El huracán de categoría 3 tenía vientos máximos sostenidos de 195 kilómetros/hora (120 millas por hora) y se desplazaba en dirección noroeste a 9 km/h (6 mph), informó el Centro Nacional de Huracanes de Estados Unidos en Miami (NHC, por sus siglas en inglés).

Se encontraba a unos 420 kms (260 millas) al suroeste de Acapulco y a unos 590 kms (365 millas) al sur-sureste de Manzanillo.

De acuerdo con las previsiones, Trudy podría fortalecerse durante los próximos dos días. Se espera que su vórtice se acerque a la costa del suroeste y del centro-oeste de México el sábado.

Al noroeste de Trudy, la tormenta tropical Simon tenía vientos de 75 km/h (45 mph) y se espera que se debilite pronto hasta convertirse en una baja remanente.

También en el Pacífico, la tormenta tropical Champi se ubicaba al este de Guam el viernes, desplazándose hacia el oeste-noroeste a 19 km/h (12 mph) con vientos máximos sostenidos que alcanzaban los 86 km/h (52 mph), según el Servicio Meteorológico de Estados Unidos y la web del Comando de Meteorología y Oceanografía de la Marina de Estados Unidos.

Se emitió una advertencia de tifón para Guam y Rota junto con una de tormenta tropical para Tinian, Saipan y áreas cercanas.

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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 Category 3 hurricane had maximum sustained winds of 195 kph (120 mph) and was moving northwest at 9 kph (6 mph), the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

It was about 420 kilometers (260 miles) southwest of Acapulco and about 590 kilometers (365 miles) south-southeast of Manzanillo.

Trudy was forecast to get stronger over the next couple of days. The eye was forecast to approach the coast of southwestern and west-central Mexico on Saturday.

To the northwest of Trudy, Tropical Storm Simon had 75 kph (45 mph winds) and was forecast to weaken to a remnant low soon.

Also in the Pacific, Tropical Storm Champi was east of Guam on Friday, moving west-northwest at 12 mph (19 kph) with maximum sustained winds increasing to 52 mph (86 kph), according to the U.S. Weather Service and the U.S. Navy's Meteorology and Oceanography Command website.

A typhoon warning has been issued for Guam and Rota along with a tropical storm warning for Tinian, Saipan and nearby areas.

El incendio se desató en los últimos días en las zonas de Mentigen y Pusung Lingker del popular Parque Nacional Bromo Tengger Semeru, en la regencia de Probolinggo, en Java Oriental.

Las víctimas formaban parte de un equipo de 12 bomberos integrado por personal del parque nacional, miembros de una brigada comunitaria contra incendios y voluntarios que trataban de contener el fuego el jueves, explicó el portavoz de la policía de Java Oriental, Jules Abraham Abast.

Los fuertes vientos avivaron las llamas e hicieron que el fuego se extendiera rápidamente por la vegetación seca. Alrededor de la 1:30 de la tarde, los bomberos que operaban fuera de la zona de peligro recibieron una llamada de emergencia de compañeros que habían quedado atrapados por el humo denso y el avance del fuego, señaló Abast.

En agosto, otro incendio arrasó casi nueve kilómetros cuadrados (3,5 millas cuadradas) de pasto y vegetación —incluyendo flores de edelweiss, que están protegidas— en el parque.

Policía investiga el incidente

Los rescatistas encontraron más tarde a tres personas muertas y a otras tres con quemaduras graves en un punto de evacuación. Uno de los heridos falleció mientras recibía tratamiento, precisó Abast.

Dos voluntarios permanecían hospitalizados con lesiones graves por quemaduras tras ser trasladados al Hospital General Dr. Soetomo, en Surabaya, para recibir tratamiento especializado. Otros seis salieron ilesos.

“El incidente ocurrió en una zona montañosa remota, lo que complicó las labores de rescate”, explicó la jefa de la policía de Probolinggo, Asmida Rizki Siregar. Siregar se unió a los equipos de emergencia que trasladaron a las víctimas en camilla durante unos 2 kilómetros (1,2 millas) porque el terreno escarpado impidió la llegada de vehículos al lugar.

Las autoridades completaron la evacuación a última hora del jueves y abrieron una investigación sobre los decesos, incluyendo la posibilidad de que una negligencia o conducta delictiva hayan contribuido a la tragedia. Los investigadores estaban recopilando pruebas y entrevistando a los sobrevivientes.

Incendios reavivan preocupación por neblina transfronteriza

Las muertes se produjeron mientras Indonesia intensificaba los esfuerzos para combatir los incendios forestales y en tierras, que han empeorado este año a medida que El Niño intensifica una prolongada temporada seca. Entre los factores que contribuyen a la situación figuran también el desmonte de tierras mediante el uso del fuego en la parte indonesia de Borneo y en regiones de la isla de Sumatra, así como la escasez de agua que ha dificultado el trabajo de los bomberos, que han recibido asistencia de Japón.

El Ministerio de Silvicultura de Indonesia registró 799 puntos críticos en todo el país hasta la noche del jueves, un drástico aumento frente a los 372 del día anterior. Más de tres cuartas partes estaban en seis provincias propensas a incendios en Sumatra y Borneo.

La neblina tóxica y el humo también han provocado una crisis de salud en países vecinos. El humo ha llegado hasta Filipinas, a más de 800 kilómetros (500 millas) de distancia.

El incremento de los incendios ha renovado la preocupación por la neblina transfronteriza en el sudeste asiático. Malasia ordenó el viernes el cierre de cientos de escuelas en varios estados debido al deterioro de la calidad del aire.

El ministro de Exteriores de Malasia, Mohamad Hasan, rechazó los llamados de algunos legisladores a exigir una compensación a Indonesia, alegando que la crisis debe abordarse mediante el diálogo diplomático y los mecanismos de la ASEAN. Dijo que Malasia estaba coordinando ayuda al país vecino y que impulsaría una cooperación regional más sólida para la gestión de la neblina.

Singapur también pidió una cooperación más estrecha. El primer ministro, Lawrence Wong, dijo que las autoridades investigaban a empresas presuntamente vinculadas a los incendios forestales y de turberas en Indonesia que han agravado la neblina, y emprenderán acciones en virtud de la Ley de Contaminación por Neblina Transfronteriza de Singapur cuando corresponda.

El Ministerio de Silvicultura indonesio registró más de 2.020 kilómetros cuadrados (780 millas cuadradas) de terreno quemado entre enero y julio, casi tres veces el tamaño de Singapur. El proyecto independiente Nusantara Atlas, que monitorea incendios mediante imágenes satelitales, estimó que casi 8.960 kms cuadrados (3.460 millas cuadradas) de tierra se habían quemado hasta finales de agosto en Indonesia.

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Las periodistas de The Associated Press Edna Tarigan, en Yakarta, y Eileen Ng, en Kuala Lumpur, Malasia, contribuyeron a este despacho.

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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 provincial government announced an investigation into the cause of Thursday’s collapse at Al-Khair school as victims’ families demanded justice. At least one family member said he had warned the school owner about leaks.

Police on Thursday arrested the school’s owner, Mohammad Khan. Peshawar Police Chief Saeed Ahmed said the building was structurally weak and Khan told officers that recent rains had weakened one of the roofs.

The government order, which was seen by The Associated Press, directs Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s education department to establish district committees to inspect private school buildings throughout the province and submit findings and recommendations within three days.

The inspections must cover premises that are owned as well as those that are rented. Specific areas to checks in the buildings include roofs, ceilings, walls, columns, beams, foundations and staircases. Districts must require urgent technical assessment and classify school buildings as safe, in need of repairs or improvements, or potentially unsafe, the order says.

Emergency crews arrived within five minutes of being alerted and everyone trapped beneath the rubble was recovered by the time the operation ended Thursday. Rescuers pulled at least 40 children alive from the debris, said Bilal Faizi, a spokesperson for emergency services in Peshawar.

The collapsed roof was a traditional structure made of mud and bricks and some of the children trapped beneath died of suffocation, Faizi said.

Speaking from a hospital bed, injured teacher Mahwish Zaman said the collapse happened so suddenly that no one had time to escape.

Zaman described being in her classroom when she heard a loud crash from the floor above. Before she could warn her students to run to safety, the ceiling fell in. She was unconscious when she was taken to the hospital and later learned many of her students had died.

Residents visited victims’ families, many of whom lived in Peshawar’s Dir Colony neighborhood, where the school is located.

Mohammad Zaman, whose two nephews died in the collapse, said he and other relatives had complained to the school's owner about rainwater repeatedly seeping into classrooms. Zaman said he warned that the building’s condition could lead to a tragedy.

Zaman, 36, said through tears that his nephew Abdul, 9, was in second grade, while Abuzar, 10, was in third grade. Abuzar’s sister, Samiya, a nursery student at the school, survived because she had gone outside to buy sweets.

Zakir Ullah lost both sons, Abu Bakr and Mohammad, who were in the same classroom. His daughter was in a different class and ran home after the collapse to tell the family the school had fallen. They rushed back with her and found the boys’ classroom buried under rubble, he said.

Nothing was visible beneath the debris, said Ullah, who described the building as weak and demanded punishment for any officials who authorized its use as a school.

“How could I have known this would take both my sons away from me,” he said.

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Ahmed reported from Islamabad.

The Fed increased its key interest rate by a quarter-point to about 3.9% in September, its first increase in three years, and stubbornly elevated U.S. inflation will likely lead it to hike that rate again in coming months to slow spending and help cool price pressures.

But Warsh offered no fresh signals during a “fireside chat” with International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva at a meeting of financial leaders in Bangkok.

“At the Federal Reserve, we made very clear that we would deliver price stability, and we removed a dose of accommodation about a month ago,” Warsh said. “I don’t prejudge meetings. I don’t believe in saying now what I might do at the meetings that we have in the balance of this year."

The Fed's September rate hike defied U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated calls for the Fed to cut rates. The president criticized the Fed’s rate-setting committee, though he still expressed support for Warsh, whom he appointed earlier this year.

The global surge in prices is a key concern of central bankers and financial leaders meeting in Bangkok.

According to minutes released from the most recent meeting, most Fed officials expect that another interest rate increase will likely be needed this year. That would raise borrowing costs for mortgages, car loans, and credit cards over time.

Warsh said the surge in investment driven by the craze for artificial intelligence is one of the factors behind higher inflation and the Fed's task force on issues related to AI will meet Nov. 16.

“I’d say the advent of this new technology is probably the most consequential change to the U.S. and the global economy in my lifetime to this point,” he said.

Unlike military conflict and other shocks that are driving prices higher, Warsh said he believes AI will bring “huge benefit” to the world economy in time.

For Fed economists who struggle to foresee the future using data that lags behind today's realities, AI could prove a vital tool, he said.

"We torture data with old fashioned models to try to find out what’s underlying inflation trends. Not so long from now, it won’t be torture. We will have access at the fingertips of central banks to all the information in the world, and we’ll be able to use new analytical tools to distill that data,” he said.

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AP Economics Writer Christopher Rugaber in Washington and AP journalist Haruka Nuga in Bangkok contributed to this story.

Their dream of becoming the first team to win three consecutive World Series titles since the New York Yankees from 1998-2000 — and the first National League club ever to accomplish the feat — faded with anemic offense, a shaky bullpen and an ailing Shohei Ohtani slumping in the postseason.

Ohtani hit a three-run homer that helped stake the Dodgers to an early 4-0 lead in Game 4 of the NL Championship Series on Thursday, but the younger Milwaukee Brewers pulled off yet another comeback in a 6-4 win to complete a four-game sweep.

“I’m not used to those consolation speeches,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I personally told our guys that there’s no apologies, there’s no sorrys. We gave it everything we had, and it wasn’t good enough. That’s part of life.”

The Dodgers hit under .100 with runners in scoring position during the postseason.

They wasted multiple opportunities over the final four innings. Trailing 5-4 in the sixth, the Dodgers had a runner in scoring position, as well as in the seventh and eighth.

But Max Muncy struck out to end the sixth, Mookie Betts grounded out to end the seventh and Teoscar Hernández struck out to close the eighth. The Dodgers went down in order in the ninth to end their season.

“We got outplayed in all facets,” Roberts said. “Those guys played flawless. Defensively they pitched better than we did, they hit better than we did, they slugged more than we did. You’ve got to sometimes just tip your cap.”

Ohtani and Will Smith slumped badly throughout the Division Series win over Atlanta in four games and the NLCS defeat.

Ohtani's homer was his first since Aug. 18. Overall, he batted .192 (5 for 26) in eight playoff games with 10 strikeouts, four walks, three RBIs and three runs.

Smith was even worse. The All-Star catcher went 3 for 31 (.097) with nine strikeouts, two doubles, no homers, one walk and two RBIs.

“I know there wasn't one pitch, one at-bat,” said first baseman Freddie Freeman, who was 0 for 3 with a strikeout on Thursday. “They just outplayed us in the series, which is kind of how it goes. We had our opportunities. We didn't get the job done.”

Dodgers starter Tyler Glasnow retired his first 10 batters — six on strikeouts — while working with a 4-0 lead. But the right-hander was tagged by Jake Bauer's two-run double in the fourth and David Hamilton's RBI single that chased Glasnow in the fifth and left Milwaukee trailing 4-3.

Alex Vesia followed reliever Evan Phillips and issued a bases-loaded walk to Bauers, the NLCS MVP, that forced in the tying run in the same inning, when the Dodgers issued four walks and the Brewers stole two bases.

Tanner Scott allowed a two-strike homer to Garrett Mitchell leading off the sixth as Milwaukee went ahead 5-4.

In the ninth, Edwin Díaz got two quick outs before Hamilton, the No. 9 hitter, homered for a 6-4 lead.

“Every facet of the game, if you kind of unpack it, we were bested,” Roberts said.

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

Index provider MSCI warned it would downgrade Indonesia from its “emerging market” status, triggering growing concerns of capital flight.

U.S. futures edged higher after Federal Reserve chair Kevin Warsh said the artificial intelligence shock could bring huge benefits to the global and U.S. economies.

South Korea’s benchmark Kospi index jumped 2.1% to 5,668.05, after tumbling 7.6% the day before on a sell-off of shares related to artificial intelligence. Samsung Electronics was up 2.6%, while memory chipmaker SK Hynix added 0.8%.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.4% to 65,324.29, after falling 4.9% a day earlier. OpenAI investor SoftBank Group climbed 1.9%. Chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron was 2.6% higher and memory chipmaker Kioxia Holdings advanced 3.8%.

The Asian technology stocks traded higher after losses in AI shares moderated in the U.S.

Warsh said Friday at the IMF and World Bank gathering in ⁠Bangkok that AI could bring about positive impacts to global economies.

“I’d say the advent of this new technology is probably the most consequential change to the U.S. and the global economy in my lifetime,” Warsh said. “There really is, I think, a huge benefit to the global economy, the U.S. economy, over the horizon.”

Taiwan’s Taiex, which also benefited from the AI frenzy, was up 0.3%. But shares of TSMC, or Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., were 0.8% lower even as it posted record quarterly profits on Thursday and said AI demand remained very strong.

In Indonesia, the Jakarta Composite index fell more than 10% after MSCI said Indonesia’s continued classification as an emerging market would be “no longer appropriate."

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.4% to 24,147.81. The Shanghai Composite index edged up 0.2% to 3,716.28.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was 1% higher at 8,806.70.

India’s Sensex rose 0.4%.

On Thursday, Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 added 0.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 1.1%, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite rose 0.1%.

AI and chip stocks had eased their losses. American AI cloud provider CoreWeave plummeted as much as 9.5% in early trading but flipped later and ended 5.9% higher. Nvidia closed 1.8% lower following an earlier loss that reached 3.8%. Broadcom was down 0.6%, and AMD, or Advanced Micro Devices, was 1.5% lower.

Oil prices steadied but continued to stay elevated as global oil supply remains under pressure without a deal between the U.S. and Iran to end the Iran war.

The International Energy Agency also said Thursday its members agreed to release in a timely manner the remaining about 100 million barrels of oil outstanding from its pledge in March and that the release total amount to be released would exceed the original 400 million barrels planned.

Brent crude, the international standard, fell 0.3% to $105.60 per barrel. That is still higher compared with around $72 a barrel in late February before the start of the war.

Benchmark U.S. crude was down 0.5% to $97.44 per barrel.

Oil remains well-supported as uncertainties surrounding the situation in the Middle East and concerns over oil flows in the Strait of Hormuz had the market “pricing in a significant risk premium,” ING commodities strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey wrote in a commentary Friday.

The U.S. dollar fell to 157.95 Japanese yen from 158 yen. The euro was trading at $1.1238, up from $1.1220.

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AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed to this report.

Bauers hit a two-run double in the fourth inning Thursday to begin Milwaukee's comeback, and the Brewers rallied for a 6-4 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers that completed a four-game sweep in the National League Championship Series.

The 31-year-old first baseman also drew a walk that forced home the tying run in the fifth to help Milwaukee advance to the World Series for the first time in 44 years.

“There was never a doubt,” Bauers said. “There was never a doubt in that dugout what was going to happen tonight. We knew we were going to win that game.”

Bauers was selected the NLCS MVP after going 4 for 14 (.286) with a home run and six RBIs in the series. He worked three walks and finished with a .983 OPS.

Bauers was born in Newport Beach and went to Marina High School in Huntington Beach about 40 miles south of Dodger Stadium.

If performing at his best in front of family and friends was rewarding, seeing Los Angeles in the playoffs for the second consecutive season heightened his senses. Bauers learned something from how the Dodgers reacted when they wiped out Milwaukee in the 2025 NLCS on the way to their second straight World Series title.

“Watching the way they carried themselves on the field after sweeping us last year was a little bit eye-opening,” Bauers said. "We won the (NLDS) against the Cubs, and I think we kind of celebrated like that was something.

“Those guys swept us, they sent us home, and you would have thought it was a handshake line at a spring training game. That’s something that I carried with me. That’s something that I remembered. Yeah, it was a little bit of motivation to just say, we’ve got to keep going until there’s not another game left to play.”

It's not just in the playoffs that Bauers has shined. Earning consistent playing time from Brewers manager Pat Murphy in his seventh major league season, Bauers set career highs across the board with a .266 batting average, .874 OPS, 26 home runs and 86 RBIs.

The left-handed-hitting Bauers also made his mark in Games 2 and 3 of the NLCS with long plate appearances. His 12-pitch walk against Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 2 came just before a two-run single by Christian Yelich that gave Milwaukee the lead in a back-and-forth 7-4 win.

Bauers also hit a go-ahead homer off two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell to end an 11-pitch at-bat in a 6-2 victory in Game 3 at Los Angeles.

“Just trying to be ready for the moment, man,” Bauers said. “Murph has been talking about it all year. You have to meet the game halfway and be ready, and whatever happens after that is whatever happens.”

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

The Saudi organizing committee issued a statement Friday saying it is continuing to coordinate closely with the Asian Football Confederation.

“Preparations across all organizational and operational areas are progressing according to the approved schedule, including work on venues, facilities and supporting services,” Saudi organizers said. “The focus remains on delivering a world-class tournament experience for participating teams, fans and media from across Asia, while bringing the continent together through football.”

South Korea’s Professional Footballers’ Association had earlier expressed concerns following a series of attacks on the Asian Cup host country by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

“The continued military tensions and security instability in the Middle East are issues that can never be taken lightly,” Lee Keun-ho, head of the South Korean player union, said in a statement. “The safety of our national team, as well as all players participating in the Asian Cup, is a serious concern.”

At least 19 people, including foreigners, have been killed in more than a week of Houthi attacks targeting the Riyadh international airport, the headquarters of Saudi oil giant Aramco and other aviation, oil and military facilities across the kingdom.

South Korea, a World Cup semifinalist in 2002, is set to open against Yemen on Jan. 10 but only if, Lee added, it was deemed safe to do so.

“No competition’s value can take precedence over the lives and safety of players and football fans,” he said. “If safety cannot be sufficiently guaranteed, all possibilities — including whether the tournament should be held — must be carefully reviewed.”

An AFC Champions League game between Cristiano Ronaldo 's Al-Nassr and Uzbekistan’s Neftchi Fergana was delayed on Monday in Riyadh after Saudi Arabia's Civil Defense issued a security alert.

Asian Football Confederation President Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa told media in Zurich this week that — if necessary — the Asian Cup could be postponed by one year.

“We can wait until the end of November” to make a decision, Salman said. “Things can change very quickly for better or worse in the region, and it is a question of seeing what happens.”

“If we need to make a decision, then we will, but we could move it back a year to 2028 if we need to.”

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See AP’s full soccer coverage here

The leader of a small Arab political party condemned Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack. He rarely speaks about the war in Gaza or Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, instead focusing on local issues like crime. He broke a taboo in 2021 by bringing an Arab party into an Israeli government, in which he served as a loyal partner. This time around, the second-ranked member of his party list is a mainstream Jewish candidate.

But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his chief rivals have said they won't form a coalition with his or any other Arab-led party after the Oct. 27 election – even if that means months of gridlock and another round of voting.

It’s a measure of where Israel’s long-marginalized Arab minority finds itself three years after the Oct. 7 attack. Their speech is heavily policed, their leaders have been branded as traitors, and at one point their parties were outlawed before a court lifted the ban. Yet in a tight race, Abbas and other Arab politicians are poised to play a potentially decisive role in choosing the next prime minister — a rare opportunity to wield their influence.

The stakes in the coming election are “existential,” said Yousef Jabareen, leader of the Joint List of Arab parties, which adopt a less conciliatory line than Abbas’ Islamist Ra’am party.

“We have to use our political power in order to basically block the deterioration of the situation,” he said at a small campaign event in Tel Aviv, before slipping out the back to avoid a crowd of far-right protesters.

Activists say protests are heavily policed – crime less so

Palestinians who remained within Israel after the 1948 war surrounding its creation, and their descendants, today make up about 20% of the population. They have citizenship, including the right to vote, but their close family ties and support for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank lead many Jewish Israelis to view them with suspicion.

They face discrimination and suffer from soaring crime rates, a problem that Arab activists blame on police negligence and the police say is rooted in the refusal of community leaders to work with them.

The homicide rate among Palestinian citizens is more than 22 times higher than among Jewish Israelis, while arrest and indictment rates are far lower. The Abraham Initiatives, an Israeli organization that advocates for equal rights, has tallied 184 crime-related killings in Arab communities so far this year. The group said in July that only 12% reported in the first half of 2026 had been solved.

Authorities have meanwhile aggressively curtailed freedom of expression, activists say. Police have routinely broken up anti-war protests, restricted displays of Palestinian flags, and arrested hundreds of people over social media posts, according to the Israel-based rights group Adalah.

“They’re not writing ‘Kill the Jews.’ Some of them are writing, ’We pray for Gaza,’” Hassan Jabareen, its general director, said.

The Israeli government says it is a Jewish state in which minorities have equal rights, and that its crackdown on certain kinds of speech and protests is rooted in security concerns.

Jabareen said the perceived over-policing of protests and under-policing of violent crime leaves Palestinians feeling less like citizens and more like threats to be contained.

“We have to choose between the danger of being killed and being discriminated against,” he said.

A taboo was broken, and then Netanyahu returned

Arab-led parties have long served in opposition to a system they believe is fundamentally unfair. Until 2021, none had joined a coalition government.

Abbas’ decision to do so five years ago marked a major shift. The 52-year-old dentist argued that Arab leaders needed a seat at the table. Critics accuse him of sidestepping the larger Israeli-Palestinian conflict to court potential coalition partners, while he argues that focusing on local issues is the best way to serve his constituents.

“Crime and murder are issues linked to people’s lives and there is no value higher than the value of human life. We’re responsible, as representatives elected by the Arab public, to serve this public,” he said at a campaign event in northern Israel last week.

The government he joined lasted a little over a year, until new elections in 2022 returned Netanyahu to power at the head of the most nationalist and religious government in Israel’s history.

Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has described Palestinian citizens of Israel as an “internal front” in the war and “an existential threat to the state.”

With the far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir in charge of law enforcement, at least 200 Palestinian citizens indicted for speech-related offenses have been classified as security prisoners, according to Adalah. They’ve been subjected to brutal conditions, including overcrowding and severe restrictions on food, often in the same facilities as suspected militants from Gaza.

In theory, they could be kingmakers

Multiple parties compete for the 120 seats in Israel’s national assembly, known as the Knesset. None is expected to win anywhere near 61 seats, so whoever succeeds in cobbling together a majority coalition will be the next prime minister. That can give small parties outsized influence.

Netanyahu won’t work with the Arab-led parties, and they have also ruled that out. Netanyahu’s main opponent, the centrist retired general Gadi Eisenkot, also says he won't ally with Arab-led parties. Even Yair Lapid, a center-left leader of the 2021 government, told The Associated Press in May that he would not form another coalition with Ra'am.

They could change their minds, or form a minority coalition backed by Arab-led parties from the outside. Otherwise, a big win for the Arab-led parties would likely lead to another round of elections, with Netanyahu’s government staying on as a caretaker.

Tensions have worsened since Oct. 7

The vast majority of the roughly 1,200 people killed and 251 taken hostage in the Oct. 7 attack were Israeli Jews, but Palestinian citizens of Israel were also among those killed and abducted. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed over 74,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to local health authorities.

Mohammad Darawshe is a director at the Givat Haviva Center for a Shared Society, a decades-old organization that campaigns for Jewish and Arab equality. His nephew, a Palestinian citizen of Israel and a paramedic, was killed in the Oct. 7 attack.

He said there was a brief moment of solidarity between Jewish and Palestinian citizens after the attack, but it soon faded as Israel's military response alienated many Palestinians. Rather than work to heal divisions, Netanyahu and his ministers have fed them, Darawshe said.

“This government provides the ecosystem for racism,” he said.

Still, some Palestinian citizens see it as a duty to participate and vote, even when the government makes them feel like outsiders.

Ahmed Kadan, a 50-year-old guidance counselor in the Arab town of Baqa al-Gharbiyye, said he plans to vote for Ra’am.

Palestinian citizens have a huge presence in Israel’s medical community and other professions, and they pay taxes, but he said the government ignores their needs.

Last month, three young men were found dead in a burning car on the outskirts of the town – apparently a criminal attack. Police have yet to identify any suspects.

“We live in this state and not in any other place,” Kadan said. “We’re doing our duty but not getting what we need.”

Lama's Khalte village in Nepal’s Rasuwa district had been set up as a temporary settlement after a 2015 earthquake destroyed nearby villages. But it offered little protection from floods, with homes clustered along the Trishuli River in a narrow valley.

When the floodwaters surged through on Aug. 26, residents had few routes to escape. At least 375 people were reported missing, according to residents. The village was wiped out.

Nepal is still recovering from the devastating floods that killed more than 1,400 people and left thousands missing in its mountainous border region with China. Another flash flood in north-central Nepal last week left at least five people missing.

Over the past decade, tens of thousands of people in Nepal have been displaced by earthquakes, landslides and floods, only to face new risks in temporary settlements built in vulnerable areas. Khalte’s destruction highlights those dangers. Survivors say the government must go beyond emergency relief and temporary shelter to provide safe, permanent places where displaced people can rebuild their lives.

Khalte’s destruction exposes the risks of unsafe resettlement

The 2015 earthquake, which killed nearly 9,000 people nationwide, destroyed villages where many families had lived for generations. Under a government relocation plan, about 257 vulnerable households were moved to Khalte, which geological assessments later classified as a “red zone” because of landslide and avalanche risks.

Bam Bahadur Tamang, a Khalte resident now living in a government relief center, said he and many others had opposed the decision to resettle them there but they were eventually forced to move. He said any new relocation must account for both safety and access to basic services.

“Wherever the government resettles us now, it must first ensure that the place is safe,” he said. “We are not cattle to be moved from one place to another.”

Tamang’s worries point to a challenge that extends beyond finding safe ground. Displaced families also need access to schools, healthcare, roads and livelihoods if a temporary settlement is to become a viable home.

Nepal plans a new approach to disaster-hit settlements

Nepal's government says it plans to build a new city for flood victims, with industries, hospitals and schools, and that displaced residents would not be sent back to settlements destroyed by the flood. It is also considering involving private developers in reconstruction, including a model in which they build homes in cooperation with landowners.

Dharam Raj Uprety, chief executive of Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, said the government was identifying land for settlements in safe areas. Experts would assess land use, and flood-prone areas could be declared uninhabitable, he said. The government could also convert vulnerable riverbanks into forest land and build homes on safer ground.

Uprety stressed, however, that agencies responsible for infrastructure and urban planning need to coordinate more closely.

“The disaster authority cannot do all of that work itself. Its role is largely to coordinate and create an environment in which other agencies incorporate disaster risk into their planning,” he said.

Nepal has previously taken steps to reduce flood risks, including river monitoring, early-warning systems and community preparedness. But its remote mountain valleys remain at risk of sudden floods caused by landslides and glacial lake outbursts.

Scientists warn that rising temperatures and increasingly unstable mountain landscapes make better monitoring and stronger early-warning systems ever more important for Nepal.

Rebuilding remains uncertain for Khalte’s survivors

For Khalte’s survivors the question of where to rebuild remains unresolved. Many are reluctant to return to places where they lost family members, saying a new relocation plan may do little to reassure them.

Norchi Ghale survived both the 2015 earthquake and the August floods, but suffered devastating losses, losing his father in the earthquake and his mother and wife in the floods.

Before the flood, he owned a small plot of farmland in Khalte, where he raised cattle that provided his family’s main source of income. When he recently returned, he could no longer recognize where anything had once stood.

“I could not even trace where things used to be, just like my future now. I don’t know where I will go or how I will raise my children," he said.

——

Saaliq reported from New Delhi.

In Dalton, the population center of conservative northwest Georgia, Trump will appear with Senate candidate Mike Collins and gubernatorial nominee Rick Jackson as part of the White House effort to boost Republican enthusiasm in an election that could reshape the final years of Trump's second presidency.

“President Trump is the unequivocal leader, best messenger, and unmatched motivator for the Republican Party,” said White House spokesperson Davis Ingle.

Yet unlike some of Trump's recent trips to solidly Republican states — Alabama, Montana, Tennessee — Georgia is a critical battleground. That means Jackson, a billionaire businessman, and Collins, a two-term congressman, need more than Trump stalwarts to defeat their respective Democratic opponents, former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and Sen. Jon Ossoff.

“I’m surprised Georgia Republicans want the president here,” Ossoff said. “The president coming to town reminds Georgians that Donald Trump and Mike Collins” have pushed policies that have “driven the cost of groceries, fuel and healthcare to their all-time highs.”

Collins spokesperson Meyer Siegfried said the congressman welcomes the president's attention. But he also stressed that Collins is a “bipartisan workhorse who will work with anybody,” while adding that “Ossoff hates Trump more than he loves our state.”

Bottoms also seemed thrilled with Trump's visit.

“When Donald Trump says he wants people to imagine that he is on the ballot, I am asking the people of Georgia to do just that,” she said, pointing to Jackson's promise to be Trump's “favorite governor.”

The risks have been evident even in the heavily Republican corner of Georgia where the president will visit. Voters there sent erstwhile Trump ally Marjorie Taylor Greene to Congress before she broke with the president and resigned. Trump won the district by about 37 points in 2024 and Greene won by 29. In the April special election to replace Greene, Republican Rep. Clay Fuller won by 12 points.

Republican candidates have run separately

The Dalton event will be the first time this fall that Jackson and Collins have appeared at the same venue. That contrasts with Ossoff and Bottoms holding joint rallies across Georgia, with the next scheduled for Saturday in Cobb County outside Atlanta.

Collins has been dogged by anemic fundraising and controversies that leave even Republicans questioning his viability against Ossoff. Jackson has focused on sharing the stage with other statewide Republican nominees and party leaders, and none mention Collins.

“That was not a neglect,” Trump’s former agriculture secretary and onetime Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue said after one rally. “I think it was really respecting a Rick Jackson event and focusing on his election as governor.”

Asked about the joint rally, a Jackson spokesman said only, “Rick will be in Dalton and looks forward to reminding Georgia voters that bad mayors do not make good governors.”

Trump was last in Dalton on Jan. 4, 2021, the day before Ossoff and Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock won concurrent Senate runoffs. He had already lost the presidential campaign to Joe Biden but was unwilling to accept it.

“There is no way we lost Georgia. There’s no way,” Trump said that day. “That was a rigged election but we’re still fighting it.”

Election denial lingers in Georgia

Collins was elected to Congress in 2022, and he's echoed Trump's lies about 2020. He declined to recant those views this week when Ossoff pressed him during a debate. “There was a lot of doubt in that election. Yes, Joe Biden was the president,” Collins said, without saying Biden was duly elected.

Trump endorsed Collins days before his June runoff victory over former football coach Derek Dooley. When announcing his decision, Trump complained that Dooley had conceded that Biden was elected legitimately.

Gov. Brian Kemp did not endorse Collins until September, and he warned voters during the primary that the congressman could not win in November.

Trump did not endorse Jackson until after he’d won a Republican primary runoff over the president's original pick, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who had been part of Trump's effort to overturn Biden’s victory. The president cited Jones’ loyalty in his endorsement.

Jackson doesn’t regularly mention Trump like he did during the primary campaign, when the first-time candidate compared his business background to Trump. He's more likely in recent weeks to compare himself to Kemp.

But the governor won't be with his fellow Republicans on Friday, according to his top political adviser.

“He has a family obligation that day,” said Cody Hall.

His rivals are doing their best to help his case.

Democratic candidates and their allies have spent more than $163 million since Sept. 1 on television advertising that mentions the president, according to an Associated Press analysis of data from AdImpact, which charts media spending.

That includes airing ads that reference Trump on broadcast, cable and streaming nearly 180,000 times, the data shows. Republicans, meanwhile, have run ads that talk about the president just 16,000 times, at an estimated cost of $11 million, over the same period.

It's a noticeable silence about the party's dominant yet unpopular leader.

Many of the Democrats' ads accuse Republican opponents of siding with the president over voters, particularly on issues like tariffs and the Iran war, which they blame for jacking up costs.

The ads include one from the campaign of Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff, who is running for reelection and has spent nearly $3 million on a Trump-focused ad attacking his rival, Rep. Mike Collins, for his close relationship with the president.

“Mike Collins voted for Trump’s war in Iran, sending gas prices through the roof. He voted for Trump’s tariffs, sending grocery prices soaring. And Mike Collins voted with Trump to double health insurance premiums for more than a million Georgians,” it says. “Mike Collins sides with Donald Trump and makes you pay more.”

Republican National Committee spokesperson Natalie Baldassarre said Democratic messaging reflected the party's hollowness instead of its strength.

“Democrats are lighting money on fire talking about President Trump because they have no agenda other than investigation, obstruction and impeachment,” she said. “Trump Derangement Syndrome isn’t a policy platform, it’s a $160 million way of saying you have nothing to offer to the American people.”

Democrats link Trump and his allies to economic woes

Another ad from the House Majority PAC, a super PAC dedicated to electing Democrats to the House, opens with a middle-age woman standing over her kitchen stove and talking about how her family is “barely getting by” before she expresses her disappointment in Pennsylvania Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, who is one of Republicans' vulnerable incumbents.

“He used to be independent. But now it seems like he’s in lockstep with Donald Trump. It really bothers me,” she says, adding, “Congressman Fitzpatrick is not for us anymore.”

Indeed, all the Democratic ads that have aired in Pennsylvania’s tightly contested 1st Congressional District since Sept. 1 have mentioned Trump, even though Fitzpatrick voted against Trump’s tariffs and his power to wage war against Iran without congressional approval.

All four of the ads talking about Trump have aired a combined 2,000 times in that period, the AdImpact data shows. Fitzpatrick is being challenged by Democrat Bob Harvie, a county commissioner who is a former social studies teacher.

Democratic strategists say the messaging reflects the sentiment of voters.

“Every single poll and every single focus group shows affordability to be voters’ number one issue, and they specifically point to corrupt politicians as being responsible for driving up prices," said House Majority PAC spokesperson Katarina Flicker.

Republican ads back away from the president

Out of dozens of issue categories tracked by AdImpact, the analysis found that Trump was the fourth most common issue mentioned by Democrats in House and Senate races' final stretch. It was topped only by healthcare, taxes and accusations about opponents being beholden to special interests.

For Republicans in the same races, Trump-themed ads clocked in at number 33, by comparison. The top issues in their ads were taxes and crime.

Idaho Republican Senator Jim Risch tells viewers he “fought alongside President Trump to pass the biggest tax cuts for working families in American history.”

Overall in the race's final stretch since Sept. 1, Democrats have spent or plan to spend $1.8 billion in ads across all federal, state and local elections. Republicans have spent or reserved $2.2 billion nationwide.

Republican strategist Alex Conant said Democrats are banking on Trump motivating their base to vote, an approach they've routinely used over the last decade.

“Democrats want this election to be a referendum on Trump. They want to equate a vote for a Republican candidate to a vote for Trump," he said.

For Conant's party, its a different calculus.

“We have a ton of money and we’re throwing every kind of message on the wall to see what sticks," he said. “There's not a cookie-cutter Republican ad this year. Whereas the Democratic ads are pretty obvious.”

The attacks in the two countries' exclusive economic zones threaten a global shipping route and have left two people dead, with at least 25 still missing. They also run the risk of drawing other countries directly into the war for Ukraine.

Throughout the war, Russia has repeatedly bombarded Ukraine’s Black Sea and Danube river ports, leaving Kyiv increasingly reliant on alternative routes to get its grain exports to markets in Africa and the Middle East. Russian drones have repeatedly violated Romanian airspace near some of Ukraine's Danube ports.

In the latest incidents, fires broke out on two ships struck by drones Wednesday and Thursday, one in Romania's territorial waters.

Romanian President Nicusor Dan said Thursday in Brussels that “two drones” had hit the vessels but did not say whose drones they were. “There will be a reaction from the Romanian state,” he warned.

Increasingly, the suspicion falls on Russia. “There is no logic in Ukraine attacking its own ships and crews, given that the outcome of all these attacks favors Russia — and indeed, the logic points in that direction,” Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev told his country’s Parliament.

“The problem is that we cannot prove it.”

Multiple vessels struck by drones in October

The San Marino-flagged Wine Trader, a chemical tanker traveling from Tunisia to Romania, was struck by a drone Thursday and caught fire. Five crew members were rescued but another seven are missing.

On Wednesday, a drone strike and fire were reported on the Comoros-flagged Yara J, a chemical and oil tanker traveling from Turkey to Romania. Romania’s acting Defense Minister Radu Miruta said an investigation was underway.

On Tuesday, two ships were struck by drones off Bulgaria's coast. Rescuers evacuated all 15 crew members from the Ukraine-operated Chelsea 3, sailing under a Maltese flag, but 11 crew from the Guinea-Bissau-flagged HS Dignity are still missing.

The crew of the Chelsea 3 reported the ship’s deck and hull were hit by three aerial drones.

Earlier this month, sea and aerial drones attacked two other commercial vessels in Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone. A Togo-flagged ship sank with no sign of the 12 sailors reported on board, while a Bulgarian ferry evacuated 18 crew members from a Palau-flagged vessel that was damaged.

A day earlier, a Turkish-owned cargo ship carrying corn caught fire following a drone attack and later sank off the coast of Romania. Two people died and 11 crew members were rescued. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the attack as “a horrific strike by two Russian drones on a civilian vessel” in neutral waters.

Russia's ambassador in Sofia, Bulgaria, said she didn't have any information from the Russian defense ministry.

NATO’s defense clause under scrutiny

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said on X on Thursday that he met Radev and Dan to discuss security in the Black Sea and “the latest attacks on commercial shipping.”

“NATO has strengthened our posture along the eastern flank including with increasing counter-drone capabilities,” he said. “NATO will continue to work closely with our Allies in the Black Sea, adjusting our deterrence and defense posture as needed.”

Article 5 of the NATO charter has a mutual defense guarantee — an attack on one is an attack on all — but Romanian defense analyst Radu Tudor said it was uncertain as to whether it covers many of the Black Sea drone strikes because they occurred in the alliance members’ exclusive economic zones.

“It’s a matter of discussion whether the exclusive economic zone is included in the Article 5-type reaction or not,” he said. “And it seems that until now, it isn’t — which raised a lot of questions.”

NATO has been too slow to respond in the Black Sea, he argued.

“Tens of incidents are happening and Russia is getting closer to NATO borders. … Words are not enough,” Tudor said.

A growing threat

The Black Sea drone incidents in October are just the latest in a long string of drone airspace incursions to rock Romania and other NATO members since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. While most have come from Russia, Ukrainian drones have also crossed borders.

In August, Romania deployed two F-16 fighter jets to destroy a naval drone that was reportedly carrying explosives and was spotted near a major Black Sea gas project, a decision that Acting Defense Minister Miruta said was made to “protect the lives of the several hundred people” working on the gas platform.

A source in Romania's defense sector, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the incidents, told The Associated Press that the attacks are designed to hurt Ukraine economically and that “Romania is not the target right now.”

“All summer we’ve been hunting all kinds of (drone) debris, water drones, sea drones, air drones, debris in the water, on the beaches,” they said. “If this continues … someone should do something about that.”

Potential calls for an escort corridor

The source added they have heard Turkey “would like to summon all the riparian (Black Sea) states to plan a mission to escort these convoys” through a militarized safe corridor.

“I’m not sure about Turkish, but our Romanian vessels don’t have anti-air defense systems to protect against drones,” they said. “That would be a high risk for the Navy, for military vessels to escort this.”

In July, Romania, Bulgaria, and Turkey expanded the Black Sea Mine Countermeasures Task Force naval pact to “expand the missions to the protection of critical submarine infrastructure,” according to Romania's defense ministry. It would include, it said, a permanent naval presence in Romania’s exclusive economic zone.

Many commercial vessels are flagged to one country and owned by a company based elsewhere.

“Why would Romania and Turkey escort a ship from Bermuda with, I don’t know, an Argentinian owner just to transport a few hundred tons of grains from Egypt?” the source said. “It’s difficult.”

Bulgarian Defense Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said Wednesday that the country plans to join NATO’s Drone Edge project by the end of October. Launched in July, the initiative — which Romania also joined — aims to invest over $40 billion in “counter-drone capabilities” over the next five years.

Cezar Gheorghe, founder of grain consultancy firm Agricolumn, told the AP that the drone incidents have not negatively impacted trade at Romania’s Black Sea port of Constanta. The main concern is a rise in insurance costs in the wider Black Sea, he said.

“The (premium) for the risk is increasing, ... everyone that wants to come to Constanta, let’s say from Turkey, from the Bosphorus Strait and across that area, will have a (premium) on insurance costs,” he said. He added his main concern is a “serious incident” occurring at or near Constanta. In June, a Ukrainian maritime drone exploded at the port, and three others nearby.

“It’s a matter of time,” he said.

———

McGrath reported from Leamington Spa, England.

Ja’Quan McMillian intercepted Sam Darnold’s pass in overtime Thursday night and Wil Lutz kicked a 53-yard field goal that gave the Broncos a 17-14 victory over the Seattle Seahawks.

The Broncos emerged from a tough six-week season-opening stretch with a 4-2 record despite an injury-riddled roster and a shaky quarterback, and the Seahawks (3-3) lost for the second time in five days. They also matched their loss total from last season, when they won their second Super Bowl title.

The Broncos won despite Bo Nix throwing for just 107 yards, J.K. Dobbins leading the rushing attack with a mere 41 yards and managing a meager three first downs and 168 yards of total offense — less than half the 353 yards piled up by the Seahawks.

“I don't know why we can't really push the ball vertically right now,” Nix said. “But defenses are just sitting back and hanging out. ... Hopefully we find a way to get more out of it.”

Nix was as honest as he's been to date in his postgame comments about Denver's scuffling offense.

“We’re definitely capable, we’ve shown it," he said. "And, you know I don’t know where the disconnect is right now, to be honest with you. ... I just think we’re really, for some reason, struggling to find those explosive plays, and that’s what makes an offense really spectacular: Is finding explosive plays. And right now, we don’t have those.”

Denver's depleted defense came to the rescue yet again, hitting Darnold 17 times and collecting five sacks.

“The quarterback's getting hit way too much,” Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said. “Everybody sees that.”

“You’ve got to give credit to those guys," Darnold said. “They’ve got a really tough defense, really good defense coordinator in Vance (Joseph).”

On Seattle's opening drive in overtime, McMillian intercepted a pass intended for Rashid Shaheed at the Denver 43, the second pick of the night by Darnold, who completed 27 of 51 passes for 278 yards without a touchdown.

Those stats were better than Nix's. He barely topped 100 yards on 17-of-27 passing after throwing for 123 last week in a tight win over the Chargers.

Jason Myers' 34-yard field goal tied it at 14-all with 3 seconds left in regulation and capped an 11-0 Seattle run over the final 5 1/2 minutes. The Seahawks started their game-tying drive at midfield after a 31-yard punt return by Shaheed.

“No moral victories in the league,” Macdonald said. “It’s a bottom-line business, production business. But I’m proud of our effort. I’m proud of the resolve of the team. I’m proud of our connectedness of our team.

“However, there’s things that we need to get better at quickly, and we know those things; they’re within our control, and that’s what we do. We find solutions, and we get things figured out, we move forward, and we evolve.”

That's essentially what Sean Payton was saying in the winning locker room.

“Defensively, we were magnificent,” said Payton, who acknowledged, “I’m a little bit of a realist to know that 4-2 could easily be 2-4.”

Denver appeared to have victory in hand when Kris Abrams-Draine intercepted Darnold's pass at the Denver 30 with 1:25 left in regulation, but the Broncos burned just 15 seconds of clock before punting.

After scoring just three points on their first eight drives, the Seahawks put together an 11-play, 67-yard masterpiece that ended with running back George Holani scoring from a yard out. Darnold’s 2-point pass to Shaheed pulled Seattle within 14-11 with 5:41 left.

Dobbins had a 4-yard touchdown run and fellow running back R.J. Harvey took a direct snap and scored from a yard out on Denver’s next drive for a 14-3 halftime lead.

The Seahawks’ most promising first-half drive ended at the Denver 34 when Nik Bonitto punched the ball from Shaheed’s grasp and inside linebacker Justin Strnad recovered.

True to form

The Seahawks franchise fell to 19-30-1 in overtime and the Broncos improved to 33-23-2. That's second-best in the NFL.

“It was a good win,” Payton said, “but we've got a lot of work to do.”

Injuries

Seahawks TE Elijah Arroyo left late in the first half with an apparent right shoulder injury sustained while diving for a fumbled ball.

The Broncos were without star CB Patrick Surtain II and starting safety Talanoa Hufanga, both out with ankle injuries. RB Tyler Badie injured a thumb in the second quarter.

Up next

Seahawks: Host the Kansas City Chiefs on Oct. 25.

Broncos: Host the Arizona Cardinals on Oct. 25.

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See AP’s full NFL coverage here

Maickel David Villegas Rodríguez, de 28 años, quien fue identificado por la fiscalía como miembro de una rama local del Tren de Aragua —grupo criminal venezolano designado como organización terrorista extranjera por el gobierno de Estados Unidos—, fue el primer acusado por la muerte de Ojeda en ir a juicio. Otros 16 acusados serán juzgados la próxima semana.

Los fiscales afirmaron que Villegas Rodríguez estuvo encargado de vigilar el apartamento de Ojeda y grabó su secuestro para enviar pruebas a los líderes de la banda delictiva. Fue declarado culpable de ayudar a ejecutar el secuestro, el cual derivó en la muerte de Ojeda. La condena de 20 años fue el máximo que los fiscales podían solicitar conforme a los compromisos que Chile asumió con Costa Rica durante su extradición.

Alejandra Valdivieso, abogada que representa a la familia de Ojeda, se mostró satisfecha con la sentencia, aunque aseguró que ninguna condena puede reparar el daño que sufrió la familia.

Ojeda, de 32 años, huyó de Venezuela en 2017 después de ser acusado de conspirar contra el gobierno del presidente Nicolás Maduro. En febrero de 2024, poco después de que Chile le otorgó estatus de refugiado, Ojeda fue secuestrado en su apartamento de la capital chilena por hombres que se hicieron pasar por policías. Su cuerpo fue hallado dentro de una maleta enterrada bajo concreto.

El asesinato sacudió a los exiliados venezolanos en Chile, que alberga una de las mayores comunidades venezolanas de América Latina. Los fiscales chilenos argumentan que el ministro del Interior de Venezuela, Diosdado Cabello, ordenó el asesinato de Ojeda y pagó a un líder del Tren de Aragua para que se llevara a cabo, una acusación que, de comprobarse, plantearía serias dudas sobre la capacidad de Chile para proteger a los exiliados políticos en su propio territorio.

El gobierno venezolano niega cualquier participación en el asesinato.

La acusación permanece bajo investigación y no fue abordada en el juicio de Villegas Rodríguez.

Propelled by a lockdown bullpen and repeated comebacks, the young and fearless Brewers swept the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers out of the playoffs Thursday with a 6-4 victory in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series.

“We weren’t coming in to play patty-cake," manager Pat Murphy said. “We were hungry, and as long as it’s an even playing field, we’re going to come in and give it our best shot to win. That’s exactly what we did.”

Garrett Mitchell hit a go-ahead homer in the sixth inning and Milwaukee’s brilliant relievers slammed the door late, giving a vocal contingent of Brewers fans their chance to celebrate in the Dodger Stadium stands.

Now, the Brewers get an opportunity to win their first title after topping the majors with 103 wins during the regular season. Milwaukee has a week off before hosting Cleveland or Tampa Bay in the World Series opener on Oct. 23.

“I’m excited that we've got a few more games to play and get to go home with the fans and celebrate there, too,” Mitchell said.

Shohei Ohtani’s first home run this postseason helped put the Dodgers ahead 4-0 in the second inning before the Brewers came back to complete a four-game sweep.

No. 9 hitter David Hamilton’s two-out solo shot off Edwin Díaz gave Milwaukee a two-run cushion in the ninth. Hamilton had just four homers in the regular season.

“We got down early tonight and we were like, it’s going to be a great story,” Brewers captain Christian Yelich said. “We’re going to come back and win this. Like, stay together, start chipping away. And that’s exactly what they did.”

Aaron Ashby pitched three scoreless innings for a save as the Brewers won their first NL pennant and second overall. Milwaukee was in the American League when the franchise made its only previous World Series appearance in 1982, a seven-game loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Dodgers' goal of a three-peat — not done since the New York Yankees from 1998-2000 and never by a National League team — died with their anemic offense and injuries to Ohtani and others on their aging roster.

“I'm not used to those consolation speeches,” manager Dave Roberts said. “Those guys played flawless. You've got to sometimes tip your cap.”

Milwaukee became the first major league club to finish a postseason sweep after getting swept by that same opponent in the previous postseason. Los Angeles took all four NLCS games against the Brewers last year.

"They may have a bunch of Hall of Famers, but we’ve got a bunch of gamers — and the gamers won this week,” Murphy said.

“I think the Dodgers figured out that we came in here with a little different attitude this year.”

The Brewers also are the first team to sweep a best-of-seven postseason series in which it trailed in every game.

“There was never a doubt in that dugout what was going to happen tonight. We knew we were going to win that game,” said first baseman Jake Bauers, the NLCS MVP.

With the score tied 4-all, Mitchell fell behind 0-2 against reliever Tanner Scott leading off the sixth before taking three straight balls to run the count full. Mitchell then launched a 409-foot drive to center field that put the Brewers ahead for the first time. He also homered in their 6-2 victory Wednesday.

“It’s absolutely surreal," Mitchell said. "You talk about the battle-tested Brewers. We went down early and the belief in that dugout got stronger and stronger.”

Milwaukee's bullpen coolly turned away multiple threats when the Dodgers had the potential tying run on base.

Winning pitcher JoJo Romero struck out Max Muncy with Kyle Tucker at third to end the sixth.

With one out in the seventh and a runner on third, Ashby struck out Ohtani swinging before Mookie Betts grounded out to end the inning.

Will Smith doubled to right with one out in the eighth and reached third on Sal Frelick's fielding error, but Ashby retired Tucker on a shallow flyball and struck out Teoscar Hernández.

“Playing with that chip on our shoulder,” Ashby said. “You don’t ever know what to expect going into a series like that last year (against the Dodgers). You don’t know how bad it can be, and then it was as bad as it was. And we came out and we survived, and we came back this year, and those guys played their tails off.”

The Brewers tied it in the fifth, when the Dodgers bullpen issued four walks and Milwaukee stole two bases. Hamilton’s single chased starter Tyler Glasnow and scored Frelick, who walked and stole second, to pull Milwaukee to 4-3.

Evan Phillips walked two batters with two outs, one intentionally, before Alex Vesia entered and walked Bauers to force in Hamilton with the tying run.

Glasnow retired his first 10 batters — six on strikeouts — before the Brewers got to him in the fourth. Brice Turang walked, William Contreras hit a ground-rule double and Bauers followed with another ground-rule double that closed Milwaukee to 4-2.

Ohtani broke out of his postseason slump with a three-run homer after Andy Pages’ RBI single in the second. The four-time MVP released weeks of pent-up frustration by raising his arms and yelling as the crowd of 49,104 roared.

But the Brewers wouldn't be denied. And when it was over, owner Mark Attanasio thought of Milwaukee's longtime owner and beloved late broadcaster.

“It’s so important for the community, the entire state of Wisconsin,” Attanasio said. “We’re standing on shoulders of Bud Selig and Bob Uecker.”

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A previous version of this story was corrected to fix the sequence of Dodgers pitchers and Brewers walks in the top of the fifth inning.

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Welcome to Florida, Brady.

He had his second consecutive hat trick, joining only Pavel Bure and Noel Acciari on the list of Panthers players with three goals in back-to-back games, to carry Florida to a come-from-behind, 3-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night.

“It's pretty cool, but I know what my goal is being here and that's to be part of something special,” Tkachuk said. “It's not about the individual stuff. Yeah, it's great, but there are bigger goals out there.”

He's the first member of his star-studded family to have six goals in a two-game span. His father, Hall of Famer Keith Tkachuk, had five goals in a two-game stretch on three occasions. And his brother, fellow Florida forward Matthew Tkachuk, has never had more than four goals in such a timespan.

Brady Tkachuk also became the second player in almost 40 years and the third player in NHL history to score natural hat tricks — three consecutive goals without another player from either team scoring in that span — in back-to-back games. Petri Skriko did it for Vancouver in 1986, and Cy Denneny did it in 1923 with the original Ottawa Senators.

“Today was pretty special,” Brady Tkachuk said.

The last NHL player with back-to-back hat tricks in regular-season play was Toronto's Auston Matthews in February 2024. Dallas' Mikko Rantanen pulled it off during the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs.

Brady Tkachuk not only did it — but he did it in a matter of minutes.

“Those guys who have had great success in their career in big moments, they can feel it," Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “They want it.”

Brady Tkachuk's first three-goal game of the season was Tuesday in Florida's 7-3 win at Columbus, when he netted them all in a span of 8:03 of the second period. On Thursday, it was another quick blitz that got it done.

His goal with 8:49 left in regulation got Florida to 2-1. He tied it with 12.8 seconds left in regulation, almost won it with a drive five seconds into overtime, then got the winner 2:23 into the extra session. Add it up, and the hat trick Thursday came in a span of 11:12.

“Awesome. Awesome. He's a true gamer," said Panthers defenseman Seth Jones, who assisted two of Brady Tkachuk's goals on Thursday and one of his scores Tuesday. “He's obviously scoring right now, but he impacts the game in so many ways — his physicality and his tenacity.”

Brady Tkachuk came to Florida this offseason in a trade from Ottawa. He spent eight years with the Senators, who ended up sending him to the Panthers for four draft picks. Social media was ablaze with criticism after the first six games of Florida's season, with Brady Tkachuk managing only one point and no goals in that span.

A couple of hat tricks have made his numbers look a whole lot better.

“I don't think anybody puts more pressure on myself than me,” Brady Tkachuk said. “It wasn't the start that I wanted or envisioned, but with this group, everybody's there for one another. Just had to stick with it and knew it was eventually going to come. Didn't expect what followed, but every day has just been a blast being here, being with this group. It's truly a special group.”

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See AP’s full NHL coverage here

Shoes for a Cure is back in Miami, where fashion meets philanthropy. Dubbed the largest fundraising event in the footwear industry, it has already raised more than $65 million for breast cancer research.

Miami chairperson Jennifer Stearns Buttrick is a two-time cancer survivor who told Local 10 she has been fortunate to have access to state-of-the-art care at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, where the event’s proceeds will go.

“Shoes for a Cure is a multi-day shopping event taking place in the Design District,” Buttrick said. “One in eight will be diagnosed with breast cancer, and so they chose to give back and raise awareness about breast cancer research and the importance of early detection and additional research so that no one dies from this dreaded disease.”

At selected stores in the Miami Design District, participating brands will donate a percentage of sales to Sylvester.

The shopping event starts Thursday. Click here for information.

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At Miami Crab & Seafood Bakery, inspectors documented rodent droppings in several storage areas, including where single-service items, flour, sugar and seasonings were stored, and found rodent bait on the floor outside a covered, tamper-resistant bait station.

At Keke’s Breakfast Cafe in Parkland, inspectors observed approximately 45 small flying insects landing on clean utensils, equipment, walls and soda boxes near the dishwashing area.

Meanwhile, at Miami Shores Golf Club, inspectors found rodent droppings on top of clean dishes and mahi-mahi, and salmon held at 53 and 58 degrees, respectively.

China Spring III in Coral Springs also had rodent droppings in the kitchen and a dead roach in the food preparation area. All four establishments were ordered shut following inspections. Below is a list of violations and some of the most concerning findings.

**MIAMI SHORES GOLF CLUB

10000 BISCAYNE BLVD.

MIAMI SHORES

INSPECTION BASED ON COMPLAINT

ORDERED SHUT 10/9

“Rodent activity present as evidenced by rodent droppings found. Observed approximately 20+ rodent droppings in dry storage area on floor and on top of clean dishes. Observed approximately 5 rodent droppings on floor near single service article storage area. Observed approximately 10+ rodent droppings on floor inside managers office.”

“Dead roaches on premises. Observed one dead roach inside empty plastic bin at the warehouse washing area.”

“Cutting board has cut marks and is no longer cleanable. Observed white cutting board in back food prep area with cut marks and no longer cleanable.”

“Buildup of food debris/soil residue on equipment door handles. Observed reach in cooler door handle soiled with food debris at the cook line.”

“Time/temperature control for safety food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit. Observed mahi mahi (53F - Cold Holding); salmon (58F - Cold Holding) inside reach in cooler drawers at the cook line. As per operator, product has been there for about 2 Hours. Product was placed inside walk in cooler for rapid cooling. Observed cole slaw (54F - Cold Holding) inside plastic bin on prep table.”

“Employee with no beard guard/restraint while engaging in food preparation. Observed employee engaged in food preparation with no beard guard.”

**MIAMI CRAB & SEAFOOD/ BAKERY

20723 NW 2ND AVE

MIAMI GARDENS

ORDERED SHUT 10/12

8 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Rodent activity present as evidenced by rodent droppings found. Observed 75+ rodent droppings on the floor of the kitchen storage room where single service items are stored, 10+ rodent droppings on the shelves where employee store personal items, 5+ rodent droppings on the floor behind the front counter reach in cooler, 7+ rodent droppings on the floor in the back storage room where flour, sugar and seasonings are stored in.”

“Rodent bait not contained in a covered, tamper-resistant bait station. Observed bitten rodent bait on the floor in the kitchen storage room.”

“Buildup of food debris/soil residue on equipment door handles. Observed microwave and oven door handle soiled.”

“Interior of oven/microwave has accumulation of black substance/grease/food debris.”

**KEKE’S BREAKFAST CAFE

7609 STATE ROAD 7

PARKLAND

ORDERED SHUT 10/12

15 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Live, small flying insects found. At dishwashing area, approximately 45 small flying insects, landing on clean utensils equipment, walls and boxes of soda. At dining room- bar counter area -approximately 3 small flying insects landing on walls.”

“Raw fruits/vegetables not washed prior to preparation. At cookline area- in use unwashed strawberries constantly one of actively being cut and portioned.”

“Employee touched soiled surface and then engaged in food preparation, handled clean equipment or utensils, or touched unwrapped single-service items without washing hands. -Observed Employee pick up soiled equipment from floor. Employee proceeds to clean grill then handle ham from the flip top cooler and engaged in food preparation without changing their gloves or washing their hands.”

“Employee touched face/hair and then engaged in food preparation, handled clean equipment or utensils, or touched unwrapped single-service items without washing hands. At Expo station -Employee touched her face and then proceeded to handle clean equipment and bottles of hot sauce without washing their hands -educated operator employee washed their hands.”

“Employee rubbed hands together for less than 10-15 seconds while washing hands. At expo station- Employee handled dirty dishes than Proceeded to wash their hands for approximately eight seconds then engage in handling clean utensils, and equipment.”

“Employee dried hands on clothes/apron/soiled towel after washing. At cook line area, employee handled, soiled wiping cloth, and then proceeded to prepare food for order without washing their hands -educated operator-employee wash their hands properly.”

“Time/temperature control for safety food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit. -Observed in flip top cooler cooked peppers (45F - Cold Holding). Per operator not prepared or portioned today. Per operator out of temperature due to service for approximately 15min. Operator placed in freezer to quick chill.”

**CHINA SPRING III

8100 WILES ROAD

CORAL SPRINGS

ORDERED SHUT 10/8

15 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Rodent activity present as evidenced by rodent droppings found. At kitchen / cook line area- approximately 20 rodent droppings on the floor - underneath prep tables, containers of food and reach in coolers. At dry storage shelf near cook line - approximately 4 rodent droppings on can of sauce.”

“Dead roaches on premises. At kitchen prep area- 1 dead roach on the floor - operator removed. At bathroom- 1 dead roach on the floor.”

“Raw animal food stored over/not properly separated from ready-to-eat food. At reach in cooler raw shell eggs stored over cooked chicken- operator removed and stored properly.”

“Throughout establishment- Nonfood-contact surface soiled with grease, food debris, dirt, slime or dust.”

“Employee handled soiled equipment or utensils and then engaged in food preparation, handled clean equipment or utensils, or touched unwrapped single-service items without washing hands. At dishwashing/prep area -employee handled dirty dishes, then proceeded to handle clean dishes and engage in handling food without washing their hands-educated operator-employee wash their hands.”

“Employee with no hair restraint while engaging in food preparation. Repeat Violation.”

“Required employee training expired for all employees.”

The case eventually went cold after years of detectives pursuing leads. But investigators with the Broward Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Unit say a tip from Brittany Hanfield, who was already in prison on unrelated armed robbery charges, helped crack the case.

“What it ended up being was two 17-year-old young ladies who were out driving around Broward County in a stolen SUV looking for somebody to rob,” said Detective Dave Towsley with the BSO Cold Case Unit. “Unfortunately, one of these ladies brought a handgun.”

Investigators say Hanfield implicated herself and an accomplice, identified as Sheila Arstil, in the May 13, 2007, killing.

According to Towsley, one of the teens had a small handgun and the other had a knife. Investigators found broken glass and shell casings at the scene, along with evidence that Heron tried to fight back.

“We have the DNA which puts them there and we’ve got their confessions,” Towsley said.

Both women are now in their late 30s. Investigators say they recently told them the crime was completely random.

Arstil was arrested at her home this week and booked into the Broward County Jail on a premeditated murder charge. Hanfield was charged with the same offense while in custody.

Heron’s family is relieved that detectives have finally cracked the case.

Tkachuk also scored three straight goals Tuesday night in Columbus in the second period of a 7-3 victory over the Blue Jackets.

With goalie Akira Schmid off for an extra attacker, Tkachuk tied it with 13 seconds left in regulation with a one-timer from the right faceoff circle. He started the run with 8:49 to go, firing a shot from the top of the right circle past goalie Leevi Merilainen.

Merilainen made 36 saves, and Liam Ohgren and defenseman Elias Pettersson scored first-period goals for Vancouver. The Canucks have lost six straight, the last five to start a six-game trip.

Schmid stopped 15 shots.

Ohgren opened the scoring at 7:23. After a Florida turnover, he took a pass from Linus Karlsson and snapped in a shot from the high slot.

Pettersson struck with 2:54 left in the first with his third goal of the season. Filip Chytil — making his season debut after returning from preseason shoulder injury — set up the defender for a shot from the slot.

The Panthers lost forward Eetu Luostarinen midway through the third period when he crashed into the back boards off a clean hit from Pettersson.

Before the game, the Canucks traded Aatu Raty to Toronto for fellow forwards Jacob Quillan and Brandon Buhr.

Up next

Canucks: At Tampa Bay on Saturday.

Panthers: Host Seattle on Saturday night.

___

See AP’s full NHL coverage here

Thursday night's debate in a Bangor theater was the last of four meetings between Collins and Jackson, who are running for a seat that's considered crucial in the fight for a Senate majority. The debate, like those that preceded it, included several testy exchanges over issues including the national debt, Collins' relationship with President Donald Trump's administration, and the candidates' respective roles in worsening partisan divisions.

The scene became briefly chaotic when a protester opposing data centers began yelling as Collins spoke. As moderators asked for the protester to be removed, Collins said the shouting demonstrator was “obviously one of Troy's supporters.”

Jackson responded: “Oh, shut up. I don't even know that kid.”

Maine GOP said in a social media post after the debate that Jackson's “shut up” comment was “unacceptable behavior.” Jackson's campaign declined to comment on the exchange.

The issue of party loyalty came up during the debate, with one question posed to Collins asking her to cite a time she has defied the Republican Party. She referenced her push to oppose Pete Hegseth's nomination as defense secretary, saying she organized Republicans to vote no. But Collins acknowledged he was confirmed despite her effort.

Collins accused Jackson of being a guaranteed vote for the Democratic Party while she has a track record of independence. Jackson disputed that characterization and said Collins is loyal to Trump when he needs key votes.

“What I know is that 100% of the time when Donald Trump goes to Susan Collins for a vote, he gets it,” Jackson said.

Collins, who is seeking her sixth term, has sought to distance herself from Trump during the debates, including using the phrase “Gulf of Mexico” instead of Trump's preferred “Gulf of America.” Jackson described Collins' votes against Trump as “managed votes” when she already knows the outcome is decided.

Jackson's campaign also said Thursday that it raised $20.4 million in the third quarter as it seeks to close a funding gap with Collins. Jackson was a late entry into the race and the third quarter was his first quarter of fundraising.

Collins’ campaign said she raised $5.2 million in the same time period. Collins began the race with a considerable fundraising advantage over Jackson, as she had raised more than $18 million by the end of June and Jackson did not become the Democrats’ nominee until late July.

La decisión se produce poco después de que el presidente Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, quien se enfrenta a Flávio Bolsonaro, presentó una queja en la que acusó a la compañía tecnológica propietaria de Instagram, Facebook y WhatsApp de utilizar algoritmos sesgados y restricciones de inteligencia artificial para favorecer a Bolsonaro antes de las elecciones.

El juez Marco Aurélio Bellizze resolvió que Meta no puede reducir la distribución de contenido político, restringir las búsquedas ni eliminar publicaciones de tal manera que genere un desequilibrio entre Lula y Bolsonaro. También ordenó que la empresa garantice que su herramienta de inteligencia artificial aplique criterios idénticos a las dos candidaturas.

Añadió en su resolución que Meta debe pagar una multa de 500.000 reales (98.000 dólares) por cada día de incumplimiento.

La denuncia de la campaña de Lula, a la que The Associated Press tuvo acceso, señala que Meta ha sometido los materiales de campaña y las publicaciones orgánicas de Lula a “injustificadas reducciones de alcance”. También sostiene que Meta no ha cumplido con un plan presentado ante el tribunal electoral para abordar estos temas.

Meta se negó a comentar sobre el fallo.

La campaña de Lula argumenta que cuentas y anuncios asociados con Flávio Bolsonaro habrían recibido una visibilidad inflada de manera artificial, con métricas de interacción comparables a las de celebridades globales. Ambos están en enfrascados en una reñida contienda por la presidencia, después de que el hijo del expresidente Jair Bolsonaro obtuvo el 47% de los votos frente al 45% del actual mandatario en la primera vuelta electoral del 4 de octubre.

La queja de Lula también afirma que existe una marcada disparidad en las herramientas de inteligencia artificial de Meta: los usuarios no pueden generar imágenes de campaña relacionadas con el mandatario a través de la función “Meta AI” de WhatsApp, a diferencia de quienes buscan promover contenido en apoyo a Flávio Bolsonaro.

Gean Ferreira y Evelyn Santos, abogados para la campaña de Lula, destacaron en un comunicado que la distribución de contenido de Meta es selectiva en contra del mandatario y a favor de Bolsonaro, un aliado del presidente de Estados Unidos, Donald Trump.

“Por un lado, el contenido del candidato Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva y de sus simpatizantes enfrenta restricciones de distribución, sin justificación ni transparencia", indicaron los abogados. "Por otro lado, perfiles que actúan como operadores políticos del bando contrario ... reciben un alcance desproporcionado y artificial, acumulando más visualizaciones incluso que celebridades globales”.

La campaña de Lula quiere que el máximo tribunal electoral de Brasil ordene el fin inmediato de las restricciones de contenido y presione a Meta para compensar las pérdidas y duplicar su alcance, a fin de reparar el daño causado.

Meta informó al tribunal electoral el pasado 11 de octubre —mientras los simpatizantes de Lula empezaban a quejarse de la herramientas de la empresa— que rechaza las acusaciones de estar inclinada a favor de Bolsonaro. La compañía admitió que ha enfrentado fallas técnicas con afectaciones que se extienden más allá de Brasil. También afirmó que actúa en pleno cumplimiento de las normas electorales de Brasil y que está comprometida a ofrecer un acceso igualitario a la plataforma para todos los partidos políticos.

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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 officials spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly. Both said the death toll was preliminary and could change.

Bend police spokesperson Sheila Miller earlier confirmed the suspect is dead. It wasn’t clear if the suspect was included among the five.

She also said multiple victims were children.

“We don’t have a number at this point. We know children are among the victims,” Miller said during a media briefing.

Authorities received a call about a shot fired into a car outside Silver Rail Elementary at 12:59 p.m. and arrived on scene within minutes. Further 911 calls came from inside the school, she said.

The attacker was shot and went down inside the school soon after police arrived, Miller said.

It was not immediately clear if it was by police, a bystander or self-inflicted.

Spokespeople for the city and police department did not immediately return emails seeking comment from The Associated Press.

Silver Rail Elementary was under lockdown, the Bend-La Pine school district wrote on Facebook.

“We’re in the process at this time of going room by room and evacuating each of the people who are in that school. ... This is the kind of thing we never want to see happen in Bend. It’s devastating,” Miller said, pausing to control her emotions.

The school in Bend, Oregon, which is more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) southeast of Portland, had 459 enrolled students as of last year, according to the Oregon Department of Education. The school serves students in kindergarten through fifth grade.

By their predictions, the San Antonio star is going to win his first Most Valuable Player award, repeat as Defensive Player of the Year — and if that wasn't enough, he'll also lead the Spurs to their sixth NBA championship this season. All that is according to voting from the league's GMs in the annual poll conducted for NBA.com. The poll was released Thursday.

Wembanyama got 23 of a possible 29 votes in the pick for MVP, swept all 29 possible votes in the polling of which player is the league's best defender, and the Spurs were a narrow pick over the Oklahoma City Thunder in the balloting for which team will win the NBA title.

Each of the league's 30 GMs got a vote; the maximum number of votes that any player or team could get was 29 because clubs could not vote for themselves or their own personnel.

Among the other highlights:

— In picking the 2027 NBA champion, the Spurs got 50% of the votes and the Thunder got 43%. The GMs expect defending champion New York to emerge from the Eastern Conference; the Knicks got 60% of those votes.

— MVP was a runaway, with Wembanyama at 77% and Denver's Nikola Jokic being next-closest at 10%.

— Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the back-to-back reigning MVP, was the runaway choice as best point guard (67%). Minnesota's Anthony Edwards was the pick as best shooting guard (73%), Miami's Giannis Antetokounmpo was tabbed as best power forward (70%) and Jokic (63%) got the nod over Wembanyama (37%) as the best center. The only close positional battle was small forward, with the Los Angeles Lakers' Luka Doncic (37%) edging Boston's Jayson Tatum (33%).

— Philadelphia (73%) got the nod as having made the best moves of the offseason after landing LeBron James and Jaylen Brown. But Antetokounmpo (53%) was the pick when GMs were asked which one player acquisition would have the biggest impact.

— Miami's Erik Spoelstra (43%) was the pick as best coach, finishing just ahead of Oklahoma City's Mark Daigneault (37%).

— Golden State's Stephen Curry was essentially the unanimous pick (97%) as best shooter. The Warriors couldn't vote for him by survey rule.

— Jokic (87%) is the league's best passer and NBA Finals MVP Jalen Brunson of the Knicks (53%) is the league's best leader, the GMs said. Jokic also was picked as the player with the best IQ (67%), with James (33%) getting all the other votes there.

— Houston's Amen Thompson (63%) was the top choice as the league's most athletic player.

— Indiana coach Rick Carlisle got nods as the coach who runs the best offense (47%) and as the coach who makes the best in-game adjustments (30%, just ahead of the Los Angeles Clippers' Tyronn Lue at 23% and Spoelstra at 20%).

___

See AP’s full NBA coverage here

“Sheriff Tony and I are buddies,” Jeff Lefcourt is heard saying on body camera video. “We’re awesome. Like yeah, he’s on my yacht the whole time.”

But whether Lefcourt hosts the sheriff on his yacht isn’t the issue. Neither is his part in a charitable sheriff’s advisory council, or his card that gets him into the Broward Sheriff’s Office’s training center gym.

“Give me your cards,” Lefcourt is heard saying on the video. “I’ll get you in if you want to work out. I know the guy.”

What is at issue: Lefcourt telling the deputies he and others privately funded a Broward Sheriff’s Office helicopter that Tony wanted.

“The new helicopter ― we all paid for the helicopter," Lefcourt is heard saying in the video. “We had about 20 guys that put in to buy that $5 million. Greg (Tony) said to the f---ing commissioners, ‘The helicopter’s f---ed up. We need these f---ing county commissioners to put money in this.’”

After a horrific, fatal BSO chopper crash in the summer of 2023, the county commission allocated $15 million dollars for a replacement.

Documents show the sheriff then ordered three helicopters and went back to the commission to cover all those costs.

No public documents seem to account for private money for a helicopter the county commission had already publicly funded.

“So we said ‘That’s it,’” Lefcourt said in the body camera video. “Everyone else wrote a check for about $400,000. We bought the helicopter. It’s there.”

Years later, the county and the sheriff are in an ugly public standoff over what BSO spends, as the sheriff demands a larger budget from the commission and the commission asks for a more detailed accounting of the current $870 million BSO gets.

The elected sheriff doesn’t have to answer, and for reasons he has not detailed, just won’t.

But sources high up the chain refuted Lefcourt’s claims late Thursday afternoon.

Stopping short of calling Lefcourt a liar, they said what he claimed did not happen.

Lefcourt did not return Local 10 News’ phone calls seeking comment on Thursday.

The backlog, which state officials attributed to a software glitch, left counties big and small scrambling to process scores of voter registrations late in an unusually competitive midterm election season in Texas. Early voting in the state begins Monday.

State officials have not said how many applications were delayed but the number was in the hundreds of thousands, including over 75,000 in Harris County, which includes Houston and finished its backlog earlier this month.

“With our size, that was a big win for our county,” said Harris County Tax Assessor and Voter Registrar Annette Ramirez, who oversees the county's elections.

The problem, which officials in the Republican-controlled state have not publicly defined, started last October in the Texas Department of Public Safety, which among other things allows people to register to vote or update their voter registrations when they renew their driver’s license.

The error failed to send a large number of records to applicants’ home counties, where the applications are processed and verified. Those records could be a new voter registration application or an update to an existing registration, such as a change of address.

DPS had previously said certain records submitted online “were incomplete and not fully transmitted.” The department did not immediately respond to an email seeking further explanation Thursday.

Alicia Pierce, a spokeswoman for the Texas Secretary of State, said they were not aware of any county with pending applications. Her office has said that any person can still cast a provisional ballot if they show up to a polling place and are not on the voter rolls.

The League of Women Voters and the Texas Civic Fund, a civil rights group, filed a lawsuit that accused the state of not providing a reliable way for people to register to vote. California U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, a Democrat and ranking member of the Senate Rules Committee that oversees federal elections, sent Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott a letter last month seeking answers on the scope of the failure and the causes.

Election offices hired temporary workers to handle the crush. In Austin, Travis County Tax Assessor Celia Israel said the backlog for her elections office was an “enhanced stress,” especially on top of seeing more voting applications coming in the last few weeks.

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

The ruling comes shortly after President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is running against Flávio Bolsonaro, filed a complaint that accused the tech company that owns Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp of using biased algorithms and AI restrictions to favor opposition candidate Bolsonaro ahead of the election.

Justice Marco Aurélio Bellizze ruled Meta cannot reduce the distribution of political content, restrict searches or remove posts in a way that creates an imbalance between Lula and Bolsonaro. His ruling also orders the company to ensure its artificial intelligence tool applies identical criteria to both candidacies.

Bellizze said in his ruling that Meta must pay a fine of 500,000 reais ($98,000) per day if it fails to comply.

The legal filing of the Lula campaign, to which The Associated Press had access, said Meta has subjected Lula’s campaign materials and organic posts to “unjustified reductions in reach.” It also said Meta has not complied with a plan submitted to the electoral court to address these issues.

Meta declined to comment on the ruling.

Lula's campaign argues that accounts and advertisements associated with Flávio Bolsonaro have reportedly received artificially inflated visibility, with engagement metrics rivaling global celebrities. The two are in a close race for the presidency, after the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro garnered 47% of the vote against 45% of the incumbent in the first round on Oct. 4.

Lula's complaint also claims there's a stark disparity in Meta’s artificial intelligence tools, with users failing to generate campaign images related to the 80-year-old president via WhatsApp’s “Meta AI” feature, but being able to do so if they want to promote content in support of Flávio Bolsonaro.

Gean Ferreira and Evelyn Santos, both lawyers for the Lula campaign, said in a statement that Meta's content delivery is selective against the incumbent and favorable to Bolsonaro, an ally of U.S. President Donald Trump.

“On one hand, content from candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and his supporters faces delivery restrictions, without any justification or transparency," the lawyers said. "On the other hand, profiles acting as political operatives for the opposing side ... receive a disproportionate and artificial reach, garnering more views even than global celebrities.”

Lula's campaign wants Brazil's top electoral court to order an immediate end to the content restrictions and pressure Meta to make up for the lost traction by doubling its reach to rectify the harm inflicted.

On Oct. 11, as Lula's voters started complaining about their use of Meta tools, the big tech company told the electoral court it rejects accusations of being skewed to Bolsonaro. The company admitted it has faced technical glitches that affect accounts beyond Brazil. It also said it acts in full compliance with Brazil's electoral regulations and is committed to providing equal platform access for all political parties.

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Police arrested Jamar Lionel Jenkins, 39, of northwest Miami-Dade, on Wednesday in connection with the Oct. 10, 2025 murder of Wells, 40, outside of his restaurant in Miami’s Liberty City neighborhood.

Authorities said the killing was a case of revenge: Wells, police said, spent time in prison for killing Jenkins’ brother, Anthony Jenkins, in 2004 before becoming an anti-violence activist after his release.

According to the Miami Police Department, Wells was playing dominoes on the patio of Winning and Won Turkey Legs at 5030 NW 17th Ave. when a masked Jenkins walked up to him and shot him multiple times.

An arrest warrant states that ballistics data tied spent shell casings at the scene to a New Year’s Day 2024 shots fired incident in North Miami involving Jenkins and his younger brother, who were both arrested on charges of unlawful discharge of a firearm.

Miami police arrested Jenkins’ brother on Dec. 18, 2025 on a suspended license charge and questioned him.

Authorities said he told investigators that “several family members,” including Jenkins, were still “upset” about the killing and told them that Jenkins was the last person to have his gun.

According to the warrant, after the killing, when Jenkins’ brother asked about getting his gun back, he was told it had gone “swimming.”

Authorities said surveillance video tied Jenkins’ Mercedes-Benz to the shooting.

Police said they questioned Jenkins in February. He denied knowing that Wells had been convicted for killing his brother and claimed he was “home and asleep” the night of the murder, saying he found out about it through social media and news broadcasts and that his vehicle was at his home in the West Little River area the whole time.

“When confronted with screen captures,” detectives wrote in the warrant, Jenkins “again claimed his vehicle was at his residence the entirety of the evening and could not provide an explanation for the activity.”

Authorities said GPS data obtained from the vehicle’s lienholder helped link the vehicle to the crime and iCloud and Google records tied him to the vehicle.

Additionally, they said Jenkins’ employment records showed he had time off from his job as a contracted custodian working at the Bruce W. Carter Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Miami.

Miami police went to the hospital, located at 1201 NW 16th St., on Wednesday morning to take Jenkins into custody on a second-degree murder charge.

“We had already arrested this individual as well. We were able to link the weapon used in our first arrest to this homicide as well, so that that assisted us in the process as well,” MPD Chief Edwin Lopez said Thursday. “But sheer determination by these detectives and relationships with the community have been established over quite some time. The community trusts law enforcement here in the city of Miami and we’re fortunate to have that positive relationship, and that yielded the arrest of this individual.”

Later, Wells’ mother, Mary Brown, said “Justice is served.”

“My thought on that is God took care of this killer and brought him out,” she said. “He is going to take care of that revenge thing too.”

As of Thursday, Jenkins was being held without bond in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, online records show.

Es la primera vez que ambas conversan luego que en julio Perú y Venezuela anunciaron el inicio de un proceso de reanudación de relaciones bilaterales que estaban rotas desde el 30 de julio de 2024 cuando Venezuela rompió relaciones con Perú porque Lima reconoció al entonces candidato Edmundo González como presidente electo en los comicios de ese mes frente al ahora detenido expresidente venezolano Nicolás Maduro.

“Tuve una llamada con la presidenta de Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, para abordar la cooperación entre nuestros países, iniciar el apoyo a su plan Vuelta a la Patria, así como coordinar los procesos de expulsión del Perú de ciudadanos venezolanos indocumentados”, dijo Fujimori en su cuenta de X.

Rodríguez dijo, por su parte, en la misma red social que la llamada fue “cordial” y le expresó a Fujimori su “interés en fortalecer los mecanismos que permitan el retorno seguro" de los venezolanos que viven en Perú. No se refirió a los procesos de expulsión mencionados por Fujimori.

Hace más de una semana Fujimori dijo que iba a expulsar “en tiempo récord a los extranjeros que llegaron para romper la ley” durante la presentación de un grupo mixto de militares y policías que combatirán el crimen en Perú donde en los últimos años se han incrementado las extorsiones, homicidios y secuestros.

El ministro del Interior, César Astudillo, dijo a inicios de septiembre en el Congreso que el gobierno de Fujimori, iniciado el 28 de julio, había expulsado a 1.635 venezolanos que antes ya habían sido deportados y regresaron al país andino. Indicó que las expulsiones podrían realizarse más adelante por barco hacia Venezuela.

La agencia de las Naciones Unidas para los Refugiados (ACNUR) dijo en 2022 que los venezolanos en Perú constituyen casi el 3,5% de la población de unos 33 millones y que Lima (1,1 millón de venezolanos).

El representante de ACNUR en Perú, Federico Agusti, dijo en abril de 2022 “si Lima estuviera en Venezuela sería la tercera ciudad de Venezuela con el mayor número de venezolanos”.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz is seeking re-election in the newly redrawn district, where she faces Republican Brent Anderson, an insurance industry executive, in November’s election.

Asked what specific policies they would pursue to address the region’s housing affordability challenges, both candidates pointed to the need for greater access to housing, while also proposing different ways to help residents afford their homes.

Wasserman Schultz highlighted bipartisan housing legislation and a package of Democratic proposals aimed at expanding housing opportunities.

“We have to make sure that we are not only creating more opportunities like the housing affordability bill that we passed on a bipartisan basis,” she said.

She also pointed to a Democratic package of 14 bills that she said could help communities make use of available land for new housing.

Anderson said reducing regulatory barriers and increasing federal investment in infrastructure could help speed up development and ease some of the costs associated with homeownership.

“In addition to home ownership, people need to be able to afford their homes,” Anderson said.

He cited economic development funding and expanded opportunities for people to enter skilled trades as potential ways to help families improve their financial footing.

Anderson also said federal Pell Grant funding could be modified to allow more people to pursue training in the building trades, which he described as a source of “high-paying jobs.”

“We would have to reduce red tape,” he said, adding that federal infrastructure funding could help development move more quickly while addressing flooding, waterway safety and property insurance concerns.

Wasserman Schultz also discussed efforts to help residents facing housing insecurity, including allowing housing vouchers to cover security deposits.

She described the proposal as the kind of “reform that we really need to help bring costs down” and said additional assistance is needed for people transitioning out of homelessness.

The congresswoman also cited federal funding she has secured for local housing initiatives, including an apartment building purchased for veterans experiencing homelessness through United Way.

She said she secured $2 million in funding this year to help people transition out of living in their cars and renovate hotel rooms so they can be used as housing.

The candidates’ proposals come as housing affordability remains a major concern for South Florida residents, where the cost of buying or renting a home can put pressure on household budgets.

Friday will feature a sun/cloud mix and east-southeast winds, sustained 5 to 10 mph. There may be a few showers along the east coast in the morning or a spotty shower or two during the afternoon. Temperatures will make a run for 90°F.

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A judge heard arguments after challenger George Morgan filed an emergency request to have current Mayor Alix Desulme disqualified.

He claims Desulme failed to meet the requirements to run because he used a cashier’s check to pay his qualifying fees.

But Desulme’s attorney argues the city charter only requires the funds to come from a campaign account, which is where he says the money came from.

“He used campaign funds to pay for his candidate qualifying fee,” Desulme’s attorney, Ben Kuehne, said. “It happened to be in the form of a cashier’s check, drawn on his campaign funds, money that he raised to run for reelection. And we believe that’s perfectly permissible.”

Desulme’s side also raised questions about Morgan’s qualification, saying his payment was 80 cents short.

The judge ordered Desulme’s attorney to provide a bank affidavit proving the money came from the campaign.

In the end, no decision was made, with another hearing scheduled for Monday.

Un juez escuchó los argumentos después de que el aspirante George Morgan presentara una solicitud de emergencia para descalificar al actual alcalde, Alix Desulme.

Morgan afirma que Desulme no cumplió con los requisitos para postularse porque utilizó un cheque de caja para pagar las tarifas de inscripción de su candidatura.

Sin embargo, el abogado de Desulme argumenta que los estatutos de la ciudad solo exigen que los fondos provengan de una cuenta de campaña, que es de donde, según él, salió el dinero.

“Utilizó fondos de campaña para pagar la tarifa de inscripción de su candidatura”, dijo Ben Kuehne, abogado de Desulme. “Resultó ser en forma de un cheque de caja, emitido con fondos de su campaña, dinero que recaudó para postularse a la reelección. Y creemos que eso está perfectamente permitido”.

La defensa de Desulme también planteó dudas sobre la elegibilidad de Morgan, señalando que a su pago le faltaban 80 centavos.

El juez ordenó al abogado de Desulme presentar una declaración jurada bancaria que demuestre que el dinero provenía de la campaña.

Al final, no se tomó ninguna decisión y se programó otra audiencia para el lunes.

At least one of the incidents was captured on surveillance video.

Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office deputies say Edgar Montanepina is the man seen holding a gun and attempting to rob a woman at the Fumar y Mas smoke shop on Quail Roost Drive in southwest Miami-Dade.

The victim reminded the armed man that cameras were nearby. He eventually walked away with the store’s tip jar, according to deputies.

The clerk’s sister told Local 10 that Montanepina was a regular at the store and had been outside smoking a cigarette before coming back inside with a gun pointed at the clerk.

Montanepina is also accused of robbing a nearby food truck, holding two women at gunpoint before running off with cash from the register.

Investigators say he also held up a woman on a bicycle and at least two other locations, including the Goulds Food Market. Deputies say he had help during some of the incidents.

Alexander Reguera was also arrested and charged with similar crimes. Prosecutors say he is also a convicted felon.

Montanepina faces charges including armed robbery with a firearm or deadly weapon and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Reguera is accused in three separate armed robbery cases, according to a judge.

Both Montanepina and Reguera are being held without bond at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center Thursday evening.

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Police say it started with several attempted break-ins in a Miami Beach neighborhood and ended hours later with a stolen Mercedes-Benz G-Class SUV, commonly known as a G-Wagen, in Broward County.

Surveillance video shows three masked men pulling up to a home on Chase Avenue in a red Tesla. The men, dressed in all black, quickly got out and began tugging on several door handles, the video showed.

Police say they tried to get into several parked cars in the driveway, including a Mercedes-Maybach, but the cars were locked, so the men eventually took off.

Police identified the two teens involved as 16-year-old Guillermo Spillman Jr. of Sunrise and 14-year-old Daveion Gill of Fort Lauderdale.

According to arrest reports, a few hours later, the pair stole a 2027 Mercedes G-Wagen from a home in Kendall, along with a purse and wallet inside.

The owner used live tracking to help police follow the SUV north into Broward County.

Cellphone video shows the end of the chase in Hollywood, where police say the G-Wagon crashed. The teens then got out and were immediately arrested.

Both teens are now in custody, facing multiple felony charges, including burglary and grand theft.

La policía informó que todo comenzó con varios intentos de robo en vehículos en un vecindario de Miami Beach y terminó horas después con el robo de una camioneta Mercedes-Benz Clase G de lujo, comúnmente conocida como G-Wagen, en el condado Broward.

Un video de vigilancia muestra a tres hombres enmascarados llegando a una vivienda en Chase Avenue a bordo de un Tesla rojo. Los hombres, vestidos completamente de negro, salieron rápidamente del vehículo y comenzaron a tirar de las manijas de varias puertas, según muestra el video.

La policía indicó que intentaron entrar en varios automóviles estacionados en la entrada de la vivienda, incluido un Mercedes-Maybach, pero los vehículos estaban cerrados con seguro, por lo que los hombres finalmente se marcharon.

La policía identificó a los dos adolescentes involucrados como Guillermo Spillman Jr., de 16 años, residente de Sunrise, y Daveion Gill, de 14 años, residente de Fort Lauderdale.

Según los informes de arresto, unas horas después, los dos robaron una Mercedes G-Wagen modelo 2027 de una vivienda en Kendall, junto con un bolso y una billetera que estaban dentro del vehículo.

El propietario utilizó un sistema de rastreo en tiempo real para ayudar a la policía a seguir la camioneta hacia el norte, hasta el condado Broward.

Un video grabado con un teléfono celular muestra el final de la persecución en Hollywood, donde, según la policía, la camioneta G-Wagen se estrelló. Los adolescentes salieron del vehículo y fueron arrestados inmediatamente.

Ambos adolescentes se encuentran ahora bajo custodia y enfrentan múltiples cargos por delitos graves, incluidos robo y robo mayor.

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Without the jury in the room, Sierra told the Miami-Dade judge, “I do not wish to testify.”

The state then began its rebuttal case as they seek the death penalty for Sierra, 42, who killed estranged wife, Gladys Machado, 29, along with her two daughters, 6-year-old Julia Padrino and 3-year-old Daniela Padrino.

Before resting, the defense, working to persuade the jury to recommend a life sentence for Sierra, called corrections consultant Raul Banasco to the stand.

Banasco offered the jury a view of what life in prison without parole and life on death row could look like.

Asked whether inmates serving life sentences have to work, Banasco said, “They can work in the laundry, kitchen. Working gives them structure.”

Banasco said inmates on death don’t have to work, don’t line up to get meals or do their own laundry and hygiene.

Banasco said the current environment is a 6-by-9-foot cell with a bed, commode and television. He said inmates are allowed to be out of their cells for 20 hours a week, including six hours a week in the recreation yard.

They are also allowed visitation and a tablet to speak with friends and family, he said.

The state, which is seeking a death sentence for the brutal triple homicide, asked about security differences.

Banasco testified that death row inmates have a “high level of security,” agreeing that it’s because the person is on death row, not in the general population, and that interaction with other inmates on death row is limited.

Lead prosecutor Abbe Rifkin also asked whether it is easier to get things like drugs in the general population, as opposed to death row.

“The answer would be yes,” Banasco said.

He also testified that Sierra would have access to medical care for his Type 1 diabetes regardless of whether he serves a life or death sentence.

The state mounted its rebuttal case late Thursday afternoon, featuring Dr. Robert Denney, a clinical neuropsychologist who shared with the jury his findings after conducting an in-person evaluation of Sierra on Aug. 26.

A chart showed Sierra tested better than clinical groups with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury.

“We see his memory. It is way up here, exceedingly high,” Denney said. “It tells me he is exaggerating his self-report when it comes to his memory.”

The defense had asked the jury to consider what its expert said was the lifelong impact of a childhood car crash on Sierra’s executive functioning skills.

“His executive function skills are at least low-average,” Denney said.

Denney also said Sierra performed above average on mazes. During the defense case, the jury learned Sierra liked to do puzzles.

Denney also testified as a state rebuttal witness during the penalty phase of the Parkland school shooter case.

The state presented his testimony in its rebuttal case to refute what the jury heard from a defense expert witness.

Sin la presencia del jurado en la sala, Sierra dijo al juez de Miami-Dade: “No deseo testificar”.

La fiscalía comenzó entonces a presentar sus pruebas de refutación mientras busca la pena de muerte para Sierra, de 42 años, quien asesinó a su esposa, Gladys Machado, de 29 años, de la que estaba separado, junto con sus dos hijas, Julia Padrino, de 6 años, y Daniela Padrino, de 3 años.

Antes de concluir la presentación de sus pruebas, la defensa, que busca persuadir al jurado para que recomiende una sentencia de cadena perpetua para Sierra, llamó al estrado al consultor penitenciario Raul Banasco.

Banasco ofreció al jurado una perspectiva de cómo sería la vida en prisión sin posibilidad de libertad condicional y cómo sería la vida en el corredor de la muerte.

Cuando le preguntaron si los reclusos que cumplen cadena perpetua tienen que trabajar, Banasco respondió: “Pueden trabajar en la lavandería o en la cocina. Trabajar les proporciona una estructura”.

Banasco dijo que los reclusos condenados a muerte no tienen que trabajar, hacer fila para recibir sus comidas ni encargarse de su propia lavandería e higiene.

Banasco explicó que las condiciones actuales consisten en una celda de 6 por 9 pies con una cama, un inodoro y un televisor. Indicó que los reclusos pueden salir de sus celdas durante 20 horas a la semana, incluidas seis horas semanales en el patio de recreación.

También se les permiten visitas y el uso de una tableta para comunicarse con amigos y familiares, indicó.

La fiscalía, que busca una sentencia de muerte por el brutal triple homicidio, preguntó sobre las diferencias en las medidas de seguridad.

Banasco testificó que los reclusos del corredor de la muerte tienen un “alto nivel de seguridad” y estuvo de acuerdo en que esto se debe a que la persona se encuentra en el corredor de la muerte y no entre la población general de la prisión, además de que la interacción con otros reclusos condenados a muerte es limitada.

La fiscal principal, Abbe Rifkin, también preguntó si es más fácil conseguir artículos como drogas entre la población general de la prisión, en comparación con el corredor de la muerte.

“La respuesta sería sí”, dijo Banasco.

También testificó que Sierra tendría acceso a atención médica para su diabetes tipo 1, independientemente de si cumple una sentencia de cadena perpetua o de muerte.

La fiscalía comenzó a presentar sus pruebas de refutación a última hora de la tarde del jueves, con el testimonio del doctor Robert Denney, un neuropsicólogo clínico que compartió con el jurado sus hallazgos después de realizar una evaluación presencial de Sierra el 26 de agosto.

Un gráfico mostró que Sierra obtuvo mejores resultados en las pruebas que los grupos clínicos con lesiones cerebrales traumáticas de moderadas a graves.

“Vemos su memoria. Está aquí arriba, extremadamente alta”, dijo Denney. “Eso me indica que está exagerando lo que declara sobre su memoria”.

La defensa había pedido al jurado que considerara lo que su experto describió como el impacto de por vida de un accidente automovilístico ocurrido durante la infancia de Sierra en sus habilidades de funcionamiento ejecutivo.

“Sus habilidades de funcionamiento ejecutivo están al menos en el nivel promedio bajo”, dijo Denney.

Denney también indicó que Sierra obtuvo resultados superiores al promedio en pruebas de laberintos. Durante la presentación del caso de la defensa, el jurado se enteró de que a Sierra le gustaba resolver rompecabezas.

Denney también testificó como testigo de refutación de la fiscalía durante la fase de sentencia del caso del atacante de la escuela de Parkland.

La fiscalía presentó su testimonio como parte de sus pruebas de refutación para contradecir lo que el jurado había escuchado de un testigo experto de la defensa.

While family history and genetics cannot be changed, experts say lifestyle choices, including regular physical activity, a healthy diet and limiting alcohol consumption, may help lower the risk of developing breast cancer.

Dr. Jessica Pastoriza, a breast surgical oncologist at Mount Sinai Medical Center who is also certified in lifestyle medicine, focuses on the role healthy habits can play in cancer prevention.

“I think now a days in medical schools, it’s becoming more popular that people are electing to do this field of work,” she said.

Lifestyle medicine emphasizes habits that may reduce the risk of chronic disease and improve overall health. For breast cancer prevention, physical activity is one important component.

“Actually, for cancer prevention, it’s 300 minutes a week and that’s two days also of strength training,” Pastoriza added.

Nutrition is another consideration.

Although no single food can prevent breast cancer, a diet rich in minimally processed, plant-based foods may support overall health and help reduce certain risk factors.

Vegetables such as kale, cabbage and cauliflower contain compounds that support normal cellular processes. Lentils, chickpeas and black beans provide fiber and plant protein. Whole grains, fatty fish and green tea can also be part of a balanced diet.

Alcohol consumption, meanwhile, is an established risk factor for breast cancer. Pastoriza said recommendations have evolved as research has clarified the relationship between alcohol and cancer.

“They’ve changed a lot of the different guidelines, and we used to think a glass of wine was healthy, even protective, but guidelines have been changing, so now, any amount of alcohol is a cancer risk, especially in women,” Pastoriza said.

She advises people who drink alcohol to do so in moderation.

Beyond diet and exercise, she also emphasizes the importance of managing stress, getting enough sleep and maintaining social connections.

“You feel like you have good social connections, people to rely on, people that love you, that are there for you, that’s the most important part of longevity,” Pastoriza said.

Although lifestyle changes cannot eliminate breast cancer risk, they can be part of a broader approach to health. Regular screening and conversations with health care providers remain important, even for women with no family history of the disease.

Investigators still don't know why family patriarch Matthew Stone Sr. gunned down his wife, their three children, two grandchildren and two women who had rushed to the home and were shot outside, Erie Police Chief Rick Lorah said at a news conference.

Lorah painted a picture of a family living in a home in isolated, filthy conditions. He said the authoritarian behavior of Stone, 45, started after his wife became pregnant with their first child more than two decades ago.

The adult victims of the Oct. 9 shooting previously were identified as Stone’s wife, Michelle Stone, 44; their daughter, Angelina Stone, 24, who was due to give birth Monday, three days after the shooting; sons Jonathan Stone, 19, and Matthew Stone Jr., 21; and two women who lived at other addresses: Lora Roberts, 37, and Twila Tanner, 51. Roberts was Michelle Stone’s sister.

A 5-year-old boy and a 22-month-old girl who were identified by relatives as Angelina Stone's children also were killed. State law prevented authorities from releasing their names.

Family members told detectives that the elder Stone “restricted when family members could leave the residence or spend time with relatives,” Lorah said. In addition, Michelle Stone “stopped maintaining contact with friends.”

The elder Stone also kept a tight grip over the family's money, including supplemental government income received for one of the grandchildren, Lorah said.

In 2019, Stone was arrested and charged with threatening his wife with the same .40-caliber handgun that he used in the Oct. 9 shootings. However, at a preliminary hearing, Michelle Stone “changed her original statement and those charges were withdrawn,” Lorah said.

A year ago, daughter Angelina filed a petition to change her last name, citing concerns about the elder Stone's “declining mental health,” according to Lorah. She had planned to pursue a career in medicine and didn’t want her last name associated with her father. But that application was closed in April 2026.

Angelina Stone posted ultrasound photos of her unborn child on social media on Sept. 25. Lorah said she had been sending messages to others indicating she was going to leave the home after giving birth. She also said her father had been physically abusive toward her brothers. After the shootings, detectives found bags and boxes that were packed in Angelina Stone’s bedroom.

Detectives described conditions in the home as “extremely filthy.” A shower, toilet and kitchen sink didn’t appear to be working, and there were numerous soda bottles filled with urine throughout the house. Water service remained active but had an outstanding balance of $1,900, the chief said.

During their search, detectives also found drug paraphernalia, “but we cannot establish what role, if any, mental health or substance use played in the shooting,” Lorah said.

Video and audio evidence recovered by investigators included muffled gunshot sounds coming from inside the home just before Roberts and Tanner arrived and began pounding on the door. The gunman then came out and shot them as they ran toward him, before returning inside. Tanner was the only nonrelative killed, Lorah said.

As circumstances of the family's living conditions and history came to light, Mayor Daria Devlin said some difficult questions, too, have surfaced.

“Were there opportunities to recognize that this family was struggling?” Devlin said. “Were there places where our systems could have responded differently? And how do we make sure that families in this community who are suffering and struggling like this don’t fall through the cracks?

“We cannot assume that any one intervention could have prevented what happened on Friday. But that can't stop us from examining where each one of us can do better.”

The 42-page complaint filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., claims the Department of Homeland Security's secretive probe of the voter data, including a policy to combine it with commercial datasets, disregards federal safeguards and flouts the privacy rights of millions of Americans.

The case, brought by the League of Women Voters, the Electronic Privacy Information Center and the League of United Latin American Citizens, is the latest in a torrent of legal challenges that have emerged in response to President Donald Trump's crusade against noncitizen voting, a concern he views as a serious problem but which research shows is exceedingly rare.

The Trump administration has consistently sought to exert more power over elections, even as the Constitution grants that authority to states and, in some cases, Congress. Judges have consistently upheld states’ rights to decline to hand over their lists to the federal government.

DHS didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Thursday's lawsuit alleges the Trump administration has obtained voter lists from 47 states, even as 30 states refused to turn them over to the administration. It calls for the court to declare the administration's collection of voter data illegal, block the policy and order DHS to delete and stop using the voter information it already has collected.

The lawsuit comes less than three weeks before Election Day, as the administration has continued to escalate threats to states alleging they are not doing enough to remove noncitizens from their voter rolls.

On Thursday, the administration sued California election officials, alleging they didn't act quickly enough to review names the federal government identified as “likely” noncitizens, and asking a judge to bar the state from counting those people's mail ballots for next month's midterm elections. The secretary of state's office said it was given just 48 hours to review 20,000 names without the Justice Department providing any evidence to substantiate its claims.

But it wasn't enough to keep the Milwaukee Brewers from advancing to their first World Series in 44 years on Thursday.

The Dodgers lost 6-4 and got swept in four games, the same thing they did to the Brewers last year on the way to winning a second straight World Series title.

Ohtani went 1 for 4 with three strikeouts — including a big one in the seventh inning with the potential tying run at third base and one out. He hit .192 in the playoffs (5 for 26) with three RBIs, four walks and 10 strikeouts.

Last season, Ohtani was the NLCS MVP after hitting three home runs and striking out 10 batters over six-plus shutout innings of two-hit ball during a dominant two-way performance in the clinching Game 4.

“Ohtani is arguably the best player in the world, and he’s proven that to us,” Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy said. “He had the greatest game I’ve ever seen played by an individual player last year against us.”

With the Dodgers facing elimination this time, Ohtani's 428-foot drive to right-center off former teammate Dustin May left his bat at 113.1 mph and gave Los Angeles a 4-0 lead in the second inning. It was the Dodgers' first homer of the series and his first since Aug. 18 at Colorado — a span of 116 plate appearances.

“I thought we woke up a giant. I’m like, ‘Oh, God, here we go,’” Murphy said. “But we had a little JoJo Romero for them and Aaron Ashby for them later on. That did the trick.”

The typically placid Ohtani reacted in a most un-Ohtani way: raising his arms and yelling toward the Dodgers' dugout before beginning his trot around the bases.

“I think it was a lot of pent-up anger, frustration. It was the best ball he hit in probably two, three months, and it was a big hit,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “For him to look at the dugout, show that emotion, it just shows how much he cares. He’s still human. He still cares and wants to help his team win a baseball game.”

With two outs, Ohtani unleashed the smooth and powerful swing that had mostly deserted him over the last few months while he dealt with knee and arm issues.

The four-time MVP struck out swinging so hard in the first that his helmet came off.

Ohtani has been dealing with nagging injuries to his left knee and right biceps and didn't pitch after the All-Star break.

He told reporters at his locker that he “definitely” expects to pitch next season.

“Looking forward to having a better season next year,” he said through a translator.

Ohtani was vague when asked if he expects to need surgery for the injuries that affected him this season.

“Hard to tell at this point,” he said. “It's something that's going to be analyzed, discussed over the offseason and see if that's a viable thing to do.”

Roberts said, "I think he’s the best player on the planet, and he’s not completely healthy. But I just give him a lot of respect for not running from it, still wanting to participate, still wanting to play when he’s not 100%.”

Roberts restored Ohtani to his familiar leadoff spot for Game 4.

Ohtani batted sixth in a 6-2 loss on Wednesday, the lowest he's hit since joining the Dodgers ahead of the 2024 season. He was 1 for 2 with a walk and a hit by pitch.

“Just seeing the work the last couple days, I like where his head is at,” Roberts said before the game. “I liked the at-bats yesterday. Obviously we haven’t performed the way that we’re capable of, so to kind of shake it up a little bit, but something that’s of somewhat normalcy that our guys are used to.”

Ohtani typically leads off but was dropped lower while struggling with injuries to his left knee and right biceps over the last few months that have prevented the two-way star from pitching since early July. Roberts didn't tell Ohtani about the change before posting the Game 4 lineup.

“It's not one player that didn’t come through. It was all of us,” Roberts said. “But I’m really impressed with what Shohei did. I'll always trust Shohei."

___

See AP’s full MLB coverage here

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On Wednesday, Local 10 News reported on Diener Beguria, who felt he didn’t have a voice after he said he was beaten in Hialeah and no action was taken by police.

That changed after Beguria’s story aired on TV.

“I’m very happy with Channel 10, very thankful for the job they did,” Beguria said Thursday. “I think the case got reopened because of what they did and put it out there, and now everybody knows what’s going on.”

He said after the story went public, “the detectives got my statements really fast after that.”

The incident in question occurred on Sunday around 7:30 p.m. in the area of East 19th Street and First Avenue in Hialeah.

Beguria said he was walking his dog with his mother when he was viciously attacked.

“A dog that was on their property I guess, that was loose with no leash or nothing, came running toward me and my dog, so I stopped and I froze because I didn’t know if the dog was going to attack me, attack my dog or what,” he said.

Hialeah police initially told Local 10 News this was a case of mutual combatants, but something changed because on Wednesday night, detectives were back out in the area looking for surveillance video.

Then on Thursday, investigators took the statements of Beguria and his mother, and they are expected to take the statement of the other individual involved in the incident as well.

Beguria said the officers told him that they would have more information on the investigation by next week.

“Now they know my side of the story,” he said. “That it wasn’t a fight. That he just came up to me and hit me with a can and started wailing on me.”

El miércoles, Local 10 News informó sobre el caso de Diener Beguria, quien sentía que no tenía voz después de que, según dijo, fue golpeado en Hialeah y la policía no tomó ninguna medida.

Eso cambió después de que la historia de Beguria fuera transmitida por televisión.

“Estoy muy contento con Canal 10, muy agradecido por el trabajo que hicieron”, dijo Beguria el jueves. “Creo que el caso se reabrió gracias a lo que hicieron y a que lo dieron a conocer, y ahora todo el mundo sabe lo que está pasando”.

Dijo que después de que la historia se hiciera pública, “los detectives tomaron mis declaraciones muy rápidamente”.

El incidente en cuestión ocurrió el domingo alrededor de las 7:30 p.m. en el área de East 19th Street y First Avenue en Hialeah.

Beguria dijo que estaba paseando a su perro con su madre cuando fue brutalmente atacado.

“Un perro que supongo estaba en su propiedad, que estaba suelto, sin correa ni nada, vino corriendo hacia mí y mi perro, así que me detuve y me quedé paralizado porque no sabía si el perro me iba a atacar a mí, a mi perro o qué”, dijo.

Inicialmente, la policía de Hialeah dijo a Local 10 News que se trataba de un caso de enfrentamiento mutuo, pero algo cambió porque el miércoles por la noche los detectives regresaron al área en busca de videos de vigilancia.

Luego, el jueves, los investigadores tomaron las declaraciones de Beguria y su madre, y también se espera que tomen la declaración de la otra persona involucrada en el incidente.

Beguria dijo que los agentes le informaron que tendrían más información sobre la investigación para la próxima semana.

“Ahora conocen mi versión de la historia”, dijo. “Que no fue una pelea. Que él simplemente se me acercó, me golpeó con una lata y comenzó a golpearme brutalmente”.

The suspect was found dead inside the school minutes after the shooting was first reported, Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz said.

The three children killed were aged 5, 8 and 11. Another child, 7, and a teacher, 54, were injured and taken to the hospital in critical condition, he said.

The first 911 call came just before 1 p.m. from a person in a vehicle outside Silver Rail Elementary who reported being shot at by someone with a long gun, Krantz told reporters. Further 911 calls came from inside the school, and officers arrived on scene within minutes, police spokesperson Sheila Miller said.

The attacker, who police identified as a Bend resident, was shot and went down inside the school shortly after officers arrived, she said.

Police said they did not know if the shooter knew anyone at the school or whether he had attended.

Children were taken by bus to a nearby church serving as a reunification center for families. Parents hugged, kissed and held their kids’ hands as they walked to their cars, with some bringing along favorite stuffed animals or other comfort items from home.

The school in Bend, which is about 125 miles (200 kilometers) southeast of Portland, had 459 enrolled students as of last year, according to the Oregon Department of Education. The school serves students in kindergarten through fifth grade.

The high-desert city has ballooned in population over the past three decades and is a tourism and outdoor recreation hub near Mount Bachelor.

Classes, sports and extracurriculars were canceled Friday for all 32 schools in the Bend-La Pine district.

The shooting was the 28th mass killing in the U.S. this year, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University.

The attacker used a pump-action shotgun that was purchased by his mother, according to a law enforcement official briefed on the shooting. The official spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation.

At a news conference, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek said her heart was “absolutely broken” and thanked the civilian who pursued the shooter.

“To the community member who heroically intervened to stop further loss of life: Your actions carry a heavy emotional burden, and I just want you to know that my thoughts are with you as well,” she said.

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Associated Press journalist Hannah Schoenbaum contributed reporting.

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Police said they responded to a home in the 2900 block of Northwest 56th Avenue at about 3:30 p.m. after the children’s mother reported that her daughter had been injured in an incident involving her son.

They said the girl told them she was cutting pizza when her brother became upset because he had not received his piece.

He then grabbed the knife and threw it at her, striking her in the chest, according to police.

The mother told officers she had stepped outside to retrieve the mail. When she returned, she found her daughter running out of the apartment and bleeding from her chest, police said.

They said the girl was conscious and breathing when fire rescue personnel transported her to Broward Health Medical Center. Investigators said she suffered a small cut to her chest.

Authorities said all parties involved are in contact with police, and the investigation remains ongoing.

No charges have been announced at this time.

La policía informó que acudió a una vivienda en la cuadra 2900 de Northwest 56th Avenue alrededor de las 3:30 p.m., después de que la madre de los niños reportara que su hija había resultado herida en un incidente que involucraba a su hijo.

Los agentes indicaron que la niña les dijo que estaba cortando una pizza cuando su hermano se molestó porque no había recibido su porción.

Según la policía, el niño tomó el cuchillo y se lo lanzó a su hermana, hiriéndola en el pecho.

La madre dijo a los agentes que había salido a recoger el correo. Cuando regresó, encontró a su hija saliendo del apartamento con una herida sangrante en el pecho, informó la policía.

Las autoridades indicaron que la niña estaba consciente y respiraba cuando los equipos de rescate la trasladaron al Broward Health Medical Center. Los investigadores señalaron que sufrió una pequeña cortadura en el pecho.

Las autoridades informaron que todas las personas involucradas están en contacto con la policía y que la investigación continúa en curso.

Hasta el momento no se han anunciado cargos.

Sea World Orlando in Florida and La Ronde theme park in Montreal, Canada, confirmed on Thursday they had temporarily closed rides, bringing the total number of roller coasters halted to 11.

Police and a state regulatory agency are investigating what caused Hassan Jihad Ibn Kariem, a 42-year-old school employee from Atlanta, to fall from the Goliath coaster at Six Flags Over Georgia on Monday. Witnesses described seeing him ejected from the coaster; some people who rode the Goliath before him that day said they had concerns about its restraints.

Nine of the roller coasters taken out of service have the same manufacturer and a similar restraint system as the Goliath at Six Flags.

Mom says her son's restraint didn't work properly

Erica Billups said her son and daughter rode Goliath about an hour before Kariem’s death and encountered a problem with the restraint on one seat. Her son initially sat in that seat and tried to lock it, but then moved when it repeatedly became unlocked. The roller coaster embarked with the seat empty and the harness up, she said in a post on X.

She confirmed the post in a text message to The Associated Press on Thursday.

She said staff did not tell her kids there was a problem.

Summer Bates, who was at the Georgia park with her husband and three children and saw Kariem fall, told the AP previously that her older two children kept trying to push their restraints down tighter while on the ride. She understood why they were doing that later when she was on the coaster, she said, because the restraints didn’t feel secure.

Six Flags did not immediately respond to an email for comment on any issues with restraints.

At least one of the other closures is for safety

La Ronde in Montreal said one of its coasters — also named Goliath — is offline “while we conduct a thorough safety review in collaboration with the ride’s manufacturer.” Sea World Orlando said that it closed its Mako roller coaster with no set date to reopen.

Neither La Ronde nor Sea World Orlando said why those specific rides were closed. Both were manufactured by the Swiss company Bolliger & Mabillard, which also built the Goliath ride in Georgia and eight of the other coasters that Six Flags closed. Bolliger & Mabillard declined Thursday to answer questions about the shutdowns.

In an updated list of ride closures provided Thursday, Six Flags no longer included the Goliath coaster at its Six Flags Magic Mountain park in California. The coaster has a different manufacturer and restraint system from the others. Six Flags had listed it as closed earlier in the week.

Online photos and videos of most of the closed coasters show each equipped with so-called “clamshell” restraints, mounted in front of each seat on a vertical bar that sits between the rider’s knees. The bar locks the padded restraint into place over the rider’s lap and upper legs.

It’s unclear from the images whether any of those coasters also have seat belts or other secondary restraints. Goliath in Georgia has no such backup restraints.

Dennis Speigel, a theme park consultant and past president of the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, a trade group, said the similar restraint systems are almost certainly why most of the coasters were closed.

Speigel said they’re likely to remain shut down until investigators have determined what went wrong on the Georgia coaster, but he said that “obviously it was something with the restraint.”

Roller coaster manufacturers decide what type of restraints to use after considering speed, force and the track’s transitions, said Brian D. Avery, a University of Florida professor and amusement ride safety expert.

He advocates the use of a backup restraint for riders, but there is a long-running debate in the industry over whether that would increase wait times, Avery said.

Bolliger & Mabillard says it is investigating

The company said in an email it would have no further comment until it had a “better understanding of what transpired” on Monday.

Kariem was thrown from his seat and struck other patrons before landing below the ride. Goliath, one of Six Flags Over Georgia's headline attractions, towers above the park's entrance. It opened in 2006 and features a series of hills and turns. It doesn’t take riders upside down, but its first hill rises to 200 feet (61 meters) and it has a top speed of 70 miles per hour (112 kilometers).

Nick Mendenhall, who had just ridden Goliath with his son and was watching the coaster cars passing overhead, said it looked like Kariem was hovering because the car was moving underneath him. He fell headfirst back into the coaster, Mendenhall said, and then was ejected from the ride on its final turn.

Six Flags has faced legal trouble before

A class-action lawsuit filed by investors in 2025 alleges that Six Flags concealed the poor state of its amusement parks — including long-neglected maintenance — ahead of its merger with major amusement park operator Cedar Fair.

“Prior to the Merger, Legacy Six Flags had for years deferred or foregone basic park maintenance, operational improvements, infrastructure repairs, and ride design and development updates,” the complaint said. The company also cut staffing to reduce costs, it alleges.

Timothy Loranger, a California attorney who sued Six Flags in a fatal case, said it’s a positive step that the theme park chain closed down rides at other parks as a precaution. Loranger represented the family of 22-year-old Christopher Hawley, who died after riding the X2 roller coaster in 2022 at Six Flags Magic Mountain.

“In all instances, X2 had many reports of injury in the past, and instead of doing a deep dive investigation into the ride, they did things like blame the passengers, the injured person for not sitting properly or holding their head against the headrest or they blamed an imaginary pre-existing condition,” Loranger said.

Six Flags permanently closed the X2 ride last month.

Georgia park to reopen

Six Flags Over Georgia is set to reopen on Friday. The Goliath, however, is not expected to be running.

The park, which has about a dozen roller coasters, is in Mableton, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) northwest of Atlanta.

___

Bynum reported from Savannah, Georgia. Associated Press writers Dylan Lovan in Louisville, Kentucky, and Jaimie Ding in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

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The city of Fort Lauderdale launched the Prospect Lake Clean Water Center, which, according to officials, marks “a major milestone in the city’s investment in a modern, resilient water system and the future of drinking water for Fort Lauderdale and surrounding communities.”

It is located at 3501 West Prospect Road.

“This is a transformational investment in the future of Fort Lauderdale,” said Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis. “We knew it was time to build a water system capable of meeting the needs of a growing city for decades to come. The Prospect Lake Clean Water Center delivers on that commitment with modern technology, greater resiliency and the clean, clear drinking water our residents expect and deserve.”

The facility, which officials said cost approximately $666 million to construct, replaces the Fiveash Water Treatment Plant, which was nearly 70 years old, as the city’s primary drinking water treatment source.

Trantalis said the new facility also improves the quality and taste of the water while keeping up with all EPA standards.

Yellow water had been plaguing Fort Lauderdale’s residents for years.

It’s why resident Barbie Pearson and her neighbors stopped taking baths.

“Well I take showers so I don’t notice,” she said with a laugh.

The newly opened facility uses nano-filtration and ion exchange technology, which officials said removes the organic compounds blamed for the yellow tint.

Local government officials have maintained the yellow water from the former facility was safe to drink.

La ciudad de Fort Lauderdale inauguró el Prospect Lake Clean Water Center, que, según las autoridades, marca “un hito importante en la inversión de la ciudad en un sistema de agua moderno y resistente, y en el futuro del agua potable para Fort Lauderdale y las comunidades circundantes”.

La instalación está ubicada en 3501 West Prospect Road.

“Esta es una inversión transformadora en el futuro de Fort Lauderdale”, dijo el alcalde de Fort Lauderdale, Dean Trantalis. “Sabíamos que era momento de construir un sistema de agua capaz de satisfacer las necesidades de una ciudad en crecimiento durante las próximas décadas. El Prospect Lake Clean Water Center cumple con ese compromiso mediante tecnología moderna, mayor resistencia y el agua potable limpia y transparente que nuestros residentes esperan y merecen”.

La instalación, cuya construcción costó aproximadamente $666 millones USD, según las autoridades, reemplaza a la planta de tratamiento de agua Fiveash, que tenía casi 70 años, como la principal fuente de tratamiento de agua potable de la ciudad.

Trantalis dijo que la nueva instalación también mejora la calidad y el sabor del agua, al tiempo que cumple con todas las normas de la Agencia de Protección Ambiental (EPA).

El agua amarillenta había afectado a los residentes de Fort Lauderdale durante años.

Por esa razón, la residente Barbie Pearson y sus vecinos dejaron de tomar baños de tina.

“Bueno, yo me ducho, así que no lo noto”, dijo entre risas.

La instalación recién inaugurada utiliza tecnología de nanofiltración e intercambio iónico que, según las autoridades, elimina los compuestos orgánicos responsables del tono amarillento del agua.

Las autoridades del gobierno local han sostenido que el agua amarillenta de la antigua planta era segura para beber.

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Police said the shooting happened at around 11:40 p.m. in the suspect’s unit at the Millennium Condominiums, located at 18671 Collins Ave.

An arrest report states that the victim said he had been “drinking heavily” with his friend of five years, Joseph Christopher Mattina, who had apparently “become upset regarding a subject they had discussed.”

The victim told police that Mattina, 53, left his balcony and went into his apartment and came back with “an expression on his face that caused (the victim) to feel uneasy.”

That’s when police said Mattina opened fire, “grazing his right heel.”

Police said the victim punched Mattina, who put the gun on a table. According to the report, the victim grabbed the gun, chucked it off the balcony and called 911.

After police arrived, they said Mattina “spontaneously uttered that the firearm belonged to him and that he had discharged it accidentally.”

According to the report, he later declined to speak with police. Medics treated the victim at the scene, authorities said.

As of Thursday afternoon, Mattina’s bond was listed as “to be set” in Miami-Dade jail records.

La policía indicó que la balacera ocurrió alrededor de las 11:40 p.m. en el apartamento del sospechoso en Millennium Condominiums, ubicado en 18671 Collins Ave.

Un informe de arresto señala que la víctima dijo que había estado “bebiendo en exceso” con su amigo de cinco años, Joseph Christopher Mattina, quien aparentemente “se había molestado por un tema que habían discutido”.

La víctima dijo a la policía que Mattina, de 53 años, salió del balcón y entró a su apartamento, y regresó con “una expresión en el rostro que hizo que (la víctima) se sintiera incómoda”.

Fue entonces cuando, según la policía, Mattina abrió fuego y la bala “le rozó el talón derecho”.

La policía informó que la víctima golpeó a Mattina con el puño, quien colocó el arma sobre una mesa. Según el informe, la víctima tomó el arma, la lanzó por el balcón y llamó al 911.

Después de que llegó la policía, los agentes indicaron que Mattina “declaró espontáneamente que el arma de fuego le pertenecía y que la había disparado accidentalmente”.

Según el informe, posteriormente se negó a hablar con la policía. Las autoridades indicaron que los paramédicos atendieron a la víctima en el lugar.

Hasta la tarde del jueves, la fianza de Mattina figuraba como “pendiente de determinar” en los registros de la cárcel de Miami-Dade.

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Deputies with the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office identified Garrett Andre Smith and Tremayne Feonn Bates, both 58, as the suspects.

Officials said the duo committed burglaries in multiple jurisdictions, including Miami-Dade County, Broward County, Palm Beach County and Orange County, as well as municipalities and cities within those counties’ respective jurisdictions.

According to arrest reports obtained by Local 10 on Thursday, the suspects’ modus operandi, “typically include the usage of high-visibility clothing to disguise themselves and multiple vehicles, which include rental vehicles where the license plate is removed or switched.”

One such case occurred on Oct. 6 in Miami-Dade County, when the owner of a contracting business whose company had been doing construction at the county’s Northeast Division Transit Hub located at 360 NE 185th St. alerted deputies to a burglary.

The business owner told authorities that surveillance footage showed two unknown suspects breaking into a pair of trailers and stealing approximately $41,661 worth of tools, deputies said. Additionally, investigators said he told them that a hole had been cut through a chain link fence on the northwestern side of the premises.

MDSO deputies said they reached out to counterparts with the Broward Sheriff’s Office, who had previously been able to locate and begin surveilling the suspects, who were each seen driving vehicles without license plates in the area of the bus depot around the time of the burglary.

Deputies said they noticed Bates “drive in a behavior consistent with coordinated criminal activity, which included driving in circles around and parking near” the transportation hub crime scene “during an unusual time of the night consistent as an act as a lookout,” according to an arrest report.

As both suspects continued to be covertly surveilled by authorities, they were seen on Wednesday inside a gray Honda Ridgeline with no license plate.

Investigators said the Honda was observed entering the Miami Executive Airport located at 14569 SW 127th Street and parking behind a white Ford work van that was subsequently burglarized during the time surveillance footage showed the truck parked behind the van.

The victim who owns the van told responding deputies that approximately $21,450 worth of pluming equipment was stolen, and the door handle to the van had been damaged when it was forced open, the report states.

Not long after the burglary occurred, the suspects were stopped by deputies who said they found “numerous pluming tools consistent with the tools taken from within the victim’s vehicle” in the bed of the Honda Ridgeline, according to investigators.

They were both taken into custody and invoked their right not to speak while refusing DNA samples, deputies said.

Authorities said the pair are also connected to the theft of $29,500 worth of copper wire from the Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections Office located at 9385 NW 14th St.

The incident occurred on Oct. 8 and was captured on surveillance footage, according to authorities.

Officials said the burglaries committed by the suspects have caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage and property loss.

Jail records show both men are facing multiple charges, including grand theft, burglary of an unoccupied conveyance, burglary of an occupied structure, possession or burglary tools and criminal mischief.

As of Thursday afternoon, they are each are being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center with bond listed as “to be set.”

Los agentes de la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade identificaron a los sospechosos como Garrett Andre Smith y Tremayne Feonn Bates, ambos de 58 años.

Las autoridades informaron que los dos cometieron robos en múltiples jurisdicciones, incluidos los condados Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach y Orange, así como en municipios y ciudades dentro de las respectivas jurisdicciones de esos condados.

Según los informes de arresto obtenidos por Local 10 el jueves, el modus operandi de los sospechosos “generalmente incluye el uso de ropa de alta visibilidad para disfrazarse y múltiples vehículos, incluidos vehículos de alquiler a los que les retiran o cambian las placas”.

Uno de esos casos ocurrió el 6 de octubre en el condado Miami-Dade, cuando el propietario de una empresa contratista que realizaba trabajos de construcción en el centro de transporte Northeast Division Transit Hub del condado, ubicado en 360 NE 185th St., alertó a los agentes sobre un robo.

El propietario del negocio dijo a las autoridades que las imágenes de vigilancia mostraban a dos sospechosos desconocidos entrando por la fuerza en dos remolques y robando herramientas valoradas en aproximadamente $41,661 USD, informaron los agentes. Además, los investigadores indicaron que el propietario les dijo que habían cortado un agujero en una cerca de alambre en el lado noroeste de las instalaciones.

Los agentes de la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade (MDSO) informaron que se comunicaron con sus homólogos de la Oficina del Sheriff de Broward, quienes anteriormente habían logrado localizar y comenzar a vigilar a los sospechosos. Ambos fueron vistos conduciendo vehículos sin placas en el área de la terminal de autobuses alrededor de la hora en que ocurrió el robo.

Los agentes indicaron que observaron a Bates “conduciendo de una manera consistente con una actividad delictiva coordinada, que incluía dar vueltas y estacionarse cerca” de la escena del crimen en el centro de transporte “a una hora inusual de la noche, en un comportamiento consistente con el de una persona que actúa como vigilante”, según un informe de arresto.

Mientras ambos sospechosos continuaban bajo vigilancia encubierta de las autoridades, fueron vistos el miércoles dentro de una Honda Ridgeline gris sin placa.

Los investigadores informaron que observaron a la Honda ingresar al Aeropuerto Ejecutivo de Miami, ubicado en 14569 SW 127th Street, y estacionarse detrás de una camioneta de trabajo Ford blanca que posteriormente fue objeto de un robo durante el período en que las imágenes de vigilancia mostraban a la camioneta estacionada detrás del vehículo.

La víctima, propietaria de la camioneta Ford, dijo a los agentes que acudieron al lugar que le habían robado equipos de plomería valorados en aproximadamente $21,450 USD y que la manija de la puerta del vehículo había resultado dañada cuando fue abierta por la fuerza, según el informe.

Poco después del robo, los sospechosos fueron detenidos por agentes que, según los investigadores, encontraron “numerosas herramientas de plomería que coincidían con las herramientas sustraídas del vehículo de la víctima” en la parte trasera de la Honda Ridgeline.

Ambos fueron arrestados y ejercieron su derecho a guardar silencio, además de negarse a proporcionar muestras de ADN, informaron los agentes.

Las autoridades indicaron que los dos también están vinculados al robo de cables de cobre valorados en $29,500 USD de la Oficina del Supervisor de Elecciones de Miami-Dade, ubicada en 9385 NW 14th St.

El incidente ocurrió el 8 de octubre y quedó captado por cámaras de vigilancia, según las autoridades.

Los funcionarios indicaron que los robos cometidos por los sospechosos han causado cientos de miles de dólares en daños y pérdidas materiales.

Los registros de la cárcel muestran que ambos hombres enfrentan múltiples cargos, incluidos robo mayor, robo en un vehículo desocupado, robo en una estructura ocupada, posesión de herramientas para cometer robos y daños a la propiedad.

Hasta la tarde del jueves, ambos permanecían detenidos en el Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight, con el monto de sus fianzas pendiente de determinar.

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According to an arrest report from the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, William Gonzalez, of southwest Miami-Dade, was taken into custody following the confrontation at the gym, located at 9291 W. Flagler St.

Deputies said they responded to the gym at around 8:22 a.m. after receiving a report of a battery involving a dumbbell.

According to the report, the victim told deputies he had gotten into a heated argument with Gonzalez over the use of dumbbells.

As the confrontation escalated, the victim said Gonzalez grabbed a dumbbell from a weight rack with his right hand and swung it at him.

The victim told investigators he raised his left forearm to protect himself but was struck on his arm and the left side of his head.

According to the arrest report, deputies observed visible bruising and a bump on the left side of the victim’s head, along with a scratch on his left forearm.

Investigators said the injuries were consistent with the victim’s account of the confrontation.

According to the arrest report, when deputies questioned Gonzalez, he acknowledged getting into an argument with the victim but denied hitting him with the dumbbell.

Instead, Gonzalez told investigators he had picked up the weight in an attempt to scare the victim away, the report stated.

Deputies also interviewed an LA Fitness employee who, according to the arrest report, said she did not witness the initial confrontation.

However, the employee told investigators she saw Gonzalez chasing the victim through the gym as the victim attempted to get away.

Gonzalez was arrested on an aggravated battery charge and was transported to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.

As of Thursday afternoon, Gonzalez was being held at the Metrowest Detention Center on a $5,000 bond.

Según un informe de arresto de la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade, William Gonzalez, residente del suroeste de Miami-Dade, fue detenido tras el enfrentamiento en el gimnasio, ubicado en 9291 W. Flagler St.

Los agentes informaron que acudieron al gimnasio alrededor de las 8:22 a.m. después de recibir un reporte de una agresión con una mancuerna.

Según el informe, la víctima dijo a los agentes que había tenido una acalorada discusión con Gonzalez por el uso de las mancuernas.

A medida que el enfrentamiento se intensificaba, la víctima dijo que Gonzalez tomó una mancuerna de un soporte de pesas con su mano derecha y la lanzó contra él.

La víctima dijo a los investigadores que levantó su antebrazo izquierdo para protegerse, pero recibió golpes en el brazo y en el lado izquierdo de la cabeza.

Según el informe de arresto, los agentes observaron moretones visibles y un bulto en el lado izquierdo de la cabeza de la víctima, además de un rasguño en su antebrazo izquierdo.

Los investigadores indicaron que las lesiones coincidían con el relato de la víctima sobre el enfrentamiento.

Según el informe de arresto, cuando los agentes interrogaron a Gonzalez, este reconoció haber discutido con la víctima, pero negó haberlo golpeado con la mancuerna.

En cambio, Gonzalez dijo a los investigadores que había levantado la pesa en un intento de asustar a la víctima para que se alejara, según el informe.

Los agentes también entrevistaron a una empleada de LA Fitness que, según el informe de arresto, dijo que no presenció el enfrentamiento inicial.

Sin embargo, la empleada dijo a los investigadores que vio a Gonzalez persiguiendo a la víctima por el gimnasio mientras esta intentaba escapar.

Gonzalez fue arrestado por un cargo de agresión agravada y trasladado al Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight.

Hasta la tarde del jueves, Gonzalez permanecía detenido en el Centro de Detención Metrowest bajo una fianza de $5,000 USD.

Two-term Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan said the war needs to end soon, and he wants the Strait of Hormuz to open and a deal to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. Democrat Mary Peltola, a former congresswoman, said an agreement is “so far out of sight” and lamented the deaths of 20 military personnel.

“This war is driving up our energy bills and hurting Alaskans with no end in sight,” she said.

Sullivan said the best way to bring down energy costs “is to produce more Alaskan energy by and for Alaskans.”

The debate followed contours of Senate contests around the country, with Peltola blaming the Trump administration for rising gas and consumer prices and pulling back from traditional alliances around the globe, while Sullivan warned that Democratic leadership in Congress would undercut the military and curb domestic energy production.

The debate also took on an edgy, deeply personal tone, as the candidates repeatedly accused each other of being dishonest or misleading.

“I think that Alaskans have had it up to here with the lying and the dishonesty,” Peltola said at one point, addressing her rival.

Sullivan repeatedly accused Peltola of lying throughout their campaign and said “it’s revealed character challenges.”

Foreign conflicts and their impact at home produced some of the sharpest exchanges.

Asked about Ukraine and President Donald Trump's deal to buy Russian diesel, Peltola said, “I think it’s so important that we stand with Ukraine and our allies. We have been making new adversaries out of our traditional allies across the globe.”

“I think we should be doing everything in our power to help support them, not bolstering up Russia,” she added.

Sullivan said he was a strong supporter of Ukraine, then said Democrats were always “cutting our military, undermining readiness.”

Peltola appeared to be reading from note cards during several of her answers, at one prompting Sullivan to question the moderators and say he didn’t think the candidates were supposed to get questions ahead of time. A moderator said they did not.

Visits by Trump on Tuesday to conservative Wasilla and by Vice President JD Vance the week before to Fairbanks, the hometown of Sullivan’s wife, underscore the stakes involved as both parties seek control of the chamber. Alaska last elected a Democrat to the Senate in 2008.

The contest is playing out in a turbulent political year in which voter angst over the Iran war, soaring gas and diesel prices and a rising cost of living have put the House and Senate up for grabs.

Before the debate, noisy supporters of both candidates gathered with signs — and at least one bullhorn — outside the Alaska Public Media studios.

There was a brief moment of agreement when the candidates were asked about the possibility of a third Trump term in the White House. Sullivan said it would be unconstitutional, and Peltola said that the law was clear, “Two terms for every president.”

The race also includes two Republicans who have done virtually no campaigning, including another Dan Sullivan. To participate in Thursday's debate, candidates had to win at least 5% of the vote in August's open primary.

Dan J. Sullivan, a retired teacher who dominated attention ahead of the primary and was called a sham candidate by the senator and his allies, including Trump, finished third with about 2.5% of the vote. Dan J. Sullivan said he received no invitations to any candidate forums.

The incumbent finished second to Peltola in the August primary, in which the top four vote-getters, regardless of party affiliation, advanced to the ranked vote general election. Sullivan, a retired Marine, said the race comes down to record, vision and character.

“I saw her up close and personal. It wasn’t pretty,” he told reporters after the debate, referring to Peltola’s time in office.

He said Peltola was ineffective during her time in Congress. But in an interview Wednesday, Peltola said she worked well with Sullivan as part of Alaska’s three-member congressional delegation and said he was engaging in “kind of revisionist history.”

“Our delegation worked so well together the two years that I was there,” she said, citing as accomplishments the approval of the major Willow oil project in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. Peltola won special and regular elections for the state’s only House seat in 2022 before losing reelection in 2024.

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Associated Press writer Michael R. Blood in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

A trial is scheduled to start this month for Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri in the killing of 17 U.S. sailors, who died when an explosives-laden skiff blew up alongside the USS Cole destroyer off the coast of Yemen. He faces a possible death penalty. The proceedings at a U.S. Navy base in Cuba, where he is detained, could last up to five weeks.

Captured in 2002, Nashiri underwent waterboarding, beatings, and confinement in a crate for years in CIA custody at clandestine detention facilities. Declassified documents released in 2018 graphically described how he was stripped naked, repeatedly slammed against walls and left “moaning, shaking and asking God to help him repeatedly.”

Nashiri's attorney, Allison Ferber Miller, asked a federal court in Washington, D.C., on Thursday to delay the proceedings until the military commission has had enough time to determine his mental capacity.

A psychiatrist for the defense who examined Nashiri in August concluded that he is “not competent,” Miller wrote.

“He diagnosed a traumatic brain injury (TBI) arising from torture in CIA custody, a severe neurocognitive disorder, complex post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and major depression,” Miller wrote. “He concluded that Petitioner cannot understand the proceedings or assist his counsel.”

Miller wrote that Nashiri is not asking the federal judge to determine his competence but to delay the trial until the military commission has had “a meaningful opportunity” to do so.

The military judge had ordered a competency evaluation, “but left no time for a meaningful hearing” on whether al-Nashiri is fit for trial, Miller wrote, adding that the military judge has declined three times to stay the proceedings until the question of Nashiri's competence was resolved.

Lawyers in the case were scheduled to travel to Guantanamo Bay on Saturday, Miller wrote. The military judge left open the possibility for a competency hearing on Monday morning, the same day the trial was scheduled to begin.

The trial has since been rescheduled to start a week later on Oct. 26, according to Ronald Flesvig, the spokesman for the Office of Military Commissions at Guantanamo Bay.

The Office of the Chief Prosecutor for military commissions at Guantanamo Bay did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.

Proceedings before the military commission were previously mired in delays and in legal challenges over admissibility of evidence from the torture-aided interrogations of Nashiri and over other circumstances of his trial and detention. Questions over the handling of Nashiri’s case, like those of other Guantanamo Bay detainees accused of planning and aiding al-Qaida’s 9/11 attacks on the United States, have led to constitutional debates and other problems.

Según la BSO, los agentes respondieron a un reporte de disturbio poco antes de las 8:45 a.m. en una vivienda ubicada en la cuadra 1600 de Southwest Fifth Court.

Cuando los agentes intentaron establecer contacto con un “sospechoso adulto”, este se atrincheró dentro de la vivienda, informaron las autoridades.

Los agentes establecieron rápidamente un perímetro alrededor de la vivienda y el equipo SWAT de la BSO fue llamado al lugar.

Las autoridades no han revelado la identidad del sospechoso ni proporcionado detalles sobre lo que provocó el reporte inicial de disturbio.

Tampoco está claro si hay otras personas dentro de la vivienda.

La situación continúa activa.

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That man has been identified by police as 35-year-old Elvis Centano.

It was just before 6 a.m. Tuesday when Centano was struck by a dark colored car near Northwest Seventh Avenue and 27th Street in Miami.

The driver of that car did not stop after striking Centano.

A police officer who happened to be nearby rushed to Centano’s aid.

Authorities are actively searching for the driver who just kept going after striking a man in the middle of the street.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS.

La policía identificó al hombre como Elvis Centano, de 35 años.

Eran poco antes de las 6 a.m. del martes cuando Centano fue atropellado por un automóvil de color oscuro cerca de Northwest Seventh Avenue y la calle 27 en Miami.

El conductor del vehículo no se detuvo después de atropellar a Centano.

Un agente de policía que se encontraba cerca acudió rápidamente en ayuda de Centano.

Las autoridades buscan activamente al conductor que continuó su marcha después de atropellar a un hombre en medio de la calle.

Se pide a cualquier persona que tenga información que se comunique con la línea de Alto al Crimen de Miami-Dade al 305-471-TIPS.

La policía arrestó el miércoles a Jamar Lionel Jenkins, de 39 años y residente del noroeste de Miami-Dade, en relación con el asesinato de Wells, de 40 años, ocurrido el 10 de octubre de 2025 frente a su restaurante en el vecindario de Liberty City, en Miami.

Las autoridades indicaron que el asesinato fue un acto de venganza: Wells, según la policía, pasó un tiempo en prisión por matar al hermano de Jenkins, Anthony Jenkins, en 2004, antes de convertirse en activista contra la violencia tras su liberación.

Según el Departamento de Policía de Miami, Wells estaba jugando dominó en el patio de Winning and Won Turkey Legs, ubicado en el 5030 de NW 17th Ave., cuando Jenkins, quien llevaba el rostro cubierto, se acercó y le disparó varias veces.

Una orden de arresto señala que los datos balísticos vincularon los casquillos encontrados en la escena con un incidente de disparos ocurrido el 1 de enero de 2024 en North Miami, en el que estuvieron involucrados Jenkins y su hermano menor, quienes fueron arrestados por cargos de disparar ilegalmente un arma de fuego.

La policía de Miami arrestó al hermano de Jenkins el 18 de diciembre de 2025 por un cargo relacionado con conducir con una licencia suspendida y lo interrogó.

Las autoridades indicaron que el hombre dijo a los investigadores que “varios miembros de la familia”, incluido Jenkins, todavía estaban “molestos” por el asesinato y les aseguró que Jenkins fue la última persona que tuvo su arma.

Según la orden de arresto, después del asesinato, cuando el hermano de Jenkins preguntó cómo podía recuperar su arma, le dijeron que se había ido a “nadar”.

Las autoridades señalaron que un video de vigilancia vinculó el Mercedes-Benz de Jenkins con la balacera.

La policía informó que interrogó a Jenkins en febrero. Él negó saber que Wells había sido condenado por matar a su hermano y afirmó que estaba “en casa y dormido” la noche del asesinato. También aseguró que se enteró de lo ocurrido a través de las redes sociales y los noticieros, y que su vehículo permaneció en su vivienda, en el área de West Little River, durante todo ese tiempo.

“Cuando se le mostraron capturas de pantalla”, escribieron los detectives en la orden de arresto, Jenkins “volvió a afirmar que su vehículo había permanecido en su residencia durante toda la noche y no pudo proporcionar una explicación sobre la actividad”.

Las autoridades indicaron que los datos de GPS obtenidos de la entidad que tenía un derecho de garantía sobre el vehículo ayudaron a vincularlo con el crimen, mientras que los registros de iCloud y Google relacionaron a Jenkins con el automóvil.

Además, señalaron que los registros laborales de Jenkins mostraron que había tenido tiempo libre de su trabajo como empleado de limpieza contratado en el Centro Médico Bruce W. Carter del Departamento de Asuntos de Veteranos, en Miami.

La policía de Miami acudió al hospital, ubicado en el 1201 de NW 16th St., la mañana del miércoles para detener a Jenkins por un cargo de asesinato en segundo grado.

Hasta el jueves, Jenkins permanecía detenido sin derecho a fianza en el Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight, según muestran los registros en línea.

Petey Halpin hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the fifth inning and followed with a majestic bat flip as the Guardians beat the Tampa Bay Rays 3-2 Thursday for a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

“It’s the second time he’s kind of picked us up in a big spot this year. And a really fun moment for him, great swing,” Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said.

Halpin watched the ball clear the wall in right-center and then launched his bat over his head and into the sky before rounding the bases. The bat might have gone higher than the 25-degree launch angle on his homer.

“I definitely threw it high. I think just the moment and that being for sure the biggest moment of my career, just the energy and the excitement, just kind of let it go,” Halpin said.

The home run and the bat flip energized Cleveland's dugout and the 30,101 fans in attendance at Progressive Field. Even though the game wasn't sold out, it was a strong crowd after the start time was moved up five hours on Wednesday due to the threat of rain.

“That was a nasty one. Didn’t even move either. I feel like he knew that the wind was blowing in and it still got out," outfielder Steven Kwan said. "So the bat flip that he did was just ignorant, but in a good way. That was awesome.”

Gavin Williams struck out nine over five innings. José Ramírez had two hits and Nathaniel Lowe added an RBI double in the second inning for the Guardians, who have won five of their last six playoff games since trailing the Chicago White Sox 2-0 in their AL Division Series.

“When anyone does their job and gets the job done and puts on us in a position to win, everyone on the team’s juiced. It’s not about me or that home run, but it’s just the fact that we’re winning and we keep rolling,” Halpin said.

Chandler Simpson had a two-run triple in the fourth inning for Tampa Bay, which was held to three hits and struck out 13 times.

Game 4 is scheduled for Friday, though rain is forecast.

Bailey's infield single sets stage for Halpin

Patrick Bailey started the fifth with a chop that Rays starting pitcher Griffin Jax was unable to cleanly field. Five pitches later, Halpin connected on a elevated 95.9 mph sinker on a 2-2 count and drove it 385 feet into the stands in right-center for a 3-2 lead.

It was Halpin’s first postseason home run and only the fifth overall of his two year big league career. It was the first time Jax allowed a homer since Sept. 9, a span of five appearances.

“I knew I hit it good. I thought I got more of it, I guess,” Halpin said. “I knew that he used a sinker in a few times to lefties before, kind of as a strikeout pitch. I was on a hard timing trying to get the head out and it all worked out. He left it over the plate a little bit and I was able to make a good swing.”

Rays manager Kevin Cash said Jax wouldn't have been able to make a play on Bailey's chop, especially with the jump Bailey got leaving the batter's box. The sinker to Halpin leaked over the plate.

“He does a good job handling off-speed, so it was the right pitch. Just the wrong location," Jax said.

Halpin flourishes in lineup

Halpin got his first postseason start in Game 5 of the ALDS and had two doubles. He is 4 for 11 with a home run and two RBIs in the past four games.

The 24-year old outfielder also had a three-run homer on Sept. 16 against the White Sox, which put the Guardians atop the AL Central.

“He’s ready for whatever we ask him to do. He got called up when everybody got hurt, and he played an everyday role for us for a while. And then it kind of turned into a defensive replacement. And then kind of filling in for injured guys,” Vogt said. “I don’t feel like any moment ever gets too big for him. And so it’s really fun when you see somebody like that step up for their teammates.”

Another strong start for Williams

Williams allowed two runs in five innings with one walk. He is 2-0 with a 2.16 ERA and 33 strikeouts over 16 2/3 innings in four postseason games this season, including three starts.

Cleveland retired 16 of the Rays' last 17 batters. Daniel Espino, Erik Sabrowski, Hunter Gaddis and Cade Smith allowed only one baserunner the final four innings.

Smith stranded a runner at third in the eighth when he struck out Yandy Díaz in a 10-pitch at-bat, then retired the Rays in order in the ninth.

Rays offense held in check

Other than Simpson's triple, it was another quiet day for the Rays' offense Williams didn’t allow a baserunner and struck out five his time through the order.

Tampa Bay batters were retired in order in seven innings, and Junior Caminero had four strikeouts. Rays batters whiffed 13 times after combining for 14 in the first two games.

It is the first time the Rays trailed 2-1 in three ALCS appearances.

“Two runs on two hits. You got to be perfect to win games like that,” Cash said.

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Orlando, comes nearly two years after the House Ethics Committee said the Florida Republican had regularly paid for sex, including once with a 17-year-old girl, purchased and used illicit drugs, and violated state laws while a member of Congress.

Gaetz had left office when the report was released and denied wrongdoing. But the report helped to tank his nomination to become attorney general in President Donald Trump's second administration.

Two women said they were in their early 20s in 2017 when they met Gaetz through Joel Greenberg, who was a tax official in Seminole County and is now in prison for a raft of crimes, including a sex crime.

Gaetz provided drugs and paid the women for sex, out-of-state travel, lodging and other expenses, according to the lawsuit.

“Much of the conduct alleged against me is false," Gaetz said in response.

“The lawsuit relies almost exclusively on a Congressional Committee report that didn’t allow me to confront my accusers. Now I will finally have that chance,” he said in a statement.

Gaetz also appeared to mock the women on the social platform X, sharing a 2018 social media photo of the backs of three women in bathing suits looking at the ocean in the Bahamas.

“I’m shocked nobody responded to their repeated cries for help, posted to instagram,” he said Thursday.

The lawsuit also names Greenberg, another man and businesses tied to Greenberg's family.

“Every part of this venture ran on an exploitative power imbalance,” the women's attorney, Spencer Kuvin, said in the lawsuit. “On one side stood a sitting congressman, an elected tax collector, and a former state legislator, men with public office, private homes, and money to spend. On the other stood young financially vulnerable women in their early twenties.”

Gaetz hosts a political talk show on One America News Network. He was recently appointed to the board of Triumph Gulf Coast, which oversees how Florida spends money recovered for damage from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

La jueza del Tribunal de Circuito de Miami-Dade, Marisa Tinkler-Mendez, interrogó a Sierra, sin la presencia del jurado, sobre su decisión de no subir al estrado.

“No quiero declarar”, respondió Sierra.

Después de confirmar que no deseaba testificar, Tinkler-Mendez le preguntó si alguien lo había obligado a tomar esa decisión.

“No, señora”, contestó Sierra.

Cuando el jurado regresó a la sala, el abogado defensor Khurrum Wahid anunció que la defensa había concluido la presentación de su caso.

El último testigo de la defensa fue Raul Banasco, un consultor penitenciario que declaró sobre las condiciones que Sierra podría enfrentar si recibe una condena de cadena perpetua sin posibilidad de libertad condicional, en comparación con las del corredor de la muerte.

Banasco describió las oportunidades de trabajo y los servicios disponibles para los presos que cumplen cadena perpetua. Explicó al jurado que los reclusos pueden ser asignados a labores en las lavanderías y cocinas de las prisiones.

“Hay servicios médicos en todas las prisiones”, afirmó Banasco.

Durante el interrogatorio de Wahid, Banasco también confirmó que los presos condenados a cadena perpetua sin posibilidad de libertad condicional están obligados a trabajar.

Cuando le preguntaron si los condenados a muerte también deben hacerlo, respondió: “No”.

Su testimonio permitió al jurado comparar las dos posibles condenas antes de decidir el castigo de Sierra por los asesinatos de Gladys Machado, de 29 años, y sus hijas Julia Padrino, de 6, y Daniela Padrino, de 3.

Sierra, ahora de 42 años, confesó haber asesinado a las tres víctimas en 2012.

Fiscalía cuestiona al consultor penitenciario

La fiscal principal, Abbe Rifkin, cuestionó el testimonio de Banasco durante el contrainterrogatorio y destacó las diferencias entre el corredor de la muerte y la población penitenciaria general.

Rifkin estableció que Banasco había sido contratado por abogados defensores en todos los casos de pena de muerte en los que había declarado.

También le preguntó si los presos de la población general tienen mayor facilidad para conseguir drogas que quienes están en el corredor de la muerte.

“Es más fácil conseguir cosas como drogas entre la población general que en el corredor de la muerte, ¿correcto?”, preguntó Rifkin.

Después de varias preguntas, Banasco estuvo de acuerdo.

“La respuesta sería sí”, afirmó.

Rifkin también preguntó sobre las medidas de seguridad adicionales que se aplican a los condenados a muerte.

“Hay mayor seguridad para ese tipo de persona, ¿correcto?”, preguntó la fiscal.

“Se les considera de alta seguridad, sí”, respondió Banasco.

La Fiscalía busca que Sierra sea condenado a muerte, mientras que la defensa ha presentado pruebas con el objetivo de convencer al jurado de recomendar cadena perpetua sin posibilidad de libertad condicional.

La defensa presentó pruebas de una lesión cerebral

La decisión de la defensa de concluir su caso se produjo después de varios días de testimonios sobre una lesión cerebral que Sierra sufrió durante su infancia y si esta pudo haber afectado su capacidad para tomar decisiones y controlar su comportamiento.

Durante la audiencia del miércoles, la fiscal Lara Penn cuestionó a la experta de la defensa, la doctora Erin D. Bigler, sobre si las acciones de Sierra durante los asesinatos demostraban planificación, organización y una conducta dirigida a cumplir objetivos.

Bigler, especialista en la interpretación de estudios de imágenes cerebrales, declaró sobre los posibles efectos de las lesiones en las áreas del cerebro de Sierra relacionadas con las funciones ejecutivas.

Penn la interrogó sobre detalles de los asesinatos, entre ellos las acciones de Sierra para separar a las niñas de su madre, inmovilizar a Machado e intentar obtener el código de acceso de su teléfono.

Bigler reconoció que algunas de esas acciones implicaban planificación, pero sostuvo que el daño cerebral pudo haber afectado el juicio de Sierra y su capacidad para controlar su comportamiento.

“Son conductas atroces, horribles”, afirmó Bigler, al subrayar que su testimonio no pretendía justificar los crímenes.

“No estoy tratando de justificar su comportamiento de ninguna manera”, agregó.

La defensa también presentó el testimonio de Mercedes Pedraza, madre de Sierra, quien fue interrogada sobre los antecedentes de consumo y venta de drogas de su hijo.

Pedraza, quien declaró con ayuda de un intérprete de español, dijo que no recordaba que Sierra le hubiera entregado dinero obtenido de la venta de drogas.

También contó que, la mañana siguiente a los asesinatos, regresó a su casa entre las 8 y las 9 a.m. y encontró a su hijo dormido en el sofá, comportándose con normalidad.

Pedraza abandonó el estrado llorando después de terminar su declaración.

Esta fase del juicio también estuvo marcada por la exclusión de un miembro del jurado el miércoles, luego de que expresara preocupación por el desgaste físico y emocional que le estaba causando el proceso.

Tinkler-Mendez relevó al jurado, un sobreviviente de cáncer que se recuperaba de una cirugía, después de que explicara que tenía dificultades para dormir y temía que continuar participando en el juicio afectara su salud.

Con la presentación de pruebas de la defensa concluida, los miembros del jurado deberán evaluar las pruebas de ambas partes antes de decidir si recomiendan para Sierra cadena perpetua sin posibilidad de libertad condicional o la pena de muerte.

Thanks in large part to a Final Four run at Florida Atlantic in 2023 and leading Michigan to the NCAA title last season, May has coached plenty of big games in plenty of NBA arenas and knows what it's like when those buildings are filled to the rafters.

And that means, when he officially starts as coach of the Dallas Mavericks in a few days, May will have a real sense of what's coming — at least from an surroundings standpoint.

“I’ve been in that environment,” May said. “Not at the level, obviously, but I’m someone who's big on visualization. I see myself there. ... But I have a real unique ability to, once the game starts, for 48 minutes to have 100% of my focus on the court and our bench.”

In other words, the coach of last season's NCAA champion truly believes he's ready for the NBA challenge. And he's not alone, with six teams under new coaching management this season.

May is one of three first-time NBA coaches this season, along with Orlando's Sean Sweeney (the former San Antonio assistant) and Portland's Micah Nori (the former Minnesota assistant).

Another trio of coaches got new jobs in the league — former Memphis coach Taylor Jenkins has taken over in Milwaukee, former Orlando coach Jamahl Mosley has taken over in New Orleans, and former interim Portland coach Tiago Splitter (who coached for basically the entirety of last season) is the new coach in Chicago.

“I think just in general, the way we’re approaching things is, ‘What do we need to do today? Where are we at? How did we do with it? What do we need to improve on?’” Sweeney said. “We’ve done a good job of trying to set high standards for ourselves and lay down expectations for each other and live up to that.”

It is possible to win somewhere in Year 1 as a coach — just ask New York's Mike Brown, who led the Knicks to last season's NBA championship in his inaugural season on that team's sideline. The coach of the reigning Western Conference champions, San Antonio's Mitch Johnson, got to the finals in his second season as coach of the Spurs (which, technically, was his first full season as head coach).

Sweeney and Nori were widely considered as being ready to become head coaches for a few years before getting their current chances. May had taken two schools, one of them a mid-major, to the Final Four in a four-season span, more than proving his ability to win. Splitter did such a good job under awkward circumstances in Portland last season that he was a coach of the year candidate, and both Jenkins and Mosley have had success at their previous stops.

Nori essentially accepted a one-year contract with the Trail Blazers, an extremely rare move, especially for a first-time head coach. He's betting on himself, saying that if he does the job the options for future seasons on the existing contract will take care of itself.

“I've been around a lot of — I think it's 13 — head coaches, so you start to see what you would do and what you'd like to do,” Nori said. “I guess the biggest difference, and they always talk about sliding over that one seat, is that it ends with you. ... It's your program now. That's been the biggest adjustment.”

Mosley was living in Florida a few months ago, never thinking he'd be in Louisiana now. But when the Magic decided to change coaches, the Pelicans didn't wait long before pouncing — knowing that Mosley would be a hot commodity. And Mosley says a change of scenery gave him an opportunity for what essentially is a reawakening.

“You get to do a lot of reflecting quick, right? You get to see exactly what worked, what didn’t work, how you can balance out what you do, the roster you have, you get to reflect on a lot of things that were successful and things that you need to work on," Mosley said. "That's what it gave me. And now look at the group of guys that we have here — young, energetic, wanting to learn, wanting to figure it out, hungry to get better. There’s so much of it here that it's easy to pour into an organization like this.”

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See AP’s full NBA coverage here

Sheinbaum afirmó en su habitual conferencia matutina que le parecía “bien” la venta que se anunció esta semana y recordó que esas transacciones deben pasar por la Comisión Reguladora de Telecomunicaciones para asegurar que están dentro de la ley y que se garantice la competencia.

La mandataria informó que AT&T “desde hace tiempo” quería vender su participación en México para concentrarse en Estados Unidos donde, aseguró, hay “mucha competencia” en telefonía e inteligencia artificial.

Pese a las dimensiones del mercado mexicano —que cuenta con 144,5 millones de líneas celulares activas— algunos de los competidores más importantes del mundo de las telecomunicaciones han salido en el último año del país. En abril, la empresa española Telefónica anunció la venta de su filial en México, Movistar, por 450 millones de dólares al consorcio Melisa Acquisition, que lidera OXIO Inc. y el fondo Newfoundland Capital Management.

Los analistas han asociado la salida de los competidores extranjeros a la incertidumbre sobre la autonomía del nuevo órgano regulador —que se conformó en 2025 tras una cuestionada reforma constitucional— que depende actualmente del Ejecutivo. Los operadores también han objetado los derechos anuales que pagan por el uso, explotación y aprovechamiento de las frecuencias por el impacto que genera en sus finanzas y los recursos disponibles para ampliar las redes.

¿Qué viene ahora para el mercado mexicano?

Televisa anunció el pasado martes que comprará con Fintech Holdings los negocios en México de AT&T, que es el segundo mayor operador móvil del país latinoamericano con 24,7 millones de suscriptores.

Según se informó, cada una de las empresas tendrá una participación de 50% en el negocio mexicano de AT&T. La compra aún no tiene los permisos de las autoridades mexicanas, que se espera estén listos al cierre del primer trimestre de 2027.

El mercado local es controlado actualmente por Telcel, del magnate mexicano Carlos Slim, a través del conglomerado de telecomunicaciones América Móvil. Telcel detenta cerca de 59% del mercado y tiene más de 83,46 millones de suscriptores.

De completarse las autorizaciones el Grupo Televisa pasaría a tener presencia en casi todos los segmentos del negocio de las telecomunicaciones en México que incluyen televisión, servicios fijos y móviles de voz y banda ancha. Hace cinco años Televisa llegó a a un acuerdo con Univision Holdings Inc. para combinar sus activos y crear un grupo mediático de habla hispana que atiende a millones de usuarios.

Fintech Holdings es del empresario mexicano David Martínez, quien tiene participación en Telecom Argentina y en Televisa, donde tiene un paquete accionario de 8,9%, y está por debajo del mexicano Emilio Azcárraga Jean, quien controla el poderoso grupo con una participación de 19,2%.

Al referirse a sus expectativas sobre la operación, Sheinbaum dijo que espera que “haya competencia y que se invierta, que el internet sea mejor en nuestro país”.

Authorities announced Wednesday that they had arrested Alexandros Paporakis and provided the additional detail about his suspected movement during a news conference Thursday. The leaders of Sri Venkateswara Swami (Balaji) Temple in a statement said a security threat had “targeted our Temple” and announced an increased security presence.

Palatine Police Chief William Nord said a red Acura RDX registered to Paporakis entered a temple parking lot on Sunday around 12:25 p.m. and left less than 15 minutes later. He was seen alone inside the car around 2 p.m. near his home in another suburb.

Paporakis faces felony charges of making a terrorist threat and unlawfully possessing a rifle. Prosecutors have said his co-workers at a Taco Bell location called 911 after Paporakis told them he “couldn't wait to kill Indian people” and said Sunday would be the “special day.”

Temple adds security after threat

Sri Venkateswara Swami (Balaji) Temple in Aurora, around 40 miles west of downtown Chicago, said leaders were in contact with police.

“Please know that the safety of our devotees, employees and volunteers is our highest priority, and we have implemented additional security measures effective immediately, including increased armed security presence at the Temple,” a statement said.

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, who represents Illinois' 8th congressional district, said he was at the Hindu temple on Sunday.

“I visited not knowing that there was an attacker lying in wait with a sinister motive to commit a mass shooting, and only because his AR-15 weapon jammed was he not able to commit a massacre that day," Krishnamoorthi told The Associated Press on Thursday.

Krishnamoorthi said he had increased his security in response to the alleged planned attack. He called on the FBI to “investigate and prosecute this particular matter as a hate crime,” and the Trump administration to release federal nonprofit security grants to bolster security at religious institutions.

“People are really shaken up,” he added.

Aurora Mayor John Laesch said at a Thursday news conference at the Council on American Islamic Relations' Chicago office that police were “made aware” of other scheduled celebrations and are reaching out to other temples in the area “to make sure that they know they have a number to call.”

Court records detail the accused attacker's words

Paporakis told a coworker on Sunday afternoon that his gun jammed and he left quickly, but promised to “retry,” according to prosecutors. He sent the coworker a video showing an AR-style rifle and a photo of himself wearing a tactical vest, they added.

Paporakis also sent the coworker an eight-page document in which he used racial slurs to describe non-white people and outlined a plot to kill as many of them as possible, according to prosecutors. He also described himself as a white supremacist and a neo Nazi who fantasized about mass murder.

Police arrested Paporakis later that day near his home in Palatine, which is located about 40 miles (64.37 kilometers) northeast of the temple. Detectives who searched his home found an AR-style rifle without a serial number, loaded magazines and “hundreds of rounds” of ammunition, a gas canister labeled with a slur referring to South Asians, a tactical vest and a patch depicting Nazi symbolism, authorities say.

Paporakis' mother was questioned, but she is not cooperating with the investigation, police said on Thursday.

At a Wednesday court appearance, a judge ordered Paporakis to remain in detention. His next court hearing is scheduled for Oct. 30.

“This case is in the earliest stage of what will likely be a lengthy process,” the office of the Cook County Public Defender, which is representing Paporakis, said in a statement emailed to the AP. "We would remind the public that statements made by police and prosecutors are only allegations and that cases can change significantly as they continue to be investigated.”

The targeting of the Hindu temple is another example of heightened threats in the last few years against South Asians in the U.S., according to Stop AAPI Hate, the national reporting center for anti-Asian hate incidents. Online slurs and threats have risen significantly, co-founder Manjusha Kulkarni said in a statement.

“We are grateful this violent plot was thwarted and that no one was hurt -– but it doesn’t erase the fear Hindu, Indian, and South Asian people feel after years of escalating hate,” Kulkarni said. “Violence against South Asian people is not inevitable. It is fueled when leaders stoke fear of immigrants and people of color for political gain.”

She attributed some of the anti-South Asian sentiment to the Trump administration’s rhetoric around Indian immigrants who hold work visas. She also pointed to a Texas Republican last month posting a social media video of South Asian students cheering at a University of Texas football game and referring to them as “foreigners.”

The temple, like other Hindu temples and households around the country, has been celebrating Navratri, a Hindu festival that lasts nine days. It “should be a time for celebration and unity, not terror and hate,” Kulkarni said.

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Associated Press writer Terry Tang in Phoenix contributed to this report.

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

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Bailey Martinez Jr., 46, was taken into custody in connection with the Sept. 13 stabbing near Northwest 17th Street and Northwest Fifth Avenue, according to a Miami Police Department arrest report.

According to the report, officers responded to the area shortly after 7 a.m. and found a man suffering from two stab wounds to his upper chest.

Miami Fire Rescue medics transported the victim to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center.

Witness, victim give different accounts of confrontation

According to the arrest report, a witness who called 911 told detectives he was sitting on a sidewalk when he saw the victim riding his bicycle westbound on Northwest 17th Street.

The bicyclist encountered Martinez, who was walking in the opposite direction, and the two became involved in an argument, the witness told investigators.

The witness claimed the victim pulled out a chain and attempted to strike Martinez with it.

Martinez allegedly grabbed the chain, struck the victim with it and then stabbed him twice with an unidentified weapon, possibly a knife or shank, the witness said.

The suspect then fled eastbound toward Northwest Fifth Avenue, according to the witness.

However, the victim provided detectives with a different account when they interviewed him at the hospital on Sept. 16.

According to the report, the victim told investigators he had approached Martinez while riding his bicycle and asked where he had gotten a piece of cake.

The report states that the victim said he attempted to get off his bicycle but tripped and fell.

He claimed Martinez then stabbed him twice before running away.

The victim told police he never saw the weapon used in the attack.

He also disputed the witness’s account involving the chain, telling detectives that neither man used it during the confrontation.

Instead, the victim said the chain had been hanging from his bicycle’s handlebars and fell to the ground.

Victim identifies suspect in photo lineup

According to the arrest report, on Sept. 22, an officer encountered Martinez, who matched a description of the suspect previously circulated by police.

Detectives returned to Jackson Memorial Hospital on Sept. 29 and presented the victim with a photographic lineup.

According to the report, the victim identified Martinez as the man who had stabbed him.

Suspect arrested near scene of stabbing

On Wednesday, an officer located Martinez near Northwest Fifth Avenue and Northwest 17th Street, the same intersection where the stabbing had been reported, authorities said.

He was taken into custody around 8:42 a.m. and was transported to the Miami Police Department’s Violent Crimes Unit.

Detectives said Martinez was advised of his constitutional rights and declined to speak with investigators.

He was subsequently arrested and transported to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center where he was booked on a charge of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.

As of Thursday afternoon, Martinez remained jailed on a $20,000 bond.

The arrest report did not provide an update on the victim’s condition or a motive for the alleged attack.

Zacharia sat down for an interviews with conservative media. She told the conservative Human Events outlet that she did not have time to get fully prepared ahead of her first briefing on Tuesday and that it was always the plan to keep it short because President Donald Trump would field questions from journalists later that morning.

“It was absolutely my goal to keep it short, considering he is his own best spokesperson, and he would love -- and does love -- gaggling with the media as he goes to Marine One,” Zacharia said. “So I wanted to give ample deference and not barge into his time.”

The initial briefing materials were given to Zacharia on Monday evening, then completed Tuesday at 8 a.m., less than two hours before she would appear before the White House press corps. She had been up since 3 a.m. preparing, Zacharia said.

“I never had a full briefing beforehand, and I went out and I effectuated the briefing,” she said.

Later, speaking to Fox News commentator Sean Hannity, she said she “probably should have stepped aside” instead of taking questions from the press corps without having time to prepare.

“I could have just given a brief intro and said, ‘I’m only here to introduce myself, and I want to engage with the press corps,’” she said.

Zacharia calls failure to pass bar exam ‘inconsequential’

As for her legal background, Zacharia said she was preparing to take the bar exam in California at a time that she had just gotten married and was readying a move to China to join her new husband, who had been working in private equity in Beijing.

“I was obviously incredibly distracted and overwhelmed and excited for finally being married to someone who I’d been long distance from for at least a year,” Zacharia said.

She said the results of the bar exam, which she did not pass, were “somewhat inconsequential” because she would not need to be a barred attorney while living in China.

Zacharia, who has been under scrutiny for calling herself a “lawyer,” said she consulted several legal experts to ensure that title was accurate when offering legal analysis.

“It’s unfortunate that people dub this as some kind of conspiracy or want to put me in a camp. The truth is, I was very careful how I executed this, and I never came across as someone who was an attorney-at-law.”

She will not weigh in on legal matters in her White House capacity, Zacharia said.

She says she didn't lobby for the job

She also divulged details of how she went about securing the White House press secretary job. Zacharia stressed that she did not want to be seen as lobbying for the position, left vacant when Karoline Leavitt announced she would depart the administration to spend more time with her family.

Zacharia, who was a communications adviser for the company that runs Truth Social, said she closely monitored the president’s social media posts to determine what was top of mind for him, then would go on air to talk about those topics.

“My philosophy is, I’m on TV enough where if he sees me and he likes me, then I will be recruited for the job. I do not believe that lobbying for that job would have been successful, and I wanted to work for it. I wanted to audition for it."

Then on Oct. 7, as Zacharia was preparing to take one of her children to a pumpkin patch, she received a phone call from Trump about the press secretary position.

She promptly flew out the next day from her home in California to Washington, met with the president about the job on Friday and formally accepted the position later that day.

___

Associated Press writer Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix contributed.

Bailey Martinez Jr., de 46 años, fue detenido por su presunta participación en el ataque ocurrido el 13 de septiembre cerca de Northwest 17th Street y Northwest Fifth Avenue, según el informe de arresto del Departamento de Policía de Miami.

De acuerdo con el documento, los agentes llegaron al lugar poco después de las 7 a.m. y encontraron a un hombre con dos heridas de arma blanca en la parte superior del pecho.

Paramédicos de Miami Fire Rescue trasladaron al herido al Centro de Traumatología Ryder del Hospital Jackson Memorial.

La víctima y un testigo dieron versiones distintas del altercado

Según el informe policial, un testigo que llamó al 911 contó a los detectives que estaba sentado en una acera cuando vio a la víctima pasar en bicicleta por Northwest 17th Street, en dirección oeste.

El ciclista se encontró con Martinez, quien caminaba en sentido contrario, y ambos comenzaron a discutir, relató el testigo.

Según su versión, el ciclista sacó una cadena e intentó golpear a Martinez.

El sospechoso presuntamente le arrebató la cadena, lo golpeó con ella y después lo apuñaló dos veces con un objeto que el testigo no pudo identificar, posiblemente un cuchillo o un arma punzante improvisada.

Tras el ataque, Martinez huyó hacia el este, en dirección a Northwest Fifth Avenue, según el testigo.

Sin embargo, cuando los detectives entrevistaron a la víctima en el hospital el 16 de septiembre, esta contó una historia diferente.

El ciclista explicó que se había acercado a Martinez para preguntarle dónde había conseguido un pedazo de pastel.

Según su declaración, intentó bajarse de la bicicleta, pero tropezó y cayó al suelo.

Fue entonces cuando Martinez presuntamente lo apuñaló dos veces y salió corriendo.

La víctima aseguró que nunca vio el arma utilizada en el ataque.

También negó que alguno de los dos hubiera utilizado una cadena durante el enfrentamiento, como había declarado el testigo.

Explicó que la cadena estaba colgada del manubrio de su bicicleta y que simplemente cayó al suelo.

La víctima identificó al sospechoso en una rueda de reconocimiento fotográfica

Según el informe de arresto, el 22 de septiembre un agente se encontró con Martinez, quien coincidía con la descripción del sospechoso que la policía había difundido.

El 29 de septiembre, los detectives regresaron al Hospital Jackson Memorial y mostraron a la víctima varias fotografías para intentar identificar al agresor.

De acuerdo con el informe, el ciclista señaló a Martinez como el hombre que lo había apuñalado.

Detienen al sospechoso cerca del lugar del ataque

El miércoles, un agente encontró a Martinez cerca de la intersección de Northwest Fifth Avenue y Northwest 17th Street, donde había ocurrido el ataque, informaron las autoridades.

Fue detenido alrededor de las 8:42 a.m. y trasladado a la Unidad de Delitos Violentos del Departamento de Policía de Miami.

Según los detectives, Martinez fue informado de sus derechos constitucionales, pero se negó a declarar.

Posteriormente, fue trasladado al centro correccional Turner Guilford Knight, donde quedó bajo arresto acusado de agresión agravada con un arma mortal.

Hasta la tarde de este jueves, Martinez continuaba detenido con una fianza de 20,000 dólares.

El informe policial no incluye información actualizada sobre el estado de salud del ciclista ni sobre el posible motivo del ataque.

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Records show that one of the suspects, Donnell Oliver, appeared in court on Thursday after being arrested Tuesday.

Oliver, 25, also known as “Pop,” is facing several charges alongside Torrien Ross, 23, also known as “Capps”; Ansel Smart, 34, also known as “Big Pistol;” Edward Rogers, 28, also known as “Ed;” and Jancent Woodard, 22.

Jail records show Smart, Woodard and Ross were arrested in August, while Rogers was arrested in September.

Authorities said the group also worked with two unidentified individuals who went by “Ms Easy” and “Rell.”

They said they obtained logs of several online chats showing the group scheming to enrich themselves by stealing from victims and laundering the proceeds.

Authorities said the group used “account takeovers,” where scammers use “personal information of the victims and pretend to be a representative of a company” or authorities “and convince victims to give up their sensitive bank information.”

Oliver, police said, was one of the people making the phone calls. They said he even played YouTube videos of call center background noise “in order to make victims believe the call is as real as possible.”

According to police, Oliver took photos of the setup and “almost always has the front facing camera of his laptop covered with tissue in all of these photos.”

Authorities said the group would recruit others through Instagram to provide their bank account information in exchange for a cut of the money.

“Ed said some s--- bout 80/20 what’s the split lil bra,” authorities said “Rell” told one of the co-conspirators.

Other chat evidence included Rogers reacting to a $40,000 deposit in his Chime bank account and saying, “And they can’t see what we did,” followed by three laughing emojis, police said.

In another, police said Ross described the response to the group’s Instagram solicitation: “N---as posted chime and they going nuts.”

Police said detectives also found electronic ledgers cataloguing victims’ bank and personal information and what names they will use during calls, as well as “when the money will post to accounts, the amount of money to post to accounts, how much money (was) to be collected from the money that will be arriving, how much money people owe, how much (was) collected, names of other co-conspirators” and taxpayer identification numbers.

Police said the group would spend lavishly with the stolen proceeds, including flaunting high value jewelry and spending wads of cash in strip clubs. Authorities said they would also “clean” the money through casinos in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

“If you sent 50 I’m go make sure I get 25 thousand off before I leave and you get paid off rip first I got a lot of days left bro to leave 4 racks get pulled every night than I’m gone go get custo pull 3 out of TD bank than go to the casino all that,” authorities said Ross told Oliver.

They’d also brag about their exploits on Instagram, cops said.

“Early morning, getting to that motherf---er and it’s only 9 o’clock,” authorities said Smart said in one of “several photos and videos where (he) posts large bundles of money.”

In another video, police said Oliver visited a Rolex store.

Authorities said banks would sometimes catch on to the fraud.

“Damn,” police said Oliver lamented after a bank closed a victim’s account due to suspicious activity. “I hope they don’t clip everything.”

Authorities noted that during the course of physical and online surveillance, none of the participants have ever “been observed going (to) or attending a job.”

Jail records show all of the captured participants, facing charges including organized fraud, grand theft and money laundering, remained held in various facilities on six-figure bonds as of Thursday afternoon.

Los registros muestran que uno de los sospechosos, Donnell Oliver, compareció ante un tribunal el jueves, después de haber sido arrestado el martes.

Oliver, de 25 años, también conocido como “Pop”, enfrenta varios cargos junto con Torrien Ross, de 23 años, apodado “Capps”; Ansel Smart, de 34 años, conocido como “Big Pistol”; Edward Rogers, de 28 años, apodado “Ed”; y Jancent Woodard, de 22 años.

Los registros carcelarios indican que Smart, Woodard y Ross fueron arrestados en agosto, mientras que Rogers fue detenido en septiembre.

Las autoridades señalaron que el grupo también trabajaba con otras dos personas que no han sido identificadas, conocidas como “Ms Easy” y “Rell”.

Según la policía, los investigadores obtuvieron registros de varias conversaciones en línea que muestran cómo el grupo planeaba enriquecerse robando dinero a sus víctimas y lavando las ganancias.

Las autoridades explicaron que utilizaban una modalidad de fraude conocida como “toma de control de cuentas”, en la que los estafadores emplean información personal de las víctimas y se hacen pasar por representantes de una empresa o por autoridades para convencerlas de que entreguen sus datos bancarios confidenciales.

De acuerdo con la policía, Oliver era uno de los encargados de realizar las llamadas telefónicas. Incluso reproducía videos de YouTube con sonidos ambientales de centros de atención telefónica para hacer que las víctimas creyeran que las llamadas eran lo más auténticas posible.

Según los investigadores, Oliver tomaba fotografías del equipo que utilizaba y, en casi todas ellas, la cámara frontal de su computadora portátil aparecía cubierta con un pañuelo de papel.

Las autoridades indicaron que el grupo reclutaba a otras personas a través de Instagram para que facilitaran los datos de sus cuentas bancarias a cambio de una parte del dinero.

“Ed dijo algo de un reparto 80/20. ¿Cómo se divide, hermanito?”, escribió “Rell” a uno de los cómplices, según las autoridades.

Entre las pruebas también figura una conversación en la que Rogers reaccionó a un depósito de 40,000 dólares en su cuenta bancaria de Chime y escribió: “Y no pueden ver lo que hicimos”, seguido de tres emojis de risa, informó la policía.

En otro intercambio, Ross describió la respuesta que había recibido una publicación del grupo en Instagram para reclutar personas: “Los tipos publicaron lo de Chime y se están volviendo locos”, según los investigadores.

La policía informó que los detectives también encontraron registros electrónicos que contenían información bancaria y personal de las víctimas, así como los nombres que los sospechosos utilizarían durante las llamadas.

Estos registros también incluían las fechas en que el dinero llegaría a las cuentas, las cantidades que se depositarían, cuánto dinero debía retirarse de los fondos recibidos, cuánto debían distintas personas, cuánto se había recaudado, los nombres de otros cómplices y números de identificación fiscal.

Según la policía, los integrantes del grupo gastaban grandes cantidades del dinero robado en lujos, entre ellos joyas costosas, y presumían de gastar fajos de billetes en clubes de striptease. Las autoridades señalaron que también utilizaban casinos de los condados de Miami-Dade y Broward para “limpiar” el dinero.

“Si mandaste 50, voy a asegurarme de sacar 25 mil antes de irme y a ti te pagan primero, de inmediato. Todavía me quedan muchos días, hermano, para dejar cuatro mil, sacar dinero todas las noches y después ir a buscar a un cliente, retirar tres mil del TD Bank y luego ir al casino, todo eso”, le dijo Ross a Oliver, según las autoridades.

Los sospechosos también presumían de sus actividades en Instagram, informó la policía.

“Desde temprano, consiguiendo ese maldito dinero y apenas son las nueve”, dijo Smart, según las autoridades, en una de las varias fotografías y videos en los que aparecía mostrando grandes fajos de billetes.

En otro video, la policía señaló que Oliver aparecía visitando una tienda Rolex.

Las autoridades indicaron que, en ocasiones, los bancos detectaban las operaciones fraudulentas.

“Maldita sea”, se lamentó Oliver después de que un banco cerrara la cuenta de una víctima por actividad sospechosa, según la policía. “Espero que no bloqueen todo”.

Las autoridades destacaron que, durante las labores de vigilancia física y en línea, nunca observaron a ninguno de los participantes acudir a un empleo o desempeñar algún trabajo.

Los registros carcelarios muestran que, hasta la tarde del jueves, todos los sospechosos detenidos permanecían recluidos en distintas instalaciones penitenciarias, con fianzas de seis cifras y enfrentando cargos que incluyen fraude organizado, hurto mayor y lavado de dinero.

Talarico told rallygoers under bright lights that David may not have had Goliath's strength, but he had a slingshot.

“You are my slingshot," he continued, without mentioning Musk or the other spending against him. "We are going up against our own Goliaths.”

The description falls in line with Talarico's past rhetoric painting politics not as right versus left, but the ultrawealthy versus everyone else, as he tries to become the first Democrat to win statewide in over 30 years. Talarico's own campaign has raised record amounts of money in one of the nation's more expensive and competitive Senate races.

The national conversation around Talarico’s campaign has evolved over the past months. Initially, the state lawmaker was considered just the latest of several Democratic candidates over the past years who gave the party a hope of flipping Texas, only for that hope to deflate come Election Day.

Now, Talarico is seen as a real contender to win the seat against Republican candidate Ken Paxton. Talarico’s success so far can partly be chalked up to voters’ apprehensions toward Paxton, who faced questions in his past over corruption, including being impeached by his own party in the Texas legislature. He was later acquitted.

Texas will help decide control of the US Senate

While outside spending in support of Paxton has flooded the Texas airwaves with ads, Talarico's campaign itself has outpaced Paxton's in fundraising from donors eager for Texas to forgo its solidly Republican title.

The prospect of a flagship GOP state turning blue doesn't just fill Democrats with glee and Republicans with alarm. Whoever wins will help determine which party controls the Senate in President Donald Trump's final two years in office, making it either smooth sailing for Trump or a bog of investigations and opposition.

Talarico, a seminarian and state representative, has also tread a very careful path — as nonpartisan as he can — from the major metros that already tilt Democratic, along the border towns that flipped from blue to red last election, and to the rural Republican high plains and desert.

The candidate has distanced himself from former President Joe Biden's administration and his own party, and while progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders is coming to Texas this month, he won't be sharing a stage with Talarico.

Talarico's talk of affordability resonated at rally

Talarico's strategy is to take direct aim at what voters say they are most concerned about: the costs that have inexorably grown for years. That unaffordability, Talarico argued at the nighttime rally in Texas that was packed with younger voters, is because billionaires and corrupt politicians have rigged the system. It resonated.

“They think that they can buy us, and that they can essentially be the kings of the country,” said Kaitlyn Johnson, a 29-year-old bartender who attended the rally.

Johnson felt that Talarico put words to that feeling she'd held for a while, and the high costs keep nagging at her, too.

“I make decent money,” she said, “but there's no way in hell that I'm going to be able to buy a house anytime soon.”

Paxton has backing from Musk, Trump

Trump and Republicans are well aware of Talarico's ability to connect with voters, and of Paxton's struggles to find purchase in what would otherwise be a relatively easy race for a Republican. The president has made several trips to Texas to rally for Paxton.

Paxton has received significant financial support from Musk, who last year headed Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency. Musk contributed $158 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, federal campaign spending filings showed Thursday. The Senate Leadership Fund gave $158 million to Texas PAC, the largest contributor to Paxton’s campaign.

Musk also provided $10 million to Lone Star Liberty PAC, a group that supports Paxton.

The rally Thursday in the small city of San Marcos south of Austin follows nine days earlier this month when Talarico was out of the public eye due to the flu. His absence sparked a swirl of conspiracies online, including the false claim that he was at a mental health treatment center in Ohio. Shared by conservative social media influencers, the claim quickly fell apart at closer inspection.

___ Associated Press reporters Thomas Beaumont and Joey Cappelletti contributed.

Kennedy's Department of Health and Human Services submitted a peptides “interim access policy” to the White House for review, according to a posting Thursday on a government website. The plan was sent to the Office of Management and Budget, which reviews federal rules and regulations with the potential for significant economic impact.

HHS officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday afternoon.

Peptides are the building blocks of more complex proteins, triggering hormones inside the body needed for growth, metabolism and healing. Drug companies have brought several to market as medications, including mainstay treatments for diabetes and weight loss.

But the ones at issue here haven’t gone through that rigorous vetting process. Nevertheless, they have gained a foothold among Americans interested in bulking up, looking younger or boosting energy. Those uses are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration and most of the data on peptides comes from animal studies.

Before joining the administration, Kennedy publicly declared that “FDA’s war” on peptides and other wellness products would soon end.

After becoming health secretary, Kennedy said U.S. compounding pharmacies must be allowed to sell peptides because Americans were increasingly turning to “gray market” peptides made in China and other countries. Those products remain widely available for purchase via online platforms like TikTok.

The White House filing doesn’t give specifics of the new policy, but two people familiar with the plan say it is intended to allow pharmacies to temporarily compound some of the most popular peptides, including BPC-157, a chemical promoted to build muscle and heal injuries. The people spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential government deliberations.

The update is the latest indication that Kennedy and other Trump administration officials are looking to ease access to unproven products that are popular within the Make America Healthy Again movement. Some of the biggest MAHA figures sell peptide injections and supplements.

The FDA previously placed BPC-157 and more than a dozen other injectable peptides on its list of substances that are too risky to be compounded by pharmacies. Possible risks include contamination, allergic reactions and tumor growth, according to the FDA.

But earlier this year, Kennedy directed the agency to reconsider a short list of chemicals that have been widely promoted by wellness influencers and fitness celebrities.

In July, a panel of external FDA advisers recommended the agency drop its restrictions on six of the seven peptides put before them. That recommendation went against the scientific conclusion of FDA’s staff scientists, who reiterated that none of the peptides had been studied enough to establish their safety and effectiveness.

The new policy sent to the White House would essentially assure compounding pharmacies — specialty businesses that mix customized medications that aren’t available from traditional drugmakers — that they won't be targeted for producing certain peptides, according to the people familiar with the plan. That approach, known as enforcement discretion, allows the FDA to selectively choose to not enforce some of its own regulations.

Formally adding the peptides to FDA's list of drugs that are safe for compounding would require federal rulemaking, a process that could take years and involves multiple rounds of public comment. It was not immediately clear if the administration still plans to pursue that process.

The proposal was quickly praised online by some Kennedy allies who sell peptides.

“This is huge,” Brigham Buhler, a wellness clinic operator who sells peptides through an online service, posted on X. “This isn’t about whether you’re for or against peptides. It’s about whether you’re for or against MEDICAL FREEDOM.”

The panel of outside experts that met in July was selected by Kennedy's health department and included several doctors, pharmacists and consultants who work in the peptide field.

The peptide business has caught the attention of major telehealth providers, including Hims & Hers and Noom. Both companies recently announced plans to offer peptides to their customers if the federal government eases access. Wall Street analysts estimate the market could be worth $2 billion to $3 billion.

___

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A lawyer for Brennan conceded during arguments last month that the request for a court order was unusual but said it was necessary given what he called the Justice Department's pattern of vindictiveness in its pursuit of Brennan and its recent track record of erasing or failing to preserve communications and records in other matters.

The lawsuit contends that the records being sought would demonstrate that any prosecution of Brennan, who has been investigated for months by the Trump administration Justice Department but not charged, is the product of a political vendetta to punish one of President Donald Trump's perceived adversaries.

But U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb denied Brennan's request, saying his arguments were too speculative at the moment and that the former CIA director had not proven that the Justice Department was failing to preserve records relevant to a future malicious prosecution argument.

“Brennan’s allegations — that he is being targeted by the Trump Administration not because of his conduct, but because he has opposed the current president — are deeply concerning,” Cobb wrote in dismissing the lawsuit. “If he was eventually able to prove those allegations true, that would certainly suggest that his potential prosecution is vindictive. But even taking all of Brennan’s allegations to be truthful at this stage, the injury he alleges is simply too attenuated from the actions he seeks to enjoin to warrant a finding of standing here.”

Lawyers for Brennan said in a statement that Cobb's decision addressed a technical matter of legal standing and was not based on their argument “that the Justice Department is using the criminal justice system to target and investigate him for politically vindictive reasons.” They said the government had refused to offer assurances that it was preserving records and communications that would reveal the "motivations behind its investigations of Director Brennan."

“With this lawsuit, Director Brennan has served notice that the government’s conduct and its document preservation will be carefully scrutinized in the event of any future indictment. Director Brennan will continue to vigorously defend himself against these baseless investigations, and he will challenge any attempt to use the criminal justice system for personal and political retribution,” said Brennan's lawyers, Ken Wainstein and Dan Gelber.

As CIA director in the final years of President Barack Obama's Democratic administration, Brennan was a key figure in the U.S. intelligence community's conclusion that Russia had interfered in the 2016 presidential election on behalf of Trump, who went on to defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton for the White House. That assessment has for years infuriated Trump, who spent much of his first term shadowed by an investigation into whether his campaign had conspired with Russia.

Brennan over the last year has been entangled in Justice Department investigations into whether he made false statements before the House Judiciary Committee in 2023 and in a broader Florida-based inquiry into whether he and other former intelligence and law enforcement officials engaged in a conspiracy to keep Trump from power.

He has been subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury in the broader conspiracy investigation, though the date of his appearance has been postponed. His lawyers have said they've been told by prosecutors that he remains a target in the false statements investigation.

Brennan has vigorously denied any wrongdoing, with Wainstein telling Cobb during arguments last month that the notion of a broad anti-Trump conspiracy was “fiction.”

It is unclear whether Brennan will face charges, but his attorneys sued in July to put the government on notice that they would challenge any prosecution on vindictive prosecution grounds. They said records they received from the government through a court order would help support their argument.

Cobb was nominated in 2021 by President Joe Biden, who earlier served as Obama's vice president.

The review, which was conducted by an external firm, was done after the university received a complaint about Griffith’s coaching behavior during practices from a previous season.

She'll miss the school's opening game on Nov. 2 against Davidson as well a tournament in Nashville with games against Rhode Island and Belmont.

“I fully respect the process of the University review and take complete responsibility for everything that happens in the program, including the times my conduct fell short,” Griffith said in a statement. “As the head coach and a former student-athlete at Columbia University, there is nothing more important to me than the success and well-being of my players.”

The statement said Griffith “expressed regret for occasions in which her interactions with the team did not align with expectations.” The university also said the review did not require notice to the NCAA of any rules violations and did not involve any allegations of violations of the school's anti-discrimination policies, Title IX or related policies.

The women’s basketball team said in a statement sent to The Associated Press that it was aware of the suspension.

“This is not indicative of our experience as part of this program, which has been overwhelmingly positive,” the team said in the statement. "We fully stand with and support Coach Griffith. This program is a family, and we pride ourselves on being a supportive and inclusive environment for all.

“We are ready to attack the season.”

Griffith, who graduated from the school, is the winningest coach in Columbia history and a three-time Ivy League Coach of the Year. She has gone 171-99 in her 11-year coaching career at the school.

Griffith has led the Lions to two NCAA Tournament at-large bids and the first victory in school history in the NCAAs. The school won the WBIT last season and has a challenging schedule this year with top teams Duke and Michigan coming to New York.

The Lions won three regular-season Ivy League titles from 2022-25.

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The lawsuit against the Hobart-Lawrence (Wisconsin) Police Department was filed Wednesday in Brown County Circuit Court.

Jacobs pleaded no contest last month to misdemeanor charges of battery and criminal damage to property stemming from a May altercation with his then-girlfriend. He was charged in late August, and the criminal complaint against him noted that a surveillance video from the camera system in their garage corroborated the woman’s statement.

That video hasn’t been released, and lawyers representing the woman filed a motion last month asking that the evidence be sealed.

Clarence Duchac, the lawyer representing Jacobs in this lawsuit, said in his complaint that Jacobs “joins and supports (the victim’s) position that the identifying, private and sensitive records associated with the underlying incident should not be publicly released.”

Shortly after Jacobs was charged, the NFL placed him on the commissioner’s exempt list, which prevents the three-time Pro Bowler from playing or practicing but allows him to keep receiving a paycheck.

In the complaint, Duchac says that public release of records identifying the victim or disclosing sensitive information about her “would force unwanted exposure upon her and risk revictimizing her through renewed public scrutiny.”

The complaint says the police should be prohibited from publicly releasing “descriptions, images, audio recordings, video recordings, statements, communications, or other materials” whose disclosure might threaten the woman’s “privacy, dignity, safety, emotional well-being, or ability to obtain closure.”

The complaint also notes that public sports figures have recently been targeted for robberies and other related property crimes, and that releasing the video would reveal details of the garage’s interior that might put Jacobs at risk.

"The public availability of (Jacobs’) schedule or travel information increases the risk that persons could identify periods when (Jacobs) is away from home and use released information concerning the residence, garage, access points, security arrangements, or property to target the property,” the complaint says. “Widespread public dissemination of those details would materially increase (Jacobs’) vulnerability to theft, burglary, robbery, trespass, or other targeted criminal conduct.”

Jacobs was arrested May 26, three days after police officers came to his Wisconsin home to investigate a disturbance. According to police, the woman told them that Jacobs grabbed her and threw her to the ground as she was trying to exit a garage door, causing her to hit her head. Police said Jacobs also took her phone from her while she was on the ground.

Police said they noticed redness on her face and neck and could feel a bump on the back of her head.

Under an agreement Jacobs reached with prosecutors, the criminal damage charge against him can be dismissed in a year if he fulfills terms that include staying out of trouble, avoiding the victim in this case, submitting to supervision, completing counseling and paying restitution to the victim.

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According to BSO, deputies responded to a disturbance call shortly before 8:45 a.m. at a home in the 1600 block of Southwest Fifth Court.

When deputies attempted to make contact with an “adult male suspect,” he barricaded himself inside the home, authorities said.

Deputies quickly established a perimeter around the home and BSO’s SWAT team was called to the scene.

Authorities confirmed hours later that the man had been taken into custody. His identity has not yet been released nor details about what led to the initial disturbance call.

It is also unclear whether anyone else was inside the home at the time.

The complaint adds to the growing list of legal challenges to the mass terminations by FBI Director Kash Patel of agents who participated in investigations of the Republican president or who were perceived as opposed to Trump administration interests.

The suit was filed in federal court in Washington on behalf of nine agents, intelligence analysts and staff operations specialists who were fired in February following earlier dismissals of agents who had investigated Trump's efforts to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

Patel has said in congressional testimony that the fired employees had “weaponized” the FBI and that terminations at the bureau follow internal investigations that turn up inappropriate conduct. But the agents deny that claim in the lawsuit, noting that that they were fired without any investigation, notice or hearing. They said that between them they had more than a century of distinguished and apolitical FBI service that involved responding to the Boston Marathon bombing, hostage recoveries and the investigation into the 2024 assassination attempt of Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Their firings, the lawsuit says, create an “immeasurable loss” to “America's national security."

“In return for their service, they were fired because they did their jobs, as they always did, to follow the facts and law without bias or favor. To this administration, this is an offense. To the rest of us, it is heroic,” said a statement from their attorneys, Margaret Donovan, Abbe Lowell and Rebecca Tinio.

“This lawsuit will prove their unlawful dismissal and hold the administration accountable for this blatant attack on the rule of law,” the statement added.

The Mar-a-Lago investigation produced criminal charges against Trump

The suit includes a detailed recitation of the allegations against Trump, describing how he improperly stored dozens of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, that he took with him after leaving the White House, showed them to people not authorized to see them and obstructed FBI efforts to get them back.

The investigation resulted in a 2022 FBI search of Mar-a-Lago that recovered classified records, and a federal indictment in Florida the following year charged Trump with dozens of felony counts.

Trump denied wrongdoing, and the case was dismissed in 2024 by a Trump-appointed judge, Aileen Cannon, who ruled that the special counsel who filed the charges, Jack Smith, had been illegally appointed by the Biden administration Justice Department.

The nine fired FBI employees did not volunteer for the investigation but were rather assigned to it as part of their work on counterintelligence and counterespionage squads, according to the lawsuit, which says they were terminated because of a baseless perception that the performance of their law enforcement duties had run “afoul of the political and personal loyalty to Trump that Defendants demanded.”

“By casting Plaintiffs’ work on the Plasmic Echo investigation as ‘politically weaponized,’ Defendants incorrectly presumed to know the personal political convictions of Plaintiffs and took unlawful action based on that presumption,” the lawsuit says, using the FBI code name for the classified documents investigation. “Worse still, Defendants incorrectly concluded that those personal political convictions affected or drove their work.”

Several of the fired employees participated in the search, and one signed the affidavit that was presented to a magistrate judge for approval, the lawsuit says. But beyond that particular case, the suit says, the agents and analysts had a diversity of career experience, including expertise in the counterintelligence threat from Iran and instances of helping recover American hostages held abroad.

At least one participated in the investigation into pipe bombs placed in January 2021 near the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic national committees. The investigative team was praised at a news conference by Patel, who shook the hand of one of the employees who would later be fired, Harrison Kaufman, and thanked him for his work, the complaint says.

The lawsuit seeks remedies including reinstatement to the FBI, an awarding of back pay and a court order declaring the firings unlawful.

The suit says the firings were the culmination of a retribution campaign

Lawyers for the fired employees suggest their clients' “fate was sealed” well before the February terminations, casting the ousters as the culmination of a long-running retribution campaign that kicked into gear once Trump returned to the White House in 2025.

The lawsuit notes how Patel, in his capacity as a conservative podcaster before becoming Trump's FBI director, had derided the Mar-a-Lago search as “unlawful” and had called agents who participated in it “corrupt government gangsters.”

Days after Trump was inaugurated, a top Justice Department official demanded that the FBI produce a list of employees who had investigated the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol, an order that the then-director, Brian Driscoll, resisted and that was seen within the workforce as a potential prelude to mass firings of employees involved in Trump-related inquiries

Over the following year, the FBI and Justice Department fired waves of employees involved in investigations of Trump, without hearings or proper notice that the plaintiffs' lawyers say are required by law. Besides the Mar-a-Lago agents, other employees were dismissed for kneeling at a racial justice protest in Washington in 2020 and for their involvement in a dispute intelligence assessment from 2023 warning of a potential threat from Catholic violent extremists.

The lawsuit suggests the February 2026 firings may have been an attempt to take public attention away from negative publicity Patel received days earlier from his attendance at the Winter Olympics in Milan, where he was seen chugging beer and partying with the U.S. men's hockey team after their gold medal win.

“The Plaintiffs were unlawfully terminated not for any cause or any legitimate reason, but only to satisfy the President’s personal vendetta,” the lawsuit states. “The firings did not follow any internal investigation or disciplinary process within the FBI, and Plaintiffs were not given any notice, a hearing, or an opportunity to appeal.”

The team's previous coach, Greg Powers, said in a statement that he has “mutually agreed to leave my position” as the Sun Devils' head coach as the investigation into the collapse of 21-year-old Matthew Mayich continues. Mayich is unlikely to recover from external heat stroke that reduced the flow of oxygen to his brain.

“We welcome Dave Hakstol and his family to Arizona State University. His success building championship-caliber programs, developing players for the highest level of the sport, and leading organizations in the NHL speaks to his knowledge of the game and his ability to develop talent,” Arizona State athletic director Graham Rossini said in a statement.

“We appreciate Dave’s belief in ASU and look forward to supporting him as we continue to build Sun Devil Hockey into one of the nation’s premier programs," he added.

Hakstol, 58, had two stints as an NHL head coach, leading the Philadelphia Flyers from 2015 to 2018 and the Seattle Kraken from their inaugural season in 2021 to 2024. He is in his second season as an assistant to coach Jared Bednar and leads the team’s power play.

Hakstol was the head coach at North Dakota for 11 seasons, leading his alma mater to the Frozen Four seven times. He’s also worked two stints as an assistant for the Toronto Maple Leafs and was head coach of the Sioux City Musketeers of the United States Hockey League from 1996-2000.

Arizona State has asked former Arizona State Supreme Court chief justice Scott Bales to lead an independent review of Mayich's collapse, requesting that it be completed by early December. Powers was placed on administrative leave last month.

“Our focus remains where it has been since August 20, on Matthew, and making sure what happened to him is fully understood and never happens to another player," the Mayich family's attorney, Rob Carey, said in a statement. "It seems more like a negotiated agreement than accountability, and so we believe Justice Bales’s investigation must continue with its full scope, gathering all digital evidence and covering everyone involved in that morning’s workout and in approving it, and its findings must be made public.

"Coach Powers’s departure should not limit his cooperation or anyone else’s, and the players who have spoken up must be protected. We wish Coach Hakstol, his staff, and the players a safe and successful season.”

The Avalanche hired Brett McLean as an assistant to replace Hakstol on Bednar’s staff.

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See AP’s full college sports coverage here

Oscar Belgal, 28, barely spoke during the brief court session. His injury from the shooting wasn't apparent on the video feed, but his lawyers say he needs surgery to remove a bullet lodged in the back of his neck.

Belgal, a native of the Dominican Republic, tried to say something to the judge about his living conditions at the jail, but his lawyer advised him against it and cut him off.

Karene Brown, of the Legal Aid Society, said Belgal has been on 24-hour lockdown at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn with no access to a phone to speak with his family.

She told Judge Dara Reid that she has asked Immigration and Customs Enforcement to move him from solitary confinement but it has so far not honored the request. Reid said she has no say in where he’s placed within the facility — the same jail holding former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

ICE officers confronted Belgal on Oct. 8 while he was trying to find a parking spot after picking his son up from school. The boy, age 5, was in the car when an ICE officer ran up and smashed one of the car windows.

In a court filing Wednesday, Belgal's lawyers said the ICE officer then fired several shots into the vehicle as Belgal attempted to drive away. The officers never identified themselves and wore masks and civilian clothes, the lawyers said.

Department of Homeland Security officials maintain the officers believed their lives were in danger and opened fire only after Belgal smashed his car into two government vehicles and accelerated toward them.

New York City police security camera footage released by the department last week shows some of the encounter but doesn’t conclusively show how the shooting happened.

Belgal’s next immigration court hearing is Oct. 29. His lawyers have also filed a petition in federal court seeking his release.

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Associated Press reporter Valerie Gonzalez in McAllen, Texas, contributed to this story.

The nation's largest retail trade group said Thursday that it expects American consumers will collectively spend $1.01 trillion this November and December, which would be 4.2% more than during the same months last year.

The increase reflects more than seasonal good cheer, according to economists. The National Retail Federation and other organizations that have issued holiday forecasts said they expected higher consumer prices to account for about half of the anticipated growth. Moreover, higher income shoppers will fuel a lot of the spending, retail experts say.

“We all acknowledge households continue to navigate persistent inflation and uneven confidence about the economy,” National Retail Federation President and CEO Matthew Shay told reporters on Thursday. “But throughout the year, consumers have repeatedly shown that holidays and spending on loved ones are priorities. We’re confident that pattern is going to continue through the 2026 winter holidays.”

Retailers rang up $972 billion in holiday sales last year, which was 3.1% more than the year before that, the trade group said.

At 4.2%, NRF's growth projection is above the actual gains from the last 20 years, which averaged 3.1% when excluding the outsized holiday spending of pandemic-era 2020 and 2021, according to Mark Mathews, the trade group's chief economist.

The forecast, which was not adjusted for inflation, is in line with most other holiday predictions so far. The outlooks illustrate an ongoing disconnect between the dismal consumer confidence that shows up in monthly surveys and Americans' willingness to keep spending.

The U.S. war with Iran has driven up gasoline prices for drivers and caused worries about all kinds of products getting more expensive as high diesel prices make transporting goods costlier for retailers.

The average price for regular gasoline rose to $4.33 per gallon Thursday, according to motor club AAA. Before the war began, gas cost less than $3 a gallon.

Experts say such higher pump prices will continue to squeeze lower-income shoppers, while higher-income shoppers buoyed by stock market gains will keep splurging on discretionary purchases.

“We’ve seen disruption after disruption kind of knock people off kilter, and then the consumer comes roaring back,” Bryan Eshelman, a partner and managing director at AlixPartners, said.

Instead of pulling back altogether, consumers are changing their shopping habits by trading down to lower-price brands and stores, shopping earlier and relying more on credit cards and buy now pay later plans, Eshelman said.

Holiday spending accounts for 19% of the U.S. retail industry's annual sales, even more for some types of retailers, according to NRF.

Economists look at the holiday results as a gauge for the state of the consumer beyond the holidays. Consumer spending is monitored closely because it drives about 70% of U.S. gross domestic product.

“It not only tells us about the current state of the consumer, (but) it helps inform expectations for the year ahead as well," Mastercard Economics Institute chief economist Michelle Meyer said. “It gives us a lot of incredible insights into how consumers are doing from a macro perspective.”

The institute, which tracks spending across all payment methods including cash, forecast a 5.5% increase in holiday sales from Nov. 1 through Dec. 24 compared to last year.

Although Mastercard estimated that half of the growth would come from higher prices instead of more sales, the institute still expects healthy spending by shoppers because of a decent U.S. job market, Meyer said.

“I guess they feel some sense of security because the jobless numbers are so low," she said.

AlixPartners expects holiday sales numbers for October, November and December to expand 4% to 7% over the same three months last year, the firm said.

Adobe expects U.S. online sales to hit $275 billion this holiday season, representing 6.7% growth. That growth is a tad smaller than last year’s 6.8% increase from the previous year, the firm said.

NRF derives its holiday forecast through modeling with economic indicators, including monthly retail sales, consumer spending, disposable personal income, employment, wages and inflation. The group's calculations exclude automobile dealers, gasoline stations and restaurants.

The Labor Department’s snapshot of inflation released Wednesday showed that U.S. inflation accelerated last month as gas prices went back up again and many other goods and services became more expensive. Higher prices are already starting to sap shopper spending.

The latest retail sales report from the Commerce Department, released Thursday, showed a solid 0.8% increase in September from the month before, but gasoline purchases made up a big chunk of the sales gain.

A slew of economic data Thursday showed that inflation accelerated last month as more expensive oil and gas began to lift prices in other parts of the economy, including shipping and warehousing, before the increases reach most Americans.

Wholesale food prices jumped, which could make groceries more expensive in the months ahead.

At the same time, consumers also ramped up their spending, according to data released Thursday. Though much of the increase reflected higher prices, consumer resilience is powering solid U.S. economic growth.

Workers are enjoying an unusual degree of job security despite scattered layoffs, which likely encourages spending despite surveys showing that many Americans have a gloomy economic outlook.

It all adds up to an economy in which people are spending money but don't feel good about it.

“Consumers may have gritted their teeth and looked through higher gas prices,” said Jim Baird, chief investment officer at Plante Moran Financial Advisors. “They're not happy, but they're still spending.”

Higher costs strain producers, the last stop before they reach consumers

A report Thursday on wholesale prices helps explain the gloom: The government's producer price index, which measures costs before they reach the consumer, jumped 6.3% in September from a year earlier, the biggest increase in nearly four years. On a monthly basis, prices soared 1.3% from August to September, powered by a 20% rise in gas prices.

Higher diesel prices have made shipping more expensive because long-haul trucks and freight trains rely on the fuel. Higher transportation costs may have helped push up food costs, which rose 1.2% from August to September, the biggest monthly gain since February. The wholesale price report followed the latest consumer price figures, released Wednesday, which showed inflation rising to 3.7% in September, far above the Federal Reserve's 2% target.

“The jolt to transportation prices affects every good in the economy, since inputs to manufacturing move to factories and goods at all stages of production move from producer to wholesaler to retailer by truck, train or rail,” wrote Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics. “This is how increases in energy prices ‘bleed through’ to prices of core goods.”

Farmers also rely on diesel to power most of their equipment, which could further push up food prices. Diesel prices averaged $6.32 a gallon nationwide Thursday, according to AAA, up from just $3.66 a year ago.

Despite those cost pressures, retail sales rose a solid 0.8% from August, more than economists had forecast. The increase was driven by a 6.4% jump in spending at gas stations, but consumers also spent elsewhere, including a healthy 1.1% rise at restaurants and bars.

Excluding gas, retail sales rose just 0.2% last month, with much of that also reflecting higher prices.

Economists say that as long as unemployment stays low and Americans continue working, spending will likely stay resilient. Hiring has been sluggish, but layoffs are also unusually low.

The US job market remains relatively strong

Another report Thursday showed that the number of people seeking unemployment benefits stayed below 200,000 last week, a historically low figure. Applications for unemployment aid are a proxy for layoffs.

“If the unemployment rate remains low, meaning consumers have a job, they will continue to spend, even if more cautiously and leaning increasingly on savings and credit,” Kathy Bostjancic, chief economist at Nationwide, said in an email.

Many economists worry, however, that as inflation stays high, it will steadily erode Americans' spending power and start to weigh on the economy. Weekly paychecks, adjusted for inflation, actually declined in September compared with a year ago for the first time since May.

And September hiring slowed to a disappointing 29,000 jobs from a revised 133,000 in August, according to the Labor Department early this month. The unemployment rate ticked higher to 4.2% from the previous month, which is still low. Yet economists had expected September payrolls to come in around 90,000.

Inflation may soon boost the cost of credit cards, mortgages and more

Stubbornly elevated inflation also means the Federal Reserve will likely raise its key interest rate in the coming months in an effort to slow spending and bring down inflation. When the Fed raises its rate, that can raise borrowing costs for mortgages, car loans, and credit cards over time.

According to minutes released from the most recent meeting, most Fed officials expect that another interest rate increase will likely be needed this year to combat inflation.

The Fed increased its key interest rate by a quarter-point to about 3.9% in September, its first increase in three years.

The increase defied President Donald Trump’s repeated calls for the Fed to cut rates and prompted the president to criticize the Fed’s rate-setting committee, though he still expressed support for Chairman Kevin Warsh, whom he appointed earlier this year.

The lawsuit comes after the Justice Department said California officials failed to meet a 48-hour deadline to review a password-protected thumb drive that contains a list of 20,000 names. The federal government says those are likely noncitizens who were sent ballots to participate in the Nov. 3 election, although the secretary of state said the administration has provided no evidence to support that claim. The state mails ballots to all registered voters.

The lawsuit follows a letter sent earlier this week by a top Justice Department official who threatened potential legal action if California didn't comply.

The federal government didn't specify where the 20,000 voters were concentrated, but the list was sent directly to Los Angeles County Registrar Dean Logan on Tuesday, his office confirmed in a statement. Logan is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

The county has roughly 6 million voters, roughly half of whom are registered Democrats, according to the secretary of state's office. Over 23 million people are registered statewide, and there are a handful of competitive congressional races in other California districts that could determine which party has control of the U.S. House for the final two years of President Donald Trump's term.

Expert says lawsuit could set stage for false election claims

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber said in a letter to the Justice Department that the federal government hasn't provided evidence to support its allegation that 20,000 names on the state's voter rolls are of noncitizens. She referenced an instance in which the federal government initially alleged nearly 16,000 possible noncitizens were listed on Nevada's voter rolls, but the state determined that all the people flagged were, in fact, U.S. citizens.

She also noted that voting is already underway in the state. Weber, a Democrat, said the Justice Department was “demanding unprecedented measures that threaten thousands of Californians’ right to vote, based on unverifiable information or methodology that you still fail to explain or provide.”

California's elections are in “full compliance” with federal law, she added.

David Becker, an election law expert who heads the Center for Election Innovation and Research, called the Justice Department’s lawsuit “fairly frivolous.”

“If they were seeking to work in good faith to clean up the voter list that they believed had issues, they would have done this months ago in a much different fashion,” Becker said. “However, it does raise questions as to whether or not the sole purpose of this is to set the stage for false claims about elections.”

List of alleged illegal voters delivered on a thumb drive

Logan said his office received the thumb drive along with a “hand written note providing a password” to access the list of alleged noncitizens on the voter rolls. He said he did not consider the thumb drive a secure device. The secretary of state’s office said the password was written “on a sticky note.”

Becker said most election officials’ cybersecurity protocols would not allow them to comply with the Justice Department's request as it was sent.

“Election offices do not just stick thumb drives into their technology, for very good reason,” he said.

The Justice Department's lawsuit says the federal government sought to “work collaboratively” with California to identify noncitizens registered to vote in the state, and “California made no serious effort to do so.”

“The United States thus seeks commonplace election relief when a ballot is called into question,” the lawsuit says. "This Court should enjoin California from presently tabulating vote by-mail ballots from likely noncitizens in the upcoming federal election until the voter’s citizenship status can be determined," the lawsuit says.

Weber, who is named in the lawsuit, suggested the federal government's outreach had not been collaborative.

She said that over the summer, the Department of Homeland Security claimed that California had 190,000 noncitizens on its voter rolls but refused to provide the methodology or data sources when the office asked for them.

In her letter Thursday, she called the recent demands “an emergency of the DOJ’s creation.”

Letters sent weeks before elections

The letter sent by acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter gave the state 48 hours to research the list of the 20,000 people it claims might not be citizens. For those whose citizenship cannot be independently verified, the state is to instruct local election officials to segregate their mail-in ballots until their immigration status can be determined, and to not provide a ballot to anyone who has not yet received one.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta said at an unrelated press conference Thursday morning that state officials would not carry out the federal government’s requests to withhold ballots for the alleged noncitizen voters. He noted that the administration's alleged number of noncitizens on the state's voter rolls had dropped from the 190,000 flagged over the summer by the Department of Homeland Security to the 20,000 noted by the Justice Department.

“What happened to those 170,000? They just got those wrong,” Bonta said.

He also said the Trump administration was violating a federal law that prohibits states from changing voter rolls within 90 days of an election.

“They are in unprecedented, baseless, lawless territory,” he said.

The Trump administration has made the hunt for noncitizen voters a priority this year, even though the problem is exceptionally rare. The Justice Department has charged about 90 people for various types of election misconduct so far this year, including 50 who are alleged to have voted as noncitizens. There were more than 227 million registered voters in the United States during the 2024 presidential election.

Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, defended the Justice Department’s move to take California to court.

“This is not political or controversial,” he wrote in a post on X. “We will not allow California to dilute the votes of American citizens.”

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Austin reported from Sacramento, Riddle from Los Angeles and Durkin Richer from Washington. Associated Press writer Ali Swenson in New York contributed.

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“He just kind of turned to me and said, ‘looks like you’re going to be the guy this week,’” second-stringer Tanner McKee said.

Up next, the conversation on why: Hurts was ruled out for Sunday’s game against Carolina because of a superficial blood clot in his calf, the latest and biggest name of sidelined Eagles already this season.

The Eagles said in a statement Thursday that Hurts was injured in an Oct. 4 game against the Los Angeles Rams when he took a cleat to his calf area.

“It was a very unique experience, to say the least," Hurts told reporters on Wednesday. "I don’t want to get into the details of kind of leading up to the game and whatnot. But got nicked up in the Rams game.”

Hurts practiced on Wednesday and Thursday last week and informed the medical staff of the injury following the Oct. 8 practice.

The Super Bowl 59 MVP also practiced on Friday last week before the team left for London to play against Jacksonville.

“Out of an abundance of caution, an ultrasound was performed on Saturday following the team’s flight to London and walkthrough," the Eagles said in a statement. “The ultrasound revealed a superficial blood clot. Our medical staff and doctors in London reviewed the results and concluded that activity and mobility were important and that Jalen could safely play. Doctors recommended a follow-up ultrasound within 72 hours of the game and the return flight to Philadelphia.”

Hurts completed 21 of 40 passes for 220 yards and one touchdown in a 19-17 loss to the Jaguars. The Eagles have lost three straight games under coach Nick Sirianni after an 0-2 start.

Hurts did not emerge from the tunnel in London until just before the coin toss.

“I was trying to rest,” he said, laughing.

Hurts received treatment Monday and Tuesday this week when he returned to Philadelphia and was a full participant in Wednesday's practice.

Hurts underwent another ultrasound on Wednesday that revealed a “movement in the small blood clot.”

That kind of blood clot Hurts has often form in a vein close to the surface of the skin but can be painful and need treatment.

The Eagles said in a statement they would determine the appropriate course of treatment. There was no timetable on when Hurts could return.

Hurts' absence opens the door for McKee

The Eagles will turn to the 26-year-old McKee against the Panthers.

McKee had been the primary backup each of the past two seasons but lost the job in training camp to veteran Andy Dalton. Dalton was released last Friday after he threw an interception into the end zone on his lone pass attempt of the season in a Week 3 loss at Chicago.

Hurts absorbed a late hit and was pulled off the field to be checked for a concussion in that game.

McKee has started two career games, both in Week 18 the past two years. The Eagles had already clinched their playoff seeds and rested Hurts. McKee, a sixth-round pick in the 2023 draft, has completed 54 of 88 passes for five touchdowns and one interception.

“Every opportunity that you get to play is a huge opportunity, especially being a sixth-round pick,” McKee said.

McKee has familiarity with the Eagles after four seasons, even though he's learning a new offense under first-year offensive coordinator Sean Mannion.

Hurts will be missed

Hurts has eight touchdowns and three interceptions with 933 yards passing this season for the Eagles. He's led the Eagles to two Super Bowl appearances and earned MVP honors after they beat the Kansas City Chiefs to win the championship in the 2024 season.

Hurts is in the midst of a five-year, $255 million extension, including $179.3 million guaranteed, with the Eagles that takes him through the 2028 season.

The Eagles stunned fans when they drafted Hurts out of Oklahoma in the second round in 2020. They seemingly had Carson Wentz entrenched at QB and had more pressing needs. Hurt was expected to serve as insurance for Wentz. Instead, he supplanted him and became one of the top young quarterbacks in the NFL.

Eagles injuries

Jordan Mailata had called last week a “week from hell” after the sudden retirement of fellow offensive lineman Lane Johnson and the trade of another O-line starter in Cam Jurgens to the Ravens.

“I might have jumped the gun on that one,” Mailata said with a laugh.

The Eagles have been banged up all season and hope running back Saquon Barkley (hamstring), No. 1 wide receiver DeVonta Smith (hamstring) can play Sunday.

Edge rusher Jonathan Greenard, linebacker Jalyx Hunt, defensive back Michael Carter, running back Will Shipley, and cornerback Quinyon Mitchell were all hurt against the Jaguars. Philadelphia had previously ruled out center Drew Kendall safety Marcus Epps and wide receiver WR Marquise Brown. Wide receiver Dontayvion Wicks (hamstring) missed practice Thursday.

“As much adversity as we've handled,” Mailata said, “it also has created so much opportunity for our young guys. That's what I keep focusing on.”

As crucial as their absences have been, playing without Hurts would sting the most.

The Eagles say they have no choice but to press on with McKee.

“We’ve been getting reps with him all year,” wide receiver Darius Cooper said. “It’s really not a drop-off.”

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See AP’s full NFL coverage here

Un incendio de rápida propagación en Malibú, una ciudad costera al oeste de Los Ángeles, provocó órdenes y avisos de evacuación para una amplia zona en las montañas de Santa Mónica. Podía verse una gran nube de humo negro sobre las cimas en cámaras cercanas y a kilómetros (millas) de distancia.

El fuego creció a unas 40 hectáreas (más de 100 acres) y amenazaba un centro de detención juvenil y de rehabilitación del condado Los Ángeles. El Servicio Meteorológico Nacional prevé un aumento de las ráfagas de viento durante la noche que podría intensificar las llamas.

Los bomberos trabajaban para contener otros dos incendios que se iniciaron por la tarde y activaron órdenes de evacuación en la ciudad de Azusa, al norte de Los Ángeles, y en Camp Pendleton, cerca de San Diego.

En el norte de California, casi 62.000 clientes en 26 condados en las estribaciones de la Sierra Nevada, la región vinícola y la Costa Central no tenían electricidad, según Pacific Gas and Electric Company, que comenzó a cortar el suministro de manera preventiva la noche del miércoles. Otros 65.000 clientes en los condados Los Ángeles, Kern y Ventura se quedaron sin electricidad el jueves, informó Southern California Edison.

Algunos de los peores incendios forestales en el estado han sido provocados por equipos eléctricos, y en los últimos años las empresas de servicios públicos han comenzado a cortar el suministro de manera preventiva durante el clima seco y ventoso en un esfuerzo por prevenir incendios.

Se esperaba que las condiciones meteorológicas que incrementan el riesgo de incendios se mantuvieran hasta el sábado.

Los vientos de Santa Ana azotan el sur de California

La alcaldesa de Los Ángeles, Karen Bass, quien enfrentó críticas por la respuesta de su ciudad a incendios mortales en 2025, indicó que ordenó al Departamento de Bomberos desplegar personal y equipo antes que lleguen los vientos. El Departamento de Bomberos también solicitó ayuda a la oficina estatal de servicios de emergencia, agregó.

“Es una situación bastante generalizada de condiciones meteorológicas de incendio elevadas, así que toda la región del sur de California realmente debería estar en alerta”, señaló Rose Schoenfeld, meteoróloga del Servicio Meteorológico Nacional.

Se esperan vientos secos, cálidos y con ráfagas del noreste conocidos como Santa Anas, que soplan desde el interior del sur de California hacia la costa y mar adentro, y se pronostica que los más fuertes se registren desde la tarde del jueves hasta la tarde del viernes.

Schoenfeld indicó que los vientos podrían alcanzar de 32 a 64 km/h (20 a 40 mph), con ráfagas de 80 a 113 km/h (50 a 70 mph), en las montañas de San Gabriel, en el condado Los Ángeles, y en las montañas de Santa Susana, que están mayormente en el condado Ventura. También se pronostican condiciones críticas elevadas, aunque breves, de clima propicio para incendios en partes de las montañas de Santa Lucia, en el condado San Luis Obispo.

Un incendio que comenzó el jueves en Azusa provocó órdenes de evacuación para un vecindario en las laderas de las montañas de San Gabriel que más tarde se rebajaron a advertencias. Unos 200 bomberos combatían el incendio de matorral impulsado por el viento, que quemó al menos más de 16 hectáreas (40 acres), dijo a KTLA-TV Jonathan Torres, portavoz del Departamento de Bomberos del condado Los Ángeles. El avance de las llamas se había detenido a media tarde.

Más al sur, un incendio en Camp Pendleton amenazó edificios. Se emitieron órdenes de evacuación en el área de Las Flores de la base militar, que se levantaron por la noche, explicaron funcionarios militares en un comunicado.

Cuadrillas del Departamento de Bomberos de Camp Pendleton y del Departamento Forestal y de Prevención de Incendios de California combatían el fuego, que había crecido a 3,8 kilómetros cuadrados (más de 1,5 millas cuadradas), causando columnas de humo en el cielo. Las autoridades cerraron temporalmente una parte de la cercana Interestatal 5, una carretera clave que recorre California de norte a sur.

El incendio amenazó infraestructura y provocó un apagón en la zona de Las Pulgas, donde comenzó el incendio, de acuerdo con los oficiales.

Cortes de electricidad generalizados en el norte de California

El Servicio Meteorológico Nacional reportó que algunas comunidades en la Sierra Nevada y sus estribaciones comenzaron a registrar vientos fuertes, altas temperaturas y baja humedad a partir de la noche del miércoles.

El servicio emitió una Alerta de Bandera Roja para partes del centro y norte de California que comienza el jueves y se extiende hasta la mañana del viernes, y advirtió que cualquier incendio se propagará rápidamente. Estas alertas se emiten cuando las condiciones meteorológicas generan un mayor riesgo de incendios forestales.

Pacific Gas and Electric Company informó el jueves que notificó a 90.000 clientes en 29 condados que podrían perder el suministro eléctrico.

La empresa indicó que la posible interrupción del servicio para clientes desde la Costa Central hasta los rincones superiores de la Sierra Nevada podría prolongarse hasta la tarde del sábado.

Se espera calor y viento hasta el fin de semana

En el sur de California, la Alerta de Bandera Roja para las zonas montañosas de los condados Ventura y Los Ángeles estará vigente hasta la noche del viernes.

En enero de 2025, el incendio de Palisades — avivado por los vientos de Santa Ana — arrasó un vecindario en una ladera de Los Ángeles, mató a 12 personas y destruyó mansiones con espectaculares vistas al océano. Las autoridades determinaron que el incendio de Palisades fue una reactivación de otro incendio que, alegaron, fue provocado intencionalmente por un hombre de 29 años.

Otro incendio que ardió al mismo tiempo en la ciudad de Altadena, en el condado Los Ángeles, mató a 19 personas y destruyó más de 9.400 viviendas y negocios. Ese incendio fue causado por chispas de una torre de transmisión inactiva propiedad de Southern California Edison, indicaron autoridades.

Schoenfeld explicó que los vientos de Santa Ana no serán tan fuertes como durante esos incendios, cuando las ráfagas alcanzaban entre 96 a 160 km/h (60 y 100 mph).

Southern California Edison está considerando cortes por seguridad pública que podrían afectar a 207.000 clientes, y la mayoría de ellos —105.000 — se encuentran en el condado Ventura, justo al norte de Los Ángeles.

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Ding informó desde Los Ángeles.

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

Es probable que El Niño modifique los patrones meteorológicos para provocar más humedad, pero con temperaturas más altas. Eso debería ayudar a borrar la persistente sequía del oeste, pero probablemente no hará felices a los amantes de la nieve en el norte del país, informó el jueves la Oficina Nacional de Administración Oceánica y Atmosférica (NOAA, por sus siglas en inglés).

Aunque el servicio meteorológico no hace pronósticos estacionales de nevadas, sus meteorólogos indicaron que gran parte de las zonas del norte del país —incluidos el Noreste, la región de los Grandes Lagos, la parte superior de la región centro-norte y las Montañas Rocosas del Norte— debería esperar menos nieve de lo normal, mientras que las Rocosas del Sur, partes del sureste y el suroeste podrían recibir más de la habitual.

Empresas privadas de meteorología también pronostican la reducción de nieve en el norte, y Salt Lake City es la única gran área metropolitana donde AccuWeather prevé acumulaciones de nieve invernales por encima de lo normal. De acuerdo con la firma, se pronostica que Chicago, Boston, Nueva York y Filadelfia recibirán aproximadamente la mitad o menos de su nieve invernal normal.

¿Y el temido vórtice polar, con su gélida ráfaga de aire ártico que escapa hacia Estados Unidos? Eso no debería ocurrir en la misma medida que en la mayoría de los inviernos, pero eso no significa que no vaya a ocurrir en absoluto, explicó Jon Gottschalck, meteorólogo del Servicio Meteorológico Nacional y jefe de rama.

“El Niño puede favorecer un invierno más templado que el promedio en el norte de Estados Unidos, pero, escuchen, incluso en los meses de invierno, eso no significa que no vaya a haber nieve. No significa que no pueda haber una tormenta de nieve. Así que no elimina el riesgo”, afirmó el director del Servicio Meteorológico Nacional, Ken Graham, en una sesión informativa con medios en la que presentó el pronóstico invernal de tres meses.

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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 company's chatbot model, ChatGPT, is giving dangerous medical advice, encouraging paranoia and coaching people to commit suicide or hurt or kill others, the lawsuits said.

At the same time, the lawsuits contend that chatbots are pretending to be agreeable and compassionate while preying on the vulnerable and on teenagers, the first generation to grow up with artificial intelligence.

“OpenAI is hurting kids and they are lying to Iowans,” Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird said in a statement.

The states also accused OpenAI of giving life to rogue AI models — or "cyberhacking agents" as one lawsuit called them — that hacked into other companies, lied to human users and wrote themselves new mission instructions.

In a statement, San Francisco-based OpenAI said it has built safety protections into ChatGPT for children, and that it would continue to do so to improve the model. It also said it is reviewing what it calls “misaligned models” and that it had found nothing close to the rogue incident discovered in July when an AI agent hacked into another AI company.

States join together in lawsuits

The wave of lawsuits is the latest filed by states under their consumer protection laws, accusing tech giants that offer AI chatbots and social media platforms of harming children. The states that filed separate lawsuits Wednesday in state courts are Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska and West Virginia.

Matthew Bergman, the founding attorney of the Social Media Victims Law Center, called the lawsuits “the most significant coordinated state action ever taken against an artificial intelligence company.”

In its lawsuit, Arizona said ChatGPT encourages teens to share personal information with it and, at times, discourages them from sharing that information with parents, authorities or friends.

The states say that the risks and harms — to teenagers and to the broader public from rogue agents — were foreseeable, but that OpenAI has misled people into thinking that ChatGPT undergoes adequate safety testing while the company undermines safety in the pursuit of profit.

“Those revenues have come at great cost to the public, which has suffered irreparable harm — including lost loved ones, disturbing cyberattacks, and now a plausible threat of civilizational collapse — due to (OpenAI's) reckless behavior and ChatGPT’s uniquely dangerous features and content," Idaho wrote in its lawsuit.

ChatGPT is the most popular chatbot in the world, commanding nearly half the American marketplace, states said in their lawsuits.

The AI landscape is evolving

It's possible all of the allegations in the states' lengthy lawsuits date to incidents and findings before August, when OpenAI introduced a version of ChatGPT designed for teenagers, with stronger protections around subjects like suicide and sexual chats.

Still, the states said it is far from clear that the current version is any less dangerous.

A watchdog group, Common Sense Media, said last week that some of OpenAI’s protections in its ChatGPT for Teens product don’t work as intended and it urged OpenAI to restrict the chatbot to adults until it can offer a safe product for teens.

Coordinated, multistate lawsuits against the tech industry have borne fruit.

In August, Meta agreed to add stronger child-safety measures to its Facebook and Instagram platforms in an $18 billion landmark legal settlement that ended a trial over teen social media addiction and settled claims filed by nearly every state.

Although the safety measures that Meta agreed to adopt did not apply industrywide, the company quickly urged its competitors to adopt similar measures.

OpenAI is making a similar appeal.

OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri said the company is committed to working with states on "advancing pragmatic AI policies that apply to the entire AI industry — not just one company.”

OpenAI also said it works with external experts who review its policies and ChatGPT's behavior.

ChatGPT is intended for users age 13 and older, and users under 18 need permission from a parent or guardian to use it, OpenAI said. The chatbot model for teens is designed to reduce exposure to self-harm, violence, eating disorders and explicit sexual or graphic content, it said.

Nearly nine in 10 teens who use ChatGPT use it for learning, information, skill-building or productivity, the company said. On average, teens spend under 15 minutes a day on ChatGPT, it said.

But Laura Zimmerman, Common Sense Media's director of youth AI research, questioned the value of OpenAI's statistics.

For one thing, ChatGPT can do a student's homework in seconds, so even 15 minutes can have a big impact on a teenager's development, Zimmerman said. She also questioned whether OpenAI knows which users are teenagers or children, given that her organization's testing found that ChatGPT couldn't or didn't detect which user is a child.

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

This is the first documented instance of barn owls nesting in Manhattan in modern history, according to one expert, and the owls have attracted nightly crowds of people in the street eager to get a glimpse of the elusive birds.

“It was, like, totally shocking,” Andrew Farnsworth, a migration ecologist at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, said of the barn owls. “To the best of our knowledge, like the collective birding knowledge, there hasn’t been a nest in, you know, in Manhattan, at least in recorded history.”

Word of the barn owl family didn't get around until last week, when Elisabeth Williams, an Upper West Side resident, notified a local news outlet on Oct. 6 that she and her husband saw multiple owls at the water tower atop a building on West 75th Street close to Central Park West.

The couple had previously seen a single owl on an apartment windowsill a few days earlier and were shocked even then, Williams recalled.

“In a place like Manhattan, you normally really have to go out of your way to encounter nature,” she said. “And here it was, just sort of right outside our window.”

Barn owl sightings are rare in New York City

It's not the first time that birds have captivated New Yorkers. Residents have fallen in love with American woodcocks, who are known to stop in Midtown Manhattan’s Bryant Park every year as they migrate north in early spring. After Flaco the Eurasian eagle-owl died in 2024, dozens of mournful fans gathered to say goodbye to the beloved creature who flew around Manhattan and became a joy to many after someone let him out of his zoo enclosure the previous year. Then there was Pale Male, a red-tailed hawk who nested above Fifth Avenue for three decades before dying in 2023.

But barn owl sightings in New York City parks are very rare, according to the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. New York is at the northern fringe of the barn owl's range and the barn owl population has declined “at an alarming rate” over time, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

“There’s lots of excitement among New Yorkers, both birders and non-birders alike, about these owls because owls really capture the attention,” said Jessica Wilson, executive director of NYC Bird Alliance. “They’re magical, they’re nocturnal, they are secretive, they’re not commonly seen, especially on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. And to have this chance to see these birds is really thrilling.”

Photographers and casual onlookers have gathered on the street on a nightly basis to spot the owls.

“I’ve only seen one barn owl ever, and that was in California,” said Val Coleman, a retired New York City resident who was on the Upper West Side earlier this week trying to spot the owls. “At dusk, we hope they will come out to hunt. We hope they don’t eat poisoned rats with rodenticide in ’em.”

David Barrett, a Manhattan-based birder who runs the popular social media account, Manhattan Bird Alert, said he’s observed at least one adult barn owl and five fledglings at the water tower. He’s also seen an adult owl carrying rodents back to the water tower. There are believed to be two adult owls, and some photographers have claimed to have seen six fledglings, Barrett added.

“Having one barn owl is a rarity, but it’s not national news. Having a family, for the first time ever, breeding in Manhattan in recorded history, that’s special news,” Barrett said.

Screeching was heard by residents

Before the recent barn owl sightings, Williams and her husband heard periodic screeching noises outside going back to early September. They initially assumed it was a bird of some kind but were skeptical when a phone app indicated the noise was from a barn owl.

Thomas Obersteiner said that he first heard bizarre screeching and wailing noises from outside one evening in mid-September. It sounded like someone was “being murdered outside,” he said.

“That lasted for two or three weeks, every night, sometimes more, sometimes less, coming from different directions,” Obersteiner added. “But I had no idea what that was.”

On multiple occasions, Obersteiner or his wife ran into their children's bedroom after mistaking the owls' screech for a child in pain, he said. It wasn't until he saw a news report that he realized that owls were making the sounds.

Farnsworth said the screech is typical of barn owls, who use it to communicate with one another. The screech is like a “horror movie kind of experience,” he said.

Obersteiner, who said his roof deck is “probably the best location in town right now” to watch the owls, has been letting nature photographers access that perch to observe the owls “almost every night” since news of the barn owls spread. On one night last week, 20 people had gathered.

“We can’t say no because it’s so much fun and these people are so serious,” Obersteiner added. “It's beautiful.”

Williams and her husband were not bird watchers before the barn owl family moved in to the water tower. But that may change soon after their “delightful” experience.

“I think we’re about to become birders,” Williams said.

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Kelety reported from Phoenix.

The California Business and Consumer Services Agency and the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation want to speed the release of insurance proceeds lenders hold before distributing them to homeowners.

DFPI has received more than 160 complaints about payment delays or other issues since January 2025. Lenders have two weeks to submit their reports.

“It’s unacceptable that after running through a gauntlet of paperwork to file insurance claims, some wildfire survivors still have not gotten access to the funds they need to rebuild,” said Rohit Chopra, secretary of the Business and Consumer Services Agency.

The Palisades and Eaton fires destroyed more than 16,000 homes and other structures as they tore through residential neighborhoods in and around Los Angeles. Very few of those homes have been rebuilt.

The California Mortgage Bankers Association said it would alert members to the state’s reporting requirements and encourage them to evaluate whether they can process payments more efficiently.

“We will continue working with our members, the Governor’s Office, and regulators to help survivors receive their insurance proceeds without unnecessary delay,” CEO Paul Gigliotti said in a statement.

In July, Gov. Gavin Newsom wrote to bankers’ associations and credit unions, saying homeowners rebuilding after fires reported that lenders sometimes held on to payouts for weeks before releasing them. He ordered the state to collect data on lenders that take longer than 10 days to distribute insurance proceeds and fail to develop a plan to speed payments.

Last year, he signed a law requiring banks and credit unions to pay homeowners interest on insurance payments they hold.

Newsom called Thursday's action a crucial step in support of families and business owners as they rebuild.

"The last thing survivors need is unnecessary red tape, delays, and barriers standing between them and the relief they deserve,” he said in a statement.

Questions about who should pay for the financial costs of California’s wildfires have persisted throughout Newsom’s nearly eight years as governor. He took office in 2019, months after the deadliest and most destructive fire in state history, which state fire officials found was sparked by Pacific Gas & Electric power lines. In his final legislative session as governor, he pushed a plan that would have required home insurers to bear more of the cost. But the deal fell apart when lawmakers couldn’t agree on a solution.

Joy Chen, executive director of Every Fire Survivor’s Network, a nonprofit led by survivors of the 2025 Los Angeles-area fires, said lenders must release money promptly to homeowners during rebuilding.

“Every day that they wait to pay us, they're collecting interest," she said. “And that interest really belongs to us.”

Lenders release insurance payouts in batches at various stages of rebuilding. However, lender disagreements with contractors over how much work is complete have delayed payments, Chen said.

Those delays have serious consequences for fire victims, said Annie Barbour, a recovery coordinator with United Policyholders, a nonprofit that advocates for insurance consumers.

“The longer they're out of their home, the longer they have emotional turmoil,” Barbour said.

A necropsy and additional testing found that the primary underlying cause of Jackie's death in August was highly pathogenic avian influenza, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said Wednesday in a news release.

In the weeks before she died, Jackie was being treated at the Ojai Raptor Center for various ailments, including anemia. Chris Eksteen, the center's director, said in the news release that the necropsy results “have helped connect many of the findings” they saw during her hospitalization.

“In an uncommon presentation of the virus, the infection caused a severe ulcer in her stomach that led to persistent internal bleeding, anemia, and the development of bacterial sepsis," Steve Kubiski, the disease investigations director at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, where the necropsy was conducted, said in the news release.

For more than a decade, nature lovers watched via an online video feed as Jackie and her partner, Shadow, tended to their nest each year atop trees near Big Bear Lake in the San Bernardino Mountains east of Los Angeles. There's no evidence Shadow is ill, according to the news release.

The nonprofit Friends of Big Bear Valley installed the nest camera in 2015 and documented the successes and failures of each breeding season.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza has been circulating in bird populations throughout the U.S. While waterfowl and shorebirds are natural hosts for bird flu viruses, eagles and other raptors can be exposed through contact with infected birds or by eating them, according to the news release.

Jackie's remains were cremated to prevent transmission of the virus, it said.

American bald eagles teetered on the brink of extinction until the pesticide DDT was banned in the 1970s and other protections were established, leading the species to rebound and be removed from the federal endangered list.

Eight players from the Southeastern Conference and seven each from the Atlantic Coast Conference and Big Ten are on the first team, as determined by a panel of media members who vote each week in the AP Top 25.

Nine players who were on the AP preseason All-America first team also were voted to the midseason first team. Four other preseason first-team picks are on the second team.

Mensah, who played at Duke last year and at Tulane in 2024, has averaged 10.8 yards per pass attempt and completed 84.2% while leading unbeaten Miami to a No. 3 ranking. That's the best accuracy rate since at least 2000 among quarterbacks who had at least 130 passing attempts through a Week 6, according to Sportradar. Mensah has 15 touchdown passes and no interceptions.

Mensah's teammate, Malachi Toney, is part of a star-studded cast of receivers. The others are Ohio State's Jeremiah Smith and Oregon State freshman Jesse Legree, who leads the nation with 155.3 yards per game and 12 touchdowns.

UCLA's three first-team picks are all-purpose player Wayne Knight, linebacker Sammy Omosigho and defensive back Ta’Shawn James.

A total of 21 schools are represented on the first team.

First team — Offense

Quarterback — Darian Mensah, fourth year, Miami.

Running backs — Jamal Roberts, fourth year, Missouri; Nate Sheppard, second year, Duke.

Tackles — x-Trevor Goosby, fourth year, Texas; x-Carter Smith, fifth year, Indiana.

Guards — x-Kade Pieper, fourth year, Iowa; x-Shadre Hurst, fifth year, Houston.

Center — Anthony Boswell, third year, Houston.

Tight end — Luke Reynolds, third year, Virginia Tech.

Wide receivers — x-Jeremiah Smith, third year, Ohio State; x-Malachi Toney, second year, Miami; Jesse Legree, first year, Oregon State.

All-purpose player — x-Wayne Knight, fifth year, UCLA.

Kicker — Sam Keltner, third year, Oklahoma State.

First team — Defense

Edge rushers — x-Colin Simmons, third year, Texas; Princewill Umanmielen, fourth year, LSU.

Interior linemen — Xavier Gilliam, third year, Tennessee; Xavier Lewis, second year, North Carolina.

Linebackers — Sammy Omosigho, fourth year, UCLA; Chris Cole, third year, Georgia; Nicholas Rodriguez, third year, Missouri.

Cornerbacks — x-Leonard Moore, third year, Notre Dame; Ashton Hampton, third year, Clemson.

Safeties — Kingston Lopa, third year, California; Robert Fitzgerald, fifth year, Northwestern.

Defensive back — Ta’Shawn James, fourth year, UCLA.

Punter — Tyler White, fourth year, Texas A&M.

Second team — Offense

Quarterback — Gunner Stockton, fifth year, Georgia.

Running backs — Jadan Baugh, third year, Florida; Dylan Riley, third year, Boise State.

Tackles — Monroe Mills, seventh year, Virginia; Cayden Green, fourth year, Missouri.

Guards — Greg Johnson, fourth year, Minnesota; x-Evan Tengesdahl, fourth year, Cincinnati.

Center — Drew Bobo, fifth season, Georgia.

Tight end — Patrick Overmyer, fourth year, Houston.

Wide receivers — KJ Duff, third year, Rutgers; Carlos Hernandez, fourth year, Wake Forest; Anthony Evans III, fourth year, Mississippi State.

All-purpose player — Aiden Flora, third year, Iowa State.

Kicker — David Olano, fifth year, Texas A&M.

Second team — Defense

Edge rushers — Daeden Hopkins, second year, Missouri; Boubacar Traore, fourth year, Notre Dame.

Interior linemen — A.J. Holmes Jr., fifth year, Texas Tech; Will Echoles, third year, Mississippi.

Linebackers — x-Rasheem Biles, fourth year, Texas; Tony Rojas, fourth year, Penn State; EJ Smith, fourth year, Nevada.

Cornerbacks — Jett Jefferson, fourth year, Mississippi State; x-Ellis Robinson IV, third year, Georgia.

Safeties — CJ Heard, third year, Vanderbilt; x-KJ Bolden, third year, Georgia.

Defensive back — Ty Benefield, fourth year, LSU.

Punter — Will Karoll, fourth year, Texas Tech.

(x-denotes AP preseason All-America first-team pick)

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In a filing this week, they asked a Florida court to compel the president to appear in the $10 billion case after they say he canceled an agreed-upon date this week, citing “matters of national importance.”

“Two months of discovery remaining, the BBC still has not been able to depose, and does not even have a schedule to depose, the most central figure in this case: Plaintiff himself," attorney Charles D. Tobin wrote in the filing. “Those delays have flouted the cooperative spirit of discovery and precluded the BBC from obtaining the evidence necessary to robustly litigate its defense.”

Trump, who has a history of avoiding depositions, filed the lawsuit against the BBC last December, seeking $10 billion in damages as he accused the British broadcaster of defamation as well as deceptive and unfair trade practices related to a documentary, “Trump: A Second Chance.”

Britain’s publicly funded national broadcaster admitted filmmakers spliced together quotes from different sections of the speech Trump delivered to his supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, before the storming of the U.S. Capitol, to make it seem like he was directly urging violence.

The 33-page lawsuit accused the BBC of broadcasting a “false, defamatory, deceptive, disparaging, inflammatory, and malicious depiction of President Trump,” calling it “a brazen attempt to interfere in and influence” the 2024 U.S. presidential election.

The broadcaster apologized to Trump over the edit and the head of the BBC and the British broadcaster’s top news executive both resigned. But the broadcaster has denied Trump's claims that it defamed him.

In the filing this week, BBC lawyers said that they first requested dates for the deposition in July, and followed up repeatedly. Both sides, they said, eventually agreed on Oct. 16.

However, after weeks of silence, they wrote, “Plaintiff’s counsel responded on September 28, 2026, indicating that ‘the President is no longer available for his deposition on October 16 due to other matters of national importance’ and that counsel would ‘endeavor to provide you with a replacement date by the end of this week.’ He did not.”

Instead, they said, they were told last week that Trump “has no availability whatsoever for a deposition" before discovery is set to close on Dec. 18. and were told that Trump would instead make himself available the second or third week of January.

In a statement in response to the filing, a spokesperson for Trump’s legal team did not address the reasons for Trump's delay, but repeated its allegations against the BBC and said the president was holding the broadcaster “accountable for its defamation and reckless election interference just as he has held other fake news mainstream media responsible for their wrongdoing.”

Trump voluntarily dropped a $500 million lawsuit he filed against his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen in 2023, days before he was set to give a deposition in that suit.

El Niño is likely to shift weather patterns to bring more moisture, but with it higher temperatures. That should help erase persistent Western drought, but it won't likely make Northern snow-lovers happy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Thursday.

“This is going to be a winter that’s really difficult for them to find what they’re looking for,” said James Belanger, vice president of meteorology for the Weather Company.

El Niño, the natural but temporary warming in parts of the Pacific, generally warms the globe. Although it disrupts weather conditions around the world in dramatically different ways, its effects tend to follow predictable regional patterns, especially when El Niño is strong like it is right now. That gives forecasters greater confidence in what lies ahead.

All this is on top of a U.S. winter that has warmed about 4 degrees (2.2 degrees Celsius) in the past 50 years, predominantly from human-caused climate change, according to NOAA.

The best chance of snow could actually shift south

While the weather service doesn't make seasonal snowfall predictions, their meteorologists said much of the northern parts of the country — including the Northeast, Great Lakes, Upper Midwest and Northern Rockies — should expect below-normal snow. The Southern Rockies, parts of the Southeast and Southwest may get more than they usually do.

“Listen, even in the winter months, it doesn’t mean you’re not going to have snow. It doesn’t mean you might not have a snowstorm,” National Weather Service Director Ken Graham said in a media briefing presenting the three-month winter outlook. “So it doesn’t erase the risk.”

The Northern snow shrinkage is also predicted by private meteorology firms. Salt Lake City is the only big metro area where AccuWeather expects above-normal winter snow amounts. Chicago, Boston, New York and Philadelphia are forecast to get about half or less of their normal winter snow, the firm said.

And a White Christmas? Consider a plane ride to the Southern Rockies, Belanger said. Otherwise, “Santa’s gonna find a barren landscape when he returns in late December.”

A warmer winter can still pack a punch

Part or all of 41 of the Lower 48 states are forecast to be warmer than normal. No states — or even parts of states — are forecast to be cooler than average. Florida, Louisiana, southern Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi are forecast to be near normal. There's equal chance of warm, cold or normal in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Southern California, Nevada, Wyoming, western Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska.

And the dreaded polar vortex with its icy blast of Arctic air escaping into the United States? That shouldn't happen as much as most winters, but that doesn't mean it won't happen at all, said National Weather Service meteorologist and branch chief Jon Gottschalck.

“It only takes one storm to flip the script, especially for the East Coast cities,” said AccuWeather lead long-range forecaster Paul Pastelok, who said to especially watch for Eastern snowstorms in late January and February.

AccuWeather is more bullish than NOAA for snow in the Rockies regions, calling for Denver to have 10 to 18 days with at least 2 inches (5 centimeters) of snow, which is more than the historical average of 9 inches (23 centimeters). The company's overall snow forecast for Denver is still around average, but considerably more than last winter.

Drought relief comes with a downside

NOAA is forecasting that parts of all of 39 states will see a wetter-than-usual winter, with much of Montana and parts of Oregon, Idaho, Wisconsin and Michigan being drier.

“We anticipate drought conditions to improve or end for western portions of Oregon and western Washington state, the Southwest, the central and southern Rockies, the southern Great Plains, the lower Mississippi Valley, and areas in the East,” Gottschalck said.

Mike Bettes, a meteorologist at The Weather Channel, said it will likely be too much rain for California: “We'd anticipate numerous, high-impact atmospheric rivers that could bring extensive flooding and landslides this winter.”

Atmospheric rivers are long and relatively narrow bands of water vapor. They take water from oceans and flow through the sky, dumping rain in prodigious amounts.

Florida and parts of the Southeast should also be on guard for more tornadoes this winter and early spring because of El Niño, Gottschalck said.

A record El Niño puts forecasters in uncharted territory

Forecasters across the globe expect the current El Niño to reach record levels this fall or winter. Graham, the weather service chief, noted that a strong El Niño doesn't mean its impacts are stronger, but it does make the weather easier to predict.

Winter weather expert Judah Cohen, an MIT research scientist, is waiting a couple more weeks before making his forecast. He says an unprecedented El Niño is “a reason not be more confident, but less confident.”

“We have no real historical analog or precedent,” Cohen said. “When every meteorologist on the planet is on the same side, I get nervous. We’re not that good.”

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A week after Rahm's attorney told the court his client would not play on the beleaguered tour in 2027, the agreement was filed Wednesday and is scheduled for a judge's approval Nov. 5.

The agreement says Rahm owes no further service or performance obligations under any contract, is not bound by league regulations or team rules and policies and may join or contract with any tour, league, or sponsor without notice to or consent from LIV. The Spaniard also was granted his name, image and likeness rights under the agreement.

Rahm is scheduled to play his first event following his LIV departure Nov. 5-8 at the Abu Dhabi Championship in the United Arab Emirates.

When LIV filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last month, court files showed Rahm was owed $7.5 million. Rahm had said in May he had several years left on his contract. His signing bonus, never confirmed, was reported to be in the $300 million range. The separation agreement did not mention monetary compensation.

Rahm, a Masters and U.S. Open champion and the last player to be No. 1 in the world before Scottie Scheffler, was among the biggest and most stunning acquisitions by LIV Golf at the end of 2023 when he was the reigning Masters champion.

The PGA Tour has said it would not hold conversations with any LIV player still legally under contract. PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp brought back five-time major champion Brooks Koepka with heavy financial stipulations at the start of this year, after Koepka negotiated an end to his LIV contract. Rolapp offered the deal to three other major champions, including Rahm, giving them a two-week deadline to decide. None took the offer.

Two months later, the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia said it would no longer bankroll the rival league after the 2026 season.

Rahm was the individual points champion each of the last three years, when the prize money was $20 million for individual competition and bonuses were awarded for the points race. His total earnings from LIV over the last three years topped $100 million.

The PGA Tour typically bans players for one year after their last LIV event, though it made an exception for Koepka. Bryson DeChambeau, among those who filed an antitrust lawsuit against the tour when LIV began, has not indicated any desire to return.

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Orlando police announced the arrest Wednesday of Dale Smith Jr., 55, on a charge of second-degree murder. The body of 33-year-old Michelle Parker has not been recovered, but all evidence leads to Smith as the person responsible for her death, police said.

Smith's attorney, Rajan Joshi, said during a hearing Thursday afternoon that he didn't believe the state could meet its burden of proof to convict Smith based on the information presented in the criminal complaint. A judge ordered Smith to be held without bond pending a detention hearing, which wasn't immediately scheduled.

Joshi said later Thursday during a phone interview that the prosecution's case has many challenges that he plans to explore. The defense attorney said the investigation focused almost exclusively on Smith from the beginning and ignored other potential leads.

“Michelle Parker worked at a bar. She was a very attractive young lady,” Joshi said. “They (police) did not go out and investigate other possibilities that could have happened to her. This is one of those cases where they go and they immediately target the usual suspect, which is the ex.”

Orlando Police Chief Eric Smith, who is not related to Smith, said during the news conference on Wednesday that the case never stopped being a priority. Smith was the last known person to see or hear from Parker before she went missing on Nov. 17, 2011, when she dropped their children off at his home, the chief said.

“Over the past year, we expanded our investigative team looking into this case and took a fresh, focused look at all the evidence,” the police chief said. “We reexamined testimony and conflicting statements made by the suspect and used advances in digital forensics to uncover and analyze additional evidence.”

Police gave few details about what evidence they had against Smith, but Detective Phillip McMican confirmed that police had collected new evidence in the past year, as well as new insights into old evidence thanks to technological advancements.

“Vehicles, electronic devices, phones, computers — we’re able to better interpret that evidence today than what we were able to do back in 2011,” McMican said.

Police continue to search for Parker's body. Her vehicle was found abandoned a day after her disappearance, and her cellphone was later recovered from an Orlando-area lake.

Investigators have not publicly stated a motive for Parker’s murder.

On the day of Parker's disappearance, an episode of “The People's Court” featuring her and Smith was broadcast. Smith had sued Parker, claiming that a $5,000 engagement ring that he bought for her was lost when she threw it at him during an argument. Judge Marilyn Milian ultimately ruled that both parties were responsible for the ring's loss and ordered Parker to pay $2,500 to Smith for half of it.

A renovation is planned for the Philharmonie, its home since 1963, and is likely to displace the orchestra from 2032-40.

“It’s a huge challenge to have a different stage for us because the Philharmonie has this unique sound,” Petrenko, the orchestra's chief conductor, said during a recent Zoom news conference ahead of four U.S. concerts and its first South American tour in a quarter century. “It’s really a very difficult time.”

The Berlin Philharmonic, which is among the world's top orchestras, plays in a 2,410-seat capacity main hall designed by Hans Scharoun with terraced seating.

The orchestra is formulating plans for a temporary facility in hangars at Tempelhof Airport, which closed in 2008. The cost of the renovation and makeshift hall are estimated at 1.15 billion euros (currently $1.28 billion), and the German federal government has pledged 225 million euros ($251 million).

Plans are to relocate from the Philharmonie after celebrating the orchestra's 150th anniversary during the first half of 2032.

“First of all, we need to find the venue and build the right acoustic for us, for our big orchestra,” Petrenko said. “It will be quite a challenge in Berlin, but yes, we are already in negotiations and I think very soon we will have a sort of, a preliminary result.”

Just 5 chief conductors in 7 decades

Petrenko became chief conductor for the 2019-20 season, following Wilhelm Furtwängler, Herbert von Karajan, Claudio Abbado and Simon Rattle.

Berlin opened Carnegie Hall's season last week, its 26th U.S. visit since 1955 and its third with the 54-year-old Petrenko, who has an evergreen contract rather than a fixed term. The orchestra then headed to South America for the first time since 2000 for performances in Bogotá, Colombia, São Paulo, and Buenos Aires, Argentina, that run through Oct. 23.

With more than 45,000 active subscribers to its Digital Concert Hall, Berlin has a worldwide audience.

Unlike the Vienna Philharmonic, which has no music director and engages only guest conductors, Berlin is led by a single musician with a distinct personality.

“Each of our chief conductors left something behind, which formed the orchestra,” said Andrea Zietzschmann, the general manager since 2017. “After Karajan, Claudio Abbado had much more the — his attitude was: `I’m one of you. I am one of the orchestra and we all play together.' ... And then Simon Rattle came and he had a very different approach. He came more from the percussion and not from melodies and he gave the orchestra completely different input. He had much more repertoire from early Baroque until modern music.”

Like Abbado and Rattle, Petrenko conducts in the shadow of Karajan, who headed the orchestra from 1955-89 and left a legacy of recordings that in many cases remain regarded as top choices. Petrenko said, “I don’t feel any fear” about comparisons with Karajan.

“Of course, I feel this tradition every time I come into my conducting room, which was also the conductor’s room of Herbert von Karajan. I see the chair where he was sitting,” Petrenko said. “Of course, I still study the orchestra parts being played by Karajan. I learned his bowings. I learned his dynamic, but then I decide how it should sound today.”

Petrenko has spent much of his career in Germany and Austria

Born in 1972 in Omsk, Russia, which was then part of the Soviet Union, Petrenko moved with his family to Austria when he was 18. He conducted at the Vienna Volksoper from 1997-99, then served as music director of Germany’s Meininger State Theater (1999-02), Berlin’s Komische Oper (2002-07) and Munich's Bavarian State Opera (2013-21).

When listening to Berlin Philharmonic recordings, at times he can differentiate sounds generated by his famous predecessors.

“How people vibrate, how they do portamenti, which tempi they take, which details you cannot hear,” he said. “I might imagine the art of Furtwängler in comparison with Karajan’s style. I might recognize maybe the lucidity of Abbado or rhythmical power of Rattle.”

Petrenko drives the musicians to never stop trying to perfect sound.

“There’s never sort of a point where he says, `OK. We’ve got it.' And that's really inspiring,” Noah Bendix-Balgley, one of the first concertmasters, said before a Carnegie Hall performance. “Regardless of what’s going on in the world and in terms of your career, and what’s the current trend, you can always go further with wrestling with this music and with these composers and this art form.”