Earlier this month, The Associated Press highlighted Maisa Lopes Eliaser as one of dozens of spouses or parents of U.S. troops who had been detained after President Donald Trump’s administration rolled back protections for military families amid its push for mass deportations. Following the AP’s reporting, a group of Congressional Democrats launched an investigation into deportations of military service members and their families.

Eliaser was placed on a deportation flight Wednesday to her native Brazil when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers on the plane received a phone call about her midflight, she told the AP. She said she was then asked by an ICE officer whether she wanted to continue on to Brazil or go back to the U.S.

“Who made the call? We don’t know,” said Eliaser’s husband, Army Staff Sgt. Alexis Jaramillo. “But someone made the phone call, and then she came back.”

While other detainees were led off the plane in Brazil, Eliaser stayed on board and returned to Louisiana. ICE officers told her that she was “famous” because there were videos about her case, she said.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, a former Navy officer, directly contacted the ICE field office involved in Eliaser’s detention, according to his spokesperson. He has also spoken out on behalf of two other detained military family members in the past year.

In a statement to the AP, Kelly said the policy of detaining military family members is “wrong and makes no sense at all.”

“We need real solutions to fix our broken immigration system,” Kelly wrote in a statement. “Going after military families instead of real criminals doesn’t solve anything.”

DHS previously told AP that Eliaser, 32, had been issued a final order of removal by an immigration judge on April 15, after overstaying the tourist visa she used to enter the U.S. in 2019.

Jaramillo, a 43-year-old aviation operations specialist who has served in the Army for more than a decade, took leave of his duties training soldiers in Fort Polk, Louisiana, to care for Eliaser’s 5-year-old son after she was detained on July 8.

“This family’s reunion is proof of what’s possible when people set politics aside and do right by those who serve,” Danitza James, who heads Repatriate Our Patriots, a nonprofit that supports military families facing deportation and helped with Eliaser’s case, said at a news conference. “We won’t stop until every military family facing detention gets the same chance at justice.”

Eliaser, who was detained in July while at an immigration appointment, has another appointment scheduled for Monday in an effort to reopen her case and advance her green card application. Jaramillo is a U.S. citizen and the couple have been married since 2024.

Jaramillo said he has been told that there will be no further issues with Eliaser’s case, but the couple is still concerned.

“We are really, really, really scared about it, but you know, we have to go,” Jaramillo said. “I told the person who gave me the appointment, ‘Hey sir, don’t play with me, I’ve been through a lot.’”

Eliaser said she is still struggling to sleep and is afraid she will be sent back to the detention facility, where she said she was treated like “an animal.”

“It felt like I was in a nightmare,” Eliaser said. “I could not believe what was happening until I returned to my house. Day by day, I’m trying to recover from this trauma.”

There have been similar interventions in other high-profile cases over the past year. Annie Ramos, 22, was detained by immigration authorities as her husband, an Army staff sergeant, was preparing to deploy. She was released after a public outcry. Around the same time, U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat and combat veteran, told the AP that she personally contacted DHS to call for the release of Deisy Rivera Ortega, the immigrant wife of an Army sergeant who did three tours in Afghanistan, after learning about her case from advocacy groups. She was eventually released from custody.

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Brook 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.

El avance marca un punto de inflexión en la tensa relación histórica entre Gran Bretaña y sus territorios caribeños, al trasladar un agravio de siglos del terreno de la retórica política a uno de los niveles más altos del sistema jurídico británico: el Comité Judicial del Consejo Privado.

“Realmente es algo muy importante, y el mundo nos está observando", declaró Olivia Grange, ministra de Cultura, Género, Entretenimiento y Deporte de Jamaica.

"Lo que estamos haciendo es histórico, sin precedentes y un gran avance en el movimiento de justicia reparadora. Durante mucho tiempo, hablar de reparaciones ha sido solo eso: hablar. Pero Jamaica es conocida por actuar. La marea está cambiando, estamos logrando cosas”, añadió.

La decisión del rey de dar curso a la petición en lugar de desestimarla es sumamente significativa. Aunque el gobierno británico ha rechazado siempre los llamados a compensaciones financieras, la remisión por parte de la Corona delega, en la práctica, el análisis jurídico de estos agravios históricos al Consejo Privado en Londres.

Al dirigirse anteriormente a la Cámara de Representantes, Grange subrayó la magnitud de la cooperación del rey: “Ahora, el rey podría habernos ignorado. El rey podría haber demorado en respondernos. El rey podría haber tomado la decisión de no remitir las preguntas al Consejo Privado”.

Aunque la petición se dirigió formalmente al rey, Carlos no tiene decisión personal sobre si se remite al Comité Judicial del Consejo Privado; actuaría siguiendo el consejo de funcionarios del gobierno.

El gobierno de Jamaica indicó que la decisión del rey se dio a conocer a través de sus abogados en Gran Bretaña.

La medida se produce más de dos semanas después de que Jamaica solicitara al rey que remitiera al Consejo Privado una serie de preguntas sobre la esclavitud y la responsabilidad del Reino Unido de pagar indemnizaciones.

La petición presentada el 7 de septiembre recorre una vía constitucional singular. Como Carlos sigue siendo el jefe de Estado de Jamaica, la nación insular pudo solicitarle directamente mediante un antiguo mecanismo legal al que no pueden acceder las antiguas colonias que ya han transitado a repúblicas.

Grange reconoció esta ironía constitucional y señaló que la transición tardía de Jamaica a una república —un objetivo de larga data del gobernante Partido Laborista de Jamaica— en realidad ha resultado ser una “bendición disfrazada”. Como la isla mantiene al rey como su soberano, cuenta con la legitimación constitucional para forzar una revisión legal de las obligaciones históricas de la Corona.

La medida no ha estado exenta de críticos internos, algunos de los cuales cuestionaron la imagen diplomática de la presentación.

“No hubo errores en el proceso de presentación. No hubo meteduras de pata diplomáticas, como algunos quisieran dar a entender", indicó Grange. "Estábamos interactuando no con un Estado extranjero, sino con nuestro jefe de Estado. Es una petición legal. No es una negociación entre Estados ni una exigencia de pago. Planteó preguntas jurídicas que deben ser determinadas por nuestro máximo tribunal”.

Grange también reveló que Jamaica ha ofrecido formalmente ayudar a otros reinos de la Mancomunidad que aún comparten al monarca a presentar peticiones similares de reparaciones por la esclavitud.

Integrantes de un bloque comercial regional del Caribe conocido como Caricom se reunieron la semana pasada en Barbados para hablar de reparaciones, mientras impulsaban una estrategia unificada. El gobierno británico ha reconocido que la esclavitud fue “abominable”, pero ha rechazado las exigencias de indemnizaciones o disculpas.

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

The group on Wednesday announced a campaign aimed at raising $10 million “to protect and honor our nation’s shared civic and cultural inheritance against urgent threats emanating from Washington."

In an interview, the group's president and CEO, Brent Leggs, said the fund was the first of its kind for the privately funded nonprofit organization, which is charged by Congress with protecting historic sites, and would help bolster its legal division and government relations staff.

“It is a response to the urgent and existential threats to historic preservation,” he said.

The group has been critical of efforts by the Republican president to put his lasting stamp on Washington and the White House.

So far that includes razing the East Wing to make way for a ballroom that will dwarf the rest of the complex; paving over the White House Rose Garden to create a patio in the style of his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida; adding a helipad to the South Lawn; and redecorating the Oval Office with golden accents. Elsewhere in the nation's capital, he has been trying to rename and renovate the Kennedy Center, is working to build an enormous triumphal arch between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery, and has tried repeatedly to refurbish the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

In December, the preservation group sued in federal court seeking to halt the ballroom project until it goes through multiple independent reviews and wins approval from Congress. The Supreme Court last month ruled against the group, with the majority saying it likely did not have the legal right to challenge the project, and allowed work on the ballroom to continue.

The group is part of a lawsuit aimed at halting the administration’s efforts to overhaul the Kennedy Center, which was abruptly closed to the public last week. Leggs said more lawsuits are coming.

The group has also been pushing back against proposed changes to the National Historic Preservation Act that it says threaten legal protections for historic sites and public land.

At a National Preservation Summit in Washington, Leggs painted the projects in stark terms.

“Our national inheritance hangs in balance today,” he said, according to a copy of his remarks. “It is not an exaggeration to say that this moment is existential. For our field, for the communities we serve, and for generations to come.”

“Together, we will raise an initial $10 million over three years in a moonshot effort to ensure our nation’s civic and cultural heritage remains intact through tangible connections to our shared history,” he said.

On Wednesday, Yareliz Mendez-Zamora, the policy coordinator for AFSC Florida, stood outside of the ICE- Enforcement and Removal Operations facility in Miramar.

“This is a public cry to our members of Congress. Use your oversight powers and continue to do the unannounced visits,” Mendez-Zamora said during a news conference. “You can protect our families.”

Mendez-Zamora stood in front of a line of people who were holding up photographs that lawmakers reported were shared by whistleblowers who denounced alleged abuse in Miramar.

Five photos showed four portable toilets provided for more than 100 detainees, according to a report released on Monday by U.S. Reps. Robert Garcia, Bennie Thompson, and Maxwell Frost.

“Whistleblowers have shared explosive new information with Oversight Democrats about the horrific conditions inside ICE facilities in Florida,” said Garcia, a ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Five other photos released in the report showed detainees sleeping on the floor in a crowded room. Some appeared to be in shackles.

“This new whistleblower report reinforces what has long been documented about immigration detention facilities—a system being used to punish people rather than uphold basic human dignity and justice,” Frost said.

In July, Garcia and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who were concerned about Homeland Security’s “efforts to systematically weaken training, safeguards, oversight, and accountability mechanisms.”

Garcia and Blumenthal, a ranking member of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, sent a letter on July 30 to Benjamine Huffman, the director of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers.

“The killing of innocent people by DHS personnel is a horrific tragedy and a disaster,” Garcia and Blumenthal wrote about the deaths of Durán Guerrero, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, Alex Jeffrey Pretti, Renée Nicole Good, Keith Porter Jr., Silverio Villegas-González, and Ruben Ray Martinez, according to the letter.

Related document: Images of Miramar Holding Facility provided by the whistleblower

Related report: Whistleblower report details alleged poor living conditions at multiple Florida ICE facilities, including in Miramar

“If managed poorly, I even believe AI could be a risk to humanity as a whole,” said Dario Amodei, the chief executive officer of Anthropic.

“We could lose control of the future to AI,” said his competitor, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI.

Both said the countries of the world, though the U.N. Security Council, where they testified Wednesday afternoon, have to set safeguards, which would be actual controls to prevent the technology from getting too powerful to rein in. They also called for the world to make sure that the power of AI isn’t concentrated in one company or country.

For world leaders, one key question about AI is this: Who should control life-and-death decisions — human or machine?

The United Nations Security Council on Wednesday huddled with top technology leaders to figure out if the increasing abilities and pervasiveness of artificial intelligence should be controlled and, if so, by who. Other lingering questions: How could it be done? When might it be just too late?

The day before, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned of “killer robots." Experts and European leaders said that’s not hyperbole but something that’s already a reality or at least perilously close.

The 33-year-old Kane is currently happy and setting records at Bayern Munich coming off a standout 73-goal season that has him in contention to win the Ballon d’Or in London next month.

Still, the England captain looked toward a future in the United States ahead of his team hosting World Cup winner Spain on Saturday in the Nations League.

“Maybe if I am in the MLS in the future or somewhere like that it might be a thing where you could connect the two maybe with the seasons,” said Kane, a longtime admirer of Tom Brady.

“That is something I will try and look at a bit more seriously,” Kane said. “It all depends on what happens in my career over the next five or six years, the motivation and what I want to do."

The former Tottenham forward compared the skill of place-kicking in the NFL with taking penalties in soccer.

“I take penalties and it is a very similar pressure, technique,” he said. “If I did that, in terms of training, I would be closer to that more than any other sport."

“If I was to do it, it is something I would take seriously. I would take maybe six months to a year of trying to practice before,” Kane said. “But, again, it is in the back of my mind because right now I am feeling that I want to play as long as I can here.”

Kane revealed he is “fairly close” to signing a new contract with Bayern where he is now in a fourth season and has won two Bundesliga titles.

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See AP’s full soccer coverage here

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In 2020, Leila Cavett traveled with her young son from Georgia to South Florida to sell a white pickup truck to the suspect, Shannon Ryan.

She suddenly vanished.

The last time she was seen alive was on surveillance cameras inside a RaceTrac gas station in Hollywood.

Police soon discovered her son abandoned, wandering near a Miramar apartment complex.

Her father said Leila was a loving mother who would never abandon her child.

The investigation quickly turned to Ryan. The FBI said they connected Ryan to the disappearance through surveillance video, cell towers and social media.

He is now charged with murder.

Ryan, a self-proclaimed witch, previously told Local 10’s Bridgette Matter from the Broward County Jail that he did not kill Cavett.

“I can’t go into the particulars of the case like that because this is being recorded, but me and her had previous acquaintances together,” Ryan said.

Detectives said they found Facebook messages that indicated Cavett wanted to be Ryan’s apprentice. Ryan said he taught her to read tarot cards.

“I teach witchcraft, things of that nature. Yeah, I do tarot card readings,” Ryan said.

Cavett’s body has never been found, despite the FBI carrying out several searches at a landfill.

Police reported around the time of Cavett’s disappearance that Ryan was seen buying trash bags, duct tape and carpet cleaner. An arrest report says surveillance cameras captured Ryan moving Cavett’s truck and throwing away women’s clothing and children’s toys in a dumpster, as well as what appeared to be bloody towels -- something Local 10 pressed him on, but he denied.

Police released information about Ryan’s internet searches, including a Google search: “Does bleach and alcohol make chloroform?”

Los hechos ocurrieron el lunes 14 de septiembre, alrededor de las 6:52 p.m., en una zona residencial de la cuadra 11400 del Southwest 185th Terrace.

Según los agentes, en el video de una cámara de seguridad residencial se ve al sospechoso con una lata grande de gas pimienta en la mano antes de rociar a la víctima, una mujer de edad avanzada, a través de la ventana abierta del lado del pasajero.

Los agentes indicaron que el ataque podría haber surgido de un episodio de furia al volante tras un choque de tránsito menor.

El hombre huyó del lugar después del incidente. Según los agentes, conducía un sedán Mercedes-Benz Clase S plateado, de modelo reciente.

Se pide a cualquier persona con información sobre el caso, o que crea reconocer al hombre del video, que se comunique con la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade al 305-383-6800. Para permanecer en el anonimato, puede llamar a Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers al 305-471-TIPS.

La visita de Donalds se produjo en medio de la atención que ha generado la eliminación de varias referencias al presidente Donald Trump, quien lo respaldó, de su página de campaña. Antes del cambio, la frase “respaldado por Trump” aparecía de forma destacada en varias secciones, acompañada de una cita del presidente, y el apartado de propuestas incluía su compromiso de impulsar la agenda de Trump. Ahora, el sitio resume su plataforma en tres palabras: responsable, alcanzable y asequible.

Los cambios llegan en un momento en que el presidente enfrenta bajos índices de aprobación, en medio de una inflación persistente, un impopular conflicto en el Medio Oriente y el aumento del costo de vida.

“Esta es la historia más rara que he visto en todo este ciclo electoral”, dijo Donalds. Según explicó, su equipo planeaba actualizar la página desde hacía unos dos meses, tras las primarias, para dar más espacio a sus propuestas. “Con todo el revuelo, probablemente le ha traído mucho tráfico a la página, y eso nos alegra, porque queremos que los floridanos conozcan nuestras políticas en detalle”, agregó.

Cuando Hudson le preguntó si eso cambiaba su intención de aplicar la agenda de Trump como gobernador, respondió: “Bueno, no, creo que esa es otra pregunta”. Luego describió esa agenda como centrada en la ley y el orden, la seguridad fronteriza y la cooperación con el gobierno federal en materia migratoria. Más tarde, ante la prensa, rechazó la idea de que el presidente se haya convertido en un lastre para los republicanos de cara a las elecciones de medio término: “No, no me creo ese discurso”.

Jolly descarta debates

Jolly anunció que no debatirá con su rival en esta elección general y dijo que es una decisión definitiva. Argumentó que la política actual está marcada por la mala fe y la toxicidad, y que como aspirante a liderar el estado quiere predicar con el ejemplo. En su lugar, dijo que seguirá recorriendo comunidades de todo el estado, desde el Panhandle hasta Key West.

Donalds calificó la decisión de “tonta”. “Estábamos aquí mismo. Podríamos haber puesto una tercera silla y hacerlo”, dijo, y recordó que ya aceptó tres debates. “Que deje de huir. Podemos hacerlo cuando sea y donde sea”.

Dos recetas para los seguros

Jolly propone crear un fondo estatal que funcione como aseguradora principal contra huracanes y vientos, lo que, según él, sacaría esa cobertura del mercado privado y reduciría el costo de los seguros entre un 60% y un 70%. Lo financiaría, entre otras fuentes, con los cerca de $12,000 millones del fondo estatal actual, obligando a las aseguradoras a declarar en Florida las ganancias que hoy envían a empresas afiliadas fuera del estado, con impuestos al turismo y con un cargo adicional en las transacciones inmobiliarias. También negó los anuncios que lo acusan de apoyar un “impuesto de huracanes” de $1,000 y los calificó de “una mentira absoluta”.

Donalds, en cambio, propone eliminar un recargo del 25% que se impuso tras el huracán Wilma para recapitalizar el fondo estatal de catástrofes, conocido como CAT Fund. Según dijo, el fondo tendrá entre $13,000 y $13,500 millones al final de esta temporada de huracanes, frente a un límite legal de $17,000 millones, por lo que ese recargo ya no es necesario y su eliminación debería reflejarse en las primas. Se opuso a gravar las ganancias de las afiliadas de las aseguradoras y cuestionó el plan de Jolly: si el estado se queda con toda la cobertura contra vientos, dijo, las aseguradoras no tendrían ganancias que gravar.

Enmienda 3: uno a favor, otro en contra

Sobre la Enmienda 3, que ampliaría la exención de homestead en los impuestos a la propiedad, Jolly dijo que prevé votar en contra, aunque respetará lo que decidan los votantes. Advirtió que “los números no cuadran”, que Miami-Dade podría perder cerca de $480 millones para el segundo año y que algunos condados rurales podrían quedar en bancarrota. Como alternativa, propone una exención especial para quienes compran su primera vivienda.

Donalds apoya la enmienda. Afirmó que la recaudación por impuestos a la propiedad pasó de $32,000 millones a $53,000 millones en seis o siete años y que muchos gobiernos locales no redujeron las tasas mientras subía el valor de las viviendas. Reconoció que los condados con menos recursos necesitarán ayuda del estado y propuso una fórmula de financiamiento fija para ellos.

Otros temas

Jolly prometió imponer desde su primer día una moratoria estatal de un año a los centros de datos de inteligencia artificial, dijo que no mantendría el estado de emergencia migratoria declarado por el gobernador Ron DeSantis y aseguró que destituiría al cirujano general del estado en su primer día en el cargo.

Donalds defendió los aranceles del presidente como herramienta para renegociar acuerdos comerciales y dijo no estar de acuerdo con la congresista María Elvira Salazar, quien ha dicho que algunas medidas migratorias han ido demasiado lejos. Sobre en qué se diferenciaría de DeSantis, dijo que mantendría la misma filosofía conservadora, pero pondría más énfasis en abaratar la vivienda, en la formación laboral de estudiantes de secundaria y en completar la restauración de los Everglades.

Brown is scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 30 to make the deal final. He could have faced up to 30 years in prison if convicted of the charge.

Brown is accused of grabbing a handgun from a security staffer after a celebrity boxing match in Miami on May 16, 2025, and firing two shots at a man he had gotten into a fistfight with earlier, according to an arrest warrant. Zul-Qarnain Kwame Nantambu told investigators that one of the bullets grazed his neck.

“This was not an easy decision,” defense attorney Mark Eiglarsh said in a statement Wednesday. “Antonio believes in his innocence. He believes strongly in his Stand Your Ground defense, and he believes he would ultimately prevail at trial. But when prosecutors put an offer on the table that transforms a potential decades-long prison sentence into a significantly reduced charge and probation, there was simply no way he could reasonably turn it down.”

Florida’s so-called Stand Your Ground law allows people who believe they face death or serious injury to use deadly force to defend themselves without a duty to retreat.

Richard Cooper, an attorney for Nantambu, called the plea deal fair.

“We are satisfied that justice is served. My client maintains what he said previously: that he forgives Brown and will not cooperate with law enforcement,” Cooper said in an email Wednesday. “We wish Mr. Brown good health and that he grows from this event.”

In a previous statement, his attorneys said Nantambu, a devout Muslim, had made the decision to forgive Brown after “considerable reflection, prayer, and consultation with his family and counsel.”

The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office declined to comment on Wednesday, with spokesperson Ed Griffith saying the details would be “fully clarified” at next week's hearing.

Brown has said on social media that he was defending himself from an attack and that others were trying to steal jewelry from him.

Brown, 38, spent 12 years in the NFL and was an All-Pro wide receiver who last played in 2021 for Tampa Bay, including a Super Bowl championship with quarterback Tom Brady. He spent much of his career with Pittsburgh. For his career, Brown had 928 receptions for more than 12,000 yards and accounted for 88 total touchdowns, counting punt returns and one pass.

Brown was extradited in November 2025 from Dubai, where he has business interests, after an arrest warrant on the attempted murder charge was issued in June 2025.

Brown has dealt with several legal problems over the years. He previously had been accused of battery of a moving truck driver, several domestic violence charges, failure to pay child support and other incidents. During a 2021 game with Tampa Bay against the New York Jets, Brown took off his jersey, shoulder pads and gloves and ran off the field, leading to his release by the Buccaneers and effectively ending his football career.

In a separate case, Nantambu was found guilty earlier this year of a misdemeanor charge of resisting an officer after police said he disrupted Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime performance in 2025. Nantambu was among dozens of dancers on the field at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans when he ran across the field with a Sudanese flag that read “Sudan and Free Gaza.” He surrendered to authorities after an arrest warrant was obtained.

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Associated Press writer Christopher Weber in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

Xi largely succeeded, shaking hands with then-President Barack Obama to deepen economic ties and expand cooperation. In the Rose Garden, Obama declared that the U.S. “welcomes the rise of a China that is peaceful, stable, prosperous and a responsible player in global affairs.”

Those days are over.

Returning to the U.S. capital Wednesday for the first state visit in over a decade, Xi — more confident than ever — is seeking stability even as the globe's two largest economies compete over everything from artificial intelligence to space ambitions and global influence. Xi is expected to urge cooperation with the U.S. for the sake of the world.

“In 2015, China was a rising power still, profoundly and quickly rising, but rising undeniably,” said Mira Rapp-Hooper, a visiting fellow at Brookings Institution's Center for Asia Policy Studies. Now, “China is risen.”

Both economies have grown remarkably over the decade, and while the U.S. still maintains a strong edge, what's important is that Beijing has gained the capabilities to check the U.S. and “the will to use those capabilities,” said Sun Yun, director of the China program at the Stimson Center, a Washington-based think tank.

That was on display last year when China matched President Donald Trump's whopping 125% tariffs, nearly freezing trade and leveraging a near-monopoly in processing critical minerals — crucial for products from smartphones to fighter jets — to force the U.S. to stand down.

“In the past, China was disadvantaged in terms of strength, and it was not an equal to the U.S.,” Sun said. “But now it is considered a near-peer.”

US and Chinese leaders have shifted tones since the last state visit

In 2015, the U.S. raised myriad concerns: a level playing field for American companies in China, protection of intellectual property, cyberthreats, and freedom of navigation in the South and East China Seas.

Xi told Obama that “China is making all-around efforts to deepen comprehensive reform, to build law-based governance, to enforce strict party discipline.” Xi said Beijing would manage differences in the South China Sea “through dialogue” and told Obama that “China does not intend to pursue militarization” there.

Now, Xi remains in office after purging political rivals, abolishing presidential term limits and consolidating power. In the U.S., voters brought Trump back to the White House.

Most issues from 2015 either remain unresolved or have worsened: U.S. companies are still seeking market access, the Chinese have become more aggressive in cyberattacks, and the tensions in the South China Sea have only risen with the increasing Chinese military presence.

Xi made no mention of Taiwan in his Rose Garden remarks in 2015. But when hosting Trump in Beijing in May, Xi warned of “clashes and even conflicts” if the U.S. should mishandle the self-governed island that Beijing claims as its own. This week, Xi is expected to press Trump to further delay an arms sales package to Taiwan.

On the U.S. side, Trump will be welcoming Xi on Wednesday evening on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews, a rare move that deviates from the typical protocol of waiting for leaders to drive up to the White House.

China reduces its economic reliance on the US, but the US is still dependent on China

The U.S. was China’s largest export market in 2015, accounting for nearly one-fifth of its $2.3 trillion in exports. Today, the U.S. remains China’s top export destination, but its share has slipped to 11% of China’s global exports, which rose to more than $3.7 trillion in 2025.

That’s because the U.S. is buying less from China due to higher tariffs, while the Asian country is shipping more goods to additional markets around the world to soften the blow of Trump’s trade war.

And China has moved up on the global value chain in manufacturing, widening the gap with the U.S.

In 2015, China launched a national strategy to pursue advanced manufacturing by investing in key sectors. It has helped China reduce dependency on imports in areas such as memory chips and medical devices, and it made Chinese companies competitive globally in industries from drones to electric vehicles, clean technologies and shipbuilding, according to an analysis last year by Rhodium Group, a research provider that tracks China's economy and policy.

“There’s an undeniable sense of China’s progress on the global stage,” said Kurt Campbell, a former veteran U.S. diplomat who is now chair of The Asia Group, a strategic advisory firm. “China is not arriving. It has arrived.”

Beefing up industry has meant China's military now poses a threat to the US

Beijing's manufacturing clout has turned into military strength.

Its shipbuilding power has allowed China to build the world's largest fleet by number of vessels, including a sophisticated aircraft carrier and advanced amphibious assault ships, said Matthew P. Funaiole, a senior fellow for the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

But the U.S. Navy still has an advantage in overall tonnage and weapons systems, he said.

China has developed fifth-generation fighter jets and expanded the fleet to hundreds — it had none in 2015, according to a RAND report.

In 2019, China became the first country to land spacecraft on the far side of the moon, and it is operating one of the two space stations in orbit. It is the only other country besides the U.S. to have a space force.

China's military buildup “has made the U.S. homeland increasingly vulnerable,” according to the latest Pentagon report on China's military powers. “China maintains a large and growing arsenal of nuclear, maritime, conventional long-range strike, cyber, and space capabilities able to directly threaten Americans’ security.”

That was not the picture in 2015, when the Pentagon warned that “China’s military modernization has the potential to reduce core U.S. military technological advantages.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters hours before Xi arrived that the two leaders must interact because the U.S. and China are “the two largest economies in the world” and “probably the two most powerful militaries in the world.”

And Trump, while he has slammed Democrats as communists in a tactic ahead of November’s midterm elections, now is looking to wow Xi, the leader of the world's most powerful communist country, in Washington.

Trump is greeting Xi planeside because of their “great relationship,” first lady Melania Trump told Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends.”

“He’s coming on our soil, and we need to welcome them with the most respect,” she said.

___

Associated Press journalist Kevin Vineys contributed to this report.

Democratic nominee David Jolly and Republican nominee Byron Donalds both spoke at the WLRN Sunshine Economy Summit in Fort Lauderdale.

It comes as Donalds has made headlines after it was noticed that he removed several references to President Trump, who previously endorsed Donalds, from his campaign website.

Prior to the changes, the phrase “Trump endorsed” was featured prominently in several locations, followed by a quote from Trump.

Further down the page in a section marked “On the Issues” was a portion about Donalds’ commitment to implementing Trump’s agenda.

The changes come as the president faces low approval ratings in the face of persistent inflation, an unpopular conflict in the Middle East, and upward pressure on the cost of living, from groceries to housing to prices at the pump.

“This is kind of the weirdest story I have ever seen this political cycle,” Donalds said when asked about the website changes. “We were planning on making website updates since really two months ago, coming out of the primary.”

Donalds said the campaign site changes were designed to give more focus to his policy ideas on a range of issues.

“The website is focused to that end, so we made that change,” he said. “Considering all the hubbub about the change, I think it has probably driven a lot of traffic to the website. We are happy about that, because we want the people of Florida to see our policies in detail.”

During an interview with WLRN CEO and journalist Tom Hudson, Donalds was asked about the same issue.

“Your website did say enact the Trump agenda until yesterday so, will you no longer enact the trump agenda? Does it change your interest of enacting the Trump agenda if elected as governor of Florida?” asked Hudson.

“Well, no, I think that is a separate question,” replied Donalds, who expressed support for some of Trump’s policies while later hitting back on a press room question on whether he thinks the president has become a drag on Republicans ahead of the midterms.

“Nah, I don’t buy into that narrative,” he said.

You can read through the full transcripts from Jolly and Donalds’ comments at the WLRN Sunshine Economy Summit below:

David Jolly

WLRN CEO Tom Hudson: Congress serving the 13th District in the Tampa area. He’s back home. He grew up here in South Florida as the son of a Baptist pastor. David, welcome to the Sunshine Economy. Thank you for spending some time with us here today.

David, welcome. Thank you.

Florida gubernatorial candidate David Jolly: Thank you for your time. Thank you for the walk-up music.

Hudson: We appreciate, yes.

Jolly: You know, I was listening to the sound bed when you were talking earlier. In my very first race, I was endorsed by Bob Barker. Bob Barker.

Hudson: Of all people, yes. Is that right? There you go. We actually used the music bed on election night when we won that race. Well, I’m sure Ed Kahlehoff probably got the royalty check for that. You know, that’s the way that works. So, uh, you served in Congress. Uh, you have been a presence on cable TV-

Jolly: Sure ...

Hudson: uh, since then.

Why do you want this job, to be governor of Florida?

Jolly: It’s a great question, and my answer is I’m willing to be governor No, think about it. This is different You think

Hudson: a lot of people are not willing to be governor?

Jolly: No, this is different. Look, I didn’t get into politics, um, simply to hold the office or frankly, to return into politics.

I’ve been out of politics 10 years, long enough to tell the truth. Um, the reality is I think we’re a nation that’s broken. I think we’re a state that’s broken. You can see it, sure, in a culture that’s more divided than ever before. Our politicians tell us if we hate each other just enough, our lives will get better, and I think it’s wrong.

But we also know the economy’s slipping away from too many people. My wife and I have two young kids, seven and five, and I think this is a moment when history is watching, saying, “What are you doing?” Look, I want the economy to continue to grow in the state of Florida. I think economic growth is fantastic.

We should let the private sector lead. But we’ve got a K-shaped economy that’s calcifying and leaving too many people behind. And so whether it is an economy that’s breaking or whether it is a culture that is now more divided than ever before, look, I do think we all are called to do what’s within reach to try to fix the problems in front of us.

You don’t take on running for governor lightly, and frankly, you don’t take it on if, if kind of the pathway doesn’t open for you, right? A lot of people consider running for office, and that pathway just doesn’t open. Somewhere between your convictions and, I believe, in the hand of Providence, uh, the moment arrived about a year and a half ago to consider running, and the doors just kind of kept opening.

And I believe for our family, for my wife and I, for our kids, we’re doing what’s within reach right now to try to make a difference in a state and a nation that, a- again, I just... I think we’re broken. This is bigger than politics right now.

Hudson: There’s some familiar economic themes that you talk about in your campaign that have driven you to make this decision to run for governor- Sure

that we hear from the Republican candidate as well: affordability- Sure ... inflation, insurance, expanding economic opportunities. Yeah. What makes your plans different?

Jolly: That I’m willing to use governor, government as a partner with the private sector to actually improve people’s lives. Look, I, I was a former Republican.

I was a Republican in Congress. I was a Republican most of my life. I became an independent for five or six years. Today, I’m a proud Florida Democrat, not a reluctant one. But there are kind of three values that I’ve always held in my politics. First, the economy should work for everyone. Economic growth is good, but if it’s not working for everybody, it’s not working.

Second, we’ll let the private sector lead, but government fills in the gaps. There are things the private sector’s not going to do. Workforce and affordable housing, fixing an insurance market in a natural disaster state, access to healthcare for those who can’t pay, investing in public education, investments in clean water, clean air, quality of life, safe communities.

There are things that since World War II particularly, we’ve decided to make responsible social investments that have created the greatest amount of opportunity for the most number of people. The party I signed up for was the party of less government. I was kind of a Bush 41 Republican. I fought the Tea Party and the Freedom Caucus as it became the party of no government.

Now, under this president, and I believe this governor, government’s now the enemy. And, and as you defund and dismantle these social investments in housing, healthcare, and education, ultimately you’re ripping away economic platforms that improve life for the most number of people. So sure, everybody can say affordability crisis, but what does that really mean?

The three pillars of people’s personal economy are housing, healthcare, and education. They shift during the generations from your youth into, uh, to, you know, your 20s into retirement. Can you afford your house? Can you afford your insurance? Can you afford your rent? Where do you get healthcare, and where do you send your kids to school?

That’s it. And folks, if we abandon responsible government investments as partners in that, we’re ultimately dismantling the economic investments that have made us strong.

Hudson: So let’s dig into the insurance part of that, particularly the property insurance piece. When we first spoke a year ago when you announced your candidacy, I asked you about, uh, diagnosing the affordability challenge, and you diagnosed it as primarily a property insurance cost, uh, in Florida.

You have championed a state catastrophe insurance fund. The state has a catastrophe insurance fund. How is your plan different?

Jolly: It’s very different, and let me hit something right on the head. Despite the commercials, I don’t support $1,000 hurricane tax, and it’s an absolute lie And in fact, I will tell you that tax is part of current Florida law that my opponent supports, and that has been on the books for a long time.

My plan would actually repeal the $1,000 hurricane tax, but truth isn’t a convenient currency in politics these days. What I have proposed and understand in Congress, I introduced a national catastrophic fund. They called it socialism then. I’ve introduced a state catastrophic fund. It’s called the same thing, and let me tell you what we currently have.

Folks, we currently have a state hurricane fund with about $12 billion in it, and it’s used to reinsure and bail out insurance companies. We already have a hurricane fund. What I’m proposing is actually a hurricane fund that absorbs the risk of hurricanes and natural disasters, takes wind coverage out of the private market, cuts insurance by 60 to 70%.

Hudson: You want that fund to be the primary insurer of windstorm insurance in Florida- The full in- ... as opposed to the reinsurance ...

Jolly: the full insurer. And, and let’s start with where we are The insurance market has collapsed. It is not capable of covering natural disasters. So- That’s why we prop it up right now, okay?

Hudson: So, uh, th- there was a report out just yesterday from the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation finding that S&P has found that Florida has the lowest, uh, premium increase, lowest rate increase in the nation this year.

Jolly: Increase, but we have the highest insurance in the country. I mean, choose the sta- statistic that’s most convenient for us.

We’re paying three times what we were paying 10 years ago. We’re paying the highest insurance in the country. Natural disaster states, whether it’s hurricanes in Florida, wildfires in California, tornadoes in Tornado Alley, there is not... There, there, listen, there is a market-based way to cover it. It’s just not affordable.

Mm-hmm. And just like in the 2000s when, or even earlier, when we saw the run-up in property taxes, property taxes became a challenge that were push- placing people out of their homes. We decided to use public policy, let’s be honest, to artificially manipulate taxable values. Public policy stepped in. I think- We’ll

Hudson: get to property taxes a little bit later- I, I know,

Jolly: but-

Hudson: David, I promise ...

Jolly: but my, my point is, my point is there is not an affordable way for the market, the private market to cover natural disasters. So the bottom line, a state sovereign wealth fund that fully absorbs hurricane and wind from the private market, buys reinsurance on the world stage, cuts insurance by 60 to 70%.

Now, here’s something novel. I’m a politician that talks about how we fund it and where the revenue comes from. We shouldn’t run from that. We shouldn’t accept politicians that give us false promises. Let’s start with the $12 billion we use for reinsurance to bail out insurance company. That gives us an initial capitalization.

If we move to combined reporting, something we learned this week that I’ve been talking about for a year and a half, we, we allow insurance companies and other corporations to ship their profits- Yeah ... out of state, keep their losses here. That’s $3 billion a year in lost revenue right now.

Hudson: Well, I’ll ask about that in a second, but you talk about a bailout.

The, the current catastrophe fund is a bailout. Some would call it a backstop-

Jolly: Sure ...

Hudson: for insurance.

Jolly: So let’s call my insurance fund the same thing.

Hudson: All

Jolly: right. Ma- uh, look, math is math here, folks. We are not going to solve this without government taking on a larger role in backing this. Otherwise, people are gonna be priced out of their homes.

I wish there was a private sector solution to this. There is not a full private sector solution to this, as proven by the current fund that the state uses.

Hudson: The sovereign wealth fund, AKA the catastrophe fund, that you would like to be the primary insurer for windstorm for- That’s right ... Florida homeowners, uh, would be funded on profits from insurance companies.

Is that accurate?

Jolly: There are a couple ways to do it. Let’s start with the 12. We can move to combined reporting and identify almost $3 billion in revenue each year. I-

Hudson: So the combined reporting means taking those affiliate companies that now where the funds are pushed from the insurance carrier out to the affiliate companies to ca- recapture those at the what?

The five and a half percent- Yeah ... corporate tax rate in Florida? Yeah.

Jolly: So in lay terms, we let corporations and insurance companies ship their profits out of state. Last year, insurance companies shipped about 1.4 billion out of state. They declared about $140 million in losses here. It’s part of how we stand up a failing industry.

We let under-capitalized firms come in, we provide them reinsurance, they deny 50% of the claims, and they ship their profits out of state. That’s the

Hudson: cur- So you would ban that practice?

Jolly: I don’t know if it’s banning, it’s just requiring combined- How do you... Yeah. You c- you require combined reporting. There’s legislation that’s sitting in the legislature now.

Our governor and, and Republicans just haven’t moved it. But there are other revenue streams as well. Look, you could look at, at tourist development tax dollars.

Hudson: So you’ve talked about TDTs. You’ve talked about- We- ... the, the doc stamp for real estate transactions And,

Jolly: and a doc tax. So th- imagine if the average real estate transaction is every five to seven years in someone’s life, and there’s a $250 or $500 doc tax or stamp tax, but your annual insurance goes down by 60% to 70%.

That’s a pretty good deal. And you know, I had this conversation with Defede. Listen- But

Hudson: some may hear that, though, as a tax increase on the doc stamp where-

Jolly: And it’ll probably save you $10,000 over the course of six or seven years. Sure. Uh, folks, there are any number of ways to frame this. Math is maths.

Math- Yeah ... statistics are statistics, but truth is truth Truth is truth. I’m actually talking about fixing a broken system and saving homeowners money. I could cherry pick just about anything else. I could tell you right now Byron Donalds supports a thousand dollar hurricane tax because he said he wants to keep doing what we’re doing.

The thousand dollar hurricane tax is on the books. I don’t go on TV to say that because I have more integrity than to do that. The reality is math is math. We’ve gotta fix a broken insurance market.

Hudson: How would removing insurance coverage from the private market, which is where it is now, while also taxing insurance profits impact the appetite for private insurers to provide standard HO3 home insurance?

Jolly: They would, they would all rush in because now you’re covering traditional perils, uh, tree falling, uh, broken pipe, uh, slip and fall. Think about who’s not in the market right now. They’re not in the market because there’s not an actuarially sound way to cover natural disasters and storms. If the market became a stable market where you’re covering traditional perils, all of a sudden you open up the market to carriers that would never o- otherwise consider being in Florida.

Hudson: Why does that $30 billion mark, that’s what you’re looking for before you would release this out to cover, why is that the mark that you want in this sovereign wealth fund, this catastrophe fund? Why is that a number that you would aim for to provide the coverage to Florida homeowners?

Jolly: Because it’s actuarially sound.

It’s the only model that Wall Street will really back and, and underwrite. Um, i- it’s somewhere estimated north of $32 billion. Now, you could start to provide initial coverage earlier. You know, you would scale this up. This is the conversation I had with Defede. You know, in politics it’s easy to re-

Hudson: Jim Defede, a journalist here in Miami.

Jolly: That’s right. It’s, it’s easy to reach for the extreme and say, “Oh, but this. Oh, but this. Oh, but this.” Folks, math is math. No responsible governor is going to put forward a p- a program that is not actuarially sound. You just follow the math to get to the capitalization rate before you begin to absorb the risk, and you can initially choose, we could choose as a state what properties are eligible in the first phase.

Is it the most vulnerable? Is it the most hardened? Is it the, the oldest properties? That’s just a question of, of policy.

Hudson: How would you protect this fund from turning into what has happened to the National Flood Insurance Program, which is operating at tens of billions of dollars in deficit- Sure ... each year and needs special appropriations by Congress just to stay solvent enough to protect Florida homeowners who happen to live and have mortgage properties in flood zones?

Jolly: The Flood Insurance Program was stood up with the anticipation that Congress would always bail out the big expenses. I’m talking about a sovereign wealth fund that would buy reinsurance on the world stage and protect against its own losses. Let’s also be honest here, folks. Congress bails out the biggest storms we have.

That always happens. I worked in the Congress for 20 or 25 years. I worked on the Appropriations Committee. When I introduced the National Catastrophic Fund, it was to actually pre-fund the expenses of natural disasters instead of- FEMA

Hudson: has been very clear in this administration that it is not an insurance program.

Jolly: Yes, but Congress always steps in, always steps in and bails out the big storms. We, we always do it, folks. We always do. Mm-hmm. What I’m suggesting is pre-fund against those losses, pre-fund against those expenses.

Hudson: All right, let’s talk about property taxes, from insurance to property taxes. Do you support Amendment 3 as it exists?

Jolly: I anticipate voting against Amendment 3.

Hudson: Anticipate.

Jolly: I do. So

Hudson: you’re,

Jolly: you’re undecided right now. Per- personally, from my vote, let me, let me finish my answer here. Okay. Yes, sir. I respect what voters will decide on this because I think people are begging for property tax relief. I don’t think the math works, and I think we know that because even Ron DeSantis now won’t, uh, campaign for Amendment 3, and our sheriffs have come out and said, “Please don’t do this.

It’s gonna defund services." I think Miami-Dade will lose maybe $480 million, close to $500 million, uh, by year two. That’s gonna defund critical services. Even Ron DeSantis, when he introduced this idea, said, “We’re gonna need a backfill revenue provision,” and the legislature didn’t put it forward. I will respect whatever voters decide.

It will create a crisis, and the question is, who do you trust to manage that crisis when it happens? Here’s what I would like to consider. Um, two things, you know, very briefly. Before Amendment 3, I was proposing, and I still support, it’s just been sidelined in this race by Amendment 3. I think we need a first time home buyer homestead exemption.

Because understand, 25 years into Save Our Homes, we’ve so artificially imbalanced the tax rates between the longtime homeowner and the first time home buyer. That new home buyer has a tax bill that jumps by 400 or 500%. Between that and insurance, there’s a reason first time home buying age is now 40 years old compared to about 28.

But here’s the second area I would like to lead the state into a conversation. It’s gonna sound a little wild here. What if we considered local control of homestead exemptions? Hear me out here. Keep the baseline at the state. Don’t repeal the, the current state homestead exemption, but understand what a $250,000 homestead exemption does to Miami-Dade wreaks havoc, but can a large county survive?

Sure, you’re gonna feel the pain, but it survives. But Levy, Lafayette, Putnam, our rural counties are bankrupted, bankrupted within the next few years. So if we currently trust counties to consider millage and taxes on the front end, spending on the back end, what if we actually return to local control of exemptions and give the counties greater discretion to determine where to scale up exemptions, which properties qu- to qualify it for- Hmm

what occupations, what homesteads, whether it’s business, commercial, rent? Uh, look, I think it’s worth having that conversation.

Hudson: Are you pitting local governments against one another, then, in that case?

Jolly: I’m saving local government. Uh, look, I, I, I was a Republican who still believes something I’ve always believed, that government closest to the people knows best.

What we’ve seen out of Tallahassee is, is the ultimate preemption in the last 10 years, what I call big government conservatism. Um, Amendment 3 is the ultimate preemption, the ultimate preemption. And as a Democrat, I’m gonna be a governor that returns to local control. That’s why I’m entertaining the idea of local control of homestead exemption, to empower communities to make decisions that are best for them, give local voters the greatest amount accoun- uh, accountability of their local officials.

Hudson: David, as you’re running for governor here, w- do you support the state government regulating any level of property taxes than it does today?

Jolly: For property taxes, I don’t think that’s necessary. For exemptions, yes, let’s keep the baseline. Un- understand what’s happened. If you go back about 100 years, this gets a little wonky, but the average disparity between our highest valued counties and our lowest was maybe two to one, even a little less than two to one, about 1.8 to one.

So take a Palm Beach to a Levy, the greatest disparity, say two to one. So a uniform exemption of 25, $50,000, you know, it made sense. It was relief, and it applied across all 67 counties. Folks, during periods of economic growth right now, if you consider Miami-Dade versus Levy or Palm Beach or Collier versus Putnam, those numbers can be six to one, seven to one.

And so I actually think in terms of just smart economic policy, we’re entering an era where we need to consider what role does the state have in, in county taxation and homestead exemptions.

Hudson: So as you mentioned, you will, uh, i- if elected governor and if, uh, Amendment 3 passes, you will, you know, respond accordingly and recognize the voters have made this decision.

Will you support any additional revenue sources for local governments to be able to pay for services for residents if Amendment 3 passes?

Jolly: This is the crisis being created without an answer. I would look first to general revenue. I mean, I think we can make it through the first year or two for- State

Hudson: general revenue.

Jolly: State general revenue. I think we can make it through the first year or two looking at general revenue, right? The first year would be $100,000 tax exemption. Where do you have to rush in resources, whether it’s our rural communities- I think it’s 150

Hudson: and then 250. Or

Jolly: 150. Yeah. Um, and so I would look first to general revenue.

Hudson: Uh, would you support any other revenue sources, though, looking ahead as those, as it takes a bite to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars by year two, year three?

Jolly: Let’s see what, let’s see what year two and year three look like. I mean, I, I think we have to have a broad conversation. There’s a budget commission that opens up, uh, next summer.

I think we have to have a broad conversation about what the macroeconomic conditions of Florida look like in the next 10 years, where does our revenue come from, and where does spending. That’s why I often do talk about tourist development taxes. Because look, I, I represented Pinellas County in Congress.

I got all the beach and hospitality awards. No governor’s going to cramp our tourist industry. It’s one of our, our top three, right? Tourist, ag, and construction. But if we are going to continue to limit revenue everywhere we go, tourist development taxes, 91% of which are paid for from out of state, are currently only used for more tourism.

Folks, we don’t have a crisis of convention centers in the state of Florida. We got a crisis in insurance. We got a crisis in teacher pay. We got a crisis in healthcare. We got a crisis in education. I think we gotta have a statewide conversation about this.

Hudson: What else might be on the table? Because the state economists have estimated in year two of the property tax amendment, South Florida local governments will lose about a billion dollars- Yeah

combined. Uh, that’s 20% of their operating budget. And so to your point, right, uh, if voters approve of that, the next governor and the next legislature are going to have to have a plan in place pretty soon. Yeah. What other revenue sources other than tourist development taxes might you be considering as governor to help backfill some of those dollars to help pay for local services?

Jolly: Let’s start with tourist tax dollars, ‘cause I think that’s logical. Beyond that, I think it’s, it’s not prudent to speculate. And listen, I’m gonna need a Republican legislature to play ball on this, let’s be honest. This is going to create a crisis and possibly bankrupt some of our rural counties. This is going to defund law enforcement in some critical areas.

This is, this is bigger than party and politics now. Math is math. If this is something that voters choose, we need to respect the will of the voters. But Republicans in, in the legislature don’t just get to put their head in the sand and say, “Okay, we’ll bankrupt some counties.” I actually think there’s enough of a caucus that would prefer to consolidate some of our counties, go to, from 67 counties to 63 counties.

I’m not gonna let that happen, but we’re gonna have to figure out how to play ball in Tallahassee.

Hudson: About 40% of South Floridian residents rent their homes. How do you balance the impact of Amendment 3 between owners and renters in South Florida as you try to tackle - ... the number one reason-

Jolly: You, you

Hudson: know why I love this conversation?

that you’ve said, which is affordability.

Jolly: I love this conversation because I’m being asked to defend a proposal I don’t support and didn’t introduce. Uh, this is the, this is the- But you

Hudson: may

Jolly: inherit. But this is the problem for Florida’s voters. But you may inherit. This is the problem for Florida’s voters.

There’s no answers to these questions. This was the imprudence of this entire experiment. The math fails. The math doesn’t work. And so yes, what it likely does in some counties is it shifts the burden onto our renters. And folks, whatever burden we are feeling as homeowners, for homeowners in the room, the greatest crisis in housing right now is among our renters.

The greatest crisis is among our renters. And this arguably is going to push the burden onto the people who are bearing the, the crisis now more than anybody. The math just doesn’t work here. People are desperate for tax relief, and so let’s figure out a smarter way to do it. We’re gonna have to figure this out.

Hudson: So the state budget reality that you also may inherit if elected as governor, uh, doesn’t look great as we sit here today. And granted- You’re

Jolly: making this sound like a wonderful idea. I had to run for governor.

Hudson: Well, you said it was, it w- you know. You said the timing made it j- possible here, David. Uh, you know, uh, what is said about the difficulty about, uh, the future is that - Yeah

it’s a prediction here, right? So by the third year, right now the way the state, uh, economists look at it, by the third year of the next governor’s term, the state budget forecast is to run a billion dollars in the red, a billion dollar deficit. Spending cuts have helped improve the state budget and the state fiscal forecast - Right

over the past several years. How will you address the forecast for deficits?

Jolly: Look, I, I do think the budget commission becomes very critical if it can operate in good faith. Understand this only happens every decade or so. This is, this is an, an important moment. This is not just something that the governor is proposing next summer.

We will have a very important budget commission where we evaluate what is the out year plan for Florida’s revenue and for our spending. I, I will tell you initially, and it, it’s not to really dodge the question to the big ticket items, but there is enough fat even in a budget that has continued to top line be lean.

Look- Tallahassee’s the most corrupt capital of any state in the country. We have the most corrupt campaign finance system in the entire country. If we wanna drain the swamp, it starts in Tallahassee, not Washington, DC. The amount of money that is currently spent on special projects and on dead giveaways because of corporate interests that have controlled the town for 30 years is very real.

I talked about this as a Republican. I’m the r- I’m the crazy Republican who actually introduced legislation that said no member of Congress should be able to ask you for a dollar. It landed me on 60 Minutes because I’m this big campaign finance reform advocate. I think we need public financing of, uh, refor- uh, public financing of campaigns.

I think we need a broad-based lobbying and transparency reform package in Tallahassee. I think we should ban the unlimited political committees that allow us to launder money through our elected officials, and in the case of Hope Florida, we saw what it could be used for if you really have malintent about it.

So let’s start with where the fat is because I think that gets us... We could be looking at saving, uh, the first billion dollars right there.

Hudson: Let’s talk about, uh, AI data center development, an issue throughout the state of Florida and also, uh, here in South Florida with some AI data centers already up and operating in, uh, Dade County, and of course, a big debate that it has had recently in Palm Beach County, which passed a moratorium.

You have talked about a statewide moratorium- That’s right ... on AI centers for year one. You would talk about doing that on day one. That’s right. What would happen in that year with that moratorium? What are you looking for to make a decision about what happens in year two for AI data center development in the state of Florida, which is a commercial development opportunity, uh, honestly?

Jolly: Sure. Sure. Very rarely is there a time in politics where leaders can both lead and follow. What do I mean by that? You lead on smart, prudent public policy, but you follow when public opinion is just so overwhelming. So let’s start with the last part. 75% of the state is saying, “Please don’t do this right now.

Give us more time. Let’s study it. We don’t want data centers." 75% of the state says, “Don’t do it.” The job of elected officials is to listen to voters. I mean, I’ve said on our, some of our constitutional ballot initiatives that fell short of 60%, “If it went over 50, I’ll introduce it legislatively because that’s what Florida’s voters are asking for,” reproductive freedom, open primaries, recreational marijuana.

So 75% of the state says, “Don’t do data centers.” That should be enough, folks. Sorry, that should just be enough right now to hit pause. But what I will tell you is this: I think there are policy reasons to lead with a moratorium We know the environmental impact is something that is still relying on emerging technology that’s not fully there.

Closed loop versus open loop, some of the other questions around environmental degradation. The destabilization of communities, the devaluation of real estate, there remain open public health questions about this, the displacement of labor, but also I’m not convinced the long-term economic impact justifies these data centers.

There’s the initial upfront economic impact of construction jobs, most of which, by the way, are shipped in from out of your community and then are gone once this data center is built, and it doesn’t have the long-term tail of economic impact to justify the size of a structure that lar- likely will face, uh, functional obsolescence sometime in the next five to 10 years as the technology improves and these things would otherwise scale down.

So voters are saying, “Don’t do it in my backyard.” And, and I agree with that. So what would we do in a moratorium? I, I do think the jurisdiction for a statewide moratorium, uh, relies on environmental degradation and impact, and then also on still remaining public health questions. Returning to local control, what I would suggest, is a very, you know, deeply funded, deep research study on the long-term economic impact of data centers in communities, particularly our rural communities.

We could, we could entrust one of our state universities to do that. We can eventually hand that over to local communities who would benefit from a third-party economic impact study.

Hudson: We’ve seen local governments already put moratoriums in place. That’s right. Why do you think that’s not enough as local control?

Why do you think the state has to come in to put a moratorium in place?

Jolly: I simply think a state one is appropriate. Let the other 49 states build them right now. It’s the bottom line. I, uh, the environmental impact, the public health questions are enough for me, but also the long-term economic impact. I, I just think it’s appropriate to say let’s hit the pause button right now.

Hudson: Give us a sense of what your, uh, 100-day plan is if you are sworn in in Tallahassee in January of 2027. What’s the priorities?

Jolly: So we have a broad economic package focused on housing, healthcare, and education. Some of these would have to move to a ballot initiative, right? A state catastrophic fund for insurance.

I’ve committed to a 10-year renaissance in public education. Um, but I think when you look at scaling up workforce and affordable housing investments, there’s $2 billion right now sitting in a fund that could be deployed, but DeSantis doesn’t even have an agency head right now to do it. Um, but the appointment process takes over immediately.

Folks, I’m gonna fire the surgeon general on my first day in office and appoint someone that believes in evidence-based science and public health. I’m going to appoint a education commissioner that’s gonna get the backs, yes, of students, but also of teachers. Let teachers teach all of our history, not just the favorite parts.

I’m gonna begin to look at public service commissioners that believe in clean and renewable energies and get the backs of ratepayers and not just our utilities. We love them. We’re partners, but folks, this is out of balance right now with our PSC. The state university system needs to be refashioned to focus on Florida’s economy, not our ideology.

We’ve gotta get the governor’s ideology out of our state university systems and just move to institutional autonomy, advancement, and excellence, and yes, the impact of diversity on higher education. That’s the appointment process that starts on day one.

Hudson: Would you consider, would you consider continuing the state of emergency that Governor DeSantis declared regarding immigration in the state of Florida?

Jolly: No.

Hudson: What is your appetite to use executive orders over the legislative process, given that as a Democrat governor you would have a super majority Republican legislature?

Jolly: I think our current governor showed us it is fair to use executive authorities very aggressively. I am not going to exceed the bounds of the Constitution, but I might test some of them.

Look, a, a day one moratorium on data centers is sure to bring a lawsuit. Okay, let’s do that. I intend to address some of the DEI stuff that has become so controversial I think is impacting communities. Like, I was in, in Overtown yesterday where, where youth centers and, and centers that are housing people aging out of, out of the foster care program are now facing being defunding because they serve communities because they’re being targeted for DEI.

I think I can issue executive guidance that’s saying if there’s a social, socioeconomic justification for specific services, that there’s a safe harbor for some of our agencies to continue to serve these communities. I’ll get sued for that, I realize that, but we are going to test the bounds in a lot of places.

I also intend to use the governor’s office to litigate. Look, I support Jose Javier Rodriguez for attorney general. I do hope he gets elected. But if we have an attorney general that I believe is not representing the interests of the people of Florida like our current one, I intend to use the governor’s office to litigate.

Mm. A good example, this case is likely now moot, but a good example would have been on the open carry ruling, moving Florida to an open carry state. I would enter the governor’s office into that matter, into that case, and take the appeal up to try to prevent open carry- Mm ... in the state of Florida when our own attorney general won’t do it.

Hudson: David, we promised you 30 minutes. We got about a minute left. I gotta ask one question about politics because we know it’s in the air. Debates.

Jolly: Sure.

Hudson: You had a series of debates that you said you agreed to. Your candidate, uh, your, your opponent has set, uh, three debates that he said he agreed to. Will you debate?

Jolly: Yeah. No. We, I am not going to debate and that’s my final decision and here’s why. I think there is an immense amount of bad faith and dishonesty in our politics today writ large. I’ll give, I’ll give Byron Grace and not lay this at his feet. The amount of bad faith and vitriol is real. Our politics are broken.

We’re more divided than ever before. Our politicians just seem to tell us every day if we hate each other enough, that somehow our life will get better. That doesn’t help the state. I’m asking to be the leader of the state and I wanna lead with my actions what I’m saying with my words. I don’t want to further devolve our conversation now that has led to this point of bad faith and toxicity, and to even further bad faith and toxicity.

I’ve run a Lawton Chiles campaign for 18 months. Every community from Milton and Molino to Key West and everywhere in between, going into towns red, blue and purple, and we’re gonna keep doing that, and I think that’s the way we should do it. I’m not gonna do debates this general election.

Hudson: David Jolly, thank you for being here at the Sunshine Economy Summit.

Jolly: Thank you. Much appreciated. Thank you all very much. I appreciate it. Thank you very much, David.

Thank you.

Byron Donalds

WLRN CEO Tom Hudson: Appreciate you making time in your schedule. So you just heard, uh, David Jolly say that he was not going to debate you. Any response?

Florida gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds: I think it’s silly Uh, literally we were here. We could have set up a third s- chair and done it, but it is what it is. Look, I, at this point, I, I think what’s important for the people of Florida is that they just hear the contrast between both of us.

Uh, I think also with social media being what it is today, voters have an opportunity to hear very clearly from, from just about any candidate they wanna hear from. Um, on our campaign, we post all of our events live in real time. You can see them, you can hear the contrast. We pass around microphones in every room I’m in now, and we let voters just ask whatever question they choose to.

I think that’s important for them to hear directly, not just on, you know, maybe the top three or four you’re gonna ask today. Mm-hmm. But even some of the issues that might impact a voter in Pensacola, in Jacksonville, in, in Tampa, in Orlando, in Miami-Dade, in Broward County, um, or even in Palatka or in Okeechobee County or in Levy County.

I think it’s important for a candidate to be there and, and, and get-- take that incoming from all voters about the issues they care about. I think specific to the debates, he should stop running. We can do it anytime, anyplace, anywhere. I’ve agreed to three. Let’s do it.

Hudson: Byron, uh, let me ask you, you, um, spent some time in Tallahassee as a state legislator.

You spent time in Washington as a federal legislator. Why do you wanna move back to Tallahassee? Why do you wanna be governor of the state of Florida?

Donalds: Great question. One, I think Florida, we are in a, a position of being the best state in America. I truly believe that. I think if you look at the movement of feet, uh, Milton Friedman always said that you can judge public policy by the movement of feet.

People go to a jurisdiction where public policy is at its best. Conversely, people leave a jurisdiction where public policy is at its worst. This is why you’ve seen more Americans move to Florida than any other state in the country. Conversely, they’re leaving California, leaving Minnesota, leaving New York, leaving New Jersey.

There’s a reason for that. Uh, we, we’ve had consistent common sense leadership in our state, uh, for really going on thirty years now, and that’s actually also led the transformation into why Americans are choosing to relocate not just their families, but their companies. Why young kids like myself are choosing to come to college in this state to get educated, because it’s widely viewed as the best one state.

My mission is to make sure that Florida remains number one while addressing some of the key issues impacting everybody. Insurance, housing costs, uh, making sure young people can get into the game, not just of home ownership, but having a high-paying job where they can put food on the table and a roof over their head.

And, and that just doesn’t happen by accident. It takes consistent leadership over time to see those things become a reality. I love this state. I’ve lived here now for thirty years. I want to continue to, to-- I want it to continue to be the best state in America, and that’s my mission in running for governor.

Hudson: On the issues, Byron, your campaign website had read the number one issue that you had was to enact the Trump agenda. That’s changed now. Today it reads accountable, achievable, affordable. Why the change from enact the Trump agenda to accountable, achievable, affordable?

Donalds: Well, we have been working on website changes for, like, two months now.

It just unleashed yesterday. Um, I think the key thing is, if you’ve watched any of my events really the last six months, we talk about accountable Florida to the voters, an achievable Florida for our children, and an affordable Florida for Floridians se- who are living their golden years, small business owners, and young families.

That’s been town hall events I’ve been having for months. It’s all on my social media. You can go to my YouTube page, go back months. These are the issues we talk about every day on the campaign trail. I think in light of, obviously, for the general election, the voters of Florida wanna know the policies you’re going to implement to make their lives better.

And so we wanted to make sure that the website fully reflected the vision and the policies for the future of Florida.

Hudson: Does it change your interest of enacting the Trump agenda if elected as governor of Florida?

Donalds: Well, no, I think that’s a separate question. If you’re gonna talk about the president, we’re talking about-

Hudson: Well, your, your website did say enact the Trump agenda until yesterday.

So have you- It did ... no longer enact the Trump agenda? It did.

Donalds: Uh, the Trump agenda, the president’s agenda, I think a common sense agenda is centered around law and order, sound markets, making sure that we secure our nation’s borders, making sure that we continue to work with the federal government when it comes to immigration policy, um, having a standard there of law and order.

It’s also about, on the state level, making sure that your ju- your justice system is consistent in application, that we back law enforcement, that we have the economic growth framework for young people to be able to not just have a job, but have a career, and be able to build a continuity of life that allows their standard of living to continue to be second to none, not just between us and the other forty-nine states, but between America and the entire world.

Hudson: Let me ask about some of the economic policies from the president that are under that Trump agenda, just to get a sense of, of where you’re at today. Uh, the tariff situation, do you support the president’s action on tariffs, particularly as it relates to Canada?

Donalds: Uh, look, my view on tariffs has been anything that we need to do to reset global, uh, trade agreements is in the best interest of America, not just over the short term, but definitely over the long term.

If you look at our trade policy in the United States, most of the deals have not actually been in the interest of American manufacturing, American small, small business, or American workers. And so it’s important that the United States actively is always looking at all of these trade policies. I do think that’s important, specific to tariffs.

The only way you’re gonna be able to get some of these re- renegotiations done is with tariff policy. If you think that a European country or Canada or some... or Mexico or another country is just gonna say, “You know what? Yeah, this trade deal doesn’t really work for you, America. Out of the goodness of our heart, we’re gonna come and renegotiate with you.”

That’s just not how this works. You do have to apply some economic pressure if you’re gonna have a new negotiation about trade policy into the future. We also have had a major issue in the United States for a long time on trade enforcement. Whether you thought the deal was good or bad for the United States is one thing.

We would have presidential administrations on both parties, mind you, that would not go through the process of enforcing these trade deals to actually make sure they were in the best interest of the American worker, of American businesses, both small and large. So I think if you’re gonna talk about the president’s tariff policies, the entire goal has always been about resetting some of these trade agreements so that America is on a fair standard with other countries.

And considering the fact that with globalization, with technological advancement, that these other countries in the world have now caught up to the United States, it is in our interest as a nation to make sure we have trade policies that put us on par with other nations to protect our workforce and to protect our industries, not just today, but going forward into the future for our country.

Hudson: The National Taxpayers Union Foundation, which is a conservative leaning, uh, think tank, has, has said that the president’s tariffs have cost the average Floridian household about $1,300. What do you think that the tariffs are accompy-- accomplishing economically today for Floridians as you’re running for governor under affordability, accountability, and achievability?

Donalds: Well, I think if you’re just gonna take tariff policy in of itself, yes, you can go by that measure. The way I look at it is the work we did on Capitol Hill as well. Yes, tariff policy is a tool to be used for resetting global trade. What is also happening in, in the United States and in Florida is increases in economic growth.

We have seen that. Look at the GDP statistics. That’ll tell you that very clearly. What we did on Capitol Hill through the president’s agenda last year was we cut taxes for small business owners. We actually kept the Section 199A small business tax deduction in place. It is now permanent for every small business owner in Florida and in the United States of America.

We supported that as a Republican. The Democrats and every Democrat commentator and elected official opposed that. So do we think it was in the best interest to let small business taxes rise in the United States? I would say no. We also had the largest tax cut in American history for Social Security recipients.

No-- We also had, um, eliminating of taxes on overtime for workers all through Florida, all through the United States. We also eliminated taxes on tip share for people who are using tip share here in Florida, all through the United States. We have already seen that, um, uh, tax refunds are at the highest level they’ve ever been in the history of the United States.

So when you take the tariff number of thirteen hundred dollars, I will take your number, but I will cede you the thirty-two hundred dollars that the average Floridian has paid less in taxes, meaning thirty-two hundred dollars more in their pocket today. And that does help a Floridian be able to afford their life, even though we still have headwinds in insurance and some other items that we do need to fix.

And

Hudson: of course, as Florida governor, there are no income taxes, so there’s not an income tax policy that you’re proposing, for instance, as governor, just to be clear here, right? You’re talking about federal income

Donalds: taxes there. No, we’re talking-- We’re-- Come on. Don’t be cute.

Hudson: I--

Donalds: No, I just wanna be clear. We’re talking federal, we’re talking federal income taxes.

Right. Yeah. But if you’re gonna talk tariff policy- Yeah ... that is a national federal system. Yeah. Fair enough. So we have the obvious, the obvious retort- Right ... is what every Floridian has to deal with when it comes to income taxes. Right. Because as somebody who waited tables-

Hudson: Yeah

Donalds: When I waited tables and had to put in my tip share- Yep

it didn’t matter if I was waiting tables in Tallahassee, they still withheld that from my, from my paycheck. Sure, on the federal stuff. When I was working hourly wages and I was moving furniture in on the weekend on Sanibel Island to make ends meet, FICA still came for me. Mm-hmm. Even though I was living in Florida.

Mm-hmm. So the comment about how the state doesn’t have an income tax, I think that’s fine. I think that’s fair. It’s accurate. Florida will never have an income tax, but the United States of America does. Yeah. So anything that we can do at the federal level to help working families keep more money in their pocket, help small business owners keep more money in their pocket, is a good thing, and that’s the work that we’ve been doing on Capitol Hill.

Hudson: Let me ask you about immigration and economic policy here, because there’s been research from the National Bureau of Economic Research finding that male employment in construction, in manufacturing, health and hospitality, fell by 3%, uh, as the immigration enforcement policies of the Trump administration came into play.

Those are important industries here in South Florida and Florida overall. Uh, would you continue supporting the existing immigration policy at the state level of Florida if elected as governor? The laws that were passed by the governor and the ex- and the legislature? Mm-hmm.

Donalds: Yes. Listen, let’s be very clear on this Number one, fact point number one, America has to decide once and for all what type of immigration system we’re going to have.

I believe our immigration system has to be one based upon legal immigration with assimilation, period, full stop. There has to be strong enforcement. There has to be consistent enforcement. What we have seen politically over the last couple decades now, and to be honest, it’s frustrating, I think, for Americans just trying to figure out what’s gonna happen, is we’ve seen this pendulum swing.

One, one year, like this year, we’re gonna close our borders and have zero intrusion into the United States on the southern border. Other years, the previous administration, we’re just gonna let the borders be wide open. We’re gonna allow for catch and release. We’re gonna let asylum privileges go wild.

There has to be a consistent standard. So to the core of your question, is the state of Florida gonna continue to work with the federal government? Yes, it will. The second point of that, every state in the country has a constitutional obligation to s- work with the federal government to enforce federal law.

The Constitution on this matter is clear. Article one, Section eight gives immigration, naturalization, and deportation powers expressly to the federal government. So if you have a state that now comes along and says, “Well, you know what? I’m not gonna work with you to enforce that policy,” in my view, you are now working to nullify the Constitution of the United States.

Every state signed on to the general compact under our Constitution. So for Florida, we are going to be consistent in application of the law. Our law enforcement agencies will continue to be consistent in that application. And, and I truly do believe that what our country needs is consistency of application over time, so everybody knows the standards.

That protects the American people. That protects small business owners. It protects the immigrant- Mm-hmm. -because then the immigrant knows the standard as well. What doesn’t get talked about in, in this debate much is what I’ve seen in my time in Congress. I went to the southern border five times I’ve watched young girls be trafficked over our borders by the drug cartels, and under the previous administration, there was no ability to arrest the coyotes.

Mm. It was just basically people came across the border, you had to process them in. We know that young girls were sold into sex slavery by the drug cartels. We know that young girls were raped by the cartels and by the coyotes in that journey. So having a standard of legal immigration, strong borders, and consistency in enforcement protects the immigrant and it protects the American people.

Hudson: You mentioned enforcement. You also talked about assimilation. How do you regulate assimilation as an immigration policy?

Donalds: I think assimilation happens when you have a consistent, um, manageable flow of legal immigration through legal channels. It’s like, it’s what happens when you invite people into your home.

It’s what happens when you have, uh, hire a new employee. If you’re running a small business and you just open up a, a job fair and everybody that walks in the door you hire automatically, there’s no ability for you to breed that cultural assimilation into your workforce. Like, that’s just common sense. If anybody in this room was gonna throw a party, and we all-- some people have thrown parties in this room.

It’s okay. When the guest list gets super large and you have no idea who’s coming through your house, it gets a little rowdy. Mm. When the guest list is curated and you know who’s coming in, everybody comes in with the expectation of how to treat your home. So how you deal with assimilation is you have a standard of controlled legal immigration.

It helps everybody understand the rules very clearly, and that’s how they come in. And anybody who’s coming in to immigrate into the United States, they come in understanding the pathway and the requirements if they’re gonna maintain themselves being in the United States.

Hudson: One of your Republican colleagues on Capitol Hill from South Florida, uh, Congresswoman-

Donalds: Side note, quick question.

Hudson: Yeah.

Donalds: This is a great dialogue, but when are we gonna get to Florida?

Hudson: Well, I, I’m, immigration is not a Florida issue? I

Donalds: just wanna make sure we get to the issues that are, that are on the minds- See, I mean- ... of all Floridians. But go ahead. What’s your next question?

Hudson: Well, no, no. I mean, do you not think immigration is on the minds of Floridians in South Florida?

Donalds: No, I think it is, but, uh, we’ve talked, um, f-federal tariff policy, federal tax policy- Well,

Hudson: Congressman- ... overall economic analysis- ... to be fair, you, you had said- ... and now we’re on immigration ... your number one issue was to enact the Trump agenda on your website- All right ... until yesterday. So all I’m- So I’m just asking you about that agenda

Donalds: I know, but all I’m asking you is when are we going to talk about insurance, housing?

Hudson: We’ve got 15 minutes left. We could waste time talking about what we wanna talk about. I’m just asking a question. We’ll get there. That’s all. So I’m asking you about Congressman Salazar’s comments-

Donalds: Okay ...

Hudson: about immigration.

She said, “Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far.” What’s your reaction to her comment?

Donalds: I disagree with Maria I think what went too far in this country is when there was no enforcement at all. That went too far. I think what went far and it went too far in this country is, like I said in a previous statement, there were young girls who were given Plan B, who were given the pill by the drug cartels because they knew those girls were gonna be raped.

I think that went too far. We had young girls in our country, Jocelyn Longari, Rachel Morin, countless others, raped, murdered in the United States. That went too far. We have to have a standard of enforcement, and we have to have a standard of legal immigration, and that protects the American people

Hudson: All right, onto insurance.

It’s on the list here, Congressman. Sure. Told you guys we ta- get to talk about it. You have talked about your insurance plans, that you want to, quote, “Reduce an unnecessary surcharge on policyholders when the fund, the catastrophic fund, is financially strong.” What does that mean?

Donalds: Uh, right after Hurricane Wilma about 20 years ago, uh, this, the legislature put in a 25%, uh, surcharge on top of the premiums that are paid into Florida’s CAT Fund.

Uh, we put it in, in place during that time because the CAT Fund was almost empty, and Tallahassee moved quickly to make sure that the CAT Fund was shored up. Today, getting past... If we... Once we get through this hurricane season, and we’ll see what happens, you know, over the next six weeks or so-

Hudson: Everybody

Donalds: knock

Hudson: on

Donalds: wood

everybody, please. Uh, but we get through this hurricane season, the CAT Fund is estimated to have somewhere between 13 and $13.5 billion. So why do we have a 25% kicker on top to keep filling a CAT Fund whose statutory limit is $17 billion? My view is get rid of the kicker. That would lower premiums for every policyholder in the state.

And then along-

Hudson: Sorry, just to- Oh, go ahead ... clarify, would you require the insurance companies to pay, to pass along that reduction surcharge to policyholders?

Donalds: Yeah, of course, because they’re not having to pay it into the CAT Fund, so we wanna see that be borne out in people’s premiums. By the way, that’s what would happen anyway, because the additional kicker is paid for by policyholders.

So we wanna make sure that we pass those savings on to the people of Florida. Get rid of that kicker. You don’t really need that. If you’re thinking about what happens if the CAT Fund ever got depleted again, we can come up with some other solutions, uh, to deal with that. That’s one of the many solutions we’re gonna bring to reforming insurance in Florida.

Hudson: One of the other solutions that you’ve talked about is to cut construction costs by reforming the permitting process. How would the state reform local permitting?

Donalds: Uh, the state, what we wanna do is actually, um, do a procurement request for information of new technological, uh, tools that would help local governments, and by the way, state agencies as well, modernize that process.

I think it’s in the state’s interest to do everything we can to lower construction costs, so we would incentivize local governments to be a part of that. Like, we’ll pay the subscription fee. Like, we’ll pay the up, the uploading fee for people to transition their current operational departments to that system.

We also wanna have a place where if a county goes down or if a city goes down for whatever the reasons are, but let’s use hurricane. Let’s say they go down. We want those systems to be interoperable. That way You can easily have an ability to have another county come in to support. Let’s say Miami-Dade has to come in and support Broward County.

Okay, well, let’s do that on a temporary basis. If those systems are interoperable, it’s almost seamless. If Broward County goes down, people here trying to get a building permit, it would be a disaster. So we wanna build in that back end to make sure that happens. The state would come out with a list of approved vendors, and we would tell local governments and work with them and say, “Listen, we think this is in the best interest of Florida.

The state will pick up the tab for you to be on these systems, but we have got to shrink the timetable from buying land to constructing the facility." Because the longer every project takes, the more expensive it is. And if you wanna talk about affordability, but don’t talk about permitting, then you’re just running your mouth, and you’re not talking about the real ideas that can lower cost of construction, especially for the people who work hard every single day.

Hudson: Do you see that consolidated back office permitting system as still, uh, recognizing local permitting decisions, right? Building in Palm Beach County may be different, uh, uh, kind of permitting necessary than building in Putnam County.

Donalds: Oh, no, of course. I think at the end of it all, what you wanna make sure is that local governments have a systems that can help them be efficient.

But what they choose to approve or not approve is still for the county commission. The state is not gonna take away that.

Hudson: What do you make of the affiliate company process that’s involved with insurance companies now? We just heard from your opponent about ideas that he would, uh, want to tax those affiliate profits that are now sent out of state at the five and a half percent corporate rate.

Is that a process that you would support?

Donalds: Uh, no, I don’t think taxing it is the, is the way to go about it. I think there has to be strict regulations and, and not just strict regulations, but Office of Insurance Regulation has to really be empowered to engage directly with these carriers. Um, I read the Orlando Sentinel report.

I came out very quickly and said, “This is why we wanna have a very transparent process when it comes to insurance in the state of Florida.” The pe-

Hudson: Would you restrict that f- flow of funds

Donalds: to

Hudson: affiliate companies?

Donalds: No, no, I’m, I’m not in a restricting mode. I said that we have to make sure that we work very diligently with these carriers to make sure that the premiums that they charge are actually going towards the, the different claims that have to be put out there in the event of damage or storm.

I think that’s the way to do it. Um, I think what my opponent is saying is that he wants to tax it, but then he also wants to get rid of all private wind coverage. So if you get rid of private wind coverage, which is 70% of property and casualty insurance in the state, if the state takes that policy, takes all that business from insurance companies, then what are you gonna tax?

‘Cause then there’s no profit that they make off of that, so there’s nothing to tax to fund the plan that he says he can fund.

Hudson: Let’s move on to property taxes. Do you support Amendment 3?

Donalds: I do. I think voters need relief. I think the property owners need relief. Listen, property taxes six years ago or seven years ago now was $32 billion, it’s now $53 billion.

The truth ... Look, her eyes just fluttered. She was just like, “Oh my goodness, that is true. It’s the truth.” But

Hudson: some of that is recognized by there’s more property that is now being taxed at a higher value.

Donalds: Yeah, but what you said is the key issue. Local governments had an opportunity over the last six years to go to a rollback rate, to actually smooth out the increases.

Most municipalities and counties did not do that. What they said was, “We didn’t raise your taxes.” While property values were going up. So while your budgets did not adjust, or quite frankly, especially over the last, uh, four years or so, inflation was almost double digits through most products that people were buying every single day, county government and city government said, “We’re just gonna keep taxes the same even though values rose on everybody,” and they collected more tax revenue.

The people of Florida do need relief.

Hudson: And there is some additional service that some counties have had to realize as the populations have grown as well.

Donalds: Yeah, I agre- I recognize that, and, uh, this is why I’m saying that number one, the amendment causes for a raise from, from fifty thousand to a hundred fifty thousand.

Some areas a hundred thousand. The t- the

Hudson: homestead exemption.

Donalds: The homestead exemption. Yeah. Yes. And so if you look at the last time the homestead exemption was raised meaningfully in our state, the same arguments were coming from local government. “This is gonna be disastrous. Local governments will cease to be able to provide services.”

I don’t know if anybody’s looked around. When they raised the homestead exemption, I think it was, like, twenty-five years ago or longer now, local s- government services did not go away. I do, I do acknowledge, but this is one of the things that we are gonna have to make sure we wreckl- we, uh, wrestle with. I do acknowledge that Fiscally constrained counties is our problem.

Mm-hmm. And so I know the governor said that he was, he would backfill those out of state GR because, I mean, I think the number’s around $300 million or so for the fiscally constrained counties in the state. I, I, I didn’t wanna set up a grant program. I think what we can do in Tallahassee is a funding formula specific to those fiscally constrained counties so that they know they can rely on a consistent flow of revenue, and that they can still fill their budgets and operate the way they need to.

Hudson: So if elected governor, and the amendment passes, you will inherit this. Uh, are there additional revenue sources that you would support as governor for local governments to be able to continue to fund the services that residents and citizens have come to expect?

Donalds: Well, actually, local governments have a lot of revenue streams right now.

The, one of the revenue streams that very quietly county managers and city managers are talking, now let me just give you a, a preview. What they’re talking about right now, and especially in the larger counties like Miami-Dade County, Broward County, Palm Beach County, Orange, Hillsborough, uh, Duval, um, they’re already talking about non ad valorem assessments.

They have that ability to do that under state law today. They just have never really done that because ad valorem has just given them the money that they’ve needed, so they haven’t really worried about doing that. So if Amendment Three passes, um, I would assume that, um, a lot of these counties are gonna go into a special hearing, and there’s going to be some non ad valorem assessments that are gonna be passed.

So they already have the ability to do that- Mm-hmm ... under state law today.

Hudson: Mm-hmm. And is that anything that you would focus on as governor?

Donalds: Yeah, we would focus in on it because I don’t think that it’s, it’s okay just to say, “Well, we can’t get our money this way, so now we’re gonna get our money that way.”

What we need to be thinking about is budgetary restraint while making sure that key services are provided. This is why in Amendment Three, the language is clear that the first, that the first, uh, portion of local government that has to be funded is public safety. So for all the money that is collected, and there’s still gonna be billions of dollars collected, the first thing that local governments have to fund is public safety.

That’s in Amendment 3. There’s a reason why it’s there, is to make sure that it’s not just administrators or other programs, it’s that public safety, law enforcement, our, our firefighters, they, they get what they need.

Hudson: Do you support, if elected governor, the state government regulating property taxes at the local level?

Donalds: If Amendment 3 passes, the legislature would actually be the one regulating it. What I, what I think-

Hudson: Is that something you support as a former Florida legislator and possibly current or possibly future governor?

Donalds: Well, if that’s the will of the voters, then we’ll go ahead and execute that mission. But I think the way you do it is not just heavy-handed, top down from Tallahassee.

I think the better way to do it is if Amendment 3 passes, we’d have to maybe ... Really the legislature and local governments would have to set up, uh, some sort of, of vetting system about the, what the next wave of property taxes is. Um, but my commitment to the voters has always been whether it passes or fails, what needs to occur is, um, the Tax and Budget Reform Commission next year needs to have, be laser focused on this issue.

The property tax system in Florida is something that does need to be modernized. Assuming that the system is working right now is just not true. Uh, two big things that are going on in our property tax system which are becoming problematic, um, one is portability issues. If you have a s- if you have a senior or if you have somebody who, you know, like myself, I have three, I have three sons.

The older two are now out of the house. The oldest has his own apartment. Like, this is cool. Like, he’s off to college. Wow, congratulations. Yeah, I know, right? Yeah. I’m doing something right. You can judge a man by his fruit, and my oldest son has a job. He has his own apartment. He’s doing well. Uh, but that being said- Are you

Hudson: still paying his cellphone bill?

Donalds: No, I am not.

Hudson: Oh, that, uh, that’s the sign.

Donalds: That has been, that has now been passed on. I am not paying that. Uh, but, but, but the point is, if my wife or if any family where their children are now leaving, if they decided to downsize from the home that they raised their kids in, their property tax bill is gonna jump If seniors in our state, one of the reasons they’re not selling their property is because they know their tax bill will jump if they sell.

Well, that’s actually keeping inventory off the open market, which is having upward pressure on pricing. So we do need to fix portability issues in our state. And I’ll give you another one- Mm-hmm. For business owners. The, uh, the, the tangible personal property tax has to be fixed. Right now, every county and every, every municipa- every county has their own, uh, uh, depreciation schedule that they use for small business owners, very different than even the federal depreciation schedule.

All that has to be modernized and h- have one consistent standard so small business owners aren’t having to think, “Oh man, now I gotta go pay my, my personal property tax. How do I value it here?” If they have multiple locations, how are they valuing that between Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach County?

That stuff just p- p- uh, puts more burden on the back of small business owners. So those are some of the things that also need to be fixed. Well, real quick, I, I don’t

Hudson: wanna- I got one more question for you. We’re coming up against our 30 minutes, but go ahead.

Donalds: Okay. Real quick. The last thing in, in the property tax system that has to also be looked at is there are major differences between Broward County and, and, uh, and Dixie County and Citrus County.

Major economic differences. I actually think what we need to do is have a multi-tiered system Where Broward, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach have one system, but the fiscally constrained counties have one, and it’s tied more to property value writ large and economic growth writ large than just one uniform system across the state of Florida.

Let me sneak this- I

Hudson: think that respects both pro- both priorities. Let me sneak this in. Your, your opponent talked about possibly having local governments have some homesteaded, um, um, uh, regulation. Is that something you’re talking about here?

Donalds: Uh, not necessarily. What I’m talking about doing is letting the Tax and Budget Reform Commission study all these options, and then working with local governments to really figure out what the meaningful modernized way is for local governments to raise revenue.

Hudson: Um, finally, you mentioned the, uh, the generational, uh, long run in the rep- in the, um, governor’s office here in Florida by the Republican Party. Uh, if you’re elected, how would a Donald’s administration be the same, be different from a DeSantis administration in the past eight years for Floridians?

Donalds: I think we’re, you know, where it’s the same is definitely gonna be around constitutional philosophy, uh, commitment to law and order, um, just bedrock conservative common sense principles.

That’s how I came up in politics. Um, I think where we’re gonna be focusing going forward is, how do we make housing more affordable for people? Um, how do we develop the real workforce training systems for juniors and seniors in high school? We have a launch patch, Launchpad Initiative on our new website, by the way.

And so what that does, we wanna see juniors and seniors, um, get internships and apprenticeships with businesses in their communities who have training programs. We wanna incentivize that. If a child is not going to the university system, help that child have the skill set they need before they graduate high school, so they can hit the ground running and really build out a, a skill set that can help them be, um, economically viable.

When you talk to business owners in our state, a lot of them actually did not go to college, or some of them dropped out of college. They had a skill, worked at it, built a business, and then before you knew it, they really accomplished a Florida dream for themselves. So we’re gonna be much more focused on, how do we have economic growth?

How do we make sure young people can get their start in life, while also doing the heavy work that Governor DeSantis has already started around Everglades restoration and protecting our environment? We wanna finish Everglades restoration in my time as governor. Florida’s environment is critical to Florida’s future economic prospects.

They are not mutually exclusive. They work together in concert. So protecting our environment while we plan for the future and build for the future is my goal as governor, and I think you have to have consistent policy over, over time in order to accomplish that.

Hudson: Byron, thank you for joining us here at the Sunshine Economy Summit.

Much appreciated. Byron Donalds, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you. Thank you very much, sir.

“Keep playing,” Scott shouted. They ultimately agreed to share the cup.

Asked for his recollections from his 2003 debut, the 46-year-old Australian smiled and said: “I think I strongly suggested that Ernie get to the 18th tee because we're playing. I was confident they could tee off. I don't know that they could have finished the hole.”

Scott never could have imagined then that it would be the closest he ever came to playing on a winning International team in the Presidents Cup. This week at Medinah marks his 12th consecutive appearance, tying the record held by Phil Mickelson.

It's another testament to a career built around a swing so pure it has kept Scott free of injury as he became only the second player to compete in at least 100 consecutive majors, and it has kept him relevant enough to be part of yet another Presidents Cup.

It's also one more chance, and Scott doesn't take it for granted.

“I feel like it's a huge opportunity for me,” Scott said. "There was probably a period 10 years ago, in the middle of my career, where it was, ‘Oh, this (winning) is going to happen.’ But now there's not many more, that's for sure. I've been given another chance. It might be the last one.”

The Internationals gathered for the team photo Wednesday morning, and it was only fitting that Scott had a place next to the gold trophy, with lifelong friend and International captain Geoff Ogilvy on the other side.

One is the captain who has been the model of quiet confidence. The other is the inspiration for a team that wants to win as badly as Scott does.

“He's part of the International furniture now,” Christiaan Bezuidenhout said. “All of us would love to win the cup, but it would be so much more special if we can do it while Adam is still in the team.”

Scott, coming off a runner-up finish in the BMW PGA Championship last week in England, still can find plenty of happy memories from his two-plus decades being on losing teams.

He partnered with Els for a pair of foursomes victories in South Africa — "He's a bit of a god down there. That was awesome," Scott said — and he was with K.J. Choi at Royal Melbourne in 2011 when they handed Woods and Steve Stricker their worst loss (7 and 6) in team competition.

But the beer-drinking celebrations with the cup in hand? Foreign territory.

“It's a quarter of a century. It's his whole career,” Ogilvy said. “Certainly the last two or three times he's been super motivated. Like: ‘This is something I have to do before I’m done. I have to be on a winning team.”

Scott's two closest friends in golf, Ogilvy and Trevor Immelman, have been or are captains. He surely is next in line, unless there's another Presidents Cup for Scott to play. In some respects, he already is one, given his presence — his experience — in the team room and on the bus.

“He's like a playing captain,” Ogilvy said. “You can hear in his voice his desire to win this tournament. He's the leader of the players, clearly, and he's embracing that role now.”

Scott started his Presidents Cup career playing alongside Els and Retief Goosen, Nick Price and Vijay Singh, all of them in the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Now he's with Ryo Hisatsune and Tom Kim, who weren't even born when Scott turned pro.

South Africa wasn't the only close call. It went down to the final match in 2005 in Virginia and in 2015 in South Korea. The Internationals had the lead going into Sunday singles at Royal Melbourne in 2019 until the Americans rallied behind Woods, a playing captain, and finally secured victory in the 11th of 12 matches.

But it was another loss, and two more followed after that.

“It's come down to the last hole several times, and they can go any way. And it hasn't gone our way,” Scott said. “For me, of course, I want to win one desperately and I don't know how many more I can possibly play in. But it's a team effort to do it. We all have to want it so badly. I think it would be an amazing experience for us all to win this cup.”

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See AP’s full golf coverage here

Los habitantes de uno de los barrios populares del nororiente de la ciudad hacían fila en los pocos supermercados abiertos, que eran escoltados por policías que enseñaban armas largas.

“Esta mañana nos levantamos a mirar cómo estaban las cosas con miedo de salir, pero uno sale a abastecerse”, dijo a The Associated Press al salir de un supermercado el taxista Antonio Ochoa Díaz.

El miedo se instaló la víspera en la ciudad del Caribe luego de que al menos tres vehículos fueran incinerados, entre ellos un taxi y un autobús del servicio público, y los comerciantes recibieran amenazas, en algunos casos de hombres armados que los intimidaban a plena luz del día.

Ante la escalada violenta el presidente conservador Abelardo de la Espriella ordenó militarizar la ciudad y aseguró que las Autodefensas Conquistadoras de la Sierra Nevada pretenden “incendiar” parte del Caribe como retaliación a una operación militar en la que murió José Pérez Villanueva, alias “Cholo”, señalado como el segundo cabecilla de ese grupo armado.

“Juro por Colombia y juro por mi vida que los voy a acabar. No va a quedar piedra sobre piedra en donde no pueda encontrarlos... y si no se someten, los voy a mandar al infierno en una bolsa”, advirtió De la Espriella la noche del martes desde Santa Marta vestido con un chaleco antibalas mientras recorría algunas zonas en un vehículo blindado.

Santa Marta, con aproximadamente 480.000 habitantes, se convirtió en la primera ciudad en ser militarizada por De la Espriella, quien asumió el mes pasado prometiendo “mano de hierro” contra los ilegales. El nuevo mandatario cerró todas las negociaciones de paz —incluyendo una con las Autodefensas— que había abierto su predecesor, el progresista Gustavo Petro (2022-2026).

Los pobladores relataron que las Autodefensas declararon un paro armado que busca restringir la movilidad de la población bajo amenaza.

“Uno se cuida de no salir y acata las órdenes por miedo... más que todo la ley de acá es la de los grupos" armados, aseguró Ochoa. Sin embargo, dudó que la situación vaya a mejorar de forma permanente y expresó temor de que cuando los militares se vayan el grupo tome represalias con la población.

Las Autodefensas Conquistadoras de la Sierra Nevada surgieron tras la desmovilización de los grupos paramilitares a inicios de este siglo. Según la policía, tienen incidencia en los departamentos de Magdalena, donde se ubica Santa Marta; La Guajira y Cesar y están implicadas en delitos como el narcotráfico y la extorsión.

De la Espriella ordenó el miércoles trasladar a cárceles de máxima seguridad a 76 detenidos por sus presuntos vínculos con las Autodefensas para evitar que “sigan ordenando (delitos) desde las cárceles”.

Mercado público cerrado, playas abiertas

La gobernadora de Magdalena, María Margarita Guerra, recorría el mercado público, con todos sus negocios de vegetales, frutas y carnes cerrados, repartiendo con su equipo volantes que decían “La extorsión no paga” mientras los animaba a abrir sus puertas.

"Yo sé que es difícil confiar, son décadas de violencia, pero tenemos que poner ese grano de arena y decir ‘vamos a unirnos’", aseguró a la prensa Guerra, quien considera vital que se reabra el mercado público por ser el “corazón del comercio”.

La gobernadora calculó que las fuerzas de seguridad presentes en la región se han incrementado en más de 1.500 agentes policiales y militares.

En paralelo, centenares de turistas disfrutaban de la playa de Santa Marta escuchando música, tomando cerveza y bronceándose en un día soleado, mientras los restaurantes y comercios alrededor permanecían en su mayoría cerrados.

A Orlando Andrade González, un turista de 64 años, el paro armado lo sorprendió en el centro de la ciudad el martes cuando notó que el transporte escaseaba. Cuando preguntó, un vendedor ambulante le advirtió que fuera a “esconderse”.

“A nosotros sí nos afectó el paro porque no pudimos disfrutar de otras playas”, explicó Andrade, un periodista que vacaciona con su familia.

El turismo es uno de los principales motores económicos de Santa Marta, por lo que los comerciantes temen que, si la tensa situación se extiende, los pueda afectar severamente.

The ProPublica report, published Tuesday, states that the FBI in 2024 planned to launch an investigation into Collins' dealings with Navatek, a Hawaii defense contractor and donor to her campaign. The investigation, which focused on an alleged pay-to-play scheme, failed to commence after President Donald Trump took office after winning the election, according to ProPublica.

The report arrived six weeks before an election where Collins is seeking her sixth term against Democrat Troy Jackson. Democrats have targeted the seat, in a state that Trump lost in 2024, as the party tries to win control of the Senate, making it one of the most competitive races on the November ballot.

Collins on Tuesday called the entire story “absolutely outrageous” and said it is frustrating and unfair to have such claims made against her so close to the election. Her campaign manager, Steve Abbott, also said Wednesday the allegation that “we charge people to have meetings” is categorically false and Collins accepting campaign cash for contracts “did not happen.”

Jackson called the allegation “corruption of the highest order.” He was not present Wednesday when a group of Maine Democrats held a news conference near Collins' Portland office, but said the allegations are a betrayal of trust.

“I cannot stress enough here today the seriousness of these allegations. Maine people deserve clear and real answers from Susan Collins right now,” Maine Democratic Party Executive Director Devon Murphy-Anderson said.

FBI says allegations were already investigated

The ProPublica report stated that the head of a Collins super PAC met with executives from defense contractor Navatek in 2019 and asked them for a $500,000 campaign donation. The company's CEO, Martin Kao, sent an initial $150,000 donation using a shell company, the report stated. ProPublica reported that it reviewed an internal company email from Kao in which the CEO later told Navatek executives that Collins committed to getting the company $32 million in Navy contracts.

Kao and two other Navatek executives were later indicted on charges of funneling illegal donations to Collins. Kao sought to reduce his jail sentence by revealing to the FBI the full scope of illegal contributions to Collins, ProPublica reported.

Collins said Kao is "a liar" whose story is untrustworthy.

“He has been twice convicted in separate federal court cases. He’s been convicted of money laundering. He’s been convicted of bank fraud. He has been convicted of false submissions to the FEC. He’s being convicted of a lot of crimes,” she said.

An FBI spokesperson said in a statement that the allegations "had already been investigated by the FBI years ago and ultimately found nothing implicating Senator Collins or Senator Collins’ campaign. Any suggestion otherwise is totally false.”

The ProPublica article also states that Trump's return to the White House left the Justice Department unable to perform the investigation.

Corruption investigations have decreased in Trump's second term

The number of FBI agents and Justice Department prosecutors specializing in corruption investigations plummeted in the first months of the Trump administration. The Justice Department, for instance, decimated its elite Public Integrity Section in early 2025 while the FBI disbanded a white-collar fraud and public corruption squad based out of its Washington field office.

The administration has also fired numerous law enforcement officials who participated in investigations into Trump, including over his efforts to undo the 2020 presidential election he lost and his retention of classified records at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.

An email seeking comment was sent to the Justice Department on Wednesday.

Collins said she first learned of the company through the University of Maine because of the research the Navy found to be valuable, which had to do with 3D printing for production.

She said the Justice Department has already reviewed the matter.

“I’m telling you this is completely false,” Collins said.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune dismissed the idea that Collins would be implicated in a pay-to-play scheme, calling the allegations “a political hit job.”

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Mascaro reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick and Eric Tucker in Washington, D.C., and Kimberlee Kruesi in Providence, Rhode Island, contributed to this report.

Caesars has a dominant presence on the Las Vegas Strip, operating hotels like Caesars Palace, the Flamingo and Harrah's. It also operates casino resorts across the United States.

Fertitta owns Las Vegas' Golden Nugget and restaurant chains like Rainforest Cafe and Morton's. Billionaire owner Tilman Fertitta is the largest shareholder in Wynn Resorts and the sports betting company DraftKings. Fertitta stepped back from his role as president and director of his company following his April 2025 confirmation as U.S. ambassador to Italy and San Marino.

Tuesday's vote took place in Reno, Nevada, with over 133 million votes in favor of the merger and 4 million votes against, according to a Wednesday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The merger was first announced in May, with Fertitta agreeing to pay $5.7 billion and take on close to $12 billion in debt from Caesars, putting the total value of the deal at about $17.6 billion.

Caesars and Fertitta still must complete the federal antitrust review process. If it goes through, Caesars will become a privately-held company. Its shareholders will get $31 in cash for each share they own.

It happened on Monday, Sept. 14 at approximately 6:52 p.m. in a residential area along the 11400 block of Southwest 185th Terrace.

According to deputies, the suspect seen in home surveillance footage was holding a large pepper-spray canister before spraying the elderly victim through her open passenger window.

Deputies said the incident may have stemmed from a road rage incident that followed a minor traffic collision.

The subject fled the scene following the incident, with deputies describing his vehicle as a silver, newer model Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedan.

Anyone with information on the crime, or who thinks they recognize the man in the video, is urged to contact MDSO at 305-383-6800 or to remain anonymous, call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS.

“When someone gives Russia more money through trade, they give this war more time. And that is exactly why we insist on limiting trade with the aggressor, and why we are burning Russia’s revenues ourselves,” he said in English, a language he often uses at the world body.

Russia gets its turn Saturday to address the assembly. President Vladimir Putin hasn’t traveled to the gathering in years, sending Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov instead.

Lavrov told the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday that Russia is prepared to negotiate toward a lasting peace but won’t just “pause” the war. He argued that such a pause would just buy Ukraine and its backers time to line up more weapons.

Zelenskyy cast doubt on Russia's interest in ending the fighting.

“Something always seems to stop Putin from saying, ‘That’s it. Enough. Peace,’” Zelenskyy said. “Can you even imagine him without war? He is ‘Patient Zero’, the one from whom war keeps spreading further. ... ‘Patient Zero’ must be stopped."

The war has reverberated across the planet

Russia invaded Ukraine more than 4½ years ago and says it's out to protect its own security and the interests of Russians and Russian-speakers in parts of Ukraine. Western analysts estimate that over 500,000 Russian troops have been killed and that Ukraine has recorded more than 500,000 military casualties, including up to 140,000 deaths. Neither country discloses its own casualty totals.

The war has had global repercussions for fuel, fertilizer and grain shipments — and for geopolitics, widening divisions between Russia and the West.

With front-line positions in eastern and southern Ukraine largely unchanged since last year, Russia and Ukraine have intensified long-range attacks with drones and missiles.

Russian drones pounded the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, in daylight attacks on Wednesday, killing two people and wounding 23; two others were injured by a strike that started a big fire at a shopping mall in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said it struck Ukrainian military-industrial and energy facilities, logistics centers, and sea vessels overnight. The ministry said its air defenses intercepted more than 500 Ukrainian drones over multiple Russian regions and Crimea, as well as the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea. Crimea is the peninsula that Russia seized by force and illegally annexed in 2014.

Zelenskyy says ‘you can stand and survive’

Zelenskyy told the assembly that Russia has used 63,000 attack drones of different types against Ukraine so far this year alone. While celebrating that his own country "has proven that even against a much bigger enemy, you can stand and survive,” he implored world leaders to deny Putin money or foreign fighters.

“Limit his money. Limit his war," the Ukrainian leader said.

Meanwhile, Ukraine has been looking for additional resources. Zelenskyy noted to reporters Tuesday that his country hasn’t yet gotten clear answers to its effort to acquire more U.S. Patriot air defense systems.

Zelenskyy met Tuesday with U.S. President Donald Trump on the U.N. sidelines.

In brief remarks to the media before the meeting, Trump reiterated that he believes “we’re going to make a deal” with Russia and Ukraine to quell the fighting. The president predicted on the 2024 campaign trail that he’d swiftly broker an end to the war but hasn’t succeeded so far. Zelenskyy said Tuesday he was hopeful.

“Sometimes, it may seem that Ukraine is focused, focused, only on war because we speak about weapons, we speak about defense and sanctions against the aggressor. But Ukrainians did not choose this war,” he told the assembly on Wednesday. “We choose not to die. …. We are defending ourselves.”

The quarterback could brood over that devastating moment. Or he could focus on moving forward for Saturday's visit from Appalachian State.

“The last several days have been good,” Bailey said after practice Wednesday, four days after losing a fumble in the end zone that Vanderbilt recovered for a last-second touchdown. "A lot of guys have my back, Coach (Dave) Doeren, everybody in the facility.

“They've been leaning on me, I've been showing up. I've been waking up on the right side of the bed every morning, feeling good.”

It marked the first time the third-year starter had spoken to reporters since the loss, which came after N.C. State (1-2) led 31-28 and faced a fourth-and-3 play from its own 5-yard line with 6 seconds left. Doeren said Monday the call was for Bailey to burn time before going down to take a safety, leaving Vanderbilt hoping for nothing short of a miracle with nearly no time left.

And yet, that's exactly what happened.

Bailey had space to take a knee or scramble out of the back of the end zone. Instead, he started running toward the oncoming desperation pass rush, then took a hit that knocked the ball loose for Vanderbilt's winning recovery in a shocking moment.

Bailey said he “just was trying to get all the clock out.”

“The biggest thing was just hold the ball, bro,” he said. “That was the biggest thing. I was just trying to run around and make a play, being competitive. That’s who I am, I'm a competitive guy. I was just competing to the final second and it happens. I fumbled the ball, I’m going to kick myself up and keep going.”

Offensive lineman Teague Andersen was one of the first teammates to reach Bailey in the end zone and help him up. Andersen said Bailey was “pretty distraught” afterward.

Still, Andersen said Wednesday, he offered his QB an immediate message: "Dude, no matter what happens, bro, I've got your back.”

That kind of support carries Bailey now. Bailey said his mother is in town and made some home-cooked meals. He said he's heard words of encouragement from outside the program, too.

The list included former Wolfpack passing great and longtime NFL star Philip Rivers, as well as Peyton and Eli Manning, team spokeswoman Annabelle Myers said. Bailey previously attended the Manning Passing Academy, an annual camp attracting some of the nation's top college QBs.

Bailey patiently fielded questions Wednesday with an almost happy-go-lucky demeanor, pointing to optimism from how the team has practiced. He said he had addressed teammates with a key message.

“I just said: ‘We’ve got a long season,'" Bailey said, “'we've got so many more games and so many more plays that we can make.'”

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The four terrier mix dogs attacked Perez about six streets away from her home in the Biscayne Gardens area. The neighbors who heard Perez’s cries for help intervened and called 911.

“One dog latched onto each one of my limbs,” Perez said.

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue personnel, Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office deputies, and Miami-Dade Animal Services personnel responded to Northwest 11th Court and 145 Street.

Fire rescue personnel reported taking Perez to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center, where she underwent emergency surgery.

Animal Services personnel reported capturing one dog on Thursday and the three others on Friday.

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

Related fundraiser: Help Ashley Recover from a Traumatic Dog Attack

Location: NW 11 Court at 145 Street

After Tuesday night's games, the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros were tied for first place at 78-79. No full-season division champion has ever had a losing record.

In fact, no team has made the postseason with a sub-.500 record, unless you count a trio of participants from years the playoffs were temporarily expanded: In the 2020 season shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic, Milwaukee and Houston were both 29-31 and made the postseason. In 1981, the Kansas City Royals went 50-53 overall — but they were the AL West's top team in the post-strike second half, meaning they got in.

MLB expanded its postseason to 12 teams in 2022, raising the likelihood that a sub-.500 team would sneak into October at some point. Just a few weeks ago, it looked like the American League could have several clubs with losing marks in this year's playoffs. The AL Central's Cleveland Guardians and Chicago White Sox have since reached 81 wins, so that won't happen. But the AL West title race could still yield a losing team.

In honor of that, here are 10 of the weakest teams to make the postseason, listed in chronological order with their records and run differentials in mind. Note that some of them went on lengthy postseason runs — so don't count out the Rangers or Astros just yet.

1973 New York Mets

Record: 82-79 (first in NL East)

Run differential: 20

Postseason: Beat Cincinnati 3-2 in NL Championship Series, lost to Oakland 4-3 in World Series

The rallying cry was “Ya gotta believe!” from reliever Tug McGraw. It wasn't easy when New York was in last place after an Aug. 30 loss, but the Mets went 21-8 the rest of the way to win the division by 1 1/2 games. Tom Seaver (19-10, 2.08 ERA, 18 complete games) was still at the peak of his powers, and New York held the Reds to eight runs in five games in the NLCS — a series best remembered for a brawl involving Bud Harrelson and Pete Rose. The Mets led the World Series 3-2 and had Seaver starting Game 6, but they couldn't close out the Athletics.

1984 Kansas City Royals

Record: 84-78 (first in AL West)

Run differential: minus-13

Postseason: Lost to Detroit 3-0 in ALCS

The Royals were 11 games under .500 in the middle of July, but they did enough to win the AL West. George Brett hit .284 — his worst average in a 14-year span from 1975-88 — and he was one of just two All-Stars on the team. The other was Dan Quisenberry, who had 44 saves while throwing 129 1/3 innings. He finished second in the Cy Young race behind fellow reliever Willie Hernández of the Tigers. Although Kansas City took the division almost by default in '84, the Royals improved to 91 wins the following year and won the World Series.

1987 Minnesota Twins

Record: 85-77 (first in AL West)

Run differential: minus-20

Postseason: Beat Detroit 4-1 in ALCS, beat St. Louis 4-3 in World Series

Frank Viola was the star of a pitching staff that otherwise offered little — aside from a trio of big names on the downside of their careers. Bert Blyleven allowed 46 home runs, Joe Niekro posted a 6.26 ERA and Steve Carlton made seven largely woeful starts for this Minnesota team. The Twins could hit, though. Kirby Puckett was third in the MVP race, while Kent Hrbek, Gary Gaetti and Tom Brunansky each surpassed 30 homers. Home-field advantage wasn't determined by record back then, so Minnesota had it in the ALCS despite finishing 13 games behind the Tigers, and again in the World Series after being 10 games worse than the Cardinals. The Twins went 6-0 at the Metrodome in the postseason.

1995 Colorado Rockies

Record: 77-67 (second in NL West, wild card)

Run differential: 2

Postseason: Lost 3-1 to Atlanta in NL Division Series

The first wild card in National League history was this Colorado team in a season shortened by the end of the 1994-95 work stoppage. The Rockies' ERA of 4.97 is the worst of the live ball era by a postseason team in a non-DH league. Colorado made up for that, not surprisingly, by leading the NL in runs. Dante Bichette led the league in home runs and RBIs and finished third in batting average.

2005 San Diego Padres

Record: 82-80 (first in NL West)

Run differential: minus-42

Postseason: Lost 3-0 to St. Louis in NLDS

Jake Peavy and a Trevor Hoffman-led bullpen helped San Diego reach the playoffs, but this team never looked the part. The Padres scored the fourth-fewest runs in all of baseball, and their starters went 52-60 with a 4.49 ERA. In the postseason, San Diego never had the lead at any point against the 100-win Cardinals. Game 1 was 8-0 after six innings, Game 2 was 6-1 after seven, and Game 3 was 7-0 after 4 1/2.

2006 St. Louis Cardinals

Record: 83-78 (first in NL Central)

Run differential: 19

Postseason: Beat San Diego 3-1 in NLDS, beat New York Mets 4-3 in NLCS, beat Detroit 4-1 in World Series

The Cardinals won at least 95 games four times under Tony La Russa, but their best postseason success came as a wild card in 2011 and with this team five years earlier. St. Louis nearly blew a seven-game lead in the division in the final two weeks of the regular season, but a roster with Albert Pujols, Scott Rolen, Chris Carpenter and a young reliever named Adam Wainwright always had a chance to get hot. Yadier Molina's homer — and Wainwright's strikeout of Carlos Beltrán — gave the Cardinals the pennant in an epic series with the Mets.

2017 Minnesota Twins

Record: 85-77 (second in AL Central, second wild card)

Run differential: 27

Postseason: Lost to New York Yankees in wild card game

After 103 losses in 2016, the Twins were in first place for a little while before eventually capturing the AL's final postseason spot and losing 8-4 to the Yankees. Byron Buxton played 140 games, the most of his career to date, and Brian Dozier hit 34 home runs. Joe Mauer had moved to first base by this point but was still quite good at the plate, batting .305. Ervin Santana led the rotation in his last good major league season. This team certainly wasn't great, but it was good enough in an AL that produced only five teams above .500.

2023 Miami Marlins

Record: 84-78 (third in NL East, second wild card)

Run differential: minus-57

Postseason: Lost to Philadelphia 2-0 in NL Wild Card Series

The Marlins posted the worst run differential to date by a postseason team — this year's Astros are currently at minus-59 — but Miami went 33-14 in one-run games. The pitching staff with Sandy Alcantara, Eury Pérez, Jesús Luzardo and Braxton Garrett helped Miami into the playoffs. Of the Marlins' top 12 players in plate appearances, seven of them finished with negative wins above replacement, according to Baseball Reference. The offense was basically batting champ Luis Arraez, designated hitter Jorge Soler and not much else. Miami lost 93 games the year before this playoff appearance and 100 the year after.

2023 Arizona Diamondbacks

Record: 84-78 (second in NL West, third wild card)

Run differential: minus-15

Postseason: Beat Milwaukee 2-0 in NLWCS, beat Los Angeles Dodgers 3-0 in NLDS, beat Philadelphia 4-3 in NLCS, lost to Texas 4-1 in World Series

Just get in and anything can happen. These Diamondbacks were one of the best examples of that. Arizona started August with nine straight losses to fall below .500, but after doing enough to make the playoffs, they swept two division champions and then won the last two games of the NLCS on the road to capture the second pennant in franchise history. Arizona had a negative run differential in the regular season and was also outscored 30-21 in that series against the Phillies. It didn't matter.

2025 Cincinnati Reds

Record: 83-79 (third in NL Central, third wild card)

Run differential: 35

Postseason: Lost to Los Angeles Dodgers 2-0 in NLWCS

The Reds had a respectable run differential but little star power aside from Elly De La Cruz and the often-injured Hunter Greene. Cincinnati beat out the Mets on a tiebreaker for the NL's final postseason spot — seven games behind the No. 2 wild card — and then made a quick exit. The Reds' best month was 15-11 and their worst was 12-15. Simply avoiding any extended slumps was enough to make the playoffs.

___

See AP’s full MLB coverage here

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Davie police officers responded to Western High School, located at 1200 SW 136th Ave. on Wednesday in regard to a bomb threat.

K-9 units were on scene to assist in the investigation, authorities said.

Ultimately, authorities said that after a thorough investigation, the threat was deemed to be a false alarm.

The school was evacuated for precautionary measures, and other schools in the immediate area were placed on a lockdown, according to Davie police.

Students returned to class after 1 p.m., according to officials.

Hasta el miércoles por la mañana, el Aeropuerto Internacional Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood había recibido más de 20 pulgadas de lluvia desde el inicio del mes. Esa cifra duplica con creces el promedio de lluvia de septiembre, de 8.61 pulgadas, y rompe el récord anterior del septiembre más lluvioso en el área de Fort Lauderdale, establecido en 1998 con 18.40 pulgadas.

Es además el mes más lluvioso en el área de Fort Lauderdale desde abril de 2023, cuando la estación climatológica registró más de 30 pulgadas. Esa cifra incluyó la histórica lluvia del 12 y 13 de abril, cuando las inundaciones repentinas anegaron vecindarios y obligaron a cerrar el aeropuerto.

Desde el viernes pasado, la mayor parte de la lluvia se ha concentrado en Broward y el norte de Miami-Dade, con acumulados aislados de más de 9 pulgadas en zonas como Pompano Beach, Cooper City y North Miami Beach.

Aunque la probabilidad de tormentas eléctricas se mantiene hasta el final de la semana, las lluvias serán menos extensas que la semana pasada, lo que ayudará a reducir el riesgo general de inundaciones. Se pronostica la llegada de un frente frío débil este fin de semana, que traerá aire ligeramente más seco y reducirá las probabilidades de lluvia durante el sábado y el domingo.

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Richie Jonathan Gregoire, 20, was arrested May 21 after authorities executed a search warrant at an apartment in Miami, according to an arrest report from the Miami Police Department.

Gregoire is now facing a charge of aggravated manslaughter of a child in connection with the toddler’s death, Local 10 learned Wednesday.

The child’s mother, 29-year-old Pearlandria Boujolly, was previously arrested and charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child in connection with her son’s death.

The investigation into the child’s death began Jan. 3, when Miami police officers and Miami Fire Rescue personnel responded at approximately 3:50 a.m. to a report of an unresponsive toddler at Boujolly’s home off Northwest 91st Street near 22nd Avenue.

The child was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.

An autopsy conducted by the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner’s Department found fentanyl and a trace amount of cocaine in the child’s blood.

Investigators determined the toddler accidentally ingested a small amount of drugs that had been left inside an unlocked room at the home. A Ring camera captured the moments when the toddler consumed the drugs before becoming unresponsive, according to investigators.

Four children ranging in age from 1 to 8 years old were inside the home at the time of the incident, authorities said. Investigators said the children were exposed to drugs and that three unsecured guns were also inside the home.

Boujolly was not home when the child consumed the drugs, investigators said.

Suspected fentanyl found during May search

According to Gregoire’s May 21 arrest report, the ATF Task Force’s Street Terror Offender Program was assisting Miami police robbery detectives in executing a search warrant at the suspect’s apartment.

During a search of Gregoire’s bedroom, detectives said they found approximately 69 grams of suspected fentanyl packaged in clear capsules and stored in multiple locations throughout the room.

Investigators also found gloves, Ziploc boxes, a Nike shoe box containing drug paraphernalia and a letter from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles addressed to Gregoire.

After being read his Miranda rights, Gregoire told investigators he knew the narcotics were being stored in the room but claimed they did not belong to him, the report stated.

Police said Gregoire told investigators he was afraid to identify who owned the drugs.

Online jail records show that Gregoire was issued a $50,000 bond for the new aggravated manslaughter charge.

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Jacqueline Campos, 48, of Coral Springs, was arrested Tuesday on charges of organized scheme to defraud involving property valued at $50,000 or more and first-degree grand theft.

According to the report, police investigated allegations of fraud and grand theft involving BOSEM Corp., doing business as Doctor Aromas, located at 1996 NE 148th Terrace in North Miami.

Investigators said Campos served as the company’s chief operating officer and had access to its ADP TotalSource payroll system and QuickBooks Online accounting software.

Police allege that the scheme occurred between approximately Aug. 28, 2021, and July 10, 2026.

The company’s owner told investigators he was required to approve a payroll document every two weeks that listed Campos’ authorized compensation as $2,307.70 per pay period.

According to the arrest report, however, Campos provided him with screenshots of manually created Excel spreadsheets by email rather than the actual ADP payroll exports.

Forensic analysis finds more than $930K in unauthorized payments

As part of the investigation, police reviewed a forensic payroll and expense analysis conducted by a licensed certified public accounting firm.

The analysis compared 131 payroll documents with ADP TotalSource records for 126 confirmed pay periods.

According to the report, the analysis determined Campos received more than her authorized compensation during every one of those 126 pay periods, totaling $874,885.59 in unauthorized compensation.

The analysis also identified $221,632.64 in payments made to Campos outside the normal payroll process. The company’s owner confirmed that $57,888.99 of those payments had never been authorized, according to police.

Investigators said the total confirmed unauthorized loss to the company was $932,774.58.

According to the report, the forensic analysis also determined that Campos personally entered five unapproved increases to her own pay rate in the ADP system between January 2022 and April 2023 while continuing to provide the company’s owner with payroll documents showing her authorized rate as unchanged.

Campos is also accused of entering negative values into payroll deduction fields to increase her net pay, deleting transactions from the company’s accounting records to conceal them from standard reports and routing at least one payment under another employee’s name to conceal the actual recipient.

Police: Unauthorized payroll submitted after termination

Doctor Aromas terminated Campos’ employment for cause on July 7, according to the report.

Investigators allege that later that same day, after her employment had already been terminated, Campos submitted and approved a final unauthorized payroll run through ADP TotalSource that paid her an additional $5,712.10 beyond her regular rate.

According to police, Campos acknowledged in a sworn declaration in a related civil case that she personally submitted the July 7 payroll run.

At a July 9 hearing, the company’s owner and the forensic accountant who prepared the analysis testified under oath, according to the report.

The arrest report states that the presiding judge granted a temporary injunction after finding that the evidence established Campos had misappropriated company funds using her position of trust.

Based on the company’s statements, forensic analysis, business records, civil hearing testimony and Campos’ sworn admission, the investigating officer said there was probable cause to charge her with organized scheme to defraud and first-degree grand theft.

Campos turned herself in to North Miami police at approximately 2 p.m. Tuesday.

According to the report, an investigator asked Campos if she wanted to provide a statement, but she declined on the advice of her attorney.

She was arrested and transported to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.

As of Wednesday morning, she remained there and was expected to appear in bond court sometime during the day.

El incidente ocurrió en la gasolinera Orion, ubicada en el 101 E. Atlantic Blvd.

En el video se ve a una mujer sentada dentro de una camioneta Toyota blanca mientras un hombre se acerca al vehículo e intenta abrir las puertas de ambos lados.

En un momento, el hombre golpea con fuerza una ventana, y la mujer abre una puerta y luego la vuelve a cerrar.

El hombre sigue abriendo la puerta y finalmente saca a la mujer de la camioneta. En el video se le ve empujándola y golpeándola mientras ella se defiende.

La mujer logra volver a entrar al vehículo, pero el hombre abre la puerta una y otra vez y la vuelve a sacar. Mientras ella intenta quitárselo de encima, él le da otro puñetazo.

El enfrentamiento continúa hasta que la mujer logra por fin subirse a la camioneta y cerrar la puerta con seguro.

Pero la violencia no terminó ahí.

Después de la pelea, se ve al hombre entrar a la tienda de la gasolinera.

Cuando vuelve a salir y pasa frente a la misma camioneta, un hombre sentado en el asiento del conductor parece estar esperándolo.

El conductor se baja de la camioneta y parece empezar a echar gasolina antes de disparar desde detrás de la puerta del vehículo.

Nino, quien estaba dentro de un food truck estacionado en la gasolinera, contó cómo escuchó los disparos.

“Pum, pum, pum”, recordó.

Nino dijo que escuchó entre cinco y seis disparos.

Tras los disparos, el video de vigilancia muestra al hombre de camiseta sin mangas huyendo. Las imágenes parecen indicar que fue alcanzado por las balas.

Luego se ve al conductor haciendo señas desde la vía principal para pedir ayuda, antes de hablar con un hombre que estaba en una camioneta detrás de él.

Sky 10 sobrevoló la escena poco antes de las 3 p.m. del martes. Desde el aire se veía a los agentes rodeando la gasolinera, acordonada con cinta amarilla de la policía.

La camioneta Toyota blanca permanecía en el lugar con la puerta del pasajero abierta.

En el suelo también se podían ver seis marcadores de evidencia.

Sunny, quien también trabaja en el food truck de 3-Little Charlies, dijo que escuchó lo que parecían cuatro o cinco disparos.

Cuando se le preguntó si salió, respondió: “Me metí corriendo al camión”.

El food truck estaba estacionado en la gasolinera y conectado a la corriente para mantener caliente la comida de una reunión fúnebre.

Andrew Miller, de 3-Little Charlies Restaurant, dijo que recibió una llamada de los trabajadores del camión para avisarle lo que había pasado.

“Nos llamaron los muchachos del camión”, contó Miller. “Dijeron que hubo un tiroteo detrás de la gasolinera. Todo está acordonado, cerrado”.

Las identidades de las personas involucradas en el incidente aún no se han dado a conocer.

The “Halloween Baking Championship” kicked off its season with 10 bakers vying for the title of champion and a prize $25,000.

One of the bakers is from right here in South Florida.

Local 10’s Jason Carter caught up with Miami chef Marian Mulero to get the lowdown on competition in the kitchen, and their full conversation can be seen at the top of this page.

Los cuatro perros, mestizos de raza terrier, atacaron a Perez a unas seis calles de su casa, en la zona de Biscayne Gardens. Los vecinos que escucharon sus gritos de auxilio intervinieron y llamaron al 911.

“Cada perro se me prendió de un brazo o una pierna”, contó Perez.

Personal de Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, agentes de la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade y personal de Miami-Dade Animal Services acudieron a la esquina del Northwest 11th Court y la 145 Street.

Según los bomberos, Perez fue trasladada al Ryder Trauma Center del Jackson Memorial Hospital, donde fue sometida a una cirugía de emergencia.

El personal de Animal Services informó que capturó a uno de los perros el jueves y a los otros tres el viernes.

Recaudación de fondos relacionada: Ayuda a Ashley a recuperarse de un traumático ataque de perros

“The Malvinas for us is a national cause,” Milei, a strong ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, said Wednesday while addressing the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

Milei accused the United Nations of failing to enforce international resolutions that urge the parties to “refrain from introducing unilateral changes while the dispute remains unresolved." He also called on Britain to resume negotiations to “find a peaceful solution to the sovereignty dispute.”

“The Malvinas issue is not merely a matter between Argentina and the United Kingdom; it is also a question regarding this organization’s ability to enforce its own resolutions,” he said.

The dispute has escalated in recent weeks

Milei has recently stepped up his efforts to draw attention back to the islands after facing some criticism of his strengthening ties with Britain and his professed admiration for Margaret Thatcher, who in 1982 led the British campaign to retake the archipelago during the Falklands War.

Following Argentina’s invasion of the Falklands under the country’s then-military dictatorship, Thatcher sent a task force all the way down the Atlantic and retook the islands after just 73 days of Argentine control. The war killed 649 Argentine and 255 British troops.

Earlier this month, Milei escalated the dispute with Britain, vowing new measures to halt an oil project near the British-controlled archipelago and praising Trump for saying Washington could reconsider its neutral stance on the islands’ sovereignty.

His government last week introduced a sweeping security bill that would toughen sanctions on companies exploiting resources around the islands without Argentine authorization, create a national security council chaired by Milei and expand the military’s role in protecting critical Argentine infrastructure.

Speaking to global leaders at the U.N. on Wednesday, Milei intensified his criticism.

“Today I come to say that Argentina will not sit and wait for the U.N. and the international community to live up to their own mandate,” he said.

He also sharply criticized the United Nations and its role, accusing it of becoming “a useless organization that serves only to feed a caste of fatally arrogant parasites masquerading as well-intentioned bureaucrats.”

Britain says it will ‘stand firm’

Against the backdrop of Milei’s recent remarks, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham also addressed the dispute during this high-profile diplomatic week, stating Tuesday that the U.K.’s position is “clear” and that it will “stand firm” in the face of any threats.

“We will defend the ​right of ​the ⁠Falkland Islanders to self-determination and to remain British,” ​Burnham told reporters following a meeting with Trump late Tuesday on the sidelines of the U.N.

In August, Trump said he was reviewing the United States’ neutral position over the remote South Atlantic archipelago as he criticized Britain for not doing enough to support the U.S. war against Iran.

The Falklands, which Argentines call the Malvinas, are a small archipelago of about 3,500 people located around 300 miles (480 kilometers) east of the southeast coast of Argentina. They have been a British overseas territory since 1833. In a 2013 referendum, the islanders voted overwhelmingly to remain a British overseas territory, with 99.8% voting in favor and just three votes against.

As of Wednesday morning, the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport has received more than 20 inches of rainfall since the beginning of the month. This amount more than doubles the average rainfall for September of 8.61 inches and breaks the previous record for the wettest September for the Fort Lauderdale area set in 1998 of 18.40 inches.

This is also the wettest month in the Fort Lauderdale area since April 2023, when over 30 inches was recorded at the climate site. This included the historic rainfall of April 12-13, when flash flooding overwhelmed neighborhoods and shut down the airport.

Since last Friday, most of the rainfall has focused across Broward and northern Miami-Dade counties, with isolated amounts over 9 inches in areas like Pompano Beach, Cooper City and North Miami Beach.

While the chance for thunderstorms continues through the end of the week, the coverage of rain will be lower compared to the past week, helping to reduce the overall flood threat. A weak cold front is forecast to arrive this weekend, helping to draw in slightly drier air and drop rain chances for the weekend.

The UEFA president, in rare public comments two months into the divisive global rift in soccer, did not cite Infantino by name but said “not everyone places the game above their own ambitions.”

“The project that shattered the unity of world football may be abolished, but the trust it broke has not returned, and repairing it is our work now,” Ceferin said in a video message to an audience of soccer and business executives in Lisbon.

Ceferin led UEFA’s backlash in July that helped stop Infantino’s plan to sell at least 20% of FIFA’s future commercial rights for $4.2 billion to investors led by Josh Kushner, the brother of U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Though Infantino dropped the plan within days, UEFA said it would work toward removing him from office — before or at the FIFA presidential election in March — and preparing a criminal complaint against him in Switzerland for alleged financial mismanagement.

“Trust in our sport rests on three pillars: unity, transparency, and governance that serves the many, not the few,” Ceferin, a Slovenian lawyer, said Wednesday.

“In recent times, all three were disregarded by people who had sworn to protect them,” he said.

FIFA and Infantino have said the plan to create a FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) commercial spinoff was to accelerate development of soccer worldwide, outside the wealthy power base of Europe.

Countdown to find an election candidate to challenge Infantino

Ceferin has ruled out being a candidate in the FIFA election, where Infantino seeks a fourth and final term in office through 2031 to complete a 15-year presidency.

There were “many, many” potential candidates capable of challenging Infantino, Ceferin told reporters last week in Greece, after a UEFA executive committee meeting in Thessaloniki.

FIFA has a Nov. 18 deadline to enter the election contest, four months before the vote by 211 member federations in Morocco — a key ally of Infantino, where the governing body has its African headquarters near Rabat.

UEFA's suggested $10M payments counters FIFA's $20M offer

FIFA’s 211 members effectively already own the Zurich-based not-for-profit soccer body which has at least $5 billion in cash reserves after the 2026 World Cup in North America.

Infantino planned to offer the 211 members $20 million each this year to approve the FFE project. It would have been a subsidiary controlling tens of billions of dollars of commercial rights for all future World Cups, Club World Cups and other tournaments.

UEFA and its continental allies, the North American soccer body CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation, have said FIFA can afford to spend $2.1 billion giving each member a $10 million one-off payment from the reserves without involving investors.

Offer from Infantino to review how FIFA operates

Infantino moved this week to calm critics of his hands-on executive presidency by offering to open an independent review of FIFA’s governance standards and decision-making. He is scheduled to chair a meeting of his 37-member FIFA Council, that includes Ceferin, on Oct. 15 in Zurich.

UEFA asked last month for an independent review of the FFE project that was secretly developed over the past year without some FIFA senior management knowing.

Infantino has a checkered history with independent oversight of FIFA. In 2017, one year before the men's World Cup in Russia, FIFA removed its most senior governance official who had enforced conflict-of-interest rules to stop Vitaly Mutko, who was a Russian deputy prime minister, from standing as an election candidate to retain his seat on FIFA's ruling committee.

That removal of Portuguese academic Miguel Maduro prompted three of his independent colleagues on the FIFA governance panel — including former U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, a South African judge — to resign in protest.

___

See AP’s full soccer coverage here

Jacqueline Campos, de 48 años y residente de Coral Springs, fue arrestada el martes por cargos de esquema organizado para defraudar con bienes valorados en $50,000 o más y hurto mayor en primer grado.

Según el informe, la policía investigó denuncias de fraude y hurto mayor contra BOSEM Corp., que opera bajo el nombre de Doctor Aromas y está ubicada en el 1996 NE 148th Terrace, en North Miami.

Los investigadores indicaron que Campos era la directora de operaciones de la empresa y tenía acceso al sistema de nómina ADP TotalSource y al programa de contabilidad QuickBooks Online.

La policía sostiene que el esquema se llevó a cabo aproximadamente entre el 28 de agosto de 2021 y el 10 de julio de 2026.

El dueño de la empresa les dijo a los investigadores que cada dos semanas debía aprobar un documento de nómina que establecía el salario autorizado de Campos en $2,307.70 por período de pago.

Sin embargo, según el informe de arresto, Campos le enviaba por correo electrónico capturas de pantalla de hojas de Excel hechas a mano, en lugar de los reportes reales de nómina de ADP.

Análisis forense halla más de $930,000 en pagos no autorizados

Como parte de la investigación, la policía revisó un análisis forense de nómina y gastos realizado por una firma de contadores públicos certificados con licencia.

El análisis comparó 131 documentos de nómina con los registros de ADP TotalSource correspondientes a 126 períodos de pago confirmados.

Según el informe, el análisis determinó que Campos cobró más de lo autorizado en cada uno de esos 126 períodos de pago, lo que suma $874,885.59 en salario no autorizado.

El análisis también identificó $221,632.64 en pagos hechos a Campos fuera del proceso normal de nómina. El dueño de la empresa confirmó que $57,888.99 de esos pagos nunca fueron autorizados, según la policía.

Los investigadores indicaron que la pérdida total no autorizada confirmada para la empresa asciende a $932,774.58.

Según el informe, el análisis forense también determinó que, entre enero de 2022 y abril de 2023, Campos ingresó personalmente en el sistema de ADP cinco aumentos no aprobados a su propio salario, mientras seguía entregándole al dueño documentos de nómina que mostraban su sueldo autorizado sin cambios.

A Campos también se le acusa de ingresar valores negativos en los campos de deducciones de nómina para aumentar su pago neto, de borrar transacciones de los registros contables de la empresa para ocultarlas de los reportes habituales y de canalizar al menos un pago a nombre de otro empleado para ocultar quién lo recibía en realidad.

Policía: presentó una nómina no autorizada después de ser despedida

Doctor Aromas despidió a Campos por causa justificada el 7 de julio, según el informe.

Los investigadores sostienen que ese mismo día, cuando ya había sido despedida, Campos presentó y aprobó una última nómina no autorizada a través de ADP TotalSource que le pagó $5,712.10 adicionales a su salario regular.

Según la policía, Campos reconoció en una declaración jurada, dentro de un caso civil relacionado, que ella misma presentó esa nómina del 7 de julio.

En una audiencia celebrada el 9 de julio, el dueño de la empresa y el contador forense que preparó el análisis testificaron bajo juramento, según el informe.

El informe de arresto indica que el juez que presidía el caso concedió una orden judicial temporal tras concluir que las pruebas demostraban que Campos se había apropiado indebidamente de fondos de la empresa aprovechando su posición de confianza.

Con base en las declaraciones de la empresa, el análisis forense, los registros comerciales, los testimonios de la audiencia civil y la admisión jurada de Campos, el investigador a cargo concluyó que había causa probable para acusarla de esquema organizado para defraudar y hurto mayor en primer grado.

Campos se entregó a la policía de North Miami alrededor de las 2 p.m. del martes.

Según el informe, un investigador le preguntó si quería declarar, pero ella se negó por consejo de su abogado.

Fue arrestada y trasladada al centro correccional Turner Guilford Knight.

Hasta el miércoles por la mañana seguía detenida allí y se esperaba que compareciera ante el tribunal de fianzas en algún momento del día.

En la Southeast Second Street, el agua había bajado un poco, pero seguía acumulándose en gran cantidad a medida que caía más lluvia.

Se vio a padres cargando a sus hijos en la espalda para llegar a la parada del autobús escolar, e incluso subiéndolos directamente al bus para que no tuvieran que pisar el agua.

Los conductores también tuvieron dificultades para llegar al trabajo. Hasta vehículos pequeños avanzaban entre varias pulgadas de agua mientras sus conductores buscaban la mejor ruta para esquivar las zonas inundadas.

Para algunos residentes, el primer reto fue simplemente llegar hasta sus autos.

En un complejo de apartamentos de la Southeast Second Street, los vecinos tuvieron que atravesar un estacionamiento inundado.

“Sorprendido, no lo puedo creer”, dijo el residente Juan Rocha.

Rocha contó que, a pesar de las condiciones, tenía que ir a trabajar.

“Cuando uno oye algo así, sabe que está lloviendo fuerte de verdad. Pero ya veremos. Tengo que ir a trabajar. Voy a llegar tarde”, dijo.

La residente Vivian Novicic comentó que las calles secundarias eran más difíciles de transitar que la vía principal.

“Las calles secundarias... la US-1 se ve mejor, pero primero hay que llegar hasta allá. Ese es el problema”, dijo Novicic.

Federal Highway lucía despejada y más elevada en comparación con la Southeast Second Street, donde hasta un pequeño desnivel bastaba para que se inundara.

Se recomendó a residentes y conductores que se desplazan desde zonas como Dania Beach, Hollywood, Hallandale Beach y Aventura estar preparados para encontrar inundaciones en las calles que suelen tener problemas cuando llueve fuerte.

HAGA CLIC AQUÍ para ver las últimas actualizaciones del pronóstico del Weather Authority de Local 10.

The incident was reported at the Orion gas station, located at 101 E. Atlantic Blvd.

The video shows a woman sitting inside a white Toyota SUV as a man approaches the vehicle and attempts to open both side doors.

At one point, the man slams on a window before the woman opens a door and then closes it again.

The man continues opening the door and eventually pulls the woman out of the SUV. Video shows him shoving and hitting her as she fights back.

The woman manages to get back inside the vehicle, but the man repeatedly opens the door and pulls her back out. As she fights him off, he punches her again.

The confrontation continues until the woman is eventually able to get back inside and lock the door.

But the violence did not end there.

After the fight, the man is seen walking inside the gas station.

When he comes back outside and walks in front of the same SUV, a man sitting in the driver’s seat appears to be waiting for him.

The driver gets out of the SUV and appears to begin pumping gas before firing shots from behind the vehicle’s door.

Nino, who was inside a food truck parked at the gas station, described hearing the gunfire.

“Pow, pow, pow,” he recalled.

Nino said he heard five to six shots.

After the gunfire erupts, surveillance video shows the man in the tank top running away. The video appears to show that he had been struck.

The driver can then be seen waving for help from the main road before speaking with a man in a truck behind him.

Sky 10 flew over the scene just before 3 p.m. Tuesday, where deputies could be seen surrounding the gas station and yellow police tape blocked off the area.

The white Toyota SUV remained at the scene with its passenger door open.

Six evidence markers could also be seen on the ground.

Sunny, who was also with the 3-Little Charlies food truck, said he heard what sounded like four or five gunshots.

When asked whether he went outside, he responded, “I ran in the truck.”

The food truck had been parked at the gas station and plugged in to keep food warm for a funeral gathering.

Andrew Miller, with 3-Little Charlies Restaurant, said he received a call from workers at the truck alerting him to what had happened.

“We got a call from the guys in the truck,” Miller said. “They said it was a shooting behind the gas station. Everything is roped off, blocked off.”

The identities of those involved in the incident have not yet been released.

Richie Jonathan Gregoire, de 20 años, fue arrestado el 21 de mayo después de que las autoridades ejecutaran una orden de registro en un apartamento de Miami, según un informe de arresto del Departamento de Policía de Miami.

Local 10 supo el miércoles que Gregoire enfrenta ahora un cargo de homicidio involuntario agravado de un menor en relación con la muerte del pequeño.

La madre del niño, Pearlandria Boujolly, de 29 años, ya había sido arrestada y acusada de homicidio involuntario agravado de un menor por la muerte de su hijo.

La investigación comenzó el 3 de enero, cuando agentes de la policía de Miami y personal de Miami Fire Rescue respondieron alrededor de las 3:50 a.m. a un reporte de un niño que no respondía en la casa de Boujolly, cerca del Northwest 91st Street y la 22nd Avenue.

El niño fue trasladado al Jackson Memorial Hospital, donde fue declarado muerto poco después.

Una autopsia realizada por el Departamento del Médico Forense del Condado Miami-Dade encontró fentanilo y rastros de cocaína en la sangre del niño.

Los investigadores determinaron que el pequeño ingirió accidentalmente una pequeña cantidad de drogas que habían quedado en una habitación sin llave de la casa. Según los investigadores, una cámara Ring captó el momento en que el niño consumió la droga antes de quedar inconsciente.

En la casa había cuatro niños de entre 1 y 8 años en el momento del incidente, informaron las autoridades. Los investigadores señalaron que los niños estuvieron expuestos a drogas y que en la vivienda también había tres armas de fuego sin asegurar.

Boujolly no estaba en casa cuando el niño consumió la droga, según los investigadores.

Presunto fentanilo hallado durante el registro de mayo

Según el informe de arresto de Gregoire del 21 de mayo, el programa Street Terror Offender del grupo de trabajo de la ATF ayudaba a detectives de robos de la policía de Miami a ejecutar una orden de registro en el apartamento del sospechoso.

Durante el registro de la habitación de Gregoire, los detectives dijeron haber encontrado unos 69 gramos de presunto fentanilo empacado en cápsulas transparentes y guardado en varios lugares de la habitación.

Los investigadores también encontraron guantes, cajas de bolsas Ziploc, una caja de zapatos Nike con parafernalia para drogas y una carta del Departamento de Seguridad en las Carreteras y Vehículos Motorizados de Florida dirigida a Gregoire.

Según el informe, después de que se le leyeran sus derechos Miranda, Gregoire les dijo a los investigadores que sabía que las drogas se guardaban en la habitación, pero aseguró que no eran suyas.

La policía indicó que Gregoire les dijo a los investigadores que tenía miedo de identificar al dueño de las drogas.

Según los registros de la cárcel en internet, a Gregoire se le fijó una fianza de $50,000 por el nuevo cargo de homicidio involuntario agravado.

Agentes de la policía de Davie acudieron el miércoles a Western High School, ubicada en el 1200 SW 136th Ave., tras una amenaza de bomba.

Unidades caninas se presentaron en el lugar para ayudar en la investigación, informaron las autoridades.

La escuela fue evacuada como medida de precaución, y otras escuelas de los alrededores fueron puestas bajo cierre de emergencia, según la policía de Davie.

Las autoridades no dieron más información y solo pidieron al público mantenerse alejado de la zona mientras avanza la investigación.

It marked the latest development in an extraordinary showdown between Trump and media outlets whose coverage he dislikes. Trump banned the outlets beginning Friday, assailing what he called “fake news.” More recently the president has said negative coverage was dangerous for the country. The outlets argued they were singled out because of the content of their coverage — in other words, viewpoint discrimination and called the ban a “blatant violation” of the First Amendment.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly — whom Trump nominated in 2017 and who ordered a CNN journalist’s access restored in a similar case in 2018 — didn’t immediately rule on the news outlets’ request for a restraining order. It was unclear when he would issue a decision.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

The extraordinary showdown between President Donald Trump and media outlets whose coverage he dislikes moved Wednesday to a courtroom in the nation’s capital, where a judge is hearing arguments on whether the president’s move banning three news organizations from White House grounds violates the Constitution.

The administration has doubled down on its contention that it has the right to decide who can set foot in the White House. “Access to the White House is a privilege — not a right,” it said in a court filing late Tuesday.

It also argued that the reporting of the three outlets — CNN, MS NOW and Politico — poses a threat to national security. In his early comments about the case, Trump focused not on national security but on negative coverage by the outlets and allegations of “fake news.”

The proceedings are historic, said Katie Fallow, deputy litigation director at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University.

“No president has taken this explicit of a step” to ban entire news outlets because he doesn’t like their reporting, she said. “There have been various presidents throughout history who have grumbled about the press or threatened to take more major steps, but really there was nothing at this level before Trump.”

The case is being heard by U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, whom Trump appointed in 2017 and who ordered a CNN journalist’s access restored in a similar case in 2018.

The Trump administration outlined ‘reporting incidents’ of each news outlet

In the filing, administration lawyers argued that the ban does not violate the First Amendment, which guarantees the right to a free press. It contended that the outlets, in their reporting, violated “standards of professionalism and decorum expected of those given access to the White House complex, including by trafficking in verifiable falsehoods about national security and other issues and publishing sensitive or classified information.”

The administration went on to detail letters that were sent to each outlet that identified “a non-exhaustive list of reporting incidents, including those that have threatened national security and spread falsehoods.”

The “reporting incidents” cited in the filing included: CNN reporting on “‘top-secret' construction details related to the East Wing bunker”; MS NOW reporting “on an alleged leak investigation”; and Politico publishing “a document detailing funding for the White House ballroom containing intricate descriptions of how the Secret Service would invest in security improvements.”

Further examples were given in individual letters. Politico’s letter detailed six incidents of reporting, including in June citing a “senior administration official … granted anonymity” predicting whether a preliminary deal would end the conflict with Iran.

That item appeared to reference a background briefing set up by the White House, where an official briefed reporters on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House itself. Several other outlets also reported the official's remarks.

The news outlets argue that the ban blatantly violates the First Amendment

Trump began to emphasize the national security argument Tuesday, when he said negative coverage was dangerous for the country.

“I think we have a right to clean out fake news,” he told reporters at the United Nations, defending the ban, which was suddenly announced Friday. The next day, journalists for the three outlets arrived at work to find their entry badges disabled.

On Monday, the outlets filed their joint lawsuit, alleging they were singled out because of the content of their coverage — in other words, viewpoint discrimination. They called this a “blatant violation” of the First Amendment and asked the court to immediately restore their access.

The ban prompted other media outlets to take action in solidarity. The five-network U.S. network press pool — a rotating cast of news outlets that covers the president, and to which CNN belongs — decided to suspend coverage of Trump events until further notice. The Associated Press joined a group of organizations that refrained from publishing photos of the president Monday. On Wednesday, the network pool was again missing from a daily White House press schedule.

The ban and subsequent lawsuit are part of a long-running conflict between the president — especially in his second term — and media outlets he finds unfavorable. Trump has responded in the courtroom, or with regulatory action. He’s also lashed out at individual reporters in personal terms.

Trump filing gives anecdotes on past presidents

The administration’s filing to the court also relies on historical anecdotes to argue that a president can decide which news outlets to grant favorable treatment.

It says, citing books on the subject, that in the early 20th century, President Theodore Roosevelt “began a practice of regularly inviting reporters into the Oval Office for off-the-record press conferences while he received his ‘regular midday shave,’” and adds that Roosevelt “used the conference as an occasion for reward and punishment, screening out the reporters who were the least likely to be sympathetic to his policies.”

It also says President John F. Kennedy “sought to ‘court star correspondents’ and thus gave certain reporters ‘special access’ and ‘advance notice of administration announcements.’”

Other news outlets file a brief to the court in support of colleagues

An amicus brief was filed by other news groups Wednesday, urging the court to immediately restore the three outlets' White House access.

The brief — filed by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the White House Correspondents' Association and 49 media outlets and industry groups, including The Associated Press, The New York Times and Reuters — says “the targeted expulsion of news media from White House grounds injures the public interest" and that "unassailable First Amendment law makes any viewpoint-based decision to bar reporters from a nonpublic forum constitutionally repugnant.”

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Noveck reported from New York. Associated Press journalist Laurie Kellman contributed from London.

En 2020, Leila Cavett viajó con su pequeño hijo desde Georgia hasta el sur de Florida para venderle una camioneta pickup blanca al sospechoso, Shannon Ryan.

De repente, desapareció.

La última vez que se le vio con vida fue en las cámaras de vigilancia de una gasolinera RaceTrac en Hollywood.

Poco después, la policía encontró a su hijo abandonado, deambulando cerca de un complejo de apartamentos en Miramar.

Su padre describió a Leila como una madre amorosa que jamás habría abandonado a su hijo.

La investigación se centró rápidamente en Ryan. El FBI dijo que lo vinculó con la desaparición a través de videos de vigilancia, torres de telefonía celular y redes sociales.

Ahora está acusado de asesinato.

Ryan, quien se autoproclama brujo, le dijo anteriormente a Bridgette Matter, de Local 10, desde la cárcel del condado Broward que él no mató a Cavett.

“No puedo entrar en los detalles del caso porque esto se está grabando, pero ella y yo nos conocíamos de antes”, dijo Ryan.

Los detectives afirmaron haber descubierto, a través de mensajes de Facebook, que Cavett quería ser aprendiz de Ryan. Ryan dijo que le enseñó a leer las cartas del tarot.

“Enseño brujería, cosas de ese tipo. Sí, leo las cartas del tarot”, dijo Ryan.

El cuerpo de Cavett nunca ha sido encontrado, a pesar de que el FBI realizó varias búsquedas en un vertedero.

Por la época de la desaparición de Cavett, la policía informó que Ryan fue visto comprando bolsas de basura, cinta adhesiva y limpiador de alfombras. Según un informe de arresto, cámaras de vigilancia captaron a Ryan moviendo la camioneta de Cavett y tirando en un contenedor de basura ropa de mujer y juguetes de niño, además de lo que parecían ser toallas ensangrentadas, algo que Local 10 le preguntó directamente y que él negó.

La policía también dio a conocer información sobre las búsquedas que Ryan hizo en internet, entre ellas una en Google: “¿El cloro y el alcohol producen cloroformo?”.

Danny Ernandez stole the $20,000 machine on Aug. 18 from Pemica, a security equipment company that he worked for at 7324 SW 48 St., according to a deputy’s arrest report.

Pemica’s surveillance cameras were “suspiciously disconnected,” but the cameras at neighboring businesses recorded video of the theft, according to the deputies’ report.

Ernandez, 39, was an employee of Pemica, according to deputies. After the company terminated him, he returned the stolen machine and parts and met with detectives on Tuesday at the MDSO Kendall Station, according to the report.

“Ernandez confirmed that he violated the business’s policies and procedures and took the machine without proper approval from management,” a deputy wrote, according to the report.

Deputies arrested Ernandez at 10:55 a.m. on Tuesday at the station at 7707 SW 117 Ave., according to the report.

Miami-Dade corrections booked Ernandez shortly before 1:10 p.m. on Tuesday at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, according to inmate records.

Ernandez faced a charge of third-degree felony grand theft. He appeared in court on Wednesday and corrections released him on a $2,500 bond, according to court records.

Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Carmen Cabarga was set to preside over the case.

Local 10 News Assignment Editor Carson Merlo contributed to this report.

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Flooding remained along Northeast 141st Street off Memorial Highway, with several surrounding side streets also covered in water.

Neighbors said flooding is a recurring problem in the area whenever it rains.

“Yeah, city of North Miami, y’all need to do something about this,” resident Rachel Thompson said.

Some residents who attempted to leave the neighborhood were unsuccessful.

Bendjhi Villiers said he was trying to move his car in hopes of getting to work later, but only made it about a block from his home before his vehicle stalled.

“Just trying to move my car to hopefully get to work later and didn’t get far,” Villiers said.

He said he was now “trying to navigate all the intricacies of losing a vehicle just because it rained.”

Other residents said the flooding had effectively left them trapped.

“I can’t go to work, cause I can’t get out,” one resident said. “I think it’s awful cause it’s like we’re the little people. And they don’t care.”

Residents are calling on city leaders to find a more permanent solution to drainage issues they say lead to repeated flooding in the neighborhood.

Flooding also impacts Hallandale Beach

Flooding problems extended into Broward County, where residents in Hallandale Beach also encountered high water.

Some parents carried their children through the water to keep them dry as they made their way to a school bus.

Resident Vivian Novicic debated whether to risk driving through the flooded streets to get to work.

“The side streets, US-1 looks better, but you’ve gotta get out there first. That’s the thing,” Novicic said.

Novicic ultimately made it through the flooded area, while other residents chose to walk through the water to get to work.

While water was receding farther north, flooding remained in the North Miami neighborhood.

Residents said that based on their previous experiences, it could take days for the water to be pumped out.

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

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Wednesday because the team has not announced Dart's status.

Dart was injured on the first drive Monday night against the Los Angeles Rams when his left leg bent awkwardly as he was hit by two defenders. After initially saying it was in the neighborhood of a medial collateral ligament injury, coach John Harbaugh said Tuesday the evaluation process for Dart was still ongoing.

An MRI revealed MCL and posterior cruciate ligament damage, according to a report by NFL Network. Harbaugh is scheduled to address reporters after practice later Wednesday.

Losing the 23-year-old face of the franchise to a long-term injury would be a significant blow in Harbaugh's first season in charge, which began with a victory against Dallas at home in Week 1. Jameis Winston takes over the starting role beginning Sunday against Tennessee.

The Giants' next five opponents have a combined 2-8 record. Winston is 3-9 in 12 NFL starts since 2024.

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AP Pro Football Writer Rob Maaddi in Tampa, Florida, contributed to this report.

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See AP’s full NFL coverage here

It's called Imperia, and its members include CEOs, founders, innovators, entrepreneurs and others.

A lot of the first lady's attention has been on children, but, with Imperia, she is leaning on her business skills to encourage women to harness their economic power and help others understand women's role in a global economy.

“For generations, women fought for a seat at the table,” she told a meeting of the group. “The next chapter is about owning, growing and making space for the women who come next."

She said that means owning businesses, equity, real estate, capital and investment assets, along with “our ideas, our intellectual property and our economic future.”

“People still do not fully understand the full scale of women's power in the global economy,” she continued. “Women are not just part of the marketplace, simple participants. We are its foundation, and we are its infrastructure.”

In a rare television interview earlier Wednesday on Fox News Channel's “Fox & Friends” to promote Imperia, the first lady addressed several other subjects, including this week's state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping, her efforts to reunite children separated from their families by Russia's war against Ukraine, her new docuseries and the extent of her public engagements.

Some recent news reports have said the first lady is appearing in public less often than during President Donald Trump's first term.

Melania Trump said the difference is that she is more focused on getting results.

“You don’t see me everywhere, but behind the scenes I’m working nonstop,” she said, citing as an example the preparations for her events in New York this week on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly and for Xi’s visit. “I’m working on so many projects ... in the future. So stay tuned.”

She was deeply involved in the planning for Xi's visit in her role as first lady. She said her husband decided to personally greet China's leader after his plane lands because of their “great relationship.” President Trump typically greets leaders at the White House.

As of July, Melania Trump had helped reunite five groups of Ukrainian and Russian children with their families, work that underscores the more global approach she has taken during the Republican president's second term. She said that she has a “direct channel” with leaders from the warring countries and that her team is working on another reunification.

“This is ongoing, and we want to reunite as many children as possible,” the first lady said. “And that's my focus as well. What they’re going through, it’s heartbreaking. And it’s nothing better to see than a child reunite with the parents, right?”

The first lady also rang the opening bell at the NYSE in January before the release of her Amazon documentary, “Melania,” about her life in the weeks leading up to Donald Trump's inauguration for a second term in office. A new two-part docuseries featuring her will be released in the fall. She said it will be different from the documentary and teased that it will include some surprises.

“It’s more conversation, one on one with me,” the first lady said. “So when I was traveling and doing all of the filming, the director was asking me questions, and there are some private questions that I will answer that people never heard before. So it’s kind of exciting.”

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Follow the AP's coverage of first lady Melania Trump at https://apnews.com/hub/melania-trump.

They held a press briefing for a first-ever joint, tri-county news conference involving Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.

Speaking at the press event were Miami-Dade County Supervisor of Elections Alina Garcia, Broward County Supervisor of Elections Joe Scott and Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Wendy Sartory Link.

The supervisors were appearing together to deliver a unified message about voter participation and the importance of making sure South Florida voters are prepared for the elections ahead.

“This unity reflects what we share,” said Garcia. “The same mission, the same responsibility and the same commitment to deliver elections that are secure, accurate transparent.”

The supervisors encouraged every eligible South Florida resident to register, stay informed and vote in the November General Election.

Between the three counties, the supervisors cover about a quarter of all Florida voters.

While each county has unique ways of handling their elections, a big topic is voting by mail.

The supervisors were asked about the safety of mail voting in the wake of comments from President Trump seemingly undermining the process.

“I’ll say this,” said Scott. “Often times when the president has spoken about vote by mail ballot, he’s actually mentioned that, for Florida, he actually believes that Florida does it right.”

Added Sartory Link: “In Florida, which isn’t the case in every state, you have to request your vote by mail ballot, and when you request it, we’re checking your name, your address, your date of birth, either your driver’s license or Florida ID or the last four of your social, so we know who we’re sending that ballot to.”

Jeffrey Epstein, the late convicted sex offender, was Wexner's former financial adviser. That relationship and Wexner's history of political donations has figured prominently in Ohio's U.S. Senate race, which could end up as the most expensive in the country this year.

Wexner, who has disavowed his prior association with Epstein, contributed about $116,000 to support Republican Sen. Jon Husted from 2001 to 2025, mostly during the two decades he spent in state politics before being appointed to fill Vice President JD Vance’s seat last year.

While that’s just a sliver of Husted’s prolific fundraising, his opponent in this year’s race, former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, is turning it into a campaign cudgel. He’s run at least three different television commercials pounding Husted for receiving more money from Wexner than any other current member of Congress.

Epstein's Ohio connections are expected to surface anew early next month, when a traveling display showcasing the Justice Department files comes to the state.

“We want to show these elected officials and the candidates that the public is interested in this topic, and the public is demanding justice for survivors and the public is demanding accountability, no matter how rich and powerful the perpetrators and enablers of these crimes are,” said David Garrett, executive director of the Institute for Primary Facts, the nonprofit that created the exhibit.

Both Senate candidates point to opponent's Epstein connections

Epstein’s decades of associating with some of the world’s most influential people and Congress’ varying attempts to force the Justice Department to release its files on him have flared up in U.S. House and Senate races across the country. In Ohio, it's been central to a race that will help determine the balance of power in Washington.

Brown's campaign has promoted a $3,500 donation Wexner gave Husted in July 2025, less than 10 weeks before Husted joined most Senate Republicans in defeating a Democratic effort to force release of the Epstein files.

One of his ads featured video of Wexner’s congressional deposition in February, during which he confirmed being a longtime political donor to Husted, a former Ohio lawmaker, secretary of state and lieutenant governor.

Another characterized Wexner as “an Epstein co-conspirator.” Documents released by the Justice Department show the FBI labeled Wexner as a potential co-conspirator after Epstein's arrest on sex trafficking charges in 2019. A spokesperson for the billionaire said Wexner provided background information, was told he was not a target of the investigation and was never contacted again.

After the barrage of Epstein-related ads against him, the Husted campaign punched back with ads attacking Brown for accepting donations from a number of individuals whose names arose in the Epstein documents. They included Wexner’s wife Abigail, former U.S. Treasury secretary and Harvard president Larry Summers and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. Brown accepted no donations from Wexner himself, Federal Election Commission records show.

Husted's campaign also takes issue with the claim in Brown's ads that he “voted to cover up the Epstein files.” Campaign spokesperson Amy Natoce said “there has only been one vote” that counts on the matter — the one in November on the Epstein Files Transparency Act — and Husted voted yes. She called the earlier vote “procedural.”

Wexner, who is 89, is the magnate behind The Limited, Victoria's Secret and other retail giants. He stated under oath during his February congressional deposition that he never lobbied or asked Husted or anyone else to block the release of the Epstein files. He told members of Congress that he was “duped by a world-class con man.”

Natoce said Husted donated all available Wexner contributions — $34,300 — to an anti-human trafficking charity. The remaining balance had been spent in past campaign cycles.

Brown did not return any of his donations from about a dozen individuals named in the files, who Husted's ad described as “Epstein associates” even though none was accused of any crimes.

A traveling exhibit that includes Epstein victims is coming to Ohio

The Epstein Reading Room tour is an exhibit that displays more than 3 million pages released by the Justice Department. It has plans to make at least 20 more stops, including Ohio on Oct. 8.

Annie Farmer, an Epstein accuser who has been part of the tour, said the idea that some candidates have received donations from wealthy people with ties to Epstein means they will have an incentive to keep burying the truth.

She was 16 when she said Epstein abused her and her sister, Maria Farmer, in the 1990s. Maria alleges her sexual assault took place in 1996 in New Albany, Ohio, where Epstein had a house while working for Wexner, whose estate is located there.

During his deposition, Wexner testified that he never heard of Maria Farmer until her name appeared in media reports and that he didn’t know whether she had ever stayed on his property.

The accusers are demanding that the Department of Justice do more to investigate the wealthy who for decades helped enable Epstein’s abuse. The Associated Press does not name victims of sexual abuse unless they have come forward publicly.

“We should be asking hard questions to everyone who is related to Epstein and is financially supporting politicians. Are they hoping to benefit from silence?” Annie Farmer said. “To people with that much wealth, they feel they don’t have to play by the same set of rules. That’s what many people are saying is not right.”

Epstein case resonates in congressional campaigns

At the reading room tour’s first stop in Dallas, Farmer and other accusers met with Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico and Democrat Gina Hinojosa, who is running to unseat Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. Talarico criticized his opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, for not meeting with the accusers and called on him to use his position to sue the federal government for its handling of the Epstein files' release.

In Omaha, Nebraska, independent Senate candidate Dan Osborn pledged to prioritize fighting for justice for victims after visiting a smaller version of the exhibit and meeting some of Epstein's accusers. He has criticized his Republican opponent, Sen. Pete Ricketts, for being slow to back the release of the Epstein files.

In Ohio, the Epstein issue continues to anger — and divide — voters across the political spectrum.

A day after Husted announced he would donate his remaining Wexner contributions to charity, he stepped into a Norwalk coffee shop on a campaign stop and, according to the local news account, was heckled as a “pedophile protector.” And Brown has been forced to defend his decision not to offload the donations he received from individuals named in the files, as Husted did.

“They’re not tied in any way, the way the co-conspirator is tied in,” Brown told CNN earlier this year.

With Ohio's early voting starting in less than two weeks, Brown is continuing to focus on Husted’s Wexner contributions. On his X account earlier this month, Brown marked the one-year anniversary of Husted's vote on the failed Democratic amendment to release all the Epstein files by posting a video. It asked why Husted “would side with the billionaires instead of these victims.”

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Olson reported from New York.

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The Associated Press’ women in the workforce coverage receives financial support from Pivotal Ventures. AP is solely responsible for all content.

Cuba enfrenta una de las peores crisis de su historia, con su economía al borde del colapso luego de que Estados Unidos impusiera en enero un cerco energético y financiero con duras consecuencias para la población y agravara una crisis preexistente.

Durante el programa radial —que contó con la participación de una locutora— se difundieron mensajes recogidos entre la población específicamente sobre el tema anunciado, las reformas de apertura económica que incluyen la posibilidad de importar y exportar de manera directa, contratar mano de obra sin intermediación estatal y flexibilización de la banca privada; medidas impensadas en décadas de un modelo de fuerte centralismo estatal.

“Hace nueve meses que no entra un barco de combustible. ¿Cómo se puede sostener la economía? ¿Cómo se puede trabajar en esas condiciones? ¿Cómo se pueden dar todos los servicios que necesita la población? ¿Cómo se puede levantar la producción? Bueno, muchas de esas respuestas están en esas medidas”, dijo el mandatario durante el programa.

Cuba produce sólo el 40% del combustible que necesita para echar a andar su economía.

El mandatario ofreció algunas cifras del impacto de las sanciones estadounidenses: el déficit de generación eléctrica superó los 2.000 megavatios diarios —más del 60% de la demanda—, hay 3,6 millones de personas sin abastecimiento de agua sobre una población total de 9,4 millones, la víspera de 1.600 panaderías estatales unas 890 no funcionaron por falta de harina –lo que afectó a cuatro millones de habitantes— y el transporte urbano está funcionando al 6%.

“Un socialismo... que no pueda producir, que no pueda pagar a sus maestros y médicos, no es socialismo. Y no podemos estar hablando de justicia social si no tenemos una economía que apoye esa justicia social, si no ese sueño se desvanece. Y sencillamente para seguir soñando, para seguir teniendo realizaciones, (el socialismo) hay que transformarlo”, dijo el gobernante.

El programa radial de una hora llamado “Criterio Compartido” fue presentado como un espacio “para construir consensos y aportar desde la participación ciudadana” y se transmitirá en miércoles alternos, informó una locutora.

A diferencia de gobernantes de otros países que tienen espacios en medios o las legendarias comparecencias diarias del fallecido expresidente cubano Fidel Castro, Díaz-Canel no suele aparecer más que en los informativos oficiales.

Su última incursión en la comunicación fue a través de un podcast televisado en 2024. El mandatario tampoco cuenta con una agenda pública.

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Siga a Andrea Rodríguez en X: https://x.com/ARodriguezAP

Kylian Mbappé, Lamine Yamal and Harry Kane in action again before the Ballon d'Or is announced.

Cristiano Ronaldo's relentless pursuit of 1,000 career goals and Erling Haaland, no doubt, doing Erling Haaland things.

International soccer is back after the World Cup and soccer's biggest stars are ready to do it all again.

Messi, who announced his retirement from the national team this month, is slated to make his farewell with one last appearance in the Oct. 6 friendly game against Benin in Buenos Aires.

The man many regard as the greatest player ever was in tears after Argentina relinquished its World Cup title with a 1-0 loss to Spain in the final at MetLife Stadium. His dream of winning back-to-back tournaments and emulating Brazil great Pele ended in bitter defeat. At the age of 39, it was widely expected it would be his final tilt on soccer's biggest stage.

Messi's retirement came as little surprise — even after his outstanding performances at the World Cup — and a farewell in front of his home fans will give him the opportunity to bow out in style.

The president of the Argentine Football Association, Claudio Tapia, said it would be “the farewell he deserves.”

Ballon d'Or contenders

While Messi is saying his goodbyes, the next generation of stars are fiercely competing to take his place as the world's best.

Mbappé, Yamal and Kane are among the favorites to win the Ballon d'Or, which is based on performances up to and including the World Cup.

But this international window is another opportunity for those frontrunners to show their talents. Messi is also among the nominees.

The rivalry between Mbappé and Yamal echoes Messi's great battles with Ronaldo.

With Mbappé at Real Madrid and Yamal at Barcelona, it pits Spain's two most famous and successful clubs against each other once again in the race for the Ballon d'Or.

For more than a decade it was Messi of Barcelona and Ronaldo of Madrid who turned soccer's biggest individual award into what seemed like a personal duel.

Yamal, who won the World Cup with Spain as well as the Spanish title with Barcelona, is still just 19 years old and already considered among the best.

“When you’re talking about so many great players, ultimately, people look at things like: ‘Well, this one is better than that one, but maybe the other guy won this or that trophy.’ The advantage I have is that I managed to win the World Cup this year, and naturally, that gives me an edge. I think that’s logical," he told L’Equipe.

Mbappe did not win a second World Cup, but he did set a new record as the highest scorer in tournament history with 22 goals.

As for Kane, he was awarded the golden shoe as Europe's top scorer last season and has continued that form with six goals in seven appearances this term.

England plays world champion Spain at Wembley in the Nations League on Saturday.

France plays for the first time under new head coach Zinedine Zidane with the pick of its games coming against Italy in the Nations League Oct. 2.

Ronaldo's pursuit

He may have missed out on his last chance to win the World Cup, but Ronaldo's pursuit of another landmark achievement goes on.

The Saudi Pro League announced his 979th career goal earlier this month and the Portugal great is edging ever closer to the 1,000-mark. He would be the first player to officially hit that total.

The 41-year-old Ronaldo was included in Portugal’s squad by new coach Jorge Jesus for its upcoming Nations League games.

Another player relentlessly chasing down goals is Haaland, who made new fans around the world with his performances and social media antics at the World Cup. He has started this season in devastating form with seven goals in his last five games to help Manchester City to a 100% winning run.

Superstar coaches

The star appeal will not be limited to the pitch. A raft of coaching changes have seen some of the biggest names in soccer take over national teams.

Three-time Champions League-winning coach Zidane has succeeded Didier Deschamps with France. Liverpool icon Jurgen Klopp is in charge of Germany after another early exit from the World Cup.

They join serial winning coaches like Carlo Ancelotti (Brazil) and Thomas Tuchel (England) by leaving the club game for international soccer.

Zidane is the only coach to win three straight Champions League titles and France will hope he can be just as successful with the national team.

Klopp answered Germany's SOS after it failed to reach the last 16 of a men’s World Cup for the third time in a row. But he delivered a spiky news conference when unveiled in July — immediately threatening to resign.

He said he would be prepared to leave without any severance pay if it doesn’t work out, or if criticism becomes overwhelming, and said he would resign if the media doesn’t “leave my family in peace.”

One coaching great who resisted the temptation to join the international influx was Pep Guardiola despite being a reported target for Italy.

Instead Roberto Mancini is back in charge of the Italian national team, which he led to triumph at Euro 2020.

Not that he is relying on that to ease any pressure on him.

“I’m not in credit because that’s in the past, it doesn’t count for anything,” Mancini said.

Where to watch

U.S. viewers can only find most games via streaming platforms – Fubo has every match, while Hulu, Amazon Prime Video and DirecTV Stream have select games, too. Several matches will air on Fox stations FS1 or FS2. That includes Norway vs. Denmark on Thursday on FS1, England vs. Spain on Saturday on FS2 and France vs. Italy on Oct. 2 on FS1.

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

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See AP’s full soccer coverage here

By Tuesday afternoon, NOAA hurricane hunters flying through Polo found its central pressure had bottomed out at a jaw-dropping 892 millibars, catapulting it to the second most intense eastern Pacific hurricane ever recorded, trailing only 2015’s Hurricane Patricia.

Its winds peaked at 180 mph at around the same time Tuesday, tying it with Hurricane Rick in 2009 for the third strongest eastern Pacific hurricane on record by maximum sustained winds (only Patricia in 2015 and Linda in 1997 had higher estimated winds).

Hurricane hunters flying through Polo’s eye at around 8,000 feet above the violent Pacific also recorded temperatures in its eye at flight level of 31.3°C (88.3°F), indicative of an intensely warm core only found in textbook, upper-echelon hurricanes. In fact, based on thousands of hurricane hunter flights spanning almost 40 years across both Atlantic and Pacific basins, the flight-level temperature reading inside Polo’s eye on Tuesday tied Hurricane Rita’s in 2005 for the warmest on record, surpassing even some of the most intense western Pacific Super Typhoons ever directly observed like Megi in 2010.

It’s hard to fathom reaching out of an airplane at 8,000 feet and finding temperatures as balmy as 88 degrees Fahrenheit. Simply put, the amount of latent heat being released inside the core of Polo from the intense ring of thunderstorms surrounding its eye (the notorious eyewall) was exceptional, a rare show of force from Mother Nature when everything aligns to form one of the most powerful storms on Earth.

Polo plateaus

Polo appeared to have plateaued by Wednesday morning but remained a powerful Category 4 hurricane. Its very slow drift has churned up cooler waters from beneath the ocean surface, which likely contributed to its somewhat degraded satellite appearance by daylight Wednesday.

Fluctuations in its strength are likely over the next day or two before Polo begins a gradual weakening this weekend. Thankfully Polo’s destructive core will stay safely offshore this week, but outer rainbands and winds gusting to above 40 mph will continue to affect parts of southwestern Mexico through early Friday.

It’s too soon to know if Polo could pose a direct threat to the Baja California Peninsula of northwestern Mexico next week, but it’s something interests in the area should continue to monitor.

Another Hawai’i hurricane threat this weekend?

Tropical Depression Fifteen, which unraveled a week ago over the open eastern Pacific, has found a second wind over the central Pacific about 400 miles south-southeast of the Big Island of Hawaii.

The system re-formed early Wednesday and forecast models show it cranking up in the coming days into a major Category 3 hurricane as it bends north then takes a dogleg left toward the Big Island for the weekend.

The verdict is still out on how close the future hurricane could get to Hawaii, but the initially northward trajectory and sharp left turn are both concerning factors that could make this one of the stronger approaches to the Big Island we’ve observed.

As of their Wednesday morning advisory, the National Hurricane Center was predicting a 115 mph Category 3 hurricane to pass within 50 miles of the Big Island by Saturday evening local time, too close for comfort given the average error of around 100 miles at that forecast time.

Residents and visitors to Hawaii – particularly those on the Big Island – should continue to follow the forecast closely this week.

No major development threats in the Atlantic

The only two areas being tagged by NHC today are far away from the U.S. and neither should amount to much.

The remnants of Tropical Storm Fay have a small chance of redeveloping this week while a disturbance just moving off the coast of Africa could make a run as a short-lived tropical depression or storm as it moves northward toward the Cabo Verde Islands off Africa tomorrow through Saturday. Although it could bring blustery weather and locally heavy rain to the Cabo Verde islands, upper-level conditions will become increasingly hostile to organization beyond the weekend.

First in line is “bimpert,” a Bermudian word of unknown origin that is used to describe a stupid or foolish person. People on the tiny island in the north Atlantic often use it in this traditional phrase: “A bimpert is justah wuffless bye,” which roughly translates to: an idiot is just a worthless boy.

Another colorful addition is “hornerman,” a word used in the eastern Caribbean island of Trinidad and Tobago since 1975 to describe an unfaithful man or a man having a relationship with someone else's partner.

Leonard Alexander, a grocery store owner in Trinidad, chuckled at the inclusion of the word “hornerman.” He explained that to “horn” means being unfaithful, and now the world would know the term for a man who commits such an act.

“That’s our heritage, that’s what we grew up with,” Alexander said.

If someone in the Caribbean were to find out about such infidelities, they might be known “to get on,” which means to have an emotional outburst or make a scene, or “to cut someone’s tail,” meaning to beat someone.

Depending on the fallout from such infidelities, a woman might need “vex money,” which refers to “money carried or kept in a safe place by a woman, for use in an emergency or in any unexpected eventuality.”

Among other dark words that made the list is “jablesse,” defined as "a malevolent shape-shifting female spirit with one cloven hoof, which at night is said to assume the form of a beautiful woman to lure men to their deaths.” It is derived from “diablesse,” the French word for female demon.

Another supernatural entry is “douen." It is “typically depicted as short in stature, with backward-pointing feet, and wearing a large hat, said to be the spirit of a child who died before it could be baptized, and believed to lure children into the forest by calling their names,” according to the dictionary. It is a variation of the Spanish word “duende,” which means elf.

Avionne George, a 45-year-old maintenance technician in Trinidad, said formal recognition of such words helps preserve tradition for the younger generations: “Most of them are ignorant of certain terms from long ago like ‘douen.' They don’t know about ‘la jablesse.'”

Several food-related words were included this year: “shadeesh,” the Bermudian word for chorizo; “sugar cake,” made of grated coconut boiled with sugar, water and spices; and “peanut punch,” a wildly popular rich and frothy beverage made with peanuts or peanut butter, milk, sugar and several spices.

In the Caribbean, one might sit down to have a peanut punch with one’s “nana” or “nani,” Hindi words that are used to address one’s maternal grandparents. In Bermuda, one would sit down to partake with a “hamma,” or friend.

The final Caribbean English words added this year are “Trinbagonian,” which refers to people from both the islands of Trinidad and Tobago, and “canboulay,” which refers to Carnival festivities in Trinidad in the 1800s that celebrated the emancipation of slaves. They stem from a 1700s harvest festival that the British tried to quash, leading to riots reenacted to this day to mark the start of Carnival. Canboulay is derived from “burning cane,” which the dictionary noted was associated with “acts of defiance and rebellion.”

Sherwin Williams, a construction worker in Trinidad, said the inclusion of such words in the Oxford English Dictionary would help people around the world understand their Trinidadian origins. “People recognize us by our slang,” he said.

There are some 500,000 words and phrases in the Oxford English Dictionary, which details the history of words, some of which go back to the 11th century.

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Associated Press reporter Anselm Gibbs in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad contributed.

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

With over 97% of the vote counted from three days of balloting that ended Sunday, election officials said the main Kremlin party, United Russia, will get more than three-fourths of the seats in the lower house, the State Duma, a record high. The tightly orchestrated vote excluded virtually any genuine opposition.

Voter turnout exceeded 59% of the 111 eligible million voters, the most for a parliamentary election in over a decade. Authorities had spread the voting over three days to boost attendance at the polls and included illegally annexed parts of Ukraine. Online voting also took place in some regions.

“Such a record number of people who come to cast ballots shows that the people of Russia support our efforts aimed at strengthening the country,” Putin said in televised remarks at a meeting with top government members, his first public remarks on the outcome.

Voting came amid Ukrainian attacks

The election took place against the backdrop of incessant Ukrainian drone attacks. On Sunday, Russia's Defense Ministry reported it downed 1,110 drones overnight.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 450 drones were downed while flying toward the city in what he described as “the largest ever” attack on the capital in a failed attempt to disrupt the vote. The attack, which damaged an oil refinery and a residential building, also killed three people and injured 38 in the wider Moscow region, officials said.

“They tried to hamper our efforts, to derail the election, as evidenced by the enemy’s continuous efforts to breach air defenses around Moscow and in other regions,” Putin said. “But lines at polling stations have shown that Russia can’t be intimidated.”

The parliamentary election was the first since Putin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and the first to include residents of four regions of that country that were seized and illegally annexed by Moscow later that year. At a polling station in the Russian-held part of the Donetsk region, voters dropped their ballots in a box under the gaze of an armed Russian soldier.

Voting also was held in Crimea, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014. Kyiv denounced the voting in those regions as illegal.

Putin also addressed Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine.

“Comrades, I want you to know that it was the vote for you. People trust you, they believe in our victory, believe in your courage, heroism and your devotion to the Motherland,” he said.

“I have no doubt that all the goals we set for the special military operation will be fulfilled,” Putin said, using the Kremlin term for the war in Ukraine.

The Kremlin launched a massive media blitz

A massive state media campaign and tight control over the election allowed the Kremlin to strengthen its political dominance despite economic troubles and long-range Ukrainian drone attacks.

The preliminary results indicated that United Russia would get between 347 and 355 out of 450 Duma seats. It received just under 58% of the vote for the 225 seats apportioned by parties and also won 208 single-seat races that fill the other half of the chamber.

Several smaller parties representing the “systemic opposition” that vote in sync with the Kremlin on all key issues are set to fill most of the remaining seats. Just a handful will go to candidates who ran without a party affiliation.

The liberal Yabloko party, the only registered political entity that dared to publicly criticize the war, was removed from the ballot last month by Russia’s Supreme Court, and only had a few dozen candidates in the single-seat races. Preliminary results indicated that no Yabloko candidates won a seat.

Fast-food traffic in many markets, including the U.S., is flat, so for McDonald’s to continue to grow it has to grab share from competitors and improve restaurant productivity, McDonald’s Chairman and CEO Chris Kempczinski said at a meeting with investors at the company’s Chicago headquarters. McDonald's wants to automate more tasks, like inventory and scheduling, and improve kitchen operations.

“The winners will be the companies that create more demand and deliver it more efficiently,” Kempczinski said.

McDonald's shares fell nearly 5% Wednesday, their largest percentage drop since April 2025, as investors shuddered at the eye-popping price of improving McDonald's 46,000 global stores.

On the product side, McDonald's said hand-breaded chicken, which has rolled out at 10,000 restaurants in Asia and a handful of restaurants near Chicago, has boosted sales and quality ratings. Many of McDonald's competitors, like Chick-fil-A and KFC, offer hand-breaded chicken. The company plans to expand its testing to more markets in the U.S. and Ireland next year.

McDonald's also plans to introduce grilled chicken sandwiches and wraps in the U.S. and other markets and experiment with products like egg bites and bowls to meet the needs of customers who are seeking more protein and varied portion sizes.

Skye Anderson, the president of McDonald’s USA, said approximately 30 million Americans are now using GLP-1 weight loss drugs, and they’re seeking smaller, more protein-packed meals as a result. But the company’s research indicates that 60 million Americans are actively seeking more protein in their diet.

“This is an opportunity. We need to keep giving them more reasons to make McDonald’s their first choice,” Anderson said at McDonald’s investor day.

McDonald’s said the restaurant modernizations include lockers to handle delivery orders, more visible coffee preparation areas to enhance quality perceptions, bigger play areas and improved kitchen layouts. Scales to help ensure order accuracy – which are already in use at 10,000 restaurants globally – will be in 20,000 restaurants by 2028, McDonald’s said.

The company is deploying its ArchIQ system, developed with Google, that improves order accuracy with artificial intelligence and automates tasks like inventory management and scheduling. Archy, the company's AI-enabled drive-thru ordering system, is now capable of taking orders in Spanish and English with a 90% accuracy rate.

Archy could eventually reduce at least 50 labor hours per week in a typical McDonald's, Chief Financial Officer Ian Borden said. But he said the intention is not to reduce staffing. Instead, employees can focus more on hospitality or on tasks like hand-breading chicken.

Kempczinski said customers have responded positively to Archy in testing because it helps make their orders more accurate.

“It's not AI is bad or AI is good. We try to be really thoughtful about how we use it,” he said.

McDonald's is also rolling out new employee training that will focus on hospitality and food quality, said Tiffanie Boyd, McDonald's chief people officer. The training will be more experience-based, showing employees what a perfectly cooked Big Mac tastes like, for example, and will encourage more pleasant interactions with customers.

At the same time, McDonald's is still focused on value. Kempczinski said low-income consumers, defined as U.S. households making $45,000 or less, continue to go out for fast food but not as often as they used to. McDonald's has done a good job with meal bundles, like its $5 meal deal, he said. But the company is exploring ways to offer entry-level prices on a basic menu of items in the U.S., as it does in Europe and other markets.

“This is the environment that we’re in right now. You have to be on your game and deliver that value,” Kempczinski said. “The pressure around cost of living isn't going away.”

McDonald’s U.S. franchisees typically spend up to $450,000 per decade to on required store remodels. Under the company’s new plan, they will have to spend an additional $800,000 over time, but McDonald’s will pay a portion of that cost in the form of rent relief and capital support.

Borden said the investments will be phased in over time when markets and individual franchisees are ready for them. Once the investments are made, the efficiency improvements will deliver roughly $100,000 in annual cash flow benefits to the average U.S. restaurant, some of which can be reinvested in the restaurant, Borden said.

“We'd love to see it going into hospitality to elevate the experience with our customers,” Borden said.

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According to BSO, 911 dispatchers were notified shortly after 9 p.m. that the marked vehicle had been stolen from the public parking lot area of the building, located at 2601 W. Broward Blvd.

Investigators worked to locate the stolen vehicle with assistance from the Florida Highway Patrol, Port St. Lucie Police Department and the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office.

The vehicle was eventually located along the northbound lanes of Interstate 95 at Gatlin Road in Port St. Lucie, according to BSO.

The SLCSO confirmed that the vehicle was found abandoned on the Gatlin Boulevard off-ramp.

According to the agency, SLCSO deputies then spotted the suspect, Shannon Dillon, 42, in the area wearing an outer ballistic vest displaying BSO insignia.

Dillon was immediately taken into custody.

She faces the following charges in St. Lucie County:

• Grand theft of law enforcement equipment

• Unlawful use of a police badge or law enforcement vehicle

• Unlawful possession of four or fewer identification items

• Possession or use of drug paraphernalia

• Possession of a weapon or ammunition by a convicted felon

• Driving while license suspended

• Resisting an officer without violence

Authorities confirmed that she also faces the following charges in Broward County:

• Grand theft of law enforcement equipment from an authorized emergency vehicle
• Grand theft

BSO officials said the investigation remains ongoing.

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Firefighters responded shortly after 6 a.m. to reports of a boat fire behind 264 S. Tradewinds Ave.

When crews arrived, they found a 40-foot Carver boat fully engulfed in flames, first responders said.

They said firefighters immediately began working to extinguish the fire and prevent it from spreading to nearby boats and surrounding property.

Crews were able to bring the fire under control and contain the flames to the affected boat, according to PBFR.

No civilians or firefighters were injured.

After extinguishing the fire, crews remained at the scene to make sure it was fully out and address any remaining hot spots.

“The Pompano Beach Fire Marshal is investigating the origin and cause of the fire,” PBFR officials said in a news release.

Officials said that given the circumstances surrounding the blaze, the fire is “currently considered suspicious.”

The investigation remains ongoing.

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Melvin Diaz Cepeda died after the shooting at about 5 a.m. on Monday at a home at 4606 NW 5th Ave., according to the Miami Police Department’s release on Wednesday.

“Firefighters pronounced him deceased on the scene,” Lt. Pete Sanchez, a spokesman for Miami Fire Rescue, said in a statement.

Officer Kenia Fallat, a spokeswoman for MPD, said detectives questioned one person during the investigation.

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

Local 10 News Senior Assignment Editor Frine Gomez contributed to this report.

Location

Melvin Diaz Cepeda murió tras el tiroteo, ocurrido alrededor de las 5 a.m. del lunes en una casa ubicada en el 4606 NW 5th Ave., según un comunicado del Departamento de Policía de Miami publicado el miércoles.

“Los bomberos lo declararon muerto en el lugar”, dijo en un comunicado el teniente Pete Sanchez, vocero de Miami Fire Rescue.

La oficial Kenia Fallat, vocera del Departamento de Policía de Miami, indicó que los detectives interrogaron a una persona como parte de la investigación.

Los detectives pidieron a cualquier persona con información sobre este u otros casos que llame de forma anónima a Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers al 305-471-8477.

Frine Gomez, editora principal de asignaciones de Local 10 News, contribuyó a este reporte.

The measure cleared the upper house 81-51 with seven abstentions. It marks a major step in Premier Giorgia Meloni’s drive to bolster energy security and meet climate goals, even though the construction of possible new reactors is still years away.

The bill, which earlier passed the lower Chamber of Deputies, establishes a legal framework for next-generation nuclear technologies. It authorizes the government to draft implementing decrees over the next 12 months covering reactor licensing, safety standards, waste management and criteria for future sites.

The vote puts Italy on a path toward reintroducing nuclear power after voters twice rejected it in national referendums, first in the aftermath of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster and again following Japan’s Fukushima accident in 2011.

Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, minister for the environment and energy security, said the vote marked a historic step forward for Italy.

“Nuclear isn't a return to the past," he said. “When integrated with renewables, it's a winning technology, which can give extraordinary results for our energy security.”

Italy seeks energy security in resuming nuclear

Meloni’s government argues that rising electricity demand, climate targets and energy security concerns exposed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine justify bringing nuclear energy back into the country’s power mix.

Rather than reviving the large reactors of the past, the government is focusing on small modular reactors, or SMRs, and other advanced technologies that supporters say could be safer, more flexible and quicker to build.

The legislation does not authorize the construction of any reactors. Instead, it creates the regulatory foundation needed before future projects can be proposed, assessed and approved.

Italy was once among Europe’s nuclear pioneers, operating four reactors before a 1987 referendum effectively ended the program. Since then, the country has relied heavily on imported energy and has become one of Europe’s largest consumers of electricity generated by nuclear plants in neighboring countries.

The government says electricity demand could rise substantially in coming years as homes, businesses and transportation become increasingly electrified and as data centers and other energy-intensive technologies expand.

Broader acceptance of nuclear energy is growing

Italy’s move comes amid a broader European debate over nuclear power’s role in cutting carbon emissions and reducing dependence on imported fossil fuels. Countries including France and Poland are investing in new nuclear projects or planning major expansions.

Public attitudes in Italy appear to have shifted. A June 2026 survey by research firm Only Numbers found that about 55% of Italians support next-generation nuclear plants, with backing strongest among younger generations who have no direct memory of Chernobyl.

Even so, significant obstacles remain before any reactors could be built.

Italy still lacks a permanent national repository for radioactive waste from its previous nuclear program, with waste continuing to be stored at temporary facilities around the country. Future reactor projects and waste storage sites are also expected to face opposition from local communities.

Energy analysts have questioned the economics of nuclear power, pointing to high construction costs and the lack of commercially proven SMR projects operating at scale in Europe. Industry estimates place the cost of a single 300-megawatt SMR at between 3 billion and 6 billion euros ($3.5 billion and $7 billion), excluding additional infrastructure and grid expenses.

Environment groups Greenpeace Italy, WWF Italia, the Kyodo Club and Legambiente called the legislation an “empty box filled with false promises” that went against the will of Italian voters in past referendums.

“Nuclear power does not solve any of the many problems Italy currently faces, in the midst of its second energy crisis in the last four years,” the groups said in a joint statement.

New reactors still a long way off

Michele Governatori, a senior energy adviser at climate and energy think tank ECCO, welcomed the creation of a regulatory framework but said it would likely expose limited private-sector appetite for new nuclear projects.

“Having a regulatory framework in place is positive, but it will also make clear the limited interest of private investors in technologies that are either not competitive today or not yet ready, such as SMRs,” he said.

Governatori also said that Italy should focus on measures already available to cut energy costs and reduce reliance on fossil fuels, including electrification, energy efficiency, renewable energy, storage capacity and power-grid upgrades.

Environmental groups and opposition parties have already signaled resistance to the government’s plans and could challenge future projects once specific reactor and waste-storage sites are proposed.

The warning came despite signs of improvement in other provinces, including Ituri, the outbreak’s epicenter. The outbreak has spread to seven provinces, with 7,773 confirmed cases and 3,759 deaths, according to the latest government figures.

Between Aug. 31 and Sept. 20, cases fell 26% in Ituri province and 15% in Haut-Uele, said Marie Roseline Belizaire, the WHO’s regional emergency director for Africa. But transmission patterns vary widely and the outbreak remains uncontrolled, she said.

“While cases and deaths are declining in some provinces, they continue to rise in others,” Belizaire said. “The outbreak is still not under control and remains spread across a wide geographic area.”

The outbreak is spreading under extremely difficult conditions, fueled by insecurity, displacement, a health workers’ strike and intense population movements. The World Health Organization has said it is on track to surpass the 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola outbreak, the deadliest on record, which killed more than 11,000 people, primarily in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Catherine Smallwood, the WHO’s Ebola incident manager, said cases and deaths had begun declining in North Kivu after several weeks of increases. But although treatment beds are being added daily, facilities still lack enough staff and partners to operate them.

“The human resources gap is one of the biggest gaps,” Smallwood said.

WHO representative in Congo Anne Ancia said one Ebola treatment center requires about 300 health professionals, including anesthetists, hygienists, nurses and general practitioners.

“We are building Ebola treatment centers but do not always have the human resources needed to operate them,” Ancia said. “Those health workers must be paid.”

Frontline workers in Ituri previously went on strike over unpaid wages, worsening access to care. Health Minister Roger Kamba said in July that the government was verifying payroll lists after the names of people not involved in the response were added. Frontline workers said officials promised to pay the arrears, but some workers received nothing and others only part of what they were owed.

Another major challenge in the response is the fatality rate among children, according to the WHO. Children under five have the highest case fatality rate, more than 60% compared with approximately 40% among adults, Belizaire said.

WHO Ebola Incident Manager Smallwood said detecting cases among children under five is also very difficult because the children can’t necessarily explain their symptoms, and the presentation of symptoms can be confusing.

Agentes de la Oficina del Sheriff de Broward (BSO) llegaron poco antes de las 3 p.m. del martes a la gasolinera Orion, ubicada en el 101 E. Atlantic Blvd. en Pompano Beach, tras recibir reportes de disparos en la zona.

Al llegar, los agentes encontraron a un hombre herido de bala.

Paramédicos de Pompano Beach Fire Rescue lo trasladaron de urgencia a Broward Health North para recibir tratamiento, informaron las autoridades.

Un video de vigilancia captó un altercado entre una mujer y el hombre que luego resultaría baleado.

En las imágenes se ve a ambos forcejeando, mientras la mujer parece intentar zafarse del hombre y subirse por la puerta del pasajero de una camioneta Toyota RAV4 blanca estacionada junto a las bombas de gasolina.

Más tarde, el mismo hombre se acercó al lado del conductor de la camioneta y, cuando estuvo más cerca de la persona que se encontraba junto al vehículo, esta le disparó mientras él intentaba huir.

La gasolinera fue acordonada con cinta amarilla de la policía mientras los investigadores procesaban la escena.

Dentro del perímetro se encontraban la camioneta Toyota y seis marcadores de evidencia.

Los agentes indicaron que una persona fue detenida en el lugar después del tiroteo.

La investigación sigue en curso.

En algunas zonas del noreste de Miami-Dade y el sur de Broward ya se han acumulado entre 2 y 4 pulgadas de lluvia, y se espera más, ya que las lluvias ligeras a moderadas continuarán durante la mañana.

Este miércoles hay un riesgo marginal de lluvias excesivas, ya que los aguaceros de lento desplazamiento podrían provocar inundaciones localizadas en las calles.

Podrían formarse más tormentas en la tarde, mientras la nubosidad mantendrá las temperaturas entre los 85 y 89 grados aproximadamente.

Los bomberos respondieron poco después de las 6 a.m. a reportes de un bote en llamas detrás del 264 S. Tradewinds Ave.

Al llegar, los equipos encontraron una embarcación Carver de 40 pies completamente envuelta en llamas, informaron los socorristas.

Según indicaron, los bomberos comenzaron de inmediato a combatir el fuego y a evitar que se extendiera a los botes cercanos y a las propiedades de los alrededores.

Los equipos lograron controlar el incendio y limitar las llamas a la embarcación afectada, según PBFR.

No hubo civiles ni bomberos heridos.

Tras apagar el fuego, los equipos permanecieron en el lugar para asegurarse de que estuviera completamente extinguido y atender cualquier punto caliente que quedara.

“El Fire Marshal de Pompano Beach está investigando el origen y la causa del incendio”, señalaron funcionarios de PBFR en un comunicado de prensa.

Las autoridades indicaron que, debido a las circunstancias en torno al incendio, este “se considera sospechoso por ahora”.

La investigación continúa.

“The FBI is aware of a cyber-criminal enterprise group claiming a compromise of the FBIJobs.gov portal and alleged impact to FBI employee personally identifiable information," the FBI said in a statement. It said that while the “point of breach” was undetermined, "we are actively and aggressively investigating this matter and working closely with those third-party providers that support FBIJobs.gov to mitigate any and all risk.”

A message that circulated online from a hacking group known as ShinyHunters claimed responsibility for the hack. The jobs website, the main portal for prospective employees to learn about the FBI and initiate the application process, remained offline as of Wednesday afternoon.

“We have compromised the FBI. We hold very sensitive data on almost ALL FBI Agents and individuals who filed an application with the FBI for a job,” said the ShinyHunters message, which was directed to FBI Director Kash Patel and Brett Leatherman, the assistant director in charge of the bureau's cyber division.

The claims could not immediately be verified. An email to an address associated with ShinyHunters was not immediately returned.

In its message, ShinyHunters said it would give the bureau one week to correct or remove what it says are false allegations contained in an FBI public advisory from May that described the organization as a “cyber criminal group specializing in large-scale data breaches and extortion.”

That public service announcement characterized ShinyHunters as “threat actors” who often "use their real or exaggerated claims of access to sensitive or personal information to prompt payment from victims," commonly harass or threaten victims and “may falsely claim to have sensitive or compromising information, including embarrassing photographs or videos of victims, which frequently do not exist.”

ShinyHunters said in its message to the FBI that it was “offended” by those characterizations and demanded that the FBI remove those claims. It did not say what would happen if the FBI did not do so within a week.

“This is not a ransom, coercion, or extortion. Your federal policies do not apply here. This PSA is NOT financially motivated,” the hacking group's message said.

The FBI, the nation's premier federal law enforcement agency, has been a common hacking target.

In March, the FBI disclosed that it was investigating “suspicious activities” on an internal system that contains sensitive information related to surveillance operations and investigations. Also that month, a pro-Iranian hacking group claimed to have hacked an account of Patel's and posted online what appear to be years-old photographs of him, along with a work resume and other personal documents dating back more than a decade.

The FBI described the compromised information as “historical in nature” and said it involved "no government information.”

Según BSO, poco después de las 9 p.m. los operadores del 911 recibieron el aviso de que el vehículo había sido robado del área de estacionamiento público del edificio, ubicado en el 2601 W. Broward Blvd.

Los investigadores trabajaron para localizar el vehículo con la ayuda de la Patrulla de Carreteras de Florida, el Departamento de Policía de Port St. Lucie y la Oficina del Sheriff del Condado St. Lucie.

Finalmente, el vehículo fue localizado en los carriles con dirección norte de la Interestatal 95, a la altura de Gatlin Road, en Port St. Lucie, según BSO.

La Oficina del Sheriff de St. Lucie (SLCSO) confirmó que el vehículo fue hallado abandonado en la rampa de salida hacia Gatlin Boulevard.

De acuerdo con esa agencia, sus agentes vieron luego en la zona a la sospechosa, Shannon Dillon, de 42 años, quien llevaba puesto un chaleco antibalas exterior con la insignia de BSO.

Dillon fue arrestada de inmediato.

En el condado St. Lucie enfrenta los siguientes cargos:

• Hurto mayor de equipo policial
• Uso ilegal de una placa de policía o de un vehículo policial
• Posesión ilegal de cuatro o menos documentos de identificación
• Posesión o uso de parafernalia para drogas
• Posesión de arma o municiones por parte de un delincuente convicto
• Manejar con la licencia suspendida
• Resistencia a un agente sin violencia

Las autoridades confirmaron que también enfrenta los siguientes cargos en el condado Broward:

• Hurto mayor de equipo policial de un vehículo de emergencia autorizado
• Hurto mayor

Funcionarios de BSO indicaron que la investigación continúa.

Jackson police said late Tuesday that they arrested 25-year-old Earnest Lloyd Jr. in the death of 29-year-old Tasia Fortune, whose body was found hanging behind an abandoned home in the city on Aug. 3.

Like Fortune and the first man arrested, 51-year-old Jarques Ratliff, Lloyd is Black. He appeared at a brief hearing Wednesday in Jackson.

Fortune's mother Christy Spivey, who attended the hearing, said afterward that she was ecstatic to see arrests made in her daughter’s death. She said that neither she nor several of her daughter's friends knew Lloyd, and she cautioned that everyone is innocent until proven guilty.

“My family is not the only family that this is affecting,” Spivey said of the defendants' families. “I feel for them as well. The only difference is that mine can never come back.”

"I’ll never truly have peace,” she said.

Ratliff was arrested in September on murder charges. He pleaded not guilty and remains jailed without bond.

Police said in a statement that they issued an arrest warrant for a third suspect, but gave no details about that person’s identity or alleged link to Fortune's death. They also said they expect to issue additional warrants.

After Ratliff's arrest, Jackson's police chief, RaShall Brackney, said Ratliff had an “association” with Fortune, but she didn't elaborate.

Although police haven't suggested a possible motive for the killing or said whether they think race played a role, the case has attracted widespread attention because the manner of death recalled lynchings in the Southern state.

A Kentucky native, Fortune had four children and had been living in Jackson for about a decade, relatives said.

Spivey previously said her daughter struggled with homelessness in recent years, and that she wasn’t sure where her daughter was living at the time of her death. She said that before her death, her daughter had talked about starting a cleaning business and was trying to get her life in order.

They held a news conference about two miles from “Iron Mountain,” an AI-ready data center nearing completion in Miami-Dade County’s Westview neighborhood, leaning into Republican candidate Byron Donalds’ past remarks on data centers possibly coming online in Florida.

“We have more people moving here in finance and tech, so as a derivative of that, you are going to have data centers, tech firms, etc. We need to embrace that, not run away from that,” Donalds said while speaking with the Economic Club of Miami in May 2025. “We are wide open. We have actual land in our state that is still pristine, available to use. We can build out that stuff and still maintain the beauty of our state.”

Democrats pushed back against his comments.

“Donalds is on the record saying, ‘We need to embrace data centers’ and there is ‘pristine land’ in our state available for them, and on the campaign trail has talked about a ‘pathway’ to building these data centers,” Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried said. “The threat of hyper scale AI data centers is looming over all of Florida. To find the truth, you need to follow the money.”

Fried cited Donalds’ support from some AI industry titans, including Leading the Future, a super-PAC which says it wants to, “support candidates aligned with the pro-AI agenda.”

“Since launching his campaign, data center developers and AI groups have spent more than $5 million bankrolling Byron Donalds’ bid for governor,” said Fried.

Donalds’ Democratic challenger, David Jolly, is fresh off a visit to northern Virginia’s so-called “data center alley.”

“What you are hearing, and the reason I have to raise my voice, is the noise pollution that occurs from these data centers,” Jolly said. “You have the devaluation of real estate as well.”

Jolly is supporting a one-year moratorium on building data centers until we can better understand the impact on community, the campaign said, from public health and quality of life to the reality of promised jobs and demands on local energy and water resources.

“There is a reason Florida’s voters don’t want them. This used to be green space,” he said.

Earlier this month, Donalds told Fox Business he does have regulation in mind.

“To the people who might want to build them, if you don’t protect our ratepayers and you don’t protect our water, you are not building a data center, and that is my position,” he said. “And local governments are going to be the ones that will make these decisions, not Tallahassee.”

It would appear Donalds’ recent comments are pivoting to parrot new legislation Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law in May, when he expressed concern about hyper-scale data centers.

Over the summer, DeSantis signed a bill into law which aims to preserve local zoning authority and ensure costs are not passed to consumers.

Fried said the one thing Floridians can agree on irrespective of party is the environment, since it is the engine behind all of the state’s industries, from trade and tourism to agriculture and real estate, but worries the latest legislation could be weakened if Donalds’ prevails.

This as more than a dozen Florida counties hit the brakes on large data center development, pausing permits so they have time to write land use rules, with some enacting permanent bans.

Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava “looks forward to receiving an ordinance that puts in place a moratorium consistent with state law, while protecting our neighborhoods and our environment,” her office said in a statement to Local 10 News.

Donalds’ campaign told Local 10 News he plans to build on SB 484 with, “closed-loop water system requirements” that recycle water on site and supports “keeping facilities away from neighborhoods.”

His campaign also said he is proposing a federal bill to stop data center developers from competing with residents for water supply and creating a strain on the power grid.

“Iron Mountain’s data center project in Miami is a redevelopment of an existing records management facility that our company leases and has operated for years. Rather than building on greenfield land, this project modernizes an existing industrial site to support critical local digital infrastructure.

“Because the facility is under development and not yet operational, data on power draw and water usage aren’t available at this time. However, site modernizations allow us to implement a higher standard for responsible development, including closed-loop cooling technologies and optimized energy systems.

“As the project moves closer to completion, Iron Mountain remains committed to being a collaborative local partner, operating efficiently, and supporting the community responsibly.”

Iron Mountain spokesperson

At a meeting of the group’s board in New York on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday, the governors unveiled a 66-project blueprint to get things started while acknowledging enormous hurdles that must still be overcome. The projects include ambitious infrastructure, education and health initiatives that are designed to support Trump’s 20-point plan to end the Israel-Hamas war.

“The need is immense,” the board said, noting that full reconstruction from the physical damage across Gaza will cost roughly $35.2 billion over the medium term and an additional $71.4 billion over the next 10 years.

The proposal is largely aimed at potential donors who are being asked to foot the bill for reconstruction of the war-devastated territory that has seen numerous failed peace initiatives in the past. Those have included previous premature pronouncements of agreements between Hamas and Israel that have left would-be donors skeptical.

Board of Peace is seeking movement as Trump's ceasefire plan has largely stalled

The ceasefire, which took effect on Oct. 10, was meant to clear the way for a broader process to rebuild Gaza under the guidance of the Board of Peace. The plan included additional Israeli military withdrawals from Gaza, the disarmament of Hamas, the arrival of an international peacekeeping force and a new apolitical Palestinian government to administer the territory’s day-to-day affairs. It also envisioned an ambitious program for rebuilding war-ravaged Gaza.

But the U.S.-backed plan has largely stalled. While the ceasefire halted the heaviest fighting and humanitarian conditions have improved, the Israeli military has expanded its control of Gaza and now occupies some 60% of the territory. Hamas has not given up its weapons. The international military force and new government still have not entered Gaza, and reconstruction has not begun. The vast majority of Palestinians continue to live in tent camps or ruins of their former homes.

The board’s high representative, Nickolay Mladenov, has said progress hinges largely on Hamas disarming — a step the militant group has refused to take. But he also has pressed Israel to scale back its military operation.

“Given the complexities of what we’re dealing with, I think we’re making slowly and steadily progress,” he said. Mladenov added that discussions with Israel have been politically sensitive and emotional because of next month’s elections.

Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Mideast envoy, acknowledged that the ceasefire had not been a 100% success but said the board “can point to real progress.”

“There is a ceasefire, imperfect as it may be, but it still exists,” he said.

Witkoff's partner in peacemaking, Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner praised the Board of Peace team for the work it has done to advance the prospects for peace.

“We’re building something that is really a platform to enable the Palestinian people in Gaza to finally focus on improving their livelihoods and improving their lives and for those who want to live in peace, to give them a chance to do so,” Kushner said.

The timeline for new projects and larger steps in Gaza still isn't clear

Despite laying out a six-month plan that prioritizes 66 projects — ranging from humanitarian shelters and home repair to education programs and food security — the timeline was still nebulous. Documents that the board released Wednesday says the programs are “ready to begin the moment funding and access allow.”

Speaking about the difficult steps of disarmament and Israeli withdrawal, Mladenov said, “I want to be very clear that we are not bound by a calendar — we're bound by verification. We want to make sure that this works.”

U.S. Gen. Jasper Jeffers, commander of the international stabilization force planned for Gaza, outlined a five-step approach to dealing with the thorny issue of demilitarizing Hamas. It begins with the first wave of the multinational unit being deployed with troops from Kosovo and Morocco, to be followed by additional personnel from Albania and Kazakhstan.

Their task will be to demilitarize the territory and decommission all of Hamas’ military infrastructure.

The goal, he said, is to gradually turn security control over to the interim government, after which Israel will be expected to withdraw its forces.

Speaking to reporters separately, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the challenge is daunting but not impossible to meet.

“Obviously, this is a long-term project,” he said. “This is not something that can happen in six months, but at least gives people the hope (of a) future that awaits you if everyone does their part.”

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Associated Press writers Josef Federman and Julia Frankel in Jerusalem and Ben Finley in Washington contributed to this report.

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This story has been corrected to show that Nickolay Mladenov's first name was misspelled.

The bigger story for South Florida is a weak front making its way through for the weekend. It’s too early for a major fall front, but this one will at least lower humidity a notch or two. It will feel noticeably nicer out, even in the temperatures are still well into the 80s during the day. We could reach the low 70s at night.

“The technology is more persuasive, more intimate, and more powerful,” the Duke of Sussex said. “AI is learning how to enter our relationships. It doesn’t just want your attention, it wants your attachment.”

In 2024, Harry sounded the alarm at CGI about how social media has contributed to an “epidemic” of anxiety, depression and social isolation among today’s youth. Harry and his wife, Meghan, announced the founding of The Parents Network, through their Archewell Foundation.

Harry said that The Parents Network had made progress, but that technological developments had made an already “uphill battle” more difficult.

“There are major signals that families, young people, experts and advocates have finally shaken institutions awake to the reality that this technology can cause harm,” Harry said. “But bans, settlements and payouts are incomplete remedies.”

Last month Meta agreed to pay up to $18 billion and add stronger child-safety measures to its Facebook and Instagram platforms as part of a landmark legal settlement that ended a trial over teen social media addiction and settled claims filed by nearly every state.

The settlement resolved a pivotal case years in the making that sought to hold the tech giant accountable for the role its platforms played in undermining children’s mental health. The effort targeted features designed to hook young people’s attention.

Wednesday marked Prince Harry's first public appearance in the United States since he and his family returned to England in August for an extended stay.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also discussed the potential dangers of AI at the conference, adding that addressing risk through international agreements is something that President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping should discuss this week.

Trump is hosting Xi in Washington this week as their economic and tech competition is only escalating, especially through an artificial intelligence race. Neither expects any grand bargain, but the leaders are expected to play nice in their third meeting since Trump returned to the White House. Still, developing AI technology has emerged as a key battleground, with both sides showing little interest in slowing down despite warnings from tech CEOs about threats that rogue AI could pose to humanity.

Speaking at CGI, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman said that he believes a proposed kill switch, which would require developers to have the capacity to shut down their systems if needed, is a good idea.

“It’s not a natural thing for a company to put in, so it’s a good intervention,” he said.

Former President Bill Clinton opened this year’s CGI on Tuesday with a call for business and philanthropic leaders to work toward filling funding gaps caused by “ retreating governments.”

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Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

Co-creative directors Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons kept the focus of their Spring-Summer 2027 collection firmly “waist down,” revisiting the subject of a traveling Prada exhibition staged two decades ago. That new show examined the place in contemporary wardrobes of one of humanity’s oldest garments: the skirt.

The collection arrived amid an uproar in Italy over remarks by Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani suggesting that women who wear longer skirts are more faithful. Tajani later apologized, saying he had not intended to offend women. The coincidental timing of the controversy only gave resonance to a collection that treats the skirt as a way for women to express themselves — at any length.

Recasting an ancient form for modern times

For practicality and creativity, nothing surpasses the skirt, according to Prada, who favors skirts in her own wardrobe, including a pink silk one she wore for a backstage preview before the runway show that opened Milan Fashion Week on Tuesday.

“If you want to have a normal life, go wherever you want. It’s easy to camouflage even a beautiful skirt,’’ she said. “You need to camouflage the beauty so that you can live with people.”

The creative directors’ decision to keep trousers and dresses out of this collection was inspired by an old video interview of Prada likening the skirt to a T-shirt for men, as “the place where she can put all her ideas,” Simons said.

From the swath of material that ancient man wrapped around the waist, Prada used a rectangular piece of material as the collection’s starting point, which Prada said became the framework for creativity.

Using the skirt as a creative canvas

Reversing the runway convention of emphasizing the female bodice, black tops in varying styles provided a blank canvas for the first group of skirts.

Woolen numbers fastened with industrial Velcro to allow adjustable slits Sheer nylon formed feminine pleats, while short cotton skirts in naïve prints peeked from beneath coats and sheer crinoline overlaid crumpled silken skirts with flattened ruffles.

Bralettes, bandeaus and bustiers, tiny though they were, offered another outlet for expression. They included scoop-neck bralettes, bandeaus linked to arm bands and bustiers worn unhooked over homely knitwear.

Footwear ranged from silk slingbacks to industrial perforated-leather pumps, while handbags included canvas purses in bright colors.

Rather than proposing complete looks, the collection offered building blocks for self-expression.

“I think you can express complexity,” Prada said. “Everything is so complex — how can you be just one thing? When you express yourself, it is not that you are feminine, sexy, masculine; you are so many things together."

The defiant speech by President Masoud Pezeshkian marked a striking instance of a foreign leader addressing the world body while their country is at war with the host nation. While defending his country, Pezeshkian held up large photos of the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the more than 150 Iranian schoolchildren killed on the first days of the war.

“We have only defended ourselves. We are not terrorists,” Pezeshkian said at the General Assembly. “Our innocent people have been the targets of cowardly attacks and aggressions imposed upon our country. And we defended ourselves with utmost strength. America and Israel attacked us.”

He added of the United States: “Yes they did hit us, but we did not bend the knee.” Toward the end of his speech, Pezeshkian called out Trump by name.

“It must be understood by Mr. Trump and those who seek to bully us that we are ready for dialogue and diplomacy and negotiations without accepting the language of force,” he said.

Shortly after, both U.S. and Israeli officials blasted the speech, saying that it was hypocritical for the Islamic Republic to present itself as the victims of the world.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters: “I don’t know what standing Iran has to lecture anyone on human rights or the international system when they habitually violate it.”

A busy 24 hours for US-Iran relations

Arriving in New York under heavy security and scrutiny, Pezeshkian — who, within Iran’s political landscape, is considered a moderate politician — addressed world leaders a day after Trump used the same stage to mull whether to massively escalate a war that has already spiraled out of control.

“I have a big decision to make,” Trump said in his wide-ranging address Tuesday. “Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before, maybe one of the greatest in the Middle East or even the world. Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again?”

Hours after those stunning threats, Trump told reporters that his chief envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, met for about three hours with the Iranian officials on the sidelines of the annual gathering. But he offered few details about how the discussions transpired or the substance of the exchange.

“It was a very good meeting,” Trump said. The president later added that the Iranian officials were “not the highest level, but it’s something.” Also on Tuesday, Rubio said Trump is open to meeting with Pezeshkian while he’s in New York.

But Tehran downplayed Tuesday's unscheduled exchange, which were the first indirect talks between U.S. and Iranian officials since a June ceasefire unraveled. Esmail Baghaei, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, maintained the country's negotiating position in talks with U.S. officials, demanding that Washington end its blockade of Iranian ports and release frozen Iranian assets,

Baghaei said the talks — conducted indirectly through Qatari mediators — were “not anything new.”

Rubio echoed that sentiment Wednesday, saying that “it was a continuation of conversations that have occurred in the past.”

“If there’s an opportunity to exchange ideas and messages, we will. And that’s what largely yesterday was — it was positive in that regard," he said. "But ultimately, I don’t want to mischaracterize this as a major breakthrough."

More than a year of negotiations have taken place

Pezeshkian's address elaborated on where Tehran stands as more than a year of start-stop negotiations between the two longtime adversaries have failed to produce a sustainable solution. His speech came as intermittent attacks continued in the Strait of Hormuz off Iran’s coast, where commercial shipping remained below prewar levels.

His address last year came months after the 12-day Israel-Iran war that saw the assassination of many of the Islamic Republic’s highest military and political leaders and once again broke down weeks of negotiations with the United States.

“Ladies and gentlemen, you all bore witness that this past June, my country was subjected to a savage aggression and flagrant contravention of the most elementary principles of international law,” Pezeshkian said at the time.

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Associated Press Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee in New York contributed to this story.

Grail Inc.'s test looks for DNA fragments shed by tumor cells, an emerging approach to screening that aims to detect various cancers with a single blood draw.

Cancer screening is supposed to spot tumors in their early stages, when they're easier to treat. A multi-cancer screening test would be a departure from the handful of currently recommended cancer tests — including mammograms and colonoscopies — that look for one cancer at a time.

A panel of Food and Drug Administration advisers will vote Wednesday on whether the proposed benefits of Grail's Galleri test, designed for people 50 and older, outweigh risks such as missing cancers or causing false alarms.

In documents posted ahead of the meeting, FDA staffers didn't raise major safety concerns, but they want the panel to discuss whether the test picks up enough early stage cancers to be marketed for “early detection.”

The FDA will weigh the advisers' recommendations but is not required to follow them.

People in the U.S. can already buy the test, typically by paying $700 or more out of pocket, because the government allows limited use of certain laboratory-based tests. But FDA approval promises to widen availability by opening the door to coverage from Medicare and private insurers.

Oncologists are divided on whether the test is ready for widespread use. Dr. Badrinath Konety of Allina Health Cancer Institute in Minneapolis says there's “a lot of promise” in the technology but has cautioned patients who've asked about it.

“The benefit is it may give you a signal," he said. “The flip side now is you’ve got to chase that signal,” which can involve additional pricey tests that may not give a clear answer.

FDA's panel will have to consider those downsides and a number of other unusual aspects of the Sunnyvale, California-based company's technology.

For one thing, the FDA considers the company's current test a completely different product than the one it used in two large studies conducted to win approval. To bridge the gap, the company saved frozen blood samples of people enrolled in those studies and then tested them with its newer Galleri test.

Also, the company's FDA submission only includes the first year of data from its primary study. That 140,000-person study was conducted in the U.K. and failed its main goal of showing a statistically significant reduction in late-stage cancers. That failure is not mentioned in FDA's review, but it's almost certain to come up during Wednesday's discussion.

In the study data released by FDA this week, Grail's test accurately predicted cancer in more than 66% of patients who received a “cancer signal detected." During the one-year period, the test detected about 30% of cancers that would later be diagnosed by physicians.

The study, conducted with the U.K.'s National Health Service, was not intended to show that screening with Galleri reduced cancer deaths. That approach would have required many more years of follow-up.

In a newly published analysis of a separate U.S. study, the Grail test detected a cancer signal in 287 people. Cancer was eventually diagnosed in 173 of them.

The test was better at finding less common cancers, such as liver and ovarian cancers, compared with more common forms of the disease like prostate cancer. That raises questions about the wide-scale impact of deploying the test for millions of Americans.

One worry is that people who get an all-clear from DNA testing test might skip guideline-recommended screenings like mammograms or colonoscopies.

Johns Hopkins scientist Nickolas Papadopoulos considers Grail's test “pretty promising” but said that if the FDA clears it, it will be vital for doctors to understand the pros and cons and to make sure their patients do, too.

Among many questions yet to be answered, he said: “If we do this test once a year, once every three years, is that good enough to eventually catch the cancer early? We’re still learning.”

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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.

They're complaining about former President Joe Biden, promising to work with President Donald Trump to secure the border, insisting they'll never defund the police and criticizing democratic socialists as too extreme.

Taking shots at the left is one way that Democrats are trying to distance themselves from their party's tarnished brand. It's also a reflection of how the midterms are increasingly playing out in red states. Although progressives notched notable wins in Democratic primaries this year, the path to a majority in the House and the Senate runs through places where Trump won two years ago, such as North Carolina, Alaska, Kansas and Iowa.

“You need to own values that are where the center of the party is," said Adam Frisch, the finance director for Welcome PAC, which tries to boost Democrats in Republican-leaning districts. He previously ran twice for Congress in Colorado.

North Carolina's Cooper boasts of bipartisanship

Known for forging compromise with the Republican-led legislature during his two terms as governor, Roy Cooper argues in his Senate campaign that Democrats should be willing to do the same in Congress.

Cooper also served as state attorney general, and one of his ads says he “toughened bail laws, went after drug dealers pushing fentanyl and said, ‘No way do we defund the police.’” Another says Cooper “bucked his own party to oppose defunding the police” and “partnered” with the Republican president to crack down on drugs.

Conservatives and allies of Republican nominee Michael Whatley, former chairman of the Republican National Committee, have tried to link Cooper to national progressive figures like New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, former Vice President Kamala Harris and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats.

When Cooper entered the race more than a year ago, the Senate Leadership Fund — a Republican super PAC affiliated with Senate Majority Leader John Thune — swiftly attacked him by saying he “masquerades as a moderate” but is ”just another radical, D.C. liberal in disguise.”

Earlier this month, Cooper explained a bit of his strategy to CNN, saying that he felt that “there are enough people who are skeptical of national Democrats" in North Carolina, a factor he cited in the state's tendency to elect Democrats to statewide offices more often than its congressional offices.

Alaska's Peltola and Iowa's Turek want distance from national Democrats

In Alaska, former Rep. Mary Peltola has tried to steer the same centrist path as in her House campaigns, reviving her “fish, family, freedom” slogan and expressing support for Second Amendment rights and border security — two issues that traditionally resonate with more conservative voters.

“I'll take on anyone, including Democrats, anyone in the Lower 48 who doesn’t understand what Alaska needs,” she said in one campaign advertisement that mentioned her support for the massive Willow oil project on Alaska’s petroleum-rich North Slope that was opposed by environmentalists. "When both parties are attacking you, you're doing something right.”

Peltola's tone hasn't kept incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan from seeking to align Peltola with “D.C. Democrats,” as well as characterizing her as ineffective during her time in Congress.

Meanwhile, in Iowa, Democratic nominee Josh Turek has emphasized his commitment to bipartisanship, highlighting hundreds of times he voted with Republicans as a state legislator. He represented a district won by Trump, and he leaned on that experience in this year's Senate race as evidence that he could appeal to independent and moderate Republican voters in November.

As he vies with Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson for the seat of retiring Republican Sen. Joni Ernst, Turek is also running an ad decrying the U.S.' “broken immigration system,” saying, “I'll work with anyone to fix it, including President Trump.”

After Turek won the nomination, Hinson told delegates at Republicans' state convention that he was “masquerading as a moderate,” calling her opponent “a far-left fraud.”

Hamilton says Kansas is very distant from Washington's ‘extreme politics’

Pastor of a Kansas megachurch, Democratic Senate nominee Adam Hamilton describes himself as a centrist, running partly on “bringing people together" and noting that his congregation is nearly evenly split among Democrats, Republicans and independents.

That's the tenor Hamilton has brought to his campaign against Republican incumbent Sen. Roger Marshall, running ads noting that Kansas is “proud of being in the middle politically" and “about a million miles away from the extreme politics of Washington that are tearing us apart and driving up prices.”

“On one side, the far left pushes socialism and open borders," he said. "On the other side, Roger Marshall gives us higher gas and grocery prices, while slashing our healthcare.”

In a debate earlier this month at the Kansas state fair, Hamilton also wasn't shy to blame Biden for immigration problems while also criticizing Trump's policies.

“Immigration at the border under Biden was a disaster," Hamilton said. "That is how we ended up where we are today.”

Marshall has said Hamilton is “too woke for Kansas.”

Sand decries parties as ‘two private clubs’ in Iowa governor's race

It's not just Senate contests in which Democratic candidates are seeking to chart a new course.

Back in Iowa — where Democrats see an opportunity to win in a once-competitive state, with high costs, manufacturing job losses and a struggling agricultural economy weighing on voters — Democrat Rob Sand says he can win over independents and Republicans frustrated with party politics.

Central to his campaign message is the premise that America's political system is broken “largely because it’s run by two private clubs” — the two major parties — “the well fed versus the fed up.”

Republican nominee Zach Lahn has said Sand's critique of his own party isn't genuine. Appearing on the “Ruthless” podcast this summer, he said that Democrats “are realizing that their ideas don’t sell” and ”have to pretend to be somebody they’re not."

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

Richie underwent a common procedure for atrial fibrillation, or A-fib, and the “doctor said everything went perfectly,” it read. “Lionel is doing great but will take some time off and will be back on stage soon.”

A-fib is a quivering or irregular heartbeat that is a worrisome stage-setter for blood clots, stroke and heart failure. Some researchers believe more than 10 million Americans have it — most of them older.

The 77-year-old singer also postponed two concerts earlier this year, in June, after falling ill. And in August, reports of Richie checking himself into a hospital after a performance in St. Louis made the rounds online.

Richie was scheduled to perform with Earth, Wind & Fire Saturday in San Francisco, Sept. 30 in Chicago and Oct. 3 in Columbus, Ohio.

According to his website, he is currently scheduled to launch his “King of Hearts” residency shows at Las Vegas’ the Wynn in October and November.

The Oscar and four-time Grammy Award-winning Richie launched his career with The Commodores before becoming a successful solo artist. In addition to his well-known hits like “Hello,” Richie co-wrote the iconic charity single “We Are the World” with Michael Jackson and has sold over 100 million records. He is also a judge on “American Idol.”

According to a person familiar with the situation, Brooks will have surgery Wednesday to repair a core muscle injury that will result in him missing at least six weeks. Brooks is expected to return this season, the person told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the team has yet to provide any details on how long he will be out.

The Panthers signed safety Isaiah Simmons from the practice squad to take Brooks' spot on the 53-man roster.

Coach Dave Canales said Monday that Brooks had injured his groin late in Carolina’s 34-3 win over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday. He said at the time the team was awaiting the results of an MRI.

Brooks has struggled with knee injuries in the past, limiting his playing time to only five of a potential 36 games since joining the league as a second round pick in 2024.

He tore his ACL during his final season at Texas and then again during his rookie season with the Panthers. The injury forced him to miss the remainder of the 2024 season and all of 2025.

Brooks was used sparingly in Carolina's first two games of the season.

Chuba Hubbard is Carolina's starting running back and A.J. Dillon is third on the depth chart.

Among the veteran free agents available to sign with Carolina at running back include Austin Ekeler, who last played with the Washington Commanders in 2025, and Kareem Hunt, who played for the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Panthers play at Cleveland on Sunday.

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See AP’s full NFL coverage here

McEwan's essay and speech collection "Between Books” will be published next spring, May 25, Alfred A. Knopf announced Wednesday. It is the first full-length work of nonfiction by the author of “Atonement,” “The Innocent,” the Booker Prize -winning “Amsterdam” and many other novels. (In 2019, the British author released a brief work of nonfiction, “Science.”)

“Between Books” includes everything from “intimate personal recollection to bold intellectual enquiry,” according to Knopf. McEwan has written a new introduction for “Between Books,” which includes material both published before and never published before.

“'Between Books' is an intimate record of a great mind wrestling with the contours of his own life and all the themes and questions that inform his masterworks: the nature of truth and love, the human hunger for meaning and knowledge, the mysteries of the soul,” Knopf Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Jordan Pavlin said in a statement.

McEwan, 78, said in a statement that for his upcoming book he “started out contemplating a ragbag of disparate pieces and ended up with what I hope is an emotional and intellectual journey.”

Mayor Judy Paul has lived in Davie for 40 years and has served as mayor since 2009.

Davie is a town of just over 107,000 people and geographically, it’s the largest town or city in Broward County.

Paul says Davie is all about land, and that’s what she fights to protect.

“We took over 200 acres out of development for the creation of the wetlands park and the farm park, and we have more that is coming up,” said Paul.

Paul says Davie is the only municipality in Broward County to give a tax cut to residents.

“We are saving our residents 5.1%. This was very important because with the way the economy is, every bit helps our residents and we couldn’t wait,” said Paul. “We had an opportunity because of some of the development that’s been going on in our town.”

Trucking company owner and lifelong resident Jacqueline Rocha is running against Paul.

She says overdevelopment in Davie is a problem.

“Now that’s happened a lot with the development that we’ve allowed to come into place here that is considered market value -- majority of it -- and market value is still not affordable,” said Rocha. “Not to mention the HUD housing designation really is not helping anyone, not everyday residents.”

Rocha said she’s also fighting for term limits.

“Residents have subsidized development and they don’t even know it,” said Rocha. “Now they were attending the meetings, and I think that a lot of residents feel like -- and as a resident myself, honestly I can say that we are going unheard, and so that’s really why I’m here today, to make sure residents have a voice.”

Also, Trump’s AI-fueled vision for a drone port he intends to install atop the new White House ballroom includes missile-bearing unmanned aerial vehicles and gun-toting troops. But what hasn't been previously reported is the presence of a drone port a few hundred feet away, run by the U.S. Secret Service and not the military, which is already quietly operational.

Here's the latest:

Democratic leader says House Republicans are ‘running scared’ ahead of elections

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, who is in line to become House speaker if Democrats win control in fall, chided Republicans for trying to distance themselves from Trump on the Iran war and other issues.

“On one hand, they want Donald Trump’s MAGA money. I mean, they’re feeding at the trough of Donald Trump’s MAGA money,” he said. “And on the other hand, they want to pretend that they creating distance between Donald Trump and themselves.”

Jeffries held a news conference at the empty House chamber, criticizing Republicans for cutting short the legislative calendar to go home and campaign.

Judge hears arguments without immediately ruling on Trump’s news outlet ban

A judge has heard arguments but did not rule from the bench in a case on Trump’s ban of three news outlets from White House grounds.

Wednesday’s hearing marked the latest development in an extraordinary showdown between Trump and media outlets whose coverage he dislikes.

Trump banned the outlets beginning Friday, assailing what he called “fake news.” More recently the president has said negative coverage was dangerous for the country.

The outlets argued they were singled out because of the content of their coverage — in other words, viewpoint discrimination and called the ban a “blatant violation” of the First Amendment.

Hearing on Trump’s ban of 3 news outlets from White House is underway

In court arguments over Trump’s ban of three media outlets from White House grounds, the administration continues to defend the move as constitutional.

Justice Department attorney Michael Velchik told the court Wednesday that “access to the White House is a privilege, not a right.”

The case is being heard by U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, whom Trump appointed in 2017 and who ordered a CNN journalist’s access restored in a similar case in 2018.

Arguments began with attorney Theodore Boutrous Jr. calling the ban against CNN, MS NOW and Politico an “unprecedented, unreasonable punishment” and saying there was “not a semblance of due process.”

Trump to attend Texas-Tennessee football game

The White House confirms that the president, who has put athletics front and center in his second term, will attend the matchup Saturday.

No. 1 Texas is traveling to No. 14 Tennessee for the Southeastern Conference opener in Knoxville. It’s the first meeting between the two marquee football programs since the 1969 Cotton Bowl.

State Department orders diplomats to use ‘super intelligence’ rather ‘artificial intelligence’

The move follows Trump’s attempt to rebrand the technology in his address to the UN General Assembly.

“Following the president‘s remarks at the GA today, please change all references of ‘Artificial Intelligence’ to ‘Super Intelligence’ in our documents and positions. We will be using ‘SI’ in all remarks, positions and press elements moving forward,” said an email sent Tuesday to employees by Michael Drager, deputy assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of International Organization Affairs.

That bureau is in charge of U.S. diplomatic missions to all U.N. and multilateral agencies around the world. The email was obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday. It was not immediately clear if other State Department bureaus would follow suit.

AI company leaders warn that without intervention, ‘AI could be a risk to humanity as a whole’

The heads of major AI companies are pleading with the United Nations to set controls over the burgeoning technology they are designing to save the world or at least its people.

“If managed poorly, I even believe AI could be a risk to humanity as a whole,” Dario Amodei, Chief Executive Officer, Anthropic said.

“We could lose control of the future to AI,” his competitor, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI.

Both testified Wednesday to the U.N. Security Council. They said the countries of the world, through the council, have to set safeguards that would be actual controls to prevent the technology from getting too powerful to reign in. They also called for the world to make sure that the power of AI isn’t concentrated in one company or country.

Rubio says Trump has invited Putin to US-hosted G20 meeting in Florida

Speaking to reporters Wednesday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, Rubio said the Trump administration was hopeful that Putin would accept the invitation despite differences over Russia’s war with Ukraine and other matter.

“In order to solve problems, you have to meet with the people that you disagree with or the people that you might have some issues with, so we’ve invited President Putin to the G20,” Rubio said. “We think it’s an opportunity for him to engage not just with the president, but with other world leaders. We hope that’s, an invitation he’ll accept.”

Trump will host G20 leaders at his Miami country club in December.

County election offices in Texas are scrambling to process backlogged voter registrations

The problem started with the Texas Department of Public Safety, which allows people to register to vote or update their registrations when they renew their driver’s license.

State officials blamed an unspecified error dating to October 2025. It meant that applications were not being forwarded to the person’s home county, where they are processed and verified.

Now those counties are dealing with nearly a year’s worth of backlogged applications. Several county officials say they will need to hire temporary workers to handle the crush. Early in-person voting in Texas for the midterm elections starts Oct. 19.

The size of the backlog statewide hasn’t been determined, but the Texas Association of County Election Officials says it’s in the tens of thousands for some of the most populous counties. In Bexar County, which includes San Antonio, it’s about 45,000 voter registration applications.

State Department asks Americans to report suspected visa fraudsters

The State Department is asking Americans to report foreigners suspected of U.S. visa fraud for potential deportation and criminal prosecution.

The department said in a statement Wednesday that it had launched an online portal to make it easier to report such cases.

The department said tips from “upstanding and concerned” members of the public have been responsible for the revocation of visas from many of the tens of thousands of people who either lied on their applications or were violating the conditions of their stay in the U.S.

“This new online tool provides a convenient and reliable way for the public to submit crucial information for prompt review and action,” the statement said.

Americans’ views of China are a bit warmer than 5 years ago

The finding from a survey conducted in mid-September by the Pew Research Center comes just as Chinese President Xi is about to arrive in Washington for his first state visit to the U.S. in 11 years.

Americans were asked on the survey to evaluate how warm and positive or cold and negative they feel about China, using a scale from zero to 100.

About one-fifth of the Americans now have warm views about China, the analysis found, up from about 11% in 2021, when public sentiments fell to the lowest point in Pew’s 10-year trend in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

More than half of Americans feel cold about China, but it’s down from about 7 in 10 from five years ago.

Zelenskyy urges leaders to keep choking Russia’s revenues

Ukrainian President President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is urging world’s leaders to keep choking Russia’s revenues and impede its war efforts.

He’s telling the U.N. General Assembly that “Russia’s revenues must remain a target.”

He says that trade, and the money it brings in, gives more time to the war. That, he says, is “why we insist on limiting trade with the aggressor.

Russia gets its turn Saturday to address the assembly.

President Vladimir Putin hasn’t traveled to the gathering in years, sending Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov instead.

Soybean farmers have high hopes for Xi visit

Before Trump’s tariffs, half of U.S. soybean exports went to China.

Since then, exports dropped from nearly $18 billion in 2022 to only $3 billion in 2025, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data.

“No one can replace the Chinese market,” said Dave Walton, a farmer from Wilton, Iowa.

Brazil and Argentina have made gains.

Brazil exported a record 108.7 million metric tons of soybeans in 2025, up 11.7% from the year before, with about 80% going to China, according to Brazil’s National Association of Cereal Exporters.

Walton says he’d like to see the U.S. tariffs removed.

“We think of Xi as a friend to American agriculture,” said Walton, who is the vice president of the American Soybean Association.

Schumer warns against weakening export controls for chips

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer is warning Trump not to give China greater access to advanced semiconductor chips and equipment as part of talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping this week.

Schumer is touching on voter concerns about the safety of artificial intelligence and contrasting Democrats’ call for greater regulation with the president’s call to “encourage it, not rein it in.”

“We must reject the false choice Trump keeps making,” Schumer told reporters.

“We can and must both maintain our lead on AI by restricting China’s access to our technology and put up guardrails to mitigate AI’s risk,” Schumer said.

Trump administration to defend its news outlet ban in court hearing

The showdown between Trump and media outlets whose coverage he dislikes is moving to a courtroom in the nation’s capital.

A judge will hear arguments Wednesday on whether the president’s move banning CNN, MS NOW and Politico from White House grounds violates the Constitution.

The Trump administration argues that the reporting of the three outlets poses a threat to national security. The administration plans to double down on its contention that it has the right to decide who can set foot in the White House.

The outlets say they were singled out because of the content of their coverage. They called this a “blatant violation” of the First Amendment and asked the court to immediately restore their access.

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Election plans include how to deal with the Trump administration

As state and local election officials prepare for what could go wrong administering the midterms, they’re planning not just for what foreign adversaries might try — but how the Trump administration could interfere.

At a panel Wednesday for the left-leaning think tank Center for American Progress, California Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta said officials are working on what to do if U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers or National Guard troops show up at polling places, or if ballots are seized.

Michigan Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel said one concern is the possibility that federal law enforcement officials would get in the way of voting by mail even after the Supreme Court rejected mail ballot restrictions.

Rubio says Trump has many options to meet defense commitments to Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is facing increasing attacks from Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, Rubio pledged for the second time in three days that the United States will “live up” to its commitments to the Saudis but declined to say what that would entail.

“They are a strategic defense partner. The U.S. has made commitments to them. We will live up to those commitments,” he said, adding that “obviously, the president has many options available to him.”

Rubio says US won’t walk away from Iran war and must prevent Iranian nuclear capabilities

He said the U.S. cannot simply walk away and declare victory over Iran, arguing that the U.S. must ensure the Islamic Republic never develops a nuclear weapon.

“The idea that the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism would be in possession of nuclear weapons is simply unacceptable,” Rubio told reporters on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, noting that many U.N. members had voted in the past “in support of that principle.”

Trump’s efforts to contain Iran’s nuclear program aren’t limited to last year’s bombings of its nuclear facilities, Rubio said, adding that Trump is “thinking about the next generation.”

Meanwhile, Rubio said the U.S. military is ensuring that part of the Strait of Hormuz is open to commercial oil tankers, which are increasingly traversing the strait to deliver oil around the world.

Rubio says the US is frustrated by external forces fueling Sudan conflict

Rubio said the U.S. is frustrated by lack of progress in making peace in Sudan, urging foreign actors he didn’t name to pressure their allies in Sudan to settle the devastating conflict.

“That crisis would not be happening were it not for the active participation of external actors that are feeding one side of that conflict or another,” he told reporters at the United Nations General Assembly. ” It’s growing increasingly frustrating.”

U.N. experts and U.S. congressmen have accused the United Arab Emirates of supporting the paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces, which has been fighting the Sudanese military for over three years. Egypt and Turkey back the military. The UAE denies it’s supporting the RSF, a group blamed for most of the atrocities in the war that killed at least 59,000 since 2023.

Rubio says after meeting Russian FM that Russia and Ukraine are interested in a limited ceasefire

Rubio says both Russia and Ukraine have expressed interest in a limited ceasefire that would halt attacks on grain shipments and each country’s energy sectors.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday after meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, Rubio said reaching even a partial deal would be difficult but worthwhile even if it doesn’t completely end the conflict.

“It won’t be easy but it’s something that both sides have expressed an interest in,” he said, noting that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has publicly endorsed such a plan. “If we can play a constructive role in making that happen, we would be very open to, again, recognizing it doesn’t end the war, but it does deal with something, and maybe it can serve as the baseline or a platform for a broader agreement.”

US government ‘always’ raises cases of wrongfully detained Americans, Rubio says

His department has designated two U.S. citizens, Youlin Chen and Min Zin, as wrongfully detained in China, and President Trump is expected to raise their cases when hosting Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week.

“The case of unlawfully and wrongfully detained Americans is always raised not just at our meetings, but in any engagement that we have and in our communications with any country around the world,” Rubio said. “This is a constant under this administration.”

Board of Peace officials cite slow and imperfect progress toward rebuilding Gaza

Officials with the Board of Peace, the body President Trump established to oversee the fragile ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, acknowledged Wednesday that progress has been slow but said they’re moving forward with the ambitious plan.

Trump’s ceasefire plan brought an end to the heaviest fighting. But nearly one year later, its broader goals, including disarming Hamas and beginning reconstruction, haven’t taken place.

“Given the complexities of what we’re dealing with, I think we’re making slowly but steady and steadily, progress,” the board’s director general, Nickolay Mladenov, said on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.

While the board announced plans for over $2 billion in projects, they gave no timeline for when they would take place.

Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Mideast envoy, added that various people behind the board “can point to real progress.”

“There is a cease fire, imperfect as it may be, but it still exists,” he said.

Despite disagreements, US and China leaders must interact, Rubio says

He said the U.S. and China must interact at the highest levels because the two countries are “the two largest economies in the world” and “probably the two most powerful militaries in the world.”

“The idea that we would not interact with them at the highest levels is irresponsible. It’s outrageous. We have to,” Rubio said, hours before President Trump will greet Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the tarmac of Joint Base Andrews in a rare welcome ceremony.

“I think it’s just responsible statecraft for our leaders to speak and meet with one another,” Rubio said.

US needs to balance arms sales to Taiwan with its own needs, Rubio says

Rubio said the U.S. needs to balance arms sales to Taiwan with “our industrial capacity and our military industrial base.”

“Anytime we do any sales … it is always balanced against what are our own needs in different parts of the world and whether we can afford to sell something, because we may need it for ourselves,” Rubio said.

The Trump administration has paused arms sales to Taiwan, apparently after the U.S. president visited Beijing in May. Beijing considers Taiwan to be part of its territory and has urged the U.S. side to handle the Taiwan issue with prudence.

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It happened on May 11 in the shared courtyard of a Hallandale Beach apartment complex, the location of which was withheld from arrest forms due to authorities protecting the victim’s identity.

According to Hallandale Beach police, the victim, who is a person 65 or older, was sitting on the bench with another person while their dogs played in the grass when a dog belonging to the suspect, identified as Antonia Yeromina, approached the two other dogs.

Body-worn camera footage obtained by Local 10 News shows the victim later explaining to officers what happened.

“I was in the back with a neighbor, the dogs were playing nice,” she said in the footage. “This woman came with a dog, and her dog and my dog started fighting.”

And that’s when the arrest report said the situation escalated, as the two women each snatched their dogs to stop the fight, but after it was over, the victim told officers that Yeromina began attacking her.

“She started hitting me on my face, on my arms,” the victim said, adding that Yeromina started screaming, “I hate you, I hate you.”

The arrest report states that after the initial encounter, Yeromina returned and attacked the victim a second time, once again striking her in the face.

The person who was sitting with the victim then put themself between the two women, which is when police said Yeromina turned her attention to the victim’s dog.

“Since the defendant could no longer intentionally attack the victim, the defendant maliciously and intentionally kicked the victim’s dog in the belly area as the dog was peacefully laying on the ground, in what appeared to be an angry response to no longer having the ability to continue her attack on the victim,” the arrest report stated.

Despite the incident happening in May, Yeromina was not arrested until Monday.

She is facing two charges of battery on a person 65 years of age or older and a charge of tormenting an animal.

After going before a judge on Tuesday, Yeromina was released on a $15,000 bond and conditions of not contacting the victim, not to return to the incident location and not possessing any animals.

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The woman, who has since been identified as 37-year-old Nikkita Wongchong, was knocked unconscious, but the driver is seen in the video speeding off, leaving the woman in the middle of a McDonald’s parking lot with serious injuries.

Passing drivers could be seen getting out of their cars to check on her.

This all happened Saturday around 8:40 a.m. outside the McDonald’s located at 26601 S. Dixie Highway, in southwest Miami-Dade’s unincorporated Naranja area.

Nile Sausbre said she was working across the street and watched as Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to the area.

“That’s not right,” she said. “That’s a human being.”

Deputies said they performed CPR until paramedics arrived and rushed the victim to the hospital in critical condition.

Doctors later determined she was brain dead.

The driver has been identified as 28-year-old Ismel Baro Rodriguez.

Investigators said they reviewed surveillance video that helped them track down Baro Rodriguez at a home not far from the scene.

He has since been charged with a felony count of aggravated battery with great bodily harm and the Cuban national is now behind bars at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on an immigration hold.

In his candid new memoir, “Fights Worth Fighting,” the martial artist and actor trades his tough-guy persona for vulnerability.

Lundgren recently sat down with Local 10’s Jason Carter to discuss the book.

Jason Carter: “You have lived an incredible life. Many call you an icon, and now you’re giving us a very unfiltered glimpse into your life. Why was now the time to write this book?”

Dolph Lundgren: “Well, you know, when do you write a memoir? I suppose you have to be at a certain age. So you have done enough to fill out a book, which I think I had. In 2020, I had a cancer diagnosis that kind of shook up my whole life.”

JC: “We see you as this, this iconic superstar, hyper masculine muscle, Ivan Drago, He-Man, Rocky, you are jettisoning all of that and really getting very honest with your fans. What was it like for you to lay down those guards when you started writing and what was so therapeutic about that?”

DL: “Well, it started actually when I announced the cancer battle, which was in 2023. I spoke out about that and about my childhood when my dad, who was quite abusive towards me (and) my mom -- I spoke out about that and it made me feel good. You know, you’re only as sick as your secrets, they say. And it wasn’t that difficult for me to talk about it. It made me feel good. It was therapeutic.”

JC: “Was there anything that you felt that was unfairly put on you, that now you have the opportunity to say, ‘Wait, hold on. That’s completely wrong.’”

DL: “Bring you the bad news, but you know, we have to live in the moment. And that’s what I learned. That’s what I learned from this experience. And it was just amplified by what I’ve been through. So I think every day is a wonderful day.”

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Deputies with the Broward Sheriff’s Office arrived to the Orion gas station located at 101 E. Atlantic Blvd. in Pompano Beach shortly before 3 p.m. Tuesday after receiving reports about gunfire in the area.

Responding deputies arrived to find a man who had been shot.

Pompano Beach Fire Rescue medics rushed the man to Broward Health North for treatment, authorities said.

Surveillance video showed an altercation between a woman and the man who would eventually be shot.

The video shows the two in a physical struggle, with the woman appearing to try to get away from the man and into the passenger side of a white Toyota RAV4 SUV that was parked at the gas pumps.

Later, that same man approached the driver side of the SUV, and after he got closer to the person standing next to the SUV, that person opened fire at the man as he tried to run away.

The gas station was blocked off with yellow police tape as investigators processed the scene.

Inside the tape was the Toyota SUV and six evidence markers.

Deputies said one person was detained at the scene following the shooting.

The investigation remains active and ongoing.

For the first time, apparently in response to escalating threats, U.N. security required all staff and lower-ranking diplomats to have their belongings scanned.

The problem was that there were only two scanners for hundreds and hundreds of people trying to get into the building via the staff entrance between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. Tuesday, when the meeting started. Many faced long delays, and some were frantic.

Motorcades carrying presidents, prime ministers and monarchs to the building had priority on nearby streets and traffic was often at a standstill.

Meanwhile, First Avenue — which runs uptown alongside the U.N. complex — was closed to normal traffic. Only motorcades could enter. That meant that many vehicles trying to get uptown were using the closest uptown street —- Third Avenue.

Then police closed that, too — at midafternoon Tuesday after a report of a suspicious package — fouling up traffic for New Yorkers even more.

Police said they got a call around 3 p.m. Tuesday about a suspicious package near East 43rd Street and Third Avenue, prompting a response by bomb squad and other officers.

The object, police said, turned out to be harmless.

The nearly impossible part for the female cyclist from Afghanistan was trying to train in her country. To do that, she dressed as a man in a place where women have few rights.

“All the time when I was going to training,” she said, “I was dressing as a guy.”

She said she also hid her face when she could in order to not be recognized.

“Because sometimes when they recognized me, they were trying to throw ... stone(s) or hitting me," she said.

Hashimi, who is 23, won silver Tuesday in a time of 2 hours, 50 minutes, 5 seconds, which marked another leg in a journey that began in 2021 when she left Afghanistan.

“In 2021, when the Taliban moved into my country, I escaped my country because I wanted to follow my dream,” she said. “I want to show the Afghanistan women in the world that ... we can have an opportunity.”

Hashimi talked about having many dreams for women in Afghanistan, dreams for herself and dreams that may take time to be realized.

“I’m really, really happy and I’m full of emotion. I don’t know how I can explain it for you,” she said.

“I hope one day I come back in my country and ride the streets of Kabul — and riding with the women side by side to share the same passion," she explained.

“And I hope in the future changing some things,” she added. “I think we are really tired of the situation of our country and I hope the Taliban is watching. I know how much one woman can be powerful and that's why Taliban is scared (of) women.”

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SNTV video journalist Raj Mohan contributed to this report.

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See full AP coverage of Asian sports here

Some areas have seen an accumulation between 2 to 4 inches across northeast Miami-Dade and southern Broward County with more on the way as light-to-moderate rainfall will continue though the morning.

There is a marginal risk for excessive rainfall on Wednesday as slow-moving downpours could bring the threat for localized street flooding.

More storms are possible into the afternoon as clouds keep temperatures in the middle-to-upper 80s.

“Chicas Spin” brings them together.

It’s part network, part sisterhood — made for women who shake the room.

“Being able to shapeshift a room and control the vibe of a room. That’s the best part of DJing,” said Chicas Spin founder, Lilyana Fonte.

But Chicas Spin is not just about who can throw down the hardest. It’s about who has your back when the set is over.

“It really started out as almost just a little group chat of girls who could tell each other when they were home and catch each other’s sets and maybe have a buddy who could go with them to their set that knew what was happening and could support,” Fonte said.

The Miami-based group launched in 2024 to give female DJs a place to connect, network, trade opportunities and build friendships in an industry long-dominated by men across the country.

Click the following links for more on the member DJs:

Manu Magick

Natalie Siriani

L ilyAna

“There’s always another show. There’s so many opportunities,” said Chicas Spin community leader, Natalie Siriani.

This club group is not always about spinning either. Sometimes, the point is to step away from the decks completely.

“It’s almost a little break from the spinning ... The goal is always to step away for the deck for a second and just get a moment with other girls who are usually behind the e decks,” Fonte said.

At a recent Chicas Spin gathering at Lion’s Den in Miami, members gathered to “Pass the Aux” — an event to share music, get creative and meditate.

For women who are usually the ones setting the vibe, this was a chance to just be in one.

That space matters in an industry that can be difficult to navigate.

“Five to six years ago when I started DJing, it was a little bit weirder to see girls getting the late night gigs or the headlining gigs, and I wanted a space where we could, like, bond and realistically talk about our goals without their being maybe other energies,” said Fonte. “This collective helps you get your foot in the door just a little bit more than if you came to Miami and tried to DJ on your own.”

“It is very collaborative… in Miami it is very powerful and the women are very on their ball here,” Siriani said.

To submit an idea for What Connects Us, email whatconnectsus@wplg.com.

The deal was officially signed Tuesday in New York, after U.S., Greenlandic and Danish officials had quietly negotiated for months behind the scenes — searching both for solutions to address some of Trump’s security concerns about the territory, as well as alleviating Danish and Greenlandic fears of being taken over by the U.S.

The three parties expressed satisfaction with the deal at the signing ceremony — but what exactly does it say?

The United States can expand its military presence on the island

Washington is allowed to “modernize and expand” its activities at the remote Pituffik Space Base in the northwest, according to the agreement.

The U.S. can also set up “defense areas” at Narsarsuaq in the south and Mestersvig in the east, and “may establish additional defense areas in Greenland and strengthen its military operations or facilities.”

The deal refers to a changed security situation in the Arctic

The accord calls for wide U.S. military mobility on Greenland’s territory, including “undersea access," noting that “ the security situation in the Arctic is changing and that more efforts are needed to ensure security there in the future.”

The accord stresses Denmark's territorial integrity and Greenlanders' self-determination

The agreement reaffirms “the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark,” and recognizes the Greenlanders' "right to self-determination.”

The deal supports a stronger NATO engagement in the Arctic

The agreement says all three parties “support a stronger NATO engagement in the Arctic, including as regards planning, presence, exercises, and joint intelligence gathering.”

It allows U.S. military access to Greenland to defend the NATO area, Greenland itself and the American continent — including through a “Golden Dome defense system."

Non-NATO country installations are not allowed

The deal spells out that “no state that is not a member of NATO shall be allowed to establish its own manned or unmanned military installations in Greenland nor shall they be allowed a persistent presence of military forces in Greenland."

It vows to respect Greenland's environment and traditional ways of life

In the preamble, the signatories recognize “the need to protect the pristine environment of Greenland.” It also stresses “the economic, social, and cultural rights of the people of Greenland, including with respect to their lands and their way of life, including hunting, fishing, and other traditional, cultural, historical, future activities.”

It addresses what happens if Greenland becomes independent from Denmark

The accord “does not have an end date” and, if Greenland chooses to become independent, it will agree to remain in NATO and take on Denmark’s rights and obligations under the deal.

The agreement needs parliamentary approval

The deal will only “enter into force” once the “necessary parliamentary processes of the Kingdom of Denmark, in conjunction with Greenland, have been completed.”

El Centro Nacional de Huracanes de Estados Unidos en Miami (NHC, por sus siglas en inglés) calificó a Polo de tormenta “extremadamente peligrosa” prevista a rozar el estado mexicano de Guerrero, sumergiendo zonas costeras con entre 10 y 15 centímetros (de 4 a 6 pulgadas) de lluvia hasta el jueves.

En su punto máximo, Polo fue un huracán de categoría 5 con vientos máximos sostenidos de 290 km/h (180 mph ). Para la mañana del miércoles era de categoría 4, pero aún registraba vientos máximos sostenidos de 241 km/h (150 mph).

“Se prevén fluctuaciones en la intensidad, pero se espera que Polo siga siendo un huracán mayor muy potente durante los próximos días”, dijo el NHC.

Olas, inundaciones y deslaves suponen un peligro

La presidenta mexicana Claudia Sheinbaum señaló que los expertos indicaron que era poco probable que Polo tocara tierra. Aun así, se esperaban condiciones de tormenta tropical a lo largo de la costa del Pacífico en los estados de Guerrero, Michoacán y Colima hasta el jueves.

Los vientos con fuerza de huracán pueden extenderse hasta 65 kms (40 millas) desde el vórtice de la tormenta, mientras que zonas de hasta 169 kms (105 millas) desde el ojo serán azotadas por vientos con fuerza de tormenta tropical, dijeron los meteorólogos. Polo estaba a unos 266 kilómetros (165 millas) al sur de Zihuatanejo y a 515 kms (320 millas) al sureste de Manzanillo el miércoles, informó el centro.

Concepción López Villegas se afanaba en reforzar su restaurante junto al mar en Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán, ante el embate previsto de la lluvia. El fuerte oleaje ya golpeaba las playas y López Villegas temía que la tormenta destruyera el pequeño negocio que ha trabajado durante décadas para construir.

“Estamos preocupados y tratando de proteger nuestros negocios", afirmó. "Y, por supuesto, estamos tristes porque es nuestro patrimonio, nuestro legado, que de un momento a otro podría ser destruido”.

Datos del NHC muestran que los vientos de Polo alcanzaron velocidades comparables a las de unos pocos huracanes que llegaron a la región en las últimas décadas, sobre todo Patricia, cuyos vientos llegaron a los 346 km/h (215 mph) en 2015.

Polo se convirtió el martes en el tercer huracán de categoría 5 de la temporada del Pacífico, después de Genevieve y Lowell.

El Niño impulsó la rápida intensificación

La rápida intensificación del huracán Polo ha dejado atónitos tanto a científicos como a autoridades, y el NHC escribió en un informe que fue “verdaderamente notable” lo rápido que Polo ganó fuerza en apenas 24 horas.

Philip Klotzbach, científico investigador del Departamento de Ciencias Atmosféricas de la Universidad Estatal de Colorado, atribuyó la intensificación al fenómeno meteorológico conocido como El Niño, que ha alimentado sequías devastadoras en México y Centroamérica e inundaciones en otras partes de la región.

En el Pacífico, dijo, ha resultado en aguas más cálidas y patrones de viento que sirven de combustible para los huracanes.

“Están todos los ingredientes que los huracanes necesitan para volverse realmente fuertes realmente rápido”, afirmó Klotzbach.

Odalys gana fuerza y se convierte en huracán

Mientras tanto, el huracán Odalys se agitaba en otra parte del océano Pacífico el miércoles, con vientos máximos sostenidos de 120 km/h (75 mph) .

Odalys se agitaba a unos 2.036 kilómetros (1.265 millas) al oeste-suroeste del extremo sur de la península de Baja California, en México, y no corría riesgo de tocar tierra, según el centro de huracanes.

Un aviso indicó que Odalys podría aumentar de intensidad durante los próximos días, pero probablemente se debilitaría hacia el final de la semana.

Hawai podría enfrentar otro huracán

Una depresión tropical a unos 845 kilómetros (525 millas) al sur-sureste de la capital de Hawai, Honolulu, podría convertirse en tormenta tropical para el final del día y en huracán para el jueves.

El centro de huracanes recomendó al archipiélago vigilar el avance del sistema, que podría dejar entre 38 y 51 centímetros (de 15 a 20 pulgadas) de lluvia en la Isla Grande. Los meteorólogos vaticinaron “peligrosas inundaciones y deslaves catastróficos”.

El centro del ciclón está previsto a acercarse a las islas para el viernes o el sábado.

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Brooks reportó desde Atlanta.

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

Range and charging

The Rivian R2’s range spans from 275 miles in the base Standard model to 345 miles in the Standard Long Range. Most other versions are rated at 330 miles. In the real-world Edmunds EV Range Test, the R2 Performance covered 304 miles, falling short of its 330-mile EPA estimate.

The Tesla Model Y outperforms the R2, ranging from 294 miles in the all-wheel-drive base model to 357 miles in the rear-wheel-drive Premium. The rear-wheel-drive base Model Y Edmunds tested covered 337 miles, and the new three-row Model Y L managed an impressive 358 miles — both beating their EPA estimates. For both rivals, all-wheel-drive versions are rated lower than their rear-wheel-drive counterparts.

Both electric SUVs use Tesla-style (NACS) charging ports, giving them access to Tesla’s vast Supercharger fast-charging network. Under ideal conditions, Tesla says the Model Y can add up to 162 miles in 15 minutes, edging out the R2’s cited 150 miles in 15 minutes. Edmunds’ testing confirmed that the Tesla charges slightly quicker.

Winner: Tesla Model Y

Tech features

The R2 and Model Y boast an impressive amount of standard tech, including a generous collection of advanced driver aids, wireless smartphone charging pads, large touchscreens with sharp-looking graphics, Google-based navigation, and camera systems that record your drive and monitor the vehicle’s surroundings when parked.

A hands-free driving mode is also available on both EVs. Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) drives hands-free on highways and city streets, obeying stop signs and traffic lights and changing lanes on its own — in Edmunds’ testing, it’s been the most useful hands-free driving system available. Rivian’s Autonomy+ also works hands-free on roads with painted lane markings, but it doesn’t operate during city driving.

Overall, however, the R2’s tech features are impressive. Unlike the Model Y, it has a digital driver display that keeps important info in your line of sight. Also, the R2’s touchscreen system proved more responsive and enjoyable to use in Edmunds’ testing.

Winner: Rivian R2

Interior comfort and utility

The Model Y rides more smoothly over bumps than the firmer R2, though both have comfortable, supportive seats. Passenger space is similar, though the R2 has a bit more rear headroom. Tesla one-ups Rivian, however, with an available third row in the Premium and in the extended-length Model Y L — though it’s best for kids and small adults, and it eats up a lot of cargo space when raised.

As for cargo, the R2 tops the Model Y behind the rear seats when you include their underfloor storage compartments, and it offers far greater total capacity: 90.1 cubic feet versus the five-seat Model Y’s 75.5 cubic feet. Its front trunk is slightly larger too, and its 4,400-pound max towing capacity tops the Model Y’s 3,500 pounds.

The Model Y is more comfortable and offers third-row versatility, but the R2 delivers more utility and a roomier back seat.

Winner: tie

Pricing and value

Including destination fees, the Rivian R2’s starting prices range from $46,485 for the Standard trim to $59,485 for the top-level Performance trim. The Model Y spans $41,380 for the base trim to $63,380 for the three-row Model Y L. Note that for the R2, only the priciest Performance trim is available now; more affordable trim levels arrive in late 2026 and spring 2027.

In general, the R2 will likely cost you a little more to buy. But it justifies its premium with a richer-looking interior, distinctive styling, superior off-road capability, and uncommon touches like a drop-down rear window and dual glove boxes. Rivian also backs it with a one-year/12,000-mile adjustment warranty covering wheel alignment, factory defects and more — something Tesla doesn’t offer.

Winner: tie

Edmunds says

This electric SUV comparison ends in a tie — both earned the same overall rating score and are at the top of Edmunds’ rankings for electric small SUVs. You can’t go wrong with either, but if range and comfort top your priorities, the Model Y is for you. If you’d rather have a more capable, premium-feeling SUV, order the R2.

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This story was provided to The Associated Press by the automotive website Edmunds.

Michael Cantu is a contributor at Edmunds.

The poll of more than 2,000 rural registered voters found that costs of groceries, gas and healthcare are among the top pain points for rural voters. They are also more likely than voters overall to say they are worried about being able to afford groceries or gas.

Rural Americans skew Republican and historically have been an instrumental voting bloc for Trump. The findings suggest that many rural voters haven’t turned against Trump but that they also largely don’t think he has delivered on his economic promises. While rural voters seem unlikely to support Democrats on a large scale, Trump and the Republican Party could face challenges with them in November.

The full story can be read here. Here are the takeaways:

Most rural voters disapprove of Trump on the economy

As the election approaches, only about 4 in 10 rural voters surveyed approve of Trump’s performance on the economy. Roughly 6 in 10 disapprove.

They rate him similarly on his handling of the Iran war, an entanglement that has proved expensive for the U.S. and increased oil and gas prices. And rural voters rank pocketbook concerns and fraud in government programs higher among the things they want to hear about from politicians than other perennial issues, such as gun policy and abortion policy.

In the poll, about three-quarters of rural voters rated the cost of living in their communities as “only fair” or “poor.”

Rural Americans, who have consistently lower wages than those who live in suburban and metro areas, have been hurting economically for decades, according to Tim Slack, a professor of sociology at Louisiana State University and co-author of the book “Rural and Small-Town America.”

“Many folks are connecting the cost-of-living crisis to many of the Trump administration’s policy choices: the war in Iran, tariffs, trade wars,” he said. “None of those things are going to bring down prices at the pump or the local Walmart.”

Rural Republicans have a rosier view of Trump

At the same time, about half of rural voters approve of Trump’s job performance, more than among U.S. adults overall in separate AP-NORC polling.

Rural Republicans do have a brighter economic perspective than rural Democrats or independents, particularly about the U.S. as a whole, according to the survey. About 6 in 10 rural Republican voters say Trump has improved the national economy, compared with roughly 2 in 10 independents and fewer than 1 in 10 Democrats.

But only 45% of rural Republican voters say Trump has made their local economies better off. About 1 in 4 say there are fewer good-paying jobs where they live than five years ago.

Trump's healthcare policies go unnoticed

The AP-KFF poll found that rural voters overall don’t perceive much positive impact from the Trump administration’s healthcare policies even as they have been a top priority for Republican leaders, who have promoted efforts to lower drug costs and touted a $50 billion rural health program.

Only 17% of the voters said the Trump administration’s healthcare policies have had a “positive impact” on their healthcare costs, while 41% said they’ve had “no impact” and another 41% said they’ve had a “negative impact.”

A year after the passage of the Rural Health Transformation Program, more than 8 in 10 rural voters said they’d heard either “a little” or “nothing at all” about the health fund. About 6 in 10 said they had heard nothing, according to the survey.

Rural Republican voters still trust the GOP more

When asked which political party they trusted to do a better job of handling issues such as the cost of healthcare or the cost of living, rural voters tended to side with their own party.

The finding signals that Democratic candidates are more likely to benefit from rural Republicans staying home this November than from them voting across party lines in large numbers.

Rural Republicans are more ambivalent about their party’s ability to handle key healthcare issues, compared with Democrats. About 8 in 10 Democratic voters say they trust the Democrats to address healthcare costs, while closer to 6 in 10 Republican voters say the same of the Republicans.

Many rural voters don't feel respected by Trump or the parties

Trump's approval among rural voters, while higher than among U.S. adults overall, is down slightly, from 56% approval in a similar question asked in a 2017 KFF-Washington Post survey.

Many rural voters also don’t think the major parties or the president respect people like them.

About half, 48%, of rural voters say the GOP respects people like them “a lot” or “some,” while 45% of rural voters say this about Trump and 37% say this about the Democratic Party.

This year’s competitive elections feature key Senate races in states including Ohio, Michigan and Maine, all of which have large rural populations. In close races, Democrats may have a chance to “show up and give a message that rural people might find appealing,” said Nicholas Jacobs, a political scientist at Colby College and co-author of the book “The Rural Voter.”

“But it’s nothing more and it’s nothing less than that — an opportunity,” Jacobs said. “And time and time again, Democrats have shown a certain proclivity for not seizing that opportunity.”

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The poll of 2,241 U.S. adults registered to vote in rural areas of the country was conducted Aug. 12-24, 2026, using a sample drawn from the probability-based SSRS Opinion Panel. The margin of sampling error for the full sample is plus or minus 3 percentage points. In collaboration with the AP, KFF researchers worked to design the survey sample and questionnaire, analyze and report findings.

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This report is a collaboration between The Associated Press and KFF Health News. KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling and journalism.

A diagnosis of a rare, aggressive form of cancer had forced her into retirement after three decades of working with homeless youth. As the disease quickly spread through her body, she felt “like a walking time bomb.” But she found a new purpose, becoming a public face of a movement in favor of life-ending options.

She shared her story publicly and traveled from her home near Chicago to Springfield, the state capital, to convince lawmakers it was vital to legalize medically assisted death.

The day came on Sept. 12. She celebrated at home with friends and family as “Deb’s law,” named after her, took effect. Illinois became the first Midwestern state and the 13th state overall (plus the District of Columbia) to authorize the option.

“I believe that God gave me this extra time so that I could see this law through,” said Robertson, 68. “I believe that people have the right to leave this Earth with dignity and on their own terms.”

In recent years, the practice of allowing doctors to help terminally ill patients end their lives with medication has been legalized in several countries, with many more considering it. In the U.S., New York and Illinois recently became the latest states to join an accelerating pace of such legislation.

The issue remains bitterly contested

Opponents, including many religious groups, lawmakers and disability advocates, have moral objections to someone ending their life. Even with safeguards in place, some argue, the decision could be made for the wrong reasons.

“It puts people like myself — people with developmental and mental disabilities, as well as physical disabilities — in danger,” said Ebony Payne, a Chicago-based disability advocate who is quadriplegic. She was a plaintiff in a lawsuit against “Deb’s law,″ contending it discriminates against people with disabilities.

Even Pope Leo XIV weighed in, urging Gov. JB Pritzker not to sign the bill. Leo later said he was “very disappointed” that his home state of Illinois approved a law condemned by the Catholic Church. Polls show that most Americans think medical aid in dying is either morally acceptable or not a moral issue, although opinions vary across different faiths and political lines.

Dr. Jessica Kaan, medical director for End of Life Washington, an advocacy group, has helped hundreds of patients in Washington and Oregon with assisted dying.

Her mother, a practicing Christian, opposes it on religious grounds: “She’s horrified that I’m involved in any way.”

Kaan says she’s an advocate for choices. Her perspective is shaped by the types of deaths she has witnessed.

Among them are patients with ALS, a progressive disease that attacks nerve cells controlling muscles throughout the body. “It’s a particularly gruesome and awful way for most people to even anticipate their dying,” she said about a disease that takes away the body’s ability to move and speak.

For many terminally ill patients, she said, having the option gives them a sense of comfort, even if they eventually might not use it.

“I respect that people don’t want to choose that as an option for themselves. What I don’t love is for people trying to police that for other people.”

How a California man prepared to die

Peter Redgrove of San Diego, a late-stage bone marrow cancer and leukemia patient, used California’s assisted-dying law on Sunday. After 19 rounds of chemotherapy, he decided to set the terms of his death following a long, pain-wracked hospital stay.

“I see no point in enduring pain and suffering emotionally, psychologically and physically, when there are means to end it,” said Redgrove, 85, days before he took the lethal prescription cocktail in a cup emblazoned with Sylvester, his favorite character from the Looney Tunes. “I don’t think you get extra points for hanging in to the bitter end.”

Redgrove grew up in Catholic orphanages in England before moving to the U.S. Although he was no longer a practicing Catholic, he remained close to his faith, often wearing a crucifix he only gave away right before his death.

“An all-loving God is not going to punish me and throw me into a fire pit because I’m doing this,” Redgrove said in his room at a residential facility, where he spent his last days listening to classical music and reminding people to be kind.

With a death doula’s help, he invited loved ones to a celebration of his life that included Champagne, a shroud to wrap his body in his favorite royal purple and a final song: “Time” by The Alan Parsons Project.

Before he took his last breath, he read a Buddhist prayer.

State by state, the movement has spread

Oregon was the first U.S. state to pass a medical aid-in-dying law; it took effect in 1997.

As other states followed suit, what remains generally consistent is that to use the laws, one must have an incurable illness and less than six months to live, said Thaddeus Pope, a bioethicist at Mitchell Hamline School of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota. To qualify, one must also be able to understand and make a voluntary decision and be able to take the prescribed medications without assistance.

The latest states to legalize medical aid in dying are among the most populous: New York, where it took effect in August, and Illinois earlier this month. Today, nearly 1/3 of Americans live in a state where that end-of-life option is legal — though the practice remains uncommon in the U.S., accounting for roughly 15,000 deaths since the Oregon law went into effect in 1997.

“We actually have a pretty significant track record now: 30 years in Oregon, 18 years in Washington, 10 years in California. … That’s a lot of experience,” Pope said.

Peg Sandeen, chief executive officer of the Death with Dignity National Center, a nonprofit advocacy group, said there’s clear evidence that the safeguards work. “Police are not chasing after cases where there’s been coercion. We don’t have physicians losing their license to practice. That’s not happening.”

Some faith traditions continue to condemn assisted dying — sometimes called assisted suicide. Illinois pastor Andy Huette, who leads a nondenominational church in Gridley, urged Christians to reject Deb’s law, calling it “legislating darkness.” He has supported congregants with ALS, cancer and other chronic illnesses, and understands the desire to reduce suffering, but he also believes in its “redemptive purposes.”

Others have changed positions. Rabbi Dvora E. Weisberg served on a Reform committee that spent more than two years interpreting Jewish texts and talking to doctors and families to draft a paper on medically assisted dying that reverses earlier guidance. The paper argued that Jewish law must respond to modern medicine’s ability to prolong dying and to new knowledge about pain.

“We take this very, very seriously even though we know that any Reform Jew can disagree with us. We’re not the Vatican, we don’t have that kind of power,” said Weisberg, a professor of Rabbinics at Hebrew Union College.

“But the response that we’ve gotten from people who have read it has been very positive in the sense that they feel that now they have something to think about that can help them.”

Opposition from religious and disability groups remains firm

Before Deb’s law went into effect, a judge denied a request for a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit by Ebony Payne and disability groups that aimed to block the law, saying that they had not proved standing or imminent harm.

In her Chicago home, Payne used a mouth-operated stylus to look at the ruling on her phone while lying in a reclining medical care chair. “I’m very disappointed,” she said. “My hope is that the law will be taken off the books.”

The six Catholic dioceses in Illinois criticized the law, saying it puts the state “on a dangerous and heartbreaking path.” The pope, who grew up in Chicago, has cited Catholic teaching, which calls for the protection of life from conception until natural death, forbidding abortion and euthanasia.

Chicago’s archbishop, Cardinal Blase Cupich, and Springfield Bishop Thomas Paprocki challenged “Deb’s law” in separate lawsuits and won limited protections without blocking the law from being enacted.

“We live in a state now where suicide is now normalized, and yet we still have a suicide hotline. There seems to be a bit of schizophrenia here,” Cupich told The Associated Press.

In the days before the law took effect, a judge temporarily blocked the state from enforcing the law on Catholic groups that challenged it in a lawsuit. They had argued the law could compel Catholic healthcare providers to refer or provide help against their faith in what they believe is assisted suicide.

“They always give it a euphemistic name: This is the End of Life Options Act. But it’s really just physician-assisted suicide, which is very problematic,” Paprocki said. “We believe that God is the author of life. … We shouldn’t be the ones deciding when to end our lives.”

Assisted dying vs. assisted suicide

Advocates, doctors and academics involved with the procedure say none of the medically assisted dying laws in the U.S. define the practice as assisted suicide. They note the American Association of Suicidology has declared that “suicide and Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) are conceptually, medically, and legally different phenomena.”

Equating assisted dying with suicide is not only antiquated or misleading, but harmful, said Anita Hannig, a cultural anthropologist and author of “The Day I Die: The Untold Story of Assisted Dying in America.”

“In no way would I describe any of the deaths I attended as suicide,” said Hannig, who spent five years following patients, families and doctors while researching her book.

Terminally ill patients who have sought this type of legislation insist they’re not suicidal.

“It really bothers me because I want to live, I don’t want to die. But I’m going to. I have to accept that, my wife has to accept that, my family has to accept that,” Robertson said in Lombard, Illinois, where she lives with her wife, Kate. They’ve known each other for 45 years; framed images of their wedding and other milestones decorate their home.

They recently walked hand in hand to a park where they plan to plant a tree that will grow next to Deb’s ashes.

Enactment of the new law “really makes me feel safe and peaceful,″ Robertson said. “Each day that I go out there, I know that I’m going to have the choice at the end of my life to go out the way I want.”

“I didn’t choose to have this disease, but give me the choice — and other people who are terminally ill, the choice to have some control over their life.”

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Associated Press video journalists Laura Bargfeld and Javier Arciga contributed to this report.

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Here was a fascinating tale with shades of “Network,” “Ace in the Hole” and “To Die For,” and an inscrutable personality at its center in host Chris Hansen, a newsman who had become a pop culture icon with his own catchphrase: Have a seat.

It was both old news, and, somehow, in the ether too. Last year, the show was also the subject of an acclaimed documentary, “Predators,” from David Osit.

Along the way, “Primetime” transformed into a dark meditation on performance, media and morality — more fever dream than biopic, according to filmmaker Lance Oppenheim. And, perhaps fittingly, it’s arriving in theaters Friday on a wave of both critical acclaim and intrigue over Hansen’s own objections to the film and its depiction of the show, which he called an “insult,” sight unseen.

The pressure of a hit show

“To Catch a Predator” had in 2006 become a kind of phenomenon. With the help of the citizen watchdog group Perverted Justice, the show would stage confrontations with men who were allegedly soliciting sex with minors in online chat rooms. Perverted Justice members would pretend to be underage kids online and invite the adults on the other side of the conversation to fake houses, where actors would play the teens and the show would “catch” the men on camera, while police waited outside to make arrests.

Two years after it debuted, it was averaging around 7 million viewers an episode and Hansen was a celebrity in his own right. And then, in November 2006, one suspect, Louis William “Bill” Conradt Jr., an assistant district attorney in Texas, killed himself as a local police SWAT team breached his home with the television crew outside. It led to a lawsuit, which was settled out of court, and various journalistic investigations including by ABC’s “20/20” and Esquire’s Luke Dittrich, whose article “Tonight on Dateline This Man Will Die” inspired Ajon Singh’s script. By 2008, the show had been canceled.

“The thing which I was most interested in, it’s the sort of technicalities of like trying to have a hit show,” Pattinson told The Associated Press. “When you get up to a certain, like, level of numbers of viewers or like however much money is involved, suddenly the subject matter, like everything doesn’t matter anymore. … You’re just a hit and like and you’re judged along the same lines, and the same commercial expectation is put on you.”

The portrait melds fiction and reality with Merritt Wever playing a fictionalized producer who is under pressure to deliver shows that could compete with “Lost.” Then there is then-NBCUniversal TV Group CEO Jeff Zucker in the mix, playing himself.

Becoming ‘Chris Hansen’ the character

Pattinson wasn’t intending to star in “Primetime.” He was just helping to develop it with his production company. But he was also getting in the weeds, helping to shape the story and the character, and starting to realize what a great part he had in front of him.

“Chris was like a serious news reporter,” Pattinson said. “And I think what’s sort of fascinating about the story as a whole was like seeing someone who … you’re a journalist, you’re supposed to be in some ways a passive reporter of what’s going on and suddenly being recast in this thing where you’re not only like front and center of it but you’re kind of, your behavior, it’s setting the tone of the show.”

He was also just being inundated with videos and memes and Reddit threads from Singh and Oppenheim. And once he had committed to the part, Pattinson spent many, many hours watching Hansen on video and listening to his podcast. Chris Hansen was in his head, and the voice was hard to shake (he could hear it in “The Odyssey”). For him, it's also, fundamentally, a character.

“It’s impossible to, like, play somebody else,” Pattinson laughed.

Hansen himself has been rather vocal about the film too, on everything from who he would have cast (Denis Leary) to questioning the motivations of the filmmaker and the studio, A24, for using his name. In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he referred to the Esquire story as “a bit of a hit piece.” He also purchased preshow advertising for his true crime streaming network TruBlu that will play in front of “Primetime” showings.

Pattinson said he’s not surprised that Hansen has been out talking about it.

“He’s a public person,” Pattinson said. “He is also just being asked about it. It’s kind of, I mean, I get it. But I’m surprised about the level of traction that everything gets.”

It’s also kind of a proof of concept; people remain interested.

“The fact that people are still discussing the ethics of it, of a 20-year-old TV show, I mean it’s absolutely insane,” Pattinson said.

Dissecting news entertainment through ‘Primetime’

The heart of “Primetime” revealed itself to everyone along the way. It wasn’t just a story about Hansen. It was also about performance and the nature of news entertainment, which is how Decoy Dan, played by Skyler Gisondo, became such a pivotal character.

Decoy Dan is an amalgamation of the adult actors who were cast to play the teenagers in the fake houses in the show. It’s a gig he gets through a standard audition process; but the realities of it transcend even improv. The juxtaposition between the journalist and the actor became a microcosm for the tension inherent in creating must-see television out of entrapment and public humiliation.

For Gisondo, the role took on a kind of meta quality too as he stepped out of his comfort zone and into this darker territory with Pattinson, an actor he’d long admired.

“This was so unlike anything I had ever done before that, uh, I was so nervous,” he said. “From the very beginning, there was this kind of like, you know, real sort of energy bleeding into it.”

Gisondo took the part, and what his character was going through, so seriously that he was a little caught off guard when he heard laughter in the audience (oftentimes when Dan is at his lowest) at the film’s premiere at the Venice Film Festival.

“Having more distance from it now, I see that clearly, just the contrast of how serious this subject matter is and then the outlandishness of the kind of setup of the show,” Gisondo said. “There’s something, I think, heartbreakingly kind of funny about how naive Dan is.”

It’s been a good year at the movies for Pattinson in particular, with a sleeper hit in “The Drama,” a bona fide blockbuster in “The Odyssey” and “Dune: Part Three” still to come (and this is all while he continues to film “The Batman” sequel). He’s also not letting it add to any anxiety about whether people will show up for “Primetime,” which will open in the U.K. on Oct. 30.

“My career has basically been like no one sees my movies,” Pattinson said. “My baseline is very low so everything’s a nice surprise.”

She was less than five seconds off the world record held by Canadian Summer McIntosh at 4:23.65.

Yu took the 200 butterfly and 200 IM earlier in the games in times that put her within reach McIntosh. McIntosh won all three of these events two years ago in the Paris Olympics and holds the world records in each event.

Yu seems certain to face off with McIntosh in the swimming world championships next year in Budapest, Hungary, and a year later at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

China dominates swim events

China won six of the seven events on Wednesday, the fourth day of competition in the pool, and has now won 21 gold medals in 27 events in swimming. The Chinese won 28 gold medals in the pool in the Asian Games in 2023 in Hangzhou, China, and are a cinch to surpass that total.

Two days remain in the pool and Yu may still swim a relay.

In addition to Yu, China also got gold medals on Wednesday from Yu Yiting in the women's 100 fly (56.41), and Peng Xuwei in the women's 100 backstroke (59.30).

Zhang Zhanshou won the men's 200 free in 1:43.49 with another gold for Tang Qianting in the women's 100 breaststroke in 1:04.98. China also won the mixed medley relay.

The only non-Chinese gold medalist on Wednesday was Shoon Mitsunaga of Japan, who won the men's 100 fly in 50.56.

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See full AP coverage of Asian sports here

The Associated Press, in partnership with KFF, polled more than 2,000 rural registered voters and found broadly negative views of the national and local economies, including among many Republicans. The costs of groceries, gas and healthcare rank as top pain points for the rural voters, who were surveyed over two weeks starting in mid-August. A larger share than among voters overall say they are worried about being able to afford groceries or gas.

At the same time, about half of rural voters approve of Trump’s job performance, more than among U.S. adults overall in separate AP-NORC polling.

The findings suggest that many rural voters have not turned on Trump but that they also largely do not think he has delivered the economic renaissance he promised in his campaign.

Ed Westrick, a registered Republican and veteran, rates Trump’s job performance as “mediocre, middle-of-the-road.” Westrick, who lives in rural Texas, is not sure he will cast a midterm ballot, a troubling sign for Republicans in a key state in their fight to keep control of Congress.

Rural Americans skew Republican and historically have been an instrumental group of voters for Trump. The survey reveals that while rural voters seem unlikely to support Democrats on a large scale, Trump and the Republican Party could face challenges with them in November.

Rural voters are deeply unhappy about the economy

As the election approaches, only about 4 in 10 rural voters approve of Trump’s performance on the economy. They rate him similarly on his handling of the Iran war, an entanglement that has proved expensive for the U.S. and increased oil and gas prices. Rural voters rank pocketbook concerns and fraud in government programs higher among the things they want to hear about from politicians than other perennial issues, such as gun policy and abortion.

Westrick, 59, is a technical trainer in the electronics industry and has seen an increase in business in part because he works with defense contractors, but he said he is concerned about the cost of living.

“I hear the politicians talk about making groceries more affordable and making healthcare more affordable, but yet none of them are addressing the issues,” Westrick said.

In the poll, about three-quarters of rural voters rated the cost of living in their communities as “only fair” or “poor” — a 25 percentage point rise from a similar question asked in a KFF-Washington Post survey in 2017. Rural Americans, who have consistently lower wages than those who live in suburban and metro areas, have been hurting economically for decades, according to Tim Slack, a professor of sociology at Louisiana State University and co-author of the book “Rural and Small-Town America.”

“Many folks are connecting the cost-of-living crisis to many of the Trump administration’s policy choices: the war in Iran, tariffs, trade wars,” he said. “None of those things are going to bring down prices at the pump or the local Walmart.”

“Trump promised to lower prices on Day 1, and instead the cost of living’s continued to climb. And that’s especially painful in rural America,” Slack said, adding that he expects many working-class Republicans to skip voting in November.

Rural Republicans do have a brighter economic perspective than rural Democrats or independents, particularly about the United States as a whole, according to the survey. About 6 in 10 rural Republican voters say Trump has improved the national economy, compared with only about 2 in 10 independents and fewer than 1 in 10 Democrats.

But only 45% of rural Republican voters say Trump has made their local economies better off. About 1 in 4 said there are fewer good-paying jobs where they live than five years ago.

In Michigan, 37-year-old independent voter Brittainy Sosebee said she isn’t sure if she will vote in the state’s fall election, which includes a tight Senate race seen as crucial to the Democratic Party’s push to win back a majority. Sosebee voted for Trump in 2016 and Democratic nominee Joe Biden in 2020; she didn’t vote in 2024.

Sosebee, who lives in St. Johns, a small town just north of Lansing, said she used to have extra money to take a vacation or buy a new pair of jeans without worrying. Now, she scrutinizes every expense, cringing at the rising cost of fresh produce when she shops for her three children.

“We hunt, so we have a lot of venison and things like that, so we don’t have to buy meat from the grocery store, but it’s still crippling,” she said.

Healthcare policies go unnoticed

The AP-KFF poll found that rural voters overall don’t perceive much positive impact from the administration’s healthcare policies even as they have been a top priority for Republican leaders, who have promoted efforts to lower drug costs in addition to a $50 billion rural health program.

Only 17% of the voters said the administration’s healthcare policies have had a “positive impact” on their healthcare costs, while 41% said they’ve had “no impact” and another 41% said they’ve had a “negative impact.”

Sitting on her front porch in Woolwich, Maine, 71-year-old Democrat Kathleen Hanning sipped a chai tea latte in the sun and recalled how she stopped voting for Republican Sen. Susan Collins in 2020.

Collins and Trump are “intertwined,” Hanning said. “She is not independently voting on what’s best for Maine.”

Hanning, a retired federal worker, said she had not paid much attention to the health policies in Trump’s signature tax breaks and spending cuts bill passed last year. The law reduces federal Medicaid spending by roughly $900 billion over a decade but also includes billions of dollars for the Rural Health Transformation Program, which it created.

A year after the law’s passage, more than 8 in 10 rural voters said they had heard either “a little” or “nothing at all” about the health fund. About 60% said they had heard nothing, according to the survey.

Rather than transforming, Hanning said, “hospitals up here in Maine are consolidating.” She travels an hour to see a specialist and noted that mothers will now have to drive farther for care because the hospital in nearby Damariscotta announced it would soon close its labor and delivery center.

Nine in 10 rural voters said it was “extremely” or “very” important for candidates to talk about healthcare costs, with more than half saying it’s “extremely important.” Mirroring the general population, rural voters ranked healthcare costs and gas prices as top economic worries.

Rural Republican voters still trust the GOP more

When asked for the political party they trusted to do a better job handling issues such as the cost of healthcare or the cost of living, rural voters tended to side with their own party. The finding signals that Democratic candidates are more likely to benefit from rural Republicans staying home in November than from them voting across party lines in large numbers.

Republicans are more ambivalent about their party’s ability to handle key healthcare issues, compared with Democrats. About 8 in 10 Democratic voters say they trust the Democrats to address healthcare costs, while closer to 6 in 10 Republican voters say the same of the Republicans.

In Manassas, Georgia, a tiny town about an hour's drive inland from Savannah, Republican voter Wanda Rogers feels the Trump administration is doing the best it can to clean up what she sees as an economic mess that Democrats left behind when they lost power.

“I kind of think people think like I do, that he knows what needs to be done,” she said. “It’s just taking them a while to get it there.”

Still, the 66-year-old said, “gas prices, they’re eating me alive right now.” She said she has stopped traveling to the beach because it has become too expensive.

Pamela Shaw, an independent voter who lives in a rural area near Asheville, North Carolina, said she sees the impact of rising costs in her community.

“When hamburger is over $7 a pound and steak is $15 or more a pound, a lot of people are not able to buy some of the things that they are used to buying,” the 59-year-old said in an interview.

Trump’s rural standing has slipped

Trump remains relatively popular among rural voters in the AP-KFF poll, with 48% approval. That is substantially higher than in a July AP-NORC poll of U.S. adults overall, in which only one-third approved of his performance. But he also is down slightly, from 56% approval, among rural voters, based on a similar question asked in the earlier KFF-Washington Post survey.

Asunta Washington, 38, is a truck driver who lives in South Texas. He said he is not against voting for Republican candidates if he wholeheartedly agrees with what they stand for, but he has not seen that. Instead, he has seen a lot of flip-flopping.

“Like a lot of people that are giving us promises and the moment they get elected, all that’s out the window,” Washington said.

This year’s competitive elections feature Senate races in Ohio, Michigan and Maine, all of which have large rural populations. In close races, Democrats may have a chance to “show up and give a message that rural people might find appealing,” said Nicholas Jacobs, a political scientist at Colby College and co-author of the book “The Rural Voter.”

“But it’s nothing more and it’s nothing less than that — an opportunity,” Jacobs said. “And time and time again, Democrats have shown a certain proclivity for not seizing that opportunity.”

Many rural voters do not think the major parties or the president respect people like them. About half, 48%, of rural voters say the GOP respects people like them “a lot” or “some,” while 45% of rural voters say this about Trump and 37% say this about the Democratic Party.

On a recent Thursday, registered Republican Nate Lawrence answered his phone after paying $57 to fill up his Chevy Equinox in New Concord, Ohio, a village of fewer than 3,000 people about an hour's drive east of Columbus.

Lawrence, a middle-school English teacher, said the candidates should be talking about spending power: “I need to be able to go to the store and feed my family on what I make as a teacher,” Lawrence said. “I should be able to pay for a house on a teacher’s salary.”

Lawrence has voted for Trump in the past but did not in 2024. For Ohio’s Senate race, Lawrence said he is torn and not sure whether to pick Democrat Sherrod Brown or Republican Jon Husted.

Still, even if the politicians say they will lower prices, Lawrence said, he won’t believe them.

“Trump said that, and it didn’t happen,” he said.

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The poll of 2,241 U.S. adults registered to vote in rural areas of the country was conducted Aug. 12-24, 2026, using a sample drawn from the probability-based SSRS Opinion Panel. The margin of sampling error for the full sample is plus or minus 3 percentage points. In collaboration with AP, KFF researchers worked to design the survey sample and questionnaire, analyze and report findings.

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This report is a collaboration between The Associated Press and KFF Health News. KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling and journalism.

Meanwhile, another ship attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz was struck by a projectile, highlighting the dangers that continue to restrict traffic through the critical waterway as the seven-month war grinds on.

Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Wednesday. More coverage of the U.N. General Assembly is available here.

Iran's president calls US attacks ‘cowardly’

Iran's president said his country's people had been the “victims of terrorism” by the United States.

Delivering a rare wartime speech at the U.N. General Assembly, Pezeshkian displayed images of the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and more than 150 schoolchildren killed in the opening days of the conflict.

“We have only defended ourselves. We are not terrorists,” he said. “Our innocent people have been the targets of cowardly attacks and aggressions imposed upon our country.”

Turning to the United States, Pezeshkian added: “Yes, they did hit us, but we did not bend the knee.”

Rubio says Trump still open to deal to make Iran ‘great and prosperous’

Pezeshkian addressed world leaders a day after U.S. President Donald Trump used the same stage to suggest that he might “annihilate” the Islamic Republic if an agreement was not reached soon to end the nearly seven-month war.

Hours later, Trump touted “a very good meeting” between his chief envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, and Iranian officials. Tehran, however, downplayed the talks. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said they were “not anything new.”

On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that Trump remained open to an agreement “that allows Iran to be what it should be, which is a great and prosperous country.”

Rubio said the prospects for such a deal were hindered by Iran’s nuclear ambitions and “their support of terrorism.” If those policies continued, he said, Trump could exercise “a number of options,” including further military action.

Another ship hit in the Strait of Hormuz

A cargo ship was struck in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said, citing an unidentified company security officer.

The vessel was hit by an “unknown projectile,” resulting in two casualties, UKMTO said without providing further details. The crew abandoned the ship, which caught fire and was left adrift.

The attack was the first reported in two days. No one immediately claimed responsibility.

The incident highlighted the continuing danger to ships attempting to navigate the waterway. Some vessels appear to be making “dark passages” without transmitting identifying signals, but Iran and the United States have maintained their competing blockades. Commercial traffic remains well below prewar levels, according to ship-tracking data from analytics firm Kpler.

Restrictions on shipping through the strait have become one of the war’s most persistent consequences. Before the conflict, one-fifth of the world’s traded oil passed through the narrow waterway, along with large volumes of natural gas, fertilizer and other petroleum products.

Israel says it killed Hamas leader in Gaza strike

An Israeli strike on a vehicle in Khan Younis killed two people on Wednesday morning, Gaza’s Health Ministry said.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said one of those killed was Mohammad Abu Alwan, whom he identified as the head of Hamas’ finance department. He also said Israel would keep going after militants on its target list.

More than 1,400 Palestinians have been killed since a ceasefire took effect nearly a year ago, according to the ministry, which maintains detailed records that are seen as generally reliable.

Netanyahu rebukes Macron's remarks on Hamas

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office called French President Emmanuel Macron’s remarks at the United Nations a “grotesque absurdity,” objecting to his characterization of the Palestinian militant group Hamas’ activity in the West Bank.

Macron denounced the situation in Gaza and criticized escalating violence by Israeli settlers in the West Bank. He said Israel could not invoke Hamas to justify its actions there. The wording Macron used in French was ambiguous and could be understood to mean either that Hamas had never governed the West Bank or had never operated there.

A French diplomatic source said Macron meant that Hamas had never governed the territory. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak publicly.

The United Nations has not released an official translation of the remarks.

Hamas has long maintained support in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and has claimed responsibility for attacks there, although it has never governed the territory.

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

The 22-year-old man, Andrea Moretti, specialized in working at altitude on ropes. He had been installing cabling for the project that was expected to be completed next month and died inside the Colosseum, the archaeological site's press office said.

Premier Giorgia Meloni said that the government was deeply shocked and saddened by the death and called for the cause to be determined as quickly as possible.

“Dying at the age of 22 is unacceptable — even more so when it happens in the workplace,” she said in a statement.

Authorities are working to determine the circumstances of Moretti's death, the park's statement said. A separate statement late Wednesday said the park would remain closed on Thursday to mourn Moretti and in solidarity with his family.

Representatives of Italy's main union, CGIL, were on site after the death to request information about Moretti's employer and contract and said that closing the monument was the least Rome authorities could do to honor his memory.

The Colosseum attracted 14.7 million visitors in 2024, according to Culture Ministry statistics. It topped the list of Italy's most-visited monuments, followed by Florence's Uffizi Galleries and the ancient ruins of Pompeii.

The Colosseum's closure on Wednesday caught thousands of tourists who had bought tickets and tours in advance by surprise. But many said they appreciated the gesture.

Colosseum authorities had allowed the first morning tours to go ahead as planned, with just the Colosseum's second tier closed. But they then closed the entire monument to visitors after the first group had exited.

Rachel Townsand, a tourist from New Zealand, said that she was disappointed.

“But then after looking up what’s happened, then it’s understandable,” she said.

The bill, provided first to The Associated Press, would also pause advanced AI development until guidelines are implemented while creating the Department of Artificial Intelligence. Multiple employees at leading AI companies are endorsing the bill.

"It doesn’t take a genius to say, ‘slow it down,’” Sanders, I-Vt., said in an interview with AP. “Do we really want to develop a super intelligence that when it becomes smarter than human beings could act independently of human control? I don’t think we do.”

Congress has so far done little to rein in the AI industry even as some of its most prominent leaders warn about potentially catastrophic risks. President Donald Trump has resisted recent calls for greater government oversight, putting him at odds with tech leaders including Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, OpenAI’s Sam Altman and xAI’s Elon Musk.

The bill aims to dramatically slow down AI development

The legislation would permanently prohibit artificial superintelligence, which it defines as a system that exceeds human cognitive ability or has sufficient capabilities to plan and execute the destruction or disempowerment of humanity.

It would temporarily pause development of the most advanced AI systems until new federal safety rules are established by a new Department of Artificial Intelligence. Advanced AI systems would then need federal approval before they could be deployed. Violations could carry significant penalties, including up to 20 years in prison in some cases.

A number of current employees at AI companies and experts signed on in support of the bill, according to a statement shared with AP.

Juan Felipe Cerón Uribe, a researcher in OpenAI’s Safety Systems, said in a statement supporting the bill that “superintelligence could either go extremely right or extremely wrong” and that “we shouldn’t be playing such games.”

Swante Scholz, a software engineer at Google DeepMind who said he was not speaking on behalf of his employer, said on the current path of development, the “most likely outcome is an existential catastrophe for humanity.”

“A ban on superintelligence development would be a positive change for the foreseeable future,” Scholz said in a statement.

The bill faces long odds but draws a line in a growing fight

The bill from Sanders and Casar faces long odds in the Republican-controlled Congress, where lawmakers have struggled to coalesce around even less sweeping AI regulations.

But it offers a window into how the progressive wing of the Democratic Party is approaching AI regulation ahead of November’s midterms and a 2028 presidential campaign in which the technology is expected to be an increasingly prominent issue. Casar, a Democrat from Texas, is the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Potential 2028 presidential candidates have rushed in recent weeks to release proposals showing they're taking the issue seriously. Maryland Democratic Gov. Wes Moore announced a plan to regulate AI on Tuesday, while California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order to accelerate implementation of a California law that calls for independent oversight of AI companies last week.

Sanders, a two-time presidential candidate who is now 85, has especially focused on the issue in recent months. In June, he introduced legislation to create a sovereign wealth fund financed through a one-time tax on the stock of the largest AI companies. Last week, he hosted colleagues for a briefing with experts and also attended a conference focused on the issue alongside Republicans, including former White House adviser Steve Bannon.

The debate over AI regulations has scrambled political alliances both in Washington and for voters across the country.

Americans have grown more concerned about the environmental impacts of artificial intelligence over the last year, according to a recent poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago.

The survey data say about half, 53%, of Americans are “extremely” or “very” concerned about artificial intelligence’s environmental impacts. That is up from 41% last year. Democrats are driving much of the increase in environmental concern, but the poll also reveals broader worries about the local impact of data centers, which power AI and cloud computing.

Trump has shown little interest in curbing AI risks

While some industry leaders have called for new safeguards, Trump has pushed in the opposite direction. On Tuesday, Trump told the United Nations General Assembly that artificial intelligence will be renamed “super intelligence."

“I think Trump has very little understanding of what this issue is about,” Sanders said. “I think he’s mainly concerned about the economic implications of a slowdown.”

AI safety is expected to be a central part of talks between Trump and China’s Xi Jinping at the White House this week as the countries compete for dominance in the sector. The prospect of slowing development in the United States while China continues on has also been one of the central arguments against sweeping restrictions.

Sanders argued that avoiding the most dangerous forms of AI would ultimately require cooperation between the two countries, comparing the challenge to nuclear arms control during the Cold War.

“Ronald Reagan, arch-conservative, was smart enough to understand that he had to sit down with Gorbachev, a communist, and work out a nuclear treaty that protected humanity,” Sanders said. “I think we can do that again now.”

Ethiopian Airlines said it suspended flights to Tigray’s capital Mekelle and the cities of Axum and Shire “due to the current situation,” without providing further details.

The regional government said in a statement it had instructed its fighters to enter into “defensive war” after federal forces attacked Tigray on Tuesday using drones and heavy artillery.

The African Union Commission chairperson, Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, called for restraint and immediate de-escalation.

In a statement, he expressed concern over the renewed tensions and occupation of the airport, saying these actions risk destabilizing the region and reversing gains made in a 2022 peace agreement.

He also condemned the “detention of federal personnel by the Tigray People's Liberation Front," but did not give details.

US Ambassador threatens sanctions

The U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia Ervin J. Massinga expressed disappointment over the fighting, calling it a “poor decision” and threatening sanctions.

Rejecting dialogue sponsored by the African Union and "engaging in an unwinnable fight does nothing for the people. Other armed groups would be wise to avoid this. While the U.S. has tools to sanction additional leaders who try to push Ethiopia down the wrong path, I still believe a reasonable political dialogue is the right way to go,” he wrote in a statement.

The Tigray People’s Liberation Front Deputy Amanuel Assefa termed the African Union and U.S. positions “unfair,” accusing them of “turning a blind eye to airstrikes by the federal government”.

On Tuesday, the U.S Bureau of African Affairs condemned a drone strike on a Catholic Relief humanitarian assistance convoy in Tigray and called for investigations without stating which side was responsible.

A taxi driver told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the airport, which is usually controlled by federal forces, was occupied by fighters from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front carrying light arms.

The driver, who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation, said a commander ordered him to leave the airport, saying no flights would be landing.

The takeover appeared to be peaceful, with no gunfire heard in or around the airport.

No other airlines fly to the region, although it is reachable by chartered flight.

The news came three days after seven opposition groups, including the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, formed an alliance aimed at removing Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and his government.

Abiy’s Prosperity Party retained power in a June general election that was boycotted by the main opposition groups.

The Tigray People’s Liberation Front fought federal forces during a deadly conflict in northern Ethiopia that ended with the signing of a peace agreement in November 2022. But since July there have been reports of drone attacks in Tigray, with the regional government accusing the federal forces of attacks.

Former Tigray lead peace negotiator Getachew Reda, now an adviser to the prime minister, accused the Tigray People’s Liberation Front of attacks in neighboring Afar and Amhara despite efforts to avoid another war.

“It has taken over federal controlled airports in Tigray leading to the suspension of flights to and from Tigray. The TPLF politico-military leadership has obviously taken irresponsibility to new heights,” he wrote on X.

The opposition groups announced the formation of a coalition they called the Ethiopian Peoples’ Forces Alliance for Survival on Sunday.

Higuaín, the brother of former Argentina and Real Madrid striker Gonzalo Higuaín, recently served a two-game suspension following an incident involving a female referee in an MLS NEXT Pro match on Aug. 23, according to local media.

The Professional Soccer Referees Association, a body representing match officials across the U.S. and Canada, said in a statement on social media that a male coach had been banned for two games after squeezing a female official's hand and refusing to let go, and also accusing him of saying to her: “Don’t forget, this is a man’s game.”

The PSRA statement didn't specifically name Higuaín, a former Columbus Crew player and the coach of Crew 2 — the club's reserve team — since January 2025.

“We determined it’s in the best interest of our club, players and support staff to dismiss Federico Higuaín from his responsibilities," Issa Tall, Crew's general manager, said in a statement.

“After conversations this week and further assessing the past month, our club’s standards of what’s expected from a leader for one of our teams have not been met.”

The club statement did not specifically refer to the Aug. 23 incident at a match between Crew 2 and Huntsville City FC.

The PSRA statement said the MLS NEXT Pro league's response to the incident — the two-game suspension — fell “drastically short of the right message to the participants, the referees, and the public.”

“Women make every level of this game better," the statement said. "They should not have to endure intimidation or degrading comments to prove it. Our female officials have proven their excellence on the world stage.

"They deserve the same respect, dignity, and safe working environment as every other official.”

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See AP’s full soccer coverage here

White’s unit at Kentucky knocked Ole Miss starting quarterback Austin Simmons out of a game early last season, a right ankle injury that cleared the way for Chambliss to shine the following week and the rest of the year.

“So, yeah, you’re all welcome,” White quipped.

Twelve months later, White and the 21st-ranked Gators (3-0, 1-0 Southeastern Conference) have the daunting task of slowing down Chambliss — a Heisman Trophy frontrunner who is 14-2 as a starter for the fourth-ranked Rebels (3-0, 1-0) — and are counting on their home crowd being a factor.

“This guy, he’s as good a college football player I’ve ever seen with my own two eyes,” Florida coach Jon Sumrall said.

Sumrall watched Chambliss pick apart his Tulane defense twice in 2025. Chambliss threw for 307 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 112 more in the first victory. He threw for 282 yards and a TD and ran for two more scores in the rematch in the College Football Playoff.

Now, Sumrall faces Chambliss for the third time in his last 14 games.

“The one thing I do have is I’ve got enough watching the quarterback play out of his mind,” Sumrall said. “I have a lot of respect for him.”

Chambliss has completed 70% of his passes for 924 yards this season, with seven touchdowns and two interceptions. He also has two rushing scores. And two of his performances were against ranked teams: Louisville and LSU.

Of course, those took place at a neutral site (Nashville, Tennessee) and at home in Oxford, Mississippi.

Playing at Florida Field, better known as the Swamp, could present a tougher challenge.

“The main thing is just keeping the momentum,” Florida linebacker Aaron Chiles said. “Let the crowd do everything. Whatever team comes into the Swamp, it’s going to be hard for them to play, communicate, things like that. So I think the Swamp is definitely a big advantage, especially this week.”

Plenty of opposing quarterbacks have wilted at Florida Field over the years.

Texas’ Arch Manning threw two interceptions and was sacked six times in a 29-21 loss in Gainesville last season. Tennessee’s Joe Milton (2023), Missouri’s Brady Cook (2022), Auburn’s Bo Nix (2019), LSU’s Joe Burrow (2018), Missouri’s Drew Lock (2016) and South Carolina’s Connor Shaw (2012) also struggled in the Swamp.

“How close and tight it is with the fans, you feel like they’re on your back as far as the noise,” said Ole Miss safety Sharif Denson, who spent three years at Florida before transferring. “If we can go in there and execute the first couple drives and delete the crowd and make them not a factor, then we’re going to be OK.”

Another factor will be Florida’s defensive front. The Gators need to have more success than LSU did against Chambliss, who showed touch, anticipation, mobility and arm talent in a 32-24 victory that spoiled Tigers coach Lane Kiffin’s return to Oxford. Chambliss threw for 363 yards, with two TDs and an INT. He was sacked twice.

“He makes that offense go,” Florida defensive end Jayden Woods said. “He can throw and run, which is a good challenge for us as a defense, but we’re excited to take that head on this weekend.”

Woods, Chiles and many of their teammates on defense faced Chambliss and the Rebels on the road last season. Ole Miss racked up 538 yards on 83 plays in the 34-24 victory, finishing with 27 first downs while possessing the ball for nearly 38 minutes.

Florida led 24-20 going into the fourth quarter but DJ Lagway threw a critical interception and then failed to pick up a first down on the next two possessions. Woods did have one memory: he picked off a pass from Chambliss in the first quarter.

“It’s good to think about it and reflect, but that was last year,” Woods said. “I’m worried about what I can do this week. It will be cool to think about when I’m done playing football, but right now I’m really focusing on this weekend.”

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Sign up for Top 25 poll alerts here, visit the Top 25 here and see AP’s full college football coverage here

Debates inside the AI industry and beyond over the plausibility of these doomsday scenarios have heated up since several executives endorsed slowing the technology's development for safety reasons.

Despite warnings of the potential for humans to lose their grip on the technology, some suspect the worst-case scenarios described by the AI companies themselves have more to do with validating the importance of their work than reality.

“These arguments just don’t really hold water. I think they’re sci-fi and they’re enticing to a certain childish style of thinking and it’s very tempting for the frontier labs because it helps them recruit certain types of folks,” said Juan Andrés Guerrero-Saade, a researcher at cybersecurity firm SentinelOne and a member of OpenAI’s Frontier Risk Council.

Still, more people are beginning to worry about the risks of the technology that has dazzled the world with its astounding capabilities.

Jacob Coxon, the Anthropic researcher who resigned from the company over concerns that it and its competitors are not acting responsibly in AI development, said on X recently that he needs to “work on” communicating to people more effectively exactly how AI would end humanity. “Unfortunately it is very difficult to convey specific scenarios,” he wrote earlier this month.

Here are some of the more widely discussed doomsday scenarios.

Nuclear winter

Researchers have long speculated that AI systems could trigger a nuclear war by getting countries to fire warhead-tipped missiles at each other. The nuclear blasts, and ensuing lingering radioactive atmospheric fallout resulting in a “nuclear winter,” could devastate life on Earth.

In a report last year, RAND Corp. researchers concluded that “at present” it wouldn’t be possible for AI to cause the use of nuclear weapons “because of strict safeguards built into the command and control systems.” However, the report said this could change if AI models are integrated into the nuclear weapon “decision chain” or gain unauthorized access to these systems.

For many AI researchers, that’s where the danger lies — not in AI agents suddenly deciding to end humanity, but people, nations or groups using it to wipe out their adversaries.

Bioweapons

One of AI's greatest promises is that it could help humans develop treatments and cures for diseases.

The flip side of curing diseases is creating or advancing them to harm humanity. Earlier this month, Anthropic said it has blocked efforts by bad actors to use its AI for a host of malicious activities such as cyberattacks, surveillance, and research that could have led to biological weapons.

In one instance, Anthropic said its systems blocked a request for assistance from its Claude tool for a research proposal seeking to enhance mutations to make the mosquito-borne chikungunya virus progressively more harmful. While such research could be used to develop better vaccines and treatments, Anthropic said, “it could also be used to make the pathogen more dangerous.”

Along the same lines, the RAND report noted recent progress in AI development “has the potential to transform the design of synthetic pathogens.”

Outlining a bioweapon doomsday scenario, the report said novel pathogens could be created in a lab, delivered to target locations, and spread to infect large populations of people in multiple places. But it still envisioned humans — and not autonomous AI — as overseeing and carrying out such an attack.

Runaway AI

Some AI researchers fear a human extinction event could result from “misalignment” — that is, when AI models act without human authorization, coordinate with other models or evade oversight. It would develop not from malicious intent — AI is not human, nor is it good or evil, after all — but simply because humans might get in the way of the model accomplishing its goal.

Take the decades-old “paper clip maximizer” thought experiment by the Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom, which states that if advanced AI was told to produce as many paper clips as possible, it could eventually transform all of Earth, and then increasing portions of space, into paper clip factories.

This is to illustrate how superintelligent AI — often referred to as artificial general intelligence, or AGI — could advance a goal humans may see as desirable but “which in fact turns out to be a false utopia, in which things essential to human flourishing have been irreversibly lost,” Bostrom wrote in 2003.

“We need to be careful about what we wish for from a superintelligence, because we might get it,” he wrote.

AI internet takeover

Given the rate of AI’s development, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei warned this month that within months a swarm of AI agents could be capable of “taking over” the internet with a botnet (a network of bots linked together with malware), potentially causing billions of dollars in damage. This could mean hacks into electrical grids, water or transportation systems and financial institutions — attacks that might not spell the end of humanity but could cause chaos and lives lost.

Disruptions from software glitches in the past have highlighted the fragility of a digitized world dependent on just a few providers for key computing services, and more powerful AI models have raised concerns about vulnerabilities to cyber attacks. But some experts say the notion of bots overtaking the entire extremely bifurcated internet is far-fetched.

Two people were killed and 41 wounded in Ukraine’s capital as the attack stretched into Wednesday afternoon. Palls of black smoke floated above the city following the latest in what have been daily Russian attacks that torment Ukrainian civilians. The drones set off fires and damaged buildings in Kyiv and elsewhere in Ukraine overnight, authorities said.

Zelenskyy was in New York for the annual U.N. gathering as part of his diplomatic effort to shore up and recruit further international support for his country’s grueling 4½-year fight against Russia’s invasion. He addressed the General Assembly, met with European leaders and was also due to hold talks with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. In his address to the Assembly, Zelenskyy urged the international community to keep limiting Russian oil revenues to prevent Russia’s ability to keep financing its war in Ukraine.

“When someone gives Russia more money through trade, they give this war more time. And that is exactly why we insist on limiting trade with the aggressor, and why we are burning Russia’s revenues ourselves,” he said.

Zelenskyy met on Tuesday with U.S. President Donald Trump, who has shown impatience with the lack of progress in talks aimed at ending the war and the escalating aerial attacks by both sides this year.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that there are “no concrete plans” for a high-level meeting between U.S. and Russian officials that might help break the deadlock in negotiations. He insisted that Moscow is “open to peace talks.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has been accused by NATO officials and European governments of sabotage, espionage and other threats, is not scheduled to attend the U.N. gathering this year.

The Polish military said a Russian military helicopter briefly violated Poland’s airspace Wednesday on the country’s border with Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave. It said that “the nature of the incident suggests that Russia is once again testing the readiness of our air defense.”

Ukraine has hit back at Russia by damaging oil refineries that are a vital pillar of the country's economy.

Speaking in New York, Zelenskyy said Russia’s oil, gasoline, diesel and ports were not Ukraine’s objective.

“Our target is Russia’s ability to finance this war, to drag it out, to make it more brutal and more destructive. Russia’s finances and Russia’s production are what must be stopped,” he said.

Zelenskyy said at the start of his U.S. visit that he had proposals for a possible de-escalation in the war. Urgent issues for Kyiv are halting devastating Russian strikes on Ukraine’s power grid and ensuring Ukrainian grain can be shipped to world markets through the Black Sea despite the war.

Ukraine also needs more U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems as a shield against Russian ballistic missiles, but Patriots are in short supply after the war in Iran began.

In Zaporizhzhia, in southeastern Ukraine, two men aged 37 and 39 were wounded by a strike that started a large fire at a shopping mall. Emergency services said the fire spread across about 6,000 square meters (1.5 acres) before coming under control.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that its forces struck Ukraine’s military-industrial and energy sector facilities, logistics centers and sea vessels in overnight attacks.

The ministry said its air defenses intercepted more than 500 Ukrainian drones over multiple Russian regions, as well as illegally annexed Crimea and waters of the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.

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