He is being detained inside Alligator Alcatraz, and Perez fears for her brothers life.

Her fears add to months of mounting concerns over alleged inhumane conditions inside the facility, claims state officials have denied.

“They treat us like we are the scum of the earth,” said detainee Arlexis Linares during a phone call with his sister.

Linares said detainees often go hungry and questioned the quality of the water they are given to drink.

“They don’t drink that water. They drink bottled water,” Linares said.

“We drink this mystery water,” Linares added. “I call it mystery water because I don’t know where the water comes from.”

As the facility reportedly begins the process of shutting down, the state is now facing another lawsuit.

This time, the Center for Biological Diversity argues diesel-fueled generators at the facility are emitting “significant amounts of dangerous air pollutants that are harmful to human health and the environment.”

An attorney for the environmental group told Local 10 News, “Small businesses that emit air pollution go get air pollution permits, but the state thinks it’s above the law.”

The lawsuit also points to a state-commissioned environmental assessment that said no significant adverse impacts were expected from operating the facility, with the exception of air quality.

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Besides the motion to dismiss the charges against the 55-year-old altogether, the judge considered Pino’s requests to move the case out of the county and to suppress his statements.

On Thursday, Florida Fish and Wildlife Lt. Billy Thompson took the stand. He was the critical incident commander at the time of the crash that killed 17-year-old Lucy Fernandez.

Defense attorney Howard Srebnick questioned Thompson about whether Pino appeared impaired.

Thompson testified that Pino, then 51, did not.

But the prosecution argued Thompson’s interaction with Pino occurred two hours after the crash.

The case stems from a Labor Day weekend boating crash in 2022, when Pino was operating a boat carrying his wife, teenage daughter and several of her friends.

Investigators said the boat struck a channel marker in waters near Boca Chita Key, throwing passengers into the water, killing Fernandez.

Investigators reported finding dozens of empty alcohol containers on board and said Pino was seen on video stating he had two beers that day.

Tinkler Mendez ultimately denied the defense’s motion to dismiss the charges. She also denied the motion to change venues.

She said she plans to rule on the evidence suppression motion on Monday.

“This place meant the world to us -- income, our everything -- now left stranded,” said Gary Lopez, manager of JC Motors and Gary Used Auto Parts.

The business has been in Lopez’s family for 30 years.

“This was devastating. It’s not two days, you know, it’s 30 years,” Lopez said. “My father started as an employee, worked his way up and eventually got the opportunity to buy it.”

The fire broke out Monday evening around 5 p.m. near Cairo Road and Northwest 131st Street, spreading across several businesses and destroying nearby establishments.

Days after the fire, Lopez remains focused on the people who helped build the business alongside him.

“Not only were they staff, the crew -- that’s brotherhood, that’s family,” Lopez said.

Lopez is trying to support his employees by creating a GoFundMe to help them get through the loss.

“They have families, they have kids, they have life going on. Life doesn’t stop,” Lopez said. “As long as we’re here, that’s all that matters.”

Klauss Anthony Moise appeared before Glazer, who reviewed his charges that include fleeing and eluding a police officer, resisting an officer without violence and grand theft of a vehicle.

Court records show Moise, who was already on probation at the time of his arrest,will remained in custody pending another court appearance.

Authorities said the pursuit began Wednesday after Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office robbery intervention detectives spotted a stolen black Cadillac SUV that had been reported by Miami Gardens police.

Investigators said detectives attempted to stop the vehicle near Northwest 22nd Avenue and 151st Street, but Moise continued driving. At one point during the pursuit, authorities said he stopped in the middle of the road before continuing on.

They said Florida Highway Patrol troopers later assisted in the pursuit and performed a PIT maneuver to stop the SUV near Northwest 152nd Street.

Authorities said Moise then got out of the vehicle and ran into bushes near train tracks in Miami Gardens before deputies took him into custody.

“Law enforcement did a very good job,” said Marvin Walls Jr., who lives nearby. “Because of all the action was going, I went in the house. That was it. I saw everything on the news.”

Jail record show Moise has faced criminal charges before.

In 2022, he was charged as an accessory after the fact in the death of Amanda Collins. Investigators said he helped Collins’ boyfriend, Xavier West, dispose of her body in an Opa-locka canal.

Moise is scheduled to return to court Friday.

The fight has gone mostly in Carroll's favor, with one jury finding Trump liable for attacking her and a second awarding her tens of millions of dollars in damages for Trump’s public attacks on her credibility.

But now Trump's Justice Department has opened an investigation into whether Carroll lied under oath during the civil litigation, according to a person familiar with the matter. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss an ongoing inquiry. The investigation is related to things Carroll said during a deposition when asked about who was paying her legal fees.

Here's a look at the history of the legal fight between Carroll and Trump.

Carroll's allegations and Trump's denials

Carroll first went public with her story about being sexually assaulted by Trump in June 2019, when an excerpt from her soon-to-be-released memoir “What Do We Need Men For?” was published in New York magazine.

In the book, she described bumping into Trump while shopping at Bergdorf Goodman, flirting with him, then physically fighting him off after he sexually assaulted her in a dressing room.

The claims drew angry denials from Trump.

“I've never met this person in my life. She is trying to sell a new book — that should be sold in the fiction section," he said in a statement.

“Number one, she's not my type. Number two, it never happened," he said in another statement.

Carroll sues Trump for defamation

In 2019, Carroll filed a libel lawsuit against Trump, saying his claims that she made the story up had “smeared her integrity, honesty and dignity — all in the national press.”

That legal claim wound up being bogged down for years over the legal question of whether, in denying the allegations, Trump had been fulfilling his duties as president. Trump claimed that as a federal employee carrying out his job, he was shielded from the defamation lawsuit.

At the time Carroll filed the legal claim, she was barred by law from suing him over the alleged sexual assault because so many years had passed.

New York changes the law

In 2022, New York changed its laws to give sexual abuse survivors a fresh chance to sue over attacks that happened in the distant past. Carroll was one of the first people to take advantage, filing a new legal claim against Trump alleging that he had raped her. She also sued over things he had said about her after leaving the White House.

That lawsuit moved more quickly through the courts. It went to trial in New York City in 2023.

Trump chose not to attend, leaving his lawyers to argue the case on his behalf.

The jury found that while Carroll had not proved she had been raped, under New York’s definition of that crime, Trump had sexually abused her. It also found that he had made some false statements about her that had damaged her reputation. Jurors awarded Carroll $5 million.

A second trial

Months later, in January 2024, a federal judge held a second trial to determine whether other things Trump had said about Carroll were defamatory.

Its purpose was narrow. Since a jury had already found that Trump had sexually assaulted Carroll, the testimony was limited to how badly Carroll's reputation had been damaged by his comments assailing her credibility and denying the alleged attack.

This time, Trump attended the proceedings and testified for about three minutes.

“She said something that I considered to be a false accusation,” he told the jury, later adding, “I just wanted to defend myself, my family and, frankly, the presidency.”

Carroll testified that she faced a stream of death threats after Trump repeatedly attacked her story.

The new jury sided with Carroll again, awarding her more than $83 million in damages.

Appeals continue

Carroll has yet to receive any of the money while Trump's appeals of the two verdicts have moved through the courts.

Ruling in one of those appeals, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also addressed the issue of whether Carroll had been honest about who was paying for her legal representation.

Trump's lawyers had accused Carroll of hiding the fact that her lawyers had received money from an organization backed by Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn. The judges ruled that there was no evidence to suggest that Carroll was involved in that funding arrangement or had purposely lied about it when she was asked during a deposition in 2020 whether anyone was paying her legal fees.

“It showed that Ms. Carroll simply was not involved in the matter of who was or was not funding her litigation costs,” the appeals court said.

A lawyer for Carroll declined to comment through a spokesperson on Thursday.

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Associated Press reporter Eric Tucker and Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington contributed to this report.

Records show Dr. David Rerko, 63, of Fort Lauderdale, is set to be sentenced in July.

Rerko, then 61 and living in Lighthouse Point, was working on behalf of a “third-party contractor” at Broward Health North at the time of his September 2024 arrest. After his arrest, hospital officials said they revoked his privileges and state records show he later surrendered his medical license.

BSO detectives said an online tip from Yahoo revealed that Rerko emailed himself 122 files of child sexual abuse material and 117 files described as “child erotica.”

Authorities said at the bottom of every email was a signature, “David Rerko, MD,” and said the photos and videos depicted girls between the ages of 8 and 13.

Broward court records show his attorneys asked for a downward departure in his sentencing in March, stating that Rerko suffers from an unspecified “mental disorder” and said the former physician committed the offense in an “unsophisticated manner” and was an “isolated incident” for which he has “shown remorse.”

Documents show he’s set to be sentenced on July 8.

According to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, four people required treatment for heat-related illnesses.

Sky10 was over Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport, where MDFR and Opa-locka police officers were observed at the scene while victims were being taken away on stretchers.

Those passengers fell ill on a GlobalX plane that was bound for Louisiana.

Global X is a charter airline used by U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement for deportations, but its unclear if it was being used in that capacity at the time of this incident.

According to airport officials, the aircraft’s air conditioning malfunctioned and MDFR was called to assist passengers who were impacted by the heat.

This is a breaking news story that will be updated when new information is made available.

The Democrat's performance ultimately proved to be his undoing as he campaigned for reelection by amplifying concerns about whether the then-81-year-old could serve a second term. He ultimately dropped his bid under pressure from within his party and endorsed his vice president, Kamala Harris, who lost to the Republican Trump.

In “View from the East Wing,” a memoir about her White House years that's being published next Tuesday, she said she still doesn’t know why her husband performed so disastrously that day.

The Associated Press obtained a copy of the book's 274-page manuscript, which includes her first public comments about the debate and the ensuing chain of events that sent Joe Biden back to private life in Delaware sooner than he had envisioned.

The book also covers his prostate cancer diagnosis after leaving office and their son Hunter's federal trial on gun charges, among other issues during Joe Biden's term, along with how she juggled the added responsibilities of being first lady with her teaching career.

Jill Biden writes that her husband “looked bleary” in their hotel suite in Atlanta before the debate. She was confident he would do well, she said, because big events energized him. But when the CNN-sponsored event began, “I immediately noticed that Joe didn't look good. He didn't seem himself from the opening.”

A few minutes in, he said something out of turn about “we finally beat Medicare.”

“Is he short-circuiting? I thought,” she wrote. “Is this a stroke? It felt like we were watching an AI hologram of the man we knew, and the hologram was glitching.”

She wondered if he had been drugged or was experiencing a medical emergency.

He improved as the debate went on, “but not enough to reassure me or anyone watching that he was okay. He clearly wasn't,” Jill Biden said. “I'd never seen that look on his face before in my life.”

As they walked off stage afterward, he used colorful language to whisper to her that he had messed up, which she took as a “sign of his having returned to himself.”

But "to this day, I still don't know what happened," she wrote. They attended a post-debate rally and dropped in at a Waffle House before traveling to North Carolina for a next-day appearance.

The official explanation at the time from the White House and others close to the president was that he was suffering from a cold. But Jill Biden said she wonders if they should have acknowledged what millions of people saw — “that he looked very unwell in that debate.”

“The biggest lesson for us, I think, was that if you don't explain something well enough then the question won't go away,” she wrote. “There was never a satisfying enough explanation offered for Joe's debate performance, and a lot of people never got over it.”

Biden’s performance in the debate crystallized the concerns of many voters that he was too old to continue serving as president. It sparked a fresh round of calls for him to consider stepping aside as the party’s nominee as fellow Democrats feared a Trump return to the White House if Biden remained as their candidate.

The drumbeat of calls for him to leave the race started before the debate had ended and, “in the days to come, it would grow louder and louder,” Jill Biden wrote.

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Records show that authorities took Charles Bernard Adams, 42, and Alexandra Shana Adams, 34, both of Pompano Beach, into custody on Wednesday.

According to a BSO arrest report, they are the parents of two daughters, ages 2 and 4.

The report doesn’t state which of the two girls tested positive for the drug, but says deputies were called the couple’s home last Thursday after medics took one of the girls to the hospital after she was found unresponsive.

Investigators said Charles Adams told them that he had put the girl to bed for a nap at around noon and the couple took a nap as well. According to the report, Charles Adams told deputies that he was awoken by the girl “and her shallow breathing,” leading him to call 911.

Medics took the girl to Broward Health Imperial Point and later to Broward Health Medical Center’s pediatric emergency room, where she tested positive for cocaine.

Authorities said both Charles and Alexandra Adams tested positive for multiple drugs, including amphetamines, benzodiazepines and kratom.

Workers with the Florida Department of Children and Families took both girls into state custody.

Both parents are now each facing two counts of child neglect, records show, and a judge ordered that both be held on a $30,000 bond. If they bond out, they are not to have contact with their daughters and must submit to drug tests and GPS monitoring.

As of Thursday afternoon, Charles Adams was being held in BSO’s Main Jail facility in Fort Lauderdale, while Alexandra Adams was being held in the agency’s North Broward Bureau jail facility in Pompano Beach.

Los registros muestran que las autoridades arrestaron el miércoles a Charles Bernard Adams, de 42 años, y Alexandra Shana Adams, de 34, ambos residentes de Pompano Beach.

Según un informe de arresto de la BSO, son padres de dos niñas de 2 y 4 años.

El informe no especifica cuál de las dos niñas dio positivo por la droga, pero indica que los agentes acudieron a la vivienda de la pareja el jueves pasado después de que paramédicos trasladaran a una de las niñas al hospital tras encontrarla inconsciente.

Los investigadores dijeron que Charles Adams les informó que había acostado a la niña para una siesta alrededor del mediodía y que la pareja también tomó una siesta. Según el informe, Charles Adams dijo a los agentes que despertó al escuchar a la niña “y su respiración superficial”, lo que lo llevó a llamar al 911.

Los paramédicos trasladaron a la niña a Broward Health Imperial Point y posteriormente a la sala de emergencias pediátricas de Broward Health Medical Center, donde dio positivo por cocaína.

Las autoridades dijeron que tanto Charles como Alexandra Adams dieron positivo a múltiples drogas, incluidas anfetaminas, benzodiacepinas y kratom.

Trabajadores del Departamento de Niños y Familias de Florida tomaron a ambas niñas bajo custodia del estado.

Los registros muestran que ambos padres ahora enfrentan dos cargos cada uno por negligencia infantil, y un juez ordenó que permanezcan detenidos con una fianza de $30,000 USD cada uno. Si obtienen la libertad bajo fianza, no podrán tener contacto con sus hijas y deberán someterse a pruebas de drogas y monitoreo por GPS.

Hasta la tarde del jueves, Charles Adams permanecía detenido en la cárcel principal de la BSO en Fort Lauderdale, mientras que Alexandra Adams estaba detenida en la cárcel del Buró Norte de Broward de la agencia en Pompano Beach.

El mandatario hizo estas declaraciones a la prensa en el Palacio Nacional tras participar en un evento de Naciones Unidas y luego de que el diario “The New York Times” informara que el país centroamericano había acordado llevar a cabo operaciones conjuntas con Estados Unidos.

Arévalo señaló que el único que puede autorizar ese tipo de operaciones militares en territorio guatemalteco “es el Congreso de la República” y "el gobierno de Guatemala no está solicitando esa cooperación y no tiene previsto hacerlo”.

Acotó que “lo que estamos firmando son tipos de colaboración que se han estado dando en el pasado” y en ese sentido indicó que su gobierno realiza “interdicciones marítimas donde Estados Unidos ha estado colaborando con entrenamiento, capacitación y equipo”. Recalcó además que lo que firma el gobierno se enmarca en las leyes y la Constitución de Guatemala.

Guatemala y Estados Unidos colaboran además en el intercambio de información de inteligencia contra el crimen organizado.

Este caso es el último episodio de las tensiones actuales entre la administración del presidente estadounidense Donald Trump y los gobiernos latinoamericanos, que tratan de encontrar un equilibrio entre la cooperación bilateral para combatir el narcotráfico y el mantenimiento de la soberanía.

Cuando se le preguntó sobre el supuesto acuerdo con Guatemala, el secretario de prensa en funciones del Pentágono, Joel Valdez, dijo que no puede “especular sobre futuras operaciones ni discutir asuntos de seguridad operativa”, pero destacó que el Departamento de Defensa colabora con socios “de confianza” de la región para combatir el narcotráfico y otras amenazas a la seguridad.

El gobierno guatemalteco publicó por su lado un comunicado de prensa con dos cartas, una en inglés y otra en español, donde el ministro de Defensa Henry David Sáenz se comunica con el secretario de Guerra estadounidense Peter Hegseth para abordar operaciones combinadas en el marco de acuerdo preexistentes.

La muerte en abril de dos agentes de la Agencia Central de Inteligencia de Estados Unidos (CIA, por sus siglas en inglés) en el norte de México tras una operación para destruir un laboratorio de drogas suscitó dudas sobre una mayor implicación de Estados Unidos en toda la región. En los días siguientes, las autoridades mexicanas ofrecieron versiones contradictorias sobre la información que tenían respecto al hecho.

En su última declaración, la presidenta de México Claudia Sheinbaum señaló la víspera que fueron cuatro los agentes estadounidenses que estaban operando en el país sin autorización, en referencia a los dos que fallecieron en un accidente vial en el estado de Chihuahua y otros dos que abandonaron territorio mexicano a solicitud de las autoridades. Pero no dio precisiones sobre si eran de la CIA.

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En esta nota colaboró el periodista de AP Ben Finley desde Washington

If they can get four more wins — and get them quickly — they would take their place up near the Lakers of Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant, or the Stephen Curry-Kevin Durant Warriors, among the NBA's dominant postseason powerhouses.

If they fall to Oklahoma City or San Antonio in the NBA Finals, they risk being remembered as a team that feasted on a weak East, that won a bunch of games right up until the ones that mattered most.

They returned to practice Thursday for the first time since sweeping Cleveland in the Eastern Conference finals, vowing to continue ignoring any type of noise, whether it's how great they have been or that their opponents were not very good.

“When there’s negative things being said about you, it’s important to ignore them. When there’s positive things about you it’s easy to be able to read them to make you feel good, but you can’t do one and not the other,” Jalen Brunson said. “So just block out as best you can.”

The Knicks are 12-2 in the postseason, with a victory margin of 19.4 points per game, and have won 11 straight games. That's tied for the third-longest winning streak within one postseason.

The 2001 Lakers are one of the teams that also won 11 straight on their way to a 15-1 record that year, just shy of Golden State's 16-1 finish in 2017 as the best in league history. Count O'Neal, the MVP of that Lakers championship run and now an ESPN analyst, as a believer in these Knicks.

“They are so good I owe the whole state and all five boroughs of New York an apology," he said during an appearance on “The Rich Eisen Show.”

“They are really good. They have it. It reminds me of that Detroit team that beat us my last year there (in 2004). They just got a bunch of guys that are just together.”

Those who aren’t convinced would point to a road to the NBA Finals that opened up in such a way that the Knicks had no choice but to look imposing.

Start with the final day of the regular season, when Atlanta rested its starters and blew a chance to finish with the No. 5 seed. Instead of facing Toronto or Orlando, tougher defensive teams who could have finished in the No. 6 spot and might have physically taxed them a bit, they Knicks ended up with the Hawks, who were far more finesse than force.

The Knicks took the final three games of that series to win in six games, then found their good fortune was just beginning.

Boston blew a 3-1 lead against Philadelphia, so instead of opening on the road against the second-seeded Celtics, the Knicks drew the No. 7 76ers, who came to New York with just one full day of rest and looked finished right from the start. The Knicks crushed them 137-98 in Game 1, Joel Embiid was too sore to play in Game 2, and it was over soon after.

When Cleveland knocked off Detroit in the Eastern Conference semifinals, it gave the Knicks home-court advantage against another tired team. Instead of facing the top-seeded Pistons, who easily beat them in all three meetings during the regular season, the Knicks welcomed the No. 4 Cavaliers — who played two straight seven-game series — and then had the same one full day off as the 76ers.

The Cavs noted their fatigue almost as much as the Knicks' talent in their remarks after the series, when James Harden couldn't explain if New York was even the better team.

“Obviously they dominated us 4-0 but I don’t know if I can necessarily answer that question just because genuinely I do feel like we are the better team, but series-wise it didn’t show it,” he said.

The Knicks will have another rest advantage in the finals, but not nearly as significant. They will have to open on the road against a team that will be considered the favorite. Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon, while revisiting her previous comments about the 6-foot-2 Brunson that a team couldn't win a championship led by a small player, said the “two best teams are probably in the West, but I’m up for being proven wrong.”

The finals will truly be the final answer.

“Lot of questions, lot of talk about how great we are, how great we’ve been. All that doesn’t matter,” guard Mikal Bridges said. “We’ve just got to worry about being ourselves and stay locked in and go win.”

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

Speaking after training Thursday, Pochettino said he and U.S. Soccer Federation CEO JT Batson discussed the possibility of staying on during dinner Sunday at Jean-Georges, a highly rated and pricey restaurant in New York.

“He asked if we are open to listen (to) the project of the federation for the next four years,” Pochettino said. “And we said: Of course that we are open. Do you think that if we have a commitment with another people, we are going to waste time to listen?”

Pochettino agreed in September 2024 to a contract through the World Cup. He said until Sunday “we didn’t have (any) idea about if the federation was happy with us or not happy, wanted us for the future.”

Pochettino said it was good that his name was linked to big clubs, it means “we are doing something good.”

“The problem is ... the opposite, no one asks for you," he said.

Pochettino maintained not much significance should be made of AC Milan's discussions.

“My representatives, maybe, possible, because they need to do their job," he said. “Do you think all the people that represent different coaches have no conversation with different clubs?”

Pochettino avoided revealing whether he was personally involved in a meeting.

“If I met someone, what happened? What is going to change if I met someone?” he said. “We have friends everywhere and my representative works for me into trying to find the best possibility for the future. That is normal.”

Discussion of Pochettino's future isn't impacting players.

“I think I’m someone that lives in present day and right now he’s here and we’re working with him,” winger Tim Weah said. “It’s an amazing feeling having such a prestigious coach coaching us.”

Batson was unfazed by Pochettino's job talks.

“He had standing offers from other places to come and he wanted to be here,” Batson said. “There has been a longer list of outreach than what has even been reported."

Pochettino, 54, was hired after coaching at Espanyol, Tottenham, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea.

Batson wouldn't say whether the USSF has reached out to Pep Guardiola or Jurgen Klopp, two high-profile coaching free agents.

Matt Crocker, who as USSF sporting director recommended Pochettino be hired to replace Gregg Berhalter, quit last month to take a job with the governing body of Saudi Arabian soccer. Batson said a single sporting director in charge of both the men's and women's programs might not be hired.

“The men’s and women’s soccer ecosystems in the U.S. and around the world are different and so we need to think about how we’re structured to reflect that,” Batson said. “I would not expect a like-for-like sporting director going forward.”

Lineup tentatively set for World Cup opener

Pochettino said he decided last winter on his starting lineup for the World Cup opener against Paraguay on June 12.

“The only thing that can change is because watching them in training,” he said.

Asked when he decided on the lineup, he responded: “before March.”

Pulisic’s scoring drought

Pochettino is confident of a turnaround by Christian Pulisic, the top U.S. player. Pulisic ended his AC Milan season scoreless in 19 games since Dec. 28 and has gone eight U.S. matches without a goal since November 2024.

“He is going to score in World Cup. Yes, I really trust in that,” Pochettino said. “He has very good attitude, very good commitment. He’s trying so hard to get his best level and I think he will achieve it for sure.”

Pulisic skipped last year's CONCACAF Gold Cup, wanting to take vacation time. He offered to play in last year's pre-tournament friendlies but Pochettino turned him down.

“I was disappointed with him,” Pochettino said. "He was disappointed with our decision not to include him in the two friendly games.”

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

The person who confirmed the existence of the investigation was not authorized to publicly discuss an ongoing inquiry and spoke on the condition of anonymity. The perjury investigation is being led by the federal prosecutors’ office in Chicago, and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has had no involvement because of his prior work as Trump’s personal attorney, the person said.

A lawyer for Carroll declined to comment through a spokesperson on Thursday.

It’s the latest in a series of investigations that Trump’s Justice Department has opened into perceived adversaries of the Republican president. The actions, including securing an indictment last month against former FBI Director James Comey, have raised alarm from Democrats and former officials that an institution meant to make prosecutorial decisions independent of the White House is being weaponized against the president’s political enemies.

Carroll has said a flirtatious, chance encounter with Trump in 1996 at Bergdorf Goodman’s Fifth Avenue store in Manhattan ended violently. She said Trump slammed her against a dressing room wall, pulled down her tights and forced himself on her. Trump has called the allegations a “made-up scam,” and he has attacked her motivations, saying they were politically driven or arose from a desire to promote her memoir.

A jury in 2023 found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll and defaming her, and she was awarded $5 million. The following year, another jury awarded Carroll $83.3 million in a defamation case related to Trump’s social media posts about her.

The Justice Department is scrutinizing a statement Carroll made in the course of the civil litigation that no one else was paying her legal fees. It later became public that a Chicago-based organization backed by Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn, had helped fund Carroll’s case. Trump’s lawyers in the civil case accused Carroll of concealing that information, which they said called into question whether the case was politically motivated.

A month before the first trial in 2023, then-Trump lawyer Alina Habba sought to delay it, saying in court papers that new revelations about Hoffman partially funding Carroll’s case “raises significant questions as to Plaintiff’s credibility, as well as her motive for commencing and/or continuing the instant action.”

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a Dec. 30, 2024, ruling, upheld the $5 million jury award from 2023. The court addressed Carroll’s credibility after Trump accused her of lying, during a deposition, about how her case was funded.

The court cited Carroll’s explanation that when the question about Hoffman’s contributions was first posed to her in 2022, she had forgotten about “the limited outside funding” received in September 2020.

“It showed that Ms. Carroll simply was not involved in the matter of who was or was not funding her litigation costs,” the appeals court said.

Hoffman has defended the financial assistance, saying in a social media post that “supporting women fight for progress and justice in philanthropy, politics and business has been a longstanding priority of mine, as is supporting America against the threat of Trump.”

A court entry earlier this month said Trump will not have to pay the award until the U.S. Supreme Court gets a chance to review the case or reject an appeal. The appeals court agreed to a request by one of Trump’s lawyers that it let Trump delay the payment to Carroll, though he was required to post a $7.4 million bond to cover any additional interest costs, a request Carroll’s attorney had made.

The Carroll investigation was first reported by CNN.

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Associated Press reporter Larry Neumeister in New York contributed to this report.

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For 30 years, the festival has been a home for storytelling right here in South Florida.

“It’s so important for representation to have these platforms that are just all about us because you never know whose mind and perception you’re gonna change with the diversity with the examples of not onscreen jobs and opportunities behind the scenes,” said singer and actress Coco Jones.

It’s a festival that has welcomed creators, industry pros, and dreamers, making it possible for new voices to be seen and heard.

The premiere of “Strung” marked the start of this year’s celebration, with the stars of the film hitting the red carpet.

Singer and actress Chloe Bailey stars in Malcolm D. Lee’s new thriller.

She plays a talented violinist whose new role as a music tutor for an elite family turns into a psychological battle for her safety.

The film is expected to premiere June 26, but those in attendance at the festival got an early preview.

At the premiere, Bailey revealed what she’s most excited for viewers to see.

“There’s a lot of twist and turns and mess, and you’ll be fully indulged,” she said. “That’s what I love about it.”

Beyond the glam, ABFF has been a gateway, providing access to aspiring filmmakers and building bridges across the industry, and what better to honor three decades of thriving than with a homecoming on Miami Beach.

“It feels phenomenal,” Bailey said.

For more information, visit the festival’s website.

Durante 30 años, el festival ha sido un espacio para contar historias aquí mismo en el sur de Florida.

“Es muy importante para la representación tener estas plataformas que son completamente sobre nosotros porque nunca sabes la mente o percepción que vas a cambiar con la diversidad y con los ejemplos de trabajos y oportunidades fuera de pantalla y detrás de cámaras”, dijo la cantante y actriz Coco Jones.

Es un festival que ha recibido a creadores, profesionales de la industria y soñadores, haciendo posible que nuevas voces sean vistas y escuchadas.

El estreno de “Strung” marcó el inicio de la celebración de este año, con las estrellas de la película desfilando por la alfombra roja.

La cantante y actriz Chloe Bailey protagoniza el nuevo thriller de Malcolm D. Lee.

Ella interpreta a una talentosa violinista cuyo nuevo papel como tutora musical de una familia adinerada se convierte en una batalla psicológica por su seguridad.

Se espera que la película se estrene el 26 de junio, pero los asistentes al festival tuvieron un adelanto exclusivo.

Durante el estreno, Bailey reveló qué es lo que más le entusiasma que el público vea.

“Hay muchos giros, vueltas y drama, y estarán completamente atrapados”, dijo. “Eso es lo que me encanta de esto”.

Más allá del glamour, el ABFF ha sido una puerta de entrada, brindando acceso a aspirantes a cineastas y construyendo puentes dentro de la industria, y qué mejor manera de celebrar tres décadas de éxito que con un regreso a casa en Miami Beach.

“Se siente fenomenal”, dijo Bailey.

Para más información, visite el sitio web del festival.

Executive producer Tanya Simon will be leaving about a year after being named to the job following 30 years at the venerable Sunday evening program. The moves cap a period of turmoil for the venerable newsmagazine that premiered in 1968 and is known for its ticking stopwatch.

In a memo to staff Thursday, Weiss and CBS News President Tom Cibrowski said their goal was “building a show that thrives in the 21st century.”

“That requires a new approach,” Weiss and Cibrowski wrote, defining it as "expanding ‘60 Minutes’ beyond a one-hour television broadcast, deepening its role across CBS News, and holding everything we produce to the ambition, fairness, and fearlessness that have defined ‘60 Minutes’ at its best.”

Bilton, they said, “embodies the energy and ambition that animated the founders of the show. We cannot imagine a better fit.” Bilton is also a former New York Times technology columnist.

Others let go as well

Also let go, according to a person familiar with the situation who spoke on anonymity: correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi, whose segment about Trump administration deportees in a Salvadoran prison was abruptly pulled by Weiss, running a month later; and Cecilia Vega.

Sweeping actions like those announced Thursday had been widely expected from Weiss, founder of the Free Press website. Since she was hired in October by CBS parent company Paramount Global’s new management, she has fast become a headline-maker and polarizing figure in journalism.

In his own lengthy memo to staff, Bilton, who comes to his new post without traditional broadcast experience, said “60 Minutes” was “without exaggeration, the most important television journalism brand this country has ever produced.”

“The fact that this show has remained a fixed point in a culture is part of why this show still matters as much as it does,” he wrote. “I don’t want to lose that. But the world we are reporting on, and the world we are reporting to, where people consume their news, has moved. And if we don’t move with it, in the ways that matter, we won’t be here for the next sixty years. I want to do everything humanly possible to ensure that we are.”

A bumpy period for ‘60 Minutes’

In July of last year, to the dismay of many at the show, Paramount settled with President Donald Trump out-of-court after he sued “60 Minutes” for how it had handled an interview with Kamala Harris, his 2024 election opponent.

In December, the show, at Weiss' direction, held off at the last minute showing Alfonsi's report about the deportees, saying greater effort was needed to secure an interview with administration officials. Alfonsi complained privately that the decision was political. The story aired a month later with additional administration comments, but no on-camera interviews with officials.

The episode, and others, has had critics watching to see if Weiss is moving the network in a Trump-friendly direction. Since her appointment, Trump administration officials have been more visible on CBS News, in interviews that she sometimes helped arrange. The president himself was interviewed by Norah O’Donnell on “60 Minutes” on Nov. 2.

In February, Anderson Cooper exited the show, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family, but raising questions about whether it had anything to do with Weiss's leadership. Cooper had contributed stories to “60 Minutes” as part of a job-sharing arrangement with CNN, where his prime-time “Anderson Cooper 360” has aired since 2003.

The 26-year-old Rice was booked into the Dallas County jail May 19 after testing positive for THC. He is due to be released on June 16, which means he will miss all of the Chiefs' voluntary workouts along with their mandatory three-day minicamp beginning June 9.

Making matters worse: Rice had surgery about a week before he was sentenced to jail to clean up debris in his right knee, which had been causing some inflammation. The latest legal trouble means he's had to continue his rehab work while incarcerated.

“We think he'll be ready for camp as we go forward. We'll just see how it goes,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said Thursday, after the third and final voluntary workout of the week. “He knows the rehab he can do there, and I think they're keeping an eye on him as far as any possible infection goes.”

Rice was suspended for the first six games of last season for violating the league’s personal conduct policy, which stemmed from the original crash in 2024 on a Dallas highway. It’s unclear whether he will be subject to more discipline for violating his probation.

“We're moving forward as normal as we go here,” Reid said. “When he gets back, we've got to get him caught up in doing what he needs to do, and make sure he gets it. It's not an easy thing he's going through.

“Life lessons are important,” Reid added, "but we're all given chances to learn, and he's in that position now.”

Rice has been in that position before, though. During training camp ahead of last season, the former SMU standout said he “completely changed” and had grown from his experience with the car crash, and that “you have to learn from things like that.”

“I've learned and taken advantage of being able to learn from something like that,” Rice said.

Rice is expected to be a major part of the Kansas City offense as it tries to rebound from a 6-11 record last season.

The Chiefs did little to upgrade their wide receiver room in the offseason, pinning their hopes instead on continual improvement from Rice — who is going into the final year of his rookie contract — and young players such as Xavier Worthy and Jalen Royals.

Rice has been good when available, catching 156 passes for 1,797 yards and 14 touchdowns and helping the Chiefs win the Super Bowl in the 2023 season. But he's missed games to both suspension and injuries, resulting in just 28 games played over three seasons.

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

Cody Campbell’s response to that talk: You broke it, we’re trying to fix it.

“My take is, it’s pretty rich for these people who created the problem in the first place to say that all of the sudden, they have the solution to the problem,” he said.

The billionaire head of the Texas Tech board of regents spoke to The Associated Press on Thursday, a day after Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., presented a bipartisan bill they hope can put teeth behind a lot of rules already in place to guide college sports through its multibillion-dollar metamorphosis.

While leaders of conferences and the NCAA said they would review the bill to decide whether to support it, critics emerged almost as quickly. Among them were Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who wants more limits on coaching salaries; and Reps. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., and Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., who want to see language that outlaws athletes from becoming employees of the schools.

A players group also expressed skepticism and the AP spoke to experts who predicted the bill would face a tough climb to get 60 votes in the Senate and a majority in the House.

“It's turning back the clock two to three years, and I don't think that's realistic,” said Michael LeRoy, a labor and sports law professor at Illinois, speaking to the realities of how much more expensive payrolls have become since name, image and likeness payments became allowable. “Players are getting paid in the millions of dollars. The underlying premise is to get a more uniform ceiling. That certainly is needed, but collective bargaining would do that.”

Schools have used third-party NIL deals to blow past the $20.5 million in revenue sharing that some envisioned as a “salary cap” when terms of the lawsuit settlement that set rules for college sports were approved.

Bill could address issues that trigger growing calls for collective bargaining

The spiraling spending has led some big names, including Tennessee athletic director Danny White, to suggest a collective-bargaining agreement between players and — schools? leagues? the NCAA? — could solve problems by bringing cost certainty to the industry while also giving it the antitrust protection it so desperately seeks.

It could also open the door to athletes becoming employees of the schools, which many view as a backbreaking financial burden that would invite the demise of Olympic and women's sports in college, and maybe football and basketball themselves.

Campbell, who was part of a group formed by President Donald Trump to tackle problems in college sports and has long been a strong voice in trying to shape its next chapter, says the Cruz-Cantwell bill provides many of the same benefits as collective bargaining, including limited antitrust protection.

“We created something that could actually be passable on a bipartisan basis,” Campbell said. “And while it's not perfect, and it never will be, there are many, many good elements in it. I think that college sports should be universally pleased with the outcome.”

Campbell said he views one of the bill's most divisive elements — a provision that would provide conferences the option to pool their media rights — not as a threat but as a genuine option for the leagues. The Southeastern and Big Ten Conferences are against media pooling, arguing that the numbers don't add up.

Campbell said the proposal addresses long-running concerns about out-of-control coaches salaries but also suggested the language in the 111-page bill could be amended to make the legislation even tougher.

He said it gives the year-old College Sports Commission the legal authority to approve and reject third-party NIL deals and would shield it from lawsuits that could come under the current system.

Campbell also said he has little time for the increasing conversation coming out of the SEC — headlined by Georgia president Jere Morehead and its football coach, Kirby Smart — that suggests those leagues might be better off splitting away from the system completely, making their own rules and playing games among themselves.

“If this was the solution, why didn't they come up with it over the last several decades as this thing started to crumble?" Campbell said. "If you created this mess, I don't see how you can stand up and say you're the one who's going to fix it.”

Despite bipartisan nature, bill faces an uphill climb

The AP spoke to a handful of legal experts familiar with college sports, none of whom predicted an easy road for the Cruz-Cantwell bill.

“It might be trying to bite off too much at this point to get passed this year,” sports attorney Mit Winter said.

Cantwell acknowledged to the AP in an interview that she knows despite its bipartisan nature, the bill is hardly a slam-dunk to pass.

Among those who gathered with Campbell to help draft the legislation were Condoleezza Rice, Yankees President Randy Levine and Gerry Cardinale of the private equity firm Redbird Capital. It was a group, according to a Yahoo Sports report, that SEC commissioner Greg Sankey was referencing when he said “it's interesting in Washington where the voices of influence come from.”

Campbell, however, views it as a smart group that doesn't have as many conflicting interests as the leagues and NCAA themselves.

“And if we can’t get it done," he said, "then they can have their way and let chaos continue to persist.”

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AP Sports Writer Eric Olson contributed to this report.

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

A vote by the league's Board of Governors made the plan official for the next three seasons. The “3-2-1 Lottery” proposal expands the event to 16 teams, flattens odds of winning the No. 1 pick and will try to deter teams from tanking by lowering lottery chances for teams that have the worst records.

They can still win the lottery, but they’ll have to buck odds to do so. The three worst teams will have 5.4% odds of winning, while teams that finish with the fourth- through 10th-worst records will all have 8.1% chances of winning.

“Since October, the league office has met with key stakeholders to discuss current competitive incentives and solicit ideas aimed at discouraging tanking,” the league said Thursday in announcing the move. “That process led to the creation of the 3-2-1 Lottery.”

ESPN reported the vote was 29-1, with Memphis casting the lone dissenting ballot.

The vote on Thursday fulfilled a promise from Commissioner Adam Silver, who vowed that the league — which has changed the lottery system about a half-dozen times in the last 40 or so years — would strongly address the tanking issue before next season.

Starting with next year’s lottery, the 16 participating teams will all get somewhere between one and three lottery balls — the 3-2-1 part — awarded in this manner:

— The losers of the No. 7 vs. No. 8 play-in games in both conferences will get one lottery ball each.

— The No. 9 and No. 10 seeds going into the play-in tournament will get two lottery balls each.

— The remaining 10 teams that miss the playoffs and the play-in will all get three lottery balls — with the exception of the three worst teams in the standings. They will enter “draft relegation” and have one of their lottery balls taken away, which is the anti-tanking part of the plan.

Tanking was a huge — and from the league standpoint, regrettable — talking point this season. The Utah Jazz were fined $500,000 “for conduct detrimental to the league” over the way two top players were held out of the fourth quarter of a pair of games, one of which the Jazz actually won. The Jazz had reason to limit their win total this season; too many victories would have meant risking a chance to have a top-eight pick in next month’s draft, a pick that Utah wound up securing.

Utah was among five teams — draft lottery winner Washington, Indiana, Memphis and Brooklyn were the others — that had winning percentages below .180 after the All-Star break. There had never been a season where so many teams lost so regularly after the break, until now.

Under the new plan, the teams that finish with the three worst records cannot fall below the No. 12 pick. But the best odds of winning No. 1 would go to the other seven teams that miss the play-in and the playoffs.

The No. 9 and No. 10 play-in seeds would also have a 5.4% chance of winning the lottery, and the losers of the No. 7 vs. No. 8 play-in games would both have a 2.7% chance.

There are other caveats within the new plan, including that no team can win back-to-back No. 1 picks and that the NBA will now have “expanded disciplinary authority” to address tanking — with potential moves including lowering teams’ lottery odds or even changing draft positions.

The new rules will be in effect through 2029. The Board of Governors will have to vote again, at some point, to either extend the new plan or come up with a different one before the 2030 lottery.

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

Dozens of firefighters searched through the smoldering rubble of the building on the outskirts of downtown Dallas Thursday afternoon, even as colleagues continued to drench the blackened debris.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known, but Assistant Chief James Russ of Dallas Fire-Rescue told a news conference that the blaze broke out after someone reported a gas leak. Neighbors said they heard a loud boom like an explosion.

Russ said at least four people were taken to a hospital with injuries and that “it is unknown how many possible fatalities we may have.”

Firefighters rushed to the scene as flames and black smoke billowed into the sky. Some trained their hoses on piles of smoking debris while others removed lumber and other burned wreckage to look for anyone trapped underneath. Little more than a blackened shell of the original building remained.

“The fire is contained, but our members are still working on the scene to do primary searches,” Russ said.

A nearby street was lined with firetrucks, ambulances and police vehicles with their lights flashing.

Julie Jensen said she was at home less than a block from the burning building when she heard a noise like an explosion that left her ears ringing.

“I was sitting on my couch watching TV — stuff flew off our walls,” Jensen said.

Jensen said she saw rising smoke and neighbors running when she looked out the window. She grabbed her family’s cat and left, finding a nearby parking lot to wait until she knew it was safe to return.

Sal De La Rosa was at work at a nearby auto repair shop when “all of a sudden we just heard and felt this huge boom.”

“We felt where the building kind of shook a little bit,” Del La Rosa said.

He said a co-worker went outside and saw thick, black smoke rising into the air.

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Associated Press journalists Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas, and Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed.

The announcement vaults Anthropic ahead of its chief rival, ChatGPT maker OpenAI, both in market value and in reported revenue. Anthropic said it's now making annualized revenue of $47 billion from selling its technology to people and organizations using Claude to write code and do other work and personal tasks on their behalf.

Anthropic was formed in 2021 by ex-OpenAI leaders and now both AI firms, along with Elon Musk's rocket and AI company SpaceX, are all expected to become publicly traded. All three are also still losing more money than they make, fueling concerns of an AI bubble.

San Francisco-based Anthropic said the new round of funding was led by investment firms Altimeter Capital, Dragoneer Investment Group, Greenoaks Capital and Sequoia Capital.

“This funding will help us serve the historic demand we are experiencing, stay at the research frontier, and bring Claude to more of the places where work happens,” said a written statement from Anthropic's chief financial officer, Krishna Rao.

Anthropic also on Thursday launched its newest AI model, called Claude Opus 4.8, boasting that it is even better at coding and other professional work than previous models.

Anthropic’s meteoric rise and Claude’s growing popularity have left OpenAI playing catch-up despite its early lead in making ChatGPT a household name that sparked a commercial AI boom.

OpenAI last reported in March it was heading toward a $852 billion valuation after a $122 billion fundraising round. SpaceX was valued at $800 billion last year, but its value grew to $1.25 trillion after the space exploration company merged with Musk's xAI in February. Musk recently announced plans for one of the biggest stock sales ever and will be able to pitch the offering to investors as soon as next week.

OpenAI also cleared a major hurdle toward its initial public offering ambitions after a federal court last week dismissed a lawsuit from Musk, an OpenAI co-founder and early donor, after a weeks-long jury trial over whether the company had betrayed its original nonprofit mission. Musk has said he plans to appeal.

Despite its newfound success, Anthropic has also faced obstacles this year — particularly a bruising legal fight with President Donald Trump's administration over how AI tools like Claude can be used in warfare. Trump in February ordered all U.S. agencies to stop using Claude and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared the company a supply chain risk after an unusually public clash between the Pentagon and CEO Dario Amodei. Anthropic sued in a dispute that is still working its way through two federal courts.

At the same time, Anthropic has been in talks with the White House over the cybersecurity capabilities and risks of its most powerful model, Mythos, which is not yet widely available to the public.

Anthropic also had an influential role at the Vatican ahead of Pope Leo XIV 's call Monday for robust regulation of AI and for its developers to work for the common good rather than profit.

The sweeping manifesto called “Magnifica Humanitas” (Magnificent Humanity), Leo’s first encyclical, repeatedly blasted the concentration of power and data in the hands of so few people in the private sector as a danger.

Mahomes did individual work and participated in 7-on-7 drills on Thursday, the third day of organized team activities but the first that reporters were allowed to observe. He wore a black brace extending across his knee, where the ACL and LCL were repaired, and while he was able to jog around well, there were times when Mahomes would need to stop to adjust it.

He'll certainly take that given it was just five months ago that Mahomes underwent surgery to repair the injury.

“It's good to be back on the field and just be with the guys, more than anything,” Mahomes said. “Some of those days you're rehabbing with yourself, or with a couple of guys, and you get a little juice when the other guys are out there.”

The Chiefs are being careful of the amount of juice, though.

Mahomes still has not been cleared by Dr. Dan Cooper, the Dallas-based orthopedist who performed the procedure, nor the Kansas City training staff to participate in full-team drills. He also is not supposed to run or sharply cut on the knee quite yet.

Chiefs coach Andy Reid was reluctant to place a timeline on the return of his star quarterback, though Mahomes has insisted all along he will be ready when Kansas City plays the Denver on Sept. 14 in a Monday night matchup at Arrowhead Stadium.

The bigger question is whether Mahomes will be ready for the start of training camp in about two months.

“It's kind of, ‘We’ll see,'” Mahomes said. “You have these week-to-two week checkpoints that I have to get to. The biggest thing for me now is to get to the running and cutting. ... Until I'm able to protect myself and get out there, they're going to keep me safe. But if I can continue to do things the right way, that's the hope for me at least.”

Mahomes typically spends the early portion of the offseason at his home in Texas, where Chiefs wide receivers and tight ends tend to congregate for workouts run by him. But he has spent almost every day since surgery last December — the day after he was hurt in a game against the Chargers — doing the rehab work under the watchful eye of one of the Chiefs' trainers, Julie Frymyer.

His typical schedule involves arriving at the training facility early, doing rehab work, then going through the usual team meetings. On-field work began this week, after which comes a recovery period and then another round of rehab work.

“Then I go home and chase kids around until I fall asleep,” Mahomes said.

“I think everybody is different in how you go about it,” Reid said, "but I wouldn't put it past where he's at, and I don't judge it. People say, ‘Is he ahead of schedule?’ Well, who made the schedule? Everybody is different. The way he goes about it is different. He and Julie have spent a ton of time working together, and she's tough on him. She puts him through the ropes. And he's willing to come back.

“Half the battle on that, besides the healing part, is trusting the person doing the rehab with you, and then showing up the next day.”

The Chiefs have another round of voluntary workouts next week — Reid said participation was near total from the team, despite their optional nature. Then comes a mandatory three-day minicamp beginning June 9, followed by a break before training camp.

The Chiefs have yet to announce the date for their arrival in St. Joseph, Missouri, but it is typically around July 21. That would give Mahomes just under two more months to continue his rehab before the real ramp-up to the regular season begins.

“The first step was getting to 7-on-7, and for me, it was more seeing the defense. It's been a long time since I've been out there, seeing the plays develop,” Mahomes said. “The next step will be getting with the team and getting under center and stuff like that. But we will progress to that. And then it will be going out there live with the guys, and then we'll be playing games.”

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

Busch had been experiencing symptoms of bacterial pneumonia for “days to weeks” before sepsis set in, according to the certificate obtained by The Associated Press in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.

The manner of death was listed as “natural.”

The death certificate also said Busch, who was 41, was cremated in Mooresville, North Carolina, following an autopsy.

His family had announced Busch died after severe pneumonia progressed into sepsis, resulting in rapid and overwhelming complications.

Sepsis is considered a life-threatening medical emergency that occurs when the body has an extreme, overactive response to an infection, causing the immune system to damage its own tissues and organs, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Typically the immune system releases chemicals to fight off pathogens like bacteria, viruses or fungi, but with sepsis the response goes into overdrive. The results can cause widespread inflammation, form microscopic blood clots and make blood vessels leak.

Busch had been plenty busy leading up to his death despite being sick.

He was thought to have had a sinus cold while racing at Watkins Glen on May 10 and radioed in to his team saying that he needed a “shot” from a doctor after the race.

But he continued racing and won the Truck Series race at Dover before finishing 17th in the All-Star race, five days before his death. He also attended the opening of a go-kart track with his 11-year-old son, Brexton, last week.

Busch was preparing for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway when the family announced he would not be competing due to a “severe illness."

Busch was testing in the Chevrolet racing simulator in Concord on May 20 when he became unresponsive and was taken to a hospital in Charlotte, several people familiar with the situation told the AP. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because those details had not been disclosed by Busch’s team or family.

An unidentified caller on an emergency 911 call placed late that afternoon told the dispatch: “I’ve got an individual that’s (got) shortness of breath, very hot, thinks he’s going to pass out, and is producing a little bit of blood, coughing up some blood.”

The caller said Busch was lying on the bathroom floor inside the complex and told dispatch “he is awake,” according to audio provided by the Cabarrus County Sheriff’s Office. The man gave directions on where emergency responders should go and asked that they turn off any sirens upon arrival.

Busch was taken to a hospital, where he died the following day.

He was a two-time Cup Series champion who won a record 234 races across NASCAR's top three national series.

Most of his success came with Joe Gibbs Racing before he moved on to join Richard Childress Racing.

NASCAR CEO Steve O'Donnell called Busch a certain first-ballot Hall of Famer and said there was some conversation about adding him to this year's class even though the selection process had already been completed.

No public memorial has been announced for Busch.

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

Groups of demonstrators, many wearing gas masks and other face coverings, linked arms in a human chain in front of Delaney Hall in Newark on Wednesday night, videos and photos posted on social media show.

Some used trash cans, old mattresses, umbrellas and other materials as makeshift shields and barricades as they confronted U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement officers. Others attempted to block people and vehicles from entering and exiting the building or threw orange traffic cones and other objects in the direction of the ICE officers lined at the entry gate.

The group chanted, “You will hang!” and, “Every cop, every fed, shoot yourself in the head," and other taunts at the officers, many of whom wore helmets and tactical vests.

The ICE officers used pepper spray to try and disperse the protesters, according to videos posted to social media. Some used their batons to beat and push back protesters as the officers attempted to clear the roadway for vehicles.

At least one truck driver got out of his vehicle to vent his frustration when some protesters tried to block vehicles driving on the road in front of the detention center. People detained inside could at times be seen waving to protestors from Delaney Hall's windows.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, said about six demonstrators were arrested for assaulting law enforcement officers.

“Assaulting and obstructing ICE law enforcement is a crime and felony,” the agency said in a statement. “Anyone who assaults law enforcement will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

On Thursday, demonstrators again returned to Delaney Hall.

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill also said state health department officials were “denied full access” to the facility for a health inspection. The Democrat said the officials were only allowed to inspect a limited part of the facility as she called on ICE to “de-escalate” the situation.

“As I’ve said repeatedly, refusing to provide full access raises serious questions about what ICE is trying to hide from public view,” Sherrill said in a statement that also repeated her calls to shut down the facility outright.

Earlier Wednesday, Democratic members of Congress from New York City toured the facility as part of an oversight visit. A private prison company runs the detention center, which sits along an industrial stretch of Newark Bay.

Reps. Jerry Nadler, Daniel Goldman and Adriano Espaillat, who all represent Manhattan, described dire conditions where people held in the facility are fed small portions of often spoiled food and their varied medical needs are ignored.

DHS spokespersons have denied any hunger strike, abuse or poor conditions inside the center and dismissed criticism from opponents as political posturing.

En el encuentro, los cinco funcionarios firmaron el Compromiso de Santiago, en el que se comprometieron a conformar un grupo de trabajo para profundizar la cooperación en materia de seguridad, inteligencia, control migratorio y otras áreas de “interés común”.

El presidente chileno, José Antonio Kast, inauguró el encuentro y destacó la importancia de impulsar el trabajo entre diferentes naciones para hacer frente a las bandas organizadas.

“Estos cinco países se cansaron de mirar cómo el crimen organizado va matando a nuestros jóvenes, va sometiendo nuestros barrios, va comprando voluntades", dijo el mandatario de perfil conservador. “Esto tiene que pasar de las palabras a los hechos”.

Medidas en cinco áreas

Tras la reunión, los países anunciaron su compromiso para elaborar “medidas concretas, medibles y verificables en cinco áreas prioritarias”, que son el intercambio de información entre servicios de inteligencia, policías y fiscalías; la coordinación fronteriza para el control del paso; la trazabilidad de flujos financieros ilícitos; la cooperación entre organismos técnicos nacionales y el fortalecimiento de los mecanismos regionales de respuesta ante amenazas comunes.

La cita estuvo encabezada por el canciller chileno, Francisco Pérez Mackenna. También estuvieron el canciller de Argentina, Pablo Quirno, y la ministra de Seguridad de ese país, Alejandra Monteoliva; la canciller de Ecuador, Gabriela Sommerfeld, y el viceministro de Seguridad Pública de ese país, Jorge Rivadeneira, y el canciller de Bolivia, Fernando Aramayo. Perú, en tanto, envió a su canciller, Carlos Pareja, y al ministro del Interior, José Zapata.

En una declaración conjunta, el ministro chileno afirmó que la delincuencia organizada se ha consolidado como una de las principales amenazas para la “gobernanza, la seguridad de las personas, la estabilidad institucional y el desarrollo” de la región. Debido a su naturaleza transfronteriza, agregó, los esfuerzos nacionales son “insuficientes” y deben complementarse con mayor cooperación política, articulación técnica e intercambio de información.

“Esto empieza a cambiar hoy”, aseveró Pérez Mackenna.

Líneas definidas de trabajo

Con el compromiso firmado, los cinco países empezarán a trabajar codo con codo y coordinarán los “esfuerzos técnico operativos” para mejorar la integración. En 180 días se volverán a reunir para revisar los avances.

El canciller argentino expresó a su vez que el documento firmado “ordena prioridades, fija líneas de trabajo y ofrece una base robusta" para que la cooperación “deje de ser una aspiración dispersa y se convierta en una herramienta eficaz” para asegurar la seguridad de los ciudadanos.

Por su parte, el representante de Bolivia, país golpeado por una fuerte inestabilidad debido a masivas protestas en las que distintos sectores sociales piden la renuncia del conservador presidente Rodrigo Paz, recordó que la región atraviesa “tiempos excepcionales, desafiados por el crimen organizado”.

“Ese es el compromiso que nos une hoy como países de América Latina, que queremos entender que los tiempos en los que nos encontramos requieren acción decidida”, declaró Aramayo. “Esta no es una declaración de intenciones, es un esfuerzo que debe convocar también a nuestras sociedades”.

La canciller de Ecuador, atravesado por la violencia generada por el accionar de organizaciones de narcotraficantes, destacó que es importante “fortalecer" las capacidades de los gobiernos a través de acciones conjuntas.

Finalmente, el canciller de Perú hizo hincapié en la situación “alarmante y creciente” de delitos violentos, como el sicariato, las extorsiones o los secuestros, que impactan directamente en la vida de la población. “Por eso es que este mecanismo va a ser muy importante para que podamos coordinar entre nuestros países" acciones contra "estas mafias que cruzan fronteras”.

The move Wednesday by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine comes as tax breaks for energy-hungry AI data centers are increasingly playing a role in state budgets and the industry is under pressure to pay the full costs of the vast network of its computing warehouses needed to power AI.

The size of Ohio's tax break skyrocketed, dwarfing previous projections, as opposition to data centers is sweeping through cities, suburbs and towns there and prompting lawmakers to form a committee to study the impact.

In the meantime, residents are trying to bypass the GOP-controlled Legislature and get a referendum on November's midterm election ballot that's designed to permanently ban hyperscale data centers, likely the strictest such statewide ban under consideration in the U.S.

DeWine's office cited the rising utilization of the tax break and the state Legislature's new research undertaking to declare a “pause” in granting it to new applicants.

"The governor felt it was the right time to let the citizens know, let businesses know that we're going to pause on new offers of this tax incentive while that process plays out," DeWine's spokesperson, Dan Tierney, said Thursday.

DeWine has stressed that he supports data centers — calling them a critical component in today’s economy — and that the roughly $37 billion in data center-related investments in 2024 and 2025 in the state has been worthwhile.

The state, in 2024, had used previous history in projecting that the exemption would total $136 million in fiscal 2025 and $142 million in fiscal 2026. It was $554 million in 2024 and nearly $1.6 billion in 2025, the state reported.

The resumption of Ohio's tax break — should it resume — could happen under a new governor: DeWine is term-limited and the race is on to replace him. The Republican nominee, Republican Vivek Ramaswamy — an Ivy League-educated biotech billionaire — likes to talk about turning the Ohio River Valley into the next Silicon Valley.

However, Ramaswamy and Democratic nominee Amy Acton could share the midterm ballot in November with the citizen-led drive to ban the construction of data centers across Ohio. It faces a July 1 deadline to gather more than 400,000 voter signatures.

State tax breaks for the massive data center industry are facing growing criticism by governors and lawmakers.

The cost is likely rising as data center and AI-related investments drive higher consumer spending in the U.S. and tech giants keep boosting their spending commitment to hyperscale data centers.

In Virginia, negotiations between the state House and Senate have been hung up for months on a bid by Senate Democrats to eliminate the roughly $1.6 billion annual tax break.

Thirty-eight states have some form of a sales tax break for data centers, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Many were approved more than five years ago, when data centers were a small, but growing part of the economy, and well before the late 2022 debut of OpenAI’s ChatGPT launched an intensifying buildout of increasingly large data centers.

Ohio's exemption is fairly broad, applying not only to construction materials, but to the expensive equipment — such as server racks and cooling systems — used in data centers. Operators might buy new server racks every couple of years as the technology improves.

DeWine's order was a surprise.

Dorsey Hager, executive secretary-treasurer of the Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, where union members spend much of their time on data center projects, said he was upset with DeWine and trying to understand the governor's reasons.

He worried, he said, that developers that were in the midst of trying to finalize plans or permits for a project might have second thoughts.

Lawmakers acknowledged the opposition in announcing their joint data center committee on May 13.

“We’re well aware of initiatives to limit Ohio data center development during this critical point in America’s history,” state Rep. Adam Holmes told a news conference. “This public concern has become a priority issue for us and could have dramatic impact on Ohio and American’s future.”

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Follow Marc Levy at http://twitter.com/timelywriter

Authorities have said there was no hope of finding survivors of Tuesday’s tank rupture at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. in Longview, which was of one of the deadliest U.S. workplace accidents in recent decades.

Two workers were confirmed dead and the nine still missing are presumed dead. Among the 11 are a grandfather who was always willing to help anyone and a young husband described as selfless and caring, according to friends who organized fundraisers for the victims’ families.

The partially collapsed tank spilled more than 500,000 gallons (1.9 million liters) of a highly corrosive chemical mix called white liquor that is used to break down wood into certain types of paper products.

Fire officials said Wednesday that the recovery of the missing would be slow and deliberate because of the dangers posed by the remaining chemicals.

Authorities said the cause of the disaster is still under investigation and they haven't released the names of those who were killed.

Gilbert Bernal, a grandfather who was an electrician at the plant, was the first confirmed death, said his friend Todd Cornwell.

“He was one of the most genuinely good people that you’ve ever met. He would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it. He was always there willing to help in whatever needed to be done," Cornwell said.

CJ Doran, who was 26, was among those presumed dead, according to a GoFundMe post verified by the crowdfunding site.

He was a husband who was “the spiritual leader of their family, the joy of their home, and the family provider,” the post said.

The tank failure also injured eight people, including a firefighter. Some suffered burns or inhalation injuries, authorities said.

The mill's Japanese parent company, Nippon Paper Group, said in a statement Wednesday that it was offering its “deepest condolences and heartfelt sympathies to the bereaved families.”

Authorities said Wednesday that the the spill hadn’t contaminated the air and drinking water in and around Longview, a city of about 40,000 people near Washington's border with Oregon that has deep ties to paper and lumber industries. Generations of families have worked in the mills, and many residents who spoke with The Associated Press had family members or friends who currently or previously worked at the Nippon Dynawave plant.

Crews were working to flush water from ditches near the plant and dilute it before pumping it into the Columbia River, which flows by the mill.

Some contamination has reached the river, but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it has had no noticeable effect.

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Johnson reported from Seattle. Associated Press Martha Bellisle in Seattle, Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire, and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed.

Baseball owners hadn’t proposed a firm cap since 1994. Their effort prompted a 7 1/2-month strike that forced the cancellation of the World Series for the first time in 90 years.

MLB's proposal would cap spending in 2027 at $245.3 million, using figures for luxury tax payrolls that include $20.1 million for benefits and the pre-arbitration bonus pool, and establish a payroll floor of $171.2 million. The Los Angeles Dodgers, baseball's biggest spenders, had a $415.2 million payroll on opening day this year — around $170 million over the proposed cap.

“The cap is pretty much a nonstarter,” Pittsburgh outfielder Bryan Reynolds said.

Owners said they would discuss a phase-in schedule that would give teams like the Dodgers time to comply with the cap and an escrow system with the union as part of a proposed seven-year deal, that all current contracts would remain guaranteed and there would be no prohibition of guaranteed contracts under the cap system.

MLB said it would centralize local media revenue from the 30 teams equally and give players a 50-50 split as part of a proposal that would eliminate the current revenue-sharing plan among the clubs.

“Our salary cap and floor proposal levels the playing field while sharing baseball revenue with the players 50/50 as we grow the game together,” MLB spokesman Glen Caplin said in a statement. “Further, by sharing media revenue equally as part of our proposal, we can address another top fan concern of local TV blackouts.”

Baseball’s current five-year deal, agreed to in March 2022 after a 99-day lockout, expires Dec. 2. While a lockout next winter is expected, talks are not likely to intensify until late February or early March 2027, when the possibilities of losing regular-season games and revenue near. If regular-season games are lost, negotiations may become a standoff of which side can tolerate the most economic loss.

“Billionaire owners are not seeking to cap their profits or asset values, only player salaries,” union head Bruce Meyer said in a statement. “This isn’t out of generosity or a desire to protect the game’s well-being. It’s a play to control costs, increase profits and maximize franchise values — all at the expense of players past, present and future.”

Based on 2026 opening day figures, eight teams would have to cut payroll to get under the cap. The teams over are the two-time reigning World Series champion Dodgers, New York Mets ($379.2 million), New York Yankees ($339.6 million), Toronto ($319.5 million), Philadelphia ($315.2 million), Boston ($263.7 million), San Diego ($260.1 million) and Atlanta ($247.9 million).

Twelve teams would be required to increase payroll by a total of $617 million based on 2026 numbers: Miami ($81.8 million), Cleveland ($95.7 million), Tampa Bay ($108.2 million), the Chicago White Sox ($108.6 million), St. Louis ($114.4 million), Washington ($119.1 million), Pittsburgh ($122.6 million), Minnesota ($125.6 million), Milwaukee ($130.9 million), the Athletics ($139.2 million), Colorado ($142.2 million) and Cincinnati ($148.8 million).

Owners and the union agreed to a luxury tax in 2003 designed to slow spending, but teams feel it has had little or no impact on the Dodgers and Mets in recent years. The last small-market MLB club to win a World Series was Kansas City in 2015, although Cleveland, Tampa Bay and Milwaukee all lead their divisions as of Thursday, while the Mets and Red Sox are in last place.

MLB said its revenue has grown by 247% since 2003 and player payroll has increased by 149% in that span.

Deputy commission Dan Halem and MLB executive vice president of baseball operations Morgan Sword presented the cap plan to players during a bargaining session at the commissioner's office, one day after the union made its economic proposal. Owners say a cap is needed to improve competitive balance and restrain wealthy teams from assembling starrier rosters than their smaller-market brethren.

Players want expanded free agency and salary arbitration rights along with almost doubling the major league minimum, increasing the money high-revenue teams share with the less-wealthy clubs and establishing penalties for teams that drop below payroll floors. The union said MLB's proposal did not address those issues.

Other U.S. major sports leagues operate under a cap. The NBA had a cap in its initial season in 1946-47, then dropped that and began its modern version in 1984-85. NFL players and owners adopted a cap for the 1994 season, and the NHL did so in 2005-06 after a lockout wiped out the entire 2004-05 season.

The Dodgers shattered MLB's spending record with a combined $515 million in payroll and luxury tax last year en route to their second straight World Series title. Los Angeles' total was seven times the $68.7 million payroll of the Marlins, the lowest-spending team, and more than the payrolls of the bottom six clubs combined.

Players say a cap would hurt them and enrich owners, and they say they will never agree to one. Without a cap, MLB stars have landed lucrative, guaranteed contracts that outpace what the biggest stars in other U.S. sports leagues make. Juan Soto's $765 million, 15-year contract with the Mets is believed to be the biggest ever in team sports and is far greater than the largest deals in the NFL (Patrick Mahomes at $450 million over 10 years) and NBA (Jayson Tatum at $314 million over five years).

MLB's last salary cap proposal in 1994 offered players a 50-50 split of revenue in a system that would have forced teams to maintain payrolls of 84-110% of the average. Salary arbitration would have been eliminated and the threshold for free agency would have been lowered from six years’ major league service to four — with the provision that a player’s former club could match any offer until he had six years.

MLB's offer came on June 14 that year, and players struck on Aug. 12. MLB withdrew the cap proposal the following Feb. 6 after pressure by the National Labor Relations Board. The strike ended on March 31 after U.S. District Judge Sonia Sotomayor — now a Supreme Court Justice — issued an injunction restoring the work rules of the expired labor contract. Two days later, owners accepted the union's offer to return to work without an agreement. A deal wasn't reached until 1997.

“For generations, our members have fought against cap systems because they harm players at all levels, erode or eliminate contractual guarantees, pit player against player, lead to more work stoppages, not less, and get worse for players over time,” Meyer said. “Caps don’t lower ticket prices for fans, eliminate tanking or ensure teams are run with equal competence. They suffocate competition by offering owners an all-purpose excuse for inaction and mediocrity.”

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AP freelance writer John Perrotto contributed to this report.

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

Harper shared his morning routine — appropriately captioned, “Moring Y'all” — to more than 600,000 followers on TikTok and one part or his oral care stopped even his most diehard fans right in their shower shoes.

The Philadelphia Phillies slugger squeezed toothpaste straight from the tube into his mouth, rather than applying it first onto his toothbrush.

Next came the brushback pitch.

“Actually diabolical toothpaste application,” one TikTok follower wrote on the post.

Harper's outrageous oral hygiene was trolled on the videoboard as a “fun fact” by the Padres, left fans “horrified,” per British tabloid The Daily Mail, and generally had social media followers — more than 2.7 million views on Jomboy Media alone — befuddled at his brushing.

“It kind of happens when you post a little bit, right?” Harper told Phillies Nation on Wednesday inside the visitors’ clubhouse at Petco Park. “But yeah, I’ve done it forever.”

Well, the American Dental Association saw the video and its advice to potential emulators is simple: please don't.

“It is not suggested to do it that way,” said Ohio dentist Andrew Zucker, a consumer advisor for the association.

Zucker watched the video and thought Harper — more known for his brush with greatness as a two-time NL MVP — was kidding.

But no, Harper explained to the website, it's just the way he's always brushed his teeth.

“I don't think there's anything to be gained,” Zucker said on Thursday. “The only thing to be lost is just wasting a whole bunch of toothpaste.”

Zucker added: “Just put a little pea-sized bit of it on a toothbrush and that's all you need.”

The Padres had some fun with Harper's toothbrushing tip when he came to hit on Tuesday night. His fun biographical fact was listed as: “SQUIRTS TOOTHPASTE INTO HIS MOUTH INSTEAD OF ONTO A TOOTHBRUSH WHEN BRUSHING HIS TEETH.”

“I mean, it’s gone viral, so I’m happy about that,” Harper told Phillies Nation. “It always helps with my videos when it goes viral, so if that’s what makes it go viral, then I’ll take it.”

It's also quite uncommon.

Zucker's father is a dentist, his mother is a hygienist and he's 45 years old and the only time he saw the squeeze technique was “my 3-year-old and it was because he was trying to eat it. But no, I've never seen an adult brush their teeth this way."

Harper's method has worked for him, and he's flashed his pearly whites over 376 career home runs and eight All-Star appearances.

“If I help half a person a day, changing an ingredient or letting them know there are better quality products out there that they can use or that’ll make them feel better, then I won that day,” Harper said.

So what's the harm in the tube-to-tongue technique?

“My only concern would be, you have a lot of germs in your mouth,” said dentist Maria Ryan, chief clinical officer at Colgate-Palmolive. “When you're putting your mouth on the toothpaste tube, you get those germs on there. Sometimes people share toothpaste and things like that, so I worry about that a little bit.”

But here's the positive takeaway, now that Harper can't put the toothpaste TikTok back in the tube.

Bryce Harper, star slugger, the Phillie Phanatic's best friend, and baseball hero to children of all ages, brushes his teeth. Perhaps there's a fussy Phillies fan in footy pajamas who balks at the twice-daily ritual but might be more inclined to brush because Harper does it, as well.

“I was glad he was brushing his teeth,” Ryan said. "I see he's gotten a lot of views. It's good he's telling people you need to brush your teeth, which is very important for preventing cavities and gum disease.

“But it's a unique way of doing it, for sure. So, I probably wouldn't do it that way or instruct my patients to do it that way.”

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

The sanctioning body announced Evanna Daneen Howell’s punishment in its weekly penalty report Wednesday for a “behavioral” incident.

According to Cabarrus County court records, Howell, 35, was arrested Saturday and charged with assaulting Dennis Manchester at the track. Incident details were not immediately available, but court records show Judge Matthew Black found probable cause that the defendant “unlawfully, willfully, and feloniously did assault Dennis Manchester with golf cart used to assault the victim deadly weapon, inflicting serious injury.”

Howell was released on a $125,000 bond following her first appearance Tuesday, court records show. She has retained attorney Harold Cogdell Jr., who did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press for comment.

Officials at 23XI Racing and NASCAR also did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Howell lives in Charlotte and is a senior account manager for 23XI Racing, which is co-owned by Jordan and Denny Hamlin. According to her LinkedIn profile, Howell has been with the race team since 2021.

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

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Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office deputies reported noticing a black four-door Cadillac sports utility vehicle that had been reported stolen in Miami Gardens.

The deputies, who specialize in robbery intervention, started to follow the driver at Northwest 22nd Avenue and 151st Street, according to MDSO.

Three unmarked law enforcement cars followed the driver, who slowed down and stopped, but did not get out of the stolen Cadillac, authorities said.

One of the unmarked cars performed a Precision Immobilization Technique, or PIT maneuver, and stopped the Cadillac along Northwest 152nd Street.

The driver got out of the Cadillac and ran eastbound along Northwest 152nd Street, across Rail Road Drive, and into a house’s yard near Opa-locka, according to deputies.

As he approached the train tracks, deputies in dark uniforms surrounded him, put him in handcuffs, and escorted him to a marked MDSO patrol car.

The driver was identified as 26-year-old Klauss Anthony Moise.

Moise is accused of not stopping when deputies tried to pull him over.

Moise was next to a marked MDSO patrol car before Florida Highway Patrol troopers searched him again and put him in a marked FHP car.

Local 10 News learned Moise has faced legal trouble before. In 2022, he was charged with accessory after the fact in the death of Amanda Collins. Police said he helped Collins’ boyfriend, Xavier West, dump her body in a canal in Opa-locka.

Now, nearly four years later, Moise is facing trouble again -- this time with a new set of charges.

Jail records show he is facing one count each of second-degree grand theft, fleeing or eluding police who used lights and siren and resisting an officer without violence to his person.

Detectives asked anyone with information about this or other cases to call Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.

Location

Texas Tech (58-7) will play Saturday against the winner of Game 2 between Texas and Tennessee. Mississippi State (43-20) will play the Texas-Tennessee loser on Friday.

The Red Raiders took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when leadoff hitter Mia Williams was hit by a pitch and Lis followed with a home run. Texas Tech added two more in the second inning on RBI doubles from Lauren Allred and Williams.

The Red Raiders scored four runs in the fifth inning on a single by Lis for her third RBI of the game, an RBI-single by Kaitlyn Terry, and a one-out single by Mihyia Davis in which two runs scored invoked the run rule with one out.

Canady (26-6), the two-time national pitcher of the year, allowed two hits and struck out five in four innings. Terry pitched a 1-2-3 fifth inning.

For Mississippi State, Alyssa Faircloth (16-8) allowed four runs in 1 1/3 innings. Peja Goold gave up four runs, three earned, in three innings.

This is the first time since 2007 that neither Oklahoma nor Florida has been in the WCWS. Mississippi State eliminated Oklahoma in the Super Regional round and Texas Tech defeated Florida in another Super Regional.

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AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports

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Police said Marie Bernard was last seen around 6 p.m. Saturday near the intersection of Northeast 133rd Street and Northeast Sixth Avenue.

Bernard is 5 feet tall and weighs around 160 pounds, according to investigators.

They said Bernard left her home on foot in an unknown direction and was last seen wearing a blue shirt, purple pants, and red shoes.

Anyone with information on her whereabouts is urged to call police at 305-891-8111.

La policía informó que Marie Bernard fue vista por última vez alrededor de las 6 p.m. del sábado cerca de la intersección de Northeast 133rd Street y Northeast Sixth Avenue.

Bernard mide 5 pies de altura y pesa alrededor de 160 libras, según los investigadores.

Indicaron que Bernard salió de su casa a pie en una dirección desconocida y fue vista por última vez usando una camisa azul, pantalones morados y zapatos rojos.

Cualquier persona con información sobre su paradero debe llamar a la policía al 305-891-8111.

What’s included in the guide:

• Hurricane Family Plan
• Supply Kit Checklist
• Are You In A Storm Surge Area?
• Tri-County Evacuation Zones
• Tri-County Shelters, including Pet Friendly Shelters
• Special Needs Shelters
• Plan Ahead For Your Pets
• Emergency Transportation Information
• What to Keep and What to Throw Out If the Electricity Goes Out

and more ...

Click here for information on how to be prepared if you’re a caregiver to someone with dementia.

Animals use various techniques to navigate including following the stars and remembering key landmarks. Birds, fish and turtles orient themselves using Earth's magnetic field as a compass. But it's not yet clear how exactly they do this.

Pigeons are a well-known group of frequent flyers that can traverse hundreds of miles (hundreds of kilometers) in a single day. For thousands of years, humans have used them to carry news, notes and military messages.

Scientists have long tried to untangle how pigeons travel without getting lost. Some think the birds detect magnetic cues using light-sensitive molecules in their eyes, while others suggest it happens in the beak or inner ear.

“The magnetic sense has been this mystery for almost 100 years,” said Martin Wikelski with the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Germany.

In a new study, Wikelski and other researchers decided to draw back the curtain on pigeons' navigational secrets. They searched for magnetic clues in the birds' organs and found a strong signal in an unexpected place: the liver.

Specialized immune cells in the pigeon's liver break down red blood cells and store iron. When scientists temporarily stripped pigeons of those immune cells and let them fly, the birds “just couldn't find their way,” said Christian Kurts with the University of Bonn in Germany. That suggested the iron-rich liver cells might play a role in their sense of direction.

The birds' magnetic compasses only got scrambled on overcast days. That's because they also use the sun as a navigational guide.

Scientists have previously wondered whether immune cells could be involved in magnetic sensing, but the new study published Thursday in the journal Science is the first to present a full-fledged theory.

“I would never have guessed it, but once it was explained to me, it makes sense,” said behavioral ecologist Albert Kao with the University of Massachusetts Boston, who had no role in the study.

The immune cells are located near nerve fibers in the liver. That might be how they transmit their “magnetic sense” to the brain “and help the pigeons to navigate,” said study co-author Clivia Lisowski with the University of Bonn.

The researchers think other birds and animals like mice could operate using a similar magnetic GPS. But outside experts say more work is needed to verify the pigeons navigate this way and to firm up how these signals get to the brain. While the researchers found the strongest magnetic signal in the pigeons' livers, such immune cells have also been spotted in other areas including the beak and spleen.

It's possible this magnetic puzzle doesn't have a single answer, wrote veterinary pathologist Simon Spiro and biologist Hal Drakesmith in an accompanying editorial. The birds could use different techniques to sense magnetic fields depending on the task, be it traveling long distances or finding a specific destination.

“Indeed, it could be prudent to have more than one way of getting home in the dark,” they wrote.

—-

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

The Palm Beach County Sherriff's Office said Thursday that deputies responded just after 3 a.m. to the scene of an apparent suicide at a furniture store showroom in Lake Park, Florida. The sheriff's office said the victim was believed to be Lemieux.

The NHL Alumni Association announced Lemieux’s death in a post on social media.

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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org

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Just three days ago, Lemieux was the Montreal Canadiens’ torch bearer prior to Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final at Bell Centre. Former teammate Chris Nilan reposted a photo of him, Lemieux and Sergio Momesso from the arena with the message: “You never know when you’re going to see someone for the last time. Rest in Peace, Mon Ami.”

“Today is a dark day for the Canadiens family and the entire hockey community," Canadiens owner Geoff Molson said. “A fierce competitor who rose to the occasion in big moments, Claude was a relentless, courageous and tenacious player who led the team to the highest honors. He embodied the very essence of being a Montreal Canadiens player. Today we mourn the untimely passing of one of our champions. Our thoughts are with his family on this difficult day.”

As a player, Lemieux was a mix of talent and abrasiveness, not afraid to cross the line in the name of competition.

He won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP after scoring 13 goals in 20 games for the New Jersey Devils to help them win their first championship in 1995.

A year later with the Colorado Avalanche, he was suspended for two games for a hit from behind on Detroit's Kris Draper that fueled one of the nastiest rivalries in the history of the NHL. Lemieux returned to score the first goal in Game 3 of the final against Florida on the way to the Avalanche sweeping the Panthers to win the Stanley Cup for the first time in their first season since moving from his native Quebec.

Darren McCarty, a truculent member of the Red Wings who had multiple fights with Lemieux, posted a broken heart emoji on social media and heard the news from Draper. McCarty said Lemieux the person was totally different than the player, and the two later met for an interview with smiles about their clashes.

“Sad day: another brother gone," McCarty said in a video message posted to YouTube. "If you’re struggling out there, no matter what, just reach out for some help. It can never be that bad. It’s a sad day, no matter what. Rest in peace, Claude.”

Lemieux also won the Cup with Montreal in 1986 and returned to the Devils to be a part of their title run in 2000. He played 1,449 regular-season and playoff games with six different teams from 1983-2009, finishing with Phoenix, Dallas and San Jose.

His 80 career playoff goals rank ninth in league history. Commissioner Gary Bettman called Lemieux “one of the greatest big-game players in hockey history.”

Lemieux had become an agent in the years since his playing career ended and represented Carolina’s Frederik Andersen, New Jersey's Timo Meier, Detroit's Moritz Seider and Boston's Hampus Lindholm among more than a dozen clients in the NHL.

Part of a hockey family, Lemieux's brother Jocelyn and son Brendan also played in the league. Brendan's feisty style over more than 300 games most resembled his father's.

At a gathering in December to celebrate the 30-year anniversary of Colorado's '96 Stanley Cup championship, Lemieux said of winning, “When it’s happening, when you’re in the middle of it, you don’t quite appreciate it as much as you should.” Late former teammate Chris Simon was represented during the on-ice ceremony by his children. He died in 2024 at 52.

“It’s very difficult, and especially with Chris passing at such a young age,” Lemieux said. “We have to count our blessings — be grateful for the days that we have and enjoy and appreciate those times when we get together.”

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Associated Press writer David Fischer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and AP Sports Writers Pat Graham in Denver and Aaron Beard in Raleigh, North Carolina, contributed to this report.

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

The American love affair with French luxury goods and their cultural cachet and craftsmanship has spanned the younger country's history, and a new exhibit explores the story of how these treasures shaped a cultural exchange that marks 250 years of Franco-American relations.

Among the standouts in the exhibit’s cabinet of curiosities: the Givenchy coat worn by former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy; a Cartier lunar module replica from Apollo 11; and a medal commissioned by Benjamin Franklin at the “Hidden Treasures” exhibit at The Shed in Manhattan.

The organizers behind the exhibit, Comité Colbert, represent the top French luxury “maisons,” or houses — including fashion, perfume, jewelry, hospitality and spirits. They asked 65 luxury maisons and cultural institutions to excavate archives and unearth pieces that embodied the Franco-American bond.

The exhibit, which runs through the end of May, comes at a time when American consumers account for a major share in the demand for French luxury goods. Those luxury houses are taking notice — and expanding in the United States.

“American people love French elegance — the ‘je ne sais quoi’ of French luxury,” said Bénédicte Épinay, president and CEO of Comité Colbert. “It’s a deep link starting at the 18th century and still alive.”

France was a ‘dominant’ culture when the US was born

Just as Comité Colbert is honoring France’s bond with the U.S., the U.S. is celebrating its own 250 milestone — its semiquincentennial.

“The U.S. is a relatively young country,” said James Burroughs, professor of commerce at the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce. “For much of our existence, we were a relatively modest economy. We were overshadowed by dominant cultures like France.”

The link between the two countries can be seen in perhaps the most renowned American symbol, the Statue of Liberty, a gift from France dedicated in 1886. But even before that — and even before French historian Alexis de Tocqueville famously wrote his epic work about U.S. democracy in the 1830s — Americans turned to France as arbiters of taste.

To commemorate France’s support during the Revolutionary War, one of America’s Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin, turned to French artists and the Paris mint to commission the Libertas Americana medal in 1782. Exhibit attendees can get an up-close look at the medal's design. Each item on display was presented in shipping containers to symbolize the trans-Atlantic voyage between both countries.

In an effort to market French luxury goods to U.S. audiences, one French Champagne company’s unique approach is on display at the exhibition. An ad from Champagne giant Veuve Clicquot from 1964 shows how the company paired its Champagne with hamburgers to appeal to American audiences and to break away from the image of saving a glass of Champagne for special occasions.

“Luxury," Burroughs said, “is always about status and signaling.”

Fashion, unsurprisingly, has been front and center

Much like its role in the French luxury sector, fashion brought the star power to the exhibit.

Givenchy offered Kennedy Onassis’s pink, brushed-cashmere wool coat from her 1961 visit to France for the exhibit. Madonna’s revealing pinstriped Jean Paul Gaultier dress from his 1992 runway show to benefit AIDS research is also on display.

French luxury houses are catering to their American audiences by bringing their designs to the United States as well. The French fashion maisons from Dior, Louis Vuitton and Chanel have all staged their runway shows in the U.S. in recent months.

“European luxury goods companies are in the process of getting deeper into the USA,” Luca Solca, luxury goods senior analyst at Bernstein, said in an email. “In the past, only the two coasts and Las Vegas had luxury stores. American consumers are step by step warming up to European luxury. In a similar vein to what Chinese consumers did many years ago.”

These brands are not only holding extravagant runway shows in the U.S. but are expanding their businesses across the U.S. Hermès opened a new location in Nashville last year.

“What the French have done really well ... in the last 15 years, is that they have opened up their range of products to create offers that are very relevant to the mass American consumer,” said Thomaï Serdari, New York University marketing professor and director of the luxury and retail MBA.

French jewelry brand Boucheron featured a dramatic diamond Belle Époque style necklace at the exhibit replicated after the necklace the brand sold to Irish-American couple Marie-Louise Mackay and her husband, John William Mackay in 1899. The couple, who amassed their fortune through silver mines, commissioned 50 pieces from the house.

Looking to capture a new generation of collectors, the brand now has three U.S. stores under its umbrella since opening on Madison Avenue in 2024. Hélène Poulit-Duquesne, Boucheron's CEO and incoming president of the Comité Colbert, told The Associated Press that the brand has plans to open a fourth store in the United States before the end of the year.

After increased growth from spending during the pandemic, the luxury sector is now grappling with tariffs from the Trump administration and economic uncertainty. The European Commission agreed to a deal with President Donald Trump on a 15% tariff on goods last year before the Supreme Court ruled against Trump’s call in February.

For the luxury houses, Épinay said, tariffs are in the past.

“Politics and economics, it’s up and down," she said. "We’re here to celebrate this strong cultural link between us.”

Bessent said at the White House that authorizing the new currency will be up to lawmakers on Capitol Hill, but that “we've created the bill” because “we have to be prepared.”

The secretary downplayed the idea that the administration is pushing the matter, despite Trump's penchant for infusing his name and likeness across the nation's capital and into the observances of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Yet he also insisted there is nothing inappropriate about Trump's visage being part of the seminal national celebration.

“The president doesn’t do it; the House and the Senate have to do it,” Bessent said at the White House, referring to legislation, introduced by Representative Joe Wilson, R-S.C., that would direct the Treasury Department’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing to put Trump’s face on the new bill to mark the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding.

A Treasury Department spokeswoman said the agency has carried out “appropriate planning and due diligence” to implement a potential congressional mandate “to produce a $250 commemorative note which will appropriately recognize the 250th Anniversary of our great nation.” The spokeswoman did not mention Trump.

If passed and signed into law by Trump, Wilson's bill would mark an extraordinary recognition for a sitting U.S. leader and comes as Trump has sought to place himself at the center of this year's seminal Independence Day commemorations. The Department’s preparation for the languishing legislation suggests some enthusiasm for the idea on the part of the Trump administration.

Report: Trump ally has pushed to expedite the new currency

The agency's explanation follows a Washington Post report stating that U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach, a Trump appointee, has been pushing the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to expedite the process for a new currency note. The paper also reported that the former BEP chief, Patricia Solimene, was reassigned after pushing back.

The Treasury spokesperson declined to comment on Solimene's current status but confirmed that Michael Brown, a top Beach aide, became acting director of engraving and printing on May 18.

Beach did not respond to an Associated Press request for comment.

Wilson's legislation, which so far has languished in Congress, is intended to create an exception to existing law that bars any living person from appearing on U.S. currency; the bill would allow current and former presidents to be featured.

Bessent confirmed the measure is designed for one person.

“Donald J. Trump,” he said emphatically, repeating the full name that the president himself often uses in the third person.

According to the Post report, Beach last fall provided the Bureau of Engraving and Printing with the design for the new bill. It featured Trump's portrait — the same one that adorns banners hanging on some federal buildings in Washington — and a 250th anniversary logo. Trump's signature also was included, a design element that would differ from other paper money.

British artist Iain Alexander told the Post he designed the bill and said he'd discussed it with the president. Alexander did not respond to an AP request for comment.

The newspaper also reported that the Solimene resisted pressure from Beach and Brown and stressed to them the lengthy legal and procedural process required to issue new currency. Solimene was reassigned against her will, the Post reported, paving the way for Brown to oversee the bureau.

Trump has aggressively spread his name and likeness

A new currency note would be the latest example of Trump expanding his personal brand in his official capacity since returning to the White House in 2025.

Beach and Bessent already streamlined approval of a commemorative 250th anniversary coin featuring Trump. The Treasury Department has asserted that those special coins fall outside the prohibition on living presidents appearing on money. In 1926, the nation's 150th anniversary, then-President Calvin Coolidge appeared on a commemorative half-dollar coin that was official legal tender.

The Trump administration has had banners featuring his portrait hung on the Department of Justice and other federal buildings. And his slate of appointees to the Kennedy Center governing board added his name to the national performing arts facility that Congress originally designated as a memorial to assassinated President John F. Kennedy. That renaming is being challenged in court because of the federal law establishing the center as the official memorial to the 35th president.

Bessent noted that unless Wilson's exception passes, current law sets just two conditions for him to consider on currency: that “In God We Trust” in some place and that only deceased individuals be depicted, with their names described below their portraits.

“It’s all up to Capitol Hill,” Bessent said. “We will stick to the law.”

___

Barrow reported from Atlanta.

More than 20 people were injured in the strikes, according to Shifa Hospital. Video from the scene showed flames pouring from an upper-floor window of a building, while bystanders rushed to carry wounded people, including children, to ambulances.

Mohammed Shawish, who was wounded and lost his wife in the strikes, broke down in tears as he held her body at the hospital morgue, saying, “I married my wife for love. For God’s sake, I chose her because of love.”

The strikes took place on the first day of Eid al-Adha, or the “Feast of Sacrifice,” an Islamic holiday celebrated by millions of Muslims worldwide. The Israeli military said Wednesday evening it had launched strikes in the northern Gaza Strip targeting two Hamas militants.

Among those killed was Hamas fighter Imad Isleim. On Thursday, mourners carried his body wrapped in a white shroud with a Hamas flag draped over it. His death came as a “shock” to the family, even though they knew it could happen at any time, his cousin Nidal Isleim said.

The strikes came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel was expanding its control in Gaza.

“Right now we are tightening the grip on Hamas," Netanyahu said Thursday at the Jordan Valley Conference in the occupied West Bank. “We are now in 60% of the territory of the Gaza Strip. You know that? We were at 50%, we moved to 60%."

He said the next step was to move to 70% control, with Israel “tightening the grip" on Hamas "from every direction.”

“We will deal with the remnants,” Netanyahu said. "But the most important thing is to continue leveraging our power, to increase it.”

The conference was part of a broader discussion on the war, Iran, Hezbollah, Gaza and regional strategy.

"There is still more work. What is happening right now is truly a global change. There is no doubt about that,” Netanyahu added.

Earlier this week, an Israeli strike killed Mohammed Odeh, the newly appointed leader of Hamas’ military wing, the Qassam Brigades, less than two weeks after his predecessor was also killed.

Across the Gaza Strip, 16 people were killed and 39 others wounded over the past 48 hours, Gaza’s health ministry said in an update on Thursday. The ministry is part of Gaza’s Hamas-run government, but is staffed by medical professionals who maintain and publish detailed records viewed as generally reliable by the international community.

Since a fragile ceasefire came into effect last October, 922 people have been killed in Gaza and 2,786 others injured, according to the ministry.

La jueza está considerando la solicitud de Pino para trasladar el caso fuera del condado, desestimar los cargos por completo y suprimir las declaraciones de Pino.

Este jueves, el teniente Billy Thompson, de la Comisión de Conservación de Pesca y Vida Silvestre de Florida, subió al estrado. Él era el comandante de incidentes críticos en el momento del accidente.

El abogado defensor Howard Srebnick interrogó a Thompson sobre si Pino parecía estar bajo los efectos de alguna sustancia.

Thompson testificó que Pino no lo parecía.

Pero la fiscalía argumentó que la interacción de Thompson con Pino ocurrió dos horas después del accidente.

El caso surge de un accidente de bote ocurrido durante el fin de semana del Día del Trabajo en 2022, cuando Pino operaba una embarcación que transportaba a su esposa, su hija adolescente y varias amigas de ella.

Los investigadores dijeron que el bote chocó contra un marcador de canal en aguas cercanas a Boca Chita Key, lanzando a los pasajeros al agua y causando la muerte de una adolescente.

Los investigadores reportaron haber encontrado decenas de envases vacíos de alcohol a bordo y dijeron que Pino fue visto en video afirmando que había tomado dos cervezas ese día.

In the latest edition of their fierce rivalry, Canada's quarterfinal victory ended the Americans' quest to retain the trophy that they had won for the first time since 1933.

The two teams met for the first time since the gold-medal game at the Milan Cortina Olympics three months ago, when the Americans prevailed 2-1 in overtime.

Canada remains on course to capture its 29th title at the worlds.

Celebrini scored his sixth goal at the worlds, Crosby got his first, and Dylan Holloway and Connor Brown also scored. Mark Scheifele had two assists, and Greaves turned away every shot he faced.

“He is calm and tonight came up with the big save when we needed it,” forward John Tavares said of Greaves. “He was the best player on the ice tonight, for sure.”

The 19-year-old Celebrini broke the deadlock with 1:29 remaining in the opening period on a power play with a shot from the slot to beat U.S. goalie Devin Cooley.

Earlier, Canada wasted a five-minute major penalty for Ryan Lindgren’s illegal check to the head of defenseman Evan Bouchard and game misconduct.

Holloway doubled the advantage midway through the middle period on a rebound off his own shot from the right circle.

The Americans pulled Cooley with 2:22 left in the third before Brown and Crosby finished the scoring with a couple of empty-net goals.

In their most-recent matchup at the worlds, Canada won 4-2 in the semifinals in 2021 and went on to capture gold. The U.S. took bronze.

Matthew Tkachuk lost a chance to become the first American in hockey’s Triple Gold Club. He won the Stanley Cup back-to-back with the Florida Panthers and claimed the Olympic gold in Milan.

"In the third period we played really, really good and their goalie made some incredible saves,” Tkachuk said. “They ultimately were better for most of the game and so deserved to win.”

Led by the teenage captain Celebrini, Canada is powered by an NHL-laden roster with established forwards such as Tavares and Ryan O'Reilly. The Canadians cruised through the preliminary stage with seven wins and topped their group.

The Americans had a much younger, less-experienced team and only made the last eight by beating Austria 4-1 in the final group-stage game.

Finland advances

In Zurich, Finland reached the semifinals with a 4-1 victory over Czechia in a game between the 2022 and 2024 champions, respectively.

Finland was 2-0 up after the opening period on goals from Sakari Manninen and Anton Lundell. In the second, Konsta Helenius made it 3-0 before Filip Hronek scored for the Czechs on a two-man advantage. Lenni Hameenaho closed out the scoring in the third.

In the remaining quarterfinals later Thursday, host Switzerland played Sweden, and Latvia faced Norway.

___

AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

O’Hara was an outsider brought in with a mandate to reform the police department after the 2020 killing of George Floyd, which led to federal and state investigative findings of excessive force and racist policing practices. O’Hara had spent most of his career in Newark, New Jersey, where he instituted changes after that department was put under a federal consent decree for patterns of excessive force and unconstitutional stops and searches.

The challenges in Minneapolis were clear before O'Hara arrived in late 2022. For a time, it had seemed the department itself might not survive. In 2021, more than 43% of voters supported disbanding the department as the city reeled from Floyd’s killing and the massive protests and widespread rioting that followed.

O'Hara was faced with a daunting challenge

Policing experts had noted the monumental task that faced the city’s next police chief, who would have to rebuild community trust and a department whose morale had dipped so low that it was hemorrhaging officers.

“I don’t think there was a bigger challenge to any American city than what Minneapolis faced when he arrived,” said Chuck Wexler, executive director of a Washington think tank, the Police Executive Research Forum. “They had gone from 850 to 500 officers, violent crime was significantly up, trust with the community was broken, a police station had burned down and a federal consent decree would face the next chief. Then you had the politics of Minneapolis.”

Coming in as an outsider to lead a large department is daunting, even without being asked to reform and rebuild, said Renée Hall, president of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives who moved from Detroit to lead the Dallas Police Department from 2017 to 2020.

“It’s extremely challenging to walk into an organization, where you don’t even know where the light switches are, where the bathrooms are. And that’s just the basics,” Hall said. “You have to learn the officers, the community, the politics of that particular city, and try to learn and navigate the existing relationships, like unions or officer associations and who is tied to whom and who is fighting for whom.”

Hall said outside hires can face resentment from those within an organization who supported internal candidates. They also have to earn the trust of the community, which she said takes time.

Local politics muddy the chief's departure

After the police disbandment measure failed, O'Hara joined the bureaucracy of a deeply progressive city that is regularly buffeted by political battles between the mayor and the City Council, and among council members.

Those battles were on full display Wednesday, when a City Council news conference about O'Hara's resignation quickly turned into an opportunity for the council's resolute progressives to attack Mayor Jacob Frey, who has long portrayed himself as a “pragmatic progressive.”

The resignation “is a symptom of a much larger problem, which is simply that Mayor Frey continues to be unable to effectively manage the Minneapolis Police Department,” said Council member Robin Wonsley, a cornerstone of the council's progressive bloc.

Frey, who just weeks ago pushed to have O'Hara reappointed as chief, fired back at criticism that he didn’t move aggressively enough when allegations of the chief's potential misconduct emerged.

“I don’t make decisions based on rumors and anonymous complaints,” he said in a statement, adding that he would work with the council to find a replacement. “I took action promptly after receiving the investigative report. … Decisions this serious have to be grounded in facts, evidence and completed investigations. Anything less would be irresponsible.”

O'Hara did not return a message seeking comment Wednesday. His attorney, Doug Kelley, released a statement touting successes during O'Hara's tenure, including diversifying and increasing the department's ranks, the decreasing violent crime rate and mitigating violent clashes during the immigration crackdown.

“The circumstances of Chief O’Hara’s departure should not define his service," Kelley wrote. "He was proud to serve Minneapolis, remains grateful to the officers and community partners who did difficult work under extraordinary pressure, and hopes the city continues moving forward. He understandably looks forward to returning to his young family in New Jersey.”

O'Hara's tenure was tumultuous

The resignation came just months after Minneapolis was plunged into the national spotlight amid a federal immigration surge that left three civilians shot, two fatally. O'Hara faced criticism he hadn't done enough to stop the crackdown.

Violence plagued the city in 2025, including deadly attacks on state politicians in the Minneapolis suburbs; gunfire that erupted at a popular city picnic spot; and a shooting during Mass at the Church of the Annunciation that left two children dead and more than a dozen people injured. O’Hara called the church attack a “ truly unthinkable tragedy. ”

Critics say dozens of complaints were filed against O'Hara, from accusations that he was rude to the public to the recent investigation into an ultimately unproven allegation he had a sexual relationship with a city employee. Most of the complaints have not been made public, and 17 complaints are still being investigated. Investigators closed 17 more without any disciplinary actions.

An independent investigator did not find evidence to substantiate the alleged sexual relationship with a city employee, but a second report released this week said O'Hara likely deleted the employee's contact from his phone during the investigation and that he talked to another employee about the probe despite being told it was not to be discussed.

That recent report led to a written reprimand; Frey told O'Hara he would be disciplined and that he could be terminated. Frey said O'Hara chose to resign instead.

Frey appointed an interim chief Tuesday from inside the department, and he has 30 days to nominate a successor under the city's charter. ___

Lauer reported from Philadelphia.

Jacob Baker, 36, of Pahoa, Hawaii, was described by police as “armed and extremely dangerous,” and Hawaii Police Chief Reed Mahuna said authorities were deploying “significant resources and personnel” in trying to find him.

Authorities said they believe he is involved in the deaths of three men: a 69-year-old man found partially submerged in a cement pond, a 79-year-old man who was found just 400-500 feet ( (122 to 152 meters) away, and a third man, also 69, whose body was found about 19 miles (31 kilometers) away. The causes of death were not immediately disclosed.

“These are a tragic series of events and our thoughts are with those who are grieving at this time,” Mahuna said at a news conference Wednesday. “The Hawaii Police Department understands the fear and concerns incidents like this bring to our community.”

Authorities said they had not identified a motive but were confident Baker was involved in all three homicides. Mahuna did not release information on how police identified Baker as a suspect or what evidence may connect him to the killings. He said investigators had not identified any connections among the victims, other than two of them lived near each other.

Women accuse Baker of threats and harassment

The slayings happened just days after two women had requested temporary restraining orders against Baker, saying he had threatened and harassed them at a farm; one woman was staying there and the other co-owned it. A judge denied both applications, saying there was not enough proof of harassment provided.

One of the women claimed in her petition that Baker had threatened to kill several women who were staying on the property, and had caused a number of them to move or end their stays. She included a link to a video that allegedly captured at least one threat, but the link had either been removed or was incorrect as of Thursday.

The other woman alleged in her petition that Baker had threatened women and a disabled man, and said he would trespass on the property, take things that didn’t belong to him and say his intention was to squat on the property.

No attorney was listed for Baker, who had 20 other cases in the court record in the past two decades, many of them traffic infractions. There were also a handful of criminal or administrative citations including letting a dog wander, failure to appear in court and simple trespassing.

In most of those cases, Baker represented himself.

Three men found dead over two days

On Monday at around 8 p.m., police found a 69-year-old man at a residence partially submerged in a cement pond, Mahuna said. Police did not initially know whether foul play was involved, but preliminary autopsy results showed the death was a homicide, the chief said.

On Tuesday, the 79-year-old man was found dead with apparent blunt force injuries shortly after 12:30 p.m., Mahuna said.

Later Tuesday, at around 10 p.m., police responded to a property about 19 miles (31 kilometers) from the other two killings on a welfare check request and found a 69-year-old man dead with injuries, Mahuna said.

Mahuna said guns were not used.

Local resident says Baker seemed ‘kind of angry’

Stephen Shaffer said Baker had lived on his ex-wife's property in Puna, where they grow 50 kinds of fruit, and Baker climbed coconut trees for her. But after several months, he said, she sought a temporary restraining order against Baker. Shaffer said he didn't know details of their falling out, only that his ex-wife felt threatened by Baker and wanted him to move out.

“He just seemed to me, kind of angry,” said Shaffer, who lives on the same property as his ex but in a separate dwelling. He added that others who lived in the area were concerned about Baker, but Shaffer didn’t elaborate.

Shaffer said police have been by the property numerous times as they hunt for Baker; it's not immediately known where or when Baker was last seen on the island of Hawaii, also known as the Big Island. The island is the largest in the Hawaiian chain at more than 4,000 square miles (10,360 square kilometers).

“There’s a lot of tension in the air here,” Shaffer said. "We’re still in shock, trying to figure this out.”

He added, "We’re being very vigilant. I know there’s a possibility he could come back this way.”

An account on Threads that appeared to belong to Baker had gone silent between mid-December and early May, when he began posting what appeared to be older content from months or even years before. Between May 4 and May 20, he posted more than 40 videos, many with him talking directly to the camera about various topics including harvesting coconuts. None appeared to threaten violence.

Puna, on the eastern side of the island, is a rural but fast-growing area known for affordable housing prices. It's also an area where lava flows have wiped out entire communities over the years. The landscape is lush and tropical mixed with barren lava fields.

Officials were asking the public to report any information about Baker and any suspicious activities in the areas of the homicides to police, and urged people not to approach Baker.

____

Collins contributed from Hartford, Connecticut, and Lauer contributed from Philadelphia.

Una persona murió y dos resultaron heridas el martes en Northeast Third Avenue y 44 Street.

Los vecinos dijeron que los malos conductores suelen ir a exceso de velocidad en el área y no respetan la parada de cuatro vías.

Una Nissan Rogue roja quedó destruida. Una Land Rover blanca terminó volcada boca abajo. Una camioneta Nissan resultó dañada y su motor terminó al lado de la carretera.

El accidente dañó la cerca de madera de una casa cerca de una piscina donde cuatro niñas estaban jugando. Su abuelo dijo que las menores no resultaron heridas.

Un video de vigilancia muestra a personal de rescate trabajando durante horas después del accidente.

La causa del accidente seguía bajo investigación la tarde del miércoles y las autoridades aún no habían identificado a la persona que murió.

Historia relacionada: Mujer muere y otras tres personas resultan heridas en accidente en Deerfield Beach

Ocurrió en una vivienda ubicada en la cuadra 1200 de North 31st Court.

Según las autoridades, la Unidad de Víctimas Especiales de la Policía de Hollywood y agentes SWAT de Hollywood, con asistencia del Grupo de Trabajo contra Crímenes en Internet contra Niños del sur de Florida, ejecutaron una orden de allanamiento en la vivienda del sospechoso.

Ese hombre fue identificado como James Donald Henjum.

Fue detenido sin incidentes en la vivienda.

Según los registros judiciales, Henjum enfrenta nueve cargos por posesión, control, visualización o solicitud de pornografía infantil y un cargo de compilación de pornografía informática que representa a un menor.

Hasta la mañana del jueves, permanecía detenido en la cárcel principal de Broward con una fianza de $50,000 USD.

Esto ha provocado un trayecto muy complicado hacia el trabajo y la escuela, y se han emitido varias alertas de inundación para Upper Keys y cerca del centro de Miami.

Esta primera ronda de fuertes lluvias saldrá del área antes de las 11 a.m. y las alertas de inundación serán canceladas, sin embargo, hay mucha humedad en la atmósfera y es probable otro período de lluvias intensas y tormentas más tarde el jueves, principalmente después de las 2 p.m.

Esas tormentas de la tarde y noche podrían causar más inundaciones en algunas zonas, por lo que se recomienda prepararse para un difícil regreso a casa más tarde en el día.

Este patrón tormentoso comenzará a desplazarse principalmente hacia horas de la tarde desde el viernes y durante el fin de semana. Será durante esos períodos secos en la mañana cuando el sol calentará el ambiente y creará una atmósfera muy inestable que provocará fuertes tormentas vespertinas.

Podríamos acumular más de 6 pulgadas de lluvia en algunas áreas durante los próximos 5 a 7 días, reduciendo significativamente la sequía que hemos estado experimentando.

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MDSO Sgt. Kelvin Cox shot and killed Kristofer Laboy, 24, outside of a building within the Sunset Palm Villas Association complex, located just outside the Miami city limits at Northwest 85th Street Road and Fourth Court, on June 17, 2025.

Deputies with MDSO’s Robbery Intervention Detail tried to pull over Laboy in a yellow Chevrolet Corvette with dark tints.

According to a memorandum from the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, “Laboy had led law enforcement officers on a protracted and high-speed chase which endangered the lives of many individuals (and) nearly caused several crashes by driving at high rates of speed through traffic and on the wrong side of roads.”

Video evidence and a fellow deputy’s testimony, prosecutors concluded, showed that after the chase came to a stop at the complex, Laboy got out of the sports car with a gun and “ran directly toward” Cox.

Prosecutors concluded that a “reasonable person” in Cox’s position “would have believed that using deadly force was necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm” to himself or others, leading them to conclude that Cox was “was legally justified in using deadly force” and should not be charged.

Cox has served with MDSO and its predecessor, the Miami-Dade Police Department, for more than two decades.

El sargento Kelvin Cox, de la MDSO, mató a tiros a Kristofer Laboy, de 24 años, afuera de un edificio dentro del complejo Sunset Palm Villas Association, ubicado justo fuera de los límites de la ciudad de Miami en Northwest 85th Street Road y Fourth Court, el 17 de junio de 2025.

Agentes de la Unidad de Intervención contra Robos de la MDSO intentaron detener a Laboy, quien conducía un Chevrolet Corvette amarillo con vidrios polarizados oscuros.

Según un memorando de la Fiscalía Estatal de Miami-Dade, “Laboy había llevado a los agentes del orden en una persecución prolongada y a alta velocidad que puso en peligro la vida de muchas personas (y) casi provocó varios choques al conducir a altas velocidades entre el tráfico y por el lado equivocado de las vías”.

La evidencia en video y el testimonio de otro agente, concluyeron los fiscales, mostraron que después de que la persecución terminó en el complejo, Laboy salió del vehículo deportivo con un arma y “corrió directamente hacia” Cox.

Los fiscales concluyeron que una “persona razonable” en la posición de Cox “habría creído que el uso de fuerza letal era necesario para prevenir una muerte inminente o un gran daño corporal” para sí mismo u otras personas, lo que los llevó a concluir que Cox “estaba legalmente justificado en usar fuerza letal” y no debía enfrentar cargos.

Cox ha servido en la MDSO y su predecesora, el Departamento de Policía de Miami-Dade, durante más de dos décadas.

Day and Young MC issued statements on social media disputing Freedom 250’s announcement on Wednesday. Scheduled performers also include “Milli Vanilli,” the pop duo from the 1980s who were discredited after it was revealed that their frontmen, Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan, were only lipsyncing. One of the actual singers, Jodie Rocco, told The Associated Press that neither she, her sister Linda Rocco, nor any of the studio vocalists who performed under the group’s name after the scandal had been asked to come.

“My sister and I were shocked to see our name, ‘Milli Vanilli’, as one of the performers,” Jodie Rocco wrote in an email.

Milli Vanilli won a Grammy in 1990 for Best New Artist, but the award was rescinded after the scandal broke. Pilatus and Morvan released a 1993 album under their own names, “Rob & Fab,” that sold poorly. Pilatus died in 1998, while Morvan has attempted a solo career and published a memoir, “You Know It’s True: The Real Story of Milli Vanilli,” that brought him a Grammy nomination for “Best Audiobook, Narration, and Storytelling recording.”

Efforts to reach Morvan and determine whether he will perform at the National Mall were not immediately successful.

A Freedom 250 spokesperson did not immediately respond Thursday to a request for comment. Freedom 250, which Trump launched late last year, describes itself as a “national, non-partisan organization leading the celebration of our Nation’s 250th birthday.” Trump appointed Keith Krach, who served as an under secretary of state during his first term, as the organization’s CEO.

Trump and his supporters have long had a contentious relationship with the music community; Celine Dion, Elton John and Guns ’N Roses are among the many artists who have objected to their music being played at Trump rallies.

In an Instagram post, Young MC questioned whether the National Mall shows would be nonpartisan. “The artists were never told about any political involvement with the event,” he wrote, adding that he hoped to “perform in D.C. in the near future at an event that is not so politically charged.” Day posted on Instagram that “Contrary to rumor, Morris Day & The Time will not be performing at the 'GREAT AMERICAN STATE FAIR.”

Young MC and Milli Vanilli were among those on the roster for an “I Love the 90s” concert on June 26. Day was listed for June 27. Other performers announced include the Commodores, Flo Rida and Martina McBride. The Great American State Fair is scheduled to run June 25-July 10.

At least one “I Love the 90s” act will be there: Vanilla Ice.

“He is proud to help celebrate America’s 250th Anniversary!” a representative for the “Ice Ice Baby” rapper wrote in an email to the AP. “Everyone is welcome to attend and celebrate USA’s Birthday and our Freedom!”

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Cyr, of Pompano Beach, was a passenger in the Land Rover Discovery that crashed shortly before 1:40 p.m. on Tuesday at Northeast Third Avenue and 44 Street, according to BSO.

Jean Claude Saint Cyr was driving the Land Rover Discovery northbound on Third Avenue when he rear- ended a red 2023 Nissan Rogue that had stopped at 44th Street, according to BSO.

The Land Rover ricocheted off the Rogue into the southbound lanes, struck a white 2015 Nissan NV2000, and continued tumbling and rolling until it came to a final rest near the sidewalk, according to BSO.

The entire front axle was ripped off. The engine from the Land Rover was ejected. The Nissan Rogue rolled before coming to a final rest against the front porch of a home.

The driver of the Nissan Rogue was ejected as it rolled and was near the front porch, partially under the vehicle.

Fire rescue personnel transported the three drivers injured to Broward Health North in Deerfield Beach.

Neighbors said bad drivers are usually speeding there and don’t obey the four-point stop.

The crash damaged a house’s wooden fence near a pool where four girls were playing. Their grandfather said the girls weren’t injured.

Surveillance video shows fire rescue personnel at work for hours after the crash.

The cause of the crash remained under investigation on Wednesday afternoon, and authorities had yet to identify the person who died.

Afternoon report

Related story: Woman killed, 3 others hurt in Deerfield Beach crash

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It happened at a home along the 1200 block of North 31st Court.

According to authorities, the Hollywood Police Special Victims Unit and Hollywood SWAT officers, with assistance from the South Florida Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, served a search warrant at the home of the suspect.

That man has since been identified as James Donald Henjum.

He was taken into custody without incident at the home.

According to court records, Henjum is facing nine charges of possessing, controlling, viewing or soliciting child pornography and one count of compiling computer pornography depicting a minor.

As of Thursday morning, he was being held at the Broward Main Jail on a bond of $50,000.

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For Radoslav Sekulic and his young family, the apartment was supposed to be a short-term place to stay while work was being done on their home.

After long days running his Miami Beach car detailing business, Sekulic said he just wanted a place where he, his wife and their newborn daughter, Mila, could get some rest.

Instead, they say they got scammed.

The family found the listing on Facebook Marketplace. The apartment looked real, with photos and a video walkthrough. They thought they had found the perfect place to stay for four to six weeks.

But on move-in day, things suddenly changed.

“I can’t let you in,” the supposed landlord told them. “The apartment doesn’t smell good, and we can do it in the next few days when the plumbing job is done.”

Those next few days never happened.

Detectives say the rental listing was fake from the start.

Sekulic spoke exclusively with Local 10 News, saying he wants to warn others about what police describe as a rental scam allegedly tied to Joseph Saroza, who now faces several counts of organized fraud and grand theft.

Sekulic said he pleaded with the alleged scammer after realizing something was wrong.

“My wife is not working. We have a 1-month-old. We cannot afford this. I’m currently under financial stress,” he said.

Police say Saroza allegedly lured renters with apartments he had no authority to rent. Investigators say he somehow got access to units, showed them to potential renters, talked about lease terms and collected deposits.

The problem, police say, is that he had no connection to the apartments at all.

Sekulic said his family lost $2,000. Detectives believe other victims may have lost even more -- between $4,000 and $6,000 in some cases.

Police also say Saroza allegedly used a fake name online.

Officer Mike Vega with the Miami Police Department said the scam followed a familiar pattern.

“Put it on Facebook and say it’s for rent, ask for a security deposit and a final deposit, and then at the end he would say there’s a problem with the plumbing,” Vega said.

Court documents say Saroza created fake leases and even fake key cards for some victims. Investigators say he met renters at the apartments to make everything look legitimate.

Local 10 News went to Saroza’s last known address looking for his side of the story, but he was not there. Relatives reportedly said he moved out some time ago.

“Calling him, he blocked me and he blocked my wife,” Sekulic said.

Saroza is out on bond. Miami police say there could be more victims and are urging anyone who believes they were targeted to come forward.

“Those steps,” he said, laughing. “We didn’t have much time to rehearse on them. I’m like, can you imagine? I want to dance, and it’s just tap, tap, tap all the way down. I was just trying to keep my eyes up the whole time.”

Fortunately for Henry, his footing onstage remains steady eight performances a week. That consistency has helped make him one of Broadway’s standout performers this season, with acclaim continuing to build around his turn as Coalhouse Walker Jr. in Broadway’s revival of “Ragtime.” An even bigger moment may lie ahead at the Tony Awards ceremony on June 7.

He missed hearing his Tony nomination live

Henry did not hear his own nomination announced live. The morning after the May 4 Met Gala, Henry and his wife, Cathryn, were back at the hotel FaceTiming their children at home.

“Mommy and Daddy got to go,” Henry told them, but the kids wanted to hear more about the night before.

“They wanted to talk about the gala opening number, and so we logged off from the FaceTime and then we missed my category, which was the first category for best leading actor in a musical.”

That moment felt fitting for Henry, who says becoming a husband and father reshaped how he sees success, patience, and gratitude. The four-time Tony nominee credits his wife and three sons as his grounding force.

That perspective also informs his work in one of Broadway’s most demanding roles. Playing Coalhouse Walker Jr., the Black pianist whose life is upended by a racist attack, remains a challenge.

Henry's rise from ‘Scottsboro Boys’ to ‘Ragtime’

Henry credits the late Terrence McNally for crafting a powerful book based on E. L. Doctorow’s novel, along with the sweeping score by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty.

“What they did so well is they showed people at their extremes. They show them when they’re on the verge of making a huge choice, just like America was on the verge in 1908 of making a huge choice and asking itself more questions about its identity than ever, not unlike this moment,” Henry said.

He believes that sense of emotional connection continues to bring audiences back to the show.

“They’re seeing themselves as Americans and seeing their journeys individually.”

That journey becomes even more notable considering the musical opened during one of Broadway’s more complicated seasons, where rising costs, tight competition for audiences, and pressure on weekly box office numbers have made sustainability difficult. Even critically acclaimed shows can struggle to maintain momentum.

“They really do. Especially if you open in the fall. And we were one of the first to open in the season. So, you know, we thankfully got extended a couple times.”

That success stands in sharp contrast to Henry’s first starring role on Broadway in “The Scottsboro Boys,” a musical inspired by the real-life case. Henry played a young Black man falsely accused of a crime who becomes one of the story’s emotional centers as he refuses to sign a confession in exchange for parole.

The 2010 production earned strong reviews and multiple award nominations but struggled commercially. Even so, the production became an important chapter in Henry’s career, placing him alongside another rising performer, Colman Domingo.

The production earned both actors their first Tony nominations.

Now, Henry finds himself leading the second Broadway revival of Ragtime. Starring opposite Nichelle Lewis, Henry has stepped into a role originally made iconic by Brian Stokes Mitchell, while Lewis follows Audra McDonald in the role that earned McDonald the first of her record-breaking six Tony Awards for acting.

Having both legends attend opening night was especially meaningful for Henry. He recalled listening to the original cast recording as a young performer and hoping that he could someday move audiences the same way. Years later, after working alongside McDonald and Mitchell, Henry says their warmth and encouragement gave him a deeper sense of belonging within the Broadway community.

___

For more coverage of the 2026 Tony Awards, visit https://apnews.com/hub/tony-awards.

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According to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, deputies have recently received multiple reports of scammers pretending to be with MCSO, law enforcement or jail officials.

In the attempts, deputies said the scammers are calling and texting potential victims while falsely claiming to be law enforcement officials and making false claims about missing jury duty “or some other lie about a fake (or even real) criminal case to extort money,” according to a news release from MCSO.

Deputies said scammers are using fake court documents and notifications regarding nonexistent traffic or criminal infractions and some of the scams were targeting people who were already facing criminal charges.

MSCO recommends anyone receiving a call or text from someone who is asking for money and claiming to be from a law enforcement agency to immediately hang up and contact that organization directly.

Authorities said a “sure sign of a scam is anyone asking for payment for anything via gift cards or Bitcoin.”

Anyone looking to report scam attempts is urged to save any emails, texts or messages and contact MCSO.

Según la Oficina del Sheriff del condado Monroe, los agentes han recibido recientemente múltiples reportes de estafadores que se hacen pasar por funcionarios de la MCSO, fuerzas del orden o funcionarios de cárceles.

En estos intentos, los agentes dijeron que los estafadores están llamando y enviando mensajes de texto a posibles víctimas mientras afirman falsamente ser funcionarios policiales y hacen afirmaciones falsas sobre faltar al servicio de jurado “u otra mentira sobre un caso criminal falso (o incluso real) para extorsionar dinero”, según un comunicado de prensa de la MCSO.

Los agentes dijeron que los estafadores están utilizando documentos judiciales falsos y notificaciones sobre infracciones de tránsito o delitos inexistentes, y que algunas de las estafas estaban dirigidas a personas que ya enfrentaban cargos criminales.

La MCSO recomienda que cualquier persona que reciba una llamada o mensaje de texto de alguien que esté pidiendo dinero y afirmando ser de una agencia policial, cuelgue inmediatamente y contacte directamente a esa organización.

Las autoridades dijeron que “una señal clara de estafa es cualquier persona que solicite pagos mediante tarjetas de regalo o Bitcoin”.

Cualquier persona que desee reportar intentos de estafa debe guardar cualquier correo electrónico, mensaje de texto o mensaje recibido y contactar a la MCSO.

In a complaint unsealed in New York, authorities identified the employee as 36-year-old Michele Spagnuolo — an Italian citizen residing in Switzerland who has worked for Google since 2014. Under the online name “AlphaRaccoon,” they alleged, Spagnuolo used the company's 2025 "Year in Search" data before it was published to enter Polymarket wagers about the most trending Googled people of last year.

This week's charges “reinforce a decades-old message: corporate insiders cannot use confidential business information to turn a profit in our markets,” Jay Clayton, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said Wednesday. “Insider trading compromises the integrity of our markets, and the American people want this greed-driven conduct investigated and prosecuted.”

Spagnuolo allegedly made new Polymarket trades as Google’s internal search data evolved, from October into December of last year. For example, per the complaint, Spagnuolo initially wagered that Kendrick Lamar — who headlined the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show — would top search trends for people last year. But after internal Google data showed that alt-pop singer D4vd was later leading the influx of searches, he placed new bets. D4vd, whose legal name is David Burke, was charged last month with murdering 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez.

Using the prediction market’s “yes” or “no” wagers, Spagnuolo also made a series of Polymarket trades about other individuals who would or wouldn't rank in Google's 2025 search trends, the complaint said. And after the data was published on Dec. 4, the AlphaRaccoon account soon pocketed sizeable profits. An FBI investigation later traced its cryptocurrency payments.

An attorney for Spagnuolo was not immediately identified. California-based Google confirmed to The Associated Press it had placed its employee on leave.

“The employee accessed our marketing material using a tool available to all employees, but using such confidential information to place bets is a serious breach of our policies,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement — adding the company was working with law enforcement and “will take the appropriate action.”

Polymarket reiterated it too worked closely with authorities. A spokesperson also touted that the company “is the only prediction platform to date whose cooperation has led to insider trading charges in the United States” — and maintained blockchain trading, which Polymarket uses, is “transparent, traceable, and bad actors leave footprints.”

Spagnuolo isn't first person to face insider trading charges spanning from Polymarket trades. Last month, the government also charged a special forces soldier who made over $400,000 from Polymarket trades betting on the downfall of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The solider allegedly used classified information ahead of January's U.S. military operation, which he was a part of.

Such scandals have put the spotlight on a murky (and growing) world of speculative, 24/7 transactions now filling the internet. Prediction markets sell event contracts — so they're also categorized and regulated differently from traditional forms of gambling. That's raised concerns about consumer protections, and legal battles over government oversight.

President Donald Trump’s administration has already thrown its support behind company operators — and sued several states over their regulation efforts. Meanwhile, the industry is scrambling to assure the public with new guardrails. Polymarket recently rewrote its rules to clearly state users cannot trade on contracts where they might possess confidential information, or could influence the outcome of an event.

Spagnuolo is being charged with violating the U.S. Commodity Exchange Act, wire fraud and money laundering. He could face years of prison time.

“El sistema de Recursos Hidráulicos es uno de los sectores más impactados por el bloqueo (de Estados Unidos), por ser de los mayores consumidores de energía del país”, aseguró el presidente del estatal Instituto Nacional de Recursos Hidráulicos, Antonio Rodríguez, durante una mesa redonda sobre las daños ocasionados por el cerco petrolero impuesto por la nación norteamericana.

El foro sobre la situación con el agua que está llegando de manera intermitente a la población de unos 9,7 millones de personas se realizó el miércoles por la noche y fue difundido el jueves por el portal oficial Cubadebate.

Según indicó el funcionario, no solo el bombeo de agua consume energía eléctrica, sino que las todas las “actividades esenciales del organismo” requieren de combustible, desde la desobstrucción de redes, pasando por la limpieza de fosas o la supresión de salideros. Además se necesitan insumos químicos, cuya importación se encuentra paralizada.

Según Rodríguez, anualmente ese instituto realizaba compras de piezas y otros elementos por unos 100 millones de dólares y en el último año —que contempla la agudización de la crisis desde enero— apenas se realizaron adquisiciones por unos 10 millones de dólares debido a la interrupción total de créditos.

La crisis del agua no es nueva, pero en los últimos meses se hizo sentir aún con más intensidad.

Estados Unidos incrementó desde enero las sanciones que ya venía aplicando a Cuba presionando por un cambio del modelo político. En los últimos seis meses fueron llevadas al extremo luego de que el presidente Donald Trump decretara un cerco petrolero sobre la nación caribeña y amenazara a los países que se atrevieran a operar con la isla. La población, que ya venía de un lustro de crisis económica, inflación y desabastecimiento, se ha visto más afectada con apagones de 20 horas diarias.

Muchos proveedores mantienen contratos en “compás de espera” mientras evalúan cuándo les conviene entregar suministros a la isla o cuáles serán las trabas para procesar pagos bancarios, sin contar las limitaciones en el servicio de transporte de las navieras, indicó el funcionario.

Muchos barrios de la capital reciben cisternas de agua pero de forma inconstante, por lo que se puede ver a personas cargando tanques, constató The Associated Press.

En cuanto a abasto de agua, Rodríguez reconoció que apenas una “pequeña parte” de las actividades del organismo está respaldada por sistemas alternativos como el fotovoltaico.

Las autoridades están desarrollando un acelerado programa con energía solar, pero los expertos sostienen que esas tecnologías requieren costosas inversiones. Cuba produce apenas el 40% del combustible que necesita.

Se suma una infraestructura gastada y estaciones de bombeo sobresaturadas, sobre todo en las ciudades grandes como La Habana, Santiago de Cuba y Matanzas, expresó Rodríguez. En muchos edificios o viviendas en alto se requiere además luz para que los motores suban el agua a los tanques elevados.

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It’s made for a very rough commute to work and school and several flood advisories were issued for the Upper Keys and near downtown Miami.

This first batch of heavy rain moved out of the area before 11 a.m. and flood advisories have been discontinued, however there’s a ton of moisture in the atmosphere and another period of strong showers and storms is likely later Thursday, mainly after 2 p.m.

Those afternoon and evening storms could cause more flooding in spots so be prepared for a rough commute home later in the day.

This stormy pattern will start shifting toward mainly the afternoon hours Friday through the weekend. It’s during those dry times in the morning when the sun will heat things up and create a very unstable atmosphere leading to those strong afternoon storms.

We might squeeze out over 6 inches of rain in spots over the next 5-7 days, putting a significant dent in the drought we’ve been experiencing.

Women are the primary driver of that growth.

TNT Sports reported female viewership is up 66% and ESPN reported a 106% increase, with plenty of that audience coming from 18-to-34-year-olds tuning in to hockey at its most exciting time of year.

“We see the numbers up everywhere,” ESPN VP of production Linda Schulz said. “(Hockey) is a particular challenge because sports fans tend to follow something that they themselves have participated in and hockey is one that is not as commonplace for people to have actually strapped on skates. I approach it with, if I get a new fan coming to hockey, what is going to keep them."

What's bringing fans in, Schulz and other executives said, is a result of a handful of factors. The success of the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament last year, the Olympics in February when the U.S. men and women won gold, the quality of play, an influx of young talent and the viral popularity of the “Heated Rivalry” and “Off Campus” hockey romance shows have combined to bring more women to the sport.

“It’s not any one thing,” TNT Sports executive VP and chief content officer Craig Barry said. “It’s the collective of the planets aligning that has shown dramatic increases in the female audience.”

The NHL says the playoffs are averaging 1.4 million viewers, up 63% from last year and up 24% from the previous high set in 2024. Some of the increase can be attributed to a change in how Nielsen is counting viewers, causing bumps across the board, though hockey has been seeing an upward trend in viewership predating that.

That began after the 4 Nations, which NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said caused a viewership increase late in the 2024-25 season and into the playoffs. The Olympics built off that, with the Milan Cortina Games drawing huge ratings.

"The Olympics was a cultural moment," NHL chief operating officer Stephen McArdle said. “We know that Olympic viewership does appeal to those demographics, to that female demographic, and so I think the Olympic bump that we saw was really in part influenced by that female Olympic audience.”

How big a role “Heated Rivalry” plays is difficult to measure. Schulz, who grew up as a sports fan in the Boston area, said it does not enter her mind, but the networks and the league are well aware of the conversation going around it.

“We know that the fictional series are a gateway to our sport,” McArdle said. “We know that it opens doors to an interest in the sport of hockey, and it’s incumbent upon us to make sure that new audiences that are coming through those doors feel welcomed as they come in, and also that we help them find their way through the door.”

Schulz said technology helps with that, pointing to aerial sky cams that highlight the speed and physicality of the game, and the addition of a camera person on the ice to capture emotional moments like a player expressing frustration after getting called for a penalty.

“It is incredible how that emotional draw, to me, is the real way to pull in a casual fan,” Schulz said. “It’s that balance of getting the feel of the ice through something like your aerial coverage and the feel of the player or the emotion of the player.”

McArdle said the NHL has also leaned into TikTok, where many of the top videos were viewed by more women than men. A clip of Carolina's Jordan Martinook losing a skate blade particularly stood out as something that was popular beyond highlight-reel goals, saves and hits.

Social media has drawn in more young fans, men and women, and promotion of broadcasts on ESPN, ABC, TNT, TruTV and on HBO Max has gotten them to watching live on one platform or another.

"That’s why it’s so important to meet them where they are," Barry said. “That’s why our kind of strategy is put it everywhere in a simulcast capacity, so regardless of where you are consuming and digesting your content, in this particular case, NHL games, it’s there for you.”

___

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

The state party chairs of five Democratic parties wrote a letter Thursday to the Democratic National Committee calling on party leaders "to do everything in your power to ensure South Carolina continues to serve as the indispensable first proving ground for Democratic presidential nominees." The DNC is currently debating the order in which states will vote in the next round of presidential primaries.

The state should hold the first presidential balloting in 2028, they argued, in part because it “is not simply a geographic starting point. It is a moral and political compass for our party and our nation.”

The DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee is meeting this week, hearing presentations from the dozen states seeking to lead off its 2028 calendar. Other southern states, including Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia, are in the mix.

South Carolina chair Christale Spain, who is set to make her argument on behalf of the state later Thursday, has said she believes her state has “more to offer than other states do,” including “the role of Black folks.”

“The fight for voting rights is no longer just a courtroom battle, it is an electoral one,” the Democratic chairs from Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and West Virginia wrote in the letter, provided to The Associated Press ahead of its release. “And it begins in South Carolina.”

“Any effort to diminish South Carolina’s role in the primary process would be a step backward for the Democratic Party’s stated commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion,” they wrote. “It would signal to Southern Democrats and to Black voters in particular, that their loyalty to this party is taken for granted. We refuse to accept that, and we will stand firmly against it.”

In a separate letter to DNC leaders, Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus Institute — which has partnered with the South Carolina Democratic Party on several presidential debates in the past — reiterated those sentiments.

“To remove or diminish South Carolina’s standing in the primary calendar would send precisely the wrong message to Black voters and to every voter who has been told their voice does not matter until after the outcome is already decided,” Thompson wrote.

For years, South Carolina has held one of the earliest Democratic primaries in the country. As the first southern state to hold its primary, South Carolina has been the initial gauge of a candidate’s ability to appeal to Black voters, who play an outsized role among the state's Democratic voters.

In 2020, Joe Biden's ability to make that appeal — along with a coveted endorsement from Rep. Jim Clyburn, the state's lone congressional Democrat and for a time the top Black Democratic lawmaker on Capitol Hill — helped him revive a flagging primary campaign, win a resounding victory in South Carolina, and go on to secure the nomination.

For the 2024 cycle, Biden led a DNC effort to have South Carolina go first overall in the party’s primary, citing the state’s more racially diverse population compared to the traditional first-in-the-nation states of Iowa and New Hampshire, which are overwhelmingly white. New Hampshire, which rejected the DNC’s plan, held a leadoff primary ahead of South Carolina anyway, and Biden — who didn’t campaign or have his name on the ballot — still won by a sizable margin after supporters mounted a write-in campaign on his behalf.

Biden, who also handily won South Carolina's 2024 contest, pushed for a revamped primary calendar that saw Nevada go second. He also pushed the Democratic primary in Michigan — a large and diverse swing state — ahead of the expansive field of states voting on Super Tuesday, the date in early March when multiple states hold primaries and the largest number of delegates needed to win the nomination are up for grabs.

Although the calendar won't officially be set until later this summer, Democrats likely to be among their party's 2028 have been making the rounds in South Carolina for months. ___

Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP

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Diego recently spent about a month in a volunteer foster home after arriving at the shelter too small for adoption, according to HSBC spokeswoman Cherie Wachter. She described him as “cute, cuddly and playful.”

The shelter is also preparing for an influx of kittens after helping transport nearly 40 kittens from another shelter this week. Wachter said the kittens were expected to be examined by the shelter’s clinic Thursday and could become available for adoption as early as Friday.

Wachter said the shelter currently has close to 100 kittens in foster care that are not yet large enough for adoption. She said kittens must weigh at least two pounds before they can be adopted.

Wachter encouraged pet owners to keep cats indoors, saying indoor cats are less likely to face dangers such as traffic, fleas and other animals. She also stressed the importance of vaccinations and maintaining clean litter boxes.

Wachter also said HSBC recently reached 500,000 followers on Instagram, a milestone she says has helped boost adoptions. She also confirmed that people from more than 30 states have visited the shelter after seeing its social media videos.

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

Diego pasó recientemente alrededor de un mes en un hogar temporal voluntario después de llegar al refugio demasiado pequeño para ser adoptado, según la portavoz de la HSBC, Cherie Wachter. Ella lo describió como “tierno, cariñoso y juguetón”.

El refugio también se está preparando para una llegada masiva de gatitos después de ayudar a trasladar casi 40 gatitos desde otro refugio esta semana. Wachter dijo que se esperaba que los gatitos fueran examinados el jueves en la clínica del refugio y que podrían estar disponibles para adopción tan pronto como el viernes.

Wachter dijo que el refugio actualmente tiene cerca de 100 gatitos en hogares temporales que todavía no son lo suficientemente grandes para ser adoptados. Explicó que los gatitos deben pesar al menos dos libras antes de poder ser adoptados.

Wachter alentó a los dueños de mascotas a mantener a los gatos dentro de casa, señalando que los gatos de interior tienen menos probabilidades de enfrentar peligros como el tráfico, las pulgas y otros animales. También destacó la importancia de las vacunas y de mantener limpias las cajas de arena.

Wachter también dijo que la HSBC alcanzó recientemente 500,000 seguidores en Instagram, un logro que, según ella, ha ayudado a impulsar las adopciones. También confirmó que personas de más de 30 estados han visitado el refugio después de ver sus videos en redes sociales.

Haga clic aquí para obtener más información sobre cómo puede adoptar una mascota.

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Police arrested Jordan Alexander Bustillo, 20, on Wednesday.

Arrest reports from the Miami Police Department state that two victims reported the scam to police after losing money on April 30 and May 14, respectively.

One arrest report describes the scheme as a “three-card monte” scam, though it did not involve cards. Instead, authorities described it as a confidence trick involving cups and a ball, akin to a shell game.

In one case, Bustillo was described as working as an accomplice to a man only known as “Bank Roller.” In another, Bustillo is described as the “primary operator” of the scheme.

In the April 30 case, authorities said Bustillo and “Bank Roller” were posted up at the corner of Northeast Fifth Street and Biscayne Boulevard and convinced a victim to bet $4,000 on the unwinnable game.

Police said after the victim learned from a friend that Bustillo was a known scammer in the downtown and Brickell areas, the man asked for his money back. According to an arrest report, Bustillo refused and left.

In the May 14 case, police said Bustillo scammed another victim outside of the Crosby Hotel at 11 NW Sixth St., during the late evening hours.

Authorities said a group of four scammers, including Bustillo, called the victim and his girlfriend over to play and they did.

The victim and his girlfriend “approached the group and (she) pointed to a cup, stating that she believed the ball was underneath it,” the report states, at which point Bustillo encouraged her to place a bet. She placed a $100 bet and selected the correct cup, police said. Meanwhile, the report states that one of the other men placed a $4,000 bet and “lost.”

She “commented that he should have picked a different cup,” the report states. Police said after telling her boyfriend which cup she believed had the ball, he bet $2,000 and lost. He then bet $2,000 again and lost a second time.

The report states that Bustillo “offered the victim another round, stating that if the victim bet his Rolex watch and lost, (Bustillo) would keep the watch; however, if the victim won, (Bustillo) would pay him $15,000.”

“At that time, (Bustillo) turned his head away and one of the other males lifted a cup and showed the victim what appeared to be the location of the ball,” an MPD detective wrote. “Believing he knew the correct cup, the victim removed his rolex watch, handed it to (Bustillo) and selected a cup. (Bustillo) confirmed with the victim that he was certain of his choice, to which (he) responded affirmatively.”

But police said when lifted the cup, the ball wasn’t there and the victim lost. Police said the victim tried to speak with Bustillo to “work with him,” but Bustillo took the $7,000 watch and left.

Police said they later found Bustillo with two other men leaving a home in the city’s Allapattah neighborhood on Wednesday and pulled them over after they got into a car.

Authorities said Bustillo had a bag with him containing more than $17,000.

A search of the home, located in the 1100 block of Northwest 38th Street, revealed four iPhones, four “high-end watches” and jewelry, police said.

Authorities said in Bustillo’s room, investigators found a stolen Glock pistol and nearly $17,000 more in cash. Police said he declined to speak with investigators without an attorney.

Records show that Bustillo, facing seven felony charges, including grand theft, organized scheme to defraud and obtaining property by gaming, was being held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center with a bond listed as “to be set.”

La policía arrestó el miércoles a Jordan Alexander Bustillo, de 20 años.

Los informes de arresto del Departamento de Policía de Miami indican que dos víctimas denunciaron la estafa después de perder dinero el 30 de abril y el 14 de mayo, respectivamente.

Uno de los informes describe el esquema como una estafa de “three-card monte”, aunque no involucraba cartas. En cambio, las autoridades lo describieron como un truco de confianza con vasos y una pelota, similar al juego de cubiletes.

En un caso, Bustillo fue descrito como cómplice de un hombre conocido únicamente como “Bank Roller”. En otro, Bustillo es descrito como el “operador principal” del esquema.

En el caso del 30 de abril, las autoridades dijeron que Bustillo y “Bank Roller” estaban ubicados en la esquina de Northeast Fifth Street y Biscayne Boulevard y convencieron a una víctima de apostar $4,000 USD en el juego imposible de ganar.

La policía dijo que después de que la víctima se enteró por un amigo de que Bustillo era un estafador conocido en las áreas del centro de Miami y Brickell, el hombre pidió que le devolvieran su dinero. Según un informe de arresto, Bustillo se negó y se fue.

En el caso del 14 de mayo, la policía dijo que Bustillo estafó a otra víctima afuera del hotel Crosby, ubicado en el 11 NW Sixth St., durante horas de la noche.

Las autoridades dijeron que un grupo de cuatro estafadores, incluido Bustillo, llamó a la víctima y a su novia para que jugaran y ellos aceptaron.

La víctima y su novia “se acercaron al grupo y ella señaló un vaso, afirmando que creía que la pelota estaba debajo”, indica el informe, momento en el que Bustillo la animó a hacer una apuesta. Ella apostó $100 USD y eligió el vaso correcto, dijo la policía. Mientras tanto, el informe indica que uno de los otros hombres apostó $4,000 USD y “perdió”.

Ella “comentó que él debió haber escogido otro vaso”, indica el informe. La policía dijo que después de decirle a su novio cuál vaso creía que tenía la pelota, él apostó $2,000 USD y perdió. Luego apostó otros $2,000 USD y perdió nuevamente.

El informe indica que Bustillo “le ofreció otra ronda a la víctima, diciendo que si la víctima apostaba su reloj Rolex y perdía, Bustillo se quedaría con el reloj; sin embargo, si la víctima ganaba, Bustillo le pagaría $15,000 USD”.

“En ese momento, Bustillo volteó la cabeza y uno de los otros hombres levantó un vaso y le mostró a la víctima lo que parecía ser la ubicación de la pelota”, escribió un detective de la Policía de Miami. “Creyendo que sabía cuál era el vaso correcto, la víctima se quitó su reloj Rolex, se lo entregó a Bustillo y seleccionó un vaso. Bustillo confirmó con la víctima que estaba seguro de su elección, a lo que respondió afirmativamente”.

Pero la policía dijo que cuando levantaron el vaso, la pelota no estaba allí y la víctima perdió. La policía indicó que la víctima intentó hablar con Bustillo para “llegar a un acuerdo”, pero Bustillo tomó el reloj, valorado en $7,000 USD, y se fue.

La policía dijo que posteriormente encontraron a Bustillo con otros dos hombres saliendo de una vivienda en el vecindario Allapattah de la ciudad el miércoles y los detuvieron después de que abordaron un vehículo.

Las autoridades dijeron que Bustillo llevaba una bolsa que contenía más de $17,000 USD.

Un allanamiento en la vivienda, ubicada en la cuadra 1100 de Northwest 38th Street, reveló cuatro iPhones, cuatro “relojes de alta gama” y joyas, dijo la policía.

Las autoridades indicaron que en la habitación de Bustillo, los investigadores encontraron una pistola Glock robada y casi otros $17,000 USD en efectivo. La policía dijo que él se negó a hablar con los investigadores sin un abogado.

Los registros muestran que Bustillo, quien enfrenta siete cargos graves, incluidos robo mayor, esquema organizado para defraudar y obtención de propiedad mediante apuestas, permanecía detenido en el Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight con una fianza “pendiente por establecer”.

Springsteen and Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello announced the festival Wednesday while performing together at Nationals Park in Washington as Springsteen winds down his Land of Hope and Dreams American Tour.

At the concert Wednesday, Springsteen played many of his most political songs, including “American Skin (41 Shots)” about a fatal police shooting and “Streets of Minneapolis,” in response to the killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents. “The Gestapo tactics of this president and this administration will not stand here,” Springsteen said.

“This American tragedy can only be stopped by the American people: you. There is no one coming to save us. We’ve got to do it ourselves,” he said. “So join us and let’s fight for the America that we love. Do you hear me, Washington?”

The one-day, two-stage Power to the People festival is set for Oct. 3 at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland, and is being billed as about "freedom, justice, equality and rock ’n’ roll.” A portion of the proceeds from all ticket sales will benefit the organizations VoteRiders and HeadCount.

“It’s about the power everyday human beings have when they come together through music, art, community and action," Morello said in a statement. "We’re honored to bring this incredible lineup to the DC area for a day that celebrates the spirit of activism, creativity, and hope.”

The festival will also include Dropkick Murphys, Jack Black, Serj Tankian, Killer Mike, Taylor Momsen and the Linda Lindas, among others.

Springsteen has long criticized President Donald Trump, who in turn has called for a boycott of Springsteen’s shows, calling him a “total loser who spews hate.”

On Wednesday, Springsteen led the crowd in an “ICE out!” chant, encouraging the audience to make their voices heard all the way to the White House.

“Our democracy, our constitution, our rule of law are being challenged right now as never before by a reckless, racist, incompetent, treasonous president and his ship of fools administration,” said Springsteen.

“God bless Alex Pretti, God bless Renée Good, God bless you and God bless America,” he said before launching into the final song of the night, “Chimes of Freedom.”

___ This story has been corrected to show that Springsteen mentioned Alex Pretti before Renée Good.

Job Listing – News Producer

Responsibilities:

Oversee the complete preparation of newscast including writing stories and coordinating with: reporters, executive producers, assignment desk staff and production department. The producer will also coordinate the program in the control room. Must be able to use knowledge of current events to participate in editorial process and write scripts.

Qualifications:

• Knowledge of television news
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills required
• Ability to work flexible hours including nights, weekends and holidays
• Ability to work in a fast-paced high-energy environment with daily deadlines and changing priorities
• 3-5 years’ experience as a writer or producer in a commercial news operation required
• College degree in journalism or broadcasting preferred
• News computer knowledge necessary

***All of the essential functions of this position are not necessarily described in this posting.

***We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and will consider all qualified candidates regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, age gender, marital status, disability, matriculation or political affiliation. Any offer of employment is conditioned on successful completion of a pre-employment drug screening, investigative background check, employment/education verifications, and reference checks. A Valid driver’s license is required.

Please follow link below to apply for Producer Position:

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Chris Schenk

Executive Producer

WPLG/TV

3401 W. Hallandale Beach Blvd.

Pembroke Park, FL 33023

cschenk@wplg.com

No phone calls please.

Although it serves the country's biggest Mexican community, all 53 Mexican consulates in the U.S. provide services that make Mexican people's lives easier — just like the nine U.S. consulates in Mexico improve the lives of Americans south of the border.

The U.S. State Department, though, has launched a review that might lead to the closure of an unknown number of Mexican consulates. Although it hasn't said why, the review is happening against the backdrop of the immigration crackdown, some thorny bilateral issues and far-right theories that the consulates have been interfering in U.S. politics and encouraging Mexicans to migrate northward.

Azucena Aviles, a 33-year-old mother who drove more than an hour to the LA consulate this month to renew her Mexican passport and get one for her daughter, said consular services are invaluable, especially in California, which is home to nearly 13 million people of Mexican descent, including an estimated 1.7 million who are in the U.S. illegally.

“It wouldn’t be fair if they messed with the Mexican people, especially with our support systems, which come from the Mexican consulate and which, in some way, help or protect our fellow Mexicans,” she said.

Strained relations

Trump has been exerting growing pressure on Mexico, with questions looming over issues including human rights, national sovereignty and regional diplomacy.

His administration, though, has given only the broadest of explanations for launching its review.

“Department of State is constantly reviewing all aspects of American foreign relations to ensure they are in line with the President’s America First foreign policy agenda and advance American interests,” Dylan Johnson, Assistant Secretary of State for Global Public Affairs, wrote in an email.

Among the possible reasons for the review is that it could somehow fit into the Trump administration's immigration efforts to deport people in the U.S. illegally. The largest contingent of such people — an estimated 4.3 million, according to the Pew Research Center — are Mexican.

Relations between the two countries could also play a role, with Trump increasing pressure on Mexico in the run-up to free trade negotiations important to both nations’ economies, taking a more aggressive approach toward the U.S.'s southern neighbor and even threatening to take military action against Mexican cartels.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has avoided head-on conflicts with Trump and instead relied on diplomacy, including sending top officials to Washington and seeking to maintain a strong relationship with the Trump administration by cracking down on Mexican cartels. Sheinbaum and her predecessor have also been key allies in slowing migration to the U.S. and speeding up the deportation of other Latin American migrants.

But Sheinbaum has taken a firmer stance in regards to the deaths of Mexicans in U.S. immigration detention centers, calling them “unacceptable” and saying the conditions in such lockups were “incompatible with human rights standards and the protection of life.” She instructed Mexican consulates to visit detention centers daily to help ensure detained citizens are being held in safe conditions.

Relations rapidly deteriorated in recent weeks after the U.S. indicted several Mexican officials on drug trafficking charges, and two CIA officers died following an anti-narcotics operation in northern Mexico — American involvement that Sheinbaum said her government hadn't authorized. That drug raid raised uncomfortable questions in Mexico about the extent of U.S. involvement in domestic security operations. And years of tit-for-tat tariffs between the two countries have also added strain.

A review of foreign consulates is “usually a sign that a bilateral relationship is in a very, very rocky moment,” said Arturo Sarukhan, a former Mexican ambassador to the U.S. In Mexico’s case, it comes at “the worst moment of the U.S.-Mexico relations” in decades, given all the current points of contention, he said.

Further straining relations is a theory being amplified by Peter Schweizer, a writer with a following among Trump loyalist who has claimed that Mexican consulates interfere in U.S. politics and encourage migration to the U.S. Experts say that although a few Mexican consulate officials may have sought to influence politics back home, there is no evidence of them interfering in U.S. elections.

In response to the State Department review, Sheinbaum said the idea that Mexican consulates are “playing politics in the United States is completely false.” She said the job of consulates anywhere is to “always protect” citizens.

Sarukhan, too, said that although consulates defend the rights of Mexican citizens, there is no evidence that they are interfering in U.S. elections.

Worries about possible closures

Whatever the reasons for the consulate review, it has stoked worries.

During a weekly public forum at the LA consulate, a woman who didn't give her name and whose husband had been in U.S. immigration detention asked for help finding him a lawyer, highlighting one crucial service consulates provide for their citizens.

An older man, meanwhile, said he had heard about the review and asked about possible closures.

Carlos González Gutiérrez, Mexico’s top diplomat in Los Angeles, responded that, as Sheinbaum said, there would be “no reason whatsoever” for the U.S. to close a Mexican consulate.

Indeed, closing consulates “would have significant, devastating effects for Mexican immigrants,” especially in isolated areas, Ariel Ruiz Soto, a senior policy analyst for the Migration Policy Institute, told The Associated Press.

Every day, consular officials go to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement holding center in downtown LA to identify and interview as many detained Mexican nationals as they can.

González Gutiérrez, 62, begins every weekly public forum by noting how many detained Mexicans consular officials have interviewed since last June's Los Angeles immigration crackdown. At that May 11 meeting, the figure stood at 1,940. Nearly half had deep roots in the U.S., he said. About 46% have been deported, 35% have children born in the U.S., 69% entered the country through a port of entry, 6% overstayed a visa, and 2.5% requested asylum. Most were men, and many worked in construction, agriculture, gardening and the service industry.

He also disputed the claim that Mexican consulates are interfering in U.S. politics.

“We are guests of this country’s government, just as U.S. consuls are guests of the Mexican government. In that sense, we are neither activists nor spies,” said González Gutiérrez, who has held similar roles at other Mexican consulates in the U.S. “We carry out our work openly, within a pluralistic and democratic society.”

___

Janetsky reported from Mexico City.

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According to the report, the attack happened shortly before 2 a.m. Wednesday at an apartment complex located at 1585 NW 103^rd St.

Deputies said the suspect, Armando Del Busto, and the victim were in the parking lot of the complex when the victim became aware that a person he knows was physically fighting with others on the third floor of the building.

According to the report, the victim ran upstairs to where the fight was occurring as Del Busto, whose relatives were involved in the altercation, ran upstairs behind the victim while threatening to stab him.

Once they reached the third floor, Del Busto stabbed the victim in the back with a knife, authorities said.

Deputies said the victim ran away from Del Busto and called 911.

He was then transported by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue personnel to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center.

Del Busto, meanwhile, fled the scene in a white Cadillac, authorities said.

Deputies said the vehicle was located a short time later and Del Busto was detained.

According to the report, he was transported to MDSO’s Northside District station where he confessed to the attack.

As of Thursday morning, Del Busto was being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. Online jail records listed his bond as “to be set.”

Según el informe, el ataque ocurrió poco antes de las 2 a.m. del miércoles en un complejo de apartamentos ubicado en el 1585 NW 103rd St.

Los agentes dijeron que el sospechoso, Armando Del Busto, y la víctima estaban en el estacionamiento del complejo cuando la víctima se dio cuenta de que una persona que conoce estaba peleando físicamente con otras personas en el tercer piso del edificio.

Según el informe, la víctima corrió escaleras arriba hacia donde ocurría la pelea mientras Del Busto, cuyos familiares estaban involucrados en el altercado, subió detrás de la víctima amenazando con apuñalarlo.

Una vez que llegaron al tercer piso, Del Busto apuñaló a la víctima en la espalda con un cuchillo, dijeron las autoridades.

Los agentes dijeron que la víctima huyó de Del Busto y llamó al 911.

Posteriormente fue trasladada por personal de Miami-Dade Fire Rescue al Centro de Trauma Ryder del Hospital Jackson Memorial.

Mientras tanto, Del Busto huyó de la escena en un Cadillac blanco, dijeron las autoridades.

Los agentes dijeron que el vehículo fue localizado poco tiempo después y Del Busto fue detenido.

Según el informe, fue trasladado a la estación del distrito Northside de la MDSO, donde confesó el ataque.

Hasta la mañana del jueves, Del Busto permanecía detenido en el Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight. Los registros carcelarios en línea indicaban que su fianza estaba “pendiente por establecer”.

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The Broward County-based district is considered “one of the most competitive congressional races in the country” and is rated a toss-up by the Cook Political Report, a news release from his office states.

Moskowitz said his campaign will focus on “lowering costs for Florida families, restoring normalcy to American politics, and standing up to the growing rise of antisemitism and political extremism.”

“The American people are struggling to afford a regular way of life. Many barely have enough money for their bills and feel squeezed by rising costs,” he said. “We must work together to bring back the American dream for the middle class in America. I have never hesitated to work with anyone across the aisle if I think it’ll improve the lives of my constituents.”

The news release states that the district is made up of 35.9% independent voters, 31.2% Democrats and 32.9% Republicans, and is estimated to be 25% Jewish.

Moskowitz, 45, also addressed growing concerns about antisemitism and political violence.

“Political extremism is expanding, and antisemitism is spreading and becoming mainstream. I am only here because my grandparents escaped Europe in WWII. My grandmother escaped Berlin, Germany through the Kindertransport. Because of good people who stood up to evil, my family was able to come to America and build a life in South Florida,” he added. “So, when I see people in my own party talking about concentration camps or deporting Jews, I am going to be an immovable object to that movement. My kids are never going to hide in attics.”

Moskowitz highlighted his experience serving under Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis as director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, where he oversaw the state’s response to hurricanes, the COVID-19 pandemic and disaster recovery efforts.

Moskowitz, who was born and raised in Broward County, previously served as a city of Parkland commissioner, a member of the Florida House of Representatives and on the Broward County Commission. He currently serves on the House Judiciary Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Florida’s newly redrawn 25th congressional district will officially go into effect when the next congressional term begins in January 2027.

The district stretches along the coast from Palm Beach County to Miami Beach, and voters will decide who represents it in the Nov. 3 general election.

El distrito, basado en el condado Broward, es considerado “una de las contiendas congresionales más competitivas del país” y está catalogado como altamente competitivo por el Cook Political Report, según un comunicado de prensa de su oficina.

Moskowitz dijo que su campaña se enfocará en “reducir los costos para las familias de Florida, restaurar la normalidad en la política estadounidense y enfrentar el creciente aumento del antisemitismo y el extremismo político”.

“El pueblo estadounidense está luchando para poder costear una forma de vida normal. Muchos apenas tienen suficiente dinero para pagar sus cuentas y se sienten presionados por el aumento de los costos”, dijo. “Debemos trabajar juntos para recuperar el sueño americano para la clase media en Estados Unidos. Nunca he dudado en trabajar con cualquiera del otro lado político si creo que mejorará la vida de mis electores”.

El comunicado indica que el distrito está compuesto por 35.9% de votantes independientes, 31.2% demócratas y 32.9% republicanos, y se estima que el 25% es judío.

Moskowitz, de 45 años, también abordó las crecientes preocupaciones sobre el antisemitismo y la violencia política.

“El extremismo político está creciendo y el antisemitismo se está propagando y convirtiéndose en algo común. Yo solo estoy aquí porque mis abuelos escaparon de Europa durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Mi abuela escapó de Berlín, Alemania, a través del Kindertransport. Gracias a personas buenas que enfrentaron el mal, mi familia pudo venir a Estados Unidos y construir una vida en el sur de Florida”, agregó. “Así que, cuando veo personas en mi propio partido hablando de campos de concentración o de deportar judíos, voy a ser un objeto inamovible frente a ese movimiento. Mis hijos nunca se van a esconder en áticos”.

Moskowitz destacó su experiencia sirviendo bajo el gobernador republicano Ron DeSantis como director de la División de Manejo de Emergencias de Florida, donde supervisó la respuesta del estado a huracanes, la pandemia de COVID-19 y los esfuerzos de recuperación ante desastres.

Moskowitz, quien nació y creció en el condado Broward, anteriormente se desempeñó como comisionado de la ciudad de Parkland, miembro de la Cámara de Representantes de Florida y miembro de la Comisión del Condado Broward. Actualmente forma parte del Comité Judicial de la Cámara y del Comité de Asuntos Exteriores de la Cámara.

El recién rediseñado Distrito Congresional 25 de Florida entrará oficialmente en vigor cuando comience el próximo período congresional en enero de 2027.

El distrito se extiende a lo largo de la costa desde el condado Palm Beach hasta Miami Beach, y los votantes decidirán quién lo representará en las elecciones generales del 3 de noviembre.

Whitmer has long been viewed by some Democrats as a possible White House contender after her decisive election victories in the closely contested state that Republican Donald Trump has carried twice in presidential votes. For months, however, Whitmer had offered only cautious answers about her political future.

But she delivered her clearest response yet in an interview Thursday with Fox 2 Detroit.

“I think there will be a robust group of people running for president. I will not be one of them in 2028,” Whitmer said.

Her comments came during Michigan’s annual Mackinac policy conference, where Whitmer is set to be honored and deliver remarks later Thursday. The news rippled through the bipartisan gathering of lawmakers, with many Democrats expressing disappointment.

“I certainly think we need more Midwestern voices. So I'm sorry to see that the governor is excluding this option,” said Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich.

Whitmer has previously said she plans to take time before deciding on her next move politically.

“I don’t know that I’ll put my name on the ballot again. I’m just not sure,” Whitmer said at an April breakfast in Detroit. “But I also am 54 years old. I got a lot of gas in the tank.”

The Mackinac conference has become a hub of presidential speculation, with former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Slotkin — both considered possible 2028 contenders — also in attendance.

“If there was someone I believed in, I'd be all in,” Slotkin told The Associated Press. “But I'm not taking it off the table because I want to be a part of that next generation of leaders.”

By a 5-4 vote, the justices sided with Terry Pitchford, who was sentenced to death for his role in the killing of a grocery store owner.

“In this case, whether due to confusion, oversight, an overly hurried jury selection process, or some other cause, things broke down,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote for the court. Chief Justice John Roberts and the court’s three liberal justices joined with Kavanaugh.

There were 11 white jurors and one Black juror in a trial with similarities to that of another Black man on Mississippi’s death row, whose conviction the high court overturned seven years ago.

It’s unclear what happens next in Pitchford's case. Justice Neil Gorsuch, who dissented, suggested the state still could argue Pitchford’s conviction should be sustained. If his conviction is overturned, the state could seek to retry him.

“Mr. Pitchford is now entitled to a fair trial in the state court,” Joseph Perkovich, who argued the case for Pitchford at the Supreme Court, wrote in an email.

Doug Evans, a now-retired prosecutor with a history of dismissing Black jurors for discriminatory reasons, had excused four other Black people at Pitchford's trial. Black people make up more than 37% of Mississippi’s population.

The Supreme Court ruled 40 years ago in Batson v. Kentucky that jurors could not be excused from service because of their race and set up a system by which trial judges could evaluate claims of discrimination and the race-neutral explanations by prosecutors.

Pitchford’s case focused on whether his lawyers did enough to object to Judge Joseph Loper’s rulings and whether the state Supreme Court acted reasonably in ruling they had not.

Pitchford’s lawyers made the necessary arguments and the state high court acted unreasonably, Kavanaugh wrote.

In dissent, Gorsuch wrote that Pitchford had to show that no fair-minded judge could rule as the Mississippi court did and that the record in the case was crystal-clear in his favor.

“As I see things, Mr. Pitchford has failed to satisfy either of these standards,” Gorsuch wrote, joined by Justices Samuel Alito, Amy Coney Barrett and Clarence Thomas.

In 2019, the Supreme Court overturned the death sentence and conviction of Curtis Flowers, because of what Kavanaugh then described as a “relentless, determined effort to rid the jury of Black individuals.” Evans was the prosecutor in that case, and Loper presided over the final two of Flowers’ six trials.

Pitchford, now 40, was 18 when he and a friend decided to rob the Crossroads Grocery, just outside Grenada in northern Mississippi. The friend shot store owner Reuben Britt three times, fatally wounding him, but was ineligible for the death penalty because he was younger than 18. Pitchford was tried for capital murder and was sentenced to death.

The case has been making its way through the court system for 20 years. In 2023, U.S District Judge Michael P. Mills overturned Pitchford’s conviction, holding that the trial judge did not give Pitchford’s lawyers enough of a chance to argue that the prosecution was improperly dismissing Black jurors.

Mills wrote that his ruling was partially motivated by Evans’ actions in prior cases. A unanimous panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the ruling.

Evans did not respond to The Associated Press' attempt to reach him for comment when he retired.

___

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

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Inside the school, a classroom was transformed into a busy barbershop as barbers volunteered their time for what the school calls “Cut and Groom Day.”

“They look good, they feel good, they behave well,” Principal Theon Eames said.

Around 30 boys received free haircuts, including fades, buzzcuts and shape-ups.

“Whether they wanted a haircut, whether they wanted a shape up, whatever it was, they were able to provide it for them,” Eames said.

The event was made possible with help from barbers from Universal Barbershop in Hollywood.

“We love giving back to the community any way possible,” one barber said.

For fourth grader Carl Content, the haircut brought a boost in confidence.

“It feels nice and the haircut looks good,” Carl said. “It makes me feel good and refreshing.”

Principal Eames said the free haircuts also help ease a burden for families.

“We’re just trying to make a way to meet the need of our community and our scholars because they worked hard this year,” Eames said.

Some students were a little nervous while getting their haircuts.

“Just close your eyes and sit still,” one barber told a student.

Barbers said the reactions from students make the event worthwhile.

“It gives them some confidence, self-esteem. It helps them focus a little more better,” said Manuj Narine of Universal Barbershop.

“They’re like, ‘Ohh, that’s me, wow. I like this. I look fresh,’” Narine said.

“I’m going to look good,” student Corey Edgerton said.

Principal Eames said this is not the first time he has brought Cut and Groom Day to a school community, and he hopes it will not be the last.

End-of-the-school-year ceremonies have already started at the school.

Dentro de la escuela, un salón de clases fue transformado en una barbería llena de actividad mientras barberos ofrecían su tiempo voluntariamente para lo que la escuela llama el “Día de Corte y Arreglo”.

“Se ven bien, se sienten bien, se comportan bien”, dijo el director Theon Eames.

Alrededor de 30 niños recibieron cortes de cabello gratis, incluidos desvanecidos, rapados y arreglos de línea.

“Ya fuera que quisieran un corte de cabello, un arreglo de línea o lo que fuera, ellos pudieron proporcionárselo”, dijo Eames.

El evento fue posible con la ayuda de barberos de Universal Barbershop en Hollywood.

“Nos encanta retribuir a la comunidad de cualquier manera posible”, dijo un barbero.

Para Carl Content, estudiante de cuarto grado, el corte de cabello le dio un impulso de confianza.

“Se siente bien y el corte se ve bien”, dijo Carl. “Me hace sentir bien y renovado”.

El director Eames dijo que los cortes de cabello gratis también ayudan a aliviar una carga para las familias.

“Solo estamos tratando de encontrar una manera de satisfacer las necesidades de nuestra comunidad y de nuestros estudiantes porque trabajaron duro este año”, dijo Eames.

Algunos estudiantes estaban un poco nerviosos mientras les cortaban el cabello.

“Solo cierra los ojos y quédate quieto”, le dijo un barbero a un estudiante.

Los barberos dijeron que las reacciones de los estudiantes hacen que el evento valga la pena.

“Les da confianza, autoestima. Les ayuda a concentrarse un poco mejor”, dijo Manuj Narine, de Universal Barbershop.

“Ellos dicen: ‘Ohh, ese soy yo, wow. Me gusta esto. Me veo bien’”, dijo Narine.

“Voy a verme bien”, dijo el estudiante Corey Edgerton.

El director Eames dijo que esta no es la primera vez que lleva el Día de Corte y Arreglo a una comunidad escolar y espera que no sea la última.

Las ceremonias de fin de año escolar ya comenzaron en la escuela.

Ahora, el presidente argentino Javier Milei ha aplicado su emblemática motosierra a estos programas de terapia especializada que, durante décadas, han representado un salvavidas para Celis, y para muchos de los aproximadamente 5 millones de argentinos con discapacidad.

En los últimos meses, el gobierno ha congelado los pagos a organizaciones que brindan servicios terapéuticos y educativos a personas con discapacidad. Los participantes han sido privados de rutinas cuidadosamente diseñadas, sostienen sus defensores y familiares, y se han desmantelado elementos de una red de contención social que antes se consideraba sólida según los estándares regionales.

“Nunca nos hubiéramos imaginado llegar a este punto, tener que vender un vehículo porque no tenemos plata para pagar los servicios o para pagar la alimentación”, afirmó Martín Lucero, representante legal de Andar, una organización argentina sin fines de lucro que gestiona un centro de atención diurna para personas con discapacidad en las afueras de Buenos Aires.

Andar ha quedado tan asfixiada que dejó de ofrecer hace dos meses los traslados en autobús de ida y vuelta al centro, dejando varadas a Celis y a decenas de personas más en del extenso suburbio bonaerense de Moreno, que dependían de su transporte gratuito y adaptado para poder asistir.

“La solución nunca puede ser cortarle a una persona con discapacidad su servicio terapéutico… el espacio que necesita para su desarrollo”, señaló Lucero. “Es una decisión política”.

Desde que Milei asumió el cargo a fines de 2023, su agenda de austeridad lo ha convertido en un ícono del rechazo conservador global contra el orden establecido liberal. Al igual que sus aliados en el gobierno del presidente Donald Trump, su administración ha presentado los recortes a los programas de discapacidad como parte de un proceso de reforma destinado a eliminar el fraude y el despilfarro en la burocracia federal.

Un portavoz del presidente no respondió a distintas solicitudes de comentarios.

Un sistema que se encamina al colapso

Los prestadores de atención a la discapacidad en Argentina, incluidos centros de atención diurna como Andar, pero también programas residenciales, de educación especial y capacitación laboral y en habilidades, operan con ingresos que reciben a través de la facturación a programas de seguros administrados por el Estado.

Las deudas de estas organizaciones sin fines de lucro han ido en aumento debido a que los pagos del gobierno han sido irregulares y a que las tasas de reintegro se han mantenido por debajo de una inflación que ha alcanzado niveles nunca vistos. Sin embargo, afirman que la situación empeoró hace seis meses, cuando el flujo de dinero se detuvo por completo.

Para reducir costos, han recortado cada vez más personal, demorado salarios, reducido las comidas y acortado sus horarios. No existe un recuento oficial de cuántos centros terapéuticos se han visto obligados a cerrar, pero grupos defensores de los derechos de las personas con discapacidad calcular que hasta 50 de ellos han bajado la persiana este año, muchos en provincias rurales de Argentina.

“Le diría (al presidente) que nos mire a nosotros, que nos mire, que nos vea, que venga acá”, dijo Roman Pontecorvo, de 28 años, con discapacidad intelectual, que descubrió su pasión por la actuación en Andar. “Si cierran (Andar), muchas familias quedarían afuera. Muchos de nosotros quedaríamos sin nada. sería un caos. Un caos total”.

Andar indica que alrededor del 30% de las 150 personas con discapacidad inscritas en su programa diurno ya no pueden llegar al centro, una apacible extensión de terreno con una cancha de fútbol, huerta y una cocina de nivel profesional donde los participantes pueden ganar un salario mensual trabajando para su servicio de catering.

Sin actividades, dicen los terapeutas, las personas con discapacidad pueden retroceder rápidamente.

“Se despierta tres o cuatro veces en la noche, gritando, pidiendo ir a la granja”, afirmó Clementina Tabares, de 74 años y madre de Celis, quien ahora falta a sus propias citas médicas porque su hija requiere cuidados las 24 horas. Celis pasa todo el día en la cama con una manta colgada sobre la ventana para bloquear el sol y música rock sonando a todo volumen desde su teléfono; de vez en cuando, gime con agitación.

“Está metida para adentro, encerrándose”, dijo Tabares. “Y eso me da miedo”.

Milei deja en suspenso una ley de emergencia por discapacidad

Hay una solución simple, dicen los defensores de derechos: implementar una ley aprobada el año pasado que declaró un estado de emergencia para las personas con discapacidad. También aumenta prestaciones que han perdido el 30% de su valor por la inflación y garantiza financiamiento para los prestadores de servicios al menos hasta diciembre de 2026.

Pero Milei ha demorado la entrada en vigor de la ley, argumentando que su impacto fiscal —aproximadamente el 0,35% del producto interno bruto— socavaría su superávit presupuestario, logrado con gran esfuerzo, el primero de Argentina tras décadas de déficit.

“Usando causas nobles promulgan leyes que llevan a la quiebra a la Nación”, dijo Milei después de vetar la ley el año pasado.

El Congreso anuló su veto. Actualmente se desarrollan batallas judiciales por la asignación de fondos.

En una decisión contundente, un juez federal le dio al gobierno 72 horas para restablecer los pagos congelados a los prestadores de servicios en cumplimiento de la ley el 18 de mayo, escribiendo que, para las personas con discapacidad, “La falta de cobertura o la interrupción de un tratamiento genera retrocesos en el grado de desarrollo”. El gobierno apeló.

Mientras tanto, Milei ha presentado un proyecto de ley que desmantelaría formalmente el sistema actual de pagos estatales a centros terapéuticos, otorgando a aseguradoras privadas y a los gobiernos provinciales la facultad de negociar sus propias tarifas con los prestadores de servicios.

También impondría nuevas restricciones sobre quién califica para recibir beneficios, poniendo fin a los subsidios para todos salvo para quienes estén por debajo de la línea de pobreza y tengan discapacidades clasificadas como absolutas y permanentes.

El proyecto, que ha provocado rechazo de grupos de derechos, está a la espera de debatirse en el Congreso.

Sobornos de alto nivel eclipsan un escándalo por la radiografía de un perro

Meses antes de que el multimillonario Elon Musk, del efímero Departamento de Eficiencia Gubernamental (DOGE, por sus siglas en inglés) del gobierno de Trump, afirmara falsamente que millones de personas muertas habían recibido cheques del Seguro Social, funcionarios argentinos denunciaron una estafa igualmente surrealista: que los beneficiarios falsificaban estudios médicos para engañar al gobierno y obtener dinero por discapacidad, incluso, al menos en un caso, presentando radiografías de un perro herido.

El alcance de esas estafas sigue sin estar claro. Las autoridades no han ofrecido pruebas de que exista un abuso generalizado.

Sin embargo, los fiscales investigan acusaciones de corrupción en un nivel más alto: en grabaciones filtradas el año pasado, el exdirector de la agencia nacional de discapacidad, Diego Spagnuolo, habla de sobornos por cientos de miles de dólares que presuntamente habría recibido Karina Milei, hermana del presidente y su asesora más cercana, por parte de empresas farmacéuticas que buscaban contratos públicos.

Milei ha negado irregularidades en nombre de su hermana. A medida que las auditorías cobraron urgencia, el gobierno cerró Andis, la agencia nacional de discapacidad, despidió a cientos de trabajadores y consolidó los programas de discapacidad bajo el Ministerio de Salud.

Pocas personas ponen en duda la necesidad de mayor transparencia. Pero los críticos sostienen que el gobierno parece menos interesado en mejorar el sistema que en desmantelarlo por completo.

“No podés desarmar el sistema y vaciarlo sin generar alternativas, dejás a las personas abandonadas”, advirtió Celeste Fernández, codirectora de la Asociación Civil por la Igualdad y la Justicia, con sede en Buenos Aires, que el año pasado encabezó una demanda exitosa contra el gobierno después de que Andis suspendiera 140.000 pensiones por discapacidad bajo sospecha de fraude.

En la mayoría de los casos, reconoció luego el gobierno, los beneficiarios simplemente no habían obedecido o no habían entendido la citación para asistir a evaluaciones presenciales, a menudo en oficinas situadas a cientos de kilómetros de sus hogares.

“No están haciendo una revisión seria”, afirmó Fernández. “Simplemente está vaciando el Sistema”.

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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.

Para Radoslav Sekulic y su joven familia, el apartamento debía ser un lugar temporal donde quedarse mientras realizaban trabajos en su casa.

Después de largos días manejando su negocio de detallado de autos en Miami Beach, Sekulic dijo que solo quería un lugar donde él, su esposa y su hija recién nacida, Mila, pudieran descansar.

En cambio, aseguran que fueron estafados.

La familia encontró el anuncio en Facebook Marketplace. El apartamento parecía real, con fotos y un video del recorrido. Pensaron que habían encontrado el lugar perfecto para quedarse entre cuatro y seis semanas.

Pero el día de la mudanza, las cosas cambiaron repentinamente.

“No puedo dejarlos entrar”, les dijo el supuesto propietario. “El apartamento no huele bien y podemos hacerlo en los próximos días cuando terminen el trabajo de plomería”.

Esos próximos días nunca llegaron.

Los detectives dicen que el anuncio de alquiler era falso desde el principio.

Sekulic habló en exclusiva con Local 10 News y dijo que quiere advertir a otros sobre lo que la policía describe como una estafa de alquiler presuntamente vinculada a Joseph Saroza, quien ahora enfrenta varios cargos de fraude organizado y robo mayor.

Sekulic dijo que le suplicó al presunto estafador después de darse cuenta de que algo estaba mal.

“Mi esposa no está trabajando. Tenemos una bebé de un mes. No podemos pagar esto. Actualmente estoy bajo estrés financiero”, dijo.

La policía dice que Saroza presuntamente atraía a inquilinos con apartamentos que no tenía autoridad para alquilar. Los investigadores dicen que de alguna manera obtuvo acceso a las unidades, se las mostraba a posibles inquilinos, hablaba sobre los términos del contrato y cobraba depósitos.

El problema, según la policía, es que no tenía ninguna conexión con los apartamentos.

Sekulic dijo que su familia perdió $2,000 USD. Los detectives creen que otras víctimas podrían haber perdido aún más, entre $4,000 USD y $6,000 USD en algunos casos.

La policía también dice que Saroza presuntamente utilizaba un nombre falso en internet.

El agente Mike Vega, del Departamento de Policía de Miami, dijo que la estafa seguía un patrón conocido.

“Lo publicaba en Facebook diciendo que estaba en alquiler, pedía un depósito de seguridad y un depósito final, y luego al final decía que había un problema con la plomería”, dijo Vega.

Los documentos judiciales indican que Saroza creó contratos de alquiler falsos e incluso tarjetas llave falsas para algunas víctimas. Los investigadores dicen que se reunía con los inquilinos en los apartamentos para hacer que todo pareciera legítimo.

Local 10 News acudió a la última dirección conocida de Saroza buscando su versión de la historia, pero no estaba allí. Según informes, familiares dijeron que se mudó hace algún tiempo.

“Llamándolo, me bloqueó a mí y bloqueó a mi esposa”, dijo Sekulic.

Saroza está libre bajo fianza. La policía de Miami dice que podría haber más víctimas y está instando a cualquier persona que crea haber sido objetivo de esta estafa a presentarse.

El streamer, cuyo nombre real es Nurideen Shabazz, fue detenido alrededor de las 4 a.m. después de que agentes respondieran a una llamada relacionada con una mujer que dijo haber sido pateada fuera de un yate cerca de la cuadra 200 de North Shore Drive.

Según la policía, los agentes llegaron poco antes de las 2 a.m. y se reunieron con la mujer, quien les dijo que Shabazz, de 25 años, la había pateado fuera del yate después de que otros hombres intentaran hablar con ella.

La policía indicó que la mujer les dijo que Shabazz le advirtió que no “entretuviera a nadie más que a él”.

El informe señala que, después de que la mujer salió del yate, Shabazz intentó quitarle el teléfono para evitar que grabara la interacción.

Los agentes dijeron que él la agarró por el antebrazo, pero no logró quitarle el dispositivo. La policía indicó que el encuentro dejó un pequeño rasguño en el antebrazo izquierdo de la víctima.

Luego, la mujer llamó a la policía.

Según el informe, los investigadores revisaron posteriormente imágenes de vigilancia proporcionadas por el propietario de la propiedad, quien dijo a los agentes que había permitido que Shabazz usara el yate prestado.

La policía indicó que el video mostraba a Shabazz gritando para que alguien tomara el teléfono de la víctima y se asegurara de que no lo estuviera grabando. Los agentes escribieron que las imágenes parecían mostrar a Shabazz intentando repetidamente quitarle el teléfono, lo que provocó un forcejeo mientras la víctima trataba de alejarse.

Según el informe, las imágenes mostraban a la víctima “encogiendo su cuerpo en el piso” para evitar que Shabazz le quitara el teléfono.

La policía indicó que finalmente logró alejarse de Shabazz alrededor de la 1:55 a.m. y luego llamó al 911.

Posteriormente, los agentes supieron que el yate regresaba al muelle. Cuando llegó, la policía detuvo a Shabazz para interrogarlo.

Según el informe, después de que le leyeran sus derechos Miranda, Shabazz, residente de Temple Terrace, Florida, dijo a los agentes que creía que la víctima tenía su teléfono. La policía indicó que su declaración contradijo lo que los agentes observaron en las imágenes de video.

Shabazz finalmente fue arrestado por un cargo de intento de robo por la fuerza y fue trasladado al Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight.

Hasta la tarde del miércoles, permanecía detenido en TGK con una fianza de $2,500 USD.

Un abogado que representa a Shabazz envió a Local 10 News el siguiente comunicado:

“El señor Shabazz niega las acusaciones reportadas hoy y tiene la intención de defenderse enérgicamente a través del proceso legal. En esta etapa, los hechos siguen incompletos y muchas de las afirmaciones que circulan en línea están basadas en acusaciones preliminares y no en evidencia verificada presentada ante la corte. Este caso será determinado en un tribunal de justicia, no en redes sociales.”

Richard L. Cooper, Esq.

Leer en español

With ocean temperatures already surging, researchers fear another devastating mass bleaching event could further cripple Florida’s struggling reefs.

On a sweltering summer morning, volunteers from Rock the Ocean joined scientists from the University of Miami’s Rescue a Reef program on a coral restoration mission off the coast of Key Biscayne.

Their work has become increasingly urgent after recent data revealed sea surface temperatures in parts of Florida Bay reached an alarming 97 degrees.

“Miami has been feeling that heat stress for actually three years straight,” said Dalton Hesley, a coral restoration ecologist at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School.

The extreme conditions are reminiscent of the historic summer of 2023, when South Florida experienced the worst coral bleaching event ever recorded. During that crisis, NOAA scientists documented near-total bleaching across many reef systems.

“We’re seeing 100% bleaching. That’s crazy. It’s absolutely crazy,” NOAA coral program lead Ian Enochs said during the event.

While NOAA has not yet reported widespread bleaching in the Florida Keys this season, early warning signs are already appearing closer to Miami. Colin Foord, of Coral Morphologic, who operates the Coral City Camera at Government Cut, recently observed bleaching in roughly 25% of corals near PortMiami.

“We’re ground zero for the coral crisis,” Hesley said.

Florida’s reefs have already suffered catastrophic losses over the past several decades. Since the 1970s, more than 90% of the state’s coral cover has disappeared due to warming oceans, disease outbreaks, hurricanes, and pollution.

“There’s been a suite of stressors that have really decimated our reefs to the point that they’re on the brink,” Hesley explained.

Growing Corals Underwater

About three miles offshore lies Paradise Reef, home to Rescue a Reef’s underwater coral nursery. The site functions like an ocean farm where scientists grow young corals before transplanting them onto damaged reefs.

Critically endangered staghorn corals hang from metal “trees” suspended underwater. Volunteers regularly clean the structures to remove algae, barnacles, and sponges that can smother the growing corals.

“If we’re not there to actually clean them, they’re going to get overgrown,” Hesley said. “We want these to be healthy habitats for the corals themselves.”

Once mature enough, the corals are harvested by clipping fragments from the nursery trees. Those fragments are then carefully planted onto nearby wild reefs.

“We easily planted over 150 staghorn corals, a threatened species today, back onto the reef to really fill in this restoration site,” Hesley said.

Over the past decade, Rescue a Reef has restored approximately 2,000 corals at the local site alone. But scientists acknowledge restoration alone will not fully reverse decades of reef decline.

Building “Super Corals”

Researchers are now turning to science and selective breeding in hopes of creating more heat-tolerant corals capable of surviving warmer oceans.

Just weeks before the latest restoration mission, scientists launched a groundbreaking pilot project aimed at reviving Florida’s endangered elkhorn coral using heat-resistant coral strains from Honduras.

“It’s the first time ever that it’s been permitted and we’ve gone ahead and outplanted,” said Dr. Andrew Baker, a marine biologist at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School.

Last year, University of Miami scientists traveled to Tela Bay, Honduras, where they collected fragments from unusually resilient elkhorn corals. Those corals were later crossbred with Florida elkhorn coral in partnership with the Florida Aquarium.

The resulting juvenile corals — now planted on a Miami reef — could represent a critical step toward building reefs better adapted to climate change.

“We’re going to see how well these do over the next few months, particularly over the course of a warm summer, to see if they are more thermally tolerant, as we hope, and better able to deal with the changing conditions in Florida’s corals reef,” Baker said.

Combined with Miami’s own resilient urban corals, scientists believe these so-called “super corals” may help shape the future of reef restoration.

“They are tough, so they are special,” Hesley said. “We’re trying to better understand why, so we can integrate that into gardening and restoration. So we’re building that super coral reef.”

Still, scientists stress that even the most resilient corals cannot survive indefinitely without broader action on climate change.

No matter how resilient we make our reefs, unless we address the root cause behind the coral crisis — climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, pollution — our coral reefs don’t stand a chance.

Con las temperaturas oceánicas ya en aumento, los investigadores temen que otro devastador evento masivo de blanqueamiento pueda afectar aún más los arrecifes en dificultades de Florida.

En una sofocante mañana de verano, voluntarios de Rock the Ocean se unieron a científicos del programa Rescue a Reef de la Universidad de Miami en una misión de restauración de coral frente a la costa de Key Biscayne.

Su trabajo se ha vuelto cada vez más urgente después de que datos recientes revelaran que las temperaturas de la superficie marina en partes de Florida Bay alcanzaron alarmantes 97 grados.

“Miami ha estado sintiendo ese estrés térmico durante tres años seguidos”, dijo Dalton Hesley, ecólogo de restauración de corales de la Escuela Rosenstiel de la Universidad de Miami.

Las condiciones extremas recuerdan el histórico verano de 2023, cuando el sur de Florida experimentó el peor evento de blanqueamiento de coral jamás registrado. Durante esa crisis, científicos de la NOAA documentaron un blanqueamiento casi total en muchos sistemas arrecifales.

“Estamos viendo un 100% de blanqueamiento. Eso es una locura. Es absolutamente una locura”, dijo Ian Enochs, líder del programa de coral de NOAA, durante el evento.

Aunque NOAA aún no ha reportado blanqueamiento generalizado en los Cayos de Florida esta temporada, ya están apareciendo señales de advertencia cerca de Miami. Colin Foord, de Coral Morphologic, quien opera la Coral City Camera en Government Cut, observó recientemente blanqueamiento en aproximadamente el 25% de los corales cerca de PortMiami.

“Somos la zona cero de la crisis de los corales”, dijo Hesley.

Los arrecifes de Florida ya han sufrido pérdidas catastróficas durante las últimas décadas. Desde la década de 1970, más del 90% de la cobertura de coral del estado ha desaparecido debido al calentamiento de los océanos, brotes de enfermedades, huracanes y contaminación.

“Ha habido una serie de factores de estrés que realmente han diezmado nuestros arrecifes hasta el punto de dejarlos al borde del colapso”, explicó Hesley.

Cultivando corales bajo el agua

A unas tres millas de la costa se encuentra Paradise Reef, hogar del vivero submarino de coral de Rescue a Reef. El lugar funciona como una granja oceánica donde científicos cultivan corales jóvenes antes de trasplantarlos a arrecifes dañados.

Corales cuerno de ciervo, en peligro crítico de extinción, cuelgan de “árboles” metálicos suspendidos bajo el agua. Los voluntarios limpian regularmente las estructuras para eliminar algas, percebes y esponjas que pueden sofocar los corales en crecimiento.

“Si no estamos allí para limpiarlos, terminarán cubiertos”, dijo Hesley. “Queremos que estos sean hábitats saludables para los propios corales”.

Una vez que alcanzan suficiente madurez, los corales son recolectados cortando fragmentos de los árboles del vivero. Luego, esos fragmentos son cuidadosamente plantados en arrecifes naturales cercanos.

“Hoy plantamos fácilmente más de 150 corales cuerno de ciervo, una especie amenazada, nuevamente en el arrecife para realmente completar este sitio de restauración”, dijo Hesley.

Durante la última década, Rescue a Reef ha restaurado aproximadamente 2,000 corales solo en el sitio local. Pero los científicos reconocen que la restauración por sí sola no revertirá completamente décadas de deterioro de los arrecifes.

Creando “supercorales”

Ahora los investigadores recurren a la ciencia y al cruce selectivo con la esperanza de crear corales más tolerantes al calor capaces de sobrevivir en océanos más cálidos.

Solo semanas antes de la más reciente misión de restauración, científicos lanzaron un proyecto piloto innovador destinado a revivir el coral cuerno de alce, en peligro de extinción en Florida, utilizando variedades resistentes al calor provenientes de Honduras.

“Es la primera vez que se autoriza y avanzamos con la plantación”, dijo el doctor Andrew Baker, biólogo marino de la Escuela Rosenstiel de la Universidad de Miami.

El año pasado, científicos de la Universidad de Miami viajaron a Tela Bay, Honduras, donde recolectaron fragmentos de corales cuerno de alce inusualmente resistentes. Posteriormente, esos corales fueron cruzados con coral cuerno de alce de Florida en colaboración con el Acuario de Florida.

Los corales juveniles resultantes, ahora plantados en un arrecife de Miami, podrían representar un paso crítico hacia la creación de arrecifes mejor adaptados al cambio climático.

“Vamos a ver qué tan bien funcionan durante los próximos meses, particularmente durante un verano cálido, para determinar si son más tolerantes térmicamente, como esperamos, y capaces de enfrentar mejor las condiciones cambiantes en los arrecifes de coral de Florida”, dijo Baker.

Combinados con los propios corales urbanos resistentes de Miami, los científicos creen que estos llamados “supercorales” podrían ayudar a definir el futuro de la restauración arrecifal.

“Son resistentes, así que son especiales”, dijo Hesley. “Estamos tratando de entender mejor por qué, para poder integrarlo en jardinería y restauración. Así estamos construyendo ese super arrecife de coral”.

Aun así, los científicos enfatizan que incluso los corales más resistentes no podrán sobrevivir indefinidamente sin acciones más amplias contra el cambio climático.

No importa cuán resistentes hagamos nuestros arrecifes, si no abordamos la causa raíz detrás de la crisis de los corales —el cambio climático, las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero y la contaminación— nuestros arrecifes de coral no tendrán oportunidad.

Jannik Sinner had won everything there was to win in tennis over the past three months: five straight Masters 1000 titles — three of them on clay — and 30 straight matches.

And with Carlos Alcaraz, his biggest rival, out due to an injured right wrist, it seemed almost a foregone conclusion that Sinner would raise the Coupe des Mousquetaires trophy and complete a career Grand Slam.

That’s why Sinner’s meltdown amid the Paris heat wave was so stunning Thursday — especially after he came within just one game of concluding his second-round match in straight sets when he led 5-1 in the third.

The top-ranked Sinner struggled with dizziness and was beaten by 56th-ranked Juan Manuel Cerundolo 3-6, 2-6, 7-5, 6-1, 6-1 after wasting two chances to serve for the match.

“I didn’t feel very well on court,” Sinner said. “I struggled, starting to feel very dizzy, very low on energy. ... In the beginning, I was hitting very clean, very good, and then I just kind of hit the wall.

"I didn’t have energy, really. I was very, very flat. The whole body. I don’t remember last time I felt this weak,” Sinner added.

Sinner said that when he woke up on Thursday he “didn’t feel very well.”

Sinner bent over on the clay court in apparent exhaustion multiple times and was hardly even running for shots as the match wore on, resorting to drop shots and serve-and-volley tactics to try and shorten the points.

He attempted to cool himself with a hand-held fan on changeovers and put bags of ice around his neck.

The temperature at the start of the match was 29 degrees C (84 F) and rose to 32 C (90 F).

“It was warm but not crazy warm,” Sinner said. “I feel like it was quite OK to play. Really it was nothing against the heat, nothing against the weather. It was just me today, but it happens.”

Cerundolo didn’t celebrate too much when it was over, just producing a little wave to the crowd.

“It’s tough for him,” Cerundolo said. “I couldn’t win more than three games by set. So I think I was a little bit lucky. … He was deserving to win in this match. But then I don’t know what happened. … I feel sorry for him and hope he recovers.”

When Sinner served for the match a second time at 5-4 in the third set, he bent over at 0-40 and then walked to his chair. He asked for assistance and left the court. His entire light blue outfit was soaked through with sweat.

After losing the set 7-5, Sinner received medical attention and left the court. Minerals were added to his drink when he returned but Sinner wasn't able to recuperate.

Sinner lost 18 of the last 20 games. Asked if he considered retiring before the match ended, Sinner said that in the “fifth set we all know everything can happen. I was in a tough spot."

Sinner's previous loss came Feb. 19 in the Qatar Open quarterfinals. He had won five straight Masters titles while dropping just three sets.

“We’ll definitely do some tests to be sure of what happened today," he said.

“Let’s hope we’re ready for Wimbledon,” Sinner added. “To be ready there, we need to recuperate well and do things right now.”

But Sinner has a history of struggling in the heat. He admitted he was lucky at the Australian Open in January against Eliot Spizzirri when the roof was closed and the third-round match swung his way. And he had to retire from a match in Shanghai in October that was contested amid extreme humidity.

“Shanghai was very tough. Humidity very high. Australia was very, very warm,” Sinner said. “Here, I mean it was warm, but it was OK. It was not like I was dying because of the heat. I think today was completely different scenario.

“It’s tough to accept, of course, because of the position where I’ve been in and everything considered,” added Sinner, who sportsbooks had listed at around -300 to win the tournament.

On the same Court Philippe Chatrier last year, Sinner wasted three match points against Alcaraz and lost an epic final.

French teenager advances, Shelton loses

In other matches, 17-year-old Frenchman Moise Kouame became the youngest man to reach the third round of a Grand Slam since Rafael Nadal was also 17 at 2003 Wimbledon. Kouame beat Adolfo Daniel Vallejo 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 2-6, 7-6 (8).

Felix Auger-Aliassime — at No. 4 the highest-seeded player left in the top half of the draw after Sinner's exit — beat Roman Andres Burruchaga 4-6, 6-0, 7-5, 6-1.

Fifth-seeded Ben Shelton was upset by 62nd-ranked Belgian opponent Raphael Collignon 6-4, 7-5, 6-4; and Frances Tiafoe required nearly five hours to overcome Hubert Hurkacz 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-7 (1), 6-4.

Also, Cerundolo’s older brother, Francisco, beat Hugo Gaston 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-1.

In women’s action, Naomi Osaka put on another fashion show for her walk-on before beating Donna Vekic 7-6 (1), 6-4.

Defending champion Coco Gauff beat Mayar Sherif 6-3, 6-2; and top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka defeated Elsa Jacquemot 7-5, 6-2.

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AP Sports Writers Samuel Petrequin and Jerome Pugmire contributed to this report.

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

Según la policía de Miami Beach, el incidente ocurrió alrededor de la 1:10 a.m.

La policía indicó que el sospechoso recibió un disparo y fue trasladado al Ryder Trauma Center del Hospital Jackson Memorial en condición crítica.

El policía no resultó herido.

La policía no confirmó de inmediato quién le disparó al sospechoso.

El Departamento de Cumplimiento de la Ley de Florida (FDLE) está investigando.

Vea Local 10 News o actualice esta página para más información.

State-run Yemeni TV said that he died at his residence in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, but gave no other details.

Rashad al-Alimi, the head of the Presidential Leadership Council — the leadership body of Yemen’s internationally recognized government — said Hadi believed in the Yemeni people’s “right to a just state, freedom and human dignity.”

“He led the battle to defend the republican system," al-Alimi said on X.

The government announced three days of mourning, during which flags will be flown at half-staff.

Hadi's presidency

Hadi became president in 2012 after the resignation of longtime leader Ali Abdullah Saleh during the Arab Spring uprisings. Backed by the United States and Gulf states, Hadi emerged as a compromise candidate in a one-person election meant to guide Yemen through a political transition.

But his presidency soon got bogged down in unrest.

During his first years in office, Hadi tried to implement wide-reaching reforms, including the unification of the country’s various armed factions.

His opponents accused him of favoring the country’s eastern oil-rich provinces at the expense of the mountainous heartlands dominated by Houthis, the Iran-aligned movement.

Another challenge came from al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, long considered one of the global network’s most dangerous branches. The group carried out a bombing in Sanaa in 2012 that killed more than 100 people.

The defining moment of Hadi’s presidency came in 2014, when Houthi fighters swept south from their northern strongholds and captured Sanaa amid growing public anger over economic hardship and political instability.

With support from forces loyal to Saleh, Houthi forces took control of Yemen’s presidential palace in January 2015. Hadi resigned and escaped to Aden. But he later withdrew his resignation, and a Saudi-led coalition entered the conflict in March 2015 in a bid to restore Hadi’s government.

Although Hadi remained the internationally recognized president, much of the real decision-making was influenced by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the coalition's main players.

His authority weakened further as divisions emerged in the anti-Houthi alliance.

Tensions with the UAE deepened after Hadi dismissed senior Emirati-backed figures, including Aidarous al-Zubaidi, who led the separatist Southern Transitional Council, or STC.

The STC eventually took control of Aden and parts of southern Yemen, leaving Hadi’s government confined to exile in Riyadh and to scattered territories in the east.

While the STC stopped short of openly demanding Hadi’s removal, it refused to place its forces under his command and accused his government of accommodating Islamist factions linked to the Islah party, Yemen’s branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. The STC was dismantled earlier this year.

Hadi spent his final years in office largely out of public view in the Saudi capital. In April 2022, shortly after a U.N.-brokered ceasefire was announced, he transferred power to al-Alimi, who began leading the newly formed presidential council backed by Saudi Arabia.

His rise as a military officer

Mansour Hadi was born Sept. 1, 1945, in Yemen’s coastal Abyan province at a time when the southern of the half country was a British protectorate. His family was part of the influential Al-Fadl tribe, one of the largest and most established in the south.

After completing school, Hadi pursued a career in the army, graduating from the United Kingdom's Sandhurst military academy. His early military years saw him serve in Egypt and Russia, before returning to Yemen.

Hadi was a senior officer when civil war erupted in 1986, following a fallout between rival factions of Southern Yemen’s then governing Socialist party. He sided with President Ali Nasser Mohammed, fleeing with him to northern Yemen, then an independent state.

In the immediate years after Yemen’s reunification in 1990, Hadi was promoted first to the rank of general and later to defense minister by Saleh. As a reward for leading numerous successful military campaigns against southern separatists in 1994, Saleh appointed Hadi as vice president of the new republic.

Hadi is survived by his wife, Hala, and six children. Funeral arrangements weren't yet known.

___

Fatma Khaled reported from Cairo. Jack Jeffery provided reporting for this story from Cairo before leaving The Associated Press.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the move was not being announced.

Reworking Thomas' deal comes in the middle of offseason workouts and with No. 5 pick Arvell Reese still not yet signed to his rookie contract. The rest of the draft class, including No. 10 pick Francis “Sisi” Mauigoa, is all signed.

The Giants now have just under $12 million in salary cap space, according to the NFL Players Association’s public accounting. Reese's contract is expected to take up a big chunk of that, so more maneuvering could take place in the coming months before the season begins in September.

Thomas, 27, is one of the team's highest-paid players and the anchor of an offensive line that showed improvement last season from previous years. New coach John Harbaugh said Thomas was dealing with foot and shoulder injuries that led the staff to limit use on the field during organized team activities.

“They have a nice ramp-up planned for me,” Thomas said last week. “Just a precautionary thing. Obviously, what we care about is September, being ready, so I’ve been trusting that. It’s definitely tough sometimes because I want to push it and I want to get better, but I’m trying to trust the process to make sure I’m ready to go when it counts.”

Thomas had surgery to repair a Lisfranc injury in his right foot in October 2024 and missed the first two games of last season before returning Sept. 21. A hamstring injury caused him to miss the final two games, but now it's a lingering shoulder problem that is being managed.

“Something that I’ve been dealing with,” Thomas said. “I think I’m in a good place.”

___

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

Eso es según fuentes de Local 10 News y un número creciente de detenidos dentro del centro que están llamando a WPLG y aseguran que están viendo cómo las operaciones comienzan a cerrarse.

Mientras muchos de los inmigrantes están siendo procesados para deportación o transferidos a otros centros en todo el país, Local 10 está conociendo que un número cada vez mayor de ellos está siendo liberado o saliendo bajo fianza para reunirse con sus familias.

Sammy Aliferis se desempeñó como juez de inmigración y abogado del Servicio de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas, pero ahora trabaja como abogado representando a detenidos dentro de “Alligator Alcatraz”.

Aliferis dijo que los detenidos están siendo liberados bajo una orden legal conocida como habeas corpus.

Todo esto ocurre después de que recientemente un juez de inmigración declarara que “si la deportación no es razonablemente previsible, la corte debe considerar irrazonable la detención continua y ya no autorizada por la ley”.

Aliferis dice que a los detenidos también se les está concediendo fianza tras una decisión reciente del Tribunal del 11.º Circuito de Florida.

Un vehículo policial sin identificar realizó una maniobra PIT, conocida como Técnica de Inmovilización de Precisión, y detuvo una Cadillac XT5 negra.

El conductor salió del Cadillac en el área de Northwest 18 Avenue y 152 Street y corrió a través de Rail Road Drive, cerca de Opa-locka.

Cuando el conductor se acercó a las vías del tren cerca de Ali Baba Avenue, agentes del orden lo rodearon, le colocaron esposas y lo escoltaron.

El conductor permaneció junto a una patrulla marcada de la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade antes de que agentes de la Patrulla de Carreteras de Florida asumieran su custodia.

Esta es una noticia en desarrollo.

Ubicación

Última hora: Reportando en vivo

Última hora: Reporte de seguimiento

The top three candidates competing for the nomination in the Aug. 4 primary are debating on Thursday at the state party’s annual policy conference. It is one of their first big opportunities to sharpen contrasts before a statewide audience.

With the primary season wrapping up across the country, the contentious race in Michigan is increasingly seen as a test case for where the party and its base are headed into the November election and beyond.

Appearing on the Mackinac Island stage and seeking to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters are U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and former public health official Abdul El-Sayed. The Republican nominee is Mike Rogers, a former congressman who lost the 2024 Senate race to Democrat Elissa Slotkin. No Michigan Republican has been elected to the U.S. Senate since 1994.

Here’s where things stand in the race:

Messy primary or clarifying vision?

The race's first widely televised debate did not go off without fireworks. The candidates all spent time taking shots at each other, with El-Sayed being the most aggressive in his criticism of the other two candidates.

“Messages are great and you actually need to know how to deliver them,” McMorrow shot back at El-Sayed.

The crowded primary could help Democrats clarify a path forward, giving voters a chance to decide among three distinctly different visions for the party’s future. But a bruising primary also carries risks, as candidates sharpen attacks against one another in ways that could leave the eventual nominee weakened.

“I think primaries can be good. As long as folks aren't too chippy. Unfortunately, people are getting a little chippy in the race,” Peters said. “But as long as you have a primary that's civil, you get a stronger candidate coming out of the primary that's ready to take on the general election."

Stevens, a fourth-term congresswoman representing a district just outside Detroit, is seen as the more moderate, establishment-aligned candidate. She has endorsements from senators in battleground states, including Ruben Gallego of Arizona and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada. Stevens has described herself as a “staunchly pro-Israel Democrat.”

El-Sayed has taken the progressive lane, earning early backing from U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. El-Sayed has called for “Medicare for All” and higher taxes on the wealthy and has described Israel’s actions in Gaza as a “genocide.” He has drawn criticism, including from within the party, for campaigning with controversial streamer Hasan Piker.

McMorrow was first elected to the Michigan Senate in 2018 and gained national attention for speeches rebuking Republicans She has carved out a position somewhere between her two main rivals. She has criticized the Democratic establishment and said she would not support New York's Chuck Schumer to be Democratic leader in the U.S. Senate again.

One issue the candidates aligned on during Thursday’s debate was eliminating the filibuster, the longstanding Senate rule that effectively requires 60 votes to advance most legislation in the 100-member chamber. Trump has repeatedly urged Senate Republicans to eliminate it, but Senate Majority Leader John Thune has made clear there is not enough support within the GOP conference to do so.

Peters and Slotkin both told The Associated Press on Thursday that they were not planning to make an endorsement in the primary. They said had become more contentious than they had hoped.

“It is messy. Messier than I would have liked. I think it's important in any primary that the candidates focus more on what they want to do and their positive affirmative plan,” Slotkin said.

Winner will face Rogers

Rogers lost to then-U.S. Rep. Slotkin by fewer than 20,000 votes in a state that Republican Donald Trump carried on his way to a second term.

This time, Rogers will not benefit from having Trump atop the ballot. But Rogers heads into the general election with advantages of his own, including an uncontested primary.

In a telephone interview Wednesday, Rogers acknowledged the difficulties in the last campaign, saying the financial disadvantage he faced after a tough primary “made it really difficult” to win the general election.

But he said this year is different.

“This is a change election. People want to talk about Washington. This is about Michigan,” Rogers said.

It may prove difficult to localize a race shaped by national issues such as tariffs and gas prices, both of which are hitting Michigan hard. Outside spending is expected to climb into the nine figures. The Republicans’ U.S. Senate campaign organization has reserved $45 million in ads, compared with $20 million by Democrats.

“They're going to spend a lot of money trying to make you not like me. We're going to spend our money trying to tell people what we're going to do for them and make their lives in our state better," Rogers said.

La ferocidad de ese felino es la que promete utilizar para combatir a los grupos armados ilegales y los narcotraficantes que azotan al país.

“Al narcoterrorismo, a quienes he sentenciado y los he declarado objetivo militar, los voy a acabar como unas cucarachas, como unas ratas. Voy a hacer caer sobre ellos la ira de Dios como nunca antes se ha visto”, aseguró De la Espriella en entrevista con The Associated Press en la recta final de la campaña.

De estilo frontal, De la Espriella decidió que su primera aspiración electoral fuera por el cargo más importante del país. Asegura que su campaña se financió con el dinero que ha acumulado en su carrera de abogado y luego como empresario con marcas propias de vino, ron y ropa y se describe como un candidato independiente.

De la Espriella, de 47 años, se hizo un nombre como abogado defendiendo clientes de alto perfil como el expresidente Álvaro Uribe (2002-2010) y también polémicos como Alex Saab, un aliado cercano del derrocado presidente venezolano Nicolás Maduro que enfrenta problemas con la justicia estadounidense y a quien dejó de representar hace aproximadamente siete años.

Férreo opositor

De la Espriella asegura que Colombia está en sus “horas más oscuras” bajo el mandato de Gustavo Petro, el primer presidente de tendencia izquierdista en la historia del país.

Su postura crítica al gobierno le ha valido la simpatía de sectores opositores como la reserva militar y los uribistas —la corriente del expresidente Uribe— que ven en su figura la representación de los valores conservadores que defienden.

“Representa devolvernos la seguridad a nosotros y rescatarnos de las garras del comunismo que nos tiene azotados, devolver a las aulas a Dios, devolver la seguridad de que los niños no vuelvan a ser adoctrinados", dijo a AP Lucila Poveda, una de sus seguidoras.

De la Espriella recogió miles de firmas de ciudadanos que apoyaron su candidatura por el movimiento Defensores de la Patria y rechazó el apoyo explícito de los partidos tradicionales.

Simpatía por Bukele, Trump y Milei

De la Espriella dijo a AP que es ciudadano estadounidense y miembro del Partido Republicano. En marzo se reunió en Miami con el subsecretario de Estado estadounidense, Christopher Landau, y la representante republicana María Elvira Salazar.

“Hablamos de la cooperación internacional, de la necesidad de estrechar los vínculos y de resolver todo tan pronto se vaya este nefasto gobierno de Petro”, detalló el candidato, quien asegura que no va a permitir que salga más cocaína de Colombia y que quiere fumigar con herbicidas biológicos los plantíos de hoja de coca.

Petro ha tenido una relación tensa con el gobierno estadounidense desde la vuelta al poder de Donald Trump por diferencias en temas de migración, seguridad regional y lucha antinarcóticos, la cual mejoró luego de un encuentro en la Casa Blanca en febrero.

De la Espriella aseguró que adhiere a la política antidrogas de Trump, incluyendo los bombardeos a embarcaciones que presuntamente trafican drogas.

“Lancha que salga cargada de droga voy a dar la orden de que la hundan con la gente que vaya adentro”, sentenció De la Espriella.

Además, es vocal en su simpatía por el presidente salvadoreño Nayib Bukele y el argentino Javier Milei, de quienes dice tomaría algunas de sus políticas como referencia.

“Me gusta mucho el tema de las cárceles y la seguridad del presidente Bukele, haciendo la salvedad que son dos países muy distintos, con conflictos y situaciones muy diferentes”, explicó De la Espriella. “Me gustan del presidente Milei algunos de sus manejos económicos, ha reducido sustancialmente la inflación”, agregó.

Sin embargo, dice que será un “líder original” y no una copia de otros políticos.

De la Espriella nació en Bogotá en 1978, pero se crió en la costa Caribe. Es hijo de María Eugenia Otero Aldana y del abogado Abelardo de la Espriella Juris, simpatizante del uribismo. Se casó con la empresaria Ana Lucía Pineda, con quien tiene cuatro hijos.

El candidato se precia de tener una vida lujosa y sosegada en Italia, donde vivía hasta antes de ser candidato, que cambió por “servirle a la patria” y que le ha costado vivir rodeado de escoltas y vestir chalecos antibalas por amenazas contra su vida denunciadas en la campaña.

The wet weather will continue tomorrow with an isolated shower or two in the morning, followed by numerous showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. The main threat will be pockets of flooding, but an occasional strong thunderstorm with gusty winds and frequent lightning is possible.

A continuous plume of tropical moisture from the Caribbean will run over South Florida this weekend and well into next week. This will keep a similar pattern going with at least 4-8” of rain expected over the next week.

Aunque este linaje pudo abrirle muchas puertas, Valencia —abogada, filósofa y especialista en Economía por la Universidad de Los Andes fundada por su abuelo— dice que se ha labrado su propio camino en la vida pública. Ahora es una de las punteras en la campaña para las elecciones del domingo y podría ser la primera mujer que llega a la presidencia de Colombia.

“Las mujeres estamos preparadas para gobernar a Colombia. El gran sostén del hogar colombiano es la mujer y el único hogar en que no manda la mujer colombiana es la Casa de Nariño y eso va a cambiar”, dijo Valencia, de 50 años, a The Associated Press sobre sus aspiraciones para llegar a la residencia y sede presidencial.

En una contienda con 11 aspirantes, solo tres mujeres participan como candidatas. En las elecciones de 2022, en las que no había representación femenina, Gustavo Petro se convirtió en el primer presidente de izquierda.

Valencia ha ejercido una férrea oposición a Petro en el Senado como parte de la bancada del Centro Democrático, dirigido por el influyente expresidente Álvaro Uribe Vélez (2002-2010).

Su oposición ha ido más allá de los discursos en el Congreso y se ha trasladado a los tribunales con demandas en contra de iniciativas gubernamentales como la reforma del sistema de pensiones.

Uribe, su padrino político

Valencia nació en 1976 en Popayán, en el suroeste del país, pero ha vivido gran parte de su vida en Bogotá. Amapola, de 9 años, es el fruto de su relación con Tomás Rodríguez Barraquer, un profesor de Economía de la Universidad de Los Andes.

Hace una década, Valencia protagonizó una polémica cuando en una transmisión en vivo desde su casa apareció de fondo un óleo que mostraba a Uribe con una aureola y un corazón rodeado de llamas, como es representado el Sagrado Corazón de Jesús.

Valencia defendió la pintura y actualmente el expresidente continúa siendo su padrino político y escudero en múltiples actos de campaña.

“Para mí (Uribe) ha sido un gran mentor. La gente cree que es que él me llama por la mañana a decirme qué tengo que hacer; todo lo contrario. Él le ha dado alas a todas mis ideas, me ha ayudado a convertirme en la líder que yo soy”, aseguró Valencia.

El gobierno de Uribe es recordado especialmente por fortalecer a las Fuerzas Armadas y combatir con mano dura a grupos ilegales, sobre todo de izquierda, como la guerrilla Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC).

Su política de “seguridad democrática” aún es defendida por quienes consideran que fue vital para disminuir la violencia armada o cuestionada por quienes aseguran que permitió graves violaciones de derechos humanos como los “falsos positivos” o ejecuciones extrajudiciales de civiles.

“Nosotros vamos a tener lo que funcionó en la seguridad democrática y los aprendizajes que durante todos estos años ha tenido Colombia”, explicó Valencia.

Entre la mano dura y los consensos

Valencia ha prometido fortalecer a la fuerza pública y acabar con los actuales diálogos de paz que Petro ha promovido con múltiples grupos armados ilegales, sin lograr aún desarmarlos.

“Habrá procesos de sometimiento (a la justicia) que implican responder con cárcel por los crímenes”, sentenció Valencia, quien se opuso al acuerdo de paz firmado hace una década entre el Estado y las extintas FARC.

La candidata ha prometido mano dura durante una campaña que se desarrolló en medio de múltiples ataques con explosivos que causaron en el último mes más de 20 muertos y decenas de heridos entre la población civil y las fuerzas de seguridad.

Pero Valencia también ha hablado de consensos políticos y ha buscado conquistar los votos de los moderados con su fórmula vicepresidencial, el economista Juan Daniel Oviedo, con quien sin embargo difiere en temas como el aborto legal y la adopción de niños por la comunidad LGBTIQ+, a los que la candidata se opone.

La postura de Valencia sobre el aborto le acarreó críticas de las feministas. Los dos integrantes de la fórmula aseguran que, de gobernar, llegarán a acuerdos.

La apuesta por Oviedo también le ha costado cuestionamientos de sectores conservadores justo cuando compite por votos con el candidato Abelardo de la Espriella, un abogado millonario simpatizante de los gobiernos del presidente salvadoreño Nayib Bukele y del mandarario estadounidense Donald Trump.

En lo que se refiere a los puntos fuertes y débiles de Valencia, el analista político Sergio Guzmán ponderó que tenga experiencia como legisladora en contraste con el hecho de que no la tenga "ni como gobernadora, ni como alcalde, ni como ministra”.

Reyna and Scally are old friends who've had a blast playing together this season at German club Borussia Moenchengladbach and both made the U.S. roster for the World Cup this week.

“The chemistry’s there and it will always be there,” Reyna said this month in a joint media availability with Scally.

“We’re already close, but it feels like we’ve gotten even closer, which felt impossible, but it's been a good year together,” Reyna said.

He added his wife is friends with Scally's fiancee and even their dogs are buddies.

Reyna told the Associated Press last year his friend was the “cherry on top” in his decision to join Gladbach to revive his career this season after injuries and a controversial time at the 2022 World Cup.

Scally argues their bond brings on-field benefits.

“On the training field, in the locker room, in the car rides every day, I think we’ve definitely enjoyed every day because we know it doesn’t last forever,” Scally said. “I think we understand each other very well on the field. We want to play together more than we have. In the time that we do play together, something good normally comes out of it.”

The 23-year-olds were youth players together at New York City FC a decade ago and have both made their names in Europe but the on-field similarities end there.

Scally is a versatile, reliable defender who rarely misses a game. Reyna’s a creative, unpredictable attacking midfielder who can make a sudden impact in games but has been repeatedly sidelined with fitness and injury issues for large parts of the last few seasons.

It's the second World Cup appearance for Scally and Reyna and follows a dispute which overshadowed Reyna's time with the team in Qatar in 2022.

Reyna played only twice off the bench and then-U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter said after the tournament that an unnamed player, later identified as Reyna, was nearly sent home for a lack of effort in training.

Reyna’s parents — Claudio and Danielle Reyna, both former national team players — lobbied the U.S. Soccer Federation for more playing time for Gio and contacted the USSF about a three-decades-old domestic violence allegation involving Berhalter and the woman who later became his wife — Danielle’s former college roommate.

Reyna told the AP last year he’d now handle the 2022 incident differently “in certain ways” and his actions stemmed from frustration, but the dispute wasn’t “completely” his fault or that of his family.

___

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

A white cargo plane with aid donated by the European Union delivered masks, gloves, boots and medications — all of which are in short supply — to the northeastern town of Bunia at the heart of the outbreak in Congo's Ituri province. U.N.-branded forklifts lifted several cases into trucks.

Health workers with scant supplies have been struggling to contain an outbreak of the Bundibugyo virus, a kind of Ebola that has no approved treatment or vaccine. In some areas, doctors have resorted to wearing expired medical masks while treating suspected patients.

Dangers faced by health workers have been heightened by anger among residents over the stringent medical protocols for dealing with the bodies of victims, which clash with local burial rites. Residents have launched at least three attacks against health centers in Ituri province.

Congolese Health Minister Samuel Roger Kamba said that during outbreaks people in remote communities can feel overwhelmed by an incoming flood of information and people.

“We’ve seen in every epidemic that there’s always resistance,” Kamba said. "Communities always ask themselves, ‘What’s going on?’ And in epidemics like this one, it is really risk communication and community engagement that ultimately change perceptions.”

Aid donated by the EU is expected to arrive in batches over the next eight days, Jérôme Kouachi, head of emergency operations at UNICEF in Congo, told The Associated Press.

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was on his way to Congo to see the efforts first-hand. The WHO has declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, in the hope of ramping up aid.

The United States on Thursday said it is increasing its aid to Congo and Uganda by $80 million, bringing its commitment to more than $112 million since the outbreak.

The additional money would pay for personal protective equipment for health care workers, Ebola test kits, support for health screening at airports and contact tracing, the U.S. State Department said.

Dr. Jean Kaseya, the Africa Centres for Disease Control director-general, said that the organization on Monday believed it had secured funding pledges of nearly $500 million toward Africa’s emergency response, but that as of Thursday afternoon the amount had dwindled to $290 million as partners withdrew or reduced pledges.

He also said that the Africa CDC hoped to have treatments and a vaccine for the Bundibugyo virus by the end of the year, and that there were some vaccine candidates already in the works.

The Congolese government has confirmed more than 1,000 suspected cases, with at least 220 deaths, since it declared an outbreak on May 15. But the virus had been spreading undetected for weeks, and the WHO suspects it is much larger than what has been reported.

The virus has also reached neighboring Uganda, which has confirmed seven cases and one death.

On Wednesday, the Congolese government said the first survivor to recover from the virus had left a health center.

“We are trying to catch up,” Congo Foreign Minister Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner said earlier this week. “It is a race against the clock.”

The response on the ground has been hampered by multiple challenges, including customs' red tape, insufficient storage facilities, bad roads and weak telecommunications, humanitarian agencies said in a report on Thursday.

Tedros on Wednesday called for a ceasefire in a region where armed groups have staged violent attacks for decades. “We cannot build community trust or isolate the sick while bombs are falling,” he said.

Tucked in the northeastern part of Congo close to the Ugandan border, Ituri province has been reeling from attacks by the Allied Democratic Force, a rebel group allied with the Islamic State group, and a coalition of ethnic militias. In early May, the ADF killed at least 40 people and burned several homes in Ituri.

The illness has also been reported in two Congolese provinces south of Ituri — North Kivu and South Kivu, where the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group controls many key cities, including Goma and Bukavu. The rebels have reported two cases. The region’s main airport in Goma, which doubles as a staging ground for humanitarian efforts into the region, has been closed since January 2025, when M23 seized the city.

The conflict has precipitated one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, with at least 7 million people displaced in eastern Congo.

—-

Ope Adetayo reported from Lagos, Nigeria. Mathew Lee contributed from Washington and Mogomotsi Magome contributed from Johannesburg, South Africa.

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According to Miami Beach police, the incident occurred at about 1:10 a.m.

Cellphone video captured the crime scene at South Pointe Park after the incident.

Miami Beach police and crime scene detectives were seen focusing on a bench along the main walkway after the shooting.

Hours later, after investigators cleared the area, Local 10’s cameras captured blood stains left behind on the bench -- a visible reminder of the violence that unfolded here.

“I am pretty stunned because it is a very nice park and nice people walking around here with their kids and dogs -- a really friendly neighborhood,” park visitor Ann Wessung said.

Police said the off-duty cop was the victim of some sort of incident involving another person.

South Florida Police Benevolent Association President Steadman Stahl said the deputy was protecting not only himself, but also relatives who were with him at the time.

“It just goes to show you we are never really off duty,” Stahl said.

Stahl said the deputy was walking back to his home with family members and his dog when he was attacked.

“The officer was walking back with some family members, back to his house, when he was attacked by a subject really unprovoked and he had to resort back to his police actions and training,” Stahl said.

That’s when the deputy fired his gun, hitting the other person, authorities said.

“Well, I mean, self-defense is self-defense. I guess he knows how to handle a weapon,” park visitor Ole Wessung said.

Police confirmed that the suspect was transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center in critical condition.

The suspect is not facing any charges, as of Wednesday night.

The deputy was not injured.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement confirmed it is investigating the “deputy’s use of force” at the request of the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office.

Lee County deputies said they saw a car swerving in and out of lanes Tuesday, prompting a traffic stop.

In the video, a deputy is seen approaching the passenger-side window and asking for the names of the driver and passenger.

The deputy tells them a K-9 will search the car and asks both people to step out.

When the woman gets out of the car, the deputy notices her allegedly trying to hide drugs, which fall onto the floor, authorities said.

Deputies said the baggie was filled with cocaine.

After searching the car, deputies also found a shoebox in the trunk filled with cocaine and other drug paraphernalia, according to authorities.

Deputies said all of the drugs belonged to Jacqueline Stacy.

In total, deputies said they found more than 44 grams of cocaine.

Stacy was taken to jail and is facing multiple charges.

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That’s according to Local 10 News sources and a growing number of detainees inside the facility who have been calling Local 10 and claiming they’re seeing operations shutting down.

“There’s less detainees, there’s less detainees now,” one detainee told Local 10 News over the phone. “And there are less officers too as well.”

U.S. Congressman Maxwell Frost, from Central Florida, said the number of detainees is dropping drastically.

“They have 655 people there as of yesterday,” said Frost. “They spent nearly a billion of taxpayer dollars. There needs to be accountability and consequences.”

While many of the immigrants are being processed for deportation or transferred to other facilities across the country, Local 10 is learning a growing number of them are being released or bonding out to their families.

Sammy Aliferis has served as an immigration judge and an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement attorney, but now he is serving as a lawyer representing detainees inside “Alligator Alcatraz.”

Aliferus said detainees are being let out under a legal order called habeas corpus.

“It’s supposed to be to effectuate the removal, not to have them there indefinitely,” he said.

This is all coming after an immigration judge recently stated that, “If removal is not reasonably foreseeable, the court should hold continued detention unreasonable and no longer authorized by statute.”

Aliferis says detainees are also being granted bond following a recent decision in Florida’s 11th Circuit Court.

Local 10 News reached out to the Florida Department of Emergency Management, which runs the facility, to ask for comment on our reporting, or to confirm if they are shutting down.

They had not replied as of the time of this story’s publication.

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Defense attorney Howard Srebnick argued Wednesday that the case should be dismissed or, alternatively, transferred, as a judge began considering multiple motions in the high-profile case.

Judge Marissa Tinkler Mendez is considering Pino’s request to move the case out of the county, dismiss the charges altogether and other motions as well.

Tinkler Mendez said the proceedings could take a couple of days and she may not issue all rulings from the bench, noting she could reserve some decisions for a later date.

Courtroom 41 was packed for Wednesday’s hearing, which drew family members of the victims as well as supporters of Pino.

The case stems from a Labor Day weekend boating crash in 2022, when Pino was operating a boat carrying his wife, teenage daughter and several of her friends. Investigators said the boat struck a channel marker in waters near Boca Chita Key, throwing passengers into the water.

Seventeen-year-old Lucy Fernandez was killed, and her friend Kathy Puig suffered serious, permanent injuries. Investigators also reported finding dozens of empty alcohol containers on board, and said Pino was seen on video stating he had two beers that day.

The defense has maintained there is no evidence Pino was intoxicated at the time of the crash.

Attorneys also argue he was not speeding and was otherwise following boating rules, contending the incident was the result of a brief lapse in attention.

“There is nothing to indicate anything other than, at best for the state, George Pino had a momentary lapse. He was distracted by something. It was inattention for a moment in time, but it wasn’t some conscious, willful, intentional decision to put people at risk,” Srebnick said. “And that’s what the court, I believe, has to wrestle with.”

Pino faces charges of vessel homicide and manslaughter.

Tinkler Mendez is also considering motions to exclude statements Pino made after the crash, with the defense arguing he suffered a head injury and that his account should not be used at trial.

Attorneys are also seeking to move the case out of Miami-Dade County, citing concerns over pretrial publicity and jury bias.

The state, meanwhile, is seeking to question potential jurors about their exposure to the case and is considering allowing jurors to visit the vessel as part of the proceedings.

Jury selection could begin as early as next week.

She practices yoga. She performs free flow dance. And while she works, she frequently listens to house music tuned to 432 hertz, a frequency lower than typical concert pitch.

Music recorded in 432 hertz (cycles per second) is taking off on social media platforms and music streaming services, where users can find an increasing number of tracks and playlists employing the alternate tuning, everything from meditation soundscapes to reggae songs recorded by Ziggy Marley.

Scientists say there’s no robust evidence that music tuned to 432 hertz has any special benefits or healing properties. Some musicians and listeners say it helps them connect with nature, relax or concentrate.

“There are frequencies going on right now that are higher than what we can hear and lower than what can hear. And they’re not special because they’re one of the billions and billions of frequencies that we’re receiving right now,” said Susan Rogers, a Berklee College of Music professor emeritus who worked as Prince’s sound engineer during the 1980s. “To set one aside and say that it is the frequency of the universe is, as far as the science community is concerned, nonsense.”

To Sanchez, who provides telehealth services for a healthcare management organization in California, it doesn’t matter if the feelings she has while listening to 432 hertz music have a scientific explanation.

“It helps me focus and be engaged with the patient I’m assisting, and it also helps me relax,” she said. “When it comes to music, it could activate different feelings in people, the vibrations of it. It’s not like a one-size-fits-all."

The story behind 440 and 432 hertz

Throughout history, as people sang or played music together, they tuned their instruments to the same pitch to create a harmonious sound. Singers and musicians often chose a musical note — typically the A above middle C on a piano — as a reference point.

The music genre known as “432 Hz” is characterized by its tuning, in which the A above middle C is pitch-adjusted to vibrate at 432 hertz instead of the standard 440 hertz. The lower frequency is noticeable to the naked ear, sounding like slightly lower notes. Some people feel the alteration produces a warmer, more harmonious sound that resonates with the human body and the natural world.

Most orchestras and musicians now tune their instruments to 440 hertz. But that wasn't always the case.

Until the 19th century, musicians tuned instruments according to local standards, which varied from one country to the next, said Fanny Gribenski, a music historian at New York University. “For most of music history, people are just singing within their own vocal range,” she added.

Eventually, there were orchestras and musical groups tuning to higher frequencies, and some composers became concerned that singers would be unable to perform music from the past, Gribenski said.

“The idea that it should be mainly a lower frequency than the ones that were in use at the time is really the cultural concern for protecting music from the past, protecting the voices of singers,” she said.

At the same time, as international travel became more widespread, the desire for a common tuning frequency grew. In 1939, representatives from multiple European countries and the U.S. agreed to accept 440 hertz as the international standard.

Artists continued to experiment with pitch over the decades that followed. In the 1980s and ’90s, sound engineers sometimes took a recorded song and sped it up or slowed it down to achieve a brighter or slower sound, moving away from the frequency of 440 hertz, Rogers said.

But Rogers doubts that retuning a whole band or orchestra to 432 hertz would improve its sound since many modern instruments were designed sound prettiest while tuned to 440 hertz.

“Some of those instruments might sound a little sweeter, but it’s likely that most won’t,” she said.

Higher pitch generally means more brilliance, or perhaps a little more power in some instruments, Gribenski said. For those listeners who appreciate the lower 432 hertz music, “I wonder if there is a sense of deceleration, slowing down slightly, and also taking one step down from the bright sounds of modernity,” she said.

Working and 432 hertz music

Fans of working while accompanied by a 432 hertz soundtrack cite a variety of reasons.

Amelia Beamer, who handles marketing at the North Carolina pharmacy her parents own, Andrews Apothecary, says she thinks taking work breaks to listen to music tuned to 432 hertz helps with her attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. She's noticed that she feels more focused if she listens before she starts a project.

Beamer works for 25 minutes, takes a five-minute listening break and then returns to the task at hand. She also listens to other frequencies, such as music tuned to 528 hertz.

“It definitely helps me feel more grounded and more centered,” Beamer said of 432 hertz music. “It helps me slow down and to take some intentional space and time for myself.”

Diana Wolf Torres, who creates videos and writes a newsletter about robots, frequently gets migraines and is sensitive to noises. If a gardener is using a leaf blower next door, she has difficulty ignoring it. Listening to music tuned to 432 hertz or other sounds such as white noise while wearing noise-canceling headphones helps.

“I just want to be there and get it done and feel like I’m doing my best writing possible, and anything that keeps me in the zone is a fantastic tool,” Torres said.

Torres doesn't think there's any science or special properties behind 432 hertz music but that “maybe some people find this lower tuning more soothing.” She noted that most listeners won't know if music labeled 432 hertz on social media is labeled accurately.

“What does it matter? If you're getting an effect, are you really going to check the resonance? Do you care?” Torres asked.

Sanchez, the telehealth worker, also enjoys listening to tunes fixed to other alternative frequencies, such as 528 hertz and 963 hertz.

“It’s something worth exploring and finding out for yourself whether it has any benefits or not,” Sanchez said. “For me, I find that grounding is beneficial to my overall wellbeing, so I see how it helps my livelihood."

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Share your stories and questions about workplace wellness at cbussewitz@ap.org. Follow AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health at https://apnews.com/hub/be-well

Sinner was serving for the match at 5-4, 0-40 in the third set when he bent over on the court and then walked to his chair. He asked for assistance and left the court. Hs entire light blue outfit appeared soaked through with sweat.

When he came back with an ice pack around his neck, he proceeded to lose the next point with a poorly sliced backhand wide and lost the third set 7-5. Sinner left the court again.

He won the first two sets 6-3, 6-2.

The temperature at the start of the match was 29 degrees C (84 F), and was forecast to rise to 33 C (91 F).

Sinner is on a 30-match winning streak stretching back to February.

Sinner also struggled in the heat at the Australian Open against Eliot Spizzirri in January. The roof was closed and the third-round match swung his way.

Sinner is attempting to complete a career Grand Slam by winning his first French Open title.

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