The convention will be held in Dallas on Sept. 9 and 10.

Although both major parties traditionally hold blockbuster conventions during presidential campaigns, Trump has long floated the idea of a similar gathering this year to focus voters' attention on a sprawling collection of House and Senate races.

If Democrats regain control of either chamber, they will be empowered to block Trump’s agenda and launch investigations into his administration for the final two years of his term.

Republicans have only slim majorities in Congress, and the party in power normally loses ground in the midterms. And without Trump on the ballot, Republican leaders worry that it could be hard to galvanize their voters.

Trump hopes the convention would help change that dynamic, and he’s been talking about it since last year. He floated in a social media post that Republicans would use the event “to show the great things we have done since the Presidential Election of 2024.”

“We will also have lots of Great Entertainment — It will be a RALLY like none other!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post announcing the convention details.

The Democratic National Committee considered hosting a similar midterm convention but ultimately rejected the idea. An expensive soiree could have strained the DNC’s finances, which are struggling with lackluster fundraising and millions in debt.

Democrats have said the GOP convention will be a chance for them to tie Republican House and Senate candidates to Trump, whose approval rating is underwater.

Locating the convention in Texas places a spotlight on the state’s Senate race, which pits Democratic nominee James Talarico against Republican nominee Ken Paxton.

Paxton is the state attorney general who, with Trump’s backing, defeated longtime Sen. John Cornyn in a primary earlier this year. Republican Senate leaders fear that Paxton’s history of scandals — including an extramarital affair, an impeachment and a securities fraud case that did not lead to a conviction — could undermine his candidacy and turn a winnable race into a drain on party resources.

It also highlights the aftereffects of Trump’s mid-decade redistricting push that began in Texas, an effort to secure more seats for Republicans in this fall’s elections.

The Republican National Committee began laying the groundwork earlier this year, voting at its winter meeting in January to make such an event possible by amending procedures centered around quadrennial presidential nominating conventions.

Democrats considered holding a similar gathering ahead of the midterms but tabled the idea. However, the party did hold such conferences in the 1970s and 1980s.

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Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP. Associated Press writer Jonathan J. Cooper contributed.

A mere 16 years after his first famed “decision” — the one that saw him leave Cleveland for Miami — James is getting ready to change uniforms once again. He has told the Lakers that his eight-year run with them is over and that he'll play a record-extending 24th NBA season elsewhere.

James has made clear many times in recent years that more championships are his motivation, which means it's almost certain he'll pick a team that he believes can contend for the NBA title in 2027. Golden State is believed to be on his list, though there are certainly some who will wonder if reunions with Cleveland and Miami are possible. Or, perhaps, a new landing spot awaits such as San Antonio, where he could partner with 7-foot-4 global megastar Victor Wembanyama.

“I’ve done it all. I’ve seen it all,” James said when the Lakers' season ended in May — after what was his last game with the franchise. “Just being able to compete and trying to win championships, I think that’s a motivating factor.”

The first half of his decision is complete: He's back for at least one more year, which means his family agreed to that part of the plan — James had said his wife Savannah and 12-year-old daughter Zhuri would have big says in whether he continued to play.

His next decision — where to play — is among the biggest dominoes that will fall during the NBA's offseason player movement window, alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo being traded by Milwaukee to Miami.

The next step for James is hearing from interested teams — Golden State, Miami and Cleveland were among the clubs expected to make pitches, a person with knowledge of the plans said — before he picks a landing spot. How long the process will take is anyone's guess, and the person made clear to The Associated Press that money won't be a factor in James' decision.

The Lakers released a statement Tuesday thanking James for his eight seasons with the club.

“LeBron James is one of the greatest athletes in history,” said Jeanie Buss, part of the Lakers’ ownership group. “We will always be thankful for his eight years with the Lakers, including the title he led us to in 2020 under the toughest imaginable circumstances, and the countless records he broke in purple and gold. We wish him all the best in the future, both on the court and off. He will always be a cherished part of the Lakers family.”

ESPN, citing James’ longtime agent and Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul, first reported James’ plans.

What happens now for James

The free agency period in the league opened at 6 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, which meant James and Paul could start taking those meetings. James will not be able to sign with a new team until the league’s offseason moratorium is lifted on July 6.

The momentum toward Golden State seemed to pick up when longtime Warriors forward Draymond Green did not exercise his $27.6 million option for this coming season earlier this week, in large part to allow his team flexibility to make other roster moves. It doesn't mean Green won't be back in Golden State — all indications are that he will — but it gives the team options.

“Personally, I’m always willing to work with the team on whatever is best, especially at this point in my career,” Green said on the latest episode of his podcast, which was released Tuesday. “So, my decision to opt out was for a few reasons. As you all know, I’ve always taken the approach of working with the organization. I’ve been in one place for 14 years. It’s more of a family to me than anything.”

Golden State is a franchise James faced four times with Cleveland in the NBA Finals. He also has close relationships with Green, Stephen Curry and Warriors coach Steve Kerr; Curry was his teammate and Kerr was his coach for the United States' run to the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Games.

James' tenure with the Lakers was the longest he spent in one stint with an NBA team and he led them to the 2020 NBA championship. He became the NBA’s career scoring leader while wearing a Lakers uniform and surpassed a slew of other records while in purple and gold.

He spent the first seven years of his career in Cleveland, then left for four years in Miami, where he won the first two of his four championships. That was followed by another four-year stint with the Cavaliers (so he had 11 years there total), and in 2018 he joined the Lakers.

A career like none other

James is the NBA’s oldest active player; he turns 42 in December. He was the first player in league history to log 23 seasons; he’ll add at least one more to that this season. He also became the first player in the league to have a son as a teammate, with Bronny James playing alongside him with the Lakers.

The list of James’ accolades to this point are beyond comparison.

He’s a 22-time All-Star, a 21-time All-NBA selection, a four-time Most Valuable Player, a four-time NBA Finals MVP, a three-time All-Star Game MVP, and was part of the NBA’s 75th anniversary team. He’s coming off a season where he averaged 20.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 7.2 assists per game, and for his career, he’s averaged 26.8 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 7.4 assists in more than 1,600 games.

“He created a whole new era for the Lakers, including leading us to an NBA Championship in 2020 and all the milestones he surpassed in a Lakers jersey,” Lakers Hall of Famer Magic Johnson wrote on social media. “I’ll always love and be grateful for him and wish him all the best in the next phase of his life, on and off the court!”

NBA sets cap, tax lines for 2026-27

As is custom, the NBA revealed the salary cap for this coming season shortly before the formal start of the free agency window. The cap was set at $164.961 million, with the tax level at $200.428 million.

Other numbers released by the league:

— The minimum team salary is $148.465 million.

— The first apron level is $209.015 million.

— The second apron level is $221.686 million.

— The non-taxpayer midlevel salary is $15.044 million.

— The taxpayer midlevel is $6.064 million.

— The room midlevel is $9.366 million.

Hardaway Jr., Fontecchio to Heat

Tim Hardaway Jr. grew up in Miami, where his father's jersey sways as one that the Heat retired. And now, he'll follow in his father's footsteps — agreeing to a $6.5 million deal to join the Heat and be one of the shooters around soon-to-be formally acquired Antetokounmpo. Miami also agreed with Simone Fontecchio on a deal that will only cost Miami $2.5 million against the cap.

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

One of the killed firefighters worked for the U.S. Wildland Fire Service, established this year without customary congressional approval by drawing personnel from four agencies within the Interior Department. The victims were part of an elite, helicopter-based crew that got trapped Saturday in a fast-growing wildfire near the Utah border as they attacked the blaze on the ground.

Five firefighters, including the ones who died, tried to shield themselves by deploying tentlike emergency shelters as flames overran their position. The two survivors were hospitalized with burn injuries.

The consolidation of thousands of personnel into the fire service has sown confusion among some firefighters about who their bosses are and what their responsibilities should be, according to former government officials.

And the administration’s focus on “full suppression” of new fires marks a sharp reversal from a decades-long trend toward embracing flames as a tool — to burn off old vegetation and growth that acts like fuel and lessen the risk of catastrophic blazes being stoked by a warming planet.

The changes benefit private fire aviation companies that are key to hitting blazes fast.

Federal officials have not released details on the circumstances preceding the weekend deaths, including the firefighters’ objective at the site where they were overrun.

“The question is, why were they attacking that fire in the first place?” asked Timothy Ingalsbee, a former federal firefighter and cofounder of the advocacy group Firefighters United For Safety, Ethics and Ecology. “What was actually at risk? If it was a bunch of shrubs on remote mountaintops, what was the real risk that justified putting those firefighters at risk?”

98% of fires are extinguished

Wildfires ignited over the past week all across the West following months of dry weather and a record lack of snow in some places. Authorities in southern Colorado said Tuesday that a wind-driven fire northwest of Colorado City had burned more than 35 square miles (90 square kilometers) and destroyed more than 150 structures, including at least 55 homes.

Under an order from Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, the Wildland Fire Service plans to use full suppression “for every wildfire under its management,” federal officials said in a statement to The Associated Press.

“Any wildfire that represents a threat to life, property, infrastructure or the environment should be extinguished as quickly as possible,” the statement said. “Our experienced fire managers retain the authority to select the safest and most effective tactics based on conditions on the ground.”

But critics say the administration is trying to fix something that isn’t broken: The four agencies the firefighters were drawn from — the Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs and National Park Service — have a record of extinguishing 98% of the fires they handle.

The new agency and policy won’t eliminate catastrophic wildfires that occur due to dense forests where people are increasingly moving and extreme weather caused by climate change, said Steve Ellis, who retired as a Bureau of Land Management deputy director. Land managers must be a part of the solution, he said.

“Severing forest management and forest managers from fire suppression will make firefighting less safe and put communities at greater risk,” Ellis said.

The two other wildland firefighters killed in Colorado worked for the Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service, which handles most U.S. wildfires and is also operating under a full suppression policy. Trump had wanted the new agency to include Forest Service firefighters, but Congress blocked that part of the plan.

Fire aviation companies pushed for the consolidation

Under Trump, federal officials have been bringing in aircraft more quickly once fires ignite, said Austin Moeller, an aerospace analyst for the investment firm Canaccord Genuity.

“Anyone that has an air tanker benefits from this more aggressive contracting activity,” Moeller said.

A chief beneficiary is Bridger Aerospace, a Montana-based company founded by U.S. Sen. Tim Sheehy. Before his 2024 election, Sheehy hired lobbyists in a failed attempt to persuade the Montana Legislature to create a statewide fire service analogous to the one just created at the federal level. Within a month of taking federal office, he sponsored a bill to codify the consolidation of federal firefighters into one agency.

Sheehy stepped away from his company during the 2024 campaign and put his Bridger assets into a blind trust, said Sheehy spokesman Tate Mitchell.

Mitchell said Trump was behind the idea to create a new fire agency, but Sheehy supports it.

“One of Senator Sheehy’s top priorities in the Senate is using his experience to stop the catastrophic fires destroying American communities and he won’t apologize for it,” Mitchell said.

Bridger describes itself as one of the nation's leading aerial firefighting companies. CEO Sam Davis has said the company's fleet of Super Scooper aircraft, its surveillance aircraft and its fire observation technology make it “uniquely positioned” to respond to the renewed emphasis on attacking fires to put them out.

New full suppression policy dates back decades

The aircraft will help the administration's new full suppression policy, which harkens back to a 1935 policy known as the 10 a.m. rule because it required agencies to put out new fires by 10 a.m. the following day.

Michael Dudley, a retired director of fire, aviation and air management at the Forest Service, said that old policy is why forests today are overgrown.

Wildfires serve a purpose — they clear out the small and dead material. But officials became so good at putting out fires that the forests kept growing and more fuels built up, so when a fire hits now, it's easy for it to get out of control, he said.

Scientists who study wildfires say trying to stop all fires is unrealistic since some of the most destructive blazes in recent years have evaded efforts to put them out. Some fires simply grow too fast, are too remote, or result from multiple ignitions that makes them impossible to stop.

“The narrative that if we just try harder, we’re gonna make these fires go away isn’t true,” said former Forest Service wildfire researcher David Calkin. “The fire paradox is not beatable: The more you make fire go away, the more fuel accumulates. The more fuel accumulates, the harder it is to make fires go away.”

Firefighters: New agency needs work

Firefighters in the consolidated agency are working under newly appointed Wildland Fire Service Chief Brian Fennessy, who had served as chief of California's Orange County Fire Authority since 2018.

“There’s a level of confusion as everyone’s trying to sort out responsibilities and who’s in charge and who do you report to,” Dudley said.

An Interior spokesperson said Fennessy was highly respected with decades of experience, including managing some of the nation's most complex fire challenges in densely-populated southern California.

Luke Mayfield, a founder of the group Grassroots Wildland Firefighters, said he believes the consolidation will better serve firefighters, but significant work remains to get the new agency fully running.

“Everyone was aware of the potential fuel and fire conditions we face this fire season,” Mayfield said. “Those conditions are surfacing and have resulted in firefighter fatalities with weather conditions that won’t let up in the near future.”

Bradley Barcola added a 53rd-minute goal for France and Mbappé capped the scoring in the 74th minute for his third two-goal game in four matches. His six goals tied Argentina forward Lionel Messi for the tournament lead and gave him 18 in his World Cup career, one shy of Messi's record.

“I’m very aware of who I am, how I play, what I shall do, but it’s not just about me,” Mbappé said through a translator." The entire team is aware of what should be done. It is a new competition that has started today. We did play well, but we were timid. We could have done better at the beginning."

Mbappé’s 10 knockout round goals are two more than the previous high by Brazilian greats Leonidas and Ronaldo. France coach Didier Deschamps bowed when his star came to the bench after he was substituted in the 85th minute.

“We’re on a mission. — so am I with them,” Deschamps said through a translator.

France, the World Cup runner-up four years ago and a tournament favorite this time, has outscored opponents 13-2, with Michael Olise assisting on five goals.

“They are skilled at knowing when to change the pace and increase it, when to possess the ball, went to fall back,” Sweden captain Victor Lindelöf said through a translator.

Seeking to reach its third straight World Cup final, France plays Paraguay on July 4 in Philadelphia, and the winner advances to a quarterfinal against Canada or Morocco five days later at Foxborough, Massachusetts.

On a brutally hot afternoon at MeLife Stadium, site of the World Cup final in July 19, France outshot Sweden 25-7, including 15-3 in the first half. It was 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius), sunny and humid at the 5 p.m. kickoff with poor air quality. During the first half hydration break, France defender Lucas Digne let himself be doused by a sprinkler.

Mbappé hit a post in the 32nd minute, raising both hands in disgust, and France nearly went ahead four minutes later on Olise’s spectacular bicycle kick from just inside the penalty area, which also clanked off a post.

In the first World Cup meeting between the nations, Mbappé scored after goalkeeper Jacob Widell Zetterström tipped Olise’s shot just outside the post.

Olise played a short corner kick to Ousmane Dembélé, who passed to Mbappé near the byline. Mbappé took a crossover step to get around Viktor Gyökeres and from just outside the 6-yard box sent a diagonal shot inside the far post.

Mbappé ran up the center of the field to celebrate his 61st international goal, colliding with Dembélé, and jogged to the bench to hug Deschamps, who returned for the match after going to France for his mother’s funeral.

“He knows that he will never be alone with us and we will support him,” Mbappé said.

Gustaf Lagerbielke lost the ball ahead of France’s second goal. Aurélien Tchouaméni passed to Olise, who nutmegged Lagerbielke, and Barcola took a centering touch and sent the ball past Zetterström’s outstretched right hand.

Mbappé entertained the crowd with a backheel pass to Barcola in the buildup to France’s third goal. Barcola passed to Olise, who passed to Mbappé as the star sprinted into the penalty area. He steadied the ball with a touch and fired the ball inside the far post.

A crowd of 80,663 raised the record total for the expanded 104-match tournament above 5 million. A majority of fans wore France’s blue, with a pocket in Sweden’s yellow at one end.

“If we look at where we were not so long ago — we’re here and we’ve played in the World Cup," Lindelöf said. “We lost against one of the best countries in the world.”

Mbappé wasn't quite ready to turn his attention to Paraguay just yet.

“I’m looking forward to the changing room and the AC," he said.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

The Panthers sent Evan Rodrigues, Jesper Boqvist and the rights to pending restricted free agent Ben Steeves to the Devils for Markstrom and winger Angus Crookshank. Florida got goalie Akira Schmid from Vegas on Monday night for a 2028 third-round pick.

“Jacob is an established veteran leader in this league who possesses size and a relentless drive to win,” Panthers general manager Bill Zito said. “We are excited for him to compete alongside our established group and return to South Florida.”

Markstrom at 36 returns to Florida, where he started his NHL career a decade and a half ago. He was one of the top prospects at the position after getting taken with the 34th pick in the 2008 draft and played his first 43 games in the league with the Panthers during their down years, long before becoming a contender again.

Bobrovsky, 37, backstopped Florida to back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2024 and ’25 and another trip to the final in ’23. He is expected to be among the top players available when free agency opens Wednesday.

Markstrom is beginning a two-year contract at an annual salary cap hit of $6 million. That was signed in late October by former Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald, who left the organization in April. Moving on from him is the first big roster shakeup for successor Sunny Mehta. New Jersey now has Jake Allen in net and will likely go shopping for his tandem mate in free agency.

Rodrigues, who turns 33 on July 28, gives the Devils another top-nine forward. The Panthers shed his salary of just over $3 million after getting Brady Tkachuk from Ottawa to play with brother Matthew.

The Devils also re-signed forward Arseny Gritsyuk to a three-year, $9.75 million contract. The 25-year-old Gritsyuk is from Russia, and had 13 goals and 31 points in his rookie season last year, and was a pending restricted free agent.

In other moves around the NHL:

— The New York Rangers agreed to a seven-year contract with newly acquired Pavel Dorofeyev, the high-scoring forward acquired in a trade with Vegas. Dorofeyev is a fifth-year NHL veteran, and was a pending restricted free agent. He had career-highs with 37 goals and 64 points and scored 12 goals in the playoffs.

— The St. Louis Blues put winger Jonathan Drouin on unconditional waivers to buy out the final season of his contract. They got Drouin at the trade deadline from the New York Islanders as part of the return for Brayden Schenn.

— Utah signed goalie Sebastian Cossa to a two-year, $4 million contract after trading a first-round pick to Detroit for his rights.

— The Minnesota Wild re-signed right wing Bobby Brink to a one-year, $2.75 million contract. Brink, a Minnesota native who was acquired from the Philadelphia Flyers before the trade deadline last season, was eligible to be a restricted free agent. The 24-year-old had 15 goals and 15 assists in 68 regular-season games between the Flyers and Wild.

— Fresh off winning the Cup, Carolina reacquired defenseman Kyle Masters' rights from Anaheim for forward Noah Philp. The Hurricanes sent Masters to the Ducks on Saturday along with a sixth-round pick for the rights to pending free agent John Carlson.

— Vegas, which lost to Carolina in the final, made a one-for-one defenseman swap with Pittsburgh, sending Kaedan Korczak to the Penguins for Parker Wotherspoon. Pittsburgh is retaining half of Wotherspoon's $1 million salary in a cap-saving deal for the Golden Knights. ___

AP Hockey Writer John Wawrow and AP Sports Writer Dave Campbell contributed to this report.

___

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

By a 6-3 vote, the court struck down Trump’s order. A bare majority of five justices, in an opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts, held that the long-settled understanding of the 14th Amendment, adopted after the Civil War, makes a citizen of anyone born in the country, with very limited exceptions,

“Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights—to freely participate in our political community. The Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment extended that promise to ‘every free-born person in this land,’” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the court, citing congressional debate over the amendment, “We keep that promise today.”

A sixth justice, Brett Kavanaugh, disagreed about the constitutional ruling, but pointed to a federal law that he said broadly conveys birthright citizenship.

Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas would have upheld Trump’s proposed restrictions.

“The Court today takes the extraordinary step of holding facially unconstitutional the President’s Order excluding from citizenship the children of foreign temporary visitors and illegal aliens,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in a 91-page dissent, more than three times as long as Roberts’ opinion. “In doing so, the Court adds to the sad history of the Fourteenth Amendment, which was designed and understood to secure equal rights for the freed blacks but has instead been repurposed for political projects that the Reconstruction Congress did not support.”

The Republican president’s restrictions had been blocked by several lower courts and had not taken effect anywhere in the U.S.

Trump said the decision was “too bad for our Country” and wrongly suggested that Congress could “easily” address it with legislation. The majority decision rests on constitutional grounds. It would take an amendment to overcome the decision.

During arguments in April, both conservative and liberal justices questioned the order’s legality in a momentous case that was magnified by Trump’s unprecedented attendance in the courtroom.

The case framed another test of Trump’s assertions of executive power that defy long-standing precedent for a court with a conservative majority and a robust view of presidential power that has largely ruled in his favor. In the notable exceptions when the court has not, Trump has responded with starkly personal criticisms of the justices.

The justices ruled on Trump’s appeal of a lower-court ruling from New Hampshire that struck down the citizenship restrictions.

The birthright citizenship order, which Trump signed on the first day of his second term, is part of his administration’s broad immigration crackdown.

Birthright citizenship was the first Trump immigration-related policy to reach the court for a final ruling. The justices previously struck down global tariffs Trump had imposed under an emergency powers law that had never been used that way.

Trump reacted furiously to the late February tariffs decision, saying he was ashamed of the justices who ruled against him and calling them unpatriotic.

He also seemed to recognize the court was likely to rule against him on birthright citizenship, too, using his Truth Social platform to criticize “dumb judges and justices” and wealthy pregnant women from China and elsewhere who come to the U.S. to give birth so their newborns will have American citizenship.

Trump’s order would have upended widely held views that the 14th Amendment confers citizenship on everyone born in the U.S., excluding only the children of foreign diplomats and those born to a foreign occupying force.

The amendment was intended to ensure that Black people, including former slaves, had citizenship, though the Citizenship Clause is written more broadly. “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside,” it reads.

In a series of decisions, lower courts have struck down Trump’s executive order as illegal. The decisions have invoked the high court’s 1898 ruling in Wong Kim Ark, which held that the U.S.-born child of Chinese nationals was a citizen.

Roberts, joined by Justice Amy Coney Barrett and the three liberal justices, said the amendment’s language, the historical context and the 1898 case make clear that children born to parents illegally or temporarily in the U.S. “are citizens at birth.”

But there was only a bare majority of five justices on the constitutional question.

Kavanaugh sided with the majority because of a federal law that makes those children citizens. But he joined the dissenters in finding that Trump’s order does not violate the Constitution. His view would enable a future Congress to change the law to restrict birthright citizenship.

The Trump administration had argued that the common view of citizenship is wrong, asserting that children of noncitizens are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States and therefore are not entitled to citizenship.

More than one-quarter of a million babies born in the U.S. each year would have been affected by the executive order, according to research by the Migration Policy Institute and Pennsylvania State University’s Population Research Institute.

While Trump has largely focused on illegal immigration in his rhetoric and actions, the birthright citizenship restrictions also would have applied to people who are legally in the United States, including students and applicants for green cards, or permanent resident status.

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

According to a June 17 news release from the U.S. Air Force, Keon McDaniel, a trainee with the 737th Training Support Squadron, died June 16.

The Air Force said McDaniel was in his sixth week of Basic Military Training on June 12 when he experienced a “medical emergency” and was subsequently transported to Brooke Army Medical Center for treatment. McDaniel died at the hospital four days later.

In its June 17 statement, the Air Force said the cause of McDaniel’s medical emergency is under investigation and a “comprehensive medical review” is being conducted to “determine the facts.”

During a joint news conference Tuesday afternoon in Washington, D.C., alongside fellow U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pennsylvania) and U.S. Rep. Gil Cisneros (D-California), the San Antonio-area congressman connected McDaniel’s death to a recent flu outbreak at Lackland Air Force Base that he said has swelled to 284 confirmed cases and includes four hospitalizations.

“I’m demanding an investigation into his (McDaniel’s) death in connection to the flu outbreak,” Castro (D-San Antonio) said.

“As a veteran, and as the ranking member of the Military Personnel Subcommittee, I know that military readiness is built on discipline, professionalism and on leaders who make decisions based on evidence and not ideology,” Houlahan, a former U.S. Air Force officer, said. “Readiness begins and ends with healthy troops. That’s why what is happening in Lackland is so deeply disturbing and troubling.”

The congress members also called on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to “reinstate the flu vaccine requirement for all service members” and introduced an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would require all service members to get vaccinated for the flu.

“In my previous role at the Department of Defense, I oversaw the Defense Health Agency. I know firsthand why we kept these requirements,” Cisneros, a U.S. Navy veteran who is also on the Military Personnel Subcommittee, said. “Health care is part of readiness. Vaccines are part of readiness.”

“What’s absurd about keeping those who serve our nation safe?” Castro asked rhetorically. “No president or secretary should be able to play politics and put the health of our troops at risk.”

More recent coverage of this story on KSAT:

• Flu cases rise to 275 at JBSA-Lackland, US Rep. Castro says
• 150+ recruits test positive for influenza as outbreak hits JBSA-Lackland, reports say

Shakayla Johnson, 22, was taken back to Marion County, where the alleged crime was committed, and faces a murder charge, according to the U.S. Marshals.

Indianapolis police responded to a report of someone shot on Nov. 17, 2024, and found 20-year-old Tyshaun Williams dead with gunshot wounds, the police department said through a social media post.

A witness helped identify Johnson, and police identified her as a suspect in the crime. Indianapolis police said the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office spoke with Johnson and eventually released her.

Nearly two years after William’s death, detectives in Indianapolis discovered more evidence and issued a warrant on June 11, 2026, for Johnson’s arrest, Indianapolis police said.

After William’s late 2024 death, Johnson had relocated to the Northwest Side of San Antonio, a spokesperson for the U.S. Marshals said. It is unclear how long Johnson has lived in San Antonio.

Johnson was located by the U.S. Marshals Lone Star Fugitive Task Force last Wednesday near La Cantera Parkway and was arrested, U.S. Marshals said.

Johnson was booked into the Bexar County Adult Detention Center that same evening, jail records indicate. She was transferred to the Marion County Jail last Friday, where she remains behind bars.

Read also:

• Commonwealth Coffeehouse owner indicted by feds in fraud scheme, records show
• Man detained after 2 children shot while sleeping in Northeast Side home, SAPD says
• US Rep. Castro connects Air Force trainee death to flu outbreak at Lackland Air Force Base

Jorge Ernesto Campos Herrero faces one count of bank fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft, the indictment confirms.

Herrero is accused of obtaining approximately $2,120,000 fraudulently from the victim’s company in an attempt to purchase a commercial building in Grand Prairie, Texas, court documents show.

Herrero had applied for a multi-million-dollar loan in the name of one of his companies called “Immobiliaria Herrero.”

In July 2021, the indictment said Herrero provided a lease agreement between Herrero Properties and the Texas Facilities Commission (TFC) to the victim’s company.

Herrero Properties is identified as another one of Herrero’s companies, of which he is the sole member who controls it.

Herrero also represented verbally and in writing that he had secured a 10-year lease with TFC for the Grand Prairie property.

However, court documents show that the victim’s company “became aware” that TFC did not occupy the building after walking through the property and talking with tenants.

The victim’s company later foreclosed on the property in early November 2024 at a loss of more than $1,000,000, the indictment shows.

TFC Director of State Leasing Services confirmed that the documents were fraudulent and that neither the Texas Attorney General’s Office nor any TFC agency ever leased the Grand Prairie property, court documents said.

Herrero “did unlawfully and knowingly devise and execute a scheme to defraud” the victim’s company, according to the indictment.

Herrero is also accused of forging the victim’s signature without his knowledge or consent on TFC letterhead, which the indictment said fraudulently represented to the victim’s company that Herrero had secured the lease with TFC.

Read also:

• Man sentenced to life in prison for fatal 2025 nightclub shooting, DA’s office says
• Authorities investigating after 2 found dead with gunshot wounds on far West Side, BCSO says

In a Facebook post Monday, the sheriff’s office said its deputies were dispatched in the 700 block of Hahn Road after two bodies were located.

“We believe it to be a murder suicide at this time,” the post said.

The sheriff’s office said it has “good reason to believe” that the two people were not from the Gillespie County area.

At this time, it’s unclear what specifically led to the deaths. Deputies said there is no current threat to the community.

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

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NPR attributed the error by reporter Nina Totenberg, on the final day of the court's session, to a misunderstanding of a statement by Chief Justice John Roberts that led to previously prepared copy being posted live. The erroneous news was also broadcast on NPR. It was live on the organization's website for about five minutes, though some member stations had it up longer, NPR said.

An editor's note posted by some NPR affiliates said: “Earlier today, we erroneously published a story saying that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was retiring. Neither Alito nor the court’s public information office has announced his retirement, and we have retracted the story.”

Later, a longer statement from Editor-in-Chief Tommy Evans said NPR regretted the error and the confusion it may have caused. “Due to a misunderstanding, NPR’s Supreme Court and Legal Affairs Correspondent Nina Totenberg incorrectly reported that Justice Samuel Alito had retired. Neither Justice Alito nor the Supreme Court Public Information Office has announced his retirement,” Evans said.

“As soon as the error was realized, the story was retracted and removed from NPR’s website and an on-air correction was broadcast. We regret the error and any confusion this may have caused,” Evans said.

Breaking down the error

Interviewed later on NPR's “All Things Considered,” Totenberg explained how what she called “the worst professional mistake of my more than 50 years in journalism” came about.

Reading aloud from a letter of apology she'd sent to Alito, Totenberg said she'd rushed out of the courtroom early after announcements of court opinions, and when she realized that others had not rushed out, she asked what was happening and was told “retirement announcements.” She then mistakenly assumed it was Alito who was retiring.

“This was a rookie mistake,” Totenberg noted in the interview.

“I scared everybody half to death for about five minutes, and it's entirely on me,” she said.

Evans, also appearing on “All Things Considered,” said that he too felt responsibility, and noted that NPR would be looking at newsroom systems to determine “where we could do better and be better.”

The error was also detailed in a column by NPR's public editor, Kelly McBride, who explained how when Totenberg misheard the announcement, the organization posted some previously written “preparedness” — copy that news organizations often prepare in advance of major expected events and notable deaths.

"Alito is not retiring. The story was wrong," McBride said in her column. "Totenberg misheard Roberts’ statement."

McBride continued: “Totenberg spoke with both her intern, who was at the court with her, and NPR Executive Editor Krishnadev Calamur and told them what she heard. Calamur surfaced the story that NPR had previously prepared for the day Alito did announce his retirement and published it. The information was also broadcast on NPR’s airwaves.”

Retirements were mentioned, though

On a busy day for the court, Roberts had announced the retirement of several court employees, as he customarily does after the court’s final opinions are out. But Alito's name was not among them.

Speculation had swirled about the justice’s future plans earlier this year, but Fox News and CBS reported this spring that he planned to remain on the bench.

Alito has been on the court since 2006, when he replaced Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. He was nominated by President George W. Bush, a Republican.

McBride, in her column, said she didn't expect the mistake to endure in the public consciousness.

For most news consumers, the error is a blip, something that flashed across their feed or they heard on their radio," she wrote. “It was corrected quickly and will not have lasting consequences.”

And when it was all over and the 44-year-old Williams had performed admirably in a three-set defeat to an opponent less than half her age in the opening round of Wimbledon with her two daughters cheering her on, Williams smiled as she walked off to a loud round of applause.

“It was really great to be back at Wimbledon. I never expected to be here,” Williams, who did not meet with media after the match, said in a statement released by Wimbledon organizers. “The atmosphere was amazing. Walking out was amazing. I definitely relished it and missed it and enjoyed the moment more than anything.”

In a 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-3 loss to 20-year-old Maya Joint of Australia on Tuesday, Williams showed she can still crank out serves faster than 120 mph and dictate points with her heavy groundstrokes.

Movement was an issue for Williams, though, and the 87th-ranked Joint was able to handle Williams' pace and win more of the big points by hitting beyond the American's reach.

While Williams played two doubles matches just before Wimbledon to announce her comeback to the sport she once dominated, she hadn’t played a singles match since the 2022 U.S. Open.

“She has such an aura, she’s just a legend and this court has so many huge names that have played on it,” Joint added. “I’ve been dreaming about this moment since I was a little kid, so this is pretty crazy.”

Williams has 98 career victories and seven titles in singles on the hallowed grass of the All England Club. By contrast, it was Joint’s first Wimbledon victory in just her second appearance at the All England Club after losing in the opening round last year.

But Joint won a Wimbledon warmup in nearby Eastbourne last year and knows how to play on grass.

Doubles match still to come

Williams, who has no singles ranking after being out for so long, was given wild card invitations by Wimbledon organizers to play singles and also doubles with older sister Venus. Her doubles match will come later in the week.

Williams has said that having her two daughters off from school inspired her comeback and it marked the first time that her youngest daughter, Adira, who is almost three, saw her play singles. Adira sat next to her 8-year-old sister, Olympia in the front row of Serena’s players’ box.

Standing ovation

Fans started cheering when Williams' name was announced as the next match on Centre Court and then they gave her a standing ovation as she walked out before the match started under a closed roof. Several supporters held up signs with messages like “Welcome Back” and one wore a T-shirt that said “Unstoppable Queen.”

Williams executed a delicate topspin lob winner early on and then cranked out a 121 mph ace to hold for 3-3 in the first set. But Williams also had a costly double-fault which led to the only break of the first set.

In the second set, Williams came back from 0-40 and saved four break points to hold for 6-5. Then Williams saved a match point in the tiebreaker with a big serve down the T followed by a forehand approach winner. Another big serve — clocking in at 122 mph — set up Serena’s first set point, which she converted when Joint missed a forehand long.

After winning the set, Williams pumped her fist calmly.

But Joint took control early in the third and a forehand from Williams sailed long on Joint’s third match point to conclude the encounter after 2 hours, 22 minutes.

Williams and Joint both had 37 unforced errors, while Joint led 40-26 in winners.

Zverev and Swiatek advance

After the opening day featured wins for No. 1s Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka, along with Novak Djokovic, French Open champion Alexander Zverev and defending Wimbledon champion Iga Swiatek made it into the second round on Tuesday.

In a match between hard servers, the second-seeded Zverev beat Alexander Blockx 6-4, 6-7 (8), 7-6 (5), 7-6 (0).

Swiatek, who had her father and sister looking on from the Royal Box, struggled with her serve and committed nine double-faults before overcoming Taylor Townsend 6-1, 2-6, 6-3.

No. 2 Elena Rybakina also advanced, beating Lois Boisson 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.

Fourth-seeded Ben Shelton, a quarterfinalist here last year, lost to 140th-ranked Finnish qualifier Otto Virtanen in five sets, going out 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (8), 6-2, 7-6 (9).

Also, 2021 finalist Matteo Berrettini beat Stan Wawrinka 6-7 (7), 7-6 (16), 7-6 (7), 7-6 (5). It was the final Wimbledon match for Wawrinka, who plans to retire at the end of the year.

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AP Sports Writers Mattias Karen and Ken Maguire contributed to this report.

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

Ruben Cantu fatally shot Ricky Marquez Jr., 42, during a nightclub parking lot altercation on Feb. 2, 2025, at Papi Gallo Cantina, according to the district attorney’s office. Cantu was arrested a month later.

Cantu was with family at the club for a birthday gathering, according to the district attorney’s office. After some members of the group became intoxicated, staff members escorted them out of the building.

In the parking lot, Cantu pulled out a firearm during an altercation and fired multiple shots into the crowd, the news release said.

Marquez was among the victims who were shot, the attorney’s office said. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Another man was also shot.

Investigators located Cantu in connection with a separate terroristic threat investigation about one month after the shooting, the release said.

Cantu allegedly threatened someone after being denied a request to borrow a vehicle and money, stating that he had previously killed someone at “El Gallo,” KSAT reported in 2025. The person reported the threat to authorities and identified Cantu in photo lineups.

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The 20-year-old Joint had said there was “always a part of me that wanted to experience playing against her."

After getting what she wished for — a first-round meeting with the tennis icon — Joint delivered on the biggest stage.

The Michigan-born Australian showed few nerves in winning the biggest match of her life — defeating Williams 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-3 on Tuesday to spoil the 44-year-old Williams' singles comeback at the All England Club.

“I didn’t get much sleep last night. I was up until like 2 a.m. just thinking about it," Joint said in her on-court interview.

The 87th-ranked Joint certainly looked calm on the outside but said she had serious butterflies walking onto Centre Court alongside the GOAT of women's tennis.

During warmups, she felt like her legs “weren’t moving.”

"I really don’t know how I got a pretty good start in the match," Joint said. “She has such an aura, she’s just a legend and this court has so many huge names that have played on it. I’ve been dreaming about this moment since I was a little kid, so this is pretty crazy."

Joint notched her first Wimbledon singles win and just her third Grand Slam singles victory. By the time Joint was born in 2006, Williams had already won seven major titles, completing a career Grand Slam in the process. Williams has won 23 major singles titles — seven at Wimbledon.

“Just the start was very nerve-racking and then trying to finish out the match, as well. She definitely lifted her level and she played some really great tennis there," Joint said.

Joint had chances to end it earlier.

At 5-5 in the second set, Joint squandered four break point opportunities as Williams held serve. Joint then won the next game to love, including back-to-back aces to force a tiebreaker.

Joint had her first match point at 6-5 in the tiebreaker but Williams hit a winner and then won the next two points.

Joint got the key break to go up 4-2 in the deciding set. She sealed the win on her third match point.

“I think I tensed up a little bit when I got close to winning, but I think I played my best tennis when I needed to, which was good,” she said.

Slowed by a back injury earlier this year, Joint at one point lost 10 consecutive matches.

“Even though I didn’t win many matches this year, I still felt like I could win," Joint said. “I had the belief and I just took advantage of the moment and enjoyed it, didn’t really think about the previous matches I’ve played.”

She later added: “If you’re playing Serena, you have nothing to lose. It makes sense that people play their best game against her.”

Last year, Joint won the grass-court Eastbourne tournament ahead of her debut at Wimbledon, where she lost in the first round to Liudmila Samsonova. Joint's only two other victories in majors came at the U.S. Open.

Joint, who represents Australia through her father, joins a list of unheralded players to have eliminated Williams in Wimbledon’s first round.

Harmony Tan was ranked 115th when she beat Williams in 2022. A year prior, it was Aliaksandra Sasnovich, ranked No. 100 at the time, who emerged victorious when Williams retired from the match with a leg injury.

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

Thomas also criticized WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert for not doing more to protect the league's players when she spoke with reporters on Tuesday at the team's practice facility.

“It's unfortunate that it's come to this over basketball," Thomas said. "A lot of us — myself included — didn't even know the play took place until after the game. Now we're being painted as thugs. There's death threats out on us. It's really unacceptable. It's something that needs to change in this league and I'm just really sick and tired of it.”

Engelbert released a statement Tuesday night.

“The WNBA vehemently condemns any and all forms of hate. The safety and well-being of everyone in our community is always the league’s top priority," Engelbert said. "We are aware of Alyssa Thomas’ comments, and what she and her teammates have experienced is completely unacceptable and not representative of the WNBA community. The league and our security team have been in contact with the Phoenix Mercury organization and remain committed to protecting all players.”

Thomas called the play a “complete accident," but said her main concern wasn't the suspension. The six-time All-Star said she didn't know she was being suspended until 10 minutes before it was released on social media.

“It’s not even about the suspension,” Thomas said. “If that’s what they felt was necessary in that moment, then so be it. But I think there’s a lot of other plays that you can say the same about. The biggest thing is about our safety. We’re so concerned about the safety on the court, but time and time again, we’re having people threaten our lives. Leaking addresses out there. Putting crazy pictures that have nothing to do with basketball.”

The play happened with 6:52 left in the second quarter in a game against Clark's Indiana Fever on Wednesday and was deemed to be a non-basketball act. The league gave Thomas a Flagrant Foul 2 penalty for it.

No foul was called on the play by officials in the moment. The WNBA is allowed to review a game to reclassify a Flagrant foul or to classify as Flagrant any foul not called as such during a game.

"People are sending racial slurs and all types of stuff,” Thomas said. “There's a difference between trolling and there's a difference between hatred. The hatred that we're experiencing over a play that, honestly, was a complete accident, no one even knew it happened. It's just unfortunate. The league has to do better in this instance.”

Thomas and Engelbert exchanged text messages last week to talk about the security issue, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press on Tuesday night. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the discussion. The person said that Engelbert immediately directed league security to get in touch with Phoenix security once she heard about the threats.

Thomas served her suspension on Saturday when the Mercury visit the Toronto Tempo.

The Fever renewed their call for player safety in a statement on Thursday.

The two teams had played a few days before the Thomas-Clark incident and there were six technical fouls called and one ejection. Clark picked up her fifth technical of the season in that game. The team petitioned the league to have it rescinded, but the WNBA confirmed that the technical will stand.

“It was egregious. The fact that it was a no-call … You got to call it,” Fever coach Stephanie White said after the game. “You’re coming in here aware of what happened two nights ago and that (expletive) still happens? Absolutely unacceptable.”

The Mercury and Fever play again on July 9 in Phoenix.

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AP Sports Writer David Brandt in Phoenix contributed to this report.

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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

The 27-year-old Mbappé's first goal against Sweden at MetLife Stadium broke a tie with Brazilian greats Leonidas and Ronaldo for the most goals in the knockout stage of the World Cup. His second, in the 74th minute, gave him 10 to add to his record.

Each goal was highlight-reel caliber. In the 45th minute, Mbappé engaged in a give-and-go with Ousmane Dembélé, crossed over Viktor Gyökeres and fired his shot past goalkeeper Jacob Widell Zetterström. In the 74th, he finished off a feed from Michael Olise to put France up 3-0.

Celebrating the first goal, Mbappé ran immediately to coach Didier Deschamps after scoring. This was Deschamps' first game back on the sideline after missing the group stage finale to fly back to Europe for his mother’s funeral.

With 18 goals in 18 World Cup games, Mbappé has scored at an even faster clip than Messi, who has played in 29 games at the tournament. Mbappé was substituted in the 85th minute against Sweden.

France outshot Sweden 15-3 in the first half, dominating in the searing heat. That effort also included Mbappé banging a shot off the left post and even beginning to celebrate before watching it bounce back.

It was 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius), sunny and humid at the 5 p.m. kickoff with poor air quality. During the first half hydration break, Lucas Digne let himself be doused by a sprinkler.

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AP Sports Writer Ron Blum contributed to this report.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Texas politics have become deeply engaged in the fight over the future of college football. In this week’s episode, the TribCast crew is joined by Ralph Russo, senior writer for The Athletic and host of The Audible podcast.

We discuss the saga of Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby, the influence of megadonor Cody Campbell and U.S. Ted Cruz’s proposed fix.

Watch the video above or subscribe to the TribCast on iTunes, Spotify, or RSS. New episodes every Tuesday.

Hinkle — one of the oldest arenas in the country — is iconic, and more than fits the billing that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and other league officials were looking for when he said the league was searching for “storied college arenas” to play host to the Cup final.

The 2026-27 title game, to be played Dec. 11, will mark the first time the Cup final is held outside of Las Vegas — which hosted the final for the first three in-season tournaments.

“Hinkle Fieldhouse offers a special setting to capture the excitement and drama of the Emirates NBA Cup Championship,” NBA Head of Global Events Kelly Flatow said. “Playing the championship in an iconic basketball environment like this will further establish it as a signature moment on the NBA calendar.”

The arena, which has about 9,100 seats, has played host to at least six U.S. presidents — Herbert Hoover, Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush — along with the first U.S. vs. Soviet Union basketball games, circuses, tennis matches, ice shows and even was used as a barracks for the U.S. military during World War II.

“Hinkle Fieldhouse gets loud,” Boston Celtics basketball operations president Brad Stevens said when he coached at Butler, “and it gets as loud as loud gets.”

Hinkle also was home of the famed Indiana high school basketball tournament for decades, including 1954 when tiny Milan High beat Muncie Central High to win the state title in the story that served as the inspiration for the classic basketball movie “Hoosiers” — which used Hinkle as the set for its championship game.

Indianapolis native Oscar Robertson also played there; his Crispus Attucks High team won state titles in that arena in 1955 and 1956 as well. It also has been the site of NBA games in the past, along with some WNBA games in 2022.

The Los Angeles Lakers won the inaugural NBA Cup in 2023; the event was simply called the in-season tournament that year. Milwaukee won in 2024 and New York beat San Antonio for the 2025 title — in a preview of this season's NBA Finals, in which the Knicks topped the Spurs again.

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

The states and federal government accused Cal-Maine Foods, Versova and Hickman’s Egg Ranch of a behind-the-scenes arrangement to “artificially inflate the daily price quotations for eggs" between June 2022 and March 2025. In particular, their investigation found that the companies coordinated on what bids they would submit to Urner Barry Publications, a company that runs an index key to determining how much grocery stores, restaurants and others pay for billions of eggs each year.

In turn, that meant “higher prices for eggs sold to consumers,” alleged the complaint, which was filed in Iowa on Monday, the day the settlement terms were announced.

“When powerful corporations collude behind the scenes to raise prices, working families suffer the costs,” New York Attorney General Letitia James, who helped lead the investigation, said in a statement. “These egg producers manipulated the market to squeeze even more profit out of consumers and businesses."

None of the companies admitted wrongdoing under the settlements. But to settle the states' claims, Cal-Maine, Versova and Hickman's will collectively be on the hook for $3.3 million and 53 million eggs, James and others said. Those eggs would be donated by the companies and make their ways to food banks and nonprofits. The money will be distributed to the states.

The Justice Department and the states also outlined actions the companies will need to take, including adopting antitrust compliance programs and banning communicating with competitors on pricing and bidding strategies.

The settlements would still need court approval. The Justice Department's Omeed A. Assefi said Tuesday that the proposed settlements “resolve years of conduct that dragged on Americans’ finances and their everyday lives.”

Average U.S. egg prices soared to a record high of about $6.23 per dozen in March 2025, amid a bird flu epidemic that forced farmers to slaughter millions of egg-laying chickens. Egg producers blamed price spike on the outbreak, but critics accused big companies of taking advantage of their market dominance and the government began its investigation.

Monday’s complaint notes that price quotations “dropped significantly” after Cal-Maine, Versova and Hickman’s learned of the Justice Department’s investigation and were instructed to preserve documents in March 2025. Consumer egg prices also later tumbled — to under $2.20 per dozen as of May 2026 — as replenished flocks caught up despite the ongoing outbreak.

Cal-Maine maintained Monday that allegations of price manipulation were “baseless” and that it believes its conduct has been legal. It also noted that while it was part of a cooperative with the other egg producers, it left the group in May 2024.

Still, Cal-Maine CEO Sherman Miller said the company's settlement agreement “enables us to move forward so we can devote our full attention to what matters most: delivering affordable, high-quality eggs and egg-based prepared foods to consumers nationwide.”

Miller added the period the Justice Department reviewed “was a particularly challenging time” — noting that, beyond avian flu, the COVID-19 pandemic, weather and other market conditions have contributed to temporary supply shocks and high prices in recent years. He said Cal-Maine “took numerous steps to protect and grow its hen flock” in that time.

Versova echoed a similar sentiment, particularly pointing to the toll the bird flu has had on its farmers, who it noted “don’t set the wholesale price of eggs.” Instead, Versova said the price of most of its eggs depends on cost fluctuations of grain used in hen feeds.

Meanwhile, Hickman's owner Mantiqueira USA, which acquired the egg producer in November, said the “conduct referenced in the complaint predates our acquisition," noting that it is committed to complying with the law.

Some advocacy groups say the proposed settlements aren't enough.

“Consumers paid record prices while dominant egg producers reported extraordinary profits, yet the result is another settlement that corporations can treat as the cost of doing business rather than meaningful accountability,” said Angela Huffman, president of Farm Action.

Cal-Maine — the only of the three companies that is public and reports quarterly financials — reported a profit of $1.22 billion for the 2025 fiscal year. Under its settlement agreement with the states, the company would pay $1.5 million and donate 30 million eggs.

Meanwhile, per court documents, Versova would provide 20 million eggs and $800,000, and Hickman's would be on the hook for 3.25 million eggs and $1 million.

In addition to New York, these states were party to the settlement agreements: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Vermont, and Wisconsin.

The decision, in line with the longstanding judicial interpretation of the 14th Amendment, comes on the final day of a Supreme Court term that has centered on Trump’s expansive claims of presidential power — and largely ruled in his favor.

In its other Tuesday rulings, the court upheld laws in roughly half the states that prohibit transgender girls and women from playing on their public school and college sport teams and struck down limits on party spending in federal elections.

Here's the latest:

Venezuelan asylum seeker, with 2 daughters born in US, relieved by court ruling

Loreana Pachano, a Venezuelan asylum seeker in Lehi, Utah, with two daughters who became U.S. citizens by birth, said the court’s decision was a relief.

Her brother is also a U.S. citizen because he was born in the country while his father was working on a master’s degree with a student visa. She was born in Venezuela.

“It’s good to see there’s some pushback when things don’t make sense,” said Pachano, who has also applied for an employment-based green card. She said her daughters have no legal status in Venezuela.

Justice Thomas: ‘Citizenship Clause was enacted for people who were born in this country and called it home’

Thomas, who wrote the main dissent, disagreed with the majority’s opinion on birthright citizenship.

The basis of his argument, among other things, is that the court ignored evidence from Reconstruction debates that suggested citizenship depended on a deeper relationship to the country.

“The Citizenship Clause was enacted for people who were born in this country and called it home. It was enacted for freed slaves such as Dred Scott, who had ‘a domicile’ here and therefore were entitled to sue as citizens,” Thomas wrote in his dissent, concluding that Reconstruction was a targeted remedy for freed slaves to restore citizenship to a wrongfully excluded group.

▶ Read more

Supreme Court chief justice: ‘We break no new ground today’

Much of Chief Justice John Roberts’ opinion was a history lesson on English common law, in which he concluded that birthright citizenship has always depended primarily on birthplace — not on parents’ immigration status or domicile.

“Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights — to freely participate in our political community. The Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment extended that promise to ‘every free-born person in this land,’” Roberts wrote for the court, citing congressional debate over the amendment, “We keep that promise today.”

“We break no new ground today,” Roberts said on the bench as he read the court’s majority opinion.

▶ Read more

Justice Department instructs prosecutors to crack down on ‘birth tourism’ schemes

In a memo circulated hours after the Supreme Court’s ruling upholding birthright citizenship, the deputy attorney general’s office directed prosecutors to “prioritize the investigation and prosecution” of fraudulent “birth tourism” schemes.

In seeking to end birthright citizenship, the Trump administration pointed to “birth tourism” networks that arrange for non-U.S. citizens to come to the country solely to give birth.

The memo says that while many of such cases are charged as visa fraud, prosecutors should also consider whether other laws apply, including wire fraud, money laundering and aggravated identity theft.

“Together, we will bring illegal birth tourism to an end and those responsible to justice,” the memo says.

‘A very narrow decision’

A lawyer representing trans female athletes in pending litigation in multiple states described the Supreme Court’s ruling that upheld state laws barring transgender girls and women from playing on school athletic teams as “a very narrow decision.”

Susan Cirilli, whose clients include former Swarthmore College cross-country runner Evie Parts, reiterated that there remains no federal law in the country that prohibits transgender women from participating in sports and argues that President Trump’s executive order cannot supersede state law.

Venezuelan woman who is part of another birthright lawsuit received court decision in tears

“I feel a great sense of tranquility,” said the woman, one of the five plaintiffs in the lawsuit at the Maryland district court. “It is a triumph for our children; I fought hard for this day,” said the asylum seeker.

The woman, who asked not to be identified from fear of being detained, said she filed the lawsuit Jan. 21, 2025, the day after President Trump announced his executive order declaring that children born to people who are in the United States illegally or temporarily are not American citizens. She was pregnant with her first child, who was born in August 2025.

As an asylum seeker, she did not believe she could request the Venezuelan citizenship for the baby and wondered what citizenship the child would have.

“There was a lot of uncertainty and fear. I wondered: if my son wasn’t going to be from here, then where would he be from?” said the woman, who was a doctor in her country and arrived to the U.S. in 2019 after receiving death threats in Venezuela.

On Tuesday, she said she felt a “sea of emotions” when she saw the news on TV.

ACLU celebrates the Supreme Court’s birthright citizenship ruling

“This should have been a unanimous decision,” attorney Cody Wofsy, deputy director at the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project, told reporters after the decision was announced. “The text of the Constitution is clear, the history is clear, and the precedent is clear.”

“That said, regardless of what the vote count may have been, this is a rejection of the Trump administration’s extreme attempts to rewrite the Constitution and to exclude entire portions of American-born children from our country.”

Birthright could become a powerful wedge issue in US politics, critic of decision says

“The president was never going to win, in the sense that his executive order was going to be overturned,” said Mark Krikorian, the director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank favoring restrictive immigration policies. “The question was if the Supreme Court would accept the ACLU’s interpretation of the 14th Amendment.”

The ruling “constitutionalized the question” of birthright citizenship, he said, requiring changes through a constitutional amendment.

That, he argued, is highly unlikely: “Congress can’t rename post offices, let alone do anything else.”

But, he said, birthright could now become a powerful political wedge issue, similar to the court’s 1973 abortion ruling, which was overturned in 2022.

“It’ll distort our politics the way Roe vs. Wade did in energizing a political movement,” he said.

Could pregnancy now be a question on visa application?

Mark Krikorian, a prominent Washington voice favoring restrictive immigration policies, said he expects the ruling to result in new U.S. visa applications, with potential visitors being asked if they are pregnant.

“It’s something that visa officers are often reluctant to ask about — it’s awkward,” said Krikorian, the director of the Center for Immigration Studies.

“But if it’s on the application then you have the answers, and if you lie you’ve committed a felony,” he said.

The Trump administration says birthright citizenship has created what it calls a birth tourism industry.

“It is unacceptable for foreign parents to use a U.S. tourist visa for the primary purpose of giving birth in the United States to obtain citizenship for the child,” the State Department said in a post on X. “Those who abuse our immigration system through birth tourism may be ineligible for future visas or travel to the United States.”

Justice Thomas says the majority misunderstands the 14th amendment

He insists the majority opinion perpetuates a misunderstanding and misapplication of the 14th amendment.

The citizenship clause and related Reconstruction statutes granted citizenship “to persons born and domiciled in the United States regardless of their race,” he wrote. But “neither guaranteed citizenship to persons who were not domiciled in the United States.”

He continued: “Blacks were entitled to citizenship because they were Americans. They had no other homeland, owed no allegiance to any foreign power, and were subject to no other authority.”

That highlights the argument over what it means to be “subject to the jurisdiction” of the U.S.

The majority holds that, with exceptions like foreign diplomats, being on U.S. soil makes a person subject to U.S. laws. Thomas and dissenters reason that no one who is separately subject to another foreign government should be considered “subject to the jurisdiction” of the U.S., at least when conferring citizenship.

Justice Jackson takes issue with Thomas in citizenship reasoning

Justice Clarence Thomas’ dissent in the birthright case argued the 14th amendment’s citizenship clause applied only to formerly enslaved people and not more broadly.

That prompted Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to pen a concurrence to Roberts’ majority opinion.

“Despite his longstanding endorsement of a ‘colorblind’ Constitution, Justice Thomas now surprisingly suggests that the Citizenship Clause was a race-conscious remedial measure, relating only to ‘freed slaves such as Dred Scott,’” she wrote, calling that a “narrow vision” of Reconstruction’s intended expansion of democracy.

“This alternative account pitches Black Americans against immigrants when the advocates who promoted the Fourteenth Amendment did no such thing,” Jackson wrote. “Freed Blacks fought for the shared humanity of all people.”

Jackson is the first Black woman to sit on the Supreme Court. Thomas is the second Black man, succeeding Thurgood Marshall, who argued the Brown v. Board case that struck down segregated schools.

Trump says Congress should end birthright citizenship and calls court ruling ‘too bad’

The president said the Supreme Court’s decision upholding that anyone born in the United States automatically becomes an American citizen was “too bad for our Country,” but that Congress could “easily” address it with legislation.

Trump declared that “No long and unwieldy Constitutional Amendment is necessary!”

But the Supreme Court’s ruling Tuesday makes it clear that it would be necessary to amend the Constitution. Chief Justice John Roberts, who wrote the opinion for the court, pointed to the Fourteenth Amendment in the Constitution in ruling that anyone born in the country, with very limited exceptions, is a citizen.

Justice Department reacts to the ruling on birthright citizenship

The Justice Department said in a statement that it’s “committed to tackling illegal birth tourism schemes by working diligently with U.S. Attorneys across the country to uphold the law.”

“Actors seeking to exploit loopholes to obtain automatic citizenship for their children pose a national security threat and will be brought to justice,” the department said in a post on X.

Dred Scott case featured in the justices’ birthright citizenship writings

U.S. Supreme Court justices have long distanced themselves from the pre-Civil War decision that declared Black people — enslaved and free — were not U.S. citizens.

The 1857 Dred Scott case was featured again Tuesday, being mentioned 48 times in 194 pages of the birthright citizenship opinion, concurrences and dissents.

Roberts’ majority opinion explained how U.S. birthright citizenship originates with English common law: Anyone born in the monarch’s realm was considered a “natural-born subject.”

The “odious” Scott case, Roberts said, deviated from that once-accepted understanding and “was met with shock.”

In response, he detailed, the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause restored common law understanding, with lawmakers making clear they were explicitly rebuking the Scott decision.

Yet, Roberts wrote, “the Government and the principal dissent propose a return to its core tenet,” that “for certain people, being born on American soil will not suffice to confer citizenship.”

Supreme Court denies report that Justice Samuel Alito is retiring

The Supreme Court’s public information office is denying a published report, since retracted, that the court announced Alito’s retirement Tuesday.

The unusual statement followed a story from NPR saying the court had announced that Alito was stepping down. NPR pulled the story a short time later. Chief Justice John Roberts announced the retirement of several court employees Tuesday, as he customarily does after the court’s final opinions are out. Alito was not among them.

Speculation had swirled about the justice’s future plans earlier this year, but Fox News and CBS reported this spring that he planned to remain on the bench.

NPR’s editor-in-chief released a statement saying the story had been incorrectly reported and that correspondent Nina Totenberg would appear on “All Things Considered” Tuesday afternoon to explain what had happened.

Court will consider striking down assault weapons bans in Connecticut and the Chicago-area

A Supreme Court that has expanded gun rights will consider whether bans on semiautomatic rifles, often called assault weapons, violate the Second Amendment.

The justices said Tuesday they will take up appeals asking the court to strike down bans on the AR-15 and similar semiautomatic firearms in the Chicago area and Connecticut.

Similar laws are in place in about a dozen states, covering major cities like New York, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Congress allowed a national assault weapons ban to expire in 2004, but Democrats have supported renewing it in response to a series of mass shootings and states have continued to pass their own laws.

The cases are the latest high-profile disputes over guns to reach the court since its conservative majority handed down a landmark ruling in 2022 that expanded Second Amendment rights and spawned challenges to firearm laws around the country.

The case is expected to be heard in the fall.

▶ Read more

More reactions to the Supreme Court’s decision on campaign spending

The conservative-leaning Institute for Free Speech hailed the decision as “a landmark victory for the First Amendment.”

“More than half the states have operated for years without restricting coordinated party expenditures, and there is no evidence of the corruption the federal government fears,” institute senior attorney Brett Nolan said. “The Court corrected a two-decade-old mistake.”

Meanwhile, Jacquelyn Lopez and Rachel Jacobs, partners in the Elias Law Group, which represents Democrats in voting rights cases and election contests, said the decision “needlessly” destroyed “a long-standing pillar” of federal campaign finance laws.

However, they also said Republicans have “pushed the boundaries” of the limits to help weak candidates. They said the Elias Law Group had anticipated the outcome for months.

“In the long run, Democratic campaigns will benefit from the level playing field this ruling provides,” they said. “Now, both parties are free to offer unlimited support to their candidates, not just the party willing to ignore the law to do so.”

From a descendant of the man at the center of the 1898 birthright citizenship ruling

Norman Wong, the great-grandson of Wong Kim Ark, the Chinese American cook at the center of the landmark 1898 Supreme Court decision establishing birthright citizenship, applauded Tuesday’s ruling.

“My great grandfather, Wong Kim Ark, never set out to become a symbol. He was one man, only a cook, and yet he stood up for what was right, and I believe that it has made a difference,” Wong said in a statement. “As a result, he stood up for the rights of all of us Americans — it just so happens that I am related to him. Today’s ruling shows that his victory remains as important now as it was in 1898.”

‘By the grace of God, the president does not manage to do everything he wants’

For a Mexican mother with six children born in the United States — ranging in age from 18 years to 18 months — the Supreme Court’s decision brought happiness.

“I am happy for our children,” the 38-year-old woman said in a telephone interview. “I am happy because they don’t face any risk like we do.”

The woman, who asked not to be identified for fear of being detained and deported, crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in 2007 in search of a better life. She has not applied for asylum or any other immigration status.

She works at a plant nursery in South Florida, where her children attend school.

The woman said one of her children called her as soon as he found out about the decision to share his joy with her.

“By the grace of God, the president does not manage to do everything he wants,” the mother said. “I was confident that, with God’s help, he would not succeed.”

Birthright citizenship survived racist eras, and now Trump, Global Refuge leader says

The head of Global Refuge said the Supreme Court averted a catastrophe with its 6-3 opinion upholding the 14th Amendment and rejecting the Trump administration’s attempt to overturn a Reconstruction era amendment.

“Birthright citizenship survived the Chinese Exclusion Act, Jim Crow, and today, it survived an executive order that would have essentially turned the maternity ward into a customs checkpoint,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, President and CEO of Global Refugee.

“The Justices rightly recognized that the U.S. Constitution is clear and unambiguous: if you are born in this country and subject to its jurisdiction, you are a citizen of this country,” she said. Vignarajah said a different outcome would have denied citizenship to more than 250,000 children born in the U.S. each year.

“This was a constitutional stress test.”

Trump says Republicans won ‘big’ on Supreme Court’s party spending ruling

The president applauded a Supreme Court ruling that struck down a federal election law and made it easier for major donors to avoid caps on individual contributions to candidates by going through the party.

“A BIG WIN FOR REPUBLICANS and, more importantly, The First Amendment!” Trump posted on social media.

House Speaker Mike Johnson ‘very disappointed’ over birthright citizenship ruling

The Republican leader’s news conference was interrupted by the ruling as reporters instantly sought a real-time reaction.

“Oh dear,” Johnson said as a reporter read out the decision.

Johnson said he believes it will subject the country to “serious challenges going forward and we’ll have to deal with that.”

Johnson, who has worked as a constitutional lawyer primarily on religious issues, said the 14th Amendment is being abused by people who are coming to the U.S. to have children in a “birthing tourism trend.” It’s not illegal but is a practice the Trump administration has tried to reduce.

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This story has been corrected to reflect the correct last name of a Venzuelan asylum seeker to Pachano, not Panchana.

Mere startups when took the oath of office, the new ventures have now eclipsed in revenue much of his vast property portfolio that took decades to accumulate. Fueling their rise was a pair of billionaire investors and Trump’s own move to quash a federal crackdown on the industry.

Trump got more than $500 million from his World Liberty Financial business selling new crypto products, including “governance tokens,” according to the required annual disclosure report with the Office of Government Ethics. It also showed another crypto business, CIC Digital LLC, took in more than $600 million from sales of souvenir-type “meme” coins stamped with his face.

Both the tokens and the coins have plunged in value since the sales.

Trump also took in millions last year from selling Trump-branded bibles, sneakers and other small items in another unprecedented move for the presidency. For Trump branded watches alone he took in $4.7 million.

The rise of crypto relative to Trump’s property is especially noteworthy given that Trump took in tens in millions in additional fees last year from a flurry of new hotel, resort and condo deals overseas that amounts to the biggest property expansion ever in the century since it was founded. Many of those countries were negotiating with the U.S. over tariffs, military aid, and other important matters.

A property in the United Arab Emirates took in $10.4 million. One in Saudi Arabia being built by a real estate developer close to the ruling family sent the president’s company $9 million. And one in Bucharest, Romania, and another in Qatar sent him $5 million each.

The biggest pressure cooker of them all: the penalty kick shootout. Exhausted players and goalkeepers face off in a tense one-on-one confrontation that carries the hopes and dreams of entire nations.

Two of the first four matches in the round of 32 were settled by shootouts: Morocco beat the Netherlands and Paraguay bested Germany.

A miss can mean humiliation. A goalkeeper's save or the final bulge of the ball in the back of the net can bring tears of joy to millions.

That kind of pressure can reach “inhumane” levels, almost all of it focused on the penalty takers, said Geir Jordet, a professor at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences and author of the book, “Pressure: Lessons from the Psychology of the Penalty Shootout.”

“In our research, the only emotion everyone agrees is present is anxiety,” Jordet said.

Expect more shootouts, more pressure, more anxiety.

A record five games at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar were settled by penalty kicks, including the final when Argentina beat France.

“As you go into knockout football it’s something that becomes more prominent in the games,” England winger Noni Madueke said. "So like every part of our game we want to be at the highest level when it comes to that.”

The physical and mental distance from spot to goal

This tense battle of wills is fought over a 12-yard (11-meter) distance between the penalty spot and the goal line. The shootout was added to the game in 1970 and has settled several of the world's biggest tournaments.

The first World Cup final to be settled by penalty kicks was Brazil’s 1994 victory over Italy. That shootout also produced one of the most infamous misses in soccer history when Italy great Roberto Baggio sent the final kick over the crossbar.

The penalty taker

Techniques vary.

Some take the kick quickly. Others pause, taking deep, calming breaths before they approach. Some run and strike it hard. A popular variation is the stutter-step, waiting for the goalkeeper to commit to which way he's going.

The penalty taker faces the most pressure in the moment because he's expected to score, Jordet told The Associated Press by email.

Research shows that the players who start toward the ball almost immediately after the referee's whistle more often miss than those wait between two and five seconds, he said.

“We suspect this is because those who (wait) extremely short sometimes do so because they, understandably, just want to get this stressful situation done and over with,” Jordet said.

It takes guts to be in that moment, United States forward Christian Pulisic said.

“For the people that go up and shoot, it takes a lot of courage. It’s not easy,” Pulisic said. “Goalkeepers get better and better every single year."

The view from goal

Standing between the posts, goalkeepers have three basic choices. Dive left, dive right or stay in the middle in a guessing game of anticipation.

Morocco keeper Yassine Bounou did something critically different. On the decisive save against the Netherlands, he moved to his right while standing up.

By staying upright, Bounou used his left hand to easily swat away the kick from Crysencio Summerville, who was shooting for the upper corner. Had Bounou dives, the ball would have easily found the net.

The best goalkeepers are “creative, deliberate and volatile” in their attempts to disrupt the shooter, Jordet said.

Tactics can include throwing the ball away, verbal insults and physical confrontation at the penalty spot. The mind games can get so hostile they can result in a yellow card for the goalkeeper.

He noted Bounou's well-timed body twitches and hand fakes to disrupt shooters' timing. The “master” of the mind games, Jordet said, is Argentina keeper Emiliano Martinez, who has won his last six penalty shootouts, including the 2022 World Cup final.

Picking the lineup has its own pressure

Selecting the lineup for a shootout has its own rhythms and risks for a coach and a team. It is a delicate balance between analytics, experience and gut feeling.

Some players will be automatic choices. Imagine France in a shootout without Kylian Mbappé or Argentina without Lionel Messi with the World Cup on the line.

“The guys who feel the most confident to go up and shoot will want to go shoot. I think that’s normal," Pulisic said. “We haven’t been in many shootouts with these guys, but like I feel it’s a pretty brave, courageous team.”

A shootout lineup should be decided and discussed well beforehand, and not a call for volunteers in the moment, Jordet said.

After Germany and Paraguay were still even after five penalty attempts each, Germany captain Joshua Kimmich asked his teammates who wanted to take the sixth. Jonathan Tah stepped up for the first penalty attempt of his career and launched the ball over the bar.

Players should rehearse the critical moment months ahead of time, Jordet said.

“Make sure that when you are called to take a kick, you have a strong and robust penalty technique, and you have a rehearsed and stable pre-shot routine that can help you lock your attention,” Jordet said. “With that type of focus, you have done what you can, and the outcome will be what it will be.”

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AP Sports Writers Josh Dubow, Steve Douglas and James Robson contributed to this report.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

That choice is starkly reflected in the fight to represent the state's 1st Congressional District, where incumbent Rep. Diana DeGette has been in office for as long as her challenger, a 29-year-old democratic socialist named Melat Kiros, has been alive. Likewise in the U.S. Senate race, Sen. John Hickenlooper has spent nearly three times as many years in public office as his challenger, state Sen. Julie Gonzales, who fashions herself as an “insurgent progressive.”

And a similar, if smaller, divide separates the two Democrats competing for the U.S. House in the state's lone swing district, a seat that will be one of the keys to controlling the chamber in President Donald Trump's final two years in office.

In the Democratic primary for governor, however, the opposite is the case: Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser and U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet have struggled to meaningfully distinguish their agendas. Instead, the two Democrats have accused each other of pulling punches against Trump.

Democratic socialists have another shot in Denver

DeGette has comfortably controlled her House seat in Denver for nearly 30 years, then came Melat Kiros.

In a March Democratic assembly, a process to decide which candidates get on the primary ballot, DeGette barely qualified as Kiros, a first-time candidate, blew past her with more than double the votes.

While the assembly process is far from determinative of who will win Tuesday, it was a jolt for the Democratic establishment and DeGette, who's been a progressive lawmaker herself.

Then, in New York last week, two democratic socialists and a progressive beat out establishment-backed candidates — two of whom were incumbents — in Democratic primaries for U.S. House, energizing a movement that's just finding some political purchase.

Similar to the New York races, Kiros has the endorsement of Sen. Bernie Sanders, while DeGette is backed by Colorado’s established Democratic House delegation.

A victory by Kiros in Colorado, while far from guaranteed, would work toward cementing the nascent but clear uprising of democratic socialist candidates, which has filled some Democratic leaders with anxiety.

DeGette argues that experience in Congress is needed right now to combat Trump, while Kiros, a former attorney, accuses DeGette of ineffectiveness. Also running is University of Colorado Regent Wanda James, who may split the anti-DeGette vote.

The ‘insurgent progressive’ versus the political veteran

Gonzales, the state senator and self-fashioned “insurgent progressive," is trying to kick Hickenlooper, the more centrist former governor of Colorado, out of his U.S. Senate seat.

She's leaning into the same arguments that others used in challenging establishment incumbents, including that Hickenlooper is an “incrementalist."

Gonzales has said she previously joined the Democratic Socialists of America in 2018, but that her membership has lapsed.

Hickenlooper is favored in the statewide race.

A swing district may help decide control of the House

Colorado's 8th Congressional District is a relatively new district that stretches from the northern suburbs of Denver up through farming country.

Since its creation in 2021, it's swung from Democratic to GOP control and is held now by Republican Rep. Gabe Evans. With Democrats aiming to take back control of the House and obstruct Trump's agenda, the race is closely watched.

Party leaders thought a moderate like state Rep. Shannon Bird was best equipped to challenge Evans, but the district is also heavily Hispanic and poorer than much of the rest of the state.

That's where Bird's Democratic primary opponent state Rep. Manny Rutinel, who is Latino, has planted a flag, arguing his personal story and more aggressive economic agenda will be more potent against Evans.

Who has hit Trump harder?

Weiser and Bennet are slugging that question out in the governor's race after struggling to show major differences in their political agendas.

Weiser attacked Bennet for voting for Trump nominees and Bennet lambasted Weiser for not joining state lawsuits against first Trump administration.

“The attorney general says he’s really tough but was completely missing in action in Donald Trump’s first term," Bennet said in a recent debate.

Weiser accused Bennet of a weak response to the president. But he also says Bennet should remain in the Senate instead of running for governor.

“You’ve made some mistakes; you didn’t stand up the way you should. I know you can shape up, use your seniority," Weiser told Bennet during a debate. “With all that experience, to throw it away, would be such a waste for Colorado.”

With Colorado a blue state, Tuesday's Democratic winner will be seen as the favorite to defeat the winner of the GOP primary and take over from term-limited Gov. Jared Polis.

The three main candidates seeking the Republican nomination include state Rep. Scott Bottoms, a farther right state lawmaker. State Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer is considered the more conventional Republican, while Victor Marx is something of a wild card candidate with an eclectic past.

Candidate vying for Tina Peters' old seat echoes her conspiracy theories

Peters was the Mesa County clerk who was convinced by Trump's debunked claims of mass fraud in the 2020 election and eventually convicted in a scheme to make a copy of the county's election computer system.

Candidate Abby Silzell is vying for Peters' old job and repeating similar claims as she challenges incumbent Bobbie Gross.

Both are Republicans, and Silzell told CPR News that she believes Peter's conviction was a “miscarriage of justice" and that in the 2020 election there was enough fraud to “affect the outcome.”

Meanwhile, the number of official rescues has dropped dramatically in the last three days, the government said, from 5,380 people saved in the first two days after the quakes to just four people found alive Monday by authorities. The prime window for finding earthquake survivors is typically 48 to 72 hours, but it is possible to survive longer depending on factors such as temperature and access to water or food.

The sole survivor rescued by Tuesday afternoon was a toddler who had been trapped for six days under a collapsed building, said Jorge Rodríguez, the president of the National Assembly.

Those numbers do not include the many rescues carried out across the country by volunteer groups that, frustrated with the government's sluggish response, scrambled to save their trapped loved ones days before the arrival of expert international teams.

The government puts the death toll at over 1,900. Experts say that is a significant undercount as more bodies are hauled from the rubble every day and morgues struggle to handle the influx.

Among the living, a humanitarian crisis is unfolding. United Nations agencies estimated on Tuesday that the earthquake amassed 1.2 million tons of debris of destroyed buildings and belongings. They expressed concern about the health effects of thousands of displaced people sleeping for days in the open or in crowded, unsanitary shelters.

A healthcare system in crisis

The Venezuelan healthcare system, strained by decades of underinvestment and years of economic crisis is “under extreme pressure now, with facilities operating beyond the capacity of the surge of the trauma cases,” said World Health Organization spokesperson Christian Lindmeier at a media briefing in Geneva.

Venezuelan officials say that more than 15,800 people have been affected by the earthquakes — a figure that reflects the official number of displaced people, U.N. refugee agency spokesperson Carlotta Wolf said Tuesday. Newly homeless Venezuelans are sleeping in cars, parks and elsewhere.

Wolf said that number would continue to rise. Many of those displaced in the hardest-hit state of La Guaira, just outside the capital of Caracas along the coast, are suffering from widespread food shortages, she said.

Without access to toilets, showers or soap, displaced Venezuelans have also become increasingly vulnerable to the outbreak of preventable diseases like measles, given the population’s low vaccination rates, Lindmeier said, adding that conditions are ripe for waterborne infections such as dengue, yellow fever and malaria to spread.

According to the government, last week's earthquakes damaged or otherwise compromised 38 hospitals nationwide. WHO said it so far has evaluated 21 of those facilities, three of which are no longer operating. Another six have sustained damage and the rest are now buckling under the influx of injuries.

Many specialist doctors are missing in the ruins, including officials in charge of maternity care in La Guaira, WHO said, compounding the challenges to healthcare in a country that 8 million people, including many doctors and nurses, have fled in recent years.

“Findings reveal chaotic service delivery and patient flow, marked by overcrowding, growing surgical backlogs ... and a breakdown in biosafety measures,” Lindmeier said.

An increased presence of nongovernmental organizations was noticeable Tuesday in La Guaira and adjacent communities, with tents from the Red Cross, the World Food Program and other organizations set up on sidewalks, waterfront esplanades and athletic facilities. People lined up throughout the day under the blistering sun to receive free toiletries, food, medications and face masks.

A struggle to grasp the true toll

With the government tight-lipped about victims and survivors and offering no official count of missing people, ordinary Venezuelans are struggling to find relatives. Many have turned to WhatsApp groups and nongovernmental digital databases to report their loved ones as missing. One such registry listed at least 43,220 people as missing.

In his daily televised casualty update, Jorge Rodríguez, brother of interim President Delcy Rodríguez, said that the official toll stood at 1,943 people killed and 10,571 injured as of Tuesday, urging the public to share only government information.

But his numbers left thousands of Venezuelans unaccounted for. He said the government estimated there were around 30,000 people in the hardest-hit parts of La Guaira state at the time of the earthquake, and that around 20,000 of them managed to escape the area or were later rescued.

NASA estimates that nearly 59,000 buildings have been damaged or destroyed by the earthquakes, which would put the number of people affected by the quakes in the hundreds of thousands. The U.N. children’s agency, UNICEF, on Tuesday said 680,000 children are in need of humanitarian assistance nationwide.

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DeBre reported from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Associated Press writers Regina Garcia Cano and Jorge Rueda in Caracas, Venezuela, Megan Janetsky in Mexico City and Dánica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico, contributed to this report.

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

Some neighbors say they are worried it could be a sign that an old problem with gun violence is making a new return to the area.

The San Antonio Police Department said around 4 a.m., someone fired shots into a fence behind the girls’ home on Comanche Sunrise, not far from Binz Engleman Road.

Some of the bullets entered a bedroom where the two children, ages 6 and 10, were sleeping.

Police said one child was hit in the leg while the other suffered a gunshot wound in the stomach.

At last check, SAPD said both were being treated at a local hospital and were expected to survive.

“It’s a scary thought for all of us in this neighborhood, you know? You could be sleeping, and bullets just come, you know, shooting in your house,” said Saw James, who lives down the street.

James said he noticed all the flashing lights from the police cars but didn’t know, at first, what to make of it.

Later, he learned details of the shooting.

The neighborhood, which for years bore the nickname ‘Gunrise," due to a history of gun violence, had been quiet lately, James said.

“Since I moved here, I haven’t really seen or heard of anything like that,” he said. “It’s always been peaceful. All of our neighbors are respectful of one another.”

While the idea of a shooting there was new to James, others who have lived in the area longer told KSAT 12 News that type of trouble is part of their neighborhood’s history.

They agreed, though, that it seemed the area had turned over a new leaf and that sort of violence was in the past.

“I hope to God it is,” James said, keeping the faith about a peaceful future.

SAPD detained one person at the scene for questioning in this case.

However, as of early Tuesday afternoon, they said they had not made any arrests.

Related coverage on KSAT:

• Man detained after 2 children shot while sleeping in Northeast Side home, SAPD says

Depression, Kean said, “is physical, it is emotional, and until you experience it yourself, it is difficult to fully understand how powerful this illness can be.”

Kean’s reappearance came weeks after his victory in an uncontested primary on June 2 and months after he last cast his vote in the House. His speech ended the silence on his condition, yet left questions unanswered. Kean said he first entered the hospital due to health concerns and underwent testing, but offered no further details.

After the speech, Kean left the Capitol quickly without answering questions from reporters.

Kean last voted in the House on March 5. His absence had complicated matters for House Republican leaders, who have been struggling to pass bills with their threadbare majority.

Kean said he was diagnosed for depression and that doctors recommended he remain in the hospital. Addressing his earlier statement that he expected to return to work in a matter of weeks, Kean said he believed that at the time and it was his doctors’ best estimate then.

“But as the over 48 million of my fellow Americans being treated for this illness have come to discover there is no timeline for healing," Kean said.

“Today I stand before you healthier, stronger and excited to return to the work that I love."

A second-term lawmaker and scion of a New Jersey political family, Kean represents a battleground district that includes President Donald Trump’s Bedminster golf club.

What the House speaker says about Kean’s return

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said he would leave it to Kean to decide whether his remarks Tuesday provided sufficient transparency.

“He spoke to it," Johnson said. “It’s his personal issue, and, you know, I thought the speech on the floor was, well, I thought he explained it.”

Johnson said he had “encouraged him all along to be as transparent as possible” and was “glad he finally has” been.

The mystery over Kean's absence had potential political implications, given the competitive district he represents and the Republican Party's narrow control of the House. His office has said he is still running for reelection and is set to face Democratic nominee Rebecca Bennett, a former Navy helicopter pilot, in New Jersey's most high-profile contest in November.

Democrats have targeted the district as a prime pickup opportunity, given that the seat has changed hands in the last two midterm elections. Kean won in 2022 by defeating Democrat Tom Malinowski, who had defeated Republican Leonard Lance in 2018.

Johnson added Tuesday he is confident Kean would be “easily” reelected in November. Trump has endorsed Kean’s reelection, without mentioning his absence.

Kean comes from a long line of public servants, stretching 250 years to the country’s founding when one of his ancestors became New Jersey’s first leader since independence.

Kean's great-grandfather was a senator, his grandfather was a congressman and his father is the former two-term governor, Tom Kean Sr.

Absent from public view

Lawmakers vary in how transparent they are about extended absences.

Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell, the longest-serving Senate leader in history, was hospitalized more than two weeks ago, and his office has released few details about his condition since.

Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, a Democrat, checked himself into Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for treatment for clinical depression weeks after being sworn into office in 2023. Fetterman, who has dealt with the effects of a stroke he suffered in May 2022, disclosed the hospitalization the day after he was admitted.

Fetterman has talked openly about his struggle with depression and urged people to get help.

“There are people who are suffering with depression in red counties and blue counties," Fetterman said in 2023 after a six-week inpatient treatment. “If you need help, please get help,.”

Kean and House Republican leaders kept the public in the dark about his condition for months. He missed more than 100 House votes this year and was not seen publicly in Washington or his district.

New York Rep. Ritchie Torres, a Democrat who has spoken openly about living with depression, wrote on social media after Kean's remarks that he has “deep sympathy for anyone struggling with mental illness.”

“At the same time, public office carries a duty of transparency," Torres wrote. “When a public official is absent for an extended period, the public has a right to an honest explanation.”

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Associated Press writer Kevin Freking contributed to this report.

“This is unbelievable. This is history,” Haaland said on the field after the game.

A slight tap from Haaland's left foot in the 86th minute was the difference as Norway beat Ivory Coast 2-1 on Tuesday, setting up another World Cup match against five-time champion Brazil — 28 years after a victory that many consider the greatest ever for the Norwegians.

For now, they prefer to enjoy their latest accomplishment.

“What we’re going to think about now is to enjoy the win today. We’re really happy and proud of ourselves,” said Martin Odeegaard, the team's captain who banged the drum to set the pace for the postgame row. “Hopefully we can keep dreaming and keep believing and keep performing like we did.”

Antonio Nusa scored the opening goal in the first half with a curling kick for Norway, which in its fourth World Cup will next play in the round of 16 against Brazil on Sunday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

“This is really a dream come true,” Nusa said in translated remarks.

Norway is in its first World Cup since that 1998 appearance, when the team got to the knockout round only after scoring goals in the 83rd and 89th minutes for an incredible 2-1 comeback win over then-reigning World Cup champion Brazil in the group finale.

Amad Diallo, who had prevented Norway from taking a two-goal lead earlier in the second half, evened the match for Ivory Coast with a left-footed kick in the 74th minute.

Even after Haaland’s go-ahead goal, his Norway-record 60th in 53 matches, Ivory Coast kept pressing and had a chance to equalize with a direct free kick by Diallo in the sixth minute of stoppage time. Orjan Nyland made a leaping stop, the last of his four saves, when he deflected the ball away as he extended his left hand across his body.

“After their equalizer, it was easy to panic. But we got our players in the right position and managed to play our game again,” Norway coach Ståle Solbakken said.

Haaland's 27 touches were the fewest of any Norway player who played the full match, but he was open after three defenders converged when Patrick Berg moved into the penalty area with the ball before making a quick pass. It was a slow roll over the line after coming off the foot of Haaland, who lunged forward as if he might have to kick it again.

It was his Haaland's fifth goal in three games at this year’s tournament. That is one behind Lionel Messi, who has six for Argentina and scored three of those in two group games at the home of the NFL's Dallas Cowboys.

Haaland, who won the Golden Boot in the Premier League last season with 27 goals for Manchester City, has scored in 13 straight competitive international games — a total of 25 goals in that span.

The youthful Elephants, ranked 31st by FIFA, had never before won twice in the same World Cup. This was the fourth World Cup appearance for the West African nation, the same as Norway.

“We are proud for what we achieved,” Diallo said. “But a big disappointment because we knew we have quality in the team, we have players that can make a difference anytime.”

Nusa scored his first World Cup goal in the 39th minute when he took a few strides past the left corner of the penalty area and sent a right-footed kick between two defenders toward the far post.

Ivory Coast goalkeeper Yahia Fofana made a diving attempt at the ball that was just beyond his extended reach, and he was still in air when he turned his head back to see the ball curl into the net. It was Nusa’s ninth international goal in 28 games for Norway.

Diallo evened the score at 1-1 after a give-and-go with Nicolas Pepe, who had scored both Ivory Coast goals in its previous game and was stopped by Nyland in the 55th minute. Diallo found space for his left-footed blast.

That came only about eight minutes after Torbjorn Heggen had a shot for Norway that was deflected away by Diallo, who was right next to his keeper.

Nusa's yellow card in stoppage time before the half set up a free kick by Pepe, but the ensuing header went left of the post.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

The National Weather Service was blunt: Conditions were “dangerous” as the heat index, a combination of air temperature and humidity, exceeded 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 degrees Celsius) in some areas. It warned about a risk for heat-related illnesses, especially among people without air conditioning.

Detroit's air temperature was in the high 90s, the Weather Service said, and could even reach 100 at some point through Thursday. The city said a dozen recreation centers were open, some until 11 p.m., for people to cool off. Big chunks of Michigan, as well as Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and much of Iowa, were under an extreme heat warning.

The Northeast, including New York City and Boston, will next feel major heat through the Fourth of July holiday. Norristown, Pennsylvania, 20 miles (32 kilometers) from Philadelphia, canceled a Saturday parade because of the weather.

Philadelphia declared a heat emergency, Wednesday through Saturday, and said 50 cooling centers will operate with extended hours. The city said visitors will find misting tents, water refill stations and medical stations at the free World Cup fan festival at East Fairmount Park.

When the heat's on, people adjust

The Chicago History Museum offered free admission to state residents who wanted a cool space Tuesday. Roads in a few places in Illinois buckled under the heat. When the surface has no room to expand in the heat, it can rise and crack.

At 9:15 a.m., window washer Stephen Mason, 72, was wiping mayflies off glass at a Detroit convenience store. He got an early start to avoid the worst conditions of the day, but it was already 85 (29.4 C).

“It's the only way to beat it. But it's already starting to cook out here,” Mason said.

Adam Schubatis, 36, a runner who was shirtless in Detroit's Indian Village neighborhood, said he was cutting his route to 6 miles (9.6 kilometers).

“I know where all the drinking fountains are,” he said. “My wife thought I was crazy. She offered to pick me up if I got tired or if there was anything I was doing that wasn't safe.”

A dog's day can be ‘miserable’

In Milwaukee, more than 100 firefighters spent hours controlling a fire at a school in the extreme heat. Fire Chief Aaron Lipski said crews were rotating and shedding their thick coats while they rehydrated.

Overnight low temperatures were in the 70s (21-26.7 C) in many places, which doesn't give the body a chance to cool down naturally, said Dr. Kisha Davis, health officer for Montgomery County, Maryland.

“The heat stress will compound day after day,” said Davis, who added that alcohol and soda, popular holiday drinks, are dehydrating.

In Jackson, Mississippi, where the afternoon heat index exceeded 100 F (37.7 C), massive fans tried to keep about 100 dogs cool at an old mattress warehouse that serves as a shelter for Community Animal Rescue and Adoption.

“It’s miserable. … We try to keep everybody hydrated back there. Dogs and people,” said kennel manager Raquel Burney.

Cooling it forward

George Liller, 64, was a hero in Grosse Pointe Park, a Detroit suburb. He added air conditioning to his home, so he offered a window unit for free on Facebook — extension cord and remote control included.

“It was probably on my porch maybe 15 minutes,” Liller said. “That air conditioner was given to me. I thought, ‘Somebody needs it.’ I know how it feels to be in an old house when it’s this hot.”

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Associated Press reporters Sophie Bates in Jackson, Mississippi, Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa, and Kathy McCormack in Concord, N.H., contributed.

• HOT, BUT NOT *TOO* HOT: Highs average for this time of year (low- to mid-90s)
• STRAY SHOWER: Possible Thursday through July 4th (10%)
• BETTER SHOT AT RAIN?: Slightly better chance Sunday into Monday (20%-30%)

FORECAST

WEDNESDAY

Very similar weather tomorrow! Morning clouds will quickly clear to total sunshine. Highs will be in the low- to mid-90s with a heat index near 100°.

STRAY SHOWER THURSDAY THROUGH SATURDAY

A stray shower or two will be possible as the sea breeze becomes active. The odds of seeing a shower are very low (10%) and any activity will be short-lived.

JULY 4TH

A smidge hotter with highs in the mid- to upper-90s. Other than a very low chance (10%) for a coastal shower, it will stay dry. As for firework displays, it will be warm and in the 80s, but breezy. If you’re setting off fireworks, be very careful with the breeze.

BETTER SHOT AT RAIN?

A weak area of low pressure will attempt to form near the area Sunday into Monday. Depending on its location, odds of rain may go up slightly. Right now, chances sit at 20%-30%. We’ll keep you posted!

QUICK WEATHER LINKS

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

The S&P 500 gained 0.8%, though it still fell to its first losing month following two fabulous ones. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 136 points, or 0.3%, to its record, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 1.5%.

The main reason for the past month’s weakness was a fall to Earth for stocks in the artificial-intelligence industry. After soaring to tremendous heights in the frenzy around AI, such stocks came under pressure because of worries that they shot too high. That’s a big deal for all investors because AI stocks have grown into some of Wall Street’s largest and most influential, pulling indexes behind them.

AI stocks were firmer Tuesday, and Nvidia was the strongest force lifting the S&P 500 after rising 2.6% and trimming its loss for the month. That was even though the majority of stocks within the index fell Tuesday.

Microsoft, which is investing heavily in AI, rose 1.2% to cut its loss for the month to 17.2%. Oracle, though, slipped 0.8% to widen its drop for June to 35.1%. It’s another company contending with concerns that AI may not yield enough productivity and profits to make all the big spending worth it.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 58.93 points to 7,499.36. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 136.46 to 52,319.20, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 393.58 to 26,213.72.

Outside of AI, the economy seems to be rumbling along, even though U.S. households are still feeling sour about it. A report released in the morning said that U.S. employers were advertising many more job openings at the end of May than economists expected, the latest signal that the job market remains resilient.

But a second report said that confidence among U.S. consumers improved by less than economists expected. More Americans are saying it’s hard to get a job, according to a survey by the Conference Board, even with data suggesting continued hiring.

Tuesday’s relatively quiet trading came as companies closed their books for the quarter running from April through June. Investors want to see strong growth in profits to justify the big gains stocks made early in the quarter. Despite June’s drop, the S&P 500 still recorded its best quarter since six years ago, when stocks rocketed out of the crash caused by the COVID pandemic.

Concentrix tumbled 11.2% after the technology company reported profit and revenue for the latest quarter that were just shy of analysts’ expectations.

In the oil market, prices eased after two U.S. envoys arrived in Qatar for talks with mediators about the implementation of an initial deal to end the war in Iran. The Americans will not be having direct negotiations with Iranian diplomats while in Doha.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, erased an early, modest rise and fell 1.3% to $72.95. The hope is that an end to the war will restore full access to the Strait of Hormuz, allowing oil tankers to move more crude and lower its price.

Expensive oil has already sent inflation jumping around the world, which in turn has raised worries that the Federal Reserve and other central banks may have to raise interest rates. Higher rates would keep a lid on inflation, but they would also slow economic growth and hurt prices for investments.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.44% from 4.38% late Monday.

In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe and Asia.

Germany’s DAX returned 1.5%, and South Korea’s Kospi climbed 1% for two of the world’s bigger gains.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.9% as the value of the Japanese yen dropped near its lowest level against the U.S. dollar in 40 years.

U.S. government bonds are paying much higher yields than their Japanese counterparts, and the possibility of rate hikes by the Fed is putting more pressure on the yen. Speculation is rising that Japan’s government may try to prop up the yen’s value, but Japan’s finance minister said only that the government was ready to “respond appropriately whenever necessary.”

___

AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.

The defense attorney for Duane “Keffe D” Davis tried to bar the 2019 memoir “Compton Street Legend” from being used in trial, which is scheduled to begin Aug. 10, as well as statements Davis had made to police in 2008 and 2009.

Davis, 63, faces one charge of murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang in the drive-by shooting of the rapper in Las Vegas.

Shakur was in a black BMW on Sept. 7, 1996, in Las Vegas with Death Row Records founder Marion “Suge” Knight when a white Cadillac pulled up beside them at a red light near the Las Vegas Strip, and gunfire erupted. Shakur was shot multiple times and died six days later, while Knight survived with minor injuries.

Shakur’s death is considered one of the most notorious unsolved murders in the United States. The case had gone cold until Davis began making public statements about it, including in a book he co-wrote in which he said he was in the Cadillac and provided the weapon used to shoot Shakur. The book revived detectives’ investigation, and Davis was arrested in September 2023. Davis pleaded not guilty.

The state’s case hinges on the book Davis co-authored about his time in the gang South Side Compton Crips and statements he made in YouTube interviews.

Michael Sanft, his attorney, argued that the book was fictionalized to make a profit, and that it was unclear which parts — if any — Davis actually wrote. He also argued that statements Davis made to police in 2008 and 2009 should not be used in trial because Davis thought he had immunity due to a proffer agreement that allowed him to speak to detectives without being prosecuted.

Judge Carli Kierny determined that Davis adopted the statements in the book as his own, regardless if he wrote the whole book. She said he made multiple statements describing the book as the “real truth.” She also found the statements he made to law enforcement to be voluntary, but expressed concern that Davis was told in 2008 that he would not be prosecuted for what he said in the interview.

Marc DiGiacomo, chief deputy district attorney in Clark County, said those interviews were no longer considered inadmissible when Davis chose to write and speak about the events. The state has the right to prove that what Davis wrote is true by using those interviews, he said.

“Had he decided to never write the book, he would not, probably, have ever been prosecuted for the crime,” DiGiacomo said.

But he also emerged from the term with even greater power.

His immigration crackdown was largely upheld, his call to redistrict for partisan advantage marched ahead and his ability to control federal regulatory agencies expanded dramatically when the court overturned a 90-year-old precedent. The court's conservative majority also seemed willing to look past Trump’s invocation of racial tropes and boundary-pushing moves as it handed down decisions in line with its own conception of a powerful presidency.

The conservative majority seems fully behind the unitary executive theory

The court's ruling Monday gave the president effective control over independent regulatory agencies by allowing him to fire their leaders at will.

Several federal laws, some more than 100 years old, sought to protect agency independence by requiring the president to identify a cause, like negligence, before firing the leaders. The court struck down those provisions as unconstitutional limits on presidential power.

The decision could give the president the ability to reshape agencies Congress created to operate independently of the executive branch. It also could be a threat to the federal workforce, well below top executives, that has been covered by the civil service system, if future decisions allow the president to fire lower-level workers.

One agency that still appears beyond Trump's reach is the Federal Reserve. Though many experts have said there is no principled distinction, the court ruled Monday that the Fed's leadership can't be fired at will. It said Cook can remain in her job while she challenges efforts to oust her over allegations of mortgage fraud, which she denies.

The Voting Rights Act has been hollowed out

It was the crown jewel of the Civil Rights Movement: the 1965 federal law that finally opened the ballot box to Black Americans and other minorities and eventually led to the election of thousands of Black officeholders across the country.

But since 2013, the court has systematically and severely cut back on the ability of minority voters to invoke the law's protections to challenge election changes, saying the need for those protections had largely passed.

In April, the court made it much harder for minority voters to challenge electoral districts that result in reduced opportunity to elect candidates of their choosing, unless they can effectively prove intentional racial discrimination.

The decision meshed with Trump's call for Republicans to redraw as many districts as possible to try to hold on to their slim majority in the House.

Alabama, Louisiana and Tennessee eliminated largely Black districts in response to the decision, including an Alabama district that was created in response to a Supreme Court ruling three years ago.

The immigration crackdown has been at the center of Trump's agenda

The Trump administration notched a series of wins on immigration this term: The justices allowed the Department of Homeland Security to end deportation protections for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans and Haitians and to employ a restrictive policy limiting the number of people seeking asylum each day at the southern border.

They also allowed border officers wider latitude in cases of green-card holders accused of crimes, in a case that started during the Obama administration.

In the birthright citizenship case, Trump pushed for limits no president had sought before, and certainly not through an executive order that would bypass Congress. In the end, six justices ruled he had gone too far.

But four justices adopted the administration's reading of the 14th Amendment that it would permit denying citizenship to children born to parents who are in the country illegally or temporarily.

Trump's crude racial and religious stereotypes get a pass from the court

Conservative justices have repeatedly discounted or taken the best possible view of Trump’s words and actions. Critics call it sanewashing.

In last week's decision stripping protections from Haitian migrants, Justices Samuel Alito and Elena Kagan sparred over the role of race in Trump's statements depicting Haitians as “poisoning our blood” and amplifying false rumors of them eating people's pets in Springfield, Ohio, among other graphic comments.

“None of the cited statements by either the President or the Secretary was overtly racial,” Alito wrote, contending they could have neutral explanations.

Kagan countered: “The statements fairly shout, in their racial undertones and overtones alike, that race entered into the President’s resolve to remove Haitians from this country.”

The findings echo the 2018 travel ban case where Chief Justice John Roberts said Trump's comments about Muslims were beside the point in the court's review of a “Presidential directive, neutral on its face, addressing a matter within the core of executive responsibility.”

Justice Sonia Sotomayor saw things differently. “The full record paints a far more harrowing picture, from which a reasonable observer would readily conclude that the Proclamation was motivated by hostility and animus toward the Muslim faith,” she wrote.

The court also looked past the allegations against Trump when it ruled for him in the 2024 case that helped him avoid prosecution. Two of Trump's appointees, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, had little interest in discussing Trump's effort to undo the 2020 election results and the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol that followed. “We’re writing a rule for the ages," Gorsuch said. Kavanaugh added later: “I’m not focused on the here and now of this case. I’m very concerned about the future."

The court rejected Trump's global tariffs

A six-justice majority of three liberal and three conservative justices ruled in February that an emergency powers law doesn’t let Trump bypass Congress. No president had ever tried the tactic before.

Trump responded to the loss by sharpy criticizing the justices who ruled against him, referring to those he nominated as an “embarrassment to their families.”

Meanwhile, he has continued threatening tariffs under other authorities. And new tariffs he imposed in response to the high-court ruling remain in effect even as they, too, have been challenged.

Gun rights get a modest boost

The justices backed Second Amendment rights in a pair of rulings. One found that people can't be barred from owning firearms just because they regularly use marijuana. While the federal ban wasn't often enforced in broad terms, the court's decision recognized that cannabis is now used by millions of people and said it can't automatically be considered dangerous.

Another decision struck down a Hawaii law that had required people to get permission to carry guns into stores and hotels. A handful of other states have similar laws, some of which have already been blocked in court.

They're the latest in a line of gun cases to reach the court since the justices expanded Second Amendment rights in a landmark 2022 decision.

And a major new case on gun rights is looming. The court also announced Tuesday it will decide whether state and local bans on semiautomatic rifles commonly known as assault weapons violate the Second Amendment.

In a letter sent to New York officials, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General Thomas March Bell accused the state of not securing enough criminal indictments and convictions and said millions of dollars in funding would be suspended through at least Sept. 30.

The move is the second suspension of a state Medicaid fraud unit this year by the Republican Trump administration, and part of a barrage of anti-fraud actions it has aggressively promoted in the healthcare sector. They have included the creation of a new task force, targeted investigations, funding deferrals and demands for revalidation of healthcare providers that have touched all states but focused largely on Democratic ones.

The pulled funding also comes after the administration admitted a glaring error in figures meant to help justify a fraud probe into New York’s Medicaid program earlier this year, a mistake critics said revealed a Trumpian tendency to attack first and verify the facts later.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, immediately vowed to fight Tuesday's funding freeze.

“During my time as Attorney General, my office has recovered over $627 million for Medicaid and was recognized by this very administration for leading the nation in anti-fraud efforts,” she wrote. “We are considering all legal options to stop this outrageous action.”

Letter accuses New York of low performance

Bell's letter to James and New York MFCU Director Amy Held argues that the unit is moving too slowly on cases and amassing too few indictments and convictions for wrongdoing in the Medicaid system. It notes that compared to four similarly-sized units in other states, it secured the lowest number of criminal fraud convictions between 2023 and 2025.

The letter acknowledges that one reason the state has fewer criminal convictions than other states is that it made a deliberate choice to focus on “high impact, complex fraud cases” rather than smaller-scale individual cases, but says that tradeoff didn't produce sufficient results.

“Enough is enough,” Bell wrote. “The New York MFCU has failed to comply with the terms and conditions of its MFCU grant award.”

Bell said in the letter that the funding suspension could be lifted before Sept. 30 if New York takes corrective action, “showing it has remediated concerns that formed the basis for this suspension.” He said if the state doesn’t fix the problems, the freeze will continue.

New York officials dispute the Trump administration's claims

New York's attorney general's office said in a statement that it has “long been recognized as a national leader in effectively investigating and prosecuting Medicaid fraud schemes,” including by the HHS inspector general's office. A 2025 report from the office notes that New York is one of four states that made up half the total civil recoveries in that year.

A spokesperson for the attorney general’s office said most of the unit’s criminal convictions focus on company owners, executives and corporations that would return large amounts to Medicaid.

“Under the leadership of Governor Kathy Hochul, New York State has taken concrete steps to root out waste, fraud and abuse in Medicaid," said New York health department spokesperson Cadence Acquaviva. “We look forward to the day when these disingenuous attacks end.”

The funding cutoff follows a similar move in Hawaii. In early June, Bell told Hawaii officials that Medicaid fraud funding would be cut off there, saying that it had a three-year stretch without a Medicaid fraud indictment or conviction.

Joan Alker, executive director and co-founder of Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families, said there's an irony in the federal government cutting off money intended for prosecuting fraud when its stated goal is to do just that.

“If you want to fight fraud, don't take away money from states' fraud control units,” she said. “I chalk this up to more political theater to distract voters from historic Medicaid cuts before the midterms.”

The Department of Justice named the MFCUs in both Hawaii and New York as prosecutorial partners in a news release about a national Medicaid fraud takedown last week.

Move follows months of federal warnings and deferrals

For months, the Trump administration has contended that states — especially some Democratic-led ones — have been lax about fraud in social safety-net programs, including Medicaid.

It has demanded at least five states, four of them governed by Democrats, share information about how they identify, prevent and address Medicaid fraud.

The federal government has also withheld some Medicaid funding from Minnesota and California over fraud concerns. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat who was Kamala Harris’ 2024 running mate, accused Trump of making cuts because of retribution.

The fraud-busting efforts have also targeted Medicare programs. Dr. Mehmet Oz, who leads the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, announced a six-month moratorium on new enrollments for providers of hospice and home care nationally.

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Associated Press writer Anthony Izaguirre contributed to this report. Mulvihill reported from Haddonfield, New Jersey.

A search was underway for a suspect who fled on foot after the blast late Monday, Prosecutor Stéphane Thibault said, adding that the motive was unclear.

Media reports identified Ukrainian construction tycoon Vadym Yermolaiev as being among the injured. He has said he renounced his Ukrainian citizenship nearly a decade ago, and he was targeted by Ukrainian sanctions in 2023 for ties to Russia. A woman and a child were also hurt.

“It appears that the family was specifically targeted,” said Christophe Mirmand, the minister of state for Monaco. He said the suspect “had walked around the area several times while waiting for the victims,” according to surveillance footage.

It was not clear why the family was targeted or by whom.

Russia has a long history of targeting its enemies abroad, and Western intelligence officials have recently said that a campaign of targeted killings has ramped up since President Vladimir Putin’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine is also believed to have carried out attacks and targeted killings of Russian figures in the course of the war, although those attacks have largely been confined to Ukrainian or Russian territory.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said its embassy in France, which is also responsible for Monaco, was in touch with local authorities. Ukrainian diplomats were at the scene providing assistance, it said.

Attack shocks glamorous Monaco

The attack shocked the country on the Mediterranean coast, one of the world’s smallest sovereign states known for its high concentration of wealthy residents. Monaco’s Prince Albert II described it as “an odious act” and said all public services were mobilized to ensure security.

Monaco police opened an attempted murder investigation, but they did not describe it as a terrorism investigation, Thibault told reporters.

The family members are “regular” residents of Monaco, and authorities did not yet know whether they had been threatened in the past, Mirmand said.

The blast occurred around 9 p.m. Monday at the entrance of a residence near the French border.

Silvano Ippolito, who lives across from the building where the explosion happened, described hearing it and seeing a little boy on the ground being attended to by other people. He then called his wife, a doctor, who provided first aid to the badly wounded woman.

“She intervened very quickly, before the emergency services arrived, to apply tourniquets and perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, as the woman was losing consciousness,” Ippolito said.

A man came out of the building covered in blood and staggering. As he tried to go down the stairs, the staircase collapsed, and he fell on Ippolito’s wife and a firefighter, he said.

The woman’s injuries were “a real disaster," Ippolito said. "I’m telling you, she had no foot.”

The woman was in life-threatening condition, Thibault said. He did not provide the identities of the people who were hurt.

The woman was being treated at a hospital in Nice, Mirmand told French news broadcaster LCI. Her partner and the 13-year-old child suffered less severe injuries but were still hospitalized Tuesday, he added.

The suspect got away via steps to a small street to the neighboring French town of Beausoleil, according to surveillance footage.

In a picture captured by surveillance cameras and published by French media, the suspect could be seen in a street wearing a black jacket, light-colored pants, white shoes and a black bucket hat that partly concealed his face.

The three people were “apparently returning home peacefully,” Mirmand said, citing surveillance footage. “They were caught in the explosion as they crossed the threshold of their apartment building."

Ukrainian tycoon is a well-known real estate developer

Yermolaiev, a Ukrainian-born businessman originally from the city of Dnipro, built his fortune through the Alef Group, a diversified business that includes commercial real estate, manufacturing and agriculture. He became one of the country’s best-known property developers, leading projects that reshaped parts of Dnipro’s city center. He has regularly appeared in rankings of Ukraine’s wealthiest entrepreneurs.

In an interview with Forbes Ukraine, Yermolaiev said he renounced his Ukrainian citizenship and became a Cypriot citizen in 2017.

In December 2023, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy imposed sanctions on Yermolaiev as part of a broader package targeting individuals and companies Kyiv said had business links to Russia or Russian-occupied territories.

The Cyprus Registrar of Companies lists a man called Vadym Iermolaiev as the director of Vespano Ltd., a company in the Cypriot city of Limassol first registered in January 2019. Cyprus’ Interior Ministry told The Associated Press it could not provide information about the man’s citizenship status due to confidentiality rules.

A coastal playground for the rich and famous, Monaco is renowned as much for its tax-friendly incentives and Formula 1 Grand Prix as its glamorous royal family. The small principality is widely regarded as one of the safest places in the world, in part because of its network of thousands of surveillance cameras covering most public spaces.

Monaco’s population of 38,000 is multinational, with only a fifth of the population actually citizens of the principality.

___

Associated Press journalists Illia Novikov in Kyiv, Ukraine; Menelaos Hadjicostis in Nicosia, Cyprus; and Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal, contributed to this report.

Avi Loeb, a cosmologist who studied black holes and served as head of Harvard’s astronomy department until 2020, was recently appointed to helm a new scientific advisory council tasked with investigating the origins of mysterious orbs and other objects reported by military personnel in recent years. It's part of President Donald Trump's push to declassify more information about the issue.

Loeb's team will report to a new White House panel focused on UFOs, now often referred to as unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAP.

“It’s like a detective story,” Loeb said in an interview. “It’s a lot of fun, as long as you don’t pay too much attention to the critics.”

For the last decade, Loeb has been scanning the skies and seas for evidence of intelligent alien life. He began the quest in 2017 as scientists puzzled over an interstellar object soaring by Earth. While others proposed it was a comet or ice chunk, Loeb said it could be a thin “light sail” detached from an alien spacecraft.

His theories have won praise in UFO circles but often put him in conflict with academic peers. Other astronomers accuse him of making exotic claims with little evidence. Some chafe at his habit of skipping the peer review process and bringing claims directly to the public.

Steve Desch, an Arizona State University astrophysicist who has challenged some of Loeb's theories, said Loeb uses flawed methods to reach wild conclusions about alien life — all while shunning a more established branch of science searching for life beyond Earth.

Loeb's role on the White House panel casts doubt on the entire endeavor, Desch said.

“I don’t know what’s going to come of this, but we’re not going to get any closer to answering these questions with him in charge,” Desch said.

The team includes scientists, UFO activists and a billionaire

Loeb brushes his critics aside, saying they lack the imagination to consider new ideas. He's promising a grounded approach to his work for the White House. As he analyzes UAP, he's starting with the assumption that they're the work of humans, he said, approaching it from a national security perspective.

Nonetheless, he envisions an outcome where his work could lead to something bigger. If the government invests in better data collection on UAPs, Loeb said, it could settle the alien debate once and for all.

His hand-picked team includes more than a dozen scientists and UFO activists. Among them is Timothy Gallaudet, a retired rear admiral who has warned about UAP controlled by “nonhuman intelligence,” claiming the United States has recovered crashed aircraft. Also on the team is Ben Lamm, a billionaire working to revive extinct species.

After its first meeting last month, the team sent a request to the Pentagon asking for more than 50 videos, images and other documents related to known UAP incidents. Loeb's group meets behind closed doors, but he has vowed to brief the public and create a website to share findings.

“At a time when science is not so much celebrated, this is an opportunity to actually do good for all sides involved,” Loeb said.

New UAP board created in response to Trump's order for transparency

Earlier this year, Trump directed his administration to provide more transparency on questions of UFOs and alien life. So far, the Pentagon has released three batches of files ranging from decades-old FBI reports to more recent military videos showing orbs darting or soaring through the sky.

Trump's directive led to the creation of a UAP Governance Board overseen by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The board met for the first time in June, and is supported by Loeb's team and several other advisory groups, the office said.

It comes as a bipartisan group in Congress pushes the White House to go further, with some Republicans amplifying claims the U.S. is hiding evidence of alien encounters. The White House has encouraged anyone with information to come forward. A Pentagon office that investigates UAP says it has seen no evidence of alien life.

Loeb said he doesn't buy into cover-up theories. “My impression is the government is baffled by not being able to infer the nature of some of these objects,” he said.

Before looking for aliens, Loeb studied black holes and galaxies

Before he became known for his alien theories, Loeb was a respected cosmologist who authored hundreds of papers, specializing in black holes and the birth of galaxies. He served as chair of Harvard's astronomy department for nearly a decade.

Loeb's career took a turn with his “light sail” theory in 2017, which he presented in a paper and later a book. He went on to found the Galileo Project at Harvard, with a stated mission to search for artifacts from alien civilizations.

His team drew attention in 2023 when they used magnets to retrieve hundreds of small spheres from the floor of the Pacific Ocean, near the possible site of a 2014 meteor crash. After analyzing the metallic “spherules,” Loeb suggested they came from a distant planet or, alternately, from alien technology.

Other scholars challenged the claim, saying it was probably volcanic rock or coal ash.

Sean Kirkpatrick, a physicist who previously investigated UAP at the Pentagon's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, said Loeb is “not viewed favorably” in the scientific community and lacks national security experience. He said the makeup of Loeb's team suggests the White House is more interested in fringe theories than hard science.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment about the criticism.

Loeb, meanwhile, said he aims to follow the science without distraction. “Let’s keep our eyes on the orbs,” he said, “not the social media.”

The justices said Tuesday they will hear appeals challenging bans on the AR-15 and similar semiautomatic firearms in Connecticut and the Chicago area.

Similar laws are in place in about a dozen states, covering major cities like New York, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Congress allowed a national assault weapons ban to expire in 2004, but Democrats have supported renewing it in response to a series of mass shootings. States have also continued to pass their own laws, including recent measures in Virginia and Rhode Island.

It is the latest high-profile dispute over guns to reach the court since its conservative majority handed down a landmark ruling in 2022 that expanded Second Amendment rights and spawned challenges to firearm laws around the country.

Arguments are expected to be heard in the fall.

The Connecticut law was passed after a mass shooter used an AR-15 to kill 20 children and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012. The state says the guns are a preferred weapon of mass shooters, and they can be banned because they are similar to military-grade weapons.

“These laws are critical public safety measures, and they are consistent with the Second Amendment," said Janet Carter, managing director of Second Amendment litigation at the gun-control group Everytown Law.

Gun rights groups, on the other hand, argue it’s unconstitutional to ban semiautomatic rifles, which are legally owned by millions of Americans.

“The Second Amendment protects arms in common use for lawful purposes, and it’s hard to argue that a type of rifle that potentially outnumbers Ford F-150 trucks in America doesn’t meet that standard,” said Adam Kraut, executive director of the Second Amendment Foundation.

Four conservative justices on the nine-member court, enough to grant review of a case, had signaled that it was only a matter of time before the court took up the issue.

The ban in Cook County, Illinois, was first passed in 1993. Lower courts have upheld both laws.

“If the Second Amendment does not protect the most popular rifles in the country, it is hard to see how it protects any firearms at all,” aside from handguns kept in the home, the challengers wrote.

Attorneys for Cook County, on the other hand, say the measure does pass constitutional muster. "The trauma that assault weapon massacres have inflicted on the public at large has been staggering,” they wrote.

The Supreme Court backed Second Amendment rights in two cases this term, striking down gun carry restrictions in Hawaii and a broad federal ban on gun ownership by marijuana users. They've previously upheld some restrictions, though, including a law barring people under domestic-violence restraining orders from having guns.

Also Tuesday, the court rebuffed a series of cases over restrictions on guns for young adults under age 21, declining to hear an issue that's sharply divided lower courts in recent years.

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

Scorching temperatures, especially combined with high humidity, pose risks particularly for children, older people and those with certain health conditions. Anyone can suffer from heat-related illness.

Climate change is also exacerbating heat waves and heat stress.

So here are some tips to stay safe:

When heat becomes dangerous

Dangers posed by hot weather depend on more than the temperature. The most detailed measurement is called the wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT), which includes temperature, humidity, cloud cover and wind. The heat index, which measures temperature and humidity, is less descriptive but easier to find on weather apps. Both explain why a shaded soccer field on a 90 degree F day (32 degree C) in arid Phoenix may be less risky than an exposed park on an 80 degree F (27 degree C) day in soupy Little Rock.

Just based on heat index, NOAA has a chart that calculates how dangerous prolonged exposure can be. For example, a day in which temperatures reach 96 degree F (36 degrees C) and 45% humidity would fall into the “danger” category for prolonged exposure or strenuous activity.

The WBGT threshold isn't exact, but recent research suggests that even some young, healthy people can't endure hours of exposure to high heat and humidity.

How to cool down

Overnight temperatures can be a particularly dangerous part of a heat wave, said Ashley Ward, director of the Heat Policy Innovation Hub at Duke University.

“Your body needs a reprieve,” she said. “You don't get that overnight, we start the next day at a deficit.” Heat can worsen labor productivity and lead to more visits to the emergency room.

“When we have overnight temperatures that don't drop below 75 degrees" F (24 degrees C), she said, “you start to see some pretty extraordinary outcomes with respect to heat illness and heat stroke, and even mortality.”

Ward said air conditioning can help, but she acknowledged that not everyone has access.

If you can't afford to cool the whole house, Ward said, create a “cool corner" and sleep there, so your body is prepared to tackle the next day.

Evaporative or “swamp” coolers can help in dry heat, but they increase humidity and can make it more difficult to cool down. In humid places, just use a fan.

If you don't have air conditioning, find public places that do, including movie theaters, malls and libraries. Some communities set up cooling centers.

Depending on where you live, the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program can help you buy a window air conditioning unit, according to the National Council on Aging. Some local nonprofits and civic organizations can also help.

Know your rights if you work outside

Knowing what workplace protections you have is important. Some states have them, including Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Colorado, Minnesota and Maryland, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. Other states don't have any.

If your state has work rules, try to learn them — though there are still challenges to ensuring regulations are actually enforced, said Bharat Venkat, director of the University of California, Los Angeles Heat Lab.

He notes that sometimes shaded areas are too far away for workers to take breaks without losing wages, or that management can make it impossible for workers to advocate for themselves. “Most workers don’t actually have control over their time or control over where they work," Venkat said.

Within those constraints, finding ways to stay hydrated and lower your body temperature are important. You can do this by drinking lots of fluids, wetting clothing or putting cold water or a cold rag on your hands, feet, armpits and neck. A portable handheld fan or a cooling vest can also help.

If you're exercising, avoid the hottest times of day and bring more water than you think you need.

Knowing heat illness symptoms

Heat illness symptoms can vary by person, Venkat said. Medications or existing health conditions can also make it harder to regulate body temperature or notice you're getting too hot.

Early trouble signs include heavy sweating, muscle cramps and headache. That's when you stop what you're doing and cool yourself off, for example by splashing yourself with cold water or finding an air-conditioned space.

As heat exhaustion sets in, new symptoms arrive, including faster heart rate and dizziness. Next comes heat stroke, which can include confusion, slurred words and fainting. Ward said that's when to call 911.

“Don’t be embarrassed to call 911 or go to urgent care when you think you might have overdone it in the heat,” he said.

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Walling and Wells are former Associated Press reporters.

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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.

Two months, and only one major, are all that remain for the PGA Tour in 2026 to find some definition. There have been good tournaments, great finishes, redemptions and breakthroughs, and Scottie Scheffler as steady as he has always been.

It's just that no one has stood out this year.

Rory McIlroy became only the fourth back-to-back Masters champion, and the first since Tiger Woods in 2002. It was an example of how much freedom he felt from finally having the green jacket and the career Grand Slam. But that's his only win this year, and except for a late rally at Riviera, he really hasn't come close.

The eight signature events were won by eight players, no different from last year when seven players won the seven $20 million tournaments. But a year ago, all seven winners were among the top 25 in the world when they won. This year that applied to only three winners — Collin Morikawa (19) at Pebble Beach, Matt Fitzpatrick (7) at Hilton Head and Cameron Young (4) at Doral.

It also is not unusual to start a season with three different major champions — that's been the case each of the past 11 years. But it's the first time since 2010 that two of the three major champions were not among the top 30 when they won.

Aaron Rai was at No. 44 when he captured his first major at the PGA Championship, and Wyndham Clark was at No. 34 when he won at Shinnecock Hills for his second U.S. Open title.

(This requires an asterisk because Brooks Koepka was No. 44 when he won the 2023 PGA Championship. He was No. 19 when he left for LIV, and his two wins came with no ranking points).

There were two multiple winners of individual tournaments last year at this point — Scheffler and McIlroy. There are four this year with Clark, Young, Fitzpatrick and Chris Gotterup.

The last two months, highlighted by the final major at the British Open and three FedEx Cup playoff events, should go a long way toward shaping the season. Scheffler and Xander Schauffele won the British Open each of the past two years, and it was their second major of the season.

Even in a game that moves slowly, outlooks can change quickly.

Scheffler looks about the same minus the trophies

Scheffler began his year with a four-shot victory in The American Express. Thirteen tournaments later, he still only has one victory.

He still leads the PGA Tour in overall strokes gained and tee-to-green, though his numbers are down from a year ago. Scheffler has nine finishes in the top 5 in his 14 starts. His playoff loss to Viktor Hovland at The Travelers Championship was his fourth runner-up of the year.

Take only the money from those four runner-up finishes — $8.9 million — and that would rank him at No. 4 on the PGA Tour money list. He hasn't been as sharp at times. He had a bad habit of giving the field too much of a head start. But he doesn't appear to be going anywhere.

The other Fitzpatrick seizes on the opportunity

Fitzpatrick leads the PGA Tour in victories this season with three because one of them was Zurich Classic of New Orleans, where he teamed with younger brother Alex to win. That gave Alex Fitzpatrick a two-year exemption, seen at the time as one of the great gifts ever from big brother.

Instead of flying to Turkey for the next European tour event, Alex Fitzpatrick headed to Doral for a signature event. And he got in the next one, and the one after that. He went from that supposed “gift card” to registering four top 10s in the signature events against the strongest fields.

His world ranking has gone from No. 140 to No. 62. More importantly, he is at No. 17 in the FedEx Cup and a lock for all the big stuff next year — and all the majors if he reaches the Tour Championship.

Clark has to be the front-runner for player of the year

Clark is dangerous when he gets on a heater, and he's on a heater.

He won his first U.S. Open in 2023 a little over a month after dusting the field at Quail Hollow. He shot 60 to win at Pebble Beach in 2024, then was runner-up two straight weeks to Scheffler at Bay Hill and The Players Championship the following month.

Clark had another closing 60 to win at The CJ Cup Byron Nelson, followed that with contending late Sunday afternoon in the Memorial and early Sunday afternoon in the Canadian Open, and then he stood down a hostile gallery at Shinnecock to win the U.S. Open. And then running on fumes, he got within two shots of the lead late Sunday at the Travelers and tied for fifth.

How long will it last? Two more months and it might be enough to end Scheffler's four-year run as PGA Tour player of the year.

But that depends on Scheffler.

He is the defending champion at the British Open, and a victory by him or a half-dozen others could be what it takes to bring some clarity to the season.

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On The Fringe analyzes the biggest topics in golf during the season. AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

His name is Gadi Eisenkot. On Tuesday in Israel, his centrist political party “Yashar!” or “Straight!” formally launched its election season campaign.

“This time it’s on us,” said Eisenkot at the launch event Tuesday. “Will we turn a blind eye to the disaster that has befallen us? Will we accept the continued division and rush to the next disaster? Or will we heal and rebuild?”

His rise from the highest ranks of the military could sharpen scrutiny of Netanyahu and his stewardship of Israel through multiple wars. Like nearly all of the prime minister’s rivals, Eisenkot has broadly supported Israeli military operations in places such as Gaza, Lebanon and Iran. He did not mention any of those conflicts in his speech Tuesday.

But he has also accused Netanyahu of strategic failure in the wake of the Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, and said his vision of a more isolated Israel is a threat to the future of the state.

In recent days Netanyahu, who leads Israel’s right-wing Likud Party, has fired back, saying if he had listened to Eisenkot, who was opposed to certain operations in Gaza, then “all of Hamas” would still be in control in the territory.

As a political newcomer, however, Eisenkot “looks like a front-runner because he’s everything Netanyahu is not,” said Gideon Rahat, senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute think tank in Jerusalem.

“He’s not polarizing, he’s not a populist like Netanyahu, and he will try to unify the country,” Rahat said.

An anti-Netanyahu biography

A 66-year-old son of Jewish Moroccan immigrants, Eisenkot stands in stark contrast to Netanyahu, a U.S.-educated elite who is on trial for corruption. He comes from a working-class family. His English is unpolished. He spent four decades in Israel’s military.

He has also never campaigned on having ties to U.S. President Donald Trump. And his 25-year-old son, Gal Meir Eisenkot, was killed in combat in Gaza, while Netanyahu’s son, a podcaster, lived part-time in Florida.

Losing a son — as well as two nephews — to the war has raised Eisenkot’s profile among Israelis and given him credibility as someone who, having paid the ultimate price, won’t needlessly sacrifice soldiers.

“People trust him to be a real person and a patriot. They expect him to take care of the country and not himself,” said Rahat, who is a professor at Hebrew University.

His platform includes a pledge to strengthen Israel’s national security, including through regional cooperation, although he has said that he supports Jewish settlements that are “in line with Israel’s interests” in the occupied West Bank. He said Tuesday he would focus on establishing a state commission of inquiry to investigate the failures leading to the Oct. 7 attack, rebuild the north and south of the country and invest in education and healthcare.

He has also adopted the slogan “Service for All,” a nod to mandating military service for Israel’s ultra-Orthodox communities. For Israelis who have grown tired of war or sending their loved ones off to fight, such arguments may resonate.

“He presents as an everyman, a reflection of the ordinary Israeli,” Joshua Leifer, a columnist for Israel’s Haaretz newspaper, wrote. He is “a kind of antipolitician,” he said.

In 2024, Eisenkot resigned from Netanyahu’s war Cabinet, citing what he said was the prime minister’s lack of strategy as Israel prosecuted its war in Gaza. He sent a blistering letter to fellow Cabinet members warning that they were mistaking incremental battlefield gains for decisions that could actually neutralize Hamas and make Israel more secure.

But his qualms weren’t with the level of destruction in Gaza or the high civilian toll, both of which drew global outrage. And while at times he has emphasized diplomacy as a way to address Israel’s security challenges, Eisenkot is also credited with formulating Israel’s so‑called “Dahiyeh Doctrine,” named after the area in Beirut’s southern suburbs where the Hezbollah militant group has a stronghold.

He elaborated on the doctrine in a 2008 interview with the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth, after serving as a top military official during Israel’s war with Lebanon in 2006.

“What happened in the Dahiyeh quarter of Beirut in 2006 will happen in every village from which shots will be fired in the direction of Israel,” he said. “We will wield disproportionate power against every village from which shots are fired on Israel, and cause immense damage and destruction. From our perspective, these are military bases.”

Despite anti-Netanyahu sentiment, challengers face difficult path to unseating him

In Israel’s fractured multi-party system, prime ministers rarely finish their four-year terms. Coalitions collapse and new alliances are formed. Because of that — and despite Netanyahu’s unpopularity — it would still be difficult for any of the prime minister’s challengers to form a coalition broad enough to unseat him.

If Eisenkot’s party wins more seats than Netanyahu’s, it will still need to form alliances with enough other parties to constitute a majority. Eisenkot has said he will not compromise on legislation mandating military service for the ultra-Orthodox, who also wield political power.

He will also need to decide whether to include Arab-led parties to get over the threshold — something Netanyahu and his far-right allies have already used as an attack line.

“The correct response to the traitorous decision today on anchor babies is nullification,” French wrote on X. “Texas can just do things and we should. Texas is sovereign. If I have anything to say about it, Texas will not recognize them as citizens.”

French’s comments follow a landmark ruling on Tuesday by the Supreme Court justices to reject President Donald Trump’s bid to end the 170-year-old constitutional right that affords American citizenship to newborns whose parents are immigrants. The justices voted 6-3.

The Railroad Commission, a century-old agency governing the state’s enormous oil and gas industry, has no bearing on immigration issues, nor can the three-panel commissioners make decisions that affect a person’s immigration status — an issue French regularly weighs in on.

The responsibilities of the agency, in turn, have not been the focal point of French’s campaign for statewide office. Since announcing his bid last November, French has been a regular, incendiary commentator on the country’s immigration and LGBTQ+ policies, making frequent appearances on podcasts hosted by right-wing podcasters such as Steve Bannon and Jack Posobiec.

He has called LGBTQ+ people slurs, said Texas should more openly embrace Islamophobia, and that the U.S. should deport 100 million people, nearly a third of the country’s population.

After winning the primary in a runoff, in which he narrowly ousted incumbent Jim Wright, French said maintaining that was the point. He said such issues resonated with voters, not the Railroad Commission itself.

“I ran a campaign because I had to win a Republican primary,” he told Posobiec. “Talking about the Islamification of Texas, talking about DEI, talking about LGBTQ issues … I think my victory is a testament to the grassroots folks in Texas who are tired of electing people who aren’t fighting for them on any of these issues.”

His remarks have drawn the ire of members of his own party, including Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who have publicly decried French — Abbott said he would wreck the miracle that is the oil and gas industry — and endorsed his primary opponent during primary season.

That changed after French won the primary, and both Abbott and Patrick said they’d support him in November. On X, French said he’d had “a very nice call” with Patrick, who has previously called on French to step down as Tarrant County GOP chair after French posted a social media poll asking whether Jews or Muslims were a bigger threat to America.

French faces state Rep. Jon Rosenthal, a Democrat and career oil field engineer who faces an uphill battle of defeating a GOP-dominated commission. It has been decades since a Democrat was elected to the Railroad Commission. Rosenthal has told the Texas Tribune his campaign would bring issues the Railroad Commission regulates to the forefront of his campaign.

“My opponent is going on an unhinged rant, encouraging sedition, treason, and racism,” Rosenthal said in a statement, adding that voters “have no idea what his plan is”

French’s campaign has been bankrolled by well-known billionaires, including Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks, who have poured their gargantuan wealth to sway Texas elections in the past.

A new AP-NORC poll shows Republicans and older, white adults are especially likely to say they fly the American flag, while younger Democrats and Black adults are more likely to say they don’t fly it, reflecting deeply divided views on what patriotism means.

And on this final day of a Supreme Court term centering on Trump’s expansive claims of presidential power, the justices have upheld the constitutionality of birthright citizenship, rejecting Trump's effort to deny the right to the children of noncitizen parents. Follow live updates on the rulings.

Here's the Latest:

Lacking tough rules, federal officials seek voluntary enforcement on cyberscams

The AP found no evidence to suggest these companies were doing anything illegal. However, the patterns of abuse AP identified raise questions about how vigorously they are enforcing their own terms of service, which prohibit illegal activity.

Some other countries have new laws imposing financial penalties if companies don’t do more to protect consumers from scams. In Washington, lawmakers and government officials have been asking American tech companies to cooperate on a voluntary basis to cut scammers off from U.S. infrastructure.

AP/‘FRONTLINE’ investigation shows how US tech is abused for global scams

The technology of American companies is being used to power a revolution in the cyberscam industry, playing key roles in the industrialization and globalization of fraud in ways that have not been clear until now, an AP/“FRONTLINE” investigation has found.

Most public scrutiny of the technology that fuels scams has focused on the social media that platforms victims see, but the infrastructure exploited to commit fraud begins much farther upstream, the investigation showed.

Watchdogs say satellite internet, AI and internet infrastructure companies along the digital supply chains that fraudsters abuse have the technical capacity to do more to protect consumers but lack the legal, regulatory and business incentives to crack down on a crime the Federal Trade Commission estimates cost Americans nearly $200 billion in 2024.

Court will consider striking down assault weapons bans in Connecticut and the Chicago area

A Supreme Court that has expanded gun rights will consider whether bans on semiautomatic rifles, often called assault weapons, violate the Second Amendment.

The justices said Tuesday they will take up appeals asking the court to strike down bans on the AR-15 and similar semiautomatic firearms in the Chicago area and Connecticut.

Similar laws are in place in about a dozen states, covering major cities like New York, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Congress allowed a national assault weapons ban to expire in 2004, but Democrats have supported renewing it in response to a series of mass shootings and states have continued to pass their own laws.

The case is expected to be heard in the fall.

Republican Tom Kean Jr. said he was treated for depression during absence from Congress

New Jersey Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. revealed Tuesday that he spent months away from Congress being treated for depression.

“It is physical, it is emotional, and until you experience it yourself, it is difficult to fully understand how powerful this illness can be,” he said on the House floor.

Kean, whose battleground district includes Trump’s Bedminster golf club, missed more than 100 votes in Congress this year. His reappearance comes after he won an uncontested primary on June 2.

“Today I stand before you healthier, stronger and excited to return to the work that I love,” Kean said.

Kean’s office has said he’s still running for reelection against Democratic nominee Rebecca Bennett, a former Navy helicopter pilot. Democrats have targeted the district as a prime pick-up opportunity.

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Supreme Court upholds birthright citizenship, rejecting Trump’s proposed limits

The Court ’s ruling released Tuesday upholds a broad conception of birthright citizenship, rejecting President Donald Trump’s executive order declaring that children born to people who are in the United States illegally or temporarily are not American citizens.

The justices relied on a long-settled understanding of the 14th Amendment, adopted after the Civil War, and more recent federal laws in ruling that anyone born in the country, with very limited exceptions, is a citizen.

▶ Read more about Tuesday’s Supreme Court rulings

US job monthly openings hold at a surprising 7.6 million despite Iran war shock

May’s job openings were surprisingly strong in the data released Tuesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, showing American labor market resilience to the war’s economic shock. Forecasters had expected employers to post just 7 million openings in May.

Rebounding from a miserable 2025, U.S. employers have added nearly 114,000 net jobs a month on average this year, up from just 9,700 in 2025, the weakest outside a recession since 2002.

Because of baby boomer retirements and Trump’s immigration crackdown, fewer people are competing for work, and the United States doesn’t need as many jobs as it used to keep the unemployment rate stable. Economists say the so-called “break-even’’ rate of hiring could be as low as zero jobs a month, down from perhaps 150,000 a year or so ago.

▶ Read more

Supreme Court backs state laws banning transgender girls from sports

The Court ’s conservative majority added to its repeated rulings against transgender Americans by deciding that bans in Idaho and West Virginia don’t violate the Constitution or the federal law known as Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in education.

The ruling seems certain to extend to the dozens of other Republican-led states that have banned female transgender athletes. Left unresolved are lawsuits challenging state laws and regulations in Connecticut, California and elsewhere that permit transgender athletes to compete consistent with their gender identity.

About 2.1 million adults, or 0.8%, and 724,000 people ages 13 to 17, or 3.3%, identify as transgender in the U.S., according to the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law.

▶ Read more about Tuesday’s Supreme Court rulings

US envoys arrive in Qatar for meetings on Iran, with tensions high over Hormuz

Trump’s special Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner plan meetings with mediators about the implementation of an initial deal to end the war in Iran, following more crossfire in the Persian Gulf.

They won’t directly negotiate with Iranian diplomats, instead using mediators as go-betweens, said Majed al-Ansari, a spokesman for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry.

Iran was also sending a delegation to Qatar, but has no plans to meet with the American side at any level, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said. His statement left open the possibility of messages being passed through the Qataris.

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Who flies the American flag for holidays — and who never flies one, according to an AP-NORC poll

American views of “Old Glory” are divided by politics, age and race, according to a new survey conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research ahead of the nation’s 250th birthday celebration.

Whether people see it as a unifying or divisive symbol tracks with other deep divisions among Americans, who see their country’s history and accomplishments very differently. About 7 in 10 Republicans and about 6 in 10 Americans ages 60 and older fly the flag at least during holidays. About 6 in 10 Democrats and independents, on the other hand, say they “never” fly the U.S. flag. That includes the vast majority, 75%, of Democrats under 45.

Only about 3 in 10 Black adults say they ever display the American flag, compared with about half of white and Hispanic adults.

The survey of 2,596 adults was conducted April 16-20.

▶ Read more

What the Supreme Court’s Cook ruling means for Federal Reserve independence

The Supreme Court on Monday said the Federal Reserve, unlike any other agency in Washington, has a measure of independence from the presidency and day-to-day politics. But the court didn’t define to what extent.

The case is the latest round in an unprecedented fight between the Fed and Trump. More political interference at the Fed could upend financial markets around the world, which closely follow its interest rate moves.

Trump has repeatedly demanded that the central bank cut its key interest rate to lower borrowing costs for homeowners, businesses, and even the government itself. Trump sought to fire a Fed governor, Lisa Cook, last August after accusing her of mortgage fraud — a charge she denies.

In a 5-4 decision, the court ruled that the president cannot fire the seven members of the Fed’s board of governors without a clear cause. The decision endorses the Fed’s independent structure even as the court eliminated such protections for leaders of other agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission, whom the president can fire at-will.

▶ Read more

Trump nominates acting Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling as permanent chief

Trump said Monday he will nominate Keith Sonderling to be the secretary of labor, elevating him from the agency’s acting director two months after Lori Chavez-DeRemer resigned amid abuse-of-power allegations.

Sonderling, a lawyer who has held a variety of acting positions and leadership roles across Trump’s government, was previously the deputy labor secretary and a Republican member of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

“Throughout his career, Keith has proven his dedication to delivering strong results for the Hardworking People of our Country, and I know he will do an incredible job in his new role,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post announcing Sonderling’s nomination.

Sonderling’s nomination is subject to Senate confirmation.

During Trump’s second term, in addition to his Labor Department post, Sonderling has been the acting director of U.S. Office of Government Ethics and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, one of several agencies Trump targeted for closure in an executive order last year.

▶ Read more

The Supreme Court it issue momentous rulings on Trump’s power

The Supreme Court is wrapping up a term that has focused on Trump’s expansive claims of presidential power.

Trump’s efforts to restrict birthright citizenship, fire the heads of most independent agencies at will and remove a sitting Federal Reserve governor are among the remaining eight cases the justices are expected to decide this week, beginning Monday.

The court also is weighing, in cases from West Virginia and Idaho, whether to uphold laws in roughly half the states that prohibit transgender girls and women from playing on their public school and college sports.

Two election-related cases remain, over state laws that allow a grace period for the receipt of mailed ballots, provided they are sent by Election Day, and limits on political party spending in support of candidates for Congress and president.

Also outstanding is a dispute over geofence warrants that collect the location history of cellphone users to find people near crime scenes. Critics say the practice is a fishing expedition that violates civil liberties.

▶ Read more

Prodded by a Republican-led lawsuit that includes Vice President JD Vance, the court's six conservative justices were again in the majority of the latest decision that upended congressionally enacted limits on raising and spending money to influence elections. The court’s 2010 Citizens United decision opened the door to unlimited independent spending in federal elections.

The limits on party spending stem from a desire to prevent large donors from skirting caps on individual contributions to a candidate by directing unlimited sums to the party, with the understanding that the money will be spent on behalf of the candidate.

The Supreme Court had previously upheld the limits, in 2001.

But Justice Brett Kavanaugh, writing for the court, said that decision was wrong and should be overruled. “In short, constitutional text, history and precedent establish that the political-party coordinated-expenditure limits violate the First Amendment,” Kavanaugh wrote.

Justice Elena Kagan's dissent for the three liberal justices said the court “ushers in untold harm” by enabling parties to funnel large contributions to individual candidates, far in excess of what donors can give those candidates directly.

National parties now will be able to make direct contributions to candidates’ campaigns,

The decision is likely to give Republicans at least a short-term boost because they maintain a sizable cash advantage over Democrats.

The Republican National Committee and its Senate and House campaign fundraising arms have dwarfed Democrats’ in the months before congressional elections where the GOP is defending narrow majorities in both houses.

At the end of May, the RNC reported having more than $125 million to spend, its highest-ever cash on hand total, according to its most recent Federal Election Commission filing in May. Meanwhile, the National Republican Senatorial Committee had more than $48 million on hand in its most recent report and the National Republican Congressional Committee had more than $81 million.

In the same period, the Democratic National Committee had $14.4 million on hand, while the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee had roughly $37 million and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, roughly $73 million.

The Republican committees for House and Senate candidates filed the lawsuit in Ohio in 2022, joined by Vance, then a senator from Ohio, and then-Rep. Steve Chabot.

After President Donald Trump took office for his second term, the Federal Election Commission dropped its defense of the law and joined with Republicans in urging that it be overturned.

Democrats had called on the court to uphold the law, even though there is wide agreement that the spending limits have hurt political parties in an era of unlimited spending by other organizations.

Last year, the coordinated party spending for Senate races ranged from $127,200 in several states with small populations to nearly $4 million in California, the most populous state. For House races, the limits were $127,200 in states with only one representative and $63,600 everywhere else.

Entrenched divisions between liberal and conservative justices over campaign finance restrictions were on display when the court heard arguments in December.

“Every time we interfere with the congressional design, we make matters worse,” said Justice Sonia Sotomayor, a dissenter in Citizens United and the court’s other campaign money cases.

By contrast, Justice Samuel Alito, a member of the Citizens United majority, described the decision as “much maligned, I think unfairly maligned.” The effect of the decision was to ”level the playing field,” Alito said, by expanding the right to spend freely that had previously belonged only to media companies.

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Associated Press writer Thomas Beaumont contributed to this report.

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

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials detained Sister Leticia “Letty” Ugboaja, a 56-year-old nun from Nigeria, and released her later Sunday after South Texas members of Congress intervened.

“There are many questions remaining about the circumstances surrounding Sister Letty’s arrest and detention,” Bishop Daniel E. Flores said in a statement. “For now, it is clear that Homeland Security enforcement protocols that make it possible for a religious sister, or anyone, to be detained and handcuffed while peacefully walking to Church on a Sunday morning are wildly disturbing and need to be reformed.”

LULAC, the country’s largest Latino civil rights organization, also called for an investigation into the arrest.

The Department of Homeland Security has not responded to multiple questions sent Sunday and Tuesday by The Texas Tribune.

Ugboaja, who is part of the Daughters of Mary Mother of Mercy and has worked as a registered nurse for around a decade in South Texas, declined to be interviewed on the advice of counsel, said Brenda Riojas, a diocese spokesperson.

On Sunday morning, Ugboaja was taking a short walk to Our Lady of Sorrows for Mass. She lives just about a block from the church, according to Sister Norma Pimentel, who manages the diocese’s charitable arm.

Federal immigration agents detained her before she could arrive.

Ugboaja called for help while in custody and said she was being transferred to an ICE detention facility in Raymondville, about an hour drive from the church, according to Pimentel. The detained nun also needed medication, which Pimentel said federal agents didn’t allow her to get.

“She was very distraught and scared, and didn’t understand what was happening,” Pimentel told the Tribune on Sunday.

As news spread about Ugboaja’s detention, federal lawmakers in South Texas got involved.

U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz, R-Edinburg, and U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, said in separate social media posts Sunday afternoon that they were communicating directly with DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin about the situation.

“As I have repeatedly said, our immigration enforcement should target violent criminals,” De La Cruz said in a Facebook post. “A Catholic nun on her way to church is not a threat to our community.”

U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-McAllen, and Bobby Pulido, a Democrat who is running against De La Cruz, also criticized her detention on social media. Pulido further knocked the GOP congresswoman’s support for “the very policies that led to our community living in fear of ICE enforcement.” Prior to Ugboaja, members of Congress including De La Cruz had also intervened in other high-profile ICE detentions, including award-winning high school mariachi performers.

Shortly after, lawmakers announced that Ugboaja would be released.

“I’m pleased to share that Sister Letty is on her way home,” Cuellar said in a 5:39 p.m. post on X.

The news prompted Pimentel to stop searching for documents showing Ugboaba was in the United States legally and instead rush to the El Valle Detention Facility to welcome Ugboaja home.

“Any minute now,” Pimentel said in a text to the Tribune at 6:40 p.m. “Yes praise God.”

Ugboaja then walked out of the facility in tears before being embraced by Pimentel, as seen in footage aired by Telemundo.

Until recently, Pimentel said, there had not been any concerns around the status of international nuns at the diocese. Ugboaja’s detention changed that for her.

“I will definitely ask all the sisters to please give me a copy of their documents and to carry something with them all the time,” she said.

Julio Salinas, co-chair of the Texas Democratic Party’s Hispanic Caucus who is running for a statehouse seat in the area, cheered Ugboaja’s release but blasted her arrest.

“This is a stark wake-up call for all of us,” he said in a Tuesday statement. “It proves one harrowing truth: even the best of us are not safe.”

Sheriff’s deputies responded to the dog attack around 4:30 p.m. at a home in the 8100 block of Seldon Trail, a preliminary report said.

A mother reported that her two children were being attacked by her dogs.

As one family dog attacked a young boy, the report said his brother attempted to help pull the dog off of him.

Deputies stated that another family dog attacked the second brother.

The brothers were taken to a local hospital to treat their injuries to the face and head, BCSO said. They suffered non-life-threatening injuries and are recovering.

The two dogs involved in the incident have since been taken into custody, deputies said.

Read also:

• 13-year-old boy’s body recovered from Boerne City Lake, fire officials say
• Authorities investigating after 2 found dead with gunshot wounds on far West Side, BCSO says

Minetree, said “Elle” executive producer Lauren Neustadter, “actually recreated her own version of the Harvard admission video featured in the 2001 movie that starred Reese Witherspoon, "and she hit it out of the park.”

The preparation to play Elle in the series debuting on Wednesday, didn't stop there. Minetree says she watched “Legally Blonde” about “200 times at this point,” studying Witherspoon's performance, but steering clear of an outright impression of the Oscar winner.

“Reese brought her essence to the character,” Minetree said. “And that is something that no one could ever replicate. It would be a disservice if I tried to do that, so I tried to bring the parts of myself that I thought were reflected in Elle."

A fish out of water

In “Legally Blonde,” we met Elle as a sorority girl who applies to Harvard Law School, gets accepted, and is a star in her class.

“When I read the script it reminded me a lot of old Goldie Hawn movies, or ‘Working Girl,’ Witherspoon told The AP in 2001. “You think this girl is certainly not very smart because of the way she speaks and the way she looks, and then she just turns the tables on everybody and becomes smarter than everyone, and I just love that.”

Like the film, “Elle” underscores that people don’t have to sacrifice their true selves in order to achieve success.

How we meet Minetree's Elle is at her blowout 16th birthday party, shortly before her parents (played by Tom Everett Scott and June Diane Raphael) break the news that they're all moving to Seattle.

The students at her new school are less than friendly and shun Elle's sunny disposition and pink attire. This is Seattle in 1995 and both grunge music and its culture are everything. Even the cheerleaders wear flannel. It takes time for the student's to warm up to their new classmate, whose ice breaker is “I like iced coffee, the month of July and when people dress kind of tennis-y even if they don't play tennis.”

“Such an integral part of the ‘Legally Blonde' IP is not judging a book by its cover," said Chandler Kinney, who plays Kimberly, one of Elle's schoolmates who is particularly judgy — at first.

The lasting influence of ‘Legally Blonde’

The time seemed right to explore more of Elle's story when Witherspoon noticed the pressures young women feel to live up to unrealistic standards curated online. Studies have linked social media to mental health issues among teens.

Witherspoon “really saw what was happening to young women," said Neustadter of Witherspoon's desire to explore the character as a young woman. "She felt like this was the right moment to give Elle to the next generation.”

"Elle reminds us that we should feel good about being ourselves, feel proud of who we are and to be kind and good to others. It feels like a good reminder for this moment in time.”

Telling an origin story of this character just makes sense, Raphael said. We've seen prequels about all kinds of male characters — but “we rarely get to do that with the iconic female characters that we love," she said.

A surprise cast member

— James Van Der Beek

Viewers will recognize a familiar face in the first season of “Elle.” James Van Der Beek, who died in February after a diagnosis of bowel cancer, plays Dean Wilson, superintendent of Elle's new school and a mayoral candidate.

Raphael had the most scenes with Van Der Beek and says it was an honor to share scenes with him.

”It’s so special to me," she said. "His work on the show is so lovely, and he is such a lovely person. I’d never met him before, and I was so excited to work with him. I was really blown away by his charm and his charisma and mainly his ease."

More ‘Elle’ is coming

Season 2 of “Elle” wrapped filming earlier this month, and Minetree is happy viewers won't have to wait long to see a continuation to the story.

“Honestly, Season 2, it’s so good," Minetree said. “Season 1 is amazing, but season 2 might be better.”

There are also plans to make a third “Legally Blonde” film starring Witherspoon.

“Absolutely, we’re on it,” Neustadter said. "Don’t you worry. We’re in the kitchen we’re cooking something up.”

Today on Texas Eats NOW:

CHAMA GAUCHA

217 E Houston St, Suite 100, San Antonio, TX 78205

Chama Gaucha Brazilian Steakhouse is an authentic churrascaria that brings centuries-old Southern Brazilian cooking traditions to the heart of downtown San Antonio. Founded in 2008 by João Carlos Ongaratto, a 20-year veteran of Fogo de Chão, the concept started with a single location in San Antonio before expanding to Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Chicago. The downtown location, spanning over 12,000 square feet across two levels, sits steps away from the River Walk, Alamo, and directly across from the Majestic Theatre.

The experience centers on tableside service, where skilled gauchos roast each cut over an open flame and carve directly from the skewer at the table. Cuts include picanha (prime cut sirloin), cordeiro (lamb), porco (pork ribs dusted in parmesan), and filet mignon, all sourced as USDA Prime beef aged over 45 days for maximum tenderness. A massive salad bar stocked with more than 30 options — including cheeses, vegetables, charcuterie, smoked salmon, and garbanzo beans — rounds out the meal, alongside classic Brazilian sides like caramelized bananas, garlic mashed potatoes, and pão de queijo, Brazil’s famous tapioca-flour cheese bread. The indulgent fireball cheesecake makes for a dramatic finish to the full churrascaria experience.

CAMP OUTPOST

1811 S Alamo St, San Antonio, TX 78204

Camp Outpost Co. is a casual American dining experience built around a wood-fired, rotisserie-driven kitchen, set inside an industrial warehouse space in San Antonio’s Southtown and King William neighborhoods. The concept pairs rotisserie-style cuisine with a spacious outdoor patio, communal fire pit, and a vintage Airstream bar, creating a nostalgic camp-like atmosphere that sets it apart from conventional dining.

The kitchen focuses on slow-roasted proteins, which are then finished for texture and bold flavor. Wood-grilled shrimp tacos, rotisserie chicken, and a rotating selection of roasted proteins anchor the menu, while sides like crispy Yukon Gold potatoes — roasted for hours and flash-fried for a tender interior and crunchy crust — and charred corn with poblano peppers and braised onions round out the plates. A jalapeño sausage, burgers, sandwiches, and sliders round out a menu that covers something for every appetite.

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

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The players return to a homeland still in the grips of an unresolved conflict with Israel and the United States. But their fans say they should be proud.

“I think even though they lost, it gave people a sense of hope,” said Mohammad Modarres, 38, who traveled from San Diego to bid the team farewell.

Heartbreak over missed chances

After its three group stage matches ended in draws, Iran's World Cup future depended on either Algeria or Austria winning their match on Saturday.

Watching from the lobby of their Tijuana hotel, the team erupted in celebration when Algeria took the lead in stoppage time.

“I've never seen a room explode like that,” said Kimia Ranjbar, 25, a lifelong fan of Team Melli who had driven down from the Los Angeles area. But minutes later, Austria tied the game again, leaving the lobby in dismayed silence.

It was the last of many disappointments throughout the tournament, including when a late goal by Shoja Khalilzadeh gave Iran the lead in its last match, against Egypt, before being ruled offside.

Facing challenging circumstances

Distractions abounded off the pitch before and during the tournament, beginning with questions over whether Team Melli would even be allowed to play in light of Iran's war with the U.S. and Israel. What followed was Iran's denied request to move its matches to Mexico, a relocation of its base camp from Arizona, and the U.S.'s refusal to grant visas to key members of the Iranian team's staff. The U.S. also rejected Iran's request to travel to the U.S. two days before its Los Angeles matches, though it relaxed some restrictions for Iran's last match.

During a World Cup security briefing Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters that the U.S. had made several accommodations for Iran's travel and repeated assertions that many of the people Iran originally requested to travel with the team to the U.S. were associated with Iran's Revolutionary Guard.

“I'm just glad they're done and they're not coming back," Mullin said, adding that he “might have sung a song or two or maybe even danced a happy dance.”

FIFA did not respond to request for comment.

In a statement to The Associated Press on Monday, the Iranian team said Mullin's remarks showed a lack of commitment to international law and the basic standards expected to host a global tournament.

“The fact that he openly celebrates Iran’s elimination says far more about him than it does about our team. It reflects a level of pettiness that cannot even tolerate the presence of a football team competing on the world’s biggest stage,” said the team, which declined requests to interview players and staff.

Before decamping Tuesday, the team thanked Mexico and Tijuana for their “kindness” but questioned its treatment at the tournament by the U.S.

“What we experienced was a series of decisions, logistical arrangements, and circumstances that undermined the sense of fairness — an impression only reinforced by the events of the final matchday of our group,” the team said in a statement.

Members of the Iranian diaspora were also divided about whether supporting the team showed tacit backing for Iran's theocratic government, which many of them oppose. Some wanted to keep politics and sports separate.

“You don't see someone screaming at (U.S. soccer star) Christian Pulisic for something Trump does,” Modarres said.

Though the team spoke out against its travel restrictions, it avoided commenting directly on the war. But it didn't shy away from spotlighting the victims of a deadly missile strike on an elementary school at the start of the conflict.

Players wore pins with the number “168” when they first landed in Mexico, referencing the number of people, mostly children, killed in the attack, which was likely launched by the U.S. They left a note in the locker room at Los Angeles Stadium, calling for peace “among all nations” and with the hashtags #168 and #minab, the school’s name.

Sherry Ghaemi, an Iranian living in Los Angeles, called their stand for the young victims “honorable.”

New friendships are forged

Amid the strife, players tried to focus on the sport. There were high notes, like when goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand made seven saves to hold Belgium to a scoreless draw, and when Ramin Rezaeian scored off the outside of his boot to equalize against New Zealand.

“They’re going home not as losers, they’re going home as winners," said Ghaemi. “We’re proud of them.”

Meeting some of the players was a thrill for Siavash Khosrowshahi, a 32-year-old Iranian American who drove from Los Angeles to Tijuana on Sunday, the day after the team was eliminated.

“It’s been really tough and stressful,” Khosrowshahi said of the months since the U.S. and Israel started the war. There were times during the conflict when he couldn't reach his parents in Tehran — but not Sunday, when he called his mother from the hotel and surprised her by putting Beiranvand on the phone.

“It’s a source of happiness for her,” he said.

Iranians and Mexicans also deepened a bond, as Tijuana embraced the team throughout its visit.

“Irán, hermano, ya eres Mexicano!" fans chanted in Spanish whenever they saw Team Melli: “Iran, brother, now you are Mexican!”

“Iran is taking home the best of our country, and this city, which is the way in which outsiders are received,” said Arely Ramírez, a Tijuana resident who turned up at the team's hotel Sunday hoping to meet some of the players.

The feeling was mutual.

“We’re leaving Tijuana today, but our heart and soul stay here,” head coach Amir Ghalenoei said Tuesday through an interpreter before the Iranian team left for the airport.

On Monday, many players still looked solemn as they passed their last hours in Mexico. A few signed final autographs and stood for photos with fans, their smiles more muted than the week before.

Despite the disappointment, some supporters were already looking ahead. “This whole year has been bad events, bad luck after bad luck” for Iranians, said Ranjbar. But the AFC Asian Cup is six months away, a new chance for Team Melli, she said. “I'll be watching them play for that.”

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Associated Press reporter Graham Dunbar in Geneva contributed.

The flood warning systems, which include sirens, will be controlled by Kerr County, commissioners revealed in a Tuesday morning meeting.

The meeting came after the county became the first in Texas to install and test new state-funded flash flood warning sirens and sensors under Senate Bill 3.

The county expects to install around 30 sirens, Kerr County Commissioners said. Maintenance would cost $700 to $1,000 annually per siren.

Precinct 1 Commissioner Tom Jones said if a flood hit the area on Wednesday, the county has “the ability and information flowing in today to be able to push a button and set those alarm systems off.”

Additionally, the commissioners discussed utilizing a “flashing site” instead of sirens in some smaller, flash-flood-prone areas.

“A lot of those areas, yes, they will flood, but they’re not flash floods and there’s never been any danger or loss of life,” Jones said.

Because those areas have “low water crossings,” Jones suggested flashing lights to warn others of floods rather than a siren.

The commissioners are asking the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to fund the flashing lights.

“TxDOT has got plenty of money when it comes to that,” Jones said. “We just need to make the right appeal for them to start dealing with our roadways.”

Last month, Kerr County installed and tested new flash flood warning sirens and sensors funded through Senate Bill 3, which included $50 million in state funding. Kerr County was allocated $1.25 million for the project.

According to the county and the Upper Guadalupe River Authority, the sirens were placed on both private and public property. Alerts can be sent out either by the National Weather Service or manually.

Kerrville Mayor Joe Herring said the system includes more than sirens.

“We have six sirens in the western end of the county where the camps are, but that’s also coupled with a system of warning gauges and warning sensors that tell river depth, river speed and rainfall,” Herring said.

The current system is considered the first phase of the project. A second phase is planned for summer 2027, according to Kerr Together.

Commissioners have estimated final costs at about $5 million.

The commissioners’ meeting begins at 11 a.m. Updates are expected after leaders discuss the agenda item and decide whether to take action.

Saturday marks one year since the July 4, 2025, Guadalupe River flood that killed more than 100 people in Kerr County.

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In a 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court said that children born on American soil to undocumented parents are “‘subject to the jurisdiction’ of the United States and are citizens at birth under the Fourteenth Amendment’s citizenship clause.”

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., writing for the majority, said that Trump’s executive order seeking to end automatic citizenship for babies born to undocumented immigrants and immigrants on temporary visas violated the 14th Amendment of the Constitution.

“Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights — to freely participate in our political community,” Roberts wrote. “The Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment extended that promise to ‘every free-born person in this land.’ We keep that promise today.”

Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh, both nominated to the bench by Trump, joined the court’s three liberal justices — Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson — in the majority opinion.

Kavanaugh wrote a separate opinion that said Trump’s order violated federal law, but not the Constitution. He wrote that Congress has the power to create exceptions to birthright citizenship for “children born to foreign citizens unlawfully or temporarily in the country.”

Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch dissented.

In his opinion, Thomas said the 14th Amendment has been misinterpreted to include undocumented immigrants.

“The Court today takes the extraordinary step of holding facially unconstitutional the President’s Order excluding from citizenship the children of foreign temporary visitors and illegal aliens,” he added. “In doing so, the Court adds to the sad history of the Fourteenth Amendment, which was designed and understood to secure equal rights for the freed blacks but has instead been repurposed for political projects that the Reconstruction Congress did not support.”

On his first day back in office, Trump signed an executive order denying automatic U.S. citizenship to babies unless one parent is either a U.S. citizen or a legal permanent resident — known as a green card holder — at the time of the baby’s birth. In addition to children of undocumented parents, the executive order applied to babies born to parents who are in the country temporarily, such as people in the country with a student, work or tourist visa.

In 1868, Congress passed, and voters ratified, the 14th Amendment, which begins: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

The Amendment was a reaction to one of the Supreme Court’s most notorious decisions: The 1857 Dred Scott ruling that declared Black people of African descent were not U.S. citizens.

Three decades after the 14th Amendment passed, the court cemented it through its ruling in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, when the justices said a child born in the United States to Chinese immigrants was a U.S. citizen.

Trump has called the practice “stupid,” without explaining why. He has erroneously said the U.S. is the only country to provide birthright citizenship. Analysis by the Pew Research Center found 32 countries — many of them in the Western Hemisphere — have birthright citizenship laws similar to the 14th Amendment.

On Tuesday, Trump said the court upholding birthright citizenship “was too bad for our country” and called on Congress to pass legislation that would limit automatic citizenship. 

“They will have my complete and total support,” he said on social media.

The Supreme Court’s ruling was celebrated by many, including civil rights and immigrant rights organizations.

“As we celebrate our nation’s 250th anniversary we are grateful the Supreme Court reaffirmed one of the most cherished constitutional rights. We are here. We belong. This is our country too,” said Vanessa Cárdenas, executive director of America’s Voice, a national immigrant rights organization.

Texas state Rep. Ramón Romero Jr., D-Fort Worth, the chair of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, said the court “got this one right.

“For families across Texas and our nation, they can breathe a sigh of relief knowing the rights guaranteed by our Constitution remain. Those rights should have never been in question.”

But others who have opposed immigration criticized the ruling.

Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement that the court missed an opportunity “to restore the original meaning of the 14th Amendment.” He said that giving automatic citizenship to undocumented immigrants or those on a temporary visa is “an absurdity.” 

“Congress must clarify that American citizenship means something and does not extend automatically to children whose parents are in this country unlawfully or temporarily. The American people and the sovereignty of our nation deserve nothing less,” he said.

Dale L. Wilcox, executive director and general counsel of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a national group that goes by FAIR and has advocated to end illegal immigration and limit legal immigration, said the court’s decision will to have negative consequences for the country.

He said this decision means there’s more urgency “to step up enforcement to the maximum possible extent and end illegal immigration. At FAIR, we will redouble our efforts to put an end to illegal migration, and thus cancel this and all its other negative consequences.”

U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Austin, said that Congress needs to act to end automatic citizenship for babies born in the U.S. unless they have a parent who is a citizen.

“The Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice Roberts, failed the American people, the Constitution, and the rule of law today — not to mention the national security of the United States,” he said.

Others took a more extreme approach, saying Republican-led states should ignore the Supreme Court decision.

“It is time for red states to lead where the Supreme Court has failed. There are no federal birth certificates. Texas and other states must refuse to issue them to children born to non-citizens,” said Cary Cheshire, a longtime right-wing activist in Fort Worth who has lobbied state lawmakers to crack down on both legal and illegal immigration.

According to the Pew Research Center, about 250,000 babies were born to undocumented immigrants in the U.S., or 6% of the total births, in 2016, the latest year for which data is available.

Latinos and Asians make up the majority of undocumented immigrant families. Among Asians, parents lack legal status in 41 births per 1,000, while 17 of every 1,000 births among Latinos lack legal status, according to a recent study by two professors at Pennsylvania State University.

Only on rare occasions is a baby born in the U.S. not considered a citizen, such as a child born to foreign diplomats.

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory has officially begun its cosmic survey, meant to capture swathes of the sky in more depth and detail. Perched on a Chilean mountaintop, the telescope will point its eye at the southern sky for the next 10 years, taking hundreds of images per night.

Researchers hope Rubin's observations will help them take a better census of the universe, mapping billions of stars in the Milky Way and billions more galaxies beyond it. It takes pictures quickly and will grab images of the same areas of sky multiple times, allowing scientists to glimpse fainter objects that previously eluded detection.

“We’re going to see large numbers of scientists across the world working with this data set, studying the universe in a way that they haven’t been able to before,” said Phil Marshall, the observatory's deputy director of operations.

Rubin released its first images last year, including colorful shots of the Trifid and Lagoon nebulas located thousands of light-years from Earth. A light-year is nearly 6 trillion miles (9.7 trillion kilometers).

Since then, researchers have tuned up the equipment so it's ready to take pictures at the depth and accuracy required for the decade-long survey. The images may help scientists discern how galaxies form and cluster over billions of years, and how the universe came to be.

Funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and U.S. Department of Energy, the observatory is named after astronomer Vera Rubin, who offered the first tantalizing evidence that a mysterious material called dark matter might be lurking in the universe. Researchers hope the effort may yield clues about dark matter as well as an equally puzzling force known as dark energy.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Both are Black.

For Esters, the flag represents the opportunities that allowed the great-great-grandson of slaves to find success and flourish. Pistochini, 79, simply says the America identified by the flag is not the same country she saw growing up.

Americans' views of “Old Glory” are divided by politics, age and race, according to a new survey conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research ahead of the nation's 250th birthday celebration.

Republicans and older, white adults are especially likely to say they fly the American flag, while younger Democrats and Black adults are more likely to say they don't fly it. Views of the flag — and whether it's a unifying or divisive symbol — track with other deep divisions among Americans, who see their country's history and accomplishments very differently.

“A lot of Black Americans see the flag as a symbol of both inclusion and exclusion,” said Matthew Delmont, professor of American history at Dartmouth College. “Black Americans, more so than white Americans, also understand the flag can be used to justify a version of patriotism that is rooted in exclusion, with the flag being used to say ‘you don’t belong here.’”

The survey of 2,596 adults was conducted April 16-20. It suggests that older white Americans, especially Republicans, are more likely to see the flag as unifying.

About half of U.S. adults said they display the flag at home throughout most of the year, or during holidays. About 7 in 10 Republicans and about 6 in 10 Americans ages 60 and older fly the flag at least during holidays.

About 6 in 10 Democrats and independents, on the other hand, say they “never” fly the U.S. flag. That includes the vast majority, 75%, of Democrats under 45.

Opportunities worth fighting for

Esters, a 64-year-old retired clay sculptor for a Detroit automaker, flies three American flags at his Sherwood Forest home on the city’s west side.

“When these homes were built, Black men like me, my mother and my family ... we couldn’t even buy these homes,” he said. “To me, that’s one reason I fly the flag. We went through a lot to be able to own nice homes, and this is what we fought for.”

The other reason is Moriah Martin, Esters’ great-great-grandmother, who was born into slavery.

“I’m kind of living out her dreams — what I did for a living, having a business, having a nice home,” he said. “I think that’s the American way, but we got to fight for it and we, as Blacks, fought for it.”

He's in the minority among Black adults, according to the survey, which found that only about 3 in 10 Black adults say they ever display the American flag, compared with about half of white and Hispanic adults.

Pistochini says current divisions over political leanings and perspectives, and inequality of opportunities for the poor and people of color are not what she believes the flag should stand for. People confuse flying it with being patriotic, she added.

“Just because you fly a flag doesn't make you a patriot,” Pistochini said. “If there was patriotism, we would not have all this. We can't look at (what's going on) and say this is America.”

For country and freedom

Ben Gaskins, chair of political science at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, says the flag is an important symbol of patriotism for many Americans.

“It is those who are older people, who are white and people who are more conservative,” Gaskins said. “They take it as more central to their identity.”

Nancy Hansen, a 73-year-old retired Customs and Border Protection clerk in Culvertson, Montana, believes “you have to be for the country, no matter what” and that the flag means “freedom.”

“Freedom to live where we want to live, travel where we want to travel, raise our kids where we want to raise our kids,” said Hansen, who is white and identifies as Republican.

Each year around July 4, the American Legion posts flags outside businesses and homes in Culvertson, including Hansen’s home.

Linda and Greg Cunningham also equate the flag with freedom.

The white, conservative Pontiac, Michigan, couple are going all out this summer. The exterior of their home northwest of Detroit is awash in red, white and blue. The flag sits atop a flagpole just feet from their door.

“It's no political thing, at all," said Linda Cunningham, 63. “It's our freedom. I love the American flag. I love the whole concept of it. I love America. I know there’s so much going on in the world, right now, and I know everyone has their own views, and I'm just sad that politics have to be brought into the flag.”

Flag as a ‘painful reminder’

Of those who took the survey, 47% see the flag as a “more unifying” symbol. About 16% call it a “more divisive” icon, while 36% say it's neither divisive nor unifying.

Only 22% of Black adults see the flag as a unifying symbol, compared with 55% of white adults and 42% of Hispanic adults.

“It’s a painful symbol. It’s a reminder of what we could be and how it’s failed to live up to that for Black people, for Indigenous people and people of color,” said Allison Wiltz, a Black author and founder of Writers and Editors of Color.

Paul Walthour, 71, occasionally flies the flag outside his Minneapolis-area home on special occasions and some holidays. Walthour says that when he’s away from home and at his cabin, the flag goes up each morning and is taken down at the end of the day.

“This is antiquated, perhaps,” said Walthour, who is white and a retired advertising agency creative director. “I feel it’s a symbol that you’re proud to be an American.”

“Unfortunately, I kind of think it’s kind of a symbol of dividing more than uniting,” added Walthour, who identifies as a Democrat. “The people who fly it on the far right have one kind of feeling about it, and the people who fly it on the left have a different kind of feeling about it.”

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Williams is a member of AP's Race & Ethnicity team. Sanders and Parwani reported from Washington.

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The AP-NORC poll of 2,596 adults was conducted April 16-20 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.

The court’s six-justice conservative majority, which has repeatedly ruled against transgender Americans in the past year, ruled that state bans in Idaho and West Virginia don’t violate the Constitution. The court unanimously agreed that barring transgender girls and women also doesn't run afoul of the federal law known as Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in education.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote for the court that, “states may maintain women's and girls' sports for biological females" to address safety and competitive fairness concerns. “The Constitution and Title IX do not require an overhaul of women’s and girls’ sports throughout America."

More than two dozen other Republican-led states have adopted bans on female transgender athletes, and the decision seems certain to extend to them as well.

Left unresolved by the outcome are lawsuits challenging state laws and regulations in Connecticut, California and elsewhere that permit transgender athletes to compete consistent with their gender identity.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented, saying from the bench that the majority opinion was wrong to reject an equal-protection claim from 16-year-old Becky Pepper-Jackson.

With the science still evolving, transgender students shouldn't automatically be shut out of team sports, she said. “We just simply do not know scientifically that transgender students pose dangers,” she said, reading from a dissent joined by her liberal colleagues.

Pepper-Jackson, a high school sophomore in Bridgeport, West Virginia, has been taking puberty-blocking medication, has publicly identified as a girl since age 8 and has been issued a West Virginia birth certificate recognizing her as female. She is the only transgender person who has sought to compete in girls sports in West Virginia.

Pepper-Jackson has progressed from a back-of-the-pack cross-country runner in middle school to statewide champion in the shot put. She beat the second-place finisher by two feet in last month's West Virginia championship meet.

In the Idaho case, Lindsay Hecox sued over the state’s first-in-the-nation ban for the chance to try out for the women’s track and cross-country teams at Boise State University in Idaho. She didn’t make either squad because “she was too slow,” her lawyer, Kathleen Hartnett, told the court during arguments in January, but she competed in club-level soccer and running.

Prominent women in sports have weighed in on both sides. Tennis champion Martina Navratilova, swimmers Summer Sanders and Donna de Varona and beach volleyball player Kerri Walsh Jennings are supporting the state bans. Soccer stars Megan Rapinoe and Becky Sauerbrunn and basketball players Sue Bird and Breanna Stewart back the transgender athletes.

Kavanaugh, who has coached girls' basketball, underlined the importance of women's sports and athletes' dedication. “No student-athlete on either side of the issue, whether a biological female or transgender, deserves to be ostracized or vilified,” he wrote.

In 2020, the Supreme Court ruled LGBTQ people are protected by a landmark federal civil rights law that prohibits sex discrimination in the workplace, finding that “sex plays an unmistakable role” in employers’ decisions to punish transgender people for traits and behavior they otherwise tolerate.

But last year, the six conservative justices on the nine-member court declined to apply the same sort of analysis when they upheld state bans on gender-affirming care for transgender minors.

The states supporting the prohibitions on transgender athletes argued there is no reason to extend the ruling barring workplace discrimination to Title IX.

Idaho’s law, state Solicitor General Alan Hurst said, is “necessary for fair competition because, where sports are concerned, men and women are obviously not the same.”

Republican President Donald Trump applauded Tuesday's decision, calling it a “BIG WIN” in a social-media post.

Lawyers for Pepper-Jackson argued that such distinctions generally make sense but that their client has none of those advantages because of the unique circumstances of her early transition. In Hecox’s case, her lawyers wanted the court to dismiss the case because she had forsworn trying to play on women’s teams.

NCAA president Charlie Baker told Congress in 2024 that he was aware of only 10 transgender athletes out of more than half a million students on college teams. But despite the small numbers, the issue has taken on outsize importance.

Baker’s NCAA and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committees banned transgender women from women’s sports after President Donald Trump, a Republican, signed an executive order aimed at barring their participation.

The public generally is supportive of the limits. An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll conducted in October 2025 found that about 6 in 10 U.S. adults “strongly” or “somewhat” favored requiring transgender children and teenagers to compete only on sports teams that match the sex they were assigned at birth, not the gender they identify with, while about 2 in 10 were “strongly” or “somewhat” opposed and about one-quarter did not have an opinion.

About 2.1 million adults, or 0.8%, and 724,000 people ages 13 to 17, or 3.3%, identify as transgender in the U.S., according to the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law.

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The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index rose 0.6 point to 91.2 in June, a figure that is still below its year-ago reading of 95.2. Consumer attitudes worsened after the Iran war caused oil and gas prices to spike, accelerating inflation and causing Americans' inflation-adjusted incomes to decline. Before the pandemic, the index regularly topped 120.

The report suggests that consumer confidence is recovering only slowly from the hit caused by the Iran war. Even so, Americans have continued to spend despite their dour outlook, which has kept the economy growing even as inflation accelerated. Measures of consumer sentiment have been less predictive of how Americans actually shop since the pandemic.

“Consumer confidence inched up in June as falling oil prices in recent weeks provided some relief to consumer inflation fears,” Dana Peterson, the Conference Board's chief economists said in a statement. “Consumer appraisals of current business conditions were slightly more positive compared to last month. However, perceptions of the current labor market softened measurably."

Earlier this month, a government report showed that consumers stepped up their spending in May despite higher gas prices. Analysts expect the steady consumer outlays kept the economy growing at about a 2.5% annual rate in the April-June quarter.

Falling gas prices may also help boost Americans' outlook in the coming months. On average nationwide, gas prices spiked above $4.50 after the U.S.-Iran conflict began Feb. 28. They have since fallen back to $3.85 a gallon, according to AAA.

The survey also found that consumers had a dimmer view of hiring and the job market this month. The proportion of Americans who said jobs are “hard to get” rose to 22.5% from 19.8% the previous month, a noticeable increase.

But on Wednesday the government released a report showing that the number of open jobs remained at a solid 7.6 million in May, indicating that companies are showing more interest in recruiting workers.

The Labor Department will release its monthly jobs report for June on Thursday, and economists forecast it will show that employers added 100,000 jobs, a solid gain. The unemployment rate is expected to stay at a low 4.3%, according to data provider FactSet.

Germany should be getting used to disappointment, but it doesn’t make it any less painful for a traditional soccer heavyweight that had been tentatively hoping for a fifth World Cup title to restore lost pride.

Germany did manage to survive the group stage for the first time since winning the trophy in 2014, but it’s little consolation after Monday’s loss to unheralded Paraguay on penalties sent the team home after the first knockout game.

“We messed it up,” Joshua Kimmich told reporters after the match in Foxborough, Massachusetts.

It was a familiar feeling for the Germany captain who also struggled for explanations after the team’s group-stage exit at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

“As a child, when you watched the national team during tournaments, it was always semifinals, finals, or world champions. There was always lots of success. You grew up with that, cheering them on,” the 31-year-old Kimmich said Monday, when he apologized for the team failing to meet expectations.

“All of us who were on the pitch should feel that, rather than looking to blame someone else. We blew it,” Kimmich said in comments reported by dpa.

Coach under fire

Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann is in the firing line after some contentious calls — particularly after recalling veteran goalkeeper Manuel Neuer from international retirement just before the tournament after months of denials.

The 40-year-old Neuer failed to justify his inclusion at the expense of Hoffenheim’s Oliver Baumann, and was arguably at fault for Ecuador’s winning goal in the last group game.

“I gave it my all,” Neuer said.

Nagelsmann finally bowed to pressure and gave forward Deniz Undav his first start against Paraguay, but the move didn’t pay off as the Kurdish Yazidi player was unable to add to his three goals and two assists from his first two games as a substitute.

Nagelsmann was also criticized for not playing forward Nick Woltemade at all until he sent him on with extra time looming against Paraguay. Woltemade was among three players who missed in the penalty shootout.

False hope

Nagelsmann had raised expectations by saying Germany was aiming to win the title. Ultimately, his team failed to show any justification for such hopes.

Germany played four games at the World Cup, winning two against debutant Curaçao and Ivory Coast, before the losses to Ecuador and Paraguay.

While Paraguay’s win was joyously celebrated on the streets of its capital, Asunción, it was considered a major shock — few German fans knew any of the Paraguayan players before the match, and they were already looking forward to a likely Round of 16 meeting with France, which plays Sweden on Tuesday.

“You have to beat such a team,” Neuer said of Paraguay. “That’s a fact when you want to measure yourself against teams like France.”

Nagelsmann has vowed to stay on as coach, though he was also criticized for his prickly responses to questions after the game.

“I’m still convinced that he’s probably the right one to continue,” Germany team director Rudi Völler said. “It’s not only up to me.”

Serious talks ahead

Bernd Neuendorf, the president of the German soccer federation, said Tuesday he already met “at length” with Nagelsmann, Völler and sporting director Andreas Rettig, and they agreed “our performance at the World Cup fell short of our standards.”

“In the coming days, we will calmly look at the reasons why the team was unable to realize its potential and failed to meet both its own expectations and those of the German football community,” Neuendorf said. “After such a crushing blow, we cannot and do not wish to simply return to business as usual.”

Nagelsmann has a contract running through the European Championship in 2028.

Schadenfreude takes over

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz illustrated the disconnect between the German team’s hopes and reality better than most when he wrote on social media, “What a match, @DFB_Team! You thrilled our country with your commitment and team spirit at this World Cup. We’re proud of you.”

Merz was quickly mocked for his post on X, where many users asked which match he was referring to. The words “which match” began trending.

“I honestly don’t know which was worse. The match or this analysis,” FDP politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann wrote.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Eight other children were injured and being treated at a hospital, senior police official Faisal Kamran said, adding that the owner of the tutoring center and another person have been arrested.

Kamran said rescuers were searching through the rubble after receiving reports that more children could be trapped beneath the debris. He said the tutoring center was housed in an aging building and that the roof of an unfinished second floor apparently collapsed because of poor construction quality.

Building collapses are common in Pakistan, where construction standards are often poorly enforced. Many structures are built with substandard materials, and safety regulations are frequently ignored to reduce costs.

Witnesses said ambulances and rescue workers rushed to the scene after the roof collapsed. Residents also joined the search, using shovels and their bare hands to remove rubble in an effort to reach children trapped beneath the debris.

Hours later, as the bodies of the children were being handed over to their families, scenes of anguish unfolded outside hospitals and in the neighborhood on the outskirts of Lahore where the private tutoring center was located in a house. Parents wept over the loss of their children, while mothers and other female relatives cried and beat their chests in grief.

Most of the victims lived nearby, and funeral prayers were expected later Tuesday.

Grief was mixed with anger as residents demanded stern punishment for the owner of the tutoring center, blaming him for operating classes in what they described as an aging and unsafe building. Dozens of mourners were seen gathering outside the victims’ homes to offer condolences.

“We don’t know whose home to visit first to offer condolences for the loss of their children,” resident Zafar Iqbal said as he moved from one bereaved family’s home to another nearby street.

Lahore is the capital of Pakistan's most populous Punjab province, where many parents send their children to private tutoring centers in the afternoon and evening.

Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed grief over the collapse of the roof of an evening school building in Lahore. In separate statements, they offered condolences to the families of the victims, prayed for the speedy recovery of those injured, and said effective safety measures were needed to prevent similar tragedies.

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Associated Press writer K.M. Chaudhry in Lahore contributed to this story.

Danh Dinh, 38, sustained at least two gunshot wounds in the shooting last Tuesday.

An arrest affidavit states Dinh showed up at a neighbor’s home, bleeding from his arm, carrying two knives and tried to break in through a back door.

That neighbor then called 911, bringing deputies to the area.

“It startled us and then I went to go check the back door, and I see this man with a weapon in his hand. He had a knife,” the neighbor told KSAT 12 News. “I noticed just blood all over my patio, all over my kid’s toy and a sandpit.”

The neighbor said he did his best to secure his home and keep Dinh out, leaning against his door until deputies arrived.

When one sheriff’s deputy showed up approximately three minutes later, the neighbor said Dinh had already moved on to a different home.

In an affidavit, two deputies said they ordered Dinh to drop the weapons, described as two mini samurai sword-type knives, but he refused.

When he made a move toward them, documents show one deputy fired at him. In all, three BCSO deputies were on scene.

The affidavit states Dinh suffered gunshot wounds to his belly and backside. As of Tuesday morning, Dinh was transferred to the Bexar County Adult Detention Center.

The neighbor said the ordeal has left his family traumatized.

“When we hear any loud bang, when my 3-year-old hears any little noise, he (says), ‘What’s that noise?’ and he panics,” the neighbor said.

It’s trauma, he said, that could have been avoided.

Just one day prior to the shooting, Bexar County deputies were called to Dinh’s home for a welfare check.

A statement from the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office said deputies determined at that time that Dinh did not need to be emergency detained.

“In my opinion, a cry for help is a cry for help,” the neighbor said. “He would’ve never showed up at my backdoor. He would’ve never showed up across the street. That whole incident, I think, could’ve been avoided.”

Now, the neighbor said he and his family are struggling to forget it ever happened.

The deputy who shot Dinh was Steven Calva, a 16-year veteran with the sheriff’s office, a BCSO spokesperson told KSAT Tuesday morning.

Fellow deputies Jason Garces has 2 years of BCSO service while Frank Diaz has been with the sheriff’s office for 10 months, BCSO said.

All three deputies have since been placed on administrative leave.

Read also:

• San Antonio man shot by BCSO deputy after waving knives ‘in a threatening manner’ identified

Danh Thanh Dinh has been charged with two counts of aggravated assault against a public servant. Both counts are considered first-degree felonies, court records show.

‘Stopping his deadly behavior’

The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched to a call for a suspicious person just before 6 p.m. on June 23 in the 8400 block of Knapp Rise, which is located in far west Bexar County.

BCSO Deputy Jason Garces, who was the first to arrive on scene, noticed that the original home’s backyard gate was open. According to the affidavit, Garces checked the home’s backyard and found blood on its back porch.

While exiting the backyard, Garces saw Dinh armed with two knives attempting to enter the front of a home across the street, court documents state. Garces also noticed one of Dinh’s hands was bloody.

Garces then called for backup. Two additional BCSO deputies, identified in the affidavit as Steven Calva and Frank Diaz, arrived at the scene at approximately 6:06 p.m.

Garces and Calva, who authorities said positioned themselves in the driveway of a home in the 8400 block of Spitfire Ranch, told Dinh to put down the knives and surrender. According to the affidavit, however, Dinh disregarded their commands.

Dinh then jumped off the porch of the Knapp Rise residence and waved the knives “in a threatening manner” toward Garces and Calva, documents show.

Once again, the deputies told Dinh to stop walking and drop the knives, but he refused. Calva then fired multiple gunshots at Dinh, “stopping his deadly behavior,” the affidavit states.

Diaz then handcuffed Dinh. It is unclear how many times Dinh was struck by gunfire.

Court records show Dinh has a registered residence located next door to the original home law enforcement was dispatched to on June 23.

During a June 23 news conference, Sheriff Javier Salazar described the shooting as “an unfortunate incident” with Dinh “undergoing a mental health crisis.”

Dinh was transported to a local hospital in critical condition, according to the warrant. He underwent surgery for gunshot wounds to his abdomen and lower back area.

A BCSO spokesperson told KSAT on June 30 that Dinh has since been magistrated and transferred to the Bexar County Adult Detention Center.

Salazar also said the three deputies on scene have since been placed on administrative leave.

The deputy who shot Dinh, who was determined to be Calva, is a 16-year veteran with the sheriff’s office. Garces has 2 years of BCSO service while Diaz has been with the sheriff’s office for 10 months.

According to Bexar County court records, Dinh faces a combined $200,000 bond.

More recent crime coverage on KSAT:

• 3 women accused of murder in connection with deadly stabbing in Del Rio, police say
• Bodycam video shows San Antonio police officer shooting suspect who produced gun during pursuit

Foundation President Dame Louise Richardson said the awards, launched in 2006, have never been meant to be political. Earlier this month, the foundation changed its name from the Carnegie Corporation of New York to emphasize its nonprofit status and connection to famed industrialist Andrew Carnegie, a Scottish immigrant.

“We’re not articulating it in response to this moment,” Richardson told The Associated Press. “But it seems especially important at this moment that we celebrate immigrants and their contributions and also that we present a view of immigrants different from the ones so often portrayed in the media.”

The immigration debate continues at the highest levels of power, as President Donald Trump’s administration executes his agenda to increase immigration enforcement and reduce the numbers of legal immigrants and asylum seekers in the country. On the other side, Pope Leo XIV said, “Human dignity has no passport and does not lose its value when crossing a border,” as he visited a once-notorious epicenter of the European migration debate in Spain earlier this month.

Richardson — a naturalized American citizen, born in Ireland — said the entire issue has “become so fraught, especially with the movement against legal immigration and, in particular, the visas for highly skilled people.”

“That just strikes me as an act of self-harm on a national level,” she added, “because so many of these people are the engines of the economy.”

CEO Iman Abuzeid wants to inspire other immigrants

Honoree Dr. Iman Abuzeid, co-founder and CEO of the artificial intelligence-driven healthcare career platform Incredible Health, sees the award as recognition not just for her accomplishments, but for everyone who helped her along the way.

“And if my story makes it feel like it’s more possible for someone else, then that’s probably the part that I care about the most,” added the native of Sudan, who now lives in San Francisco.

Abuzeid said she specifically chose to emigrate to the United States after living in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and completing medical school in England.

“It is the best country for what I’m trying to do,” she said. “I think if you’re ambitious and you’re willing to work hard and you’ve got some skills, it is probably the best country in the world for you.”

Being an immigrant, Abuzeid said, has given her the drive to take on risk and bet on her own abilities. It has also influenced her to build Incredible Health in a way that balances the needs of employers looking to hire health care workers with the career needs of the workers, about 20% of whom are immigrants.

“I think being from Sudan does make me a little bit more attuned to topics like bias and diversity,” she said. “Because we’re operating a marketplace at scale, we can see these patterns in our data where workers of certain last names were seeing bias against them. … So when we removed that, we were able to improve that part of the marketplace.”

Conductor Cristian Măcelaru sees immigration as ‘opportunity’

Honoree Cristian Măcelaru, conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, said immigration offers both the immigrant and their new home country a chance to improve their lives.

“This is an opportunity we should hold dear,” the native of Romania said. “It really makes for a unique kind of country.”

It also creates a unique artistic point of view, said Măcelaru, who moved to Michigan to study music at Interlochen Arts Academy when he was 16.

“I’ve met so many incredible people that were supportive of my arrival to the United States and embracing of who I was,” he said. “But, at the same time, there is that nostalgia for what you’ve left behind that accompanies you on a daily basis. … The immigrant experience never leaves you.”

Măcelaru, who conducted the Orchestre National de France during the Paris Olympics opening ceremony viewed by more than a billion people in 2024, said culture becomes stronger when it appreciates the strengths of others.

“I think all of us actually love the cultures of different places,” said Măcelaru, who makes a point of diversifying the music presented by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. “It doesn’t matter where we are on the planet, you end up loving music that is from a different place. You end up loving food that is from a different country.”

Harvard's Gregory Nagy ‘awestruck’ by influx of new cultures

Honoree Gregory Nagy, Harvard University’s Francis Jones Professor of Classical Greek Literature and a professor of Comparative Literature, takes it a step further.

“To have an influx of new cultures and new ways of looking at things — that variety is the human fabric,” said the native of Hungary who emigrated with his family as a boy following World War II. They first went to Canada, and then to the United States when his father was invited to become a professor of classical piano at Indiana University. “I’m just awestruck by how important the melting pot is.”

Nagy, who prides himself on being “a friendly Midwesterner” after spending his formative years in Bloomington, Indiana, uses the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard’s thoughts on repetition — how a person changes an idea even if they only repeat it — to back up that belief.

But he also supports it with his ongoing teaching. Nagy’s class on “The Ancient Greek Hero,” which he has taught for more than 50 years and is currently the longest-running class at Harvard, continues to change with the times, while remaining true to its subject matter.

He has studied how “The Oath of the Ephebes,” from more than 2,400 years ago, connects the importance of environmentalism to being a good citizen. He says the ancient Greek idea of heroism is closer to modern comic book heroes than to the idealized, perfect versions many Americans hold dear.

That evolution is driven by young people, as reflected in the election of Péter Magyar as prime minister of Nagy’s beloved Hungary in April, the social changes that followed, and the new perspectives brought by immigration, Nagy said.

“I was very fortunate to become an immigrant,” he said. “And I was lucky enough to achieve puberty in Indiana, so that Americanizes you very well.”

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

“I plead with you and ask you with all my heart: please turn back!” Leo wrote in a letter to the Rev. Davide Pagliarani, the superior of the Society of St. Pius X.

Leo issued the last-ditch appeal a day before the society plans to consecrate four new bishops at its seminary in Econe, Switzerland. Under church law, the consecrations constitute a schismatic act, or an intentional rupture of the unity of the Catholic Church, and incur automatic excommunication for the four bishops and the bishop administering the consecration.

Pagliarani responded by writing a formal letter to Leo asking him to take time before deciding any penalty.

“Far be it from us to separate ourselves from the Roman Church. We desire, on the contrary, to serve her by means that are extraordinary, as one would assist a mother in distress who requires particular help, even if such help is not understood by everyone,” Pagliarani wrote.

SSPX asks pope for more time

The ceremony poses the first major crisis for the American pope, who has stressed the need for church unity since the start of his pontificate. He has worked especially hard to heal tensions with traditionalist Catholics who prefer the old Latin Mass, that worsened in some ways during the Pope Francis pontificate.

The society was founded in opposition to the modernizing reforms of the 1960s Second Vatican Council. Among other things, the council revolutionized the Catholic Church’s relations with other religions and the laity, and allowed Mass to be celebrated in vernacular languages rather than Latin.

Its members celebrate the ancient Latin Mass and have accused the modern church of being rife with heresies and errors. The society insists that only the SSPX is upholding the true faith of Christ and has justified the consecrations, citing a “state of necessity” to minister to its faithful.

In response to the pope’s letter, Marc-André Mabillard, media manager for the society, expressed “great sadness to not be understood by our leader,” and added: “We are changing absolutely nothing in our plans.”

Asked by phone about the prospect of excommunication, Mabillard said: “We don’t fear it. It pains us immensely, but we believe that the good we seek is greater than the pain that will be inflicted upon us.”

Previous excommunications and outreach

In 1988, SSPX founder Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre consecrated four bishops without papal consent. The Vatican promptly excommunicated Lefebvre and the four other bishops, and the group today still has no legal status in the church.

The Vatican in 2009 lifted those original excommunications as part of its outreach to try to bring the group back under its wing. But the Vatican has warned that a similar fate awaits the new bishops if Wednesday's consecrations go ahead.

In his letter, Leo repeated the Vatican's offer of dialogue and said that going through with the consecrations would be counterproductive for the SSPX faithful.

“I urge you to consider carefully the spiritual good of the faithful, because the schismatic act you are about to undertake would deprive them of the licit, and in some cases, even valid reception of the sacraments,” he wrote.

Despite the original 1988 schismatic act, the group has continued to grow and today poses a threat to the Holy See as a parallel, ultra-Catholic, pre-Vatican II church. The SSPX counts two bishops, 751 priests, 264 seminarians, 145 religious brothers, 88 oblates and 250 religious sisters representing 50 nationalities, according to SSPX statistics.

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Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this report.

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

Like other NATO countries, the U.K. is under pressure to increase defense spending to counter a more aggressive Russia and less reliable United States. But its Defense Investment Plan has been repeatedly delayed as military leaders and Treasury officials wrangled over the cost.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the plan reflects a world of conflicts transformed by technology and will keep Britain safe in “a more dangerous and volatile world."

“When the world is arming and aggression is rising, the best way to avoid war is to prepare for it," he said.

But the blueprint does not commit to spending 3% of U.K. GDP on defense by 2030, one of the factors that spurred John Healey to resign as U.K. defense secretary on June 11. Healey accused the government of underspending on the military at a time of “rising threats," citing a British intelligence assessment that Russia could attack a NATO member country by 2030.

In the House of Commons on Tuesday, Healey said that “with European security at stake,” Britain needs "to develop a clear, credible funding plan that will hit 3% and that will meet our NATO commitment of 3.5% by 2035."

Starmer said Healey’s successor, Defense Secretary Dan Jarvis, had worked to “sharpen and strengthen" the plan. Its 15 billion pounds in new spending is more than the 13.5 billion pounds ($18 billion) Healey was offered by the Treasury, but far less than the 28 billion pounds ($37 billion) that defense officials had called for.

UK faces pressure to hit NATO target

Under the plan, defense spending will hit 2.7% of GDP by 2029. Starmer said the 3% target will be reached “in the next Parliament,” a period that could extend to 2034. The U.K. remains committed to hitting NATO’s 3.5% target by 2035, though it's unclear how it will get there.

The government said the new funding will boost spending on defense to almost 300 billion pounds ($400 billion) over the next four years. Big-ticket items include 5 billion pounds ($6.6 billion) for drone technology, 8 billion pounds ($10.6 billion) to build new stealth fighter jets alongside Japan and Italy, and 11 billion pounds ($14.5 billion) to increase weapons stockpiles. The U.K. will also spend 64 billion pounds ($85 billion) modernizing its nuclear weapons.

Starmer said some road and energy projects would be scrapped to help pay for the military.

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

The U.K. has watched how drones have transformed war in Ukraine, which uses 200,000 of them a month to defend against Russian forces. Britain plans to invest billions in drone systems across all branches of the military. Instead of a planned fleet of new destroyers, the Royal Navy will get hybrid vessels that will act as command hubs for drones.

“The very nature of conflict is changing before our eyes,” Starmer said during a speech at a drone manufacturer near London. He said that, armed with cutting-edge technology, Ukrainian forces have destroyed Russia’s Black Sea fleet, “struck deep into Russian territory and stopped the advance of one of the biggest armies in the world.”

Critics say more money is needed

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

The resignations of Healey and junior Defense Minister Al Carns were among a series of blows that prompted Starmer to announce last week that he will resign. A NATO summit in Turkey on July 7 and 8 may be his final overseas trip as prime minister.

His replacement, likely the former Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, will be under pressure to stick to the commitments in the defense plan.

“It is a platform on which I know my successor will build," Starmer said.

Opposition Conservative Party defense spokesperson James Cartlidge said the plan was “too little, too late.”

And retired Gen. Richard Barrons, who helped lead a defense review in preparation for the investment plan, said “we have to find more money for defense sooner.”

“We’re not keeping up with our allies, we’re certainly not keeping up with our enemies, and we know that the U.S. is no longer going to come and save European security in the face of a Russian threat,” he told the BBC.

The visit by Steve Witkoff, U.S. President Donald Trump’s special Mideast envoy, and Jared Kushner, his son-in-law, comes after a weekend of crossfire in the Persian Gulf over efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to shipping traffic.

The envoys won’t be having direct negotiations with Iranian diplomats while in Qatar’s capital, Doha, said Majed al-Ansari, a spokesman for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry. Instead, mediators are working for the time being as go-betweens for the talks, which won’t include any high-level officials, he added.

The U.S. and Iran have held indirect negotiations before. However, the two previous rounds collapsed and preceded the 12-day war Israel launched against Iran in 2025 and this year's war, launched jointly by the U.S. and Iran on Feb. 28.

Iran is also sending a delegation to Qatar this week. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Tuesday that Iran has had no plans for a meeting with the American side at any level in the coming days.

“What will take place in Doha tomorrow is a discussion with the Qatari side about implementing parts of the memorandum of understanding, including the release of Iran’s blocked assets,” Baghaei told journalists at his own briefing.

It is possible the two sides could exchange messages through the Qatari mediators.

The U.S. and Iran agreed to an interim deal earlier this month that calls for Tehran to dilute its stockpile of enriched uranium. It also waives U.S.-backed oil sanctions on the country, calls for free traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and gives each side 60 days to hammer out broader agreements.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Monday that Qatar plans to release $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive negotiations, confirmed the release amount, saying it would be used to buy U.S. food products for the Iranian people.

A fifth of the world's oil was shipped through the Strait of Hormuz before the war began. Iran’s attacks and threats stopped cargo ships and tankers from moving through the strait, creating a global energy crisis.

The strait has long been considered an international waterway despite being in Iran and Oman’s territorial waters.

Both sides traded strikes amid efforts last week to open Oman’s territorial waters in the strait to both inbound and outbound ship traffic from the Persian Gulf. That raised concerns that negotiations to formally end the war could be disrupted.

Iran twice attacked vessels in the strait — including a tanker filled with Qatari crude — and drew retaliatory American airstrikes. Iran also launched drone and missile attacks targeting Bahrain and Kuwait on Sunday.

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AP reporter Josh Boak in Washington contributed.

Forecasters had expected employers to post just 7 million openings in May.

The job market is sturdy but not exactly booming. Layoffs rose in May, and the number of people quitting their jobs — a sign of confidence in their prospects — ticked up only slightly. That's according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released Tuesday.

Employers are advertising openings, but they aren't actually doing much hiring. Gross hiring — before counting people who lost or quit their jobs — dipped to 5.17 million in May from 5.26 million in April. When the job market was booming from mid-2021 to mid-2023 after COVID-19 lockdowns, gross monthly hiring regularly topped 6 million.

“The hiring switch needs to fully turn on for the labor market to feel alive again,” ZipRecruiter economist Nicole Bachaud said in a commentary.

After the United States and Israel attacked Feb. 28, Iran retaliated by closing the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil and natural gas passes. Energy prices soared, squeezing Americans already frustrated by the high cost of living.

But the American job market has chugged along, continuing to rebound from a miserable 2025. In the first five months of the year, U.S. employers have added an average of nearly 114,000 net jobs a month. That is up from just 9,700 a month in 2025, the weakest hiring outside a recession since 2002.

High interest rates and President Donald Trump's unpredictable economic policies discouraged employers from making hiring decisions last year. Trump's tax cuts and the fact that the United States is an energy producer have limited the economic damage from the war this year.

When the Labor Department releases its jobs report for June on Thursday, it is expected to show that companies, nonprofits and government agencies added another 100,000 jobs and that unemployment stayed at a low 4.3%.

Because of baby boomer retirements and Trump's immigration crackdown, fewer people are competing for work, and the United States doesn't need as many jobs as it used to keep the unemployment rate stable. Economists say the so-called "break-even'' rate of hiring could be as low as zero jobs a month, down from perhaps 150,000 a year or so ago.

The fire started at around 6 p.m. Monday outside the apartment building on West Commerce Street near Monterrey Park, according to the San Antonio Fire Department. Firefighters said it appeared to have started at an electrical panel.

Residents reported hearing popping sounds before flames were spotted, according to SAFD.

Firefighters said the fire damage was not extensive, but the electrical damage created a bigger problem for people living in the building. CPS Energy cut power to the entire building, affecting at least 13 units, according to SAFD.

Residents were told they could not stay in their apartments until the panel is inspected and repairs can begin.

No injuries were reported. However, officials said some elderly residents and people with medical issues were among those affected by the outage and displacement.

The Red Cross was responding to help residents who had to leave their homes.

It was not immediately clear when power would be restored. Residents were waiting for the electrical panel to be inspected before repairs could move forward.

Read also:

• Authorities investigating after 2 found dead with gunshot wounds on far West Side, BCSO says
• 2 children shot while sleeping in Northeast Side home, SAPD says

Officers responded to the shooting around 4:30 a.m. Tuesday in the 4000 block of Comanche Sunrise, which is located near Glacier Sun Drive.

Upon arrival, the officers discovered bullet holes in the home that led to the children’s room, according to an SAPD preliminary report.

The children, who are 6-year-old and 10-year-old girls, told their parents they were injured, officers said.

Police said the parents then found that each child suffered a gunshot wound. One child was struck in the stomach, while the other was hit in the leg.

Both of the children were taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, the report said.

SAPD said at the scene that the suspected shooter, a man, was detained for further questioning. The preliminary report did not provide further information on the shooter.

Police stated that it appears the man was shooting at a fence behind the family’s home.

Around two to three bullet holes were located in the fence. SAPD’s EAGLE Helicopter is currently assisting in the search for the gun used, police said.

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

Read also:

• Authorities investigating after 2 found dead with gunshot wounds on far West Side, BCSO says
• 13-year-old boy’s body recovered from Boerne City Lake, fire officials say

Just before 12:30 p.m. Saturday, officers responded to the crash in the 400 block of Callaghan Road.

An SAPD preliminary report states that witnesses told officers the man was traveling at a normal rate of speed when he suddenly lost control of the motorcycle.

The man fell over the handlebars and onto the ground, police said. He sustained serious injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the man as Homer Cruz. His cause of death was blunt force injuries, the office said.

SAPD said the man did not appear to be traveling at a fast or slow speed but may have lost control while changing lanes.

Read also:

• Four killed in Karnes County crash, DPS says

The crash happened just after 10:30 p.m. in the 1100 block of Southwest Military Drive, which is located near Mango Avenue.

The driver, identified in an SAPD preliminary report as Vynzell Edward McGarity, was traveling eastbound in a Dodge Charger at a high rate of speed.

McGarity switched lanes and struck a pedestrian attempting to cross the street, the report said.

The pedestrian, identified as Moncerrat Martinez Maldonando, 17, was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

Records indicate McGarity was taken into custody and faces two charges: racing on highway causing serious bodily injury and reckless driving.

SAPD said its investigation is ongoing. Further information was not readily available.

Read also:

• Child drowns at Boerne City Lake, fire department says
• 2 drivers killed in multi-vehicle crash on Southwest Side, SAPD says

Tuesday, June 30

Traffic delays are expected Tuesday morning on Interstate 35 southbound from Forum Parkway to Schertz Parkway due to construction.

Drivers are encouraged to take an alternate route to reach their destinations.

For more information on traffic, you can click here to view our traffic page on KSAT.com. To view more on the current weather conditions, click here.

Click the links below for current road closures.

• San Antonio road closures
• Bexar County road closures
• TxDOT highway conditions

Protocols designed to protect tennis from doping are in the spotlight as players open up about their experiences navigating the system in the aftermath of a four-year ban handed to 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova — not for testing positive but for refusing to take a test.

Players are required to provide a 60-minute time slot each day to be available for testing, plus the International Tennis Integrity Agency says that if a doping control officer "locates and notifies a player outside of that hour, they must complete the test.”

Naturally, there's a need for communication between players and testers.

“I’m not going to lie, some of them can be pushy, make you feel like you’re doing something wrong,” Gauff, the No. 7 seed, said after her first-round victory at Wimbledon.

“One time she came outside my time slot. But the way she was speaking to me on the phone, it literally made me cry afterwards," the 22-year-old American said. "I found out I was in the right, and I didn’t have to do anything.”

Ahead of her first-round match Tuesday, Ajla Tomljanovic described her close calls.

“I’m very scared of the system because it feels broken," she said. "I’ve had a few experiences of my own where it was about technicalities and when I speak to people in charge they’re not helpful — I don’t want to say they don’t care — but they weren’t very helpful at all to explain things or just show some sort of compassion when I was nowhere near missing a test or testing positive.”

The Australian player said she was seeking help about how the app works.

“I was new to the whole system. And I was at two fails for a month and I knew if I get a third one accidentally I would be out for at least two, three years,” she said. “It’s in a way, I won’t say no fault of my own but it’s not to the degree of being banned and smearing your name. In that sense, I think there’s so much to improve on.”

Williams, who makes her Wimbledon return on Tuesday, said the testing system was “a big reason why I didn’t want to come back either, because it’s just so hard."

The Vondrousova case

The 27-year-old Czech player, who became Wimbledon’s first unseeded female champion when she beat Ons Jabeur in the 2023 final, refused to take a test in early December 2025 after a doping control officer rang her apartment's intercom at 8 p.m.

This month, following a hearing by an independent tribunal, Vondrousova received the maximum four-year ban for a first offense.

ITIA published a video explainer of the case, saying Vondrousova on the night in question challenged the timing of the test because it was outside her designated time slot.

The agency noted: “If a Doping Control Officer, or DCO, locates and notifies a player outside of that hour, they must complete the test.”

Vondrousova had described the tester as “aggressive” and said the frequent ringing of the intercom “triggered a state of distress," the ITIA video says.

The tribunal's June 22 decision confirmed that Vondrousova refused the test and that the evidence “provided no compelling justification for doing so.”

The ITIA added that under World Anti-Doping Agency rules, “test refusals can be sanctioned as severely as positive tests." One rationale is an athlete who is doping could simply refuse a test and seek a lighter punishment.

Last year, the ITIA said it conducted over 8,000 tests both in and out of competition “and received a handful of complaints. We take all feedback on board and encourage players to share their views with us.” Other organizations, such as the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, also conduct player testing.

On possible changes to the system, the ITIA noted that tennis follows WADA rules and processes, which "will be refreshed in 2027. As part of this process, WADA consults with athletes from across global sport.”

“We understand the system can seem challenging," the ITIA said, “but it is there to protect players, not to trip them up. If players are ever unsure about a test, have questions, or would like to provide feedback on their experience, we want to hear about it.”

Some players say a 4-year ban is harsh

Jessica Pegula, the No. 4 seed, said she didn't know the full details of Vondrousova's case but that “I feel, like, for Marketa.”

“For something like that, for four years, you’re ruining someone’s career over something that could have really just been a complete misunderstanding, and I just don’t think that’s fair. I think the sentencing is so harsh," Pegula said.

“I don’t quite understand the difference between that and then obviously what happened with (Jannik) Sinner and Iga (Swiatek),” she said. “They justified what the rules were and why it was the way it was.”

Top-ranked Sinner, the defending men's champion at Wimbledon, accepted a three-month ban in a settlement with WADA in early 2025 following his two positive doping tests from the prior year. WADA had challenged ITIA's decision not to suspend Sinner for what it judged was accidental contamination — entering his system through a massage — by a banned anabolic steroid.

Swiatek, Wimbledon's defending women's champion, accepted a one-month suspension in 2024 after testing positive for the banned substance trimetazidine, a heart medication. The ITIA accepted her explanation that the result was unintentional and caused by the contamination of a nonprescription medication, melatonin, that Swiatek was taking for issues with jet lag.

___

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

Barnes intends to sign a one-year deal with the Spurs worth $8 million, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.

The new deal was finalized with agent Jeff Schwartz of Excel Sports Management on Monday night, Charania posted on X.

Since joining San Antonio in the 2024-25 season, Barnes has provided valuable leadership to the Spurs’ young roster.

In this past season with the Spurs, he averaged 9.9 points, 2.8 rebounds and nearly two assists per game.

Barnes and other Spurs role players, such as Bismack Biyombo and Kelly Olynyk, have been consistent voices for San Antonio’s young foundation.

More Spurs coverage on KSAT:

• Julian Champagnie returns to San Antonio Spurs on new 3-year contract
• San Antonio Spurs introduce their 2026 NBA Draft picks

Sports coach Michelle McGuire said the night of July 3, 2025, began peacefully, sharing a photo from her backyard.

“It’s so beautiful here. I’m so grateful. I love where I live,” McGuire said in the photo.

Hours later, she woke up to the sound of water rushing into her bedroom.

“I jump off the bed, and then I’m in chest-deep water,” McGuire said. “That creaking, crashing sound was the water coming through the front door.”

McGuire said the water rose above her shoulders. A surge pushed her out of the house, sweeping her toward the river in the dark and cold.

She swam to a 12-foot retaining wall and watched debris — including her truck — float past.

“OK, God, I need some help here,” she recalled, saying she prayed and focused on surviving until daylight, when the water finally dropped.

“At that point, I realized, I’m 30 feet up, and I had no idea,” McGuire said.

In the months since, McGuire said she has tried to hold onto what mattered most.

“I lost everything that night, but not my faith,” she said, describing her recovery as “a story of hope” and of people showing up for one another.

With the help of a case manager, McGuire moved into a home overlooking Hunt. In February, she purchased her first home, which was something she never expected.

McGuire now says the disaster has reshaped her priorities and her purpose, inspiring a new career path focused on helping other survivors because she can relate.

More Hill Country floods coverage on KSAT:

• Nonprofits team up to restore Guadalupe River after deadly Fourth of July floods
• Volunteer dive teams prepare Guadalupe River for summer visitors

The largest U.S. oil company and its consortium partner, QatarEnergy, consider the most likely option for getting the gas to market would be conveying it through a pipeline to existing processing facilities in Egypt where it can be liquefied for export, ExxonMobil's Vice President of Global Exploration John Ardill said.

Other options including building onshore facilities in Cyprus or a floating one in waters over the deposits are considered too costly at this point.

“Everything you’ve seen between the government of Cyprus and the government of Egypt gives us a lot of confidence that there’s good government to government coordination, the agreements in place to leverage that eastern Mediterranean energy hub concept,” Ardill said.

He was speaking after ExxonMobil and QatarEnergy signed a deal with Cyprus declaring the two deposits commercially viable.

The deposits — dubbed Glaucus and Pegasus — are located in Block 10 of Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and are estimated to hold together roughly 7 trillion cubic feet of gas.

Ardill said the consortium is looking to expand its presence off Cyprus, expressing interest in exploring an area, or block, on the southwestern corner of the EEZ that is adjacent to an area where it already holds drilling licenses.

The consortium will carry out additional drilling at the Pegasus deposit around the end of this year to collect more key data for its development, he added.

“So what we should tell ordinary people is we have been working very diligently together between government and investor to make these discoveries and we’re working very diligently to get the gas flowing for the people of Cyprus,” Ardill said.

Cyprus is trying to position itself as a new energy source for Europe and beyond following the initial discovery of natural gas off its southern shore in 2011.

Apart from ExxonMobil and QatarEnergy, two other consortiums hold exploration licenses in the Cypriot EEZ.

A consortium composed of Italy’s Eni and French TOTAL holds licenses for four blocks where two deposits hold an estimated 5.6 trillion cubic feet of gas combined, while a partnership between Chevron, Dutch Shell and Israeli NewMed is licensed for one bloc where the oldest discovery — Aphrodite — holds approximately 5.6 trillion cubic feet of gas.

Earlier this year, Eni’s Chief Operating Officer Guido Brusco said the company was close to making a final decision on developing the Cronos gas field that could deliver the hydrocarbon to European markets by late 2027 or early 2028.

More than 1,700 people have died, and people across the globe are coming together to support the nation, including people in San Antonio.

Restaurants and nonprofits in San Antonio have been working to collect donations and funds to provide aid to survivors in Venezuela.

Llaneros Grill, located at 1000 S. St. Mary’s Street, shared on Instagram that they are still accepting donations at the restaurant.

Donations include non-perishable foods, personal hygiene products, water, baby and pet products.

KSAT spoke with the founder of global nonprofit Mercy Chefs, who says his team in San Antonio is flying to Venezuela to feed survivors by cooking and serving hot meals.

“We know this isn’t gonna be just the immediate response, but there’s going to be an ongoing demand for months or years into the future,” Chef Gary Leblanc said. “So we’re going to make sure that the Mercy Chef Kitchens in Venezuela are prepared for that long-term commitment.”

Since the twin earthquakes struck, people in San Antonio have reached out to help, including Zulia’s Kitchen on the North Side.

A video shared on the restaurant’s Facebook page shows the boxes of donations they collected at the restaurant.

“We highlight once again the kindness of everyone who donated,” the caption reads in part.

Below is a list of national organizations accepting donations to support Venezuela.

National organizations assisting and accepting donations

• Global Empowerment Mission
• International Federation of the Red Cross
• Save the Children
• World Vision

Read also:

• Hill Country woman finds new purpose after deadly July 4 floods

Nadiem Anwar Makarim was convicted of pushing his ministry to buy Google Chromebook laptops for schools during the COVID-19 pandemic as the American tech giant was considering an investment in Gojek's parent company. Makarim denied wrongdoing.

A panel of five judges at Jakarta’s Corruption Court ordered Makarim to repay 809 billion rupiah (about $45.2 million) — a figure prosecutors said represented the value to him of Google's investment in PT Aplikasi Karya Anak Bangsa — and imposed a fine of 1 billion rupiah (about $55,870). Prosectors said the purchasing decision also caused $125 million in state losses.

“The defendant, as a minister who should serve as a role model, abused his authority. His actions were deliberate, structured and systematic,” said presiding Judge Purwanto S. Abdullah, “As a high-ranking official, the defendant exacerbated the situation during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the education sector was already in crisis.”

The court didn't find that Makarim's push to buy Chromebooks actually influenced Google. Three former Google executives testified during the trial that Google’s investment in GoTo was unrelated to the Indonesian government’s decision.

Following the verdict Makarim, 41, criticized what he called an excessive punishment and said he would appeal because “there is not a single part of the accusation by the prosecution that has not been refuted, that has not been proven otherwise, no form of bribery, no conflict of interest, there is no state lost.”

Speaking to The Associated Press in a brief interview after the hearing, he said the policy to select the cheapest laptop based on an operating system that is free has saved at least 3.6 trillion rupiah (about $201 million).

“It’s very disappointing decision today and was shocking because the judges in their decision didn’t mention anything about enriching myself,” he said.

“So, I believe that this trial is about the picture of justice in Indonesia and about how every honest person who wants to serve their country are not save in this country,” Makarim added.

The 10-year sentence was far below the 18 years sought by the prosecution, which had told the court that Makarim had abused his position to influence policy decisions and corporate dealings.

The three-judge panel said they reduced the penalty because Makarim is still in his productive age and the sentence imposed should not deny the defendant the opportunity for rehabilitation and a return to contributing to society. They also ordered the time he has served since he was arrested in September to be deducted from the sentence.

Makarim was detained with two former education ministry officials and a former tech consultant who were sentenced up to four-and-half years in the case, while another staff member is wanted by authorities but remains at large.

The trial, which started in January, has drawn significant public attention, often attended by hundreds of motorcycle taxi drivers showing support for the man who helped create their industry.

The judges said Makarim’s decision to use ChromeOS and Chrome Education Upgrades — products licensed exclusively by Google — was driven by a conflict of interest, disregarding advice from the ministry’s legal bureau and policies that required to prioritizing domestic products.

“The defendant maintained the Chromebook policy by systematically removing officials who opposed it during his tenure as education and culture minister,” Abdullah said.

In a dissenting opinion, a member of the panel, Andi Saputra, argued that there was not enough evidence and Marakim should be acquitted.

Pür & Simple are the experts on breakfast & brunch. They offer the traditional items you love with an elevated twist. On July 1, they’re celebrating 1 year in SA & starting July 3 they’re running a contest to win $1000 gift card. Plus, we check out their fresh flavors for summer.

We hope your hungry - it’s a double-dose of delicious food. We also take a trip to Treasure Buffet where they offer sushi, seafood, steak & lots more. Plus, every Thursday is their crazy all-you-can-eat for $12.99 deal. Check them out at 5237 Walzem Road.

Things like bladder leakage, pelvic organ prolapse, and pelvic pain can be difficult to talk about, but Dr. Alejandro Treszezamsky, Board Certified Female Pelvic Medicine & Reconstructive Surgeon with Baptist Medical Network is here to help & provide relief. We chat about Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery and the signs that you might need their help.

Justice Elena Kagan wrote for the 6-3 court that people don’t forfeit expectations of privacy even when they opt into Google’s location history.

“A cellphone user is not to be viewed as sharing private information with third parties—which then can be freely passed on to the government—just by doing the ordinary things cellphone users do,” Kagan wrote.

Justice Samuel Alito wrote in dissent that Okello Chatrie had no expectation of privacy in information he voluntarily turned over to Google.

The decision is the court’s latest effort to apply a constitutional provision ratified in 1791 to technology the nation’s founders could not have envisioned.

Police obtained a geofence warrant after a bank robbery in a suburb of Richmond, Virginia, and used it to locate cellphones that were near the bank around the time it was robbed in May 2019.

One of those phones belonged to Chatrie, who had eluded the police until they turned to the powerful technological tool.

The warrant kick-started the investigation. After determining that Chatrie was among those near the Call Federal Credit Union in Midlothian at the time, police obtained a search warrant for his home. They found nearly $100,000 in cash, including bills wrapped in bands signed by the bank teller.

Chatrie pleaded guilty to robbing the bank and was sentenced to nearly 12 years in prison. His lawyers argued on appeal that none of the evidence should have been used against him.

They challenged the warrant as a violation of his privacy because it allowed authorities to gather the location history of people near the bank without having any evidence they had anything to do with the robbery. Prosecutors argued that Chatrie had no expectation of privacy because he voluntarily opted into Google’s location history.

The Supreme Court did not decide Monday whether the search complied with the Fourth Amendment, which bans unreasonable searches and seizures. It sent the case back to a lower court for more work.

A federal judge had ruled that the search violated Chatrie’s rights, but allowed the evidence to be used because the officer who applied for the warrant reasonably believed he was acting properly.

The federal appeals court in Richmond upheld the conviction in a fractured ruling. In a separate case, the federal appeals court in New Orleans ruled that geofence warrants “are general warrants categorically prohibited by the Fourth Amendment.”

LUBBOCK — Ever since the New World screwworm burrowed into the U.S. earlier this month, speculation followed its trail.

The first case of the screwworm was confirmed earlier this month, and cases are now up to 26 as of Monday. More cases could come to the Lone Star state — nearly 28,000 cases have been confirmed in Mexico since November 2024. The parasitic fly poses a threat to both animal welfare in Texas and its $41 billion cattle industry, which would face a multibillion-dollar crisis if the screwworm isn’t eradicated quickly.

State and federal officials are working together to stop the screwworm’s migration north. In the meantime, people have questions about the screwworm. And, with little known about the parasitic fly by the general population, the speculation is running wild — from illegal cows and infested humans down to who is to blame for its re-emergence.

Claim: Beef at the grocery store is unsafe to eat because it could be infected with screwworm.

Answer: False. The New World screwworm is attracted to warm-blooded animals and living flesh, so it would not burrow itself into your typical package of ground beef or even a steak. And an infestation in raw meat likely would not get past the safety processes in place for food production. Every animal that is slaughtered in the U.S. is inspected at food plants, as is every animal carcass, said Mindy Brashears, Under Secretary for Food Safety at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“We can detect anything that’s on the animal and it would be removed,” Brashears said. “It’s not going to affect the meat or any of the products people would eat. We would remove that prior to the food being processed.”

Claim: Humans are getting infested by the screwworm.

A. True. While most screwworm infestations mostly occur in mammals like cattle, pets and wildlife because they spend most of their time outdoors, humans are considered fair game by the parasite. However, human cases are uncommon, and none have been reported in the U.S. They have usually occurred after someone has visited a hot, tropical area where the fly thrives, such as South America, Cuba, Haiti or the Dominican Republic.

Humans can get infested just like other mammals. Injuries like scratches and surgical wounds can give the screwworms a point of entry. The nose, mouth and eyes are also areas that can be infested. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, there are 2,175 cases in people in Central America and Mexico as of June 22.

Claim: DOGE budget cuts caused the screwworm outbreak.

A. Undetermined. Yes, the Department of Government Efficiency cut funds for a project dedicated to monitoring and containing the screwworm in Central America. The Trump administration also slashed the federal workforce, including 20% of the USDA’s staff.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the loss of staff had no impact on screwworm response, and that there are more than 120 full-time staffers dedicated to the screwworm. This is compared to 10 at the start of the second Trump administration, before the screwworm burrowed into the U.S.

“The idea that DOGE caused this could not be further from the truth,” Rollins said at a news conference this month.

Texas Democrats in Congress sent a letter to Rollins requesting a briefing on inquiries related to if DOGE contributed to the outbreak.

Claim: The screwworm came into the U.S. because of illegal cattle or open borders

A. False. In fact, officials say that small wildlife and rodents, like armadillos, rabbits and opossums, could be to blame for the screwworm making its way into the U.S.

Rollins has blamed former president Joe Biden’s administration for its permissive border policies, which she claims allowed the fly to travel north through illicit cattle trafficking. However, during a hearing in the Texas House last week, Lewis R. “Bud” Dinges, executive director of the Texas Animal Health Commission, told lawmakers otherwise. Epidemiological investigators have found no evidence so far linking Texas cases to illicit movement of cattle from Mexico.

However, a spokesperson for Texas Parks and Wildlife said wildlife is also susceptible to the screwworm. They added that small mammals don’t travel long distances, such as the distance between the last known detection in Mexico to LaPryor, Texas, where the first case was detected this month.

The Trump administration ended a temporary suspension on cattle imports from Mexico last year, just days after the Department of Government Efficiency cut funds to the U.S. Agency of International Development. This allowed livestock to cross the border without any of the monitoring by USAID.

Claim: There aren’t enough sterile flies to stop the screwworm.

A: True, for now. Experts project that 500 million sterile flies are needed weekly to eradicate the screwworm again. These sterile flies are intended to mate with female flies and produce unfertilized eggs, which is how the U.S. eradicated the screwworm in the past.

The sterile fly dispersal facility being built in Edinburg, Texas — which cost $750 million and won’t be open until 2027 — will only produce 100 million flies per week. Another facility in Mexico will produce an additional 60-100 million sterile flies a week, and a facility in Panama is producing about 100 million every week. While there are plans to increase capacity at the Edinburg facility, it still won’t reach the 500 million threshold.

During the Texas House hearing, Dudley Hoskins, under secretary for marketing and regulatory programs for the USDA, told lawmakers that it will take time to produce all the flies needed.

“We’re not going to be able to push it back south until we get 500 million sterile flies,” Hoskins said. “It will take vigilance. It will take responsiveness.”

San Marcos City Council voted 4-3 on June 16 to define data centers and make them ineligible for any part of the city in its zoning laws, citing concerns that these developments would funnel water and energy resources from the local community. The city has no data center projects proposed within its limits, although the threat has reached its borders where at least two data centers have been proposed in surrounding unincorporated parts of Hays County, according to Data Center Map, an industry research tool. Powerless to leverage any of their laws to outright ban data centers, Hays County commissioners recently passed a mostly symbolic resolution to pause data center development over severe water scarcity but the resolution isn’t legally binding.

San Marcos is testing a novel approach to outright ban data centers by exerting its home rule powers, which gives certain bigger cities — 352 of them across the state — the right to create their own zoning codes and control development, land law experts say. Compared to counties and cities without home rule powers or zoning authority, municipalities like San Marcos have a better chance at surviving legal challenges to their data center bans because of their expanded powers, experts say. 

Some counties have tried testing their authority to restrict data centers but have failed. Early June, Hill County rescinded its data center moratorium after a developer sued the county for $100 million. Hood County commissioners also tried to pass a moratorium, but pulled it after state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, a Houston Republican who leads the Senate Committee on Local Government, asked for an attorney general opinion on whether counties have the right to enact such restrictions.

Similar to what he did with Hood County, Bettencourt told The Texas Tribune he plans to challenge San Marcos’ ban, arguing that it violates 2025’s House Bill 2559, which restricts the ability of municipalities to issue indefinite moratoriums on certain types of property developments and the state’s 2023 Death Star Law, which restricts municipalities from enacting local law that contradicts state law. 

“They should not use zoning to ban anything everywhere in the city, because that’s not lawful under the state of Texas guidelines,” Bettencourt said. “[A ban] doesn’t work here, and this will get challenged.” 

Texas is on track to become the top data center market in the U.S but a majority of Texans oppose the construction of data centers in their community, citing concerns over water usage, energy demand, and noise pollution. The issue has become bipartisan, drawing calls for regulation from Gov. Greg Abbott who recently wrote a letter to state regulators outlining proposals for data centers such as eliminating state sales tax exemptions for data centers. 

While San Marcos is the first in Texas to ban data centers, local officials elsewhere are using whatever authority they have to restrict the rapidly growing industry without drawing the ire of the state government. Other home-rule cities are amending their land development code to restrict data centers. Cities and counties are also including restrictions in incentive agreements they enter into with developers. 

“You’re seeing a lot of cities in the age of preemption being creative about things,” said Amanda Rodriguez, a San Marcos city council member.

Multiple cities interested in passing their own bans have reached out to San Marcos to see how the city will survive legal challenges from state lawmakers and private citizens who can also sue the city over its ban. 

“All cities are watching what happens to San Marcos,” said Taylor Burge, a council member for Lockhart. 

Threats to local control

In February, residents packed San Marcos’ City Hall and aired concerns about how a proposed 200-acre development by Highlander SM One LLC, a Fort Worth-based developer, could consume more than 25 million gallons of water annually from local aquifers. The council ultimately rejected the developer’s request to annex into the city.

Rodriguez first proposed the ban at the end of March, but fellow council members rejected it because of how restrictive it was. It received a new life when council member Lorenzo Gonzalez — who originally rejected the change — moved to reconsider it, seconded by council member Alyssa Garza.

“I think we debated this to death,” Gonzalez said in the council hearing. “The promised benefits remained speculative while many of the concerns raised by residents remained unresolved.”

The city’s ban works by defining data centers in the city’s land development code and setting restrictions on this type of future development, effectively making data centers impossible to build in the city.

“I don’t see how any business minded developer would want to reapproach, hoping they’ll read the room,” Garza said.

In response to San Marcos’ ban, Dan Diorio, vice president of state policy for the industry association, the Data Center Coalition, said the ban signals that San Marcos is “closed for business.”

“A local moratorium on data centers discourages further investment, both from the data center industry and other advanced industries,” Diorio said.

Land use experts and city council members believe San Marcos has a better shot at passing a ban because cities have more power in regulating land use than counties. Nearly half of the 248 data centers that are planned for development in Texas will be built in unincorporated areas.

Although land use bans are uncommon, “theoretically, I think the courts could uphold it,” said Robert Paterson, a University of Texas at Austin professor who specializes in land use and environmental planning. As long as the ban aligns with a city’s comprehensive plan — a long-range policy document which governs the protection of public health, safety, and general welfare — it falls within the city’s power.

But, the 2023 Death Star law complicates city authority. The Death Star law “theoretically pulled back home rule authority,” said Paterson, adding that it bars cities from exercising powers more stringent than those the state itself uses. Republicans and business groups argued that the Death Star was needed to undo a “patchwork” of progressive local policies that made it difficult to do business in cities and it remains unclear what local regulations are out-of-bounds under the law.

Paterson said the law has “a chilling effect on our ability to do our police power, protect the public health and safety,” which is one reason cities are being cautious now.

Bettencourt said a ban on any development has never been upheld in court and he is confident that the state will make San Marcos reverse its ban if a developer doesn’t file a private lawsuit first.

“If you overuse existing legal principles, eventually they get challenged, and/or … laws are changed to make it clear that this can’t happen,” Bettencourt said.

He also says San Marcos is violating HB 2559 that states that property development moratoriums can last no longer than 180 days, and according to Bettencourt, this would apply to San Marcos’ “de facto ban.” However, land experts said that this law would not apply to San Marcos because the city changed its zoning laws to ban data centers, and did not issue a moratorium.

While Bettencourt is among the Republican camp that support data centers, San Marcos’ state senator Judith Zaffirini, a Democrat, says the city’s decision reflects concerns that many communities across Texas share and that the City Council acted “decisively and appropriately” to ensure the safety of the community.

“Anytime you’re operating in the state of Texas and you’re wanting to do something that goes against the grain, there’s always that thought in the back of your head,” Rodriguez said about legal pushback to the ban. 

In response to Bettencourt’s plans, Rodriguez said San Marcos’ ban is different from Hood County’s proposed moratorium, which Bettencourt contested using HB 2559. Council members said the Death Star law has yet to be tested in court and they’re willing to try. 

“If they want to make this the precedent case for the bill, they’re gonna have to explain why this is the priority and not addressing the problem [data centers] at hand,” Rodriguez said.

What other municipalities are doing

Bans aren’t the only way to stop data centers. Smaller cities like Lockhart and Kerrville have adopted strict zoning rules that make it difficult for data centers to build, hoping the effect will feel like a ban without immediately triggering legal challenges. Cities that don’t have authority to approve development and counties are exploring other tools to signal or impose restrictions, including through resolutions and tax abatement agreements.

“I think the smartest cities in Texas are already doing this, but they’re doing it in such a way that is not going to raise the hackles of the state Legislature,” Paterson said.

Local lawmakers like Burge are communicating with other city and county officials to figure out what they are permitted to do to stop development in their communities. “This is a big game of telephone,” Burge said. 

To pre-empt legal action, Lockhart and Kerrville have instituted regulations in hopes of banning data centers without having to technically ban them. They worry that outright bans would leave them open to lawsuits they do not have the resources to fight, said Burge.

In May, Lockhart City Council moved to define data centers in its zoning codes. The council limited data centers to one land-use category — heavy industry — confining such development to two areas in the city. 

In addition to zoning restrictions, Burge also said they want to implement restrictions through special use permits, which add another layer of requirements for developers to meet before they are allowed to build. She hopes the “intense filtration” provided by a permit will have the same effect as a ban. 

Like Lockhart, Kerrville City Council updated its zoning code to restrict — but not outright ban — where developers can build data centers. The council also added water capacity approvals, requiring developers to disclose cooling systems and water usage amounts. “My experience is that an outright ban usually ends up more contested,” said Drew Paxton, Kerrville’s director of planning and development.

For municipalities without zoning, like Alvin, they have passed resolutions declaring they don’t want data centers within their city limits. While these resolutions cannot produce anything actionable and are more symbolic, local officials hope state legislators will empower localities like them with more protections, said Dixie Roberts, Alvin’s assistant city manager. 

“Resolutions do not have a lot of meat to it,” said Roberts, but the hope is “to get the word out that the council is not interested in this kind of development.”

Still, cities that are using other ways to restrict data centers instead of ban are not completely ruling out that a developer or the state will thwart their decisions.

“We know the state’s going to keep working on this [data center policies]. We don’t know which direction the state’s going to go, but let’s go ahead and get something in place in case we get a request,” said Kerrville’s Paxton.

Another way for cities and even counties to exert some control over data centers are in their incentive programs, such as Chapter 380, Chapter 381 and Chapter 312 agreements. For example, a city could offer a reduction in their property tax bill and in return, require additional development standards. 

“This is a tool that counties could maybe use in this period of time when they don’t necessarily have a good amount of development authority,” said Kayla Landeros, a land law professor at Baylor University and a former Temple city attorney.

IState lawmakers will likely decide whether to give counties more authority or strip cities of the power to make these kinds of bans, in the next legislative session, depending on what the general reaction is from constituents, said Landeros. San Marcos’ ban will be the first test of which direction state legislators will take.

“Local officials are in the best position to understand the unique needs, infrastructure constraints and priorities of their communities,” Zaffirini said.

Guo Wengui, who fled China a decade ago and reinvented himself as a U.S.-based Communist Party critic, was sentenced in a Manhattan courtroom packed with his supporters by Judge Analisa Torres. She said he “preyed on those seeking to bring Democracy to China,” taking their money so he could live lavishly.

Before he was sentenced, Guo protested his treatment in jail, saying he was taken to the hospital early Monday. He disputed a prosecutor's portrayal of him as a malingerer faking illness, saying he repeatedly vomited as he was returned to jail before being brought to court.

“When I came here, I said: ‘I have a tummy ache, I need to go to the bathroom, I don’t feel well,’” Guo said through an interpreter of his courthouse arrival. Later, Guo wiped his mouth repeatedly with a tissue.

He only briefly addressed the criminal case, defending his intentions by saying in reference to the Chinese Communist Party: “The reason I came to the U.S. was to destroy the CCP."

The judge, in sentencing him, read snippets of letters she received from victims who described losing their life savings and feeling severely anxious and shamed and having family members turn on them for their poor investment choice.

Torres said Guo “takes no responsibility for his actions and instead insists incredibly his conduct caused no loss and harmed no one.” She said he “has called upon supporters to harass and intimidate those who dare to speak out against him.”

The judge ordered Guo to forfeit $889 million in restitution.

Wei Chen, a victim who testified at trial, told Torres that Guo's fraud "destroyed my life" and that of her family.

As Guo left the courtroom after the sentencing, supporters applauded and shouted toward him.

Before his arrest and detention without bail three years ago, Guo grew so close to conservative political strategist Steve Bannon that they announced a joint initiative to overthrow the Chinese government in 2020. He lived in a luxury apartment overlooking Central Park and had joined President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago Florida golf club.

Prosecutors had requested he serve at least 30 years in prison, saying his "astonishing" fraud from 2018 to 2023 “destroyed hundreds of lives” and left “a wreckage of victims and families who have been devastated financially, emotionally, and psychologically.”

Prosecutors said in court papers that his ill-gotten riches fueled “a lifestyle of extraordinary excess and indulgence, a gilded life of mansions, yachts, race cars, designer clothes and luxury furnishings.”

Guo was convicted of nine of 12 criminal charges during a seven-week trial that prosecutors said showcased his deception of thousands of investors in bogus deals that enabled Guo's lavish lifestyle.

In a court filing, Guo's lawyers wrote that he was the victim of the Chinese Communist Party's “grand, pervasive, and life threatening” pursuit of him. They alleged that the party recruited elites in U.S. business, entertainment and politics to conspire against him.

They said in presentence court papers that a lengthy prison term would only validate China's smear campaign and “embolden further efforts to eliminate Chinese dissidents from public life” while defendants in similar cases received prison terms of two-to-four years.

The lawyers noted that a court probation officer wrote to the sentencing judge that Guo, also known as Miles Guo and Ho Wan Kwok, had scars and disfigurements from physical torture he endured in China and subsequent surgeries he underwent from 1993 to 2022 to repair the injuries.

Defense lawyers said Guo's wealth grew as his family became the largest shareholder of China's largest publicly traded securities company, but he became a target of Chinese government officials as he exposed them as corrupt. Eventually, the lawyers wrote, Guo moved to Hong Kong, London and then New York in 2017.

Chinese authorities accused him of rape, kidnapping, bribery and other crimes, but Guo said those allegations were false.

On Monday, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said they had noted the sentencing, and that Guo is wanted by the Chinese government and has an Interpol “Red Notice” on him. The notice is a request to police forces around the world to arrest a suspect, pending extradition.

Prosecutors say Guo convinced hundreds of thousands of people to invest more than $1 billion total in entities he controlled, including his media company, GTV Media Group Inc., and his so-called Himalaya Farm Alliance and the Himalaya Exchange.

Guo, the government alleged in presentence court papers, was “entirely unrepentant” for his crimes after he took advantage of lax U.S. asylum laws to flourish in America.

Bruised around his left eye and across much of his body, 46-year-old Serrano is recovering from the ordeal he endured with his son and mother Wednesday.

The three were buried beneath rubble and twisted steel when their eight-story apartment building collapsed in the city of Caraballeda in La Guaira, the state hardest hit by the magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes.

“It is a miracle from God,” Serrano said as he recalled how, in total darkness, he clawed through debris with his bare hands before rescuing his 8-year-old son and 69-year-old mother with the help of two passersby.

The two earthquakes have killed more than 1,700 people and injured more than 5,000, according to the government. Hundreds of buildings collapsed or were damaged, primarily in La Guaira. Significant damage was also reported in the capital, Caracas, and in the states of Carabobo, Miranda, Aragua and Yaracuy.

La Guaira — known as Vargas until 2019 — is Venezuela’s second-smallest state but one of its most strategically important. About 30 kilometers (19 miles) north of Caracas, it is home to the country’s main international airport and second-largest seaport.

Its roughly 440,000 residents are largely low-income and depend on tourism, commerce and jobs tied to the airport and seaport.

Speaking from his brother's home in Caracas, Serrano recalled the terror he felt last week, his thoughts inevitably returning to Dec. 15, 1999, when he was jolted awake by the screams of their household employee, who had seen a nearby river overflow after days of heavy rain.

From his window, he watched the swollen river sweep away trees, massive boulders and vehicles with people trapped inside, banging on the windows and pleading for help.

Driven by instinct, Serrano fled his fourth-floor apartment with his mother, sister and nanny, climbing to the roof. From there, they watched floodwaters engulf the building’s lower floors as massive trees slammed into its columns, fearing it would collapse like others nearby.

Their fears eased at dawn as the rain stopped and the floodwaters began to recede. After waiting in vain for rescue, the family made their way through mud, rocks, debris and fallen trees to his grandparents’ home in a nearby neighborhood.

The 1999 floods and landslides known as the “Vargas Tragedy” killed 782 people, another 2,000 were reported missing and about 250,000 residents were affected, according to Ángel Rangel, who led rescue operations as director of Venezuela’s Civil Protection agency.

Still shaken by the devastation left by the earthquakes, Serrano believes La Guaira — bordered by the Caribbean Sea and the Ávila mountain range — is under a curse.

“It isn’t normal for such horrible things to happen in the same place,” he said.

Rangel, a disaster specialist, sees it differently. The engineer said the buildings that collapsed in La Guaira were built on terrain formed over centuries by sediment carried down from the surrounding mountains.

“That type of terrain is particularly risky for construction,” Rangel said, adding that building in such areas requires “strict adherence to seismic-resistant engineering standards” adopted after the powerful 1967 earthquake that struck Caracas.

Many of the buildings that collapsed in La Guaira were built in the 1970s, and it remains unclear whether they met those standards.

After losing his home and all his belongings, Serrano said he does not know what comes next. But one thing is certain: He will never live in La Guaira again.

“That’s twice now,” he said. “Sometimes I think if there’s a third time, it’s going to win the battle.”

___

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

Born in Lebanon to Palestinian refugees, Kabouli had never seen her parents’ homeland. But more than just making pretty designs, the threads in her needle were stitching a connection to her heritage.

It's known as “tatreez,” and Kabouli, 48, started doing the traditional form of Palestinian embroidery in her teens to make money. Besides an economic lifeline, tatreez has provided her with a bridge to the land her parents fled during the 1948 mass displacement that Palestinians call their Nakba, or catastrophe.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were expelled or fled their homes in present day Israel during the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation. Israel refused their return.

Kabouli's work allows her to send a message of resilience, of survival.

“We’re still here,” she said. “All what has been happening in Gaza … and we’re still standing and we’ll not forget the cause.”

From refugee camps to stitching circles and from museum halls to online classes, many in the Palestinian diaspora communities worldwide engage with tatreez as far more than a decorative aesthetic.

They're finding in it a celebration of cultural heritage, a bridge to their homeland and dispersed communities and — with its myriad embroidered symbols — a visual language of storytelling. To many, refugees or not, it's become a symbol of Palestinian identity and pride, a vehicle for documenting history and a form of resistance.

With the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, some have also used it to raise funds for people there or stitched designs to focus attention on Palestinian suffering in the enclave.

“We had a lot of people who came and they’re like, ‘OK, we want to do a T-shirt with a Gaza chest or we want to do a scarf with the Gaza motif,’” said Ali Jaafar, general manager of Inaash Association, where Kabouli works. The Lebanese organization provides Palestinian women in refugee camps in Lebanon with much-needed income through tatreez, while also aiming to help preserve and promote the heritage. It sells embroidered fashion, home decor and art pieces, and showcases the art form in exhibitions and museums.

Protecting heritage and ‘struggling through culture’

Efforts to preserve and raise awareness about tatreez in Palestinian communities at home and abroad are part of a larger push to safeguard a heritage and connections to a history and a place that many fear are at risk of being erased.

“Palestinian tatreez is an identity and a document of our presence in every Palestinian village and town," said Maha Saca, founder and director of the Palestinian Heritage Center in Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, adding that old embroidered thobes, or dresses, show the presence of Palestinians in particular locations before the dispersal of many.

“The Palestinian woman has written the story of her village through motifs from her surrounding environment and her beliefs,” Saca said. “We’re struggling through culture and saying we have roots.”

The Palestinian embroidery art form was added in 2021 to UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

In New York, Lina Barkawi, whose small business teaches tatreez, said the “constant fight for liberation and having a Palestinian identity that’s recognized globally is really what has been driving a lot of this documentation.”

A generational practice and window into history

In Arabic, tatreez refers to embroidery in general as well as the specific Palestinian form, which is often a social practice taught through generations by grandmothers and mothers. Some seek formal training.

With motifs that Palestinian women had historically adopted from their surroundings, the old embroidered thobes can offer clues through stitched patterns, design and color about facets of a woman's personal story, her environment and regional identity, Saca said.

In the Palestinian context, such connections to time and place, including areas now in Israel, gain added importance as testament to what was, she said. “How do we have a Jaffa thobe if we hadn’t been in Jaffa?" she said. "We write history on our thobes.”

There's also an element of continuity. Saca said her grandmother’s embroidered wedding thobe bears the hallmarks of Bethlehem dresses, and that her own granddaughter’s baptism dress included embroideries copied from that dress.

Tatreez also can be political, both through preservation and creation.

“Just being able to have some of the dresses from pre-1948 is a political act,” Barkawi said.

There's also the making of the so-called “intifada thobe” that included embroidered political and Palestinian symbols, such as the flag. It's linked to the “first intifada,” or uprising, which erupted in 1987 against Israel’s occupation and was met with a fierce Israeli response.

Stitching, mourning and documenting

After the war in Gaza, which was triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, fashion designer Hama Hinnawi expressed grief through tatreez work. Tatreez is usually colorful, she said. But that was no moment for color.

The result? Black embroidery on black fabric, a statement of mourning for the killings, destruction and displacement in Gaza. She's also experimented with turning some iconic scenes from the war into new embroidery motifs.

“We have a big responsibility on our shoulders to tell this story, not to be buried for the next generations … through tatreez, through art, through speaking.”

Born in Jordan to Palestinian parents, Hinnawi wanted to bring awareness to heritage through her fashion brand by marrying tatreez with contemporary fashion.

To her, tatreez simply means home. It’s “identity, pride, storytelling,” said Hinnawi, who shuttles between Chicago and Jordan.

She's provided embroidery work opportunities to Palestinian women in refugee camps in Jordan and talked in the U.S. about tatreez. Before the war, she also worked with women in Gaza.

Barkawi runs an online community of Palestinian and non-Palestinian embroiderers, some of whom have created designs sold to raise funds for Gaza families. One incorporates a “water and seeds” motif with an embroidered message to “Feed Gaza Now.”

Members in different countries recreated a tapestry that once hung in a bombed Gaza home, each stitching a part and mailing it to another.

Born in the U.S. to a Palestinian father and Panamanian mother, Barkawi said learning about tatreez deepened her Palestinian identity.

New dresses with woven stories

Embroidering her first thobe took two years. Barkawi incorporated motifs with personal meanings, such as palm trees that represent her name in Arabic. She added orchids, the national flower of Panama, for her mom.

Technically imperfect, it was the perfect dress for her Islamic marriage ceremony.

“I embedded my story as a Palestinian in the diaspora into this dress.”

In Lebanon, Kabouli, too, once dreamed of owning a tatreez piece for her wedding trousseau. She couldn’t afford one.

After their parents died, an older sister had turned to tatreez with Inaash to help support the large family. Kabouli learned from her.

Now a production supervisor at Inaash in Beirut, Kabouli sees her younger self in the women working in refugee camps in Lebanon, many in the south, which was hard hit by the latest Israel-Hezbollah war. The vibrancy of tatreez often contrasts with harsh living conditions in camps amid employment and other restrictions the refugees face. Contending with power cuts, women, eager to finish a piece and get paid, may work on rooftops to grasp the last ray of sunlight, Jaafar said.

Besides the income, Kabouli said doing tatreez can be grounding, almost meditative.

She has another yearning: to see her parents’ homeland. They came from an area in what’s now Israel.

For now, tatreez provides her with hope.

“I don’t feel like I am far away. I keep working on Palestinian heritage, following the cause,” she said. “It connects me to my homeland, especially since we’re deprived of it.”

___

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

With the shootout tied at 2-all after four rounds, Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou made a strong save of Crysencio Summerville's attempt, batting it away with his left hand. Saibari then sent the winner into the low left corner as goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen went the other direction. The midfielder tore off his shirt and screamed with joy as he was mobbed by teammates.

Earlier in the shootout with Morocco trailing 1-0, Verbruggen appeared to have stopped an attempt by Soufiane Rahimi, but the goalkeeper couldn’t secure the ball and deflected it over the line with the back of his leg.

“We know when we do everything on the pitch, it’s God that gives something back to us as well,” Morocco head coach Mohamed Ouahbi said. “We give all the energy that we have on the field. Rahimi’s goal could have not been a goal, but it went in thankfully.”

The Netherlands had reached at least the Round of 16 in 11 previous World Cups, including a quarterfinal appearance four years ago in Qatar, when Morocco made a breakthrough run to become the first team from Africa to reach the semifinals. In this year's expanded tournament, 32 teams reached the knockout stage for the first time.

Morocco moves on to face co-host Canada in the Round of 16 on Saturday in Houston. The Atlas Lions previously beat Canada 2-1 in the group stage of the 2022 World Cup.

Morocco was on the front-foot for major stretches of the game Monday. The Netherlands instead focused on counterattacking.

“I think Morocco has gained everybody’s respect now,” said Ouahbi, who took over as head coach in March. “I saw (the Netherlands’ style of play) as a form of respect.”

Cody Gakpo scored in the 72nd minute for Netherlands. After the goal, which was assisted by Summerville, the Dutch bench ran onto the field to embrace the 27-year-old Gakpo, who broke down in tears. Gakpo and his partner, Noa van der Bij, recently announced that they lost their unborn child.

Morocco’s Issa Diop tied it in the 91st. Chemsdine Talbi sent a looping cross into the box from about 28 yards out on the left side and connected with Diop for a clean header that Verbruggen had no chance to stop.

Neither team had a strong scoring opportunity in 30 minutes of extra time at Estadio BBVA.

In the second half of extra time, Netherlands head coach Ronald Koeman used one of his substitutions to bring on Justin Kluivert. Kluivert was one of three Dutch players to miss his penalty.

“The last substitution I made was to bring in Justin (Kluivert) because he’s one of the best at penalty shootouts,” Koeman said. “But he missed his penalty and that’s even more bitter for him and for us.”

It was the third consecutive time the Netherlands has been eliminated from the World Cup in a penalty shootout.

It was the second game of this tournament to conclude with a shootout. Paraguay beat Germany on penalties earlier Monday.

The teams entered with the highest combined ranking of any Round of 32 match. Morocco was sixth in the world and the Netherlands was seventh.

“We need to be telling ourselves that no one can stop us,” Ouahbi said. “Nobody is unbeatable. If we get things wrong, we’ll go home.”

___

Ethan Wilcox is a student in the University of Georgia’s Carmical Sports Media Institute.

___

See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

"Well for a long time, before the civil rights movement, it meant to be more inclined toward states' rights and limited government," says Meacham, the National Constitution Center's Semiquincentennial Scholar. He then pauses, and asks to start over, recalling how President Franklin Delano Roosevelt evoked Jefferson as an “apostle of liberty” who would have supported the U.S. fighting the Nazis in World War II.

You could define it in so many ways. Historians may argue over the “greatness” of individual founders, but as the country's 250th anniversary approaches many agree that no one's life and work resonates like Jefferson's. He embodied the “very best and the very worst” of the United States, Meacham says.

And a great deal in between.

America’s birth is rooted in his most profound contradiction — the man who proclaimed that “all men are created equal” while being a slaveholder to the end of his life. But Jefferson advanced and explored both sides of so many issues and world views that have defined the country's path: agrarian self-sufficiency and worldly innovation, pluralism and separatism, limited government and dreams of an “empire of liberty.”

“There is no more malleable figure in early America than Jefferson,” says Andrew Burstein, a professor of history at Louisiana State University who has summed up Jefferson's legacy in a book he published a decade ago: “Democracy’s Muse: How Thomas Jefferson became an FDR Liberal, a Reagan Republican, and a Tea Party Fanatic, All the While Being Dead.”

“There have been times in American history when just about everyone would have considered themselves ‘Jeffersonian,’" says historian Peter S. Onuf, author of numerous works on Jefferson. “Yet even at those moments, he was a controversial figure.”

It's an argument without end

Jefferson's legacy is debated even in settings that owe their existence to him.

On the campus of the University of Virginia, the college he founded and regarded as a signature achievement, stands a memorial to thousands of enslaved people who lived and worked there.

At Monticello, the mountaintop estate and plantation outside of Charlottesville where Jefferson lived when not in public office, a banner near the entrance features the Declaration and the caption, “After all, our guy wrote it.” But once on the grounds, reminders of his enslavement of hundreds are found throughout, from its “Burial Ground for Enslaved People” that includes dozens of graves to an exhibit dedicated to Sally Hemings, the enslaved woman with whom Jefferson is widely believed to have had six children.

Monticello's director of historic interpretation and audience engagement, Brandon Dillard, cites the staff's mission “to tell unflinching stories of America’s complex origins and fitful progress toward the ideals Jefferson articulated in the Declaration of Independence."

Jefferson regarded Monticello as a refuge from the times, but the times inevitably find their way here. A guide on the gardens and grounds tour points out that a foldable plant Jefferson tried and failed to grow — the “Mimosa Pudica,” or “sensitive plant” — now thrives because of climate change. The visitors' center is LEED Gold-certified for green energy, Dillard says, and geothermal systems have been installed in other buildings for temperature control.

Monticello raises questions old and new about race. Virtually all of the guides are white, an issue Dillard notes is prevalent nationwide. A recent survey released by the American Association for State and Local History found that around just 10% of workers at museums, historic sites and historical societies were nonwhite and that many “Latino/a/x, and multiracial respondents reported higher rates of discrimination and harassment.” (Dillard declined to answer in detail the experience of guides of color at Monticello.)

There is a Jefferson for every occasion

Jefferson’s contradictions date back through much of American history; he was claimed by both sides of the Civil War and both sides of the civil rights movement.

Nineteenth-century Confederates and 20th-century segregationists cited his defense of states' rights, while Abraham Lincoln and civil rights leaders emphasized Jefferson as the author of the Declaration of Independence. In the space of a few months in 1963, he would be invoked in the inaugural speech of Alabama Gov. George Wallace as he vowed defiance of federal efforts to integrate the state’s schools and by the Rev. Martin Luther King as he delivered his “I Have a Dream" speech during the March on Washington.

Roosevelt enlisted Jefferson as an ideological ally for the New Deal (the Thomas Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C., began as a New Deal project) and a former New Dealer-turned conservative, President Ronald Reagan, held up Jefferson decades later as a foe of wasteful spending. Jefferson has been cited often by free-speech advocates for his crucial support for the Bill of Rights, while President Donald Trump has quoted Jefferson's 1807 lament that “Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper” as an implicit endorsement of his modern war against “fake news.”

Jefferson has also been placed on either side of today's divide over immigration. Ibram X. Kendi, author of “How to Be an Anti-Racist,” cites his well-documented belief in colonization for Black people as inspiration for contemporary scapegoating and xenophobia. Meanwhile, at a time when the Trump administration is aggressively trying to restrict immigration and even denaturalize some citizens, Monticello continues its decades-old July 4 naturalization ceremonies, with Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger scheduled as this year's keynote speaker.

“As new citizens share their personal stories every Fourth of July," Dillard says, “we are reminded that the values uplifted in that Declaration are values toward which people from all backgrounds aspire.”

Many Monticello visitors, many reasons to visit

Monticello attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. They come for many reasons.

Erin Porter is a Virginia native in her 40s who until recently had never been to Monticello and wanted to cross it off her bucket list, while Nathan Jaycox of Connecticut is a former nuclear engineer now seeking to absorb history for a class he hopes to teach. Duane Cromwell, a longtime resident of Vancouver, was here on a very personal mission.

Cromwell, 70, grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, where she was taught that slavery was “an economic necessity” and learned nothing about Jefferson's history of enslavement. In town last month for a family reunion, she arrived at Monticello anxious to get past the “whitewashed Southern version” and the myths of evil “yankees” and the victimized rebels who defied them.

“Did you (ever) notice kudzu growing up over trees and buildings while in the South? It is an invasive plant brought to the region to control erosion. Well, it is like racism. It is pervasive, part of the horizon, always there but soon you don’t notice it,” she says.

“Having said that, I do think that people do go along better, there is more interactions, relationships than when I was growing up. Everyone needs each other and in the South, there is a great sense of humor and friendliness that help people navigate the awkward moments.”

For Cromwell, Monticello was a chance to educate herself, to become a better person — and, like countless others before her, using Thomas Jefferson as a prism.

“Isn’t that what it’s all about?”

___

AP National Writer Hillel Italie frequently writes about American history.

Around 3:30 p.m. Monday, authorities responded to an apartment complex in the 12000 block of Culebra Road, near Roft Road.

A man and woman in their mid-20s were found dead, BCSO said. A firearm was recovered between the bodies.

According to a BCSO spokesperson at the scene, authorities are investigating the possibility of a murder-suicide, but they said it is too early to determine.

BCSO said a family member had been attempting to reach one of the people since Saturday evening. When they were unable to make contact, the family member went to the complex.

After the family member spoke with the property manager, the maintenance team forced entry into the unit, where they found the two dead, BCSO said.

BCSO said it appears an altercation occurred between the two, and authorities are not currently looking for any suspects.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Read also:

• Deputies called for welfare check on Bexar County man 1 day before shooting him, BCSO says

Mexico has not won a knockout match since 1986, but the team heads into the knockouts unscathed from group play and with the 13th-best odds to win it all, per DraftKings Sportsbook.

They face an opponent in Ecuador, who finished third in Group E after a dramatic upset victory over Germany, which just barely qualified them for the knockout stage.

Mexican midfielder Obed Vargas was asked on Monday how his team, who’s favored, will match up appropriately against Ecuador.

“By doing what we’ve been doing,” Vargas said. “Being solid on defense, giving our all and trying to play our best football. I think we already have a very good identity, and we’re going to rely on what got us here.”

Mexico and Ecuador last played in a friendly in October, which ended 1-1. Now, Mexico gets Ecuador again on home turf at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City.

Mexican fans have taken to the streets and public squares throughout the World Cup to show their appreciation for their national team, making a case to be considered among the most passionate soccer fans in the world.

Those demonstrations haven’t gone unnoticed to Team Mexico. In fact, they relish the support.

“First of all, I want to thank them because we feel their support on the pitch,” Jesús Gallardo said. “Whether they’re at the Azteca or not, we feel that support. And honestly, it motivates us. We want to give back to them. They deserve it, and we hope to keep bringing them plenty of joy.”

Team Mexico isn’t taking their home support for granted, either.

The Mexicans have had the convenience of playing every match on home grass so far in the tournament, while Ecuador has traveled over 3,000 miles with stops in East Rutherford, Kansas City and Philadelphia, traveling out of their base camp in Columbus, Ohio.

“I think the Azteca is a very important, historic venue, and having our fans there gives us an extra boost,” said Armando González. “But I know (Ecuador) won’t use, ‘Oh, we traveled a lot,’ as an excuse. They’re going to leave it all on the field, so we can’t afford to give anything away.”

González, like 10 of his 26 teammates, had never played in a World Cup before 2026. The manager of the Mexican national team, Javier Aguirre, is in his fifth appearance.

Aguirre was a part of the ‘86 team that last won a knockout match as a player. He then served as an assistant coach for the national team in 1994 and later as the head coach in 2002 and 2010.

40 years after his first World Cup experience, Aguirre’s team may have its best opportunity yet to break the infamous streak of seven straight knockout round losses.

“These are very evenly matched matches,” Aguirre said. “I think tomorrow’s match will be the same. (Ecuador is) a team with World Cup stats showing that they don’t let you play much in your own half. They win the ball back high up the pitch, one of the best at doing so among the 48 teams participating.

“All I can say is that we have to play an almost perfect game to stay in the competition.”

This year, Mexico became just the sixth nation in World Cup history to win all three group games without giving up a goal.

Should they make it past Ecuador, Mexico will have a chance to slay the demons of “the fifth game curse,” or as it’s known in Mexico, “El Quinto Partido” (the Curse of the Fifth Game), the game the knockout rounds used to begin before the expansion to 48 teams this year.

Finally breaking that streak is something Mexican fans would most certainly take to the streets to celebrate.

“Mexican fans are passionate and joyful,” Aguirre said. “They show up and travel a lot. But now, we are truly aware that we have an entire country behind us, and that motivates us immensely, really immensely. So, I’d say we are all, myself included, very excited about what’s coming up.”

Read also:

• US finishes World Cup group play with 3-2 loss to Turkey

• SAHARAN DUST: Less dust tomorrow & the rest of the week
• STEADY WEATHER: Very little will change through July 4th
• COASTAL SHOWERS: Some spotty rain closer to the coast
• JULY 4TH: Partly cloudy, mid-90s

FORECAST

TUESDAY

Tomorrow will be pretty much a repeat of today’s weather, with one exception: Saharan dust will thin out, so skies will not be as hazy. Expect brief morning clouds, with abundant afternoon sun. Highs will be in the low- to mid-90s, with a heat index of close to 100°. But here’s the thing: that’s average for this time of year, not exceptionally hot.

COASTAL SHOWERS

As the week progresses, the weather around San Antonio will stay the same. However, if you live closer to the coast, you may see a brief, daytime shower from the seabreeze. Chances these make it to the metro area stand at only 10%.

JULY 4TH

Toasty and humid with plenty of sun. Around the time for fireworks, temps will be falling into the 80s, and it’ll be breezy with a wind from the southeast at 10-20 mph.

QUICK WEATHER LINKS

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

The city has not publicly revealed a full list of specific budget cuts being considered, but some possibilities have come up during budget discussions or previous plans, including trims to city funding for two nonprofits, the San Antonio Botanical Garden and the San Antonio Book Festival.

However, the mayor has suggested going further and scrapping their funding, though her reasons for each are different.

She has also appeared to advocate for even steeper charges to Fiesta event organizers than the city has already proposed.

Botanical Garden

City staff have been planning since at least last year to trim a $1.2 million contribution to the San Antonio Botanical Garden down to $1 million in the upcoming, FY 2027 budget.

In a June 18 budget discussion, though, Jones said she wanted to take the Botanical Garden’s funding “to zero,” saying it has a ticket fee and a fundraiser, “Bubbles and Blooms” and would “be okay.”

Her singling out of the nonprofit seemed to be more about using it as an example of where to draw the line for funding.

“I want to see a full list of these things, Erik, that if you charge a ticket fee, they can figure it out,” she told City Manager Erik Walsh.

“If we’re talking about cutting nutrition centers, we’re not going to fund the botanical gardens.”

San Antonio Botanical Garden President and CEO Katherine Trumble told KSAT the mayor’s comments were “very unexpected.”

Admissions revenue covers about 20% of its operational budget, she said, while the city money covers about 7%. However, she said a portion of the city money also funds capital expenses.

Of the garden’s 39 acres, she said, 38 are city-owned acres and facilities.

While Trumble said the Botanical Garden was aware and prepared for the planned $200,000 reduction in funding, taking it down to “zero” as the mayor wants would force it to focus on maintaining the city’s buildings and grounds.

“And so that could affect the growth potential in our school tours, she said. “It could affect growth potential and our access programs.”

Book Festival

Similarly, the city’s $150,000 general fund contribution to San Antonio Book Festival had already been marked for a $50,000 cut as part of last year’s budget process.

Unlike the San Antonio Botanical Garden, the event is free, but Jones questioned why the city was bankrolling it and not private philanthropy.

“I’m not saying we don’t need a book festival. I was just there this last time and it was great. But these are not things that the public needs to be paying for,” Jones said. “Military veterans affairs, greater chamber...can you pick that up?”

The city’s FY 2026 budget shows the book festival also receives another $98,000 in arts and tourism-related dollars from another part of the city budget.

Executive Director Lisa Ayres says the festival has other sources of funding in its $1.2 million budget, but “every dollar counts.”

The group wants to grow its event, she said, and if it isn’t able to replace the city’s $150,000, that could mean reducing the number of authors they bring in or how many school visits they pay for.

Even if it were able to fill the hole in the short-term, she said, “I think that it would be hard to sustain that for a while. The city investment is very important to what we do.”

KSAT is also a media partner for San Antonio Book Festival.

Fiesta cost-sharing

City staff have also suggested “additional cost recovery” for Fiesta events — essentially having event organizers kick in more for the city’s support of parades and other events during Fiesta.

City staff have previously said the city spends $3 million more on Fiesta than it receives.

Walsh told council members they were aiming to recoup 50% of the expenses, bringing in another $700,00 each year.

“But that will ultimately have an impact on some of the cost of those events, I suspect,” he said.

Jones seemed to suggest the city could push it further, though, saying the $700,000 was just one event.

“Again, if you charge a ticket fee, we should not be subsidizing your things,” Jones said in the June 18 briefing. “And you can figure out how to right-cost that.”

The Rey Feo Consejo Educational Foundation instituted a $5 gate fee for the traditionally-free Fiesta de los Reyes at Market Square this year because of its own security costs.

Elaine De Los Santos, the group’s interim executive director, told KSAT on Monday they pay Centro San Antonio for cleanup services during and after their event, but they don’t pay the city for on-duty San Antonio Police officers doing crowd control.

Asked how that might affect the gate fee if they had to chip in for policing costs, De Los Santos said her group would have to talk with the city first.

What to cut?

Neither Ayres nor Trumble want to lose the amount of funding Jones is eyeing. However, they didn’t want to suggest where the money might come from instead, either.

“I couldn’t speak to that,” Trumble told KSAT, while Ayres said “I would never point another nonprofit out.”

Ultimately, it will be the mayor and council’s decision. City staff are scheduled to deliver a draft budget, complete with suggested cuts, for them to begin considering on Aug. 13.

Read also:

• New bill could raise federal minimum wage to $25 an hour nationwide
• 550,000 Texans lost food stamp access since the ‘Big Beautiful Bill.’ Food banks are feeling the strain.

More than 15% of SNAP recipients last year are no longer receiving benefits, according to public data. Feeding Texas, which represents food banks across the state, attributed the decline to new eligibility rules and work requirements under House Resolution 1.

As families lose access to SNAP, San Antonio Food Bank CEO Eric Cooper said he has seen more people turn to the food bank.

“I’m anxious because I know with these policy changes,” Cooper said. “My line got longer.”

Cooper said that for every meal provided by the food bank, the SNAP program is able to provide nine.

“If there’s a 10% cut to SNAP, the food bank would have to double in size to be able to fill that hole,” Cooper said. “There’s just no way that we could ever step up to that kind of volume.”

Texas has always had work requirements in place to receive SNAP benefits; however, the new legislation removed waivers for adults older than 60, parents with older children, and veterans, which represents a large portion of San Antonio’s population.

“We’re a big military city. Some of those waivers were specifically for veterans, people that suffered from PTSD or had mental health challenges,” Cooper said. “Those waivers went away.”

Of all the recipients who lost access to benefits, Feeding Texas said more than half were children.

“There’s kids that aren’t going to get good nutrition,” Cooper said, “and there’ll be a healthcare cost to that.”

Weeding out ‘fraud’

Supporters of the benefit cuts have pointed to fraud as justification, but Feeding Texas said less than one-tenth of a percent of state benefits are issued fraudulently.

“Fraud is generally, I think, overstated in SNAP,” Feeding Texas CEO Celia Cole said.

The bigger documented problem, Cole said, is payment errors.

Nine percent of SNAP payments in Texas were inaccurate over the last financial year, paying either too much or too little.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture clamped down on these inaccurate payments and issued a deadline that Texas must reduce its payment error rate below 6% within the next fiscal year or face a financial penalty of $709 million.

Cole said states were not given adequate time to reach the new error rate standard. Feeding Texas is now asking Congress for a two-year extension to meet the target — the same extension already granted to other states with higher error rates.

“What we’re pushing Congress to do is create a level playing field for all states and give Texas the same opportunity to meet that 6% target as states that are doing way worse,” Cole said.

How to receive SNAP benefits

The San Antonio Food Bank provides additional services beyond just fresh food.

Anyone looking to apply to receive SNAP benefits can get assistance from the food bank by calling 210-431-8326 or meeting with the benefits assistance team in person at its office at 5200 Historic Old Highway 90.

If you know someone who needs help, you can also start an e-referral for them, and a member of the San Antonio Food Bank will reach out within 24-48 hours to assist with the application.

Read also:

• San Antonio Food Bank calls on students to give back this summer break

Portland sent forwards Jerami Grant and Kris Murray to the Grizzlies as part of the deal.

It’s a big swing by the Trail Blazers and could suggest Portland — with new owner Tom Dundon, whose Carolina Hurricanes just won the Stanley Cup — might not be done making moves. Morant adds to a logjam at point guard right now for Portland, with Jrue Holiday, Damian Lillard and Scoot Henderson also on the current roster.

Morant has averaged 22.4 points for his career but has played only 79 games over the last three seasons because of injuries and suspensions — including a 25-game banishment after he was seen on a livestream holding a gun while he was in the passenger seat of a vehicle. That came not long after an eight-game suspension for flashing a gun in a Denver-area nightclub, also captured on social media.

The suspensions, combined, cost Morant — who was Rookie of the Year after being the No. 2 selection in the 2019 draft, as well as the league's Most Improved Player in 2021-22 when he appeared to be on a path toward superstardom — about $9 million in lost salary. He said in April 2025 that he's made his peace with being a lightning rod for constant criticism.

“I’m kind of used to it,” Morant said at that time. “I was pretty much a villain for two years now. Every little thing, if somebody can say something negative about me, it’s going to be out there. So, yeah. I don’t care no more.”

Grant averaged 18.6 points last season for Portland and will be joining his sixth team by going to Memphis. Murray averaged 5.8 points this past season for the Trail Blazers.

Morant's MIP-award year in 2021-22 saw Memphis win 56 games, tying a franchise record. That team was built around a young core four of Morant, Dillon Brooks, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Desmond Bane.

And now, they're all gone. Brooks played only one more season with the Grizzlies after that and has changed teams twice since, Bane went to Orlando last summer and Jackson was traded to Utah in February.

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AP Sports Writer Teresa M. Walker in Nashville, Tennessee, contributed to this report.

___

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

He made his first start a memorable one.

Canale scored on the first sudden-death penalty kick, Orlando Gill made two key saves in the shootout, and Paraguay beat Germany 4-3 on penalties Monday to earn the biggest upset of the 2026 World Cup.

It was a major triumph for the landlocked South American country of 7 million people that's surrounded by soccer giants like Argentina and Brazil. And it was the latest surprising exit by Germany, a four-time champion that has struggled at the World Cup since it last lifted the trophy in 2014.

“I think we deserved one more game and to be honest, considering everything that was said, everything we went through,” Canale said. “What I want to highlight from our team is how united we are. ... Today was a game we really needed to show our true colors.”

Paraguayans celebrated in the streets of the capital, Asunción, screaming, jumping and hugging when the match ended. Some cried and dropped to their knees in disbelief, with the familiar beat of the team’s song “Soy Albirrojo” reverberating through the crowd.

Paraguay became the first team to defeat Germany in a penalty shootout at the World Cup. The Germans missed three of six penalty tries, the last by Jonathan Tah, who blasted his attempt high over the crossbar in the first sudden-death round, setting up Canale for the winner. Tah's miss followed a save by German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer of Fabian Balbuena's attempt that would have won it for Paraguay.

Tah also thought he had the go-ahead goal in extra time. He headed in a corner kick by Nathaniel Brown in the 102nd minute, but officials concluded after a video review that Waldemar Anton has pushed Gill to the ground before the shot and the goal was disallowed.

The Round of 32 match ended 1-1 after extra time. Paraguay took the lead when Julio Enciso scored on a header late in the first half, but Kai Havertz equalized in the 52nd minute for Germany.

“We had to analyze every player, every detail. Thanks to that I was able to only miss two penalties,” Gill said. “This is for all the people of Paraguay.”

Paraguay, which entered the match ranked 41st by FIFA, became the deepest betting long shot to win a match in this World Cup. Germany came in as the 10th-ranked team in the world.

The Paraguayans will face the winner of Tuesday’s match between France and Sweden in the Round of 16 on Saturday in Philadelphia. A win on the 250th anniversary of the United States' founding would send Paraguay back to Foxborough for the quarterfinals on July 9.

Germany had won six of seven penalty shootouts in major tournaments, including six straight since losing to Czechoslovakia in the 1976 European Championship final.

“It’s not enough for German football,” coach Julian Nagelsmann said.

In the only previous World Cup match between the teams, Germany beat Paraguay 1-0 in the round of 16 at the 2002 tournament. Nearly a quarter-century later, Paraguay got its revenge.

Paraguay had appeared in five previous knockout games but failed to score in each. It had advanced only once, winning on penalty kicks against Japan in the round of 16 at the 2010 tournament in South Africa. It fell that year to eventual champion Spain in the quarterfinals.

Monday was Germany’s first knockout game since the 2014 final in Brazil, when the Germans beat Argentina 1-0. The Germans were eliminated in the group stage at the last two tournaments.

“We had very big plans for this World Cup. It’s very difficult to disappoint again,” Havertz said. “It was difficult to create chances and keep the pace.”

Paraguay broke the early stalemate in the 42nd minute Monday with some perfect ball movement to set up Enciso.

Miguel Almiron split Germany’s Aleksandar Pavlovic and Nathaniel Brown with a left-footed pass to Matias Galarza. Galarza sent a cross to Enciso, who was unmarked by Germany’s defenders and easily headed it past Neuer.

In the second half, Havertz took a cross from Florian Wirtz, which he got just enough head on to redirect it past Gill.

Germany, whose 10 goals in the group stage was tied for the most of any team, struggled to find a way through Paraguay’s 4-5-1 setup. The Germans had 78% of the possession in the first half.

Paraguay was without defender Omar Alderete, who left with an injury in the second half of its 0-0 draw against Australia. Canale started in his place.

Paraguay opened the World Cup with a 4-1 loss to the United States, then beat Turkey 1-0 while playing the entire second half with 10 men. A scoreless draw against Australia was good enough for Paraguay to reach the knockout stage as the third-place finisher from Group D.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Divers with the fire department found the body just after 9 a.m., around 12 to 15 feet deep in the water and about 20 feet from shore, fire officials said.

On Monday, the fire department identified the boy as Jaylen Robinson. According to the city, he was from San Antonio.

Emergency dispatchers received a 911 call just before 6:30 p.m. Sunday reporting a child who was in the water and had not resurfaced.

Witnesses told officials two children were in the water when both began to struggle. A bystander pulled one child from the lake, but when the bystander returned for Robinson, they could not locate him in the water.

The lake remained closed for the rest of the day on Sunday as officials searched Robinson. Search efforts were later suspended and resumed at 7 a.m. Monday.

Boerne Fire Department Chief Manuel Casarez told reporters to keep safety in mind with the Fourth of July approaching.

“Can’t really trust the waters of the lake as much as you’d like to,” Casarez said. “I know everybody’s trying to have a good time, but always keep safety in mind.”

Multiple other agencies assisted in the search, including the Boerne Police Department, the Sisterdale Volunteer Fire Department, the Kendall County Sheriff’s Office and others.

Sunday marks at least the second drowning reported this summer, after an 80-year-old man drowned over Memorial Day weekend.

Read also:

• 80-year-old man drowns at Boerne City Lake on Memorial Day weekend, city says

The firefighters were part of a specialized crew that goes into remote areas by helicopter to quickly put out new and rapidly escalating wildfires, federal officials said Monday.

Their deaths Saturday came almost 13 years to the day since an elite crew of 19 wildland firefighters died when they were trapped in a steep canyon in Yarnell, Arizona.

Like this weekend's victims, the men in Arizona tried to deploy emergency shelters that are a “last resort” for firefighters when there's no other way out. Investigators didn't blame anyone for the deaths in 2013, but cited radio communication problems that contributed to the Granite Mountain Hotshots becoming trapped. Arizona's workplace safety commission also fined the state's forestry division for not pulling them out.

Wildfires have erupted over the past week all across the West, fueled by months of dry weather and a record lack of snow in some places this past winter. Wildfire experts have warned for months that extreme fire dangers are likely this summer.

U.S. Wildland Fire Service Chief Brian Fennessy said he would not speculate about whether the crew overrun by the weekend fire in Colorado should have been where they were.

“I will say the fact that they were there was, I’m 100% sure, based on good decision-making,” Fennessy said during a news conference Monday. “The fires in this region over the decades, you know, killed many firefighters. They weren’t being foolish. They weren’t being careless. They were there because they thought they could do what needed to be done to suppress that fire. And many times the weather changes.”

With more than two dozen large fires burning, almost 8,000 wildland firefighters and dozens of firefighting helicopters have been deployed. About half the largest blazes are in Alaska while the rest are mostly in Western states.

Even as firefighting resources were increasingly strained, evacuations were ordered near seven fires, including in Arizona, Washington state, New Mexico and Utah. About 800 people living in and around the small town of Beulah in eastern Colorado were told to evacuate as a wildfire threatened the area on Monday afternoon, Gov. Jared Polis said.

“We're really at the mercy of the winds,” Polis said.

Firefighters were part of a specialized crew

The U.S. Forest Service and Interior Department identified the firefighters killed as Emily Barker, 38, of Clinton Township, Michigan; Nick Hutcherson, 27, of Glendale, Arizona; and Sydney Watson, 26, of Warrior, Alabama.

Two others who were with them sustained burn injuries. They were in stable condition but remained hospitalized in the Denver area, officials said at Monday's news conference.

“The loss we experience here is not felt by just one agency. It is felt by an entire wildland fire community,” Fennessy said. “We grieve together, we support one another and we continue the mission together.”

A long line of fire trucks and vehicles from a wide array of emergency response agencies made their way slowly through Grand Junction, Colorado, Monday with their lights flashing. A scattering of people, some with their hands on their hearts, watched silently from the sidewalk as they passed.

The procession ended at a cemetery, and the bodies of two of the firefighters draped in American flags were taken into a funeral home as officials from fire agencies saluted.

The three killed were assigned to a Helitack crew that can be dropped into remote areas by helicopters and whose mission is to prevent new fires from growing into out-of-control blazes. But it can be extremely dangerous, often taking place in areas where fires are rapidly expanding.

Watson worked for the Wildland Fire Service and the other two firefighters who died were assigned to the Forest Service. All were part of an interagency response to fires just west of Grand Junction.

The Snyder Fire in the area has burned about 44 square miles (114 square kilometers), authorities said.

Watson's death was the first within the the new Wildland Fire Service, which was created within the Department of Interior earlier this year to coordinate firefighting on public lands.

The deaths are being investigated by the Forest and Wildland Fire services, a process that typically results in recommendations for how to prevent or reduce the risk of a similar accident. Agencies can also convene an accident review board to suggest any further actions.

High wildfire threat for much of this week

More hot, dry and windy weather across the Southwest will elevate the fire threat at least until the weekend, according to the national Storm Prediction Center.

Among the concerns were high winds in the mountains of Colorado and Wyoming, in the Black Hills of South Dakota and across portions of the High Plains.

Utah already has restricted firework usage going into the July Fourth holiday.

The national “preparedness level” for wildfires was increased to a 4, on a scale of 1 to 5, the National Interagency Fire Center said Monday. That’s a sign resources are beginning to be strained, and officials warned of a high potential for new, large fires in multiple parts of the country in coming days.

There are enough firefighting resources for now across the Rocky Mountains to deal with the blazes, said Mike Morgan, director of Colorado’s Division of Fire Prevention and Control. But that could change quickly if conditions worsen in other parts of the country, Morgan said, adding that crews that battle fires on the ground already are in short supply.

“We know hand crews are always a hot commodity. We're getting a little short on those, so that would be one I would say we're a little concerned with,” Morgan said. “At the moment, I would say I feel pretty good about where we're at, but I'm very concerned about where we go.”

So far this year, wildfires have burned more than 4,800 square miles (12,400 square kilometers) — the most by this point in the year since 2022 and significantly above the 10-year average.

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Brown reported from Billings, Montana, and Seewer from Toledo, Ohio.

U.S. President Donald Trump said the Islamic Republic had requested a meeting with U.S. counterparts and that they planned to convene Tuesday in Doha, Qatar.

But one of Iran's senior negotiators denied talks had been scheduled. And the spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry said Tehran was sending its delegation to Qatar, a key mediator in the negotiations, to discuss terms of the interim deal without involving the U.S.

Hostilities mounted in recent days in the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil had been shipped before war began. After four days of trading strikes, both sides appeared to pause their attacks Monday.

The U.S. and Iran agreed to an interim deal earlier this month that calls for Tehran to dilute its stockpile of enriched uranium. It also waives U.S.-backed oil sanctions on the country, calls for free traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and gives each side 60 days to hammer out broader agreements.

Confusion mounts over next round of Iran-US talks

After Trump said Monday morning on social media that the U.S. and Iran planned to meet, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” that special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, were flying to Qatar.

Pakistan, also a key mediator, had said talks between Iran and the U.S. would resume Tuesday.

But Kazem Gharibabadi, a senior negotiator for Iran, said in comments published by Iranian state media that no talks had been confirmed. And Esmail Baghaei, spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry, said that its delegation was traveling to Qatar this week to discuss the planned release of frozen Iranian assets and other issues related to the deal.

“There are no negotiation meetings with the U.S. side at any level scheduled in the coming days,” Baghaei said.

However, that left open the possibility messages being passed to the Qataris between the two sides.

Increased tension in waterway vital to world energy supplies

During the war that began Feb. 28, Iran’s attacks and threats stopped cargo ships and tankers from moving through the Strait of Hormuz, creating a global energy crisis.

In recent days, Iran has twice attacked vessels in the strait — including a tanker filled with Qatari crude — following efforts to open Oman’s territorial waters to both inbound and outbound traffic from the Persian Gulf.

The attacks drew retaliatory American airstrikes and raised concerns that negotiations to reach a formal end to the war could be disrupted. Iran launched drone and missile attacks targeting Bahrain and Kuwait on Sunday.

The strait has long been considered an international waterway despite being in Iran and Oman’s territorial waters.

The Trump administration was operating Monday on the understanding that the U.S. and Iran are standing down after the recent back-and-forth strikes and that vessels can move freely through the Strait of Hormuz, said a U.S. official who requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive negotiations.

Iran's president, U.S. official say $6 billion coming to Iran

The U.S. official also said that Qatar planned to release $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets that would be used to purchase U.S. food products for the Iranian people.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian had announced the expected release of funds earlier Monday in comments published by the state-run IRNA news agency.

Pezeshkian, a reformist within Iran's theocracy, is the highest-ranking official within Iran to reference the release of the funds held by Qatar.

Oman, Iran discuss possible fees for ships transiting the strait

Oman's foreign minister, Badr al-Busaidi, said Monday that Oman and Iran are considering charging service-related fees for commercial ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

Al-Busaidi said services could include water safety measures, pollution prevention, navigational assistance and preparedness for incidents such as fires. He told Radio Monte Carlo that Oman does not support imposing transit fees on ships.

“This is internationally forbidden," he said, "and we are abiding by these rules."

But there had never been any fees charged in the strait — and other Gulf Arab states and the U.S. firmly oppose the imposition of any costs for transit.

Iran and France clash over clearing mines from strait

An Iranian official warned France against “provocations” Monday after French President Emmanuel Macron posted on X that France and others were coordinating efforts to clear mines from the Strait of Hormuz.

Kazem Gharibabadi, an Iranian deputy foreign minister, said on X that under the interim deal “demining is carried out solely by Iran and by no other country.”

Macron's post came after he greeted Sultan Haitham bin Tariq of Oman ahead of high-level diplomatic talks in Paris.

Lebanon's president says it will deploy troops as part of deal with Israel

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun separately said Monday that Lebanon is determined to deploy troops along its entire southern border as part of a framework agreement with Israel signed Friday. He made the remark while meeting with Adm. Brad Cooper, the top U.S. military commander in the Middle East.

The deal was rejected by the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group, which triggered the latest war with Israel on March 2 when it fired rockets across Lebanon's southern border and into northern Israel.

The Israel-Lebanon deal calls for Hezbollah to be disarmed before Israel will withdraw its troops from southern Lebanon. Israel agreed to withdraw initially from a couple of “pilot zones” where the Lebanese army would then deploy, but no details have been shared about how that will work in practice.

Hezbollah officials have warned that attempts to implement the plan could lead to civil war.

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Boak reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Nasser Karimi and Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran; Bassem Mroue and Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut; Sylvie Corbet in Paris and Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed to this report.

Dong had been locked up in China several times, including for his activities commemorating the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square and past efforts to flee.

“It’s like living in a cage. Very suffocating,” he said in an online video interview with The Associated Press from Toronto, referring to the lack of freedom of expression in China.

After his release from prison, the 68-year-old dissident said he was unable to receive retirement benefits or renew his passport and was under constant police monitoring.

China's Foreign Ministry said the government handles the entry and exit of its citizens in accordance with the law and that Chinese citizens must abide by the Constitution and the law.

Dong attempted to flee at least three previous times: in 2015 to Thailand, where authorities deported him back to China; in 2019 when he tried to swim to a Taiwanese island off China's east coast; and in 2020, when he reached Vietnam, only to be deported back again.

Last month, he tried again.

Dong says he shook off the fear of death

In the early hours of May 24, he set off in a gray rubber dinghy fitted with an engine from Weihai, a coastal city in eastern China’s Shandong province, under fine weather. He was eyeing Japan, confident that the government there would not send him back to China.

But the next day brought fog. When he noticed his phone, which he relied on for GPS navigation, was on its last bar, he became terrified. His power bank also died. He quickly switched to his contingency plan — South Korea.

Dong recalled that dread ran deep because his tiny boat might capsize if the winds and waves picked up. But he had no way to return and shook off the fear of death.

“Living conditions back in the country are so terrible that being alive is little different than being dead. So there is no point fearing death,” he said. “If you move forward, there’s a chance at life.”

In the evening, he saw lights in the distance and moved toward them. The first vessel could not hear his cries for help and left. Later, he encountered a fishing boat that agreed to pull him on board. He asked the fishers to call the police to help him.

The South Korean coast guard detained him for allegedly violating the country’s immigration law. They sought a warrant to formally arrest him, but a court refused, saying it’s “difficult to recognize sufficient grounds and necessity” for his arrest.

From refugee center to Canada

Dong was later sent to a refugee center in Incheon, a port city near Seoul. Earlier this month, the U.N. refugee agency contacted him via video call, he said.

A refugee center manager later asked about his height, weight and his eye color. He was worried at first but it turned out to be a good sign. His lawyer told him it was at the request of the Canadian diplomatic mission, he said.

About a week later, Dong boarded a flight and he arrived in Toronto Friday. He was still unclear what legal procedures were involved in his move, but guessed it was based on cooperation between the South Korean and Canadian governments and the U.N. agency.

“I feel very surprised, extremely surprised. It's like still in a dream. It's very fast,” he said.

He believed the resettlement status in Canada that his family secured in 2015, before Thai authorities deported him back to China, was still valid.

The Canadian Embassy in South Korea declined to comment on Dong's case. South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said the country handled the case “in accordance with law and principle,” but did not specify Seoul’s role in arranging Dong’s transfer to Canada. The U.N. refugee agency declined to comment on individual cases for reasons of confidentiality and protection.

Dong vows to press on with his activism

Dong said he feels at home after arriving in Toronto, saying he finally tasted freedom for the first time in over a decade.

“There’s not even a hint of fear,” he said.

He hopes to make a living, possibly by being a truck driver or an Uber driver.

But the joy doesn't help Dong let go of the deportations by the Thai and Vietnamese authorities.

In 2015, Dong and his family went to Thailand to seek refugee status from the U.N. refugee agency, but Thai authorities later arrested him and returned him to China, according to Amnesty International. His ex-wife and daughter managed to settle in Canada.

The activist fled to Vietnam in 2020, but was sent back in 2022. He was jailed each time he was returned to China. He said he plans to consult a lawyer to see if he can sue both Thailand and Vietnam.

For Dong, the fight is far from over. He also plans to press on in his call for China's democratization.

In the late 1990s, the former police officer distributed leaflets with his articles on topics such as the Tiananmen crackdown. He was imprisoned for three years in 2001 for inciting subversion of state power.

He also spent more than eight months behind bars over his participation in a memorial for victims of the crackdown after being arrested in 2014, he said.

“My ultimate goal is for China to achieve constitutional democracy,” he said.

___

Associated Press writers Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul, South Korea, and Ken Moritsugu in Beijing contributed to this report.

But all is not perfect in one of South Asia’s best-known lakes. Pollution from local buildings, invasive plant species that threaten biodiversity and declining water levels, in part due to climate-driven heat, are threatening the long-term existence of Dal Lake and hundreds of other lakes in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

It takes constant effort by workers employed by the local government to keep Dal Lake's weeds at bay, and they must take precautions to avoid skin irritation from the polluted water. Yet it could be worse for the lake, which is located in Kashmir's most populous city, Srinagar. It's one of the few lakes in the region to receive sustained restoration work.

“We are afraid to touch the water with bare hands. Whenever we need to clean something by hand, we wear gloves, because without them our hands quickly develop allergies,” Ghulam Rasool, a weed cleaner employed by the local government, said on a recent afternoon.

Rasool said that sometimes it feels impossible to keep the lake clean.

“Sewage drains flow directly into the lake, and water streams coming from the mountains are bringing waste such as diapers and other garbage,” he said.

A combination of climate-driven changes, pollution and unplanned development is accelerating a decline in Indian lakes, with consequences rippling from fragile ecosystems to fishing communities and the tourism economy.

An Indian government report last year found that of the region’s 697 natural lakes, 315 have disappeared and 203 have shrunk since 1967. Hundreds recorded in earlier decades have been reduced to shallow marshes, seasonal wetlands or, in some cases, replaced by farmland and other development.

Homes and farms encroach upon lakes

Lakes in Kashmir have always been centers of activity, including Dal Lake’s famous floating markets where locals sell everything from vegetables to souvenirs. However, recent decades have seen the lakes’ boundaries shrink due to unpredictable rainfall, increased sediment from rivers and encroachment by farmland and houses. Small islands of farmland or long wooden bridges leading to illegal homes are becoming an increasingly common sight.

Farmland and homes creeping into what was once lake land is apparent in an aerial view of Dal Lake. Cattle graze freely on newly formed farmland even as the traditional fishers try to make their daily quota nearby.

Untreated sewage flowing into the lakes results in the growth of weeds, which feed off nitrogen, phosphorous and other nutrients in the waste. Plastics and other garbage dirty the lake. Dozens of weed cleaners try to clear Dal Lake every day, and small mounds of cleared weeds can be seen at various spots across the lake. Excavators and other heavy machinery are also used to pull weeds and garbage from the lake.

While acknowledging that more funds and work are needed, local government officials said they are trying their best. A government-run lake authority started in 1997 includes civil engineers, scientists, forest officials and local police officials.

While more than 75% of Srinagar’s population is connected to sewage treatment systems, sewage from the unconnected houses is a major contributor to lake pollution, said Muzamil Ahmad Rafiqui, superintending engineer for Kashmir’s Lake Conservation and Management Authority.

Climate change worsens lake depletion

Some of the world’s warmest years have meant that the Himalayan region is warming faster than the global average. Earlier snowmelt, reduced snowfall and more intense rainfall events are disrupting the timing and volume of water that feeds rivers and lakes.

Sher Muhammad, a glaciologist with the Kathmandu-headquartered International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, said the shifting, unpredictable patterns mean lakes now face periods of sudden inflow followed by prolonged stress during drier months.

The melting of the region's glaciers has also increased the amount of sediment carried downstream into the lakes. While the melting of glaciers can spur an initial boost in water flow, over time it will reduce the natural water storage that sustains rivers and lakes during dry periods, experts said.

Climate change has been devastating for Kashmir, said Irfan Rashid, an environmental scientist at the Srinagar-based University of Kashmir. “It has impacted every sector of our economy,” he said. Rashid said hydropower-generating capacity, tourism and highly valued apple and saffron farms have all been hit by erratic, extreme weather in recent years.

Fishing communities feel the brunt

Fishers at Wular Lake, about 65 kilometers (40 miles) northwest of Srinagar, said the lake has become shallower, its surface fragmented by new patches of vegetation. Parts of its catchment area have been taken over by tree plantations. Navigation has become harder, and fewer fish remain.

Abdul Rasheed, a 45-year-old fisherman, said he used to earn around 1,000 rupees ($11) a day. Now it's only 100 to 200 rupees ($1 to $2) for an entire night of fishing.

“There are a lot of changes since my childhood,” said Rasheed.

As is the case with many other lakes in Kashmir, agricultural and residential development has encroached on the lake, while untreated sewage and farm runoff have hurt its water quality. Indeed, the surface in several areas is a green gunk. The most recent detailed study of Wular Lake, conducted by the conservation group Wetlands International in 2007, found that the lake had shrunk by 45% over the preceding century. The report also emphasized that the degradation of the lake increases flood risks in the Kashmir valley because it was traditionally the biggest buffer for overflows from the Jhelum River.

Many fishers at Wular Lake said they don't believe future generations will be able to live off fishing.

Bashir Ahmed, a 55-year-old who has fished in the lake for decades, said in the past a young person with no fishing experience could return home with 4 kilograms (nearly 9 pounds) of fish.

“Now even a skilled fisherman comes home with no more than 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds),” he said.

___

Arasu reported from Bengaluru, India, and can be followed on X at @sibi123. Follow Dar Yasin on Instagram at @daryasinap

___

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.

Among them are Malorie and Wade Lytal of San Antonio, whose 8-year-old daughter, Kellyanne, died at Camp Mystic.

The couple said their faith, a push for answers and a new foundation created in their daughter’s name have helped them endure their unimaginable new reality.

Sitting in a pew at their church, Malorie Lytal said the couple’s faith in God has been “the only thing that has gotten us through this.”

Wade Lytal described how religious holidays have taken on new weight since their daughter’s death.

“For a lot of us now, it’s Easter,” he said, pointing to the Christian belief in Jesus conquering death and having eternal life.

The couple said their loss has strengthened, not weakened, their faith.

“We live in a broken world. I know mistakes happen. I know that, you know, it cost our daughter her life,” said Malorie Lytal. “As the Bible says, I truly think that Jesus wept. I don’t think that this was God’s plan for Kellyanne’s life.”

The flood disaster at Camp Mystic killed 25 campers and two counselors.

In the months that followed, the tragedy spurred investigations, lawsuits and an effort by some families to press for stronger protections for children at summer camps.

The Lytals are among those families, a group known as “Heaven’s 27,” who advocated for new state laws aimed at preventing similar tragedies and said they succeeded.

But they are still pushing for more transparency about what happened in the hours — and even days — before the floodwaters claimed their daughter’s life.

“What we have been fighting for is transparency and honesty to get answers,” Malorie Lytal said. “It’s beyond devastating to learn how preventable this was.”

At the same time, the couple is focused on preserving Kellyanne’s legacy through a foundation and movement called Kindness 4 Kellyanne. The group sells hats, bracelets, stickers and more, with proceeds used to support acts of kindness and community assistance.

Malorie Lytal said she is often moved when she sees strangers wearing items tied to her daughter’s memory.

“I’ll see people have her stuff on and I walk past them and they don’t even know who I am,” she said. “And I just want to say thank you.”

Wade Lytal said the foundation is working on projects with the Alamo Heights Independent School District, including donating a therapy dog, and the family has helped pay for a life-saving surgery for a girl in Belize.

“I know that Kellyanne would love that,” Malorie Lytal said.

As the one-year mark approaches, the couple said they are still learning how to move through milestones that now hurt — birthdays, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, the first day of school and other markers of family life.

Wade Lytal said that in the early months after the tragedy, he set a goal simply to endure.

“I remember 11 months ago just telling myself, ‘Make it a year,’” he said. “Just get through a year, because once you make it through a year, everything will be on repeat, and you’ll kind of know how to approach it.”

Malorie Lytal characterizes life much differently in this new reality: living for her husband and their youngest daughter, but also striving to get to Kellyanne in heaven.

“When that time comes, do not shed one tear for me,” she said. “Because that reunion will be so beautiful when I’m with her again.”

Remembering the victims of the Hill Country floods:

• One year later: Father remembers five family members lost in Hill Country floods

Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham vowed to take her outrage “right to the White House and Congress” to seek assurances the DEA is no longer using the risky law enforcement strategy in New Mexico — and that it is not being replicated elsewhere. Overdoses have surged in New Mexico, even as fentanyl deaths declined in other states.

“This is a stunning failure by the federal government,” the governor told reporters at a news conference in the state medical examiner's office in Albuquerque, joining a host of state and local law enforcers and officials demanding answers. “It’s disgusting and despicable.”

The DEA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson noted that President Donald Trump has classified fentanyl a “weapon of mass destruction” and signed into law legislation cracking down on the synthetic opioid.

“Sadly, the United States is still recovering from Biden’s border crisis and the damage it caused,” Jackson wrote in an email to The Associated Press. “President Trump has totally secured the border and has taken bold actions to combat the scourge of fentanyl in American society.”

Lujan Grisham's remarks came a week after AP reported that DEA agents repeatedly monitored — but did not seize — shipments of fentanyl as part of an effort to build bigger criminal cases between 2023 and 2025.

Current and former DEA agents, including whistleblower David Howell, told AP the strategy amounted to a gamble with public safety and may have violated U.S. Justice Department rules intended to safeguard the public.

The DEA initially denied Howell’s allegations in a statement to AP. But the agency later called upon the Justice Department’s independent watchdog to conduct its own investigation.

The fentanyl went unseized amid the deadliest drug epidemic in U.S. history and as the DEA led a public awareness campaign — “One Pill Can Kill” — emphasizing that even a few milligrams of the substance can be lethal.

New Mexico has responded swiftly to the revelations. Last week, the state's attorney general announced a criminal investigation to determine whether any federal officials broke state law by knowingly exposing New Mexico residents to the synthetic opioid.

“We’re going to protect the rest of the United States from this kind of foul, ‘I need a big case' effort no matter what the consequences,” Lujan Grisham said. “We’re angry because it’s immoral.”

Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller said fentanyl represents his city's “No. 1 challenge,” driving crime and homelessness and straining health care resources.

“Using us in some sort of uninformed, undisciplined experiment that’s literally killing our people — that’s what this is,” he said. “This should outrage every single New Mexican.”

Trump last week shared a link on his Truth Social page to an article attributing the scandal to the “Biden-run Justice Department.” In a statement to AP last week, the Justice Department similarly said “the alleged conduct occurred under the Biden Administration’s disastrous open border policies.”

Howell first came forward during the Biden administration in 2023 — and was sidelined for doing so — but he continued to flag unseized fentanyl shipments as recently as last year, and the largest he documented happened two months into Trump's second term, a 1.8-million pill haul DEA learned about but did not intercept in March 2025.

Howell also revealed that the Justice Department in 2024 changed internal guidelines that had urged agents to seize fentanyl whenever “practicable,” affording them more discretion to preserve longer-term investigations. Empower Oversight, the whistleblower advocacy group representing Howell, called on the Justice Department Monday to reinstate those earlier protocols so authorities “try to seize fentanyl whenever there is probable cause.”

Lujan Grisham has criticized both administrations as not doing enough to stem the tide of fentanyl in New Mexico, and pointed to the death last year of a 15-month-old girl who reportedly swallowed some of her mother's drugs in Española, a town ravaged by grinding poverty and addiction.

It is not clear whether any fatal overdoses in the state can be directly attributed to the DEA strategy. While overdose deaths nationwide fell 14% last year, government data show New Mexico tallied a 21% spike.

“Somebody must pay for the damage to the state, the public safety risks that will be shared by everyone here for a decade or more, and pay to try to right the wrongs and put people’s lives back together,” she said.

Lujan Grisham, who will leave office at year's end after two terms as governor, said the worst part of being an elected leader is having to face the victims of what she called “senseless” devastation and loss.

“There are no words that can take away that pain,” she said, adding their experiences cannot be dismissed by politics as usual. “Whatever we can do to prevent the next loss for the next family, is the work that we’re all collectively doing.”

__

Mustian and Goodman reported from Miami.

Sonderling, a lawyer who has held a variety of acting positions and leadership roles across Trump's government, was previously the deputy labor secretary and a Republican member of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

“Throughout his career, Keith has proven his dedication to delivering strong results for the Hardworking People of our Country, and I know he will do an incredible job in his new role,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post announcing Sonderling's nomination.

Sonderling's nomination is subject to Senate confirmation.

During Trump's second term, in addition to his Labor Department post, Sonderling has been the acting director of U.S. Office of Government Ethics and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, one of several agencies Trump targeted for closure in an executive order last year.

At the library agency, Sonderling placed many agency staff members on administrative leave, sent termination notices to most of them, began canceling grants and contracts and fired all members of the National Museum and Library Services Board. Those actions were later blocked by a judge, and the case remains on appeal.

Chavez-DeRemer resigned in April following reports that she was under a series of investigations.

A New York Times report revealed that the Labor Department’s inspector general was reviewing material showing Chavez-DeRemer and her top aides and family members routinely sent personal messages and requests to young staff members.

She also faced allegations that she drank alcohol on the job and that she tasked aides to plan official trips for primarily personal reasons.

Chavez De-Remer has denied wrongdoing.

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone will have to write an apology letter to each survivor as part of the settlement.

The settlement also requires the archdiocese to implement a series of child protection and transparency reforms, including creating a list of clergy accused of abuse, said Jeff Anderson, an attorney representing dozens of child sexual abuse victims.

The settlement comes three years after the archdiocese filed for bankruptcy and will cover approximately 530 survivors of child sexual abuse, Anderson said. It is the latest agreement over clergy sexual abuse claims. In 2024, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles agreed to a record $880 million settlement.

Several archdioceses in California filed for bankruptcy after facing hundreds of lawsuits brought under a California law approved in 2019 that allowed decades-old claims to be filed by Dec. 31, 2022.

Cordileone, the archbishop, said in a statement that he believes the settlement provides “a path toward fair compensation for survivors who have borne the weight of this abuse for a lifetime.”

“The hope is that this proposal will allow us collectively to move forward,” he said.

“We accept full responsibility for what happened, and I sincerely apologize to all those who have been harmed,” Cordileone added.

Margie O’Driscoll sued the archdiocese alleging she was sexually abused almost 50 years ago by a priest while she was a student at Marin Catholic High School in Kentfield, a community north of the Golden Gate Bridge. She said the settlement was hard-fought and puts the responsibility on church officials, not survivors.

“I, like every survivor, have carried this pain and shame along like a ball and chain for a very, very long time,” O'Driscoll said during a news conference. “Ashamed and confused about what happened, scorned by the archdiocese, and sometimes not even believed by family and friends, and I think today shame is gonna change sides.”

The San Francisco Archdiocese serves about 440,000 Catholics in the counties of San Francisco, Marin and San Mateo.

Anderson said a committee of survivors who spent thousands of hours over the last three years negotiating with Cordileone is empowered with establishing protocols on how to distribute the funds. He said every survivor will be given an opportunity to submit their story of abuse to an allocator hired by the committee to receive what Anderson said would be “an equitable distribution based on the unique circumstances of that survival.”

Besides the funds, the archdiocese will be required to follow 14 child protection and transparency demands that include maintaining and making public a comprehensive, up-to-date list of all accused clergy that details allegations and the outcomes of investigations. The archdiocese will also be banned from imposing confidentiality agreements that silence survivors.

“I’ve been working with survivors for decades and I’ve never heard of anything quite as significant, as rigorous, as robust as what is being required of the Archdiocese of San Francisco," Anderson said.

Forty-seven million people across big chunks of the Midwest and parts of the Ohio Valley are under an extreme heat warning through at least Tuesday. Temperatures are forecast to reach the 90s, with heat index values, or “feels-like” temperatures, expected to top 100 degrees (37.8 degrees Celsius) in the region, according to the National Weather Service.

Visiting Des Moines with family, Rachel Washburn searched for things to do with kids during a heat wave. They landed at a water sprayground before lunch Monday, where her children played tag in the cool water.

“My kids were quite shocked at the heat and humidity,” said Washburn of her seven children ages 18 months to 17 who had been used to more temperate weather farther north in Bemidji, Minnesota. “We were hoping for some good weather, but we'll make do.”

About 56 million Americans are under an extreme heat watch as hot and humid weather is expected to move farther east later in the week, with some of the worst conditions expected by Thursday and Friday in the Ohio Valley, the Mid-Atlantic and into the Northeast. Some areas could experience record-high temperatures, said Scott Kleebauer, a meteorologist with the Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland.

On Monday, cities and event planners were already announcing adjustments for or calling off events later in the week, including a farmer's market scheduled for Tuesday in DeWitt, Michigan; a movie screening Wednesday in Fairfield, Ohio; and Thursday’s food truck festival in Warwick, New York.

The heat wave will also likely coincide with the Fourth of July holiday weekend, providing additional risk as more people have cookouts or watch fireworks outside for the 250th anniversary of American independence.

Kleebauer said the center recommends people stay hydrated and ensure access to shady areas and air conditioning.

Emergency workers were out in Nashville on Monday to offer water and check on people during the hottest time of the day.

Mike Russell, a captain at the Nashville Office of Emergency Management, said he saw many empty areas where people typically sleep outside, which he said was a good sign that they found someplace cool to escape the heat for a while.

Logan King, 29, brought a cart to fill up on cold water and snacks when the emergency workers came out to a patch of woods behind a Walmart where he and others sleep outside. The trees where people have pitched tents offer some cover from the direct sun, but not much relief.

“It’s just miserable honestly, but this helps so much,” King said. “Even with the shade and a tent ... it gets hot."

Extreme heat has also taken its toll in Europe, where temperature records were set and many heat-related deaths were reported in France.

People can be caught off guard by the first heat wave of the year, said Dr. Roy Elrod, chief of staff at DMC Detroit Receiving Hospital.

“You’re happy winter’s gone, you’re ready to enjoy the summer, you’ve just been aching for it,” Elrod said. “And so, I think we slip into kind of a position where we think it’s got to be OK.”

Heat-related injuries can happen in a matter of minutes, he said, especially to those who don’t prepare for the weather by hydrating, wearing light clothing, avoiding the hottest times of the day and minimizing exposure to the sun.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison said it was closing 23 buildings to the public starting Tuesday, allowing only limited access to 11 others. It was relocating some summer classes after a broken water line at its cooling plant earlier this month severely reduced the ability to provide air conditioning across campus.

Temperatures approaching 90 degrees and high humidity didn’t stop Toni Kreutzer, 28, from taking a walk Monday along the shores of Lake Mendota in Madison, Wisconsin, with her 13-year-old dog Chester.

“I like it hot,” Kreutzer said. "I just don’t like the humidity."

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McCormack reported from Concord, New Hampshire. Associated Press reporters Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, Kristin M. Hall in Nashville and Haya Panjwani in Washington, D.C., contributed.

The Spurs, who confirmed an extension with Champagnie was reached Monday afternoon, did not disclose terms of the deal. San Antonio declined Champagnie’s $3 million team option for the 2026-27 season to make way for the extension.

Champagnie and the Spurs worked the deal out before NBA free agency officially begins at 5 p.m. central time Tuesday. Coincidentally, Champagnie turned 25 on Monday.

Join us in wishing Julian Champagnie a HAPPY 25th BIRTHDAY! pic.twitter.com/gQwSVKoKRg

— NBA (@NBA) June 29, 2026

Champagnie was a key cog in the Spurs’ recent NBA Finals run and a vital part of their young core. He averaged career highs in minutes (27.6), points (11.1) and rebounds (5.8) per game while suiting up in all 82 regular season games and shooting 38.1% from 3-point range.

On Dec. 31, 2025, Champagnie set the Spurs’ franchise record for made 3-pointers in a game (11) to go along with a career-high 36 points against the New York Knicks. His 195 made 3-pointers during 2025-26 was also a single-season franchise record.

Champagnie also made a league-best 61 threes during the postseason — the most made in any playoff run in team history.

Champagnie — the Brooklyn, New York, native who went undrafted out of St. John’s in 2022 — was waived by the Philadelphia 76ers on Feb. 14, 2023. The Spurs claimed him off waivers two days later.

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