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More than 75 bars are participating this year, ranging from neighborhood dives to high-end restaurants.

“It’s 31 days of October and during the 31 days we celebrate all the incredible beverage programs across Miami,” ¡Salud! Miami founder Joshua Wagner said. “Every participating account has a discounted cocktail menu until 10 p.m. And then on top of that, we offer a ton of unique hospitality experiences across the whole city.”

The idea is to give locals a more affordable way to explore Miami’s cocktail scene while encouraging them to try something new.

At American Social in Brickell, bar manager Drew Minson said the restaurant is featuring three cocktails as part of the celebration: the classic Aperol Spritz, the Americano Social and a Sardi Spritz.

“Starting with the Sardi, it’s light, it’s passion fruit, it’s watermelon,” Minson said.

The featured cocktails normally range from $14 to $16 on the regular menu, according to Minson. During ¡Salud! Miami, they are available for $10 throughout October.

The month-long event also comes as South Florida moves beyond its slower summer season, giving people another reason to head back out to Miami’s bars and restaurants.

This year, visitors can also pair their cocktails with Miami Spice, which has expanded into October for the first time in its 25-year history, according to Wagner.

¡Salud! Miami is also planning special events and hospitality experiences throughout the month.

“Every day we will have something going on,” Wagner said. “So follow us on Salud and let us give you a reason to get off your couch, go out and to sip, socialize and Salud.”

Click here for more information about ¡Salud! Miami and its participating locations.

Más de 75 bares participan este año, desde establecimientos de barrio hasta restaurantes de alta categoría.

“Son 31 días de octubre y durante los 31 días celebramos todos los increíbles programas de bebidas de Miami”, dijo Joshua Wagner, fundador de ¡Salud! Miami. “Cada establecimiento participante tiene un menú de cócteles con descuento hasta las 10 p.m. Y además de eso, ofrecemos un montón de experiencias únicas de hospitalidad en toda la ciudad”.

La idea es ofrecer a los residentes una forma más económica de explorar la escena de cócteles de Miami, al tiempo que los anima a probar algo nuevo.

En American Social, en Brickell, el gerente del bar Drew Minson dijo que el restaurante ofrece tres cócteles como parte de la celebración: el clásico Aperol Spritz, el Americano Social y un Sardi Spritz.

“Comenzando con el Sardi, es ligero, lleva maracuyá y sandía”, dijo Minson.

Los cócteles destacados normalmente cuestan entre $14 USD y $16 USD en el menú regular, según Minson. Durante ¡Salud! Miami, estarán disponibles por $10 USD durante todo octubre.

El evento de un mes también llega cuando el sur de Florida deja atrás su temporada de verano más lenta, lo que brinda a la gente otra razón para regresar a los bares y restaurantes de Miami.

Este año, los visitantes también pueden acompañar sus cócteles con Miami Spice, que se ha extendido hasta octubre por primera vez en sus 25 años de historia, según Wagner.

¡Salud! Miami también está planeando eventos especiales y experiencias de hospitalidad durante todo el mes.

“Todos los días tendremos algo sucediendo”, dijo Wagner. “Así que sígannos en Salud y déjennos darles una razón para levantarse del sofá, salir y beber, socializar y celebrar Salud”.

Haga clic aquí para obtener más información sobre ¡Salud! Miami y sus establecimientos participantes.

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Maximo Viani Otoni, 22, of Coconut Creek, was arrested on a grand theft charge on Thursday.

According to the Broward Sheriff’s Office, a collector had bought the Cooper Flagg card, valued at $3,500, from the store VIP Rips and requested expedited shipping.

But staff at the shop, located at 1245 S. Military Trail, couldn’t find it. A BSO arrest report states that through surveillance video, they found that Otoni was the last person to handle it.

Deputies said Otoni admitted to taking the card during a phone call and staffers found it in his mailbox. They said he then admitted he had three other trading cards: two Lionel Messi cards valued at $2,200 and $70, respectively, and a Neymar and Cristiano Ronaldo autographed card valued at up to $2,000.

BSO investigators would eventually go to Otoni’s home, where they said he admitted to having six more trading cards, including another Flagg card worth about $2,200, an autographed Caitlin Clark card worth about $1,500 and a Dirk Nowitzki card worth about $2,200.

They said the 10 cards Otoni stole were valued at up to $17,220.

As of Friday morning, Otoni was being held in the BSO Main Jail. He had no listed bond.

Maximo Viani Otoni, de 22 años, de Coconut Creek, fue arrestado el jueves por un cargo de hurto mayor.

Según la Oficina del Sheriff de Broward, un coleccionista había comprado la tarjeta de Cooper Flagg, valorada en $3,500 USD, en la tienda VIP Rips y solicitó envío urgente.

Pero los empleados de la tienda, ubicada en 1245 S. Military Trail, no pudieron encontrarla. Un informe de arresto de la BSO indica que, mediante videos de vigilancia, descubrieron que Otoni había sido la última persona en manipularla.

Los agentes dijeron que Otoni admitió haber tomado la tarjeta durante una llamada telefónica y los empleados la encontraron en su buzón. Dijeron que luego admitió tener otras tres tarjetas coleccionables: dos tarjetas de Lionel Messi valoradas en $2,200 USD y $70 USD, respectivamente, y una tarjeta autografiada de Neymar y Cristiano Ronaldo valorada en hasta $2,000 USD.

Los investigadores de la BSO finalmente fueron a la casa de Otoni, donde dijeron que admitió tener seis tarjetas coleccionables más, incluida otra tarjeta de Flagg valorada en aproximadamente $2,200 USD, una tarjeta autografiada de Caitlin Clark valorada en aproximadamente $1,500 USD y una tarjeta de Dirk Nowitzki valorada en aproximadamente $2,200 USD.

Dijeron que las 10 tarjetas que Otoni robó estaban valoradas en hasta $17,220 USD.

Hasta la mañana del viernes, Otoni permanecía detenido en la cárcel principal de la BSO. No tenía una fianza registrada.

The team did not announce a cause of death.

“We mourn the loss of a true Falcons legend," Falcons owner Arthur Blank said in a statement released by the team. “Jeff Van Note dedicated 18 seasons to this franchise and became one of the most respected and beloved players in our history. He embodied toughness, resilience, humility, and an unwavering commitment to his team, qualities that earned him the admiration of generations of Falcons fans.”

Van Note, selected out of Kentucky in the 11th round of the 1969 NFL draft, originally joined the Falcons as a linebacker before being moved to center by then-coach Norm Van Brocklin. He earned the starting job a year later and started 226 of 246 games over his 18-season career. He was a second-team All-Pro in 1979 and 1982.

After retiring in 1986, Van Note became a color commentator and made Atlanta sports radio appearances.

"Jeff’s contributions to this organization cannot be measured solely by his accomplishments on the field," Blank said. "He helped shape the identity of the Atlanta Falcons and left a legacy that will endure for years to come. We are grateful for everything he meant to this franchise and our community. On behalf of the Falcons family, we extend our deepest sympathies to his children, Beau, Ben, and Blaine, and all who are grieving this tremendous loss. Jeff will always hold a special place in the history and heart of the Atlanta Falcons.”

___

See AP’s full NFL coverage here

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Fort Lauderdale police said the pedestrian, who has not been identified at this time, was pronounced dead at the scene, and the train remains stopped on the tracks as police conduct an investigation.

Thet said the crash completely blocked several roads at the FEC tracks, including Flagler Drive at Andrews Avenue, Sunrise Boulevard and Northeast 13th Street.

Motorists are being urged to avoid the area and use Broward Boulevard to the south or Oakland Park Boulevard to the north as alternate routes.

Sky 10 flew over the scene around 10:26 a.m. and saw Fort Lauderdale police at the scene, crime scene tape surrounding the area and a long freight train stopped across several streets. A body was covered by a yellow tarp near the tracks.

The roads will remain closed while the investigation continues. Police said an update will be provided when the roadways reopen.

La policía de Fort Lauderdale informó que el peatón —cuya identidad aún no se ha dado a conocer— fue declarado fallecido en el lugar del accidente, el tren permanece detenido sobre las vías mientras las autoridades llevan a cabo la investigación.

Las autoridades señalaron que el incidente bloqueó por completo varias vías a la altura de la ubicación del tren FEC, incluyendo Flagler Drive en Andrews Avenue, Sunrise Boulevard y Northeast 13th Street.

Se insta a los conductores a evitar la zona y utilizar Broward Boulevard hacia el sur, u Oakland Park Boulevard hacia el norte, como rutas alternativas.

El helicóptero Sky 10 sobrevoló la zona alrededor de las 10:26 a. m. y captó imágenes de la policía de Fort Lauderdale en el lugar, cintas de seguridad acordonando el área y un largo tren de carga detenido atravesando varias calles. Se observó un cuerpo cubierto con una lona amarilla cerca de las vías.

Las carreteras permanecerán cerradas mientras continúa la investigación. La policía indicó que se ofrecerá información actualizada una vez que se reabra el tráfico.

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Manuel Aguilera, 82, was last seen at around 10 a.m. Wednesday at his home in the 600 block of West 88th Street, authorities said.

“He was last seen wearing a white dress shirt, red and black pants, white dress shoes, and a blue face mask with black dots,” police said.

Anyone with information about his whereabouts is asked to call the Hialeah Police Department at 305-687-2525.

Manuel Aguilera, de 82 años, fue visto por última vez el miércoles alrededor de las 10 de la mañana en su domicilio, manzana 600 de la calle West 88th Street, dijeron autoridades.

“La última vez que fue visto vestía camisa blanca de vestir, pantalones rojos y negros, zapatos blancos de vestir y una mascarilla azul con lunares negros”, indicó la policía.

Cualquier persona que tenga información sobre su paradero llame al Departamento de Policía de Hialeah al 305-687-2525.

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The Heat will host the Milwaukee Bucks on Nov. 18 at Kaseya Center as part of “A Night in Vice City,” an immersive event celebrating the upcoming release of Grand Theft Auto VI.

The game-night experience will transform the arena into Vice City, the fictional Miami-inspired setting featured in the new game. The Heat are expected to play on a specially designed court, wear a uniform that has not previously been used and incorporate themed entertainment and live elements throughout the night.

The event comes one day before Grand Theft Auto VI is scheduled to be released on Nov. 19 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.

The Nov. 18 game will be broadcast right here on WPLG Local 10.

The partnership between the Heat and Rockstar Games began taking shape Oct. 1, when “Welcome to Vice City” signage was illuminated on the roof of Kaseya Center. More details about the event and additional activations are expected to be announced in the weeks leading up to the game.

The Heat also launched a Vice City-themed collection through its Court Culture clothing line. The merchandise is available at Miami Heat Store locations and online.

Tickets for “A Night in Vice City” are available through the Heat’s ticketing website.

Grand Theft Auto VI will be Rockstar Games’ next major release and is set in the fictional state of Leonida, which includes Vice City, a fictionalized version of Miami.

The Heat and Rockstar collaboration brings two Miami-connected brands together just before one of the video game industry’s most anticipated releases.

The Miami Heat begin their preseason at 7 p.m. Saturday when they face the Toronto Raptors at the Scotiabank Arena. Fans can watch that game on WPLG Local 10.

And don’t forget, you can also watch the majority of the Miami Heat’s regular season games, at least 68, on Local 10 next season as WPLG Local 10 and the Heat announced a newly expanded media rights agreement, making Local 10 the home of HEAT basketball across South Florida! CLICK HERE for more information on how to watch!

Los Heat recibirán a los Milwaukee Bucks el 18 de noviembre en el Kaseya Center como parte de “A Night in Vice City”, un evento inmersivo que celebrará el próximo lanzamiento de Grand Theft Auto VI.

La experiencia de la noche del partido transformará la arena en Vice City, el escenario ficticio inspirado en Miami que aparece en el nuevo juego. Se espera que los Heat jueguen en una cancha especialmente diseñada, usen un uniforme que no ha sido utilizado anteriormente e incorporen entretenimiento temático y elementos en vivo durante toda la noche.

El evento se llevará a cabo un día antes de que Grand Theft Auto VI sea lanzado el 19 de noviembre para PlayStation 5 y Xbox Series X|S.

El partido del 18 de noviembre será transmitido aquí mismo por WPLG Local 10.

La alianza entre los Heat y Rockstar Games comenzó a tomar forma el 1 de octubre, cuando un letrero con el mensaje “Welcome to Vice City” fue iluminado en el techo del Kaseya Center. Se espera que se anuncien más detalles sobre el evento y activaciones adicionales en las semanas previas al partido.

Los Heat también lanzaron una colección inspirada en Vice City a través de su línea de ropa Court Culture. La mercancía está disponible en las tiendas Miami Heat Store y en línea.

Los boletos para “A Night in Vice City” están disponibles a través del sitio web de venta de boletos de los Heat.

Grand Theft Auto VI será el próximo gran lanzamiento de Rockstar Games y está ambientado en el estado ficticio de Leonida, que incluye Vice City, una versión ficticia de Miami.

La colaboración entre los Heat y Rockstar reúne a dos marcas vinculadas a Miami justo antes de uno de los lanzamientos más esperados de la industria de los videojuegos.

Los Miami Heat comienzan su pretemporada a las 7 p.m. del sábado cuando enfrenten a los Toronto Raptors en el Scotiabank Arena. Los fanáticos pueden ver ese partido por WPLG Local 10.

Y no olvides que también podrás ver la mayoría de los partidos de temporada regular de los Miami Heat, al menos 68, por Local 10 la próxima temporada, luego de que WPLG Local 10 y los Heat anunciaran un acuerdo ampliado de derechos de transmisión, convirtiendo a Local 10 en el hogar del básquetbol de los HEAT en todo el sur de Florida. Haz click aquí para obtener más información sobre cómo verlos.

Según la Patrulla de Carreteras de Florida, el accidente ocurrió alrededor de las 7:20 p.m. en los carriles hacia el este de la Interestatal 195, cerca de Alton Road.

Los agentes dijeron que la víctima ingresó a la vía y fue atropellada por un autobús que se aproximaba.

El peatón fue declarado muerto en el lugar.

Según los agentes, la vía permaneció cerrada durante la investigación preliminar, pero todos los carriles ya fueron reabiertos.

Nuestros modelos de pronóstico han mostrado poco interés en que la baja presión intente organizarse como algo tropical o subtropical hacia finales de la próxima semana y durante el fin de semana festivo (fin de semana del 10 de octubre), pero, como prácticamente todos los sistemas que podrían formarse en el Atlántico esta temporada, no tendrá un camino fácil hacia su desarrollo.

La fuerte corriente en chorro subtropical, anclada sobre el sur de Estados Unidos y extendiéndose hacia el norte del Golfo, mantendrá un flujo constante de fuertes vientos en las capas altas de la atmósfera cerca de la zona de tormentas, lo que debería limitar cualquier posibilidad de desarrollo tropical al extremo suroeste del Golfo.

Si bien ayer los modelos aumentaron ligeramente su interés por el sistema, desde entonces se han mantenido prácticamente sin cambios, lo que parecieran bajas probabilidades de desarrollo (entre 20 y 30%) por ahora.

Cabe destacar que los modelos han sobreestimado en gran medida el desarrollo de perturbaciones esta temporada y, dada la naturaleza extensa y subtropical del sistema la próxima semana, es prudente mantener cierto escepticismo respecto a que supere los obstáculos de 2026.

Sin embargo, estará en una zona propicia para esta época del año, así que seguiremos de cerca las tendencias la semana que viene.

Como mencionamos en el boletín de ayer, cualquier fenómeno meteorológico que se inicie probablemente será desordenado y desorganizado, con la actividad tormentosa desplazada al este del área de menor presión, especialmente a medida que se desplaza hacia el norte del Golfo y se encuentra con fuertes vientos en las capas altas de la atmósfera provenientes del oeste durante el próximo fin de semana.

Por ahora, esto no es algo de qué preocuparse, pero para quienes tienen intereses a lo largo del norte del Golfo, principalmente desde Louisiana hacia el este, es algo que volveremos a revisar en los próximos días.

No hay amenazas en otras partes del Atlántico

Fay, la tormenta zombi de mayor duración y “más fuerte” de 2026, volvió a aparecer en el mapa de perspectivas del Centro Nacional de Huracanes el jueves por la tarde. El NHC le da solo un 10% de probabilidad de volver a desarrollarse, pero esa oportunidad prácticamente ya pasó.

En otras zonas, ni siquiera las áreas subtropicales parecen presentar ningún candidato potencial a desarrollarse durante la próxima semana o en dos más, y se espera que la situación se mantenga tranquila hasta mediados de mes.

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According to the Florida Highway Patrol, the crash occurred at about 7:20 p.m. along the eastbound lanes of Interstate 195 near Alton Road.

Troopers said the victim walked into the roadway and was struck by an oncoming bus.

The pedestrian was pronounced dead at the scene.

According to troopers, the roadway was closed during the preliminary investigation, but all lanes have since reopened.

Trump and his Republican Party face pressure to address surging prices ahead of November’s midterm elections. Trump announced the action Friday on social media, saying, "Europe has just agreed to release a massive amount of their heavily stocked Diesel Oil. The process will begin immediately.”

The president faces lagging approval ratings as the Iran war and his trade battles have increased U.S. prices for oil and other goods.

Gas prices in the U.S. and abroad have soared during the eight-month-long war, a cost Trump has repeatedly said is worth it for making sure Iran does not obtain nuclear weapons. Trump has insisted prices will come down after the war, though there’s no end in sight.

The national average for a gallon of diesel in the U.S. was $6.37 on Friday, according to AAA, after hitting a record $6.52 on Sept. 22.

Trump had a conversation overnight with French President Emmanuel Macron, the chair of the G7, about the need to address rising fuel prices and the availability of petroleum products, according to the French Embassy in the U.S. Macron on Friday then chaired a videoconference of G7 leaders to discuss the issue.

France holds the rotating presidency of the G7 group and made the announcement in a statement released after video-conference talks that Macron presided over. The International Energy Agency will coordinate the effort to combat soaring fuel prices. “We will implement our commitments with a coordinated release through the IEA of 100 million barrels (MB) to begin immediately over 4 months, including a frontloaded substantial diesel release within the first 20 days by G7 members and partners,” the statement said.

A new AP-NORC poll found that a majority of U.S. adults blame Trump for higher prices, and approval on his handling of the economy hit a new low.

Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with what he sees as a disconnect between his achievements and the public’s view of his work. Trump this week gave himself an A-plus for his work on the economy but said “we’re doing an extremely poor job of promotion.”

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Our forecast models have been lukewarm on the low pressure trying to organize into something tropical or subtropical by late next week into the holiday weekend (weekend of October 10^th) but like virtually every would-be Atlantic system this season, it won’t have an easy road to development.

The strong subtropical jet stream anchored over the southern U.S. and extending into the northern Gulf will maintain a river of harsh upper-level winds near the storminess, which should relegate any tropical development prospects to the extreme southwestern Gulf.

While models ticked up slightly in their interest in the system yesterday, they’ve been mostly unchanged since, keeping development odds on the low side (20 to 30%) for now.

It’s worth noting that models have been largely overshooting development with disturbances this season, and with the sprawling, subtropical nature of the system next week, it’s prudent to stay at least a little skeptical to it clearing 2026’s hurdles.

Nevertheless, it’ll be in a favored area for the time of year, so we’ll follow the trends next week.

As we mentioned in yesterday’s newsletter, anything that gets going would likely be sloppy and disorganized, with storminess displaced east of the area of lowest pressure, especially as it lifts toward the northern Gulf and encounters strong upper-level winds from the west into next weekend.

For now, this isn’t anything to worry about, but for those with interests along the northern Gulf – primarily from Louisiana eastward – it’s something we’ll check back in on in the coming days.

No threats elsewhere across the Atlantic

2026’s longest-lived and “strongest” zombie storm Fay made yet another appearance on the National Hurricane Center’s outlook map Thursday afternoon. The NHC gives it only a 10% chance of redeveloping but that ship has largely sailed.

Elsewhere, not even the subtropics look to muster up any potential development candidates over the next week or two and things should stay quiet into the middle part of the month.

“Crisco,” the country star's 11th studio album, is a collection of boogie-forward tracks, buoyed by sweeping strings and what sounds like a wink from the dance floor. It's out Friday.

“I’ve spent a lot of my career with fiery songs and heartbreak songs and this record just has a lot of joy on it, and I think that’s just where I am right now in life, too,” Miranda says.

The title track is almost a mission statement: “Baby, we’ve been cookin’ with Crisco/Ain’t we mixin’ country and disco/Stir it around, give it a spin/And it’s a rhinestone world we’re livin’ in.”

“I’ve just never explored that before. I really am a Merle Haggard girl, you know what I mean? I just love three chords and the truth,” says Lambert. “I just felt like I, maybe at this point, earned the creative freedom to try something fun and try something different.”

Lambert has reasons to be smiling

The album release caps a special few months that include getting seven Country Music Association Awards nominations, a disco ball-filled performance at the Academy of Country Music Awards that got attendees up and boogying, and making history as co-writer of the crossover-smash “Choosin’ Texas.”

That tune sung by Ella Langley has gone six times platinum, been crowned Billboard’s official 2026 Song of the Summer and helped her become the only woman to simultaneously hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts. It was just named the longest-running No. 1 hit in the U.S.

“We never would have thought just sitting there, on a back porch with a couple of beers and guitars, writing a country song, that it would take over like it has,” Lambert says.

“I’m thrilled that ‘Choosin’ Texas’ is a country song and the world is loving it. Like that makes me happy. I’ve dedicated my entire adult life to country music so that alone is like so much happiness for me.”

Lambert and Langley wrote “Choosin’ Texas” with Luke Dick and Joybeth Taylor. It's a song exploring what it feels like when someone is falling out of love with you and Lambert can only guess why America has fallen so in love with it.

“It kind of feels like something fresh, but something you’ve also heard before. When you hear it, you’re like, ‘I kind of want to sing along to this, even though it’s the first time you heard it.’ You know what I mean?”

Lambert co-produced Langley’s album “Dandelion,” the first time she's produced another artist, something she says she enjoyed. Langley returns the favor by being featured on the swaggering opening “Crisco” song “Snakeskin Boots.”

“I think the reason that we are drawn to each other is because I see a lot of my young self in her,” Lambert says of Langley. “She’s definitely a pistol. She’s fiery. She knows exactly what she wants. She’s a true artist and songwriter and she’s an inspiring person to be around.”

Lambert also has good news about another fellow country artist, squashing any lingering beef she had with Kacey Musgraves. The two collaborated on “Horses and Divorces” — “Maybe we’re more alike than we think,” they sing — on Musgraves' new “Middle of Nowhere” album.

Miranda points to the “crazy grind of this business” for prompting ebbs and flows in their relationship and the stress during “early stages of your career, trying to really plant your feet in the ground, plant your stake in the ground, and say, ‘This is my spot.’”

“Sometimes it gets tricky when you're navigating that with other female artists and it was really cool to just come together and talk about it and it's, as we say, whiskey under the bridge now.”

‘Crisco’ and how disco and country fused this time

“Crisco” came to life after she and Chris Stapleton wrote and recorded the lovely “A Song To Sing,” their version of “Islands in the Stream,” which earned two Grammy Award nominations.

“We wrote this song a few years ago and it really opened up my mind to exploring different sounds. I think it set us on the path to explore more and got me really curious about parts of country music I hadn’t explored yet, which eventually inspired the entire record,” she says.

The video features Lambert and Stapleton in matching red suits at a roller rink. If you look carefully, you'll see she's wearing a pair of Dolly Parton’s hoop earrings lent out by the late superstar and he's got on a Kenny Rogers necklace.

“I feel like I’ve got to thank her a little bit for this record because that song, that video, that whole day, having a little piece of her around me all day, definitely inspired me for this whole project.”

Grammy Award-winning songwriter Natalie Hemby, who has cut some 40 songs with Lambert over 20 years collaborating, co-wrote and played on five tracks this time, including “Snakeskin Boots.”

“Every record has just been completely different from the next, but I would say this is the most fun era that I’ve had, as far as writing for a project of hers,” says Hemby. “Her star is just shining so bright, as big as Texas, if you will.”

Miranda says country music is in a great spot right now, reminding her of the 1990s when there was something for everyone and a lot of female artists.

“There is finally room for everyone,” she says. “We’re not fighting for like only 30 spots on the chart. And people find music all different kinds of ways now. That has allowed for there to be all kinds of voices out there within our genre.”

___

This story has been updated to correct that Lambert has earned seven Country Music Association Awards nominations, not six.

De cara a la primera vuelta de la votación el domingo, los favoritos son el senador Flávio Bolsonaro, hijo del expresidente ultraderechista Jair Bolsonaro, y el presidente Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, que busca un cuarto mandato no consecutivo.

La conservación de Amazonía ha estado ausente en gran medida de la campaña de este año. Aun así, ambos candidatos representan visiones marcadamente distintas sobre cómo debería gestionarse la selva tropical, y expertos en clima y conservación advierten que una victoria de Flávio Bolsonaro podría revertir las políticas de control de la deforestación que Lula restableció tras asumir el cargo en 2023.

Durante la presidencia de Jair Bolsonaro, de 2019 a 2022, la deforestación en Amazonía se disparó alrededor de un 60%, con más de 45.000 kilómetros cuadrados (17.400 millas cuadradas) talados, según datos oficiales. Con Lula, la deforestación ha caído un 45%, alcanzando su nivel más bajo en más de una década.

Las políticas de Lula para la Amazonía podrían enfrentar oposición en un Congreso conservador

Las políticas de Lula enfrentarían resistencia en un Congreso conservador, donde el agronegocio tiene una gran influencia. Pero su plan amplía en gran medida una agenda de recortes de emisiones y financiamiento de bosques tropicales.

Flávio Bolsonaro se ha comprometido a poner fin a la deforestación ilegal para 2029, un año antes del objetivo actual de Brasil. La meta de Lula va más allá: deforestación neta cero para 2030, lo que significa que cualquier pérdida de bosque, legal o ilegal, tendría que compensarse mediante restauración.

La deforestación y otros cambios en el uso del suelo son las mayores fuentes de emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero de Brasil, que impulsan el calentamiento global. Los riesgos son especialmente altos en Amazonía, que almacena enormes cantidades de dióxido de carbono y genera humedad atmosférica que ayuda a regular el clima mucho más allá de Sudamérica.

El senador Bolsonaro no ha detallado sus políticas relacionadas con Amazonía, y se ha limitado a decir que su administración intensificaría los esfuerzos contra el delito ambiental y promovería la conservación.

“Flávio Bolsonaro es un defensor del medio ambiente y de quienes preservan los bosques en pie y los ríos limpios”, dijo el equipo de campaña de Bolsonaro en un comunicado enviado a The Associated Press. Señaló que su gobierno crearía incentivos económicos para la conservación y la restauración.

El senador Bolsonaro dice que no cree en el cambio climático

En una entrevista en agosto con Jornal Nacional, el noticiero televisivo más visto de Brasil, Bolsonaro manifestó que no creía en el cambio climático, sino en fenómenos meteorológicos extremos.

“Son eventos cíclicos”, sostuvo Bolsonaro. “La mejor manera de abordar los problemas ambientales es lo que hicimos durante la administración (de Jair) Bolsonaro: aprobar un marco de saneamiento básico para combatir las aguas residuales que pasan frente a la puerta de tu casa”.

Márcio Astrini, director ejecutivo del Observatorio del Clima, una red de grupos ambientalistas, dijo que la deforestación podría volver a dispararse si Bolsonaro siguiera el camino de su padre de desmantelar la fiscalización y debilitar las protecciones.

“El riesgo que enfrentamos es que Brasil podría alejarse de una agenda ambiental positiva hacia una postura más similar a la que ahora adopta Estados Unidos: una de negación del clima”, advirtió Astrini.

Expertos señalan que la palabra clave en la promesa de Bolsonaro sobre la deforestación podría ser “ilegal”. Alertan que su administración podría debilitar protecciones y ampliar las zonas donde el desmonte está legalmente permitido, lo que permitiría que la deforestación aumente mientras, técnicamente, se cumple la promesa.

“Dado su largo historial de promover protecciones ambientales más débiles, existe la preocupación de que actividades que hoy se consideran ilegales simplemente puedan legalizarse y dejen de estar sujetas a fiscalización”, dijo Taciana Stec, especialista en política climática de Talanoa, un centro de análisis brasileño.

En la Amazonía, por lo general, los propietarios de tierras deben preservar el 80% de la vegetación nativa en sus predios. En 2019, Bolsonaro fue coautor de un proyecto de ley que habría eliminado ese requisito, al describirlo como un obstáculo para el desarrollo.

La propuesta se retiró tras la oposición de líderes del agronegocio, que temían que dañara la reputación de la soya y la carne brasileñas en mercados cada vez más recelosos de la deforestación.

El senador Bolsonaro dice que enfatizará la fiscalización, pero persisten las dudas

El equipo de campaña de Bolsonaro incorporó a Marcelo Donnini Freire, un gestor ambiental que ocupó cargos de alto nivel durante los últimos meses de la administración de Jair Bolsonaro, para ayudar a dar forma a su plataforma ambiental.

En septiembre, Freire se reunió con organizaciones ambientalistas, entre ellas, la Coalición Brasileña sobre Clima, Bosques y Agricultura, que aboga por el liderazgo de Brasil en la economía de bajas emisiones de carbono.

Una persona que ha participado en discusiones internas de la campaña, pero que no está autorizada a hablar públicamente, dijo que sería poco probable que un gobierno de Bolsonaro cambie las restricciones actuales a la deforestación en propiedades privadas. Una propuesta así enfrentaría la oposición del agronegocio orientado a la exportación y correría el riesgo de socavar inversiones en proyectos de carbono y biocombustibles.

Sin embargo, podría persistir la presión para aumentar el desmonte entre productores más pequeños con poco acceso a mercados de exportación o a ingresos por créditos de carbono.

Aunque el equipo de campaña de Bolsonaro dijo a la AP que él priorizaría una fiscalización impulsada por la tecnología contra incendios forestales y delitos ambientales, ha hecho campaña por toda Amazonía con promesas de flexibilizar las regulaciones ambientales.

Una herramienta de fiscalización permite que las autoridades impongan sanciones por desmonte ilegal basándose únicamente en el monitoreo satelital. Jair Bolsonaro frenó esa política, y Lula la restableció en 2023. Un proyecto de ley tramitado por la vía rápida, respaldado por la bancada del agronegocio en Brasil, la debilitaría. Flávio Bolsonaro no dijo si preservaría la medida.

Algunos aliados de Bolsonaro han sido multados por infracciones ambientales y han hecho campaña contra la fiscalización. El medio noticioso Sumauma encontró que candidatos en toda la Amazonía habían acumulado alrededor de 33 millones de dólares en multas ambientales, la mayoría, de partidos alineados con los Bolsonaro.

El candidato ultraderechista promete abrir tierras indígenas a la agricultura y la minería

En un mitin realizado en junio en Belém, que fue sede de la cumbre climática de la ONU el año pasado, Bolsonaro prometió “modernizar” las leyes ambientales y facilitar las licencias para la agricultura, la ganadería y la minería. En agosto, hizo campaña en el Territorio Indígena Estacao Parecis, en Mato Grosso, y prometió mayor autonomía para las comunidades indígenas.

“Ellos decidirán qué ocurre en sus tierras”, dijo Bolsonaro en el pódcast Market Makers. “Si quieren cultivar o arrendar su territorio, serán libres de hacerlo. Si quieren autorizar la minería en sus tierras, también podrán hacerlo”.

“Todo esto se hará de manera responsable y con salvaguardas ambientales, respetando sus deseos”, añadió.

Los territorios indígenas son algunas de las áreas mejor conservadas de Amazonía, pero enfrentan una creciente presión de agricultores y de la minería ilegal de oro. Bolsonaro no dijo si su administración establecería reglas de deforestación para tierras indígenas.

Las promesas de Flávio Bolsonaro podrían resonar entre algunos votantes amazónicos

En 2022, Jair Bolsonaro ganó en cinco de los nueve estados de Amazonía Legal de Brasil. Breno Rodrigues de Messias Leite, politólogo de la Universidad Federal de Amazonas, dijo que las promesas de Flávio Bolsonaro de flexibilizar las protecciones ambientales podrían atraer a votantes de la región que ven las normas como excesivamente restrictivas y gravosas para las empresas.

“Aquí nadie piensa: ‘Hay un bosque allá, voy a ir a talarlo’”, señaló. “Pero hay una idea profundamente arraigada en la mente de quienes viven aquí. Primero, se sienten aislados. Segundo, cuando el Estado aparece, llega con mano dura, con sanciones en lugar de infraestructura”.

Si Flávio Bolsonaro gana, agregó Leite, podría impulsar políticas que provoquen un daño ambiental. “Tendrá que responder a su base electoral, que precisamente son los productores rurales. Ese sector quiere una mayor flexibilización de las regulaciones ambientales”.

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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.

Coach Stormy Wellington, una influencer de redes sociales que actualmente tiene más de 1.6 millones de seguidores en su página de Instagram, dice que seis artículos —cinco bolsos Hermès y una botella de agua Chanel— fueron sustraídos de su casa en agosto.

“Los compré hace más de seis años y todos significan mucho para mí”, dijo Wellington a Rosh Lowe, de Local 10, el jueves. “Así que, si alguien tiene mis bolsos o sabe dónde están, pagaré una recompensa para recuperar mis bolsos”.

La policía de Miramar arrestó a un estilista de moda de 31 años y lo acusó de robo mayor en primer grado relacionado con propiedades valoradas en más de $100,000 USD.

Pero el jefe de policía Delrish Moss dijo el jueves por la noche que los agentes arrestaron al hombre equivocado.

Moss dijo que el sospechoso acusado de robar las pertenencias de Wellington y el hombre que fue arrestado tienen el mismo nombre de pila.

Según un informe de arresto, Wellington dijo a la policía que descubrió que faltaban los artículos antes de salir para un viaje de negocios. Posteriormente reportó el robo a la policía.

Wellington dijo a los investigadores que le había pedido al presunto responsable que llevara uno de sus bolsos para que fuera limpiado profesionalmente. Dijo que finalmente faltaban seis artículos.

Los artículos estaban valorados en un total de $271,938.60 USD, según el informe de arresto.

La policía dijo que los bolsos fueron localizados posteriormente en un negocio de Aventura que revende bolsos de diseñador auténticos y otros artículos de lujo. Según el informe de arresto, el hombre había llevado los artículos al negocio como préstamo.

Wellington dijo que inicialmente sintió alivio cuando se enteró de que se había realizado un arresto. Pero luego vio la foto policial del sospechoso.

“Ese no es el hombre que robó mi bolso”, dijo Wellington. “Así que ahora tengo que ir a la Fiscalía Estatal y decir: ‘Oigan, ustedes arrestaron al hombre equivocado’”.

Moss dijo que la confusión se originó por información proporcionada a las autoridades en septiembre.

“Se tomó una declaración de una víctima en septiembre”, dijo Moss. “Como resultado de eso, se emitió un not-in-custody, que es algo parecido a una orden de arresto, a nombre de esta persona en lugar del nombre de la persona que debió haber sido arrestada”.

Moss dijo que la persona que presuntamente robó las pertenencias de Wellington sigue prófuga.

“El problema es que el not-in-custody que se emite, que es emitido por la Fiscalía Estatal, tiene el nombre de la persona que está detenida”, dijo Moss. “El nombre debió haber sido el apellido de otra persona”.

Moss dijo que la policía de Miramar se comunicó con la Fiscalía Estatal del condado Broward y con la cárcel después de descubrir el error y trabajó para lograr que el hombre fuera liberado.

“Lo más importante fue que nos pusimos en contacto con la Fiscalía Estatal y la cárcel, y estamos trabajando para liberarlo de inmediato”, dijo Moss. “En el momento en que nos enteramos, estamos obligados a tomar las medidas necesarias para reparar el daño a esa persona”.

La Fiscalía Estatal de Broward dijo a Local 10 el jueves por la noche que la policía de Miramar notificó a los fiscales que la persona equivocada había sido arrestada. Los fiscales luego trabajaron para desestimar el caso y agilizar la liberación del hombre de la cárcel.

El hombre salió de la cárcel el jueves y declinó hacer comentarios. Su abogado dijo al tribunal que su cliente no sabía nada sobre el caso.

Wellington dijo que la persona que ella cree que es responsable era alguien en quien alguna vez confió y a quien consideraba un amigo y miembro de la familia.

“Alguien a quien le pagué siete cifras como empleado robó mis bolsos y todavía le dice a la gente que los va a devolver”, dijo.

Wellington dijo que aún no ha recuperado sus pertenencias.

“Estoy muy frustrada porque, honestamente, después de haber trabajado tan duro y estar pasando por esto, lo mejor para mí en este momento es sentir que se hizo justicia”, dijo.

La persona que Wellington identifica como el presunto ladrón aún no ha sido arrestada en relación con el caso, según la policía.

Se insta a cualquier persona que tenga información sobre el robo a llamar a Broward Crime Stoppers al 954-493-8477.

This nice weather will continue for the weekend with only an isolated shower. We will return to our big afternoon thunderstorms on Monday and each day next week.

Head coach Dan Quinn announced the decision Friday after practice at the team’s luxury hotel accommodations outside London.

Daniels returned to practice this week after dislocating his elbow in Week 2 against the Dallas Cowboys. He's been wearing a protective brace and expressed no concerns about further damage.

“He had a great week. It was awesome to have him back on the field in a limited fashion,” Quinn said. “He'll be out. Marcus will start.”

Quinn called Daniels' return to practice “a huge positive step for us and for him."

“We'll assess where we are next week when we get to a full week of practice all the way through,” the coach said.

Last week, Mariota threw three touchdown passes in the 33-31 win over the Seattle Seahawks.

It’s the second elbow dislocation for Daniels, who missed most of the second half of last season with the same injury.

The third-year quarterback, who led the Commanders to the NFC championship game in his rookie season, had said Thursday he was preparing mentally to start against the Colts and wasn’t worried about re-injuring the elbow.

“That’s what the brace is for,” Daniels said.

The Commanders host the New York Giants on Sunday, Oct. 11. The team has a bye in Week 7.

“Certainly, anytime you can practice, that’s a big deal,” Quinn said. “So for him to get back, that was a big step for us. Typical for him, he’s more ready than you’d expect. That’s just kind of how he is.”

Quinn was asked what he needs to see to put Daniels back on the field.

“It's really just like an entire group medical performance. Where he’s at, the practice part was a big piece of that today. But next week we’re planning on for him to get a full week of practice. That would be a big deal for us.”

Also Friday, running back Rachaad White (shoulder) did not practice for a third straight day. His game designation will be in the official injury report later Friday. White has rushed for 100 yards on 22 carries through three games. He also has 9 receptions for 51 yards and a touchdown.

The team signed Austin Ekeler on Monday and the veteran running back “had a good week,” Quinn said. “He’s certainly not a player that you would say, ‘he looks rusty.’ That did not surprise me.”

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See AP’s full NFL coverage here

According to a blog post on Friday by Matt Garman, Amazon’s CEO of its cloud computing arm, Amazon has already spent more than $1 billion in communities with a large data center presence over the past three years.

Garman also said that Amazon is no longer using nondisclosure agreements with government agencies it works with on its projects, and it said it hosts open houses in communities where it operates to share information about what it's doing. He also warned against the spread of what he believes is misinformation about data centers' impact on the environment and energy rates — and he cited the dangers of over 100 moratoriums against these centers being considered across the country.

“If these measures are enacted, the U.S. could be writing its own losing ticket to this race, and the consequences would last generations,” he wrote. “As a country, we can’t afford to find ourselves in that position. There is urgency to this data center build out because we aren’t the only country that sees the benefits of AI for the economy and national security.”

Garman's pledge comes as data centers, which power artificial intelligence and cloud computing, have become a hot political issue heading into the midterms as tech giants race to invest more money in expanding these infrastructures.

Small, under-the-radar data centers have been around for decades. But the explosion of artificial intelligence chatbots has resulted in data centers that are bigger than anything just about any town has ever seen. Some of them dwarf football stadiums and factories and consume more energy than small cities.

By 2030, data centers will account for nearly 3% of the world’s projected electricity use, with 935 trillion watt-hours, according to a United Nations University report released in June on these buildings' environmental footprint.

Amazon said in July that it now expects to spend $220 billion in capital expenditures in 2026, including on data centers and other technology investments. That’s up from its prior estimate of $200 billion.

President Donald Trump has embraced the building of more data centers, but there is growing wariness from voters. About 6 in 10 Americans support limiting the number of new data centers that can be built, including most Democrats and Republicans.

And a majority of Americans are “extremely” or “very” concerned about the impact of data centers on electricity prices or the water supply in the communities where they are built.

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Temperatures will be mild, right around 70°, but showers at kickoff are expected to grow steadier during the game.

Field conditions could become a bit sloppy, but hopefully the Canes can overcome these conditions and come home still undefeated at 5-0.

CLICK HERE for the latest forecast updates in South Florida from Local 10’s Weather Authority.

Las temperaturas serán agradables, alrededor de los 70°F, pero se espera que las lluvias al inicio del partido se vuelvan más constantes durante el juego.

Las condiciones del campo podrían volverse un poco complicadas, pero esperemos que los Canes puedan superar estas condiciones y regresar a casa aún invictos con marca de 5-0.

Click aquí para últimas actualizaciones del clima en el sur de Florida de la Autoridad Meteorológica de Local 10.

El informe empieza a llenar los vacíos sobre lo que pasó cuando el avión se salió de la pista en el Aeropuerto Internacional de Miami, en un accidente que dejó cinco muertos.

La NTSB identificó varios factores que llevaron al accidente. Uno de ellos es que los reversores de empuje del avión no se activaron y que los frenos aerodinámicos estaban recogidos cuando el piloto intentó aterrizar.

Los reversores de empuje son clave para que un avión reduzca la velocidad. La NTSB determinó que no se activaron durante el intento de aterrizaje, pero aún no se ha confirmado si eso se debió a una falla mecánica o a un error del piloto.

Los frenos aerodinámicos también estaban retraídos y bloqueados en su posición de reposo, es decir, no se desplegaron.

El piloto activó manualmente los frenos de las ruedas cuando el avión iba a unas 168 millas por hora sobre la pista.

Unos ocho segundos después, el piloto intentó abortar el aterrizaje para volver a elevar el avión e intentarlo de nuevo. En ese momento, según el informe, al avión solo le quedaban unos 930 pies de pista.

Cuando el piloto trató de volver a frenar, quedaban unos 415 pies de pista. Finalmente, el avión se salió de la pista a unas 130 millas por hora y arrolló a cinco personas que estaban en vehículos estacionados cerca, quienes murieron.

Otro detalle del informe tiene que ver con la experiencia de la tripulación. El capitán obtuvo su certificado de piloto de transporte de línea aérea en mayo, apenas unos meses antes del accidente, aunque acumulaba miles de horas de vuelo.

El primer oficial obtuvo su certificado en abril del año pasado.

Aún falta confirmar si el accidente se debió por completo a una falla mecánica o si un error del piloto influyó.

El informe preliminar también incluye detalles sobre si el clima pudo haber influido en el accidente, además de más información sobre el lugar donde quedaron los restos del avión.

La investigación sigue en curso, y la NTSB continúa analizando lo que ocurrió ese día.

Tourists have long flocked to the bridge over the Vltava River to visit the statue of St John of Nepomuk. Now, visitors are lining up at the nearby Pietà sculpture to recreate an iconic 1988 photograph of music icons Depeche Mode.

The British electro-rock band first crossed the Iron Curtain in March 1988 to play a historic concert in Prague, then the capital of communist Czechoslovakia. They returned that November with renowned Dutch photographer Anton Corbijn, who captured them exploring the city for photographs that later appeared in his book, “Depeche Mode: Strangers.”

One black-and-white image has a particular appeal for fans: Dave Gahan and Martin Gore standing beside the Pietà sculpture.

Fans have been making the pilgrimage for years, but photographs of a mass gathering on the bridge between the band’s Prague concerts in 2024 appear to have helped fuel a modern-day boom.

Currently, the photo recreated by the visiting fans is trending with millions of views on social media.

Jorge Sanchez, from California, and his wife were among the recent visitors.

“Well, I remember seeing the picture from way back, and then I kind of remember, and I looked it up, and I learned that it was here, so I wanted to make sure I took a picture,” Sanchez said.

“I think it fit at the time, you know, with their music, you know, and their message and their music with your personal Jesus and all of that, so it’s kind of fitting.”

Maria Hofer and Lara Hinteregger came from Austria.

“We just saw this on Pinterest or on TikTok, and it’s kind of one of the most famous pictures you can take here in Prague,” Hofer said. “So, we wanted to do it as well,” Hofer said.

“Yeah, and we also like the vibe of the music. We feel like it fits the vibe of the city pretty well,” Hinteregger added.

St John Nepomuk was tortured to death at the request of King Wenceslas IV in 1393 because he refused to violate the seal of the confession and reveal to him the sins of his wife. His dead body was thrown into the river from Charles Bridge.

It is said that touching the polished engravings of the event placed at the pedestal of the Nepomuk statue will bring luck and ensure a return to Prague.

It is not clear if the members of Depeche Mode placed their hands on the Nepomuk statue in March 1988, but they returned later that same year — and their photographs have given fans another reason to follow.

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Associated Press video journalist Stanislav Hodina contributed.

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Coach Stormy Wellington, a social media influencer who currently has over 1.6 million followers on her Instagram page, says six items — five Hermès handbags and a Chanel water bottle — were taken from her home back in August.

“I bought them over six years (ago) and all of them mean a lot to me,” Wellington told Local 10’s Rosh Lowe on Thursday. “So, if anybody has my bags or knows the whereabouts of my bags, I will pay a reward to get my bags returned.”

Miramar police arrested a 31-year-old fashion stylist and accused him of first-degree grand theft involving property valued at more than $100,000.

But Miramar Police Department Chief Delrish Moss said Thursday night that officers arrested the wrong man.

Moss said the suspect accused of stealing Wellington’s belongings and the man who was arrested have the same first name.

According to an arrest report, Wellington told police she discovered the items were missing before leaving for a business trip. She later reported the theft to police.

Wellington told investigators she had asked the alleged culprit to take one of her handbags to be professionally cleaned. She said six items were ultimately missing.

The items were valued altogether at $271,938.60, according to the arrest report.

Police said the handbags were later located at a business in Aventura that resells authentic designer handbags and other luxury goods. According to the arrest report, the man had brought the items to the business as a loan.

Wellington said she initially felt relieved when she learned an arrest had been made. But then she saw the suspect’s mugshot.

“That is not the gentleman that stole my bag,” Wellington said. “So now I got to go to the State Attorney’s Office and say, ‘Hey, you guys arrested the wrong guy.’”

Moss said the mix-up stemmed from information provided to authorities in September.

“There was a statement taken from a victim back in September,” Moss said. “As a result of that, a not-in-custody, which is kind of like a warrant, was issued in this name rather than the name of the person who should have been arrested.”

Moss said the person who allegedly stole Wellington’s belongings remains at large.

“The issue is the not-in-custody that is issued, which is issued from the State Attorney’s Office, has the name of the person who is in custody,” Moss said. “The name should have been another person’s last name.”

Moss said Miramar police contacted the Broward County State Attorney’s Office and the jail after discovering the error and worked to have the man released.

“The most important thing was we got in contact with the State Attorney’s Office and the jail, and we’re working to immediately release him,” Moss said. “The minute we find out, we’re obliged to take the steps to make that person whole.”

The Broward State Attorney’s Office told Local 10 Thursday night that Miramar police notified prosecutors that the wrong person had been arrested. Prosecutors then worked to dismiss the case and expedite the man’s release from jail.

The man walked out of jail Thursday and declined to comment. His attorney told the court that his client did not know anything about the case.

Wellington said the person she believes is responsible was someone she once trusted and considered a friend and family member.

“Someone who I paid seven figures as an employee stole my bag(s) and (is) still telling people he’s going to bring them back,” she said.

Wellington said she has not recovered her belongings yet.

“I’m very frustrated because honestly, for me to have worked so hard and to be going through this, the best thing for me right now is to feel justice,” she said.

The person Wellington identifies as the suspected thief has not yet been arrested in connection with the case, according to police.

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

Learning when to challenge is key.

The Cincinnati Reds had a net gain of 16.8 runs, according to Baseball Savant calculations of total run value of overturns on challenges. The Los Angeles Angels were next at 14, followed by the Athletics (12.3) and Minnesota (10.1).

Cleveland was 30th at minus-13.4 and several other playoff teams rated poorly by that metric: the Los Angeles Dodgers (26th, -8.5), Tampa Bay (25th, -7.8), the Chicago Cubs (21st, -4.6), Milwaukee (20th, -2.4), Atlanta (18th, -2.1), San Diego (17th, -1.9), the New York Yankees (16th, -2.1) and Houston (15th, -0.8).

Houston's Jose Altuve topped batters with 5.6 projected runs gained, followed by Seattle's Cal Raleigh (4.6), Colorado's Kyle Karros (4.5) and Cincinnati's Sal Stewart (4.4) and JJ Bleday (4.1).

The Cubs' Seiya Suzuki led with 5.7 runs projected lost in defensive challenges, just ahead of the Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani (5.5), the Cubs' Ian Happ (5.2) and Michael Busch (5.1), and the New York Mets' Brett Baty (3.5).

Milwaukee’s William Contreras led catchers with 5.2 projected runs prevented, just in front of Cleveland's Patrick Bailey (5.1), the Mets' Francisco Alvarez (4.5) and San Diego's Freddy Fermin, Kansas City's Carter Jensen and Drew Romo of the Chicago White Sox (all 4.3).

“It’s like a new muscle for players to learn,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “You have instincts over what to do in certain situations. This is a new instinct of knowing when to challenge and instinctively within a second, oh, that’s a ball. What’s the situation?”

There were 10,557 challenges, an average of 4.35 per game, and 5,686 led to overturned decisions.

Catchers succeeded on 59% of their challenges, while batters had a 49% success rate and pitchers — who seldom challenged compared to catchers and batters — were at 40%.

“ABS has really impacted the game,” Houston manager Joe Espada said. “It has really changed how more selective some of these lineups are, how more disciplined they are, how we force pitchers to be more aggressive in the zone more than in the past.”

Contreras, Realmuto stand out among players

Contreras led all catchers with 185 challenges, and he also won the most with 105 (57%). Meanwhile, Philadelphia's J.T. Realmuto had the highest success rate among catchers with at least 75 challenges at 81%. He was followed by the Cubs’ Carson Kelly (69%), Cincinnati’s Tyler Stephenson and Colorado’s Hunter Goodman (68% each), and Detroit’s Dillon Dingler (66%).

Realmuto added the first game-ending ABS challenge in postseason history this week, successfully flipping a call to end Game 2 of the Phillies' NL Wild Card Series against Atlanta.

The lowest percentages among those with 75 or more challenges were Alvarez (47%), Fermin, Romo (48%) and Edgar Quero of the White Sox (49%).

Stewart led batter challenges with 51 appeals and won 28 (55%). Philadelphia’s Bryce Harper was next with 47, winning 21 (45%).

On success rate, Arizona’s Gabriel Moreno (68%) led batters with 20 or more challenges, followed by Miami’s Esteury Ruiz (65%), Raleigh (64%), Minnesota’s Josh Bell and San Francisco’s Bryce Eldridge (62% each).

Boston’s Ceddanne Rafaela and Colorado’s Willi Castro were at 25%, the lowest success rate among players with at least 20 challenges.

Tampa Bay’s Yandy Díaz had 686 plate appearances without attempting a challenge, by far the most in the majors by a batter, ahead of Toronto’s Nathan Lukes (450). Díaz has said he’d consider challenging a call in the World Series.

Cincinnati's 62% success rate led MLB, followed by the Athletics and Arizona (60% each), the Cubs (59%), Texas (58%), Detroit and Philadelphia (57% each) and Miami (56%).

Pittsburgh was least successful at 47%, with the White Sox and Cleveland at 49% each, and Baltimore and San Diego at 50%.

“We'll keep tweaking it, keep talking about it every day and keep trying to remind the players when we have challenges, when we don’t, when’s a good time, when’s not a good time,” Padres manager Craig Stammen said.

Players were more aggressive with ABS challenges in late innings

Knowing teams lose their right to challenge after two incorrect appeals, players used ABS less often early in games.

There were more challenges in the ninth than any other inning — sometimes because teams knew there would be no later innings to save them for — even though many games end without the bottom half. ABS was used in 1,366 ninth-inning challenges, with a 40% success rate.

“Having one in your pocket is kind of — it’s nice to know you have it,” Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly said.

The average for innings 1-3 was 1,005 challenges with a 61% success rate.

Teams also got more aggressive as the season went on. Challenges per game rose from 3.76 in March to 4.60 in August and 4.61 in September, with most of that increase in catcher appeals.

“You can overthink it if you let yourself,” Atlanta manager Walt Weiss said. “You start talking about saving it for certain situations, it probably doesn’t end well. My message was the lower the leverage, the more certainty you have to have.”

Overturn rate for umpires most often behind plate ranged from 42-66%

Andy Fletcher had the highest overturn rate among umpires with more than 100 challenges, getting reversed on 80 of 121 (66.1%), according to taptochallenge.com. Rob Drake was next at 64.6%, followed by Cory Blaser (64.1%), Adrian Johnson (64%), Manny Gonzalez (62.5%) and Mike Estabrook (61.7%).

Jansen Visconti had the lowest overturn rate among those with triple-figure challenges, reversed on 43 of 102 (42.2%). He was just ahead of Mark Ripperger (44.3%), James Jean (44.9%), Ryan Additon (45%), Nestor Ceja (46%) and Alex Tosi (46.9%).

“When it gets overturned by less than a 10th of an inch, they do not like it,” Realmuto said of umpires. “When it’s that small, they don’t like it. That’s for sure.”

Video review success rate drops

Among video review used for other decisions such as safe/out calls, the 52.9% success rate was down from 54.8% in 2025 and 53.7% in 2024 and up from 48.5% in 2023.

There were 1,294 team challenges, an increase from 1,197 in 2025. Among the challenges this year, 243 calls were confirmed (18.8%) and 367 were allowed to stand (28.4%) when there was not clear and convincing evidence to overturn them. The average time of a review was 1 minute, 25 seconds.

Kansas City was the most successful club, overturning calls in 23 of 33 challenges (69.7%). It was followed by Philadelphia (68.1%), Cleveland (67.4%), Milwaukee (65.9%), Arizona (64.1%), the Mets (62.5%) and St. Louis (61.5%).

San Francisco was the least successful, winning only 14 of 45 for 31.1%. Texas was at 36.6% and Pittsburgh at 38.6%.

After initially starting video review in August 2008 for home run calls, MLB vastly expanded replays for the 2014 season.

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AP Sports Writers Charles Odum and Kristie Rieken contributed to this report.

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

Heading into the first round of voting on Sunday, the front-runners are Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is seeking a fourth, nonconsecutive term.

The conservation of the Amazon has been largely absent from this year’s campaign. Still, the two men represent starkly different visions of how the rainforest should be managed, and climate and conservation experts warn that a victory by Flávio Bolsonaro could reverse the deforestation-control policies Lula restored after taking office in 2023.

During Jair Bolsonaro’s presidency, from 2019 to 2022, Amazon deforestation surged by about 60%, with over 45,000 square kilometers (17,400 square miles) cleared, according to official data. Under Lula, deforestation has fallen 45%, reaching its lowest level in more than a decade.

Lula's Amazon policies could face opposition in conservative Congress

Lula’s policies would face resistance from a conservative Congress, where agribusiness holds significant sway. But his plan largely extends an agenda of emissions cuts and financing tropical forests.

Flávio Bolsonaro has pledged to end illegal deforestation by 2029, a year ahead of Brazil’s current target. Lula’s goal goes further: zero net deforestation by 2030, meaning any forest loss, legal or illegal, would have to be offset through restoration.

Deforestation and other land-use changes are Brazil’s largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions, which drive global warming. The stakes are especially high in the Amazon, which stores vast amounts of carbon dioxide and generates atmospheric moisture that helps regulate weather far beyond South America.

Sen. Bolsonaro has not detailed his Amazon-related policies, saying broadly that his administration would intensify efforts against environmental crime and promote conservation.

“Flávio Bolsonaro is a defender of the environment and of those who preserve standing forests and clean rivers,” his campaign told The Associated Press in a statement. It said his government would create economic incentives for conservation and restoration.

Sen. Bolsonaro says he doesn't believe climate change is real

In an August interview with Jornal Nacional, Brazil’s most-watched television newscast, Bolsonaro said he did not believe in climate change, but rather in extreme weather events.

“Those are cyclical events,” Bolsonaro said. “The best way to address environmental issues is what we did during the (Jair) Bolsonaro administration: approve a basic sanitation framework to combat the sewage flowing past your front door.”

Márcio Astrini, executive director of the Climate Observatory, a network of environmental groups, said deforestation could surge again if Bolsonaro followed his father’s path of dismantling enforcement and weakening protections.

“The risk we face is that Brazil could move away from a positive environmental agenda toward a position more similar to the one now adopted by the United States — one of climate denial,” Astrini said.

Experts say the key word in Bolsonaro’s deforestation pledge may be “illegal.” They warn his administration could weaken protections and expand where clearing is legally permitted, allowing deforestation to rise while technically honoring the pledge.

“Given his long history of advocating weaker environmental protections, there is concern that activities now considered illegal could simply be legalized and no longer subject to enforcement,” said Taciana Stec, a climate policy specialist at Talanoa, a Brazilian think tank.

Landowners in the Amazon generally must preserve 80% of the native vegetation on their properties. In 2019, Bolsonaro co-sponsored a bill that would have ended that requirement, describing it as an obstacle to development.

The proposal was dropped after opposition from agribusiness leaders, who feared it would damage the reputation of Brazilian soy and beef in markets increasingly wary of deforestation.

Sen. Bolsonaro says he'll emphasize enforcement, but questions remain

Bolsonaro’s campaign tapped Marcelo Donnini Freire, an environmental manager who held senior positions during the final months of Jair Bolsonaro’s administration, to help shape its environmental platform.

In September, Freire met with environmental organizations, including the Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture, which advocates for Brazilian leadership in the low-carbon economy.

A person who has been part of internal campaign discussions but is not authorized to speak publicly said a Bolsonaro administration would be unlikely to change current deforestation restrictions on private properties. Such a proposal would face opposition from export-oriented agribusiness and risk undermining investments in carbon projects and biofuels.

Pressure for increased clearing could persist, however, among smaller producers with little access to export markets or carbon-credit revenue.

Although Bolsonaro’s campaign told AP he would prioritize technology-driven enforcement against wildfires and environmental crimes, he has campaigned across the Amazon on promises to loosen environmental regulations.

One enforcement tool allows authorities to impose sanctions for illegal clearing based solely on satellite monitoring. Jair Bolsonaro halted the policy, and Lula restored it in 2023. A fast-tracked bill backed by Brazil’s agribusiness caucus would weaken it. Flávio Bolsonaro did not say whether he would preserve the measure.

Some Bolsonaro allies have been fined for environmental violations and campaigned against enforcement. News outlet Sumauma found that candidates across the Amazon had accumulated about $33 million in environmental fines, most of them from parties aligned with the Bolsonaros.

Far-right candidate pledges to open Indigenous lands for farming, mining

At a June rally in Belem, which hosted last year’s U.N. climate summit, Bolsonaro vowed to “modernize” environmental laws and ease licensing for farming, cattle ranching and mining. In August, he campaigned in the Estacao Parecis Indigenous Territory in Mato Grosso, pledging greater autonomy for Indigenous communities.

“They will decide what happens on their lands,” Bolsonaro told the Market Makers podcast. “If they want to farm or lease their territory, they will be free to do so. If they want to authorize mining on their lands, they will be able to do that as well.”

“All of this will be done responsibly and with environmental safeguards, while respecting their wishes,” he added.

Indigenous territories are among the Amazon’s best-preserved areas but face growing pressure from farmers and illegal gold mining. Bolsonaro did not say whether his administration would establish deforestation rules for Indigenous lands.

Flávio Bolsonaro pledges may resonate with some Amazon voters

In 2022, Jair Bolsonaro carried five of the nine states in Brazil’s Legal Amazon. Breno Rodrigues de Messias Leite, a political scientist at the Federal University of Amazonas, said Flávio Bolsonaro's promises to loosen environmental protections may appeal to voters in the region who see the rules as overly restrictive and burdensome to businesses.

“Nobody here thinks, ‘There’s a forest over there, let me go cut it down,’” Leite said. “But one idea is deeply ingrained in the minds of the people who live here. First, they feel isolated. Second, when the state shows up, it comes with a heavy hand, with sanctions rather than with infrastructure.”

If Flávio Bolsonaro wins, Leite added, he could pursue policies that result in environmental damage. “He will have to respond to his electoral base, which is precisely rural producers. That sector wants further loosening of environmental regulations.”

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

In the last several months, we have witnessed Secretary of State Marco Rubio continuing to sanction top officials of the Cuban government and their organizations, trying to force them to change or come to the table and negotiate with the U.S.

On the other hand, we just learned that the White House authorized a sale of 3.2 million barrels of oil to Cuba supposedly going to Cuba’s private sector. Are you kidding?

When dealing with Venezuela and Cuba, Trump has clearly shown that making money is more important than regime change in these two countries.

Oct. 1: Robberies and delinquencies increase in Cuba

According to Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez (14yMedio), this past Monday a bank was robbed in Lawton, Cuba in the middle of a major power failure.

The robbers got away with the money that was to be paid the next day to people who had retired. At the same time, many solar panels that have been installed around Cuba to help with the growing electrical shortages are being stolen at night by robbers.

The Cuban government is concerned that as socio-economic conditions continue to get worse on the island nation, these practices will increase. So far, no one has been caught.

The new sanctions announced Tuesday directly have an impact on the small and mid-size private enterprises that are allowed by the Cuban government new economic reforms introduced a few months ago. Under the new sanctions, these businesses will not be allowed to have bank accounts in the U.S.

In addition, the new sanctions will prohibit educational exchanges and “people to people” contact that have been used for tourism purposes.

The Cuban government was quick to react by saying that these new U.S. sanctions further hurt the Cuban people. Cuba continues to deny that their own system is mostly responsible for the current poor socio-economic conditions on the island nation.

Sept. 29: Secretary Rubio sends a clear message to Cuba

On Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio sent a stern and clear message to the Cuban government. “Do not think that you can wait out the end of this administration. Change your government or you will face the consequences.”

I do not believe, given the problems in the Middle East, that the U.S. will open another military front. Although even if they do, it will not take long for the U.S. to take out Cuba’s military.

The problem is what do we do after with the island? I do not believe Cuba is ready for a democratic government.

Sept. 25: Cuba denies negotiations with U.S.

President Trump announced two days ago that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has started negotiations once again with members of the Cuban government.

Cuba’s Vice Minister Fernández de Cosio was quickly to react and make it clear that such negotiations are not true.

In the meantime the support amongst the Cuban-American and Venezuelan community for Trump is eroding fast ahead of the midterm elections.

Sept. 24: The Trump administration needs a lesson in simple mathematics

At a press conference Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in reference to Cuba that we cannot expect to change a country that has been under a totalitarian regime for 60 years in six months. First, Mr. Secretary, this coming Jan. 1 will mark 68 (2027-1959= 68) years since the Castro’s took over power.

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Trump, Rubio and the Cuban American members of Congress from South Florida have said multiple times that by the end of 2026 the Cuban government would fall. Now they say by the end of 2029. Maybe the 6 was reversed from the beginning.

Secondly, we captured Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela this past January. The following week, President Trump said that in two weeks (a week has 7 days. 7x2=14), Cuba would be next. Let’s check the math, Mr. President. It’s been eight months since the capture of Maduro. That’s about 240 days.

The foreign policy of this administration continues to be a disaster. We have 101 ambassadorial appointments open around the world out of 196. 40 appointees are waiting Senate hearing and confirmation. But their qualifications are so bad they probably will not be confirm. 95% of President Trump’s ambassadorial appointments are political with limited international relations and diplomatic knowledge.

Furthermore, 42 times the Trump administration has announced a cease fire with Iran because both nations were close to a deal. So far the war goes on with no clear exit strategy.

In the meantime, Cuban Americans and Venezuelans in South Florida have realized that the Trump administration strategies are just a game with empty promises.

There is still time to correct your calculations but you are running out of time, mid-term elections are around the corner. Do the math.

Sept. 22: Trump calls Cuba ‘failed state that will fall’

This morning, President Donald Trump addressed the annual United Nations General Assembly meeting.

In his speech, he called Cuba a “failed state that will fall.” He further stated that “communism will never come to the U.S. but liberty will soon come to Cuba.” Trump further stated that Cuba represents a threat to U.S. national security -- all these accusations without giving any specific details.

Sept. 22: Wealthy, influential Cuban-Americans with ties to Trump planning for ‘post-communist’ Cuba if regimes falls

According to an article by the Wall Street Journal, wealthy and influential Cuban-Americans with ties to President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have been meeting in lawyer offices and hotel conference rooms to plan for a “post-communist” Cuba if the regime were to fall soon.

The “change” model seems to first attempt to stabilize Cuba by restructuring the economy that could possibly lead to a new form of government.

Many of these individuals are planning to personally play a role in rebuilding Cuba. These individuals run wealthy businesses. However, for the most part, the opposition groups in South Florida have been left out of these conversations or any role they might play in the future of Cuba.

Sept. 21: Cuba’s leadership continue to blame their problems on everybody else except themselves

Cuban Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Carlos Fernandez de Cossio made a surreal statement yesterday, claiming that everyone at the top of the Cuban government leadership get, on average, two hours of electricity per day.

We know that most of Cuba’s inner circle of power have generators or solar panels that provide them electricity around the clock each day.

What Fernandez de Cossio does not admit is that the electrical problem has been caused by the Cuban government not being able to fix the outdated electrical plans that are the cause of the problem.

Sept. 18: Republican Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar breaks with Trump over immigration policy

After supporting President Donald Trump’s policy on immigration, Republican Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar issued a video yesterday criticizing Trump.

The Department of Homeland Security was quickly to react and say that the Trump administration will continue enforcing the policy.

We need to ask ourselves whether Salazar’s change of heart has to do more with political survival since she faces a tough race in the midterm elections this coming November from well known South Floridian Eliott Rodriguez (D).

Sept. 17: Cuba is not Venezuela

A new poll recently done by FIU, inside Venezuela and Cuba, show how different the situations are for U.S. foreign policy.

The poll shows that 90% of Venezuelans want free and democratic elections this year, which I do not believe the current Interim President Delcy Rodriguez will agree to. I’m also sure that she will use Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s plan of “stabilization, recovery, and transition phase” to say that the first stage has not been fully accomplished. There was no timetable put on the plan.

The case of Cuba is very different. The population wants their economic and social needs met before political reforms, which goes to my argument that Cuba has a very short history of democratic governments.

So to remind our local members of Congress. To say that “we must return Cuba to democracy” will not happen anytime soon.

Sept. 16: Rubio’s latest actions on Cuba

Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently sent more humanitarian aid to Cuba, and it is being distributed by the non-governmental organization (NGO) associated with the Catholic Church, Caritas of Cuba.

At the same time, Rubio warned international banks and businesses not to collaborate with any Cuban business entities that have been sanctioned by the U.S.

Secretary Rubio also called for the Cuban government to change and become a democracy.

By now, we should understand that changing governments like Cuba, which have been under totalitarian control, is not easy and will take time. Especially countries like Cuba that, in their political history, have had unsustainable democratic governments.

Sept. 15: Cuba becomes a betting market for U.S. prediction markets

Cuba has become a betting market in the USA.

The betting site Polymarket shows how people in the U.S. are betting on everything from the removal of Cuba’s President Miguel Díaz-Canel from power to when and if the U.S. will invade Cuba or make an economic agreement with Cuba.

The last prediction is whether the U.S. will go and get indicted Cuban leader Raúl Castro.

Sept. 10: Russia denies Cuba full membership in BRICS

BRICS is an organization of 11 emerging economies around the world. The organization works to influence their global importance and reshape economic governance.

The membership includes Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates.

Partner nations include Belarus, Cuba, Nigeria and Thailand.

The Russians turned down Cuba for full membership into the organization because of Cuba’s poor economic conditions and poor predictions by economists moving forward.

Sept. 9: Cuba and the U.S. stuck in diplomatic rhetoric

Cuba’s Brigadier General Emir Mesa Corona, who is in charge of personal security at the Ministry of Interior, sent a strong message to the U.S. not to even think of trying to kidnap Raul Castro or anyone in Cuba’s government or they will face serious consequences.

At the same time, Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parilla admitted that backroom negotiations with the U.S. continue but the U.S. will not soften their positions. Cuba wants the economic embargo lifted while the U.S. wants regime change.

Sept. 8: Blind passion for Cuban politics leads to a political circus between Miami, Havana and DC

As a little boy growing up in Miami, I remember when every presidential candidate from both political parties would come to campaign in Miami and promised that if elected, they would work to see a “Free Cuba.” They would end their speeches with “Viva Cuba Libre.” Local politicians representing different municipalities in Miami-Dade would talk about U.S. foreign policy towards Cuba like they controlled it, and yet, they had nothing to do with it within their scope of responsibilities. But it got them the votes they needed to be elected and remain in power, while political leaders in Cuba continued to blame everything wrong on the island on the U.S. economic embargo, or as they call it, “the blockade.”

On Jan. 3, the U.S. military captured Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela with the assistance of their current Interim President Delcy Rodriguez and brought him to the U.S. to face justice. Shortly thereafter, President Donald Trump announced that Cuba would be next.

The Trump administration began to sanction Cuban organizations and individuals of the government in an attempt to squeeze them out of power. So far, they are still in power. The Cuban government began to prepare for a U.S. invasion. To this date, it has not happened and probably never will.

On May 20, the U.S. Justice Department indicted Raul Castro for the downing of the Brothers to the Rescue planes in 1996 in a theater-like political rally at the Freedom Tower in downtown Miami. So far nothing has happened and nothing is going to happen. There is no Delcy Rodriguez in Cuba. A week ago, many media outlets across Miami reported, based on sources from inside the island, that Raul Castro was gravely ill. This past weekend, Raul reappeared surrounded by Cuba’s military elite.

Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the three Cuban-American members of Congress from South Florida had announced that by the end of 2026, Cuba would fall. Now it has been pushed back to 2029. Furthermore, Rubio recently said that the problem in dealing with Cuba is the Helms-Burton Law (Senator Jesse Helms and Richard Burton, both Republicans) that was enacted by Congress in 1996, also with the hard work of the late Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart and signed into law by Democratic President Bill Clinton.

The three Cuban-American members of Congress made it clear that the goal was to return Cuba to democracy. What democracy? Cuba did not have a democratic government before Fidel Castro took power. How much do they really know about Cuban history? Or is it just a play on words and empty promises?

So as time passes each day, the Cuban-American community is beginning to ask itself, what is really going on in D.C.?

It would not surprise me that in the near future the Trump organizations would negotiate to buy the empty Melia Hotels in Cuba and put the Trump name on them. After all, we now own a big chunk of Venezuelan oil and there was no regime change as promised.

Will we ever learn? How much longer are we going to be blind by our passion?

Sept 6: Raul Castro makes public appearance

After much speculation about Cuba’s Raul Castro being close to death, the Cuban leader showed up at a military event yesterday accompanied by his grandson, Raulito, and Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel.

Sept 3: Raul Castro stable, according to sources

Sources in Cuba say Raul Castro, 95, is stable despite reports about his declining health. According to sources, retired General Abelardo Colome Ibarra, known as “ El Fury,” is currently in worse condition. Colome Ibarra was head of the Ministry of the Interior and highly respected by the Castro brothers and the Cuban military.

Sept 3: President Trump’s hands are tied with regard to Cuba, Rubio says

After months of saying Cuba would be next, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said today that the president’s hands are tied because of the Helms Burton Law which requires no normalization between the U.S. and Cuba unless there is regime change and a move towards a democratic government.

Even if Raul Castro was to die in the near future, I do not expect regime change.

Only the U.S. can change the Helms-Burton Law and I don’t expect that to happen anytime in the near future or after the mid-term elections.

Sept. 2: Children in Cuba start new school year amid more challenges than any other year before

Children in Cuba started the new school year Tuesday facing a lack of supplies, books, uniforms and teachers, and buildings that are falling apart, along with a lack of food to feed the children.

According to the Cuban minister of education, this will be a very challenging year unlike any others.

Cuban education was once one of the big accomplishments of the revolution. However, it was also used to indoctrinate the students in an ideology that no one on the island nation believes anymore.

Sept. 1: Raul Castro hospitalized, sources say

Reliable sources inside Cuba have informed me this afternoon that Raul Castro has been hospitalized. We need to be careful and not to over speculate what might happen until further notice.

Dr. Andy S. Gomez is Local 10’s Cuba Analyst. Gomez is considered one of the leading scholars on Cuba. He worked in higher education for 32 years before retiring from the University of Miami in 2012.

On Friday, he’ll attend a rally in Alabama, then travel to Ohio on Saturday. He could have his work cut out for him: Just 26% of U.S. adults approve of his handling of the economy overall, marking a new low, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Trump’s immigration policies, meanwhile, are finding renewed attention in the Supreme Court, which agreed Thursday to review his administration’s denial of bond hearings for immigrants during its sweeping crackdown. The justices will consider whether immigrants who've been living in the U.S. have a right to a hearing to determine if they should remain detained while challenging their possible deportation.

Here's the latest:

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth orders one day ‘stand-down’ to encourage military vote

Hegseth made the announcement in a video in which he said the move was “apolitical.” It’s his latest effort to encourage Republican-leaning military members to cast ballots ahead of what’s shaping up to be a challenging election for the party.

Earlier this week, Hegseth said that if every member of the military cast ballots, they could out-vote heavily Democratic cities like Boston and Detroit. His department was also sued Thursday by Democrats over a quiet change that makes it harder for Democratic-leaning overseas civilians to cast ballots. Earlier this year, the Army reduced the number of its voting assistance officers.

Hegseth has also announced that the Defense Department will provide cybersecurity for November’s election, a function previously done by a civilian agency that’s been gutted by Trump’s budget cuts after its prior leaders challenged Trump’s false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

Iowa lawmakers to vote on raising tax incentive cap for a $15B steel plant

Iowa lawmakers returned to the Statehouse on Friday to consider expanding the ceiling on state tax incentives in an effort to secure a $15 billion steel plant project for the state.

President Trump announced the plant Monday alongside Iowa elected officials, heralding the project as a major economic and national security investment.

Five weeks before the midterm elections, Republicans seized on the promise of good-paying jobs and a central role for the heartland in the push for American steel manufacturing. It’s celebrated as an opportunity for southeast Iowa, an area along the Mississippi River that once thrived as a hub for industry but has since suffered from shuttered facilities and dwindled populations. Still, the deal and the tax abatements it could carry have also been met with some skepticism in rural Iowa and Des Moines alike.

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Hiring slipped and unemployment rose last month in the final jobs report before midterms

U.S. businesses and other employers added just 29,000 job in September, down from a revised 133,000 in August and far fewer than economists had expected. The unemployment rate rose to a still-low 4.2% from 4.1%, the Labor Department said.

Job gains in July were revised lower to show employers shed 10,000 jobs that month. Average wages rose 3% in August from a year earlier, the slowest pace in five years. Americans’ paychecks are trailing inflation.

The jobs report underscores the political challenge for Trump and congressional Republicans: Unemployment is low and layoffs are rare, but stubbornly high inflation is eroding consumers’ ability to afford things like gas, food, and housing. A recent AP-NORC poll found just 17% of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of the cost of living.

Trump: Europe agrees to release diesel reserves ‘immediately’ as fuel prices hover near record highs

President Trump said Friday that Europe has agreed to release some of its diesel reserves “immediately,” as the president and his Republican Party face pressure to address surging prices ahead of November’s midterm elections.

Trump announced the action on social media without offering details on which countries were releasing reserves or at what volumes. Trump writes, “Europe has just agreed to release a massive amount of their heavily stocked Diesel Oil.” Trump says, “The process will begin immediately.”

The president faces lagging approval ratings as the Iran war and his trade battles have increased U.S. prices for oil and other goods.

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Households will pay more for energy because of Trump’s policy changes, think tank says

Households in the contiguous United States will pay thousands of dollars more for energy through 2040 because of federal policy changes since Trump returned to office, according to modeling released Friday by a nonpartisan think tank.

The Energy Innovation analysis found that households will pay an average of $6,500 more for energy, cumulatively through 2040. In five states, households will pay roughly $9,000 more: Oregon, Mississippi, South Dakota, Virginia and Wyoming.

The California-based think tank says there’ll be more demand for natural gas for electricity because the administration is canceling new clean energy projects and there’ll be more demand for gasoline for transportation because Trump and Congress are revoking policies that encouraged or created incentives for more efficient and lower-emissions vehicles. Higher demand drives prices up.

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Trump administration says it has no plans for ICE officers at polls. Activists are preparing, anyway

With early voting already underway, a question worrying some voters is what role — if any — immigration enforcement officers might have at polling places through Election Day.

Department of Homeland Security officials say they don’t plan to send immigration enforcement officers en masse to patrol the polls and dismissed concerns that they plan to do so as “fearmongering.” Election legal experts say federal law clearly prevents the government from deploying any armed troops, agents or officers to election sites except to “repel armed enemies of the United States,” a high bar to clear.

But organizations who represent Latino, Black and Asian American voters say the rhetoric and ICE’s own activity make them worried at a time the number of immigration arrests is soaring as President Trump carries out his mass deportation agenda.

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Trump tried to make an ally out of fishermen. Some have started to turn on him

John Evich, a commercial fisherman in Washington and Alaska, has voted for President Donald Trump three times, viewing him as someone who would fight for his industry.

But these days, Evich is weary of the high cost of doing business at sea, with fuel prices rising and trade hostilities with Canada jeopardizing markets for the crabs that he pulls off the ocean floor.

“If somebody came along that was going to do a better job, I would vote for them in a heartbeat,” he said.

Evich’s sentiment, echoed throughout the U.S. seafood industry, is another piece of a political puzzle that’s working against Trump in the midterm elections. Dissatisfaction among commercial fishermen could cause collateral damage for Republicans in competitive races in Washington, Alaska and Maine.

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Trump blitzes toward the midterms with campaign rallies across the country

President Donald Trump is back on the campaign trail as he seeks to shore up lagging enthusiasm in his party ahead of next month’s midterm elections.

He could have their work cut out for him, though.

A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that only 17% of U.S. adults approve of Trump’s handling of the cost of living. Just 26% approve of his handling of the economy overall, marking a new low.

Republicans have expressed growing pessimism about their chances in the election, which will determine control of Congress, as the president has repeatedly dismissed concerns about high costs and gas prices as his unpopular war in Iran drags on.

According to Trump, his party has merely done a poor job of public relations in promoting his administration’s accomplishments.

“Maybe we’re doing a bad job selling it,” Trump said while campaigning in Texas.

Robin Comfort said he drove his car through the flooded streets and quickly realized he shouldn’t have.

“Well, I drove my car down the street and I shouldn’t have. There was too much water in it and (it) just went into the engine, I guess,” Comfort said.

Comfort had been waiting for assistance for a few hours.

He said he had been living in Pompano Beach and that it was barely raining when he left.

For some drivers, the flooding became an unexpected problem.

“You have this constant issue. Why hasn’t something happened about the flooding? Like you guys are aware of it,” one woman said as she waited for roadside assistance.

Resident Allie Scholey said she had never seen flooding like this before.

“Like I’ve never seen flooding like this, and it’ll be here for hours, so I guess I’m stuck inside,” Scholey said.

The flooding also caused problems for people traveling to and from work in the Victoria Park area.

And while some people were stuck, one man appeared to embrace the conditions, riding his motorcycle through the flooded streets while another man decided to ride a wave.

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The report is beginning to fill in gaps about what happened when the plane overshot the runway at MIA, killing five people.

The NTSB identified several factors leading up to the crash. One was that the plane’s thrust reversers did not deploy, while the speed brakes were also stowed when the pilot attempted to land.

Thrust reversers are critical for helping an airplane slow down and decelerate. The NTSB found they were not activated during the landing attempt, but it remains unconfirmed whether that was caused by a mechanical failure or pilot error.

The speed brakes were also retracted and locked in their stored position, meaning they were not deployed.

The pilot manually deployed the plane’s wheel brakes at a ground speed of about 168 mph, the report stated.

According to the report, about eight seconds later, the pilot attempted a go-around maneuver in an effort to get the plane back into the air and land again. At that point, the report says the airplane had only about 930 feet of runway remaining.

When the pilot attempted to reapply the wheel brakes, the plane had about 415 feet of runway left, the report stated. The aircraft eventually overshot the runway while traveling about 130 mph, hitting and killing five people who were parked nearby, officials said.

Another detail in the report involves the flight crew’s experience. According to the report, the captain earned his airline transport certificate in May, just a few months before the crash. He still had thousands of hours of flight experience.

The first officer earned his certificate in April of last year.

It remains to be confirmed whether the crash was completely the result of a mechanical failure or whether pilot error played a role.

The preliminary report also includes details about whether weather may have affected the crash, as well as more information from the wreckage scene.

The investigation is ongoing, and the NTSB is continuing to examine what happened that day.

Lago, who has served three terms as mayor, says he has focused on keeping the city’s streets safe and clean.

“I gotta prepare myself to work on your potholes and public safety and make sure your trash is picked up,” Lago said.

Lago also points to the city’s bond rating and says he has been a good watchdog for taxpayer dollars. On housing affordability, he says there are opportunities in North Gables for residents to move into smaller apartments and homes that are less costly than those in the central and southern parts of the city.

Cancio says he has spent decades in Coral Gables and believes his experience as an attorney would be helpful when negotiating with city commissioners. He says helping residents connect to sewers could also help reduce costs.

“That would be a great help because, again, everyone is rich, but they are not,” Cancio said. “You have to maintain your house and it costs a lot of money.”

Cancio says he is a problem solver who tackles issues head-on.

Holmes, a Coral Gables native, describes himself as the outsider in the race. His top issue is the high cost of living in the city, which he says is personal.

“A member of my family is on the verge of homelessness because of affordability. Well, if there was ever a time to support housing, this is it,” Holmes said.

Lago says keeping a lid on property taxes would remain a focus.

“We’ve been very good stewards of the residents’ money while having the second-lowest millage rates of a full-service city in Miami-Dade County,” Lago said.

Cancio says he believes he could do a better job leading the city.

“There are a lot of people living in the Gables that could do a better job, and I’m one of them,” Cancio said. “I can do a better job than what they do.”

Holmes also says immigration reform is a top priority on his agenda.

“It’s painful. There are consequences, but we don’t want to really help ICE arrest the wrong people,” Holmes said.

Divers with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department found the victim's body Thursday in the wreckage of the helicopter after searching more than 156 square miles (404 square kilometers) over 23 hours, the Coast Guard said in a statement.

Relatives of the missing person told ABC7 that the woman was being transported from Catalina Island to the mainland for medical care after having an allergic reaction. They also said her 20-year-old son went with her in the helicopter to help translate.

The helicopter with five people aboard went down shortly after takeoff and hit the water not far from the island, officials said. The cause is not clear and the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating.

First responders pulled four people from the water on Wednesday night.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said that authorities were not yet identifying the victims by name. But he described the two people who died as the male pilot and a female nurse. He also said another medic and a fourth person, a man, were hospitalized.

Luna said the helicopter wreckage was about 200 feet (60 meters) deep in the water.

The helicopter’s operator, REACH Air Medical Services of Sacramento, confirmed that two of its crew members died and a third was recovering at a hospital. The company declined to provide more details.

“In the days ahead, our focus will remain on caring for our people, supporting their families and honoring the lives and service of those we have lost,” REACH said in a statement.

A memorial service was held on the island to honor the victims.

The crash came 11 days after a firefighting helicopter went down, killing two pilots in Yosemite National Park in California, and two weeks after a news helicopter crashed in Los Angeles, killing two people.

Emergency personnel were called to the Catalina crash shortly before 8 p.m. on Wednesday. Two people were pronounced dead at the scene, and two, in stable condition, were brought to hospitals on the mainland, the Los Angeles County Fire Department said.

The helicopter landed on the island shortly after 7 p.m., following a 24-minute flight from an airport in Oceanside, according to the flight tracking service Flightradar24.

The NTSB identified the aircraft as a Eurocopter EC-135-P2 and said it would be brought to a secure facility for evaluation, a board spokesperson said.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn called the crash a terrible tragedy.

“The people who were on board dedicated their careers to saving lives. They are heroes,” she said in a social media post.

“Just about every week, I dial up Georgia mayors and pastors and farmers to find out how I can help,” Ossoff said at a recent campaign rally for his reelection bid against Republican Rep. Mike Collins.

Up the Eastern Seaboard, Maine Sen. Susan Collins keeps a regular itinerary of local events, including ribbon-cuttings and groundbreakings for projects she helped finance as Senate Appropriations Committee chair.

“There’s not a community in Maine that can’t say Susan helped us,” intones the voiceover in a campaign ad for Collins. The five-term senator, who's not related to the Georgia congressman, is facing Democratic former state legislative leader Troy Jackson in November.

The two senators — Ossoff the Democrat, Collins the Republican — began this election cycle widely viewed as their respective parties’ most vulnerable members. But as Republican Donald Trump's second presidency and partisan fights on Capitol Hill dominate national political conversation, the senators' campaigns have played out differently than expected in part because of the more mundane part of their jobs: helping the people back home.

“We in the political world tend to think about the strength of incumbency through the lens of fundraising and national media attention, and those do matter,” said Republican Chris Hartline, once a top adviser at the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee. “But the ability to help the local communities you actually represent still matters.”

For Ossoff, it means attracting endorsements from Republican officials, including Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson, that have made it harder for Mike Collins to land attacks claiming that the liberal first-term senator from Atlanta doesn’t represent Georgia. For Susan Collins, it means a go-to buffer argument as she runs with the weight of Trump’s lagging popularity and her support for various parts of his agenda.

A month from Election Day, Ossoff has gone from a top GOP target to a widely perceived favorite to defend a seat that Democrats cannot afford to lose as they try to regain a Senate majority. And as Republican incumbents like Ohio Sen. Jon Husted are increasingly viewed as underdogs, strategists in both parties still view Susan Collins’ race as a tossup.

Ossoff draws begrudging respect from Republicans

Ossoff and his aides say the senator tries to deliver on every aspect of what Washington calls “constituent services.”

That could mean federal appropriations, disaster assistance or nuts-and-bolts matters like assisting a voter who is seeking Social Security disability benefits or a missing Social Security check. It includes surprise notes of congratulations or condolences to constituents — something Ossoff sends even to aides of Republican elected officials.

Endorsing Ossoff earlier this year, Matheson, the Valdosta mayor, described himself as a lifelong conservative. But he praised Ossoff for his Helene response. The senator recalled “going block by block” with the mayor and serving “hot meals to folks who had just lost their homes.”

Ossoff points to money secured for a dialysis center in nearby Tifton, Georgia. Mayor Julie Smith, another Republican, has endorsed Ossoff, too, explaining that “he’s been very good for south Georgia.”

Courtney Eskew, whose husband, Joshua, was injured during an Army tour in Afghanistan, pointed to Ossoff’s work for veterans’ care. The couple both grew up in Republican households but said they were volunteering for Ossoff’s campaign.

“Senator Ossoff has been passionately vocal about VA funding, and any time we’ve needed to call to advocate or to ask a question about benefits, his office has done everything we needed,” Eskew said after the couple attended an Ossoff event.

Eskew said it’s a powerful counter to opponent Mike Collins’ attacks that Ossoff is too liberal for the historically conservative state.

Ossoff “doesn’t vote the way I want him to vote” on contentious issues, added Chan Jones, who chairs the Georgia Republican Party’s 8th Congressional District committee. “But as far as the office and the way they’ve carried themselves and handled other aspects of the job, I can’t knock that.”

Jones has his own example as a member of the Bleckley County Recreation Board.

“We were having some trouble with a federal grant,” he said, adding that one call to the senator’s office fixed the issue.

Mainers must decide the value of seniority

Susan Collins is relentless in promoting money she’s steered to Maine — for community colleges and hospital expansions or hyperlocal examples like a program to control the spruce budworm, a threat to the state’s forests and timber industry.

“That will go away with a freshman senator,” she said at a Maine manufacturing conference earlier this year. “It took me years to climb the ladder of seniority.”

No project is too small for her argument. In late August, she attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the rehabilitation of St. Croix Apartments in Calais, a city of about 3,000 residents on the Canadian border, more than 200 miles (320 kilometers) from Portland. It’s in a conservative part of the state where GOP candidates need heavy turnout to win statewide.

Collins was there to highlight $3 million she secured to restore 26 affordable housing units for low-income seniors.

“The renovated St. Croix Apartments will provide seniors with safe and affordable homes close to the family, friends and community they love,” Collins said.

The amount is a pittance within appropriations bills measured in the billions. But it’s the kind of work many Maine residents associate with the veteran lawmaker.

In the same campaign stretch, Collins visited a child development center in Bangor to highlight Head Start funding. In the summer, she walked in the Casco Days Grand Parade to raise money for the local fire association and stopped by the dedication of a new fire station in the town of Sweden, population 400.

At the same time, Collins has maintained a stretch in Washington of more than 10,000 consecutive votes — a streak she connects to those results back home.

Collins and Ossoff are following an old script

There are recent examples of candidates succeeding by doing what Collins and Ossoff are trying.

The late Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran, another powerful committee chairman, withstood a fierce Republican primary challenge to win his final election in 2014 by coaxing Democratic crossover voters in part because of his decades of appropriating money.

Hartline, who worked for Senate Republicans in 2022, pointed to Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson as a bright spot in an otherwise tough cycle for the party.

“Johnson knew every corner of Wisconsin because he’d been there,” Hartline said.

Collins, especially, needs that dynamic to outweigh national circumstances.

Democrats, Jackson included, have hammered her for not having done enough to shield Maine from Trump’s tariffs — which she has criticized — and for backing the Iran war, which has raised fuel prices.

But even Jackson supporters recognize Collins’ ability to win five elections when Maine has opted for Democrats in every presidential contest.

Warsame Dualeh, a 45-year-old Jackson supporter, mused about weak opponents — though Collins has drawn aggressive Democratic opposition over the years. And then he acknowledged that the federal money pipeline “very well could be” the reason for Collins’ durability.

___

Whittle reported from Portland, Maine.

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Authorities in Israel, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and beyond are grappling with the fallout from the incident on board the FlyDubai flight from Dubai on Wednesday. The attack has raised questions about the state of aviation security and further unsettled a Middle East already shaken by the ongoing U.S.-Iran war.

Nothing is publicly known about the motive of the co-pilot who came close to crashing the aircraft and killing all 182 people aboard. A regional investigation is underway.

The UAE has canceled all flights to Israel, complicating travel for hundreds of passengers who fly between the countries on a typical day.

Israel and the UAE agreed on the repatriation flights, beginning on Friday, according to an Israeli official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. Earlier, the national carrier El Al said the UAE was holding up the necessary landing permits to allow it to fly into Dubai.

The Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv listed carriers Arkia and Israir with flights scheduled to arrive from Dubai late Friday and early Saturday. El Al was expected to fly passengers from Dubai to Israel on Sunday.

Dubai has been a popular destination for Israelis since Israel and the United Arab Emirates established ties in 2020 as part of the Trump administration's Abraham Accords to normalize ties between Israel and Arab countries.

Trump says he'll hit Iran ‘very hard’ if it had a hand in the attack

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his claim on Friday that the co-pilot, identified by Israeli officials as an Omani citizen, had undergone “Islamist radical indoctrination” but provided no evidence to back the assertion.

“We are now investigating whether he was sent, and whoever sent him will pay a very heavy price,” Netanyahu said in a video message.

U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters that early information he's received suggests there are links between the attack and Tehran but did not elaborate.

Trump also said that if it is determined that Iranian agents were behind the attack, the United States will “hit them very hard.”

Israeli investigators are involved in the probe but the Emiratis are in the lead, according to an official who wasn’t authorized to speak to the media and spoke on condition of anonymity. It’s unclear if the attacker was part of a group, said the official, adding that there is currently no evidence of a link with Iran.

UAE senior diplomatic adviser Anwar Gargash on Friday called the FlyDubai attack a “dangerous terrorist act” in a post on X. He credited the flight captain for preventing the incident from turning into a catastrophic event.

The moment is a test for the UAE government, which has burnished a reputation for building effective measures against extremist activities but has also bristled in the past over criticism of security lapses.

“The Emiratis are going to be interested in protecting their reputation,” said Jon Alterman, chair of Global Security and Geostrategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “They believe people should see them as a place that’s very secure, not a place that has serious lapses.”

The FlyDubai flight plummeted to 15,000 feet

Details of the harrowing flight, which made an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, continue to emerge.

Smit Machchhar, the wounded captain who has been hailed as one of the heroes of the flight, and the co-pilot were transferred on Thursday from Saudi Arabia to the UAE, the kingdom said.

Machchhar is recovering in an Abu Dhabi hospital. He spoke with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a televised video call Friday, describing the terror he faced after being attacked by his co-pilot in the closed cockpit.

“I had so many wounds. I had fallen down,” he said, his head bandaged, as he broke into sobs. “I was fighting for my life. At one point, I realized that if I didn’t get up … then passengers would lose their lives.”

The captain managed to open the cockpit door, allowing passengers to enter and restrain the attacker as the Boeing 737 — with 174 passengers and eight crew members — descended sharply.

For the passengers on board, most of them Israelis, the first signs of trouble came more than two hours into the flight when the aircraft suddenly dropped down to 16,600 feet — the sharpest drop in altitude recorded by data tracking platforms.

Seconds later, it ascended to 21,725 feet before soon dropping back to 15,000 feet, which it maintained until safely landing more than an hour later.

Soon after leveling off, the plane dispatched its first distress signal, Squawk 7700, a code for general emergency, while flying along the Saudi-Jordanian border. It then sent a second distress signal, 7500, for “unlawful interference,” indicating something more serious like a hijacking attempt or an attack. It lasted for nearly an hour.

About 15 minutes after the second distress call, the aircraft turned west, briefly entering Jordanian airspace, then made a 180-degree turn and headed southwest to Tabuk, where it eventually landed, nearly four hours after taking off from Dubai.

Possible implications for US-Iran war negotiations

Trump's suggestion that there could be an Iranian link adds a new layer of uncertainty to the on-and-off diplomatic efforts aimed at bringing an end to the seven-month war in Iran.

Iranian officials said Wednesday they received an official U.S. response to Tehran’s latest proposal to end the conflict, which Trump had publicly rejected just days earlier. The officials did not say what the response contained and whether it was a rejection.

The U.S. is meanwhile dispatching roughly 9,000 more troops on ships to the Middle East, a U.S. official said Thursday — a move that could further complicate the political climate in the U.S., with looming midterm elections.

The move could mean there would be three carriers in the region as early as the end of October, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations.

The move would bring the U.S. naval presence in the Middle East to an unusually high number of more than 20,000 sailors and Marines, as well as hundreds of aircraft. The Navy previously had three carrier strike groups in the Middle East in April for the first time since 2003.

___

Madhani reported from Jerusalem. AP writers Sally Abou AlJoud in Brussels, Sam Metz in Ramallah, West Bank, and Konstantin Toropin in Washington contributed reporting.

“I’ve never said it’s going to be easy,” Hilton said in an interview with The Associated Press. “It’s obviously an uphill battle. I still see this as a winnable race.”

With mail ballots scheduled to arrive at homes in early October, the former Fox News commentator is angling to pull off what would be one of the great upsets in California record books against Democrat Xavier Becerra. Aligned against him in the heavily Democratic state are the weight of recent history, a national electorate that has soured on President Donald Trump and, perhaps inescapably, basic math.

Any Republican starts at a disadvantage. Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by a staggering 4.6 million voters, a margin approaching 2-to-1 statewide. Trump — who has endorsed Hilton’s candidacy — is widely loathed outside his conservative base in a state the president often depicts as representing all that is wrong in America.

“I like Steve a lot, but the math is very hard,” says GOP consultant Mike Murphy, who advised the last Republican to hold the office, former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. He was elected to his second term in 2006.

“I think the most relevant equation is how many cases of beer you have to drink to be drunk enough to think it’s doable in this election cycle with the Trump dynamic and the registration advantage the Democrats have,” Murphy wrote in an email. “My model starts at four cases.”

A Democratic reckoning that has never come

For years, Republicans envisioned that one day the state’s Democratic ribs would crack, as voters faithful to the brand grew weary of wallet-sapping taxes, the nation’s top gas prices, an unchecked homeless crisis and home prices and rents that drain family budgets.

“We will win because the argument for change is irresistible,” the Britain-born Hilton says.

To defeat Becerra, Hilton will need to upend what has become a familiar pattern in California general elections. Frequently, Democratic statewide candidates pull in roughly 60% of the vote on Election Day. Rival Republicans, around 40%.

Part of Hilton's challenge is overcoming the baked-in notion that California's political DNA is immutable.

“We just need to overcome the sense that after 20 years of one party running everything, it is actually possible to get change. That’s the biggest thing I think we’re fighting against,” Hilton said.

He repeated that message again during a Wednesday debate on CNN, the only television matchup scheduled for the general election.

In his pursuit of a breakthrough, Hilton has anchored his campaign to making California more affordable, including bringing gas prices down to $3 a gallon. Yet he doesn’t appear to be gaining the traction he needs to catch the Democrat. A September poll conducted by the University of California, Berkeley, Institute of Governmental Studies found that Becerra had a sizable lead over Hilton.

Some of his proposals are clearly crafted to snag voters’ attention, even if it is not clear how some would clear a Democratic-controlled legislature or other regulatory hurdles. Among them: cut in half residents’ utility bills, now among the nation’s highest; eliminate state income taxes on the first $150,000 in earnings; and abolish the much-maligned Department of Motor Vehicles.

He believes about a quarter of the vote is up for grabs, including people who have voted for Democrats but aren't rigidly faithful to the party — largely working-class voters and those without a college education. He sees room to pick up more votes among Latinos and women, too. And he will need a heroic turnout from Republicans.

At the same time, he has been campaigning in the Los Angeles area — the state’s Democratic nucleus, where statewide elections can be won or lost depending on turnout.

Becerra argues that Hilton will be little more than another loyalist for the Trump administration, imposing the president's conservative agenda in California.

Fewer competitive races in a polarized nation

The number of truly competitive races nationwide has dwindled as many states veer to the political left or right. Up until the late 1980s, California was for many years a reliable win for the GOP in presidential elections. But a growing immigrant population and a shifting economy — including the collapse of the defense industry and the rise of Silicon Valley — transformed the state and its voting patterns.

Bedrock issues that define the California electorate — including widespread support for abortion rights and environmental protection — could make it difficult for some voters to consider backing a GOP candidate, especially in the Trump era.

After months of turmoil with a large field in the June primary election, the contest to succeed the outgoing Newsom has settled into a stolid affair. With numbers on his side, Becerra’s low-key campaign is an acknowledgment that if he avoids mistakes, he is likely to get the job.

Still, polling conducted in early September by the Public Policy Institute of California found about half of voters think the state is moving in the wrong direction while a majority think economic conditions will be bad over the next year.

California — where Democrats hold every statewide office and dominate the legislature — has one of the nation’s highest unemployment rates. Its gas prices are the highest in the nation, and its utility prices near the top nationally. Home prices often soar into the seven digits. After decades of meteoric growth, the population has essentially flatlined, with California expected to lose a congressional seat as states like Florida and Texas grow at a faster pace.

One Republican who got close in recent years is Lanhee Chen, who picked up nearly 45% of the vote in his 2022 race for state controller. For Hilton to be successful “he has to turn it into a referendum on one-party governance,” Chen said.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s top diplomat said officials have received separate proposals for a partial truce with Russia from the United States, India, Turkey and Egypt. The proposals envision halting attacks on energy infrastructure, which have caused fuel shortages in Russia and power outages in Ukraine, and on Black Sea shipping needed to get vital grain exports to world markets.

The Russian strikes forcing the full or partial closure of three of Kyiv’s six road bridges caused traffic logjams and appeared to be a new tactic in its campaign to torment the city’s residents. Previously, Russia has hit apartment blocks, supermarket warehouses, gas stations and data centers, among other targets, in an escalation of attacks.

Oleksandr Pihalo, a Kyiv resident, said traffic was “jammed solid” and it took him 45 minutes to cover 4 kilometers (2 ½ miles). “It’s a total mess on the road today,” he told The Associated Press.

Civilians “are bearing the brunt of this war,” the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, said in Geneva on Friday.

“The war in Ukraine is a human rights catastrophe that is growing and intensifying by the week, causing unfathomable pain to civilians,” he said. “Across Ukraine, people are living in constant dread.”

While the aerial war has intensified in recent months, fighting along the roughly 1,250-kilometer front line snaking through northern, eastern and southern Ukraine has been virtually deadlocked. Russia invaded its neighbor more than 4 ½ years ago, and there are no concrete signs that a peace settlement might be possible.

However, Ukraine has this year made some progress against Russia’s bigger army, according to the Institute for the Study of War.

Russian forces lost control over almost 300 square kilometers (116 square miles) of Ukraine between March and September, the Washington-based think tank said in a report late Thursday. Also, it said that the Russian military suffered over 46,000 casualties in September, the highest monthly number this year. It did not say how many Ukrainian troops were killed or wounded.

Zelenskyy says sanctions can stop Russian drones and missiles

Russia fired more than 100 drones at Ukraine overnight, striking Kyiv and eight other regions, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. Almost half of the drones were the jet-powered type that are especially hard to stop, he said.

A drone hit a high-rise apartment block in Kyiv, killing one person, he said. At least four people were reported wounded elsewhere.

Zelenskyy repeated his appeal for foreign countries to close loopholes in international sanctions on Russia and to add more restrictions on its trade. He said Russia's drones and missiles are “critically dependent” on foreign components.

“Every Russian drone can actually be stopped right at the production line,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X.

Ukraine has also bombarded Russia with the long-range drones and missiles it now produces, aiming at military manufacturing plants and oil refineries.

The Russian Defense Ministry said Friday that its air defenses overnight downed 646 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions, occupied Crimea, the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.

One person was wounded in Russia’s southwestern Volgograd region, Gov. Andrei Bocharov said. The attack targeted “industrial infrastructure,” he said, without providing details.

Ukraine is ready for a truce on energy strikes and the Black Sea

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the partial truce proposals presented to Kyiv by four countries were the first time India has offered to play a role.

India is trying to balance its ties with Russia against its growing partnerships with the United States and other Western powers. A new U.S. sanctions package on Russia could impose up to 100% tariffs on New Delhi as a major importer of Russian oil.

Sybiha said Kyiv is ready to accept a ceasefire if it stops Russian attacks on Ukraine’s power grid — as well as Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries — and on cargo vessels exporting grain and other farm products through the Black Sea.

“We are ready for an energy and Black Sea ceasefire, but only in that combination. Energy and a ceasefire in the Black Sea,” Sybiha told reporters Thursday, in comments embargoed until Friday.

He repeated Ukraine’s offer of an unconditional ceasefire on the front line. But Moscow has rejected a ceasefire, saying a comprehensive peace deal must be agreed rather than a temporary truce.

Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said Friday that Ukraine attacked four Russian oil refineries overnight, but air defenses fended off the attacks and key equipment wasn’t damaged.

The government and companies have worked hard to improve protection of refineries, he said. Russian President Vladimir Putin decreed in August that the state can temporarily seize control of critical infrastructure facilities if private owners fail to protect them or rebuild them after Ukrainian strikes.

It wasn't possible to verify either side's claims.

Russia is stockpiling ballistic missiles, Ukraine says

Sybiha said Ukraine is requesting some 300 Patriot missiles from partner countries because intelligence services estimate that Russia is holding 600 ballistic missiles in reserve and can produce up to 140 ballistic missiles per month.

The U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems can effectively defend against ballistic missiles, which fly fast and drop steeply, but they are in short supply due to the Iran war.

Ukraine needs more funding and quickly, foreign minister says

Ukraine urgently needs funding in order to contract future drone production, so there are no gaps in supply at the beginning of next year, Sybiha said.

Kyiv faces a projected budget deficit of roughly $27 billion this year, although the European Union has promised to help meet its financial requirements.

The European Commission announced Friday it had disbursed €2.9 billion ($3.3 billion) to Ukraine in its latest batch of financing. Zelenskyy said the amount would help Ukraine’s financial stability and strengthen its defense.

Russia is also facing economic and financial challenges due to high military spending and debt.

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Hatton reported from Lisbon, Portugal. AP reporter Vasilisa Stepanenko contributed from Kyiv, Ukraine.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Medical experts urge getting a flu vaccination soon, before influenza starts spreading widely — and to get up to date on protection against other fall respiratory viruses, too. Updated COVID-19 shots are available now, plus shots for people especially vulnerable to another winter risk called RSV.

While these infections make many people feel miserable for a few days before they recover, every year flu alone causes hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations in the U.S. and kills tens of thousands.

Vaccination isn’t “a guarantee that we’re going to prevent illness. But just like the seat belt in your car, it decreases risk” of the worst outcomes, said Dr. Ryan Stanton of the American College of Emergency Physicians.

Fall vaccine advice usually comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and its independent advisory panel. But this year that panel, which influences state and insurance vaccine policies, is caught in a court battle and the CDC hasn't updated its advice.

Now doctors’ groups are filling the gap: the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Family Physicians, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the Infectious Diseases Society of America have posted vaccination guidelines for their patient populations plus the scientific evidence behind them.

Here's what to know:

Just about everyone should get vaccinated against flu

Just about everybody starting at age 6 months needs flu vaccination, the medical societies agree. But flu is particularly dangerous for people 65 and older, pregnant women, young children and people of any age who have chronic health problems, including asthma, diabetes, heart disease and weak immune systems. The last two flu seasons brought unusually high numbers of child deaths, the vast majority of them in unvaccinated kids.

The vaccines don't block all flu infections, but they do help prevent the worst outcomes, decreasing older adults' hospitalizations by 31% last year, according to the Vaccine Integrity Project, a public health group based at the University of Minnesota.

Here's how to pick from the multiple flu vaccine options

Three “enhanced” flu vaccines are designed to better protect seniors. The American Academy of Family Physicians urges them to choose one — “but do not delay your vaccination if that one’s not available,” said AAFP’s Dr. Sarah Nosal.

The Food and Drug Administration recently approved a new choice for people ages 50 and older, the first flu vaccine made with the same mRNA technology that was key to ending the COVID-19 pandemic. One study found Moderna's mFlusiva was 27% more effective against symptomatic illness among 50- to 64-year-olds than a standard shot.

The shot-averse could choose a nasal spray, FluMist, if they're ages 2 to 49 and meet other health criteria.

The latest on COVID-19 vaccines

COVID-19 shots once were recommended for just about everyone by federal health agencies, but like last year, the FDA has only formally approved them for higher-risk people — those ages 65 and older or younger people with at least one health condition that increases their risk.

Still, the family physicians recommend all adults get a COVID-19 vaccination, especially seniors and those with other risk factors. Adults 65 and older should get a fall dose and then a second dose six months later, as immunity wanes over time, Nosal said.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends a COVID-19 shot for all children ages 6 months to 23 months, and for older kids with high-risk conditions. It also supports vaccination for any child whose parent wishes it.

With millions of shots administered, there’s no evidence that coronavirus vaccination during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage or other problems, “so please get the vaccine,” said ACOG’s Dr. Christina Davidson.

Depending on age, people can choose a shot from Moderna, Pfizer, or the only non-mRNA version from Novavax and Sanofi.

Just like with flu vaccines, these shots are better at preventing severe disease than mild cases. The Vaccine Integrity Project said last fall’s COVID-19 shots cut the risk of hospitalization by 53% in seniors and slashed emergency room visits for very young children.

Common side effects for flu and COVID-19 vaccines are mild and temporary, such as sore arms, fatigue, headaches, muscle aches, and mild fever. They occurred somewhat more often with the new mFlusiva than with standard flu shots.

Here's where you can get vaccinated

While pediatricians and some clinics offer both flu and coronavirus shots, they're most common in pharmacies.

For COVID-19 shots, states have more pharmacy rules. For example, Walgreens says it offers those shots without a prescription in all but two states, Arizona and Oregon, but can provide doses for children as young as 3 in some states while others have higher age limits.

Medicare covers the fall shots and most private health insurers say they plan to continue doing so through 2027. If you want to choose mFlusiva, the new Moderna flu option, make sure to double check that your insurance covers it.

When to get vaccinated

Flu experts say October is best, although vaccinations will remain available through the fall — just remember it can take two weeks for protection to kick in. COVID-19 cases rose in the late summer and usually do again around the winter holidays. Some experts say it's also OK to time the coronavirus shot a few weeks ahead of an event you wouldn’t want to miss because of illness, like a special trip or get-together.

RSV is a nuisance for many, but it can be deadly for some

RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, typically is a cold-like nuisance during the fall, winter and early spring. But it can be severe, even life-threatening, for infants and older adults.

The family physicians recommend a one-time vaccination for adults 75 and older, people 50 to 74 who are at increased risk, or younger people with weak immune systems.

It’s also recommended during late pregnancy to protect infants born during RSV season. Separately, the pediatricians recommend a vaccine-like medication for those infants whose moms weren't vaccinated and some other high-risk babies.

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

But earlier this year, the Navy reservist and his friend shoveled a six-carat diamond from a field in Arkansas where he's found over 300 gems so far. And this one is like nothing he's dug up before — Pearadin claims collectors have told him it could be worth $1 million.

At least one experienced appraiser told The Associated Press that a diamond of such size and quality could be worth a fourth of that — still an impressive find.

“Oh my God! Oh my God!” Pearadin said as he livestreamed the discovery on TikTok. “Holy crap, we got a big one!” he yelled after rinsing gravel from a bucket and then flipping the pile onto a table to expose the shiny facets of a 6.03-carat diamond.

Roughly the size of a fingernail, it’s the largest diamond found this year at Crater of Diamonds State Park. More than 37,000 diamonds have been discovered since the former open-pit diamond mine became part of a state park in 1972.

The largest diamond found at the park, 'Uncle Sam,’ weighed 40 carats

The park charges a $15 entry fee to fill a 5-gallon bucket with rocks, and people can keep any gemstones they find. Most are small and worth maybe a few hundred dollars. The largest diamond ever unearthed in the United States, a 40.23-carat stone called the Uncle Sam, was found at the park in 1924.

Pearadin, originally from Missouri, has been trying his luck at the park since 2013, even moving to nearby Murfreesboro to support his hobby — “I love it that much,” he told The Associated Press. He's sold most of his diamonds online.

Most of the 400 to 800 diamonds found at the park annually weigh about a quarter of a carat, according to park interpreter Sarah Bivens. But there have been some bigger ones, said park assistant superintendent Waymon Cox: In 2020 a 9-carat diamond was found by an Arkansas bank manager, and in 2024 a French man unearthed a 7-carat diamond.

Diamonds are found in few places in the US

Diamonds are crystallized under tremendous pressure and heat deep inside the Earth and then thrust to the surface through volcanic activity before they’re scattered by water or wind. These natural diamonds are often cloudy and oddly shaped, and lose about 25% of their weight as they're cut and polished into what a jeweler would sell, according to Nathan Renfro, senior manager at the Gemological Institute of America.

Renfro said the U.S. has only two known primary deposits of diamonds — places where columns of once-molten volcanic rock have reached the surface — Crater of Diamonds and Colorado’s Kelsey Lake, where the land was reclaimed after a commercial mining operation went out of business years ago.

Today, that leaves the Arkansas park as one of the only places in the world where anyone can hunt for diamonds and take their finds with them.

“It’s a pretty remarkable operation that that’s available to the public,” Renfro said. “Most diamond mines are super high security.”

So can Jack finally get a big payday?

A typical .17-carat diamond from the park can sell for around $700, said certified gem appraiser Laura Stanley in Little Rock. But a high-quality six-carat yellow diamond from the park can sell for about $250,000, she said, partly because of their origin.

“They are their own entity,” Stanley said. “It’s the only place in America where you can go find your own diamond and you can’t compare that to a diamond from anywhere else.”

The Uncle Sam crystal was cut and polished into a 12.42-carat diamond gifted to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, where it's on view in the “Great American Diamonds” exhibit.

Pearadin named his latest and biggest find the “American Dream.”

“It’s just this massive, gorgeous yellow diamond,” Pearadin said. He plans to split the profits with fellow gem hunter Michael Schumacher of Wisconsin, who helped fill the bucket that held the stone, and open his own crystal mine.

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

Meanwhile, a Palestinian citizen of Israel who was running in Israel’s upcoming election is withdrawing his candidacy following comments over Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Friday. Full coverage is available here.

Wounded captain says he had to get back on feet to save passengers

The FlyDubai captain told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi that he knew he had to get back on his feet to save everyone on board, after he was stabbed by his co-pilot and the aircraft plunged into a steep descent.

“I had so many wounds. I had fallen down,” Capt. Smit Machchhar said from a hospital in Abu Dhabi. “I was fighting for my life. At one point I realized that if I didn’t get up … then passengers would lose their lives.”

Machchhar was seriously injured in Wednesday’s attack but managed to open the cockpit door, allowing passengers to enter and restrain the attacker as the Boeing 737 descended sharply, witnesses and Israeli authorities said.

The flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv, with 182 people on board, was diverted to Tabuk in northwestern Saudi Arabia for an emergency landing.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attacker, an Omani national, was arrested in Saudi Arabia. His motive for the attack was not immediately clear.

Israel was set to begin repatriation flights to bring back passengers stranded in the United Arab Emirates after commercial travel between the two countries was suspended following the attack.

— More coverage on the attempt to crash the plane is available here.

Palestinian running in Israel’s upcoming election withdraws candidacy

Sami Abou Shehadeh, the chairman of the left-wing Balad party, said he would withdraw from Israel’s upcoming election after the country’s Supreme Court president said a majority of justices were prepared to uphold his disqualification.

Abou Shehadeh’s candidacy was challenged over an editorial he wrote in the newspaper Al-Araby al-Jadeed the day after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel. The article did not condemn Hamas and argued that it was surprising violence hadn’t erupted earlier given conditions in Gaza.

In a subsequent article, Abou Shehadeh, a former member of Israel’s Knesset, called Hamas’ attack both unacceptable and a crime. He said he hadn’t known the scale of the violence when he wrote the first article.

The court weighed whether his remarks violated an Israeli law barring candidates who reject Israel’s existence, incite racism or support armed struggle against Israel. His lawyers said that barring him would reinterpret the law and create a new threshold.

About 20% of Israel's citizens are of Palestinian descent.

Israeli strikes kill 2 people in Gaza City, local health officials say

Two separate Israeli strikes in Gaza City killed two people and wounded at least another, according to health officials at the Shifa hospital and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.

Israel’s military acknowledged carrying out the strikes, saying that it hit militants in the areas, without elaborating. Separately, the military said that it also killed a “Hamas sniper” in an airstrike in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis area, identifying him as Tamer Hamaida. Palestinian health officials said Hamaida was killed in a strike carried out Thursday night.

The Israeli military’s chief Arabic-language spokesperson, Ella Waweya, said this week that the military targeted 70 militants from Hamas and Islamic Jihad militant groups in the Gaza Strip in September. Palestinians reported a surge in the strikes across the enclave over the past month.

Israeli troops block olive harvest in West Bank

Israeli soldiers have barred Palestinian farmers and activists from harvesting olives in the northern West Bank, according to video footage obtained by The Associated Press.

The footage showed soldiers firing shots in the air and tear gas toward the Palestinian farmers and activists, while settlers were also seen in the area.

Israel's military said troops were deployed following reports of a confrontation, which was dispersed. It added that a security official at the scene fired shots into the air earlier, without elaborating. The military said no one was injured.

The olive harvest season in the West Bank is usually marred by tensions between Palestinian farmers and settlers. Israel has imposed new rules this year, prohibiting Palestinians from harvesting in what’s known as Area C, which is under Israeli security control and encompasses the majority of the territory’s agricultural lands.

Fighting in Yemen as U.N. raises humanitarian concerns

Intense fighting engulfed a residential area in Yemen’s Taiz City, as clashes between the Iran-backed Houthis and Saudi-backed government forces raised concerns over a worsening humanitarian situation.

The World Food Programme warned that renewed fighting in Yemen is worsening an already dire humanitarian situation in a country suffering from severe hunger.

WFP director Matthew Hollingworth said that almost three out of four households are unable to meet their basic food needs.

Shelling by the Houthis on Friday on the residential neighborhood of Wadi al-Qadi in Taiz City injured several people, according to an Associated Press reporter in the city.

Egypt expels Ethiopian diplomat in tit-for-tat move

Egypt has expelled a diplomat from the Ethiopian Embassy in Cairo in a reciprocal move after Addis Ababa declared an Egyptian diplomat there unwelcome, Egyptian state media reported, marking a further escalation in tensions between the two countries.

Egypt’s al-Qahera News said Egypt declared a counselor at the Ethiopian Embassy persona non grata, giving him 48 hours to leave the country. On Thursday, Ethiopia ordered an Egyptian Embassy staff member to leave the country, according to al-Qahera.

Tensions between Ethiopia and Egypt have recently intensified after Ethiopia accused Egypt of supporting rebel forces in renewed fighting in the Tigray region.

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This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.

“The club’s firm position,” read a short statement from City, “is that, on multiple grounds, the opinion contains clear material errors, of law, principle and fact and is unsafe.”

City has protested its innocence throughout the long-running case, which dates back to 2018 and reached a milestone Tuesday, when the Premier League published a verdict saying the Abu Dhabi-controlled club was “guilty of all charges related to serious breaches” of the competition’s financial rules from 2009-18.

City has yet to receive a punishment. According to the Premier League, potential sanctions could be a reprimand, fine, points deduction or, in the worst case, expulsion from the competition. No team has ever been expelled from English soccer’s top flight.

City officials said they would lodge an appeal and that was filed on Thursday evening, the club said, ahead of Friday’s deadline.

“The club is innocent of the accusations made by the Premier League and a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence exists in support of all of its positions, relating to this case,” City said, using language from previous statements on the case.

In its own statement, the Premier League said City had “appealed the decision” of the commission and that the appeal hearing “will remain private and confidential until publication of the outcome is permitted.”

The appeal hearing should be over within 12 weeks

Premier League regulations state that the chair of the three-person investigatory panel that found against City has to appoint the new appeal board. That also will consist of three people, one of whom “shall have held judicial office,” the league’s rules state.

The appeal hearing should take place within 12 weeks of the date the appeal was filed, and cannot exceed a length of five consecutive days.

“An appeal board has wide discretion in respect of the appeal,” the league said, “and may allow it, dismiss it, or make any other order that it thinks fit.”

Any punishments in the case will be addressed in a separate, confidential hearing undertaken by the investigatory panel. There has been no word whether sanctions can be imposed before the decision of the appeal is reached.

The Premier League has only said its intention is that the process is concluded “as soon as possible.”

City’s $1B rule-breaking using ‘sham’ commercial deals, according to commission

City was found to have systematically broken the Premier League’s financial rules for nearly a decade in what the competition’s chief executive, Richard Masters, described as the most significant disciplinary case in the league’s history.

The investigatory panel found that City artificially inflated its revenue — using what the league has called “sham” commercial deals — by more than $1 billion from 2009-18 to circumvent financial fair-play rules that restricted rival clubs, and allowing City to buy some of the best players in the world.

That was the foundation of a long and unprecedented period of success in which City changed the landscape of the world’s most popular soccer league, with the northwest club winning eight league titles from 2012-24.

City committed almost all of the 115-plus violations, the commission found: 80 from 2009-18 for alleged financial misdeeds and another 35 from 2018-23 for allegedly not cooperating with the investigation.

Source of sponsorship could be focus in appeal

City is likely to focus part of its appeal around the issue of how its Abu Dhabi-based sponsorship deals were funded.

The commission found that sponsors in Abu Dhabi only paid 119.25 million pounds ($158.4 million) of the 949.94 million pounds ($1.26 billion) stated in club accounts, with the remaining 830.69 million pounds ($1.1 billion) being paid by the Abu Dhabi United Group, the private company of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan that bought City in 2008.

Sheikh Mansour is a member of the United Arab Emirates’ ruling family.

City contended that “no part” of the deals were funded by the ADUG and that, instead, the Abu Dhabi government — which owned the sponsors — had helped to fund the deals “from time to time.” And so in City’s opinion, that source of extra funding was misunderstood, the commission wrote.

The panel rejected that explanation by City as untrue, concluding it was “concocted well after the event” to disguise the source of funding.

In an internal video to City staff — obtained by broadcaster Sky News — City chief executive Ferran Soriano said: “The whole Premier League case against us is based on a single false accusation: that the owner’s personal money was somehow and secretly put into the club via some sponsors from Abu Dhabi. This is just not true.”

English soccer's governing body makes first comments in case

On Friday, the Football Association — the governing body of soccer in England — expressed concern that the “integrity” of the game had been affected by the scandal.

In its first reaction to the case, the FA said: “The independent commission’s decision has significant implications for the integrity of the game. We are carefully considering the decision and its implications and will take action where appropriate.”

The FA added that it would “continue to monitor developments closely” and would not comment further because proceedings were ongoing.

Britain’s tax authority urged to weigh in as Burnham clarifies comments

The City case is currently a soccer disciplinary proceeding, not a criminal investigation. On Thursday, a cross-party committee of lawmakers called on Britain’s tax authority to look into the findings of the independent panel in case they require closer scrutiny regarding any tax implications.

The chair of the Treasury Committee, Dame Meg Hillier, wrote to the permanent secretary of His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), saying: “While I acknowledge that taxpayer confidentiality may inhibit what you can disclose, I would welcome reassurance from HMRC that you are seized of the importance of these issues and the public interest in the case.”

In another example of the widespread impact of the scandal involving City, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has been repeatedly asked his view on the issue.

On Wednesday, Burnham said he would be “really concerned” to lose City’s Abu Dhabi ownership from English soccer, saying they had been a “huge partner in the building of modern Manchester” and of City as a global force, while also saying he was not getting involved in the process.

Burnham was formerly the mayor of Manchester.

On Thursday, Downing Street sought to clarify that the prime minister viewed the ruling as “serious and there can’t be any suggestion that anyone is above the rules.”

“If wrongdoing is established, those responsible should face the appropriate consequences,” Burnham’s office said in a statement, which stressed that the independent process was ongoing.

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See AP’s full soccer coverage here

The setback sparked speculation in Spanish media that Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez could consider bringing forward elections from next year. His office did not immediately respond to questions from The Associated Press regarding a possible snap election.

Sanchez spoke at the end of a five-hour parliamentary debate, making a last-gasp appeal to lawmakers to vote the measures that he called “necessary.”

“What is behind these decrees is the desire to instill order and a sense of humanity in a market that if we do not rein it in will destroy our society,” Sánchez told the other 349 members.

“Do the right thing, or history will judge you, and sooner than you think,” Sánchez concluded before each lawmaker voted by roll call.

His plea fell on deaf ears. The Catalan separatist party Junts carried out its announcement made hours before that it would vote against both decrees. That doomed the measures when combined with the “No” from the center-right Popular Party and far-right Vox.

The votes were loudly jeered by protesters who had gathered nearby, while people seated in the public tribune of the chamber shouted “Vulture funds govern the congress!”

The decrees followed public uproar over the eviction of an elderly woman

The first of the rejected decrees included a package of measures the government said would stop evictions of vulnerable people, make real estate speculation harder and provide tax incentives to encourage renting. The second decree was intended to make residential leases automatically renewable by tenants.

The main protest group, the renters association Sindicato de Inquilinas, said it was calling for more protests on Saturday and pushing for a general strike.

The government decrees were intended to quell a public uproar following the televised eviction of an 87-year-old woman last week in Madrid that sparked protests and a camp-in that has occupied Madrid’s most important square ever since.

Outside the parliament, protesters held up homemade signs with images of vultures on them, denouncing the real estate speculators they blame for driving up prices.

Protester Carla Cremonte, a 34-year-old office worker, lamented that the right-wing parties had united to “vote against the interests of the majority of people who are here, of the workers of Spain.”

“I don’t know what might happen, whether elections will be called, but in the streets we will continue fighting and the atmosphere is one of a general strike,” she said.

The average rent in Spain has almost doubled in the past 10 years. The average price per square meter has risen from 8.20 euros in 2016 to 15.1 euros ($17.15) this year, according to the real estate website Idealista.

The elderly woman whose eviction sparked the protests, Maricarmen Abascal, has become a symbol for the fight for lower housing costs in the southern European country, where many people are priced out of buying a home and are being squeezed by a small rental market.

The company that evicted her finally caved under immense public and political pressure this week and said that she can return to the apartment. Abascal is currently in a hospital since being removed from her home on a stretcher, but her lawyer said she is happy to know she will be going home.

It is unclear where the government will go from here. It could work on fresh legislation — unless, of course, Sánchez pulls the trigger on an election.

Catalan separatists scuttle housing decrees

Junts is one of a group of small parties that Sánchez needed to woo when he formed a new government in 2023. It has proven to be a prickly political partner ever since. Its leader, the separatist Carles Puigdemont, has resided in Belgium since fleeing Spain after leading a failed bid to make northeastern Catalonia an independent nation in 2017.

Spain’s Housing Minister, Isabel Rodríguez, appealed to Junts from the lectern, saying that her ministry had “incorporated 90% of your proposals. Vote for the decrees or at least abstain.”

But Míriam Nogueras of Junts said that the decrees would only lead to owners removing their properties from the rental market, and thus driving up prices even further.

“These decrees still allow speculators to buy property and to evict people,” Nogueras said.

Junts urged the government to negotiate amendments. The government refused.

“This is not a failure of all of us," Juan Bravo of the Popular Party told Rodríguez. “This is your failure and that of Sánchez’s entire government.”

The center-right Basque party and the tiny Coalición Canaria, whose support the government also needed, also voted against the second decree after backing the first one. They both criticized the government for rushing to act via decree instead of crafting legislation with other parties.

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Wilson reported from Barcelona, Spain.

The latest figures released by the Health Ministry on Thursday showed that 4,018 people have died among 8,300 cases recorded since the outbreak was declared in eastern Congo on May 15.

Some health workers, meanwhile, gathered at the epicenter in Ituri Province to demand payment for wages owed them. The protesters, who included surveillance team members, waved placards saying, “No money, no data!” and “No payment for months.”

Some of the workers haven't been paid for August and September, said Biongi Beiza, one of the protesters in Bunia, Ituri's capital. “There is no explanation from the administration,” he said.

Congolese authorities did not immediately address the issue. Front-line workers have gone on strike several times since the outbreak began, further hampering efforts to contain the disease.

A senior U.N. official said an Ebola-hit displacement camp housing a transit center for infected patients was burned by soldiers earlier this week as they were looking for weapons in Kigonze, on the outskirts of Bunia, forcing 19,000 people in the camp to flee.

Creating such transit and treatment centers has been a struggle, requiring money and staff, all of which are in short supply, said Julien Harneis, the U.N. senior Ebola coordinator. "When we lose a center, that means we lose capacity, we lose investment, and we have to start again. And above all, it means that people do not get access to the care that they really need,” Harneis said.

Infected aid worker evacuated to the Netherlands

An aid worker with Médecins Sans Frontières, known in English as Doctors Without Borders, was infected with Ebola while working in Congo, the group said in a statement.

The worker arrived in the Netherlands late Thursday on a special medical flight and was transferred to a high-level isolation unit, the Leiden University Medical Center said in a statement.

“The human cost of this crisis is unprecedented in the DRC, with communities facing the largest Ebola disease outbreak ever recorded in the country,” MSF said.

At least 50 health workers have died after contracting the virus.

Mobile labs are helping detect cases quickly

One way local authorities have tried to contain the outbreak is through mobile laboratories. In Butembo, an Associated Press journalist watched a medical team operating one such lab near an Ebola treatment center on Thursday.

Test results that used to take 72 hours can now be obtained in six hours with the mobile labs, said Lota Kalubi, a doctor at the treatment center.

The labs have also made it easier to get to locations usually difficult to reach, said Michel Ngimba with the National Institute of Biomedical Research in Butembo. “So we can go, if today we have an emergency, for example, in Katwa, we can start up the vehicle, and we can move the lab to Katwa,” said Ngimba.

Insecurity and community resistance are hampering containment efforts

The World Health Organization has recently raised the alarm about the virus’ rapid spread into new health zones, stretching limited resources. The current outbreak is on track to exceed the deadliest on record, West Africa’s regional outbreak between 2014 and 2016, which killed 11,000 people, WHO has said.

The number of newly confirmed cases is falling, but that could be attributed to insecurity and challenges in getting communities to cooperate in some of the hot spots, Africa CDC said on Thursday. While the spread of the disease has slowed in some areas, it has accelerated in others.

Confirmed cases fell from around 850 cases and 470 deaths a week in mid-July to an average of 490 cases and 230 deaths in September.

A Congolese politician was beaten to death earlier this week in one of the emerging hot spots after defending government measures to deal with the outbreak, highlighting tensions and mistrust in communities.

Authorities last month launched a village-centered approach that involved working with local leaders to educate people about the virus, but those efforts face resistance from residents who dismiss Ebola as a hoax. There is also deep distrust in the country’s government for reasons including how it’s managed past Ebola outbreaks and chronic corruption.

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Adetayo reported from Lagos, Nigeria. Sebastien Kitsa Musayi in Butembo, Congo, Chinedu Asadu in Abuja, Nigeria, and Mike Corder in the Netherlands contributed.

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For more on Africa and development: https://apnews.com/hub/africa-pulse

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The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Capt. Smit Machchhar, recovering in an Abu Dhabi hospital, told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a televised video call that he knew he had to get back on his feet to save his passengers.

“I had so many wounds. I had fallen down,” he said from the hospital, his head bandaged and tubes in his nose, before breaking down as he recalled the attack.

“I was fighting for my life. At one point, I realized that if I didn’t get up … then passengers would lose their lives,” he told Modi.

Machchhar, who is from Mumbai, was seriously injured in Wednesday’s attack but managed to open the cockpit door, allowing passengers to enter and restrain the attacker as the Boeing 737 descended sharply, witnesses and Israeli authorities said. He has been hailed as a hero, with world leaders saying he helped avert a disaster.

The flight, carrying 182 people from Dubai to Tel Aviv, was diverted to Tabuk in northwestern Saudi Arabia for an emergency landing. FlyDubai said Wednesday that the jet was secured by on-duty crew members “who diverted and landed the aircraft safely.” A regional official said the crew members were pilots in training.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attacker, an Omani national, was arrested in Saudi Arabia and was undergoing interrogation there. The motive for the attack was not immediately clear.

Modi told Machchhar his “courage, patience, and presence of mind” saved many lives.

Machchhar said his flying experience allowed him to sense the plane’s steep descent even after he was knocked down by the attacker.

“I have been flying planes for 17 years and serving as a captain for the last 11 years. I can sense exactly what is happening with the aircraft even with my eyes closed. When I was down, I could feel that the aircraft was plummeting,” he said.

Machchhar said that during those difficult moments, he recited the Hanuman Chalisa, a Hindu devotional hymn dedicated to Lord Hanuman, the monkey god, and traditionally recited as a prayer for strength and courage.

“Lord Hanuman gave me courage,” he told Modi.

Machchhar, who is married and has two children, has worked for FlyDubai for about four years, according to his LinkedIn profile. Before joining the airline, he spent 11 years with SpiceJet, an Indian low-cost carrier, where he served as a senior commander and line training captain. He logged more than 9,750 flying hours with SpiceJet.

Philip Kean, CEO of Mainland Air, the New Zealand flight school where Machchhar trained, said pilots are taught how to take over if a fellow crew member becomes incapacitated. But the training does not typically prepare them for a stabbing attack by a colleague, he told The Associated Press on Friday.

“I don’t think there’s much in the handbook for being stabbed,” Kean said.

“You’re friends and you’re flying together,” he said. “Nobody would expect … a person to have a go at you like that.”

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Associated Press journalist Charlotte Graham-McLay in Wellington, New Zealand, contributed to this report.

The blues great was celebrated Thursday night with a sold-out show at Radio City Music Hall in New York, where a lineup of guest musicians and a house band led by Rolling Stones drummer Steve Jordan had the audience on its feet for much of the three-hour-plus “Buddy's Got the Blues” concert.

Guy himself was only on stage part of the time, but his name was heard throughout, and his spirit always present. One of the last of the Chicago bluesmen who thrived in the mid-20th century, Guy has become so much the ideal of the genre that musicians didn't need to perform his songs to summon his legend.

John Mayer, with an ache in his voice on Otis Redding’s “I’ve Got Dreams to Remember,” and Eric Gales and Joe Bonamassa jamming on the Jimmy Reed standard “Baby What You Want Me to Do,” seemed as fitting as Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks reviving an old Guy-Junior Wells favorite, “Messin’ with the Kid.”

But no one was going to top the guest of honor. Guy, wearing a dark cap, dark pants and a polka dot shirt, opened the show with a long, raunchy acoustic workout of John Lee Hooker's “I'm in the Mood” and only seemed to get friskier after bringing out his electric guitar.

He leered and joked with longtime friend Shemekia Copeland on a duet of “Rock Me Baby,” left no doubt about the meaning of “to buzz all night long” in Slim Harpo's “I'm a King Bee” and carried on a lot more when joined by one of his few contemporaries, Bobby Rush, just a month away from his 93rd birthday. Everyone came on at the end for an all-out, self-fulfilling “Got My Mojo Workin.'”

Guy is still making plans. His team announced this week that he has a new album out next year, produced by Jordan and featuring multi-instrumentalist Ivan Neville, bassist Willie Weeks and others who played at Radio City Music Hall.

Guy didn't seem at first to have a lot on his mind Thursday besides the next double entendre or the next profanity. “Help me f—k up this song,” he liked to call out. But the tributes offered by the younger performers and the presence of Rush, who testified that he would have walked from Mississippi just to be here, left him moved and near tears.

“I didn’t think this many people would be coming out for a 90 year old man,” Guy said, after confiding he didn't have the strength to blow out that many “f—kin' candles” on the cakes brought out at the end. “This is the greatest day I ever had in my life.”

A deal that was a disaster for four years is suddenly producing some hits.

After Browns owner Jimmy Haslam called the trade “a big swing and miss,” Watson beat out Shedeur Sanders for the starting job. It appeared the experiment would only last two weeks and Sanders would start the home opener in Week 3 in front of the fans Watson called out in training camp for cheering when he got hurt in 2024.

But Watson led the Browns to a comeback win on the road in Tampa Bay in Week 2. And another one at home against Carolina last week. And another one at home over AFC North rival Pittsburgh on Thursday night.

That’s three straight comeback wins in the fourth quarter for Watson and the Browns, who lead the division with a 3-1 record.

“There’s belief, hope, determination,” Watson said on Amazon Prime Video after the game. “Those guys look at me and they just want me to lead the ship. I told them to believe in me, do what I ask and I’m gonna make a play when the ball and opportunity come and that’s what happened.”

The Browns shocked the football world in 2022 when they traded a slew of draft picks, including three first-rounders, to get Watson from the Texans. It was even more stunning when they gave him a fully guaranteed $230 million, five-year contract. It was a record for most guaranteed money until Josh Allen and the Bills broke it in 2025.

Watson was suspended the first 11 games of his first season because more than two dozen female massage therapists accused him of sexual misconduct, harassment, and assault during private massage therapy sessions in Texas.

He didn’t play well when he came back and made just 19 starts, going 9-10 before he tore his right Achilles tendon in October 2024 and tore it again while rehabbing.

“It’s a credit to him to work as hard as he did for 22 months,” Browns first-year coach Todd Monken said. “Had no reason. He had already had a great career. To work to get to this point, I told him: ‘We were gonna introduce you last.’ Isn’t that super cool? Really credit to him. Nothing to do with me. Credit to him and the guys around him.”

Watson was 24 of 33 for 268 yards, one touchdown and one interception in a 27-24 win over Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers on Thursday night. He’s completed 69.6 % of his passes for 855 yards, eight TDs and two picks with a passer rating of 104 in four games.

Watson is finally playing like the quarterback who went to three Pro Bowls in four seasons in Houston.

“We’ve been seeing it in practice all year, all camp,” Browns cornerback Denzel Ward said. “We knew what we had in the locker room, just competing against him in practice and he’s been coming out here and showing it so we believed in him the entire time and he’s proven us right and proven himself right.”

Watson has come a long way in a few weeks. After a poor performance in a lopsided loss to Jacksonville in the season opener, it seemed going into Week 2 that he was possibly going to make his last start. But he made the most of it, beginning a streak of comebacks.

Watson’s wife, Jilly Anais, watched his postgame news conference in Tampa Bay off to the side. She was ecstatic to celebrate, telling Watson he deserved to win.

The couple walked out of the room with big smiles. Watson hasn’t stopped smiling. Same goes for Browns fans, who aren't complaining about Watson anymore.

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See AP’s full NFL coverage here

“I didn’t want to put him in that position because I knew that even if he was hanging, he would tell me yes,” Weiss said. “So I was not going to bring it up.”

Weiss didn't have to worry. Sale was not going to make Weiss ask.

“Literally as soon as I stepped in my office this afternoon, he was sitting in the chair across from my desk, and he looked at me and he said ‘I feel amazing.’ That's what he said. I said, ‘Well, let’s talk.’”

That talk led to Sale recording the final four outs of the Braves' clinching 6-2 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday night.

Sale, the starter in Atlanta’s 5-3 win in Tuesday’s series opener, struck out Bryce Harper to end the eighth and closed out the win in the ninth by striking out Bryan De La Cruz and pinch-hitter Otto Kemp.

“I was hoping he only had to go one, but he had to get to four outs,” Weiss said.

“But what a warrior, man. This guy, I’ve run out of superlatives for Chris Sale. Been talking about him all year. He’s one of the best I’ve ever been around. When you take everything into consideration, teammate, competitor, performer, work ethic, all those things, he’s as good as I’ve ever been around.”

Weiss said the discussion with Sale in his office did not include any mention of how pitching in relief on Thursday night could affect the left-hander's availability for a possible start on Sunday in Game 2 of the NL Division Series at the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Even without the work in relief to close the Wild Card Series, four days' rest would be less than Sale often was given in the regular season, when he was 14-9 with a 2.16 ERA. Sale, 37, often was given extra rest and that helped him stay strong and record 200 strikeouts in 162 2/3 innings.

When asked if Sale was an option for Sunday's game, Weiss said “I don't know. I have no idea. We weren't even worried about that. We haven't even talked about that. We didn't look past tonight.”

The Braves had Sale and Tyler Mahle start the first two games against the Phillies. Mahle allowed only one run in seven innings in Wednesday's 4-3 loss in 10 innings despite suffering an abdominal pull during his pregame warmup. Weiss was concerned Mahle wouldn't be able to make the start and said Mahle felt better Thursday though still felt some discomfort.

Reliever Ray Kerr allowed only one hit in 3 1/3 scoreless innings as the opener on Thursday night and likely will be part of the Braves' plans against the Dodgers.

Kerr's strong performance against the Phillies was an important boost for the Braves' depleted rotation.

“I was feeding off the crowd from the first pitch of the game,” Kerr said. “They motivated me to keep going, throw even harder, throw even more. Every time I threw a strike, they were yelling, so I have to give it up to the fans.”

Left-hander Martín Pérez would have been part of the postseason rotation before landing on the 15-day injured list on Sept. 24 with lower back inflammation. The Braves also have lost starting pitchers Spencer Schwellenbach, Spencer Strider, Reynaldo López and Hurston Waldrep this season.

Weiss said “There’s nobody on the planet that had us" in the postseason when the injuries included such projected frontline starters as Schwellenbach and Strider.

“Nobody had us making the playoffs,” Weiss said. “These guys have overcome so much. ... It’s guys like Ray Kerr and everybody else that step up and perform when the stakes are highest. It’s such a great group."

Right-hander Bryce Elder threw off the mound on the Braves' workout on Monday before the start of the Wild Card Series and could be close to returning from the injured list after having surgery on his right knee on Sept. 7. Other possible options include AJ Smith-Shawver and JR Ritchie.

Following games Saturday and Sunday in Los Angeles, the best-of-five division series shifts to Atlanta on Tuesday and Wednesday, if necessary. A fifth game, if necessary, would be played in Los Angeles.

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With the Yankees leading Boston 2-1 on Wednesday night, Jones reached leading off the sixth after swinging over Garrett Crochet's sweeper in the dirt. Jones reached on the wild pitch and scored to spark a six-run inning that ended when he swung over Garrett Whitlock's slider. New York went on to a 9-2 win for a two-game sweep and a Division Series matchup with AL East champion Tampa Bay.

The Elias Sports Bureau said Thursday that no player had ever scored in a postseason inning he started and ended by striking out. Elias also determined no player had done that in the regular season since the expansion era began in 1969.

“Baseball can be a wacky sport,” Yankees outfielder Cody Bellinger said. “You see something new every day.”

Jones sprinted to first base when Crochet's sweeper bounced off Adley Rutschman’s chest. The catcher picked up the ball and threw to first, where umpire John Libka signaled that Jones was out. The Yankees appealed and the call was reversed by the video umpire at the commissioner’s office.

“It’s a great thing to be able to get on the bases I guess any way possible, but I was always told if you run hard, good things are going to happen, and that turned out to be the case,” Jones said.

It turned out to be perhaps the key moment of the game.

“I couldn’t believe he was there,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “I saw the ball squirt away a little bit. I didn’t think that much of it, and looked up and I was, like, ’Oh, he’s safe.'"

Jones stole second and kept going to third when Rutschman’s throw skipped into center field for an error. New York then broke open the game on rookie George Lombard Jr.'s RBI single against Crochet, Austin Wells' sacrifice fly against Whitlock, Ryan McMahon's run-scoring groundout and a three-run homer by Bellinger that followed an intentional walk to Ben Rice.

A third-generation major leaguer who has been around big league clubhouses since he was a toddler, Boone was asked after the game whether he had ever struck out twice and scored in the same inning.

“Probably," he said, rubbing his chin.

Then, he pointed a finger as his eyes brightened.

“Ah, in the regionals my junior year, I led off, I made two outs and walked," he said, before breaking into a smile and adding: "I'm assuming I scored.”

Southern California's media information department was able to find the documentation proving Boone was correct.

In the NCAA Tournament South Region semifinal at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on May 28, 1994, Boone led off for the Trojans and played third base against UNC Greensboro. He flied out to right field leading off the first inning and the next seven batters got hits as USC took a 7-0 lead.

After a groundout, Boone walked and came around to score on a single by fellow future major leaguer Gabe Alvarez. With the Trojans ahead 13-0, Boone hit a bases-loaded, inning-ending flyout to right as the 19th batter of the inning.

Southern Cal won 25-9 but lost to LSU the next day in the regional final.

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Clark was in the middle of the action this time, but the result was the same after Las Vegas eliminated Indiana 94-83 in Game 3 of the first round Thursday night.

“I'm just proud of this group," Clark said. “We weathered a lot. There's always so much outside noise, a microscope on how we perform every single day. A lot of really good moments. A lot of tough moments, too, where we felt we probably gave a lot of opportunities away. It's what hurts a little bit. We could've put ourselves in a better spot going into the postseason.”

The Fever had the chance to possibly get home-court advantage in the first round, but went 4-4 to end the season and entered the playoffs with the sixth seed. That put them up against the third-seeded Aces, who have won three of the past four WNBA championships.

Even Las Vegas isn't scrutinized as much as Indiana, mostly because of Clark's presence. To many, she is the face of the league, even though the Aces' A'ja Wilson likely will extend her record for MVPs to five.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver referred to Clark as a “political football” in July, and many of her fans claim she gets officiated differently than other players, that opponents are free to be more physical with her.

Those fans could cite what happened in the fourth quarter as such an example when Clark suffered a bloody mouth after taking a shot to her face. She pleaded her case to the officials, but no foul was called, and Clark fiddled with what appeared to be a loose tooth in the postgame news conference.

“Your guess would be as good as mine,” Clark said on why there was no foul.

Now she and Fever head into the offseason.

Clark spoke before the game that expectations are for them to win the championship at some point, and she said she believed the Fever have the talent to accomplish that. She spoke afterward of the parity in the league and said any team in the playoffs can win the title.

The Fever came close to beating Las Vegas and maybe making a run at it, twice cutting the deficit to two points in the fourth quarter.

But after the Fever scored 31 points in the first quarter, they didn't have more than 18 in any of the three remaining periods.

Clark scored 11 points in the opening quarter, making 4 of 7 shots that included 3 of 6 from 3-point range. After that period, she scored seven points while making 2 of 11 baskets and missing all six 3-point attempts.

“They made it difficult, but we've made a lot of those shots throughout the year, too,” Clark said. “At the same time, we were right there despite some of the poor shooting.”

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See AP’s full WNBA coverage here

The annual guessing game about who will win the prize, often called the most prestigious award on the planet, is revving up ahead of the Norwegian Nobel Committee's Oct. 9 announcement of the winner in Oslo.

Predicting the outcome is inherently speculative. Some surprising and controversial choices have appeared over the years. The committee received 287 candidates for this year’s prize, and just over a quarter of them are organizations.

Experts say the committee, in its process of awarding the prize, typically focuses on the durability of peace, the promotion of international fraternity and the quiet work of institutions that strengthen those goals.

International Space Station a symbol of global cooperation

Haakon Gjerløw, director of the Peace Research Institute Oslo, is considered a top forecaster. He says the ISS — well, the organization behind it — is a rare symbol of global cooperation in a quest toward the heavens at a time when multilateralism is crumbling and many countries have retreated into narrower national interests on Earth.

The institute's annual watch list is one of the sources that most informs pundits and punters about the top contenders.

Trump has made no secret of his desire to win the prize, and has been nominated again, but could be viewed as a controversial choice after the U.S., along with Israel, launched an ongoing war on Iran in February.

Trump and Canada's Carney are both candidates

Canada's Carney has made a mark internationally this year, in large part by standing up to Trump on issues like U.S. tariffs.

Gjerløw's list this year also features Ukrainian children’s advocate Mykola Kuleba and Save the Children; Sudan’s Emergency Response Rooms, a grassroots relief network; and the Committee to Protect Journalists after the deadliest two years for reporters since record-keeping began nearly 45 years ago.

The International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court, jointly, also got a nod. The ICC has faced criticism and controversy among some, and respect from others, over its arrest warrants against leaders like Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Trump has long criticized the ICC, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in July announced a campaign to “dismantle the threat … posed by the International Criminal Court to U.S. sovereignty.” Later that month, the ICC's chief prosecutor was removed from office over sexual misconduct allegations.

Gjerløw said the committee’s choice is complicated by recent turmoil after 2025 laureate María Corina Machado of Venezuela, in a symbolic gesture, presented her prize to Trump days after U.S. forces removed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from power.

Conflicts and wars mark this year's prize

This year's peace prize comes in an era marked by the most war and conflict in decades, including in Sudan, Ukraine, Yemen, Iran and the Middle East.

Shawn Davies, a senior analyst at the Uppsala Conflict Data Program, which monitors conflicts, cited “increased international tensions and changes in the global security order” that he linked to an erosion of U.S. willingness to enforce international rules. Washington has gone from guarantor of the postwar order to a violator of it in some cases, he said.

“I don’t even think his own base would believe” Trump could win the prize now, “given how he’s stuck in what looks like a forever war in Iran,” Davies said.

Jody Williams, who won the 1997 Peace Prize jointly with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, says she hopes for a continued trend toward awarding the prize to women. Only 20 of the prize’s 112 individual laureates have been women in its 125-year history.

In the past 15 years, eight women have won the prize individually, compared to just six men.

Among names of the women circulating in prediction markets this year are Gaza surgeon Sara al-Saqqa and Yulia Navalnaya, the Russian opposition figure and widow of Alexei Navalny.

Nobels start with prize for medicine

Nobel week kicks off Monday with the announcement of the medicine prize, followed by the physics prize on Tuesday, chemistry on Wednesday and literature on Thursday. After Friday’s peace prize is awarded, the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences will be announced on Oct. 12.

The prize money this year is 12 million Swedish kronor (about $1.2 million), whether for an individual, small group of laureates or organization.

When it comes to the peace prize selection, expect political fallout no matter who wins.

“Trump will be unhappy whoever gets the Nobel,” said Nelson Wiseman, a University of Toronto professor emeritus. “If Carney got it, it would make relations with Canada rockier than they are.”

The bottom line for the Philadelphia Phillies is they came up short in the postseason again.

“You’re here to do business. You’re here to win games, and we didn’t do that,” Harper said in a subdued Phillies clubhouse Thursday night following their 6-2 loss to the Atlanta Braves in the deciding Game 3 of their National League Wild Card Series.

There would be no excuses coming from the All-Star slugger about a September swoon that prevented the Phillies from lining up their pitching against Atlanta because it took until Game 162 to clinch a playoff spot.

Philadelphia forced Game 3 against the Braves with three dramatic solo home runs late in Game 2. But in the end, the Phillies fell into an early hole Thursday and were eliminated from the postseason for the fifth consecutive year as they chase their first World Series title since 2008.

“You’d love to be able to set your pitching up and them be rested and all that kind of stuff,” interim manager Don Mattingly said. “But that’s not the way it went. We had to fight to get ourselves in, and to do what we had to do to get in, we had to do what we had to do basically every game in the series.”

The Phillies' core of Harper, Kyle Schwarber, J.T. Realmuto, Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola have made five straight playoff appearances and averaged 91 wins per year during that stretch. They have yet to win a championship and have been eliminated further and further from that goal each season since reaching the 2022 World Series.

The following season, Philadelphia exited in the National League Championship Series, and the next two years saw losses in the Division Series. A wild-card exit this season marks another step in the wrong direction.

“Obviously, we'd love to win a World Series with these guys. We’ve been together quite a while, and we've got a good clubhouse, and you know, good characters on this team,” Nola said. “We know what type of guys are in here. We know what type of players we have, and what we’re capable of. (We need to) kind of play good at the right time.”

The five-year run included two playoff series wins over the Braves. Philadelphia eliminated Atlanta in 2022 and 2023 despite the Braves winning the NL East in both seasons. That scenario was set up again this year, with the Braves earning home-field advantage in this series by virtue of another NL East title.

This time, however, Atlanta managed to get the big hits and the clutch pitching when it mattered most. Ray Kerr, in just his 10th appearance this year and first career postseason appearance, played the role of opener to perfection. He went 3 1/3 innings, giving up no runs, one walk and one hit to set up bulk reliever Grant Holmes.

Michael Harris II belted a three-run homer off Nola in the first, and the Phillies were looking up the rest of the night.

The Phillies were looking up at the rest of their division in April, but eventually righted the ship. Mattingly took over when Rob Thomson was fired on April 28 after a 9-18 start. The Phillies won eight of their next nine and reached .500 on May 16. A red-hot August put them in playoff position, but a postseason berth was not secured until the final game of the regular season.

Mattingly deflected questions about his future after the game.

“It’s not the time to talk about it. I’m comfortable with whatever they want to do,” he said. “Again, I want the best for the Phillies. I loved being in Philly this year. I actually like playing in that environment. I like the environment. It’s a rough environment, but it’s good. Again, I think you let the organization evaluate, talk about what they think moving forward, what they should do, and that dictates a lot of different things.”

As the clubhouse emptied out for the final time this season, Wheeler reflected on the journey the Phillies went on and the disappointing ending it delivered.

“It is tough. We spent a lot of time together. We see everybody’s ups and downs,” he said. “We see the good times and bad times people have throughout the season. We’re all brothers here, and we love to compete. So something like this happens, it’s tough.”

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The Nepal National Mountain Guide Association, which is leading the search, said rescuers dug through snow on Mount Himlung to find eight bodies in tents at the base camp, where one person remains missing.

“Due to continuing mountain hazards, recovery efforts have been temporarily concluded,” the association said. “Further efforts may be possible when conditions allow.”

Experienced mountain guides from the association took advantage of good weather and worked through the week to dig through the snow that covered the base camp.

Rescuers located 10 other climbers who were part of the group on Mount Himlung, a 7,126-meter (23,380-foot) peak in north-central Nepal, which is home to eight of the 14 tallest mountain peaks in the world including Mount Everest.

The avalanche is considered one of the worst disasters in Nepal mountaineering history.

Every year hundreds of foreign climbers come to Nepal to attempt climb the highest mountain peaks. Many of them have lost their lives trying to reach the summits in harsh weather conditions.

All those killed or missing this week were Nepali nationals preparing for foreign clients to arrive for the Autumn climbing season that began this month.

Nepal is still recovering from devastating flooding in August that swept away several villages, leaving more than 1,400 people dead and nearly 6,000 missing.

The S&P 500 rose 0.9% and pulled within 0.8% of its record set in August. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 281 points, or 0.6%, as of 11 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.5% higher.

All of Wall Street got a jolt after the U.S. government said employers across the country added 29,000 jobs to their payrolls last month. That was fewer than economists expected and a slowdown from August’s hiring rate of 133,000.

More importantly for financial markets, it tamped down concerns that the U.S. economy could be so strong that it gives inflation fuel to drive even higher. Inflation has remained much worse than anyone would like, and the Federal Reserve recently raised its main interest rate for the first time in three years to try to rein in the painful increases for the cost of living.

Even though Americans are feeling more frustrated about inflation and their finances, the overall U.S. economy has been chugging along. Earlier this week, the U.S. government said the economy’s growth in the spring was stronger than earlier thought, driven by businesses building AI data centers and spending by consumers.

Friday’s jobs report eased Wall Street's concerns about a potentially overheating economy driving inflation higher, at least for now. And it pushed traders to pull back on bets the Fed will hike its main interest rate later this month at its next meeting. They now see less than a 21% probability of that, down from 64% a week ago, according to data from CME Group.

“This report strengthens the case for the Federal Reserve to remain patient,” according to Adam Schickling, senior economist at Vanguard. “The labor market has not deteriorated sharply, but there is also little evidence that it has meaningfully strengthened, giving policymakers reason to wait for additional data.”

The pullback in expectations for an October rate hike helped yields ease for all kinds of Treasury yields.

The centerpiece of the U.S. bond market, the 10-year Treasury, saw its yield briefly drop below 5.17% before it pulled back to 5.24%. That's down from its peak near 5.35% on Thursday, when it and other longer-term yields neared their highest levels in two decades.

An easing of yields can help the economy by making it more affordable for everyone to borrow money. Higher yields, meanwhile, tend to undercut prices for stocks and other investments.

Of course, a solid U.S. economy and worries about inflation are only a couple of the many drivers that have caused yields to jump in bond markets worldwide.

Concerns about big spending by governments, along with the mountains of debt they’re racking up, continue. In France, for example, yields have been particularly shaky as the government contends with its record debt and strained budget.

On Friday, a drop for oil prices helped take some pressure off bond markets worldwide. The price for a barrel of Brent crude fell 2% to $100.24. It’s been swinging sharply on uncertainty about when the war with Iran will allow the global oil industry to return to normal.

Lower yields in the bond market help investors justify paying higher prices for stocks, even those that get criticized for being too expensive. That helped companies in the artificial-intelligence industry add to some of their already stellar gains.

Nvidia’s 1.8% rise was the single strongest force lifting the S&P 500.

Tesla rallied 4.8% after the electric-vehicle company said it delivered 486,532 vehicles to customers during the latest quarter, more than analysts expected.

Such gains more than made up for a 5.9% drop for Nike. The sneaker and athletic apparel company reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected, but its revenue weakened by more than feared. Nike also gave a forecast for profit this fiscal year that fell short of analysts’ expectations.

In stock markets abroad, indexes bounced back in Europe from sharp losses taken a day earlier after bond yields swung sharply across the continent.

Asian indexes were mixed, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropping 2.6% but South Korea’s Kospi adding 0.5%.

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AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Michelle Chapman contributed to this report.

Hochul said at a news conference that she decided to appoint Attorney General Letitia James as a special prosecutor to take over the case after learning “troubling details” about how authorities have handled the woman’s claims thus far, including that the district attorney closed the case without having anyone interview the accuser or anyone else involved in the alleged attack.

“In what world does the district attorney not even interview her, or anyone else involved, or even request the full transcript?” Hochul said. “This woman, this young woman, had already endured something that is utterly unspeakable. And then at every turn, she was failed by people and institutions with an obligation to protect her.”

She also assailed the Cornell University Police Department for not fully conveying the woman’s story to prosecutors.

“After this young woman came forward, she spoke to the police. She sat for hours and told them exactly what happened to her. And according to new reports, she could not have been clearer that she was 100% confident that she had been raped," the Democratic governor said. "Yet, shockingly, those words never made it into the account that the Cornell police sent to prosecutors.”

James is brought in

Hochul said Thursday that she appointed James to oversee the case because she had lost faith in the local district attorney’s ability to handle it.

James didn't say how long her investigation might take, but she said it would take some time and wouldn't be rushed, as every New Yorker “deserves to know that when they report a crime, it will be investigated fully and fairly, that they will be seen and heard.”

“We will review the facts, gather evidence, interview witnesses and, if warranted, pursue prosecutions,” James said. “I know that you want answers. I do too. A comprehensive investigation of this nature takes time, but my office is committed to seeing it through.”

The investigation initially was closed without charges in 2024.

Last month, the woman filed a lawsuit and Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten reopened the investigation. He has since been bombarded by criticism that he abandoned the original investigation too quickly.

Van Houten has defended his decision not to prosecute, maintaining that a sworn statement by the woman prepared by police didn’t include the woman's allegations that she was drugged against her will, incapacitated beyond the ability to consent and forced into sex.

He didn’t respond Thursday or Friday to messages seeking comment.

The attorney general will determine whether there is enough evidence to press charges, Hochul said.

“The young woman at the center of this case deserves to know that every fact will be examined and justice pursued," she said in a statement Thursday.

The case's impact extends beyond Cornell

The case has roiled the Ivy League school and raised questions about its response and the larger issue of how sexual assaults are handled on college campuses.

The woman, identified only as Jane Doe in court documents, told campus police in November of 2024 that she was sexually assaulted, then discussed it with the university’s internal investigators as part of Cornell’s disciplinary process.

The lawsuit against seven fraternity brothers, the university, the Chi Phi fraternity and others alleges that she was plied with drugs and alcohol, then subjected to sexual acts by a group of men while she was partially or entirely incapacitated. One of the men sent a social media message to other fraternity members alerting them to what was happening and inviting people to take part, according to the lawsuit.

Lawyers for two of the men she is suing have denied they participated in a sexual assault. One said his client didn't touch the woman. Attempts to reach the other men or their representatives for comment have been unsuccessful.

Officials say New York's sexual assault laws need updating

Hochul also threw her support behind proposals to change an element of New York law that has long made it more difficult to prosecute people who have engaged in sex with someone who voluntarily became intoxicated to the point where their ability to consent was compromised.

Under the law, rape charges generally need to involve force or a clear refusal of sex, unless the victim is physically helpless due to being unconscious, or mentally incapacitated due to being drugged without their consent. New York is one of 19 states with such laws.

“If someone is too intoxicated to consent, it should not matter whether they chose to use drugs or alcohol. Voluntary intoxication is not a license for sexual assault or gang rape, period,” the governor said.

New York governors have turned to attorneys general to oversee important cases in the past.

In 2018, then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo appointed then-Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas as a special prosecutor to investigate Eric Schneiderman, who resigned as New York attorney general after women accused him of violent slapping, choking and other abuse.

In 2021, James oversaw a non-criminal investigation into sexual harassment allegations against then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, leading to his resignation. Cuomo initially tried to choose who would lead the investigation into the allegations. He then allowed James to choose two independent attorneys to lead it instead.

James’ office also handles other criminal work and has the power under state law to investigate every death involving law enforcement in the state. But, typically, she can’t initiate criminal investigations without a referral from a local district attorney, the governor or a state agency, or an appointment like the one Hochul made Thursday.

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This story was updated to correct the spelling of Letitia James' name.

The copilot allegedly stabbed the captain in the cockpit before passengers intervened aboard FlyDubai Flight FZ1073 after taking off from Dubai, UAE, with 182 people including eight crew members flying to Tel Aviv, Israel, on Wednesday.

The airplane made a safe emergency landing in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday and the incident is under investigation by Saudi, Emirati and Israeli authorities, with the United States and Oman assisting efforts to determine a motive.

“Until this event, the possibility of a threat originating from a pilot or crew member was not considered a likely scenario. Security efforts have traditionally focused much more heavily on passengers and their luggage,” said Eyal Hulata, Israel’s former national security adviser. “That will probably change now and crew members will be subject to heavier screening.”

Israel's security protocols focus heavily on Israeli airlines and departing flights from Ben-Gurion International Airport. A potential Achilles’ heel lies overseas, where procedures for Israel-bound flights vary and are harder for Israeli authorities to oversee.

Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest airport for international passenger traffic, has built some of its appeal around a reputation for safety in a volatile region, said Philip Baum, a visiting professor of aviation security at Coventry University in England.

“They are very conscious of the fact, a little bit like Israel in many respects, that they cannot afford to have a terrorist attack happening on a flight out of there,” he said.

Pilot vetting and preflight screening aren't uniform worldwide

Investigators have not publicly identified the object used to stab the flight's captain or said whether it was carried onto the plane or came from inside the aircraft.

Preflight screening of flight crews should generally “mirror very closely what a passenger goes through,” although security procedures vary around the world, said Dave Komendat, a senior security adviser at risk management firm International SOS and former chief security officer for Boeing.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel has long-standing agreements with foreign carriers to keep pilots from flying into the country if they are citizens of nations that don’t maintain diplomatic relations with Israel.

Israeli authorities have described the FlyDubai copilot as Omani. Israel and Oman do not have formal diplomatic relations, raising questions about how the suspect ended up on the Tel Aviv-bound flight.

“Obviously, there was a loophole here. And we’re taking care of that,” Netanyahu said Thursday during an interview with Fox News Channel’s “Fox and Friends.”

Israel will increase security precautions on flights coming into the country whether or not they are operated by Israel. Pilots flying into Israel will be vetted and Israel will know their identities, prime minister’s office spokesperson Doron Spielman told The Associated Press.

There were no Israeli air marshals on the FlyDubai flight and the people who helped were civilians, Spielman added.

The International Civil Aviation Organization sets baseline pilot-vetting and licensing standards, while national regulators and airlines can impose additional requirements.

Aviation security expert Menachem Bachrach said Israel relies largely on foreign governments and airlines to vet their own crew members, and Wednesday’s incident may point to a compliance lapse rather than a flaw in the procedures.

“Before we’re jumping to tighten security, I would just say it’s likely that somebody didn’t follow the protocols,” Bachrach said.

Investigators to look for red flags and review distress call handling

Israeli flag carrier El Al periodically assesses its pilots’ fitness to fly, while other airlines may do so less often, said Arik Arad, chairman of the aviation cybersecurity consultancy CYVIATION and El Al’s former head of security at Ben Gurion Airport.

Investigators will want to know whether colleagues previously reported concerns about the copilot and, if so, how the airline responded, Komendat said.

Investigators in the UAE and Israel also are likely to review responses to the distress signals that came from the FlyDubai plane after a steep drop in altitude.

A person who heard the FlyDubai flight’s air traffic control communications said a crew member reported a hijacking and requested ambulances. Authorities in Saudi Arabia and Jordan initially refused to clear the aircraft for landing, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The crew member eventually persuaded Saudi authorities to allow the plane to set down at Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Airport in the city of Tabuk.

International aviation standards call for countries to give aircraft facing hijacking or other “unlawful interference” maximum assistance and priority. But the underlying 1944 treaty, the Convention on International Civil Aviation, only requires a country to provide assistance “as it may find practicable,” making it a “relatively soft obligation,” said Vincent Correia, co-director of McGill University’s Institute of Air and Space Law.

Standard practice in a serious emergency is to get an aircraft on the ground as quickly as possible at the nearest suitable runway, “regardless of nationality, flight plan or politics,” said John Gradek, who manages McGill’s Aviation Management Program.

Gradek stressed it’s still not clear why the FlyDubai plane took a 180-degree turn as it crossed into Jordanian airspace before heading southwest to Tabuk. It’s not unusual for flight crews to bypass the nearest airport in favor of one better-equipped to meet a plane’s needs, he said.

Locked cockpits have been central to flight security for 25 years

Netanyahu said the flight's injured captain saved the aircraft and everyone on it by resisting the copilot's attacks long enough to open the 737's cockpit door, enabling passengers to subdue the suspect and other FlyDubai crew members to take the controls and land the plane.

Cockpit doors worldwide were reinforced and locked after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to keep intruders out. The FlyDubai incident, and past crashes caused by pilots who wanted to take their own lives, highlight the risk when a threat comes from inside the cockpit.

“The industry itself needs to recognize that flight deck door — whilst installed for very understandable reasons to prevent a suicidal hijacking by a passenger — has also created a fortress into which the good guys cannot gain access to a rogue individual, be it a hijacker or a rogue crew member,” Baum said.

Airline personnel know more about aviation security weaknesses and can gain the trust of security workers they regularly encounter, Osprey Flight Solutions Chief Intelligence Officer Matthew Borie, whose company advises airlines on flight threats, said.

“Unfortunately, if an insider with nefarious intent wants to carry out something like this, they may actually be best placed to know where the most vulnerable points are and how to breach them,” Borie said.

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Yamat reported from Las Vegas, Nevada, and Marcel from New York. Jill Lawless in London, Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel, and Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska, contributed to this report.

The Grammy-nominated rapper is moving forward with fatherhood, healing and a sense of purpose. Now a father to a daughter, he says that growth is at the heart of his new album "QRÖMELIFE,” out Friday. The 14-track offering is executive produced by Pharrell Williams, who Quavo says helped him tune out the noise and return to the melodic instincts that made him a defining voice with the rap group Migos.

The album features appearances from Justin Timberlake, Tyler, The Creator, A$AP Rocky, Future and Lil Baby. It also reunites Quavo with Offset after the two repaired their relationship following a public falling out in 2022 and grew closer in the years since the death of Quavo’s nephew and fellow Migos member Takeoff.

“QRÖMELIFE” arrives as Quavo and Takeoff's 2022 ”Hotel Lobby" performance fuels a flood of AI-generated videos featuring everyone from Barack and Michelle Obama and Spider-Man to soccer stars Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham — even dogs and cats.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Quavo spoke about the meaning behind “QRÖMELIFE,” how Pharrell helped him tune out the algorithm, the viral resurgence of “Hotel Lobby” and a new Migos project.

Remarks have been edited for brevity.

AP: What does "QRÖMELIFE” mean to you? What does that actually look like as a lifestyle?

QUAVO: When it comes to a lifestyle, it’s a way of life. When you get up, got to go to work every day, and something happened in your life, but you still have to go hit that nine-to-five, you come in qrome. That’s your qrome state.

I feel like God put you through those states to make you qrome. It’s in your chromosomes. … Everybody go through ups and downs, but what’s gonna make you come out strong? What’s gonna make you come out qrome?

AP: You talked about becoming a father changing “the motive to the mission.” How has fatherhood changed you?

QUAVO: You got mouths to feed. You got little people of yours that look up to you. What you gonna do to add or take away from what you didn’t learn from your parents, or what you didn’t have?

For instance, I didn’t have a dad. So me being a father, it’s important to me because my dad died when I was 4 … I just want to be there the whole step of the way.

AP: What did Pharrell bring out of you while making this album?

QUAVO: Just to challenge my versatility. The “Stir Fry” Quavo, the “Congratulations” Quavo, the “Apeshit” Quavo.

You master that with one of the greatest producers of all time. … Sometimes the student passes the mentor. But in this case, it’s still light-years. I gotta catch up to him from a business standpoint.

AP: “Hotel Lobby” has become this huge AI phenomenon. Did you ever imagine you and Takeoff standing in that orange room, sharing one microphone, would become this viral moment four years later?

QUAVO: I just look at it as God. Losing (Takeoff), I just know that he's in a better place. And then coming through it at a time like this, the week before I’m rolling out my album. ... Then this hit.

It just let me know like, “Bro, I’m here. I’m here with you. I got you.”

The viralness of it made me feel like it was something bigger than just a click of a button or internet sensation. Everybody just started doing it, man. From the corporate of the corporate down to the streets.

I’m proud of it. I thank you for keeping my brother and his name alive.

AP: Some fans love the videos. Others feel uncomfortable seeing AI manipulate Takeoff’s image after his death. Where is the line for you between celebrating his legacy and going too far?

QUAVO: You can’t control it. I can’t spend all day trying to find someone that got a phone in their hand or sitting behind a desk. It don’t help me mentally. Don’t help me emotionally.

When I see it, I just say, “All right,” and go by it. You just got to be strong to be able to look at stuff and move on.

AP: You’ve talked about eventually doing one final Migos project. What would another Migos album mean to you now?

QUAVO: It means the world to me. Obviously, we miss one, and it won’t be the same without him.

I’ve been honored to be his uncle since the age of 3. So just having that relationship with him and knowing how he move and think, I kind of feel like he's in my body.

I talk to him about it. Be like, “I don’t want to do it if you ain’t got the vision for it.”

I know I can take the music that he got and get the Migos album ready. It just depends on how we want to honor the legacy. Because I want this music to benefit us and the estate.

AP: When you and Offset work on Migos music now, how do you make something that still feels like all three of you?

QUAVO: We’re cooking right now, and the chemistry is always gonna be there. We always learned to do four, five, six songs dolo and bring them to each other. But right now, we're just dumping the bags and seeing what we can put together.

AP: Has the work you’ve done through the Rocket Foundation helped you process your own grief?

QUAVO: It helped me just realize that this could happen to anyone. You would feel some type of way, but you don’t feel it till it hit home.

And when it hit home, I thought when it got to me everybody is gonna stop. But it still kept going.

You can go into a hole and not do nothing, or you can stand up and try to change and do something.

Seeing other families go through what I go through, I feel like I’m turning into this superhero to be a therapist to a family where I need a therapist.

The 37-year-old, first-time actor was in Mustang to film “Four Rivers Six Ranges,” a historical drama about resistance fighters who helped the Dalai Lama escape Tibet in 1959. A year later, Phurpatsang's own grandfather, Yeshi Wangyal, had returned to Tibet after CIA training to lead a separate guerrilla mission. He was killed fighting Chinese forces.

Born in exile in India, Phurpatsang is now a New York model. As he filmed firefight scenes in the mountains, a world away from his life, he thought of his family’s past.

“Wow, is that what my grandfather went through?” he asked himself.

Questions like this and others about Tibet's history, how it's remembered and who gets to tell it, are what Phurpatsang and director Shenpenn Khymsar hope “Four Rivers Six Ranges” will provoke at a moment when Tibet receives less sustained international attention than it once did.

The film premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam last year, before its Indian theatrical release on Sept. 18, a debut delayed as Chinese President Xi Jinping visited India.

The 91-year-old Dalai Lama’s succession plan looms over Tibet’s future and that of Tibetans who have sought to preserve their identity during China’s tight control. The world also has shifted, with China more powerful, the U.S. pulling back from its role as the world’s policeman and India and Beijing cautiously repairing ties.

Chinese state media has accused the film of promoting separatism, reiterating China’s position that Tibet has always been part of the country and saying the film rewrites history.

Khymsar insists it is rooted in history and that it is important for Tibetans to tell their own story. Phurpatsang too believes it is vital for younger Tibetans to know the history of the resistance they inherited.

“When you don't talk about it, these stories … they become lost,” Phurpatsang said.

Movie was filmed as a ‘covert operation’ in Nepal

Khymsar grew up watching films like “Seven Years in Tibet,” starring Brad Pitt, and Martin Scorsese’s “Kundun,” both released in 1997 and focused on the Dalai Lama's early life. But he wanted to tell the story of the ordinary Tibetans who formed the resistance group Chushi Gangdruk (“the land of four rivers and six ranges”).

The fighters regrouped among the wind-carved cliffs of Mustang, where they waged a 13-year guerrilla campaign against Chinese forces with U.S. support before disbanding in 1974, when U.S.-China relations improved. Khymsar said he wanted to shoot scenes in those mountains as his “tribute.”

But with Chinese surveillance and pressure in Nepal stifling the Tibetan community, he knew he wouldn't be able to secure the needed permits. He wrote and submitted what he described as a “dummy screenplay,” titled “The Himalayan Robin Hood,” and cut production from more than 45 days to just 19.

“The entire shoot was a covert operation,” Khymsar said.

There were other logistical hurdles. Much of the cast had never acted before, so Khymsar handpicked people, including social-media followers, and trained them in voice modulation and action. Some had never ridden horses and the production could not afford an action director or stunt team.

“I feel like the spirits of those warriors were there, helping me,” Khymsar said.

There have been no major Hollywood films about Tibet in recent decades, as studios sought increased access to the lucrative Chinese market, noted Carole McGranahan, an anthropologist and professor specializing in Tibet at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Indeed, Khymsar said he was struggling to secure international distribution.

“Four Rivers Six Ranges” matters, McGranahan said, because it is a “Tibetan telling of the history of Tibet.”

Another forthcoming film, “Tenzing,” about the late mountaineer Tenzing Norgay, could bring Tibetan history to a wider audience, she said. Norgay, a Sherpa, was born in Nepal to Tibetan parents and moved to Darjeeling, India, as a child, he said in a 1985 interview with India’s national broadcaster.

He and Edmund Hillary were the first two people confirmed to reach the summit of Mount Everest, in 1953. The biopic, starring Genden Phuntsok, Tom Hiddleston and Willem Dafoe, opens in select theaters Oct. 9 and premieres globally a week later on Apple TV.

“It’s not just a film about Everest, or about Nepal or India. It’s also about Tibet,” McGranahan said.

Tibet looms over India-China efforts to repair ties

“Four Rivers Six Ranges” was supposed to release in India on Sept. 11, a day before Xi's arrival for the BRICS summit and meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the rival neighbors sought to repair ties strained by a deadly border clash six years earlier.

Before Xi’s arrival, Khymsar received a call from PVR INOX, India’s largest multiplex cinema operator, saying the release would have to be postponed a week.

“They said we cannot release it (yet). They got some pressure,” he recounted.

Asked whether PVR INOX had received government pressure, Deepa Menon, senior vice president for corporate communications, said she had no specific information to share. The Indian government did not immediately respond to questions about the delay.

India and China have economic incentives to deepen ties but competing strategic interests, said Manoj Kewalramani, a geopolitics expert at the Takshashila Institution in Bengaluru.

India wants China’s manufacturing expertise without becoming overly dependent on it, while Beijing wants access to India’s vast market but worries about enabling competition. Chinese companies also remain wary of investing in India if relations deteriorate, Kewalramani said.

Developments in Tibet could affect India’s territorial integrity because of competing claims over Arunachal Pradesh, which India considers a state in its northeast, Kewalramani said. Beijing claims it as part of China and calls it Zangnan, or “Southern Tibet.”

India officially recognizes Tibet as part of China, while also hosting the world’s largest Tibetan exile community, numbering about 70,000. It also is the seat of power for the government-in-exile, the Central Tibetan Administration, and shares deep cultural and religious ties with Tibet.

In 2011, the Dalai Lama formally ended his governance role in the Central Tibetan Administration, but he remains the Tibetan community's most prominent global figure.

“Because of the succession period looming, it becomes a bit of a powder keg,” Kewalramani said.

Kewalramani said Modi assured Xi, according to China’s readout of the meeting, that India would not allow “anti-China activities” on its soil, a reference Kewalramani interpreted as directly related to Tibet. The statement did not appear in India’s readout of the meeting, he said.

The period between the Dalai Lama’s death and the coming of age of his successor could be especially uncertain for Tibetans, McGranahan said.

This could mean years of leadership by a regent, following a centuries-old tradition. The Dalai Lama has said his successor should be identified according to Buddhist tradition, signaling China should stay out of the process.

China, meanwhile, has asserted its sole authority to approve the next religious leader and insists the reincarnation must be found in its Tibetan areas.

It is against this backdrop that McGranahan said the film could bring Tibet’s story to a mass audience.

“There is something about a story, told through a feature film, that can reach more people and touch them, in public and, hopefully, powerful ways,” she said.

President Donald Trump announced the plant Monday alongside Iowa elected officials, heralding the project as a major economic and national security investment.

Five weeks before the midterm elections, Republicans seized on the promise of good-paying jobs and a central role for the heartland in the push for American steel manufacturing. It's celebrated as an opportunity for southeast Iowa, an area along the Mississippi River that once thrived as a hub for industry but has since suffered from shuttered facilities and dwindled populations. Still, the deal and the tax abatements it could carry have also been met with some skepticism in rural Iowa and Des Moines alike.

And while Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the “deal is done,” state action and local officials in the days since suggest otherwise.

Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds on Tuesday called lawmakers back for the special session, saying “reasonable and limited updates” to the state's economic development program were needed to advance the project proposed by Mesabi Metallics, a Minnesota company owned by the India-based conglomerate Essar Group.

The terms of an agreement between the state and Mesabi Metallics have been outlined in a memorandum of understanding; neither provided a copy when asked for one.

While the specific location remains undisclosed, elected officials have indicated the project is set for Lee County. Still, the chair of the county board of supervisors said this week that the company has not yet committed to the project site.

Mesabi Metallics “looks forward to breaking ground in the near future,” Jesse Harris, a spokesperson for the company, said in a statement Tuesday. He said the company is “optimistic” that changes to the law will be enacted based on conversations with legislators and elected officials.

The White House said Thursday that the Iowa project is only possible because of the president's policies.

“President Trump has a proven record of securing historic investments, creating high-paying jobs, and bringing manufacturing back to the United States," spokesperson Taylor Rogers said in a statement.

The pivot to Iowa seems to have moved quickly

Iowa state Rep. Matthew Rinker said he joined conversations on a potential project in his district several months ago.

Still, as recently as July, job listings on Mesabi’s website for the steel plant were based in Paducah, Kentucky, according to a version saved in the web archive. Jobs are now listed for Iowa, though the job responsibilities for a government relations manager still include interfacing with Kentucky's economic development team.

While the company had been in discussion with Kentucky officials, the scale of the project “more than doubled over the negotiation period,” spokesperson Brandon Mattingly said in an email.

Iowa "did get kind of into the mix late,” said Rinker, a Republican. “I think once they got here, they realized this is where they needed to be.”

First, though, changes in state law are necessary for Iowa to compete against other states for the project, Reynolds said in her proclamation. She is asking lawmakers to modify the economic development program so that tax credits on eligible projects can be worth up to 10% of investments, an increase from the current 5%, and paid out over 10 years instead of five.

For a $15 billion project, that could mean up to $1.5 billion in kickbacks payable over 10 years once the plant is running and contingent on jobs.

A major investment opportunity could carry risks for local communities

Lee County does not have any zoning or permitting ordinances that would be required for the project itself. The company would need a permit for hauling on the county’s secondary roads.

The scale of an investment such as this one is asymmetrical with the legal and administrative capacity of a small, rural community, said Anthony Pipa, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who studies development and policy in rural areas.

While there’s a lot of potential upside to a project of this scale, that asymmetry also leaves those communities vulnerable and without significant leverage, he said. Pipa also pointed to examples of massive proposed investments that didn’t come to fruition.

In neighboring Wisconsin, for example, Trump announced a Foxconn Technology Group display screen manufacturing facility and its promise of 13,000 jobs, saying it would be the “eighth wonder of the world.” The state Legislature, at the urging of then-Republican Gov. Scott Walker, approved up to $3 billion in state tax breaks for the Taiwanese manufacturing company if it hit employment and investment benchmarks, though those were significantly scaled back by Walker’s successor, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.

Foxconn has since dramatically reduced the scope of the project and now says it will employ about 2,600 people by the end of 2029.

Wisconsin Democrat Gordon Hintz, a leading opponent of the Foxconn project when he was a state lawmaker, said he sees parallels with what’s promised in Iowa.

“The idea of having domestic production in an Upper Midwest, post-industrial economy has a lot of appeal,” said Hintz, who is now a county executive. “The devil’s in the details.”

The Lee County Economic Development Board, which Rinker said was pivotal in bringing the Mesabi project to Iowa, said the plant brings “extraordinary opportunity,” while acknowledging the ongoing questions that need to be addressed “about workforce, infrastructure, housing, and community services.”

“We take both seriously,” board CEO and President Emily Benjamin said in a statement. “Our job is to help make sure growth like this benefits the people who live and work here.”

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Associated Press reporter Scott Bauer contributed from Madison, Wisconsin.

But the backup plan also failed, and Thursday — 24 hours later — Pike was still alive but in critical condition at a Tennessee hospital, though her prognosis remained uncertain. It's not yet clear what went wrong.

Twenty-seven states have capital punishment, and they vary widely in how they administer the death penalty and just how much of that lethal process they keep hidden from public view, according to the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center, a clearinghouse for information on U.S. executions.

Some states have extensive backup plans. Others don’t

Tennessee falls somewhere in the middle of the pack when it comes to contingency plans, with two redundancies built into its execution process.

First, inmates are supposed to have two intravenous lines placed. Thus, if the first IV site fails, the execution team can switch to the second one. A physician on the execution team can even insert a central line — which typically involves making an incision in a major blood vessel in the groin, neck or armpit in order to thread a catheter into the body to a spot near the heart — if needed.

Intravenous lines can fail for several reasons, like a needle and catheter not being properly placed in a vein or wiggling out of place — or a vein rupturing and letting blood and IV fluid leak into tissue surrounding the IV site.

Tennessee also allows for a second 100 mg dose of pentobarbital to be administered if the condemned person is still alive five minutes after the first dose was given.

Tennessee prison officials gave Pike a second dose, but it’s not clear if they used the primary IV site or the backup site to do so.

Little backup in Alabama, a lot in Idaho

Alabama has a three-drug lethal injection protocol. It allows for a backup dose of the first drug, the sedative midazolam, to be given if the inmate isn’t unconscious from the first dose. But the protocol doesn’t include additional instructions for what to do if the condemned person is still alive after the first dose of the next two drugs, rocuronium bromide and potassium chloride.

Idaho, meanwhile, has contingency plans for nearly every step of the execution process, with backup IV sites, allowances for administering a central IV line, and up to three full doses of any of the state’s four approved lethal injection drug cocktails.

Idaho recently made firing squad its primary execution method, though it has yet to kill someone by that method. Still, the state’s firing squad protocol also has a backup plan, with the prison director able to order a second volley of shots within a two-minute time span if she determines it is necessary to complete the execution.

Despite contingency plans, executions are still botched at times

Idaho called off the execution of Thomas Eugene Creech in 2024 after execution team members could not place a viable IV after eight attempts.

Tennessee also called off an execution earlier this year after failing to find a suitable vein for a secondary IV line.

In 2014, Arizona executioners injected Joseph Rudolph Wood with a lethal combination of drugs 15 times during the nearly two hours it took him to die. He gasped more than 600 times while he lay on the table.

Witnesses keep the public informed when executions succeed or fail

In many ways, executions are shrouded in secrecy. The identity of execution team members, the details about where and how lethal drugs are procured, and in some states even what happens in the death chamber is hidden from public view.

But executions, like all criminal sentences, are conducted by the state on behalf of its citizens, so it’s critical that members of the public understand exactly how that ultimate punishment is carried out.

Most death penalty states allow a few members of the media to witness executions on behalf of the public. Once the execution is over, those news representatives typically take part in a news conference, sharing exactly what they saw and heard with the rest of the world.

Access to executions varies by state, and limitations often lead to court battles

Only two states, Indiana and Wyoming, explicitly ban members of the press from witnessing executions. Wyoming, with no one currently on death row, hasn’t carried out an execution since 1992, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

A coalition of news organizations including The Associated Press sued Indiana last year for a seat in the witness room, but in June a federal appellate court upheld the state’s law barring media access.

In Idaho, media witnesses are allowed to watch as a condemned person is placed on a gurney, has IVs inserted and is put to death. Yet AP and other news organizations have sued for increased access. The news organizations asked a judge to allow them to watch via closed-circuit monitors as the drugs are pushed into the IV lines, which is currently shielded from public view in a private room beside the death chamber.

A federal judge ordered the state to provide that access, citing a 9th U.S. Circuit Court ruling that said the public should be able to view all critical parts of an execution via the press. But the state appealed, and the appellate court hasn’t yet ruled on the matter.

Media witnesses provided crucial details about Pike’s failed execution

When Pike’s first lethal injection dose failed to end her life, officials closed the curtains and administered a second dose of pentobarbital.

When the curtains reopened, Pike was making snoring sounds and was clearly alive, according to AP reporter Kim Chandler, who was one of the witnesses. Eventually the curtain was closed again and the microphone in the room was turned off, but Pike could still be heard making gasping or snoring sounds.

Nearly two hours after the execution began, media witnesses were escorted out, and Pike was taken to a hospital for treatment.

Many states, including Tennessee, keep the IV insertion hidden from public view, but allow witnesses to watch through a viewing window as the condemned person dies.

AP was part of a media coalition that previously sued Tennessee to see the IV insertion and to keep the viewing room curtains open until the pronouncement of death. But in April the Tennessee Supreme Court blocked a lower court’s order that would have allowed for increased access.

One of Pike’s attorneys, Steve Ferrell, said Pike feared that there could be complications because of a lifelong blood disorder that made it tough to get needles into her veins. Ferrell said it was possible that the IV did not enter Pike’s vein properly, and the drug may have filled her arm instead of entering her bloodstream.

He announced in a speech Wednesday that the office will help offer “first-class religious support” and will report directly to him.

“Our department is, you might say, putting on the full armor of God, because while we wage physical war, we all know the real battle is spiritual,” he said.

Hegseth has infused his evangelical Christianity into his leadership of the Pentagon, hosting Christian worship services for employees and often speaking of the United States as a Christian nation.

The Office of Religious Affairs, or ORA, will advocate for military chaplains and religious support “at the highest level of the Department,” according to a Pentagon statement. It will not “compel religious participation, favor one faith, or diminish the rights of personnel of any faith or lack thereof.”

Some criticism of the initiative surfaced quickly.

The Pentagon “owes it to the nation’s service members to defend religious freedom,” said Rachel Laser, head of Americans United for Separation of Church, which has sued the Pentagon over its worship services. “Hegseth’s latest announcement violates that promise by elevating Christianity to an even higher role in shaping U.S. military policy.”

Other federal agencies have had religious or faith-based offices, which were established under President George W. Bush and were continued in different forms under the Obama and Biden administrations. President Donald Trump established a White House Faith Office and had a similar effort during his first term.

Shaun Casey, a religion scholar, led the State Department’s Office of Religion and Global Affairs during the Obama administration. The office did not promote religion or spiritual well-being, he said. “It was there to understand what were the political implications of lived religion in the various hot spots around the world.”

The leader of the new office has not been named. A Pentagon memo said the religious affairs director will coordinate spiritual resources, including “faith-based homeschool support for military families.” Hegseth has also pushed the military school system to introduce more coursework that draws from conservative and Christian influences.

The memo mentions “faith-based initiatives supporting Department-wide suicide reduction.” In recent years, the military has become increasingly dependent on chaplains to help address the growing numbers of troops in mental health distress. Hegseth has said he wants chaplains to focus more on God and less on therapeutic “self-help and self-care.”

The secretary has pushed other changes within the military’s chaplain corps, which provides spiritual care to troops. He ordered chaplains, who are commissioned officers, to no longer wear their rank on their uniform but instead be identified by religious insignia.

The Defense Department also slashed the number of religious affiliations it officially recognizes, down to 31 from more than 200 previously recognized traditions. The list no longer includes atheists, Unitarian Universalists, pagans and Wiccans.

Hegseth spoke directly to chaplains in his address Wednesday at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia. Using Christian-inflected language, he said: “Live your calling. Stand firm. Preach truth. Minister to the flock.”

He then quoted from the Bible: “The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do unto me?”

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

The Energy Innovation analysis found that households will pay an average of $6,500 more for energy, cumulatively through 2040. In five states, households will pay roughly $9,000 more: Oregon, Mississippi, South Dakota, Virginia and Wyoming.

The California-based think tank said there will be more demand for natural gas for electricity because the administration is canceling new wind, solar and hydrogen projects and there will be more gasoline demand for transportation because Trump and Congress are revoking policies that incentivized efficient and lower-emissions vehicles. Higher demand increases prices.

Energy prices are elevated in many countries. The International Energy Agency said after Russia invaded Ukraine, record prices were observed between 2022 and 2024 in the European Union, the United Kingdom, Japan and Korea. In many countries, the rise has outpaced income growth and inflation since 2019, including the European Union and the United States.

In some areas of the U.S., demand from data centers is being blamed. The Iran war has sent oil and gasoline prices sharply higher, too. The Energy Information Administration expects residential U.S. customers to pay about 18.6 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2027, compared to 17.3 cents in 2025 and 18.2 cents in 2026.

The independent research firm Rhodium Group has also examined the issue, saying in April the U.S. has entered a new period of rising electricity prices. It cited increasing price volatility in natural gas, which is increasingly used to generate power; needed grid improvements; inflation; storm recovery and wildfire mitigation; and shifting policies.

Absent significant policy action, electricity prices likely will continue their significant rise over the next five years, the firm said.

White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said Wednesday that lowering electricity prices remains a top priority and Trump is unleashing reliable energy like coal and natural gas to reverse the damage Democrats did to the grid by increasing clean energy. A 2025 Department of Energy report, mandated by Trump, warned of increasing blackouts if the U.S. continued closing coal and natural gas plants.

“Joe Biden created a grid crisis; President Trump is fixing it,” Rogers wrote in an email. “If the Democrats had their way, these costly and unreliable renewable energy projects would still be failing our grid and our communities.”

The Republican president prioritizes fossil fuels to produce electricity, unlike Biden, who saw clean energy as a climate solution. The conservative Institute for Energy Research said in December that blue states have high rates because they have embraced aggressive renewable mandates, 100% carbon-free targets, premature coal and nuclear retirements and restrictions on natural gas infrastructure. It said high electricity prices are not an inevitability; they are a choice.

Analysis examined impact on states solely from federal policy changes

It focused on the sweeping package of tax breaks that slashed funding for clean energy tax credits, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill, Trump signed; environmental rollbacks, including clean air and power plant rules and the revocation of a scientific finding that underpinned the U.S. fight against climate change; the loosening of fuel economy standards and blocking of California’s novel rule banning the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035; and federal actions to stop wind, solar and hydrogen projects.

These changes will result in annual household energy costs rising in every state in the contiguous U.S., plus job losses in 47 of 48 states and losses to the gross domestic product in 46 states, Energy Innovation said. It's projecting 37,000 additional premature deaths from air pollution, $72 billion in additional healthcare costs and more than 9 billion tons of additional carbon pollution because of the environmental rollbacks. The analysis did not include Alaska or Hawaii because key federal data is not available for those two states, said Robbie Orvis, senior director for modeling and analysis.

“Across pretty much every state, things are worse. The outlook now is worse for states and the affordability crisis will be worse because of the combined set of policies,” Orvis said.

Climate Justice Alliance legislative director Mar Zepeda said her Washington, D.C., electric bill increased $200 in the past month. Zepeda blames electricity demands from data centers, and said federal “affordability” policies only exacerbate this.

“They may call it affordability, but affordable for whom and at what cost? Not for regular people,” Zepeda said in an email.

White House says the think tank is partisan

Rogers said it is “irresponsible” to classify Energy Innovation as nonpartisan because its employees have donated to Democrats and worked with Democrats on climate policy.

Spokesman Silvio Marcacci said Energy Innovation works with policymakers who want to cut emissions and lower bills, regardless of party. He said multiple Republican-led states have used their tool designed to model policies affecting energy use and emissions. Much of their data comes from government sources, including the EIA.

Rogers also said states led by Democrats that have embraced aggressive renewable mandates see higher energy costs, notably California and New York. She said this proves Republican policies are working.

However, in the Energy Innovation analysis, three of the five states facing the highest costs have Republican governors. Its research has found that states with high levels of wind and solar generation, including Republican-led Iowa and Oklahoma, have experienced the lowest rate increases.

The average price residential customers pay for electricity increased during Biden's term and has continued to rise under Trump, according to EIA data.

Oregon households’ annual energy spending slated to increase the most

The modeling projects federal policy changes will increase annual energy spending in Oregon by $840 per household in 2035 and $1,200 per household in 2040, with a cumulative $9,300 increase from 2026 to 2040 — the highest of any state.

The Oregon Citizens’ Utility Board advocates for residential utility customers. Executive Director Bob Jenks called those numbers “frightening” because Oregon already has an energy affordability problem. He cited steep rate increases as utilities make upgrades and data centers use more power.

As costs rise, Jenks expects utilities to disconnect more customers who can't afford their bills.

Jenks said wind and solar are essential for affordable electricity, and he wants the federal government to partner with states to develop the energy they need.

“We're trying to optimize among the resource options we have, and they’re trying to take things away and raise the costs,” he said.

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Department of Homeland Security officials say they don't plan to send immigration enforcement officers en masse to patrol the polls and dismissed concerns that they plan to do so as “fearmongering." Election legal experts say federal law clearly prevents the government from deploying any armed troops, agents or officers to election sites except to “repel armed enemies of the United States,” a high bar to clear.

But organizations who represent Latino, Black and Asian American voters say the rhetoric and ICE's own activity make them worried at a time the number of immigration arrests is soaring as President Donald Trump carries out his mass deportation agenda.

Feds say ICE won't ‘patrol’ the polls but don't rule out going entirely

During congressional testimony earlier this year, the then-acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Todd Lyons, and the head of Customs and Border Protection, Rodney Scott, said they had no plans to send officers to the polls. Lyons has since left the position.

A Department of Homeland Security official also told state election administrators that immigration agents will not be stationed at the polls for the midterms.

In September, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin accused Democrats of “fearmongering” in raising concerns over ICE officers going to polling places. He said officers won't go to patrol or monitor polling places broadly, but could go for specific reasons such as arresting someone if they have a warrant or are responding to a threat.

Earlier this year, Attorney General Todd Blanche, who was then the deputy attorney general, also weighed in on the issue, saying: “Why are there objections to sending ICE officers to polling places? Illegals can't vote.”

Trump, who has repeatedly raised the specter of widespread illegal noncitizen voting even as research and investigations show it is incredibly rare, hasn't said he would direct ICE officers to be at polling places but also hasn't ruled it out. When asked in May if he would send the National Guard or ICE to voting locations in November, he said: “I’d do anything necessary to make sure we have honest elections. We have to have honest elections.”

In a Time magazine interview published Thursday, Trump responded, “Haven't thought of it,” when asked if he planned to dispatch ICE agents to polling places.

The Department of Homeland Security, in a statement to The Associated Press, said people in the country legally have “nothing to fear" and that: “ICE is not planning operations targeting polling locations. ICE conducts intelligence-driven targeted enforcement, and if an active public safety threat endangered a polling location, they may be arrested as a result of that targeted enforcement action.”

The Department also said they are "laser focused on prosecuting and removing aliens who vote and preventing the dilution of the votes of U.S. citizens.”

Deploying armed officials at polling places

is against the law

Federal law dating to the Civil War prohibits “troops or armed men” from being deployed to places where elections are being held “unless such force be necessary to repel armed enemies of the United States.”

“It is completely and obviously illegal,” said David Becker, a former U.S. Justice Department attorney who leads the nonprofit Center for Election Innovation & Research. “As soon as there is an armed individual at a polling place, there will be a court action; jurisdictions are preparing for it.”

Jonathan Diaz, director of voting advocacy and partnerships at the Washington-based nonprofit Campaign Legal Center, said his group interprets the law to include anywhere voting occurs, including polling places, early voting centers, drop boxes and election offices where ballots are delivered.

He thinks even the narrow scenarios Mullin laid out, such as ICE officers pursuing an individual warrant at the polls, are legally dubious.

“The statute does not carve out exceptions for routine law enforcement,” he said.

If ICE officers are near, but not at, the polls, it would raise legal questions that have not yet been considered, Diaz said. But there are several other federal and state statutes barring voter intimidation that could apply.

Local election officials addressed the possibility of federal agents showing up at the polls during a gathering this week in the nation's capital and said they had been preparing for it.

Dean Logan, who oversees Los Angeles County's elections, said while he welcomes people monitoring the election process, he does not want distractions for voters trying to cast their ballots.

“We’re going to make sure that we have boots on the ground to make sure the voter is not disrupted in that process,” he said during the meeting of the Partnership for Large Election Jurisdictions.

Democrats, Latino activists are concerned

Trump administration critics point to the president’s comments saying he thinks Republicans should “take over the voting in at least 15 places.” They also note some longtime Trump allies, including right-wing podcaster Steve Bannon, welcoming an ICE presence at the polls.

Dan Freeman, litigation director for the Democratic National Committee, agrees there is a low likelihood of immigration agents at voting locations, but his team is prepared to go to court should the administration try.

“President Trump is not willing to rule it out. Secretary Mullin is not willing to rule it out. And so we have to be ready," Freeman said.

Activists who have filed lawsuits to prevent any ICE presence at polling locations say the rhetoric from the administration and its allies coupled with months of immigration enforcement activities have left Latino, Asian American, Black and other voters concerned.

Activists say many Latinos, even U.S. citizens, already limit everyday activities because they are worried about ICE. They say it doesn't take a lot to spread fear on Election Day.

Juan Proaño, who heads the League of United Latin American Citizens, said ICE doesn't have to show up in force at numerous sites. Information spreading quickly on social media about one polling place could easily cause voters in other areas to stay away, he said.

“Just the mere presence of them in and around polling locations is enough of a deterrent for our community,” he said. “The threats that we’re getting now, that we are hearing today, are impacting the decisions that folks will make on Election Day.”

Community groups mobilize to reassure hesitant voters

Activists point to an incident in Syracuse, New York, over the summer in which agents from Homeland Security Investigations, an arm of ICE that has largely taken the lead on investigating alleged voter fraud, went to a polling place to serve a written notice to a woman who they accused of publicly posting personal information about federal officers.

Despite the concerns, they are encouraging members of their communities to vote, reminding them of their rights and are stepping up efforts to assist voters with legal help.

Thu Nguyen, who heads OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates, said the group is recruiting monitors to observe the election process in response to fears they've been hearing. Nguyen said their U.S. citizen members are concerned in part because ICE has detained Americans during past operations or because they might be related to someone without immigration status and fearful of drawing attention to them.

A nonpartisan coalition of Trump administration opponents said it is planning a program in areas with large minority voting populations — Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina and Ohio — to boost voter confidence that they can cast a ballot safely. Those states also have competitive U.S. Senate races this year.

The program, called VoteSafe, includes recruiting trusted community leaders to help address voter hesitation associated with fears around armed agents at the polls, said Mary Corcoran, executive director of the Save America Movement and a leader in the effort.

“Our job is to overcome it,” she said.

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Swenson reported from New York. Associated Press writers Gary Fields in Washington and Nicholas Riccardi in Denver contributed to this report.

Watson led a go-ahead drive in the fourth quarter for the third straight week as he moved the Browns into position for Andre Szmyt's career-long 56-yard field goal with 10 seconds remaining that gave Cleveland a 27-24 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday night.

“I knew it was money. He told me the landmark, so he was just lining it up and we see it all the time,” Watson said about Szmyt’s second field goal, which gave the Browns a 3-1 record for the first time since 2001.

The Browns had a 21-7 lead late in the first half before the Steelers rallied to tie it at 24-all. Aaron Rodgers threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Pat Freiermuth with 1:44 remaining and Rodgers sneaked in for the 2-point conversion.

Watson went 4 for 5 for 46 yards on the winning drive, including two completions to Jerry Jeudy for 27 yards. The 10-year veteran was sacked for a 4-yard loss with 19 seconds left, which put the ball on the Steelers 38, but it ended up not mattering as Szmyt drilled the kick down the middle to extend his streak of made field goals to 22.

"I honestly said, ‘I’ll hit it from anywhere,"' but I told him ‘let’s get to the 42, maybe a 60-yard field goal,' He got me a couple extra yards, so kudos to him," said Szmyt, who had his third field goal in the final 15 seconds since joining the Browns last season.

Cleveland has won eight straight Thursday night games, the longest active streak and fourth longest in NFL history. Four have come against the Steelers.

Pittsburgh (2-2) is 0-10 on the road against AFC North rivals on Thursdays.

Watson completed 24 of 33 passes for 268 yards with a touchdown and interception. He passed for 181 yards in the first half, his most since being traded by Houston to Cleveland in 2022.

“Happy for Deshaun. Not happy about the sack there at the end, but three straight fourth-quarter comebacks really cool for him and our team,” Browns coach Todd Monken said.

Rodgers, who was 22 of 40 for 299 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions, had one final chance to get the Steelers in field goal range, but he was picked off by Grant Delpit at the Browns 18 on a Hail Mary throw with 1 second left.

Pittsburgh's Jaylen Warren rushed for 93 yards on 17 carries and DK Metcalf had five catches for 115 yards.

“I wouldn't say it was our cleanest game all the way around,” Rodgers said. “They were getting after us on some of the long yardage stuff that we weren't winning a bunch. I missed some throws I usually hit.”

The Browns defense got consistent pressure on Rodgers with five sacks and 10 quarterback hits.

“We had some protection challenges. It was a five-man pressure, man-to-man game. They established that right from the beginning,” Steelers coach Mike McCarthy said. “I think it was an aggressive game plan by them. I kind of expected some of it, and we were one play short.”

Big second quarter by Browns

Pittsburgh controlled the first 15 minutes and took a 7-0 lead when Roman Wilson took a shovel pass 12 yards around left end on a jet sweep.

Momentum shifted on the second play of the second quarter after Denzel Ward picked off Rodgers’ pass intended for Michael Pittman Jr. at the Browns 44.

The rest of the first half was all Browns. It was the first time since Week 13 of the 2020 season against Tennessee that the Browns scored at least 21 points in the second quarter.

“Denzel flipped it, and then we kind of got things going a little bit, got in a good rhythm,” Monken said.

Jaleel McLaughlin tied it at 7 with 12:14 remaining in the first half on a 28-yard run around right end. The fourth-year running back broke a pair of tackles at the 22 and went through a narrow opening at the 15 before scoring.

Cleveland took a 14-7 lead midway through the second quarter on Quinshon Judkins’ 2-yard run off right guard. The touchdown came three plays after Watson found Denzel Boston for a 60-yard completion to the Steelers 14 on the first play of the drive.

Harold Fannin Jr. then hauled in his third touchdown in two games on a 2-yard pass from Watson on third-and-goal with 1:22 remaining.

The Steelers got within 21-10 on Boswell’s 31-yard field goal with 8 seconds left before halftime.

Rodgers rolled right and connected with Washington for a 21-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter to bring Pittsburgh within 21-16. The 2-point conversion attempt failed.

Injuries

Steelers: DT Derrick Harmon (foot) was carted to the locker room during the second quarter and did not return. CB Jamel Dean (ankle) went out late in the second quarter and did not return.

Browns: DT Mason Graham (left knee) was injured in the first quarter and did not return. DT Mike Hall Jr. (right ankle) went out late in the second quarter but came back in the third.

Up next

Steelers: Host Indianapolis on Oct. 11.

Browns: At the New York Jets on Oct. 11.

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See AP’s full NFL coverage here

The four-time WNBA MVP, who had a verbal encounter with a Fever fan in Indiana two nights earlier, scored 36 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the defending champion Las Vegas Aces to a 94-83 victory in the deciding Game 3 of the first round.

“I have my moments because I'm human,” Wilson said. “But after a while, I understood I didn't want that to be a distraction to myself and my team, and I knew what we had to do coming into tonight. So I put it behind me. I prayed a lot. I cried a lot.”

The third-seeded Aces, who have won three of the past four titles, moved on to play the winner of the Golden State-Dallas series, which will be decided Friday night in San Francisco.

This is the second year in a row Las Vegas has ended the season for the Fever, who were seeded sixth. The teams met in the semifinals a year ago, with the Aces pulling out an overtime victory in the finale of the five-game series that Caitlin Clark missed because of injury.

“We've got to give credit to the Aces,” Clark said. “I thought they played well. I thought they were ready to go. That's what championship teams do.”

Wilson book ended this series with sensational performances in Games 1 and 3, making her sure verbal confrontation with a Fever fan wouldn't be the enduring memory. The league did not punish Wilson, who opened the series with 38 points and 16 rebounds, followed up in this game by scoring 21 points in the first half and making 11 of 18 shots overall.

Teammate Chelsea Gray added 23 points and Jackie Young had 18 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.

Clark scored 11 points in the first quarter, but was held to seven the rest of the game. Kelsey Mitchell led Indiana with 23 points but shot 7 for 23. Aliyah Boston had 19 points and 10 rebounds.

Tensions ran high again Thursday, both teams bringing the physical play expected when each season is on the line in a game that had the intensity of a WNBA Finals.

Clark and Las Vegas' Brianna Turner each picked up a technical foul just more than three minutes into Game 3. The Fever were huddling on the court when Turner worked her way into the group only to be shoved out by Clark.

Early in the second quarter, Indiana coach Stephanie White was called for a technical, arguing that Turner brought down Lexie Hull, who instead picked up the foul.

Clark took a shot to her mouth in the fourth quarter and had to be attended to because of the blood.

The Aces threatened to run away from Indiana in the third quarter, taking a 67-55 before going cold over the final 4:32 and making just one shot. The Fever twice cut their deficit to two points in the fourth to make Las Vegas sweat out the ending.

Aces forward Stephanie Talbot, who started all but one game this season, did not play because of a leg injury and was replaced by Jewell Loyd, who scored 11 points. Talbot averaged 8.5 points and 3.5 rebounds in the first two games of this series.

Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon said she didn't know what Talbot's status would be going forward.

“She was a game-time decision,” Hammon said. “I just told her, ‘You’ve got to do what's best for your body.' Her assignment in this particular game is such a huge one if she's not at 100%, I need to see somebody at 100%. I know she was heartbroken she couldn't get out there and physically get it done.”

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See AP’s full WNBA coverage here

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Angie Nixon met with Haitians in South Florida as deportations and immigration enforcement dominated the discussion.

“My main message to them is that they have someone who is going to advocate for them when I become the next United States senator. And right now they are living in terror,” Nixon said.

Harry Jean Louis of the Miami-Dade Haitian American Democratic Club said many Haitians feel they are being treated unfairly.

“We feel that this is very unfair because Haitians are hard-working people,” Jean Louis said.

He added that Haitian immigrants contribute to the economy and tax base.

“We contribute to the tax base, we are not freeloaders, so we feel that we should get all the support that we can get,” he said.

Nixon, who has called for Temporary Protected Status for Haitians to be restored, outlined what she would do in Washington if elected.

“We’re going to work on passing things like SB 4814 to extend TPS status, but then we’re also going to work to create a clear and compassionate pathway to citizenship,” Nixon said.

Meanwhile, in Broward County, Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Jolly was also meeting with Haitian-American voters in North Lauderdale.

A big concern there was the rising cost of property insurance.

Jolly pushed back on an ad from his Republican opponent claiming his hurricane fund plan would increase costs even more.

“We have a hurricane fund right now that has about $12 billion in it, that Byron wants to use to continue to bail out insurance companies,” Jolly said. “That’s what we use it for. Suppose we use that money to bail out homeowners to reduce homeowners insurance.”

Two campaigns and two different races are making their pitches directly to South Florida voters as Election Day draws closer.

Un debate organizado por TV Globo, la emisora más popular del país, estaba programado para el jueves y ofrecía la última oportunidad para que los dos principales aspirantes a la presidencia se midieran antes de que abran las urnas el domingo.

Es la primera vez en 20 años que los principales candidatos de Brasil han rechazado cualquier confrontación pública. Otras empresas de medios y grupos empresariales han organizado debates con otros candidatos desde el 23 de agosto.

Lula indicó el miércoles que no asistiría al debate de TV Globo, que habría de incluir a Bolsonaro y a otros dos candidatos. Horas antes de que el evento comenzara en Río de Janeiro, Bolsonaro, hijo del expresidente Jair Bolsonaro, también se retiró.

La televisora manifestó en un comunicado que el debate se canceló porque dos fallos, uno del tribunal electoral del país y otro del Supremo Tribunal Federal de Brasil, habían creado “incertidumbre jurídica” sobre el evento.

La primera decisión ordenó a TV Globo retirar una silla vacía que estaba reservada para Lula, quien habría sido objeto de preguntas de sus rivales presentes. El segundo fallo obligó a la emisora a invitar al candidato Renan Santos, crítico del presidente y principal candidato de la oposición.

Analistas señalan que Lula y Bolsonaro han seguido una estrategia de evitar confrontaciones directas en el escenario antes de la primera vuelta de votación. Aun así, es previsible que choquen en las tres semanas previas a la segunda vuelta del 25 de octubre, si la hay.

Encuestas recientes muestran que ambos son los únicos candidatos con una posibilidad real de llegar a la segunda vuelta o de lograr una victoria en primera vuelta. Ambos candidatos realizaron transmisiones en línea al mismo tiempo que estaba programado el debate.

Carlos Melo, profesor de ciencias políticas en la universidad Insper en Sao Paulo, sostuvo que el desaire de los favoritos y la cancelación de un debate que antes tenía mucho en juego muestran lo turbulentas que son estas elecciones.

“Los otros candidatos masacrarían a Lula y a Flávio. Ya no hay un debate real sobre ideas y proyectos. Es una pelea a puñetazos, está creciendo la falta de respeto”, manifestó Melo. “Flávio provocó a Lula para que fuera al debate, donde Lula tendría a cuatro en su contra. Al final, Flávio vio que esto también podía ser malo para él”.

“Asistir a debates se ha convertido en parte de un cálculo en Brasil. Para quienes tienen más posibilidades de estar en la segunda vuelta, faltar a un gran debate es evitar tropezar y ceder terreno”, añadió.

Lula reiteró el miércoles el argumento que ha utilizado para no asistir a otros debates antes de la votación de primera vuelta.

“No se puede llevar a alguien que tiene 49% (en las encuestas) a debatir con alguien que tiene 1%”, expresó.

Durante una transmisión en vivo el jueves en sus canales de redes sociales, Bolsonaro dijo que su cancelación de último minuto se debió a la “censura impuesta por el tribunal electoral”, en referencia a la decisión que impidió que la emisora mantuviera en el escenario la silla vacía de Lula.

“Te llamé a debatir, Lula, más de dos veces. Te escapaste. Queremos debatir contigo, restregarte la verdad en la cara”, declaró Bolsonaro.

___

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

Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, 28, had appeared in court in a wheelchair on Wednesday, wearing a sling on his arm. He remains in custody on charges that he assaulted an officer while trying to evade arrest.

Garces Perez struck an officer with his side mirror on Sept. 20 while trying to drive away, authorities said. The federal officer who shot Garces Perez, and who allegedly was hit by the side mirror of Garces Perez’s car, wasn’t wearing a body camera.

Garces Perez faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted on the assault charge.

The bullet was successfully removed during surgery, and Garces Perez is recovering in the custody of the U.S. Marshalls, said Fabiana Melendez Ruiz, a spokesperson for his legal team.

His case has sparked outrage and protests in the Texas capital city against President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, including agents' conduct.

Garces Perez said he was struck by a law enforcement SUV and spun around before he was shot. Federal officers told investigators, however, that Garces Perez attempted to strike an officer with his car at the end of the chase before the officer fired his weapon.

Footage provided Wednesday in court shows officers pulling over Garces Perez in Austin, where he was delivering food for DoorDash.

The Explorers jumped on the Eagles early and often. Kai Moore connected with Ajavion Willis for a 17-yard touchdown, putting Columbus up 21-0 after the first quarter.

In the second quarter, after a safety, Columbus star Amir Sears fielded the kick and took off for a 75-yard touchdown return. Sears is a Miami Hurricanes recruit.

Columbus rolled to a 53-0 win, improving to 6-1.

At Traz Powell Stadium, American and Northwestern faced off.

The Bulls trailed 13-0 before rallying in the second half. Amos Leggett faked the handoff, kept the ball and weaved his way into the end zone to put Northwestern on the board, 13-7.

Then Leggett aired it out to Avian Darien, who beat his defender for the touchdown.

Northwestern completed the comeback with a 17-13 win and improved to 5-2.

Duren accepted the deal shortly before a midnight deadline on a one-year, $9.6 million qualifying offer, according to the person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the Pistons had yet to announce the signing.

ESPN, The Athletic and The Detroit News, among others, were first to report the agreement.

It brings an end to an odd saga, one where it seemed as if Duren — who made $6.5 million on his way to being an All-Star last season for the first time — might actually pass on the $200 million offer. He was not on Detroit's initial training camp roster while the contract talks continued; the Pistons, like most NBA teams, have been on the practice court since Tuesday.

Duren averaged a career-high 19.5 points last season, along with 10.5 rebounds per game on 65% shooting. He made the All-NBA third team but struggled in the playoffs, averaging 10.2 points as the top-seeded Pistons failed to get out of the second round.

Duren has averaged 13.5 points in his first four NBA seasons, all with Detroit.

___

See AP’s full NBA coverage here

A debate organized by TV Globo, the country’s most popular broadcaster, was set for Thursday and offered the final opportunity for the two presidential front-runners to face off before polls open on Sunday.

The cancellation marks the first time in 20 years that Brazil's leading candidates have rejected any public confrontation. Other media companies and business groups have organized debates with other candidates since Aug. 23.

Lula said Wednesday he would not attend the TV Globo debate that was scheduled to include Bolsonaro and two other candidates. Hours before the event was set to begin in Rio de Janeiro, Bolsonaro, the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, also bowed out.

The broadcaster said in a statement that the debate was canceled because two rulings, one from the country’s electoral court and the other from Brazil’s Supreme Court, had created “legal uncertainty” about the event.

The first decision ordered TV Globo to remove an empty seat that was reserved for Lula, who would have been the focus of questions from his rivals in attendance. The latter ruling forced the broadcaster to invite candidate Renan Santos, a critic of the president and the top opposition candidate.

Analysts say Lula and Bolsonaro have both conducted a strategy of avoiding direct confrontations on stage before the first round of voting. They are still likely to clash in the three weeks before the Oct. 25 runoff if there is one.

Recent polls show the two men as the only candidates with a real chance of reaching the second round or scoring an outright win. Both candidates made online broadcasts at the same time as the debate was scheduled.

Carlos Melo, a political science professor at Insper university in Sao Paulo, said the snub from the front-runners and the cancellation of a once high-stakes debate show how turbulent these elections are.

“Lula and Flávio would be massacred by the other candidates. There's no real debate on ideas and projects anymore. It is a fist fight, it is getting disrespect,” Melo said. “Flávio teased Lula into going to the debate, where Lula would have four against him. At the end, Flávio saw this could be bad for him too.”

“Going to debates has become a part of a calculation in Brazil. For those who have a better chance of being in the runoff, to miss a big debate is to avoid tripping and giving ground away,” he added.

Lula on Wednesday repeated the argument he has used to reject attending other debates prior to first-round voting.

“You cannot bring someone who has 49% (in the polls) to debate with someone who has 1%,” he said.

Bolsonaro, during a live broadcast Thursday on his social medial channels, said his last-minute cancellation was about “censorship imposed by the electoral court,” in a reference to the decision that stopped the broadcaster from keeping Lula's empty seat on stage.

“I called you to debate, Lula, more than twice. You ran away. We want to debate with you, shove the truth on you face,” Bolsonaro said.

___

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

“La deportación masiva es una realidad”, dijo Homan. “Creo que septiembre va a ser el mes con más deportaciones en toda la historia de ICE”.

Homan presentó como logros la lucha contra el fentanilo, la trata de personas y el posible terrorismo, con un número récord de arrestos cada mes desde junio.

Solo en julio, la oficina de ICE en Miami hizo más de 7,500 arrestos.

La mitad de los detenidos no tenía antecedentes penales, un tema difícil de abordar durante el evento.

“En cierto modo, son daños colaterales”, dijo Alfonso Aguilar, del America First Policy Institute. “O sea, odio decirlo así. Mucha gente inocente está pagando por las políticas de la administración anterior”.

A diez cuadras del evento, celebrado en el club de golf Trump National Doral Miami, un vecindario de Doral lidiaba con la caída de las ventas, tiendas vacías y estacionamientos donde han aparecido agentes de ICE.

“No es justo cómo están tratando a la gente”, dijo José Ramírez, dueño de un restaurante en Doral.

Las mismas personas que ayudaron a elegir al presidente Donald Trump ahora enfrentan las consecuencias. Una de ellas es el defensor de inmigrantes Fabio Andrade, quien logró acercarse a Homan después de su discurso.

“Le pedí que, por favor, tenga en cuenta a quienes cambian de estatus y solicitan una visa profesional o de inversión. A esas personas también las están deteniendo, y eso hay que revisarlo”, dijo Andrade.

Andrade se fue convencido de que lo escucharon. Homan, por su parte, se mostró seguro de que el programa de deportaciones masivas va por buen camino.

“Estamos deportando y arrestando a más personas que nunca en la historia de esta nación”, dijo Homan. “Esperen a ver lo que hacemos el próximo año”.

Leer en español

“Mass deportation is happening,” Homan said. “I think September is going to be the highest deportations of any month in the history of ICE.”

Homan framed success as stopping fentanyl, human trafficking and potential terrorism, with a record number of arrests recorded each month since June.

In July alone, the Miami field office made more than 7,500 ICE arrests.

Half the people detained had no criminal record, making for a difficult conversation at the event.

“In a way, it is collateral damage,” Alfonso Aguilar, with the America First Policy Institute said. “I mean, I hate to to put in those terms. A lot of people are paying for innocent people for the policies of the previous administration.”

Ten blocks from the event at the Trump National Doral Miami golf club, a Doral neighborhood was grappling with slow business, empty stores and parking lots where ICE agents appeared.

“They are not fair, how they are treating people,” said Doral restaurant owner Jose Ramirez.

The very people who helped elect President Donald Trump are now grappling with the fallout. One is immigrant advocate Fabio Andrade, who was able to get in front of Homan after his speech.

“I asked him, please be sure when someone changes status and apply for professional or visa that has to do with investments. They are also being picked up and that needs to be checked,” Andrade said.

Andrade was confident he was heard. Homan was confident the mass deportation program was on track.

“We are removing and arresting more people right now than we ever have in the history of this nation,” Homan said. “Wait until you see what we do next year.”

“I didn’t see the puck land,” Shesterkin said, “so I didn’t know can I celebrate or not.”

It landed perfectly and bounced into the net with 2:34 left on the clock. The crowd went crazy and his New York Rangers teammates mobbed him in celebration as Shesterkin became the 18th goaltender in NHL history to score a goal and first to do it for the Rangers.

“I feel like probably a dozen times I’ve been on the bench thinking, ’OK, this one goes in,' and he barely misses,” longest-tenured Rangers player Mika Zibanejad said after Shesterkin's goal capped off a 5-1 victory over Tampa Bay on Thursday night in the home opener at Madison Square Garden. “Just seeing this one go in, the way he played today and obviously the amount of chances that he’s had to do that and now finally get it, it was great.”

The first goal of his career is the 21st by an NHL goalie, counting the playoffs. After trying often over his first seven seasons, he thought he would celebrate differently, but getting screened made him hesitate.

“I was just a little bit shy and didn’t know what I can do,” Shesterkin said. “Maybe next time. I will keep trying to score one more time.”

Serenaded by chants of “Igor! Igor!” from fans delighted to see him finally cash in, Shesterkin got to lead the parade of players skating to the bench to fist-bump smiling teammates.

“It’s pretty nice,” Shesterkin said. “I never did it before, so it’s a lot of fun.”

Two games into the season, Shesterkin is tied with Zibanejad, Gabriel Perreault and newcomers Pavel Dorofeyev and Eeli Tolvanen for the team lead in goals.

“He’s not just a great goalie — he’s a great goal-scorer right now,” Dorofeyev said. “I have a serious competitor right now, so got to keep an eye on him.”

Shesterkin had the opportunity because Lightning coach Jon Cooper pulled Andrei Vasilevskiy off and on the ice during the third period for an extra attacker. The goal was the first by a goalie since friend and fellow Russian Ilya Sorokin of the Islanders got credit last season when he was the last to touch the puck before it went into Nashville's net.

“Yeah, this one counts,” said Shesterkin, who was also terrific at the other end, stopping 24 of 25 Lightning shots.

Hall of Fame Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist on social media called him “Igor the goal scorer” and said, “It was just a matter of time.”

Coach Mike Sullivan knew the shot had a chance to go in by the time it was at center ice. He's glad Shesterkin finally accomplished the feat.

“Obviously one of his strengths is his ability to handle the puck,” Sullivan said. “When those moments occur for a team, they are great moments. You can see the raw emotion on the players on the bench. Shesty, he’s such a great goalie. He makes so many timely saves for us. When he has a moment like that, I think the guys, they get pretty fired up about it. It was a lot of fun.”

___

See AP’s full NHL coverage here

A year after failing to score in their first three home games last season, the Rangers wasted little time preventing a repeat performance, getting a goal from Mika Zibanejad less than six minutes into their Madison Square Garden opener.

Pavel Dorofeyev and Eeli Tolvanen each scored his first goal with his new team, and top prospect-turned-important contributor Gabe Perreault deflected in a shot by No. 1 defenseman Adam Fox.

Shesterkin scored with 2:34 remaining, becoming the 18th goalie in NHL history with a goal. The first of his career was the 21st by a player at the position, counting the playoffs.

It was a far cry from the nightmare start at MSG in October 2025, when the Rangers went nearly 181 minutes before setting off the goal horn there. They became the first team in league history to get shut out in the first three home games of a season.

The crowd at this home opener didn't even have much of a chance to get nervous. Coming off getting blanked 3-0 on the road Tuesday night at Boston, New York was the aggressor early. Drawing a penalty paved the way for Zibanejad to score on the power play.

The offensive outburst allowed the Rangers to put up four goals on 24 shots against two-time Vezina Trophy- and Stanley Cup-winning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy. In a matchup of two of the best at the position in the world, Shesterkin stopped 24 of the 25 shots he faced, leading to chants of “Igor's better!”

The only goal Shesterkin gave up was to Nikita Kucherov, the reigning MVP who banked the puck in off the right skate of Rangers center Noah Laba.

More “Igor!” chants followed his goal.

Up next

Lightning: Host Washington in their home opener Saturday night.

Rangers: With backup goalie Joonas Korpisalo injured, Dylan Garand appears in line to start Friday night at Detroit.

___

See AP’s full NHL coverage here

They're trying to become the first team since the New York Yankees from 1998-2000 to win three consecutive World Series championships, and the first National League club to ever do it.

They'll leave the sky-high expectations to everyone else.

“It's not something we're really focused on,” third baseman Max Muncy said. “When you talk about three-peating, you're putting that extra pressure on it that doesn't need to be there. Winning a World Series is already hard enough as it is.”

The Dodgers played a simulated game Thursday with the deciding game of the NL Wild Card Series between Philadelphia and Atlanta shown on the stadium video boards. The Braves beat the Phillies 6-2 and will play at Los Angeles in Game 1 of the best-of-five NL Division Series on Saturday, when the temperature is forecast to reach 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius) for the day game.

“You’re facing a team that’s already been through the fire and they’ve faced the emotion,” Muncy said.

The Dodgers have spent the bye week getting healthy while mixing in live batting practice, hitting in the cage and simulated games in a mostly silent stadium. Other than walk-up songs, the only sounds were the crack of the bat, guys hooting from the dugouts and outfielders yelling to signal they'd handle a fly ball.

Freeman used the down time to focus on getting his swing mechanics right while managing a right knee issue. The 37-year-old first baseman's plan included taking 400 swings “hopefully to kick out the bad habits,” he said.

Freeman doubled against Tyler Glasnow leading off Thursday's simulated game.

“I truly feel good right now physically and it's on me right now to figure out the mechanics of the swing,” he said. “I have no pain in my knee right now.”

Four-time MVP Shohei Ohtani has struggled with nagging right biceps and left knee issues for weeks. His knee shut him down from pitching and his arm recently landed him on the injured list for the first time with the Dodgers. He returned in time to play in five games at the end of the season.

Which version of Ohtani the Dodgers get in the NLDS remains to be seen; however, Roberts said he's “feeling great physically. His swings are overall in a great place.”

The Dodgers' lineup of position players is the oldest in the majors, led by 37-year-old infielder Miguel Rojas, Freeman and 35-year-old Muncy. Ohtani is 32. Reliever Blake Treinen is 38, but will miss the postseason after getting hurt last weekend.

“I think experience is going to be huge,” Freeman said. “We know what it takes.”

At the same time, the Dodgers can't afford to get ahead of themselves.

“If you think big picture in this moment, you’re going to lose sight of things,” Freeman said.

___

https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Peet, 54, was diagnosed with Stage I while both of her parents were in hospice in August, according to “My Season Of Ativan,” a personal essay The New Yorker published on March 21.

On Thursday, she told Savannah Guthrie on the “Today” show that there were red flags months before her diagnosis.

“I was in my closet, I was probably putting something on, and I felt a weird — it just didn’t feel like normal skin,” she told Guthrie. “But, it wasn’t the frozen pea that everybody talks about.”

Peet wrote that an ultrasound and an MRI helped to find the cancer. She underwent a lumpectomy, surgery to remove tissue, and radiation therapy, the use of high-energy rays to kill cells.

PROACTIVELY PINK: Retired nurse says negative mammogram didn’t explain pain; it was lobular breast cancer

Here are some possible ILC symptoms:

• Hardened or thickened area inside the breast or underarm
• Dimpling, dent, or puckering of the skin of a breast
• Change in the size or shape of a breast
• Changes to the nipple, including inversion or pulling to one side
• A new area of fullness or swelling in the breast
• Unexplained and persistent bone pain, especially in the back, ribs, or thighs
• Unusual pelvic bleeding
• Abdominal pain, distention and/or bloating
• Difficulty eating or digesting food
• Unexplained weight loss
• Unexplained shortness of breath or painful breathing
• Frequent headaches, dizziness, or impaired cognitive function
• Swelling or lumps in the chest, armpit, neck, or groin
• Changes in skin color, lasting rash, or firm nodules on the skin
• New difficulty seeing

Sources: Breast Cancer Research Foundation and Lobular Breast Cancer Alliance

Related stories

• Breast cancer patient ‘Mari’ got diagnosed at 22
• Mom To Mom: Mother’s breast cancer survival inspires teen’s activism in Broward
• Breast cancer survivor turns personal struggle into lifeline for hundreds of South Florida families

Since she retired, Trimble, 68, has had more time to work on her quilting hobby and on making costumes for her three granddaughters, who are 3, 5, and 7.

About 12 years ago, Trimble survived ovarian cancer and was treated at Broward Health Imperial Point. About two years ago, she faced a type of breast cancer that often goes undiagnosed.

“I had been getting routine mammograms, but I had started getting a little pain at the left breast,” Trimble said. “It wasn’t horrible, and it wasn’t constant, but it was enough that I took it as an indication that there was something going on.”

Trimble’s mammogram came back negative, but she wasn’t convinced. Trimble’s sister had survived breast cancer. She decided to push for a second opinion. It was a proactive move that likely saved her life.

Dr. Nicholas Tranakas, a surgical oncologist, scheduled a biopsy. Her breast had Invasive Lobular Carcinoma, also known as lobular breast cancer. It had started in the lobules, the milk-producing glands, and it was growing in thin, single fine lines — instead of a hard lump.

“That sums it up: Proactive. You have to be actively seeking what’s best for you,” Trimble said.

Mammography and ultrasound, the standard breast imaging tools, are less reliable for early detection of ILC. Dr. Mehmet Hepgur, a hematologist and medical oncologist at Broward Health, said it’s because tumors form “like flat sheets.”

ILC accounts for about 10% to 15% of all breast cancer cases. It is the second most common type of breast cancer after Invasive Ductal Carcinoma, which begins in the milk ducts, according to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Since ILC has a high rate of recurrence, Trimble decided to undergo a bilateral mastectomy, surgery to remove both breasts, at Broward Health Imperial Point.

“I feel really good today. I tell everyone I am in pretty good shape for the shape I am in,” Trimble said.

Here are some possible ILC symptoms:

• Hardened or thickened area inside the breast or underarm
• Dimpling, dent, or puckering of the skin of a breast
• Change in the size or shape of a breast
• Changes to the nipple, including inversion or pulling to one side
• A new area of fullness or swelling in the breast
• Unexplained and persistent bone pain, especially in the back, ribs, or thighs
• Unusual pelvic bleeding
• Abdominal pain, distention and/or bloating
• Difficulty eating or digesting food
• Unexplained weight loss
• Unexplained shortness of breath or painful breathing
• Frequent headaches, dizziness, or impaired cognitive function
• Swelling or lumps in the chest, armpit, neck, or groin
• Changes in skin color, lasting rash, or firm nodules on the skin
• New difficulty seeing

Sources: Breast Cancer Research Foundation and Lobular Breast Cancer Alliance

Related stories

• Breast cancer patient ‘Mari’ got diagnosed at 22
• Breast cancer survivor Amanda Peet describes ‘weird’ symptom
• Mom To Mom: Mother’s breast cancer survival inspires teen’s activism in Broward
• Breast cancer survivor turns personal struggle into lifeline for hundreds of South Florida families

The lawsuit contends that the Department of Defense made the change by declaring an emergency, which allowed it to eliminate a specific box on the form. That box is typically checked by potential voters who acknowledge they are U.S. citizens but who have never lived in the United States.

They are usually the children of U.S. citizens, and 38 states allow them to cast ballots provided they have close family connections. Since 2013, the box has appeared on postcards sent to overseas voters.

Republicans have filed lawsuits in multiple states trying to prevent those voters, who typically support Democrats, from casting ballots. Thursday's lawsuit contends that the administration simply made the change on its own without giving proper notice.

“These American citizens pay U.S. federal and state taxes, but now a years-old plan has culminated in a manufactured ‘emergency’ to justify impeding their right to vote in American elections and potentially disenfranchising them entirely,” the lawsuit states.

The Department of Defense, which administers the form, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The number of Americans overseas who have never lived in the United States yet cast ballots in the country was estimated at about 11,500 in 2016. The lawsuit contends the number has likely grown.

Some are already registered and are due to receive ballots for November. Others can opt to check other boxes saying they're citizens who either intend to return to the U.S. or do not intend to return in order to receive ballots.

The move follows Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth urging members of the military to cast ballots en masse, implying they could out-vote Democratic jurisdictions, such as Detroit, if they all cast ballots. The same federal law that lets members of the military who live overseas cast ballots also requires that civilians who live overseas be given the same opportunity.

But as Democratic-leaning civilians overseas have out-voted Republican-leaning members of the military in recent years, the GOP hasstarted to target the law, known as the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, or UOCAVA. Republicans were able to win a court case forbidding the votes of overseas citizens who have never lived in North Carolina from being counted there, but have not yet succeeded in lawsuits in other states, including swing state Michigan.

Susan Dzieduszycka-Suinat is a U.S. citizen in Munich whose 28-year-old daughter also is a U.S. citizen who has never resided in the country but votes regularly. She said the administration’s move was alarming.

“If this works in slicing off a piece of the electorate,” said Dzieduszycka-Suinat, who is president of the U.S. Vote Foundation, "wait until the next emergency.”

___ Associated Press writer Konstantin Toropin in Washington contributed to this report.

Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred sent a letter Thursday to Teton County Commissioner Chair Mark Newcomb, Jackson Mayor Arne Jorgensen and Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce President Rick Howe, who wrote to Manfred voicing objections on Monday following a report in The Washington Post that Grand Teton was under consideration.

Manfred sent a similar letter to U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico.

“MLB has no formal plan to play a game in Grand Teton National Park,” Manfred wrote. “Our team was conducting initial due diligence on many potential sites when this story was reported and we had made no decision of the feasibility of staging a game in Grand Teton National Park. We also had not reached the stage in our due diligence in which we evaluated the environmental impact or spoke to members of the community to solicit their views — steps that would have certainly been a part of any process should it have moved forward.”

Manfred then said Grand Teton wouldn't remain under consideration.

“Since the story was reported, it has become clear the local community does not want us to continue evaluating Grand Teton National Park as a potential site,” Manfred wrote. “We obviously would not bring a game to a community that has concerns about the venue and will not continue to evaluate Grand Teton National Park as a potential site."

MLB and the players’ association have played a handful of regular-season games away from the 30 big league ballparks in recent years, including in the Iowa cornfields made famous by the movie “Field of Dreams.”

Grand Teton includes a commercial airport — the busiest in Wyoming — and a vast expanse of Jackson Hole bottomlands with spectacular views of the Teton Range.

“We are grateful that Major League Baseball heard the roar of the crowd and rightfully recognized that Grand Teton is already a field of dreams, filled with mountains, forests, wild nature and wildlife that attracts millions of dedicated fans each year," Allison Michalski, Grand Teton senior program manager for National Parks Conservation Association, said in a statement. “The bases were loaded with opposition, and this news is a grand slam for Teton county communities and the enduring legacy of Grand Teton National Park.”

___

See AP’s full MLB coverage here

La visita busca avances en temas de interés común, como el intercambio comercial, entre otras ramas. Guatemala y Belice son los únicos aliados de Taiwán en Centroamérica y figuran entre los 12 estados latinoamericanos y caribeños que mantienen lazos con la isla.

El ministro de Relaciones Exteriores de Guatemala, Carlos Martínez, se reunió con Lin y resaltó en conferencia de prensa la importancia de la relación bilateral. “La delegación empresarial que acompaña al canciller es una muestra del dinámico ecosistema industrial, tecnológico y comercial de Taiwan. Sin duda este intercambio permitirá abrir nuevas oportunidades de colaboración”, resaltó.

Por su parte, Li afirmó que este intercambio permite evaluar los acuerdos a los que se llegó durante la visita realizada por el presidente guatemalteco, Bernardo Arévalo, a Taiwán en 2025. “Gracias a los esfuerzos de ambas partes los acuerdos se han ido implementando y han producido frutos concretos, demostrando la amistad entre ambos países”, señaló.

El presidente de Taiwán Lai Ching-te dijo durante esa visita de Arévalo que los dos países “fortalecerán los intercambios y la cooperación, así como los programas de becas para jóvenes, proporcionarán capacitación para talentos en tecnología de punta e información y comunicación, con el fin de impulsar la prosperidad y el desarrollo”.

Arévalo, por su parte, identificó la salud pública, la educación, la agricultura, la tecnología y la infraestructura como áreas clave donde Guatemala busca aumentar su capacidad.

Li y la delegación que lo acompaña visitarán el terreno donde se construye el hospital especializado contra el cáncer en Ciudad de Guatemala y el Centro de Monitoreo para Operaciones de Emergencia y Control de Incidentes en el Aeropuerto Internacional La Aurora, ambos proyectos cuentan con la cooperación y asistencia de Taiwán. El canciller visitante y su comitiva también celebrarán reuniones con el sector empresarial guatemalteco.

La asistencia a los aliados es clave mientras Taipei intenta mantener la línea contra los avances de China, que típicamente ofrece grandes proyectos como carreteras, ferrocarriles y estadios para atraer a los socios de la isla, a menudo esperando el reembolso a tasas de mercado. Taiwán es una isla autogobernada que Beijing reclama como su propio territorio.

Friday will offer a mix of clouds and sun, with southeast winds sustained at 5 to 10 mph. Showers and storms will be possible, particularly during the early part of the day in Miami-Dade and Broward. Storms will tend to migrate westward and may be mostly west of the metro area by late afternoon. Temperatures are forecast to reach the upper 80s.

The ads had been hitting TV screens across the country for more than a week, including during popular programs such as NFL football. They were paid for with taxpayer dollars and heavily featured President Donald Trump and some of his core messages.

Trump claims the ads are “for the spirit of our country.”

Democrats say they’re propaganda.

“’Love me’ ads on television because he’s so insecure about his low popularity,” U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, said.

That sparked backlash from Democrats, who accused the commander in chief of tapping into public funds to run campaign commercials ahead of the midterms.

“It is the ethics of government 101 that you don’t use taxpayer dollars for political campaigning,” U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Illinois, said.

The White House had reportedly redirected $20 million from the Department of Homeland Security for the ads. Media tracking group AdImpact estimated the Trump administration had paid more than $2.5 million to put them on the air.

The White House said they were public service announcements, while Republican lawmakers compared the spots to other public messaging campaigns under previous presidents.

“Barack Obama promoted Obamacare. Joe Biden ran PSAs on vaccinations,” U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyoming, said.

One of the videos was nearly identical to a commercial that Trump’s campaign ran in 2024, swapping out the campaign logo for U.S. government text.

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, an ally of Trump, said the ads did not raise any legal concerns.

“They’ve explained that these are just normal-course public service announcements, PSAs that you see all the time,” Carr said.

Republican senators this week blocked a Democratic-led effort to call on the White House to pull the ads. Democrats then launched a new push to pass a bill that would strip $20 million from Trump’s federal budget any time his administration violated federal laws prohibiting the use of public money for propaganda.

There were also new developments in Trump’s attempts to ban some media outlets from the White House. CNN was removed from the press pool for the second time since a federal judge ordered those outlets to be allowed back onto the White House grounds.

The White House removed CNN from its press pool assignment. The press pool is the small group of networks that rotate responsibility for covering events such as the president’s Oval Office meetings.

The president’s original ban the previous month also included MS NOW and Politico and was temporarily blocked by a federal judge. A court date was set for the following week to determine whether to keep the block in place while the legal case moved forward.

Incumbent Mayor Samson Borgelin, who was elected in 2022, said responsible budgeting and keeping costs down for residents remain priorities.

“We want to look at the budget responsibly, make sure we can save the resident as much as we can,” Borgelin said.

Borgelin also pointed to efforts aimed at helping homeowners address code violations and liens that can threaten homeownership.

“We create the lean clemency program for residents, for qualified homeowners. In this case we spent about, we already spent both rounds, over $3.8 million,” he said.

Mayoral candidate Willnae Lacroix, an attorney who has lived in North Lauderdale for 23 years, said the city should take a closer look at how it spends taxpayer money.

“We need to go through our budget line by line, audit every single department, and wherever we can cut waste, we cut waste,” Lacroix said.

Lacroix said controlling spending could help the city address infrastructure needs while protecting property values.

“If our infrastructure looks a mess, how can our property values go up?” she said.

“How can our residents see, you know, I’ve got this asset and it’s actually a good asset instead of it constantly depreciating,” she added.

Candidate Tosha Chambers is making education and youth investment central to her campaign.

“We need to invest in the youth, in the young people,” Chambers said.

Chambers said she wants to create pathways for young residents to pursue college or vocational training after high school.

“I plan to set a pipeline where they can go from high school to university. Or if not university, high school to training certificates, where they trade certificates, whether it’s welding or plumbing, something that they’re making livable wages and can care for themselves.”

The State Department said Thursday that Rubio had signed off on the waiver “in the interest of U.S. national security.”

"The Secretary’s determination reflects the importance of Egypt to U.S. national security interests, and the concrete security cooperation Egypt provides to the United States,” the department said.

In a letter sent to lawmakers whose contents were shared with The Associated Press, Rubio cited, in particular, Egypt’s “helpful role” in the war with Iran. Egypt has been a key mediator between the U.S. and Iran in the efforts to wind down the more than seven-month-long conflict.

The State Department maintained that the Trump administration would continue to raise human rights matters as part of its dialogue with Egypt “on the full range of issues in our bilateral relationship.”

“The waiver determination recognizes the importance of maintaining security cooperation with Egypt at a time of significant regional security challenges,” the department said.

The $320 million is part of an annual U.S. contribution of $1.3 billion in economic and military assistance to Egypt. Specifically, it is for foreign military financing, which provides money for recipient nations to purchase U.S.-produced weaponry.

Congress inserted the requirement over concerns about Egypt’s human rights record, which many experts regard as problematic. The State Department itself in recent years has pointed to credible reports of torture, arbitrary arrest, child labor and restrictions on expression.

But granting a waiver to Egypt has become routine for both Republican and Democratic administrations.

The Biden administration, for example, last issued a waiver in September 2024, citing Egypt’s assistance in U.S. efforts to bring an end to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

Good’s partner, Becca Good, and her brother Brent Ganger on behalf of her larger family, accused the government and Jonathan Ross, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who shot into her SUV and killed her, of unjustified and excessive use of force.

The Jan. 7 shooting, captured on bystander video, was “the predictable and intended product” of the Trump administration’s crackdown on Somali and other immigrants in Minnesota dubbed Operation Metro Surge, according to one of the two lawsuits.

“She was the love of my life,” Becca Good said at a news conference announcing the lawsuits. “I’m here today because last January, the whole world had to watch as our entire universe was destroyed — as the sunshine who was my amazing Renee was robbed from us, from her children, and from her community.”

The lack of accountability stuns Good’s family

The killings of Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, and another U.S. citizen, Alex Pretti, in Minneapolis just weeks later sparked outrage across the country and calls to rein in immigration enforcement. At least 10 people have died in encounters with immigration officers during Trump’s second term.

The crackdown, a pillar of Trump’s second term, has prompted a slew of lawsuits filed by everyone from Chicago-area pastors to more than a dozen states and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Hundreds of protesters have been arrested, but few have been convicted of any crimes.

“What happened to Renee was completely senseless,” Ganger said. “And the fact that there’s been no accountability, no investigation, no expression of condolence, no change in policy is completely mind blowing.”

The lawsuits — one against the government, the other against Ross and officials including White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, ex-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and White House border czar Tom Homan — seek unspecified damages for wrongful death, conspiracy and other violations.

“Our government has become a grave and mortal threat to its own citizens,” the family’s lawyer, Antonio Romanucci, told reporters.

The Justice Department has not responded to an email seeking comment.

Ross shot Good as she turned her car away from him

Renee Good was killed while driving with Becca on a street where masked federal immigration officers were conducting an enforcement operation. They had just dropped their 6-year-old son at school. Renee stopped their red SUV in the street and honked her horn to warn people about the operation while Becca got out and started recording video with her cellphone.

Bystander video shows Renee Good in the driver’s seat, her car blocking part of the road, as she repeatedly honks the horn. Two immigration officers get out of a truck, their faces covered, and one orders Good to get out of the car. She reverses briefly, then turns the steering wheel as an officer again demands: “Get out of the car.”

Almost simultaneously, Becca Good, standing in the street, shouts: “Drive, baby, drive!”

The officer standing in front of the vehicle pulls his weapon and fires into the windshield. He lurches back as the car turns away from him. The officer, by then very close to the open window on the driver’s side, fires two more times, fatally shooting Renee Good, according to an analysis of the videos by The Associated Press and others.

Federal officials at the time said the officer acted in self-defense and that Good had engaged in “an act of domestic terrorism.”

Becca and Renee Good were not legally married, according to a family lawyer, but referred to one another as wives. They had only recently relocated to Minneapolis from Kansas City, Missouri.

“I don’t hate the people that took Renee from us,” Becca Good said.

“But what I want them to understand: Every single day they get to look at their children and their wives and their sisters and know what they took from our family. They took a mother away from her children. They know that. And they will carry it forever.”

Government tried to hide the truth, lawsuit says

The wrongful death lawsuit against the U.S. government seeks damages for “the immense suffering” Good endured in her final moments and her family’s “profound and permanent” loss.

The other lawsuit, against Ross and top federal immigration officials, paints Operation Metro Surge as a conspiracy to trample the civil rights of immigrants, and accuses the administration of targeting Becca instead of thoroughly investigating Good’s killing.

The government sought to hide evidence of what happened, it said, and officials worried that pursuing a civil rights investigation would undermine Trump’s claims that Good had tried to kill an officer.

The operation, the conspiracy lawsuit said, was a “carefully planned, coordinated effort” to make Somali and Hispanic immigrants “the object of aggression and abduction.” The crackdown used violence and the threat of arrest to intimidate neighbors and allies “who observed, documented and warned.”

Other defendants include: Corey Lewandowski, a Trump campaign manager who also served as one of Noem’s advisers; former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Todd Lyons; former U.S. Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino; and 10 unnamed federal agents.

The news conference announcing the lawsuits was held in the atrium of the University of St. Thomas School of Law, and dozens of law students looked on as the family and lawyers spoke.

“The time is absolutely now for accountability for the deep damage done by ICE and others,” Ganger said. “We will not be quiet. We will not go away.”

Lawsuits are ‘uphill battles’

Good’s lawyers acknowledged the complexity of the cases, and legal scholars said they could be challenging to win.

“They’re going to face significant uphill battles,” said Rachel Moran, a professor at the University of St. Thomas law school. “These are both complicated types of lawsuits, and so I can’t predict how they will play out. But I’m sure the government will have many, many types of responses to why the lawsuits should not go forward.”

But she noted the conspiracy lawsuit, in particular, could reveal many unknown details about the crackdown, including the involvement of some of the country’s top officials.

“Yes, ICE agents on the ground acted problematically, but that was at the behest, in many ways, of people very high up in the administration,” she said.

___

McCormack reported from Concord, New Hampshire.

In an ad, the campaign of U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, the Republican candidate, accused David Jolly, a former U.S. representative and the Democratic candidate, of wanting “government to take over hurricane insurance.”

The ad, first released on Sept. 8, defined “Jolly’s Hurricane Tax” as $1,000 per family annually.

On Thursday, in North Lauderdale, Jolly defended his policy, which includes converting the state’s hurricane catastrophe fund into Florida’s primary insurer for wind coverage to soften consumer impact.

Jolly said Donalds cited a Florida State University study that considered a 2024 Florida House proposal to have Citizens Property Insurance, the state-backed insurer, take over wind coverage.

The study also considered that Florida law would prompt an annual fee to bail out Citizens if it failed.

“There’s a $1,000 tax currently in the law. He is saying he will continue the law. The irony here is that Byron Donald is actually supporting a $1,000 hurricane tax by supporting the current law,” Jolly said.

Florida has the highest home insurance rate in the country after Oklahoma and Texas, according to Insurify. Availability and affordability remain a challenge. Jolly said he wants to cut bills by 60% to 70% by excluding hurricane and wind risk from policies.

“My model would fully replace the current law. My model would repeal a hurricane tax,” Jolly said. “That’s a level of dishonesty. A catastrophic fund is the most fiscally responsible way to deal with natural disasters because you prefund against the big storms.”

Donalds was campaigning on a “Bring down The Bill” plan, which promises to cut premiums by 20% and includes more tort reform and more hurricane-resistant construction.

Jolly said Donalds also had an ad falsely claiming he supports drilling in the Gulf, so he is releasing a new ad on Friday disputing that claim.

Related report

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According to records, Ross, whose real name is William Leonard Roberts, was booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center at 6:10 a.m. on a battery by strangulation charge.

The 50-year-old’s arrest comes days after his now ex-girlfriend, Jazzma Kendrick, took to Instagram to publicly accuse him of physically abusing her.

Last weekend, Kendrick posted an Instagram Story, sharing a DM from a fan who told her, “I’m seeing what Rick is seeing your (sic) so gorgeous.”

Kendrick responded, “He saw a punching bag.”

An arrest report from the Miami Beach Police Department names the victim in the case only by the initials J.K.

According to the report, the victim went to the police department Tuesday to report a domestic violence incident that she said occurred on the morning of Aug. 28.

Police said the victim and Ross had been in a relationship for about a year and lived together at the time of the incident.

According to the report, the victim claimed that she was awakened by Ross on Aug. 28, as he was enraged that she had been tagged in a photo on Instagram.

Police said Ross questioned the victim, accused her of lying to him and then slapped her in the face.

The rapper then accused the victim of being involved with a man she claimed she was only friends with, authorities said.

According to the report, Ross followed the victim around as he questioned her and struck her each time she denied the accusations.

Police said Ross also struck the victim several times in the chest and choked her to the point that she couldn’t breathe by grabbing the collar of her hoodie and twisting it.

Authorities said the rapper then grabbed the victim by her ponytail and slammed her into a wall before striking her in the face as she was bent over, leaving her with a “busted lip.”

According to the report, Ross then pushed the victim to the floor of a bathroom, grabbed the shower head and tried to spray her with water.

The victim was able to escape from the bathroom and leave the home, authorities said.

According to the report, the victim returned to the property and waited for Ross to leave before she gathered her belongings and left again.

Police said the victim called a friend to pick her up, but surveillance video shows that the friend was turned away from the property.

According to the report, Ross surrendered himself at the police station Thursday morning and did not provide a statement about the incident.

He appeared in bond court later in the morning, where his attorney, Bradley Horenstein, asked for his release to be expediated because Ross is a “celebrity.”

“Mr. Roberts is a celebrity,” Horenstein told Judge Mindy Glazer.

“So what does that mean?” Glazer asked.

“I don’t know to whatever degree your honor can, but I’d ask that his release be expediated,” Horenstein said. “He’s in a red jumpsuit and for purposes of his safety. I don’t know what your honor can do.”

Glazer appeared to be less than impressed, saying she didn’t know who the rapper was but that he would “be treated fairly just like everybody else here.”

She ultimately granted him a $5,000 bond and he was released from jail shortly after. Glazer ordered him to stay away from the victim.

After posting bond, Ross addressed reporters outside TGK shortly after noon, saying he is “totally innocent” and plans to vacation to Dubai and Paris this weekend.

“First and foremost, I am totally innocent of these fabricated allegations made against me,” Ross said. “Now, I have an amazing team, such an amazing team … what my weekend looks like, I’ll be in Dubai tomorrow, Paris Saturday and I plan on having a bowl of rigatoni with heavy marinara Sunday."

Ross also denied the allegation when Local 10’s Jeff Derderian repeatedly asked him if he strangled the woman.

While Ross is originally from Mississippi, he grew up in Miami-Dade’s Carol City and has homes in Atlanta and Miami Beach’s Star Island.

He has had numerous hit songs over his career, including “Aston Martin Music” and “Hustlin’.”

Ross’ attorneys, Steve Sadow and Bradley Horenstein, released a statement Thursday evening on his behalf, saying he was being “wrongfully accused” and asking the public not to “prejudge” the case.

“William Roberts II, professionally known as Rick Ross, is being wrongfully accused by an ex-girlfriend whose true motivations are unclear,” the statement read. “The ex did not even file a police report until a month after the claimed incident allegedly took place. Mr. Roberts is innocent and has pled not guilty to the charges. He respectfully requests that his friends, fans and the general public not prejudge the situation and allow the judicial process to run its course.”

But Shevchenko pulled out nearly a month ago because of back and shoulder injuries and vacated the title to force a quick and major change of plans.

Now Silva will try to capture the title when as the top-ranked challenger the Brazilian faces No. 8 Wang Cong of China.

“We were preparing for Valentina strategically," Silva said through a Portuguese interpreter. "Sparring was based on Valentina. They were emulating Valentina and everything was focused on her, and I got the news that it wasn’t her. At that point, I was like, ‘Damn, that’s the fight that I’ve always wanted. That’s what I worked for. That’s what I was envisioning.’

"But at that moment, coaches just pivoted. Our entire strategy shifted and we right away started preparing. It was about early September, so about 30 days I had to prepare, and we started preparing for my current opponent.”

Silva (20-5-1) is a -205 or -210 favorite depending on the sportsbook to capture the championship over the 34-year-old Cong (10-1), who is relatively new to MMA.

Though the 29-year-old Silva has dreamed of owning the name atop a numbered UFC event, this is far from the type of leading matchup many fans wanted to see. How Cong was given the spot over higher-ranked challengers has drawn some criticism.

Cong defeated Shevchenko in a kickboxing event in 2015, and if no else believes in her ability to win Saturday, she is ready to make a statement. If Cong beats Silva, maybe that will lead to what she really wants — a shot at Shevchenko in the octagon. In that way, she and Silva are aligned.

“This fight is definitely going to be exciting," Cong said through an interpreter. "We’re going to use this performance to shut (the critics) up.”

Silva will take an exciting fight as long as she comes out the victor.

Before the exit of Shevchenko, regarded by many as the greatest ever in her weight class, Silva was the underdog taking on a decorated champion.

Now Silva is the first name on this card, and she doesn't take it for granted. Maybe this wasn't the way she played it out in her mind, but Silva isn't about to walk away from this opportunity.

“As soon as the fight announced it was not her, (Shevchenko) became a nonfactor for me," Silva said. "I have my eyes on Cong. She is the one I have to focus on.

"As far as having my name on the poster, being in the main event, it's incredible because that's what I've worked for. That's what I've always dreamed. That's what I envisioned throughout my life. Just to see and sign a poster with my face on it ... that's a dream becoming true. I'm absolutely ecstatic over it.

In the co-main event, bantamweight ninth-ranked challenger Deiveson Figueiredo (25-7-1) of Brazil faces No. 12 Payton Talbott (11-1), a Las Vegas native who fights out of Reno, Nevada.

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See AP’s full sports coverage here

Ashton Hamed Ellaboudy, 51, of Richland, Washington, was arrested Thursday and is due to make his first court appearance Friday. Court records do not list an attorney available to speak on his behalf.

The FBI says Ellaboudy had a goal of helping the Houthis improve their communications capabilities and traveled last September to Yemen, where the Houthis and Saudi-backed government forces are now engaged in renewed violence that has killed hundreds and displaced tens of thousands. The conflict began in 2014 when the Iran-backed rebels took over the capital, Sanaa, forcing the country’s government to settle into exile in Saudi Arabia.

Upon his return to the United States, authorities say, Ellaboudy told Customs and Border Protection officials that he was traveling back from Oman on a work trip and was part of a U.S. government mission to inspect missile defense systems. But investigators interviewed Ellaboudy's supervisor, who reported having no knowledge of any international travel or of an Energy Department missile inspection program that Ellaboudy would have been assigned to, an FBI affidavit said.

Ellaboudy himself was recorded telling FBI informants, whom officials had introduced into the investigation, that he had to be smuggled into and out of Yemen and that he had hoped to reach the country's capital to make government-level connections, the affidavit says. He was ultimately unable to make it to Sanaa, the FBI said.

The FBI says investigators began looking into Ellaboudy after learning that he had purchased precursor chemicals commonly involved in the construction of homemade explosive devices, including acetone and sodium bisulfate, as well as parts used for drones.

During the course of the investigation, the FBI says, he communicated with multiple informants — including one who purported to be a Houthi colonel — and provided advice and assistance on communications equipment.

Ellaboudy is charged under a law that makes it a crime to provide material support to a group designated by the United States as a foreign terrorist organization, of which the Houthis are one.

“These allegations are so deeply disturbing that they almost defy imagination,” John Eisenberg, the assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department's National Security Division, said in a statement.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, emerging from the gathering, said talks were constructive despite not reaching consensus on the issue, which is known as “excess capacity.”

“Nearly all countries agreed that this is an issue that required action. And nearly all countries agreed that our current system of trade remedies and responses is inadequate to solve this problem,” Greer said.

The White House has accused trading partners of producing a gamut of goods in quantities surpassing demand, claiming it sends prices downward and unfairly skews competition. The Trump administration views China as the leading offender, but has opened investigations into countries from Norway to Bangladesh.

Besides Chinese-made steel, the administration has claimed industries including autos, batteries, paper and semiconductors have been plagued by overproduction, causing the U.S. to lose ground to competitors.

The gathering in Milwaukee of representatives from the G20, which includes both the biggest industrialized countries and some emerging markets, bore no signs of a breakthrough on the biggest trade dispute of the moment, between the U.S. and Canada.

Animosity between the two countries have been growing since the summer, when President Donald Trump slapped 50% tariffs on about $20 billion worth of Canadian imports, leading Canada to promptly counterpunch with tariffs of its own. It further devolved this week, with Trump banning nearly $1 billion worth of Canadian imports, including alcoholic beverages, dairy products and motorcycles.

“The reality is there are a handful of outstanding issues that are quite difficult to resolve,” Greer said Thursday.

Canada is a seemingly unlikely target of Trump’s trade war. No country buys more from the United States than its northern neighbor, an ally long considered so close that the countries share an unprotected border.

Canadian trade minister Maninder Sidhu, pleaded for cooperation, saying: “You’re facing some of the same challenges that we’re facing. Let’s help each other and let’s work through something."

In other discussions at the meeting, trade leaders also failed to reach a deal on forced labor, an issue the Trump administration has used as a justification for double-digit tariffs on more than 60 countries. The breadth of the levies, which cover 99% of U.S. imports, suggests another motivation: replacing worldwide tariffs that Trump imposed last year only to see them struck down by the Supreme Court in February.

“Believe it or not, we have countries in the G20 that do not want to commit to having a prohibition on the import of goods made with forced labor,” Greer said. “At the end of the day, we all know forced labor is wrong, and it will distort our markets, and we won’t have it." ___

Sedensky reported from New York.

The Bears said in August that the franchise's “sole focus” for the construction of a new stadium and mixed-use development was on Hammond, Indiana. But the public confirmation of the conversation between Goodell and Pritzker indicates that Illinois remains in the mix.

The Bears also had been considering Arlington Heights — about 30 miles northwest of Chicago — as a potential location for an enclosed stadium.

Illinois Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, state Sen. Bill Cunningham and state Rep. Kam Buckner joined Pritzker at the meeting. As the president pro tempore of the Illinois Senate, Cunningham frequently serves as the body's presiding officer, and Buckner's district includes Soldier Field — the current home for the Bears.

Pat Ryan, a billionaire minority investor in the Bears and a member of the team's board of directors, also attended.

“The Governor’s Office has remained in conversation with the Bears about their plans in Illinois throughout the summer,” Pritzker's office said in a statement.

“The Governor and General Assembly leadership were glad to participate in a productive meeting focused on keeping the Bears in Illinois and protecting taxpayers.”

The NFL said in a release that it appreciated the opportunity to meet with Pritzker and the state legislators.

“Timely action is essential as the Bears work to find a long-term stadium solution for the club and their fans,” the league said.

A message was left by The Associated Press seeking comment from the team.

The Bears, a charter NFL franchise, have played in Illinois since the team’s founding in 1920 as the Decatur Staleys. They moved to Chicago in 1921 and called Wrigley Field home before they started playing at Soldier Field in September 1971.

The Bears’ lease runs through 2033, but they can pay a fee to break the lease early. Soldier Field is about 40 miles south of Halas Hall — the team’s headquarters in Lake Forest, Illinois — and Hammond is about 20 miles south of the team’s lakefront stadium.

The Bears ramped up their focus on Indiana after a proposal to provide financial incentives for the team to build its new home in Illinois stalled in the state legislature. A committee in the Indiana House of Representatives passed a bill in February that established a Northwest Indiana Stadium Authority to finance, construct and lease a stadium.

The Illinois Senate passed a bill that would have cleared the way for Arlington Heights and Chicago to create local stadium authorities, creating a pathway for the Bears to avoid paying property taxes on a new stadium. But the House adjourned without taking up the measure on the last day of the state’s spring legislative session.

The Bears have been pursuing a new home for years, but the process has been hampered by repeated twists and turns.

The team announced in September 2021 that it had signed a purchase agreement for 326 acres of land in Arlington Heights. The $197 million deal with Churchill Downs Inc. was finalized in 2023.

In September 2022, the team unveiled a nearly $5 billion plan for Arlington Heights that called for an enclosed stadium that could host Super Bowls and Final Fours. The conceptual illustrations also provided for a year-round entertainment district with restaurants and shopping.

But the Bears shifted their focus toward building a new stadium next to Soldier Field after Kevin Warren was hired as team president in January 2023. The plan to transform Chicago’s Museum Campus got an enthusiastic endorsement from Mayor Brandon Johnson but a tepid reception from Pritzker and state legislators when it was announced in April 2024.

The team switched gears again in May 2025, announcing it had made “significant progress” with local leaders in Arlington Heights.

Amid lingering efforts to secure tax incentives in Illinois, along with as much as $855 million in public money for infrastructure at the Arlington Heights site, the Bears began to take a closer look at possible options in northwest Indiana.

Warren said in August that the team was “in regular, almost daily communication with the state of Indiana working on” the project. He called it “an excellent deal, a win-win partnership together.”

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AP Pro Football Writer Rob Maaddi contributed to this report.

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See AP’s full NFL coverage here

Juan Carlos Chaidez, a detective with what was then the Miami-Dade Police Department who led the investigation, testified that his homicide team was first in the rotation to respond when the killings were reported on Nov. 13, 2012.

Chaidez told jurors the bodies of Gladys Machado, 29, and her daughters, 6-year-old Julia Padrino and 3-year-old Daniella Padrino, were found on the tiled floor of a walk-in closet in the master bedroom.

He described the smell inside the room as a combination of “bleach and the beginning of a decomposing body.”

The detective said investigators initially did not know what had happened to Machado’s 5-year-old son, Michael, who was not among the children found in the closet. Machado was the mother of three children, Chaidez testified. Investigators later learned Michael was safe and was with another family member when the killings occurred.

Among the evidence investigators found was a handmade family tree project belonging to Michael. Chaidez testified that the item was found in the trash next to an empty bottle of bleach.

The detective also testified that Machado was found nude and that her clothing had been discarded in the bedroom.

Prosecutors showed jurors a purple T-shirt identified as Machado’s. Chaidez testified that the shirt appeared to have been cut.

Chaidez also described what Alberto Sierra, then 28, told investigators when he was first brought in for questioning.

According to the detective, Sierra said he knew Machado had been seeing another man during their separation, which began in September. Sierra told him he had forgiven her and understood the circumstances, Chaidez testified, saying the separation was related to financial problems.

Sierra was unemployed at the time and told the detective he was unable to support the family financially, Chaidez testified. He said Sierra acknowledged selling street narcotics while looking for legal employment and hoped improving his financial situation would help bring his children back.

Under questioning, Chaidez said Sierra did not tell him he was unable to keep a job or that a brain injury prevented him from holding one.

The testimony also focused on Sierra’s demeanor while discussing the victims. Chaidez testified that Sierra remained calm when talking about his dead wife and did not become emotional when discussing his dead stepchildren.

At another point, the lead prosecutor asked whether Sierra had described himself as having a “broke brain” or “broken brain.” Chaidez testified that he had not.

The testimony adds to the evidence prosecutors are presenting as they seek to persuade jurors that the killings were especially “heinous, atrocious and cruel,” one of the factors relevant to the death penalty. Prosecutors also have argued the murders were committed in a “cold and calculated manner.”

Sierra, now 42, has pleaded guilty to three counts of murder and three counts of kidnapping in the killings. Prosecutors say Sierra suffocated Machado and her daughters with yellow plastic shopping bags.

Sierra also has admitted to cutting Machado’s clothing with a knife, according to prosecutors. Prosecutors have alleged that he sexually assaulted Machado and Julia after their deaths.

The penalty phase follows Sierra’s guilty pleas and will determine whether he receives a life sentence or the death penalty. The jury will hear evidence from both sides before making a recommendation on his sentence.

The new testimony came as the defense sought to give jurors a different context for Sierra’s behavior and cognitive functioning. Defense attorneys are asking jurors to consider the effects of a severe childhood brain injury on their client.

Defense attorneys, who are seeking a life sentence, have described Sierra’s mother as an immigrant from Cuba and said Sierra suffered a severe brain injury after being hit by a car at age 12, causing lasting changes to his personality and executive functioning.

Authorities say the man contacted Katie Miller at least 40 times over the course of several weeks, sometimes leaving disturbing voicemails and text messages about her and her husband, Stephen Miller, who serves as White House deputy chief of staff. He also sent messages to phone numbers for her parents, according to prosecutors.

John Anthony Proia III, 41, is charged with one count of cyberstalking. An attorney listed for him didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment on Thursday.

The court documents do not identify the victim by name, but a person familiar with the matter confirmed that it is Katie Miller. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss non-public parts of the investigation.

“Those who use technology to harass, intimidate or torment others should understand that attempts to anonymize their criminal conduct will not shield them from prosecution,” Leah Foley, the U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts, said in an emailed statement. “We will find you, and we will hold you accountable.”

In a social media post Thursday, Katie Miller thanked Justice Department and FBI officials for keeping her and her family safe.

“Good to see a Boston grand jury indict this man,” she wrote.

The investigation contributed to upheaval inside the FBI’s Washington field office, where two top counterterrorism supervisors were recently reassigned by the office’s leader in part because of dissatisfaction over their handling of and approach to the Miller probe, according to multiple people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss non-public personnel changes.

Darren Cox, the assistant director in charge of the Washington office, said in a statement that the reassignments were not ordered by Director Kash Patel and that the moves were a personnel decision “based on our constant evaluation of mission needs. Any suggestion otherwise is false.”

Deputies arrested David Armeda at 2:25 p.m. on Wednesday at Macy’s at Dadeland Mall, at 7303 North Kendall Drive, according to a Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office arrest report.

“He had in his possession multiple stolen credit cards with several different names,” a deputy wrote, adding that Armeda was “under the effects of methamphetamine,” according to the arrest report.

Surveillance videos showed Armeda stealing from mailboxes on July 31, at 9150 and 9120 Fontainebleau Boulevard, according to the MDSO arrest report. The U.S. Postal Service estimated Armeda caused damage to a mailbox valued at about $28,125.

Miami-Dade corrections booked Armeda at 6:45 p.m. on Wednesday at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, according to inmate records.

Armeda faced three criminal charges in two new cases. He also had a warrant case while out on felony bond for attempted tampering with physical evidence and possession of drug paraphernalia with intent to use.

In the July case, he faced charges of criminal mischief of a $1,000 or more and knowingly removing or taking mail from a mail depository.

In the Wednesday case, he faced a charge of criminal use of personal identification information.

Avin Seetaram, also known as “Smalls,” was accused, along with 32-year-old HVAC business owner Somjeet Christopher Singh, also known as “Lil Chris,” in the November 2023 killing of airplane mechanic Suren Seetal, 36, of Miami.

Prosecutors alleged that outside of their day jobs, Singh and Seetal were both in the business of buying and selling fireworks. Singh, then 29, owed Seetal about $315,000 in relation to the fireworks business and the latter was starting to collect, so Singh sought out a hitman to kill Seetal, authorities said.

Prosecutors allege that Singh, of Coral Springs, gave Seetaram, then 24, $5,000 in cash and forgave $10,000 worth of his debt in order to hire a hitman to kill Seetal.

Seetaram would then turn around and pay Gavin Hunter, then 18, $5,000 to kill him, authorities said.

A July 2023 ambush attempt outside Seetal’s home failed, authorities said, leading the suspects to hatch a second plot, authorities said.

Court documents stated that on Nov. 4, Seetaram lured Seetal to the Dr. HVAC warehouse, located at 5441 NW 15th St. in Margate, by sending him a text of a key inside of a drawer. That’s where prosecutors said Hunter shot and killed him.

Cellphone and toll records from Nov. 4 placed Singh’s work van along Alligator Alley and Snake Road on the Big Cypress Indian Reservation in far western Broward County, prosecutors allege. Authorities would find Seetal’s body on the Seminole reservation Nov. 21, according to prosecutors.

Seetaram was convicted of several federal charges, including murder-for-hire conspiracy. Singh previously pleaded guilty to that charge, as well as other charges, including kidnapping and stalking resulting in death, getting a life sentence.

“This was not a spontaneous act of violence. It was a deliberate, persistent, and cold-blooded murder-for-hire scheme,” U.S. Attorney Jason Reding Quinones said in a news release. “The defendants tracked Suren Seetal, sent armed men to kill him, tried again after the first attempt failed, and ultimately had him ambushed and murdered. They then paid the gunman and helped dispose of Seetal’s body in the Everglades.”

Federal court records show that Hunter, now 21, is set to go to trial on Jan. 4.