The league's Board of Governors had their annual post-Stanley Cup Final and pre-draft meeting on Tuesday in New York. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the expansion consideration had not been announced. ESPN and Sportsnet were first to report the move.

While there is no guarantee the NHL adds a 33rd team, it is a first step toward becoming the largest professional sports league in North America, surpassing the NFL. Commissioner Gary Bettman in recent years has been careful to say officials were listening to expressions of interest from prospective owners in places like Houston and Atlanta but not yet engaged in a formal path toward expansion.

The league last expanded to 32 with the Seattle Kraken beginning play in 2021 after the Vegas Golden Knights started in the 2017-18 season. Before that, there had been 30 teams since 2000, when Columbus and Minnesota entered.

The recent success stories, combined with booming franchise values across sports, spurred talk of expansion in hockey circles, especially because expansion fees could exceed $1 billion. Seattle paid $650 million and Las Vegas $500 million.

From Florida to Texas to California and places in between, the NHL has enjoyed strong popularity across the Sun Belt and non-traditional hockey markets over the past four decades. Teams were added in South Florida and Tampa in Florida, San Jose and Anaheim in Calfironia, Nashville, Tennessee, and Las Vegas while relocations put teams in Dallas and Raleigh, North Carolina, Denver and elsewhere.

Teams in those places have won the Stanley Cup the past seven years in a row and 13 times dating to Colorado's championship run in 1995-96.

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

In a social media post, Trump claimed without supporting evidence that there had been a “350 foot gash” in the paint as the administration faces a self-imposed deadline to fix the botched renovation before the nation's 250th anniversary celebration next week. He has also said, including again on Tuesday, that the federal government would release images to substantiate his claim.

Trump pledged to beautify the century-old Reflecting Pool ahead of the anniversary celebrations, draining its water and having the bottom painted a color he dubbed “American flag blue.” But since the site was restored, its water has been plagued with algae bloom and pieces of the new coating appeared to be peeling off the bottom.

Trump, without evidence, has repeatedly blamed the peeling paint on vandalism.

“It was purposefully and criminally done, and somebody had to work very hard, probably in the dark of night, to create such a condition,” Trump wrote Tuesday, adding that another seven people were cited for allegedly damaging the pool.

The U.S. Park Police and Interior Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the arrests or Trump's claim of vandalism.

The Associated Press verified that one man was arrested after touching the already-peeling paint. He said he wanted to examine the new coating, touching a still-attached chunk briefly then letting go shortly after a park worker told him to.

Security patrols around the Reflecting Pool

National Guard members and Park Police have been patrolling the deck around the pool after Trump insisted over the weekend that vandals were responsible for damage to the liner, without providing evidence.

Trump said Tuesday that the Interior Department will release images of alleged vandalism at the pool. Pressed by reporters after Air Force One landed in Pennsylvania for a visit to a trucking company, Trump said Interior is “going to share” photos and videos of the alleged vandalism, which remains unverified.

The president said Monday that the images existed and the federal government would provide them. No photos were made public as of Tuesday afternoon.

The arrests highlighted what’s expected to be tightened security in the capital ahead of and during the 250th anniversary celebrations, which are set to draw large crowds to the National Mall and other tourist sites.

Trump also said Tuesday that “some of the water” will be drained from the pool “either immediately before or after the Fourth of July, to do the permanent repair.”

It was unclear from his post what the scale, scope or cost of the permanent repair would be.

Atlantic Industrial Coatings, a contractor on the pool project, said it has identified some areas in the Reflecting Pool that require repairs. “These areas are a very small part of the massive 7 acre project, and do not indicate a failure of the liner,” the company said in a statement.

The company said it expected to make the repairs to the pool once it is drained, as part of the warranty.

Renovation project plagued ahead of the 250 celebrations

Trump pitched the original improvements as intended to clean, beautify and reinforce an iconic site that he said had become dilapidated and dirty because of previous presidents’ neglect. Algae has plagued the pool for a century, and Trump insisted that the newly installed “American flag blue” coating, which he selected himself, would turn the pool into a gleaming expanse along the National Mall.

Yet within weeks of Trump declaring the rehabilitation completed in time for Independence Day, the water was plagued by a vivid green algae bloom that clouded the pool’s coating. A piece of liner, about 4 square feet, was observed Friday partially floating in the pool. The Associated Press saw additional pieces in the water Monday.

Trump told reporters Monday that he was told that vandals may have put fertilizer in the pool to develop algae. It was unclear who told him that or when that damage may have occurred.

“Somebody said they might have put fertilizer" in the pool, Trump said at an unrelated event Monday at the White House. “They did something to create the algae. But that doesn’t matter, because that’s been purified. It’s dead, laying at the bottom."

There is no evidence fertilizer has been added to the pool.

Workers were seen in recent days pouring hydrogen peroxide into the pool in an attempt to kill the algae. Hydrogen peroxide can act as a paint remover.

Experts say the dark lining can add to algae growth by absorbing more sunlight than lighter surfaces. That raises the surrounding water temperature, allowing algae to thrive.

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Associated Press writer Josh Boak contributed to this story.

The 6-3 decision centers on an immigration officers’ 2012 decision to put lawful permanent resident Muk Choi Lau on immigration parole when he returned from a short trip to China because he had been accused of a counterfeiting crime.

Lau argued that the officer overstepped their authority, and the decision wrongly allowed the Department of Homeland Security under then-President Barack Obama an easier path to removal after he pleaded guilty to selling counterfeit clothes in New Jersey.

The high court disagreed. “Border officers did not have the burden to establish by clear and convincing evidence that Lau had committed a crime involving moral turpitude,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in the opinion.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented, writing that the decision to put Lau on immigration parole effectively sentenced him to “immigration limbo” before he’d been convicted of any crime.

“I worry that the Court has now handed the Government a massive blank check,” she wrote in the dissent joined by her two liberal colleagues.

The liberal group Alliance for Justice echoed that concern, saying the ruling could provide an expanded path for revoking green cards.

But Advancing American Freedom, a group founded by former Republican Vice President Mike Pence, called it an important case to allow the removal of people who “abuse the privilege of being granted lawful permanent resident status.”

The decision comes as the high court considers a series of immigration-related issues against the backdrop of President Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown, though this case started before Trump took office.

His administration argued that suspicion of a crime is enough to put a lawful permanent resident, also known as a green-card holder, on immigration parole. Federal attorneys urged the court to take an expansive view of executive authority over immigration.

The court is also considering cases over Trump’s push to end birthright citizenship, potentially revive a restrictive asylum policy and end temporary legal protections for migrants fleeing war and natural disasters in their homelands.

San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones, Texas State Senator Jose Menendez and Bexar County Commissioner Grant Moody were in attendance.

Over the past several days, San Antonio and Bexar County leaders have denounced previous antisemitic comments made by Ye, formerly known as Kanye West.

This is a developing story. Check back later for updates.

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A divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit threw out a lower court ruling that temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s expanded use of expedited removal. The ruling was a big victory for the Republican administration, which views the expansion of so-called expedited removal as a key tool for carrying out its mass deportation policy.

An attorney for the plaintiffs said the ruling “undermines the fundamental principle that people receive due process when the government seeks to deport them.”

“The Trump administration’s push for fast-track deportations will subject people to an unfair and error-prone system,” Anand Balakrishnan, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, said in a statement.

Trump appointed the two judges in the majority in Tuesday's decision. The third was appointed by President Barack Obama, a Democrat.

The plaintiffs had not “shown that the expedited-removal process denies its members notice and an opportunity to be heard,” Judge Justin R. Walker, one of the Trump appointees, wrote.

Expedited removal — quick deportation without a chance to appear before a judge — has previously been applied to migrants arriving by sea or caught at or near the border shortly after crossing.

In January, Trump expanded its use to undocumented migrants all over the US. Immigration agents began whisking migrants away from courthouses where they had gone for immigration proceedings and then removing them from the country within days.

U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb ruled in August that plaintiffs challenging the expansion had made a “strong showing” that it was trampling on people's due process rights, and she issued a stay order putting the policy on hold. Cobb was appointed to the federal bench by President Joe Biden, a Democrat.

Many migrants living deep in the U.S. have been in the country for more than 2 years, making them ineligible for expedited removal under federal law. Cobb said the administration had not developed procedures to ensure they and other groups of migrants were not wrongly deported under the expedited process.

The plaintiffs had put forward “substantial evidence" that the expedited removal process, on the contrary, carried a high risk of error when applied more broadly, Cobb said. The ruling cited examples of people who had lived in the U.S. for far longer than two years but were still ordered to be removed in expedited proceedings.

The Trump administration appealed, arguing in a court filing that its expansion was legal, and protections were in place to prevent arbitrary removal.

Cobb's ruling was an “egregious error” that was depriving the administration of an “essential tool to combat the unprecedented surge of illegal immigration over the past few years” and efficiently deport potentially millions of people, Justice Department attorneys argued in the October filing.

Prosecutors asked for a hearing to challenge the credibility of expert witnesses ahead of trial. However, after discussion in court, both sides agreed the issue could be addressed during the trial instead.

Defense attorneys said they did not believe the separate hearing was necessary, noting the state has agreed to narrow its list of officers and expert witnesses who will testify. Prosecutors also said they will provide an updated witness list to the defense at least two weeks before trial.

Judge Joel Perez, who presides over Bexar County’s 437th Criminal District Court, said any attempt to hold lengthy side hearings during the trial would not be allowed if it risks delaying proceedings.

He warned attorneys that if testimony or hearings appear to stretch too long, he may stop the line of questioning and exclude those witnesses.

Jury selection is currently set to begin July 20. Brennand’s trial is expected to last two-and-a-half weeks.

Brennand is charged with aggravated assault by a public servant in connection with the shooting. Body camera video showed Brennand opening the door of Cantu’s car and firing multiple shots as Cantu drove away.

Brennand did not appear in court on Monday, and his appearance was waived.

If convicted, he could face up to life in prison.

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Punishing temperatures extended to the United Kingdom and Spain, where weather agencies issued red alerts — like France — about the risks of extreme heat for tens of millions of people.

The record of 29.8 C (85.6 F) for France’s national thermal indicator — an average of temperatures measured at 30 weather stations — was only the latest in a series of never-before-registered highs heaped on Europe's largest country. The conditions were likely to persist at least until the weekend.

“Further record-breaking temperatures are expected, including some that could surpass all previous records, regardless of the time of year,” the Meteo France weather service said.

France's previous hottest days were recorded during heat waves of August 2003 and July 2019, with an average temperature of 29.4 C (84.9 F).

Temperature records also tumbled at individual weather stations and on consecutive days in some towns as daytime highs climbed well above 40 C (104 F), Meteo France said.

In the French capital, Gin Dujardin said the heat forced him to halt his work fixing roofs, which in Paris often have galvanized zinc coverings.

“It’s very, very hard because the zinc is very hot. The welds don’t hold,” he said. “It’s Dubai temperatures. It’s impossible.”

France has recorded 40 fatalities from drowning in the past week as people seek relief in rivers and other bodies of water, despite authorities' warnings about unsupervised swimming. Most of the drownings involved young people, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said.

Meteo France said the heat wave has reached what it described as a “plateau of severity,” with unrelenting heat, day and night. A growing number of regions will tip into the red again Wednesday as the heat spreads across more than half of the country, including the northernmost tip of France, the weather service said.

Human-caused climate change is tied to increasingly extreme weather, and U.N. climate agency projections say the next five years are likely to shatter more heat records.

The Louvre and the Eiffel Tower close early

In a country without widespread air conditioning, schools, public transportation and sporting events have been affected. In Paris, the Eiffel Tower closed in the afternoon instead of late at night, as it usually does. The Louvre museum said it would close two hours earlier than normal from Wednesday through Saturday.

“Although parts of its historic building are naturally resilient, the museum remains vulnerable and is not sufficiently adapted to climate change,” Louvre officials said. “Heat buildup is greatest toward the end of the day and is further intensified by high visitor numbers.”

This heat wave, coming early in the summer, has already been compared to the August 2003 heat wave that roasted France with the highest temperatures in over half a century. It caused an estimated 15,000 deaths, many of them among older people in apartments and retirement homes without air conditioning.

Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, with temperatures increasing twice as fast as the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. Over the last four years, more than 200,000 people across Europe died from heat-related causes, and most of those deaths were preventable, the World Health Organization’s Europe office said this month.

The above-average temperatures can cause heat exhaustion and life-threatening heat stroke.

Rail systems are strained by high temperatures

Hundreds of British schools planned to close or close early this week because of the heat, while many train services were reduced to avoid heat-related problems on the rail lines.

The Met Office, the U.K. weather agency, issued a heat warning for Wednesday and Thursday, with forecasts suggesting June’s all-time daily temperature record could be broken.

Temperatures of around 37 degrees C (98.6 F) are expected in southern England, with up to 35 C (95 F) in southeast Wales. The peak of the heat wave is now forecast for Wednesday and Thursday, when highs could reach 39 C (102.2 F) in London or southern England.

Conditions are expected to ease by Friday, the Met Office said.

On Tuesday, multiple U.K. train operators, including the express train serving London Gatwick Airport, said they were canceling or reducing services. Railway operators urged people to travel only if "absolutely necessary” on Wednesday and Thursday.

Heat waves could become more frequent and longer

Further south, Spain faced a heat wave across parts of the Iberian Peninsula.

Spain’s national weather service, Aemet, issued red alerts Tuesday for temperatures of 44 C (111 F) in southern Andalusia as well as warnings of thermometers hitting 40 C (104 F) in the normally temperate Cantabria and the Basque Country regions along the country's northern Atlantic coast.

Aemet meteorologist Rubén del Campo said Spain, which has experienced increasingly torrid summers, is only going to get hotter because of climate change as heat waves become more frequent, longer and occur outside the traditional window of July and August.

Of the dozen heat waves Aemet has recorded in June since it started tracking them in 1975, half have occurred since 2015, del Campo said.

Human-driven climate change is heating up the atmosphere, both above Spain and in the surrounding sea waters, he said.

Copernicus, the EU weather monitoring agency, found that in Europe and globally, 2024 was the hottest year on record, and the continent experienced its second-highest number of “heat stress” days.

Scientists warn that climate change is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness, especially in southeastern Europe, making the region more vulnerable to health impacts and wildfires.

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Associated Press journalists John Leicester in Paris, Sylvia Hui in London and Joseph Wilson in Barcelona, Spain, contributed to this report.

Proponents of artificial intelligence see it as the next great revolution for the global economy. The revolution won't come cheap. Just four companies — Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms and Microsoft — plan to spend up to $720 billion this year, primarily on AI data centers.

This week, investors are looking at the huge sums being spent and questioning whether AI can produce the profits and productivity necessary to make all the investment worth it. Critics have been talking about the possibility of a bubble in AI investment. On Monday, Amazon and Alphabet fell about 5%.

On Tuesday, several companies that make the chips needed for the data center buildup — Nvidia, Micron Technology, Broadcom and Lam Research — led the market lower.

At first, Microsoft, Alphabet and other so-called hyperscalers turned to cash on hand to fund the AI expansion. But they're increasingly relying on the markets to raise cash.

Alphabet, the parent company of Google, said earlier this month that it’s raising $80 billion in cash to help pay for its investments by selling shares of its stock. Overall, Alphabet is planning to spend as much as $190 billion this year — more than all the stock of The Walt Disney Co. is worth, and Alphabet is forecasting its spending on investments next year will “significantly increase.”

In March, Amazon sold $54 billion of bonds in the U.S. and Europe as it plans to spend around $200 billion this year on AI investments.

Elon Musk's rocket maker SpaceX was on a three-day skid heading into Tuesday. It regained some lost ground, but was trending only modestly higher relative to the closing price on its first day of trading on June 12. Musk acknowledges that SpaceX will have to spend heavily to fulfill its plans of sending AI data centers into space, and the company has announced that part of an upcoming bond offering will fund its AI buildout.

A number of chip companies have soared as the demand for memory and processing power for AI data centers and other projects has led to a surge in prices. As investors push up the stock price in anticipation of growing profits, a key measure of how expensive a stock is, called the price-to-earnings ratio, can skyrocket.

Marvell Technologies lost money for five straight years before turning a profit of $2.7 billion in the fiscal year ended in January, thanks to gains in its data center business. The stock has more than tripled so far this year and its P/E ratio has gone from about 30 at the start of 2026 to near 100. Some data storage companies have seen even more eye-popping gains. Sandisk shares have soared more than 700% year to date and its P/E ratio stands at 68.

The current price-to-earnings ratio for the S&P 500 is around 25.

On Tuesday, investors unloaded at least some of their holdings in these stocks. Sandisk sank 12.2%, while Marvell lost 8.1%.

The sell-off also took a bite out of exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, that invest heavily in tech stocks. The Invesco QQQ Trust Series ETF was down 2.6%, while iShares Semiconductor ETF slumped 7.1%.

While some investors may have doubts that companies going full throttle on AI infrastructure spending will ultimately be able to generate profits to justify their investment, it's likely some of the selling this week may be investors pausing to pocket some of their gains after the stock market’s recent string of all-time highs.

“With no clear catalyst driving the move lower, we believe today’s pullback likely reflects profit-taking following a strong rally from the March lows,” said Brock Weimer, an investments strategy analyst at Edward Jones.

Big Tech gains have powered major stock indexes on record-setting runs this year. Within the S&P 500, the tech sector alone is up nearly 27% just over the last three months and roughly 18% for the year. In Asia, South Korea’s Kospi has nearly doubled so far in 2026.

Heavy selling on Tuesday triggered a halt in trading in the Kospi, which set the stage for the wave of tech stock selling when trading opened in U.S. markets, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives wrote in a research note Tuesday.

Overall AI enterprise demand in Asia is “showing no cracks in the armor, which continue to make us very bullish on owning the tech AI winners over the coming year,” he added.

Still, tech companies’ race to invest in the expansion of AI infrastructure could ultimately be sowing the seeds of future oversupply, according to Philip Straehl, chief investment officer at Morningstar Wealth.

“Periods of elevated capital investment have historically not translated into strong outcomes for investors, leaving us cautious on the outlook,” Straehl wrote in a report last week.

He expects that the rapid expansion of AI computing power will weigh on pricing, hurting companies’ returns and eventually result in a pullback in investing. Semiconductor companies are “particularly exposed to this dynamic,” Straehl wrote.

A supply shortage and rising prices for computer memory has helped stocks like Sandisk rally this year, but the supply and demand dynamic is also likely to spur other companies, like Nvidia, to explore how to get a slice of that market, he noted.

Straehl suggests that as AI-related companies take up a greater share of major stock indexes, investors may benefit from diversifying into sectors such as healthcare and other areas less dependent on AI expectations.

And as rising party star Wes Moore seeks a second term as governor, Republican voters hope to return the state to GOP leadership by picking a candidate they think can unseat him.

The primaries in the left-leaning East Coast state have an outsize impact, in many cases determining who is likely to win in heavily partisan districts this fall. Seven of Maryland's eight congressional districts are represented by Democrats, and one by a Republican.

That dynamic and Hoyer’s departure have attracted big spending and some familiar names to the most-watched Democratic primaries.

Among them is Harry Dunn, a former police officer who defended the U.S. Capitol from the riot on Jan. 6, 2021. He is running for Hoyer’s seat on a platform that includes protecting democracy.

Some races became proxy fights about how Democrats should behave in the current political climate. Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson faces a tough primary challenge for the first time in years from a progressive who criticized his decision to block a midcycle redistricting attempt.

The lead-up to Election Day has had some hiccups. Last month, the State Board of Elections had to resend mail-in ballots to some voters in the closed primary after a vendor error caused some to receive a ballot for the wrong party.

President Donald Trump seized on the issue, falsely claiming that Moore illegally sent the ballots to ensure victory for Democrats. The state administrator of elections derided him for spreading misinformation.

Two dozen candidates compete to replace a Democratic fixture

As the longest-serving House Democrat and the longtime party No. 2 in the chamber, Hoyer is nothing short of an institution.

His retirement gives Maryland voters a chance to reflect on that leadership — and decide whether they want more of the same or a change of pace.

Offering a degree of continuity is Adrian Boafo, a former Hoyer field director and campaign manager who was endorsed by the congressman, Moore and other prominent Democrats. The state delegate has drawn tech and cryptocurrency donations, and a major pro-Israel super PAC spent some $1 million to boost his campaign.

Others, such as Dunn and progressive attorney Wala Blegay, are proposing change. Both Dunn and Blegay, who are vocally pro-Palestinian, criticized Boafo for getting help from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s super PAC and other special interests.

The best-funded candidate in the race for the 5th District is Quincy Bareebe, a home healthcare CEO who funneled more than $3 million of her own money into the primary. Twenty-four Democratic candidates are on the ballot.

Rodrick Greensword, 58, and his wife Natasha Greensword, 45, both voted for Moore in the gubernatorial primary and Boafo to be the nominee to replace Hoyer.

“We know the governor is governed by the pillars on which his culture is built,” and he will work for the people, making moral and humane choices, Natasha Greensword said.

She said Boafo seemed to share the same values as Moore and Hoyer. She added that she thought Hoyer’s endorsement helped as well.

A freshman in Congress gets a challenge from her predecessor

Former Democratic Rep. David Trone left his seat representing the sprawling 6th District in 2024. After an unsuccessful Senate bid, he wants it back.

The face-off between Trone and the current officeholder, Democratic Rep. April McClain Delaney, has been expensive and contentious. Trone, the wealthy founder of Total Wine & More, lent his campaign some $25 million of his own money, while McClain Delaney lent herself over $7 million.

Trone has criticized McClain Delaney on immigration. She was the only Maryland Democrat in Congress to vote for the Laken Riley Act, named after a Georgia student whose killing became an anti-immigrant rallying cry for Republicans.

The GOP still has no obvious heir to Hogan

Maryland used to have a moderately conservative governor in Larry Hogan. In the years since he left office in 2023, Republicans have yet to find a clear successor.

In the GOP gubernatorial primary, nine candidates ranging from a Trump acolyte to a former Democrat are vying for the chance to stop Moore from being reelected.

Dan Cox, an attorney and former state delegate who unsuccessfully ran for governor four years ago, is one of the candidates who leans further right. Cox has a photo of himself with Trump on his law practice’s website, and he has pledged to slash taxes and beef up housing affordability programs if elected.

Jason Mangen, a lifelong Republican, said he was supporting Cox because he was concerned about the state's budget, which has struggled with shortfalls over the years.

“You look at the economy and hopefully get a governor who can guide the legislature and get a good budget," he said. "I think Dan Cox is good on the budget.”

On the other side of the spectrum is Ed Hale, a retired banking executive who owns the Baltimore Blast soccer team and switched from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party for this race. There are also various candidates in the political middle.

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Associated Press reporter Gary Fields contributed from Bowie, Maryland. Swenson reported from New York.

The S&P fell 1.2% and is coming off 11 weekly gains out of the last 12, led largely by technology stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which is less influenced by tech stocks, rose 48 points, or 0.1% as of 2:18 p.m. Eastern. The Nasdaq composite fell 1.8%.

Markets throughout Asia fell. South Korea's Kospi index, a big winner in the AI boom, sank 10%. Stocks in Europe also fell.

The selling largely targeted companies that have seen their values surge amid the frenzy over artificial intelligence technology. Their pricey stock values give them more influence over the broader market’s direction. On Tuesday, more stocks were gaining ground within the S&P 500 than falling, but tech companies were overpowering gains elsewhere.

Micron Technology slumped 12.7% and Nvidia fell 3.4%. Samsung Electronics slumped 12.3% in South Korea.

SpaceX wavered in early trading and was most recently up 3.4%. The space exploration and artificial intelligence company had a soaring market debut less than two weeks ago. The company plans to raise money through a bond offering, partly to fund AI development.

The growing likelihood of interest rate hikes later this year has helped deflate the massive run-up in AI-related stocks in recent days as traders worry that the higher rates could hamper economic growth.

Those Big Tech gains have been significant, sending major indexes on record-setting runs throughout 2026. Within the S&P 500, the tech sector alone is up 26% just over the last three months and roughly 17% for the year. In Asia, South Korea's Kospi has nearly doubled so far in 2026, even after Tuesday's plunge.

Analysts have been warning that high-flying technology stocks could be due for a downturn.

“Viewed through this lens, a period of consolidation is reasonable, in our view, after such a sharp move higher,” wrote Brock Weimer, investment strategy analyst at Edward Jones, in a research note.

Many technology companies have been spending heavily on AI technology. The potential for higher interest rates can stifle future spending and hurt prices for investments. The Federal Reserve has signaled that it could raise interest rates at least once before the end of the year. Wall Street sees an 85% chance that the central bank will raise its benchmark interest rate this year. That's versus 60% a week earlier.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.49% from 4.51% late Monday. The yield on the 2-year Treasury fell to 4.19% from 4.24% late Monday. Bond yields remain high, though, amid worries about inflation.

Inflation has been heating up throughout the year. The impact from tariffs helped halt and reverse what had been an easing of inflation growth. The U.S. war with Iran quickly pushed energy prices higher, including gas prices. Higher energy costs have also made shipping more expensive for a wide range of goods, and that has been weighing on businesses and households. A report due Thursday of an inflation measure that is preferred by the Fed is expected to show that inflation rose to 4.1%, in May.

Oil prices have eased amid negotiations between the U.S. and Iran to end their war. The price for a barrel of U.S. crude fell 1% to $73.09. The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, fell 0.7% to $76.97. Prices are still higher from levels of roughly $70 per barrel before the war began.

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AP Senior Producer Mayuko Ono in Tokyo contributed to this report.

The team will still be required to leave after Friday's match in Seattle, a department spokesperson said. A spokesperson for the Iran Football Federation confirmed that the team will leave its base camp in Tijuana, Mexico, on Wednesday for Seattle.

“This was planned on our end,” Andrew Giuliani, the executive director of the White House FIFA Task Force, told The Associated Press. “We were going to look at how the first two movements went, and if they went smoothly, we would extend the extra day in light of the longer travel time.”

Iran's squad has complained about the travel restrictions levied on the team, and the challenges the team has faced since the outbreak of war. For the first two matches, in Los Angeles, the team was not permitted to travel until the day before. The team's base camp was relocated from Tucson, Arizona, to Mexico. Several team officials and members of the support staff were barred from traveling into the U.S. with the team.

It's not uncommon for teams to travel a day before the match, and it's in line with FIFA regulations. But Iran had asked for more time to acclimate to host cities and recover after matches.

After Sunday's draw against Belgium, national team player Alireza Jahanbakhsh said he hoped the team could travel to Seattle as soon as possible to adapt to where they will play against Egypt.

“We don’t ask for much. We just ask for the same procedure as for all the other 47 teams,” he said. “Hopefully we can bring everyone who is involved and help us with us.”

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

The league told Sorsby of its decision in a letter that was obtained by The Associated Press.

Sorsby had applied for the supplemental draft after a legal battle with the NCAA, which had declared him ineligible for making thousands of bets on sporting events worth at least $90,000 during his college career. Those included at least 40 bets on Indiana while he was a freshman there in 2022, though none on the games in which he played for the Hoosiers that season.

Sorsby will have to wait until next year to be eligible to play in the NFL.

“The League has not conducted such a draft for several years and, prior to your submission, the League had no plans to do so this year, as no other player has sought entry,” NFL attorney Lawrence P. Ferazani Jr. said in his letter. “Your Petition — filed three business days before the deadline, without any supporting information or documentation, and only after abandoning your recent litigation efforts to avoid NCAA sanctions — does not provide a basis for the League to alter those plans. The issues presented by your Petition are too significant, and too closely tied to the League’s core integrity interests, to permit meaningful review within the timeline presented.”

The letter also said: “We encourage you to focus on preparing for possible entry into the NFL through the 2027 NFL Annual Draft.”

The submission deadline for the rarely used supplemental draft was Monday. The 22-year-old quarterback had planned to work out for NFL teams on July 10.

Sorsby, after transferring earlier this year from Cincinnati to Texas Tech, was banished from competition by the NCAA for the gambling activity.

After spending a month in a residential treatment program for a diagnosed addiction that led to thousands of bets, Sorsby sued the NCAA and gained a court-ordered reinstatement that prompted nationwide backlash toward Texas Tech. The controversy led Sorsby to enter this special draft session that has not been used to select a player since 2019.

“The sole reasons identified in your Petition for seeking entry into the Supplemental Draft are that you have been ‘declared ineligible’ by the NCAA, have ‘exhausted all of (your) avenues to continue in the NCAA,’ and ‘want to now play in the NFL,’” Ferazani wrote. “The Petition provides no information regarding the basis for, or timing of, the NCAA’s decision. Public sources, however, indicate that in May 2026 the NCAA issued a determination declaring you permanently ineligible from participation in college athletics, based on a sustained pattern of improper gambling activity during your collegiate career at three different universities.”

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Trump's trip to Macungie, in the Allentown suburbs, comes as he works to try to put the conflict — and the higher gasoline prices it caused — in the rearview mirror as November midterm elections draw closer.

It is the president's fifth second-term visit to Pennsylvania, a key state whose support in 2016 and 2024 helped him to win the White House. The Macungie, Pennsylvania, facility is in the 7th Congressional District, where incumbent Republican Rep. Ryan Mackenzie faces Democratic challenger Bob Brooks in November.

The visit comes amid rising prices that could color the verdict voters render on Trump's stewardship in the fall. About one-third of U.S. adults approved of Trump’s approach to the economy, according to a June Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll. That’s in line with last month for Trump on the issue.

The Iran war, which began Feb. 28, has also been a politically difficult issue for the president. Most Americans continued to disapprove of his handling of Iran, according to the June AP-NORC poll, which was being fielded as Trump announced a tentative deal with Iran and concluded just before the interim agreement was signed last week. It found about two-thirds, 65%, of U.S. adults disapprove of how the president is handling issues with Iran, unchanged from May.

Still, while most Democrats and independents view Trump’s actions negatively, only about 3 in 10 of Republicans are unhappy.

Support from districts like the one he's visiting Tuesday are pivotal to Republicans holding narrow control of the House, where a loss could hobble the president's final two years in office. Mackenzie, a freshman lawmaker, is looking to hold onto a district Democrats have targeted to flip. Brooks, president of the state firefighters' union, has support from Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, who's also seeking reelection this year.

Trump's predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden, also visited the Mack Truck facility to highlight regulations aimed at promoting manufacturing jobs. Manufacturing employment peaked in 1979 at nearly 19.6 million jobs. It trended downward after the 2001 recession and the 2007-09 Great Recession. The figure now stands at 12.6 million as of May, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In 2025, the facility got hit by market uncertainty, including the tariffs Trump imposed, and about 170 people were laid off, according to Mack spokesperson Kimberly Pupillo. She added that by the end of last year almost 150 people were recalled to work and anyone laid off last year was given the chance to return.

There are about 2,800 workers at Mack, Pupillo said.

At a pizzeria down the road from the truck facility, workers and diners said they'd heard about the president’s visit and recalled Biden’s trip to the plant.

George Carver, a retired elementary school principal, said he wasn’t a fan of Trump’s: “I’m looking for a president who’ll clean up this mess,” he said, meaning improve the economy and better handle the war in Iran and immigration.

“I’m looking for someone who’s gonna tell the truth — that could be a Democrat or Republican,” Carver said.

Trump's visit underscores Pennsylvania's status as a crucial swing state.

Trump visited Mount Pocono in December to road test messages that he's addressing affordability; in July 2025, he was in Pittsburgh to tout tens of billions of dollars of recent energy and technology investments in the state; in June 2025, he was in West Mifflin to tell steelworkers he was doubling the tariff on steel imports to protect the industry; and in March 2025 he attended the NCAA wrestling championship in Philadelphia.

Denise Green, a retired software trainer, was among a handful of people protesting the visit at a McDonald’s across the street from the plant. She held a sign that said “Hey DJT Why are you ruining our country?”

Green said she was a former Republican who became a Democrat in 2007 because her original party backed policies where “all the money" was going to the rich.

Green said her key issue was Social Security funding, which she said she’ll need but is worried could run out.

“It’s outrageous,” she said.

Trump will visit a Mack Truck facility in a battleground district in swing state Pennsylvania Tuesday, shifting attention to the U.S. economy in his first major public event beyond the capital since he signed an interim agreement to end the Iran war.

National Guard members and U.S. Park Police have been patrolling around the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool as the Trump administration faces a self-imposed deadline to fix a botched renovation before the nation’s 250th anniversary celebration.

The Latest:

Trump says that Iran agreed to UN watchdog inspections of its nuclear sites but ‘there’s no rush’

The president told reporters as he arrived in Pennsylvania on Tuesday that if Iran had not agreed to the inspections, he’d cut off talks with Tehran, saying, “I’d cancel the meetings right now.”

When asked when the inspections might occur, Trump said: “There’s no rush. They’ll be on the ground at the appropriate time.”

Trump says Interior Department will release images of alleged and unverified vandalism of reflecting pool

Pressed by reporters after Air Force One landed in Pennsylvania, Trump said the Interior Department is “going to share” photos and videos of what he claims has been vandalism of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

The president said Monday that the images existed and the federal government would provide them, though the reporters tracking Trump said that their outlets had yet to receive images from the Interior Department that validated his claims.

Trump said that six people have been arrested for damaging the pool, which filled with green algae after his recent repair as the blue coating began to peel off the floor.

The government has yet to provide evidence that vandalism was behind the pool’s condition instead of repair process that failed to provide the results promised by Trump.

Trump says critics of Iran deal have to be educated

The president was asked Tuesday about Republicans in Congress — including Sen. Ted Cruz — who have been critical of Trump’s interim deal to end the war with Iran.

“I think anybody that’s been critical has to be educated — even if they’re friends of mine,” Trump told reporters.

Critics of the deal, including some Republicans on Capitol Hill, have said the agreement gives Iran significant benefits, while getting little immediately in exchange.

Trump plans to speak as part of ‘The Great American State Fair’

Trump will speak not far from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, where the gavel Nancy Pelosi used as the first female House speaker sits next to a red “Make America Great Again” cap. It’s part of an exhibit dubbed “In Pursuit of Life, Liberty and Happiness,” commemorating the nation’s 250th anniversary, with artifacts reminding Americans that today’s stark divides are not new.

“People find the hope and the resiliency to move forward,” museum director Anthea M. Hartig said. “History is filled with those moments where we think we’re completely falling apart as we did in the Civil War and then we’re trying to figure out how to build it back together again.”

The split screen will return on July Fourth as America 250 holds a concert in Los Angeles hosted by Queen Latifah while the president returns to the National Mall for what he has described as a “Trump rally.”

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Trump says 6 people have been arrested for damaging Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool

Trump’s social media post said another seven were cited for damaging the pool, which Trump recently had ordered painted American Flag Blue. The president claimed without supporting evidence that there had been a “350 foot gash” in the paint.

“It was purposefully and criminally done, and somebody had to work very hard, probably in the dark of night, to create such a condition,” the president alleged.

The Associated Press verified that one man was arrested after touching the already-peeling paint as federal workers try to deal with an algae bloom in the water.

Trump said that “some of the water” will be drained from the pool “either immediately before or after the Fourth of July, to do the permanent repair.”

It was unclear from his post what the scale, scope or cost of the permanent repair would be.

Marco Rubio has arrived in Abu Dhabi

The U.S. secretary of state is in the United Arab Emirates on the first leg of a three-nation tour of Gulf countries aimed at easing their concerns about the result of an agreement intended to end the war with Iran.

In the UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain — all nations that Iran hit with missiles and drones in retaliation for U.S.-Israeli airstrikes — Rubio has meetings starting Wednesday with leaders who, in some cases, have taken a harder line on Iran recently than has the Trump administration.

The Emiratis, in particular, have been at the forefront of calls for tough action notably to ensure the reopening of the Straight of Hormuz. There have been conflicting accounts of what the Memorandum of Understanding signed last week will mean for the strait, which the rest of the world wants open free of charge for all shipping.

Judge rules government can’t stop SNAP dollars from buying candy and sugary drinks

The federal judge said Congress imposed no such limits on the nation’s largest food aid program.

The ruling scuttles restrictions on candy, soda and other sugary drinks in the federally funded and state-run Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in 23 states. The Trump administration hasn’t announced an appeal.

“The federal defendants and the states may have a genuine desire to improve the health of SNAP households by encouraging healthy choices at the store, and they can take lawful steps to meet those goals,” Judge Amy Berman Jackson wrote. “But what they cannot do is violate the law and their own regulations along the way.”

Seeking to encourage healthier food choices, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” campaign has sought to take soda and candy off the menu because they fuel obesity, diabetes and chronic disease.

Supreme Court sides with Trump administration against green card holders accused of crimes

Tuesday’s 6-3 decision centers around an immigration officer’s 2012 decision to put green-card holder Muk Choi Lau on immigration parole when he returned from a short trip abroad because he had been accused of a counterfeiting crime.

Lau argued that overstepped the officer’s authority, and the decision wrongly allowed the Department of Homeland Security to swiftly begin deportation proceedings after he pleaded guilty to trademark counterfeiting.

The Trump administration argued that suspicion of a crime is enough to put a lawful permanent resident on immigration parole.

The court is separately considering cases over Trump’s push to end birthright citizenship, potentially revive a restrictive asylum policy and end temporary legal protections for migrants fleeing war and natural disasters in their homelands.

Justices give US corporations big wins

The Cisco and ExxonMobil rulings, issued the same day, open U.S. courts in one case involving a foreign government while shutting the door in another. But they involved very different statutes.

The Cisco decision was the latest to rule against plaintiffs seeking to use U.S. courts as a venue to seek justice over the acts of foreign governments, especially those that took place abroad. Falun Gong members sought unsuccessfully to overcome that skepticism by arguing that a substantial portion of Cisco’s activities involving China took place in the United States.

The Cuba case hinged on whether the 1996 Helms-Burton law removes the shield from lawsuits in U.S. courts that typically cover foreign countries and state-owned businesses. The justices reversed a lower-court ruling that found that the Cuban state-owned companies are immune from lawsuits in U.S. courts.

Supreme Court OKs ExxonMobil suit over property seized by Castro’s government

The Supreme Court has ruled that ExxonMobil can sue Cuban state-owned companies in American courts over property on the island nation that was seized after Fidel Castro took power.

The 6-3 decision was the second in as many months in favor of U.S. owners of Cuban property confiscated by the Communist government more than 65 years ago.

The outcome in the two cases could be an additional lever for the Trump administration to exert pressure on Cuba, which is already being squeezed by a U.S. oil embargo.

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Supreme Court kills suit claiming Cisco’s technology helped China persecute Falun Gong members

The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted tech giant Cisco’s bid to shut down a lawsuit that claimed the company’s technology was used to persecute members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement in China.

The justices ruled that American courts are the wrong forum, rejecting plaintiffs’ attempts to litigate under the 18th-century Alien Tort Statute (ATS) and the Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA), first enacted in 1991.

An Associated Press investigation last year showed that American tech companies, to a large degree, designed and built China’s surveillance state, encouraged by both Republican and Democratic administrations, even as activists warned such tools were being used to quash dissent, persecute religious groups and target minorities. Last month, AP won the Pulitzer Prize in international reporting for its stories.

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Wall Street points to another day of losses, led by an ongoing sell-off in tech

Futures for the S&P 500 fell 1.2% before the opening bell Tuesday, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated 0.4%. Futures for the technology-heavy Nasdaq tumbled 2.6% following a 1.3% loss Monday. The Nasdaq has suffered heavy selling for days as investors grow anxious over massive spending by artificial intelligence companies and looming interest rate hikes in the U.S., which will make it more expensive for companies to fund growth through borrowing.

Chip companies were among the biggest losers in overnight trading, with Micron and Intel both down more than 7%. Qualcomm fell 6.3%. Companies that specialize in memory and data storage were also taking a beating. Sandisk fell nearly 9% and Seagate was down 7.2% early.

And Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which owns xAI, slipped another 1% before the bell after a 16.4% tumble to start the week.

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Iran’s president visits Pakistan for crucial talks on ending war

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also joined the delegation in Masoud Pezeshkian’s first visit to Islamabad since the conflict started with the U.S. and Israeli attack on Iran on Feb. 28.

Iran’s talks Tuesday with officials mediating negotiations between Tehran and Washington on a permanent end to the war come as discrepancies emerge on what has been agreed to so far, and as more violence broke out in Lebanon.

Technical teams have been working on details of the deal following high-level negotiations in Switzerland Monday led by Vance and Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf.

Iran Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told reporters that no visits were scheduled for the U.N. watchdog — the International Atomic Energy Agency — to examine Iranian nuclear sites bombed by the United States last year. Vance previously said the negotiations in Switzerland won an agreement for the inspectors to visit the sites.

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Discrepancy on Iran’s use of unfrozen funds

Following the high-level talks in Switzerland, Vice-President JD Vance had said if Iranian financial assets were unfrozen, they “would actually go to buy American soy, American corn and American wheat for the benefit of the Iranian people.”

However, Iran has no current demand for U.S. crops, and Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said on Tuesday that Tehran’s decisions on what to import would be based on “prices and quality.”

“It is interesting that the philosophy and goal of the war, which was the destruction of the Iranian civilization and the collapse of Iran, has become enriching American farmers,” Baghaei said in Tehran.

Iran’s ambassador in Geneva, Ali Bahreini, also questioned Vance’s contention that the U.S. and Qatar would have to approve how Iran uses unfrozen funds. “Iran is the only country who decides what to do with those assets,” he told reporters.

Trump says Iran will buy US corn, soy and wheat. It won't likely happen soon

Trump has heralded the peace talks with Iran as a win for U.S. farmers, saying that the unfreezing of sanctioned Iranian money will be tied to that country buying American-grown corn, soybeans and wheat.

“These are things that are desperately needed by Iran,” Trump posted on social media. “This is a humanitarian crisis, and I feel it is necessary to help.”

But Iran is unlikely to start buying a vast amount of U.S. farm products.

“I don’t expect that trade would be very large in the short run,” said Joseph Glauber, a research fellow emeritus at the International Food Policy Research Institute.

Glauber noted that Iran was “unlikely” to abandon its other trade partners on food for America. He said Iran’s major suppliers include Brazil, India, Turkey, the European Union, Canada, Australia and Argentina and that Trump’s demand to buy from the U.S. would “create some hard feelings with some of our competitors.”

Authorities arrest 2 more suspects in planned attack on Trump’s UFC show

Two more people in Missouri and Washington state have been arrested in connection with what authorities say was a planned attack targeting Trump’s UFC cage-fighting show at the White House earlier this month.

Law enforcement officials disrupted the plan a few days before the June 14 White House event, according to court documents.

William Lee Spartacus Falkner of Belfair, Washington, was arrested Friday and charged with conspiracy to commit murder, according to court documents filed Monday in the Western District of Washington. Jordan W. Rincker, 28, was arrested Sunday and charged with conspiracy to commit murder in the Western District of Missouri. A defense attorney appointed to represent Falkner did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment, and court records do not reveal if Rincker has obtained an attorney. Neither man has had the opportunity to enter a plea.

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Judge blocks use of federal database to check citizenship, saying it could wrongly purge voters

A federal judge on Monday ruled that a recently revamped version of a federal tool central to the Trump administration’s efforts to nationalize elections can no longer be used.

U.S. District Court Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan sided with advocacy groups that argued the recent upgrades to the program, called Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, aggregated Americans’ sensitive personal data in a way that could result in voters being wrongly purged from voter rolls.

She said Congress had expressly prohibited the government from centralizing Americans’ personal identifying information and that the federal agencies that created the SAVE program “knew that the database violates those statutory protections.”

The decision is a major legal setback for Trump in his efforts to use federal agencies to encourage a nationwide crackdown on having noncitizens illegally on state voter rolls. The modified SAVE system had been a key pillar of the second election executive order the Republican president signed earlier this year. The ruling leaves its future uncertain.

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Patrols and nanobubbles at the Reflecting Pool as Trump seeks a renovation do-over

National Guard members and U.S. Park Police patrolled the deck around the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on Monday as President Donald Trump’s administration faces a self-imposed deadline to fix a botched renovation before the nation’s 250th anniversary celebration.

The patrols came two days after Trump said authorities had made “multiple arrests” of people he insisted were responsible for damage to the peeling coating after an algae bloom occurred. The liner was installed as part of his $14 million-plus project.

The president has confirmed the problems most likely require draining the pool again for liner repairs and he promised a quick fix. Without offering substantiation, he also said vandals dumped fertilizer in the pool and slashed the coating with a box cutter.

But the timeline was not clear Monday, with the White House saying damaged areas are still being assessed. Contractors and federal workers in recent days have been using chemicals and ozone nanobubbles to combat the algae.

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Trump will visit a Mack Truck facility in swing state Pennsylvania, casting attention on the economy

Trump is going to a Mack Truck facility in a battleground district in swing state Pennsylvania Tuesday, shifting attention to the U.S. economy in his first major public event beyond the capital since he signed an interim agreement to end the Iran war.

Trump’s trip to the Allentown-area business comes as he works to try to put the conflict — and the higher gasoline prices it caused — in the rearview mirror as November midterm elections draw closer.

It’s the president’s fifth second-term visit to Pennsylvania, a key state whose support in 2016 and 2024 helped him to the White House. The Macungie, Pennsylvania, facility is in the 7th Congressional District, where incumbent Republican Rep. Ryan Mackenzie faces Democratic challenger Bob Brooks in November.

The visit comes amid rising prices that could color the verdict voters render on Trump’s stewardship in the fall. About one-third of U.S. adults approved of Trump’s approach to the economy, according to a June Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll. That’s in line with last month for Trump on the issue.

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Pentagon seeks $80 billion from Congress for Iran war

The Pentagon has told senators it needs roughly $80 billion, mostly to cover the cost of the U.S. war against Iran, adding to what is already a sizable military spending boost being sought by President Donald Trump.

The White House Office of Management and Budget has yet to make a formal request to Congress. But Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been making the rounds on Capitol Hill, including Monday evening. A top deputy defense secretary told senators about the Iran funding request last week, according to two people familiar with the situation but not authorized to discuss it publicly.

The Wall Street Journal first reported on the developments.

The push for billions of dollars in Iran war funding comes at a fraught political moment. Lawmakers are skeptical of the deal Trump struck with Iran to bring an end to the war, and wary of next steps. The White House has requested a remarkable $1.5 trillion for the Pentagon — a nearly 50% increase over the current fiscal year’s funding levels.

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Today on Texas Eats NOW:

THE SCREAM EXPERIMENT

123 Alamo Plaza, San Antonio, TX 78205

The Scream Experiment is a year-round haunted attraction in downtown San Antonio that combines immersive storytelling, live actors, and theatrical scares inside the fictional Restful Sleep Hotel. Guests become participants in a paranormal investigation as they navigate dimly lit hallways, encounter mysterious spirits, and uncover the secrets behind a series of unexplained deaths. Developed by Phillips Entertainment, the attraction offers a horror experience that relies on practical effects, detailed sets, and interactive performances to keep visitors on edge.

Unlike traditional seasonal haunted houses, The Scream Experiment operates throughout the year, giving thrill seekers a chance to experience spooky entertainment beyond Halloween. Tickets start at $29.99, and locals with valid identification can currently take advantage of a buy one, get one free promotion running through July 31. The attraction is recommended for older children and adults looking for a suspenseful and highly immersive adventure in the heart of downtown San Antonio.

SAN ANTONIO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

9800 Airport Blvd, San Antonio, TX 78216

The San Antonio International Airport continues to expand its dining offerings by showcasing some of the city’s most celebrated chefs and culinary concepts. Approximately 75% of the airport’s food and beverage program highlights local flavors, giving travelers a taste of San Antonio before they depart or shortly after they arrive. During today’s visit, Texas Eats NOW spotlighted three newly announced concepts led by chefs Jason Dady, Elizabeth Johnson, and Johnny Hernandez.

Travelers passing through Terminal A can look forward to enjoying Tuscan-inspired pizzas from Tre Pizzeria, health-conscious meals from Pharm Table, and regional favorites at Southtown Market. Existing local favorites such as 2M Smokehouse, Bakery Lorraine, and The Tasting Room continue to reinforce the airport’s mission of creating a true sense of place, transforming the traditional food court into a showcase of San Antonio’s vibrant culinary scene.

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

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

Gianni Infantino, the soccer body's president, defended the decision to introduce breaks — which come midway through each half — at this World Cup and said Tuesday they may be providing more entertainment for fans.

He said FIFA would analyze what it will do in future tournaments “based on this experience.” But after criticism that the breaks were a stealth way to insert advertising or American-style timeouts, Infantino suggested the stoppages have been positive.

“Maybe the coach can reassess certain situations, correct certain mistakes. The players get a little rest and come back in full speed. Well, is that bad necessarily? Maybe it’s good,” Infantino told SNTV. "And we see as well the intensity of the games. We’ve never seen 90 minutes in a tournament like this played in such an intensity.

“Until the last second of the match, players attack and so on," he continued. "And maybe, maybe not, but maybe it’s also a bit thanks to this little break that the players have and after they can go back on the field and show what they can do.”

The World Cup has certainly delivered in terms of entertainment, with goals scored at a record pace and big performances from soccer greats like Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland. There have also been shocks provided by debutants Cape Verde and Curacao, despite fears the expansion of the tournament from 32 teams to 48 would dilute the quality.

But the biggest criticism has been the introduction of hydration breaks for all matches regardless of venue or location.

Loud jeers have greeted the stoppages, around 22 minutes into each half, especially at games played in stadiums with roofs and air conditioning, such as Atlanta.

Infantino said it was necessary for sporting equity.

“If we were to use hydration breaks only in those matches where it was too hot and not in the other matches, we would give an advantage or a disadvantage to some of the coaches or some of the teams,” he said. “Why would the coach have the opportunity to influence the game in one match just because it’s hot and in another match where it’s a bit less hot, he wouldn’t have this opportunity?”

Infantino also insisted FIFA was making no extra money as a result of networks cutting to commercials because contracts had been signed before the decision to introduce hydration breaks.

“Broadcasters maybe, they make, they generate more. I don’t know, that’s great for them," he said. "But for us, we make zero additional revenues.”

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James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson

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

Energy Secretary Chris Wright cited “tremendous interest” among developers of data centers that would buy the power, as well as utilities and energy companies. The nuclear plants could begin construction by 2030 and become operational in the mid-2030s, Wright and other officials said Tuesday.

“This is the start,” Wright said on a call with reporters. “We’re going to move with the players that are ready to stand up and move quickly. Once that supply chain is up and running, do we think there will be dozens of these built going forward? I’d be very surprised if there were not.”

Most U.S. nuclear power plants were built between 1970 and 1990. Only two new large reactors have been built from scratch in the United States in recent decades. Those two reactors, at Georgia Power Co.’s Plant Vogtle, were completed years late and billions of dollars over budget. The 10 new reactors will use the same design, Westinghouse’s AP1000.

Wright said the Plant Vogtle project struggled because of bad planning, supply chain problems and the COVID-19 pandemic. But, he said, the reactor design is “robust and sound.”

“By building in volume and at multiple locations, we think we will create and stand up a large supply chain and build a lot of construction expertise,” Wright said. “We expect the timing and cost of these plants to well outperform what was done on Vogtle.”

Seven utilities and energy companies signed letters of intent that identified sites, the Energy Department said. The agency plans to pick five, which would host two reactors at each site. The federal financing would be used to purchase nuclear components with long lead times, and are not construction loans.

The department declined to name the utilities involved or the states they are in, calling it premature until the selections are made. It did not give a timeline for making those selections.

President Donald Trump set a goal of quadrupling domestic production of nuclear power within the next 25 years, and he has signed executive orders to speed development. The administration is working to advance new nuclear technologies, such as small modular nuclear reactors.

Dan Sumner, president and chief executive officer of Westinghouse, said industrialized nuclear power needs to be built at fleet scale, in order for the United States to lead in artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing and the industries that will define the next century.

Critics of building more nuclear reactors say they’re too expensive and riskier than other low-carbon energy sources.

Data centers used 4% to 5% of the nation's total electricity in 2024, a share that could nearly triple by 2028, according to government estimates. Some analysts predict nationwide electricity use to rise as much as 20% in the next decade, with data centers a big reason.

The Energy Department said the loans could speed up the development of these 10 reactors by up to three years and lower construction costs. Its goal is for all 10 to be under construction by 2030, to start providing power in the mid-2030s.

The utilities and Westinghouse will be expected to contribute up to $5 billion in equity in total across the five, two-reactors projects. Wright said his department provides up to $17.5 billion in loans, or $3.5 billion per project, in debt to pair with the equity. He said it's “very, very low risk to the American taxpayers.”

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McDermott reported from Providence, R.I.

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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.

The disagreement over nuclear inspections came as Iran’s president met with Pakistani mediators and technical teams from the U.S. and Iran continued talks in Switzerland.

A United Nations agency said Tuesday that a plan was underway to move stranded ships and their thousands of crew members through the strait — a vital passage for global energy supplies that Iran had blocked after the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28.

Earlier in the day, a spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, Esmail Baghaei, told reporters in Tehran that U.N. inspectors were not scheduled to examine nuclear sites bombed by the U.S. last year, rejecting comments made a day before by U.S. Vice President JD Vance.

President Donald Trump told reporters Tuesday that if Iran had not agreed to inspections, he would cut off talks with Tehran immediately. But he added there was no rush for those inspections to begin.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has not responded to requests for comment over its possible role. It has been in and out of Iran since Israel’s 12-day war in 2025, but has not been granted access to bombed enrichment sites targeted by the U.S.

Iran’s maintains that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, though it has highly enriched uranium that could be used to build atomic bombs, should it choose to do so, the IAEA has said.

Plan to evacuate stranded seafarers through Strait of Hormuz

The plan to evacuate 11,000 crew members stranded on ships is being done in cooperation with Iran, Oman, all other coastal states in the region, the United States and the maritime industry, according to the secretary-general of the International Maritime Organization, Arsenio Dominguez.

“We have secured the necessary safety guarantees and have thoroughly verified the conditions for safe navigation to support these operations,” he said in a statement.

The organization said moving the ships will be done gradually to avoid any risk of collision.

A shipping insurance executive cheered the development. “That can only be good news for all concerned,” said Marcus Baker, global head of marine, cargo and logistics for Marsh in London.

But the uneasy ceasefire already has been tested by Iran saying it closed the strait again over fighting between Israel and the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah in Lebanon. Violence again broke out in Lebanon Tuesday.

The U.S. has said that negotiators have discussed “mechanisms” to ensure that the strait remains open. Ship traffic is increasing but questions remain about who controls the passageway.

Data and analytics company Kpler confirmed 39 ships crossed through the strait Monday, after about 92 crossings between Friday and Sunday. Prior to the war, roughly 100 ships a day made the journey.

Two U.S. aircraft carriers were continuing to operate in the Middle East, the U.S. military’s Central Command said.

Iran's president makes his first visit to Islamabad since the war started

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday discussed a range of issues, including regional peace and economic cooperation, according to a statement from the presidency in Islamabad.

It was the Iranian president's first visit since the U.S. and Israel launched war on Iran. He said during a news conference after their meeting that there was no mention of Iran’s missile program in the memorandum of understanding signed between the U.S. and Iran.

“If it was not for Iran’s missile capabilities, our country would have been plundered and destroyed,” Pezeshkian said, vowing to “never compromise or negotiate our missile capabilities.”

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif afterward pledged that his country would continue to play a role in ensuring peace in the region. Sharif also said he will attend the Tehran funeral of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the war's opening airstrikes.

Iran says negotiations focused on sanctions relief, nuclear issues and more

At the start of a 60-day window to reach a permanent deal to end the war, Iran and the U.S. agreed to create a “de-confliction cell” to address the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

Iran said the talks in Switzerland led to the creation of negotiation groups focused on sanctions relief, nuclear issues, reconstruction, and monitoring, according to the state-run IRNA news agency. The report quoted Kazem Gharibabadi, a deputy foreign minister leading the talks there, as saying the countries also formed a way to discuss ships moving through Hormuz.

In southern Lebanon Tuesday, Israeli soldiers opened fire and killed two people. That followed two days of calm after a ceasefire brokered Saturday. Any renewal of heavy fighting could threaten the broader diplomatic talks, since Iran has demanded that a full truce in Lebanon be part of any comprehensive deal.

Israel occupies part of Lebanon and insists it must be able to attack militants launching attacks into northern Israel.

The Israeli military said troops fired at four Hezbollah members who were riding a bulldozer and a motorcycle and had entered a security zone and failed to stop despite warning shots. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that the two men were killed next to a bulldozer clearing a road.

No Israeli airstrikes or shelling have been reported since Sunday and Hezbollah has not claimed any attacks in what has been the longest halt in the fighting since the latest Israel-Hezbollah war erupted in March.

Discrepancy on Iran's use of unfrozen funds

Following the talks in Switzerland, Vance, who helped lead the negotiations, said if Iranian financial assets were unfrozen, they would be used to buy American-grown corn, wheat and soy.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Tuesday that Tehran’s decisions on what to import would be based on “prices and quality.”

Netanyahu raises new questions over fragile Lebanon ceasefire

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that his military still has “full freedom of action" in Lebanon to thwart any threats.

Neither Israel nor Hezbollah is a signatory to the U.S.-Iran deal. Netanyahu has vowed to keep his forces in southern Lebanon until threats to Israel are eliminated. Hezbollah has refused to halt attacks unless Israel commits to withdrawing.

When asked about Netanyahu’s comments, Trump said “we’re going to take a look at it,” adding that the situation would “get solved.”

The main highway leading south from Beirut was jammed Tuesday with people displaced from southern Lebanon returning to their homes. Among them was Hawraa Nour El-Din, from the village of Khirbet Selm.

“We don’t want the negotiations done by the government,” she said. “We want Iran to negotiate on our behalf, and we are returning victorious, whether everyone likes it or not.”

In Washington, the State Department said a new round of Israel-Lebanon talks began on Tuesday with both political and security issues on the agenda.

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Rising reported from Bangkok and Gambrell from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writers Abby Sewell in Beirut, Jamey Keaten in Geneva, Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, Josh Boak and Matthew Lee in Washington and Mae Anderson in New York contributed to this report.

Albert Nixon Richter IV, 44, shot and killed his estranged wife Brianna Richter, 40, before turning the gun on himself last Friday in the 100 block of Red Hawk Ridge, near Hardy Oak Boulevard. A medical examiner ruled Brianna’s death a homicide and Albert’s death a suicide.

Albert shot his way through the North Side home’s glass doors around noon last Friday and made his way towards Brianna, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said during a news conference on Friday.

SAPD believed Albert did not live at the residence.

Albert also shot Hunter Albrecht, a seven-year SAPD officer, in the lower abdomen during the early hours of the barricade, McManus said. He was sent to a local hospital and is in good condition, a hospital spokesperson told KSAT.

After a SWAT team’s multiple attempts to contact Albert, tear gas was used inside the home, a SAPD preliminary report said.

SAPD deployed a drone around 3 p.m. and flew it inside the home to find both Albert and Brianna dead. McManus said Albert had a pistol and turned the gun on himself.

The chief said there were two children inside the house who lived with Brianna. The children are OK, according to McManus. He could not confirm if Albert was the father of the two children.

Neighbors in the Stone Oak neighborhood came home on the Juneteenth holiday to SWAT and SAPD vehicles that closed off streets.

Multiple residents in the neighborhood were evacuated from their homes.

“The home is supposed to be a safe space, so the fact that this happened, it’s a heinous crime and it’s unacceptable and its absolutely devastating,” neighbor Erica Kennedy-Garcia said.

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

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

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

Read also:

• Man kills wife, shoots SAPD officer before turning gun on himself at Stone Oak home, police chief says
• ‘Absolutely devastating’: Neighbors react to deadly domestic dispute in Stone Oak

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the sanctions target five Cuban entities, including three linked to Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A., a business conglomerate run by Cuba’s Revolutionary Armed Forces. Best known as GAESA, it is believed to command nearly 40% of Cuba's gross domestic product. As of early 2024, it held $14.5 billion in liquid reserves.

“The situation in Cuba is devolving as the island’s corrupt, brutal and anti-American Communist regime continues to prioritize its own total control over the freedom, opportunity and basic well-being of the Cuban people,” Rubio wrote on X.

Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, accused “regime elites” of using GAESA to “steal the island’s few resources, diverting them for repression, anti-American subversion and spying instead of schools, power plants, and basic necessities for the Cuban people.”

Bruno Rodríguez, Cuba's foreign affairs minister, rejected the sanctions, calling Rubio “dishonest and mendacious.”

“Cuba has proven stronger, more capable, and more effective than he anticipated in the face of the ruthless aggression and collective punishment inflicted upon its people and their living conditions," he wrote on X. “What this individual is promoting from the world’s greatest power is a crime.”

Anyone that provides services to the targeted Cuban entities risks being sanctioned and cut off from the U.S. financial system.

“By designating specific entities, they’re making it clear to foreign investors: ‘If your business in Cuba touches any of these folks, you risk being banned,’” said Michael Bustamante, a professor and chair in Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at the University of Miami.

“For most of these companies, it’s a bridge too far,” he said of the impact of the new sanctions.

The 5 entities sanctioned are key to Cuba's economy

Almacenes Universales S.A., or AUSA, is among the entities sanctioned. As the government’s main logistics and warehousing company, it holds up Cuba's export and import system. It’s also the main storage company used by the state, Cuba’s private sector and foreign investor partners, Bustamante said.

Last week, Cuba announced a series of economic reforms, including allowing the private sector to bypass the state when importing goods. But Bustamante said he doesn’t believe that measure is operational yet.

If people or companies avoid doing business with the storage entities, he said, that could disrupt the flow of goods and lead to humanitarian consequences.

Also sanctioned was Rafin S.A., which Bustamante described as a “very opaque” company that he believes operates as the corporate financial arm within GAESA. He said it’s not a bank but holds capital from the government and GAESA and may be a player in financial deals.

“That would also seemingly throw more cold water on the foreign investors that are already there,” Bustamante said.

The third GAESA-related entity that was sanctioned is Banco Financiero Internacional S.A., a commercial bank that Bustamante said serves as a key institution for foreign investors. “If you don’t have a bank where you can go as a foreign investor, it makes your operations logistically quite difficult, to put it mildly.”

Max Meizlish, a former U.S. Treasury sanctions enforcement officer, said the bank was targeted because it's “a key nexus” for GAESA-related funds: "This is significant.”

Also sanctioned were Geominera S.A., a state-owned mining company, and Empresa Siderúrgica Jose Martí, which the U.S. described as Cuba’s largest raw steel producer.

The final sanction was slapped against Annalie Lilliam Rueda Cardero, daughter-in-law of former President Raúl Castro.

Sanctions imposed days after sweeping economic reforms

The sanctions are the latest in a recent string that have targeted GAESA itself and Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel.

“It’s very, very hard to suss out what’s going on here,” Bustamante said. “Is this setting the table for the great sale of Cuba state assets to the highest bidder or the lowest bidder?...Is this part of the recipe of a hostile takeover?”

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump keeps pressuring for a change in Cuba’s political and economic model, accusing the island of representing a threat to the U.S. because of its ties to U.S. adversaries. The Cuban government has repeatedly denied it’s a threat.

Meanwhile, Cuba unveiled economic reforms last week that Bustamante described as “potentially the most significant liberalization of the Cuban economy in 60 years," though he said questions and doubts remain.

On Tuesday, a U.S. State Department spokesperson said the reforms “are modest, long overdue and ultimately superficial smoke signals from the Cuban regime. This is part of the dictatorship’s handbook: announce a cycle of supposed reforms to insinuate a desire for change, then quickly roll back any changes the moment the regime’s total control is at all threatened.”

“The U.S. administration is going to continue applying pressure on the regime until the regime is a different beast entirely,” said Meizlish, a research fellow with the U.S.-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Cuba is already struggling with severe blackouts, food and water shortages and a crumbling healthcare system stemming in part from a U.S. energy blockade. In late January, Trump threatened tariffs against any country that sells or provides oil to the island, which depended heavily on oil shipments from Venezuela that were halted after the U.S. attacked the South American country.

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Associated Press reporter Matthew Lee in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, contributed.

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

One of the defendants, a former U.S. Marine Corps reservist convicted of opening fire during the July 4 demonstration outside the Prairieland Detention Center near Dallas, was sentenced to 100 years in prison, the maximum punishment.

The lengthy sentences were condemned by family members and supporters in a news conference outside the federal courthouse in Fort Worth. Hope Song, whose son Benjamin Song received the heftiest sentence, disputed prosecutors' claims that her son shot the officer and said he didn't intend to hurt anyone.

U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor, one of two judges overseeing the proceedings, said what happened wasn’t a protest but “an assault on democracy.”

“The need to deter this type of conduct is high,” O’Connor said.

The seven other protesters received prison terms ranging from 30 to 70 years.

Prosecutors said the eight are members of antifa, a decentralized anti-fascist organization and a target of the Trump administration. Antifa is not a single organization but rather an umbrella term for far-left militant groups that confront or resist neo-Nazis and white supremacists at demonstrations.

President Donald Trump last fall signed an executive order designating antifa a domestic terrorist organization, even though there is no domestic equivalent to the State Department’s list of foreign terror organizations.

The defendants deny any affiliation with antifa and maintain they attended the demonstration in support of detained immigrants.

Prosecutor Frank Gatto urged the judge to impose stiff penalties.

“People with that kind of extremist beliefs need extra time in prison,” Gatto said. “They believe violence is justified.”

Phillip Hayes, Song’s attorney, said outside the courthouse that he takes issue with the idea that the protesters are extremists.

"This is a bunch of kids and young adults who really have a really big heart and really wanted their voice to be heard,” Hayes said. “It was never intended that anybody get hurt. It was never intended that any shots would be fired.”

Prosecutors said in court that Song had yelled “get to the rifles” and opened fire, striking a police officer who had just pulled up to the center.

Hayes argued that Song’s shots were “suppressive fire” and that a ricochet bullet hit the officer after he arrived on the scene and “aggressively” pulled out his firearm. He said his client will appeal the 100-year sentence.

“Song, aside from this day, has had an impeccable life. A former Marine. A good student,” Hayes said. “He had a lot of good qualities that were just ignored. The judge went ahead and gave as much as he could.”

Other defendants and their family members pleaded for leniency in court.

Autumn Hill said the gathering “seemed more like a party to me than anything else" and that she and others who participated "didn’t expect or want any violence or destruction of property to occur.”

Amber Lowrey told the judge that her sister, Savanna Batten, is a compassionate person with dreams of opening a bakery. She said Batten's activism started with animal rights and evolved into anti-war and human rights advocacy.

“She’s the best person I know,” Lowrey said.

Hill and Batten both received 50-year sentences.

Other defendants previously pleaded guilty to providing material support to terrorists rather than take their case to trial.

Critics warn the case could have wide-reaching impact on protests given that organizations operating within the U.S. are supposed to be protected by First Amendment free-speech rights.

Last week, federal prosecutors charged 15 people with impeding the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota. They claimed the demonstrators were members of antifa who conspired against the federal government to block arrests and deportations by setting up blockades around government buildings and throwing chunks of ice at federal vehicles, among other actions.

___

Marcelo reported from New York. Associated Press journalist Kendria LaFleur contributed.

The 41-year-old Ronaldo made history in the sixth minute when João Cancelo crossed it to him and he shot with his right foot to make it 1-0. He ran toward the bench and celebrated with his teammates after the score.

He scored again in the 39th minute when he got a pass from Bruno Fernandes and scored with his right foot just inside the near post to make the score 3-0.

The goals make him the second-oldest player to score at a World Cup behind Cameroon forward Roger Milla, who was 42 when he scored at the 1994 tournament in the United States.

Ronaldo's goals come after he was criticized for failing to score in Portugal's 1-1 draw against Congo in the team's opening match.

Ronaldo and Argentina captain Lionel Messi became the only men in history to play in six World Cup tournaments this year. Ronaldo’s scoring streak started in his debut in 2006 and he also netted goals in 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022.

While he shares the record for most tournaments with Messi, he stands alone in scoring a goal in each edition after Messi failed to score a goal at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Ronaldo’s goals Tuesday gave him 10 career goals in the tournament. Messi has 18 after a hat trick in Argentina's opener against Algeria and two more goals Monday against Austria that made him the all-time leading scorer in tournament history.

Tuesday's game was the 230th of Ronaldo’s international career, which is the most in history.

This is likely to be the final World Cup for Ronaldo, who won the European Championship with Portugal in 2016 and the Champions League five times with Manchester United and Real Madrid.

___

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

Nori, who spent the past five seasons with the Timberwolves, has interviewed for multiple head coach vacancies including the Chicago Bulls earlier this month, the New York Knicks last year, and the Los Angeles Lakers in 2024.

Nori, 52, was the lead assistant under Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch while the club made the playoffs each season, won five series, and reached the Western Conference finals in 2023 and 2024.

During the Timberwolves; 2024 playoff run, Nori took on a greater role during games while Finch recovered from a knee injury.

Nori, who began his NBA career in 1998 as a scout with the Toronto Raptors, has also been an assistant for the Raptors, the Sacramento Kings, the Denver Nuggets, and the Detroit Pistons. His son, Dante, is a minor league baseball player in the Philadelphia Phillies organization.

"After an extensive search process, it became clear that Micah embodies the qualities we are looking for in the leader of this franchise,” Blazers general manager Joe Cronin said in a statement. “He has been a key contributor to successful organizations and brings a wealth of expertise, a proven ability to develop players and an authenticity that aligns with the culture we are building. We are excited about the future under his direction and look forward to what we can accomplish together.”

Splitter, who was hired last week as head coach of the Chicago Bulls, was promoted from assistant to interim coach when then-head coach Chauncey Billups was arrested in October in a federal takedown of a sprawling gambling operation. Billups has pleaded not guilty to charges of wire fraud and money laundering.

The Blazers went 42-40 with a five-game loss to NBA finalist San Antonio in the first round of the playoffs, the first postseason appearance and first time they finished with a winning record in five years.

It is the first major hire for the team under the Blazers' new ownership group led by Tom Dundon. The group bought the NBA franchise from the estate of Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft who died in 2018. The NBA’s Board of Governors approved the sale, worth a reported $4.25 billion, in April.

“From my conversations with Tom and Joe, it was evident that there is a strong commitment to building a culture that values accountability, development and team success," Nori said. "This is a team with tremendous talent, and I’m excited to begin working with our players and staff.”

___

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

___

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

The outcome Tuesday is not expected to be much different from the previous Senate efforts, which have all failed. But a growing number of Republican lawmakers in both the House and Senate have expressed their concerns over both the war and the deal Trump struck with Iran to end it. Democrats are daring the Republicans to join them in standing up to the Trump administration.

“Why is this vote different?” asked Sen. Tim Kaine, the Democrat from Virginia who has led his party's efforts.

Kaine said the pause in fighting, as Trump's team works to shore up a fragile ceasefire, provides the perfect time for Congress to step back and assess “what should the next chapter be.”

The vote also comes as the Pentagon is seeking $80 billion from Congress mostly for the Iran war as it backfills munitions and stockpiles.

Trump to meet senators as Republicans balk at Iran deal

Trump himself is headed to the Capitol this week to meet with GOP senators as Vice President JD Vance has been overseas working to negotiate with Iran to end that country's nuclear ambitions — which had been among the stated rationales for the war.

The president is not pleased with the Republicans who have been critical of the deal he struck with Iran, according to one GOP senator granted anonymity to discuss the private dynamics.

The terms of the Iran deal are spelled out in a Memorandum of Understanding that Trump signed last week, starting a 60-day clock for the sides to reach a broader agreement over ending Iran's nuclear program.

But Republicans have particularly objected to the $300 billion fund to help Iran rebuild, which is far greater than the $1.7 billion then-President Barack Obama refunded the country under his administration's 2015 Iran deal.

"I believe President Trump is getting very poor advice on Iran," Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said last week on his podcast after the deal was made public.

Democrats have repeatedly forced Iran votes

Over and again, Democrats have been forcing votes on the Iran war, almost since the U.S. and Israel launched missile strikes on Iran on Feb. 28.

Nearly each week they're in session, the Senate Democrats have put forward war powers resolutions, but they have failed to amass the majority needed for passage in the narrowly split chamber, where Trump’s Republican Party holds the majority.

The House pushed its own version to passage earlier this month, with four Republicans joining all Democrats in approving the war powers resolution, over the objections of House Speaker Mike Johnson and the GOP leadership.

It’s that House resolution that the Senate will consider Tuesday. While such resolutions do not go to the president for his signature or carry the force of law, passage would stand as a powerful, if symbolic, statement from Congress and a rebuke of the administration’s military actions.

In the past, as many as four GOP senators have voted for the war powers resolutions — Republicans Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. One Democrat, Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, has typically voted against.

Hegseth seeks $80 billion from Congress for the Iran war

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is also on Capitol Hill this week, seeking roughly $80 billion in supplemental funding to shore up defense supplies in the aftermath of the Iran war, which is drawing scrutiny when many Americans are reeling from high gas prices and costs of living.

The Pentagon early on had estimated the war cost $11.3 billion during its first week, and experts have put the overall price tag at close to $100 billion.

The Defense Department's funding request is part of a broader beef-up of military money the White House wants as part of its budget request this year.

The Trump administration is seeking $1.5 trillion in defense funding this year — a 50% increase — including $350 billion that it wants in a so-called budget reconciliation package. Johnson and GOP leaders are working to pass that package on their own, over the objections of Democrats, much the way they approved Trump's big tax cuts bill last year.

The 2025 tax cuts package also included a sizable plus-up of about $175 billion for the military.

“We are in agony, and we cannot be at peace. ... We love our mom. We'll never stop looking for her," Guthrie said at the “Today” desk in New York, holding a tissue in her left hand.

Nancy Guthrie, 84, who lived alone, was reported missing from her Tucson-area home on Feb. 1. The FBI released video more than a week later from a camera outside her front door showing a masked stranger. Her blood was found on the porch, but the case remains unsolved.

Some media outlets had previously reported receiving ransom notes in the days after Guthrie’s disappearance but had not disclosed the details while the investigation was at an early stage. Guthrie's family was aware of the notes.

Tucson TV station KOLD said Monday that it had received two notes, one demanding millions in Bitcoin in exchange for Guthrie’s return and another that said she had died. Separately, CNN cited law enforcement sources in reporting on the contents of the notes.

CNN said a note indicated that those who kidnapped Guthrie did not mean to kill her but that she died shortly after her disappearance.

“I don't have any comment on this story. I'm not involved in our coverage,” Savannah Guthrie said Tuesday, referring to NBC News. “But I can't pretend I'm not here. And since I am, I want to just take the opportunity to ask people — really to beg people — to come forward. Somebody knows something.”

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department referred questions about the ransom notes to the FBI, which declined to comment.

Volunteers and search teams scoured the nearby desert terrain filled with cactuses, bushes and boulders in the weeks after Nancy Guthrie vanished. A group recently conducted a search near the Arizona-Mexico border but didn't report finding her.

Savannah Guthrie and her siblings occasionally appeared in social media videos earlier in the saga, urging the public to come forward with tips. She asked people to “raise your prayers with us” and acknowledged that her mother might be in heaven dancing “with our daddy.”

During a Tuesday morning news conference, the sheriff said Cyrus Jason Eckman, the 26-year-old driver of a BMW motorcycle, was arrested without incident Tuesday morning in Cibolo. His motorcycle, which had no license plates, was also seized.

Eckman, according to Salazar, is facing a litany of charges, including aggravated assault of a public servant (first-degree felony) and evading arrest with a vehicle (third-degree felony). The sheriff also alleged that Eckman was “most likely intoxicated” at the time of the incident.

“This is just clearly somebody that’s got no regard for (the) safety of anybody in the community,” Salazar said. “We’re super happy to make this arrest.”

As of Tuesday morning, deputies are in the process of booking Eckman into the Bexar County Adult Detention Center.

A budding friendship

Salazar said Eckman and a 21-year-old man — who was not identified during the news conference — were “partying” and watching World Cup soccer at a local bar. The two became fast friends, according to the sheriff.

“Apparently, they have a lot of stuff in common,” Salazar said.

According to dashcam video from a BCSO patrol vehicle, a deputy witnessed a motorcycle (driven by Eckman) and a vehicle (driven by the 21-year-old man) at approximately midnight on June 18 racing along Loop 410 eastbound towards U.S. Highway 281. Both men were traveling at speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour.

While the deputy attempted to catch up with the men, Eckman allegedly blocked the deputy from getting close to the 21-year-old’s vehicle.

While on the motorcycle, Salazar said Eckman turned around and flipped off the pursuing sheriff’s deputy. When the deputy passed Eckman, the sheriff said the suspect rammed his motorcycle into the BCSO vehicle and caused a “decent-sized hole.”

The collision caused the deputy to pull their patrol vehicle over on the shoulder of Loop 410 and end BCSO’s pursuit. Eckman and the 21-year-old man sped away.

Tracking down Eckman

Salazar said deputies later learned the 21-year-old man “totaled his car” in a crash that San Antonio police officers investigated minutes after he fled the pursuit.

“It’s possible he (the 21-year-old) may be facing additional charges later on down the road, either from us or from SAPD,” Salazar said.

Over the weekend, BCSO tracked down the 21-year-old man, who gave investigators enough information that led them to Eckman.

According to Salazar, deputies also cross-referenced motorcycle information with BMW. The company confirmed to BCSO that Eckman was one of the people who purchased the specific brand of motorcycle involved in this case.

In addition to aggravated assault of a public servant and evading arrest, Eckman is also facing the following charges:

• criminal mischief between $2,500 and $30,000 (state jail felony)
• interfering with the investigation of a highway race or reckless driving (Class B misdemeanor)
• collision involving damage to a vehicle of $200 or more (Class B misdemeanor)
• racing on a highway (Class B misdemeanor)

A combined bond has yet to be set for all six charges.

Read also:

• BCSO seeks leads from public in connection with homicide investigation
• Man was driving 100+ mph before Comal County crash that killed woman and dog, affidavit states

The high court ruled against a sweeping argument from a Michigan family whose house was sold for less than half its open-market value to cover an unpaid tax bill of just over $2,000. They argued the foreclosure violated their rights because the house would have fetched a higher price of nearly $200,000 if sold through typical real-estate channels.

The Supreme Court unanimously found that people aren't entitled to recoup a “hypothetical fair market value” of homes sold at auction to cover unpaid taxes. Auctions are designed to be a relatively quick way to collect unpaid taxes, and requiring local governments to get the higher fair-market value might not work at all, Justice Samuel Alito wrote.

“The traditional rule, under which the taxpayer receives only the difference between the auction sale price and unpaid taxes, is ‘just,’” he wrote.

The sale, though, must be conducted fairly, he wrote. The justices sent the Pung family's case back to lower courts to reassess the process used by Isabella County.

“The case isn’t over," said Larry Salzman, vice president for litigation at the Pacific Legal Foundation, which represented the family. “The Pungs won the right to continue their fight in the lower courts.”

The county maintained that auction sale prices are always lower than open real estate transactions, in part because they typically require full cash payment rather than a mortgage.

Requiring foreclosure sales to match open-market prices would essentially end them, making it harder to ensure taxes that fund key government services are paid, Isabella County argued.

“We are confident the process Isabella County followed in this case exceeded what the law required,” said attorney Matthew Nelson, who represented the county. Officials make “herculean efforts to help homeowners avoid foreclosure. But at the end of the day, foreclosure is a tool that needs to remain in their toolboxes.”

The case comes about three years after another major foreclosure case where the justices ruled against local governments. The court found counties can’t keep tax sale proceeds beyond what the owner owes in unpaid taxes.

That case centered on a 94-year-old Minnesota woman whose county government kept about $40,000 in proceeds from the sale of her condominium after she failed to pay about $2,300 in taxes.

The watch party, hosted by Spurs Sports & Entertainment, is free and open to the public. The event starts at 6:30 p.m. before the draft begins at 7 p.m.

Attendees can expect live music by DJ Quake, along with Spurs giveaways, according to a news release.

The Silver and Black currently have the No. 20 pick in the first round.

Read also:

• San Antonio Spurs to bring back Silver Dancers 8 years after absence

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it's opening a special investigation into the Tesla Model 3 crash on Friday near Houston, a significant probe because the car was using technology that Elon Musk considers key to the company's future.

The Tesla CEO is rolling out robotaxis using automated software in several U.S. cities this year and plans to invite Tesla owners to put their cars into the fleet using the same system across the country.

The driver told the Harris County Sheriff's Office that he was using the technology, according to a police report on the crash, but it's not clear what role, if any, it played in the incident.

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment but the head of the company's artificial intelligence efforts suggested on social media later Monday that the self-driving feature was not to blame.

“In this case, the driver manually overrode self-driving by pressing the accelerator all the way to 100% of the accel pedal in this residential area,” wrote Ashok Elluswamy on X, the platform that is now part of Musk's rocket company, SpaceX. “They reached a speed of 73 mph during the crash, and had the accelerator pressed even after the crash.”

The police report noted that the driver was not drunk and is cooperating. It identified the woman killed as Martha Avila.

Video obtained by KHOU-TV shows the car traveling at top speed over the front lawn of a brick home in Katy, then ramming into a front room. The next shot shows the car encased in the home amid piles of crumbling plaster, split beams and bits of furniture.

The auto safety regulator, known as NHTSA, has launched several investigations into Tesla, including one late last year into 58 incidents in which Teslas reportedly violated traffic safety laws while using self-driving technology, leading to more than a dozen crashes and fires and nearly two dozen injuries.

A few months earlier, the NHTSA opened an investigation into why Tesla apparently had not been reporting crashes promptly as required.

As for special crash investigations, the NHTSA has opened 46 involving Teslas using self-driving or driver-assistance technology over the past decade, according to the agency's records. In more than a dozen of those crashes, at least one person — a driver, passenger or pedestrian — was killed.

Tesla stock fell sharply early last year as car sales plunged amid a boycott of Musk after he waded into politics, leading President Donald Trump's budget-cutting Department of Government Efficiency initiative and embracing European extremist candidates.

Musk has since shifted the Tesla story to one less about car sales and more about AI and robotaxis, and done so successfully. The stock is up 16% in the past year.

The city was initially bracing for a Level 1 emergency — the point when water demand is projected to be six months from exceeding supply — to surface in December.

Even better for residents and businesses, earlier this year — when levels at Lake Corpus Christi and Choke Canyon, the city’s two main reservoirs, were at their lowest — the city was preparing for supply to run short this summer.

The latest projection buys the city significantly more time to find new water sources, but city leaders warned that it’s not time to slow down.

“This is not a point in time where we are to let up or to get comfortable,” Nick Winkelmann, chief operating officer of Corpus Christ’s water department, told the City Council on Tuesday. “We must continue to execute our plan to diversify the water supply.”

The city is currently debating a seawater treatment plant and is expected to make a decision on the nearly billion-dollar project on Sept. 1. To meet water demand, the city earlier this year drilled dozens of wells in a field in Nueces County and is working on a project to recycle wastewater.

Corpus Christi Mayor Paulette Guajardo said when she read the new projected date of a Level 1 emergency, she thought it was a typo.

“This is such good news,” she said, adding: “While the recent rains have bought us some time, we have to stay focused on our long-term water supply. This is a huge, huge milestone.”

Significant gains have been seen in Lake Corpus Christi, where capacity jumped from 9% in April to 30%. Rains, however, missed Choke Canyon, the city’s biggest reservoir, which has hovered around 8% capacity for the past few months. Despite its lower levels, Choke Canyon has about the same amount of water as Lake Corpus Christi.

The third reservoir the city uses, Lake Texana, rebounded from nearly 50% capacity in April to 100% earlier this month, although it is known for filling up and depleting quickly. 

If a Level 1 emergency is declared, all customers of the city’s regional water system would be required to cut use by 25%.

Residents’ monthly baseline use at 8,000 gallons per household, limiting them to 6,000 gallons if an emergency is triggered. Under a proposal before the council, every 1,000 gallons used after that would cost an additional $4. Beyond 8,000 gallons, every 1,000 gallons would cost another $8.

Commercial customers, such as businesses and apartment complexes and industry, would have their baselines decided case-by-case based largely on average monthly usage from 2021-23.

“God bless these rains,” said Council Member Sylvia Campos.

Today on Texas Eats NOW:

YUMMY KITCHEN

12015 Culebra Rd, Ste 107, San Antonio, TX 78253

Yummy Kitchen is an interactive all-you-can-eat dining destination in San Antonio that combines unlimited sushi, Korean barbecue, and hot pot under one roof. Guests can customize their experience by grilling marinated meats such as beef bulgogi, galbi, spicy chicken, and pork belly tableside, or by simmering fresh ingredients in a variety of hot pot broths. The restaurant has become a popular gathering spot for families and groups looking for an engaging, cook-it-yourself meal.

In addition to its Korean barbecue and hot pot offerings, Yummy Kitchen serves an extensive selection of sushi rolls, including spicy tuna, California, and specialty rolls featuring fresh seafood and fruit. Diners can also enjoy appetizers such as crab rangoons, shrimp tempura, spring rolls, and fried gyoza, along with a selection of sake and beverages that complement the lively, social dining experience.

PORTILLO’S

18678 I-35 N Frontage Rd., Schertz, TX 78154

Portillo’s officially opened its newest Texas location in Schertz on June 9, bringing the iconic flavors of Chicago to the rapidly growing I-35 corridor. What began as a small hot dog stand outside Chicago has evolved into a beloved fast-casual chain known for its energetic atmosphere, loyal fan base, and authentic Windy City favorites. The Schertz restaurant features the company’s modern “Restaurant of the Future” design, complete with double drive-thru lanes, indoor and outdoor seating, and convenient pickup options.

The menu is anchored by Portillo’s signature Italian beef sandwiches, piled high with thinly sliced roast beef and served dipped in savory gravy, alongside classic Chicago-style hot dogs topped with mustard, relish, onions, tomatoes, sport peppers, and pickles. Guests can also enjoy crinkle-cut fries and the legendary Chocolate Cake Shake, which blends an entire slice of chocolate cake into a rich milkshake. The grand opening drew enthusiastic crowds eager to experience one of Chicago’s most recognizable restaurant brands as it continues expanding throughout Texas.

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The drone attacks added to the woes on the Black Sea peninsula, where Russian authorities have had to suspend gasoline sales to civilians as Ukraine has intensified its recent campaign to disrupt supply lines and the electrical grid at the height of the summer tourist season.

The peninsula was seized by force and illegally annexed by Moscow in 2014. Ukraine's increasing use of long-range strikes has highlighted its ability to inflict painful damage on Russia and put added pressure on the Kremlin while Moscow’s advances recently have ground to a near halt, Western analysts and officials say.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said last week that his forces are “isolating Crimea with drones.”

“It looks like in the nearest time, Crimea will become an island. This could lead to some very unexpected consequences for Russians,” Fedorov said on a blogger's YouTube channel.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow had been warned that Ukraine aimed to disrupt energy supplies and Russia’s tourism industry. He didn’t say who gave the warning.

Ukrainian drones “coming in a huge stream” seek to “destabilize” Russian society, Putin said.

Russia's ​Deputy Prime Minister ​Alexander Novak told Putin on Tuesday that officials were considering suspending diesel fuel exports to protect the country's motorists, adding to ongoing bans on the export of jet fuel and gasoline, according to the Tass news agency. Novak also said scheduled maintenance at refineries had been postponed.

Ukraine also has hit targets near to the Kremlin in Moscow and in St. Petersburg, Russia's second-largest city this month.

Parts of Crimea are without power

Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said drones struck an oil storage depot at the Kerch thermal power plant in eastern Crimea, an electrical substation in the west, and a liquefied natural gas distribution station in Simferopol, the peninsula’s second-biggest city.

In addition, Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces said their units, working with what it said was the resistance movement in Crimea, destroyed a rail bridge over the North Crimean Canal near the village of Rozdolne.

The military described the span as a key logistics route used to supply Russian forces in southern Ukraine and said drones began hitting the structure late Sunday to Monday, collapsing part of it. A second strike early Tuesday targeted railway repair equipment deployed at the bridge and its remaining sections, it said on Telegram.

It was not possible to independently verify the Ukrainian claims, and Russian officials made no immediate comment.

Parts of Crimea were without power Tuesday, the area’s energy supplier said. But it attributed the outages to “technical malfunctions” in local electrical grids and said it expected power to be restored within 24 hours.

The diamond-shaped peninsula is important because of its naval bases and beaches, as well as its strategic location in the Black Sea. Russia has spent centuries fighting for it.

Russian-appointed officials in Crimea have appeared reluctant to discuss attacks on the peninsula, but new security measures suggest deepening tension.

Its Ministry of Sport on Tuesday canceled all sporting events, competitions, and training sessions for children through Sept. 1. It described the measures as “aimed solely at ensuring the safety of our children, athletes, and anyone who is involved with sport.”

On Monday, Gov. Sergei Aksyonov said that for security reasons, all summer camps in the region had stopped accepting children and new bookings until Sept. 1.

Successes against Russia boost Ukrainian morale

On the front line in eastern Ukraine, where Russia’s war of attrition has made slow and costly advances since Moscow’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukraine has deployed cutting-edge drone technology to keep the enemy pinned down.

Meanwhile, its medium-range drones have also disrupted Russia’s supply lines to the front, and its long-range strikes have increasingly damaged Russian oil facilities that provide vital revenue for the Kremlin’s war effort.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said Monday its forces have hit more than 800,000 enemy targets with drones since the beginning of the year and that 95% of drones used by the armed forces are domestically produced.

The successes have boosted Ukrainian confidence, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says sustained foreign support is locked in to help stop Russia.

Officials have shown renewed vigor in talking about the war.

Ukraine’s U.N. Ambassador Andrii Melnyk said Monday that Kyiv remained ready for direct talks with Russia to achieve a “just and lasting peace” based on the U.N. Charter, but warned that Ukraine’s willingness to compromise was not open-ended.

Melnyk said at a U.N. Security Council meeting that a ceasefire along the current front line already represented a major concession and urged Russia to withdraw from occupied Ukrainian territory.

He also said recent Ukrainian strikes had altered the dynamics of the war, adding: “This is just the beginning.”

Russia's top diplomat says Moscow will defend Belarus

Meanwhile, the Kremlin is ready to “ensure the security” of its neighbor and ally Belarus, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday, days after Zelenskyy demanded that Belarus remove relay equipment on its territory that Kyiv said aided Russian drone attacks.

The relay stations are used for signal transmissions to Russian drones attacking Ukraine, according to Zelenskyy.

Lavrov told the Russian news agency Interfax that Kyiv was trying to drag Belarus into the conflict. Moscow, in fact, had used Belarus territory to launch its invasion of Ukraine.

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The Washington Post confirmed that one of its reporters received a subpoena from the Trump administration as part of a broader and aggressive crackdown on media leaks that in January also included the extraordinary step of an FBI search of a Washington Post reporter's home and the seizure of her devices. Journalists at The Wall Street Journal also received grand jury subpoenas, according to people familiar with the matter, a rare and unusual move that critics said was a threat against press freedom.

It wasn't immediately clear why the government withdrew the subpoenas or what precise news coverage the subpoenas concerned, but the decision to rescind them, first reported Tuesday by The Washington Post, was confirmed by people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a non-public law enforcement action.

Washington Post executive editor Matt Murray wrote in a staff email obtained by The Associated Press that a subpoena to Ellen Nakashima, a prominent national security journalist who has reported on the Iran war and deadly U.S. military boat strikes in the Caribbean Sea, had been withdrawn.

“The unwarranted subpoena of our reporter Ellen Nakashima – a clear violation of constitutionally guaranteed press freedom – was another sign of the government seeking to compel journalists to become instruments of its investigations. We will continue to stand fully behind the journalism of The Washington Post and fight all efforts by any administration that violate our First Amendment rights," a newspaper spokesperson said in a statement.

A spokesperson for The Wall Street Journal didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment on Tuesday.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche declined to comment on the subpoenas or the decision to withdraw them while speaking to reporters after an unrelated news conference, calling it a grand jury matter.

“To the extent that we have to investigate breaches of national security, in whatever form they come, that’s something that we will continue to do,” Blanche said.

He noted that in media leak investigations, “reporters are not our targets. We very much value the role that reporters play in this city and country.”

But, he added, “I have a similarly important role to make sure that people that are entrusted with our nation’s secrets do what they’re supposed to do with that information, which -- spoiler alert -- means not sharing with reporters. There’s tension there. I don’t deny there’s tension there. But I’m not going to stop investigating people who work for this administration who think it’s OK to leak classified information.”

Mark Schoeff Jr., a reporter at CQ Roll Call and president of the National Press Club, called the decision to seek grand jury testimony from journalists, “one of the most aggressive actions against a free and independent press in recent memory.”

“Reporters were one step away from being forced to participate in a criminal investigation because they were doing their jobs. That should alarm every American who values a free press,” Schoeff said in a statement.

The Justice Department over the years has developed, and revised, internal policies governing how it will respond to news media leaks.

Though the Justice Department across presidential administration has periodically seized the phone records of individual journalists in hopes of identifying sources for national security stories, it is extremely rare for the government to attempt to compel a reporter to reveal their sources before a grand jury.

In April, then-Attorney General Pam Bondi rescinded a policy from President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration that protected journalists from having their phone records secretly seized during leak investigations — a practice long decried by news organizations and press freedom groups.

The moves again gave prosecutors the authority to use subpoenas, court orders and search warrants to hunt for government officials who make “unauthorized disclosures” to journalists. A memo she issued said members of the press are “presumptively entitled to advance notice of such investigative activities,” and subpoenas are to be “narrowly drawn.” Warrants must also include “protocols designed to limit the scope of intrusion into potentially protected materials or newsgathering activities,” the memo states.

Monday’s ruling scuttles restrictions now in place or planned for the federally funded and state-run Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in 23 states. President Donald Trump’s administration has not said whether it will appeal to a higher court.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who sits in Washington and was nominated to the bench by former President Barack Obama, said in her opinion that the ruling was because the federal government did not follow its own definition of “food.” She said it wasn’t a comment on whether the restrictions are a good idea.

“The federal defendants and the states may have a genuine desire to improve the health of SNAP households by encouraging healthy choices at the store, and they can take lawful steps to meet those goals,” she wrote. “But what they cannot do is violate the law and their own regulations along the way.”

The restrictions are part of the Make America Healthy Again campaign

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have encouraged states to limit what the food aid can be used to buy as part of the “Make America Healthy Again” campaign.

They reason that soda and candy fuel obesity, diabetes and chronic disease epidemics — and taking them off the menu would encourage healthier food choices.

The Agriculture Department has given 23 states so far permission to implement restrictions. Some have been implemented already, while others are queued to take effect in the coming months and years.

At least one state that was set to limit soda and candy purchases changed course earlier this year. Colorado’s human services board voted against implementing the ban after a March hearing in which SNAP beneficiaries and advocates said people would face stigmas if they mistakenly tried to use the benefits on prohibited items. They also said the rules were confusing because they would have allowed buying drinks with at least 50% fruit or vegetable juice, but not those with less.

While the goals are similar, the exact rules vary by state. Some wanted to ban both sugary drinks and candy, while others only sought to ban sugary beverages.

A legal challenge to the candy and soda ban — which includes items such as sports drinks in some states — was filed by SNAP beneficiaries in Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, Tennessee and West Virginia.

Judge says government ignored a definition of food

Jackson said the main legal misstep in restricting what SNAP benefits could buy came because it ran contrary to Congress’s definition of “food.”

Under the law, SNAP benefits — formerly known as food stamps — can be used for “any food or food product for home consumption except alcoholic beverages, tobacco, hot foods or hot food products ready for immediate consumption.”

The government can waive requirements, but limiting use of the benefits to improve nutrition isn’t listed as a reason to do so. Yet when states asked the Agriculture Department to let them restrict purchases, their requests included using alternate definitions of “food.”

This may not be the final word

The Agriculture Department has not said whether it intends to appeal the ruling.

The case is among scores of challenges to Trump administration policies that hinge on whether the administration has the authority to change policies without congressional approval.

While it’s a big program helping nearly 39 million Americans — about 1 in 9 — buy groceries, SNAP is normally relatively low-profile. That’s been different since Trump returned to office last year.

Under his big tax and policy law signed last year, more recipients are subject to work requirements and states are being required to pay a larger share of administrative costs — and could be on the hook for benefit costs if their error rates are too high.

During a government shutdown last year, courts blocked the administration from cutting off benefits. Meanwhile, Rollins has said that there’s rampant fraud in the program.

Donors gave U.S. charities $617 billion in 2025, an inflation-adjusted 3% increase over last year, according to “Giving USA 2026: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2025.”

Bequests last year jumped by nearly 17%, the third year of the last four to clock double-digit increases in this form of giving. The trend could signal the beginning of the long predicted Great Wealth Transfer — in which baby boomers begin passing their enormous wealth to their children and charities. Overall, giving increased among all categories: corporations, living individuals, bequests, and foundations.

Strong markets and big donors boost giving

A strong stock market and economic growth contributed to the uptick, despite upheaval caused by federal cuts, says Wendy McGrady, chair of Giving USA.

All donor types stepped up to give amid the turmoil, McGrady notes, because charities made their needs known. “Those that were effective in sharing their story saw their donors respond,” McGrady says.

The robust giving was propelled by positive economic factors, says Jon Bergdoll, interim director of data and research partnerships at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, which conducts the research for the report. “Whether you’re looking at the S&P 500 or the financial markets, they saw really, really robust growth,” Bergdoll says. “That has a pretty direct contribution to wealth and asset sizes of companies, foundations, the wealthy and helped drive a lot of that increase.”

All types of donors increased their giving in 2025, and giving to most causes also rose. Education nonprofits saw an 8.9% uptick, organizations in the “public-society benefit” category had an 8.7% increase, and environment and animal nonprofits were up 8.2%. Smaller increases were seen for charities with missions involving arts, culture and humanities (4.7%); health (3.3%); human services (2.6%); and international (1. 4%). However, giving to religious groups was marginally lower, down 0.2% when adjusted for inflation.

Several nonprofits the Chronicle spoke to noted that they raised more money last year and that success was reliant on big gifts, which in turn are buoyed by a strong stock market. “The market has become a larger and larger predictor of giving,” Bergdoll at IU says. “And I would anticipate that to continue. That growing reliance means that the unpredictability of the markets is going to start bleeding into an unpredictability in giving as well.”

While Giving USA does not measure the number of donors who give, over the years, the share of dollars from individuals has decreased. In 1985, 80% of dollars came from individuals; now it is just 64%.

Big donors loom large in one category, megagifts, which are defined as contributions that exceed 0.1% of total giving that year. In 2025 megagifts were those amounting to $600 million or more. There were $19.2 billion worth of megagifts, roughly 4% of all dollars given by individuals. MacKenzie Scott’s $6.65 billion in contributions represented a third of all mega-giving in 2025. Michael Bloomberg who donated $4.3 billion, Bill Gates, who gave away at $3.7 billion, and Paul Allen’s bequest of $3.1 billion all qualified as megadonors.

Indications of Great Wealth Transfer start

For years, pundits have predicted a great transfer of wealth that would move $18 trillion from baby boomers and older donors to younger generations and possibly to charities. Three of the past four years have shown big growth in bequests, which may indicate that the great wealth transfer has begun.

Bergdoll recognizes that people get excited over the prospect of this wealth moving to charities but says more data is needed to definitively declare that the transfer has started. Giving by bequests in the past 10 years “outpaced overall giving,” Bergdoll says, but the number of IRS estate reports from the past few years is still small.

“It’s really tough — just from one or two years of data (to know if the great wealth transfer has begun),” he says. “We need a little bit more data to feel comfortable saying, ‘Oh, it has started. It’s off to the races.’”

However, several nonprofits, including the Christian missionary group InterVarsity and the international charity CARE, are putting more resources into planned giving.

“We know a big wealth transfer is happening so we have also been growing our planned giving program,” says Sarah Taylor Peace, CARE’s chief revenue officer. Taylor Peace says CARE has received multimillion-dollar bequests from donors who had given small gifts over decades.

Patrick Schmitt, co-CEO of estate planning company FreeWill, notes that there are more than 70 million baby boomers, and it’s imperative to get on their radar. Many are already giving qualified charitable distributions from retirement accounts.

Federal shifts drive giving

The federal government’s cuts to USAID and international aid programs deeply affected organizations like CARE, but donors responded generously when the organization asked for help.

“We raised a lot of private (funds). We actually had our highest ever fiscal year,” Taylor Peace says, “mostly coming from individual givers responding to the fact that lots of the traditional funding wasn’t there and wanting to make sure we could continue to run our crisis humanitarian work.”

When there’s a lot of bad news and negative noise in the world, donors want to “do something hopeful,” Taylor Peace says. Offering donors a positive way to contribute to making things better for others resonated with donors, she says.

Donors also responded generously to fundraising appeals that focused on federal policy shifts. Mollie Marsh-Heine, chief development officer at the Natural Resources Defense Council, says donors at all giving levels responded well to appeals to help the environmental organization fight back against the current administration’s hostility toward environmental regulations.

Donations to foundations drop

There was a sharp drop in giving to foundations, which fell nearly 18.3% in inflation-adjusted dollars. While this seems steep, Bergdoll notes that foundations had a near-record-high 2024, in which giving grew 32.6%. “In raw dollar terms, they still had a very strong” 2025, Bergdoll says.

While news from “Giving USA” was mostly positive, there were some lackluster figures. Corporate giving was up only half a percent. According to Bergdoll, it’s “challenging” to get a good view of giving by businesses of all sizes.

The Houston Humane Society said corporate giving remained strong in 2025. But Stark, with UnityPoint Health, noted that some corporate sponsors whose businesses were facing challenges did “back off” last year. Similarly, Susan G. Komen had some companies “reduce the amount they were giving” due to economic headwinds, says vice president Andi Hughes.

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Rasheeda Childress is a senior editor at the Chronicle of Philanthropy, where you can read the full article. This article was provided to The Associated Press by the Chronicle of Philanthropy as part of a partnership to cover philanthropy and nonprofits supported by the Lilly Endowment. The Chronicle is solely responsible for the content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

The justices condemned what happened to the former inmate, Damon Landor. But they ruled that a federal law designed to protect the religious rights of inmates does not permit lawsuits for money damages against individuals even when rights are violated.

The high court, in a 6-3 decision, agreed with lower courts that without exception had ruled that the law, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, can’t be used to hold those who violate inmates’ rights financially responsible.

The justices refused to apply the rationale from their decision in 2020 that allowed Muslim men to sue over their inclusion on the FBI’s no-fly list under a sister statute, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

The Justice Department, which argued against the plaintiffs in the no-fly list case in President Donald Trump’s first Republican administration, had sided with Landor.

Nothing in the law dealing with prisoners' religious rights authorizes lawsuits against individual officers, Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the court.

In a dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote that state prison officials will have little incentive to abide by federal law. “It is not often that a real-life incident so clearly illustrates Congress’s reasons for adopting legislation, or the Constitution’s wisdom in enabling it,” Jackson wrote in an opinion that was joined by her two liberal colleagues.

No one defended what happened to Landor during his five-month prison term in 2020. When he entered the prison system, he carried a copy of an appeals court ruling in another inmate’s case holding that cutting religious prisoners’ dreadlocks violated the federal law.

At his first two stops, officials respected his beliefs. But things changed when he got to the Raymond Laborde Correctional Center in Cottonport, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) northwest of Baton Rouge, for the final three weeks of his term.

A prison guard took the copy of the ruling Landor carried and tossed it in the trash, according to court records. Then the warden ordered guards to cut his dreadlocks. While two guards restrained him, a third shaved his head to the scalp, the records show.

Landor sued after his release, but lower courts dismissed the case. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lamented Landor’s treatment but said the law doesn’t allow him to hold prison officials liable for damages.

Louisiana wrote that “the state has amended its prison grooming policy to ensure that nothing like petitioner’s alleged experience can occur.”

The Rastafari faith is rooted in 1930s Jamaica, growing as a response by Black people to white colonial oppression. Its beliefs are a melding of Old Testament teachings and a desire to return to Africa. Its message was spread across the world in the 1970s by Jamaican music icons Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, two of the faith’s most famous exponents.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court.

• HEAT HIGH: Nearby, keeps weather quiet & hot
• LAKE LEVELS: Still slowly rising, should level off soon
• VERY SMALL RAIN CHANCE: One shot is on Sunday, stray shower

FORECAST

REST OF THIS WEEK

Like clockwork, our typical summertime pattern has arrived. High pressure, while not directly over us, is close enough to keep us very quiet through the foreseeable future. Expect morning clouds, afternoon sun, and highs in the mid-90s. Heat index values will top 100° for a few hours each afternoon.

LAKE LEVELS

Improvement on area reservoirs is slowing, but we’re still seeing rises. Here is the latest data as of Tuesday morning:

VERY SMALL RAIN CHANCE

If we’re grasping at straws, Sunday could bring a shower or two. Our heat high re-centers itself to our east, briefly opening the door for some deeper Gulf moisture. Don’t get your hopes too high, though, with rain chances at only 10%.

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The new system is to start in 2028, and the Future Competition Committee that Woods leads still has work left on key details. Chief among them is which of the roughly 15 tournaments will be part of the “Championship Series,” and the 20 events on the lesser “Challenger Series.”

Other details involve bringing a form of match play to the postseason and creating a rotation of prestigious courses instead of going to East Lake in Atlanta every year.

“This work was never about any one player or person,” Woods said in his first public appearance since his arrest on a DUI charges on March 27. “It was about bringing together different perspectives, having honest, hard conversations, and thinking boldly about what is best for the game that we all love.”

The PGA Tour boards on Monday afternoon approved the recommendations. Woods jumped back into his role as chairman the last several weeks upon his return from seeking treatment out of the country since his arrest.

“It's great to see him back,” PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp said. “Tiger has been involved throughout the process. He's contributed meaningfully. It's awesome to see him back and in great form.”

Rolapp preached “scarcity, simplicity and parity” when he took over last summer, and those pillars have become more clear. The season will be shorter — approximately February through August with some scheduled weeks off — without taking away playing opportunities.

The $20 million signature events for 72 players now will be part of the Championship Series and expanded to 120 players on average. Players are not required to play them all and those tournaments will not have sponsor invitations or an alternate list. There will be a 36-hole cut.

“When fans tune into the PGA Tour Championship Series, they know they will see the best players in the world competing head-to-head,” Rolapp said. He said it was important to credibility not to have sponsor exemptions because sponsors in other sports don't determine who plays.

The Challenger Series will be a path for players to earn their way to the top level. Those fields will be about 144 players, and Rolapp said purses would be at least $4 million. This year, all but three regular non-signature events had prize funds of at least $9 million.

Except for about seven times during the season, the Championship and Challenger Series tournaments will be held the same week. Rolapp said on the occasion of a week off for the elite circuit, the Challenger Series event would be elevated.

Rory McIlroy last week referred to the secondary tier as a “glorified Korn Ferry event,” referring to the tour's developmental circuit.

“I just think there's going to be certain events that might lose their status if a sponsor doesn't pony up $30 million,” McIlroy said.

Rolapp said he spoke to McIlroy on Tuesday — the Masters champion is skipping the Travelers Championship, the third signature event he has missed this year — and said the new model will serve the same player and offer a similar number of tournaments. Korn Ferry purses are $1 million.

“We've just organized the same tour into a much more interesting and competitive system," Rolapp said. “If you look at the Challenger Series events, they’ll be at venues you recognize. They’ll be for healthy purses. They’ll include a subset of the same 200 and change players that we have today. That is much different than what the Korn Ferry Tour is today.”

Each tour will have a separate points standings and there is no plan for players to move up to the Championship Series during the season unless they were to win twice.

The Championship Series eligibility would be determined by the top 90 players from the previous year, the top 20 players from the Challenger Series and other exemption categories for tournament winners, injuries or career milestones.

Missing from the announcement was any mention of the FedEx Corp., the financial muscle behind the PGA Tour's postseason since it began in 2007. The most recent FedEx deal ends in 2027.

“Our hope is to create more value for FedEx and everybody else. We’re in an existing contract, and we’re going to honor that,” Rolapp said.

As for the fall, the PGA Tour is moving toward a separate series of four to six tournaments in which top performers can earn their way back to the Championship Series. The tour said it still has plans for the Korn Ferry Tour, PGA Tour Americas and the PGA Tour University ranking system that creates places for top college players.

Finishing in August would give the elite players time to consider playing overseas, such as premier European tour events or the Australian Open. The PGA Tour recently became partners with Golf Australia without co-sanctioning the century-old event.

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

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Selection of Winners. One (1) potential winner will be selected via random drawing on or around Friday, June 26, 2026, from among all eligible entries received during the Sweepstakes Period.

Odds. The odds of winning depend on the number of eligible entries.

Winner Notification and Verification. Potential winner(s) will be subject to verification of eligibility and compliance with these Official Rules. In addition, Sponsor will attempt to notify the potential winner(s) via direct message on the Entry platform (“Notification”). Potential Sweepstakes winner(s) must respond promptly and supply all requested information including full name, email address and telephone number. Potential Sweepstakes winner(s) must completely and accurately execute and return any required affidavit of eligibility, release of liability, publicity release and/or prize acceptance form (“Forms”) within 48 hours of Notification. Potential winners may be required to display a copy of a valid government photo ID in addition to the submission of any Forms. A potential winner may be disqualified and, time permitting, an alternate winner may be selected by random drawing from among all remaining entries if: (1) a potential winner cannot be contacted/does not respond to Sponsors’ first Notification attempt as directed; (2) a winner does not fulfill the eligibility requirements; (3) a winner does not adhere to the Official Rules; (4) a winner does not sign and return the Forms or provide required ID by the deadline set forth above; and/or (5) if the Notification is returned as undeliverable, refused, or declined. A POTENTIAL PRIZE WINNER IS NOT A WINNER UNTIL HIS OR HER ELIGIBILITY AND COMPLIANCE WITH THESE OFFICIAL RULES HAS BEEN VERIFIED BY THE SPONSOR. Sponsor reserves the right to contact all Sweepstakes entrants using the contact information provided in the Entry Form in connection with the Sweepstakes entry. The official record(s) of entries will remain the property of Sponsor. If a printing, programming, or other error leads to more prize claims than there are prizes provided for in the Official Rules, prize(s) will be awarded in a random drawing from among all eligible prize claims received at each prize tier.

Prize(s) One (1) Gift Card. Approximate Retail Value (“ARV”) of each Gift Card: $50. Approximate Retail Value (“ARV”) of all prizes: $50. Unless otherwise stated, subject to winner verification and compliance with these Official Rules, all prizes will be available for pick up at the office of the Sponsor/Administrators (address provided below). Sponsor and Co-Sponsor not responsible for loss, delay, or damage in shipping. There will be no substitution, transfer, or cash equivalent for prizes, except at the sole discretion of Sponsor, which may substitute prizes of comparable value. Limit one prize per person and per household. Payments of all federal, state, and local taxes related to the award of the prize are solely the responsibility of the winner. Prizes may not be sold, bartered, or auctioned. Prize is awarded “as is” with no warranty or guarantee, either express or implied. All properly claimed prizes will be awarded provided a sufficient number of eligible entries are received, but in no event will Sponsor award more prizes than are provided for in the Official Rules. Unclaimed prizes will not be awarded. For tax purposes, the winner of a prize with an ARV of at least $600 will be required to accurately complete and submit IRS Form W-9 to the Sponsor and Sponsor will arrange to issue an IRS Form 1099 MISC to winner reflecting the value of the prize.

Disclaimer and Representations. Each winner assumes all liability for any injuries or damages caused or claimed to be caused by winner’s participation in the Sweepstakes and/or the acceptance and/or use of any prize, and releases the Sponsor, Co-Sponsor, Instagram and their respective parent companies, subsidiaries, and affiliates, and all of their officers, directors, agents, and employees (collectively, “Releasees”), from any such liability. Releasees are not responsible for: the failure of any entry to be received by the Sponsor because of electronic device errors or failures of any kind, internet disruption, telecommunications, network, electronic, telephone or mobile service outages, delays, busy signals, or any equipment malfunctions or other technical difficulties that may prevent the Sponsor from receiving any entry submission; entries that are illegible, unintelligible, incomplete, stolen, misdirected, garbled, delayed by computer transmissions, lost, late or damaged; any injury or damage to the entrant’s or any other person’s electronic device related to or resulting from participation or accessing or downloading any materials related to the Sweepstakes; or any human errors, any inaccurate transcription of entry information, errors in any promotional or marketing materials or errors in these Official Rules. If you choose to enter using your mobile phone, standard message and data rates may apply.

Sponsor reserves the right to disqualify any individual from participation in the Sweepstakes if Sponsor concludes, in its sole discretion, that such person: (a) has attempted to tamper with the entry process or other operation of the Sweepstakes; (b) has failed to comply with or has attempted to circumvent these Official Rules; (c) has committed fraud or attempted to undermine the legitimate operation of the Sweepstakes; or (d) has acted toward Sponsor, any other entity affiliated with the Sweepstakes, or any other entrant in an unfair, inequitable, threatening, disrupting, or harassing manner. If a dispute arises regarding compliance with these Official Rules, Sponsor may consider, in its sole discretion, data reasonably available to Sponsor through information technology systems in Sponsor’s control, but Sponsor will not be obligated to consider any data or other information collected from any other source. Any failure by Sponsor to enforce any of these Official Rules will not constitute a waiver of such Official Rules. If there is a conflict between any term of these Official Rules and any marketing or entry materials used in connection with the Sweepstakes, the terms of these Official Rules will govern.

Sponsor also reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to modify these Official Rules for clarification purposes without materially affecting the terms and conditions of the Sweepstakes. Sponsor reserves the right to cancel, terminate or modify the Sweepstakes if an insufficient number of entries are received or if the Sweepstakes is not capable of running as planned, including, without limitation, as a result of infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, or technical failures of any sort, or for any reason beyond Sponsor’s control. If due to circumstances beyond the control of the Sponsor, any event related to the Sweepstakes or prize is delayed, rescheduled, postponed, cancelled or has a change of venue, the Sponsor reserves the right, but is not obligated, to cancel or modify the Sweepstakes. Notice of cancellation or modification of the Sweepstakes will be published on Sponsor’s website. If cancellation occurs prior to Sponsor’s receipt of any entries, Sponsor will not be obligated to award prize(s). If cancellation occurs after Sponsor’s receipt of entries, winner(s) will be selected by random drawing from among all eligible, non-suspect entries received prior to cancellation, provided Sponsor is able to do so.

Sponsor defines “personal information” as any information that identifies you as an individual or is directly linkable to you as an identifiable individual. Entry constitutes (a) permission to share all personal information collected in connection with your participation on the Sweepstakes with business partners, including Co-Sponsors to be used for informational and/or commercial purposes and (b) permission to Sponsor and Co-Sponsors to contact you using this personal information for commercial purposes including advertising and telemarketing. Sponsor is not responsible for the privacy practices of these entities.

Entry constitutes permission (except where prohibited by law) to use winner’s name, home city and state, likeness and/or voice for commercial purposes including advertising, promotion and publicity without additional compensation. The winner’s name and city of residence may be posted online and disclosed to those who make a timely request for a winners list.

By accessing these Official Rules or entering the Sweepstakes on ksat.com, you are deemed to agree to be bound by ksat.com‘s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

In Case of Dispute. EXCEPT WHERE PROHIBITED, ENTRANTS AGREE THAT ALL DISPUTES, CLAIMS AND CAUSES OF ACTION ARISING OUT OF OR CONNECTED WITH THIS PROMOTION, OR PRIZE AWARDED, WILL BE RESOLVED INDIVIDUALLY WITHOUT RESORT TO ANY FORM OF CLASS ACTION, AND ALL CLAIMS, JUDGMENTS, AND AWARDS WILL BE LIMITED TO ACTUAL OUT-OF-POCKET COSTS INCURRED BY ENTRANT WITH REGARD TO THIS PROMOTION, BUT IN NO EVENT SHALL DAMAGES INCLUDE ATTORNEYS’ FEES, PUNITIVE, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR OTHER DAMAGES. All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation, and enforceability of these Official Rules, or the rights and obligations of entrants and Sponsor(s) in connection with the Sweepstakes will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of state where the Sponsor is located as set forth below (“State”), without giving effect to any choice of law or conflict of law rules or provisions that would cause the application of the laws of any other jurisdiction. The state and federal courts located in the State will be the exclusive forum for any dispute relating to these Official Rules and/or this Sweepstakes. All entrants and winner(s) agree, by their participation in the Sweepstakes, to submit to the personal jurisdiction of the state and federal courts in the State and waive the right to sweepstakes jurisdiction.

Severability: If any provision(s) of these Official Rules are held to be invalid or unenforceable, all remaining provisions hereof will remain in full force and effect.

Winner List. For the name(s) of the winner(s), send request and a self-addressed stamped envelope to Sponsor at 1408 N. St. Mary’s San Antonio, TX 78215. Attn: Winner’s List, or request it online at help.ksat.com . Be sure to specify the name of the sweepstakes for which you are requesting the list of winner(s). Request must be postmarked after Sweepstakes Period and received by Sponsor no later than 60 days after the close of the Sweepstakes Period.

Sponsor/Administrator: KSAT 12, 1408 N. St. Mary’s Street, San Antonio, TX 78215

Co-Sponsor: San Antonio International Airport, 9800 Airport Blvd, San Antonio, TX 78216

The Sweepstakes is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Instagram.

General. By submitting an entry to the Texas Eats & HOOTERS Instagram sweepstakes (“Sweepstakes”), brought to you by KSAT 12 (“Sponsor”) and HOOTERS (the “Co-Sponsor”), entrant acknowledges and agrees that entrant has read, understands, and agrees to be bound by these official Sweepstakes rules (“Official Rules”). By entering the Sweepstakes, entrants agree to waive any right to claim any ambiguity or error in these Official Rules, or the Sweepstakes itself, and agree to be bound by all decisions of the Sponsor, whose decisions are binding and final in all matters related to the Sweepstakes. Failure to comply with these Official Rules or any Sponsor instructions relating to the Sweepstakes’ Official Rules may result in disqualification from the Sweepstakes.

Eligibility. The Sweepstakes is open only to legal U.S. residents who are a minimum of 21 years of age or older at time of entry and reside in Sponsor’s Designated Market Area, as defined by Nielsen Media Research, Inc. (“DMA”). Employees of Sponsor and Co-Sponsor and each of their respective parent companies, subsidiaries, affiliates, advertising agencies, promotion agencies, prize suppliers, and any other vendors providing services in connection with this Sweepstakes and members of these employees’ immediate families (spouses, parents, children, grandparents, grandchildren, and siblings and their spouses) and those living in the same household with these employees, are not eligible to enter or win.

How To Enter. The Sweepstakes begins at 12:00 p.m. on Tuesday, June 23, 2026 and runs through Friday, June 26, 2026 to 12:00 p.m. (the “Sweepstakes Period”). Sponsor’s time clock will be the official time clock of the Sweepstakes. To enter, you must completely and accurately fill out the Sweepstakes entry form provided on the Sponsor’s Sweepstakes page at https://www.instagram.com/eldereats/?hl=en (“Entry Form”). Eligible Entrants must “like” the post on the IG Account, share the Post on your own Instagram story, save the post, Follow the @hooters and @eldereats Instagram account and comment on the post (collectively, an “Entry”). Each additional comment on the Post will be considered an additional entry. You may enter unlimitedly per person and per email address and per telephone number during the Sweepstakes Period. “Liking” content other than the original Post does not qualify as an Entry. Entrants must be the natural person assigned to any submitted email account by the provider responsible for the assigning email addresses for the domain associated with such email account. Entrant must also be an authorized account holder for any submitted telephone number. Any attempt by any entrant to obtain more than the stated number of entries using multiple/different email addresses, identities, registrations and logins, or any other methods will void such entries and that entrant may be disqualified if discovered by Sponsor. Entries generated by a script, macro or other automated means will be disqualified if discovered by Sponsor. The use of automated or third-party software or web site to enter and/or play is prohibited. Entries that are inaccurate, incomplete, illegible, or corrupted are void and will be disqualified if discovered by Sponsor. If Entry Form permits or requires submission of user-generated content (“UGC”), by entering into the Sweepstakes, entrant represents and warrants as follows: (1) that they created and fully own or have properly licensed all UGC materials or information, can submit such UGC without violating any applicable law, agreement with any third-party, and/or third-party right of any kind (including without limitation any intellectual property, data protection, privacy, or publicity right); and (2) that all UGC entrant hereunder will be true and correct in all respects. UGC may not contain personally identifiable information or other similar sensitive/confidential information of any third-party or content that is offensive, inappropriate, or inconsistent with the Sponsor/Co-Sponsor’s image or the spirit or purpose of the Sweepstakes. By submitting UGC, entrant represents and warrants that all UGC content complies with the User Conduct section of the Sponsor station websites Terms of Use available at https://www.grahammedia.com/terms. UGC may not have been previously published or otherwise made public elsewhere. Furthermore, without limitation on anything set forth herein to the contrary, Sponsor will have the irrevocable, transferable, and fully sublicensable right and license (but not the obligation) to exploit all such UGC in any manner it so elects to promote the Sweepstakes, its business, brand, products, and/or services, throughout the world in perpetuity, and in all media, now or hereafter known. All received entries become the property of the Sponsor and will not be acknowledged or returned except as disclosed in these Official Rules.

Selection of Winners. One (1) potential winner will be selected via random drawing on or around Friday, June 26, 2026, from among all eligible entries received during the Sweepstakes Period.

Odds. The odds of winning depend on the number of eligible entries.

Winner Notification and Verification. Potential winner(s) will be subject to verification of eligibility and compliance with these Official Rules. In addition, Sponsor will attempt to notify the potential winner(s) via direct message on the Entry platform (“Notification”). Potential Sweepstakes winner(s) must respond promptly and supply all requested information including full name, email address and telephone number. Potential Sweepstakes winner(s) must completely and accurately execute and return any required affidavit of eligibility, release of liability, publicity release and/or prize acceptance form (“Forms”) within 48 hours of Notification. Potential winners may be required to display a copy of a valid government photo ID in addition to the submission of any Forms. A potential winner may be disqualified and, time permitting, an alternate winner may be selected by random drawing from among all remaining entries if: (1) a potential winner cannot be contacted/does not respond to Sponsors’ first Notification attempt as directed; (2) a winner does not fulfill the eligibility requirements; (3) a winner does not adhere to the Official Rules; (4) a winner does not sign and return the Forms or provide required ID by the deadline set forth above; and/or (5) if the Notification is returned as undeliverable, refused, or declined. A POTENTIAL PRIZE WINNER IS NOT A WINNER UNTIL HIS OR HER ELIGIBILITY AND COMPLIANCE WITH THESE OFFICIAL RULES HAS BEEN VERIFIED BY THE SPONSOR. Sponsor reserves the right to contact all Sweepstakes entrants using the contact information provided in the Entry Form in connection with the Sweepstakes entry. The official record(s) of entries will remain the property of Sponsor. If a printing, programming, or other error leads to more prize claims than there are prizes provided for in the Official Rules, prize(s) will be awarded in a random drawing from among all eligible prize claims received at each prize tier.

Prize(s) One (1) HOOTERS Gift Card. Approximate Retail Value (“ARV”) of each HOOTERS Gift Card: $100. Approximate Retail Value (“ARV”) of all prizes: $100. Unless otherwise stated, subject to winner verification and compliance with these Official Rules, all prizes will be available for pick up at the office of the Sponsor/Administrators (address provided below). Sponsor and Co-Sponsor not responsible for loss, delay, or damage in shipping. There will be no substitution, transfer, or cash equivalent for prizes, except at the sole discretion of Sponsor, which may substitute prizes of comparable value. Limit one prize per person and per household. Payments of all federal, state, and local taxes related to the award of the prize are solely the responsibility of the winner. Prizes may not be sold, bartered, or auctioned. Prize is awarded “as is” with no warranty or guarantee, either express or implied. All properly claimed prizes will be awarded provided a sufficient number of eligible entries are received, but in no event will Sponsor award more prizes than are provided for in the Official Rules. Unclaimed prizes will not be awarded. For tax purposes, the winner of a prize with an ARV of at least $600 will be required to accurately complete and submit IRS Form W-9 to the Sponsor and Sponsor will arrange to issue an IRS Form 1099 MISC to winner reflecting the value of the prize.

Disclaimer and Representations. Each winner assumes all liability for any injuries or damages caused or claimed to be caused by winner’s participation in the Sweepstakes and/or the acceptance and/or use of any prize, and releases the Sponsor, Co-Sponsor, Instagram and their respective parent companies, subsidiaries, and affiliates, and all of their officers, directors, agents, and employees (collectively, “Releasees”), from any such liability. Releasees are not responsible for: the failure of any entry to be received by the Sponsor because of electronic device errors or failures of any kind, internet disruption, telecommunications, network, electronic, telephone or mobile service outages, delays, busy signals, or any equipment malfunctions or other technical difficulties that may prevent the Sponsor from receiving any entry submission; entries that are illegible, unintelligible, incomplete, stolen, misdirected, garbled, delayed by computer transmissions, lost, late or damaged; any injury or damage to the entrant’s or any other person’s electronic device related to or resulting from participation or accessing or downloading any materials related to the Sweepstakes; or any human errors, any inaccurate transcription of entry information, errors in any promotional or marketing materials or errors in these Official Rules. If you choose to enter using your mobile phone, standard message and data rates may apply.

Sponsor reserves the right to disqualify any individual from participation in the Sweepstakes if Sponsor concludes, in its sole discretion, that such person: (a) has attempted to tamper with the entry process or other operation of the Sweepstakes; (b) has failed to comply with or has attempted to circumvent these Official Rules; (c) has committed fraud or attempted to undermine the legitimate operation of the Sweepstakes; or (d) has acted toward Sponsor, any other entity affiliated with the Sweepstakes, or any other entrant in an unfair, inequitable, threatening, disrupting, or harassing manner. If a dispute arises regarding compliance with these Official Rules, Sponsor may consider, in its sole discretion, data reasonably available to Sponsor through information technology systems in Sponsor’s control, but Sponsor will not be obligated to consider any data or other information collected from any other source. Any failure by Sponsor to enforce any of these Official Rules will not constitute a waiver of such Official Rules. If there is a conflict between any term of these Official Rules and any marketing or entry materials used in connection with the Sweepstakes, the terms of these Official Rules will govern.

Sponsor also reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to modify these Official Rules for clarification purposes without materially affecting the terms and conditions of the Sweepstakes. Sponsor reserves the right to cancel, terminate or modify the Sweepstakes if an insufficient number of entries are received or if the Sweepstakes is not capable of running as planned, including, without limitation, as a result of infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, or technical failures of any sort, or for any reason beyond Sponsor’s control. If due to circumstances beyond the control of the Sponsor, any event related to the Sweepstakes or prize is delayed, rescheduled, postponed, cancelled or has a change of venue, the Sponsor reserves the right, but is not obligated, to cancel or modify the Sweepstakes. Notice of cancellation or modification of the Sweepstakes will be published on Sponsor’s website. If cancellation occurs prior to Sponsor’s receipt of any entries, Sponsor will not be obligated to award prize(s). If cancellation occurs after Sponsor’s receipt of entries, winner(s) will be selected by random drawing from among all eligible, non-suspect entries received prior to cancellation, provided Sponsor is able to do so.

Sponsor defines “personal information” as any information that identifies you as an individual or is directly linkable to you as an identifiable individual. Entry constitutes (a) permission to share all personal information collected in connection with your participation on the Sweepstakes with business partners, including Co-Sponsors to be used for informational and/or commercial purposes and (b) permission to Sponsor and Co-Sponsors to contact you using this personal information for commercial purposes including advertising and telemarketing. Sponsor is not responsible for the privacy practices of these entities.

Entry constitutes permission (except where prohibited by law) to use winner’s name, home city and state, likeness and/or voice for commercial purposes including advertising, promotion and publicity without additional compensation. The winner’s name and city of residence may be posted online and disclosed to those who make a timely request for a winners list.

By accessing these Official Rules or entering the Sweepstakes on ksat.com, you are deemed to agree to be bound by ksat.com‘s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

In Case of Dispute. EXCEPT WHERE PROHIBITED, ENTRANTS AGREE THAT ALL DISPUTES, CLAIMS AND CAUSES OF ACTION ARISING OUT OF OR CONNECTED WITH THIS PROMOTION, OR PRIZE AWARDED, WILL BE RESOLVED INDIVIDUALLY WITHOUT RESORT TO ANY FORM OF CLASS ACTION, AND ALL CLAIMS, JUDGMENTS, AND AWARDS WILL BE LIMITED TO ACTUAL OUT-OF-POCKET COSTS INCURRED BY ENTRANT WITH REGARD TO THIS PROMOTION, BUT IN NO EVENT SHALL DAMAGES INCLUDE ATTORNEYS’ FEES, PUNITIVE, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR OTHER DAMAGES. All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation, and enforceability of these Official Rules, or the rights and obligations of entrants and Sponsor(s) in connection with the Sweepstakes will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of state where the Sponsor is located as set forth below (“State”), without giving effect to any choice of law or conflict of law rules or provisions that would cause the application of the laws of any other jurisdiction. The state and federal courts located in the State will be the exclusive forum for any dispute relating to these Official Rules and/or this Sweepstakes. All entrants and winner(s) agree, by their participation in the Sweepstakes, to submit to the personal jurisdiction of the state and federal courts in the State and waive the right to sweepstakes jurisdiction.

Severability: If any provision(s) of these Official Rules are held to be invalid or unenforceable, all remaining provisions hereof will remain in full force and effect.

Winner List. For the name(s) of the winner(s), send request and a self-addressed stamped envelope to Sponsor at 1408 N. St. Mary’s San Antonio, TX 78215. Attn: Winner’s List, or request it online at help.ksat.com . Be sure to specify the name of the sweepstakes for which you are requesting the list of winner(s). Request must be postmarked after Sweepstakes Period and received by Sponsor no later than 60 days after the close of the Sweepstakes Period.

Sponsor/Administrator: KSAT 12, 1408 N. St. Mary’s Street, San Antonio, TX 78215

Co-Sponsor: HOOTERS, 9802 Ingram Rd, San Antonio, TX 78245

The Sweepstakes is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Instagram.

Alejandro Vasquez, 1, and Escarleth Vasquez, 15, were last seen at approximately 3 p.m. on May 9 in the 7000 block of Phoenix Path, which is located near Woodlake Parkway.

A DPS spokesperson said it “recently” received a request from the Texas Department of Family Services to locate the teenager and infant. After reviewing available information, DPS said its agents determined the mother and child were in “grave or immediate danger.”

Alejandro Vasquez is 2 feet, 10 inches tall, with black hair and brown eyes.

Escarleth Vasquez, of Honduras, is 5 feet 4 inches tall, with black hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a black hoodie and white sweatpants.

The two may be traveling in a red pickup truck, DPS said.

Escarleth Vasquez was recently in foster care, Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said in a Tuesday news conference. She abruptly left with a “strange” note, saying, “I’m leaving. Don’t call the authorities. Send all my stuff back to Honduras.”

The sheriff said in the early stages of the case, deputies did not believe an AMBER Alert was necessary.

Child Protective Services continued to work on the missing persons case and developed enough information to issue an AMBER Alert, Salazar said.

Salazar also mentioned that Alejandro Vasquez’s father is “currently incarcerated,” but the sheriff does not know where.

Anyone with information is urged to call 911 or contact DPS at 210-531-2284.

Deputies had responded to a report of an injured man around 6 p.m. Sunday in the 12200 block of U.S. Highway 181 southbound.

Upon arrival, BCSO said its deputies located a man, later identified as David Verdecanna, 60, dead at a business with apparent gunshot wounds.

At this time, it’s unclear what led to the gunfire. Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said Tuesday that Verdecanna’s wife had first found him inside the business.

According to the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office, Verdecanna’s cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head.

Salazar said the sheriff’s office does not know why Verdecanna was fatally shot.

Anyone with relevant information on the investigation is asked to contact BCSO at 210-335-6000. Tips can also be emailed to bcsotips@bexar.org .

“Any information, no matter how small, may be critical to this investigation,” the sheriff’s office said.

Read also:

• 3 dead after shooting in Midland, county sheriff says
• Couple identified in Stone Oak murder-suicide by medical examiner

Afghans make up one of the largest groups of migrants seeking asylum in the EU, but a growing number of governments in the 27-nation bloc want to speed up and increase deportations for those whose claims are rejected or who commit crimes in their host countries.

Abdul Qahar Balkhi, a spokesperson for the Taliban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, called the visit “historic," noting it was the first time a delegation from the Islamic Emirate held talks with the EU and EU nations in Brussels.

Balkhi, who led the delegation of five, said talks focused on “trust-building measures," the Taliban's diplomatic presence in the EU and a "dignified return process."

The meeting was held in an undisclosed location in the Belgian capital, where both the EU and NATO are headquartered.

The Commission said it co-chaired the meeting with Sweden and that representatives from 15 of the EU's 27 nations participated in discussions focused on easing deportations of criminals and security threats.

Rights groups say meeting could endanger Afghans in and out of Europe

Afghan authorities have imposed draconian restrictions on rights, particularly for women and girls, since the Taliban seized power in the country in 2021 in the wake of the chaotic withdrawal of U.S.-led forces.

Rights groups said Tuesday's meeting undercuts the EU’s human rights obligations and could endanger people in Europe and Afghanistan.

“Any engagement with the Taliban needs to prioritize protecting human rights and accountability — not deporting people to danger there,” said Fereshta Abbasi, a researcher at Human Rights Watch. “EU countries are undermining their credibility by condemning Taliban abuses and pursuing accountability on one hand, while cooperating with the Taliban to forcibly return Afghans on the other.”

With not a single EU nation recognizing the Taliban, the meeting in Brussels symbolizes a small crack in the group’s diplomatic isolation since seizing power five years ago. Most nations around the world — including the entire EU — cut off diplomatic relations at the time. The Taliban has been quietly expanding its access to diplomatic missions in Europe ever since.

Afghan activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai said Monday that she was “deeply shaken” that the EU was talking with the Taliban.

“Europe must not legitimise a regime responsible for one of the worst human rights crises in the world. Any engagement with the Taliban must begin and end with the rights of Afghan women and girls,” she wrote on X.

Members of the Taliban delegation were issued visas after security screening with limited territorial validity, giving them 24 hours in Belgium and no access to other countries in the Schengen border-free travel zone.

Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot said Belgium complied with EU requests to grant the Taliban delegates visas.

“Making a meeting possible in the framework of our host-state policy does not amount to recognition, does not amount to legitimacy, and does not constitute an invitation by the Belgian government,” Prévot said in a statement.

Since neither Belgium nor the EU officially recognizes the Taliban government, the meeting did not take place at official sites belonging to either.

The drive to increase deportations from EU grows stronger

A spokesperson for the European Commission said the meeting was a response to pressure from a clear majority of the 27 EU member states — 20 of whom signed a letter in October calling for stronger migration policies, including a ramp-up of deportations.

Spokesperson Markus Lammert said the Commission had been asked to coordinate “technical talks” on returns.

“This does not mean recognition," he said.

While it was the first meeting of the Taliban in the EU, the first meeting between the two sides was held in Afghanistan in January when the Commission sent a mission to Kabul. It also maintains staff there.

The October letter was drafted in part by Belgian Migration Minister Anneleen Van Bossuyt, who said then that “we can no longer afford a standstill. It is high time for a firm and joint approach, so that Europe can regain control over migration and security.”

Bossuyt said that across the EU, only 2% of the 22,870 Afghans told to return had done so.

Afghanistan faces an increasingly dire situation

Afghanistan has been dealing with the return of about 3 million Afghans from Pakistan and Iran in the past year alone, all of whom have pretty much been forcibly repatriated from those two countries. That has exacerbated a humanitarian disaster in Afghanistan, which is already reeling from food and economic crises, including biting sanctions.

Afghan Taliban authorities have imposed draconian restrictions on women and girls, including bans on education beyond primary school and on working in all but very few professions, as well as strict regulations on what women are allowed to wear in public.

“The desperate scenes of people — including EU staff — fleeing Afghanistan are a recent memory. It is unconscionable that the EU would now try and deport people to Afghanistan, which has only become more dangerous in the meantime,” said Eve Geddie, Director of Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office.

Facing political pressure to toughen migration policies across the 27-nation bloc, the EU has recently passed deep reforms to its collective rules aiming to ramp up deportations — including allowing the setting up of so-called “return hubs,” increased domestic surveillance capabilities, tighter border controls, and engagement with the Taliban government.

With Afghanistan facing food shortages and economic collapse, the Taliban government is in need of humanitarian aid and hopes to lessen its international economic and political isolation.

___

Afghan reported from Kabul. Associated Press writers Victoria Eastwood in Cairo, Suzan Fraser in Ankara, and Sylvain Plazy in Brussels contributed to this report.

KEY POINTS:

• Bexar County has been in perpetual drought for more than 4 years -- since January 2022
• 2026 has been the rainiest year so far in a decade
• Extreme and exceptional drought eliminated from Bexar County
• Medina Lake is at its highest levels in four years
• Edwards Aquifer at highest levels in more than two years

HEALTHY, STEADY RAIN

2026 started a bit dry, but since April 2, San Antonio has seen steady, consistent rain. In fact, the city hasn’t gone more than 7 days without measurable rainfall at the city’s official rain gauge, which is located at San Antonio International Airport. In total, 21.74 inches of rain has fallen, which is more than 6.5 inches above what is average for this year, so far. It’s the rainiest first half of the year since 2016 -- 10 years ago!

These rains, which have not only been heavy, but also consistent, come in stark contrast to the last few years which have featured below-average and inconsistent rain.

DROUGHT IMPROVEMENT

As of late June, our region is experiencing the least amount of drought since October 2024. But where you can see the most dramatic improvement is comparing the drought from early April, before our consistent rains, to now.

Check it out:

MEDINA LAKE

The last time Medina Reservoir was full was way back in July of 2019. Since then, lake levels have been in a nosedive, reaching it lowest point -- 2.2% full -- in July 2024.

With recent rain falling right over the small watershed for Medina Lake, the reservoir has risen over 13 feet. While it is still only 8.5% full, this is the highest level for the reservoir in nearly 4 years -- since August 2022.

EDWARDS AQUIFER

The J-17 well of the Edwards Aquifer has reported a below-average number every day since early 2022. In May 2025, the well recorded a low of 623.1′. That was the third-lowest all-time, falling behind June of 1990 and August of 1957.

Since our steady rains began in April, the aquifer is now up more than 22 feet, and at its highest levels since February 2024. Great news!

The aquifer is the primary source of water for millions of us around South Central Texas and the Hill Country. It’s a complicated system, but check out this KSAT Explains from Weather Authority Meteorologists Justin Horne and Sarah Spivey.

COMAL SPRINGS

Comal Springs is also seeing great improvement from recent rain. It’s currently flowing at 187 cfs, still below the average, but the highest since early 2024.

CANYON LAKE

Unfortunately, while Canyon Lake has experienced a small rise this year, it has not seen dramatic improvement from rain this year. It still stands at 61.7% full. The largest, most recent improvement to Canyon Lake came after the devastating July 4, 2025 floods.

HOT SUMMER MONTHS AHEAD

While all of these rises in levels are great news, we have to take this all with a grain of salt: the hot, typically dry summer months are ahead. We could easily see these numbers dip soon.

But at least we’re in the best position before summer that we’ve been in a while, so we’ll take it.

Plus, we’re about to enter an El Nino winter, which favors more rain than average. We’ll keep you posted!

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• KSAT Connect: Share your weather photos.

Among the nine allegations outlined by the Texas Education Agency, Fields is accused of failing to report the abuse of a student by a certified educator, according to a document obtained by KSAT. Ryan is accused of threatening the superintendent and other trustees.

“I can confirm an investigation regarding Judson ISD. Because the matter remains active and ongoing, TEA cannot comment further,” a TEA spokesperson wrote in an email to KSAT.

A spokesperson for Judson ISD emailed KSAT saying the investigation conducted by TEA is “ongoing.”

“Therefore, it would not be appropriate for the District to comments on the allegations,” the spokesperson said. “Further, TEA specifically classifies these materials as confidential audit working papers and has advised that they are not subject to public release.”

TEA is investigating whether Ryan engaged in conduct that prevented trustees from exercising independent judgment, as well as took action that undermined Fields’ authority and interfered with administrative functions.

The state also alleges Fields failed to notify the school board of an active TEA investigation and a pending court case involving a principal’s failure to report child abuse.

Fields was terminated in April, which Ryan attributed to a failure to manage the district’s finances appropriately, allowing district academic ratings to decline, failing to report child abuse and more. Fields said those reasons were “fabricated” in a letter obtained by KSAT shortly after his termination.

TEA also said staff failed to report the abuse of a middle school student by a teacher to the Department of Family and Protective Services or local law enforcement.

School board trustees are also accused of engaging in off-site, non-public deliberations regarding decisions related to superintendent employment and interim leadership.

Judson ISD’s school board is scheduled to meet in a special board meeting Tuesday.

‘It is heartbreaking’

In a statement to KSAT on Tuesday, Ryan accused three Judson ISD board members of taking action against the district.

“It is heartbreaking for our community to watch three board members take actions against their own district and appear more willing to see Judson ISD subjected to a TEA takeover than accept responsibility for the consequences of their actions—or inaction—from 2022 through 2025," Ryan said.

Ryan also said that board members continue to be involved “in personal and political attacks” that have already been investigated or ruled upon — a cycle that she says costs taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees.

“Unfortunately, some board members continue to engage in personal and political attacks, repeating unsubstantiated allegations that have already been independently investigated and resolved or already ruled on by the court,” Ryan said.

Ryan’s full statement can be read below:

It is heartbreaking for our community to watch three board members take actions against their own district and appear more willing to see Judson ISD subjected to a TEA takeover than accept responsibility for the consequences of their actions—or inaction—from 2022 through 2025. Those decisions contributed to a completely foreseeable financial crisis and a dramatic decline in academic performance, taking Judson ISD from a B-rated, improving district to a D-rated, deteriorating district.

What we have seen happen in Houston ISD, Fort Worth ISD, Beaumont ISD, and other districts across Texas is not something anyone should wish upon the students, families, and staff of Judson ISD.

The noise created by a few board members is intended to distract from the remarkable progress our Board and district administration have made over the last five months. We have right-sized the district and will be among the small number of districts across Texas passing a balanced budget for next year. We have realigned staffing and expenditures to better support students and campuses. We have nearly doubled the size of the incoming class at our nationally recognized Judson STEM Academy Middle School. Those successes—and many others—reflect a district that is moving forward with purpose and momentum, and some do not want that story to be told.

Unfortunately, some board members continue to engage in personal and political attacks, repeating unsubstantiated allegations that have already been independently investigated and resolved or already ruled on by the court. This constant cycle of accusations has cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees to repeatedly investigate claims from which I have already been cleared multiple times.

Every dollar spent relitigating the same unfounded allegations is a dollar that cannot be spent in our classrooms, on our campuses, or directly supporting students

Board President Monica Ryan

Read also:

• Judson ISD interim superintendent to resign after four months on job

Burnham is the strong front-runner to succeed Starmer, who announced Monday that he would step down within weeks after two years in office marred by missteps and judgment errors that eroded his standing with his party and the public.

Burnham, a former Cabinet minister who served since 2017 as mayor of Greater Manchester, won a special election last week for a seat in Parliament with the express aim of challenging Starmer for leadership of the Labour Party and the country.

Burnham’s chances got a big boost on Monday when former Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who was considered his main rival, announced his support.

Starmer and Burnham met Tuesday for the first time since last week's special election. Neither side released details of what was discussed. Burnham was also meeting Labour lawmakers as he seeks to build momentum for his bid.

The U.K. parliamentary system allows governing parties to change leaders — and thus prime ministers — without the need for a national election. The next general election doesn't have to be held until 2029.

Nominations for the Labour leadership will open on July 9 and close a week later. If Burnham is the only contender, he could be prime minister by July 17. If there is a contest, the winner should be in place by the time Parliament returns from its summer break on Sept. 1.

Starmer told the weekly meeting of his Cabinet on Tuesday that he will try to make the transition to his successor as easy as possible. He told ministers that he wants an “orderly transition” and for whoever replaces him to succeed, his office said.

He is also keeping up a busy schedule, trying not to look like a lame duck during his final days in office. But while Starmer wants to carry on with business as usual, he’s not allowed to make new major policy announcements or spending commitments during what remains of his time in office.

The European Union says a key U.K.-EU summit scheduled for July 22 will be postponed because of the uncertainty in Britain.

The British government is still expected to publish a long-awaited defense investment plan — which sparked the resignation of Defense Secretary John Healey on June 11 — before a NATO summit in Turkey on July 7 and 8 that Starmer is likely to attend.

Burnham's economic plans aren't yet known

Burnham was a popular mayor of Greater Manchester, overseeing a period of rapid regeneration for the city in northern England where the Industrial Revolution was forged. He has pledged to repeat his signature brand of “Manchesterism” on a national scale.

Many Labour members hope Burnham’s people skills and charisma can connect with the public more than the stolid, managerial Starmer could ever do.

But Burnham's policies in many areas are unknown and untested. Some Labour lawmakers want to see a party election contest where he would face public debate and scrutiny.

Burnham is expected to make a speech next week outlining some of his economic plans.

Former Armed Forces Minister Al Carns, who quit this month to protest what he saw as inadequate defense spending, said that “we need to have a clear and concise discussion about what this country wants to be.”

He has suggested that he might run for the leadership, but told broadcaster ITV that “I’m not ready to make a decision on this in any way, shape or form.”

Others have suggested Darren Jones, a senior Cabinet minister and Starmer ally, should run, though he has yet to comment.

Potential candidates need the support of at least 81 Labour lawmakers, a fifth of the parliamentary party, to run.

Many argue that a leadership contest will only focus attention on the party’s internal divisions and extend a period of political uncertainty.

Starmer won a landslide but stumbled in office

Starmer resigned on Monday after a weekend considering his future, acknowledging that the Labour Party no longer thinks “I am best placed to lead us into the next general election.”

He was the sixth prime minister in a decade to stand outside No. 10 Downing St. and announce a departure. It comes as Britain marks the 10th anniversary of its vote to leave the European Union, a decision that still roils the country’s economy and politics.

After weeks of insisting that he would fight to keep his job, Starmer conceded to growing pressure to hand over to a new leader who can try and revive the government’s flagging fortunes. He led Labour to a landslide election victory in July 2024, but his popularity and that of the party have plummeted since then.

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

Labour is losing liberal voters to the growing Green Party and facing a rising Reform UK, the Nigel Farage -led anti-immigration party that consistently leads in nationwide opinion polls.

When doors flung open, Sharpton entered to a standing ovation that continued until he was perched behind a lectern, on a stage decorated with a floor-to-ceiling video screen.

The audience was not anticipating a call for justice. Instead, the rabble-rousing youth minister turned go-to national advocate was there to declare his organization was officially an owner, no longer a renter, in the historically Black Harlem neighborhood it has called home for more than two decades.

“I want to make something permanent,” Sharpton said recently to the gathered crowd of NAN board members, local clergy and other allies. “When people see that you’ve bought a building, they say, ‘Wait a minute, they’re not going nowhere.’”

NAN’s new permanent home is the former Faison Firehouse Theater on Hancock Place, near the intersection of 124th Street and Manhattan Avenue. George Faison, a Tony Award-winning choreographer known for his work in the original 1970s Broadway staging of “The Wiz,” had bought the firehouse in 1999 and converted it into a community theater.

When Faison had a choice between selling the former firehouse in the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood to a large developer or selling it to NAN, he chose the latter, according to Sharpton.

“I’m 71 years old — if I was just trying to do it as an Al Sharpton personal fan club, I could just keep renting,” Sharpton told The Associated Press during an interview in his new private office, with large windows overlooking central Harlem.

“I’m buying it to show I want this to be an institution. I want it to last beyond me.”

Although the renovation is structurally complete and its rooms are functional, Sharpton said he expects his weekly Saturday rallies to resume in the new headquarters this summer.

From renting to owning

Founded in 1991, NAN began meeting at P.S. 175, a Manhattan elementary school, during the tenure of the late David Dinkins, New York City’s first Black mayor. Next, NAN rented a space at 125th Street and Madison Avenue. In 2006, Sharpton moved NAN into a rented space at 145th Street and Malcolm X Boulevard, where it operated until January.

NAN's headquarters had been named the “House of Justice” by his late mentor, the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr.

Often organizing from his Harlem headquarters, Sharpton became known staging direct-action protests on behalf of Black men killed, brutalized or persecuted by police in New York City: Abner Louima, Amadou Diallo, the exonerated men formerly known as the Central Park Five, and Eric Garner, among others.

“Harlem means home,” Sharpton told the AP.

The new NAN headquarters now carries the name “House of Justice Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Workshop,” following the multimillion dollar purchase and renovation of its five floors. Sharpton said he will invite artists to hold salons, poetry readings and jazz nights, as a callback to the Black cultural and intellectual movement of the Harlem Renaissance.

Looking out at his supporters during the invite-only reception for the new space, Sharpton reflected not just on the NAN’s past, but on the current cultural and political environment.

“We are in trouble,” he said in reference to redistricting fights set off by a recent Supreme Court decision on the Voting Rights Act and the rolling back of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

“We don’t have, in my opinion, the luxury of not nailing down and working together,” Sharpton said.

Building on decades of local and national activism

Over the years, the NAN headquarters has become a “can’t skip” campaign stop for Democratic candidates seeking everything from the presidency and Congress to state and local offices. On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the House of Justice is typically standing room only for the dignitaries who show up.

After the death of his childhood hero James Brown in 2006, the horse drawn carriage carrying the Godfather of Soul’s golden casket stopped outside NAN’s 145th Street headquarters.

The organization’s weekly Saturday rallies have also been a venue for families grieving loss through police violence, or for celebrities to speak out and unfairness in the entertainment industry.

Ashley Sharpton, the youngest of the reverend’s two daughters, grew up around the House of Justice. She and her older sister, Dominique Sharpton-Bright, were there on the day the late pop icon Michael Jackson visited and spoke at the invitation of their dad.

“The magic was palpable,” Ashley recalled.

Now, as founder and director of NAN’s youth initiatives, Ashley feels deeper stake in the organization’s future.

“It’s time for us to step in and take ownership, literally, of what is needed to maintain the legacy, and to continue the fight,” she told the AP.

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Morrison is AP’s race and ethnicity news editor.

Babcock is now in charge of trying to get Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl a Stanley Cup championship after two of the best hockey players in the league have fallen short over the past decade.

D.J. Smith, who was most recently the interim replacement in Los Angeles after Jim Hiller was fired and ran the bench in Ottawa from 2019-23, was named an associate coach. Smith was an assistant under Babcock in Toronto.

Babcock has not coached a game in the league since being fired by the Maple Leafs 23 games into the 2019-20 season.

Babcock, 63, has championship experience from coaching Detroit to the Cup in 2008. He made two other trips to the final, with Anaheim in ‘03 and when the Red Wings went again in ’09 and lost to Pittsburgh. He also guided Canada to back-to-back Olympic goal medals in 2010 and '14.

Babcock also brings baggage.

He stepped down from the Blue Jackets' job before training camp in September 2023 after taking the job on July 1. At the time, Babcock’s requests for personal photos from players in an attempt to get to know them drew criticism as an invasion of privacy.

When word emerged that Edmonton was interested in hiring Babcock, the NHL Players' Association asked the league to review what happened three years ago. The NHL in a statement said it found nothing to prevent him from being employed by a team.

Former players have spoken out about Babcock's old-school tendencies that some say can be considered bullying.

A report surfaced after the Maple Leafs fired Babcock that he had asked Mitch Marner to share his ranking of teammates from hardest- to least-hardest working and then shared that with the rest of the group. Former Red Wings player Johan Franzen told a Swedish outlet that Babcock was the worst person he had ever met and said at one point he was terrified to go to the rink.

Retired defenseman Mike Commodore, who played for Babcock briefly in 2011 in Detroit, spoke out this spring.

“I don’t want to hear another word about how important mental health is for us when you literally just paved the way, cleared the way for Mike Babcock to get another opportunity in the NHL and put him in another position of power where he can abuse people,” Commodore said on the “Clearing the Crease” podcast.

Daniel Winnik, who played for Babcock in 2015-16 with the Leafs, last week called him “the only guy that's ever made me hate hockey.”

“I just hated coming to the rink,” Winnik said on TSN 1050 radio in Toronto. "He's just a bully."

Kris Knoblauch, who coached Edmonton to consecutive trips to the Cup final in 2024 and ’25, was fired May 14 — a decision announced after news leaked that the Oilers had been denied permission by division rival Vegas to interview 2023 Cup-winning coach Bruce Cassidy, whom the Golden Knights fired on March 30 with eight games left in the regular season. Cassidy remains under contract for one more year.

The Oilers instead turned to Babcock, whose 700 regular season and 90 playoff victories rank 12th and 10th, respectively, in NHL history.

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

The Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country told Kerr County commissioners on Monday that many of the survivors it is working with still need permanent homes.

Only 138 of 641 families have had their cases closed, the foundation said. The organization has 32 case managers working to connect families with assistance.

Austin Dickson, executive director of the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country, told commissioners that millions of dollars in donated funds have helped families recover, access mental health services and purchase equipment for first responders.

Dickson asked that commissioners push and act quickly on the community’s behalf to receive access to state and federal funds.

Some survivors say more help is needed. A group called the Guadalupe River Resource Community is asking commissioners to do more to provide state and federal recovery money to residents.

The group is also calling on the county to create a bilingual, centralized recovery resource website for victims. Members said the county has not done enough to connect survivors with available outside funding.

“Many are still waiting for permanent housing,” said Juliette Weldon with the Guadalupe River Resource Community. “We ask the county to work with state and federal partners to extend rental (assistance), including past-due and future rent.”

The group said it wants an answer from commissioners by Monday.

Recovery and rebuilding efforts have been led in part by two nonprofits, Kerr Together and Rebuild Kerr.

The Community Foundation is expected to give a final one-year wrap-up of its recovery work Tuesday. KSAT will provide updates throughout online and on-air.

A special report on the Hill Country recovery efforts is scheduled to air on KSAT on July 3.

More Hill Country flood coverage on KSAT:

• TAKEAWAYS: State lawmakers’ final report into deadly Camp Mystic floods
• Nonprofits team up to restore Guadalupe River after deadly Fourth of July floods

The justices ruled that American courts are the wrong forum for the suits, rejecting arguments made by the plaintiffs that the suits should go forward under the 18th-century Alien Tort Statute (ATS) and the Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA), first enacted in 1991.

The decision was the latest to rule against plaintiffs seeking to use U.S. courts as a venue to seek justice over the acts of foreign governments, especially those that took place abroad.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote in her majority opinion that the justices “close the door” that the court slightly opened in 2004 when it suggested that some human-rights claims might be viable under the ATS. “In truth, this class is a null set,” Barrett wrote, while acknowledging such cases “frequently involve heinous and inhumane acts.”

Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in dissent that the court “closes the courthouse doors not just to respondents, but to virtually every future litigant seeking redress for a violation of international law under the ATS.”

Falun Gong members had sought to overcome the court's skepticism by arguing that a substantial portion of Cisco’s activities involving China took place in the United States.

An Associated Press investigation last year showed that American tech companies, to a large degree, designed and built China’s surveillance state, encouraged by both Republican and Democratic administrations, even as activists warned such tools were being used to quash dissent, persecute religious groups and target minorities. Last month, AP won the Pulitzer Prize in international reporting for its stories.

In 2008, documents leaked to the press showed Cisco saw the “Golden Shield,” China’s internet censorship effort, as a sales opportunity. The company quoted a Chinese official calling the Falun Gong an “evil cult.” A Cisco presentation reviewed by the AP from the same year said its products could identify over 90% of Falun Gong material on the web.

Other presentations reviewed by the AP show that Cisco represented Falun Gong material as a “threat” and built out a national information system to track Falun Gong believers. In 2011, Falun Gong members sued Cisco, alleging the company tailored technology for Beijing that it knew would be used to track, detain and torture believers.

At arguments in April, Sotomayor said Cisco “knew that those people will be tortured.” A lawyer for the company said, “Cisco vigorously disputes those allegations.”

A small fly has the potential to impart a big impact on Texas’ beef and agricultural industry.

On June 3, the New World screwworm was detected in a three-week-old calf in Zavala County by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Since then, the agency reported more screwworm infestations in Texas.

The fly poses a multibillion-dollar crisis for the state’s cattle industry, which generates $41 billion a year. It could also increase already record-high beef prices nationwide.

It’s unclear how many cases could hit Texas. Nearly 28,000 cases have been detected in Mexico since November 2024, according to Mexican officials.

State and federal officials are working together to stop the northern migration, which they have tracked since 2023. In response to the cases, USDA and the Texas Animal Health Commission have ramped up animal surveillance of animals near the confirmed detections by setting up zones around each infestation. Animals are not allowed to leave infested areas without being properly inspected.

Officials are also increasing fly traps, surveillance of wildlife and releasing sterile flies, which are used to break the reproduction cycle of the parasitic screwworm fly.

What is New World Screwworm?

New World Screwworm is a parasitic fly that is attracted to living tissue, burrowing their larvae into open wounds. After they hatch, the maggots then feed off that living flesh, causing damage to the animal. If untreated, the damage can even cause the animal to die.

Screwworm can also burrow through openings in the skin, such as the corner of an eye or through the nose.

From a biological standpoint, all mammals are vulnerable to screwworm, including pets and humans. However, livestock and wildlife tend to be the most susceptible because they spend their entire lives outdoors.

Dogs and cats are vulnerable through small wounds or scratches that break the skin. Health officials recommend pets be medicated for fleas and ticks year-round, said Casey Locklear, veterinarian and parasiticides lead for Elanco Animal Health.

“As a pet owner, if you were to notice that your dog or cat had a wound, especially if it’s foul smelling, it’s enlarging, you may actually see the maggots,” Locklear said. “If you see a wound, get treatment early. Whether that’s for yourself or your pet, early treatment is key.”

Read more about the screwworm here.

The Wizards have the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft on Tuesday night, with AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson and Cameron Boozer among the options after strong freshman seasons in college.

The buzz is just winding down in New York after the Knicks won their first championship since 1973 by beating the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals. The team's championship parade was held last week, a few miles from where the draft takes place at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, the home of the Nets.

And on the eve of the draft, Milwaukee and Miami agreed to a blockbuster deal that will send two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Heat, perhaps instantly creating another challenger for the Knicks.

The Wizards hope they can pick a player that will help them become one.

Washington's NBA title drought is almost as long as the Knicks' was, having last won in 1978 when the team was still known as the Bullets. The Wizards could go for Dybantsa, a forward who led the nation in scoring at BYU; or Peterson, a guard with tons of talent but some question marks after missing 11 games at Kansas with injuries and illness; or Boozer, a forward who was college basketball's player of the year at Duke.

Dybantsa hopes he's the choice, already picturing how he will feel after the sacrifices he said his family made to get him this far.

“Who knows, I might cry,” Dybantsa said.

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

The 6-3 decision was the second in as many months in favor of U.S. owners of Cuban property that was confiscated by the Communist government more than 65 years ago.

The outcome in the two cases could be an additional lever for the Trump administration to exert pressure on Cuba, which is already being squeezed by a U.S. oil embargo.

At issue was whether the 1996 law known as Helms-Burton removes the shield from lawsuits in U.S. courts that typically cover foreign countries and state-owned businesses. The justices reversed a lower-court ruling that found that the Cuban state-owned companies are immune from lawsuits in U.S. courts.

Exxon Mobil is seeking compensation for the confiscation of assets owned by subsidiaries of Standard Oil, Exxon Mobil’s predecessor, including more than 100 service stations and an oil refinery.

Last month, the court ruled in another case involving confiscated property in Cuba, reviving claims by the U.S. company that operated docks in Havana against four cruise lines that brought tourists to Cuba during the brief thaw in relations during the Obama administration. That case turned on the same section of Helms-Burton allowing lawsuits over seized property.

Congress passed the law in response to the 1996 downing of civilian planes flown by Miami-based exiles.

Title III of the law allows Americans to sue almost any company that engages in commercial activity or benefits from property confiscated by Cuba’s government.

Before the first Trump administration, every president had suspended the provision because of objections from U.S. allies doing business in Cuba and the effect on future negotiated settlements between the U.S. and Cuba.

But Trump lifted the suspension in 2019, and Exxon Mobil filed its lawsuit the same day.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote for the conservative majority that it “would make little sense” if the law allowed the president to decide whether suits can proceed against Cuban interests while also protecting them.

Justice Elena Kagan wrote in a dissent for the three liberals that the 1996 law simply contains no provision eliminating the sovereign immunity shield.

The U.S. Foreign Claims Settlement Commission, an arm of the Justice Department, said in 1969 that the value of Exxon Mobil's property in Cuba is $71.6 million, plus 6% annual interest beginning in 1960. That would be worth more than $1 billion today, Kavanaugh wrote.

In addition, the commission found that nearly 6,000 individuals and businesses held claims worth $1.9 billion, before adding in interest or damages.

Now the Bucks face the onerous challenge of retooling without the player who carried the team on his broad shoulders for over a decade.

The Bucks agreed on the eve of Tuesday’s draft to send Antetokounmpo along with forward Bobby Portis to the Miami Heat in exchange for Tyler Herro, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kel’el Ware and Kasparas Jakucionis, according to a person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the move had yet to receive the required league approval.

Milwaukee also gets the No. 13 selection in Tuesday’s draft along with a first-round pick swap in 2030, first-round picks in 2031 and 2033 and a second-rounder in 2033, the person said.

The move leaves the Bucks without one of the most beloved figures in Wisconsin sports. Milwaukee fans watched in awe as Antetokounmpo spent the last 13 seasons maturing from a skinny teenager into one of the top players on the planet.

Bucks coach Taylor Jenkins understood this was a possibility when he accepted the job in April following the departure of Doc Rivers.

“Naturally, we did talk about Giannis, the entire roster, developmental pathways for everyone you know, moving forward,” Jenkins said during his introductory news conference last month. “Because from the coaching lens, I've got to start formulating that, what we’re going to do, not just this offseason, but when we hit the ground running, you know, at the start of training camp. So naturally, (we) talked about that. Had great dialogue, full transparency.”

Replacing a beloved superstar

Antetokounmpo had spent his entire career with the Bucks, who selected the 18-year-old from Greece with the 15th pick in the 2013 draft. The nine-time all-NBA forward leads the Bucks in virtually every career statistical category, including points, rebounds, assists, blocks, games and minutes.

He won MVP awards in 2019 and 2020. Antetokounmpo came back from a knee hyperextension in the 2021 playoffs to earn NBA Finals MVP honors while scoring 50 points in the title-clinching Game 6 victory over the Phoenix Suns.

Antetokounmpo, 31, had signed multiple contract extensions to stay in Milwaukee and play in one of the NBA’s smallest markets. He was so appreciated for his loyalty that a mural of him — 53½ feet high and 56½ feet wide — appears on the side of a three-story building in downtown Milwaukee.

The Bucks made plenty of high-risk, high-reward moves in an attempt to keep Antetokounmpo happy and remain among the league’s top contenders. But the Bucks never got beyond the second round of the playoffs after winning that 2021 title due in part to injuries to Antetokounmpo and other key players. They're coming off a 32-50 season that snapped a string of nine straight playoff appearances.

Those big swings they took to remain competitive with Antetokounmpo will make it that much tougher for them to rebuild without him.

Facing possibility of a long rebuild

Even after making this blockbuster deal to recoup some draft capital, Milwaukee doesn’t have any first-round picks in 2027 or 2029.

The Bucks gave up multiple first-round picks in the 2020 trade that brought Jrue Holiday to Milwaukee and the 2023 deal in which they acquired Damian Lillard. Holiday played a key role in the Bucks’ 2021 title before leaving Milwaukee in the Lillard trade. Lillard was waived after tearing his Achilles in a 2025 first-round playoff loss to Indiana, a move that enabled the Bucks to sign former Pacers center Myles Turner.

That makes it imperative that the Bucks find major assets with their two lottery picks Tuesday, as they now pick 10th and 13th. That No. 10 pick represents their earliest selection since 2016, when they also went 10th and took Thon Maker.

The Bucks have one potential building block in guard Ryan Rollins, who turns 24 next month. Perhaps a new staff gets more from Turner, whose production dipped his first year in Milwaukee.

This trade gives Milwaukee an infusion of youth as it begins a new chapter.

Herro is a Milwaukee-area native and 2025 All-Star who has scored at least 20 points per game each of the last four seasons, though injuries limited the 26-year-old to 33 games in 2025-26.

Jaquez, 25, scored 15.4 points per game in a bench role this season. Ware is a 22-year-old, 7-footer. Jakucionis, 20, was the 20th pick in last year’s draft.

But this still represents a major transition for a team that had considered itself a legitimate contender as long as it had a healthy Antetokounmpo, who finished fourth or higher in the MVP balloting every year from 2019-25 before injuries limited him to a career-low 36 games this season.

This franchise has been through lean years before. The Bucks reached the Eastern Conference finals in 2001 but didn’t win another playoff series until returning to the East finals in 2019.

Longtime Bucks fans know the challenges that come after a superstar’s departure.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar led the Bucks to a 1971 title when he was known as Lew Alcindor and got them another conference championship in 1974 before requesting a trade. The Bucks sent Abdul-Jabbar to the Los Angeles Lakers in the summer of 1975, and they wouldn’t get back to the NBA Finals until that 2021 championship season.

Now the guy most responsible for that 2021 celebration also is leaving town.

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AP Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds in Miami contributed to this report.

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

The U.K. is about to get its seventh prime minister since June 23, 2016, a decade ago Tuesday, when the country voted 52%-48% to leave the EU after more than four decades of membership. Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron, who called the referendum but campaigned for the U.K. to stay in the bloc, quit the next day.

His successors have all grappled, largely unsuccessfully, with the consequences of that rupture. The latest is Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who announced Monday that he was stepping down after two years of a sluggish economy, malfunctioning government and a divided and jaded electorate — all legacies, at least in part, of Brexit.

Though the decision has faded from headlines, “the subterranean trace of Brexit” still runs through Britain’s increasingly unruly politics, said Chris Grey, an academic who has studied the fallout from Britain’s EU departure.

The Brexit campaign channeled discontent

Campaigners for Brexit promised that leaving the then-28 member political and economic bloc would let the U.K. “take back control” of its laws, economy and borders.

While the “remain” campaign focused largely on the economic downsides of exiting, the “leave” side was emotive.

“We can see the sunlit meadows beyond. I believe we would be mad not to take this once-in-a-lifetime chance to walk through that door,” Boris Johnson, a leading Brexit campaigner who later became prime minister, said a few weeks before the referendum.

Margaret MacMillan, emeritus professor of history at the University of Toronto, said Brexit was fueled by a bundle of motives including nostalgia “for an imagined past.”

“It was against what people saw as unrestricted immigration. It was against what they saw as EU regulations. And then there was this mix of nostalgia — ‘We fought alone in the Second World War.’ Which was of course not true.

“It was never clearly explained what Brexit might entail.”

Trying to make Brexit work made everyone unhappy

Hard reality soon collided with Brexiteers’ bold promises of immigration controls, trade deals, more money for public services and an end to complex regulations emanating from Brussels.

Acrimonious divorce talks dragged on for years. The U.K. formally left the bloc on Jan. 31, 2020, followed by an 11-month transition period until the final split.

Prime Minister Theresa May, Cameron’s successor, quit in 2019 after failing to find exit terms acceptable to a divided Parliament.

Johnson succeeded May and promised to “get Brexit done,” and managed to secure a bare-bones trade deal after negotiations that left U.K.-EU relations in the deep freeze.

He was ousted by the Conservative Party in mid-2022 after mounting financial and ethical scandals. His replacement, Liz Truss, lasted just 49 days in office. Her successor, Rishi Sunak, thawed the frosty EU relationship without making major changes.

Starmer promised a “reset, ” but refused to consider rejoining the bloc’s frictionless single market, which was free of tariffs and other trade barriers.

As he hands over power, Brexit remains unfinished business.

Political parties have fractured

Historian Anthony Seldon said Cameron called the referendum hoping it would end arguments about relations with Europe that had riven the Conservative Party. It didn’t.

“The people who obsessed about it still obsess about it. Britain’s problems have continued,” Seldon told Times Radio.

During the divorce negotiations, Conservatives who wanted a softer Brexit and closer ties with the EU were pushed out of the party by the triumphant Brexiteer faction.

Labour, though much more pro-EU, also has an internal division between those who want to get closer to the bloc or even rejoin, and senior leaders like Starmer who want to avoid reopening old wounds.

A decade on, millions of voters have deserted the two big parties for alternatives including the left-leaning Green Party and the hard-right Reform UK led by Nigel Farage.

Farage has arguably been the biggest political winner from Brexit. He campaigned for the divorce then complained it had been betrayed. His anti-immigration message has shifted from focusing on Polish plumbers to asylum seekers in dinghies. His party consistently leads opinion polls.

Cynicism and political violence have grown

The economy has struggled in the past decade, with businesses facing new barriers to trade with Britain's closest neighbors, though Brexit is not the only cause of low growth. The COVID-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war and the Iran war also played a part.

Through it all, “we just haven’t had politicians who’ve been upfront with the public about the fact that when they get into power, they won’t be able to have no increases in taxes, no increases in debt, and better public services all in the same breath,” said Hannah White, director of the Institute for Government think tank.

“And so people are disappointed.”

Brexit failed to ease debate about immigration, which has only become more heightened, regardless of the numbers. Net migration rose after Brexit to more than 900,000 in 2023 before falling to 171,000 last year.

Cynicism has grown and trust in politicians has plunged. In recent years, agitators have fueled anti-immigration street violence following crimes committed by, or falsely reported to have been committed by, immigrants.

In the past, Britain had a firm barrier “between the conventional dominant politics of talk and argument, and what was seen as beyond the pale: violence on the streets,” Grey said. “I think that boundary is being eroded. And I think that did to some large extent begin with Brexit.”

Regrets? The UK has had a few

Polls suggest a degree of “Bregret” about Britain's choice a decade ago, with a recent Ipsos survey finding 52% of people in the U.K. would like to rejoin the EU while 33% oppose it.

Hundreds of people, many waving blue and yellow EU flags, marched through London on Saturday on a “rejoin” march. It was a much smaller turnout than the mass protests on both sides at the height of the Brexit drama. Many people just want to move on.

But Brexit remains a minefield that politicians fear to enter. Even if Britain wanted to rejoin, it would be a long road back to a wary EU.

Grey said that until politicians are willing to face the legacy of Brexit, Britain faces an “undertow of low-grade crisis.”

He likened the U.K. to a person with a nagging illness that saps their energy.

“A chronic thing, in this case perhaps not incurable,” he said. “But it’s just that they don’t fancy going to the doctor because they know it’s not going to be very nice.”

Her unapologetically expansive, left-wing agenda includes subsidized or even free childcare, increased down payment assistance for homebuyers and community resources to reduce crime, plus a promise to aggressively confront President Donald Trump's attempts to reshape the nation's capital.

“People are tired of hearing what government can’t do. They want to hear what government can do,” Lewis George said in an interview before the city's primary, where she defeated her Democratic opponents and positioned herself to win the general election in November in a city dominated by Democrats.

Lewis George's victory signals a break with a quarter-century of centrist governance in Washington, and it puts her in the vanguard of democratic socialists who have ascended in urban politics over the last year. Zohran Mamdani toppled Andrew Cuomo, the scion of a political dynasty, on his way to becoming New York City mayor. Katie Wilson won an upset victory to lead Seattle last fall. And this month, Nithya Raman clinched a spot in the November runoff against Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.

All of them are members of the Democratic Socialists of America, or DSA. The political organization has seen its membership ranks swell from a few thousand to more than 100,000 nationwide over the last decade after an influx of younger Americans joined following the presidential bids of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, also a self-described democratic socialist.

There's little sign of national coordination among the candidates, and it’s unclear whether voters are gravitating toward their promises of improved government services, their vows to fight the Trump administration or their critiques of capitalism.

But from coast to coast, confrontational progressives are advancing in mayoral races. City leaders can draw outsized attention for their successes and failures, and democratic socialists will be under pressure from residents to deliver on their vows for a new kind of governance. Whether that translates to national politics is a next test for their movement.

“They are all channeling a displeasure with a status quo and a serious desire for economic populism that the establishment Democratic Party hasn't been preaching,” said Eric Stern, a Democratic strategist with Fight Agency, a political consulting firm that strategized Mamdani's mayoral campaign.

Stern added that Democratic voters appeared more willing to support the most progressive candidate in mayoral races rather than in contests for the U.S. House. Candidates like Mamdani and Raman, Stern said, are “daring voters to dream and fall in love not just with the individual candidates but also the political process as a whole.”

A rising left navigates America's urban challenges

The trend of progressives surging in urban areas may have limits for its broader impact on Democratic politics. Democratic mayors in cities including Atlanta, Houston, Miami and San Francisco won on relatively moderate platforms in recent years.

Progressive have also faced noteworthy challenges. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson was supported by the city council’s democratic socialists during his 2023 mayoral run and later appointed democratic socialists to key positions. But he has since faced criticism from both moderate and liberal local leaders on issues such as immigration, the local budget and public safety. Recalls and public pressure ousted progressives elected to district attorney offices in multiple jurisdictions over the last five years, when criminal justice reform efforts ran into dissatisfaction over public disorder following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trump's hardline immigration and law enforcement tactics have also become a challenge for liberal cities. The president's agenda poses an especially serious threat to Washington, D.C., because of its status as a federal territory.

“Maybe we take back Washington and run it on a federal basis,” Trump told reporters this month when asked about the potential election of a democratic socialist as the district's mayor. “We won’t put up with it.”

But progressives hope the current wave of anti-Trump furor in deep blue cities across the country will help buoy the chances of those on the hard left.

“It’s not folks looking for the leftmost option so much as looking for a candidate who’s gonna be on their side,” said Ravi Mangla, speaking for the left-wing Working Families Party. The party often endorses the same candidates as the DSA and is readying to target more mayoral offices in the country's biggest metropolises this fall and in 2028.

“It’s less about whether you are on the right or on the left so much as whether you are willing to punch up at the powerful,” he added.

Mamdani and Lewis George are both self-described “sewer socialists” who emphasize the need for responsive government services rather than critiques of market economics. The phrase recalls the socialist Gilded Age mayors whom critics derided as too preoccupied with managing public works projects.

The term's revival is partly a strategic move to align leftist ideas with concerns over affordability and the economy, voters' top concern in the midterm elections, and shift the public perception of democratic socialists from firebrands who support radical policies to independent-minded public servants.

“This is absolutely a change election and I’m excited to bring the change that people want, which is really putting people first in the city and having the moral clarity and courage to stand up to Trump,” Lewis George said.

For voters the ‘socialist’ label did not seem to matter

While conservatives have used the “socialist” label to attack Democrats as extreme or incompetent, some D.C. voters appeared ambivalent before Tuesday's primary.

Several lifelong residents said they believed Lewis George was a “fighter” but didn't think she'd have much of an impact on the local economy, given the city's status as a federal district.

“I go back and forth on my own labels and whether I am supportive of that movement or not, but I am supportive of making D.C. more affordable,” Owen Fitzgerald, a University of Maryland graduate student, said of his support for democratic socialism.

Fitzgerald voted for Lewis George because she would stand up to Trump and said he'd first learned of her campaign from friends in his neighborhood. But he didn't know she was a democratic socialist until he saw news reports describing her with the label.

“It sends a cultural message to this administration that the people who are surrounding them in the capital are opposed to their platform, opposed to their political agenda, and I think that it will send a message, both nationally and internationally,” Fitzgerald said.

___

This story has been updated to correct that Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson was not endorsed by the Chicago chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. He was supported by the city council’s democratic socialists during his 2023 mayoral run.

Tehran and Washington clashed over the Strait of Hormuz again this past weekend. Citing Israel's latest attacks on Lebanon, Iran declared that it reclosed the strait. The U.S. was quick to contest that. Maritime tracking data showed that dozens of ships passed through on Saturday and Sunday, though far fewer than the daily average before the war.

President Donald Trump suggested the U.S. might impose its own tolls on strait crossings if a final deal with Iran was not reached during the countries’ 60-day negotiating period. Passage was free before the war, but Iran last month established a new governmental authority to collect money from ships and has said it still expects vessels to register with the Persian Gulf Strait Authority.

No one country owns the Strait of Hormuz, which borders both Iran and Oman. Last week's memorandum of understanding allowed Iran to manage the strait for now while holding discussions with Oman and six other Gulf states “to define the future administration and maritime services” of the waterway. Iran agreed not to charge transiting vessels tolls for 60 days.

Legal experts and maritime associations have repeatedly stressed that a toll regime would upend decades of international trade precedent involving the world's waters. If the U.S. and Iran cement a final deal, analysts say it could take months for the flow of oil, natural gas, fertilizer and other commodities to return to prewar levels.

Here's a closer look at the status of the Strait of Hormuz:

Ships are moving but not at the prewar pace

Data and analytics company Kpler said its tracking confirmed 131 ships traveled through the strait between Friday and Monday, including 39 crossings on Monday. In contrast, about 100 to 130 vessels a day made the journey before the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran in late February, and Tehran responded with its own attacks and effective closure of the waterway.

As part of the provisional Iran-U.S. framework, Iran said it would conduct demining work within 30 days and remove “technical and military obstacles” to shipping. Iran's lead negotiator and parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, told Iranian state media Monday that his country would manage the strait in accordance with international maritime law.

The main central route of the Strait of Hormuz is still mined and remains closed. Ships have been using the smaller northern route, which goes through Iranian waters, and the southern route, which goes through Omani waters. But “caution is still clear” in the many vessels either sticking to Iran's prescribed route or trying to conceal their positions and identities by keeping their transponders off, Kpler said.

Both Iran and US have threatened tolls

Early in the war, Iran threatened to attack ships that tried to use the Strait of Hormuz without its approval and began vetting vessels in a pay-to-pass scheme that shipping analysts dubbed the “tollbooth.” Iran also demanded in early April the right to collect tolls as a precondition for relinquishing its chokehold on the strait.

Although the Trump administration imposed sanctions on the Persian Gulf Strait Authority late last month to oppose what Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described as Tehran's attempt to extort global maritime trade, the president on Saturday suggested the U.S. could impose its own tolls for “services rendered as the Guardian Angel to the countries of the Middle East.”

The administration has not provided details on how the U.S. would apply any charges on ships if talks with Iran do not yield a completed agreement. Shipping analysts have expressed surprise at how much control over the strait the inital agreement gave Iran.

“Almost all the power goes into Iran to determine the arrangements going forward in the future. This is what we really need clarity on,” said Philip Belcher, marine director of Intertanko, a trade group for independent tanker owners, said Thursday.

Experts say tolls would violate maritime law

Collecting tolls in the strait could violate an enduring principle of international maritime trade: freedom of peaceful navigation. The concept was codified by the United Nations’ Convention on the Law of the Sea, which took effect in 1994.

The treaty provides ships the right of unimpeded “transit passage” through more than 100 straits worldwide, including the Strait of Hormuz. It only applies to natural waterways, so authorities can charge fees for ships to traverse man-made waterways such as the Panama Canal and the Suez Canal.

Oman is among the more than 170 countries that have ratified the U.N. convention, but the U.S. and Iran are not. Maritime associations have argued that all nations remain subject to the treaty's provisions.

James Kraska, a U.S. Naval War College professor of international maritime law, notes that the U.S. and Iran are both members of the International Maritime Organization, the U.N. agency that oversees safety and security measures in international shipping. Both countries also are parties to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, a treaty that governs standards for building and operating ships.

In straits like Hormuz, fees can only be applied at established ports of entry or for services specifically requested by a ship, such as specialized navigation aid through hazardous areas, according to Kraska, who is also a visiting professor at Harvard Law School..

“If Iran wants to apply those to everybody, then it has to adjust the traffic separation scheme rules, and that can only be done through the member states of the International Maritime Organization,” he said.

“You can't impose fees for a ship exercising its right of transit passage,” Kraska added. “So the bottom line is, no — fees in this context are just not lawful.”

Countries sometimes have joined forces to share the costs of maintaining of a strait, he noted. For example, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore worked with the International Maritime Organization and later other countries to develop such an agreement for the Strait of Malacca, but it involved negotiated contributions from the states using the passage, not fees on individual ships.

Disruptions could continue for months ahead

Conditions in the Strait of Hormuz have escalated or deteriorated quickly over the course of the war. While the outlook for shipping has improved since the U.S. and Iran pledged to extend their ceasefire, “there is a degree of nervousness around the situation,” said Marcus Baker, the global head of marine, cargo and logistics at insurance brokerage and risk management company Marsh.

“As far as the insurance position is concerned, there’s a good deal of support for ship owners that are trying to move out” during this period, but the interim deal between Iran and the U.S. does not include language for keeping the strait toll-free beyond the negotiating window, Baker said.

“We’ll see what the next six weeks brings us,” he said.

More than 60,000 people are expected to be in attendance, and Ye said the concert will be one of the most well-attended in the venue’s history. Roughly 50,000 tickets have already been sold, according to the City of San Antonio.

Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai and Precinct 3 Commissioner Grant Moody released statements Monday after Jones called for the concert to be canceled in a social media post Saturday.

“I do not condone the hateful speech and antisemitic messages by rapper Kanye West, also known as Ye,” Sakai said. “These hateful words and actions have no place here and we must call it out.”

Ye has been criticized over the last several years for antisemitic actions, including saying “I’m going death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE” in a 2022 social media post and releasing a song titled “Heil Hitler.”

In January, Ye took out a full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal to apologize for his previous behavior, attributing it to a brain injury and bipolar disorder. In the letter, he said he is not a Nazi nor an antisemite.

It was not his first apology, however. Ye previously apologized for his actions in 2023, but later took it back in 2025.

Ye’s letter in The Wall Street Journal was published two months prior to the release of his 12th studio album, “Bully.”

Since the album’s release, Ye performed two sold-out shows at SoFi Stadium near Los Angeles and in front of nearly 40,000 fans in the Netherlands.

However, other concerts in France, Italy and the United Kingdom were canceled after European leaders took action or considered taking action against the rapper.

Regarding the issue of free speech, Moody said that the First Amendment works both ways.

“Kanye West has the right to free speech, but I have an obligation to denounce his outrageous, hate-filled rants,” Moody said. “We should never provide a public platform to, or allow the use of public property by, a Holocaust denier and well-known antisemite like Kanye West.”

Ye’s San Antonio performance will follow two scheduled shows next week at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., asked the Tampa Sports Authority to reconsider holding the concert, arguing that taxpayer funds would be used to give Ye a platform.

Jones echoed those statements with Texas Public Radio on Monday, when asked whether the city may have to take additional security measures at the cost of taxpayers.

“I think there’s a long list of considerations that, quite frankly, this unfortunate incident has identified in terms of understanding what is right to host at a city-funded facility,” Jones said.

In a statement to social media, District 2 Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez said he has heard estimates that the concert could generate around $1.7 million in revenue.

“While that may be true, not all money is good money,” McKee-Rodriguez said.

The councilman said he understands people calling for a cancellation, but “at the same time, we should be honest that decisions made in moments of urgency can set long-term precedents.”

“Any response must be grounded in clear, consistent standards that cannot be selectively applied,” he said.

Live Nation said it neither booked nor promoted Ye’s July 4 performance. However, the performance is listed on Live Nation’s website, and tickets are being sold through its ticketing platform Ticketmaster, which is the venue’s ticketing partner.

Therefore, it appears the decision of whether to cancel the concert ultimately lies with the city, which owns and operates the Alamodome.

As for whether Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones has the power to do so, she told Texas Public Radio that it requires more than just her vote alone.

“If we wanted to cancel this,” Jones said, “the council would have to take a public action, asking the city manager to do just that, so a public vote.”

District 10 Councilman Marc Whyte also expressed opposition to Ye’s Alamodome concert. He said “it is unfortunate” that Ye will make use of the venue.

“July 4th is America’s 250th birthday. That date stands patriotism, unity, and love for every citizen,” Whyte said. “San Antonio should reflect that, and it is unfortunate that Ye, pursuant to an existing contract, will be able to make use of our Alamodome.”

District 1 Councilwoman Sukh Kaur touched on canceling Ye’s concert in a statement, saying that she doesn’t believe it’s the right course of action.

“The question before us is whether cancellation is the right response. I don’t believe it is,” Kaur said, in part. “The city isn’t endorsing the speech by renting the space, just as a public library doesn’t endorse every book’s viewpoint simply by carrying it.”

Jones, Moody and state Sen. Jose Menendez, D-San Antonio, will be at a news conference Tuesday with the Jewish Federation of San Antonio to call on city leaders and Alamodome officials to cancel Ye’s concert.

KSAT reached out to the City of San Antonio, which said Alamodome staff reviews all events “using the same factors, including public demand, expected economic impact, facility revenue, hotel bookings and the goal of bringing a wide range of events to San Antonio.”

Read the full statements below:

“I do not condone the hateful speech and antisemitic messages by rapper Kanye West, also known as Ye. I am all too familiar with racism and the devasting and long-term impacts that can have. These bigoted words and messages are not reflective of and have no place in our community. As Bexar County Judge, I have a duty to our residents to provide for an inclusive and safe community. These hateful words and actions have no place here and we must call it out.

“Bexar County stands firmly against these hateful and despicable messages.”

Peter Sakai, Bexar County Judge

“I will always defend the right to free speech, but I will also never remain silent in the face of vile hatred and lies.

“Kanye West has the right to free speech, but I have an obligation to denounce his outrageous, hate-filled rants. When someone repeatedly spreads antisemitic hate, praises Nazis, denies the Holocaust, and tries to intimidate our Jewish community, we have a responsibility to call it out directly and forcefully—and I am.

“I do not support Kanye West’s planned performance here in San Antonio. We should never provide a public platform to, or allow the use of public property by, a Holocaust denier and well-known antisemite like Kanye West.

“Our Jewish community deserves to know that we stand with them today and every day. Hate and intolerance have no place in Bexar County, and I remain committed to supporting our Jewish neighbors and friends and condemning antisemitism in all its forms.”

Grant Moody, Bexar County Precinct 3 Commissioner

“The Alamodome staff reviews all events — whether Paul McCartney, Disney on Ice, Monster Jam, or Ye — using the same factors, including public demand, expected economic impact, facility revenue, hotel bookings and the goal of bringing a wide range of events to San Antonio.

“The July 4 Ye concert is expected to draw more than 60,000 people.

“As of Monday, June 22, about 50,000 tickets had been sold. That includes 14,180 from Bexar County, and many more from outside Bexar County — 23,345 from other Texas counties, 15,485 from outside Texas and 195 international sales."

City of San Antonio spokesperson

Read also:

• Ye to perform at Alamodome on Fourth of July
• San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones supports canceling Ye’s July 4 concert at Alamodome
• Ye’s Fourth of July concert at Alamodome expected to draw another record crowd

An oral history project led by the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition is wrapping up in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Friday. To date, the nonprofit’s historians have collected video testimony from more than 360 Indigenous survivors in 19 states — stories set to be preserved in the Library of Congress for years to come.

Iona Mad Plume, who is Blackfeet and grew up on her tribe’s reservation in Montana, said she “can’t emphasize enough” how healing her experience was. She testified in front of a video camera last month in Billings about her time in the Pierre Indian School in South Dakota, where she was sent at age 14.

Mad Plume, now 74, said since her interview she’s been more grounded and has been able to let go of some of the haunting memories: a dusty blue Greyhound bus driving her away from her parents’ red pickup truck. School staff beating her with a wooden dowel as she cowered on a bunk bed in her dorm room. Eating corn meal or cereal littered with weevil bugs.

“I got a lot out of that, pretty much a lot of closure,” she said. “It was after almost a lifetime of carrying around questions and different things in my mind — so I don’t have to carry that around anymore.”

Another boarding school survivor who contributed to the project in Michigan in 2024 recounted a similar experience. Gene Bozicic, of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, attended the Catholic-run Holy Childhood School of Jesus in Harbor Springs, Michigan, beginning at age 11.

“As we further went along, I started to feel more confident in what I could do and what I have accomplished, almost like more pride to be Native,” Bozicic, now 81, said about her video interview. “I hate to see it coming to an end, because they have given me my backbone back.”

Survivors endured systemic abuse

The oral history project, which began in March 2024, is a collaboration between the Minnesota-based National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition and the U.S. Department of the Interior. The intent is to document and share with the public the systemic abuse endured by boarding school survivors under the government’s attempts at forced assimilation — policies that began in the 1800s and lasted for over a century.

Two years earlier, former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland — a Laguna Pueblo member and a descendant of boarding school survivors — led the historic Road to Healing listening tour with Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland, a citizen of the Bay Mills Indian Community.

Haaland’s Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative also included in-depth reports on the schools’ multigenerational impacts. Nearly 1,000 Native children were buried at 65 different school sites, the federal government reported. Atrocities occurring within school walls ranged from physical and sexual abuse to failed attempts at cultural genocide, the report found.

In the more than two years since the boarding school coalition’s oral history work began, the process of collecting these in-person testimonies in 19 states evolved, said Lacey Kinnart, the coalition’s oral history program co-director.

Initially, the “quiet room” where survivors decompress with a fellow elder after their interview was optional. But staff soon changed that policy so entering the room was automatic, and added a second “quiet room.” They also began matching survivors with a licensed clinical therapist who specializes in boarding school trauma and a licensed social worker.

“Our elders don’t want to be a burden,” said Kinnart, a citizen of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. “But they really do need that extra support.”

Kinnart said staff also noticed survivors feeling nervous around the Indigenous photographer. That shyness showed in the photos. So they built in an extra half-hour into the schedule so each survivor could get to know the person who took their portraits.

Stories affect generations

The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and the Department of the Interior are still assessing how to present the video interviews to the world. Survivors, however, will retain full ownership of their interviews and they alone decide whether their stories are made public.

The videos will be housed in a permanent oral history collection at the Library of Congress, and the project’s end date is June 2027.

The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition will continue other oral history projects independently. Staff said their next project will likely be more costly — potentially as much as $13 million — compared to the $6.2 million they received from Interior and the Mellon Foundation for the initial oral history project. And while the upcoming venture would take longer, it would be even more inclusive.

“We’re just scratching the surface with these stories,” said the coalition’s Oral History Program Co-director Charlee Brissette, a citizen of the Sault Ste. Marie of Chippewa Indians. “We want to get a more robust picture of the boarding school experience because it does have that intergenerational effect.”

Indigenous people excluded from this first iteration of the oral history project may get another opportunity in the coming years. It’s an effort welcomed by survivors and descendants alike.

“I’d be interested in doing that, because the whole story needs to be taught,” said Desiray Emerton, 56, a Seminole woman and a descendant of two generations of boarding school survivors.

Her relatives attended Goodland Academy and Chilocco Indian School in Oklahoma. She said she’s seen the generational impacts: Because of her boarding school experiences, Emerton’s mother struggled to be affectionate toward her as a child. And her grandmother died long before the oral history project’s existence.

“I know time’s running out for those who did go through that personally,” Emerton said, “but I always tell my kids I’m walking on the prayers of our ancestors, and I’m running out of time.”

___

This story is published through the Global Indigenous Reporting Network at The Associated Press.

Haaland scored twice to raise his World Cup goals total to four, and the Vikings clinched advancement to the knockout rounds with a 3-2 win over Senegal on Monday night that was more of a slog than a sail.

“It’s my specialty to score goals,” Haaland said. “I’m just really good at scoring goals.”

After the final whistle, Norway's players and staff gathered tightly in a 10-row formation just inside the penalty area at MetLife Stadium's north end, facing their red-shirted supporters, Haaland sitting in front as teammate Martin Ødegaard banged on a bongo drum. They alternated with the fans performing the Viking Row — chanting “Ro!” while mimicking oarsmen.

“We’ve all seen it online and it’s been going completely viral, so Martin told me before the game, `What do you think? Should we join in?'" Haaland recalled.

“`If we win, let’s do it. So why not? Let’s go for it,'" Haaland said he responded. "So it was a perfect moment I think to do that."

Back in Norway, parliamentarians did the Viking Row last week in a show of support.

“It was fun,” Norway coach Ståle Solbakken said through an interpreter. “We will not be rowing after the World Cup but this can be a gimmick during the tournament.”

Marcus Pederson put the Vikings ahead in the 43rd minute after replacing an injured teammate, and Haaland kept up his incredible goals streak in the 48th and 58th minutes to build a 3-1 lead.

“He's very efficient,” Senegal coach Pape Thiaw said through an interpreter.

Haaland ran onto Ødegaard's pass and put a left-footed shot past the outstretched left hand of goalkeeper Édouard Mendy, capping an end-to-end counterattack for a 2-0 lead.

For his second goal, Haaland tunneled through the defense and 8 yards out lifted his weaker right foot to volley in Patrick Berg’s pass. Haaland raised a hand to an ear to inspire the Norway supporters.

Haaland has 24 goals in his last 12 international games — scoring at least once in every match — and 59 goals in 52 international appearances. The 25-year-old striker joined England's Harry Kane in 2018 as the only players in the last 50 years with two-goal games in both of their first two World Cup appearances.

Haaland is second in the Golden Boot race, one behind Argentina's Lionel Messi and tied with France's Kylian Mbappé. Haaland nearly got another in first-half stoppage time, hitting a post after Mendy lost control of the ball.

“He did miss an open goal. He could have scored even four,” Solbakken said. “He is the best striker — he is not playing for France or Argentina. He scores for Norway.”

Ismaïla Sarr got both goals for the Lions of Teranga, in the 53rd minute and in the third minute of second-half stoppage time.

“If we had just played slightly worse, then we would be in trouble,” Solbakken said.

Making its first World Cup appearance since 1998, Norway (2-0) is assured of advancing from Group I along with France. Because they allowed Senegal's stoppage-time goal, the Vikings need to beat Les Bleus on Friday for first place and what would appear to be an easier path in the knockout bracket.

Senegal is 0-2 in a World Cup for the first time and needs a win over Iraq (0-2) to have any chance of advancing as a third-place team.

“We've got everything left to play for,” Thaw said.

Pederson entered in the 13th minute for his World Cup debut after Julian Ryerson couldn't play through what Solbakken said was a nagging injury, and Pederson put the Vikings ahead with the help of mistakes by Senegal captain Kalidou Koulibaly and Mendy.

Ødegaard made a centering pass that Koulibaly cleared straight to Pedersen at the top of the arc. Pederson took two touches and sent a savable shot inside the near post that glanced off Mendy’s left hand and into the goal.

Mendy left in the 63rd minute because of an injury.

While there had been storm warnings, a downpour stopped more than 3 1/2 hours before kickoff. The skies opened again after the final whistle, causing announcements for fans to leave the stadium bowl for sheltered space.

“Let’s be happy,” Haaland said, “every single Norwegian on the planet today.”

___

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

Those are a few of the races to watch on Tuesday as voters head to the polls for primaries in Maryland, New York, South Carolina and Utah.

Manhattan House primary is a bellwether for pro-AI regulation candidates

The crowded Democratic primary became a proxy battle between two powerful camps of the artificial intelligence industry because of one candidate: New York Assemblyman Alex Bores.

Bores, a former Palantir employee who cited ethical concerns in leaving the company, pushed one of the more sweeping state-level AI regulation bills in the country. Now, Bores points to that legislation — which faced some industry pushback — as a framework for how he'd approach regulation in Congress.

So when he stepped into the race for the New York congressional district being vacated by retiring Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler, a political group underwritten by investors in OpenAI spent more than $7 million on ads against Bores.

Then an opposing wing of the industry, one more in favor of regulation, rode to Bores' aid.

Political groups partly funded by Anthropic, which makes the chatbot Claude, spent more $10 million to boost Bores' candidacy. Anthropic was co-founded by former OpenAI employee, Dario Amodei, who left the company partly over concerns about AI safety.

The election will offer some measure of the political might of the two AI industry factions.

Mamdani flexes his political influence by endorsing progressive insurgents

The New York City mayor endorsed Democratic primary candidates hailing from his own political camp — a progressive and two democratic socialists — who are challenging more established candidates, some backed by party leadership.

U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman, whose seat extends from lower Manhattan to a chunk of Brooklyn, is up against Mamdani-backed challenger Brad Lander, the former comptroller. A central contention between the two Jewish candidates is the war in Gaza, with Lander assailing Goldman for not being critical enough of Israel.

North of that race, in upper Manhattan, Democratic U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat, 71, is facing off against Mamdani-endorsed Darializa Avila Chevalier, 32. The latter is a democratic socialist who hasn't held public office before and works at a public defender's office providing legal aid to victims of police brutality.

For the seat covering parts of Brooklyn and Queens, where U.S. Rep. Nydia Velázquez is retiring, Mamdani endorsed Assemblymember Claire Valdez, another self-described democratic socialist. The departing Velázquez has endorsed another contender, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso.

The three primaries will help distinguish not just Mamdani's political clout, but the continued viability of democratic socialist platforms in New York City.

Trump hedges in South Carolina after shaky endorsement record in gubernatorial races

Trump often touts his otherwise strong record of endorsing winning candidates in Republican primaries, but his picks in gubernatorial races haven't found as much success: his choices in Georgia and Iowa lost this month.

After the defeats, Trump ensured an ironclad victory for his endorsement in South Carolina's Republican runoff for governor: he backed both candidates on the same ballot.

The president initially supported Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette in May, but on Friday, he added an endorsement for Evette’s opponent, state Attorney General Alan Wilson.

“I can’t hurt one of them by only Endorsing the other, so therefore, I am going to Endorse, for Governor of South Carolina, both Pam Evette and Alan Wilson!” he wrote in a social media post Friday. “It’s a Wealth of Riches – With either one you can’t go wrong.”

The projected winner? Trump's endorsement record.

Utah redistricting opens up a sole Democratic battleground, and a debate over the party's future

It's unusual for Utah's Democratic primaries to draw much attention, but that's because the party hasn't had much of a shot in the staunchly red state. That is until redistricting last year.

It created a lone Democratic island centered on Salt Lake City, which has a dark enough hue of blue that primary candidates have found themselves jostling for who's farther to the left. And Democratic primary voters, as in other left-leaning districts across the country, will decide how progressive they'd like their candidate.

That's an unusual tune for Utah Democrats, and for primary candidate Ben McAdams. The former U.S. representative has tried to cast off his reputation as a moderate as he runs against three opponents from his progressive flank.

When McAdams last ran in 2018, ousting a Republican, he described himself as pro-life and fashioned himself as a moderate. Now, in the new left-leaning district, he's pledged to support abortion rights and said he's only “moderate in tone."

The more progressive candidates challenging him include state Sen. Nate Blouin, who has said the electorate has grown accustomed to Democrats who will “play nice” with Republicans and who has won support from Sen. Bernie Sanders. Another is political newcomer Liban Mohamed.

Maryland Republicans seek an heir to Hogan in bid to retake governorship

Republican Larry Hogan reigned as Maryland governor for eight years, standing on a more moderate conservative platform to keep his perch in the left-leaning, East Coast state.

At Hogan's departure, Democratic Gov. Wes Moore took over in 2023, and is now seeking reelection for a second term. But so far Republicans haven't found a clear successor to Hogan as Tuesday's primary forces a decision from a field of nine candidates.

One is Dan Cox, an attorney who lost his gubernatorial bid four years ago, and who has more embraced a rightward flank, pledging to cut taxes and invest in housing affordability programs. Then there's Ed Hale, owner of the Baltimore Blast soccer team and retired banking executive, who flipped his party from Democrat to Republican for this race.

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This story has been corrected to show Moore took office in 2023, not 2024.

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Bedayn reported from Austin, Texas.

Some media outlets, however, reported that some of those detained were politicians or activists, leading to allegations of arbitrary detentions.

U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to join other leaders of the 32‑member alliance in Ankara for the July 7–8 summit.

Turkey is planning strict security measures for the summit, including banning demonstrations and restricting access to roads leading to airports, as well as sealing off areas around the summit venue and hotels hosting delegations.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government has prioritized security and authorities regularly carry out security raids. Last month, security forces detained 324 people suspected of links to the Islamic State group in a nationwide sweep.

Early on Tuesday, Turkish prosecutors issued detention orders for 241 suspects, and 209 of them were subsequently taken into custody in police and gendarmerie raids around Ankara, according to a statement from the chief prosecutor’s office. The raids were still underway later Tuesday to take in the rest of the suspects.

Among those detained were 56 alleged Islamic State militants and 35 members of the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front, a far‑left group known for armed attacks and assassinations in Turkey, the statement said.

Birgun, an independent left-leaning newspaper, and other media reported that a politician, an LGBTQ activist and at least three lawyers allegedly close to left-wing groups were also among the detained. That lead to concerns that the government could be using security as a pretext to silence critics and prevent possible anti-NATO demonstrations during the summit.

“This arbitrary wave of detentions and arrests targeting leftist and socialist institutions once again reveals the state the country has reached,” the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party, DEM, said. “Turning Ankara into a giant prison with bans imposed for the NATO Summit is unacceptable.”

The Islamic State group has also carried out numerous deadly attacks in Turkey, including the 2017 New Year’s shooting at an Istanbul nightclub that killed 39 people.

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The new program, called Lake Express, will begin next fall. It allows students in select majors to complete a bachelor’s degree in six semesters without taking summer classes or interim terms, according to Dr. Alan Silva, OLLU’s provost and vice president of academic affairs.

Silva said the program is part of the university’s broader effort to boost enrollment and better meet students’ needs.

“It’s really very much about all of our work,” Silva said. “We’ve called it a realignment process.”

The university said the three-year pathway is expected to cut tuition costs by 25% compared with their traditional four-year degree.

Lake Express will initially be available for four majors: psychology, social work, criminology and criminal justice, and childhood studies.

Silva said the university is looking at adding more programs in the future.

The new degree option comes after a year of major changes at OLLU. Last year, KSAT reported that budget cuts eliminated 16 degree programs, affected nearly 200 students and resulted in layoffs for 19 professors.

Silva said the university’s latest additions are part of the same realignment.

“It’s closing things that aren’t working as well, but opening things, starting things that are really exciting for people,” Silva said.

Some students said the shorter path could be a strong benefit.

“I feel like this is a really good benefit for all the students,” said Jamie Murillo, an OLLU sophomore.

Murillo said many students are eager to finish their degrees and move on to their careers.

“It is good to get things done and then work on your future as soon as possible,” Murillo said. “They don’t want to be in school for the rest of their lives.”

Lake Express is not the only change students will see next fall. The university is also adding new business programs for bachelor’s and master’s degrees, including one with a concentration in artificial intelligence.

Silva said new programs can take time to grow, but the university is optimistic about the direction.

“We believe we’re building a terrific future for our students,” he said.

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In what’s being billed as the largest gathering of Democrats in the country this year, Texas Democrats are looking to harness their momentum to seize perhaps their best chance since 2018 to establish Texas as a major battleground state that will be crucial for the national party to invest in as a means to retake the Senate and to maintain a long-term path to the White House. Over two and a half days beginning Thursday, Texas Democrats will choose their state leadership heading into a critical midterm, decide the party’s policy priorities, attend campaign and organizing trainings and hear from their statewide candidates and other prominent Democratic speakers.

“We’ve had a lot of constructive disagreements over the last few months during the primary cycle, but I think the convention signifies our move towards unity, our move towards the common shared vision of flipping the state blue,” said Jordan Villarreal, a Denton city councilman and member of the State Democratic Executive Committee, the state party’s governing board. “A lot of people across the nation and in our state are looking at this convention as a show of force, a show that we’re serious.”

Democrats have been locked out of state power for decades, each election cycle bringing new promises of a blue Texas followed by heartbreak and fingerpointing. But Texas Democrats are looking toward November again with high hopes, this time fueled by voter discontent with the Trump administration, massive turnout in the March Democratic primary and rising star U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico’s scandal-plagued opponent in Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Those conditions have helped turn national attention to the state, with the convention’s speaker lineup featuring the most Democrats with national profiles in several years.

Among the headliners are U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont who caucuses with Democrats; Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois, who is eyeing a 2028 presidential bid; U.S. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey; Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico; and Tennessee state Rep. Justin Pearson, a congressional candidate who was temporarily expelled by the Tennessee House over a gun control protest in 2023. Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin is also on the lineup, and Tejano music star Bobby Pulido, who is challenging U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz in Texas’ 15th Congressional District, is set to perform a free public concert on the first night of the convention.

“I’ve heard, I don’t know how many times over the years, ‘oh, Texas is in play,’” said Terri Burke, executive director of the Texas Democratic Party. “No, Texas has been an ATM machine for the rest of the country. And for the first time, we’re seeing lots of national attention on Texas.”

Much of the national spotlight was first sparked by state House Democrats’ walkout last year over Republicans’ unusual mid-decade effort to redraw the state’s congressional map in favor of the GOP. It has stayed on through high-profile, competitive U.S. Senate primaries on both sides of the aisle, with Talarico and Paxton’s contests both driving national headlines. In a notable show of national support, former President Barack Obama appeared in Austin with Talarico and state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee, last month.

Several of the national speakers slated for this year’s convention reached out to the TDP to indicate they wanted to come speak to Texas Democrats, Burke said, adding, “That tells you that Texas is getting a lot of attention, and Democrats are excited about that.”

Republicans have seized on Sanders’ planned keynote, working to tie Democratic candidates in Texas to his brand of democratic socialism to cast them as too far to the left for the state.

“There’s one thing that sums up today’s Democrats more than anything else: The keynote at their state convention is Bernie Sanders,” Gov. Greg Abbott said at the Republican state convention this month. “The people essential to ensuring that Bernie Sanders socialism never hijacks Texas are the patriots I’m looking at right now. When Republicans unite, we are unbeatable.”

Democrats, meanwhile, largely dismissed the Republican attacks, pointing to Sanders’ popularity among Latino voters — who will represent a critical swing vote in November — during his presidential runs and his characteristic populist and anti-oligarchy platform.

“People should have affordable health care, people should have an affordable place to live,” said Kardal Coleman, chair of the Dallas County Democratic Party. “If we think about the core tenets of what Bernie Sanders’ platform stands for, there are a lot of people in Texas who resonate with that populist message.”

The speaking lineup also drew some criticism from Democrats online, who noted that the initial list of headliners was largely white. Jen Ramos, a SDEC member, said she supported spotlighting more people of color on stage, but noted that the TDP had not yet announced all of its finalized speakers at the time.

Engaging with Black voters is a key issue for the party this year, after Talarico’s bitterly fought primary divided Democrats and saw supporters of his opponent, U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, accuse him and his voters of anti-Black racism — largely based off an allegation he disputes that he labeled a formal rival a “mediocre Black man,” and the case made by many of his supporters that Crockett would be less electable in a general statewide election. Black voters broke overwhelmingly for Crockett over Talarico in the primary.

Crockett, one of the state’s most prominent and outspoken Black Democrats, told The Dallas Morning News that she did not plan to attend the convention, and she cast doubt on Black voters’ unity behind Talarico and the broader statewide ticket.

Since the March election, Talarico has sought to shore up his support with Black Texans. He has met with Black leaders around the state, visited Black churches and universities, released a plan to combat maternal mortality — which disproportionately affects Black women — and earned endorsements from groups like Texas Organizing Project, which backed Crockett in the primary and works to mobilize Black and Latino voters.

A major objective of this year’s convention will be to bring Democrats together behind their sprawling slate of candidates — from Talarico and Hinojosa at the top of the ticket to the party’s legislative candidates and beyond — while introducing some of the candidates further down the ballot to the party’s most engaged base.

In a bid to maximize their flips and send votes up the ballot, Texas Democrats recruited a candidate to run in every state and federal race this year, a first for either party in modern state history. A coalition of the state’s biggest Democratic groups, including the state party and Texas Majority PAC, also launched a $30 million coordinated campaign to support candidates all along the ballot. National Democrats, too, are targeting their most ambitious list of Texas House seats in years, looking to flip a dozen districts and defend three of their own, which would put Democrats two seats shy of a majority.

“Showing a united front is the big key — whatever we can do to work together to get as many Democrats elected in the fall,” said Teddy Shaw, executive director of the Texas House Democratic Campaign Committee. “From my perspective, I feel like the candidates are all working well together — we just need to get everyone else to feel like we are doing well together.”

Republicans, too, sought to drive home a message of unity to defeat Democrats at their convention in Houston this month, though signs of fracture were abundant, including the ouster of the sitting party chair, boos to greet House Speaker Dustin Burrows’ address and an effort to reject Muslim delegates looking for a place in today’s Texas GOP, which has fixated on Sharia law and at times veered directly into outright Islamophobia.

The Democratic convention is expected to draw around 6,500 attendees and cost the party roughly $700,000, according to a TDP spokesperson. It is taking place in Corpus Christi, which is facing a historic water crisis.

Ramos said party leadership chose Corpus Christi as the site of the convention years ago, before the water shortage was known about, to avoid overlapping with the FIFA World Cup. Dallas and Houston, along with 14 other North American cities, are hosting the World Cup.

“We have been working hands on with folks in the Corpus Christi area to make sure that we are not negatively impacting the water issues,” Ramos said, adding that local officials asked the party to keep the convention — and its associated tourism boost — in their city.

Texas Democrats will also elect their party’s leaders going into the critical midterm after a bitter chair race. TDP Chair Kendall Scudder is running for a full term after the party’s governing board elected him to take over for former chair Gilberto Hinojosa, who stepped down after the party’s underperformance in 2024. Scudder is being challenged for the role by Monique Alcala, who served as executive director of the party from August 2023 until Scudder’s election, and Marco Orrantia, a former TDP staffer of the past decade.

Alcala has pitched herself as a veteran operative with the fundraising and organizing chops to set the party up for success in November. She criticized Scudder’s leadership over the party’s fundraising, strategy and treatment of its staff, several of whom were pushed out from their positions when Scudder deemphasized the TDP’s Austin headquarters to open offices around the state — a move that party leaders outside the state’s biggest urban centers praised. Alcala was endorsed by state Reps. Mary González of Clint and Erin Zwiener of Driftwood, in addition to several Democratic candidates, activists and strategists.

“I’m running for chair because I know how to win,” she said. “I’ve seen what state parties are capable of doing, and I know for sure that the state party is not doing what it needs to do in order to win in November.”

Convention leadership earlier this month nixed candidate speeches from the event’s Friday agenda, citing a “packed schedule of speakers.”

Scudder did not respond to an interview request. He has won significant endorsements among the delegates that will decide the race, including the Texas Coalition of Black Democrats, and his supporters point to his efforts to replenish the party’s coffers, improve relationships with local Democratic leaders and build the full candidate slate and coordinated campaign as positive achievements under his tenure. Other Democrats added that they saw the race as Scudder’s to lose and a sideshow to the important business of staying unified ahead of the midterms.

“I see it more of a distraction than anything else,” Shaw said. “This is a time for us to all come together and do as much as possible to win in November. So I’m hopeful that it goes smoothly and we don’t have to worry about it anymore after this weekend.”

Democrats expressed optimism that, notwithstanding disagreements about general election strategy or party platform proposals, which will be voted on at the convention, the party was looking ahead and focused on winning in November.

“People are excited, and they understand who the opponent is,” said Jared Hockema, chair of the Cameron County Democratic Party. “It’s people that don’t have our interests in mind — and the folks that are running on this ticket are folks that are running to protect the interests of Texans.”

“This convention is going to be talking about that,” he added. “That’s going to be the point — to carry that message forward and make sure that everybody understands that as Democrats, we’re fighting for every Texan — and the Republicans are not.”

Messi had a golden opportunity to break the record in the ninth minute, but went wide to the right on a penalty kick. Almost 30 minutes later, Messi caught Alexander Schlager leaning the wrong way after Thiago Almada let Facuno Medina's pass go by him directly onto Messi's left foot.

“There were moments when I was really angry about missing the penalty, but I was able to make up for it,” Messi said.

In the waning seconds of injury time, Messi extended his record by sending a shot through several defenders after Schlager turned away his first attempt. He entered the game even with Germany striker Miroslav Klose, who scored 16 goals over four World Cups from 2002-14.

“Beyond anything I’m so happy for the win,” Messi said. “It was huge, tough and difficult. It would allow us to be relaxed to what’s ahead. All matches in this World Cup are very even, very intense. I’m enjoying this moment and craving to enjoy with my teammates.”

Two days before his 39th birthday and with an ailing father back home, Messi celebrated twice with teammates to the delight of the decidedly pro-Argentine crowd at the sold-out home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.

Most of those fans were wearing Messi’s familiar No. 10 jersey with white and blue stripes, dwarfing the small pockets of red-clad Austrian supporters under the retractable roof that offered air-conditioned comfort on the second day of what is sure to be another hot Texas summer.

The scoring record came 40 years to the day since the late Diego Maradona’s “goal of the century” — another No. 10 who made a solo run from the other side of midfield to give Argentina a two-goal lead in a 2-1 victory over England in the 1986 World Cup quarterfinals in Mexico City. Argentina went on to win the title.

Messi joined Just Fontaine and Jairzinho as the only players to score in six straight World Cup games, and he's second among men all-time with 122 international goals to Cristiano Ronaldo's 143.

Argentina extended its winning streak in the tournament to eight since a shocking loss to Saudi Arabia in its 2022 opener in Qatar.

La Albiceleste clinched the top spot in Group J with Jordan's 2-1 loss to Algeria on Monday night. Messi's playing status will be in question with nothing at stake when Argentina returns to AT&T Stadium to face Jordan in a group-stage finale Saturday night. Jordan has already been eliminated.

Messi has scored all five of Argentina goals in the tournament and has 12 World Cup goals since turning 35. The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner as soccer’s best player in Europe had his first World Cup hat trick in Argentina’s 3-0 win over Algeria in its Group J opener last week in Kansas City.

Trailing by a goal early in second-half injury time, Austria winger Patrick Wimmer went just wide on a header after Kevin Danso had sent a header his direction off a free kick.

“I think that we were in possession of the ball more than other people expected,” Austria coach Ralf Rangnick said through an interpreter. “Unfortunately, we weren’t able to nullify every counter attack.”

Austria, which opened with a 3-1 victory over Jordan, can advance with a win over Algeria on Saturday in Kansas City.

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

Their interests are officially aligned — and the Heat finally have another superstar.

Ending a marathon watch for the next great Miami get, the Heat landed Antetokounmpo — a two-time NBA MVP and 10-time All-Star — from the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday night in exchange for a massive haul of players and draft picks.

The terms, according to a person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the move had yet to receive the required league approval: Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis are heading to Miami for Wisconsin native Tyler Herro, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kel’el Ware and Kasparas Jakucionis.

Milwaukee also gets the No. 13 selection that will be made in Tuesday night’s NBA draft, along with a first-round pick swap in 2030, first-round picks in 2031 and 2033 and a second-rounder in 2033, the person said.

It ends a wild back-and-forth in the final days of the saga, with the Bucks considering offers from both Miami and Boston for Antetokounmpo — who led Milwaukee to the 2021 NBA title, was on the NBA’s 75th anniversary list of its greatest players ever, is a nine-time All-NBA selection and is coming off an injury-shortened season in which he averaged 27.6 points per game.

Heat go star hunting again, and it pays off

There has been no secret that this is what Miami has sought, because this is what Miami usually seeks. The Heat pulled off similar moves by landing Shaquille O’Neal in 2004 (helping lead to the 2006 NBA title) and by getting LeBron James and Chris Bosh to play alongside Dwyane Wade in 2010 (leading to four NBA Finals runs in four seasons together, along with the 2012 and 2013 NBA titles).

Now, it’s Antetokounmpo’s turn. At 31, the Heat clearly believe he still has many good years left — and it’s generally presumed that by making this deal they’ll give the Greek superstar a massive extension later this year.

He was a perennial MVP candidate in Milwaukee, getting votes for that award in nine consecutive seasons before 2025-26 when too many missed games left him ineligible.

He has averaged 24.1 points and 9.9 rebounds per game in his career, with 10 consecutive seasons of averaging at least 22.9 points — with three years in there of averaging more than 30 points per game.

Only seven active players have more points in their careers than Antetokounmpo, who has totaled 21,531 to this point.

A trade seemed inevitable

Antetokounmpo had been mentioned in trade talks countless times in recent years, with the Bucks always insisting — with words and actions — that they had no interest in trading their best player and one of the best players in the history of the franchise.

But this time, it seemed different.

The Bucks, who fired Doc Rivers as coach after the season, don’t have a roster that would be considered a championship contender. By trading Antetokounmpo, they can essentially start over with four players (and the Heat were high on all of them) along with draft capital.

“I just think before the draft is a natural time, right, because if Giannis does play somewhere else we’re going to get a lot of assets. ... You’ve got to get it right,” Bucks co-owner Jimmy Haslam said in May, when the team introduced new coach Taylor Jenkins — who was told that Antetokounmpo may or may not be with the franchise when next season starts.

Jenkins and the rest of the NBA now has the answer: Antetokounmpo won't be there.

Antetokounmpo had spoken highly of Miami many times over the years, even when the Heat and Bucks were going head-to-head in the playoffs. He also shares an agent with Heat star center Bam Adebayo, who was the only player Miami clearly was not willing to part with in order to make this deal happen.

“They’re going to play tough and they’re not going to stop playing,” Antetokounmpo said after Milwaukee played Miami on March 12. “That’s the Miami Heat culture.”

Little did anyone know that night that those words were coming after what would be the next-to-last game for Antetokounmpo in a Bucks uniform. He played three nights later against Indiana, then was held out of Milwaukee’s final 15 games of the season.

The Bucks said that was for injury-related reasons. Antetokounmpo said he wanted to play.

He had some bouts with injuries this past season: Antetokounmpo missed four games in late November with a left adductor strain and sat out eight games in December with a right calf strain, then he injured the right calf again in January.

He landed awkwardly on a dunk in that March 15 victory over Indiana and didn’t play again due to what team officials had labeled as a left knee hyperextension and bone bruise. Antetokounmpo said the last few weeks of the season that he was healthy and wanted to play, a dispute that resulted in an investigation by the league office.

For Antetokounmpo, it's about legacy

Antetokounmpo said coming into the 2025-26 season that he is at the point in his career where he thinks about his legacy, and how more championships are important to him. Told he is already considered an all-time great, he bristled at the notion.

“I’m not there yet,” Antetokounmpo said that day at Bucks training camp.

That’s hard to believe, considering his resume. He’s won a championship. He’s been an MVP. He’s been an NBA Finals MVP. He’s a perennial All-Star and All-NBA pick. He’s one of only seven players born somewhere other than the 50 states of the U.S. to have reached the 20,000-point mark. In 2025, he led Greece to its first EuroBasket medal in 16 years.

“Every basketball player, every athlete, starts a career and they have this quest of what they want to accomplish and what to be remembered for,” Antetokounmpo said in that same training camp interview. “And I think at this point, I’ve accomplished everything that I’ve put my mind to.”

He said those words in Miami. And now, Miami is about to be his new home.

___

AP Sports Writer Steve Megargee in Milwaukee contributed.

___

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

Vance and U.S. officials claimed progress on multiple fronts, including the establishment of “mechanisms” to ensure the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for global energy shipments, stays open and to address fighting between Israel and Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon, where a ceasefire appeared to be holding.

The interim deal to end the fighting in Iran, signed last week by the leaders of the U.S. and Iran, sets a 60-day period for negotiations on key issues, including the future of Tehran’s nuclear program amid concerns that Iran wants to use it for military purposes, a claim the country denies.

The vice president departed Switzerland as technical teams were still negotiating, and U.S. President Donald Trump talked up the efforts to keep the strait open to create “an oil gusher" as he stressed that the key to resolving the war was “respect” from Iran.

"As long as they respect us, I don’t want to use the word fear because that’s an inappropriate word, but as long as they respect us, we’re not going to have any trouble,” Trump said from the Oval Office.

Iran effectively closed the strait after the U.S. and Israel attacked on Feb. 28, causing fuel prices to skyrocket far beyond the region. The interim agreement to end the war was supposed to reopen the channel. Dozens of ships passed through it over the weekend, even though the main route is still mined and closed.

The lead negotiator of the Iranian delegation, Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, insisted on Monday that the Strait of Hormuz will be managed by Iran, but following international laws.

“Hopefully we can activate the strait again, in terms of passage, and bring prosperity back to regional and global economy," Qalibaf told Iranian state media on the plane on his way back from Switzerland.

Qalibaf and the Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, arrived on Monday night in Oman where they met with the country’s Foreign Minister Badr al Busaidi to discuss the peace efforts and ensure safe navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.

The U.S. Treasury issued a 60-day license on Monday waiving sanctions on Iranian oil as part of the interim agreement. Notably, the license allows Iranian oil to be imported into the U.S., which has not imported significant amounts of Iranian oil since the 1990s.

Tanker traffic continued to pick up through the Strait of Hormuz. According to data and analytics firm Kpler, there were 71 confirmed transits over the weekend, with a peak of 35 crossings on Saturday. Before the war, 100 to 130 vessels passed through the strait each day.

Ships have been avoiding the central route to steer clear of mines, choosing instead to use the smaller northern route, which goes through Iranian waters, and the southern route, which goes through Omani waters. In the markets, Brent crude oil fell 3.2% to $77.52 per barrel, closer to its roughly $70 price from before the war. Benchmark U.S. crude oil fell 2.6% to $73.86 per barrel.

Trump was not in Switzerland but loomed large over talks

Trump did not attend what was dubbed the “Lake Lucerne Summit,” but his presence certainly loomed large. The talks were jolted by statements from Trump, who, from thousands of miles away, fired off comments that offended the Iranians. But the mediation effort in Switzerland started Sunday and stretched into early Monday.

“We haven’t built the house, but we’ve laid a successful foundation to get to a good place for the American people,” Vance told reporters.

The vice president suggested that the U.S. could agree to unfreeze Iranian assets for purchases of U.S. soy, corn and wheat. He said Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and one of the lead U.S. negotiators, came up with the idea with officials from Qatar.

Vance said Qatar would have approval over the process, and Iranian money that would be accessible as sanctions were lifted would buy American products "for the benefit of the Iranian people.”

Iran, which has pressed for the unfreezing of billions of dollars in assets, has not commented on the idea. The assets have been frozen over years of sanctions, banking restrictions and legal disputes imposed by the U.S. and international community.

Iranians agree there was progress on their top issue

Shortly after the Iran war began on Feb. 28, Hezbollah and Israel also went to war, with Hezbollah firing rockets and drones at civilian communities in northern Israel and Israel seizing large swaths of southern Lebanon. Iran has insisted that addressing the fighting in Lebanon is a critical component of any deal to end the wider conflict.

Iran noted “major progress” to end the fighting in Lebanon and called that the first real test of the negotiations.

Foreign Minister Araghchi wrote on X that mediators delivered "major progress to end the Lebanon War.” But he said the first “real test” of negotiations would be whether the mechanism succeeds in halting the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

Neither Israel nor Hezbollah is a signatory to the U.S.-Iran deal.

But as of Monday evening in the Middle East, the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah appeared to be holding.

“We have not detected trajectories from either side since yesterday,” said Tilak Pokharel, a spokesperson for the U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon known as UNIFIL.

Airspace violations and Israeli military movements continued, Pokharel said.

Hezbollah has not announced any attacks on Israeli forces since Saturday.

The lull in fighting in Lebanon is the longest since the latest Israel-Hezbollah war began on March 2.

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Kim and Boak reported from Washington. Associated Press reporters Abby Sewell in Beirut, David Rising in Bangkok, Fatima Hussein and Will Weissert in Washington, Mae Anderson in New York, Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this story.

The way the postseason unfolded, well, there was no stopping the Sooners.

OU completed the improbable run to its first national championship since 1994 with a 13-2 victory over North Carolina in the winner-take-all Game 3 of the College World Series finals Monday night, a performance that featured the prodigious offensive production and clutch pitching the Sooners rode through the NCAA Tournament.

“I think we knew the talent was always in the room,” said Jaxon Willits, named the CWS most outstanding player. “We got hot at the right time, and now we’re national champions.”

The Sooners (43-23) won the Southeastern Conference's seventh straight title, quite an accomplishment for a team picked 14th in the 16-team conference in the preseason, finished 11th and entered the postseason off losses in seven of nine games.

To get to Omaha, they beat No. 2 national seed Georgia Tech twice on the road in regionals and swept upstart Kansas on the road in super regionals. To get to the finals, they beat No. 3 Georgia twice in bracket play.

“They got really confident the last month,” OU coach Skip Johnson said. “They care about each other. They didn't want to give in. They were selfless.”

North Carolina (54-14-1) was runner-up for the third time since 2006 and now has 13 CWS appearances without a title. Only Florida State, with 24, has more without winning it all.

The Sooners were back in top form offensively after managing only four singles in a 6-2 loss in Game 2 and handed the Tar Heels their most lopsided loss of the season.

“We ran out of gas when all is said and done,” Carolina coach Scott Forbes said.

When Jackson Cleveland struck out Jake Schaffner to end the game, he and catcher Deiten Lachance embraced and then headed to the dogpile that formed near third base. Players waving national championship towels rushed back toward their dugout to salute the celebrating Sooner faithful on the first-base line, football greats Barry Switzer and Brian Bosworth among them.

Kyle Branch, the No. 9 batter who came into the game 1 of 16 (.063) in the CWS, drove in six runs with a pair of singles and home run. His homer came on his last at-bat, just as brother Kolby's did for Georgia last Wednesday.

“Pure joy. Pure joy for our team,” Branch said. “I had a teammate tell me I was going to do something special, and for him to tell me that with the way things have been going, it has to be a God thing.”

He joined Dayton Tockey as the seventh and eighth OU players to homer in Omaha. Willits had three hits, reached base five times and finished the CWS 13 of 25 (.520).

The pitching matchup of Carolina's Jackson Rose (5-1) and Oklahoma's Nick Wesloski was the first between freshmen in a CWS winner-take-all game since 1993. Neither got out of the third inning.

LJ Mercurius (7-7) turned in another strong performance out of the bullpen, shutting down a threat when OU led 3-1 in the third and holding the Tar Heels to one run in 5 2/3 innings. He allowed just two runs in 12 1/3 over four CWS appearances.

The Tar Heels' pitching staff, which had the best ERA in the Atlantic Coast Conference, had been good and occasionally great in the CWS. It was neither Monday, with eight pitchers combining to allow 14 hits, issue eight walks, throw three wild pitches and hit a batter.

ACC freshman of the year Caden Glauber, who had given up just one run in 10 1/3 innings in four CWS appearances, was called on for a fifth one day after he threw 65 pitches in five shutout innings. It was apparent coach Forbes went to the well one time too many.

Glauber was called for a clock violation before he even threw his first pitch. He issued a four-pitch bases-loaded walk and Willits followed with a two-run single to make it 6-1 in the fourth. That was all for Glauber, who threw seven pitches, five of them balls. The Tar Heels had won all 29 games in which Glauber had pitched before Monday.

“This group loved each other all season and took us on a ride and came up just short,” Forbes said. “I’d take that ride every day of the year. While we’re sad, the sadness will go away. We talk about joy. Joy doesn’t go away. These guys have given me, our coaching staff, our fans, administration, everybody, a ton of joy and a ton to be proud of.”

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

Haaland scored twice for Norway in the first 15 minutes of the second half of a 3-2 win over Senegal on Monday night, making up for clanking a shot off the post and getting denied on a header just before halftime. His performance came hours after Messi scored two for Argentina and Mbappé did the same for France.

Teammate Kristian Thorstvedt called Haaland a big-game player who lives for these moments. Roughly a month away from his 26th birthday, Haaland is showing he can keep up with some of soccer's more experienced stars while playing on a team without the same pedigree or championship history.

“He is the best striker,” coach Ståle Solbakken said through an interpreter. “He is not playing for France or Argentina. He scores for Norway.”

The three have combined to score 13 goals in the World Cup: five for Messi and four each for Mbappé and Haaland in the race for the Golden Boot, which Iraq coach Graham Arnold predicted will be a very good competition between them.

“It’s easier to win the Golden Boot when you play for France and Argentina,” Solbakken said. “But we’ll try to give Erling more games and more help in the next games.”

Messi became the World Cup’s career scoring leader with 18 goals when he and Argentina beat Austria in Arlington, Texas. Mbappé is now at 16, tied with former record holder Miroslav Klose, after he and France beat Iraq 3-0 in Philadelphia.

Playing in his first World Cup, Haaland is at four. Norway last qualified in 1998 — two years before he was born.

“Let’s be happy, every single Norwegian on the planet,” Haaland said. “I’m part of something special. Norway’s part of something special. We’re making history.”

The 6-foot-5 Manchester City striker has now scored in 12 consecutive competitive matches for Norway. He has 24 goals over that stretch, and the last time Haaland did not score for Norway in a game that mattered was Oct. 13, 2024.

“He’s on fire,” Solbakken said. “I’m very happy for him that he can score on the biggest stage.”

Haaland had the fewest touches of anyone on either team in the first half, getting guarded tightly by an opponent that knew just how important it was to contain him. Still, Solbakken pointed out that Haaland missed an open net and “could have scored even four.”

“He’s one of the best strikers in the world,” Senegal's Ismail Jakobs said. “We used part of the game making some things very difficult to start with (for him), as you could see.”

Then Haaland found his footing on a wet surface at the Meadowlands that had been deluged by rain.

He scored his first goal on a 4-on-2 rush, putting behind him the frustration from earlier. After getting his second by banking a right-footed shot off the crossbar and in, Haaland held his left hand up to his left ear to encourage cheers of a large contingent of red-clad fans who chanted, “Nor-ge! Nor-ge!” and performed their signature Viking rowing celebration in the stands.

Asked how he was doing it, Haaland struggled to come up with an explanation.

“I don't know,” Haaland said. “It’s my specialty to score goals. It’s like many other things: I’m just really good at scoring goals, and I’m quite lucky. I don’t know what I’m doing, but yeah. That’s just how it is.”

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AP Soccer Writer James Robson in Atlanta and AP Sports Writer Dan Gelston in Philadelphia contributed to this report.

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AP World Cup: https://apnews.com/FIFA-World-Cup

“We produce about 8,000 signs here with our staff a year, and then we purchase another 10,000 signs a year,” Marc Jacobsen, the assistant director of Public Works, said.

There is a small team of three people who physically make the signs, and another group who takes the signs to the proper location and assembles them. Jacobsen said the team makes speed limit and stop signs the most.

“Anything that you can imagine, we get requests for,” Jacobsen said. “If you are a citizen that has a request for a particular sign, you can call 311 and request that. … Usually, we produce common signs in batches around here and so that kind of gets spread out over time.”

The department also works on street name signs and has been in the loop on the proposal to rename César E. Chávez Boulevard. However, the sign-making team fully enters the street name change process much later than other entities in the city.

“We’re only prepping in the sense that we know it’s coming,” Jacobsen said.

The process to change the name of César E. Chávez Boulevard begins with a Council Consideration Request, which Councilmember Teri Castillo has already submitted to rename the street from César E. Chávez Boulevard to Durango Boulevard in the wake of abuse allegations against Chávez.

Last week, the Historic and Design Review Commission approved the name change to Durango Boulevard, with only one person voting against the measure.

On June 24, the planning commission will vote on the name change, and in August, City Council will vote on it. While the process is making its way through the commission, the city’s Development Services Department is part of the process. The Development Services Department recently presented to the HDRC that the name change will cost the city just over $300,000.

“Once the final decision is made as to what [the name is] going to change to, then the Development Services Department will work to ensure that those signs can be ordered and installed,” Jacobsen said. “[Public Works will] help to provide technical guidance on what those signs should look like.”

Then the process of building the signs can begin.

The team of three people begins by setting up the file for each sign’s design, then sends it to the vinyl-cutting process. Once the vinyl is cut, the next step is weeding, where they remove the excess vinyl. Then, the team uses transfer tape, cuts off any excess, and places the wording on the sign, then transfers the design to the physical sign.

Lastly, the team removes all air bubbles to ensure the transfer tape is fully in contact with the vinyl. They peel the backing to ensure the vinyl stays stuck to the transfer tape, then use a machine (shown in the video player) to push down the vinyl onto the backing to finalize the sign.

Another process that comes through this team in the Public Works Department is 311 requests. These requests include inquiries about new or updated street or traffic signs, new speed limit signs, and items obstructing the view of signs.

“Property owners should trim their trees and bushes to ensure they don’t obstruct stop signs and other signage,” Jacobsen said. “If you can’t see a sign because something is in the way, it could be a tree, it could be a bush, it could be anything, then you can call 311.”

Read also:

• Renaming César E. Chávez Boulevard could cost over $300K, city estimates

Extreme feels-like temperatures, heat stress days and tropical nights have all become dramatically more frequent, long and severe over the past six decades as the planet's warming intensifies — a result of the burning of fossil fuels coal, oil and gas — according to a new study published in the journal Nature Climate Change on Monday.

The researchers went beyond just temperature, which is frequently studied, and used feels-like temperatures, to understand more of the impact on people. They assessed heat stress on individual humans, influenced by temperature, humidity, wind speed and more. They used what’s called the Universal Thermal Climate Index to analyze those factors and model the human body’s response to the environment.

The combination of heat and humidity can be dangerous for humans, because humidity impacts how sweat evaporates, and that's a cooling mechanism. Heat waves that are humid can be more fatal than dry heat waves as humans don't cool down as easily.

Heat stress is worsening in already-warm regions, and beyond

Past studies have looked at the extent to which human-driven climate change has sent temperatures soaring, especially in recent years. One study says people globally suffered an average of 41 extra days of dangerous heat in 2024. Some research says that the world is on track to add nearly two months of superhot days each year by the end of the century.

Here, researchers looked at heat stress at three levels: strong (index temperatures of greater than or equal to 32 degrees Celsius, or 89.6 degrees Fahrenheit); very strong (index temperatures of greater than or equal to 38 degrees Celsius, or 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit); and extreme (index temperatures of greater than or equal to 46 degrees Celsius, or 114.8 degrees Fahrenheit).

Places that might see around 50 more days per year of at least strong heat stress compared with the 1970s include parts of Southern Africa, such as in Namibia and Angola; Eastern Africa, including parts of Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda; and parts of Mexico and Central America.

In Southern Spain, Italy, Greece and Turkey, some areas will see up to 40 additional days with strong heat stress compared with the 1970s. Much of Southern Europe is seeing almost a full month of additional strong heat stress days from decades ago.

In the U.S., much of the country sees 15 or more days of at least strong heat stress, and southern parts, including Texas and Florida, are seeing close to 25 or more days with very strong heat stress.

Those heat stress seasons are also lasting longer.

The study’s lead author Rebecca Emerton, also a senior scientist at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts in the United Kingdom, said it was striking “to see heat stress not only intensifying in those places that we already consider as being hot or used to experiencing heat waves ... but also to see this, we call it, expanding footprint of heat stress expanding into regions where it’s historically been rare or non-existent.”

According to the study, the feels-like temperatures on the ten warmest nights of each year have also increased faster — 0.32 degrees Celsius (0.58 degrees Fahrenheit) per decade — than the ten warmest days, 0.27 degrees Celsius (0.49 degrees Fahrenheit) per decade.

For tropical nights, the researchers considered minimum temperature of 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit). This means people might not be recovering properly from daytime heat in the overnight hours.

And now, one billion more people face at least one day of extreme heat stress each year than they did in the 1970s.

The future impact depends on action

The world has known that adding heat-trapping gases to the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels and cutting down forests will warm the globe, said Jennifer Francis, a climate scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center on Cape Cod, who was not involved in the research.

“This study adds stark details about increasing dangers to billions of humans,” Francis said. “This analysis shows not only is temperature rising, but so is humidity, which makes high temperatures more deadly because our body’s air conditioning system — sweating — struggles to keep up.”

Emerton says the work highlights the urgent need to mitigate future warming and ensure adaptation strategies, heat health action plans, early warning systems and climate risk assessments are in place.

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Alexa St. John is an Associated Press climate reporter. Follow her on X: @alexa_stjohn. Reach her at ast.john@ap.org.

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Read more of AP’s climate coverage.

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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.

Just steps into the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, the gavel used by Nancy Pelosi when she became the first female speaker of the U.S. House sits next to a red “Make America Great Again” cap. A shirt emblazoned with a pink triangle and “Silence = Death” protesting the government's inaction during the AIDS crisis hangs alongside a campaign shirt for President Ronald Reagan, whose administration was blamed for ignoring the epidemic.

The display is part of a broader exhibit flowing throughout the museum dubbed “In Pursuit of Life, Liberty and Happiness,” commemorating the 250th anniversary of American independence. With artifacts ranging from a Revolutionary War-era gunboat to a 1970 Earth Day flag, it's a reminder that the challenges and divides gripping the U.S. in the age of President Donald Trump, while stark, are not new.

“In some of those contestations, people find the hope and the resiliency to move forward,” said Anthea M. Hartig, the museum's director. “History is filled with those moments where we think we're completely falling apart as we did in the Civil War and then we're trying to figure out how to build it back together again.”

A unifying theme is being tested

That unifying theme is being tested as the anniversary celebrations intensify in the coming weeks with Trump once again giving himself central billing. The creation of Freedom 250, an organization aligned with the White House, has come to rival America 250, a bipartisan group founded by Congress a decade ago. The different groups add to a sense that even a milestone anniversary can become the source of division.

The tumultuous aftermath is apparent on the National Mall just outside the museum, where preparations are underway for “The Great American State Fair.” A wave of artists including Martina McBride pulled out of performances at the fair, saying they didn't realize the political overtone of the event. Trump himself is now planning to speak there Wednesday.

The split screen will return on July Fourth as America 250 holds a concert in Los Angeles hosted by Queen Latifah and featuring performances from Chris Stapleton and The Smashing Pumpkins while the president returns to the National Mall for what he has described as a “Trump rally.”

Trump is not the first president to deliver a high-profile July Fourth speech. In 1986, Reagan spoke from New York Harbor marking the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty. In 1976, President Gerald Ford delivered an address from Independence Hall in Philadelphia commemorating the bicentennial.

Their themes emphasized commonality and unity, framing the moment in a broader context that had little to do with the presidents themselves. Reagan joked he “wouldn't even think about trying to compete with a fireworks display” while noting “all the celebration of this day is rooted in history.”

Ford spoke of the “American adventure” as a “continuing process.”

“Liberty is for all men and women as a matter of equal and unalienable right,” he said. “The establishment of justice and peace abroad will in large measure depend upon the peace and justice we create here in our own country, where we still show the way.”

Trump tends to place the focus on himself

Trump, of course, tends to place more of the focus squarely on himself. He became the first president to host the Kennedy Center honors last year after a Trump-backed board named him chairman. The venue added his name to the building as well, prompting a federal judge to declare the move illegal and order its removal.

More recently, Trump has remade Washington in his image, demolishing the East Wing of the White House to make way for a ballroom and moving toward building a triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery. He's eyeing renovations at East Potomac Park even as he struggles with the return of algae at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which he remodeled last month. He recently hosted a UFC fight at the White House.

“Trump is putting himself at the center of the story,” said Mark Updegrove, chairman of the LBJ Foundation and a presidential historian. "Trump does not consider himself the steward of the presidency. He considers himself the embodiment of it.”

The country is in a dour mood as the anniversary approaches. Only about one-quarter of Americans say the U.S. stands above all other countries in the world, according to an April poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. About 3 in 10 say there are better countries than the U.S., an increase from 19% in an AP-NORC poll conducted in June 2016.

Americans are less likely to see a democratically elected government as “extremely” or “very” important to the United States’ identity as a nation than they were just a few years ago. About two-thirds of U.S. adults now say a democratically elected government is highly important to the U.S.’s identity as a nation, down from 80% in 2021.

Big cultural moments face new rivals

Against that backdrop, it's little wonder that groups dedicated to the anniversary have multiplied. Even this year's Super Bowl halftime show — typically one of the few cultural moments bringing together much of the country — contended with a rival program this year after conservatives objected to Bad Bunny performing on the main stage.

Heading into the final days before the holiday, the main groups — Freedom 250 and America 250 — are outwardly aiming to downplay any tensions.

Freedom 250 spokesperson Rachel Reisner said the organization was focused on “signature events and initiatives,” including the fair, and is “sparking a unifying movement across all 50 states.”

Rosie Rios, the chair of America 250, said her main priority is delivering programming for all Americans, whether that's eight consecutive ball drops that will unfold across the country, student competitions or a massive volunteer effort. As for other organizations that have emerged like Freedom 250, “the more celebrations, the merrier.”

“We can't be all things to all Americans,” Rios said. “But we have something for every American and the more opportunities for everyone to participate in July 4th and beyond, we're thrilled.”

The suspects, aged 14 and 15, were arrested. The suspects and the victims were students of the San Jose National High School in Tacloban city, where the mid-morning shooting happened, regional police chief Brig. Gen. Jason Capoy said.

Police said 15 of the 20 injuries were caused by gunshots, including a student who was hit in the head and remained in a hospital. The rest were injured as they stumbled and jumped out of a window as they dashed to safety.

An investigation was underway to determine the cause of the shooting in the government-run school, which has more than 1,500 students. Capoy said that the suspects, who were close friends, said in initial questioning that they were bullied in school. He did not elaborate.

They have no criminal records. One of the suspects got the 9 mm pistol he used in the attack from an aunt, a police officer, who was being investigated. The other suspect used a .38 caliber revolver. They managed to bring the guns onto the campus because there was only one guard on duty at multiple entrances and exits, Capoy said.

“The suspects barged into two rooms because after the shooting in the first, the children scampered and the suspects apparently ran after some victims into another room,” Capoy told reporters.

Most of the dead and wounded were female students, he said. Police recovered at least 40 shell casings at the scene of the attack.

In a video posted online, students hiding under desks in a shut classroom can be heard screaming and weeping as gunshots are heard outside. Some called their mothers. Other videos show visibly terrified students streaming out of the school campus, some holding and embracing each other.

One of the suspects was arrested in the school after the attack but the second fled and hid in a house nearby. He was found by police who were alerted by residents, police said.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered a thorough investigation of the shooting and asked law enforcers to boost security in all schools, workplaces and public areas, Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said.

“The president was saddened by this incident. Anybody, especially the parents of the victims, will feel sad and terrified,” Castro said.

The suspects were to be turned over to government welfare officers after the investigation since they are minors. The 14-year-old would be exempt from criminal prosecution under a 2006 Philippine law, which sets the minimum age of 15 for a minor to be criminally liable and only if authorities determine that a suspect was clearly aware of the crime that was committed and its repercussions.

The national police have urged the public to remain calm and cooperate with authorities by providing any information that may aid the ongoing investigation.

Crimes involving the use of firearms are prevalent in the Philippines, partly due to the proliferation of unlicensed firearms, but school shootings are relatively rare.

In 2022, a man armed with pistols opened fire at an upscale university in the Manila metropolitan area ahead of a graduation ceremony, killing a former Philippine town mayor with whom the suspect had a long-running feud, and two others in the brazen attack. The gunman was arrested.

U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman and U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat are both seeking to stave off candidates backed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the young democratic socialist who hopes excitement over his election last year will help reshape the city's congressional delegation.

Goldman faces former city Comptroller Brad Lander while Espaillat faces another Mamdani pick, Darializa Avila Chevalier, a democratic socialist who once helped organize pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University.

Meanwhile, Democrat Jack Schlossberg, the 33-year-old grandson of former President John F. Kennedy, is hoping to write his own chapter in Camelot lore as he competes in a crowded field for a seat being vacated by retiring U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler. Mamdani has made no endorsement in that race.

The Kennedy scion is running in one of the country's wealthiest congressional districts — covering much of the center of Manhattan — but faces questions about his lack of work experience against more seasoned opponents.

The field includes state Assembly members Micah Lasher, a longtime government hand backed by Democratic leaders, and Alex Bores, whose proposals to regulate artificial intelligence have triggered tech industry blowback. Also in the running is George Conway, a former attorney who helped start the anti-Trump group, The Lincoln Project, and has centered his candidacy on impeaching the president.

Mamdani's insurgents

Only months into his first term, Mamdani surprised some by aggressively endorsing candidates who are challenging Democrats supported by the party leadership.

If his slate is successful, Mamdani — a registered Democrat — could emerge as a democratic socialist kingmaker with newfound support in Congress, though the play could also risk further dividing fellow Democrats and strain his relationships with party leaders.

Last month, the mayor endorsed Avila Chevalier, 32, in her race against Espaillat, 71, who was the first Dominican American elected to Congress and represents a district in upper Manhattan and the Bronx. Espaillat backed former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in last year's mayoral election but then backed Mamdani after he won the Democratic primary.

Avila Chevalier has not held political office and casts herself as an outsider, unbeholden to corporate or real estate interests.

She also has blasted the incumbent for her previous backing from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Espaillat's allies have called Avila Chevalier unfit for office, pointing out a history of inflammatory and profane social media posts when she was in her 20s.

Lander, a fixture of the city's progressive Democrats, got the mayor's endorsement in a race against Goldman, a progressive former federal prosecutor who served as lead counsel for Trump’s first impeachment.

The war in Gaza has become a dividing line between the two candidates, both of whom are Jewish, as Lander assails Goldman for not being tough enough on Israel over its military action against Palestinians. Goldman has consistently criticized Israel's government and condemned settler violence but has stopped short of describing the conflict as a genocide, which Lander has done.

Still, Goldman has been forced to amp up his criticism of Israel's war posture in response to Landers' barbs and shifting voter sentiments, all while seeking to keep his campaign focused on the high cost of living and such issues as opposing Trump's agenda.

Mamdani and Lander were opponents during last year's mayoral primary, but formed an alliance intended to thwart an attempted political comeback by Cuomo. At the same time, Lander's endorsement of Mamdani helped ease concerns among some Jewish voters about Mamdani's criticism of Israel.

Mamdani has also backed a democratic socialist ally, state Assembly Member Claire Valdez, over Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, in the race to succeed retiring U.S. Rep. Nydia Velazquez in a district covering parts of Brooklyn and Queens. Velazquez backed Reynoso.

A Trump-influenced race in upstate New York

In northern New York state, a Trump acolyte with no previous political experience is facing a conservative state lawmaker in the Republican primary for a seat soon to be vacated by U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik.

Anthony Constantino, head of the custom sticker company Sticker Mule, showcased his enthusiasm for the president by putting a massive “Vote For Trump” sign atop one of his company buildings. He also released a hip-hop album titled “Thank You President Trump," and commissioned a statue of Trump and gave it to the president in Florida. Trump has endorsed him.

Constantino's opponent, conservative state Assembly Member Robert Smullen, has strong support from local Republicans and has argued that Constantino's antics, which include regular bashing of the state GOP, make him unfit to serve in the House.

Richard Glossip's initial conviction was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court last year, and he was released on bond by a state judge last month. Tuesday's hearing will determine whether his case goes straight to retrial or if he will be given a new hearing to determine whether there is enough evidence to proceed.

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond has said the state would seek to retry him on a murder charge but would not pursue the death penalty again.

Glossip had been sentenced to death over the 1997 killing in Oklahoma City of his former boss, motel owner Barry Van Treese, who was beaten with a baseball bat in what prosecutors have alleged was a murder-for-hire scheme.

The Supreme Court ruled last year that prosecutors’ decision to allow a key witness to give testimony they knew to be false violated Glossip’s constitutional right to a fair trial.

Glossip has maintained his innocence and has drawn support from Kim Kardashian and other prominent figures. Van Treese’s family had asked the Supreme Court to leave Glossip’s conviction and sentence intact.

During Glossip's time on death row, Oklahoma courts set nine different execution dates for him. He came so close to being put to death that he ate three separate last meals. In 2015, he was even held in a cell next to Oklahoma’s execution chamber, waiting to be strapped to a gurney and die by lethal injection.

The Timberwolves are sending the 28th pick in Tuesday's draft to the Nets and will be receiving the No. 33 pick that will be made in the second round on Wednesday night, said the person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the deal has not received the required approvals from the league office.

ESPN, which first reported the deal, also said the Bulls would be receiving Nic Claxton from Brooklyn in the trade.

For Minnesota, the trade opens up a slew of financial possibilities. It creates a $33 million trade exception, plus gave the Timberwolves room they can use to re-sign Ayo Dosunmu — which ESPN said later Monday would happen in the form of a five-year deal that could be worth $112 million — and target more players in free agency.

Dosunmu had a 43-point game off the bench during the opening round of this year's playoffs, when Minnesota ousted Denver.

Randle, a three-time All-Star, will be moving to his fifth team after stints with New York, the Los Angeles Lakers, New Orleans and the Timberwolves. He averaged 21.1 points this past season, though shot just 39% from the field and 24% from 3-point range in Minnesota's 12 playoff contests.

Claxton just finished his seventh NBA season, all with Brooklyn. He averaged 11.7 points this past season.

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

But for many young Spurs fans, this was their first time experiencing the Spurs playoff run for the team’s sixth NBA Championship — or as we like to call it, the Race For Seis.

The last two months of playoff coverage was also a professional first for many of our coworkers in the KSAT 12 newsroom.

KSAT Sports Now will stream interviews with our coworkers as they reflect on what stood out to them in their coverage of the 2026 NBA Playoffs and NBA Finals.

KSN can be streamed starting at 9:35 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Some media outlets had previously reported receiving ransom notes tied to the case in the days after Guthrie’s disappearance in early February from her home in the foothills just outside Tucson.

CNN reported Monday that one of notes revealed that Nancy Guthrie was dead — and those who kidnapped her did not mean to kill her, but she died shortly after her disappearance.

CNN said it knew the contents of one such note, and that a Tucson TV station had received two notes.

CNN and the station agreed to hold off on sharing the contents of the notes publicly so any future communications with the kidnapper or kidnappers could be authenticated, CNN reported.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department declined to comment on the note’s contents. The FBI didn’t respond to a request for comment. And the Guthrie family didn’t make any immediate social media posts or any public comments about the notes Monday.

Jessica Bobula, news director for the Tucson TV station KOLD, said Monday that the station received several notes after Guthrie disappeared. The station notified authorities and has shared only what the FBI has released about the notes, she said.

Authorities believe Nancy Guthrie was kidnapped, abducted or otherwise taken against her will after finding blood near her front doorstep. The FBI later released surveillance videos showing a masked man on the porch that night.

Volunteers and search teams scoured the nearby desert terrain filled with cactuses, bushes and boulders in the weeks after she vanished. A volunteer group recently conducted a search for her body near the Arizona-Mexico border but didn’t report finding her.

U.S. District Court Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan sided with advocacy groups that argued the recent upgrades to the program, called Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, aggregated Americans’ sensitive personal data in a way that could result in voters being wrongly purged from voter rolls.

“All in all, the federal government has knowingly trampled on the privacy rights of American citizens in a manner that threatens the sacred right to vote,” Sooknanan said in an order explaining the decision. “This Court cannot stand idly by while that happens.”

She said Congress had expressly prohibited the government from centralizing Americans’ personal identifying information and that the federal agencies that created the SAVE program “knew that the database violates those statutory protections.”

The decision is a major legal setback for President Donald Trump in his efforts to use federal agencies to encourage a nationwide crackdown on having noncitizens illegally on state voter rolls. The modified SAVE system, which critics had referred to as an unlawful centralized federal database of voter information, had been a key pillar of the second election executive order the Republican president signed earlier this year. The ruling leaves its future uncertain.

“It’s amazing how hard the Left will fight to stop us from solving problems they insist do not exist,” James Percival, general counsel at the Department of Homeland Security, said of the ruling in a social media post.

DHS referred to his post as its comment on the ruling. The Department of Justice said in an emailed statement that it would “continue to aggressively defend President Trump’s immigration enforcement agenda and DHS’s use of the SAVE system to verify citizenship.”

Voting by noncitizens was already rare

The executive order seeking to create a national voter list is among numerous steps Trump has taken during his second term to try to overhaul the way elections are run. He also has tried to force voters to provide documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote, ban mail ballots from counting if they are received after Election Day and prohibit the Postal Service from mailing ballots to people not on an approved list of voters. Most of those steps have been blocked by various courts, in part because the Constitution gives states and Congress the authority to set election rules, but provides no such power to the president.

Voting by noncitizens is already illegal and punishable as a potential felony that could lead to deportation. It also is rare, accounting for just a tiny fraction of those on state voter rolls,

The SAVE program was created under an immigration law mandating that DHS help federal, state and local agencies prevent government benefits from going to noncitizens. At least 25 states used it to check their voter rolls since April 2025, after the Trump administration significantly expanded its search abilities. Since then, at least 67 million registrations have been scanned through the program, but critics worry it could end up purging valid voters from the rolls.

Anthony Nel was one of those whose registrations were wrongly flagged. The South Africa native became a U.S. citizen more than a decade ago but had his voter registration in Denton, Texas, north of Dallas, canceled temporarily last year after Texas ran its voter file through SAVE. The check wrongly identified him as a potential noncitizen.

“I hope others can see this fight and not take their right to vote for granted,” he said in a text message.

Right to keep Americans' data private is at heart of the case

The plaintiffs, including the League of Women Voters, the Electronic Privacy Information Center and five unnamed U.S. citizens, had alleged the revamped SAVE program violated Americans’ privacy and voting rights. The groups also alleged the Trump administration violated federal privacy laws by ignoring transparency requirements about the changes to the system.

“The agencies were scrambling to comply with an Executive Order aimed at reshaping federal elections, which directed them to create a system for mass voter verification,” the judge wrote. “So they haphazardly combined and repurposed the private information of millions of Americans, including citizenship data that they knew to be unreliable.”

Plaintiffs attorney Nikhel Sus told the court during the October hearing that naturalized citizens face a greater risk of unlawfully being purged from voter rolls.

“They are uniquely vulnerable to errors in the database,” said Sus, an attorney for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

Sus said Monday he sees Sooknanan’s ruling as an “across the board victory” and noted the plaintiffs were pleased the judge’s ruling reinforced their argument that the federal government doesn’t have implied authority to freely share sensitive data across agencies.

Mark Johnson, who teaches at the University of Kansas law school and regularly pursues lawsuits over election laws, said “it couldn’t be more clear” that the SAVE program violates federal privacy laws.

He said an executive order from Trump cannot override a federal law.

“It’s an illegal idea. Plus it’s a bad idea,” he said.

Elon Musk's DOGE effort was crucial for updating the SAVE system

During the 2024 presidential campaign, as Trump pushed false claims of widespread noncitizen voting, Republican secretaries of state began requesting improvements to the SAVE system to make it more efficient for catching noncitizens on their rolls. One limitation was that the system had been able to check just a single individual at a time.

DHS, Citizenship and Immigration Services, and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency delivered on those requests in 2025, according to public announcements. They made SAVE free for election officials, allowed agencies to search voters by the thousands and began permitting queries using names, birthdays and Social Security numbers, as opposed to requiring DHS-issued identification numbers.

Several secretaries of state have said the SAVE overhaul improved its value as one of multiple tools they use to assess voter citizenship. But in her ruling, Judge Sooknanan said the plaintiffs had shown that the updated system had indeed been identifying some lawful voters as noncitizens and that states using it “are actively removing United States citizens from voter rolls based on inaccurate information.”

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Swenson reported from New York. Associated Press writer John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, contributed to this report.

Yeah, it got a bit messy on the pitch.

Weather aside, this game — as so many do for France — belonged to Mbappé as he tries to keep pace on the World Cup career goals list with new record holder Lionel Messi.

Mbappé scored twice to move into a tie for second in World Cup goals with 16, and France played through the tournament's first rain delay to beat Iraq 3-0 on Monday and advance to the knockout stage.

“I’m only thinking about helping my team,” Mbappé said. “By helping my team, I score goals, and when you score goals, of course, you get closer to that kind of level.”

Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembélé also scored for Les Bleus, giving fans who stuck out a rainy night in Philadelphia a reason to cut loose.

Mbappé scored in the 14th and 54th minutes to cap a momentous and soggy 100th international appearance for one of the best players in the world. Fans of all ages wore his jersey, either walking around Philadelphia earlier in the afternoon or in the rows of seats at Lincoln Financial Field, which had a sellout crowd of 68,234.

Mbappé's first goal gave France a 1-0 lead at halftime, when heavy rain and an incoming thunderstorm prompted a delay of just over two hours. Grounds crews used squeegees to push water off the swampy Kentucky bluegrass at the home of the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles.

“It was very difficult, because we had to stay focused, we had to stay engaged in the locker room,” Mbappé said.

Scoreboard messages directed the crowd to take shelter in the stadium’s covered areas, warning that a severe storm was on the way. Sheets of rain continued to fall through halftime as fans wrapped themselves in ponchos and huddled in the concourse and under balconies.

Iraq coach Graham Arnold wrestled with a poncho for a few seconds before he pulled it over his head and returned to the covered dugout. France fans who stayed in their seats in the last few covered rows of the top of the stadium waved the country’s flag, and many splashed around the concourse to pass time.

Others fled for the exits — at the same stadium where last season's Eagles opener was delayed 65 minutes in the third quarter because of lightning — as the delay dragged on, giving overseas spectators a triple dose of American sports nuisances: rain delays, overpriced concessions and TV timeouts in the form of hydration breaks. There was no second-half hydration break in this game after the long, wet pause in the action.

Playing in his third World Cup, the 27-year-old Mbappé matched Miroslav Klose of Germany on the goals list and moved one ahead of Brazil great Ronaldo.

Messi scored twice for Argentina earlier Monday to set the tournament record at 18. He had equaled Klose with his first World Cup hat trick in Argentina’s 3-0 win over Algeria last Tuesday night in Kansas City, Missouri.

Mbappé scored his third goal of the tournament with a left-footed strike — his supposed weaker foot — from the edge of the box that got past Iraq goalkeeper Ahmed Basil, who got his first start in the tournament after captain Jalal Hassan allowed all four goals in Iraq’s 4-1 loss to Norway.

For his second goal, Mbappé took advantage of a poor pass to the goalkeeper by Iraq defender Zaid Tahseen. Dembele controlled the loose ball and passed to Mbappé, who tapped it in with his right foot.

Mbappé had a chance at the hat trick on a late breakaway, but missed before he was subbed out at the 90-minute mark.

“He can take Messi, he can take Ronaldo,” France coach Didier Deschamps said. “He does have the capacity to up his ante.”

Mbappé helped France win the World Cup in 2018 and reach the final in 2022, when he was awarded the Silver Ball as the second-best player. Joined up front by Désiré Doué and Dembélé, France entered this year’s tournament as a co-favorite with Spain.

France could return to Philadelphia to play Germany on July 4.

“We’re going to try to analyze it in the coming days, see what we can improve, because I think there are two or three things we could have avoided,” Mbappé said.

Iraq striker Aymen Hussein was subbed out with an apparent injury in the 26th minute of the first half and replaced by Ali Al-Hamadi. Hussein scored his 34th international goal in Iraq’s World Cup opener.

Iraq is playing in the World Cup for just the second time after debuting in 1986.

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

Kylian Mbappé of France scored two goals on Monday to reach 16 for his World Cup career, moving into a tie for second most in tournament history as he tries to keep pace with new record holder Lionel Messi.

“If I want to keep up with what Leo is doing,” Mbappé said after France beat Iraq 3-0 to reach the knockout stage, “I’ll have to do even more.”

France is counting on it as Mbappé tries to lead Les Bleus to their second World Cup title in the last three tournaments. Mbappé would consider it a bonus if he could win it all and pass Messi for the World Cup goals record.

The 27-year-old Mbappé is 11 years younger than Messi and should have at least two or three more World Cups to secure the record — at least until the next young superstar comes around to challenge him.

“He's here to score goals and that’s something he’s been doing,” France coach Didier Deschamps said. “He’s somebody that has a worldwide aura.”

Playing in his third World Cup, Mbappé scored in the 14th minute against Iraq, giving Les Bleus a 1-0 lead in his 100th international game. After a weather delay that extended the halftime break to more than two hours, Mbappé found the net again in the 54th minute to move into a tie with Miroslav Klose of Germany, who had the goals record before this high-scoring World Cup began.

Messi scored twice for Argentina earlier Monday to set the tournament record at 18. He had equaled Klose with his first World Cup hat trick in Argentina’s 3-0 win over Algeria last Tuesday night in Kansas City, Missouri.

“Leo always scores,” Mbappé said.

Mbappé sent a left-footed strike from about 20 yards out past Iraq goalkeeper Ahmed Basil, who got his first start in the tournament after captain Jalal Hassan allowed all four goals in Iraq’s 4-1 loss to Norway.

For his second goal, Mbappé took advantage of a poor pass to the goalkeeper by Iraq defender Zaid Tahseen. France's Ousmane Dembele controlled the loose ball and passed to Mbappé, who tapped it in with his right foot.

The Real Madrid forward had a chance at the hat trick on a late breakaway but missed before he was subbed out at the 90-minute mark. He is one of two men with a hat trick in a World Cup final.

“I've seen enough criticism on his egotistical side,” Deschamps said. “But that’s not who he is. I reiterate, he’s the team captain. And he’s a bright example for the rest of the group.”

Mbappé helped France win the World Cup in 2018 and reach the final in 2022, when he was awarded the Silver Ball as the second-best player. Joined up front by Désiré Doué and reigning Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembélé, France entered this year's tournament as a co-favorite with Spain.

Dembélé also scored in the second half to complete a dominant performance for France. Les Blues won in 1998 and 2018, then lost the 2022 final to Argentina on penalty kicks.

Mbappé, one of two men to have a hat trick in a World Cup final, scored his 13th and 14th World Cup goals in France’s 3-1 tournament-opening victory over Senegal. He now has 59 international goals, two more than Oliver Giroud for the most in France's rich history.

His World Cup goals include four this year; eight in 2022, when he won the Golden Boot as the top scorer; and four in 2018.

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

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Maria Cavalluzzi ruled that 44-year-old Michael Gledhill cannot understand the case against him and cannot rationally assist his lawyer in his own defense.

Handy, the 81-year-old actor whose credits include “Jumanji” and “Top Gun: Maverick,” was in a relationship with Gledhill's mother, and was found stabbed in the chest and lying unconscious outside her home on June 3, police and prosecutors said. He was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Gledhill was arrested after telling police he was the person they were looking for. Officers had responded to the home after a 911 caller said, “I am the son of man, I just killed the man of sin,” police said.

Gledhill has not entered a plea and has not appeared in court in the case. At his scheduled arraignment on June 5, a judge paused his prosecution and sent the case to a court that specializes in mental health evaluation.

That court ruled promptly after psychiatric evaluations that he was not competent. Cavalluzzi also found at a hearing Monday that Gledhill cannot make proper medication decisions. She signed an order saying he could be involuntarily medicated for one year, citing a psychiatrist's determination that his mental health could be hugely helped by proper drugs.

She ordered him to appear in court on July 14 for a hearing on his long-term placement. His case will head to trial if he is later found to be competent.

Emails seeking comment from attorneys for both sides were not immediately answered.

Brian Delate, a longtime friend and fellow actor of Handy, told The Associated Press soon after Handy was killed that Gledhill's mother had fixed up her garage so her son could live there. Handy had his own home, but spent much of his time there, his friend said. Delate said Handy had mentioned in passing that his girlfriend's son had mental health problems.

Handy, a ubiquitous character actor, appeared in films and TV shows for decades.

He was known for his role as an exterminator in the 1995 film “Jumanji” and more recently as the bartender Jimmy in the 2022 film “Top Gun: Maverick.” He also appeared in many of TV's top crime dramas, including “NCIS: Los Angeles,” “The Closer” and “Cold Case.”

It was the first rain delay of the tournament and the first time in at least several decades that a World Cup match was delayed midgame because of inclement weather. Halftime began at 5:50 p.m. EDT and the game resumed at 8 p.m. — 1 hour, 55 minutes longer than the scheduled 15-minute halftime break.

France played through the rain and muck to beat Iraq 3-0 behind two goals from Kylian Mbappé.

“It’s a question of safety,” France coach Didier Deschamps said. “You can’t fight against rain and lightning. We will stick to the local laws. We have to adapt. These are very special circumstances, and I do hope they will not happen again.”

There was also heavy rain ahead of Monday night’s game between Norway and Senegal in East Rutherford, New Jersey, which started on time.

With France leading 1-0 at halftime, scoreboard messages directed the crowd at Lincoln Financial Field to take shelter in the stadium’s covered areas, warning that a severe storm was on the way. Sheets of rain fell through halftime as thousands of fans huddled in the concourse and under balconies.

The stoppage was initially expected to extend the halftime break by 15 minutes. As the delay dragged on, stadium officials announced that “the game will resume when deemed safe.”

The teams returned to the field to warm up after about 1 hour, 40 minutes, prompting cheers from the crowd. Crews used squeegees to push standing water toward the sideline of the swampy field.

A rule used by FIFA pauses games for 30 minutes if lightning is detected within 8 miles. Each strike resets the clock.

France and Iraq played through a downpour that started in the 37th minute. Fans donned ponchos and most stayed in their seats until they were told to find shelter at halftime.

“I think that’s out of our control, so we just needed to adapt, and I think we did that pretty well,” French defender Jules Kounde said.

France scored twice in the second half, which did not include the much-debated hydration break that was added for this tournament.

“I think it’s the first time I experienced it in football as a coach or a player,” Iraq coach Graham Arnold said of the delay. “It obviously made it much harder for the players. I told the players, who’s going to switch on mentally?”

FIFA long had a reputation for continuing matches even through extreme weather. A 2014 game between the U.S. and Germany continued in Brazil even after torrential downpour that flooded parts of the surrounding city.

World Cup regulations do not specify weather conditions that would prompt a delay to the start of matches or an interruption. However, the regulations say “in the case of a match being abandoned as a result of force majeure after it has already kicked off … the match shall recommence at the minute at which play was interrupted rather than being replayed in full, and with the same scoreline.”

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AP Sports Writer Dan Gelston contributed to this report.

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

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the natural gas-fueled explosions of two houses on Preston Hollow Drive on April 21, which sent five residents to the hospital and injured a CPS Energy employee.

At least two of the residents, Timothy and Kimberly Nowell, were still at Brooke Army Medical Center as of Monday, a hospital spokesman confirmed.

The NTSB released its initial findings on the explosions on May 21, but council members heard Monday the full investigation could take 12 to 24 months.

City and CPS Energy officials pointed to the ongoing investigation as the reason they had to stay tight-lipped on specifics Monday while discussing the city’s response to the tragedy and to emergencies in general.

CPS Energy has also been reticent because of ongoing litigation. The Nowells and their neighbors in the other damaged home, Jose Ochoa and Mayte Terrie Reeves, have filed lawsuits over the blast. The utility has responded with general denials in both cases, but no court dates have been set so far.

Preston Hollow Homeowners Association Secretary Tony Flores told council members during the meeting that locals want “transparency, accountability, communication and a clear plan forward to restore confidence in our neighborhood.”

“Houses don’t blow up. There are safe havens, a place for rest, a place to relax and feel safe,” he said.

Councilman Marc Whyte (D10) represents the area and called the meeting with the help of Councilwoman Teri Castillo (D5) and Councilwoman Marina Alderete Gavito (D7).

Whyte doesn’t think there was enough clear and unified communication following the explosions.

“My office was on the ground trying to get as much information to the neighborhood as possible, but as was stated earlier, there were some questions that we just couldn’t answer,” he said. “Who was in charge? Who was talking to residents from the city? Who was handling the coordination between all of the different agencies that were involved?"

Council discussion included how the city responds to emergencies in general, but city legal staff shut down some of Whyte’s more specific questions about the Preston Hollow incident, such as when he asked if there had been a point person coordinating the agencies “during those days and weeks after the event.”

“Chief, if you would, please,” Deputy City Attorney Debbie Klein interjected before San Antonio Fire Chief Valerie Frausto could respond. “So that goes into the part of the NTSB investigation that we’re not able to discuss at this point in time. That will be part of their final report."

Just over a minute later, she jumped in again when Whyte asked about who was supposed to be telling residents in the days following the explosion that they could return to their homes.

Whyte appeared pleased, though, that city staff appeared ready at the end of the meeting to incorporate a similar, localized emergency scenario into annual training at the emergency operations center, including the role of the local council office and how it fits into communication and support for family members.

“We have never really discussed what the chain of command should be or how operations would differ from just a neighborhood-centric tragedy like this one,” he told reporters later. “And so that’s going to be a part of the presentation this year, and I think that’s going to be very valuable.”

Flores told reporters that a lot of what he heard during Monday’s meeting had been directed toward actions for after an incident, “which would be great,” but he and his neighbors also want to ensure their neighborhood is safe.

“And until we get the final investigation, we won’t know the answer to that,” he said.

A CPS Energy official said residents who believe they smell gas can call 911 and the utility (210-353-HELP), which has a 30-minute average response time.

Dead grass can also be a sign of a minor leak, even if you don’t smell it, she said.

The utility also says to call 811 48 hours before digging so underground gas lines can be marked.

Read also:

• NTSB releases initial findings of investigation into 2 North Side house explosions
• A look at what’s next for victims of 2 North Side home explosions

The Argentina captain has the World Cup scoring record all to himself after another standout performance, one that began with frustration after missing a penalty kick and ended in pure elation with another victory.

Messi, who many consider the greatest player of all time, scored both goals in his team’s 2-0 victory over Austria on Monday. That gave him 18, six days after his first-ever hat trick in the tournament had matched Germany striker Miroslav Klose's previous record for World Cup goals. Later Monday, Kylian Mbappé matched Klose's mark of 16 with two goals in France's 3-0 win over Iraq.

“Beyond anything I’m so happy for the win,” Messi said. “It was huge, tough and difficult. It would allow us to be relaxed to what’s ahead. All matches in this World Cup are very even, very intense. I’m enjoying this moment and craving to enjoy with my teammates.”

The first goal against Austria came in the 38th minute and two days before his 39th birthday, and amid the concern of an ailing father back at home. It was the sixth consecutive World Cup game in which Messi has scored — joining France striker Just Fontaine and Brazil great Jairzinho as only players to do so.

That was about a half-hour after he missed a penalty kick with a chance to match the record.

“There were moments when I was really angry about missing the penalty, but I was able to make up for it,” said Messi, who has won a record eight Ballon d'Or awards as the best player in Europe.

Argentina advanced to the knockout round by winning its first two Group J games. Messi also scored all the goals in a 3-0 win over Algeria in Kansas City.

Messi added his 18th World Cup goal in the waning seconds of stoppage time when he shot one through several defenders after his first attempt was turned away by goalkeeper Alexander Schlager.

“I knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” Messi said in translated remarks. “The way things are going in the World Cup, the way it’s being played, it’s a very even game. No one is giving away anything.”

The goal record became Messi's alone in the first half when he caught Schlager leaning the wrong way after Thiago Almada let Facuno Medina’s pass go by him and directly onto Messi's left foot from about 20 yards.

“I have no more words to talk about Leo,” Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said through an interpreter.

As the ball went into the net on the record 17th goal, Messi ran toward a corner and thrust his right arm into the air to celebrate the mark with the decidedly pro-Argentina crowd among the 70,649 fans in the sold-out home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.

“Someone who is 39 years old and can score two goals, and five goals overall at the beginning of the World Cup, well, that makes a difference,” Austria coach Ralf Rangnick said through an interpreter. “We knew that he is on a level of his own, and Lionel Messi showed us today that he’s one of the best, and he is the best.”

There had been a gasp from those same fans when Messi missed the penalty in the ninth minute.

His left-footed attempt went just wide of the right post. He is now 4 of 7 on penalty kicks in regulation play at the World Cup, with misses in three consecutive tournaments.

Klose played in 24 World Cup matches for Germany, which wrapped up his fourth tournament by winning the 2014 final 1-0 in extra time over Messi and Argentina.

In an interview published on June 12, Klose said he expected Messi to break the scoring record.

“With the larger field of competing teams there are more games and so more chances to score goals. And I assume Argentina and France will go far,” Klose told German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung. “That’s perfectly OK, the record will be broken eventually anyhow and Messi is welcome to be the one who does it. I’m a big fan of Messi, always have been. Messi is a genius.”

Messi’s hat trick in the previous game, in his 200th international appearance, came 20 years to the date of his World Cup debut in Germany, when he also scored. Monday was his FIFA-record 28th match in the tournament.

The penalty kick came after Lautaro Martinez was running free in the box and was tackled from behind by Xaver Schlager and Stefan Posch, the defender playing with a broken jaw.

Play continued for more than a minute with Martinez still on the ground near the goal. When the game was stopped for him, officials reviewed the play and called the penalty.

Messi’s father has been undergoing medical treatment for an undisclosed illness, the family said in a statement last week while not providing any specific details. The 68-year-old Jorge Messi has played a key role in his third son’s soccer career, acting as his agent and managing his business affairs off the field.

Lionel Messi was overcome with emotion after scoring his first goal against Algeria, and said after that match his tears followed some tough days not related to soccer.

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AP Sports Writer James Ellingworth in Duesseldorf, Germany, contributed to this report.

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

The sisters are still processing the news that their father, Carlos Mugica, 54, and his wife, Jennifer Salazar Mugica, 46, were killed suddenly in a car crash last Friday.

The couple were headed back to Castle Hills, traveling on Interstate 10 in Fayette County, after a trip to Houston.

“I think we’re still in shock. We feel like we’re in a twilight zone, honestly,” said Carlie Jo.

Taylor agreed, mentioning how she last saw her father by way of a virtual visit.

“I was just on Facetime the day before he left on his trip,” she said. “We were on Facetime because he wanted to see his granddaughter.”

Still recovering from giving birth one month ago, Taylor said she is grateful that her father also got a chance to meet his granddaughter in person.

As a father, she and her sister say, Carlos was the best.

They described him as being loving, caring and “a big kid.”

“He has on his desk all these toys of ‘Star Wars,’” Taylor said. “He loved ‘Star Wars.’”

They say they also loved their stepmother, Jennifer, who had married their father just a few years ago.

“She was a sweet, loving and kind woman,” Taylor said.

Carlie Joe described Jennifer as someone who also loved her family and friends and made “the best spaghetti.”

The loss of the couple is being felt beyond their loved ones.

Jennifer served as assistant principal at Longfellow Middle School in the San Antonio Independent School District.

The school sent home a letter to parents Saturday, notifying them of her death and informing them that counselors would be available to students.

Carlos worked as a realtor and volunteered with the Rey Feo Consejo Educational Foundation.

“He was Mr. Fiesta,” Carlie Jo said. “He loved Fiesta.”

In the wake of his death, a spokesman for the organization issued a statement, praising Carlos for his dedication to the group.

His daughters, meanwhile, say they hold tight to their own memories, relying on one another and their faith to get by.

“Dad and Jennifer, they served God’s mission,” Carlie Jo said. “Their purpose is done and now God has called them home.”

The family said they will hold a Mass for Carlos Mugica at St. Agnes Catholic Church at 1 p.m. Wednesday, June 24. An interment will follow at San Fernando Cemetery II.

Read also:

• Castle Hills couple identified in deadly Fayette County crash, DPS says

The patrols came two days after Trump said authorities had made “multiple arrests” of people he insisted were responsible for damage to the peeling coating after an algae bloom occurred. The liner was installed as part of his $14 million-plus project.

The president has confirmed the problems most likely require draining the pool again for liner repairs and he promised a quick fix. Without offering substantiation, he also said vandals dumped fertilizer in the pool and slashed the coating with a box cutter.

But the timeline was not clear Monday, with the White House saying damaged areas are still being assessed. Contractors and federal workers in recent days have been using chemicals and ozone nanobubbles to combat the algae.

Trump pitched the original improvements as intended to clean, beautify and reinforce an iconic site that he said had become dilapidated and dirty because of previous presidents' neglect. Algae has plagued the pool for a century, and Trump insisted that a newly installed “American flag blue” coating, which he selected himself, would turn the pool into a gleaming expanse along the National Mall.

Yet within weeks of Trump declaring the rehabilitation completed in time for Independence Day, the water was plagued by a vivid green algae bloom that clouded the pool's coating. A piece of liner, about 4 square feet, was observed Friday partially floating in the pool. The Associated Press saw additional pieces in the water Monday.

Via social media, the president has blamed the problems on “SICK, DERANGED PEOPLE!” He asserted Monday on Truth Social that intentional damages include a “300 foot long gash” and that “chemicals have been illegally placed in the water.” A day earlier, Trump posted, “Work will begin immediately on fixing the seriously vandalized Reflecting Pool.”

At an executive order signing on Monday, the president said five people had been arrested and five more were under suspicion, and he deflected blame for the pool's maintenance issues: “I can’t help it if somebody goes in with a knife and starts hacking it up.” He has not backed up those claims, and even if anyone has deliberately peeled or cut the lining, that would not explain the algae bloom that appeared more intensely than what typically occurred before the renovation.

Images showing that Trump's project apparently backfired boomeranged across social media last week, drawing crowds of onlookers eager to see the effects themselves. An unknown number ended up being detained by federal authorities.

One man arrested was David Hearn, 67, of Bethesda, Maryland. A former Olympic canoe racer, Hearn told The Associated Press that he reached into the pool because he wanted to examine the peeling new coating. He said he briefly touched a chunk that was still attached to the side of the pool, then let go shortly after a park worker told him to. Hearn said he was then detained by National Guard troops and Park Police for five hours before being released Friday night.

“I’m a curious citizen,” Hearn said in a telephone interview. “I reached down to see what it felt like. It was very rubbery.”

The Park Police did not immediately respond Monday to AP's questions about how many arrests were made and whether any charges had been filed. Washington's Metropolitan Police Department said Monday that the agency is not involved.

The White House said Monday that any arrests have been made only by the U.S. Park Police.

It was not immediately apparent what criminal or civil violation someone might commit reaching into the pool. Trump, in one of his Truth Social posts, cited laws against defacing monuments as grounds for imprisoning anyone harming the pool.

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Barrow reported from Atlanta. Katie Vogel contributed reporting from Washington.

Steven Isaiah Brothers, 22, died last week from multiple gunshot wounds, according to the medical examiner’s office. His mother suffered serious injuries, according to the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office, including a fractured skull and a large cut to her head.

Their bodies were discovered last Tuesday, when a relative contacted 911 after spotting an injured woman through the window of a home in the 7900 block of Cactus Plum. The family member went to the house to check on the victims after they had not heard from them.

Anthony Wayne Neasham, 65, described by BCSO as the woman’s boyfriend and a person of interest in the case, was later found dead in Burnet County, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.

On June 22, BCSO confirmed Neasham was found dead with an “apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound” during the apprehension process.

The Texas Rangers are investigating Neasham’s death as part of the ongoing homicide investigation originating in Bexar County, DPS said.

BCSO said it is not currently looking for any additional suspects.

The woman, who suffered what Sheriff Javier Salazar described as a “savage beating,” was conscious at a hospital as of June 17 but was unable to recall what happened, according to BCSO.

As of June 22, she is recovering, the agency said.

The investigation remains ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to contact BCSO at 210-335-6000 or email BCSOtips@bexar.org.

Read more:

• Person of interest in far West Side death investigation believed to be dead, sheriff says
• BCSO seeks person of interest after man found dead, woman injured in far West Side home

The State Board of Education has two pivotal votes slated for this week that would usher in these changes: one on a rewrite of Texas’ social studies lessons, the other on a reading list for all public schools that includes teaching Christian stories.

On Monday, board members heard from teachers, students and community members in support of and concerned about the lessons ahead of scheduled preliminary votes this week. A final vote on the changes is expected Friday.

Nearly 500 people signed up to testify in a hearing that at several points turned contentious, with heated exchanges between speakers and the removal of at least one person deemed out of order by the board chair. 

The social studies proposal represents a dramatic transformation in how Texas schools have long administered lessons on history, geography, economics and government. It eliminates the current sixth-grade world cultures course, deemphasizes world history outside of European tradition and dedicates more focus to Texas and the United States.

The statewide reading list would require, among other literary works, that schools teach Bible stories to children as young as 6 years old up to young adults preparing to receive their diplomas.

If approved by the education board, both changes would take effect during the 2030-31 school year.

Conservative Republican leaders and activists champion the new lessons, which they view as “the final battle” in a push to rid Texas schools of instruction they say paints America in a negative light and trains students to hate the country. 

Sociology classes, for example, currently require students to understand “the impact of race and ethnicity on society” and “analyze the varying treatment patterns of minority groups.” But that standard does not exist in the newly proposed social studies plan. 

Republican leaders across the state often depict Islam as a violent religion they view as incompatible with their conservative Christian American values. During the board’s April meetings, the board eliminated a social studies standard that would have required students to learn about Muslim contributions to algebra and astronomy.

“Let me be very clear: Islam is not a religion,” Sen. Bob Hall, R-Edgewood, testified before the education board on Monday. “It is a totalitarian theocracy, not unlike totalitarian systems of communism, Nazism and globalism.”

Asked if he had ever visited a Muslim-majority country, Hall responded no. 

Elizabeth Jensen, who identified herself as a Texas school board trustee but did not specify the district, told the education panel that she believes “slavery was and still is fundamental to Sharia,” referring to the set of moral codes and principles that Muslims follow. Sharia does not have a uniform meaning, as Muslims interpret and act upon it differently. 

Muslims have spent months denouncing such Islamophobia at State Board of Education meetings, calling it misinformation and harmful to the hundreds of thousands of Texans who practice the faith. 

Meanwhile, students, educators and progressive activists spoke out in opposition to the lack of racial, ethnic and gender inclusion in the debated books and lessons, as well as the state’s Christian focus over other religions. 

“These proposed standards actually defy the Constitution and highlight only one group of Americans as the founders who built this country to the exclusion of others — both in the past and in the present,” Ruth Nasrullah, a Muslim speaker, told the board members.

English teachers stressed during the meeting that many of the books on the proposed reading list do not align with what Texas requires them to teach, despite taking up most of roughly 36 weeks of instructional time in an academic year.   

On the other hand, educators criticize how the social studies proposal prioritizes memorization over critical thinking and simplification over accuracy. Historians call attention to factual errors, saying the new standards would set children up for failure post-graduation. 

One lesson, for example, describes the forced relocation and imprisonment of Japanese families during World War II as one of the “contributions” to America’s military effort. Another proposal notes that high school students should know the significance of leaders in the Civil Rights Movement, specifying Thurgood Marshall, Barbara Jordan and Hector P. Garcia — but not Martin Luther King Jr. 

A panel of nine advisers guided the social studies overhaul, almost all of whom hold no Texas K-12 classroom experience and several of whom have ties to conservative activism. 

The tournament has been one of the highest-scoring in history so far and produced nearly 25% more scoring than the same span of games in the previous World Cup.

One reason for the increase in scoring might be the ball that FIFA is using for this tournament.

FIFA says the ball has been designed with deep seams to produce “optimal in-flight stability,” and players and coaches say it has been rocketing toward goalkeepers at a high velocity. There is also added grip to help striking and dribbling in wet or humid conditions.

“This ball is as fast as a cannonball. I think today and the last couple of days, you saw if you kick the ball in the right position, it’s extremely difficult to save,” Austria coach Ralf Rangnick said.

The games are also running longer because of increased stoppage time related to hydration breaks that are new for this tournament, allowing more scoring opportunities. And the tournament has a bigger talent gap because of the expanded 48-team field that debuted this year.

Colombia coach Néstor Lorenzo said he was not surprised by the number of goals considering the talent of the players at the World Cup. He said also said attackers are more protected by officials than they used to be.

“They didn’t have this protection some 20, 30 years ago, when they were hit a lot more, when rough play was a lot more common,” he said Monday. “Today, any team that defends well and uses counterattacks and tries to play, can manage to do well.”

The result: Fans were treated to 121 goals in the first 40 games of the tournament, and many of them came from internationally known players.

Premier League players are scoring the most

More than half the goals scored so far in the tournament were by players from the top three professional leagues in England, Germany and Spain. The English Premier League leads the way.

The trend was on full display over the weekend in the match between the Netherlands and Sweden, a 5-1 triumph for the Dutch. All six goals were scored by players who competed in the Premier League in the 2025-26 season.

“I think the Premier League is more intense than this World Cup,” said Gabriel Martinelli, a Brazil player from Arsenal. “But it’s certainly still a very beautiful World Cup, with high-quality and intense matches.”

Real Madrid, Inter Miami of Major League Soccer and Liverpool were the clubs whose players have produced the most goals. Miami, of course, is all because of one man — Lionel Messi, who has five goals in two games.

In addition to the nearly 30 goals from English clubs, 16 came from the German league, 11 from the Spanish league, seven from the French league and five from the Italian league.

MLS saw its players score eight times. Messi had a hat trick in Argentina’s opening match and another two on Monday. The other MLS goals came from FC Dallas’ Petar Musa of Croatia, Atlanta United’s Matías Galarza of Paraguay and the Portland Timbers’ Finn Surman of New Zealand.

When FIFA announced the official squads, there were 200 players based in England at the club level, nearly two times more than the 109 players based in Germany.

The tallies for the goals were made based on the players’ clubs when the official squad announcements were made.

Real Madrid and Liverpool at the top

Real Madrid players scored seven times — four from France’s Kylian Mbappé, two from Brazil’s Vinícius Júnior and one from England’s Jude Bellingham.

Madrid did not have any players called up for Spain’s national team for the first time. It signed Marc Cucurella from Chelsea during the tournament, though, making one of its own a part of the World Cup with La Roja.

Liverpool got three goals from Dutch players — two by Cody Gapko and one by Virgil van Dijk. Another goal came from Sweden’s Alexander Isak, and the other was scored by Egypt's Mohamed Salah, who was still listed as a Liverpool player when the squads were announced.

Bayern Munich had four goals — two by England’s Harry Kane and one each by Germany’s Jamal Musiala and Colombia’s Luis Díaz.

Bayern was the team with the second-most players called up for the tournament with 18. Manchester City was the first with 19, though its only four goals at the World Cup so far came from Norway's Erling Haaland.

How many goals are we talking about?

With 121 goals scored by 88 players in the first 40 games of the tournament, the average per game was at three goals. There were only three 0-0 draws, and eight of the goals were own-goals.

The tournament is on pace to shatter the 172-goal record from Qatar in 2022. The records aren't an apples-to-apples comparison because the 2022 edition only had 64 matches compared with 104 this year.

But the pace for 64 matches this year is at almost 194 goals, well beyond the record from four years ago.

The trend in scoring goes beyond the World Cup. The Champions League has set records in the past two seasons: 3.27 goals per game in 2024-2025 and then 3.47 goals per game in 2025-2026.

___

AP World Cup: https://apnews.com/FIFA-World-Cup

San Antonio Metro Health’s violence prevention administrator Erica Haller-Stevenson, along with the executive director for Big Mama’s Safe House, Rose Williams, said safety means storing guns in a secure location.

Other gun safety tips include:

• Make sure the gun safety is on when it is not in use.
• Clear the gun chamber to ensure it does not have a bullet in it.
• Store the gun separately from the ammunition.
• Store the gun in a safe or gun case.
• Don’t share the key or combination code with just anyone.
• Use a gun lock to prevent a magazine clip from being loaded or trigger lock to prevent the trigger from being pulled.
• Talk to children of all ages about what they should and shouldn’t do if they find a gun in their home or at a relative’s or friend’s house.

Those who choose to use a gun lock or gun case can buy one at a retail store or online, but in San Antonio and Bexar County, gun locks and cases are regularly given away for free.

When these giveaway events are not happening, there are also numerous local community organizations where gun owners can go and pick one up for free.

Monica Ramos, public information officer for Bexar County, said for the last six years, the county has teamed up with community grassroots organizations to make gun locks and cases readily available through its county gun safety initiative Bexar Responsibly.

Ramos said just last week, 2,200 gun locks and cases were distributed to about a dozen organizations.

The devices are made available to community members and neighbors for free during giveaway events or by picking it up from participating organizations’ locations, like Big Mama’s Safe House.

Williams said having giveaways and locks physically available at community organizations or gun clubs located in neighborhoods means gun owners have easy access to the life-saving devices in their own communities from people they likely know, see or hear about.

She said hopefully the word can spread and more gun owners will seek out the free locks, making the community safer.

“So, in whatever spaces that they feel comfortable, they’re going to reach out. The difference is that we know them,” Williams said. “We’re out there in the community working, we’re a grassroot organization, they know us, they trust us. So it’s easier for us just to say, ‘Hey, here it is.’”

Ramos added that those seeking the free safety devices are not questioned about their firearms or if they even own a firearm.

“We want to make sure that the public feels comfortable and that residents are comfortable coming to us asking for a gun case or a gun lock. So there’s never questions asked or anything like that,” Ramos said.

She and Williams stressed providing free gun locks and cases is about responsible gun ownership, locking guns up and keeping them secure.

For a list of some of the community organizations that partner with Bexar County to offer free gun locks and cases, click “community partners” at the link here.

Read also:

• SAPD highlights importance of firearm storage to prevent accidental shootings

The MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crashed several miles outside Sitka in a sparsely populated area near Harbor Mountain. The coastal town sits on Baranof Island. The surrounding Pacific Ocean currents limit extreme temperatures but deliver roughly 100 inches (254 centimeters) of rain every year.

Rescuers arrived around 11 a.m., about an hour after the crash, and took all four crew members to Mt. Edgecumbe Medical Center, a statement from the Coast Guard said.

“We are incredibly relieved our crew members survived with only minor injuries,” Rear Adm. Bob Little, commander of the Coast Guard’s Arctic District, said in a statement.

The Coast Guard will investigate the crash. It's not clear what caused it.

This helicopter crash followed a string of three major plane crashes this month.

A business jet crashed on a highway in Laredo, Texas, Tuesday night, killing one person on board. A B-52 crashed on June 15 during a test flight at Edwards Air Force Base in California and killed all eight people aboard. And on June 14, 12 people were killed when a plane on a skydiving outing in Missouri crashed.

___

Associated Press writer Becky Bohrer contributed to this report from Juneau, Alaska.

The record company lawyer who became one of the music industry’s most powerful figures, launching or resurrecting the careers of such superstars as Janis Joplin, Whitney Houston, Carlos Santana and Alicia Keys, has died, it was announced Monday. He was 94.

The greatest way to celebrate the “man with the golden ears,” as he was colloquially known, is to listen to the musicians and songs he was instrumental in turning into career artists and timeless hits, from starting his career at Columbia Records in the 1960s to today.

Read on below and then listen to all 10 songs on The Associated Press' Spotify playlist here.

“I Will Always Love You,” Whitney Houston (1992)

The story is the stuff of music industry legend. Apparently, Davis and producer David Foster fought bitterly over the arrangement for Whitney Houston’s all-time hit, a cover of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You.” Davis wanted the final version of the song to feature its iconic 40-second a cappella intro, an experiment suggested by Houston's “Bodyguard” co-star Kevin Costner. Foster did not. Davis won out in the end.

“Smooth,”Santana ft. Rob Thomas (1999)

It was Davis who conceived of Santana's 1999 album, “Supernatural,” which paired guitar virtuoso Carlos Santana with some of the day’s hottest talents. The record won eight Grammys and gave Santana more success than he had ever enjoyed in his decades-long career. At its center is “Smooth” with Matchbox Twenty singer Rob Thomas, a track Santana originally hated but Davis convinced him otherwise — as he was wont to do.

“Freeway of Love,” Aretha Franklin (1985)

Aretha Franklin had long been a star before joining Davis at Arista Records later in her career. But by the early '80s, as her commercial success had faded amid changing musical tastes, he helped revitalize her career. “Freeway of Love,” an R&B-pop track from her 1985 record “Who’s Zoomin' Who?” brought her back to the top of conversation. Their partnership was one for the books; it's no wonder she once referred to him as “the greatest record man of all time.”

“Piece of My Heart,” Big Brother & the Holding Company featuring Janis Joplin (1967)

As the story goes, attending the Monterey International Pop Festival in 1967 was pivotal for a young Davis, who became so enamored with the performances that they transformed his approach to running Columbia Records. He'd just been named president of the label and used his power to bring a counterculture spirit to a company that had resisted rock ’n’ roll. But of the lineup, no act resonated with Davis quite like Big Brother, and in particular, the soulful singer Janis Joplin. Their partnership began then, when he took “Piece of My Heart” and suggested adding a chorus and shortening its run time and instrumentals — turning it into a No. 1 hit.

“Blinded by the Light,” Bruce Springsteen (1973)

Davis was an early adopter of Springsteen, as he was of many artists across his career. He gave the young singer-songwriter from New Jersey a chance in his early 20s and inspired him to write the everlasting single, “Blinded by the Light,” from his 1973 debut album, “Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.” It would sound like the stuff of mythology if it weren’t true.

“Fallin,’” Alicia Keys (2001)

It's not so much that Davis had a role in the debut single from the nascent, big-voiced Alicia Keys — but he was one of her first and most ardent supporters. He signed her to his J Records and helped make her the star she is today. He saw her greatness immediately and at the very beginning.

“Mandy,” Barry Manilow (1974)

Over 50 years ago, Davis threw a party to celebrate the release of Arista Records’ first Grammy record of the year nominee: Barry Manilow’s “Mandy.” Stevie Wonder showed up. So did John Denver and Elton John. What was a one-off celebration morphed into one of the best-known and most exclusive parties of the year: the annual pre-Grammy fundraising event hosted by Davis, including four months before his death. But his fabulous gala was not the only reason this song is included here: It is evidence of Davis’ ability to identify a hit and pair it with the right artist. He gave “Mandy” to Manilow, and the rest is history.

“Piano Man,” Billy Joel (1973)

Billy Joel shared a tribute to Davis on his Instagram account on Monday, writing, “Clive Davis convinced me to sign with Columbia Records many years ago. He recognized the talent of great musicians and understood the power of contemporary music.” The album that he released immediately after said signing? “Piano Man.” Not bad work, Davis.

“Blame It on the Rain,” Milli Vanilli (1989)

Like every major music exec, Davis' aim wasn't 100% all the time — though he was a lot more accurate than most. His Arista label had huge success with country superstars Brooks & Dunn, R&B group TLC, singer-songwriter and producer Babyface, Houston, Franklin and more. He also initially knocked it out of the park with Milli Vanilli, the male pop duo, which had a huge hit with “Blame It On the Rain.” The pair would soon become the embarrassment of the industry when, after winning a Grammy the next year, it was revealed that they weren’t actually singing their songs.

“Since U Been Gone,” Kelly Clarkson (2004)

Davis and Kelly Clarkson had a complicated relationship. Davis found “Since U Been Gone,” one of the biggest songs of her career, for Clarkson but wrote in his memoir that she didn’t want to record it originally. Clarkson says it is because she was told she would cowrite the song, but by the time she got to Sweden to work with producers and songwriters Max Martin and Dr. Luke, it had already been completed. It’s both yet another example of Davis’ keen ear — and his fallibility.

Law enforcement officials disrupted the plan a few days before the June 14 White House event, according to court documents.

William Lee Spartacus Falkner of Belfair, Washington, was arrested Friday and charged with conspiracy to commit murder, according to court documents filed Monday in the Western District of Washington. Jordan W. Rincker, 28, was arrested Sunday and charged with conspiracy to commit murder in the Western District of Missouri. A defense attorney appointed to represent Falkner did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment, and court records do not reveal if Rincker has obtained an attorney. Neither man has had the opportunity to enter a plea.

“Law enforcement continues to do what it does — move to disrupt and hold accountable those allegedly plotting to do harm on the White House Grounds on June 14,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a news release.

Law enforcement officials learned about the possible threat on June 10, four days before the mixed martial arts extravaganza on the White House’s South Lawn. The Justice Department last week announced federal charges against five people from states including Ohio, Missouri, Nebraska and California. The latest arrests bring the number of people known to be facing federal charges to seven.

Officials say the group members harbored fringe conspiracy theories and hoped the attack would destabilize the government.

The investigation began after the mother of an Ohio man contacted police because she was concerned about her son's recent firearms purchases and online communications, according to an FBI affidavit filed in the case.

The man, 19-year-old Tycen Proper, told investigators that he was part of a group that wanted to trigger a revolution and target members of the government, and that they planned to fly explosive-laden drones into the event and then shoot panicked crowd members as they fled, according to the affidavit. Proper is charged with firearms offenses and crimes including attempted murder of an officer or employee of the United States.

“Mr. Proper appreciates the serious nature of the charges currently pending against him and will address them appropriately in court at the right time," Proper’s attorney, Joe Patituce, said Monday. "For now, we are going to move the case forward one step at a time."

Investigators recovered high-powered firearms from several of the suspects and reviewed encrypted text messages between roughly 20 participants who shared detailed maps and aerial photographs of the area and discussed the need for a “safe house” and escape routes after the intended attack, the documents show.

But it’s unclear from the court records how close the would-be attackers could have come to being able to carry out the plan had it not been thwarted.

Several suspects or co-conspirators who were questioned by the authorities said they did not intend themselves to carry out violence but planned to instead observe others. One said he would have traveled to the UFC event as a protester but had to return home after his vehicle malfunctioned. And though the participants spoke of using drones rigged with explosives, charging documents suggest they were still looking to acquire such equipment when the plot was interrupted.

Prosecutors say Rincker distributed cash to some of the conspiracy members, and that he accepted goods including weapons, a 3D printer, a computer and other items and agreed to produce drone parts. Rincker told an investigator that he didn't actually intend to help build the drones suing the printer, according to an FBI affidavit, and just wanted the printer so he could make and sell crafts.

An FBI affidavit says Falkner communicated with other group members about his ability to procure and operate drones as well as what tactics and explosives to use in the plot. After news broke that the plan had been disrupted, Falkner texted another group member to say, “Work trip is canceled. My boss got picked up,” and sent a link to an article detailing the initial arrests, according to the affidavit.

___ Boone reported from Boise, Idaho.

The White House Office of Management and Budget has yet to make a formal request to Congress. But Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been making the rounds on Capitol Hill, including Monday evening. A top deputy defense secretary told senators about the Iran funding request last week, according to two people familiar with the situation but not authorized to discuss it publicly.

The Wall Street Journal first reported on the developments.

Push for Pentagon money faces skeptical lawmakers

The push for billions of dollars in Iran war funding comes at a fraught political moment. Lawmakers are skeptical of the deal Trump struck with Iran to bring an end to the war, and wary of next steps. The White House has requested a remarkable $1.5 trillion for the Pentagon — a nearly 50% increase over the current fiscal year's funding levels.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he’s expecting a supplemental spending request from the administration for the war, and when it arrives, “we’ll work through it and see where the votes are.”

“We need to make sure we’re doing everything we can to replenish, resupply a lot our munitions that have been depleted — not only just with what’s happening with Iran, but prior to that,” said Thune, R-S.D.

Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg spoke to several senators about the proposal in calls last week and he notified congressional committees that the $80 billion request had been sent to the Office of Management and Budget. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

However, the funding package will almost certainly run into trouble from lawmakers who refuse to support Trump's decision to go to war and are reluctant to give the Pentagon more money at a time of high costs of living for Americans at home.

“You’re spending families’ hard-earned tax dollars on a war that many strongly oppose,” Democratic Sen. Patty Murray told Hegseth in a hearing last month.

Trump seeks a record $1.5 trillion for Defense this year

In addition to the Iran funding, Republicans hope to secure about $1.1 trillion through the regular appropriations process, which typically requires support from both parties for approval. Then, they hope to secure an additional $350 billion through a mostly party-line vote later this summer.

The amount being sought by the Pentagon is far higher than the $29 billion estimate of war costs that Hegseth gave Congress during his testimony last month. The bulk of that amount was related to replacing munitions and repairing equipment but also included operational costs to keep forces deployed. That estimate did not include the cost to repair or rebuild U.S. military sites damaged in the region.

It's also far lower than the initial $200 billion the Pentagon floated as the costs at the start of the war. An early estimate put the cost of the first week of the war at $11.3 billion.

Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii, a member of Democratic party leadership, said he expects the actual price tag could be much higher than the $80 billion being proposed.

Schatz said he hasn't done any counting of Democrats about whether there is support for an Iran-focused bill, “but I haven't found anyone who wants to do this.”

But Republican Sen. Jim Banks of Indiana said, "To me it’s less about the war, it’s more about the stockpiles.”

Banks said, “I would sell it to my state as an investment in our defense industrial base, reshoring defense production to Indiana.”

Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said funding for an Iran supplemental can't be done in isolation. It has to be done after lawmakers from both parties have agreed to a total spending amount for both defense and non-defense programs, “then the rest of this would follow pretty quickly,” Reed said.

And Sen. John Hoeven of North Dakota, a member of the Appropriations subcommittee on Defense, said he has been working with the administration to broaden the package to include funds for disaster aid for California, Hawaii and other states hard hit by fires and weather problems, as well as agricultural aid for farmers.

“I think that’s the kind of combination that could pass,” Hoeven said.

Hegseth declined to answer questions from reporters late Monday as he strode around the Capitol.

But on the issue of the cost of the war, Hegseth responded rhetorically during a Senate hearing last month, asking, “What is the cost of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon?"

He acknowledged the president's decision to confront the threat of a nuclear Iran "comes with cost — and we recognize that.”

___

Associated Press writers Konstantin Toropin and Ben Finley contributed to this report.

A federal judge on Monday blocked the Trump administration’s overhaul of an immigration verification system to check voter eligibility across the nation, striking down a central pillar of the government’s efforts to exercise more federal control over elections.

The judge cited Texas’ use of the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, database, which flagged several voters who were actually citizens as noncitizens, as evidence that it threatened both privacy and voting rights less than five months before the November midterm election.

“The federal government has knowingly trampled on the privacy rights of American citizens in a manner that threatens the sacred right to vote,” Judge Sparkle Sooknanan said in her 75-page ruling. “This Court cannot stand idly by while that happens.”

Sooknanan’s decision does not eliminate SAVE, a decades-old immigration-status verification program. But it blocks the Trump administration’s 2025 overhaul of the system, which made it easier for states to check their voter rolls against the federal database, which includes individuals’ citizenship status and Social Security numbers.

Election officials have found that the modified database, however, is prone to error, something Sooknanan referenced in her decision. Federal officials, she wrote, “haphazardly combined and repurposed the private information of millions of Americans, including citizenship data that they knew to be unreliable.”

The ruling could strengthen challenges by voters who were removed, flagged, or placed under review by the system.

“States have partnered with the federal government to access the database and are actively removing United States citizens from voter rolls based on inaccurate information,” the judge wrote.

Voting rights groups, Trump administration react to ruling

The case was filed by the League of Women Voters and other groups who argued that the SAVE system was inaccurate and that using it to check voter rolls violated citizen privacy rights.

“Today’s decision is a resounding victory for voters,” said Marcia Johnson, chief of activation and justice for the League of Women Voters. “Efforts to create a federal voter database to facilitate voter purges threaten the fundamental right at the heart of our democracy.”

Justin Levitt, a professor at Loyola Law School who worked in the White House on democracy and voting rights issues under President Joe Biden, agreed that voters would benefit from the ruling.

“This provides incremental reassurance that they won’t be inaccurately singled out and have to jump through even more hoops to vote,” he said. “It stops the use of a deeply flawed process to cause trouble for real eligible citizens.”

However, James Percival, the general counsel at the Department of Homeland Security, which maintains the SAVE database, criticized the ruling as a misguided effort to block the Trump administration from trying to address voter fraud.

“It’s amazing how hard the Left will fight to stop us from solving problems they insist do not exist,” Percival said in a statement.

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Michael Morley, a professor at the Florida State University College of Law and faculty director of the FSU Election Law Center, said the ruling prevents the federal government from using all the information at its disposal to ensure that only eligible voters take part in elections.

“It seems to leave the government in a somewhat tenuous position of being able to provide citizenship data to states for voting purposes that is less accurate than it otherwise would be,” he said. “It restricts the government’s ability to take advantage of all of the most accurate sources of information it has in order, in most cases, to confirm people’s citizenship status.”

Judge cites Texas’ use of SAVE database in ruling

Texas intervened as a defendant in the case since it had been actively using SAVE to verify the citizenship status of its more than 18 million registered voters. The state gained access to the database in March 2025 after signing a memorandum of agreement with the Department of Homeland Security.

In October, the Texas Secretary of State’s Office announced SAVE had flagged 2,724 people as “potential noncitizens” and sent the list to county election officials to investigate. That process involved mailing letters to each person flagged, requesting additional information to verify their citizenship. If county officials received no response after 30 days, the person’s registration was canceled.

Some voters who responded to the notices turned out to be U.S. citizens after all; others had their registrations canceled, although a specific number hasn’t been released. Hundreds of other registrants who were flagged had registered at the Texas Department of Public Safety, the agency that issues driver’s licenses and state IDs. In Texas, proof of citizenship is required to obtain those documents.

In the ruling, Sooknanan said the state’s use of the database burdened and risked disenfranchising voters by incorrectly flagging naturalized citizens as noncitizens. The judge pointed to examples of voters in Texas who were U.S. citizens and had to provide proof of citizenship to keep their registration active and at least one U.S. citizen whose registration was revoked without their knowledge.

Sooknanan also pointed to an amicus brief filed by Travis County voter registration officials as evidence that the use of the overhauled SAVE database was inaccurate. The state flagged 97 potential noncitizens in Travis County. Voter registration officials found that about a quarter of those voters had registered at DPS and therefore had likely provided proof of citizenship.

Travis County officials were later able to confirm that at least 11 people who were flagged as potential noncitizens were in fact citizens.

“Texas threatened to revoke their voter registrations because of information obtained through the modified SAVE system; and they were required to confirm their citizenship to maintain their voter registrations,” Sooknanan said.

The secretary of state’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Celia Israel, the Travis County tax assessor-collector and voter registrar, said the ruling is “validating.”

“We have asked a lot of questions in the past several months about the SAVE database and about its accuracy,” Israel said. “The lawsuit confirms that there are inaccuracies and that it is worthwhile for us officials at the county level to ask the state questions.”

Other civil rights groups and voters have also challenged Texas’ use of the database in a federal court in Austin. The lawsuit is still pending.

Dion Nissenbaum is Votebeat’s senior national reporter and is based in Houston. Contact Dion at dnissenbaum@votebeat.org.

Natalia Contreras is a reporter for Votebeat in partnership with the Texas Tribune. Contact Natalia at ncontreras@votebeat.org.

Midland County Sheriff David Criner said deputies responded to the 5400 block of East Highway 80 after someone reported shots were fired in the area.

As deputies arrived, they found three people dead with apparent gunshot wounds, according to the sheriff’s office.

The Midland County Sheriff’s Office said there is no threat to the public at this time.

Criner said the investigation is ongoing.

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Callaway was having a miscarriage, and had developed an infection. She wanted abortion-inducing medication or surgery to help empty her uterus and bring her suffering to an end. But, in a federal complaint filed Monday, Callaway says she’d already been refused that type of care at two Austin area emergency rooms, and felt she had no choice but to endure alone at home.

Her husband, Mario, was unwilling to accept that his otherwise healthy 40-year-old wife was suddenly wan and bleeding on the floor, while their young son watched in alarm. He wanted to take her to New Mexico or Colorado to get the care they say they were wrongfully denied in Texas. But she was too weak to sustain the trip.

When they finally saw her doctor days later, Callaway was prescribed abortion-inducing drugs to pass the miscarriage. In an interview with The Texas Tribune, Callaway said when she pressed her doctor on why it had taken three medical facilities four days to treat her, she was told the emergency room would “have to be damned sure that it’s an actual miscarriage to be offering the pill.”

Four years after Texas banned nearly all abortions, Callaway is among women who say they are still being denied the full range of miscarriage care by doctors fearful of being accused of performing a prohibited abortion and spending life in prison or losing their medical licenses.

Last year, lawmakers passed a bill aimed at assuring doctors they wouldn’t be punished for treating miscarriages. The law went into effect last June. But months later, in October, Callaway found herself facing the same fear and uncertainty that has restricted pregnancy care in Texas since 2022.

Callaway’s complaint alleges that Baylor Scott and White Medical Center in Round Rock and St. David’s Round Rock Medical Center violated the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, a federal statute that requires hospitals to provide stabilizing treatment, including for miscarriages. She also asked the Texas Medical Board and Texas Board of Nursing to investigate the healthcare providers who she says failed to treat her.

A spokesperson for Baylor Scott & White Health said the hospital could not comment on the details of any specific case, but that medical decisions are “guided by the clinical judgment of our physicians and care teams who … determine appropriate treatment based on medical needs and applicable legal requirements.”

In a statement, St. David’s Round Rock Medical Center said it would address the complaint through the regulatory process.

“It is our practice to support and partner with licensed physicians who use their extensive training and experience to exercise their independent medical judgment to assess patients’ needs and determine the course of treatment within applicable laws and regulations,” the statement said.

Callaway’s lawyers say in the complaint that EMTALA investigations are being delayed by the Trump administration, in part due to a 2022 lawsuit brought by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. But it’s one of the few legal tools available to women like Callaway who want to challenge the impacts of the state’s abortion ban.

In the months since her miscarriage, Callaway says she struggles seeing pregnant women without imagining the worst case scenario.

“A lot of women don’t know — I didn’t — that it can go left really quickly,” she said. “And there are so many women where it did go left, and they’re not here to talk to us about this today.”

A hoped-for pregnancy interrupted

The Callaways have always lived an adventurous life. They met in ninth grade literature class in Athens, Georgia, and began dating in college. They’ve lived all over, including stretches in Michigan, New York City and Portugal, and served together in AmeriCorps. Callaway works in marketing, and started her own mushroom soda business on the side. They moved to Texas after their son was born eight years ago.

They’d been wanting to expand their family, and thought it might take time because they were a little older — but almost as soon as they started trying, they had a positive pregnancy test. They were both so ready for another exciting chapter in their lives.

“I immediately called the OB/GYN to let them know and get on the books for my first prenatal visit,” Callaway said. “We had already started to tell my son. We were just really happy. We were so looking forward to bringing this baby into our lives.”

Before her first appointment, when Callaway estimated she was seven weeks pregnant, she began spotting and experiencing pain. At her OB/GYN’s office, a nurse practitioner said she might have an ectopic pregnancy, a nonviable and potentially life-threatening condition in which a fertilized egg implants outside the uterus, according to the complaint.

Callaway began panicking, grief over losing the pregnancy mixed with alarm over the potential consequences to her health. She’d read about Kyleigh Thurman, an Austin-area woman who lost a fallopian tube after doctors delayed treating her ectopic pregnancy, in violation of federal law.

“I hadn’t heard of any good situations from this,” Callaway said. “It sounded like an emergency.”

The nurse ordered bloodwork to assess Callaway’s human chorionic gonadotropin, or hCG, levels. In early pregnancy, hCG, known as the “pregnancy hormone,” typically doubles every 48 to 72 hours. Declining numbers usually indicate a miscarriage.

Callaway was already home when she got the results — her hCG had dropped from 688 mIU/mL to 130 mIU/mL over the last 10 days, the complaint says. By that time, she was bleeding more, the cramping was increasing and she felt lethargic. She called the after-hours nurse, who said her hCG was still too high to offer more significant intervention, like a surgery or medication, according to the complaint.

It was a Friday night, so if her condition worsened, the nurse said she should go to the emergency room, Callaway said.

“I was just totally confused,” Callaway said. “And then things took a turn for the worse.”

Hospital uncertainty

That night, with her husband and son in the car, a shaking, sick Callaway walked into the emergency room at Baylor Scott & White in Round Rock. She told the nurse that she was in pain and bleeding, and based on her declining hCG levels, was having a miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy.

The emergency room physician asked her to consent to an STD test, she said.

“I don’t need an STD test, I’m having a miscarriage,” Callaway remembers thinking. But to expedite the process, she agreed to a painful pelvic exam.

The doctor confirmed her pregnancy was not ectopic, but she was miscarrying. There was no fetal cardiac activity, so Callaway expected to receive medications, likely misoprostol and mifepristone, which is the standard procedure for treating early pregnancy loss. The abortion-inducing drugs help accelerate the body’s passage of the fetal tissue to reduce the risk of infection, retained tissue or other complications.

Instead, she says she was told to go home and wait for the pregnancy to pass. She was told it would be like a bad period, and she could take Tylenol for the pain. The doctor told her everything with her blood work looked fine, according to the complaint. But Callaway said her blood specimen was still in the room, not yet tested.

“So I’m not really believing it,” she said. “I don’t think there was any intention on addressing the issue. It was a passing the buck situation.”

Back at home, the chills and pain increased. She thought about the women who had died from delayed miscarriage care. She was well aware of the disproportionate risk she faced as a Black woman. She started talking with her husband about what they would do if she didn’t survive — how he would raise their son, how he could access the life insurance policy.

He was aghast. He’d always thought he’d be able to protect his wife against anything that came their way, but this wasn’t a bear or a rattlesnake, he said.

“I just felt helpless in a way that I’ve never felt in this relationship, in this marriage,” he said. “It did something to me where I felt like I had to still be present for my son and be level-headed, but then on the inside I’m freaking out.”

He wanted to go out to the car, close the door and scream. Instead, he frantically Googled health care facilities in other states, calling around, looking at flights, even as his wife told him she wasn’t well enough to travel.

Callaway’s bloodwork came back in the morning showing several abnormal metrics, the complaint says. She called the hospital back, where she recalled a nurse telling her that while the labs weren’t normal, her condition was “not necessarily life or limb threatening.” She was told, once again, to follow up with her OB/GYN.

“No one’s here to help me,” Callaway remembers thinking. “I just felt like I was on my own, and that these people didn’t care. And if the hospital isn’t going to treat you, what are you going to do?”

A nurse Callaway knew through her cousin reviewed her records and advised her on how to know if she was hemorrhaging or if the infection was worsening. On Sunday, she decided to try another hospital. At St. David’s Round Rock, a physician assistant determined her hCG was now 50 mIU/mL and she had developed an infection, the complaint says. She was given pain meds and antibiotics, but the physician assistant said the emergency room didn’t offer mifepristone and misoprostol, or surgical treatments for miscarriages, according to the complaint.

The next day, she finally got in to see her OB/GYN, who Callaway said was immediately concerned by the signs of infection and blood loss. The doctor found retained fetal tissue, which can lead to infection, and offered her the treatment she’d been denied all weekend — abortion-inducing medication to pass the pregnancy.

“She made the right call,” Callaway said. “I just wish the call was made sooner.”

Life of the mother

When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, Texas banned all abortions from the moment of conception, except to save the life of the pregnant patient. Doctors who perform prohibited abortions can face up to life in prison, as well as tens of thousands of dollars in fines and the loss of their medical license.

Doctors warned that the strict penalties, and the unpredictable nature of pregnancy, would inevitably incentivize healthcare providers to hesitate before they provided medically necessary miscarriage care. Almost immediately, their predictions came true. Dozens of women came forward with stories of medical care delayed or denied by doctors, nurses and hospital administrators who wanted to wait until they were “damned sure” the law allowed them to intervene, as Callaway said her doctor put it.

Many of these women sued, seeking to overturn the law or widen the medical exemption. The lawsuits failed to amend the law. But after ProPublica revealed that at least four Texas women had died due to delayed treatment, lawmakers agreed to take a second look at the restrictions.

Senate Bill 31, known as the Life of the Mother Act, passed with overwhelming support in both chambers last session and was signed by Gov. Greg Abbott, who said at the time that it would “protect both mothers and babies while giving medical professionals the legal security and clinical clarity they desire.”

The law says a medical crisis need not be “imminent” before healthcare providers can act, and that a doctor can only be charged if the state can prove “no reasonable doctor” would have made the same call. It also required the Texas Medical Board to create training for doctors who perform obstetrics care.

That training, finalized in early 2026, lays out a hypothetical scenario in which a woman is experiencing early pregnancy loss. The training materials ask whether managing a miscarriage counts as an abortion and must be reported to the state.

“NO. Management of first-trimester incomplete early pregnancy loss is not an abortion under Texas law,” the slide says, before noting that it is legal to provide both misoprostol and mifepristone in a case like this.

Molly Duane, Callaway’s attorney through Amplify Legal, said she’s not surprised that women are still coming forward with these stories, even after the clarifying law went into effect.

“People don’t walk into emergency rooms with signs on their forehead saying this is a miscarriage, this is an ectopic pregnancy,” she said. “Pregnancy is complicated and that’s why abortion bans cannot and do not work, because once you ban one type of care, you effectively ban everything.”

Legal avenues

Callaway filed a complaint Monday against the hospitals under EMTALA, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act. This 40-year-old federal law, born out of a Texas statute designed to stop patient dumping, says emergency rooms must stabilize anyone who shows up.

Before the overturn of Roe v. Wade, courts long held that abortion can be a necessary stabilizing treatment for a pregnant woman having a medical emergency. When Texas and other states banned the procedure, the Biden administration issued guidance saying EMTALA overrode state abortion bans.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued, saying Biden was trying to “transform every emergency room in the country into a walk-in abortion clinic.” A district court and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed, putting the guidance on ice for Texans. The Biden administration appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to hear the case.

When President Donald Trump took office last year, he revoked the guidance nationwide. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator Mehmet Oz said in a statement that “women will receive care for miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, and medical emergencies in all fifty states — this has not and will never change in the Trump Administration.”

Some patients in abortion ban states have found accountability through the law. Last year, federal investigators concluded that Ascension Seton, in the Austin area, violated EMTALA when it denied Thurman treatment for her ectopic pregnancy. She ultimately lost a fallopian tube.

While Thurman’s case was resolved quickly, Duane said others are being slow-rolled. She said CMS officials told her that Texas cases are being reviewed by the Department of Justice to ensure they comply with the 5th Circuit’s order in Paxton’s case, delaying final adjudication for an “interminable” period. CMS did not respond to a request for comment.

“The law is still there and you don’t get things you don’t ask for, so we’re going to continue to push for EMTALA to be enforced in Texas,” Duane said. “But I think people should be really concerned about … how the behavior of politicians in the state of Texas is impeding investigations into substandard care.”

Callaway also filed complaints with the Texas Medical Board and Texas Board of Nursing, asking for investigations into the doctors and nurse practitioners who did not provide her with medications or surgical options. The medical board recently sanctioned three doctors for delaying miscarriage care, resulting in the death of two women.

Duane, who has litigated on behalf of doctors, said she is sympathetic to the predicament facing healthcare providers because of the law. But patients should not be silent when their needs are being pushed aside due to fear, she said.

“What I will not accept is that patient care has just drastically changed, and that this is a new normal,” she said. “It’s not normal. It’s not normal to send someone home in significant pain and bleeding with instructions to take over the counter Tylenol.”

Months after that traumatizing weekend, Callaway saw firsthand how different care can be elsewhere.

While on a family trip in the Portuguese countryside, she suddenly started bleeding heavily, soaking through her clothes and the rental car seat. Mario rushed them to a hospital, where she navigated a language barrier to explain that she’d recently had a miscarriage. She was ushered into the dedicated obstetrics emergency room, where the doctor immediately took her seriously. They discovered more retained fetal tissue that her doctors in the U.S. had missed.

“I just remember the bedside manner of the doctor there. I just immediately felt like everything was going to be okay,” she said. “When I explained to her what I had already gone through, it was confusing to her that anyone would wait or have you go to a specialist. My understanding was that common sense trumped everything in this setting.”

Since returning to Texas, Callaway had to leave her marketing job, where she worked with both hospitals. Mario has gone to counseling, and they had to help their son through a period where he was unusually withdrawn and sad.

Callaway hopes to still expand their family one day, but knowing what she knows now, it’s hard to imagine feeling safe enough to do so.

“It wasn’t just grieving the loss of a pregnancy, but grieving a system you thought would protect you,” she said.

Disclosure: Ascension/Seton and Baylor Scott & White Health have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

“Not gonna support the Democratic Party,” Carlson was quick to add, speaking late last week on the show “Can't Be Censored.” “I don't know what I'm going to do.”

Carlson, who has amassed a large following on his own podcast since being fired from Fox News in 2023, has more recently diverged from the party, a disillusionment supercharged by President Donald Trump's decision to go to war with Iran in February.

Carlson supported Trump in 2024. After the war began, he apologized for supporting the then-presidential candidate and “misleading people," saying it wasn't intentional.

He's repeatedly criticized the war as being at the behest of Israel at the expense of Americans, and attacked the party for failing to represent its own voters, citizens and nation.

“They are making decisions on the basis of other criteria, what’s best for this company, what’s best for Israel, what’s best for our donors,” he said. “That’s not just, like, they are off in the wrong direction, like, that is unacceptable, that’s treasonous, it’s immoral, it can’t continue."

“I’ve been a consistent defender for 35 years of the Republican Party, I mean very consistent defender, but there’s no defending this," he said. “So no, I’m out. And if I’m out, then I think a lot of other people are out.”