Earlier in the day, Republicans turned back a Democratic effort to block the fund, which would compensate the president's allies who say they have been politically persecuted. But there were potentially more amendments to come overnight as Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana has said he will try again to block the settlement.

The amendments were a test of party unity and a threat to the immigration spending bill, as some Republicans have repeatedly voted to block the fund. The first vote on the settlement was held open for around three hours as several GOP senators decided whether to support it.

“I feel optimistic that we’ll get there in the end," Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Thursday evening, while acknowledging he was not sure how the votes would turn out.

Thune has been pushing GOP senators for weeks to keep the bill focused on the funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol, which Democrats have blocked since early this year, and to avoid adding new provisions that could complicate its passage.

If an amendment limiting the settlement were to pass, Thune said, it would be “problematic” when they send the bill to the House. It could also mean a White House veto of the immigration spending bill, which has otherwise unified Trump and Republicans.

The last time the Senate abruptly changed a Homeland Security funding package, in March, the House simply refused to accept it and left town.

Settlement fund roils Senate GOP conference

Trump's judgment fund, which was part of a settlement that resolves his lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns, has angered many Republican senators.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said this week that the fund would not move forward. But Trump, who has been at odds with Senate Republicans in recent weeks, raised new doubts about the settlement’s future Wednesday afternoon — just after the Senate had voted to start debate on the immigration bill — when he told reporters that the settlement is “very important” and said “I don’t know” whether it is dead or on hold.

“I’d have to ask the lawyers,” he said.

The Senate rejected a second amendment from Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina on Thursday that would also have banned the settlement fund but would have moved the money to a separate anti-fraud fund at the Department of Justice. Most Democrats voted against the amendment, guaranteeing its defeat, but more than 10 Republicans supported it.

Tillis said the settlement fund, some of which could potentially go to Trump supporters who beat police and attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, is a political liability for the party.

“If Blanche says this is largely inoperative, why not use this moment to codify that?” Tillis said. “Otherwise, you’re exposing every one of our members who are in cycle to having to deal with this between today and Election Day, and that makes no sense for something that the DOJ says they’re not moving forward with."

Amendments will be offered late into the night

It was unclear how Republicans would vote on additional amendments.

Cassidy, who lost re-election last month after Trump endorsed his primary opponent, said he still planned to offer an amendment to ban payouts from the settlement. He told reporters he may also offer an amendment to block a separate part of the settlement that would grant Trump and his family immunity from IRS audits.

Several Republican senators said they supported the idea but would have to see the final language before they decide. Sen. John Cornyn, who also lost reelection last month after Trump endorsed his opponent, said he agrees with the “thrust of it” but would wait to see the amendment. Republican Sen. John Curtis of Utah said the same.

Thune said he believes the final bill should pass without language to prohibit the settlement.

“This is about border funding,” Thune said. “It’s about law enforcement, it’s about ICE and CBP. So I’m trying to, you know, keep it about the main thing.”

Democrats continued to offer amendments through the night, including on Trump's tariffs, his war with Iran and his immigration enforcement campaign.

“Amendment after amendment, vote after vote, Republicans are going to have to answer to the American people,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said at the beginning of the day.

ICE and Border Patrol money has been delayed for months

Passage of the roughly $70 billion bill to fund ICE and the Border Patrol would end the blockade by Democrats who demanded policy changes after the fatal shootings of two protesters by federal agents in January. The bill would fund the agencies for three years, through the end of Trump’s term.

Senate Republicans are using a complicated procedural maneuver to get around the filibuster and pass the budget legislation with no Democratic votes. But it has taken weeks to get the bill to the Senate floor as Republicans navigated various obstacles to passage created by Trump and the White House — including a $1 billion proposal for White House security and Trump's ballroom that they eventually scrapped and the fierce bipartisan backlash to the settlement fund.

Democrats say any funding bill for the Homeland Security Department should place restraints on federal immigration authorities, including better identification for federal officers and more use of judicial warrants, among other asks.

After federal agents shot Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, Trump agreed to a Democratic request that the Homeland Security bill be separated from a larger spending measure that became law. But bipartisan negotiations went nowhere, and the department funding lapsed in mid-February with no agreement on changes to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics.

Congress eventually funded the rest of the Homeland Security Department at the end of April with Democratic support, but ICE and Border Patrol remained without regular funding.

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Associated Press writers Kevin Freking and Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.

U.S. futures also retreated.

On Wall Street on Thursday, computer chipmaker Broadcom’s shares sank 12.6% when it gave a forecast that fell short of investors’ expectations, raising concerns over the wider AI and technology sector.

U.S. memory chip maker Micron Technology dropped 7.7%, and cybersecurity company CrowdStrike Holdings fell 3.8%.

Still, the benchmark S&P 500 climbed 0.4% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.7% to a record. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite edged 0.1% lower.

But in Asia, investors dumped key AI-related shares, with South Korea’s SK Hynix plunging 8.4% and Samsung Electronics shedding 5.4%.

The Kospi dropped 5.1% by midday to 8,185.62. The index has roughly doubled in the past year lifted by gains for such big tech companies.

Japan's Nikkei 225 slipped 1.4% to 66,532.35, with technology shares leading the decline, even as official data showed that Japan’s real wages rose for the fourth straight month. Chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron's shares fell 7.2%.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined 0.8% to 25,047.83, while the Shanghai Composite index gained 0.4% to 4,075.31.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.5% to 8,639.50.

Taiwan’s Taiex gave up 1.5%, while India’s Sensex was up 0.2%.

Oil prices stabilized after falling on Thursday. Brent crude, the international standard, was up 0.4% to $95.42 per barrel. It fell to around $95.03 a barrel on Thursday, and was approximately $70 per barrel before the start of the war in late February.

Benchmark U.S. crude was 0.1% higher at $93.15 a barrel.

Strong corporate earnings and excitement about AI demand have helped pushing some stock markets to new heights, despite repeated jolts from the Iran war. Oil prices are still under pressure as the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway crucial for global oil and natural gas transport, remains effectively closed, and the war-caused energy shock is threatening to slow economic growth and fuel inflation in many countries.

American and Iranian negotiators reached a tentative deal last week to extend their ceasefire, but the agreement has not been finalized, as meanwhile developments in Lebanon have cast doubts on prospects for a permanent end to the conflict.

On Thursday, the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah rejected the latest ceasefire agreement between the Lebanese and Israel governments.

“While there are few signs of progress in US-Iran talks, the oil market continues to trade on expectations of an imminent deal that would resume flows through the Strait of Hormuz,” ING commodities strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey wrote in a report.

Hopes regarding the U.S.-Iran negotiations may have been “overly optimistic,” they said.

In other dealings early Friday, the U.S. dollar fell to 159.97 Japanese yen from 160.03 yen. The euro was trading at $1.1614, up from $1.1610.

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AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed.

His Vegas Golden Knights appeared to score with five minutes left in regulation, but referee Jean Hebert waved it off immediately, citing goaltender interference. Hebert announced that he and the other on-ice officials thought Ivan Barbashev pushed Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen to knock the puck into the net.

Tortorella after some deliberation decided to challenge the play, and it did not take long for officials and the on-site NHL situation room to stick with the call on the ice of no goal. The Hurricanes scored on the ensuing power play 25 seconds later and went on to win 4-3 in overtime to tie the series.

“I saw a loose puck in front of Freddie," Tortorella said. "Our player stabbed it, didn’t move the goalie and it goes through him into the other side. I’d challenge it 10 out of 10 times.”

It was purely a video review of goalie interference and had nothing to do with whether the whistle was blown before the puck crossed the goal line.

“The ruling on the play was goaltender interference,” executive vice president and director of officiating Stephen Walkom told a pool reporter. “He waved it (off) immediately. He believed that it was under the goalie, and the Vegas player went after the puck and interfered with the goalie and his ability to freeze the puck and waived it off immediately.”

Mark Jankowski had just tied it for the Hurricanes a few shifts earlier after Logan Stankoven started the comeback from down 2-0. On the opposing bench, Carolina players and coach Rod Brind'Amour were not sure how the review was going to go.

“Obviously, you’re hoping for the best,” center Sebsastian Aho said. “You can’t really control it. I didn’t have a really good view of it, so I had no clue. So, I was just hoping for the best.”

Brind'Amour decided not to challenge for goalie interference in Game 1 on Tuesday night because there were too many variables at play. His thinking turned out to be right again.

“It happened to us in I guess the first game: When it’s called a goal or no goal on the ice, it better be 100% to challenge it,” Brind'Amour said. “That’s the rule we go by. So, they called no goal on the ice, so that’s kind of how I think it worked out. I don’t know. I don’t know what the explanation is. It looked like he had it covered, and then all of a sudden it was in the net. I don’t know. I haven’t really looked at it. I was just happy that it went our way.”

Andersen went full extension to make a paddle save to deny Barbashev on the initial shot. A scrum ensued around the crease with players diving at the puck hoping to knock it in or keep it out.

“To me, it felt like a no goal,” Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal said. "Obviously, I’m on the other side, but I’m sure they have a different opinion. My gut was like, ‘Man, there’s no way.’ What an incredible effort my Freddie just staying with that one and finding a way to get a piece of that. I was flopping everywhere. I didn’t know what was going on. Freddy just stuck with it. The guy’s an absolute animal. That was a pretty crazy play and obviously a game-changer for us.”

The punishment for a failed coach's challenge is a two-minute minor penalty. Vegas was 4 for 4 on the penalty kill against Carolina's power play to that point in the series.

“I’m not sure how they go about their thought process, Brind'Amour said. “They’ve obviously killed all the penalties. That’s a big one.”

Staal made sure the Golden Knights didn't kill this one, tipping defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere's point shot in for just the Hurricanes' eighth power play goal of the playoffs. Seth Jarvis made it nine when he scored in overtime, though it may have never gotten to that point had Tortorella not challenged.

“You’d like to make them pay every time," Aho said. "It’s a big swing because the other option is going down a goal. But other than that, every time you get a power play, you’re trying to score. So, it’s not that different, but obviously it was a big swing.”

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The haul of Madagascar hissing cockroaches and dubia cockroaches, worth 200,000 Australian dollars ($142,000), was seized in May from a commercial breeder in the city of Bathurst in New South Wales state, according to Australia’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water.

The Madagascar hissing species is one of the world’s biggest cockroaches, measuring 2 to 3 inches in length. Photos released by the department showed a shiny, brown invertebrate larger than a person’s finger.

It's much bigger than the country's common Australian cockroach, which measures between 0.9 and 1.4 inches long. Cockroaches flourish in Australia due to its sub-tropical climates and the country is home to hundreds of species.

Bathurst snake catcher Stefanie Lesser told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that the larger exotic species were likely being sold as as a cost-effective reptile food because their large size meant fewer insects were needed. Officials urged pet owners to seek out crickets or wood roaches to feed their lizards instead.

Both Madagascar hissing and dubia cockroaches are illegal to import into Australia. They can’t be legally kept, bred or sold no matter how they were obtained, the department said in a statement.

Australia has strict biosecurity controls at its borders to protect its agriculture and horticulture sectors and native wildlife from pest infestations. Those smuggling in undeclared or illegal animal, insect or plant material can be fined thousands of dollars.

Exotic cockroaches “have not been subject to an environmental risk assessment” and they could spread disease or harm native wildlife, the statement said. Officials warned of prosecutions against those caught with the invertebrates.

A spokesperson said charges weren’t laid against the Bathurst breeder. The cockroaches seized would be euthanized, the department said.

A slap shot from Carolina’s Nikolaj Ehlers hit McNabb square in the face just past the midway point of the first period. McNabb dropped his stick, went down to the ice and grabbed his nose as he skated immediately off and down the tunnel.

“It’s a scary play,' forward Brett Howden said. ”You never want to see that. Just hope he’s doing all right. We haven’t seen him yet but hope he’s doing OK."

McNabb did not return, and Vegas went the rest of the way with just five defensemen.

“You lose a guy like Nabber who logs heavy minutes, such a good teammate, plays the game so hard, it’s tough," captain Mark Stone said. "They battled as hard as they could.”

Coach John Tortorella said “they played well” and had no update when asked about McNabb’s condition after the Hurricanes’ overtime victory that tied the series.

McNabb was coming off the first three-assist performance of his NHL career in Game 1. He is one of three original Golden Knights players who have been around for the franchise's entire nine-year existence and are in the final for a third time.

“Any time you see that happen to a teammate, especially to a guy like Nabber who is a huge part of this team, a leader, it’s tough,” fellow D-man Noah Hanifin said. “It’s hard to see that happen to any guy on the ice. We’re just hoping for the best for him.”

The Golden Knights had their optimum, healthy lineup back for the series opener when Jeremy Lauzon returned from his injury. That did not last long.

Either Ben Hutton, a left-handed shooter, or Kaedan Korczak, who was playing in place of Lauzon, figures to play in Game 3 on Saturday if McNabb is unavailable.

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

These rocky, remote outposts of Europe have struggled with the arrival of tens of thousands of mostly African migrants through some of the world's deadliest migration routes. Even as numbers decreased this year, especially in the Canaries, the issue continues to roil politics in these historically Catholic countries.

Many Catholics and migrants hope the upcoming papal trips will refocus attention on solidarity and support — and away from divisive political debate that is splitting the right in addition to pitting it against the left.

“Stuck in the middle are the migrants,” said the Most Rev. José Mazuelos, the bishop of Canarias, whose diocese includes several of the islands. “So the church says, ‘Let’s give them a face, because we’re talking about people, not numbers.’"

Among them is Eslim Jallow, 27. Dreaming of a more prosperous future, Jallow and his younger brother left Gambia and landed in the Canary Islands in 2023. At first, Jallow struggled to adapt, but he quickly learned Spanish, took courses and now earns a living as a programmer and web developer in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

“Perhaps the pope will change the way in which people here look at immigrants,” Jallow said. “Immigrants should be treated with dignity and respect, not ignored.”

Like most migrants arriving in the islands, he isn’t Catholic. But he feels that Leo “speaks for us, he reminds the world we are also human beings.”

The Catholic Church’s ministry to migrants

Advocating for migrants globally was a priority for Pope Francis. He went to Lampedusa in 2013 on his first pastoral visit outside Rome and, three years later on the Greek island of Lesbos, he brought back with him a dozen Syrian Muslim refugees.

Under Leo, the Catholic Church has continued to call for their humane treatment around the world, including decrying mass deportations in his home country, the United States.

“Pope Leo is signaling how important immigration is to him by doing these two trips early in his papacy,” said Michele Pistone, a Villanova University professor who leads its new center on immigration.

In the Canaries, Leo is expected at the port of Arguineguín, on the island of Gran Canaria, on June 11 to pay homage to thousands of migrants who died or disappeared en route. The next day, he will meet migrants at a camp on the island of Tenerife.

The archipelago has been the epicenter of a humanitarian crisis that in 2024 saw the arrival of nearly 47,000 migrants from North and West Africa, including several thousand unaccompanied minors.

Like Jallow, half of them landed in El Hierro island — nearly triple its population, said the Most Rev. Eloy Santiago, bishop of Tenerife, whose diocese includes that smaller island. Its resources were strained to a breaking point, even though most migrants only stayed a few days.

“If a boat arrives, the couple of local doctors have to go out running to take care of them, and then the local residents who had their medical appointments can’t have them,” Santiago said.

Catholic organizations are among those that aid migrants from the moment they step out of rickety, overcrowded boats.

Arrivals have slowed dramatically this year, in part due to stricter controls along the African coast. But the most challenging task remains — how to help those who arrived as minors, were entrusted to state care, and are thrown out into the streets when they turn 18, often with no job prospects and no support.

Jallow fears what will happen to his younger brother when he reaches adulthood next year. He’s been paralyzed from the neck down since he had an accident soon after arriving in the Canaries and lives in a Catholic hospital in Las Palmas.

Caya Suárez, secretary general for the Catholic charity Caritas in the Canaries, has seen firsthand how migrants coming of age on the islands are the most vulnerable.

“That’s a very bad moment, even though they’d been waiting for it with hope, because they see they are still stuck without alternatives,” she said.

Caritas tries to help the young adults find housing and jobs, she added. It’s also relocated a few young migrants to Madrid, a small village in the largely rural region of Galicia, and elsewhere on the mainland, with the help of parishes there even as the governments of other Spanish regions have been reluctant to take on underage migrants.

Spain’s migrant amnesty and continuing challenges

Many residents in the Canaries feel like they’ve been abandoned to cope with an unsolvable problem — how to stretch even farther resources for migrants who thought they’d be within reach of economic prosperity and free to travel across the European Union, and instead end up on the street, struggling to send remittances home but also to leave.

Compounded with the perception that national and European political institutions tend to see it as an exclusively “island problem,” the situation is generating a growing malaise even among generous islanders who have long been accustomed to migration to and from Latin America, the Canaries’ bishops said.

“The pope’s word can help so that in the middle of this fatigue, people can buck up again because they see they are supported,” said Santiago, who was born and ordained a priest on the islands.

At the national level, Spain’s Catholic Church also backed a new measure giving temporary residency permits to potentially more than half a million foreigners in the country illegally, many from Latin America.

They often work in hospitality, agriculture and eldercare, boosting the economy, according to the socialist government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez — and to the church.

“In the matter of immigration, the church’s position gets into a head-on collision with the position of the right,” said Pablo Simón, a political science professor at University Carlos III in Madrid.

That has created a rift between the church and far-right parties, like Vox in Spain, which has criticized the church on immigration, despite often couching its anti-migrant rhetoric in religious terms.

The Rev. Fernando Redondo, who leads the migration department of the Spanish bishops’ conference, said the church’s stance is in line with the Christian mandate to welcome the stranger. But he added it needs better understanding among the many faithful who believe migrants come to steal jobs or live off welfare.

“We have a big challenge, which is raising awareness among our faithful … that from the viewpoint of faith, to welcome a migrant person is to welcome Christ himself,” Redondo said. “Then, of course, there needs to be ways, proper social and political ways, so that migration doesn’t become a total mess.”

Hoping for words of reconciliation in the Canary Islands

In the Canaries, ordinary people have been on the frontlines of that often life-endangering chaos — fishermen who hand out drinking water to migrants on ramshackle rafts, sunbathers who run into the sea to help landing migrants, the volunteers who greet them in more than a dozen languages.

But they have also seen that integration can work, as in a small mountain village that was emptying out until a center for three dozen migrant children was opened, creating jobs and filling up the school — and the local church’s annual feast day procession.

That’s why many look forward to Leo bringing a simple but crucial message of reconciliation that focuses on the people impacted, not on the politics.

“The pope doesn’t support this slogan of ‘let’s go, open doors for the whole world here.’ Nobody supports that,” Mazuelos said. “When here comes a gentleman in a wooden boat after five days in the Atlantic, what are we supposed to do, kick him back? We’ve got to find a way to welcome him.”

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Dell'Orto reported from Minneapolis.

___

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

The “60 Minutes” correspondent’s searing rebuke of CBS management this week, in which he questioned his bosses’ credentials and motives, may have ended in his firing, but amounted to the sort of mouthing-off that workplace peons typically only fantasize about.

“That’s the American dream — to be able to tell off your boss and walk out the door,” says Zach Tyra, a 40-year-old data analyst from Jones, Oklahoma, who found a kindred spirit in the newsman, recalling his own experience with a former boss he said was clueless. “I couldn’t do what Scott Pelley did because I didn’t have the safety net or the resources or the network that he has. I couldn’t tell my boss to stick it. I just had to sit there and eat it.”

Pelley's message may have been delivered in the measured baritone of someone polished by decades on the airwaves. But his backtalk stirred many who’ve felt the simmering rage of feeling a clueless boss was turning their days into a nightmare.

“It’s also kind of weird, like, Pelley isn’t some blue-collar hero. There’s a wide gap between, like, Pelley and your local everyday guy down at the hardware store,” Tyra says. “But I think everyone can relate to standing up for what they believe.”

A staff meeting that went deeply awry

Pelley's dressing-down came in a Monday staff meeting with the new executive producer of “60 Minutes,” Nick Bilton, brought aboard by Bari Weiss, who became CBS News’ editor-in-chief in October. The correspondent reportedly grilled Bilton about the firings last week of Bilton’s predecessor, Tanya Simon, and correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega, accusing management of “murdering” the program, a revered cornerstone of TV journalism and a mainstay of Sunday nights for nearly six decades.

“She has no qualifications for her job,” Pelley said of Weiss, according to the media news site Status, which reported he then turned his ire at Bilton. “You have slender qualifications for this job.”

In firing Pelley, Bilton called his outburst an “ambush” of “remarkable incivility and contempt.” But, with Pelley becoming a proxy for the American worker, others cheered.

Parry Headrick, who runs a public relations firm in Boston, was immediately transported to his days as a young reporter at a small newspaper, where he had been carefully chronicling the trials of people who fell ill from what was believed to be exposure to toxic waste.

He had earned the trust of one family only to find editors plastered a headline on the story that reduced the sick child to a “toxic boy” and caused Headrick to lose all faith in his bosses. He screamed at the paper’s publisher and editor-in-chief before quitting.

“I lost my goddamn mind when they did that. And the story with Pelley resonated so hard specifically because of that,” says 57-year-old Headrick, who thinks many people can see Pelley’s point of view. “There exists in most Americans the desire to speak truth to power.”

That such an outburst arose in the news business may be no surprise; journalists pride themselves as a truth-to-power, voice-for-the-voiceless bunch. Staff meetings with reporters sassing editors are common, and in newsrooms everywhere, managers have been subjected to the type of tough questions they pay their people to ask others.

The threshold for dismissal varies from place to place

The line separating acceptable discourse with fireable offense is as different in each workplace as the settings themselves, whether a dive bar or diocesan chancery.

“In the real world, there are layers of politeness and cordiality that don’t really exist in journalism,” says Headrick, who cheered Pelley “pushing back on something larger.”

Clare Haynes had a middle-management role at a nonprofit when she had her Pelley moment two decades ago. She was three weeks into a job where she thought she’d been brought aboard to institute changes that would achieve an innovative work culture. But every suggestion she made was dismissed. Her boss said his boss wouldn’t buy the idea.

“Are you saying you’re too weak to ask?” she snapped. His mouth fell open. He stared at her silently for a full minute.

Haynes survived, lasting three more years at the firm, but things were never the same.

“I didn’t lose my job, but I paid the price, being seen as maverick,” says 55-year-old Haynes, of Royal Leamington Spa, England, who now runs a coaching firm that trains executives how to handle difficult workplace conversations.

Johan Konst was working at a Swedish media company when he felt pushed to the limit seven years ago. After years of high-stress, hard-selling days pushing advertising he didn’t believe in, he finally said his piece, delivering a blunt, profanity-dotted message to his boss.

He was promptly shown the door.

“It’s the best thing that ever happened to me,” says 34-year-old Konst, of Amsterdam, who walked away with a nice severance check. “At some point, this had to happen.”

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Matt Sedensky can be reached at msedensky@ap.org and https://x.com/sedensky

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “The House of Mirth,” “The Custom of the Country” and other probing stories of New York society was living in Paris at the time and soon set out to help those imperiled by the clash between Allied and German forces. She set up a workroom for seamstresses and others who had lost their jobs, established hostels that aided thousands of refugees and even reported from the trenches for a series of dispatches that ran in the American periodical Scribner's Magazine.

But Wharton eventually — and inevitably — channeled her observations and experiences into fiction. She worked on a novel published after the war, “A Son at the Front,” and attempted a story about an affluent couple in the French countryside who decide that the war is going well enough that they can resume the social gatherings of the past. “The Men Who Saved the World” — unfinished and never before published — appears Friday in the new issue of The Strand Magazine, which has released rare works by Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway and many others.

“The boom of guns can be heard in the distance. A few young soldiers sit among the guests. And the hostess wants to know whether they might have dancing,” Strand Managing Editor Andrew Gulli writes in a brief introduction. “Wharton asks a question that is as relevant today as it was over a century ago: what is the cost of refusing to see the horrors beyond the softly curtained windows — and who pays it?”

Wharton had long scrutinized the rich from the inside. Born into a wealthy New York City family in 1862, she knew firsthand the manners and codes and traditions that she picked apart in her best known work. In “The Men Who Saved the World,” believed to be written in 1918, she shifts the narrative from the New York drawing rooms of her early fiction to a French chateau within miles of a battlefield.

The author had a deep affinity for France and French culture, which she regarded as “one of the greatest cultures in the world, perhaps the greatest culture,” Wharton scholar Julie Olin-Ammentorp wrote in an email, adding that she was unsure why the author never finished “The Men Who Saved the World.” The German attack stirred Wharton's conscience, and her imagination.

“The Men Who Saved the World” dramatizes the separation between civilian and military life, and what happens when they merge. It's told through the perspective of a young American nurse, Milly Arden, a guest at the home of Fred and Madge Upshall, who are preparing a dinner party in the same setting where they had once permitted an army surgeon to perform amputations. Arden finds herself seated next to a war hero, Capt. Sherman Wake, regarded by Mrs. Upshall as one of the “real people.” Capt. Wake proves eager to discuss the “catastrophic horror and waste” he has seen nearby.

“You hear the guns pretty distinctly here,” Wake tells Arden. "They must make the windows rattle when everything’s quiet, don’t they?”

“Yes, they do,” she responded, looking out on an orchid “which the cannonade had displaced just before dinner.”

Last weekend, his campaign wrestled with stories about sexually explicit messages that Platner sent to several women while he was married. Then on Thursday, The New York Times reported about his relationships with previous girlfriends. Some viewed him positively but others described him as volatile and insulting.

One woman said Platner twisted her arm during an argument and locked her in a room. Platner called that allegation untrue.

But with Maine's primary around the corner Tuesday and Democrats desperate to rally behind a candidate who can defeat Republican Sen. Susan Collins in November, there's been little sign of voters or political allies backing away from Platner, who has pitched himself as an imperfect person who has redeemed himself.

Some dismissed news of the text messages as a private matter, one that should be addressed solely by the married couple. Others argue that the need for Democrats to take back control of the U.S. Senate from Republicans is too important to cast aside imperfect candidates.

Yet they're also wrestling with the question of whether more controversial information surrounding Platner could come out ahead of the November election.

“I think a lot of people are afraid,” said Deb Dagnan, chair of Maine’s Piscataquis County Democrats. “They’re waiting for the other shoe to drop after he gets the nomination. Then what do we do?”

Key to the Senate

Platner is key to Democrats hopes' to take back the U.S. Senate this year. Yet he's been bedeviled by near-constant controversies involving his disclosure of a since-covered tattoo of a Nazi symbol, his history of inflammatory online comments and the texting revelations.

Nevertheless, Platner's most prominent supporters have continued to back the candidate, including Sens. Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Ruben Gallego. Platner is scheduled to appear in Bar Harbor Friday evening with progressive Rep. Ro Khanna of California, as well as Democratic candidates for U.S. House and governor, as a part of a “get out the vote” rally in the coastal resort town.

The event is taking place just days ahead of the state's June 9 primary election, where Platner is expected to secure the Democratic nomination. His top opponent, Gov. Janet Mills, suspended her campaign in late April.

He'll do so under reignited scrutiny amid reports that he and his wife, Amy Gertner, have had marital difficulties and sought counseling after he allegedly sent sexually explicit text messages to other women.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Gertner had told the campaign in August about the messages, which she had discovered on his phone last year, to make sure they weren’t a liability to the campaign. Platner’s campaign team reportedly decided that the texts were private and being handled by the couple, who were married in 2023.

Genevieve McDonald, a former campaign staffer for Platner, told The Associated Press that the candidate was “sexting multiple women while married” and that “the campaign tried to assess that as an election vulnerability.”

Shortly after the news came out, Platner posted a five-minute video taken by Gertner, who avoided speaking directly about her husband’s reported texts but dubbed the broader coverage as “gossip” and said “being married is hard.”

Voters worry that more scandals lurk

Gertner's emotional comments about working on her marriage have resonated with some women, who say they are shocked that a former campaign aide would betray someone's trust and the issue should remain between the couple.

“It’s none of my business as far as I’m concerned,” said Joanne Mason, a local Democratic leader from south-central Maine. “And I would hope that people wouldn’t judge any one person on their own private marriage.”

Valerie Tate, a Democrat from Belfast, described Gertner's honesty about trying to work on their mental health and marriage as admirable.

“That is not a scandal,” Tate wrote in an email. “That is integrity. Personal growth is not a disqualification from public life. For many of us, it is precisely what made us worthy of it.”

However, Tate conceded that her mind wasn’t fully at ease. With the public still learning about Platner’s past, there is a chance something could emerge as a dealbreaker for voters.

“Of course, there is that concern as there would be in any race with somebody we don’t know all the dramas and the journeys they’ve been on," she wrote. "Something could come out that would be disqualifying.”

Past controversies simmer

This isn’t the first time Platner has faced questions about his past. He had a tattoo recognized as a Nazi symbol, which he had covered up after starting his campaign.

Platner has said he didn't realize the meaning of the tattoo. However, a former girlfriend told the Times he joked about it being a Nazi symbol and called it “my Totenkopf.”

There’s also been much attention on Platner's former Reddit posts, which were dismissive of military sexual assaults and used homophobic slurs, for which he has apologized.

Platner has never held elected office and has fashioned a straight-talking, progressive, populist-style campaign focusing on issues such as income inequality, lack of health care accessibility and the rising cost of housing. In return, he's attracted thousands at his rallies and campaign events and collected millions in campaign funds to further boost his messaging.

“People want somebody new,” said Paige Zeigler, a former Maine Democratic lawmaker and head of the Waldo County Democrats, on why Platner's staying power has remained strong. “They want somebody that they feel that they can embrace. And Platner is riding that wave.” ___

Kruesi reported from Providence, Rhode Island.

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Rogerio Miranda De Souza, 49, was booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on Wednesday night on a new charge of indecent exposure, according to jail records.

South Miami police said the incident related to his latest arrest occurred May 11 and involved a different female victim.

According to an arrest report, the victim was driving south on U.S. 1 near the 5700 block of South Dixie Highway when De Souza drove his gray Tesla “extremely close” to the driver’s side of the woman’s vehicle, at which time she saw that he had his penis exposed and was stroking it.

Police said De Souza continued to follow the victim, even driving through a red light to catch up to the woman who was trying to get away from him.

According to the report, the victim eventually lost sight of De Souza near the 11400 block of South Dixie Highway.

Police said the victim remained there until Pinecrest police officers arrived, but they told her she would need to report the incident to South Miami police since the alleged incident occurred in their jurisdiction.

According to the report, the victim did not want to file a police report at the time, but decided to come forward after learning that De Souza had been arrested for a similar incident.

“She was frightened, she was scared. She did not want to come forward,” Detective Jackie Del Sol said. “She had actually seen it on the news and that’s what made her come forward. She had been involved in the same incident.”

Investigators said they were able to identify De Souza through the use of a license plate reader. Detectives later contacted his attorney, and De Souza surrendered to authorities Wednesday.

The arrest comes just weeks after De Souza appeared before a judge in a separate indecent exposure case.

In that incident, police said a woman reported being followed for nearly 30 minutes on May 15 after leaving a gym in Miami’s Brickell neighborhood. According to investigators, De Souza repeatedly drove around the woman’s vehicle, cut her off in traffic and, at one point, was seen touching himself while driving alongside her.

Police said the woman provided detectives with a license plate number that helped lead investigators to De Souza.

At the time of that arrest, detectives told Local 10 News they were investigating another case involving similar allegations. However, authorities have not confirmed whether the latest arrest is connected to that earlier investigation.

De Souza appeared in bond court Thursday morning and was ordered held on a $25,000 bond. If he posts bond, he will be placed on house arrest with a GPS monitor. He has also been ordered by a judge to stay away from the victims in both cases.

“Somebody had to step up and make a play,” coach Rod Brind’Amour said simply.

A shocking third-period comeback changed everything, both in getting the Hurricanes back in the Stanley Cup Final and setting the stage for Jarvis and that power-play unit to get a needed breakthrough moment.

Jarvis blasted a one-timer past Carter Hart on a power play at 3:56 of overtime to lift the Hurricanes past the Vegas Golden Knights. 4-3 on Thursday night. That ended a night that saw Carolina trail 2-0 entering the third period after looking outmatched through the second, rally with three unanswered goals, then regroup after giving up a tying goal late to force the OT.

Just as importantly, the Hurricanes went from staring at an 0-2 series deficit after losing twice at home to heading West for Game 3 on Saturday in a tied series after an abrupt turn of fortune.

The time was coming, the Hurricanes kept insisting, when their top-line guys and the power play would make big plays.

Turns out, they were right.

“This is exciting, this is what playoff hockey is all about," said Jarvis, who admitted the winning score was a “huge” weight off his shoulders. "It's tight games and momentum swings and you never really know what's going to happen next.”

Unexpected comeback

Indeed, Vegas' roster filled with Cup winners from 2023 looked every bit in control of this one. Yet the Hurricanes pulled off a comeback that will earn a spot in franchise lore alongside moments like the 2002 “Molson Miracle” at Montreal — when they rallied from a 3-0 hole entering the third before winning in 4-3 OT in Round 2 — or the 2009 first-round shocker at New Jersey when the Hurricanes scored twice in the final 80 seconds for another 4-3 win in Game 7.

It started with a tough effort by Logan Stankoven to beat Rasmus Andersson for a puck along the boards before coming behind the net to throw one off the skate of Jeremy Lauzon in the crease to slip by Hart for a life-infusing score at the 10:20 mark.

Mark Jankowski followed, coming when linemate William Carrier kept the entry alive while tussling with Lauzon and fed him for a score. This one stuck, coming after Jankowski had an overtime winner waved off in Game 2 of the first-round series against Ottawa and a second goal later waved off against Philadelphia for a goaltender-interference review on Carrier.

“It's nice to sit on the bench and look over and see they're not challenging it,” Jankowski said.

Even more surprising, the power play carried the Hurricanes home.

Jarvis, power play come through in clutch

Carolina's power play entered the night just 7 of 58 (12.1%) in the playoffs after ranking fourth in the regular season at 24.9%. But, that unit struck twice to change everything on Thursday night, first with captain Jordan Staal redirecting Shayne Gostisbehere's shot to beat Carter Hart from the top of the crease for a 3-2 lead with the man advantage.

Then, after Vegas got a tying goal off Mark Stone's skate with 1:21 left in regulation — coming when Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin knocking a loose rebound past Frederik Andersen into the net while clear the crease — Carolina came up with a rousing response in OT.

The fact it was Jarvis who got it only magnified the scope of the moment. The winning blast marked only the fourth goal of the playoffs for Jarvis, a top-line forward who led the team with 32 regular-season goals and played for Canada's silver-medalist team at the Milan Cortina Olympics.

Brind'Amour had said multiple times in recent weeks that the Sebastian Aho-centered line featuring Jarvis and Andrei Svechnikov had largely played other top lines to even. The Hurricanes had rolled to a 12-1 record through the Eastern Conference playoffs while the Stankoven-centered second line or the third line featuring open-ice speedster Nikolaj Ehlers carried the scoring.

But Brind'Amour cautioned Wednesday: “We need them to get going.”

And after Vegas went ahead 2-0 on Brett Howden's second terrific individual effort, Brind'Amour swapped Jarvis with Jordan Martinook midway through the second period to put Jarvis alongside Ehlers and Staal — a move that led to an immediate goal for Jarvis in Game 2 of the second-round series against the Flyers.

This time, Jarvis buried the shot from the left circle off a feed from Gostisbehere up top. A crowd buzzing since the start of the third-period comeback erupted, with Jarvis skating toward the blue line and dropping to one knee to slide across the ice.

The win improved Carolina to 6-0 in overtime during the playoffs. That includes all four Game 2s in this postseason at home.

“It was desperation," Stankoven said. "I think we needed to try to get that split tonight."

___

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

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The most recognizable name on the list was Steak ‘n Shake in Sunrise, which was closed after inspectors found evidence of rodent activity.

Also in Sunrise, Luv’n Oven Ale House was shut down after inspectors documented roach activity and sanitation issues.

In Miami, Mi Lindo Ecuador was ordered closed with 37 violations, the highest total on this week’s list.

Miami Cafe in Miami Beach was shut down because of a sewage backup, while Denny’s in Coral Gables was ordered closed following a complaint inspection that uncovered multiple sanitation concerns.

All of the establishments were allowed to re-open after an ordered cleanup and re-inspection. No places in the Florida Keys were ordered shut.

**STEAK N’ SHAKE

12541 WEST SUNRISE BLVD.

SUNRISE

INSPECTION BASED ON COMPLAINT

ORDERED SHUT 5/18

3 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Rodent activity present as evidenced by rodent droppings found. Approximately 8 rodent droppings around CO2 tank on left corner of dry storage area next to office away from kitchen.”

**LUV’N OVEN ALE HOUSE

10033 SUNSET STRIP

SUNRISE

INSPECTION BASED ON COMPLAINT

ORDERED SHUT 5/19

6 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Roach activity present as evidenced by live roaches found. Approximately 3 live roaches around pipe under triple sinks in kitchen.”

“Dead roaches on premises. 1) 2 Dead roaches in container under continental reach in cooler in kitchen.”

“Accumulation of black mold-like substance in the interior of the ice machine.”

**MI LINDO ECUADOR

8726 NW 26TH ST.

MIAMI

ORDERED SHUT 5/27

37 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Roach activity present as evidenced by live roaches found. Observed at hand wash sink located in dish washing area 2 live roaches crawling on utensils stored inside hand sink. . Observed approximately 10 + live roaches underneath shelf of food preparation tables all around kitchen area. Observed 3 live roaches inside oven. Observed one live roach on floor behind stove. Observed approximately 10 + live roaches on wooden Dollie’s used to store boxes of to go containers located inside kitchen.”

“Dead roaches on premises. Observed 10 + dead roaches all around kitchen area floors under cooking equipment.”

“Buildup of food debris/soil residue on equipment door handles. Observed oven soiled, inside and outside, handles soiled.”

“Floor and wall junctures not coved in food ware washing areas or bathroom. Observed some areas of the kitchen missing the molding.”

“Floor not cleaned when the least amount of food is exposed. Observed floor underneath cooking equipment soiled with accumulated grease.”

“Nonfood-contact surface soiled with grease, food debris, dirt, slime or dust. Shelves soiled with grease. Observed blender soiled.”

“Chlorine sanitizer used to sanitize clean in place equipment not at proper minimum strength. Do not use equipment not properly sanitized. Observed at bucket in the kitchen.”

“Time/temperature control for safety food, other than whole meat roast, hot held at less than 135 degrees Fahrenheit. Observed at prep table the following items out of temperature: White rice 70 F, beef 70 F, plantain 77F.”

“Raw animal foods not properly separated from each other in holding unit based upon minimum required cooking temperature. Observed in chest freezer several raw items like meat, fish, vegetables next to each other in contact.”

“Employee handled soiled equipment or utensils and then engaged in food preparation, handled clean equipment or utensils, or touched unwrapped single-service items without washing hands. Observed employee touching different soiled surfaces in the kitchen area and did not washed hands after.”

“Handwash sink used for purposes other than handwashing. Observed at hand wash sink a tray with utensils stored inside.”

**MIAMI CAFE

1201 WASHINGTON AVE.

MIAMI BEACH

ORDERED SHUT 5/18

14 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Sewage/wastewater backing up through floor drains. Observed establishment open and serving food to the public while sewage backing up through floor drains at kitchen.”

“No currently certified food service manager on duty with four or more employees engaged in food preparation/handling.”

“No proof of required state approved employee training provided for any employees.”

**DENNY’S

1150 S. DIXIE HIGHWAY

CORAL GABLES

INSPECTION BASED ON COMPLAINT

ORDERED SHUT 5/18

8 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Dead flying insects on premises. Observed at lobby of establishment along all windows approximately 25+ dead flying insects on window sills/ledge of interior windows. Observed at cook line hood filter system, approximately 15+ dead flying insects attached to hood system.”

“Floor soiled/has accumulation of debris. Observed at kitchen prep area and dry storage area behind shelves and fixed equipment. Repeat Violation.”

“Ceiling/ceiling tile shows damage or is in disrepair. Observed throughout kitchen area ceiling tiles drooping and peeling. Repeat Violation.”

“Wall soiled with accumulated grease, food debris, and/or dust. Observed at cook line soiled with grease build up. Repeat Violation.”

The event brought together leaders and stakeholders ahead of the World Cup, with thousands expected to travel to Miami to attend matches.

Organizers said safety will be a top priority as visitors arrive in the Magic City for the games.

The World Cup also highlights the power of diversity, with Miami serving as a fitting backdrop for one of the world’s biggest sporting events.

The 29-year-old Kupcho has four career LPGA Tour wins, but just one since 2022, when she earned her only major victory in The Chevron Championship at Mission Hills. She missed the cuts of her three previous U.S. Open starts, but charged ahead at Riviera with three straight birdies in her afternoon group before adding back-to-back birdies after the turn.

“I just really, really like the golf course,” Kupcho said. “It’s kind of a ball-striker’s paradise. Just hit it down the fairway, hit it on the green and make the putts.”

Play began under a heavy cloud cover at the 100-year-old country club in Pacific Palisades just two miles from the ocean, but the sun broke through around lunchtime as wind picked up. The conditions weren’t oppressive at any point, but the players realized Riviera’s setup presents a formidable challenge in any weather, and the scores reflected it.

The entire field managed just one eagle in the first round — Allisen Corpuz holed out from 86 yards on the 17th.

Mexico’s Gaby Lopez and Japan's Hinako Shibuno joined South Korea's Hyunjo Yoo, Ina Yoon and Minji Kang in the group at 68. Lopez made five birdies in her first eight holes and was the only player to get to 6 under, but she fell back with three bogeys.

Kupcho gained 4.27 strokes on her approach shots to lead the field in the first round, highlighted by a gorgeous 133-yard shot inside a foot on the second hole. She doesn't normally do extensive pre-tournament research on courses despite the encouragement of her parents, but she came down to Riviera on a scouting trip when the LPGA Tour stopped 13 miles away in Tarzana two months ago.

“When I showed up this week, it was just like I knew where everything was,” Kupcho said. “I knew what I was doing. So I think it actually helped. Parents are always right, right?”

The 33-year-old Kim has played pretty well in sprawling Los Angeles this season: At that JM Eagle LA Championship held at El Caballero in April, she led after the second and third rounds — leading by eight strokes at one point — before blowing a three-stroke lead over the final eight holes and losing a playoff to Australia’s Hannah Green.

“This course is really famous in the world, so I’m very happy to play here this week,” said Kim, who also got a head start on Riviera in practice last weekend. “Also, the course is not easy. Every hole is putting me to the test.”

Kim birdied her first two holes, but her round didn’t pick up steam until the final four holes, when she made three consecutive birdies — including two exceptional approach shots and a 29-foot birdie putt — before drilling another 29-foot par putt to end it.

World No. 1 Nelly Korda made a rough start at 2 over, struggling off the tee. She also couldn't get used to a new pair of shoes sent to her this week Nike and LeBron James, a Korda fan who is becoming an avid golfer himself.

Korda started the day in the new shoes, but changed playing the first six holes — although she said they didn't affect her play.

“It wasn’t a great day,” Korda said. “I hit it really good Monday through Wednesday, so I have honestly no idea where this came from. So I’m going to go to the range.”

Aphrodite Deng, a 16-year-old amateur, was in contention for the lead before playing two late holes at 3 over and carding a 70.

Deng was born in Canada to Chinese parents before growing up in New Jersey and eventually settling in Florida. A competitive child figure skater for several years before the COVID-19 pandemic, Deng took up golf only seven years ago, but won the U.S. Girls’ Junior last year.

___

AP golf: https://apnews.com/golf

His trip will the latest in a series of steps by China to reinforce its close ties with its nuclear-armed neighbor, whose leader Kim Jong Un has reached out to Russia in recent years, notably by sending troops and conventional weapons to support its war against Ukraine.

Kim has likewise been cozying up again to China, the North’s biggest trade partner and aid provider, in the past year.

“As North Korea builds closer ties with Russia, China seeks to use Xi’s trip to reassert its influence over Pyongyang and safeguard its strategic interests in northeast Asia,” said William Yang, an analyst for the International Crisis Group.

Xi will make a state visit from Monday to Tuesday, state media from both nations said in brief dispatches. His last visit was in June 2019.

The trip will come just weeks after Xi hosted U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in quick succession in Beijing.

North Korea's nuclear weapons program has long been a major concern for the United States, which opposes it. The U.N. has imposed economic sanctions on North Korea because of its nuclear and missile development.

The announcement of the trip came a day after North Korea unveiled a new facility to produce the ingredients for nuclear bombs. South Korea’s military has assessed the new nuclear facility as a uranium enrichment plant.

During a visit to the plant, Kim announced plans to bolster the country’s nuclear forces “at an exponential rate.” Experts say the plant’s disclosure implies that Kim was eager to cement his country’s status as a nuclear weapons state ahead of Xi’s visit.

The experts say Kim wants international recognition as a nuclear state so that he can demand the lifting of the sanctions. They say Kim would ultimately push for arms reductions talks with the U.S. to win concessions in return for a partial surrender of his nuclear capability.

Kim has been focusing on expanding his nuclear arsenal since his high-stakes diplomacy with Trump collapsed in 2019.

Trump has repeatedly expressed his desire to restore diplomacy with Kim, but the North Korean leader has said the U.S. must first drop its demand for North Korea to denuclearize as a precondition for talks.

Xi and Kim met in Beijing in September and pledged mutual support and enhanced cooperation. Kim was in the Chinese capital to attend a Chinese military parade alongside other foreign leaders including Putin.

Russia and China, both veto-wielding members of the U.N. Security Council, have previously frustrated the U.S. and others’ efforts to toughen international sanctions on North Korea, despite its banned weapons tests.

At their meeting in Beijing last month, Putin and Xi expressed their opposition to “foreign policy isolation, economic sanctions, military pressure and other methods of creating threats to the security” of North Korea, according to a statement from the Kremlin.

Embracing the ideas of a “new Cold War” and a multipolar world, Kim has pushed for a more assertive foreign policy by expanding ties with countries locked in confrontations with the United States.

Xi, who traveled widely in his first years in power, has curtailed his international trips sharply since the COVID-19 pandemic. His last overseas trip was to South Korea last fall for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, where he talked with Trump.

___

Kim reported from Seoul, South Korea. Associated Press writer Simina Mistreanu contributed from Taipei, Taiwan.

Nearly 5 million, actually. New social media followers, that is.

The New Zealand defender met the influencer and content creator from Argentina on Wednesday after Scarsini — known as “El Scarso” — asked his fans last week to help kick up support for the soccer standout while calling him the “least-known” player at the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico based on his small social media following.

Well, since that request, the 32-year-old Payne went from just under 5,000 followers on Instagram to more than 5 million, making him a viral sensation.

Scarsini watched Payne's New Zealand squad — known as the All Whites — lose 4-0 to Haiti in a friendly in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on Tuesday night. The next morning, the social media influencer met Payne at the team hotel in Boca Raton.

“My friend!” Scarsini shouted as he walked through a door and saw Payne. “How are you?”

“I'm good, bro, yourself?” asked a smiling Payne as he gave him a big hug. “Lovely to meet you.”

Payne also said, “Cómo estás?” — Spanish for “How are you?” — and then jokingly told Scarsini that's basically the extent of his Spanish vocabulary.

Payne thanked Scarsini “for everything” and described the entire experience as “very crazy.”

“I didn't know what to feel, you know, because it's so foreign to me," Payne said. "Still processing, but it's amazing. And I appreciate you doing it for me, you know?”

Scarsini asked Payne what it's like to have this huge boost in fame happen just before the World Cup begins.

“It’s obviously good for myself and New Zealand football, too," Payne said. "It puts a light on us, which is a positive thing, but at the same time, for me, I don’t change. I’m still the person I am. I just keep trying to do what I do, which is play football and trying to perform for my country.”

Scarsini said Payne should visit him in Argentina someday, and he would also one day go to New Zealand. Payne then gave him an All Whites jersey with his No. 2 on it and signed it before the two posed for photos and hugged again.

New Zealand opens its Group G play at the World Cup against Iran on June 15 in Inglewood, California. Belgium and Egypt are also in the group. New Zealand, playing at the World Cup for the third time after qualifying in 1982 and 2010, has yet to win a match.

—-

AP Sports Writer Steve McMorran in Wellington, New Zealand, contributed to this report.

—-

AP World Cup: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup

Lyndsey Fifield told The New York Times that Platner, a Democrat, never hit or punched her, but the incidents left her shaken and afraid. Fifield, a conservative activist, told the Times she dated Platner for about two years, starting in 2013 when he was a student at George Washington University following his military service.

Her claims were published as part of a Times report on Platner's relationships with previous girlfriends, some of whom viewed him positively and others who described him as sometimes insulting, volatile or unfaithful.

Another woman, Jenny Racicot, who said she dated Platner on and off between 2019 and 2021, also told The Times about behavior that upset her. She said Platner once came to her house drunk in 2021 after she asked him not to come over. Racicot, a Maine Democrat, said his behavior was “reckless” and “unsettling.”

Platner, an oyster farmer and combat veteran who is favored to win Tuesday’s Democratic primary, denied being violent in a statement to the Associated Press. The Times said in its report that he declined to be interviewed for their story.

“Throughout this campaign, I’ve been open about what was a very dark period of my life where I struggled with undiagnosed PTSD, too often self medicated with alcohol, and was a far from perfect boyfriend. I take responsibility for all of that, and wish I had been better,” the statement said. “Any characterization beyond that is false, and I believe, politically motivated. I’m not proud of who I was then, but I am proud of the work I’ve done since, and the movement we are building in Maine.”

Attempts by The Associated Press to reach Fifield and Racicot were not successful.

Platner, 41, has filled theaters around Maine with his booming voice and progressive politics. He has no experience in elected office, but has fashioned a campaign focused on working-class issues such as the high costs of housing and healthcare. His anticipated run against Republican Sen. Susan Collins in November is key to Democrats' hopes to take back the Senate.

Fifield said that when they drank and argued, he could be rough, including one episode where he twisted her arm behind her back, shoved her into a bedroom and held the door closed from the other side so she couldn't get out.

“It hurt,” she told the paper, adding: “It didn’t cause an injury, it didn’t break my arm.”

In an appearance on MS NOW Thursday evening, Platner told host Chris Hayes that Fifield’s account of being pushed into a room is false. He said the accusations were coming from someone who was “politically motivated.”

“There are things in this that I absolutely will take responsibility for and have been speaking about openly for months,” Platner said. “But those serious allegations are just not true.”

Fifield insisted in her interview with the Times that her allegations were not politically motivated.

Days ago, Platner had to confront public revelations that he exchanged sexually explicit text messages with several women while he was married.

Platner has also had to answer questions about a skull tattoo recognized as a Nazi symbol, which he said he didn’t realize until he was several weeks into the campaign. He later had it covered up with a different design. Platner has said he didn’t realize the meaning of the tattoo.

However, Fifield told the Times that he joked about it being a Nazi symbol and called it “my Totenkopf.”

Platner, in his MS NOW interview, again denied knowing the meaning of his tattoo.

High-profile backers of Platner, including independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, stood by the candidate in the wake of those allegations. No prominent Democrats immediately came forward Thursday to rescind endorsements of Platner.

U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat who is scheduled to appear at a campaign event with Platner in Maine on Friday, called the behavior described in the Times as “wrong and toxic,” but added, "Graham has acknowledged that and sought redemption. The people of Maine deserve a senator who is going to stand up to the billionaire class, against genocide, and for the working class.”

There’s also been much attention on Platner's past posts on the social media site Reddit, which were dismissive of military sexual assaults and used homophobic slurs, for which he has apologized.

Platner’s campaign weathered those earlier revelations in what had been considered one of the most competitive Democratic primaries before Gov. Janet Mills dropped out of the race in late April due to a lack of campaign funds.

___

Associated Press writers Kimberlee Kruesi in Providence, Rhode Island, and Joey Cappelletti in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.

Bondi, who served as the 37th attorney general of Florida, also said that to her “knowledge” the Justice Department had released all of the files related to the child sex offender.

Blanche “was in charge of the process and the entire release of the Epstein files,” Bondi said during her testimony on May 29 after lawmakers subpoenaed her.

Democrats expressed opposition after President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he wants Blanche, 51, a former federal prosecutor and defense attorney, to remain the attorney general.

Trump fired Bondi on April 2, as she faced criticism over her contentious testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on Feb. 11.

On April 28, Blanche announced an indictment against former FBI Director James Comey over an “86 47″ social media post.

On May 19, Blanche issued an addendum to Trump’s May 18 settlement with the Internal Revenue Service to protect Trump and his family.

On May 27, Bondi announced that she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and had undergone surgery in April.

More on Trump administration

• Senate rejects first effort to bar Trump from creating $1.8B settlement fund
• Trump announces $700 million in new support for struggling coal industry
• With Trump in a holding pattern on Iran war, allies and critics worry he risks getting boxed in
• Trump says Pulte won’t be his nominee for director of national intelligence
• Trump says he will attend NBA Finals game in New York to root for his hometown Knicks
• Kennedy Center moves to erase Trump references after judge said they were illegally added
• Planning commission seeks more details on Trump’s planned 250-foot arch near the Lincoln Memorial
• Water begins refilling Reflecting Pool after Trump’s renovation to repaint it ‘American flag blue’
• Supreme Court sides with Trump administration on federal regulation of telecom companies
• President Trump says he will nominate Todd Blanche to serve as attorney general
• Ex-national security adviser John Bolton will plead guilty in classified information case

The three others are Cuba’s First Lady Lis Cuesta Peraza, Díaz-Canel’s stepson Manuel Anido Cuesta, who lives in Madrid, and Raúl Castro’s grandson Raul Alejandro Castro Calis.

“The aggressiveness and perversity of the Yankee government will clash with our determination to confront the worst scenarios and resist the imperialist onslaught,” Díaz-Canel wrote on Thursday evening on X.

At the White House, President Donald Trump talked about his plan to intervene in Cuba, which he said had collapsed without support from Venezuela.

“We will take care of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and as soon as that’s done on our way back, we will take care of it,” Trump said on Thursday afternoon.

The list of entities includes Amistur Cuba S.A., a travel agency based in Havana and established in 1996, and Minera La Victoria, a company established in 2020 for the mining of other non-ferrous metal ores.

“The regime in Havana has recruited, trained and backed violent Marxist and third-worldist movements across our hemisphere and beyond. Today, we are targeting the network that enables and funds Cuba’s subversive and radical operations,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement published on X.

The list also includes the Instituto Cubano de Amistad con Los Pueblos and the Comités de Defensa de la Revolución, both established in 1960 and based in Havana’s Vedado area.

The Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba, or MINFAR, established in 1959, was also sanctioned.

“Anyone providing services to these sanctioned actors is at risk of sanctions themselves,” Rubio said. “Foreign banks and other companies that provide services to these entities should freeze those activities.”

At the United Nations, Ambassador Mike Waltz demanded that the Cuban regime make “immediate” economic and political reforms.

“We are asking very simple things: Open the economy, free political prisoners, stop treating private citizens as a threat, and stop blaming America for the misery produced by Havana and its failed policies,” Waltz said.

Trump talks about Cuba

More on Trump

• Senate rejects first effort to bar Trump from creating $1.8B settlement fund
• Trump announces $700 million in new support for struggling coal industry
• With Trump in a holding pattern on Iran war, allies and critics worry he risks getting boxed in
• Trump says Pulte won’t be his nominee for director of national intelligence
• Trump says he will attend NBA Finals game in New York to root for his hometown Knicks
• Kennedy Center moves to erase Trump references after judge said they were illegally added
• Planning commission seeks more details on Trump’s planned 250-foot arch near the Lincoln Memorial
• Water begins refilling Reflecting Pool after Trump’s renovation to repaint it ‘American flag blue’
• Supreme Court sides with Trump administration on federal regulation of telecom companies
• President Trump says he will nominate Todd Blanche to serve as attorney general
• Ex-national security adviser John Bolton will plead guilty in classified information case

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Those killed have since been identified by MDSO as Ryan Charles Whiten, 42; Melanie Lauren Hyer, 46; and their biological daughters, Savannah Whiten, 11, and Sienna Whiten, 8.

According to investigators, detectives determined that Ryan Whiten was the biological father of Savannah and Sienna and co-parented the children with Hyer. Authorities said their investigation revealed that he killed the three family members before taking his own life.

Friends of Ryan Whiten and Hyer told Local 10 News that they had been divorced for years.

According to investigators, Doral police officers responded to a home in the gated Doral Isles community Tuesday night after a concerned family friend requested a welfare check.

Authorities said officers entered the home and found all four dead. Police confirmed they all had stab wounds on their bodies.

As the investigation continues, neighbors and parents in the community are struggling to come to terms with the killings.

“That is a tragedy,” said Anderina Zerpa, who lives nearby. “That is a worst nightmare for a parent.”

Zerpa said she was stunned to learn what happened so close to home.

“I live super close to their house and I didn’t even know,” she added.

Among those grieving is Doral Mayor Christi Fraga, who said she knew Hyer personally through their children’s school community.

“I said hi to her almost every morning (while) dropping off my child, my son,” Fraga said.

Fraga described Hyer as a parent who worked to bring families together.

“She’s the one that created the chat of all the moms to kind of go have lunches and stuff, and get together and build a community around our kids,” she added.

Fraga said she hopes the family is remembered for the positive impact they had on those around them rather than the circumstances of their deaths.

“We want to remember them by their bubbly personalities, their beautiful smiles and pray for their souls, pray for their families and for everyone that surrounded them that this will impact,” she added.

A representative for Downtown Doral Charter Schools previously confirmed that Savannah and Sienna were students at the school, where grief counselors have been made available to students and staff.

Loved ones are also focusing on remembering the victims’ lives.

Sandra Bermudez, CEO and founder of The Lucy Project, remembered Hyer as a dedicated mother who gave her time and energy to helping others.

“She fundraised and brought her energy,” Bermudez said of Hyde. “(She was) a mom that cared.”

Bermudez said Hyer was a real estate agent and supported South Florida nonprofit efforts, including literacy programs for children through The Lucy Project.

Her daughter Savannah also participated in the program and had dyslexia, according to those familiar with her involvement.

Virginia Talieh, a learning specialist who worked with Savannah and Sienna, told Local 10 News that she was expecting to work with both sisters in the summer.

“They had a wonderful contagious smile,” Talieh said. “Sienna was like a little Tasmanian devil, like all around all the places. Savannah was like a ray of sunshine. No child deserves anything like that.”

“I’ll miss them,” she added. “ I’ll miss them very much. I haven’t been able to delete them from my calendar for next week.”

Talieh says working with spelling tiles were one of Savannah’s favorite activities.

“She got a 100 percent on that spelling test after discovering the tiles,” Talieh added. “She came back with the tiles and I said, ‘You keep them. My present.’”

In the Doral neighborhood where the family lived, residents said they are grieving and planning to cancel a community event, choosing instead to gather in solidarity and reflection.

Fraga has also encouraged anyone experiencing domestic violence or mental health challenges to seek help.

Resources are available through the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office’s domestic violence services program and the city of Doral’s mental health resources webpage.

MDSO Homicide Bureau detectives have taken over the investigation.

Wyndham Clark, coming off a victory in the Byron Nelson, U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun, Tommy Fleetwood and the Ryan Gerard were each at 5-under 67, among only 22 players who broke par at Muirfield Village.

Scheffler was poised to be among them until a bad wedge led to a careless bogey on the 14th, and what he thought was a great shot on the 16th bounced into the water for double bogey.

He walked 96 yards to the drop area with his palms upward when they weren't slapping his thigh, all the while seeking answers from caddie Ted Scott that neither of them had. “I don't think you understand how frustrating that is," he said to Scott, who replied quietly with the obvious answer. “I do,” the caddie said.

Six of the seven players who broke 70 started before 10 a.m. and missed out on the swirling wind on a hot, clear day that made the greens even firmer than they already were.

The exception was Gerard, who had quite the wild ride. He had a 3 on a par 5 and followed that with a 5 on a par 3. He had five straight birdies on the back nine and only five pars on his scorecard for the entire round. It added to a 67, which was all that mattered.

“The small misses often lead to big punishments at this golf course,” Gerard said “I don’t think we aimed at a flag stick on the back nine and shot 5 under. You’re picking small targets around either the edge of a bunker or a rake or some guy wearing a bright-colored shirt in the background or a TV tower or whatever it might be.”

Fleetwood's 67 was his lowest round in his fifth time playing the Memorial, and this wasn't the way he would have drawn it up. He was solid off the tee, not so much from the fairway. Fleetwood hit only seven greens and still played bogey-free.

“I got the most out of the round, totally. I got away with a couple of poor misses. Hit the pin a couple of times when it was going past. ... Shot 5 under, so it couldn't have been that bad. I was just getting a little frustrated at the end not being able to execute the iron shots that I wanted to.”

Nick Taylor wasted a good start with a double bogey on the par-5 seventh and a bogey on the next hole, only to played bogey-free on the tough back nine and finishing with one of only seven birdies on the the 18th hole.

Justin Rose and Sam Burns were at 69.

Scheffler provided the entertainment, even it didn't feel all that entertaining to him. He had changed clubs on the ninth, took the longer one and still was short. He changed clubs three times from the fairway on the par-5 11th and came up short. And then the water ball on the 16th was the capper.

What followed was a stream of frustrating lines: “I never thought that was in the water. ... I don't know what to do. ... I absolutely flushed a 7-iron and we get the wind wrong and I'm in the water. ... I'm hitting good shots and dropping from hazards.”

So when he was asked after signing for his 73 if he had any fun at any point, Scheffler gave a half-laugh as he rubbed his chin and said, “Not that I can recall at the moment.”

The 17th was kind of fun. From a fairway bunker, 182 yards to a tucked pin in the front right, Scheffler hit 7-iron to the collar 15 feet away and chipped in for birdie.

“See, that's the thing that can be so frustrating about golf,” Scheffler said. "I striped one on the hole before that and I end up in the water. That one I kind of hit thin, and you get a good bounce and I end up on the fringe and I chip in.

“Yeah, what a game,” he said. “I felt like I didn't get anything out of the round, all of a sudden you get a lucky bounce and you're like, ‘OK, well, I'm going to try to smile.' It's still hard.”

He did smile as he headed to the wind, late enough in the afternoon the wind was starting to calm. He also realized his score wasn't all that bad compared with other players from the afternoon.

It was tough all over for just about everyone. Patrick Cantlay was 3 over through holes and recovered for a 70. Rory McIlroy overcame an early double bogey to go 3 under the rest of the way for a 71. Aaron Rai played alongside Scheffler in his first start since winning the PGA Championship and shot 73.

___

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

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James “Weston” Higginbotham, a junior at Auburn University who was studying environmental engineering, didn’t return to the hotel where he was staying in Kyoto.

Surveillance video showed him at a train station in Yamashina, the eastern gateway to Kyoto, according to his mother’s regular Facebook posts.

“It’s not unusual for Weston to blow off steam, going to the woods, and just exploring. That’s his happy place. I’m thinking … he’s just off in the woods, and he got lost,” his mother, Nancy Higginbotham, told CNN.

A typhoon impacted the area on June 2. The FBI, the Kyoto Prefectural Police, and volunteers were involved in the massive search, which also included K-9 dogs and helicopters.

At Asbury United Methodist Church in Birmingham, Robert Holt, the student’s grandfather, told WVTM-TV on Thursday that the Spain Park High School graduate had recently completed an Ironman triathlon.

“Weston” was last seen wearing a white “Save the Bees” T-shirt with two bumblebees, light lavender corduroy pants, and black-and-white Adidas sneakers.

The area where we believe Weston is missing has ample water and limited berries. There is still hope.

“The police will reconvene tomorrow to come up with another plan to include watching additional CCTV footage to follow up on another lead. They are also deploying a smaller team to the forest,” his mother wrote on Thursday on Facebook.

Related social media posts

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Castillo, 42, who is replacing former Chief Edwin Lopez, starts his new job on June 15, before a formal swearing-in ceremony on June 17, according to the city’s announcement.

Doral Mayor Christi Fraga released a statement saying Castillo will be “combining proactive policing, modern technology, and meaningful community engagement to drive real results.”

Fraga announced Lopez’s departure on May 11 after his hire as Miami’s new police chief to lead over 1,100 sworn police officers. Doral has about 190 sworn police officers.

In a statement, Zeida Sardiñas, Doral’s city manager, described Castillo as “a respected law enforcement leader in our region who understands our community and has worked alongside our department through prior collaboration.”

Castillo started his career with the Miami Springs Police Department as a public service aide in 2009. The Florida International University graduate moved up the ranks and was promoted to chief on Jan. 1, 2025.

Miami Springs, a city department with more than 45 sworn police officers, had yet to announce Castillo’s replacement.

Related stories

• Doral offers police chief job to current Miami Springs Police Chief Matthew Castillo
• Miami names ‘homegrown leader’ as new police chief

This is a developing story.

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Thomas Pauken II is set to be sentenced Sept. 1 in a U.S. District Court and he faces up to 10 years in jail, the department said. He writes under the name Tom McGregor to distance himself from his father with the same name, who was a former chairman of the Texas Republican Party in the 1990s and ran for governor more than a decade ago.

It is the latest in a string of cases that the federal government has brought against people suspected of working for the Chinese government without proper disclosure.

Eileen Wang, a former mayor of Arcadia, California, agreed in May to plead guilty to acting as an illegal agent for the Chinese government. She was accused of doing the bidding of Chinese officials, including sharing articles favorable to Beijing.

Linda Sun, a former aide to New York governors, was accused of selling her influence to the Chinese government. Sun pleaded not guilty to charges that she failed to register as an agent of a foreign government, conspired with her husband to launder money and helped people commit visa fraud to enter the U.S. illegally. A December trial ended in a mistrial when a federal jury could not reach a unanimous verdict.

Charles Burnham, Pauken’s defense lawyer, said in a statement that, by his guilty plea, Pauken “has accepted responsibility for working as an agent of the People’s Republic of China without first completing certain required U.S. Government forms.”

Burnham said Pauken had hoped his work would “promote peaceful relations and advance the cause of religious freedom in China.”

Pauken was arrested in February after arriving in Washington from China. He met with someone who had sought a job in the Trump administration to provide that person with a SIM card and offer $10,000 to write reports to be read by Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to the affidavit.

He appeared to see himself as a middleman between Chinese agents and “human resources" who could provide classified information to Beijing, according to the affidavit. His lawyer didn't immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

Since at least 2019, Pauken had been working with Chinese agents, including “Cathy,” who he believed to be working for China's security apparatus. Between 2019 and 2025, Pauken received $100,000 for the reports he provided to Cathy, in addition to paid trips to the U.S., the affidavit says. Cathy told him the reports were to be read by Xi.

Pauken was stopped by Customs and Border Protection agents when he returned to the U.S. in January 2025. In interviews with CBP and FBI agents, Pauken said he was meeting a person who was seeking a job in the Trump administration and would provide that person with a Samsung phone and a laptop computer. He said he was “80% sure” that person, if hired by the new administration, would provide classified information to Beijing, according to the affidavit.

U.S. agents let Pauken go and instructed him to carry on with his plans. Pauken's contact said in an interview that Pauken asked for open-source information but also indicated his clients in China frequently asked for more secretive information. That person indicated having no intention of working with Pauken, the affidavit said.

A year later, Pauken returned to the U.S. to make another pitch to this person, with whom Pauken had reconnected over a possible commercial oil deal, according to the affidavit. They met at a Washington restaurant on Feb. 23 and again two days later at a hotel, where the FBI monitored the meeting.

Pauken gave the person a SIM card and proposed the $10,000 bonus for providing Cathy with weekly reports that would “influence policy and be read by Xi Jinping,” the affidavit says.

Database checks showed that Pauken did not register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act or notify the U.S. attorney general that he was acting as an agent for China, the affidavit says.

The Justice Department said Pauken also sold reports to a group of Chinese individuals from the central city of Wuhan, who sought information about technology and the Justice Department and wanted Pauken to find an expert to help them engage in cyberespionage.

The ruling came weeks before Aaron Spencer, who will be on the November ballot, had been set to face a jury on a second-degree murder charge. He won a March primary over the local three-term sheriff whose office had arrested Spencer in Lonoke County, which has roughly 76,000 residents and is heavily Republican.

Spencer’s attorneys do not deny that he shot and killed Michael Fosler in 2024, saying he did so to protect his child. Special Circuit Court Judge Ralph Wilson Jr. granted a motion by Spencer's attorney to dismiss the charge over a dash camera memory card that may have captured the shooting and was lost by law enforcement.

“The court finds that conduct by law enforcement was so egregious that dismissal of this case is warranted,” Wilson wrote.

At the time of the shooting, Fosler, 67, was out on bond after being charged with dozens of sexual offenses against Spencer’s then-13-year-old daughter.

Court documents show on the night of the shooting, Spencer had woken up to find his daughter missing, and later found the girl in the passenger seat of a vehicle Fosler was driving. Spencer forced Fosler’s truck off the road and, after an altercation, called 911 to report he had shot the man.

Prosecutors said Spencer planned the killing and that he could have called police while pursuing Fosler. But Spencer pleaded not guilty and maintained he acted to protect his child from a predator.

Spencer’s attorney, Erin Cassinelli, said she is thankful for the court’s decision.

“No member of this family should ever again be forced to walk into a courtroom and relive this horror,” she said in a statement. “This father should have never been charged for protecting his child.”

Spencer said he is grateful this chapter is over and that his focus is now on his family and returning to normal life.

“There’s still work to do in Lonoke County, and I’m more committed to it than ever,” he said in a statement. “Together we can build a safer and stronger Lonoke County.”

Lonoke County Prosecuting Attorney Chuck Graham did not return messages Thursday seeking comment on the decision.

The Associated Press typically does not identify sex abuse victims, but Spencer has made his daughter’s experience with the criminal justice system a central part of his campaign for sheriff, pledging to establish a dedicated team to combat sex crimes against children.

Spencer's attorneys filed the motion seeking to have the case dismissed, contending that video and audio of the dash camera from Fosler's truck may have contained evidence that would have cleared Spencer of any wrongdoing. According to court records, a detective with the Lonoke County Sheriff's Office removed the dash camera from the truck when responding to the scene of the shooting.

But the camera's internal settings were not preserved and the battery of the camera was allowed to drain, and as a result the camera went back to its default settings. When the camera was sent to the attorney general's office for a forensic exam, the memory card that was in it when it was collected from the truck was missing. The detective who collected the camera later admitted that it was not logged into evidence right away, but was instead stored in his personal office rather than the evidence room, according to court records.

Wilson replaced the original judge handling the murder case in January after the Arkansas Supreme Court removed Judge Barbara Elmore from the case, finding she had issued an overly broad gag order that violated Spencer's First Amendment rights.

—-

Boone reported from Boise, Idaho. Associated Press reporter Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed.

How long the government can withstand the economic strain -- and what it will ultimately take for it to make changes -- remains unclear.

The communist island is seeing an exodus of international companies. Hotels, along with Visa and Mastercard, are shuttering operations as they rush to meet an end-of-week deadline to avoid sanctions threatened by the Trump administration.

The latest economic blow targets Grupo de Administración Empresarial, known as GAESA.

“GAESA is an economic conglomerate created by Raul Castro while Fidel was still alive,” said Cuba analyst Andy Gomez.

The U.S. government believes the conglomerate controls billions of dollars in assets. It was created in the 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union and is run by the Cuban military apparatus.

“So the purpose of GAESA was to lift the economy not just for the government but for the nation,” Gomez said.

Critics argue it evolved into something else.

“They own the tourist sector, they own mining, they own the gas stations. They own everything. So you have people literally starving, a power grid that hasn’t been maintained in 10 years, and yet you have this military government sitting on these assets,” said U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Gomez said he sees only one path forward.

“I see for them no way out but sitting down and negotiating with the United States,” Gomez said. “Now I say negotiate.”

But Gomez warned that any such process would take time.

“This cannot be done overnight,” he said.

“There is no Delcy Rodriguez in Cuba,” Gomez added.

Amid the worsening social and economic fallout, Cuban Deputy Prime Minister Oscar Perez Oliva Fraga, the grandnephew of Fidel and Raul Castro, is reportedly seeking business investments from Russia.

Panic welled up. His excitement at soon being back at recess with his Florida classmates fell away. Would the government take her away again?

This was not his first trauma. In 2018, when he was just 3 years old, Ederson was taken from his mother’s arms at the U.S.-Mexico border under the first Trump administration’s family separation policy and kept apart from her in a government facility for months. They were finally reunited after lawyers intervened. Then, in June of last year, he and his mother were separated a second time, despite legal protections meant to keep them and families like theirs together.

He later joined his mother in Guatemala. After a destitute, torturous 11 months in the indigenous highlands, Ederson’s family was allowed to return to Florida last week, following a federal judge’s order that the government had acted illegally.

Now, eight years after President Donald Trump’s forcible border separations came to an official halt following global outrage, an Associated Press investigation has found that the government has re-separated dozens of children from their families, despite a landmark legal settlement meant to keep them together. Some of their parents have been locked in immigration detention facilities for months, others deported back to their home countries after being taken from their families once again. In some cases, immigration officials conducting interior arrests deported people despite discovering they were legally off limits for removal, according to emails obtained by AP.

“Not only has the government refused to acknowledge the horror of the initial separations during Trump I, but it is now detaining and deporting these same families,” said Lee Gelernt, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union and lead counsel in the lawsuit that ended the policy. “These children have suffered enough without re-traumatizing them.”

Trump successfully ran for reelection on an anti-immigration platform. Under his second term, the administration has vowed to deport more than 1 million people per year. Federal agents have been plucking people from their communities so swiftly that, according to the Brookings Institution, now the parents of tens of thousands of children have been detained.

This time, family separations often look different from Trump’s first term. In 2018, Ederson and other children at the border were taken from their parents, who were detained separately and overwhelmingly charged criminally with illegal entry. Then, the government was unable to reunite them for months because adults and children’s information was kept in different computer systems. A judge barred the government from separating most families at the border and ordered the government to bring the families back together after the ACLU filed a class action lawsuit. Later, a court settlement banned most family separations to deter immigration until December 2031.

Today, if parents are arrested or deported under the president’s push for mass deportations, they are being made to choose whether to leave their children behind in the United States.

“DHS complies with all court orders, even as radical NGOs shop for the most favorable forum and activist judges seek to thwart our operations,” acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson, said in response to AP requests for comment about the government’s policies toward separated families.

Government attorneys have argued in recent court filings that there are no legal restrictions on “the government’s statutory authority to execute orders of removal.” Bis added that enforcing immigration law was “not optional,” and that “every removal of an illegal alien helps restore order and reinforce the rule of law.”

Ederson’s family recently was allowed to return, but their status is still on shaky ground.

Separated at the border, then again in Florida

After being taken from his mother, Mirsy Maricela Alva López, and confined to a government shelter in Arizona as a toddler for four and a half months, Ederson barely recognized her once they were reunited, she said. Vivid nightmares haunted him throughout his time in elementary school, where he learned to read in English in classrooms amid lush lawns and palm trees less than 10 miles from Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Winter White House.

Once a federal judge approved a settlement to the class action suit under the Biden administration, Ederson’s family and those like his got legal status to stay in the U.S., with pathways for residency and asylum, and his mother got a work permit. And after months of mental health services to address his ongoing fear that his mother would never return, in early June last year — about five months after the beginning of Trump’s second administration and the president’s resumed anti-immigration push — his therapist finally said he had made so much progress he could put his weekly sessions on pause.

Two weeks later, Alva López was stopped by federal agents as she and co-workers were en route to a landscaping job near Mar-a-Lago. The agents, wearing brown uniforms, never gave a reason for the stop or identified themselves before transferring Alva López to two Florida jails, then to ICE custody in Louisiana, and finally to a plane full of shackled deportees heading to Guatemala City, she said.

“I felt the very same thing I went through the first time,” Alva López said, weeping. “I was living it all over again.”

Alva López was separated from Ederson and his older sister, Briseidy, for a week, and not given the chance to speak with an immigration official about her status or legal protections, said Kelly Kribs, an attorney with the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights, which has supported Alva López’s family’s return to the U.S.

When she finally managed to call Ederson and Briseidy, they couldn’t stop sobbing. Alva López said she asked her sister to buy airplane tickets to send them to Guatemala City. She met them the next day at the airport and traveled with them nine more hours down highways and rutted roads to reach San Martín Cuchumatán, a hamlet in the highlands where the children were born.

The three of them shared a tiny bedroom with a dusty floor with Alva López’s parents and brother in an adobe brick home with a sheet metal roof, nothing like the leafy cul-de-sacs of South Florida. The school, where all lessons are in Spanish, was a mile’s walk, and none of the children in town spoke English, Ederson said.

Instead of clocking in to trim the gardens of West Palm Beach estates, each day Alva López fed the chickens and ducks in a small coop behind the house, washed the family’s laundry by hand and cooked meals on an open fire.

And Ederson was back to waking up at night fearing his future. At Northmore Elementary School, he had been doing well in fifth grade. In Guatemala, he repeated fourth grade, this time in Spanish, and was quizzed on the history and culture of a country he barely knew. His friendships weren’t as close as in West Palm Beach. Sometimes when he felt sad, he watched the school’s old online videos to see his old friends.

“We used to play and chat. Sometimes they would help me when I didn’t understand the lesson, and I would help them with math,” he said, fighting back tears. “I have very few friends here.”

Ederson still doesn’t want to talk about the separations, and he can’t stop asking his mother why she went to work that day. But he is clear on one thing: he never wants to be apart from his mother again.

‘Lasting, excruciating harm’

In late 2017, immigration officials began forcibly separating parents and children at the U.S.-Mexico border, under a policy championed by Stephen Miller, Trump’s then-senior policy advisor who is now White House deputy chief of staff. After advocates got word, the ACLU filed a lawsuit in February 2018 to halt the practice called Ms. L v. U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement, on behalf of a Congolese mother the Trump administration separated from her 7-year-old daughter for four months. It later became a class action suit.

It wasn’t until thousands of families were torn apart that a judge ordered the government to end separations, saying it caused “lasting, excruciating harm.” According to the ACLU’s most recent accounting, the number of separated parents and children, and their impacted family members covered by the settlement is far greater than had been previously reported — over 11,800 — and because the government deported so many people before the practice was banned, the full scope may never be known. The ACLU also provided AP with new information surrounding Ms. L class members who have been detained and deported during the second Trump administration, including that dozens of children were re-separated. Legal filings in the Ms. L case and other immigration attorneys working with separated families also detailed the re-separations of children.

Under a 2023 settlement agreement signed by the Biden administration, Ms. L class members — including separated parents, children and other close relatives — received special legal protections, pathways toward asylum and access to attorneys, work permits and support services. And over eight years, advocates and attorneys have been trying to help the families reunite and recover, traveling to the Guatemala rainforest and remote Honduran villages to inform class members of their rights, and offering them to apply for everything from humanitarian parole to work authorization permits to psychological counseling, benefits meant “to prevent any ongoing harm caused by the initial separation,” according to the settlement.

That changed when Trump began his second term. Support for separated families was never encoded by an act of Congress, and soon it started shrinking.

First, funding for legal services temporarily ended. Instead, the Trump administration said it would charge families $1,000 each to enter or stay in the country. Then, attorneys said, some parents were told to appear for more frequent ICE check-ins, and ordered to wear ankle monitors to record their movements. Many class members lost access to counseling.

By late last year, emails show the government had deported some protected family members even after being told by the ACLU that they were off limits as protected Ms. L class members.

Seven days before Christmas, ACLU attorney Natalie Behr wrote an urgent email to Department of Justice contacts, saying her team had learned that a protected relative was once again in ICE custody.

“We ask that you tell us why we were not notified of this class member’s detention within 24 hours. … this class member should not be removed,” Behr wrote.

A Washington DOJ trial attorney emailed back, saying he would ask ICE. ACLU attorneys followed up.

By the day after Christmas, it was already too late. He had been deported.

The problem is still surfacing. While the government is required by judge’s orders to immediately tell the ACLU when Ms. L class members are detained and to return re-separated families who have been deported, the Trump administration only disclosed in April that it had deported another protected person to Guatemala back in September, court filings show.

The same thing nearly happened to one of Alva López’s neighbors, who was picked up in West Palm Beach a few months after her deportation. The father also had done landscaping near Mar-a-Lago and had been separated at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2017 from his daughter. Under the first Trump administration, he was swiftly returned to Guatemala. As ACLU attorneys and government lawyers hashed out what separated families were due, he came back to Florida in 2021 to reunite with his children, one of whom had been released after spending months in a government detention facility.

In October, the government locked him up, first in Alligator Alcatraz, an immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades, then inside Camp East Montana in Texas, Kribs said.

At Camp East Montana, he was fed moldy food with worms, berated by guards and learned that a fellow detainee died after being mistreated by ICE officials, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of government reprisal. ICE said the detainee died after experiencing “on-site medical distress,” and the El Paso medical examiner’s office later ruled the detainee experienced “asphyxia due to neck and torso compression.” Christmas and New Year’s Eve came and went, and by January he found it hard to keep up his hopes when his children called.

The ACLU filed a motion about Ms. L parents being detained, and the father was released from government detention in April. While he’s grateful to be back home in Florida with his children, he told AP he feels like he is still being tracked through his ankle monitor and the ICE check-ins he’s required to do every two weeks. His children still worry he won’t be there when they get out of school, he said.

Bis said DHS could impose conditions on parole, including electronic monitoring, regular reporting requirements, and even detention.”

‘A place where we can all be safe’

Sinri Baltazar, a mother from Honduras who was first separated from her then-5-year-old daughter in 2018, also was allowed under a judge’s order in April to return to Louisiana with her three children, including her youngest, a U.S. citizen.

It has not been easy. Baltazar, a member of the Afro-indigenous Garifuna community that faces discrimination in Honduras, was deported with her children last year after she said immigration officials told her to sign a document they said would permit her to keep her family together — only if they all left. Back in New Orleans, she said she was grateful her children could seek a better life, but they have been struggling to get by while living with an acquaintance from church.

“The only thing my children say is that they want to be home, in their own house,” Baltazar said. “I’m just trying to get us to a place where we can all be safe, and I hope for that for all the other families.”

As deportations have risen in the last year and a half, attorneys say separated families have become increasingly fearful about filling out government paperwork and many don’t know they can apply for asylum, a key benefit of the settlement that expires in December. The administration also hasn’t said whether it will extend a current, trimmed-back legal services contract for families that ends in August. Another deadline is looming as well: thousands of separated families need to request for any pending removal orders to be cancelled by December, or lose their ability to stay in the U.S. legally.

“There was never enough funding to keep up with the need,” said Anilú Chadwick, an attorney and senior director at the legal nonprofit Together & Free, which she said has supported 15 families that have been re-separated, including Baltazar’s. “Now we have to see if the government awards a new contract, and I gotta say as someone who has been on the clock to find and locate services, that is not enough time even in the best of circumstances.”

For separated families who are waiting for loved ones to be released from detention, or for paperwork to return to the U.S., however, time has been moving at a glacial pace.

Ever since Alva López was deported back to Guatemala nearly a year ago, she checked her phone each morning for word of when she and her children could return. Money started drying up. The children began forgetting their English slang. Briseidy, now 14, worried she would drift away from her American friends. Finally, two weeks ago, there was news: the government would bring her and her children back to Florida on an American Airlines flight, under a judge’s order.

The puppies she had bought Ederson to lighten his mood had died, and there were few friends and relatives to say goodbye to. So she packed up the siblings and their few possessions, their clothes now loose on their frames after losing weight since returning to Todos Santos Cuchumatán.

And finally, in the last week of May, passports and travel documents in hand, the family flew to Miami. Ederson said it felt like a miracle. But soon after landing, immigration officials pulled Alva López in for questioning, taking her photo and fingerprints all over again and re-examining every document she held. Their stay in the U.S. may be short. An immigration official granted her just two weeks’ humanitarian parole.

The government declined to comment specifically on Alva López’s case.

“I still haven’t told the children” about the two weeks’ parole, Alva López said the first day she woke up back in the family’s old neighborhood in West Palm Beach. “They’re going to worry that the same thing will happen again,” she said.

—-

Burke reported from San Francisco. Pérez reported from San Martín Cuchumatán, Guatemala. AP photographer Rebecca Blackwell in Miami contributed reporting.

—-

Contact AP’s global investigative team at Investigative@ap.org or https://www.ap.org/tips/

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County Chief Operating Officer Jimmy Morales and PortMiami Director Hydi Webb have resigned, the mayor’s office announced in a news release.

It comes one week after residents on Fisher Island sued a developer, asking a court to stop it from selling the fuel bunker without their written consent, claiming it’s in violation of a previous agreement.

They also argue that the county’s threat of eminent domain is unconstitutional. A separate federal lawsuit is also making its way through the court system.

“I think there is no way that the county should overpay for that land,” Jim Ferraro, the chairman of the Fisher Island Community Association, said in an interview with Local 10 News. “It was a confidential, exclusive mediation that the buyers are attempting now to parlay into some massive payday which is really unconscionable.”

The mayor’s office said the changes aren’t related to the lawsuit. Morales, in a retirement letter sent to Levine Cava via email and shared with Local 10 News, referenced the fuel depot issue.

“I acknowledge that you and I have a difference of opinion with respect to the purchase and sale transaction of the port fuel facility on Fisher Island,” Morales wrote. “Nine months ago, you tasked me and PortMiami staff to accomplish two things: (1) permanently securing fuel for our cruise and cargo stakeholders at PortMiami and (2) negotiating a financial transaction that PortMiami could afford, that would not require any taxpayer funding and that would preserve the creditworthiness of the Port.

“I firmly believe that the proposed agreement that we have reached with the current owners of the fuel facility accomplishes those goals.”

Full resignation letter:

Webb’s letter wasn’t immediately made available as of Thursday afternoon.

In a statement, Levine Cava said in part that she is “deeply grateful” to Morales and Webb “for their extraordinary service to Miami-Dade County and our residents.”

“Their leadership, integrity, and dedication have helped make our county stronger,” she said.

Local 10 News has reached out to the developer seeking comment.

Chief Utilities and Regulatory Services Officer Roy Coley has been promoted to the position of deputy mayor, where he will oversee a number of county departments and facilities, including the airport and seaport.

Deputy Port Director Frederick Wong will serve as PortMiami’s interim director.

Read the lawsuit:

249080291 Complaint by Chris Gothner

They had — and lost — home-court advantage in Round 1 against Portland, before recovering to win the series. In Round 2 against Minnesota, the same thing happened. In the Western Conference finals against Oklahoma City, they trailed 2-1 before finding a way to oust the defending champion Thunder in seven games.

And now, the finals. They had home-court advantage and lost it in Game 1 against the New York Knicks. Adversity, hello again.

“We’ve been consistent in that regard,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said Thursday as his team prepares for Game 2 on Friday night. “I think one thing we have learned in our three series is that series are long. Games are long. Things shift quickly, whether that’s health, who’s playing well or hot, quote-unquote, at the time. Teams at this stage typically have shown the ability to evolve on the fly and improve within a series.”

That's what will be required if the Spurs are going to head to New York with this series knotted at a game apiece.

They shot poorly in Game 1 (36%), extremely poorly from 3-point range (26%, missing 32 of 43 tries), had 16 assists (nowhere near enough), got outscored in the paint 50-42 and couldn't hold a 14-point third-quarter lead. The Knicks deserve credit for creating a whole lot of those issues, but the Spurs know they're capable of much better play.

“I think the reason we lost that game isn’t even technical (or) tactical,” Spurs star Victor Wembanyama said. “We need to approach the game with a better mental state. We just need to play our game. We just need to be normal.”

Normal?

“‘Normal’ means trusting each other, trusting the basketball gods, trusting the game plan, executing, and not relying on talent so much to make shots or to save the day,” Wembanyama said. “We’ve been playing a certain way all season. We’ve been successful this way. There’s no reason to change the day the finals start.”

It was easy for the Spurs to find areas to clean up.

For the Knicks these days, that's considerably tougher.

They're 12-0 in their last 12 games, the third team to do that in a single postseason. The other two — San Antonio in 1999 and Golden State in 2017 — were NBA champions. The Knicks are certainly playing like a championship-capable team, but star guard Jalen Brunson insists that New York can't subscribe to any sort of thinking that suggests the job is done and a parade is inevitable.

“It’s all about just getting better every single day, keep chipping away, keep chipping away, being 1% better,” said Brunson, who led all scorers with 30 points in his finals debut Wednesday. “When you take steps back, how can you improve? ... Having that mentality and focus and approach I think allows us to still be students of the game and still find ways to learn, even through wins, and I think we need to continue to do that.”

The Knicks were coming off their second nine-day break between series — an unintended consequence of sweeping Philadelphia in the Eastern Conference semifinals and Cleveland in the East finals — and handled it just fine.

But New York's Mikal Bridges knows Game 2 will be better.

“I don’t think our Game 1s, even though we won, have been great at all,” Bridges said. “It’s tough to assimilate the emotional aspect, how physical it’s going to be when you’re in practice every day, besides being in those games. It’s tough. ... Now, we kind of got a rhythm. We've got to be better and I know we will be Game 2.”

The Spurs hope they will as well.

It's not must-win time for San Antonio, but going to New York in a 2-0 hole would make the challenge of winning the finals considerably more daunting. The Spurs have handled all the adversity that has come their way so far in the playoffs, and now have to answer that bell again.

“It’s very reassuring,” Wembanyama said. “We know we’re not here by chance. We’ve been through some weird — what do you call it? — weird situations, whatever. Yes, it’s reassuring to know that these guys, the 18 guys we got, are built this way. They are resilient.”

___

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

This Sunday is Cancer Survivors Day, and a South Florida educator is sharing her story of survival, resilience and hope — one she says shows how attitude can be just as important as medicine.

Mary Suppe has spent more than two decades educating children in South Florida classrooms.

The 58-year-old says she loves teaching her second graders, but now she is offering a different kind of lesson.

“You cannot go cry in the corner,” she said. “You may want to do that, but you can’t give up and you can’t go cry in the corner.”

Suppe was first diagnosed with melanoma and later learned the cancer had spread to her brain.

“It wasn’t until five years later that I woke up with a headache and my vision was not right,” she said.

Suppe calls herself a survivor and says her outlook played a major role alongside cutting-edge treatment in her recovery.

“You have to believe that you’re going to get better,” she said. “You can do this!”

Dr. Atif Hussein of the Memorial Cancer Institute said science is only one part of the treatment process.

“It’s a long journey. There are ups and downs. Positive attitude matters a lot,” Hussein said.

Suppe also credits her family, faith and community support during her treatment.

“I have a strong faith background,” she said. “All the prayers, I know, made a difference. I had everyone in the community praying for me.”

Hussein said he often sees differences in outcomes tied to mindset and support systems.

“I can see two patients — the same stage, the same cancer in two rooms and I leave one room saying ‘my God, this person isn’t going to do great,’” he said. “And then I go to the other room and say, ‘oh my God, this person is going to do great!’ Positive attitude, support system, having someone with them, faith helps, praying helps.”

Today, Suppe is a grandmother enjoying time with four generations of her family.

“I am very, very, very blessed,” she said.

Suppe was diagnosed with brain cancer 20 years ago.

She participated in one of the early clinical trials for immunotherapy, in which medications are used to supercharge the immune system to attack cancer cells.

Today, she shows no signs of cancer.

North Miami Beach police said Norvys Colmenares Zambrano, 46, was seen on video using multiple debit cards at the ATM at the CVS Pharmacy at 1825 NE 185th St. on May 22.

Police said they got the tip from a man who reported that his debit card data had been used without his authorization to make five withdrawals from the ATM.

Police said Colmenares used a deliberate and organized method. Video showed him handling the debit or credit cards, removing and reinserting cards from a wallet that appeared to contain separate sections designated for cards that had already been attempted and cards yet to be used.

Authorities said he was living with Janckeily Guerra Machado, 29, and a child in a northwest Miami-Dade apartment.

Police said they found a card skimming device with a pinhole camera used on ATMs or register terminals to steal account numbers and PINS sitting right on their kitchen counter.

Detectives also say they found 143 credit, gift and prepaid cards, including 132 that had been re-encoded.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security also got involved: The pair are Venezuelan nationals who entered the U.S. illegally.

Anyone who thinks they may have been victimized by Colmenares or Guerra is asked to call North Miami Beach Police.

Police took both into custody on multiple charges Tuesday. The couple remained behind bars Thursday afternoon on an immigration hold.

Describing himself as a “big fan” of the team and owner James Dolan, Trump said Thursday that he will be in the arena for at least one game next week. The NBA believes it would make him the first sitting president to attend an NBA Finals game.

“The answer is yes — he’s invited me, I’m going,” Trump said of Dolan's invitation. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said he was eyeing Game 3 on Monday but didn't rule out Game 4 on Wednesday. “Maybe I'll do both.”

Trump, who is simultaneously contending with a war in Iran, strife in Congress and looming midterm elections, said he made sure to catch some of Game 1 on Wednesday as the Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs and took a 1-0 lead in the series.

“I missed the middle because I talk to generals all night long now, but I watched that end of the game and they were dominant,” Trump said. “Really amazing.”

Asked about his plans for next week, Trump went on to offer his own game recap, giving nothing but praise for the Knicks. Taking questions after an event on his administration's efforts to promote the U.S. coal industry, Trump said it “wasn't looking good” for the Knicks early on but commended them for holding back Victor Wembanyama, the towering Spurs center.

“I say, how do you guard this guy? He's 7-foot-5 and he’s got a great shot, right? But they find a way to do it. They're really great.”

The NBA said it believes no other sitting president has attended an NBA Finals game. Earlier Thursday, Commissioner Adam Silver said some former presidents had attended. He recalled Trump as a Knicks fan long before his political career.

“Donald Trump, before he ever ran for office, he was a big Knicks fan,” Silver said. “I was there at many Knicks games with him in the old days. He attended many of our drafts when they used to take place at Madison Square Garden."

Silver reiterated a message he conveyed Wednesday amid reports that Trump might attend — that sports can be unifying, even in deeply divided political times.

“We can emphasize what we have in common, not what pulls us apart,” Silver said. “We’re seeing that in New York and I think President Trump is very much a New Yorker, and I’m thrilled that yet another New Yorker wants to participate in the enthusiasm and the joy around this Knick team.”

The commissioner acknowledged that Trump’s presence will require extra security in and around Madison Square Garden. That would almost certainly mean longer transit times and logistical issues for fans.

“I think the fans are very understanding of that,” Silver said. “I think they recognize that it adds to the bigness of the event."

___

AP Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds in San Antonio contributed to this report.

Tradition is known for having issues with feral hogs, which is why trapper Jay with Treasure Coast Wildlife Trappers set up a hog trap equipped with a camera to monitor activity.

Instead of hogs, the camera captured a black bear.

Jay showed where the bear was spotted, in the backyards of homes along Southwest Lake Fern Circle in Tradition.

Early Sunday morning, the camera alerted him that something was at the trap.

He checked the footage.

“And we’re like, ‘Oh my God. There’s a bear by the trap,’” Jay said.

The footage showed an adult black bear.

The bear first appeared around 2 a.m. Three hours later, at nearly 5 a.m., it was still in the area and had become curious about the camera.

Neighbors also took an interest in the unexpected visitor.

“Pretty interesting, to say the least,” resident Rachel Murray said with a laugh.

“We got a lot of critters in the backyard. This is our first bear,” resident Bob Lopopolo said.

The bear returned Monday morning.

Once again, it visited the trap, checked out the camera and remained in the area for hours.

Bear sightings in the neighborhood are rare. Jay said anyone who encounters a bear should keep their distance.

“What you want to do at that point is make loud noises. You want to kind of haze the bear. You want that bear to be afraid of humans,” he said.

Even if residents do not see the bear, Jay said they should remain cautious.

“Just keep your eye out. Be safe. When you’re out there, make sure you have a flashlight at night, you have your dogs on a leash and that you stay vigilant,” he said.

The trapper said the most recent sighting occurred several days ago, and the bear has not returned since. He hopes the animal has moved on but is encouraging residents to stay vigilant in case it wanders back.

What left the Knicks star nearly stumped was determining what he would deem worthy of spending $7,500 to go see.

“That’s a good question,” Brunson said Thursday. He paused for a few seconds before delivering his answer: “A live Michael Jackson performance.”

Thriller, indeed.

From Bay Ridge to the Bronx and beyond, the Big Apple has gone nuts for the Knicks.

The team is not only in the NBA Finals for the first time in 27 years, New York is riding a 12-0 roll after rallying from a 14-point second-half deficit in a 105-95 win at San Antonio in Game 1 on Wednesday night. Game 2 is Friday night in San Antonio before the series shifts to New York on Monday.

It seems as if the entire city is on board. There were the thousands who filled Madison Square Garden to watch the game on the big screen, only to be matched by the thousands more celebrating outside in the shadow of the Empire State Building lit up in the Knicks' blue and orange.

The MTA — the city's transit authority — got into the spirit by painting several subway stops around the arena in Knicks colors. And Mayor Zohran Mamdani even signed an executive order temporarily lifting children's bedtime hours.

“Knicks in Four!” chants erupted shortly after midnight, as fans climbed light posts and even on an ambulance outside of MSG.

Similar scenes were captured at a free watch party in Central Park, and across the five boroughs.

At a bar in Brooklyn, fans spilled out onto the outside sidewalk to watch the game on the TV inside. At a pizzeria a few doors down, fans gathered around a flat screen TV someone erected in the trunk of a car.

All of this for a chance to be a part of what could be history 53 years in the making, since Willis Reed and company last brought an NBA title to what was and evidently remains a basketball-mad metropolis. The buzz in the city has overwhelmed much talk of the World Cup, which opens in a week.

“Honestly, I just feel grateful to be here and experience the New York Knicks, doing what we haven’t done in a long time,” Owen Odigie said, celebrating the Game 1 win inside Madison Square Garden. “It’s special. It’s beautiful.”

Knicks forward Karl-Anthony Towns could feel the Big Apple energy some 1,800 miles away in San Antonio following Game 1.

“You feel the energy in the city, the grit, the grind, the hard work you’ve got to put in to make it in the city,” said Towns, who hails from New Jersey. “I think we reflect all our fans ... when we step on that court with a Knicks jersey.”

Knicks fans even made their presence felt in San Antonio, beyond the familiar celebrities of Spike Lee, Tracy Morgan, Timothée Chalamet, Ben Stiller and more. The crowd in San Antonio was made up of an estimated 20% Knicks fans, some of whom made their voices heard in yelling, “Let’s go, Knicks,” during the national anthem.

In reality, given the soaring prices at home, it was reasonably cheaper for Knicks fans to make the trip to San Antonio, even when taking into account flight and lodging costs. Tickets for Game 1 started at around $750 on the secondary market.

Spurs guard Julian Champagnie — a native New Yorker — wasn’t surprised to see the Knicks contingent.

“I kind of expected that,” Champagnie said. “I’m from New York. I know how New York fans travel and stuff like that, so I kind of expected that.”

Towns said he couldn't be more appreciative of the love being shown by Knicks fans. But he said he also prays for the New York police officers tasked with keeping people safe amid the frenzy.

“All those men and women out there that are not only protecting everybody ... they are huge fans of the Knicks and support the Knicks fans in their ability to show how much they love the Knicks and being as lenient as possible without causing chaos,” Towns said. "So, shout-out to the men and women of the NYPD.”

___

Wawrow reported from Buffalo, New York, and Reynolds from San Antonio.

___

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

Rogerio Miranda De Souza, de 49 años, fue ingresado la noche del miércoles en el Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight por un nuevo cargo de exhibicionismo indecente, según los registros carcelarios.

La policía de South Miami informó que el incidente más reciente ocurrió el 23 de mayo a lo largo de la U.S. 1 cerca de Southwest 104th Street e involucró a una víctima diferente.

Los investigadores dijeron que pudieron identificar a De Souza mediante el uso de un lector de matrículas. Posteriormente, los detectives contactaron a su abogado y De Souza se entregó a las autoridades el miércoles.

El arresto ocurre apenas semanas después de que De Souza compareciera ante un juez en un caso separado de exhibicionismo indecente.

En ese incidente, la policía dijo que una mujer denunció haber sido seguida durante casi 30 minutos después de salir de un gimnasio en el vecindario Brickell de Miami. Según los investigadores, De Souza condujo repetidamente alrededor del vehículo de la mujer, le cerró el paso en el tráfico y, en un momento, fue visto tocándose mientras conducía junto a ella.

La policía indicó que la mujer proporcionó a los detectives un número de matrícula que ayudó a los investigadores a identificar a De Souza.

En el momento de ese arresto, los detectives dijeron a Local 10 News que estaban investigando otro caso con acusaciones similares. Sin embargo, las autoridades no han confirmado si el arresto más reciente está relacionado con esa investigación anterior.

De Souza permanecía bajo custodia la mañana del jueves y se esperaba que compareciera más tarde ese día ante un tribunal de fianzas.

La policía aún no ha divulgado detalles adicionales sobre el segundo caso.

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The woman was swimming on Wednesday in the area of Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park at 6503 North Ocean Drive, according to Deanna Bettineschi, a spokeswoman for the HPD.

“Detectives have identified the female and are working to make next of kin notifications,” Bettineschi wrote in a statement on Thursday afternoon.

Hollywood police officers responded to a 911 call at about 8 p.m. on Wednesday after witnesses saw the body, east of the North Boardwalk and south of the Hollywood North Beach Park.

“We saw two fishermen and then what looked like a body on the beach ... We saw them drag her up ... it was disheartening,” Gianluca Fiore, a witness, told Local 10 News on Thursday morning.

There were Hollywood police officers on and off the beach late into the night, near North Surf Road, between New Mexico and Thomas streets.

The Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office was conducting an autopsy. Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation investigators worked with Hollywood detectives, and their investigation was ongoing on Thursday afternoon, according to Bettineschi.

Detectives asked anyone with information about the case to call 954-764-4357 or 954-967-4567, or Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477 to remain anonymous.

Related reports

• Police: Body washes ashore on Hollywood Beach
• Hollywood detectives investigate woman’s death after her body washes ashore

Location

La mujer se encontraba nadando el miércoles en el área del Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park, ubicado en 6503 North Ocean Drive, según Deanna Bettineschi, portavoz de la Policía de Hollywood.

“Los detectives han identificado a la mujer y están trabajando para notificar a sus familiares más cercanos”, escribió Bettineschi en un comunicado el jueves por la tarde.

Agentes de la Policía de Hollywood respondieron a una llamada al 911 alrededor de las 8 p.m. del miércoles después de que testigos observaran el cuerpo al este del North Boardwalk y al sur de Hollywood North Beach Park.

“Vimos a dos pescadores y luego lo que parecía ser un cuerpo en la playa… Vimos cómo la arrastraban hacia la orilla… fue desalentador”, dijo Gianluca Fiore, un testigo, a Local 10 News el jueves por la mañana.

Agentes de la Policía de Hollywood permanecieron dentro y fuera de la playa hasta altas horas de la noche cerca de North Surf Road, entre las calles New Mexico y Thomas.

La Oficina del Médico Forense del Condado Broward realizaba una autopsia. Investigadores de la Comisión de Conservación de Pesca y Vida Silvestre de Florida trabajaban junto con detectives de Hollywood, y la investigación continuaba el jueves por la tarde, según Bettineschi.

Los detectives solicitaron a cualquier persona con información sobre el caso que llame al 954-764-4357 o al 954-967-4567, o a Broward County Crime Stoppers al 954-493-8477 para permanecer en el anonimato.

Reportes relacionados

Policía: Cuerpo aparece en la orilla de Hollywood Beach

Detectives de Hollywood investigan muerte de mujer tras aparecer su cuerpo en la orilla

Ubicación.

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From fan festivals in downtown Miami to Hard Rock Stadium — temporarily branded “Miami Stadium” for the tournament — to Miami Beach, where oversized soccer balls now dot the coastline, local leaders say the region is gearing up for what they expect will be a major economic boost.

Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner said the city is preparing for a wave of international visitors and major events tied to the tournament.

“We’re anticipating (a) $1.3 billion economic impact,” Meiner said.

He pointed to planned programming across the city, including entertainment and viewing events designed to draw fans throughout the tournament period.

“We have activations, we have watch parties, we have a launch concert that’s going to be taking place here,” Meiner said.

Miami Beach, which he noted is home to a significant share of Miami-Dade County’s hotel inventory, is positioning itself as a central hub for visiting fans.

“The first four months of the year so far, we’re the number one hotel room rate in the nation, and it’s only going to continue with something like the FIFA games coming,” Meiner said.

Local businesses are also preparing for increased demand, with some already seeing ripple effects ahead of the tournament.

Economist Pamela Fuertes said the scale of the event places it in rare company when compared to other major sporting events.

“The Super Bowl runs for eight days and the economic impact of the Super Bowl is $500 million,” Fuertes said.

“It’s like a Super Bowl for 45 days straight,” said Philip Cardona, of PulseEleven.com.

At the FIFA store on Lincoln Road, members of the Cardona family said the global spotlight is already translating into increased visibility and business growth.

The family said their work in youth soccer technology has expanded as FIFA’s presence in South Florida grows.

“We’re now getting visibility from across the country and overseas,” said Cardona.

While officials highlight the potential upside, they also acknowledge the challenges that come with hosting an event of this magnitude.

In Miami-Dade County alone, officials estimate roughly $46 million in operational costs, along with logistical concerns tied to transportation, crowd management and public space access.

Economist Pamela Fuertes said coordination between agencies will be key as the region prepares for the influx of visitors.

“In terms of Miami International Airport, in terms of our public transportation system, in terms of how are we going to keep our public spaces open and friendly, and I think Miami has really stepped up,” she said.

Despite the challenges, she said the long-term impact of the tournament could extend beyond tourism and immediate spending.

“It’ll be an accelerator, and a true economic catalyst for our community, Fuertes added. ”Not only will we be able to showcase our beautiful community, but we will also be able to really show the world what Miami has to offer."

Officials across the region continue to ramp up preparations as South Florida moves closer to hosting one of the largest sporting events in the world.

Desde festivales para aficionados en el centro de Miami hasta el Hard Rock Stadium —que será temporalmente denominado “Miami Stadium” durante el torneo— y Miami Beach, donde enormes balones de fútbol ya adornan la costa, los líderes locales afirman que la región se está preparando para lo que esperan sea un importante impulso económico.

El alcalde de Miami Beach, Steven Meiner, dijo que la ciudad se prepara para una ola de visitantes internacionales y grandes eventos vinculados al torneo.

“Estamos anticipando un impacto económico de $1.3 mil millones USD”, dijo Meiner.

Destacó la programación prevista en toda la ciudad, incluyendo eventos de entretenimiento y actividades para ver los partidos diseñadas para atraer aficionados durante todo el torneo.

“Tendremos activaciones, fiestas para ver los partidos y un concierto de lanzamiento que se llevará a cabo aquí”, dijo Meiner.

Miami Beach, que según señaló alberga una parte significativa de la capacidad hotelera del condado Miami-Dade, se está posicionando como un centro principal para los aficionados visitantes.

“Durante los primeros cuatro meses del año hemos tenido la tarifa hotelera número uno del país, y eso solo continuará con algo como los partidos de la FIFA”, afirmó Meiner.

Los negocios locales también se están preparando para una mayor demanda y algunos ya están observando efectos positivos antes del torneo.

La economista Pamela Fuertes señaló que la magnitud del evento lo coloca en una categoría muy exclusiva cuando se compara con otros grandes eventos deportivos.

“El Super Bowl dura ocho días y su impacto económico es de $500 millones USD”, dijo Fuertes.

“Es como un Super Bowl durante 45 días seguidos”, dijo Philip Cardona, de PulseEleven.com.

En la tienda de la FIFA en Lincoln Road, miembros de la familia Cardona dijeron que la atención mundial ya se está traduciendo en mayor visibilidad y crecimiento para sus negocios.

La familia indicó que su trabajo en tecnología para el fútbol juvenil se ha expandido a medida que crece la presencia de la FIFA en el sur de Florida.

“Ahora estamos obteniendo visibilidad en todo el país y también en el extranjero”, dijo Cardona.

Si bien los funcionarios destacan el potencial beneficio económico, también reconocen los desafíos que implica organizar un evento de esta magnitud.

Solo en el condado Miami-Dade, las autoridades estiman aproximadamente $46 millones USD en costos operativos, además de preocupaciones logísticas relacionadas con el transporte, el manejo de multitudes y el acceso a espacios públicos.

La economista Pamela Fuertes dijo que la coordinación entre las distintas agencias será fundamental mientras la región se prepara para la llegada masiva de visitantes.

“En términos del Aeropuerto Internacional de Miami, de nuestro sistema de transporte público y de cómo vamos a mantener nuestros espacios públicos abiertos y accesibles, creo que Miami realmente ha dado un paso al frente”, dijo.

A pesar de los desafíos, señaló que el impacto a largo plazo del torneo podría extenderse más allá del turismo y del gasto inmediato.

“Será un acelerador y un verdadero catalizador económico para nuestra comunidad”, agregó Fuertes. “No solo podremos mostrar nuestra hermosa comunidad, sino también demostrar al mundo todo lo que Miami tiene para ofrecer”.

Los funcionarios de toda la región continúan intensificando los preparativos mientras el sur de Florida se acerca a ser sede de uno de los eventos deportivos más grandes del mundo.

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Natasha Ethel Bagley, 49, of Hialeah, described in court records as a “career criminal,” is facing several new felonies following an arrest on Wednesday.

According to the Miami Springs Police Department, Bagley’s latest attack happened just before 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Sleep Inn at 105 Fairway Drive.

Investigators said Bagley became “irate” at the rideshare driver, working for the company Alto on behalf of Uber, and “began making verbal threats.”

“Upon entering the carport of the hotel, Bagley got out of the Uber and began kicking the rear right passenger door of the vehicle,” an MSPD arrest report states. “(She) proceeded to forcibly remove the weather seal of the door.”

Police said the driver got out “and attempted to stop her from causing further damage,” but she instead “reached back into the rear right passenger floorboard, and grabbed (his) medium-sized, metal Yeti water bottle and began swinging it at (his) head with her right hand.”

Authorities said in fear for his life, he retreated to the door of the hotel. According to the report, she then ran towards the driver’s side door of the Kia EV9, sat down inside and “began forcibly removing the turn signal and windshield wiper lever off the steering wheel.”

The report states Bagley then threw the components on the ground and closed the driver’s side door, slamming it on the driver’s arm as he tried, unsuccessfully, to stop her from taking off with the SUV with his iPhone still inside.

Staff members, who told police Bagley was staying at the hotel, called police on Wednesday to tell them that she had returned. Police then responded and took her into custody on charges of carjacking, aggravated assault with a weapon, criminal mischief, grand theft and battery.

She’s now back in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center and being held without bond as of Thursday.

It should be familiar confines for Bagley, who has an extensive history of arrests in Miami-Dade County.

Court records show in 2020, she pleaded guilty to burglary with assault or battery, strong-armed robbery and criminal mischief in connection with the aforementioned Burger King case, stemming from an incident on April 2, 2019.

Officers with what was then the Miami-Dade Police Department said Bagley, then 42, and another woman, identified as 27-year-old Genesis Peguero, went into the drive-thru at the chain’s location at 18240 S. Dixie Highway in the unincorporated West Perrine area and demanded free fries.

Authorities said an employee denied them the fries and the two went into the restaurant shortly after asking which employee called one of them a “b----.”

Police said Peguero jumped over the counter, prompting the manager to come out. Police said Peguero demanded the manager open the register and give her money and threatened to “hit her over the face” with a pistol and eventually grabbed the manager’s phone and punched her. Bagley joined in, hitting and kicking the manager, police said.

Records show Peguero, now 34, also took a plea in the case, receiving probation.

Natasha Ethel Bagley, de 49 años y residente de Hialeah, descrita en documentos judiciales como una “delincuente habitual”, enfrenta varios nuevos cargos graves tras su arresto el miércoles.

Según el Departamento de Policía de Miami Springs, el más reciente ataque de Bagley ocurrió poco antes de las 6 p.m. del martes en el hotel Sleep Inn, ubicado en 105 Fairway Drive.

Los investigadores indicaron que Bagley se puso “furiosa” con el conductor de transporte por aplicación, quien trabajaba para la empresa Alto en nombre de Uber, y “comenzó a proferir amenazas verbales”.

“Al ingresar al área techada para vehículos del hotel, Bagley salió del Uber y comenzó a patear la puerta trasera derecha del vehículo”, señala un informe de arresto de la Policía de Miami Springs. “(Ella) procedió a arrancar por la fuerza el sello de goma de la puerta”.

La policía informó que el conductor salió del vehículo “e intentó evitar que causara más daños”, pero Bagley “metió la mano en el área del piso trasero derecho, tomó la botella de agua Yeti metálica de tamaño mediano de la víctima y comenzó a balancearla hacia su cabeza con la mano derecha”.

Las autoridades indicaron que, temiendo por su vida, el conductor retrocedió hacia la entrada del hotel. Según el informe, Bagley luego corrió hacia la puerta del conductor de la Kia EV9, se sentó dentro y “comenzó a arrancar por la fuerza la palanca de las direccionales y la palanca de los limpiaparabrisas del volante”.

El informe indica que Bagley lanzó las piezas al suelo y cerró la puerta del conductor, golpeando el brazo del conductor cuando este intentaba, sin éxito, impedir que escapara con la camioneta mientras su iPhone aún permanecía dentro.

Empleados del hotel, quienes informaron a la policía que Bagley se hospedaba allí, llamaron a las autoridades el miércoles para informar que había regresado. Los agentes respondieron al lugar y la arrestaron por cargos de robo de vehículo, agresión agravada con arma, daños criminales, hurto mayor y agresión física.

Ahora se encuentra nuevamente en el Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight y permanecía detenida sin derecho a fianza hasta el jueves.

El entorno carcelario no le resulta desconocido a Bagley, quien tiene un amplio historial de arrestos en el condado Miami-Dade.

Los registros judiciales muestran que en 2020 se declaró culpable de robo con allanamiento y agresión, robo por fuerza física y daños criminales en relación con el caso de Burger King mencionado anteriormente, derivado de un incidente ocurrido el 2 de abril de 2019.

Agentes de lo que entonces era el Departamento de Policía de Miami-Dade informaron que Bagley, quien tenía 42 años en ese momento, y otra mujer identificada como Genesis Peguero, de 27 años, acudieron al autoservicio del restaurante ubicado en 18240 S. Dixie Highway, en el área no incorporada de West Perrine, y exigieron papas fritas gratis.

Las autoridades indicaron que un empleado les negó las papas fritas y que ambas ingresaron al restaurante poco después para preguntar cuál empleado había llamado a una de ellas “perra”.

La policía informó que Peguero saltó el mostrador, lo que provocó que la gerente saliera de la oficina. Según las autoridades, Peguero exigió que la gerente abriera la caja registradora y le entregara dinero, amenazando con “golpearla en la cara” con una pistola. Posteriormente le arrebató el teléfono celular y la golpeó.

La policía indicó que Bagley también participó en la agresión, golpeando y pateando a la gerente.

Los registros muestran que Peguero, ahora de 34 años, también llegó a un acuerdo judicial en el caso y recibió libertad condicional.

Las víctimas fueron identificadas por la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade como Ryan Charles Whiten, de 42 años; Melanie Lauren Hyer, de 46; y sus hijas biológicas, Savannah Whiten, de 11 años, y Sienna Whiten, de 8.

Según los investigadores, los detectives determinaron que Ryan Whiten era el padre biológico de Savannah y Sienna y compartía la crianza de las menores con Hyer. La investigación concluyó que él mató a los tres familiares antes de quitarse la vida.

Los registros muestran que Ryan Whiten y Hyer habían estado divorciados durante años.

Según los investigadores, agentes de la Policía de Doral respondieron el martes por la noche a una vivienda en la comunidad cerrada Doral Isles después de que un amigo de la familia, preocupado por su bienestar, solicitara una verificación.

Las autoridades informaron que los agentes ingresaron a la vivienda y encontraron a las cuatro personas fallecidas. La policía confirmó que todas presentaban heridas de arma blanca en sus cuerpos.

Mientras la investigación continúa, vecinos y padres de familia de la comunidad luchan por asimilar los asesinatos.

“Eso es una tragedia”, dijo Anderina Zerpa, quien vive cerca. “Es la peor pesadilla para un padre”.

Zerpa dijo que quedó atónita al enterarse de lo ocurrido tan cerca de su hogar.

“Vivo súper cerca de su casa y ni siquiera lo sabía”, agregó.

Entre quienes lamentan la pérdida se encuentra la alcaldesa de Doral, Christi Fraga, quien dijo que conocía personalmente a Hyer a través de la comunidad escolar de sus hijos.

“La veía casi todas las mañanas cuando dejaba a mi hijo en la escuela”, dijo Fraga.

Fraga describió a Hyer como una madre que trabajaba para unir a las familias.

“Fue ella quien creó el chat de todas las mamás para organizar almuerzos, reuniones y construir una comunidad alrededor de nuestros hijos”, agregó.

Fraga dijo que espera que la familia sea recordada por el impacto positivo que tuvo en quienes los rodeaban y no por las circunstancias de sus muertes.

“Queremos recordarlos por sus personalidades alegres, sus hermosas sonrisas y orar por sus almas, por sus familias y por todos los que los rodeaban y que se verán afectados por esto”, añadió.

Un representante de Downtown Doral Charter Schools confirmó previamente que Savannah y Sienna eran estudiantes de la escuela, donde se han puesto a disposición consejeros de duelo para estudiantes y personal.

Fraga también alentó a cualquier persona que esté experimentando violencia doméstica o problemas de salud mental a buscar ayuda.

Hay recursos disponibles a través del programa de servicios para víctimas de violencia doméstica de la Fiscalía Estatal de Miami-Dade y de la página de recursos de salud mental de la ciudad de Doral.

Los detectives de la Oficina de Homicidios de la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade han asumido la investigación.

Roma Daravi, the Kennedy Center’s vice president of public relations, said in a statement to The Associated Press that “we are complying with the court’s order while evaluating all legal options to preserve this revitalization and recognize President Trump’s leadership.”

In a Thursday memo to staff from the Kennedy Center's Office of General Counsel, the institution's lawyers said email signatures, letterhead and other documents must reflect the name as “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts" or “Kennedy Center.”

The changes, the memo said, must be completed by June 12.

In a May 29 decision, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper also blocked the administration from closing the cultural and arts venue for major renovations that had been planned to start in July.

Hours after the ruling, Trump said he was backing away from the revamp and making arrangements to relinquish control to Congress of what, until the Republican president’s second term, had been known as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

The next day, Trump on social media branded Cooper as “an anti Trump Hater” and predicted that the performing arts center that he wanted to shutter for a two-year overhaul will “soon be closed, probably never to open again.”

Clearly angered by his latest legal setback, he said it was “impossible for me to be treated fairly,” tying Cooper’s ruling to earlier losses, including the Supreme Court’s rejection in February of his sweeping tariffs.

The removal marked a setback in the president’s second-term plans to remake many of Washington’s landmarks — and add new ones.

On Thursday, his administration said renovations had been completed on the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, painting the bottom what Trump has called “American flag blue.” The White House East Wing was demolished to build a large ballroom, and Trump plans to build an arch between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.

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Associated Press writer Hillel Italie in New York contributed to this report. Kinnard reported from Columbia, S.C.

Most members of the federal agency that approves construction on federal land voted in favor Thursday of seeking more information from the Department of the Interior, which submitted the application for the 250-foot arch planned between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.

The vote came after nearly three hours of public comment from about 20 members of the public, some representing historic and architectural organizations, and most of whom expressed concerns about the arch that is one of several projects the Republican president is pursuing to leave his imprint on Washington.

Preliminary surveys and testing of the arch site began last month, and other approvals are underway. The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts — which only oversees designs and has no role in the actual construction or funding of the arch or any other project it considers — has approved the arch’s design, a key step in the project’s process but one that has no immediate bearing on the construction timeline.

For now, the National Capital Planning Commission is seeking more information justifying the proposed height of the towering arch, as well as additional details about lighting, management of storm water and how traffic and parking would be regulated for visitors.

Will Scharf, who has served as Trump’s White House staff secretary, heads the commission and acknowledged the applicant “has some homework to do,” Scharf said, suggesting more information on how it would appear from other monuments in the Washington area. But, Scharf said ultimately, this year's 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence "is as good an opportunity as any to add something to Washington, D.C., that will hopefully stand the test of time.

Stuart Levenbach, Trump appointee and commission vice chairman, said the proposed site represented “one of the few locations” in the area where such an “iconic civic monument could be appropriate," although he added that “it’s reasonable to consider whether a significant architectural statement belongs in such a location."

Commission received 1,700 public comments, most opposing the arch

Many of those contacting the commission about the arch ahead of Thursday’s meeting voiced concerns about its massive scale, obstruction of the city’s skyline, and safety in the heavily trafficked area. Some of the comments called it a “waste of taxpayer money,” while others said it was Trump's “vanity project” or a “disgusting and disrespectful move by a man who wants to be king.”

Dozens of people were signed up to speak during Thursday’s meeting, many of whom have spoken against the project at previous meetings, and represented organizations like the National Parks Conservation Association, National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Society of Architectural Historians.

Several, including Gary Langston, a military veteran, opposed the arch on grounds that it is too big, needed congressional approval or would disrupt the sightline between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington House at Arlington National Cemetery that was created to symbolize reunification after the Civil War.

“What’s required here, if anything, is a solemn memorial rather than a monument,” Langston said.

Trump has asserted that he doesn’t need congressional approval because he’s building it on federal land.

Suggestions on the arch design

The arch would stand 250 feet tall (76 meters) from its base to a torch held aloft by a Lady Liberty-like figure on top of the structure, flanked by two gilded eagles. But four lions, envisioned as guarding the base, have been removed. The phrases “One Nation Under God” and “Liberty and Justice for All” would be inscribed in gold lettering atop either side of the monument, and both east- and west-facing sides would feature text of the Pledge of Allegiance.

A public observation deck on top would provide 360-degree views of the region. The arch would have an exterior made of granite.

Critics have argued that the arch would dominate the skyline and disrupt carefully designed views between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery. It would be more than twice as tall as the Lincoln Memorial, which is 99 feet (30 meters), and close to half the height of the Washington Monument, at about 555 feet (169 meters).

One of the public commenters on Thursday had some suggestions. Shady Migally, an architect in California, suggested that any arch project should be more creative than a new take on Paris’ Arc de Triomphe, submitting an alternative design just as tall as the administration’s proposal but with less dense lateral columns and a higher inner archway that, according to online renderings, shows more visibility between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.

Trump had said last year that the arch could be paid for with private donations left over from the ballroom project. A cost estimate for the arch is still being calculated, but a mix of taxpayer and private funds is expected to pay for it, according to a White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the president has not publicly discussed the project’s cost.

Trump’s other Washington makeover plans

A group of veterans and a historian have sued the Trump administration in federal court to block the arch construction over concerns about disruptions to the sightline.

In an Oval Office event on Thursday, Trump called the arch a tribute to military victories.

“Nobody’s had more military victories, including recently, than we have,” he said.

The president has said some of his other projects, including adding a blue coating to the interior of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, will beautify the city in time for July 4 celebrations of America’s 250th birthday. His administration said Thursday that the renovation had been completed and was ready to be filled with water.

The White House East Wing was demolished to build a large ballroom,

And up until a judge ruled last week that it had been illegally added and must be removed, Trump’s name had been added to the Kennedy Center.

Critics have said Trump, a Republican, is spending too much time and attention on his pet projects and not enough on issues that voters care about, like the cost of living, in the run-up to the November elections.

That project is also the subject of a court challenge brought by The Cultural Landscape Foundation, which said repainting the bottom of the Reflecting Pool blue without first undergoing relevant reviews runs afoul of federal preservation laws governing historic sites.

An order in the case hasn’t come yet, and on Wednesday, the Trump administration notified the court that the work was complete, with the basin set to be filled by Sunday.

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Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP

The Republican president's disclosure that he was ruling out installing Pulte in the position full-time came after bipartisan pushback on Capitol Hill in recent days over Pulte's lack of national security experience. The position requires Senate confirmation, something that lawmakers indicated was unlikely if Pulte were the nominee.

“He’s not going to be permanent because, you know, I don’t think he’d want to be permanent,” Trump said while taking questions in the Oval Office after an event on coal. He called Pulte a “very smart guy” and said he may look at past elections that Trump claims, without credible evidence, were “rigged” against him.

Trump said other candidates were under consideration for nomination to the post. “We’re interviewing people right now,” he said.

Pulte, a grandson of the founder of PulteGroup, has been a source of controversy within the administration for his work as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and his oversight of the mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Pulte has used his position to pursue Trump’s perceived political rivals for alleged mortgage fraud and has verbally attacked Jerome Powell, whose term as the Federal Reserve chairman recently ended after months of Trump and Pulte attacking him for not slashing the central bank’s benchmark rates. The federal housing finance regulator has also pitched a 50-year mortgage, an idea that backfired as it meant that the process of building wealth through home ownership would be slowed.

Both Republican and Democratic senators expressed concerns about Pulte and his lack of national security credentials in occupying a role coordinating 18 federal agencies involved in domestic and foreign security issues. Trump's initial director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, resigned last month, citing her husband's recent cancer diagnosis.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, said the national intelligence director job shouldn't be “weaponized” and should be led by “professionals.”

Republican Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and John Cornyn of Texas, who are each leaving the chamber after this year’s elections, also expressed concerns about Pulte.

Democratic senators view Pulte as a risk even if he is only temporarily serving as the director of national intelligence while keeping his position at the FHFA.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., sent Trump a letter on Thursday calling on him to rescind Pulte's national security appointment.

“Americans cannot trust him to protect our nation and refrain from misusing the sensitive information he will have access to,” Warren wrote, saying that giving Pulte the job on an acting basis was a risk because Trump's own words suggested the federal agency could be used “to promote election denial theories.”

At a hearing on Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed reports that he had threatened to fight Pulte in September of 2025, a sign of the friction that the federal housing finance director had generated inside the administration.

But as a frequent traveler on Air Force One, Pulte has a close relationship with Trump.

“He’s a person who’s got high integrity,” Trump said Thursday about Pulte.

Included in the sanctions are Alejandro Castro Espín, the sole son of former Cuban President Raúl Castro and Vilma Espín. He served as an adviser to Cuba’s Defense and National Security Commission and was present when Raúl Castro greeted then-U.S. President Barack Obama in Havana during a historic March 2016 meeting. Castro Espín's son, Raúl Alejandro Castro Calis, also was listed.

The new penalties come as U.S. President Donald Trump has been threatening military action in Cuba since ousting Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in January and then ordering an energy blockade that choked off fuel shipments to Cuba. That has led to severe blackouts, food shortages and an economic collapse across the island.

The threats took on additional weight after the U.S. announced criminal charges against Raúl Castro last month. Thursday's penalties, which follow Trump signing an executive order expanding sanctions against the island, freeze individuals’ property and bank accounts in the U.S. But it’s unclear how intertwined their finances are with the U.S. financial system.

It’s “pretty unlikely” Cuba’s president and others have assets in the U.S., said Richard Feinberg, former U.S. national security adviser on Latin America and professor emeritus of international political economy at the University of California, San Diego.

He said the sanctions “could be seen as preliminary to an intervention or increasing pressure on the regime to cut a deal,” adding that the rhetoric of Trump and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio “could take you in either direction.”

Díaz-Canel accused Trump of making “new threatening statements against Cuba” and said “these measures are aimed at reinforcing the blockade and escalating the conflict between Cuba and the United States.”

“This political blindness adds to the coercive measures applied in recent weeks against our country, designed to harm the Cuban people,” he wrote on X. “The aggression and perversion of the U.S. government will clash with our resolve to confront the worst-case scenarios and resist the imperial onslaught.”

Trump says about Cuba, 'We’re going to handle that'

Asked Thursday if his sanctions were meant to accelerate Cuba’s collapse, Trump said, “We just want them to be a nicely run country.”

“The country is starving and it’s got no energy, it’s got no oil, it’s got no money, it’s got nothing. It’s got a beautiful piece of land. You could have beautiful resorts,” Trump told reporters at an unrelated event in the Oval Office.

Asked whether Cuba is close to collapsing, he said, “It’s sort of collapsed” and added that “we’re going to handle that as soon as we’ve finished” military operations in Iran.

“I like to do one thing at a time,” Trump said.

Trump has ratcheted up talk of regime change in Cuba after pledging to conduct a “friendly takeover” of the country if its leadership did not open its economy to American investment and kick out U.S. adversaries.

Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants who has long taken a hardline against Cuba’s socialist leadership, has said Trump’s preference is to reach a deal but has said he is doubtful the U.S. can find a diplomatic resolution with the current government.

Those “designated today direct or fund the regime and its efforts to mobilize its radical revolutionary movements in the United States and around the world,” Rubio said in a statement.

Rubio has defended the Trump administration’s decision to slap escalating sanctions on Havana, the largest of which is against Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A., a business conglomerate operated by the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces.

Cuba's top diplomat condemns new sanctions as ‘creating a scenario of conflict’

In addition to Diaz-Canel, Bruno Rodríguez, Cuba’s minister of foreign affairs, said “the vile inclusion” of Díaz-Canel and others, including Cuban institutions and civil society organizations, “is the latest example of the U.S. interventionist plan to portray Cuba as a threat to U.S. national security."

“Every U.S. action aimed at creating a scenario of conflict between the two countries is destined to fail,” he wrote on X. “Every threat against Cuba’s independence and sovereignty will be met with even greater unity and determination from our people.”

The new sanctions, which freeze any assets that those targeted may have in U.S. jurisdictions or any that come into U.S. jurisdictions, also apply to non-American entities that might do business with them.

In addition to the individuals, the sanctions also target Cuba's defense ministry; its Institute for the Friendship with the Peoples, which promotes people-to-people talks; Amistur Cuba, an arm of the institute that oversees specialized tourism on the island; and the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution.

Cuba's president, Castro relatives and others are on the list

Díaz-Canel was handpicked in 2018 to succeed Raúl Castro and was the first person in decades to lead Cuba without bearing the name Castro.

Under him, the island plunged into the worst economic and energy crisis in recent history, a situation worsened by heightened sanctions imposed by the Trump administration.

Díaz-Canel's wife, Lis Cuesta Peraza, also appeared on the sanctions list. She does not hold the title of first lady, a title abolished during the revolution, but in practice she acts as such, receiving other spouses such as Queen Letizia of Spain and accompanying her husband on official trips.

Her son Miguel Anido Cuesta, who is Díaz-Canel's stepson, also faces sanctions.

Lis Cuesta Peraza wrote on X late Thursday that “it is almost an honor to be on this ‘list.’ They never tire of ridicule and political stupidity.”

The new action boosts pressure on the Cuban government but is far from the first time the U.S. has imposed sanctions against heads of state or government and their relatives.

The U.S. hit former Sudanese President Omar Bashir and former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe in the early 2000s and, more recently, targeted Maduro and his wife with sanctions.

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Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico. AP writer Andrea Rodríguez in Havana contributed to this report. Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

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The deals for Johnson, the 27th overall pick out of San Diego State, and Traore, the 180th overall selection from Mississippi State, were not immediately disclosed.

Johnson, a 6-foot, 193-pound defensive back, appeared in 12 games as a freshman in 2022 before taking on a larger role in subsequent seasons.

He broke out in 2024 with 67 tackles, an interception, three forced fumbles and two defensive touchdowns.

In his senior season, Johnson started 11 games and posted four interceptions, 49 tackles (36 solo), 13 passes defended and a sack. He is expected to compete for a starting role in Miami’s secondary.

Traore’s signing completes the Dolphins’ rookie class after the team had already reached agreements with 12 other draft picks earlier in the week, including first-round offensive lineman Kadyn Proctor.

Miami selected Proctor 12th overall after a standout career at Alabama, where he started 40 games at left tackle and earned All-America and All-SEC honors in 2025. The Dolphins are expected to initially work him at left guard.

The team also previously signed or agreed to terms with wide receivers Chris Bell, Kevin Coleman Jr. and Caleb Douglas; guard DJ Campbell; tight end Will Kacmarek; edge rushers Max Llewellyn and Trey Moore; linebackers Kyle Louis and Jacob Rodriguez; and safety Michael Taaffe.

With the addition of Johnson and Traore, Miami has now signed all 13 members of its 2026 draft class.

The signings represent an early step in the right direction for new general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan and head coach Jeff Hafley as they continue building out their first roster together.

The exact terms of each contract have not been released.

Los términos de los contratos de Johnson, la selección número 27 global procedente de San Diego State, y de Traore, la selección número 180 global de Mississippi State, no fueron revelados de inmediato.

Johnson, un defensivo de 6 pies y 193 libras, participó en 12 partidos como estudiante de primer año en 2022 antes de asumir un papel más importante en temporadas posteriores.

Tuvo una destacada campaña en 2024 con 67 tacleadas, una intercepción, tres balones forzados y dos touchdowns defensivos.

En su temporada senior, Johnson inició 11 partidos y registró cuatro intercepciones, 49 tacleadas (36 en solitario), 13 pases defendidos y un capturado. Se espera que compita por un puesto como titular en la secundaria defensiva de Miami.

La firma de Traore completa la clase de novatos de los Dolphins después de que el equipo ya hubiera alcanzado acuerdos con otras 12 selecciones del draft a principios de la semana, incluido el liniero ofensivo de primera ronda Kadyn Proctor.

Miami seleccionó a Proctor con la duodécima selección global tras una destacada carrera en Alabama, donde inició 40 partidos como tackle izquierdo y obtuvo reconocimientos All-America y All-SEC en 2025. Se espera que los Dolphins lo utilicen inicialmente como guardia izquierdo.

El equipo también firmó previamente o llegó a acuerdos con los receptores Chris Bell, Kevin Coleman Jr. y Caleb Douglas; el guardia DJ Campbell; el ala cerrada Will Kacmarek; los alas defensivas Max Llewellyn y Trey Moore; los apoyadores Kyle Louis y Jacob Rodriguez; y el profundo Michael Taaffe.

Con la incorporación de Johnson y Traore, Miami ya firmó a los 13 integrantes de su clase del draft de 2026.

Las contrataciones representan un paso inicial en la dirección correcta para el nuevo gerente general Jon-Eric Sullivan y el entrenador en jefe Jeff Hafley, mientras continúan construyendo juntos su primera plantilla.

Los términos exactos de cada contrato no han sido divulgados.

Brian and Lynette Hooker, who were married for about 25 years and lived in Onsted, documented their adventures on their 46-foot “Soulmate” sailboat as “The Sailing Hookers” on YouTube and Instagram.

On April 5, Brian Hooker reported his wife had vanished after she fell overboard from a small dinghy during bad weather on April 4 between Hope Town and Elbow Cay.

The Royal Bahamas Police Force arrested him on April 8 in Abaco. Brian Hooker “denies any wrongdoing” and has been cooperating with authorities, Attorney Terrel Butler, who was representing him, told The Associated Press in a statement after the arrest.

The RBPF reported releasing him on April 13.

On May 14, the USCGIS in Miami announced that the “Soulmate” sailboat had been seized about 40 nautical miles off the coast of Melbourne, Fla., as “part of an active criminal investigation.”

CNN reported on Wednesday that investigators found new clues in GPS data.

On Thursday, Fox News shared photographs of a U.S. Coast Guard team of divers searching the water off The Abaco Inn in Hope Town, and CBS News reported the Coast Guard had also seized the dinghy.

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The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office says the suspect is dead and confirmed that the suspect and one of the victims were both students at USF.

Officials say the HSCO responded to a call just after 4:30 a.m. Wednesday when they found the victims at an off-campus apartment.

They said both victims are in stable condition.

Hours later, around 3:45 p.m., authorities say they found the presumed suspect dead at another apartment complex for USF students.

Police also confirmed that the suspect and one of the victims were roommates, while the second victim was not affiliated with the university.

“I could have walked out of my apartment, and it could have been me and that’s definitely very scary,” said resident McKenzie Miller.

The apartment where the suspect was found dead is just half a mile down the street from Avalon Heights, the student housing complex where prosecutors believe two USF graduate students were stabbed to death in April.

Right now, officials say this week’s stabbing appears to be an isolated event and that there are no other threats to the USF community.

La Oficina del Sheriff del condado Hillsborough informó que el sospechoso está muerto y confirmó que tanto el sospechoso como una de las víctimas eran estudiantes de la USF.

Las autoridades indicaron que respondieron a una llamada poco después de las 4:30 a.m. del miércoles, cuando encontraron a las víctimas en un apartamento fuera del campus.

Indicaron que ambas víctimas se encuentran en condición estable.

Horas más tarde, alrededor de las 3:45 p.m., las autoridades informaron que encontraron muerto al presunto sospechoso en otro complejo de apartamentos para estudiantes de la USF.

La policía también confirmó que el sospechoso y una de las víctimas eran compañeros de apartamento, mientras que la segunda víctima no estaba afiliada a la universidad.

“Pude haber salido de mi apartamento y podría haber sido yo, y eso definitivamente da mucho miedo”, dijo la residente McKenzie Miller.

El apartamento donde fue encontrado muerto el sospechoso está ubicado a solo media milla de Avalon Heights, el complejo de viviendas estudiantiles donde los fiscales creen que dos estudiantes graduados de la USF fueron apuñalados hasta la muerte en abril.

Por el momento, las autoridades indican que la agresión con arma blanca de esta semana parece ser un incidente aislado y que no existen otras amenazas para la comunidad de la USF.

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According to Broward County court records, Circuit Judge Ernest Kollra approved the modification last Thursday, after Readon’s attorney filed a motion arguing that the restrictions of community control made it difficult for Readon, 50, to perform his duties as pastor of New Beginning Love Center in Miami Gardens.

Community control is an intensive form of supervised custody often described as house arrest.

The ruling comes about one year after Readon was adjudicated guilty on two counts of first degree grand theft in Broward County and sentenced to two years of community control followed by probation extending through May 2037.

The Broward case

Court records show prosecutors originally charged Readon with organized fraud, two counts of first degree grand theft and unlawful filing of false documents.

On May 1, 2025, Kollra granted a state motion to revoke Readon’s bond and ordered him remanded into custody, according to court records.

Less than a month later, on May 23, 2025, Readon entered no contest pleas to two counts of first degree grand theft. As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors dropped the organized fraud and unlawful filing of false documents charges.

Court records show Kollra adjudicated Readon guilty on both grand theft counts and sentenced him to two years of community control followed by nearly 11 years of probation.

According to court records, Readon was also ordered to pay $150,000 in restitution to a victim through monthly installments.

Court records further state that Readon must complete all community control requirements, serve at least five years of probation and pay all restitution before becoming eligible for any future early termination of supervision.

The court’s May 2026 order converting community control to probation does not eliminate those requirements.

What investigators alleged

The criminal case stemmed from allegations involving the transfer of ownership of a property.

According to a Broward Sheriff’s Office probable cause affidavit, Detective Leonard Charla alleged that Readon and co-defendant Joseph Riley worked together in a scheme involving a property located at 12455 SW 20th St. in Davie.

According to the affidavit, the property owner told investigators she expected to receive payment as part of a real estate transaction but never received money she believed she was owed.

The affidavit states investigators reviewed property records, text messages, witness statements, notarization records and civil deposition testimony during the investigation.

According to investigators, a warranty deed recorded in Broward County had been altered after it was signed and notarized.

According to the affidavit, a warranty deed and quitclaim deed were recorded on Jan. 22, 2019, by Joseph Riley as an authorized representative of Worldwind Investment LLC and Black Rain City Capital Investment LLC. The affidavit states investigators identified Readon as being associated with those entities.

The affidavit further alleges that neither Readon nor Riley participated in a legitimate closing with the property owner and that ownership of the property was transferred without payment being made to the victim.

The case was filed in Broward County in 2022 and remained pending for more than three years before being resolved through the 2025 plea agreement.

A second criminal case

The Broward conviction is not Readon’s only criminal matter.

In a separate Miami-Dade County case, court records show Readon pleaded guilty in June 2025 to exploitation of an elderly person involving retired postal worker Edward Fuller.

Court records show Readon surrendered to the Miami-Dade County Jail on July 15, 2025, and served nearly a year in custody. He was sentenced to 364 days in jail followed by 15 years of probation and was ordered to pay $180,000 in restitution.

That case stemmed from a Local 10 News investigation that began in 2017.

History with Local 10

Local 10 News has conducted extensive investigative reporting on Readon’s business practices, real estate dealings and legal disputes dating back to 2017.

Readon filed a lawsuit against WPLG alleging that Local 10’s investigative reporting damaged his reputation and sought $50 million in damages.

Court records show the lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled. The dismissal was later upheld on appeal.

Subsequent court proceedings resulted in the Third District Court of Appeal ordering Readon and his attorneys to pay $73,372.29 in attorney’s fees and costs to WPLG.

As of Kollra’s May 28 order, Readon is no longer serving community control.

Court records show he remains on probation in the Broward case through May 2037.

Según los registros judiciales del condado Broward, el juez de circuito Ernest Kollra aprobó la modificación el jueves pasado, después de que el abogado de Readon presentara una moción argumentando que las restricciones del control comunitario dificultaban que Readon, de 50 años, desempeñara sus funciones como pastor del New Beginning Love Center en Miami Gardens.

El control comunitario es una forma intensiva de custodia supervisada que a menudo se describe como arresto domiciliario.

La decisión se produce aproximadamente un año después de que Readon fuera declarado culpable de dos cargos de hurto mayor en primer grado en el condado Broward y sentenciado a dos años de control comunitario seguidos de libertad condicional hasta mayo de 2037.

El caso en Broward

Los registros judiciales muestran que los fiscales acusaron originalmente a Readon de fraude organizado, dos cargos de hurto mayor en primer grado y presentación ilegal de documentos falsos.

El 1 de mayo de 2025, Kollra concedió una moción del estado para revocar la fianza de Readon y ordenó que fuera puesto bajo custodia, según los registros judiciales.

Menos de un mes después, el 23 de mayo de 2025, Readon se declaró no culpable mediante un acuerdo de no oposición a dos cargos de hurto mayor en primer grado. Como parte del acuerdo, los fiscales retiraron los cargos de fraude organizado y presentación ilegal de documentos falsos.

Los registros judiciales muestran que Kollra declaró culpable a Readon por ambos cargos de hurto mayor y lo sentenció a dos años de control comunitario seguidos de casi 11 años de libertad condicional.

Según los registros judiciales, Readon también fue ordenado a pagar $150,000 USD en restitución a una víctima mediante pagos mensuales.

Los registros también indican que Readon debe completar todos los requisitos del control comunitario, cumplir al menos cinco años de libertad condicional y pagar toda la restitución antes de ser elegible para cualquier futura terminación anticipada de la supervisión.

La orden judicial de mayo de 2026 que convierte el control comunitario en libertad condicional no elimina esos requisitos.

Lo que alegaron los investigadores

El caso penal surgió de acusaciones relacionadas con la transferencia de propiedad de un inmueble.

Según una declaración jurada de causa probable de la Oficina del Sheriff de Broward, el detective Leonard Charla alegó que Readon y el coacusado Joseph Riley trabajaron juntos en un esquema relacionado con una propiedad ubicada en 12455 SW 20th St. en Davie.

Según la declaración jurada, la propietaria informó a los investigadores que esperaba recibir un pago como parte de una transacción inmobiliaria, pero nunca recibió el dinero que consideraba le correspondía.

La declaración indica que los investigadores revisaron registros de propiedad, mensajes de texto, declaraciones de testigos, registros notariales y testimonios de deposiciones civiles durante la investigación.

Según los investigadores, una escritura de garantía registrada en el condado Broward fue alterada después de haber sido firmada y notarizada.

Según la declaración jurada, una escritura de garantía y una escritura de cesión fueron registradas el 22 de enero de 2019 por Joseph Riley como representante autorizado de Worldwind Investment LLC y Black Rain City Capital Investment LLC. La declaración indica que los investigadores identificaron a Readon como vinculado a esas entidades.

La declaración también alega que ni Readon ni Riley participaron en un cierre legítimo con la propietaria y que la propiedad fue transferida sin que se realizara pago alguno a la víctima.

El caso fue presentado en el condado Broward en 2022 y permaneció pendiente durante más de tres años antes de resolverse mediante el acuerdo de declaración de 2025.

Un segundo caso penal

La condena en Broward no es el único asunto penal de Readon.

En un caso separado en el condado Miami-Dade, los registros judiciales muestran que Readon se declaró culpable en junio de 2025 de explotación de una persona mayor relacionada con el trabajador postal retirado Edward Fuller.

Los registros muestran que Readon se entregó en la cárcel del condado Miami-Dade el 15 de julio de 2025 y cumplió casi un año bajo custodia. Fue sentenciado a 364 días de cárcel seguidos de 15 años de libertad condicional y se le ordenó pagar $180,000 USD en restitución.

Ese caso surgió de una investigación de Local 10 News que comenzó en 2017.

Historial con Local 10

Local 10 News ha realizado amplios reportajes de investigación sobre las prácticas comerciales, negocios inmobiliarios y disputas legales de Readon desde 2017.

Readon presentó una demanda contra WPLG alegando que los reportajes de investigación de Local 10 dañaron su reputación y solicitó $50 millones USD en compensación.

Los registros judiciales muestran que la demanda fue desestimada con perjuicio, lo que significa que no puede volver a presentarse. La desestimación fue posteriormente confirmada en apelación.

Procedimientos judiciales posteriores resultaron en que el Tribunal de Apelaciones del Tercer Distrito ordenara a Readon y a sus abogados pagar $73,372.29 USD en honorarios legales y costos a WPLG.

Desde la orden de Kollra del 28 de mayo, Readon ya no cumple una sentencia de control comunitario.

Los registros judiciales muestran que permanece bajo libertad condicional en el caso de Broward hasta mayo de 2037.

Agentes de la Oficina del Sheriff de Broward informaron que el hecho ocurrió poco antes de las 3:30 a.m. del 11 de abril en la cuadra 3000 de West Sample Road, en un área no incorporada a las afueras de Pompano Beach.

Los agentes indicaron que Sult President, de 47 años y residente de Pompano Beach, conducía una Nissan Pathfinder 2006 hacia el este por los carriles en dirección oeste en el paso elevado de Florida’s Turnpike cuando chocó de frente en el carril central contra una Hyundai Tucson 2025, causando la muerte de su conductor, Nicholas Addis.

Los paramédicos declararon muerto a Addis, de 36 años, en el lugar y trasladaron a President a un hospital con lesiones graves.

Los fiscales informaron en la corte que President tenía un nivel de alcohol en sangre de 0.23%, casi tres veces el límite legal, y los investigadores indicaron que conducía a velocidades de hasta 75 mph.

Desde entonces fue arrestado y trasladado al centro de detención North Broward Bureau en Pompano Beach, donde permanece encarcelado enfrentando cargos de homicidio vehicular, conducir bajo los efectos del alcohol causando una muerte, conducir bajo los efectos del alcohol con daños a una persona o propiedad y conducción temeraria, con una fianza total de $210,000 USD.

Si paga la fianza, un juez determinó que deberá portar dispositivos de monitoreo GPS y de alcohol, además de someterse a pruebas aleatorias. También deberá permanecer en el condado Broward, no podrá conducir y deberá entregar su pasaporte.

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Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies said it happened at just before 3:30 a.m. on April 11 along the 3000 block of West Sample Road in an unincorporated area outside of Pompano Beach.

Deputies said Sult President, 47, of Pompano Beach, was driving in a 2006 Nissan Pathfinder, heading east in the westbound lanes on the overpass for Florida’s Turnpike when he hit a 2025 Hyundai Tucson head-on in the center lane, killing its driver, Nicholas Addis.

Medics pronounced Addis, 36, dead at the scene and took President to a hospital with serious injuries.

Addis is the son of former Coral Springs Mayor Vincent Boccard.

Prosecutors said in court that President had a blood alcohol level of 0.23%, nearly three times the legal limit, and investigators said he was driving up to 75 mph.

He has since been arrested and taken to the North Broward Bureau detention center in Pompano Beach, where he remains behind bars on charges of vehicular homicide, DUI resulting in death, DUI with damage to a person or property and reckless driving on a total bond of $210,000.

If he bonds out, a judge ruled he must wear GPS and alcohol monitoring devices and submit to random testing. He must also remain in Broward County, he cannot drive and he must surrender his passport.

Advardo Dames, of the ​Royal Bahamas Police, spoke to Reuters Wednesday night and identified Brian Hooker, 59, as a suspect in the case, saying he was arrested at about 7:30 p.m. in Abaco, but is not formally charged at this time.

“He’s been taken into custody as a suspect. He’s been arrested,” Dames said.

Dames said Hooker is being questioned about what happened to his wife.

A Coast Guard spokesperson told The Associated Press late Wednesday that they have opened a criminal investigation into the case.

It wasn’t immediately clear if Hooker had an attorney.

Officials have said Lynette Hooker, 55, was traveling in an 8-foot motorboat from Hope Town to Elbow Cay on Saturday night, and that her husband, Brian Hooker, told authorities she fell overboard with the boat keys, causing the engine to turn off.

Authorities said Brian Hooker then paddled to shore and alerted someone about her disappearance early Sunday.

“Strong currents subsequently carried her away, and he lost sight of her,” police said in a statement issued Saturday.

Lynette Hooker’s mother, Darlene Hamlett, told The Associated Press late Wednesday that she was “glad to hear” about the arrest, but declined further comment, saying she was seeking more information.

Earlier on Wednesday, she said she wants to hear more from her son-in-law about how her daughter disappeared. The couple had been married for more than two decades and lived in Onsted, Michigan. Online records gave Brian Hooker’s age as 58, and the reason for the discrepancy wasn’t immediately clear.

“I’m going to be interested in what he says, because I haven’t heard from him in almost two days,” Hamlett said while on a six-hour drive back home from the Bahamian Consulate in Miami, where she secured a passport so she can fly to the Caribbean nation soon.

“Our family grew up on water and so Lynette her whole life has been near lakes, on boats, sailing and swimming,” Hamlett said. “It would be a miracle if (she’s rescued), but I’m still counting on one.”

Lynette Hooker’s daughter, Karli Aylesworth, told NBC News that it is unlikely her mother would “just fall” off the boat, saying she was an experienced sailor. The couple had been sailing for years and documented their voyages on social media under the moniker, “The Sailing Hookers.”

Aylesworth also told NBC that the couple’s relationship was volatile, and that they have a “history of not getting along, especially when they drink.”

She told WXYZ-TV she doubted her mother survived and was able to tread water that long, but hoped to find her to get closure.

On Wednesday morning, Brian Hooker wrote on Facebook that he is “heartbroken over the recent boat accident in unpredictable seas and high winds that caused my beloved Lynette to fall from our small dinghy near Elbow Cay in the Bahamas.”

“Despite desperate attempts to reach her, the winds and currents drove us further apart,” he wrote. “We continue to search for her and that is my sole focus.”

The U.S. Coast Guard has also joined the investigation and interviewed Aylesworth on Wednesday, according to her attorney, Ron Marienfeld.

“We are pleased to see it is being investigated, and hopefully more answers will come to give the family some closure,” Marienfeld said via email.

Bahamian police said search operations and investigative efforts remain active.

Local 10 News digital executive producer Amanda Batchelor contributed to this report.

Jarvis’ heroics 3:56 into OT came after a thrilling third period that included four goals being scored and another getting called off because of goaltender interference. Carolina became the first team since 1994 to win a Cup final game when trailing by multiple goals in the final 10 minutes.

“It was lot,” said Jarvis, who scored for just the fourth time this playoffs. “We did a great job controlling our emotions. We never got too high, never got too low. Just kept responding, and that’s what I love about this group is we always bounce back.”

Game 3 is Saturday night in Las Vegas. There is now a guarantee the series will return to Raleigh for a Game 5 next week.

That did not look anything close to certain when Hurricanes had almost nothing going for the first 45 minutes, falling behind by two goals as the Golden Knights took advantage of a couple of scoring chances and locked down defensively. A couple of strong shifts in the offensive zone just before the midway point of the third brought the crowd back to life because the Hurricanes were buzzing.

“The building is a tough building to play in when it gets going,” captain Jordan Staal said. “Obviously, we just needed a spark.”

Logan Stankoven, one of the team's best players this spring, provided he. Stankoven made a terrific individual effort to get them on the board, taking the puck away from Rasmus Andersson, going to the net and banking a shot off Jeremy Lauzon and in with 9:40 remaining in regulation.

Less than three minutes later, Mark Jankowski fired a shot past Carter Hart to tie it, flipping the script from Game 1, when Vegas erased a multigoal deficit and won. This is the first time each of the first two games of a Cup final featured a team falling behind by more than a goal and winning.

“Stanky did a great job getting it going and Janks with a great shot, and it just carried on from there,” Jarvis said.

A big decision by Vegas coach John Tortorella with five minutes left paved the way for it to happen.

Frederik Andersen initially went full extension to deny Ivan Barbashev with the paddle of his stick, and a scrum ensued in the crease that ended with the puck eventually in the net. Referee Jean Hebert waved it off immediately, saying Andersen was pushed into the net and ruling it was goaltender interference.

“I saw a loose puck in front of Freddie," Tortorella said. "Our player stabbed it, didn’t move the goalie and it goes through him into the other side. I’d challenge it 10 out of 10 times.”

Tortorella after some deliberation opted to use his coach’s challenge, and the on-ice officials in consultation with the NHL’s situation room confirmed the call on the ice stood.

“The ruling on the play was goaltender interference,” executive vice president and director of officiating Stephen Walkom told a pool reporter. “He waved it (off) immediately. He believed that it was under the goalie, and the Vegas player went after the puck and interfered with the goalie and his ability to freeze the puck and waived it off immediately.”

The punishment for a failed challenge is a 2-minute minor penalty. The Hurricanes went on the power play, where they had been so ineffective all night and most of the playoffs.

Not this time. Staal redirected Shayne Gostisbehere’s point shot in on the power play. with 4:35 left in regulation.

The Hurricanes killed off a penalty in the intervening time before allowing Stone to tie it with 1:21 left at 6 on 5 with Hart pulled for an extra skater. Carolina defenseman Jaccob Slavin actually knocked the puck into his own net on the play.

Eearly in overtime, Tomas Hertl tripped Staal to put Carolina back on the power play. That allowed Jarvis to score just Carolina’s ninth power play goal of the playoffs.

“That’s a step in the right direction,” Jarvis said. “Our power play found our groove tonight. It started with Jordo in the third, and there just making the right plays, playing smart and being aggressive and it worked out.”

Instead of Vegas going home looking to move to the verge of a second championship in nine years of existence, the series is all square, despite Hart making some big saves and Brett Howden scoring his playoff-leading 12th and 13th goals.

Asked what changed, a tight-lipped Tortorella said: “I have my thoughts. I’m not discussing it here.”

___

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

The letter, the first public message Zelenskyy has written directly to Putin since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, was a sweeping critique of the Russian leader’s 26 years in power.

Zelenskyy acknowledged shifting U.S. priorities, saying it would be wrong to simply wait for the Trump administration to return its attention to ending the Ukraine war while it remains heavily focused on the Iran war.

“I am proposing a meeting,” Zelenskyy wrote.

U.S. President Donald Trump said it “would be great” if Putin and Zelenskyy met. “They should get it done,” Trump said.

Asked what concessions he had urged Putin to make to end the war, Trump declined to provide details but said both sides would need to compromise.

“They’re going to both make compromises,” he said. “I suggested those compromises.”

Zelenskyy appeared to be trying to seize a pivotal moment in the war, as Ukraine has begun to regain some battlefield leverage largely through improved long-range strike capabilities that have complicated Russia’s advances. At the same time, Moscow has intensified its deadly aerial campaign across Ukraine, seeking to exploit Kyiv’s shortages and continued vulnerability to ballistic missile attacks.

He said the talks could be hosted by a neutral third country, ruling out both Moscow and Kyiv as venues and suggested Switzerland, Turkey or Arab states as possible hosts for negotiations.

“It is leaders who resolve the key issues. That has always been the case, and it always will be,” he wrote. “I propose to set a clear date for such a meeting.”

He said Ukrainian intelligence indicated Russia was considering plans to prolong the war into 2027 and 2028, while increasingly relying on ballistic missile strikes to achieve what its ground campaign had failed to accomplish.

Zelenskyy also accused Moscow of seeking to draw Belarus deeper into the conflict and of attempting to destabilize the situation around Transnistria, the breakaway Moldovan region backed by Russia.

The Ukrainian leader argued that Russia was increasingly feeling the costs of the war, pointing to drone attacks deep inside Russian territory, economic strain, fuel shortages, rising prices, and the necessity of more military mobilization.

Zelenskyy claimed Russia suffered more than 30,000 soldiers killed or seriously wounded in May alone, saying Ukraine had “video confirmation” of the battlefield losses and that such casualty levels had been sustained month after month.

He added that Ukraine also continues to suffer painful losses despite what he described as a favorable casualty ratio.

He said Ukraine was prepared to implement a full ceasefire for the duration of negotiations and proposed an all-for-all prisoner exchange as a first step toward ending the conflict.

Zelenskyy also called for the return of civilians and children taken from Ukraine during the war.

“The world has not grown tired of Ukraine, as you long hoped it would. But there is growing fatigue with Russia,” Zelenskyy said.

It’s not surprising that those have yet to be resolved, along with several closely contested congressional races, because the state routinely takes days, or even weeks, to fully tally races. Nor is it unusual for President Donald Trump to complain about the pace of the count and allege fraud, as he did Thursday. It’s something he’s done repeatedly in the past.

What was unusual was that Trump announced that his Department of Justice was investigating the count: “Why the vote counting DELAY???,” the president posted on his social media account.

He suggested that the state's Democrats were somehow cheating so two candidates he favors — Republican Steve Hilton in the governor's race and Spencer Pratt in the nonpartisan mayor's race — would be bumped from the top two slots and therefore ineligible for the November general election.

“You see what’s happening in California, they’re rigging the election," he told reporters during an Oval Office gathering Thursday.

Trump's posts prompted a response from Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, whose press office posted a clip of a CNN video explaining how the nation’s most populous state prioritizes accuracy and accessibility over speed, drawing out the count.

“For the record: we wish the votes were counted faster, too,” Newsom’s office posted.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles declined to comment on whether it was investigating the ballot counting.

Slow count is designed to ensure accuracy, but opens door to election lies

The law in California practically mandates a drawn-out count. Ballots are mailed to every eligible voter — some 23 million of them — and the state has permissive rules for returning them. They will be counted if they are postmarked by Election Day and arrive at an election office within seven days.

Only after the polls have closed and most of the country has gone to sleep can local election workers begin the lengthy process of verifying the legitimacy of the late-arriving mail ballots and then start to tabulate them.

If a voter’s signature on the ballot envelope doesn't match what's on file, election officials are required to give those voters a chance to come in and prove their identity so the ballot will count, delaying a final tally further.

“We might not like how California administers its elections (and I don’t),” wrote Stephen Richer, a former Republican election official in Maricopa County, Arizona, on the social platform X. “But that doesn’t make it fraud.”

Last year, Newsom signed a bill requiring the vote count to be completed within 13 days, rather than the previous 30 days. To get an extension, counties must inform the Secretary of State's Office of the reason for the delay.

That's not quick enough for the president: “The Dumocrats are at it again!” the president wrote on his social media platform. “They are trying to STEAL THE GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA PRIMARY, AND THE MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES, PRIMARY, AWAY FROM TWO GREAT REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES. Here we go with the very late and massive numbers of MAIL IN BALLOTS.”

In a video posted on X, Hilton slammed the state’s counting as “just another shambles brought to you by California Democrats.” Notably, he said that so far his campaign has seen nothing to indicate it will need to go to court. He urged his supporters to take advantage of the state, allowing voters to fix any issues with their mail ballots — one of the steps that drags out the count.

State Assemblymember Marc Berman, a Democrat who wrote the bill to accelerate ballot counting, said Trump’s comments about the counting process were disappointing and “a lie.”

“While Trump is laser focused on lying about our elections and undermining voters’ faith in our democracy, so that Republicans can then try to pass policies like Voter ID laws that make it harder for people to vote, our priority is to make sure that every validly cast ballot is counted,” he said in a statement.

Many Democratic voters waited until the last minute to cast their ballots

Some experts warned that the count from Tuesday's primary might take even longer than after previous elections.

“What compounds things this time around is that Democrats have been holding on to their ballots,” said Rick Hasen, a UCLA law professor.

The state's millions of Democrats this year were exceptionally slow to send in their ballots, apparently waiting until the last minute to make a selection in the ever-evolving governor's race. The state operates a primary in which the top two vote-getters, regardless of party, advance to the general election, and Democrats had been fretting for months that having so many Democrats in the race would splinter the vote, allowing two Republicans to claim the top two spots.

Democratic voters appeared to wait until the end to see which of their candidates was emerging as a favorite. The high number of late ballots will likely make the delay in getting final counts even greater.

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber issued a statement Thursday saying the state's priority was ensuring the tally is done correctly. “Accuracy comes before speed,” she said.

While millions of ballots have been counted by now, it's the uncounted ones that loom largest for close races.

Despite being an overwhelmingly Democratic state, California has featured some of the nation's closest congressional elections, sometimes decided by just a few hundred votes, so there's often no way to determine a winner until the weekslong ballot count has concluded. In 2024, one House race wasn't called until December.

Things get even more complicated in a primary election, such as Tuesday's. That's because the news isn't just the top vote-getter but also the second-place finisher. To know the true outcome of any race, enough votes need to be tallied to know for certain who finished in first and second.

Later ballots skew toward Democrats, feeding conspiracy theories

Another side effect of the enormous crush of late mail ballots that get tallied last is that the final vote gets more and more Democratic. That’s because Republicans are more likely to return their ballots early or vote in person on Election Day. Those ballots get counted first.

The gradual shift in the vote toward Democrats as ballot counting continues has sparked all sorts of conspiracy theories.

Republicans have long complained about the California count, even though the GOP did well in close House races in the state in 2024. The Republican National Committee filed lawsuits in other states challenging the legality of counting mail ballots that arrive after Election Day and the U.S. Supreme Court is poised to rule on the issue sometime this month.

But worries about the California vote count aren't only a partisan issue. Voting advocates have urged state lawmakers to better fund local election offices so they can process the avalanche of late-arriving ballots faster.

“The Legislature needs to throw a lot more money to get the count quicker,” Hasen said.

___

Associated Press writers Christopher Weber in Los Angeles and Sophie Austin in Sacramento contributed to this report.

“Ya tengo verduras para dos semanas, ahora que pase lo que pase”, dijo a The Associated Press Chávez, de 48 años, contenta de adquirir brócoli, lechugas y pepinos en Avircato, en los valles bajos en el sur de La Paz.

Chávez, madre de cuatro niños, prefirió caminar desde la medianoche para comprar directo de los productores porque dice que en los mercados tradicionales el precio se ha encarecido por los cortes de ruta que llevan cinco semanas y que mantienen aislada a La Paz para exigir la renuncia del presidente boliviano Rodrigo Paz.

El gobierno atribuye a los cortes de carreteras la muerte de al menos diez personas por no recibir atención médica oportuna.

La Paz y su vecina ciudad de El Alto son las más afectada donde escasean alimentos, oxígeno medicinal y combustible, mientras la solución no llega. Las autoridades dijeron el jueves que los puntos de bloqueos han disminuido de 90 a 60 en medio de un feriado por Corpus Cristi.

Las productoras de las verduras en Avircato han improvisado un mercado en las calles cerca de sus sembradíos para recibir a las compradoras.

Ana Sirpa, una cultivadora de choclos de 28 años, explicó que de esta forma no pierden su cosecha y “pueden recuperar lo invertido”, aunque aseguró que no va a generar ganancias. “No esperábamos que tardara tanto en solucionarse el conflicto”, señaló.

Ante la gran afluencia de compradores, los operadores turísticos locales alquilaron sus caballos y cuadriciclos para transportar a las personas en tramos cortos de la ruta.

En el camino a estas localidades productoras, consideradas la despensa de La Paz, se veían cantidades de tomates y lechugas podridas tiradas en el trayecto, así como largas filas de autos esperando gasolina en la zona. Los manifestantes controlaban que no salgan grandes cantidades de hortalizas y otros alimentos.

Mientras tanto, otras familias hacían largas fillas para conseguir carne de res y pollo que el gobierno trae vía aérea y que vende en tiendas oficiales al doble del precio normal.

Las protestas también golpean a los empresarios quienes reportaron pérdidas por cerca de 2.000 millones de dólares en medio de una dura crisis económica. El sector advierte que se encuentra al límite de su sostenibilidad y exige una rápida solución al conflicto.

Paz asumió en noviembre después de casi 20 años de gobiernos de izquierda y en medio de la profunda crisis de la economía. El mandatario centrista se ha resistido a decretar un estado de excepción y utilizar la fuerza pública para contrarrestar las protestas, abogando por una vía de diálogo que no ha dado resultados hasta el momento. Por la tarde se prevé un acercamiento del gobierno con un sector campesino que participa en los bloqueos.

“Hace cuánto estamos esperando una solución y hasta ahora no hay nada”, se quejó en un barrio al este de La Paz Mirian Chávez, una ama de casa desesperada que pidió al presidente que ordene un régimen de excepción.

Las protestas iniciaron en mayo lideradas por la Central Obrera Boliviana (COB) y a las que se sumaron sindicatos campesinos, juntas vecinales de la ciudad de El Alto y seguidores del expresidente Evo Morales (2006-2019), para exigir la renuncia de Paz. Alegan que sus pedidos sectoriales y de un aumento salarial no fueron atendidos a tiempo.

Mientras tanto, Estados Unidos reiteró su apoyo al presidente Paz. "Bolivia no debe permitirse caer presa del antiguo statu quo de dominio narcoterrorista en la región”, dijo el secretario de Defensa de Estados Unidos, Pete Hegseth, en su cuenta de X.

Poco antes, el expresidente Morales, un crítico a Estados Unidos, insistió que hay un supuesto plan que busca detenerlo y trasladarlo a la capital estadounidense. Él está atrincherado en el centro de Bolivia desde octubre de 2024 y ha evitado declarar sobre un presunto caso de abuso a una menor, por lo que tiene vigente una orden de detención.

McClain’s final words — “I can’t breathe” — foreshadowed those of George Floyd a year later in Minneapolis, and the Colorado man’s name became part of the rallying cries for social justice that swept the U.S. in 2020.

The appeals court ordered new trials for Aurora Fire Rescue paramedics Jeremy Cooper and Peter Cichuniec. McClain, 23, had been forcibly restrained and put in a neck hold by police, who stopped him in response to a suspicious person complaint as the massage therapist walked home from a convenience store in the Denver suburb in 2019.

Criminal charges against paramedics and emergency medical technicians involved in police custody cases are rare. As McClain’s death and others raised questions about the use of ketamine to subdue struggling suspects, this prosecution sent shock waves through the ranks of first responders across the U.S.

New trials in the case will return the issue to the spotlight, and that could make first responders think twice when responding to calls involving people in police custody, said University of Miami criminologist Alex Piquero.

“At 11 o'clock tonight when they're on a call, and the circumstances are the same, is this going to influence their behavior?" Piquero asked. “It may not be the first thing that comes into their heads, but it's going to be there."

A jury in 2023 found Cooper and Cichuniec guilty of criminally negligent homicide following a weekslong trial in state district court. The jurors also found Cichuniec guilty of second-degree felony assault.

Cichuniec received five years in prison. Cooper avoided prison and was sentenced to 14 months in jail with work release and probation.

State attorney general says he will appeal

The appeals court upheld Cichuniec's assault conviction, but faulted the instructions given to jurors with respect to the criminally negligent homicide charges before they deliberated. Thursday's ruling sends their cases back to a lower court for a new trial on that charge.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser will appeal Thursday’s decision, a spokesperson said.

“Bringing these cases to trial was the right thing to do for justice, for Elijah McClain, and for healing in the Aurora community,” Weiser said in a statement. “The attorney general’s office is committed to defending these convictions through the appeals process.”

An Aurora police officer was convicted of homicide and third degree assault in McClain’s death, while two other officers were acquitted.

Cichuniec was released early from prison in 2024 after a judge reduced his sentence to four years of probation. That judge, Mark Warner, cited “unusual and extenuating circumstances,” a part of Colorado’s mandatory sentencing law that allows a court to modify a sentence after a defendant has served least 119 days in prison. Warner said that Cichuniec had to make a quick decision the night of the arrest as the highest-ranking paramedic at the scene.

The International Association of Fire Fighters said in a statement it continued to support Cooper and Cichuniec, who are members of the labor union.

“Today’s ruling recognizes the challenges paramedics face when making split-second medical decisions in rapidly evolving situations,” said Edward Kelly, the association’s general president.

Local prosecutors initially declined to bring charges in McClain's death

Local prosecutors initially decided not to bring charges in McClain’s death largely because an initial autopsy was inconclusive on how how he died.

Following the nationwide protests over Floyd’s death, Democratic Gov. Jared Polis directed Weiser to re-investigate the McClain case. A grand jury indicted the two paramedics and three police officers when Dr. Stephen Cina, a forensic pathologist who performed McClain’s autopsy, changed his findings to pin the blame on the sedative ketamine after reviewing body camera footage from the scene.

The city of Aurora in 2021 agreed to pay $15 million to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit brought by McClain’s parents.

The Associated Press left a voicemail seeking comment with the attorney for McClain’s mother, Sheneen McClain. Other requests for comment were left with the paramedics' lawyers.

The paramedics’ defense attorneys argued they followed their training in giving ketamine to McClain after deciding he had “excited delirium,” a disputed condition invoked to justify excessive force that some say is unscientific. They also said prosecutors did not prove the sedative is what killed him.

Paramedics in Aurora had been trained to use the drug for the condition in 2018. State officials have since told paramedics to stop using excited delirium as a basis for administering ketamine.

An activist who befriended Sheneen McClain after they met at a protest said the appellate ruling was disappointing and “one of the most divisive judicial decisions our state has experienced in recent memory.”

"It strikes at the heart of a question that Colorado continues to struggle to answer: When a Black life is taken under circumstances that shock the conscience of the public, what does accountability truly mean?” said MiDian Shofner, CEO of the Epitome of Black Excellence and Partnership.

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Brown reported from Billings, Montana. Thomas Peipert contributed reporting from Denver.

Darryl Brown, a sergeant in the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, was caught with the missing items after the photojournalist used a geo-tracking device to trace her missing gear to his home, the state’s attorney general said Thursday.

The journalist, Angelina Katsanis, was on assignment for The Associated Press at Delaney Hall on Saturday night when she was struck in the knee by a wood beam during a clash between police and demonstrators.

As she hobbled to a medical tent to seek attention, Katsanis left behind her gear bag, which was marked with her name and contact information. When she was eventually allowed to return to the area — now in a wheelchair — the bag was gone.

“I checked my Airtag and the bag was already on a highway pretty far away at that point,” Katsanis recalled. “Right away, I had a feeling it was the police because they were the only ones with access to that area."

As Katsanis sought treatment in a nearby hospital, the Airtag pinged to a home in Sparta, New Jersey, which was listed as belonging to Brown, according to the attorney general's office. The device was later recovered on the side of a road, miles away from the home where it was initially taken.

A subsequent review of Brown’s body camera footage showed him “interacting” with the bag at the protest location, according to the attorney general's office. A search warrant executed at his home Wednesday turned up several of the missing items, some bearing Katsanis’ name and phone number, the complaint said.

Information for Brown's attorney was not immediately available. A message left at a phone number listed for Brown was not immediately returned. He faces charges of third-degree theft. He has been suspended without pay, according to the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office.

Katsanis, who has training in covering hostile environments, said the incident had left her deeply shaken.

“I’ve thought a lot about how the officers are supposed to be there to uphold the law and protect us and protect property — and this is the exact opposite of that,” she said.

The detention center has become a flashpoint for protests against President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, with frequent clashes between demonstrators and law enforcement.

Those demonstrations intensified in recent weeks as advocates said detainees inside launched a hunger strike over poor living conditions at the 1,000-bed facility. The federal government has denied allegations of substandard conditions and accused protesters of inflaming tensions.

Katsanis said she suffered swelling and bruising on her leg but did not break any bones.

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Joel James Taveras was arrested Wednesday after an investigation by the North Miami Beach Police Department, they said.

According to the report, police were called on March 31 by the city manager and chief financial officer regarding an alleged theft and fraud scheme involving Taveras, who had worked as a pool attendant for the city’s Parks and Recreation Department for the past four years.

Investigators said city officials were alerted by staff members and Bank of America that Taveras, 20, had been receiving duplicate payroll payments each week from February 2025 through February 2026.

They said the payments, which were processed through Bank of America and several Amscot locations in Miami-Dade County, totaled approximately $24,000.

Police served subpoenas to Amscot and Bank of America and obtained banking records and checks related to the transactions, the report states.

Police said Taveras was located within North Miami Beach city limits on Wednesday and taken to NMBPD headquarters for questioning.

After being read of his Miranda rights, he was arrested and later transported to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.

Jail records show Taveras is facing one count of organized scheme to defraud and third-degree grand theft.

As of Thursday afternoon, he was being held on a $5,000 bond at TGK.

It was not immediately clear why Taveras was receiving duplicate payroll payments from the city or whether investigators believe he played a role in causing the payments to be issued.

Joel James Taveras fue arrestado el miércoles tras una investigación realizada por el Departamento de Policía de North Miami Beach, informaron las autoridades.

Según el informe, la policía fue contactada el 31 de marzo por el administrador municipal y el director financiero de la ciudad en relación con un presunto esquema de robo y fraude que involucraba a Taveras, quien había trabajado como asistente de piscina para el Departamento de Parques y Recreación durante los últimos cuatro años.

Los investigadores indicaron que funcionarios de la ciudad fueron alertados por empleados y por Bank of America de que Taveras, de 20 años, había estado recibiendo pagos de nómina duplicados cada semana desde febrero de 2025 hasta febrero de 2026.

Indicaron que los pagos, procesados a través de Bank of America y varias sucursales de Amscot en el condado Miami-Dade, totalizaron aproximadamente $24,000 USD.

La policía emitió citaciones a Amscot y Bank of America y obtuvo registros bancarios y cheques relacionados con las transacciones, señala el informe.

La policía informó que Taveras fue localizado dentro de los límites de la ciudad de North Miami Beach el miércoles y trasladado a la sede del departamento para ser interrogado.

Después de ser informado de sus derechos Miranda, fue arrestado y posteriormente trasladado al Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight.

Los registros carcelarios muestran que Taveras enfrenta un cargo de esquema organizado para defraudar y un cargo de hurto mayor en tercer grado.

Hasta la tarde del jueves, permanecía detenido en TGK con una fianza de $5,000 USD.

No quedó claro de inmediato por qué Taveras estaba recibiendo pagos de nómina duplicados de la ciudad ni si los investigadores creen que desempeñó algún papel en la emisión de esos pagos.

Crewmembers on the May 3 flight from Venice, Italy, also recalled hearing a loud “thump” and feeling a “mild jolt” just before touchdown at Newark Liberty International Airport, the National Transportation Safety Board stated in its initial report.

The first officer recalled saying “you are still slow and a little low" as the plane descended, according to the report. He then recalled looking back outside and thinking the plane was low, but just about to touch down.

The report provides the first description of the events from the crew inside the plane, but it doesn’t identify a specific reason why the plane came in so low, or make recommendations about how to prevent similar incidents. That is not expected until the NTSB releases its final report, likely sometime next year.

But the report clarifies for the first time that it was debris from the light pole, and not the plane itself, that hit a truck traveling on the New Jersey Turnpike. Law enforcement officials initially said the plane had hit the top of a bakery truck, causing minor injuries to the driver.

The report says the truck’s windshield was damaged and its trailer punctured, but that there was no evidence of tire marks on either the tractor cab or trailer.

The Boeing 767 was able to land safely, though it sustained “substantial” damage to its fuselage and one of its landing tires had evidence of slash marks, according to the NTSB report. None of the more than 200 people aboard the plane were hurt.

Regular drivers on that stretch of Interstate 95 near the Newark airport are likely used to seeing planes coming in low as they cross the highway in preparation for landing.

Dashboard camera video from inside the truck showed the moment of impact. The driver is seen singing happily to himself, then glancing out his window with a slight look of concern as the sound of the jet’s whining engines begins on the recording. A moment later, part of the plane zooms into view out the driver’s side window.

The NTSB report suggests the pilot intentionally took a shallow approach to the runway that was below the established flight path, said D. Blake Stringer, director of the Center for Aviation Studies at The Ohio State University.

“It’s not surprising that the airplane clipped infrastructure near the runway,” he said. “If a pilot can’t fly the intended flight path, the general recommendation is to steepen the angle of descent, not shallow it out.”

Steve Arroyo, a retired United Airlines captain and safety expert, said the pilots don’t appear to have properly prepared for their designated runway’s unique landing requirements, even though they could have made or requested more time.

“They were already below where they should have been before they even crossed over the New Jersey Turnpike," he said.

The plane’s runway assignment changed three times before landing, the report states. The tarmac it ultimately landed on is the shortest runway at the airport and is generally only used when there are strong winds like there were that afternoon.

Aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti said those strong winds also appeared to be challenging for the pilot. An air traffic controller told the pilots at the time winds were gusting up to 31 mph (50 kph).

At one point shortly before landing, the pilot told investigators that he “got fast” as he turned the airplane into the headwind, the report states. The pilot pulled the power levers back to compensate as wind gusts produced “moderate turbulence.”

United Airlines declined to comment.

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Associated Press transportation reporter Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska contributed to this story.

James “Weston” Higginbotham, estudiante de tercer año de ingeniería ambiental en la Universidad de Auburn, no regresó al hotel donde se hospedaba en Kioto.

Según las publicaciones habituales de su madre en Facebook, un vídeo de vigilancia lo mostraba en una estación de tren en Yamashina, la puerta de entrada oriental a Kioto.

“No es raro que Weston se desahogue yendo al bosque a explorar. Ese es su lugar favorito. Estoy pensando… que simplemente se perdió en el bosque”, dijo su madre, Nancy Higginbotham, a CNN .

El 2 de junio, un tifón azotó la zona. El FBI, la policía de la prefectura de Kioto y voluntarios participaron en la búsqueda masiva, en la que también intervinieron perros policía y helicópteros.

En la iglesia metodista unida Asbury en Birmingham, Robert Holt, el abuelo del estudiante, declaró el jueves a la cadena WVTM-TV que el graduado de la escuela secundaria Spain Park había completado recientemente un triatlón Ironman.

La última vez que se vio a “Weston” vestía una camiseta blanca con el lema “Salven a las abejas” y dos abejorros , pantalones de pana de color lila claro y zapatillas Adidas blancas y negras.

La zona donde creemos que Weston está desaparecido tiene abundante agua y pocas bayas. Todavía hay esperanza.

“La policía se reunirá mañana para elaborar un nuevo plan que incluirá la revisión de grabaciones adicionales de cámaras de seguridad para investigar otra pista. También desplegarán un equipo más pequeño en el bosque”, escribió su madre el jueves en Facebook.

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The infestation was discovered in a single 3-week-old calf in La Pryor, Texas, about 100 miles (161 kilometers) southwest of San Antonio and 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the U.S.-Mexico border. Federal and state officials had been working to keep the parasite from reaching Texas, home to $17 billion worth of the nation's cattle, making it the industry's No. 1 state.

The deadly flies were detected in Mexico late in 2024, after years of being contained at the southern end of Panama.

The fly was an annual warm-weather scourge of cattle ranchers from at least the 1930s through the 1960s, until the U.S. eradicated the pest by breeding sterile male flies and dropping swarms of them from planes to mate with wild females. The USDA said the most recent case was the first in Texas since 1966.

Here is what to know about the fly, the threat it poses and the response:

Being unusual makes the flies a threat

The New World screwworm fly in the Western Hemisphere and its Old World cousin in Africa and Asia are unusual among flies because their larvae, or maggots, eat live flesh and fluids instead of dead material. Females lay their eggs in open wounds and mucous membranes after mating only once in their monthslong lives.

Any warm-blooded animal, including wildlife, pets and occasionally even humans, can be infested.

Livestock are vulnerable because of how they're handled, Lee Haines, an associate research professor of biological sciences at the University of Notre Dame, said in an email Thursday. Standard practices with cattle can break the skin, including shearing and de-horning, or even moving them in and out of corrals can cause scrapes and cuts. Birth would also make a mother and calf vulnerable, she said.

Stephen Diebel, a Texas rancher and president of the Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, added that even wounds “as small as a tick bite,” can put cattle at risk.

Death can result if an infestation is not treated, though a dozen treatments have been approved for use in a variety of species. In decades past, ranchers had tens of millions of dollars in losses — potentially billions in today's dollars.

But agriculture officials were quick to note that the fly does not infest food, and U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said it’s unlikely to damage beef production -- welcome news given that consumers are already facing record prices.

Officials sounded alarms for nearly 2 years

Federal and state officials and cattle industry leaders have been sounding public alarms about the fly's movement through Mexico and toward the U.S. since a case was confirmed in southern Mexico in November 2024.

Officials had considered the pest eradicated from Central and North America nearly two decades before an outbreak in Panana prompted a state of emergency there early in 2023, according to the joint U.S.-Panama program established in 1994 to stop the parasite. Cases jumped to Costa Rica and Nicaragua later that year.

Edward Burgess, a University of Florida entomologist who studies the fly, said it reproduces quickly and is carried across wide areas by its hosts, namely wild animals such as deer. Outside of Panama, he said, programs that produced and released sterile flies have largely shut down.

"It’s hard to stay ahead of it because of how fast that fly is able to move and regenerate,” Burgess said.

Outside the US, thousands of animals and hundreds of humans sickened

As of June 2, the parasite had sickened more than 171,700 animals and 2,000 people across Central America and Mexico, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There have been 10 human deaths, the CDC says.

Starting in May 2025, Rollins closed border entries to livestock and on Thursday she credited that move with delaying the fly's arrival in Texas by a year.

Rollins has argued that the Mexican government has not done enough to control animals moving within the country, a suggestion Mexican authorities have rejected.

But Haines said climate change is a key element in the spread of a tropical species that thrives in warm weather. Warmer temperatures are expanding the fly's habitat and cold snaps that killed them off each year in marginal habitats are becoming less frequent and less severe, she said.

Officials quarantine a swath of Texas

Texas State Veterinarian Bud Dinges imposed a 12-mile (20-kilometer) quarantine zone covering much of Zavala County, home to La Pryor, and a small part of neighboring Uvalde County. Animals cannot leave that zone without being inspected.

Local ranchers are concerned that the fly will spread among wildlife, particularly deer, as a small, short-lived outbreak did in the Florida Keys in 2016. That was the last time a U.S. case was confirmed among animals, though the CDC confirmed a case last year in a Maryland man who had traveled to El Salvador and recovered.

Zavalas County Sheriff Eusevio Salinas said Thursday that state officials were setting up several road checkpoints in the county to enforce the quarantine.

“They said they were going to do that for three to four days, and hopefully after that it’s already under control,” Salinas said.

In Texas, shots and fly drops

Diebel, whose family ranch is about 200 miles (322 kilometers) east of the quarantine zone, said ranchers are proactively giving injections that prevent screwworm infestation. They’re also taking extra care to treat wounds from ear tagging and other practices and keeping a close eye for signs of illness.

The USDA has been dropping sterile flies in south Texas since February, when it opened a center for dispersing them in south Texas. It is now dropping them twice a week, for a total of 4 million flies, and it’s also putting 4 million more a week in the ground as pupae, flies in the stage between larvae and adult, said Rear Admiral Michael Schmoyer, a member of the USDA’s response team.

Releasing sterile files is both time-tested and highly effective. While males are “promiscuous,” in the scientific sense, females are not, and if their one mating hookup is with a sterile male, no eggs from that female will hatch.

Once sterile males are prevalent enough, the fly’s population declines and then dies out.

But with sites outside Panama shut down for years, the USDA didn't think sterile flies were being bred fast enough. It invested $21 million in a new fly-breeding facility in southern Mexico that is expected to start operations next month.

The USDA also is spending $750 million to build a fly factory in southern Texas that can produce up to 300 million sterile flies a week. It is expected to begin operating next fall.

After two years, DeVaux stopped pursuing a degree and took a chance on her passion for horse racing, where she started as a hot walker for late trainer Chuck Simon. She set her sights on one day being an exercise rider.

On Saturday, DeVaux won’t be crossing Union Avenue as a hot walker, or riding and working them out on the Oklahoma Training Track. Five weeks after becoming the first woman to train a Kentucky Derby winner, she'll watch Golden Tempo run in the 158th Belmont Stakes at Saratoga Race Course to close out the Triple Crown.

“It’s an amazing opportunity to get to spend with my family in the build-up and the week of,” DeVaux said. “Getting to spend time with my family, the young ones that don’t get to come to the races — my nieces and nephews — so I’m really looking forward to the opportunity to share what I do with them.”

DeVaux's Derby celebration went viral as she celebrated with her family. But she was more excited about the victory than the history.

“I just see myself as a horse trainer,” DeVaux said. “I thought winning the Kentucky Derby was an achievable goal at some point in my career. It’s an honor to be the one that is the first female. But that’s not really what my focus is on.”

DeVaux could become the second female trainer to win the Belmont in four years, following Jena Antonucci with Arcangelo in 2023.

Janet Elliot, the only woman to be inducted into the National Horse Racing Hall of Fame as a trainer for her success in steeplechase, watched the Derby and was excited for DeVaux but shared the same sentiment.

“I’m just a trainer,” Elliot said. “I didn’t feel like I was a woman in a man’s sport. I’m just doing my job, and that’s how I came about it.”

After DeVaux worked for Simon, she transferred to work with Chad Brown as an assistant trainer. She said that time gave her valuable experience working with top-level horses.

DeVaux opened her own stable in 2018 based in Lexington, Kentucky, and has won some big races with horses like She Feels Pretty and Vahva. But, nothing beat the feeling of the Derby, when Golden Tempo made a surge from the back of the pack to win as a 23-1 long shot.

Even though she is based in Kentucky and grew up in southwest Florida, Saratoga locals have shown a lot of support for DeVaux because of her ties to the area.

“Having a local connection always just amps up everything around here and the interest level,” Saratoga Chamber of Commerce President Todd Shimkus said. “Cherie, this year, is the rock star coming back to Saratoga, where she’s got family and friends and a community that has totally embraced the historic success she’s had, especially this year.”

The Belmont taking place at Saratoga for the third and final time before returning to Belmont Park next year gives DeVaux a chance to celebrate in the winner's circle at the place she started her career.

“It’s a beautiful track,” DeVaux said. “It’s all about horse racing. The whole town, that is their highlight and focus. It’s really exciting to be a part of that.”

___

AP horse racing: https://apnews.com/hub/horse-racing

Los científicos señalan que el cambio climático merece gran parte de la culpa, pero no toda.

El nivel nacional de smog bajó un 11% de 2003 a 2015, cuando entraron en vigor estrictas regulaciones federales sobre plantas eléctricas, automóviles y motores diésel. Pero desde entonces, a medida que crecen los incendios forestales, el promedio nacional de ozono a nivel del suelo —que es smog— aumentó un 4%. Eso significa que, si el humo aumenta al ritmo actual, el smog volverá a niveles de 2003 en 20 años, indicó el autor principal del estudio, Weizhi Deng, científico atmosférico de la Universidad de Iowa.

En el estudio, publicado el jueves en la revista Science, también se calcula un aumento de muertes por el ozono que ataca los pulmones, utilizando estudios epidemiológicos establecidos previamente donde se compararon las tasas de mortalidad en aire limpio y aire contaminado. Se calculó un incremento de 318 muertes de estadounidenses por año desde 2013.

“Durante los últimos 20 años, gracias a las regulaciones, seguimos disminuyendo las emisiones” de sustancias químicas que provocan smog de origen humano, indicó el coautor del estudio Meng Zhou, investigador de incendios forestales de la Universidad de Iowa. “Sin embargo, debido a los incendios forestales, que en realidad provienen de peligros naturales, todos esos esfuerzos quedaron anulados”.

Cobertura limitada de monitores de smog

El estudio resultó novedoso por la forma en que se calculó el nivel nacional de smog, compensando el hecho de que la Agencia de Protección Ambiental de Estados Unidos (EPA, por sus siglas en inglés) tiene un número limitado de monitores del fenómeno. Estos cubren solo el 2% del país, en su mayoría en zonas urbanas. Por ello, Deng y sus colegas usaron esas observaciones —junto con datos y modelos satelitales, de contaminación y meteorológicos— y luego emplearon inteligencia artificial para crear un conjunto de datos nacional de niveles de ozono que mostró el recuento de smog con una resolución apenas superior a 1 kilómetro (media milla).

Las cifras de la EPA muestran que el nivel nacional de ozono desde 2015 ha oscilado alrededor de la misma marca, subiendo y bajando unos pocos puntos porcentuales, pero Deng explicó: “al considerar todos los lugares de Estados Unidos, en realidad encontramos un aumento del ozono a partir de 2015”.

El método que utiliza inteligencia artificial es sólido porque parte de “conjuntos de datos enormes y confiables”, y luego usa modelos informáticos para rellenar los vacíos de una manera sensata y crear una imagen de alta resolución “excepcional”, afirmó Cristina Archer, profesora de medio ambiente de la Universidad de Delaware, quien no participó en el estudio.

La directora de políticas de Megafire Action, Teresa Feo, señaló que “desde hace tiempo los expertos han pedido ampliar la red de monitoreo de la contaminación del aire para mejorar la investigación sobre la exposición al humo de incendios forestales y proporcionar los datos necesarios para proteger mejor la salud pública”.

Durante décadas, Estados Unidos rastreó seis contaminantes atmosféricos tradicionales, incluidos el smog y el hollín, compuestos por partículas diminutas. En este nuevo estudio se analizó solo el ozono, mientras que, en un estudio de 2023, realizado por muchos de los mismos integrantes del equipo, se examinó la contaminación por partículas pequeñas. Se encontró que la tendencia a la baja en los niveles de hollín también se había revertido. El humo de los incendios forestales incrementó las muertes por contaminación de partículas en alrededor de 670 por año, según el estudio de 2023.

Cómo los incendios desencadenan problemas de salud

Los incendios no producen ozono en sí, pero liberan sustancias químicas precursoras que se convierten en smog cuando interactúan con la luz solar, indicaron los científicos.

“Concentraciones diarias más altas de ozono pueden aumentar los ataques de asma, los ingresos hospitalarios y la mortalidad”, señaló Kristie Ebi, científica de salud pública y clima de la Universidad de Washington. No es tan mortal como las partículas diminutas, añadió, pero “sigue siendo un contaminante muy importante, por eso está regulado”.

Durante las temporadas de humo intenso por incendios forestales de 2022, 2023 y 2024, gran parte de esos fenómenos se produjo en Canadá, pero el humo se desplazó hacia el sur. En Estados Unidos, 43 millones de personas estuvieron expuestas a niveles de smog que superaron el estándar de seguridad vigente de la EPA, de acuerdo con el estudio.

Y ese estándar no es lo suficientemente estricto, sostuvo la doctora Lynn Goldman, exdecana de la Escuela de Salud Pública de la Universidad George Washington y exadministradora adjunta de la EPA. El gobierno del expresidente Joe Biden retrasó en 2023 los planes para endurecer esos estándares, y luego la administración de Trump cambió regulaciones que consideran las muertes y los impactos en la salud en las normas sobre smog y hollín.

Los mayores aumentos en los niveles de ozono se registraron en las Montañas Rocosas del Norte, que estaban cerca de muchos de los incendios, y en la región centro-norte, hacia donde se desplazó el humo más tarde, explicó Deng.

Más incendios, más humo

La cantidad promedio de tierras estadounidenses que los incendios forestales queman cada año ahora es un 9% mayor que la que se registró de 2003 a 2014, según el Centro Nacional Interinstitucional de Incendios. Pero los incendios forestales en Canadá han sido particularmente graves desde 2022, indicaron los científicos. Señalaron a 2023, cuando los cielos se volvieron anaranjados y la gente en el Este usaba mascarillas debido al humo proveniente de Canadá.

La cantidad de terreno quemado en 2023 en Canadá no solo fue un récord, sino que duplicó el récord anterior, dijo el científico atmosférico Brendan Rogers, del Woodwell Climate Research Center. El humo de los incendios canadienses de ese año causó 82.100 muertes en todo el mundo —33.000 en Estados Unidos— debido a la contaminación por partículas, se calculó en un estudio en 2025.

El cambio climático, derivado de la quema de carbón, petróleo y gas, incrementó en al menos un 50% la intensidad de la temporada de incendios de 2023 en Canadá y duplicó las probabilidades de que haya condiciones meteorológicas más secas y calurosas que se requieren para que haya fuego, se concluyó en un estudio de 2023.

“El cambio climático causado por el ser humano es un contribuyente importante, porque incrementa las condiciones del clima propicias para generar incendios —calor y sequedad— en muchas regiones”, señaló el científico atmosférico Lixu Jin, de Rutgers, quien no participó en el estudio. “Pero las emisiones de los incendios forestales también dependen de los combustibles, la gestión del territorio, las igniciones, la supresión y la meteorología de un año a otro”.

La exadministradora de la EPA Gina McCarthy, quien sirvió en la administración Obama, dijo que era desalentador ver cómo se erosionaban las mejoras en el smog.

Los incendios forestales causan muerte y destrucción, pero el mayor peligro podría provenir del humo y del calor extremo que aumentan el ozono que perjudica la salud de las personas, argumentó.

“Así que la gran pregunta es: ¿cuándo vamos a detener el disparate de esta administración de quemar cada vez más ‘hermosos’ combustibles fósiles?”, planteó McCarthy.

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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 Packers announced Thursday they had signed Watson to an extension without disclosing terms, but a person with knowledge of the contract told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity that the 27-year-old receiver is getting a four-year, $110.5 million extension through 2030 with a $31 million signing bonus.

ESPN first reported the extension.

Watson becomes the second Packers receiver to get an extension this offseason. Jayden Reed agreed in April to a three-year extension that includes $50.25 million in new money and $20 million guaranteed.

“Grateful is an understatement ... so blessed,” Watson said in an Instagram story post.

Watson tore his right anterior cruciate ligament in Green Bay’s 2024 regular-season finale, but he came back last season to catch 35 passes for 611 yards and six touchdowns in 10 games. He tied for the team lead in touchdown catches and ranked second in yards receiving despite missing much of the season.

While recovering from his torn ACL, Watson signed a one-year, $13.25 million extension last fall that enabled his contract to run through 2026. Now he has a longer-term commitment.

Watson, Doubs and 2025 first-round pick Matthew Golden figure to lead a receiving unit that lost a couple of notable performers when Romeo Doubs signed with the New England Patriots and Dontayvion Wicks was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles.

“It was definitely tough to see those guys go because they’re great friends of mine, great teammates,” Watson said this week. “This thing always keeps on moving. I definitely think they’ll be a lot more opportunities for the guys who are out there this year, myself included. Just got to embrace that and continue to make plays when our numbers are called.”

Watson, a 2022 second-round pick from North Dakota State, has been a quality deep threat for the Packers when available. Injuries have limited him to 48 games over his first four seasons.

He spoke this week about how much he should benefit from having a full offseason in which he’s feeling healthy rather than recovering from an injury.

“It makes a big difference between just finding a rhythm and building that confidence with the whole offense and personally just being able to work on my craft and get a feel for things,” Watson said. “It’s definitely a lot smoother of an offseason for me this year, being able to do everything.”

Watson has 133 catches for 2,264 yards — an average of 17 yards per reception — and 20 touchdowns. He also has run for two touchdowns.

Billy Howton and James Lofton are the only other players in Packers history to average at least 17 yards per catch while having at least 125 receptions in their first four seasons.

___

AP Pro Football Writer Rob Maaddi contributed to this report.

___

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Jones, 42, announced on May 27 that he was not going to seek reelection for Florida Senate District 34, which he had represented since 2022.

“I also told you that when I was ready to share what comes next, you would hear directly from me,” Jones said in a video released on X.

After U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson announced her retirement on May 29, Florida Rep. Ashley Gantt announced her campaign for Jones’s seat and released a statement saying Jones was seeking Wilson’s seat.

“As Congresswoman Wilson passes the torch and Senator Shevrin Jones announces his campaign for Congressional District 24, this moment also creates an opening, and I believe I am ready to fill it,” Gantt said in the statement.

Florida Democrats faced conflict after a Republican majority passed a redistricting map on April 29 and Gov. Ron DeSantis signed it into law on May 4. U.S.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz announced on May 22 that she had decided not to run for reelection in the 25th Congressional District, but instead run in the 20th District. She faced backlash from Black Democrats.

On Tuesday, U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters that he had not decided whether or not to endorse Wasserman Schultz, whom he praised for her “strong” track record.

“I think we all recognize the sensitivities of the moment in terms of an unprecedented Jim Crow-like assault on Black political representation that has been unleashed by the Supreme Court’s outrageous decision to gut the Voting Rights Act, and it’s an environment that all of us need to be sensitive to,” Jeffries said.

Before his official announcement, Jones also shared an Eventbrite invitation for the event at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday at Koinonia Worship Center, at 4900 W Hallandale Beach Boulevard, in Hollywood.

“I want you all to meet me where it all started ... the church where I was raised,” Jones said in the video.

The primary election is on Aug. 28, and the midterm election is Nov. 3. For more information about key election dates in Florida, visit this page.

VOTER GUIDE: Here is how to prepare for Florida’s Aug. 18 primary election

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🚨ANNOUNCEMENT🚨

Join me next week at Koinonia Worship Center where it all started, on Tuesday June 9th at 6:30pm!

The future is OURS to build, I look forward to seeing you there.

Link in bio: https://t.co/iaXWX4Oyuz pic.twitter.com/gVPyCINvgQ

— Shevrin “Shev” Jones (@ShevrinJones) June 4, 2026

Jones, de 42 años, anunció el 27 de mayo que no se presentaría a la reelección para el Distrito 34 del Senado de Florida , al que había representado desde 2022.

“También les dije que cuando estuviera listo para compartir lo que viene después, lo escucharían directamente de mí”, dijo Jones en un video publicado en X.

Después de que la representante estadounidense Frederica Wilson anunciara su retiro el 29 de mayo, la representante de Florida, Ashley Gantt, anunció su candidatura para el escaño de Jones y emitió un comunicado diciendo que Jones aspiraba al puesto de Wilson.

“Ahora que la congresista Wilson me pasa el testigo y el senador Shevrin Jones anuncia su candidatura para el Distrito 24 del Congreso , este momento también crea una oportunidad, y creo que estoy preparado para aprovecharla”, dijo Gantt en el comunicado.

Los demócratas de Florida se enfrentaron a un conflicto después de que la mayoría republicana aprobara un mapa de redistribución de distritos el 29 de abril y el gobernador Ron DeSantis lo promulgara el 4 de mayo.

La representante Debbie Wasserman Schultz anunció el 22 de mayo que había decidido no presentarse a la reelección en el distrito congresional número 25, sino hacerlo en el distrito número 20. Esto le valió críticas por parte de los demócratas afroamericanos .

El martes, el líder de la minoría en la Cámara de Representantes de Estados Unidos, Hakeem Jeffries, declaró a los periodistas que aún no había decidido si respaldaría o no a Wasserman Schultz, a quien elogió por su sólida trayectoria.

“Creo que todos reconocemos la delicadeza del momento en lo que respecta a un ataque sin precedentes, similar al de las leyes de segregación racial de Jim Crow, contra la representación política de la población negra, desatado por la indignante decisión de la Corte Suprema de desmantelar la Ley de Derechos Electorales, y es un entorno al que todos debemos ser sensibles”, dijo Jeffries.

Antes de su anuncio oficial, Jones también compartió una invitación de Eventbrite para el evento que tendrá lugar el martes a las 18:30 en el Koinonia Worship Center, ubicado en 4900 W Hallandale Beach Boulevard, en Hollywood.

“Quiero que todos me conozcan donde todo comenzó... en la iglesia donde me crié”, dijo Jones en el video.

Las elecciones primarias se celebrarán el 28 de agosto y las elecciones de mitad de mandato el 3 de noviembre. Para obtener más información sobre las fechas clave de las elecciones en Florida, visite esta página .

GUÍA DEL VOTANTE: Aquí le explicamos cómo prepararse para las elecciones primarias de Florida del 18 de agosto.

Gráfico interactivo sobre la redistribución de distritos

Publicación relacionada en redes sociales

🚨ANNOUNCEMENT🚨

Join me next week at Koinonia Worship Center where it all started, on Tuesday June 9th at 6:30pm!

The future is OURS to build, I look forward to seeing you there.

Link in bio: https://t.co/iaXWX4Oyuz pic.twitter.com/gVPyCINvgQ

— Shevrin “Shev” Jones (@ShevrinJones) June 4, 2026

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According to an arrest report from the Broward Sheriff’s Office, Davie police informed BSO Tuesday that Charles Robert Wingold had called a friend and told him that he was going to kill his mother and father and then himself.

Davie police gave BSO deputies the address to Wingold’s grandmother, which was also his last known address.

According to the report, deputies from the agency’s Oakland Park District went to the address and spoke with his grandmother who was able to track his location through her cellphone and saw that he was near his mother’s apartment.

Deputies then contacted Wingold’s mother, who they said told them that her son had been at the gate to her apartment complex, trying to gain entry.

Wingold had already left by the time deputies arrived, authorities said.

According to the report, deputies found Wingold a short time later at a gas station located at 301 E. Sample Road and took him into custody.

He was transported to the Oakland Park District office where he admitted to sending suicidal and homicidal messages via a group chat involving his mother, stepfather and grandmother, the report stated.

According to the report, detectives found various messages on Wingold’s phone, including one that said “she’ll get a bullet in her head” and “for all of you to die.”

Detectives said he also made a statement, indicating that he wanted to end his own life.

Wingold was arrested on charges of intimidation/written threats to kill and use of a communications device to facilitate a felony.

As of Thursday afternoon, Wingold was being held at the North Broward Bureau on an $8,500 bond.

Según un informe de arresto de la Oficina del Sheriff de Broward, la Policía de Davie informó el martes a la BSO que Charles Robert Wingold llamó a un amigo y le dijo que iba a matar a su madre y a su padre, y luego se quitaría la vida.

La Policía de Davie proporcionó a los agentes de la BSO la dirección de la abuela de Wingold, que también era su última dirección conocida.

Según el informe, agentes del distrito de Oakland Park acudieron a la vivienda y hablaron con la abuela, quien pudo rastrear la ubicación de Wingold a través de su teléfono celular y observó que se encontraba cerca del apartamento de su madre.

Posteriormente, los agentes se comunicaron con la madre de Wingold, quien les dijo que su hijo había estado en la entrada de su complejo de apartamentos intentando ingresar.

Las autoridades indicaron que Wingold ya se había marchado cuando los agentes llegaron al lugar.

Según el informe, los agentes localizaron a Wingold poco tiempo después en una gasolinera ubicada en 301 E. Sample Road y lo arrestaron.

Fue trasladado a la oficina del distrito de Oakland Park, donde admitió haber enviado mensajes suicidas y homicidas a través de un chat grupal en el que participaban su madre, su padrastro y su abuela, señala el informe.

Según el reporte, los detectives encontraron varios mensajes en el teléfono de Wingold, incluido uno que decía: “Recibirá una bala en la cabeza” y otro que decía: “Para que todos ustedes mueran”.

Los detectives dijeron que también realizó declaraciones indicando que quería quitarse la vida.

Wingold fue arrestado por cargos de intimidación o amenazas escritas de muerte y uso de un dispositivo de comunicación para facilitar la comisión de un delito grave.

Hasta la tarde del jueves, Wingold permanecía detenido en el North Broward Bureau con una fianza de $8,500 USD.

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Doral police took Mikaila Lopez, 20, into custody on a first-degree grand theft charge just before 6 p.m. Wednesday, shortly after they said the crime took place.

Investigators said Lopez and the man had been dating for two months and were staying at a home on Northwest 68th Terrace in The Mansions at Doral, a high-end gated community.

According to an arrest report, at some point, the man told Lopez to leave multiple times and she refused, leading him to threaten a call to police.

After that, police said Lopez went upstairs to the man’s room and took a necklace, a tennis bracelet, a white gold pendant and a Richard Mille watch worth about $261,000 total, then left and jumped a fence.

Doral police said they caught Lopez nearby and an officer saw “the necklace and pendant hanging from her purse.”

According to the report, the man found the $133,000 watch about 50 feet outside of the home, but the $24,000 tennis bracelet was nowhere to be found.

Records show Lopez was being held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $15,000 bond as of Thursday afternoon.

La Policía de Doral arrestó a Mikaila Lopez, de 20 años, por un cargo de hurto mayor en primer grado poco antes de las 6 p.m. del miércoles, poco después de que, según las autoridades, ocurriera el delito.

Los investigadores indicaron que Lopez y el hombre habían estado saliendo durante dos meses y se alojaban en una vivienda en Northwest 68th Terrace, en The Mansions at Doral, una exclusiva comunidad cerrada.

Según un informe de arresto, en un momento dado el hombre le pidió a Lopez que se fuera en múltiples ocasiones y ella se negó, lo que lo llevó a amenazar con llamar a la policía.

Después de eso, la policía indicó que Lopez subió a la habitación del hombre y tomó un collar, una pulsera tipo tenis, un colgante de oro blanco y un reloj Richard Mille valorados en aproximadamente $261,000 USD en total, luego salió de la vivienda y saltó una cerca.

La Policía de Doral informó que capturó a Lopez cerca del lugar y que un agente observó “el collar y el colgante colgando de su bolso”.

Según el informe, el hombre encontró el reloj, valorado en $133,000 USD, a unos 50 pies de la vivienda, pero la pulsera tipo tenis, valorada en $24,000 USD, no fue localizada.

Los registros muestran que Lopez permanecía detenida en el Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight con una fianza de $15,000 USD hasta la tarde del jueves.

Local 10 News también conversó con el comisionado de Pembroke Pines, Jay Schwartz, propietario de la escuela de vuelo vinculada a la aeronave involucrada en el accidente.

Los investigadores informaron que una aeronave despegó de North Perry Airport el 29 de mayo. Poco después del despegue, la aeronave sufrió una falla de motor, lo que obligó al piloto a intentar un aterrizaje de emergencia.

La aeronave se estrelló en las afueras del South Florida State Hospital.

Un estudiante piloto y un instructor de vuelo se encontraban dentro de la aeronave volcada. Ambos resultaron heridos, pero sobrevivieron, en parte gracias a las personas que acudieron a ayudar.

“Mientras conducía hacia el sur por University, de regreso a casa, vi esta aeronave sobre mí y parecía que estaba perdiendo altitud”, dijo Nathan Gansert, el buen samaritano que ayudó.

Según un informe policial, la empresa de la escuela de vuelo vinculada a la aeronave es Blue Sky, propiedad de Schwartz. El informe también indica que uno de los sobrevivientes dijo que la aeronave había estado experimentando problemas de motor el día anterior al accidente.

El miércoles, líderes de la ciudad reconocieron a Gansert por ayudar a rescatar a las dos personas que iban a bordo.

Gansert dijo que conducía cuando notó una aeronave volando inusualmente bajo antes de que desapareciera de su vista.

“Me di cuenta de que ya no la veía en el cielo”, dijo Gansert. “Doblé una esquina, luego otra y vi ramas de árboles en el suelo. Vi a una de las jóvenes comenzar a salir y me bajé de mi auto y corrí hacia allí para ayudar a la otra. Hice lo que mejor sé hacer y supongo que eso es ser humano”.

Schwartz agradeció a Gansert durante la ceremonia.

“Salvaste a nuestras muchachas”, dijo Schwartz. “Una de ellas está viendo esto ahora mismo. Solo han pasado cinco noches. Cuando las cosas mejoren, vamos a reunirnos”.

Se espera que ambos sobrevivientes se recuperen.

Scientists say climate change deserves much, but not all, of the blame.

The national smog level dropped by 11% from 2003 to 2015 as strict federal regulations on power plants, cars and diesel engines kicked in. But since then, as wildfires have grown, the nation's average ground level ozone — which is smog — increased by 4%. That means if smoke increases at the current rate, smog will go back up to 2003 levels in 20 years, said study lead author Weizhi Deng, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Iowa.

Thursday's study in the journal Science also estimated an increase in deaths from ozone attacking lungs, using previously established epidemiology studies that compared death rates in clean and dirty air. They calculated an increase of 318 American deaths per year since 2013.

“For the last 20 years, by regulations, we keep decreasing the emissions" for human-caused smog-inducing chemicals, said study co-author Meng Zhou, a University of Iowa wildfire researcher. “However, because of wildfires, that is actually from natural hazards, all those kinds of effort were wiped out.”

Limited smog monitor coverage

The study was novel in the way it estimated the national smog level, compensating for how the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has a limited number of smog monitors. Those cover only 2% of the nation, mostly in urban areas. So Deng and his colleagues used those observations — along with satellite, pollution and weather data and models — then used artificial intelligence to create a nationwide data set of ozone levels showing smog count at a resolution slightly higher than half a mile (1 kilometer).

EPA figures show the national ozone level since 2015 has vacillated around the same mark, going up and down a few percentage points, but Deng said, “by considering everywhere in the U.S., we actually found an increase in ozone starting from 2015.”

The method using artificial intelligence is solid because it starts with “massive and reliable datasets,” then uses computer models to fill in the gaps in a sensible way to make an “exceptional” high-resolution picture, said University of Delaware environment professor Cristina Archer, who wasn’t part of the study.

Megafire Action's research director and senior policy advisor Teresa Feo said “experts have long called for expanding the air pollution monitoring network to improve research on wildfire smoke exposure and provide the data needed to better protect public health.”

For decades, the U.S. tracked six traditional air pollutants, including smog and soot, which are tiny particles. This new study looked only at ozone, while a 2023 study by many of the same team looked at small particle pollution. They found the downward trend in soot levels had similarly reversed. Wildfire smoke increased particle pollution deaths by about 670 per year, the 2023 study found.

How fires trigger health problems

Fires don't produce ozone itself, but they release precursor chemicals that become smog when they interact with sunlight, scientists said.

“Higher daily ozone concentrations can increase asthma attacks, hospital admissions, and mortality,” said University of Washington public health and climate scientist Kristie Ebi. It's not quite as deadly as tiny particles, she said, but it's “still a very important pollutant, which is why it's regulated.”

During the heavy wildfire smoke seasons of 2022, 2023 and 2024, much of the fires were in Canada, but the smoke came south. In the U.S., 43 million people were exposed to smog levels that exceeded the current EPA safety standard, the study found.

And that standard isn't stringent enough, said Dr. Lynn Goldman, former dean of the George Washington University School of Public Health and a former EPA assistant administrator. In 2023, the Biden administration delayed plans to tighten those standards and then the Trump administration changed regulations that consider deaths and health impacts in smog and soot rules.

The biggest increase in ozone levels was in the Northern Rockies, which were near many of the fires, and in the Midwest, where the smoke traveled next, Deng said.

More fires, more smoke

The average amount of U.S. land that wildfires burn each year is now 9% higher than it was from 2003 to 2014, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. But the wildfires in Canada have been particularly bad since 2022, scientists said. They pointed to 2023 when the skies were orange and people in the East were wearing face masks because of the Canadian smoke.

The amount of land burned in 2023 in Canada was not only a record but two times higher than the old record, said atmospheric scientist Brendan Rogers of the Woodwell Climate Research Center. Smoke from that year's Canadian fires killed 82,100 people globally — 33,000 in the United States — because of the particle pollution, a study in 2025 calculated.

Climate change, from the burning of coal, oil and gas, increased the intensity of Canada's 2023 fire season by at least 50% and doubled the chances of the drier, hotter weather conditions that were needed for the fire, a 2023 study found.

“Human-caused climate change is an important contributor, because it increases hot, dry fire-weather conditions in many regions,” said Lixu Jin, an atmospheric scientist at Rutgers who wasn't part of the study. “But wildfire emissions also depend on fuels, land management, ignitions, suppression, and year-to-year meteorology.”

Former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, who served in the Obama administration, said it was discouraging to see smog improvements being eroded.

Wildfires cause death and destruction, but the greatest danger may come from smoke and extreme heat increasing the ozone that harms people’s health, she argued.

“So the big question is," she said, “when are we going to stop the nonsense from this administration to burn more and more ‘beautiful’ fossil fuels?”

___

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Pickens signed his $27.3 million franchise tag a little more than a month ago but has stayed away from the team. The Pro Bowler isn't required to show up until mandatory minicamp June 16-18.

“Communicated with (Pickens) yesterday,” Schottenheimer said Thursday. “He's got a football camp this weekend that he's doing. So communication is good, and as you guys know it's voluntary and he's taking care of his business.”

Pickens waited two months before signing the one-year contract that's worth three times what the 25-year-old earned on his four-year rookie contract.

Pickens told the Cowboys before the draft in April that he intended to sign the franchise tag, prompting speculation that Dallas might try to trade him. The Cowboys made it clear they had no such plans. He signed the tag about a week later.

Acquired last year in a trade with Pittsburgh, Pickens thrived alongside CeeDee Lamb, finishing with career highs in catches (93), yards receiving (1,429) and touchdowns (nine) for one of the best offenses in the NFL last season.

Lamb is going into the second year of a $136 million, four-year contract that ranks him fourth among NFL receivers with an average annual value of $34 million.

Owner and general manager Jerry Jones has said the club has long-term plans for Pickens, who has spent time in the offseason with quarterback Dak Prescott.

“I'm not sure exactly what they do,” Schottenheimer said. “You guys know Dak does a great job working with all the guys, whether they’re here, whether it’s this time of year, whether it is in the summer, they always go someplace. They’ll go someplace this summer and train and throw, and it’s a chance for them to develop their timing.”

Schottenheimer said the club believes Pickens will report for minicamp.

“I think he’s in a good spot,” Schottenheimer said. “I know that he misses his teammates. So we miss him, too. You guys know how we feel about him.”

This is the third consecutive offseason with a significant contract issue for the Cowboys.

Two years ago, Lamb stayed away from the team the entire offseason and training camp before signing his extension about two weeks before the season.

Last year, Micah Parsons was in a contract stalemated that finally ended when Dallas traded the star pass rusher to Green Bay exactly a week before the season opener.

“I’ve always believed this, and this has got nothing to do with a single player,” Schottenheimer said. “How do you prove to your teammates that you’re doing everything in your power to be the best version of yourself if they don’t see you doing it? I have no question George is prepared, just like I had no question that Micah was going to prepare or whoever.”

___

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Anthony J. Moore, 53, was driving a route in Aiken County, about 20 miles from the Georgia border, last Friday when a woman ran directly into his path with her hands cuffed behind her back.

The video, which has no sound, shows the drama unfold: The woman passes in front of the truck, and a man in a Cadillac that had been on the side of the road swerves in front of the truck before taking off. The woman then runs down the road, and the man drives off.

“I just see it as a divine assignment from God, because had not I been there with the dashcam ... they probably wouldn’t have caught the footage that needed to be catched,” Moore told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. “It was another assignment from God, a special assignment from God. That a life needed to be saved.”

Authorities arrested Jonathan Willard, 39, of New Ellenton, on one count each of kidnapping and impersonation of a law enforcement officer. He was being held Thursday at the Aiken County Detention Center.

According to an incident report from the Aiken County Sheriff's Department, the woman was taking a walk when a man in a green Cadillac "came from behind her and told her he was with the police.” She said he took her phone and Social Security card, put her in handcuffs and placed her in the back seat of the car.

The woman told police that the man pulled over by a gated property and got out. She said she tried to open the rear doors, but they were locked.

As the man rummaged through the trunk, she said, she climbed over the seat and escaped through the open driver's side door.

Moore was driving south of Aiken when he saw the woman running toward him.

“I let my window down and she said, ‘Please help me. He’s trying to kidnap me,’" Moore said.

As the woman swerved, Moore said, the man chasing her pulled up beside him and showed “what looks to be a badge.”

“And he said, ‘I’m with law enforcement, and she jumped out of my car,’" Moore recounted. The man then left in the Cadillac.

Bystanders called 911, helped get the cuffs off the woman and gave her water. Moore said she told him that she had just graduated the day before, and that the man had also taken her diploma.

She asked Moore if he would accompany her back to the spot where she escaped, to see if the man had might have dumped her belongings. He said they found nothing.

The Aiken County Solicitor’s Office said Willard had not yet been assigned a defense attorney and no court dates had been scheduled. The AP called the jail to speak with Willard, but the request was denied.

Moore is pastor of Amazing Grace Ministries in Denmark, South Carolina. Moore is also a 27-year Army veteran, said his wife, Betty, an associate pastor at the church.

“When I learned that he was caught the next day I was relieved of a lot of things that he didn’t get away," he said, "to go try that again someplace else.”

The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., seeks to cement U.S. assistance for Ukraine by providing more than $1 billion in security and reconstruction aid. It would make another $8 billion available for Ukraine's defense through loans.

The 226-195 vote is a sign of impatience with President Donald Trump's approach to the war and represents the House's second major foreign policy break with Trump this week. The day before, the House, for the first time, approved a war powers resolution aimed at halting U.S. military action against Iran.

Supporters were able to force action on the Ukraine bill by gathering 218 signatures on a discharge petition, a legislative tool that allows a majority of the House to effectively bypass leadership.

Once rarely successful, House members have used the petition tool this Congress to pass bills on releasing the government's files on Jeffrey Epstein and to extend health care subsidies to many of those who get health coverage through the Affordable Care Act, though the latter measure faltered in the Senate.

Meeks said the question before the House was simple. Would it help Ukraine negotiate from a position of strength or help Russia outlast American resolve?

“We all want this war to end,” Meeks said. “The question is how. Will we abandon Ukraine and force it into a terrible deal? That is what Vladimir Putin is counting on. Or will this body live up to the commitments we've made since the start of this war?”

The vast majority of Republicans opposed the measure. Rep. French Hill, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said he is a steadfast supporter of Ukraine. However, the Arkansas Republican said the House was confronted with a flawed, outdated measure that actually calls for less funding for Ukraine security assistance compared to what Congress had agreed to as part of this year's defense policy. Another section could lead to a decrease in defense spending by some NATO members, he warned.

Rep. Brian Mast, the chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, said he believed the bill was “a cudgel to fight against President Trump.”

“This bill, in my opinion, is an unserious bill that was crafted basically a year-and-a-half ago,” Mast, R-Fla., said.

Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., broke with most of his Republican colleagues in voicing support for the measure.

“Are we going to stand with good or are we going to stand with evil? That’s what this is about tonight,” he said.

In the end, 18 Republicans, 207 Democrats and one independent voted for the bill. Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar joined with 194 Republicans in voting against it.

Lawmakers want to send a message

Supporters are hopeful that the House's passage of the Ukraine bill would put pressure on the Senate to do the same. But they also know the Senate likely won’t go along unless Trump endorses the bill.

“It's probably not going to get 60 votes in the Senate, but it's going to hopefully force the Senate to address the issue," said Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., who signed the discharge petition and voted for the bill. “It's going to send a great message to the soldiers of Ukraine.”

He said the vote would also send a message to Putin that “we do have a pulse here, that we do care about Ukraine and that we are going to utilize our authority to help them.”

As the war has dragged on, it's gotten more difficult for supporters of Ukraine in Congress to provide additional financial support to help Ukraine defend itself.

The U.S. has approved some $195 billion for the Ukraine response, according to the latest quarterly inspector general report for Operation Atlantic Resolve, with roughly a quarter of that going to replenish weapons stockpiles for the U.S. military. The last major legislation designed to bolster the Ukraine response occurred in April 2024, though modest amounts have since been included in annual appropriations bills.

Republican leaders tried to stop the bill

Republican leaders urged their members to oppose the legislation. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said there are good-faith negotiations between members of Congress and the White House to boost Ukraine. He described the negotiations as complicated.

“I think they are going to yield positive results, but you set that back if you pass legislation that doesn't go as far as the negotiations are going,” Scalise said.

The war that followed Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor is more than four years old, with no end in sight. In recent days, both sides have sought an edge by launching long-range missile strikes.

U.S.-led peace efforts have fizzled out as the sides made no progress on key differences and after the war in Iran grabbed Washington’s attention. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accepted an unconditional ceasefire demanded by Trump, but Putin refused.

Action in the Senate on Ukraine has revolved around a bill that would impose sweeping tariffs and secondary sanctions on countries that purchase Russia’s oil, gas, uranium and other exports, which are crucial to financing Russia’s military. But the bill has languished.

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Associated Press congressional correspondent Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.

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U.S. CBP Air and Marine Operations, the U.S. Coast Guard, and “international partners” rescued 240 Haitian migrants in the Caribbean, according to Scott.

“The overcrowded vessel was taking on water and in danger of sinking,” Scott wrote. “Our personnel helped prevent what could have been a catastrophic loss of life while stopping yet another illegal migration attempt.”

Scott had a message for desperate migrants and traffickers: “Illegal maritime migration is dangerous, it is not worth the risk, and you will not gain entry into the US.”

Haitians have been experiencing a devastating crisis, as the United Nations estimates that over 1.4 million people have been displaced by gang violence.

In May, Monique Verdieux told the Associated Press that she was forced to flee her home in Port-au-Prince after she saw armed men burning her neighbors’ houses.

“I am now sleeping in the street,” Verdieux, 56, said.

The violence forced Doctors Without Borders to evacuate a hospital for three weeks in Cité Soleil, while there were dozens of gunshot victims.

More about Haiti

• New gang violence in Haiti displaces hundreds of people
• Sole player who lives in Haiti awaits US visa as his squad prepares for the World Cup in Florida

Según Scott, la División Aérea y Marítima de la CBP, la Guardia Costera de Estados Unidos y “socios internacionales” rescataron a 240 migrantes haitianos en el Caribe.

“La embarcación sobrecargada estaba haciendo agua y corría peligro de hundirse”, escribió Scott. “Nuestro personal ayudó a evitar lo que pudo haber sido una pérdida catastrófica de vidas mientras impedía otro intento de migración ilegal”.

Scott también envió un mensaje a los migrantes desesperados y a los traficantes de personas: “La migración marítima ilegal es peligrosa, no vale la pena correr el riesgo y no obtendrán entrada a Estados Unidos”.

Los haitianos han estado enfrentando una crisis devastadora, ya que las Naciones Unidas estiman que más de 1.4 millones de personas han sido desplazadas por la violencia de las pandillas.

En mayo, Monique Verdieux contó a The Associated Press que se vio obligada a huir de su hogar en Puerto Príncipe después de ver a hombres armados quemando las viviendas de sus vecinos.

“Ahora estoy durmiendo en la calle”, dijo Verdieux, de 56 años.

La violencia obligó a Médicos Sin Fronteras a evacuar durante tres semanas un hospital en Cité Soleil, mientras decenas de víctimas de disparos llegaban al lugar.

Más sobre Haití

• Nueva violencia de pandillas en Haití desplaza a cientos de personas
• Único jugador que vive en Haití espera visa de Estados Unidos mientras su selección se prepara para la Copa Mundial en Florida.

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Monroe County Sheriff’s Office deputies said they received a call at around 8:45 p.m. that a man later identified as Jamie Allan Koval, 38, had drank four Red Bull vodkas and “smoked two joints” and was trying to leave Kiki’s Sandbar, located at 183 Barry Ave. on Little Torch Key.

According to an arrest report, a deputy searching Big Pine Key spotted Koval’s pickup and pulled him over after seeing an unusual driving pattern.

Authorities said the deputy noticed that Koval smelled of alcohol and the girl, under his care, was not wearing a seat belt while in the back seat.

Suspecting he was under the influence, deputies said they asked Koval to participate in a field sobriety test, which he failed.

A deputy wrote in the arrest report that after being placed under arrest, Koval told him, from the backseat of the deputy’s cruiser, that “when he got out of jail he was going to sexually assault my wife” and “was going to get his son to sexually assault my daughter,” then threated to harm the deputy once they got to jail and his handcuffs came off.

Once at the jail, deputies said Koval admitted to being “under the influence of marijuana” and refused to take a breath test.

He now faces charges of DUI with person under 18 in the vehicle, resisting arrest, child neglect, threatening a law enforcement officer, threatening a law enforcement officer’s family and refusal to submit to a breath test.

As of Thursday afternoon, he was being held in MCSO’s Key West jail facility with no listed bond.

Records show he’s set to be arraigned in a Florida Keys courtroom on June 23.

Authorities said they put the girl “in (the) care of family members” and notified the Florida Department of Children and Families.

Agentes de la Oficina del Sheriff del condado Monroe informaron que recibieron una llamada alrededor de las 8:45 p.m. reportando que un hombre, posteriormente identificado como Jamie Allan Koval, de 38 años, había consumido cuatro vodkas con Red Bull y “fumado dos porros” y estaba intentando salir de Kiki’s Sandbar, ubicado en 183 Barry Ave., en Little Torch Key.

Según un informe de arresto, un agente que patrullaba Big Pine Key localizó la camioneta de Koval y lo detuvo tras observar un patrón inusual de conducción.

Las autoridades indicaron que el agente notó que Koval olía a alcohol y que la menor bajo su cuidado no llevaba puesto el cinturón de seguridad mientras viajaba en el asiento trasero.

Al sospechar que estaba bajo los efectos de sustancias, los agentes le pidieron a Koval que realizara una prueba de sobriedad de campo, la cual no aprobó.

Un agente escribió en el informe de arresto que, después de ser arrestado, Koval le dijo desde el asiento trasero de la patrulla que “cuando saliera de la cárcel iba a agredir sexualmente a mi esposa” y que “iba a hacer que su hijo agrediera sexualmente a mi hija”, además de amenazar con hacerle daño al agente una vez llegaran a la cárcel y le quitaran las esposas.

Una vez en la cárcel, los agentes indicaron que Koval admitió estar “bajo la influencia de marihuana” y se negó a someterse a una prueba de alcoholemia.

Ahora enfrenta cargos por conducir bajo los efectos del alcohol con una persona menor de 18 años en el vehículo, resistirse al arresto, negligencia infantil, amenazas contra un agente del orden público, amenazas contra familiares de un agente del orden público y negarse a someterse a una prueba de alcoholemia.

Hasta la tarde del jueves, permanecía detenido en la cárcel de Key West de la Oficina del Sheriff del condado Monroe sin una fianza establecida.

Los registros muestran que tiene programada una audiencia de instrucción de cargos en un tribunal de los Cayos de Florida el 23 de junio.

Las autoridades informaron que dejaron a la menor “bajo el cuidado de familiares” y notificaron al Departamento de Niños y Familias de Florida.

La oficina de la alcaldesa anunció en un comunicado de prensa la renuncia del director de Operaciones del Condado, Jimmy Morales, y de la directora de PortMiami, Hydi Webb.

La medida ocurre una semana después de que residentes de Fisher Island demandaran a un desarrollador, solicitando a un tribunal que impida la venta del depósito de combustible sin su consentimiento por escrito, argumentando que la transacción viola un acuerdo previo.

También sostienen que la amenaza del condado de recurrir a la expropiación es inconstitucional. Una demanda federal separada también continúa su curso en el sistema judicial.

Local 10 News está trabajando para preguntar a la oficina de la alcaldesa si la más reciente demanda tuvo alguna influencia en los cambios de liderazgo y también contactó al desarrollador para solicitar comentarios.

Mientras tanto, en un comunicado, Levine Cava dijo en parte que está “profundamente agradecida” con Morales y Webb “por su extraordinario servicio al condado Miami-Dade y a nuestros residentes”.

“Su liderazgo, integridad y dedicación han ayudado a fortalecer nuestro condado”, dijo.

Local 10 News solicitó copias de sus cartas de renuncia.

El director de Servicios Públicos y Regulatorios, Roy Coley, fue ascendido al cargo de vicealcalde, donde supervisará varios departamentos e instalaciones del condado, incluido el aeropuerto y el puerto marítimo.

El subdirector del puerto, Frederick Wong, se desempeñará como director interino de PortMiami.

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249080291 Complaint by Chris Gothner

It wasn’t his first significant project; it wasn’t even his first film with director Danny Boyle. And he was, in his words, fairly arrogant and cocksure at the time. But that kinetic film about four heroin addicts in late-1980s Scotland was and, 30 years later, remains defining — in his career, in the culture and in his understanding of what true artistic satisfaction can feel like.

“It’s very much in that early part of my career, and of course, even today, probably the most important piece of work that I was involved in, just because it had such a massive effect on my life. Not only because of what it did, but because of how it felt to make,” McGregor told The Associated Press in a recent interview. “It set the bar unknowingly high because it’s been quite hard to match ever since.”

Both McGregor and Boyle are a little wistful about the time, and what they made, on the eve of its 30th anniversary re-release. Starting Friday, a 4K digital restoration will be in theaters nationwide. Though “Trainspotting” was very much of its moment with its Britpop soundtrack, its Thatcher-era grit, its darkly comedic tone and shrewd blend of giddy highs and tragic lows, it’s also one that has stood the unforgiving test of time.

“You get kids coming up to you who are 17 who said they’d just seen it,” Boyle said. “I could be their grandfather … yet it still spoke to them.”

Putting Hollywood on hold

Boyle was a hot commodity after “Shallow Grave,” a 1994 black comedy about flatmates in Edinburgh starring McGregor, and Hollywood was calling. Literally. A peak-famous Sharon Stone cold-called him and asked if he’d want to come make a film with her. But he had his sights set on Irvine Welsh’s buzzy debut novel, teaming once again with screenwriter John Hodge and producer Andrew Macdonald.

The budget would be small, 1.5 million pounds or about $1.9 million, and the shoot would be quick and local. They didn’t know what they didn’t know: Boyle remembers asking his cinematographer, the late Brian Tufano, if they could use an anal probe camera for the “worst toilet in Scotland” scene.

“I remember him saying, ‘Well, Danny, yes, you can get that. But I’m not sure how Ewan and his family and agent will feel about that,’” Boyle said with a laugh. “He tempered my kind of extreme way of approaching this material.”

And somehow it all worked, driven by youthful energy, a bit of arrogance and a passionate commitment to the material.

‘It would have been a disaster if it had been done differently’

“‘Trainspotting’ had to be made that way,” said McGregor, who was 23 at the time. “It would have been a disaster if it had been done differently.”

For McGregor, at least part of the vitality came from the fact that they were shooting on film; money was going through the camera on every take.

“We shoot on these cards now, and it just doesn’t matter anymore,” McGregor said. “There’s no natural sort of like rhythm to filmmaking like there used to be then. … I think back to ‘Shallow Grave’ and ‘Trainspotting’ and it feels almost like a different job.”

Boyle too has been chasing that kind of innocence ever since. He said he might have come close on his upcoming film “Ink,” with Jack O’Connell.

“It was liberating not having enough money because you don’t have that limitation of thinking, oh, that’s going to be too extreme for the studio or for the audience reach we’re meant to have,” Boyle said. “You could make it so that if it didn’t work, you just, you know, sulk away with your tail between your legs and call back Sharon Stone and say ‘I was wrong.’”

The rock star moment

Like any film about drugs, there was a fair amount of discourse around its release. U.S. presidential candidate Bob Dole even denounced it, unseen, for romanticizing heroin during his campaign. But the film was in the conversation — and it had an enviable group of supporters, including Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker and Blur’s Damon Albarn, both of whom provided songs for the film.

After “Trainspotting” became a hit, life changed profoundly for McGregor. In London, he said, “it was madness.” At the time he was sharing a flat with his co-star Jonny Lee Miller, Jude Law and Sean Pertwee. When they’d go out to clubs, they felt like rock stars.

“There was a real energy around it,” McGregor said. “We were part of that, you see, the Blur and Oasis and Pulp and The Verve and all of that amazing music that was happening then. We were the sort of movie version of it, I guess, because Danny knew what he was doing with the soundtrack and because the novel was so huge and current and … and maybe because it was ours. It was British and it wasn’t pandering to America. We didn’t make it for America.”

An absolute love of cinema

Boyle hopes that audiences take a chance on “Trainspotting” in the theater, whether they're revisiting it or seeing it for the first time. It was, he said, made with an absolute love of cinema.

“It’s very indebted to ‘Goodfellas,’ which also has that feeling of: You are here to be absolutely assaulted by an experience,” Boyle said. “You know, you have given us your money and you’ve given us your time to be here for 90 minutes, two hours, whatever it is, and we promise, we promise to deliver everything to you that we can.”

The three-time AL MVP was out of the lineup earlier in the day for a third straight game and the Yankees were awaiting clarity about what they said was a bone bruise in one of the slugger’s right ribs that is causing right shoulder pain.

The team later announced Judge was diagnosed with the stress fracture of the first rib on his right side and will need to rest and have limited activity. He'll be re-evaluated after having additional imaging in about four to six weeks. The Yankees said in a statement that Judge is expected to return “at some point this season.”

After avoiding a three-game sweep with a 2-1 victory over Cleveland on Thursday, manager Aaron Boone said the team was awaiting the findings of Dr. Gregory Pearl, a vascular surgery specialist in Dallas.

“Look, it’s a lot of smart people in a specialized area and (the) guy’s several states aways,” Boone said. “We just got to be patient.”

Judge underwent a CT scan on Thursday morning and had an MRI earlier in the week when he met with a specialist. The bruise was first revealed when Judge underwent testing on the team’s off day on Monday.

“I’m obviously not a doctor, I don’t know how it all works, but there’s a lot of people involved in trying to make sure we get the right diagnosis,” Boone said Thursday morning.

Judge was diagnosed with a stress fracture in one of his right ribs in March 2020. The injury occurred when he dived for a ball in September 2019, but Judge didn't miss any time because of the 2020 season being delayed by the pandemic.

He is hitting .248 with 17 homers and 38 RBIs. But he has just one homer in his last 18 games since May 10 and ended an 11-game homer and RBI drought with a game-ending, two-run drive on May 24 against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Judge entered the game against Tampa Bay in a 1-for-24 slump that dropped his batting average to .246. He was hitless in 15 at-bats before singling in the first inning.

Judge won the batting title last season when he hit a career-high .331 with 53 homers and 114 RBIs in 152 games. He missed 10 games from July 26-Aug. 4 with a flexor strain in his right elbow that he sustained on a throw to home July 22 in Toronto. He underwent a plasma-rich injection and did not require offseason surgery.

When Judge was hurt last season, Giancarlo Stanton played 17 games in the outfield. Stanton has been out since April 24 with a strained right calf and started taking live at-bats on the field Wednesday, though he was ruled out for New York’s upcoming road trip.

José Caballero started the first two games against Cleveland and has made four starts in right field since being acquired from Tampa Bay at the July 31 trade deadline. Max Schuemann made his first career start in right field Thursday and made a diving catch on Steven Kwan in the second along with a leaping catch on Brayan Rocchio in the seventh.

Judge had started 52 of New York’s first 59 games in right field. Rookie Spencer Jones made four starts in right field before getting sent down May 22 and Cody Bellinger has started two games.

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

The case began in April 2024 when an indictment sought by Arizona’s Democratic attorney general charged 18 Republicans with forgery, fraud and conspiracy, accusing them of trying to undo former President Joe Biden’s victory in the state by 10,457 votes.

In a decision released Thursday, the Arizona Supreme Court rejected Attorney General Kris Mayes’ request to avoid sending the case back to the grand jury. Mayes had hoped to continue pushing forward through the courts without having to start over at the grand jury level.

An appeal sent the case to the state’s highest court after defense attorneys argued successfully that the original grand jury hadn’t been shown the relevant parts of a law that governs how presidential contests are certified.

The most recent ruling marked another setback for Mayes, whose case has been stalled for over a year. The attorney general's office said it will again present the case in its entirety to a grand jury rather than end the prosecution. It declined to comment further on the decision.

The ruling came after similar cases in Michigan and Georgia were dismissed by the courts and a special prosecutor dropped a federal case in late 2024 that charged Trump with conspiring to overturn the 2020 election. All three cases ended after Trump defeated Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024. Cases related to the fake elector scheme are ongoing in Arizona, Nevada and Wisconsin.

In Arizona, defense lawyers have argued the law allowed for multiple slates of electors to be submitted to Congress in case the results were disputed. Federal law was amended in 2022 to specify that any given state could put forward only one slate of electors and that state governors are responsible for signing off.

Mark L. Williams, an attorney representing Giuliani, applauded the state Supreme Court’s latest decision and questioned whether Mayes’ office will carry through on its promise to bring the case back to the grand jury. “In my mind, the whole thing is meritless,” Williams said. “Mr. Giuliani has done nothing wrong.”

The state attorney general has faced steep challenges in making her case.

It was filed nearly three and a half years after the 2020 election and levels complicated conspiracy charges against the 18 defendants. A dozen dismissal requests filed by defense attorneys have slowed progress in court.

The first judge on the case recused himself in late 2024 after an email surfaced in which he told fellow judges to speak out against attacks on Harris’ campaign for the presidency. The next judge ordered the case to be sent back to a grand jury.

Of the 18 Arizona defendants, two were former Trump aides, five were lawyers working for Trump and 11 were Republicans who submitted a document falsely claiming Trump won Arizona.

Three defendants have resolved their cases, including one who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge.

The rest have pleaded not guilty. Some said they signed the certificate in case Trump won court challenges and a new slate of electors was needed urgently before Congress’ Jan. 6 deadline to tally votes.

El incidente ocurrió poco después de las 12:30 a.m. del 25 de mayo en The Standard Cuisine & Cocktails, ubicado en 187 SE Mizner Blvd., en el centro comercial Royal Palm Plaza.

Desde entonces, las autoridades arrestaron al sospechoso, Christian Ippolito.

La policía informó que Ippolito, de 24 años y residente de Lantana, sostuvo una discusión con una de las víctimas, a quien conocía, justo afuera del restaurante, sacó un arma de fuego de la cintura y realizó dos disparos contra la víctima.

Según la policía, uno de los disparos impactó a la víctima en el pecho, mientras que el otro ingresó al restaurante e hirió a un cliente en una pierna.

Los paramédicos trasladaron a ambas víctimas a un hospital cercano.

Las autoridades informaron posteriormente que la víctima que recibió el disparo en el pecho se encuentra en condición estable y que la víctima herida en la pierna fue dada de alta más tarde.

La policía indicó que Ippolito fue arrestado el miércoles y permanece encarcelado en la cárcel del condado Palm Beach enfrentando dos cargos de intento de asesinato en segundo grado con arma de fuego y un cargo por disparar contra una propiedad ocupada.

Los agentes de la Policía de Hollywood respondieron a una llamada al 911 alrededor de las 8 p.m. del miércoles después de que testigos en la zona costera observaran el cuerpo, al este del North Boardwalk y al sur de Hollywood North Beach Park.

“Vimos a dos pescadores y luego lo que parecía ser un cuerpo en la playa… Vimos cómo la arrastraban hacia la orilla… fue desalentador”, dijo Gianluca Fiore, un testigo.

Agentes de la Policía de Hollywood permanecieron dentro y fuera de la playa hasta altas horas de la noche, cerca de North Surf Road, entre las calles New Mexico y Thomas. La Oficina del Médico Forense del Condado Broward también investigaba el caso.

Los detectives solicitaron a cualquier persona con información sobre este u otros casos y que desee permanecer en el anonimato que llame a Broward County Crime Stoppers al 954-493-8477.

Reporte relacionado: Policía: Cuerpo aparece en la orilla de Hollywood Beach

Ubicación

Trump showed a video during an unrelated event with water bubbling into the freshly painted basin at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial.

“That's clean, beautiful water,” the president said.

Live video showed water accumulating in the center of the basin, with workers and trucks still inside the pool.

Trump noted the work to paint the shallow basin a deep shade, which he calls “American flag blue,” was completed Wednesday. The administration said in a court filing that it was set to be filled with water no later than Sunday.

Trump also announced a plan to build a “promenade” that would allow pedestrians to walk from the back of the Lincoln Memorial to the Potomac RIver.

“They want to call it the ‘Trump Promenade’ but I don’t know if I want to do that, but it’s going to be beautiful,” Trump said.

Trump has put the cost of the work on the pool at $1.5 million to $2 million, but records show that at least $14.8 million worth of contracts have been awarded for the project. The president announced the work in April during an unrelated Oval Office appearance, saying he was inspired by complaints from a friend visiting from Germany who called the pool dark and disgusting.

The project is another way for Trump to leave his mark on the city, following the demolition of the White House East Wing to build a large ballroom and plans to build an arch between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.

The reflecting pool, which is more than 2,000 feet (610 meters) long, was originally built in the 1920s. It sits between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument and is one of the most iconic sites in Washington. Martin Luther King, Jr. famously gave his “I Have a Dream” speech there in 1963.

The basin held about 6.5 million gallons of water — roughly as much as 10 Olympic-size swimming pools — before a 2012 renovation, according to the National Park Service. Under that earlier renovation, the pool was reengineered with a circulation and filtration system so that instead of using the city’s drinking water, it draws river water from the nearby Tidal Basin. Washington and its surrounding states are facing drought conditions.

Critics have said Trump, a Republican, is spending too much time and attention on his pet projects and not enough on issues that voters care about, like the cost of living, in the run-up to the November elections. Others have said he wants the reflecting pool to look more like a swimming pool.

Last month, a Washington-based nonprofit called the Cultural Landscape Foundation filed a suit asking a judge to force the Trump administration to stop work on the “dark grey” Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, saying the new paint color suggested a “theme park.”

An order in the case hasn't come yet, and on Wednesday the Trump administration notified the court the work was complete, with the basin set to be filled by Sunday.

A message seeking information from the Interior Department, which oversees the Park Service, wasn't immediately answered.

__

Catalini reported from Trenton, New Jersey.

No, the most unpleasant part of descending into New York City's vast sewer system, according to former urban explorer Steve Duncan, was the cockroaches.

“They’re all over the place, crawling on walls, dropping down on you,” Duncan recalled this week. “They were the worst.”

Duncan, 48, who now lives in Maryland, reflected on his years documenting the muck-filled tunnels running under New York after surveillance videos captured small groups of people mysteriously entering and exiting the sewer system in Brooklyn and Queens in recent days.

Police say they’re still investigating the three incidents but don’t believe there’s any threat to the public. Officials stress that it is both illegal and dangerous to enter the city’s 7,400 miles (12,000 kilometers) of sewer pipes.

Duncan believes the groups were likely explorers like him, traversing the large, 19th century sewer mains that run underneath parts of the city.

These relatively cavernous spaces can exceed 6 feet (1.8 meters) in diameter — tall enough for most people to comfortably walk upright — and can feature handmade bricks and elegant arches, he said.

A number, including one near where one of the groups was spotted, trace the paths of naturally occurring waterways that once sustained New York, before industrialization fouled them and forced city builders to convert them to sewers, Duncan said.

“These old streams, they get put underground as cities grow up around them,” he explained. “It’s amazing how much this old natural environment is part of the city today.”

Going underground requires planning

The videos suggest that some of the groups spent up to three hours underground, a length of time that may seem unimaginable, but Duncan said passes quickly as sewer journeys require navigating slippery, humid environments and flowing water that could be a foot (30 centimeters) or deeper in places.

Duncan credits the groups with picking an optimal time for their excursions.

Heavy rainfall days earlier would have mostly cleared the system, and venturing into the tunnels in the early morning hours would mean waste flow would be noticeably less than during peak daytime hours.

“They did their research,” Duncan said.

But invisible dangers lurk in these pathogen-rich environments, he said, recounting how he'd landed in the hospital with badly infected extremities on two separate occasions, which eventually pushed him to retire.

Seasoned explorers will generally bring gas meters to check for dangerous levels of fumes, including potentially flammable hydrogen sulfide, which is produced by decomposition, Duncan said.

As to the smell of all that effluent, it’s not as overpowering as you’d think, Duncan said.

“If it’s a well-functioning sewer, it’s more like a barnyard, or compost pile smell,” he said. “But when it’s bad, it can smell like death.”

Subterranean explorers' motivation raises questions

Some residents have worried the mysterious explorers captured on video were up to something nefarious. Many were dressed in waterproof hip waders and equipped with headlamps and what appeared to be shovels and other tools.

“Sewers can serve as entry or exit points to buildings, and we have all seen movies in which criminals escape jail through a sewer,” offered Magued Iskander, an engineering professor at New York University. “There must be a reason beyond mere thrill to enter a dirty place like a sewer.”

Others have noted that police have nabbed underground treasure seekers from time to time.

Three men were charged just last year with burglary and other counts after they went searching for gold, jewelry and other valuables in a Brooklyn sewer. A decade earlier, police caught three others as they emerged from a maintenance hole, including a worker with the city Department of Environmental Protection, which manages the sewer system.

If anything, the viral videos underscore just how vulnerable some of the city’s vital infrastructure is, said David Sarni, a retired New York Police Department detective and professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan.

“Is this something that could be exploited by people who look to do harm?” he said. “You have to really take nothing for granted and always think, unfortunately, on that negative side.”

Duncan, who now works in real estate, said neither riches nor malice motivated him and many others of his generation of urban explorers.

On his trips into underground passages in New York, London, Paris and elsewhere during the early 2000s, he rarely found anything of value, save for the odd credit card or tattered wallet.

“These are terrifying places that take a lot of planning and dedication to explore safely,” Duncan said. “You don’t do all of these things for the tiny chance of finding a diamond earring.”

“The real reason is to see something new, or experience the city in a different way,” he continued. “That’s the real lure.”

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Associated Press video journalist Joseph Frederick in New York contributed to this story.

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Follow Philip Marcelo at https://x.com/philmarcelo

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Local 10 News also heard from Pembroke Pines Commissioner Jay Schwartz, who owns the flight school connected to the aircraft involved in the crash.

Investigators said a plane took off from North Perry Airport on May 29. Shortly after takeoff, the aircraft experienced engine failure, forcing the pilot to attempt an emergency landing.

The plane crashed outside South Florida State Hospital.

A student pilot and a flight instructor were inside the overturned aircraft. Both were injured but survived, thanks in part to people who rushed to help.

“As I was driving South on University, going back home, I see this plane above me and it looked like it was losing altitude,” said Nathan Gansert, the good samaritan who helped.

According to a police report, the flight school company connected to the plane is Blue Sky, which is owned by Schwartz. The report also states that one of the survivors said the plane had been experiencing engine issues the day before the crash.

On Wednesday, city leaders honored Gansert for helping rescue the two people onboard.

Gansert said he was driving when he noticed a plane flying unusually low before it disappeared from view.

“I noticed I didn’t see it in the sky anymore,” Gansert said. “I turn the corner, turn the other corner and see tree branches on the ground. I see one of the girls start to climb out and I jumped out my car and ran over there and helped the other one. I did what I do best and I guess that being a human.”

Schwartz thanked Gansert during the ceremony.

“You saved our girls,” Schwartz said. “One of them is watching right now. It’s only been five nights. When things get better, we’re going to get together.”

Both survivors are expected to recover.

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According to Pembroke Pines police, officers detained the suspect, Zachary Mikolashek, 38, after serving an arrest warrant at a home in the Camden Portofino community, located in the area of Northwest 108^th Avenue and Third Street.

Neighbors told Local 10 News that Mikolashek is a military veteran who has been suffering from PTSD.

They said he was shooting aimlessly into the air two days ago.

Blink doorbell camera footage shows SWAT team members outside the home.

“He’s a human being that’s suffering from PTSD and, you know, unfortunately it got to this point,” one neighbor said. “He barricaded himself in there and they had to go and help him out. They were actually saying, ‘One veteran to the next, please come out. We don’t want to hurt you.’”

Another neighbor told Local 10 News that she heard the sound of what sounded like about five gunshots.

As officers were serving the warrant, they temporarily evacuated a family that lives next door to Mikolashek due to the presence of guns inside his home.

Police did not immediately confirm details about what led to Mikolashek’s arrest, but confirmed that he has been charged with burglary.

As of Thursday afternoon, Mikolashek was being held at the Broward County Main Jail. His bond had not yet been set.

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It happened just after 12:30 a.m. on May 25 at The Standard Cuisine & Cocktails, located at 187 SE Mizner Blvd. in the Royal Palm Plaza shopping center.

Authorities have since taken the suspect, Christian Ippolito, into custody.

Police said Ippolito, 24, of Lantana, got into an argument with one of the victims ― whom he knew ― just outside the restaurant, pulled a gun from his waistband and fired two shots toward the victim.

One of the shots struck the victim in the chest while the other shot went into the restaurant and struck a patron in the leg, police said.

Medics rushed both victims to a nearby hospital.

Authorities have since said that the victim who was shot in the chest is in stable condition and the victim who was shot in the leg was later released from the hospital.

Police said Ippolito was taken into custody on Wednesday and remains behind bars at the Palm Beach County Jail on two charges of second-degree attempted murder with a firearm and one charge of shooting into an occupied dwelling.

El Consejo Nacional Electoral certificó que De la Espriella, del movimiento Defensores de la Patria, obtuvo el 43,73 % de los votos, seguido de Cepeda, del oficialista Pacto Histórico, con el 40,91 %, tras concluir el escrutinio.

Se trata de un resultado coincidente con el conteo preliminar que fue divulgado el domingo, tras la jornada de votación, por la Registraduría Nacional, que se encarga de la logística de las elecciones y que fue cuestionado por el presidente Gustavo Petro, quien dijo que solo reconocería el resultado del escrutinio.

El presidente del CNE, magistrado Cristian Ricardo Quiroz, dijo que entregan resultados “legítimos y transparentes” con “cero reclamaciones”, bajo el acompañamiento de testigos electorales y observadores internacionales.

El gobierno estadounidense advirtió el jueves que está monitoreando la “integridad” de las elecciones en Colombia, luego de que Trump anunciara su apoyo a De la Espriella. El subsecretario de Estado, Christopher Landau, dijo en la red social X que quienes intenten “manipular” las elecciones, por ejemplo comprando, podrían poner en riesgo sus visas.

Los dos candidatos se han enganchado en discusiones públicas que incluyen el uso de la camiseta de la Selección colombiana por parte de la campaña de De la Espriella. Un juez emitió el jueves una medida provisional que le ordena al candidato abstenerse de usarla en la campaña. “La camiseta de Colombia no se censura”, respondió De la Espriella.

En paralelo, Cepeda reclamó al conservador por utilizar la icónica prenda: “no le pertenece a nadie, nos pertenece a todas y todos... no podemos permitir que nos la roben”, dijo en un encuentro en Bogotá con barristas de los diferentes equipos de la liga colombiana.

Petro y Cepeda desisten de proceso constituyente

En una seguidilla de declaraciones, el mandatario, el comité de recolección de firmas para una asamblea constituyente y el candidato se pronunciaron en el mismo sentido y aseguraron que descartar el proceso permite apoyar la campaña de Cepeda para vencer a la “extrema derecha” en referencia De la Espriella, simpatizante de los presidentes Donald Trump y Nayib Bukele.

“La decisión electoral reflejada en las últimas elecciones al reflejar una profunda división ciudadana no permite que el constituyente (el pueblo) se convoque a sí mismo y ha dejado abierta la puerta de un regreso a los métodos del fascismo violento”, afirmó Petro en la red social X.

La propuesta de modificar la Constitución que rige desde 1991 ha gravitado a lo largo del gobierno del progresista Petro, quien ha insistido en que sea “el pueblo” el que decida los cambios que necesita. Sin embargo, se convirtió en una de las principales críticas hacia Cepeda —aliado de Petro— durante la campaña presidencial.

“El proyecto político que representa la extrema derecha, hoy encabezado por su candidato Abelardo de la Espriella, constituye una amenaza para los fundamentos democráticos... a la sustitución de la democracia por un régimen autocrático y mafioso”, aseguró Cepeda en una declaración transmitida en video.

Cepeda defendió la Constitución actual, asegurando que es un “demócrata” que respeta las leyes, luego de que durante la campaña presidencial dijo que de llegar al poder convocaría a un acuerdo nacional a distintos sectores, incluyendo empresarios y movimientos sociales, para hablar de los principales temas del país y que no descartaba que ese diálogo concluyera en un proceso para cambiar la carta magna.

Armando Wouriyu Valbuena, vocero del comité promotor de la constituyente, explicó que suspender el proceso de recolección de firmas busca enfocar el esfuerzo en apoyar la campaña de Cepeda y “consolidar una gran alianza por la vida capaz de frenar los sectores de extrema derecha que amenazan los derechos, la convivencia y la paz en nuestro país”.

La Constitución vigente establece que para ser reformada el Congreso debe aprobar una ley en la que avale que los ciudadanos decidan en una votación popular si convocan una Asamblea Constituyente. Luego la Corte Constitucional deberá revisar la ley y darle su aval.

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Hollywood police officers responded to a 911 call at about 8 p.m. on Wednesday after ocean-side witnesses saw the body, east of the North Boardwalk and south of the Hollywood North Beach Park.

“We saw two fishermen and then what looked like a body on the beach ... We saw them drag her up ... it was disheartening,” Gianluca Fiore, a witness, said.

There were Hollywood police officers on and off the beach late into the night, near North Surf Road, between New Mexico and Thomas streets. The Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office was investigating.

“Hollywood police department and fire department did an amazing job at making sure that the body was treated with respect,“ Emilio Benitz, a witness who lives steps away from the North Boardwalk, said.

Detectives asked anyone with information about this or other cases who wants to remain anonymous to call Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477.

Related report: Police: Body washes ashore on Hollywood Beach

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The benchmark 30-year fixed rate mortgage rate fell to 6.48% from 6.53% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. The average rate remains below 6.85%, where it was a year ago.

When mortgage rates decline they give homebuyers more purchasing power.

Rates have been mostly trending higher since the war with Iran began, disrupting the passage of tankers ferrying crude oil from the Persian Gulf to customers worldwide. That’s sent oil prices sharply higher — a key driver of inflation.

“This conflict is currently the main driver of still-high mortgage rates, as the oil shock ripples inflation fears throughout the global economy,” said Joel Berner, a senior economist at Realtor.com.

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

Expectations of higher oil prices as the war drags on have kept long-term bond yields elevated, causing mortgage rates to mostly trend higher.

The yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury note was at 4.47% in midday trading Thursday on the bond market, up from 4.45% a week ago. It was just 3.97% in late February, before the war broke out.

As recently as late February, the average rate on a 30-year mortgage had slipped just under 6% for the first time since late 2022. It’s hasn’t fallen below that threshold since. Last week, it surged to its highest level since August 28, when it was 6.56%.

While average long-term mortgage rates remain lower than they were at this time last year, their mostly upward trajectory and uncertainty over how much higher they may go as bond markets react to the economic fallout from the conflict in the Middle East have been a drag on the housing market.

Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes were essentially flat in April after declining from a year earlier in the first three months of the year, extending a nationwide housing slump that dates back to 2022 when mortgage rates began to climb from pandemic-era lows. The May existing home sales snapshot is due out next week.

Recent mortgage applications data are another sign that the upward trend in mortgage rates has many would-be homebuyers on hold.

Mortgage applications, which include loans to buy a home or refinance an existing mortgage, fell 2.5% last week for the third week in a row, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Applications for loans to buy a home remain modestly higher than last year's levels, but posted their slowest weekly pace since April.

Meanwhile, home loan refinancing applications softened as many homeowners eager to refinance hold out for lower rates.

Still, those homeowners also got some relief this week. Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, often sought by borrowers refinancing a home loan, also eased. That average rate fell to 5.79% from 5.87% last week. A year ago, it was at 5.99%, Freddie Mac said.

Home shoppers who are undeterred by elevated mortgage rates are benefiting from buyer-friendly trends in many markets, including more properties for sale than a year ago and data showing that home listing prices have started falling.

The median price of U.S. homes listed for sale fell 2.4% last month from a year earlier, the steepest decline on data going back to 2017, according to Realtor.com.

Castillo, de 42 años, quien reemplaza al exjefe Edwin Lopez , comenzará su nuevo trabajo el 15 de junio, antes de una ceremonia formal de juramento el 17 de junio, según el anuncio de la ciudad.

La alcaldesa de Doral, Christi Fraga, emitió un comunicado en el que afirma que Castillo combinará “una vigilancia policial proactiva, tecnología moderna y una participación comunitaria significativa para lograr resultados reales”.

Fraga anunció la salida de López el 11 de mayo, tras su nombramiento como nuevo jefe de policía de Miami.

En un comunicado, Zeida Sardiñas , la administradora municipal, describió a Castillo como “un líder policial respetado en nuestra región que comprende a nuestra comunidad y ha trabajado junto a nuestro departamento a través de colaboraciones previas”.

Castillo comenzó su carrera en el Departamento de Policía de Miami Springs como auxiliar de servicio público en 2009. Este graduado de la Universidad Internacional de Florida ascendió de rango y fue ascendido a jefe el 1 de enero de 2025.

Miami Springs aún no había anunciado a su reemplazo.

Historias relacionadas

• Doral ofrece el puesto de jefe de policía al actual jefe de policía de Miami Springs, Matthew Castillo.
• Miami nombra a un “líder local” como nuevo jefe de policía

Esta noticia está en desarrollo.