Testifying before the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, which is investigating the spread of antisemitism in Australia ahead of the Dec. 14 attack at Bondi Beach, New South Wales Police Deputy Commissioner David Hudson described a firepower imbalance.

The police force has responded with a plan to establish an Armed Response Command, equipped with semiautomatic rifles, and by reviving a priority-resourced operation that focused on antisemitic crimes and retaliations against Muslim targets, Hudson said.

Rifles within the force have been largely restricted to two specialized paramilitary squads, he said.

Father and son Sajid and Naveed Akram allegedly opened fire with two shotguns and a hunting rifle on hundreds of people celebrating Hanukkah in a beachside park. Only four police officers were present. They were armed with Glock pistols, which are only accurate for a short distance.

“On Dec. 14, our police officers were placed at significant risk being in a gunfight armed with 9 mm Glocks against long arms,” Hudson told the inquiry.

Within five minutes of the Akrams allegedly opening fire, 11 police officers had reached the scene. Three of those officers were among the dozens wounded in the massacre. Police shot the father dead and apprehended the wounded son less than eight minutes after the first shot was fired, the inquiry heard Monday.

In response to the shooting, police also revived Operation Shelter, which had been established in response to escalating community tensions days after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel Hudson said.

Hudson had established Operation Shelter as a “high visibility” proactive police operation to ensure there was no escalation of street violence in Sydney. At its peak, 200 officers had been assigned daily to the operation, which had authority to bring in outside staff from other duties as required.

Operation Shelter existed “in name only” when the Bondi massacre occurred, Hudson said Wednesday, explaining that the program was quickly revived after the shooting and elevated to an “active policing resource” that will remain until the armed response squad is fully operational in the next 18 months to two years.

But Trump's tightening grip on his party could make it harder to win in the November midterms, when Republicans face a broader electorate that has soured on the president's second term and the economy.

The risk is compounded, Republican operatives say, by how cavalier the billionaire president has been in addressing Americans’ financial worries, which have been exacerbated by Trump's trade rollercoaster and his ongoing war against Iran.

Republican strategist David Urban, a Trump ally, acknowledged the president’s approach is making things harder for his party.

“It’s going to be a tough fall unless things dramatically change,” Urban said.

He warned that Trump cannot afford a haphazard exit from the war with Iran to resolve a conflict that has created a chokehold on global oil supplies and driven gas prices higher for Americans.

“I think the president wants to help,” he said, but “you do not want to give the Iranians a win just because of the midterms.”

Trump brushes off economic troubles

Not only are prices higher after Trump’s tariffs and his Iran war, but the president has repeatedly described affordability concerns as a “hoax.”

Trump mused that increases in gas prices — up more than 50% in the U.S. since Trump and Israel launched attacks on Iran — amount to “peanuts.” He said he does not consider Americans’ personal finances “even a little bit” when mulling options in Iran, insisting that preventing the country from obtaining nuclear weapons is his only priority.

All of that comes as Trump badgers Congress to spend $1 billion on his White House ballroom project and allocate $1.8 billion to pay restitution to people who believe they were prosecuted for political purposes — potentially including those who violently attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

It’s a cascade that Republicans in every battleground House district, Senate election or statewide contest will have to navigate in the fall.

“You keep the House and Senate by having a message, by dealing with the issues voters are clearly complaining about,” said Republican strategist Rick Tyler, a Trump critic. “The administration has utterly failed to do this.”

It has been more than two weeks since the Republican National Committee distributed talking points to surrogates that mention the economy, according to messaging documents reviewed by The Associated Press.

The only talking points sent out last week focused on defending Trump’s $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund.”

“Democrats and the fake-news media are deliberately ignoring the fact that this fund is not limited to Republicans or Trump supporters,” said the message on May 23.

Two weeks earlier, the RNC encouraged surrogates to praise the president and his party for “delivering lower costs.”

The messaging ignored the exploding cost of gas, but noted that the price of eggs, school supplies and butter was down significantly over last year.

“President Trump promised to lower prices, and he is doing just that,” the talking points said.

Democrats see opportunity in Trump’s struggles

Republicans began Trump’s second presidency with a 220-215 advantage in the House. They’ve boosted their chances to hold the majority by redrawing congressional maps in several Republican-run states. But Democrats are still confident they can flip enough seats to reclaim a majority.

Republicans have a more significant 53-47 advantage in the Senate. However, leaders of both parties agree that control of the chamber is in play. Some Republicans blame Trump for backing candidates like Paxton, who has faced years of scandals and could prove more vulnerable in a race against Democratic nominee James Talarico in the fall.

Viet Shelton, a spokesman for House Democrats’ campaign committee, said Trump’s redistricting push shows that he understands his party’s troubles.

“They’ve given up on trying to win over voters fair and square, so they’re resorting to rigging the midterms through illegal gerrymanders and voter suppression,” Shelton said.

Democratic advisers said Trump’s struggles have shifted the dynamics in multiple races. Their list of Republican-held House targets now includes many districts that Trump carried by double digits. In special elections and odd-year elections since Trump’s second inauguration, Democrats have consistently outperformed their 2024 results.

Voters can expect to see clips of Trump's comments on the economy featured in Democratic advertising this fall. However, party operatives said the broader strategy is to acknowledge the president's appeal as a populist but argue that he and his Republican loyalists have failed to deliver.

In U.S. House districts in Iowa, for example, that means emphasizing how tariffs have affected the farm economy and how the Iran war has increased the prices of diesel fuel and fertilizer. In the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, that means talking about how Trump’s immigration crackdown has roiled the local economy in Latino communities.

Republicans are frustrated behind closed doors

Republican strategists are worried by Trump’s lack of focus on the economy — and the lack of transparency from Trump’s team about how it plans to deploy its massive campaign accounts.

The pro-Trump super PAC known as MAGA Inc. held more than $356 million at the end of April. Yet many Republican strategists say they’ve received no clear indication of how, where and when Trump’s team plans to spend the money, according to several operatives who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.

They see one bright spot in James Blair, Trump's political general, leaving the White House to focus on the midterms.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the president’s strategy and confidence about the midterms.

Perhaps underscoring Republicans’ conundrum, Trump remains a fundraising juggernaut. He helped House Republicans rake in $36.8 million in a single fundraising dinner last month, a committee record.

Mike Marinella, spokesperson for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said Trump “puts House Republicans in the strongest possible position to defy history and win in November.”

Of course, a candidate must win the Republican nomination to even be around for the fall campaign.

“The president has chosen to be aggressive in endorsing candidates he believes are the best advocates for his agenda and have been loyal to him,” Republican campaign veteran Chip Lake said.

Lake is leading an independent expenditure effort on behalf of Georgia Republican Burt Jones, the Trump-endorsed candidate in a June 16 primary runoff for governor.

“It’s difficult, if not impossible to win a primary in today’s environment if the president is working against you,” Lake said. And whatever the general election consequences, he added, independents and moderates “make up a very tiny, even minuscule portion of Republican primaries.”

___ Barrow reported from Atlanta. Peoples reported from New York.

Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz and the Israeli military said the strikes, which were carried out on Tuesday, killed Mohammed Odeh.

Family members of a man called Mohammed Odeh said he was killed in the strike, but did not confirm he was the leader of the military wing. Hamas has not commented.

Katz called him “one of the architects” of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks that triggered over two years of war in Gaza and said it was the fourth time Israel has killed the head of Hamas’ military wing since that massacre. Izz al-Din al-Haddad, the previous head, was killed on May 16.

At least three people were killed and 12 injured in Tuesday's strike, which took place on the eve of Eid al-Adha, a major Muslim holiday.

“We pledged to eliminate everyone who led the October 7 massacre and this is what we will do: they are all bound to die, everywhere,” Katz wrote on X on Wednesday. “We pledged that Hamas will not hold civilian or military rule.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is preparing for elections in the fall, also threatened that Israel will target everyone involved in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack.

A grim Eid in Gaza

The attack came as Muslims prepared for Eid al-Adha, normally a joyous time of family gatherings and large meals.

The holiday once again is subdued this year in Gaza, where the vast majority of people remain displaced and live in tents or temporary shelters after a devastating war. Around 90% of Gaza’s more than 2 million people have lost their homes, according to U.N. estimates, with most of them now sheltering in huge tent camps with rat infestations and pools of sewage. They are dependent on aid to survive.

Eid al-Adha, or “Feast of Sacrifice,” is an Islamic holiday celebrated by millions of Muslims across the globe. The four-day holiday, which begins during the Hajj pilgrimage, is also known for being a joyous occasion during which families gather, and children are given new clothes and gifts.

“This is not Eid ... we’re dead,” said Mahmoud Saqer, a displaced man from Khan Younis, who described people as being distressed by the ongoing human suffering and killings in the territory.

In Khan Younis and Gaza City, amid destroyed buildings, including a ruined mosque, people gathered for Eid prayers with few signs of celebration beyond a few clusters of balloons lining one street. Tahrir al-Khatib said the joy that accompanies Eid has been silenced in Gaza.

“There’s no Eid. My children were killed. Eid is only for the people who lost no one,” said Ayda Al-Banna, a displaced women from Gaza City, who prayed Eid prayers with her granddaughter.

Fragile ceasefire holds in Gaza

A ceasefire reached between Israel and Hamas last October remains fragile. Israeli attacks have killed more than 880 Palestinians since the ceasefire took effect. Israel says its attacks are in response to violations by Hamas or threats to its soldiers, but Palestinian health officials says scores of civilians have been among the dead. Four Israeli soldiers have also been killed during this period in Gaza.

Israel launched its offensive in Gaza in response to the Hamas attacks in October 2023, which killed some 1,200 people and took 251 others hostage.

The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza says over 72,700 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire. The ministry, part of Gaza’s Hamas government, does not give a breakdown of civilian and militant deaths. ___ Associated Press writer Fatma Khaled contributed from Cairo.

The raid on the office in central Madrid is another blow to the party of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, whose Socialists have been hammered by a series of corruption scandals.

The Civil Guard told The Associated Press that the police were under judicial orders to find material relevant to a National Court probe into accusations of corruption against a former party member involved in a state-run company.

The police said the search is strictly limited to a probe led by National Court judge Santiago Pedraz into the possible wrongdoing of Socialist party member Leire Díaz.

The alleged case against Díaz started in 2025 when audio recordings appeared in Spanish media of her apparently being involved in attempts to discredit a member of the Civil Guard’s anti-corruption unit. Further reports linked her to alleged attempts to influence the work of state prosecutors.

The Socialist party said she was acting on her own.

Diaz, who has left the party, has denied wrongdoing.

Last week a separate court said it was investigating former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero in connection with a government airline bailout. He has denied any wrongdoing.

Sánchez's wife and brother are being probed over allegations of influence peddling, which both have denied.

And, most damning for the Socialists, a former minister under Sánchez and a senior party official are both being investigated on allegations they played a part in a kickback ring that started during the COVID-19 pandemic, which they have denied.

Sánchez, who has been prime minister since 2018, has called the cases against his family a “smear campaign.” But the corruption case against his former cohorts led him to ask the nation for “forgiveness” in 2025.

His minority government depends on the support of a junior coalition partner, which for now has stuck with it despite the judicial actions.

Sánchez, who has stood out on the international stage for his progressive stances that have earned the ire of U.S. President Donald Trump, has not been directly linked to any of the scandals.

Tsering, 58, has led the exile government based in Dharamshala, India, since 2021. He secured another five-year term in elections held in February among Tibetans living in India and overseas. Tsering was first elected to the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile in 1996 and served as speaker from 2008 until he rose to the top executive post.

Formed in 1959, Tibet’s government-in-exile, now called the Central Tibetan Administration, has executive, judicial and legislative branches.

Tsering said Wednesday that the Central Tibetan Administration “remains firmly committed to the ‘Middle Way Policy’ envisioned by His Holiness the Dalai Lama,” adding that the policy seeks resolution through nonviolence, dialogue and lasting mutual benefit.

“Until a resolution is achieved, we will continue the back-channel communications with caution and steadiness with the Chinese government,” he said.

Tsering's swearing-in ceremony took place in the presence of the Dalai Lama, who was escorted to the venue by red-robed monks among the sounds of beating drums and chanted prayers. The audience included hundreds of monks and Tibetans who looked on as the Chief Justice Commissioner Yeshi Wangmo of the Tibetan Supreme Justice Commission administered the oath of office.

The February vote marked the fourth direct election of the Tibetan exile leadership since the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, formally ended his role in the administration’s governance in 2011.

China says Tibet has been part of its territory since the mid-13th century and its Communist Party has governed the Himalayan region since 1951. But many Tibetans say they were effectively independent for most of their history and the Chinese government wants to exploit the resource-rich region while crushing its cultural identity.

China does not recognize the Central Tibetan Administration and hasn’t held dialogue with the Dalai Lama's representatives since 2010. India considers Tibet as part of China, but hosts the Tibetan exile government.

Beijing accuses the Dalai Lama of seeking to separate Tibet from China, which he denies. Some Tibetan groups advocate independence for Tibet, since little progress has been made in talks with China.

Yu Jing, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in India, on Sunday dismissed the legitimacy of the exile administration, saying it was “not recognized by any sovereign country” and had no authority to represent Tibetans or oversee the reincarnation process of the Dalai Lama.

On his 90th birthday last year, the Dalai Lama insisted Chinese authorities would have no role in identifying his successor and the institution of the Dalai Lama would continue after his death.

While Mexico has accepted these types of deportations for years, the deportees under the Trump administration are older and have lived in the U.S. for longer than in the past, making it more difficult for them to find work and increasing the urgency of the need for medical care.

The report, which is based on more than 50 interviews in the southern Mexican cities Tapachula and Villahermosa, comes as U.S. President Donald Trump has expanded immigration enforcement to carry out his mass deportation plan.

This has meant that immigrants who were not previously targeted, such as Cubans with years or decades living in the U.S., have been caught up in the immigration dragnet. Some countries, such as Cuba and Venezuela, limit deportation flights or don’t accept deportees at all, so they are instead sent to Mexico or other countries with which the U.S. has struck deals.

“Imagine being 60 or 70 years old, uprooted from your life overnight and sent to a country you don’t know, where authorities leave you out to dry without access to even the most basic services — shelter, healthcare. Imagine being dropped in dangerous cities with nothing but the clothes on your back,” said Alcira Hava, Leonard H. Sandler Fellow at Human Rights Watch, who worked on the report.

“That’s the reality for many Cubans deported to Mexico,” Hava said.

Cubans represent the largest group sent to Mexico, according to the report, with more than 4,300 deported. More than half the 41 Cubans interviewed had lived in the U.S. since the 1980s or 1990s, arriving during the Mariel boatlift or lottery program in the 1990s. Most had a green card but had lost it.

More than half the Cubans deported had a criminal record, but only 16% were for violent crimes, according to the researchers. One-fourth had no criminal history.

Most were detained at routine check-ins with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but some were detained at their workplace or in public spaces. None were taken before a judge to contest their deportation to Mexico, even when they expressed fear for their safety.

The Cuban diaspora, with access to a fast-tracked pathway to residency and citizenship through the Cuban Adjustment Act, has been shocked by the extent of Trump's immigration crackdown.

Once in Mexico, these deportees are sent to southern cities with few job opportunities, limited access to medical care and where cartels prey on them. They face a complicated logistical process to receive refugee status in Mexico, if they even qualify.

A shelter in Villahermosa has received Cuban deportees as old as 83 in the past year, a departure from the young men and families it usually receives, according to shelter worker Josué Leal.

“The U.S. discards them. Cuba discards them,” Leal said, calling it a form of “double punishment.”

How the third country deportations are being carried out is unclear, since neither the U.S. or Mexico has made the agreement public. HRW called for both countries to publish the agreement and to ensure that due process and international law is respected in these cases.

It called on Mexico to ensure access to medical treatment and a pathway to legalize immigration status for those who can’t return to their home countries. It called on the U.S. to suspend these deportations, barring these guarantees.

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Kenneth Iwamasa, 60, is set to be sentenced Wednesday in the Los Angeles federal courtroom of Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett, who has sentenced four of his co-defendants in the past year.

He was the first of them to reach a deal with prosecutors, pleading guilty in August 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine resulting in death. Wednesday will be his first court appearance since the case became public knowledge.

Iwamasa became the most important witness for the prosecution. They are asking Garnett to sentence him to three years and five months in prison, significantly less than what he might have faced without cooperating, but still more than all but one of his co-defendants.

Iwamasa’s lawyers said in a court filing that he was an employee doing his employer's bidding and had a “particular vulnerability” in his relationship to Perry. “In short, he could not ‘simply say no.’ That inability had tragic consequences.”

Perry's family members, some of whom may speak in court, made it clear in letters to the judge that there is no one they blame for his death more than Iwamasa — a longtime friend they thought would help the actor maintain sobriety but instead indulged the worst impulses of a lifelong addict.

“Mathew trusted Kenny. We trusted Kenny. Kenny’s most important job — by far — was to be my son’s companion and guardian in his fight against addiction,” wrote Perry's mother, Suzanne Morrison. “We trusted a man without a conscience, and my son paid the price.”

Perry had hired Iwamasa in 2022, and he was paying him $150,000 a year to live at his Los Angeles home and act as his assistant.

The actor had been taking the surgical anesthetic ketamine legally for depression, an increasingly common off-label use. But he wanted more than his doctor would give him.

According to Iwamasa's plea agreement, he bought off-the-books ketamine from another doctor, Salvador Plasencia, who taught him how to inject it. Plasencia was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison in July.

Iwamasa also began buying ketamine from Perry acquaintance Erik Fleming, who was getting it from a street dealer. Fleming was sentenced to two years in prison two weeks ago.

The dealer, Jasveen Sangha, dubbed “The Ketamine Queen,” was sentenced to 15 years on April 8.

In the final days of Perry's life, Iwamasa was injecting him six to eight times per day. On Oct. 23, 2023, he shot the 54-year-old actor full of a large dose and left to run errands. He returned to find Perry dead in the Jacuzzi. The LA County Medical Examiner found that ketamine was the primary cause of death. Drowning was a secondary cause.

At first, Iwamasa lied to police, omitting ketamine from the list of medications Perry was using, and saying nothing about his injections. But when investigators served a search warrant in January of 2024, he began coming clean.

Perry became one of the biggest stars of his generation along with Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer and Lisa Kudrow on “Friends,” NBC’s megahit sitcom that ran from 1994 to 2004.

The two-way superstar was struck by Rockies starter Kyle Freeland in the fourth. Ohtani left after grounding out in the fifth. He was 0 for 2 with a run scored in the team's 16-5 win.

Manager Dave Roberts said the ball mostly hit the pad on Ohtani's hand before clipping his pinkie finger.

“We're in a good spot,” he said, adding that given the Dodgers' big lead he wanted Ohtani to rest ahead of his scheduled mound start in the series finale on Wednesday.

“I haven't decided yet if he's going to hit,” Roberts said. “I just want to kind of make sure how he comes in and physically how he feels because I want to make sure he feels really good on the pitching side of things.”

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Anne Keast-Butler, director of the communications intelligence agency GCHQ, will warn Wednesday that Moscow is “relentlessly targeting critical infrastructure, democratic processes, supply chains and public trust” in Britain and Europe. In a speech at a World War II code breaking center near London, she will accuse Russia of stealing technology and plotting sabotage and assassination attempts.

Keast-Butler plans to say that rapid advances in artificial intelligence mean that “the ground beneath our feet is shifting” and there is a “narrowing window for the U.K. and allies to stay ahead” of countries such as China, a science and technology “superpower.”

She plans to argue there must be an effort “from boardrooms to living rooms” to make cybersecurity “10 times more urgent,” according to extracts released in advance by GCHQ, short for Government Communications Headquarters.

It is the latest in a string of warnings from Western spies and intelligence experts that Russia is stepping up hostile activity in a “gray zone” that falls just below the threshold of war.

In recent months, authorities in countries including Sweden, Poland, Denmark and Norway have alleged that hackers linked to Russia targeted their critical infrastructure, including power plants and dams.

The head of the U.K.’s National Cyber Security Centre, Richard Horne, warned last month that hostile states including Russia, China and Iran are behind the most serious cyberattacks the country faces. He said such attacks could increase dramatically if Britain becomes involved in an international conflict.

Keast-Butler plans to stress the importance of international partnerships as U.S. President Donald Trump’s “America First” foreign policy and disregard for longtime allies strains the relationship between London and Washington.

Pointedly, she is delivering the annual GCHQ director’s lecture speech at Bletchley Park, a manor house 45 miles (72 kilometers) northwest of London where hundreds of mathematicians, cryptographers, crossword puzzlers, chess masters and other experts worked to crack Nazi Germany’s supposedly unbreakable secret codes.

Their work both shortened the war and hastened the birth of modern computing.

Steyer — a former hedge fund manager turned liberal activist — has spent or booked more than $195 million in ads for broadcast TV, cable and radio with the tally still growing, according to data compiled by advertising tracker AdImpact.

His torrent of ads have opened the one-time presidential candidate to criticism that he is trying to buy the governor's chair, and his ad total represents more than 20 times the amount spent by his nearest rival, fellow Democrat Xavier Becerra, as the two duel for a spot in the November election.

Nationally, no one is close.

In Georgia, Republican health care executive Rick Jackson has spent about $83 million on advertising in his primary race for governor, which is headed for a June runoff, ranking him second. The third place spot is held by his Republican rival, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who has President Donald Trump’s endorsement and has spent nearly $31 million on ads, according to AdImpact.

Following Jones was Democratic U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois, who spent over $28 million on advertising in a failed bid for U.S. Senate.

Trying to ‘buy the governor’s office?'

Katie Porter, a former U.S. House member who is among seven established Democrats in the California race, has repeatedly criticized Steyer for dipping into his personal fortune to keep ads in front of voters with scant competition from rivals.

“She isn’t spending hundreds of millions of dollars of personal wealth trying to buy the governor’s office,” her campaign wrote in an email to supporters.

In raw numbers, Steyer ad blitz has eclipsed the 2010 record set by Republican Meg Whitman, who spent $178.5 million in total on a losing bid for governor, much of it her own money. At the time, it was the costliest campaign for statewide office in the nation’s history. When adjusted for inflation, however, Whitman still holds the state record, but that represented spending for the full election, not just the primary.

A crowded field with no clear leader

Steyer's record-level output has lifted him into contention in the crowded race but he's not breaking away from the field. He's among a leading group of several candidates — including Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton — as the campaign heads toward a June 2 primary. Mail voting started earlier this month.

Still, Steyer's cash advantage is giving him a publicity edge as the contest enters its crucial final days. He's kept up a steady flow of advertising and online posts questioning Becerra's credentials and record, with Becerra, a former state attorney general and Biden administration health secretary, lacking the funds to reply in kind.

One Becerra ad sought to connect with voters who might be getting bleary-eyed from the cascade of Steyer advertising. It used tranquil scenes of Joshua trees, waves curling on a beach and soaring redwoods with a gentle prod, “You can stop the endless Tom Steyer ads. Vote Xavier Becerra.”

Steyer’s financial edge has allowed him to stretch the boundaries of his campaign far beyond traditional TV and radio ads, with steady posts on online platforms like YouTube and Instagram. The New York Times reported that his campaign paid a progressive Texas influencer $100,000 to help Steyer win the election. The Sacramento Bee reported that Becerra, too, had hired an influencer.

Many voters have been slow to vote in a race without a star candidate and no clear leader. More than 50 names will be on the ballot. California uses a “top two” primary system that puts all candidates on one ballot, with only the top two vote-getters advancing to November, regardless of party.

"In a race this close, it all matters," said Democratic consultant Andrew Acosta.

Money doesn't always make the difference

History shows that money doesn’t always translate into votes.

Billionaire developer Rick Caruso spent over $100 million in 2022 in his bid to become Los Angeles mayor, much of it his own money, but he was handily defeated by Mayor Karen Bass, who spent a fraction of Caruso’s total. Billionaire former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg spent more than $1 billion of his own money on his 2020 presidential bid before dropping out. And Steyer’s money was unable to lift him into contention in the 2020 presidential contest, when he dropped out early in the year after a poor finish in the South Carolina primary.

Democratic San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan's campaign for governor was supported by independent committees bankrolled with millions of dollars from tech leaders and venture capitalists, yet he failed to gain traction in the race.

Steyer has never held elected office.

In a 2019 interview with The Associated Press, Steyer was asked what he would say to people who think he’s trying to buy the presidency.

“I don’t think that’s possible,” Steyer said at the time, before adding, “I’m never going to apologize for succeeding in business. That’s America, right?”

The contest is unfolding as California struggles with a long-running homeless crisis, wildfire insurance shortages, projected budget shortfalls and housing costs that are out of reach for many working-class families. Voters, meanwhile, are saddled with growing everyday bills for groceries, utilities and gas.

The AdImpact data does not include ads on some popular streaming services like Hulu and YouTube or mail advertising.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn tried for more than a year to show Donald Trump and Texas Republicans that he and the president were on the same team.

Cornyn posted a photo of himself reading Trump's “The Art of the Deal.” He proposed legislation to rename a stretch of interstate in Trump's honor. Perhaps most glaringly, the Senate institutionalist who long supported the filibuster reversed his position in a failed effort to advance voting restrictions that are a priority for the president.

None of it worked. On Tuesday, Cornyn became the latest in a line of Republicans who lost their primaries after falling out of favor with a president with little tolerance for dissent and a seemingly insatiable appetite for retribution. The four-term senator lost by double digits to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who Trump endorsed last week as “a true MAGA Warrior.”

Cornyn, on the other hand, “was VERY disloyal to me,” Trump wrote on social media.

Trump's intervention in the Texas runoff came after weeks of successfully backing primary challengers in Indiana, Louisiana and Kentucky as revenge against incumbents who broke with his agenda.

Cornyn’s attempt to avoid the same fate made even some of his supporters wince.

“You look at the positions he took to please the president and the groveling and whatever,” said former Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, a Republican and Trump critic who didn't seek reelection during the president's first midterm in 2018. “It was rather painful to watch.”

Cornyn started early with ad touting pro-Trump voting record

Cornyn's loss wasn't for a lack of political gymnastics and astronomical campaign spending.

His campaign began running an advertisement last summer — part of an astounding nearly-$100-million air war by the senator and allied groups — with Cornyn looking into the camera and saying, “I voted with President Trump 99% of the time.”

On Cornyn's campaign homepage, Trump and Cornyn stand side-by-side with thumbs pointed upward in an image aimed at projecting solidarity. Deeper in the website, the category titled “The Trump-Cornyn Record” notes the senator's role securing votes for Trump's signature 2017 tax cut bill.

Cornyn has also been championing provisions in Trump's signature tax-and-spending legislation to finance work on the U.S.-Mexico border wall.

The senator had dismissed the project as “naive” during Trump's 2016 campaign. But in January, he stood along a section of completed wall in Texas' Rio Grande Valley touting the measure's $11 billion for Texas contractors' work at “the direction of the president of the United States, to whom I am very grateful.”

Cornyn's 2023 dismissal of Trump's return glares in background

Cornyn's praise for his party's leader and president were not unusual, but they clash with a statement Cornyn made in May 2023, when Trump was mounting his presidential comeback campaign.

“Trump’s time has passed him by,” he told reporters. “I don’t think President Trump understands that when you run in a general election, you have to appeal to voters beyond your base.”

Trump would go on to easily win the nomination and carry every battleground state in the general election.

Cornyn would hew closely to the president for the first 16 months of his second administration, hoping at the outside chance of his endorsement or to keeping him from weighing in at all.

But Trump did not forget the past slights.

“John Cornyn is a good man, and I worked well with him, but he was not supportive of me when times were tough,” he wrote on social media while endorsing Paxton.

Smaller gestures, and one big one

Cornyn has playfully worked to promote Trump fandom, last year posting a picture on social media of himself thoughtfully peering into the pages of Trump's 1987 memoir and business advice book, “The Art of the Deal.”

In a more obvious gesture, he proposed designating a section of a U.S. highway from the Texas Gulf Coast to Montana as “Interstate 47,” to honor a 47th president with a well-documented love of naming things after himself. In a news release about the proposal, filed just over two weeks before Tuesday's runoff, Cornyn said it would be known as the “Trump Interstate.”

The more tectonic shift occurred in March, after Trump had teased a possible endorsement of either Cornyn or Paxton in the runoff.

Paxton swiftly said he would consider dropping his candidacy if the Republican-controlled Senate lifted the filibuster and passed the SAVE America Act, a series of voting restrictions that Trump has described as an essential part of his agenda.

The following week, Cornyn wrote an op-ed in the New York Post — Trump's favorite hometown newspaper — backing away from his previous support of the filibuster. He vowed to “support whatever changes to Senate rules that may prove necessary” to get the bill “through the Senate and on the president's desk for his signature.”

Flake watched with unease.

“I know John and his long-held positions on the filibuster and the Senate’s institutions,” he said. “No office is worth that.”

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Bedayn reported from San Antonio. Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick in Washington contributed to this report.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres ruled in February, after Timothy Hudson was initially arrested and charged as a juvenile, that the 16-year-old could live with an uncle and be electronically monitored. But after the case was transferred to adult court, prosecutors requested that Hudson be held in custody until the case's conclusion.

Hudson has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder and aggravated sexual abuse. Minors are rarely prosecuted in federal court. Hudson’s federal public defenders have declined to comment on the charges.

Hudson's stepsister, Anna Kepner, had been traveling on the Carnival Horizon ship in November with her family, including Hudson. Before the ship was scheduled to return to Florida, her body was found concealed under a bed in a room she was sharing with Hudson and another teen, a criminal complaint said.

The cause of Kepner's Nov. 6 death was determined to be mechanical asphyxia, which is when an object or physical force stops someone from breathing.

Kepner's father, Christopher Kepner, previously released a statement, saying the family was placing “trust in the justice system to pursue the truth with care and integrity.”

“The situation is deeply painful and complex for the entire family,” Kepner said.

Anna Kepner was a high school cheerleader at Temple Christian School in Titusville, Florida, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) east of Orlando. At her memorial service in November, family members encouraged people to wear bright colors instead of the traditional black “in honor of Anna’s bright and beautiful soul.”

As he prepares to huddle with his top aides, Trump is projecting confidence that he's closing in on a deal that will reopen the Strait of Hormuz and provide him a credible argument that Iran’s nuclear capability has been diminished enough to declare victory, winding down a conflict that's been politically unpopular for Republicans.

But as things stand, Trump also risks finding closure to his war of choice comes with an unsatisfactory ending.

The emerging deal puts off many critical issues to be resolved later and has already exposed the president to fierce criticism — even from some of his own supporters — that Iran's hardline leaders will emerge from the conflict battered but emboldened. It all comes to a head just as the midterm elections to determine control of Congress come into focus and as Republicans worry that rising costs and fuel prices are darkening the American electorate's mood.

Talks were further complicated after U.S. forces carried out what the Pentagon called “defensive” strikes on missile launch sites and mine-laying boats in southern Iran on Monday. The U.S. said it acted with “restraint” in light of the weekslong ceasefire, while Iran decried the action as a sign of “bad faith and unreliability.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that talks with Iran on reopening the strait and extending the ceasefire — a period that the administration says could be used to hash out the finer details of a nuclear agreement — will take several more days. “He’s either going to make a good deal or no deal,” Rubio told reporters.

Trump for his part took to social media on Tuesday to grumble that even if Tehran were to offer a complete surrender, the media would paint the end of the conflict as Iran scoring “a Masterful and Brilliant Victory."

Some Trump backers are skeptical

While Trump insists a deal is within reach, there appears to be daylight between the U.S. and Iran on several key issues. The president is also facing scrutiny from Republican allies, including Sens. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Ted Cruz of Texas, who have said the terms seem too favorable to Tehran.

They're balking at aspects of the deal that have emerged publicly that they say too closely resemble the nuclear agreement reached with Iran by former President Barack Obama, which Trump scrapped during his first term.

Under the potential deal, Tehran would agree to give up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium — a key Trump demand — in return for sanctions relief. That's according to two regional officials and one senior Trump administration official, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive negotiations.

One regional official, with direct knowledge of the negotiations, said how Iran would give up the uranium would be subject to further talks during a 60-day period. Some would likely be diluted, while the rest would be transferred to a third country, the official said.

Iran has 440.9 kilograms (972 pounds) of uranium that is enriched up to 60% purity, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. Iran has not publicly committed to giving up its uranium.

Trump on Monday said in a Truth Social post that the uranium, which is believed to be buried under nuclear sites battered by U.S. air strikes last year, would either be turned over to the U.S. or “destroyed in place or, at another acceptable location, with the Atomic Energy Commission, or its equivalent, being witness to this process and event.” The comment signals a softening of Trump's previous insistence that the U.S. take control of Iran's uranium stockpile.

How Trump's plan affects Israel's war in Lebanon

Another key issue unresolved is whether the ceasefire will also cover Israel’s operations against Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militant group in Lebanon. Iran has insisted that Lebanon must be covered by any ceasefire agreement negotiated with the United States.

The administration appears to leave some wiggle room on the Lebanon question. The emerging memorandum of understanding calls for a ceasefire between the U.S. and its allies against Iran and its proxies, such as Hezbollah, but also underscores Israel's right to act against imminent threats and in self defense.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday announced that the Israeli military is “deepening its operation” in Lebanon.

Jonathan Conricus, a former spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces, said Israel expects that Iran would quickly move to direct any sanctions relief to restore its military capability and boost proxy groups, including Hezbollah and Hamas in Gaza.

“We’re not done fighting, because the Iranian regime isn’t done,” said Conricus, who is a senior fellow with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a hawkish Washington think tank.

‘Stunned silence’ as Trump ties Abraham Accords to Iran deal

Trump on Monday said any agreement to end the Iran war should include a requirement for several additional countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Pakistan, to join the Abraham Accords, the U.S.-brokered agreements from Trump’s first term aimed at normalizing diplomatic and economic relations with Israel.

Trump’s optimism that the other Middle Eastern and majority Muslim countries could soon sign on to the accords might be overly ambitious.

For example, Saudi Arabia, the most significant power in the Arab world and long seen as the biggest prize for the normalization effort, has insisted that establishing a guaranteed path to a Palestinian state remains a precondition. It's something that Israel vehemently opposes.

Trump made the Abraham Accords push during a call with leaders of Mideast allies over the weekend.

Barbara Leaf, a retired U.S. ambassador to the United Arab Emirates and senior State Department official during the Biden administration, said officials from Gulf countries who were on the call told her that Trump's pitch was greeted by “stunned silence." A person familiar with the call disputed that characterization and that some regional allies responded positively to the president’s call to join the accords. The person spoke on condition of anonymity about the private conversation.

Leaf, a distinguished diplomatic fellow at the Middle East Institute, said that Middle Eastern allies of the United States recognize that Iran will likely use any money from sanctions relief to bolster its military capabilities. Still, they have been supportive of Trump pursuing an end to the conflict.

“They see no other way out,” Leaf said of American allies in the region. “And they see no other way out because of many of these early mistakes that the president and the administration made in conducting the war.”

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AP writers Matthew Lee and Darlene Superville in Washington, Samy Magdy in Cairo and Melanie Lidman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

One humanitarian duo wants to ensure conflict-stricken children get funding for an often-overlooked need: education. Under an agreement announced Wednesday, the LEGO Foundation committed $97 million to expand International Rescue Committee programs that use play to help millions of children learn and recover.

“Children who are born in conflict have their childhood stolen from them," IRC President David Miliband told The Associated Press. “But what’s remarkable about children is that if you give them a bit of their childhood back, they make the most of it. And this is about giving the best of childhood back.”

The five-year partnership aims to reach 5 million children across East Africa and the Middle East. Who, exactly, they serve will change as conflicts evolve. LEGO Foundation CEO Sidsel Marie Kristensen pledged to focus on those “in the most dire contexts." Currently under consideration are Ethiopia, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Uganda.

Kristensen said the “truly agile” framework is designed to bring play-based learning wherever it’s needed most, rather than funding individual place-based grants that might become outdated as conflicts evolve in real time.

“In the world we are living in right now, nobody knows honestly what is happening tomorrow or in two months,” Kristensen said. “That (flexibility) is what we need right now.”

The investment will introduce more classrooms to an IRC-led program called PlayMatters that offers training for teachers of 3-to 12-year-olds to integrate what they call “playful learning" into lessons. The goal is not to tell educators what they should teach but help tailor their instruction to the needs that arise in schools serving children traumatized by crises. Program leaders also act as a policy advocates for education funding at the national level, working with government officials to embed their materials into their curriculum.

Teacher says ‘playful learning’ reduces absenteeism

At a primary school serving refugees in western Uganda’s Nakivale settlement, one teacher credits PlayMatters with reducing absenteeism. Sister Kasingye Secunda said attendance used to be an issue. Teachers try their best to make students "feel at home,” she said. But many students don’t understand both the local language and English, the language of instruction.

Children learn colors through one game where they select mangoes, bananas and other fruits to share with their classmates. They build confidence through class presentations, she said, and develop leadership as they take turns guiding small groups through activities.

“Learners enjoy the lessons,” Secunda said. “They are eager to come to school.”

From Ethiopia to Tanzania, a radio show helps children name their emotions through episodes offered in multiple languages featuring culturally familiar characters. PlayMatters Project Director Martin Omukuba said they are expanding such digitally delivered multimedia lessons. The radio show, for example, helps them remotely reach schools in South Sudan that are made inaccessible by flooding for half the year.

The LEGO Foundation provides flexible funding so that IRC can respond to the fluid nature of conflicts. A refugee class size can quickly jump from 25 to 150 students, Omukuba noted, creating new demands for sanitation, nutrition or other classroom needs not traditionally classified under education. Omukuba credited the LEGO Foundation for trusting them to move grant money around in emergencies.

“We need first to make sure that children are alive,” he said. “We can introduce the education when they are stabilized.”

The partners first collaborated in 2019 when the LEGO Foundation committed $100 million to “Ahlan Simsim,” the show by IRC and the nonprofit Sesame Workshop that helps kids affected by the Syrian and Rohingya refugee crises.

Kristensen, who leads the Denmark-based corporate foundation that funds early childhood development, said they've been scaling up their donations in these settings. The LEGO Foundation recently announced a separate $30 million partnership with global funding collaborative Co-Impact to support locally led solutions to issues of learning and wellbeing among children impacted by conflict and crisis.

She wants Wednesday's announcement to inspire greater collaboration among governments, civil society and the private sector. “That is so needed in a world right now where the development aid is decreasing,” she said, referring to international assistance cuts by the United States and many European nations.

Those cuts have stretched the humanitarian system's capacity over the past year. Already, Miliband said, the ongoing Ebola outbreak in Congo provides “a graphic demonstration of the short-sightedness of aid cuts for activities that are considered marginal." He pointed to sanitation and handwashing programs in the Congo's Ituri province, where the global health emergency is centered, that lost U.S. funding last year as part of the Trump administration's dismantling of international development.

“We warned at the time what the risk was,” he said. “And sure as night follows day, we end up with an under-detected Ebola outbreak.”

International Rescue Committee officials similarly see early childhood development not as a luxury, but a necessary intervention to toxic stress that alters brain development and delays learning.

Education was an underfunded part of humanitarian responses even before wealthy countries slashed their aid budgets, according to Patty McIlreavy, the president and CEO of the Center for Disaster Philanthropy. “Life saving” assistance was too narrowly limited to “what do you actually need to keep the body alive,” she said," a definition that excluded “life sustaining” efforts such as children's education.

She pointed to Wednesday's announcement as an example for donors, who often ask her how they can actually help in complex conflicts without clear ends in sight.

“It's not our role as philanthropy to fix what's broken in a country," she said. "That's politics. That's bigger than us. But there's so much we can do — even by offering six months or a year of education.”

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Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

He didn't know until afterward that it was something historic.

Yes, there were six home runs, including two from Amed Rosario. And the Yankees put up 24 hits in the 15-1 romp, their most since a game against Baltimore in July 2011. But what set the performance apart from all others Tuesday night — including all those games played by Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle — was this simple fact: For the first time in their storied history, the Yankees got at least two hits from every single player in their starting lineup.

“I did see all the hits on the board,” Boone said afterward, “and I was like, ‘Man, you don’t see that very often.'”

The Yankees had the benefit of facing the Royals on a designated bullpen day. Struggling reliever Bailey Falter was first on the mound, and he allowed as many hits (seven) as he record outs. Luinder Avila wasn't a whole lot better when he replaced him.

The last of the hits came against outfielder Tyler Tolbert, who threw a steady diet of 44 mph pitches to get through the ninth inning.

Yet that doesn't take away from one of the impressive hitting performances in Yankees history. Their hit total tied for their eighth-most ever, and the 24 hits were their most in a road game since Aug. 31, 1974, in a game against the White Sox.

The six homers were the most by a team in the majors this season.

“The performance they put up today,” Yankees pitcher Cam Schlittler said, “that was awesome to watch.”

The barrage began with Cody Bellinger's second homer in as many days, a two-out shot in the first. But it really gained steam after Paul Goldschmidt's double, when Ben Rice hit a sinking liner to right field that Royals outfielder Jac Caglianone lazily grabbed at grass level. Boone challenged the out call, and a review confirmed that the ball had touched the ground for an RBI single.

Rosario came to the plate next and belted a two-run homer an estimated 420 feet to left field.

Anthony Volpe added his first homer of the season in the second inning, and the Yankees piled on four more runs on a steady stream of singles in the third. Aaron Judge provided an RBI double in the fifth, Trent Grisham went deep in the seventh, Jazz Chisholm Jr. — the last of the starters to get two hits — homered in the eighth and Rosario hit his second of the game in the ninth.

He sheepishly admitted that he was just trying not to strike out against Tolbert's languid lobs to the plate.

“It feels good to be part of history,” Rosario said through a translator. “It's a team effort and being part of it is great.”

The Yankees have now hit 82 home runs this season, by far the most in the majors. The Royals, by comparison, have hit 51, including the solo homer that Bobby Witt Jr. hit in the third inning for their only run of the entire game.

Meanwhile, the 24 hits that the Royals allowed were the fourth-most in a game in franchise history. Rosario finished with four hits while Grisham, Rice, Volpe and Austin Wells had three apiece. The rest of the starters each had two.

“Look,” Boone said with a smile, “as hard as hitting is — as hard as it is now, night-in and night-out — to have a day where everyone, you know, can fatten up a little bit, it's good.”

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

In early European trading, Germany's DAX gained 0.7% to 25,359.59, while the CAC 40 in Paris added 0.5% to 8,215.74. Britain's FTSE 100 slipped 0.1% to 10,484.65.

The future for the S&P 500 edged 0.1% higher while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.2%.

The boom in artificial intelligence drove heavy buying of computer chipmakers and other technology companies after the latest rally on Wall Street, led by a 19.3% gain for Micron Technology. It was the strongest force lifting the S&P 500 on Tuesday after analysts at UBS led by Timothy Arcuri raised their 12-month price target for the stock to $1,625 from $535. Micron closed at $895.88.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 also initially was lifted by gains for tech-related shares given but closed nearly unchanged at 64,999.41. It topped 66,000 earlier in the day.

Computer chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron's shares rose 2.1% and testing equipment maker Advantest gained 4.1%.

Analysts are forecasting continued strength in demand for computer memory and that has been pushing share prices in South Korea and Taiwan to records this year.

The Kospi in Seoul gained 2.3% to 8,228.70, as Samsung Electronics' shares gained 2.3%.

In Taiwan, the Taiex surged 1.7%.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 1.1% to 25,328.23 and the Shanghai Composite index shed 1.3% to 4,093.73.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 picked up 0.7% to 8,717.70 and in India the Sensex fell 0.1%.

On Tuesday, U.S. stocks rose to records as the S&P 500 climbed 0.6% after trading resumed following Monday’s Memorial Day holiday. The Nasdaq composite rallied 1.2% and the Dow industrials dipped 0.2%.

U.S. stocks were catching up with climbs for others around the world the day before, when President Donald Trump said negotiations with Iran on ending the war were “proceeding nicely.”

“It looks like geopolitical tensions are no longer bothering investors as much as they did in previous weeks. Iran’s explicit dissatisfaction regarding the progress in talks over its nuclear program — or even US strikes — didn’t reverse hopes that the war will end soon,” Ipek Ozkardeskaya of Swissquote said in a commentary.

Markets have rallied on hopes for a swift end to the war, but the situation remains unclear as fighting has continued in the region.

Oil prices have been at the center of financial markets' action since the United States and Israel attacked Iran in late February. The ensuing war has closed the Strait of Hormuz and kept oil tankers pent up in the Persian Gulf instead of delivering crude to customers worldwide. That in turn has driven up oil’s price and sent a wave of painful inflation around the world.

U.S. households have been feeling discouraged about the economy because of accelerating inflation, and a report on Tuesday said consumer confidence edged downward in May, though the number was not as bad as economists expected. It followed a report on Friday that said sentiment among U.S. consumers hit its lowest level on record.

Early Wednesday, the price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, fell $3 to $93.89 a barrel. The price for a barrel of U.S crude oil fell $2.94 to $91.89.

Lower oil prices helped pull yields down in the U.S. bond market, which eased the pressure on Wall Street. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.47% from 4.56% late Friday.

The U.S. dollar rose to 159.33 Japanese yen from 159.30 yen. The euro rose to $1.1644 from $1.1631.

He wasn't the best player on the floor Tuesday night.

That was not the only reason why the Spurs fell to the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 5 of the West finals — there were many — but it was certainly among them. Wembanyama, who has had 41-point and 33-point outings in winning efforts during the series, never seemed to get fully rolling and the Spurs lost 127-114.

Now down 3-2 in the series, they'll try to extend the matchup — and save their season — in Game 6 at San Antonio on Thursday night.

Wembanyama scored 20 points, his lowest of the series, and only a 12-for-12 effort from the foul line helped him get there in Game 5. He was 4 for 15 from the floor, missing all five of his 3-point tries, never seeming to get into any sort of rhythm.

“He’s got to take more than 15 shots, even with the free throws,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said in his postgame news conference in Oklahoma City. “He’s going to have to score more than 20 points, for sure. ... OKC did a good job. We’ve got to do a better job.”

Wembanyama did not speak with reporters after the game.

The first halves have told much of the story. In San Antonio's two wins in this series, Wembanyama has gone 7-for-15 and 6-for-11 from the field. In the three losses, his halftime shot numbers — 2-for-4, 2-for-5 and 2-for-6, the last of those what he did in the first two quarters on Tuesday.

Wembanyama offered an impassioned speech to teammates during a timeout barely two minutes into the third quarter, after the Thunder opened an 18-point lead. And it worked — to a point. Oklahoma City scored again to get the lead up to 20, but the Spurs closed within eight later in the third.

It seemed like there was hope. But the Spurs didn't get any closer. The deficit was 10 going into the fourth, the Spurs scored only two points in the first 4:02 of the final quarter, and whatever momentum that seemed like it was building after Wembanyama's timeout speech appeared to be gone.

And on a night in which the Thunder just kept throwing different bodies — Isaiah Hartenstein, Chet Holmgren, Jaylin Williams, Alex Caruso and more — along with different looks at Wembanyama, the 7-foot-4 French star just didn't have enough answers.

“It's a team defense,” Thunder guard Jared McCain said. “We talked about it. We made adjustments to it. We know that when he gets going, their whole team gets going."

Obviously, the Spurs know what's coming from the Thunder on Thursday — more of the same. San Antonio has two days to figure out how to counter.

“I think they sent so many bodies towards him, it’s hard at times,” Spurs guard Stephon Castle said. “I think he just wants to make the right play and wants to win. ... He’s our best player. We need him to be aggressive. I feel like him being aggressive opens up shots for other guys.”

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

Jared McCain — getting the call with Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell both sidelined — scored 20 in his first playoff start for the defending NBA champion Thunder, who lead the Western Conference finals 3-2.

Chet Holmgren had 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Thunder, while Isaiah Hartenstein had a 12-point, 15-rebound night in Oklahoma City.

The Thunder, who were held to 82 points in a Game 4 loss two days earlier, had 82 points on Tuesday before the third quarter was 3 1/2 minutes old.

“We obviously played a lot better, in terms of our process and then also the outcome,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “It's a playoff series. If you look at any playoff series that goes to six games, at least, there's going to be some tough games. We had a tough game the other night. This team does a great job of just coming back in the next day in a very neutral way, taking whatever the lessons are, applying them forward and getting into the next opportunity.”

Stephon Castle scored 24 points for San Antonio, which got 22 points from Julian Champagnie and 20 points from Victor Wembanyama — who was held to 4-of-15 shooting.

Keldon Johnson scored 15 off the bench for San Antonio, which missed 29 of its 41 3-point tries.

“It just felt like it was a little bit of everything in terms of we did not put ourselves in position enough to be successful on each possession,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “And so, to beat a team of this caliber, in their building, with the stakes, we'll need to be a lot better to give yourself a chance.”

Game 6 is Thursday in San Antonio. If there's a Game 7, it'll be back in Oklahoma City on Saturday — and while this series winds down, the New York Knicks are waiting to see who emerges.

The Knicks will visit either the Thunder or Spurs in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on June 3.

Oklahoma City scored 40 points in the second quarter to take control and kept the lead the rest of the way.

“We just played to who we were tonight,” Gilgeous-Alexander said.

It took nearly 10 minutes for the first free throws to be awarded. But when the parade to the foul line started, it didn't stop.

The teams combined to make 29 free throws in the second quarter alone, the most in the second quarter of any NBA game since the bubble playoffs nearly six years ago. It wasn't a one-sided thing — the Spurs were 15 for 17 in the quarter, the Thunder 14 for 14.

Oklahoma City went up by 20 in the third, before San Antonio closed within eight. The Spurs might have had some chances to cut even further into the deficit, but were fuming — and rightly so, it seemed — over some missed calls in the final minute of the quarter.

A tip-in try by San Antonio's Luke Kornet with about 56 seconds left was knocked off the rim by Oklahoma City's Cason Wallace and should have been goaltending. And on the next Spurs' possession, an out-of-bounds call that should have gone their way — replays showed the ball went out off of Holmgren — did not. Johnson tried to challenge the call, got ignored, then got a technical foul for arguing.

“They just said they didn't see me,” Johnson said.

After all that, Oklahoma City's lead was 101-91 going into the fourth. The Thunder kept a double-digit lead for all but 25 seconds of the final quarter — a huge turnaround from a 21-point loss in San Antonio on Sunday.

“We definitely got better from the last game,” Gilgeous-Alexander said.

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

Biden's lawyers said in a lawsuit filed in Washington's federal court that the Justice Department plans to release the files to Congress and a conservative group, the Heritage Foundation, after the department had previously argued that they were exempt from disclosure under the public records law.

Biden's lawyers argued that the disclosure would “constitute an unwarranted invasion of President Biden’s privacy.”

“Every American, including a sitting or former Vice President, has a right to privacy in the personal conversations he has within his own home,” his attorneys wrote. "And when the U.S. Department of Justice obtains that private information through a criminal investigation, the Department bears a particular responsibility to protect it from disclosure."

At issue in the case are audio recordings and transcripts of Biden's interviews at his home in 2016 and 2017 with Mark Zwonitzer, who worked with Biden on his two memoirs. The files were scrutinized by special counsel Robert Hur as part of his investigation into the president’s improper retention of classified documents, from his time as a senator and as vice president.

Hur's yearlong investigation led to a 345-page report that questioned Biden’s age and mental competence but recommended no criminal charges against the then-81-year-old. Hur said he found insufficient evidence to successfully prosecute a case in court.

Biden has separately fought the release of the audio of his interview with Hur. The House in 2024 voted to hold Biden Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over that audio after the White House exerted executive privilege, shielding it from Congress.

The transcripts of five hours of Biden interviews with federal prosecutors was released that same year. While Biden was adamant that he treated classified information seriously, the transcript shows that he was at times fuzzy about dates and details and he said he was unfamiliar with the paper trail for some of the sensitive documents he handled.

Republicans have argued Biden was being given a pass by his own Justice Department and that Trump had been unfairly victimized by prosecutors. Democrats, for their part, stressed Biden’s cooperation in the investigation and strongly contrasted that with the separate criminal case against Trump, who was accused of refusing to return classified documents requested by the National Archives that he had at his Florida estate.

“Ahora la decisión es del presidente”, dijo el diputado Rafael López, de la fuerza Libre, de oposición.

Sin embargo, Paz ha privilegiado hasta el momento la vía del diálogo con los sectores en conflicto pese a llamados de algunos sectores para que decrete un estado de excepción con el objetivo de controlar la crisis.

La anulación de la norma se aprobó por más de dos tercios de los diputados en una sesión virtual y será enviada al Poder Ejecutivo para que la promulgue, informó el presidente de la Cámara de Diputados, Roberto Castro, del partido de gobierno.

El domingo, la Cámara de Senadores aprobó la norma en una primera instancia y que anula una regulación de hace seis años impulsada en el anterior gobierno del izquierdista Movimiento Al Socialismo (MAS).

Esa ley prohibía cualquier tipo de restricción a la libertad y disponía que las Fuerzas Armadas podían intervenir en el control de disturbios civiles, siempre y cuando la policía fuese superada y no existiera otro medio efectivo para restablecer el orden.

Además, obligaba al Ejecutivo a remitir el decreto de excepción a la Asamblea Legislativa para su revisión y aprobación en un plazo de 24 horas.

“Esto era un candado, ahora se respeta la Constitución Política del Estado y hay un plazo de 72 horas", dijo el diputado Ricardo Rada, del partido gobernante, a la televisora Red Uno.

Poco antes, la Iglesia Católica señaló que un posible “estado de excepción no resolverá el conflicto” y llamó a un diálogo sincero.

The Miami-based app called Dibs Parking was started by two friends who met in middle school and went into business last year after studying computer science.

“The process is pretty simple,” said Dibs Parking co-founder Willy Merlet. “In like two minutes you can reserve your spot. They see the options and choose the event.”

With the app, users can sign up and list their home, like the many near Hard Rock Stadium, for people to find and use for parking.

“It’s a lot more convenient for people,” said Miami Gardens resident Mike Jean, who uses his property for parking during events.

The creators say the platform was designed to help people find affordable parking near events like the World Cup and let people – like homeowners or business owners – make a little cash.

Local 10’s Jeff Derderain also found a unique website where ticket prices and trends are updated periodically called TicketData.com, which pulls information from places like StubHub, Vivid Seats and TickPick.

Camp leaders say they tell residents to wash their hands before eating — with soap for the lucky ones who have it. For the rest, the advice is to use oatmeal or sand.

“My fear is that we are here with nothing to protect ourselves. We have no protection, no water or soap, and we live near garbage," Francine Leve Janguzi, a resident of the so-called ISP camp told The Associated Press, as she opened an empty tap in a sea of tarpaulin roofs.

Supplies are being rushed to Ituri province as aid groups and healthcare workers try to stem an outbreak of the infectious disease that has been declared a global health emergency.

But front-line responders are concerned the disease might spread to the large displacement camps located near Bunia, where thousands of people are crammed into limited space, without access to basic hygiene.

“Eastern DRC’s years of conflict and displacement have left health systems on their knees, and that makes containing this outbreak all the harder,” said Heather Kerr, Congo director with the International Rescue Committee.

Almost a million people have been displaced from their homes by conflict in Ituri, according to the U.N.

That means this Ebola outbreak is “unfolding in communities already facing insecurity, displacement and fragile healthcare systems,” said Gabriela Arenas, a regional coordinator at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

The majority of residents of the ISP camp — which owes its name to its proximity to the Higher Pedagogical Institute, or Institut Superieur Pedagogique in French — were forced to leave their villages in the Djugu territory following attacks by CODECO, one of the multiple armed groups which operate in the region.

“I’ve been here for eight and a half years. Now we’re hearing about Ebola,” camp resident Janguzi said. “Look at the state of where we’re sleeping. We don’t have any help whatsoever. We don’t have soap or water, yet we’re told to wash our hands regularly and be clean.”

There is no vaccine or treatment for the rare Bundibugyo type of Ebola, which has been spreading undetected for weeks in eastern Congo. Standard tests struggle to detect the Bundibugyo.

Over 1,000 suspected cases and at least 220 deaths had already been recorded as of Tuesday, including seven confirmed cases in Uganda. But the World Health Organization and aid groups on the ground say the outbreak is much larger.

Ebola is a highly contagious virus and can be contracted from bodily fluids such as vomit, blood or semen. The disease it causes is rare but severe and often fatal. Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle pain, weakness, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain and unexplained bleeding or bruising.

Eastern Congo has for years seen attacks by dozens of separate rebel and militant groups, some of them with links to foreign countries or the extremist Islamic State group.

The Rwanda-backed M23 rebels are in control of parts of the region. While the Congolese government still largely controls the northeastern Ituri Province, the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak, that control is tenuous. The Allied Democratic Forces, a Ugandan Islamist group linked to IS, is one of the dominant rebel groups there and responsible for violent attacks against civilian targets.

Before the outbreak, humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders said in an assessment that the insecurity in Ituri had worsened recently, causing doctors and nurses to flee and leaving overwhelmed health facilities and in some parts, “catastrophic conditions.”

Gérard Maki, a community leader in the camp, told AP the disease is very frightening. "I’ve learned that there’s no cure, which is why it scares me. ... Our government should also do everything possible to find a solution to this disease.”

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Pronczuk reported from Dakar, Senegal. Associated Press writer Jean-Yves Kamale contributed to this report from Kinshasa.

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

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

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It happened Tuesday afternoon around 1:45 p.m. in the area of the 4400 block of Northeast Third Avenue in Deerfield Beach.

According to Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue, one woman was killed in the crash and two other people were rushed to a nearby hospital as trauma alert patients. The Broward Sheriff’s Office said a third person was also injured in the crash.

Authorities closed Third Avenue between Northeast 43rd and 48th streets due to their traffic investigation.

Views from Sky 10 showed a Nissan Rogue that had smashed through the fence of someone’s home, a white Land Rover that was completely flipped over on the sidewalk and a white Nissan van that was smashed in the middle of the road.

The owner of that home said there were children playing in his pool at the time of the crash.

“I had four granddaughters here, they were swimming in the pool,” he told Local 10’s Byron Tollefson.

That man, who did not want his identity revealed, said he was just thinking of the woman who lost her life when asked about his fence.

“The fence is like more than $5,000, but that’s not the problem, the problem is the life,” he said.

One resident who said he’s live in the area for more than a decade, was shocked by what he saw.

“That’s strange man, that’s crazy man,” he said. “People need to stop speeding.”

Video posted on social media by U.S. Southern Command shows a boat speeding through water before exploding into flames. Southern Command said it “immediately notified the U.S. Coast Guard to activate the Search and Rescue system for the survivors.”

The Trump administration’s campaign of blowing up alleged drug-trafficking vessels in Latin American waters, including the eastern Pacific and the Caribbean Sea, has gone on since early September and killed at least 194 people in total. The military has not provided evidence that any of the vessels were carrying drugs.

The Pentagon watchdog said last week that it will evaluate whether the U.S. military followed an established targeting framework when carrying out the attacks on alleged drug-smuggling boats. The six-phase Joint Targeting Cycle include a military commander’s intent, target development, analysis, decision, execution and assessment.

The Pentagon inspector general’s office said the review was “self-initiated.” It will not probe the legality of the strikes, which have drawn intense scrutiny from some Democratic lawmakers and military legal scholars.

The Trump administration says the U.S. is at war against the Latin American drug cartels, which it says are responsible for the scourge of fatal drug overdoses plaguing many American communities.

During his career, Newhouse served as president of the Star-Ledger in Newark, New Jersey, and head of Advance Publications' newspaper group, which he navigated into the internet age.

“You reveled in his company. He filled you with energy and humor when you felt doubtful and weak,” Anna Wintour, the global editorial director of Vogue and Conde Nast's chief content officer, said in an obituary released Tuesday night by the Newhouse family.

Newhouse, who lived in New York, spent nearly 50 years overseeing the 35 newspapers of Advance Publications, the media business started by his late father, Samuel Irving Newhouse Sr., in 1922. His older brother, S.I. Newhouse Jr., was chairman of the company and oversaw Conde Nast magazines. He died in 2017.

Louis D. Boccardi, retired president and CEO of the AP, said Newhouse was an extraordinary chairman for the cooperative.

“His voice was never the loudest in the room, but it was often the wisest,” Boccardi said. Newhouse was instinctively private, but behind that, Boccardi said, was a generous man, at home anywhere and curious about everything.

“He could come across as self-effacing and deferential, but in Don's skilled hands those were qualities that made him an enormously strong and effective leader,” Boccardi said.

A man who didn't chase the spotlight

Newhouse, born in 1929, was known for staying out of the public eye. A reporter once asked him to list the biggest chances he took in his career. The answer: “Inviting your questions.”

The usually reserved Newhouse did step into the spotlight when he took on the role of chairman of the Newspaper Association of America from 1993 to 1994 and then chairman of the AP board of directors from 1997 to 2002. He had served on the AP board for nine years before becoming its chairman.

“My dad believed in the journalistic mission of the AP,” said Michael Newhouse, Donald E. Newhouse's son. He added that his dad and the publication's then-CEO would travel around the world to meet AP journalists.

"He was a smart and shrewd businessman but as thoughtful and kind a man as you'll find. Being in his presence was always a joy,” said Doug Clifton, editor of one of Newhouse's papers, The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, from 1999 to 2007.

Newhouse attended Syracuse University but never graduated, heading into the family's newspaper business instead. In 2016 he finally received a degree from the school and gave its commencement address.

Newhouse would regularly visit his newspapers but left the ultimate authority of running them to his publishers.

"Each of our newspapers operates independently, with publishers who are strong, who set policy for their individual organizations and who have the authority and responsibility of carrying out the policies they set," he said in 1993 when taking over as chairman of the newspaper association.

Newhouse was known for spending money to make sure that papers got the best stories. Jim Willse, editor of The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J., from 1995 until 2010, said they “added staff, modernized the design, took on investigations and other major projects.”

Newhouse's philosophy of spending money to produce quality coverage and a hands-off approach toward his editors led to many successes. From 2001 to 2012, Advance’s newspaper group was awarded a dozen Pulitzers.

Many of those newspapers were able to thrive and remain profitable because they dominated their market, but Newhouse said he was very much aware of what he called the “dramatically changing media landscape” and how people get their news.

“The 15th-century revolution was epitomized by the printing of the Gutenberg Bible; ours by Ted Turner's cable news network and by web-based news sites — news in real time from anywhere to everywhere,” he said in 2004 at the rededication of a communications school named after his father at Syracuse University.

Three years later, he told one of his papers, The Post-Standard of Syracuse, N.Y., that newspapers can survive “by producing content that is relevant, interesting, accurate and entertaining for newspapers and the internet.”

He steered through financial struggles

Yet the papers did ultimately struggle financially.

Advance was known in the industry for a pledge that employees who weren't in a union would have jobs regardless of economic downturns or technological advances. In 2009, the company announced that the pledge would be withdrawn.

The company also moved away from daily publishing of several papers. In 2012, it announced that the Post-Standard; The Times-Picayune in New Orleans, Louisiana; the Patriot-News in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and the Birmingham News, the Press-Register of Mobile and The Huntsville Times, all in Alabama, would cease daily publication and would only offer print editions on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Those changes were accompanied by hundreds of layoffs.

“His conservative approach left both the papers and its employees somewhat unprepared for the realities of the internet,” said Thomas Maier, who wrote a 1994 biography of the family.

Newhouse's eldest son, Steven, spearheaded the company's growth on the Internet and on mobile devices. Steven Newhouse is currently co-president of Advance Publications.

“My dad spent his life in the newspaper business and was devoted to it, built it up and enjoyed many good years. When it became more challenging, he was first in line to work through, finding solutions to keep the local journalism franchise going,” he said.

While Newhouse was dedicated to Advance, his true passion was his family. His daughter, Katherine Mele, said his favorite pastime was 3-mile (4.8-kilometer) walks with them.

In addition to his children, Newhouse is also survived by his grandchildren. His wife, Susan, died in 2015.

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Associated Press reporter Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed.

The operator of a 27-foot Robalo struck a docked 21-foot flats boat, a 21-foot Godfrey Pontoon, and hurt two people who were on the dock, according to FWC.

An EarthCam surveillance camera outside the 15th Street Fisheries restaurant recorded the crash. Steve Messier said he and his son had just been there.

“We were right at the spot where the accident took place,” Messier said. “We feel very fortunate that we decided to leave about 10 minutes before that happened.”

The FWC was investigating the cause of the crash.

The incident happened Sunday on the sand in Miami Beach as many were enjoying the Memorial Day holiday.

According to police, a group of friends was hanging out on the beach when one of them, identified as Misael Algel Aguilar Santurio, began throwing sand at the others.

After the victim threw sand back at him, she told police Aguilar Santurio got upset and told her “that he was going to gut her” before retrieving a pocket knife from his backpack and chasing her around the beach, according to an arrest form.

“I was scared,” the victim, Yarielys Riobo, told Local 10 News. “All I was doing was backing up, all I was doing was watching him, because if I turned my back he would have launched at me.”

Two men from the group tackled Aguilar Santurio and a third person took his knife away until officers arrived, police said.

“I don’t understand, I knew he had anger issues from the beginning,” said Riobo.

Aguilar Santurio is facing charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and resisting an officer without violence.

Phuoc died Saturday in Southern California after collapsing suddenly, his nephew, Van Nguyen, said.

Phuoc was hired in 1965 by AP’s former photo chief, Horst Faas, to replace another local hire who had been killed on assignment. He quickly gained a reputation among other journalists and the U.S. and South Vietnamese troops for his uncanny ability to find the thick of the action.

Phuoc was born in a Vietnamese village near Quang Ngai, south of Da Nang, in 1935 and was the youngest of many siblings. When he was about 10, his father was killed by local members of the Viet Cong insurgency. A few years later, his mother died, leaving him homeless.

“He was a really very extraordinary man who grew up from very bad treatment when he was a boy,” Nguyen said.

As a young man, Phuoc volunteered to help carry equipment at a Saigon film studio where Nguyen’s mother worked as a cook. It was there that Phuoc first picked up a camera and taught himself photography, his nephew said.

Phuoc, who was dubbed the AP’s “secret weapon” by his boss, was known for walking with the “point man” on combat patrols, putting him in position to get excellent photographs — but also exposing him to grave danger.

He was wounded at least five times during his 10 years with the AP in Vietnam, the first time just five months after he was hired. A grenade explosion left him with shrapnel in his chest and leg, but he was back on duty within a few months covering the drawn-out civil war between the Communist forces of North Vietnam and the U.S.-backed South Vietnamese military.

In 1968, he sustained a concussion when he was hit in the head by a rocket while covering street fighting in Saigon. That same year, Phuoc risked sniper fire to carry a wounded U.S. soldier to safety and received a commendation from the Ninth U.S. Army Infantry Division for saving the man’s life.

Phuoc lost his right eye in a grenade explosion in 1969 while on patrol with a Ranger battalion south of Da Nang, along Vietnam’s central coast. He learned to shoot with one eye and returned to work.

In a 2011 interview for AP’s archives, Phuoc described the difficulty of working with one eye when he had to look through the camera while also watching for silent hand gestures from the soldiers with whom he was patrolling.

His colleague in AP’s Saigon bureau, Huỳnh Công “Nick” Út, described Phuoc as fearless and resourceful in the field. Behind the scenes, he was a giving man and loyal friend who treated Út like a brother.

“Everyone loved him so much,” Út said. “When I heard, I cried, ‘My brother, he’s gone.’”

Despite his reputation for shooting action, the photos that touched Phuoc were those that evoked the plight of civilians caught in the crossfire. In the 2011 interview, he compared himself to a “small grain of sand” who used his pictures to bring their stories to the world.

When Saigon fell in 1975, Phuoc fled with his family with little more than the clothes on their back and a bottle of milk. His family was rescued from a refugee camp in Guam with the help of AP reporter Linda Deutsch, who was covering the tent city, and flown to Camp Pendleton.

Phuoc then returned to Asia and worked briefly for the AP in Hong Kong before leaving the company and settling permanently in Southern California with his family.

He went on to become a professional portrait photographer in Orange County, which is home to Little Saigon, the largest single community of South Vietnamese refugees in the world.

His great-nephew, Kim Nguyen, looked back Tuesday at the portraits Phuoc shot of him as a baby and reminisced about bringing his own son to see Phuoc’s work on display at a museum in Vietnam.

In California, Phuoc was a founding member of The Artistic Photography Association and trained young photographers. He also was a civilian volunteer for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and in 1994 was named the county’s volunteer of the year.

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Schoenbaum reported from Salt Lake City.

It turned out to be a genius move.

McCain scored 20 points — 18 of them coming in the second half — and the host Thunder beat the San Antonio Spurs 127-114 in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals on Tuesday night, a victory that put the reigning NBA champions one win away from a return trip to the NBA Finals.

“We just thought he could give us some good stuff, just based on where we are right now with a couple guys out,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “He was really good. ... Great mental toughness. I never take it for granted when somebody steps into a role like that in a game like this, but certainly not surprised. He's got great moxie and confidence and he showed that tonight.”

Williams was downgraded to out by the Thunder for Game 5 about an hour before game time Tuesday. after being listed as questionable throughout the day because of his ongoing issues with a strained left hamstring.

Mitchell, who typically starts in Williams' place, was ruled out earlier by the Thunder with a strained right soleus.

And that created a moment for McCain — who delivered. He wasn't shy, either, with his 19 shot attempts in Game 5 tying Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for the most on the Thunder.

“Coming into this game, I just literally wanted to play as hard as I can on the offensive end and rebound and everything else will flow," McCain said after the game on NBA TV — where he disclosed that Daigneault hinted Monday that he'd be the starter, then confirmed it to him Tuesday. “Everything else comes together.”

McCain was making the first playoff start of his career. He averaged 8.8 points in 12 playoff games off the bench for the Thunder entering Tuesday.

It's unknown how long he'll remain in the starting five. Game 6 is Thursday in San Antonio, but his effort Tuesday certainly was one heck of an audition.

Williams returned for Game 1 of the West finals, scoring 26 points in 37 minutes in Oklahoma City’s 122-115 double-overtime loss. He had four points in seven first-quarter minutes in Game 2, including an alley-oop dunk with 2:12 left in the period, and hasn't played since.

Williams has now missed 58 of the Thunder’s 95 games this season, including playoffs. Of those absences, 19 were for a right wrist issue and the other 39 were related to his hamstrings — the right one costing him 30 games during the regular season, the left one now costing him nine during the playoffs.

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

“I don't need it,” he said back in March. “I think it's a stupid award.”

On Tuesday, Mazzulla won a stupid award.

Mazzulla was announced as the NBA’s top coach for 2025-26, after the Celtics earned the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference — despite playing most of the year without Jayson Tatum while he recovered from Achilles surgery and amid rebuilding expectations from many following the departures of players like Al Horford, Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday.

To be very clear, Mazzulla's dismissal of the award in March was for one reason — he thinks it should be more of a “coaching staff of the year” than a “coach of the year” award, and that is a noble approach. He repeated that during Tuesday night's announcement of his win, beginning his remarks on NBC by thanking those who made it possible.

“The long nights, the trips, game plans, the video guys that are clipping up the film and coding it, the assistants who are putting in the game plan, I think there’s so much that goes into winning one game,” Mazzulla said. “It starts with the players, but it goes to our staff. I feel bad that they’re not here — but forever indebted to the guys that we have that give up time with their families and their time to give us a chance to win every day.”

The 37-year-old Mazzulla is the youngest winner of the award since Phil Johnson in 1975, the NBA said.

Fittingly, the Celtics coach will get the Red Auerbach Trophy — which is named for the legendary Celtics coach. Mazzulla becomes the fourth Boston coach to win the award, following Auerbach in 1965, Tom Heisohn in 1973 and Bill Fitch in 1980. Auerbach, a Hall of Famer, guided the Celtics to nine NBA championships, including eight in a row from 1959 through 1966.

“This is well deserved recognition and a testament to both Joe and his staff,” Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens said. “With all of our unknowns entering the season, Joe did a fantastic job building and growing a team. He pours everything he has into competing at a high level, while helping players find the best versions of themselves within the framework of a team."

Detroit's J.B. Bickerstaff — for the second consecutive year — finished second, and San Antonio's Mitch Johnson placed third.

The award is based on regular-season results only. Votes from the panel of 100 reporters and broadcasters who cover the NBA were turned in during the play-in tournament, which was more than a month ago.

The Coach of the Year award — the one handed out Tuesday is separate from the one presented earlier this spring by the National Basketball Coaches Association, which Bickerstaff won — is the last of the major awards given out by the NBA to commemorate the best of the 2025-26 season.

The rundown of awards:

— Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City: Most Valuable Player and Clutch Player of the Year.

— Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio: Defensive Player of the Year.

— Cooper Flagg, Dallas: Rookie of the Year.

— Keldon Johnson, San Antonio: Sixth Man of the Year.

— Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Atlanta: Most Improved Player.

— Bam Adebayo, Miami: Social Justice Champion.

— Derrick White, Boston: Sportsmanship Award.

— DeAndre Jordan, New Orleans: Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year.

— Brad Stevens, Boston: Executive of the Year.

— Moussa Diabaté, Charlotte: Hustle Award.

— The All-NBA, All-Defensive and All-Rookie teams.

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

La salida de Sebastián Negrón Reichard del Departamento de Desarrollo Económico y Comercio se produce en un momento crítico para Puerto Rico, mientras busca reactivar su economía y atraer a inversionistas.

Negrón Reichard señaló en su comunicado que más de 10 funcionarios con cargos de liderazgo en la agencia —incluidos su jefe de despacho, el asesor jurídico general y el jefe de finanzas— también renunciaron tras lo que calificó como intervenciones del gobierno. Indicó que entre ellas figura la revocación de dos suspensiones sumarias que Negrón Reichard había impuesto después de que una investigación determinara intervenciones indebidas en las actividades de compras de la agencia.

Las acciones del gobierno “hacen imposible continuar ejerciendo el cargo con la integridad y la autonomía que el rol requiere y que todo secretario le debe a la ciudadanía”, manifestó Negrón Reichard.

Agregó que esas acciones también dejaron “desprotegido al personal que denunció alegadas irregularidades en procesos internos”.

Negrón Reichard afirmó que no haría más comentarios, a la espera de acciones legales.

La gobernadora González expresó su decepción después de que los reporteros le preguntaran sobre la renuncia y desdeñó las preguntas sobre la presunta interferencia.

“Me decepciona porque creo que fue un gran secretario de agencia”, dijo.

Mientras tanto, el presidente del Senado de Puerto Rico, Thomás Rivera Schatz, quien recientemente ha tenido discrepancias con González aunque ambos pertenecen al mismo partido proestadidad, calificó la renuncia como sumamente lamentable.

“Yo espero que a quienes les toca evaluar y comprender el alcance de estas circunstancias lo hagan y tomen las acciones correctivas que tienen que tomar, que les estoy advirtiendo hace bastante tiempo”.

“Si no lo hacen, pues, yo estaré conversando con estas personas y, si traen ante mí evidencia que demuestre que algo anda mal, yo voy pa' encima”, añadió.

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

The practice was closed to reporters, but the Chiefs posted a clip on social media that showed the two-time MVP making throws with his left knee in a brace. The Chiefs are scheduled to work again Wednesday before speaking with reporters on Thursday.

“He's in a good position to do some things,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said earlier this month. "There’s some rules and regulations that go with that, so we just have to make sure we’re on top of that part. But if he can do some things — phase 2 (of the offseason), remember, is there’s no contact, no offense versus defense. It’s phase 3 that you get into that.

“So you just have to evaluate what you want to do there,” Reid said. "He’s in a position where he can do everything, I think.”

Mahomes hurt his knee in the waning minutes of a loss to the Chargers last Dec. 14, which effectively eliminated the Chiefs from playoff contention. He underwent surgery the next day in Dallas, and the hope all along — through every video clip Mahomes posted to social media of himself working out — is that he would be ready for Week 1 of the upcoming season.

Kansas City faces AFC West rival Denver on Sept. 14 in a marquee Monday night matchup.

Mahomes typically spends the first part of the offseason at his home in Texas, and wide receivers and tight ends will usually join him there for a voluntary, player-led set of workouts. But this season, Mahomes elected to do his rehabilitation work at the Chiefs' practice facility with longtime trainer Julie Frymyer, which allowed the organization to keep a close eye on him.

“He's throwing the ball,” Reid said, “and he does it on his own, so he's not getting in any trouble here.”

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

The chants: “We want Wemby! We want Wemby!”

The Knicks have done their part, getting to the NBA Finals. And now, they'll have to wait until at least Thursday to see which team comes out of the Western Conference — either Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs, or the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder.

Before Game 5 of the Spurs-Thunder series on Tuesday night, San Antonio coach Mitch Johnson was asked if he has heard about the chants from those Knicks fans.

He hasn't — but didn't seem surprised that they're happening.

“I know New York's on fire. They won so that city is obviously enjoying it and they've had a heck of a playoff run,” Johnson said. “But unfortunately, I've been pretty locked-into what we've got going right here in front of us.”

The Knicks have won 11 consecutive games, rallying from a 2-1 deficit to beat Atlanta in Round 1 and then sweeping Philadelphia and Cleveland in the next two rounds.

And in fairness, some Knicks fans were captured on videos that got posted to social media chanting “We want Wemby!” after Game 1 of the East finals against the Cavaliers.

“Tip your cap to New York, for sure,” Johnson said. "They're having a heck of a run."

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

Hobart/Lawrence (Wisconsin) Police Chief Michael Renkas said that Jacobs was arrested Tuesday and booked into Brown County Jail on charges of strangulation and suffocation, battery-domestic abuse, criminal damage to property-domestic abuse, disorderly conduct-domestic abuse and intimidation of a victim.

Renkas said police had been dispatched to a complaint involving Jacobs on Saturday at 8:37 a.m.

“This remains an active and ongoing investigation,” Renkas said in a statement. “No further information will be released at this time.”

The strangulation and suffocation charge is a felony and the other four charges are misdemeanors, according to the charge information in the Brown County Jail's online record of this case.

Jacobs' lawyers — David Chesnoff, Richard Schonfeld and Clarence Duchac — issued a joint statement on his behalf.

“Josh vehemently denies the allegations, and this matter is in the early stages of investigation with important evidence that has not yet been made public,” they said. “We ask for fairness and restraint while the judicial process takes its course.”

Jacobs is the Packers’ top returning rusher after running for 929 yards and 13 touchdowns last season. That followed a 2024 season in which he ran for 1,329 yards and 15 touchdowns while earning his third Pro Bowl selection.

He's the only player on Green Bay's roster who rushed for as many as 200 yards for the Packers last season. Emanuel Wilson, the Packers' second-leading rusher last year, signed with the Seattle Seahawks in the offseason.

The Packers began their organized team activities Tuesday. Packers coach Matt LaFleur has a scheduled availability with reporters Wednesday.

“We are aware of the matter involving Josh Jacobs,” a Packers spokesman said. “As it is an ongoing legal situation, we will withhold further comment.”

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said that “we are aware of the report and have been in contact with the club.”

Jacobs spent his first five seasons with the Raiders. He earned All-Pro honors and had an NFL-leading 1,653 yards rushing with Las Vegas in 2022.

He has rushed for 7,803 yards and 74 touchdowns in his seven-year career. The only active players with more career touchdown runs are Baltimore's Derrick Henry (122) and Buffalo's Josh Allen (79).

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

The Golden Knights limited the Avalanche's high-powered offense all series and then suffocated it Tuesday night.

That defense, aided by goals from Stone and Cole Smith, led to a 2-1 victory and an unthinkable sweep of Colorado for the Knights' third final in nine seasons.

“It's by far our best game," said Vegas coach John Tortorella, whose team was 30-1 at Caesars Sportsbook at the beginning of the series to sweep. “(Checking is) something we've been concentrating on, and I think we've gotten better and better through the rounds. But tonight's game was our best checking effort, and that's a hell of a hockey team we played over there.”

The Golden Knights will get a break while they watch to see whether Carolina or Montreal emerges from the Eastern Conference Final.

This is a crushing end for an Avalanche team that won the Presidents' Trophy and had blown through the playoffs with an 8-1 record. Chicago in 2013 was the last team to claim the Presidents’ Trophy and the Stanley Cup in the same season.

“We ran into a buzz saw in Vegas,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “I think they deserved the credit. It’s not a knock on how hard they played, but they’re a well-oiled machine right now, peaking at the right time. I look at their series and man-to-man they’re playing at the top of their game. We’ll have to regroup and reassess and reflect on our season and the series and go from there.”

With several Las Vegas Raiders players looking on, including quarterbacks Kirk Cousins and Fernando Mendoza, the Golden Knights got on the scoreboard when McNabb delivered a perfect pass to Stone. Not known for elite skating ability, Stone nevertheless got behind the Avalanche, caught the puck and scored.

“I'm not winning a ton of races,” Stone said. “I think I can create angles to get into those positions. That's probably why I've had quite a few breakaways in my career.”

That was the only goal until Smith tipped in Dylan Coghlan's shot from the point with 5:45 left for a critical two-goal margin.

Carter Hart stopped 20 shots, coming within 2:03 of his first playoff shutout in six years.

Gabriel Landeskog ended that shutout, one of the few highlights of the night for the Avalanche, who went the final 14:23 of the second period without a shot on goal and more than 25 minutes with just one shot.

Hart said he thought the Golden Knights defense “100%” frustrated the Avalanche.

“I think once we scored that first goal, in the second and third period we just kind of locked it down and kept pressure on them,” Hart said. “We did a great job. We had some huge blocks tonight.”

It wasn't just this night. Colorado center Nathan MacKinnon, who led the NHL with 53 goals in the regular season, failed to hit the back of the net in any of the four games. Martin Necas, who had 100 points, totaled just two in this series.

The Avalanche averaged a league-high 3.63 goals during the regular season and in the first two rounds upped that to 4.11. Against the Golden Knights? It was 1.75.

“I think you look back at the four games, there are definitely times where we found our game,” Landeskog said. “I think the problem was we found ways to lose hockey games. I think over the course of the regular season, in the first two rounds, it was the opposite. Even if we didn’t have our A-game, we were finding different ways to win hockey games, and against this good of a hockey team in the Golden Knights, they’ll make you pay for your mistakes.”

Mackenzie Blackwood, making his first start in the series, gave the Avalanche a chance to win with several dazzling saves en route to 24 saves overall. His best stop came late in the second period when he lunged to glove a power-play shot from Pavel Dorofeyev.

The journey to the final isn't quite the Cinderella story of the Golden Knights’ first team that made the Stanley Cup Final in 2018 before losing in five games to Washington, but Vegas’ voyage to this point was far from expected.

The Golden Knights faced the possibility of not making the playoffs for just the second time in franchise history when management fired coach Bruce Cassidy, who led the club to the 2023 title, with eight games left in the regular season.

In came Tortorella, who validated the controversial decision by leading Vegas to a 7-0-1 record to close the regular season and then series victories over Utah and Anaheim. Then the Golden Knights faced an Avalanche team on a roll and without any sign of slowing down.

At least until facing Vegas.

Bednar searched for answers against the Golden Knights, even changing goalies on Tuesday. The Avalanche also dealt with injuries to their top two players this series — reigning Norris Trophy winner Cale Makar and MacKinnon, a Hart Trophy finalist.

The Golden Knights had their own injury issues, winning the first two games of the series without Stone.

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

La fundación New7Wonders advirtió en septiembre pasado que la designación de Machu Picchu como una de las Nuevas Siete Maravillas del Mundo en 2007 estaba en riesgo debido a la gran cantidad de problemas que enfrentan los visitantes.

Jean Paul De la Fuente, director de la fundación, afirmó que no había visto ningún avance en el sitio arqueológico desde septiembre, debido a la crisis política de Perú.

De la Fuente, quien se encuentra actualmente en Perú para conversaciones con funcionarios de turismo, añadió que estaba dispuesto a reunirse con el próximo gobierno del país para explorar soluciones a los deficientes servicios en el lugar.

Las autoridades no respondieron de momento a estos comentarios. Perú celebrará una segunda vuelta electoral el 7 de junio para decidir a su próximo presidente —el noveno en una década.

La contienda será entre Keiko Fujimori, hija de un expresidente que fue encarcelado por abusos a los derechos humanos, y Roberto Sánchez, exministro de Comercio que ha prometido reformas importantes en el sector minero del país. El ganador nombrará al próximo gobierno.

"La gente viaja pensando que va a visitar una maravilla, con un sueño en el corazón, en el alma, y finalmente ese sueño se transforma para muchos, lastimosamente, en una pesadilla", señaló De la Fuente.

Machu Picchu, una ciudadela inca construida en el siglo XV, fue designada Patrimonio Mundial de la UNESCO en 1983. En 2007, el lugar fue uno de los ganadores de una encuesta en línea realizada por la fundación New7Wonders, en la que los turistas eligieron las siete maravillas del mundo moderno.

De la Fuente señaló que el turismo en Machu Picchu ha crecido rápidamente desde entonces, pero agregó que las autoridades peruanas no han hecho los ajustes adecuados.

Subrayó que por ahora el organismo no sopesa la posibilidad de despojar a Machu Picchu de su designación como maravilla del mundo, pero le gustaría que el gobierno considere un plan de su fundación para realizar mejoras.

“Esperamos poder trabajar con el nuevo gobierno, una vez que esté instalado, para encontrar un resultado positivo para Machu Picchu", declaró De la Fuente. “Pasar de una situación negativa para asegurarnos de que Machu Picchu pueda ser un ejemplo a seguir para muchas de las demás maravillas del mundo”.

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

Human rights activists were outraged that the list only included two political prisoners: Iván Leydis Acosta Matos, of Guantanamo, and Kevin Lay Laureido Rojas, of Isla de La Juventud.

Acosta Matos, 25, was protesting peacefully when he was arrested in 2023, and Rojas is the son of a Christian pastor and a conscientious objector, according to The Cuban Observatory of Human Rights.

Prisoners Defenders, a Madrid-based nonprofit organization, has a list of 1,260 political prisoners in Cuba that includes 35 minors.

Artists Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Leonard Richard González Alfonso are among the political prisoners who remain behind bars in Cuba, according to Human Rights Watch, a New York City-based nonprofit.

Related social media post

🚨🇨🇺As part of the process for granting prison benefits established by law and in accordance with Article 90, Section II, of the Constitution of the Republic, it was decided to release 2,010 inmates through a pardon approved by the Government of Cuba.

This humanitarian and…

— Cuban Embassy in US (@EmbaCubaUS) April 3, 2026

Wednesday will bring a mix of sun and clouds along with southeast winds, sustained 10 to 15 mph. There could be a few spotty, passing showers at times. Temperatures are expected to climb to the upper 80s.

The U.S. military characterized Monday’s strikes in southern Iran as defensive, with targets that included missile launch sites and minelaying boats, and said the U.S. acted with “restraint” in light of the weekslong ceasefire.

Iran’s foreign ministry called the strikes a ceasefire violation and warned that Washington would bear responsibility for “all consequences,” without elaborating.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran will leave no act of aggression unanswered,” it added in a statement.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said Tuesday that it shot down at least one drone and deterred another drone and a fighter jet that entered its airspace, according to Iran’s official Mizan news agency. It didn’t specify when the incidents occurred.

Iran’s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, used a statement about Islam’s annual Hajj pilgrimage to address his country’s confrontation with the U.S. and Israel, declaring that other Mideast nations “will no longer serve as a shield” for U.S. military bases. Iran has previously complained about U.S. military facilities in the region and targeted them.

It was not immediately clear what the developments would mean for negotiations.

Iranian state TV reported Tuesday that Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi left Qatar, where talks had been taking place. The report did not elaborate or point to any next steps.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio projected that talks on extending the ceasefire and reopening the crucial Strait of Hormuz will “take a few days.”

Iranians get back online, to some extent

Meanwhile, Iranian authorities eased a monthslong internet shutdown that they cast as a wartime necessity, but that has cost the country’s economy an estimated $30 million to $40 million a day. Internet users reported that access was gradually being restored, at least in some places. State media said fixed broadband service was back. It was unclear when mobile internet would be widely restored.

Iran has long enforced filters and policed content on platforms such as YouTube and Instagram. But before the war, Iranians could bypass restrictions with cheap virtual private networks, known as VPNs, and other easy workarounds.

Authorities cut off internet access in January during massive anti-government demonstrations and later began to relax those restrictions before imposing a complete internet blackout after the U.S. and Israel attacked on Feb. 28.

The internet outage made it difficult for Iranians outside the country to maintain contact with loved ones, and the lack of connectivity devastated the country’s relatively vibrant online businesses, putting further pressure on an already battered economy.

An execution in Iran

In other developments, Iran hanged a man it convicted of spying for Israel, the latest of more than two dozen allegedly espionage- and security-related executions since the war intensified a crackdown on dissent.

The Iranian judiciary’s news outlet, Mizanonline, identified the man as Gholamreza Khani Shakarab, calling him “a ringleader” for operations for Israel’s intelligence agency, the Mossad, and accusing him of recruiting members inside and outside Iran to work against the nation’s security. He was involved in sports and traveled to neighboring countries, according to the news agency.

Activists and rights groups say Iran routinely holds closed-door trials in which defendants are unable to challenge accusations and often are forced to confess.

The official judiciary agency said the country’s Supreme Court had upheld Shakarab’s death sentence.

Global food official concerned about strait closure

The U.S. strikes were the latest flare-up in the fragile ceasefire that began April 7 and has largely held.

Negotiations center in part on the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway off southern Iran through which a fifth of the world’s crude oil and natural gas passed before the war began. Once the fighting started, Tehran retaliated by effectively closing the strait, stranding hundreds of ships, shocking the global economy, disrupting energy markets and squeezing fertilizer supplies worldwide.

Iran has let a limited number of ships pass and has charged tolls. The Revolutionary Guard navy said Tuesday that 25 oil tankers, container ships and other commercial vessels were allowed to pass in the previous 24 hours, according to state broadcaster IRIB. Before the war, over 100 ships a day went through the strait.

The full effect of the fertilizer crunch might not become clear until harvests that are months away. U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization Director-General Qu Dongyu warned Tuesday at an event in Rome that “the decisions we make now will determine whether this remains a manageable shock or evolves into a deeper global food security crisis in 2026 and 2027 and beyond.”

The strait has become a powerful lever for Tehran in talks, joining the long-running issue of Iran’s nuclear program and its highly enriched uranium. Iran wants the U.S. to lift its military blockade of Iranian ports that began on April 17.

In the nearby Gulf of Oman, an explosion was reported Tuesday aboard a tanker, according to the U.K. Maritime Trade Operations Center. No one was injured, and there was no immediate information on the cause.

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A third-party manufacturer may have added California Dairies dry milk powder recalled in April to some 7.3-ounce bottles of Blackstone

Parmesan Ranch, according to Blackstone and the FDA. There haven’t been any Salmonella cases related to Blackstone’s recall, according to the FDA.

The bottles have the number 4106 in the product name and “Best If Used By” dates between July 2, 2027, and Aug. 12, 2027 on the label, according to the FDA announcement.

The affected seasonings were also identified by one of three lot numbers: 2025-43282, 2025-46172, and 2026-54751.

For more information about the recall, call Blackstone Products from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday, at 1-888-879-4610.

Un fabricante externo podría haber añadido leche en polvo seca de California Dairies, retirada del mercado en abril, a algunas botellas de 7,3 onzas del Blackstone Parmesan Ranch, según Blackstone y la FDA. No se han registrado casos de salmonella relacionados con el retiro de Blackstone, según la FDA.

Las botellas tienen el número 4106 en el nombre del producto y fechas de “Mejor si se consume antes de” entre el 2 de julio de 2027 y el 12 de agosto de 2027 en la etiqueta, según el anuncio de la FDA.

Los sazonadores afectados también fueron identificados por uno de tres números de lote: 2025-43282, 2025-46172 y 2026-54751.

Para más información sobre el retiro del mercado, llame a Blackstone Products de 8 a.m. a 5 p.m., de lunes a viernes, al 1-888-879-4610.

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The incident happened early Wednesday morning in the area of North Ocean Drive and Hollywood Boulevard while Officer Luis Diaz was in his police cruiser.

Authorities said was the driver of a BMW that was heading in the opposite direction crossed the median and struck the officer’s vehicle and then fled.

Diaz, who suffered a brain bleed, was released from the hospital on Tuesday.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help with Diaz’s expenses.

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

El incidente ocurrió la madrugada del miércoles en el área de North Ocean Drive y Hollywood Boulevard mientras el oficial Luis Díaz se encontraba en su patrulla.

Las autoridades dijeron que el conductor de un BMW que iba en sentido contrario cruzó el separador central y chocó contra el vehículo del oficial y luego huyó.

Díaz, quien sufrió una hemorragia cerebral, fue dado de alta del hospital el martes.

Se ha creado una página de GoFundMe para ayudar con los gastos de Díaz.

Jones died Friday at a senior living community in the San Francisco Bay Area suburb of Cupertino, according to a statement released by the family, who was at his side.

“Our father lived a life of conscience,” the Jones' family said Tuesday. “He believed, until his final days, that an idea" is "more powerful than the march of any army. We are grateful beyond words for the love, the prayers, and the friendships that sustained him, and us, across this long and remarkable life.”

As King's personal attorney, Jones was heavily involved in some of the key moments of the Civil Rights Movement. He is credited with smuggling pages of King's “Letter from Birmingham Jail” out of his cell and writing many up until the assassination of the civil rights icon in 1968.

He helped craft King's 1967 “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence” address given at Riverside Church in New York exactly a year before King's death. It was considered a hallmark speech for King's condemnation of the Vietnam War and U.S. militarism in general. He argued that the U.S.'s participation in the war exacerbated poverty across the country.

Born on Jan. 8, 1931 in Philadelphia, Jones had parents who were domestic workers for a wealthy Quaker family several miles away in New Jersey, according to the Clarence B. Jones Institute for Social Advocacy. Jones was class valedictorian of an integrated high school in Palmyra, New Jersey. His knack for speechwriting became apparent in 1949, when he gave a graduation speech about breaking down racial barriers.

Jones went on to graduate from Columbia University in New York. He then was drafted by the U.S. Army but was honorably discharged almost two years later. He went on to earn a law degree from Boston University.

In 1960, in what would be the start of a seminal friendship, Jones was approached by King to be on his legal team in a tax evasion case brought by the state of Alabama. Jones pivoted from a career in entertainment law in California and moved his family to New York City. There he could be closer to King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and serve as a full-time adviser, attorney and speechwriter for him.

He was a member of the legal team on the 1964 case New York Times v. Sullivan. The nation's highest court overturned a libel case against the newspaper, which had run an ad condemning police treatment of civil rights demonstrators in Montgomery, Alabama.

After King's death, Jones went on to work for a Wall Street investment banking firm and became the first Black American with the designation of allied member of the New York Stock Exchange.

He later ventured into academia. In 2012, he joined the faculty at the University of San Francisco where he taught law students as well as undergraduates in courses such as “From Slavery to Obama.” In 2018, he co-founded the Institute for Nonviolence and Social Justice at the school. Around the same time, he also became a scholar-in-residence at Stanford University's Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute.

Jones published a book about those years with King in 2023 titled “Last of the Lions: An African American Journey in Memoir.”

The following year he received the nation's highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, from then-President Joe Biden. A few weeks later, a tearful Jones appeared at a San Francisco Giants baseball game with Golden State Warriors basketball star Stephen Curry to throw out the ceremonial first pitch. Curry has produced and co-directed a short documentary on Jones.

“The Baddest Speechwriter of All” won an award at the Sundance Film Festival in January and will stream on Netflix later this year.

Jones is survived by his five children and longtime partner Lin Walters.

Plans for funeral services and a public celebration of life are still being finalized.

El accidente ocurrió el martes por la tarde alrededor de la 1:45 p.m. en el área de la cuadra 4400 de Northeast Third Avenue en Deerfield Beach.

Según Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue, una mujer murió en el choque y otras dos personas fueron trasladadas de emergencia a un hospital cercano como pacientes de trauma. La Oficina del Sheriff de Broward informó que una tercera persona también resultó herida en el accidente.

Las autoridades cerraron Third Avenue entre Northeast 43rd y 48th streets debido a la investigación de tránsito.

Esta es una noticia en desarrollo que será actualizada a medida que haya nueva información disponible.

Hammon made her initial comments on ESPN in December 2023, saying the Knicks couldn't win the championship if the 6-foot-2 Brunson was their best player.

“If your best player is small, you're not winning,” Hammon said at the time.

Those comments have generated some buzz after Brunson received the Larry Bird Trophy for MVP of the Eastern Conference finals after the Knicks swept the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday night. He averaged 25.5 points and 7.8 assists in the series.

The Knicks will face defending champion Oklahoma City or San Antonio in the finals.

“I speak from experience,” Hammon said Tuesday. "Allen Iverson got MVP and he lost in the finals. I think the two best teams are probably in the West, but I'm up for being proven wrong. That's the other thing, I think Jalen Brunson's a hell of a player, a hell of a player. I'm speaking historically on the NBA with what I said. I don't know why everybody's so stuck on that. I said it two years ago.

“I said what I said. If he proves me wrong, he proves me wrong.”

Hammon, who has coached the Aces to three of the past four WNBA championships, has a clear rooting interested in the NBA playoffs.

The Hall of Famer played for the San Antonio Silver Stars — who eventually moved to Las Vegas and became the Aces — and later was a Spurs assistant under coach Gregg Popovich.

“Oh, you know who I'm cheering for,” Hammon said.

___

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

La víctima dijo que la mujer, quien estaba con un adolescente, tomó un sobre con información de tarjetas de crédito.

La preocupación de la víctima: “Robo de identidad!”

Los residentes en el área de West 36 Avenue y Northwest 133 Street dijeron que su correo también había sido robado.

“He estado esperando una tarjeta de Bank of America que nunca llegó, y pedí otra, y la otra tampoco ha llegado”, dijo Julio Cordero, quien vive en la comunidad Hialeah Garden Estates.

Los inspectores postales de Estados Unidos investigan el delito federal, castigado con hasta 5 años de prisión. La víctima en Hialeah Gardens reportó el crimen a los agentes de policía.

“Me siento violada de cualquier forma porque es algo que no es de ellos, es tuyo y lo tomaron”, dijo ella.

Tiffany Rodda, agente de la Oficina del Sheriff del condado Monroe, dijo que notó un alboroto en medio de la noche. Luego escuchó a su prometido, Mike Pettee, motorista del Departamento de Policía de Key West, gritándole para que escapara.

Rodda dijo que escuchó a Pettee decir: “¡Tenemos que salir! ¡La casa está en llamas!”.

Según Monroe County Fire Rescue, el incendio se desató en las primeras horas de la mañana del 7 de mayo en la vivienda ubicada en Big Pine Key.

Pettee dijo que fueron los cachorros de pastor belga malinois de la pareja quienes alertaron que algo estaba mal.

“Nunca ladran. No se separan de nosotros”, dijo. “Pero ladraron”.

“Tan pronto abrí la puerta, él entró corriendo a la habitación y todo el cuarto se llenó del humo negro más espeso”, agregó Rodda.

Rodda saltó por la ventana. Dijo que Pettee regresó a la casa tres veces, sin darse cuenta al principio de que ella ya había salido.

Como ambos trabajan en las autoridades de ayuda, mantienen armas de fuego aseguradas dentro de la casa.

“Y las balas comenzaron a dispararse”, dijo Rodda.

Con el fuego avanzando y las municiones explotando, ambos buscaron refugio.

Los dos fueron trasladados en helicóptero Trauma Star al Hospital HCA Florida Kendall. Pettee sufrió las heridas más graves.

“Tenía quemaduras en la cabeza, cuello, rostro y manos”, dijo el doctor Haaris Mir, cirujano del hospital.

Pettee también sufrió quemaduras en los pulmones, fue colocado en un coma inducido médicamente y permaneció conectado a un ventilador durante 13 días.

Pero Mir calificó su recuperación como “milagrosa”.

La casa de la pareja quedó destruida y sus tres perros murieron en el incendio.

Aun así, Rodda y Pettee dijeron sentirse agradecidos por el enorme apoyo recibido de la comunidad de los Cayos de Florida, las autoridades y el personal médico que los atendió.

“No hay nada como el condado Monroe”, dijo Rodda. “Realmente, el apoyo de todos fue lo que me ayudó a luchar por él”.

“Lo más interesante es cuánto siento que también he ganado, al poner en perspectiva lo que realmente es importante. Mucho de eso no eran las cosas que se quemaron en la casa”, dijo Pettee.

Kennedy shared the clip of himself grabbing the tails of the non-venomous black racer snakes on his personal social media accounts, noting in the caption that he was removing them from the patio of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz.

An avid outdoorsman, Kennedy has posted numerous photos and videos over the years of himself interacting with wild animals. He's also shared tales of such interactions, including admitting once planting a bear carcass in New York's Central Park as a prank.

Internet users reacted with joy, incredulity and outcry at Kennedy's latest clip, which shows the snakes biting in the direction of his fingers as Oz asks questions about the snakes. Kennedy’s wife, actress Cheryl Hines, can be heard saying “Why?” and telling her husband to let them go.

Herpetologists said the species in the clip is largely harmless to humans, even if it bites. But they said people should be mindful of the stress that handling snakes can put on the creatures, and to avoid grabbing them by the tails as Kennedy does in the video, because it can cause injuries to their spines.

“That is not how I would handle the snakes, but I’m a trained professional,” said Bonnie Keller, a herpetologist and former board member of the Virginia Herpetological Society.

Sean McKnight, director of programs at the nonprofit Rattlesnake Conservancy, said he encourages people to minimize the duration that they’re handling any kind of wildlife, because they are “potentially stressing out the animals more than needed.”

Earlier this month, Kennedy posted a snapshot of himself holding a bird in his enclosed hand in what he wrote was the rescue of a starling at Dulles Airport in northern Virginia.

In 2024, while running for president, he posted a video of himself using a small net and a trowel to capture a rattlesnake in his California driveway. In that video, he cautiously secures the venomous snake in his bare hands and displays its fangs to the camera. McKnight said he doesn’t advise anybody to handle rattlesnakes like that, because there’s no way to restrain them safely with your hands.

Also in 2024, Kennedy generated criticism when he admitted to taking a bear carcass from the side of the road and placing it in Central Park as a prank in 2014. He said at the time that he had been picking up roadkill his “whole life” and once had a “freezer full of it” at home. His campaign spokesperson Stefanie Spear, now a top adviser at the nation's health department, said roadkill was how Kennedy, a longtime falconer, fed his birds.

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The victim said the woman, who was with a teenage boy, took an envelope with credit card information.

The victim’s fear: “Identity theft!”

Residents in the area of West 36 Avenue and Northwest 133 Street said their mail had also been stolen.

“I’ve been waiting for a Bank of America card that never arrived, and I ordered another one, and the other one hasn’t arrived either,” said Julio Cordero, who lives in the Hialeah Garden Estates community.

U.S. Postal Inspectors investigate the federal offense punishable by up to 5 years in prison. The victim in Hialeah Gardens reported the crime to police officers.

“I feel violated no matter what because it is something that is not theirs its yours and they took it,” she said.

University president Lawrence Schovanec wrote in a letter to the Texas Tech community that the school would appeal the ruling. Sorsby also has a court hearing scheduled in Lubbock County District Court next Monday on his request for a temporary injunction that would allow him to play for the Red Raiders this season.

“We believe that given the facts and the context of Brendan’s case, the NCAA’s ruling should be reversed or modified,” Schovanec wrote. “As a generation of college athletes face the legalization and rapid proliferation of sports betting in our country, gambling addiction is rising to the point of epidemic among college aged men in particular.”

Sorsby was one of the top players to enter the transfer portal after last season. At stake is the multimillion-dollar deal the Texas native signed with the Red Raiders for what was supposed to be his final season of college football.

Athletic director Kirby Hocutt said he expected Tech’s appeal to the NCAA being submitted by the end of this week.

“We believe the right thing to do is to not ruin this young man’s college career for something that happened four years ago,” Hocutt said Tuesday while attending the Big 12 spring meetings in Frisco, Texas. “There’s penalties for everything that you do, and we would accept that and expect that, but at the same time, let’s help this young man who has been very vulnerable and has admitted to some wrongdoings. Let’s give him a second chance and help him.”

Schovanec said the 22-year-old Sorsby last week completed an inpatient gambling addiction treatment program and is preparing to return to campus. The quarterback can participate in offseason activities with the Red Raiders.

Schovanec noted the NCAA's stated mission includes the lifelong well-being of athletes and to promote a “culture of care” for their mental health.

“Brendan himself has been open about his struggle with severe gambling addiction, and we believe his vulnerability deserves to be met with the full weight of this institution’s support,” Schovanec wrote. “Our foremost priority in contemplating Brendan’s future with Texas Tech is his continued health and well-being.”

Hocutt said Tech wants to help Sorsby and hopes that "the NCAA would look at it from a different lens than they traditionally have.”

In his lawsuit seeking an injunction, Sorsby acknowledged that in his first year at Indiana, he wagered between $5 and $50 on the Hoosiers football team to win and made prop bets on teammates to exceed statistical predictions. He said he did not bet on the one game in which he played. Sorsby said he never bet on a game involving Cincinnati after he transferred there in 2024, but he continued to bet on other sports.

According to Schovanec, Sorsby will receive ongoing treatment, monitoring and support at the school. He will receive outpatient clinical care, participation in group and individual therapy, mentor resources, treatment for his related anxiety disorder and active monitoring of his technological devices. He also will have a custodian to oversee his personal finances and and periodic compliance checks.

“This is not a symbolic commitment,” Schovanec wrote. “Each element reflects our conviction, and Brendan’s, that nothing matters more right now than his continued recovery. It is our duty to provide that support and that is support we are uniquely well-positioned to provide.”

___

AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

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Tiffany Rodda, a Monroe County Sheriff’s deputy, said she noticed a commotion in the middle of the night. Then she heard fiancée, Mike Pettee, a Key West Police Department motorman, yelling for her to escape.

Rodda said she heard Pettee say, “We have to go! The house is on fire!”

According to Monroe County Fire Rescue, the fire broke out in the early morning hours of May 7th at the structure in Big Pine Key.

Pettee said it was the couple’s Belgian mallenois puppies that signaled something was wrong.

“They never bark. They don’t leave our side,” he said. “But they barked.”

“As soon as I open the door, he comes barreling in the bedroom door, and the entire bedroom fills with the thickest black smoke,” Rodda added.

Rodda jumped out the window. She said Pettee went back into the home three times, at first not realizing she was already out.

Since the pair is in law enforcement, they keep firearms securely in the house.

“And the rounds started going off,” Rodda said.

With fire burning and ammo exploding, the pair ducked for cover.

They were both taken by Trauma Star helicopter to HCA Florida Kendall Hospital. Pettee had the most severe injuries.

“He had burns to his head, neck, face, and his hands,” said Dr. Haaris Mir, a surgeon at the hospital.

Pettee also suffered burns to his lungs, was placed in a medically-induced coma, and on a ventilator for 13 days.

But Mir called his recovery “miraculous.”

The couple’s house is a loss, and all three of their dogs perished in the fire.

Yet Rodda and Pettee feel grateful for the overwhelming support from the Florida Keys community, law enforcement, as well as the medical care they’ve received.

“There is nothing like Monroe County,” Rodda said. “Truly, everyone’s support is what helped me fight for him.”

“What’s very interesting is how much I feel like I’ve also gained - in putting line what’s really, really important. A lot of it isn’t the stuff that burned in the house,” Pettee said.

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It happened on May 11, 2024 near Key Biscayne.

Hartley, then 30, was the captain hired to take Adler, 15, of Miami Beach, and her friends out on a yacht. Adler and another teen were wakeboarding as Hartley towed them along a busy waterway near Key Biscayne. At one point, Adler fell off her wakeboard.

“It’s the state’s contention that by the defendant’s decision to continue pulling Ella’s friend even after Ella had fallen, he put Ella in mortal danger,” prosecutor Laura Adams said. “As the defendant begins to circle heading northbound to where Ella is, that is where Mr. Alonso comes barreling through on his own vessel.

Carlos “Bill” Alonso, ran Adler over and killed her while operating another boat. The Coral Gables man, then 78, said he did not even realize he hit anyone.

Adler’s father spoke at the hearing Tuesday, telling the judge about how his daughter was a talented dancer and an excellent student at Ransom Everglades High School in Coconut Grove.

“Ella didn’t just live. She danced through life,” Matthew Adler, Ella’s father said. “And now she’s gone.”

He also spoke to Hartley directly.

“Having two inexperienced teenagers wakeboarding an active channel filled with large boats and limited visibility was dangerous,” Matthew Adler said. Ella paid for those failures with her life.

In exchange for Hartley’s guilty pleas to failure to have due regard for dangers and failure to use all available means to determine if the risk of collision exists, the state agreed to drop two other misdemeanors.

Hartley will spend the next year on probation and must complete a boater safety course, a sentence the state says they reviewed with the Adler family.

“I have reviewed this with the Adler family and although probably we would all like to see more significant punishment for these types of offenses, the legislature has deemed it fit to make them second-degree misdemeanors so our hands are tied to a certain degree as to what we can seek in these cases,” Adams said.

Hartley must also make a $5,000 donation to the victim’s compensation fund and an additional $2,500 donation in Ella Adler’s name.

Alonso, now 79, pleaded guilty to misdemeanors in January and was sentenced to six months of probation and a boater safety course.

Ocurrió el 11 de mayo de 2024 cerca de Key Biscayne.

Hartley, entonces de 30 años, era el capitán contratado para llevar a Adler, de 15 años y residente de Miami Beach, y a sus amigos a bordo de un yate. Adler y otra adolescente estaban practicando wakeboard mientras Hartley las remolcaba por una vía fluvial concurrida cerca de Key Biscayne. En un momento, Adler cayó de su tabla de wakeboard.

“Es la postura del estado que, por la decisión del acusado de continuar remolcando a la amiga de Ella incluso después de que Ella había caído, puso a Ella en peligro mortal”, dijo la fiscal Laura Adams. “Cuando el acusado comienza a girar dirigiéndose al norte hacia donde está Ella, es allí donde el señor Alonso viene a toda velocidad con su propia embarcación”.

Carlos “Bill” Alonso atropelló a Adler y la mató mientras operaba otra embarcación. El hombre de Coral Gables, entonces de 78 años, dijo que ni siquiera se dio cuenta de que había golpeado a alguien.

El padre de Adler habló en la audiencia del martes, explicando al juez que su hija era una bailarina talentosa y una excelente estudiante en la escuela Ransom Everglades High School en Coconut Grove.

“Ella no solo vivió. Ella bailó a lo largo de la vida”, dijo Matthew Adler, padre de Ella. “Y ahora se ha ido”.

También se dirigió directamente a Hartley.

“Permitir que dos adolescentes inexpertas practicaran wakeboard en un canal activo lleno de grandes barcos y con visibilidad limitada era peligroso”, dijo Matthew Adler. Ella pagó por esos errores con su vida.

A cambio de la declaración de culpabilidad de Hartley por no tener el debido cuidado ante los peligros y por no utilizar todos los medios disponibles para determinar si existía riesgo de colisión, el estado aceptó retirar otros dos delitos menores.

Hartley pasará el próximo año en libertad condicional y deberá completar un curso de seguridad náutica, una sentencia que el estado dijo haber revisado con la familia Adler.

“He revisado esto con la familia Adler y, aunque probablemente todos quisiéramos ver un castigo más significativo para este tipo de delitos, la legislatura ha determinado que se clasifiquen como delitos menores de segundo grado, por lo que nuestras manos están atadas hasta cierto punto en lo que podemos solicitar en estos casos”, dijo Adams.

Hartley también deberá hacer una donación de 5,000 USD al fondo de compensación de víctimas y una donación adicional de 2,500 USD en nombre de Ella Adler.

Alonso, ahora de 79 años, se declaró culpable de delitos menores en enero y fue sentenciado a seis meses de libertad condicional y a un curso de seguridad náutica.

The Alabama-based nonprofit was indicted in April on fraud and money laundering charges that accuse it of misleading donors by paying informants inside white supremacist and other extremist organizations to obtain inside information about their activities.

Lawyers for the SPLC have already argued that law enforcement agencies have long known that the nonprofit paid informants to report on the movements of hate groups. They have also said acting Attorney General Todd Blanche made a false statement at a news conference when he said the organization had not shared with law enforcement information it had learned from informants. Blanche later appeared to walk back that claim in a television interview, saying it was true that the SPLC had “selectively” shared information with law enforcement over the years.

The attorneys for the center expanded on those arguments Tuesday, saying in a legal brief seeking to dismiss the case that the prosecution was the “culmination of a top-down, retributive campaign" in which Trump pushed the Justice Department "to go after those individuals and groups he deemed his political enemies, including the SPLC.”

Defense says indictment fits broader retaliation campaign

The brief was filed against the backdrop of other politically charged prosecutions that have raised concerns that the Justice Department is operating as a weapon to target Trump's opponents. It drew a parallel between the SPLC indictment and the human smuggling prosecution of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, which was dismissed Friday on similar vindictive prosecution grounds by a judge who called the case an “abuse of prosecuting power.”

The SPLC has said its now-defunct program of paying informants to infiltrate hate groups was developed to glean key insights into their activities so that potential victims could be protected. An earlier federal investigation into the practice was closed without charges, but the brief paints the current Justice Department as pursuing the case with renewed — and rushed — vigor.

The department decided to pursue the indictment without having interviewed any current SPLC employees, and did not seek any documents from the group until after it had told defense lawyers that criminal charges were forthcoming, defense lawyers say.

During a meeting requested by defense lawyers who hoped to avert to indictment, Justice Department officials informed them that the decision had already been made to pursue charges, according to the brief.

“These procedural irregularities show that the charges against the SPLC were a foregone conclusion based on prosecutorial vindictiveness — driven by the White House and FBI leadership’s retribution campaign — rather than the result of a good faith examination of the evidence,” the document states. It says the indictment was “premised on conclusory accusations but devoid of provable facts or a proper statement of the law.”

The motion also cites whistleblower accounts that accused top Justice Department officials of rushing forward with an indictment despite internal concerns about the merits of the case and the strength of the evidence.

“For weeks, we have been arguing against these false allegations levied against the SPLC — an organization that for 55 years has stood as a beacon of hope fighting white supremacy and various forms of injustice to create a multiracial democracy where we can all live and thrive,” Bryan Fair, the interim president and CEO of SPLC, said in a statement.

“The government can’t prosecute the SPLC as payback for its protected speech — it violates basic constitutional rights," he said.

The administration has painted SPLC as partisan

Founded in 1971 as a civil rights organization, the SPLC over the decades has used litigation to fight white supremacist groups. It also tracks the activities and locations of domestic extremists. But its work has made it a popular target among Republicans who see it as overly leftist and partisan.

The center, for instance, received fresh attention last year after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk because the SPLC had included a section on the group that Kirk founded and led, Turning Point USA, in a report titled “The Year in Hate and Extremism 2024."

FBI Director Kash Patel announced in October that the bureau would be severing its relationship with the SPLC, saying it had turned into a “partisan smear machine,” and he accused it of defaming “mainstream Americans” with its “hate map” that documents alleged anti-government and hate groups inside the United States.

The defense motion says “animus” from senior levels of the administration helped shape the indictment.

It cites, among other comments, a statement from Trump himself deriding the SPLC as “a total scam run by the Democrats,” as well as a news media interview in which Harmeet Dhillon, the Justice Department's top civil rights official, said the indictment was “personal” to her because she had “a lot of journalist friends ... and groups that I’ve represented who have been targeted by the Southern Poverty Law Center.”

Crews are erecting an octagon-shaped cage on the South Lawn that will host next month's UFC bout, helping mark the nation's 250th anniversary — and President Donald Trump 's 80th birthday.

Online renderings depict what the completed, wire-mesh-fence-ringed fight space is expected to look like ahead of the June 14 event. It will be ringed by a red, white and blue stage under a towering arch featuring stars and stripes patterns and two large screens carrying the action live.

The cage and stage will themselves be surrounded by thousands of temporary seats, including ringside space for a full marching band that can set the entire scene to blaring music.

The project is part of a series of events celebrating the semiquincentennial of the Declaration of Independence's signing on July 4, 1776. Other planned functions include an IndyCar race that will pass by the White House and the Great American State Fair taking place on the National Mall.

Trump has said that the finished UFC project will feature “a 5,000-seat arena right outside the front door of the White House.” Additional large screens broadcasting the fights will be set up in a park at the nearby Ellipse, and the UFC has said it plans to issue as many as 85,000 free tickets to accommodate spectators at both locations.

“I have never seen anybody want anything so much as people want those tickets,” Trump said recently of demand to attend the UFC fight, adding, “That's gonna be something.”

The card has been panned by fans online as underwhelming, featuring just two championship fights. Brazil’s Alex Pereira will meet France’s Ciryl Gane for the interim UFC heavyweight title. Then Spanish-Georgian lightweight champion Ilia Topuria takes on interim champ Justin Gaethje, one of just two Americans who currently hold even a share of the UFC’s 11 championship belts.

The octagon and surrounding structures are the latest project in the White House building boom Trump is leading.

The president's other efforts to leave his mark include tearing up part of the Rose Garden to make room for a patio space reminiscent of his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, affixing partisan plaques to the wall of the colonnade for a Presidential Walk of Fame, redoing the bathroom attached to the Lincoln Bedroom and renovating the Palm Room, placing new flag poles on the north and south lawns and demolishing the entire East Wing for a sprawling ballroom.

The president also wants to repaint the Eisenhower Executive Office Building beside the White House and build a 250-foot arch at the nearby Lincoln Memorial — the same monument where weigh-ins for the upcoming UFC fight are scheduled to take place, bout organizers say.

“A esta gente debe agradarle David Rivera”, dijo Sean Foreman, analista político y profesor de Barry University, señalando que el grupo debe “valorar mucho su amistad como para poner sus casas y dinero en juego”.

Algunos de los nombres incluyen a la supervisora de elecciones del condado Miami-Dade, Alina Garcia, al ex representante estatal de Florida Manuel Prieguez y al monseñor Wilfredo Peña Moredo, sacerdote católico desde hace 52 años.

Local 10 coverage

David Rivera trial

Former U.S. Rep. David Rivera, R-Florida, was convicted of secretly lobbying for Venezuela’s government.

May 25, 2026 Prominent figures offer to cover convicted former Rep. David Rivera’s $7 million bond May 1, 2026 Former Miami congressman David Rivera is convicted in a secret Venezuela lobbying case April 28, 2026 Rivera accused of illegally lobbying for Venezuela chooses not to testify April 27, 2026 Rep. Pete Sessions testifies during ex-Rep. David Rivera’s federal trial in Miami March 23, 2026 Opening statements begin in trial of former Florida congressman David Rivera Dec. 6, 2022 David Rivera comments to Local 10 about Venezuela dealings contradicted in indictment See more coverage

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Los ex presidentes de FIU Modesto “Mitch” Maidique y Mark Rosenberg también están entre quienes ofrecen ayudar a Rivera, de 60 años, junto con Yvonne Soler McKinley, ex administradora de las ciudades de Doral y South Miami.

“Está sentado en la cárcel sin derecho a fianza y parece que sus amigos están acudiendo a rescatarlo al poner su dinero y sus casas como garantía para que David Rivera pueda disfrutar de cierta libertad antes de su sentencia final el 20 de julio, cuando parece que terminará en prisión por mucho tiempo”, dijo Foreman.

Foreman calificó la situación como “la máxima prueba de lealtad”.

“David Rivera ha sido una figura políticamente prominente en Florida y especialmente en el sur de Florida durante muchos años. Tuvo una larga trayectoria en la Legislatura de Florida y luego sirvió en el Congreso, pero mientras estaba en la Legislatura estatal en Tallahassee presidió el comité de presupuesto y, como presidente de ese comité, uno hace muchos amigos en posiciones de poder”, dijo. “Pudo ayudar a obtener financiamiento para proyectos muy significativos en el sur de Florida, por lo que ahora tiene amigos que parecen estar dispuestos a devolverle el favor con su propio apoyo de una manera diferente”.

Garcia le dijo al tribunal que está dispuesta a comprometer el valor de capital de su vivienda, estimado en $400,000 USD, porque cree que si el tribunal permite que Rivera salga bajo fianza, él comparecerá a la sentencia.

Garcia, dijo Foreman, “trabajó para David Rivera durante muchos años en Tallahassee, por lo que es extremadamente leal porque le debe su carrera política”.

“Creo que ella misma admitiría eso y probablemente por eso está a su lado ahora”, dijo. “No creo que sea ilegal que un funcionario electo aporte dinero para la fianza de un amigo, independientemente de la situación”.

Sin embargo, Foreman dijo que “sí creo que no se ve bien”.

“Será algo a lo que tendrá que responder ante los votantes en el futuro. Puede que no parezca ético, pero realmente ella puede usar su dinero para apoyar a quien quiera, sea un ex político o no”, dijo. “Pero debería responder preguntas difíciles sobre por qué pondría en riesgo su dinero personal y su reputación por alguien que claramente fue condenado por los delitos de los que se le acusó. Creo que no enfrenta nuevamente a los votantes hasta 2028, así que tiene tiempo”.

El equipo legal de Rivera está solicitando al tribunal que le conceda fianza mientras espera sentencia y está intentando convencer al juez de que no huirá.

El juez ordenó que alguaciles federales tomaran a Rivera bajo custodia tras el veredicto del jurado, al considerar que podría representar un riesgo de fuga debido a sus “preocupantes” vínculos con Venezuela.

El ex comisionado de Miami-Dade y ex representante estatal Juan Carlos Zapata también está ofreciendo el valor de capital de su vivienda. Le dijo a Local 10 News: “No soy un amigo solo para los buenos tiempos y, a mi edad, no tengo intención de cambiar eso”.

Otro de los respaldos, el abogado Alex Hanna, dijo en un comunicado a Local 10 News que “presentó una carta personal de referencia ante el tribunal basada en una relación personal y profesional de muchos años con el señor Rivera”.

“La carta habla por sí sola”, dijo. “Respeto el proceso judicial y no tengo intención de comentar más mientras el proceso de sentencia siga pendiente”.

El gobierno tiene hasta principios de junio para presentar su respuesta. La sentencia de Rivera está programada para el 20 de julio.

“Si usted se siente lo suficientemente confiado de que la persona se presentará a su sentencia y de que recuperará su dinero, entonces es un gran amigo quien está dispuesto a hacerlo”, dijo Foreman. “David Rivera fue condenado por todos los cargos en su contra, así que no hay realmente controversia sobre las acusaciones. Él apelará y tiene derecho a apelar”.

Hasan Piker, who has 3.1 million followers on Twitch, was live for nearly seven hours on Monday to discuss why he thinks the Trump administration is “after” him.

The “target” is Neville Roy Singham, a leftist U.S.-born tech mogul who is based in Shanghai, Piker said after about 35 minutes on air.

“Anything that he has ever financed,” Piker said about the “target.”

On Saturday, Fox News reported that the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control had issued Piker an administrative subpoena.

Last month, Piker, who has 1.89 million followers on YouTube, published “I Went To Cuba. This Is What I Saw” and promoted the “Nuestra América Convoy.”

In February, a congressional committee identified a network of organizations and Singham as a donor “with close ties” to the Chinese Communist Party.

Last year, members of a congressional committee sent a letter to Singham about concerns that he may be violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

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Representatives from the Red Cross, NOAA, the Florida Division of Emergency Management, Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office and Miami-Dade Fire Rescue spoke ahead of what forecasters predict could be a relatively normal — or even below-normal — hurricane season.

Still, officials stressed it only takes one storm to cause devastating damage.

“We had catastrophic Cat 5 Hurricane Andrew make landfall in 1992 in an otherwise very quiet hurricane season,” said Michael Brennan, director of the National Hurricane Center. “It does not take a major hurricane making landfall directly in your community for there to be dangerous impacts. Whether it be the wind, storm surge, tornadoes, heavy rainfall, rip currents, all the hazards tropical storms can bring.”

Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz said deputies are prepared to respond if storms threaten the region.

“We will increase patrols in vulnerable areas as storms approach, strengthen partnerships with our community organizations for resource distribution, prepare for swift evacuations while setting up emergency shelters,” Cordero-Stutz said. “You should know our deputies are fully prepared for evacuations and any other challenges that may arise.”

County officials also said they are working to help newcomers to South Florida prepare for hurricanes, including visitors expected for the FIFA World Cup.

The sheriff and regional emergency management officials said they have a detailed plan in place if a storm impacts the area during the international event.

The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 through Nov. 30.

Click here for more information on how to stay prepared for the Atlantic Hurricane Season with the Local 10 Weather Authority’s 2026 Hurricane Survival Guide in English and en Español.

Not everyone at this week's competition appreciates the change.

“I feel like they should not have moved it. The old venue was better. Because it's a bit of a hassle, getting on the bus and going there and then coming back,” said 14-year-old Yahya Mohammed, a three-time speller from Hoffman Estates, Illinois. “The old venue was more spacious, and it feels kind of isolated in the hotel.”

As the National Spelling Bee began with Tuesday's preliminary rounds, spellers and their families marveled at the historical significance of their new venue and the nearby cultural opportunities while also dealing with logistical hurdles: crowded hallways, limited dining options and shuttle bus rides to and from their hotel.

Built in 1929 by the Daughters of the American Revolution, Constitution Hall sits a few blocks from the Washington Monument and the White House. Spellers and their families are staying at the nearby J.W. Marriott, a favored haunt of lobbyists and interest groups, and the quickest route to the competition venue would normally be a stroll across the Ellipse, the grassy expanse south of the Executive Mansion.

However, the Ellipse is surrounded by temporary fencing and security checkpoints as crews construct an outdoor octagon on the South Lawn of the White House for UFC Freedom 250, a June 14 event timed for President Donald Trump's 80th birthday and marking the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding.

“Two very disparate forms of entertainment,” said Rajeev Malhotra of Boston, the father of speller Rajeev Malhotra, describing the bee and the mixed martial arts extravaganza.

Venue change brings heavy security but plenty of history and culture

Security was beefed up at the hall, with guards and metal detectors stationed at every entrance and explosive-sniffing dogs patrolling the hallways. Three blocks away and three days earlier, a man opened fire at a White House security checkpoint, injuring a bystander before he was fatally shot by Secret Service officers.

At the prior venue, the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in Oxon Hill, Maryland, spellers moved freely throughout the building, roaming between their hotel rooms, the ballroom that housed the competition stage and a massive food court where they grabbed quick meals between last-minute study sessions.

“Last year was better,” said Arpit Aggarwal of Columbia, Missouri, whose daughter, Ananya, is competing for the second time. “Everything was in one place.”

“It's an adjustment,” Ananya's mom, Deepti Bahl, said diplomatically.

Other spellers appreciated the buzz of gathering downtown, saying it was more appropriate for a national competition. The bee began in 1925 and was held at a series of Washington hotels before it moved to the suburbs in 2011.

“I just love being here, right next to the National Mall. You can see the Smithsonian, you can see the Jefferson Memorial. It's such a lively and unique city and I love being in the heart of it,” said three-time speller Oliver Halkett, a 14-year-old from Los Angeles. “There's so much history, there's so much culture. The memorials and the museums are fascinating to go to.”

Speller Andie Seavey of Fairbanks, Alaska, and her mom, Kristin, went to see the musical “The Great Gatsby” at the National Theater next door to the hotel.

After 80 spellers were eliminated Tuesday during onstage spelling and vocabulary rounds, the remaining 167 competitors reconvened at the hotel for a high-stakes written test that determined the 100 or so who would move on to Wednesday morning's quarterfinals. The competition concludes Thursday night.

At the spelling bee, the bell is not necessarily the end

Last year, Faizan Zaki won the National Spelling Bee even though he misspelled a word and heard the dreaded bell rung by head judge Mary Brooks. In fact, he knew it after a few letters. He stopped spelling and told Brooks, “Just ring the bell.”

Faizan's flub let his two remaining competitors back in, since all three misspelled during the round.

Kushi Gottimukkala of Morrisville, North Carolina, is one of a few spellers competing this year who know what that feels like.

At her regional bee, sponsored by the NFL's Carolina Panthers, it was down to Kushi and two other spellers for the final spot at nationals. She misspelled “anchialine,” and she thought it was over, only to see the other two spellers mess up.

Kushi rode the emotional roller coaster and ultimately got through.

“I was still thinking about the mistake, but I was also really grateful that I got a second chance, and so I took that into consideration and decided to focus on my next word,” she said.

Spellers have to prepare for the possibility that missing a word isn't necessarily the end.

Oliver Halkett, too, has competed in a bee where he got a word wrong but wasn't eliminated. He battled through the disappointment by focusing only on the word in front of him.

“It's a peculiar situation, but I think, above all, mental clarity is so important, especially in those latter rounds,” he said. “I close my eyes and do some deep breathing and I visualize the word, and it's just me and the word. That's how you have to approach every single word.

“Treat every word as if it's your first and last word.”

___

Ben Nuckols has covered the Scripps National Spelling Bee since 2012. Follow his work here.

Representantes de la Cruz Roja, NOAA, la División de Manejo de Emergencias de Florida, la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade y Miami-Dade Fire Rescue hablaron antes de lo que los meteorólogos pronostican podría ser una temporada de huracanes relativamente normal o incluso por debajo de lo normal.

Aun así, las autoridades enfatizaron que solo se necesita una tormenta para causar daños devastadores.

“Tuvimos el catastrófico huracán Andrew de categoría 5 tocando tierra en 1992 durante una temporada de huracanes por lo demás muy tranquila”, dijo Michael Brennan, director del Centro Nacional de Huracanes. “No se necesita que un huracán mayor toque tierra directamente en su comunidad para que haya impactos peligrosos. Ya sea por el viento, la marejada ciclónica, tornados, fuertes lluvias, corrientes de resaca, todos los peligros que pueden traer las tormentas tropicales”.

La sheriff de Miami-Dade, Rosie Cordero-Stutz, dijo que los agentes están preparados para responder si las tormentas amenazan la región.

“Aumentaremos los patrullajes en áreas vulnerables a medida que las tormentas se acerquen, fortaleceremos las alianzas con organizaciones comunitarias para la distribución de recursos y nos prepararemos para evacuaciones rápidas mientras establecemos refugios de emergencia”, dijo Cordero-Stutz. “Deben saber que nuestros agentes están completamente preparados para evacuaciones y cualquier otro desafío que pueda surgir”.

Funcionarios del condado también dijeron que están trabajando para ayudar a los recién llegados al sur de Florida a prepararse para los huracanes, incluidos los visitantes esperados para la Copa Mundial de la FIFA.

La sheriff y funcionarios regionales de manejo de emergencias dijeron que cuentan con un plan detallado en caso de que una tormenta afecte el área durante el evento internacional.

La temporada de huracanes del Atlántico se extiende del 1 de junio al 30 de noviembre.

Haga clic aquí para obtener más información sobre cómo mantenerse preparado para la temporada de huracanes del Atlántico con la Guía de Supervivencia para Huracanes 2026 de la Autoridad del Tiempo de Local 10 en inglés y en español.

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“These folks must like David Rivera,” Sean Foreman, a political analyst and professor at Barry University, said, saying the group must “find his friendship really worthwhile to put their homes and money on the line.”

Some of the names include Miami-Dade County Supervisor of Elections Alina Garcia, former Florida State Rep. Manuel Prieguez, and Monsignor Wilfredo Pena Moredo, a Catholic priest of 52 years.

Local 10 coverage

David Rivera trial

Former U.S. Rep. David Rivera, R-Florida, was convicted of secretly lobbying for Venezuela’s government.

May 25, 2026 Prominent figures offer to cover convicted former Rep. David Rivera’s $7 million bond May 1, 2026 Former Miami congressman David Rivera is convicted in a secret Venezuela lobbying case April 28, 2026 Rivera accused of illegally lobbying for Venezuela chooses not to testify April 27, 2026 Rep. Pete Sessions testifies during ex-Rep. David Rivera’s federal trial in Miami March 23, 2026 Opening statements begin in trial of former Florida congressman David Rivera Dec. 6, 2022 David Rivera comments to Local 10 about Venezuela dealings contradicted in indictment See more coverage

Former FIU presidents Modesto “Mitch” Maidique and Mark Rosenberg are also among those offering to help Rivera, 60, along with Yvonne Soler McKinley, the former city manager of Doral and South Miami.

“He’s sitting in jail without bond and it looks like his friends are coming to his rescue to put up their money and their homes as collateral so that David Rivera can enjoy some freedom before his ultimate sentencing on July 20, where it does look like he will end up in prison for a long time,” Foreman said.

Foreman calls it “the ultimate loyalty test.”

“David Rivera has been politically prominent in Florida and in South Florida especially for many years. He had a long history in the Florida Legislature, and then he served in Congress, but while he was in the Florida Legislature in Tallahassee, he chaired the budget committee and as chair of the budget committee, you make a lot of friends in high places,” he said. “He was able to help get funding for some very significant projects in South Florida, for which he now has friends that look like they’re willing to pay him back with their own support in a different way now.”

Garcia told the court she is willing to pledge the equity value of her home $400,000 because she believes if the court allows Rivera to post bond, he will show up to sentencing.

Garcia, Foreman said, “worked for David Rivera for many years in Tallahassee, so she’s extremely loyal because she owes her political career to him.”

“I think she would admit the same and that’s probably why she’s standing by his side now,” he said. “I don’t think it’s illegal for an elected official to put up bail money for a friend of theirs, regardless of the situation.”

However, Foreman said, “I do think it doesn’t look good.”

“It’s going to be something she’s going to have to answer to voters to in the future. It might not look ethical, but, really, she is allowed to give her money to support anyone, whether it’s a former politician or not,” he said. “But she should answer some tough questions as to why she would put her own personal money and reputation on the line for somebody who was clearly convicted of the crimes that they were accused of. I think she doesn’t face the voters again until 2028, so she’s got some time.”

Rivera’s defense team is asking the court to set bail pending sentencing and is working to convince a judge that he won’t flee.

The judge ordered U.S. Marshals to take Rivera into custody following the jury’s verdict, deciding he could be a flight risk because of “concerning” ties to Venezuela.

Former Miami-Dade Commissioner and State Rep. Juan Carlos Zapata is also pledging the equity of his home. He told Local 10 News, “I am not a fair-weather friend and at my age, I do not intend on changing that.”

Another backer, attorney Alex Hanna, said in a statement to Local 10 News that he “submitted a personal character letter to the Court based on a longstanding personal and professional relationship with Mr. Rivera spanning many years.”

“The letter speaks for itself,” he said. “I respect the judicial process and do not intend to comment further while sentencing proceedings remain pending.”

The government has until early June to file its response. Rivera’s sentencing is scheduled for July 20.

“If you feel confident enough that the guy is going to show up for his court sentencing, that you’re going to get your money back, then that’s a great friend who’s willing to do so,” Foreman said. “David Rivera was convicted of all counts against him, so it’s not like there’s any real controversy over the charges. He’s going to appeal and he has his right to appeal.”

Luc Brisebois, director-general for the Centre for Border and Travel Health at the Public Health Agency of Canada, said the measures are being implemented out of an “abundance of caution” and will stay in place until Aug. 29.

Travelers who have symptoms will be transferred to hospital for further medical assessment. The stricter border measures are being implemented starting Saturday, and those who do not have somewhere to isolate will be provided with a place.

Canadian officials also said that starting Wednesday, they are pausing final decisions on immigration applications for people from affected countries for 90 days, though that could be extended or lifted based on the evolution of the outbreak.

The outbreak is centered around northeastern Congo and is of a rare type of Ebola that is outpacing response efforts, the World Health Organization says, with more than 900 suspected cases and more than 220 deaths. Aid efforts have intensified, and WHO says the outbreak could last for months.

In a joint statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense minister, Israel Katz, said the strikes had targeted the new leader of Hamas' military wing. They identified him as Mohammed Odeh and called him “one of the architects” of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks that triggered over two years of war.

The strike came less than two weeks after Israel killed the previous head of Hamas' military wing, Izz al-Din al-Haddad.

There was no immediate comment from Hamas. The bodies of the dead were taken to Gaza's Shifa Hospital, which confirmed the deaths.

The attack came on the eve of Eid al-Adha, normally a joyous time of family gatherings and large meals.

The holiday once again is subdued this year in Gaza, where the vast majority of people remain displaced and live in tents or temporary shelters after a devastating war.

A ceasefire reached between Israel and Hamas last October remains fragile. Israeli attacks have killed more than 880 Palestinians since the ceasefire took effect. Israel says its attacks are in response to violations by Hamas or threats to its soldiers, but Palestinian health officials says scores of civilians have been among the dead. Four Israeli soldiers have also been killed during this period.

Israel launched its offensive in Gaza in response to the Hamas attacks in October 2023, which killed some 1,200 people and took 250 others hostage.

The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza says over 72,700 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire. The ministry, part of Gaza's Hamas government, does not give a breakdown of civilian and militant deaths.

The space agency outlined the first phase of its moon base plans on Tuesday, awarding hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts to four U.S. companies.

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin will provide a pair of landers to deliver moon buggies to the lunar surface, at a spot near the moon’s south pole. These so-called lunar terrain vehicles will be built by Astrolab and Lunar Outpost. Firefly Aerospace, which landed successfully on the moon last year, will deliver the first drones to the moon.

All this hardware is ideally supposed to arrive before the first Artemis astronauts land on the moon, planned for as early as 2028.

During April's Artemis II mission, four astronauts flew around the moon, traveling deeper into space than the Apollo moon crews did during the late 1960s and early 1970s. For next year's Artemis III, another team of astronauts will practice docking NASA's Orion capsule in orbit around Earth with the lunar landers being developed for crews by Blue Origin and Elon Musk's SpaceX.

NASA is targeting Artemis III for mid-2027, with a landing by two astronauts following as soon as 2028. The moon base's second phase, from 2029 into the early 2030s, will start building up the permanent infrastructure, including a power grid. As for when the base will be ready to support astronauts for extended periods in specialized permanent habitats, that's expected sometime in the 2030s, during the third phase.

“Then we'll be able to say, 'Hey, we're permanently here and we're not giving it up,'” said NASA's moon base program executive Carlos Garcia-Galan.

Garcia-Galan envisions a moon base sprawling over hundreds of square miles, with a perimeter marked by drones, dubbed MoonFall, stationed at the corners.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said these territory markers are meant to be respectful of other countries' spacecraft and equipment that might be nearby. He expects reciprocity in the matter.

The goal of the moon base is to encourage a lunar economy while conducting scientific research and laying the foundation for a Mars expedition, Isaacman stressed.

“For those waiting patiently, the grand return is close at hand and we will not slow down,” Isaacman said. “We are really just getting started.”

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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.

“We got in a mini car accident on my way to the site today,” Gauff told TNT Sports with a laugh. “We ran into a (pole). You felt a little impact. I spilled my juice all over the car.

“The car was not drivable. So we ended up taking a taxi,” Gauff added after beating fellow American Taylor Townsend 6-4, 6-0.

Gauff started her match earlier than expected when there was a retirement in another match on Court Philippe-Chatrier.

“And then right before I went onto court, my dress got stuck, so my physio was in the bathroom trying to help me take it off,” Gauff said. “It was an eventful day. But I feel like whenever that happens, it lets you not think about the match too match. I’m just happy to be here in one piece.”

Gauff beat Aryna Sabalenka in last year's title match in Paris.

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

El fuego se desató alrededor de las 5 p.m. en un depósito de chatarra ubicado en el área de Northwest 135th Street y Cairo Lane en Opa-locka.

Las autoridades comenzaron a elevar el nivel del incendio poco después de comenzar a combatir las llamas, y la noche del lunes el fuego ya era considerado un incendio de seis alarmas.

Funcionarios de Miami-Dade Fire Rescue informaron que el viento empujó el fuego y las brasas hacia un segundo depósito de chatarra y otros negocios en el área.

Además, las autoridades dijeron que evacuaron edificios de apartamentos cercanos por precaución.

“Para ser honesta, siento miedo”, dijo Mimi Pierre, residente de Opa-locka. “No vivo muy lejos y estoy asustada. Si viviera aquí, comenzaría a empacar mis maletas”.

Sky 10 sobrevoló la escena la mañana del martes, donde los bomberos continuaban apagando varios focos calientes que todavía seguían ardiendo.

“Parece una bomba”, dijo Jairo Perez, residente de Opa-locka. “Tan pronto lo vi, lo primero que pensé fue que era un accidente aéreo, porque lo vi directamente desde la Interestatal 95”.

Las autoridades informaron que no se han reportado heridos por el incendio.

Hasta el momento no se ha informado qué provocó el inicio de las llamas.

“En este momento nuestros investigadores están discutiendo las circunstancias con uno de los depósitos de chatarra”, dijo el jefe de MDFR, Ray Jadallah. “No hemos llegado a una decisión final. Estamos conversando con ellos y todavía estamos en las fases preliminares debido a la magnitud del incendio”.

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Two major updates on the project will be completed in less than two weeks.

The first is a massive flyover bridge connecting eastbound lanes on the Palmetto Expressway to the northbound lanes of Interstate b95.

“This is probably the most important ramp of the project,” said Florida Department of Transportation Senior Community Outreach Specialist Sergies Duarte.

What may appear to be a small change is having a big impact, because the brand new connection never existed before.

“So no more navigating local roads, such as Northwest Seventh Avenue or Northwest 167th Street, to get onto the interstate from the Palmetto,” said Duarte.

The second change is a major lane shift on I-95 north before you get to the Golden Glades.

The three right lanes split off onto a new stretch of road, and next month a fourth lane will also shift over.

“There’s always going to be traffic, but we just want to make sure that it’s flowing in an efficient manner,” said Duarte.

The road to that efficiency is a long and costly one.

This project has been slated to take over seven years to complete and cost more than $1 billion.

“We’re making a lot of progress in a short amount of time, building this interchange as safely and quickly as possible,” Duarte said.

The years-long project is trending ahead of its planned 2031 completion, for now, but as with any construction project, timelines can change.

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It sparked around 5 p.m. at a junkyard located in the area of Northwest 135th Street and Cairo Lane in Opa-locka.

Authorities began upgrading the fire soon after they started to combat the flames, with the blaze eventually being considered a six-alarm fire by late in the evening.

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue officials said wind pushed fire and embers into a second junkyard and additional business in the area.

Additionally, officials said they evacuated nearby apartment buildings out of an abundance of caution.

“To be honest, I have a sense of fear,” said Opa-locka resident Mimi Pierre. “I don’t live too far and I’m scared. If I lived here, I would start packing my bags.”

Sky 10 flew over the scene on Tuesday morning, where firefighters continued to douse several hotspots that were still burning.

“It looks like a bomb,” said Opa-locka resident Jairo Perez. “As soon as I saw it, the first thing I thought, it’s an airplane crash, because I saw it straight from (Interstate) 95.”

No injuries have been reported in the fire, authorities said.

There has been no word on what caused the flames to ignite.

“Right now our investigators are discussing the circumstance with one of the junkyards,” said MDFR Chief Ray Jadallah. “We have not come up with a final decision. We are having conversations with them and it’s still in the preliminary phases as a result of the sheer amount of fire.”

Dos importantes actualizaciones del proyecto serán completadas en menos de dos semanas.

La primera es un enorme puente elevado que conecta los carriles hacia el este de la autopista Palmetto Expressway con los carriles hacia el norte de la Interestatal 95.

“Esta es probablemente la rampa más importante del proyecto”, dijo Sergies Duarte, especialista senior de alcance comunitario del Departamento de Transporte de Florida.

Lo que puede parecer un cambio pequeño está teniendo un gran impacto, porque esta nueva conexión nunca había existido antes.

“Así que ya no será necesario navegar por calles locales, como Northwest Seventh Avenue o Northwest 167th Street, para entrar a la interestatal desde la Palmetto”, dijo Duarte.

El segundo cambio es una importante modificación de carriles en la I-95 norte antes de llegar a Golden Glades.

Los tres carriles de la derecha se desvían hacia un nuevo tramo de carretera, y el próximo mes un cuarto carril también será desviado.

“Siempre habrá tráfico, pero queremos asegurarnos de que fluya de manera eficiente”, dijo Duarte.

El camino hacia esa eficiencia ha sido largo y costoso.

Está previsto que este proyecto tome más de siete años en completarse y cueste más de $1,000 millones USD.

“Estamos logrando mucho progreso en poco tiempo, construyendo este intercambio de la manera más segura y rápida posible”, dijo Duarte.

Por ahora, el proyecto de varios años avanza más rápido de lo previsto para su finalización en 2031, aunque, como ocurre con cualquier proyecto de construcción, los plazos pueden cambiar.

The Rays placed right-hander Jesse Scholtens on the 15-day injured list with a right wrist strain to make room for Kimbrel on the active roster.

The New York Mets designated Kimbrel for assignment on Friday after the nine-time All-Star allowed 10 runs over 15 innings in 14 appearances. He signed a free agent contract with the team in January.

The 37-year-old Kimbrel has 440 saves with 10 teams in his 17-year career. He won a World Series with Boston in 2018 and was the 2011 NL rookie of the year.

The Rays have the AL's best record at 34-17, but their bullpen's ERA of 4.40 is 21st in the majors.

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

“Leaving the training ground and walking to my car with a box full of bobbleheads to take home to my kids,” the 38-year-old defender recalled, “my WhatsApp started to go a little bit crazy.”

Ream was among 26 players who received a video in a group chat from Sam Zapata, the U.S. national team administrative manager, informing those selected for the World Cup roster.

“Guys, if you are watching that video, it is because you are in,” U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino told them. “I am so excited to communicate that you are going to be on the roster for the World Cup 2026, in the World Cup that you are going to host.”

“It made me stop on my tracks,” said Ream, hoping to become the oldest U.S. player to appear in soccer's top tournament.

Midfielders Gio Reyna and Sebastian Berhalter, sons of a former captain and an ex-coach, were picked by along with forward Alejandro Zendejas.

Midfielders Diego Luna and Tanner Tessmann were left off.

Holding American jerseys with wavy red and white stripes, players were introduced Tuesday at a made-for-TV event on the roof of the South Street Seaport’s Pier 17 with the Brooklyn Bridge as a backdrop. They were announced in the numerical order of jersey numbers assigned by equipment manager Kyle Robertson, taking seniority into account. All were on hand except for defender Chris Richards, in Germany with Crystal Palace for Wednesday’s UEFA Conference League final.

“We want this so bad,” said forward Christian Pulisic, the biggest American star. “If you're not a little bit nervous, you don’t feel a little, you don’t care. So, we care so much.”

Defender Sergiño Dest, midfielder Tyler Adams and forward Haji Wright were added after missing March friendlies because of injuries. Zendejas was bypassed for the March roster after a knee injury last fall.

A few minutes after the Friday video arrived, emails were sent to all 55 players on the preliminary roster informing them of their fate. Pochettino didn't give explanations to those omitted, comparing the rejection with how he felt when Tottenham executive chairman Daniel Levy fired him as manager in 2019 and then asked to speak.

“What do you want to talk about (with) me?” Pochettino said. “I don't want to hear nothing.”

Luna missed the March matches because of a knee injury after playing in 17 of 18 international games last year.

“It’s painful because I really know what it means to be out of the roster,” said Pochettino, who failed to make Argentina's roster as a defender in 1994 and 1998, then was chosen in 2002.

“During two weeks I didn’t sleep," the coach said. "And today still I cannot enjoy the 26 guys that are in front of me because I am thinking in players that are out.”

Final rosters are submitted to FIFA on June 1 and injuries could cause a change until one day before the U.S. opener against Paraguay on June 12.

“Things can happen. They need to be ready because maybe we can call,” Pochettino said.

Reyna, a son of former U.S. captain Claudio Reyna, nearly was sent home from the 2022 World Cup by then-coach Gregg Berhalter for lack of hustle and made just four starts this season for Borussia Mönchengladbach — none since Dec. 19.

“I don’t say that he’s going to play the game, but he can help,” Pochettino said. “He can help because he’s a different player, different talent, and I think in all the roster you need to have a player like him.”

Sebastian Berhalter, a 25-year-old son of the former coach, made his national team debut last June and became the Americans' best corner-kick taker.

Players dropped who had been on the March roster included goalkeeper Patrick Schulte, Tessmann and fellow midfielder Aidan Morris. Two players were sidelined by recent injuries: midfielder Johnny Cardoso (right ankle surgery) and forward Patrick Agyemang (torn right Achilles). Defender Cameron Carter-Vickers is recovering from a torn Achilles in October.

Who is back from 2022?

Half the roster returns from the last World Cup: goalkeeper Matt Turner; Dest, Ream and fellow defenders Antonee Robinson and Joe Scally; Adams and fellow midfielders Weston McKennie, Reyna and Cristian Roldan; and Pulisic and Wright at forward with Brenden Aaronson and Tim Weah.

Richards and Miles Robinson were picked after injuries sidelined them ahead of the 2022 tournament.

Richards is a health concern after tearing two left ankle ligaments on May 17. Pochettino said he won't know Richards' status until he arrives in the U.S. for training because clubs “hide things.”

“Was really, really tough to have the real information to make our best decision,” Pochettino said. “How selfish, no, is the people in soccer or in football?”

Among the final cuts four years ago, Ricardo Pepi made it this time.

Players from 2022 left off included goalkeepers Ethan Horvath and Sean Johnson; Carter-Vickers and fellow defenders Aaron Long, Shaq Moore, DeAndre Yedlin and Walker Zimmerman; midfielders Kellyn Acosta, Luca de la Torre and Yunus Musah; and forwards Jesús Ferreira, Jordan Morris and Josh Sargent.

This year's average age of 26 years, 332 days as of the U.S. opener is up from 25-216 four years ago and the fifth-youngest for an American World Cup roster.

Where are players from?

Just eight players were taken from Major League Soccer, the fewest since four in 2010. Five players are based in England, three each in Germany’s Bundesliga and France’s Ligue 1, two apiece in Italy’s Serie A and the Dutch Eredivisie, and one each in Mexico, Scotland and Spain.

Pulisic ended his AC Milan season scoreless in 19 games since Dec. 28 and has gone eight U.S. matches without a goal since November 2024.

Pochettino's three strikers finished their club seasons in form, combining for 56 goals: Folarin Balogun and Pepi scored 19 each and Wright 18.

For the first time since 1990, no American goalkeepers are from European clubs.

Ream will be 38 years, 250 days on the day the U.S. plays its opener, older than defender Fernando Clavijo when the U.S. was knocked out by Brazil in 1994.

Defender Alex Freeman, a son of former Super Bowl champion Antonio Freeman, is the youngest American this year at 21.

No. 3 goalkeeper Chris Brady is the first player on the U.S. World Cup roster with no international experience since backup goalkeeper Juergen Sommer in 1994.

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AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup

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Deputies said they responded to Broward Health North, where they met with the victim, a 23-year-old man who had been stabbed by 25-year-old Dellisha Guadalupe.

The victim told deputies he and Guadalupe went to Cheers Restaurant and Bar in the 1900 block of Northwest 24th Street around 2 or 3 a.m. Monday, where an argument broke out after the victim said “n----r,” which got Guadalupe “upset,” according to the report.

He said he ordered an Uber, but later canceled it and rode with Guadalupe because they were both going back to their apartment, the report states.

Once they arrived home, the argument continued.

The victim said Guadalupe “gestured to hit him,” according to the report. He said he then made a comment about what she was going to do, and she began punching him throughout his body, including his face, according to deputies.

The report states that the victim said he initially took the punches but then swung back at Guadalupe.

Shortly after, deputies said Guadalupe pulled a pocketknife and stabbed him three times in the left side of his chest and shoulder area while they were in the bedroom.

They said the victim did not initially want to be involved with law enforcement but later began to feel like he was going to “pass out.” He saw an ambulance and chased after it before being taken to Broward Health North, according to the report.

A doctor told the victim the stab wound to the left side of his chest was very close to his lung and that he was “very lucky” it was not punctured, the report states.

Investigators said Guadalupe initially told a 911 dispatcher the victim stabbed himself in the shoulder after she told him she was breaking up with him.

Jail records show she is facing one count of attempted first-degree murder.

As of Tuesday, she was being held without bond at the Broward Main Jail. She was also ordered not to possess any guns, weapons or ammunition, and to have no contact with the victim.

Los agentes dijeron que respondieron al Broward Health North, donde se reunieron con la víctima, un hombre de 23 años que había sido apuñalado por Dellisha Guadalupe, de 25 años.

La víctima les dijo a los agentes que él y Guadalupe fueron al restaurante y bar Cheers, ubicado en la cuadra 1900 de Northwest 24th Street, alrededor de las 2 o 3 a.m. del lunes, donde comenzó una discusión después de que la víctima dijera un insulto racial, lo que molestó a Guadalupe, según el informe.

El hombre dijo que pidió un Uber, pero luego lo canceló y regresó con Guadalupe porque ambos iban de vuelta a su apartamento, señala el informe.

Una vez llegaron a casa, la discusión continuó.

La víctima dijo que Guadalupe “hizo el gesto de golpearlo”, según el informe. Indicó que luego hizo un comentario sobre lo que ella iba a hacer, y ella comenzó a golpearlo por todo el cuerpo, incluyendo el rostro, según los agentes.

El informe señala que la víctima dijo que inicialmente soportó los golpes, pero luego respondió golpeando a Guadalupe.

Poco después, los agentes dijeron que Guadalupe sacó una navaja y lo apuñaló tres veces en el lado izquierdo del pecho y el área del hombro mientras estaban en la habitación.

Indicaron que la víctima inicialmente no quería involucrar a las autoridades, pero luego comenzó a sentir que se iba a “desmayar”. Según el informe, vio una ambulancia y fue tras ella antes de ser trasladado a Broward Health North.

El informe señala que un médico le dijo a la víctima que la herida de arma blanca en el lado izquierdo del pecho estuvo muy cerca de perforarle un pulmón y que tuvo “mucha suerte” de que eso no ocurriera.

Los investigadores dijeron que Guadalupe inicialmente le dijo a una operadora del 911 que la víctima se había apuñalado en el hombro después de que ella le dijera que quería terminar la relación.

Los registros de la cárcel muestran que enfrenta un cargo de intento de asesinato en primer grado.

Hasta el martes, permanecía detenida sin derecho a fianza en la cárcel principal de Broward. También se le ordenó no poseer armas de fuego, armas ni municiones, y no tener contacto con la víctima.

Since then, World Cup host countries have invested heavily in getting fans to and from matches, especially in Russia in 2018, where even long-distance trains between host cities were free, and Qatar in 2022, where free metro access helped turn stadium-hopping into part of the tournament experience.

Then came the United States.

Already reeling from astronomical ticket prices, expensive flights and exorbitant hotel costs, fans have been outraged to discover that getting to some stadiums via rail will come with another hefty bill: $98 round-trip train fares in New Jersey and $80 in Massachusetts — trips that normally cost NFL fans $12.90 and $20, respectively.

Officials insist they aren’t trying to rip off fans, but are instead just trying to cover the costs of security and expanded train service without being a drain on taxpayers. Yet fans see it as just another way that tournament organizers are burdening fans who are already paying huge sums to visit the U.S., a huge, car-centric country where public transit has long been an afterthought in many locales. Unlike past hosts, some state and local officials have been less willing to swallow the costs, arguing they should be covered by FIFA, the international soccer body that stands to rake in billions of dollars from the event.

Finding a solution from overseas

“Planning for this World Cup has been a nightmare from start to finish,” said Scotland-born Rory Phillips-Hunter, a 37-year-old hospitality worker who lives in northern England. ”I think it’s the most inaccessible one there’s ever been.”

Mystified by the lack of affordable options to travel 25 miles (40 kilometers) from Providence, Rhode Island, to Foxborough, Massachusetts, where Scotland’s first two matches will take place, Phillips-Hunter and some fellow Tartan Army members decided to figure it out themselves.

At about $50 per person, the Scots have booked about 20 school buses to take nearly 1,000 members of the plaid-clad fan group to each match. They’re even getting a police escort, all for just over half the cost of the $95 bus fare that local officials are offering — a combined savings of more than $85,000.

The $95 bus fare was never going to break the bank, Phillips-Hunter knows, but he and so many other Scots are already paying huge sums to see their men’s team compete in the World Cup for the first time in 28 years. Phillips-Hunter estimates it will take him two years to pay off the credit card debt he’s taking on for his six-day trip to the U.S., including the $1,350 he spent on a ticket for the Scotland-Morocco match.

Beyond anything, Phillips-Hunter is frustrated that a group of Scots from across the ocean were able to organize transportation for so much cheaper than what local officials offered.

“When I look at that difference in cost, that’s just profits you’re taking from us,” he said.

Who should pay?

Not every host city is approaching transportation the same way. Atlanta, Houston and Seattle have stadiums linked directly to their rail systems, and regular fares will apply. Miami-Dade County officials recently announced they will offer free shuttles to get fans to and from Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) from downtown Miami. Philadelphia, meanwhile, is offering free rides on the way back from the stadium, thanks to funding from FIFA sponsor Airbnb. And Kansas City, Missouri, is running $15 shuttles.

The relatively high transit costs for the matches at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey and Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts are partly because they’re in the suburbs, and many fans drive to the NFL games they typically host. But parking will be extremely limited during the World Cup due to expanded security perimeters, broadcast needs and lots being used as VIP areas, forcing far more fans to use public transit.

David Gogishvili is a senior researcher at Switzerland’s University of Lausanne and studies how sports organizers put together big events like the World Cup.

He said it is standard practice for organizers like FIFA to pass much of the cost on to host countries. The difference this time is that the U.S. has “stronger and more independent” state and local officials who have been less willing to take on the cost and “bow to the wills of FIFA.”

“These costs should be borne by the organization that is earning money out of these events, which is FIFA. It should not always be the host cities that take on all the expenses,” Gogishvili said, noting the soccer body’s expected $13 billion revenue from 2023-26.

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill, a Democrat, has called on FIFA to cover the transportation costs to matches.

But FIFA pushed back, arguing that no other global event has been asked to absorb such costs and that its initial agreements with host cities called for free transportation for fans to all matches. The agreements were later changed to allow cities to provide transit “at cost.”

The reason transit has been so accessible at recent World Cups is that host nations like Russia and Qatar have viewed the tournament as a “public relations exercise,” and subsidized transit accordingly, Gogishvili said.

Officials’ anxiety over transit costs also comes amid growing concern that the promised World Cup economic boon won’t materialize, with hotel room bookings not meeting expectations in most of the 11 U.S. cities hosting the tournament. A 2022 study co-authored by Gogishvili found that nearly every World Cup from 1966 through 2018 ran at a financial deficit.

Yonah Freemark, a researcher at the Washington-based Urban Institute think tank who specializes in transit issues, said World Cup fans from Europe and Asia will encounter less-advanced but costlier transit systems than they’re used to back home.

Pointing to the transit pricing tied to matches in New Jersey and Massachusetts, Freemark said officials “are trying to get away with murder.” Wait times and transit access, he added, will likely fall well short of what many foreign visitors are used to.

Searching for a way to the stadium

Ynara Correa da Costa, a Brazilian systems analyst who lives outside Sao Paulo, will be attending her seventh World Cup.

Like many, she was stunned when officials initially proposed charging as much as $150 for train fares from New York City to MetLife Stadium, where Brazil plays its opener against Morocco. The widespread shock and led New Jersey officials to lower the price to $98 after securing additional funding.

But even the lowered price for a short train ride “is just not acceptable,” Costa said.

Costa was heartened when the local host committee said it had secured more buses to get to the stadium and slashed the price from $80 to $20. But there are only enough bus seats for 18,000 fans to get to the stadium, which holds about 82,500.

That seems far more manageable to Costa. Earlier, she wondered whether she and other cost-conscious fans might have to walk to MetLife Stadium, but that isn’t possible.

“We’ll go to the match, that I know,” Costa said. ”But how? Let’s see.”

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AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup

Barcelona said Tuesday that Putellas will officially bid farewell at an event at Camp Nou stadium on Wednesday, giving the club a “chance to recognize the legacy created by a player who has become a role model on and off the field and who has helped women's football to grow across the globe.”

The 32-year-old Putellas on Saturday helped Barcelona win the Champions League title for the fourth time in six seasons.

There was no immediate announcement about her next move, with speculation in Spain that she may join the fast-emerging London City Lionesses. Putellas attended a Lionesses game in London in January.

Putellas played 507 games for Barcelona — second on the all-time list — since arriving at age 18 in 2012 from Levante, the Catalan club said.

Putellas scored 232 goals for Barcelona, a club record, and won 38 trophies, including four Champions Leagues and 10 Spanish league titles.

“The time has come to acknowledge that I’ve given everything for these colors,” Putellas said in a video posted on her social media accounts. "It’s been a perfect story.”

She was Barcelona's best player when it won its first Champions League in 2021 and helped put women’s soccer in Spain on the global map when she won back-to-back Ballon d’Or awards in 2021 and 2022. Her boost to the sport was considered key to helping Spain win the 2023 World Cup.

When Spain was embroiled in crisis after its then soccer federation president Luis Rubiales kissed a player without consent during the World Cup awards ceremony, it was Putellas who led the player revolt that prompted his downfall.

“We’ve taken the women’s team further than we ever imagined,” Putellas said. “At the beginning, being a soccer player wasn’t even recognized as a profession. Now I feel privileged to have been part of this change.”

Serious leg injuries put her star status in doubt for Barcelona and Spain. She was sidelined for months and, when she returned to the field, she was reported to be considering a move from Barcelona due to her limited playing time but eventually signed a contract extension.

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

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According to the Key West Police Department, the incident happened on Saturday in and around the Key West Bight Marina.

A KWPD report states that John Mack, 38, of La Grange, Illinois, had been drinking at Dante’s Key West Pool Bar & Restaurant, located at 955 Caroline St., and took the patrol car from an officer working an off-duty detail there.

Police said surveillance video from just before 6:20 p.m. showed Mack “walking out of the pool bar with two friends and standing a couple of feet away from the patrol vehicle,” then opening the door and getting inside. Authorities said he put the car in drive, almost hitting two of the other men.

The report states a security guard got the officer’s attention and other KWPD officers responded to the bar as Mack drove the cruiser around the marina parking lot.

Authorities said they later found Mack outside of the nearby Boat House Bar & Grill. Police said he claimed he had had three to six Corona beers.

Police said he would fail a field sobriety test and sustained cuts from a fence after resisting arrest. They said he also refused a breathalyzer test.

On top of it all, police said Mack shouldn’t have been driving any vehicle, much less a police cruiser. They said he only had an Illinois identification card, not a valid driver’s license.

Officers arrested Mack on charges of DUI, burglary, grand theft, grand theft of law enforcement equipment, reckless driving, refusal to submit to DUI testing and resisting arrest without violence.

He no longer appeared in the active Florida Keys jail roster as of Tuesday.

Parent company Meta Platforms Inc. appealed after Vermont’s highest court allowed a suit filed by its attorney general in 2023 to move forward. The company is facing similar lawsuits from states across the country, accusing it of knowingly designing addictive features.

Meta had argued that it can’t be sued in Vermont court because neither the company nor the app design has specific ties to the state. Vermont countered that the sites’ large number of teen users gives its courts jurisdiction.

The Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal in a brief, unexplained order, as is typical. The procedural decision comes after court losses for Meta and YouTube in social media addiction lawsuits in California and New Mexico.

Vermont's lawsuit was filed after an investigation by a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general in several states. Newspaper reports based on Meta’s own research also found that the company knew about the harms Instagram can cause teenagers — especially teen girls — when it comes to mental health and body image issues. One internal study cited 13.5% of teen girls saying Instagram makes thoughts of suicide worse and 17% of teen girls saying it makes eating disorders worse.

Almost all teens ages 13 to 17 in the U.S. report using a social media platform, with about a third saying they use social media “almost constantly,” according to the Pew Research Center.

Meta, for its part, has said that it has already introduced dozens of tools to support teens and their families and suggested it would have worked with the states on standards for youth social media use.

Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark applauded the decision, saying it affirms “that companies that choose to do business in Vermont, like Meta, can be held accountable when they harm kids.”

Según el Departamento de Policía de Key West, el incidente ocurrió el sábado en y alrededor de la marina Key West Bight.

Un informe de KWPD señala que John Mack, de 38 años y residente de La Grange, Illinois, había estado bebiendo en Dante’s Key West Pool Bar & Restaurant, ubicado en el 955 de Caroline St., y tomó la patrulla de un agente que trabajaba en un servicio adicional en el lugar.

La Policía dijo que un video de vigilancia captado poco antes de las 6:20 p.m. mostró a Mack “saliendo del bar de piscina con dos amigos y permaneciendo a pocos pies del vehículo policial”, antes de abrir la puerta y entrar al vehículo. Las autoridades dijeron que puso la patrulla en marcha y casi atropella a los otros dos hombres.

El informe indica que un guardia de seguridad llamó la atención del agente y otros oficiales de KWPD respondieron al bar mientras Mack conducía la patrulla alrededor del estacionamiento de la marina.

Las autoridades dijeron que posteriormente encontraron a Mack afuera del cercano Boat House Bar & Grill. La Policía indicó que él afirmó haber consumido entre tres y seis cervezas Corona.

La Policía informó que no aprobó una prueba de sobriedad de campo y sufrió cortaduras provocadas por una cerca después de resistirse al arresto. También indicaron que se negó a realizarse una prueba de alcoholemia.

Además de todo eso, la Policía dijo que Mack no debía estar conduciendo ningún vehículo, mucho menos una patrulla policial. Indicaron que solo tenía una tarjeta de identificación de Illinois, no una licencia de conducir válida.

Los agentes arrestaron a Mack por cargos de DUI, allanamiento, robo mayor, robo mayor de equipo policial, conducción temeraria, negarse a someterse a pruebas de DUI y resistirse al arresto sin violencia.

Hasta el martes, ya no aparecía en el registro activo de reclusos de los Cayos de Florida.

Kingsbury is the GM of the PWHL’s Toronto Sceptres while former coach Troy Ryan was recently hired as coach and GM of the PWHL expansion team in San Jose. His six-year run with Canada ended with Olympic silver in what was the team's eighth consecutive loss to the archrival U.S.

Hockey Canada’s contracts with Kingsbury and Ryan were to expire next month.

“I’m good with the transition. I’m ready for it,” Kingsbury said. “It’s time for someone to look at the landscape that has shifted in women’s hockey and set out their own vision on what that could look like for the future.”

The PWHL has altered the women’s hockey landscape in its first three seasons. The International Ice Hockey Federation shifted the world championship from April to November starting this year to avoid conflict with the PWHL season. By expanding by four teams to a 12-team league next season, the league also has churned the market for coaches and GMs.

The PWHL expansion team in Hamilton, Ontario, hired former U.S. team captain Meghan Duggan as GM, former Canadian goaltender Manon Rheaume is Detroit’s GM and former player agent Dominique DiDia is the new GM in Las Vegas.

“We’ve done quite a bit of analysis, but the sands continue to shift underneath our feet,” Hockey Canada chief executive Katherine Henderson told The Canadian Press. “I’m thrilled that there’s four new (PWHL) teams. I’m also saying now there’s four new competitors for a full-time job. I may want to go after some of those people. We’re going to have to up our game a little bit and say ‘come and work with Hockey Canada.’”

The 2026 Olympics was the first in the PWHL era. Canada’s women didn’t spend five to six months together training and playing games as they had for previous Games.

Ryan and Kingsbury were the first to hold top leadership roles with both a PWHL team and the Canadian women’s team simultaneously. A hybrid of Hockey Canada staff and NHL general managers and coaches has traditionally led Canada’s men into world championships and Olympic Games.

“We now need to live in a world probably closer to how we put together our men’s senior teams,” Henderson said.

Kingsbury said she also believes that model works for the women’s team with a dedicated person at Hockey Canada directing it.

“Someone needs to be at the helm of women’s hockey at Hockey Canada from a high-performance perspective,” Kingsbury said. “I do think there is a place for PWHL GMs to be a part of teams and the Olympic team and world championship teams and help select players. There’s an opportunity for coaches I think certainly to be from the PWHL.”

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AP women’s hockey: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-hockey

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Officers with the Virginia Gardens Police Department arrested Deziree Hood, 20, of Madison, Wisconsin, on Saturday, with detectives describing her in the agency’s arrest report as an “escort.”

Authorities said the first known incident happened in Virginia Gardens.

According to an arrest report, Hood and the victim went to the Candlewood Suites at 5911 NW 36th St. and Hood “allegedly provided the victim with an alcoholic beverage and/or unknown substance.”

“Shortly after consuming the beverage, the victim began feeling disoriented, dizzy and unable to fully recall subsequent events,” VGPD Detective Darwin Villavencio wrote.

Authorities said Hood ― also known as “Sasha” ― took the man’s property, including his $14,000 Rolex Oyster Perpetual, which she would later post a picture with on Facebook. Police said the man later tested positive for benzodiazepines.

Investigators said the second known incident began with an encounter early Thursday morning at Coco Miami, located at 8 NE 41st St. in the Miami Design District.

Miami Police Department detectives said the man invited Hood back to his hotel room in the Icon Brickell building at 485 Brickell Ave. and the two had drinks at around 2:30 a.m. and went to sleep about three-and-a-half hours later.

Beforehand, police said the man had been able to take pictures with her and got her Instagram profile and cellphone number.

An arrest report states that the man woke up at around 10 a.m. to find his “jewelry and high-end designer clothing,” worth $60,000, gone. Police said the victim reached out to Hood both on the phone and on Instagram to no avail.

Police said surveillance video showed Hood leaving the building “with a large bag (and) wearing the victim’s jersey.”

They said they picked her out of a photo lineup and MPD detectives became aware of her arrest by VGPD on Saturday.

Meanwhile, records show Hood was previously arrested in South Florida on May 7, 2025, when Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office deputies took her into custody on a prostitution charge.

Authorities said the then-19-year-old agreed to receive $120 for sex from an undercover MDSO detective who was patrolling Northwest 27th Avenue near 71st Street ― in the vicinity of an area routinely referenced by local law enforcement as “the blade,” known for high prostitution activity.

Police took her into custody on the misdemeanor charge at a nearby motel and the charge remained active as of Tuesday.

Following her arrests in the latest cases, she is being held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a bond of more than $15,000 as of Tuesday afternoon. She was pictured in her booking photo sporting a neck tattoo reading, “IS RARE.”

Agentes del Departamento de Policía de Virginia Gardens arrestaron el sábado a Deziree Hood, de 20 años y residente de Madison, Wisconsin. Los detectives la describieron en el informe de arresto de la agencia como una “escort”.

Las autoridades dijeron que el primer incidente conocido ocurrió en Virginia Gardens.

Según un informe de arresto, Hood y la víctima fueron al hotel Candlewood Suites, ubicado en el 5911 de NW 36th St., donde Hood “presuntamente le proporcionó a la víctima una bebida alcohólica y/o una sustancia desconocida”.

“Poco después de consumir la bebida, la víctima comenzó a sentirse desorientada, mareada e incapaz de recordar completamente los eventos posteriores”, escribió el detective de VGPD Darwin Villavencio.

Las autoridades dijeron que Hood, también conocida como “Sasha”, tomó las pertenencias del hombre, incluyendo su Rolex Oyster Perpetual valorado en $14,000 USD, con el cual posteriormente publicó una fotografía en Facebook. La Policía indicó que el hombre luego dio positivo a benzodiacepinas.

Los investigadores dijeron que el segundo incidente conocido comenzó con un encuentro la madrugada del jueves en Coco Miami, ubicado en el 8 de NE 41st St. en el Miami Design District.

Detectives del Departamento de Policía de Miami dijeron que el hombre invitó a Hood a su habitación de hotel en el edificio Icon Brickell, ubicado en el 485 de Brickell Ave. Ambos tomaron bebidas alrededor de las 2:30 a.m. y se fueron a dormir aproximadamente tres horas y media después.

Antes de eso, la Policía indicó que el hombre pudo tomarse fotos con ella y obtuvo su perfil de Instagram y número de teléfono celular.

Un informe de arresto señala que el hombre despertó alrededor de las 10 a.m. y descubrió que sus objetos de valor habían desaparecido. La Policía indicó que la víctima intentó comunicarse con Hood tanto por teléfono como por Instagram, sin éxito.

Las autoridades dijeron que un video de vigilancia mostró a Hood saliendo del edificio “con una bolsa grande y usando la camiseta de la víctima”.

También informaron que fue identificada en una rueda fotográfica y que detectives de MPD se enteraron de su arresto realizado por VGPD el sábado.

Mientras tanto, los registros muestran que Hood ya había sido arrestada en el sur de Florida el 7 de mayo de 2025, cuando agentes de la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade la detuvieron por un cargo de prostitución.

Las autoridades dijeron que la entonces joven de 19 años aceptó recibir $120 USD por tener relaciones sexuales con un detective encubierto de MDSO que patrullaba Northwest 27th Avenue cerca de 71st Street, en las cercanías de un área conocida por las autoridades locales como “the blade”, reconocida por su alta actividad de prostitución.

La Policía la arrestó por el cargo menor en un motel cercano y el caso seguía activo hasta el martes.

Tras sus arrestos en los casos más recientes, Hood permanecía detenida en el Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight con una fianza superior a $15,000 USD hasta la tarde del martes. En su foto policial aparecía con un tatuaje en el cuello que decía “IS RARE”.

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The “Road to the World Cup: Miami Fire vs. Miami Police Soccer Friendly” will take place Saturday at Curtis Park, located at 1901 NW 24th Ave.

The event is hosted by the Miami Firefighters Benevolent Association, Local 587, in partnership with MFR and the Miami Police Department.

Organizers said the event will feature a soccer match between firefighters and police officers, along with youth activities, food trucks, music, bounce houses and other entertainment for families.

The event is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with the match beginning at 11 a.m.

It was a move designed to appeal to the team's devoted fanbase and provoke its wealthy ownership. And within hours of the network's decision, Platner has been all too eager to capitalize on the removal, using it to push his populist message as he campaigns to unseat longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins in Maine.

“We ran an ad during last night’s Red Sox game exposing how private equity is making everything in our lives worse, and it got pulled midway through the game by a station owned by Red Sox ownership,” Platner said in a statement on Saturday. “And of course, the Red Sox blew a 4-0 lead to lose the game.”

The ad was pulled by New England Sports Network, which is owned predominantly by Fenway Sports Group, a conglomerate that also owns the Red Sox and Liverpool of the Premier League.

“NESN removes advertisements when credible concerns arise regarding the use of intellectual property,” the network said in a statement. “The advertisement in question was removed because the creative included unauthorized use of third-party intellectual property and did not comply with NESN’s advertising standards.”

NESN did not immediately answer questions about what specifically in the ad violated the station's rules. The Red Sox also did not respond to a question seeking comment.

Collins' campaign said in a statement that Platner's criticism of the Red Sox was an attempt to change the subject from "questions about his judgment and character.” Platner has been dogged during the campaign with questions about a tattoo he eventually had covered up that was associated with Nazi imagery. His old social media posts about subjects including women, police, veterans and rural Americans have also been called into question, and he has acknowledged and apologized for them. He has also said he was unaware about the tattoo's meaning when he got it after a night of drinking.

Platner's 15-second ad about the Red Sox includes the oyster farmer promising to “reverse the private equity curse” if elected and stating that he missed Mookie Betts, a nod to the simmering rage that Boston fans have held after FSG traded the homegrown superstar to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2020. (“Reverse the curse” was a popular slogan among Red Sox fans in the 1990s and 2000s that referred to the team’s long-running failure to win a World Series prior to 2004.)

It also accuses private equity of “buying up our homes, our sports and our lives” while referencing a March 2021 Axios report detailing that RedBird Capital Partners, a private equity firm, would have an 11% stake in FSG.

Around that same time, FSG brought on as an investor Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James, who has stated that he wants to one day own an NBA team.

FSG went on to purchase the NHL’s five-time Stanley Cup-winning Pittsburgh Penguins in late 2021. In 2025, FSG agreed to sell the Penguins to the Chicago-based Hoffmann Family of Cos. for a reported $1.7 billion price tag. That sale was approved earlier this year.

FSG's founder and principal owner, John Henry, was an active political donor, contributing hundreds of thousands of dollars to mostly Democratic candidates, in the late 1990s and early 2000s. However, campaign filings don’t show any activity from him post 2004.

The Red Sox are currently in last place in their division at 22-30 and have descended into mediocrity in the years since the RedBird Capital agreement. At times, fans have chanted “sell the team” during home games this season in Boston.

The team had a run of success in the years prior to the RedBird Capital deal, winning World Series in 2004, 2007, 2013 and 2018. It has struggled since, advancing to the American League Championship Series only once.

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Hightower reported from Boston and Kruesi reported from Providence, Rhode Island.

No cause of death was announced by the team.

Fernandez played his entire eight-year NFL career with the Dolphins and was a key pillar on Miami's “No-Name Defense," which helped the team reach consecutive Super Bowls from 1971-1973, including back-to-back Super Bowl wins in 1972 and 1973.

“We are deeply saddened by the passing of Manny Fernandez,” the Dolphins said in a statement, “a member of the 1972 perfect team, a two-time Super Bowl champion, ring of honor member and an anchor of the Dolphins' legendary ‘No-Name Defense.’ His consistent and selfless contributions on the field were instrumental to the Dolphins' success throughout the early 1970s, particularly in the team's three consecutive Super Bowl appearances, in which he produced some of the most memorable defensive performances in the history of the game.”

Fernandez was dominant during the Dolphins' Super Bowl win over Washington following their undefeated 1972 season. That team also included stars such as Bob Griese, Nick Buoniconti and Larry Csonka.

An undrafted free agent out of Utah in 1968, Fernandez was inducted into the Dolphins' Ring of Honor in 2014.

“Our thoughts are with his family, loved ones and teammates as we remember one of the best players in Dolphins history,” the team said.

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

Según informe policial, Pylip Vionov y Anton Levkun “colocaron un dispositivo de clonación en una máquina de punto de venta para tarjetas de crédito” en el supermercado Sabor Tropical, en el área de Alameda en West Miami.

Una cámara de vigilancia del supermercado, ubicado en el 6190 de SW 8 St., grabó un video que muestra a Vionov, de 45 años, “cubriendo la máquina de tarjetas de crédito con una bandeja grande de aluminio y distrayendo a la cajera”, según la Policía.

El video de vigilancia también muestra a Levkun, de 41 años, colocando el “dispositivo de clonación sobre el lector de tarjetas de crédito” antes de que un agente de Policía lo encontrara y lo retirara, según el informe de arresto.

Según el informe, agentes encontraron a Vionov y Levkun caminando hacia el oeste por Southwest Eighth Street y localizaron su vehículo estacionado en Southwest Sixth Street y 63rd Avenue.

Levkun tenía “envoltura plástica transparente cubriendo las diez yemas de sus dedos” y “comenzó a quitarse las cubiertas y las arrojó al suelo”, según el informe del agente que realizó el arresto.

Miami-Dade Corrections ingresó a Vionov el lunes por la tarde en el Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight.

Vionov y Levkun enfrentan cargos por uso ilegal de un dispositivo de escaneo o reencoder y esquema organizado para defraudar. La fianza para cada uno fue fijada en $5,000 USD.

El “Camino al Mundial: Partido amistoso de fútbol Miami Fire vs. Miami Police” se llevará a cabo el sábado en Curtis Park, ubicado en el 1901 de NW 24th Ave.

El evento es organizado por la Asociación Benéfica de Bomberos de Miami, Local 587, en colaboración con MFR y el Departamento de Policía de Miami.

Los organizadores informaron que el evento contará con un partido de fútbol entre bomberos y policías, además de actividades para jóvenes, camiones de comida, música, casas inflables y otras atracciones para las familias.

El evento está programado de 10 a.m. a 2 p.m., y el partido comenzará a las 11 a.m.

The justices overturned a lower-court ruling that had allowed the case to proceed and raised questions about whether a complaint system for federal employees is still working as intended after the Republican president fired some of its top officials.

Immigration judges are federal employees, unlike those in federal courtrooms. They want to sue over a policy restricting their public speeches that started in Trump's first term in office and continued under President Joe Biden's Democratic administration. The judges argue it is a free speech issue that belongs in federal court.

The Trump administration disagreed, saying the judges must instead take their dispute to the complaint system for federal employees overseen by the Merit Systems Protection Board.

The court ruled on procedural grounds, but Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, wrote to rebuke the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for responding to “political controversies of the day.”

Tuesday's decision comes as the court weighs another lawsuit about Trump’s power to fire heads of independent agencies. The outcome is also expected to affect firing power over Merit Systems Protection Board members.

The judges first sued in 2020, and the Supreme Court previously temporarily sided with them on an emergency basis in December 2025. A union said in a statement that the judges were disappointed by the decision, but the case is “far from over.”

“Justice cannot endure when judges are intimidated into silence, nor can a nation remain free when the rule of law is subordinate to the whims of political ambition,” the National Association of Immigration Judges said.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche applauded the decision, saying it "sends a clear message: lower courts must accept that the law is the law, no matter the 'political controversies of the day,'” he wrote in a social-media post.

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Follow the AP's coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court.

Bolsonaro llegó el martes sin una agenda pública. El presidente brasileño Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, su rival en las elecciones de octubre, sostuvo una reunión de tres horas con Trump el 7 de mayo. El líder, de 80 años, busca un cuarto mandato no consecutivo.

El gobierno de Trump no ha comentado públicamente el escándalo de Bolsonaro.

El hijo del expresidente Jair Bolsonaro ha estado bajo fuego desde el 13 de mayo, cuando varios mensajes filtrados por The Intercept a partir de una investigación policiaca federal mostraron que recibió unos 12 millones de dólares de Daniel Vorcaro, expropietario del clausurado Banco Master.

Vorcaro está acusado de estafar a clientes del banco por cientos de millones de dólares tras convencerlos de realizar inversiones dudosas. La Policía Federal de Brasil calcula que el fraude total del banco alcanza 12.000 millones de reales (2.300 millones de dólares).

Flávio Bolsonaro ha negado cualquier irregularidad y sostiene que el dinero de Vorcaro se utilizó para producir una película sobre la vida de su padre. No se espera que el político brasileño forme parte del caso, pero la investigación continúa.

Los adversarios políticos han arremetido contra él desde que se conoció la revelación.

“Cualquiera que se acerque a un banquero criminal da una mala señal”, afirmó el lunes Romeu Zema, el exgobernador de Minas Gerais y simpatizante de Jair Bolsonaro que se postula para la presidencia.

Bolsonaro ya carecía de apoyo en la comunidad empresarial

La campaña de Bolsonaro se ha visto sacudida mientras busca un compañero de fórmula e intenta formar alianzas partidarias. Esto último es clave para que obtenga más recursos y tiempo gratuito en televisión y radio, lo cual se determina por el número de escaños que cada partido tiene en la cámara baja.

Incluso antes de que se hiciera pública la conexión de Bolsonaro con Vorcaro, el político carecía del respaldo de muchos miembros de la comunidad empresarial.

El exgobernador de Goiás Ronaldo Caiado y Renan Santos, también aspirantes presidenciales, han planteado dudas sobre el senador, y algunos políticos sostienen que la ex primera dama Michelle Bolsonaro debería reemplazarlo como candidata presidencial.

“Michelle haría que muchos votantes regresaran. Tiene un buen nombre”, dijo el exministro de Medio Ambiente y legislador Ricardo Salles en un podcast reciente. “Es mucho más suave y eso podría funcionar”.

Michelle Bolsonaro vive con el expresidente en Brasilia, donde él cumple arresto domiciliario por su condena por intento de golpe de Estado. Ella ha guardado silencio sobre el vínculo entre el senador y el banquero caído en desgracia y sobre la posibilidad de postularse a la presidencia.

“Eso no es asunto mío. Tengo que cuidar de mi esposo”, declaró la semana pasada.

Un aliado dice que la candidatura “sigue en pie”

El senador Marcos Rogério, uno de los principales aliados de Flávio Bolsonaro en el Congreso, dijo que el aspirante presidencial ha dado las explicaciones necesarias sobre lo que ocurrió entre él y Vorcaro.

“Momentos como este merecen nuestra atención. Él necesita dejarlo todo claro. Pero también ha argumentado a favor de una investigación parlamentaria sobre el Banco Master. Esto no impedirá en absoluto su candidatura”, dijo Rogério a periodistas el sábado. “No vamos a reevaluar su postulación ni a elegir a otra persona. La candidatura del senador sigue en pie”.

El analista político Lula Guimarães, que ha trabajado para candidatos de todo el espectro político en elecciones brasileñas, señaló que las revelaciones habrían sido letales para Bolsonaro si hubieran salido a la luz poco antes de la votación.

Las investigaciones policiales podrían perjudicar aún más sus posibilidades, pero los votantes podrían dejar el tema de lado cuando llegue el momento, añadió Guimarães.

“Por ahora, la gente en Brasil quiere saber quién ganará el próximo Mundial. Quiere saber si Neymar jugará o no. Solo eso hará que todo este asunto sea menos visible durante un mes”, expresó Guimarães. “No creo que esto, por sí solo, sea letal para Flávio Bolsonaro, pero hasta el propio hombre dijo que hay más sobre él y Vorcaro por salir. Más le vale abrocharse el cinturón”.

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

The victory could provide a model for similar campaigns gaining traction in states including California and Illinois, where labor organizers are increasingly targeting app-based industries as drivers also grapple with the rapid expansion of self-driving technology.

As drivers waved signs and chanted with the gold dome of the Massachusetts State House providing a backdrop, labor leaders described Friday's certification as the largest private-sector organizing win since Ford autoworkers unionized in 1941.

Jean Fredo, who has driven for Uber for more than seven years, said he hopes the union will bring better pay, stronger protections against sudden deactivations and more stability for drivers.

“With the union, it will not feel like we’re working for nothing,” he said in French through a translator. “Now the money will not only stay in the billionaire’s pockets. The money will actually come to the workers who work very hard.”

Uber and Lyft said they planned to work with the new bargaining framework as negotiations move forward. Uber said it would work with the union and regulators while preserving “driver flexibility and hard-won benefits,” while Lyft said it was committed to “engaging in good faith” and “helping drivers succeed while keeping rideshare affordable and dependable for everyone who counts on it.”

The certification became possible after the state’s voters approved a 2024 ballot measure creating a first-in-the-nation framework allowing ride-hailing drivers to unionize and bargain collectively while remaining independent contractors — a model some business groups and legal scholars argue could face antitrust challenges under federal law. Organizers say the union will ultimately represent nearly 70,000 drivers statewide.

Drivers hope for relief on wages, deactivations

“Without the support of the drivers, we wouldn’t be here,” Victoria Acosta, a mother who drives for both Uber and Lyft, said in Spanish through a translator. She said she hopes the victory inspires drivers in other states.

Uber and Lyft drivers are generally classified as independent contractors rather than employees, meaning they are not covered by many traditional labor protections under federal law. Drivers typically use their own vehicles, pay for expenses such as gas and maintenance themselves and can choose when and how long they work through the apps.

Fredo said when he started driving for Uber he appreciated the flexibility and the ability to make his own schedule while still being present for his family. But over time, he said, he found himself working longer hours while earning less as gas and maintenance costs climbed.

Drivers can also lose access to the apps with little warning, he said.

“I live with stress — always scared to lose my app. This is not a way to live," said Fredo, who helped sign up hundreds of other drivers at airports and gathering spots around the Boston area.

“This is my family,” he said, holding up a photo of his four children. “I’m fighting for a better life for them — just like everyone else is fighting for their families. My dream is to save and send my kids to college, and I believe we will get there.”

A labor fight shadowed by automation fears

Supporters say rising vehicle costs, fluctuating pay and opaque app algorithms have fueled frustration among drivers who pay many work expenses themselves. Uber and Lyft have argued that drivers value the flexibility of app-based work and have opposed efforts that could reclassify workers or alter the industry’s business model.

Massachusetts regulators are considering new ride-hailing rules involving safety standards and driver oversight. Days before the union certification, Uber warned in a blog post that some of the proposals could raise costs and reduce flexibility for drivers, while supporters said the changes are intended to strengthen safety and accountability.

The organizing effort has also unfolded alongside the rapid expansion of autonomous vehicle technology. Massachusetts still requires a licensed human operator inside autonomous vehicles tested on public roads.

Waymo has expanded driverless taxi operations in cities including San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix, heightening anxiety among some ride-hailing drivers about the future of their jobs.

Julie Blust of the App Drivers Union said drivers across the country regularly communicate with one another about changing conditions in the industry, including the expansion of autonomous vehicles.

“Drivers now have an official organization and can speak with one voice about what’s happening in this industry,” Blust said. “We cannot let billions of dollars leave Massachusetts and go to Silicon Valley. That money feeds people’s families, that money pays the rent."

El incidente más reciente ocurrió el lunes en el Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight, donde Link está acusada de golpear a otra reclusa múltiples veces durante un altercado, según el informe.

Agentes de la MDSO dijeron que el incidente ocurrió alrededor de las 5:52 p.m. del lunes en el “área común” de la instalación ubicada en el 7000 de NW 41st St.

Los agentes indicaron que un oficial correccional que revisaba videos de vigilancia vio a Link discutiendo con la víctima antes de correr hacia ella y golpearla múltiples veces en la cabeza y el rostro, además de jalarle el cabello.

Según el informe, ambas fueron separadas por el personal y posteriormente evaluadas en la clínica de la cárcel, donde fueron tratadas y dadas de alta sin lesiones visibles.

El informe señala que las imágenes de CCTV revisadas por los agentes corroboraron la versión de los hechos y que un cabo correccional identificó a Link como la agresora.

El motivo del ataque no fue incluido en el informe de arresto.

Los agentes dijeron que la víctima y los testigos también fueron identificados mediante las grabaciones de vigilancia.

No es la primera vez que Link enfrenta acusaciones similares mientras permanece bajo custodia.

El 26 de enero, fue acusada de atacar a otra reclusa dentro de su celda en la misma instalación, según los investigadores.

En ese caso, los agentes dijeron que la víctima, identificada como “Gupta” en el informe, declaró a los investigadores que fue golpeada múltiples veces en el rostro dentro de su celda y que desconocía qué provocó el ataque. Según el informe, Gupta sufrió heridas menores.

Link fue condenada en octubre de 2025 por asesinato en segundo grado en la muerte a tiros en junio de 2022 de su pareja de muchos años, Pedro Jimenez, padre de dos de sus hijos. Sin embargo, un juez le otorgó a Link un nuevo juicio en febrero después de determinar que los fiscales utilizaron indebidamente fotografías durante los argumentos finales que no habían sido admitidas como evidencia, impidiendo que recibiera un juicio justo, según CourtTV.

Los fiscales dijeron que él planeaba terminar la relación y mantener a los niños alejados de ella.

También atrajo atención internacional en 2024 después de quedar embarazada mientras estaba en la cárcel.

Hasta la mañana del martes, permanecía detenida sin derecho a fianza en TGK.

The American Civil Liberties Union announced the settlement in a federal lawsuit it filed last year on behalf of Suzanne Swierc against Ball State University President Geoffrey Mearns.

Swierc worked as director of health promotion and advocacy at Ball State's campus in Muncie, Indiana, before she was fired last September. Ball State cited Swierc's private Facebook post about Kirk as the sole reason for her termination, saying it caused “significant disruption” to the campus.

Swierc's firing violated her constitutional rights because she was “speaking as a private citizen on a matter of public concern,” said Stevie Pactor, an ACLU attorney in Indiana.

“The First Amendment does not allow government institutions to retaliate in those circumstances, and this settlement reflects that,” Pactor said in a statement.

Mearns defended firing Swierc in a statement sent Tuesday to campus leaders, which a Ball State spokesperson shared with The Associated Press.

Mearns said backlash over Swierc's post threatened to harm the school's student enrollment and fundraising. He said the settlement's “modest monetary payment” to Swierc was substantially less than fighting her lawsuit would have cost.

Kirk, founder of the conservative organization Turning Point USA, was killed by a gunman Sept. 10 on the campus of a Utah university. Before his death, Kirk was credited with galvanizing the conservative youth vote to help President Donald Trump win a second term.

Others fired for Kirk posts have won six-figure settlements

Swierc was among a wave of workers who lost their jobs in both the public and private sector after posting social media comments and memes about Kirk’s assassination. And she isn't the first to win a legal settlement in court.

Earlier this month, a Florida state agency agreed to pay $485,000 to settle a lawsuit by a former state biologist who was fired after she reposted a meme that claimed Kirk wouldn’t care about children being shot in school.

In January, Austin Peay State University in Tennessee reinstated a professor and paid him a $500,000 settlement after he sued over his firing for posting a 2023 news headline that read: “Charlie Kirk Says Gun Deaths ‘Unfortunately’ Worth it to Keep 2nd Amendment.”

Lawsuits by other fired workers are still pending.

Ball State says employee's post led to a flood of outrage

In her Facebook post, Swierc referred to Kirk's killing as a “tragedy.” But she also called it a “reflection of the violence, fear, and hatred he sowed.” She wrote: “If you think Charlie Kirk was a wonderful person, we can't be friends.”

Swierc's attorneys said her Facebook page's privacy settings walled off her posts from the general public, but someone took a screen shot of her comments on Kirk that was shared widely online.

Ball State's president said Swierc's post resulted in a flood of outraged phone calls and emails to the university. Some warned they would withhold donations and at least one parent said she planned to withdraw her children from the school. Some callers threatened violence, Mearns said.

“The reaction was extraordinarily damaging to our University’s reputation and image, and it was exceptionally disruptive to our mission and our people,” Mearns said in his statement.

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Bynum reported from Savannah, Georgia.

A proposed notice, announced Tuesday on the Office of Personnel Management website, is expected to be officially published in the Federal Register on Wednesday, seeking comment on a draft NDA to be used by federal agencies for “both new and existing employees."

"The form is intended to document Federal employees’ acknowledgment of, and agreement to comply with, current legal obligations to safeguard non-public, confidential, or proprietary information, created or obtained through their official duties, while expressly preserving the right to make disclosures authorized by law,” the notice said.

The proposed notice seeks comment on several questions, including whether the NDA should cover only unclassified information and what appropriate actions, if any, agencies should consider for new or current employees who choose not to sign the agreement.

The OPM noted “several recent instances” where internal agency communications related to rulemaking and policy development were disclosed without authorization. It also discussed specific instances in which federal employees at the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security disclosed information about planned immigration enforcement actions without authorization.

In one case, The New York Times and The Washington Post received unauthorized information on the U.S. raid on Venezuela this past January and delayed “publishing what they knew to avoid endangering U.S. troops,” the OPM request for comment said.

A Washington Post spokesperson declined to comment.

Charles Stadtlander, executive director of Media Relations and Communications for the Times, said in an email that the paper had extensive reporting on operations targeting Venezuela and preparations for land-based military operations. “Contrary to some claims, however, The Times did not have verified details about the pending operation to capture Maduro or a story prepared, nor did we withhold publication at the request of the Trump administration.”

Ferreting out leaks that the administration deems harmful to its messaging has been a priority across multiple agencies since President Donald Trump returned to the White House. As part of that crackdown, the FBI in January seized the electronic devices of a Washington Post reporter, a move that alarmed media organizations and advocates of press freedom.

One other notable incident occurred last year when dozens of reporters turned in their access badges at the Pentagon, rejecting new rules imposed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that would leave journalists vulnerable to expulsion if they sought to report on information — classified or otherwise — that had not been approved by Hegseth for release.

Michael L. Vogelsang Jr., an attorney at the Employment Law Group, said he has questions, among them: “What gap is an NDA supposed to fill that doesn’t already exist?”

He noted that statutes already exist regarding the leaking of classified and sensitive information. There’s also a law passed by Congress, he noted, that prohibits employers from implementing or enforcing an NDA.

He said: "So Congress has already said NDAs are a no-go. So how can OPM make a regulation that violates the law?”

The American Federation of Government Employees National President Everett Kelley said in a statement that OPM’s proposed rule is part of a continuing effort to silence federal employees.

“This proposed NDA is another attempt by the administration to purge the civil service of nonpartisan career employees and replace them with loyalists who won’t speak out against waste, fraud, and abuse," Kelley said.

As early in-person voting began Tuesday in South Carolina’s primaries, the state Senate rejected a Republican plan to cancel those congressional votes and instead schedule a new primary under revised districts designed to help the GOP oust a longtime Democrat.

Some senators said it was simply too late to make a change.

“South Carolina citizens are going to the polls today. And neither my conscience or common sense is going to let me stop an election that is already underway,” Republican state Sen. Richard Cash said.

The political drama in South Carolina is part of a Republican strategy — propelled by Trump — to redraw voting districts to the GOP’s advantage in an attempt to hold on to a slim House majority in the midterm elections. Republicans have moved quickly to try to leverage a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that weakened minority protections under the federal Voting Rights Act.

But in Alabama, a three-judge federal panel issued a preliminary injunction blocking the state from using a Republican-drawn congressional map that could help the GOP win an additional seat. The court said the plan “intentionally discriminated based on race” by including only one Black-majority district, and it ordered the continued use of a court-imposed map that includes two districts with a significant proportion of Black residents.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, a Republican, vowed a quick appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court and predicted an eventual victory.

Republicans, who remain ahead in a national mid-decade redistricting battle, also notched some victories in lower courts on Tuesday.

A state judge in Florida declined to block new congressional districts passed by the Republican-led Legislature from being used in the midterm elections. Republicans stand to gain as many as four seats under the new map. The judge said voting rights groups that sued hadn't shown they were likely to succeed on their claim that the map was drawn with political intent in violation of Florida's Constitution. The groups said they were quickly appealing to a higher court, and vowed to keep pursuing the case all the way to the state Supreme Court, if necessary.

A federal court also declined to issue a temporary restraining order in a lawsuit contending that Tennessee's new U.S. House districts are racially discriminatory. The new Republican-drawn map carves up a majority-Black district in Memphis, giving Republicans an improved chance to win the state's only Democratic-held seat. The case is one of several brought against the map.

A redistricting battle that has spanned 10 months

Voting districts typically are redrawn after a census at the start of a decade. But Trump has urged Republican-led states to redistrict ahead of the November elections to try to rebuff political headwinds, which typically result in lost congressional seats for the president’s party in midterms.

Since Trump first urged Texas to redraw its voting districts last summer, Republicans also have enacted new House districts in Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Florida and Tennessee. Republicans think they could gain as many as 14 seats from those efforts, and perhaps 15 if they eventually win the ability to use a different map in Alabama.

Meanwhile, Democrats think they could win five additional seats from new voter-approved districts in California, plus one more from a new court-imposed map in Utah. Democrats suffered a setback earlier this month in Virginia, where the state Supreme Court invalidated a voter-approved redistricting plan that could have helped Democrats win additional seats.

Redistricting discussions are ongoing in Louisiana following an April high court ruling that struck down a majority-Black congressional district as an illegal partisan gerrymander. The Louisiana House could vote later this week on a new map that could eliminate a seat held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields and improve Republicans' chances of winning six of the state's seven seats.

The Congressional Black Caucus on Tuesday called on major corporations, including those that previously expressed support for voting rights and racial justice, to oppose redistricting efforts by Republican-led states that seek to eliminate majority-Black U.S. House districts. The caucus last week called for Black athletes to boycott public universities in states that are gerrymandering congressional maps to eliminate districts held by Black lawmakers.

Clyburn decries White House role in redistricting

More than 55,000 ballots were cast Tuesday on South Carolina's first day of early voting for the June 9 primary after Democrats called for people against a proposed new map to turn out in force. In the 2022 midterms, about 125,000 early votes were cast in the entire two weeks.

Among the first to cast an early ballot in the small city of Orangeburg was U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, the Democrat whose district Republicans were trying to reshape in their quest for a clean sweep of South Carolina’s congressional seats. A defiant Clyburn insisted he would run for reelection, regardless of what the district looks like.

“I’m OK if it’s Trump plus 20,” Clyburn said while describing the potential Republican advantage in a reshaped district. “I would be running where I live.”

The Republican-led House already had passed a plan that would reconfigure Clyburn's district, void the results of current congressional primaries and instead hold new U.S. House primaries in August.

Trump had lobbied for the plan, making at least two phone calls to Republican state Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey and also phoning in to a private meeting of Republican senators earlier this month. He also had maintained the pressure on social media.

But debate stalled in the Senate, where Democrats were staunchly opposed and some GOP lawmakers were concerned that aggressive redistricting could backfire by making some Republican-held seats vulnerable to losses because of the addition of Democratic voters.

Clyburn noted that when state lawmakers last redrew congressional districts, after the 2020 census, they spent months holding meetings across the state to gather public suggestions. Although that map resulted in a 6-1 seat advantage for Republicans over Democrats, the process was orderly and fair, he said.

“When the map was challenged, the U.S. Supreme Court said, yes, this is constitutional,” Clyburn said. But now, “this White House says, to hell with the process, to hell with the Constitution, just do what we want done.”

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Chandler reported from Montgomery, Alabama, and Lieb from Jefferson City, Missouri.

The proposal from parents' group Protect Girls Sports in Maine was slated to go before voters in November. It would have asked voters if they wanted to require public schools to restrict access to bathrooms and sports based on the gender denoted on a child's birth certificate.

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, who is running for governor as a Democrat, said Tuesday her staff found that more than 12,000 signatures on the petition for the referendum were invalid. That leaves the petition drive a few hundred short of the 67,682 required for the initiative to make the ballot, Bellows said.

Bellows' decision is a setback for the nationwide movement to limit or ban transgender students in sports. Maine emerged as a battleground for the issue last year following a public disagreement between Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, who is in her final year of office due to term limits, and President Donald Trump.

“We take the integrity of the petitions just as seriously as we take the security of voting. It's really important that anyone seeking to place a initiative on the ballot follow the law,” Bellows said.

Leyland Streiff, principal officer of Protect Girls Sports in Maine, said in a statement that the group “disagrees with the secretary of state’s decision declaring the Protect Girls Sports initiative ineligible for the November ballot.” The group “is working to ensure full judicial review of the secretary’s decision with the understanding that the courts, not the secretary, should have the final word on this important matter,” Streiff said.

The petitioners have 10 days to appeal Bellows’ decision. The group will also have the ability to try to get the initiative on a future ballot, Bellows said. The secretary of state’s office released a recommended decision about the initiative last week that said the petition “does not meet the constitution threshold” of valid signatures.

At least 19 states have laws banning transgender girls and women from using girls’ and women’s bathrooms at public school, and in some cases, other government facilities, private schools or public places. Enforcement of one of the laws – in Montana – has been put on hold by a court.

At least 30 states have laws or other statewide policies that seek to keep transgender girls and women from competing in girls and women’s sports. Courts have blocked enforcement of some of the laws.

None of the laws on bathrooms or sports restrictions came about through ballot measures. Two other Democratic-controlled states – Colorado and Washington – have sports-related laws on the ballot for November.

The restrictions on both fronts have been adopted in the past five years, and have been championed by Trump. Since his return to office last year, he has terminated agreements with school districts to protect transgender students and signed an executive order to limit sports participation by transgender athletes.

Opponents of the Maine ballot initiative said Tuesday they agreed with Bellows' decision. The petitioners “failed to follow the rules,” said David Farmer, campaign manager for the Campaign for Free and Fair Schools, which opposed the question.

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Mulvihill reported from Haddonfield, New Jersey.

Trump suspended the refugee program on his first day in office and, since then, has turned it into a vehicle to allow Afrikaners — a group of white South Africans descended mainly from Dutch settlers — into the U.S. Advocates say the decision to focus a decades-old program on one group has left people around the world fleeing war and strife stranded and with few options.

The administration says Afrikaners are subject to persecution in their home country, a charge the government in South Africa denies.

In the Tuesday announcement on the Federal Register, President Donald Trump said that because of “an unforeseen emergency refugee situation” he was raising the refugee cap. He blamed the South African government for “recent increases in the incitement of racially motivated violence" but gave no specific information.

“I hereby determine that the admission to the United States of Afrikaners from South Africa in response to this emergency is justified by the grave humanitarian concerns and is otherwise in the national interest,” Trump said in the announcement.

Democrats criticize refugee cap

The administration indicated last year that it would approve up to 7,500, mostly Afrikaners, during the fiscal year stretching from October 2025 through September 2026, but last week, in a notice to Congress informing it of the increase, the administration said that “unforeseen developments in South Africa created an emergency refugee situation.” The change raises the limit to 17,500.

Christopher Landau, the deputy secretary of state, and Troy Edgar, the deputy secretary of Homeland Security, met with key congressional committees on Thursday as part of the legally required consultation process with lawmakers, according to two people who were granted anonymity to discuss a private meeting.

During the hour-long session, Landau told lawmakers that one of the ways that Afrikaners had faced persecution at home was the erasure of their history in school textbooks, according to the people with knowledge of the meeting. The discussion infuriated Democrats, who called the approach and the consultation “indefensible.”

The State Department did not return a request for comment on the interaction.

“The administration’s shameful approach to refugee resettlement is organized around prioritizing white-only Afrikaners and betraying everyone else, including thousands of Afghan allies who risked their lives for our nation, and thousands of other approved and vetted refugees twisting in the wind,” said Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois and Alex Padilla of California, and Democratic Reps. Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Pramila Jayapal of Washington in a statement.

Inside the meeting, Democrats also pressed the administration on religious minorities in other nations, particularly in Iran, and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan indicated that it was an issue the administration should look at, the people said. Jordan raised the case of Saleh Mohammadi, a 19-year-old star wrestler who was hanged in Iran with two other young men in March after being sentenced on charges of “moharabeh,” or “waging war against God,” another person with knowledge of the meeting said.

Thousands of mostly white South Africans already admitted

The State Department has already approved more than 6,000 people through the refugee program since the beginning of the fiscal year in October, according to official data. All of those were from South Africa except for three people from Afghanistan.

Presidents set the cap on how many refugees the U.S. will approve through the program each year, and historically, they’ve allocated those numbers across various geographic regions while factoring in wars or conflicts that spark humanitarian needs around the globe.

The refugee program, administered by the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security, is distinct from asylum. People hoping to come through the refugee program must be living abroad and undergo vetting and other checks before being admitted to the U.S., whereas those seeking asylum are already on U.S. soil. A visa, however, is not a guarantee that the holder will be allowed to enter the U.S.

During his first administration, Trump slashed the number of refugees approved every year. Then the Biden administration built the system back up, setting a goal of admitting 125,000 refugees in his last year in office.

Groups that have for decades helped resettle refugees in the U.S. have sued to allow people who were in the refugee application process but are now stranded to be allowed to come to the U.S.

“For nearly half a century, the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program embodied a simple but powerful, bipartisan idea: that the United States would offer safety to the world’s most vulnerable refugees,” said Beth Oppenheim, President & CEO of HIAS, in a statement. “This administration is now dismantling that legacy in plain sight."

Another nine people were injured, some severely, in the spill at Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. in Longview. The cause remained unclear.

“At the moment we are not aware of any rescues that are yet to be made," Cowlitz Fire and Rescue Chief Scott Goldstein said during a Tuesday evening news conference in which officials repeatedly referred to the situation as a recovery effort.

That effort would not resume until Wednesday morning, when emergency responders planned to work on stabilizing the collapsed tank, which still had about 90,000 gallons (more than 340,000 liters) of a chemical brew known as “white liquor" inside, and then search for the missing, Goldstein said.

The severity of the injuries ranged from minor to critical, with some suffering burns or inhalation injuries, authorities said. Among those injured was a responding firefighter.

Officials said they would only work during daylight hours because there was a risk of the tank leaking more caustic liquid and potentially collapsing.

“We don’t know until we know, hopefully tomorrow, how we can stabilize the tank. Do we remove the product first? Do we stabilize the tank first or the vice versa?” Goldstein said.

Authorities said there was no threat to the public.

Community waits for more information

At a community vigil Tuesday night, dozens gathered at a local park to pray, light candles and embrace teary-eyed loved ones.

Crystal Moldenhauer, a Longview resident who served on the school board, said she has friends who work at the plant and remained unaccounted for. She described the stress of the day as people called and texted each other trying to figure out what happened.

“We’re all still waiting for answers,” she said. “There’s families that have been torn apart, and we don’t know why.”

Two upset parents who said their two sons worked at the plant interjected at the end of the news conference, saying they hadn’t been contacted. While officials including Gov. Bob Ferguson, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray and U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez addressed those gathered, no one from the company spoke at the news conference.

Some people waited at the company’s visitor entrance earlier Tuesday, seeking information about loved ones. They declined to comment to an Associated Press reporter. At a nearby union hall that was serving as a family assistance center, three women shared a tearful embrace before heading inside. Others coming and going were also in tears.

Facility is central to the community

The Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. facility is a pulp and paper mill and liquid packaging plant along the Columbia River in Longview, a city of about 38,000 that has had a relationship with the paper and lumber industries since its founding by a Kansas City timber baron in the 1920s.

The facility, which employs about 1,000 people and dates to 1953, makes material for tissues, printing paper, cups, plates, cartons and other goods. It is located in an industrial zone shared by other timber, paper and chemical businesses, and it remains central to the community.

“The people who are responders here have friends and relatives that work on site,” Cowlitz Fire and Rescue Chief Scott Goldstein noted. “It is something that is impactful, and we have support networks to support the workers as well as the emergency responders.”

Officials initially reported that the tank had a capacity of 80,000 gallons (303,000 liters), but later revised that number to say it was holding about 900,000 gallons (3.4 million liters) of the "white liquor.” That's nearly enough to fill a typical Olympic-sized swimming pool one and a half times. The liquid, which consists mainly of sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfide, is used with heat to break down wood to make kraft paper, a durable material used in packaging, shopping bags and other products.

Cause is not yet known

It was too early to determine the cause of the implosion, Goldstein said.

Following the tank's rupture, the white liquor spilled into a drainage ditch, said Brittny Goodsell, a state Ecology Department spokesperson. The department sent a team to evaluate the impacts, Goodsell said.

“I know there’s a lot of questions about how all of this happened and I want to assure you that we will all continue to pressure to get answers to those questions,” Murray said during the Tuesday evening news conference. “This community deserves that.”

The implosion came as thousands of residents of Southern California remained evacuated Tuesday due to a damaged chemical tank at an aerospace plant. All evacuation orders were lifted Tuesday night.

Just over 40 people died between January 2021 and mid-October 2023 as a result of hazardous chemical incidents, according to a paper released by a network of environmental justice organizations in late 2023.

Previous health and safety violations

Safety complaints were filed against Nippon Dynawave on March 4 and May 6. The state’s labor and industries department said on X that both are unrelated to the current situation and remain open. The former was an anonymous complaint about a valve on an aqua ammonia clarifier tank, according to the department, which noted that “it was not the tank that imploded.” The other was opened about a sinkhole created by a drain that failed, according to the department.

Nippon Dynawave, a subsidiary of Japan-based Nippon Paper Group, has been fined a total of $3,400 for three separate health and safety violations found by Washington Department of Labor and Industries inspectors since the start of 2021, according to the department’s online database.

In one inspection, the company was cited because face coverings were not worn by every employee when required. In another, the inspector determined that an employee was exposed to the risk of falling while working on a platform more than 4 feet (1.2 meters) off the ground.

In the third incident, the department determined that equipment involved in a work-related accident — an amputated finger — was moved from its original position before the state’s investigation into the accident was complete.

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Boone reported from Boise, Idaho. Associated Press reporters Gene Johnson and Hallie Golden in Seattle and Christopher L. Keller in Albuquerque, New Mexico, contributed.

El secretario mexicano de Salud, David Kershenobich, dijo en la conferencia presidencial matutina que los tres países anfitriones de la justa mundialista acordaron implementar de manera coordinada protocolos de vigilancia para garantizar la seguridad tanto de sus habitantes como de los millones de turistas que los visitarán.

Kershenobich indicó que en el caso de México los protocolos incluirán filtros sanitarios en los aeropuertos internacionales, el fortalecimiento de los procesos de revisión de los itinerarios de vuelo de los visitantes, la verificación de factores de exposición al ébola antes del abordaje a los aviones y una vigilancia permanente de los casos sospechosos.

“México como país anfitrión de la Copa del Mundo en 2026 está comprometido a proporcionar el ambiente más seguro posible", sostuvo el secretario al asegurar que en el país "estamos llevando a cabo todas las medidas de aislamiento necesarias para cualquier eventualidad que pueda ocurrir”.

Hasta ahora los contagios de ébola se han presentado en la República Democrática del Congo, donde hay más de 900 casos sospechosos y más de 220 muertes sospechosas, y en Uganda, donde hay seis casos y un fallecido. Según la agencia sanitaria de la Unión Africana hay 10 países africanos en riesgo.

Como parte de los controles las autoridades mexicanas exigirán a las personas que estén en situación de contacto con la enfermedad 21 días de estancia de aislamiento previo a su viaje, explicó el secretario de Salud, pero negó que esa medida se vaya a aplicar al equipo de República Democrática del Congo debido a que ya se encuentra en aislamiento en Bélgica.

La selección africana tendrá su campamento base en Houston durante el Mundial y disputará su primer juego del Grupo K contra Portugal el 17 de junio en esa ciudad, seguido de los partidos ante Colombia el 23 de junio en la ciudad mexicana de Guadalajara y el 27 de junio contra Uzbekistán en Atlanta.

Estados Unidos exigió a la selección del Congo aislarse 21 días antes de llegar a su territorio.

Ante el avance de la enfermedad, Kershenobich instó a la población a evitar viajar a la región donde se ha reportado el brote hasta que se levante la emergencia de salud pública, pero descartó que se vaya a imponer alguna restricción de acceso a los turistas que provengan de países africanos.

“México recomienda que las personas que hayan permanecido o hayan transitado en los últimos 21 días en la República del Congo, Uganda o Sudán del Sur reprogramen su viaje para una fecha posterior", agregó.

El director de la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, alertó la víspera que el brote de ébola es “extremadamente grave y difícil” y pidió a los países vecinos al Congo que actúen “de inmediato”.

El ébola es una enfermedad viral mortal que se transmite por contacto directo con fluidos corporales de personas infectadas y puede provocar fiebre hemorrágica y un fallo multiorgánico.

El virus mató a más de 15.000 personas en África en los últimos 50 años, con una mortalidad de entre 25% y 90%, según la OMS.

In a written statement, Oceanwide Expeditions said the extra work is being carried out on the advice of the GGD local health authority in the port city of Rotterdam, where the vessel returned early last week. It's home port is in nearby Vlissingen in the southern Netherlands.

“Based on their inspection findings, GGD has advised additional cleaning,” the cruise company said. “Following completion of this work, GGD will conduct a final inspection before the vessel can depart from Rotterdam.”

It did not elaborate on why extra cleaning was required and the health authority did not immediately have a comment on the reason it asked for the additional measures.

Yvonne van Duijnhoven, the director of public health in Rotterdam, said when the Hondius arrived in the city's sprawling port eight days ago that it would likely take three days to clean and disinfect the vessel.

In a message posted Sunday on X, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said so far, 12 hantavirus cases and three deaths have been reported to the organization, with no deaths reported since May 2.

“All passengers and crew remain in quarantine and under close monitoring to ensure they receive care if needed. The situation is stable for now. We continue to remain vigilant and in close contact with all relevant governments,” he added.

Hantaviruses usually spread when people inhale contaminated residue of rodent droppings. But the hantavirus that has caused the current outbreak, called the Andes virus, may be able to spread between people in rare cases. The risk to the general public from the cruise ship outbreak is low, according to public health officials.

Oceanwide Expeditions had previously said it didn't foresee any changes to the Hondius' operations. The ship had an Arctic cruise setting sail from Keflavik, Iceland, on May 29. But in Tuesday's statement, the company said that “all voyages from 13 June onwards will proceed as scheduled. No further disruption to the sailing schedule of m/v Hondius is expected.”

Paxton was endorsed by President Donald Trump last week, and his victory showcased the president’s power over his party as he seeks to punish Republicans he sees as insufficiently loyal.

Paxton will run against Democratic state Rep. James Talarico in November.

Democrats also voted to choose U.S. House nominees on Tuesday at the polls.

Here is the Latest:

House Majority PAC congratulates Garcia’s win over candidate condemned for antisemitic remarks

“Mike Johnson and Republican leadership wasted millions of dollars supporting an avowed antisemite, and failed,” House Majority PAC spokesperson Katarina Flicker said in a statement. “HMP is proud to support Johnny Garcia, and we look forward to seeing the GOP dummymander backfire in November.”

A super PAC that backed Galindo, Lead Left, was accused by Democrats of being funded by Republicans.

Galindo has made several remarks that were condemned by national Democrats, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, as antisemitic and unwelcome in the party.

Allred is getting his old House seat back

Allred left the House to run for U.S. Senate in 2024, when he lost a challenge to GOP Sen. Ted Cruz.

He was running for Senate again this cycle but dropped his bid on the same day Rep. Jasmine Crockett announced she was running.

He then said he would run again for the House. He defeated Rep. Julie Johnson, who had replaced him in Washington.

Trump celebrates Paxton’s win and touts his endorsement

The president posted a graphic depicting himself and Paxton on his social media platform, Truth Social, with the words “Ken Paxton wins! Endorsed by President Trump!”

Trump’s picks dominated their runoff elections. Each Trump-backed congressional candidate won their runoff with double-digit margins, continuing Trump’s winning streak with his endorsements.

Republicans’ Senate campaign arm attacks Talarico without mentioning GOP runoff candidates

“A state President Trump won by nearly 14 points isn’t going to elect James Talarico — a radical leftist who thinks God is nonbinary and that Texas should be a welcome mat for illegals,” said National Republican Senatorial Committee spokeswoman Samantha Cantrell in a statement.

“He is the most dangerous flank of the far left. Texas isn’t swapping brisket for open borders,” she added.

Cornyn is a former chair of the NRSC. He was endorsed by Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Sen. Tim Scott, the current NRSC chair.

Johnny Garcia wins the Democratic primary for Texas’ 35th US House District

National Democrats stepped in to help Garcia win House nomination as the party was seeking to defeat Garcia’s rival, Maureen Galindo, who has repeatedly expressed antisemitic views.

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York called her comments “disgusting” and said it shouldn’t be near “our politics.” Democratic leaders Hakeem Jeffries and Suzan DelBene also weighed in.

Republicans redrew the 35th District to help the GOP win more House seats, but Democrats think they may have a chance to flip it. They worried that if Galindo won, her past comments would hurt the party.

Cruz congratulates both Paxton and Cornyn after divisive Senate runoff contest

Texas’ junior U.S. senator said Paxton “has my full support and endorsement as the Republican nominee” in a social media post. He called Paxton a “fearless conservative who spent years taking on Texas’s toughest battles as attorney general” and said he expected Paxton to prevail in the general election.

“I look forward to fighting alongside him,” Cruz wrote.

Cruz then he went on to commend Cornyn’s years of service.

“I also want to congratulate and thank my friend Senator John Cornyn for his many years of dedicated service to Texas and our country. It has been an honor to serve alongside him for over a decade.”

He then called on Texans to oppose Talarico’s Senate race, arguing the Texas Democrat “is radical, dangerous, and does not represent the values, ideas, or principles of the Lone Star State. Defeating him is critical.”

Paxton supporter: His ‘warts’ will not be an issue

Rick Swarts, a Paxton supporter who drove from his home in Austin to see the candidate, isn’t worried that the ethical and personal questions the attorney general faces will do any damage to him in the general election.

“James Talarico is such a weak candidate, any warts Paxton has will not be an issue,” Swarts said outside the ballroom where Paxton’s supporters were celebrating. “He always lands on his feet. Like Trump.”

Swarts said Talarico is so out-of-step with mainstream voters, “Beto O’Rourke is going to look like a hardcore conservative when it’s all over.” O’Rourke, a former Texas congressman, ran a competitive Senate race against Republican Sen. Ted Cruz in 2018.

Paxton ends his speech

The victor finished his remarks much like they began.

“Thank you for making history,” he said, before wading into the crowd to shake hands and greet supporters.

Paxton attacks Talarico as a ‘radical’ and urges Republicans to unify ahead of general election

“This campaign is not about red versus blue. It’s about so much more. My opponent is the most extreme radical the Democrats have ever nominated,” Paxton told the crowd.

“The reality is James Talarico is going to be nothing more than a Texas-faced puppet for Chuck Schumer and the national Democrats,” Paxton warned.

Paxton also predicted Talarico is “going to raise more money than any Democrat in America” and urged his followers to donate to his campaign.

“If Republicans lose this state, we lose the country,” Paxton warned.

Paxton takes the stage

“Tonight we just made history,” he told cheering supporters.

The state attorney general paid tribute to Trump for his endorsement despite the objections of Senate Republican leaders.

“When everyone in Washington told him to abandon me and abandon the people of Texas, he didn’t listen,” Paxton said. “Instead he gave his complete and total endorsement. President Trump is the leader of our party and his endorsement is the most powerful force in politics.”

Paxton draws Trump comparisons at victory party

Aidan Shull, in a cowboy hat and jeans, called Paxton “a really good change of pace.”

The 21-year-old Paxton supporter was attending the candidate’s watch party-turned celebration with his fiancee, Brooke Peters.

“He’s not new but he feels new. It’s very similar to Trump 2016,” he said. “He’s giving us hope for change at a time when we really need it in Washington.”

Peters credited Paxton for his long list of lawsuits as attorney general as proof he cares about people.

“He’s very strong-headed. We’ve seen what he’s done, and he’s gone after people,” the 19-year-old said. “And he’s going to keep doing that for Texas.”

Talarico wastes no time launching attacks on Paxton as ‘corrupt’

Within minutes of Paxton being declared the winner of the Republican primary runoff for U.S. Senate, the Democrat called him “the most corrupt politician in America” in a social media post.

“He embodies the broken system we’re running against,” Talarico wrote on X. In another post, he invited Cornyn’s supporters to vote for him.

“You have a place in our campaign,” Talarico wrote.

Cornyn says he ‘kept the faith’

“Serving others is a high purpose. And while much about politics is ugly, we choose to serve through the good, the bad and the ugly,” Cornyn said of his time in office.

He cited a speech from President Teddy Roosevelt about “fighting in the arena” and a verse from the New Testament that reads: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

Cornyn says he’ll support Paxton in the general election

“Tonight we’ve come up short,” Cornyn said to the gathered reporters. “A few years ago, I had a friend of mine say, ‘You know what makes God laugh?’ he said, ‘When we make plans.’”

Cornyn thanked his campaign staff and family, and said he’s spent his career building the Republican Party in Texas and the U.S. Senate.

“I’ve always supported the Republican ticket,” he said, “and I intend to do so again.”

Club for Growth backs Paxton and attacks Talarico

The conservative organization endorsed the Texas attorney general on Tuesday night and released an advertisement arguing that Talarico is out of step with Texan culture.

“Texas is a conservative state and deserves a real conservative in the Senate. Ken Paxton has consistently stood up against Democrats and the establishment in Austin to defend the rule of law and freedoms for every Texan,” said a statement from Club for Growth PAC President David McIntosh. He argued Talarico “has spent his career promoting woke gender ideology, fighting against meat consumption, and opposing the values Texans cherish.”

The ad includes multiple videos of Talarico’s past comments on faith, activism and gender, including one clip where the state representative said he sounded “like a crazy person” and another where he said that people should “try to reduce our meat consumption” to fight climate change.

Cornyn’s unusual watch party goes quiet as race is called

The room was full of journalists and no supporters, so as the race call that Paxton won went out, the only sounds were fingers tapping at keyboards and television reporters shuffling in front of cameras to prepare to go live.

Then the murmur of those reports filled out the silence. Cornyn is expected to speak shortly.

Paxton’s supporters celebrate

Cheers rang through the ballroom as Van Halen’s “Jump” throbs through Paxton’s election night party, while the stage filled with people holding the candidate’s campaign signs.

Paxton wins Republican Senate primary runoff

The win also marks another victory for Trump, who endorsed Paxton as part of his effort to dislodge GOP officeholders he views as less than devout in their support of him.

Cornyn is now the first Republican senator from Texas to lose the party’s nomination for reelection.

Paxton will face Talarico in November. It’s the matchup that Democrats wanted, and some in the GOP are nervous about how much it will cost to try to keep the seat in Republican hands.

Cheers at Paxton event when Texas comes on screen

A cheer erupted among the roughly 50 supporters of the Texas attorney general in the Plano hotel ballroom when the large TV screen flashed to CNN’s coverage of the Republican Texas Senate runoff.

The crowd is awaiting returns for their candidate in his challenge of four-term Republican Sen. John Cornyn, snacking on tacos and drinking beer.

The mood is festive and upbeat, as Paxton staff have projected optimism, especially in light of Trump’s endorsement of Paxton a week ago.

Cowboy hats and boots, on women and men, are common, as are suits and cocktail dresses in the Dallas-Plano Marriott at Legacy Town Center in the upscale shopping and dining area near Dallas where Paxton is expected to speak later.

Cornyn’s watch party isn’t typical

That’s because it’s almost exclusively journalists packed in an austere hotel meeting room in downtown Austin. There aren’t crowds of excited supporters or the pomp of champagne glasses and white tablecloths. A few small campaign signs are stuck to the walls, and a lone podium is backdropped by a screen emblazoned with the candidate’s name.

The senator is expected to enter the room to speak once the race is called. Otherwise, reporters are milling around chairs, going live on their television channels and reloading the voting results online.

Most polls are closed

Most of Texas is in the Central time zone, where polls closed at 7 p.m. local time, or 8 p.m. ET.

A far western part of the state is in the Mountain time zone, so polls there will close an hour later, at 9 p.m. ET.

Angela Paxton doesn’t endorse in Texas Senate race

The Texas state senator posted several endorsements on social media for the Republican primary runoff. But there was no mention of the U.S. Senate campaign between her husband, Attorney General Ken Paxton, and incumbent U.S. Sen. John Cornyn.

Angela Paxton was a key fixture in Ken Paxton’s previous campaigns. She stood by him throughout his Texas Senate impeachment trial in 2023 and allegations of an extramarital affair. But she’s now seeking a divorce and has cited “biblical grounds” among her reasons for the split.

Angela Paxton urged Republicans to vote in several statewide offices, including the one her husband is leaving behind.

Democrat votes for Paxton to boost Talarico’s chances

Jessica Shaw, 46, who swung out of a polling place in a brightly colored dress in the hot Austin sun, had a strategy in mind.

“I voted for Ken Paxton because I think he is most likely to lose against Talarico,” she said, because Paxton is “such a morally bankrupt person” that he’ll turn general election voters away.

It’s an argument that Cornyn has made frequently on the campaign trail, saying he’s the better contender to face Talarico. In this case, a registered Democrat agreed.

“If this strategy doesn’t work and (Paxton) wins” in the general election, said Shaw, who then raised her hands in a shrug. “Something needs to change, or I think people will move out of Texas.”

Shaw gave a parting message before loading into her Volvo: “Vote against Trump at all costs!”

Cornyn voter: Trump’s endorsement 'doesn’t have any effect'

Debbie Burdeaux strode out of the Haggard Library in Plano sporting a fresh “I voted” sticker. Her choice in the Texas Republican Senate runoff? John Cornyn.

“Because he’s done a good job for this state, and I am not a fan of Paxton,” she said.

Trump endorsed the four-term incumbent senator's opponent, Paxton, last week.

“I don’t have a problem with Trump,” she said. “But he doesn’t have any effect on my vote.”

Burdeaux, a 69-year-old retired substitute teacher and geologist, expressed what others who have voted for Cornyn have said in this precinct: a strong distaste for Paxton.

Some Republicans have said Paxton's previous scandals could discourage GOP voters from backing him in November.

“He is a disgrace,” Burdeaux said. “I want nothing to do with him.”

Trump’s endorsement is enough for this Paxton voter

Paul Olson was quick to say why he voted for Paxton: “He’s conservative and backed by Trump.”

The 72-year-old retired finance executive elaborated a little, saying, “I just think he represents more of what middle-class America needs.”

Olson said he was perturbed that Cornyn, the incumbent, had been airing ads projecting himself as a Trump devotee despite Trump’s endorsement of Paxton.

“He claims he’s got Trump’s backing, and he most certainly doesn’t,” he said.

Olson was among a steady stream of voters arriving over the noon hour at the Haggard Library in Plano.

Confident in his choice, Olson still expressed some worry that some conservatives might be less inclined to vote in November if costs for daily expenses, most notably fuel, remain elevated.

“If they end this war soon, then good. Energy drives the cost of everything, and prices will settle,” he said. “But they have to end this war quickly.”

‘He’s just a toady for Trump’

Lee Rodriguez, a 76-year-old registered independent, said he planned to vote for Cornyn outside a polling place in Austin, Texas, mainly because he is a “stable person; he’s willing to reach across the aisle.”

To Rodriguez, that’s in stark contrast to Paxton, who “is too corrupt” and an “extremist,” he said, echoing Cornyn’s talking points about past Paxton scandals, including allegations of an affair.

Trump’s endorsement of Paxton reaffirmed his fears that “he’s just a toady for Trump,” said Rodriguez, who did not vote for Trump in 2024.

Cornyn ‘definitely the lesser of two evils’

Linda Williams walked into the steamy, sundrenched parking lot outside of Haggard Library in Plano, outside of Dallas, on Tuesday around noon.

“Paxton is a no-go!” she said of the state attorney general, but was little more enthused about Cornyn, for whom she voted and who is fighting for his political future in the Republican Senate runoff.

“It was definitely the lesser of two evils,” the 73-year-old, retired administrative support staffer from Plano said.

“Cornyn has not been the check on Trump we need. He used to be more respectable,” Williams said. “But the way he has coddled Trump and bragged about voting with him? It’s an embarrassment.”

It was all out of Williams’ sense of pragmatism.

“At least he’ll have a better chance against Talarico,” she said with reference to the Democratic nominee, state Rep. James Talarico.

“Because Paxton is a crook.”

Trump is wrapping up a month of reshaping the GOP

This has been a big month for Republican primaries and Trump’s influence over his party.

On May 5, he successfully campaigned against five out of seven Indiana state senators who rejected his redistricting plan there.

On May 16, he helped dislodge Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who voted to convict Trump in the Jan. 6 impeachment trial five years ago. Cassidy finished third in the primary, failing to make the runoff, while Trump’s choice, Rep. Julia Letlow, finished first.

On May 19, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky lost his primary to Ed Gallrein, who Trump endorsed. Massie had frustrated the president by voting against his signature tax legislation and pushing to release the Jeffrey Epstein files.

If Paxton wins, it would be a dramatic punctation mark on the month.

Paxton’s supporters brush off years of scandals

The attorney general has faced an impeachment effort and criminal investigations, but his supporters say they’re not concerned.

“He’s had his flaws, but so have we; we all make mistakes,” said Daniel Vega, 18, adding, “He’s repented; let’s move on.”

Others said they appreciated his aggressive conservative politics.

“He’s a fighter. He’s a person of action. He’s proven that as attorney general,” said Jeffrey Sonnier, 72.

Cornyn and his allies have dumped money into the race

Throughout the campaign, Cornyn has had the cash advantage. The senator and his allies have spent roughly $90 million in advertising, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact.

That includes more than $20 million since the March 3 primary.

Paxton is supported by a single super PAC, and combined they’ve spent about $10.5 million on advertising. Roughly $6.1 million has been spent since March 3.