La decisión judicial, fechada el miércoles y conocida por la prensa el jueves, responde a una acción de amparo elevada por un ciudadano que dijo actuar en nombre de los menores víctimas de reclutamiento que se encuentren en campamentos de grupos ilegales y que puedan resultar afectados por operaciones aéreas ofensivas.

En menos de un mes de gobierno, De la Espriella ha ejecutado al menos tres bombardeos contra distintos grupos armados ilegales, como parte de su estrategia de seguridad en la que ha prometido tener “mano de hierro”.

Tres menores de edad fueron identificados por el instituto forense entre una decena de cuerpos que dejaron los operativos militares, que incluyeron un bombardeo el 27 de agosto en una zona selvática del municipio de El Retorno, en el departamento de Guaviare, en el centro-sur del país.

El presidente y el Ministerio de Defensa defendieron la operación militar contra las disidencias de las extintas Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, que continuaron en armas pese a que el Estado firmó un acuerdo de paz con la guerrilla hace una década.

Aseguraron que eran “combatientes” y responsabilizaron al grupo armado de violar el Derecho Internacional Humanitario al reclutar menores y utilizarlos como “escudos”.

La jueza de un juzgado de Familia de Bogotá les ordenó, como medida provisional mientras decide de fondo el caso, que se “abstengan de ejecutar operaciones aéreas ofensivas sobre objetivos respecto de los cuales exista información cierta, objetiva o razonablemente verificable acerca de la presencia” de menores reclutados, hasta tanto “se adopten y verifiquen las medidas de precaución y protección necesarias”.

Ni el Ministerio de Defensa ni el vocero del gobierno, Miller Soto, respondieron de inmediato a The Associated Press si acatarán la medida provisional ordenada por la jueza o intentarán elevar algún recurso.

El debate sobre los menores de edad reclutados en Colombia se ha sostenido a través de los años. El gobierno de Petro también fue cuestionado por ordenar bombardeos en los que murieron menores.

Tras ser reclutados bajo engaños, persuadidos con lujos o a la fuerza, los menores suelen ser utilizados para labores de vigilancia, tareas logísticas o de combate. Además, la organización internacional Human Rights Watch denunció en su más reciente informe que los grupos armados ilegales los estarían entrenando en el manejo de drones cargados con explosivos.

Al menos 97 menores han sido reclutados forzadamente entre enero y julio, según la estatal Defensoría del Pueblo, especialmente en departamentos como Cauca y Nariño, en el suroeste, y Norte de Santander, en el noreste.

The Hurricanes are preparing for their first game of the season and the first start for new quarterback Darian Mensah, who transferred to Miami from Duke.

Local 10 caught up with players at the team buses Wednesday night as they arrived at Stanford Stadium for a walkthrough.

Mensah spent the offseason working to build chemistry with his new teammates, particularly the offense.

“Yeah, I kind of just hang out in a group setting,” Mensah said. “I’ll try to hang out with certain groups of the offense like running backs, tight ends, receivers.”

Mensah said he also used extra time after practice to develop timing with his receivers.

“It’s not like a one-on-one thing, but, yeah, I’ll just hang out with them outside the ball, but, as far as the relationship goes, just trying to throw extra routes after practice,” Mensah said.

He said he also returned to plays where he felt he missed an opportunity.

“If I missed the throw that, you know, that kind of stuck with me, I’ll, I’ll come back and hit it with the same receiver in the same spot,” Mensah said. “And so, that’s kind of how I, you know, attacked that.”

The Hurricanes will look to begin the season with a win when they take on Stanford Thursday night.

It's what the tiny collectible figurines with the spring-laden oversize heads are known for: Give them a tap and watch their tops go, gyrating up and down or side to side. And any head can bobble - entertainers, athletes, politicians, animals, fictional characters, even your own if you get one personalized.

Kitschy, kind of funny, kind of clever, ubiquitous as giveaways at places like baseball games, who doesn't love a bobblehead? America most definitely does.

“I think they’re the ultimate Americana, sort of pop-culture icon,” says Phil Sklar, a bobblehead figurine aficionado who has parlayed that interest into founding the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum. The Milwaukee, Wisconsin, site offers visitors a chance to gawk at a vast array of the figurines as well as learn more about their history, and offers bobbleheads for sale. (Also very American? Spaces that celebrate highly specific interests.)

The dolls aren't an American invention. Sklar says there were head-nodding statues in China at least a few hundred years ago, seen by Europeans who brought versions back with them. Their popularity spread, and smaller versions were made, particularly in Germany.

But they reached their true head-bobbing potential in America, he says, first becoming popular in the 1960s by sports figures being given out at baseball games and then expanding to include a range of famous people, like the Beatles.

While there have been lulls over the decades in the level of public interest in the dolls, they've always been around, with whoever's in the public spotlight likely to become a bobblehead subject. Says Sklar: “They really have just been something that Americans have come to know and love."

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Part of a recurring series, “American Objects,” marking the 250th anniversary of the United States. For more American objects, click here. For more stories on the anniversary, click here.

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The Orange Blossom Classic was first played in 1933, providing Black college athletes with a stage during segregation. The event has since become a longstanding tradition centered on HBCU culture, community and education.

“This is the one event where I say it is entertainment, sports, culture, music, everything just all wrapped up into one,” said Kendra Bulluck-Major, executive director of the Orange Blossom Classic.

The weekend began with a career fair Tuesday.

The Classic’s annual scholarship fundraising luncheon is scheduled for Friday at Jungle Island, followed by two signature parties.

“Our sixth annual denim party is back. So, get your best denim outfits. Saturday night, we have our all-white party. Get your best white outfit,” Bulluck-Major said.

The weekend culminates Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium, where a fan fest will feature Miami artists including Trina and Trick Daddy, along with an appearance by actor Lorenz Tate.

South Carolina State will face Florida A&M University at 3 p.m. Sunday.

The game will also feature a showcase of HBCU marching band culture at halftime, with performances from the Marching 100 and Marching 101.

Organizers are also introducing a new in-stadium day party following halftime.

For Bulluck-Major, the Classic’s return is about connecting generations of fans.

“I have people who remember the original classic from 1933 to ‘78 and they say, I’m so glad you brought it back because it meant so much to our community,” she said. “And then I have the new generation who may not be familiar with the original classic, but they’re still excited about it.”

Since the Orange Blossom Classic returned in 2021, organizers say it has generated more than $100 million in economic impact for South Florida and more than $500,000 in scholarships.

Bulluck-Major said buying a ticket is also a way to support the Classic’s mission.

“We think of it as just purchasing a ticket, but I look at each one of our ticket purchasers as donors,” she said. “You purchase a ticket to this event, tickets as low as $25, you are a donor. You are helping to support a cause that helps give back to our community.”

Click here for more information on how to purchase tickets.

El Orange Blossom Classic se disputó por primera vez en 1933, brindando a los atletas universitarios afroamericanos un escenario durante la segregación. Desde entonces, el evento se ha convertido en una tradición de larga trayectoria centrada en la cultura de las HBCU, la comunidad y la educación.

“Este es el único evento del que digo que tiene entretenimiento, deportes, cultura, música, todo reunido en uno solo”, dijo Kendra Bulluck-Major, directora ejecutiva del Orange Blossom Classic.

El fin de semana comenzó con una feria de empleo el martes.

El almuerzo anual del Classic para recaudar fondos para becas está programado para el viernes en Jungle Island, seguido de dos fiestas emblemáticas.

“Nuestra sexta fiesta anual de mezclilla está de regreso. Así que pónganse sus mejores atuendos de mezclilla. El sábado por la noche tendremos nuestra fiesta de blanco. Pónganse su mejor atuendo blanco”, dijo Bulluck-Major.

El fin de semana culmina el domingo en el Hard Rock Stadium, donde un festival para aficionados contará con artistas de Miami, entre ellos Trina y Trick Daddy, además de una aparición del actor Lorenz Tate.

South Carolina State se enfrentará a Florida A&M University a las 3 p.m. del domingo.

El partido también contará con una exhibición de la cultura de las bandas de marcha de las HBCU durante el medio tiempo, con presentaciones de Marching 100 y Marching 101.

Los organizadores también están introduciendo una nueva fiesta dentro del estadio después del medio tiempo.

Para Bulluck-Major, el regreso del Classic se trata de conectar a generaciones de aficionados.

“Tengo personas que recuerdan el Classic original de 1933 a 1978 y dicen: “Estoy muy contento de que lo hayan traído de vuelta porque significaba mucho para nuestra comunidad”. Y luego tengo a la nueva generación, que quizás no esté familiarizada con el Classic original, pero aun así está entusiasmada”, dijo.

Desde que el Orange Blossom Classic regresó en 2021, los organizadores dicen que ha generado más de $100 millones USD en impacto económico para el sur de Florida y más de $500,000 USD en becas.

Bulluck-Major dijo que comprar un boleto también es una manera de apoyar la misión del Classic.

“Pensamos que simplemente estamos comprando un boleto, pero yo considero a cada uno de nuestros compradores de boletos como donantes”, dijo. “Usted compra un boleto para este evento, con boletos desde $25 USD, y es un donante. Está ayudando a apoyar una causa que ayuda a contribuir a nuestra comunidad”.

Haga clic aquí para obtener más información sobre cómo comprar boletos.

El paquete de normas publicadas en la Gaceta Oficial flexibiliza incluso los requisitos para que empresas extranjeras se asocien a las nacionales no estatales y abran cuentas en bancos extranjeros, al tiempo que otorga permisos para la gestión de transporte turístico, la instalación de agencias de viaje, así como el ejercicio de los guías, una práctica antes completamente restringida al marco estatal.

Las medidas fueron aprobadas por el Parlamento y el poderoso Partido Comunista, y fueron anunciadas en medio de un recrudecimiento de las sanciones de Estados Unidos, incluso un cerco petrolero desde enero, para presionar un cambio de modelo político que agravó la crisis que Cuba padece desde hace años caracterizada por largos apagones y desabastecimiento de bienes básicos.

Se trata de “las normas que implementan las transformaciones económicas y sociales relacionadas con la inversión extranjera, con el comercio exterior y con el turismo”, expresó durante una coferencia de prensa Oscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga, viceprimer ministro y titular de Inversión Extranjera en la isla.

En junio, la Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular —el Parlamento— y el Partido Comunista tuvieron reuniones extraordinarias para aprobar un paquete de 176 medidas que darían un cambio de rumbo a la política económica del país y que fue calificada como históricas por los expertos pues rompió con más de seis décadas de un centralismo radical.

Las reformas contemplan la ampliación de las empresas privadas, permisos para que cubanos residentes en el extranjero inviertan en la isla incluso en el sector del turismo e importación sin directa. También se abrirá el mercado cambiario y bancario, entre otras medidas.

Muchas de estas reformas han estado siendo reglamentadas a través de normas, decretos o cambios en las directrices de las entidades.

Esta semana se informó, por ejemplo, que las firmas cubanas que hasta ahora solo podían ser pequeñas y medianas, ahora tienen autorizadas contratar más de 100 empleados, también se redujeron requisitos para la operación de sus socios.

En julio otras normativas ampliaron los rubros de empresas privadas a sectores que siempre se consideraron estratégicos o privativos del Estado en la isla como farmacias y explotación petrolera y minas.

Cuba atraviesa una dura situación económica agravada por la imposición del presidente Donald Trump de un cerco energético presionando un cambio de modelo político y financiero. Ello llevó a empresas internacionales socias históricas de la isla, como Meliá o la canadiense Sherritt, a retirarse o redujeran sus operaciones amenazadas con ser sancionadas por Estados Unidos.

“La situación es muy compleja”, reconoció Pérez-Oliva, quien destacó “la persecución y amenaza directa a inversionistas extranjeros que están presente en Cuba”.

“Hay empresas que han cedido y retirado del país, otras que permenecen. Estamos en un contexto adverso”, acotó el funcionario. Se desconoce la cantidad de firmas que optaron por salir de la isla.

La crisis económica y multisectorial se acompaña de una tensa situación energética con apagones de más de 30 horas y desabastecimiento de todo tipo.

El presidente Miguel Díaz-Canel aseguró que las transformaciones, a pesar de su corte aperturista, no obedece a una imposición de Estados Unidos. Ambos gobiernos reconocieron conversaciones, pero también que las mismas se encentran paralizadas.

“This will be one of the Great Pieces of American Architecture,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum wrote on the social media platform X, “befitting the most powerful Capital in the World.”

The planned 250-foot-tall (76-meter) memorial arch will stand between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery. A lawsuit is challenging the plans for the arch.

The April 5, 1970, feature written by then-AP writer Lynn Sherr, headlined “Making It Like, Wow,” ran with a photograph of Steinem — and her cat — at home, which doubled as her workplace. It carried its own editor's note introducing Steinem:

“She’s a writer who is almost as much written about as she writes. She’s as beautiful as the Beautiful People she records. She’s a name among name droppers. And she’s Everygirl’s answer to whether Cinderella can ever find success and happiness in the big city.”

As the AP looks back on Steinem's life and career, it is making that early profile available for readers. The story has been edited for typographical errors, but maintains the AP style — and mores — of the day.

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Making It Like, Wow

By LYNN SHERR

NEW YORK (AP) — It sounded like the bash of both decades. A New Year’s Eve party at Gloria Steinem’s!

Gloria who?

Gloria Steinem: the writer-activist-antiwar-gorgeous bachelor girl who was pictured with Henry Kissinger in Time and Life and who helped keep the cool in Harlem with Mayor Lindsay and who almost has a permanent guest swivel chair in Carson and Cavett’s TV studios and who nearly ran on the New York mayoralty ticket with Norman Mailer and Jimmy Breslin and who once let Ali MacGraw share her apartment—I mean, wouldn’t her party be crawling with names? I mean, didn’t she practically run New York?

And so Marty and Jeff, two journalism students in search of the Jet Set, crashed.

As it turned out, they’d have found more celebrities fox-trotting to Guy Lombardo. Steinem’s brownstone on that last day of 1969 yielded just six Black Panthers, four Long Island migrant workers, assorted interesting but unheard-of people and a doctor named Mortimer. No Lindsay, no Mailer, no Breslin, not even one Kennedy.

“Jimmy’s at home with his wife and Norman’s out in the country,” she apologized kindly.

“That’s what real life is like.”

Well, maybe. New Year’s Eve may have been all cold turkey on the table and ice cubes in the bathtub, but Gloria Steinem, 34, free-lance magazine writer and contributing editor to New York and Glamour magazines, hardly ekes out your basic subways-and-supermarkets existence as an Upper East Side Single.

A humbly born Midwesterner-turned-Manhattanite whose showgirl legs have not yet been hidden beneath a maxicoat and whose perfect-for-a-Pucci-dress body stays slim with Slender and Fresca, Steinem is Everygirl’s dream of Making It.

There was that party on the West Side, for instance. when the show-biz folk got to playing parlor games imitating famous people. “Well, I know about a thousand girls who would like to be Gloria Steinem,” joked one participant.

And then there was that press briefing in Washington, when Defense Secretary Melvin Laird was asked by Pentagon reporters about his alleged annoyance with the policy interference of White House foreign affairs adviser Henry Kissinger. “No. I don’t worry about Kissinger,” Laird answered, grinning over the bachelor adviser’s well-gossiped social life. “Not since I found out Gloria Steinem is going out with other men.”

Or there was that article in a Canadian newspaper, describing Gloria Steinem as possessing “the body of Raquel Welch, the brains of Eric Sevareid.”

“Eric Sevareid?” protested the real Gloria Steinem in her slightly nasal sotto voice. “Eric Sevareid is much too conservative.”

Thus, Gloria Steinem.

A political radical who has helped bail Black Panthers out of jail, she made Cesar Chavez a Name to Drop by organizing a fund-raising party for the grape-pickers on Long Island, at which Ethel Kennedy chose to make her first postassassination public appearance.

During the 1968 campaign, she worked—hard—first for Eugene McCarthy, then for Robert Kennedy, then for George McGovern, the South Dakota senator who is still a close friend. Steinem says he’d be one of two people she would name as references on a college application.

The other would be Harvard economist John Kenneth Galbraith.

Her datebook, a pocket-sized black leather, records in felt-pen scribblings the highlights of several social seasons: the New York Shakespeare Festival Benefit in 1965—to which she wore a chinchilla-ringed dress designed by Estevez; Truman Capote’s Masked Ball—to which she wore a silver mask with peacock feathers designed by her artist ex-roommate; summer days in the Hamptons and city nights at Elaine’s, the literary set bar. It is a world where people just know each other; where she happened to meet the Galbraiths at a lecture in Cambridge and then met McGovern at a weekend at their (“Kitty and Ken’s”) country home; where, after meeting Truman, he insisted that she interview Lee Radziwill and so she did, and then stayed with the Radziwills at that.

The datebook also records items that don’t make the gossip columns: treks to Lower East Side welfare projects, meetings for West Side day-care centers, concern for Vietnam veterans in outlying hospitals. Steinem moves, graceful, between both worlds—monied sophistication and tenement poverty—turning up at both in microshort clingy dresses and tall boots.

“She’s all together, she can make anything relevant,” explains Arnaldo Segarra, a handsome young Puerto Rican who grew up playing stickball in the sewers of El Barrios and who used to be an aide to Mayor Lindsay. “We even made her an honorary Puerto Rican. And not too many white Anglo-Saxon females get that.”

At a dinner for Herman Badillo in the Americana Hotel. Steinem slips in late wearing a slinky brown velvet dress with a train that settles on the floor like a puddle behind her. “It was my thrift shop bargain,” she says—“$15. I’m afraid to have it cleaned.”

Her blue-tinted aviator glasses—without which she cannot distinguish a Black Panther from a white Bircher—fit over a few strands of blonde-streaked brown hair and then disappear into the long, soft mane.

After the speech, Steinem waits in the lobby while the assemblyman friend who paid for her dinner retrieves her short brocade coat from the checkroom because she does not have 35 cents.

The dinner is a rare night out for Steinem that week. Most of her other engagements—including invitations from sought-after editors and glittering movie premieres—she has cancelled to meet story deadlines, and sits hunched over the typewriter at her roll-top oak desk.

That, for Gloria Steinem, is also Real Life.

What irks her is how it always comes out more Lively than Real.

Like that Sunday morning in a snowstorm, when she pulled on boots and a sheepskin coat—“the only good thing from the Rockefeller trip”—and trudged up to the Spanish Methodist Church on East 111th Street to lend support to a group of Young Lords in confrontation with the police. A local newspaper columnist the next week sniped that “Gloria Steinem was there in a fur coat.”

Or that item in Time, turning a party photograph into a tryst with Kissinger and calling her a “Gucci liberal.” “Henry’s real girl friend must have gotten angry,” she laughed. “Anyway, I don’t even own a pair of Gucci shoes.”

Stretched out barefoot in her multiprint living room, she wore a brown see-through shirt tucked into wide-legged brown denim pants with an Indian belt strung through the loops. Brown Swedish klogs rested beside the undulating benches of pink and purple. With a pearl-gray cat settled languidly on her lap, its tail stroking her slim waist, Steinem gently dismissed the myths of her rich girl image.

“Say that I have always worked for a living, my own living, that I buy my dresses off the rack,” she pleaded. “I have never been to Acapulco and I don’t go away for ski weekends.”

She assigned to her answering service the nonstop ringing of her unlisted telephone in the other, the working room of her apartment: a book-lined den with posters of Che Guevera (a Mailer-Breslin button had been pinned on it), Robert Kennedy (“Whenever I have a problem or have to face something bad. I think of Bobby, because he was always in over his head”) and La Causa.

Back in the living room, where a Spanish-speaking maid had just finished vacuuming, Steinem reached for an occasional cigarette. On the wall, American chintz ran into Oriental prints. A zebra skin covered the floor. A sleeping balcony jutted out from one corner.

“I know I’m doing the right thing by writing,” Steinem laughed, in her characteristic sociopolitical way of speaking in capital letters, “because it’s the only thing I do that doesn’t make me feel guilty.”

Not that she was born with a silver typewriter in her crib. Growing up in house trailers until age 11, then the slums of Toledo, Ohio, she tap-danced for a few dollars a night and learned to recognize bill collectors.

After a Phi Beta Kappa key at college (Smith, on scholarship), two years on a fellowship in India, then some work on Youth festivals in Cambridge, Mass., Steinem headed for New York.

Her first publishing job in 1960 was with Help, a political satire magazine. A boy friend at Esquire, an appreciative features editor—“Hell, I just wanted to meet her,” said Clay Felker—and good ideas landed her a first bylined piece in that magazine.

But it took more than good looks to get second assignments. Steinem worked hard, organized furiously. For Show magazine, she stuffed herself into a mini-cottontail suit and did an “I Was a Playboy Bunny” expose. It wowed the readers and earned the author—who would have preferred writing about politics—“offers to be a hooker on 57th Street, to commit myself to prison, all those things. I have it in the Mistake Section of my Anthology I’m putting together.”

Careerwise, it was no mistake. “A Bunny’s Tale” sent Steinem soaring into print with stories that sliced to the core of everyone from Jackie Kennedy to James Baldwin—articles which were sometimes trenchant, sometimes pedantic, but about which she is disarmingly frank. “If Forster, Dinesen and Proust are writers,” she once wrote, “then I must be something else.”

Steinem’s current choice of subjects—and the fact that she has been able to make that choice—sets her apart from all the other pretty girls who come to New York to find the Glass Slipper. “Here you are with a college degree and what does it mean?” she joked. “You write about lipstick and bunnies.”

Then, after some thought: “During the Kennedy administration you could go to discotheques because the world wasn’t coming to an end, Panthers weren’t getting shot in the next room. I’m happier not going to parties any more. Maybe that’s because I’m secure enough not to care.”

What she does care about, she is writing about: politics, urban sociology, women’s liberation.

One of her favorite TV talk show lines goes, “Men will be much happier, too, when they no longer have to deliver on a silver platter an identity to a lady.”

That goes for her own identity, as well. Felker, now editor of New York, says of her: “She is the ideal woman—beautiful, involved, and free to choose whatever she wants.”

Ladies like her too. The wife of a prominent journalist said, “If my husband were to leave me for Gloria Steinem, I would only consider it a further extension of his good taste.”

In her New York magazine article on “Women and Power”—now part of a book—Steinem quoted Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis as having said, “There are two kinds of women: those who want power in the world and those who want power in bed.”

“When Clay gave me a copy of the book, he inscribed it, ‘To the Third Kind,’” Steinem said, only half-smiling.

“That means I want both.”

Rain, a 20-year-old female, was the second to die out of a group of four whales that were moved to the Chicago aquarium in mid-August from a shuttered water park in Ontario. A whale named Peekachu died last week as caretakers tried to revitalize it.

The third whale to die, a 34-year-old male named Beethoven, had lived at Shedd Aquarium for decades, the aquarium said in an announcement.

The aquarium did not indicate the cause of the whales’ deaths in its announcement. “Necropsies, blood tests and additional exams” of their bodies are in process, it said.

“These deaths were unexpected and there is still much we do not know about what led to them," officials said in the statement.

Shedd Aquarium accepted 10 beluga whales as part of the mission to rescue 30 of them and four dolphins at Marineland, a water park in Ontario that closed its doors years ago and lost the ability to care for the animals. The Chicago aquarium announced Tuesday it welcomed the last two of those 10 — young males named Gimli and Yukon — from the Canadian park.

Twenty whales — 19 belugas and one killer whale — had died at Marineland since 2019, according to provincial government data obtained through Freedom-of-Information laws and official statements.

Officials at Shedd Aquarium previously told The Associated Press that moving the beluga whales was a complex, meticulously monitored process. The whales were hoisted in custom-made slings and held in temperature-controlled containers. Since they arrived, their health and behavior have been monitored on a minute-to-minute basis, they said.

Canadian Minister of Fisheries Joanne Thompson said she was “saddened” to hear of Rain's death. Canada's government “has taken reasonable steps to ensure the safe rescue of the whales,” she said in a statement to AP.

“My thoughts are with the care staff who worked tirelessly to support Rain and the other belugas.”

Georgia Aquarium, SeaWorld locations in San Diego and San Antonio, and Oceanogràfic Valencia in Spain are also taking in the animals rescued from Marineland.

The two beluga whales rehomed at Georgia Aquarium are “settling in nicely,” although it will take months before they are fully adjusted, the aquarium said in an email to AP. Most of the rescued whales in SeaWorld's care are in stable condition, although a handful are “eating less consistently than usual,” according to AnneMarie Iturrizaga, a spokesperson for the parks.

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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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Mama came to the shelter as a stray and, based on her condition, appears to have recently had puppies. Sadly, her puppies were never found. Despite being young — likely under two years old — Mama has been repeatedly overlooked.

Shelter staff say Mama is extremely sweet and simply needs some patience and time to feel comfortable. While she was nervous in the car and in the unfamiliar TV studio, her tail kept wagging whenever she saw someone.

Staff say fostering could be a great option for someone who wants to give Mama a chance to blossom in a calm home environment.

And Mama isn’t the only dog looking for a family. Amos, a larger adult dog who has also been at the shelter for months, is waiting for his chance, too.

The message from Animal Services is simple: don’t overlook adult or larger dogs. They can make wonderful companions when given the right home and a little love.

Click here for more information on how you can adopt a pet.

Mama llegó al refugio como una perrita callejera y, por su condición, parece haber tenido cachorros recientemente. Lamentablemente, sus cachorros nunca fueron encontrados. A pesar de ser joven, probablemente de menos de dos años, Mama ha sido ignorada repetidamente.

El personal del refugio dice que Mama es extremadamente dulce y simplemente necesita un poco de paciencia y tiempo para sentirse cómoda. Aunque estaba nerviosa en el auto y en el desconocido estudio de televisión, su cola no dejaba de moverse cada vez que veía a alguien.

El personal dice que acogerla temporalmente podría ser una excelente opción para alguien que quiera darle a Mama la oportunidad de desenvolverse en un ambiente tranquilo en un hogar.

Y Mama no es la única perrita que busca una familia. Amos, un perro adulto de mayor tamaño que también lleva meses en el refugio, también está esperando su oportunidad.

El mensaje de Servicios para Animales es simple: no ignore a los perros adultos o de mayor tamaño. Pueden ser compañeros maravillosos cuando se les brinda el hogar adecuado y un poco de amor.

Haga clic aquí para obtener más información sobre cómo puede adoptar una mascota.

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The Space Hub program aims to help address the aerospace workforce gap, inspire students to pursue STEM studies and increase awareness of careers in science-related fields.

The school is located at 1200 NW Sixth Ave.

State senators, representatives, students and Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Rafael Villalobos were on hand to discuss the importance of the new program.

The funds will also support technology and equipment upgrades, renovations to the school’s current planetarium and the development of state-of-the-art discovery and aerospace research labs.

“This is the future. So beyond today, which is powerful and amazing, and their incredible work, it is that character, those morals, those values that are being instilled in our children. And they’re going to go out and lead our communities into a new frontier,” said new Miami-Dade Public Schools Superintendent Rafael Villalobos.

El programa Space Hub tiene como objetivo ayudar a reducir la brecha de trabajadores en el sector aeroespacial, inspirar a los estudiantes a cursar estudios STEM y aumentar el conocimiento sobre carreras en campos relacionados con la ciencia.

La escuela está ubicada en 1200 NW Sixth Ave.

Senadores estatales, representantes, estudiantes y el superintendente de las Escuelas de Miami-Dade, Rafael Villalobos, estuvieron presentes para hablar sobre la importancia del nuevo programa.

Los fondos también apoyarán mejoras de tecnología y equipos, renovaciones al planetario actual de la escuela y el desarrollo de laboratorios de última generación para descubrimiento e investigación aeroespacial.

“Este es el futuro. Así que más allá de hoy, que es poderoso y asombroso, y de su increíble trabajo, está ese carácter, esa moral, esos valores que se están inculcando en nuestros niños. Y ellos van a salir y liderar nuestras comunidades hacia una nueva frontera”, dijo el nuevo superintendente de las Escuelas Públicas de Miami-Dade, Rafael Villalobos.

The work being done at the research stations will continue at other sites, Forest Service Associate Chief Chris French said in an interview. An additional 41 research facilities that faced possible closure will remain open after local officials and members of Congress raised concerns about the reorganization, which was announced in March.

“Our primary goal was to get our facilities costs under control,” French told The Associated Press. “We’re not closing any ongoing science activities. We’re not closing any of the experimental forests that are important to our researchers.”

Research by forest service employees ranges from studies on invasive species and protecting water resources to how wildfires are changing as climate change dries out and heats up forests.

Bill Avey of the National Associated of Forest Service Retirees, an advocacy group, said the forest service has long struggled to pay for all its facilities and some opportunities for consolidation exist. But Avey, who worked at the service for four decades, said its current leaders including Chief Tom Schultz need to defend the importance of forest research more vocally.

“He should be doing a much better job of pushing back and justifying and explaining some of the research work,” Avey said. He added that the 41 facilities being retained likely would have closed as well if not for pushback from his group and others.

The 95 employees at the research stations slated for closure will be shifted to other sites within their commuting areas, Forest Service Communications Director Chad Douglas said. The closures — along with previously announced plans to shut regional offices in Atlanta, Milwaukee and Portland — will save about $16 million, officials said.

The reorganization also includes moving the agency’s headquarters from Washington to Salt Lake City. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins has said the move, expected to be completed by next summer, will bring leaders closer to the landscapes they manage and the people who depend on them.

Conservation groups have criticized the changes, warning that they could reduce access to forests and threaten wildlife habitat and clean air and water.

Federal data shows that the Forest Service has lost about 6,000 employees, or about 15% of its workforce, during Trump’s second term as part of the Republican administration’s sweeping cuts to agencies that oversee the nation’s natural resources.

During Trump’s first term, he moved the Bureau of Land Management to Colorado, citing many of the same reasons, including a desire to put top officials closer to the public lands they oversee. Former President Joe Biden’s administration reversed course, returning the bureau’s headquarters to Washington after two years.

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The Pembroke Pines Police Department said it was made aware of the video early Thursday and that its Investigations Division is actively investigating the incident.

In the video recorded this past Sunday from a nearby dental office, which was blurred because of its graphic nature, a man appears to stomp on an adult duck and stand on it for several minutes. A second video appears to show several ducklings scattering as the man attempts to step on them.

The incident reportedly occurred near University Drive and Southwest 13th Street in Pembroke Pines.

Manuel Cavallini who owns the dental office told Local 10 News that he thought it was “crazy” for someone to kill ducks.

Four days later, the dead duck remains in the grass.

Police said the actions depicted in the video are “illegal and cruel” and emphasized that the department does not tolerate crimes against people or animals.

The age or identity of the man seen in the video was not immediately known.

Pembroke Pines police are asking anyone with information about the incident to contact them at 954-431-2225.

El Departamento de Policía de Pembroke Pines dijo que tuvo conocimiento del video temprano el jueves y que su División de Investigaciones está investigando activamente el incidente.

En el video grabado el domingo pasado desde un consultorio dental cercano, que fue difuminado debido a la naturaleza gráfica de las imágenes, un hombre parece pisotear a un pato adulto y permanecer parado sobre él durante varios minutos. Un segundo video parece mostrar a varios patitos dispersándose mientras el hombre intenta pisarlos.

Según reportes, el incidente ocurrió cerca de University Drive y Southwest 13th Street en Pembroke Pines.

Manuel Cavallini, propietario del consultorio dental, dijo a Local 10 News que le parecía “una locura” que alguien matara patos.

Cuatro días después, el pato muerto permanece en el césped.

La policía dijo que las acciones mostradas en el video son “ilegales y crueles” y enfatizó que el departamento no tolera delitos contra personas o animales.

La edad o identidad del hombre que aparece en el video no se conocía de inmediato.

La policía de Pembroke Pines pide a cualquier persona que tenga información sobre el incidente que se comunique al 954-431-2225.

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According to sources, retired General Abelardo Colome Ibarra, known as “ El Fury,” is currently in worse condition.

Colome Ibarra was head of the Ministry of the Interior and highly respected by the Castro brothers and the Cuban military.

Cuban officials have remained silent after the Diario Las Américas, a Miami-based newspaper in Spanish, reported on Tuesday that Castro, 95, who formally retired in April 2021, had suffered a stroke and was on life support.

Castro’s last public appearance was on June 6 at a ceremony to commemorate the 62nd anniversary of Cuba’s Ministry of the Interior. He did not attend the official annual event to commemorate the historic assault of July 26, 1953.

Según fuentes, el general retirado Abelardo Colomé Ibarra, conocido como “El Furry”, se encuentra actualmente en peores condiciones.

Colomé Ibarra fue jefe del Ministerio del Interior y era muy respetado por los hermanos Castro y las fuerzas armadas cubanas.

Funcionarios cubanos han permanecido en silencio después de que Diario Las Américas, un periódico en español con sede en Miami, reportara el martes que Castro, de 95 años, quien se retiró formalmente en abril de 2021, había sufrido un derrame cerebral y se encontraba conectado a soporte vital.

La última aparición pública de Castro fue el 6 de junio en una ceremonia para conmemorar el 62.º aniversario del Ministerio del Interior de Cuba. No asistió al evento oficial anual para conmemorar el histórico asalto del 26 de julio de 1953.

La mujer fue identificada como Melissa Payne en un memorando de cierre del caso de la Fiscalía Estatal del Condado de Broward.

“Si en el momento en que Melissa Payne utilizó fuerza letal no estaba haciendo nada ilegal, se encontraba en un lugar donde tenía derecho a estar y ‘creía razonablemente que el uso o la amenaza de dicha fuerza era necesario para evitar una muerte inminente o lesiones corporales graves’, entonces está exenta de arresto y procesamiento”, señala el memorando.

Bart Diguglielmo, residente de Lauderhill, recibió un disparo el 30 de junio afuera del Walmart ubicado en 7900 W. McNab Road, después de una discusión con Payne, según informaron agentes de la Oficina del Sheriff de Broward.

De acuerdo con el memorando, todo el incidente quedó registrado por diversos dispositivos de video y muestra a Payne, quien estaba acompañada por su sobrina y el bebé de esta, y a Diguglielmo, quien se encontraba solo dentro de su SUV Kia blanco, intentando estacionarse en el mismo espacio.

Los fiscales señalaron que se produjo “un breve enfrentamiento” antes de que Payne y Diguglielmo salieran de sus respectivos vehículos.

Según el memorando, Diguglielmo dejó su vehículo en el carril de circulación, tomó un carrito de compras y entró al Walmart, mientras Payne estacionaba su Chevrolet Malibu en el espacio.

Diguglielmo regresó a su SUV unos 90 segundos después y, según dos testigos, le dijo a Payne: “Voy a hacer mierda tus cosas”, señala el memorando.

Después se alejó conduciendo a gran velocidad, según los fiscales.

De acuerdo con el memorando, Diguglielmo estacionó aproximadamente dos pasillos al oeste del automóvil de Payne, caminó hacia el vehículo de ella y permaneció un rato debajo de un árbol cercano mientras fumaba un cigarrillo.

Los testigos dijeron que Diguglielmo parecía enojado mientras observaba a Payne y que estaba temblando.

Los fiscales señalaron que Diguglielmo se acercó posteriormente al automóvil de Payne, momento en el que ella salió del vehículo con su teléfono en una mano y un arma de fuego en la otra.

Payne le advirtió a Diguglielmo: “¡Si sigues acercándote a mí, te voy a disparar!”, según el memorando.

De acuerdo con el documento, un testigo les gritó tanto a Payne como a Diguglielmo: “¡No vale la pena!”.

Los fiscales dijeron que Payne continuó advirtiéndole a Diguglielmo: “¡No vengas hacia acá!”, “¡No te acerques a mi auto!” y “¡No lo intentes!”.

El memorando señala que inicialmente Diguglielmo retrocedió, pero después volvió a acercarse a Payne mientras hacía gestos con las manos.

Los fiscales dijeron que finalmente Payne le disparó una vez en el abdomen.

Diguglielmo fue trasladado a un hospital, donde posteriormente murió a causa de sus heridas.

Melissa Rodriguez, abogada de la hija del hombre, declaró a Local 10 News: “Amanda Diguglielmo está muy decepcionada al enterarse de que no presentarán cargos penales en el caso. Hemos sostenido que las circunstancias no justificaban conceder inmunidad bajo la ley de defensa propia ‘Stand Your Ground’”.

En una entrevista exclusiva con Local 10 News, Amanda Diguglielmo describió a su padre como un hombre dedicado a su familia que trabajó durante 30 años como enfermero especializado en trauma en salas de emergencia.

“Era un gran hombre. Era padre, era abuelo y era hermano”, dijo.

Amanda Diguglielmo señaló que su padre también tenía un hermano gemelo, era padre de tres hijos y había alcanzado el grado de sargento en el Ejército.

Cuando le preguntaron qué sería lo que más extrañaría de su padre, Amanda Diguglielmo respondió: “Todo: poder llamarlo, almorzar juntos, las fiestas, todo”.

Amanda Diguglielmo y su abogada rechazan que Payne haya disparado contra Bart Diguglielmo en defensa propia.

“Esta no fue una situación de defensa propia ni un caso que justificara inmunidad bajo la ley ‘Stand Your Ground’. No creo que el tiroteo estuviera justificado”, declaró Rodriguez a principios de este mes. “Creo que deberían presentarse cargos penales”.

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The woman was identified in a closeout memo from the Broward County State Attorney’s Office as Melissa Payne.

“If at the time Melissa Payne used deadly force: she was not doing anything unlawful; was in a place she had a right to be; and ‘she reasonably believe[d] that using or threatening to use such force [was] necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm,’ then she is immune from arrest and prosecution,” the memo stated.

Bart Diguglielmo, of Lauderhill, was shot on June 30 outside the Walmart located at 7900 W. McNab Road after an argument with Payne, deputies with the Broward Sheriff’s Office said.

According to the memo, the entire incident was captured on various video recording devices and shows Payne, who was with her niece and her niece’s baby; and Diguglielmo, who was alone inside his white Kia SUV, attempting to park in the same parking space.

Prosecutors said a “brief stalemate ensued” before Payne and Diguglielmo both exited their vehicles.

According to the memo, Diguglielmo abandoned his vehicle in the travel lane, grabbed a shopping cart and entered the Walmart as Payne parked her Chevy Malibu in the parking space.

Diguglielmo returned to his SUV about 90 seconds later and two witnesses reported that he told Payne, “I’m gonna f*** your shit up,” the memo states.

He then drove off at a high rate of speed, prosecutors said.

According to the memo, Diguglielmo parked about two aisles west of Payne’s car, walked toward her vehicle and then lingered under a tree nearby while smoking a cigarette.

Witnesses said Diguglielmo appeared angry as he watched Payne and was shaking.

Prosecutors said Diguglielmo then approached Payne’s car, at which point she exited her vehicle with her phone in one hand and a gun in the other.

Payne warned Diguglielmo, “If you keep coming up to me, I’m going to f***ing shoot you!” the memo stated.

According to the memo, a witness yelled out to both Payne and Diguglielmo, saying “It’s not worth it!”

Prosecutors said Payne continued warning Diguglielmo, “Don’t come over here!” “Don’t come near my car!” and “Don’t try that!”

The memo stated that Diguglielmo initially backed off, but then continued to approach Payne while making hand gestures.

Prosecutors said Payne ultimately shot Diguglielmo once in the abdomen.

He was taken to a hospital, where he later died from his injuries.

Melissa Rodriguez, an attorney for the man’s daughter, told Local 10 News, “Amanda Diguglielmo is very disappointed to hear that they won’t be pursuing criminal charges in the case. We have maintained that the situation did not warrant stand your ground immunity.”

In an exclusive interview with Local 10 News, Amanda Diguglielmo described her father as a devoted family man who worked as an emergency room trauma nurse for 30 years.

“He was a great man. He was a father, he was a grandfather (and) he was a brother,” she said.

Amanda Diguglielmo said her father was also a twin brother, a father of three and a sergeant in the Army.

When asked what she would miss most about her father, Amanda Diguglielmo said, “Everything — being able to call him, have lunch, holidays, everything.”

Amanda Diguglielmo and her attorney dispute that Payne shot Bart Diguglielmo in self-defense.

“This was not a situation of self-defense or stand your ground immunity. I don’t believe that the shooting was justified,” Rodriguez said earlier this month. “I believe that criminal charges should be filed.”

El choque ocurrió alrededor de las 7:40 p.m. cerca de Northwest 51st Terrace y Northwest 33rd Avenue.

Según MDSO, agentes de la Unidad de Intervención de Robos (RID) de la agencia realizaron una parada de tráfico a uno de los vehículos poco antes del choque.

Los agentes dijeron que durante esa parada confirmaron que el conductor, Luis Manuel Perez, de 21 años y residente de Miami, tenía una orden de arresto pendiente de las Fuerzas Armadas de EE.UU., pero huyó de ellos.

“A medida que unidades adicionales de RID respondían al área, el conductor entró en una calle sin salida”, dijo un portavoz de MDSO a Local 10 News en un correo electrónico el jueves. “Después de dar la vuelta, el conductor se pasó una señal de alto y chocó contra un vehículo civil, provocando que volcara. El impacto hizo que posteriormente los vehículos chocaran contra un vehículo de MDSO sin distintivos, ocupado por un agente de RID que se encontraba en el área buscando al sujeto”.

Una fotografía obtenida por Local 10 muestra el vehículo volcado. También se puede ver a una persona en el suelo en el área, aparentemente esposada.

“Lo vi chocar contra el auto y lo vi volcar por el aire. Y fue entonces cuando corrí hacia allá”, dijo un testigo. “Lo vi mientras sucedía. Lo vi, partes del auto volando por el aire”.

El conductor del vehículo civil fue trasladado por el Cuerpo de Bomberos de Miami-Dade al Centro de Traumatología Ryder del Hospital Jackson Memorial en condición crítica, pero posteriormente murió, confirmaron las autoridades.

Los agentes dijeron que Perez fue puesto bajo custodia y trasladado a un hospital local para ser evaluado, mientras que el agente fue atendido en el lugar por el Cuerpo de Bomberos de Miami-Dade.

Aunque una declaración jurada de arresto de Perez señala que tiene una orden de arresto activa como fugitivo de las Fuerzas Armadas de EE.UU., no especifica las acusaciones en su contra. Funcionarios de MDSO dijeron que también están pendientes cargos adicionales en su contra por el choque del miércoles.

La identidad de la víctima aún no ha sido divulgada mientras las autoridades trabajan para notificar a sus familiares.

Según la policía, Mandrell Ceydrec Rolle Jr., de Pembroke Pines, fue arrestado el miércoles tras el choque con fuga ocurrido el 22 de agosto.

Rolle enfrenta un cargo por abandonar la escena de un choque con heridos, uno por conducción imprudente y uno por resistirse a un agente sin violencia.

Según la policía, el incidente comenzó alrededor de las 7 p.m. del 22 de agosto, cuando se realizaron múltiples llamadas al 911 sobre cuatro motociclistas todoterreno que presuntamente conducían de manera imprudente y a alta velocidad por Collins Avenue, en el Distrito Art Déco.

Los agentes que respondieron localizaron a los motociclistas y observaron la conducta imprudente, dijo la policía.

La policía dijo que el grupo continuó por Ocean Drive antes de detenerse en la cuadra 700.

Los agentes se acercaron a pie a los motociclistas y pusieron bajo custodia a uno de ellos, identificado como Kasshun Williams, sin incidentes, informaron las autoridades.

La policía dijo que Rolle vio a los agentes y huyó a alta velocidad a pesar de las repetidas órdenes de detenerse.

Mientras huía, Rolle atropelló a una niña de 10 años que estaba en la acera con su madre, según la policía.

El impacto derribó a la niña y le causó lesiones en el codo y la pierna. Fue atendida en el lugar por el Cuerpo de Bomberos de Miami Beach.

La policía de Miami Beach dijo que los detectives identificaron a Rolle durante la investigación y se enteraron de que estaba bajo libertad condicional federal por posesión de una ametralladora, un delito grave.

Los detectives obtuvieron una orden para su arresto y Rolle fue puesto bajo custodia el miércoles con la ayuda de la Unidad Táctica de Robos del Departamento de Policía de la ciudad de Miami.

“Hay cero tolerancia para conductas imprudentes que pongan en peligro la vida de nuestros residentes y visitantes”, dijo el jefe de la Policía de Miami Beach, Wayne A. Jones, en un comunicado. “Conducir imprudentemente una motocicleta todoterreno, atropellar a una niña de 10 años y huir sin prestar ayuda es inaceptable”.

Jones dijo que el departamento utilizaría sus recursos para identificar y responsabilizar a quienes pongan en peligro a otras personas en Miami Beach.

“Si decide poner en peligro a personas inocentes en Miami Beach, utilizaremos todos los recursos disponibles para identificarlo y responsabilizarlo”, dijo Jones.

Hasta la mañana del jueves, Rolle permanecía detenido en el Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight con una fianza de $2,650 USD.

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It happened on Aug. 21 outside the McDonald’s located at 1310 S. Federal Highway.

An Olsen Middle School parent says she was picking up her kids when she saw the fight spilling out into the street.

“They basically jumped an old man,” said parent Yanelle Perez, who witnessed the fight.

Patrick Utter also said he was there for the incident, jumping into action to help the man, but adding that neither party was innocent.

“A guy that maybe had mental health issues, drinking, went into the McDonald’s and he said something wrong, he incited a bunch of young kids, and they followed him out here on the US 1 corridor,” said Utter. “The US 1 corridor is a little bit rough over here, and more importantly, these kids that are passing through here could use some supervision.”

According to the Broward Sheriff’s Office, the man threatened to fight the kids when they were all inside the McDonald’s.

When the man left the restaurant, deputies said the children followed him outside, after which the fight broke out.

Deputies said they are investigating whether whatever was said inside the restaurant justified what subsequently occurred outside.

They said they are still waiting to speak with the man, who was not still at the McDonald’s by the time deputies arrived.

At the very end of the fight, video showed several witnesses trying to help the man.

“They took his food, beat him up, and he fell on the floor,” said Perez. “They had to have two older gentleman stop it up because it the man, he couldn’t. There was like 10-15 kids on top of him.”

Olsen Middle School Principal Janet Giancarli sent a message to parents in regard to the incident, which stated:

“An adult male approached the students and initiated a physical confrontation outside of the restaurant. The Broward Sheriff’s Office responded and investigated. No one was injured.”

“We understand that a video of this incident is now circulating on social media and is concerning. While the incident did not occur on school grounds or during the school day, we take any situation involving our students seriously and we will continue to work closely with law enforcement regarding this matter,” the statament continued. “The safety and well-being of our students remain our highest priority.”

Utter said he feels there needs to be more law enforcement presence in the area.

“There’s no doubt in my mind, my friend Ed Tarks, Bernard and myself, saved this guy from a really horrific ending, and that’s why I’m going along with this interview, because we need some help over here with police at the end of the day,” said Utter.

El incidente ocurrió el 21 de agosto afuera del McDonald’s ubicado en 1310 S. Federal Highway.

Una madre de familia de la escuela secundaria Olsen Middle School dijo que estaba recogiendo a sus hijos cuando vio cómo la pelea se extendía hasta la calle.

“Básicamente, se le fueron encima entre varios a un hombre mayor”, dijo Yanelle Perez, madre de familia que presenció la pelea.

Patrick Utter también dijo haber estado presente durante el incidente y que intervino para ayudar al hombre, aunque agregó que ninguna de las partes estuvo exenta de responsabilidad.

“Un hombre que quizá tenía problemas de salud mental y estaba bebiendo entró al McDonald’s y dijo algo indebido; provocó a un grupo de jóvenes y ellos lo siguieron hasta aquí, al corredor de la US 1”, dijo Utter. “Esta zona de la US 1 es un poco problemática y, más importante aún, estos muchachos que pasan por aquí podrían necesitar mayor supervisión”.

De acuerdo con la Oficina del Sheriff de Broward, el hombre amenazó con pelear con los menores cuando todos se encontraban dentro del McDonald’s.

Cuando el hombre salió del restaurante, los agentes dijeron que los menores lo siguieron y posteriormente comenzó la pelea.

Los investigadores señalaron que están tratando de determinar si lo que se dijo dentro del restaurante justificaba lo que ocurrió posteriormente afuera.

También indicaron que aún están a la espera de hablar con el hombre, quien ya no se encontraba en el McDonald’s cuando llegaron los agentes.

Al final de la pelea, un video muestra a varios testigos tratando de auxiliar al hombre.

“Le quitaron la comida, lo golpearon y cayó al suelo”, dijo Perez. “Dos hombres mayores tuvieron que intervenir para detenerlos porque el hombre ya no podía defenderse. Había como 10 o 15 muchachos encima de él”.

La directora de Olsen Middle School, Janet Giancarli, envió un mensaje a los padres de familia sobre el incidente, en el que señaló:

“Un hombre adulto se acercó a los estudiantes e inició un enfrentamiento físico afuera del restaurante. La Oficina del Sheriff de Broward acudió al lugar e investigó. Nadie resultó herido”.

“Entendemos que actualmente circula en redes sociales un video de este incidente y que resulta preocupante. Aunque el hecho no ocurrió dentro de las instalaciones escolares ni durante el horario de clases, nos tomamos muy en serio cualquier situación que involucre a nuestros estudiantes y continuaremos trabajando estrechamente con las autoridades en relación con este asunto”, continuó el comunicado. “La seguridad y el bienestar de nuestros estudiantes siguen siendo nuestra máxima prioridad”.

Utter dijo que considera necesaria una mayor presencia policial en la zona.

“No tengo ninguna duda de que mi amigo Ed Tarks, Bernard y yo evitamos que este hombre tuviera un desenlace realmente terrible. Por eso acepté dar esta entrevista, porque al final del día necesitamos más apoyo de la policía en esta zona”, dijo Utter.

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But Miami police and Miami-Dade deputies said “Dr. Lori” was actually Latonya Shanice Starks, who is not a licensed doctor ― and is instead a 33-year-old felon with no “legitimate job.”

Detectives said she was illegally performing injections ― some of which left patients with scarring, pain and abscesses. In one case, police said a victim believed the complications ultimately led her to have a miscarriage.

Authorities said Starks, of Aventura, ran Lori Dior Miami Med Spa at 5789 NW Seventh Ave. in Miami’s Liberty City neighborhood.

‘Lumps,’ ‘irritation’, ‘abscesses’ and a miscarriage

Authortiies said they received complaints in May and June about Starks who went to “Dr. Lori” to receive Sculptra, described in arrest reports as a “dermal filler.”

In one case, police said a woman who said she found Starks through the loridior_beautyspa Instagram page went to the clinic in September for Sculptra, “represented to her as a fat-dissolving injection.”

“The victim later learned she was allegedly injected with lemon bottle, which is a foreign fat-dissolving substance that is not approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration,” a Miami Police Department detective wrote in one of the arrest reports. “The victim stated that after receiving the injections, the substance later began breaking through her skin in the same areas where she had been injected.”

Investigators said the woman “suffered a severe adverse medical reaction and required repeated hospitalization over a period of approximately three months.”

The woman, who became pregnant in January, believed that she had a miscarriage months later because of medications she had to take to treat the complications, one arrest report states.

In another case, investigators said a woman who also found Starks through Instagram went to the clinic with her sister in October for injections.

One of the women, who said she was trying to get rid of “hip dips,” said Starks used an insulin needle to inject what the victim believed was Sculptra into her buttocks and abdomen area using an insulin-type needle, the report states.

A Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office detective noted that the substance is “typically injected from a larger syringe than an insulin-type needle because the particles can clog it.”

Authorities said the victim, who paid Starks $1,200, never saw a Sculptra box and wasn’t sure if that’s what she actually received. They said the victim also paid Starks $650 for her sister, who was in South Florida from Kentucky to celebrate her birthday, to get injections as a gift.

According to an arrest report, both women said they began experiencing “lumps and irritation” after getting the injections. Both women, police said, had to have multiple procedures to get abscesses drained and scarring repaired and both continue to suffer pain at their injection sites.

One of the women said she even lost her job “because she has missed work due (to) the multiple doctor appointments that she has had to go to repair her scarring and drain her abscesses,” police said.

Instagram posts and a felony record

Police said they reviewed the loridior_beautyspa Instagram, where videos showed “Starks filming herself while stating that she is no longer performing injections and instructing individuals to stop contacting her to request injections.”

A post on the account reads, “Lori Dior ONLY does trainings. I do not provide services. I can refer y’all to people but I stop (sic) doing liquid bbls 2 years ago.”

“My classes be soo GHETTO,” a post about a training session read.

Other posts include advertisements for Lori Dior’s “signature POWERBOOTY™ Buttock Enhancement Machine," showing what appear to be AI-generated clips of women having their buttocks significantly inflated by the machines on a beach.

Detectives said records revealed that Lori Dior was never licensed with the state and “further investigation revealed that Starks had previously received a cease-and-desist order from the state of Georgia for similar operations prior to conducting business in Miami.”

Georgia Department of Corrections records show Starks, a native of the Peach State, was convicted of committing multiple crimes, including first-degree forgery and shoplifting, in suburban Atlanta in 2010. Authorities said she was on probation at the time of her arrest on Wednesday.

Traffic stop and arrest

Starks, authorities said, was taken into custody after a traffic stop near her home in Aventura.

A search of her vehicle revealed “medical and cosmetic equipment, including needles, a sharps container, bandages, and packaging labeled Sculptra 150,” police said.

They said they received a warrant to search her apartment at the Portsview at the Waterways condo building at 3610 Yacht Club Drive and found “additional medical and cosmetic equipment.”

Authorities said Starks claimed that a registered nurse named “Kate,” whose last name, phone number or credentials she couldn’t provide, was doing the injections.

Starks is now facing three charges of practicing healthcare without a license causing serious injury, as well as two counts of felon in possession of a firearm.

Records show she was being held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a total bond of more than $30,000.

Editor’s note: This story has been edited to note that one of the cases was investigated by the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office.

“As I write this, I’m both older than I ever imagined I would become and happier than I ever imagined I could be,” she wrote in the introduction. “I’ve been rewarded with friends who are my chosen family. I have trusted friends in other countries, and we strive to be safe and free, and share hopes for a peaceful democracy in the world.”

Steinem added that she planned to live to 100.

“An Unexpected Life” follows such previous Steinem memoirs as “Revolution from Within” and “Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions.” In the latest book, she looks back to her childhood in Ohio in the 1940s and ’50s, when women were expected to marry and raise children. It continues through her political awakening, her rise in the second-wave feminist movement and her stature as an inspiration to young people, who in turn inspired her.

Here are some highlights from the upcoming memoir, scheduled for publication Sept. 22:

Spending two years in India after college changed Steinem's life

"Being in that country shattered Western romantic illusions with little ceremony, but it replaced them with new impressions far more real and less easily forgotten. As I learned once I was there, many Americans seem to have skipped from a sketchy knowledge of ancient India to a misunderstanding of its diversity. The teachings of Gandhi introduced me to nonhierarchical thinking, which I came to learn was the most common way of thinking in much of the rest of the world, too."

She counted conversation as a blessing

“My favorite model of human communication is sitting with others around a kitchen table or in a living room, anywhere we can gather equally and communicate in person with all five senses: a consciousness-raising group, a rap group, a book club, a quilting bee, or a talking circle. It doesn’t matter, as long as it’s a place where one can tell the truth, say an ‘unsayable’ thing, and hear other people say, ‘You feel like that? I thought only I felt like that!’”

An icon who set boundaries

“Terry Southern, a popular author and co-author of ‘Candy,’ a pornographic novel, was very visible on the New York social scene. I didn’t know him well, but for some reason we were both awaiting a mutual friend in that friend’s office, talking and sitting next to each other on the couch. He reached over, took hold of my wrists so I couldn’t move, and tried to kiss me. Without a moment’s thought, I bit him on the cheek. If you haven’t been trained to submit, you are like a cat; you just respond.”

She mused about relationships between men and women

“Other leaps of consciousness have actually been quite funny, like figuring out that despite the term man-hating lesbian — which I hope and believe is long forgotten — it may be the women who live with men who are more likely to hate them.”

Not all audiences are alike

“The worst audience for me has always been establishment males, and the worst circumstance has been one in which I have to convince them on behalf of some very important but unpopular issue. In those moments, I feel responsible not only for myself but also for the people who can’t be there but should be represented.”

Some second thoughts. (And, no, she didn't miss having children)

“Of course, I do have regrets. For one, I spent way too much time doing what was expected of me, and not enough doing what I loved. Given my generation, I also grew up assuming that I would have to marry my identity, not become it. This scary idea caused me to put off marriage and to live a temporary life. Not until my forties did I begin to see that a different kind of life was possible, one in which I wasn’t bound to fulfill my husband’s dreams and depend on him financially. I learned that the work I loved could also create the future I wanted.”

An optimist to the end

“People often ask me how I stay hopeful. I always explain that hope is a form of planning. I think about twenty, thirty, even fifty years ago and the leaps of consciousness I’ve experienced because of the women’s movement. Some of what we dreamed of decades ago is now really here.”

Yet these days, he’s not much different than any college coaching veteran just trying to get a handle on who’s eligible to play and who isn’t.

“What is strange about college athletics is that it seems like the rules change every day,” Malone said Thursday morning. “Like, literally every day. So that is the hardest part."

The NCAA’s move to a five-year, age-based eligibility model has begat a series of eligibility battles in courts across the country, along with last week’s rushed-into-place rules by football-playing power conferences trying to sort out that chaos with the start of the season now at hand.

The same questions hover in basketball, too, as to whether players can come back to college after in failed bids to make the pros or after closing what was supposed to be a four-year career in the spring.

The sport has the benefit of more time for those cases to make their way through the legal system. Still, preseason practices officially begin later this month, and there’s roughly two months remaining until the season kicks off on Nov. 1. It is unclear how much clarity will come between now and then as to the status of more than 250 men’s and women’s players involved in some type of court action tied to the NCAA's age-based eligibility model.

That includes for Malone's first UNC team. South Dakota transfer big man Cameron Fens committed last month to UNC when he appeared to be eligible to play a fifth season after one court ruling, only to be ineligible again based on a stay issued in response to an appeal.

“You put together the best team you can, you start practicing in the summer and now let’s unleash 80 players into the sport in the first week of August,” UConn men’s coach and two-time NCAA champion Dan Hurley said last month. “You can’t go on like this, no other sport is going like this. ... It is total chaos and it is not sustainable.”

Changing the eligibility model has led to legal fights

The change has largely centered around the NCAA's adoption of a five-year eligibility model that is due to be fully implemented next fall. It will allow players to have five years of eligibility with the clock starting when an athlete turns 19 or graduates from high school, whichever is earliest.

But that quickly led to lawsuits from four-year players in the high school class of 2022, who began their careers in the 2022-23 season and completed four seasons of eligibility but are seeking that fifth year.

In data as of Thursday morning, the NCAA said there have been 79 lawsuits with a total of 450 plaintiffs across all sports involved in litigation tied to the five-year rule, with 234 of those coming in men's basketball and 33 in women's basketball. Of that group, 154 men's players and 26 women's players have received some type of relief from the courts allowing them to play while the rest are currently be ineligible.

Yet things can change rapidly, with players moving from one category to the other.

Last season, basketball got a preview of what was to come when Alabama's Charles Bediako won a temporary restraining order allowing him to play five games for the Crimson Tide last year after playing in the NBA G League. An Alabama judge ultimately sided with the NCAA that Bediako should be ineligible.

And now, former St. John's standout guard RJ Luis Jr. is trying to play for new LSU coach Will Wade despite going pro after the 2024-25 season and spending time with two NBA teams. A Louisiana judge cleared the way for him last week to start practicing and potentially play for the Tigers; Luis was briefly under contract with the Utah Jazz and Boston Celtics but never played in an NBA game.

These fights have also come with the NCAA and major conferences pushing Congress for help by passing the Protect College Sports Act. That bipartisan measure has been touted by supporters as having the ability to tamp down on the lawsuits that have led to the eligibility issues.

A longer runway to basketball season could provide clarity

The Power Four football conferences — the SEC, Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten and Big 12 — all adopted bans of former pro athletes last week. The Big 12 banned professional athletes from competing in any league-sponsored sport, while the SEC and the ACC bans focused on men's and women's basketball along with football. The Big Ten's was limited to football.

The Big East, the only other league to win an NCAA title in the past decade, has yet to formally adopt a similar policy. But that league doesn't have football as a pressing concern with basketball as its flagship sport with the November tipoff, and that comes with the Big East in the first days of Tim Brosnan's tenure as commissioner.

A person with knowledge of the situation said Big East schools are discussing options and monitoring developments tied to the eligibility cases as well as the actions taken by other top leagues. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the league hasn’t publicly discussed those evaluations.

Back at UNC, Fens joined the roster as a county judge in Tennessee granted him and 18 other basketball players a temporary injunction to retain their eligibility for a fifth year.

But in recent weeks, that state’s Court of Appeals put on hold that order, meaning Fens can practice but is currently ineligible to play. That was one of multiple wins for the NCAA in ongoing litigation across the nation, including stays of injunctions in Ohio and South Carolina state courts as well as in a federal court in Colorado.

Malone — who coached three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic to the 2023 title with the Denver Nuggets — knows it all can change quickly. So he's leaning on his staff to keep him “attuned” to developments while he focuses on preparing the Tar Heels for November, and other pressing matters.

“I still haven't found a place to live, so I've got to find a place to live, man, you know?” he quipped.

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AP freelance writer Jim Fuller in Storrs, Connecticut, contributed to this report.

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A public notice shows the first of its kind survey of wastewater treatment plants was submitted to the White House for approval nearly two years ago during the Biden administration — a far longer wait than is typical.

Many wastewater treatment plants receive PFAS-contaminated waste. A nationwide survey of hundreds of plants would help identify the source of that PFAS and could inform new regulations to limit their spread, according to Robert Wood, director of the engineering and analysis division in the EPA’s Office of Water before his retirement in 2024.

“If we can determine the top one, the top two, the top three” industries that dump PFAS, said Wood, “then we start work on the detailed studies and the regulation to get after nationwide limits on PFAS for the predominant industrial dischargers.”

Researchers have linked the family of chemicals called PFAS to increased risk of certain cancers, developmental effects in children, resistance to vaccines and other health problems. The man-made chemicals once commonly used in products like waterproof shoes and nonstick pans are also widespread in the environment and hard to remove, making them an especially challenging public health threat. Wastewater treatment plants, for example, typically aren’t equipped to separate them from waste, which means they are released back into rivers and onto soil.

The survey was submitted to the White House Office of Management and Budget, which must approve it, in October 2024.

“This is sufficiently unusual and a very long period of time that it is worth asking the question: Is OMB just sitting on it?” said Stuart Shapiro, a former OMB staffer and dean at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University-New Brunswick in New Jersey. He said reviews typically take around 60 days.

The EPA and OMB did not respond to requests for comment.

The Trump administration's nuanced — and at times controversial — stance towards PFAS

The Trump administration has promised to combat PFAS. They've kept tough Biden-era limits on two common types of PFAS in drinking water and support work to find new ways to remove the chemicals from the environment.

They've also faced criticism from environmentalists and the Robert F. Kennedy Jr.-aligned “Make America Healthy Again” movement over what they see as an agency approach to chemical regulation that's too industry-friendly. Trump officials have delayed the most significant drinking water limits and scrapped a Biden-era effort to reduce PFAS in the wastewater of certain chemical manufacturers, restarting the regulatory process themselves.

The Biden-era EPA said that good data on PFAS in industrial wastewater is typically inaccessible, incomplete or inconsistent. With the new survey, officials sought to ask hundreds of wastewater treatment plants questions about their practices and to sample the industrial sources of the waste they treated.

If the work had started quickly, officials would already have some of the results, according to Betsy Southerland, a leader of the EPA’s Office of Water until 2017.

Officials also would have collected information on PFAS in biosolids, which are the treated solids water treatment plants produce in massive quantities. Those treated biosolids are often spread on farm fields as fertilizer. Officials wanted to survey biosolids to figure out the prevalence of PFAS.

Although concerns have been raised for years, officials have only recently studied the health implications of growing food on fields where PFAS-contaminated biosolids have been spread. The Biden-era EPA issued a draft report raising some concerns — a report Trump officials said had serious flaws. Agency officials, in their own draft document, said one of those flaws was that the agency had failed to conduct a national survey of PFAS in biosolids to better understand their occurrence and associated risks.

David Andrews, chief science officer at the nonprofit Environmental Working Group, said the Trump administration had created a logical paradox.

“The biosolids risk assessment was criticized by this administration for not including an EPA-run national occurrence study, and that exact survey has been sitting unapproved at OMB for nearly two years,” Andrews said.

Some states have already taken a look

A group representing public wastewater agencies questioned the need for the survey, saying that a lot of new data has been collected on PFAS in wastewater in recent years. That information is enough to take steps to regulate the industries that need to be addressed, and a new survey for more expensive sampling wouldn’t be useful, according to Cynthia Finley, director of regulatory affairs at the National Association of Clean Water Agencies.

“We would rather EPA look at what data is available already because there is a wealth of PFAS discharge information out there now,” said Finley.

Michigan is one of the states that has collected similar data on its own. The state had already limited the amount of certain PFAS wastewater treatment plants could dump into rivers and lakes several years ago when treatment plants started sampling the industrial waste they received.

With data in hand, “The treatment plants told their industries, 'Hey, you have to either stop discharging PFAS or reduce the amount of PFAS you are discharging to us,” to avoid violating limits on PFAS in rivers and lakes, according to Anne Tavalire, who works for the state on reducing PFAS at wastewater treatment plants.

She said the work helped achieve substantial reductions in PFAS released into the environment and in biosolids.

A “Make America Healthy Again” activist said it was good that the Trump administration had previously announced plans to tackle PFAS. But for their efforts to work, officials can't let polluters off the hook and must know where the pollution is coming from, according to Kelly Ryerson, whose social media account “Glyphosate Girl” focuses on agriculture and health.

The survey or a similar effort “is urgently needed data to help decrease toxic exposures and ultimately the chronic disease epidemic. We have no more time to waste in addressing these harmful exposures, especially on behalf of bureaucratic interests,” she said.

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According to police, Mandrell Ceydrec Rolle Jr., of Pembroke Pines, was arrested Wednesday following the Aug. 22 hit-and-run crash.

Rolle faces one count each of leaving the scene of a crash involving injury, reckless driving and resisting an officer without violence.

According to police, the incident began around 7 p.m. on Aug. 22 when multiple 911 calls were made about four dirt bike riders allegedly driving recklessly at high speeds along Collins Avenue in the Art Deco District.

Responding officers located the riders and observed the reckless behavior, police said.

Police said the group continued onto Ocean Drive before stopping in the 700 block.

Officers approached the riders on foot and took one of them, identified as Kasshun Williams, into custody without incident, authorities said.

Police said Rolle saw the officers and fled at a high rate of speed despite repeated commands to stop.

As he fled, Rolle struck a 10-year-old girl who was on the sidewalk with her mother, according to police.

The impact knocked the girl to the ground, injuring her elbow and leg. She was treated at the scene by the Miami Beach Fire Department.

Miami Beach police said detectives identified Rolle during their investigation and learned that he was on federal probation for felony possession of a machine gun.

Detectives obtained a warrant for his arrest, and Rolle was taken into custody Wednesday with assistance from the City of Miami Police Department’s Tactical Robbery Unit.

“There is zero tolerance for reckless behavior that endangers the lives of our residents and visitors,” Miami Beach Police Chief Wayne A. Jones said in a statement. “Driving a dirt bike recklessly, striking a 10-year-old child and fleeing without rendering aid is unacceptable.”

Jones said the department would use its resources to identify and hold accountable those who endanger others in Miami Beach.

“If you choose to endanger innocent people in Miami Beach, we will use every available resource to identify you and hold you accountable,” Jones said.

As of Thursday morning, Rolle was being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $2,650 bond.

El respaldo del Senado al proyecto de ley se produce después de que la cámara baja votara abrumadoramente a favor el 6 de mayo. Ahora, pasa al presidente Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, quien se prevé que promulgue la medida.

La legislación propuesta crea un marco jurídico básico para las tierras raras y otros minerales críticos, así como un fondo para otorgar crédito a proyectos mineros. También contempla incentivos fiscales para el procesamiento dentro del país.

Brasil tiene las segundas reservas más grandes del mundo de elementos de tierras raras, que se utilizan en una amplia gama de productos, como teléfonos inteligentes, vehículos eléctricos, paneles solares y motores de reacción.

Aunque China sigue dominando los minerales críticos en las cadenas de suministro globales, Brasil se posiciona como una alternativa al aprovechar sus enormes reservas. Países de todo el mundo han mostrado interés, ya que buscan diversificar alianzas y reducir la dependencia de la potencia asiática.

En un análisis conjunto de la AP y Reporter Brasil se identificó una ola de inversión de Estados Unidos después de que China restringiera el año pasado las exportaciones de tierras raras en respuesta a los aranceles de Estados Unidos; tales inversiones incluyen la compra del único productor comercial de tierras raras de Brasil, Serra Verde, por parte de una firma en la que el gobierno estadounidense tiene participación.

En abril, USA Rare Earth dijo que había acordado pagar aproximadamente 2.800 millones de dólares por Serra Verde, propietaria de la mina de tierras raras y planta de procesamiento de Pela Ema, en el estado brasileño de Goiás.

Lula ha dicho repetidamente que la nación sudamericana debería buscar capitalizar el interés en los minerales para desarrollar una industria nacional, en lugar de simplemente exportar las materias primas.

“No vamos a repetir lo que pasó con la plata y el oro en América Latina”, dijo Lula a periodistas en Washington el 7 de mayo, tras su reunión con el presidente de Estados Unidos, Donald Trump. “Con las tierras raras, vamos a cambiar nuestro comportamiento. Queremos que Brasil sea el gran ganador de estas riquezas”.

El proyecto de ley establece el Fondo de Garantía de la Actividad Mineral con un aporte de 2.000 millones de reales (unos 391 millones de dólares) del gobierno federal para garantizar proyectos y actividades vinculados a la producción de minerales críticos y estratégicos.

La legislación también incluye un programa específico para incentivar el procesamiento y la transformación de los minerales en Brasil, con incentivos federales de 5.000 millones de reales (978 millones de dólares) en créditos fiscales durante cinco años.

Además, el proyecto de ley crea el Consejo Nacional para la Industrialización de Minerales Críticos y Estratégicos, que señalará los proyectos prioritarios que recibirán apoyo del fondo.

La minería, que en algunos casos podría realizarse cerca de reservas en la selva amazónica, conlleva importantes riesgos ambientales.

El Observatorio del Clima, la mayor red de grupos ambientalistas de Brasil, ha criticado el proyecto de ley, argumentando que aumenta la flexibilidad regulatoria sin contrapartidas económicas, climáticas o socioambientales.

“Los minerales críticos y estratégicos son necesarios para la transición energética, pero esto no puede convertirse en un cheque en blanco para la minería. No tiene sentido (...) acelerar propuestas legislativas que no garanticen los derechos de las comunidades y territorios afectados”, señaló Suely Araújo, coordinadora de Políticas Públicas del Observatorio del Clima, en un comunicado emitido el 1 de septiembre.

Leonardo Paz Neves, profesor de relaciones internacionales en la Fundación Getulio Vargas, un centro de estudios y universidad, dijo que Brasil debería entablar un debate público respecto de la exploración y producción de sus recursos.

“Ya hay acceso”, afirmó Paz Neves, al señalar la reciente compra de USA Rare Earth. “La gran pregunta aquí es si el Estado querrá intentar negociar algún tipo de acuerdo privilegiado respecto de ese acceso”.

Tras reunirse con Trump, Lula dejó claro que Brasil también está hablando con otros países. “Brasil tiene la obligación de compartir con quien quiera participar con nosotros, sea Estados Unidos, China, Alemania o Francia”.

En febrero, Brasil e India firmaron un memorando de entendimiento no vinculante sobre minerales críticos y tierras raras, reforzando la cooperación sobre recursos cruciales entre ambos países.

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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 report from the Government Accountability Office found delays and holes in how the Secret Service updates its policies regarding threats, and arrives after a few turbulent years for the agency charged with the president's protection.

The would-be assassin in Butler positioned himself on a roof left unsecured, nicking the president's ear with a bullet. Months later, a man with a rifle got surprisingly close to Trump at his West Palm Beach golf course. And in April, an armed man got beyond security barriers at the White House Correspondent's Dinner, where the president sat.

The report found that between 2015 and 2025 the Secret Service dealt with 83 security incidents and that they updated their protection policies in response to 25 of them. Among the incidents was a drone that made contact with President Barack Obama's motorcade in 2015 and another flown about 200 feet (60 meters) over a rally for then-presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.

Failing to document why the Secret Service decided not to change their policy is the concern, said Nathan Tranquilli, acting director of the Government Accountability Office, adding that the drone incidents were a “compelling example” of that.

“Some of the missing information has been relevant to subsequent attacks,” the report read. It cited the Butler incident, where the culprit flew a drone for 11 minutes over the crowd, which helped him position himself to get clear shot at Trump.

The Secret Service also failed to update eight of 22 protection policies within a required time frame of four years. A memorandum of understanding between the Secret Service and the Diplomatic Security Service, which designates each agencies' responsibilities for the president's overseas security, hasn't been updated since 1991, even though an annual review and update is required. As a consequence, the memorandum doesn't address newer threats, such as drones.

“When you look at the Secret Service and you look at their mission, really it's a zero fail mission, and they’ve got a ton of challenges,” said Tranquilli. “When decisions were being made about where to put time and energy, some of these things fell to the side, and, as a result, there were some delays.”

The report recommended three fixes, including that the Secret Service revise its policy to require that, when a security incident doesn't warrant a policy update, that the rationale is documented.

A spokesperson for the Secret Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but the report stated that the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Secret Service, agreed with all recommendations and plans to implement changes.

Thomas Ross, 37, is charged with conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance. He's accused of asking a campaign manager to plant a small amount of cocaine and a prescription amphetamine pill on his opponent, Louise Secker, in the weeks leading up to the Aug. 4 primary, according to court documents.

Ross, of Joplin, defeated Secker by only a few dozen votes.

Ross did not respond to a Thursday message seeking comment about the charge, which was filed Wednesday. The federal public defender's office assigned to his case didn't immediately reply to a message asking how Ross plans to plead.

Missouri's Republican Party chairman, Peter Kinder, called on Ross to drop out of the race, describing the circumstances of his arrest as “serious and deeply troubling.”

A former campaign manager for Ross told law enforcement officers that Ross provided him with a black nylon glove that contained a small, plastic bag of white powder and a pink and white capsule. He said Ross told him to place it in Secker's purse or vehicle while Ross was out of state on vacation, according to a probable cause statement signed by an FBI agent.

Law enforcement tests later showed the substances to be cocaine and Adderall.

The FBI statement said Ross sent numerous text messages to his campaign staffer regarding “the substance.” In one, Ross said he hoped “that we could make it happen” before Secker attended a Republican women's meeting at a Joplin restaurant in June, “which would be extreme egg on the face,” according to the FBI document.

U.S. Attorney R. Matthew Price said in a statement that voters deserve to have confidence in elections.

“Candidates are expected to conduct their campaigns with integrity, honesty, and respect for their opponents," Price said.

Two trailer truckloads of the famously creamy dark beer valued at 115,000 pounds ($155,000) were stolen from a depot near Liverpool in northwest England, the Cheshire Constabulary said Thursday.

“It is famously said that ‘Guinness is good for you,’ but that is only the case when it has been bought and paid for," Det. Sgt. Gary McClatchy said. “We will settle for nothing less than the full recovery of all the items stolen."

The Guinness had been destined for pubs, but was snatched Monday night by two drivers who pulled up to an industrial park in Runcorn and hauled away the trailers containing about 800 barrels of stout.

The value of the trailers was estimated at 50,000 pounds ($67,000).

The theft comes just weeks after a beer heist in the United States captured the public's attention because of the brewer's cheeky social media posts about the loss of roughly 34,000 cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon.

“To the thief: we don’t fault you for wanting to brag to your friends how much PBR you have, we just wish you obtained it the honorable way,” the company wrote on Instagram. “P.s. this is real and we are deadly serious.”

Police valued the Pabst theft from a Southern California warehouse at $70,000 and the company offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of the stolen suds.

“We thank Maria for her work over the last 12½ years,” a Fox statement read, “and wish her all the best on her next chapter.”

There was no immediate reaction from Bartiromo. Her X account still showed a banner photo Thursday afternoon encouraging people to “grab yourself a cup of coffee, and join us every morning for Mornings With Maria.”

Other high-profile, on-air personalities that have left Fox News Media in recent years include Tucker Carlson and Bill O’Reilly. Former Fox personality Pete Hegseth left the network in 2024 after being nominated as President Donald Trump's secretary of defense.

Bartiromo hosted “Mornings with Maria” that aired on Fox Business Network, the last episode of which aired Thursday morning, as well as “Maria Bartiromo's Wall Street.”

The first show will be renamed “Mornings with Fox Business” and will feature rotating anchors, the company said in its statement. The second will be renamed “FBN's Wall Street” and will also use rotating anchors. Additionally, her weekly Fox News show “Sunday Morning Futures” will be hosted by Jason Chaffetz for the time being.

Bartiromo has frequently earned praise from Trump, who has granted her multiple interviews over the years. He has called her a “great reporter.” Vice President JD Vance, talking with reporters Thursday afternoon, said, “I love Maria.” He said he had not talked to her and did not know the back story.

In 2025, a lawsuit against Fox News by voting technology company Smartmatic alleged that Bartiromo spread false rumors about claims of election fraud on the air — a notion she had vehemently rejected.

Bartiromo had said before an earlier lawsuit involving Fox and Dominion Voting Systems that it’s “absurd” to think that she personally lobbied former Attorney General William Barr to aggressively investigate Trump’s charges of voter fraud during the 2020 election. Instead, she said she was doing a journalist’s job in asking follow-up questions. That case was settled in 2023.

Before Fox, Bartiromo worked for CNBC for 20 years as a financial journalist. Previously to that, she worked for CNN. At CNBC, she pioneered daily live reporting from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange and won an Emmy Award for a documentary about Google.

Having launched “Operation Economic Outcast” just last week to try to isolate Iran from its remaining global trade partners, the Trump administration also resumed strikes in recent days, prompting Iranian retaliation that has renewed concerns of an all-out regional war.

However, the combination of already intense sanctions on Iran and an off-and-on bombing campaign since the war began more than six months ago has not bowed the Iranian leadership and has left the administration struggling to find a way to wind down the conflict. Tehran has dug in its heels — to Trump’s frustration — as energy prices rise, the global economy roils and poll numbers on the administration's handling of the war dip ahead of November’s midterm congressional elections.

Trump said Wednesday that he didn't think the conflict would last “much longer,” but he again shrugged off suggestions that its unpopularity and high gasoline prices resulting from Iran's chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz would affect the elections for Republicans.

“It doesn’t matter. And I’m not affected by the election,” he told reporters. "I’m not running. But my party is running, and I’m going to help my party. But I think my party respects the fact that we’re not allowing Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”

A regional diplomat briefed on the matter described the current impasse between Tehran and Washington as reflective of both countries' domestic priorities: the midterm elections for Trump and Republicans and the internal crises within Iran.

Domestic issues are critical reasons why neither side is willing to blink first, said the diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations.

The diplomat said negotiations, including those between Iran and Oman or even Iran and the U.S., will not go anywhere without addressing the initial catalyst of war: Israel. And the diplomat was skeptical of the Trump administration's new sanctions plan, saying the threats require more explanation than what the U.S. has provided so far.

The Trump administration's economic isolation of Iran is off to a slow start

The administration's new push for Iran's economic isolation was announced with great fanfare last week and a dire warning for all remaining countries to cut off financial and trade ties with Iran or face U.S. retaliation — but the campaign so far has fallen flat.

Just one branch of an Egyptian bank in the United Arab Emirates has been targeted so far. For actual sanctions to bite, experts agree that they must apply to Iran’s main trading partners: mainly China but also India and Russia. But Trump is loath to target China especially as he is preparing to host President Xi Jinping later this month.

Trump also insists that the U.S. has control over the Strait of Hormuz, where one-fifth of the world’s oil transited before the war began. The strategic waterway has been a key pressure point for Iran, and reopening it fully has become one of the prime goals for the U.S. administration.

Ship traffic through the strait is well below pre-war levels due to the risk of attack if vessels don’t comply with an Iranian vetting regime near its coastline, which is in sharp contrast to the unhindered navigation before the war. There were 102 transits last week and 126 the week before, according to shipping data company Lloyd’s List Intelligence, compared with 130 or more per day before the war.

“As President Trump said, the strait is open and all mines have been cleared,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said Thursday. “The naval blockade remains in full force and effect, and Operation Economic Outcast is underway to sever every remaining economic lifeline sustaining the regime.”

The White House has repeatedly touted the economic impact that the sanctions have had on Iran, citing its rampant inflation and the massive loss in the value of its currency. U.S. officials have described Iran's financial system as “one big house of cards.”

Going forward, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said “the price” Iran will pay will be primarily economic, “but we reserve the right ... to take military action when necessary — not just to protect ourselves but to prevent them from being able to threaten others as well.”

“They’re going to continue to feel the squeeze,” he told Fox News host Brian Kilmeade in an interview that aired Wednesday.

Vice President JD Vance said Thursday that he would not characterize the current situation as a “war” but that the administration would respond to any Iranian hostile action.

“Major combat operations are currently not ongoing, and they haven’t been ongoing in a very long time," Vance told reporters during a White House briefing. "In fact, what we did just a couple of days ago is that we made it harder for the Iranians to shoot at commercial shipping again in order to ensure the flow of oil and gas into world energy markets.”

Combining military force and sanctions on Iran ‘is the only option,’ one analyst says

Complicating things for the U.S., Iran’s leadership has shown signs of divisions between moderates more open to a diplomatic solution and hardliners who want to press ahead with a more confrontational approach.

President Masoud Pezeshkian is one of the most prominent voices still calling for a negotiated solution. But the hardliners appear to have gained the upper hand, and Iran shows no sign of backing down. Tehran continues to lash out at U.S. interests and allies around the region in response to military strikes.

“This kind of a hybrid approach — the combination of military force, blockade and economic pressure — that is the only option that seems to be available to the United States at this moment,” said Hamidreza Azizi, senior Iran analyst for the International Crisis Group.

Still, he said, “it’s been for a long time, but now maybe more than ever, a battle of endurance between the two sides.”

Amr Hamzawy, director of the Middle East program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, pointed to two main reasons for the deteriorating situation.

“One, none of the two parties is satisfied with the outcome — meaning that the current situation does not serve U.S. interests well, and it does not serve Iranian interests well,” Hamzawy said.

The other reason is how leaders from both sides are perceived at home.

“The Trump administration is afraid of being portrayed in the U.S. as an administration that failed to end a military campaign successfully, and that’s going to impact the midterm elections," he said. “And the Iranians, especially the Revolutionary Guard, are quite afraid of appearing as if they are submitting to U.S. sanctions with no actions on their side, which might hurt them domestically.”

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Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Will Weissert in Washington and David McHugh in Frankfurt, Germany, contributed to this report.

The Senate’s backing of the bill comes after the lower house overwhelmingly voted in favor on May 6. It now heads to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is expected to sign the measure into law.

The proposed legislation creates a basic legal framework for rare earths and other critical minerals and a fund to provide credit to mining projects. It also provides for tax incentives for domestic processing.

Brazil has the world’s second-largest reserves of rare earth elements, used in a wide range of products, including smartphones, electric vehicles, solar panels and jet engines.

While China continues to dominate critical minerals in global supply chains, Brazil is positioning itself as an alternative by leveraging its vast reserves. Countries around the world have shown interest as they seek to diversify partnerships and reduce reliance on the Asian powerhouse.

A joint analysis by the AP and Reporter Brazil identified a wave of U.S. investment after China last year restricted rare earth exports in response to U.S. tariffs, including the purchase of Brazil’s only commercial rare earth producer, Serra Verde, by a firm in which the U.S. government has a stake.

In April, USA Rare Earth said it had agreed to pay approximately $2.8 billion for Serra Verde, owner of the Pela Ema rare earth mine and processing plant in Brazil’s Goias state.

Government-screening power

Lula has repeatedly said that the South American nation should seek to capitalize on interest in the minerals to develop a national industry, rather than simply export the raw materials.

“We’re not going to repeat what happened with silver and gold in Latin America,” Lula told journalists in Washington on May 7, after his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump. “With rare earths, we’re going to change our behavior. We want Brazil to be the big winner of these riches.”

The bill establishes the Mineral Activity Guarantee Fund with a contribution of 2 billion reais (about $391 million) from the federal government to guarantee projects and activities linked to the production of critical and strategic minerals.

The legislation also includes a specific program to encourage processing and transforming the minerals in Brazil, with federal incentives of 5 billion reais ($978 million) in tax credits over five years.

In addition, the bill creates the National Council for the Industrialization of Critical and Strategic Minerals, which will indicate priority projects to receive support from the fund.

The council will screen and approve certain forms of foreign investment and influence in companies holding critical and strategic mineral rights, potentially giving the government a de facto veto.

That increases legal uncertainty for investors, said Jaques Paes, a business professor at the Getulio Vargas Foundation. “It puts rare earths in a political realm rather than a technical one.”

Environmental risks

Mining, which in some cases could happen near reserves in the Amazon rainforest, also comes with major environmental risks.

The Climate Observatory, Brazil’s largest network of environmental groups, has criticized the bill, alleging that it increases regulatory flexibility without economic, climate or socioenvironmental trade-offs.

“Critical and strategic minerals are necessary for the energy transition, but this cannot become a blank check for mining. It makes no sense (...) to accelerate legislative proposals that do not guarantee the rights of affected communities and territories,” said Suely Araújo, Public Policy Coordinator at the Climate Observatory, in a statement on Sept. 1.

Leonardo Paz Neves, an international relations professor at the Getulio Vargas Foundation, a think tank and university, said Brazil should engage in a public debate with regard to exploration and production of its resources.

“Access already exists,” said Paz Neves, pointing to USA Rare Earth’s recent purchase. “The big question here is whether the state will want to try to negotiate some kind of privileged agreement regarding that access.”

After meeting with Trump, Lula made clear that Brazil is talking to other countries too. “Brazil has the obligation to share with whoever wants to participate with us, be that the U.S., China, Germany or France.”

In February, Brazil and India signed a nonbinding memorandum of understanding on critical minerals and rare earths, enhancing cooperation on crucial resources between both countries.

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

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The crash happened around 7:40 p.m. near Northwest 51st Terrace and Northwest 33rd Avenue.

According to MDSO, deputies with the agency’s Robbery Intervention Detail (RID) conducted a traffic stop on one of the vehicles shortly before the crash.

Deputies said they confirmed during that stop that the driver, Luis Manuel Perez, 21, of Miami, had an outstanding warrant from the U.S. military, but he fled from them.

“As additional RID units responded to the area the driver entered a dead-end street,” an MDSO spokesperson told Local 10 News in an email Thursday. “After turning around, the driver ran a stop sign, colliding with a civilian vehicle causing it to flip. The impact caused the vehicles to subsequently collide with an unmarked MDSO vehicle occupied by an RID deputy who was in the area searching for the subject.”

A picture obtained by Local 10 shows the flipped vehicle. A person can also be seen on the ground in the area, apparently in handcuffs.

“I seen him hit the car, and I seen him flip over in the air. And that’s when I ran over there,” one witness said. “I seen it while it happened. I seen it -- pieces of the car flying in the air.”

The driver of the civilian vehicle was taken by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center in critical condition, but later died, authorities confirmed.

Deputies said Perez was taken into custody and transported to a local hospital to be evaluated, and the deputy was treated at the scene by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue.

While an arrest affidavit for Perez states that he has an active fugitive warrant from the U.S. military, it does not specify the allegations against him. MDSO officials said additional charges are pending against him as well for Wednesday’s crash.

The victim’s identity has not yet been released as authorities work to notify the next of kin.

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His first day comes as the district faces several challenges, including a proposal to potentially close more than two dozen schools because of declining enrollment.

Villalobos says under-enrolled schools can struggle to offer students a wide range of programs.

“When you have schools that are under enrolled, there are programs that are lacking that ultimately students are suffering because they are not receiving them,” Villalobos said.

He said schools operating at full capacity are more likely to have stronger elective programs, including music, art and physical education.

The possible school consolidations are raising concerns among parents.

Villalobos says the list of schools being considered for closure is preliminary. He is pausing community meetings to give the proposal a closer look.

“I wanna make sure that we have a proper set of research and communication, not only for my purposes as the new superintendent coming in, but also making sure that the board members have a better understanding of why those schools were selected, the process in which they were selected,” Villalobos said.

He says community meetings are expected to resume sometime after the second week of October.

El mensaje de Milei está previsto para las 21 local (00.00 GMT) y será retransmitido por todas las cadenas televisivas. Según el gobierno, se referirá a los “avances diplomáticos” realizados en defensa de la soberanía de las islas en el Atlántico sur, a las que los británicos denominan Falklands y cuya soberanía Argentina reclama desde 1833. Ambos países libraron una guerra por su dominio en 1982 en la que el país sudamericano resultó derrotado.

Las especulaciones en torno del anuncio de Milei aumentaron luego de que Trump —quien profesa una gran simpatía por el mandatario argentino— se refiriera el miércoles al asunto por segunda vez en la semana en una entrevista con la cadena británica GB News.

La entrevistadora le preguntó si acudiría “en ayuda del gobierno británico”, dejando a un lado la histórica neutralidad de Washington, si Milei alude al reclamo. Trump respondió que ese conflicto ha “quedado muy lejos” y a continuación mostró su malestar con el gobierno británico por no haber brindado apoyo militar durante la guerra en Irán.

El lunes había dicho ante consultas periodísticas acerca de si modificaría el alineamiento con Gran Bretaña que “siempre reviso todas mis posturas, esta es sólo una de muchas”.

Las declaraciones fueron leídas como un guiño por Milei, quien señaló que “pasó algo fuerte respecto de la causa más sagrada que tenemos los argentinos”.

Por su parte, el gobierno británico aclaró a través de Tom Wells, portavoz del primer ministro Andy Burnham, que la postura respecto de las islas es “inquebrantable”.

“La soberanía recae en el Reino Unido y el derecho de los isleños a la autodeterminación es primordial”, afirmó Wells. “Los isleños han expresado en repetidas ocasiones su deseo de seguir siendo un territorio británico de ultramar”.

A pesar de que la Constitución argentina establece que la recuperación de las islas y el ejercicio de la soberanía sobre ellas “constituyen un objetivo permanente e irrenunciable”, la relación entre Argentina y el archipiélago es mínima.

No hay comercio directo con las islas —situadas a sólo 480 kilómetros del continente—, y sólo hay un vuelo mensual desde territorio argentino.

Señalamientos contra Milei

Opositores a Milei sostienen que el anuncio de su mensaje es oportunista y basado en declaraciones ambiguas del mandatario estadounidense.

Milei ha sido cuestionado por haber manifestado admiración por la primera ministra Margaret Thatcher —quien envió tropas a Malvinas para luchar contra los argentinos—, como las que hizo durante la campaña que lo llevó al poder en 2023.

En 2025 expresó su esperanza de que los residentes de las islas puedan algún día elegir ser argentinos en lugar de británicos, comentarios que fueron criticados por sus oponentes como excesivamente conciliadores.

Recientemente el presidente apuntó contra el gesto de los jugadores de la Selección de fútbol que desplegaron una pancarta tras la victoria 2-1 ante Inglaterra en el Mundial que se jugó julio que rezaba “Las Malvinas son argentinas”.

“No mezclemos las cosas, entiendo que es difícil... las Malvinas se recuperan con diplomacia sabia y no con gestos de patrioterismo baratos", afirmó Milei a la prensa.

Ese cartel disparó en Argentina, sobre todo entre los jóvenes, un renovado fervor patriótico por las Malvinas.

Lucas Romero, director de Synopsis Consultores, dijo a The Associated Press que pareciera que Milei “está aprovechando las declaraciones de Trump para inflamar o sobreactuar un sentimiento malvinero, para embanderarse con la causa Malvinas”.

Según el politólogo, la estrategia del mandatario sería reposicionarse luego de que fuera muy cuestionado por sus críticas a los jugadores de la Selección durante un partido que “inflamó muchísimo un sentimiento muy profundo en la Argentina, que es el reclamo por la soberanía de las islas, quizás una de las causas que mayor consenso social genera”.

Pero agregó que si el anuncio de Milei no es significativo podría jugarle en contra, “entendiéndose que está sobreactuando”.

Pero la policía de Miami dijo que la “Dra. Lori” era en realidad Latonya Shanice Starks, quien no es una doctora con licencia, sino una delincuente convicta de 33 años sin un “trabajo legítimo”.

Los detectives dijeron que realizaba inyecciones ilegalmente, algunas de las cuales dejaron a pacientes con cicatrices, dolor y abscesos. En un caso, la policía dijo que una víctima creía que las complicaciones finalmente provocaron que sufriera un aborto espontáneo.

Las autoridades dijeron que Starks, de Aventura, operaba Lori Dior Miami Med Spa en 5789 NW Seventh Ave., en el vecindario Liberty City de Miami.

“Bultos”, “irritación”, “abscesos” y un aborto espontáneo

La policía de Miami dijo que recibió denuncias en mayo y junio sobre Starks de mujeres que acudieron a la “Dra. Lori” para recibir Sculptra, descrito en los informes de arresto como un “relleno dérmico”.

En un caso, la policía dijo que una mujer que afirmó haber encontrado a Starks a través de la página de Instagram loridior_beautyspa acudió a la clínica en septiembre para recibir Sculptra, que “le fue presentado como una inyección para disolver grasa”.

“La víctima posteriormente se enteró de que presuntamente le habían inyectado lemon bottle, una sustancia extranjera para disolver grasa que no está aprobada por la Administración de Alimentos y Medicamentos de Estados Unidos”, escribió un detective del Departamento de Policía de Miami en uno de los informes de arresto. “La víctima declaró que después de recibir las inyecciones, la sustancia posteriormente comenzó a salir a través de su piel en las mismas áreas donde había sido inyectada”.

La policía dijo que la mujer “sufrió una reacción médica adversa grave y requirió hospitalizaciones repetidas durante un período de aproximadamente tres meses”.

La mujer, quien quedó embarazada en enero, creía que sufrió un aborto espontáneo meses después debido a los medicamentos que tuvo que tomar para tratar las complicaciones, señala uno de los informes de arresto.

En otro caso, la policía dijo que una mujer que también encontró a Starks a través de Instagram acudió a la clínica con su hermana en octubre para recibir inyecciones.

Una de las mujeres, quien dijo que intentaba eliminar los “hundimientos de cadera”, afirmó que Starks utilizó una aguja de insulina para inyectar en sus glúteos y abdomen lo que la víctima creía que era Sculptra, señala el informe.

Un detective del Departamento de Policía de Miami señaló que la sustancia “normalmente se inyecta con una jeringa más grande que una aguja del tipo utilizado para insulina porque las partículas pueden obstruirla”.

La policía dijo que la víctima, quien pagó a Starks $1,200 USD, nunca vio una caja de Sculptra y no estaba segura de que eso fuera lo que realmente recibió. Dijeron que la víctima también pagó a Starks $650 USD para que su hermana, quien estaba en el sur de Florida procedente de Kentucky para celebrar su cumpleaños, recibiera las inyecciones como regalo.

Según un informe de arresto, ambas mujeres dijeron que comenzaron a experimentar “bultos e irritación” después de recibir las inyecciones. Ambas mujeres, dijo la policía, tuvieron que someterse a múltiples procedimientos para drenar abscesos y reparar cicatrices, y ambas continúan sufriendo dolor en los lugares donde recibieron las inyecciones.

Una de las mujeres dijo que incluso perdió su trabajo “porque faltó al trabajo debido a las múltiples citas médicas a las que tuvo que acudir para reparar sus cicatrices y drenar sus abscesos”, dijo la policía.

Publicaciones en Instagram y antecedentes por delitos graves

La policía dijo que revisó la cuenta de Instagram loridior_beautyspa, donde videos mostraban a “Starks grabándose mientras afirmaba que ya no realiza inyecciones e indicaba a las personas que dejaran de contactarla para solicitar inyecciones”.

Una publicación en la cuenta dice: “Lori Dior SOLO ofrece capacitaciones. No presto servicios. Puedo recomendarles personas, pero dejé de hacer bbl líquidos hace 2 años”.

“Mis clases son MUY DE BARRIO”, decía una publicación sobre una sesión de capacitación.

Otras publicaciones incluyen anuncios de la “máquina exclusiva POWERBOOTY™ para aumento de glúteos” de Lori Dior, que muestran lo que parecen ser videos generados por inteligencia artificial de mujeres cuyos glúteos son inflados significativamente por las máquinas en una playa.

Los detectives dijeron que los registros revelaron que Lori Dior nunca tuvo licencia del estado y que “una investigación adicional reveló que Starks había recibido previamente una orden de cese y desistimiento del estado de Georgia por operaciones similares antes de realizar negocios en Miami”.

Los registros del Departamento de Correcciones de Georgia muestran que Starks, oriunda de ese estado, fue condenada por cometer múltiples delitos, incluyendo falsificación en primer grado y hurto en tiendas, en los suburbios de Atlanta en 2010. La policía de Miami dijo que estaba en libertad condicional al momento de su arresto el miércoles.

Parada de tráfico y arresto

Starks, dijo la policía, fue puesta bajo custodia después de una parada de tráfico cerca de su casa en Aventura.

Un registro de su vehículo reveló “equipos médicos y cosméticos, incluyendo agujas, un recipiente para objetos punzocortantes, vendajes y empaques etiquetados como Sculptra 150”, dijo la policía.

Dijeron que obtuvieron una orden para registrar su apartamento en el edificio de condominios Portsview at the Waterways, ubicado en 3610 Yacht Club Drive, y encontraron “equipos médicos y cosméticos adicionales”.

Las autoridades dijeron que Starks afirmó que una enfermera registrada llamada “Kate”, de quien no pudo proporcionar apellido, número de teléfono ni credenciales, era quien realizaba las inyecciones.

Starks ahora enfrenta tres cargos por ejercer la atención médica sin licencia causando lesiones graves, así como dos cargos por posesión de un arma de fuego por parte de una delincuente convicta.

Los registros muestran que permanecía detenida en el Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight con una fianza total de más de $30,000 USD.

When he got out after serving 23 years and started looking for work, “I had to start from the bottom. The very, very bottom,” Christian said. "I was willing to work anywhere. I just wanted to change my life."

Having a criminal record, as an estimated 1 in 3 American adults do, creates hurdles for people seeking employment, especially in fields that require licenses, according to the Vera Institute of Justice, a nonprofit that aims to end mass incarceration. Meeting with parole officers, a need to secure stable housing and other conditions of release, along with discrimination, compound the typical challenges of job hunting.

“Even when they come home with skills and credentials, they see fewer job opportunities and they earn less money than people who don’t have convictions,” Ruth Delaney, who directs a higher education initiative at the Vera Institute, said.

After Christian's release, his parole officer suggested applying for a job at Toyotetsu, an auto parts manufacturer. The company hires former inmates through a second-chance program. Christian, now 53, got a welding job there and began rebuilding his life.

“I had to learn on the go, on the fly," he said nine years later. "I already had my mind set — I wasn’t going to fail.”

Here are strategies shared by former inmates and reentry specialists for finding work after incarceration.

Develop skills before and after entering the workforce

People incarcerated in prisons with educational programs can build job skills by taking college-level courses or pursuing a professional certification.

Inmates interested in seeking a degree from an eligible college or university can apply for a federal Pell Grant to help cover the cost. The grants were unavailable to incarcerated students for decades, but the Vera Institute and other groups persuaded Congress to restore access.

Incarcerated people who pursue college programs have 48% lower odds of returning to prison than those who do not, according to Vera Institute research. “People who go home and are able to get living-wage jobs do better during reentry," Delaney said. “They're able to get jobs that can support themselves and their families.”

Ryan Cuellar, who went to jail at age 18, received federal financial aid after his release to learn paralegal skills, which he then used to get his record sealed. He eventually earned a master’s degree and now works as a sales consultant for a tutoring company.

“I can't drive home enough how much determination you need to have for yourself," Cuellar said.

Prison work experience is another way to gain skills that are worth including on a resume. You don't have to spell out that your employer was a correctional institution, according to Laura Rivero, an instructor at Leap for Ladies, a nonprofit that teaches employment, entrepreneurship and life skills to women in prison.

Someone who worked in the kitchen of a Florida prison, for example, could list “State of Florida” as the employer and describe the experience as “operated commercial dishwashing machines” or “prepared and served foods in a high-volume dining facility,” Rivero said.

Christian took up welding in prison, which helped him land his first job at Toyotetsu. He still is at the company, where he mentors new employees. He is taking social work classes with the goal of earning an associate degree and helping other former inmates transition into working life.

Seek out employers with second-chance hiring programs

A number of U.S. companies, including large employers like JP Morgan Chase and Virgin Atlantic, work intentionally to hire people with criminal records. The Business Roundtable, a nonprofit association of American CEOs, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have promoted “ second-chance hiring” as a policy that can help address labor shortages as baby boomers retire in large numbers.

Some types of businesses, such as restaurants and warehouses, have established track records for hiring former inmates. Manufacturing jobs and technical positions in health care are growing opportunities as well, Delaney said.

Before a release date, think about who might be able to help you find a job — cousins, former coworkers, teachers or a former boss, Rivero said.

“Some of my students have a lot of shame about their conviction, and they say, ‘I don’t want to reach out to someone because I’m ashamed of where I am,’” she said. “Maybe they don’t respond. Maybe they do. And you don’t know until you try.”

Be prepared to talk about your past

After Joe Anderson left prison and completed house arrest, a friend who worked at a welding plant said the plant needed a dock manager to handle deliveries.

Anderson went there, asked to speak to a manager, and said, “I got out of prison, I really need a job, and I will show up for work because I need this job to stay out of jail.”

The manager appreciated his honesty; Anderson got the job and held it for four years.

“I’ve never really tried to hide anything from anybody because there’s no real point in it with technology these days,” he said. “Anybody can find out anything about you.”

Parole officers showed up at the plant three or four times, Anderson said.

“It’s embarrassing, but at the same time, it got done and they’d show up, just see that I was working and then just wander off,” he said.

Anderson, 34, now earns a salary as a commercial plumber, a job that provides insurance, a pension and a 401(k). “None of that would have been possible if I wasn’t honest about what happened and if I just didn’t get up and try,” he said.

Rivero advises her Leap for Ladies students to disclose a prior conviction during job interviews. She suggested starting with a brief description of your strengths and skills, mentioning that a rough time in your life landed you in prison, and pivoting back to all your positive qualities.

“I tell them, ‘Look, you’re not your conviction, you’re not the worst day of your life,’” Rivero said. “You can frame the narrative if you bring it up."

Prepare for success by making lifestyle changes

Getting a job is an important step. Keeping it and succeeding require their own strategies.

Christian said his first job required 12-hour shifts five or six days per week, with a schedule that alternated between day and night shifts.

“It won’t just be 8-hour jobs,” he said. “You’ve got to learn how to shift your sleep patterns. ... You’ve got to get proper rest.”

After Cuellar started working, he noticed habits he had acquired while incarcerated and needed to break. “I developed a slang that I had to unlearn," he recalled. "I didn’t realize it was a survival mechanism.”

The change was a big adjustment for Anderson, who before prison was out drinking at parties and raves every night. These days he wakes up around 4 a.m. to get to work on time.

“It is 100% harder to get up every single day to go to work, bust your body, but it’s lot more rewarding at the end of the day,” Anderson said. “My children are very proud of me. My family’s proud of me again."

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Share your stories and questions about workplace wellness at cbussewitz@ap.org. Follow AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health at https://apnews.com/hub/be-well

The two-time U.S. Open champion went out early on a day that had also had Alex Eala and Iga Swiatek on the schedule, with Coco Gauff headlining the action at night.

Doubles play also began Thursday, though Serena and Venus Williams were not on the schedule. They could play their first-round match Friday against Hao-Ching Chan and Maya Joint, who beat Serena in singles play at Wimbledon this summer.

Osaka wore silver and white under her long white jacket with a white visor for her match in Arthur Ashe Stadium, after she was dressed in black with her hair done in cornrows under a headband in a tribute to former NBA superstar Allen Iverson for her opener at night.

The No. 13 seed appeared headed for a quick afternoon against Siniakova, who is ranked No. 1 in women’s doubles but not as strong in singles as a player such as Osaka, who has won four Grand Slam titles.

Osaka won the first set in 30 minutes and then opened a 4-2 lead in the second. But she then had her serve broken in a lengthy next game and eventually her level of play took a substantial dip, with 20 unforced errors in the set after only four in the first.

Osaka quickly regained control, breaking for a 2-0 lead in the third before finishing a 19-shot rally with a volley for a winner en route to taking the next game, appearing more relieved than excited by her nice touch.

“The match was definitely really tough and I don’t know, I just felt like I had to fight,” Osaka said. “I definitely had a couple opportunities in the second set and I think I was a little bit too hard on myself. So I took the bathroom break, regrouped a little, came back and just tried to have no regrets.”

Swiatek, the 2022 U.S. Open champion, had it much easier with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Nadia Podoroska. Eala, the No. 17 seed from the Philippines, faced a lengthy wait for her start after No. 3 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, the No. 3 seed, went to a fourth set against Karen Khachanov in the match preceding her.

Gauff, who won her first major title at Flushing Meadows in 2023, faces Paula Badosa in a night match that will be followed by No. 1 Alexander Zverev, who hopes for an easier time against Quentin Halys after he needed five sets to edge Lorenzo Sonego on Tuesday, barely avoiding becoming the first No. 1 seed to lose in the first round of a men's major since 2003.

Badosa will be playing for the second straight day, forced to finish her first-round match Wednesday after play was suspended Tuesday because of rain that hampered the tournament for multiple days. The sun was out again Thursday when play began.

Other men in action include No. 9 Taylor Fritz and Gael Monfils, who is planning to retire after this year but won Tuesday on his 40th birthday to prolong his Grand Slam career and advance to face No. 14 Learner Tien.

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See AP’s full tennis coverage here

Christian Castro, the officer who authorities say shot Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in the leg in January, has been charged with making false statements to federal investigators, according to the person, who was not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The federal charges, which remain under seal, follow Castro's release from jail last week after Texas’ governor refused to immediately sign an extradition warrant to hand him over to Minnesota authorities, who have charged him separately with assault and false reporting of a crime related to the same shooting.

Federal authorities had initially accused Sosa-Celis and another man of beating an officer with a broom handle and a snow shovel during the confrontation. But federal prosecutors dropped charges against the men after video evidence showed the officers may have lied about the encounter, and officials opened an investigation.

Charges stem from nonfatal shooting during Operation Metro Surge

Castro is the first federal immigration officer to be prosecuted by the Trump administration related to actions taken during the massive Operation Metro Surge in the Twin Cities that began in January 2026. No attorney is listed for Castro in the case brought by Minnesota and it was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer to speak on his behalf.

Thousands of officers were sent to the Minneapolis and St. Paul area by the Department of Homeland Security in what was its largest immigration enforcement operation ever. The shooting deaths of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal officers drew condemnation and raised questions over officers’ conduct, prompting changes to the operation.

Earlier this week, a federal prosecutor working on the case told lawyers for Sosa-Celis and other victims that Justice Department officials blocked the prosecutor’s push to bring a more serious civil rights charge against the officer for the shooting, ProPublica reported on Wednesday.

But the person familiar with the investigation disputed the prosecutor’s characterization, saying the civil rights probe is continuing and there has been no final decision on whether to bring additional charges. The prosecutor, Matthew Evans, has been fired and is under investigation for alleged obstruction of a grand jury probe, the person said.

An automatic email response from Evans' Justice Department account said he was on leave. Other attempts to reach him were not immediately successful.

An attorney for Sosa-Celis said the Justice Department has “grossly undercharged this case," adding that Castro's statements were made to “cover up the fact that he shot my client through the door of an occupied house without a self-defense justification.”

“Mr. Sosa Celis wants Mr. Castro to be held fully accountable for his crimes,” said the attorney, Robin Wolpert. The American Liberties Union of Minnesota said Thursday that Sosa-Celis also plans to seek damages from the federal government.

Castro is also facing charges from Minnesota authorities

Castro was initially arrested in May in the Minnesota case, and he was held in custody in Brownsville, Texas, a city bordering Mexico, while Minnesota officials sought his extradition. But Texas Gov. Greg Abbott refused to immediately sign off, citing continuing investigations of fraud in government social service programs in Minnesota, which Trump used to justify his immigration crackdown there.

Minnesota officials had sought to stop the sheriff in Cameron County, Texas, from releasing Castro, out of fear that he would flee to Mexico. According to a lawsuit filed by Minnesota, Castro had a conversation with a woman, while he was incarcerated, where he spoke about marrying her and buying a house in Mexico after his release.

But Castro was released a week ago after a federal judge refused to order Texas to extradite him.

The Department of Homeland Security previously called Minnesota’s prosecution of Castro “unlawful and nothing more than a political stunt,” saying only federal authorities have jurisdiction in the case.

Castro was placed on leave during the federal probe

Castro was suspended from ICE without pay in February while federal authorities conducted the investigation.

“The men and women of ICE are entrusted with upholding the rule of law and are held to the highest standards of professionalism, integrity, and ethical conduct,” ICE's acting director at the time, Todd Lyons, said then. “Violations of this sacred sworn oath will not be tolerated. ICE remains fully committed to transparency, accountability, and the fair enforcement of our nation’s immigration laws.”

Minnesota officials alleged that Castro, 52, fired through the front door of a home and shot Sosa-Celis in the thigh.

Castro and another officer had chased a different man, Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna, to the Minneapolis apartment duplex where he and Sosa-Celis lived. Minnesota prosecutors said the officer then falsely accused Sosa-Celis and another man of attacking an ICE officer with a broom handle and a snow shovel.

Attorneys for Sosa-Celis and Aljorna didn’t immediately respond to emails Thursday from the AP.

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Gonzalez reported from McAllen, Texas.

The report drew no conclusions about the nature of Russini’s relationship with Vrabel, who said he took accountability for his actions without addressing photos released of the coach and the reporter at a resort in Arizona. He stepped away from the team on the third day of the NFL draft to begin counseling and returned soon afterward.

“We neither completed an investigation nor reached any conclusion about the nature of the full relationship between Vrabel and Russini, but the totality of the public photographs are enough to conclude a violation of company policy,” the report said.

Steven Ginsberg, executive editor at The Athletic, a New York Times-owned sports outlet, addressed the report in a message to employees Thursday.

“We undertook this review to ensure the integrity of our journalism and to maintain the trust our audience places in us. Nothing is more important than our credibility,” Ginsberg wrote.

Mike Semel, editorial director for standards and quality at The Athletic, conducted the review of Russini’s work, examining 903 stories, 204 episodes of her podcast and 77 videos.

“The review found that the vast majority of Dianna’s stories were unrelated to Vrabel, and most of those that mentioned him did not raise concerns,” Ginsberg told the staff. “We have, however, added editor’s notes to four stories — one written and three videos — that did not meet our standards.”

The photos of Vrabel and Russini were taken in Sedona, Arizona, before the annual NFL meetings that began in Phoenix on March 29, according to the New York Post. Vrabel and Russini are both married. The NFL did not investigate Vrabel’s actions.

“Russini’s relationship with Vrabel was in clear violation of The Athletic’s standards,” Semel wrote in the report. “Regardless of whether the relationship was romantic, it was a breach and should have been disclosed."

Vrabel led the Patriots to the Super Bowl in February, where they lost to Seattle. He was the AP NFL Coach of the Year in his first season in New England, finishing 63 points ahead of Jacksonville’s Liam Coen.

Russini told the AP on Thursday that she stands by what she wrote in her resignation letter in April.

“I have covered the NFL with professionalism and dedication throughout my career, and I stand behind every story I have ever published. When the Page Six item first appeared, The Athletic supported me unequivocally, expressed confidence in my work and pride in my journalism. For that I am grateful. In the days that followed, unfortunately, commentators in various media have engaged in self-feeding speculation that is simply unmoored from the facts,” Russini said then, adding she was stepping away "not because I accept the narrative that has been constructed around this episode, but because I refuse to lend it further oxygen or to let it define me or my career.”

Vrabel said Thursday he didn’t have any reaction to the report on Russini, adding he’s “moved on” as he prepares for this season.

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AP Sports Writer Kyle Hightower contributed to this report.

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See AP’s full NFL coverage here

The benchmark 30-year fixed rate mortgage rate rose 6.71% from 6.66% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. One year ago, the average rate was 6.50%.

Higher mortgage rates can add hundreds of dollars a month in costs for borrowers, limiting homebuyers’ purchasing power. As rates rise, that can lead prospective home shoppers to delay buying a home, one reason U.S. home sales remain in a rut this year.

The average rate is now the highest it's been since July 31, 2025, when it was at 6.72%.

Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, often sought by borrowers refinancing a home loan, also rose this week. That average rate increased to 6.04% from 5.98% last week. A year ago, it was at 5.60%.

Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, including inflation, broader policy rate decisions from the Federal Reserve and expectations from bond market investors for the economy. They generally follow the trajectory of the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans.

Both mortgage rates and the bond market have been mostly rising this year due to the U.S. war with Iran, which has fueled expectations for hotter inflation as crude oil prices soared. Long-term bond yields remain steeper than they were before the conflict began in late February, helping drive mortgage rates higher.

Over the past week, renewed fighting between the U.S. and Iran has ratcheted pressure on oil markets, driving up prices for crude. Higher oil prices can push up inflation, which drives up bond yields.

The 10-year Treasury yield was 4.74% as of midday Thursday on the bond market. It was at 4.67% last Thursday. Before the war, it was just 3.97% in late February.

Worries about the U.S. government’s growing debt have also helped drive up long term bond yields, prompting the U.S. Treasury Department to intervene last month.

As inflation remains elevated, pressure is increasing on the Federal Reserve to take action to help lower it.

Fed Chair Kevin Warsh said last week at the Fed’s annual economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, that inflation had not shown sufficient improvement and that the central bank might have “more work to do,” a sign he is weighing a rate increase at the Fed’s next meeting Sept. 15-16.

Wall Street expects the central bank to raise interest rates before the year ends in an effort to cool inflation, which remains well above 3%. The Fed has a stated goal of cooling inflation to a target of 2%.

The central bank doesn’t set mortgage rates, but its decisions to raise or lower its short-term rate are watched closely by bond investors and can ultimately affect the yield on 10-year Treasurys.

“We don’t expect any real mortgage rate relief this fall, but if inflation isn’t tamed, the pain will be real,” said Jiayi Xu, senior economist at Realtor.com. “Higher inflation would simultaneously erode paychecks and real income growth while keeping mortgage rates elevated for longer. That’s a squeeze on housing from both sides: what people can afford, and what they’re willing to buy into.”

The U.S. housing market has been in a slump since 2022, when mortgage rates began to climb from pandemic-era lows. Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes were essentially flat last year, stuck at a 30-year low. U.S. sales of those homes again slowed in July.

Firefighters relentlessly tackled wildfires throughout the summer, even in normally cooler and wetter regions in the north and Brittany, as France experienced one of its driest years ever. A historic fire devoured forests near Bordeaux and forced a quarter of a million people to evacuate from their homes.

“We have experienced the hottest summer ever recorded since measurements began in 1900,” Environment Minister Monique Barbut said at a presentation of the climate report covering the months of June, July and August.

According to national weather agency Meteo France, the summer of 2026 recorded an average temperature of 24 degrees Celsius (75.2 degrees Fahrenheit), covering day and nighttime. It's 3.6 C (6.5 F) above the normal average, and higher than in 2003, when temperatures were 2.7 C (4.9 F) above normal.

Millions in France, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe experienced extreme temperatures this summer. Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, with temperatures increasing at twice the speed as the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.

Meteo France, said the summer was marked by very low rainfall, with a deficit of nearly 40%, making it the second driest since records began.

There was an unprecedented number of heat wave days, with 53 days across three episodes throughout the season, far exceeding the summer of 2022 with 33 days.

Record-breaking ocean temperatures across all of mainland France and Corsica’s coastlines were recorded, and very hot spells occurred outside the summer months, such as last May and early September, which are a sign of climate change, Meteo France added.

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Read more of AP’s climate coverage

On Wednesday, the NBA imposed a sweeping punishment against the Clippers for violating salary cap circumvention rules, including suspending owner Steve Ballmer for one year, fining the team $30 million, forcing the organization to forfeit five first-round draft picks and fining Leonard $700,000.

Leonard was not suspended for any games, raising questions about what's next for the two-time NBA Finals MVP.

The Raptors and Clippers struck a deal on June 30 on a trade that would send Leonard back to the team he helped lead to the 2019 NBA championship. The Raptors agreed to send Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, two first-round draft picks, two second-round picks and pick swaps to the Clippers.

In July, the trade was put on hold pending the outcome of the NBA’s investigation.

The Raptors have declined to comment on the status of the deal to acquire Leonard now that the league has announced the fallout from its investigation.

Leonard, 35, is coming off the highest-scoring season of his career, averaging 27.9 points while playing 65 games last year with the Clippers.

A seven-time All-NBA selection and two-time NBA champion, Leonard is considered one of the game’s top defensive players. He also won the 2014 NBA title with San Antonio.

In Toronto, Leonard would join a roster led by two-time All-Star Scottie Barnes, Canadian star RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley and talented youngster Collin Murray-Boyles.

The Raptors finished 46-36 in 2025-26 and took the Cleveland Cavaliers to seven games in a first-round playoff series defeat. It was Toronto’s first playoff appearance in four years.

So far this summer, the Raptors have signed general manager Bobby Webster to a multiyear contract extension and promoted him to executive vice president, and agreed to a multiyear extension with coach Darko Rajakovic.

On July 7, Leonard was in the front row at Kyle Lowry’s Toronto news conference when Lowry announced he was retiring as a member of the Raptors. Ingram attended a Clippers Summer League game in Las Vegas on July 10.

The NBA began investigating in September 2025 whether a $28 million endorsement contract between Leonard and Aspiration Fund Adviser LLC — a company that filed for bankruptcy last year — broke league rules, following a report by journalist Pablo Torre. Earlier this year, Aspiration co-founder Joseph Sanberg was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to defrauding investors and lenders of at least $248 million.

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See AP’s full NBA coverage here

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Deputies with the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, who is the leading agency on the case, said Kentreal Sharmaine Smith, 37, was taken into custody and charged in connection with the Aug. 18 fatal shooting that occurred outside of Valentine’s Market, located at 636 SW Sixth Ave.

They said officers from the Homestead Police Department responded just after midnight to the market after a ShotSpotter alert detected 11 rounds being fired.

Authorities said they found the victim on the sidewalk suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. They said Miami-Dade Fire Rescue medics pronounced him dead at 12:16 a.m.

They said 11 shell casings from a 9 mm firearm were recovered at the scene, according to the report.

Smith’s arrest report states that surveillance video and a witness placed him across the street from the market moments before the shooting, watching as the victim sat on the sidewalk at the west end of the building.

Deputies said Smith at some point climbed onto an electric bike and rode around the area of the market before approaching the victim from behind the building and opening fire.

They said Smith then fled westbound to a route that was consistent with his girlfriend’s Florida City home.

An autopsy conducted Aug. 18 by Miami-Dade County Associate Medical Examiner determined the victim died of multiple gunshot wounds, with the manner of death classified as a homicide, the report states.

Authorities located Smith at his home near the 800 block of Fifth Court in Florida City and arrested him, the report states.

Inside the home, officers found an electric bike with a 9 mm gun tucked in its pouch in the living room, according to the report.

Smith was transported to the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office Homicide Bureau, where he “confessed his involvement in the homicide,” the report states.

Authorities have not released any information on the victim’s age or identity, and a motive for the shooting remains unclear at this time.

Jail records show Smith is facing one count of second-degree murder with a weapon.

As of Thursday, he was being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, where his bond was listed as “to be set.” Records show he is also facing multiple drug-related charges that include possession of cocaine and illegal possession of a firearm as a convicted felon in an unrelated case.

Agentes de la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade, la agencia a cargo del caso, dijeron que Kentreal Sharmaine Smith, de 37 años, fue puesto bajo custodia y acusado en relación con la balacera mortal del 18 de agosto que ocurrió afuera de Valentine’s Market, ubicado en 636 SW Sixth Ave.

Dijeron que agentes del Departamento de Policía de Homestead respondieron al mercado poco después de la medianoche luego de que una alerta de ShotSpotter detectara 11 disparos.

Las autoridades dijeron que encontraron a la víctima en la acera con múltiples heridas de bala. Dijeron que paramédicos del Cuerpo de Bomberos de Miami-Dade lo declararon muerto a las 12:16 a.m.

Dijeron que se recuperaron en el lugar 11 casquillos de un arma de fuego de 9 mm, según el informe.

El informe de arresto de Smith señala que un video de vigilancia y un testigo lo ubicaron al otro lado de la calle frente al mercado momentos antes de la balacera, observando mientras la víctima estaba sentada en la acera en el extremo oeste del edificio.

Los agentes dijeron que Smith en algún momento se subió a una bicicleta eléctrica y recorrió el área del mercado antes de acercarse a la víctima desde la parte trasera del edificio y abrir fuego.

Dijeron que Smith luego huyó hacia el oeste por una ruta que coincidía con la dirección de la casa de su novia en Florida City.

Una autopsia realizada el 18 de agosto por un médico forense asociado del condado Miami-Dade determinó que la víctima murió por múltiples heridas de bala y que la manera de muerte fue clasificada como homicidio, señala el informe.

Las autoridades localizaron a Smith en su casa cerca de la cuadra 800 de Fifth Court en Florida City y lo arrestaron, señala el informe.

Dentro de la casa, los agentes encontraron una bicicleta eléctrica con un arma de 9 mm guardada en su bolsa en la sala, según el informe.

Smith fue trasladado a la Oficina de Homicidios de la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade, donde “confesó su participación en el homicidio”, señala el informe.

Las autoridades no han divulgado información sobre la edad o identidad de la víctima, y el motivo de la balacera sigue sin estar claro en este momento.

Los registros de la cárcel muestran que Smith enfrenta un cargo de asesinato en segundo grado con un arma.

Hasta el jueves, permanecía detenido en el Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight, donde su fianza figuraba como “por determinar”. Los registros muestran que también enfrenta múltiples cargos relacionados con drogas, que incluyen posesión de cocaína y posesión ilegal de un arma de fuego por parte de un delincuente convicto en un caso no relacionado.

Tras meses de decir que Cuba sería la próxima, el secretario de Estado Marco Rubio dijo hoy que el presidente tiene las manos atadas debido a la Ley Helms-Burton, que exige que no haya normalización entre EE.UU. y Cuba a menos que haya un cambio de régimen y un avance hacia un gobierno democrático.

Incluso si Raul Castro muriera en un futuro cercano, no espero un cambio de régimen.

Solo EE.UU. puede cambiar la Ley Helms-Burton y no espero que eso ocurra en un futuro cercano ni después de las elecciones de mitad de mandato.

2 de septiembre: Niños en Cuba comienzan nuevo año escolar en medio de más desafíos que en cualquier otro año anterior

Los niños en Cuba comenzaron el martes el nuevo año escolar enfrentando una falta de suministros, libros, uniformes y maestros, además de edificios que se están deteriorando y falta de alimentos para alimentar a los niños.

Según el ministro de Educación de Cuba, este será un año muy difícil, como ningún otro.

La educación cubana fue alguna vez uno de los grandes logros de la revolución. Sin embargo, también fue utilizada para adoctrinar a los estudiantes en una ideología en la que ya nadie en la nación isleña cree.

1 de septiembre: Raul Castro es hospitalizado, según fuentes

Fuentes confiables dentro de Cuba me informaron esta tarde que Raul Castro ha sido hospitalizado. Debemos ser cautelosos y no especular demasiado sobre lo que podría suceder hasta nuevo aviso.

El Dr. Andy S. Gomez es analista de Cuba de Local 10. Gomez es considerado uno de los principales expertos sobre Cuba. Trabajó en la educación superior durante 32 años antes de retirarse de la Universidad de Miami en 2012.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sept. 1: Raul Castro hospitalized, sources say

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

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

The Treasury Department proposed the change Thursday in a new regulation that, if made final, would kick in after May 2027. The rule is broadly aimed at ending any policies or programs that help students because of their race, and it specifically says such benefits in admissions, scholarships and facilities “would be incompatible” with the rule.

It’s the latest attempt by the Trump administration to pressure schools and colleges to weed out diversity, equity and inclusion policies that had become common before President Donald Trump returned to the White House with a promise to end them. Trump officials have used Civil Rights-era laws to unwind the policies, saying they discriminate against white and Asian American students.

Higher education leaders criticized the proposal.

“The administration’s latest rules changes are its most blatant attack to keep working class Americans and people of color from accessing higher education and a better life,” Mike Gavin, Alliance for Higher Education president and CEO, said in a statement. “By claiming that efforts to increase fair opportunity for all students are discriminatory, the administration is trying to gaslight the American people into believing that up is down and black is white.”

Thousands of colleges could be affected

Scores of universities have shut down or rebranded their DEI offices and ended scholarships and clubs designed for minority students under pressure from the White House. In a statement announcing the proposal, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested that even policies that are no longer under the banner of DEI could be targeted.

“Schools rebranding race-based preferences as equitable, inclusive, or diversity-enhancing does not change their discriminatory nature,” Bessent said.

The Treasury Department and IRS estimate that up to 18,000 private schools, colleges and other education institutions could be affected by the proposal.

America’s private universities have been exempt from many taxes for more than a century because they provide a public good. The benefit saves many universities millions of dollars every year.

Trump has seen the tax-exempt status as a lever to pull in his pressure campaign against colleges that he describes as hotbeds of “wokeness.” He threatened to cut the benefit for Harvard University last year during his battle with the nation’s oldest college. In a response, Harvard officials said there was no legal basis for doing so and argued it would force cuts to financial aid and crucial medical research.

In the 1970s, a college lost tax-exempt status over a ban on interracial dating

It’s incredibly rare for the federal government to go after a college’s tax-exempt status, but there’s one notable precedent. Bob Jones University, a small Christian school in South Carolina, lost the benefit in the 1970s over a ban on interracial dating and marriage on campus. The Supreme Court upheld the IRS’s decision to deny the school its exemption. The school has since ended the ban and regained tax-exempt status in 2017.

Laws forbid the IRS from targeting individuals and organizations for ideological reasons, and federal officials are not allowed to direct IRS investigations.

To maintain nonprofit status, which allows donations to be tax-deductible, organizations must follow IRS rules on lobbying, political campaign activity and annual reporting requirements, as well as other obligations.

The Trump administration describes the new proposal as a move toward restoring merit in the nation’s education systems.

Marjorie Hass, president of the Council of Independent Colleges, said the change would most likely impact donations, which are often earmarked for scholarships.

The uncertainty around the proposal also will create challenges for schools, said Tim Powers, a vice president of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.

“Our institutions are committed to complying with applicable civil rights laws and maintaining safe and supportive campuses free from discrimination,” Powers said. “However, the proposed rule may create new compliance burdens and legal uncertainties for institutions of higher education that are already operating in line with existing nondiscrimination rules.”

The Justice Department has separately opened investigations into several medical schools that it accuses of favoring Black and Hispanic students in admissions. Trump officials say any such favoritism violates Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a federal law that forbids discrimination in education and was created to fight segregation and its impact.

A statement from IRS Chief Executive Officer Frank J. Bisignano said private schools that promote discriminatory practices will no longer be exempt from taxes.

“Today’s proposed regulations put institutions on notice and schools that continue to engage in racial discrimination should expect to lose that status,” he said.

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Associated Press Education Writers Annie Ma and Heather Hollingsworth contributed to this report.

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

Las autoridades dijeron que encontraron al agente de KWPD Dustin Christina, de 40 años, quien estaba fuera de servicio, sentado en el asiento del conductor de su camioneta Ford blanca estacionada alrededor de las 5 a.m. del 16 de agosto en el estacionamiento del Old City Hall, junto a Greene Street, entre las calles Duval y Simonton.

En su informe de arresto, los agentes dijeron que vieron a Christina doblar de Greene Street hacia Ann Street un par de horas antes y casi atropellar a una mujer que tuvo que correr hacia la acera para evitar ser golpeada.

Cuando los agentes se acercaron más tarde a Christina dentro del vehículo estacionado y le preguntaron cuánto había bebido, les dijo: “Tomé unas copas”, antes de afirmar que él no había conducido su camioneta hasta ese lugar y decirles a los agentes: “No hice nada. Estoy jodidamente esperando que alguien venga a buscarme y luego se fueron y ahora estoy esperando”, según su informe de arresto.

Los agentes dijeron que mientras hablaban con Christina notaron que tenía “la mirada perdida, los ojos inyectados en sangre, vidriosos, llorosos y caídos, parecía tener el rostro enrojecido y había olor a una bebida alcohólica proveniente de su persona”, según el informe.

Además, la policía dijo que cuando Christina salió de la camioneta, “se limpió la frente, se tambaleó hacia atrás contra su vehículo y utilizó la parte inferior de sus piernas para impulsarse y separarse del vehículo”, antes de que “intentara cerrar la puerta del conductor, fallara y se alejara tambaleándose de su vehículo”.

Cuando los agentes intentaron realizarle pruebas de DUI a Christina, la policía dijo que él les respondió: “No, no lo voy a hacer. Estoy sentado aquí en un vehículo que no está encendido”.

KWPD dijo que un agente supervisor en el lugar determinó que había causa probable para arrestar a Christina, quien fue acusado de DUI y de negarse a someterse a una prueba de alcohol en la sangre y fue trasladado al Centro de Detención del condado Monroe.

The center said Thursday that 6,300 new visitors looked at the database between July 21 — the date the initiative was launched — and Aug. 20. That marked a 125% increase over the previous period in 2025.

The center, in charge of combating abuse in Olympic sports, has long published the database. But without publicizing who lands on the list, people had to access the database and know who they were looking for to learn about banned and restricted people in their orbit.

Now, the center delivers a weekly email with updates about people added to the list; the updates include cases taken to arbitration that have reached a decision.

In addition to sports media, among those who commonly receive the email are national governing bodies and club owners.

“Recognizing how underutilized this tool has been, we are investing in amplifying it nationwide with the hope of increasing transparency and fostering safer sport environments," CEO Benita Fitzgerald Mosley said in a news release announcing the numbers.

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Authorities said they found off-duty KWPD Officer Dustin Christina, 40, sitting in the driver’s seat of his parked white Ford pickup truck around 5 a.m. on Aug. 16. in the Old City Hall parking lot off Greene Street, between Duval and Simonton streets.

In his arrest report, officers said they saw Christina turning the corner from Greene to Ann streets a couple hours prior and nearly hitting a woman who had to run onto the curb to avoid being hit.

When officers later approached Christina inside the parked vehicle and asked him how much he had to drink, he told them, “I had a few,” before stating that he was not the person who drove his truck to that location, telling officers, “I didn’t do anything. I’m f---ing waiting for someone to get me and then they left and now I’m waiting,” according to his arrest report.

Officers said that while speaking to Christina, they noticed that he had “a blank stare, his eyes were bloodshot, glassy, watery and droopy, he appeared to have a flushed face, and there was an odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from his person,” per the report.

Additionally, police said when Christina got out of the truck, he “wiped his forehead, stumbled backward onto his vehicle and used the lower half of his legs to push off the vehicle” before he “attempted to close his driver’s door, missed it, and stumbled away from his vehicle.”

When officers attempted to perform DUI tests on Christina, police said he told them, “Nah, I’m not doing it. I’m sitting here in a non-running vehicle.”

KWPD said a supervising officer at the scene determined there was probable cause to arrest Christina, and he was charged with DUI and refusing to submit to a blood alcohol test and taken to the Monroe County Detention Center.

Yeva Smyrnova and Danyil Smyrnov both joined the army in 2023, at 18, and married two years later, in July 2025. Young as they were, decided they needed to hurry and start a family.

“We dreamed of this child, but because we were both always at war, it was very difficult,” said Smyrnova, who serves as a drone pilot under the call sign “Yunha.”

Danyil Smyrnov was killed in action on Aug. 28, 2026, on the Sumy front in northeastern Ukraine, one of a group of four soldiers killed in action serving with military intelligence. He held the rank of junior sergeant, served as a reconnaissance operator, and helped train recruits.

“This month our son is due to be born — the son Dania dreamed about so much. He dreamed of being the best father," Smyrnova told The Associated Press.

But instead of choosing a name for her firstborn child, she and hundreds of others came to say goodbye to her husband at St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery.

In the days after Smyrnov's death, his wife wrote online that their son would be “his continuation.”

The monastery, where Ukraine typically holds funeral services for soldiers killed in the war, was packed. Mourners of all ages came to pay their respects, including fellow soldiers holding bouquets of roses.

When Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, Smyrnov was 16 and finishing high school. He went on to study psychology at a university in Lithuania but did not stay long — fighting had intensified around Bakhmut, where his uncle was serving at the time, and the young man left his studies. As soon as he turned 18, he signed a military contract.

“He … called me that evening, very happy, and said, ‘Sorry, Dad, I signed the contract. I forged your signature. Forgive me,’” recalled his father, Oleksandr Smyrnov, his voice shaking. He struggled to speak about his son, but embraced his daughter-in-law, saying he also found some comfort in the grandson soon to arrive.

Danyil Smyrnov went on to command an assault group in the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade. He was wounded by shrapnel in both legs and underwent rehabilitation, then returned to service, later transferring to Ukrainian military intelligence. Many knew him by his call sign, “Surfer” — from the age of 6, he had flown to visit his mother in Bali every summer, where he became a skilled surfer.

“Despite all the horrors of war, Dania managed to find his treasure — his girlfriend, and later his wife, Yeva,” read a passage from the eulogy at the monastery, as explosions echoed through the city. “Their relationship changed them both. They were both fighting for life, for a shared future.”

Now his wife is left alone, widowed at 21.

“He wanted all of us to be able to live in peace,” she said. “And in the end, he paid for that with his life.”

Smyrnov often wrote about the war on his Instagram, an account that holds mostly photos from his military life — himself in uniform, at different positions — with his most recent photos showing him with his wife, who is also pictured in military fatigues.

In an earlier post, written around his 20th birthday, he wrote: “In my 20 years, I’ve understood one thing: people don’t value life until they feel its edge. … War is not romance. It’s an experience that strips you down to what’s real,” the message said. “The choice is simple: who will you be — a victim, or someone who takes responsibility?”

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Alex Babenko contributed to this report.

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said Carlton Johnson had “displayed the weapon but it did not leave his waistband” in the June 25th encounter. Minneapolis Police, who responded to the call that day, said he had a legal permit to carry the weapon, she said in a statement.

Moriarty said the office decided not to file the charges because there was “insufficient evidence to prove a charge beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Court documents say Johnson was facing eviction and had threatened a fellow resident with a gun in the months leading up to the shooting, which left two people dead and five others injured. The shooter was also was killed by police later, the prosecutor said.

Investigators on Thursday were scouring the scene of the downtown Minneapolis shooting that also left five others injured.

Dozens of law enforcement officers were at the apartment building where the shooting occurred Wednesday evening, along with a mobile crime scene unit from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the state investigative agency.

The five wounded by gunfire included two Minneapolis police officers, while a sixth person, another officer, suffered other injuries, police Sgt. Garrett Parten said at a Wednesday news conference. The three officers were hospitalized but expected to make full recoveries, said Interim Police Chief Bill Peterson.

A 911 call about shots fired at the building came in just after 4:30 p.m. Officers were inside the building within two minutes and quickly found victims, Peterson said.

Officers heard more gunshots and followed them to a higher floor, where they found “a haze that significantly limited their visibility,” he said. Peterson did not provide additional details about the haze.

One officer was shot in the leg and another was shot twice in the abdomen, he said.

One victim was fatally shot at the scene, and one died after arriving at the hospital, he said. It was not immediately clear how the shooter died, he said.

Minneapolis council member Elizabeth Shaffer represents the neighborhood where the shooting happened. She said 16 displaced residents had sheltered in a nearby church overnight and that the Red Cross had been providing support. Shaffer said her staff hadn’t received any previous constituent complaints related to safety or building management.

“That is surprising when you read the news reports, you know, of what was happening in the building, but there was, we have heard nothing,” she said.

Resident Julius Bailey was sitting with a friend just outside the building entrance when he heard gunshots and saw a man he recognized as another resident holding a pistol. Bailey said he heard a woman screaming and immediately started running, counting eight shots as he headed for safety.

Bailey said the man with the gun was well known in the building for being belligerent and showing off his weapon. Bailey, who moved into the building in June, said he went out of his way to avoid the man.

“I could tell he was trouble,” he said.

Chris Miller, who also lives in the apartment building, said he heard a rapid succession of gunshots and quickly ran outside for safety. He said he believed he knew who carried out the shooting and that he encountered someone in the hallway with a handgun earlier this week and reported that person to management.

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Associated Press reporters Mark Vancleave, Hallie Golden in Seattle, Safiyah Riddle in Los Angeles and Josh Kelety in Phoenix contributed to this report.

Near the crash site, a 150-year-old olive tree stood at the center of a ring of limestone blocks laid into the ground featuring the names of the victims. Foreign ambassadors laid wreaths and the Patriarch of Lisbon, a senior Catholic church official, offered a blessing.

The accident was one of the Portuguese capital’s worst tragedies in recent memory and cast a shadow over the city’s ongoing tourism boom.

The picturesque yellow streetcar, called a funicular because it travels up and down a steep hill in tandem with a second car, is a popular tourist attraction. Authorities said that 11 of those killed were foreigners, likely tourists who stand in long lines to board it.

Lisbon attracted about 10 million tourists last year, and they are one of the city’s economic mainstays. Portugal receives around 30 million visitors each year.

Service on the Gloria funicular remains halted while the official investigation proceeds. Two other city funiculars also remain out of service during inspections. The regular streetcars that rumble through the city's streets are running as usual.

The anniversary brought renewed attention to delays in identifying the causes of the crash, which also injured 24 people, and attributing any blame.

Carris, the Portuguese company that runs the city’s road transport, said Wednesday it plans to open an international tender in the first quarter of next year for the affected funicular to be modernized, with the goal of it returning to service by 2029.

Portugal's public prosecutor's office said it hoped to publish a final report by March regarding the accident’s causes and whether there is any criminal liability.

Families of the victims complained in a letter obtained by public broadcaster RTP about “a year of silence” from authorities. They had been kept in the dark about the investigation, receiving no contact from officials, they said, according to RTP.

A preliminary report into the accident published last year said that the failure of a steel safety cable and maintenance flaws contributed to the crash. The streetcar hurtled down the hill before coming off the rails on a bend and smashing into a building, leaving the wooden cabin a crumpled wreck.

Officers found Anthony Ignatiadis-Isabelle dead inside the Westwood Hills Elementary School library after responding to a report of a suspicious person, Waynesboro Police Chief David Shaw said during a news conference. Shaw said an adult staff member suffered a gunshot wound but has been released from the hospital.

Authorities did not say whether Ignatiadis-Isabelle, of Waynesboro, knew the victim or whether he had any connection to the school. Shaw said no children were inside the library at the time, and that officers responded within three minutes of getting the initial call.

“Our safety and security protocols and procedures worked,” said Waynesboro Public Schools Superintendent Jeffrey Cassell. “Every student and staff member is safe and returned home to their families. Please hug your children and your families this evening.”

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger said she was monitoring the situation.

“My heart is with these young students, their parents and families, and the teachers and staff at the school,” Spanberger said on social media. “Thank you to the first responders who are assisting at the scene.”

Waynesboro is about 96 miles (155 km) northwest of Richmond.

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Sarah Rankin in Richmond, Virginia, and John Raby in Charleston, West Virginia, contributed to this report.

Five newspaper publishers in New York City agreed in 1846 to pool resources in order to speed the delivery of news about the U.S. war with Mexico using a pony-express relay through Alabama to a telegraph office. Those beginnings gave birth to an organization that in many ways became the backbone of the news industry. The AP claims some 4 billion people, nearly half of the world’s population, see news produced by the company on a typical day.

Many don’t realize that.

For most of its history, the AP has effectively been a utility, providing material for other news outlets to print, broadcast or carry online, its journalists largely anonymous. AP reporters weren’t even identified with bylines until World War I. But the company has chronicled the nation’s big moments for much of the 250-year history of the American republic.

Although horses long since gave way to the internet, the journalism remains. Here are some stories behind the stories the AP has chronicled.

Covering Mr. Lincoln: The Gettysburg Address

Absorbed by the message President Abraham Lincoln delivered at the Nov. 19, 1863, dedication of a cemetery at the Civil War battlefield in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania — as generations after him would be — 21-year-old AP reporter Joseph Ignatius Gilbert momentarily forgot his job.

“I unconsciously stopped taking notes,” Gilbert recalled later, “and I looked up at him as he glanced from his manuscript with a faraway look in his eyes as if appealing from the few thousands before him to the invisible audience of countless millions whom his words were to reach.”

That was a problem. There were no tape recorders or video cameras yet. So if Gilbert didn’t capture Lincoln’s words, they would reach fewer people.

Gilbert recovered, and perhaps saved his job, when the president allowed him to borrow the paper upon which he wrote the memorably short, 272-word speech, and to copy it. The reporter’s presence also insured that people would remember precisely how Lincoln delivered the address, beyond the words.

Consider Lincoln's conclusion: “We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Many who read the speech later put emphasis on the words “of,” “by” and “for” in his final lines. Instead, Gilbert insisted that Lincoln emphasized “the people” in each clause.

A major scoop: The end of World War II

An AP correspondent scored a major scoop reporting that Germany surrendered to Allied forces in France on May 7, 1945, ending the European portion of World War II. For that, he lost his job.

Edward Kennedy was one of 17 reporters transported by the U.S. military to a former school in Reims, France, to witness the middle-of-the-night ceremony. In return for being there, the journalists agreed to keep the news secret until military censors gave the go-ahead to report it.

The journalists figured they would have to keep the secret for a few hours. Instead, they learned the “embargo” was for 36 hours and the delay had nothing to do with keeping people safe. Rather, it was to give Russian allies the time to stage a second surrender ceremony, according to Kennedy’s memoir, published in 2012.

“The absurdity of attempting to bottle up news of such magnitude was too apparent,” Kennedy wrote. “I know from experience that one might as well try to censor the rising of the sun.”

Less than 12 hours after the secret ceremony, German officials announced on a radio broadcast that they had surrendered. The broadcast originated from a French city already controlled by the Allies. To Kennedy, that meant that the same U.S. military censors that had told him to keep the news secret had authorized the Germans to make their announcement. If they hadn’t, soldiers unaware that the war was already over might have lost their lives.

Kennedy called the chief American censor to say there he couldn’t hold the news since the military had already broken its part of the deal. The censor refused to lift the embargo, but Kennedy called a story in to the AP’s London bureau, where editors knew nothing about the embargo, and a bulletin announcing the big news went out to the world.

Competitors and the military, which briefly suspended the AP’s ability to report news from Europe, were furious. The AP had the news exclusively for a day. But its bosses, under pressure, said Kennedy had been wrong to break the agreement. His AP career was over. He pressed for vindication, but it wasn’t to come before he died in a car accident in 1963.

After publication of Kennedy’s memoir, the AP apologized to his family for how he had been treated. “It was a terrible day for the AP,” the company’s then president and CEO, Tom Curley, told reporter David Caruso. “It was handled in the worst possible way.”

Being there: The Civil Rights Movement

The importance of being on the scene, steadily and dependably, during a long-running story paid off for AP reporter Kathryn Johnson during coverage of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s.

On the night of April 4, 1968, Johnson was on a date in Atlanta when the car radio broke in with news that the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. Johnson’s companion instinctively asked if she wanted to be driven to the King family home.

She did, and arrived to see a reporter from The New York Times on the porch being told he was not welcome. The door opened, however, and the new widow Coretta Scott King saw Johnson and told the police officer guarding the home, “Let Kathryn in.”

She wasn’t a stranger. As former King aide and future U.S. Ambassador Andrew Young wrote in an introduction to Johnson’s later book, “My Time With the Kings": “Kathryn always observed scrupulously the highest standards of her profession while reporting on one of the most important continuing struggles in our country with objectivity, thoroughness and fairness.”

She spent days inside the Kings’ home, providing exclusive reports while being sensitive to what the family was going through. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis visited the home and saw Johnson helping to prepare a meal, mistaking the reporter for a white maid. Speaking in code to avoid angering some visitors who were suspicious of her presence, Johnson called an AP bureau to confirm a story she had pre-written about the expected visit.

The day after King’s murder, Johnson asked if she could have a seat on the plane that was taking the new widow to Memphis to bring his body home. Young agreed, and when other reporters protested, he told them, “Kathryn and I’ve been through the wars together.”

Incredibly, Young telephoned her boss, who told her she couldn’t go. She was needed in the office. “I’ve no doubt that had I been male, my boss would have been delighted for me to go,” she later wrote.

Johnson went on to complete a fellowship at Harvard University and returned to the AP. When she was assigned tasks like taking dictation and reporting sports scores, she left for jobs at U.S. News and World Report and CNN.

Prematurely dead: Bob Hope

When can a the simple pressing of a wrong button inadvertently illustrate the reach of a news organization? The AP once encountered a two-word answer for that: Bob Hope.

Large news organizations frequently prepare obituaries in advance for notable public figures, so when the death occurs they can move quickly with a story that puts the person’s life and achievements in perspective.

Hope certainly merited the attention. The comedian was 95 years old on June 5, 1998, when an AP editor was doing some work on the “prep” copy. In an error, that incomplete story was inadvertently sent to thousands of news outlets and others who subscribed to the AP’s news wire. The story didn’t actually say Hope died — there were blank spaces left in the copy to fill in future details — but the format was enough to fool House Majority Leader Dick Armey. Congress was in session, and Armey asked a colleague to announce Hope’s “death” and say a few words in sympathy.

The AP’s central role in the news ecosystem was such that the false news spread with lightning speed. Another news service, Reuters, moved a bulletin saying that Hope had died, attributing it to the member of Congress, according to a Washington Post account.

Out in California, Hope was getting up, feeling good enough to go out and hit a few golf balls. His family had to set the record straight. “Some folks were a bit too quick to thank Bob Hope for the memories,” Post writer Howard Kurtz quipped, a reference to Hope’s signature song.

The comic made it past his 100th birthday before dying on July 27, 2003. Honest.

Bush vs. Gore: The election that wouldn't end

On one memorable night, the AP made a mistake and covered itself in glory by avoiding an even bigger one.

The presidential election night of 2000 won’t be forgotten by anyone involved in it. Certainly not by journalists who saw predictions of a tight race between Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore come true.

Shortly after polls closed in the critical swing state of Florida, TV news networks and the AP “called” that state’s race for Gore, using a combination of exit poll results, actual votes and instinct grounded in knowledge of the state’s history. But there was an error: Gore was reported to have won one county by 42,000 votes, when the margin was actually 4,200.

That made the state, in the journalists’ interpretation, too close to call so they retreated from their declaration and put Florida back in the undecided column. As the night wore on, it became increasingly clear that the entire presidential election was going to come down to who won Florida’s electoral votes.

After 2 a.m. the morning after the election, Fox News made its call: Bush had won Florida and thus would be next president of the United States. ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC quickly followed suit. But the AP did not, believing too many votes remained uncounted in traditionally Democratic areas that could swing the race.

The tension was very real in the AP newsroom that night. Editors from across the country were angrily calling in, noting the network calls and wondering why the AP was holding out. What were they going to put on the front pages of their newspapers?

“It was simply too close for AP to call,” recalled Sandy Johnson, AP’s then-Washington bureau chief, in a 2020 podcast on C-SPAN. “Believe me, we wanted to call it. Nobody wants to be the last calling a presidential race. We were crunching the numbers like mad, trying to figure out what the networks saw that we didn’t. But the lead just kept getting closer.”

In the pre-dawn hours, the networks retracted their Florida calls for the second time that night. It was a major embarrassment. One blown election call could cost a journalist’s job, but calling the same state wrong twice and prematurely declaring the winner for the entire election? Network chiefs were hauled before Congress in the aftermath to explain themselves.

The election remained undecided for three more weeks before a U.S. Supreme Court decision effectively made Bush the winner.

Getting news first — a scoop — is a bragging point for any journalist. A mistake completely undermines that, hence the AP mantra “get it first, but first get it right.” It’s a lesson that is repeated often in a fast-moving world. Just this spring, AP editor Ted Anthony steered the organization away from reports that a gunman at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner had been killed, wanting multiple sources even though other outlets were saying it.

It wasn’t true. Sometimes an outlet’s highest moments are what it doesn’t report.

9/11: 'The Falling Man’

The AP’s most memorable journalism has often been delivered through a photographer’s lens.

It takes barely a few words to bring some historic AP images instantly to mind: Joe Rosenthal’s picture of U.S. Marines raising the American flag on Iwo Jima in 1945; Eddie Adams’ 1968 photo of a prisoner being executed with a gunshot to the head on a Vietnam street; Evan Vucci’s shot of a bloodied Donald Trump raising a fist in defiance following a 2024 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.

One of AP’s best-known images has arguably been talked about more than seen.

Richard Drew was photographing a fashion show in New York City’s Bryant Park on Sept. 11, 2001, when a message alerted him to a plane flying in to the World Trade Center downtown. He hopped on a subway and when he emerged, began recording the horror before him on his camera.

He fixed upon people who had jumped or were falling from the still intact but burning towers. One image he captured immediately stood out: a man, one leg bent, the other straight, as he fell headfirst to his death. He lined up so perfectly against the metallic lines of the tower behind him that the picture almost seemed choreographed.

Drew’s picture was carried in a handful of newspapers the next day but not many, for the same reason that television networks did not show video of people falling. It was deemed too disturbing.

But it so moved Esquire magazine’s Tom Junod that he wrote an entire cover story about it. “In the picture, he departs from this earth like an arrow,” Junod wrote. “Although he has not chosen his fate, he appears to have, in the last instants of life, embraced it. If he were not falling, he might very well be flying.”

Singer Elton John bought a copy of “Falling Man,” calling it “probably one of the most perfect photographs ever taken.” Drew, still working for AP at age 79, attended an exhibition in Paris this spring where the photo was on display.

It wasn’t the only journalism to come from the AP that day that echoed long afterward. Jerry Schwartz, who wrote the story of the day’s disaster, was the first to coin the phrase “ground zero” to refer to the World Trade Center site.

But “Falling Man” has lingered. Drew believes it will be seen more in years to come as the event recedes into history. He doesn’t find the photo macabre. “I made a photographic record of someone living the last moments of his life,” he wrote five years ago. “And every time I look at it, I see him alive.”

Junod and others have investigated to try and identify the man, believed to be a worker at the restaurant Windows on the World. But it’s still not clear who he was, and may never be. Drew likens “Falling Man” to the remains buried in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Washington.

“He’s going to remain unknown and that’s OK,” Drew said in a recent interview. “He’s a symbol for all of the people who died that day.”

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David Bauder covered media for The Associated Press for more than a decade. He retired in May.

Jackman has long been a fan of Norwich, his mother’s home city in the east of England. The Wolverine star was asked in an interview broadcast on Thursday if he would like to “buy a bit” of the club which is majority owned by Mark Attanasio, the Milwaukee Brewers principal owner.

“I’m very, very interested in talking about it right now,” he told British broadcaster TalkSport while promoting his new movie, “The Death of Robin Hood.”

“You’re the first one to know that. There’s a little exclusive,” Jackman said when asked if he would “follow suit” with Reynolds, who put Wrexham on the global soccer and culture map after buying the club with Rob Mac in 2021.

Norwich and Wrexham are now rivals in the English second-tier Championship, though Jackman’s team has the more illustrious history. Norwich last played in the Premier League four years ago, and had perhaps its finest moment in 1993, eliminating German power Bayern Munich in the old UEFA Cup.

“Good on Ryan, you do your thing, I’m all about the Canaries,” Jackman said, citing Norwich’s nickname linked to the team’s distinctive yellow and green uniform.

Norwich and Wrexham both are expected to be contenders this season to earn promotion to the Premier League, the world’s most valuable club soccer competition.

“I think it’s an exciting team and it’s going to be an exciting year,” Jackman said, praising Norwich’s turnaround since hiring Belgian coach Philippe Clement last November.

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See AP’s full soccer coverage here

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Jail records show Rafael Evelio Barcelo is facing felony charges stemming from two withdrawals from his parents’ Bank of America account in January and February 2025.

Hialeah police said the victims, a 90-year-old man and his 86-year-old wife, immigrated to Florida from Cuba in the 1970s and have lived in their Hialeah home since 1972.

They said Barcelo, the couple’s son, lived a few blocks away and had taken responsibility for helping manage their finances, including writing checks for household expenses.

Investigators allege Barcelo used that position of trust to take money from the couple without their knowledge or consent.

The warrant states that on Jan. 17, 2025, a $34,000 check was drawn from the couple’s checking account and made payable to “Shophar LLC.”

The check was marked “gift” in the memo line and bore Barcelo’s signature, according to the warrant. Police said the check was deposited into a business account belonging solely to Barcelo’s son.

When investigators showed the check to the couple, both denied writing or authorizing it, according to the warrant. The couple also said they did not know Shophar LLC and had never authorized the transaction.

A second withdrawal occurred Feb. 14, 2025, when a $52,000 Bank of America cashier’s check was issued from the couple’s account, the warrant states. Surveillance video from a Bank of America branch in Hialeah allegedly showed Barcelo conducting the transaction at the teller window, according to police.

Bank records obtained by investigators showed that Barcelo opened a Wells Fargo account on the same day and deposited the $52,000 cashier’s check into that newly opened account using a mobile app, The warrant states. The money remained in the account, investigators said.

The two transactions totaled $86,000.

The investigation began amid a family dispute over the care of the elderly couple, according to the warrant.

Police said the couple’s daughter and son-in-law had become increasingly involved in their parents’ care after the husband suffered a serious fall at home in December 2024.

They said the daughter had previously been designated as the couple’s attorney-in-fact for medical decisions, and the warrant states that the couple later executed financial powers of attorney naming her as their representative.

The warrant describes escalating tensions between the siblings over the couple’s care and finances.

In December 2024, Barcelo contacted Leon Medical Center about placing his father in a rehabilitation facility and indicated he wanted to keep his mother at his own residence, according to the warrant. Police said he also allegedly told the family that he planned to transfer the couple’s assets into a trust to pay for their care and apply for Medicaid.

The couple objected after learning of those plans, the warrant states.

In January, Barcelo hired a caregiver to assist his parents. The caregiver told investigators that Barcelo was responsible for part of the couple’s daily care and that she witnessed arguments between him and his sister and brother-in-law over the couple’s care, according to the warrant.

At a family meeting on Jan. 17, the dispute became confrontational.

The warrant states that Barcelo called his brother-in-law a “control freak” and told his sister and brother-in-law to stay away because he was taking control of his parents’ medical and financial decisions.

The relationship deteriorated further the following month.

On Feb. 17, Barcelo and his sons met with the couple and other family members. According to the warrant, one of Barcelo’s sons accused the daughter and son-in-law of stealing $50,000 from the elderly couple. Barcelo then said he would no longer be involved in caring for his parents.

Two days later, the couple went with their daughter and son-in-law to Bank of America to check their accounts.

That was when they learned that $86,000 had been withdrawn, according to the warrant.

Investigators said they reviewed bank records that showed the couple’s account was funded primarily by retirement and Social Security deposits. Investigators found no evidence that Barcelo had deposited his own money into the account, the warrant states.

The warrant also cites medical records and interviews with the couple’s doctors as evidence that the 90-year-old victim had significant “cognitive impairment” around the time of the disputed transactions.

A primary care physician told investigators that the man’s condition had deteriorated significantly by January 2025 and that he was unable to make medical decisions independently, according to the warrant.

A neurology provider said the man had experienced progressive cognitive decline and was unable to make medical or financial decisions, the warrant states.

Police said the investigation concluded that Barcelo “used his position of trust as the victims’ son and caregiver to exploit them,” according to the warrant.

Investigators allege the withdrawals deprived the couple of money needed for expenses including utilities, property taxes, groceries and other obligations.

Records show Barcelo is facing charges including exploitation of an elderly or disabled person involving more than $50,000, grand theft from a person over 65 involving more than $50,000, and organized scheme to defraud involving $50,000 or more.

As of Thursday morning, he was being held on a $22,500 bond at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.

Los registros de la cárcel muestran que Rafael Evelio Barcelo enfrenta cargos por delitos graves derivados de dos retiros de la cuenta de Bank of America de sus padres en enero y febrero de 2025.

La policía de Hialeah dijo que las víctimas, un hombre de 90 años y su esposa de 86 años, emigraron a Florida desde Cuba en la década de 1970 y han vivido en su casa de Hialeah desde 1972.

Dijeron que Barcelo, hijo de la pareja, vivía a pocas cuadras y había asumido la responsabilidad de ayudar a administrar sus finanzas, incluyendo emitir cheques para gastos del hogar.

Los investigadores alegan que Barcelo utilizó esa posición de confianza para tomar dinero de la pareja sin su conocimiento ni consentimiento.

La orden señala que el 17 de enero de 2025 se emitió un cheque de $34,000 USD de la cuenta corriente de la pareja a nombre de “Shophar LLC”.

El cheque tenía escrita la palabra “regalo” en la línea de concepto y llevaba la firma de Barcelo, según la orden. La policía dijo que el cheque fue depositado en una cuenta comercial perteneciente únicamente al hijo de Barcelo.

Cuando los investigadores mostraron el cheque a la pareja, ambos negaron haberlo emitido o autorizado, según la orden. La pareja también dijo que no conocía a Shophar LLC y que nunca había autorizado la transacción.

Un segundo retiro ocurrió el 14 de febrero de 2025, cuando se emitió un cheque de caja de Bank of America por $52,000 USD de la cuenta de la pareja, señala la orden. Un video de vigilancia de una sucursal de Bank of America en Hialeah presuntamente mostró a Barcelo realizando la transacción en la ventanilla del cajero, según la policía.

Los registros bancarios obtenidos por los investigadores mostraron que Barcelo abrió una cuenta de Wells Fargo ese mismo día y depositó el cheque de caja de $52,000 USD en esa cuenta recién abierta mediante una aplicación móvil, señala la orden. El dinero permaneció en la cuenta, dijeron los investigadores.

Las dos transacciones sumaron $86,000 USD.

La investigación comenzó en medio de una disputa familiar sobre el cuidado de la pareja de ancianos, según la orden.

La policía dijo que la hija y el yerno de la pareja se habían involucrado cada vez más en el cuidado de sus padres después de que el hombre sufriera una grave caída en su casa en diciembre de 2024.

Dijeron que la hija había sido designada previamente como representante legal de la pareja para decisiones médicas, y la orden señala que posteriormente la pareja otorgó poderes financieros nombrándola como su representante.

La orden describe un aumento de las tensiones entre los hermanos por el cuidado y las finanzas de la pareja.

En diciembre de 2024, Barcelo se comunicó con Leon Medical Center para colocar a su padre en un centro de rehabilitación e indicó que quería mantener a su madre en su propia residencia, según la orden. La policía dijo que también presuntamente le dijo a la familia que planeaba transferir los bienes de la pareja a un fideicomiso para pagar por su cuidado y solicitar Medicaid.

La pareja se opuso después de enterarse de esos planes, señala la orden.

En enero, Barcelo contrató a una cuidadora para ayudar a sus padres. La cuidadora dijo a los investigadores que Barcelo era responsable de parte del cuidado diario de la pareja y que presenció discusiones entre él, su hermana y su cuñado por el cuidado de la pareja, según la orden.

En una reunión familiar el 17 de enero, la disputa se tornó confrontativa.

La orden señala que Barcelo llamó a su cuñado “controlador” y les dijo a su hermana y a su cuñado que se mantuvieran alejados porque él estaba tomando el control de las decisiones médicas y financieras de sus padres.

La relación se deterioró aún más el mes siguiente.

El 17 de febrero, Barcelo y sus hijos se reunieron con la pareja y otros familiares. Según la orden, uno de los hijos de Barcelo acusó a la hija y al yerno de robar $50,000 USD a la pareja de ancianos. Barcelo entonces dijo que ya no participaría en el cuidado de sus padres.

Dos días después, la pareja fue con su hija y su yerno a Bank of America para revisar sus cuentas.

Fue entonces cuando se enteraron de que se habían retirado $86,000 USD, según la orden.

Los investigadores dijeron que revisaron registros bancarios que mostraban que la cuenta de la pareja se financiaba principalmente con depósitos de jubilación y del Seguro Social. Los investigadores no encontraron evidencia de que Barcelo hubiera depositado su propio dinero en la cuenta, señala la orden.

La orden también cita registros médicos y entrevistas con los médicos de la pareja como evidencia de que la víctima de 90 años tenía un “deterioro cognitivo” significativo alrededor del momento de las transacciones en disputa.

Un médico de atención primaria dijo a los investigadores que la condición del hombre se había deteriorado significativamente para enero de 2025 y que no podía tomar decisiones médicas de manera independiente, según la orden.

Un proveedor de neurología dijo que el hombre había experimentado un deterioro cognitivo progresivo y que no podía tomar decisiones médicas ni financieras, señala la orden.

La policía dijo que la investigación concluyó que Barcelo “utilizó su posición de confianza como hijo y cuidador de las víctimas para explotarlas”, según la orden.

Los investigadores alegan que los retiros privaron a la pareja del dinero necesario para gastos, incluyendo servicios públicos, impuestos sobre la propiedad, alimentos y otras obligaciones.

Los registros muestran que Barcelo enfrenta cargos que incluyen explotación de una persona anciana o discapacitada por más de $50,000 USD, hurto mayor a una persona mayor de 65 años por más de $50,000 USD y esquema organizado para defraudar por $50,000 USD o más.

Hasta la mañana del jueves, permanecía detenido con una fianza de $22,500 USD en el Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight.

For more than 100 years, in good times and bad, Venezuelans’ identity has been built around the belief that their country’s bountiful oil resources belong to the people, not a government or a company.

This belief, and a troubled nation’s pride, took a bruising last week when acting President Delcy Rodríguez agreed to give the United States control of roughly one-fifth of Venezuela’s oil reserves – the largest in the world.

While the deal could eventually generate billions of dollars for an oil industry and economy wrecked by years of mismanagement, many Venezuelans see it as a surrender. Some say they are not surprised; they believe that gaining control of Venezuelan oil was the ultimate objective when President Donald Trump ordered U.S. forces to capture then-President Nicolás Maduro at the beginning of the year, leaving Rodríguez in charge.

“It’s not just worrying, it’s outrageous, because we, like a drop in the ocean, have no power to intervene,” Lisandro Castro, an architect in the capital, Caracas, said referring to fellow citizens. “There is genuine collective concern in Venezuela right now about what we are witnessing.”

Oil influences all aspects of life in Venezuela

The 1920s discovery of oil in northwestern Venezuela sparked a booming industry that transformed a poor, agrarian country into an urbanized regional power.

U.S. energy company employees working in the South American nation went on to popularize baseball. The companies built ball fields in oil-producing areas, boosting the sport among working-class Venezuelans who then took it to the rest of the country.

Europeans facing post-World War II hardships headed to Venezuela looking for economic opportunities created by the oil riches. The Portuguese established bakeries that are still open. The Italians designed buildings that are still standing.

A democracy in its infancy, Venezuela got most of its revenues from oil exports rather than from taxing local citizens and businesses, and politicians tried to buy the will of citizens, said Ronal Rodríguez, a researcher at the Venezuela Observatory at Colombia’s Universidad del Rosario.

The country co-founded OPEC, and by the ’70s, when it boasted of the highest per-capita income in the region, the government nationalized the industry with the creation of the state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela S.A.

PDVSA, as it is commonly known, only allowed foreign companies to operate as minority partners in joint ventures. Its revenues subsidized cheap gas for Venezuelans, scholarships to study abroad, free surgeries and many more benefits.

“Every Venezuelan sees oil as something they have the right to claim,” Rodríguez, the researcher, said.

Venezuela has been shaped by oil booms and busts

Plummeting oil prices globally in the 1980s devastated Venezuela's economy, necessitating an International Monetary Fund bailout. The state ended key subsidies, and social unrest followed. A military officer named Hugo Chávez attempted a failed coup.

Once elected president in 1998, Chávez expanded social services, including health, housing and education, thanks to resurgent oil prices that generated an estimated $981 billion in revenues for PDVSA between 1999 and 2011. The government handed out homes, refrigerators and medicines, and many families benefited from well-paid jobs in the public and private sectors.

Emboldened by popular support, Chávez tightened his grip on the national oil company — to the detriment of U.S. oil companies such as ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips.

But PDVSA’s fortunes eventually turned as oil prices fell once again. Corruption and mismanagement further eroded profits and hurt production, first under Chávez, and then Maduro, his hand-picked successor.

By 2013, when Maduro became president following Chávez's death, the country fell into a dire economic crisis. Sanctions imposed by the U.S. over democratic and human rights concerns crippled the industry and the economy further.

Instead of attracting migrants, Venezuelans became migrants; the economic turmoil led to severe food shortages, among other deprivations, prompting millions to leave the country.

Even though markets and stores are now well-stocked, people struggle to afford the basics because of soaring inflation.

Many of today's public sector workers earn roughly $160 per month, while the average private sector employee earned about $237 per month last year.

“Something is better than nothing,” former oil worker Romel Abreu said referring to the roughly 1 million barrels of oil per day that Venezuela currently produces. “If we didn’t have it, we would be fried.”

Abreu works as a security guard in Cabimas, in the country's northwest, the heart of the oil industry. Like many there, he pines for another oil boom and the jobs it would bring.

Oil deal raises skepticism among Venezuelans

Venezuelans had hoped the capture of Maduro in January would end the ruling party’s 27-year hold on power. When that did not happen – Trump chose Rodríguez over Venezuela’s opposition – people at least were optimistic about potential economic improvements from the easing of crippling sanctions.

In February, a legal overhaul opened the path to private investment in the oil industry, which some saw as a prelude to bigger changes.

“Everything that happened on Jan. 3 was simply a strategy to get where we are today,” Castro, the architect, said of Trump’s Venezuela policy. “That is, to fully immerse themselves in the country’s energy affairs for their own personal gain and benefit, not for a purpose that would truly benefit us Venezuelans.”

Under the deal, the U.S. is entering a joint venture with Venezuela’s North American Blue Energy Partners, the second-largest private oil company operating in the country, behind Chevron.

Rodríguez is giving the joint venture 100-year rights over 17 oil fields with proven reserves of 65 billion barrels. The nation's total reserves have been estimated at roughly 300 billion.

Because Venezuela’s energy infrastructure has been severely degraded, it will take years before new investments will lead to significantly higher oil production, experts say.

Speaking in Caracas on Wednesday, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Trump’s mission in Venezuela “is to bring peace, freedom, opportunity and prosperity to the people.” In an address to the nation Saturday, Rodríguez defended the agreement — and said she wants her country to be an “energy powerhouse.”

Cabimas residents can only hope.

“Well, on the one hand, one feels and thinks that one of the largest oil reserves has been handed over,” Erwin Ayala, an oil company worker, said outside his home. “But if it’s for the good of the country and for future generations, then yes, we agree with that, because what good is having so much oil ... if there’s no machinery, no technology, to extract it?”

___

Associated Press video journalist Juan Pablo Arraez contributed to this report from Cabimas, Venezuela.

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According to Davie Fire Rescue officials, the gas leak was reported in the area of 3501 Davie Road after a construction crew struck an underground gas line.

Surrounding businesses were evacuated as a precaution as Hazmat units responded.

First responders said Davie Road is currently closed between Southwest 35th Street and 39th Street as they work to mitigate the leak.

Drivers are asked to avoid the area for the time being.

Según funcionarios del Cuerpo de Bomberos de Davie, la fuga de gas fue reportada en el área de 3501 Davie Road después de que un equipo de construcción golpeara una tubería subterránea de gas.

Los negocios de los alrededores fueron evacuados como medida de precaución mientras unidades de materiales peligrosos respondían al lugar.

Los socorristas dijeron que Davie Road está actualmente cerrada entre Southwest 35th Street y 39th Street mientras trabajan para controlar la fuga.

Se pide a los conductores evitar el área por el momento.

The linked European and Japanese spacecraft separated as planned from their cruiser, but controllers had to wait two anxious hours to receive confirmation via radio signals. The crucial operation was broadcast from the European Space Agency's control center in Germany, more than 124 million miles (200 million kilometers) away.

“It’s a brilliant moment,” said lead project scientist Geraint Jones.

If all goes well, the conjoined spacecraft known as BepiColombo will enter orbit around Mercury in November and split from each other in December to map and study the entire planet from different altitudes. As of Thursday, the spacecraft still had 2 million miles (3.3 million kilometers) to go before reaching its destination.

Launched in 2018, the BepiColombo mission is named for the Italian mathematician who took part in NASA’s Mariner 10 mission to Mercury in the 1970s. Only one other spacecraft, NASA’s Messenger, has explored the puzzling, scorching planet that is just a little bigger than our moon.

“How tiny Mercury is and still it holds some of the biggest mysteries of our solar system," mission manager Santa Martinez said earlier this week.

Added Jones: “There’s a huge amount still left to be learned."

BepiColombo already has traveled more than 6 billion miles (10 billion kilometers) on its roundabout route, according to Martinez.

It needed nine planetary flybys to reduce its energy enough to be caught in Mercury's orbit. The last flyby, in January 2025, yielded stunning photos of Mercury's impact craters and volcanic plains.

Beginning next spring, a slew of science instruments on the European and Japanese spacecraft will study the magnetic field that envelops Mercury, the planet's dense interior, and the geologic processes at the surface, including the hollows, or depressions, that scientists believe are being eaten away by minerals vaporizing from rocks.

It's a strange world of contrasts. On a planet where the temperature can top 800 degrees Fahrenheit (427 degrees Celsius), the poles are frigid with deep, permanently shadowed craters packed with ice.

Given Mercury's proximity to the sun, engineers had to design the spacecraft to withstand "extremely punishing" conditions, said the European Space Agency's Ignacio Tanco, a mission operations chief.

“It's essentially equivalent to operating with a very hot pizza oven running right on your back,” he said.

Science observations should begin next spring, with the European Space Agency covering most of the mission's $2 billion (1.7 billion euros) cost.

___

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

The celebrated author and activist, who became one of the most visible symbols and potent voices of the U.S. women’s movement, died Wednesday at her home in New York City. She was 92.

Hillary Clinton

“She pushed open doors not just for herself, but for literally millions of women behind her. She wasn’t going to be an astronaut, but my goodness, she made it possible for Sally Ride to be an astronaut. She wasn’t going to play college sports, but she stood behind the women in Congress who passed Title IX and opened up opportunities in sports and academics for girls. And she wasn’t on the Supreme Court when Roe v. Wade was decided, but her voice and her activism was behind that advancement for women’s rights. Gloria Steinem was, at heart, an optimist. Her activism was rooted in optimism, and that’s a moral choice she made every day. Even though we’ve faced setbacks to women’s full participation and equality in America and around the world, I want Gloria’s voice to remain in our heads.” — the former secretary of state, on social media.

Oprah Winfrey

“Every woman who has ever walked into a room knowing she belongs there; every woman who has demanded equal pay, equal respect, ownership of her own body, and the right to make her own choices; every girl who has grown up assuming that her dreams are hers to pursue — whether she knows Gloria Steinem’s name or not — is living, in some measure, inside the progress Gloria helped create. She leaves us with more freedom than she inherited and with the responsibility to keep widening that freedom for the women and girls who come next.” — the media mogul and television producer, on social media.

Jill Biden

“Gloria Steinem understood that women’s equality begins with the freedom to make decisions about our own bodies, health, and futures. For decades, she fought to make that freedom real for generations of women and girls. She spoke up when it was difficult, listened to those whose voices too often went unheard, and never stopped pushing our country forward. Joe and I are holding Gloria’s loved ones in our hearts today. Her voice changed our country, and her courage will continue to inspire us to keep fighting for the freedoms she spent her life defending.” — the former first lady, on social media.

Melinda French Gates

“Generational change doesn’t happen by accident or fate — it takes leaders like Gloria Steinem who work hand in hand with so many others to build a lasting movement. The decades of energy, brilliance, and advocacy she devoted to women’s rights helped so many of us see that we belonged at the tables where decisions are made. … What a light she was for me and so many others. What a debt we owe her.” — the philanthropist and businesswoman, on social media.

Julianne Moore

“The time I spent studying Gloria Steinem in order to play her was one of the most edifying of my life. Everything I watched, everything I read, everything I observed about her gave me a template for how I wanted to behave.” — the actor, who played Steinem in the 2020 film “The Glorias,” on Instagram.

Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex

“Privately, she was even better than you would imagine — spending Thanksgiving with our family, introducing me to one of my best friends (forever the champion of female friendship), loving our children with her whole heart, counseling me during hard times, and giving extraordinary advice and perspective with a cup of tea and an unrivaled cheekiness and wit.” — Duchess of Sussex, on Instagram.

Roxane Gay

“Gloria was one of a kind. Genuine, generous, curious, thoughtful. She lived a staggering life and her passing is a staggering loss tempered only by the ferocity of her legacy.” — the writer, commenting on Instagram.

Abigail Disney

“Everything Gloria did was rooted in kindness. It flowed through her political activism.” — her friend and fellow activist, to The Associated Press.

Rachel Cargle

“Gloria, you changed my life. You seeded a fire in me that would result in my own activism. I am forever grateful to have learned from what you offered the world.” — the author and social justice activist, commenting on Instagram.

Harvey Fierstein

“An unstoppable visionary who demanded an equal role for females in a male dominated world and worked tirelessly, for decades, to bring that change about. The greatest irony was how many women she had to battle as they cowered behind their male owners. But battle she did. Equal rights! Freedom to choose! Access to political power! Equal pay for equal effort.” — the actor and playwright, on social media.

Jill Filipovic

“I have done what I wanted to do with my life. That would not have been possible without Steinem and the scores of other feminists who it is no exaggeration to say radically reshaped America and the world.” — the author and feminist, in her Substack newsletter.

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Up to 4 to 6 inches of additional rain is forecast through today across parts of the Piney Woods region of east-central Texas where a moderate risk (threat level 3 or 4) of flash flooding is possible.

The heaviest axis of rain will stay well southeast of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, but isolated pockets of heavy rain could lead to localized flooding south of I-20 and east of I-35 through tonight.

Edouard dropped an incredible amount of rain along a narrow corridor of southeastern Texas as it moved inland over the past 36 hours, with totals reaching over 2 feet in some places.

The magnitude of the flooding was not well captured by our computer models and poorly forecast, with the National Weather Service predicting 3 to 6 inches and a maximum of 9 inches of rain for eastern Texas shortly before Edouard came ashore Tuesday. Edouard blew through those early rainfall forecasts and the storm is a good reminder that tropical systems are capable of producing extreme rainfall and models still struggle with handling the specifics of this.

For those interested in a deep dive as to why the models were caught flat-footed and why Edouard was not an example of a brown ocean effect as some media outlets prematurely speculated yesterday, I encourage you to read this excellent forensic piece from my colleague Matt Lanza over at The Eyewall.

Atlantic hurricane season hits pause as we near the peak

It’s rare to have a stormless Labor Day across the Atlantic basin. We wrote about the details of this last hurricane season. Only about once every decade do we look out across the Gulf, Caribbean, and wider Atlantic and find no active tropical systems on Labor Day weekend.

This has happened now two years in a row (2024 and 2025) and – unless something unforeseen pops up that our models are missing – it’ll happen again in 2026.

This season feels less out of place than in 2024 and 2025 when we expected very active hurricane seasons. Even so, it begs the question whether this is part of a bigger trend toward later-blooming hurricane seasons, an idea that I and other hurricane researchers explored in this paper we published last September.

Whatever the case may be, recent experience reminds us that hurricane season can play catchup in a hurry, even into October and November, so we’ll want to stay vigilant. But for those of you taking a beach vacation this Labor Day weekend, enjoy the rare September holiday escape without any worries of a brewing storm.

Se pronostican entre 4 y 6 pulgadas de lluvia adicional hasta hoy en partes de la región de Piney Woods, en el centro-este de Texas, donde es posible un riesgo moderado (nivel de amenaza 3 de 4) de inundaciones repentinas.

El eje de lluvias más intensas permanecerá bastante al sureste del área metropolitana de Dallas-Fort Worth, pero zonas aisladas de fuertes lluvias podrían provocar inundaciones localizadas al sur de la I-20 y al este de la I-35 hasta esta noche.

Edouard dejó una increíble cantidad de lluvia a lo largo de un estrecho corredor del sureste de Texas mientras avanzaba tierra adentro durante las últimas 36 horas, con acumulaciones que superaron los 2 pies en algunos lugares.

La magnitud de las inundaciones no fue bien captada por nuestros modelos computarizados y fue mal pronosticada, ya que el Servicio Nacional de Meteorología pronosticó entre 3 y 6 pulgadas y un máximo de 9 pulgadas de lluvia para el este de Texas poco antes de que Edouard tocara tierra el martes. Edouard superó ampliamente esos primeros pronósticos de lluvia y la tormenta es un buen recordatorio de que los sistemas tropicales son capaces de producir lluvias extremas y que los modelos aún tienen dificultades para manejar los detalles específicos de estos fenómenos.

Para aquellos interesados en un análisis profundo sobre por qué los modelos fueron tomados por sorpresa y por qué Edouard no fue un ejemplo del efecto de océano marrón, como algunos medios de comunicación especularon prematuramente ayer, los invito a leer este excelente análisis forense de mi colega Matt Lanza en The Eyewall.

La temporada de huracanes del Atlántico entra en pausa mientras nos acercamos al pico

Es poco común tener un Día del Trabajo sin tormentas en toda la cuenca del Atlántico. Escribimos sobre los detalles de esto la temporada de huracanes pasada. Solo aproximadamente una vez cada década observamos el Golfo, el Caribe y el resto del Atlántico y no encontramos sistemas tropicales activos durante el fin de semana del Día del Trabajo.

Esto ha ocurrido ahora dos años consecutivos (2024 y 2025) y, a menos que surja algo imprevisto que nuestros modelos no estén detectando, volverá a ocurrir en 2026.

Esta temporada se siente menos fuera de lo común que en 2024 y 2025, cuando esperábamos temporadas de huracanes muy activas. Aun así, plantea la pregunta de si esto forma parte de una tendencia más amplia hacia temporadas de huracanes que se desarrollan más tarde, una idea que otros investigadores de huracanes y yo exploramos en este estudio que publicamos en septiembre pasado.

Cualquiera que sea el caso, la experiencia reciente nos recuerda que la temporada de huracanes puede recuperar terreno rápidamente, incluso en octubre y noviembre, por lo que debemos mantenernos atentos. Pero para aquellos que tomarán unas vacaciones en la playa este fin de semana del Día del Trabajo, disfruten de esta inusual escapada festiva de septiembre sin preocuparse por la formación de una tormenta.

Según la policía de Hialeah, la balacera fue reportada poco después de las 2:30 p.m. del martes en la comunidad Aquabella, en el área de Northwest 91st Avenue y 170th Street.

Agentes de la policía de Hialeah y de la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade respondieron a la escena.

La policía dijo que los detectives determinaron que varias personas se reunieron en el lugar para una “pelea física previamente acordada” con el fin de “resolver una disputa en curso”.

“Durante el enfrentamiento, se sacó un arma de fuego y se realizaron múltiples disparos”, dijo el teniente Eddie Rodriguez a Local 10 en un correo electrónico el miércoles. “Las declaraciones de los testigos y la evidencia física revelaron que los disparos fueron dirigidos contra una víctima que huía a pie, así como contra una Chevy Tahoe negra ocupada que intentaba abandonar la escena. Una bala impactó el lado del conductor del vehículo”.

Rodriguez confirmó que nadie resultó herido por los disparos.

Identificó a los sospechosos como Luis Padilla Delatorre y Michael Isaac Delgado, ambos de 17 años.

Delatorre y Delgado enfrentan cargos graves de intento de asesinato en segundo grado con un arma mortal/arma de fuego y disparar/lanzar un proyectil mortal.

Ambos fueron trasladados al Centro de Evaluación Juvenil.

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According to police, someone called 911 at about 6:15 a.m. to report that a body was lying near the train tracks in the 6200 block of North Andrews Avenue.

Detectives arrived at the scene and discovered that a Tri-Rail train had struck a white male, authorities said. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.

The investigation into the cause of the collision remains ongoing. The victim’s identity has not yet been released.

Según un informe de arresto del Departamento de Policía de las Escuelas de Miami-Dade, Carlos Martinez, de 15 años, fue atacado inicialmente por dos estudiantes durante una pelea en la escuela el lunes.

Un video de celular que circula en redes sociales parece mostrar a dos personas golpeando y pateando a Martinez y, en un momento dado, derribándolo con fuerza contra el suelo.

El informe de arresto de Martinez indica que posteriormente tomó un cuchillo y corrió por el pasillo con la intención de “tomar represalias contra sus atacantes”.

Los investigadores dijeron que un video de vigilancia mostró a Martinez “metiendo la mano en sus pantalones y sacando un objeto de color claro con forma de cuchilla”.

El informe indica que el video muestra que posteriormente regresa para recoger sus pertenencias y “coloca el objeto de color claro con forma de cuchilla en el bolsillo de sus pantalones antes de intentar huir de la escena”.

Según el informe, el estudiante de 18 años que resultó herido dijo a los investigadores: “No conozco a ese muchacho en absoluto”. Dijo que Martinez estaba siendo “atacado por dos muchachos al azar” y que él estaba observando la pelea cuando, de repente, todos comenzaron a correr, según los investigadores.

El informe indica que el estudiante de 18 años dijo a los investigadores que sintió un empujón en la espalda, pero inicialmente pensó que uno de los estudiantes que huían lo había empujado. Luego, otro estudiante le dijo: “Oye, estás sangrando”. Dijo que fue entonces cuando sintió que algo le goteaba por la espalda, según la policía.

La policía dijo que el estudiante de 18 años les informó que “nunca ha tenido ninguna interacción, conversación o encuentro” con Martinez.

El estudiante sufrió una herida punzante en el lado derecho de la espalda que requirió puntos de sutura, según el informe de arresto.

La policía dijo que Martinez también sufrió lesiones durante el incidente. El informe indica que sufrió “múltiples laceraciones autoinfligidas” en los dedos índice y medio de la mano derecha, que también requirieron puntos de sutura.

El informe indica que un subdirector vio posteriormente a Martinez “huyendo de la escena del incidente hacia el estacionamiento de la escuela”.

La policía dijo que el subdirector detuvo a Martinez y le preguntó por qué estaba sangrando. Según el informe, Martinez admitió que tenía un cuchillo en el bolsillo trasero derecho de sus pantalones y el subdirector lo confiscó.

Los investigadores describieron el cuchillo como uno con una hoja de 5 pulgadas y una longitud total de 10 pulgadas.

La policía dijo que el incidente provocó un cierre de emergencia en la escuela. Según el informe de arresto, varias unidades de la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade acudieron para ayudar a mantener el orden mientras los padres llegaban a la escuela para recoger a sus hijos.

Martinez compareció ante un tribunal el martes, donde los fiscales dijeron que tienen la intención de acusarlo como adulto. Un juez ordenó que permaneciera bajo detención segura y le prohibió tener contacto con los otros estudiantes involucrados en el incidente.

Los padres de Martinez dijeron a Trent Kelly de Local 10 después de la audiencia judicial del martes que su hijo había sido maltratado y amenazado por otros estudiantes durante varios días.

“Estaba amenazando a mi hijo, maltratándolo”, dijo su padre.

Los registros de la cárcel muestran que Martinez enfrenta cargos de agresión agravada con un arma mortal, posesión de un arma en propiedad escolar e interferencia con una institución educativa.

Local 10 se comunicó con el Departamento de Policía de las Escuelas de Miami-Dade para obtener información sobre las identidades de los otros dos estudiantes arrestados y los cargos que enfrentan.

La policía arrestó el miércoles a Michelle Luchau-Rebora, de 32 años y residente de Pinecrest, después de que se entregara en el Departamento de Policía de Homestead, que investigó el caso junto con la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade.

Según documentos oficiales, Luchau-Rebora trabajaba como pasante en el centro de tratamiento de alcohol y drogas New Home CORPS, ubicado en 1020 N. Krome Ave., “en calidad de terapeuta de salud mental”, cuando, en junio del año pasado, comenzó una relación sexual con un cliente.

Las autoridades dijeron que Luchau-Rebora mantenía actividad sexual durante las sesiones de terapia mientras se encontraba en el centro y agregaron que también “facilitaba coartadas en su nombre, lo que le permitía obtener autorización para salir del centro restringido y mantener relaciones sexuales en múltiples ocasiones”, en varios lugares, incluida su casa, la casa de su madre en Key Biscayne y Jackson Memorial Hospital.

Según los agentes, Luchau-Rebora “le exigió que no le contara a nadie sobre su relación porque afectaría su capacidad para trabajar como terapeuta”.

Según los informes de arresto de Luchau-Rebora, la víctima reportó la relación inapropiada al centro después de que ella terminara la relación y posteriormente fue despedida.

Ahora enfrenta cargos graves de conducta sexual inapropiada por parte de una psicoterapeuta.

Hasta la mañana del miércoles, permanecía detenida en el Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center con una fianza de $5,000 USD.

“Esta es una situación lamentable relacionada con acusaciones contra una persona que se desempeñaba como pasante en New Hope CORPS. Al tener conocimiento de dichas acusaciones, New Hope informó de inmediato el asunto a las autoridades y organismos correspondientes, dio por terminada la pasantía de esta persona y cooperó plenamente con la investigación posterior.”

Stephen Alvarez, director ejecutivo de New Hope CORPS.

Its latest salvo is a federal review of California's coastal management program, which is run largely by a state commission that has had a powerful role for decades in shaping development along the coast. Environmental advocates fear federal officials could use the review to strip the California Coastal Commission of its ability to have a say in projects involving federal agencies that affect the state's rugged coastal bluffs, pristine beaches and world-class surfing spots.

The administration, citing a need for energy security and job creation, has already announced plans for new offshore oil leases in California as well as Florida, where the federal government has not allowed drilling since 1995 because of concerns about oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico.

Trump officials also helped a Texas firm jump-start an old pipeline system that had been idled since its 2015 rupture caused one of California’s worst oil spills, blackening beaches for 150 miles (240 kilometers) from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles and polluting habitat for endangered whales and sea turtles. Federal officials also recently took a step toward authorizing fracking on an old oil platform 9 miles (14 kilometers) off Ventura County — a move opposed by the state’s coastal commission.

“It's just part of that overall belief that they have, that they're going to get rid of renewables and go back to good old-fashioned fossil fuels, and what better place to start than California?” said Deborah A. Sivas, a professor of environmental law at Stanford Law School. “We're the feds — we're going to tell the state what to do.”

California has some working offshore rigs, but there has been no new oil leasing in federal waters since the mid-1980s and no new state leasing for even longer. The state barred new offshore oil leases after a catastrophic spill in 1969 spewed between 3.5 million and 4.2 million gallons of crude into the Santa Barbara Channel. The disaster killed thousands of seabirds and helped give rise to the modern environmental movement.

California now uses so much solar and wind energy that nearly half the state's electricity came from renewable resources in 2024, according to the state's energy commission. That's also the source of a fight with the Trump administration. Last week, state officials sued the federal government over its buyback of an offshore wind lease aimed at discouraging the expansion of wind energy in favor of fossil fuels.

California has also tried to wean residents off gas-powered cars — another push opposed by the Trump administration.

California's coastal commission is the latest target

California's coastal commission, an independent agency with appointed members, was formed in 1972. It has often been in the spotlight for taking up high-profile projects on the state's tourism-dependent coast. The panel voted against but later approved a U2 guitarist's plan for mansions on seaside bluffs, though the building proposal was eventually nixed by a court. It also rejected a proposed desalination plant to create drinking water in Huntington Beach.

The commission also has a say in federal projects along California's coast, in line with a 1972 federal coastal management law. More than 30 states have similar programs to protect their coastal resources and all are subject to periodic federal evaluation.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced the unexpected review of California’s program in May while denouncing the commission’s opposition to an expanded launch schedule for SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets from Vandenberg Space Force Base. Commissioners cited concerns that more launches could harm sensitive species and limit public access to the coast.

“Obstructionist policies that delay critical national infrastructure in the name of environmental extremism are unacceptable,” Lutnick said. He said the review will examine how California has addressed federal priorities on spaceport infrastructure, offshore oil production, pipeline maintenance and desalination projects.

Targeting California raises a fight that could reverberate nationwide, experts say. Until now, no state with a coastal program has been stripped of its authority to review federal projects. Many Californians who spoke at an hourslong public hearing in Santa Monica in August said they don’t want their state to be the first.

“This isn’t about performance. This is about power,” said Maureen Ellenberger, a Santa Barbara resident who is upset about the decision to let Houston-based Sable Offshore Corp. resume pumping through the old pipeline. “It’s about whether the Trump administration can strip California’s authority because they don’t like the answers the coastal commission gave to oil companies.”

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is carrying out the review. It isn't known when it will be completed.

The commission isn't new to controversy

In the past, California's coastal commission has clashed with elected officials from both political parties. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom rushed to the commission's defense this year, but in 2025 suspended its permitting requirements for home rebuilding following the devastating Los Angeles area wildfires.

Trump's battles with the commission began before his first term when he put up a 70-foot (21-meter) flagpole on his golf club in Rancho Palos Verdes. The commission ultimately allowed for it after a lengthy battle.

Last month, the commission unanimously voted to oppose the plan for fracking on a 45-year-old platform in federal waters off Ventura County after a lengthy public hearing. The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management released an environmental analysis for the proposal, which energy company DCOR said would more than triple daily oil output in 16 wells from 1,100 barrels to 4,000 barrels.

“This is just simply one of those cases where the juice isn’t worth the squeeze,” Coastal Commissioner Ray Jackson said during a hearing on DCOR LLC's plan. “It creates far too many opportunities for something to go wrong. When something does go wrong it is our ocean, beaches, wildlife and coastal economy that pay the price.”

The company said it’s evaluating whether to appeal to the commerce secretary.

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It happened on Aug. 21 outside the McDonald’s at 1310 S. Federal Highway in Dania Beach.

“They basically jumped an old man,” said parent Yanelle Perez, who witnessed the fight. “My children are saying it’s a new trend that’s happening after school.”

Perez, a mother of two children who attend nearby Olsen Middle School, was there to pick up her kids when the fight broke out, so she started filming.

“I don’t know what happened inside the McDonald’s, I just see this whole gang of kids, as you can tell in the video, and this one man. It’s only one man,” she said. “This lady is running for her life, an older woman. These kids are just attacking him and you can tell he can’t help himself. It’s disgusting.”

When asked why she was sharing her video and story, she said, “I just feel like parents need to be aware.”

Olsen Middle School Principal Janet Giancarli sent a message to parents in regard to the incident, which stated:

“An adult male approached the students and initiated a physical confrontation outside of the restaurant. The Broward Sheriff’s Office responded and investigated. No one was injured.

“We understand that a video of this incident is now circulating on social media and is concerning. While the incident did not occur on school grounds or during the school day, we take any situation involving our students seriously and we will continue to work closely with law enforcement regarding this matter. The safety and well-being of our students remain our highest priority.”

The principal did not state how she claims to know the man started the fight and Perez disputed the principal’s characterization of what happened.

“I can’t see that happening,” she said. “He was basically begging them to leave him alone.”

Ocurrió el 21 de agosto afuera del McDonald’s ubicado en 1310 S. Federal Highway en Dania Beach.

“Prácticamente atacaron entre todos a un anciano”, dijo Yanelle Perez, madre de familia que presenció la pelea. “Mis hijos dicen que es una nueva tendencia que está ocurriendo después de clases”.

Perez, madre de dos niños que asisten a la cercana escuela secundaria Olsen Middle School, estaba allí para recoger a sus hijos cuando comenzó la pelea, por lo que empezó a grabar.

“No sé qué pasó dentro del McDonald’s, solo veo a toda esta pandilla de niños, como se puede ver en el video, y a este hombre. Es solo un hombre”, dijo. “Esta mujer está corriendo por su vida, una mujer mayor. Estos niños simplemente lo están atacando y se puede ver que él no puede defenderse. Es repugnante”.

Cuando le preguntaron por qué compartía su video y su historia, dijo: “Simplemente siento que los padres deben estar al tanto”.

La directora de Olsen Middle School, Janet Giancarli, envió un mensaje a los padres con respecto al incidente, que decía:

“Un hombre adulto se acercó a los estudiantes e inició una confrontación física afuera del restaurante. La Oficina del Sheriff de Broward respondió e investigó. Nadie resultó herido.

“Entendemos que un video de este incidente está circulando ahora en las redes sociales y es preocupante. Aunque el incidente no ocurrió en terrenos escolares ni durante el horario escolar, tomamos en serio cualquier situación que involucre a nuestros estudiantes y continuaremos trabajando estrechamente con las autoridades en relación con este asunto. La seguridad y el bienestar de nuestros estudiantes siguen siendo nuestra máxima prioridad”.

La directora no indicó cómo asegura saber que el hombre inició la pelea y Perez cuestionó la versión de la directora sobre lo ocurrido.

“No veo cómo pudo haber ocurrido eso”, dijo. “Él prácticamente les estaba rogando que lo dejaran en paz”.

Según la policía, alguien llamó al 911 alrededor de las 6:15 a.m. para reportar que había un cuerpo cerca de las vías del tren en la cuadra 6200 de North Andrews Avenue.

Detectives llegaron al lugar y están investigando si la víctima fue arrollada por un tren o “murió de alguna otra manera”, dijo la policía.

Aunque la causa de muerte sigue sin estar clara, un video grabado por Local 10 News muestra que un tren de Tri-Rail estaba detenido en las vías cercanas en medio de la investigación.

No se divulgaron de inmediato más detalles.

Very high levels of atmospheric moisture near record levels will linger into the holiday weekend. It does not appear to be a complete washout from start to finish, but expect rounds of thunderstorms with dry time in between.

The 83-year-old German filmmaker had actually met twins who spoke in unison some 45 years ago. Greta and Freda Chaplin dressed the same and became a bit of a tabloid fascination in the 1980s in the U.K. because of a stalking case. And they did spark an idea, but it was one that lay dormant for decades, constrained by the limitations of reality.

Then someone suggested that perhaps it didn’t have to be twins: What if it were the Mara sisters instead? All of a sudden, it came to life: He wrote the script in five days.

But his story is complete invention, he said. The Maras play the fictional Jean and Joan Holbrooke, who go on a literal and spiritual journey together as they try to find their place in the world.

Herzog was joined on the Lido by the Mara sisters, and Orlando Bloom, who plays the object of both of their affections. The film, which received a nearly seven-minute standing ovation, does not yet have a release date in the U.S.

Rooney and Kate Mara's first film together

“At first it was very daunting, the idea that we were going to be playing the same person,” Rooney Mara said. “But I think we found pretty quickly that having a lifetime together and all this history and a childhood of playing together, there was just this unspoken world between us.”

She added: “I’ve never laughed so much, we had so much fun.”

Kate Mara said speaking in unison almost felt like a song.

“It was very musical,” she said. “It happened quite naturally.”

They were so quick to pick it up, in fact, that Herzog cut the planned two-week rehearsal short after five days. He told the sisters, who have never before been in a movie together, that he’d meet them in Ireland “in front of my camera.”

Orlando Bloom is the bucking fastard

Herzog said he was also excited to work with Bloom and to see him step out of what he’s known for: “The heartthrob for the teenies,” Herzog said. “And now you are the bucking fastard.”

Bloom said that Herzog “creates a sacred space for magic to happen.”

He added: “It’s the pinnacle of any actor’s career to be at the Venice Film Festival talking about a movie with Werner Herzog.”

Dedicated to David Lynch

Herzog dedicated the film to the late filmmaker David Lynch. While they were editing, he said he wished Lynch could be the first audience to see “Bucking Fastard.”

“We had a deep, deep understanding of each other’s work, although we were quite different,” Herzog said. “I wish we could turn the wheel of time back and invite him tonight. But it doesn’t happen like this.”

___

For ongoing coverage of the 2026 Venice Film Festival, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/venice-film-festival

The House Oversight Committee served Black with two subpoenas during a closed-door voluntary interview in June after lawmakers said he refused to answer questions about nondisclosure agreements. One subpoena demanded Black produce nondisclosure agreements and other documents, while the other compelled him to return for a deposition before the committee.

Black’s lawsuit argues the subpoenas exceed the committee’s authority by seeking private information unrelated to Epstein or any legitimate legislative purpose. It asks a federal judge to declare the subpoenas invalid and prevent the committee from enforcing them.

“The Committee is on a fishing expedition that oversteps its authority and completely ignores its responsibility," Black’s attorney, Susan Estrich, said in a statement. “This is no longer about finding the truth about Epstein. It is about trying to destroy Mr. Black.”

Top Oversight lawmakers threaten to hold Black in contempt

The top Republican and Democratic lawmakers on the committee both criticized Black's lawsuit and said they planned to discuss later Thursday whether they would hold him in contempt of Congress.

“This is unacceptable. We're very disappointed,” said House Oversight Chair James Comer. “Of all the powerful billionaires and political people we've brought in for interview and depositions, this is the first time anyone's filed suit.”

Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the committee, called the lawsuit “laughable” and that Black is “trying to slow the process down of getting us the information.”

“Today, the process of contempt has to begin,” Garcia said.

Being held in contempt opens up a witness to criminal prosecution. If the House approves a contempt resolution against Black, it would fall to the Justice Department to decide whether to bring charges against him.

Black paid Epstein over $150 million during their yearslong relationship

Black is the co-founder and former chief executive of the private equity firm Apollo Global Management. He stepped down in 2021 during the fallout over his ties to Epstein.

Lawmakers have alleged that Black paid Epstein $180 million during their yearslong relationship.

A 2021 review commissioned by Apollo found that Black paid Epstein $158 million from 2012 to 2017, after Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from a minor. The review said the payments were for “bona fide tax, estate planning and other related services.”

Black is among a number of influential figures to appear in the investigation into Epstein and the web of wealth and influence around him. Other figures to have appeared for the investigation include former Democratic President Bill Clinton, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.

Black is mentioned repeatedly in files that the Justice Department has released related to the Epstein investigation. He also appears in a collection of birthday messages sent to Epstein that were released by the House committee last year, including a poem attributed to Black that refers to “Blond, Red or Brunette, spread out geographically.”

Before the June 26 appearance before the committee, Black maintained that he was not aware of Epstein’s “nefarious activity” until 2019 and that he paid Epstein for legitimate purposes, in part due to his “unrivaled network of relationships” with influential figures.

Clancy, a 36-year-old former labor and delivery nurse, doesn’t deny strangling her children in the basement of their home in 2023. Her attorney argues that postpartum psychosis led to her actions, while prosecutors say she knew what she was doing.

Postpartum psychosis is estimated to afflict 1 to 2 per 1,000 women after delivery. Experts at the Cleveland Clinic describe it as a mental health emergency affecting someone’s sense of reality. Though most people with postpartum psychosis don’t harm their children, mothers with severe cases may try to do so.

Here’s the latest:

Clancy’s parents, sister leave court

They left the courtroom and entered the elevator with a member of Reddington’s defense team, who was holding a box of letters written to Clancy from supporters.

Judge sends jurors home after foreperson says 1 won’t follow reasonable doubt instructions

The jurors eyes were on the floor as they filed into the courtroom. Some had their hands clasped in front of them. As they took their seats, they seemed expressionless, their faces like stone.

“Remember the instructions I have given you over and over again,” the judge reminded them, telling them to stay away from any news coverage or discussion about the case.

The judge then excused them until Friday morning at 9 a.m., and declared the court in recess until then.

15 min ago

Defense called judge’s instruction ‘soft’ and said mistrial would be ‘a real shame’

“The court has an instruction from the foreperson of that jury that has been working for a week now saying there is one juror who refuses to listen to the law that you have given him or her on reasonable doubt,” Reddington said, his voicing rising. “I suggest respectfully that the soft instruction that you gave them saying at the sidebar can you listen to the law as I instruct you does not focus on the issue.”

But Sullivan said removing a juror from a “deliberating jury is a sensitive undertaking.”

“I don’t feel it is proper to side for me to side side with one side or the other of the deliberations. I don’t feel it’s appropriate for me to say I agree with one juror or 11,” Sullivan said. “At this point, I have asked if they are able follow instructions. They swore earlier they could. They have said at this point they can.”

Tension in the jury room

While the jury has twice sent the judge notes saying it couldn’t agree on a verdict, this is the first time it has indicated possible tension or acrimony in the deliberation room.

According to Reddington, the jury foreperson complained to the judge that one jurors was refusing to listen to the law on reasonable doubt.

That kind of complaint about an individual juror was missing from the earlier notes, which just said the group wasn’t unanimous.

Judge says he’s given his instructions, and the jurors have sworn to honor them

The deadlocked jury twice told the judge in the past two days that they can’t agree whether the Massachusetts mother is criminally responsible for killing her three children.

Reddington now said a juror apparently is not following the judge’s instructions on reasonable doubt and he wants the juror kicked off the panel.

“If we come back here in a half-hour with a mistrial because of a juror that has just spurned the instructions of this court, it’s a shame — it’s a real shame,” Reddington said.

But prosecutor Jennifer Sprague said the judge’s instruction was appropriate and no further action was necessary.

“I’ve asked if they’ve been able to follow my instructions. They swore earlier that they could,” Sullivan said.

Reddington says there’s one juror ‘who refuses to listen to the law’

Clancy’s defense lawyer has asked the judge to remove one juror who he says has “spurned” the instructions of the court.

“There is one juror who refuses to listen to the law you have given him or her on reasonable doubt” Reddington said.

The judge responds that it’s not appropriate for him to rule one way or another.

“I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to say I agree with one juror or 11,” says Sullivan.

The judge said “the defendant’s objection is noted” and sent the court into recess as deliberations continue.

Gasps in the audience

Once the judge asked the jurors to resume deliberations, some in the audience gasped.

The jurors showed no visible emotion at the instruction, nor did Clancy’s family.

At the sidebar, Reddington is talking to the judge and waving his arm in the air.

Judge reminds jurors about the rules for reasonable doubt, and sends them back

“I want to remind you that you are required to follow my instructions on the law as I gave you,” he told them.

“It is not enough for prosecutors to show a probability, or even a strong probability, of guilt,” the judge said.

Proof beyond a reasonable doubt does not mean proof beyond all possible doubt, the judge added.

And then he sent them back into the jury room.

Sidebar over, the jury is reentering the courtroom

Reddington sighed, crossed his arms and walked back to the defense table. Clancy and the other attorneys returned to their respective seats as well.

The courtroom is silent except for the sound of reporters typing on their keyboards.

The jury has now been called back into the courtroom.

The judge continues to have short conversations with each juror

Once each juror speaks to the judge, they are taken back out of the courtroom. Reddington is standing behind Clancy, who is about three feet from the jurors as they are brought in.

Jurors are being brought back into the courtroom

The jurors are entering one by one, and being sworn in. The judge is talking to each juror, but it’s not yet clear what they are talking about. Each one then leaves the courtroom.

Now Clancy has joined the sidebar.

Reddington held his hands at his side, looking out at the courtroom, and then sighed as he walked over to confer with Clancy before wheeling her up to join the sidebar. It’s the first such meeting for her in this trial.

Reddington puts his hands on Clancy’s shoulder and she turned to talk to him. Now Reddington is speaking to the judge, slicing the air with this hand.

Two court officers have also joined the sidebar, which has now stretched past the 10 minute mark.

Sidebar discussion between judge and attorneys is animated

The discussion between the judge and attorneys on both sides is impassioned, with Clancy’s attorney Reddington pointing his finger for emphasis and the judge handing him a document.

The sidebar conversations are intended to be private, not done in front of a jury or on a court livestream. The court is playing a white noise machine to help prevent anyone from overhearing the conversation.

The discussion has gone on for at least five minutes, making it one of the longer sidebars since the trial began.

Court is back in session

Judge William F. Sullivan entered the courtroom and called the lawyers to a sidebar. He didn’t explain what they would be talking about. That has been the judge’s practice, to speak to the lawyers first in private before explaining to the room what is happening. The jury is not present.

Action inside the courtroom

The courtroom has been reopened to journalists and spectators, which has been done when the court plans to go back into session. The courtroom is packed with every seat taken.

Plymouth District Attorney Timothy Cruz and other members of the district attorneys office are in court. Defense attorney Kevin Reddington is here too, alongside Clancy in her wheelchair.

Clancy’s parents, Paula and Mike Musgrove, are sitting next to her sister, Allison Ozga. A priest from a Duxbury church is next to Clancy’s father.

Some trial watchers want Clancy held accountable

The public appears polarized about Clancy, with both harsh criticism and supportive comments teeming online. Many believe she should be punished for what she did, while her sympathizers say a criminal case should never have been filed.

Rhonda Gonsalves was at the courthouse on Monday calling for a conviction, in contrast to the many Clancy supporters who have attended the trial. The Plymouth resident wore white in honor of Clancy’s children.

“White for innocence. They’re the only innocent ones here, you know, I think anyways,” she said. “She should be found guilty for what she did to her kids. … She murdered three children.”

Trial has changed some minds about Clancy

Jeanne DeSanto said she first assumed Clancy was a horrible person for killing her kids, but watching the trial online changed her view.

“And then, no — it’s women’s health, it’s mental health, it’s systemic. It’s way bigger, and I’ve completely shifted,” she said Thursday, her first day coming to the courthouse.

DeSanto said that if a mistrial is declared, she wants to participate in a letter-writing campaign to Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey and the district attorney, urging them to stop pursuing the criminal case.

“She’s not a danger to anyone other than herself — no one else,” DeSanto said. “What’s the point?”

She hopes Clancy could eventually become an advocate for changes in postpartum mental health care, including better communication between providers.

Women who have experienced postpartum mental illness join wait for verdict

Emily Collins came to the courthouse for the first time Thursday after having watched the livestream, wearing pink clothing like other Clancy supporters there.

She said she experienced severe postpartum depression after having the first of her three children in the 1970s.

“This was all I wanted -- being a wife and mother. So I was like, what is happening to me? Very scary,” Collins said. She recalls having suicidal thoughts and struggling to get out of bed some days amid waves of depression.

Now 64 and a former social worker, Collins thinks the Clancy case should not have been brought to trial. It’s a tough one for jurors, she said.

“It’s just a polarizing subject. I don’t think they’re ever going to get everyone to agree.”

Clancy’s ex-husband hasn’t been to the trial since his testimony

Patrick Clancy was the prosecution’s first witness after opening arguments, taking the stand in late July.

He has said in interviews that he forgives his wife, whom he viewed as ill, not evil. He has since moved to New York City and remarried.

During the trial, Patrick Clancy testified about the horrific events of the day of the killings and Lindsay Clancy’s mental health deteriorating. He left the courtroom as prosecutors played his emotional 911 call.

“She killed the kids!” he was recorded yelling.

He hasn’t returned to the proceedings since testifying, but other members of Patrick’s and Lindsay’s families have been sitting together during court sessions.

Clancy gets letters of support

On his way into the courthouse, defense attorney Kevin Reddington carried a box of letters in support of Clancy “from all over the world.”

“It’s just amazing. She reads them all,” he told reporters.

Reddington said he’s ready for a second trial if this one ends with a hung jury and the prosecutor wants to try again.

“I’ve got witnesses lined up. We’re all set. So let’s go,” he said.

The wait continues

Journalists and about 20 spectators are milling about inside the Plymouth County courthouse on a rainy day while the jury deliberates. Some of the onlookers are wearing pink shirts in support of Clancy.

The livestreamed trial has generated intense interest, drawing crowds to the courthouse every day. The case has sparked deep public divisions over Clancy’s culpability and maternal mental health care after childbirth.

The jurors’ expressions were hard to read

Panel members mostly looked at the floor as they entered the courtroom on Thursday morning.

The jury hasn’t been able to agree on whether Clancy is criminally responsible

The panel has been considering whether or not Clancy is guilty of murder, or lesser manslaughter charges, or not guilty due to mental disease or defect.

A murder conviction could bring a life sentence. A not guilty verdict could result in Clancy’s continued confinement at a psychiatric hospital.

The split among the jury in terms of guilty or not guilty has not been disclosed.

The judge quizzed jurors again before deliberations resumed

Sullivan asked them if anything had happened overnight that would affect their ability to be impartial. They said no and then returned to the jury room.

Jury begins its sixth day of deliberations

The judge brought the 12 jurors and six alternates into the courtroom briefly before sending them back to the deliberation room.

What happens if the jury cannot reach a verdict?

If a verdict cannot be reached, a mistrial will be declared, and the case essentially goes back to the same status as before the trial, with Clancy charged with murder and held at a psychiatric hospital awaiting a resolution of the criminal case.

Prosecutors will decide whether to try again with a new jury. If they do, the jury selection process will begin again, and a new trial will be scheduled.

Prosecutors could also offer a plea deal to Clancy, said Brad Bailey, a Boston defense attorney and former prosecutor who is not involved in the case.

“Any time the threat of a retrial with murder one hanging over the client is re-interjected, defense lawyers will, at the very least, explore whether or not there’s any interest in a resolution,” Bailey said.

What to know about postpartum psychosis

Postpartum psychosis is estimated to afflict only 1 to 2 per 1,000 women after delivery. Experts at the Cleveland Clinic describe it as a mental health emergency affecting someone’s sense of reality.

It can happen to anyone after giving birth, but the chances are higher for people with certain mental health conditions. In a journal article on the subject in 2023, researchers at the Medical University of Lublin in Poland said about half of people with postpartum psychosis have a previous history of psychiatric problems and the most common risk factor associated with the condition is bipolar affective disorder, which causes extreme mood swings.

Though most people with postpartum psychosis don’t harm their children, mothers with severe cases may try to do so, and also may try to harm themselves.

Experts say it’s important to seek immediate help if you or your partner or family member show signs of postpartum psychosis.

▶ Read more

A Massachusetts woman was charged with filming the jury

Dawn Light, 56, was arraigned on an intimidation charge Wednesday at the same courthouse as Clancy’s trial. Authorities say she filmed jurors leaving the courthouse a day earlier.

Light, a retired nurse and Clancy supporter, told reporters she was there: “To see Lindsay. And I did see her. She was getting picked up by the van.”

Her lawyer Jennifer White called it a “misunderstanding.”

A not-guilty plea was entered on Light’s behalf and she was ordered to stay away from the court, jurors and witnesses.

The arrest prompted the judge to ask each juror Wednesday if they saw anything that would affect their impartiality, Clancy’s attorney Kevin Reddington told The Associated Press. The judge also opened the day’s proceedings with a warning that he had issued an order governing how people should conduct themselves at the courthouse. That order barred people from filming, following, contacting or tampering with jurors.

The jury has not been able to agree on a verdict

On Wednesday, the jury sent the court a note saying it couldn’t unanimously agree on a verdict, despite days of trying. The jury had sent a similar note Tuesday morning. Neither note revealed anything about how the jury might be split or said anything about the tone of deliberations.

Sullivan then gave the jury a legal instruction sometimes known as a “dynamite charge” because it is intended to help a jury break through an impasse.

He told the jurors not to abandon their own convictions just to reach a verdict, but urged them to seriously consider opposing views and reassess their positions if appropriate. No one knows, he added, whether another jury would be “more intelligent, more impartial or more competent to decide it than you are.”

Such instructions are common in many states and the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld their constitutionality, but they are barred in some states because of concerns they might be coercive.

Jurors return for a sixth day of deliberation

Jurors in the Lindsay Clancy trial will return for a sixth day of deliberations after twice saying they couldn’t agree whether the Massachusetts mother is criminally responsible for killing her three young children.

The judge told jurors to keep deliberating Wednesday when they said for a second straight day that they were at an impasse — a sign there’s a growing chance of a hung jury and the trial ending without a resolution.

Clancy, a 36-year-old former labor and delivery nurse, doesn’t deny strangling her children in the basement of their home in 2023. Her attorney argues that postpartum psychosis led to her actions, while prosecutors say she knew what she was doing when she killed Cora, Dawson and Callan Clancy, ages 5, 3 and 8 months.

“I know it’s been a long day,” Judge William Sullivan said, “so at this point, what I’m going to do is, first off, thank you for your time and commitment to this case. I’m going to ask you to come back tomorrow morning.”

Clancy stared at the jury with no expression when Sullivan earlier in the day explained to the courtroom that the jurors were at a standstill.

The government will release August inflation figures Sept. 11, and if that report shows inflation continues to cool, then Waller said he “would be inclined” to keep the Fed’s benchmark interest rate unchanged.

“But if inflation comes in hot, I would consider a rate hike,” Waller said. Borrowing costs are only “slightly restricting” consumer and business demand, he added, “and it may not take much acceleration in inflation to nudge me into supporting” a rate hike.

Waller is an outspoken member of the Fed’s seven-person governing board, and his remarks suggest that a rate hike later this month is not a done deal. Stock prices rose and bond yields fell in response. Several members of the Fed’s rate-setting committee have voiced concerns that price increases are still too high, suggesting that a rate hike may be needed. Yet others have said inflation is slowly cooling and higher borrowing costs aren’t necessary.

Fed Chair Kevin Warsh said last week at the Fed’s annual economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, that inflation had not shown sufficient improvement and that the central bank might have “more work to do,” a sign he is weighing a rate increase at the Fed’s next meeting Sept. 15-16.

Warsh’s speech last Friday contributed to the steady rise of longer-term bond yields this week that has caught the attention of policymakers and Wall Street investors, and that has lifted mortgage and auto loan rates for consumers. Investors raised the odds of a rate hike in September to nearly 65% by Wednesday, according to CME Fedwatch.

After Waller’s comments, the odds fell to roughly 50-50.

Waller suggested he has been encouraged by signs that inflation had slowed over the past two months. According to the Fed’s preferred gauge, prices ticked down 0.1% from May to June and rose just 0.2% from June to July. At that pace, inflation would move much closer to the Fed’s 2% annual target.

September’s meeting “is going to be knife edge and it’s going to come down to how the CPI data prints,” Joseph Purtell, portfolio manager at Neuberger, said, referring to the government’s primary measure of inflation, the consumer price index.

Still, Vice President JD Vance on Thursday reiterated the Trump administration’s view that the Fed should actually cut its benchmark rate, rather than raise it or keep it unchanged.

“Our view, and this has been a consistent message from the president and the rest of the administration on down, is that we believe that the Fed should be lowering interest rates,” Vance said at a White House briefing. “We feel quite confident that if you look at the inflation numbers, if you look at the CPI numbers, that it’s proper and responsible for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates.”

Warsh has sought to cut back on the signals the Fed sends about its next moves, which he argues limit the central bank’s policy flexibility. As a result, there has been more uncertainty going into Fed meetings about what policymakers will do than in the past.

Purtell said Warsh could probably command a majority in favor of either keeping rates unchanged later this month or raising them.

Last month, the government said inflation stayed at 3.7% on a yearly basis, according to the Fed’s measure.

In an interview with Reuters following his remarks, Waller acknowledged he is heavily focused on one upcoming report. But he said looking at near-term data is necessary to pick up on any changes in trends.

“I’m willing to sit and wait and be patient” to see if the next inflation report also shows it declining, Waller said. “But if it reverses, then you know it’s time to pull the trigger and hike rates.”

On Wednesday, John Williams, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, said he has also been encouraged by recent inflation data but would like to see more evidence that it is declining, suggesting he would also be willing to keep rates steady this month.

“I think that we have to wait and see,” Williams said in an interview on CNBC. “There’s no clear signs right now whether monetary policy currently is sufficient to make sure we bring inflation back to target in the next year or two, or whether you need to see further action to do that.”

That's the promise House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries has made, previewing an ambitious agenda with oversight of President Donald Trump's administration and legislation to address the high costs of living, if Democrats seize majority control from Republicans in the midterm elections.

But first, the Democratic leaders have to ensure they can keep their own politically diverse — and sometimes rebellious — big-tent caucus in line, which was tested this week. Two go-their-own-way Democrats bucked the party on a routine procedural vote, angering colleagues and raising a red flag about potential party divisions to come.

“His greatest challenge will be governing,” Ashley Etienne, a former top aide to Nancy Pelosi during her historic tenure as House speaker, said of Jeffries.

The House majority is expected to be decided by a handful of seats in a shrinking number of competitive districts, potentially creating a similar political dynamic to the past four years under GOP control, a chaotic new era in Congress.

In the House, the size of the majority matters. When the majority is slim, any single lawmaker can become a kingmaker, determining whether a party's agenda sinks or soars. House Speaker Mike Johnson is tested by his narrow majority almost daily, and his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, was the first in history to be booted from office, ousted by a small number of opponents from his own side.

Jeffries, who is poised to become the House speaker if his party wins power and would be the first Democrat to wield the gavel since Pelosi, faces a party at a crossroads. It has a new generation of candidates, some far-left from the Democratic Socialists of America, and they are eager for change.

The Democratic leadership team responded swiftly to the slight from the two centrist lawmakers this week over the thwarted procedural vote, sending a message that they will not tolerate the kind of disruptions that have often left Republicans in disarray.

But the damage had been done.

“It was disappointing,” said seasoned Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the Rules Committee. ”It makes us look as bad as them.”

Jeffries on Thursday said he had a “productive, forward-looking conversation” with one of the dissenting lawmakers, centrist Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, about moving forward on shared priorities.

He praised the conservative Blue Dog Democrat for “fighting hard for her district,” which is a region that Trump carried, and said McGovern also spoke with her about resolving differences.

“We value every single member in our caucus — progressives, new Dems and Blue Dogs,” Jeffries said. “The entirety of the House Democratic caucus understands what the stakes are in terms of defeating MAGA extremism in November and then, as Democrats, getting off to a fast start in January.”

Questioned about his grip on party unity, Jeffries listed the many times Democrats, in the minority, have been able to force legislation over Johnson’s objections. Those times included a war powers resolution to stop the U.S.-led attacks on Iran and a bill that would have reinstated enhanced tax credits many people rely on to buy insurance under the Affordable Care Act.

“Res ipsa loquitur,” he said. “That’s Latin for: The thing speaks for itself.”

A routine procedural vote becomes anything but

The procedural rule vote, which sets the terms for debate, was long a nonissue in the House. The party in power voted for it, the minority party voted against. But conservative Republicans have routinely bucked their own GOP majority on the votes, tanking the agenda.

As the tally Tuesday was teetering, it appeared Johnson once again had a revolt on his hands. Then two Democrats, retiring Rep. Jared Golden of Maine and Gluesenkamp Perez, voted with the Republicans, salvaging the outcome and the week's agenda.

Golden was working to ensure passage of his bill on the lobster industry. Gluesenkamp Perez, often an ally, had joined.

Democrats were livid. Some were eager for a reprimand. Others expressed the angst coming from voters who want the party to stick together to fight Trump. The Pelosi-ism, "Unity is our strength," was revived.

“The challenge is, that if you don't have the numbers, all of a sudden a few people can be very decisive,” said Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., a former party leader who recently lost his own primary bid for reelection.

“You can never ask people to vote against their own interest," he said. ”But you also have to emphasize the camaraderie and concept of working together as a team."

A cautious Democratic leader faces new challenges

Jeffries is known as a careful leader and, as he says himself, chooses calm over chaos at a time when many Democrats prefer a quicker, attention-grabbing reaction.

In office since 2013, Jeffries is confronting the party's quickly changing climate, as he works to hold together what is arguably the most diverse party caucus in U.S. history.

Two weeks ago, Jeffries ran into trouble with progressives after having accepted a meeting with Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, an outside adviser to the White House. It was largely seen as the Trump administration hedging its bets if Democrats win control, but liberals questioned why Jeffries would even meet with those close to Trump.

“He asked for a meeting, and I took it,” Jeffries said in a defiant video the next day.

The Democrats have established five working groups to tackle affordability as part of next year's agenda — in housing, healthcare, childcare, groceries and gas and utilities. The top Democrats on the Oversight and Judiciary committees are preparing to root out corruption.

Jeffries also has sketched out the pillars of a Democratic legislative platform: repealing Republican Medicaid cuts, restoring the ACA, repealing Trump's tariffs and ending the Iran war.

“These are issues that we know unite Democrats,” Jeffries said. “But I don't want to get out ahead of the caucus, because there are a whole host of things that need to be worked on.”

Spain’s Maritime Rescue Service said Thursday that one of its planes had spotted a “precarious” boat drifting about 120 kilometers (70 miles) south of the island of Gran Canaria on Wednesday afternoon.

Three survivors were evacuated by helicopter to a hospital on the island. The remaining 41 migrants were brought to safety by boat and disembarked early Thursday in the port of Arguineguín, where they were being cared for by the Red Cross.

All of the survivors were men, some underage, and came from Mali or Senegal, said José Antonio Rodríguez Verona, a spokesperson for the Red Cross in the Canaries.

The survivors were disoriented and dehydrated, with many collapsing or vomiting upon reaching land, Rodríguez Verona told The Associated Press. While it was difficult to get precise information given their fragile state of health, migrants reported leaving Gambia and being stranded at sea for “many, many days.” Some estimated they had been at sea for nearly a month. Running out of provisions, they fell ill from drinking seawater.

The survivors also told the Red Cross that more than 100 people were originally on board, including women and a baby. As people died on the journey, survivors tossed their bodies in the ocean until they had no more strength to do so.

Spain’s Maritime Rescue Service said in a statement that it was not able to retrieve the remains of the five dead found inside the boat due to strong winds and waves that were 2.5 meters (8 feet) high.

Helena Maleno, founder of the migrant rights group Walking Borders, which monitors deaths and disappearances on migration routes to Spain, said that 83 people had died on the voyage, including three women and a baby. In a post on X, Maleno said the boat had departed Gambia 27 days ago.

Maleno and her NGO are frequently contacted by relatives of missing migrants and often relay calls for help and rescue to Spanish authorities.

Maleno and Walking Borders did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The West African Atlantic route to Spain’s Canary Islands is one of the deadliest crossings to Europe. While arrivals to the Spanish archipelago have fallen significantly in the past year, tens of thousands of people have died or gone missing in recent years, with several migrant boats getting lost and drifting all the way across the Atlantic to the Americas.

Madi Jobarteh, director of the Gambia-based Edward Francis Small Centre for Rights and Justice, said limited opportunities are a major driver of irregular migration.

“With a huge young population, most of whom are not in education, employment or training, the tendency to migrate is high,” Jobarteh said.

Efforts to curb irregular migration will fail without better economic conditions, he said, noting that many educated and skilled West Africans also leave in search of jobs, healthcare, education and basic services.

Gambia’s information minister, Ismaila Ceesay, declined to comment on the dead and missing migrants. A spokesperson for Gambia’s Immigration Department did not respond to a request for comment.

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Abdoulie John in Serrekunda, Gambia, contributed.

More Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, but layoffs are still rare and jobless claims remain at historically low levels.

The Labor Department reported Thursday filings for benefits ticked up to 206,000 last week from a revised 204,000 the week before. The four-week average of claims, which smooths out week-to-week volatility, rose modestly to 207,250 last week.

Claims for jobless benefits are a proxy for layoffs, and economists watch them because they can be a sign of where the job market is headed. For the past year, claims have mostly stayed within a historically low range of 200,000 to 230,000 a week.

The number of people collecting unemployment benefits rose slightly to 1.78 million the week that ended Aug. 22, up by 8,000 from the week before.

Companies, remembering the worker shortages that followed the end of COVID-19 lockups, are still reluctant to let go of staff. The unemployment rate is low at 4.1%.

But employers aren’t eager to take on new workers. The Labor Department reported Tuesday that gross hiring — before subtracting people who lost or left their jobs — fell 5% to fewer than 5.1 million new jobs. The result is what economists call a "no-hire, no-fire'' labor market in which those have work enjoy job security but times are tough for young workers trying to land an entry-level job or unemployed people seeking to get back to work.

In July, companies, government agencies and nonprofits together cut 23,000 jobs. So far this year, employers are adding 61,000 jobs a month, up from the 9,700 they averaged last year — the weakest hiring outside a recession since 2002. The lingering effects of high interest rates and Trump’s erratic trade policies discouraged companies from hiring in 2025.

When the Labor Department releases its report on last month's hiring and unemployment Friday, it's expected to show that employers added 65,000 jobs in August and that the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2%, according to a survey of forecasters by the data firm FactSet.

Hiring this year remains well below the 166,000 monthly jobs created, on average, in 2023 and 2024, let alone the 491,000 a month recorded during the 2021-2022 hiring boom that followed pandemic lockdowns.

It’s the latest deal by the company, whose processors are integral to the AI boom, and highlights Nvidia's push to champion increasingly popular open-source AI models.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang wrote in a blog post Thursday that more than 18 million developers, researchers and creators use Hugging Face to share more than 3 million models, 500,000 data sets and 1 million applications. More than 200,000 companies also that use the platform, he said.

In July, Hugging Face's data processing systems were hacked, and ChatGPT maker OpenAI acknowledged that its artificial intelligence system was to blame, sending shock waves through the security community amid heightened concerns about the capabilities of powerful AI models.

Just over a week later, Anthropic said its artificial intelligence models hacked into three other organizations during testing. That was followed closely by an announcement from Meta, which said its AI model accessed the internet on its own and hacked another company.

The wave of AI intrusions occurred just a month after President Donald Trump signed an executive order creating a framework for the federal government to vet the national security risks of the most advanced AI systems for up to a month before their public release.

On Thursday, however, Nvidia's Huang said that Hugging face will remain an open platform. He signaled that Nvidia is betting that more businesses will turn to open-source AI, which lets them download and customize their own AI models, rather than pay for proprietary AI services from companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic.

Open models let startups, businesses, universities and public institutions build on advanced capabilities without training every model from scratch," Huang wrote in a blog post. "They enable organizations to match the right model to the right job.

Hugging Face will still support multicloud and multi-accelerator development and deployment.

Nvidia has released more than 500 models and more than 250 open data sets on Hugging Face.

“Nvidia’s investment in Hugging Face is a strong strategic hedge against the different ways AI could evolve,” Bret Greenstein, chief AI officer at global business and technology consulting firm West Monroe, said in an emailed statement. “With much of Nvidia’s valuation tied to the adoption and expansion of AI over the next decade, the company has a clear interest in supporting the entire ecosystem’s success.”

Nvidia's high-end chips have emerged as the leading building blocks for AI, and are highly sought after. The Santa Clara, California-based company reported quarterly profits of $59.69 billion late last month.

While AI has powered stock market gains and U.S. economic growth in recent years, there’s been growing skepticism about whether AI will justify the trillions of dollars being spent to develop the technology.

The AI industry is also faces increasing pushback amid objections to the expansion of data centers and fears that the rapid speed of AI adoption could lead to widespread job losses worldwide.

The $12.93 billion deal includes $1 billion for a retention plan for Hugging Face employees, Huang told CNBC.

Nvidia's shares rose nearly 2% in morning trading. Hugging Face is not publicly traded.

___

AP Business Writer Kelvin Chan contributed to this report.

Also, a federal judge in Boston is hearing arguments Thursday on whether to extend her prohibition against the U.S. Postal Service requiring states to use a new mail balloting system for the midterms as part of an executive order by Trump. The hearing in the closely watched case comes the day before the first state begins sending mail ballots to voters.

Here's the latest:

Trump administration ratchets up its fight to get more oil flowing from California

Its latest salvo is a federal review of California’s coastal management program, which is run largely by a state commission that’s had a powerful role for decades in shaping development along the coast. Environmental advocates fear federal officials could use the review to strip the California Coastal Commission of its ability to have a say in projects involving federal agencies that affect the state’s rugged coastal bluffs, pristine beaches and world-class surfing spots.

The administration, citing a need for energy security and job creation, has already announced plans for new offshore oil leases in California as well as Florida, where the federal government hasn’t allowed drilling since 1995 because of concerns about oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico.

Trump officials also helped a Texas firm jump-start an old pipeline system that had been idled since its 2015 rupture caused one of California’s worst oil spills, blackening beaches for 150 miles (240 kilometers) from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles and polluting habitat for endangered whales and sea turtles.

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Democrats are promising a big agenda. Their unity is already being tested

Beginning on Day One, House Democrats plan to “hold the crooks accountable.”

That’s the promise House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries has made, previewing an ambitious agenda with oversight of President Trump’s administration and legislation to address the high costs of living, if Democrats seize majority control from Republicans in the midterm elections.

But first, the Democratic leaders have to ensure they can keep their own politically diverse — and sometimes rebellious — big-tent caucus in line, which was tested this week. Two go-their-own-way Democrats bucked the party on a routine procedural vote, angering colleagues and raising a red flag about potential party divisions to come.

“His greatest challenge will be governing,” Ashley Etienne, a former top aide to Nancy Pelosi during her historic tenure as House speaker, said of Jeffries.

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US trade deficit widens despite Trump’s tariffs

The U.S. trade deficit widened to $88.6 billion in July, up 24% from June and the highest since March 2025 when Trump was just beginning to ramp up import taxes to protect American industry from foreign competition. An investment boom in artificial intelligence is drawing in imports of computers and computer and telecommunications equipment.

Overall, U.S. imports rose 2.8% in July and exports dropped 2.1%.

Still, the January-July deficit — the gap between what the U.S. buys from and what it sells to other countries — is down nearly 30% from a year earlier.

Billionaire investor Leon Black sues House committee over Epstein investigation

Black refused to appear for a sworn deposition before Congress on Thursday and instead sued the House Oversight Committee, asking a federal court to block subpoenas issued as part of its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.

The House Oversight Committee served Black with two subpoenas following a closed-door interview in June after lawmakers said he refused to answer questions about nondisclosure agreements.

Black’s lawsuit argues the subpoenas exceed the committee’s authority by seeking private information.

“The Committee is on a fishing expedition that oversteps its authority and completely ignores its responsibility,” Black’s attorney, Susan Estrich, said in a statement.

Unemployment claims tick up to 206,000 but remain at historically low levels

The Labor Department reported Thursday filings for benefits ticked up to 206,000 last week from a revised 204,000 the week before. The four-week average of claims, which smooths out week-to-week volatility, rose modestly to 207,250 last week.

Claims for jobless benefits are a proxy for layoffs, and economists watch them because they can be a sign of where the job market is headed. For the past year, claims have mostly stayed within a historically low range of 200,000 to 230,000 a week.

Companies, remembering the worker shortages that followed the end of COVID-19 lockups, are still reluctant to let go of staff. The unemployment rate is low at 4.1%.

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Trump’s plan for a fence at Lafayette Park near White House gets review by federal panel

The latest pieces of President Trump’s wide-ranging Washington makeover are set for an airing Thursday in front of a federal panel that already has blessed other big-ticket plans from the designer-in-chief.

The National Capital Planning Commission, which this spring approved Trump’s White House ballroom proposal after he razed the Executive Mansion’s East Wing without authorization, will discuss a proposed fence around Lafayette Park in front of the White House.

The panel also will review a proposed underground security screening center for White House visitors. It’s the first time the commission will take up either idea, and votes aren’t expected. But the commission and the separate U.S. Commission of Fine Arts thus far have not been an obstacle for Trump’s plans for the capital.

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Trump fact-checks his own commerce secretary on Iran war deaths

The president took the unusual step of correcting a misleading statement by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who had said in an interview that no U.S. forces had died in the Iran war.

“Sec. Lutnick had Venezuela on his mind when he said nobody was killed,” Trump posted on social media. “18 people were killed in Iran!”

Lutnick had said in a Wednesday CNBC interview that no Americans had died in the conflict that began at the end of February. But Lutnick in his remarks was specifically talking about the Iran war, which he called “an economic chokeout.”

Federal judge considers whether to extend ban against US Postal Service mail voting changes

A federal judge in Boston will hear arguments Thursday on whether to extend her prohibition against the U.S. Postal Service requiring states to use a new mail balloting system for the midterms as part of an executive order by President Donald Trump.

The hearing in the closely watched case comes the day before the first state begins sending mail ballots to voters.

U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani is considering whether to order a preliminary injunction that would bar the Postal Service from requiring the new system to be used for the midterms. Last week, she imposed a 14-day temporary restraining order to keep it from being used. That order expires next week as more states begin sending out mail ballots.

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Trump promises to campaign for Republicans and says they have a winning midterm message

President Donald Trump on Wednesday urged Republican lawmakers facing tough reelection campaigns to run on his record in the White House despite his sagging popularity, and he pledged to campaign in all of the roughly three dozen contests that are likely to determine control of Congress.

Voters’ dim views of the economy and the war in Iran have put Republicans in a tough spot as the midterm election season enters its final stretch. But during a dinner in the Rose Garden, one of the spaces he has controversially renovated since returning to office last year, the president told his party’s most vulnerable lawmakers they had a triumphant story to tell voters.

“All you have to do is talk about it, and you’re going to win and you’re going to win big,” Trump said a week before the party gathers in Dallas for an unusual midterm convention.

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Sometimes it is just a few drops. But on this August afternoon, the monsoon kicked into high gear, setting its sights on a remote section of the Grand Canyon's North Rim. Down below, dozens of hikers were setting up camp along Bright Angel Creek and admiring the towering walls they eventually would have to traverse on the way back up.

It wasn't long before muddy water came rushing down the creek. The sound was deafening as it crashed against the rocks, carrying with it tree branches, sediment and other debris.

Violent thunderstorms and subsequent flash flooding are nothing new during the summer months in the southwestern United States. Those in the canyon last Saturday knew the risks, but this storm packed an extra punch, washing out key footbridges and doing more damage to infrastructure than previous decades of turbulent water.

Two people died and at least one is still missing. More than 80 people were airlifted out of the canyon, and the National Park Service is assessing the damage.

Forecasts warned of severe storms and flood risks

A storm of generational proportions — that is how some of the hikers described it in interviews with The Associated Press. Some talked about scrambling to higher ground as the rushing water approached. Others hunkered down under a ledge to avoid falling rocks.

“It was for sure some of the worst acute fast-forming weather I have ever seen in my time, whether it’s in the mountains or marine environments or in the desert Southwest,” said Drew Harrell, an emergency medicine physician with University of New Mexico Hospital who was on a training mission at the time as medical director for Grand Canyon National Park.

Harrell is no stranger to working in austere environments and has hiked rim-to-rim more than a dozen times. He and his team had checked the weather before starting their annual trip. They were more worried about afternoon temperatures stretching into the triple digits rather than rain.

But this storm, Harrell said, seemed to come out of the blue just as his six-member group entered “The Box,” the final 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) before Phantom Ranch, an oasis at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

“It went from relatively clear skies to blowing winds in the time frame of about a minute,” he said, estimating the gusts at 40 mph (64 kph).

Hikers had little time to act

Within minutes, torrential rains, gusting winds and even hail enveloped hikers along the creek.

“We were concerned that there would be rocks and just flooding coming down from both sides of the canyon on top of us,” said Parth Desai, another physician who was with the group.

As emergency room doctors do, they weighed their options and calculated the risks as conditions changed around them.

“We saw basically the flood, waterfalls coming up out of nowhere, boulders, mud, landslides happening everywhere,” Desai said. “And then we were concerned about a lightning strike.”

They made another run for it, heading down the trail toward Phantom Ranch. They maneuvered around cottonwood trees brought down by the first microburst when they saw more debris rushing toward them. They scrambled through cactus to reach higher ground.

Floodwaters overtake what is usually a shady oasis

Up the creek at the Cottonwood Campground, Mike Sumaruk and his friend were relaxing after a nearly 7-mile (11-kilometer) hike down into the canyon. The wind started howling, and the rain intensified.

“I jumped into my tent because I thought it was going to blow away and was trying to hold it down,” he said in a phone interview Tuesday.

Then he heard this roar.

“I thought it was like thunder in the distance, but it wasn’t going away. And I said, that’s not thunder, and I unzipped the tent and got out and saw the huge wall of water,” Sumaruk said. “We just left everything.”

The Tulsa, Oklahoma, resident has hiked plenty of mountain peaks over the years, but this was his first time in the Grand Canyon. It was gorgeous, he said, lamenting that he wasn't able to see more of the natural wonder.

Sumaruk used an emergency phone at an unstaffed ranger station to contact park authorities, telling them he and about a dozen others were stranded. A park ranger traveling on foot eventually reached the group, and they waited until Sunday to be airlifted to the South Rim, where the Red Cross was waiting and counselors were on hand to help.

Harrell shared Sumaruk's appreciation for the park staff, particularly the rangers down in the canyon. He credited them with moving dozens of people at Phantom Ranch to safer areas before water took out the bridges.

“They mitigated the opportunity for there to have been more serious loss of life or injuries,” Harrell said.

The trail turned into a river

Tom Monroe and two friends set out early Saturday from the North Rim. Knowing it was monsoon season, and after seeing light rain the day before, they tried to keep an eye on the weather — though scant cellphone reception made that difficult.

Monroe said they decided to proceed after one hiker they met told them the forecast looked mild. Another who had just climbed the trail reported the way was clear.

They were aiming for Cottonwood Campground. In the first mile, it started sprinkling.

“Then it started just opening up, holy hell raining on us,” said Monroe, 59, of Flagstaff, Arizona, who runs a business making custom food-storage bags for campers.

The trio kept going, figuring it would let up. The downpour continued, mixed with thunder and lightning. Runoff started funneling down the trail. It looked almost like a river, Monroe said.

One friend took shelter in a small alcove in the canyon wall. Monroe huddled under an overhang that protected him — not just from the water but also from sand, mud and rocks falling with it.

“On either side you could see rocks the size of footballs or beach balls coming down the cliffs from the top,” he said.

The friend who was farther ahead had to scramble up a steep slope, where he grabbed tree roots to keep from getting swept away.

The 20-minute downpour seemed to last forever, Monroe said.

“None of us can really stop thinking about it,” Monroe said in a phone interview Wednesday, safely back home in Flagstaff.

Flooding doesn't dampen hikers' outdoor plans

Monroe and his friends already were planning to head outdoors again this weekend, just staying a little closer to home and doing some car camping.

And Sumaruk is thinking about a return trip to the Grand Canyon whenever hikers are allowed again. He will be watching and waiting as the National Park Service begins the arduous process of rebuilding a key water-supply line that was severely damaged, fixing the miles of trail that were washed out and replacing the footbridges.

He said he understands “weather happens” and it will take time for the canyon to recover. Years of research went into his first trip along with months of planning and training, and he is not giving up.

“I'm definitely going to give it another shot,” he said.

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Associated Press writers Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, and Jamie Stengle in Dallas, contributed to this report. Montoya Bryan reported from Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that Israel had agreed to release five Lebanese civilians detained by Israeli forces in southern Lebanon after Lebanon provided assistance in searching for the bodies of Lebanese Jewish leaders who were “abducted and murdered by terrorist organizations” in the 1980s, during Lebanon’s civil war.

The first released prisoner, identified as Malek Ghazi, was handed over to the Lebanese army via the Red Cross, a Lebanese security official said. A second official said they were anticipating the release of the other four prisoners Friday. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.

Ghazi was handed over to the ICRC at the border crossing in the coastal town of Naqoura on Lebanon's southern frontier and was then transferred to a Lebanese army intelligence office in the city of Tyre, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported.

Netanyahu's statement said the five Lebanese captives after interrogation were found not to be “members of a terrorist organization” or “involved in terrorism.”

Prisoner release after US mediation

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam thanked the U.S. and its ambassador to Lebanon, Michel Issa, for assisting in the release.

“We will continue working until all our prisoners are released, the fate of the missing is revealed, and a complete Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory is achieved,” he said in a statement.

In Washington, the U.S. State Department said the releases were the “result of U.S.-led mediation between two legitimate governments” and were finalized during Issa’s recent trip to Israel.

“We commend the Government of Israel and the Government of Lebanon for demonstrating good faith through these initial steps, and hope this will serve as the basis for expanded discussions on other civilian issues," it said.

Dozens of Lebanese prisoners are believed to be held in Israeli detention centers, including civilians as well as Hezbollah militants captured during fighting in southern Lebanon.

The circumstances of Ghazi’s capture were not immediately clear, but one of the Lebanese officials said he was a civilian.

On the same day as the prisoner release was announced, Israeli forces took more Lebanese citizens captive.

Lebanese state media reported that Israeli forces had entered the town of Halta in southern Lebanon earlier Thursday and seized three men “after the force surrounded several houses and prevented residents from leaving.” The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A step forward for Lebanon-Israel negotiations

The prisoner release came as talks between Lebanese and Israeli officials had appeared to reach an impasse. Lebanon and Israel in June signed a U.S.-mediated framework deal under which Israeli forces were to withdraw from areas they are occupying in southern Lebanon in exchange for disarmament of the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, but little progress has been made in implementation on the ground.

Another round of talks is expected to take place in Rome later this month.

“However difficult the negotiation process may seem, we will continue to mobilize all necessary efforts to safeguard Lebanon’s rights and the interests of the Lebanese people,” Salam's statement said.

An official involved in the negotiations said Lebanon had not made its participation in the next round of talks conditional on the prisoner release, but that the release of captives was an “integral part of the implementation” of the Lebanon-Israel agreement.

The Lebanese “are actively searching for the bodies of the Lebanese Jewish leaders,” including in Jewish cemeteries, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.

Lebanon once had a thriving Jewish community. As many as 15,000 to 22,000 Jews lived in Lebanon in the mid-1960s, but the various Arab-Israeli wars and Lebanon’s own 1975-90 civil war caused waves of emigration and today, almost none are left in the country.

Hezbollah weapons, Israeli withdrawal, remain issues

While the release of the prisoners marks a step forward in the negotiations, other issues remain difficult to resolve.

Hezbollah is not a party to the Lebanon-Israel talks and has said it will not give up its weapons in any area north of southern Lebanon's Litani river. Israeli officials, meanwhile, have said they will not withdraw unless Hezbollah is disarmed throughout the country.

The Lebanese state has been reluctant to attempt to forcibly disarm the militant group, which is also a political party and social services provider with a large popular base in the country's Shiite Muslim community.

Lebanon fought a brutal civil war from 1975 to 1990, and many fear that any clash between the Lebanese army and Hezbollah could spiral into another devastating civil conflict.

Hezbollah and Israel have fought a series of wars since the militant group was founded with Iranian support in the 1980s to combat Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon at the time. Their latest war began on March 2, when Hezbollah fired missiles over the border, two days after the U.S. and Iran attacked Iran.

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Saeed reported from Herzliya, Israel. Associated Press staff writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed.

The discovery by Shirakawa and two fellow American scientists, Alan Heeger and Alan MacDiarmid, demonstrated that plastic could conduct electricity like metal and be used in applications such as electronics.

Shirakawa died on Aug. 24, according to the University of Tsukuba, where he taught and researched after joining in 1979. The university did not specify a cause of death. Japan's largest newspaper, the Yomiuri, said Shirakawa died at a hospital in Yokohama, west of Tokyo.

Born in Tokyo in 1936, Shirakawa earned a doctoral degree in engineering at the Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1966. Ten years later, he became a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, where he worked with McDiarmid and Heeger.

The three scientists' findings that defied common sense that plastics are not conductive paved the way for the development of inexpensive conductive materials that are lighter and more flexible than metals and used in solar cells and mobile phone screens.

Miramar city commissioners discussed the Pembroke Road Expansion Project Wednesday night during the regular city commission meeting.

The meeting included a necessary step to approve a construction agreement with the Florida Department of Transportation, which owns the right of way along U.S. 27.

The assistant city manager said plans are anticipated in the first quarter of 2027.

Pembroke Road stretches for miles from U.S. 1 on the east side of Broward County until it dead-ends along a field a couple of miles short of the Everglades.

The plan calls for widening Pembroke Road into a four-lane divided road. It also includes extending Miramar Parkway to the south, shifting it to a two-lane undivided street from Southwest 192nd Terrace to Pembroke Road.

The project was approved unanimously.

Construction could cause some temporary traffic headaches, but the project could also cut travel time by as much as a third for people traveling along Pembroke Road to and from busy U.S. 27.

The EPA proposal would eliminate a federal requirement that states notify the public and seek comment before issuing air pollution permits for data centers and other industrial facilities. States could still offer opportunities for public comment, but the EPA would no longer mandate them as a condition for states to grant permits.

Critics say the move could thwart local residents from learning about proposed data centers or making their voices heard before projects are approved and construction begins. The move comes during a widespread backlash as tech giants build hundreds of massive server warehouses to fuel artificial intelligence and cloud computing.

“By eliminating the long-standing federal requirement for public notice, this proposal continues efforts by the Trump administration to turn its back on the fundamental EPA principle of transparency,” said Mike Koerber, a former deputy director of EPA’s air quality office.

If made final, the plan could create “an unlevel playing field where citizens in one state are kept completely in the dark about new data centers and heavy industrial emissions in their backyards, while neighboring states maintain oversight,” he said.

Under the EPA plan, states with weak or no requirements for public comment could speed permits for data centers, power plants and other pollution sources without consulting the public or even informing communities where the facilities are located, Koerber and other critics said.

Communities deserve a chance to weigh in, advocates say

“Data centers and other industrial sources should not be able to get their air pollution permits in secret,” said Keri Powell, senior attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center, an advocacy organization that leads a coalition of nearly 200 environmental, health and community groups that filed comments with the EPA opposing the plan. “Communities deserve a chance to weigh in" before potentially harmful projects are approved.

An EPA spokesperson called that a false narrative.

“In our proposal we are saying that states get to pick how they want their permitting process to go for minor sources” of air pollution, spokesperson Carolyn Holran said.

The EPA proposal does not specifically identify data centers, she said, noting that the plan also would apply to laundromats, car repair shops and even landfills and steel mills that are considered “minor” pollution sources under the federal Clean Air Act.

The proposal does not demand that states make particular changes to their programs, nor does it alter federal emission standards or weaken environmental protections, Holran said. “Rather, the proposal simply aligns the national program with the Clean Air Act language to ensure that states are in the lead regarding their programs."

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, who has made U.S. leadership in AI a top agency priority, said in a statement that the plan is aimed at “cutting unnecessary and burdensome red tape, unleashing American energy and advancing cooperative federalism” with states. The EPA is expected to make the rule final next year.

President Donald Trump continues to stick up for data centers, even as politicians from both parties criticize them and many communities try to block them. Trump said on social media this week that U.S. communities that don’t have data centers will “end up being backwards and poor.”

Trump says data centers are crucial in the AI race against China

Trump has acknowledged that data centers need “a little public relations help” and has pushed tech companies to generate their own electricity to shield consumers from higher utility bills. The Republican president calls data centers critical to winning the AI race against China.

Environmental groups and other critics say the EPA proposal ignores the reality that many states, particularly in the South and Midwest, don't require public notice or hearings beyond those set by federal agencies. The federal plan would leave many communities in the dark before data centers show up in their backyards, they said.

“It’s beyond cruel for Trump’s EPA to silence front-line communities who bear the brunt of unhealthy air,” said Brandon Jones-Cobb, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, another environmental group.

The EPA “has already turned its back on science, cut enforcement against industrial polluters and eliminated life-saving air pollution measures," he said. “Now it wants to shut the public out of decisions to build or expand facilities that expose communities to dangerous air pollution, including data centers.”

Powell, whose organization focuses on six Southern states from Virginia to Alabama, said many states “only do what is required by federal law” when it comes to public notice of land-use projects and other environmental concerns.

"We rely on a minimum federal requirement to ensure we have environmental protections and a voice,'' she said in an interview, calling regulation of data centers a crucial issue in a region where the energy-hungry behemoths are proliferating. Virginia and Georgia are both among states with the highest concentration of current and proposed data centers.

Americans worry data centers could cause pollution, job losses

About 4 in 10 U.S. adults say they are “extremely” or “very” concerned about the environmental impacts of AI, according to a poll last year from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago. Americans are more likely to think that over the next decade, artificial intelligence will do more to hurt than help the environment, the economy and society as a whole, the poll found.

Besides powering AI and cloud computing, data centers are often sources of nitrogen oxide, which helps form ozone, as well as carbon monoxide and other air pollutants. Local communities also have expressed concerns about excessive water use and noise from data centers.

Many Americans worry that AI could increase economic disparities and cause widespread job losses.

Data center advocates stress that local taxes paid by the centers can help fund public schools, reducing the financial burden on homeowners.

Jane Williams, executive director of California Communities Against Toxics, said even if data centers ultimately are approved, "every community should be able to participate robustly in governmental decisions that can pollute our air.''

Rolling back the EPA rule “pulls a dark cloud, filled with soot and toxic chemicals, over communities’ right to know what polluting facilities are planned in their community,” she said.

Referees will pause play at the 10-minute mark of every match in the upcoming round of the Clausura tournament, as well as in other men's and women's leagues in Argentina, in appreciation of Messi’s career with the national team, the Argentine Football Association said late Wednesday.

The 39-year-old Messi, who wore the No. 10 jersey for Argentina, announced on Monday he will no longer play for the national team after 21 years of service. He led Argentina to the World Cup title in 2022 as well as two other World Cup finals, and made 207 appearances and scored 125 goals — both national records.

Messi, who is idolized in Argentina, has never played professionally in his home country. He moved to Barcelona at the age of 13 to began a once-in-a-generation career and is regarded by many as the greatest player of all time.

Messi is continuing to play at club level with Inter Miami in Major League Soccer.

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See AP’s full soccer coverage here

Los incendios se han extendido por varias provincias, creando un vasto frente que se extiende desde el centro hasta el extremo oriental de la nación norteafricana. Efectivos de Protección Civil, apoyados por escuadrones del ejército, seguían combatiendo rebrotes en las provincias de Sétif y Guelma esta semana, donde se han quemado grandes extensiones de bosque.

En Jijel, una provincia a 200 kilómetros (125 millas) al este de Argel conocida por sus playas de arena fina, aguas turquesas y colinas de olivos y árboles frutales y cedros, ha sufrido los mayores daños.

No quedaba nada de los 1.200 kilómetros cuadrados (460 millas cuadradas) de bosques, solo cenizas humeantes y tocones carbonizados. La cifra oficial de muertos en Jijel era de 12, según uno de los primeros comunicados del Ministerio del Interior al inicio de la crisis a finales de agosto.

Pero la situación es mucho más trágica: en redes sociales circulan videos que muestran decenas de ataúdes alineados junto a fosas comunes, a la espera de ser enterrados antes de que los cuerpos se descompongan por el calor.

“He trabajado en Protección Civil durante 40 años. Hemos enfrentado incendios, pero es la primera vez que nos enfrentamos a una catástrofe humana, ambiental y material de esta magnitud. Hay cientos de muertos”, declaró el teniente Djabri Said a The Associated Press.

Cifra de muertos podría superar los reportes oficiales

Abdelwahab Boukrouh, periodista de la Dirección de Comunicación de la Presidencia, anunció en su página de Facebook que su familia, que vive en Ouled Riyah, un pueblo de montaña, perdió a 12 miembros durante la noche del 22 al 23 de agosto, y hay otros tres desaparecidos, incluyendo mujeres, menores y personas mayores que se vieron sorprendidas por las llamas en sus modestas viviendas.

Miles de cabezas de ganado, entre vacas, ovejas, cabras, mulas y burros, no pudieron escapar. Sus cadáveres calcinados cubren los empinados caminos que conducen a las aldeas, mientras que las viviendas han quedado reducidas a poco más que montones de cenizas humeantes.

Los medios privados y públicos —todos ellos bajo control estatal— se han ceñido a la cifra de 12 fallecidos en sus informaciones, al tiempo que han destacado la presencia de ministros sobre el terreno y los esfuerzos de las instituciones estatales para ayudar a las víctimas.

Ante la catástrofe, el presidente, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, interrumpió sus vacaciones para visitar personalmente los hospitales especializados de Argel donde se atendía a las víctimas con quemaduras graves. Declaró tres días de luto y convocó una reunión especial del Consejo de Ministros para declarar la región de Jijel “zona de desastre” y asignar recursos para afrontar la crisis.

Una ola espontánea de solidaridad nacional ha derivado en interminables convoyes de camiones cargados con alimentos, medicamentos, paquetes de agua y ropa que se dirigen a las aldeas arrasadas por el fuego. Tebboune anunció indemnizaciones para las familias afectadas, y el Estado se comprometió a reconstruir sus viviendas.

Las autoridades han priorizado la rehabilitación de las escuelas para garantizar que los alumnos puedan regresar al inicio del curso escolar, previsto para el 21 de septiembre.

Llamado a restablecer la pena capital deja reacciones encontradas

Tebboune ha rechazado lo que calificó de “teorías conspirativas” sobre los incendios y, en su lugar, apuntó a explicaciones relacionadas con el clima. Citó a otros países mediterráneos azotados por el fuego este verano, como Francia, Portugal, España e Italia. Los científicos advierten que el cambio climático está agravando la frecuencia e intensidad del calor y la sequía.

Pero Tebboune también hizo referencia a “manos criminales” y anunció que hay investigaciones en curso.

Afirmó que los responsables de los incendios “serán condenados a muerte”, al tiempo que anunció el levantamiento de la moratoria sobre la pena capital, vigente desde 1993. En ese año se produjeron las últimas ejecuciones en el país: tres insurgentes islamistas condenados por un sangriento ataque en el Aeropuerto Internacional de Argel.

Los partidos que respaldan la presidencia de Tebboune, así como las formaciones islamistas, han apoyado su postura. Pero los vinculados al movimiento democrático de Argelia y algunas organizaciones de derechos humanos se han opuesto con firmeza al regreso de la pena de muerte, calificándolo como “un retroceso de Argelia hacia la barbarie” y como un intento de quienes están en el poder de eludir la responsabilidad por el fracaso de su gestión.

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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.

U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani repeatedly questioned attorney Michael Velchik about whether the Postal Service could actually implement Trump's plan from an executive order he issued last spring. The key piece is an online portal that would track tens of millions of mail ballots. States would be required to upload their list of mail voters to the portal to have ballots delivered, and if the data there didn't match what was on the envelopes, the ballots would not be sent.

“I don’t even have a declaration from the Postal Service: ‘This is how it will work.’ I don’t have it. I have nothing,” Talwani said, adding later that it felt like the government was running an “experiment” to see if the system would work in the upcoming election.

“As you sit here today, you can’t tell me the government has a program ready to go?” Talwani asked.

Velchik repeated that the Postal Service would “fully implement the rule” that it published last month, triggering the latest round of litigation. He argued the main issue is whether Talwani has the legal power to stop it.

“The $64,000 question is, is this authorized by the statute?” Velchik said.

Talwani is considering whether to extend her temporary order barring the Postal Service from requiring use of the system through Sept. 10. The first state to send out all its mail ballots, North Carolina, is scheduled to begin shipping them out Friday, with other states quickly following.

That tight time frame led Velchik to warn that the administration would shortly go to the Supreme Court to get permission to resume implementing the plan.

Talwani has been here before. In June, she prohibited the administration from implementing Trump's executive order for the November election, ruling the changes came too close to voting for the federal government to embark on such a project.

But the Supreme Court late last month ruled that Talwani's order was premature because the Postal Service had not yet published regulations governing how it would apply Trump's order. The agency did so just before the high court ruling came down, prompting Democrats and voting rights groups to swiftly re-file their lawsuits.

They counter that the president has no authority to set election rules, which is a power designated by the Constitution to the states and, in some cases, to Congress.

They won an initial victory with Talwani's 14-day restraining order, which the administration has already appealed.

Trump has long opposed mail voting and falsely blamed it for his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden, even though he often uses that method to cast his own ballot.

Election officials say there's simply no way they can comply with the Postal Service directives, which could require a complete overhaul of their operations. Before it delivers mail ballots for any state, the Postal Service would have to approve the design of the envelopes that contain them and have the state upload a list of voters receiving them to an online portal.

Some ballots have already gone out. A few municipalities in Wisconsin opted to send mail ballots to voters earlier this week, but Friday marks the full kickoff of voting as North Carolina starts shipping its mail ballots to all voters who requested them.

The administration has contended the changes are relatively minor and legal. But the portal was still not active this week, and most election offices have already printed their envelopes and ballots.

Velchik told the judge that the federal government is offering states the choice to opt into the system, but the Postal Service has yet to identify a single state that has done so. None of the 12 states that intervened in the lawsuit to argue the Trump administration has the right to require the program have announced that they have voluntarily opted into it.

Talwani scolded Missouri Solicitor General Lou Capozzi for arguing on behalf of the project.

“You want the voters in your states to be disenfranchised,” Talwani said. “I don't understand the interest.”

Capozzi said that was misinformation: “There is no risk that people would be disenfranchised,” he said.

A whistleblower report made public this week warns that the postal system's requirements could lead to millions of mail ballots never being sent. The new rule requires all ballots to be physically brought to post offices before being mailed to voters. But if a single one's bar code registers an error, the whole batch gets thrown out, even if it contains tens of thousands of legitimate ballots.

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Riccardi reported from Denver.

With her trademark streaked hair parted down the middle and large aviator glasses, Steinem, a co-founder of Ms. Magazine, was a hugely recognizable presence wherever she went. And she went everywhere: Much of her life as an advocate was spent on the road, speaking at college campuses and community centers, at rallies and marches.

“You can’t do it on the phone or on the web,” she told The Associated Press in a 2015 interview. “You have to be there with all five senses. It should be obvious that people can’t empathize with each other unless we’re in the same room.”

Steinem, who had been in declining health, died Wednesday at her home in New York City, according to a post on her social media page. She had recently completed a memoir, to be released this fall.

“Gloria’s greatest gift was her ability to listen to others, to make others feel seen and heard,” the post said. “Her words, actions, and example gave people permission to be their truest selves.”

Though Steinem had recently become more frail physically, her wit and humor remained totally intact. Her friend and fellow activist, Abigail Disney, said she'd visited Steinem’s Manhattan home a bit over a week ago, as those close to her gathered by her side. “She was just as funny and just as sharp as I have ever known her,” Disney said. And, she said, generous.

“Everything Gloria did was rooted in kindness,” Disney said. “It flowed through her political activism.”

Steinem changed her career path after a start as a journalist

Steinem began her career as a journalist, notably reporting in 1963 on degrading conditions in Hugh Hefner’s Playboy empire — an undercover assignment she later came to regret. She credits a meeting six years later, where women spoke out in favor of abortion rights, with changing her career path.

“That speak-out was the beginning of activism for me,” Steinem, who had undergone a secret illegal abortion herself at age 22, told the AP in an email in 2022, reflecting on the reversal of Roe v. Wade. “Either our control over our own bodies is equal, regardless of sex or race, or we’re not living in a democracy.”

Those who watched Steinem denounce discrimination for so many years likely never suspected that she’d had to overcome a deep fear of public speaking. She would have simply stuck to writing, she said, if only editors at the time had been willing to let her write about the women’s movement.

But they weren’t interested, she told the AP in 2015. “So I ended up going out and speaking, which was my nightmare,” she said. “I mean, I was terrified. But I’m grateful, even though I still get scared even now.”

Steinem's visibility endured throughout her life

Time hardly slowed Steinem down; through her 80s, she was traveling the globe and speaking out on issues of importance to her. These included everything from genital mutilation to Korean reconciliation, but it was equality for women that took precedence. “Being a feminist means that you see the world as whole instead of half,” she once said. “It shouldn’t need a name, and one day it won’t.”

As the years went on, Steinem’s visibility endured. A few days after her 85th birthday, she was leading a women’s “talking circle” at an off-Broadway play celebrating her life, where one by one, women in the audience — many fighting tears — rose to thank her and tell their own stories of discrimination. In 2020, her life was the subject of a feature film, “The Glorias.”

And at 91, she collaborated on a picture book with Liberian peace activist and Nobel laureate Leymah Gbowee aimed at inspiring young people to change the world. “Rise, Girl, Rise: Our Sister-Friend Journey. Together for All” was published in February.

The constant visibility came with a price; even into her older years, Steinem expressed frustration that despite her accomplishments, she was often described as beautiful or glamorous. A 1992 Vanity Fair profile even noted her “spectacular racehorse legs.”

“Nobody ever called me beautiful until I was publicly a feminist, and that was in my mid-30s,” she told AP in a 2011 interview. “It was clear that label was being assigned to me. The most hurtful part is that you work very hard, and people say it’s because of your looks.”

Steinem often responded to hostility with humor

Of course, Steinem also had to deal with hostility — sometimes from surprising places. Appearing on Larry King’s talk show on CNN in 1990, she was visibly stunned when a female caller greeted her cheerfully, then told her to “rot in hell” because she had ruined “the beautiful American family.”

But by then, she noted, at least people were taking feminists seriously. That wasn’t the case in 1972 when she co-founded Ms. Magazine and many commentators — especially male — dismissed it as ridiculous, predicting an early demise.

Among Steinem’s detractors was President Richard Nixon, who was caught on an Oval Office tape ridiculing both her and the “Ms.” title. The ridicule was mutual: In a 1972 National Press Club speech, Steinem called Nixon “the most sexually insecure chief of state since Napoleon.”

It was just one example of Steinem’s trademark wit. Before she married at 66, she often explained her singlehood by saying “I can’t mate in captivity.” Laughter, she wrote, was “the only free emotion — the only one that can’t be compelled.”

Steinem had an unconventional childhood

Gloria Marie Steinem was born on March 25, 1934, in Toledo, Ohio. Her father was a traveling antique salesperson; she spent her early years on the road with her parents, not attending regular school. “I just read everything I could get my hands on,” she told an audience at Manhattan’s 92NY earlier this year.

In 1944 her parents divorced, and 10-year-old Gloria was left to take care of her mother, a once-promising journalist who struggled to combine her work with running a household and who eventually suffered a nervous breakdown.

As a young girl she excelled at tap dancing — it was even going to be her “ticket out of Toledo,” she said. That particular career did not materialize, though, and she attended Smith College in the 1950s — a time when, she said, women were being educated to be mothers and wives.

But marriage was not on Steinem’s mind. “I was engaged to a very nice man. It wasn’t his fault, but I just didn’t want to get married,” she told her 2026 audience. Instead, she took a modest fellowship to travel to India. After that, Steinem headed to Manhattan, where she couldn’t rent her own apartment because landlords assumed if a single woman “could earn enough, you must be a hooker.”

She wanted to write about politics. But editors gave her assignments on food, fashion, and, in what she jokingly called “the low point of my life,” an article about textured stockings. Even more demoralizing was her experience with an editor who, she said, gave her a choice one day: Spend the afternoon in a hotel with him, or mail his letters on the way out.

She chose to mail the letters. “There was no word for sexual harassment then,” she has said. “It was just life.”

But one assignment in 1963 sounded compelling: posing as a Playboy Bunny for an exposé in the now-defunct Show magazine. Steinem auditioned, assuming she’d be weeded out. But she was given her bunny costume — “so tight, it would give a man a cleavage” — and worked at the job for about a month.

“I could not have made a bigger mistake,” she told the AP in 2011. “It was personally and professionally a disaster. In the short term, it was much harder to get assignments, and in the long term it’s been used to ridicule me.”

Steinem's writing became more political in her 30s

Steinem was in her 30s when she joined the editorial board of New York magazine, and her writing became more political. In 1969, she went to cover an abortion rights hearing. She had never told anyone about her illegal abortion at 22, in London. That was the moment, she has said, that triggered her career as a women’s rights activist.

Steinem founded the National Women’s Political Caucus in 1971 along with Betty Friedan, Shirley Chisholm and Bella Abzug.

Unlike her friend Abzug, however, Steinem was not comfortable in front of a crowd. Gradually, with her early speaking partner Dorothy Pitman Hughes, a Black feminist and child welfare advocate, she found her footing. The two formed a powerful partnership at a time when feminism was viewed as largely a white, middle-class movement. In an iconic photo, the two raise their right arms together in the Black Power salute.

As she grew more famous, Steinem drew attention not just for her work but for a glamorous Manhattan life. Asked once about her streaked hair and aviator glasses, she explained that the hair was inspired by Holly Golightly, the free-spirited character in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.”

The glasses? They were “more about hiding,” she said.

When reaction was hostile, Steinem would try to reason that it was a step above ridicule. But sometimes it stung, like a snarky Esquire profile in the early ’70s, so hurtful that she cried, and colleagues called a news conference to defend her.

Steinem co-founded Ms. Magazine and stayed with it as an adviser

Then came Ms. Magazine in 1972. “I was so obsessed with the fear that it would fail and be a disgrace to the movement,” Steinem said later. And opponents hoped that would happen. TV newsman Harry Reasoner, an especially tart critic, later apologized on air. Steinem continued with Ms. until it was bought in 2001 by the Feminist Majority Foundation, and remained an adviser.

Steinem never had children, and said she never regretted it. “No, not for a millisecond,” she told the AP. “It’s important that some of us not have children, to show that we have a choice.”

In 2000, Steinem made a choice she’d never planned to: She got married, at 66, to British activist and businessman David Bale, whom she met at a fundraiser. Bale was the father of actor Christian Bale.

“I thought, ‘I haven’t changed, marriage had changed,’” Steinem said. “David and I wanted to be together, we loved each other. He needed a green card.” They married at a Cherokee ceremony in Oklahoma. Several years later, he became ill with brain lymphoma, and Steinem cared for him until his death in 2003.

Steinem said she had few regrets in life, but did miss being present when her father died. She received word that he’d been in a serious car accident, but did not respond in time, and he died alone. “I had taken care of my mom as a child, and I feared I’d never come back,” she explained.

She was also sorry that she didn’t become closer to her mother. “I was so fearful of becoming her,” she said in an HBO documentary, “Gloria: In Her Own Words.”

Steinem wrote about life on the road — though she never learned to drive

Steinem’s books included the 2015 road memoir “My Life on the Road” — but she wryly noted at the time that she’d never learned to drive. It would have taken away, she said, from her ability to converse with hosts who picked her up from airports or train stations. And, she noted, she always loved to chat with taxi drivers.

On Jan. 21, 2017, when hundreds of thousands of women gathered in Washington in their pink “pussy hats” for the historic Women’s March, it surprised nobody that the keynote speaker, and the most rousing, was Steinem.

“We are linked,” she told the crowd. “And this is a day that will change us forever because we are together.”

For many women, Steinem was the galvanizing voice that day. She would go on to advocate fiercely. But, though many saw her as a singular figure in history, she often liked to say that if she hadn’t come along, someone else would have accomplished the same things.

By the same token, she said, it was less important that younger people listen to her, and more important that they listen to themselves.

“The primary thing is not that they know who I am,” she said, “but that they know who THEY are.”

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This story has been corrected to change the title of Steinem's 2015 memoir to “My Life on the Road,” not “A Life on the Road.”

In an unusually candid summary by a soccer official about an aborted transfer, Thiago Scuro held a news conference and gave — in English — a detailed, step-by-step rundown on how Balogun’s proposed move to Everton for a reported 40 million pounds ($54 million) fell apart with the clock ticking on deadline day.

According to Scuro, Balogun underwent a medical examination at Everton on Tuesday afternoon. Three hours later — and with four hours left until the deadline — Everton contacted Monaco raising questions about the results of the medical “which, for our medical staff, as well as for the player’s personal medical staff, made no sense at all,” Scuro said.

There followed discussions between the clubs and medical departments, before Everton contacted Monaco again to say it was ready to complete the signing of Balogun, according to Scuro.

“At the last moment, the player decided not to sign,” Scuro continued in the news conference held Wednesday. “And basically, the allegation of Balogun is that, ‘I’m not feeling well by the way the club treated me, I’m not feeling well by the way the medical department of Everton brought doubts about my future or my health. I have nothing (wrong with his health), so I’m not comfortable to sign a long contract here.'”

There was no immediate response from Everton about Scuro’s comments when contacted by the Associated Press. The Premier League club’s leadership — its owners are the Texas-based Friedkin Group — is being criticized by its fans for the way the Balogun deal was handled, as it leaves the team with just one senior striker — Thierno Barry — since his backup, Beto, was sold to Fiorentina on deadline day.

There has been no public comments from Balogun, either, following the latest fiasco surrounding the New York-born striker.

During the World Cup, Balogun was the star player for the U.S. team but was red-carded during the round-of-32 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina.

His one-game suspension was deferred by FIFA after U.S. President Donald Trump intervened, calling Gianni Infantino — president of soccer's world governing body — to see if the red card could be reviewed.

Balogun was, therefore, allowed to play in the round of 16 and had a forgettable performance as the U.S lost to Belgium 4-1. The intervention prompted a formal complaint to FIFA's ethics investigator and led to a general outcry in the soccer world, with Balogun later acknowledging FIFA’s decision to suspend his ban created “outside noise” that affected the U.S. team mentally.

Balogun could still leave Monaco

Scuro has left open the possibility of Balogun, who has two years left on his contract at Monaco, still leaving the club, saying: “We still have markets that have the financial capacity to do something.”

Among the leagues whose transfer windows are still open are Turkey (closes on Friday) and Saudi Arabia (closes on Oct. 12).

Monaco is under pressure to sell Balogun or another of its top players because it needs to generate money to comply with the French league’s financial rules.

When it first appeared that Balogun’s move to Everton was off, Monaco began negotiating with Chelsea over the sale of midfielder Lamine Camara and they reached an agreement, Scuro said.

However, that deal was also scrapped when Everton reversed its decision on Balogun and attempted to get it over the line.

In the end, neither player moved.

“Balo leaving was the trigger for everything to be OK,” Scuro said. “Basically, our financial plan was working almost perfectly until 7 p.m. (on Tuesday).

“Now we have to face this situation and find solutions in different ways.”

Monaco is next in action on Friday, away to defending champion Paris Saint-Germain.

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See AP’s full soccer coverage here

Almost immediately, it went viral. The early trailer rapidly gained more than 90 million views on YouTube, galvanized by people awed by the apparent scale and emotional depth of Laika’s most ambitious film yet. Sample comment: “AI is the future. Laika: Hold my meticulously handcrafted stop motion beer.”

“People that I worked with — hardened industry folks with wizened black husks of hearts — were sending me text messages: ‘Jesus Christ, your trailer just made me cry,’” Knight says, chuckling.

Why did Knight's strange, indie stop-motion animated movie resonate so strongly?

“The making of the art leaves fingerprints on the art,” Knight surmises. “And I think people feel that.”

There’s no shortage of people proclaiming that AI is the future. There are significantly fewer proselytizing about stop-motion animation’s assured destiny. But Laika, the Portland, Oregon-based studio, has for two decades tried to keep an old movie art form alive while mixing in more modern, computer-generated advances. (“We’re not Amish,” promises Knight.)

The studio’s first release in 2009, Henry Selick’s “Coraline,” is still its most beloved. But Laika’s commitment to handcrafted filmmaking and darkly gothic tales has won a loyal following over the years, even though its last release was the 2019 flop “Missing Link.”

Yet “Wildwood” might always have been what Laika was building toward. The film, which opens in theaters Oct. 23, is based on Colin Meloy’s 2011 fantasy novel, illustrated by Carson Ellis. Set in Portland, it’s about a teenage girl named Prue McKee (voiced by Peyton Elizabeth Lee) whose infant brother is kidnapped by a flock of crows and taken into an enchanted forest. The voice cast includes Carey Mulligan, Mahershala Ali, Jake Johnson and Jacob Tremblay.

The film, heavy with grief and radiant with adventure, isn’t just in Laika’s tonal sweet spot. It’s set in its backyard.

“It’s everything I love in one film,” Knight said in a recent exclusive interview. “I think it’s the best thing we’ve ever done at Laika.”

Stop-motion animation as 'a quiet act of rebellion'

It was also the biggest challenge. Knight, the son of Nike co-founder Phil Knight (who’s chairman of Laika and has helped bankroll it), acquired the rights to “Wildwood” before it was released. The adaptation is some 16 years in the making.

“I felt like we had to develop the tools, the tricks, the technologies to actually do justice to this story. We built on all of our learnings from our earlier movies and stood on those shoulders. I felt like: OK, I think we’re ready to do it,” Knight says before laughing. “And we were not.”

At 139 minutes, “Wildwood” is uncommonly long for an animated film, let alone a stop-motion animated one. Its staggering production included 136 sets and 231 practical puppets. One character, a golden eagle known as The General, took some 3,000 hours to make.

“These are great acts of care and devotion,” Knight says. “In this modern era where everything is so rapid pace, where entire worlds can be generated with a click of a mouse, the idea of taking your time, and with great devotion and care coaxing life out of something, is very special. I like to call it a quiet act of rebellion.”

Laika isn’t the only big stop-motion company still around. The Bristol, U.K.-based Aardman Animations remains a free-flowing font of pastoral whimsy. (It releases “Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom” on Sept. 18.) But it’s a precarious business. And it’s easy to wonder if Laika could have kept such long-term productions going without the Knight family wealth.

Focus Features exited its pact with Laika after the release of 2016’s Oscar-nominated “ Kubo and the Two Strings.” Fathom Entertainment, the distributor owned by theater chains, is stepping in to release “Wildwood.” Laika and Fathom have enjoyed unique success in rereleases of “Coraline.” A 2024 rerelease generated an astounding $52.4 million worldwide, fresh evidence of audiences' yearning for something tactile and soulful.

Embracing the ‘cobwebbed corners of yourself'

Laika was born in 2003 when Philip Knight acquired Vinton Studios, the company founded by animator Will Vinton. Travis Knight was then an animator there. The name, Laika, comes from the dog launched into space in 1957.

From the start, Knight envisioned an animation studio where darkness and light weren't treated as opposites. Laika has since carved out a sensibility more surreal and more idiosyncratic than the output of animation factories like Pixar or Illumination. “Wildwood,” notably, is rated PG-13.

“When you devote this much of your life to something, you don’t want it to be some candy-colored confection, a bit of pop culture fun,” Knight says. “You want it to be meaningful.”

To a large degree, “Wildwood” is about grief and the heavy cost of carrying it. For Knight, whose older brother, Matthew, died a few years before he encountered Meloy's book, the story is tinged with personal experience.

“You want the stories you tell to be about something. That often involves climbing into the darkened, cobwebbed corners of yourself and pulling those things out,” Knight says. “I did lose my brother. He was too young. A handful of years ago, my wife lost her brother and her nephew. These things are seismic in families. So the movie does wander, sometimes generally and sometimes not, through the corridors of grief.”

That a movie like “Wildwood” is so labored over, Knight believes, gives it its magic. That doesn't mean he doesn't see the inherent absurdity of an arduous process that, he says, moves at the speed of “continental drift.”

“You build thousands of tiny things. You put them under lights. You move them microscopic distances. You take a picture,” says Knight. “And then you repeat that process over and over and over again until you finish the movie or society collapses.”

But as “Wildwood” nears its release, Knight firmly believes it's all worth it — that something in the making of the movie comes across to moviegoers.

“There is a yearning for something that’s handmade, for something that someone has cared into existence,” he says. “It’s always been rare, it’s always been special. But it’s even more so now.”