According to an arrest report, Miami Beach police officers were dispatched just before 2 p.m. to Stillwater Park, located at 8440 Hawthorne Ave., in reference to a disturbance involving a gun.

Miami Beach police said several calls were placed by parties involved in the dispute, including one from the suspect, Ahmad Zeeshan, who told 911 that “a male accompanied by children pointed a firearm at him” after asking whether they were Jewish.

The report states that a call was also placed by the victim, who reported that Zeeshan used antisemitic slurs toward him and his children.

Officers responded and located both parties after they had been separated.

The victim told investigators he was at the park with his family when they were approached by Zeeshan as they were leaving.

According to the report, Zeeshan asked the victims, “You guys are Jewish?”

After the victim confirmed they were Jewish, Zeeshan allegedly began verbally assaulting them, saying, “Get the f--- out of here, you f------ dirty people,” the report states.

Police said Zeeshan continued using vulgar language and racially charged insults, later telling the victim he was going to attack him and “f--- him up.”

They said the victim warned Zeeshan to stop and told him to stay away, but Zeeshan continued to press him, causing the victim to fear for his and his children’s safety. The victim, who was with his two children ages 7 and 5, then drew a gun he carries for protection after pleading with Zeeshan to de-escalate, officers said.

According to the report, the sight of the weapon caused Zeeshan to retreat briefly, but he later began moving back toward the family and continued making verbal threats.

Police said a witness nearby asked the victim to stand behind her because she was also frightened by Zeeshan’s behavior. The victim asked the witness to call police and record the incident.

They said Zeeshan also began recording and left the park in his vehicle. He was later stopped in the 900 block of Stillwater Drive in a 2025 gray Kia K4 with Virginia tag “TAJ8641.”

While in custody, the report states Zeeshan said multiple times that he was “just exercising his First Amendment rights.” Investigators said he also stated that he is Muslim and “does not like Jews.”

Police wrote that Zeeshan targeted the victim and his family because of their religion and that his actions placed others in and around the park in danger.

“The defendant charged at him. He was in fear for his life, he perceived that him and his kids were in harms way, witnesses attempted to intervene, said Miami Beach Police Officer Christopher Bess.

The report further states Zeeshan “appears mentally unstable” and expressed that he “likely would not be alive in a few months,” saying he has stage 4 cancer and is undergoing treatment. Officers noted the victim and his children appeared visibly shaken after the encounter, while Zeeshan showed no remorse and maintained his actions were justified.

Prosecutors said Ahmad Zeeshan appeared in bond court Friday, where they asked the court to impose a higher bond, arguing the allegations involved bias-motivated conduct and the presence of children. The defense requested a standard bond, noting he has no prior criminal record.

The judge rejected the defense request, calling Zeeshan’s alleged behavior “disgusting” and emphasizing the involvement of a gun and children.

The judge found probable cause on a charge of assault with prejudice based on religion and ordered Zeeshan to stay away from and have no contact with the victims.

As of Friday afternoon, he was being held on a $5,000 bond at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.

You see them on granola bags, cereal boxes and a whole range of pantry products -- but how much weight should you actually put on those dates?

“It’s ideal to know when that food is going to be best utilized by. Now, that’s where it gets a little tricky. So that’s just an estimate,” said Julia Zumpano, a registered dietitian with Cleveland Clinic.

Zumpano says there are three kinds of food expiration dates.

The first is “sell by,” which tells stores how long they should display an item for sale.

Then there’s “best by” or “best if used by,” which refers to when a product will have its best flavor and quality.

Finally, there’s “use by,” the last recommended day for a product to maintain peak quality.

“Shelf-stable items are usually the ones you can exceed their dates,” Zumpano said. “Things like dried goods, like rice and pasta and cereal, canned fruits and vegetables, beans -- things like that -- usually are pretty safe.”

She says to pay closer attention to expiration dates on perishable foods in the fridge, like meat and dairy. That’s where bacteria and mold are more likely to grow.

Zumpano recommends always using your senses. If you see mold, sliminess or discoloration, toss it. If it smells off, sour or moldy, throw it out. And if something doesn’t taste right, get rid of it.

“If it is past that date, using those senses — or if you feel better just tossing it, you can,” she said. “But the goal here is to reduce food waste.”

There are certain food items you should always pay attention to when it comes to expiration dates, including infant formula, which should never be used past its expiration date.

Yusiel Lopez Insua, 46, of Miami, faces a charge of seaman’s manslaughter in the July collision, according to a statement from U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.

Insua didn’t have a clear view as the tugboat pushed a barge full of construction debris in Biscayne Bay, according to the office. There was also no one assigned as lookout as it sailed through the body of water sandwiched between Miami and Miami Beach, the office said.

The sailboat was carrying a counselor and five girls when it stalled in the barge’s path, and Insua didn’t see it before the collision, according to the statement. The girls were ages 7 to 13, while the counselor was 19, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

The counselor and two girls were dragged under the barge, but were able to escape. The other three became trapped in the wreckage and drowned, according to the office.

“Our hearts are with the families of the children who lost their lives in this tragedy,” Jason Reding Quiñones, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, said in a statement. “This information alleges a preventable loss of life on our waterways, including the failure to follow basic maritime safety rules and cellphone use during transit at or near the time of the collision.”

The internet had also been accessed on Insua’s cellphone around the time of the collision, according to a forensic review.

Insua faces up to 10 years in federal prison if convicted.

The Miami-Dade Public Defender’s Office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida did not immediately respond to queries about whether Insua has a lawyer.

Four of the children were rushed to a hospital, where a 7-year-old and 13-year-old were pronounced dead, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. Days later, the Coast Guard said that a 10-year-old who had been in critical condition had also died.

The sailing boat had been submerged beneath the barge in Biscayne Bay, where there are several small islands, including Star Island, peppered with ritzy mansions.

The children were in their last week of camp, according to the Miami Yacht Club.

Across the U.S. in 2024, there were over 550 deaths in recreational boating, but only a sliver of those — 43 — were caused by vessels crashing into each other, according to Coast Guard statistics.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission was investigating how both Great hammerhead sharks were mutilated in March in Florida’s Treasure Coast.

The first carcass — without a dorsal fin and tail — was found on March 15 at Juno Beach. The second mutilated carcass with a tied rope was found on March 29 at Hobe Sound Beach.

There was a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to an arrest and prosecution in the June Beach case after the Center for Biological Diversity added $4,000.

The FWC was offering a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to an arrest and prosecution in the Hobe Sound Beach case.

To submit a tip about the cases, call the FWC’s Wildlife Alert Hotline at 1-888-404-3922 or visit this page.

For information about prohibited sharks, visit this FWC page.

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According to an arrest report from the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, a supervisor at the tax collector’s office notified investigators about the illegal activity on March 25.

Deputies said surveillance video was reviewed which showed the clerk, Waldersee Oge, 46, of North Miami, issuing temporary driving permits last month to at least four people who were not present in the office at 3721 NW Seventh St. in Miami’s Flagami neighborhood.

In one incident, Oge was seen on video speaking on his cellphone with one of the customers, gathering their personal information and then inputting that information into the Orion database.

According to the report, the supervisor became suspicious last week after witnessing Oge reviewing scanned documents within the customers motor maintenance system using the Orion database despite there not being any customers at the service counter at the time.

Detectives said Oge was taken into custody at his workplace Thursday and confessed to conducting multiple transactions in exchange for payments via Zelle.

Investigators said they’re looking into investigators are also looking into whether the recipients even had legal status in the United States.

“It’s possible they do not,” Miami-Dade Tax Collector Dariel Fernandez said. “This issue is a national security issue for the United States of America. That is why we take this serious(ly).”

He faces numerous charges, including official misconduct by a public servant, unlawful compensation/reward for official behavior, offenses against computer users, unlawful use of a communications device, unlawful issuance of a driver’s license and falsifying public records.

As of Friday morning, Oge was being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. Online jail records listed his total bond as “to be set.”

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The TFO with ATF, deputized by the U.S. Marshals Service, is a sworn Davie police officer and Broward Sheriff’s Office deputy who works in the Gang Investigations Task Force, records show.

Prosecutors filed the complaints against Sunil Someria, his brother Anand Someria, and the brothers’ alleged employee Richarles Lake on March 19 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, records show.

“The brothers are large distributers of narcotics to include pressed fentanyl pills, powdered fentanyl, pressed Xanax, pressed Adderall, and cocaine,” the TFO with ATF wrote, according to the criminal complaint.

Anand Someria, 23; Sunil Someria, 25; and Lake, 24, were arraigned on Thursday on federal charges of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and conspiracy to distribute fentanyl.

The federal case includes the Miramar Lakes Apartment Complex property management’s July report, a confidential informant’s November tip, evidence of the trio’s alleged crimes from Dec. 6 to March 18, and their arrest on March 19, records show.

Sunil Someria, also known as “Kerm;” Anand Someria, also known as “Nadd” and “Ravi;” and Lake, also known as “OTG Lindo,” operated out of a “trap house” apartment on the first floor of 10747 South Preserve Way in Miramar, according to law enforcement.

“Both Sunil and Anand indicated that they carried firearms for protection during narcotics transactions,” the TFO with ATF wrote, according to the criminal complaint.

Investigators reported seizing a black and gold Glock 43X, a black Smith and Wesson M&P .40 caliber handgun, and a black Glock 19 handgun. The list of drugs seized included more than 78 grams of fentanyl pills, more than 34 grams of MDMA pills, more than 132 grams of Xanax pills, 705 grams of marijuana, and about 40 grams of cocaine.

Here is the list of $43,500 in drug deals involving an ATF agent operating in an undercover capacity:

Related story: Feds arrest 5 after $16,000 undercover fentanyl deal ends 2-year probe in Broward, records show

Local 10 News Assignment Editor Carson Merlo contributed to this report.

Dominique Williams, who has lived in the area for years, says she knows the warning signs.

When the shoreline looks rough like it did Friday, she keeps her son from going too far into the water. She stayed close, watching him as waves and currents remained strong.

“Stay very shallow, close to where that bank is,” Williams said.

Officials say others aren’t taking the same precautions. Alex Bagwell with Fort Lauderdale Ocean Rescue says crews have already turned away at least 10 people from the water.

In Pompano Beach, a rescue caught on Sky 10 shows just how dangerous conditions have become. Authorities say rough seas pulled several people offshore, including a father who was swept out while trying to help his child.

Pompano Beach officials say at least six people were taken to a local hospital.

With conditions expected to stay dangerous through the weekend, officials are now considering closing the beach.

Según los registros, el agente del TFO de la ATF, autorizado por el Servicio de Alguaciles de Estados Unidos, es un oficial de policía juramentado de Davie y ayudante del sheriff del condado de Broward que trabaja en el Grupo de Trabajo de Investigaciones de Pandillas.

Según consta en los registros, la fiscalía presentó las denuncias contra Sunil Someria , su hermano Anand Someria y el presunto empleado de los hermanos, Richarles Lake, el 19 de marzo ante el Tribunal de Distrito de los Estados Unidos para el Distrito Sur de Florida.

Según la denuncia penal, “los hermanos son importantes distribuidores de narcóticos, entre ellos pastillas de fentanilo prensadas, fentanilo en polvo, Xanax prensado, Adderall prensado y cocaína”, escribió el oficial de operaciones tácticas de la ATF.

Anand Someria , de 23 años; Sunil Someria , de 25; y Lake , de 24, comparecieron el jueves ante el juez acusados ​​de delitos federales de posesión de un arma de fuego en relación con un delito de narcotráfico y conspiración para distribuir fentanilo.

Según consta en los registros, el caso federal incluye el informe de julio de la administración del complejo de apartamentos Miramar Lakes, una denuncia anónima de un informante confidencial en noviembre, pruebas de los presuntos delitos cometidos por el trío entre el 6 de diciembre y el 18 de marzo, y su detención el 19 de marzo .

Según las autoridades , Sunil Someria , también conocido como “Kerm”; Anand Someria , también conocido como “Nadd” y “Ravi”; y Lake , también conocido como “OTG Lindo”, operaban desde un apartamento que servía de base para el tráfico de drogas, ubicado en el primer piso del número 10747 de South Preserve Way en Miramar.

“Tanto Sunil como Anand indicaron que portaban armas de fuego para protegerse durante las transacciones de narcóticos”, escribió el oficial de operaciones tácticas de la ATF, según la denuncia penal.

Los investigadores informaron haber incautado una Glock 43X negra y dorada, una pistola Smith & Wesson M&P calibre .40 negra y una pistola Glock 19 negra. La lista de drogas incautadas incluía más de 78 gramos de pastillas de fentanilo, más de 34 gramos de pastillas de MDMA, más de 132 gramos de pastillas de Xanax, 705 gramos de marihuana y aproximadamente 40 gramos de cocaína.

Aquí está la lista de transacciones de drogas por valor de $43,500 dólares en las que participó un agente de la ATF que operaba de incógnito:

Carson Merlo, editor de noticias de Local 10 News, contribuyó a este reportaje.

The new Marine Minerals Administration will bring together the functions of the current Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said. Doing so will enable a “streamlined approach” that will maintain existing regulatory protections and rigorous safety standards, he said.

The combined agency will “deliver clearer coordination, better service to the public and stronger, more integrated oversight of offshore energy development,” Burgum said in a statement.

The new name is reminiscent of the old Minerals Management Service, which for decades was the federal agency responsible for overseeing offshore drilling. In April 2010, a deadly explosion destroyed BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 people and discharging nearly 5 million barrels of crude oil into the sea over the next three months in the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

Lawmakers from both parties and outside critics accused the agency of lax oversight of drilling and cozy ties with industry. A 2008 report by the Interior Department’s inspector general said employees accepted gifts, steered contracts to favored clients and engaged in drug use and sex with employees of the energy firms they regulated.

The head of the agency resigned in May 2010 — less than a year into her tenure — under public pressure as the Obama administration moved to impose stricter control over drilling in the wake of the spill.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement replaced the disbanded Minerals Management Service in 2011. The former agency’s revenue management function was also separated into a new office. The Obama administration said the reorganization was designed to remove the complex and sometimes conflicting missions of the former agency.

BOEM oversees development of oil and gas, as well as renewable energy and mining on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf, while BSEE enforces safety and environmental regulations.

Environmental groups slammed the reorganization as a replay of the agency's troubled past.

The MMS was intentionally split up after the Gulf spill because regulators were too cozy with industry and “we couldn’t trust the integrity of their work,” said Miyoko Sakashita, oceans director at the Center for Biological Diversity.

The new set-up "sounds like yet another handout to the oil industry that will fast-track risky projects. It sure won’t make the people or wildlife on our coasts any safer,” she wrote in an e-mail Friday.

The National Ocean Industries Association, which represents offshore developers, said that two separate — yet overlapping — government agencies responsible for administering the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act can understandably result in inconsistencies and delays.

“Bringing them back together should result in closer coordination and a more efficiently functioning government, for the benefit of American citizens who rely upon the energy produced from the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf to fuel our economy and lift society,” Association President Erik Milito said in a statement.

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

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On Thursday, deputies released a “Missing Juvenile” flyer with a photo of the girl who was last seen at about 10 a.m., on Monday, in Biscayne Gardens.

“She was located in good health,” Detective Samantha Choon, a spokeswoman for the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, wrote in a statement on Friday afternoon.

Detectives had asked anyone with information about this or other cases to call 911, 305-715-3300, or Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477 to remain anonymous.

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According to Hollywood Fire Rescue, the fire was reported at 2:12 a.m. at the Hollywood Gateway Inn, located in the 2900 block of Polk Street.

“Upon arrival, crews located a working fire on the east side of the building, which was quickly brought under control,” HFR said in an email to Local 10. “The majority of occupants had already self‑evacuated.”

Wilson Rodriguez, who was staying at the hotel, told Local 10 that he was awakened by someone yelling “fire!”

“As we opened the door, all we see is fire and a lot of smoke,” Rodriguez said. “We had people jumping from the balcony. We saved a lady with her daughter.”

Firefighters confirmed two people were assisted from a second‑floor balcony and were evaluated for smoke inhalation, but they both declined to be transported to the hospital.

They said two additional occupants were transported to a local hospital for injuries they sustained while evacuating the building.

In all, more than 60 people were evacuated from the building.

Firefighters said the blaze has been extinguished and crews spent about an hour “conducting overhaul operations.”

Firefighters believe the fire started on the second floor, inside one of the rooms, and said it appears to be accidental and electrical in nature.

An HFR spokesperson noted that the building’s smoke alarms “operated exactly as they should,” crediting the smoke alarms for helping save lives.

“Hollywood Fire Rescue reminds the community that working smoke alarms save lives,” the spokesperson said. “We encourage everyone to test their alarms regularly, replace batteries as needed, and ensure every home has functioning alarms on every level.”

Rodriguez told Local 10 that he’s happy to see another day.

“Anything can happen on any given day,” he said. “You wake up in the morning and have one expectation for how the day might end but you never really know what could happen.”

It’s unclear when people will be allowed back into the hotel.

Shohei Ohtani, Kyle Tucker, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman — the first four hitters in the Los Angeles lineup — all homered Friday in a 13-6 win over the Washington Nationals. It was Tucker's first home run since joining the Dodgers. It was Ohtani's first RBI of the season.

“Rome isn't burning,” manager Dave Roberts cracked.

There wasn't much panic from Roberts before the game, even with Ohtani (.167), Tucker (.174), Betts (.136) and Freeman (.208) all in a bit of a funk through the first six games of the season. Then the first six hitters went down in order before the Dodgers broke through in the third.

Ohtani's three-run shot to right tied the game at 3, and Betts connected for a two-run homer two batters later.

“It's a new day. That's really it,” Betts said. “Nobody in here is panicking or anything. One week, tough week. That probably is not going to be our last week that we don't hit well.”

Andy Pages hit a two-run homer in the fourth that made it 7-4, then Freeman added a two-run shot in the fifth. Tucker's solo homer in the seventh capped a three-hit day for the outfielder who signed a $240 million, four-year deal to go from the Chicago Cubs to the Dodgers.

“It was nice. First homer — first actual ball I've hit in the air well, out in front and everything,” Tucker said. “You can't complain when you hit a homer.”

The first four hitters for Los Angeles combined to go 8 for 21 with four homers, 10 RBIs and six runs. The Dodgers tagged Miles Mikolas for a career-high 11 earned runs in 4 1/3 innings.

“I think a little bit of it is we've had a lot of history with Mikolas,” Roberts said “We've seen him, know some of his tendencies. Outside of that, they were just not missing today.”

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

The order directs federal agencies to bolster the effectiveness of key rules on transferring, eligibility and pay-for-play by evaluating whether violations of such rules render a university unfit for federal grants and contracts.

The order also calls on the appropriate governing body to update these rules to restore financial stability and protect the future of all college sports, including women’s and Olympic sports by:

— establishing clear, consistent, and fair eligibility limits, including a five-year participation window;

— setting structured transfer rules for academic and athletic continuity;

— ensuring medical care for student-athletes;

— implementing revenue-sharing in a manner that protects and expands opportunities in women’s and Olympic sports;

— banning improper financial arrangements including pay-for-play agreements facilitated by collectives and similar entities; and

— establishing protections against unscrupulous agent conduct.

The order directs the Administrator of General Services and the Department of Education to increase data collection across college athletics to ensure compliance and directs the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission and the Attorney General to take appropriate enforcement actions.

The order also calls on Congress to “quickly” pass legislation to address these issues.

U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff gave the deal preliminary approval Thursday and set a final approval hearing for Aug. 27. He also ordered lawyers to submit to him by Friday a broader list of publications to be used to notify Epstein victims that the settlement fund exists.

The judge said he wanted to ensure “nobody is left out.”

Lawyers for women abused by Epstein had sued the bank, saying it ignored suspicious financial transactions involving Epstein that occurred while he was abusing girls and women from June 2008 to his arrest in early July 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges.

Epstein died in August 2019 in a Manhattan federal jail. The death was ruled a suicide.

At the hearing Thursday, attorney David Boies said lawyers for the victims believed between 60 and 75 women will make claims that would make them eligible for payouts from the settlement fund.

He said “there may be more we haven’t identified.”

Rakoff said that “while it’s perhaps extremely likely that the victims of Jeffrey Epstein’s monstrous acts can never be fully compensated, the victims are entitled to receive just compensation from any person or entity that knowingly, recklessly or otherwise unlawfully facilitated his sexual trafficking.”

In a statement, the bank said: “While we stand by our prior statements made in the filings in this case, including that Bank of America did not facilitate sex trafficking crimes, this resolution allows us to put this matter behind us and provides further closure for the plaintiffs.”

A spokesperson for the American Airlines Center told WFAA-TV in Dallas that the arena has “zero tolerance for any acts of hate and/or discrimination.”

“We strongly denounce the actions that appear to be depicted in the video footage and are conducting an internal investigation,” the spokesperson said. “All fans and attendees are expected to adhere to AAC and, as applicable, NBA or NHL Codes of Conduct when attending events.”

A Stars fan, Courtney Ripley, told the television station she took a 12-second video at a game against Toronto in late December. It shows four fans reacting to a goal by appearing to raise and extend their right arms with a straightened right hand facing downward. The video gained traction this week on several social media platforms.

A Stars spokesperson told ESPN on Thursday that the team is “fully aligned with the arena’s statement and working with them to find out exactly what happened.”

Fan codes of conduct are prominent throughout the NHL. Every team has a scripted segment that is shared on their video boards, through their public address system or both, telling fans about their respective codes of conduct.

The NHL also has a multipoint fan code of conduct that opens by stating, “The best hockey experiences happen in environments that are inclusive, safe and respectful.”

The NHL said possible punishments for violating the code of conduct include ejection, suspension or a lifetime ban from future events.

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

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Matthew, 12, was born with a congenital heart condition that went undetected until a routine doctor’s visit.

His mother, Yessenia Sierra, said she suspected something was wrong and sought additional opinions before turning to Nicklaus Children’s Hospital.

“It was a birth defect that he was born with and was never discovered, which does require open-heart surgery,” Sierra said.

At Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, doctors led by Dr. Shyam Sathanandam used virtual reality technology to build a 3D model of Matthew’s heart, allowing the medical team to study and rehearse the procedure before performing it.

Sathanandam said the approach allowed the team to treat the defect using a minimally invasive catheter-based procedure rather than traditional surgery.

“There was no cutting, no stitching. I don’t even know if the mom even saw how we entered his body, but we did it minimally invasive and fixed his heart,” he said.

The VR system gave doctors a detailed view of the defect and helped guide placement of a graft to repair the issue.

“To some degree, we are plumbers, but we use gaming technology pretty much,” Sathanandam said.

The hospital said Nicklaus Children’s is among the few facilities using virtual reality in this way during actual procedures, rather than only for planning and simulation.

Sierra said she was relieved to learn there was an alternative to open-heart surgery.

“Learning I had an alternative that would save his life and heart was really amazing,” she said.

Matthew recovered quickly and was back home within days, his mother said.

“Within two days being home he was already happy, telling everyone thank you,” she said.

Now, Matthew has returned to everyday activities, including playing baseball.

“I finally have my Phillies jersey. I play again in August. I have a lot of friends there,” he said.

Sierra said the outcome has been life-changing for her son.

“It’s about having a doctor who tells you, ‘I’ve got this. He’s going to be fine,’ And that changed the world for me,”' she said.

Sathanandam said cases like Matthew’s highlight the importance of combining medical expertise with new technology.

“For her to trust us to do the right thing on her son, and then to do it, and then today I see Matthew, and he’s an ordinary 12-year-old boy,” he said.

To donate to American Heart Association as part of Local 10 anchor Jenise Fernandez’s “Woman of Impact” campaign, you can click here.

Funcionarios de la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade dijeron que un agente le disparó a Cournelious Comer, de 15 años, tras responder a una llamada por amenaza con arma en el parque JL (Joe) and Enid W. Demps, en 11350 SW 216th St., en el área de Goulds.

Las autoridades indicaron que el agente se encontró con cuatro personas y abrió fuego tras un enfrentamiento cercano en la cuadra 11200 de Southwest 220th Terrace. Según un informe de arresto, Comer estaba corriendo cuando cayó y giró con el arma en la mano apuntando hacia los agentes.

La oficina del sheriff compartió una imagen del arma que, según dijeron, fue recuperada en la escena.

“Estamos agradecidos de que nadie más resultó herido y de que él está en condición estable”, dijo el sheriff asistente de MDSO, Fernand Charles. “Debemos asegurarnos de estar atentos a lo que nuestros hijos hacen día a día, porque a las 3:30 de la tarde, que un joven de 15 años esté caminando con un arma de fuego no es legal ni aceptable”.

Familiares de Comer disputan esa versión y afirman que el agente nunca se identificó.

“No sé nada de armas de fuego ni nada”, dijo la tía Asia Spann. “Él no disparó ningún arma, no le disparó a la policía, según tengo entendido, pero ¿por qué simplemente llegaron y, sin causa conocida, comenzaron a disparar? Eso es lo que quiero saber”.

Además de Comer, los agentes también arrestaron a Phil Phillips, de 17 años. Tanto él como Comer enfrentan cargos graves.

Matthew, de 12 años, nació con una condición cardíaca congénita que no fue detectada hasta una visita médica de rutina.

Su madre, Yessenia Sierra, dijo que sospechaba que algo no estaba bien y buscó otras opiniones antes de acudir al Nicklaus Children’s Hospital.

“Era un defecto de nacimiento con el que nació y nunca fue descubierto, lo que sí requiere cirugía a corazón abierto”, dijo Sierra.

En el Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, médicos liderados por el Dr. Shyam Sathanandam utilizaron tecnología de realidad virtual para crear un modelo en 3D del corazón de Matthew, lo que permitió al equipo médico estudiar y practicar el procedimiento antes de realizarlo.

Sathanandam dijo que este enfoque permitió tratar el defecto mediante un procedimiento mínimamente invasivo basado en catéter en lugar de una cirugía tradicional.

“No hubo cortes, ni suturas. Ni siquiera sé si la madre vio cómo entramos en su cuerpo, pero lo hicimos de manera mínimamente invasiva y arreglamos su corazón”, dijo.

El sistema de realidad virtual dio a los médicos una vista detallada del defecto y ayudó a guiar la colocación de un injerto para reparar el problema.

“En cierto modo, somos plomeros, pero usamos prácticamente tecnología de videojuegos”, dijo Sathanandam.

El hospital indicó que Nicklaus Children’s está entre los pocos centros que utilizan la realidad virtual de esta manera durante procedimientos reales, no solo para planificación y simulación.

Sierra dijo que se sintió aliviada al saber que existía una alternativa a la cirugía a corazón abierto.

“Saber que tenía una alternativa que salvaría su vida y su corazón fue realmente increíble”, dijo.

Matthew se recuperó rápidamente y regresó a casa en pocos días, según su madre.

“A los dos días de estar en casa ya estaba feliz, dándole las gracias a todos”, dijo.

Ahora, Matthew ha vuelto a sus actividades diarias, incluido jugar béisbol.

“Por fin tengo mi camiseta de los Phillies. Vuelvo a jugar en agosto. Tengo muchos amigos allí”, dijo.

Sierra afirmó que el resultado ha cambiado la vida de su hijo.

“Se trata de tener un médico que te diga: ‘Yo me encargo. Él va a estar bien’. Y eso me cambió la vida”, dijo.

Sathanandam señaló que casos como el de Matthew destacan la importancia de combinar la experiencia médica con nuevas tecnologías.

“Que ella confiara en nosotros para hacer lo correcto por su hijo, y luego hacerlo, y hoy ver a Matthew como un niño de 12 años normal”, dijo.

Para donar a la American Heart Association como parte de la campaña “Woman of Impact” de la presentadora de Local 10, Jenise Fernandez, puede hacer clic aquí.

Trent Grisham reached leading off with the first of 11 walks by Marlins pitchers and Judge drove a slider into the left-field seats against Eury Pérez (0-1).

Judge, who had three RBIs, hit a record 20 first-inning home runs last year, when he finished with 53. Three of Judge’s five hits this season have been home runs.

Ben Rice homered and hit a two-run double for the Yankees.

Will Warren (1-0) allowed four hits in 5 2/3 innings, including solo homers by Xavier Edwards in the first and Owen Caissie in the fifth.

Miami entered the game at 5-1, matching its franchise-best start, and had spent six days atop the NL East — double its total for 2021-25 combined. Miami pitchers had their most walks since April 2023; they had walked just nine in the team’s first six games.

Pérez (0-1) allowed four runs, two hits and a career-high six walks in four innings. He forced in runs on consecutive pitches in the second when he walked Grisham and hit Judge. Tyler Phillips threw a run-scoring wild pitch in the sixth.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. and José Caballero each had two stolen bases and Judge one off catcher Liam Hicks, who has allowed 60 steals in 66 attempts since reaching the major leagues last year.

Up Next

Yankees LHP Ryan Weathers (0-0), acquired from the Marlins in January, starts Saturday night against Miami RHP Max Meyer (0-0).

___

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

El hecho representó una dramática escalada en la guerra apenas dos días después que el presidente estadounidense Donald Trump dijera en un discurso transmitido a nivel nacional que Estados Unidos ha “vencido y completamente diezmado a Irán” y que “iba a terminar el trabajo, y lo vamos a terminar muy rápido”.

El rescate ocurrió en una operación de búsqueda del ejército de estadounidense, de acuerdo con el funcionario estadounidense y el israelí. Tres personas familiarizadas con el caso también confirmaron que se estaba llevando a cabo una búsqueda. Todos hablaron bajo condición de anonimato debido a la delicadeza de la situación.

No se dieron a conocer detalles oficiales. Por el momento se desconoce el número de tripulantes a bordo y el paradero de cualquier otro.

Las circunstancias que derribaron el avión no estaban claras al principio. Pero según un correo electrónico del Pentágono obtenido por The Associated Press, el ejército de Estados Unidos indicó que recibió notificación de “una aeronave derribada” en Oriente Medio. El correo electrónico no proporcionó más detalles.

Irán disparó el viernes contra objetivos en todo Oriente Medio, al tiempo que Teherán continuaba presionando a Israel y sus vecinos árabes del golfo Pérsico, pese a las afirmaciones de Estados Unidos e Israel de que las capacidades militares iraníes han quedado prácticamente destruidas.

Los ataques de Irán contra la infraestructura energética de la región y su férreo control del estrecho de Ormuz, por el que en tiempos de paz transita una quinta parte del petróleo y el gas natural que se comercializa en el mundo, han sacudido los mercados bursátiles, dispararon el precio del crudo y amenazaron con elevar el costo de muchos productos básicos, incluyendo los alimentos.

Derribo de avión podría marcar nuevo nivel de presión sobre EEUU

Antes de conocerse el rescate, imágenes en redes sociales mostraron drones, aeronaves y helicópteros estadounidenses volando sobre la región montañosa donde un canal de televisión afiliado a la televisión estatal iraní había dicho más temprano el viernes que al menos un piloto se lanzó del avión de combate.

El presentador del canal iraní instó a la población a entregar a cualquier “piloto enemigo” a la policía y prometió una recompensa.

Fue la primera vez que Estados Unidos pierde una aeronave en territorio iraní durante el conflicto y podría marcar un nuevo nivel de presión sobre el ejército estadounidense.

A lo largo de la guerra, Irán ha hecho una serie de afirmaciones sobre haber derribado aeronaves enemigas tripuladas que resultaron no ser ciertas. El viernes fue la primera vez que Irán fue a la televisión instando a la audiencia a buscar a un presunto piloto derribado.

Medios estatales iraníes indicaron en una publicación en X que el ejército de Irán derribó un F-15E Strike Eagle de Estados Unidos. La aeronave es una variación del avión de combate de la Fuerza Aérea que lleva una tripulación de dos personas , compuesta por un piloto y un oficial de sistemas de armas.

Alan Diehl, un exinvestigador del Centro de Seguridad de la Fuerza Aérea, dijo que el Strike Eagle tiene una baliza localizadora de emergencia en un kit de supervivencia que se puede configurar para activarse automática o manualmente.

El Pentágono no respondió a repetidas solicitudes de comentarios.

La secretaria de prensa de la Casa Blanca, Karoline Leavitt, señaló en un comunicado previo que Trump había sido informado al respecto, pero no ofreció información adicional.

Irán ataca planta desalinizadora y refinería

La noticia sobre el avión de combate se dio luego que la refinería kuwaití de Mina al-Ahmadi fuera atacada por Irán, y la estatal Kuwait Petroleum Corp. informó que los bomberos trataban de controlar varios incendios.

Kuwait también señaló que un ataque iraní causó “daños materiales” en una planta desalinizadora. Estas instalaciones proporcionan la mayor parte del agua potable que se consume en los Estados del golfo Pérsico y se han convertido en un objetivo clave en la guerra.

En Baréin, las sirenas antiaéreas advirtieron de ataques iraníes, Arabia Saudí anunció que había destruido varios drones iraníes e Israel reportó la llegada de misiles.

Las autoridades de Emiratos Árabes Unidos cerraron un yacimiento de gas luego que, según reportes, la interceptación de un misil arrojara escombros y causara un incendio.

Activistas reportaron ataques en los alrededores de Teherán y en Isfahán, una ciudad del centro del Irán, pero no estaba claro qué objetivos habían sido impactados. Un día antes, Teherán indicó que Estados Unidos había destruido un puente importante, que aún estaba en construcción, en un ataque que mató a ocho personas.

En Líbano, donde Israel ha lanzado una invasión terrestre en su lucha contra el grupo político-paramilitar Hezbollah, respaldado por Irán, un ataque con dron israelí contra fieles que salían de las oraciones del viernes cerca de Beirut mató a dos personas, según la estatal Agencia Nacional de Noticias.

Más de 1.900 personas han muerto en Irán desde que la guerra comenzó el 28 de febrero con ataques de Estados Unidos e Israel. En una revisión publicada el viernes, Armed Conflict Location and Event Data, un grupo con sede en Estados Unidos, afirmó que encontró que las bajas civiles se centraban en torno a ataques contra instalaciones de seguridad y vinculadas al Estado “en lugar de un bombardeo indiscriminado” de zonas urbanas.

Más de dos docenas de personas han perdido la vida en Estados del golfo y en la Cisjordania ocupada, 19 decesos han sido reportados en Israel, y 13 miembros del servicio de Estados Unidos han muerto.

En Líbano fallecieron más de 1.300 personas y más de un millón se vieron obligadas a abandonar sus hogares. Allí también han muerto 10 soldados israelíes.

Irán mantiene férreo control del estrecho de Ormuz

Los líderes mundiales han tenido dificultades para poner fin al estrangulamiento de Irán sobre el estrecho, que ha tenido consecuencias de gran alcance para la economía global y ha demostrado ser su mayor ventaja estratégica en la guerra.

Se esperaba que el Consejo de Seguridad de la ONU abordara el asunto el sábado.

Trump ha oscilado sobre el papel de Estados Unidos en el estrecho, alternando entre amenazar a Irán si no abre la vía fluvial y decir a otras naciones que “vayan a conseguir su propio petróleo”. El viernes, Trump indicó en una publicación en redes sociales que: “Con un poco más de tiempo, podemos fácilmente ABRIR EL ESTRECHO DE ORMUZ, TOMAR EL PETRÓLEO y HACER UNA FORTUNA”.

Con el estrecho de Ormuz cerrado, los precios al contado del crudo Brent, el referente internacional, rondaban los 109 dólares el viernes, un aumento mayor al 50% del precio que tenía al inicio de la guerra, cuando Irán comenzó a restringir el tráfico a través de él.

___

Mednick reportó desde Tel Aviv, Israel, y Toropin y Kim reportaron desde Washington. Los periodistas de The Associated Press Sylvie Corbet en París, Sarah El Deeb en Beirut, Tong-hyung Kim en Seúl, Corea del Sur, y Michelle L. Price, Lisa Mascaro y Ben Finley en Washington contribuyeron a este despacho.

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Officials with the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office said a deputy shot Cournelious Comer, 15, after responding to a gun threat call at JL (Joe) and Enid W. Demps Park at 11350 SW 216th St., in the county’s Goulds area.

MDSO officials said the deputy encountered four people and opened fire after a confrontation nearby in the 11200 block of Southwest 220th Terrace. According to an arrest report, Comer was running away when he fell and flipped over with the gun in his hand pointed at deputies.

The sheriff’s office shared a picture of the gun they said they recovered at the scene.

“We’re just grateful that nobody else got hurt and that he is in stable condition,” MDSO Assistant Sheriff Fernand Charles said. “We need to make sure that we’re mindful of what our children are doing day in and day out, because it is 3:30 in the afternoon, a 15-year-old is walking around with a firearm, which is not legal or acceptable.”

Family members of Comer dispute that account and claim the deputy never identified himself.

“I don’t know about no firearms or whatever,” aunt Asia Spann said. “He didn’t shoot no firearms, shoot at the police, you know, to my understanding, but why did they just jump out and unknown cause, they just start shooting? That’s what I want to know.”

Aside from Comer, deputies also arrested 17-year-old Phil Phillips. Both he and Comer are facing felony charges.

Trent Grisham reached leading off with the first of 11 walks by Marlins pitchers and Judge drove a slider into the left-field seats against Eury Pérez (0-1).

Judge, who had three RBIs, hit a record 20 first-inning home runs last year, when he finished with 53. Three of Judge's five hits this season have been home runs.

Ben Rice homered and hit a two-run double for the Yankees.

Will Warren (1-0) allowed four hits in 5 2/3 innings, including solo homers by Xavier Edwards in the first and Owen Caissie in the fifth.

Miami entered the game at 5-1, matching its franchise-best start, and had spent six days atop the NL East — double its total for 2021-25 combined. Miami pitchers had their most walks since April 2023; they had walked just nine in the team's first six games.

Pérez (0-1) allowed four runs, two hits and a career-high six walks in four innings. He forced in runs on consecutive pitches in the second when he walked Grisham and hit Judge. Tyler Phillips threw a run-scoring wild pitch in the sixth.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. and José Caballero each had two stolen bases and Judge one off catcher Liam Hicks, who has allowed 60 steals in 66 attempts since reaching the major leagues last year.

Up Next

Yankees LHP Ryan Weathers (0-0), acquired from the Marlins in January, starts Saturday night against Miami RHP Max Meyer (0-0).

___

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

The juvenile, whose age and gender have not been made public, was arrested on suspicion of murder on Thursday, Los Angeles Police Officer Charles Miller said. The arrest stems from the Feb. 25 death of 12-year-old Khimberly Zavaleta Chuquipa.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney's office, which will be responsible for filing charges, said Friday that the case was under investigation.

Miller said that he couldn’t release any other information because both the victim and the suspect are juveniles. Khimberly's family says she was struck in the head on Feb. 17 during a bullying incident at Reseda Charter High School, which also includes a middle school.

“This arrest is an important step toward accountability, but an arrest alone does not equal justice and does not answer the larger question of how this was allowed to happen in the first place,” Robert Glassman, the family’s attorney, said in email Friday.

Khimberly was in a hallway on the school’s campus when she was struck in the head with a metal water bottle while trying to help her older sister, Sharon Zavaleta, who was being bullied by a group of students, the family said in the wrongful-death claim filed last month against the Los Angeles Unified School District.

She was taken to Valley Presbyterian Hospital, where she was evaluated and released the same day. Three days later, she was taken to UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital, where she was placed in an induced coma and underwent emergency brain surgery to try to stop a hemorrhage, the family said. She died Feb. 25.

Glassman said the family has not ruled out taking legal action against Valley Presbyterian Hospital but that they are focused on supporting each other and holding the Los Angeles Unified School District accountable for its failure to intervene long before the fatal attack.

The sisters had been bullied, harassed and physically attacked for months at school, and their mother reported the incidents to school officials, who failed to stop the abuse, he said.

“The focus cannot stop with one student — there must be a hard look at what the adults in charge knew, when they knew it, and why meaningful action wasn’t taken sooner,” Glassman said.

A spokesperson for LAUSD said the district does not comment on pending or ongoing litigation.

Last month, a 12-year-old girl died days after collapsing in the street following a fistfight near a school bus stop in her Georgia neighborhood, according to police.

Jada West, a sixth grader, died after a fight with another student from Mason Creek Middle School broke out at an intersection near hear home.

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They say a man’s home is his castle, but for Knox, his beloved castle has succumbed to years of decay.

“It was actually in my family a long time ago,” he told Local 10 News. “Then the roof started leaking and long story, from there it went down and insurance got out the door, and here I am.”

The 75-year-old former school teacher, who enjoys gardening, bought the home in 1980 with his wife, Clara.

But now, the spaces in the three-bedroom, one-bath home are barely recognizable.

Yet, in the midst of the peeling paint, cracked walls and gaping holes are tangible reminders of a life that once was.

What little else Knox has left is contained in a storage unit.

All of it is precious to him, enough for him to keep vigil overnight.

“If I sleep here, I sleep in the car,” he said. “I just look at the house and try to get my focus together and get rest.”

And rest from his worries may soon be possible, thanks to the kindness of volunteers.

“We have the right engineer now putting together the final permitting to get the project started, and we won’t have to demolish the home and we are very happy about that,” Wiki Voice co-founder Joe Puentes said.

Wiki Voice is a nonprofit dedicated to serving those in need.

Puentes rallied some industry professionals to donate time and materials, but is calling on others to lend a hand.

“Roofing, plumbing -- there’s still quite a few things needed for the home,” he explained.

It’s a massive undertaking. But Knox is hopeful the community will respond and his home of 46 years will be restored to its former glory.

“I told my wife one time, ‘I got faith that this is actually going to happen,’” Knox said. “And now that absolutely looks like (that is) what is going to happen. Thank goodness.”

While a core team has been assembled to help Knox, roofers, plumbers and landscapers are still needed.

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Asked whether he’s thinking about reaching 50 goals and catching Nathan MacKinnon for the NHL lead, Caufield deadpanned, “No.” After a brief pause, he smiled and said, “Yeah,” and laughter ensued.

“We’re focused on our team game and winning games, and I think individual stuff comes with that,” Caufield said. “Doing the right things, you get more chances and opportunities. Obviously, it helps when you’re winning games and stuff.”

The Canadiens are winning enough to emerge as a contender to hoist the Stanley Cup and end Canada’s drought that dates to their championship in 1993. They’ve raised a Cup banner more recently than they’ve had a 50-goal scorer, and Caufield has a chance to be the first member of the storied franchise to get to that mark since Stephane Richer in 1990.

"I didn’t know it was (nearly) 40 years," teammate Alex Newhook said. “It’s been fun to watch. It seems like he keeps scoring every night. We’re happy for him. We’re pushing for him. Hopefully he keeps this thing rolling.”

Caufield rolled out of the Olympic break — after not making the U.S. roster — with 17 goals in 17 games, the most of any player in the league. His 83 points are already 13 clear of his previous career high.

“He’s on a tremendous heater right now,” Canadiens captain and leading scorer Nick Suzuki said. “He’s just playing the right way, doing the right things and he’s getting rewarded for it.”

Caufield wasn't always this complete of a player. Undersized at 5-foot-8 and 175 pounds and counted on to produce to offset some defensive inefficiencies, he got sent down to Laval of the American Hockey League in the fall of 2021 when he had no goals and just one assist in 10 games with the Canadiens.

"I think it was worth it," Caufield said, crediting coaches, linemates and others for helping him round out his play. “There’s still a lot more room to grow in my game. I think progressing every year with the team and the staff that we have, it’s pretty easy to kind of find yourself working every day. I think it’s just an addiction to kind of find ways to get better.”

Opponents have noticed the progress from Caufield, who turned 25 in January.

“He thinks the game at a real high level,” New York Rangers coach Mike Sullivan said. “It’s the combination that gives him the competitive advantage that he has. He’s a really good player.”

Sullivan, a two-time Cup champion who also coached the U.S. to gold at the Olympics, called Montreal “one of the emerging teams in the league” because of the mix of high-end skill and speed all over the roster. The Canadiens move the puck around at a rapid pace — on the ice and into the net.

Caufield is a big part of that. Among players with 100 shots on net this season, only two are scoring at a higher rate than his 21.2%, tormenting goaltenders and delighting teammates happy to pick up another assist.

“I enjoy it,” linemate Juraj Slafkovsky said. "You have a goal-scorer like this, you can always pass to him and there is a big chance it’s going in." That’s what we’re trying to do. I hope he can get (to 50) as soon as possible and get a lot more."

The gravity of the situation isn't lost on Caufield, who would be just the seventh Canadiens player to score 50 goals in a season, joining Richer (twice), Guy Lafleur (six times), Steve Shutt, Bernie Geoffrion, Pierre Larouche and Maurice Richard. If he passes MacKinnon and finishes with the most in the NHL, he'd also win the Maurice “Rocket" Richard Trophy named after one of the most decorated players in franchise history.

Caufield insists he's “still hungry." This pursuit, followed by an even more important one in the playoffs, keeps him that way.

“Certainly it’s a good feeling to be producing, but at the end of the day I think I’ve grown a lot as a player and I’m just going to try and continue to do that,” Caufield said. “For me, right now, I still feel like there’s more out there.”

___

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

The annual Marshmallow Drop, hosted by Wayne County Parks, took place two hours apart in Trenton, Michigan, and Westland, Michigan.

“It was great. The weather is beautiful, and I think this is a great thing to do with all the kids to start off Easter and the weekend, so yeah, I think it’s wonderful,” said Anna Grote (GROH’-tee), a Westland resident who attended with her boyfriend and his 10-year-old son.

Hundreds of children at each place cheered as the helicopter passed by on its way to the drop zone. Once there, a passenger unloaded the treats out of a sack and onto the grass below. The helicopter made three passes, dropping marshmallows for kids in different age groups.

David Alexander was in Westland with his two kids, 7 and 10. The Inkster resident encouraged them “to be the first ones at the line.”

“Ready, set, go. Be the first one, take off,” he said.

Officials stressed that, although tempting, the marshmallow must not be eaten, because they struck the ground. Instead, kids exchanged the fluffy treats for a prize.

Some kids snatched up way more than one, and their parents kindly dumped most back onto the turf, allowing other kids a shot at it.

“Everybody was nice. There wasn't any pushing, there wasn't any shoving, no fighting,” said Alexander, a first-time attendee.

Grote said her boyfriend's son “did not have any difficulty at all” in procuring a marshmallow.

“The thrill of the hunt, right,” she said, laughing.

When her 20-year-old son Emilio Alejandro Leyva walked out of the doors of the detention facility with dozens of other prisoners, bags and a small release document in hand, she wrapped her arms around her son, who was detained for a robbery, for the first time in years.

“It has been so difficult, but today God has given me so much joy,” said Arias, 43, breaking down in tears. “Today, I feel so happy. This is how all mothers who will have their children released today should feel.”

The outpouring of joy from families comes the day after Cuba's government said it was going to release 2,010 prisoners in what it said was “humanitarian gestures” ahead of Holy Week; it wasn't immediately clear how many were released on Friday.

The release comes as the Cuban government navigates extreme pressure and a crippling oil blockade by the Trump administration, which has openly expressed the desire for regime change and the release of those arrested for protesting.

It was unclear whether any of the prisoners released Friday are among the 1,214 people activist groups say are imprisoned for political reasons in Cuba. The government denies holding political prisoners.

Uncertainty over released prisoners

On Friday, detainees in the La Lima prison on the rural outskirts of Havana said they were woken up at 6 a.m. and heard their names called out. Hours later they were walking into the arms of loved ones awaiting them in front of blue prison gates.

The majority of prisoners interviewed Friday by The Associated Press were not serving time for political charges, though it's uncertain how many of those released were protesters — often charged with public disorder, contempt or terrorism. Many of the more than one thousand people the activist organization Prisoners Defended has registered as detained for political reasons were protesters from the 2021 mass demonstrations on the island, which were met with widespread arrests by the government.

Sporadic protests have broken out in recent months as the island sinks into a deeper crisis. In one March incident, protesters burned the headquarters of the communist party in central Cuba, leading to five arrests.

The lack of information over releases on Friday fueled frustration among human rights and opposition groups, who said the releases were a good sign, but fell short of real change.

“The government presents it as a humanitarian gesture toward prisoners, not as the release of political prisoners,” said Manuel Cuesta Morúa, leader of the Council for Democratic Transition in Cuba, the island’s main opposition platform. “By doing so, it mixes things up to avoid giving the impression that it recognizes political imprisonment in Cuba.”

The group has demanded a government amnesty law and says that people who were previously freed are often placed under house arrest or live under conditions where they can't speak freely.

During a previous release of 51 people in March, organizations monitoring prisons in Cuba noted that 22 had political motives in their cases.

The nongovernmental organization Justicia 11J wrote in a statement Friday that no partial release can be considered progress “as long as the criminalization of the exercise of fundamental rights persists.”

“Although every release represents immediate relief, especially for families, in a context marked by the severity of conditions in the country’s prisons … we warn that this gesture does not constitute a change in the repressive policy of the Cuban state,” the organization said.

US pressure on Cuba

The releases come as U.S.-Cuban tensions are running high. The Trump administration has suffocated the island by imposing an oil blockade, pushing the already stricken island to the brink, crippling hospitals and increasing the number of islandwide blackouts.

Cubans were offered a brief moment of relief this week when U.S. President Donald Trump said the government allowed a Russian ship carrying a nine to 10 day supply of fuel to the island. It wasn't clear if the Cuban or Russian governments made any concessions to allow the shipment to go through. A second Russian tanker is on the way.

Cuba periodically frees prisoners at key moments.

In January 2025, Cuba’s government released 553 prisoners as part of talks with the Vatican, a day after the Biden administration announced its intent to lift the U.S. designation of the island nation as a state sponsor of terrorism.

Cuba's government said Friday's release marked the fifth since 2011, and that it has freed more than 11,000 people.

Despite ongoing uncertainty, scenes of hope emerged outside the La Lima prison on Friday as families wrapped their arms around each other and a father planted a kiss on the head of his child swaddled in pink.

Damián Fariñas, 20, who has served the majority of his 2-year prison sentence for a robbery, was greeted by three beaming friends waiting for him on the street.

“This is freedom, a pardon, owing nothing to anyone. I’m heading out into the world,” he said.

___

Associated Press journalists Ramón Espinosa and Ariel Fernández contributed from Havana. Megan Janetsky contributed from Mexico City.

___

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

En Antigua, una ciudad colonial de Guatemala, docenas de personas caminaron a través de las calles empedradas enfundados en ropa blanca y morada. Muchos eran penitentes que se conocen como “cucuruchos”. Otros se hicieron paso bajo el sol de la mañana cargando imágenes gigantescas de Jesús.

La ciudad auspicia más de una docena de procesiones durante Semana Santa. Marcos Bautista, de 63 años, dijo que ha formado parte de las celebraciones desde que era un bebé y su padre lo cargaba en brazos.

“Para describir una Semana Santa en Antigua no hay palabras que encajen con lo que se siente”, dijo. “Solo con el hecho de hablar lo que Jesús ha hecho en nuestras vidas, me quebranto”.

En Bolivia, el presidente Rodrigo Paz viajó a la ciudad sureña de Tarija para participar en algunas actividades. La constitución establece que el país es laico y sus líderes evitaron formar parte de eventos religiosos entre 2006 y 2025. Pero Paz — quien tomó el poder en noviembre pasado — rompió con este precedente cuando asistió a la eucaristía del Domingo de Ramos portando una palma.

En la ciudad de La Paz, autoridades del gobierno y bandas militares acompañaron la procesión del viernes, en la que penitentes encapuchados sacaron el Santo Sepulcro a las calles.

Bolivia es un país mayoritariamente católico, aunque la religión coexiste con una poderosa espiritualidad indígena. Entre algunas familias se acostumbra consumir solo pescado el Viernes Santo y preparar hasta 12 platos que representan a los apóstoles de Jesús, costumbre ha ido mermado por la crisis económica.

En Ecuador, donde se estima que 80% de la población se identifica como católica, también se realizaron procesiones en las principales ciudades del país.

En Guayaquil, cerca de medio millón de fieles asistieron a la procesión del “Cristo del Consuelo”. Algunos participantes caminaron descalzos, mientras que otros portaban coronas de espinas o arrastraban cruces. En la capital, Quito, la procesión de “Jesús del Gran Poder” congregó a más de 150.000 fieles, quienes llenaron las calles del centro histórico con cantos y oraciones mientras acompañaban una imagen de Jesús cargando la cruz.

Si bien la proporción de católicos en América Latina ha disminuido en la última década, la fe sigue siendo la religión más grande de la región.

En varios países, incluidos México, Perú y Argentina, más del 60% de los adultos aún se identifican como católicos, según encuestas de 2024 del Pew Research Center y Latinobarómetro.

La creencia en Dios también sigue siendo generalizada en toda la región.

___

Los periodistas de The Associated Press Carlos Valdez en La Paz, Bolivia; Gonzalo Solano en Quito, Ecuador; y Moisés Castillo en Antigua, Guatemala, contribuyeron a este reporte.

___

La cobertura religiosa de The Associated Press recibe apoyo a través de una colaboración con The Conversation US, con fondos del Lilly Endowment Inc. La AP es la única responsable de todo el contenido.

Alito's illness did not require an overnight hospital stay and he was back on the bench the following Monday, spokeswoman Patricia McCabe said in a statement.

Alito was an active questioner during arguments that day in an important case about mailed ballots and participated in all the court's hearings over the ensuing two weeks.

Alito, who turned 76 on Wednesday, is the second-oldest member of the court, after 77-year-old Justice Clarence Thomas.

The episode was first reported by CNN, which also said the treatment was administered at a Philadelphia hospital. The court did not say where Alito had been taken.

The incident is the latest example of the justices' reticence to discuss their health, at least until the news somehow leaks.

In 2020, the court confirmed that Chief Justice John Roberts had spent a night in the hospital after a fall that required stitches in his forehead, only after the Washington Post reported it first.

Alito was driven by his security detail from Washington to what CNN said was a dinner following a Federalist Society panel that looked at his 20 years on the court.

When he didn't feel well in the evening, “he agreed with his security detail’s recommendation to see a physician before the three-hour drive home” to northern Virginia, McCabe said. He was given fluids for dehydration, she said.

While the justice has not said anything about retirement, speculation has swirled that Alito might soon step down, which would give President Donald Trump the chance to appoint a fourth justice, after the three who were confirmed during his first term.

While Alito is young by Supreme Court standards, he might not want to stay around and gamble on the possibility of Democrats flipping the Senate in the November elections and seeing a Democrat capture the White House two years later.

Retiring in the summer would allow Trump to name a similarly conservative but much younger replacement who would almost certainly win confirmation from the Republican-led Senate.

Shock was not one of them.

“I'm ready for this,” Griffin said Friday, just hours before making his major league debut against Baltimore at PNC Park.

The Pirates are betting big on it, making Griffin the first position player to arrive in the majors before his 20th birthday since Juan Soto did it in Washington in 2018.

Just 628 days after Pittsburgh selected him with the ninth pick in the 2024 first-year player draft, the athletic and mustachioed 6-foot-3 Griffin found a No. 6 jersey hanging in his locker at PNC Park and his name penciled in the seventh spot in the lineup against the Orioles.

On the surface, it seems fast. The reality is that Griffin checked every box — and checked every box quickly — while sprinting through the Pirates' system. The final steps came over the last week when he hit .438 in a handful of games for Triple-A Indianapolis.

Pittsburgh manager Don Kelly felt like Griffin was “pressing” near the end of spring training, when Griffin smashed three homers but also hit just .171. The club made Griffin one of the last cuts before the opening day roster was set. Yet rather than sulk, he headed to Triple-A, made a couple of adjustments, and saw immediate results.

“He just went right down and hit his stride and was able to reset in a couple of days,” Kelly said. “Which again, for anybody, is really impressive, especially for a 19-year-old kid whose hopes and dreams were to make the big leagues.”

That doesn't make Griffin unlike the millions of kids who pick up a bat when they're in elementary school. It's everything that has come after it, however, that has set Griffin apart. He raced through the lower levels of the minors last year, hitting 21 homers, driving in 94 runs, and stealing 65 bases while showcasing the range to play one of the game's most demanding defensive positions.

Yet it's not just the tangible on-field things that won the organization over. Griffin has long carried himself with the maturity of someone far older. He married his high school sweetheart, Dendy, over the winter. And she was the first one he told after Indianapolis manager Eric Patterson called Griffin to his hotel room in Columbus early Thursday to tell him he was heading to The Show.

The next 24 hours were a blur. From the short drive from Columbus to Pittsburgh to the scramble for the Mississippi native's family to make it to the ballpark that's tucked hard against the Allegheny River in time for Friday's first pitch.

Finally, just after noon, Griffin was able to relax. He trotted out to shortstop and took grounders, his frame and arm making him look very much the part of the role he's been preparing for since he was 5.

Griffin's skillset has drawn comparisons to the likes of Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr., heady territory for someone less than two years removed from his high school graduation. Still, he's not getting ahead of himself.

“Today is the first day of carving out a legacy that I want to build,” he said. "And I’m ready to do that and try to be right up there with those top guys.”

Griffin is the latest in a string of high-profile arrivals in Pittsburgh, from reigning Cy Young winner Paul Skenes to rookie right-hander Bubba Chandler to catcher Henry Davis.

The future that's been talked about since general manager Ben Cherington was hired in late 2019 is finally arriving. And perhaps it's telling of how far the club has come that Griffin is joining a roster that has undergone a significant upgrade in recent months with the additions of All-Star second baseman Brandon Lowe, All-Star first baseman/outfielder Ryan O'Hearn and veteran designated hitter Marcell Ozuna.

“This team is loaded,” Griffin said. “I get to come in here and just be a piece of this puzzle.”

Perhaps a very big piece. For a very long time. The Pirates and Griffin have engaged in talks about a contract extension that would lock him up for most of the next decade.

Griffin demurred when asked about it on Friday, though he made his intentions very clear.

“All I’m going to say is, I want to be a Pirate for a long time,” he said. "This is a special place and I’m thankful to be here.”

Perhaps most importantly because it means he can shed the “top prospect” label and stop focusing so much on his individual development and instead turn his attention to helping the Pirates make a playoff push for the first time since the mid-2010s.

“Now it’s time to take all the skills that I’ve learned,” he said, "all the adjustments I’ve made. It’s time to go put them on the field and go win some games.”

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

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According to an arrest report from the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, all three suspects -- Geriolsys Palenzuela-Alcobre, 49, of Miami; Dienil Camejo, 61, of Miami; and Deibi Miguel Orpesa-Martinez, 27, of Hialeah -- separately approached an undercover detective in a wooded area of the park, exposed their penises to him and began masturbating.

Detectives said about 10 minutes after the undercover detective initially encountered Orpesa-Martinez in the park, he was spotted masturbating again on a trail “in plain view.”

The report states that the wooded area is used for the park’s frisbee golf course, hiking and other activities that are open to the public, but the area is “known for males exposing themselves, masturbating and participating in other sexual activities.”

All three men were arrested on indecent exposure charges.

As of Friday afternoon, they each were being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on $500 bonds.

Según un informe de arresto de la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade, los tres sospechosos —Geriolsys Palenzuela-Alcobre, de 49 años, de Miami; Dienil Camejo, de 61, de Miami; y Deibi Miguel Orpesa-Martinez, de 27, de Hialeah— se acercaron por separado a un detective encubierto en un área boscosa del parque, expusieron sus genitales y comenzaron a masturbarse.

Los detectives indicaron que unos 10 minutos después de que el agente encubierto se encontrara inicialmente con Orpesa-Martinez en el parque, fue visto nuevamente masturbándose en un sendero “a plena vista”.

El informe señala que el área boscosa se utiliza para el campo de frisbee golf del parque, senderismo y otras actividades abiertas al público, pero que el área es “conocida por hombres que se exponen, se masturban y participan en otras actividades sexuales”.

Los tres hombres fueron arrestados por cargos de exposición indecente.

Hasta la tarde del viernes, permanecían detenidos en el Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center con fianzas de $500 USD cada uno.

Troopers from the Perryville station responded shortly before 1:40 p.m. Wednesday to milepost 12.2 on I-78 eastbound in Union Township. The animal was by itself, officials said.

The bear was soon safely secured and taken back to the state police barracks, where it was later turned over to staffers with the state's Environmental Protection Department, who were caring for the animal.

It's not clear how the cub ended up in the ditch or how long it had been there before it was spotted. Details on the bear's condition were not available Friday.

“I'm happy to announce I'm staying at Arizona,” Lloyd said during his pre-practice news conference at the Final Four. “We've been able to get some things done the past couple days.”

The school also announced it had reached an extension with Lloyd through the 2030-31 season, though it didn't release financial terms. Lloyd had previously been under contract through the 2029-30 season worth an average of nearly $5.5 million in base and supplemental pay for the coming seasons, along with a buyout that dropped from $11 million to $9 million on Wednesday.

Lloyd, 51, had been considered a top potential target for the Tar Heels, who fired Hubert Davis on March 24 after five seasons. He had deflected questions about the UNC opening as the Wildcats (36-2) kept advancing in the NCAA Tournament to their first Final Four since 2001, including as recently as Thursday in Indianapolis.

Lloyd praised UNC as “a first-class organization” and said he appreciated “the way they've handled this.”

“Arizona basketball, you guys know what it means to me, and when I say it’s a special place, that always comes from the bottom of my heart,” Lloyd said.

“I didn’t want to make this entire Final Four about that because I’m just a small part of something much bigger. But on that same note, I’d also like to let you know that North Carolina is an amazing place. I mean, it’s a 1 of 1. It’s an honor to even be considered for that job.”

Lloyd's comments came a day before the Wildcats (36-2) were set to face Michigan in Saturday night's national semifinals in a matchup of the two 1-seeds in Indianapolis.

Wolverines coach Dusty May has also been mentioned as a possible UNC candidate, but said Friday he'll “never respond to any job speculation.”

“I think it’s well documented how happy I am at Michigan,” May said. “Obviously my private life, my personal life, my family, their happiness is very important. Yeah, I love it at Michigan, but you’ll never hear me comment on any other job unless Michigan lets me go and then I’ll comment on every job.”

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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness

Dicen que el hogar de un hombre es su castillo, pero para Knox, su querido castillo ha sucumbido a años de deterioro.

“En realidad estuvo en mi familia hace mucho tiempo”, dijo a Local 10 News. “Luego el techo comenzó a gotear y, en resumen, desde ahí todo fue en declive, el seguro desapareció y aquí estoy”.

El ex maestro de escuela de 75 años, que disfruta de la jardinería, compró la casa en 1980 junto a su esposa, Clara.

Pero ahora, los espacios de la vivienda de tres habitaciones y un baño son casi irreconocibles.

Aun así, en medio de la pintura descascarada, las paredes agrietadas y los grandes agujeros, hay recordatorios tangibles de una vida que alguna vez fue.

Lo poco que le queda a Knox está guardado en una unidad de almacenamiento.

Todo es valioso para él, tanto que permanece vigilando durante la noche.

“Si duermo aquí, duermo en el carro”, dijo. “Solo miro la casa e intento concentrarme y descansar”.

Y pronto podría encontrar alivio a sus preocupaciones, gracias a la bondad de voluntarios.

“Ahora tenemos al ingeniero adecuado preparando los permisos finales para iniciar el proyecto, y no tendremos que demoler la casa, lo cual nos alegra mucho”, dijo Joe Puentes, cofundador de Wiki Voice.

Wiki Voice es una organización sin fines de lucro dedicada a ayudar a personas necesitadas.

Puentes reunió a algunos profesionales del sector para donar tiempo y materiales, pero hace un llamado a otros para que se sumen.

“Techos, plomería, aún faltan bastantes cosas para la casa”, explicó.

Es un proyecto enorme. Pero Knox mantiene la esperanza de que la comunidad responda y que su hogar de 46 años sea restaurado a su antiguo esplendor.

“Le dije una vez a mi esposa: ‘Tengo fe en que esto realmente va a suceder’”, dijo Knox. “Y ahora parece que eso es exactamente lo que va a pasar. Gracias a Dios”.

Aunque ya hay un equipo base para ayudar a Knox, todavía se necesitan techadores, plomeros y jardineros.

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On Thursday night, the crew of Orion’s Integrity capsule fired the main engine to propel the spacecraft out of the Earth’s orbit and toward the moon.

On Monday, the crew will be observing the moon for six hours. They will focus on craters, lava, cracks, and ridges of the moon’s outer layer.

There will be a solar eclipse for about an hour toward the end of the flyby, so the sun will be hidden from view as it moves behind the mostly dark moon.

The crews’ observations will then focus on flashes of light from meteoroids striking the moon’s surface, dust lofting above, deep space targets, and the solar corona and outermost atmosphere.

Once Integrity traces a figure eight around the far side of the moon, the crew will be returning home to a splashdown on April 10 in the Pacific Ocean.

Watch NASA’s 24/7 coverage of Artemis II

NASA’S flight day 3 agenda

The first of three smaller engine firings, called the outbound trajectory correction, will ensure Orion is staying on target for its path around the moon.

In the morning, Canadian Space Agency Astronaut Jeremy Hansen prepared for the burn, which was scheduled for after the crew’s midday meal.

The rest of the day will include a variety of checkouts and demonstrations.

NASA Pilot Victor Glover, Hansen, and NASA Astronaut Christina Koch, a mission specialist and engineer from Michigan, are set to demonstrate CPR.

NASA Cmdr. Reid Wiseman will work with Glover on the medical kit, including the thermometer, blood pressure monitor, stethoscope, and otoscope.

In the second half of the day, Koch will test Orion’s emergency communications system on the Deep Space Network.

The crew will rehearse the choreography for flight day 6’s scientific observation of the moon.

More on Artemis II

• Artemis II’s moon-bound astronauts capture Earth’s brilliant blue beauty as they leave it behind
• Launch day coverage
• Flight day 2
• Get to know the astronauts
• Mission overview

Share your launch day photos

El jueves por la noche, la tripulación de la cápsula Integrity de la misión Orion encendió el motor principal para impulsar la nave espacial fuera de la órbita terrestre y hacia la Luna.

El lunes, la tripulación observará la luna durante seis horas. Se centrarán en los cráteres, la lava, las grietas y las crestas de la capa exterior lunar.

Hacia el final del sobrevuelo, habrá un eclipse solar que durará aproximadamente una hora, por lo que el sol quedará oculto a la vista al moverse detrás de la luna, que estará casi completamente oscura.

Las observaciones de las tripulaciones se centrarán entonces en los destellos de luz de los meteoroides que impactan contra la superficie lunar, el polvo que se eleva por encima, los objetivos en el espacio profundo y la corona solar y la atmósfera más externa.

Una vez que el módulo lunar Integrity describa un ocho alrededor de la cara oculta de la Luna, la tripulación regresará a casa para amerizar el 10 de abril en el Océano Pacífico.

Sigue la cobertura ininterrumpida de la NASA sobre Artemis II.

Agenda del tercer día de vuelo de la NASA

El primero de los tres encendidos de motores más pequeños, denominado corrección de trayectoria de salida, garantizará que Orión se mantenga en el rumbo previsto en su órbita alrededor de la luna.

Por la mañana, el astronauta de la Agencia Espacial Canadiense, Jeremy Hansen, se preparó para el encendido de los motores, que estaba programado para después de la comida del mediodía de la tripulación.

El resto del día incluirá diversas actividades de pago y demostraciones.

El piloto de la NASA Victor Glover , Hansen y la astronauta de la NASA Christina Koch , especialista de misión e ingeniera de Michigan, realizarán una demostración de RCP (reanimación cardiopulmonar).

El comandante de la NASA, Reid Wiseman, trabajará con Glover en el botiquín médico, que incluye termómetro, tensiómetro, estetoscopio y otoscopio.

En la segunda mitad del día, Koch pondrá a prueba el sistema de comunicaciones de emergencia de Orion en la Red del Espacio Profundo .

La tripulación ensayará la coreografía para la observación científica de la luna que tendrá lugar el sexto día de vuelo.

Más información sobre Artemis II

• Los astronautas de la misión Artemis II, rumbo a la Luna, capturan la brillante belleza azul de la Tierra mientras la dejan atrás.
• Cobertura del día del lanzamiento
• Día 2 del vuelo
• Conoce a los astronautas
• Resumen de la misión

Comparte tus fotos del día del lanzamiento

It wasn’t until 1989 — when Nashoba was in her late 20s — that she learned a deep secret about her ancestor.

Carterby was one of the Choctaw code talkers — a group of 19 Native American soldiers who used their language to transmit encrypted messages to the Allies during campaigns in northern France. The soldiers were sworn to secrecy and hid details of their service from families for decades.

Over the past 20 years, Nashoba has led advocacy efforts to spotlight the group’s hidden legacy as president of the Choctaw Code Talkers Association. Now, the soldiers’ contributions are recognized in Fort Worth through a new plaque at the city’s Veterans Memorial Park.

The Choctaw Code Talker Historical Marker was unveiled during an April 1 ceremony hosted by the Oklahoma tribe, the Texas Historical Commission and the city’s parks and recreation department. Several descendants of the Native soldiers attended.

“Seeing the marker really brings me a lot of joy,” Nashoba said. “This is what preserves the history for generations to come.”

Choctaw code talkers’ ties to Fort Worth

Members of the Choctaw code talkers were men who volunteered to fight for the U.S. in World War I at a time when Native Americans were not recognized as citizens. Indigenous communities wouldn’t receive citizenship until 1924.

While in the battlefields in France, some of these men were overheard speaking their Choctaw language and were trained to use their words as “code.” They were placed on front lines and command posts so that messages could be transmitted to headquarters.

The soldiers shared words like “tanampo chito” for artillery and “tvshka” for warriors, according to the historical marker. The Germans famously failed to decipher these Choctaw transmissions within 24 hours throughout the war.

The Choctaw group is widely considered to be the first Native American code talkers to serve in the U.S. military. Their work paved the way for the Navajo code talkers during World War II.

“Their story is a testament to the resilience and patriotism of the Choctaw Nation,” Col. Brent Kemp, commander of the 56th Infantry Brigade Combat Team of the National Guard, said at the unveiling. “Their ingenuity and bravery reminds us of the power of cultural heritage and the importance of preserving Indigenous languages.”

The Native American soldiers were in the 36th Infantry Division at Camp Bowie, a westside training site for more than 100,000 soldiers during World War I.

Council member Macy Hill, who represents Camp Bowie, said it was only fitting for Fort Worth to honor the legacy of the code talkers since they walked on the site’s grounds.

“This is where the Choctaw code talkers were initially trained and where they will forever be remembered,” she said.

Descendants carry the torch

As Ta’Na Alexander — the great-great-granddaughter of Carterby — watched the marker’s unveiling in Fort Worth, she couldn’t help but feel proud that her family’s history is slowly spreading across the U.S.

“It’s pretty monumental to realize that more people are starting to recognize the significant part of these men who were sworn to secrecy,” said Alexander, who is Nashoba’s daughter. “This marker connects the past to the future.”

She credits her mother’s leadership for widespread education about the work of Native soldiers.

Last May, the Choctaw Code Talkers Association led the charge to place a bronze sculpture honoring the group at the Choctaw Cultural Center in southern Oklahoma. The artwork depicts three soldiers in the middle of battle.

The organization also advocated for 23 Oklahoma bridges to be renamed after the code talkers and other Native veterans.

The Fort Worth marker was the group’s first venture into Texas, Nashoba said. The group is exploring other statewide recognitions, she added.

For now, Alexander invites Fort Worth residents to stroll through the memorial park to learn that her ancestors’ stories aren’t just about being Native. They’re about what it means to be American, she said.

“You might not be Native or Choctaw, but what we do share in common is that we have the right to vote,” she said. “We have a voice. We have a freedom that exists here that doesn’t exist anywhere else.”

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The Fort Worth Report’s arts and culture coverage is supported in part by the Meta Alice Keith Bratten Foundation and the Virginia Hobbs Charitable Trust. At the Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.

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This story was originally published by Fort Worth Report and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.

Customers traveling in the United States, Mexico, Canada and Latin America will now pay $45 for their first piece of luggage and $55 for their second bag, according to United.

“This is the first time in two years the airline has raised bag fees,” United said in a statement.

Some passengers will still receive a free first checked bag, including co-branded credit card holders, certain loyalty-tier members, active military personnel and travelers in premium cabins. Customers who check bags less than 24 hours before departure will pay an additional $5.

United joins JetBlue, which raised checked baggage fees on Monday by up to $9 during peak travel periods, as the war in the Middle East continues to severely disrupt global oil supplies, particularly near the narrow Strait of Hormuz where a fifth of the world's oil typically passes. That has caused crude prices to fluctuate wildly, which affects airlines' operating costs because the fuel their aircraft rely on is refined from crude oil.

JetBlue said charging more for optional services used by select customers helps keep base fares competitive. Like United, it will continue offering a free first checked bag to some customers.

The average price for a gallon of jet fuel in Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles and New York reached $4.88 on Thursday, up from $2.50 before the conflict began on Feb. 28, according to Argus Media. The energy market intelligence company’s U.S. Jet Fuel Index tracks the average prices across those major hubs.

Speaking to investors last month at a conference, United CEO Scott Kirby said the higher jet fuel costs had already added roughly $400 million to operating costs. The CEOs for Delta Air Lines and American Airlines reported similar figures.

Fuel is typically the second biggest expense for airlines after labor. Analysts expect U.S. airlines to pass higher fuel costs on to travelers by increasing add-on fees or ticket prices since they don’t usually have fuel surcharges, while a number of non-U.S. carriers already have added fuel surcharges.

Raw Farm of Fresno, California, said Thursday it is voluntarily recalling more than a half-dozen varieties of its cheddar cheese made from raw milk. The recalled batches carry expiration dates spanning from May 2026 to September 2026.

Interest in and sales of raw milk have been rising in recent years, fueled by social media and growing support from the Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again movement. Raw milk has not been pasteurized, which kills germs like E. coli, salmonella, listeria and campylobacter.

The Food and Drug Administration began investigating cases of E. coli food poisoning among people who had reportedly consumed the company's products last month and previously requested a recall.

In an update last week, the FDA said it was conducting an inspection of the company's facilities but had not found positive testing for E. coli bacteria among the company's products.

Raw Farm reiterated that point in its announcement Thursday and added that it was conducting its recall “under protest” and in order to chart “a path forward.”

“This voluntary recall is limited to Raw Farm-brand cheddar cheese, and no other products are being voluntarily recalled,” the company said.

The FDA has the authority to order food companies to recall their products when there is a reasonable risk of serious injury or death, but the agency must first give the company the opportunity to voluntarily comply.

The FDA said last week that nine people, including children, have been sickened in the expanding outbreak.

Of eight people interviewed by health officials, seven reported consuming Raw Farm-brand products, according to the FDA. Two people in 2025 reported drinking Raw Farm milk and five people in 2026 said they ate or were served Raw Farm raw cheddar cheese.

Genetic sequencing of E. coli strains from sick people show that they are all closely related, indicating people in the outbreak “share a common source of infection,” the FDA said.

The federal government does not allow the sale of unpasteurized milk across state lines for human consumption. States have widely varying regulations regarding raw milk, with some allowing retail sales in stores and others allowing sale only at farms. Some states allow so-called cowshares, where people pay for milk from designated animals, and some allow consumption only by farm owners, employees or “non-paying guests.”

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

Montgomery County police officers responding to a Sunday report about a pedestrian being struck in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Silver Spring found William Yates, the 79-year-old father of lead singer Brendan Yates, injured in a front yard, according to charging documents.

Yates' family said guitarist Brady Ebert, a neighbor who parted ways with the band several years ago, had struck him with a car, police wrote. Yates’ daughter, Erin Gerber, told authorities that she and her husband were getting their kids out of their car when Ebert drove up honking at them and yelling obscenities, then drove into her father.

In video footage obtained from a neighbor, Ebert could be seen driving a gold Buick LeSabre and swerving toward William Yates but missing him, according to the charging documents. Yates then threw a rock at Ebert’s vehicle and Gerber dragged her 3-year-old son onto the lawn to avoid being hit. Ebert then turned sharply into Yates' driveway and struck him as he was trying to run away, investigators wrote. Ebert finally drove across the lawn and left.

Yates told a detective that as he was injured on the ground, Ebert returned and yelled that he “deserved it” before driving off again, according to charging documents.

Yates said Ebert used to be in a band with his son and had been causing problems for his family since being kicked out. He said Ebert had been taunting them for long time, but that his behavior had been escalating.

Ebert, 33, was arrested Tuesday and charged with attempted second-degree murder and first-degree assault, court records show.

During a bond hearing Thursday in which he appeared via video, Ebert called William Yates a “maniac” who threw a rock at him asked the judge to watch the surveillance footage, saying it would “contradict” the authorities' narrative of what happened, The Baltimore Banner reported.

But prosecutor Dominic Plantamura said the footage shows it was a “clearly targeted attack” and that Yates is lucky he wasn't injured more seriously.

Ebert's lawyer, John Costello, acknowledged Ebert’s contentious history with his former bandmate, but said, “That does not, in this instance, warrant extra detention.” Costello’s office declined to comment to The Associated Press.

The judge ordered Ebert held without bond.

According to Plantamura, William Yates was injured so badly that a bone stuck out of one leg.

In a statement, Turnstile said it cut ties with Ebert in 2022, “in response to a consistent pattern of harmful behavior." It said a boundary had to be set after he began threatening violence. While Ebert’s “baseless tirades” continued in public since then, the band said it didn’t address them to protect his privacy. Threats escalated in recent months and then there was a physical attack on Brendan Yates’ father this week, the band wrote.

“We are grateful that Mr. Yates survived, has successfully undergone surgery, and we’re hoping for the best possible outcome in his recovery,” the band said. “We have no language left for Brady.”

Turnstile were underground stalwarts until their 2021 album “Glow On” launched them into mainstream consciousness. They cemented their status this year by winning Grammys for Best Rock Album and Best Metal Performance.

The Republican-supermajority Legislature approved the Democratic-sponsored change, which now lets people prove they have complied for the last year with child support orders, such as payment plans. The legislation also unties the payment of all court costs from voting rights restoration.

Advocates for years have sought various changes to Tennessee’s voting rights restoration system at the statehouse and in court. They say loosening these two rules marks the biggest rollback of restrictions to voting rights restoration in decades.

“This is huge and this is history,” said Keeda Haynes, senior attorney for the advocacy group Free Hearts led by formerly incarcerated women like her.

Most Republicans voted for it and Democrats supported it unanimously. The law took effect immediately upon Republican Gov. Bill Lee's signature last week.

“I think people are at a point where they want to just remove the barriers out of the way and allow people to be fully functional members of society,” said Democratic House Minority Leader Karen Camper, a bill sponsor.

Easing up after years

In 2023 and early 2024, the state decided that the system did require going to court or showing proof of a pardon, not just a paperwork process, and that gun rights were required to restore the right to vote. Election officials said a court ruling made the changes necessary, though voting rights advocates said officials misinterpreted the order.

Last year, lawmakers untangled voting and gun rights. But voting rights advocates opposed some of the bill's other provisions, such as keeping the process in the courts, where costs can rack up if someone isn't ruled indigent.

A Republican split

Easing up on the financial requirements uncommonly split legislative Republicans. For instance, Senate Speaker Randy McNally voted against it, while House Speaker Cameron Sexton supported it, noting that people aren't getting forgiveness on making their payments.

“They need to continue paying that, and as long as they do, then there’s a possibility (to restore their voting rights)," Sexton said. "I really think that’s harder for people to argue against than maybe what something else was.”

Republican Rep. Johnny Garrett, who voted no, said in committee his vote would hinge on whether “there still can be an (child support) arrearage owed beyond that 12 months.”

For some, backed-up child support payments could reach hundreds or thousands of dollars, and court costs could be hundreds or thousands more, said Gicola Lane, Campaign Legal Center's Restore Your Vote community partnership senior manager.

Advocates credited their narrowed focus, omitting goals such as automatic restoration of rights, no longer tying restitution payments to voting rights, or offering a path for certain people to restore their right who are permanently disenfranchised, including those convicted of voter fraud or most murder charges.

The bill passed the Senate last year and the House this year.

Two decades under the child support rule

Lawmakers gave the child support requirement final passage in 2006 within an overhaul bill that also created a voting rights restoration process outside of court. Critics said the child support rule penalized impoverished parents.

Democrats were then narrowly hanging onto legislative leadership in both chambers. Republicans held a slim Senate majority but GOP defectors voted for a Democratic speaker.

Last year marked the dismissal of a nearly five-year-old federal lawsuit over Tennessee’s voting-rights restoration system. Free Hearts and the Campaign Legal Center represented plaintiffs in the long-delayed case, which saw some election policy changes along the way.

Roughly 184,000 people have completed supervision for felonies and their offenses don't preclude them from restoring their voting rights, according to a plaintiffs expert’s 2023 estimate in the lawsuit. About one in 10 were estimated to have outstanding child support payments, and more than six in 10 owed court courts, restitution or both, the expert said.

Other states' systems

Both Republican and Democratic-led states have eased the voting rights restoration process in recent years. Some states have added complexities.

In Florida, after voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2018 restoring the right to vote for people with felony convictions, the Republican-controlled Legislature watered that down by requiring payment of fines, fees and court costs.

Voting rights are automatically restored upon release in nearly half of states. In 15 others, it occurs after parole, probation or a similar period and sometimes requires paying outstanding court costs, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In Maine and Vermont, people with felonies keep their voting rights in prison, the NCSL says.

Ten other states including Tennessee require additional government action. Virginia ’s governor must intervene to restore voting rights of people convicted of felonies. In some states, including Tennessee, certain conviction types render someone ineligible.

However, Virginia lawmakers this year have passed a proposed state constitutional amendment to ask voters whether they want automatic voting rights restoration after someone is released from prison. Kentucky lawmakers have proposed a similar change for voters' consideration that would automatically restore voting rights after certain completed sentences, including probation.

Hoiberg received 17 votes from a 61-person media panel, edging Duke’s Jon Scheyer (13) to become the Big Ten’s first national coach of the year since Michigan’s Juwan Howard in 2021. Arizona’s Tommy Lloyd received 11 votes.

“It took us some time to get here, but it was all about getting the right players in here, especially the ones that the fans could get behind,” Hoiberg said.

Hoiberg did just that, building a roster that played an exciting style of basketball, locked down defensively and ignited the Big Red fanbase’s excitement for the basketball program and upended the notion that Nebraska is just a football school.

Nebraska went to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 10 years in 2024 and took a bigger step this season, matching the school record of 26 wins before even getting to March Madness. The Cornhuskers also had a school-record 15 wins in the rugged Big Ten.

Voting for coach of the year was done before the tournament, where Nebraska posted its first March Madness win in nine all-time tries with its 76-47 win over Troy. The run ended with a loss to Iowa in the Sweet 16.

“When the sting does wear off, which it will at some point — maybe — these guys deserve a lot of credit for what they have done for Nebraska basketball,” Hoiberg said.

So will the coach with deep roots in Lincoln.

Hoiberg’s grandfather, Jerry Bush, was Nebraska’s head coach from 1953-63 and his grandfather from his father’s side taught at the school for 30 years. Hoiberg was born in Lincoln and both of his parents are Nebraska graduates.

Hoiberg played at Iowa State and, after a 10-year NBA career, returned to lead his alma mater to four straight NCAA Tournaments. When he took over at Nebraska in 2019, the Cornhuskers had been to the tournament once in 21 seasons.

The Cornhuskers went a combined 7-45 in Hoiberg’s first two seasons, but he laid the foundation for success. Nebraska went 23-11 to reach March Madness in 2024 and, after just missing the bracket last season, went on a run that riveted Husker Nation.

Led by sharpshooting Iowa transfer Pryce Sandfort, versatile Dutch big man Rienk Mast and senior point guard Sam Hoiberg — Fred’s son — the Cornhuskers got off to the best start in school history, winning their first 20 games, leading to the program’s highest ranking in the AP Top 25 at No. 5 with the hometown coach calling the shots.

“This place means a lot to me,” he said.

Scheyer was runner-up after guiding the Blue Devils to a No. 1 ranking the final four weeks of the season and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

The Blue Devils’ run came as the fourth-year coach adjusted his approach following last year’s Final Four run with a perimeter-driven lineup, turning inside to pummel opponents in the paint behind star freshman Cameron Boozer, who became Duke’s second straight AP men’s national player of the year Friday.

Arizona spent nine weeks at No. 1 with Lloyd pulling the strings and earned its first Final Four berth since 2001. He was AP coach of the year in 2022, his first season at Arizona.

Voting for AP coach of the year:

Fred Hoiberg, Nebraska, 17

Jon Scheyer, Duke, 13

Tommy Lloyd, Arizona, 11

Dusty May, Michigan, 9

Travis Steele, Miami (Ohio), 9

Grant McCaslin, Texas Tech 1

Shaheen Holloway, Seton Hall, 1

___

AP Basketball Writer Aaron Beard contributed to this story.

___

AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness

La casa estaba en llamas poco antes de las 10:20 a.m. en la cuadra 1300 de Northwest Third Court, según personal de Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue.

Los bomberos encontraron a una persona dentro de la vivienda que no resultó herida y rescataron a una tortuga mascota que requirió oxígeno y agua.

Las otras cuatro personas que viven en la casa no estaban dentro durante el incendio, que se encuentra bajo investigación.

El editor de asignaciones de Local 10 News, Carson Merlo, contribuyó a este informe.

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Bankroll, also known as Walking Bankroll, is the stage name of David Edmond. His songs include “How 2 Act” and “Pesos.”

A federal criminal complaint obtained Friday by Local 10 News allege that investigators obtained key evidence tying Edmond to the scheme through his “Walkingbankroll Zoedy” Facebook account, where the 34-year-old has regularly posted pictures of private jets and luxury cars, sometimes in the same photo, along with posts mocking “broke” people.

Those documents state that Edmond, of Pembroke Pines, is facing a charge of false claims against the United States stemming from a specific $14,693 fraudulent refund submitted in September 2022. But they said the claim “arose out of a scheme” by Edmond that resulted in the submission of nearly 450 federal tax returns claiming about $7.9 million in refunds.

Investigators said in 2022, Edmond subscribed to an online database called LocatePLUS to harvest Social Security numbers. According to the complaint, the service is only supposed to be used by legitimate officials or businesses, so he created a fake company, ”Barnes and Associates Collection," in order to gain access.

Authorities said LocatePLUS suspended Edmond for excessive searches ― about 200 ― “which revealed SSNs for over 1,000 people.”

According to the complaint, a phone number listed on an application for an Employer Identification Number used by “Barnes and Associates” matched one “Walkingbankroll Zoedy” mentioned in a Facebook Messenger conversation, obtained through a warrant, as “his phone number.”

Investigators said they also tied Edmond to the scheme through a web of Yahoo and Gmail email accounts and IP address data.

Agents said an Aug. 8, 2025 border search of Edmond’s cellphones at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, conducted after he returned on a JetBlue flight from the Dominican Republic, revealed “images of driver’s licenses, passports and ledgers of” personally identifiable information.

According to the complaint, agents arrested Edmond at Miami–Opa Locka Executive Airport on Tuesday evening, having booked a private flight to Princess Juliana International Airport in Sint Maarten. He was taken into custody “after boarding the plane, but before (it) departed.”

Authorities said Edmond had about $7,650 in cash and “numerous items of what appeared to be expensive jewelry.”

He would be booked into the Broward County jail and later transferred into Federal Bureau of Prisons custody. Appearing in Miami federal court on Thursday, a judge ordered he be held on separate personal surety bonds of $500,000 and $100,000. The latter bond was signed by his girlfriend, but the former requires that he prove that the $50,000 he’d have to deposit comes from a legitimate source.

Records show he’s also restricted from selling or borrowing against a home he owns in Alabama, visiting airports or seaports and traveling outside of the Southern District of Florida. Additionally, he has internet access restrictions, including a prohibition on accessing tax preparation or unemployment claim websites.

Records additionally show that in 2015, Edmond was convicted in another federal identity theft case stemming from a 2013 arrest, in which he was accused of receiving lists of personally identifiable information from a Bank of America teller in Miami. He received a sentence of time served.

If convicted of this latest charge of false claims against the United States, he could spend up to five years in federal prison.

As of Friday morning, he remained in custody at the Federal Detention Center in downtown Miami.

Local 10 News emailed his Fort Lauderdale-based attorney, Zeljka Bozanic, seeking comment on the case.

Bankroll, también conocido como Walking Bankroll, es el nombre artístico de David Edmond. Entre sus canciones figuran “How 2 Act” y “Pesos”.

Una denuncia penal federal obtenida el viernes por Local 10 News alega que los investigadores obtuvieron pruebas clave que vinculan a Edmond con el esquema a través de su cuenta de Facebook “Walkingbankroll Zoedy”, donde el hombre de 34 años publicaba con frecuencia fotos de jets privados y autos de lujo, a veces en la misma imagen, junto con publicaciones burlándose de personas “sin dinero”.

Los documentos indican que Edmond, residente de Pembroke Pines, enfrenta un cargo por reclamaciones falsas contra Estados Unidos derivado de un reembolso fraudulento específico de $14,693 USD presentado en septiembre de 2022. Sin embargo, señalan que la reclamación “surgió de un esquema” de Edmond que resultó en la presentación de casi 450 declaraciones de impuestos federales reclamando aproximadamente $7.9 millones USD en reembolsos.

Los investigadores dijeron que en 2022, Edmond se suscribió a una base de datos en línea llamada LocatePLUS para obtener números de Seguro Social. Según la denuncia, el servicio solo debe ser utilizado por funcionarios o empresas legítimas, por lo que creó una empresa falsa, “Barnes and Associates Collection”, para obtener acceso.

Las autoridades indicaron que LocatePLUS suspendió a Edmond por búsquedas excesivas, alrededor de 200, “que revelaron números de Seguro Social de más de 1,000 personas”.

Según la denuncia, un número de teléfono listado en una solicitud de Número de Identificación de Empleador utilizada por “Barnes and Associates” coincidía con uno de “Walkingbankroll Zoedy” mencionado en una conversación de Facebook Messenger, obtenida mediante una orden judicial, como “su número de teléfono”.

Los investigadores también vincularon a Edmond con el esquema a través de una red de cuentas de correo electrónico de Yahoo y Gmail y datos de direcciones IP.

Los agentes indicaron que un registro fronterizo del 8 de agosto de 2025 de los teléfonos celulares de Edmond en el Aeropuerto Internacional Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood, realizado después de que regresara en un vuelo de JetBlue desde la República Dominicana, reveló “imágenes de licencias de conducir, pasaportes y registros” con información personal identificable.

Según la denuncia, los agentes arrestaron a Edmond el martes por la noche en el Aeropuerto Ejecutivo Miami-Opa Locka, tras haber reservado un vuelo privado al Aeropuerto Internacional Princess Juliana en Sint Maarten. Fue detenido “después de abordar el avión, pero antes de que despegara”.

Las autoridades indicaron que Edmond tenía alrededor de $7,650 USD en efectivo y “numerosos artículos de lo que parecía ser joyería costosa”.

Fue ingresado en la cárcel del condado Broward y posteriormente trasladado a custodia de la Oficina Federal de Prisiones. Durante su comparecencia el jueves en un tribunal federal de Miami, un juez ordenó que permaneciera detenido bajo fianzas personales separadas de $500,000 USD y $100,000 USD. Esta última fue firmada por su novia, pero la primera requiere que demuestre que los $50,000 USD que debe depositar provienen de una fuente legítima.

Los registros muestran que también tiene prohibido vender o solicitar préstamos sobre una vivienda que posee en Alabama, visitar aeropuertos o puertos marítimos y viajar fuera del Distrito Sur de Florida. Además, tiene restricciones de acceso a internet, incluida la prohibición de acceder a sitios web de preparación de impuestos o solicitudes de desempleo.

Los registros también indican que en 2015, Edmond fue condenado en otro caso federal de robo de identidad derivado de un arresto en 2013, en el que fue acusado de recibir listas de información personal identificable de un cajero de Bank of America en Miami. Recibió una sentencia de tiempo cumplido.

Si es declarado culpable de este nuevo cargo por reclamaciones falsas contra Estados Unidos, podría enfrentar hasta cinco años de prisión federal.

Hasta la mañana del viernes, permanecía bajo custodia en el Centro de Detención Federal en el centro de Miami.

Local 10 News envió un correo electrónico a su abogada con sede en Fort Lauderdale, Zeljka Bozanic, solicitando comentarios sobre el caso.

Jennifer Renee Kohnert, 45, and Joel Christopher Kohnert, 44, were arrested Tuesday and each face one count of child abuse without great bodily harm, according to jail records. A judge has now begun proceedings to terminate their parental rights.

According to an arrest report, a Department of Children and Families investigator responded Feb. 11 to the girl’s school in Coral Springs and met with a school resource officer regarding allegations that the child was being locked in her bedroom at night “due to claims that she wandered the house and took items from family members.”

Deputies said that while confined, the girl did not have access to a bathroom, resulting in her urinating on the floor and being forced to clean it the following morning. Investigators noted she was also “required to write Bible verses as a form of punishment.”

They said the girl told investigators that for approximately two to three years she had been locked in her room overnight and at times during the day. She said she would urinate on herself and at times defecate due to lack of bathroom access.

The report states the bedroom door was secured with a lock from the outside and the window was restricted, “leaving no means of escape.”

Authorities said the girl reported sleeping on an air mattress in a sparsely furnished room with no toys or personal items. She told investigators she was allowed only about three outfits at a time, and that any additional clothing or money she received was taken by her mother.

They said the girl also said she was forced to use her clothing to clean urine and feces using vinegar or bleach, then wash the clothing in a bucket and dry it in her room.

She told investigators that the week before authorities became involved, her mother pulled her hair, slapped her — causing her lip to bleed — taunted and kicked her while she was on the ground, according to the report.

The girl said she is “treated differently” from the six other children in the home, who were not subjected to the same conditions, the report states.

Investigators said she also reported being forced to tread water in a pool for extended periods, sometimes up to 45 minutes, as punishment.

An officer wrote that “this practice is particularly concerning given Joel’s professional background, where he would reasonably be expected to recognize the inherent safety risks associated with restricting a child’s ability to exit a room during an emergency.”

In bond court Wednesday, Judge Corey Friedman said: “They are devoutly religious. Their beliefs on various topics may not jibe with people in this courtroom, but this has been a lot of — I’m not going to say this case is predicated on, in my view — when you’ve allegedly got a 12-year-old child who is locked in a room for upwards of three years and is forced to urinate and defecate in the room and then clean it up with her clothes, that is not a religious issue, that is something else.”

“Their biological children gave statements. There is physical evidence. The officer stated when she went into the room, among other things, she smelled urine,” a prosecutor also stated in bond court.

Some neighbors said the allegations are difficult to reconcile with the family they thought they knew.

“I feel like she’s giving a bad name to Christians, but even the Bible warns us that Satan himself disguises himself as an angel of light,” said neighbor Jennifer Mahecha.

A classmate of the victim described her to Local 10 as “very skinny” and said she “has a whole lot of bruises.”

Authorities said all of the children found in the home are now in the custody of the Department of Children and Families.

They said Joel Kohnert, who has been with Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue since November 2010, is on administrative investigative leave without pay.

A judge set bond at $100,000 for each defendant and ordered no contact with the victim or any minors. As of Thursday evening, Joel and Jennifer Kohnert were not listed as inmates on the Broward County jail website.

A further hearing is scheduled next week to determine custody of the other children.

“I think it will be an important sign because of what the pope represents, a spiritual leader in the world today, and for this voice, that everyone wants to hear, that says Christ still suffers,” Leo told reporters this week outside of the papal retreat at Castel Gandolfo. “I carry all of this suffering in my prayer.”

Inside the Colosseum, Leo lifted the cross and began the rite flanked by two torchbearers, who accompanied him throughout the hour-long procession from inside the Colosseum, through the crowd outside and up steep stairs to the Palatine Hill where he gave the final blessing.

At the first station, marking the moment Jesus was condemned to death, the meditation prepared especially for Leo's first Good Friday underlined that those with authority will have to answer to God for how they exercise their power.

"The power to judge; the power to start or end a war; the power to instill violence or peace; the power to fuel the desire for revenge, or for reconciliation,'' read the meditation written by Rev. Francesco Patton, who was custodian of the Holy Land 2016-25, charged, among other things, with looking after sacred sites.

Some 30,000 faithful gathered outside the pagan monument, following the stations as they were recited over loud speakers.

They included Sister Pelenatita Kieoma Finau from Samoa and a member of the Missionary Sisters of the Society of Mary.

"We have been part of our parish stations of the cross, but this is so exciting. It is very meaningful to have the experience of being with the people of Rome on this special occasion,'' she said.

Past processions

John Paul II carried the cross for the entire procession from his first Good Friday as pontiff in 1979 until his hip surgery in 1995, when he carried it just part of the way, according to AP reports at the time.

For the first two years of his papacy, Benedict XVI carried the cross for the first station inside the Colosseum, then followed other bearers in the procession that ends on a platform on the Palatine Hill.

Pope Francis never carried the cross, but participated in the procession until his health worsened. He died after a long illness last year on Easter Monday, which fell on April 21.

Pope John Paul II was just 58 when he became pope, and was known as a hiker and outdoorsman. His two successors were in their late 70s when they began their papacies, and Francis was missing part of a lung due to a pulmonary infection as a young man.

The Way of the Cross commemorates the final hours of Jesus’ life, from his death sentence to taking up the cross to his crucifixion, death and burial. The procession ends outside the Colosseum atop the Palatine Hill.

“The Way of the Cross is not intended for those who lead a pristinely pious or abstractly recollected life,” Patton wrote in his introduction. “Instead, it is the exercise of one who knows that faith, hope and charity must be incarnated in the real world.”

At 70, Leo is physically fit and an avid tennis player and swimmer. Before becoming pope, Leo would work out regularly at a gym near the Vatican, with a plan befitting a man in his early 50s, according to his former trainer.

The pope's Holy Week activities

On Holy Saturday, the pontiff will preside over a late night Easter vigil, during which he will baptize new Catholics, and lead Roman Catholics into Christianity’s most joyous celebration marking Christ’s resurrection.

On Easter Sunday, the pope will celebrate an open-air Mass in St. Peter’s Square before delivering his Easter message and offer the traditional “Urbi et Orbi” blessing to the city of Rome and the world.

——

Barry reported from Milan.

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The house was on fire shortly before 10:20 a.m. along the 1300 block of Northwest Third Court, according to the Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue personnel.

Firefighters found one person inside the home who wasn’t injured and rescued a pet tortoise that required oxygen and water.

The other four people who live at the home were not inside during the fire, which was under investigation.

Local 10 News Assignment Editor Carson Merlo contributed to this report.

Un comunicado oficial del gobierno publicado el jueves por la noche informó sobre el perdón a 2.010 presos como un “gesto humanitario” con motivo de la celebración de la Semana Santa.

Pero se desconoce cuántos de ellos cumplían condenas por cargos relacionados con desórdenes públicos, desacato o terrorismo, algunos de los delitos por los que se encarceló a quienes se manifestaron contra el gobierno en julio de 2021. Algunas de esas protestas terminaron en actos vandálicos.

Katia Arias Mendoza esperó ansiosa en la puerta de una prisión en las afueras de La Habana la salida de su hijo Emilio Alejandro Leyva Arias, de 20 años y condenado por robo. “Ha sido tan difícil, pero hoy Dios me ha dado tanta alegría”, dijo a The Associated Press la mujer de 43 años antes de romper en llanto.

El indulto se produce en momentos en que Estados Unidos sostiene un fuerte cerco petrolero a la isla presionando un cambio de modelo político y funcionarios estadounidenses como el secretario de Estado, Marco Rubio, han exigido públicamente la liberación de presos considerados políticos.

Los detenidos en la prisión de La Lima en la periferia de La Habana, donde estaba alojado Leyva y con los cuales habló AP, dijeron que estaban condenados por delitos comunes.

Durante una liberación previa anunciada a comienzos de marzo —que contemplaba la excarcelación de 51 reclusos — apenas 22 de ellos tenían motivos políticos en sus causas, informaron organizaciones que monitorean el presidio en Cuba.

Activistas insisten en amnistía

“El gobierno lo presenta como un gesto humanitario hacia presos, no como la liberación de presos políticos. Y al hacerlo así, pues, mezcla para no dar la imagen de que reconoce la prisión política en Cuba”, dijo a AP Manuel Cuesta Morua, líder del Consejo para la Transición Democrática en Cuba, actualmente la principal plataforma opositora en la isla.

“Lo que queremos es una liberación completa y en ese sentido la demanda de amnistía nuestra continúa vigente, porque incluso hay personas que están ahora mismo en libertad, de liberaciones previas, encarceladas en sus casas, pero bajo condiciones. No pueden reunirse, no pueden asociarse, no pueden expresarse”, señaló Cuesta.

El comunicado del gobierno cubano del jueves no incluyó los nombres ni los cargos de las personas indultadas, aunque advirtió que se excluirían los delitos más violentos como asesinatos, ataques sexuales, tráfico de drogas o “delitos contra la autoridad”.

“Si bien toda excarcelación representa un alivio inmediato, especialmente para las familias… este gesto no constituye un cambio en la política represiva del Estado cubano”, manifestó por su parte la organización no gubernamental Justicia 11J.

Agregó que “mientras persista la criminalización del ejercicio de derechos fundamentales, ninguna excarcelación parcial puede considerarse un avance real en materia de derechos humanos”.

Otra agrupación, Prisoners Defenders con sede en España, estimó en unos 1.214 los presos por motivos políticos en Cuba, muchos de ellos juzgados tras las manifestaciones de julio de 2021 en el contexto de una severa crisis económica.

En marzo cinco personas fueron detenidas en una protesta en contra de los constantes apagones y las dificultades para conseguir alimentos en la pequeña ciudad de Morón, donde fue incendiada la sede del Partido Comunista local.

En lo que va del año es la segunda excarcelación anunciada por las autoridades y según el comunicado oficial se trata del quinto indulto que realiza el gobierno cubano desde 2011, con los que se han beneficiado más de 11.000 presos.

—————-

Siga a Andrea Rodríguez en X: https://x.com/ARodriguezAP

Según Hollywood Fire Rescue, el incendio fue reportado a las 2:12 a.m. en el Hollywood Gateway Inn, ubicado en la cuadra 2900 de Polk Street.

“Al llegar, las unidades encontraron un incendio activo en el lado este del edificio, que fue controlado rápidamente”, indicó HFR en un correo electrónico a Local 10. “La mayoría de los ocupantes ya se habían autoevacuado”.

Wilson Rodriguez, quien se hospedaba en el hotel, dijo a Local 10 que se despertó al escuchar a alguien gritar “¡fuego!”

“Cuando abrimos la puerta, lo único que vimos fue fuego y mucho humo”, dijo Rodriguez. “Había personas saltando desde el balcón. Salvamos a una señora con su hija”.

Los bomberos confirmaron que dos personas fueron asistidas desde un balcón del segundo piso y fueron evaluadas por inhalación de humo, pero ambas rechazaron ser trasladadas al hospital.

Indicaron que otros dos ocupantes fueron trasladados a un hospital local por lesiones sufridas mientras evacuaban el edificio.

En total, más de 60 personas fueron evacuadas del edificio.

Los bomberos informaron que el incendio fue extinguido y que las unidades pasaron aproximadamente una hora “realizando labores de remoción de escombros”.

Los bomberos creen que el incendio comenzó en el segundo piso, dentro de una de las habitaciones, y señalaron que parece haber sido accidental y de origen eléctrico.

Un portavoz de HFR señaló que las alarmas de humo del edificio “funcionaron exactamente como debían”, atribuyendo a estas el haber ayudado a salvar vidas.

“Hollywood Fire Rescue recuerda a la comunidad que las alarmas de humo que funcionan salvan vidas”, dijo el portavoz. “Recomendamos a todos probar sus alarmas regularmente, reemplazar las baterías cuando sea necesario y asegurarse de que cada hogar tenga alarmas funcionando en cada nivel”.

No está claro cuándo se permitirá a las personas regresar al hotel.

Según la policía de Pembroke Park, los agentes fueron llamados alrededor de las 5:10 a.m. al RaceTrac ubicado en 3031 W. Hallandale Beach Blvd., luego de que un guardia de seguridad reportara un altercado con el hombre, quien presuntamente hizo amenazas antes de sacar un arma de una pequeña bolsa negra.

La policía indicó que se emitió una alerta de búsqueda y, en unos cinco minutos, agentes de la Oficina del Sheriff de Broward localizaron el vehículo del sospechoso en el Wawa ubicado en 3199 W. Hallandale Beach Blvd.

Las autoridades señalaron que realizaron una parada de tráfico de alto riesgo y detuvieron al conductor y a un pasajero sin incidentes. Indicaron que recuperaron una pistola de una bolsa negra dentro del vehículo.

Según la policía, el guardia de seguridad posteriormente identificó al conductor como la persona involucrada en el incidente. El pasajero no estuvo involucrado, fue entrevistado y liberado en la escena, confirmaron los agentes.

El sospechoso, cuya identidad aún no ha sido revelada, fue trasladado a la cárcel principal del condado Broward, según los investigadores.

No se divulgaron de inmediato más detalles.

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According to Pembroke Park police, officers were called around 5:10 a.m. to the RaceTrac at 3031 W. Hallandale Beach Blvd. after a security guard reported an altercation with the man, who allegedly made threats before pulling out a gun from a small black bag.

Police said a be-on-the-lookout alert was then issued, and within about five minutes, Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies located the suspect’s vehicle at the Wawa at 3199 W. Hallandale Beach Blvd.

Authorities said they conducted a felony traffic stop and took the driver, Kevin Cody Brown, and a passenger into custody without incident. They said a handgun was recovered from a black bag inside the vehicle.

According to police, the security guard later identified Brown as the person involved in the disturbance. The passenger was not involved and was interviewed and released at the scene, officers confirmed.

Jail records show Brown is facing one count of aggravated assault with intent to commit a felony.

As of Friday, he was being held without bond at the Broward County Main Jail.

No other details were immediately released.

The 6-foot-9, 250-pound forward proved tough enough to score through physical play. Rangy enough to space the floor and shoot from outside. Deft enough as a passer to find teammates, whether against constant double teams coming for him as the top name on every scouting report or while running the entire offense from up top.

“You just want to affect winning in whatever way you can,” Boozer said.

The high-end NBA prospect did that all season for a team that won 35 games, reached No. 1 in the AP Top 25 poll, claimed the top overall seed for March Madness and reached the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight. Now he's The Associated Press men’s college basketball national player of the year, only the fifth freshman to earn the honor and the second in a row for a Duke program that keeps adding to the longest list of winners in the country.

“It just goes to show more about what our team has done, just because I think that really helps awards like this, having great team success,” Boozer told the AP. “It’s really just not me.”

Boozer, named unanimous first-team AP all-American last month, received 59 of 61 votes from AP Top 25 voters in results released Friday. BYU freshman AJ Dybantsa, another potential top NBA pick, received the other two votes after averaging a national-best 25.5 points per game.

A short list

Boozer, son of Duke and longtime NBA player Carlos Boozer, ranked averaged 22.5 points (ninth in Division I) and 10.2 rebounds (12th) while finishing tied for the national lead with 22 double-doubles. He also averaged 4.1 assists while posting efficient shooting numbers at 55.6% overall and 39.1% from 3-point range.

He joins fellow Blue Devils star Cooper Flagg last year, another Duke player in Zion Williamson (2019), Kentucky’s Anthony Davis (2012) and Texas star Kevin Durant (2007) as freshmen to win the AP award. Each went No. 1 or No. 2 in the NBA draft that year.

“I’m very grateful just that I’m even in those (NBA) conversations,” Boozer said. “I think a lot of people dream of being where I am. Sometimes you’ve got to take a step back and just remember that once upon a time, you were a kid dreaming to be here. So I think it’s very special.”

His coaches think the same of him.

“We’ve been fortunate enough the last two years to have two of the best freshmen to ever play in college basketball back to back,” Duke associate head coach and former Blue Devils player Chris Carrawell said. “And Cam is right up there.

Boozer is Duke's ninth AP winner, each coming from a different player. UCLA is the next closest with five winners, though that included Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1967 and 1969) and Bill Walton (1972 and 1973) as two-time selections.

UCLA, Ohio State and Duke rival North Carolina are the only other programs with as many as three different players to win the award.

Big-game successes

Boozer arrived at Duke alongside twin brother Cayden after the two led Miami's Columbus High to four straight state championships. By late February, the Blue Devils were starting a four-week reign atop the AP Top 25 that would carry to March Madness. Boozer — who said he looks at winning as a skill — routinely posted top performances in Duke's biggest games, including during a rugged nonconference slate.

He matched a season high with 35 points in a November win against Arkansas. He followed with 29 points against defending national champion Florida. He also had big performances at Michigan State (18 points, 15 rebounds) and flirted with a triple-double (18 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists) in a February win against Michigan.

Along the way, he pushed through bumps and shoves. He closed Sunday's season-ending loss to UConn with 27 points and his right eye swollen from a first-half blow.

“There’s no agenda other than figuring out a way to win,” Wolverines coach Dusty May said. “I’ve seen him play a number of times this year where there’s six guys in the paint, and it’s not as if he’s jumping 40, 50 inches off the floor. His desire to rebound the ball, to set physical screens, to play to his advantages, is as impressive as any freshman that I can recall.”

Managing pressure

The other challenge was managing the scrutiny that comes from expectations for greatness. A missed shot. A turnover. The 3-for-17 shooting while battling rising frustration and Virginia shot-blocker Ugonna Onyenso in the ACC title game.

“He does a great job of flushing it and not letting it dwell on him too much,” Cayden said. “That’s something he’s always been able to do since we were younger. Obviously I talk to him when he needs me to. And I sometimes just understood that, hey, he’s going through something, give him some space for a little bit and he’ll figure it out.”

Cameron said getting away for time alone and putting down the phone helps. He points to prayer and even a recent effort to read more.

The rest of the time, though, he'll throw himself into becoming a better player. There's comfort in that routine, the results yet to fail him.

“I think just being prepared alleviates pressure," Cameron said. "Being ready for a game, watching film, working out, knowing you put your time in, being confident in yourself — I think all that takes away a lot of the pressure that people talk about. At the end of the day, pressure really is what you put on yourself.”

___

AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness

But there's no guarantee her successor will have any better success at placating the president.

Over the last year, Bondi's Justice Department has encountered resistance from judges, grand jurors and its own workforce in trying to establish criminal conduct by one Trump foe after another. A new attorney general will confront not only Trump's demand for political prosecutions — a constant dating back to his first term in the White House — but also the same skeptical court system, and factual and legal hurdles, that have impeded efforts to deliver the sought-after results.

“At the end of the day, it’s not like there were some magic steps that Pam Bondi could have taken to make bad cases look good to grand juries or judges,” Peter Keisler, a former acting attorney general in President George W. Bush's administration, said in an email. "The problem is that the president is demanding that prosecutions be brought when there’s no evidence and no valid legal theory. A new Attorney General won’t change that.”

Bondi was just the latest Trump attorney general pressed to meet the president's demands of loyalty and desire for retribution. Trump in his first term called for Jeff Sessions to investigate Democrat Hillary Clinton and ultimately pushed him out over his recusal from the Russia election interference investigation. He berated another attorney general, William Barr, over Barr's refusal to back his false claims of election fraud in the 2020 contest. Barr resigned soon after.

Bondi arrived at the Justice Department 14 months ago seemingly determined to remain in Trump's good graces unlike her predecessors had, heaping praise on him, offering unflinching support and embarking on investigations into Democrats and the president's adversaries — even amid concerns from career prosecutors about the sufficiency of evidence.

Days after Trump implored Bondi via social media last September to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, the Justice Department did just that, securing indictments in Virginia.

But the win was short-lived: A judge weeks later dismissed the cases after finding that the prosecutor who filed them, Lindsey Halligan, was illegally appointed. Grand juries have since refused to bring new mortgage fraud charges against James and the Comey case is mired in a thorny evidentiary dispute and statute of limitations concerns. Both Comey and James have vigorously denied any wrongdoing and called the cases against them politically motivated.

Since then, a federal grand jury in Washington refused to return an indictment against Democratic lawmakers in connection with a video in which they urged U.S. military members to resist “illegal orders." And a federal judge has quashed Justice Department subpoenas issued to the Federal Reserve as part of an investigation into testimony last June by Chair Jerome Powell about a $2.5 billion building renovation.

The judge, James Boasberg, said that the government has “produced essentially zero evidence to suspect Chair Powell of a crime” and called its justifications for the subpoenas a “thin and unsubstantiated” pretext to force Powell to cut interest rates. A prosecutor on the case subsequently conceded in court that the investigation had not found evidence of a crime.

An additional investigation into a Trump enemy remains underway with prosecutors in Florida scrutinizing former CIA Director John Brennan over testimony to Congress related to Russian interference in the 2016 election. That investigation has been open for months, but has not produced charges and it's not clear that it will. Brennan's lawyers have similarly called the investigation baseless.

One high-profile Trump critic who could face trial in the years ahead is his former national security adviser, John Bolton, though the investigation that produced that indictment and examined Bolton’s handling of classified documents began before Trump took office.

For now, the Justice Department will be led by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who has a longstanding relationship with Trump after having served as one of his personal lawyers. Several people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Thursday that Lee Zeldin, a Trump loyalist and head of the Environmental Protection Agency, has been privately mentioned by Trump as a possible pick.

Whoever holds the job in the long term will almost certainly be expected to carry out Trump's retribution campaign with more success, said Jimmy Gurulé, a former Justice Department official and law professor at Notre Dame. Blanche appeared to acknowledge as much in a Thursday evening interview with Fox News, saying, “I think the president is frustrated, everybody is frustrated ” and “what we saw happen for the past four years is unforgivable and can never happen again.”

“If she was fired because Trump did not think that she was moving quickly enough in bringing criminal cases against his political enemies, then you would expect that the person that would replace her would probably agree to escalate those efforts,” Gurulé said.

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Naturalist Alison Josyln was exploring Shark Valley this week, when she spotted Cecile emerge from the swamp to get some sun.

It was a bit harder for the female American crocodile to make her grand entrance, because water levels are so low at the moment.

Joslyn says Cecile is a star attraction at Shark Valley, and is named after a child who once visited the national park.

Cecile is believed to be about 18 years old and has been seen in and around Shark Valley for the last 10 years.

Joslyn says she is the queen of the Lonely Hearts Club. Another crocodile has shown up at Shark Valley, but it’s too young for mating.

La naturalista Alison Josyln exploraba Shark Valley esta semana cuando vio a Cecile salir del pantano para tomar el sol.

Fue un poco más difícil para la cocodrilo americana hembra hacer su gran aparición, ya que los niveles de agua están muy bajos en este momento.

Josyln dice que Cecile es una gran atracción en Shark Valley y que lleva el nombre de un niño que una vez visitó el parque nacional.

Se cree que Cecile tiene unos 18 años y ha sido vista en Shark Valley y sus alrededores durante los últimos 10 años.

Josyln dice que es la reina del “Lonely Hearts Club”. Otro cocodrilo ha aparecido en Shark Valley, pero es demasiado joven para aparearse.

Police said Angeles Vasquez was found safe.

They have not said what led to her disappearance.

En Tequila Town, puedes viajar a través de la historia, la cultura y, sí, el tequila.

En Tequila Town, los visitantes son invitados a un recorrido completo por México con bocadillos y muchas oportunidades para fotos en un espacio de 25,000 pies cuadrados, junto con tequila, todo sin salir del 305.

En el lugar, se realiza un paseo en tren a través de la historia, aprendiendo cómo el tequila pasa del agave a la copa, con más de 10 salas inmersivas.

Cada giro se siente como un nuevo capítulo.

“Tequila Town es nuestra carta de amor a México”, dijo la cofundadora Danie Gomez-Ortigoza. “En un momento en el que están pasando tantas cosas, queremos mostrar nuestra cultura desde una perspectiva muy especial, que es la historia del tequila. El tequila proviene de la planta de agave. Y la planta de agave es algo extremadamente mágico”.

¿Y este lugar? Es más que solo escenarios llamativos. Está arraigado en la tradición.

“La belleza de la cultura mexicana es que bebemos para recordar”, dijo Gomez-Ortigoza.

Desde destilerías históricas hasta mercados vibrantes llenos de comida, música y, por supuesto, mucho tequila, que no es solo una bebida.

“En realidad es una región de México en Jalisco. Así que básicamente recreamos este pueblo”, dijo Gomez-Ortigoza.

Al llegar al mercado, hay personajes que encontrarás en el camino.

“Prepárate para sentir que has sido transportado en el tiempo”, dijo Gomez-Ortigoza. “Y que estás siendo llevado a este lugar muy especial en México donde las sorpresas aparecerán en lugares inesperados todo el tiempo. Tendrás comida deliciosa y beberás el mejor tequila”.

Las entradas para Tequila Town varían entre aproximadamente $80 USD y más de $150 USD, dependiendo del día y la hora.

También hay noches selectas en las que se pueden organizar eventos privados.

Pero Tequila Town estará disponible por tiempo limitado. Su último día será el Cinco de Mayo.

Para más información sobre Tequila Town, haz clic aquí.

A veteran of the softer side of television news, Padron has specialized in the art of goodwill and solutions-oriented storytelling for more than two decades. She’s the architect of Local 10’s community outreach campaigns, including the Local 10 Day of Giving, which collects nonperishable foods for nonprofits in the hunger space and The Big Bus Toy Express, which collects new, unwrapped toys for the Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots. Padron will continue leading those broader efforts as she takes on this new role in bringing the inspiring stories of everyday people in South Florida.

Good News South Florida will shine a light on people overcoming incredible hardships, unlocking goodness in the most unlikely of places and loving their neighbors as themselves. But it’s more than storytelling. It’s action driven journalism. On occasion, Good News South Florida will invite Local 10 viewers to be part of the narrative and volunteer their talent, time and treasure to turn things around for someone in need.

“Good News South Florida will show that even when someone finds themselves in the fiery furnace of adversity, there is redemption, refuge and relief,” said Padron. “It’s not too good to be true. Good News is living and powerful in South Florida. Watch and be part of it.”

• To donate: If you’d like to make a monetary donation toward a Good News South Florida story or project, click here. Local 10 has established the Local 10 Fund with The Miami Foundation and 100% of your donation will go toward the cause you designate in the “additional information” box.
• To volunteer or submit a story idea: If you’d like to volunteer for a Good News South Florida project or would like to submit a story for consideration, email goodnews@local10.com.

Good News South Florida airs Fridays on the Local 10 morning news at 10 a.m. It will encore Fridays at 3:30 p.m. and Sunday mornings, beginning at 6 a.m.

The announcement said the pardons were a “humanitarian gesture” in connection with Holy Week and didn’t mention mounting pressures with the U.S.

The government said the prisoners affected are foreigners and Cubans, including women, the elderly and young people. It didn’t say when they were being released or under what conditions, nor did it mention the crimes they were accused of committing.

Authorities also provided no details on whether any of those pardoned were protesters convicted and sentenced for terrorism, contempt or public disorder.

Cuba’s government denies holding political prisoners, but the activist group Prisoners Defended registered 1,214 people imprisoned for political reasons in Cuba as of February.

Cuban authorities said the decision “was based on a careful analysis of the characteristics of the crimes committed by those sanctioned, their good behavior in prison, having served a significant portion of their sentence, and their health status,” according to a statement published in state media.

The release comes as the Trump administration has placed extreme pressure on Cuba’s government, imposing an oil blockade for months that has fueled blackouts and left many civilians suffering.

Cuba periodically frees prisoners at key moments.

In January last year, Cuba’s government released 553 prisoners as part of talks with the Vatican, a day after the Biden administration announced its intent to lift the U.S. designation of the island nation as a state sponsor of terrorism.

Last month, Cuba released 51 people from the island’s prisons in an unexpected move that officials said stems from a spirit of goodwill and close relations with the Vatican.

The government said Thursday’s announcement was the fifth prisoner release since 2011, and that it has freed more than 11,000 people.

The announcement come just months after the U.S. deposed ex-Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and pressured that nation’s government to make radical changes, including releasing prisoners detained for political reasons and passing an amnesty law.

NASA released the crew’s first downlinked images Friday, 1 1/2 days into the first astronaut moonshot in more than half a century.

The first photo taken by commander Reid Wiseman shows a curved slice of Earth in one of the capsule’s windows. The second shows the entire globe with the oceans topped by swirling white tendrils of clouds. A green aurora even glows, according to NASA.

“It’s great to think that with the exception of our four friends, all of us are represented in this image," said NASA's Lakiesha Hawkins, an exploration systems leader. She added the mission was going well.

As of late Friday afternoon, Wiseman and his crew were more than 110,000 miles (180,000 kilometers) from Earth and were quickly gaining on the moon with another 150,000 miles (240,000 kilometers) to go. They should reach their destination on Monday.

The three Americans and one Canadian will swing around the moon in their Orion capsule, hang a U-turn and then head straight back home without stopping. They fired Orion's main engine Thursday night that set them on their course.

After Mission Control shifted the position of their capsule, the entire Earth complete with northern lights filled their windows.

“It was the most spectacular moment, and it paused all four of us in our tracks,” Wiseman said in a TV interview.

They're the first lunar travelers since Apollo 17 in 1972.

___

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

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Darrell Rose was initially arrested on a second-degree murder charge in connection to a fight that was captured on surveillance video in January 2024, but the state instead decided to charge him with manslaughter.

In the video, Rose is seen arguing and fighting with Serdjy Hyppolite outside of a West Park tire shop, located in the 2400 block of Southwest 57th Avenue.

According to the judge’s order, Hyppolite pulled out a gun, which led to a struggle, and the gun went off, killing Hyppolite.

As part of Judge Barbara Duffy’s four-page order, she wrote, “(Rose) simply tried to prevent himself from being shot and killed by Hyppolite and, during the process, the firearm accidentally discharged.”

The judge granted the defendant’s motion for immunity under Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law.

The Broward State Attorney’s Office says they’re reviewing the decision to determine whether they will appeal.

Readers “will not find a printed Las Vegas Sun insert inside,” the Review-Journal wrote in an editorial, noting the Sun maintains a website, has a few hundred thousand followers across social media platforms, and is free to produce its own newspaper.

“We encourage them to do so. The Review-Journal competes with countless sources of news and entertainment, but we would welcome one more. We just don’t want to foot the bill. It is time the Sun stood up on its own two feet,” the editorial said, without specifying the cost.

It was the first day in 76 years the Sun hasn’t been printed, Sun attorney Leif Reid said in an email.

“This does irreparable harm to our community, as no one benefits when a local newspaper is prevented from being published,” Reid said.

The two publications will be in court Friday and the Sun hopes a judge will order printing to immediately resume. Employees are preparing print pages as always in hopes they will be able to publish Saturday, said Robert Cauthorn, chief operating officer.

The now-rare joint operating agreement required the Sun to be printed as a daily insert in the Review-Journal, the state’s largest newspaper. Both companies remained editorially independent with separate newsrooms and websites.

A lower court found the agreement was unenforceable because a 2005 update was never signed by the U.S. attorney general, and in February the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the Sun's appeal.

The Review-Journal editorial called the Supreme Court decision a decisive victory, saying that halting publication of the Sun on Friday was “a result of 6½ years of litigation between the newspapers, precipitated by the Sun.”

Such agreements between rival publications have dwindled as part of a "long, slow goodbye of newspapers as we knew them,” said Ken Doctor, a news business analyst. The Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News ended a 40-year agreement last year. USA Today Co., which owns the Detroit Free Press, recently announced its plans to purchase the Detroit News.

The two papers are longtime rivals

In 1950, the Sun was founded in response to the Review-Journal’s refusal to negotiate with typesetters from the International Typographical Union. The union started its own newspaper and reached out to businessman Hank Greenspun for financial backing. The Greenspuns still own the paper.

The Review-Journal has been publishing since 1909, first as the Clark County Review. It is owned by the Adelson family, who are casino magnates and Republican megadonors.

The Review-Journal’s editorials lean more conservative, while the Sun’s lean liberal. The 1970 law signed by then-President Richard Nixon, called the Newspaper Preservation Act, was designed to save newspapers costs while maintaining competition and editorial variety.

The papers first entered into a joint operating agreement in 1989 when the Sun was struggling to stay afloat financially. The agreement made the Sun an afternoon newspaper during weekdays and a section within the Review-Journal on weekend mornings, while the Review-Journal handled production, distribution and advertising. The Review-Journal also collected all revenue and was required to pay the Sun monthly to cover the Sun’s news and editorial expenses.

In 2005 the agreement was amended to make the Sun an insert in the Review-Journal every morning.

Review-Journal owners sought to end the agreement in 2019, and in response the Sun’s owners filed a lawsuit alleging that ending the agreement violated antitrust laws.

Readers today have more options

The 1970 law allowing such agreements came at a time when news options weren't as prevalent and there was more concern over news monopolies.

Las Vegas — and Nevada as a whole — today have more strong, independent news organizations compared with other places, said Stephen Bates, a journalism and media professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

The Sun also publishes online. But it has argued in court that losing its print product could make it harder to recruit staff, cause a loss in readers, and even force it to close.

Genelle Belmas, a journalism professor at the University of Kansas who specializes in media law, said it would be disappointing if the last joint operating agreement in the country ends. During visits to Vegas, she's enjoyed being able to pick up the Review-Journal and see the Sun folded inside, offering two differing points of view in one place. Online news outlets make it easier for consumers to stay in their echo chambers, she said.

“Every local news outlet we lose — and that includes big towns, small towns, whatever — is a loss of perspective and a loss of a potential alternative view,” Belmas said.

___

Associated Press journalist Kathleen Ronayne contributed from Sacramento, California.

The four Artemis II astronauts traveling in the Orion spacecraft woke up to “Sleepyhead” by Young and Sick and continued working with a group of mission controllers in Houston.

During preparations for their journey away from Earth on Thursday night, they were enjoying privileged views of our blue planet.

“It is just absolutely phenomenal,” NASA Astronaut Christina Koch, a mission specialist and engineer from Michigan, told mission controllers about the view.

The Orion capsule, Integrity, was on its way to a historic moon flyby mission with Koch, NASA Cmdr. Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Canadian Space Agency Astronaut Jeremy Hansen.

“Pending the mission management team’s approval, the translunar injection burn is scheduled for 7:49 p.m. EDT and will last for five minutes and 51 seconds, producing a change in velocity of 1,272 feet per second, sending humans out of low Earth orbit,” NASA reported.

Integrity will trace a figure eight around the far side of the moon before returning home to a splashdown on April 10 in the Pacific Ocean.

Watch NASA’s 24/7 coverage of Artemis II

Flight day 2 agenda

Wiseman and Glover started their day setting up and checking out Orion’s flywheel exercise device before getting in their first workouts.

Koch and Hansen exercised for the second half of the day. The morning workouts will provide another test of Orion’s life support systems before leaving Earth orbit.

Koch spent her morning preparing for the translunar injection burn, the last major engine firing of the Artemis II mission that will set Orion on the path to the Moon.

Koch will set up Orion’s system to perform the burn, done by Orion’s main engine on the spacecraft’s European Service Module.

The crew has a lighter day of activity, with time set aside to acclimate to the space environment.

Related stories

• Launch day coverage
• Get to know the astronauts
• Mission overview
• Artemis II’s moonbound toilet is working again to astronauts’ relief after overnight fix

Share your launch day photos

Learning from NASA encyclopedia

During the NASA livestream about the Artemis II mission, the acronyms SLS and ICPS are mentioned frequently and are both related to propulsion.

The SLS, which has nothing to do with the chain of five-star hotels and private clubs, is the Space Launch System, the powerful rocket designed for the Artemis program. The SLS was the primary launch vehicle on Wednesday at Cape Canaveral. In a single launch, it propelled the Orion capsule to space and may one day send humans to Mars.

The ICPS, which is not related to the International Carnivorous Plant Society or the International Conference of Physics Students, is the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage, which will provide in-space propulsion to the Orion capsule.

Liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen are the propellants. The ICPS is 43 feet high and has a diameter of 17 feet. It has one Aerojet Rocketdyne RL10 engine. The contractors involved were Boeing and the United Launch Alliance.

VIEW GRAPHIC: The ICPS details

More from Cape Canaveral

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At Tequila Town, you can travel through history, culture...and yes...tequila!

At Tequila Town, patrons are invited on a full-on journey to Mexico with snacks and plenty of photo ops in the 25,000-square-foot space, along with tequila – all without ever leaving the 305.

At the venue, you’re taken on a train ride through history, learning how tequila goes from agave to glass, with more than 10 immersive rooms.

Every turn feels like a new chapter.

“Tequila Town is our love letter to Mexico,” co-founder Danie Gomez-Ortigoza said. “In a time when so many things are happening, we want to showcase our culture from a very special perspective, which is the history of tequila. Tequila comes from the agave plant. And the agave plant is something that is extremely magical.”

And this place? It’s more than just pretty backdrops. It’s rooted in tradition.

“The beauty about Mexican culture is we drink to remember,” Gomez-Ortigoza said.

From historic distilleries to vibrant marketplaces filled with food, music and, of course, plenty of tequila, which isn’t just a drink.

“It’s actually a region in Mexico in Jalisco. And so, we basically recreated this town,” Gomez-Ortigoza said.

When you make your way to the market, there are characters you’ll meet along the way.

“Just get ready to feel like you’ve been transported in time,” Gomez-Ortigoza said. “And you’re being transported to this very special place in Mexico where surprises will come at you from unexpected places all the time. You will have delicious food and you will drink the best tequila.”

Tickets to Tequila Town range from about $80 to over $150, depending on the day and time.

There are also select nights where you can host private events.

But Tequila Town is here for a limited time. Their last day will be Cinco de Mayo!

For more information on Tequila Town, click here.

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Local 10’s Christina Vazquez spoke to the elections supervisors from Miami-Dade and Broward counties about voter fraud.

“We really don’t have that many cases,” said Miami-Dade Elections Supervisor Alina Garcia.

“That’s basically what we have seen, and that’s what the evidence shows,” added Broward Elections Supervisor Joe Scott.

“Right now, we also check to see that people are citizens,” continued Garcia. “The secretary of state does that, but we do it at the back end.”

“Yes, this process has more or less already been in place with Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles,” said Scott. “I would advise people to do is if you haven’t gotten your REAL ID yet, to go ahead and do that because if you complete that process, then you’ll be fine in terms of your voting status.”

Should the SAVE Act survive the current legal challenge and take effect on Jan. 1, 2027, both supervisors say citizens with REAL ID compliant Florida driver’s licenses should be fine.

“The DMV has been for many years already updating their records,” said Garcia.

“Overall, over 90% of our people actually get registered to vote through DHSMV,” said Scott. “So it’s very important for people who get naturalized to go back to the DHSMV and update their information, and now that they have a naturalization certificate, they can show that they are a U.S. citizen.”

One group that may face a new hurdle to voting is students, as student IDs will no longer be accepted as voter identification.

“The other group of people that I have concerns about would be the children of naturalized citizens,” said Scott. “So sometimes, the children of naturalized citizens don’t actually get their own certificate and they may not have a document to prove, and a lot of times, what they’ll end up needing to do is provide their parents’ paperwork and their birth certificate, possibly from another country, that shows that they are the child of that person who got naturalized.”

Added Garcia: “No matter what, we’re going to be ready and we’re going to ensure that people can get to vote.”

Scott said evidence shows that noncitizen voting is extremely rare, and that a bigger issue may be lower voter turnout.

“What I think is interesting is that one thing about our country is that we famously have a lot of people who are eligible to vote that don’t,” he said. “There’s a very large number of U.S. citizens who do not participate in elections. We’ll consider it a high turnout if 75% of our registered voters (vote), which means one out of four people who actually got registered don’t actually vote in our presidential elections, which tend to be our highest turnout elections.”

ADVICE FOR PARENTS

“Just getting your child a REAL ID is probably the best thing for parents to do so that your child is prepared to be able to become a registered voter,” said Scott. “Now for the kids who don’t have a REAL ID, we will have to have a process to verify those documents. So basically we’re going to need to see your birth certificate. We’re going to need to see mom and dad’s naturalization papers, plus a birth certificate from another country to connect those dots.”

That's rare, but it might be this season's reality.

The roster of award-caliber players who won't be winning awards this season continues to grow, with Doncic — the Los Angeles Lakers standout guard and MVP candidate — now out with a left hamstring injury. Minnesota guard Anthony Edwards is certain to miss the league's 65-game award eligibility threshold as well after he was held out Thursday because of illness.

Doncic has played 64 games, so he would fall just short of the mark if his hamstring issue keeps him out for the remainder of the regular season -- which has barely over a week remaining. It's worth noting that BetMGM Sportsbook, among others, took Doncic off the list of MVP betting options following his injury Thursday.

“At this juncture of the season, it’s the last thing you want to see,” Lakers star LeBron James told reporters in Oklahoma City after Thursday's game. “Especially anybody on our team, but when you have an MVP candidate on your team, the last thing you want to see is somebody go down with a hamstring injury."

Edwards can now only reach a maximum of 64 games as well, so he won’t be on the ballot for most major NBA awards either.

What is the 65-game rule?

It was collectively bargained — meaning the league and the players association agreed on the terms — and this is the third season of it being part of the NBA rules.

It applies to player eligibility for five awards — MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, Most Improved Player, the All-NBA Team and the All-Defensive Team. Players have to either play in 65 regular-season games (with some minutes-played minimums in there as well), or at least 62 games before suffering a “season-ending injury."

But even if Doncic's hamstring keeps him out for the rest of the regular season, it wouldn't be classified as “season-ending” unless a doctor — jointly selected by the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association — says he wouldn't be able to play again through May 31.

There is a grievance process and even a way to challenge the rule citing extraordinary circumstances, but neither would be easily utilized.

Who's out of the award races?

Five of the league's six highest-paid players this season — Golden State's Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler, Philadelphia's Joel Embiid, Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo and Boston's Jayson Tatum — aren't eligible for awards. Denver's Nikola Jokic is the exception on the highest-paid list, and he'd likely be ineligible if he misses another game as well.

There were 23 players on the list of those winning MVP, MIP, DPOY, All-NBA and All-Defense last season. Of those, at least 10 are out of the running for honors this season: Antetokounmpo, Curry, Edwards, James, Tatum, Detroit's Cade Cunningham, Indiana teammates Tyrese Haliburton and Ivica Zubac, Utah's Jaren Jackson Jr. and Oklahoma City's Jalen Williams. (Most of those 10 have been out of the awards mix because of injuries for some time; Tatum and Haliburton both tore Achilles in last season's playoffs and it was obvious then that they wouldn't hit 65-game marks this year.)

Another four award winners from a year ago — Jokic, Oklahoma City's Lu Dort, Golden State's Draymond Green and Cleveland's Evan Mobley — aren't at 65 games yet this season but, for now anyway, seem on pace to get there.

Will the rule be changed?

Never say never. The union wants changes to the policy, and it's certain to come up in their conversations with the league office. But many players — and even Andre Iguodala, now the head of the players' association — have said in recent years that the 65-game rule is a good thing.

The league doesn't seem inclined to make a change based solely on what would appear to be an extraordinary number of award candidates not hitting the threshold in one year.

“I think it is working,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said last month. “I think if you look at the numbers, the pre-implementation of this rule, numbers were going in the wrong direction. I may have this a little bit off: I think the three years before we adopted this rule, almost a third of the All-NBA players had not played 80% of the games. That was a huge issue for the league.”

Scoring champion ... but not All-NBA?

As we said, it's rare, but it has happened. Twice, to be exact.

— 1968-69: Elvin Hayes won the scoring title as a rookie, then wasn't even All-NBA — and didn't win Rookie of the Year, either.

— 1975-76: Bob McAdoo won his third consecutive scoring title and was second in the MVP race — but didn't make All-NBA. Players voted for MVP in those days, and McAdoo was an extremely close second behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Dave Cowens was third in the MVP vote but got the second-team All-NBA nod at center, with Abdul-Jabbar the first-team pick.

Doncic could join that list. He was scheduled for an MRI on Friday to determine the extent of his hamstring injury. It's not mathematically certain yet that he wins the scoring title, but it would take something extraordinary for it not to happen.

He's averaging 33.5 points per game, with Gilgeous-Alexander at 31.6 per game. For Gilgeous-Alexander — last season's scoring champion — to overtake Doncic, he would need to go on an unbelievable run. An example: He'd need to score 292 points over the final five games to take over the top spot, and nobody other than Wilt Chamberlain has had a five-game run like that.

Of the previous 79 scoring champions, 64 were first-team All-NBA and 13 were second-team.

Jokic is going to win the league's rebounding and assist titles, while averaging a triple-double yet again. But he's also not assured yet of being on the award ballots.

Why can some players win statistical titles but not win All-NBA?

The thresholds are different.

While the award mandate is 65 games in most cases, players are eligible for most statistical awards if they play in 58 games (or 70% of the season). There are different standards for some stat awards, such as field-goal percentage (minimum 300 made), free-throw percentage (minimum 125 made) and 3-point percentage (minimum 82 made).

A player can win a stat award while appearing in less than 58 games.

For example, last season, San Antonio's Victor Wembanyama played only 46 games but still won the blocked shot title. Even if he played in the minimum 58 games and recorded no blocks in the 12 games needed to reach that number he still would have been ahead of the runner-up, Utah's Walker Kessler.

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

Christina Vazquez, de Local 10, habló con los supervisores electorales de los condados Miami-Dade y Broward sobre el fraude electoral.

“No tenemos tantos casos”, dijo la supervisora electoral de Miami-Dade, Alina Garcia.

“Eso es básicamente lo que hemos visto, y eso es lo que muestra la evidencia”, agregó el supervisor electoral de Broward, Joe Scott.

“En este momento, también verificamos que las personas sean ciudadanos”, continuó Garcia. “El secretario de Estado lo hace, pero nosotros lo hacemos en la etapa final”.

“Sí, este proceso más o menos ya ha estado en vigor con el Departamento de Seguridad Vial y Vehículos Motorizados de Florida”, dijo Scott. “Lo que aconsejaría a las personas es que, si aún no han obtenido su REAL ID, lo hagan, porque si completan ese proceso, estarán bien en cuanto a su estatus de votación”.

Si la ley SAVE supera el actual desafío legal y entra en vigor el 1 de enero de 2027, ambos supervisores dicen que los ciudadanos con licencias de conducir de Florida compatibles con REAL ID no tendrán problemas.

“El DMV ha estado actualizando sus registros durante muchos años”, dijo Garcia.

“En general, más del 90% de nuestras personas se registran para votar a través del DHSMV”, dijo Scott. “Por lo tanto, es muy importante que las personas que se naturalizan regresen al DHSMV y actualicen su información, y ahora que tienen un certificado de naturalización, pueden demostrar que son ciudadanos de Estados Unidos”.

Un grupo que podría enfrentar un nuevo obstáculo para votar son los estudiantes, ya que las identificaciones estudiantiles ya no serán aceptadas como identificación de votante.

“El otro grupo de personas que me preocupa serían los hijos de ciudadanos naturalizados”, dijo Scott. “A veces, los hijos de ciudadanos naturalizados no obtienen su propio certificado y pueden no tener un documento para comprobarlo, y muchas veces lo que tendrán que hacer es presentar la documentación de sus padres y su certificado de nacimiento, posiblemente de otro país, que demuestre que son hijos de esa persona que se naturalizó”.

Agregó Garcia: “Pase lo que pase, vamos a estar preparados y vamos a asegurarnos de que las personas puedan votar”.

Scott dijo que la evidencia muestra que la votación de no ciudadanos es extremadamente rara y que un problema mayor podría ser la baja participación electoral.

“Lo que me parece interesante es que una cosa de nuestro país es que, famosamente, tenemos muchas personas que son elegibles para votar y no lo hacen”, dijo. “Hay un número muy grande de ciudadanos estadounidenses que no participan en las elecciones. Consideramos que es una alta participación si el 75% de nuestros votantes registrados vota, lo que significa que una de cada cuatro personas que se registraron en realidad no vota en nuestras elecciones presidenciales, que tienden a ser las de mayor participación”.

CONSEJOS PARA PADRES

“Obtener un REAL ID para su hijo probablemente sea lo mejor que pueden hacer los padres para que su hijo esté preparado para poder registrarse para votar”, dijo Scott. “Ahora, para los jóvenes que no tienen un REAL ID, tendremos que tener un proceso para verificar esos documentos. Básicamente necesitaremos ver su certificado de nacimiento. Necesitaremos ver los documentos de naturalización de mamá y papá, además de un certificado de nacimiento de otro país para poder conectar toda esa información”.

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According to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, more than 30 firefighters responded to the junkyard near the 12800 block of Cairo Lane just before 8:40 p.m.

“MDFR firefighters arrived to find a large column of flames coming from the rear of the property, with the fire spreading to a pile of several vehicles,” an MDFR spokesperson told Local 10 News in an email Friday. “The call was upgraded to a Second Alarm due to the need for additional manpower.”

Firefighters said crews used aerial ladders to fight the fire and remained at the scene overnight to monitor and extinguish hot spots.

No injuries were reported.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Zendaya, surprising precisely nobody on the planet, showed up in dazzling blue at Thursday’s New York premiere of “The Drama,” after teasing the bridal theme for weeks by wearing something old, then something new, then something borrowed.

Her strapless Schiaparelli Haute Couture ball gown, accompanied by sapphire earrings, completed the sartorial series just in time for the opening of her movie — a film that has attracted considerable controversy and mixed reviews. Zendaya and Robert Pattinson play a couple whose wedding plans go seriously awry following a dark revelation.

The high-fashion appearances have also echoed the bridal theme of Zendaya’s own life, with unconfirmed speculation flying — fed in part by rings she’s been wearing — that she’s already married to partner Tom Holland.

The actor and her stylist, Law Roach, saved the most spectacular outfit for last. Schiaparelli posted on its own Instagram ​​that the gown, which took some 8,000 hours of work, was made of blue and black raw silk “feathers” in satin stitch embroidery, and contained 27 shades of blue.

“Something old” came in Los Angeles on March 17, where Zendaya wore the same white, off-the-shoulder Vivienne Westwood Bridal gown that she’d worn to the 2015 Oscars.

She transitioned to “something new” at the March 24 Paris premiere — a white custom Louis Vuitton gown with a huge black bow and train.

“Something borrowed” came two days later in Rome, a black Armani Privé dress previously worn by Cate Blanchett, with a plunging neckline framed with stones.

Finally on Thursday, Zendaya completed the circle. “SomethingBlue,” posted Roach.

In case nobody had noticed.

According to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, more than 30 firefighters responded to the junkyard near the 12800 block of Cairo Lane just before 8:40 p.m.

“MDFR firefighters arrived to find a large column of flames coming from the rear of the property, with the fire spreading to a pile of several vehicles,” an MDFR spokesperson told Local 10 News in an email Friday. “The call was upgraded to a Second Alarm due to the need for additional manpower.”

Firefighters said crews used aerial ladders to fight the fire and remained at the scene overnight to monitor and extinguish hot spots.

No injuries were reported.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Darrell Rose fue arrestado por asesinato en segundo grado en relación con una pelea que fue captada en video de vigilancia en enero de 2024.

En el video, se observa a Rose discutiendo y peleando con Serdjy Hyppolite afuera de una tienda de llantas en West Park, ubicada en la cuadra 2400 de Southwest 57th Avenue.

Según la orden de la jueza, Hyppolite sacó un arma, lo que provocó un forcejeo, y el arma se disparó, causando la muerte de Hyppolite.

Como parte de la orden de cuatro páginas de la jueza Barbara Duffy, escribió: “(Rose) simplemente intentó evitar que Hyppolite le disparara y lo matara y, durante el proceso, el arma de fuego se disparó accidentalmente”.

La jueza concedió la solicitud del acusado de inmunidad bajo la ley de Florida “Stand Your Ground”.

La Fiscalía Estatal de Broward indicó que está revisando la decisión para determinar si presentará una apelación.

Según un informe de arresto de la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade, un supervisor de la oficina notificó a los investigadores sobre la actividad ilegal el 25 de marzo.

Los agentes indicaron que se revisó video de vigilancia que mostraba al empleado, Waldersee Oge, de 46 años y residente de North Miami, emitiendo permisos de conducir temporales el mes pasado a al menos cuatro personas que no estaban presentes en la oficina.

En un incidente, Oge fue visto en video hablando por su teléfono celular con uno de los clientes, recopilando su información personal y luego ingresándola en la base de datos Orion.

Según el informe, el supervisor comenzó a sospechar la semana pasada tras observar a Oge revisando documentos escaneados dentro del sistema de mantenimiento de clientes utilizando la base de datos Orion, a pesar de que no había clientes en el mostrador de servicio en ese momento.

Los detectives dijeron que Oge fue detenido en su lugar de trabajo el jueves y confesó haber realizado múltiples transacciones a cambio de pagos a través de Zelle.

Enfrenta numerosos cargos, incluidos mala conducta oficial por parte de un servidor público, compensación o recompensa ilegal por conducta oficial, delitos contra usuarios de computadoras, uso ilegal de un dispositivo de comunicación, emisión ilegal de una licencia de conducir y falsificación de registros públicos.

Hasta la mañana de este viernes, Oge permanecía detenido en el Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. Los registros en línea de la cárcel indicaban que su fianza total estaba “por establecerse”.

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Asia Spann, who says she is the boy’s aunt, spoke out after a large police presence drew her to the scene.

“They shot my nephew in the foot. I don’t know why this happened, what happened, but all I want is answers,” Spann said.

The sheriff’s office says around 3:30 p.m., deputies received a call about someone with a gun at a park near Southwest 216th Street and Southwest 113th Avenue.

A be-on-the-lookout notice was sent out. The assistant sheriff says deputies approached four people matching the description. There was a confrontation, and a deputy shot the 15-year-old boy in the foot.

“We’re just grateful that nobody else got hurt and he’s in stable condition,” said Assistant Sheriff Fernand Charles.

Deputies say they found a gun near the teen.

“We need to make sure we’re mindful of what our children are doing day in and day out. 3:30 in the afternoon, a 15-year-old is walking around with a firearm is not acceptable by any means,” Charles said.

After being told what deputies said about her nephew, Spann responded:

“I just got an update my nephew is doing well. I don’t know about no firearms or whatever. He didn’t shoot no firearms, shoot at the police, you know, to my understanding, but why did they just jump out and unknown cause, they just start shooting? That’s what I wanna know,” she said.

Deputies say all the juveniles involved were taken into custody. The 15-year-old was transported to the hospital.

When asked if he will be arrested like the other juveniles, the sheriff’s office said that will be up to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which will take the lead on the investigation.

Asia Spann, quien dice ser la tía del menor, habló tras una gran presencia policial que la llevó al lugar.

“Le dispararon a mi sobrino en el pie. No sé por qué pasó esto, qué ocurrió, pero lo único que quiero son respuestas”, dijo Spann.

La oficina del sheriff indicó que alrededor de las 3:30 p.m., los agentes recibieron una llamada sobre una persona con un arma en un parque cerca de Southwest 216th Street y Southwest 113th Avenue.

Se emitió una alerta de búsqueda. El sheriff asistente dijo que los agentes se acercaron a cuatro personas que coincidían con la descripción. Hubo un enfrentamiento y un agente le disparó al adolescente de 15 años en el pie.

“Estamos agradecidos de que nadie más resultó herido y de que él está en condición estable”, dijo el sheriff asistente Fernand Charles.

Los agentes indicaron que encontraron un arma cerca del menor.

“Debemos asegurarnos de estar atentos a lo que nuestros hijos hacen día a día. A las 3:30 de la tarde, que un joven de 15 años esté caminando con un arma de fuego no es aceptable de ninguna manera”, dijo Charles.

Tras ser informada de lo dicho por los agentes sobre su sobrino, Spann respondió:

“Acabo de recibir una actualización de que mi sobrino está bien. No sé nada de armas de fuego ni nada. Él no disparó ningún arma, no le disparó a la policía, según tengo entendido, pero ¿por qué simplemente llegaron y sin causa conocida comenzaron a disparar? Eso es lo que quiero saber”, dijo.

Los agentes indicaron que todos los menores involucrados fueron detenidos. El joven de 15 años fue trasladado al hospital.

Al ser consultada si será arrestado como los otros menores, la oficina del sheriff dijo que eso dependerá del Departamento de Cumplimiento de la Ley de Florida, que estará a cargo de la investigación.

When there’s a hurricane threat, everyone feels the stress. But for children and adults on the autism spectrum, emergencies like these can be especially difficult. A loud, crowded hurricane shelter can quickly become overwhelming.

“It can trigger them to experience a meltdown or may experience issues transitioning from one place to another, one activity to another,” Betsy Germain Evans said.

Germain Evans, an advocate for the neurodivergent community, has a daughter diagnosed with autism. Kathy Rodriguez is also raising a child on the spectrum.

Together, they created “Ready, Set Backpack,” designed to help reduce stress during emergencies.

“This child loves the smell of lavender, so this plushie right here has a lavender smell,” one of the women said. “When he smells it, it’s something familiar and brings him comfort.”

The backpacks are customized for each child.

“It has everything in there -- all the essential items that that child would need in order for them to transition smoothly,” Evans said.

Each backpack is built using a sensory profile to determine what items are included.

“So say this child is in a space like a shelter and it’s overwhelming -- he can open up his tent and go into his tent. He can bring in his weighted teddy, a light bulb, things that make him feel more secure,” another advocate explained.

Miramar Commissioner Maxwell Chambers is spearheading a safety workshop to introduce the backpacks to the community.

“These young ladies come together after experiencing issues with their own children to give back free information to our community -- that’s a tremendous blessing,” Chambers said.

Evans says the goal is simple.

“The one thing we need them to know is we really truly value this tool, specifically because we know it solves a problem that we know is in our community,” she said.

Each “Ready, Set Backpack” is tailored to the individual but can include items like trackers, communication boards and noise-canceling headphones.

Rodriguez and Germain Evans will guide parents at a free emergency preparedness workshop on Monday, April 6, at the Miramar Commission Chambers. A representative from the National Hurricane Center will also be there to answer questions. The event runs from 2 to 4 p.m.

Now in its more than 40-year history, the event continues to draw local runners hooked on that runner’s high.

Beyond fitness, the race also serves as a morale booster and a chance for company bonding, while helping instill lessons about wellness in younger generations.

But for many, it’s also about competition -- where there can only be one winner.

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It’s coming down to the wire with construction, as the facility remains a work-in-progress.

Nu Stadium even received a glowing approval from Inter Miami President and Co-owner David Beckham.

He was on the pitch Thursday, checking out the real grass field and the 26,700-seat stadium for himself.

Hundreds of fans are expected to get a sneak peek on Thursday too, invited to the site to walk the stadium, explore available sections, and lock in their seat for the season.

Something else to be on the lookout for is the Leo Messi Stand.

It’s rare and unique in global sports for an athlete playing at his home stadium to have a stand named in his honor.

A lot of time and money have been invested at Miami Freedom Park for Inter Miami fans, as an estimated $1 billion through private funding and three years of construction are finally coming to fruition, but it’s still not completely finished.

The broader Miami Freedom Park project will eventually include hotel rooms, commercial and office space, and the largest public park in Miami, covering more than 58 acres.

Opening night at Nu Stadium is set for Saturday night when Inter Miami hosts Austin FC.

“Safeguarding the electoral process to improve oversight and prevent unlawful influence has been a top priority for my administration since my first days in office,” DeSantis said. “Today I signed the election integrity bill, also known as the Florida SAVE Act. This legislation strengthens the security, transparency, and reliability of Florida’s election system. In Florida, we will always stand up for election integrity.”

The measure requires verification of U.S. citizenship during the voter registration process.

But critics argue the legislation is unnecessary.

Democratic State Sen. Shevrin Jones questioned the need for the bill.

“But at the expense of who? At the expense of voters? You know, last year they said that that was the election integrity bill that the nation should model. So what changes need to be made?” Jones asked.

“I think personally this is another not needed bill — we have been known, based on my colleagues who have made it clear, that Florida runs the safest integral elections in the country,” he added. “There is no need for this, because there wasn’t, still no need for it — talking to some of my Republican colleagues, they even said, ‘I don’t even know why we are doing this.’ Exactly, why are we?”

Jones warned the legislation could disenfranchise some voters, including students.

“Students are no longer allowed to use their student IDs to vote,” he said.

He also raised concerns about married women whose current name differs from the name on their birth certificate.

“That is actually testimony that came up when we were in committee, someone said ‘I am going through a name change currently right now,’ so what does this looks like after this is passed?” Jones said.

He pointed to potential issues for seniors as well.

“There has already been a case — she can’t locate her birth certificate -- why? She was born in the 1920’s, 1930’s. That is one instance, but those are consistent with other individuals," he said. “It is not saving anyone but what it is doing is disenfranchising individuals to be able to participate in this democratic process, that is what it is doing.”

The League of Women Voters of Florida, one of the plaintiffs in the case, argues the law would impose unnecessary barriers on eligible voters.

In a statement, the organization said courts have repeatedly found that documentary proof-of-citizenship requirements disenfranchise eligible voters while doing little to address what it describes as a “virtually nonexistent” problem of non-citizen voting.

The group also pointed to a similar law enacted in Kansas in 2016 that blocked more than 35,000 people from registering to vote before it was struck down in 2018 for violating federal law and the U.S. Constitution.

Plaintiffs argue Florida’s additional documentation requirement would make it harder for eligible voters to register, including naturalized citizens, low-income voters, married women who have changed their names, voters of color, students, people with disabilities, transgender individuals and seniors.

The ACLU of Florida also criticized the measure, saying, “HB 991 creates in-person, ‘show-your-papers’ requirements that could exclude thousands of eligible Florida voters from registering if they don’t have an unexpired U.S. passport or birth certificate — or if those documents do not reflect their name after a name change."

“This will result in thousands of eligible voters being unable to vote, and will especially harm first-time voters, elderly Floridians, students, low-income and rural communities, and women who have changed their name upon marriage,” an ACLU spokesperson added.

DeSantis acknowledged legal challenges were likely.

“And you know what happens on all these. I sign it, they sue us,” he said.

Minutes after the bill was signed, a federal lawsuit was filed.

Several voting groups argued in court filings that, in their view, “Many eligible voters do not have these documents and cannot obtain them for a variety of reasons — including because they were born without a birth certificate in the segregated South, because their documents were destroyed in a hurricane, or because they cannot afford the hundreds of dollars it costs to replace them.”

Jones also questioned the cost of defending the law.

“Why do we continue to waste taxpayer money? Why do we continue to try the courts in this manner, knowing that it is unconstitutional, knowing good and well that an individual who is not a citizen of this country, they can’t vote, so why are we going through this dog and pony show when it is not needed?” he said.

Local 10 viewers can listen to DeSantis’ remarks by clicking here.

The plaintiffs in the case are asking the court to declare the legislation unlawful and block Florida from enforcing it. The law is set to take effect Jan. 1, 2027.

“I cannot, by contract, tell you when. I cannot tell you who. But I can tell you, direct to the camera, WKRP, after 48 years, is coming to Cincinnati,” D.P. McIntire, who runs the media nonprofit that is auctioning the famous call letters, told The Associated Press. “Book it! It’s done!”

The call sign was made famous by “WKRP in Cincinnati,” a CBS television sitcom that ran from 1978 to 1982. It made stars of actors like Loni Anderson and Richard Sanders, whose bumbling newsman Les Nessman reported on a Thanksgiving promotion gone bad when live but flightless turkeys were dropped from a helicopter.

McIntire remembers watching the show’s first episode — featuring disc jockeys Dr. Johnny Fever (Howard Hesseman) and Venus Flytrap (Tim Reid) — in the living room with his parents and older sister.

“And at the end of the 30-minute episode,” he said, “I got up and I proclaimed, `I’m going to be in radio. And if I ever have the opportunity, I’m going to run a station called WKRP.’”

McIntire said he got his first on-air job at 13 as a news anchor at WNQQ “Wink FM” in Blairsville, Pennsylvania.

Fast forward to 2014, when his North Carolina-based nonprofit acquired the call sign from the Federal Communications Commission. Stations in Dallas, Georgia, and Alexandria, Tennessee, previously bore the letters.

McIntire laughs as he recalls his chat with a woman in the agency’s audio division.

He had two sets of call letters in mind. She told him he needed a third.

“Being the jokester that I am, I said, `Well, if you need three, and if it’s available, we’ll take WKRP,’” he said. “And 90 seconds later, she came back and she said, `Mr. McIntire. Congratulations. You’re the general manager of WKRP in Raleigh, North Carolina.’”

WKRP-LP — 101.9 on the FM dial — went live Nov. 30, 2015. The LP stands for “low power,” a class of station created to serve more local audiences that didn’t want mass-market content.

“Our format is what radio used to be 35 years ago in small-town America,” he said. "There is Greats of the ‘80s, Sounds of the ’70s, '90s Rewind," as well as local news and “specialty programming.”

LPFM is restricted to nonprofit organizations like his Oak City Media, and it’s definitely local.

“Your broadcast capacity is limited to 100 watts,” McIntire said. “So, your average range is between, depending on your terrain and circumstances, 4 and 12 miles (6 and 19 kilometers) in any direction. Enough to cover a small town.”

And, by necessity, it’s a low-budget affair.

The transmitter is in a corner of McIntire’s garage, between a recycling bin and the cleaning supplies. The broadcast antenna sits atop a 25-foot (7.62-meter) metal flagpole in the backyard. The studio — microphones and a mixing board hooked up to a computer — is on the first floor of McIntire’s home.

Like the WKRP of television, McIntire and his partners set out to be “irreverent.” One of their offerings is a two-hour show called “Weird Al and Friends,” focusing on the satirical works of Weird Al Yankovic.

They even had an annual Thanksgiving turkey giveaway. But don’t call the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals — they hand out gift certificates to a local grocery store.

“We don’t toss them out of helicopters,” he said with a laugh.

This news comes hot on the heels of the decision to shutter CBS News Radio after nearly a century in operation. After more than a decade on the air, the 56-year-old McIntire decided it was time to pass the reins.

“We’re in a position where the older members like me who started the station are turning the leadership over to younger members,” he said. “They’re not interested in radio.”

They put out a call for bids to use the call letters on FM and AM radio, as well as television and digital television.

They intend to use the proceeds for a new nonprofit venture called Independent Broadcast Consultants. He said IBC will be “geared specifically toward helping these new broadcasters get up and running, get the consulting that they need in order to be, hopefully, more successful than we have been.”

Oak City Media was all set to hand off the television-related suffixes — WKRP-TV and WKRP-DT — when another group defaulted on the agreement, McIntire said. But he said the Cincinnati deal is in the bag, he just can’t legally discuss it.

“It will be radio,” he said. “But that’s all I can tell you at this time.”

Robert Thompson, who uses a season 2 episode of “WKRP” in his TV history class at Syracuse University, said it’s telling that people see real value in a fictional station whose call letters invoke the word “crap.”

“The value comes from the love of the characters for each other,” he said. “And now by buying this thing, the value comes from our love of the characters themselves.”

Whatever they do with the call sign, McIntire hopes they will be true to the show that inspired it.

“It has a special place in the hearts of an awful lot of people,” he said. “And we have been very, very, very proud to have been a steward of that legacy.”

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This story has been updated to correct that the studio is on the first floor of the home, not the basement.

The night after he finally won the green jacket last April, McIlroy climbed the 13 spiral stairs to the second floor of the clubhouse and walked through a door that says, “Masters Club Room. Private.”

Champions only.

He couldn't wait to see the most exclusive locker room in golf, intimate and understated, only 27 lockers. Missing that April night was his nameplate, and so his return in December to work on a Prime Video documentary made him eager to find out whose names would be on his locker.

It felt like Christmas morning the way he talked about finding out.

Ben Hogan 1953. Raymond Floyd 1976. Rory McIlroy 2025.

“I was wondering who they were going to put me with,” McIlroy said. “Were they going to put me with another European? I didn't really know. But having Hogan's locker? That's pretty cool, another guy who did the (Grand) Slam. And then Raymond, who I've known for a long time and has been a good friend to me in golf over the years.

“Incredible,” he said. “It never gets old.”

The champions' exclusive room was created in 1978 and since renovated, but not expanded, which is why lockers are shared (not by active players).

The locker room in the new Players Services Building is more spacious and grander. Masters champions will have a locker there, too, for convenience when they use the fitness and recovery area on the basement level.

But they'll still be upstairs in their own room, mainly because they can.

“It's hard to put into words,” Hideki Matsuyama said through his interpreter about returning as Masters champion after his 2021 win. “When I went back for the first time, I knew I could go in, but it just didn't feel right. It was like, ‘Really? I can go in?’ It's not that I was nervous or my English. It was just, ‘Wow.’”

Tiger Woods shares a locker with Jack Burke Jr., who died in 2024. Jack Nicklaus shares with Horton Smith, the first winner of the Masters. Trevor Immelman has Nick Faldo.

Imagine how it felt for Jordan Spieth when he saw his name next to Arnold Palmer on a locker.

“It never crossed my mind until I got there,” Spieth said. “They said, ‘Here’s who you're sharing your locker with. I didn't know they shared lockers.”

Spieth was the defending champion at the Masters Club dinner in 2016, the last one Palmer attended. His mission now is to get an old pair of shoes belonging to Palmer to put in the locker, just to give the King a presence. “That would be cool,” Spieth said.

Scottie Scheffler had seen the room when his Texas team took trips to Augusta National, so his curiosity was running high when he returned as champion for the first time. It was a Texas theme, his name next to Charles Coody and Byron Nelson.

“Charles for sure, because I see him in there using it,” Scheffler said. “I mean, we truly share a locker. He changes his shoes. He has his green jacket. When he shows up he puts his jacket on, and when he leaves he puts his jacket up.”

Adam Scott shares a locker with Gary Player, whom he referred to as “probably the greatest international player ever.” The 5-foot-6 “Black Knight” is 90 and still hits the ceremonial tee shot.

“I was curious and pleasantly surprised to be sharing with Gary, although I didn't know he'd use all my stuff,” Scott said with a laugh.

One time Scott needed to put on his green jacket for a function during the Masters, and the sleeves came halfway up his forearm. “Looks like Gary took the wrong jacket again,” Scott said.

Few others had a more memorable discovery of sharing a locker than Mark O'Meara.

He had seen the room before because he stayed upstairs in the Crow's Nest when he played as the U.S. Amateur champion and snuck down one night to see it. He walked in the front door as a Masters champion with two sets of shoes, knowing his name would be on another's locker, not sure whom it would be.

“There's three small tables, four chairs at each one, and one person sitting there,” O'Meara said. “The locker room attendant says, ‘Let me show you where you are.’ I knew who was sitting in the chair. It was Gene Sarazen, sitting with his back to where we came in.”

Two lockers down he saw the nameplates — Gene Sarazen 1935, Mark O'Meara 1998.

“So I'm sharing a locker with Gene Sarazen, who is actually sitting with his back turned to the locker,” O'Meara said. “I put my hands on the back of his shoulders and said, ‘Mr. Sarazen, I hate to inform you, I'm your locker mate.'”

They had met before because O'Meara used to play in the Sarazen World Open.

“He said, ‘Mark do me a favor. At this stage in my life, I don't get a lot of free (stuff). Can you leave a couple of extra dozen golf balls when you leave?'” O'Meara said.

O'Meara said he would mail as many as the Squire wanted. Sarazen died a month later.

The centerpiece of the intimate room is a glass case that honors the current champion, including a mannequin with the green jacket draped on the shirt the champion wore in the final round, along with a club used for a meaningful shot in the win. There's also the original letter Hogan wrote in 1952 suggesting a “stag dinner” for Masters champions.

Twenty-six of the lockers were empty when McIlroy returned in December — green jackets are kept in a separate room. His contained a surprise.

“There was a note in there from Jack,” McIlroy said. "He'd been there one or two weeks previous and it just said, ‘Welcome to the club.’

“It's a wonderful perk.”

___

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

The Italian soccer federation announced the news in a statement thanking Gattuso “for the dedication and passion” during his nine months in charge.

Italy’s chances of reaching this year’s tournament in North America ended on Tuesday after a penalty shootout loss to Bosnia and Herzegovina in a qualifying playoff.

“With pain in my heart, not having achieved the goal we had set ourselves, I consider my experience on the national team bench to be over,” Gattuso said.

Gattuso’s departure comes a day after Italy’s soccer federation president Gabriele Gravina resigned along with Gianluigi Buffon, who was the national team’s delegation chief.

The defeat to Bosnia added more misery for four-time champion Italy after being eliminated by Sweden and North Macedonia, respectively, in the qualifying playoffs for the last two World Cups.

Gattuso took over from the fired Luciano Spalletti in June with the squad already in crisis mode following a defeat at Norway in its opening qualifier.

Spalletti had also overseen a disappointing European Championship campaign in 2024, when titleholder Italy was knocked out in the round of 16 by Switzerland.

“I would like to thank Gattuso once again," Gravina said. "Because, in addition to being a special person, as a coach he has offered a valuable contribution, managing to bring enthusiasm back to the national team in just a few months.

“He has conveyed great pride in the national team jersey to the players and to the whole country.”

Under Gattuso, Italy went on a six-match winning streak before another loss to Norway in November to finish second in their group and end up in the playoffs again.

Gattuso had been given a contract until the end of this summer’s World Cup, with an automatic renewal until 2028 if Italy returned to soccer's biggest stage.

“The Azzurri shirt is the most precious asset that exists in soccer, which is why it is right to immediately facilitate future coaching staff decisions,” Gattuso said.

“It was an honor to be able to lead the national team and do so also with a group of boys who have shown commitment and attachment to the shirt. The biggest thanks go to the fans, to all the Italians who have never failed to show their love and support for the national team in recent months.”

Among those being mentioned to replace Gattuso are Roberto Mancini, Simone Inzaghi, Antonio Conte and Massimiliano Allegri.

Mancini coached Italy to the European Championship title in 2021 then failed to get the Azzurri to the next year’s World Cup before bolting to take over Saudi Arabia’s national team. He left that role in October 2024 and is currently coach at Al-Sadd in Qatar.

Inzaghi steered Inter Milan to the Serie A title in 2024 and now manages Saudi club Al-Hilal.

Conte coached Italy at the 2016 European Championship and is currently at Napoli.

Allegri is coach at AC Milan.

Italy will play two friendly matches in June but is unlikely to have a new coach by then, given that the election for a new FIGC president won't take place until June 22.

___

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

Magyar, once an Orbán ally, poses the most serious threat to the nationalist prime minister's hold on power since he took office in 2010.

In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, Magyar said the European Union's longest-serving leader has led the country on a “180-degree turn” in recent years, endangering its Western orientation while cozying up to Moscow.

Yet despite that drift, “Hungarians still see that Hungary’s peace and development are guaranteed by membership of the European Union and NATO,” Magyar said. “I think this really will be a referendum on our country's place in the world.”

Magyar spoke to the AP on Thursday following an election rally by his center-right Tisza party in Kiskunhalas, a small city of around 25,000 on Hungary's southern great plain. It was one of hundreds of rallies he's held in settlements big and small across the country, a campaign blitz that has him visiting up to six towns a day ahead of the April 12 election.

Orbán has gained a reputation as an inveterate disruptor within the EU for his frequent vetoes of important decisions. He has campaigned by sounding the alarm on a myriad of external dangers he says are threatening Hungarians — the war in Ukraine, a cabal of EU bureaucrats and financial elites aligned against Hungary, and an immigration crisis ever on the horizon.

Magyar, who is leading in most polls, has focused on issues that affect voters' everyday lives, like Hungary’s faltering state health care and public transportation sectors and what he describes as rampant government corruption.

At each of his rallies, he charges Orbán and his nationalist-populist Fidesz party with making Hungary the “poorest and most corrupt” country in the EU — and depicts a “peaceful, humane and functioning” country that is within reach.

Yet alongside that domestic message, Magyar has increasingly portrayed Orbán’s brinksmanship with the EU, and his drift toward Russia, as matters of critical importance for the country’s future.

“I think that Tisza will have an overwhelming electoral victory, because even Fidesz voters do not want our country to be a Russian puppet state, a colony, an assembly plant, instead of belonging to Europe,” he said.

‘The Tisza is flooding’

Magyar and his party's meteoric rise caught many Hungarians by surprise. For nearly a decade and a half, a broad slate of fractured opposition parties had tried and failed to mount a serious threat to Orbán's hold on power.

While opposition politicians often slammed Orbán during debates in parliament, they rarely made efforts to win over his base of support in the rural countryside. Frustrated after a string of bitter losses, many opposition voters descended into political apathy.

Magyar, a 45-year-old lawyer and former Fidesz insider, was previously married to an Orbán ally who served as Hungary’s justice minister. After working for several years as a diplomat in Brussels, he returned to Hungary and took positions in state institutions, gaining familiarity with the workings of Orbán's system.

But then, in the wake of a political scandal in 2024 involving a presidential pardon to an accomplice in a child sexual abuse case, Magyar publicly broke with Orbán's party, accusing it of overseeing entrenched corruption and capturing Hungary's institutions.

He quickly founded the center-right Tisza party — named for Hungary's second-largest river — which, only four months after Magyar's break into electoral politics, won 30% of the vote in European Parliament elections.

As Tisza's popularity grew, a chant heard at its rallies became a motto for its rise: “The Tisza is flooding.”

While Magyar has cast his task in the election as dismantling Orbán's autocratic system, he has promised to keep some of the prime minister's policies he views as positive, such as a fence along the southern border to keep out migrants, and a popular utility reduction program.

Still, his party — a member of the European Parliament's largest, center-right group — diverges from the constellation of far-right political movements in Europe and beyond that view Orbán as a shining example of nationalist populism in action.

In a sign of U.S. President Donald Trump and his MAGA movement's admiration for Orbán, Vice President JD Vance is set to visit Budapest on Tuesday in support of his reelection.

Constructive, but critical

Many EU leaders are watching Hungary's election in the hopes that Orbán will be defeated.

His frequent vetoes — which most recently included blocking a major, 90-bill euro ($104-billion) EU loan for Ukraine — have often been to please his euroskeptic base, Magyar said, “vetoing just to veto so he can say at home that he is vetoing.”

The prime minister's conduct has led to renewed calls within the EU to reform the bloc’s foundational treaties by reducing the number of decisions that require unanimity — a way to buttress against the paralysis that can be caused by intransigent member states.

Magyar said that under a Tisza government, European leaders can expect a “constructive position,” but one that is “critical and willing to debate. We want to be there at the table.”

Despite Orbán's exploitation of the EU's unanimity rules, the ability to veto important decisions is a “valid option,” he continued, adding: “I think the European leaders have no problem with this, they have a problem with the unnecessary troublemaker role.”

“The task of a Hungarian prime minister at any given time is to represent Hungarian interests, and if necessary, to represent them forcefully,” he said. “Whatever it costs.”

Russian energy

Orbán has confounded, and even angered, nearly every other EU leader with his conciliatory approach to Russia and closeness to President Vladimir Putin. Some EU officials, and many of his opponents at home, have accused him of forsaking his commitments to the bloc on Moscow’s behalf.

As nearly every EU country cut off supplies of Russian fossil fuels following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Hungary, along with Slovakia, maintained and even increased supplies — drawing ire from many countries who accused them of helping finance the war.

While Magyar has condemned Hungary's drift toward Moscow, as well as reports that Russian secret services are meddling in the election to tip it in Orbán's favor, he said his future government will pursue a “pragmatic” approach toward Russia.

“Pragmatism means that we have no say in Russia’s internal affairs, and they don’t have any say in our affairs,” he said. “We are both sovereign countries, and we respect each other, but we don’t have to like each other.”

Magyar has criticized Orbán's government for failing to diversify its energy mix, and advocated for reaching new agreements and constructing new infrastructure to bring oil and gas from other sources into landlocked Hungary.

Still, he said, “this does not mean that we must stop using Russian oil tomorrow. It means that the European Union’s resources must be used well.”

But another unofficial face of the male-led church has emerged in American pop culture: digitally savvy, female influencers, often seen sporting athleisure, a giant soda in hand — and varying degrees of adherence to church teachings.

These influencers have found an enthusiastic audience across the country, curious about their faith and families. Some explain the tenets of what's widely known as the Mormon church, but others bring attention to the rules they often break — drinking alcohol, having premarital sex and in one high-profile instance, a “soft-swinging” scandal that birthed the hugely popular Hulu reality series, “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.”

ABC sought to capitalize on that interest by casting “Mormon Wives” star Taylor Frankie Paul in “The Bachelorette,” but recently had to scuttle the already filmed season after a video of a domestic violence incident surfaced.

These viral moments and “Mormon Wives” project a version of the faith that appears more progressive and lenient than church leadership and other Latter-day Saint influencers might like. “The internet really challenged the church’s ability to maintain its own narratives about itself,” said Nancy Ross, an associate professor at Utah Tech University who studies Mormon feminism.

Church says misrepresentation can have ‘real-life consequences’

The church has worked to distance itself from “Mormon Wives,” issuing a statement ahead of the first season’s premiere in 2024 without naming the show specifically. It said that some media portrayals of Latter-day Saint women resort to “stereotypes or gross misrepresentations that are in poor taste and have real-life consequences for people of faith.”

Camille N. Johnson, the president of the church’s Relief Society organization for women, said in an emailed statement that it’s important to seek out trusted sources of information about the church and its members in light of recent media attention.

“Millions of Latter-day Saint women around the world strive to live faith-filled lives grounded in a love for God and all of His children,” she said.

It would be impossible for the “Mormon Wives” cast to fully represent millions of women in the church. But they are not the only Latter-day Saint influencers online — nor are they the only ones with large followings.

Many are women in their early twenties who are married with young children. They post about young motherhood and experiences like buying a house before they turn 25. Lauren Yarro, a Latter-day Saint content creator and podcast host, said she can see this being a foreign image to some.

“Our culture is fascinating to an outsider, and I can understand why it would pull people in,” she said. “That Mormon timeline is intriguing to the rest of the world. I think most people innately have a desire for a happy marriage and a happy family life and we tend to create those in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

Cultural fascination with the church endures

The beliefs and practices of church members have often been the subject of intense interest and scrutiny because of how they differ from other religions. Some of these include the belief that church leadership can receive revelations from God, or the practice of wearing garments under clothing that have deep religious significance.

Latter-day Saint influencers are not a new phenomenon, but they have found staying power by driving pop culture discourse and documenting their lifestyles. Many of them use content creation as a way to be stay-at-home parents while also generating income for their families. Several prominent creators live in Utah, the home of the church’s administrative and cultural hub, but there is a broad spectrum in terms of how much they bring their faith into their content.

While “Mormon Wives” and its controversial star, Paul, have been the recent high-profile drivers of public interest, the cast talks about the church only sparingly. Rosemary Avance, an assistant professor at Oklahoma State University whose research includes religious identity and digital media, said “there’s so little reference” to the cast's faith once people are hooked on the show from its title. Many cast members have left the church or are no longer active in it.

“It was clearly a marketing strategy on behalf of the people putting these shows together. They think that’ll draw people in, and it does,” she said. “It’s not like you have these women sitting down talking about their secret temple practices that they’re not supposed to speak about, or challenging the authority of the church in some way. They’re just not talking about it.”

Avance sees parallels between now and about 15 years ago, when Republican Mitt Romney was running for president and “The Book of Mormon” debuted on Broadway. At the time, people wanted to know “what’s going on behind the scenes in Mormonism,” she said.

“People think they know a lot about it (Mormonism), and they’ve heard a lot about it because there’s prominent stories and prominent people who are well-known and those narratives are circulated, but it’s almost always second-, third-hand,” she said. “A lot of people don’t know any Mormons and may never meet a Mormon, or if they have, they don’t know it, and so it’s what you’ve heard and the preconceptions you think you have about Mormonism.”

‘Secret Lives’ draws mixed reaction from influencers

Creators like Yarro, who speak about their faith openly online and closely follow the church's teachings, said “Mormon Wives” does not feel representative of their experiences in the church or their lives in Utah. The Latter-day Saint content creators who spoke with The Associated Press emphasized they don't place fault on the individual cast members, but rather the production of the show and the way it Hollywoodizes their faith. Representatives for Hulu did not respond to a request for comment.

“The only thing I don’t like about what they do is sometimes they will play on things, twist things, use what is sacred to us as members of the church, and they’ll put it out and it feels like mockery to us,” said Shayla Egan, another Latter-day Saint content creator.

Some of the more devout members use their online platforms to respond to and course-correct more salacious social media content or “Mormon Wives” storylines they believe don't align with their understanding of church teachings or experiences.

Mimi Bascom, a Latter-day Saint content creator who says the mission behind her social media presence is to “show that members of the church are real people,” often makes videos responding to “Mormon Wives” clips. She finds the show to be a “net positive for our church” since it gives everyday members the opportunity to “share what we actually believe and get that more out there into the world,” she said.

Bascom, for one, had always prepared to serve on a mission but no longer could after getting married. Making content about the church has felt like a way she's “able to still live that out,” she said.

“We want to be missionaries and spread the good word of the Gospel,” she continued, “and so this is just another way we can do it.”

___

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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“The consultation process is being steadily implemented and advanced,” said China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning. Xi Jinping's government is mediating between Islamabad and Kabul, whose representatives resumed the talks on Wednesday in the western Chinese city of Urumqi.

“The three parties have also reached consensus and arrangements on a specific operational mode, including media coverage,” she added, without giving more details.

“Since the recent escalation of the Pakistan–Afghanistan conflict, China has been mediating and promoting talks in its own way, maintaining close communication with both sides through multiple channels and at various levels, and creating conditions and providing platforms for dialogue", Mao said.

She added that both countries “attach importance to and welcome China’s mediation efforts, and are willing to sit down again for talks, which is a positive development.”

Pakistan has witnessed a surge in attacks in recent years, many claimed by the Pakistani Taliban.

Even as the talks restarted, the police reported that a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a police station in the Bannu district of northwestern Pakistan late Thursday, killing at least five people and wounding several others.

Pakistan often accuses Afghanistan of providing a safe haven to militants who carry out attacks inside Pakistan, especially the Pakistani Taliban, or TTP.

The group is separate from but allied with the Afghan Taliban, which took over Afghanistan in 2021 following the chaotic withdrawal of U.S.-led troops. Kabul denies that it supports the group.

The fighting between the two sides picked up in February, when Afghanistan’s Taliban government said Pakistan launched strikes in Kabul and several other areas, causing mostly civilian casualties. Pakistan has said it targeted hideouts of TTP, but also that it is in “open war” with Afghanistan.

The couple has a child with nonverbal autism and epilepsy who requires up to three hospital visits a week. And Creighton's critical access hospital has been a lifeline for Jane: not only is she employed there, but three years ago, doctors saved her life when she contracted bacterial pneumonia. If she had waited another day for care, doctors said, her organs would have begun to shut down.

“And if we had had to drive the hour to the Yankton (South Dakota) hospital," Rick Saint John said, his voice breaking with emotion, "it could have cost her her life.”

So the Saint Johns were shocked to hear that Avera Creighton Hospital faces financial peril. A $50 billion government fund meant to transform rural health care will do little to help. It's a problem that millions of Americans in rural areas are awakening to as they realize there's no windfall coming for the vulnerable hospitals near their homes.

Hundreds of rural hospitals across the country are facing closures after years of funding problems. The issue was compounded last summer by the Trump administration's massive cuts to Medicaid, the government's safety net for low-income Americans, whose reimbursements have long helped hospitals meet their bottom lines.

Outcry over the funding cuts prompted Republican lawmakers to create $50 billion in new rural health grants, but critics say that funding is intended for innovative health care delivery solutions — not propping up hospitals buckling under current pressures.

“It won’t pay to keep the lights on. And it won’t turn the lights back on once they’ve been turned off,” said Dr. Ben Young, an infectious disease specialist and policy expert with public health advocacy group Wellness Equity Alliance.

Rural Americans’ health care worries reflect broader national concerns about access and rising prices of care as the cost of living spikes — anxieties that could prove pivotal in this year’s midterm elections.

Rural health fund billed as a cure falls short

The $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program included in President Donald Trump's tax-and-spending law last year was billed by Republicans as a way to help hospitals in rural areas. Last summer, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. touted it as the “biggest infusion in history” for rural hospitals and pledged it will “restore and revitalize these communities.”

Hospitals and health industry experts have warned that while the fund — $10 billion per year allocated across all states for five years — offers some support to struggling rural hospitals, it won’t save them. One reason is that the sum doesn't come close to offsetting the $137 billion that rural hospitals expect to lose over the next decade, according to health research nonprofit KFF. Millions of people are expected to lose Medicaid benefits as a result of new Medicaid work requirements going into effect in 2027 — changes the Trump administration has maintained will crack down on fraudsters rather than cut off eligible enrollees.

Administrators say the new $50 billion fund is not meant to shore up ailing rural hospitals or maintain the status quo, but to transform rural health care through tech, workforce and other innovations. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz in a December video said it “gives states the tools to design solutions that last, not Band-Aids that fail.”

The White House echoed that Wednesday, saying the fund is intended to fund “big ideas” to improve rural health care access long-term.

“Decades of mismanagement by career politicians in Washington have left rural communities with limited care options," White House spokesman Kush Desai said.

State applications show a wide range of proposals. Some pitches sought to improve emergency medical services and modernize rural facilities, while others looked to make school lunches healthier, expand physical fitness programs, beef up telehealth and expand AI-driven technologies to help monitor patients.

Nebraska will spend much of its grant on innovation

Avera Creighton Hospital CEO Theresa Guenther argues her hospital is not in danger of closing. but conceded that Medicaid cuts will be painful — a sentiment shared by most rural hospitals, she said.

“Medicaid cuts will have an impact to us, and we — as well as many others — will have to figure out what that looks like moving forward,” she said. Her hospital hopes to get a piece of the $50 billion fund to help manage patients' chronic diseases — like diabetes — and to help cover workforce costs.

Nebraska, which received $218 million for the rural health grants' first installment, plans to spend some $90 million on healthier food options at schools, recruiting more health care workers and mobile sensors to remotely monitor chronically ill patients in rural areas, among other things. But for rural critical access hospitals at risk of closing, it offers $10 million to “right size” them by getting rid of inpatient care, where bed occupancy is typically low.

Republican state Sen. Barry DeKay said hospitals like Creighton's are vital, despite it's low occupancy rate. The hospital is in his district; even his mother received life-extending care there following a hip replacement. He's worried that the Medicaid cuts could hurt all the state's rural hospitals.

“I'll try to be working as hard as I can to get as much money to rural hospitals — whether it's in my district or any other rural district in the state,” he said.

Rick Saint John acknowledged he knows little about how Nebraska will use the federal funds, but he thinks it should go to helping hospitals like Creighton’s remain intact.

“The hospital is very important to this community, and for more than just medical care,” he said, citing job losses if the hospital loses services or closes.

Hospital groups push back on fund

The fund has seen pushback from hospital groups over an issue that's shaping up as important for 2026 voters.

The Colorado Hospital Association sent a letter in December to state lawmakers accusing them of ignoring input from rural hospitals during the application process.

The Nebraska Hospital Association, which endorsed Republican U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer’s 2024 reelection bid based on her advocacy for rural health care, has criticized both the cuts and the $50 billion fund. Fischer voted last summer for the Medicaid cuts.

That and other efforts by the state to limit Medicaid spending sends a message “that access to health care is not a priority," the group said.

Some Republican state lawmakers across the country have expressed unease with parts of the fund and have sought ways to use it to help struggling rural hospitals.

States hard-pressed to help

Under pressure, some rural states are making their own moves to help.

Wyoming enacted a law allowing rural hospitals to file Chapter 9 bankruptcy, normally reserved for financially stressed cities to reorganize debts and repay creditors while protecting them from legal action.

In North Dakota, during a special session to allocate the state’s federal rural health funds, the Republican-led Legislature passed an unrelated bill that aims to rescue a rural hospital with a low-interest loan of up to $5 million administered through the state-owned bank.

It's hoped the plan will keep the hospital open in a vast rural area where it employs 5% of the surrounding county's residents, hospital board member Matt Hager said.

Young, the expert with Wellness Equity Alliance, sees dark days ahead for rural hospitals.

“I am not optimistic in the short term,” he said. “Because these hospitals are facing immediate financial shortfalls, are barely financially operating currently, and they need operating support now.”

___

Swenson reported from New York. Associated Press writer Jack Dura contributed to this report from Bismarck, North Dakota.

Job Listing: Associate Producer

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Chris Schenk

Executive Producer

WPLG/TV

3401 W. Hallandale Beach Blvd.

Pembroke Park, FL 33023

cschenk@wplg.com

No phone calls please.

Job Listing: Associate Producer

Responsibilities:

Oversee the complete preparation of newscast including writing stories and coordinating with: reporters, executive producers, assignment desk staff and production department. The producer will also coordinate the program in the control room. Must be able to use knowledge of current events to participate in editorial process and write scripts.

Qualifications:

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• Ability to work in a fast-paced high-energy environment with daily deadlines and changing priorities
• 3-5 years’ experience as a writer or producer in a commercial news operation required
• College degree in journalism or broadcasting preferred
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***All of the essential functions of this position are not necessarily described in this posting.

***We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and will consider all qualified candidates regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, age, gender, marital status, disability, or political affiliation. Any offer of employment is conditioned on successful completion of a pre-employment drug screen, investigative background check, employment/education verifications and reference checks. A valid driver’s license is required.

Please follow link below to apply for Associate Producer Position:

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Executive Producer

WPLG/TV

3401 W. Hallandale Beach Blvd.

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cschenk@wplg.com

No phone calls please.

A year and a half after winning the White House by promising to lower costs and end wars, Donald Trump is a wartime president overseeing surging energy costs and an escalating overseas conflict.

The war in Iran was largely unpopular even before an American fighter jet was shot down in Iran, a development that dominated headlines on Friday and contradicted Trump’s claim that Tehran's military capabilities have been all but destroyed. One crew member has been rescued.

Earlier in the week, the Republican president offered little clarity to a nation eager for answers during a prime-time address from the White House, his first since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran more than a month ago, simultaneously suggesting that the war was ending and expanding.

“Thanks to the progress we’ve made, I can say tonight that we are on track to complete all of America’s military objectives shortly, very shortly,” Trump said. “We’re going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks.”

Trump's comments come roughly six months before voters across the nation begin to cast ballots in elections that will decide control of Congress and key governorships for Trump’s final two years in office. For now, Republicans, who control all branches of government in Washington, are bracing for a painful political backlash.

“You’re looking at an ugly November,” warned veteran Republican pollster Neil Newhouse. “At a point in time when we need every break possible to hold the House and Senate, our edge is being chipped away.”

Republicans confront evolving political landscape

It’s hard to overstate how dramatically the political landscape has shifted.

At this time last year, many Republican leaders believed there was a path to preserve their narrow House majority and easily hold the Senate. Now they privately concede that the House is all but lost and Democrats have a realistic shot at taking the Senate.

Republicans are also struggling to coalesce around a clear midterm message on Iran.

The Republican National Committee has largely avoided the war in talking points issued to surrogates over the last month. The leaders of the party's campaign committees responsible for the House and Senate declined interview requests. Many vulnerable Republican candidates sidestep the issue, unwilling to defend or challenge Trump publicly.

The president remains deeply popular with Republican voters, and he has vocal supporters like Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

“That was the best speech I could’ve hoped for,” he wrote on social media after Trump's address on Wednesday evening. Graham said Trump “gave the American people a clear and coherent pathway forward.”

Trump made little effort to sell the conflict to Americans before the initial attack. Five weeks later, at least 13 U.S. service members have been killed and hundreds more injured. Thousands more troops have converged on the region, and the Pentagon requested $200 billion in new funding.

The Strait of Hormuz, a key passage for a fifth of the world’s oil, remains closed. The average price for a gallon of gasoline in the U.S. was $4.08 on Thursday, according to AAA, almost a full dollar higher than on President Joe Biden's last day in office.

On Wednesday, Trump insisted that gas prices would fall quickly once the war concluded but offered no solution for reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Instead, he invited skeptical U.S. allies to do it themselves.

He insisted that the war would be worth it.

“This is a true investment in your grandchildren and your grandchildren’s future,” Trump said. “When it’s all over, the United States will be safer, stronger, more prosperous and greater than it has ever been before.”

Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican who was once among Trump's most vocal allies in Congress, lashed out against his Iran policy.

“I wanted so much for President Trump to put America First. That’s what I believed he would do. All I heard from his speech tonight was WAR WAR WAR,” she wrote on social media. “Nothing to lower the cost of living for Americans.”

Time is not on Trump's side

About 6 in 10 U.S. adults say the U.S. military action in Iran has “gone too far,” according to AP-NORC polling from March. Roughly a third approve of how he’s handling Iran overall.

The possibility of sending U.S. forces into Iran also appears politically unpalatable.

About 6 in 10 adults are “strongly” or “somewhat” opposed to deploying U.S. troops on the ground to fight Iran. That includes about half of Republicans. Only about 1 in 10 favor deploying troops.

At the same time, Trump’s approval ratings have remained consistently weak. About 4 in 10 Americans approve of how he’s handling the presidency, roughly in line with how it’s been throughout his second term.

Republican strategist Ari Fleischer, a senior aide in former President George W. Bush’s administration, acknowledged that Trump has not received the polling bump in this war that Bush got after invading Iraq.

Bush, of course, worked to build public backing for the Iraq War before going in. Immediately after the 2003 invasion, Bush's popularity soared, as did the stock market.

Public sentiment and the economy soured only after the conflict stretched on. It ultimately spanned more than eight years, spawning a generation of anti-war Republicans — and sowing the seeds of Trump's “America First” foreign policy.

“My hope is that the Trump experience is the exact opposite of the Bush experience,” Fleischer said.

He said Trump must win the war decisively and quickly to avoid a further backlash, saying there could be a “very significant political upside if things end well, oil comes down and markets rally.”

Fleischer added that Trump's actions will matter much more than his words.

“Ultimately, he is not going to get judged on his persuasion or his explanations or his assertions, he’s going to get judged on results,” he said.

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Associated Press writer Linley Sanders in Washington contributed to this report.

Ukrainian officials claim the Kremlin is changing its tactics to increase civilian suffering, shifting to daytime barrages and preparing to target more key infrastructure.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signaled Kyiv's openness to a potential Easter truce. The holiday is celebrated on April 12 in Ukraine and Russia.

Zelenskyy also said that Ukraine is preparing for a shift in Russian aerial tactics, with intelligence indicating that future attacks will move beyond energy infrastructure.

Russia's Defense Ministry said 192 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight across Russia and occupied Crimea.

‘I have no words’

“The Kyiv region is once again under a massive Russian missile and drone attack,” said Mykola Kalashnyk, head of the regional military administration, in a Telegram post on Friday.

Kalashnyk said one person died and at least eight others were wounded in strikes on three of Kyiv’s satellite towns — Bucha, Fastiv and Obukhiv. Earlier in the week, residents of Bucha marked the fourth anniversary of atrocities committed in the town by Russia's invading forces.

Obukhiv resident Lesia Podoriako, 37, told The Associated Press she was at work with her child when she learned her building had been struck.

“I found out about it through Telegram channels. Then all my friends and acquaintances started calling me, telling me that our building was attacked. I have no words. The main thing is that everyone is alive and healthy,” she said.

Another person was killed in Ukraine's northern Sumy region after a Russian guided aerial bomb struck an apartment block, local Gov. Oleh Hryhorov reported. Authorities in the Kherson, Zhytomyr, Kharkiv and Donetsk regions also reported casualties from Friday's attacks.

Ukrainian officials highlighted what they said were increased daytime attacks by Russia, which they said could lead to more civilian deaths. For months, Moscow pummeled Ukraine with nighttime missile and drone strikes that could involve hundreds of drones at a time.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, Andrii Sybiha, said in a post on X that “almost half a thousand drones and cruise missiles” attacked Ukraine overnight.

“This is how Moscow responds to Ukraine’s Easter ceasefire proposals — with brutal attacks,” Sybiha said.

Kyiv floats an Easter ceasefire

Zelenskyy on Thursday signaled Kyiv's continued openness to a potential truce on Easter, which falls next week according to the Julian calendar followed by Orthodox churches in Ukraine and Russia.

Zelenskyy told reporters that the proposal had been communicated to Moscow through U.S. channels. He added that the Kremlin's response remains unclear.

Zelenskyy has previously offered a ceasefire for the Easter period — but Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said earlier this week that Moscow wants a lasting peace settlement, not a temporary truce.

President Vladimir Putin unilaterally declared a 30-hour ceasefire last Easter, but each side accused the other of breaking it.

A change in Russian tactics?

Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials said Russia was increasingly striking the country during the day, an apparent departure from months of nighttime barrages.

Andrii Kovalenko, head of the Center for Countering Disinformation within Ukraine's defense ministry, said that the daytime strikes aimed to “increase civilian casualties.”

“That is why the combined attack is carried out on a working day, using a large number of drones and missiles,” Kovalenko wrote on Friday in a Telegram post.

Zelenskyy told reporters on Thursday that Ukraine is preparing for Russian aerial attacks that could target water systems, logistics and other critical networks. After months of sustained strikes on power facilities, Kyiv now expects increased pressure elsewhere.

“According to intelligence documents we have received, the Russians will target logistics – railways and other infrastructure. They will also target the water supply,” Zelenskyy said at a press briefing.

Around midday on Friday, Russian forces dropped five aerial bombs on the city of Kramatorsk, in eastern Ukraine. At least two people were killed and three were injured, according to a Telegram update by Vadym Filashkin, who heads the regional military administration.

Elsewhere in Ukraine on Friday, a Russian drone strike damaged a bus in the southern city of Kherson, leaving the driver seriously wounded and at least eight passengers hurt, according to regional officials.

Separately, authorities reported sustained attacks on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, beginning on Thursday and continuing into early Friday. Drone strikes near the city center caused several injuries. Two people later died in hospital, local Gov. Oleh Syniehubov wrote in separate Telegram updates.

Bohdan Hladykh, head of Kharkiv’s Department of Emergency Situations, said Russia struck the city at least 20 times during the day on Thursday with explosive drones.

Zelenskyy says battlefield situation has stabilized

Meanwhile, Zelenskyy told reporters that the battlefield situation has stabilized, with recent intelligence assessments pointing to the most favorable conditions for Kyiv in months. While fighting remains intense across eastern sectors, Ukrainian forces have disrupted Russian offensives in recent weeks and regained limited ground.

“On Wednesday I received a report from our intelligence and an analysis from British intelligence. I received MI6’s assessment of the situation at the front: right now, it is the best situation for Ukraine in the past 10 months,” the Ukrainian leader said at a press briefing Thursday.

Zelenskyy added that Ukraine has invited U.S. negotiators to visit Kyiv, as part of ongoing discussions on security guarantees and a broader framework for ending the war. Recent talks have involved senior American officials as well as NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, with Ukraine seeking clearer commitments on long-term defense support and responses to any future Russian aggression.

Ukrainian drones target Russia

Two people were hospitalized on Friday following a Ukrainian drone strike on Russia's Leningrad region, over 1,100 kilometers (684 miles) from the border, said regional Gov. Alexander Drozdenko reported, who added that the drones also set fire to an “unoccupied” building within the Morozov industrial zone.

The settlement of Morozov houses a state-owned plant that makes explosives and components for ammunition, including solid fuel used in Topol-M missile systems. The plant was put under U.S., EU and other Western sanctions following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Twelve people, including at least three Russian soldiers, were injured in a Ukrainian drone strike late Thursday on Russia’s Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, local Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov reported.

Four drones were downed during the night on the approach to Moscow, mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported Friday. He did not reference any casualties or damage.

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Associated Press journalists Vasilisa Stepanenko in Obukhiv and Derek Gatopoulos in Kyiv contributed.

The occasion was the third in a series of “rental rip-off hearings,” a new forum launched by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani for disgruntled renters to air their complaints directly to housing officials — and in some cases, the mayor himself.

As she waited in line, Gulhayo Yuldosheva said she worried that noxious mold in her apartment had worsened her child’s asthma. Nearby, her downstairs neighbor, Marina Quiroz, was showing a video of rats scurrying through her kitchen to a representative of the city’s tenant protection office.

Ann Maitin, a longtime resident of the same building, had just met with the mayor.

“He let me go over my three minutes,” she said, holding up a spiral notebook’s worth of grievances.

Mamdani, a democratic socialist swept into office on a promise of zealous tenant advocacy, framed the event as a struggle session for renters, assuring the standing room only crowd that their stories would guide the city's efforts “to actually hold landlords accountable when they don’t follow the law."

To the residents of 705 Gerard Avenue, this raised a practical problem: No one seemed to know who actually owned their building.

“It feels like such a basic question,” said Maitin, a retired Verizon technician who recently organized the building’s tenant association. “You’d think we’d have the right to that information.”

Their situation is hardly unique. As corporate owners and investor groups have grown their share of the rental market in New York City, they are increasingly shielding their identities behind limited liability companies, or LLCs.

The practice, which has also been spreading nationally, is legal. But experts warn it could complicate Mamdani’s promised crackdown, making it harder for the city and tenants to track the chronically negligent owners whose buildings the mayor has vowed to target and even seize.

“There are these big slumlords that everyone knows are doing predatory investment, but pinning them down is going to be difficult, for the LLC reason,” said Oksana Mironova, a housing policy analyst at the Community Service Society. “That’s a problem for the administration, and it’s even worse for tenants.”

‘They treat us the same as the rats’

For Yuldosheva and her neighbors, finding their landlord is one of many problems afflicting their six-story building near Yankee Stadium.

Heat and hot water outages are regular enough that some tenants keep a thermometer on their fridge and the city’s complaint hotline on speed dial. Common areas are often filthy, and increasingly populated by drug users. Getting help with an urgent maintenance issue “feels like waiting for Christmas in July,” said Maitin.

During a monthslong elevator outage, a tenant who uses a wheelchair, Tommy Rodriguez, said he was forced to “slide down the steps, like a kid.” Calls to the building management about a repair timeline went unanswered, he said.

Growing up in the building in the 1980s, Rodriguez recalled the previous landlord as a friendly and responsive neighborhood presence.

“This felt like a home before,” Rodriguez said. “Now they treat us the same as the rats.”

A large rodent had recently chewed a hole through his couch cushion. He handled the extermination himself, with a two-by-four.

A distressing breakthrough

Recently, tenants received a clue about their landlord, following the partial collapse of another Bronx building. The man identified in news stories as the owner of that building, David Kleiner, shared a Brooklyn office with their building manager, Binyomin Herzl.

A handful of tenants visited each of the building’s 72 units, logging an array of decrepit conditions and unusual alterations.

“We didn’t want to become the next news story,” said Yuldosheva, pointing to a crack in the wall of a bedroom shared by her three children — a result, she feared, of the subway that rumbles just below her windows.

Lawsuits show that Herzl has been ordered to pay more than $100,000 for violations across at least six Bronx buildings, several of which were found by a judge to pose an imminent hazard.

Reached by phone, Herzl said he didn't own any of those properties, but simply acted as a middleman between tenants and the true owners, whom he declined to list. “There’s no one landlord,” he said. “It’s a group of investors.”

Kleiner, who was previously featured on the city’s “worst landlord” list, confirmed his partial ownership of 705 Gerard in a brief phone call, but declined further comment.

Herzl, meanwhile, attributed the tenants’ complaints to “normal wear and tear” of a nearly century old building. He said Mamdani should focus on improving the city’s public housing, rather than going after private landlords.

“Our buildings look like five star hotels against his,” he added.

From fines to seizures

When landlords refuse to address a serious violation, like heat or hot water outages, the city can step in and order repairs, then bill the owner directly.

In the last three years, inspectors have ordered emergency repairs at 38 buildings that list either Herzl or Kleiner as an owner, according to records provided by the city’s housing department. The men have been billed $446,521 for those repairs.

Mamdani has proposed using such fines as a vehicle to bring distressed rental properties under city stewardship, by aggressively pursuing liens on delinquent landlords and buying up their portfolios through foreclosure auctions.

Just as the city can shut down unsanitary restaurants, Mamdani has said, landlords that “repeatedly put New Yorkers at risk will not be allowed to operate in New York City — with no exceptions."

In reality, the process is resource-intensive and legally fraught. It is made more complex by the nest of LLCs often used by landlords to obfuscate the full scope of their portfolios, according to Cea Weaver, director of the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants.

“It’d be great to have a better sense of who owns the buildings that we are regulating and overseeing,” she said.

State legislation that would have made it easier to identify LLC owners was recently vetoed by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul amid pressure from landlords.

New Yorkers vs. Bad Landlords

Kenny Burgos, the CEO of the New York Apartment Association, a landlord lobbying group, said Mamdani’s tenant proposals — including freezing the rent for regulated tenants — would force landlords to cut back on maintenance and services.

“That’s going to take away from the elevator budget, the boiler budget, the heating budget,” he said. “It’s a question of math: These buildings are crumbling because of policy, not because of bad landlords.”

He characterized the rental rip-off hearings as “show trials” that took a “tribal approach” to the city’s affordable housing crisis.

Despite the combative branding — “New Yorkers vs. Bad Landlords,” blares one promotion — the Bronx event mostly resembled a standard constituent service night: City officials fielded questions about local laws, helped residents with paperwork and connected them to service providers.

Maitin left feeling “glad to be heard by someone who can actually do something about the problem,” but felt it was too early to tell “if it’s all talk."

The next morning, she was surprised to find the building’s superintendent applying a fresh coat of paint to a staircase. Outside, workers were removing scaffolding that had been in front of the building for years.

“I think they caught wind of the rental rip-off,” Maitin said. “They’re scared.”

Taiwan’s first Olympic boxing champion beat Thananya Somnuek of Thailand 5-0 in the first round in the 60-kilogram lightweight division earlier this week.

She backed that up Friday with another 5-0 win over Ayaka Taguchi of Japan, the top-seeded woman in the division. Lin won every round on all five judges’ scorecards, securing a perfect score of 10 in each round.

The 30-year-old Lin had not competed internationally since winning the women’s 57-kg featherweight title at the Paris Olympics in August 2024.

World Boxing took over as the sport’s Olympic-level governing body last year, and it implemented a sex eligibility policy in August requiring all fighters to take a one-time genetic test designed to identify the presence of a Y chromosome.

World Boxing didn't confirm Lin's eligibility until March 19.

It was not clear whether Lin will have to undergo further gene testing if she wants to compete again at the Olympics. The International Olympic Committee announced last week new rules banning transgender athletes and a mandatory gene test once in an athlete’s career.

Lin and Imane Khelif of Algeria won gold medals at Paris amid international scrutiny and misconceptions over both boxers’ sex. While both met the eligibility rules followed at the time by the IOC, which ran the Paris tournament, the two fighters’ success sparked a politically charged debate over those standards.

Lin is expected to fight in the Asian tournament semifinals on Monday.

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AP boxing: https://apnews.com/boxing

The lawmakers' failure to offer a solution after months of debate raises uncertainty about how Georgians will vote in November and leaves confusion that could end in the courts or a special legislative session.

“They’ve abdicated their responsibility,” Democratic state Rep. Saira Draper said of inaction by Republicans who control the legislature.

Currently, voters make their choices on Dominion Voting machines, which then print ballots with a QR code that scanners read to tally votes. Those machines have been repeatedly targeted by President Donald Trump following his 2020 election loss, and Trump’s Georgia supporters responded by enacting a law in 2024 that bans using barcodes to count votes.

But state law still requires counties to use the machines. No money has been allocated to reprogram them, and lawmakers failed to agree on a replacement.

“We’ll have an unresolvable statutory conflict come July 1,” said House Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Victor Anderson, a Cornelia Republican who backed a proposal to keep using the machines in 2026 that Senate Republicans declined to consider.

Republican House Speaker Jon Burns said he would meet with Gov. Brian Kemp and “take his temperature” on the possibility of a special session.

Kemp spokesperson Carter Chapman said he Republican governor will examine the situation.

“We’ll analyze all bills, as well as the consequence of those that did not pass,” Chapman said Friday.

House Republicans and Democrats backed Anderson's plan, which would have required that Georgia choose a voting process that didn't use QR codes by 2028. Election officials preferred that solution.

“The Senate has shown that they’re not responsible actors,” Draper said. She added that Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, a Trump-endorsed Republican running for governor, seemed more interested in keeping Trump's backing than “doing right by Georgia voters.”

A spokesperson for Jones didn't immediately respond to a request for comment early Friday.

Joseph Kirk, Bartow County election supervisor and president of the Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials, said he’ll look to the secretary of state for guidance and assumes a judge will rule to instruct election officials how to proceed.

“This is uncharted territory,” he said.

Robert Sinners, a spokesperson for Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who is also running for governor, said officials are “ready to follow the law and follow the Constitution.”

Burns told reporters that his chamber was seeking to minimize changes this year.

“You can’t change horses in the middle of the stream,” Burns said.

Anderson said without action, the state could be required to use hand-marked and hand-counted paper ballots in November.

Election officials say switching to a new system within just a few months, as advocated by some Republicans, would be nearly impossible.

“They made no way for this to happen except putting a deadline on it," Cherokee County elections director Anne Dover said of the switch away from barcodes. Dover said one problem under some plans is that a very large number of ballots would have to be printed.

Lawmakers seemed more concerned about scoring political points than making practical plans, Paulding County Election Supervisor Deidre Holden said.

“If anyone is resilient and can get the job done, it’s all of us election officials, but the legislators need to work with us, and they need to understand what we do before they go making laws that are basically unachievable for us,” Holden said.

Supporters of hand-marked paper ballots say voters are more likely to trust in an accurate count if they can see what gets read by the scanner.

Right-wing election activists lobbied lawmakers for an immediate switch to hand-marked paper ballots, but the House turned away from a Senate proposal to do so.

Anderson said he wasn’t sure if a special session could escape those political crosswinds, but said Georgia lawmakers must fix the problem.

“This is a legislative problem,” Anderson said. “It’s a legislative solution that has to happen.”

The move marks a nominal return to an elected government but is widely considered as an effort to keep the army in power after an election organized by the military that opponents and independent observers deemed neither free nor fair, and as civil war rages.

Transitioning to an elected government is also seen as a way to improve frosty relations with some Southeast Asian neighbors following the military takeover. China and Russia have supported the military administration, while Western powers imposed sanctions.

Min Aung Hlaing won an expected lopsided victory

Min Aung Hlaing was one of three nominees for the president’s post, but was virtually guaranteed the job as lawmakers from military-backed parties and appointed members from the army hold a commanding majority in parliament.

The vote was held in the newly renovated parliament building in the capital, Naypyitaw, which was damaged in last year’s earthquake.

Aung Lin Dwe, speaker of parliament’s combined upper and lower house, announced that Min Aung Hlaing won 429 out of the 584 votes.

The two runners-up become vice presidents. Nyo Saw, a former general, had served as an adviser to Min Aung Hlaing, and Nan Ni Ni Aye, an ethnic Karen politician from the pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party, will be the country’s first female vice president. All three are expected to be inaugurated next week.

Min Aung Hlaing, who holds the rank of senior general, earlier this week relinquished his post of commander-in-chief because the constitution prohibits the president from simultaneously holding the top military position. A close aide, Gen. Ye Win Oo, took over the powerful job.

Meanwhile, much of the country remains enmeshed in a bloody civil war.

Opposition group says struggle for real change continues

Nay Phone Latt, a spokesperson for the National Unity Government — Myanmar’s main opposition organization, which views itself as the country’s legitimate government — charged that Min Aung Hlaing is responsible for numerous war crimes, and his easy assumption of the presidency proved that the political change some countries had hoped for will not materialize.

“Myanmar people do not accept it. The revolution will continue with great momentum,” he told The Associated Press..

The 69-year-old Min Aung Hlaing had been the military chief since 2011. Under the military-imposed constitution, he held significant powers even before overthrowing Suu Kyi’s government.

Parliament members were elected in three phases in December and January. Major opposition parties, including Suu Kyi’s former ruling National League for Democracy, were either blocked from running or refused to compete under conditions they deemed unfair. Suu Kyi, 80, is serving a 27-year prison term on charges widely viewed as politically motivated.

Myanmar was under military rule from 1962 to 2016, when Suu Kyi’s party won a landslide election victory. It won an even greater mandate in the 2020 polls, but the army staged a takeover in 2021 before the new parliament could convene.

Peaceful protests against military rule were then put down with deadly force, pushing pro-democracy activists to turn to armed resistance and ally themselves with ethnic minority groups who have been battling for greater autonomy for decades.

Deadly repression birthed ongoing civil war

Security concerns meant voting in the recent election could be held in only 263 of the country’s 330 townships.

Nearly 8,000 activists and civilians have been killed since the 2021 army takeover, and some 22,872 political detainees are imprisoned, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, an independent group that tracks rights violations.

The military’s major reliance on airstrikes — 1,140 strikes in 2025 alone, according to the U.S.-based Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project — accounts for hundreds of civilian casualties.

“If Min Aung Hlaing thinks that an official civilian title will shield him from prosecution for the many grave violations of international law that he is accused of overseeing as head of the military, that is not how international justice works," Amnesty International Myanmar researcher Joe Freeman said in statement.

The International Criminal Court in The Hague in 2024 began an investigation into charges of crimes against humanity after the chief prosecutor applied for an arrest warrant for Min Aung Hlaing over the military’s brutal persecution of the Rohingya minority.

At long-awaited hearings at the International Court of Justice in January this year, Myanmar defended itself against accusations that it was responsible for genocide against the Rohingya. The West African country of Gambia first filed the case in 2019.

The transfer portal in part contributed to the four teams that reached the Final Four in 2025 returning again this year. That has only happened once before when Georgia, Stanford, Tennessee and UConn did it in 1995-96.

Things have changed in the last 30 years, especially recently.

There was a time schools would mainly get talented players from mid-major programs. Now more than ever Power Four schools are taking from each other. Nearly all the players who transferred to the Final Four teams came from power conferences.

“The portal and the revenue share, I think that was the death of the mid-majors, the death of high school players coming to play college basketball," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "It’s never been harder for a high school kid to have the same opportunities that an existing college player already has.

“When your choice is go get a high school senior or go get a college sophomore for your team, a lot of coaches are deciding that getting a college sophomore is way better.”

Lauren Betts arrived at UCLA from Stanford three years ago and is now one of the best players in the country. Ta’Niya Latson went to South Carolina this year after spending the first three years at Florida State, where she led the country in scoring. Kayleigh Heckel (USC) and Serah Williams (Wisconsin) joined UConn this year. Texas added Ashton Judd (Missouri) this season.

Of those schools, only USC reached the NCAA Tournament, but the Trojans didn’t get out of the second round. Though USC didn’t have JuJu Watkins, it seems like the rich schools are reloading with talent.

If the conversation doesn't start with name, image and likeness money, it will be high on the list. It's true that players enter the transfer portal for different reasons including playing time, mental health, issues or broken relationships with coaches. But lately, being able to earn more money through revenue sharing or NIL deals are driving that bus.

“That’s a big problem. The amount of money that people are offering kids, so the revenue sharing is 20.5 (million) and going up this year," Auriemma said. "The schools it’s 22, 23, 24 just for the basketball teams. It’s probably another 40 for the football teams. So yeah, salary caps, all that stuff would help.”

The transfer portal opens up Monday, the day after the women's champion is crowned. UCLA's Cori Close will be one Final Four coaches hitting the road trying to close new deals.

UCLA has been active in the transfer portal the last few years. Four of UCLA’s top six players transferred in, including Gianna Kneepkens (Utah) and Charlisse Leger-Walker (Washington State).

“I think really it depends on whether or not — it just happened to be the right fit, whether or not they’re Power Four or really good mid-major players,” Close said. “Across the country in this tournament, you have seen you can be a great contributor from either direction of that. We have been a really good transfer destination. We have been very intentional about how we’ve integrated that into our recruiting.”

Auriemma has added a few transfers the last couple of seasons, but they have been mostly complementary players. He never sees a time when he'll look for a go-to player in the portal to build a team.

“You can buy a team," said Auriemma, who has won a record 12 NCAA national titles, "but you can’t buy a championship,”

Though that hasn't stopped coaches from trying.

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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness

Redick said Doncic had an issue with the hamstring in the first half of the 139-97 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder and was tended to at the break.

“We checked him out, he got work done, he was cleared," Redick said.

Doncic returned to action briefly. On his final play of the game, he spun before trying to go up for a shot against Oklahoma City's Jalen Williams. There was no contact before he stopped, then lay down on the floor. He left the game with 7:39 remaining in the third quarter.

“Those things happen,” Redick said.

Doncic had scored at least 40 points in five of his previous seven games. He was held to 12 on 3-for-10 shooting against Oklahoma City's relentless defense.

The injury made a bad night worse. The Lakers trailed 90-58 when Doncic left the game for good.

“I mean, it’s something you never want to see as a teammate,” Lakers forward Jake LaRavia said. “So especially in a game like this, it was tough to see him go down. All the prayers for him hopefully, but yeah, you never want to see that.”

Lakers guard Austin Reaves also left briefly with a back injury.

“He was in a weird position, stretching for a basketball, loose ball," Redick said. "And he just felt something intercostal, somewhere in his back, in between the ribs. He was able to play through it ... we’ll see how he feels tomorrow.”

The Lakers will host a rematch with the Thunder on April 7.

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