Scheffler is trying to break a streak of five runner-up finishes and five other top 4s since his lone victory this year in his first tournament of 2026.

He was at 13-under 197 and will be in the final group with Burns, his closest friend in golf, who got back into the mix with a 62. His year has been marked by close calls in the U.S. Open and British Open, but Burns has no victories to show for it.

This will be the first time they are paired together in the final group.

“It's always a little weird just because I want him to have success so much and I think he wants the same for me,” Scheffler said. "Tomorrow we'll go out there and play our game and see where things finish up at the end of the day. It will be competition like normal.

“It will be fun being out there with your friend but it’s also a bit weird at the same time.”

And it's not just the two of them. Im shot 67 and was tied with Burns at 11-under 199. The next closest to Scheffler was FedEx Cup champion Tommy Fleetwood (68) and Jake Knapp (67), both five shots behind.

Jordan Spieth took another step back and gave himself another Sunday at the TPC Southwind filled with high stress. Spieth is at No. 54 in the FedEx Cup, and only the top 50 advance to the BMW Championship next week in the FedEx Cup playoffs.

The top 50 is the magic number this week because those players are assured to getting into all the $20 million signature events next year. Spieth, who opened with a 65, didn't make a birdie until the 11th hole in his round of 72 that dropped him from a tie for fifth to a tie for 19th, which is projected to leave him out of the top 50.

He's not alone. Brian Harman came in at No. 65 and shot 69. He was in a tie for sixth, needing to move up a few spots to advance.

“That signature series, it's where you want to be,” Harman said. “It's where the best golf is played. I'd love to have a chance.”

He at least is in all the majors next year from his 2023 British Open victory at Hoylake.

Going into the final day, Im is the only player projected to move into the top 50 — he started at No. 53 and held his own in the final group Saturday with Scheffler.

“I just want to focus on each shot,” Im said. “Every shot matters.”

Scheffler only hit one green in regulation through the opening five holes. He was in the right rough on the par-5 third and had a clean enough lie to try to reach the green or at least advance it close. But it hit a tree right above him and dropped straight down. He pulled his short iron out of mangled rough to the side of a bunker and still had 111 yards. He hit that to 12 feet and made the par putt.

He bogeyed the next from behind the green, didn't get a birdie until the par-3 eighth and then ran off consecutive birdies early on the back nine that restored his lead. He also made a 12-foot par save on the 15th hole.

“Any time you’re holing those 10- to 15-footers, it’s really nice to keep the round going,” Scheffler said. “I holed a few of those today. It was definitely important to keep the momentum in the round.”

The heat index topped 100 degrees, and towels soaked in ice water were available on every tee. Keith Mitchell looked utterly exhausted walking out of scoring, from the heat and from the stress of projections that keep him right at No. 49 with one round remaining.

He was tied for 22nd, along with Maverick McNealy, who was projected at No. 50.

Burns is thinking only about winning, and that starts with making up a two-shot deficit on the No. 1 player in the world. The only other time they've played together on a Sunday was the 2021 Tour Championship — both out of contention — though Burns did beat Scheffler with a long birdie putt in a playoff at Colonial in 2022.

“Scottie is obviously playing great, as he always does. He’s not going to lay down,” Burns said. “He’s going to play great tomorrow. So you’re going to have to go out there and put a really good round together and see if you can catch him.”

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Rainfall will be hard to come by all week long. Temperatures will continue to run high, and we could tie a record Tuesday. Drought conditions could worsen as well.

“We’re literally trying to utilize every single inch,” one of the pilots said.

A doctor donated his plane for the mission, while the pilots donated their time.

EmbassAir also donated 800 gallons of fuel and hangar services to help make the humanitarian mission a success.

Jose Ecarri with the Miami Pilots Association said he helped connect the group with the plane’s Colombian owner.

“I used to fly this plane — I’m a pilot too. I got in contact with the owner — he’s Colombian — I said, ‘Hey, I need a plane to fly,’” Ecarri said.

Ender Urdaneta with Help Land Foundation said the supplies were being sent to Cali specifically for rescue teams.

“This one is for Cali — only for rescue teams. Not sending any water or any food. We’re concentrating on saving lives right now,” Urdaneta said.

Since the 7.5-magnitude earthquake shook Colombia’s western region Monday morning, rescue teams have continued searching for missing people.

In one neighborhood, Colombians were seen supporting one another.

“We are still in shock. The neighbors, the friends, those who saw us born, those who saw us grow. You look at the faces and you see sadness, disappointment. Just a hug, and wherever you look, there are tears, tears of pain, tears of sadness,” said Robinson Montoya, a resident of the Belalcazar neighborhood.

Meanwhile, five days after the earthquake, Pope Leo offered his thoughts and prayers for those affected.

“I continue to pray these days for the Colombian population who is suffering because of the earthquake,” Pope Leo said.

“There was a calmness and a smile, like, ‘I’m here,’” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “It’s rare for me to pick my head up to enjoy parts of it. He didn’t exactly give us an option but to actually take a step back and enjoy the heck out of what was going on there.”

There has never been a show quite like it.

Báez became the first player to hit a home run in each of his first three at-bats in the majors, leading the Cardinals to an 8-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Saturday.

Called up from Triple-A Memphis before the game, Báez had 30 members of his family in attendance at Wrigley Field. The traveling party, which included his mother, Yris, gathered on the field for photos afterward in spite of rain.

“It’s just unreal,” the 23-year-old Báez said. “To not only get a hit, but three home runs? It’s crazy.”

He did it with flair, too. The first came on the first pitch he saw from Matthew Boyd and landed an estimated 449 feet away in the bleachers in left-center. The left fielder's next at-bat ended with a solo shot down the left-field line and the third, on his ensuing at-bat, went the opposite way, giving him five RBIs.

Major League Baseball said Báez was the first player in modern baseball history to hit three home runs in his debut. The league cannot say with certainty whether the feat happened before 1901 due to a lack of game logs.

“He hit three different pitches for home runs. He had a great game. He beat us for sure,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said.

Báez showed plenty of power in the minors this season. When he was called up, he was leading all Triple-A hitters with 34 home runs, including four multihomer games.

He’s the ninth player to make his major league debut for the Cardinals this season.

Báez also is the 11th St. Louis player to homer in his first career at-bat (the last was Lane Thomas in 2019) and sixth in club history to homer on the first pitch. Former pitcher Adam Wainwright last did it in 2006.

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Candidates are even casting ballots themselves during early voting Saturday and making the case they deserve your vote.

As the clock ticks, there are just days left until Florida’s primary elections, with candidates appearing across South Florida Saturday.

That includes the race for U.S. Senate.

It’s been a competitive race for the Democratic nomination.

Retired Lieutenant Colonel Alex Vindman, who gained national attention as a witness in President Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial in 2019, rallied supporters in Wilton Manors as he looks to keep momentum to the finish line.

“It’s about making sure we’re funding Medicare. It’s about making sure working families aren’t working paycheck to paycheck. Have a little bit of an easier go, and it’s about taking care of the next generation of young people,” Vindman said.

His competitor, state Rep. Angie Nixon, led a walk through Little Havana as her campaign aims to turn out the vote.

“I actually care about people. And I show up. I know what Floridians are facing because I’ve been facing it with them for my entire life, I’ve been born and raised here,” Nixon said.

The winner of that primary will very likely take on incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody.

Local 10 caught up with Moody at an early voting location at a Hialeah library.

“Three days out from a primary election you can really feel the energy, folks are excited and I just hope that everybody is looking and seeing where this polling place is for Tuesday and get out to vote,” Moody said.

In Coral Gables, chief financial officer candidate Annette Laddéo cast her ballot alongside Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.

“Frankly like most Floridians we are fed up. And we can no longer afford to live here, it’s getting just crazy how expensive it is,” Laddéo said.

Meanwhile, Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, who’s running for governor, joined supporters at early voting in Pembroke Pines.

Asked how he’d be different from Gov. Ron DeSantis, Collins mentioned his longtime service in the Army Special Forces as a Green Beret.

“We’re very similar, I don’t think you can really isolate one thing versus the other, but I think it’s important to point out where my background’s different. Because my story’s the American story. And that itself is inspiring to many but it matters now more than ever because we are one people,” Collins said.

Congressman Byron Donalds has led polling and fundraising in that governor’s race.

Businessman James Fishback and former House Speaker Paul Renner are also running in that race.

The 24-time major champion fell to Thiago Agustin Tirante 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 on Saturday in a match that took 2 hours, 44 minutes in hot and humid conditions.

A 25-year-old from Argentina, Tirante is ranked No. 50 in the world. The 39-year-old Djokovic — a three-time Cincinnati Open champion and No. 5 in the rankings — was playing for the first time since his loss to top-ranked Jannik Sinner in the semifinals at Wimbledon.

Up next for Djokovic is the U.S. Open, which starts Aug. 30.

Djokovic appeared to struggle physically in the heat and had his 10-match winning streak in Cincinnati snapped. He won the title in 2020 and 2023.

Djokovic saved 13 of the 15 break points he faced. Tirante broke Djokovic's serve in the ninth game of the final set and then served it out.

“I think this is the best win of my career,” Tirante said. “I think I really did a good job inside the court. I managed very well the nerves of playing against a legend like Novak.”

Eala and Pegula win in women's draw

On the women's side, Alexandra Eala of the Philippines continued her run of strong play with a victory over Elena-Gabriela Ruse, who lost the first set and stopped playing in the second with an ankle injury. Eala — who is No. 20 in the rankings — won her first WTA singles title in Washington earlier this month and has won eight of her last nine matches.

American Jessica Pegula beat Simona Waltert 6-3, 6-2, improving her record to 25-6 on hard courts in 2026. The third-ranked Pegula won the title in Cincinnati in 2024.

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The crash happened in the 2300 block of Southwest 173rd Avenue at about 12:30 p.m., according to the Miramar Police Department.

Police said a mother and her two children were involved in the crash. They said the 4-month-old sustained serious injuries and was airlifted to Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital.

The mother was transported to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood with minor injuries, according to investigators. The second child was not injured.

Authorities said MPD’s Traffic Homicide Investigations Unit is investigating the circumstances surrounding the crash.

No other details about the crash or the individuals involved were immediately released.

The Omaha, Nebraska-based company also continued to pare its stake in financial companies and a number of other stocks in the April-June quarter, according to a regulatory filing filed late Friday.

CEO Greg Abel, who took over from Warren Buffett at the start of the year, agreed in June to make a $10 billion stock investment in Alphabet, expanding on the stake that Berkshire started to build last fall.

In the second quarter, Berkshire picked up roughly 48.1 million shares in Alphabet, bringing its total shares in the tech giant to roughly 106 million. That stake was valued at about $37.76 billion as of June 30, according to the filing. As recently as the end of December, Berkshire held only 17.8 million Alphabet shares worth $5.6 billion.

Alphabet has said it plans to raise $80 billion to pay for the computing infrastructure needed to power its AI offerings.

Beyond tech, Berkshire continued to boost its investments in the U.S. homebuilding sector. Its stake in homebuilder Lennar increased nearly 30% in the second quarter. Berkshire also established a small new stake in D.R. Horton that was worth $580,504 at the end of June.

In July, Berkshire completed a $6.8 billion acquisition of homebuilder Taylor Morrison.

Berkshire also sharply increased its shares in Delta Air Lines and Macy's in the second quarter. The stakes were worth about $5.37 billion and $173 million, respectively, as of June 30.

Berkshire also pruned its investment portfolio in the second quarter, reducing its stake in several companies relative to where they stood in the first quarter, including supermarket operator Kroger, steel manufacturer Nucor and dialysis giant DaVita.

The company also dumped all its holdings — 632,890 shares — in beverage company Constellation Brands.

Berkshire also pared its shares in several financial companies. Its stakes in Bank of America and Ally Financial declined by around 6% and 6.9%, respectively, and it slashed its shares in Capital One Financial by 58%.

Many investors have followed Berkshire’s portfolio closely over the years because they liked to copy Buffett’s moves. He remains the company's chairman and largest shareholder.

But Berkshire, which owns dozens of businesses including major insurers like Geico and BNSF railroad, never comments on the moves it makes to its stock portfolio from quarter to quarter because it doesn’t want to discuss what it is buying and selling.

The 23-year-old left fielder, called up from Triple-A Memphis earlier in the day, hit the first pitch he saw into the Wrigley Field bleachers, then homered in his next two at-bats. He also drove in five runs.

Blaze Jordan and Alec Burleson added solo home runs to help the Cardinals win a day after dropping the opener of the three-game series.

Báez is the first St. Louis player to homer in his first career plate appearance since Lane Thomas in June 2019.

Michael Conforto hit a three-run homer for the Cubs, who had won nine of 11.

Michael McGreevy (5-9) allowed three runs — all unearned — on five hits and two walks while striking out six in the first six innings to win for the first time since July 8.

Báez tagged Matthew Boyd (8-2) for all three homers. He drove his first, a two-run shot, deep into the left-center field bleachers in the first inning.

Conforto’s home run tied the game at 3-all in the second, but Báez led off the fourth and sent a full-count pitch down the left-field line, then went down the opposite side in the sixth for another two-run homer.

Jordan’s home run was the end of day for Boyd, who allowed seven runs on five hits and three walks in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out two.

Burleson homered off Colin Rea in the eighth.

Up next

The series ends Sunday afternoon when the Cardinals send Hunter Dobbins (2-3, 3.40 ERA) against fellow right-hander Edward Cabrera (5-4, 5.10). Cabrera (left hamstring strain) will be making his first start since June 23.

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The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the contract, which would make Witherspoon the highest-paid cornerback in the NFL, hasn’t been finalized.

On March 26, the Seahawks exercised their fifth-year option on Witherspoon, but elected to sign him to a long-term deal on the same day they started preseason play against the Dallas Cowboys.

Witherspoon, 25, was selected No. 5 overall by the Seahawks in the 2023 draft. In the same round of that draft, the Seahawks selected wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who in March agreed to a four-year, $168.8 million contract with $120 million guaranteed.

In three seasons with Seattle, Witherspoon has been selected to the Pro Bowl each season. He also made the second-team All-Pro team and helped the Seahawks win the Super Bowl last season.

Witherspoon appeared in all three of Seattle’s playoff games during its Super Bowl run, making 17 tackles and four passes defended.

In 43 regular-season games, Witherspoon has 249 tackles, 32 passes defended, 16 tackles for loss, 4 1/2 sacks and two interceptions.

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The Democratic National Committee, gathered for a summer meeting, also signed off on a raft of policy positions, including one that calls for “concrete reforms” of ICE and another for abolishing the agency that's been at the center of several fatal encounters.

ICE has been at the heart of a progressive rallying cry since 2018 during the first Trump administration, and has been renewed among some in the party after two recent fatal shootings by the agency in July.

Saturday’s vote isn't binding and doesn't set the party's platform, which will be determined at the 2028 convention, but it reflects the party's differing views on a major issue. Candidates and lawmakers will continue to determine their own positions on the issue.

Michele Johnson, a DNC member from Louisiana who proposed the measure to abolish ICE, said it's time for Democrats to take a stand and pointed to the dissolution of ICE's predecessor agency, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, as a precedent.

“I think one of the reasons why people are not trusting the party is because we sound so academic," she said. “We sound focus group tested, we sound poll tested because we’re worried about saying the wrong thing or doing the wrong thing and not just like, just stand on business, like take a position.”

Not every DNC member was convinced, though. Yvonne Reeves-Chong voted against the measure, saying it would only gain support from a part of the party's base, while drawing “fire” from another group of voters.

“I would strongly suggest we get to the business of winning races so we can make the policies that make a difference,” she said.

DNC Chairman Ken Martin, who's from Minnesota, where Renee Good and Alex Pretti were fatally shot amid the immigration crackdown earlier this year, said in an interview that the takeaway is that Democrats find the administration’s handling of immigration, including by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, unacceptable.

“Clearly, the one thing that unites Democrats, regardless of their position on reform versus abolish or whatever other ways to change what’s happening, is people believe that what ICE is doing right now — and CBP and the federal government — should stop,” he said. “There has to be a better way.”

Immigration remained a stronger issue for Trump than the economy or Iran, according to a poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research released this month, even after three people were killed in encounters with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the span of under a week in July.

Overall, the survey found that only 39% of U.S. adults approve of his performance on immigration, down from 49% at the beginning of his second term.

Chad Hickman, 39, was found dead after a wide search in Missaukee County, police said. Police released the ages and genders of the victims on Saturday but did not specify whether they were related to each other or the suspect.

Officers responded Friday morning to reports of a shooting at a home about 170 miles (270 kilometers) northwest of Detroit, where they found the bodies of a 16-year-old boy, a 45-year-old man and 40-year-old woman, and a 13-year-old girl in critical condition, Michigan State Police said.

Authorities say Hickman fled that scene, leading to a large-scale search. Police found the body of a 53-year-old man at a second home, and then a 29-year-old woman, dead alongside Hickman, in the woods. All the victims died of gunshot wounds, police said.

“This situation is heartbreaking for the community and challenging for the investigators involved,” Lt. Ashley Miller said in a Friday statement. Miller said Saturday the investigation is ongoing.

Hickman was convicted in 2024 of misdemeanor fourth-degree child abuse, according to court records. He was sentenced to one year in jail. In the same case, the court dismissed felony assault and criminal sexual conduct charges.

Tim Penrose, who lives on the street where the 53-year-old was found dead, said Hickman lived in that home. Penrose said he heard shots but didn’t think much of it until police arrived because he lives in a rural area where gunfire is not uncommon. Penrose said Hickman frequently harassed him and his wife, though he didn't provide more details.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Friday that she was monitoring the situation. “My thoughts are with the victims, their families, and the Missaukee community,” she said.

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Associated Press writer Hallie Golden contributed. GaNun is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

“Just part of the ramp-up to baseball activity,” manager Aaron Boone said of Judge before Saturday’s game against the Blue Jays in Toronto. “Hopefully he’ll continue to progress through this week. We’ll see what else gets introduced.”

Judge hasn’t played since May 31, but the three-time AL MVP and eight-time All-Star has said he intends to return this season. He was cleared to begin light workout activity on Aug. 5.

Boone spoke to Judge and said the slugger responded well to throwing for the first time in his rehab. However, Boone didn’t know when Judge might be ready to rejoin the Yankees.

“We expect him back, but we’re in the early stages of baseball activity,” Boone said. “Hopefully things continue to go well.”

Judge is hitting .248 with 17 home runs, 38 RBIs and a .907 OPS. He had just one homer in his final 18 games before going on the IL.

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El accidente ocurrió alrededor de las 12:30 p.m. en la cuadra 2300 de Southwest 173rd Avenue, según el Departamento de Policía de Miramar.

La policía informó que una madre y sus dos hijos viajaban en el vehículo. El bebé de 4 meses sufrió heridas graves y fue trasladado en helicóptero al Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital.

La madre fue trasladada al Memorial Regional Hospital, en Hollywood, con lesiones menores, según los investigadores. El otro menor no resultó herido.

La Unidad de Investigaciones de Homicidios de Tránsito del Departamento de Policía de Miramar investiga las circunstancias del accidente.

Por el momento no se dieron a conocer más detalles sobre el incidente.

El estado ha sido azotado durante la última semana por fuertes lluvias, lo que provocó el desbordamiento de ríos y arroyos.

El gobernador Mike Braun confirmó el sábado que el presidente Donald Trump tiene la intención de aprobar su solicitud de recursos federales para ayudar en la respuesta a las inundaciones y en la recuperación.

Braun manifestó que su corazón está con las familias que han perdido a seres queridos debido a las inundaciones durante la última semana. También advirtió a la gente que se tome en serio las inundaciones y se mantenga alejada de las aguas.

Los daños hasta el momento se concentran a lo largo del río White en Indianápolis, por el condado de Hamilton y hacia los suburbios del norte de la ciudad. Más al este, en el condado Delaware, la policía encontró el viernes el cuerpo de una mujer de 58 años que, según creen, murió después de intentar conducir a través de aguas crecidas.

El alcalde de Indianápolis, Joe Hogsett, estuvo acompañado por responsables de emergencias durante una sesión informativa el sábado, mientras instaba a los residentes a lo largo del río a evacuar. Un día antes, había declarado una emergencia local debido a la crecida de arroyos y riachuelos en todo el centro de Indiana.

“Esta es una de esas inundaciones que ocurren una vez en la vida", dijo a The Associated Press Jacob Spence, director de la Gestión de Emergencias del condado Marion. "Así que sí, este es un evento sin precedentes y, lamentablemente, estamos estableciendo algunos récords”.

Se había informado que Braun solicitó una declaración de emergencia presidencial para liberar recursos federales que ayuden con la respuesta y la recuperación tras varios días de lluvias récord.

Cursaban advertencias y vigilancias por inundaciones en una franja del centro de Indiana el sábado, y el Servicio Meteorológico Nacional advirtió que más chubascos y tormentas eléctricas se desplazarían hacia la zona a lo largo del día. En el condado Warren, los meteorólogos informaron que habían caído 2 pulgadas (5 centímetros) de lluvia en las últimas seis horas.

El río White está previsto a alcanzar su punto máximo el sábado por la noche en el área de Indianápolis, donde vehículos de la Guardia Nacional figuraban entre los que ayudaban en las labores de rescate. Unas 70 personas habían sido rescatadas hasta el mediodía, indicó Rita Reith, portavoz del Departamento de Bomberos de Indianápolis.

“El agua sigue subiendo, así que hagan caso a las advertencias”, indicó Todd Wilson, director del departamento de obras públicas de la ciudad.

Residentes publicaron videos en redes sociales que mostraban vehículos varados en aguas altas, un poste de electricidad derribado por la corriente y cruces inundados.

A principios de esta semana, tormentas severas causaron estragos en otras partes del Medio Oeste, con tornados, fuertes lluvias e inundaciones repentinas. Se reportaron daños por tormentas desde el área de Chicago hasta el oeste de Pensilvania.

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La corresponsal Susan Montoya Bryan reportó desde Albuquerque, Nuevo México.

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Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.

The 24-year-old from the New York City suburb of Pelham touched in 23.49 seconds in her heat at the outdoor pool in Irvine, California.

Douglass lowered the mark of 23.55 set by teammate Gretchen Walsh at an international meet in Rome in June.

It's the second time Douglass has lowered the world mark in the sprint race. She first did it on June 19 at the TYR Pro Swim Series meet in Indianapolis, posting a time of 23.59. Nine days later, Walsh lowered it again.

Douglass is a five-time Olympic medalist. She earned silver in the 50 free at the 2024 world championships but didn't compete in the event at the 2024 Paris Games.

Walsh swam in the heat after Douglass and was timed in 23.78, making them the top two qualifiers for the evening final on the final day of competition in Irvine.

It was the first individual world record set at the meet that includes swimmers from the U.S., Australia, Canada, Japan and China, among others.

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The state has been hammered over the past week by heavy rains, resulting in rivers reaching record levels and sending residents in search of higher ground. More than a dozen counties have declared local disasters, with much of the latest damage concentrated along river corridors from Hamilton County heading into the northern Indianapolis suburbs.

Gov. Mike Braun confirmed Saturday that President Donald Trump intends to approve his request for federal resources to help in response to the flooding and the recovery.

Residents evacuate as water rises

Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett said the city was experiencing its most severe flooding in more than 30 years, noting that conditions were shifting rapidly. Hundreds of homes in neighborhoods that were located between the river and parallel canals were evacuated Saturday, as first responders used boats to rescue people who were already stranded.

Rita Reith, a spokesperson with the Indianapolis Fire Department, put the number of rescues at 95 people and 45 pets as of late afternoon. Dispatchers had received hundreds of calls for service throughout the day.

The governor’s office reported more than 350 evacuations have occurred in Delaware County and that a senior mobile home community in Tipton County was being evacuated. Rescues and welfare checks also were happening in Fayette County.

Indiana authorities said Saturday at least five people have died as a result of the severe weather over the past week. That includes a boy killed when a tree fell on his home, a woman who was swept away after driving into floodwaters and a teen who was reported missing after jumping in to a river on Wednesday.

“My heart is with the families and loved ones of the five Hoosiers we have lost and every family whose life has been changed by these storms,” Braun said in a statement issued Saturday. “Please continue to take flooding seriously and stay away from floodwaters.”

Rivers and creeks surge after days of rain

Jacob Spence, director of Marion County Emergency Management, called it a once-in-a-lifetime type flood.

“This is an unprecedented event, and unfortunately we’re setting some new records,” he told The Associated Press.

The National Weather Service reported that more than 11 inches (28 centimeters) of rain fell over a two-day period in some areas. The White River crested at more than 24 feet (7.32 meters) in the communities of Anderson and Noblesville, surpassing records set in 1913.

While some floodwaters were receding north of Indianapolis, flash-flood warnings and watches remained in place Saturday across a swath of central Indiana.

Forecasters expected the White River to crest Saturday evening in the Indianapolis area, where National Guard vehicles were among those helping with the rescue efforts. Rita Reith, a spokesperson with the Indianapolis Fire Department, put the number of rescues at 95 people and 45 pets as of late afternoon.

Earlier this week, severe storms wreaked havoc across other parts of the Midwest, causing tornadoes, heavy rains and flash flooding. Storm damage was reported from the Chicago area all the way to western Pennsylvania. Power had yet to be restored for some residents in other parts of Indiana.

Cleanup begins for upstream communities

Residents posted videos on social media that showed submerged homes, vehicles stranded in high water, a power pole being toppled by rushing water and roads being washed away.

There were ominous clouds over Noblesville on Saturday morning, but the river already had marked its historic crest the night before, leaving homes standing in water, parking lots flooded and corn fields saturated. The community's historic covered bridge — Potter's Bridge — was still standing.

“This is crazy for all of us,” said Matt Doudt, the city's photographer, who was out early to document the aftermath. He pointed to a grassy commons area that usually hosts farmers' market and concerts. That was under water. So was a brand new memorial and flower garden recently installed by the city.

He said Noblesville, with its historic charm and brick streets, didn't get much rain in recent days but that the flooding was caused by the downpours that happened in communities upstream. All that water had no where to go but rush down to Noblesville — and now Indianapolis, he said.

Still, Doudt and others are thankful.

“We have a lot of damage,” he said, “But we didn’t lose any lives and everybody got rescued and our city is taking care of people pretty well.”

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Montoya Bryan reported from Albuquerque, New Mexico.

It happened near the university’s Quad Annexes, where campus police and Chesterfield County officers discovered five people suffering from gunshot wounds outside campus dormitories. Officers responded just before 1:30 a.m. and the lockdown was lifted at about 9 a.m., county police said.

The shooting happened as Virginia State’s academic year begins. According to the university’s website, residence halls opened for students a week ago, and classes resume on Monday. Many students had just completed the university’s “New Trojans Experience” for incoming students.

Police and university officials have not identified any of the victims nor said if they are connected to the university.

The five were transported to hospitals, and one initially listed as having life-threatening injuries has been upgraded to critical condition, county police said. The others sustained non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

The university said in a statement that the shooting involves “multiple suspects.” The statement asked people to avoid the immediate area on Saturday morning.

“A significant law enforcement presence remains on campus as the investigation into this morning’s shooting continues,” the university said after the lockdown was lifted.

The campus had a large law enforcement presence on Saturday morning. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Hanover County Sheriff’s Office were assisting, county police said.

Virginia State University is a historically Black university located in Ettrick, Virginia, about 24 miles south of the state capital of Richmond. The public university has about 5,700 students and was the first fully state-supported four-year college for Black Americans. Most of its students are undergraduates.

The university has grown in recent years while attempting to improve safety and retain its historic charm, said Arthur Fridrich, the university’s former director of distance education, who lives near the campus and visits regularly. A shooting like this just as students return for classes is heartbreaking for the community, he said.

“To start a new year with this event is very tragic. It casts a shadow in the minds of all students, and for some it will be difficult to rid their minds of this term,” Fridrich said. “For those that were shot, my heart bleeds. I hope that they all mend and somehow do not let this event define their lives.”

___

Whittle reported from Portland, Maine.

“As synagogue security was escorting him out, he struck a member of the congregation, damaged synagogue property, and then spit at and head-butted a member of the security team,” a statement from Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.

A police sergeant working as a paid security detail at the synagogue immediately took the man into custody and no one was seriously injured, Tisch said.

Larry Montes, 46, of the Bronx, faces two counts of assault as a hate crime and one count of criminal mischief as a hate crime, among other charges, Tisch said.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani called the assault during the livestreamed service “horrifying."

“Every New Yorker must be able to observe their religion without fear of violence," he posted on social media.

Gov. Kathy Hochul, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer were among those who also condemned the attack.

Additional police security was added and Shabbat services continued Saturday.

“We might want to be focusing on the beauty of our liturgy and the sanctity of Shabbat, and somehow the feeling of the imperfect and cruel world keeps flooding in,” Rabbi Rebecca Thau told congregants.

Un portavoz de la Administración Federal de Aviación (FAA) informó que el helicóptero, un Robinson R22 con matrícula N8316N, terminó volcado de lado después de aterrizar cerca del Aeropuerto Opa-locka West alrededor de las 7:45 a.m.

Las autoridades dijeron que el piloto y otra persona viajaban a bordo y que, hasta el momento, no se han reportado lesiones. Funcionarios de Pembroke Pines Fire Rescue señalaron que ambas personas podían caminar por sus propios medios. Sus identidades no han sido reveladas.

Equipos de Pembroke Pines Fire Rescue y Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue acudieron al lugar.

Las autoridades indicaron que los rescatistas trabajaban para acceder al helicóptero con apoyo de unidades aéreas y del equipo de rastreo de la Oficina del Sheriff de Broward, debido a las dificultades del terreno.

También advirtieron que los conductores podrían enfrentar afectaciones al tránsito en la zona mientras continúan las labores de respuesta.

No se dieron a conocer de inmediato más detalles sobre el incidente.

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Officers with the Lauderhill Police Department said they responded around 7:45 a.m. to the 4400 block of Inverrary Boulevard after receiving reports that a cyclist had been struck.

Police said they found a man suffering from multiple injuries and performed CPR until fire rescue crews arrived.

They said the man, who has not been identified at this time, was taken to Broward Health Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Investigators said the driver remained at the scene, and there were no initial signs of impairment.

LPD officials said their traffic homicide and crime scene investigators are investigating the crash.

Police said the information is preliminary and could change as more details become available.

No other details about the incident were immediately released.

Agentes del Departamento de Policía de Lauderhill acudieron alrededor de las 7:45 a.m. a la cuadra 4400 de Inverrary Boulevard, tras recibir reportes de que un ciclista había sido atropellado.

La policía informó que encontró a un hombre con múltiples lesiones y que los agentes le practicaron reanimación cardiopulmonar hasta la llegada de los equipos de bomberos y rescate.

El hombre, cuya identidad aún no ha sido revelada, fue trasladado al Broward Health Medical Center, donde fue declarado muerto.

Los investigadores señalaron que el conductor permaneció en el lugar y que inicialmente no había indicios de que estuviera bajo los efectos del alcohol o las drogas.

Funcionarios de la Policía de Lauderhill indicaron que detectives de la Unidad de Homicidios de Tránsito y especialistas de la escena del crimen investigan el accidente.

La policía advirtió que la información es preliminar y podría cambiar a medida que se conozcan más detalles.

No se dieron a conocer de inmediato otros detalles sobre el incidente.

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A Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson said the helicopter, a Robinson R22 with registration number N8316N, rolled onto its side after landing near Opa-locka West Airport at about 7:45 a.m.

Authorities said the pilot and another individual were on board, and no injuries have been reported at this time. Both individuals are “ambulatory,” according to Pembroke Pines Fire Rescue officials. They have not been identified at this time.

Officials said PPFR and Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue crews responded to the scene.

They said crews were working to gain access to the helicopter using air rescue and the Broward Sheriff’s Office track unit because of terrain issues.

They said drivers should expect possible traffic impacts in the area as crews respond to the crash.

No other details about the crash were immediately released.

El último balance emitido por la Unidad Nacional de Gestión de Riesgos y Desastres (UNGRD) reporta que 320 personas continúan desaparecidas.

El devastador sismo con epicentro en San José del Palmar, en el departamento del Chocó, deja hasta el momento 3.935 heridos y más de 115.000 afectados, según la Unidad. El potente movimiento provocó la destrucción de 14.000 viviendas y causó daños en otras 81.506.

El Instituto de Medicina Legal señaló el sábado en un comunicado que se ha logrado identificar a 270 víctimas de las cuales 20 son menores de edad. Los cuerpos de 254 fallecidos ya han sido entregados a sus familiares, agregó.

En Cali, capital del departamento del Valle del Cauca, uno de los 15 afectados por el sismo, continúa la búsqueda de los más de 70 desaparecidos en esa localidad, sin que la esperanza se extinga.

“Los milagros existen” y pese a que han pasado más de 120 horas desde que ocurrió el sismo, “estamos trabajando donde sabemos que aún hay víctimas, estamos trabajando con la esperanza de recuperar personas con vida”, declaró el alcalde de Cali, Alejandro Eder, desde el puesto de mando unificado.

En el norte de Quibdó, que pertenece al departamento del Chocó, habitantes como Marisol Córdova, exigían ayuda mientras avanzaba la remoción de escombros. "Pedimos que nos reubiquen, no tenemos casas donde vivir”, aseveró al canal de Noticias Caracol.

El presidente de Colombia, Abelardo de la Espriella, afronta uno de los más grandes desafíos al inicio de su gobierno y ha declarado desastre nacional y la emergencia económica.

La medida da luz verde a la recaudación de impuestos temporales que se destinarán a la construcción de hospitales, centros educativos, inmuebles, vías y aeropuertos, han dicho las autoridades, tras uno de los peores desastres naturales en Colombia en la última década.

El vicepresidente del país, José Manuel Restrepo, recorría el sábado las comunidades rurales afectadas en el departamento de Risaralda, donde ratificó el acompañamiento para atender la crisis humanitaria y trabajar en su reconstrucción, dijo en un video difundido en X.

Ayuda internacional aumenta para Colombia

Equipos de rescatistas internacionales de países como Estados Unidos, Israel, Argentina y Ecuador se han ido sumando a las brigadas colombianas para apoyar la búsqueda y rescate de personas, así como a la evaluación de estructuras afectadas.

También han arribado seis vuelos con ayuda humanitaria desde México, informó la UNGRD, mientras que Paraguay envió 50 toneladas de medicamentos, insumos y otros productos.

De La Espriella dijo el sábado en la red social X que mantuvo un diálogo con el primer ministro israelí, Benjamin Netanyahu, a quien agradeció la ayuda y el equipo enviado a su país. Más tarde, dio a conocer que también se comunicó con el presidente estadounidense, Donald Trump, quien le expresó sus condolencias por las víctimas. Añadió que le solicitó alivios comerciales como la suspensión temporal de aranceles, pero no precisó cuál fue la respuesta de Trump.

Durante la jornada, el ejército israelí señaló que ingenieros de su delegación “guían la retirada de escombros” en el Hospital Universitario de Cali para permitir el rescate de personas atrapadas y rehabilitar el área dañada, además de asesorar en la implementación de un sistema de gestión de datos que facilite la toma de decisiones.

La víspera, Estados Unidos anunció un aporte adicional para Colombia de 11 millones de dólares en ayuda humanitaria incrementando la contribución de la administración de Donald Trump a 26,5 millones de dólares. Esta incluye asistencia alimentaria, sanitaria, de protección y refugió, señaló el Departamento de Estado.

The Grammy-nominated Welsh pop star, beloved worldwide for her 1983 chart-topping power ballad “Total Eclipse of the Heart," died last month in a hospital in Portugal. She was 75.

Tyler was hospitalized in May in Faro, where she had a home, for emergency intestinal surgery.

Locals and fans from around the United Kingdom and beyond took to the streets of Mumbles, near the city of Swansea, to see the hearse, which carried her coffin, draped in a Welsh flag. Dozens waited outside the singer's former home or left floral tributes there.

“She was always coming home and making sure that she came back to her fans in Wales," said Carys Edwards, 18. “Her songs really did touch a lot of people here in Wales; we loved her a lot."

Tyler was born Gaynor Hopkins, a coal miner’s daughter in public housing with an outside toilet in Skewen, Wales, about 7 miles (11 kilometers) outside Swansea. She grew up with three sisters and two brothers.

The singer earned three Grammy nods and in 2013 represented Britain at the Eurovision Song Contest, where she came in 19th. She was honored as a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 2022 for her services to music by Queen Elizabeth II, thanks mainly to “Total Eclipse of the Heart."

The ballad shot to the top of the charts in Britain and the United States and has had more than 1 billion streams, boosted by real eclipses in 2017, 2024 — and most recently during this week's solar eclipse.

She was also known for other hits including “It's a Heartache” and “Holding Out For a Hero," from the soundtrack of the film “Footloose.”

A celebration of Tyler’s life for family and friends will take place at a church in Swansea on Monday, before the singer makes a final journey through her hometown of Skewen.

The ongoing vitriol centered around race, gender and sexuality makes for daily headlines. They are part of an undertone to fouls and physicality that have come with the evolution of women's skills, all of which overshadow the impressive play that can be seen during the WNBA’s 30th year.

Hall of Famer Dawn Staley, who is getting inducted again Saturday with the 1996 Olympic women’s basketball team, sees a positive side to the negativity. Staley said there are similar parallels between what the WNBA is going through and what the NBA went through in the early stages of its growth.

“All the big pieces and all the things that are happening from a racial standpoint, from an officiating standpoint are great. They’re great because the NBA went through it — the NBA went through all of it,” she said. “So this is just badges of honor. Will we get through it? We will get through it.”

What the NBA had to deal with was who could play in the league. It was an all-white league when it was launched and there was resistance to integration. The WNBA has been hit lately with a narrative on whether transgender women — people assigned male at birth who transition to align with their gender identity — should be allowed to play in the league. There has never been one.

There have been players in the league who were assigned female at birth and later came out as transgender or nonbinary.

Polarizing views have become a major topic of conversation.

WNBA players’ union president Nneka Ogwumike said she feels awful for the transgender fans who have supported the league for so many years.

“It really breaks my heart to think about how these conversations may be affecting people who have supported us for so long,” she said.

Using women's sports to make a point

WNBA players have used their platform to engage in social and political discussions, but Ogwumike believes there is an underlying agenda to the off-court questions players are constantly being asked about.

“It’s super unfortunate because we’re now in a time where I think there’s a lot of different agendas that are being used for something perhaps bigger and broader that people can’t see now that they’re using women’s sports for,” Ogwumike said. “It’s very concerning, but what I really do hate is that we are using a very nuanced conversation — and evolving conversation — to continue to marginalize these groups that we advocate for.”

Ogwumike understands the tough balance that’s going on with the news media and on social media.

"Even something as simple as you guys asking actual basketball questions. I think it’s very helpful,” she said. “I think it’s a very delicate line for me because it’s like, OK, you know, we want to act like your job is to cover this game, you know, and our job as athletes is to play it and to also give you what we can. But then it’s also like do I want to seem insensitive by not talking about the things that are going on?”

Staley agrees that it's unfortunate that all the great things happening on the court are put on the backburner in discussions.

“It’s an incredible product that we’re missing out on because we got distractions every time,” she said. “There’s something great happening, there are always distractions placed in your life, but you got to be able to handle them.”

Vitriol not new and now can't be ignored

There are so many more eyeballs on the WNBA now, with viewership 17% higher than last season’s record-setting year. Attendance is also strong again this season. Not all attention is good, though.

As the league continues to grow in popularity, social media attacks directed at players have skyrocketed and betting on the sport also has increased.

“I think it was more swept under the rug in the past, but now it’s not because you can’t,” Hall of Fame inductee Candace Parker said of the personal and threatening comments directed at players. “We can’t tell every player to just deal with it. That’s not how it works. I know I’m proud that some people think that they’re anonymous when they make comments online and they’re finding out that they’re not. There are going to be repercussions.

“Unfortunately, that’s the climate in our country right now, to be honest with you. And I think women always feel it more and it’s always been that way, from top to bottom.”

Chamique Holdsclaw said she had disagreements with teammates during her WNBA days from 1999-2010, but those were kept in the locker room and not brought out on social media, which was in its infancy.

“I’ve had teammates that I may not agree with their politics or beliefs," Holdsclaw said, "but we all know that as long as the locker room is good, we’re good.”

There isn't much kept in the locker room in today's WNBA, or any sports league, and leagues are coping with the repercussions of those public discussions.

___

See AP’s full WNBA coverage here

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They say that landed Lianne Quintero, 30, behind bars on two felony charges on Thursday.

As investigators crack down on fake permits, authorities said they uncovered evidence that Quintero presented a fraudulent disabled parking application at Kendall Auto Tag, located at 13710 SW 56th St., on May 21, 2025.

The owner of Kendall Auto Tag told Local 10 News on Saturday that his company was not paid the $250 referenced in the arrest report.

But the doctor who supposedly signed the note saying that Quintero had a “permanent disability that limits or impairs her ability to walk 200 feet without stopping to rest” had died on May 5, they said, “prior to the completion of fraudulent form.”

“The uncovered documents proved that the physician could not have completed the application for the defendants disabled person permit,” a Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office arrest report states.

Additionally, deputies said the doctor’s purported signature on the parking placard application did not match the one on his driver’s license.

Authorities said went they went to Quintero’s home in the county’s rural Redland area, they told her they were there because of her placard, to which she replied, “I have a placard but do not use it.”

They said she then “voluntarily” gave up the placard and later admitted to the scheme, acknowledging that she is not disabled.

Deputies arrested Quintero on charges of providing a false statement on a handicapped permit application and uttering forged instruments.

As of Friday afternoon, records show she was being held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $2,500 bond.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify that Kendall Auto Tag was not paid the $250 referenced in the original version. According to the arrest report, a teller at the tag agency was presented with a fraudulent application for a disabled person parking placard.

Alrededor de las 8:26 p.m., operadores de emergencia de BSO recibieron un reporte sobre un atropello y fuga cerca de Southwest First Terrace y Third Court, según los investigadores.

Las autoridades dijeron que agentes y equipos de Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue acudieron al lugar y encontraron a un hombre con lesiones compatibles con haber sido atropellado por un vehículo.

Los paramédicos trasladaron a la víctima a un hospital local con heridas que ponen en riesgo su vida. No se dieron a conocer de inmediato más detalles sobre su edad o identidad.

Según los investigadores, el conductor de una camioneta negra huyó del lugar sin prestar ayuda.

Vecinos dijeron a Jeff Derderian, de Local 10, que desearían que el conductor se hubiera detenido para ayudar al hombre herido.

“Pudo haberse detenido. Yo bajé y traté de ayudarlo, pero había mucha sangre”, dijo Joanne Parish, amiga de la víctima. “La persona que le hizo esto tiene que entregarse. No atropellas a alguien en la calle y luego huyes”.

“Yo le hablaba y trataba de mantenerlo despierto”, dijo el testigo Gary Hubbard. “Estaba luchando por respirar. Este es el segundo atropello y fuga en tres semanas aquí”.

Las autoridades dijeron que detectives de la Unidad de Homicidios de Tránsito de BSO investigan las circunstancias del accidente.

Cualquier persona con información sobre el caso puede comunicarse con Broward Crime Stoppers al 954-493-8477.

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HSBC’s Cherie Wachter said Ghost is sweet, gentle and full of personality. She says Ghost previously lived with a cat, walks well on a leash and enjoys both going to the dog park and relaxing on the couch.

Wachter said Ghost would be a great fit for a family with children or someone looking for an active dog who also enjoys being a couch potato.

Ghost’s adoption fee will be half price Saturday for Local 10 viewers.

Those interested should mention they saw Ghost on Local 10 and visit the Humane Society of Broward’s website to complete a pre-adoption application.

HSBC’s adoption kennels open at 11 a.m.

Click here for more information on how you can adopt a pet.

Cherie Wachter, de la organización, dijo que Ghost es dulce, tranquila y tiene una gran personalidad. Señaló que anteriormente vivió con un gato, camina bien con correa y disfruta tanto ir al parque para perros como relajarse en el sofá.

Wachter dijo que Ghost podría adaptarse muy bien a una familia con niños o a una persona que busque una perrita activa, pero que también disfrute descansar en casa.

La tarifa de adopción de Ghost tendrá un descuento del 50% este sábado para los televidentes de Local 10.

Las personas interesadas deberán mencionar que vieron a Ghost en Local 10 y visitar el sitio web de la Sociedad Protectora de Animales del Condado de Broward para completar una solicitud previa de adopción.

Las instalaciones de adopción de la Sociedad Protectora de Animales del Condado de Broward abren a las 11 a.m.

Para obtener más información sobre cómo adoptar una mascota, visite el sitio web de la Sociedad Protectora de Animales del Condado de Broward.

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For some, mornings offer a quiet opportunity for meditation, journaling or simply easing into the day before the distractions begin.

Others prefer to unwind at night with a good book or some time on the couch.

Researchers say there is no universal answer, but most people tend to favor evening wind-down routines, even though psychological happiness tends to peak in the morning.

So, when do you prefer your “me time” — morning or night?

Para algunas personas, las mañanas ofrecen un momento de tranquilidad para meditar, escribir en un diario o simplemente comenzar el día con calma antes de que lleguen las distracciones.

Otras prefieren relajarse por la noche con un buen libro o simplemente descansando en el sofá.

Los investigadores señalan que no existe una respuesta que funcione para todos, aunque la mayoría de las personas tiende a preferir las rutinas de relajación por la noche, a pesar de que el bienestar psicológico suele alcanzar sus niveles más altos por la mañana.

Y tú, ¿cuándo prefieres dedicarte un momento para ti, por la mañana o por la noche?

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At approximately 8:26 p.m., BSO dispatchers received a report of a hit-and-run near Southwest First Terrace and Third Court, according to investigators.

Authorities said deputies and Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue crews responded to the scene and found a man suffering from injuries consistent with being struck by a vehicle.

They said paramedics transported the man to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries. No other details about his age or identity were immediately released.

According to investigators, the driver of the black pickup truck fled the scene without rendering aid.

Neighbors told Local 10’s Jeff Derderian that they wish the driver would’ve stopped to help the injured man.

“He could’ve stopped. I went down there and tried to help him, but there was so much blood,” said Joanne Parish, a friend of the victim. “The person that did this to him needs to turn themselves in. You don’t hit a person in the road and run.”

“I was talking to him and trying to keep him awake,” said witness Gary Hubbard. “He was gagging for air.” That’s the second hit-and-run in three weeks here."

Authorities said BSO’s Traffic Homicide Unit detectives are investigating the circumstances surrounding the crash.

Anyone with information on the case is urged to call Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477.

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The Florida chapter of the Association of Indians in America will host India Day at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts beginning at 11:30 a.m.

The free celebration will highlight India’s cultural diversity through live music and dance performances. Attendees also can experience Indian food, clothing and jewelry.

The event is part of celebrations marking India’s independence, giving members of South Florida’s Indian community an opportunity to honor their heritage and share its traditions with others.

Local 10’s Saira Anwer will serve as master of ceremonies.

Click here for more information on the event.

El capítulo de Florida de la Association of Indians in America organizará el India Day en el Broward Center for the Performing Arts a partir de las 11:30 a.m.

La celebración, de entrada gratuita, destacará la diversidad cultural de India mediante presentaciones en vivo de música y danza. Los asistentes también podrán disfrutar de comida india, ropa y joyería.

El evento forma parte de las celebraciones por la independencia de India y ofrece a los miembros de la comunidad india del sur de Florida la oportunidad de honrar sus raíces y compartir sus tradiciones con otras personas.

Saira Anwer, de Local 10, será la maestra de ceremonias.

Para obtener más información sobre el evento, visite el sitio web del Broward Center for the Performing Arts.

El Centro Nacional de Huracanes indicó que los vientos máximos sostenidos de Lala aumentaron a 120 km/h (75 mph), convirtiéndolo en un huracán de categoría 1. Se pronosticó que la pared del ojo se movería sobre o cerca del extremo sur de la isla para la tarde del sábado, azotando con sus peores vientos las laderas volcánicas a miles de metros (pies) sobre el nivel del mar.

El gobernador Josh Green dijo que “la gente debería estar refugiándose en sus casas ahora”, señalando que habría precipitaciones de 5 centímetros (2 pulgadas) por hora.

Los meteorólogos indicaron que las zonas de mayor altitud de la isla, dominadas por el imponente volcán Mauna Kea, podrían recibir hasta 63,5 centímetros (25 pulgadas) de lluvia. Eso podría provocar peligrosos deslizamientos de lodo en una zona montañosa donde la gente vive fuera de la red eléctrica en viviendas improvisadas.

“Esta es una tormenta enorme”, afirmó el gobernador, y advirtió sobre inundaciones destructivas e incluso la posibilidad de incendios forestales avivados por los fuertes vientos en toda la cadena de islas. La electricidad se interrumpió para casi el 20% de los clientes en la Isla Grande, según poweroutage.us.

Residentes se preparan para lo peor

Bobby Camara, de 75 años, que ha vivido toda su vida en la Isla Grande, dijo que planeaba “aguantar, cruzar los dedos, esperar que no se vaya la luz” en un hogar de cuidados a las afueras de Hilo. Dijo que mucha gente había acudido a las gasolinerías para buscar combustible para motosierras y vehículos.

“Creo que abastecerse es parte de la vida por aquí… Aprendes a ser autosuficiente”, afirmó.

Mike Caputo, que vive en Keaau, cerca de la costa este de la Isla Grande, afirmó que su generador eléctrico estaba listo y que había llenado un tanque de agua doméstico de 37,8 kilolitros (10.000 galones). Relató que la principal preocupación son las inundaciones repentinas y los árboles caídos, especialmente la albizia, un árbol común.

“No son muy resistentes, pero crecen extremadamente alto”, comentó Caputo, de 50 años, un capitán de bomberos local. “Pueden hacer que las carreteras sean intransitables. Me aseguré de que mis árboles estuvieran podados hace unos días”.

Advertencias por todas partes

La Isla Grande estaba bajo una advertencia de huracán, y había advertencias de tormenta tropical para las islas de Maui, Molokai, Lanai, Kahoolawe, Oahu, Kauai y Niihau.

Según una investigación realizada por un científico atmosférico de la Universidad de Hawai basada en relatos periodísticos, un huracán de categoría 3 alcanzó la esquina noreste de la isla en 1871. El pronóstico más reciente prevé que Lala impacte “muy cerca del extremo sur de la Isla Grande”, señaló Vanessa Almanza, meteoróloga del servicio meteorológico en Honolulu.

Se abrieron refugios, diversos eventos fueron cancelados y se instó a los ganaderos a dejar su ganado en los pastizales, en lugar de en estructuras que podrían colapsar. “No hace falta que toque tierra para causar destrucción”, manifestó.

De hecho, Christine Matsuda, que vive en Waimea, en la parte norte de la isla, afirmó que “las grandes rachas de viento cada pocos minutos sacuden toda la casa”.

“Encontramos goteras en lugares donde no hay agua en condiciones normales”, señaló.

El centro de huracanes pronosticó acumulados de lluvia de 20,3 a 30,5 centímetros (8 a 12 pulgadas) en Maui y en las zonas de menor altitud de la Isla Grande, y de 10,2 a 15,2 centímetros (4 a 6 pulgadas) en toda la cadena de islas.

Muchos hawaianos aún lidian con las secuelas de las devastadoras inundaciones de marzo. Los agricultores que todavía se recuperan temían sufrir más daños, según Brian Miyamoto, director del Hawaii Farm Bureau.

Aumentan los riesgos de incendios forestales durante el tiempo ventoso

A medida que los vientos se intensificaban en las islas, Almanza explicó que las condiciones secas y ventosas fuera de la tormenta elevarían la preocupación por incendios.

En 2023, el pueblo de Lahaina, en Maui, se incendió durante una racha de vientos extremos mientras un huracán pasaba muy al sur.

“Desde el incendio, todo el mundo está mucho más consciente del clima en general y de nuestro entorno y de las cosas que están pasando”, expresó Archie Kalepa, de Lahaina, conocido en la zona por su forma de surfear, remar y ejercer otras habilidades oceánicas.

Kauai, que está varias islas al noroeste en el archipiélago desde la Isla Grande, es donde el huracán Iniki tocó tierra como un huracán de categoría 4 en 1992 — un año de El Niño como este, cuando el calentamiento del Pacífico cerca del ecuador incrementa la actividad de huracanes y afecta los patrones meteorológicos en todo el mundo.

“Causó daños por valor de 3.000 millones de dólares. Destruyó miles de viviendas y sí mató a seis personas”, relató Steven Businger, el científico atmosférico de la Universidad de Hawai. “Simplemente nunca podemos saber si una tormenta va a cambiar de rumbo”.

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La periodista de The Associated Press Jennifer Sinco Kelleher en Honolulu contribuyó a este despacho.

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Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con la ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.

In a booming music business, CDs were king, like Shakur's monumental “All Eyez on Me," which topped the Billboard album chart a few months earlier. It was the pinnacle of a brief hip-hop career whose legend would only grow in the following decades. His shooting was one of several momentous mid-1990s musical deaths, including those of Kurt Cobain and Shakur's archrival the Notorious B.I.G.

Starting Monday in Las Vegas, that September night will come under intense scrutiny again as 63-year-old Duane “Keffe D” Davis is tried in his killing. It is a moment that many fans and followers of the formerly cold case thought might never come.

Prosecutors allege Davis orchestrated Shakur’s shooting. They have charged him with one count of murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang.

Davis has pleaded not guilty. His defense attorneys argue there is no evidence he directed the shooting and the state is relying on witnesses who weren't there.

Here's a look at key elements of the trial that is expected to last about a month.

What happened on the night Tupac was shot

Shakur and Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight were in Las Vegas to watch Mike Tyson knock out Bruce Seldon at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Just outside the fight, Shakur, Knight and their entourage got into a brawl with a group that included Davis' nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson.

Authorities, authors and Davis himself say the shooting was an act of retaliation. Davis' 2019 memoir “Compton Street Legend,” said the men had “crossed the line” when they beat up Anderson.

“We couldn’t let no record company studio gangsters do us like that,” says the book, which along with Davis interviews revived the cold case and led to Davis being charged. The co-authored memoir will be essential to the trial. Davis’ defense fought unsuccessfully to get it excluded.

Later in the night, Shakur and Knight were heading to a nightclub where Shakur was scheduled to perform. At a red light near the Las Vegas Strip, a white Cadillac pulled up beside them, and gunfire erupted. Shakur was shot multiple times and died six days later. Knight survived with minor injuries.

Prosecutors say Davis called for shooting that was fueled by long gang feud

The long, lingering question of who shot Tupac may stay unanswered. But prosecutors hope to prove that Davis was the shot caller and provided the weapon.

He was one of four men in the Cadillac, authorities said. The other three have all died in the years since. Authorities say neither the car nor the gun used in the shooting were recovered.

Grand jury testimony portrayed the shooting as a culmination of a longstanding feud between rival record labels — Death Row Records and Bad Boy Records — and rival gang sects Mob Piru and South Side Compton Crips.

The key players at trial

The jury will consist of six men and 10 women who were seated Thursday. Four are alternates.

Attorney Michael Sanft will lead Davis' defense. He has said he took the case on a pro-bono basis. His previous high-profile clients include Michele Fiore, a Nevada politician convicted of wire fraud but pardoned by President Donald Trump before she was sentenced, and Andrew Cote, a former Las Vegas pastor found guilty of shooting and killing his 71-year-old neighbor and her 54-year-old boyfriend.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo will head the prosecution. He previously faced off with Sanft as the prosecutor in the Cote case.

Judge Carli Kierny was a public defender for 10 years in Clark County, Nevada, where she was elected as a judge in 2020. She is on the ballot again later this year.

Dozens of prosecution witnesses could include ‘Suge’ Knight

Prosecutors expect to call between 35 and 45 people to the stand. Along with police and technical witnesses, they are expected to include people who saw Shakur moments before he was shot and those who were associates of both Shakur and Davis at the time.

Knight, the West Coast hip-hop mogul who was once one of the most important and most feared men in music, is the only surviving eyewitness other than the defendant. He is on the witness list and may be summoned. He has said he wants no part in the trial. He is serving a 28-year prison sentence in California for running over and killing a Compton businessman in 2015.

Davis wrote in his book that moments before the shooting, he and Knight “looked each other dead in the eye” like “two rams locking horns.”

Sean “Diddy” Combs, Knight’s East Coast counterpart and fierce foe, will not be testifying.

The defense intends to call only a handful of witnesses. They have not said whether Davis will testify.

The three men who didn't live to take part in the trial

Law enforcement authorities long suspected that the gunman was Anderson, Davis' 12-years-younger nephew who was 22 at the time. He was sitting in the backseat of the Cadillac, behind his uncle. Anderson, who denied involvement in Shakur’s killing, died two years later in what police said was an unrelated shooting at a Compton car wash.

Deandrae “Freaky” Smith was in the backseat sitting next to Anderson. Denvonta Lee, a former associate of Smith who talked to him about the shooting soon after it happened, told a grand jury it was Smith who fired the shots but let Anderson take credit for Shakur's death. Smith died in 2004 at age 30 from what authorities said were natural causes.

Terry “Bubble Up” Brown was the driver of the Cadillac. He died in a 2015 shooting at a medical marijuana dispensary in Compton.

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Wilton Manors police identified the man as 57-year-old George Manuel Mandes.

According to the report, the incident began Thursday at about 4:19 p.m. when the Amazon delivery driver was making several deliveries at the Manor Grove Apartments in Wilton Manors.

Police said the driver delivered packages to different floors of the apartment complex, including one package that was left at Mandes’ home.

The driver told police he later realized the package had been delivered to the wrong apartment, just a few doors away. He returned to retrieve it and delivered it to the correct address, according to the report.

The report states the driver told police that after he returned to his delivery van, Mandes approached him and accused him of stealing his package.

According to the report, Mandes then pulled a “small black handgun” from his waistband and pointed it at the driver.

Police said Mandes then barricaded himself inside his home, prompting a large law enforcement response at the condominium complex.

Neighbor Paul Baker said he was stunned by what happened.

“I couldn’t believe it. He’s such a nice guy. He’s always been very friendly to me,” he said. “I wonder if I have it on camera.”

Police said they eventually arrested Mandes after he gave them consent to search his apartment, where they recovered a gun.

Jail records show Mandes is facing one count each of aggravated assault with a firearm without intent to kill and improper exhibition of a firearm.

Mandes posted bond and was no longer listed as an inmate in Broward County jail records as of Saturday morning.

Well, bad news: Bedbug infestations are increasing. This is the time of year when they tend to be at their worst. And some scientists think the reviled pests might be capable of spreading an antibiotic-resistant infection called MRSA.

For centuries, the bugs have horrified homeowners and occasionally panicked the public. That happened in New York City in 2018, when at least a half dozen city buses were taken out of service after reports of bedbugs crawling on seats. It happened again in Paris in 2023, when reports of bedbugs at a movie theater, on trains and on buses popped up in the lead-up to the 2024 Olympics.

“They certainly are out there,” said Christopher Hayes, a North Carolina State University assistant professor who has been bitten by bedbugs more than 50 times in the course of research. “And if you're unaware, if you're not on top of your game, it's easy to bring them into your home."

Bedbugs really do come out at night

Bedbugs are reddish-brown bloodsuckers about the size of an apple seed. Some researchers estimate they date back to the time of the dinosaurs, but they are best known for their unfortunate ability to live with — and prey on — humans.

They can hide in narrow crevices in furniture and lurk in clothes, linens and mattresses. They are hard to see but can be detected through the small dark excrement stains they leave.

The pests can be year-round problems but they have traditionally thrived in the summer. They tend to emerge at night, crawling onto people and using a beaklike body part to pierce human skin and suck blood for several minutes.

The bite itself is painless. Some people develop itchy red welts a day or so later, but others have no reaction.

That's a problem, because people unaware that they are repeatedly being bitten can quickly find themselves victims of an infestation.

One of the more gruesome stories about bedbugs and human health was detailed in a 2020 medical journal case report from France.

It told of a 70-year-old man who lived by himself in an apartment and fainted on the street one day. He was brought to a hospital emergency department in a Paris suburb where he was diagnosed with dementia — and with anemia caused by a longstanding loss of blood.

He also had bedbugs feeding on his neck, head and shoulder. An investigation of his apartment detected thousands of them in his bed and on the floor, walls and curtains of his home.

They aren't thought to spread disease, but one experiment raises questions

Some good news about bedbugs is there hasn't been clear evidence that they have spread diseases from one person to another. The bugs' digestion and anatomy seem to prevent germs from being passed on efficiently, said Chow-Yang Lee, an entomologist at the University of California at Riverside.

But University of South Dakota researchers in 2023 published the results of an experiment — using blood capsules with an artificial skin — that demonstrated bedbugs could acquire MRSA during one feeding and spread it during a later one.

Follow-up research is needed to really prove bedbugs actually are spreading MRSA to people, said one of the study's authors, Jose Pietri, who is now at Purdue University. But “it changes the perspective of what bedbugs do, in terms of public health,” Pietri said.

Bedbugs are more resistant to pesticides

Bedbug populations in developed countries were decimated after World War II due to the widespread use of the pesticide DDT. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency banned the pesticide for most uses in 1972, citing evidence that it was harming animals and was a potential risk to people.

Bedbugs had already started to develop resistance to DDT by then, and they have only been getting stronger and more common, said Lee, noting that insecticide resistance has driven a continued resurgence in bedbugs in recent decades.

Exactly how much more common isn't clear. Pest control companies generate annual rankings of U.S. cities with the worst bedbug problems. (Orkin currently ranks Chicago at No. 1, while Terminix says Philadelphia has the biggest problem.) But those lists are based on how many calls each company receives in a year, not a rigorous survey.

Many bedbug infestations happen in low-income or public housing, which may not hire the big companies that compile those rankings, Lee said in an email.

How to protect yourself from the pests

The best thing you can do is never get them in the first place, experts say. That means not bringing them into your home.

Travelers can pick them up in hotel rooms. So before you unpack for your stay, check the room for signs of bedbugs by pulling back the covers and bedsheets to look for bugs or fecal spots.

Do not place luggage on beds or on the floor near beds, and consider placing your bags in a light-colored trash bag or even in the bathtub. When you get home, open the luggage outside and take laundry right to the washing machine and dryer.

Sometimes, bedbugs enter homes by hitching a ride on secondhand furniture or other products. Visually inspect those items and treat them before you take them into your home, Hayes advised. Some experts advise vacuuming, steaming or heating furniture, and quarantining it in a garage or storage unit for a few days before bringing it inside the house.

If it's clothes, wash them and put them through the dryer for an hour. Shoes or other items? Consider putting them in a freezer for a week “to make sure that everything in there that could be alive is taken care of,” Hayes said.

How to get rid of bedbugs if you have them

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency offers do-it-yourself guidance for getting rid of the pests, but it's labor-intensive, involving sealing hiding spaces and treating infested items.

It also contains many warnings of what not to do.

"You can't just blast random chemicals and expect it's going to work because there's a fairly high likelihood that they'll be resistant to some of the first-line insecticides,” Pietri said.

It makes sense to hire professional exterminators who are experienced in getting rid of bedbugs, Pietri and other experts said. But it can cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

Insecticides are not the only option.

Silica dust treatments, for example, absorb the bedbug’s body moisture, killing them.

Sustained dry heating works wonders, killing eggs as well as adult bedbugs. But it has to be at least 122 degrees (50 degrees Celsius) and can damage furniture, paintings and other personal possessions, so it must be done by professionals.

“I think the biggest piece of advice is just people shouldn't panic,” Hayes said. “They just need to take action. If you think you have bedbugs, don't wait to deal with it.”

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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Miami-Dade Fire Rescue crews continued assisting the Florida Forest Service as the “Radio Tower Fire” burned near Southwest Eighth Street and 177th Avenue.

There are no threats to nearby communities, officials said.

It’s the latest brush fire to burn across South Florida during a busy wildfire season that has already scorched hundreds of thousands of acres.

Smoke continued to fill the air over the area Saturday morning as the brush fire burned through the Everglades. Sky 10 captured clouds of smoke billowing over the trees Friday evening as flames moved through the land.

The flames moved close to Krome Avenue on Friday, prompting authorities to shut down the southbound lanes as crews worked to contain the blaze.

Krome Avenue has since reopened between Southwest Eighth Street and 88th Street. Road closures may be intermittent as conditions change, officials said.

Authorities said the smoke and haze could make it difficult for drivers to see, adding to the reason for the road closure.

“If you are sensitive to smoke, limit your time outdoors and set your home and vehicle air conditioning systems to recirculate to help reduce exposure to outdoor smoke,” MDFR officials said in a statement.

As of Saturday morning, the Radio Tower Fire is currently 188 acres and 50% contained, and the Trail Fire is 25 acres and 80% contained.

Viewers can FL511.com for the latest road closure information.

“I’d go home and I’d cry,” said Touzalin, an 18-year-old college student from Colorado. “I didn’t understand why all this weight was coming back or why my friends didn’t have to shave their faces and I had to.”

Touzalin and her mom, Anne Schultz, were finally diagnosed with polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome, a hormonal condition affecting 1 in 8 women worldwide. But unlike her mom, Touzalin is beginning young adulthood with new hope after taking part in a study testing blockbuster GLP-1 drugs as a treatment.

A small but growing body of research shows that these obesity medications may also work for the disorder known as PMOS — not only by promoting weight loss but also by improving insulin resistance, hormone balance and ovulation. These things are key to the disease, which used to be called polycystic ovary syndrome but was renamed earlier this year to shift the focus away from ovaries and cysts.

“We need to do a better job taking care of it,” said Dr. Melanie Cree, who has led three studies testing GLP-1 drugs for PMOS including the one Touzalin joined. “We are finding them incredibly effective and really exciting for improving symptoms in women with this condition.”

PMOS is a mysterious and maddening disease

Touzalin and her mom's long, frustrating journey with PMOS is common.

Diagnosis often takes years because symptoms overlap with other conditions, vary widely and may be dismissed by doctors. The disorder tends to run in families, and many but not all women affected carry excess weight. But there’s no known cause or specific treatment, just symptom management such as taking birth control pills to regulate periods and keeping weight in check with diet and exercise.

Two hormones are key drivers of PMOS: insulin, which acts like a key to let blood sugar into cells, and testosterone, which among other things helps maintain sexual desire, bone density and muscle mass.

Most women with PMOS, regardless of their body size, have insulin resistance, which means this hormone doesn't work as well as it should, said Cree, PMOS clinic director at Children’s Hospital Colorado. In many women, the high insulin can go directly to the ovaries, spurring them to make more testosterone and leading to problems like skipped periods, severe acne and even beard growth.

Schultz, 43, didn’t even know the condition existed when she first began having irregular periods and bloating around age 18. In addition to struggling with the same symptoms as her daughter, she had problems with her ovaries and numerous miscarriages, which are more common with PMOS.

Schultz received various diagnoses before learning she had PMOS around the same time as her daughter, who faced a similar medical runaround.

Schultz recalled talking about Touzalin's symptoms with a pediatrician who was seeing her for what they thought was primarily an issue with binge eating and ADHD.

Schultz told the doctor: “There's gotta be something else going on here.”

Touzalin said she felt “heard for the first time” when a nurse practitioner began piecing things together a few years ago. Cree definitively diagnosed her last year.

“It was like a godsend,” said Schultz, tearing up. “We finally had an answer and some kind of a path for her.”

In Cree’s study, Touzalin gave herself shots of semaglutide weekly for 10 months. The abnormal hair growth slowed and her periods normalized. For the first time, she felt full after eating and stopped gaining weight constantly.

“I became a happier version of myself,” she said. “I felt like a normal person.”

While research on GLP-1s for PMOS continues, insurers put up barriers

Touzalin’s results weren’t unique. Early data from the study, published in June in the journal Fertility and Sterility, said eight of 11 participants completing the trial lost at least 10% of their body weight. The median weight loss among them was about 42 pounds; the median drop in testosterone was 52%. Six women had more periods and four of them went to monthly periods.

In all three of Cree’s studies, women on GLP-1s lost more weight than those in control groups, and levels of testosterone, blood sugar and insulin dropped. While the study involving Touzalin looks at semaglutide shots, the other studies examined semaglutide pills in one and exenatide shots in the other.

Other studies globally have shown similarly positive results. Although the studies are small, some researchers say GLP-1s are already showing promising potential for targeting metabolic issues in PMOS. Others say the evidence remains uncertain, and more studies are underway.

As research continues, more and more doctors are prescribing the drugs “off label” for PMOS and seeing improvements in their patients. But insurance coverage is often a problem because the drugs are not approved to treat the condition.

“I use these medicines a great deal,” said Dr. Rana Malek, an endocrinologist with the University of Maryland Medical System.

Among patients with insulin resistance, she said she usually uses them to help with weight loss.

Doctors stress that results vary. GLP-1s don’t work for everyone and can have side effects, like nausea and constipation. If people stop taking them, weight can return.

Still, they can help a lot of PMOS patients, Malek said, and it’s frustrating that many can’t get them because of insurance issues. Not only are they unapproved for PMOS, some insurers don’t cover them for weight loss.

Touzalin recently ran into this barrier herself. After finishing her study participation, she no longer gets free GLP-1s and had to go off them in June.

Schultz is determined to get her back on them. She’s fighting with her insurer and has a backup plan to get medications through a drug company program. She’d also like to try GLP-1s for her own PMOS, but said her daughter comes first.

Touzalin hopes for a day when any PMOS patient can get the treatment if she needs it.

“It’s something that could help a lot of other people,” she said.

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AP video journalist Brittany Peterson in Denver contributed to this story.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Jose Divine Fernandes Correeia, de 52 años, de Pembroke Pines, y Ruth Cristaldo, de 53 años, fueron detenidos mientras trabajaban en su turno nocturno en la instalación de UPS ubicada en 13350 NW 17th St. en Doral, según un informe de arresto.

Los registros de la cárcel muestran que ambos sospechosos enfrentan un cargo cada uno de fraude organizado de $50,000 USD o más y hurto mayor en segundo grado de entre $20,000 USD y $100,000 USD.

Las autoridades indicaron que una investigación comenzó después de que la seguridad de UPS, que trabajaba con la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade, recibiera reportes de dispositivos electrónicos desaparecidos, incluidos teléfonos Apple y Samsung, tabletas y computadoras portátiles.

Dijeron que Cristaldo trabajaba como empleada de “Overgoods” en la instalación, mientras que Fernandes Correeia era “package handler”. Ambos trabajaban en el turno nocturno de recarga.

Según un informe de arresto, los investigadores revisaron videos de vigilancia y vieron a Fernandes Correeia seleccionar paquetes que contenían dispositivos electrónicos, retirar sus etiquetas de envío originales y sacar los artículos de sus cajas.

Los agentes dijeron que Cristaldo luego colocaba los artículos en cajas nuevas y creaba nuevas etiquetas de envío de UPS para ellos.

Dijeron que los artículos recién empacados eran colocados en un área de descarga, donde eran procesados y enviados para su entrega a la mañana siguiente.

El martes, la seguridad de UPS revisó videos de vigilancia y observó a Fernandes Correeia seleccionando paquetes y retirando sus etiquetas de envío antes de llevar los artículos a Cristaldo, según el informe.

Los investigadores dijeron que posteriormente encontraron uno de los paquetes y lo abrieron, descubriendo 10 computadoras portátiles Apple MacBook y tres audífonos Bose valorados en aproximadamente $10,000 USD.

Dijeron que el paquete estaba dirigido a Barnes & Noble y tenía programada su entrega para el miércoles. Los investigadores dijeron que el paquete fue entregado.

Al día siguiente, los investigadores dijeron que nuevamente observaron a la pareja presuntamente volver a empacar dispositivos electrónicos.

Esta vez, encontraron un paquete que contenía 40 iPhones de Apple, modelos 16 y 17, junto con dos teléfonos Samsung Galaxy. Los artículos estaban valorados en aproximadamente $45,000 USD, según el informe.

El paquete estaba dirigido a una empresa relacionada con Amazon en Northwest 33rd Street y tenía programada su entrega para el jueves, señala el informe.

Las autoridades indicaron que la seguridad de UPS interceptó el paquete del conductor antes de que fuera entregado.

Los investigadores dijeron que revisaron registros internos y determinaron que Cristaldo había creado más de 198 etiquetas de envío de UPS utilizando sus credenciales de acceso de Overgoods desde abril de 2025, según el informe.

Dijeron que las etiquetas presuntamente fueron utilizadas en paquetes enviados a dos direcciones en Northwest 33rd Street en Miami. El informe señala que utilizaron varios nombres de empresas, incluidos Barnes & Noble, Amazon, JC Electronics y JC Auto Parts.

La seguridad de UPS también encontró al menos 10 paquetes adicionales escondidos alrededor del área de Overgoods que aún no habían sido etiquetados, según el informe.

Los investigadores dijeron que los dos empleados estaban involucrados en un esquema en curso en el que los dispositivos electrónicos eran retirados de sus cajas de envío originales, colocados en cajas nuevas y enviados utilizando etiquetas fraudulentas.

El informe señala que la seguridad de UPS cree que las pérdidas totales relacionadas con el presunto esquema superan los $100,000 USD.

Las autoridades indicaron que la Unidad de Delitos de Venta Minorista Organizados de MDSO arrestó a los dos sospechosos el jueves mientras trabajaban en la instalación de Doral.

Local 10 se comunicó con UPS para solicitar una declaración sobre los arrestos.

Hasta la tarde del viernes, Fernandes Correeia y Cristaldo permanecían detenidos en el Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, donde sus fianzas figuraban como “por determinar”.

Monique Jonell Williams, de 18 años, y los dos jóvenes de 16 años fueron detenidos el jueves.

Según el Departamento de Policía de Sunny Isles Beach, el robo ocurrió en The Brand Original, ubicada en 18090 Collins Ave., poco antes de las 12:30 p.m. del miércoles.

Un informe de arresto del SIBPD señala que uno de los adolescentes entró a la tienda alrededor de las 12:20 p.m., la “recorrió”, y luego regresó junto con Williams y el otro adolescente unos cinco minutos después.

La policía dijo que uno de los adolescentes tomó el bolso Hermes Birkin de $16,000 USD del estante, se subió a un Cadillac CT4 negro con placas de Louisiana y huyó.

Después de emitir una alerta para localizar el vehículo, las autoridades dijeron que la policía de Fort Lauderdale vio el sedán en una gasolinera Wawa ubicada en 2620 W. Broward Blvd. la tarde del jueves.

Las autoridades dijeron que vieron al trío cambiar de vehículo y subir a un Tesla gris, que los agentes detuvieron cerca de Northwest Fourth Street y 27th Avenue.

Dijeron que los tres posteriormente “confesaron el robo, señalándose a sí mismos en las imágenes de CCTV obtenidas de la escena”.

Hasta la mañana del viernes, Williams permanecía detenida en el Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center con una fianza de $2,500 USD. La información de la cárcel sobre los adolescentes no estaba disponible de inmediato.

The National Hurricane Center said Lala’s maximum sustained winds increased to 75 mph (120 kph), making it a Category 1 hurricane. The storm's center was forecast to move over or near the island’s southern end by the evening, lashing its worst winds at volcanic slopes thousands of feet above sea level.

Gov. Josh Green, noting rainfall of 2 inches (5 centimeters) an hour, said “people should be sheltering in place now.”

Forecasters said higher elevations on the island, dominated by the towering Mauna Kea volcano, could get as much as 25 inches (63.5 centimeters) of rain. That could cause life-threatening mudslides in a mountainous area where people live off the grid in improvised housing.

Earlier the governor called it an “enormous storm,” capable of destructive flooding and even the possibility of wildfires kicked up by strong winds across the island chain. Electricity was knocked out for nearly 20% of customers on the Big Island, according to poweroutage.us.

Residents prepare for the worst

Bobby Camara, a 75-year-old lifelong resident, said he planned to “hunker down, cross my fingers, hope the lights don’t go out” at a care home just outside Hilo. He said gas stations were busy as people sought fuel for chain saws and vehicles.

“I think stocking up is part of life over here. ... You learn to be self-reliant,” Camara said.

Mike Caputo, who lives in Keaau, near the Big Island's east coast, said his power generator was ready and a 10,000-gallon (37.8 kiloliter) home water tank was full. He said the main concern was flash flooding and fallen trees, especially albizia, a common tree.

“They’re not very sturdy, but they grow extremely large,” said Caputo, 50, a local fire captain. “They can make roads impassable."

Warnings posted everywhere

The Big Island was under a hurricane warning, and tropical storm warnings were issued for the islands of Maui, Molokai, Lanai, Kahoolawe, Oahu, Kauai and Niihau.

A Category 3 hurricane hit the northeast corner of the Big Island in 1871, according to research by a University of Hawaii atmospheric scientist. The latest forecast has Lala striking “very close to the southern tip of the Big Island,” said Vanessa Almanza, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Honolulu.

Shelters were opened, events were canceled and ranchers were urged to leave their cattle in pastures, rather than structures that might collapse. “It doesn’t take landfall to create destruction,” Almanza said.

Indeed, Christine Matsuda, who lives in Waimea, on the northern side of the island, said “big gusts every few minutes rattle the whole house.”

“We're finding unexpected leaks in places that don't see water under normal conditions,” Matsuda said.

The hurricane center predicted 8 to 12 inches (20.3 to 30.5 centimeters) of total rainfall across Maui and the lower elevations of the Big Island, and 4 to 6 inches (10.2 to 15.2 centimeters) across the island chain. Many Hawaii residents are still dealing with the aftermath of devastating floods in March.

Wildfire risks increase during windy weather

As winds ramped up across the islands, Almanza said dry and breezy conditions outside the storm would elevate fire concerns.

In 2023 the Maui town of Lahaina burned during extreme winds as a hurricane passed far to the south.

“Since the fire, everybody is way more aware of weather in general and our environment and things that are happening,” said Archie Kalepa of Lahaina, who is known in the area for his surfing, paddling and other ocean skills.

Kauai, which is several islands northwest up the archipelago from the Big Island, is where Hurricane Iniki made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane in 1992 — an El Nino year like this one, when a warming of the Pacific near the equator increases Pacific hurricane activity and affects weather patterns across the globe.

“It did $3 billion worth of damage. It destroyed thousands of homes, and it did kill six people,” said Steven Businger, a University of Hawaii scientist. “We just can never know if a storm is going to turn.”

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Associated Press writer Jennifer Sinco Kelleher in Honolulu contributed.

Reportada primero por el Tampa Bay Times, la nuevo título, “Aumento de la exención de vivienda; menor límite a los aumentos en las tasaciones de propiedades sin vivienda”, reemplaza a “Salvemos nuestros hogares de los impuestos excesivos a la propiedad”, que Frank calificó más como un eslogan político que como una descripción neutral.

La nueva versión también elimina las afirmaciones de que la enmienda “beneficia” a los contribuyentes, “protege a las pequeñas empresas”, “garantiza” los servicios esenciales y garantiza la “equidad” para los residentes de Florida.

En cambio, detalla cómo funcionaría.

La medida elevaría la exención de vivienda para los impuestos que no son escolares a $150,000 USD en 2027 y a $250,000 USD en 2028, con ajustes por inflación después de eso. El texto anterior solo mencionaba la exención de $250,000 USD, aunque esta no entraría en vigor hasta el segundo año.

La nueva versión también deja claro que no existe un calendario obligatorio para eliminar los impuestos a la propiedad de viviendas que no sean escolares. En su lugar, los legisladores crearían un proceso que permitiría a los gobiernos locales aumentar aún más la exención, potencialmente hasta el valor total tasado de una vivienda.

También señala que el límite anual al crecimiento de las tasaciones bajaría del 10% al 5% para todas las propiedades que no sean viviendas, incluidos alquileres, casas de vacaciones y edificios comerciales, no solo pequeñas empresas.

Los nuevos residentes de Florida recibirían la exención existente después de calificar para la exención de vivienda, pero no recibirían la exención mayor hasta su quinto año de solicitarla.

El ex senador estatal republicano Jeff Brandes, uno de los demandantes en uno de los desafíos consolidados, recibió con beneplácito la nueva versión.

“Finalmente, los abogados en ejercicio tomaron el control del lenguaje”, dijo Brandes en un mensaje de texto. “El texto es honesto sobre lo que hace la enmienda. Espero que los votantes de Florida profundicen, hagan preguntas difíciles y entiendan las consecuencias antes de decidir el resultado”.

Los opositores dicen que un lenguaje más claro no soluciona lo que consideran una propuesta defectuosa.

“El lenguaje revisado de la boleta electoral, en respuesta al fallo de la corte, representa con mayor precisión la política subyacente para los votantes”, dijo Sadaf Knight, directora ejecutiva del Florida Policy Institute. “Sin embargo, los posibles impactos perjudiciales de la enmienda siguen siendo los mismos”.

Analistas estatales estiman que la medida eventualmente reduciría los ingresos recurrentes por impuestos locales a la propiedad en casi $12,000 millones USD anuales. Los opositores advierten que eso podría significar recortes en los servicios o impuestos y tarifas más altos en otros lugares.

“El lenguaje en las boletas de los votantes puede haber cambiado, pero la Enmienda 3 sigue siendo una estafa y un traslado de impuestos”, dijo Jackson Peel, director de comunicaciones de Save Our Services–No on 3.

El gobernador Ron DeSantis, quien impulsó la propuesta, sostiene que los propietarios necesitan alivio ante el rápido aumento de la recaudación de impuestos locales a la propiedad y que los gobiernos locales pueden controlar el gasto.

La Enmienda 3 necesita al menos 60% de apoyo para ser aprobada en noviembre. Si es aprobada, entraría en vigor el 1 de enero de 2027.

Puedes leer la enmienda completa a continuación:

Grandes columnas de humo podían verse elevándose sobre los árboles la tarde del viernes, mientras Sky 10 captaba la intensidad de las llamas a medida que se extendían por la zona.

Se trata del incendio forestal más reciente registrado en el sur de Florida durante una temporada especialmente activa, que ya ha consumido cientos de miles de acres.

Las llamas también se acercaron a Krome Avenue, lo que mantuvo en alerta a los equipos de emergencia.

La policía cerró los carriles en dirección sur de Krome Avenue la tarde del viernes mientras los equipos trabajaban para contener el incendio.

Las autoridades advirtieron que el humo y la neblina podían dificultar la visibilidad de los conductores, lo que también motivó el cierre de la vía.

Aunque el incendio más reciente ha consumido hasta ahora solo unos cientos de acres, continúa teniendo un impacto importante en la zona.

Hasta la tarde del viernes, el incendio Radio Tower había afectado 188 acres y estaba contenido en un 50%, mientras que el Trail Fire había consumido 25 acres y estaba contenido en un 80%.

The USS George Washington is departing the Pacific and expected to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Middle East amid growing concerns about mental health and supply issues aboard the long-deployed carrier. The Lincoln has had its time at sea extended from its original May return date to support operations against Iran.

The lack of a U.S. carrier in the Pacific may be short-lived if the Navy deploys another in the next couple of months. But it shows how the open-ended operations with Iran are running some American sailors ragged, analysts say, while the Trump administration further retreats from the Asia-Pacific region and focuses on the Western Hemisphere.

“The administration says that the Pacific is supposed to be the most important behind the Western Hemisphere,” said Greg Poling, director of the Southeast Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Instead, the U.S. is "doing the exact opposite" of its previously expressed goal of pulling out of the Middle East.

American allies in the Pacific are unsettled over the unpredictability of the Republican administration, Poling said, while Beijing “is quite happy with U.S. distraction, with the frustration of U.S. allies and partners."

China may take advantage of US carrier's absence

Beijing sees the U.S. military presence in the region as a threat to China’s rise and an obstacle to its ambition to seize Taiwan, the self-governing island it claims as its own. But the United States has argued that the Pacific region is too important economically to lose.

No one expects China to invade Taiwan because an American aircraft carrier has left the region. But the carrier's absence gives the Chinese another opportunity to show its strength, said Bryan Clark, a former Navy submariner who is a defense analyst at the Hudson Institute.

“They’re using this as part of the narrative to demonstrate to the Philippines, to Japan, to Indonesia and others that the U.S. is not the big dog in the western Pacific anymore,” Clark said. “They would just prefer that countries in the region decide that China is the bigger power and the U.S. is not able to guarantee their security anymore.”

China conducted naval exercises this week with Indonesia and recently has shown signs of aggression toward Japan and the Philippines, two key U.S. allies that also have territorial disputes with Beijing.

China carried out military drills this month near the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. Both China and the Philippines have claims over the shoal. Last month, a Chinese guided-missile destroyer conducted a live-fire exercise off Japan’s southernmost island of Okinotori.

Adm. Frank Bradley, head of the U.S. Special Operations Command, has been trying to reassure regional allies of Washington’s commitment. He was in Manila on Thursday, telling his Filipino counterparts that U.S. special operations forces are ready to step up joint exercises to strengthen the countries' alliance. He also is expected to travel to Japan.

Evan Sankey, a policy analyst at the Cato Institute who focuses on U.S. policy toward China, said aircraft carriers provide psychological assurance to U.S. allies. The absence of carriers in the region, he said, “adds to the general sense that the U.S. is distracted by events in the Middle East.”

Trump has relied on aircraft carriers for military actions

Trump has relied heavily on aircraft carriers to support military operations during his second term. For example, the USS Gerald R. Ford returned home in mid-May after an 11-month deployment, the longest since the Vietnam War, during which it supported the U.S. fight against Iran and the capture of Venezuela's then-leader, Nicolás Maduro.

The Ford had experienced a fire in a laundry space that forced the carrier to turn around and return to the Mediterranean Sea for repairs and left hundreds of sailors without places to sleep. Meanwhile, the Lincoln has spent a record uninterrupted time at sea of more than 240 days. Democratic lawmakers have been calling for investigations and greater visibility into conditions aboard the ship.

Warships and their crews can only handle so much, said Robert Farley, who teaches national security and diplomacy at the University of Kentucky and often writes about aircraft carriers.

“People don’t get enough rest. It's psychologically exhausting. And R&R is part of keeping the crew healthy,” Farley said. “Sometimes it’s framed as, ‘These people haven’t had a vacation.’ But we are dealing with well-known limits on the capacity of a crew to operate at top efficiency over time. And that just declines."

Clark, of the Hudson Institute, said the squeeze on the nation's aircraft carriers stems from the lack of preparation and planning for the Iran war.

“If we were going to mobilize to do this kind of conflict, and we anticipated it might go this long, we might have done some changes to the carrier schedule to make sure more would be available,” Clark said.

Clark said the Navy has 11 aircraft carriers and typically deploys two or three at a time. But it could soon deploy four if the USS Theodore Roosevelt leaves San Diego for the Middle East, allowing the Washington to return to Pacific.

But the massive warships will need maintenance, likely causing a bottleneck at the nation's only two carrier shipyards.

“We’ll end up with a maintenance debt that needs to be paid for the next few years,” Clark said. “We’ll probably have less carrier presence than we’ve had in the previous years because carriers will be lined up to get into the shipyard.”

There are questions about the use of aircraft carriers in modern warfare

Michael Swaine, a senior research fellow in the Quincy Institute’s East Asia Program, questions the future need for aircraft carriers as warfare rapidly changes.

Carriers can be more easily targeted with drones and missiles, particularly by an adversary such as China, Swaine said, while smaller ships and submarines can be as effective in striking targets as the fighter jets that launch off a carrier.

Top Navy officials have indicated a desire to move away from a heavy reliance on carriers. Adm. Daryl Caudle, chief of naval operations, told The Associated Press in February that he wants to convince commanders to use smaller, newer ships and other assets instead of consistently turning to huge aircraft carriers.

La policía de Wilton Manors identificó al hombre como George Manuel Mandes, de 57 años.

Según el informe, el incidente comenzó el jueves alrededor de las 4:19 p.m., cuando el repartidor de Amazon realizaba varias entregas en los apartamentos Manor Grove, en Wilton Manors.

La policía dijo que el conductor dejó paquetes en distintos pisos del complejo, incluido uno que fue entregado en la vivienda de Mandes.

El repartidor dijo a la policía que más tarde se dio cuenta de que el paquete había sido dejado en el apartamento equivocado, a solo unas puertas de distancia. Regresó para recogerlo y lo entregó en la dirección correcta, según el informe.

El reporte señala que, después de volver a su camioneta de reparto, Mandes se acercó a él y lo acusó de haber robado su paquete.

Según el informe, Mandes sacó entonces una “pequeña pistola negra” de la cintura y apuntó con ella al repartidor.

La policía dijo que Mandes posteriormente se atrincheró dentro de su vivienda, lo que provocó un amplio despliegue policial en el complejo de apartamentos.

El vecino Paul Baker dijo estar sorprendido por lo ocurrido.

“No podía creerlo. Es un tipo muy amable. Siempre ha sido muy cordial conmigo”, dijo. “Me pregunto si lo tengo grabado en cámara”.

La policía dijo que finalmente arrestó a Mandes después de que este diera su consentimiento para registrar el apartamento, donde los agentes recuperaron un arma de fuego.

Los registros carcelarios muestran que Mandes enfrenta un cargo de agresión agravada con arma de fuego sin intención de matar y otro por exhibición indebida de un arma de fuego.

Mandes pagó la fianza y ya no aparecía como detenido en los registros de la cárcel del condado de Broward hasta la mañana del sábado.

In Tuesday's primary, Wisconsin Democrats cast nearly 800,000 ballots, their highest total for a midterm in more than 20 years. That followed 1.5 million Democratic voters in Michigan the week before, a midterm record for the state.

The enthusiasm extends beyond the Midwest. Democratic turnout also surged earlier this year in Texas and Georgia, states that will have competitive Senate races in the fall. It is giving Democrats a string of strong showings heading into the midterms, when the president’s party is normally at a disadvantage. That is compounded this year by President Donald Trump’s weak approval ratings, persistent inflation and an unpopular war with Iran.

“The big news is that Democrats are getting huge turnouts,” said David Axelrod, who was a top adviser to Democratic President Barack Obama. “That’s been a steady story throughout this period.”

Competitive Democratic primaries have helped drive the surge, giving the party’s voters more reason to participate. Republican primary turnout remained closer to historic norms in Michigan, even with a competitive statewide contest.

Voter turnout in primary elections is an imperfect predictor of general election results, especially when one party has the more compelling early contests. Republicans say they are responding with a major effort to turn out their voters in the fall.

GOP leaders say they can energize voters by tapping into a major fundraising advantage over Democrats and sending Trump back out campaigning, including during a midterm convention in Texas next month.

“Primary turnout doesn’t win general elections,” said Mike Marinella, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee. “House Republicans are entering November with the money, momentum, stronger candidates and a battle-tested operation built to turn out voters when it actually counts.”

Democratic turnout in some states is the highest in two decades

The scale of the Democratic turnout advantage varied across states, but the pattern extended across much of this year's competitive landscape for House, Senate or governor's races.

In Wisconsin, more than 790,000 people voted in the Democratic primary for governor, putting turnout at about 22% of registered voters. More than 1.5 million people voted in Michigan's recent Democratic Senate primary, which accounted for a little more than 18% of registered voters. It was the state's highest midterm turnout rate in a Democratic primary since at least 2002 — the same as in Wisconsin, according to an analysis of Associated Press election data.

In Minnesota, Democratic primary turnout was on par with the 2018 midterm election, with both years marking the state’s highest Democratic primary turnout in a midterm year so far this century.

For Republicans in Wisconsin and Michigan, turnout in last week’s primary was in line with previous GOP midterm primaries in each state. In Michigan, turnout for the Republican governor’s race was about 11%. In Wisconsin’s Republican primary for governor, it is expected to be about 14%.

“Republicans in Michigan will close the enthusiasm gap by highlighting the massive differences between our nominees and the extreme, out-of-touch politicians the Democrats have nominated,” said Ted Goodman, a spokesperson for the Michigan GOP. “It's one thing to lead in enthusiasm before we know who is running. Now, the differences are clear.”

Other states that held elections earlier this year also saw significant Democratic primary turnout. In Georgia and Texas, the midterm turnout rate in the Democratic primaries was higher than it’s been since at least 2002. In Georgia, just over 1 million people voted in May in the Democratic governor’s race, a little more than 13% of registered voters. In Texas, about 2.3 million people voted in March in the Democratic Senate primary, a little more than 12%.

Competitive primaries fueled turnout. They may complicate Democratic unity

The robust primary turnout has been a “good sign for Democrats,” said Corwin Smidt, a political science professor at Michigan State University. But he cautioned that it is “not a very solid predictor” of how voters will break in November.

Smidt pointed to several factors behind the numbers, including high turnout in recent elections, which has created a larger pool of regular voters.

“Voting is a lot of habit-forming,” he said.

He also noted that many of the states with high turnout had what he described as “media spotlight candidacies.”

Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota all held marquee progressive versus moderate races in August that likely helped drive Democratic participation.

In Michigan, spending in the Democratic Senate primary topped $80 million, making it one of the most expensive races of the year so far, according to AdImpact. Progressive Abdul El-Sayed narrowly defeated Rep. Haley Stevens after a campaign that drew national attention and energized younger voters and university communities.

But Stevens carried Wayne County, the state’s largest source of Democratic votes, and some of the congresswoman's supporters said before the primary that they would not back El-Sayed if he became the nominee.

In Wisconsin, the governor’s primary was repeatedly reshaped as moderate Democrats left and reentered the race while democratic socialist Francesca Hong consolidated progressive support. Hong lost narrowly to Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, a more moderate candidate.

The races highlight how competitive primaries helped drive attention and also how the winning candidates have work to do to bring their party together for November. Both Wisconsin and Michigan Democrats held unity breakfasts in the days after the primaries.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who backed El-Sayed and Minnesota Senate nominee Peggy Flanagan but did not endorse Hong, said in an interview this week that he expects Democratic voters to bridge their differences for the general election.

“At the end of the day, when it comes to taking on Trump and creating a Democratic House and a Democratic Senate, there is going to be unity, because I think everybody knows how important that is,” he said.

A favorable environment, but a difficult map

Democrats have reason to believe the primary enthusiasm could last. The president’s party has historically lost ground in midterm elections, and Trump enters the fall deeply unpopular amid economic unease and an unpopular war.

Some 33% of American adults approve of his job performance, according to the most recent polling by The AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs.

But a favorable national environment may not be enough. Democrats will need unusually strong turnout to overcome a congressional map that has become more favorable to Republicans.

The number of competitive House races has shrunk considerably this year after Republican-controlled states redrew congressional districts in their favor at Trump’s urging. Some Democratic-controlled states responded, but the new lines are expected to produce a net benefit for Republicans, who hold a slim House majority.

Republicans control the Senate 53-47, with Democrats needing to pick up four seats to win the majority. Democrats will have to generate energy similar to Republicans two years ago, Smidt said.

“If we have a national tide like we had in 2024, suddenly that opens the map a little more,” he said.

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Pamela Jo Martin and Samuel Jens of The Associated Press Election Services team contributed to this report from Washington.

Concerns about a weak economy and still-high inflation? His predecessor, Joe Biden, saddled him with that, he says, even though the Democrat has been out of office for 18-plus months and despite Trump once promising an immediate turnaround.

The problem-plagued revamp of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool? That was marred by vandalism, the Republican president insists, even though the office of a prosecutor he put in the job has said the damage was due to shoddy workmanship.

The increasingly unpopular war in Iran that has kept oil prices high, Trump’s approval rating low and sent shock waves through the global economy? Actually, this was Trump making up for timid earlier presidents who, he argues, squandered nearly 50 years of opportunities to curb Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

Pithy slogans aside, all modern presidents shift responsibility onto others to some degree, frequently blaming the commander-in-chief who preceded them, Congress — or both. But Trump has taken it to a new level, effectively embracing a de facto political strategy of being in charge of everything but responsible for nothing when things go badly.

“Taking responsibility being a characteristic of presidential leadership — or any kind of leadership — is absolutely true,” said Nicole Anslover, a history professor at Florida Atlantic University and author of “Harry S. Truman: The Coming of the Cold War.”

Trump’s tendency to point fingers at others is increasingly in the spotlight before November’s midterm elections, when Republicans are trying to retain control of Congress. His unwillingness to accept blame sometimes leads him to deny that there are problems at all, and could leave GOP leaders in tight races with little reassurance for voters that their concerns are being addressed.

The White House counters that Trump is working to correct long-festering challenges, not simply throwing up his hands and ignoring them.

The president is "rightfully addressing the failures of his predecessors while taking action to deliver big wins for the American people,” spokesperson Taylor Rogers said, pointing to a series of policies that she said Republicans can run on, including tax cuts, efforts to lower prescription drug prices, cracking down on immigration and the U.S.-Mexico border, increasing domestic energy production and a strong stock market.

Ducking responsibility dates to Trump's first term

Truman famously kept a “The Buck Stops Here” sign on his desk as president. That came from “pass the buck,” which, according to Truman’s presidential library, dates to frontier times, when poker players would pass a buckhorn handle knife to the person whose turn it was to deal the cards.

“The president, whoever he is, has to decide,” Truman said during his farewell address in 1953. “He can’t pass the buck to anybody. No one else can do the deciding for him. That’s his job.”

The understanding of the phrase has broadened over the years to include taking responsibility for the outcome of tough decisions. Trump used to espouse similar beliefs, saying back in 2013 that in running a business, “Whatever happens, you’re responsible. If it doesn’t happen, you’re responsible.”

Accepting the 2016 presidential nomination, Trump said, “Nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it.” But as president, he has often suggested that the solution and blame rest elsewhere.

“The buck stops with everybody,” Trump said in 2019, during a lengthy government shutdown. In 2020, on the same day he declared the coronavirus pandemic a national emergency, he said, “I don’t take responsibility at all" for a lack of COVID-19 testing.

Anslover said Truman took full responsibility for dropping atomic bombs on Japan even though he was not informed that the U.S. was developing such weapons until his predecessor, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, died.

John F. Kennedy saw his approval ratings rise after he acknowledged he was to blame for the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba. Ronald Reagan said he was sorry for any involvement he may have had in the Iran-Contra scandal even while saying he wasn’t sure he was to blame. “The buck stops here with me,” he said then.

At his final news conference in early 2009, George W. Bush listed a series of mistakes he had made, including failing to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. His successor, Barack Obama, said, “I screwed up,” after his nominee for health chief, Tom Daschle, withdrew because of unpaid back taxes.

Presidents before Trump "really usually take accountability,” Anslover said.

‘We inherited a total catastrophe,’ Trump says

The president acknowledged in a recent Punchbowl interview that voters are angry, but he said they are not mad at him but at congressional Republicans.

Trump believes his party can hold its congressional majorities after November, but he was clear that if Republicans lose, it won't be his fault — echoing his comments before the 2018 midterms that he would not accept blame if his party lost control of the House, which it did.

Trump's approval rating on the economy, once seen as among his strongest issues, has fallen throughout his time in office, from 40% in March 2025 to 32% in July, according to Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research polling. About 6 in 10 U.S. adults say Trump’s economic policies have made economic conditions worse, according to Pew Research Center polling.

“The public certainly expects the president to be concerned about, and focused on, making life more affordable,” Republican pollster Frank Luntz said.

Trump instead points to Biden, under whom inflation hit a four-decade peak of 9.1% in 2022 as the pandemic was still roiling the world economy, before declining to 2.7% by November 2024. Last month, pressured by the Iran war, it was 3.4%.

“When we took office, we inherited a total catastrophe,” Trump said at a recent rally, later adding, “I inherited those high prices, just so you understand."

Andrew Bates, a Democratic strategist and former Biden White House spokesperson, noted that Trump no longer mentions his campaign promise to “immediately end inflation” on Day One.

“He may not remember having made those promises, but swing voters sure as hell do,” Bates said.

Trump has shown the same pattern with Iran and the Reflecting Pool

The president has characterized the Iran war as “a little excursion" or “detour." To play down how long it has lasted, he frequently notes that U.S. wars in Vietnam and Afghanistan dragged on for years, though the Iran conflict — which he initially said would be over in four weeks to five weeks — is now in its sixth month with no clear end in sight.

Trump has sought to shift blame to the past on the Reflecting Pool, falsely suggesting that Biden and Obama spent “hundreds of millions of dollars” trying unsuccessfully to fix it.

But Trump's main defense has been vandalism. And, so far, at least four cases alleging that, including the most prominent case against an Olympic canoeist, have been dropped because of a lack of evidence.

Anslover said that, after 11-plus years in politics, Trump has proved he is not afraid to violate norms of presidential comportment. Lots of his core supporters do not seem bothered.

“For many Americans, it has either been a shift in how they view the presidency, or, like with so many things, they just feel empowered to say, ‘These are my priorities. My priority is not the facts,'" she said.

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Associated Press writer Amelia Thomson DeVeaux contributed to this report.

any fresh local white fish! 6 ounces per person

2 tablespoons neutral vegetable oil

1 (1-inch piece) peeled ginger, grated on microplane

2 garlic cloves, grated on microplane

1 tablespoon light soy sauce

1 tablespoon dark soy sauce

1 tablespoon Chinese cooking wine

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon Chinese black vinegar

1 cup chicken stock or water

2 mangos, peeled and sliced

optional: mint, basil and cilantro leaves

In a large, heavy skillet, heat the oil over medium heat and cook the fish on one side until golden brown, remove the fish from the pan and set aside and continue to heat the same pan. Add the ginger and garlic stirring for 1 minute. Add all other ingredients just up to the chicken stock or water. Allow the sauce to simmer and begin to come together and thicken a little. Add the fish back into the pan and lower the heat to low. Cook the fish until it’s done, add the fresh mangos and top with the herbs if using.

Serve immediately.

1 ripe mango, peeled, pitted, diced

1 green mango, peeled, pitted, julienne (cut into thin strips) very thin

1 fresco or serrano, seeds removed, sliced thin

1 avocado, diced

1 jicama, peeled, cut into chunks

¼ red onion, julienne (cut into thin strips) very thin

picked mint leaves, torn into smaller pieces

basil leaves, torn into smaller pieces

Nuoc Cham Vinaigrette (recipe below)

½ cup roasted, salted peanuts, crushed

Combine ripe and green mangoes, Fresno or serrano chilies, avocado, jicama, red onion, mint and basil leaves. Dress with prepared nuoc cham vinaigrette as desired. Top with peanuts.

Nuoc Cham Vinaigrette:

5 tablespoons water

2 tablespoons palm (grated) or granulated sugar

2 tablespoons lime juice, freshly squeezed

2 tablespoons fish sauce or nuoc mam

1 garlic clove, minced

Combine all ingredients for the vinaigrette and whisk together until the sugar melts. Allow to macerate.

1 cup diced ripe mango

1 cup ice

2 ounces light rum

juice of 1 lime, freshly squeezed

2 tablespoons coconut cream

2 tablespoons cream of coconut

For garnish, coconut shavings

For serving, fun pina colada glass / hurricane glass

Shake both the can of coconut cream and cream of coconut well before removing the amount needed.

Combine all ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth.

Pour into a fun glass, top with coconut shavings to garnish.

PSG announced the signing in a statement without giving financial details. Sports Daily L'Equipe said the club was paying the Spanish champion 50 million euros ($58 million) for Torres. The French team said he will wear the No. 9 jersey.

The 26-year-old Torres scored Spain's winning goal during extra time of the World Cup final against a robust and physical Argentina side. Brought on as a second-half substitute, he pounced on a bouncing ball and drove a left-foot shot under the crossbar.

It was his only goal of the competition and he said it was “scored by 47 million people,” referring to Spain’s population.

The transfer to PSG is his second big move. Barcelona signed Torres from Manchester City during the January 2022 transfer window for a reported fee of 55 million euros. Before joining City in 2020, he played for Valencia.

More of a roaming forward than a prolific scorer he netted 65 goals in 207 games for Barcelona, including a career-high 21 in all competitions last season. But his contract was set to expire next year and Barcelona reportedly had to pay a fee to City if he was to extend it.

Torres had played briefly alongside PSG forward Ousmane Dembélé when the France star was at Barça.

The move reunites Torres with Spanish coach Luis Enrique, who gave the player his international debut in 2020 when he was in charge of Spain. Luis Enrique took over at PSG in 2023 and has led the team to back-to-back Champions League titles as well as the French league title in each of his three seasons in charge.

PSG boasts attacking options

Luis Enrique has multiple options in attack, with Ballon d'Or winner Dembélé, Désiré Doué, Bradley Barcola — who has been linked with a summer move to Liverpool — Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and new signing Maghnes Akliouche.

Dembélé set up Doué for PSG's winner against Aston Villa in the UEFA Super Cup on Wednesday after Kvaratskhelia had given PSG the lead in a 2-1 victory.

It’s the first of a possible six trophies this season for PSG, which became the first team to win back-to-back Super Cup titles since Real Madrid (2016 and ’17).

PSG faces French Cup winner Lens on Sunday in the Trophée des Champions, which is a match between last season’s league and cup winners.

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See AP’s full soccer coverage here

A top United Nations official, however, warned of a grave human rights crisis in Afghanistan, where girls over age 12 are barred from attending school.

The Taliban seized power on Aug. 15, 2021, as the U.S. and other NATO troops withdrew following a costly two-decade war. The U.S. withdrawal led to chaos at Kabul airport as crowds of people tried to flee the country in desperation.

Soon after taking power, the Taliban administration imposed a ban on girls’ education beyond the sixth grade and later banned higher education for women, despite having pledged before the takeover that women would be allowed access to education, employment and public participation.

Women have also been banned from public spaces such as gyms and parks, from taking part in sports and traveling to distant locations without a male guardian.

Taliban hails ‘liberation’ from American forces

At the Loya Jirga, high-ranking officials were joined by some foreign representatives and thousands of ordinary citizens for speeches marking what they said was Afghanistan's liberation from American forces.

“We pray to Almighty God to forever protect our homeland from occupation, aggression, wars, and insecurity, and to enable our people to enjoy peace, tranquility, and prosperity under the auspices of the Sharia-based government,” the Taliban government’s deputy spokesman, Hamdullah Fitrat, said during the ceremony.

Abdul Salam Hanafi, the deputy prime minister in charge of administrative affairs, said the Taliban rule ended an era of external interventions and internal strife in Afghanistan “over the past half-century,” restoring security.

“At least 300 Afghan youth were martyred or killed every day,” Hanafi said. “Three hundred sisters would become widows, several children would become orphans and 300 mothers would be grieving. Praise be to God, with the rule of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, this tragedy was removed from the Afghan nation.”

There were no women present at the ceremony.

Top Taliban official calls for more international engagement

Five years on, the Taliban government remains isolated internationally, with Russia being the only country to have recognized it formally.

Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said countries that have engaged with the administration have gained from doing so and called on others that have not established contacts to reconsider their approach.

“They should move towards a policy of engagement and mutual interaction,” he said.

Celebrations held under tight security

In Kabul, Afghans took to the squares carrying Taliban flags and chanting slogans in support of the government. Convoys of vehicles wound their way through the city, causing traffic jams.

Security was tight, with a heavy Taliban security force presence and several checkpoints on a main road leading to the Loya Jirga.

Celebrations were also held in provinces across Afghanistan, where Taliban flags and posters emblazoned with slogans in praise of the Taliban’s return to power were displayed along major roads and marketplaces.

UN warns of worsening human rights crisis

In a video message, Richard Bennett, the U.N. special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Afghanistan, said the country was undergoing a deep human rights crisis.

“While the era of war has ended, it’s questionable whether there’s real peace, and the human rights situation has steadily deteriorated, most dramatically for women and girls,” Bennett said. “My mandate has concluded that this system amounts to the crime against humanity of gender persecution.”

“The crisis extends well beyond gender discrimination, even beyond gender apartheid,” he continued, noting that the U.N. continues to document arbitrary arrests, torture, extrajudicial killings and persecution of minorities in Afghanistan.

Bennett warned the international community against “normalizing” the Taliban’s policies, saying it would legitimize the discrimination and tell “victims their suffering is negotiable.”

In an interview with The Associated Press earlier this week, Molvi Hayatullah Mahajar Farahi, deputy minister in the Taliban government for broadcasting at the Ministry of Information and Culture, said despite “challenges and difficulties” the administration has in the past five years delivered security and infrastructure and created jobs.

2.4 million girls excluded from secondary education

Farahi, when asked, did not address the issue of the education of girls and women but said “the level of investment made in universities surpasses anything seen in the past."

The U.N. agency on education and culture, UNESCO, estimates that some 2.4 million girls have been excluded from secondary education. The U.N. World Food Program said child malnutrition has reached critical levels in a third of Afghanistan’s provinces and is expected to worsen due to funding shortfalls.

U.N. Women said this week that women and girls are facing the harshest restrictions in the world and that the bans are damaging Afghanistan’s future, with the lack of teachers, doctors, nurses and midwives threatening the country’s social and economic foundations.

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Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey.

Driver and Navarette were among the new cast members announced Friday night at Disney's D23 convention by Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, along with Driver's “Girls” castmate Christopher Abbott as Professor Charles Xavier and Maya Boyd as Storm. The film is slated for release in May 2028.

The announcements were the biggest news to emerge from Disney Entertainment's D23 presentation that also brought updates on its forthcoming “Star Wars” titles and a song-and-dance that went sideways from the stars of “Frozen 3.”

Driver's name was often rumored and often dismissed as an “X-Men” possibility. Many thought he'd be playing the antihero Magneto. The rest of the cast appeared on stage at the Honda Center arena in Anaheim, California, while Driver appeared on a big screen.

“Kevin and I had been talking for years about my joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and I think we finally found the perfect film,” Driver told the crowd of 12,000 via video. “So I’m very excited to be playing the role of Maaagneto!” he said before pausing, taking it back and saying, “even better, Nathaniel Millbury,” an alias for Mister Sinister.

Also on stage were previously announced cast members Samara Weaving, who is playing Emma Frost; Kit Connor, who is playing Scott “Cyclops” Summers; and Sadie Sink, whose role as Jean Grey was revealed by her appearance in this summer’s Marvel megahit “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.”

The castmates were as new to each other as they were to the fans.

“They’ve just met backstage for the very first time,” Feige said.

Navarette had also been heavily rumored to have a role after fast becoming one of Hollywood's most sought-after actors for her striking performance as a spellbound girlfriend in the indie horror hit “Obsessed” earlier this year.

The “X-Men” joining the MCU became possible with Disney's 2019 acquisition of Fox's film studio.

Director Jake Schreier is heading the reboot. and two writers from prestige TV — “Beef” creator Lee Sung Jin and “The Bear” co-showrunner Joanna Calo — are working on the script.

Gosling cosplays as Kade Auberon in 'Star Wars' presentation.

Ryan Gosling and director Shawn Levy headlined the “Star Wars” part of the night with a presentation on their film “Star Wars: Starfighter,” which is getting a May, 2027 release.

Gosling's appearance on stage was preceded by clips of him as a child cast member of “The Mickey Mouse Club.”

“I owe a lot to Disney," Gosling said. "Had they not looked far and wide and come to my hometown I would not be here today. Now, 30 years later, I'm back and it's changing my life again.”

Shawn Levy put on Gosling a leather jacket with his “Star Wars” character Kade Auberon's skull-and-bones symbol.

Gosling described Auberon as “a guy from the wrong side of the galaxy, whose fate is intertwined with the fastest starfighter ever built,” before showing clips from the film.

Disney announced earlier this summer at its San Diego Comic-Con presentation that Gosling will play the character Ghost Rider in the MCU, first in a “Black Panther” sequel, then in a “Ghost Rider” film that Levy will also direct. Both are set for release in 2028.

“Star Wars: Ahsoka” star Rosario Dawson also appeared to promote the Season 2 return of her Disney+ series, as did Hayden Christensen, who will return as a force-ghost version of her mentor Anakin Skywalker.

More Marvel with classic stars Downey, Evans, Atwell and Bettany

Marvel veterans also took the D23 stage as past and future “Avengers” stars Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr. and Hayley Atwell introduced a new trailer for “Avengers: Doomsday,” to be released Dec. 18.

The footage shows Downey, now playing Dr. Doom having shed his Iron Man suit, beating back Chris Hemsworth’s Thor and his hammer, and shows Evans, who is returning as Captain America, holding a baby. And it shows Ian McKellan as a long-haired, haggard, struggling version of Magneto.

Hugh Jackman appeared on the big screen to tell Feige he's willing to appear in “Doomsday” as Wolverine. Whether he'll be in the movie has led to heated fan speculation. His answer wasn't definitive, but most bets are now switching to yes.

Fans also got a glimpse of the soon-to-drop Disney+ series “Visionquest.” Paul Bettany, who returns to his Marvel role as Vision, and James Spader, who returns to playing Ultron, showed a trailer with oddly human and ordinary versions of their cybernetic characters. Bettany said it’s been a pleasure to play multiple versions of Vision, who has “rather inconveniently died several times.” But, he said, “I'm told in the Marvel Universe that no one is ever really dead.”

“Frozen 3” stars serenade fans, sort of

Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel sang an eerie new arrangement of “Frozen Heart” from their first film playing princess sisters Elsa and Anna as they introduced the forthcoming “Frozen 3.”

Or they tried to, anyway. The segment was plagued with malfunctioning audio, video, and a set of doors that failed to open.

They ad-libbed their way through it like pros.

“Should we go back and try it again?” Menzel asked at the song's end.

Bell described for the crowd everything that was supposed to happen and said, “You guys were gonna freak out.”

They found their way back to the script.

“Doesn't it kind of feel like the world of Frozen is a bit different?” Bell said. Menzel added, “Maybe a little bit more mysterious?”

“Yes, OK, we're back on track,” Bell said, to big laughs.

Their castmate Josh Gad followed with a rendition of “Oooh, Samantha,” a love song his snowman character Olaf will sing in “Frozen 3.”

The night's other big musical set pieces included songs and dance from the cast of “The Greatest Showman,” the stage musical adaptation of the 2017 Jackman film that is premiering on London's West End next year.

And in southern Lebanon, 11 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes, some of the deadliest since a shaky truce between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah went into effect on June 20.

Here’s a look at the latest developments on Saturday in the Iran war and the wider Middle East. Full coverage can be found here.

Iran says Qatar is holding 3 of its pilots

Qatar's armed forces captured and were holding three pilots who went missing in March when their jets were downed, the Missing Persons Committee of Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff said. Qatar, however, denied it.

Until now, Tehran had said it had no information about their fate. This is the first known case in the war where Iran has said a regional country is holding its fighters. Qatar on March 2 said its air force shot down two Iranian bombers as Tehran lashed out against countries hosting U.S. military bases in the opening days of the war.

Saturday's statement alleged that Qatar had not allowed the pilots to meet or communicate with families or Iranian officials handling their cases. Iran asked the International Committee of the Red Cross president for help. The letter said a fourth pilot was killed while on the mission “targeting an enemy military base in Qatar," state media reported.

A spokesperson with Qatar's foreign ministry, Majed Al Ansari, later denied the claims and indicated on X that the pilots had been shot down and that Qatar's search and rescue teams found the remains of one. He said Iran was invited in April to visit and be briefed on those efforts, with no response.

A tanker is attacked in the Strait of Hormuz

The tanker owned by Abu Dhabi’s state-owned oil and gas company ADNOC was attacked while transiting the Strait of Hormuz, the Emirati state-run WAM news agency said Saturday.

There were no injuries in the Friday evening attack, the agency reported. It was the third such attack on a vessel operated by ADNOC in the critical waterway in the last week. The United Arab Emirates in a statement called on Iran to stop the unprovoked strikes.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said a bulk carrier was struck in the hull by an unknown projectile on Friday. It was not immediately clear if it was the same vessel.

Iran asserted control over the strait after the war started on Feb. 28 with U.S. and Israeli strikes. About one-fifth of the world’s traded oil and natural gas passed through the waterway at the mouth of the Persian Gulf before then.

Talks between the U.S. and Iran have stalled while Iran is in discussions with Oman about how to manage the strait that runs between them and had been considered an international waterway.

Israeli strikes kill 11 in southern Lebanon

Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon killed at least 11 people Saturday.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry and state news agency said one strike targeted a home on the edge of the village of Ansar and killed seven people, including three children, and wounded two. The second, on the village of Deir al-Zahrani, killed four and wounded 17.

Israel's military said it killed a Hezbollah battalion commander and several other militants at a headquarters in southern Lebanon in response to the group’s actions against Israeli soldiers operating there. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office in a separate statement said three soldiers were seriously injured. The military blamed an explosive drone.

The military said the commander's family was with him, and that “it should be emphasized that the family members were not the target of the strike.” Both the military and Netanyahu's office alleged the commander used the family members as human shields.

It was one of the deadliest days since the Lebanese government and Israel announced a “framework agreement” laying out a plan for Israeli forces to withdraw from southern Lebanon in exchange for Hezbollah's disarmament.

The militant group refused direct talks and was not part of the agreement.

Houthis in Yemen attack Red Sea port, killing at least 3

Yemen's military said the Houthis attacked the Red Sea port of Mokha under the control of the internationally recognized government. Port director Abdul-Malik al-Sharabi told journalists that Friday evening’s attack killed three people including two marines, and that port operations had been suspended.

Military spokesperson Col. Majed al-Nazili said in a statement that the Houthis fired six ballistic missiles.

The Houthis' attack was the latest on government-held areas and on neighboring Saudi Arabia, part of an escalation threatening to plunge Yemen back into civil war.

Analysts say the escalation reflects how Iran is scaling up pressure on the United States and its regional allies.

Lebanon's Health Ministry and state news agency said an airstrike that targeted a home on the edge of Ansar village killed seven people, including three children, and wounded two. The second, on the village of Deir al-Zahrani, killed four and wounded 17.

Israel and the Lebanese government announced a “framework agreement” on June 26, laying out a plan for Israeli forces to withdraw from southern Lebanon in exchange for the disarmament of the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group. It envisions steps toward an eventual peace agreement between the countries, which remain technically at war nearly 80 years after Israel’s establishment.

Hezbollah has refused direct talks and wasn’t party to the deal.

Prime minister says Israeli strikes undermine efforts at stability

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam criticized Israel's airstrikes on southern Lebanon, saying they intimidate “residents in their homes" and undermine efforts to stabilize the situation in the south.

“The seven martyrs of the Israeli airstrike on the town of Ansar are not military infrastructure and the children and women killed were not military targets,” Salam said on X. He added that it is the job of the Lebanese state to deal with any military infrastructure in the country.

President Joseph Aoun said in comments released by his office that the strikes are “a clear message to the negotiation track and to the American efforts aimed at implementing this agreement.”

Israel says it was responding to action against its soldiers

Intense Israeli airstrikes early Saturday also hit the strategic Ali Taher hill, which overlooks parts of the southern city of Nabatiyeh and main roads leading to it, NNA reported. Despite the truce, Israel’s military has continued near-daily attacks in the area north of the Litani River, with large areas to the south under Israeli military control.

The Israeli military said in a statement it struck Hezbollah infrastructure in the areas of Ali Taher and Ansar in response to an action against Israeli soldiers in the area.

The office of Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hezbollah violated the ceasefire by attacking Israeli soldiers inside Lebanon, seriously wounding three. It said the military responded by striking the Hezbollah headquarters which ordered the attack, learning only later that Hezbollah “deliberately put civilians” in that military compound. Israel's military later said the soldiers were hurt by an explosive drone.

The Israeli military issued another statement later Saturday saying the strike on Ansar killed Ali Samir Al-Haj Hassan, whom it described as a battalion commander with Hezbollah's elite Radwan Force unit. The military said Haj Hassan’s family was with him and was harmed, but emphasized that the family was not targeted.

Hezbollah refuses to disarm

Hezbollah supporters posted photographs on social media of the commander, his wife, three sons and one daughter and said they were all killed in the strike.

A Hezbollah official did not immediately respond when asked for comment on whether they carried out any attacks on Israeli forces in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah called on the Lebanese state to find ways to halt “this aggression” rather than pursuing U.S.-sponsored direct talks with Israel, arguing that would be “free gifts for the enemy despite the crimes and aggression it is carrying out.”

“The American side is a partner of the Israeli enemy in its crimes and massacres,” Hezbollah added in the statement.

Earlier this month, two Israeli soldiers were killed in an explosion in southern Lebanon, the first Israeli deaths since the truce. Hezbollah has not commented on the blast.

Lebanon and Israel have held seven rounds of talks; the most recent took place in Rome earlier this month.

The Iran-backed Hezbollah has refused to disarm and accuses the Lebanese government of making too many concessions without guaranteeing an Israeli withdrawal.

The latest Israel-Hezbollah war erupted on March 2, when Hezbollah fired rockets across the border two days after the U.S. and Israel launched their attacks on Iran. More than 4,000 people have been killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon since then, including hundreds of civilians. About 40 soldiers and three civilians — including a military contractor — have been killed on the Israeli side.

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Associated Press writer Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement comes as the Rohingya refugee crisis enters its ninth year, with hundreds of thousands of refugees still living in camps in Bangladesh after fleeing Myanmar in August 2017 when the military launched a crackdown following attacks by a Rohingya insurgent group on guard posts in Rakhine.

The operation drove more than 700,000 Rohingya across the border into Bangladesh, joining hundreds of thousands of others already living there for decades in the wake of waves of previous violence perpetrated by Myanmar’s military.

The scale, organization and ferocity of the operation led to accusations of ethnic cleansing and genocide from the international community, including the U.N.

Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, does not recognize the Rohingya as one of the country’s 135 lawful ethnic minorities, instead referring to them as Bengalis to imply they are natives from Bangladesh and are illegally settled in Myanmar.

Myanmar said it had verified 426,545 of the 828,824 refugees on a list provided by Bangladesh as of the end of July, and determined that 308,797 of those verified were former residents of Rakhine.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said 113,507 people could not be verified and that 4,241 people were found to have been involved in what it called terrorist activities.

The statement said it will continue working with Bangladesh to receive verified former residents when the security situation in Rakhine becomes more stable.

The ministry also rejected claims that more than 1 million people were displaced from Rakhine, saying that more than 540,000 people crossed into Bangladesh after the violence in 2017 while more than 200,000 remained in northern Rakhine.

Myanmar and Bangladesh agreed to a two-year repatriation process in 2018. However, security in Myanmar worsened following an army takeover in 2021 that ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, triggering widespread armed resistance. Plans to repatriate the refugees have not succeeded.

The renewed chaos brought about by fighting between the Rakhine-based ethnic Arakan Army group and the military over control of the region in 2023 forced more refugees to flee toward Bangladesh and elsewhere in a desperate move to save their lives. The Arakan Army controls much of Rakhine after capturing territory from the military in recent years.

In recent years, poor conditions in refugee camps, steep cuts to foreign aid and the lack of safe prospects for returning to Myanmar have led to an increasing number of Rohingya refugees attempting to make the dangerous ocean crossing to Malaysia and Indonesia on rickety boats.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said in late July that Myanmar had agreed to take back 5,000 Rohingya refugees currently living in Malaysia as part of a repatriation program.

However, an official from Myanmar's foreign ministry, Han Win Aung, told The Associated Press at the time that the repatriation program was focused solely on verified Myanmar nationals currently held in detention centers in Malaysia and rejected reports that the government would accept Rohingya.

In a stunning turn, Mangione pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to a pair of stalking charges and admitted that he targeted and killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson as the executive walked to his company’s investor conference at a Manhattan hotel in 2024.

Neither Mangione nor his lawyers said why he pleaded guilty now, but they gave some clues.

Immediately after his plea, Mangione’s lawyers filed paperwork seeking to have the state case thrown out on double jeopardy grounds. That trial is scheduled to begin next month, but could be pushed back or canceled altogether depending on what the judge decides.

If it succeeds, Mangione’s defense team could concentrate on trying to convince the judge in his federal case, Margaret Garnett, to spare him from the life sentence that prosecutors say they intend to seek when he’s sentenced on Dec. 18.

Mangione was facing back-to-back trials and a pile of evidence

In their double jeopardy filing Friday, Mangione’s lawyers described him as a “pawn in parallel prosecutions," and defense lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo accused state and federal prosecutors of “trying to punish him twice for the exact conduct.”

Indeed, Mangione remains scheduled to go to trial on state murder charges beginning Sept. 8. His federal trial — now moot because of his guilty plea — was set for January.

Complicating matters, anything said in federal court — including Mangione's statements Friday admitting to killing Thompson — potentially could be used against him in state court, or vice versa.

But that's not all. Prosecutors say they have a trove of evidence that proves Mangione’s guilt, including: Video of him shooting Thompson and tailing him the day before; Mangione’s DNA and fingerprints on items at or near the crime scene; testimony from shooting witnesses; a 3D-printed 9mm pistol that police found in his backpack when he was arrested that authorities said matched the gun used to kill Thompson; and a notebook found with Mangione at the time of his arrest in which he expressed a willingness to kill a healthcare executive.

The defense previously argued all the items in Mangione's backpack were obtained in an unconstitutional search, but judges in both the federal and state cases disagreed.

Guilty plea allows defense to argue double jeopardy

Mangione's guilty plea, just three weeks before jury selection in his state murder trial, appeared to be part of a larger defense strategy to swiftly resolve both cases, minimize his legal consequences and, perhaps, give him a chance to live some of his life outside a prison cell. Earlier plea talks broke down in June.

Within minutes of his plea, Mangione’s lawyers petitioned the judge in the state case, Gregory Carro, to throw out those charges on double jeopardy grounds. Instead of two trials — and two potential sentences that could run back-to-back — they are fighting for just one and are sure to argue he deserves a far lesser sentence than life in prison.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office, which is prosecuting the state case, will have a chance to respond to the defense's double jeopardy motion before Carro rules. In a statement, the office said it would fight efforts to terminate the state case, in part because Mangione's sentence in the federal case isn't yet known. Thompson's family members, in a statement, suggested they are also looking forward to the state case going to trial. Mangione has pleaded not guilty in the state case.

Compared with federal law and that of other states, New York has uncommonly strong protections for defendants facing multiple prosecutions — though they are not guaranteed.

Bragg's office contends that the state charges, including murder and firearms offenses, involve different legal elements and criminal conduct than federal charges, which alleged Mangione traveled across state lines to stalk and kill Thompson.

However Carro rules, his decision will be subject to appeal, meaning a final answer on whether Mangione faces a state trial could take a while.

An opportunity to argue for less than a life sentence

Mangione’s lawyers previously fended off the government’s attempts to seek the death penalty. Now they're fighting for a sentence that's less than the life term U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald said federal prosecutors intend to seek. Life is also the maximum punishment in Mangione's state case.

Unlike other defendants, Mangione doesn't have a plea deal with prosecutors. There were “no accommodations or concessions, and we are free to seek the maximum penalty under the law," McDonald said.

Still, Garnett noted in court that the government’s calculation of federal sentencing guidelines would call for a sentence of 24 to 30 years in prison. Mangione's lawyers can submit their own calculation and both sides can argue for greater or lesser punishment in submissions to the judge. Such filings typically chronicle the impact of a defendant's crimes, as well as his history, upbringing and other aggravating or mitigating factors.

Mangione will also be interviewed by probation officers, Garnett said, adding that the report they produce will factor heavily in her sentencing decision. Judges are free to ignore sentencing guidelines, which are intended to reduce disparities in punishments levied for the same crimes.

Garnett told Mangione she is obliged to determine what she thinks is the correct guideline range and “more importantly what I think the appropriate sentence is in your case.”

“No one, not your lawyers, not the government’s lawyers, no one can give you any assurance of what your sentence will be since I am the one who will decide your sentence,” the judge said, “and I’m not going to do that today.”

The primary lineup pushes Iowa from the traditional top spot and makes South Carolina the leadoff state, voting on Jan. 22, 2028, followed by Nevada on Feb. 1. New Hampshire, New Mexico, Michigan and Virginia round out the early states, throughout February, according to the plan endorsed by the Democratic National Committee at its meeting in Texas.

DNC Chairman Ken Martin said that to win the general election, “You have to be battle-tested in a way that you already have campaigned in front of and for the support of various communities throughout the country.” That is why the calendar designed by the party matters, he said in an interview.

Some potential candidates in what is expected to be a large field have visited early-voting states such as South Carolina. Party leaders have said the order give candidates the best shot at winning back the White House after Republican President Donald Trump's second term.

“They have to show that they can go to the South and talk to Black voters and rural voters, as well as out west, talking ranching and mining issues, to a border state, to union members,” said party strategist Karen Finney, who has worked on multiple presidential campaigns. “Whoever survives will be battle-tested.”

Former presidential candidate Howard Dean, a onetime Vermont governor, recalled his tenure as national party chairman, when Democrats solidified Nevada and South Carolina as early states behind Iowa and New Hampshire. The latest change is even better, he said.

“These states look more like the country,” as a whole, he said, “whereas Iowa and New Hampshire don’t.”

Rita Hart, chair of the Iowa Democratic Party, said bypassing her state in the early going would sideline important voter voices and give a political edge to Republicans, who are expected to keep Iowa atop their calendar.

Nonwhite voters claim top billing

As the first-in-the-South primary, South Carolina was more decisive than Iowa and New Hampshire for nominees Barack Obama in 2008, Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020. All three dominated among South Carolina’s large Black population, which can yield more than half the state’s Democratic primary electorate.

With Nevada and New Mexico following, that will require candidates to court more Latino voters early in the process.

Shifting from Iowa and New Hampshire does not mean little-known candidates cannot catch fire, as Pete Buttigieg did in Iowa and New Hampshire in 2020, when he was a 37-year-old former mayor. They just will not be able to do it with an almost entirely white audience.

“If you can’t go to every part of this country and make your case, you should not be running for president,” Finney said.

The progressive vs. establishment dynamics may shift

There is disagreement over how Democrats’ split between progressives and mainstream liberals may or may not surface in the nominating calendar.

“I think our primary voters up north are probably a little different than primary voters in South Carolina,” said Boyd Brown, a former DNC member from South Carolina. “It’s not the woke ideologies that we just can’t get away from” in other places.

Nina Smith, a former Buttigieg adviser who now works closely with progressive causes, disagreed. Smith said Black South Carolinians, especially, have gravitated to more moderate candidates – twice rejecting Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in favor of Clinton and Biden.

But, she said, “Southern Black voters are more progressive than they’re given credit for” on policy but also “realists” about what is possible.

“Living through Jim Crow and other oppressive structures will force you to be take that approach,” she said.

Smith said that with South Carolina leading off and many Southern states following on Super Tuesday soon after the early lineup concludes, progressives will have to take the time to listen and then tailor their messages.

“A lot of Black voters don’t necessarily see themselves in the ideas and arguments that progressives put forward,” she said.

Unions will get a spotlight in the early-voting states

Nevada has the service industry unions because of Las Vegas; Michigan has the auto industry and associated manufacturing support industries; Virginia is home to more federal workers than any other state.

“Labor is still so important,” Dean said.

Beyond seeking the backing of organized labor, the campaigns and the party will look to unions for help in spreading Democrats' message to voters and getting people to the polls.

More scheduling efficiency for candidates

Campaigns struggle to balance many demands such as meeting voters in person, raising money and the logistics of travel. As a result, places such as Nevada have gotten short shrift in the past because candidates, most from the eastern part of the country, have concluded the investment of time is not worth it.

An expanded calendar offers more clustering opportunities.

A swing to the West could hit two early states — Nevada and New Mexico — and include a fundraising stop in California, full of Democratic donors. A South Carolina trip could mean fundraisers and public appearances in Atlanta, Charlotte and Raleigh, both in North Carolina. Virginia offers proximity to donors and national TV studios in Washington; the same options are available by adding a New York City stop on the way to New Hampshire.

Bre Maxwell is a DNC member from South Carolina who said the state’s smaller size and lower media costs are a financial equalizer, allowing not only the best-funded candidates to have an impact.

“They can campaign from the top to the bottom in a day,” Maxwell said.

It’s about primaries, with a clear look to November

Of the six early states, all but South Carolina have been competitive in general elections.

That means that even before Super Tuesday, the Democratic candidates will have spent significant time and resources in states worth a combined 43 Electoral College votes. That is not insignificant on the way to the 270 needed to win.

Television ads and news coverage can spill over, as well. Markets targeting parts of South Carolina also reach portions of North Carolina and Georgia.

After all, Brown said, the point is to put a Democrat in the White House.

“This is not a social or a debate club. It is a political party,” he said.

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Barrow reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writer Meg Kinnard in Columbia, S.C., contributed to this report.

The Israeli military, which over the past three years has displayed staggering military and intelligence capabilities from Beirut to Tehran, has yet to fully remove the settlers from the area of the village, about an hour's drive from Tel Aviv.

The United States, which provides billions of dollars in military aid to Israel, has issued a scathing rebuke, perhaps because one of the homeowners is a Palestinian American living in Ohio.

U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee referred to the settlers as “terrorists.” Israel's defense minister dismissed them as radical misfits — “boys on the hills.”

In reality, they are the tip of the spear for a much larger movement, supported by successive Israeli governments and supercharged under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that is aimed at cementing Israeli rule over the territory and preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Settlements built over decades now house over 500,000

Israel captured the West Bank, along with Gaza and east Jerusalem, in the 1967 Mideast war, territories the Palestinians want for a future state.

Since then, the Israeli government has built nearly 150 settlements that are home to well over 500,000 Jewish settlers. Many of the settlements resemble fully developed suburbs, with apartment blocks, shopping malls, parks and industrial zones.

Radical settlers have established hundreds of additional outposts without government authorization, while still enjoying protection from the Israeli military and often other public services.

Netanyahu's government, the most nationalist and religious in Israel's history, has boasted of establishing over 100 new settlements. On Thursday, as the army deployed in Qusra, members of his Cabinet celebrated the rebuilding of a settlement that had been dismantled in 2005 as part of the Gaza withdrawal.

Israel's current government and much of its political class view the West Bank as the biblical and historical homeland of the Jewish people and see the settlements as key to maintaining security.

Most of the international community views all settlements as illegal and an obstacle to peace.

Separate laws for settlers and Palestinians

The roughly 3 million Palestinians in the West Bank live under Israeli military rule, with the Palestinian Authority exercising limited autonomy in population centers. Israel's military operates in all parts of the territory, and Palestinians suspected of militancy can be held without charge for months or years under what's known as administrative detention.

The settlers are Israeli citizens, with law enforcement typically handled by Israeli police and civilian courts.

Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz said in 2024 that Israelis would no longer be subject to administrative detention, which has also been used against settlers accused of violence. On Friday, he announced plans to fully transfer law enforcement among settlers to the Israeli police.

The military's role “is to fight Palestinian terrorism” and “focus on protecting the borders and settlements against threats,” he said in a statement. “Not chase after boys on the hills.”

That would cement the status quo of what are already largely separate legal systems for Jews and Palestinians in the West Bank, which major human rights groups say amounts to apartheid, something Israel denies.

Israel's police and military have been reluctant to confront the settlers

The Israeli police are overseen by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, himself a hard-line settler who has been convicted eight times for offenses that include supporting a terrorist organization. He was a defense attorney for Jewish extremists before entering politics.

The Israeli military says the settlers' actions in Qusra are “illegal, reprehensible and unacceptable,” and that it tries to maintain law and order in the West Bank. It says it dismantled two outposts in the area of Qusra and detained one Israeli.

But rights groups say the military frequently turns a blind eye to settler violence, and that when it intervenes it often focuses on protecting the settlers. Yesh Din, an Israeli rights group, says around 94% of investigations into settler violence since 2005 have ended without an indictment, with just 3% leading to full or partial convictions.

US pressure has had little impact, and has eased under Trump

Settler violence intensified after the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, triggered the war in Gaza. The following year, the Biden administration imposed sanctions on settlers and Israeli organizations accused of violence.

Other Western nations have announced sanctions against Ben Gvir and another hard-line Israeli Cabinet minister, Bezalel Smotrich, accusing them of “inciting extremist violence” toward Palestinians.

The sanctions had little impact, as the settler community rallied around those targeted.

President Donald Trump rescinded the U.S. sanctions at the start of his second term and appointed Huckabee, a staunch supporter of Israeli settlements, as his ambassador.

During his first term, Trump had upended decades of U.S. policy by moving the American Embassy to Jerusalem and supporting Israel's claims to other territories seized in war.

Netanyahu's opponents criticize the violence but support settlement growth

Netanyahu will need the backing of Ben Gvir, Smotrich and other settler supporters if he hopes to keep his job after October elections. He will also need to maintain good relations with the Trump administration.

His opponents have criticized what they characterize as the growing chaos in the West Bank. But most of Israel's political leaders — even critics of Netanyahu — support the growth of existing settlements and are opposed to Palestinian statehood.

Gadi Eisenkot, a former top general seen as Netanyahu's main opponent, criticized the government's handling of the events in Qusra, accusing it of undermining military commanders “in the face of anarchy and violent lawbreaking by an extremist minority.” He has also come out against plans to annex the West Bank.

But he has also told Israeli media that he has “never spoken about a Palestinian state,” and that he supports settlements that are “in line with Israel’s interests.”

Naftali Bennett, a staunch settlement supporter and another leading rival of Netanyahu, has condemned the violence, saying it amounts to “terrorism” by a minority.

“Precisely as someone who believes in our right to the land and in the settlement enterprise, we need to denounce this and eradicate the violence from within our own ranks — not wait for the Americans to tell us to do it,” he said in a recent interview with Israeli media.

When Bennett was prime minister, during the only brief period in the last 17 years that Netanyahu was out of office, his national unity government approved thousands of additional settler homes.

___

Associated Press writers Erin Cunningham in Jerusalem and Koral Saeed in Abu Snan, Israel, contributed.

Caitlin Clark had 29 points and 10 assists in an entertaining duel with fellow No. 1 overall pick Paige Bueckers, and the Fever beat the Dallas Wings 98-87 on Friday night in a rare game that wasn't marred by on-court or off-court controversies.

“We love each other in that locker room and we know there are a lot of people out there that are trying to tear it apart,” White said, three days Indiana's coach denounced the “divisiveness” around the WNBA in a 2 1/2-minute pregame rant. “When we say we’re a family, we mean that. It doesn’t always mean we get along, It doesn’t mean we always agree. But at the end of the day, it means we circle are wagons and we have each other’s back.”

White had drawn the wrath of Fever fans — and even Indiana Lt. Gov Micah Beckwith — after what some saw as her downplaying a flagrant foul by Chicago's DiJonai Carrington on Indiana's Sophie Cunningham.

After White called the foul on Cunningham “egregious” during her table-pounding pregame speech on Tuesday and said she always backed her players, the Fever went out and beat the New York Liberty 106-92 as Clark and her teammates rallied around their coach.

All appeared to be forgiven on Friday as the Fever picked up their third straight win.

“I think our fans, you know the true Indiana Fever fans, are amazing. They’ve been incredible to me for a long time,” White said. “But more than anything, I’m thankful for this group of women and the men on our staff, and I’m thankful we can all lift each other up when need to be and they’ve been lifting me up. I’m happy about that.”

All-Star guard Kelsey Mitchell continued scoring at a high clip, finishing with 23 points. All-Star center Aliyah Boston scored 10 of her 16 points in the fourth quarter, and even Indiana’s oft-criticized defense played well through the first half and in the closing minutes.

Friday’s game and next week’s game in Dallas could be a playoff preview.

Indiana has won eight of 10 and finished the night as the league's fourth-place team, a half-game ahead of the Atlanta Dream — its opponent on Sunday. The Wings have lost seven of 10 to fall into a tie for seventh with Washington.

Bueckers matched Clark with 29 points, but it wasn't enough for Dallas.

“Obviously, she is an incredible player, makes it really hard on us defensively,” Clark said. “We tried to throw a lot of different things at her. She’s so good in the mid-range. I felt like we had a few miscommunications, especially in that third-quarter spurt where she was completely wide open. That’s on our group to figure it out.”

___

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

Miami won the coin toss and elected to receive, but the opening drive began at the Dolphins 7-yard line after running back Jaylen Wright fumbled the kickoff and linebacker Tyrel Dodson was called for holding.

Quarterback Malik Willis settled in quickly, finding receiver Malik Washington for two catches, including one that went for a first down on the Dolphins’ opening possession. Running back De’Von Achane also broke loose for a first down behind a strong block from center Aaron Brewer.

The Dolphins capped their first drive with a highlight-reel catch and a touchdown.

Caleb Douglas, Miami’s third-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, made a spectacular one-handed, left-handed grab for 28 yards from Willis with a defender draped over him.

Later in the drive, Willis scrambled for a first down and drew a facemask penalty. Achane then powered into the end zone from 1 yard out to cap a 14-play, 93-yard drive and give Miami a 7-0 lead.

It was an encouraging opening for a Dolphins team looking for signs of progress heading into the regular season.

Miami’s starting defense also showed some fight on its first possession.

Dodson delivered a big hit on Commanders backup quarterback Marcus Mariota after a completion for a first down. Mariota left the game one play later after taking the hit.

Shortly after, Dolphins cornerback Marco Wilson recorded the game’s first turnover for Miami when a pass from third-string quarterback Sam Hartman sailed over the head of receiver Dyami Brown and into Wilson’s hands.

Washington responded with points after Miami quarterback Quinn Ewers threw an interception on a pass that sailed over his receiver and into the hands of Commanders safety Quan Martin. The Commanders turned the takeaway into a field goal.

Rookie linebacker Jacob Rodriguez had a productive night for Miami, making several tackles in traffic and batting down a pass from Hartman.

Defensive ends Max Llewellyn and David Ojabo combined for a sack of Hartman, while defensive tackle Jordan Phillips consistently clogged the middle. EDGE Cameron Goode added a sack of Athan Kaliakmanis, and undrafted rookie defensive end Mason Reiger also brought down Kaliakmanis in the fourth quarter.

However, Washington began to find success on the ground after Miami’s starters left the game. Running back Robert Henry Jr. broke free for a 22-yard touchdown on a misdirection run after Goode and Wilson were pinned, giving the Commanders a 10-7 lead.

Ewers struggled to find a rhythm behind Miami’s second-team offensive line. He finished 1 of 8 for 27 yards and an interception.

The Commanders extended their lead before halftime when running back Kaytron Allen powered in from 1 yard out and a successful extra point made it 17-7. Hartman connected several times with receiver Jaylin Lane, who finished the half with three catches for 31 yards, while Allen provided a spark on the ground.

Miami’s defense continued to produce some positive moments. Defensive back Major Burns made a strong open-field tackle on a Hartman scramble, and rookie inside linebacker Trey Moore helped force a three-and-out with pressure. Rookie tight end Seydou Traore also made a tackle on the punt-return unit, while cornerback Miles Battle helped the Dolphins get a stop on third and 13.

The Dolphins’ run defense, however, struggled once the starters were out of the game. Henry finished with 10 carries for 66 yards and a touchdown.

Miami’s offense continued to struggle in the second half. Quarterback Cam Miller threw an interception when Commanders linebacker Ale Kaho stepped in front of a pass intended for receiver Tahj Washington. The Commanders turned the turnover into three more points on a 41-yard field goal by rookie Drew Stevens.

Miller later connected with AJ Henning on third and 16 for a 24-yard gain after Henning found a hole in the zone.

But Miller’s struggles continued as he threw his second interception of the game, the last one of the game to safety Malik Spencer.

The good

Willis finished his first appearance as a Dolphin 4 of 5 for 43 yards and added a 9-yard rushing attempt. Achane finished with seven carries for 39 yards and a touchdown.

Miami’s first-team offensive line provided another positive takeaway. First-round pick OL Kadyn Proctor generated good push alongside Patrick Paul, Brewer and Jonah Savaiinaea, who also opened running lanes at right guard.

Douglas’ spectacular catch was another highlight for the Dolphins. The 2026 third-round pick had flashed throughout training camp and delivered one of the game’s most memorable plays with his contested 28-yard grab.

The bad

Overall, the Dolphins’ starters looked sharp, but the team’s backups struggled for much of the night as Washington pulled away.

Ewers and Miller combined to go 4 of 19 for 66 yards, no touchdowns and three interceptions.

The Dolphins’ run defense also allowed more than 170 rushing yards on 41 carries.

Up next

Miami (0-1) will host the New York Giants (0-0) on Aug. 22 at Hard Rock Stadium.

One person was arrested and others were given trespass warnings during the recent police operation at a shopping center in the 2400 block of North Federal Highway.

But while the parking lot is now cleared, the underlying problem remains.

Where are people subject to Florida’s strict sex offender residency restrictions supposed to go when they have nowhere else they can legally stay?

That question is at the center of a complicated conflict between local police and property owners and the state supervision system.

Local 10 first investigated the parking lot in June after discovering registered sex offenders and sexual predators who had been released from prison and were under supervision staying there. The location had been approved by the Florida Department of Corrections as a place where some of those individuals could stay when they had no other approved housing option.

During the recent police sweep, an officer told one man sitting in a vehicle, “If you are not patronizing a business you cannot be on this property.”

In another encounter, an officer said police had observed a man sitting in his vehicle for an extended period and determined that he was a registered transient sexual predator. The man was issued a trespass warning.

In another encounter, officers ordered a man out of a vehicle and discovered he had an outstanding warrant. He was arrested.

The parking lot was cleared.

But the property owner did not want the men staying there, and Fort Lauderdale police did not want them on the property.

At the same time, the Florida Department of Corrections had approved the location for people under its supervision.

That conflict illustrates the larger problem.

Florida law restricts certain people convicted of specified sex offenses involving victims younger than 16 from living within 1,000 feet of schools, child care facilities, parks and playgrounds. A new state law also adds public swimming pools and public bathing places to the list for certain offenders and circumstances.

The new swimming pool restrictions took effect July 1, 2026, and apply according to the offense and supervision circumstances outlined in the law. The restrictions prohibit certain people from living within 1,000 feet of a public swimming pool, further reducing the number of locations that may qualify as legal residences.

Local governments can impose additional restrictions. In South Florida, those restrictions can include areas around school bus stops and, in some cases, bus benches.

For people with serious residency restrictions, finding an address that satisfies every requirement can become extremely difficult.

That is how a parking lot can become a place to stay.

Jeff Feldman, a former federal probation supervisory officer who now works as a consultant, has seen the problem from the supervision side.

“It’s the norm for transient sex offenders,” Feldman said. “They have nowhere to live and we have nowhere to put them.”

Feldman said the problem has been developing for decades.

“This has been going on since 1997,” he said. “It’s evolved into all of these legislative changes that restrict residency.”

Feldman said people who have been released from prison can find themselves with few legal housing options.

“They say, ‘Well, I can’t go home. Where can I go?’ Well, your options are limited,” he said.

That creates a difficult question for probation officers and the communities where these individuals end up.

Vanessa Fernandez, a licensed mental health counselor who treats people convicted of sex offenses, is vice president and clinical director of the Clinical and Forensic Institute.

Fernandez said unstable housing can interfere with treatment intended to reduce the risk of reoffending.

“Instead we’re working on basic life things, like where are you going to shower? How are you going to eat? Where can you keep food?” Fernandez said.

She said the constant struggle to find somewhere to sleep can take attention away from treatment.

“Unfortunately what it really does is that it doesn’t keep anybody safer,” Fernandez said. “The community’s not safer.”

Feldman made a similar argument from the perspective of supervision.

“As a probation officer, I would rather them live where I know they’re living, where I can come check on them, as opposed to go sleep in the parking lot and I have no idea where you are,” he said.

That is the central paradox exposed by the parking lot.

Local police can remove people from private property when they are not wanted there. Property owners can object to people staying on their property. But removing people from one location does not eliminate the residency restrictions that helped create the housing problem in the first place.

And Feldman said the problem is not limited to Fort Lauderdale.

“In Miami Dade, it’s just as bad,” he said.

The Florida Action Committee, an advocacy organization that supports changes to Florida’s sex offender laws, has been pushing the issue for years. Teresa Bond of the organization said officials have long been aware of the housing problem.

“They’ve known about it,” Bond said.

The organization also argues that the restrictions do not necessarily improve public safety.

“We have actually tried to even provide empirical data telling them that this is not public safety,” a Florida Action Committee representative said.

The group has now taken its argument to federal court.

In a lawsuit filed this week, the Florida Action Committee challenges Florida’s sex offender residency and other restrictions, arguing that the laws are unconstitutional and can contribute to homelessness and transient living.

The lawsuit cites state data that the group says shows as many as 34 percent of registered sex offenders in Miami Dade and Broward counties are homeless or transient.

That figure is an allegation and claim contained in the lawsuit, rather than an independent Local 10 analysis of the underlying data.

Local 10 News repeatedly contacted the governor’s office and the Florida Department of Corrections for comment and asked what the state intends to do about the housing problem and the conflict over approved locations.

Neither provided a response.

The people Local 10 found staying in the North Federal Highway parking lot are no longer there.

But that does not necessarily mean they have found permanent housing.

Fernandez said moving people from one location does not necessarily solve the underlying problem.

“That doesn’t mean they’re just in a different area doing the very same thing,” she said.

There is no simple answer.

Feldman believes one possible starting point would be changing some of the restrictions that have progressively narrowed the places where people under supervision can live.

“The solution is to roll back some of this restrictive legislation,” he said.

Fernandez also said changes to state laws and statutes would ultimately be necessary.

But changing those laws is politically difficult because the people affected are registered sex offenders and sexual predators.

“No one wants to look soft on these types of issues or inconsiderate of the severity of these actions,” Fernandez said.

That leaves local police with a problem they can address one parking lot at a time, while the larger housing problem remains.

The parking lot Local 10 investigated has been cleared.

The people who were staying there have been moved.

But the residency restrictions remain, the state has not offered an answer about where people with no other legal housing options are supposed to go, and there is no easy solution to the conflict between public safety, local property rights and the state’s system of supervising people who have been released from prison.

One of the men Local 10 spoke with, Ivan Jones, described what he believed his options had become.

“Sleep outside,” Jones said. “Make the best of it. That’s what they told me.”

At another point, he said, “I might as well go back to prison because I’m not going to do this.”

“I’m not going to stay out here,” he said.

Keyeon White, from North Carolina, was among the many visitors staying at the building.

“I’m celebrating my boy’s birthday,” White said.

He said the price was a big reason for choosing the property.

“The prices is really the price. It’s mad cheap,” White said.

Those deals are enticing out-of-towners to book short-term rentals at the condominium building. They’re also the target of a letter sent by the city manager’s office.

The letter, obtained by Local 10, states that the condominium association was under investigation following numerous complaints.

“It’s been absolutely awful. I’ve been a resident since 2008. Things got really bad with short-term rentals around the pandemic,” said homeowner Christina Lardon, who owns two units at the building.

“It’s an invasion. It’s literally a home invasion,” Lardon said.

According to the city letter, the property was approved in 2011 for 30 units to be used as short-term rentals.

However, a city investigation found there appeared to be more than 300 vacation rentals available among the building’s 643 units.

“They are crowding guests into rooms that are fit for three to four occupants. The whole point is the more guests you fit into a property, the more you can charge,” the letter states.

Assistant City Manager Barbie Hernandez wrote that the building is violating city codes with the excess of short-term rentals.

The letter orders the rentals to cease immediately and warns the property could face revocation of certificates and tax receipts, as well as possible legal action.

Oakley was handcuffed and arrested after an altercation with security while sitting near owner James Dolan during a game against the Los Angeles Clippers. Oakley initially brought a number of claims against MSG that were dismissed in February 2020. After appeal, Oakley's assault-and-battery claim remained.

But Judge Richard J. Sullivan of the Southern District of New York ruled that Oakley “has produced no evidence to support his claim that he was assaulted by MSG security guards.”

MSG had pointed to video evidence and previous testimony that Oakley was not assaulted.

“For more than nine years, Mr. Oakley’s lawyers have pursued claims they knew were false. Those claims have now been dismissed by the Court in their entirety — for the third time,” MSG said in a statement. “We are pursuing legal action against Douglas Wigdor, and his unscrupulous law firm, to hold them accountable for years of frivolous litigation and their blatant abuse of the judicial system.”

Oakley was a beloved Knicks forward in the 1990s, and he remains one of the few former players who has remained absent from MSG during the team's recent playoff runs, culminating with this year's NBA championship.

His removal from the game was a jarring scene, but Sullivan ruled that Oakley hadn't proven it was done with excessive force.

“Ample evidence — including videos from multiple angles and the unanimous testimony of every witness (even, to some extent, Oakley himself) — shows that Oakley had a reasonable opportunity to depart the Garden, that he instead resorted to physical violence, and that he was never pushed to the ground,” Sullivan wrote.

The judge added that “no rational jury could conclude that Oakley reasonably feared himself at risk of wrongful physical contact — let alone that MSG intended to stir such an apprehension.”

Wigdor still hopes a jury will get a chance to rule.

“We are disappointed with the Court’s rulings,” he wrote in an email. “We believe there are conflicting accounts and only a jury can decide what exactly happened. We are hopeful that the Second Circuit will agree for a third time and remand the case for an immediate jury trial.”

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See AP’s full NBA coverage here

El Ministerio de Comunicación e Información venezolano señaló en sus redes sociales que las excarcelaciones “fueron acordadas por los tribunales de la república, a petición del Ministerio Público”, luego de que el gubernamental Programa para la Paz y la Convivencia Democrática, creado por la mandataria en funciones Delcy Rodríguez, solicitó una evaluación de los casos.

El secretario de Estado de Estados Unidos, Marco Rubio, destacó en X que la reciente liberación de más de 130 presos políticos en Venezuela representa “un paso crucial para el proceso de reconciliación del país. Desde el 3 de enero, 1.046 venezolanos han sido liberados”.

“A medida que seguimos avanzando en el plan de tres fases, Estados Unidos continúa supervisando de cerca el proceso de conversaciones presenciales con las autoridades interinas, liderado por Venezuela”, señaló Rubio.

Washington repetidamente ha dicho que mantiene el compromiso de apoyar un plan de tres fases del presidente Donald Trump para lograr la estabilización en Venezuela luego de la captura del entonces mandatario Nicolás Maduro a inicios de año, mediante las vías de la recuperación económica, la reconciliación política y una transición pacífica en el país.

Una ley de amnistía fue sancionada el 19 de febrero, apenas 20 días después de que la presidenta encargada Rodríguez la presentara en un intento de lograr la convivencia nacional. Rodríguez fue juramentada como presidenta en funciones el 5 de enero, dos días después de una audaz operación militar estadounidense que depuso y capturó a Maduro en Caracas y lo trasladó a Nueva York para que enfrentara cargos por narcotráfico.

Las liberaciones se producen en el marco de la Ley de Amnistía impulsada para la excarcelación masiva de dirigentes opositores, sindicalistas, periodistas, estudiantes, manifestantes y activistas de derechos humanos presos por motivos políticos. El gobierno niega que existan “presos políticos” y acusa a los detenidos de conspirar para desestabilizar a los gobiernos del ahora fallecido presidente Hugo Chávez (1999-2013) y su sucesor y heredero político, Maduro (2013-2026).

De acuerdo con Foro Penal, una prestigiosa organización civil que vigila los derechos de los privados de libertad en Venezuela, hasta el 10 de agosto 391 personas permanecían detenidas por motivaciones políticas.

Clark also had 10 assists while Boston had 12 rebounds. Kelsey Mitchell added 23 points, and Tyasha Harris — who hadn't made a field goal in the previous six games — was 5-of-5 shooting, all 3-pointers, to finish with 15 points.

Clark had her 20th career game with at least 20 points and 10 assists, the most in league history.

Mitchell scored at least 20 points for the 18th consecutive game to extend her WNBA single-season record, the second-longest streak in WNBA history (A’ja Wilson, 20 games).

The Fever won for the eighth time in 10 games and now hold a half-game lead over the Atlanta Dream for the No. 4 spot in the eight-team postseason field.

Paige Bueckers had 29 points, six rebounds and six assists to lead the Wings, who have lost seven of 10. Arike Ogunbowale added 20 points.

The Wings slipped into a tie for seventh with the Washington Mystics and will meet the Fever for the final time this season Thursday in Dallas.

And for a change, the only drama Friday happened on the court.

Bueckers and Clark traded baskets throughout a classic third quarter in which neither team could pull away.

Indiana opened the fourth on a 15-2 run, capped by Clark's second 3 of the game to turn a three-point deficit into a 78-68 lead. Dallas closed the deficit to 78-73, but Indiana scored four straight to retake an 82-73 lead with 4:37 left and Dallas never recovered as Harris' late 3s sealed the victory.

Up next

Wings: Host Golden State on Monday.

Fever: Visit Atlanta on Sunday.

___

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

In a pointed letter to Sen. Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, a lawyer for the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said any effort to compel him to appear before a Senate subcommittee, after a contentious July 29 hearing, would be to "impermissibly harass or degrade Dr. Fauci for political purposes.”

During the July hearing on his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination 100 times, prompting the Aug. 6 contempt vote and setting up a referral to the Justice Department for potential investigation over whether he had properly exercised his constitutional rights.

Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, the committee chairman who pressed for the contempt finding, said the constitutional protection did not apply because Democratic President Joe Biden had issued a preemptive pardon to Fauci, and he did not need to be concerned about potential prosecution.

Paul has long accused Fauci of misleading the public during the pandemic and the July hearing was the latest episode in his highly publicized confrontations with him. Paul has repeatedly called for Fauci to be prosecuted and imprisoned.

Johnson, chairman of the subcommittee on investigations, had sought to open a parallel avenue of congressional investigation about Fauci's role in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines.

His family was planning to attend his wedding to his fiancée, Natalia Patiño, the mother of his two-year-old son, on Sunday in Bogotá.

On Friday, crews found the body of Giraldo, 24, a salesman of eyewear frames and glasses on a work trip, in the rubble of the hotel, Noticias Caracol reported. Relatives confirmed his death on social media.

“Forever and always in my heart,” Patiño wrote on Instagram after the news. “You were the most complete love I ever had. I love you forever.”

The groom-to-be’s father, Hernan Giraldo, traveled from Bogotá to Pereira to help search for him on Monday night. He told Reuters that his son was “exemplary” and he hoped for a miracle and a wedding.

Instead, there was grief.

Colombian officials reported on Friday that there were at least 287 dead, 3,975 injured, 378 people who had vanished, 354 had been rescued from the rubble, and 135,179 were affected.

Officials also reported that the earthquake caused damage in more than 400 cities, and most of the destruction was in Cali, Pereira, Manizales, Quibdó, and Buenaventura.

On Friday, Colombian President Abelardo De La Espriella returned to Chocó, where the earthquake’s epicenter was. The area was in need of temporary housing, food, and healthcare.

“My heart, my strength, and my spirit are with all the victims and with all these territories that have been forgotten and now devastated by nature,” De La Espriella said. “We must rebuild them. There is a great task ahead, and I am committed to it.”

The World Bank reported disbursing $200 million on Thursday and launching assistance to provide an early assessment ​of damages and economic losses.

The U.S. committed $15 million in emergency aid, a $1 billion security package, search-and-rescue teams, damage assessment, and other resources.

The United Arab Emirates pledged $10 million. The European Union pledged $2.4 million. China pledged $1 million, and Sweden pledged about half a million.

El Salvador sent two planes full of aid and deployed search-and-rescue teams. Other countries sending aid and crews include Mexico, Argentina, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Chile, Venezuela, and Israel.

Colombia’s first lady, Ana Lucía Pineda, deployed the “One Heart” campaign to collect emergency aid, and she was working on partnerships with the private sector to help with reconstruction.

Interview with Hernan Giraldo on Thursday in Spanish (Reuters)

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His daughter, Amy Rydell, told The Hollywood Reporter that her father died Thursday of natural causes at a retirement community for the entertainment industry in the Woodland Hills section of Los Angeles.

“Hard to put into words how much I loved my dad,” she posted Friday on her Instagram account. "He was truly one of a kind. Funniest and most talented person I’ve ever known.”

‘On Golden Pond’ earned 10 Oscar nominations

“On Golden Pond,” which teamed Fonda with Hepburn and his daughter, Jane Fonda, was nominated for 10 Oscars. Henry Fonda and Hepburn won leading acting honors and the film won for screenplay, which Ernest Thompson adapted from his play of the same name. Rydell was nominated for directing but lost to Warren Beatty for “Reds.”

It earned over $119 million at the box office, making it the second-highest grossing film of 1981 behind “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”

“On Golden Pond” was Henry Fonda’s final movie role. He starred as Norman Thayer, an emotionally brittle and distant father who becomes more accessible at the end of his life after his teenage grandson spends the summer with him and his wife, Ethel (played by Hepburn), at their cottage in New England. The film’s story resembled Fonda’s real-life relationship with daughter Jane, who said working on the movie together helped resolve some of their issues. The elder Fonda died at age 77 months after winning his only Oscar.

Rydell’s other Oscar-nominated films were “The Fox” in 1967, “The Reivers” with McQueen in 1969, “Cinderella Liberty” with James Caan and Marsha Mason in 1973, “The Rose” with Bette Midler in 1979, and “The River” with Mel Gibson and Sissy Spacek in 1984.

Born Mortimer Harold Rydell on March 23, 1929, in New York City, he studied with jazz pianist Teddy Wilson at the Julliard School of Music. During a stint in the Army, he spent two years in Japan developing entertainment for military personnel. He majored in English and philosophy at New York University.

Early acting career opposite Steiger, Cassavetes, Mineo

He turned to acting when he won a scholarship to the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York. Among his early roles were on the CBS soap operas “The Edge of Night” and “As the World Turns.”

Rydell made his Broadway debut in “Seagulls Over Sorrento” with Rod Steiger. In 1956, he made his movie acting debut opposite John Cassavetes and Sal Mineo in Don Siegel’s “Crime In The Streets.”

Among his film acting credits were Robert Altman’s “The Long Goodbye” in 1973 and Woody Allen’s “Hollywood Ending” in 2002.

Rydell moved into directing television, helming episodes of “Mr. Novak,” “Ben Casey," “I Spy,” “The Wild Wild West,” “The Long, Hot Summer,” “The Fugitive” and “Gunsmoke.”

He made his feature-film directorial debut with 1967’s “The Fox” starring Sandy Dennis, and it was a hit.

Two years later, Rydell directed McQueen in the comedy-drama “The Reivers.”

Teaming with Sydney Pollack

Rydell and Sydney Pollack, who became friends during their acting days, formed Sanford Productions in 1971. Among their efforts were the films “Jeremiah Johnson” starring Robert Redford and “Scarecrow” with Al Pacino and Gene Hackman, which won the Cannes Film Festival’s top honor, the Palme d’Or.

Rydell directed Wayne in 1972’s “The Cowboys.” He reunited with Caan for the 1976 flop “Harry and Walter Go to New York.”

He scored a major hit with 1979’s “The Rose,” with Midler in her Oscar-nominated role as a self-destructive rock star loosely based on Janis Joplin.

Rydell re-teamed with Caan and Midler in “For the Boys” in 1991, but it wasn’t successful.

“He was an actor of note before he became a director, and I was so lucky to have met him when I did; he taught me so much on The Rose and later on For The Boys,” Midler posted on Instagram. “Two Oscars nominations both because of him. He was the actor’s whisperer; just a few words was all it took to understand what was needed. Devoted to Meisner. So many happy memories.”

TV movies and series among his credits

Rydell directed the pilot of the hit ABC drama “Family” in 1976.

Among his TV movie directing credits were “McBride and Groom,” “Crime of the Century” with Isabella Rossellini and Stephen Rea, and “James Dean,” which earned actor James Franco a Golden Globe award. Rydell also appeared in the movie as Warner Bros. chief Jack Warner.

He directed the movies “Intersection” in 1994 and “Even Money” in 2006.

In 2009, Rydell, Oscar-winning actor Martin Landau and screenwriter Lyle Kessler taught a film workshop at UCLA. Rydell and Landau were co-artistic directors of The Actors Studio West, teaching and coaching actors, writers and directors.

“All great art rests on telling the truth,” Rydell told UCLA’s student newspaper The Daily Bruin. “The real pursuit of an artist is to tell the truth.”

Besides his daughter, he is survived by son Christopher. The siblings who went into acting were from his first marriage to actor Joanne Linville. He had another son, Alexander, from his second marriage to producer Esther Rydell.

This is why psychologists are volunteering their time with survivors of the 7.2 and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes that struck on June 24 in northern Venezuela.

Some children experience nightmares and panic attacks. The experience has been difficult for 12-year-old Sofia Aldara and 11-year-old Miguel Ramos, who both deal with fear.

“I felt like the buildings near us were going to collapse,” Miguel said in Spanish.

Juan Manuel Maestre, a psychologist who is volunteering in La Guaira, said many of the children are grieving loved ones and have also lost their schools.

Daniel Rocha, a volunteer, said mental health is usually not a priority.

“A lot of times, they say, ‘This is the first time we are talking about what happened because since the earthquake, we are actually trying to survive.’ We are trying to help our brothers, our sisters,” Rocha said.

Andres Muskus, a psychologist who is volunteering, said breaking the ice is part of the process.

“We start playing with them, we start creating a confident and secure place, and in the middle of the play, we can start talking about how they feel,” Muskus said.

Daniel Rocha said mental health treatment is powerful when it comes to hope.

“They really need people with the skills to make them feel they can do better, they can work, they can have a future,” Rocha said.

Officials reported that the death toll of the earthquakes in Venezuela surpassed 5,300. There were about 16,740 injured, and the property damage was estimated at more than $19.6 billion.

“Really just a dream start,” Scheffler said. “Probably one of the best starts I’ve had on tour, to be honest with you. I couldn’t tell you a time where I’ve been lower early in the round.”

The top-ranked Scheffler had 11 birdies and two bogeys in 100-degree heat at TPC Southwind in the playoff opener. He had an 11-under 129 total.

“The tournament is halfway over,” Scheffler said. “I had two good rounds to start and hopefully continue that over the weekend.”

Scheffler tied the tournament course record.

“I wouldn’t say golf’s ever easy,” Scheffler. “I did some good things out there. I hit some iron shots in there close and was able to hole a few putts as well.”

He has played the TPC Southwind more times (seven) without winning than any other course on the PGA Tour.

Viktor Hovland and Sungjae Im were tied for second at 8 under. Hovland had a 64, and Im shot his second 66.

“It was really nice, really solid,” Hovland said. “Hit a lot of fairways, and I think that’s a big deal for my game, but also especially at this golf course. I think it’s really difficult to score if you’re missing fairways.”

Ludvig Aberg was 7 under after a 65.

Jordan Spieth shot 69 to get to 6 under. He was part of a four-way tie for the first-round lead. Spieth is outside the top 50 in the FedEx Cup who advance to the BMW Championship next week.

Scheffler entered the week with a 794-point lead over Matt Fitzpatrick in the FedExCup standings. Fitzpatrick was 3 under after a 67.

So much emphasis is on getting into the top 50 because that locks up all the $20 million signature events for next season.

Rory McIlroy played alongside Scheffler the first two days. He followed an opening 74 with a 70, leaving him tied for 60th at 4 over.

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See AP’s full golf coverage here

He co-founded The San Isidro Movement in Havana, and he helped lead the courageous group of artists, writers, and academics to protest Decree 349, a law that required state approval for all artistic expression.

The performance artist used the Cuban flag and was arrested on July 11, 2021. Cuban prosecutors filed charges of public disorder, contempt, and insulting national symbols. In 2022, he was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison.

“I went on more than five hunger strikes ... I am not going to offer a justification because I have nothing to justify,” the 38-year-old exiled dissident said on Friday in downtown Miami.

The Cuban government freed him from the maximum-security Guanajay prison on July 7. He was ordered to leave the island and arrived at Miami International Airport on July 18 on a humanitarian parole.

He was forced to leave his son behind on the island.

“It’s literally like being in a coma and then waking up,” he said.

Some of the art that he created while in prison in Cuba was framed and on display on Friday at the Freedom Tower. His installation was at the Freedom Hall. The exhibit, he said, was the reward.

“They are the impression of a suffering, of a state of mind,” he said about his artwork.

He said he hopes the communist regime will fall and Cubans will learn what it’s like to be free.

The Museum of Art and Design, or MOAD, at Miami Dade College presented “Luis Manuel Otero Alcántra: nos encontramos,” the exhibit.

“His journey of resilience and determination echoes in the halls of the Freedom Tower’s history,” Amy Galpin, MOAD’s executive director and chief curator, said in a statement.

Ernesto Fundora, the director of the “Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara: Estamos conectados,” a documentary, was at the opening from 6 to 10 p.m. on Friday at 600 Biscayne Boulevard.

Manager Blake Butera said Friday that Abrams has begun working out at second. He said the transition will be more “multiday than multiweek” and that Abrams will swap spots with second baseman Nasim Nuñez.

“Just thought this was the best thing for our team going forward,” Butera said. “We think with those two up the middle and Nasim playing more shortstop gives us the best chance.”

Butera said Abrams was amenable to the move while noting that shortstops take pride in playing the position — something Abrams also acknowledged.

“That’s just where I’ve been playing my whole life,” said Abrams, who led off and played shortstop Friday night against the New York Mets. “I believe I can be a great shortstop.”

Abrams, an NL All-Star starter, is having a career year offensively, with 28 homers, a major league-best 91 RBIs, a .284 average and an .898 OPS.

Abrams also leads NL shortstops with 19 errors, just three shy of his career high from 2023 and 2025. His .958 fielding percentage would also be a career worst.

“He said that a few times — like, look, the competitor in me wants to say I can do this at shortstop but also understand we have to do what’s best for the team and the organization going forward,” Butera said.

Nuñez has nine errors and a .965 fielding percentage at second base. He leads the majors in range factor at the position.

The Nationals also used first-round picks on shortstops Seaver King and Eli Willits in 2024 and 2025. Willits, selected first overall, is Washington’s no. 1 prospect, per MLB.com, while King ranks fourth.

“We’re thinking about all those things,” Butera said. “But ultimately, right now, what we’re trying to do is do what’s best for this team and this organization to win as many games as possible the rest of the year and also set ourselves up for next year.”

Abrams hasn’t played second base since his rookie season in 2022, when he made 13 appearances at the position for the San Diego Padres.

“It’s not too big of a change,” he said.

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

Officers responded just before noon to reports of a shooting at a home in Missaukee County, about 170 miles (270 kilometers) northwest of Detroit, and found three people dead and another in critical condition, Michigan State Police said in a statement. The wounded person was taken to a hospital.

Suspect Chad Hickman, 39, fled before they arrived at the home, according to police. As officers conducted a large-scale search for him, they found a fourth person dead at another home.

In a post on the social platform X, police warned that Hickman was armed and dangerous and told community members not to approach him.

Hickman's vehicle was later found in a wooded area near Whitlock Lake, and that led authorities to his body as well as that of another dead person.

“This situation is heartbreaking for the community and challenging for the investigators involved,” Lt. Ashley Miller said in a statement.

She added that investigators would work through the night to process each scene.

Police asked people to avoid the areas where the shootings took place.

The names and ages of the people killed were not immediately released, pending family notification.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said she was briefed on the shooting and monitoring the situation.

“My thoughts are with the victims, their families, and the Missaukee community,” she said.

The Maryland Tax Court said the tax violates the federal Internet Tax Freedom Act as well as the First Amendment and the commerce and due process clauses of the U.S. Constitution.

The legal fight has been watched by other states that are considering taxes for online ads. Maryland estimated the tax, approved in 2021, could raise about $250 million a year to help pay for a sweeping K-12 education measure.

In Friday's decision, the tax court ordered the state to repay the tax money already collected by Apple, Google and Peacock TV.

The law taxed revenue that large companies make on digital advertisements shown in Maryland. Companies making more than $100 million in global annual gross revenues were taxed at a 2.5% rate. The rate increased for companies with larger revenues, topping out at a 10% rate for companies making $15 billion or more in global gross annual revenues.

Supporters of the law contended that Maryland needed to overhaul its tax methods in response to significant changes in how businesses advertise. But attorneys representing Big Tech companies including Meta and Amazon challenged the law in multiple legal venues, arguing in part that they were unfairly targeted.

Last year, 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled part of the law violated the Constitution because it blocked Big Tech companies from telling customers about the tax. That, Judge Julius Richardson said, violated the right to free speech.

Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson and House Speaker Joseline Pena-Melnyk, both Democrats, issued a statement saying they “respectfully disagree” with the tax court ruling and expect the legal process to continue.

They said the tax was enacted to keep the state's tax system in pace with a changing economy.

“We remain committed to ensuring that Maryland’s tax system is fair, sustainable, and reflects today’s economy,” they said. “We will continue working with the Attorney General and Comptroller as this matter proceeds through the courts.”

The tax court said Congress — not the state legislature — is tasked with regulating interstate commerce, and that the tax law was inappropriately based on global revenue rather than revenue from in-state advertising.

The federal Internet Tax Freedom Act bars the taxation of e-commerce if similar services are not taxed. At least for now, the tax court found, there isn't much of a difference between digital advertising and print or billboard ads, which means the bar on taxation applies.

Takaichi, however, did not mention her country’s wartime past in Asia or express remorse for it in a speech at the ceremony, and the defense minister and other political representatives visited the shrine.

The Yasukuni Shrine, which commemorates over 2.4 million people who died in wars, became controversial after enshrining 14 convicted World War II Japanese war criminals. China and South Korea say visits by Japanese officials to the shrine show a lack of remorse over Japan's wartime atrocities.

Japan invaded and occupied large parts of Asia before and during World War II, committing atrocities that included mass killings, forced labor and the sexual enslavement of women. Millions died during Japan's wars and colonial rule.

Japan has embraced a pacifist ethos in the decades since its defeat. But memories of Japan's colonial rule and atrocities still run deep, and leaders and the public in China and South Korea closely watch how Japanese leaders confront the country’s past.

Japan's leaders say they uphold their commitment to peace

Takaichi mourned the victims of major devastation in Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Okinawa, as well as those who perished in overseas battlefronts, and thanked them for their sacrifice as the “foundation of Japan's peace and prosperity today.”

“Japan, since the end of the war, has consistently contributed to global peace and prosperity. We will never let the tragedy of the war be repeated,” she said in her address at Nippon Budokan, located a short walk away from Yasukuni.

Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, three other Cabinet ministers and three executives from Takaichi’s governing Liberal Democratic Party visited the shrine earlier Saturday. A nonpartisan group of dozens of lawmakers also prayed there.

The secretary general of Takaichi's Liberal Democratic Party, Shunichi Suzuki, said he prayed at Yasukuni on behalf of Takaichi and brought cash offerings that Takaichi made as party leader. He did not disclose the amount.

“I renewed my war-renouncing resolve and will continue to fulfill Japan’s postwar responsibility as a peace-loving nation," Koizumi, who has regularly visited the shrine, said on X after his visit Saturday. He is the son of a popular former prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, who enraged China with a visit to Yasukuni on Aug. 15, 2006.

China and South Korea protest shrine visits

China’s Foreign Ministry protested the visits, saying the Japanese politicians’ true intentions were to “change the verdict on the war criminals, cover up Japan’s war crimes, distort the historical facts and pave the way for accelerating militarization.”

It urged Japan to do “serious soul searching” on history and make a clean break with militarism.

Tensions between Japan and China escalated in November when Takaichi said a Chinese attack on Taiwan could constitute “a survival-threatening situation” for Japan requiring the use of force. The comments enraged Beijing.

South Korea's foreign ministry also criticized the Japanese politicians' visits and offerings as “an anachronistic act that disregards history." The ministry urged Japan to face its history and demonstrate remorse.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung struck a different tone in a speech Saturday marking the 81st anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule. He stressed that his administration favors “pragmatic diplomacy."

“Korea-Japan cooperation is now more important than ever," he said.

Japanese emperors have shunned the shrine

Japanese emperors have shunned Yasukuni since its 1978 inclusion of war criminals as “martyrs,” and have expressed regrets over Japan’s wartime past, though in a nuanced way.

Emperor Naruhito, in an address Saturday at the ceremony, said he hopes the ravages of war will never be repeated while “reflecting on our past and bearing in mind the feelings of deep remorse.”

Addressing concerns of fading memories of wartime history, Naruhito said he hoped the memories of the suffering during and after the war will be passed down to younger generations.

Pushback against remembering Japan's wartime history

Takaichi has resisted acknowledging Japan's wartime aggression. She has denied that coercion was used against Korean laborers and that women were held as sex slaves for Japanese troops. She was previously part of a campaign to remove references to wartime sexual slavery, known as “comfort women,” from school textbooks.

She has said she is from a postwar generation that bears no responsibility for Japan's past actions and has no intention of apologizing.

The country has faced revisionist pushback since the 2010s under nationalistic former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Takaichi says Abe is her political mentor.

Since 2013, Japanese prime ministers have stopped apologizing to Asian victims for wartime atrocities, under a precedent set by Abe.

People at Yasukuni remember relatives lost in the war

Descendants of the war dead also gathered at Yasukuni early Saturday to honor their fallen ancestors.

Mariko Shinoda, 56, whose grandfather died as a Kamikaze pilot, said she visited Yasukuni with her mother as a child every year on Aug. 15. Kamikaze pilots departed on their one-way missions saying, “Let’s meet at Yasukuni,” her mother told her.

“To me, Yasukuni is where every spirit gathers, and that’s where you get to see them on Aug. 15,” Shinoda said.

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Associated Press writers Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea, and Kanis Leung in Hong Kong contributed to this report.

Authorities issued a tsunami warning and urged coastal residents to move to higher ground, but later lifted the warning when Indonesia’s meteorological agency said monitoring showed no significant sea-level changes that posed a threat to coastal communities. Some smaller tsunamis were reported.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake hit eastern Indonesia's Flores region at a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles) at 5:58 a.m. local time. Its epicenter was 68 km (42 miles) north-northwest of the city of Ende in East Nusa Tenggara province.

The quake triggers landslides and generates small tsunamis

The meteorological agency said the quake was followed by at least 235 aftershocks, with the largest recorded at magnitude 6.2.

The agency's sea-level monitoring stations acknowledged some small tsunamis reached coastal villages in Manggarai and East Manggarai regencies. Videos obtained by The Associated Press showed the coastal village of Riung in Ngada regency blanketed in mud and debris after what the agency described as a 1.61-meter (5.3 feet) tsunami. Fishing boats were stranded ashore, infrastructure damaged, and homes surrounded by sediment left by receding waters.

Waves measuring 0.94 meters (3.1 feet) were observed in Maurole, Ende Regency.

Tsunami waves exceeding 0.5 meters (1.6 feet) were detected in Bulukumba, South Sulawesi, and Sape in Bima Regency.

A strong, land-based earthquake of 6.9 magnitude hit North Sumatra province in western Indonesia on Saturday afternoon, according to the USGS. It struck 172.5 kilometers (107 miles) beneath the earth’s surface, meaning it was too deep to cause significant damage or casualties, Indonesian authorities said.

The quake has caused buildings to collapse

East Nusa Tenggara Police Chief Rudi Darmoko said power outages hampered the spread of information about the impact of the earthquake in cities and villages, complicating search and rescue efforts.

“We are continuing to collect reports of damage and casualties, but there are communication disruptions,” Darmoko said. He said quake-triggered landslides in Ende regency blocked the Trans-Flores highway, a roughly 700-kilometer (435-mile) paved mountain road spanning Flores Island, from Labuan Bajo to Larantuka.

The head of the National Disaster Management Agency, Suharyanto, said rescuers have recovered at least 47 bodies, mostly in Sikka, Manggarai and East Manggarai, and at least 50 people were taken to hospitals.

Suharyanto, who like many Indonesians uses a single name, said the quake flattened at least 157 houses and damaged nearly 200 more, forcing about 2,000 villagers to abandon their homes and move to temporary shelters. The powerful temblor also destroyed more than 100 public facilities, including schools, medical centers and churches.

The death toll could rise because landslides triggered by the earthquake buried or cut off many remote villages across six regencies on Flores Island, said Fathur Rahman, who heads the Search and Rescue Office in Maumere, the capital of Sikka.

Some remote villages are completely buried, he said, and damaged infrastructure and a lack of heavy equipment were hindering rescue efforts.

Authorities deployed three helicopters and a rescue vessel to support logistics and emergency response operations, including potential evacuations. East Nusa Tenggara consists of numerous islands and presents significant transportation and access challenges.

Residents ran for their lives when the quake struck

The quake was felt across much of Flores island with initial reports indicating heavy damage.

Yohanna Embu, who lives in Sikka, said people ran in a panic to higher ground.

“Many buildings here were damaged ... I saw that the waiting room at the port terminal in Maumere had collapsed,” she said.

Students at St. Peter Major Seminary in Sikka who were attending morning Mass fled when the roof of an assembly hall collapsed, said the Rev. Guidelbertus Tanga, rector of the seminary, known locally as Ritapiret Seminary on the predominantly Catholic island of Flores.

“Our students and nuns ran out in panic beneath a collapsing roof,” Tanga said. “At least one priest suffered a broken leg after jumping from the second floor of a building during the quake.”

The quake also struck Labuan Bajo, a gateway town to eastern Indonesia’s Komodo National Park, one of the country’s best-known attractions. Damage was reported in Bima, a city in neighboring West Nusa Tenggara province, and in parts of southern Sulawesi island.

Indonesian authorities initially issued a tsunami warning for parts of East Nusa Tenggara, West Nusa Tenggara, South Sulawesi and Southeast Sulawesi provinces, and urged residents to stay away from beaches and riverbanks. The agency located the shallow undersea quake near Flores island.

Indonesia, a vast archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity because of its location on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.

Most notably, a powerful earthquake caused a tsunami in 1992 that killed about 2,500 people on Flores, part of a group of islands in the eastern half of Indonesia, while in 2018, a magnitude 7.5 quake spawned a large localized tsunami that wiped out coastal areas, killing more than 4,400 people.

In December 2004, a massive magnitude 9.1 earthquake off Sumatra in western Indonesia triggered a tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen countries.

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Associated Press writers Niniek Karmini and Edna Tarigan in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report.

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This story has been corrected to show Ngada is a regency, not a village.

Habló con Local 10 News un día después de que la Fiscalía Estatal de Miami-Dade retirara todos los cargos en su contra.

La madre de 29 años fue acusada de abuso sexual y de publicar en internet videos lascivos de su hijo de 4 años.

Ella dice: No es cierto.

“Siento que estoy soñando”, dijo Viana. “Como una pesadilla. En mi mente, nunca hice nada malo”.

Los registros policiales muestran que el gigante de las redes sociales TikTok señaló un video de su cuenta como “material de abuso sexual infantil”, en el que presuntamente aparecía el niño usando solo una camiseta y Viana tocándolo.

El 5 de agosto, la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade llegó a su casa en el suroeste de Miami-Dade.

“Yo dije: eso tiene que ser una broma”, dijo su primo, Raúl Salazar. “Nosotros dijimos: Ese no es el tipo de persona que ella es. Eso no es algo que ella haría”.

Los agentes dijeron que Viana accedió a que revisaran su teléfono.

Fue entonces cuando encontraron otro video de ella besando a su hijo. Viana sostiene que eran besos normales e inocentes entre una madre y su hijo.

En un memorando de cierre, los fiscales dicen que el estado “no puede proceder con cargos penales” y que “no hay evidencia de intención sexual” en ninguno de los dos videos.

Viana dice que ahora lo único que quiere es estar con su familia.

Su primo tiene este mensaje para las plataformas de redes sociales:

“Tienen que ser muy cuidadosos con las acusaciones que hacen antes de arruinar una reputación”, dijo Salazar.

The cats are being rescued from the former Luján Zoo, about 70 kilometers (43 miles) northwest of Argentina's capital of Buenos Aires, after years of uncertainty over their fate. Four Paws, the international animal-welfare organization overseeing the transfer, described it as one of the largest relocations of captive big cats in the world.

“We are putting everything into making this go as smoothly as possible so we can celebrate that 30 lives have improved because of this effort,” said Luciana D’Abramo, program director for Four Paws.

Once loaded into their crates and placed aboard cargo and passenger jets, nine tigers and six lions will be flown to Lionsrock, a Four Paws sanctuary in South Africa that houses more than 80 big cats across natural enclosures sprawling 60 hectares (148 acres). The remaining eight tigers and seven lions will travel to The Wild Animal Sanctuary in Colorado, a vast refuge on the grasslands northeast of Denver where rescued lions, tigers and other animals roam expansive habitats.

But getting there is no easy feat: The big cats bound for Colorado will fly through Chile, while the others will travel to Johannesburg via Frankfurt or Amsterdam before a four-hour drive to Lionsrock.

The Four Paws handlers trained many of the lions and tigers to enter the crates voluntarily. But some of the big cats required sedation, including two tigers that veterinarians hoisted in canvas slings Friday and carried by hand to their transport crates.

Argentine authorities shut down the Lujan Zoo — famous for letting visitors handle and pose for pictures with tigers and lions — over safety and animal welfare concerns in 2020. D’Abramo said about 200 big cats were living there when it closed. Only 112 remained when Four Paws first arrived in 2023 seeking a solution.

By the time the organization was allowed to take over the site two years later, that number had fallen to 62. Some of the captive animals can barely walk because of obesity, muscle loss or poor nutrition. Others suffer from dental and kidney disease, complications from declawing and injuries that never healed properly.

“That alone shows the level of overcrowding and the conditions in which these animals have endured,” D’Abramo said.

The organization retrained longtime zoo employees in modern animal-welfare practices and began improving the cats’ diets and medical care. This transfer leaves more than 20 lions and tigers at Luján while Four Paws searches for their long-term homes.

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Leer en español

She spoke with Local 10 News a day after the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office dropped all charges against her.

The 29-year-old mom was accused of molestation and posting lewd videos of her 4-year-old son online.

She says: Not true.

“I feel like I’m dreaming,” Viana said. “Like a bad dream. In my mind, I never (did) anything wrong.”

Police records show it was social media giant TikTok that flagged one video from her account as “child sexual abuse material,” allegedly showing the boy only with a shirt on, naked otherwise, and Viana touching him.

On Aug. 5, the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office would arrive at her house in southwest Miami-Dade.

“I was like, that has to be a joke,” her cousin, Raúl Salazar said. “We’re like, That’s not the kind of person she is. That’s not something that she would do.”

Deputies said Viana consented to having her phone searched.

That’s when they found another video of her kissing her son. Viana maintains they were normal, innocent pecks between mom and child.

In a closeout memo, prosecutors say the state “is unable to proceed with criminal charges” and that “there is no evidence of sexual intent” in either video.

Viana says all she wants now is to be with family.

Her cousin with this message for social media platforms

“They’ve got to be really mindful of the accusations they make before ruining a reputation,” Salazar said.

Dentro de ese contenedor especial al que ingresó el viernes, el enorme felino emprenderá un largo viaje hasta un santuario de Sudáfrica. El animal forma parte de un contingente de 30 tigres y leones rescatados del ex zoológico argentino que partirá el lunes hacia sus nuevos hogares; 15 irán a tierras africanas y el resto será enviado a otro santuario similar en Estados Unidos.

Esta treintena de tigres y leones dejará para siempre los pequeños recintos de hormigón en los que estuvieron confinados en ese establecimiento situado a unos 70 kilómetros al noroeste de Buenos Aires. El predio fue cerrado por las autoridades argentinas en 2020 debido a sus deficientes condiciones para el bienestar animal.

Gran rescate

En una ambiciosa iniciativa a nivel mundial, la organización internacional Four Paws inició el viernes los preparativos para este gran traslado de animales.

Luciana D’Abramo, directora de programas de Four Paws, resaltó a The Associated Press que este es "uno de los operativos más grandes” de reubicación de felinos a nivel mundial. “Estamos poniéndolo todo para que salga lo mejor posible y que podamos celebrar que 30 vidas han mejorado gracias a todo el esfuerzo”.

Tras recibir la autorización veterinaria definitiva, los animales serán trasladados en aviones de carga y en las bodegas de aviones de pasajeros. Nueve tigres y seis leones irán al santuario de Lionsrock, en Sudáfrica, que es gestionado por Four Paws. Esta organización se ha asociado a su vez con The Wild Animal Sanctuary, en Colorado, Estados Unidos, para reubicar a los otros ocho tigres y siete leones.

Previamente los felinos fueron sometidos a evaluaciones veterinarias en noviembre de 2025 que sentaron las bases para la misión de rescate.

El zoológico de Luján, que era privado, se hizo famoso por permitir el contacto cercano entre los visitantes y los grandes felinos. Desde que fue cerrado, los animales permanecieron en el recinto durante años en un entorno que estaba muy lejos de satisfacer sus necesidades básicas.

En 2025, Four Paws firmó un acuerdo con el gobierno argentino para poner fin a la tenencia privada y al comercio de grandes felinos en el país, así como para encontrar una solución a largo plazo para animales del ex zoológico.

“En 2020, cuando se cerró este lugar había alrededor de 200 grandes felinos. Cuando vinimos por primera vez en 2023 a tratar de buscar una solución, quedaban 112. Y cuando finalmente volvimos a ofrecer ayuda y se nos dejó tomar este espacio quedaban 62, así que eso ya demuestra el nivel de hacinamiento y las condiciones en las que estos animales han vivido”, relató D'Abramo.

Comenzó una tarea para mejorar las condiciones de animales con enfermedades o que no caminaban adecuadamente por sobrepeso, falta de músculo o mala alimentación. Y los cuidadores que habían trabajado durante años allí fueron entrenados con otros códigos de bienestar animal.

En febrero pasado, dos osos y una tigresa fueron llevados a santuarios de Bulgaria y Holanda, respectivamente, abriendo paso al actual proyecto de reubicación de los grandes felinos.

Jaulas especiales; vuelos con escalas

Los animales saldrán desde el aeropuerto internacional de las afueras de Buenos Aires. Los que se dirigen a Estados Unidos lo harán a través de Chile; en tanto, nueve de los tigres que van a Sudáfrica harán escala en Frankfurt y los otros seis viajarán vía Ámsterdam. Desde Johannesburgo, donde confluirán, les quedarán cuatro horas de transporte terrestre en camiones hasta llegar al santuario Lionsrock. Viajarán despiertos en sus cajas y con estrictas medidas de seguridad.

Muchos de los tigres y leones fueron entrenados para ingresar en las cajas voluntariamente. “Es el escenario ideal porque no hay necesidad de anestesiarlos; entran, ya conocen el espacio, están cómodos”, apuntó D'Abramo. En otros casos los felinos reciben una sedación de corta duración para ser instalados en esos recintos.

Ese fue el caso de dos tigres de algo más de diez años de edad que nacieron en el antiguo zoológico y el viernes fueron acomodados en sus jaulas de transporte. Su destino es Lionrock.

Santuarios; el nuevo hogar

En ese enorme predio africano, los espacios para los grandes felinos se extienden a lo largo de 60 hectáreas. Actualmente, 80 animales los habitan.

Entre los tigres y leones que serán reubicados en ambos santuarios hay grupos familiares y compañeros de toda la vida que permanecerán juntos. En sus nuevos alojamientos recibirán cuidados para enfermedades dentales y renales, complicaciones asociadas a la extirpación de las garras y lesiones mal curadas.

D'Abramo explicó que en los santuarios no hay reproducción de animales —están castrados— y no existe ningún contacto entre visitantes o cuidadores con los grandes felinos. Por otro lado, aunque los animales siguen en cautiverio, los grandes espacios que habitan les permiten elegir estar visibles o esconderse.

La organización apuesta a reubicar a los más de veinte felinos que quedarán en Luján.

Para hacerlo, Four Paws necesita tiempo y "encontrar la solución que sea la mejor para cada uno”, dijo D'Abramo. Una posibilidad, acotó, es encontrar un espacio en Argentina “que pueda volverse un ejemplo" de bienestar animal.

A labor union and two female prison guards sued the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which enforces employment anti-discrimination laws, for indefinitely suspending proceedings in their case as part of a wider effort to halt all federal-sector class claims pending before the agency's administrative judges.

The lawsuit cited an administrative judge’s order dated Dec. 10, 2025, stating that the sexual harassment case had been paused and that the “notification applies to all class cases in the federal sector.”

But in a court document filed Thursday evening, EEOC Chief Operating Officer Sharon Rose said the judge in the case issued the notification “in error” and that it was an “isolated incident.” Rose also told the court that the EEOC has transferred the case to another administrative judge, who on Monday issued an order scheduling further proceedings.

The court document also included a letter sent by Justice Department attorney James Harlow to the plaintiffs on Monday, offering the same explanation and asking them to drop their motion for a preliminary injunction.

“In short, Defendants agree that processing of federal-sector class complaints should not be suspended,” Harlow wrote in the letter.

Joseph Sellers, co-chair of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll’s civil rights and employment practice and one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs, said Friday that the evidence belies the government's claim that the suspension was an erroneous isolated incident.

Sellers and other attorneys involved in the lawsuit say they are representing federal workers in at least five other class complaints that have been stalled for months, including cases against the FBI and the Department of Defense.

In two of those cases, administrative judges also issued scheduling orders Monday, according to the letter sent by Harlow, the Justice Department attorney. Harlow asked the attorneys to send him the name and number of any other federal-sector class complaints that may have been suspended “so we can investigate.”

Sellers said the fact that the EEOC judges only ordered the scheduling orders this week, after the lawsuit was filed, suggests that the suspension was not an error.

“The timing speaks for itself. We have evidence of a number of cases that were stayed. It is not an isolated incident as the EEOC seems to claim," Sellers said.

Sellers said the plaintiffs are willing to engage in discussion with the Justice Department to resolve the issue outside the court.

The lawsuit against the EEOC was filed by the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest union representing federal workers, and two women who are correctional officers at Louisiana’s Federal Correctional Complex at Pollock.

The women are part of a pending class complaint claiming that management at Pollock failed to stop inmates from subjecting female workers to sexual harassment.

Under President Donald Trump, the EEOC has drastically overhauled its civil rights enforcement priorities, including prioritizing cases aimed at stamping out diversity and inclusion policies, dropping cases on behalf of transgender workers and abandoning longstanding tools for investigating systemic discrimination.

The changes have prompted several lawsuits against EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas, who says she is pursuing an “even-handed” and “colorblind” vision of workplace civil rights.

Rose, the EEOC chief operating officer, said in her court statement that neither the commission nor Lucas had issued “a written or verbal directive to EEOC administrative judges” to indefinitely suspend class cases.

The EEOC referred questions Friday to the Justice Department, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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The Associated Press’ women in the workforce coverage receives financial support from Pivotal Ventures. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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In a room Friday, mostly preaching to the choir, supporters were rallying the people who run your cities to make sure their residents know the costs of voting away property taxes.

“I think there has to be an education,” Crestview Councilman Sylvester Echols said. “The people have to understand exactly what Amendment 3 is.”

An advertisement projected onto a screen at the convention previewed their messaging: “Follow the math, not the magic trick.”

The measure would raise the homestead exemption to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028.

State analysts say local governments would lose in upwards of $12 billion annually.

Exactly what Amendment 3 is will now be detailed on the November ballot in a rewrite a Leon County judge ordered from the attorney general.

The original ballot language, “Save Our Homes from Excessive Property Taxes,” he called “clear and conclusively defective” — more like a sales pitch.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has said, “I think people will be able to see this is a major additional protection for their homestead property.”

The governor is promoting it, but back at the League of Cities, leaders said the rewrite still does not address their concerns.

“This still doesn’t address the issues with the bill, but the ballot language makes it a little more honest,” Sebastian Councilman Chris Nunn said.

Most are scrambling to plan for police and fire salaries and pensions, water services, garbage pickup, roads, libraries and more.

“There are ways to lower property taxes and there’s ways to do it the wrong way,” Steve Vancore, with the “No on 3” campaign, said. “This is telling government ‘You need to lose 10 pounds and we’re going to cut your leg off.’”

“I mean, I am pro-lowering taxes, property taxes,” Sunny Isles Beach Commissioner Alex Lama said. “But there’s got to be a better way of going about it.”

One survey found that if Amendment 3 were on the ballot today, it would edge past the 60% required threshold. But once informed about the effects and consequences, only 45% supported the measure.

That survey showed it’s mostly favored by Republicans and conservatives. That does not, however, include the well-known conservative Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, who recently called the measure a “train wreck.”

En una sala el viernes, en su mayoría predicando a los convencidos, partidarios estaban movilizando a las personas que administran sus ciudades para asegurarse de que sus residentes conozcan los costos de votar para eliminar los impuestos a la propiedad.

“Creo que tiene que haber educación”, dijo el concejal de Crestview Sylvester Echols. “La gente tiene que entender exactamente qué es la Enmienda 3”.

Un anuncio proyectado en una pantalla durante la convención anticipó su mensaje: “Sigan las matemáticas, no el truco de magia”.

La medida elevaría la exención de vivienda principal a $150,000 USD en 2027 y $250,000 USD en 2028.

Analistas estatales dicen que los gobiernos locales perderían más de $12,000 millones USD anualmente.

Ahora, exactamente qué es la Enmienda 3 será detallado en la boleta electoral de noviembre, en una redacción ordenada por un juez del condado Leon por parte de la fiscal general.

El texto original de la boleta, “Salvemos nuestros hogares de los impuestos excesivos a la propiedad”, lo calificó de “clara y concluyentemente defectuoso”, más parecido a un argumento de venta.

El gobernador Ron DeSantis ha dicho: “Creo que la gente podrá ver que esta es una importante protección adicional para su propiedad de vivienda principal”.

El gobernador la está promoviendo, pero de regreso en la Liga de Ciudades, líderes dijeron que la nueva redacción aún no aborda sus preocupaciones.

“Esto todavía no aborda los problemas con el proyecto de ley, pero el texto de la boleta lo hace un poco más honesto”, dijo el concejal de Sebastian Chris Nunn.

La mayoría se apresura a planificar los salarios y las pensiones de policías y bomberos, los servicios de agua, la recolección de basura, las carreteras, las bibliotecas y más.

“Hay maneras de reducir los impuestos a la propiedad y hay maneras de hacerlo de la manera equivocada”, dijo Steve Vancore, de la campaña “No a la 3”. “Esto le está diciendo al gobierno: ‘Necesitas perder 10 libras y vamos a cortarte una pierna’”.

“Quiero decir, estoy a favor de reducir los impuestos, los impuestos a la propiedad”, dijo el comisionado de Sunny Isles Beach Alex Lama. “Pero tiene que haber una mejor manera de hacerlo”.

Una encuesta encontró que si la Enmienda 3 estuviera en la boleta hoy, superaría por poco el umbral requerido del 60%. Pero una vez informados sobre los efectos y las consecuencias, solo el 45% apoyó la medida.

Esa encuesta mostró que la medida cuenta principalmente con el respaldo de republicanos y conservadores. Eso, sin embargo, no incluye al conocido sheriff conservador del condado Polk, Grady Judd, quien recientemente calificó la medida como un “desastre”.

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The images give us a glimpse of encounters between ICE agents, immigrants and residents.

People recorded ICE agents as they conducted operations in Homestead, Fort Lauderdale and West Park.

Border Patrol agents were seen outside Harris Field Park in southwest Miami-Dade.

One mother was disturbed, telling us she was dropping off her child at Head Start, an early childhood education and family support facility, and was unsure who the agents were looking for.

Outside a manufacturing company in Broward, a member of the staff questioned an agent who was on the premises.

The agent responded that there was an individual inside who was an illegal resident of the United States and was facing deportation.

“Well, we don’t know anything about that. Just serve a warrant at the front desk,” the staff member said.

A Local 10 News viewer inside the business was concerned the agents were after his co-worker.

He showed what he claimed was a valid work permit and driver’s license.

He added that he was in the process of applying for asylum.

In another encounter, neighbors said a Haitian man was riding his bike on his way to work when federal agents tried to question him.

Residents also tried questioning the agents.

“Put this on the Ring camera. Put this on TikTok. Put this on Facebook,” one resident said. “You didn’t even get his ID Did you run his ID?”

The man was eventually taken into custody. His belongings were left behind.

Local 10 News is still working to learn more specifics in these cases.

In the meantime, the Department of Homeland Security has maintained that agents have been doing their job, enforcing immigration laws and ultimately fulfilling President Donald Trump’s campaign promises on immigration.

Las imágenes nos dan un vistazo a los encuentros entre agentes del ICE, inmigrantes y residentes.

Personas grabaron a agentes del ICE mientras realizaban operaciones en Homestead, Fort Lauderdale y West Park.

Se vio a agentes de la Patrulla Fronteriza afuera de Harris Field Park, en el suroeste de Miami-Dade.

Una madre estaba preocupada y nos contó que estaba dejando a su hijo en Head Start, un centro de educación para la primera infancia y apoyo familiar, y no estaba segura de a quién buscaban los agentes.

Afuera de una empresa manufacturera en Broward, un miembro del personal cuestionó a un agente que se encontraba en las instalaciones.

El agente respondió que había una persona dentro que era residente ilegal de Estados Unidos y enfrentaba una deportación.

“Bueno, no sabemos nada al respecto. Solo entregue una orden judicial en la recepción”, dijo el miembro del personal.

Un espectador de Local 10 News que se encontraba dentro del negocio estaba preocupado de que los agentes fueran tras su compañero de trabajo.

Mostró lo que afirmó era un permiso de trabajo válido y una licencia de conducir.

Agregó que estaba en proceso de solicitar asilo.

En otro encuentro, vecinos dijeron que un hombre haitiano iba en bicicleta rumbo al trabajo cuando agentes federales intentaron interrogarlo.

Los residentes también intentaron cuestionar a los agentes.

“Graben esto con la cámara Ring. Pónganlo en TikTok. Pónganlo en Facebook”, dijo un residente. “Ni siquiera obtuvieron su identificación. ¿Verificaron su identificación?”

El hombre finalmente fue detenido. Sus pertenencias quedaron atrás.

Local 10 News continúa trabajando para conocer más detalles sobre estos casos.

Mientras tanto, el Departamento de Seguridad Nacional ha mantenido que los agentes están haciendo su trabajo, haciendo cumplir las leyes de inmigración y, en última instancia, cumpliendo las promesas de campaña del presidente Donald Trump sobre inmigración.

La Policía de Hollywood dijo que Gracie Jai Tellez, de 20 años, y Robert Lee Ingram, de 22, fueron arrestados poco después de las 2 p.m. del viernes pasado en Jacksonville, Florida, con la asistencia del Servicio de Alguaciles de Estados Unidos y la Oficina del Sheriff de Jacksonville.

Los registros de la cárcel muestran que ambos enfrentan cargos de homicidio involuntario agravado de un menor y negligencia infantil que causó lesiones corporales graves, discapacidad permanente o desfiguración permanente.

Los cargos se derivan de la muerte de su hija de 7 semanas, quien fue encontrada inconsciente en la casa de la familia, ubicada en la cuadra 2200 de Farragut Street en Hollywood, el 14 de octubre de 2025, dijeron los investigadores.

Según una declaración jurada de arresto, Tellez llamó al 911 alrededor de las 11:54 a.m. después de que la niña pareciera “no responder, pálida y fría al tacto”. Los agentes dijeron que llegaron y realizaron RCP a la niña hasta que los paramédicos de Hollywood Fire Rescue se hicieron cargo.

La Policía dijo que la niña fue trasladada como alerta de trauma al Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital, donde finalmente fue conectada a soporte vital.

Dijeron que los padres inicialmente les dijeron a los investigadores que habían alimentado a la niña con un biberón, que se había quedado dormida y que la habían colocado en un moisés. Las autoridades dijeron que los padres afirmaron que revisaron a la niña poco después y la encontraron fría e inconsciente.

La declaración jurada señala que la niña había sido considerada saludable antes del incidente. Los registros médicos revisados por los detectives no mostraron lesiones previas ni problemas de salud importantes, y había sido atendida por un pediatra el 8 de octubre de 2025, donde, según se informó, gozaba de buena salud.

Pero las pruebas médicas pronto revelaron lesiones graves.

Según la declaración jurada, los médicos encontraron una lesión cerebral anóxica difusa, sangrado en ambos ojos, desprendimientos de retina y fracturas en la parte posterior del cráneo.

La declaración jurada señala que los médicos dijeron a los investigadores que las lesiones eran compatibles con un “trauma craneal no accidental”, incluido un trauma contundente y fuerzas de aceleración y desaceleración aplicadas a la cabeza y el cuerpo de la niña, lo que la declaración jurada describió como “sacudidas violentas”.

Un médico forense del condado Broward determinó posteriormente que la causa de muerte de la niña fueron “complicaciones de un trauma contundente en la cabeza” y clasificó la manera de muerte como homicidio, según la declaración jurada.

La niña fue declarada con muerte cerebral el 18 de octubre de 2025. Permaneció conectada a un ventilador hasta que sus órganos pudieron ser obtenidos para trasplante el 22 de octubre de 2025.

La investigación continuó durante meses.

Los detectives dijeron que obtuvieron órdenes de registro para los teléfonos celulares de los padres y revisaron las descargas forenses de los dispositivos. La declaración jurada señala que ambos padres habían dicho a los investigadores que a veces usaban FaceTime entre sus teléfonos como un monitor improvisado para bebés mientras la niña dormía.

Sin embargo, los investigadores dijeron que los registros telefónicos no respaldaban esa versión.

En cambio, los detectives dijeron que encontraron que los teléfonos fueron utilizados ampliamente para jugar Call of Duty y ver YouTube durante las horas de la madrugada y la mañana antes de que la niña fuera encontrada inconsciente.

Según la declaración jurada, el teléfono de Ingram fue utilizado para jugar Call of Duty aproximadamente desde las 5:12 a.m. hasta las 8:39 a.m. y nuevamente desde las 10:33 a.m. hasta las 11:49 a.m., justo antes de que la bebé fuera encontrada inconsciente.

El teléfono de Tellez también mostró períodos prolongados de uso de Call of Duty, incluido desde aproximadamente las 10:38 a.m. hasta las 11:52 a.m. La llamada al 911 se realizó desde su teléfono alrededor de las 11:53 a.m.

“Estas descargas forenses muestran que la información proporcionada por Gracie Tellez y Robert Ingram no era veraz”, señala la declaración jurada.

Los investigadores también señalaron que Ingram dio a los detectives múltiples versiones diferentes de las horas previas a las lesiones de la niña. Dijeron que sus descripciones diferían respecto a cuándo fue alimentada la bebé, cuándo durmió y cuántas veces fue sacada del moisés y colocada nuevamente en él.

Los investigadores dijeron que durante una recreación posterior en la casa, Ingram volvió a proporcionar una cronología diferente.

La declaración jurada señala que ninguno de los padres pudo proporcionar una explicación de cómo la niña sufrió sus lesiones mortales.

La Policía dijo que la investigación del médico forense también encontró fracturas de cráneo en ambos lados de la parte posterior de la cabeza de la niña, además de hemorragias a lo largo de su columna vertebral.

Según la declaración jurada, la Oficina del Médico Forense del Condado Broward determinó posteriormente que la niña estaba bien desarrollada y bien nutrida para su edad y no mostraba signos de desnutrición.

Los investigadores concluyeron finalmente que había causa probable para creer que ambos padres no habían proporcionado el cuidado y la supervisión necesarios para su hija y que su “negligencia culpable” contribuyó a su muerte.

La declaración jurada señala que la niña estaba bajo el cuidado de ambos padres cuando ocurrieron sus lesiones y que los investigadores consideraron poco probable que no hubieran visto o escuchado el hecho que causó las lesiones, dada la dimensión y distribución de la residencia.

La portavoz de la Policía de Hollywood, Deanna Bettineschi, dijo que la investigación de la agencia condujo a las órdenes de arresto contra ambos padres.

Hasta la mañana del viernes, Tellez permanecía detenida sin derecho a fianza en la Oficina del Sheriff de Broward, North Broward Bureau, mientras que Ingram permanecía detenido sin derecho a fianza en la cárcel principal del condado Broward.

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Hallandale Beach police said the crash happened shortly before midnight July 18 in the 600 block of West Hallandale Beach Boulevard.

In the video, a person can be seen walking across the street as a white car approaches. The driver, who police identified as Francesca Yesbick, struck the pedestrian, then continued driving away from the scene, according to investigators.

Police say the victim suffered serious injuries but survived.

The surveillance footage became a key part of the investigation. Detectives reviewed city cameras and used license plate reader technology to track down the vehicle and identify the driver.

Police said Yesbick, 37, later called 911 and reported seeing “a man get hit by a car in Hallandale.” During that call, she allegedly described the vehicle as a green Honda but couldn’t confirm the address of where the incident occurred.

But the surveillance video told a different story, showing a white vehicle involved in the crash.

After nearly a month of investigation, police say Yesbick turned herself in to the Hallandale Beach Police Department.

Jail records show she was arrested on a charge of leaving the scene of an accident.

But it was the surveillance video that helped investigators piece together what happened — capturing the crash, the vehicle and the moment the driver allegedly fled.

Deputy Jasmaine McKinney, who has been with the Martin County Sheriff’s Office for about four years, received a call about the fraud case last month.

“You can definitely tell he felt like a victim. You can tell it was just written all over him,” McKinney said.

McKinney said the 93-year-old was told by scammers that they were with the Federal Trade Commission and that his bank account had been compromised.

They told him that, to secure his funds, he needed to withdraw the money and purchase $600,000 worth of gold.

The victim, who declined an interview, contacted a legitimate business to purchase the gold and wrote the company a $600,000 check.

The plan was to have the gold delivered to his home, where the scammers would pick it up.

But the victim became suspicious and went to his bank. The bank then contacted the sheriff’s office.

“That was all his life savings. Like, that’s what he had,” McKinney said.

McKinney responded and got the gold company on the phone. She explained that the 93-year-old had been scammed and needed a refund.

“Let’s get it done, because, again, this guy is out of a lot of money and he’s not a millionaire or anything like that. He’s just a regular guy,” McKinney said.

A few weeks later, the entire $600,000 was returned to the victim’s account.

McKinney said she called to make sure the money was actually back in his account.

“He said, no, it’s back in there. I seen it. I say, you know what? I’m happy for you. I just kept saying that. I’m happy for you. I’m happy for you,” McKinney said.

The victim told her he was happy the sheriff’s office got involved.

The Martin County Sheriff’s Office says deputies were responding to another call at a local bank when they stopped an elderly man from falling victim to another gold bar scam, saving him $98,000.

The sheriff’s office is reminding people never to give out personal information over the phone and to call police directly if they believe they may be getting scammed.

La policía de Hallandale Beach informó que el accidente ocurrió poco antes de la medianoche del 18 de julio en la cuadra 600 de West Hallandale Beach Boulevard.

En el video, se puede ver a una persona cruzando la calle mientras se acerca un automóvil blanco. La conductora, identificada por la policía como Francesca Yesbick, atropelló al peatón y luego continuó conduciendo para alejarse de la escena, según los investigadores.

La policía informó que la víctima sufrió lesiones graves, pero sobrevivió.

Las imágenes de vigilancia se convirtieron en una parte clave de la investigación. Los detectives revisaron las cámaras de la ciudad y utilizaron tecnología de lectores de matrículas para rastrear el vehículo e identificar a la conductora.

La policía indicó que Yesbick, de 37 años, llamó posteriormente al 911 y reportó haber visto “a un hombre ser atropellado por un automóvil en Hallandale”. Durante esa llamada, presuntamente describió el vehículo como un Honda verde, pero no pudo confirmar la dirección donde ocurrió el incidente.

Pero el video de vigilancia mostró una historia diferente, al mostrar un vehículo blanco involucrado en el accidente.

Después de casi un mes de investigación, la policía informó que Yesbick se entregó al Departamento de Policía de Hallandale Beach.

Los registros de la cárcel muestran que fue arrestada por un cargo de abandonar la escena de un accidente.

Pero fue el video de vigilancia el que ayudó a los investigadores a reconstruir lo ocurrido, al capturar el accidente, el vehículo y el momento en que la conductora presuntamente huyó.

A spotty shower or storm is not completely out of the question Friday evening. Otherwise, scattered clouds, subtle southeast winds and very warm conditions will define the night for Miami-Dade and Broward counties. Temperatures are expected to drop to the low 80s overnight.

There could be a spotty shower or two in the area early Saturday. Thereafter, the day will feature sunshine, scattered clouds, a hint of haze and southeast to east-southeast winds sustained at 5 to 10 mph. Afternoon storms will tend to favor the Everglades or western areas of South Florida. Temperatures are forecast to reach the low to mid-90s, with heat indices peaking at 105 F or higher.

Sunday will offer hazy sunshine and hardly a drop of rain. Temperatures will make a run for the mid-90s, while humidity will make it feel like triple digits.

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A hurricane warning is in effect for Hawaii County and the Big Island in anticipation of hurricane conditions (winds of 74 mph or higher), while Maui County – including the islands of Maui, Lānaʻi, Molokaʻi, Kahoʻolawe – is under a tropical storm watch for the possibility of tropical storm winds (winds of 39 mph or higher) as Lala passes to the south.

A rare direct hurricane threat for the Big Island

While the 50^th state is no stranger to brushes from tropical storms and hurricanes, only 2 hurricanes on record (since 1949) – Category 4 Iniki in 1992 and Category 1 Dot in 1959 – have passed directly over any of the main Hawaiian Islands (both struck Kauaʻi in the north).

Only three other tropical storms on record have passed directly over the state – Iselle in 2014 and Darby in 2016 (both striking the Big Island) and Olivia in 2018, the only named storm on record to pass directly over Maui and Lanai.

If Lala’s center crosses the Big Island as a hurricane, it would be the first hurricane on record to cross the island.

Even tropical storms and hurricanes that haven’t struck Hawai’i square on have caused major problems over the years, especially from terrain-enhanced rainfall caused by strong winds forced up the archipelago’s dramatic mountain slopes.

Hurricane Lane in August 2018, whose center passed 150 miles west of the Big Island, dropped an astounding 58 inches of rainfall over eastern parts of the Big Island northwest of Hilo. This is the second-highest rainfall total ever observed from a tropical cyclone in the United States, only eclipsed by Hurricane Harvey the previous August and September (2017), which dumped over 60 inches of rain in the Houston-Beaumont region of southeastern Texas.

What’s in store for Hawai’i from Lala

The most serious inland hazard from Lala will be heavy rainfall, which could top two feet across the Big Island, leading to life-threatening flooding and mudslides, particularly in areas of steep terrain.

While up to 8 inches of rain are possible across the other main islands this weekend, the Big Island and Maui will see the lion’s share of the heavy rainfall, with widespread 8- to 12-inch totals and isolated totals exceeding 20 inches on their wetter windward sides where steep slopes face east toward the prevailing winds.

Meanwhile, hurricane conditions (winds of 74 mph or stronger) are expected by early Saturday across the Big Island, with tropical storm conditions (winds of 39-73 mph) spreading into Maui County – including Maui, Lānaʻi, Molokaʻi, Kahoʻolawe – by later Saturday local time. Winds at the top of east-facing mountain slopes could be up to 30% stronger than what’s reflected by the National Hurricane’s Center forecast, which estimates only surface winds (for example 75 mph winds at the surface could be as high as 100 mph at elevation).

Additionally, treacherous surf and marine conditions, with large and breaking waves reaching 15 feet or larger, are forecast through the weekend along east-facing shores in Hawai’i.

Seas will stay elevated into early next week, but conditions will generally improve across the island archipelago by Monday as Lala pull away.

Lukewarm Atlantic walks it back

Forecast models continue to walk back their initial interest in two systems we’ve been tracking over the deep tropical Atlantic designated Invest 92L and Invest 94L.

Invest 92L – the westernmost disturbance now located only about 350 miles east of the easternmost Caribbean islands – which had an 80% chance of development only yesterday and was on the brink of becoming the Atlantic’s next named storm faltered on Thursday as it ran into a staunch wall of El-Niño-induced wind shear. NHC quickly peeled back its development odds from 80% Thursday morning to a paltry 20% by Friday morning.

Though it could bring periods of heavy rain and squally weather as it passes through the islands this weekend, 92L’s development odds look to be kaput beyond today as it heads directly into the teeth of the highest ribbon of wind shear ahead.

The disturbance to 92L’s east – designated Invest 94L – was similarly struggling early Friday. A dry and stable environment is limiting thunderstorm organization and this still has some work to do before it clears the formation hurdle.

As we discussed in previous newsletters, this one will outlast 92L but it’s left to be seen if it can muster up enough organization to become a tropical depression or named storm by this weekend or early next week.

In general, models have continued to trend away from development with 94L and our two better-performing modeling systems – the Euro and Google’s DeepMind – have pared back their odds considerably.

We’ll monitor the trends for the northeastern islands of the Caribbean for later next week as 94L or what forms from it will track near or north of the islands. For now, however, our guidance doesn’t suggest a significant threat for the islands next week.

The National Hurricane Center said Lala should be at hurricane strength by the time it approaches the Big Island Saturday.

If it makes landfall there, it would be the first to hit the island since 1871. Back then, according to a University of Hawaii atmospheric scientist's research of newspaper accounts, a Category 3 hurricane hit the northeast corner of the island, said Vanessa Almanza, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Honolulu.

“First time since satellites,” Almanza said. “The latest forecast has it very close to the southern tip of the Big Island.”

A hurricane warning was issued for the Big Island, and a tropical storm warning was in effect for Maui County, which includes the islands of Maui, Molokai, Lanai and Kahoolawe.

Officials and residents braced for Lala regardless of whether Hawaii takes a direct hit. Shelters were scheduled to open, and various events were canceled.

“It doesn’t take landfall to create destruction,” Almanza said. “A lot of the impacts are felt outside of the hurricane.”

The National Hurricane Center predicted 8 to 12 inches (20.3 to 30.5 centimeters) of rainfall totals across Maui and the Big Island, with maximum totals as high as 25 inches (63.5 centimeters) in some spots on the Big Island. Four to 6 inches (10.2 to 15.2 centimeters) were expected across the island chain.

The center also warned that the storm could cause “life-threatening flooding and mudslides, especially in areas of steep terrain,” along with a dangerous storm surge and ocean swells “likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.”

“Suffice it to say, this is an enormous storm,” Gov. Josh Green said.

Officials urge taking the storm seriously

State Rep. Jeanné Kapela, who represents communities that are in the storm's possible track, traveled to the Big Island from Honolulu on Friday morning and called for people to be on alert.

The southern end of the island is remote and rural but growing in population because of its affordability. Kapela said she was especially worried about people who live off the grid in unpermitted structures. The area's agriculture includes coffee and cattle.

“We're encouraging residents to take this storm seriously, remain vigilant, and get somewhere safe before conditions deteriorate,” she said in a text message to The Associated Press as her flight took off. “We're hopeful the storm moves through quickly, but we're preparing for whatever comes.”

Green urged residents to be ready: “If you feel now that your house doesn’t have a great roof or might not be able to withstand hurricane force winds, then first things first you go to a family or friend's house and you kind of hunker down there."

Kapela also noted that many parts of the state are still reeling from devastating flooding in March, saying, “We know how quickly heavy rain and flooding can impact our rural communities.”

Brian Miyamoto, executive director of the Hawaii Farm Bureau, said growers are always concerned when there is a threat of a lot of water in a short amount time. But those still recovering from the spring floods, including on Oahu’s North Shore, were worried about suffering more damage.

Coffee farmer Bruce Corker said it was “sunny and beautiful” Friday in Holualoa, on the west side of the Big Island, and the island's only Costco seemed normal a day earlier. Still, he said, the prospect of “streams overflowing and high winds” was worrisome.

Wildfire risks increase during windy weather

As winds ramped up across the islands, there were no red flag warnings in place but Almanza said the dry and breezy conditions would still elevate fire concerns.

In 2023 the Maui town of Lahaina burned during extreme winds amid a hurricane passing far to the south of Hawaii.

“Since the fire, everybody is way more aware of weather in general and our environment and things that are happening,” said Archie Kalepa of Lahaina, who is well known in the area for his surfing, paddling and other ocean skills and has been watching the storm closely.

As of Friday afternoon, Tropical Storm Lala was located about 275 miles (440 kilometers) east-southeast of South Point, Hawaii, according to the National Hurricane Center. It had maximum sustained winds of 65 mph (100 kph) and was moving toward the west-northwest at 14 mph (22 kph).

The wind speed threshold for a Category 1 hurricane is 74 mph (46 kph).

“I wouldn’t be afraid of what’s to come, just be prepared,” said Steven Businger, the University of Hawaii professor whose research found information about the hurricane that hit the Big Island 155 years ago.

Lala has the potential to make landfall with damaging winds, he said, but its path was trending south with every forecast.

“The Big Island is furthest south and furthest east, so it has the greatest probability of having a hurricane hit,” he said. “However, historically Kauai has seen the most landfalls.”

Kauai, which is several islands northwest up the archipelago from the Big Island, saw Hurricane Iniki make landfall as a Category 4 hurricane in 1992. That, like this year, was an El Nino year. Pacific hurricane activity increases during El Nino, a warming of the Pacific near the equator that affects weather patterns across the globe.

Iniki, the last hurricane to make landfall in Hawaii, was following a southern trajectory before it turned up and hit Kauai, the governor said.

“It did $3 billion worth of damage. It destroyed thousands of homes, and it did kill six people,” he said. “So we just can never know if a storm is going to turn.”

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The event, organized by the Florida Youth Justice Coalition and Gen-Z For Change, had been scheduled for Friday night at The Venue Fort Lauderdale, which is located in Wilton Manors.

It featured U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Michigan, a Palestinian American, who on her campaign website describes herself as a “proud member of the Democratic Socialists of America.”

“I heard whispers that Rashida Tlaib was coming,” said Democratic State Rep. Michael Gottlieb, a lawyer who represents District 102, “then I saw that flyer.”

A reference to the group’s “Chomp the Oligarchy: Get out the Vote Rally” promotional flyer, he said.

Taking to social media, Gottlieb expressed his dismay that The Venue would be hosting a gathering of what he describes as a “coalition of candidates and organizations who are on the strongly pro-Palestinian/anti-Israel left, several of whom have been involved in disputes over where anti-Zionism crosses into antisemitism.”

Gottlieb told Local 10 News he believes his post “struck a nerve because this community, which has a high population of Jews and many of which have been to The Venue were also offended, as well as the non-Jews who are sympathetic to and understand what the DSA (Democratic Socialists of America) movement is about.”

After the public outcry, The Venue canceled. In a public statement on social media, it said that the event “would not proceed” due in part to “increased security concerns.”

“The Venue Fort Lauderdale is a Jewish-owned and operated and our values and commitment to the Jewish community are deeply important to us,” it states.

The post goes on to say that they are reviewing their vetting procedures while adding they want to be “unequivocally clear that the acceptance of a venue booking should never be interpreted as an endorsement of the political views, organizations, speakers, messaging, or causes associated with an event.”

“I think what’s important to understand what happened here is my client accepted this booking and it was not disclosed to my client the full extent of who’s gonna be appearing at the booking,” Russell Cormican, the attorney representing The Venue, said. “Particularly Congresswoman Tlaib. It was never disclosed that she was going to be there.”

Cormican said that The Venue became aware of Tlaib’s presence thanks to social media posts less than 24 hours before the scheduled event. He said police showed up at the venue and addressed security concerns.

“And because it was so close to the time that this event was going to happen, they did not have time to put in place adequate security measures in response to the presence of a very controversial person at this event,” he said.

Cormican said his client’s statement was “not a political statement in any way” and said it had nothing to do with the business being Jewish-owned.

“This is the result of a organizer who booked the venue and didn’t disclose all of the people who were gonna be there,” Cormican said. “And one of those people then became a security concern for my client.”

He said his client is “in the business of allowing people to have events” and “not checking people’s political affiliation when they walk in the door.”

“They’re not asking if you’re a Republican or a Democrat or whether you back Israel or Palestine. They’re open to everyone,” he said. “But if you’re gonna have an event there and you’re gonna invite somebody to that event that is a controversial person that’s going to cause a need for added security, then you have to tell them that in advance. You’ve got give them enough time to get ready for that.”

Gottlieb said, “I don’t see race or religion in my job in any way, shape or form, nor do I in my personal life. I want to make that clear. I don’t care that Rashida Tlaib is Palestinian. I care that she’s antisemitic and I understand that some people are going to say she’s not antisemitic.”

One of the candidates Congresswoman Tlaib is in town to support is the DSA-endorsed Oliver Larkin, a digital marketing consultant looking to beat establishment Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Florida, who is now running in Florida’s newly redrawn Congressional District 25.

“This is not a hate rally. This is a rally to motivate young voters against the billionaire class and the corporate interests that are increasingly in control of both political parties,” said Larkin, who described the public outcry and original venue cancellation as “very unfortunate,” adding that they are “moving forward regardless.”

He said they are planning to stage the event at a new “private” location that will only be sent to RSVPs in light of what he feels is “a very hate-fueled public pressure campaign to try to intimidate.”

“So if they wanted to get the youth vote out, number one, then you do a ‘Democrat Youth to the Polls’ event, OK?,” said Gottlieb. “You don’t invite Rashida Tlaib who is the head of the DSA movement essentially in terms of figureheads, right? It was a fundraiser for DSA candidates. They handpicked who they wanted because as I said, they’re pivoting to the left.”

Fighting for ‘the soul of the Democratic Party’?

The incident playing out in Broward may be a microcosm of the partisan in-fighting happening in primary races nationwide as some of the Democratic Party’s more progressive members seek to unseat establishment candidates.

“Representative Rashida Tlaib has represented our country in the United States Congress and we’re very proud to have her coming to to visit our state,” said Larkin. “I think this is case in point of why the Florida Democratic Party has failed to really stand up to Donald Trump and the Republican Party because they seem to be more concerned with quashing any kind of youth participation or progressive momentum to organize in our state.”

“I think it’s hurting the Democratic Party,” said Gottlieb. “I think you’re going to see that if the DSA candidates get elected, you are not going to see a cohesive party platform anymore. I think if you look at some of the commentators in my post, many of them come from socialist or communist countries, or their families do, whether it was in Europe or in South and Latin America, and they said, ‘No, no, no, we don’t want this.’ That’s not what Broward stands for. Broward is blue-collar, Blue Dog Democrats.”

El evento, organizado por Florida Youth Justice Coalition y Gen-Z For Change, estaba programado para la noche del viernes en The Venue Fort Lauderdale, ubicado en Wilton Manors.

El evento contaría con la participación de la congresista federal Rashida Tlaib, demócrata de Michigan, una estadounidense de origen palestino que en su sitio web de campaña se describe como una “orgullosa integrante de Democratic Socialists of America”.

“Escuché rumores de que Rashida Tlaib venía”, dijo el representante estatal demócrata Michael Gottlieb, abogado que representa al Distrito 102, “y luego vi ese volante”.

Se refería al volante promocional del grupo para su “Chomp the Oligarchy: Get out the Vote Rally”, dijo.

En redes sociales, Gottlieb expresó su consternación por el hecho de que The Venue fuera a organizar una reunión de lo que él describe como una “coalición de candidatos y organizaciones que son de izquierda fuertemente propalestina/antiisraelí, varios de los cuales han estado involucrados en disputas sobre dónde el antisionismo cruza la línea hacia el antisemitismo”.

Gottlieb dijo a Local 10 News que cree que su publicación “tocó un nervio porque esta comunidad, que tiene una gran población judía y muchos de cuyos integrantes han estado en The Venue, también se sintió ofendida, al igual que los no judíos que simpatizan con el movimiento de DSA (Democratic Socialists of America) y entienden de qué se trata”.

Tras la indignación pública, The Venue canceló el evento. En un comunicado público en redes sociales, dijo que el evento “no se llevaría a cabo” debido, en parte, a “mayores preocupaciones de seguridad”.

“The Venue Fort Lauderdale es propiedad de judíos y es operado por judíos, y nuestros valores y compromiso con la comunidad judía son profundamente importantes para nosotros”, señala el comunicado.

La publicación continúa diciendo que están revisando sus procedimientos de evaluación, al tiempo que agregan que quieren dejar “inequívocamente claro que la aceptación de una reserva del lugar nunca debe interpretarse como un respaldo a las opiniones políticas, organizaciones, oradores, mensajes o causas asociadas con un evento”.

“Creo que lo importante es entender lo que ocurrió aquí: mi cliente aceptó esta reserva y no se le informó a mi cliente sobre el alcance total de quiénes iban a aparecer en la reserva”, dijo Russell Cormican, el abogado que representa a The Venue. “En particular, la congresista Tlaib. Nunca se informó que ella estaría allí”.

Cormican dijo que The Venue se enteró de la presencia de Tlaib gracias a publicaciones en redes sociales menos de 24 horas antes del evento programado. Dijo que la policía acudió al lugar y abordó las preocupaciones de seguridad.

“Y debido a que faltaba tan poco tiempo para que ocurriera este evento, no tuvieron tiempo de implementar medidas de seguridad adecuadas en respuesta a la presencia de una persona muy controversial en este evento”, dijo.

Cormican dijo que el comunicado de su cliente “no fue de ninguna manera una declaración política” y afirmó que no tuvo nada que ver con el hecho de que el negocio sea propiedad de judíos.

“Esto es el resultado de un organizador que reservó el lugar y no informó sobre todas las personas que iban a estar allí”, dijo Cormican. “Y una de esas personas se convirtió en una preocupación de seguridad para mi cliente”.

Dijo que su cliente “se dedica a permitir que las personas realicen eventos” y “no a verificar la afiliación política de las personas cuando entran por la puerta”.

“No les preguntan si son republicanos o demócratas, ni si apoyan a Israel o Palestina. Están abiertos a todos”, dijo. “Pero si vas a realizar un evento allí y vas a invitar a alguien a ese evento que es una persona controversial que va a generar la necesidad de mayor seguridad, entonces tienes que informarles con anticipación. Tienes que darles suficiente tiempo para prepararse para eso”.

Gottlieb dijo: “No veo la raza ni la religión en mi trabajo de ninguna manera, forma o modo, ni tampoco en mi vida personal. Quiero dejar eso claro. No me importa que Rashida Tlaib sea palestina. Me importa que sea antisemita y entiendo que algunas personas van a decir que no es antisemita”.

Uno de los candidatos que la congresista Tlaib está en la ciudad para apoyar es el candidato respaldado por DSA Oliver Larkin, un consultor de marketing digital que busca derrotar al representante de la cúpula del partido Jared Moskowitz, demócrata de Florida, quien ahora se postula en el recién redibujado Distrito 25 del Congreso de Florida.

“Esta no es una manifestación de odio. Esta es una manifestación para motivar a los votantes jóvenes contra la clase multimillonaria y los intereses corporativos que tienen cada vez más control de ambos partidos políticos”, dijo Larkin, quien describió la indignación pública y la cancelación del lugar original como “muy desafortunadas”, y agregó que están “siguiendo adelante de todos modos”.

Dijo que planean realizar el evento en una nueva ubicación “privada” que solo será enviada a quienes confirmen su asistencia, ante lo que considera “una campaña pública de presión impulsada por el odio para tratar de intimidar”.

“Entonces, si querían movilizar el voto joven, número uno, haces un evento de ‘Democrat Youth to the Polls’, ¿de acuerdo?”, dijo Gottlieb. “No invitas a Rashida Tlaib, quien es esencialmente la cabeza del movimiento DSA en términos de figuras representativas, ¿cierto? Era una recaudación de fondos para candidatos de DSA. Eligieron cuidadosamente a quién querían porque, como dije, están girando hacia la izquierda”.

¿Luchando por “el alma del Partido Demócrata”?

El incidente que ocurre en Broward puede ser un microcosmos de las disputas partidistas que se desarrollan en las contiendas de primarias en todo el país, mientras algunos de los miembros más progresistas del Partido Demócrata buscan derrotar a candidatos de la cúpula del partido.

“La representante Rashida Tlaib ha representado a nuestro país en el Congreso de Estados Unidos y estamos muy orgullosos de que venga a visitar nuestro estado”, dijo Larkin. “Creo que este es un ejemplo de por qué el Partido Demócrata de Florida ha fracasado realmente en enfrentarse a Donald Trump y al Partido Republicano, porque parecen estar más preocupados por sofocar cualquier tipo de participación juvenil o impulso progresista para organizarse en nuestro estado”.

“Creo que está perjudicando al Partido Demócrata”, dijo Gottlieb. “Creo que van a ver que, si los candidatos de DSA son elegidos, ya no habrá una plataforma partidista cohesiva. Creo que si observan a algunos de los comentaristas en mi publicación, muchos de ellos provienen de países socialistas o comunistas, o sus familias lo hacen, ya sea de Europa o de Sudamérica y Latinoamérica, y dijeron: ‘No, no, no, no queremos esto’. Eso no es lo que representa Broward. Broward es de clase trabajadora, demócratas Blue Dog”.

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The shooting, which happened at around 3 p.m. at the chain’s location at 33501 South Dixie Highway, began with an altercation, according to police. Investigators said Nathaniel Baez was killed and a 72-year-old man was shot in the foot.

Baez was shopping at the store when an altercation occurred involving him, a Walmart employee and members of the group he was with, according to investigators and the family’s attorney.

The family alleges Walmart failed to take appropriate action to prevent the confrontation and should be held responsible for Baez’s death.

Betsabe Santos, Baez’s mother, recalled the moment she learned her son had been killed.

“You can’t describe it,” she said. “The doctor was very straight forward. Your son got shot. He’s dead.”

Santos said the news devastated her family.

“Your world shatters, your heart shatters,” she said.

Investigators said the incident involved then-Walmart employee Roberto Acevedo, who told police he felt threatened by Baez and the group of friends he was with.

Todd Michaels, an attorney representing Baez’s family, said Acevedo should have contacted a manager rather than calling armed friends to the store.

“He got it in his head that these people are going to jump me and instead of doing the one thing he was required to do which is call your manager, he decided to call his armed friends to find out what this guy said or why he looked at him.,” Michaels said.

The confrontation escalated, and shots were fired. The shooting was captured on surveillance video, according to the family’s attorney.

Steve Lestin, 28, the accused gunman who was 25 years old at the time of the shooting, was arrested and is facing a second-degree murder charge, according to jail records.

The Baez family’s lawsuit argues that Walmart bears responsibility because Acevedo was working for the company at the time of the incident.

“It was their employee who they put on the floor,” Michaels said.

Michaels also described the Walmart employee as being responsible for watching for unusual activity in the store.

“He was there as that front line defense when they see anything out of the ordinary,” Michaels added.

Baez’s parents said their son had plans for his future, including starting a business and working in landscaping.

“He used to call me and say ‘Dad, I want to go into business. I want to do landscaping,”' his father, Samuel Baez, said.

For his mother, the lawsuit is about more than accountability. She said she hopes it will prevent another family from experiencing the same loss.

“You destroyed a family,” Santos said.

Police said another shopper was also hit by gunfire during the shooting. He survived his injuries.

Local 10 News has reached out to Walmart for a response to the lawsuit. The company had not yet responded.