far-reaching effects throughout the world economy, including raising the price of fertilizer, food and other basic goods.

The Iranian proposal would push negotiations on the country's nuclear program to a later date. Trump said one of the major reasons he went to war was to deny Iran the ability to develop nuclear weapons.

The two officials with knowledge of the proposal spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door negotiations between Iranian and Pakistani officials this weekend. Iran's proposal was first reported by the Axios news outlet.

The offer emerged as Iran’s foreign minister visited Russia, which has long been a key backer of Tehran. It’s unclear what, if any, assistance Moscow might offer now.

Iran’s ability to choke off traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, has proved one of its biggest strategic advantages in a war that has often boiled down to which side can take more pain.

Oil prices have risen steadily since the war began, and tankers full of crude became stranded in the Gulf, unable to safely pass through the strait to reach global distribution points.

On Monday, the spot price of Brent crude, the international standard, closed above $108 per barrel, about 50% higher than when the war began.

Dozens of nations push for reopening of strait

Dozens of nations repeated calls to open the critical waterway in a joint statement led by Bahrain.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres told the Security Council on Monday that the humanitarian toll is mounting.

“These pressures are cascading into empty fuel tanks, empty shelves — and empty plates,” he said.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz criticized the U.S. for going into the war with what he said was no strategy. “The problem with conflicts like these is always the same: It’s not just about getting in. You also have to get out,” Merz said.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot blasted all sides. He said the crisis began after the U.S. and Israel struck Iran without clear goals "in a manner that flouts international law.”

But he said Iran is responsible for closing the passageway. “Straits are the arteries of the world. They are not the property of any individual," he said.

Top Iranian diplomat meets Putin in Russia

Trump last week indefinitely extended the ceasefire the U.S. and Iran agreed to on April 7 that has largely halted fighting. But a permanent settlement remains elusive.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg, Russian state news agency Tass said. Putin praised the Iranian people as “bravely and heroically fighting for their sovereignty,” and he said Russia would do everything possible to bring peace to the Middle East, Tass reported.

Araghchi told a Russian state TV reporter that the U.S. and its leaders “have achieved none of their goals” in the war. “That’s why they ask for negotiation,” he said. “We are now considering it.”

The meeting came as Pakistan has been seeking to revive stalled talks between Iran and the U.S., and negotiations had been expected in Islamabad over the weekend. Instead, Trump called off a trip by his envoys and suggested the talks could take place by phone instead.

Iran wants to persuade Oman, which shares the strait with Iran, to support a mechanism to collect tolls from vessels passing through the strait, according to a regional official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter.

Oman’s response was not immediately clear.

The official, who is involved in mediation efforts, also said Iran insisted on ending the U.S. blockade before new talks and that Pakistan-led mediators are trying to bridge significant gaps between the countries.

Trump says Iran offered a ‘much better’ proposal

Trump told journalists Saturday that after he called off a trip by his envoys to Pakistan, Iran sent a “much better” proposal.

He did not elaborate but stressed that one of his conditions is that Iran “will not have a nuclear weapon.” Iran insists its program is peaceful, but the U.S. wants to remove Tehran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which could be used to build a bomb, should Tehran choose to pursue one.

Since the war began, at least 3,375 people have been killed in Iran and at least 2,521 people in Lebanon, where fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group resumed two days after the Iran war started. Another 23 people have been killed in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Fifteen Israeli soldiers in Lebanon, 13 U.S. service members in the region and six U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon have been killed.

The ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah has been extended by three weeks. Despite the truce, both sides continue to strike each other.

Hezbollah has not participated in the Washington-brokered diplomacy.

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Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Becatoros reported from Athens, Greece. Associated Press writers Farnoush Amiri in New York, Munir Ahmed in Islamabad and Jonathan Cooper in Phoenix contributed to this report.

Now, more than two years after DeSantis ended his presidential campaign and endorsed Trump, the governor is returning to the national spotlight — at least for this week. He's pushing state lawmakers to redraw Florida's congressional map as part of a coast-to-coast redistricting battle ahead of November's midterm elections. His proposal would make it easier for Republicans to win four more seats, equivalent to Democrats' potential gains from last week's referendum in Virginia.

With DeSantis' second term coming to a close, the special legislative session that starts Tuesday is one of his final opportunities to remind Republicans that he could lead the party one day. But there are also plenty of risks ahead for the 47-year-old governor.

Some Republicans are worried that a new map will backfire and make it easier for Democrats to pick up seats. In addition, DeSantis wants lawmakers to increase regulations for artificial intelligence and loosen vaccine requirements, two proposals that have previously stalled in Tallahassee.

Trump may be constitutionally barred from running for a third term in 2028, but that doesn't mean there's a clear path for DeSantis, who would likely have Vice President JD Vance or Secretary of State Marco Rubio to contend with in a Republican primary.

“The window for Ron looks reasonably narrow at this point,” said Whit Ayres, who served as DeSantis' pollster in his first campaign for governor in 2018.

DeSantis, for his part, is embracing the national fight. When House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., last week dared Florida Republicans to go ahead with their special session, the governor punched back with the kind of aggressiveness he showed in the early days of his failed White House bid.

“I will pay for you to come down to Florida and campaign,” DeSantis said of Jeffries. “I’ll put you up in the Florida governor’s mansion. We’ll take you fishing.”

DeSantis wants four more Republican seats

DeSantis unveiled his proposed map to Fox News on Monday even before it had been widely circulated among lawmakers. He argued that the 2020 census shortchanged the state's population, making it necessary to redraw the lines.

The governor's map, if approved, would reshape districts in Democratic areas around Orlando and Tampa Bay, while also condensing Democratic voters into fewer South Florida districts. The changes could cost Reps. Jared Moskowitz and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, among others, their seats.

The current maps yielded a 20 to 8 Republican tilt in 2024. DeSantis' version would aim for an advantage of 24 to 4.

DeSantis first announced the special session back in January, months after Trump started pushing Republican-run states to redraw their congressional boundaries. What followed has been a tit-for-tat redistricting battle, with each party looking for an edge in the midterms.

There's no guarantee that new maps would play out the way parties hope. For example, Texas based its revised lines largely on Trump’s performance in 2024, theoretically redistributing the president's voters across more districts to pull them into the Republican column. But Trump's popularity has waned since his reelection, including among Latino voters that figure prominently in the state.

Florida could face a similar conundrum. If the state creates more majority-Republican districts but with thinner margins, it could dilute their advantage and give Democrats more opportunities to win seats, especially if there's an anti-Trump backlash at the polls this year.

“If Florida moves like it can, the Republicans will at least be even,” said Karl Rove, a former top political adviser to President George W. Bush. If Republicans get too aggressive, “they may lose a seat or two.”

Brian Ballard, an influential Florida lobbyist who has been DeSantis’ top fundraiser, said it’s worth remembering that DeSantis was the muscle behind the 2021 map that expanded Republicans’ advantage in the state to its current levels.

“He’s incredibly smart and capable,” Ballard said. “And he doesn’t get enough credit for that map. He’s done this before.”

Florida legislative leaders appear hesitant

Still, DeSantis will be testing his relationships with lawmakers, especially in a state House chamber that has grown more willing to buck the governor in recent sessions. House Speaker Daniel Perez and Senate President Ben Albritton made clear for weeks that they were not drawing their own proposals and would react only to what DeSantis put forward.

Albritton has sent multiple memos to senators reminding them of Florida’s state constitutional limits on redistricting and the requirement that it not be done as a blatantly partisan act. Perez, who convened a redistricting panel last year, has said in recent weeks that he expects something to get done, but he’s been circumspect in his public statements.

“We’re ready to have that conversation,” he recently told WPLG in South Florida, before DeSantis released his proposal.

Besides redistricting, other topics won't be much easier. DeSantis wants to require tech companies to ensure children cannot interact with chatbots without parental permission. He also wants to prevent AI from generating harmful material for minors. The proposal will put DeSantis at odds with Trump, who wants the federal government to be the regulatory arbitrator of AI technology.

On vaccines, DeSantis wants to add a conscience-based exemption to public school vaccine requirements, similar to the existing religious exemption. The push aligns him with the anti-vaccine portion of the Trump base that was instrumental in pushing the president to tap Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as his health secretary.

Versions of DeSantis' proposals have passed the state Senate previously but did not advance in the state House, where Perez has been skeptical.

Ballard downplayed concerns. What may seem to some as strained relations with certain Republican legislative leaders, he said, is simply measuring DeSantis against the opening years of his tenure.

“I mean, he went from batting a thousand to maybe batting .600,” Ballard said, using a baseball analogy for the governor who played the sport while attending Yale. “That isn’t failure.”

The White House is watching

It's hard to say how the session will affect DeSantis' relationship with Trump or the president's supporters.

Trump grew frustrated at DeSantis when they were competing for the Republican presidential nomination, calling him “Ron DeSanctimonious” on the campaign trail. The governor, at least initially, gave conservative establishment figures and key donors an option other than the then-former president.

But Trump seemingly forgave DeSantis when he dropped out of the race and endorsed Trump following his victory in the Iowa caucuses. He even promised to call DeSantis by his actual name.

There's more bad blood within the White House, though. Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, a Floridian, managed DeSantis’ razor-thin 2018 victory, only for the governor to have a falling out with her.

Wiles did not respond to a request for comment. But Ayres said he’s certain she’s paying attention.

“Donald Trump has a long memory, and Susie Wiles has a longer one,” he said. “And that doesn’t bode well for Gov. DeSantis to be Donald Trump’s Republican successor.”

He will become the first British monarch to address the U.S. Congress since his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, in 1991. Her speech highlighted the shared history of both countries and the importance of their democratic values, themes Charles will likely reinforce on Tuesday.

Such addresses are an opportunity afforded to only the most prominent world leaders, including Pope Francis, Václav Havel and Winston Churchill. It will likely mark the most extensive public remarks Charles will deliver during a four-day visit to the U.S. that's intended to celebrate the country's 250th anniversary of independence from Britain.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., became the first sitting leader of his chamber to address the U.K. Parliament earlier this year. He attended a garden party with the king in Washington on Monday and said he told him he would be “well received” in Congress.

The king, accompanied by Queen Camilla, will begin his day with a meeting at the White House with President Donald Trump. The Oval Office encounter offers the potential for the freewheeling, sometimes controversial meetings with foreign leaders that have become routine during Trump's second term.

But given the expressly apolitical nature of the British monarch and Trump's fondness for the royal family, the likelihood of an awkward meeting may be reduced. Trump will host Charles on Tuesday evening for a state banquet at the White House.

The visit comes at a challenging moment for U.S.-U.K. relations. Trump’s up-and-down relationship with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has taken a particularly sour turn over the past several months as the president has sought to rally international support for the war in Iran. Trump criticized Starmer, who has largely resisted his overtures, by saying “this is not Winston Churchill that we're dealing with.”

Trump has also imposed tariffs on the U.K. and warned of additional levies despite a Supreme Court ruling earlier this year that has made such unilateral moves more challenging. Trump threatened just last week to slap a “big tariff” on the U.K. if it doesn't scrap a digital services tax on U.S. technology companies.

Trump has more broadly challenged the traditional transatlantic alliance with efforts to annex Greenland and threats to walk away from NATO. He has repeatedly imposed tariffs on and taunted Canada, a member of the British Commonwealth.

Meanwhile, Charles has faced some calls on Capitol Hill to meet with victims of Jeffrey Epstein while he is in the U.S. There's no indication that he will do so even as the scandal involving the convicted sex offender has ensnared his brother, who was arrested in February over misconduct allegations, which he denies.

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., urged the king over the weekend to at least address the issue during his congressional speech.

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries blamed Republican policies on Monday for straining the U.S.-U.K. relationship.

“Hopefully, the king's visit is going to go a long way toward repairing the damage that this administration has done to one of our most important allies in the world,” Jeffries said.

Charles and Camilla arrived at the nation's capital on Monday and held a tea with the president and first lady Melania Trump. The royal couple will continue their U.S. trip later this week with stops in New York City and Virginia.

___

Associated Press writer Stephen Groves in Washington contributed to this report.

The remark about the president's wife was part of a routine on Thursday's “Jimmy Kimmel Live” where the host pretended to deliver a comedy routine at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner. That event two nights later was cut short when a man armed with guns and knives tried to enter the Washington ballroom where the Trumps and much of the nation's political leadership had gathered.

“People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate,” Melania Trump said in a social media post later echoed by her husband.

Kimmel described the joke during his Monday night monologue as a light roast about the first couple's age difference and “not, by any stretch of the definition, a call to assassination."

He said he was sorry that the president and everyone at the event went through that traumatic and scary experience.

“I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject," Kimmel said. "I do, and I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it.”

There was no comment Monday from ABC.

Trump has long been on receiving end of Kimmel's routines

Kimmel has long targeted the president in his comedy, and he doubled down after a run-in with the administration last fall. Kimmel was suspended by ABC and some of the network's affiliates said they would take him off the air following a comment made about assassinated conservative leader Charlie Kirk, moves encouraged by Trump's FCC chairman, Brendan Carr. ABC and the stations later brought Kimmel back.

Upon his return, Kimmel said that by saying that “many in MAGA land are working very hard to capitalize on the murder of Charlie Kirk,” he was not trying to make light of Kirk's killing and didn't want to leave that impression. He did not apologize, however, and he criticized station owners who took him off the air before later relenting.

Shortly after the incident, ABC signed Kimmel to a one-year contract extension that is due to keep him on the air until May 2027. His show has aired on the network since January 2003.

His late-night competitor Stephen Colbert — another frequent Trump critic — is seeing his CBS show end next month.

Dressed in a tux and standing behind a podium Thursday, Kimmel pretended to deliver a comic routine for the WHCA dinner. His speech had false “cutaways” to the Trumps and others, taken from video clips.

He noted Melania in the “audience,” saying, “Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.”

“I appreciate that so many people are incensed by Kimmel’s despicable call to violence, and normally would not be responsive to anything that he said but, this is something far beyond the pale,” the president said on his Truth Social platform. “Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired” by ABC and its parent Walt Disney Co., he said.

His wife said Kimmel's “hateful and violent rhetoric” is intended to divide the country. “A coward, Kimmel hides behind ABC because he knows the network will keep running cover to protect him," Melania Trump wrote. “Enough is enough. It is time for ABC to take a stand.”

White House press secretary also weighs in

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said it was part of a campaign of rhetoric from Democrats and some in the media that “has helped to legitimize this violence.”

“Who in their right mind says a wife would be glowing over the potential murder of her beloved husband?” Leavitt said. There was no indication that Kimmel was referring to violence.

The National Religious Broadcasters association filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission, asking the agency to investigate ABC.

“We're seeing a pattern of violence in this country that didn't appear overnight,” said Troy Miller, NRB's president and CEO. “When influential voices joke about death or treat political opponents as disposable, it contributes to a culture where violence feels thinkable to the already unstable.”

During his routine, Kimmel noted Melania Trump's birthday Sunday, saying, “She's planning to celebrate at home the same way she always does — looking out a window and whispering, ‘What have I done?’”

He also said: “Before we go any further, Melania, this is Donald. Donald, this is Melania. That was my impression of Jeffrey Epstein.”

Cole Tomas Allen, the California man arrested after attempting to rush into the correspondents' dinner on Saturday, was charged Monday with the attempted assassination of the president.

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Associated Press correspondent Jesse Bedayn in Austin, Texas, and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed to this report. David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social.

They're not celebrating yet.

Desmond Bane scored 22 points, Franz Wagner had 19 in three quarters and the Magic beat the Detroit Pistons 94-88 Monday night to take a 3-1 series lead, putting the East’s No. 1 seed on the brink of elimination.

Game 5 is Wednesday night in Detroit.

“We put our ourselves in position to try to get four, but right now it means nothing,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said. “We have the advantage and now we have to try and make sure we keep that advantage.”

Orlando, which had to win an elimination game at home in the play-in tournament, is on the verge of becoming just the seventh No. 8 seed to defeat a No. 1 in a series in league history. It's happened only four times since the playoffs were expanded to a best-of-seven series for all rounds in 2003.

“This is a team that won 60 games. I’m sure they’re not blinking an eye about not being able to win three games in a row,” Bane said. “They did it multiple times throughout the regular season.”

Paolo Banchero scored 18 points for the Magic on 4-of-18 shooting. Orlando shot just 32.6%, with Jalen Suggs going 1 for 13, including 1 for 11 from 3-point range.

The Magic overcame their shooting woes by protecting the ball. They had only 12 turnovers to 20 for Detroit.

Cade Cunningham led the Pistons with 25 points and Tobias Harris had 20. Cunningham had eight turnovers.

“We went into the series saying we needed to win a possession game,” Harris said. “That came down to the rebounding battle and also taking care of the basketball and in all of our losses that’s what we haven’t been at our best at. Obviously, we need to limit them from going to the free-throw line. They’ve been able to get us in close-out situations and break us down, get to the lane.”

Wagner left with 1:34 left in the third quarter due to right calf soreness.

Jamal Cain replaced Wagner and electrified the crowd with a driving dunk over Jalen Duren early in the fourth quarter. He also had a one-handed tip-in dunk that made it 87-85 with 4:55 to go.

Suggs missed his first eight shots before nailing a 3-pointer from the corner for an 85-80 lead. But Ausar Thompson’s layup tied it before Cain’s putback.

With former Grizzlies teammates Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. cheering him on courtside, Bane banked in a 3-pointer to extend Orlando’s lead to 92-86 with 1:16 remaining.

“It’s special. Those are guys I spent five years with, started my career with, made a lot of memories with,” Bane said. “I’m super thankful that they came out to support. It’s a friendship that will last forever. Those are guys that mean a lot to me.”

The 45-win Magic haven’t won a playoff series since 2010, when they lost in the Eastern Conference finals. The 37-year-old franchise has never won an NBA title.

The Pistons, who won 60 games in the regular season, have an even longer series drought. They haven’t advanced to the second round since losing in the East finals in 2008

The teams traded double-digit leads in the first half and the Magic led 54-52 going into the third quarter.

Riding a wave of energy from a frenzied, blue-clad crowd, the Magic scored the first eight points and led 19-7 before missing 13 straight shots during a 20-5 run by Detroit.

The Pistons had a 40-30 lead midway through the second.

The Magic improved to 8-1 at home in the playoffs over the past three seasons.

___

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

The board will hosted a town hall meeting on Monday, April 27, to gather public feedback that will guide the superintendent search process and help establish priorities for the district’s leadership moving forward.

Last month, Superintendent Jaime Aquino announced he will retire in January 2027 after 40 years in public education.

The meeting was scheduled for 6 p.m. in the SAISD Board Room at 514 W. Quincy St. and will also be available virtually. Click here to RSVP for the town hall or watch it virtually.

District leaders say the event is designed to ensure the superintendent search reflects the voices of students, families, staff, and community stakeholders.

“This is your district, and your voice is the most important part of getting it right,” SAISD Board President Alicia Sebastian said in a statement.

Community members can also provide input through an online survey, which will remain open through Wednesday, April 29. Click here to find the link to the survey.

Read also:

• ‘This was not an easy decision’: SAISD superintendent announces retirement

Laurel Ridge Treatment Center, located at 7720 Corporate Woods Drive, was recently cut off from Medicaid and Medicare payments by federal officials over safety violations.

In a letter sent Monday to employees, it states that the layoffs will be effective June 26 and are expected to result in the permanent layoff of around 648 employees at the facility.

Laurel Ridge staff attended a meeting on Monday at which they were informed of the layoffs.

“The day is going to end, I’m going to go home and enjoy myself … it is what it is, bro,” Dmahre Jackson told KSAT.

Jackson kept his spirits high but said he was unsure exactly which staff were facing the layoffs.

“Something with Medicaid, I don’t know. I really don’t understand why the layoff is happening. I got to do my research,” he said.

The letter states that additional information regarding employees’ pay, benefits and state unemployment benefits will be provided in a separate communication.

KSAT has previously followed through on the facility’s violations. A November report described staffing shortages that left mental health patients waiting up to six hours to be checked in, as well as a self-harm incident involving a smuggled razor blade.

That same report cited unsecured items that could be used for self-injury, ligatures, or fire, raising serious questions about patient safety at the facility.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will stop paying for patients admitted to Laurel Ridge starting on Thursday, April 30.

KSAT contacted Laurel Ridge leadership for comment, but did not receive a response Monday night.

The letter sent to employees can be read below:

Laurel Ridge Treatment Center layoff letter by akmoreno

Read also:

• Laurel Ridge Treatment Center faces Medicare, Medicaid termination over safety violations

The utility said a non-CPS Energy third party contractor working on behalf of a resident hit a gas line Monday night near Big Oak Run and Calaveras Cove.

CPS Energy said that any customer who ever thinks they smell gas should leave the house immediately and call CPS Energy at 210-353-HELP (4357) or 911.

A CPS Energy gas crew is en route to the scene. Additional information was not immediately available.

Read also:

• What happens next in federal investigation of North Side home explosions

Rebel groups have staged 26 attacks with explosives and drones since Friday, including a deadly blast Saturday on a highway between the cities of Cali and Popayan, according to Colombia’s defense ministry. The death toll in that explosion rose to 21 people on Monday.

Violence in the region is nothing new. Illegal groups have sought to control the area for decades, deeming it strategic for illicit activities, such as illegal mining and drug trafficking, including the cultivation of coca leaf, the raw material for cocaine.

Authorities blamed a group known as the FARC-EMC for the lethal explosion, near a tunnel on the Pan-American Highway. The group is led by Nestor Vera — commonly known as Iván Mordisco — a former member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known by its Spanish acronym FARC, who refused to join a 2016 peace deal with the nation’s government.

Sergio Guzmán, a political risk analyst in Colombia's capital, Bogota, said that Mordisco’s group could be trying to demonstrate that it has the capabilities to do serious damage, and is seeking to “establish its credibility” with Colombia’s next government as it positions itself for future negotiations.

“Part of what they are doing is establishing leverage towards the future,” Guzmán said.

Under President Gustavo Petro, a former member of a guerrilla group, the Colombian government has attempted to stage peace talks with the nation’s remaining rebel groups through a strategy known as " total peace."

The government has offered ceasefires to various groups in an effort to promote peace negotiations, but analysts say the strategy has failed, because these groups used the ceasefires to regroup, rearm and strengthen their grip over communities.

Groups like the FARC-EMC have been known to tax residents in areas under their control, and also forcibly recruit youth into their ranks.

“The government’s peace policy has been naïve,” said Javier Garay, a political science professor at Colombia’s Externado University. “They thought that if they had a condescending attitude towards these groups they would receive a positive response.”

In late 2023, the FARC-EMC entered peace talks with the Colombian government. But a faction led by Mordisco abandoned the talks in April 2024, and has been fighting the Colombian government since then.

Elizabeth Dickinson, a Colombia analyst at the International Crisis Group, said that Mordisco’s group is particularly strong in the provinces of Cauca and Valle del Cauca, where it's fighting for control of drug trafficking routes and illegal gold mines.

For the past two years, Mordisco’s group has also used drone attacks and car bombs, to respond to an offensive from the Colombian military in the Micay Canyon, a remote area covered with coca fields that is under the FARC-EMC’s grip.

Dickinson said that the latest attacks in southwest Colombia are one way for the group to show that it can sustain its “asymmetrical war” against the government.

Colombia’s defense minister on Sunday said that kidnappings and lockdowns enforced by rebel groups on communities had decreased in Cauca over the past year because of the government's actions.

In a nationally televised address Monday night, Petro said his government has fought drug trafficking and slowed down the cultivation of coca crops in Colombia, where he said 258,000 hectares (638,000 acres) were planted with coca in late 2025.

But the government’s total peace strategy has come under fire from the opposition, whose candidates are hoping to benefit from the nation’s security woes, as they promise to take a tougher stance on crime.

Petro is barred by Colombia’s constitution from running for another term. But his party’s candidate, Iván Cepeda, has promised to continue peace talks with rebel groups.

Cepeda said on X that he rejected the recent attacks in southwest Colombia, and urged authorities to investigate whether they were part of an effort to interfere with the election.

The request was echoed Monday night by Petro, who asked security forces in Colombia to investigate whether the explosives used in Saturday's attacks came from Ecuador, whose conservative government recently started a trade war with Colombia over security issues along their border.

“They want to sabotage our elections so that the extreme right wins,” Petro said without specifying who might be trying to undermine the May election. “They are scared,” he said in his televised address.

Voters in Colombia will head to the polls on May 31 to choose from 14 different presidential candidates, including Cepeda, and conservatives Abelardo de la Espriella and Paloma Valencia.

While Cepeda favors the continuation of Petro’s “total peace” strategy, his conservative rivals have said that they favor confronting rebel groups and putting more military pressure on them before resuming peace talks.

Guzmán said that while this weekend’s attacks “deepen the discomfort” with the security situation in Colombia — where a presidential candidate was killed last year — both sides will try to profit from this new wave of violence.

“Government supporters will use the attacks as an opportunity to say that that this is exactly why we need to reach urgent agreements with (rebel) groups,” Guzmán said. “Detractors will say this is why we need to more aggressively attack them.”

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Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

On April 24, officers were dispatched after being notified of a stolen cargo shipment being transported in a truck tractor and semi-truck trailer in the Guadalupe County area, a GCSO Facebook post stated.

The sheriff’s office said a traffic stop was made in the 8800 block of West Interstate 10. Rafael Velez, 35, and Leonardo Lara were both arrested.

Velez and Lara were booked on a first-degree felony charge of theft of cargo valued at $200,000 or more, the sheriff’s office said.

The Criminal Investigations Bureau and GCSO confirmed the following day, on April 25, that the valued cargo inside contained a shipment of snow crabs and began the process of returning it to its owner.

Read also:

• BCSO searching for woman accused of stealing mail from Southtown apartment complex
• Suspect sentenced to 10 years in prison in connection with SAISD student’s shooting death

More than 56 million people in the Midwest and parts of the South were at risk of severe storms, with tornado warnings posted in southeastern Missouri, southern Illinois and northern Arkansas, the National Weather Service said.

A thunderstorm that whipped through Kent County, Michigan, with powerful winds caused a tree to fall and kill a 39-year-old man who had been outside with friends, the sheriff’s office said in a statement.

The friends said “the man warned them to move just before the tree came down, actions they believe likely prevented more of them from being struck,” according to the sheriff's office. The storm resulted in dozens of downed trees and wires.

Across Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan more than 250,000 people were without power Monday night.

We Energies in Wisconsin said it had restored power for more than 35,000 customers but thousands more remained without electricity. Milwaukee said it had nearly 100 emergency calls for downed trees and branches. Trees uprooted by strong winds blocked streets.

In Kansas City, Missouri, the fire department responded to 11 water rescues from vehicles starting at shortly before 6 a.m., Battalion Chief Riley Nolan said in an email.

He said most “were in our typical ‘high-water’ areas following heavy rains.” Nolan said no boats were required and no injuries were reported.

The weather service reported that 3.2 inches (8.1 centimeters) of rain fell in a six-hour period ending shortly before 7 a.m. at the Kansas City International Airport.

Hundreds of schools in the St. Louis area closed early, and many after-school activities were canceled.

Temperatures near 80 degrees Fahrenheit (26 degrees Celsius) and other factors were contributing to “atmospheric instability,” said Evan Bentley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.

The storms followed rounds of violent weather over the weekend.

In northern Texas, a tornado-producing thunderstorm left at least two people dead and displaced at least 20 families, with many homes sustaining major damage, authorities said Sunday.

National Weather Service teams confirmed that an EF-2 tornado with peak winds of 135 mph (217 kph) touched down in the Runaway Bay area on Saturday. An EF-1 tornado with peak winds of 105 mph (169 kph) was confirmed in the Springtown area, the weather service said.

Sidney Crosby shook off a shot to his left knee to add two assists for the Penguins, who cut the Flyers’ lead in the best-of-seven series to 3-2.

Game 6 is Wednesday in Philadelphia, where the pressure will be on the Flyers to avoid putting themselves in danger of becoming just the fifth team in NHL history to blow a series after winning the first three games.

“We know it’s a big challenge going into there," Crosby said. "But I think we have a lot of belief in our group, and we’ve done it time and time again.”

Alex Bump scored in his playoff debut for Philadelphia, who rallied from a 2-0 deficit to tie it on Travis Sanheim's second goal of the series 15:06 into the second.

Crosby, who limped to the bench and then to the training room for treatment minutes earlier after a blast from the point by teammate Ryan Shea appeared to hit the top of his left knee, helped put the Penguins back in front just over two minutes later when he fed the puck to Letang at the top of the Philadelphia zone.

Letang sent a shot toward Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar that sailed wide of the net before bouncing back toward Vladar. The puck smacked off Vladar's left pad, then his right and across the goal line to give Pittsburgh the lead for good.

“Bounces are part of the game,” Penguins coach Dan Muse said. “But I think you earn them when you're working and you try to do the right things. That’s usually when the bounces go your way.”

After four games of mostly low-event hockey, Game 5 started with a frantic pace, a style that favors the Penguins, who finished as the NHL's third-highest-scoring team during the regular season.

That offense went largely missing while Pittsburgh fell into a 3-0 hole. Pushed to the brink, it has returned with a flourish, and this time it wasn't just Crosby, Letang and Evgeni Malkin shouldering the burden.

Soderblom's first goal of the playoffs and Dewar's second gave Pittsburgh a 2-0 lead in the second period. Philadelphia responded behind Bump and Sanheim, but Letang's fluky score late in the second was the difference.

Pittsburgh will take the ice on Wednesday, having all the momentum after two games in which they looked like the resilient, resourceful group that was among the NHL's biggest surprises.

The Flyers and their late playoff surge were one of the others, though Philadelphia and its talented young core will have the difficult task of finishing off a more experienced group with Hall of Famers scattered across the roster.

“They are a veteran team, they know what it takes to win,” Vladar said. "We are still a young team. We’ve got to learn that. We’ve got to bounce back. Still try to play our game, not their game.”

___

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

Rapid development has been shrinking the jungle habitat of the critically endangered species, and fatal conflicts with people have been increasing.

The fleeting scene, captured by a motion‑sensitive camera, showed a young Sumatran orangutan pause at the forest’s edge, grip a rope with deliberate care and step out into open air. Halfway across, it stopped, casting a glance down at the road below. Moments later, it crossed.

Conservationists said that it marks the first documented case of an Sumatra orangutan using an artificial canopy bridge to cross a public road that had divided its habitat.

“This was the moment we had been waiting for,” Erwin Alamsyah Siregar, executive director of Indonesian conservation group Tangguh Hutan Khatulistiwa, or TaHuKah, told The Associated Press. “We are very grateful that the canopy here provides benefits for orangutan conservation efforts.”

He said that the bridge spans the Lagan–Pagindar road in Pakpak Bharat district, a vital corridor connecting remote villages to schools, healthcare and government services. But the road also cuts directly through prime orangutan habitat, splitting an estimated 350 orangutans into two isolated forest areas: the Siranggas Wildlife Reserve and the Sikulaping Protection Forest.

When the road was upgraded in 2024, the gap in the forest canopy widened, eliminating natural crossings for tree‑dwelling wildlife.

“Development was necessary for people,” Siregar said. “But without intervention, it would have left orangutans trapped on either side.”

TaHuKah, working with the Sumatran Orangutan Society, or SOS, and local and national government agencies, proposed a simple solution: rope bridges suspended between trees, allowing arboreal animals to cross above traffic.

Five canopy bridges were installed each with a camera trap, carefully positioned after surveys of orangutan nests, forest cover and animal movement. The structures were designed to support the orangutan’s weight — no small feat for the world’s largest tree‑dwelling mammal.

The program is closely monitored, with camera traps on every bridge and regular patrols to prevent forest encroachment. Conservationists hope more orangutans will follow the first pioneer.

They waited two years for the first orangutan to cross the bridge. Before the accomplishment, only smaller animals used it. Camera traps recorded squirrels, langur monkeys and macaques, followed by gibbons — a promising sign.

The orangutan’s approach was slower, building nests near the bridge, lingering at its edges and testing the ropes over time.

“They observe,” Siregar said. “They don’t rush. They watch, they try, they retreat. Only when they’re certain it’s safe do they move.”

Then, one day, he crossed fully — a first not just for Sumatra, but for the species globally on a public road, conservations say.

Similar bridges have been used by orangutans elsewhere, but usually over rivers or on private industrial forest road. Conservationists say public roads — noisy, busy and unpredictable — pose a far greater challenge.

For orangutans, the stakes are high. Isolation leads to inbreeding, genetic weakening and eventual population collapse. Restoring connectivity gives them a chance to survive.

Once widespread across southern Asia, the animal now only survives on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo. Fewer than 14,000 Sumatran orangutans remain in the wild, alongside just 800 Tapanuli orangutans and about 104,700 Bornean orangutans, according to conservation groups

“These bridges allow orangutans to move, to mix, to maintain healthy populations,” Siregar said. “It reduces the risk of extinction.”

It's no wonder they ended up in a tight Rookie of the Year race.

Flagg edged his former Duke teammate to win the award Monday night after becoming the first rookie since Michael Jordan in 1984-85 to lead his team in points, rebounds, assists and steals.

The 19-year-old Flagg and Knueppel were first and second in rookie scoring, the first former college teammates to do that since UConn stars Emeka Okafor and Ben Gordon in 2004-05. Philadelphia's VJ Edgecombe was the other finalist.

Flagg and Knueppel traded places as betting favorites during the season, but Flagg's 96-point outburst over two games on the second-to-last weekend might have tipped the scales. Flagg was the favorite going into the announcement.

The first of those games was Flagg's 51-point showing against Orlando, the first time a teenager has scored 50 in the NBA. He broke his own record for a teenager of 49, set against Knueppel and the Hornets in January.

“I see the games every night. I can check the box scores,” Flagg said when asked how close of an eye he kept on Knueppel. “I think also I was watching Kon just because that’s one of my brothers. We had such a good connection, and we’re gonna be there for each other for the rest of our lives. I was watching him as a fan as well, but there was obviously that competition at the same time.”

It was, as expected, one of the closest votes in Rookie of the Year history.

Only 26 points separated Flagg and Knueppel in a balloting where 100 reporters and broadcasters who cover the league ranked their top three rookies, with five points going to first place, three to second and one to third.

In 2002, Scottie Barnes edged Evan Mobley by 15 points.

There were three years where the award was shared because of a tie in the voting, and two of those included Duke players Elton Brand and Grant Hill. Brand and Steve Francis tied for the award in 2000, Hill and Jason Kidd — Flagg’s current coach — tied in 1995 and Dave Cowens and Geoff Petrie tied in 1971.

Knueppel, who was a one-and-done at Duke just like Flagg but turned 20 before his NBA career started, became the first rookie to lead the league in 3-pointers with 273.

He averaged 18.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists, while shooting 42.5% from 3-point range to join Larry Bird and Paul Pierce as only the only NBA rookies to average 15 points and five rebounds per game while shooting better than 40% from beyond the arc.

Behind Knueppel, Charlotte won 44 games before being eliminated by Orlando in the final round of the play-in tournament.

Flagg thought he was joining a playoff contender after the Mavericks converted a 1.8% chance in the draft lottery and took him No. 1 overall. Knueppel was the fourth pick.

Oft-injured center Anthony Davis was sidelined again as Dallas started slowly, and was traded to Washington before Flagg's fellow Duke alum, Kyrie Irving, could return from a knee injury. The Mavericks eventually decided to keep Irving out the entire season.

Despite his team's steady slide in the standings, Flagg kept making history a year after leading Duke to the Final Four as just the fourth freshman to be named AP men’s basketball player of the year.

Flagg and Jordan are the only rookies to record multiple games of at least 45 points since the NBA-ABA merger in 1976-77.

Flagg was playing against LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers earlier this month when he scored 45 points and passed the 41-year-old for the most 40-point games by a teenager with his fourth. That game was the capper to the big weekend that might have decided the rookie race.

The Mavericks ended up back in the lottery at 26-56, with Flagg having to carry a much heavier load than anticipated. He averaged 21.0 points, 5.4 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.2 steals in 70 games.

“I think you talk about pressure and things like that, this season was a lot different going into it and what I was expecting and how the season ended up turning out,” Flagg said. “I think dealing with that and adjusting and kind of getting thrown in on the fly right away like that helped me long-term and throughout the season just getting really comfortable. I think I grew in a lot of different areas.”

The rookie award was the sixth to be announced by the NBA since the end of the regular season. The others:

— San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama was the unanimous Defensive Player of the Year.

— Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander got 96 of a possible 100 first-place votes to win the Clutch Player of the Year award.

— San Antonio’s Keldon Johnson won Sixth Man of the Year.

— Boston’s Derrick White won the Sportsmanship Award. That award, unlike most others, is selected solely by active players.

— Atlanta’s Nickeil Alexander-Walker won Most Improved Player.

Other award announcements yet to be scheduled include MVP (either Gilgeous-Alexander, Wembanyama or Denver’s Nikola Jokic) and Coach of the Year (either Detroit’s J.B. Bickerstaff, San Antonio’s Mitch Johnson or Boston’s Joe Mazzulla).

The NBA will announce the Executive of the Year, the Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year and the Hustle Award winner later this week.

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AP Sports Writer Steve Reed in Charlotte, North Carolina, and AP Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds in Miami contributed to this report.

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

Edwards had an MRI that confirmed the absence of structural damage, a relief to the Timberwolves after he was injured in the second quarter of Saturday's Game 4 victory over the Nuggets.

“With Anthony, we dodged a bullet,” coach Chris Finch said. “That's a huge sigh of relief. I know he's frustrated because he's been dealing with the other knee and done all the things necessary to finally get himself off the injury report and as luck would have it, he takes that spill the other day.

“But if we can extend this playoff run for a bit then we'll be lucky enough to get him back, so I think for that he's excited. So, it gives him something to work toward.”

Edwards' availability for the second round if Minnesota advances would be in question. The team said he was week to week, suggesting that Edwards would likely miss at least the beginning of the next series before he's cleared to return.

“With the two injuries we had in one game, it was as positive as you can get it,” guard Mike Conley told reporters after the team's pregame shootaround. “Obviously we want him to get healthy. We want him to be recovered as quickly as he can, but his health is No. 1. He knows his body. When his body’s ready, he’s going to fight through it. We know if we can get out of the series, we’ll get him back.”

Minnesota, which led Denver 3-1 going into Game 5, lost its other starting guard, Donte DiVincenzo, for the rest of the postseason and much of next season with a ruptured right Achilles tendon he suffered in the opening minutes of Game 4.

Finch said he's had good conversations with both Edwards and DiVincenzo, who's already had surgery. Finch said he appreciated Boston star Jayson Tatum's kind words about being there for DiVincenzo after going through a similar injury a year ago.

“They're both in the best mental space that they can be, giving what they've been through,” Finch said of his sidelined guards. “I think Donte has kind of come to peace with what's happened, knows what's the next steps in the long road that's ahead. Things went really well for him in the surgery.

“So, Jayson Tatum's comments I thought were super classy, kind and compassionate, mean a lot. I know Donte's heard them and he's been such a great example of what's possible and of course a top-notch medical team and rehab team around him, it certainly provides inspiration. And that's what you need when you're coming back from an injury like that, is the confidence in all the steps to keep going.”

Edwards averaged 28.8 points this season, third best in the NBA behind Luka Doncic of the Los Angeles Lakers and reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder. He missed 21 games, by far the most of his career, mostly because of a right knee injury.

Out for Denver in Game 5 were starter Aaron Gordon (left calf) and fellow forward Peyton Watson (right hamstring), who's missed the entire series.

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AP Sports Writer Dave Campbell in Minneapolis contributed to this report.

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

On social media Monday night, Hegseth posted photos of himself and Kid Rock at the base. “Kid Rock is a patriot and huge supporter of our troops,” Hegseth wrote.

Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s top spokesman, said the flights supported a “community relations event” for a White House-led initiative, called Freedom 250, that is coordinating events for America’s 250th anniversary commemoration.

“Robert ‘Kid Rock’ Ritchie participated in multiple troop touches with service members and filmed videos for Memorial Day, America’s 250th birthday, and for his Freedom 250 tour,” Parnell said in a statement.

Army aviators in March flew the same type of helicopters near the home of the musician, who is an outspoken supporter of President Donald Trump. The helicopters also flew over a “No Kings” protest against the Trump administration in Nashville, prompting questions about flight safety and whether either maneuver was authorized.

The Army initially said it would investigate the March flights, which involved crews from the 101st Airborne Division at nearby Fort Campbell, and suspended the pilots involved. However, Hegseth quickly intervened and shut down the inquiry.

Army officials said at the time that the helicopters were on a training mission when they stopped by Kid Rock’s house and that their presence had nothing to do with the protest.

Kid Rock's jet left Nashville early Monday and landed at Fort Belvoir in Virginia at 6:30 a.m., according to open source flight data.

Shortly after 1 p.m., a U.S. Army AH-64 Apache took off, did a few loops over the base and landed about 10 minutes later, according to the Military Air Tracking Alliance, a group of open source data analysts who track military flight activity across the world.

That same helicopter was part of a group of four Apaches, as well as two H-60 Blackhawk helicopters, that had arrived at the base Saturday from Fort Campbell, which sits on the Kentucky-Tennessee border.

Drop Site News was first to report Monday’s flights in Virginia.

An Army Apache helicopter costs about $7,000 per hour to fly, said an Army official who spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details not authorized for public release.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office took to social media to criticize the flights, saying, “Why are taxpayers paying to fly Kid Rock around on $100 million helicopters?”

Newsom is a sharp critic of the Trump administration and is seen as a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate.

Democratic Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado, a former Army Ranger, posted on social media, “Why is Pete Hegseth spending your taxpayer dollars to give Kid Rock ‘joy rides’ on Apache helicopters?”

When asked about the costs associated with public events like flying celebrities or military flyovers, military officials typically argue that they help fulfill regular training requirements for pilots and so do not represent an additional cost for taxpayers.

Hegseth also posted a photo of Kid Rock speaking to a small group of servicemembers in the Pentagon’s press briefing room.

According to publicly available flight data, Kid Rock's jet landed back in Nashville shortly after 3 p.m. Monday.

Apaches typically have a two-person crew who can both fly the helicopter, though one typically focuses on managing the weapons system. A passenger would replace one of the crew members, meaning that Hegseth and Kid Rock would not have flown in the same aircraft at the same time.

Marc Whyte (District 10), Marina Alderete Gavito (District 7) and Teri Castillo (District 5) want the City Council to review how the city, its utilities and first responders coordinate during emergencies, according to a memo filed Monday with the City Clerk’s office.

“Recent events in our Preston Hollow neighborhood in District 10 have highlighted the critical importance of establishing clear, systematic protocols and coordination between the City, our municipal utilities, SAPD and SAFD and other emergency response agencies,” the memo states.

“I think there were some instances where some neighbors were told one thing, and then a different agency told some neighbors something different, right? And we got to make sure that that doesn’t happen,” Whyte, who represents the neighborhood where the explosions happened, told KSAT.

“Overall, there were a lot of good things that we saw in the response to this, and then again, things that could use some work."

The council members asked Walsh to convene the session next month, and include participation from leaders of CPS Energy, the San Antonio Police Department, San Antonio Fire Department, San Antonio Water System and emergency services.

The proposed session would cover current emergency response protocols, inter-departmental communication structures, coordination procedures between city departments and utility partners, real-time information sharing during active incidents, resource allocation and mutual aid frameworks, and public communication and transparency standards during emergencies, according to the memo.

The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation into the natural gas-fueled blasts and expects to release a preliminary report within approximately 30 days from the incident.

KSAT continues to follow updates on the Preston Hollow home explosions. Read more of our coverage below:

• What we know about the North Side home explosions that hospitalized 5
• 5 hospitalized, 3 in critical condition, after home explosions on North Side, SAFD says
• Questions remain after North Side home explosions, nearly a week after it occurred
• Neighbors growing frustrated with lack of answers about North Side gas explosions
• Homeowners return to uncertainty after gas explosions in North Side neighborhood
• Texas attorney raises concerns as investigation continues into 2 home explosions on North Side
• Explosions from gas leaks usually come with warning signs, local expert says
• Federal investigation underway after North Side home explosions injure 5
• What the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation into the SA home explosions involves
• MAP: Reported house, apartment explosions across San Antonio area since 2020

Winfrey's production company, Harpo Entertainment, struck a multiyear deal to give Amazon-owned Wondery exclusive distributing and advertising rights to “The Oprah Podcast,” the companies announced Monday. Under the agreement, Winfrey's podcast will expand to two new episodes a week starting this summer — and Wondery will distribute the show's audio and video across Amazon platforms.

Under the deal, Amazon has also obtained rights to the library of the widely-watched “The Oprah Winfrey Show” — which ran from 1986 to 2011 — as well as the talk show host's book club and “Favorite Things” franchises.

No financial terms of the agreement were immediately shared. In recent years, Winfrey also has had partnerships with Apple and Starbucks. Her new agreement could anger independent booksellers who regard Amazon as their primary competitor. A spokesperson for the trade group the American Booksellers Association did not immediately respond Monday to a request for comment.

A spokesperson for Harpo shared a statement with The Associated Press that “'Oprah’s Book Club' will continue to support books wherever they are sold.”

Winfrey's podcast joins a lineup of other celebrity-led shows now at Amazon. In 2024, for example, Wondery similarly reached an exclusive distribution and advertising deal for “New Heights” — a podcast from Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and his brother, former Eagles center Jason Kelce.

Winfrey launched “The Oprah Podcast” in December 2024. In a prepared statement Monday, Winfrey said that hosting the show “allows me to continue the work I feel called to do – opening the door for conversations that matter.” She added that expanding its reach “is an opportunity I embrace.”

Wondery will begin distributing “The Oprah Podcast” across Amazon services like Prime Video, Amazon Music, Fire TV Channels and Audible in July, according to Monday's announcement. Winfrey's podcast will also continue to be available on YouTube and other popular platforms.

Although the rain helped the firefighting efforts, it wasn't “nearly enough to put the fires out" and crews responded to 10 new blazes throughout the drought-stricken state Sunday, the Georgia Forestry Commission said Monday.

Blackened trees and charred palmetto fronds lined the shoulders of U.S. 82 on Monday in Brantley County, where Georgia's second-largest blaze, the Highway 82 Fire, has been tearing through the forest. Smoke poured from the ground in several spots beside the highway — a sign that fire still smoldered beneath the dirt.

Residents like Anna Beaver, who had to evacuate her home in the small community of Atkinson, are doing what they can to help each other. Beaver has been spending her time accepting and sorting donated clothing at her church, Southside Baptist Church in Nahunta, a community of about 1,000 people that is the Brantley County seat. The church has been offering shelter, food, diapers and other supplies to people displaced by the fire.

“My heart hurts for everyone who has lost their homes, and I just want to help any way I can,” she said.

Danielle and David Grantham have been hunkering down at their home in the Atkinson area. They live in a neighborhood that was under an evacuation order Monday, so they wouldn't be allowed back in if they left, and have been accepting donations of pet food and other supplies from friends.

“We haven’t left just because we’re trying to help other people out,” Danielle Grantham said.

All across Brantley County on Monday, there was praise for the efforts of firefighters and other emergency responders.

In the small community of Waynesville, a charred cinderblock shed stood near a wood-sided home that appeared unscathed. The house has been vacant and is being sold. Larry Ferrell, a carpenter hired to perform maintenance and repairs on the home before the owner closes with a buyer, returned there to work Monday.

“The firefighters got in here and saved it,” Ferrell said.

Georgia's biggest blaze, the Pineland Road Fire, has scorched more than 50 square miles (130 square kilometers) and at least 35 homes in a sparsely populated and heavily wooded part of the state about 35 miles (56 kilometers) north of Florida, which is also dealing with wildfires. The area has been full of highly combustible dead trees and other vegetation since Hurricane Helene carved a destructive path northward in September of 2024.

About 60 miles (97 kilometers) to the northeast, the Highway 82 Fire has been burning since April 20. It has destroyed at least 87 homes and torched more than 35 square miles (90 square kilometers), according to figures released Monday. It is only 6% contained.

“The fire basically doubled last night in size,” Brantley County Manager Joey Cason said in a Facebook post Sunday. “It is a dynamic fire event that will be impacted by the wind.”

Authorities believe the Highway 82 blaze was sparked by a foil balloon hitting live power lines. That created an electrical arc that ignited combustible material on the ground. They think the Pineland Road fire was started by sparks from a welding operation.

Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock was in the area of the Highway 82 fire pm Monday. He said he assured residents that he's pushing to get federal resources “both to contain this fire and then to respond to the devastation that communities will continue to experience over the next few weeks."

Warnock said he's working closely with the governor's office on getting disaster relief funds. Gov. Brian Kemp is expected to survey damage from the Pineland Road Fire on Tuesday.

An unusually large number of wildfires are burning this spring across the Southeast. Firefighters have been battling more than 150 other wildfires in Georgia and Florida alone. Scientists say the threat of fire has been amplified by a combination of extreme drought, gusty winds, climate change and dead trees and other vegetation.

No fire deaths or injuries have been reported in Georgia. But in northern Florida, Nassau County Sheriff’s Office volunteer firefighter James “Kevin” Crews died Thursday evening after he suffered an unspecified medical emergency while suppressing a brush fire.

Florida's blazes are smaller than Georgia’s two biggest, but the 139 Fire has burned 10 square miles (26 square kilometers) of the Apalachicola National Forest in Liberty County, southwest of Tallahassee, since March 17. No structures have been lost in that fire, and no serious injuries have been reported, federal authorities said.

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Martin reported from Atlanta.

The new districts, which could net Democrats four additional seats, won narrow voter approval last week. But a Republican legal challenge contends the General Assembly violated procedural rules by placing the constitutional amendment before voters to authorize the mid-decade redistricting. If the court agrees that lawmakers broke the rules, it could invalidate the amendment and render last week's statewide vote meaningless.

The Virginia court proceedings mark the latest twist in a national redistricting battle between Republicans and Democrats seeking an advantage in a November midterm election that will determine whether Republicans maintain their narrow majority in the U.S. House.

President Donald Trump kicked off a tit-for-tat round of gerrymandering last summer when he urged Texas Republicans to redraw districts to their favor in an attempt to win several additional House seats. That set off a chain reaction of similar moves in other states, leading to the voter approval last week of Virginia's new map.

Next up is Florida, where Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has proposed a congressional redistricting plan that could essentially cancel out Virginia's changes by giving Republicans an improved chance of winning additional seats. The redistricting is on the agenda for a special session of the GOP-controlled Legislature beginning Tuesday.

Virginia arguments focus on what counts as an 'election'

During Monday's arguments, the Virginia Supreme Court focused on whether the new congressional districts should be invalidated because of the process used by lawmakers. The justices issued no immediate ruling.

Because the state’s redistricting commission was established by a voter-approved constitutional amendment, lawmakers had to propose an amendment to redraw the districts. That required approval of a resolution in two separate legislative sessions, with a state election sandwiched in between, to place the amendment on the ballot.

The legislature's first vote occurred last October — while early voting was underway but before it concluded on the day of the general election. Judicial questioning focused on whether that was too late, because early voting already had begun.

Attorney Matthew Seligman, who defended the legislature, argued that the “election” should be defined narrowly to mean the Tuesday of the general election. In that case, the legislature's first vote on the redistricting amendment occurred before the election and was constitutional, he told judges.

But an attorney arguing for the plaintiffs, Thomas McCarthy, said “election” means the entire period during which people can cast ballots, which lasts several weeks in Virginia. If that's the case, then the legislature's initial endorsement of the redistricting amendment came too late to comply with the state constitution, he said.

Attorneys argue over the rights of voters

The purpose of Virginia's two-step amendment process, with an intervening election, is so voters can know whether legislative candidates support or oppose a proposed constitutional amendment, McCarthy said.

He pointed to the case of Democratic voter Camilla Simon, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit alongside Republican state lawmakers, who cast an early vote last fall for Democratic Del. Rodney Willett. After she voted, Willett sponsored the Democratic redistricting amendment, and Simon wished she could have undone her vote, McCarthy said.

“None of these voters had any idea this was coming, and that’s not how this process is supposed to work,” McCarthy told the justices.

Those defending the Democratic redistricting plan also contend that the voters' will should be respected.

The people voted to ratify the constitutional amendment, “and the challengers are asking to overturn that democratic result,” Seligman told reporters after the arguments.

Nationwide redistricting battle has no clear winner so far

So far, the two major parties have battled to a near draw in the states that have redrawn their congressional maps for this year's midterms.

Republicans think they could win up to nine more seats under revised districts in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio. Democrats think they could win as many as 10 additional seats under new districts in California, Utah and Virginia. But legal challenges remain in both Virginia and Missouri.

Virginia currently is represented in the U.S. House by six Democrats and five Republicans who were elected from districts imposed by a court after a bipartisan redistricting commission failed to agree on a map after the 2020 census. The new districts, which won voter approval last Tuesday, could give Democrats an improved chance to win 10 districts.

Some candidates already have begun campaigning based on the new districts in advance of the state's Aug. 4 primary election.

More court battles could remain in Virginia

In January, a judge in rural Tazewell County, in southwestern Virginia, ruled that lawmakers failed to follow their own rules for adding the redistricting amendment to a special session last fall. Circuit Judge Jack Hurley Jr. also ruled that lawmakers failed to initially approve the amendment before the public began voting in last year’s general election and that the state had failed to publish the amendment three months before the election, as required by law. As a result, he said, the amendment is invalid and void.

The Virginia Supreme Court placed Hurley's order on hold and allowed the redistricting vote to proceed before hearing arguments on the case.

During Monday's arguments, justices also raised questions about the ability of lawmakers to expand the agenda for their special session and whether the three-month public notice requirement was important enough to thwart a voter-approved amendment.

Republicans have filed at least two additional legal challenges, which also are winding their way through the courts.

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Lieb reported from Jefferson City, Missouri. Associated Press writers Allen G. Breed in Richmond and Nicholas Riccardi in Denver contributed to this report.

Cole Tomas Allen appeared in court to face federal charges after the chaotic encounter Saturday that resulted in shots being fired, Trump being hurried off the stage unharmed and guests ducking for cover underneath their tables. He was ordered to remain jailed pending additional court hearings, and faces up to life in prison if convicted of the assassination count alone.

An FBI affidavit filed in the case Monday revealed additional details about the planning behind the assault, with authorities alleging that Allen on April 6 reserved a room for himself at the Washington hotel where the event would be held weeks later under its typical tight security. He traveled by train cross-country from California last week, checking himself into the Washington Hilton one day before the dinner with a room reserved for the weekend.

The dinner had barely begun when officials say the 31-year-old Torrance, California, man tried to race past a security barricade near the cavernous ballroom holding hundreds of journalists and their guests, prompting an exchange of gunfire with Secret Service agents tasked with safeguarding the event. Allen carried with him a 12-gauge pump action shotgun he bought last year and a .38 caliber semi-automatic pistol he purchased in 2023, authorities said.

“Violence has no place in civic life," acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said at a news conference. "It cannot and will not be used to disrupt democratic institutions or intimidate those who serve them, and it certainly cannot continue to be used against the president of the United States.”

He added: “We are investigating this matter fully, we will apply the law fairly and we will ensure that accountability is swift and certain."

Allen was injured during the attack but was not shot. A Secret Service officer was shot but was wearing a bullet-resistant vest and survived, officials say.

Questions remain about how many shots Allen fired and how many officers discharged their weapons.

Blanche said investigators believe that a Secret Service agent fired five shots and that Allen discharged his shotgun at least once. But Blanche didn’t say whether authorities have confirmed it was Allen’s bullet that struck the agent in the vest, or whether any other officers used their weapons. Blanche said ballistics experts are still examining evidence to provide more clarity on those questions.

The Justice Department charged Allen with two additional firearms counts, including discharging a weapon during a crime of violence, but the affidavit does not allege that Allen was responsible for shooting the agent.

Suspect's email sheds light on motive

The shooting resulted in the cancellation of the dinner, the first Trump had attended as president.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday said the night was supposed to be one of joy but instead was “hijacked by a crazed anti-Trump individual who traveled across the country to assassinate the president and as many administration officials as possible.”

Allen invoked his constitutional right to remain silent after his arrest, but authorities say an email he sent to family members and a former employer just before the attack helps shed light on a motive.

In the message, a copy of which was included in the affidavit, Allen referred to himself as a “Friendly Federal Assassin" and alluded obliquely to grievances over a range of Trump administration actions. The rambling text moves between confession, grievance and farewell, with Allen apologizing to family members, co-workers and even strangers he feared could be caught in the violence while at the same time seeking to explain the attack.

A magistrate judge granted a prosecutor's request to keep Allen locked up pending additional hearings. A detention hearing is set for Thursday.

Allen did not speak at length during the quick appearance, as is customary. One of his lawyers, Tezira Abe, noted that he has no criminal record.

“He also is presumed innocent at this time," she said.

Records reveal that Allen is a highly educated tutor and amateur video game developer. A social media profile for a man with the same name and a photo that appears to match that of the suspect show he worked part-time for the last six years at a company that offers admissions counseling and test preparation services to aspiring college students.

Voter registration records from California lists Allen’s home address as his parent’s house on a tree-lined street in one of the most historic neighborhoods in Torrance, a city within the Los Angeles metro area. No one answered the door Sunday when an Associated Press reporter knocked. By the afternoon, several people who appeared to be law enforcement agents were canvassing the neighborhood, with one wearing an FBI sweatshirt.

A yard sign displayed at the family home supported a local candidate for judge who was endorsed by the Los Angeles County Democratic Party. Federal campaign finance records show Cole Allen contributed $25 to a Democratic Party political action committee in support of Kamala Harris for president in 2024 and listed his employer as C2 Education, which said in a statement Monday that it was shocked to learn of the shooting and was cooperating with law enforcement.

Allen is registered to vote without a party affiliation in California and voted in the last three general elections, according to the Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in 2017 in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, according to his profile on the social networking site LinkedIn. The small university is academically prestigious with a very low acceptance rate. He also listed his involvement there in a campus group that battled with Nerf guns and a Christian student fellowship.

Allen’s profile photo on LinkedIn shows him wearing a cap and gown when graduating with a master’s degree in computer science from California State University, Dominguez Hills. The photo appears to have been taken May 2025.

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Associated Press writers Gary Fields and Collin Binkley in Washington, Michael R. Blood in Los Angeles and Amy Taxin in Torrance, California contributed to this report.

Lawmakers at the Capitol hearing sat attentive Monday as Garrett methodically offered one of the most detailed accounts to date of the horrors of July 4 at the camp. Family members of campers and counselors who died, wearing now-familiar buttons showing their faces, passed tissues in the audience. Members of the Eastland family that ran the camp also looked on.

In some Camp Mystic cabins, Garrett told a joint hearing of House and Senate flood investigative committees, counselors rushed girls to the recreation hall, which had a second-floor balcony. 

In other cabins, counselors passed girls through windows, piggy-backing the kids through the water to the safety of a nearby hill as lightning cut through the darkness and rain fell in sheets. 

In still another cabin, a night security guard and a counselor pushed heavy trunks of girls’ belongings out a window even as they tried to keep girls from getting swept away. The water’s path kept changing. Flashing vehicle hazard lights lit the space that, unlike other cabins filling with water, had a vaulted ceiling, giving campers room to breathe.

“It’s madness,” Garrett told legislators. “It’s mayhem.”

Camp Mystic hadn’t prepared counselors and staff with adequate emergency training, an evacuation plan or emergency preparedness supplies such as life jackets or ladders, Garrett said. Counselors performed “heroic actions,” she said — but did not execute a safe evacuation plan because there was none. 

As a result, Garrett concluded, neither grown adults nor college-age counselors had the preparation or organization to take advantage of the time they had to get girls out of cabins safely after the National Weather Service pushed out the first flood warning. 

The investigator offered some new details on what happened that morning, on top of extensive testimony that’s already been shared in an Austin courtroom and lawsuits, and Garrett’s even-handed, concise presentation packed a punch as she reviewed beat-by-beat the flood that killed 25 campers, two counselors and the camp’s executive director. 

In the harried evacuation, campers got temporarily separated on the hillside from counselors, Garrett said. At least one lost hold of a counselor’s hand and got swept away. One girl circled back for her sheet and was taken by the water. 

“I saw her,” said Garrett, quoting a camper. “And then I didn’t.”

“The fate of those girls was set before any first drop of rain ever fell,” said Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock. 

“There was no system”

The night of July 3 felt normal at Camp Mystic, Garrett said, describing a rustic site with a culture rooted in obedience and in legacy. There, Garrett said, girls learned to follow rules. Women from the same families attended generation after generation. Moms put daughters on a waiting list at birth. 

Dick Eastland reigned as commander of the camp, Garrett explained — a man people knew not to cross, a man who ran the show. Counselors explained that they felt they would get in trouble with Eastland if they took girls into the lightning or ran to the camp office in the pouring rain, Garrett said. 

Counselors on July 3 performed skits. With a flood watch in place, camp staff could have moved the campers to a safer portion of the property for a slumber party, Garrett proposed. But they didn’t. Taps played on the loudspeakers.

Eastland — who Garrett said well knew the threat that flash floods could bring — monitored the weather. 

The hours proceeded. About 30 minutes after the weather service warned of life-threatening flash flooding, Eastland radioed a son about the heavy rainfall — 2 inches in an hour — saying they needed to move equipment from the waterfront, a common first step if it was flooding. 

Counselors in their pajamas ran in the dark and in the rain to ask for help because water had begun pouring into some cabins.

“Now things are starting to ramp up a little bit,” Garrett recounted.

Eastland acted as if he were waiting for the right moment to push a big red emergency button but waited too long, in Garrett’s opinion.(Legislators in a special session passed measures last year after the flood to implement new safety rules for youth camps — including taking action to evacuate flood-prone camps as soon as a flash flood warning is issued.)

Not until 3 a.m did Eastland radio to evacuate a cabin the counselors had told him about. But he and his son, Edward, didn’t round up all available adults on that side of camp — which included groundskeepers, nurses and another of Eastland’s sons who appeared not to know what was happening, Garrett noted. The investigator and her team found no evidence of staff trying to use the same speaker system that had played Taps. 

Three adults instead worked piecemeal, moving girls out of a few cabins at a time. In doing so, they missed a critical opportunity to direct girls to walk a short distance to safety. Some buildings had second stories, including the recreation hall, which ended up filled with 95 campers who had to go to the bathroom out the window, and water rising so high counselors started brainstorming what to do if they had to get out. 

“There was no system,” Garrett emphasized. 

Some of the camp’s youngest and neediest campers remained in their cabins, supervised by first-time counselors. Importantly, many cabins only had two counselors instead of the historically typical three, Garrett said.

Eastland radioed directions to evacuate those youngest girls from three cabins, including Bubble Inn, according to Garrett’s timeline.

“This loss of life was preventable”

Garrett displayed photos of the Bubble Inn campers. Each died in the Guadalupe River, she said, but what exactly happened remains a mystery. No one survived to be interviewed among the more than 140 people Garrett spoke with in recent months to prepare her testimony.

At least some of the girls wound up in Dick Eastland’s vehicle. 

“I have Bubble Inn cabin in my car,” Eastland radioed. “I’m stuck against a tree. I need help.” 

Edward, his son, replied: “Dad, I’m sorry. I can’t get to you.”

Eastland’s body was later found in his vehicle, along with the bodies of some of the girls.

Edward Eastland, meanwhile, couldn’t get the door to another cabin open and was desperately trying to find a way in from an attached cabin, giving directions to a trapped counselor through a vent. At some point, the outer door opened and the counselor started passing girls outside, ducking their heads under water to get them out.

One of the girls was found 6.5 miles down river — covered in ant bites but alive. Neighbors found two more surviving girls in a debris pile a mile away. 

And still more girls from those cabins lived by clinging to a tree — which would collapse later that day as the last of them was rescued from it, Garrett said. Another survived by gripping a limestone column on a cabin, holding with her arms and legs like a monkey and even her chin, which she dug into the stone.

“This tragedy could have been prevented,” Sen. Pete Flores, a Republican from Pleasanton and chair of the Senate investigating committee, said in his opening remarks. 

Garrett said the scope of her investigation was limited to events at Camp Mystic, though the flood killed more than 100 people when heavy rains caused the Guadalupe River to surge through homes, RV parks and youth camps in the middle of the night. 

She urged lawmakers to take action and not let her work languish in a report.

Camp Mystic is planning to welcome campers back this summer to a portion of its property that is separate from where the girls died. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, though, has repeatedly called on the state to deny the camp’s operating license. He reiterated that call in a social media post after the hearing on Monday, pointing to the testimony as evidence justifying withholding the camp’s license.

“No one wants to close Camp Mystic forever,” Patrick said. “Once you see and hear the evidence, I think you will clearly understand why I, along with the Heaven’s 27 families who lost their children, have called on DSHS to not renew Camp Mystic’s operators’ license until all investigations are complete later this year and Camp Mystic and its operators are determined to be fit to protect and care for children in their custody.”

The camp also faces multiple lawsuits from families and is being investigated by the state agency that licenses them and the Texas Rangers. 

“This loss of life was preventable, and it is, it’s, I don’t know how to process that,” said Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso. 

Moody went on: “I can’t even imagine how these families wake up every day.” 

“It’s impossible to understand,” Garrett said. 

A new bill introduced by Republican senators would authorize $400 million — roughly the cost of the project — for construction and security infrastructure underneath. Trump has said that private money would pay for the ballroom, but Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, one of the sponsors, said Monday that he believes those private dollars should only pay for “buying china and stuff like that.”

Graham said at a news conference that some people may think the ballroom was Trump’s “vanity project,” but said it is necessary to allow the president to hold events safely and avoid much less secure venues like the Washington Hilton, where Saturday’s event was held. The man who authorities say tried to storm the dinner with guns and knives had reserved a room in the hotel, according to an FBI affidavit filed in the case.

“It would be insane” to hold the dinner there again, Graham said, adding that he would advise any president not to do it, even as Trump has said he would like the dinner to be rescheduled.

Cole Tomas Allen appeared in court Monday to face federal charges of attempting to assassinate Trump after the encounter Saturday in which shots were fired outside the ballroom. The president was evacuated off the stage as thousands of guests dived under tables and ducked for cover.

Other lawmakers said they would push their own measures to approve the ballroom, including Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., and Republican Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Tim Sheehy of Montana.

“It is an embarrassment to the strongest nation on earth that we cannot host gatherings in our nation’s capital, including ones attended by our president, without the threat of violence and attempted assassinations,” Sheehy posted on X.

It is unclear, though, whether the effort could get enough support. Democrats have opposed the ballroom’s construction since Trump demolished part of the White House to make way for it without permission from Congress, and as it has faced lawsuits. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters that the president should be focused on ending the war with Iran, healthcare and other measures to drive down living costs.

“These are the things that we should actually be focused on," Jeffries said.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said Monday that Trump wants to seclude himself in a “walled palace, literally.”

He said Republicans should instead pass a spending bill that includes money for the U.S. Secret Service, which is part of the Homeland Security Department and has been shut down for more than two months. The House has yet to act on two spending bills for the department that were approved by the Senate.

“If Republicans truly want to improve security, they should join Democrats in funding the Secret Service, not Donald Trump’s luxury ballroom,” Schumer said.

Republicans also used the incident to call for the Homeland Security funding, blaming Democrats who have blocked money for immigration enforcement agencies since mid-February.

The chaos at the annual dinner came after Trump has faced two attempts on his life and as members of Congress in both parties have received an increasing number of death threats in recent years.

Graham said the times are unusual.

“I’ve been up here a while now, and I’ve never felt the sense of threat that exists today,” he said.

Alabama Sen. Katie Britt, who sponsored the legislation with Graham, said the bill is not just about Trump.

“This will not be done until the end of his term,” she said. “This is about future presidents. This is about our nation having a place to gather.”

___

Associated Press writer Stephen Groves contributed to this report.

Such is the promise sung by the artist known as Melanie C, or Mel C and Sporty Spice of the game-changing ‘90s girl group Spice Girls, in the lead single from her ninth album of the same name. Atop a sample of Diana Ross’ “Work That Body” and sleek house-pop production, it is equal parts club banger and workout anthem, something for the DJ booth and a runner's playlist.

Surprised? Don't be. Eight or so years ago, Melanie C began deejaying, reinvigorating her love of rave and dance music — early loves that predate her girl group days. “Deejaying is so much fun, and it’s brought so much joy into my life that it made it really important that this album, as an artist, was a lot closer to what I love to play as a DJ,” she told The Associated Press.

It might come as a surprise to some of her fans, but the truth is, this musical world has always held a special place in her heart. “Before I was part of the Spice Girls, I discovered rave culture,” she explains. “I was 19. I went into this nightclub. I was on holiday with some friends. I heard this music. I saw people dancing. It was like this utopia I’d never experienced.”

Then superstar fame happened, which makes “Sweat” an unusual release for her in at least one very specific way: “I feel like I brought some of my life pre-Spice Girls into this album,” she said. “Which is something I haven’t really done before.”

Dance floor therapy

Melanie C was hard at work on “Sweat” for two and a half years, writing and recording across London, Stockholm and Los Angeles, a period that proved to be uniquely transformative. “My life had twists and turns. You know? I had a long-term relationship that ended. I had a management change. I’m back with Virgin Records,” she lists. “I’m in a new relationship. So, there’s been difficult moments within it and there’s been great times. And all of that is reflected in the album.”

Appropriately, catharsis appears to be a major theme. Like on the song “Attitude” — with its sample of Inner Life's ’80s disco classic, “Moment Of My Life” — where she cheers, “Every night’s a Friday!”

Or, even more directly, the song “Pressure.”

“Under the pressure,” she sings on the explosive electronic track, before offering a one-word solution: “Release.”

“We’re under such incredible pressure and I think we put ourselves under it, too. And that’s why I’ve loved bringing in this joy of, you know, the club,” she said. “For me, as a human, that is the release.”

There has long been a connection between dance music, joy and resiliency — particularly in queer club culture. Melanie C says honoring her LGBTQ+ audience has always been key to her work.

“It’s a community that’s been important to myself and the Spice Girls for such a long time,” she said. “It's always going to be a big part of the music that I make.”

From Sporty Spice to Melanie C

If “Sweat” is an album about the freedom of a dance floor, it's a destination Melanie C has worked hard to arrive at— particularly considering her life now, three decades removed from the Spice Girls' heyday. For many, she is still Sporty Spice. And she understands that.

“I’m not Sporty Spice or Melanie C; I’m both of those things. And not just some of the time, but all of the time,” she said. “I think it’s really important to acknowledge that,” to embrace her legacy and build a new one.

“I want to make people feel good,” she says of this new musical era. “I want to empower them. I want to motivate people.”

But she also hopes they use “Sweat” as a break, an escape, some downtime.

“Recovery is a really important part of working out,” she laughs.

Spoken like Sporty Spice — and Melanie C.

But six days later, the utility is still tight-lipped on what happened, pointing to the National Transportation Safety Board’s ongoing investigation.

The two separate explosions took place around 6 p.m. on April 21 in the 15000 block of Preston Hollow Drive, which is located near Thousand Oaks Drive.

Two adults and one child suffered burns and were hospitalized after the first explosion. Two additional adults were hospitalized as a result of the second explosion.

A Brooke Army Medical Center spokesperson said that, as of Monday, two of the victims are still in critical condition. The other victims’ conditions have since improved or were in “good” shape to begin with.

KSAT has repeatedly requested information about the explosions and what led up to them, but CPS Energy has mostly kept to updates on support and relief efforts for residents.

KSAT approached CPS Energy President and CEO Rudy Garza ahead of Monday’s meeting, but he said he could not answer our questions.

“The comments I make today are all the comments I’m going to have on this topic,” he said.

>> What we know about the North Side home explosions that hospitalized 5

During remarks at the beginning of the meeting, Garza focused on acknowledging the victims, thanking CPS Energy crews and local officials, and highlighting the utility’s response to the explosions.

Though he encouraged people to call CPS Energy if they ever smell gas, Garza provided no specific information on what had led to the explosions.

“In this particular instance, the National Transportation Safety Board is involved and is leading the investigation. And even these comments that we make today have to be approved as part of that investigation process,” Garza said. “So we are doing everything we can to be cooperative with the NTSB as part of this process. Updates on this investigation will come from the NTSB.”

“We are trying to update the community with information that we’re allowed to update as there are changes in circumstances,” Garza continued. “So we will continue to update the community as we can and are able. But all of those communications are approved through our federal regulator, in this case who’s leading the investigation."

In a statement to KSAT on Sunday, CPS Energy said its Customer Response Unit and gas team members are helping customers relight gas pilot lights and answer questions about natural gas service upon request.

CPS Energy said if any customers at any point smell gas, leave the house immediately and call CPS Energy at 210-353-HELP (4357) or 911.

The utility’s entire statement from Sunday can be read below:

Our thoughts continue to be with impacted residents in the Preston Hollow subdivision, and our focus remains on supporting them. CPS Energy has had a constant presence in the Preston Hollow subdivision, assisting residents since Tuesday evening.

The CPS Energy Customer Response Unit (CRU) has operated from the Northeast Senior Center, 4135 Thousand Oaks Drive, since Wednesday and will remain onsite from 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. on Sunday, April 26, 2026.

CRU and gas team members are aiding customers, at their request, to relight gas pilot lights and answer questions about their home’s natural gas service. CPS Energy is also arranging for the cleanup of debris in the area. Since Tuesday, CPS Energy has assisted more than two dozen customers. Impacted customers can also call to connect with resources at 210-353-2222.

As a reminder, if anyone ever thinks they smell gas, they should leave the house immediately and call CPS Energy at 210-353-HELP (4357) or 911. The safety of our community and crews is our priority as we conduct this work and we appreciate their understanding. 

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is leading this investigation. Updates on this investigation will come from the NTSB. Due to the ongoing investigation, we are unable to comment further at this time.

CPS Energy

KSAT continues to follow updates on the Preston Hollow home explosions. Read more of our coverage below:

• Questions remain after North Side home explosions, nearly a week after it occurred
• Texas attorney raises concerns as investigation continues into 2 home explosions on North Side
• What the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation into the SA home explosions involves

Criminal Attorney Casey Garrett testified to lawmakers that the owners of Camp Mystic, the Eastland family, knew how flood-prone the campgrounds were, and that ownership had created a culture that celebrated flooding.

“It was novel,” Garrett said. “I’m not trying to be negative about this, but it became a very complacent sort of flood culture at Camp Mystic.”

Former camp director Dick Eastland sent an email to members of his family and others discussing other historic floods.

“We’ve been here for some critical big floods, including 1978, 1984, 2000 and many others,” Dick Eastland said in the email.

“This reflects a knowledge by the Eastlands of how flood-prone this area is,” Garrett said.

Because of this, Garrett testified that campers were taught to enjoy the rain, citing an Instagram post from the camp’s page.

KSAT has not independently verified the screenshot shared, as the Instagram account appears to have been deleted after the hearing.

Campers who spoke to Garrett said they enjoyed when the land bridge would flood because they “could stay in our cabins and have food delivered by boat.”

Investigation finds lack of counselors, preparation, communication

In years past, at least three college-aged counselors would be in cabins at Camp Mystic. During the July 4 floods, Garrett said some cabins only had two.

While counselors were told to follow instructions posted inside each building in the event of an emergency, Garrett said none of them went through any training to prepare for dangerous situations.

“Every single person that I’ve spoken with that are former (and) current counselors, said there was never real training,” Garrett said, “no drills of any kind.”

According to the camp’s instructions, in the event of an emergency, campers on Senior Hill were to stay in their cabins.

The camp said instructions would be given through the loudspeaker, and communication would take place through walkie-talkies if electricity were to go out.

However, Garrett testified that counselors did not have walkie-talkies, radios or phones, calling the communication a “failure.”

“If we are allowing an 8-year-old to be in custody of adults who are being paid to take care of them, I wonder if we’re holding them to the same level of accountability of daycare facilities,” Sen. Menéndez said. “I’m not sure if we do.”

Garrett said that Camp Mystic’s emergency plan did not meet requirements from the state code at the time of the flood last July, including:

• The plan addressed disasters and serious accidents, but failed to cover epidemics or fatalities.
• The plan addressed emergency shelter, but not evacuation in case of a flood.
• Campers were not instructed
• Staff and counselors were given no specific assignments
• No documentation of training was present because inadequate training was given

Scope of investigation limited to Camp Mystic, not floods as a whole

Garrett’s testimony reflected the findings of her investigation of flood response, preparedness and emergency planning failures at Camp Mystic.

State Sen. José Menéndez (D-San Antonio) confirmed last week that the scope of the Senate General Investigating Committee on the July 2025 Flooding Events, of which he is a part, and the investigation presented Monday were focused on Camp Mystic.

“It’s limited to Camp Mystic because of the fact that they’re applying to reopen,” Menéndez told KSAT last week.

Camp Mystic is currently seeking approval to reopen this summer, and members of the Eastland family testified about conditions leading up to the flooding and the camp’s emergency preparedness.

However, last week the camp was given 45 days to correct its emergency plans after the Texas Department of State Health Services found deficiencies across 22 separate categories in its current safety procedures.

Monday was the first open meeting of the joint legislative committees tasked with investigating the disaster and its aftermath, according to reporting from The Texas Tribune.

Lawmakers are expected to hear additional testimony on Tuesday as they examine how state and local systems responded during the flooding and whether warning and evacuation protocols were sufficient.

Read also:

• Camp Mystic emergency plan ‘insufficient,’ state says
• As state legislators tour Camp Mystic, locals want a wider investigation
• Foundation announces $14M for park and river restoration along Guadalupe River

U.S. President Donald Trump seems unlikely to accept the offer. The existing ceasefire keeps the U.S. and Iran in a fragile standoff over the strait.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was in Russia Monday for a meeting with President Vladimir Putin as part of a trip that included two stops in Pakistan, where leaders are scrambling to reignite stalled talks between Tehran and Washington.

Airlines worldwide have begun canceling flights as the war in the Middle East strains jet fuel supplies and pushes up oil prices. Here’s what to know if your flight is canceled.

Here is the latest:

Rubio says preventing Iran from a nuclear weapon ‘remains the core issue’

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was asked in a Fox News interview about Iran’s latest proposal, which would postpone discussions on its nuclear program but end its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz if the U.S. lifts its blockade and ends the war.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that at some point in the future if this radical clerical regime remains in charge in Iran, they will decide they want a nuclear weapon,” Rubio said.

“That fundamental issue still has to be confronted,” he said. “That still remains the core issue here.”

Asked whether he thinks the Iranians are serious about making a deal, Rubio said they’re skilled negotiators looking to buy time.

“We can’t let them get away with it,” Rubio said. “We have to ensure that any deal that is made, any agreement that is made, is one that definitively prevents them from sprinting towards a nuclear weapon at any point.”

Bessent says doing business with Iranian airlines risks exposure to sanctions

After Iran recently resumed commercial flights, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement that nations should not provide jet fuel, catering, landing fees or maintenance to Iranian commercial jets, otherwise Treasury “will not hesitate to act against any third parties that facilitate or conduct business with Iranian entities.”

“Iran’s creaking oil industry is starting to shut in production thanks to the U.S. BLOCKADE,” Bessent said. “Pumping will soon collapse. GASOLINE SHORTAGES NEXT!”

Netanyahu says Hezbollah is down to about 10% of its arsenal

Meeting with army commanders, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hezbollah’s ability to fire into Israel has been sharply degraded, estimating the group retains about 10% of its arsenal. He did not clarify whether that figure refers to the Lebanese militant group’s stockpile from before the current war, or since the Gaza war began back in 2023.

Iran-backed Hezbollah is believed to still have tens of thousands of rockets, missiles and drones despite decades of efforts by Israel, U.N. peacekeepers and Lebanon’s government to disarm it. Despite Israeli pressure, it’s unclear whether Lebanese authorities have the capacity or political will to disarm Hezbollah.

Netanyahu said Israeli forces’ occupation of parts of southern Lebanon — which he described as a “security zone” — has made northern Israel safer. He said deals brokered with the U.S. and Lebanon gave Israel a “freedom of action” to counter threats inside that country. Beirut has not acknowledged any such right, and Hezbollah says it will keep firing as long as Israel does.

Trump national security team met and discussed Iranian proposal on Strait of Hormuz

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump’s national security team met Monday and was discussing Iran’s proposal on reopening the key waterway. But she offered no detail on what came of the discussion and how the proposal was being received. She instead said that Trump would address it later.

Israel cancels major holiday gatherings over fears of a Hezbollah attack

Typically, around 100,000 mostly ultra-Orthodox Jews would gather next week on Mount Meron in northern Israel to celebrate the Lag BaOmer holiday.

However, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that the large festival will replaced with a smaller symbolic ceremony, citing concerns about the gathering being attacked by Hezbollah. Similar restrictions were imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic and previous wars.

Mount Meron is only about 4 miles (6 kilometers) from the border with Lebanon. People normally light bonfires, dance and have large meals there in honor Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, a 2nd-century sage and mystic who is believed to be buried on the mountain.

Across Israel, even in secular areas, people often celebrate Lag BaOmer with barbecues and bonfires in parks and forests.

US and Iranian officials clash during a UN nuclear weapons conference

Officials from the United States and Iran clashed over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear ambitions at the opening of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty review, a dispute almost certain to continue during the four-week meeting.

At issue was the election of Iran as one of 34 vice-presidents of the conference. Iran was a candidate of the Nonaligned Movement, comprising 121 mainly developing countries.

The United States was backed by Australia and the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom, France and Germany also expressed “concern.” Russia objected to singling out Iran.

The U.S. representative, whose name was not immediately available, said the Trump administration was “deeply shocked” that a country that has demonstrated “contempt” for the treaty is now a vice-president.

Iran’s Ambassador to the U.N. in Vienna, Reza Najafi, categorically rejected the U.S. statement, calling the allegations “baseless and politically motivated.”

Iran’s top diplomat says the US wants to negotiate because it failed to achieve its war aims

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told a Russian state TV reporter on Monday that despite the U.S. being a superpower, its leaders “have achieved none of their goals” in the war against his country.

“That’s why they ask for negotiation,” Iran’s top diplomat said. “We are now considering it.”

Araghchi was in St. Petersburg on Monday, meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and other top officials.

Asked by another reporter about Russia’s support, the minister said only that “Iran and Russia are strategic partners,” and that the two counties “have always supported” each other. “Our cooperation would continue,” Araghchi said.

French FM says international waterways are ‘not for sale’ while blaming the US, Israel and Iran for Hormuz crisis

At a U.N. Security Council meeting on maritime security, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said the energy and humanitarian crisis caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz began after “operations launched by the United States and Israel without a clearly set of goal, which were conducted in a manner that flouts international law.”

But Barrot added that Iran now holds responsibility for what it is doing with the critical waterway.

“Straits are the arteries of the world. They are not the property of any individual. They are not for sale, therefore, they cannot be impeded by any obstacles, tolls, nor bribery, neither by Iran, nor by any other party, and under no pretext,” he said.

UN officials and dozens of countries call for immediate action in releasing Iran’s hold over the Strait of Hormuz

In a joint statement led by Bahrain, dozens of countries reiterated their weekslong “call for the urgent and unimpeded opening” of the critical waterway as negotiations between the U.S. and Iran remain stalled.

Antonio Guterres, the U.N. secretary-general, told the Security Council on Monday that given the impasse in the negotiations, the world body should support an emergency framework in the meantime put forth by the International Maritime Organization.

The U.N. chief warned about the consequences of waiting to address the “worst supply chain disruption since COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine.”

“These pressures are cascading into empty fuel tanks, empty shelves — and empty plates,” he told the 15-member council. “The humanitarian toll is mounting.”

UK doesn’t support US blockade of Iranian ports, deputy minister says

Stephen Doughty, minister of state for Europe and North America, said that while the U.K. doesn’t support the U.S. blockade, it supports working with the United States and others to reopen the Strait of Hormuz — where he said the Iran is holding “the rest of the world to ransom.”

Maritime traffic must flow safely and unimpeded through the strait, he said, “and that includes no tolls, no security risk and, of course, adherence to the international laws on freedom of navigation.”

Diplomacy is crucial, Doughty told a small group of U.N. reporters ahead of a Security Council meeting Monday on the safety of navigation in the critical waterway, through which around 20% of the world’s crude oil normally passes.

He said de-escalation and a ceasefire are also crucial, stressing that Iran can’t be allowed to block the strait, attack its Gulf neighbors and civilian infrastructure, and develop nuclear weapons.

Rubio says a purported Iranian offer on the Strait of Hormuz is not acceptable

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says a purported offer from Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz under strict conditions is not acceptable to the United States or others.

Speaking in a Monday interview with Fox News, Rubio said Iran has a different view of the strategic waterway than most of the rest of the world.

“What they mean by opening the straits is, yes, the straits are open, as long as you coordinate with Iran, get our permission, or we’ll blow you up and you pay us,” Rubio said.

“That’s not opening the straits. Those are international waterways. They cannot normalize, nor can we tolerate them trying to normalize, a system in which the Iranians decide who gets to use

Lebanon’s Health Ministry raises death toll there to 2,521

The ministry added Monday that 7,804 people were wounded since the latest Israel-Hezbollah war started March 2.

Despite a ceasefire that’s been in place since April 17, there have been repeated violations by both sides.

Merz says the American nation ‘is being humiliated’ by the Iranian leadership

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Monday criticized the U.S. for going into the Iran war without any strategy, saying this also makes it harder to end the conflict.

“The problem with conflicts like these is always the same: it’s not just about getting in; you also have to get out. We saw that all too painfully in Afghanistan, for 20 years. We saw it in Iraq,” the chancellor said while speaking Monday to students in Marsberg in the Sauerland region of Germany.

The lack of U.S. strategy and the fact that the Iranians are stronger than previously thought made it hard to end the conflict now, he said.

“Especially since the Iranians are negotiating very skillfully — or rather, very skillfully not negotiating,” he added. “And then letting the Americans travel to Islamabad, only to send them back without any results. An entire nation is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership, especially by these so-called Revolutionary Guards.”

Germany, he said, maintains its offer to send minesweepers in order to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but only after the fighting is over.

Pakistan clears transit of third-country goods to Iran

Pakistan has cleared the way for Iran to import goods from third countries through its territory by opening new transit routes.

According to a government notification issued Saturday, six routes have been designated linking ports including Karachi, Port Qasim and Gwadar with key border crossings in southwestern Balochistan province.

The notification was issued during a visit to Islamabad by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who met Pakistani officials for talks amid tensions between the United States and Iran.

The order took immediate effect.

Analysts said Monday the new policy allows cargo bound for Iran to move across Pakistan swiftly without facing delays due to bureaucratic hurdles. They said it could also help Pakistan strengthen its role as a regional transit route and improve connectivity with Iran and beyond the region in future.

Iran turns to the Caspian Sea for food with Persian Gulf routes choked by the US blockade

With the United States trying to squeeze Iran by blockading goods from entering or exiting its ports, food suppliers are rerouting imports via the Caspian Sea to ensure food keeps getting into the country.

The head of the Association of Iran’s Food Industries said Monday that alternative import routes are being “incorporated into the supply chain for essential goods.”

“At present, there is no problem with the country’s food security, but maintaining this situation requires careful planning,” Mohammad Reza Mortazavi said, according to the state-owned Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting.

The Caspian is the world’s largest inland body of water and its southern coastline stretches more than 430 miles (700 kilometers) in northern Iran. Iran is a net importer of food staples like grain and cooking oil.

US stocks are mixed as their record-breaking rally slows, while oil prices rise

The U.S. stock market’s record-breaking rally is slowing Monday after uncertainty rose over the weekend about what will happen next in the Iran war, while oil prices are rising.

The S&P 500 edged down by less than 0.1%, coming off its latest all-time high driven by strong profit reports from U.S. companies and hopes that the United States and Iran can avoid a worst-case scenario for the economy because of their war. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 86 points, or 0.2%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq was 0.3% lower after setting its own record.

The moves were stronger in the oil market, where prices climbed more than 1.5% as tankers still find the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed. That’s keeping crude stuck in the Middle East and away from customers worldwide, including crude produced by Iran that’s being blockaded by the U.S. Navy.

▶ Read more

Israeli military videos show weapons discovered and homes leveled as fighting in Lebanon grinds on

It released videos Monday showing troops operating in Lebanon, including coordinated explosions in unnamed villages, toppling homes it said were infrastructure used by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Footage also showed a brigade discovering a cache of rifles and missile launchers stashed in a children’s room, which it said were hidden beneath toys, beds and elsewhere in kids’ rooms.

Despite a ceasefire nominally in place in Lebanon, both Israel and Hezbollah continue to strike each other, while Israeli forces occupy a buffer zone in Lebanon and have been demolishing neighborhoods in towns and villages in that area.

The military says it destroys buildings that were used as outposts by the Iran-backed militant group, but the wide scale of destruction has Lebanese officials and residents increasingly worried that displaced people will have nowhere to return.

Bahrain strips 69 people of citizenship

The island kingdom’s interior ministry said it revoked citizenship rights “of those who expressed sympathy and praise for Iran’s hostile and criminal acts.” It noted the move also applied to the families of individuals accused.

Bahrain is among several countries in the region that tightly controlled information about Iranian strikes during the war, arresting residents and foreigners who filmed them. The Sunni-ruled monarchy, like Iran, has a majority Shiite population and saw pro-Iran demonstrations early in the conflict. Authorities arrested protesters and those who filmed demonstrations en masse, charging dozens with misusing social media, inciting hatred or treason, an offense that can carry the death penalty.

The country is also one of several in the Gulf with laws allowing courts to strip citizenship from people convicted of certain crimes, potentially rendering them stateless. Such measures in Bahrain, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar have drawn criticism from rights groups, which say the laws are tools of repression, used to squash and punish dissent.

For ships stuck in the Gulf, crew changes are difficult

Fleet Management Limited usually communicates multiple times a day with dozens of stranded ships that are staffed by more than 400 seafarers, its CEO Capt. Rajalingam Subramaniam said.

Stock checks are regularly maintained for food supply, and pickups have been arranged to ensure availability by moving vessels to the nearest points where they can pick up fresh and dry provisions, he said.

Some crew changes were still happening, but in limited numbers. “Who wants to go on the ship?” Subramaniam said. “The inbound crew has the right to refuse and we respect (that).”

Most of the stranded mariners have been in the Gulf since the war began. “(For) mariners who did not sign up to be in warlike area, they also (need) to be respected so that they do not become the unintended collateral,” he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi

The meeting happened Monday in Saint Petersburg, Russian state news agency Tass said.

Putin praised the Iranian people as bravely fighting for their sovereignty and said Russia would do everything possible in the interest of Iran and other countries in the region to bring peace to the Middle East, Tass reported.

Tired and worried, seafarers have been stranded in the Persian Gulf for weeks

Around 20,000 seafarers on hundreds of vessels, including oil and gas tankers and cargo ships, have been stuck in the Gulf, unable to cross the Strait of Hormuz. Normally about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas transits the waterway.

Roughly 80 vessels passed through the strait in the week of April 13-19, according to the maritime data firm Lloyd’s List Intelligence, compared to approximately 130 or more transits per day before the war. Dozens of ships have come under attack since the war started, and the U.N. says at least 10 seafarers were killed.

Even as U.S. President Donald Trump last week extended the ceasefire indefinitely, the U.S. kept the blockade of Iranian ports. In response, Iran fired on ships in the strait and seized two.

▶ Read more

Israel and Iran spent less on defense in 2025 than 2024, tracker says

Military spending in the Middle East plateaued in 2025, even as it climbed in other parts of the world, according to a report released Monday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The think tank, which goes by the acronym SIPRI, said regionwide spending increased 0.1% but actually fell in both Israel and Iran.

Israel’s military spending fell 4.9% to $48.3 billion, reflecting a less intense year of fighting than in 2024 after it entered ceasefires in Lebanon in November 2024 and in Gaza in October 2025. Even as large-scale combat subsided, Israel continued carrying out lethal strikes and maintained a ground presence in both. Spending remains sharply elevated — up 97% compared with 2022 — and the war has strained public finances, with Israel reporting wider deficits and increased borrowing since it began.

Iran’s spending fell 5.6% to $7.4 billion. SIPRI attributed that to inflation and broader economic strain, though researchers warned that government reports are likely understated.

“Iran also uses off-budget oil revenues to finance its military, including the production of missiles and drones,” SIPRI researcher Zubaida Karim said.

Lebanon president blasts Hezbollah for rejecting talks

Lebanon President Joseph Aoun blasted militant group Hezbollah on Monday over its rejection of direct talks with Israel.

Lebanon’s decision to hold negotiations with Israel is not “treason,” Aoun said in a statement, adding that treason is when “someone takes the country to war to achieve foreign interests.”

Harshly criticizing Hezbollah without naming it, Aoun asked whether there was a “national accord” when the Iran-backed group took Lebanon to war last month.

Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel on March 2, two days after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran. The fighting has killed over 2,500 people, wounded more than 7,000 and displaced over 1 million people.

Aoun asked how long people in south Lebanon will pay for the wars of other nations or groups, “the latest of which was the war for backing up Gaza and the war for backing up Iran.”

“I totally reject this war” when the goal is to benefit others, he said.

Aoun said he wants to end the state of war with Israel in the manner of the 1949 Armistice Agreements that brought calm along the border for years without normalizing relations.

“Was the armistice agreement humiliation? I will not accept reaching a humiliating deal,” Aoun said.

Skenes rented the inflatable kids' attraction as a part of a belated celebration for rookie shortstop Konnor Griffin, who turned 20 on Friday and celebrated by hitting his first major league home run in a win at Milwaukee.

“Unfortunately, I didn’t get to get in it, but I love it,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said of the bounce house. “Teammates, it’s good camaraderie and I know that Konnor’s a great sport about it. There are not too many guys that get to celebrate their 20th birthday in the big leagues. Really cool.”

Griffin made his debut on April 3 after being called up from Triple-A Indianapolis. He signed a $140 million, nine-year contract five days later.

The Minor League Player of the Year last season, Griffin is hitting .224 with one homer and six stolen bases in 22 games. He was the Pirates’ first-round pick in the 2024 amateur draft.

___

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

KSAT previously reported that the explosions happened on April 21 at two separate homes in the same neighborhood, about two hours apart. Several people were hospitalized, and nearby homes were damaged, prompting evacuations in the area.

>> What we know about the North Side home explosions that hospitalized 5

As of Wednesday, April 22, NTSB investigators stepped in to lead the case. As of now, their report is in the preliminary stages as they continue to collect evidence.

Why the NTSB is involved

The NTSB is best known for investigating plane crashes and aviation disasters. However, the federal agency also examines major pipeline and infrastructure incidents involving natural gas or hazardous liquids during transport.

The agency’s involvement in this particular case typically signals a more complex investigation focused on identifying safety issues and preventing similar events in the future.

Officials note that the NTSB does not investigate every pipeline incident, but steps in for more serious cases that may have broader safety implications, such as fatalities, substantial property damage or significant injury to the environment.

How the investigation works

According to the agency, the investigation will focus on three primary areas: human factors, the pipeline system and environmental conditions.

That includes reviewing operator training and performance data, pipeline pressures and maintenance records, and environmental aspects such as soil and weather at the time of the explosions.

Investigators will also collect pipeline maps, historical records, and operational data from monitoring systems, along with witness statements and any available surveillance video, including doorbell camera footage.

During this early, on-scene phase, the NTSB tells KSAT it does not determine or speculate about the cause of the explosions. Instead, investigators focus on gathering what they describe as “perishable evidence” and building a factual timeline of events.

What happens next

The preliminary report is expected within about 30 days and will include factual information gathered during the initial phase of the investigation.

A final report, including the probable cause and any contributing factors, could take 12 to 24 months to complete.

NTSB adds that it does not assign blame, release victim identities or assess property damage. Those responsibilities remain with local authorities.

How the public can help

Investigators are asking anyone who witnessed the explosions or may have relevant video or information to email NTSB at witness@ntsb.gov.

The agency said it will provide updates on the case through its website and its X account as new information becomes available.

KSAT continues to follow updates on the Preston Hollow home explosions. Read more of our coverage below:

• Questions remain after North Side home explosions, nearly a week after it occurred
• Neighbors growing frustrated with lack of answers about North Side gas explosions
• Homeowners return to uncertainty after gas explosions in North Side neighborhood

The ruling by a divided three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit isn't the final decision in the newspaper's lawsuit over a new Pentagon press credential policy. But the panel's majority opinion said the administration is likely to succeed in showing that the policy's escort requirement is legally valid.

The panel granted the government's request to suspend an April 9 decision by U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman, who ruled that the Defense Department was violating his earlier order to restore access to the Pentagon for reporters.

Circuit Judges Justin Walker, J. Michelle Childs and Bradley Garcia heard the case, with Childs dissenting from the 2-1 majority.

“Reporters can hardly verify sources, gather information, or speak candidly with Department personnel with an escort looming over their shoulders,” Childs wrote.

Friedman found that the Pentagon’s new credential policy violated journalists’ constitutional rights to free speech and due process. He said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s team had tried to evade his March 20 ruling by putting in new rules that expel all reporters from the building unless guided by escorts.

Defense Department spokesperson Sean Parnell said it welcomes the panel's decision and looks forward to arguing the merits of its “full case” before the same panel. In a statement posted on social media, Parnell said unescorted access to the Pentagon has led to the “regular unauthorized disclosure of sensitive and classified national defense information.”

“Since implementing the current access policy, the Department has seen a meaningful reduction in these unauthorized disclosures, which when they occur can endanger the lives of service members, intelligence personnel, and our allies,” he wrote.

Theodore Boutrous, an attorney for The Times, said the panel's ruling is “a narrow, preliminary one" and “casts no doubt” on the strength of the newspaper's constitutional arguments.

"We look forward to defending the full scope of the district court’s rulings in The Times’s favor in this appeal,” Boutrous said in a statement.

President Donald Trump, a Republican, nominated Walker. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, nominated Garcia and Childs. Friedman was nominated by Democratic President Bill Clinton.

The proposal, backed by the Service Employees International Union Healthcare Workers West, would impose a one-time, 5% tax on individuals whose net worth exceeds $1 billion and who were living in the state as of Jan. 1, 2026. The goal is to generate $100 billion in revenue, which would largely be used to offset federal funding cuts to healthcare for low-income people.

“California’s health is at stake,” said Liz Perlman, executive director of a chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, a major labor union. “Hospitals are closing and people will die. Why? So billionaires can get another tax cut that they don’t need.”

The California Secretary of State still has to verify the signatures and officially place the measure on the ballot. Backers say they collected more than 1.5 million signatures, well over the roughly 875,000 they needed. California allows ballot initiative campaigns to pay people per signature they gather. The cost of gathering petition signatures can vary widely, but it typically runs around $15 for each signature.

If the measure goes before voters in November, it could prompt one of the costliest ballot fights ever and will draw national attention as a litmus test for voter attitudes on raising taxes on the rich. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has campaigned in support of the idea. Meanwhile, Google founder Sergey Brin has already donated $57 million to a political committee called “Building a Better California” that’s backing a variety of initiatives designed to blunt the billionaires’ tax. It’s raised over $90 million, counting Brin’s contributions, from fewer than a dozen donors.

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and Silicon Valley tech moguls are adamantly opposed. They warn it will drive California's wealthiest residents out of the state. Nearly half of California's personal income tax revenue comes from the top 1% of earners. Some have already purchased properties out of state in case it passes.

“After playing with matches since October, the SEIU has succeeded in lighting a ‘Tax the Rich’ wildfire by getting enough signatures,” said David Lesperance, a tax consultant who's advised some of his wealthy clients who left California because of the proposal. “The many billionaire targets of their efforts have already responded by executing fire escape plans by relocating to other states.”

Brian Brokaw, a longtime Newsom adviser who is leading a political committee opposing the tax, said the measure was poorly constructed and would deal a huge blow to the state’s budget.

“Enacting a so-called wealth tax in just one state wouldn’t target a small group -- it would impact all 40 million Californians,” he said in a statement. “This proposal trades a short-term revenue bump for long-term losses.”

At least 25 billionaires listed among Forbes magazine’s 2025 rankings of the world’s 500 wealthiest people either lived in California or had some significant ties to the state, based on a review by The Associated Press. But determining whether they were full-time residents or just frequent visitors could turn into a matter of dispute, since many of them own property elsewhere.

The big tax and spending cuts law President Donald Trump signed last year will cut more than $1 trillion nationwide over a decade from Medicaid and federal food assistance.

——

Associated Press writer Michael R. Blood in Los Angeles contributed.

Bluepoint Wind and Golden State Wind have agreed to end their offshore wind leases in exchange for reimbursements totaling nearly $900 million. Both companies have decided not to pursue any new offshore wind projects in the United States, the Interior Department announced Monday.

Bluepoint Wind is an offshore wind project in the early stages of development off the coasts of New Jersey and New York, while Golden State Wind is a floating offshore wind project proposed off California’s central coast.

Interior said it's following the model of its recent deal with the French energy company TotalEnergies, which is getting a $1 billion payout to walk away from projects off the coasts of North Carolina and New York. TotalEnergies agreed in March to what’s essentially a refund of its leases, and will invest the money in fossil fuel projects instead.

The deals come after the administration's efforts to block offshore wind have been thwarted by the courts. A federal judge vacated President Donald Trump’s executive order blocking wind energy projects in December, declaring it unlawful as she sided with state attorneys general from 17 states and Washington, D.C., who challenged the order.

Two weeks later, the administration ordered that construction stop on five major East Coast offshore wind projects, citing national security concerns. Developers and states sued, and federal judges allowed all five to resume construction, essentially concluding that the government didn’t show that the national security risk was so imminent that construction must halt.

Environmental groups and Democrats have questioned the legality of the TotalEnergies deal and said it could be harmful to the U.S. economy and environment. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., criticized the administration for stopping Bluepoint Wind, calling it “a reckless decision that hurts working families and the economy” and will likely increase electricity prices in New York.

“Once again, Donald Trump is attacking New York offshore wind at the behest of his fossil fuel donors with no justification,” he said in a statement Monday.

Both Bluepoint and Golden State are co-owned by Ocean Winds, a joint venture of EDP Renewables and French energy giant Engie. Bluepoint's lease cost $765 million, while Golden State Wind will be eligible to recover approximately $120 million in lease fees, Interior said.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said companies were sold a product that was only viable when propped up by massive taxpayer subsidies when they bid for these offshore wind leases in 2022, under former President Joe Biden.

“Now that hardworking Americans are no longer footing the bill for expensive, unreliable, intermittent energy projects, companies are once again investing in affordable, reliable, secure energy infrastructure,” Burgum said in a statement. “We welcome each of the projects’ willingness to actually support baseload power and lower utility bills for American families.”

Bluepoint Wind and Golden State Wind were slated to be major offshore wind projects, each capable of powering more than 1 million homes when complete and helping the states of New Jersey, New York and California meet their clean energy goals. If the projects were to ever move forward, a developer would have to buy new leases. But under the Trump administration, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has rescinded all designated wind energy areas in federal waters.

Bluepoint Wind is a partnership between Ocean Winds and Global Infrastructure Partners. Global Infrastructure Partners, a part of investment giant BlackRock, has committed to invest up to $765 million into a U.S.-based liquefied natural gas facility. Interior said it would cancel the offshore wind lease and reimburse the company for the amount invested in the LNG project.

Golden State Wind is a joint venture by Ocean Winds and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. Under its agreement, Golden State Wind can recover about $120 million in lease fees after the same amount is invested in oil and gas assets, infrastructure or projects along the Gulf Coast, Interior said.

The companies said they appreciated the constructive engagement with the administration.

Michael Brown, CEO of Ocean Winds North America, said the deal provided “clarity” for the company and its investors. "Our priority remains disciplined capital allocation and delivering reliable energy solutions that create long-term value for ratepayers, partners and shareholders,” he said.

In his second term, Trump has gone all in on fossil fuels, which he says will lower costs for families, increase reliability and help the U.S. maintain global leadership in artificial intelligence.

___

McDermott reported from Providence, R.I.

___

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

University police received a call alleging someone was carrying firearms around 3:15 p.m. on Dec. 19, 2025, in the vicinity of Alkek Library in San Marcos, a spokesperson told KSAT.

Campus officers later determined that the student had used the 3D printers in the library’s MakerSpace to create the parts for two non-functional prop rifles for a cosplay project, the university said.

Staff were unaware the student assembled the props before taking them from the library.

The spokesperson said campus police at the time determined there was no threat to students and staff.

“An alert is issued when UPD confirms an active threat. In this instance, UPD determined there was no threat,” the university’s spokesperson said.

The university reviewed its MakerSpace policies, the spokesperson said, and prohibited the use of 3D printers to create replica weapons.

Read also:

• Son of NISD staff member killed in crash outside elementary school reflects on family’s loss

The events — one in each of the city's five boroughs — will include watch parties for the matches and other festivities. They will be staged at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan, the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, Brooklyn Bridge Park in Brooklyn, a shopping center near Yankee Stadium in the Bronx and a minor league baseball stadium in Staten Island.

A separate fan event planned for Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, New Jersey, where the New York Red Bulls play, will cost $10.

World Cup matches will be played at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, where just getting to and from the matches on public transit could cost $150.

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a noted soccer devotee, announced the free events alongside New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a fellow Democrat.

"Every fan should be able to watch the greatest tournament on earth without dipping into their savings," Mamdani said.

Similar fan events are being planned for other U.S. host cities.

“I was confident that this combination, which would have been about adding and not subtracting, creating a truly great airline that customers love, could get regulatory approval,” Scott Kirby wrote in a statement released Monday. “I was hoping to pitch that story to American, but they declined to engage and instead responded by publicly closing the door.”

Kirby's confirmation comes after weeks of public speculation about a potential merger between two of the biggest U.S. airlines, amid rising jet fuel prices tied to the Iran war and reports that he had approached the White House about the idea. Kirby said Monday that he had approached American directly about a tie-up, but it's unclear whether that was before or after his White House meeting.

American publicly shot down the idea of a merger, saying in an April 17 statement that it “is not engaged with or interested in any discussions regarding a merger with United Airlines.” Additionally, a combination of the two carriers “would be negative for competition and for consumers” and possibly raise antitrust concerns, the company said.

Fort Worth, Texas-based American Airlines is itself the product of a 2013 merger with US Airways Group.

President Donald Trump also said last week that he was against a merger of the airlines.

In his statement Monday, Kirby, who previously served as president of American Airlines, argued that merging the carriers would expand service, create a more globally competitive airline and boost the U.S. economy by creating jobs and strengthening the aircraft manufacturing sector.

The rivalry between United and American has played out for years in pricing battles and disputes over gate access at major hubs like Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, where both airlines have fought to expand their footprint.

Amid that competition, the Federal Aviation Administration this month ordered about 300 daily flights cut from peak summer schedules at O'Hare, saying planned increases by both carriers risked overwhelming an airport already plagued by severe delays.

The order will take effect June 2, later than initially planned, after the FAA said last week it wanted to give airlines additional time to adjust their schedules.

Shares of Chicago-based United fell 1.2% on Monday, to $91.90. They are down about 18% this year amid the Iran war, which began in late February and has driven fuel prices sharply higher. American shares were down about 3.5% on Monday, to $11.68. American is down nearly 24% for the year.

Jet fuel is typically one of the largest expenses for airlines, leaving them especially vulnerable to price spikes and supply shocks.

In some markets, the price of jet fuel has more than doubled as fighting near the Strait of Hormuz squeezes global supplies, raising operating costs for airlines. In response, carriers around the world have raised fares and fees, with both United and American among the major U.S. airlines that have raised checked baggage fees.

A stomach virus or food poisoning has affected Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Marin Cilic and a few others, causing some concern.

World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka avoided an upset by Naomi Osaka on the court on Monday and said she's trying to avoid illness by sticking to a simple diet of chicken breast, rice and salad.

The rumor among the players was bad shrimp tacos were to blame.

Sabalenka knocked on wood and said, “So far, so good. I heard that I have to avoid those tacos (laughing). I stick to the same food, same meal that I’ve been having since the very beginning of the tournament.”

Sabalenka said she was spending as little time as possible on site at the Caja Magica tennis complex.

"I try not to stay for too long," she said. “Extra vitamin C, I guess, extra IM8, and I’m good to go, hopefully."

Gauff vomited on the court on her way to a victory over Sorana Cirstea on Sunday. The American didn't show signs of illness on Monday in her 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (5) loss to Linda Noskova, last year's runner-up to Sabalenka.

“I’ve heard there is some virus going around,” six-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek said after withdrawing from her match in Madrid on Saturday. “I've been feeling terrible.”

Cilic couldn't play his match against João Fonseca on Friday.

“Unfortunately, I got food poisoning,” Cilic said. “After trying to recover all night my body is unfortunately exhausted and not at the proper level to get into the battle.”

Sabalenka rallies

Sabalenka rebounded from a set and a break down against Osaka in their fourth round contest.

She prevailed against No. 15 Osaka 6-7 (1), 6-3, 6-2 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to reach the quarterfinals and stay on track to defend her title.

“Oh my God, that was an incredible level,” Sabalenka said. “She played incredible tennis. I feel like I just got lucky in a couple of shots in the third set, that’s why it went that fast. I’m happy she brought that fight, I had to fight through to level up my game.”

Sabalenka won her 15th straight match and advanced to her 17th consecutive quarterfinal. She hasn't lost before that round since February 2025 in Dubai. The Belarusian said her team kept pushing her to “keep fighting, keep going.”

“I'm really happy that I didn't give up and I was pushing until the very last point,” Sabalenka said.

Longest tiebreaker since 2024

Sabalenka will next face American Hailey Baptiste, who defeated Belinda Bencic 6-1, 6-7 (14), 6-3 after losing the second set in the longest tour-level regular tiebreaker since 2024, according to the WTA.

Baptiste broke the racket on her leg in frustration after the loss in a set in which she wasted six match points, including five during the tiebreaker.

The 32nd-ranked American was able to rebound and clinch the victory in 2 hours, 42 minutes.

Rybakina's line-calling frustration

World No. 2 Elena Rybakina lost in straight sets to lucky loser Anastasia Potapova in a Monday night match.

Rybakina said on Sunday she had no trust in the electronic line-calling system in Madrid. She complained to the chair umpire after her opponent, Zheng Qinwen, was awarded an ace in the second set. Rybakina said the mark on the court was out. The umpire refused to inspect the mark and backed the system. Rybakina eventually won in three sets on Sunday.

“Well with this thing, I won’t trust it at all,” Rybakina said. “Because there was no mark even close to what the TV showed."

She felt it was a similar situation to what happened to men's player Alexander Zverev last year in Madrid, where he ended up grabbing his cell phone and taking a photo of a mark of an alleged wrong call. Zverev was warned for unsportsmanlike conduct.

“You can’t not see it,” Rybakina said. "It’s kind of a stolen point. I understand it was her serve and she was serving really well, but it’s really frustrating.”

Jódar only Spaniard left

Daniel Mérida lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 6-2 and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina lost to defending champion Casper Ruud 6-3, 6-1 on Monday, leaving 19-year-old Rafael Jódar as the only Spaniard left in the tournament.

Jódar, one of the promising stars on tour, needed three sets to get past Fonseca, another teen sensation.

World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz, Spain's current top player, withdrew from the home tournament because of a right wrist injury.

Unusual rally

There was an unusually long rally in the Rudd vs. Davidovich Fokina match when the Spaniard resorted to 15 straight lob shots to the back of the court.

The high returns in the 32-shot rally kept Rudd from attacking until one shot came up a little short and allowed him to power a forehand and take the point.

In the match between Francisco Cerundolo and Luciano Darderi, Cerundolo won a point after reaching over the net to get to a high return that spun back into Darderi's side of the court. Cerundolo won the match 6-2, 6-3.

___

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

Trump and first lady Melania Trump greeted Charles and Queen Camilla as they arrived, posing for photos and exchanging small talk before they went inside for tea in the Green Room. Afterward, the couples went down to the south grounds to see a new beehive in the shape of the White House that the first lady had installed last week.

Charles and Camilla both support beekeeping. He keeps at least three beehives at his private residence in England as part of his support for the environment and sustainability.

After the White House visit, the royal couple attended a garden party at the British Embassy.

Trump praises the king but derides Starmer

A rift between the U.K. government and Trump over issues including the Iran war had already raised the political stakes for the British monarch's visit.

In recent weeks, Trump has lambasted Prime Minister Keir Starmer over his unwillingness to join U.S. military attacks on Iran, dismissing Britain’s leader as “not Winston Churchill,” the World War II prime minister who coined the phrase “special relationship” for the U.K.-U.S. bond.

It's part of a wider rift between Trump and the United States’ NATO allies, whom he has called “cowards” and “useless” for not joining action against Iran. A leaked Pentagon email suggested the U.S. could reassess support for the U.K.'s sovereignty over the Falkland Islands in the south Atlantic. Britain and Argentina fought a 1982 war over the islands, also known as the Islas Malvinas.

The president insists the political chill won’t affect the royal visit. Charles “has nothing to do with that,” Trump said in March, meaning NATO.

The president has spoken in glowing terms about Charles, repeatedly referring to the monarch as his “friend” and a “great guy.”

He also continues to mention his “amazing” trip to the U.K. in September with Melania Trump for an unprecedented second state visit. Starmer hand-delivered the invitation from the king in the Oval Office five weeks after Trump returned to office, in a very public attempt to woo the Republican president.

The U.K. royal family laid on pomp and pageantry for the Trumps, with scarlet-clad guardsmen, brass bands and a sumptuous banquet at Windsor Castle.

“President Trump has always had great respect for King Charles, and their relationship was further strengthened by the president’s historic visit to the United Kingdom last year,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told The Associated Press. “The president looks forward to a special visit by Their Majesties, which will include a beautiful state dinner and multiple events throughout the week.”

Trump, meanwhile, told the BBC that the king’s visit could “absolutely” help repair the trans-Atlantic relationship.

“He’s fantastic. He’s a fantastic man. Absolutely the answer is yes,” the president said.

Some called for the trip to be canceled

Kristofer Allerfeldt, a University of Exeter professor specializing in American history, said the two governments have very different objectives for the trip.

He said that for Charles, the trip is about “reinforcing long-term ties, showcasing the monarchy’s soft power and reminding the world that Britain still carries diplomatic weight.”

For Trump, it’s more about “a media event,” with emphasis on the optics of a visit that resembles a meeting of “two gilded monarchs.”

Some U.K. politicians worry that the trip is fraught with opportunities for embarrassment. Trump’s recent broadsides at Pope Leo XIV have heightened those concerns.

Ed Davey, leader of the U.K. centrist opposition Liberal Democrats party, earlier this month called Trump “a dangerous and corrupt gangster” and implored the government to cancel the trip.

“I really fear for what Trump might say or do while our king is forced to stand by his side,” Davey said in the House of Commons. “We cannot put His Majesty in that position.”

Starmer defended the visit, saying “the monarchy, through the bonds that it builds, is often able to reach through the decades” and bolster important relationships.

Andrew and Epstein cast a shadow

Raising the stakes is the shadow of the king’s younger brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, who has been stripped of his royal title of Prince Andrew, exiled from public life and put under police investigation over his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. He has denied committing any crimes.

Epstein victims have urged the king to meet with them and other sexual abuse survivors. It's unlikely he will do so.

Charles has visited the U.S. 19 times, but this is his first state visit to the country since becoming king in 2022. His mother, Queen Elizabeth II, made four state visits to the U.S.

The king, who is 77 and was diagnosed in early 2024 with an undisclosed form of cancer, will spend four days in the U.S. accompanied by Queen Camilla.

In Washington on Tuesday, the king and queen will attend a formal White House state dinner.

The royal couple will also visit the Sept. 11 memorial in New York and attend a 250th birthday block party in Virginia, where Charles will also meet Indigenous leaders involved in nature conservation — a favorite cause of the environmentalist king.

Three centuries after Britain’s kings and queens gave up any real political power, the royals remain symbols of soft power, deployed by elected governments to smooth international relationships and send messages about what the U.K. considers important.

A key moment will be the king’s speech to the U.S. Congress on Tuesday. It’s only the second time, after Queen Elizabeth II in 1991, that a U.K. monarch has addressed a joint meeting of both houses.

Elizabeth praised liberalism on that trip, spoke against the idea that “power grows from the barrel of a gun” and praised the “rich ethnic and cultural diversity of both our societies.”

The king’s treasured causes, including the environment and harmony among religious faiths, are in contrast to Trump’s. He's unlikely to accentuate differences, but Allerfeldt said that, in the monarch’s subtle way, the king could use his speech to send a message.

“He does have an unorthodox way of looking at the world, and I think maybe he can actually have something valid to say when he addresses Congress,” Allerfeldt said.

___

Jill Lawless reported from London.

• HEAT INDEX: 95°-100° Tuesday afternoon
• RAIN CHANCES: Low, don’t get your hopes up
• COLD FRONT: MUCH Cooler by the weekend

FORECAST

TUESDAY

Warm and very humid with morning temperatures in the 70s and afternoon temperatures in the lower 90s, that is, assuming we can break free from the low morning overcast. Regardless, it’ll feel hot with the high humidity. Also, expect hazy skies due to smoke filtering in from Mexico.

FIRST COLD FRONT

Arrives Wednesday with lower humidity by the afternoon and a high temperature near 80°. Rain chance 20%.

SECOND COLD FRONT

Arrives Friday evening and paves the way for a MUCH cooler weekend with mornings in the 50s and afternoon temperatures from 70°-75° combined with very low humidity.

Parts of Texas are likely to get good rain out of this second front and associated low pressure system, which essentially develops right overhead, however, odds aren’t great for our area to get much rain.

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.
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Lawmakers heard an emotional and sweeping review of a camp “obedience” culture that paired poorly trained teenage counselors with the youngest campers; was complacent about flood warnings; had poor communications; and critically delayed evacuation efforts.

“There was never any real training, no drills of any kind,” for counselors or campers of what do to or where to go in a flood threat, said Casey Garrett, a special legislative committee's investigator. She was addressing the committee's first hearing on the July Fourth flood that swept through the all-girls Christian camp on the banks of the Guadalupe River.

Twenty-five campers and two teenage counselors were killed. Camp owner Richard Eastland was also killed as he desperately tried to evacuate girls to higher ground.

Training and an earlier evacuation call likely would have saved every girl, some of whom would have needed to walk just about 20 steps to get to a two-story building, Garrett said.

Garrett noted that most of the victims were under age 10, some attending camp for the first time, and that the counselors in the hardest hit cabins were among the youngest and most inexperienced at the camp.

Many of the grim details had already been made public through hearings, media reports and interviews, but the state report presentation — built on interviews with about 150 people including campers, counselors, the Eastland family and victims' families — presented them in a stark, streamlined review. A written report of findings is expected later this year.

“The fate of those girls was set before any drop of rain fell.” Sen. Charles Perry said during the hearing.

He continued: “The things that were common sense and the things that should have been done, didn’t get done.”

Families of the victims pack the hearing

Dozens of victim family members attended the hearing. Some sobbed or walked out when photos of their girls and the destroyed camp site were displayed, or when they heard their loved ones' names read aloud.

The report laid out almost a minute-by-minute account of flood warnings, communications among Eastland family members and calls for help. It also noted some harrowing survivor accounts, including of a girl who was swept more than 6 miles downriver. She told investigators she was sucked underwater several times before she washed up on a debris pile and fell asleep. She was rescued the next morning by two women who heard her cries for help.

One girl recalled how the floodwaters in her cabin rose so high that her chin touched the ceiling. Garret described another girl bear-hugging a column with her arms and legs to stay out of the water. One counselor told investigators she pushed girls underwater to get them through the door of a flooded cabin.

The committee saw video of water rushing into a building through cracks in the door. In cellphone video shot by a stranded camper, a girl can be heard yelling “Help!” in the dark, raging floodwaters.

Campers and counselors had no emergency training

Garrett, a Houston attorney who also helped with the Legislature's report on the 2022 Uvalde school shooting, several times noted the lack of emergency training for the teenage counselors and child campers.

There was no detailed evacuation plan, she said, and the only instruction for the girls in low-lying areas of the camp was a one-paragraph directive that told them to “stay in their cabins unless told otherwise by the office. All cabins are constructed on high, safe locations.” A state inspector approved that plan two days before the flood.

Eventually, some counselors took matters into their own hands and pushed girls through cabin windows to scramble up a hill.

“It wasn’t a plan. It wasn’t a safe plan, It was an option taken, thank God,” Garrett said. “It was very ad hoc.”

Some of the young counselors had told their parents before the flood they were concerned about a lack of training for emergencies, she said.

Camp Mystic’s owners want to reopen in late May and have said they will only use parts of the camp that didn’t flood. They expect nearly 900 girls on campus this summer. Those plans have angered victims’ families, and some prominent state officials have called for state regulators to deny or delay renewal of the camp's license, which is under review.

Last year, Texas lawmakers passed new measures to demand more detailed planning and training, and the installation of emergency warning systems. The Legislature doesn’t meet again until January 2027 and the panel does not control the review of Camp Mystic's license.

Investigator describes the camp's formidable owner

Some counselors told investigators they feared getting into trouble if they were to take children to higher ground or out into the storm without explicit instructions.

Garrett described the camp's “obedience-encouraged” culture dominated by Eastland, the campus patriarch. Some members of the Eastland family and camp staff referred to him as “The General” and “The Eagle.”

“He ruled,” his wife, Tweety, told investigators. Several Eastland family members attended the hearing and some are expected to speak to the panel on Tuesday.

“He was running the show over there. … You just really didn’t cross him,” Garrett said of Richard Eastland.

The camp relied almost exclusively on Eastland for how to act in a flood emergency. The owner's son, Edward Eastland, testified in a lawsuit last week that any detailed flood evacuation plan was simply inside his father's head. Family members told investigators Richard Eastland was “obsessed” with weather and monitored warnings.

Richard Eastland and several girls were was found dead in his vehicle after he tried to drive them to safety. Edward Eastland was swept by the floodwaters into a tree. Camp security officer Glenn Juenke survived although he was trapped in a flooded cabin with campers.

Garrett also described Richard Eastland as a popular camp leader who taught generations of girls how to fish. He also had a knack for comforting young campers who were nervous about their first time away from home.

“We do know Dick Eastland loved every little girl who came to Camp Mystic,” Garrett said.

Jay Bryant pleaded guilty to a federal murder charge, telling a judge that he helped other people get into a recording studio to ambush the DJ, born Jason Mizell.

“I knew a gun was going to be used to shoot Jason Mizell,” Bryant told a federal magistrate. “I knew that what I was doing was wrong and a crime.”

Bryant’s admission brings some closure — but also adds complexity — to a knotty case.

Bryant didn’t name the other people with whom he acted. But a jury in 2024 convicted two other men, Karl Jordan Jr. and Ronald Washington, yet a judge subsequently cleared Jordan.

Washington has also challenged his conviction. His lawyer, Susan Kellman, noted Monday that evidence against Bryant included his DNA on a hat at the crime scene and witness testimony that Bryant once claimed he fired the gun himself. Jordan's lawyers declined to comment.

Bryant, 52, is expected to face a sentence somewhere between 15 and 20 years in prison for the killing plus unrelated drug and gun charges, to which he pleaded guilty earlier. No sentencing date has been set.

He gave a thumbs-up to someone in the audience before leaving court. The person declined to comment afterward, as did Bryant's attorneys.

Prosecutors had no immediate comment.

Mizell handled the turntables in Run-DMC, a pathbreaking trio he formed with friends Darryl “DMC” McDaniels and Joseph Simmons, known as DJ Run and Rev. Run.

With such 1980s hits as “It’s Tricky,” “My Adidas,” and a version of Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way,” they helped rap climb the ladder from an urban genre into mainstream popularity. Run-DMC was the first rap group with gold- and platinum-selling albums, a Rolling Stone cover, and a video on MTV. The trio was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2009. Mizell also mentored other hip-hop artists, including a young 50 Cent.

At 37, Mizell was gunned down in his studio in the Queens neighborhood where he’d grown up. His October 2002 death followed the late 1990s killings of two other hip-hop greats, Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G. Authorities struggled with all three cases for years.

Jordan and Washington — Mizell’s godson and old friend, respectively — were arrested in 2020. Prosecutors said the men were bitter about losing out on a piece of a failed cocaine deal that Mizell had tried to line up. Though Run-DMC was known for its anti-drug message, prosecutors and a trial witness said the DJ moonlighted in the cocaine trade in his later years to cover his bills and keep being generous to friends after music money dried up somewhat.

According to prosecutors and trial witnesses, Jordan shot Mizell while Washington blocked the door during the shooting and ordered one of Mizell’s aides to get on the ground. Both men denied the allegations. Jordan’s attorneys said he was at his girlfriend’s home when the DJ was shot, and Washington’s lawyers said he had no incentive to kill the famous friend who helped him financially.

Nearly three years after their arrests, prosecutors abruptly brought Bryant into their picture of the killing.

Saying that Bryant’s DNA had been found on a hat in the studio and that he’d been seen entering the building, prosecutors added him to the murder indictment. He was already jailed on the drug and gun case.

Bryant knew someone in common with Jordan and Washington, according to testimony at their trial. But unlike them, Bryant had little, if any, connection to Mizell.

Bryant said in court Monday that he was connected with people who were involved in a cocaine deal with the DJ and that he "helped them kill Jason Mizell by helping them gain entry to the recording studio.”

Bryant’s uncle has said his nephew told him he shot Mizell after the artist reached for a gun. But no one else testified that Bryant even entered the studio.

Instead, prosecutors contended that Bryant was enlisted to make his way into the studio building and open a back fire door, allowing Washington and Jordan to walk in without buzzing up and alerting Mizell they were coming.

While neither Jordan’s nor Washington’s DNA was on the cap, then-prosecutor Artie McConnell suggested one of them had accidentally left it behind, and that Bryant had simply touched it at some point beforehand.

The attack took place in an "isolated area" of Lokoja, capital of Kogi State, according to a statement by the state’s commissioner, Kingsley Femi Fanwo. The facility, Dahallukitab Group of Schools, was operating illegally, he said.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. The region has seen an increase in kidnappings for ransom.

The statement did not say how old the abducted children are, but the term “pupil” in Nigeria usually refers to someone in kindergarten or primary school, covering ages up to 12.

“Intensive operations are ongoing to secure the safe return of the remaining eight victims and apprehend the perpetrators," Fanwo said.

Students’ kidnappings have come to define the insecurity in Africa’s most populous nation. Analysts say armed gangs see schools and students as “strategic” targets to draw attention.

Nigeria is battling a complex security crisis, especially in the north, where an insurgency has simmered for more than a decade.

Among the most prominent Islamic militant groups are Boko Haram and its breakaway faction, known as ISWAP. There is also the IS-linked Lakurawa group operating in communities in the northwestern part of the country bordering Niger.

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This version corrects the spelling to Fanwo on second reference.

The trial, which started Monday with jury selection, centers on the 2015 birth of ChatGPT maker OpenAI as a nonprofit startup primarily funded by Musk before evolving into a capitalistic venture now valued at $852 billion.

The trial's outcome could sway the balance of power in AI — breakthrough technology that is increasingly being feared as a potential job killer and an existential threat to humanity's survival.

Those perceived risks are among the reasons that Musk, the world's richest person, cites for filing an August 2024 lawsuit that will now be decided by a jury and U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, California.

The civil lawsuit accuses Altman, OpenAI's CEO, and his top lieutenant, Greg Brockman, of double-crossing Musk by straying from the San Francisco company's founding mission to be an altruistic steward of a revolutionary technology. The lawsuit alleges they shifted into a moneymaking mode behind his back.

OpenAI has brushed off Musk's allegations as an unfounded case of sour grapes that's aimed at undercutting its rapid growth and bolstering Musk's own xAI, which he launched in 2023 as a competitor.

Gonzalez Rogers questioned potential jurors Monday about their views on Musk, Altman and artificial intelligence. Some jurors said they had negative views of Musk, but most said they would still be able to treat him fairly and focus on the facts of the case.

Trial promises clashing testimony from two tech titans

Musk, who invested about $38 million in OpenAI from December 2015 through May 2017, initially was seeking more than $100 billion in damages.

But any damages now are likely to be much smaller after a series of pre-trial rulings that went against Musk. Musk has since abandoned a bid for damages for himself and instead is seeking an unspecified amount of money to be paid to fund the altruistic efforts of OpenAI's charitable arm. The money would be paid primarily by OpenAI's for-profit operations, and Microsoft, which became the company's biggest investor after Musk cut off his funding.

Musk's lawsuit also seeks Altman's ouster from OpenAI's board. Musk's decision to stop funding the company contributed to a bitter falling out between the former allies. Musk says he was responding to deceptive conduct that OpenAI's board picked up on when it fired Altman as CEO in 2023 before he got his job back days later.

But the trial also carries risks for Musk, who last month was held liable by another jury for defrauding investors during his $44 billion takeover of Twitter in 2022. Any damaging details about Musk and his business tactics could be particularly hurtful now because his rocket ship maker, SpaceX, plans to go public this summer in an initial public offering that could make him the world's first trillionaire.

However it turns out, the trial is expected to provide riveting theater, with contrasting testimony from two of technology's most influential and polarizing figures in the 54-year-old Musk and the 41-year-old Altman.

“Part of this is about whether a jury believes the people who will testify and whether they are credible,” Gonzalez Rogers said during a court hearing earlier this year while explaining why she believe the case merited a trial. The judge will make the final decision on the case, with the jury serving in an advisory role.

Evidence has included glimpses of the AI race's early days

Musk, whose estimated fortune stands at about $780 billion, has long been hailed as a visionary for his roles creating digital payment pioneer PayPal, electric automaker Tesla and rocket ship maker SpaceX. But he has also provoked backlashes with his social media commentary, unfulfilled promises about Tesla's self-driving technology and his cost-cutting role last year in President Donald Trump's administration.

Some of Musk's erratic behavior has been tied to allegations of taking hallucinogenic drugs, but Gonzalez Rogers ruled that he can't be asked during the trial about his suspected use of ketamine. But the judge is allowing Musk to be questioned about his attendance at the 2017 Burning Man festival in Nevada, a free-wheeling celebration known for widespread drug use. The judge is also allowing Musk to be questioned about his relationship with former OpenAI board member Shivon Zilis, the mother of several of his children.

Altman, currently sitting on a roughly $3 billion fortune, didn't emerge in the public consciousness until the late 2022 release of ChatGPT. The tech boom triggered by that conversational chatbot has led some to liken Altman to a 21st-century version of the nuclear bomb inventor, J. Robert Oppenheimer.

Although Altman was initially hailed as trailblazer he is now facing blowback amid worries about AI's potential dangers. Earlier this month, the New Yorker magazine published a profile that painted him as an unscrupulous executive. Days later, a 20-year-old man worried about AI's effect on humanity was arrested on attempted murder charges after throwing a Molotov cocktail at Altman's San Francisco home.

The dueling testimonies of Altman and Musk are expected to open a window into some of the thinking that helped trigger the AI race, as well as the unraveling of their friendship. The kinship was forged in 2015 when they agreed to build AI in a more responsible and safer way than the profit-driven companies controlled by Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, according to evidence submitted ahead of the trial.

Details of the bitter break between the two men were captured in a February 2023 email exchange that surfaced as part of the evidence leading up to the trial.

After letting Musk know “you're my hero,” Altman tells him: “I am tremendously thankful for everything you’ve done to help —I don't think OpenAI would have happened without you — and it really (expletive) hurts when you publicly attack OpenAI.”

Musk's response: “I hear you and it is certainly not my intention to be hurtful, for which I apologize, but the fate of civilization is at stake.”

Xavier Lee Lopez was taken into custody on robbery and injury to a child charges, SAPD said in a preliminary report.

Officers were dispatched to a fight just after 11:20 p.m. on Sunday to the 1100 block of San Pedro Avenue, police said.

Upon arrival, the officers were told that Lopez attempted to solicit money from a 40-year-old woman.

When the woman refused, the report said that Lopez tried to take her phone and wallet.

Lopez also physically assaulted the woman with a closed fist, SAPD said.

Three boys, from 10 to 15 years old, attempted to help the woman, but Lopez also assaulted them, the report stated.

According to the report, the woman and the three boys suffered minor injuries.

More crime coverage on KSAT:

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The crash happened just before 2 p.m. Monday in the 3300 block of South W.W. White Road.

SAPD said the motorcyclist was taken to a hospital for further treatment.

East Central ISD told KSAT one student was on the bus at the time of the crash, and both the student and bus driver are safe.

SAPD’s investigation is ongoing.

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She had spent three daystelling a jury that the ex-movie mogul raped her, explaining why she continued a relationship with him afterward and discussing other deeply personal aspects of her life, once sobbing so hard that court ended early. Weinstein had then been convicted, in a 2020 verdict seen as a victory for the #MeToo campaign against sexual misconduct.

Yet six years later, Mann again walked to a witness stand Monday, passed Weinstein in court and began — for a third time — to give a jury her account of what happened between them.

“One of the things he said is that ‘my friends go far — my enemies don’t step a foot in this town,’” she recalled while describing the early stages of a relationship that, by her account, started out with professional advice, abruptly turned sexual and descended into rape.

Weinstein denies sexually assaulting anyone. He watched from his wheelchair at the defense table as Mann testified, occasionally leaning over to talk with his lawyers. Mann looked at Weinstein only when asked to point him out.

Mann’s allegation of a 2013 rape in a Manhattan hotel is again up for consideration because of a series of legal switchbacks. First, Weinstein's 2020 conviction was overturned for reasons unrelated to her testimony. Then a jury failed to decide her part of a retrial that involved multiple accusers and allegations last year, leaving only her rape charge to be tried again.

“I am ready, willing and able to endure this as many times as it takes for justice and accountability to be served,” Mann said in a statement at the time.

That determination now stands to be tested.

Mann returns Tuesday to the witness stand, where she could face days of additional questioning by prosecutors and Weinstein's new lawyers. Like their predecessors, they have portrayed Mann as a canny wannabe who got involved consensually with a Hollywood heavy-hitter, enjoyed his connections and invitations, then turned on him after news reports about other women’s claims about Weinstein. The 2017 reporting catalyzed the #MeToo movement.

Mann, 40, grew up in a small town in Washington state and trained as a hairstylist, but she yearned to pursue acting and moved to Los Angeles in her 20s. She was sometimes so broke that she lived in her car, but she had done some commercial and film work before she met Weinstein at a party in early 2013. The Oscar-winning producer complimented her looks, she recalled Monday.

“I thought I just got discovered,” she told jurors.

Thrilled at the prospect of a breakthrough, Mann accepted invitations to a shopping trip for books about cinema, dinners and glitzy Oscars-season events, she testified. Soon, she said, Weinstein started making intimate overtures.

First, she said, there was an awkward request for a massage that she parried by unenthusiastically giving Weinstein a back rub instead. Then she and her then-roommate accompanied him to a Los Angeles-area hotel suite to see a movie script, and he pulled Mann into a bedroom and started aggressively kissing her, she said.

She told him, “whoa, whoa, whoa,” but he said he wouldn't let her leave until she let him “do something,” so she submitted to oral sex and pretended to enjoy it, she recalled. Mann said the experience left her feeling “confused and sick.”

Court ended for the day before she was asked about what happened next. In prior testimony, Mann has said she embarked, with jumbled feelings, on a relationship with the then-married mogul.

In March 2013, she arranged to meet Weinstein for breakfast with her pals in New York. She previously testified that he got her alone in a hotel room, slammed the door shut when she tried to leave and ultimately raped her, though she told him, “I don't want to do this” and “no.”

Afterward, Mann kept seeing and having what she has said were largely consensual sexual encounters with Weinstein. At points over the next roughly four years, she emailed him “miss you,” that no one “understands me quite like you” and “I love you, always do. But I hate feeling like a booty call.”

Weinstein's lawyers have argued that the messages show there was nothing but a caring relationship. Mann has said she was trying to manage a complicated dynamic with a volatile man.

The Associated Press does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted, unless they agree to be named, as Mann has done.

United moved three points above its rivals and took a huge step toward ensuring it will play Champions League football next season for the first time since 2024.

Casemiro, just weeks before he departs the club, sneaked in at the back post to head United into the lead after 11 minutes. It was his 11th headed goal since he joined United in August 2022, a record bettered only by Erling Haaland (18), Ollie Watkins (16) and Chris Wood (13).

Although Brentford was equal to the host in an entertaining first half it was United which doubled its lead on the cusp of the break.

Benjamin Sesko took a simple pass from Bruno Fernandes to finish off a swift counterattack and assure the talismanic midfielder of his 19th assist of the season, a league high, and only one away from equalling the Premier League record.

“Me and Bruno Fernandes work a lot on the training pitch and it is paying off," Sesko said. “Knowing I have a teammate with this quality is a pleasure and I have to use it.”

Both sides had chances in a quieter second half but Brentford especially was profligate in front of goal.

Mathias Jensen’s long-range strike in the 87th minute gave it some hope but United held on to ensure another disappointing result for Keith Andrews' men.

“Bitterly disappointed," Andrews told the BBC. "Overall our performance was very good. As a collective we went toe to toe with a good side and controlled large parts of the game. They were more clinical than us.”

Brentford remained in ninth place, tied on points with Chelsea and Fulham, but it has not won in the league since February.

However, its hopes of clinching European football for the first time remain alive and Andrews was optimistic.

“There is absolute belief in everything we do," Andrews said. "We are not playing safe, I don’t want us to be that team. We set up in a brave fashion against a top team tonight and unfortunately we couldn’t quite get there’”

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

Texas Tech said it is “committed to supporting Brendan through his recovery process and to ensure his long-term health and well-being.” There was no immediate word on whether Sorsby will be available for the upcoming season and no potential timetable was provided for the treatment.

The 22-year-old Sorsby started his college career at Indiana in 2022 before a transfer to Cincinnati to play the past two seasons. ESPN, citing unidentified sources, reported that the QB allegedly made “thousands of online bets on a variety of sports via a gambling app,” which could impact his eligibility depending on the details.

NCAA rules were eased in 2023 to recognize the proliferation of legalized gamblilng but still call for a permanent ban for athletes who bet on their own games.

According to the outlet, Sorsby bet on Indiana football games in 2022 and only to win. He did not place a wager on the one game in which he appeared that season as a freshman, when he maintained that season of eligibility before playing 10 games for the Hoosiers in 2023. The NCAA is now investigating the case, ESPN reported.

“Due to confidentiality rules put in place by NCAA member schools, the NCAA will not comment on current, pending or potential investigations,” the NCAA said in a statement released to news organizations. “However, the NCAA takes sports betting very seriously and is committed to the protection of student-athlete well-being and the integrity of competition. The association works with integrity monitoring services, state regulators and other stakeholders to conduct appropriate due diligence whenever reports are received.”

Sorsby was one of the biggest names in this year’s transfer portal, and left Cincinnati for a reported $5 million from Texas Tech, which last season won its first Big 12 championship and made the playoff after being among the nation's biggest spenders putting together its roster.

“We love Brendan and support his decision to seek professional help,” Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire said in a statement released by the school. “Taking this step requires courage, and our primary focus is on him as a person. Our program is behind Brendan as he prioritizes his health.”

In the statement, Texas Tech said its “primary focus remains on fostering an environment where student-athletes feel empowered to prioritize their mental health and seek professional assistance.” The school said it would have no further comment on Sorsby’s status “to protect the integrity of the recovery process.”

Cincinnati, which announced Feb. 26 it would sue the quarterback for allegedly breaching his name, image and likeness contract, declined comment.

According to the lawsuit, Sorsby signed a NIL agreement in July 2025 covering the 2025 and ’26 seasons and that there would be a $1 million buyout if he transferred, payable within 30 days. Sorsby announced on Dec. 15 that he was entering the transfer portal and announced on Jan. 4 that he would play for Texas Tech.

The Red Raiders brought in Sorsby after Lubbock native Behren Morton completed his eligibility. Morton threw for 8,989 yards and 71 touchdowns in 45 games for the Red Raiders since 2021, and led them to a school-record 12 wins last season before a 23-0 loss to Oregon in the Orange Bowl.

In 35 career games, including 31 starts, Sorsby has passed for 7,208 yards and 60 touchdowns, along with 1,295 rushing yards and 22 TDs.

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It turned out that a staff member, Donna Wisniewski-Balinsat, 66, had been fatally injured in a crash outside the campus.

Her son, though, found out about it in a phone call from his father.

“It’s been the hardest thing. It really has,” Neal Balinsat said, reflecting on both the phone call and the aftermath of learning his mother had died.

The San Antonio Police Department said another parent ran over Wisniewski-Balinsat in the school parking lot during morning drop-off. Wisniewski-Balinsat later died at a local hospital.

In a previous statement, the Northside Independent School District said Wisniewski-Balinsat, a retired teacher, was working as a day tutor at the school at the time.

Police said the investigation is still underway, but so far, the driver, who had her own children in the car with her at the time, is not facing any charges.

Still, Balinsat said he would like to know more about exactly what happened.

“We know that she was hit by a car. We don’t know the extent,” he said. “We don’t know a lot because there’s still an ongoing and pending investigation.”

What Balinsat said he does know, currently, is that his mother is sorely missed by himself, his brother and his father.

Balinsat described her as a kind woman who was dedicated to her family, an unwavering foundation of support.

“She helped me through everything, whenever I was a kid into adulthood,” Balinsat said. “She helped me through my heartbreaks.”

He said that includes his struggles with dyslexia as a child.

“She made me sit down and read. That was a habitual thing that we did, even though I fought her on it,” Balinsat said.

Those lessons eventually led him to follow in his mother’s career path.

Balinsat, himself, is a teacher at a local high school.

“Even on the days that were the hardest, the most rough, she’s always been, kind of, my center,” he said.

At the time of her death, Balinsat said his mother was on her way to spread joy, bringing gifts to staff members at Raba Elementary to “make them feel seen.”

Now, he is struggling to figure out how to cope with the loss.

“We had a conversation maybe a week ago, and I told her that I didn’t know what I was going to do without her,” Balinsat said. “I’m just hoping that I can still be strong while being here for my dad and my brother because it’s not easy.”

While Balinsat said he still has many questions about the crash, he does not harbor any ill will toward the driver.

Balinsat said he plans to honor his mother’s wishes for him and his family to remain positive.

“She doesn’t want us to be bitter,” he said. “She always told us that.”

Read also:

• NISD staff member dies at hospital after crash outside elementary school, officials say

The 29-year-old Kenyan pulled off the feat that was long considered unthinkable when winning the London Marathon on Sunday in a time of 1 hour, 59 minutes and 30 seconds.

There have been a slew of high-profile doping cases involving Kenyan runners in recent years, notably women’s marathon world record-holder Ruth Chepng’etich getting a three-year ban in October.

So, in agreement with his coaches and management team, Sawe said he volunteered to undergo “multiple” doping tests to dispel any suspicion around his own performances, including victories at last year’s marathons in Berlin and London.

“Doping has become a cancer in my country,” Sawe told reporters on Monday.

Sawe said he and his team decided to implement the stringent testing regime because the possibility of people looking at his results “with a lot of doubts was not good,” and he wanted to “show the world that we can run clean and also run fast.”

The BBC, which holds the broadcast rights for the London Marathon, reported that Adidas provided $50,000 to the Athletics Integrity Unit, track and field’s anti-doping body, to frequently test Sawe over a 12-month period, including 25 out-of-competition tests leading up to the Berlin Marathon in September and a similar number ahead of the London race.

The Athletics Integrity Unit didn't immediately respond to a request from The Associated Press for comment on Sawe's testing regime.

Sawe is urging other runners to volunteer for more doping tests.

“Everyone will feel comfortable running with his fellow athlete because there will be no doubt thinking (that) someone is using what he’s using," he said. “And so, it’s important to run clean and to show the world (that) talent, with hard work, discipline and patience,” can lead to big achievements.

Sawe also credited his footwear for helping him break the marathon record by an astonishing 65 seconds in Sunday’s race.

He wore an Adidas shoe that weighed less than half the weight of an average running shoe. After the race, he held up the shoe, which had his winning time written next to it.

“The shoe is very nice, very light, comfortable and so supportive,” he said, “and is pushing (me) forward.”

Sawe was already a superstar in marathon running but has suddenly become a global sensation, something the softly spoken Kenyan is going to have to get used to.

“Being in the history books is not something easy,” he said. “So it means a lot to me in my life and I’m so happy.”

Sawe said he kept things simple after his world-record run.

“I just celebrated in style — I just relaxed and slept well and woke up,” he said.

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Douglas reported from Sundsvall, Sweden.

___

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

During an emotional hearing in a Queens courtroom packed by uniformed police officers and Officer Jonathan Diller’s family, the judge said Guy Rivera “most certainly will” die in a prison cell.

“Your sentence to me was determined the second you pulled that trigger,” Judge Michael Aloise told Rivera. “It took me five minutes to calculate the numbers. It’s going to take you a lifetime to calculate the damage you caused.”

A jury found Rivera guilty earlier this month of aggravated manslaughter and other charges in Diller's killing, but acquitted the 36-year-old Queens resident of murder.

The shooting happened on March 25, 2024, when Diller and other officers were on patrol in the Far Rockaway section of Queens. Authorities say one of the officers spotted a suspicious object bulging from Rivera’s hoodie as he and another man walked to a parked car and got in.

Police say the officers were questioning the driver when Rivera, who was in the passenger’s seat, suddenly pulled out a gun and shot Diller. The bullet struck the officer below his bulletproof vest, mortally wounding him. Another officer then shot and wounded Rivera.

At the time, Diller was the first NYPD officer to be killed in the line of duty in two years. The 31-year-old’s wake and funeral in his hometown on Long Island drew thousands of people, including President Donald Trump, and the case briefly became a focal point during his 2024 campaign to reclaim the White House on a message of “law and order.”

The Republican president hailed Diller an “unbelievably wonderful person and a great officer” in a March 2025 speech to a joint session of Congress.

Prosecutors had argued that Rivera was deserving of life behind bars because he was a “persistent felon” with prior criminal convictions who had made a “calculated, deliberate and evil choice” to inflict violence.

“This was not an accident,” Assistant District Attorney Kenneth Zawistowski said. “We ask that you honor Jonathan’s life. We ask that you honor his sacrifice."

Rivera's lawyer, Jamal Johnson, argued, as he did during the three-week trial, that Rivera was “not a murderer” because he did not intend to kill Diller.

He maintained the gun accidentally discharged as officers pulled the firearm from Rivera’s pocket. He pleaded with the judge not to issue a “sensational” sentence and complained that Rivera did not receive a fair trial.

Johnson, in a statement after the court hearing, said he intended to appeal his client's conviction.

“The fact that the court stated it had already made up its mind about sentencing well before the trial was conducted reveals the bias and uphill battle the defense faced throughout this case,” he said.

The second suspect, Lindy Jones, is due back in court Tuesday as he awaits trial on weapons charges.

On Monday, Rivera declined to address the court but members of Diller's family delivered tearful remarks.

Stephanie Diller, the officer's wife, said she and the couple's young son had been given a life sentence without their husband and father, so Rivera should also be given one.

“You took my husband and the life we were building,” she said speaking directly to Rivera through tears. “In a single moment, everything that was my life was gone.”

Fran Diller, the officer's mother, said she is haunted by her son's death every day.

“He had a future so incredibly bright,” she said. “My world has been completely shattered. Everything feels empty without him. All I feel is unbearable ache."

Patrick Hendry, president of the police officers’ union, said after the hearing that the manslaughter verdict “did not send the right message” to police officers but that the sentence had.

“He should never ever walk the streets again, and he won't,” Hendry said of Rivera.

___

Follow Philip Marcelo at https://x.com/philmarcelo

“May the Lord bless from his height, the meal our belly will take with delight,” they chanted in unison before beginning their lunch, a ritual that takes place three times a week in the dining hall adjacent to the church.

Among the nearly 50 elderly people was Carmen Casado, an 84-year-old retired chemical engineer who attends without fail. Her monthly pension of 2,000 Cuban pesos is equivalent to $4 at the informal exchange rate that people use on a daily basis. She lives alone, has no children and does not receive remittances from relatives abroad.

She says the church meals are a needed supplement to the meager rations, such as bread, rice and beans, that she can obtain for free from state-run stores, or bodegas.

“This is a lifeline for us retirees with small pensions," said Casado, speaking in a rapid-fire tone. “What we get from the bodegas alone is not enough.”

The elderly are among the hardest hit by the severe economic crisis on the island, which has worsened dramatically since the beginning of the year following an oil embargo imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Most are former government employees — teachers, doctors, nurses, technicians, custodians, lawyers — whose pensions are usually less than $10 a month and who must face cuts to the basket of goods that have been subsidized for decades, as well as the loneliness brought on by the growing emigration of young people.

They were young when Fidel Castro entered Havana and lived through all the major events on the island, from the Bay of Pigs invasion to U.S. President Barack Obama shaking the hand of Raúl Castro in 2016.

Now, their revolutionary spirit is being tested in the latest crisis, which is forcing them to sell cigarettes on the streets, line up for a loaf of bread and seek free meals offered by churches and some state institutions.

An aging country

After lunch, Casado walked the four blocks home to tend to household chores she still performs without assistance. Her home is on the second and top floors of a 19th-century building that, like many in the capital, is falling apart.

Born in 1942, Casado was a teenager when the revolution led by Castro triumphed. Her life has spanned the island’s most defining moments, from the 1962 Missile Crisis to the so-called Special Period following the collapse of the Soviet Union. She also lived through the 1970s and 80s, when the island's economy was heavily subsidized by the Soviets and when the Cuban system seemed to promise a brighter future.

“This is our life; we were born and raised here,” she said.

Even before the economic crisis worsened and before the wave of emigration over the past five years, Cuba was already one of the countries with the oldest populations in Latin America, a trend nudged further by high life expectancy and low birth rates.

According to Cuba's National Bureau of Statistics, by the end of 2024, almost 26% of the population was aged 60 or older. That is almost twice the regional average of 14.2% in the same year, according to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, CEPAL.

The last five years have seen a population decline in Cuba of nearly 1.5 million, primarily due to migration. The number of Cubans residing on the island, which stood at 11.1 million, has fallen to just 9.7 million.

The impact of the crisis and the exodus of youth is visible at a glance. Elderly people walk the streets alone —some rummaging through trash, others standing in long lines for the bread and rice provided by the ration book, the basic subsidized foods the state guarantees to every Cuban.

The plight of the elderly is so critical that the government recently authorized private entrepreneurs to operate elder care services and residential facilities, a move marking a significant departure from the island’s traditional model of total state control.

Casado insists that she is still privileged. She is mentally sharp and has no physical impairments — she doesn’t even use a cane — and manages entirely on her own. Her only medication is half a tablet for blood pressure, which, “so far,” remains available at the state-run pharmacies.

Despite the poverty and loneliness, she continues to have faith in the government and blames the country’s woes on the United States.

“We’re doing everything we can here to move the country forward,” she said. “But the thing is, we have a very powerful enemy, and he’s right there, right on our doorstep."

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Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

The S&P 500 inched 0.1% higher to its latest all-time high, a downshift following weeks of big gains driven by strong corporate profit reports and hopes that the economy can avoid a worst-case scenario because of the war. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 62 points, or 0.1%, while the Nasdaq composite rose 0.2% to its own record.

The moves were stronger in the oil market, where prices climbed more than 2.5% as tankers find the Strait of Hormuz still effectively closed. That’s keeping crude stuck in the Middle East and away from customers worldwide, including oil produced by Iran that’s being blockaded by the U.S. Navy.

Iran has offered to reopen the strait if the United States ends its blockade, while proposing that discussions on the larger question of its nuclear program would come in a later phase. But U.S. President Donald Trump seems unlikely to accept the offer, which was passed to the Americans by Pakistan.

Over the weekend, Trump told U.S. envoys not to go to Pakistan, which has been playing a crucial mediating role. By saying the Iranians could call Washington with any proposal, Trump appeared to signal he’s content to try to continue to squeeze Iran with the blockade.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude to be delivered in June climbed 2.8% to settle at $108.23. Brent to be delivered in July, which is where more of the trading is happening in the oil market, rose 2.6% to $101.69 per barrel.

Brent prices were at only about $70 per barrel before the war and have briefly shot to nearly $120 a couple times when fears about the war have hit their heights.

Even with more expensive fuel bills, most big U.S. companies have nevertheless been reporting profit growth for the start of 2026 that’s even stronger than analysts expected. That in turn has helped the S&P 500 jump 13% since hitting a low in late March.

This upcoming week could be a blockbuster for the market, with several of Wall Street’s most influential stocks scheduled to deliver their profit reports. Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms and Microsoft are all scheduled to report on Wednesday alone. Apple will report on Thursday.

Verizon Communications joined the list of companies topping analysts’ expectations on Monday, and its stock rose 1.5% after the company said it added more postpaid phone customers than it lost during a first quarter for the first time since 2013. It also raised its forecast for profit growth this year, even though its revenue for the first quarter fell short of analysts’ expectations.

Domino’s Pizza helped drag on the market and fell 8.8% after it reported weaker profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 8.83 points to 7,137.91. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 62.92 to 49,167.79, and the Nasdaq composite rose 50.50 to 24,887.10.

In the bond market, Treasury yields ticked higher following the rise in oil prices. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 4.33% from 4.31% late Friday.

The Federal Reserve will announce its latest move on short-term interest rates Wednesday, and the consensus expectation among traders is that it will hold the federal funds rate steady. Lower rates would give the economy a boost, but they would also threaten to worsen inflation when oil is more expensive and tariffs are threatening to raise prices for all kinds of other products.

Wednesday will likely be the final meeting where Chair Jerome Powell will lead the Fed. His term as chair is scheduled to expire next month, and Trump has already named a nominee to replace him, Kevin Warsh.

The European Central Bank, Bank of Japan and Bank of England will also be announcing their own interest-rate decisions this week.

In stock markets abroad, indexes slipped in Europe following a stronger finish in Asia. South Korea’s Kospi jumped 2.2%, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.4% for two of the world’s bigger moves.

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

Members of the National Science Board received an email on Friday sent from the Presidential Personnel Office “on behalf of President Donald J. Trump" stating that their position was “terminated, effective immediately.”

“I wasn’t entirely surprised, to be honest,” said dismissed board member Keivan Stassun in an email. Stassun, who works at Vanderbilt University, added that the decision was “enormously disappointing.”

The National Science Board was created in 1950 to advise the president and Congress on science and engineering policy, approve major funding awards and guide NSF’s future.

It's typically made up of 25 members appointed by the president who serve staggered, six-year terms. The fired scientists hail from academia and industry and specialize in areas including astronomy, math, chemistry and aerospace engineering.

Every member of the current 22-person board was let go, according to terminated member Yolanda Gil. The board had planned to meet in person next week and was finalizing a report on the state of U.S. science, Gil said in an email.

“I think this is one more indication of the sweeping changes that the administration has in mind for the NSF,” said Gil, who works at the Information Sciences Institute of the University of Southern California.

Maria Cantwell, the top Democrat on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, said in a statement the move was “a dangerous attack on the institutions and expertise that drive American innovation and discovery."

The Trump administration tried to cut the science foundation's $9 billion budget by more than half last year. Congress maintained NSF's funding, but a similar slash is once again on the table for the coming year.

Without an advisory board in the way this time, Stassun said, such cuts may be easier to execute.

It could “eviscerate investments in fundamental research and in the training of the next generation of scientists and engineers for our nation," Stassun said.

The science foundation's headquarters was also relocated to a smaller building. Last year, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced it would be moving into the NSF's former base in Alexandria, Virginia.

The National Science Foundation directed a request for comment to the White House. In an emailed statement, the White House said the powers given to the National Science Board when it was created may need to be updated. The science foundation's work “continues uninterrupted,” the statement said.

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

The case came before the justices after a tidal wave of litigation that included some multibillion-dollar verdicts against the global agrochemical manufacturer Bayer, which owns Roundup maker Monsanto.

Several justices seemed sympathetic to the company’s argument that it can’t be sued under state law because federal regulators have found Roundup likely doesn’t cause cancer. Others, though, grilled attorneys about whether that wrongly stops states from responding to changing research.

Roundup maker Monsanto is backed by the Trump administration, a legal position that's at odds with some allies in the Make America Healthy Again movement who want to rein in pesticide use.

The case before the court was filed by a Missouri man named John Durnell. His lawsuit said he developed a cancer called non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma after more than 20 years of serving as the neighborhood association’s “spray guy,” using Roundup on parks in his historic St. Louis community.

A jury agreed that the company failed to warn him about possible cancer dangers and awarded him $1.25 million. It's one of thousands of similar cases, including some multibillion-dollar damage awards.

There's still fierce debate about cancer and Roundup’s key ingredient, glyphosate. The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer classified the chemical as “probably carcinogenic" in 2015, but the Environmental Protection Agency has determined that it's not likely to be carcinogenic to humans when used as directed.

The agency approved a label without a cancer warning, and Bayer argues that it’s required to follow those federal standards — not the state laws that Durnell and others have sued under.

EPA reviews its labeling determinations every 15 years, which can be a relatively long period in terms of scientific advancement, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said.

Chief Justice John Roberts questioned whether waiting for EPA review ties the hands of state courts. “Throughout that long process, in response to information that suggests there is a risk that’s not on the label, the states cannot do anything?” he questioned.

Durnell's lawyers, on the other hand, say that federal law doesn't stop Bayer from putting a warning about possible cancer risk on its products under state law.

But Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Elena Kagan both seemed concerned that facing liability under a thicket of different state laws could make it tough for companies and undermine the purpose of federal regulations. “Do you think it’s uniformity when each state can require different things?” Kavanaugh said.

Bayer disputes the cancer claims but has set aside $16 billion to settle cases, and proposed a major settlement earlier this year. At the same time, it has tried to persuade states to pass laws barring new cases, and a few have agreed.

The company has faced more than 100,000 Roundup claims, mostly from home users. It has stopped using glyphosate in Roundup sold in the U.S. residential lawn and garden market. The company has said it might have to consider pulling glyphosate from U.S. agricultural markets if the lawsuits persist.

American Farm Bureau Federation said in court documents that removing it from the market would have an "immediate, devastating risk to America's food supply" at time when the industry is already under pressure.

Environmental groups say Bayer wants to keep juries out of the lawsuits because of its state court losses.

Meanwhile, pesticides have created a rift between the administration and members of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy's MAHA movement, who were also frustrated with an executive order aimed at boosting glyphosate’s production.

Kennedy himself has said repeatedly that glyphosate causes cancer, even as he says he recognizes the executive order was necessary for food supply and national security reasons.

Dozens of MAHA activists and supporters on Monday gathered outside the Supreme Court for what they called a “People vs. Poison” rally to decry Monsanto’s efforts to shield itself from lawsuits.

The Supreme Court is expected to decide the case by the end of June.

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Associated Press writer Ali Swenson in New York contributed to this report.

That’s according to Luminate, an industry data and analytics company that provides insight into changing behaviors across music listenership.

A blockbuster was the cause: “Michael,” the big-budget Michael Jackson biopic released Friday, earned $97 million in U.S. and Canada theaters its opening weekend, according to studio estimates. A few weeks prior, estimates for “Michael” were closer to $50 million. Last week, the studio estimated closer to $70 million.

As a result of the movie's incredible popularity, Jackson received 31.7 million streams on Friday, April 24 and Saturday, April 25 in the U.S. and 16.3 million streams the previous weekend, Friday, April 17 and Saturday, April 18. That's a 95% increase.

But before Michael Jackson was Michael Jackson, he was the youngest member of The Jackson 5. The classic boy group also received a huge jump in streams. The group earned 2.4 million streams on Friday, April 24 and Saturday, April 25 compared to 1.3 million streams the previous weekend, Friday, April 17 and Saturday, April 18. That’s an 85% increase.

Jackson also saw a boost in plays on Apple Music. According to the streaming giant, on Monday, Jackson had eight songs on Apple Music’s Daily Top 100 Global Chart. “Billie Jean” led the pack at number 11.

And Shazam found that Jackson streams were 140% higher in volume last weekend, April 24 through April 26, than the previous weekend. As a result, there are currently seven Jackson songs on Shazam’s global top 200.

“Michael” is a box office smash despite negative reviews from critics. In his review, The Associated Press' Jake Coyle awarded the film one-and-a-half stars out of four, describing it as “a kind of fantasy film, one that relives the extraordinary highs of Michael Jackson while turning a blind eye to the lows.”

A Cape Cod seafood company has donated a rare two-colored lobster to a science center, sparing the critter from the kettle because of its remarkable coloration. The lobster found is the typical brown color on one side and bright orange on the other, and the two-toned pattern goes all the way from its head to its tail.

Representatives for Wellfleet Shellfish Company in Eastham, Massachusetts, said Monday they have been fielding inquiries about the crustacean for days. The company gifted the lobster to Woods Hole Science Aquarium in Falmouth, Massachusetts, and it will be put on public display when the aquarium reopens, the company said.

“The lobster is now with Woods Hole Science Aquarium’s animals currently being housed in holding tanks at the Marine Biological Laboratory during the aquarium’s construction period. When the aquarium reopens, the lobster will be on display, offering visitors a rare look at one of the ocean’s most striking natural anomalies,” the shellfish company said in a statement.

Fishermen caught the lobster off Cape Cod on April 16. Oddly colored lobsters often make their way to New England's docks over the course of the spring and summer, but the two-colored specimen is rarer than most.

The American lobster is usually a mottled brown, but they can experience color abnormalities due to gene mutations that affect the proteins that bind to their pigments. Some are blue or orange, some are spotted calico and others are so brightly color they're called “cotton candy” lobsters.

A two-colored lobster can occur because two lobster eggs fused and grew as one animal, marine sciences professor Markus Frederich of the University of New England in Maine told The Associated Press in 2024. There are estimates about the rarity of different lobster colors, though Frederich has also cautioned that such figures are approximations.

On Cape Cod, Wellfleet Shellfish Company said it's treating the two-colored lobster as a “remarkable and exciting find.”

Today on Texas Eats NOW:

MI FAMILIA AT THE RIM

18403 I-10 W, San Antonio, TX 78257

Mi Familia at The Rim brings the rich traditions of the Cortez family to San Antonio’s Northwest Side, offering a lively, family-friendly dining experience rooted in authentic Mexican cuisine. Known for its colorful decor, including hanging papel picado, piñatas, and glowing lights, the restaurant creates a festive atmosphere that mirrors its iconic Market Square counterpart. Guests can enjoy a wide range of classic dishes made with fresh, homemade ingredients, from enchiladas and tamales to caldo maya and street tacos, all served in generous portions that celebrate the flavors of Mexico.

The menu also features signature plates like “El Favorito,” alongside a popular brunch buffet complete with an omelette station. An on-site panadería offers traditional pan dulce and Mexican sweets, while the bar serves up margaritas and cocktails often accompanied by live mariachi music. With its vibrant energy and deep cultural roots, Mi Familia at The Rim continues to be a go-to destination for celebrations and everyday dining alike.

PLAYA BOWLS

7959 Fredericksburg Rd, Ste 134, San Antonio, TX 78229

Playa Bowls delivers a taste of the tropics to San Antonio with its colorful lineup of açaí, pitaya, coconut, and mango bowls. Founded by New Jersey surfers, the brand has built a loyal following by focusing on fresh, high-quality ingredients and customizable options that cater to a variety of dietary lifestyles, including vegan and gluten-free. The shop’s bright, surf-inspired interior adds to the laid-back vibe, making it a popular stop for a refreshing and nutritious bite.

Signature offerings include fruit-packed bowls topped with granola, coconut flakes, and fresh-cut fruit, as well as smoothies and juices designed to energize and satisfy. With quick service and a commitment to freshness, Playa Bowls has become a staple for health-conscious diners looking for both flavor and convenience in every bite.

6IXTY WINGS

2703 N Loop 1604 W, Ste 106, San Antonio, TX 78258

6ixty Wings brings a bold and adventurous approach to chicken wings, introducing San Antonio to a Canadian-based concept known for its extensive menu of flavors. With more than 60 sauces and seasonings ranging from sweet to intensely spicy, the restaurant offers something for every palate. Each order features fresh, never-frozen wings that are lightly dusted and double-fried to achieve a crispy finish, setting the stage for a wide variety of flavor combinations.

Beyond wings, the menu includes comfort food favorites like loaded fries, burgers, and poutine, all served in a lively, sports-focused atmosphere. Standout flavors like Devil’s Ranch and Killer Heat highlight the brand’s creativity, drawing in diners eager to try something new. As a newcomer to the local food scene, 6ixty Wings is quickly gaining attention as a must-visit spot for wing lovers seeking variety and bold taste.

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

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The crash happened around 10 a.m. Monday in the 1500 block of La Manda Boulevard, which is located near Basse Road.

An SAPD preliminary report states the victim was walking across the street when they were struck by a vehicle that was reversing.

SAPD at the scene told KSAT that the driver of a Dodge Ram pickup truck was reversing and ran over the victim with the vehicle’s back tires.

Upon arrival, authorities said they found the 41-year-old man underneath the pickup truck.

The driver, who was described as a man around 30 to 40 years old, remained at the scene.

It’s unclear if he will face any charges, police told KSAT at the scene. The report also does not state if the driver will face any charges.

Police could not provide a condition for the victim. However, SAPD said that he was conscious at the scene.

The investigation is ongoing.

Read also:

• 19-year-old man accused of assaulting woman, three boys in robbery near downtown, SAPD says
• Man killed in fiery single-vehicle crash in Castroville, police say

The shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner attended by President Donald Trump on Saturday night played out in front of some of the nation's most powerful reporters and editors who snapped into action in real time to provide detailed accounts from the scene.

What resulted was a steady stream of facts from myriad reputable media outlets — hardly an information vacuum. Despite this, unfounded conspiracy theories from both the left and the right proliferated, chief among them that the shooting was staged. Some spread in spite of the facts, while others used real information to create false narratives.

Jen Golbeck, a professor at the University of Maryland who studies conspiracy theories, said a lack of trust in institutions and an inability to sort fact from fiction create a “textbook recipe” for such rumors. But, she said, even when an abundance of information is available the entertainment value of conspiracy theories can still prevail.

“The thing about conspiracy theories that makes people enjoy them, even if they're not politically extreme, is that you get to go looking for breadcrumbs,” she said. “It's a way to feel smart and accepted when you come up with a nugget to contribute and people like it.”

Live reporting both helped and impeded

Some possible avenues of speculation were shut down before they could begin because of the live reporting being presented — and corroborated in real time — by hundreds of professional journalists at once. Plenty still made it through.

One prevailing (and unfounded) theory: The shooting was somehow staged, perhaps as a distraction from issues such as the Iran war, or as a push for the completion of Trump's White House ballroom. The latter has been tethered to the facts that Trump pointed to the incident as evidence his ballroom is needed and that the president's Justice Department is using it to try to pressure preservationists into dropping a lawsuit over the $400 million project.

Others speculated without credible evidence that the Israeli government or military played a role — an allegation often used as an antisemitic trope. And press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during an interview with Fox News before the dinner began that “there will be some shots fired tonight in the room" — a metaphorical reference to Trump’s planned speech that was used as evidence she had prior knowledge about the shooting.

Some connected it to Butler shooting

Many found parallels between what happened at the correspondents' dinner and during the attempted assassination of Trump in July 2024 during his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, such as the fact that after both shootings there was a delay before the president was removed from the scene. Some cited video of Vice President JD Vance being escorted out of the room first as evidence that Trump and the Secret Service knew the shooting was going to happen.

Emily Vraga, a professor at the University of Minnesota who studies political misinformation, said that sometimes more information is not necessarily better, especially in such a polarized time when people can pick and choose the facts they like and assemble their own narrative puzzles.

“We just can't process that much information,” she explained. “And so when there is just this flood of information and it's contradictory and ever-changing as new information comes in, that can actually reinforce this tendency to go to a simplified, understandable narrative. And that narrative can include conspiracy theories.”

She added, “Meaning doesn't have to be tied to reality."

Also among the streaming offerings worth your time this week, as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists: a TV adaptation of Isabel Allende’s beloved novel “The House of the Spirits” on Prime Video, the anime hit “Chainsaw Man — The Movie: Reze Arc” on Crunchyroll and two Matthew Rhys projects — the movie thriller “Hallow Road” and the Apple TV horror comedy “Widow’s Bay.”

New movies to stream from April 27-May 3

— Emerald Fennell’s loose adaptation of Emily Brontë’s“Wuthering Heights” is on its way to heat up the small screen, streaming on HBO Max on May 1. Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi play Catherine and Heathcliff in the hyper stylized film which lets its tortured characters do something about all that pent up lust. In my review for The Associated Press, I wrote “There are myriad pleasures to be had in the bold, absurd pageantry and devilish scheming. Yet for all the big swings, Fennell’s ‘Wuthering Heights’ amounts to something oddly shallow and blunt: garish and stylized fan fiction with the scope and budget of an old-school Hollywood epic.”

— Newly minted Oscar winner Michael B. Jordan voices a tiny woodland creature who switches bodies with his sworn enemy, a majestic bird (voiced by Juno Temple) in “Swapped,” streaming on Netflix on Friday, May 1. “Tangled” filmmaker Nathan Greno directs the movie, which also features the voices of Cedric the Entertainer and Tracy Morgan. If it sounds a bit like “Hoppers,” remember, that was an “Avatar” situation. This is “Freaky Friday.”

— The anime hit “Chainsaw Man — The Movie: Reze Arc” will be streaming on Crunchyroll on Thursday. Tatsuya Yoshihara directed the film, based on the manga series by Tatsuki Fujimoto about a teenager who was murdered by the Yakuza and reborn with a unique ability: transforming body parts into chainsaws, which he uses to help fight devils now. It’s also a romance! And rated R.

— “Conbody vs Everybody,” about an ex-con attempting to rebuild his life in New York, might not technically be a movie (OK, it’s a five-part docuseries), but it’s from the great Debra Granik (“Winter’s Bone” and “Leave No Trace” ) and it’s debuting exclusive on the Criterion Channel on Friday, May 1. Filmed over eight years, Granik chronicles Coss Marte’s journey to building a New York gym that employs formerly incarcerated people.

—And finally, in the eerie “Hallow Road,” streaming on Hulu on Saturday, May 2, Rosamund Pike and Matthew Rhys play parents rushing to help their daughter after an accident late one night. I wrote in my review for The Associated Press that “it’s an effectively minimalistic thriller that leaves much room for interpretation and debate.”

— AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr

New music to stream from April 27-May 3

— Hold her beer, Sabrina Carpenter. It’s time. Kacey Musgraves has returned to corner the market on too-clever, comedic country-pop songs about arousal. Such is the case of Musgraves’ “Dry Spell,” the first single from her highly-anticipated seventh studio album, “Middle of Nowhere,” out Friday, May 1. But a one trick pony she is not. The release was inspired by her home state of Texas, as evidenced by a song she premiered at Coachella earlier this month: “Uncertain, TX,” which on the album features the patron saint of the Lone Star State, Willie Nelson. Yeehaw and carry on.

— Many might know the Irish-language, Belfast-based hip-hop trio Kneecap from the headlines they inspire: From criticism for their political statements, which previously saw them banned in Canada and Hungary — they’ve accused critics of trying to silence them because of their support for the Palestinian cause throughout the war in Gaza — to their BAFTA award-winning self-titled biopic. But Kneecap is a hip-hop group with a DIY ethos, and a hip-hop group with a DIY ethos they remain. On Friday, May 1, listeners will be able to form their own opinions: They’ll release another new album, titled “FENIAN,” a reference to the 19th-century Irish revolutionaries dedicated to independence from British colonial rule. It opens with “Éire go Deo,” a rallying cry for the protection of the Irish language, and builds in intensity from there.

— Even if you haven’t heard of them, you’ve heard them — or the results of their legacy. American Football, like the cult classic film version of a rock band, have been undeniably influential in independent music circles for the last three decades. That’s namely for their role as progenitors of a very distinct guitar sound often referred to as “twinkly,” or with the genre term “Midwest emo.” It is an immediately recognizable sound, defined by it's characteristics: An unusual, complex time signature, intricate fingerpicking and tapping but with a clean tone, no distortion, generous reverb and so on. If that’s too technical an explanation, just press play on their latest album, “LP4.” It’s not too late to become obsessed. And “No Feeling,” which features Brendan Yates of the Grammy-award winning Turnstile, is not a bad place to begin.

— A new high-concept album from Tori Amos? Why not! On Friday, May 1, she’ll release “In Times of Dragons,” a 17-track release that sees the singer performing an alternative universe version of herself as she “continues her flight from a dangerous and powerful billionaire husband,” according to the record’s official press materials. It’s allegorical and political, to be sure, and she’s not going it alone. She’s joined by the “Gasoline Girls” — there’s power in numbers — which is also a jaunty piano number about not giving up the good fight.

— AP Music Writer Maria Sherman

New series to stream from April 27-May 3

— Roku has a new program for younger first time home buyers. “This First House ” follows millennial and Gen Z families as they go through the daunting process of buying a home. They’re guided by renovation experts Zack and Camille Dettmore. The show is a spinoff of the PBS staple “This Old House.” It hits The Roku Channel on Monday.

— The TV adaptation of Isabel Allende’ s beloved novel “The House of the Spirits” debuts on Prime Video on Wednesday. The Spanish-language series follows the trials and tribulations of a multi-generational Latin family. The cast includes Alfonso Herrera, Dolores Fonzi and Nicole Wallace with Allende and Eva Longoria among executive producers.

— Matthew Rhys plays the mayor of a small coastal town that’s more creepy than charming in a new horror comedy for Apple TV called “Widow’s Bay.” He wants to make the island a tourist destination but the locals aren’t on board. The reason? They think it’s haunted. The series launches Wednesday.

— If you don’t scroll through real estate websites fantasizing about your dream home then what do you do with your downtime? HGTV’s “Zillow Gone Wild” is hosted by Jack McBrayer and takes you on a tour of some of these outrageous houses. A new season begins streaming Saturday, May 2 on HBO Max.

— Alicia Rancilio

New video games to play from April 27-May 3

— Artemis II made space travel look fun, but things get scarier the farther you get from Earth. Take Carcosa, the setting of Sony’s Saros. Not only is it filled with hostile life-forms, but the planet itself is a shape-shifter — meaning its geography changes with each new mission. Fortunately, you have an arsenal of high-tech weapons as well as a nifty shield that absorbs alien projectiles and sends them back as missiles. Housemarque, the Finnish studio that helped launch the PlayStation 5 with 2021’s Returnal, calls it “bullet ballet, evolved.” Start dancing Thursday on PS5.

— Aphelion hits a little closer to home. It takes place on Persephone, a frozen planet on the edge of our solar system. Two astronauts are separated after their spacecraft crashes, and they have to use their exploratory skills and sharp observation to figure out what went wrong and find each other. French developer Don’t Nod says it collaborated with the European Space Agency to create “a realistic depiction of near-future space exploration” — but don’t relax too much, because there’s a hostile life form on your trail here too. Break the ice Tuesday on PlayStation 5, Xbox X/S or PC.

— Lou Kesten

With his last legal option exhausted, Householder will return to his efforts to seek a presidential pardon, his attorney said.

The high court's ruling leaves in place a unanimous decision by a three-judge panel of the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati last May. Householder and Borges had appealed to justices after the lower court denied their requests for an en banc hearing before all active judges.

Householder's lawyer, Scott Pullins, said in a statement that it was “a sad day” for the Borges and Householder families and "even a sadder day for free speech and the rule of law.”

“Lower courts have asked for years for the Supreme Court to clarify its rulings and they have once again declined to do so,” Pullins said. "We will now return to our efforts to release Speaker Householder from his unjust, excessive incarnation via executive action.”

Pullins had floated the idea of Householder seeking a pardon earlier, then backed off.

The Department of Justice secured Householder's and Borges' convictions in March 2023 after a yearslong investigation and a more than six-week trial.

Householder, now 66, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for masterminding a scheme illicitly funded by Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp. to elect allies, secure power, pass a $1 billion bailout of two of its affiliated nuclear plants and then defend the bill, known as House Bill 6, from a repeal effort.

Borges, 53, got a five-year sentence for helping undermine the repeal effort. A former chair of the Ohio Republican Party, he was released to a halfway house in Cincinnati in October, from which he's to be released Nov. 12, according to the Bureau of Prisons.

The boundary-breaking Colombian singer and pop star has not commented on the death of the worker.

According to police, Gabriel de Jesus Firmino died on Sunday after being crushed by two stage elevators when the equipment was activated by another worker. Investigator Ângelo Lages told journalists that the Brazilian company that operates the stage is under investigation for alleged non-compliance with workplace safety regulations.

Shakira, who spent the last year on her first global tour since 2018, where she has made history, is to give a free concert on Saturday evening at the Copacabana. Last year, Lady Gaga gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach for the biggest show of her career.

Many beachgoers said they were sorry for the worker's death and that hey think the concert should still go on as planned.

"It is a sad thing that this happened,” said Anita Costa, a 41-year-old singer, as she strolled near the stage on Monday morning. “But the concert should go on.”

Concert organizers expressed support and solidarity with the company in charge of the stage construction, its “staff and the family of the victim” of the tragic accident.

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Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

Bueckers made a statement before taking questions from reporters during media day for the Wings on Monday at the University of Texas at Arlington, where the WNBA team plays home games.

The statement from Bueckers came 11 days after the Wings wouldn't let Fudd answer a question about her relationship with her former UConn teammate during Fudd's introductory news conference in Dallas.

The two went public with their relationship last year, after winning a national championship together in Bueckers' final season at UConn, and haven't addressed the status of that relationship since the draft.

“Quite frankly, I believe me and Azzi’s personal relationship is nobody’s business but our own,” Bueckers said. “And what we choose to share is completely up to us. But as media members, I understand you guys have a job to do. And you guys have to ask questions about the basketball aspect of it. So that’s what I’ll be addressing today.”

Bueckers, the reigning WNBA Rookie of the Year, said the Wings drafting Fudd had nothing to do with her. After winning a title with Bueckers, Fudd's UConn team lost to South Carolina in the Final Four this month.

“Me and Azzi have always been the utmost professionals,” Bueckers said. “We’ve always conducted ourselves as such. And we’ve never let anything that happens off the court carry onto the court.”

Fudd met with reporters about two hours before Bueckers did on media day and wasn't asked about the relationship.

Bueckers was a three-time Associated Press All-American at UConn, and Fudd joined that list last season. They were together for three seasons with the Huskies.

“Me and Azzi are not new to this,” Bueckers said. “We’ve been doing this for a long time. We have countless reps at it. We have a lot of experience with it. So we will continue to use that experience to show up and be professionals, great teammates, great leaders, the hardest workers and continue to show up and do our job and help the Dallas Wings win basketball games.”

When Fudd was introduced, Wings general manager Curt Miller said the club didn't hesitate on a decision that added to an already elite backcourt with Bueckers and four-time All-Star Arike Ogunbowale.

“Since the moment we secured the No. 1 pick, we set out on a plan to be deliberate, thorough, with intention, on evaluating where we got to ultimately in picking Azzi Fudd,” Miller said. “We traveled all over the world watching this incredible draft class, but it all came back always to Azzi.”

Bueckers was a runaway winner for the rookie award after averaging 19.2 points, 5.4 assists and 3.9 rebounds per game. But the Wings tied for last place in the WNBA, and their 34 losses were twice as many as Bueckers experienced in four seasons combined at UConn. It was the 13th losing record in the past 16 seasons for the franchise.

“The way she goes about things, she always sees it as a challenge, as an opportunity to grow,” Fudd said earlier this month. “So last year it was, she’s not used to losing, but how can she take those losses, continue to grow, continue to be a great leader, make everyone around her better. So if I can adopt anything from her, that’s definitely one of the things that I want to kind of use for myself.”

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

Some 38 passengers were taken to hospitals for treatment, state-owned railway company PT Kereta Api Indonesia said in a statement.

The Argo Bromo Anggrek long-distance train crashed into the rear car of a commuter train that was stopped at Bekasi Timur Station. The car had been designated for women only, a common accommodation to help avoid harassment. Rescue teams worked to reach five passengers trapped in the damaged commuter train car.

All 240 passengers on the Argo Bromo Anggrek train were safe, officials said.

Police were investigating the cause of the accident, Jakarta Police Chief Asep Edi Suheri told reporters at the scene.

Local television footage and videos on social media showed passengers at the station panicking, while dozens of people rushed to the station for news of family members.

The state-owned railway company apologized to customers.

Accidents are common on Indonesia’s aging railroad network. In January 2024, two trains collided in West Java province, killing at least four people,

In October 2013, a passenger train slammed into a minibus at an unguarded crossing in West Java, killing 13 people. In 2010, a train from Jakarta plowed into the rear of a train that was sitting at a station in Central Java province, killing 36.

It’s the third time in less than two years that a gunman has come uncomfortably close to Trump, renewing the central tension over how to accommodate the public-facing demands of the president's office while minimizing the risk of an attack.

Saturday’s episode, in which a man armed with guns and knives tried to storm the Washington hotel ballroom where the president was set to address the White House Correspondents’ Association, comes ahead of Trump’s expected participation in a stretch of large, high-profile events indoors and outdoors in the months ahead. Among them, he’s set to mark the nation’s 250th anniversary, oversee the U.S. co-hosting the World Cup and lead rallies meant to galvanize support for Republicans ahead of November’s midterm elections.

White House chief of staff Susie Wiles will hold a meeting this week with officials from the White House operations team, the Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security to discuss security protocol at events with the president, according to a senior White House official. The meeting will examine security steps that were successful on Saturday while “exploring additional options” for future events, said the official, who insisted on anonymity to confirm private discussions.

Separately, a person familiar with the matter said the U.S. Secret Service was already reevaluating its security footing for the upcoming events. The agency’s posture was already elevated due to the extraordinary number of threats facing Trump — including two back-to-back assassination attempts in 2024 — and the realities of recent events such as the U.S.-Iran war.

“I can’t imagine that there’s any profession that is more dangerous,” Trump said of the presidency Saturday night from the White House.

Inside the Secret Service, agents on protective intelligence and threat assessment teams are also reexamining threats made against Trump in recent months. Copycat violence can follow high-profile attacks, according to the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive security planning.

The White House and Buckingham Palace said King Charles and Queen Camilla’s state visit Monday is going ahead as planned. Still, organizing around large-scale events deeper in the future — including the UFC bout on the White House lawn marking Trump’s 80th birthday in June, World Cup matches and the IndyCar race past the White House — could get more complicated.

An inherent tension in presidential protection is exposed

Lawmakers, event attendees and some allies of the president saw fault in the correspondents’ dinner security planning, questioning why someone like the shooter could reserve a room at the hotel to sneak in weapons around the outermost layer of security.

Republican Texas Rep. Michael McCaul, chairman emeritus of the House Homeland Security Committee, said security protocols for Trump and Vice President JD Vance may need altering.

“I think the Secret Service needs to reconsider having both the president and vice president together at something like that,” McCaul told CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Kari Lake, a former unsuccessful Republican gubernatorial candidate in Arizona and Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. Agency for Global Media, complained about not having to show a photo ID to match her ticket to the event when entering the hotel for the correspondents’ dinner. “I can’t believe how lax the security was,” Lake wrote on X.

The Secret Service is charged only with the safety of its protectees, not of the event itself, and the agency immediately celebrated its response, drawing a high-profile endorsement from Trump himself.

“Our multilayered protection works,” director Sean Curran said Saturday.

“Those guys did a good job last night. They did a really good job,” echoed Trump on Sunday in an interview with CBS News’ “60 Minutes.”

Garrett Graff, author of “Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government’s Secret Plan to Save Itself — While the Rest of Us Die,” wrote in an analysis of the multiple layers of security around Trump during the dinner, “Seems like the system basically working as designed, amid the always necessary trade-offs of security in a free society.”

Retired Secret Service Agent Thomas D. Quinn, who helped pioneer Secret Service counterassault teams, posted on X that “the Secret Service security plan for the WHCD worked and the assailant was stopped.” He continued, “As long as we are a free people in a freedom loving Nation, the Secret Service responsibilities will continue to be immense.”

More security changes ahead

Ronald Kessler, author of “In the President’s Secret Service: Behind the Scenes with Agents in the Line of Fire and the Presidents They Protect,” said authorities are likely to consider placing bulletproof glass around where Trump speaks outside and inside — not unlike after the Butler, Pennsylvania, assassination attempt during the heat of the 2024 presidential campaign.

Attendees, Kessler said, will likely be more thoroughly screened going forward — exacerbating lines at entrances that can already take hours to clear. An example of what might happen came last fall, when Trump attended the men’s final of the U.S. Open tennis tournament and triggered massive security lines.

Such events underscore the complicated security questions surrounding presidential protection in a country where citizens expect their leaders to move through public spaces, hold rallies, attend events and appear before crowds.

“Presidents don’t like to have too much protection,” Kessler said. “I think, by their nature, they’re very outgoing. They want to meet people. They don’t want to be accused of being prisoners of the White House. And so, they’ll try to get around some of these improvements.”

Presidents can have love-hate relationships with security details

The Secret Service took over full-time responsibility for protecting the president during the administration of President Theodore Roosevelt, who came to office after an assassin killed William McKinley in 1901. Roosevelt found the constant security presence tiresome, however, and would sometimes slip away for unprotected hikes or horseback rides in Washington’s Rock Creek Park, according to the White House Historical Association.

Security personnel wanted President Ronald Reagan to exit the building where Saturday night’s shooting occurred, the Washington Hilton, through a covered garage in 1981, Kessler said. Reagan’s staff worried the optics would be bad, however, and the president was shot as he left an open-air exit, ultimately surviving.

After shots were fired Saturday, Secret Service agents surrounded Trump, who appeared to slip slightly as he was whisked away. Another team moved Vance so quickly it seemed as if it might haul him out while still seated in a banquet chair.

Trump told “60 Minutes” on Sunday that he “wasn’t making it easy” for the Secret Service by being “a little bit me.”

“I wanted to see what was happening,” the president said Sunday. “And by that time we started to realize maybe it was a bad problem — different kind of a problem — bad one.”

“I probably made them act a little bit more slowly. I said: ‘Wait a minute, wait a minute. Lemme see. Wait a minute,’” Trump said. He said he started walking out but: “They said, 'Please go down. Please go down on the floor.′ So I went down, and the first lady went down also.”

Trump repeatedly praised the Secret Service and his detail, and he has pushed the correspondents’ association to reschedule the dinner. He said it would have “even more security.”

“And they’ll have bigger perimeter security,” he said. "It’ll be fine.”

___

Associated Press writers Seung Min Kim in Washington and Mike Balsamo in New York contributed.

The digital portrait represents a man whose remains, along with those of another person, were discovered as they attempted to flee the city toward the coast of what is now Italy during the volcanic eruption. Researchers believe the man died early in the disaster, during a heavy fall of volcanic debris.

The reconstruction was developed by the Pompeii Archaeological Park, which announced on its website that it was done in collaboration with the University of Padua and based on archaeological survey data from excavations near the Porta Stabia necropolis, just outside the walls of the ancient city.

The announcement shows the AI-generated illustration of what the man could have looked like. He is shown running along a rough, debris-covered road, holding a large, shallow bowl over his head and using it as a shield while Mount Vesuvius is seen erupting in the background.

Pompeii, a UNESCO World Heritage site near Naples, was buried under ash and pumice when the Vesuvius erupted nearly 2,000 years ago, preserving the city and the remains of thousands of its inhabitants in remarkable detail.

Archaeologists found the man holding a terracotta mortar, which they interpreted as an improvised attempt to shield his head from falling small volcanic stones that rained down during the eruption.

Ancient accounts — including those of Roman writer Pliny the Younger — describe Pompeii's residents using objects to protect themselves as ash and debris blanketed the city.

The man was also carrying an oil lamp, a small iron ring and 10 bronze coins, personal objects that offer insight into his final moments as well as into daily life in Pompeii before the catastrophe.

The digital portrait was created using AI and photo-editing techniques designed to translate skeletal and archaeological data into a realistic human likeness.

“The vastness of archaeological data is now such that only with the help of artificial intelligence will we be able to adequately protect and enhance them. If used well, AI can contribute to a renewal of classical studies,” Pompeii park director Gabriel Zuchtriegel said in a statement.

The project aims to make archaeological research more accessible and emotionally engaging for the public while maintaining a scientific foundation, researchers said.

Austin announced Friday that its police department is updating its general orders to clarify how officers should handle administrative warrants from ICE. The move came over a week after the governor’s office warned that around $2.5 million in grants — which the city said are used for sexual assault evidence testing, victims assistance programming and other public safety initiatives — were under threat if Austin didn’t change its policy.

The change followed similar policy updates from Houston and Dallas, which stood to lose over $110 million and more than $32 million in public safety grants respectively. More than $55 million in World Cup public safety funding could also be at risk for Dallas, the governor’s office said. 

Austin’s new general orders, which were not publicly available Friday and were shared Monday with The Texas Tribune, add new language saying police officers encountering an administrative warrant should contact ICE “when operationally feasible” to determine whether the warrant was valid. 

If a warrant is valid, the officers contacting ICE should ask how much time is needed for immigration agents to arrive at the scene and determine how urgent the hold request is, according to the revised orders. Officers should not take “an unreasonable amount of time assisting in these matters,” the new rules added. 

The updated orders also say a higher-ranking officer would determine what is a “reasonable” amount of time to wait for federal immigration agents based on whether there are appropriate department resources, whether the detained individual is known to be dangerous and whether the requested assistance would help stop criminal activity..

Austin police are still not allowed to arrest or detain individuals based solely on an administrative warrant or “unreasonably prolong a lawful detention to contact ICE.”

Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said in a Friday statement that the updated general orders allow the city to properly allocate resources to maintain public safety.

“My focus — and the focus of every Austin Police officer — remains on public safety and community policing,” Davis said.

Andrew Mahaleris, Abbott’s spokesperson, said in a Friday statement that the governor’s office had lifted the funding hold and “expects full contract compliance moving forward.”

“Governor Abbott has been clear: cities in Texas must fully comply with state law and cooperate with federal immigration authorities to keep dangerous criminals off our streets,” Mahaleris said.

A day before Austin’s announcement, Dallas removed its ban on police officers prolonging a person’s detention during encounters like traffic stops to hold them for ICE agents. Dallas Police Chief Daniel Comeaux announced that the department had updated its general orders to affirm that local officers will “cooperate with federal authorities when required” while still protecting the safety of all residents.

In particular, Dallas’ revised policy says police officers can ask people for their immigration status when they are lawfully detained and share that information with federal authorities. It also does not ban Dallas police from supporting ICE actions as “reasonable or necessary,” including providing enforcement assistance.

More notably, the updated version left out language from the original order that says officers “may not prolong the detention of an individual in order to further investigate the individual’s immigration status or to hold them for federal authorities.”

However, the policy still maintains that officers will not stop or contact people solely for the purpose of determining immigration status. Dallas police also may not ask victims, witnesses or people reporting crimes about their immigration status — unless it’s necessary for investigation or if there’s probable cause that they had engaged in a separate criminal offense.

“As Mayor of Dallas, public safety is my highest priority, and I agree with Governor Abbott that federal immigration enforcement plays a role in keeping our city safe,” Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson said in a Thursday statement to the Tribune. “I appreciate Chief Comeaux’s ensuring the Dallas Police Department’s internal policies reflect its longstanding practice of cooperating with all of our state and federal law enforcement partners, including those that enforce our nation’s immigration laws.”

Mahaleris said Thursday that the governor’s public safety office is reviewing Dallas’ updated policy.

“As the City has begun making changes to meet the Governor’s expectations that its policies require full cooperation with DHS, the Public Safety Office has extended the deadline for complying with the certification and will continue to engage with the City,” Mahaleris said. “Governor Abbott will continue to use every necessary tool to protect Texans.”

Prior to the updated policy, Democrats and community organizations in North Texas had released a joint letter Wednesday pushing back against the governor’s threat to Dallas.

In addition, Houston has also updated its ICE ordinance and police department’s policy this week in response to a $114 million funding threat from the governor.

Felix, a mother of two, told Time Magazine she thought about coming back some four years after calling it quits and decided: “Let’s go after the thing. Let’s be vulnerable.”

“You know, at this age, I should probably be staying home and taking care of my kids, doing all that. And just, why not? Let’s flip it on its head," she said.

Felix has won 11 Olympic medals — the most by any woman in track — and has a record 20 medals from world championships.

She is a seven-time Olympic champion, with six in the relays and her lone individual gold coming in the 200 meters at the 2012 London Games.

Before retiring in 2022, she became an outspoken advocate for athletes who become mothers and want to keep their careers going.

Felix, who landed a spot on the IOC Athletes' Commission in retirement, has two kids — 7-year-old Camryn and 2-year old Trey.

She said she expects to start full-time training with her coach, Bobby Kersee, in October with the goal of competing in 2027. The Olympics will be in her hometown a year later.

“I totally get the person who sticks around too long and you’re like, ‘What are they doing?’” Felix said. “I know, at 40, I am not at my peak. I have no illusions about that. I’m very clear in what it is and what I want to see. And so I hope it’s seen that way.”

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

The strikes were the first violent incident since Chinese-mediated peace talks between the two sides earlier this month.

Pakistan and Afghanistan had been embroiled in months of deadly fighting that has killed hundreds of people since late February, when Afghanistan launched a cross-border attack on Pakistan in retaliation for Pakistani airstrikes inside Afghanistan. Islamabad had declared it was in open war with Afghanistan, in an escalation of violence that alarmed the international community.

Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting dismissed Afghan media reports and official statements about the strikes on the university as “a blatant lie.”

Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of harboring militants that carry out deadly attacks inside Pakistan, especially the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP. The group is separate from, but allied with, the Afghan Taliban, which took over Afghanistan in 2021 following the chaotic withdrawal of U.S.-led troops. Kabul denies the charge.

Afghan and Pakistani officials met in Urumqi in western China in early April, and had agreed not to escalate their conflict and “explore a comprehensive solution,” China’s government had said after mediating the talks.

Monday’s strikes marked the first major attack since the talks, highlighting the tenuous nature of peace efforts mediated by the international community. Apart from China, other nations that have been involved in mediation between the two sides at various times include Turkey, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

The fighting largely subsided in March, after the two sides declared a temporary truce for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr that marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan. The truce followed a deadly Pakistani airstrike on March 17 on a drug treatment facility in the Afghan capital, Kabul, that Afghanistan said killed more than 400 civilians. Pakistan denied targeting civilian facilities and disputed the death toll.

Still, sporadic cross-border fighting had continued even while delegations from the two sides were attending the talks in Urumqi.

Afghan deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said Monday’s mortar and missile attack struck the city of Asadabad, the capital of Kunar Province, as well as various areas in another district in the province on Monday afternoon.

Kunar Information and Culture Director Najibullah Hanafi said the death toll stood at seven, with 85 people wounded.

Fitrat said the wounded included women, children and students at the Sayed Jamaluddin Afghani University, and described the attacks as "an unforgivable war crime, barbarity, and provocative act.”

Afghanistan’s Ministry of Higher Education said about 30 students and professors were injured in the strike on the university, which it said had caused extensive damage to the facility’s buildings and grounds.

In a statement, Pakistan's information ministry said that “Pakistan’s targeting is precise and intelligence based. No strike has been carried out on Sayed Jamaluddin Afghan University. The claims are frivolous and fake.”

On Saturday, Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Mutaqi described the recent negotiations in China as “positive.”

“You are all aware of our recent problems with Pakistan. The latest negotiations were held in Urumqi under the mediation of China, and these negotiations were positive,” he said during a graduation ceremony at the foreign ministry’s Diplomacy Institute.

The issues between the two countries “are very sensitive between neighbors and between two Islamic neighboring countries and should not be treated irresponsibly,” he added.

Earlier this month, the United Nations’ office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs in Afghanistan said the conflict had displaced 94,000 people overall.

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Associated Press writers Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Pakistan and Elena Becatoros in Athens, Greece contributed to this report.

The center is one of four centers in the U.S. that translates and produces books in Braille, so blind and visually impaired students have equal access to education materials. It is run by the Education Service Center Region 20, which oversees school districts in the San Antonio area.

“I had what they call now retinopathy of prematurity,” said Braille proofreader Mary Jeatran.

Jeatran has been blind since she was a baby, learning to read Braille when she was 7 years old.

The Braille books at her school for the blind fostered a love of reading.

“If I get a chance, I read leisurely at home, too!” Jeatran laughed.

Her busy days are spent proofreading school textbooks from history and anatomy to Spanish and pre-calculus.

“I just want to make sure everything’s just right for the student,” Jeatran said, explaining she knows firsthand the importance of accessibility.

“Everyone here is so positive, too,” she said of her tight-knit team that has worked together for years.

Jennifer Williamson leads the team as the Coordinator of Operation Services, and she said the scope of their work spans far beyond textbooks.

“Different states reaching out to us to help transcribe the state assessment testing,” Williamson said, “or we have banks or even menus, pamphlets, etc.”

Some of their top clients include amusement parks, transit authorities and hotel chains. However, their priority is Texas Education Agency school districts.

Inside the center’s library are 30 bays, containing thousands of books in Braille.

“Sometimes a blind or visually impaired student will need a book that’s already in the library, and it can be immediately sent to them,” Williamson said. “Sometimes, the team has to make a new book.”

Once a book arrives from the Texas Education Agency, it heads to a transcriber who uses software to convert the text and graphics into Braille.

Then, it is sent to Jeatran and her sighted teammate, who proofread every single word and graphic.

KSAT got an in-depth look at the process, as Mary read each word and symbol aloud, and her teammate followed along in the textbook.

Errors are rare, but KSAT was there when they caught one. Mistakes are then sent back to the transcribers.

Once the transcripts have no errors, it’s time to print.

Text is printed in Braille on one machine, and graphics are printed on a separate machine.

A third machine separates the pages, and a fourth machine transfers the graphics onto a thermoform material, which is stronger than paper.

The graphics are then inserted into the correct sections of the books.

“Then we get it all ready to go, put a label on it and send it to the LEA that ordered it,” Williamson said.

Each binder is a volume of a textbook, and there can be up to 100 volumes in a book, depending on the number of graphic elements.

“Imagine an anatomy book,” Williamson said. “That is a lot of diagrams and graphics.”

It’s a ton of work, but every member of the team said it’s worth it.

“It is fantastic!” Williamson said. “It’s really helping everyone.”

To blind and visually impaired students, Jeatran said, “Don’t give up, give it all you have, you can do it!”

Read also:

• College students are changing course in search of ‘AI-proof’ majors. But no one knows what they are
• What to know about the Ten Commandments going up in public school classrooms

OpenAI relied exclusively on Microsoft's investments in cloud computing services to build the technology that helped make ChatGPT a household name. Microsoft, in turn, relied on OpenAI's technology to build its own AI assistant Copilot.

But the partnership has evolved as San Francisco-based OpenAI, founded as a nonprofit, has shifted to a capitalistic enterprise on a path toward an initial public offering on Wall Street and has balanced its reliance on Microsoft with other cloud partners like Amazon, Google and Oracle.

OpenAI said Monday it will continue to pay Microsoft a share of its revenue through 2030.

The two companies said Microsoft remains the primary cloud computing partner for OpenAI, and products made by the AI company will ship first on Microsoft's cloud platform, called Azure, “unless Microsoft cannot and chooses not to support the necessary capabilities.”

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy described it as a “very interesting announcement” in a social media post Monday and said that Amazon will soon be making OpenAI’s models “available directly" on Amazon's AI platform called Bedrock.

Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said in a note to investors Monday that the new agreement “puts OpenAI on a strong path forward to going public through IPO given its clearer opportunity in the cloud environment while reducing significant barriers from its original partnership with Microsoft.”

Ives said it's also important for Microsoft as it “looks to develop tech independence from OpenAI” in advancing Copilot's capabilities and partnering with other AI providers such as OpenAI rival Anthropic, maker of the chatbot Claude.

The promotion applies to all available dogs, cats, puppies and kittens and runs through 7 p.m. Monday at the shelter’s location at 4710 State Highway 151.

If you can’t adopt today, ACS said the $0 adoption promotion will be triggered the day after every Spurs win throughout the postseason, as the team chases its sixth NBA championship.

Each adoption includes the pet’s sterilization, registered microchip and initial vaccinations. Adopters also receive lifetime access to shelter trainers.

Read also:

• Pooch Parade helps support mission of providing healing, emotional support
• WATCH: 2026 Pooch Parade features San Antonio’s most fetching canines

Officers responded to the shooting around 7:30 p.m. on April 24 in the 5700 block of Lake Front, which is located near Rigsby Avenue.

Upon arrival, officers found a 39-year-old man with gunshot wounds. He was later pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

In SAPD’s initial preliminary report, the department said it detained three people in connection with the shooting.

However, in an updated report on Monday, officers identified Brayden Herrera as the shooter.

According to Bexar County jail records, Herrera faces a $250,000 bond for the murder charge.

READ ALSO:

• Suspect sentenced to 10 years in prison in connection with SAISD student’s shooting death
• Man hospitalized after being hit by pickup truck in North Side neighborhood, SAPD says

The justices heard nearly two hours of arguments in an appeal from Okello Chatrie, who pleaded guilty to robbing a bank in a suburb of Richmond, Virginia.

Chatrie eluded the police until they turned to the geofence warrant, a powerful technological tool that erected a virtual fence and allowed them to locate cellphones that were near the bank around the time it was robbed in May 2019.

The justices did not appear to embrace arguments offered by Adam Unikowsky, Chatrie's lawyer, that geofence warrants are too general to comply with the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable searches.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the warrant that led to Chatrie's identification as a suspect did not seem to be general. “This isn't that. It identifies a place, a crime, a timeframe,” Sotomayor said.

The federal appeals court in Richmond upheld Chatrie's conviction in a fractured ruling. In a separate case, the federal appeals court in New Orleans ruled that geofence warrants “are general warrants categorically prohibited by the Fourth Amendment.”

The case is the court's latest contemplation of how a constitutional provision ratified in 1791 applies to technology the nation’s founders count not have envisioned.

The justices seemed eager to avoid a broad ruling. They could limit the time and geographic area covered by such warrants, and they might even decline to say whether what police did in Chatrie's case even amounted to a search that requires a warrant.

Instead the court might rule that, assuming a warrant is required, police can constitutionally conduct geofence searches.

A ruling for Chatrie, who is serving a prison term of nearly 12 years, might not ultimately help him. Even the federal judge who ruled that the search violated Chatrie’s rights allowed the evidence to be used because the officer who applied for the warrant reasonably believed he was acting properly.

Andrew Cantu, 18, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on a felony charge of injury to a child. He had originally been charged with capital murder.

Cuevas was followed by a group of boys after leaving SAISD’s Brewer Academy on April 16, 2025. Shortly after leaving the school, Cuevas was killed.

>> ‘It’s a slap in our face’: No murder charges a year after 14-year-old shot, killed

Investigators identified five suspects connected to the death of Cuevas. One suspect, Caesar Tijerina, died by suicide during the investigation.

Two of the suspects, who are siblings, are minors, so details about their status are unavailable. They were initially charged with capital murder, but that charge was downgraded to assault causing bodily injury.

Both siblings have been sentenced and sent to the Texas Juvenile Justice Department. The sentence is indeterminate, so it is based on progress and behavior.

Another suspect in the case, Fernando Flores, also faces a charge of injury to a child with intent to cause bodily injury. He was also initially indicted on a capital murder charge.

More coverage of this story on KSAT:

• Charges downgraded for teen brothers accused in death of Simon Cuevas
• Suspect in death of SAISD student dies after shooting self in Laredo
• ‘I wish that I could’ve been there’: Mother of teen shot, killed near SAISD campus seeks justice

Ross died at home Sunday, according to the singer's daughter, Nedra K. Ross, and the Ronettes' official Instagram account. “Nedra’s voice, style and spirit helped define a sound that would change music. Her contribution to the group’s story and their defining influence will live forever,” a statement read.

The Ronettes’ sexy look and powerful voices — plus songwriting and producing help from Phil Spector — turned them into one of the premier acts of the girl-group era, touring England with The Rolling Stones and befriending the Beatles.

“Show business is a thing that can be great, but it can be bad, too,” Ross said during her acceptance speech to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2007. “For us, we had a family that gave us a core to help stabilize us in a very difficult crazy world. It was a fun time. I thank God truly for it.”

Ross, born and raised in New York City, together with sisters Veronica “Ronnie” and Estelle Bennett, released their debut album in 1964, “Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes, Featuring Veronica.” Five of its 12 tracks had made it to the U.S. Billboard charts, and it was listed in Rolling Stone’s 500 greatest albums of all time. It was the only studio album for the trio.

They also did a memorable version of “Sleigh Ride” that appeared on Spector’s “A Christmas Gift for You” album and was recently highlighted in the “Roofman” soundtrack and on “The Bear.” But their string of hits had tailed off by the time they split around 1967.

In March 1963, Estelle Bennett managed to arrange an audition in front of Phil Spector, known for his big, brass-and-drum style dubbed the “wall of sound.” They were signed to Philles Records in 1963. After being signed, they sang backup for other acts until Spector had the group record “Be My Baby” and “Baby I Love You.”

Martin Scorsese used “Be My Baby” to open his 1973 film “Mean Streets,” and the song appears in the title sequence of “Dirty Dancing” and the closing credits of “Baby Mama.” It also appeared on TV in everything from “Moonlighting” and “The Wonder Years” to “How I Met Your Mother” and “Money Heist.”

When the Ronettes were inducted in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones remembered opening for the trio in England in the mid-1960s. “They could sing all their way right through a wall of sound,” Richards said. “They didn’t need anything. They touched my heart right there and then and they touch it still.”

After the Ronettes disbanded, Ross turned to Christian music, including the album “Full Circle” in 1978. Ross was married to DJ and television personality Scott Ross from 1967 until his death in 2023.

For nearly 15 years, the women waged a lengthy, and ultimately unsuccessful, court battle with Spector over royalties. A judge ordered Spector to pay $2.6 million in past royalties and interest, but New York State’s highest court threw out that ruling on appeal in 2002.

Ronnie Spector died at 78 in 2022. Bennett died at 67 in 2009. Ross is survived by four children.

The activists, all of whom were Kazakh nationals, protested near the border with China in November, burning Chinese flags and portraits of Chinese leader Xi Jinping and calling for the release of a Kazakh citizen detained in Xinjiang last year.

Eleven activists were sentenced to five years in prison for “inciting discord,” while the other eight were given restrictions on their movement. Shinquat Baizhan, a lawyer representing the activists, confirmed the sentences, which were also reported in local media.

Though Kazakhs speaking out against China’s policies in Xinjiang have long faced pressure, advocacy groups say this is the first time such a large group of Xinjiang activists has been imprisoned in the country.

“This is unprecedented,” said Yalkun Uluyol, China researcher at Human Rights Watch. “It signals that Kazakhstan is willing to sacrifice freedom of its people to maintain good relations with Beijing.”

The Chinese government launched a brutal crackdown in Xinjiang starting in 2017, sweeping a million or more Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other predominantly Muslim ethnicities into prisons and internment camps. Though many have since been released, the region remains under tight control, with strict limitations on religious and cultural practices.

Xinjiang has long been a touchy issue in neighboring Kazakhstan, a Central Asian country of 20 million people that relies on China as a major trading partner. The Kazakh government opened criminal investigations targeting the protesters after receiving a diplomatic note from the Chinese consulate in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, Uluyol said.

The note, which The Associated Press obtained and reviewed, called the protest “an open provocation against the national dignity of the People’s Republic of China and an insult to the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese leader.”

In a statement, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the sentencing an “internal affair” and praised Kazakhstan as a “friendly neighbor” that is “familiar with China’s policies on governing Xinjiang."

The Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to a request for comment.

The protesters were members of Atajurt, an organization that advocates for the rights of Chinese-born Kazakhs facing repression in China. Xinjiang is home to over a million ethnic Kazakhs, thousands of whom were detained and many more who face restrictions on their movement to this day.

Atajurt has long faced pressure from the Kazakh government, an authoritarian state with little tolerance for dissent. Authorities arrested Atajurt’s founder Serikzhan Bilash in 2019, releasing him into exile after extracting a promise not to engage in political activities.

But the Kazakh government remained tolerant of the organization’s activities to a certain extent, mindful of widespread sympathy in Kazakhstan toward the Chinese-born Kazakh population,

That appears to have changed, Uluyol said, as Kazakhstan has edged closer to China and authorities in Kazakhstan show less tolerance for groups protesting Beijing's policies.

Bilash, Atajurt’s founder, says the arrests would have widespread ramifications. The group's work included providing financial support for the relatives of people who were detained in Xinjiang, writing letters supporting them to embassies and the United Nations, and taping hundreds of testimonies by people looking for missing loved ones.

“The world will lose more than just a human rights organization; it will lose the biggest window into the humanitarian disaster in neighboring Xinjiang,” said Bilash, who is now living in exile in the United States.

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This story has been corrected to show that the Chinese diplomatic note said that the protest was an insult to the “Chinese leader," not the “Chinese people."

The suspect was identified as Gerson Adony Godoy Villalta, 35, in an SAPD preliminary report.

The crash happened around 7 p.m. in the southbound lanes of U.S. Highway 281 near Stone Oak Parkway.

According to the report, Villalta, who drove a Chevrolet pickup truck, was “improperly” towing a Dodge Ram driven by the victim.

Police said Villalta failed to stay in his lane and crashed into an attenuator.

An attenuator on a highway is designed to take on the impact of a crash and reduce the likelihood of any serious injuries.

As a result of the crash, authorities said the Dodge Ram redirected, struck the Chevrolet and both vehicles burst into flames. While Villalta escaped the Chevrolet, the victim was pronounced dead at the scene, the report said.

The victim has not been identified.

Officers said they determined that Villalta was intoxicated at the time. He was taken into custody for intoxication manslaughter with a vehicle, records indicate.

Villalta was booked into the Bexar County jail on a $150,000 bond, records show.

The southbound lanes reopened on Friday.

SAPD said its investigation remains ongoing.

More coverage of this story on KSAT:

• 1 dead, 1 injured in rollover crash on US 281, SAFD says; southbound lanes closed near Stone Oak Parkway

In a one-line statement, China’s National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top planning agency, said it was prohibiting the foreign acquisition of Manus and had required all the parties to withdraw from the deal. It did not specifically name Meta Platforms, which owns Facebook and Instagram.

Manus, which has Chinese roots but is based in Singapore, provides a general-purpose AI agent that can autonomously carry out sophisticated tasks like coding an app, doing market research or preparing quarterly budgets.

The decision was made by the commission’s Office of the Working Mechanism for Security Review of Foreign Investment in accordance with Chinese laws and regulations, the statement said. It came after Chinese authorities said they were looking into the deal earlier this year.

The commission did not elaborate on the reasons for the ban. The announcement came less than a month before U.S. President Donald Trump's planned visit to Beijing to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping in May.

Kush Desai, a White House spokesperson, on Monday said in a statement that the Trump administration “will continue defending America’s leading and innovative technology sector against undue foreign interference of any sort.”

Meta announced in December that it was acquiring Manus, in a rare case of a major U.S. tech group buying an AI company with strong links to China. Its deal with Manus was expected to help expand AI offerings across Meta’s platforms.

Meta had said there would be “no continuing Chinese ownership interests in Manus” and that Manus would discontinue its services and operations in China. But China said in January that it would investigate whether the acquisition would be consistent with its laws and regulations.

China’s commerce ministry said at the time that any enterprises engaging in outward investment, technology exports, data transfers and cross-border acquisitions must comply with Chinese law. Meta had said most of Manus’ employees were based in Singapore.

Before the deal, Manus’ parent was Singapore-based Butterfly Effect Pte, but the AI startup traces its roots back to Beijing-registered entities with similar names that were established several years earlier.

Manus did not respond to a request for comment. Its website says the company “is now part of Meta," indicating that the deal had already been completed.

Meta said on Monday that the Manus transaction “complied fully with applicable law.”

“We anticipate an appropriate resolution to the inquiry,” the California-based company said in a statement.

Analysts said the decision is a sign that China’s communist leaders are tightening scrutiny of the AI industry amid intensifying geopolitical rivalry with the U.S. over the technology.

“China is showing the world that it is willing to play hardball when it comes to AI talents and capabilities, which the country views as a core national security asset,” said Lian Jye Su, chief analyst at the technology research and advisory group Omdia. “It is strongly indicative of what Chinese authorities may do going forward regarding acquisitions involving Chinese deep-tech companies.”

Beijing’s acquisition ban could deter similar acquisition plans by U.S. tech giants going forward, he said. “In the context of rivalry, it mirrors U.S. export controls, entity lists, and investment curbs on China,” said Su.

Meta’s interest in Manus reflects a broader tech industry race to lead in the development of AI agents that can go beyond a chatbot’s capabilities to take computer-based actions on people’s behalf.

Meta last month acquired Moltbook after it attracted viral attention as a social network built for AI agents to make posts and interact with each other. That was after OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT, hired the creator of AI agent OpenClaw, formerly called Moltbot and the technology upon which Moltbook was built.

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Chan reported from London. AP Technology Writer Matt O'Brien in Providence, Rhode Island, and writer Didi Tang in Washington contributed to this report.

Padilla said the cost pressures go beyond the pump. The price of bakery staples such as eggs, butter and sugar have also climbed. Sugar sacks alone are up about $10 compared with three years ago.

In order to keep up, Padilla said their mother-daughter bakery is shifting from selling single items to bundling pastries into packages — offering customers more items while charging more overall.

According to Padilla, she has noticed some customers aren’t coming as often as they used to do.

“We’re planning to maybe sell more days because, right now, we only bake one day a week,” Padilla said. “And maybe, if we sell a little but more, we can make a little more profit.”

The duo bakes nearly 1,000 pieces of bread from their home kitchen and tries to maintain quality ingredients that make their pan dulce worth the price. Rising costs, she said, are squeezing profits needed to pay bills and invest for the future.

Co-owner Maria Valladolid said they worry about raising prices too much and losing customers. She said they sometimes increase prices slightly due to the difficulty balancing costs.

“Although, sometimes, we raise it very little because we are afraid of losing customers, right?” Valladolid said. “And that is the fear, but it is difficult. It is hard to balance the price of the products and the price for our bread.”

Padilla said higher gas prices also impact how often they travel to buy supplies in bulk and whether they attend summer farmers markets.

Valladolid is encouraging other business owners to persevere. For them, she said baking is their love language.

“It’s difficult, it’s hard, but it’s very beautiful,” Valladolid said.

KSAT would also like to hear from other business owners who are making changes due to the rising cost of fuel and materials. Email us at news@ksat.com.

More recent news coverage on KSAT:

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Meanwhile, a Ukrainian drone strike killed two people in the Russia-occupied part of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, Moscow-installed Gov. Vladimir Saldo said Monday. A man and a woman in their 70s died in the village of Dnipriany, he said.

In Odesa, drones hit residential neighborhoods and civilian infrastructure, said Serhii Lysak, the head of the city’s administration. Russia has repeatedly targeted Odesa, a key Black Sea port for Ukraine, since Moscow launched the war more than four years ago on Feb. 24, 2022.

Five of the wounded, most of them with shrapnel wounds, were hospitalized, according to Oleh Kiper, the head of the regional military administration.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that Russia has fired approximately 1,900 attack drones, nearly 1,400 powerful guided aerial bombs and around 60 missiles of various types at Ukraine over the past week.

Ukraine’s wartime development of cutting-edge military technology means that it's intercepting more than 90% of the drones that Russia launches, Zelenskyy said in an X post. However, Ukraine needs more American-made Patriot air defense missiles, which are able to shoot down Russia’s ballistic missiles.

Ukraine has recently been helping Middle Eastern and Gulf region countries counter attacks on their territory by Iranian drones.

Norway is the latest European country to enter into a joint drone manufacturing agreement with Kyiv, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said Monday.

In Poland, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that his government plans to build a “drone armada” with Ukraine’s help, to defend both itself and the rest of Europe.

Zelenskyy also announced that Ukraine is massively scaling up the production of ground robots that can deliver supplies, evacuate injured soldiers and fire automatic weapons. The uncrewed vehicles can help to ease the pressure on Ukraine's short-handed infantry along the roughly 1,250-kilometer (770-mile) front line.

Ukraine has ordered 25,000 ground robots for this year, twice as many as in 2025, and the number is set to grow, he said in a separate post on X.

Zelenskyy noted a recent raft of good news for Ukraine: NATO partners, excluding the United States, have contributed to a financial arrangement to buy American weapons; the European Union has approved a 90-billion-euro ($106-billion) loan to Ukraine; and the EU intends to place more sanctions on Moscow.

Meanwhile, Ukraine has been assailing oil terminals and refineries deep inside Russia with long-range drones and missiles, aiming to disrupt Moscow’s economy.

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said late Sunday it has seen geolocated evidence that Ukrainian forces conducted at least 10 strikes against Russian oil and gas infrastructure in the past two weeks.

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Claudia Ciobanu contributed to this report from Warsaw, Poland.

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

Chad's deputy prime minister, Limane Mahamat, said another 10 people were wounded in Saturday's clashes in Igote village in Wadi Fira province near the border.

The situation is under control after the army intervened, Mahamat said Sunday, adding that a mediation process in the village had begun, as well as judicial proceedings to determine criminal responsibility.

Such clashes over resources are common in the Central African country. Last year, clashes between farmers and herders in southwestern Chad left 42 people dead and homes burned.

Mahamat said the government will take “all necessary measures” to prevent a destabilization of the border area.

In February, Chad closed the border with Sudan until further notice, calling it an attempt to limit the spread of that country's war into its territory after multiple crossings by fighters with warring Sudanese factions.

In November, the high court allowed the map to be used temporarily. Monday’s ruling maintains that status quo permanently, ensuring the new lines will be used for the 2026 midterms and going forward. The ruling ends the lengthy legal battle over Texas’ efforts to add as many as five more Republican seats to the U.S. House.

Texas took up this unusual mid-decade redistricting effort over the summer, after President Donald Trump pushed the state to help shore up the GOP’s narrow majority in what is expected to be a difficult midterm election for the party. The effort drew significant pushback, including from state House Democrats, who left Texas to temporarily deny the chamber the headcount needed to pass the map.

After the Democrats returned, the map passed, and legal challenges immediately followed. Several civil rights groups who were in active litigation over Texas’ 2021 maps sued again, saying the 2025 map was racially discriminatory.

In November, Judge Jeff Brown agreed, writing in his 160-page opinion joined by Judge David Guaderrama that there was “substantial evidence” that this new map was racially gerrymandered. Brown, a Trump appointee, received a dressing down from the panel’s lone dissenter, 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Jerry Smith, who said the opinion was the “most blatant exercise of judicial activism that I have ever witnessed.”

Lawyers for the state asked the Supreme Court to block Brown’s ruling and allow the map to be used for the fast-approaching 2026 primaries. In early December, the court agreed, saying Texas was likely to succeed on the merits of the case.

Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented, saying the temporary ruling “disrespects the work of a District Court that did everything one could ask to carry out its charge — that put aside every consideration except getting the issue before it right.”

Monday’s ruling fell along similar ideological lines. Kagan, Sotomayor and Jackson again dissented; no additional comments from the justices were included in the summary ruling.

The 2026 election season is well underway with the map drawn last year, but this ruling guarantees that map can be used indefinitely, at least through the next redistricting cycle after the 2030 Census.

But whether it will generate the results Republicans are looking for remains to be seen. Some of the new GOP stronghold districts were drawn based on Latino voters’ sharp swing to the right in 2024, but polling suggests that fragile alliance may be fraying over immigration policy and the economy. And both California and Virginia have approved maps aimed at generating more Democratic seats, potentially neutralizing any gains Texas has enacted.

For filmmaker Christopher Nolan, “The Odyssey,” out July 17, isn't just a story. It's the story: A foundational piece that deserved to be done on the biggest possible scale, with all the resources modern Hollywood had to offer.

“There’s a massive amount of pressure,” Nolan told The Associated Press. “Anyone taking on ‘The Odyssey’ is taking on the hopes and dreams of people for epic movies everywhere and that comes with a huge responsibility.”

It's a familiar feeling, though. He did three Batman films after all.

“What I learned from that experience is that what people want from a movie about a beloved story, a beloved set of characters, is they want a strong and sincere interpretation,” Nolan said. “They want to know that a filmmaker has gone to the mat for it. I really tried to make the best film possible.”

Three summers ago, “Oppenheimer” made nearly a billion dollars. “The Odyssey” has battles, gods, creatures and an army of movie stars — Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya and Tom Holland included. It's also the first movie shot entirely on IMAX film. Tickets for some IMAX 70 mm showings sold out in under an hour a full year in advance.

“The Odyssey” will be shorter than “Oppenheimer”; Three hours is the longest they’ve been able to get onto an IMAX film projector, after all.

“It’s an epic film, as the subject matter demands,” Nolan said. “But it is shorter.”

Summer movie season's fashionable kickoff

Hollywood may not save all its blockbusters for the hottest months anymore, but the 18 week corridor running from the first weekend in May through Labor Day remains the industry’s most important, accounting for around 40% of the year’s box office. And it's only surpassed $4 billion once since the pandemic, in 2023.

Marvel movies often kick off the season, but last year filmmaker David Frankel got a call from Disney: “Avengers: Doomsday” wasn’t going to be ready by the first weekend in May; Could “The Devil Wears Prada 2” step up?

May 1 is just days before the Met Gala and it would give the movie a long runway to play, he figured. It would also require a bit of a sprint — they finished the film just weeks ago. But the enthusiasm was motivating, from fans snapping photos of Hathaway and Meryl Streep on the New York streets, to support from Anna Wintour.

Love for “Prada” isn’t the only thing that’s changed in 20 years; Magazines have also become an endangered species.

“How does Miranda Priestly deal with this changing world and what’s her future?” Frankel said. “The same with Andy Sachs: If all your ambition has been funneled in this one direction, what happens when you have to pivot and how do you adapt?”

The $4 billion question

The movie industry is also adjusting to a new paradigm. Box office is down over 20% from pre-COVID levels. The rise in streaming, the pandemic and shifting theatrical windows altered people’s moviegoing habits, perhaps permanently. And there may be one less major studio if Paramount acquires Warner Bros.

But, as James Cameron said, “hope springs eternal.

“We still have a very robust theatrical industry at a time when it was kind of almost pronounced dead,” Cameron said.

The gap is not widening. Studios are committing to longer exclusive theatrical windows. Original movies and premium formats are drawing crowds. And the market continues to expand globally.

Cameron is behind one of those only-in-a-theater experiences with the 3D Billie Eilish concert film (May 8). Using new technology, they used 17 camera systems to capture four nights of her Manchester shows last year.

“Seeing it in 3D is astonishing,” Cameron said. “You really feel an intimacy with her and yet you feel the scale of the spectacle.”

A summer for heavyweights

Nolan isn’t Universal’s only giant of cinema on its summer roster: Steven Spielberg is also returning to one of his most beloved genres with “Disclosure Day” (June 12). There are superhero movies as well, with “Supergirl” (June 26), which DC Studios co-head Peter Safran said is “is something cool and original and we haven’t seen before,” and “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” (July 31). The last Spidey film, which made over $1.9 billion, ended with Holland’s Peter Parker erasing himself from everyone’s memory.

“This is a blockbuster action movie with all the humor and emotion we love about Spider-Man,” director Destin Daniel Cretton said. “But at its heart, it’s a story about learning how to reconnect with the ones you love.”

A lot of power recently has shifted to PG-rated offerings. This summer has “Toy Story 5” (June 19), “Minions & Monsters” (July 1) and a live action “Moana” (July 10), which could all very well hit a billion dollars each.

One non-franchise family friendly film is “The Sheep Detectives” (May 8), in which the animals (Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bryan Cranston) investigate the death of their beloved owner (Hugh Jackman). Writer Craig Mazin understands the hurdle: There have been a lot of stupid talking animal movies. But this one is different, he said, it's not just silly sheep doing silly things.

“There are some really beautiful moments and themes and things that parents can talk about with their kids,” Mazin said. “And most importantly, it is legitimately a movie that is meant for everyone.”

Then there's “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” (May 22), which is rated PG-13 but has an impossibly cute alien going for it. It’s also one of several made for IMAX.

“People have got great TVs at home,” said director Jon Favreau. “You’ve got to give them a reason to go out.”

The scary movies

Movie studios also continue to lean into horror and this summer has both franchises, like “Evil Dead Burn”(July 10) and “Insidious: Out of the Further” (Aug. 21) and unnerving indies, including the “conversion therapy” horror “Leviticus,” “Rose of Nevada” (both June 19), “Backrooms” (May 29) and a new Jane Schoenbrun, “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” (Aug. 7).

And then there is “Scary Movie 6" (June 5), which sees the return of Regina Hall and Anna Faris, as well as Marlon and Shawn Wayans, who haven't been involved in the franchise they helped create since the 2001 sequel. And there were so many movies ripe for parody, like “M3GAN,” “Get Out,” “Weapons,” the just-released “Michael,” and “Sinners,” which Marlon Wayans was most excited about.

“Mockery is the greatest form of flattery,” Wayans said. “Sending up their movie was definitely tipping our hat to them.”

The festival darlings and other gems

Audiences want more than brands and blockbusters though. This year moviegoers have already proven they’ll turn out when the buzz is right, whether it’s for a big crowd pleaser like “Project Hail Mary” or for something more challenging like “The Drama.”

One that has the potential to break through is Olivia Wilde’s “The Invite” (June 26), a chamber dramedy about two very different couples (Wilde, Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton) over one wine-filled night that sparked a bidding war at the Sundance Film Festival. Wilde was heartened that most studios were offering theatrical releases, and ultimately chose A24. They’ve even made a 35 mm print.

“The whole project for me is really tipping my hat to Mike Nichols,” Wilde said. “We thought of the audiences that have always loved those films.”

There are plenty of indies and originals to choose from throughout the summer, including Daniel Roher’s “Tuner,” about a piano prodigy turned safecracker, Boots Riley’s colorful shoplifting movie “I Love Boosters,” (both May 22) a John Carney musical with Paul Rudd (“Power Ballad,” June 5) and David Wain’s wholesomely raunchy comedy “Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass” (July 10).

As Wilde said, there’s room for both originals and franchises.

“The audience really likes to recognize risk,” she said. “There’s something exciting about that.”

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For more coverage of this summer’s upcoming films, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/movies

Isle Royale is a 134,000-acre (54,200-hectare) national park in far western Lake Superior between Grand Marais, Minnesota, and Thunder Bay, Canada. The island is a natural laboratory, offering scientists a rare opportunity to observe wolves and moose largely free from human influence.

Researchers have conducted wolf and moose population surveys on the island since 1958. The surveys had been an annual winter event when the roadless island is closed to visitors, but researchers have run into obstacles in recent years.

The pandemic in 2021 forced scientists to cancel the survey for the first time. The National Park Service ordered researchers to evacuate the island during their 2024 winter survey after weeks of unusually warm weather left the ice surrounding the island unsafe for ski-plane landings. Researchers rely on the planes for easier wildlife tracking but the island has no runway, forcing them to land on iced-over Lake Superior. Things didn't go much better last year when researchers were forced to scrap the effort after their pilot suffered a last-minute medical issue.

But this year a team of researchers led by scientists from Michigan Tech University were able to conduct a survey from Jan. 22 through March 3. Their findings led them to estimate the island's wolf population at 37 animals. Data gathered before researchers evacuated in 2024 showed the population at 30.

The 2026 estimates are the highest since the late 1970s and represent a marked improvement since the population dwindled to just two wolves a decade ago. Researchers believe inbreeding led to depressed survival rates in pups.

The island's moose population, though, is declining dramatically. This year's survey put the population at 524 moose, down 75% from a high of 2,000 in 2019. Wolves likely killed almost a quarter of the moose population over the last year, scientists estimated. For the first time in almost 70 years, researchers observed no moose calves during the winter survey.

Sarah Hoy, a Michigan Tech researcher who specializes in predator-prey interactions and one of the survey's co-leaders, said scientists had to brave wind chills that dipped to minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 45.5 Celsius) and it was difficult to keep warm with the woodstoves in their cabins.

But clear skies facilitated exceptional observations. The scientists spotted wolves on all but one survey flight, she said. One of the highlights was watching a pack snuggle up together on the ice on Valentine's Day, she said.

“It's always such a privilege to get to see wolves interacting, witnessing courtship behavior, pups playfully tugging on each other's tails, or a pack working together to take down a moose,” she said.

Scientists plan to conduct summer research on the island with an eye toward how the burgeoning wolf packs can maintain balance with the rest of the ecosystem.

The 7-footer from Cameroon became so debilitated by the ailment that he struggled walking, stayed awake deep into the night and even going to the bathroom became a chore. Embiid was finally forced to tell team officials this sickness was worse than food poisoning or any other malady he suspected, and he required a hospital visit.

The test results almost seemed preordained for bad news for Embiid around NBA playoff time.

One of the dominant big men of his era when healthy, Embiid has had a postseason career curtailed by a cornucopia of injuries — sprains, fractures, even facial paralysis — and this April was no exception.

Embiid had an appendectomy in Houston on April 9 after the two-time NBA scoring champion was stricken with appendicitis overnight and sidelined indefinitely.

No Sixers' stretch run. No play-in tournament game. He watched from the bench as the Sixers went down 2-1 to Boston in their first-round series.

“You probably go through a couple of days where you feel bad for yourself,” Embiid said late Sunday. “Then it’s right back to it. Are you going to give up or are you going to try and come back as early as possible?”

Embiid indeed returned early and was welcomed by a roaring ovation in Game 4 only 17 days after having surgery, desperate to give the Sixers the punch — scoring, rather than gut — needed to try to upset a Celtics team that beat the Sixers by 32 points in a Game 1 victory.

The result was familiar, the 76ers again lost by 32, 128-96 on Sunday night and now trail the series 3-1 headed into Game 5 on Tuesday night in Boston.

Embiid had 26 points and 10 rebounds in 34 minutes, a gutsy effort in his latest return from injury that the Sixers otherwise did little to suggest they could win the next three games. The numbers were brutal: Boston hit 24 3-pointers to the 76ers' nine; the Celtics won the rebounding battle 51-30; and Boston at one point had a 13-0 edge in second-chance points to build a 21-point lead.

Give the Sixers this much: They know how to get blown out.

With All-Stars in Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Paul George on the roster, the Sixers this season were the first team in NBA history to lose three home game by 40-plus points. Throw in two 32-pointers (one each at home and the road) in the playoffs and team president Daryl Morey and coach Nick Nurse figure to sit on the hot seat if the Sixers can't recover and win this series.

“I think those are going to kind of happen a couple of times a year,” Nurse said. “Listen, our kind of MO all year was to have a lot of things thrown at us, pick ourselves up and fight back. We're just going to have to do it again.”

To have any chance at resuscitating their chances, the Sixers need ruthless aggression and production from Maxey and rookie standout VJ Edgecombe. The Sixers have muddled roster construction in trying to win with two young, speedy, flashy guards while at the same time trying to force an aging, brittle, big man the ball.

Sure enough, Embiid sank two free throws for the Sixers’ first points of the game, added a monster two-handed jam and scored the team’s first eight points.

Maxey took a backseat to Embiid and took only three shots in the first half. He scored 22 points for the Sixers in 40 minutes.

“That can’t happen,” Maxey said of the slow start. “That’s on me. That’s just unacceptable by me. I was playing within the flow of the game. It kind of happened that way. It wasn’t meant to happen that way.”

Maxey and Edgecombe combined for 23 shots. Embiid attempted 21.

“There's a couple of times when he had opportunities to shoot the ball, but he's got to take them,” Embiid said of Maxey. “You've got to want it.”

Embiid said he had unspecified complications after the surgery but still went out “to do the best job possible with the conditions.” He was limited to 38 games this season, sitting out primarily to manage injuries to his knees, and hasn’t appeared in as many as 40 games in a regular season since 2022-23, when he averaged a career-best 33.1 points and earned MVP honors.

Embiid said he no choice but to push through his latest setback and try to salvage the Sixers' season. It's a familiar refrain in Philadelphia. While anything can happen, the final result for the Sixers seems as inevitable as Embiid pulling up lame — no NBA title since 1983, no conference final since 2001.

“I just told them again, way out of character,” Nurse said. “We played another, about as bad as we could play, game. That's two in the series.”

The third one ends another empty postseason.

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

Venezi was due to take up the role this coming October.

But general manager Nicola Colabianchi cited her “repeated and serious public statements that were offensive and harmful” to the theater and its orchestra for the decision to cancel future collaboration, the theater’s foundation said Sunday.

They included an interview with Argentine daily La Nación, in which she accused the theater of nepotism, saying that “positions were handed from father to son.”

Italian Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli said that he hoped the move would “clear misunderstandings, tensions and manipulations” that had surrounded Venezi’s selection.

La Fenice's unions welcomed the decision to part ways with Venezi, calling it “a necessary act of respect” and underlining that the theater's professionalism had been “subject to serious, unfounded public statements damaging to the dignity of labor.”

Musicians, singers and backstage hands had vociferously opposed her appointment, citing a lack of transparency and lack of experience necessary to lead the theater.

Their escalating protests included a strike that forced the cancellation of a performance and a march through Venice joined by workers from other opera houses, reflecting concerns of political interference in artistic decisions.

The audience and orchestra erupted in applause during a performance Sunday night at the news that Venezi’s appointment had been blocked, according to video circulated by Italian media.

Colabianchi, who appointed Venezi on Sept. 22, initially defended the move, saying her youth and dynamism would attract a younger audience to the theater. Giuli had also supported hiring her.

Venezi, 36, was appointed as an adviser to the culture minister after Meloni came to power in 2022. She previously was principal conductor of the Nuova Orchestra Scarlatti Young and guest conductor of the Orchestra della Toscana, and has conducted internationally, including in Armenia, Uruguay and Argentina.

A sheep owned by O'Connor, who runs Clover & Bee Farm in Underhill, Vermont, with her husband, Gunnar, gave birth to a rare batch of six lambs earlier this month. The sextuplets and their mother are all doing well, making the lamb windfall even more remarkable.

The same ewe previously had quadruplets, and while a recent checkup indicated she would have two lambs this time, O'Connor suspected more. When the big day came, the baby lambs seemed to have kept coming and coming, she said.

“I was a little bit suspicious, just given how big she was and that she was going a little earlier, that she might have more than two,” she said. “Six is great, but it's definitely — it's plenty.”

Sources differ on how uncommon sheep sextuplets are, with O'Connor putting the number around 1 in 1,000 and some agricultural websites placing it at one in a million or higher. O'Connor said she has been in touch with the Vermont Sheep & Goat Association about the births, and the group found only one other shepherd had a sheep give birth to so many lambs.

“They do take longer to reach full body weight, but most do just fine,” said Kristen Judkins of Gilead Fiber Farm, who owned a ewe that had sextuplets three years in a row, in an email. “You have to keep an eye on them for the first few weeks to make sure they are getting enough to eat.”

The lambs, which are partially the Finnsheep breed, are named the numbers one through six in Finnish. Their mother is named Teemu after Finnish hockey player and Hockey Hall of Famer Teemu Selänne. The O'Connors plan to keep the four ewes and find homes for the two male lambs.

The farm raises sheep for wool and also grows herbs and berries. It's headed for its fifth summer raising sheep. The flock is booming — along with two other recent babies, the six new lambs have brought the total up to 21. And five ewes are currently pregnant.

Teemu's breeding days are likely not over. She'll be allowed a respite, but odds are good she'll have more lambs in the future, O'Connor said.

“She’s a great mom, she’s doing awesome with this,” O'Connor said. “She’s still very much in her reproductive years, so probably a year or more and she’ll just, you know, be able to put her hooves up.”

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Whittle reported from Portland, Maine.

But the rise of artificial intelligence has scrambled those calculations. The basic skills she was learning in things like statistical analysis and coding can now easily be automated. “Everyone has a fear that entry-level jobs will be taken by AI,” said the 20-year-old at Miami University in Ohio.

A few weeks ago, Timperman switched her major to marketing. Her new strategy is to use her undergraduate studies to build critical thinking and interpersonal skills — areas where humans still have an edge.

“You don’t just want to be able to code. You want to be able to have a conversation, form relationships and be able to think critically, because at the end of the day, that’s the thing that AI can’t replace,” said Timperman, who is keeping analytics as a minor and plans to dive deeper into the subject for a one-year master’s program.

Today’s college students say that picking a major that’s “AI-proof” feels like shooting at a moving target as they prepare for a job market that could be fundamentally different by the time they graduate.

As a result, many are reconsidering their career paths. 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, while recent Gallup polling finds U.S. workers are increasingly concerned about being replaced by new technologies.

Students seeking majors that teach ‘human’ skills

The uncertainty appears most concentrated among those pursuing degrees in technology and vocational areas of study, where students feel a need to develop expertise in AI but also fear being replaced by it. A recent Quinnipiac poll found the vast majority of Americans believe it’s “very” or “somewhat” important for college and university students to be taught how to use AI, as Gallup Workforce polling finds AI is getting adopted in technology-related fields at higher rates. Meanwhile, students studying healthcare and natural sciences may be less impacted by AI overhauls, Gallup found.

“We see students all the time change majors. That’s not new or different. But it’s usually for a ton of different reasons,” said Courtney Brown, a vice president at Lumina, an education nonprofit focused on increasing the number of students who seek education beyond high school. “The fact that so many students say it’s because of AI — that is startling.”

A recent Gallup poll of Generation Z youth and adults, between the ages of 14 and 29, found increasing skepticism and concerns about AI. Although half of Gen Z adults use AI at least “weekly,” and teenagers report higher use, many in this generation see drawbacks to the technology and worry about AI's impact on their cognitive abilities and job prospects. About half — 48% — of Gen Z workers say the risks of AI in the workforce outweigh the possible benefits.

Part of the challenge for college students is that the experts they would typically turn to for advice, like advisers, professors and parents, don’t have any answers. “Students are having to navigate this on their own, without a GPS,” says Brown.

That uncertainty was evident last month at Stanford University, where the leaders of several prominent universities gathered for a wide-ranging panel discussion on the future of higher education. Topics of concern included the AI revolution that is transforming how students learn and forcing educators to rethink pedagogy.

“We need to think really hard about what students need to learn to be successful in the job market in 10, 20, 30 years,” said Brown University President Christina Paxson.

“And none of us know. We don’t know the answer to that,” Paxson said. “I think it’s communication, it’s critical thought. The fundamentals of a liberal education are probably more important than learning how to code in Java right now.”

Anxiety also reaches computer science majors

Computer science major Ben Aybar, 22, graduated last spring from the University of Chicago and applied for about 50 jobs, mostly in software engineering, without getting a single interview. He pivoted to a master’s degree in computer science and meanwhile has found part-time work doing AI consulting for companies.

“People who know how to use AI will be very valuable,” said Aybar, who sees new jobs emerging that require AI skills, particularly for people who can explain the complexities in layman's terms. “Being able to talk to people and interact with people in a very human way I think is more valuable than ever.”

At the University of Virginia, data science major Ava Lawless is wondering if her major is worthwhile but can’t get concrete answers. Some advisers feel that data scientists will be safe because they’re the ones building AI models, but she keeps seeing gloomy job reports that indicate the contrary.

“It makes me feel a bit hopeless for the future,” Lawless said. “What if by the time I graduate there’s not even a job market for this anymore?”

She is considering switching to studio art, which is her minor.

“I’m at a point where I’m thinking if I can’t get a job being a data scientist, I might as well pursue art,” she said. “Because if I’m going to be unemployed, I might as well do something I love.”

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

A child was originally hospitalized in critical condition, but on Thursday a University Health spokesperson told KSAT the child is now in fair condition.

The hospital’s trauma unit is treating the child for burns suffered in the first explosion.

Crews responded to the initial fire around 6 p.m. Tuesday in the 15000 block of Preston Hollow Drive, which is located near Thousand Oaks Drive.

Around 8:30 p.m., however, KSAT crews heard a loud “boom” and saw flames shooting out of a second home nearby.

CPS Energy sent KSAT an updated statement just before 10 p.m. on Thursday, where a spokesperson for the utility said for the first time, “Electric and gas services in the Preston Hollow subdivision are clear and safe.”

Marc Whyte, the District 10 councilman, said his office and the city are currently working on creating a website to give out updates on the investigation as they become available.

CPS Energy will keep its customer response unit at the Northeast Senior Center through Sunday.

In an updated statement sent on Sunday, the utility said its CPS Energy Customer Response Unit and gas team members are helping customers relight gas pilot lights and answering questions about natural gas service upon request.

CPS Energy is also arranging debris cleanup in the area and has assisted more than two dozen customers since Tuesday.

CPS Energy said if any customers at any point smell gas, they should leave the house immediately and call CPS Energy at 210-353-HELP (4357) or 911.

North East ISD teacher, pastor among those injured

Two adults and one child suffered burns and were hospitalized after the first explosion. Two additional adults were hospitalized as a result of the second explosion.

One of those hospitalized is a teacher at MacArthur High School. A North East Independent School District spokesperson told KSAT that the injured educator is Kimberly Nowell, who teaches math at the school.

Nowell’s husband, Tim, is a pastor at Wayside Chapel, a North Side church located in the 1700 block of Northwest Loop 410.

On Monday, April 27, a hospital spokesperson said the couple remains in critical condition.

The couple’s teenage daughter also attends the school, according to a letter sent Wednesday to MacArthur High School parents and guardians.

“I have already met with our staff to inform them of this tragic situation,” MacArthur High School Principal Joaquin Hernandez wrote in the letter obtained by KSAT. “Additionally, Ms. Nowell’s classes are being supported with the assistance of our counselors and administrative team. Our priority is to ensure students have immediate access to support.”

According to Wayside Chapel, Nowell is a “student pastor” who has served in that ministry for more than 17 years.

Jason Uptmore, the church’s lead pastor, released a statement to KSAT on Wednesday afternoon.

“We are grateful that Tim, Kim, and Ali (the couple’s daughter) are stable,” Uptmore said, in part. “Tim and his family are deeply woven into the fabric of who we are as a church. We recognize that the road ahead will be long, but we are committed to walking with them.”

A Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC) spokesperson identified the other two explosion victims to KSAT as Mayte Reeves and Jose Ochoa.

Reeves was previously in critical condition, but is now listed as “fair.” Ochoa is in “good” condition, the BAMC spokesperson said.

SAFD’s response

The first fire was extinguished “very quickly” and was likely related to a natural gas buildup, the fire department said.

The first house sustained significant damage and will likely be demolished.

In all, 10 homes along Preston Hollow Drive were evacuated following the explosions, SAFD Chief Valerie Frausto said.

Some residents can return home

District 10 Councilman Marc Whyte told KSAT all residents except for six households on Preston Hollow Drive can return home Wednesday night, April 22.

The six households who cannot return include the two homes where the explosions occurred and immediate neighbors on that side of the street.

Police said the residents on the other side of Preston Hollow Drive are on a different power grid, but the ones where the explosions happened are not.

Affected residents being housed in temporary accommodations

In a Facebook post from Whyte, impacted residents are being housed in Airbnbs temporarily as crews work to continue clearing the homes under evacuation orders.

As of 5 p.m. Wednesday, the utility said its unit has “connected with more than two dozen residents.” Any additional impacted customers are encouraged to call 210-353-2783.

A CPS Energy spokesperson said the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will lead the investigation into both explosions. Going forward, the utility will “coordinate any updates” with NTSB, the spokesperson said.

According to the agency’s statement earlier Wednesday, it shut off power in the area to keep customers safe.

Click here for the latest update on power outages.

In a statement Tuesday night, District 10 Councilman Marc Whyte, whose district includes Preston Hollow Drive, said, “CPS will work with all displaced people on hotel costs.”

“Any displaced residents should call our office tomorrow and we will help them be reimbursed,” Whyte said.

In a follow-up statement on Wednesday afternoon, the councilman said he is standing “with those affected as they begin the recovery process.”

“We are deeply grateful for the swift and professional response from our first responders, as well as the continued support from the Red Cross, CPS Energy, and the Northeast Senior Center,” Whyte said on Wednesday. “Their efforts have been critical in ensuring public safety and assisting those in need.”

Whyte also said anyone impacted by Tuesday’s explosions are asked to contact the District 10 office.

If anyone thinks they smell gas in their homes, CPS Energy said they should leave their house immediately and call CPS Energy at 210-353-HELP (4357) or 911.

NTSB takes role of lead investigator

In a statement to KSAT on Thursday, April 23, the National Transportation Safety Board confirmed that it is investigating the natural gas-fueled explosions on Preston Hollow Drive.

The NTSB said its investigation will be centered around witness statements, available incident footage, the weather around the time of the explosions, pipeline operating practices and procedures, pipeline maintenance records, the extent and path of released gas or hazardous liquid and other information.

The federal agency expects to release a preliminary report in approximately 30 days, which will “contain factual information gathered during the initial phase of the investigation.”

A probable cause of the explosions, as well as any contributing factors, will be released in a more comprehensive report in approximately 12 to 24 months, the NTSB said.

When the homes were built

Bexar County property records show one of the homes involved in the explosions was built in 1993.

The other home was built in 2000, according to records.

More coverage of this story on KSAT:

• 5 hospitalized, 3 in critical condition, after home explosions on North Side, SAFD says

According to a filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, the new restaurant will be located at 8889 Bandera Road, not far from Mystic Park.

Construction for the new location is expected to start in November 2027, with an estimated completion date of April 13, 2028.

The predicted cost of the construction, which will cover 5,088 square feet, is $4,500, the filing said.

The Bandera Road location will be the 37^th Chick-fil-A restaurant in San Antonio, the chain’s website shows.

More restaurant coverage on KSAT:

• Layne’s Chicken Fingers plans construction for new restaurant in Leon Valley
• Chilaquiles Buen Dia near Pearl temporarily closes due to vandalism

Otherwise, the first round might soon be winding down.

So far, only two conference quarterfinal series — New York vs. Atlanta and Cleveland vs. Toronto — have a Game 6 that's guaranteed. The other six remaining opening-round matchups still could end in either four or five games.

It's possible that six first-round series are completed by Wednesday. Some might even end on Monday, when the schedule features three games: Orlando will seek a 3-1 lead at home against Detroit, Phoenix will look to avoid a sweep against Oklahoma City, and Denver looks to stave off elimination against short-handed Minnesota.

If Phoenix beats Oklahoma City, there will be no sweeps in Round 1 — something that hasn't happened since the 2003 playoffs.

Sunday recaps

— Raptors 93, Cavaliers 89 to tie series at 2-2.

— Spurs 114, Trail Blazers 93 for 3-1 series lead. Wemby has concerns.

— Celtics 128, 76ers 96 for 3-1 series lead. Embiid returned, to no avail.

— Rockets 115, Lakers 96 to get within 3-1 in series. Might Durant play?

Stories of note

— Edwards out, DiVincenzo has surgery

— An interesting year for Tiago Splitter

— There's a standard in Oklahoma City

— Taylor Jenkins set to return to Milwaukee

— AJ Dybantsa formally enters NBA draft

— Donovan steps down as Chicago's coach

— Warriors brace for possible Kerr departure

— Some news, notes going into the postseason

— Heat equipment manager needs transplants

Awards watch

Awards season is in full swing in the NBA and will resume Monday with the Rookie of the Year announcement (7 p.m. EDT, Peacock/NBCSN).

The rookie finalists: VJ Edgecombe of Philadelphia, Cooper Flagg of Dallas and Kon Knueppel of Charlotte.

Other awards being announced this week are Basketball Executive of the Year on Tuesday, the Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year on Wednesday and the Hustle Award on Thursday. They'll all be announced at 1 p.m. EDT on one of the NBA's social media channels.

A breakdown on awards handed out to this point:

— San Antonio's Victor Wembanyama became the youngest Defensive Player of the Year, and the first to win the award in a unanimous vote.

— Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander nearly became the first unanimous winner of the Clutch Player of the Year award. He got 96 of a possible 100 first-place votes.

— San Antonio's Keldon Johnson topped Miami's Jaime Jaquez Jr. for Sixth Man of the Year, getting 63 first-place votes.

— Boston's Derrick White was revealed as the Sportsmanship Award winner, as selected by the league's players. Indiana's TJ McConnell — who got more first-place votes than anyone else — was second.

— Atlanta now has back-to-back Most Improved Player winners, with Nickeil Alexander-Walker taking that trophy this year. Dyson Daniels won for the Hawks last year.

Among the announcements still to be scheduled:

— Most Valuable Player, which will be either Gilgeous-Alexander, Wembanyama or Denver's Nikola Jokic.

— Coach of the Year, which will be either Detroit's J.B. Bickerstaff, San Antonio's Mitch Johnson or Boston's Joe Mazzulla.

Monday's games

8 p.m. EDT — Game 4, Detroit at Orlando (NBC/Peacock)

9:30 p.m. EDT — Game 4, Oklahoma City at Phoenix (Peacock/NBCSN)

10:30 p.m. EDT — Game 4, Minnesota at Denver (NBC/Peacock)

Tuesday's games

7 p.m. EDT — Game 5, Philadelphia at Boston (ESPN)

8 p.m. EDT — Game 5, Atlanta at New York (NBC/Peacock)

9:30 p.m. EDT — Game 5, Portland at San Antonio (ESPN)

Wednesday's games

7 p.m. EDT — Game 5, Orlando at Detroit (Prime)

7:30 p.m. EDT — Game 5, Toronto at Cleveland (ESPN)

9:30 p.m. EDT — Game 5, Phoenix at Oklahoma City (Prime), if necessary

10 p.m. EDT — Game 5, Houston at LA Lakers (ESPN)

Betting odds

The defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder (-120) are favorites to win the NBA title, according to oddsmakers.

The Thunder are followed by San Antonio (+400), Boston (+550), Cleveland (+1600), New York (+2500) and the Los Angeles Lakers (+2500).

Denver is +3000, followed by Detroit (+3500). Minnesota, even with a 3-1 series lead entering Monday, is at +20000 after the injuries to Donte DiVincenzo and Anthony Edwards.

Key dates

— May 2, 3 or 4: Conference semifinals begin.

— May 10: NBA draft lottery.

— May 10-17: NBA draft combine.

— May 17 or 19: Eastern Conference finals begin on ESPN and ABC.

— May 18 or 20: Western Conference finals begin on NBC and Peacock.

— June 3: Game 1, NBA Finals on ABC. (Other finals dates: June 5, June 8, June 10, June 13, June 16 and June 19).

— June 23: Round 1, NBA draft

— June 24: Round 2, NBA draft

Quote of the day

“We need to find the answers before having our back against the wall. But that also shows the strength of our team. In adversity, we stick together. We get closer to each other. We feed off of each other's energy." — San Antonio's Victor Wembanyama, after the Spurs rallied from a 17-point halftime deficit before blowing out Portland for a 3-1 series lead. It was San Antonio's league-best ninth win after trailing by 15 or more in a game this season.

Stats of the day

— Boston has beaten Philadelphia by 32 points on two separate occasions so far in their Eastern Conference first-round series. The last time the Celtics had two wins by 32 or more points in the same series was 1965 — in the NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers.

— LeBron James' teams are now 12-3 in Game 4s with a chance to sweep a series. His teams had been 9-0 in such games since 2013, before Sunday night's loss in Houston.

— Toronto scored 93 points in its Game 4 win. Teams scoring 93 or less are now 3-94 this season — but teams allowing 89 or less (as the Raptors did against Cleveland on Sunday) are 46-0.

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

Now, her stove is often cold as she crouches over a charcoal burner, coaxing a smoky fire to cook for her family outside her tin-roofed home in Kibera in Kenya's capital Nairobi, one of Africa’s largest informal settlements. Cooking gas is too expensive and often unavailable. Charcoal is always there.

“We don’t have many options,” she said. “You use what you can afford.”

Stories like hers are becoming more common because of the energy disruptions caused by the Iran war. Governments had promoted cleaner fuels like LPG for health and conservation reasons, but rising costs are undermining those gains.

The impacts are spreading beyond gas pumps to kitchens, forests, and wildlife habitats. Across Africa and South Asia, governments have spent years trying to shift households away from burning charcoal and firewood to cleaner fuels like liquefied petroleum gas, or LPG.

That push was driven by concerns over risks from air pollution, which killed 2.9 million people in 2021, according to the World Health Organization. But it also was focused on conservation, since use of firewood or charcoal increases pressure on forests and wildlife. Cutting trees faster than they grow back accelerates deforestation.

As more people search for fuel in the forest, they are encountering wildlife. At the same time, economic pressures can drive more poaching and bushmeat hunting, increasing the chance of diseases spreading from animals to people. Falling tourism means less funding for conservation, while high fuel costs make it harder for field teams to operate and respond quickly when wild animals enter human areas.

“The longer this debacle runs, the harder it is going to hit conservation,” said Mayukh Chatterjee, the International Union for Conservation of Nature's co-chair for its conflict and co-existence specialist group.

Rising costs push families into forests for fuel

When LPG, kerosene or electricity become too expensive or unreliable, many families turn to firewood and charcoal because they are easier to get in cash-poor settings, even though they harm the environment, said Paula Kahumbu, a wildlife conservationist, and CEO of Nairobi-based WildlifeDirect.

"The first conservation risk from an energy shock in Africa is not abstract. It is household fuel switching,” she said.

Rising demand for biomass fuels also degrades watersheds and wildlife habitats as people go deeper into previously undisturbed areas, increasing pressure on ecosystems and the species that depend on them.

Experts fear that rising diesel prices and higher fertilizer costs will also hurt farm productivity, reducing yields and increasing food insecurity.

“The crisis is impacting more than forests,” Kahumbu said.

Charcoal, made by slowly burning wood in kilns, is one of the most widely used cooking fuels in sub-Saharan Africa and a major driver of deforestation. Demand is climbing among customers in Nairobi’s low-income settlements, according to charcoal seller Munyao Kitheka.

A similar shift is underway in India, the world’s second-largest LPG importer, with about 60% of its supply coming from the Gulf region, according to S&P Global.

Rama, a social worker who goes by only one name, spent years encouraging waste-picking families in Bhalswa, a poor neighborhood in the outskirts of the capital New Delhi, to adopt LPG. But with incomes below $3 a day, many can no longer afford pricier LPG cylinders and are reverting to stoves that burn firewood, or returning to villages where wood is easier to find.

“Things are very, very bad,” she said.

The shift places a heavier burden on women and girls who end up spending hours each day hunting for fuel, limiting their time for work or school, said Neha Saigal, a consultant with the environmental and social justice startup Asar Social Impact Advisors.

“Years of work went into making LPG aspirational. But a global issue like this can reverse some of those gains,” she said.

Reducing pressure on habitats by reducing fuelwood use has been central to conservation efforts in Asia, said Chatterjee, the conservationist. He cited an elephant conservation project in India's northeastern Assam state where eateries had reduced wood use, but warned those gains could unravel as households shift back from LPG, which is produced from refining oil or natural gas.

“That all risks going back to square one,” he said.

Broader ripple effects on conservation

Experts warn that the war in Iran and the resulting fuel shocks can strain funding and disrupt field operations, hindering global conservation.

Airlines are cutting routes to Africa, potentially hitting tourism as rising fuel prices raise travel costs. Disruptions to aviation routes through Middle Eastern hubs make access to some destinations more difficult.

Even a modest drop in visitor numbers can have outsized effects in countries that rely on wildlife tourism to fund protected areas.

Tourism contributes about 14% of the GDP in countries like Kenya and Tanzania, where it underpins park management, anti-poaching patrols, and community conservation initiatives.

“Less tourism means less income for conservation initiatives, fewer rangers and more opportunistic poaching," Kahumbu said, adding that rising food and fuel costs could also push more people toward bushmeat as an affordable source of protein, increasing pressure on wildlife populations.

Moreover, conservation work in remote areas requires extensive and regular travel, often by motorbike or other vehicles. Higher fuel prices can disrupt that movement.

Chatterjee pointed out that in cases of conflict between wildlife and people in South Asia, rapid deployment of forest staff and conservation teams is critical to secure the area, manage crowds, and safely guide or tranquilize animals before situations escalate.

Delays increase the risk of injury or death on both sides, and fuel shortages can slow response times.

African governments have options to cushion the impact, but action has often lagged. Kahumbu called for protecting households from reverting to polluting fuels through targeted subsidies and stronger local supply chains and by backing local energy sources such as biogas, solar, and geothermal.

“Treat conservation as essential infrastructure during economic shocks,” she said.

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Ghosal reported from Hanoi, Vietnam.

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

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This version corrects the name of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and corrects to say India is the world’s second-largest LPG importer.