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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Uncertainty over released prisoners

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

US pressure on Cuba

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

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

Cuba periodically frees prisoners at key moments.

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

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

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

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

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

___

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

___

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

___

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Shock was not one of them.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

___

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

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

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

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

All three men were arrested on indecent exposure charges.

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

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

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

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

Los tres hombres fueron arrestados por cargos de exposición indecente.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Watch NASA’s 24/7 coverage of Artemis II

NASA’S flight day 3 agenda

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

More on Artemis II

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

Share your launch day photos

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

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

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

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

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

Sigue la cobertura ininterrumpida de la NASA sobre Artemis II.

Agenda del tercer día de vuelo de la NASA

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Más información sobre Artemis II

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

Comparte tus fotos del día del lanzamiento

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

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

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

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

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

Choctaw code talkers’ ties to Fort Worth

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Descendants carry the torch

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The judge ordered Ebert held without bond.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Easing up after years

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

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

A Republican split

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

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

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

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

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

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

Two decades under the child support rule

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

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

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

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

Other states' systems

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So will the coach with deep roots in Lincoln.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Voting for AP coach of the year:

Fred Hoiberg, Nebraska, 17

Jon Scheyer, Duke, 13

Tommy Lloyd, Arizona, 11

Dusty May, Michigan, 9

Travis Steele, Miami (Ohio), 9

Grant McCaslin, Texas Tech 1

Shaheen Holloway, Seton Hall, 1

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AP Basketball Writer Aaron Beard contributed to this story.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Inside the Colosseum, Leo began the procession flanked by two young people holding torches, and followed by clergy.

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

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

Thousands gathered outside the pagan monument, where the procession continued, following the stations as they were recited over loud speakers.

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

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

Past processions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The pope's Holy Week activities

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

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

——

Barry reported from Milan.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Activistas insisten en amnistía

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

—————-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

No se divulgaron de inmediato más detalles.

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

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

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

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

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

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

No other details were immediately released.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A short list

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

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

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

His coaches think the same of him.

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

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

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

Big-game successes

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

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

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

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

Managing pressure

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

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

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

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

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

___

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Police said Angeles Vasquez was found safe.

They have not said what led to her disappearance.

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

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

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

Cada giro se siente como un nuevo capítulo.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Para más información sobre Tequila Town, haz clic aquí.

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

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

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

• To donate: If you’d like to make a monetary donation toward a Good News South Florida story or project, click here. Local 10 has established the Local 10 Fund with The Miami Foundation and 100% of your donation will go toward the cause you designate in the “additional information” box.
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Good News South Florida airs Fridays on the Local 10 morning news at 10 a.m. It will encore Fridays at 3:30 p.m. and Sunday mornings, beginning at 6 a.m.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cuba periodically frees prisoners at key moments.

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

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

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

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

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

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

As of midmorning Friday, Wiseman and his crew were 100,000 miles (160,000 kilometers) from Earth and were quickly gaining on the moon with another 160,000 miles (258,000 kilometers) to go. They should reach their destination on Monday.

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

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

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

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

___

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The two papers are longtime rivals

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

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

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

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

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

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

Readers today have more options

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

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

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

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

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

___

Associated Press journalist Kathleen Ronayne contributed from Sacramento, California.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Watch NASA’s 24/7 coverage of Artemis II

Flight day 2 agenda

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

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

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

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

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

Related stories

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

Share your launch day photos

Learning from NASA encyclopedia

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

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

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

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

VIEW GRAPHIC: The ICPS details

More from Cape Canaveral

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

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

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

Every turn feels like a new chapter.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

For more information on Tequila Town, click here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ADVICE FOR PARENTS

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

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

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

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

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

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

What is the 65-game rule?

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

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

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

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

Who's out of the award races?

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

There were 23 players on the list of those winning MVP, MIP, DPOY, All-NBA and All-Defense last season. Of those, at least 10 are out of the running for honors this season: Antetokounmpo, Curry, Edwards, James, Tatum, Detroit's Cade Cunningham, Indiana teammates Tyrese Haliburton and Ivica Zubac, Utah's Jaren Jackson Jr. and Oklahoma City's Jalen Williams. (Most of those 10 have been out of the awards mix because of injuries for some time; Tatum and Haliburton both tore Achilles in last season's playoffs and it was obvious then that they wouldn't hit 65-game marks this year.)

Another four award winners from a year ago — Jokic, Oklahoma City's Lu Dort, Golden State's Draymond Green and Cleveland's Evan Mobley — aren't at 65 games yet this season but, for now anyway, seem on pace to get there.

Will the rule be changed?

Never say never. The union wants changes to the policy, and it's certain to come up in their conversations with the league office. But many players — and even Andre Iguodala, now the head of the players' association — have said in recent years that the 65-game rule is a good thing.

The league doesn't seem inclined to make a change based solely on what would appear to be an extraordinary number of award candidates not hitting the threshold in one year.

“I think it is working,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said last month. “I think if you look at the numbers, the pre-implementation of this rule, numbers were going in the wrong direction. I may have this a little bit off: I think the three years before we adopted this rule, almost a third of the All-NBA players had not played 80% of the games. That was a huge issue for the league.”

Scoring champion ... but not All-NBA?

As we said, it's rare, but it has happened. Twice, to be exact.

— 1968-69: Elvin Hayes won the scoring title as a rookie, then wasn't even All-NBA — and didn't win Rookie of the Year, either.

— 1975-76: Bob McAdoo won his third consecutive scoring title and was second in the MVP race — but didn't make All-NBA. Players voted for MVP in those days, and McAdoo was an extremely close second behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Dave Cowens was third in the MVP vote but got the second-team All-NBA nod at center, with Abdul-Jabbar the first-team pick.

Doncic could join that list. He was scheduled for an MRI on Friday to determine the extent of his hamstring injury. It's not mathematically certain yet that he wins the scoring title, but it would take something extraordinary for it not to happen.

He's averaging 33.5 points per game, with Gilgeous-Alexander at 31.6 per game. For Gilgeous-Alexander — last season's scoring champion — to overtake Doncic, he would need to go on an unbelievable run. An example: He'd need to score 292 points over the final five games to take over the top spot, and nobody other than Wilt Chamberlain has had a five-game run like that.

Of the previous 79 scoring champions, 64 were first-team All-NBA and 13 were second-team.

Jokic is going to win the league's rebounding and assist titles, while averaging a triple-double yet again. But he's also not assured yet of being on the award ballots.

Why can some players win statistical titles but not win All-NBA?

The thresholds are different.

While the award mandate is 65 games in most cases, players are eligible for most statistical awards if they play in 58 games (or 70% of the season). There are different standards for some stat awards, such as field-goal percentage (minimum 300 made), free-throw percentage (minimum 125 made) and 3-point percentage (minimum 82 made).

A player can win a stat award while appearing in less than 58 games.

For example, last season, San Antonio's Victor Wembanyama played only 46 games but still won the blocked shot title. Even if he played in the minimum 58 games and recorded no blocks in the 12 games needed to reach that number he still would have been ahead of the runner-up, Utah's Walker Kessler.

___

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

Christina Vazquez, de Local 10, habló con los supervisores electorales de los condados Miami-Dade y Broward sobre el fraude electoral.

“No tenemos tantos casos”, dijo la supervisora electoral de Miami-Dade, Alina Garcia.

“Eso es básicamente lo que hemos visto, y eso es lo que muestra la evidencia”, agregó el supervisor electoral de Broward, Joe Scott.

“En este momento, también verificamos que las personas sean ciudadanos”, continuó Garcia. “El secretario de Estado lo hace, pero nosotros lo hacemos en la etapa final”.

“Sí, este proceso más o menos ya ha estado en vigor con el Departamento de Seguridad Vial y Vehículos Motorizados de Florida”, dijo Scott. “Lo que aconsejaría a las personas es que, si aún no han obtenido su REAL ID, lo hagan, porque si completan ese proceso, estarán bien en cuanto a su estatus de votación”.

Si la ley SAVE supera el actual desafío legal y entra en vigor el 1 de enero de 2027, ambos supervisores dicen que los ciudadanos con licencias de conducir de Florida compatibles con REAL ID no tendrán problemas.

“El DMV ha estado actualizando sus registros durante muchos años”, dijo Garcia.

“En general, más del 90% de nuestras personas se registran para votar a través del DHSMV”, dijo Scott. “Por lo tanto, es muy importante que las personas que se naturalizan regresen al DHSMV y actualicen su información, y ahora que tienen un certificado de naturalización, pueden demostrar que son ciudadanos de Estados Unidos”.

Un grupo que podría enfrentar un nuevo obstáculo para votar son los estudiantes, ya que las identificaciones estudiantiles ya no serán aceptadas como identificación de votante.

“El otro grupo de personas que me preocupa serían los hijos de ciudadanos naturalizados”, dijo Scott. “A veces, los hijos de ciudadanos naturalizados no obtienen su propio certificado y pueden no tener un documento para comprobarlo, y muchas veces lo que tendrán que hacer es presentar la documentación de sus padres y su certificado de nacimiento, posiblemente de otro país, que demuestre que son hijos de esa persona que se naturalizó”.

Agregó Garcia: “Pase lo que pase, vamos a estar preparados y vamos a asegurarnos de que las personas puedan votar”.

Scott dijo que la evidencia muestra que la votación de no ciudadanos es extremadamente rara y que un problema mayor podría ser la baja participación electoral.

“Lo que me parece interesante es que una cosa de nuestro país es que, famosamente, tenemos muchas personas que son elegibles para votar y no lo hacen”, dijo. “Hay un número muy grande de ciudadanos estadounidenses que no participan en las elecciones. Consideramos que es una alta participación si el 75% de nuestros votantes registrados vota, lo que significa que una de cada cuatro personas que se registraron en realidad no vota en nuestras elecciones presidenciales, que tienden a ser las de mayor participación”.

CONSEJOS PARA PADRES

“Obtener un REAL ID para su hijo probablemente sea lo mejor que pueden hacer los padres para que su hijo esté preparado para poder registrarse para votar”, dijo Scott. “Ahora, para los jóvenes que no tienen un REAL ID, tendremos que tener un proceso para verificar esos documentos. Básicamente necesitaremos ver su certificado de nacimiento. Necesitaremos ver los documentos de naturalización de mamá y papá, además de un certificado de nacimiento de otro país para poder conectar toda esa información”.

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According to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, more than 30 firefighters responded to the junkyard near the 12800 block of Cairo Lane just before 8:40 p.m.

“MDFR firefighters arrived to find a large column of flames coming from the rear of the property, with the fire spreading to a pile of several vehicles,” an MDFR spokesperson told Local 10 News in an email Friday. “The call was upgraded to a Second Alarm due to the need for additional manpower.”

Firefighters said crews used aerial ladders to fight the fire and remained at the scene overnight to monitor and extinguish hot spots.

No injuries were reported.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Zendaya, surprising precisely nobody on the planet, showed up in dazzling blue at Thursday’s New York premiere of “The Drama,” after teasing the bridal theme for weeks by wearing something old, then something new, then something borrowed.

Her strapless Schiaparelli Haute Couture ball gown, accompanied by sapphire earrings, completed the sartorial series just in time for the opening of her movie — a film that has attracted considerable controversy and mixed reviews. Zendaya and Robert Pattinson play a couple whose wedding plans go seriously awry following a dark revelation.

The high-fashion appearances have also echoed the bridal theme of Zendaya’s own life, with unconfirmed speculation flying — fed in part by rings she’s been wearing — that she’s already married to partner Tom Holland.

The actor and her stylist, Law Roach, saved the most spectacular outfit for last. Schiaparelli posted on its own Instagram ​​that the gown, which took some 8,000 hours of work, was made of blue and black raw silk “feathers” in satin stitch embroidery, and contained 27 shades of blue.

“Something old” came in Los Angeles on March 17, where Zendaya wore the same white, off-the-shoulder Vivienne Westwood Bridal gown that she’d worn to the 2015 Oscars.

She transitioned to “something new” at the March 24 Paris premiere — a white custom Louis Vuitton gown with a huge black bow and train.

“Something borrowed” came two days later in Rome, a black Armani Privé dress previously worn by Cate Blanchett, with a plunging neckline framed with stones.

Finally on Thursday, Zendaya completed the circle. “SomethingBlue,” posted Roach.

In case nobody had noticed.

According to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, more than 30 firefighters responded to the junkyard near the 12800 block of Cairo Lane just before 8:40 p.m.

“MDFR firefighters arrived to find a large column of flames coming from the rear of the property, with the fire spreading to a pile of several vehicles,” an MDFR spokesperson told Local 10 News in an email Friday. “The call was upgraded to a Second Alarm due to the need for additional manpower.”

Firefighters said crews used aerial ladders to fight the fire and remained at the scene overnight to monitor and extinguish hot spots.

No injuries were reported.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Darrell Rose fue arrestado por asesinato en segundo grado en relación con una pelea que fue captada en video de vigilancia en enero de 2024.

En el video, se observa a Rose discutiendo y peleando con Serdjy Hyppolite afuera de una tienda de llantas en West Park, ubicada en la cuadra 2400 de Southwest 57th Avenue.

Según la orden de la jueza, Hyppolite sacó un arma, lo que provocó un forcejeo, y el arma se disparó, causando la muerte de Hyppolite.

Como parte de la orden de cuatro páginas de la jueza Barbara Duffy, escribió: “(Rose) simplemente intentó evitar que Hyppolite le disparara y lo matara y, durante el proceso, el arma de fuego se disparó accidentalmente”.

La jueza concedió la solicitud del acusado de inmunidad bajo la ley de Florida “Stand Your Ground”.

La Fiscalía Estatal de Broward indicó que está revisando la decisión para determinar si presentará una apelación.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Según un informe de arresto de la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade, un supervisor de la oficina notificó a los investigadores sobre la actividad ilegal el 25 de marzo.

Los agentes indicaron que se revisó video de vigilancia que mostraba al empleado, Waldersee Oge, de 46 años y residente de North Miami, emitiendo permisos de conducir temporales el mes pasado a al menos cuatro personas que no estaban presentes en la oficina.

En un incidente, Oge fue visto en video hablando por su teléfono celular con uno de los clientes, recopilando su información personal y luego ingresándola en la base de datos Orion.

Según el informe, el supervisor comenzó a sospechar la semana pasada tras observar a Oge revisando documentos escaneados dentro del sistema de mantenimiento de clientes utilizando la base de datos Orion, a pesar de que no había clientes en el mostrador de servicio en ese momento.

Los detectives dijeron que Oge fue detenido en su lugar de trabajo el jueves y confesó haber realizado múltiples transacciones a cambio de pagos a través de Zelle.

Enfrenta numerosos cargos, incluidos mala conducta oficial por parte de un servidor público, compensación o recompensa ilegal por conducta oficial, delitos contra usuarios de computadoras, uso ilegal de un dispositivo de comunicación, emisión ilegal de una licencia de conducir y falsificación de registros públicos.

Hasta la mañana de este viernes, Oge permanecía detenido en el Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. Los registros en línea de la cárcel indicaban que su fianza total estaba “por establecerse”.

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Asia Spann, who says she is the boy’s aunt, spoke out after a large police presence drew her to the scene.

“They shot my nephew in the foot. I don’t know why this happened, what happened, but all I want is answers,” Spann said.

The sheriff’s office says around 3:30 p.m., deputies received a call about someone with a gun at a park near Southwest 216th Street and Southwest 113th Avenue.

A be-on-the-lookout notice was sent out. The assistant sheriff says deputies approached four people matching the description. There was a confrontation, and a deputy shot the 15-year-old boy in the foot.

“We’re just grateful that nobody else got hurt and he’s in stable condition,” said Assistant Sheriff Fernand Charles.

Deputies say they found a gun near the teen.

“We need to make sure we’re mindful of what our children are doing day in and day out. 3:30 in the afternoon, a 15-year-old is walking around with a firearm is not acceptable by any means,” Charles said.

After being told what deputies said about her nephew, Spann responded:

“I just got an update my nephew is doing well. I don’t know about no firearms or whatever. He didn’t shoot no firearms, shoot at the police, you know, to my understanding, but why did they just jump out and unknown cause, they just start shooting? That’s what I wanna know,” she said.

Deputies say all the juveniles involved were taken into custody. The 15-year-old was transported to the hospital.

When asked if he will be arrested like the other juveniles, the sheriff’s office said that will be up to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which will take the lead on the investigation.

Asia Spann, quien dice ser la tía del menor, habló tras una gran presencia policial que la llevó al lugar.

“Le dispararon a mi sobrino en el pie. No sé por qué pasó esto, qué ocurrió, pero lo único que quiero son respuestas”, dijo Spann.

La oficina del sheriff indicó que alrededor de las 3:30 p.m., los agentes recibieron una llamada sobre una persona con un arma en un parque cerca de Southwest 216th Street y Southwest 113th Avenue.

Se emitió una alerta de búsqueda. El sheriff asistente dijo que los agentes se acercaron a cuatro personas que coincidían con la descripción. Hubo un enfrentamiento y un agente le disparó al adolescente de 15 años en el pie.

“Estamos agradecidos de que nadie más resultó herido y de que él está en condición estable”, dijo el sheriff asistente Fernand Charles.

Los agentes indicaron que encontraron un arma cerca del menor.

“Debemos asegurarnos de estar atentos a lo que nuestros hijos hacen día a día. A las 3:30 de la tarde, que un joven de 15 años esté caminando con un arma de fuego no es aceptable de ninguna manera”, dijo Charles.

Tras ser informada de lo dicho por los agentes sobre su sobrino, Spann respondió:

“Acabo de recibir una actualización de que mi sobrino está bien. No sé nada de armas de fuego ni nada. Él no disparó ningún arma, no le disparó a la policía, según tengo entendido, pero ¿por qué simplemente llegaron y sin causa conocida comenzaron a disparar? Eso es lo que quiero saber”, dijo.

Los agentes indicaron que todos los menores involucrados fueron detenidos. El joven de 15 años fue trasladado al hospital.

Al ser consultada si será arrestado como los otros menores, la oficina del sheriff dijo que eso dependerá del Departamento de Cumplimiento de la Ley de Florida, que estará a cargo de la investigación.

When there’s a hurricane threat, everyone feels the stress. But for children and adults on the autism spectrum, emergencies like these can be especially difficult. A loud, crowded hurricane shelter can quickly become overwhelming.

“It can trigger them to experience a meltdown or may experience issues transitioning from one place to another, one activity to another,” Betsy Germain Evans said.

Germain Evans, an advocate for the neurodivergent community, has a daughter diagnosed with autism. Kathy Rodriguez is also raising a child on the spectrum.

Together, they created “Ready, Set Backpack,” designed to help reduce stress during emergencies.

“This child loves the smell of lavender, so this plushie right here has a lavender smell,” one of the women said. “When he smells it, it’s something familiar and brings him comfort.”

The backpacks are customized for each child.

“It has everything in there -- all the essential items that that child would need in order for them to transition smoothly,” Evans said.

Each backpack is built using a sensory profile to determine what items are included.

“So say this child is in a space like a shelter and it’s overwhelming -- he can open up his tent and go into his tent. He can bring in his weighted teddy, a light bulb, things that make him feel more secure,” another advocate explained.

Miramar Commissioner Maxwell Chambers is spearheading a safety workshop to introduce the backpacks to the community.

“These young ladies come together after experiencing issues with their own children to give back free information to our community -- that’s a tremendous blessing,” Chambers said.

Evans says the goal is simple.

“The one thing we need them to know is we really truly value this tool, specifically because we know it solves a problem that we know is in our community,” she said.

Each “Ready, Set Backpack” is tailored to the individual but can include items like trackers, communication boards and noise-canceling headphones.

Rodriguez and Germain Evans will guide parents at a free emergency preparedness workshop on Monday, April 6, at the Miramar Commission Chambers. A representative from the National Hurricane Center will also be there to answer questions. The event runs from 2 to 4 p.m.

Now in its more than 40-year history, the event continues to draw local runners hooked on that runner’s high.

Beyond fitness, the race also serves as a morale booster and a chance for company bonding, while helping instill lessons about wellness in younger generations.

But for many, it’s also about competition -- where there can only be one winner.

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It’s coming down to the wire with construction, as the facility remains a work-in-progress.

Nu Stadium even received a glowing approval from Inter Miami President and Co-owner David Beckham.

He was on the pitch Thursday, checking out the real grass field and the 26,700-seat stadium for himself.

Hundreds of fans are expected to get a sneak peek on Thursday too, invited to the site to walk the stadium, explore available sections, and lock in their seat for the season.

Something else to be on the lookout for is the Leo Messi Stand.

It’s rare and unique in global sports for an athlete playing at his home stadium to have a stand named in his honor.

A lot of time and money have been invested at Miami Freedom Park for Inter Miami fans, as an estimated $1 billion through private funding and three years of construction are finally coming to fruition, but it’s still not completely finished.

The broader Miami Freedom Park project will eventually include hotel rooms, commercial and office space, and the largest public park in Miami, covering more than 58 acres.

Opening night at Nu Stadium is set for Saturday night when Inter Miami hosts Austin FC.

“Safeguarding the electoral process to improve oversight and prevent unlawful influence has been a top priority for my administration since my first days in office,” DeSantis said. “Today I signed the election integrity bill, also known as the Florida SAVE Act. This legislation strengthens the security, transparency, and reliability of Florida’s election system. In Florida, we will always stand up for election integrity.”

The measure requires verification of U.S. citizenship during the voter registration process.

But critics argue the legislation is unnecessary.

Democratic State Sen. Shevrin Jones questioned the need for the bill.

“But at the expense of who? At the expense of voters? You know, last year they said that that was the election integrity bill that the nation should model. So what changes need to be made?” Jones asked.

“I think personally this is another not needed bill — we have been known, based on my colleagues who have made it clear, that Florida runs the safest integral elections in the country,” he added. “There is no need for this, because there wasn’t, still no need for it — talking to some of my Republican colleagues, they even said, ‘I don’t even know why we are doing this.’ Exactly, why are we?”

Jones warned the legislation could disenfranchise some voters, including students.

“Students are no longer allowed to use their student IDs to vote,” he said.

He also raised concerns about married women whose current name differs from the name on their birth certificate.

“That is actually testimony that came up when we were in committee, someone said ‘I am going through a name change currently right now,’ so what does this looks like after this is passed?” Jones said.

He pointed to potential issues for seniors as well.

“There has already been a case — she can’t locate her birth certificate -- why? She was born in the 1920’s, 1930’s. That is one instance, but those are consistent with other individuals," he said. “It is not saving anyone but what it is doing is disenfranchising individuals to be able to participate in this democratic process, that is what it is doing.”

The League of Women Voters of Florida, one of the plaintiffs in the case, argues the law would impose unnecessary barriers on eligible voters.

In a statement, the organization said courts have repeatedly found that documentary proof-of-citizenship requirements disenfranchise eligible voters while doing little to address what it describes as a “virtually nonexistent” problem of non-citizen voting.

The group also pointed to a similar law enacted in Kansas in 2016 that blocked more than 35,000 people from registering to vote before it was struck down in 2018 for violating federal law and the U.S. Constitution.

Plaintiffs argue Florida’s additional documentation requirement would make it harder for eligible voters to register, including naturalized citizens, low-income voters, married women who have changed their names, voters of color, students, people with disabilities, transgender individuals and seniors.

The ACLU of Florida also criticized the measure, saying, “HB 991 creates in-person, ‘show-your-papers’ requirements that could exclude thousands of eligible Florida voters from registering if they don’t have an unexpired U.S. passport or birth certificate — or if those documents do not reflect their name after a name change."

“This will result in thousands of eligible voters being unable to vote, and will especially harm first-time voters, elderly Floridians, students, low-income and rural communities, and women who have changed their name upon marriage,” an ACLU spokesperson added.

DeSantis acknowledged legal challenges were likely.

“And you know what happens on all these. I sign it, they sue us,” he said.

Minutes after the bill was signed, a federal lawsuit was filed.

Several voting groups argued in court filings that, in their view, “Many eligible voters do not have these documents and cannot obtain them for a variety of reasons — including because they were born without a birth certificate in the segregated South, because their documents were destroyed in a hurricane, or because they cannot afford the hundreds of dollars it costs to replace them.”

Jones also questioned the cost of defending the law.

“Why do we continue to waste taxpayer money? Why do we continue to try the courts in this manner, knowing that it is unconstitutional, knowing good and well that an individual who is not a citizen of this country, they can’t vote, so why are we going through this dog and pony show when it is not needed?” he said.

Local 10 viewers can listen to DeSantis’ remarks by clicking here.

The plaintiffs in the case are asking the court to declare the legislation unlawful and block Florida from enforcing it. The law is set to take effect Jan. 1, 2027.

“I cannot, by contract, tell you when. I cannot tell you who. But I can tell you, direct to the camera, WKRP, after 48 years, is coming to Cincinnati,” D.P. McIntire, who runs the media nonprofit that is auctioning the famous call letters, told The Associated Press. “Book it! It’s done!”

The call sign was made famous by “WKRP in Cincinnati,” a CBS television sitcom that ran from 1978 to 1982. It made stars of actors like Loni Anderson and Richard Sanders, whose bumbling newsman Les Nessman reported on a Thanksgiving promotion gone bad when live but flightless turkeys were dropped from a helicopter.

McIntire remembers watching the show’s first episode — featuring disc jockeys Dr. Johnny Fever (Howard Hesseman) and Venus Flytrap (Tim Reid) — in the living room with his parents and older sister.

“And at the end of the 30-minute episode,” he said, “I got up and I proclaimed, `I’m going to be in radio. And if I ever have the opportunity, I’m going to run a station called WKRP.’”

McIntire said he got his first on-air job at 13 as a news anchor at WNQQ “Wink FM” in Blairsville, Pennsylvania.

Fast forward to 2014, when his North Carolina-based nonprofit acquired the call sign from the Federal Communications Commission. Stations in Dallas, Georgia, and Alexandria, Tennessee, previously bore the letters.

McIntire laughs as he recalls his chat with a woman in the agency’s audio division.

He had two sets of call letters in mind. She told him he needed a third.

“Being the jokester that I am, I said, `Well, if you need three, and if it’s available, we’ll take WKRP,’” he said. “And 90 seconds later, she came back and she said, `Mr. McIntire. Congratulations. You’re the general manager of WKRP in Raleigh, North Carolina.’”

WKRP-LP — 101.9 on the FM dial — went live Nov. 30, 2015. The LP stands for “low power,” a class of station created to serve more local audiences that didn’t want mass-market content.

“Our format is what radio used to be 35 years ago in small-town America,” he said. "There is Greats of the ‘80s, Sounds of the ’70s, '90s Rewind," as well as local news and “specialty programming.”

LPFM is restricted to nonprofit organizations like his Oak City Media, and it’s definitely local.

“Your broadcast capacity is limited to 100 watts,” McIntire said. “So, your average range is between, depending on your terrain and circumstances, 4 and 12 miles (6 and 19 kilometers) in any direction. Enough to cover a small town.”

And, by necessity, it’s a low-budget affair.

The transmitter is in a corner of McIntire’s garage, between a recycling bin and the cleaning supplies. The broadcast antenna sits atop a 25-foot (7.62-meter) metal flagpole in the backyard. The studio — microphones and a mixing board hooked up to a computer — is on the first floor of McIntire’s home.

Like the WKRP of television, McIntire and his partners set out to be “irreverent.” One of their offerings is a two-hour show called “Weird Al and Friends,” focusing on the satirical works of Weird Al Yankovic.

They even had an annual Thanksgiving turkey giveaway. But don’t call the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals — they hand out gift certificates to a local grocery store.

“We don’t toss them out of helicopters,” he said with a laugh.

This news comes hot on the heels of the decision to shutter CBS News Radio after nearly a century in operation. After more than a decade on the air, the 56-year-old McIntire decided it was time to pass the reins.

“We’re in a position where the older members like me who started the station are turning the leadership over to younger members,” he said. “They’re not interested in radio.”

They put out a call for bids to use the call letters on FM and AM radio, as well as television and digital television.

They intend to use the proceeds for a new nonprofit venture called Independent Broadcast Consultants. He said IBC will be “geared specifically toward helping these new broadcasters get up and running, get the consulting that they need in order to be, hopefully, more successful than we have been.”

Oak City Media was all set to hand off the television-related suffixes — WKRP-TV and WKRP-DT — when another group defaulted on the agreement, McIntire said. But he said the Cincinnati deal is in the bag, he just can’t legally discuss it.

“It will be radio,” he said. “But that’s all I can tell you at this time.”

Robert Thompson, who uses a season 2 episode of “WKRP” in his TV history class at Syracuse University, said it’s telling that people see real value in a fictional station whose call letters invoke the word “crap.”

“The value comes from the love of the characters for each other,” he said. “And now by buying this thing, the value comes from our love of the characters themselves.”

Whatever they do with the call sign, McIntire hopes they will be true to the show that inspired it.

“It has a special place in the hearts of an awful lot of people,” he said. “And we have been very, very, very proud to have been a steward of that legacy.”

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This story has been updated to correct that the studio is on the first floor of the home, not the basement.

The night after he finally won the green jacket last April, McIlroy climbed the 13 spiral stairs to the second floor of the clubhouse and walked through a door that says, “Masters Club Room. Private.”

Champions only.

He couldn't wait to see the most exclusive locker room in golf, intimate and understated, only 27 lockers. Missing that April night was his nameplate, and so his return in December to work on a Prime Video documentary made him eager to find out whose names would be on his locker.

It felt like Christmas morning the way he talked about finding out.

Ben Hogan 1953. Raymond Floyd 1976. Rory McIlroy 2025.

“I was wondering who they were going to put me with,” McIlroy said. “Were they going to put me with another European? I didn't really know. But having Hogan's locker? That's pretty cool, another guy who did the (Grand) Slam. And then Raymond, who I've known for a long time and has been a good friend to me in golf over the years.

“Incredible,” he said. “It never gets old.”

The champions' exclusive room was created in 1978 and since renovated, but not expanded, which is why lockers are shared (not by active players).

The locker room in the new Players Services Building is more spacious and grander. Masters champions will have a locker there, too, for convenience when they use the fitness and recovery area on the basement level.

But they'll still be upstairs in their own room, mainly because they can.

“It's hard to put into words,” Hideki Matsuyama said through his interpreter about returning as Masters champion after his 2021 win. “When I went back for the first time, I knew I could go in, but it just didn't feel right. It was like, ‘Really? I can go in?’ It's not that I was nervous or my English. It was just, ‘Wow.’”

Tiger Woods shares a locker with Jack Burke Jr., who died in 2024. Jack Nicklaus shares with Horton Smith, the first winner of the Masters. Trevor Immelman has Nick Faldo.

Imagine how it felt for Jordan Spieth when he saw his name next to Arnold Palmer on a locker.

“It never crossed my mind until I got there,” Spieth said. “They said, ‘Here’s who you're sharing your locker with. I didn't know they shared lockers.”

Spieth was the defending champion at the Masters Club dinner in 2016, the last one Palmer attended. His mission now is to get an old pair of shoes belonging to Palmer to put in the locker, just to give the King a presence. “That would be cool,” Spieth said.

Scottie Scheffler had seen the room when his Texas team took trips to Augusta National, so his curiosity was running high when he returned as champion for the first time. It was a Texas theme, his name next to Charles Coody and Byron Nelson.

“Charles for sure, because I see him in there using it,” Scheffler said. “I mean, we truly share a locker. He changes his shoes. He has his green jacket. When he shows up he puts his jacket on, and when he leaves he puts his jacket up.”

Adam Scott shares a locker with Gary Player, whom he referred to as “probably the greatest international player ever.” The 5-foot-6 “Black Knight” is 90 and still hits the ceremonial tee shot.

“I was curious and pleasantly surprised to be sharing with Gary, although I didn't know he'd use all my stuff,” Scott said with a laugh.

One time Scott needed to put on his green jacket for a function during the Masters, and the sleeves came halfway up his forearm. “Looks like Gary took the wrong jacket again,” Scott said.

Few others had a more memorable discovery of sharing a locker than Mark O'Meara.

He had seen the room before because he stayed upstairs in the Crow's Nest when he played as the U.S. Amateur champion and snuck down one night to see it. He walked in the front door as a Masters champion with two sets of shoes, knowing his name would be on another's locker, not sure whom it would be.

“There's three small tables, four chairs at each one, and one person sitting there,” O'Meara said. “The locker room attendant says, ‘Let me show you where you are.’ I knew who was sitting in the chair. It was Gene Sarazen, sitting with his back to where we came in.”

Two lockers down he saw the nameplates — Gene Sarazen 1935, Mark O'Meara 1998.

“So I'm sharing a locker with Gene Sarazen, who is actually sitting with his back turned to the locker,” O'Meara said. “I put my hands on the back of his shoulders and said, ‘Mr. Sarazen, I hate to inform you, I'm your locker mate.'”

They had met before because O'Meara used to play in the Sarazen World Open.

“He said, ‘Mark do me a favor. At this stage in my life, I don't get a lot of free (stuff). Can you leave a couple of extra dozen golf balls when you leave?'” O'Meara said.

O'Meara said he would mail as many as the Squire wanted. Sarazen died a month later.

The centerpiece of the intimate room is a glass case that honors the current champion, including a mannequin with the green jacket draped on the shirt the champion wore in the final round, along with a club used for a meaningful shot in the win. There's also the original letter Hogan wrote in 1952 suggesting a “stag dinner” for Masters champions.

Twenty-six of the lockers were empty when McIlroy returned in December — green jackets are kept in a separate room. His contained a surprise.

“There was a note in there from Jack,” McIlroy said. "He'd been there one or two weeks previous and it just said, ‘Welcome to the club.’

“It's a wonderful perk.”

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

The Italian soccer federation announced the news in a statement thanking Gattuso “for the dedication and passion” during his nine months in charge.

Italy’s chances of reaching this year’s tournament in North America ended on Tuesday after a penalty shootout loss to Bosnia and Herzegovina in a qualifying playoff.

“With pain in my heart, not having achieved the goal we had set ourselves, I consider my experience on the national team bench to be over,” Gattuso said.

Gattuso’s departure comes a day after Italy’s soccer federation president Gabriele Gravina resigned along with Gianluigi Buffon, who was the national team’s delegation chief.

The defeat to Bosnia added more misery for four-time champion Italy after being eliminated by Sweden and North Macedonia, respectively, in the qualifying playoffs for the last two World Cups.

Gattuso took over from the fired Luciano Spalletti in June with the squad already in crisis mode following a defeat at Norway in its opening qualifier.

Spalletti had also overseen a disappointing European Championship campaign in 2024, when titleholder Italy was knocked out in the round of 16 by Switzerland.

“I would like to thank Gattuso once again," Gravina said. "Because, in addition to being a special person, as a coach he has offered a valuable contribution, managing to bring enthusiasm back to the national team in just a few months.

“He has conveyed great pride in the national team jersey to the players and to the whole country.”

Under Gattuso, Italy went on a six-match winning streak before another loss to Norway in November to finish second in their group and end up in the playoffs again.

Gattuso had been given a contract until the end of this summer’s World Cup, with an automatic renewal until 2028 if Italy returned to soccer's biggest stage.

“The Azzurri shirt is the most precious asset that exists in soccer, which is why it is right to immediately facilitate future coaching staff decisions,” Gattuso said.

“It was an honor to be able to lead the national team and do so also with a group of boys who have shown commitment and attachment to the shirt. The biggest thanks go to the fans, to all the Italians who have never failed to show their love and support for the national team in recent months.”

Among those being mentioned to replace Gattuso are Roberto Mancini, Simone Inzaghi, Antonio Conte and Massimiliano Allegri.

Mancini coached Italy to the European Championship title in 2021 then failed to get the Azzurri to the next year’s World Cup before bolting to take over Saudi Arabia’s national team. He left that role in October 2024 and is currently coach at Al-Sadd in Qatar.

Inzaghi steered Inter Milan to the Serie A title in 2024 and now manages Saudi club Al-Hilal.

Conte coached Italy at the 2016 European Championship and is currently at Napoli.

Allegri is coach at AC Milan.

Italy will play two friendly matches in June but is unlikely to have a new coach by then, given that the election for a new FIGC president won't take place until June 22.

___

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

Magyar, once an Orbán ally, poses the most serious threat to the nationalist prime minister's hold on power since he took office in 2010.

In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, Magyar said the European Union's longest-serving leader has led the country on a “180-degree turn” in recent years, endangering its Western orientation while cozying up to Moscow.

Yet despite that drift, “Hungarians still see that Hungary’s peace and development are guaranteed by membership of the European Union and NATO,” Magyar said. “I think this really will be a referendum on our country's place in the world.”

Magyar spoke to the AP on Thursday following an election rally by his center-right Tisza party in Kiskunhalas, a small city of around 25,000 on Hungary's southern great plain. It was one of hundreds of rallies he's held in settlements big and small across the country, a campaign blitz that has him visiting up to six towns a day ahead of the April 12 election.

Orbán has gained a reputation as an inveterate disruptor within the EU for his frequent vetoes of important decisions. He has campaigned by sounding the alarm on a myriad of external dangers he says are threatening Hungarians — the war in Ukraine, a cabal of EU bureaucrats and financial elites aligned against Hungary, and an immigration crisis ever on the horizon.

Magyar, who is leading in most polls, has focused on issues that affect voters' everyday lives, like Hungary’s faltering state health care and public transportation sectors and what he describes as rampant government corruption.

At each of his rallies, he charges Orbán and his nationalist-populist Fidesz party with making Hungary the “poorest and most corrupt” country in the EU — and depicts a “peaceful, humane and functioning” country that is within reach.

Yet alongside that domestic message, Magyar has increasingly portrayed Orbán’s brinksmanship with the EU, and his drift toward Russia, as matters of critical importance for the country’s future.

“I think that Tisza will have an overwhelming electoral victory, because even Fidesz voters do not want our country to be a Russian puppet state, a colony, an assembly plant, instead of belonging to Europe,” he said.

‘The Tisza is flooding’

Magyar and his party's meteoric rise caught many Hungarians by surprise. For nearly a decade and a half, a broad slate of fractured opposition parties had tried and failed to mount a serious threat to Orbán's hold on power.

While opposition politicians often slammed Orbán during debates in parliament, they rarely made efforts to win over his base of support in the rural countryside. Frustrated after a string of bitter losses, many opposition voters descended into political apathy.

Magyar, a 45-year-old lawyer and former Fidesz insider, was previously married to an Orbán ally who served as Hungary’s justice minister. After working for several years as a diplomat in Brussels, he returned to Hungary and took positions in state institutions, gaining familiarity with the workings of Orbán's system.

But then, in the wake of a political scandal in 2024 involving a presidential pardon to an accomplice in a child sexual abuse case, Magyar publicly broke with Orbán's party, accusing it of overseeing entrenched corruption and capturing Hungary's institutions.

He quickly founded the center-right Tisza party — named for Hungary's second-largest river — which, only four months after Magyar's break into electoral politics, won 30% of the vote in European Parliament elections.

As Tisza's popularity grew, a chant heard at its rallies became a motto for its rise: “The Tisza is flooding.”

While Magyar has cast his task in the election as dismantling Orbán's autocratic system, he has promised to keep some of the prime minister's policies he views as positive, such as a fence along the southern border to keep out migrants, and a popular utility reduction program.

Still, his party — a member of the European Parliament's largest, center-right group — diverges from the constellation of far-right political movements in Europe and beyond that view Orbán as a shining example of nationalist populism in action.

In a sign of U.S. President Donald Trump and his MAGA movement's admiration for Orbán, Vice President JD Vance is set to visit Budapest on Tuesday in support of his reelection.

Constructive, but critical

Many EU leaders are watching Hungary's election in the hopes that Orbán will be defeated.

His frequent vetoes — which most recently included blocking a major, 90-bill euro ($104-billion) EU loan for Ukraine — have often been to please his euroskeptic base, Magyar said, “vetoing just to veto so he can say at home that he is vetoing.”

The prime minister's conduct has led to renewed calls within the EU to reform the bloc’s foundational treaties by reducing the number of decisions that require unanimity — a way to buttress against the paralysis that can be caused by intransigent member states.

Magyar said that under a Tisza government, European leaders can expect a “constructive position,” but one that is “critical and willing to debate. We want to be there at the table.”

Despite Orbán's exploitation of the EU's unanimity rules, the ability to veto important decisions is a “valid option,” he continued, adding: “I think the European leaders have no problem with this, they have a problem with the unnecessary troublemaker role.”

“The task of a Hungarian prime minister at any given time is to represent Hungarian interests, and if necessary, to represent them forcefully,” he said. “Whatever it costs.”

Russian energy

Orbán has confounded, and even angered, nearly every other EU leader with his conciliatory approach to Russia and closeness to President Vladimir Putin. Some EU officials, and many of his opponents at home, have accused him of forsaking his commitments to the bloc on Moscow’s behalf.

As nearly every EU country cut off supplies of Russian fossil fuels following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Hungary, along with Slovakia, maintained and even increased supplies — drawing ire from many countries who accused them of helping finance the war.

While Magyar has condemned Hungary's drift toward Moscow, as well as reports that Russian secret services are meddling in the election to tip it in Orbán's favor, he said his future government will pursue a “pragmatic” approach toward Russia.

“Pragmatism means that we have no say in Russia’s internal affairs, and they don’t have any say in our affairs,” he said. “We are both sovereign countries, and we respect each other, but we don’t have to like each other.”

Magyar has criticized Orbán's government for failing to diversify its energy mix, and advocated for reaching new agreements and constructing new infrastructure to bring oil and gas from other sources into landlocked Hungary.

Still, he said, “this does not mean that we must stop using Russian oil tomorrow. It means that the European Union’s resources must be used well.”

But another unofficial face of the male-led church has emerged in American pop culture: digitally savvy, female influencers, often seen sporting athleisure, a giant soda in hand — and varying degrees of adherence to church teachings.

These influencers have found an enthusiastic audience across the country, curious about their faith and families. Some explain the tenets of what's widely known as the Mormon church, but others bring attention to the rules they often break — drinking alcohol, having premarital sex and in one high-profile instance, a “soft-swinging” scandal that birthed the hugely popular Hulu reality series, “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.”

ABC sought to capitalize on that interest by casting “Mormon Wives” star Taylor Frankie Paul in “The Bachelorette,” but recently had to scuttle the already filmed season after a video of a domestic violence incident surfaced.

These viral moments and “Mormon Wives” project a version of the faith that appears more progressive and lenient than church leadership and other Latter-day Saint influencers might like. “The internet really challenged the church’s ability to maintain its own narratives about itself,” said Nancy Ross, an associate professor at Utah Tech University who studies Mormon feminism.

Church says misrepresentation can have ‘real-life consequences’

The church has worked to distance itself from “Mormon Wives,” issuing a statement ahead of the first season’s premiere in 2024 without naming the show specifically. It said that some media portrayals of Latter-day Saint women resort to “stereotypes or gross misrepresentations that are in poor taste and have real-life consequences for people of faith.”

Camille N. Johnson, the president of the church’s Relief Society organization for women, said in an emailed statement that it’s important to seek out trusted sources of information about the church and its members in light of recent media attention.

“Millions of Latter-day Saint women around the world strive to live faith-filled lives grounded in a love for God and all of His children,” she said.

It would be impossible for the “Mormon Wives” cast to fully represent millions of women in the church. But they are not the only Latter-day Saint influencers online — nor are they the only ones with large followings.

Many are women in their early twenties who are married with young children. They post about young motherhood and experiences like buying a house before they turn 25. Lauren Yarro, a Latter-day Saint content creator and podcast host, said she can see this being a foreign image to some.

“Our culture is fascinating to an outsider, and I can understand why it would pull people in,” she said. “That Mormon timeline is intriguing to the rest of the world. I think most people innately have a desire for a happy marriage and a happy family life and we tend to create those in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

Cultural fascination with the church endures

The beliefs and practices of church members have often been the subject of intense interest and scrutiny because of how they differ from other religions. Some of these include the belief that church leadership can receive revelations from God, or the practice of wearing garments under clothing that have deep religious significance.

Latter-day Saint influencers are not a new phenomenon, but they have found staying power by driving pop culture discourse and documenting their lifestyles. Many of them use content creation as a way to be stay-at-home parents while also generating income for their families. Several prominent creators live in Utah, the home of the church’s administrative and cultural hub, but there is a broad spectrum in terms of how much they bring their faith into their content.

While “Mormon Wives” and its controversial star, Paul, have been the recent high-profile drivers of public interest, the cast talks about the church only sparingly. Rosemary Avance, an assistant professor at Oklahoma State University whose research includes religious identity and digital media, said “there’s so little reference” to the cast's faith once people are hooked on the show from its title. Many cast members have left the church or are no longer active in it.

“It was clearly a marketing strategy on behalf of the people putting these shows together. They think that’ll draw people in, and it does,” she said. “It’s not like you have these women sitting down talking about their secret temple practices that they’re not supposed to speak about, or challenging the authority of the church in some way. They’re just not talking about it.”

Avance sees parallels between now and about 15 years ago, when Republican Mitt Romney was running for president and “The Book of Mormon” debuted on Broadway. At the time, people wanted to know “what’s going on behind the scenes in Mormonism,” she said.

“People think they know a lot about it (Mormonism), and they’ve heard a lot about it because there’s prominent stories and prominent people who are well-known and those narratives are circulated, but it’s almost always second-, third-hand,” she said. “A lot of people don’t know any Mormons and may never meet a Mormon, or if they have, they don’t know it, and so it’s what you’ve heard and the preconceptions you think you have about Mormonism.”

‘Secret Lives’ draws mixed reaction from influencers

Creators like Yarro, who speak about their faith openly online and closely follow the church's teachings, said “Mormon Wives” does not feel representative of their experiences in the church or their lives in Utah. The Latter-day Saint content creators who spoke with The Associated Press emphasized they don't place fault on the individual cast members, but rather the production of the show and the way it Hollywoodizes their faith. Representatives for Hulu did not respond to a request for comment.

“The only thing I don’t like about what they do is sometimes they will play on things, twist things, use what is sacred to us as members of the church, and they’ll put it out and it feels like mockery to us,” said Shayla Egan, another Latter-day Saint content creator.

Some of the more devout members use their online platforms to respond to and course-correct more salacious social media content or “Mormon Wives” storylines they believe don't align with their understanding of church teachings or experiences.

Mimi Bascom, a Latter-day Saint content creator who says the mission behind her social media presence is to “show that members of the church are real people,” often makes videos responding to “Mormon Wives” clips. She finds the show to be a “net positive for our church” since it gives everyday members the opportunity to “share what we actually believe and get that more out there into the world,” she said.

Bascom, for one, had always prepared to serve on a mission but no longer could after getting married. Making content about the church has felt like a way she's “able to still live that out,” she said.

“We want to be missionaries and spread the good word of the Gospel,” she continued, “and so this is just another way we can do it.”

___

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

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“The consultation process is being steadily implemented and advanced,” said China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning. Xi Jinping's government is mediating between Islamabad and Kabul, whose representatives resumed the talks on Wednesday in the western Chinese city of Urumqi.

“The three parties have also reached consensus and arrangements on a specific operational mode, including media coverage,” she added, without giving more details.

“Since the recent escalation of the Pakistan–Afghanistan conflict, China has been mediating and promoting talks in its own way, maintaining close communication with both sides through multiple channels and at various levels, and creating conditions and providing platforms for dialogue", Mao said.

She added that both countries “attach importance to and welcome China’s mediation efforts, and are willing to sit down again for talks, which is a positive development.”

Pakistan has witnessed a surge in attacks in recent years, many claimed by the Pakistani Taliban.

Even as the talks restarted, the police reported that a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a police station in the Bannu district of northwestern Pakistan late Thursday, killing at least five people and wounding several others.

Pakistan often accuses Afghanistan of providing a safe haven to militants who carry out attacks inside Pakistan, especially the Pakistani Taliban, or TTP.

The group is separate from but allied with the Afghan Taliban, which took over Afghanistan in 2021 following the chaotic withdrawal of U.S.-led troops. Kabul denies that it supports the group.

The fighting between the two sides picked up in February, when Afghanistan’s Taliban government said Pakistan launched strikes in Kabul and several other areas, causing mostly civilian casualties. Pakistan has said it targeted hideouts of TTP, but also that it is in “open war” with Afghanistan.

The couple has a child with nonverbal autism and epilepsy who requires up to three hospital visits a week. And Creighton's critical access hospital has been a lifeline for Jane: not only is she employed there, but three years ago, doctors saved her life when she contracted bacterial pneumonia. If she had waited another day for care, doctors said, her organs would have begun to shut down.

“And if we had had to drive the hour to the Yankton (South Dakota) hospital," Rick Saint John said, his voice breaking with emotion, "it could have cost her her life.”

So the Saint Johns were shocked to hear that Avera Creighton Hospital faces financial peril. A $50 billion government fund meant to transform rural health care will do little to help. It's a problem that millions of Americans in rural areas are awakening to as they realize there's no windfall coming for the vulnerable hospitals near their homes.

Hundreds of rural hospitals across the country are facing closures after years of funding problems. The issue was compounded last summer by the Trump administration's massive cuts to Medicaid, the government's safety net for low-income Americans, whose reimbursements have long helped hospitals meet their bottom lines.

Outcry over the funding cuts prompted Republican lawmakers to create $50 billion in new rural health grants, but critics say that funding is intended for innovative health care delivery solutions — not propping up hospitals buckling under current pressures.

“It won’t pay to keep the lights on. And it won’t turn the lights back on once they’ve been turned off,” said Dr. Ben Young, an infectious disease specialist and policy expert with public health advocacy group Wellness Equity Alliance.

Rural Americans’ health care worries reflect broader national concerns about access and rising prices of care as the cost of living spikes — anxieties that could prove pivotal in this year’s midterm elections.

Rural health fund billed as a cure falls short

The $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program included in President Donald Trump's tax-and-spending law last year was billed by Republicans as a way to help hospitals in rural areas. Last summer, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. touted it as the “biggest infusion in history” for rural hospitals and pledged it will “restore and revitalize these communities.”

Hospitals and health industry experts have warned that while the fund — $10 billion per year allocated across all states for five years — offers some support to struggling rural hospitals, it won’t save them. One reason is that the sum doesn't come close to offsetting the $137 billion that rural hospitals expect to lose over the next decade, according to health research nonprofit KFF. Millions of people are expected to lose Medicaid benefits as a result of new Medicaid work requirements going into effect in 2027 — changes the Trump administration has maintained will crack down on fraudsters rather than cut off eligible enrollees.

Administrators say the new $50 billion fund is not meant to shore up ailing rural hospitals or maintain the status quo, but to transform rural health care through tech, workforce and other innovations. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz in a December video said it “gives states the tools to design solutions that last, not Band-Aids that fail.”

The White House echoed that Wednesday, saying the fund is intended to fund “big ideas” to improve rural health care access long-term.

“Decades of mismanagement by career politicians in Washington have left rural communities with limited care options," White House spokesman Kush Desai said.

State applications show a wide range of proposals. Some pitches sought to improve emergency medical services and modernize rural facilities, while others looked to make school lunches healthier, expand physical fitness programs, beef up telehealth and expand AI-driven technologies to help monitor patients.

Nebraska will spend much of its grant on innovation

Avera Creighton Hospital CEO Theresa Guenther argues her hospital is not in danger of closing. but conceded that Medicaid cuts will be painful — a sentiment shared by most rural hospitals, she said.

“Medicaid cuts will have an impact to us, and we — as well as many others — will have to figure out what that looks like moving forward,” she said. Her hospital hopes to get a piece of the $50 billion fund to help manage patients' chronic diseases — like diabetes — and to help cover workforce costs.

Nebraska, which received $218 million for the rural health grants' first installment, plans to spend some $90 million on healthier food options at schools, recruiting more health care workers and mobile sensors to remotely monitor chronically ill patients in rural areas, among other things. But for rural critical access hospitals at risk of closing, it offers $10 million to “right size” them by getting rid of inpatient care, where bed occupancy is typically low.

Republican state Sen. Barry DeKay said hospitals like Creighton's are vital, despite it's low occupancy rate. The hospital is in his district; even his mother received life-extending care there following a hip replacement. He's worried that the Medicaid cuts could hurt all the state's rural hospitals.

“I'll try to be working as hard as I can to get as much money to rural hospitals — whether it's in my district or any other rural district in the state,” he said.

Rick Saint John acknowledged he knows little about how Nebraska will use the federal funds, but he thinks it should go to helping hospitals like Creighton’s remain intact.

“The hospital is very important to this community, and for more than just medical care,” he said, citing job losses if the hospital loses services or closes.

Hospital groups push back on fund

The fund has seen pushback from hospital groups over an issue that's shaping up as important for 2026 voters.

The Colorado Hospital Association sent a letter in December to state lawmakers accusing them of ignoring input from rural hospitals during the application process.

The Nebraska Hospital Association, which endorsed Republican U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer’s 2024 reelection bid based on her advocacy for rural health care, has criticized both the cuts and the $50 billion fund. Fischer voted last summer for the Medicaid cuts.

That and other efforts by the state to limit Medicaid spending sends a message “that access to health care is not a priority," the group said.

Some Republican state lawmakers across the country have expressed unease with parts of the fund and have sought ways to use it to help struggling rural hospitals.

States hard-pressed to help

Under pressure, some rural states are making their own moves to help.

Wyoming enacted a law allowing rural hospitals to file Chapter 9 bankruptcy, normally reserved for financially stressed cities to reorganize debts and repay creditors while protecting them from legal action.

In North Dakota, during a special session to allocate the state’s federal rural health funds, the Republican-led Legislature passed an unrelated bill that aims to rescue a rural hospital with a low-interest loan of up to $5 million administered through the state-owned bank.

It's hoped the plan will keep the hospital open in a vast rural area where it employs 5% of the surrounding county's residents, hospital board member Matt Hager said.

Young, the expert with Wellness Equity Alliance, sees dark days ahead for rural hospitals.

“I am not optimistic in the short term,” he said. “Because these hospitals are facing immediate financial shortfalls, are barely financially operating currently, and they need operating support now.”

___

Swenson reported from New York. Associated Press writer Jack Dura contributed to this report from Bismarck, North Dakota.

Job Listing: Associate Producer

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Qualifications:

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***All of the essential functions of this position are not necessarily described in this posting.

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Chris Schenk

Executive Producer

WPLG/TV

3401 W. Hallandale Beach Blvd.

Pembroke Park, FL 33023

cschenk@wplg.com

No phone calls please.

Job Listing: Associate Producer

Responsibilities:

Oversee the complete preparation of newscast including writing stories and coordinating with: reporters, executive producers, assignment desk staff and production department. The producer will also coordinate the program in the control room. Must be able to use knowledge of current events to participate in editorial process and write scripts.

Qualifications:

• Knowledge of television news
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills required
• Ability to work flexible hours including nights, weekends and holidays
• Ability to work in a fast-paced high-energy environment with daily deadlines and changing priorities
• 3-5 years’ experience as a writer or producer in a commercial news operation required
• College degree in journalism or broadcasting preferred
• News computer knowledge necessary

***All of the essential functions of this position are not necessarily described in this posting.

***We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and will consider all qualified candidates regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, age, gender, marital status, disability, or political affiliation. Any offer of employment is conditioned on successful completion of a pre-employment drug screen, investigative background check, employment/education verifications and reference checks. A valid driver’s license is required.

Please follow link below to apply for Associate Producer Position:

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Chris Schenk

Executive Producer

WPLG/TV

3401 W. Hallandale Beach Blvd.

Pembroke Park, FL 33023

cschenk@wplg.com

No phone calls please.

A year and a half after winning the White House by promising to lower costs and end wars, Donald Trump is a wartime president overseeing surging energy costs and an escalating overseas conflict.

The war in Iran was largely unpopular even before an American fighter jet was shot down in Iran, a development that dominated headlines on Friday and contradicted Trump’s claim that Tehran's military capabilities have been all but destroyed. One crew member has been rescued.

Earlier in the week, the Republican president offered little clarity to a nation eager for answers during a prime-time address from the White House, his first since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran more than a month ago, simultaneously suggesting that the war was ending and expanding.

“Thanks to the progress we’ve made, I can say tonight that we are on track to complete all of America’s military objectives shortly, very shortly,” Trump said. “We’re going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks.”

Trump's comments come roughly six months before voters across the nation begin to cast ballots in elections that will decide control of Congress and key governorships for Trump’s final two years in office. For now, Republicans, who control all branches of government in Washington, are bracing for a painful political backlash.

“You’re looking at an ugly November,” warned veteran Republican pollster Neil Newhouse. “At a point in time when we need every break possible to hold the House and Senate, our edge is being chipped away.”

Republicans confront evolving political landscape

It’s hard to overstate how dramatically the political landscape has shifted.

At this time last year, many Republican leaders believed there was a path to preserve their narrow House majority and easily hold the Senate. Now they privately concede that the House is all but lost and Democrats have a realistic shot at taking the Senate.

Republicans are also struggling to coalesce around a clear midterm message on Iran.

The Republican National Committee has largely avoided the war in talking points issued to surrogates over the last month. The leaders of the party's campaign committees responsible for the House and Senate declined interview requests. Many vulnerable Republican candidates sidestep the issue, unwilling to defend or challenge Trump publicly.

The president remains deeply popular with Republican voters, and he has vocal supporters like Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

“That was the best speech I could’ve hoped for,” he wrote on social media after Trump's address on Wednesday evening. Graham said Trump “gave the American people a clear and coherent pathway forward.”

Trump made little effort to sell the conflict to Americans before the initial attack. Five weeks later, at least 13 U.S. service members have been killed and hundreds more injured. Thousands more troops have converged on the region, and the Pentagon requested $200 billion in new funding.

The Strait of Hormuz, a key passage for a fifth of the world’s oil, remains closed. The average price for a gallon of gasoline in the U.S. was $4.08 on Thursday, according to AAA, almost a full dollar higher than on President Joe Biden's last day in office.

On Wednesday, Trump insisted that gas prices would fall quickly once the war concluded but offered no solution for reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Instead, he invited skeptical U.S. allies to do it themselves.

He insisted that the war would be worth it.

“This is a true investment in your grandchildren and your grandchildren’s future,” Trump said. “When it’s all over, the United States will be safer, stronger, more prosperous and greater than it has ever been before.”

Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican who was once among Trump's most vocal allies in Congress, lashed out against his Iran policy.

“I wanted so much for President Trump to put America First. That’s what I believed he would do. All I heard from his speech tonight was WAR WAR WAR,” she wrote on social media. “Nothing to lower the cost of living for Americans.”

Time is not on Trump's side

About 6 in 10 U.S. adults say the U.S. military action in Iran has “gone too far,” according to AP-NORC polling from March. Roughly a third approve of how he’s handling Iran overall.

The possibility of sending U.S. forces into Iran also appears politically unpalatable.

About 6 in 10 adults are “strongly” or “somewhat” opposed to deploying U.S. troops on the ground to fight Iran. That includes about half of Republicans. Only about 1 in 10 favor deploying troops.

At the same time, Trump’s approval ratings have remained consistently weak. About 4 in 10 Americans approve of how he’s handling the presidency, roughly in line with how it’s been throughout his second term.

Republican strategist Ari Fleischer, a senior aide in former President George W. Bush’s administration, acknowledged that Trump has not received the polling bump in this war that Bush got after invading Iraq.

Bush, of course, worked to build public backing for the Iraq War before going in. Immediately after the 2003 invasion, Bush's popularity soared, as did the stock market.

Public sentiment and the economy soured only after the conflict stretched on. It ultimately spanned more than eight years, spawning a generation of anti-war Republicans — and sowing the seeds of Trump's “America First” foreign policy.

“My hope is that the Trump experience is the exact opposite of the Bush experience,” Fleischer said.

He said Trump must win the war decisively and quickly to avoid a further backlash, saying there could be a “very significant political upside if things end well, oil comes down and markets rally.”

Fleischer added that Trump's actions will matter much more than his words.

“Ultimately, he is not going to get judged on his persuasion or his explanations or his assertions, he’s going to get judged on results,” he said.

___

Associated Press writer Linley Sanders in Washington contributed to this report.

Ukrainian officials claim the Kremlin is changing its tactics to increase civilian suffering, shifting to daytime barrages and preparing to target more key infrastructure.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signaled Kyiv's openness to a potential Easter truce. The holiday is celebrated on April 12 in Ukraine and Russia.

Zelenskyy also said that Ukraine is preparing for a shift in Russian aerial tactics, with intelligence indicating that future attacks will move beyond energy infrastructure.

Russia's Defense Ministry said 192 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight across Russia and occupied Crimea.

‘I have no words’

“The Kyiv region is once again under a massive Russian missile and drone attack,” said Mykola Kalashnyk, head of the regional military administration, in a Telegram post on Friday.

Kalashnyk said one person died and at least eight others were wounded in strikes on three of Kyiv’s satellite towns — Bucha, Fastiv and Obukhiv. Earlier in the week, residents of Bucha marked the fourth anniversary of atrocities committed in the town by Russia's invading forces.

Obukhiv resident Lesia Podoriako, 37, told The Associated Press she was at work with her child when she learned her building had been struck.

“I found out about it through Telegram channels. Then all my friends and acquaintances started calling me, telling me that our building was attacked. I have no words. The main thing is that everyone is alive and healthy,” she said.

Another person was killed in Ukraine's northern Sumy region after a Russian guided aerial bomb struck an apartment block, local Gov. Oleh Hryhorov reported. Authorities in the Kherson, Zhytomyr, Kharkiv and Donetsk regions also reported casualties from Friday's attacks.

Ukrainian officials highlighted what they said were increased daytime attacks by Russia, which they said could lead to more civilian deaths. For months, Moscow pummeled Ukraine with nighttime missile and drone strikes that could involve hundreds of drones at a time.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, Andrii Sybiha, said in a post on X that “almost half a thousand drones and cruise missiles” attacked Ukraine overnight.

“This is how Moscow responds to Ukraine’s Easter ceasefire proposals — with brutal attacks,” Sybiha said.

Kyiv floats an Easter ceasefire

Zelenskyy on Thursday signaled Kyiv's continued openness to a potential truce on Easter, which falls next week according to the Julian calendar followed by Orthodox churches in Ukraine and Russia.

Zelenskyy told reporters that the proposal had been communicated to Moscow through U.S. channels. He added that the Kremlin's response remains unclear.

Zelenskyy has previously offered a ceasefire for the Easter period — but Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said earlier this week that Moscow wants a lasting peace settlement, not a temporary truce.

President Vladimir Putin unilaterally declared a 30-hour ceasefire last Easter, but each side accused the other of breaking it.

A change in Russian tactics?

Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials said Russia was increasingly striking the country during the day, an apparent departure from months of nighttime barrages.

Andrii Kovalenko, head of the Center for Countering Disinformation within Ukraine's defense ministry, said that the daytime strikes aimed to “increase civilian casualties.”

“That is why the combined attack is carried out on a working day, using a large number of drones and missiles,” Kovalenko wrote on Friday in a Telegram post.

Zelenskyy told reporters on Thursday that Ukraine is preparing for Russian aerial attacks that could target water systems, logistics and other critical networks. After months of sustained strikes on power facilities, Kyiv now expects increased pressure elsewhere.

“According to intelligence documents we have received, the Russians will target logistics – railways and other infrastructure. They will also target the water supply,” Zelenskyy said at a press briefing.

Around midday on Friday, Russian forces dropped five aerial bombs on the city of Kramatorsk, in eastern Ukraine. At least two people were killed and three were injured, according to a Telegram update by Vadym Filashkin, who heads the regional military administration.

Elsewhere in Ukraine on Friday, a Russian drone strike damaged a bus in the southern city of Kherson, leaving the driver seriously wounded and at least eight passengers hurt, according to regional officials.

Separately, authorities reported sustained attacks on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, beginning on Thursday and continuing into early Friday. Drone strikes near the city center caused several injuries. Two people later died in hospital, local Gov. Oleh Syniehubov wrote in separate Telegram updates.

Bohdan Hladykh, head of Kharkiv’s Department of Emergency Situations, said Russia struck the city at least 20 times during the day on Thursday with explosive drones.

Zelenskyy says battlefield situation has stabilized

Meanwhile, Zelenskyy told reporters that the battlefield situation has stabilized, with recent intelligence assessments pointing to the most favorable conditions for Kyiv in months. While fighting remains intense across eastern sectors, Ukrainian forces have disrupted Russian offensives in recent weeks and regained limited ground.

“On Wednesday I received a report from our intelligence and an analysis from British intelligence. I received MI6’s assessment of the situation at the front: right now, it is the best situation for Ukraine in the past 10 months,” the Ukrainian leader said at a press briefing Thursday.

Zelenskyy added that Ukraine has invited U.S. negotiators to visit Kyiv, as part of ongoing discussions on security guarantees and a broader framework for ending the war. Recent talks have involved senior American officials as well as NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, with Ukraine seeking clearer commitments on long-term defense support and responses to any future Russian aggression.

Ukrainian drones target Russia

Two people were hospitalized on Friday following a Ukrainian drone strike on Russia's Leningrad region, over 1,100 kilometers (684 miles) from the border, said regional Gov. Alexander Drozdenko reported, who added that the drones also set fire to an “unoccupied” building within the Morozov industrial zone.

The settlement of Morozov houses a state-owned plant that makes explosives and components for ammunition, including solid fuel used in Topol-M missile systems. The plant was put under U.S., EU and other Western sanctions following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Twelve people, including at least three Russian soldiers, were injured in a Ukrainian drone strike late Thursday on Russia’s Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, local Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov reported.

Four drones were downed during the night on the approach to Moscow, mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported Friday. He did not reference any casualties or damage.

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Associated Press journalists Vasilisa Stepanenko in Obukhiv and Derek Gatopoulos in Kyiv contributed.

The occasion was the third in a series of “rental rip-off hearings,” a new forum launched by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani for disgruntled renters to air their complaints directly to housing officials — and in some cases, the mayor himself.

As she waited in line, Gulhayo Yuldosheva said she worried that noxious mold in her apartment had worsened her child’s asthma. Nearby, her downstairs neighbor, Marina Quiroz, was showing a video of rats scurrying through her kitchen to a representative of the city’s tenant protection office.

Ann Maitin, a longtime resident of the same building, had just met with the mayor.

“He let me go over my three minutes,” she said, holding up a spiral notebook’s worth of grievances.

Mamdani, a democratic socialist swept into office on a promise of zealous tenant advocacy, framed the event as a struggle session for renters, assuring the standing room only crowd that their stories would guide the city's efforts “to actually hold landlords accountable when they don’t follow the law."

To the residents of 705 Gerard Avenue, this raised a practical problem: No one seemed to know who actually owned their building.

“It feels like such a basic question,” said Maitin, a retired Verizon technician who recently organized the building’s tenant association. “You’d think we’d have the right to that information.”

Their situation is hardly unique. As corporate owners and investor groups have grown their share of the rental market in New York City, they are increasingly shielding their identities behind limited liability companies, or LLCs.

The practice, which has also been spreading nationally, is legal. But experts warn it could complicate Mamdani’s promised crackdown, making it harder for the city and tenants to track the chronically negligent owners whose buildings the mayor has vowed to target and even seize.

“There are these big slumlords that everyone knows are doing predatory investment, but pinning them down is going to be difficult, for the LLC reason,” said Oksana Mironova, a housing policy analyst at the Community Service Society. “That’s a problem for the administration, and it’s even worse for tenants.”

‘They treat us the same as the rats’

For Yuldosheva and her neighbors, finding their landlord is one of many problems afflicting their six-story building near Yankee Stadium.

Heat and hot water outages are regular enough that some tenants keep a thermometer on their fridge and the city’s complaint hotline on speed dial. Common areas are often filthy, and increasingly populated by drug users. Getting help with an urgent maintenance issue “feels like waiting for Christmas in July,” said Maitin.

During a monthslong elevator outage, a tenant who uses a wheelchair, Tommy Rodriguez, said he was forced to “slide down the steps, like a kid.” Calls to the building management about a repair timeline went unanswered, he said.

Growing up in the building in the 1980s, Rodriguez recalled the previous landlord as a friendly and responsive neighborhood presence.

“This felt like a home before,” Rodriguez said. “Now they treat us the same as the rats.”

A large rodent had recently chewed a hole through his couch cushion. He handled the extermination himself, with a two-by-four.

A distressing breakthrough

Recently, tenants received a clue about their landlord, following the partial collapse of another Bronx building. The man identified in news stories as the owner of that building, David Kleiner, shared a Brooklyn office with their building manager, Binyomin Herzl.

A handful of tenants visited each of the building’s 72 units, logging an array of decrepit conditions and unusual alterations.

“We didn’t want to become the next news story,” said Yuldosheva, pointing to a crack in the wall of a bedroom shared by her three children — a result, she feared, of the subway that rumbles just below her windows.

Lawsuits show that Herzl has been ordered to pay more than $100,000 for violations across at least six Bronx buildings, several of which were found by a judge to pose an imminent hazard.

Reached by phone, Herzl said he didn't own any of those properties, but simply acted as a middleman between tenants and the true owners, whom he declined to list. “There’s no one landlord,” he said. “It’s a group of investors.”

Kleiner, who was previously featured on the city’s “worst landlord” list, confirmed his partial ownership of 705 Gerard in a brief phone call, but declined further comment.

Herzl, meanwhile, attributed the tenants’ complaints to “normal wear and tear” of a nearly century old building. He said Mamdani should focus on improving the city’s public housing, rather than going after private landlords.

“Our buildings look like five star hotels against his,” he added.

From fines to seizures

When landlords refuse to address a serious violation, like heat or hot water outages, the city can step in and order repairs, then bill the owner directly.

In the last three years, inspectors have ordered emergency repairs at 38 buildings that list either Herzl or Kleiner as an owner, according to records provided by the city’s housing department. The men have been billed $446,521 for those repairs.

Mamdani has proposed using such fines as a vehicle to bring distressed rental properties under city stewardship, by aggressively pursuing liens on delinquent landlords and buying up their portfolios through foreclosure auctions.

Just as the city can shut down unsanitary restaurants, Mamdani has said, landlords that “repeatedly put New Yorkers at risk will not be allowed to operate in New York City — with no exceptions."

In reality, the process is resource-intensive and legally fraught. It is made more complex by the nest of LLCs often used by landlords to obfuscate the full scope of their portfolios, according to Cea Weaver, director of the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants.

“It’d be great to have a better sense of who owns the buildings that we are regulating and overseeing,” she said.

State legislation that would have made it easier to identify LLC owners was recently vetoed by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul amid pressure from landlords.

New Yorkers vs. Bad Landlords

Kenny Burgos, the CEO of the New York Apartment Association, a landlord lobbying group, said Mamdani’s tenant proposals — including freezing the rent for regulated tenants — would force landlords to cut back on maintenance and services.

“That’s going to take away from the elevator budget, the boiler budget, the heating budget,” he said. “It’s a question of math: These buildings are crumbling because of policy, not because of bad landlords.”

He characterized the rental rip-off hearings as “show trials” that took a “tribal approach” to the city’s affordable housing crisis.

Despite the combative branding — “New Yorkers vs. Bad Landlords,” blares one promotion — the Bronx event mostly resembled a standard constituent service night: City officials fielded questions about local laws, helped residents with paperwork and connected them to service providers.

Maitin left feeling “glad to be heard by someone who can actually do something about the problem,” but felt it was too early to tell “if it’s all talk."

The next morning, she was surprised to find the building’s superintendent applying a fresh coat of paint to a staircase. Outside, workers were removing scaffolding that had been in front of the building for years.

“I think they caught wind of the rental rip-off,” Maitin said. “They’re scared.”

Taiwan’s first Olympic boxing champion beat Thananya Somnuek of Thailand 5-0 in the first round in the 60-kilogram lightweight division earlier this week.

She backed that up Friday with another 5-0 win over Ayaka Taguchi of Japan, the top-seeded woman in the division. Lin won every round on all five judges’ scorecards, securing a perfect score of 10 in each round.

The 30-year-old Lin had not competed internationally since winning the women’s 57-kg featherweight title at the Paris Olympics in August 2024.

World Boxing took over as the sport’s Olympic-level governing body last year, and it implemented a sex eligibility policy in August requiring all fighters to take a one-time genetic test designed to identify the presence of a Y chromosome.

World Boxing didn't confirm Lin's eligibility until March 19.

It was not clear whether Lin will have to undergo further gene testing if she wants to compete again at the Olympics. The International Olympic Committee announced last week new rules banning transgender athletes and a mandatory gene test once in an athlete’s career.

Lin and Imane Khelif of Algeria won gold medals at Paris amid international scrutiny and misconceptions over both boxers’ sex. While both met the eligibility rules followed at the time by the IOC, which ran the Paris tournament, the two fighters’ success sparked a politically charged debate over those standards.

Lin is expected to fight in the Asian tournament semifinals on Monday.

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AP boxing: https://apnews.com/boxing

The lawmakers' failure to offer a solution after months of debate raises uncertainty about how Georgians will vote in November and leaves confusion that could end in the courts or a special legislative session.

“They’ve abdicated their responsibility,” Democratic state Rep. Saira Draper said of inaction by Republicans who control the legislature.

Currently, voters make their choices on Dominion Voting machines, which then print ballots with a QR code that scanners read to tally votes. Those machines have been repeatedly targeted by President Donald Trump following his 2020 election loss, and Trump’s Georgia supporters responded by enacting a law in 2024 that bans using barcodes to count votes.

But state law still requires counties to use the machines. No money has been allocated to reprogram them, and lawmakers failed to agree on a replacement.

“We’ll have an unresolvable statutory conflict come July 1,” said House Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Victor Anderson, a Cornelia Republican who backed a proposal to keep using the machines in 2026 that Senate Republicans declined to consider.

Republican House Speaker Jon Burns said he would meet with Gov. Brian Kemp and “take his temperature” on the possibility of a special session.

Kemp spokesperson Carter Chapman said he Republican governor will examine the situation.

“We’ll analyze all bills, as well as the consequence of those that did not pass,” Chapman said Friday.

House Republicans and Democrats backed Anderson's plan, which would have required that Georgia choose a voting process that didn't use QR codes by 2028. Election officials preferred that solution.

“The Senate has shown that they’re not responsible actors,” Draper said. She added that Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, a Trump-endorsed Republican running for governor, seemed more interested in keeping Trump's backing than “doing right by Georgia voters.”

A spokesperson for Jones didn't immediately respond to a request for comment early Friday.

Joseph Kirk, Bartow County election supervisor and president of the Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials, said he’ll look to the secretary of state for guidance and assumes a judge will rule to instruct election officials how to proceed.

“This is uncharted territory,” he said.

Robert Sinners, a spokesperson for Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who is also running for governor, said officials are “ready to follow the law and follow the Constitution.”

Burns told reporters that his chamber was seeking to minimize changes this year.

“You can’t change horses in the middle of the stream,” Burns said.

Anderson said without action, the state could be required to use hand-marked and hand-counted paper ballots in November.

Election officials say switching to a new system within just a few months, as advocated by some Republicans, would be nearly impossible.

“They made no way for this to happen except putting a deadline on it," Cherokee County elections director Anne Dover said of the switch away from barcodes. Dover said one problem under some plans is that a very large number of ballots would have to be printed.

Lawmakers seemed more concerned about scoring political points than making practical plans, Paulding County Election Supervisor Deidre Holden said.

“If anyone is resilient and can get the job done, it’s all of us election officials, but the legislators need to work with us, and they need to understand what we do before they go making laws that are basically unachievable for us,” Holden said.

Supporters of hand-marked paper ballots say voters are more likely to trust in an accurate count if they can see what gets read by the scanner.

Right-wing election activists lobbied lawmakers for an immediate switch to hand-marked paper ballots, but the House turned away from a Senate proposal to do so.

Anderson said he wasn’t sure if a special session could escape those political crosswinds, but said Georgia lawmakers must fix the problem.

“This is a legislative problem,” Anderson said. “It’s a legislative solution that has to happen.”

The move marks a nominal return to an elected government but is widely considered as an effort to keep the army in power after an election organized by the military that opponents and independent observers deemed neither free nor fair, and as civil war rages.

Transitioning to an elected government is also seen as a way to improve frosty relations with some Southeast Asian neighbors following the military takeover. China and Russia have supported the military administration, while Western powers imposed sanctions.

Min Aung Hlaing won an expected lopsided victory

Min Aung Hlaing was one of three nominees for the president’s post, but was virtually guaranteed the job as lawmakers from military-backed parties and appointed members from the army hold a commanding majority in parliament.

The vote was held in the newly renovated parliament building in the capital, Naypyitaw, which was damaged in last year’s earthquake.

Aung Lin Dwe, speaker of parliament’s combined upper and lower house, announced that Min Aung Hlaing won 429 out of the 584 votes.

The two runners-up become vice presidents. Nyo Saw, a former general, had served as an adviser to Min Aung Hlaing, and Nan Ni Ni Aye, an ethnic Karen politician from the pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party, will be the country’s first female vice president. All three are expected to be inaugurated next week.

Min Aung Hlaing, who holds the rank of senior general, earlier this week relinquished his post of commander-in-chief because the constitution prohibits the president from simultaneously holding the top military position. A close aide, Gen. Ye Win Oo, took over the powerful job.

Meanwhile, much of the country remains enmeshed in a bloody civil war.

Opposition group says struggle for real change continues

Nay Phone Latt, a spokesperson for the National Unity Government — Myanmar’s main opposition organization, which views itself as the country’s legitimate government — charged that Min Aung Hlaing is responsible for numerous war crimes, and his easy assumption of the presidency proved that the political change some countries had hoped for will not materialize.

“Myanmar people do not accept it. The revolution will continue with great momentum,” he told The Associated Press..

The 69-year-old Min Aung Hlaing had been the military chief since 2011. Under the military-imposed constitution, he held significant powers even before overthrowing Suu Kyi’s government.

Parliament members were elected in three phases in December and January. Major opposition parties, including Suu Kyi’s former ruling National League for Democracy, were either blocked from running or refused to compete under conditions they deemed unfair. Suu Kyi, 80, is serving a 27-year prison term on charges widely viewed as politically motivated.

Myanmar was under military rule from 1962 to 2016, when Suu Kyi’s party won a landslide election victory. It won an even greater mandate in the 2020 polls, but the army staged a takeover in 2021 before the new parliament could convene.

Peaceful protests against military rule were then put down with deadly force, pushing pro-democracy activists to turn to armed resistance and ally themselves with ethnic minority groups who have been battling for greater autonomy for decades.

Deadly repression birthed ongoing civil war

Security concerns meant voting in the recent election could be held in only 263 of the country’s 330 townships.

Nearly 8,000 activists and civilians have been killed since the 2021 army takeover, and some 22,872 political detainees are imprisoned, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, an independent group that tracks rights violations.

The military’s major reliance on airstrikes — 1,140 strikes in 2025 alone, according to the U.S.-based Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project — accounts for hundreds of civilian casualties.

“If Min Aung Hlaing thinks that an official civilian title will shield him from prosecution for the many grave violations of international law that he is accused of overseeing as head of the military, that is not how international justice works," Amnesty International Myanmar researcher Joe Freeman said in statement.

The International Criminal Court in The Hague in 2024 began an investigation into charges of crimes against humanity after the chief prosecutor applied for an arrest warrant for Min Aung Hlaing over the military’s brutal persecution of the Rohingya minority.

At long-awaited hearings at the International Court of Justice in January this year, Myanmar defended itself against accusations that it was responsible for genocide against the Rohingya. The West African country of Gambia first filed the case in 2019.

The transfer portal in part contributed to the four teams that reached the Final Four in 2025 returning again this year. That has only happened once before when Georgia, Stanford, Tennessee and UConn did it in 1995-96.

Things have changed in the last 30 years, especially recently.

There was a time schools would mainly get talented players from mid-major programs. Now more than ever Power Four schools are taking from each other. Nearly all the players who transferred to the Final Four teams came from power conferences.

“The portal and the revenue share, I think that was the death of the mid-majors, the death of high school players coming to play college basketball," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "It’s never been harder for a high school kid to have the same opportunities that an existing college player already has.

“When your choice is go get a high school senior or go get a college sophomore for your team, a lot of coaches are deciding that getting a college sophomore is way better.”

Lauren Betts arrived at UCLA from Stanford three years ago and is now one of the best players in the country. Ta’Niya Latson went to South Carolina this year after spending the first three years at Florida State, where she led the country in scoring. Kayleigh Heckel (USC) and Serah Williams (Wisconsin) joined UConn this year. Texas added Ashton Judd (Missouri) this season.

Of those schools, only USC reached the NCAA Tournament, but the Trojans didn’t get out of the second round. Though USC didn’t have JuJu Watkins, it seems like the rich schools are reloading with talent.

If the conversation doesn't start with name, image and likeness money, it will be high on the list. It's true that players enter the transfer portal for different reasons including playing time, mental health, issues or broken relationships with coaches. But lately, being able to earn more money through revenue sharing or NIL deals are driving that bus.

“That’s a big problem. The amount of money that people are offering kids, so the revenue sharing is 20.5 (million) and going up this year," Auriemma said. "The schools it’s 22, 23, 24 just for the basketball teams. It’s probably another 40 for the football teams. So yeah, salary caps, all that stuff would help.”

The transfer portal opens up Monday, the day after the women's champion is crowned. UCLA's Cori Close will be one Final Four coaches hitting the road trying to close new deals.

UCLA has been active in the transfer portal the last few years. Four of UCLA’s top six players transferred in, including Gianna Kneepkens (Utah) and Charlisse Leger-Walker (Washington State).

“I think really it depends on whether or not — it just happened to be the right fit, whether or not they’re Power Four or really good mid-major players,” Close said. “Across the country in this tournament, you have seen you can be a great contributor from either direction of that. We have been a really good transfer destination. We have been very intentional about how we’ve integrated that into our recruiting.”

Auriemma has added a few transfers the last couple of seasons, but they have been mostly complementary players. He never sees a time when he'll look for a go-to player in the portal to build a team.

“You can buy a team," said Auriemma, who has won a record 12 NCAA national titles, "but you can’t buy a championship,”

Though that hasn't stopped coaches from trying.

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

Redick said Doncic had an issue with the hamstring in the first half of the 139-97 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder and was tended to at the break.

“We checked him out, he got work done, he was cleared," Redick said.

Doncic returned to action briefly. On his final play of the game, he spun before trying to go up for a shot against Oklahoma City's Jalen Williams. There was no contact before he stopped, then lay down on the floor. He left the game with 7:39 remaining in the third quarter.

“Those things happen,” Redick said.

Doncic had scored at least 40 points in five of his previous seven games. He was held to 12 on 3-for-10 shooting against Oklahoma City's relentless defense.

The injury made a bad night worse. The Lakers trailed 90-58 when Doncic left the game for good.

“I mean, it’s something you never want to see as a teammate,” Lakers forward Jake LaRavia said. “So especially in a game like this, it was tough to see him go down. All the prayers for him hopefully, but yeah, you never want to see that.”

Lakers guard Austin Reaves also left briefly with a back injury.

“He was in a weird position, stretching for a basketball, loose ball," Redick said. "And he just felt something intercostal, somewhere in his back, in between the ribs. He was able to play through it ... we’ll see how he feels tomorrow.”

The Lakers will host a rematch with the Thunder on April 7.

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

It marked a major escalation in the conflict just two days after President Donald Trump said in a national address that the U.S. has “beaten and completely decimated Iran” and was “going to finish the job, and we're going to finish it very fast.”

The rescue occurred as the U.S. military was conducting a search operation, a U.S. official and an Israeli official said. Three people familiar also confirmed that a search had been underway. All spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitivity of the situation.

No official details were released. The number of crew on board and the whereabouts of any others were not immediately known.

The circumstances that downed the plane were at first unclear. But in an email from the Pentagon obtained by The Associated Press, the U.S. military said it received notification of “an aircraft being shot down” in the Middle East, without providing more details.

Separately, a second U.S. Air Force combat aircraft went down in the Middle East on Friday, according to a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive military situation. It was not clear if the aircraft crashed or was shot down or whether Iran was involved. Neither the crew’s status nor where the aircraft went down was immediately known.

The New York Times earlier reported that the second aircraft went down.

Those incidents came as Iran fired on targets across the Mideast on Friday, keeping the pressure on Israel and its Gulf Arab neighbors, despite U.S. and Israeli insistence that Iran’s military capabilities have been all but destroyed.

Iran’s attacks on Gulf energy infrastructure and its tight grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas transits in peacetime, have roiled stock markets, sent oil prices skyrocketing, and threatened to raise the cost of many basic goods, including food.

Downed jet could mark a new level of pressure on the US

Prior to word of the rescue, social media footage showed American drones, aircraft and helicopters flying over the mountainous region where a TV channel affiliated with Iranian state television had said earlier Friday that at least one pilot bailed out of the fighter jet.

An anchor had urged residents to hand over any “enemy pilot” to police and promised a reward.

It was the first time the U.S. has lost aircraft in Iranian territory during the conflict and could mark a new level of pressure being placed on the U.S. military.

Throughout the war, Iran has made a series of claims about shooting down piloted enemy aircraft that turned out not to be true. Friday was the first time that Iran went on television urging the public to look for a downed pilot.

Iranian state media said in a post on X that Iran’s military shot down a U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle. The aircraft is a variation of the Air Force fighter jet that carries a two-person crew consisting of a pilot and weapons system officer.

Alan Diehl, a former investigator for the Air Force Safety Center, said the Strike Eagle has an emergency locator beacon in a survival kit that can be set to activate automatically or manually.

The Pentagon did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a previous statement that Trump had been briefed but did not offer additional information.

Iran targets a desalination plant and a refinery

News about the fighter jet came after Iran attacked Kuwait’s Mina al-Ahmadi oil refinery. The state-run Kuwait Petroleum Corp. said firefighters were working to control several blazes.

Kuwait also said an Iranian attack caused “material damage” to a desalination plant. Such plants are responsible for most of the drinking water for Gulf states, and they have become a major target in the war.

Sirens also sounded in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia said it had destroyed several Iranian drones, and Israel reported incoming missiles.

Authorities in the United Arab Emirates shut down a gas field after a missile interception reportedly rained debris on it and started a fire.

Activists reported strikes around Tehran and the central city of Isfahan, but it wasn’t immediately clear what was hit. A day earlier, Iran said the U.S. hit a major bridge, which was still under construction, killing eight people.

In Lebanon, where Israel has launched a ground invasion in its fight with the pro-Iranian Hezbollah militant group, an Israeli drone strike on worshippers leaving Friday prayers near Beirut killed two people, according to the state‑run National News Agency

More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran since the war began on Feb. 28 with U.S. and Israeli strikes. In a review released Friday, the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data, a U.S.-based group, said it found that civilian casualties were clustered around strikes on security and state-linked sites “rather than indiscriminate bombardment” of urban areas.

More than two dozen people have died in Gulf states and the occupied West Bank, 19 have been reported dead in Israel, and 13 U.S. service members have been killed.

More than 1,300 people have been killed and more than 1 million displaced in Lebanon. Ten Israeli soldiers have also died there.

Iran is keeping a chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz

World leaders have struggled to end Iran’s stranglehold on the strait, which has had far-reaching consequences for the global economy and has proved to be its greatest strategic advantage in the war.

The U.N. Security Council was expected to take up the matter on Saturday.

Trump has vacillated on America’s role in the strait, alternately threatening Iran if it doesn’t open the waterway and telling other nations to “go get your own oil.” On Friday, he said in a post on social media that, “With a little more time, we can easily OPEN THE HORMUZ STRAIT, TAKE THE OIL, & MAKE A FORTUNE.”

Spot prices of Brent crude, the international standard, were around $109 Friday, up more than 50% since the start of the war, when Iran began restricting traffic through the strait.

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Mednick reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writers Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Sylvie Corbet in Paris, Sarah El Deeb in Beirut, Tong-hyung Kim in Seoul, South Korea, and Will Weissert, Michelle L. Price, Lisa Mascaro and Ben Finley in Washington contributed to this report.

The rescue occurred as the U.S. military was conducting a search and rescue operation, according to three people familiar who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitivity of the situation. Israel is helping the United States with the operation.

Iranian state media has claimed in a post on X that Iran’s military shot down a U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle.

According to an email from the Pentagon obtained by The Associated Press, the U.S. military said that it received notification of “an aircraft being shot down” in the Middle East. The email did not provide more details.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a previous statement that President Donald Trump had been briefed but did not offer any additional information.

The number of crew on board wasn’t immediately known.

The war now entering its sixth week is destabilizing economies around the world as Iran responds to the U.S. and Israeli attacks by targeting the Gulf region's energy infrastructure and tightening its grip on oil and natural gas shipments through the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. President Donald Trump said U.S. forces will keep hitting Iran “very hard” in the next two or three weeks.

Here is the latest:

Status of a second service member unknown after F-15E shot down

The House Armed Services Committee has been notified by the Pentagon that the status of a second service member is not known after the downing of the fighter jet.

The panel was told that an F-15 was shot down and one service member has been recovered, according to a congressional aide who spoke on condition of anonymity to disclose the private communication.

The other service member’s duty status is unknown, the aide said.

That generally means the Defense Department does not know the person’s whereabouts and they have gone missing.

—- Lisa Mascaro

Second US aircraft went down

A second U.S. Air Force combat aircraft went down in the Middle East on Friday, according to a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive military situation.

It was not clear if the aircraft crashed or was shot down or whether Iran was involved. Neither the crew’s status nor where the aircraft went down was immediately known.

The New York Times earlier reported that the second aircraft went down.

Also Friday, a U.S. fighter jet was shot down in Iran and one crew member was rescued.

—- Konstantin Toropin

One person killed in fires caused by falling debris in Abu Dhabi

The Abu Dhabi government media office said Friday that one Egyptian national was killed in fires caused by falling debris at Habshan gas facilities, following the interception of an Iranian aerial attack, according to a statement posted on X.

In the same fires, another four expats, including two Egyptians and two Pakistanis, sustained minor wounds, added the statement.

The Abu Dhabi government did not specify whether air defenses had intercepted a missile or a drone.

“Significant damage has occurred at the facilities and an assessment is ongoing,” read the statement.

Iranian official derides the US after downing US aircraft

Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf mocked the U.S. after his country shot down a U.S. aircraft over southwestern Iran and at least one crew member ejected.

“This brilliant no-strategy war they started has now been downgraded from “regime change” to “Hey! Can anyone find our pilots? Please?,” Qalibaf wrote on his X account.

Iranian state media has claimed in a post on X that Iran’s military shot down a U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle.

Qalibaf, doubling down on his mockery, wrote, “What incredible progress. Absolute geniuses.”

WHO chief calls for urgent support for health systems in war-affected countries

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reiterated on Friday his agency’s appeal for $ 30.3 million in immediate funding to support strained health services in Iran and another four Arab countries including Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan and Syria.

“This appeal will support essential health services and trauma care, disease surveillance and early warning systems, mass casualty management and national readiness for chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear emergencies,” he said on the social platform X.

So far, the conflict has killed 3,300, wounded 30,000 and caused the displacement of over 4 million people.

The WHO first launched the appeal on Thursday, explaining that this amount will cover the period from March to August 2026.

Archbishop leading US military’s Catholic chaplains questions whether Iran war is just

Archbishop Timothy Broglio, who heads the Archdiocese for the Military Services, tells CBS News that a case can be made that the Iran war is unjustified.

Broglio was asked during an interview to be aired on Easter Sunday on “Face the Nation” if the war was justified.

“Under the just war theory, it is not,” replied Broglio, who then evoked the specter of a threat of nuclear arms.”

“It’s compensating for a threat before threat is actually realized,” he said. “I would line myself up with Pope Leo, who has been urging for negotiation.”

“The Lord Jesus certainly brought a message of peace and also, I think war is always a last resort,” Broglio added. “I’m not making a judgment about that, because I really don’t know. But I do think that it’s hard to cast this war, you know, as something that would be sponsored by the Lord.”

Israeli official says Israel providing intel for search effort

The official says Israel is assisting with intelligence, but not active in any on-the-ground rescue.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the unfolding operation.

—- Josef Federman

Kuwait defends against air attacks

The Kuwaiti army said on Friday that its air defenses had engaged with seven ballistic missiles, two cruise missiles and 26 drones over the last 24 days, according to a statement posted on its official page on X.

The statement added that interceptions were still going on causing in Kuwaiti skies, causing explosions.

Israeli tank shelling kills one in southern Syria

An Israeli tank fired on a car in the southern province of Quneitra Saturday, killing a young man, Syria’s state-run SANA news agency reported, without giving further details.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based war monitor, said witnesses said that the man was a civilian “and that the attack occurred while he was driving his car on a public road connecting villages near the border strip.” There was no immediate statement from the Israeli military.

After the ouster of former Syrian President Bashar Assad by Islamist-led rebels in December 2024, Israeli forces seized control of a U.N.-patrolled buffer zone in southern Syria, which Israel initially described as a temporary move to protect its borders.

The Syrian government says Israel is violating a 1974 disengagement agreement between the two countries and has called for it to withdraw its forces.

Israel reports new missile launch from Iran

The Israeli army says air defenses are being activated and residents instructed to seek shelter in affected areas.

F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet has a 2-person crew

Iranian state media has claimed that Iran’s military shot down a U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle. The aircraft is a variation of the Air Force fighter jet that carries a two-person crew consisting of a pilot and weapons system officer.

Alan Diehl, a former investigator for the Air Force Safety Center, said the Strike Eagle has an emergency locator beacon in a survival kit that can be set to activate automatically or manually.

The Pentagon has not immediately responded to repeated requests for comment

Israel suspends airstrikes as search for downed US pilot proceeds

An Israeli official says airstrikes have been halted in areas “relevant” to the rescue effort.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the operation is ongoing.

—- Josef Federman

Tehran resident describes projectile overhead and smoke near medical research center

A resident of central Tehran says she was walking home Thursday when she spotted what appeared to be a missile streaking overhead.

“I saw it go over my head and I heard the explosion,” she said, speaking on condition of anonymity due to media restrictions in Iran.

Then she saw smoke rising from a nearby area of the capital hosting many government buildings, including the offices of Iran’s Supreme Leader, which Israel heavily struck early in the war. Next to that is the Pasteur Institute, which has played a leading role in Iran’s health sector for over a century. An Iranian health ministry spokesman confirmed the institute had been struck on Thursday.

The resident said she’s also seen least two police stations “destroyed” in her area of the capital.

—- Amir-Hussein Radjy

An explosion in southern Lebanon injures three UN peacekeepers amid fighting between Israel and Hezbollah

The peacekeeping mission known as UNIFIL reminded Israel, Hezbollah and other actors of their obligation to ensure the peacekeepers’ safety, including by avoiding combat near their facilities and positions.

“This has been a difficult week for peacekeepers working near the central part of UNIFIL’s area of operations,” UNIFIL said.

Three U.N. peacekeepers were injured, two seriously, in an explosion of unknown origin inside their position in El Adeisse on Friday afternoon, UNIFIL said. Three UNIFIL peacekeepers from Indonesia were killed earlier this week and others were injured.

Aircraft was ‘shot down,’ US military says

According to an email from the Pentagon obtained by The Associated Press, the U.S. military said that it received notification of “an aircraft being shot down” in the Middle East. The email did not provide more details.

Iran accuses the UN nuclear watchdog of siding with its enemies

The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran denounced on Friday what it describes as the U.N. nuclear agency’s “silence” as the US and Israel attacks Iran’s nuclear facilities.

The Iranian agency accused the International Atomic Energy Agency of “not merely inaction but complicity with perpetrators,” according to a statement posted on X. It said it has sent a protest letter to the IAEA’s director. “This historic negligence erodes the IAEA’s little remaining credibility,” read the statement.

The Iranian government has constantly said that it needs to expand its nuclear plants to meet its electricity needs rather than to build weapons.

Jordan and Israel warn of more air attacks

The Israeli military says air defenses are being activated to intercept the fire.

Jordan, the state-owned news agency says alarms are sounding across the country.

One crew member has been rescued after American aircraft went down in Iran, US and Israeli officials say

One crew member has been rescued after an American aircraft went down in Iran, according to one U.S. and one Israeli official, who both spoke on condition of anonymity to describe sensitive ongoing military operations.

US officials are being informed about the rescue operation in Iran

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson has been notified about the situation with the pilot in Iran, his office said.

The Defense Department has notified the speaker and said it would provide further updates.

The U.S. military has been conducting a search and rescue operation in Iran, according to three people familiar who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitivity of the situation.

Gas tanker affiliated with Japan makes it through the strait

A liquefied natural gas tanker co-owned by Japanese and Omani companies has passed through the Strait of Hormuz, a first passage of a Japan-affiliated vessel through the waterway since the start of the U.S.-Israeli strike on Iran, Japan’s NHK public television said.

The Japanese shipping company Mitsui O.S.K. Lines said the Panamanian-flagged tanker Sohar LNG, also owned by Oman Shipping Company, crossed the strait Friday and is now out of the Persian Gulf, NHK reported.

The tanker was among 45 Japanese-affiliated ships stuck in the area since the start of the war in the region. Mitsui did not disclose other details, such as the ship’s destination, citing security reasons, NHK said.

Four US planes had already gone down during the Iranian war

Four U.S. military planes had gone down during the Iran war before Friday’s search and rescue operation — three fighter jets hit by friendly fire over Kuwait and a refueling tanker plane that crashed in Iraq following an incident with another U.S. aircraft.

The KC-135 refueling aircraft crashed in Iraq while supporting operations in Iran. All six crew members aboard the aircraft died. U.S. officials attributed the crash to an unspecified incident involving two aircraft in “friendly airspace,” and said the other plane landed safely.

Separately, three U.S. F-15E fighter jets were mistakenly targeted by friendly Kuwaiti fire. All six crew members ejected safely.

US has launched a rescue operation after Iranian state media says American fighter jet went down in Iran, AP source says

The U.S. military rescue operation launched Friday after Iranian state media said an American fighter jet went down over southwest Iran and at least one crew member ejected.

Israel is helping the United States with the search and rescue operation, according to an Israeli military officer briefed on the information who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of a U.S. announcement.

Social media footage showed American drones, aircraft and helicopters flying over the mountainous region where the Iranian channel said at least one pilot bailed out of the fighter jet.

It would be the first time the U.S. has lost aircraft in Iranian territory during the five-week war. It was not clear if the jet was shot down or crashed. The number of crew on board was not immediately known.

The Pentagon and U.S. Central Command didn’t immediately respond to several messages seeking comment. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said “President Trump has been briefed.”

Bahrain cracks down on dissent as Iran war reignites internal unrest

A man detained in Bahrain as the island came under missile attack from Iran vanished for days, until his family was called to a military hospital to retrieve his body, covered in slash marks and bruises. The death of Mohamed al-Mousawi has become a flashpoint in the Sunni-ruled, Shiite-majority country on the war’s front lines, where critics say authorities have revived tactics used to suppress Arab Spring protests in 2011.

Bahrain, a monarchy that hosts the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, has arrested dozens of people for filming airstrikes and demonstrations or expressing support for Iran.

Bahrain’s Interior Ministry said al-Mousawi was arrested on suspicion of spying for Iran — allegations denied by his family — and that images of his wounds were “inaccurate and misleading.” A Bahrain government statement said the country is defending its national security and denied any sectarianism, saying authorities have acted lawfully and that independent bodies investigate allegations of abuse.

▶ Read more

Iranian motorcyclist describes a tale of two cities in wartime Tehran

A woman in her forties says she has made a point of riding a motorcycle around Tehran as “a form of civil resistance.” Cruising the capital’s streets has also shown her two faces of the wartime capital, she said.

Faced with years of protests, Iran’s Islamic rulers have recently eased enforcement of the mandatory veil and other restrictions on women, including harassing female motorcyclists.

A downtown resident, the woman said she rode uptown to the capital’s richest areas, where she found the cafes were packed.

“Now I’m outside on my motorbike. I stopped by the side of the street. There was an explosion. Several people sitting on chairs by the café, looked up, glanced at the sky and started drinking coffee again,” she messaged The Associated Press, communicating anonymously for her safety.

In other parts of Tehran, she said, “the streets where a building has been damaged and destroyed, or the houses around it, are different. It’s like Gaza. Silence. The smell of death.”

— By Amir-Hussein Radjy

Iranian authorities urge expanded search for ejected pilot

Authorities also urged Iranians to search for the American pilot in neighboring Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, in addition to Kohkilouyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province.

Tehran resident says the fate of Iranians hangs between two powers that don’t care for the people

The 26-year-old Tehran resident fears an escalation in the war that targets infrastructure could leave civilians without power or water, but said the survival of the Islamic Republic’s theocratic rulers leaves her “more anxious than the bombing.” She spoke on condition of anonymity and through secure channels for security reasons.

“Based on what Trump has been saying, once again I realized that we, the people of Iran are nothing but tools and playthings between these two ideologies and powers of the world,” she said. “Neither our lives nor our well-being matters to anyone. Not to our rulers, who killed (thousands during the January protests) nor to the First World, which has always pursued its own interests.”

The young Pilates instructor has stopped her teaching, she said, because “My body doesn’t want to.” She said the mood in Tehran “is dark” as parts of the city feel empty during the new year holidays, which end Friday. “It is full of checkpoints and there is very little traffic.”

— By Sarah El Deeb

Israeli strikes kill 1,368 since Israel-Hezbollah war began

Over the past 24 hours, Israeli strikes killed 23 people and wounded 98, the Lebanese health ministry said Friday.

The ministry said that the overall death toll includes 125 children and 91 women, since Israel launched intense airstrikes across Lebanon after the Hezbollah militant group fired rockets toward northern Israel in solidarity with Iran on March 2. The strikes have also wounded 4,138 others.

Among those killed are 53 health workers, while Israeli strikes have targeted 83 emergency medical service facilities, the health ministry said.

Trump’s wartime presidency has Republicans in peril in upcoming elections

A year and a half after winning the White House by promising to lower costs and end wars, Donald Trump is a wartime president overseeing surging energy costs and an escalating overseas conflict that many in his own party do not like. And he offered little clarity to a nation eager for answers this week during his prime-time address.

It’s hard to overstate how dramatically the U.S. political landscape has shifted. At this time last year, many Republican leaders believed there was a path to preserve their narrow House majority and easily hold the Senate. Now they privately concede that the House is all but lost and Democrats have a realistic shot at taking the Senate.

“You’re looking at an ugly November,” warned veteran Republican pollster Neil Newhouse. “At a point in time when we need every break possible to hold the House and Senate, our edge is being chipped away.”

▶ Read more

United Arab Emirates defends against air attacks

The UAE ministry of defense said on Friday that its air forces engaged with 18 ballistic missiles, four cruise missiles and 47 drones, according to a statement posted on the social media platform X.

Trump budget seeks $1.5T in defense spending alongside cuts in domestic programs

The increase in spending is the largest such request in decades as the president emphasizes U.S. military investments over domestic programs.

Trump’s plans for the Pentagon were confirmed in a White House outline of Trump’s 2027 budget proposal released Friday. The White House summary says Trump’s proposal would reduce nondefense spending by 10% by shifting some responsibilities to state and local governments.

Even before the U.S.-led war against Iran, the Republican president had indicated he wanted to bolster defense spending to modernize the military for 21st-century threats. Separately, the Pentagon last month proposed $200 billion for the war effort and to backfill munitions and supplies.

▶ Read more

Iran keeps attacking with missiles and drones

Israel’s military said Friday afternoon that missiles had been launched from Iran toward the country.

Bahrain’s state-owned news agency said Friday that the country’s air forces intercepted and destroyed 16 drones in the last 24 hours.

Explosion wounds three UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon

The explosion Friday inside a UN position near the southern town of El Adeisseh injured three peacekeepers, two of them seriously, according to a spokesperson for the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon.

“All are currently being evacuated to hospital,” Kandice Ardiel said, adding that the origin of the blast remains unknown.

Two other peacekeepers were killed Monday when their vehicle was struck by an explosion of unknown origin, a day after another peacekeeper was killed in a separate incident in southern Lebanon, where intense fighting between Hezbollah and Israel is ongoing.

The UN has said the deaths are under investigation, while Israel has denied any involvement.

In another reversal, Trump expresses interest in the U.S. keeping Strait of Hormuz open

The president said in a post on social media Friday morning that “With a little more time, we can easily OPEN THE HORMUZ STRAIT, TAKE THE OIL, & MAKE A FORTUNE. IT WOULD BE A “GUSHER” FOR THE WORLD???”

Trump’s comments seem to fly in the face of his remarks over the past week, including days ago when he said that ensuring safe shipping through the vital waterway was ’not for us” and instead lashed out at other nations, including America’s allies, for not stepping in to police the strait from Iranian attacks on vessels.

The president’s Friday comment seemed to reflect remarks he made in private this week in which he expressed a desire to continue the war and try to seize Iranian oil, but said it “is unfortunate” that there did not seem to be patience among the American people for such an effort.

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This story has been corrected to replace a headline to show that Trump budget is seeking $1.5 trillion in defense spending.

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This story has been corrected to show WHO is seeking $30.3 million in immediate funding.

Equities markets are closed for Good Friday, but futures markets were trading into Friday morning, albeit quietly.

Futures for S&P 500 dipped 0.3%, futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.2% and Nasdaq futures were down 0.4%.

American employers added a surprisingly strong 178,000 new jobs last month, rebounding from a dismal February that saw 133,000 job losses. The unemployment rate dipped to 4.3% from 4.4%.

Energy markets were closed Friday following big price surges the day before on fears that the Iran war will drag on longer than expected. U.S. benchmark crude rose 11.4% to $111.54 a barrel on Thursday. The price of Brent crude, the international standard, jumped 7.8% to $109.03 per barrel.

U.S. President Donald Trump late Wednesday vowed the U.S. will continue to attack Iran and failed to offer a clear timetable for ending the conflict in the Middle East.

“A more extended conflict raises the threat to physical infrastructure, extends disruptions through the Strait of Hormuz, and will entail a longer postwar recovery period, with price impacts spilling over later into the year,” according to a report from BMI, a unit of Fitch Solutions.

The U.S. relies on the Persian Gulf for only a fraction of the oil it imports, but oil is a commodity and prices are set in a global market.

The situation is very different in Asia. Japan, for example, needs access to the Strait of Hormuz for much of the nation’s oil imports or would need alternative routes. But some analysts say Japan and other nations are counting on an agreement with Iran to allow fuel to be transported through the strait.

Trading was closed in France, Germany and Britain for the Good Friday holiday.

In Asia, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 gained 1.3% to finish at 53,123.49. South Korea’s Kospi jumped 2.7% to 5,377.30. The Shanghai Composite sank 1.0% to 3,880.10. Trading was closed in Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Indonesia and India for the Good Friday holiday.

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Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama

Only six times in their storied history have the Lakers been defeated by more points. They fell six points short of their worst margin of defeat ever — a 49-point loss to the Dallas Mavericks in 2017.

Gilgeous-Alexander, the reigning league MVP, got the best of his matchup with Doncic — one of Gilgeous-Alexander's top competitors for this season's award. Doncic had scored at least 40 points in five of his previous seven games, but he finished with 12 points on 3-for-10 shooting from the field and 1-for-7 shooting from 3-point range against the Thunder's suffocating defense.

Doncic left the game with a left hamstring injury in the middle of the third quarter. Lakers coach JJ Redick said he will have an MRI on Friday.

Austin Reaves scored 15 points and LeBron James added 13 for the Lakers.

Isaiah Joe added 20 points and made six 3-pointers as Oklahoma City shot 53.9% to turn a matchup between two of the league’s hottest teams into a blowout. The Thunder have now won 16 of 17. The Lakers had won four straight and 13 of 14.

It was a critical game for Oklahoma City. The Thunder entered the night two games ahead of San Antonio in the race for homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs with six games remaining.

In a sign of things to come in the game, it took the Lakers nearly five minutes to make their first field goal. The Thunder led 44-21 at the end of the first behind 14 points from Lu Dort.

The Lakers had another shooting drought to start the second quarter, taking a little more than four minutes to make their field goal. The Thunder reached their season high point total for a first half when they took a 76-41 lead on a layup by Gilgeous-Alexander with 3:25 left in the second quarter.

Oklahoma City led 82-51 at the break, falling a point short of the Thunder regular-season record for points in a half. They scored 83 in the first half of a game against Minnesota in 2021.

Joe hit three 3-pointers in an 85-second flurry to put the Thunder up 99-61 in the third quarter. The teams played reserves throughout the fourth quarter.

The Lakers will host a rematch on April 7.

Up next

Lakers: Visit the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday.

Thunder: Host the Utah Jazz on Sunday.

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

Whether you're dying eggs for your table spread or planning to hide them for an egg hunt, it's important to follow food safety guidelines to minimize germs and maximize your egg quality.

You have some time to eat your eggs

Eggs are remarkably long lasting, so there needn't be a giant rush to eat them.

“Stores usually do turn over eggs pretty quickly, so the recommendations is you should consume eggs three to five weeks after you purchase them,” said Kara Lynch, food safety educator with Michigan State University Extension.

There is also a benefit in letting eggs age just a bit, as older eggs can be easier to peel. That's because eggs shrink over time within the shell, creating an air pocket between the egg and the shell.

Hard boil your eggs

Egg processors clean eggs before they reach store shelves, but it also is important to thoroughly cook eggs to reduce the risk of foodborne illness, especially salmonella. That bacteria lives naturally in the gastrointestinal and reproductive tracts of chickens, said Kimberly Baker, associate extension specialist at Clemson University.

To cook your eggs, place them in a saucepan, fill it with water and bring it to a boil. After that, put the lid on, turn the heat off and let it sit for about 12 minutes. Some also favor turning down the heat and simmering eggs.

You can vary the time in the hot water depending on a desire for harder boiled or slightly creamier eggs, but the yolk should be pretty solid to be safe. Boiling them for too long can risk creating green sulfur development on the outside of the yolk.

How to cool the eggs

After that, Don Schaffner, food science department chair at Rutgers University, said there are two options.

You can run your eggs under cold water to reduce the temperature. From there, you can color them right away or place them back in the fridge until you're ready. Or, after you've boiled them, you can let them air dry until they've cooled.

The boiling process sanitizes the eggs, and as long as they are kept out of water, Schaffner said, they will remain safe to eat.

“You’ve boiled the egg, you’ve gotten rid of any bacteria that might be in the egg. And now you’ve air-cooled it, right? So it’s going to cool more slowly, it’s probably going to cook more,” he said. “But most importantly, you don’t have to worry about any bacteria from the water getting internalized into the egg.”

It’s OK to get food dye on your eggs

Either artificial or natural food dye is OK as long as the dye label says it's food grade. For those keeping track, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has been updating its guidance and regulations regarding certain dyes.

And no, it's not a problem if the dye seeps through the shell.

“Eggs kind of naturally have their own abilities to absorb only so much,” Baker said.

As you're decorating the eggs and have the eggs outside, she suggested keeping your eggs in an ice bath, so they can stay at a cooler temperature while you're decorating.

Follow the 2-hour rule

Eggs should generally be kept at or below 40 degrees (4.4 degrees Celsius) to minimize the risk of contaminants.

Cooked eggs that weren't air-cooled should spend no more than two hours at room temperature. And that's cumulative, including the time spent decorating and the time spent hiding during the Easter egg hunt.

But if it's particularly warm, then that two-hour rule may be shortened to one hour, Lynch said.

Hard boiled eggs are generally good for about a week in the fridge.

Give your eggs a rinse before peeling

Be careful with your eggs as you handle them.

One of the biggest concerns is making sure your eggs haven't cracked during an Easter egg hunt, making them vulnerable to contaminants. And once the egg has been hard boiled, there's no way to kill bacteria that get inside, Baker said.

“We don’t want to be putting them in the soil or in lawns where pets have gone to the bathroom,” she said.

Whether the eggs are hidden outdoors or in a corner of your home, you should rinse them in cool water before you peel them. And wash your hands, too, just in case the eggs have picked up something.

Consider using plastic eggs

If the Easter egg hunt means your eggs will be at room temperature for longer than two hours, experts recommended using plastic eggs for the hunt instead of real ones to minimize food safety risk.

“If it’s an outdoor Easter egg hunt at any time, I would say go with the plastic eggs and be safe,” Baker said. “And use your dyed Easter eggs as your centerpiece on your table or your buffet, and enjoy them that way.”

So did Jess Michaels, one of the legions of women who have said they were sexually assaulted by the late financier and convicted sex offender with a roster of powerful friends in business, politics and beyond.

“I thought, ‘Well, maybe a woman stepping into this role will finally, finally get the truth,’” Michaels recalled Thursday, after President Donald Trump announced Bondi was out of the nation's top law enforcement job.

“She had this opportunity to be a hero and to really do right by survivors of sexual violence and trafficking,” Michaels said, "and she chose not to.”

The furor over the “Epstein files,” as the trove of investigative records came to be known, wasn't the only controversy of Bondi's tenure. But the arc — first raising expectations for a big reveal, then declaring there was nothing to see, and ultimately a forced, flawed document dump — was a stubbornly problematic storyline that ran through her time as attorney general.

Bondi rejected criticism of her handling of the matter, and Trump on Thursday praised her as “a Great American Patriot and a loyal friend.”

Michaels and other Epstein victims watched it all with shaken trust that Bondi's departure alone won't likely rebuild.

“This is not about a single person,” accuser Annie Farmer said Thursday. “It is about a government and judicial system that has repeatedly failed Epstein survivors.”

Here's a glance at Bondi's part in the Epstein saga:

February 2025: The binders

Freshly confirmed as attorney general for a president who had suggested on the campaign trail that he'd open more government documents on Epstein, Bondi whetted appetites by declaring on Fox News that “you’re going to see some Epstein information released.” And when a host asked about "releasing “the list of Jeffrey Epstein’s clients” — a long-rumored, never-seen sex trafficking roster — she replied that it was “sitting on my desk right now.”

A day later, conservative commentators and content creators were brought to the White House to get DOJ binders emblazoned with “The Epstein Files: Phase 1” and “Declassified.”

The attempt to showcase transparency soon backfired, once it emerged that the contents largely were already public. Bondi demanded that the FBI give her “the full and complete Epstein files,” and she later said that she'd unearthed a "truckload” of previously withheld material and that “everything is going to come out to the public.”

July 2025: The walkback

After months of anticipation, the Justice Department said it wouldn't release any more Epstein material. A court had sealed much of it to protect victims, and “only a fraction” would have come out if Epstein had gone to trial, the agency said in an unsigned memo. It added that authorities hadn't found evidence that merited new charges or investigations and that “perpetuating unfounded theories about Epstein” wouldn't help victims get justice.

And, it said, there was no “client list.” As for Bondi's prior comment that it was on her desk, officials said she had meant the overall case file.

Conservative influencers, among others, blasted the turnabout and questioned Bondi’s capability. But Trump stood by her, scolding a journalist for attempting to ask her a question about Epstein at a White House Cabinet meeting.

Trump had himself raised questions for some years after Epstein's 2019 death in jail as the financier faced federal sex trafficking charges. After the Justice Department memo, however, the president suggested there was nothing more to say about Epstein and the country, including his own supporters, should simply move on.

November 2025: The legislation

Amid a drumbeat of disclosures that begin to exact consequences for some powerful people — particularly Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, Britain's former Prince Andrew — Congress passed legislation to force the Justice Department to disclose its investigative files on Epstein. Trump signed it into law, casting the quest for Epstein information as a Democratic-led distraction from the Republican agenda.

Meanwhile, at his urging, Bondi announced that the U.S. attorney in Manhattan would investigate Epstein’s ties to some of the Republican president’s political foes, including Democratic former President Bill Clinton. None has been accused of misconduct by Epstein’s accusers; nor has Trump, another former Epstein friend. Both Clinton and Trump have said they knew nothing about Epstein's misconduct and cut ties with him many years ago.

December 2025: The first batch

At the statutory deadline for making the Epstein files public, the Justice Department released only some of them. While the records included some material the public hadn't previously seen, including some candid photos of Clinton, the documents didn't break major ground and included little about Trump.

The department said it was continuing to review other Epstein records to make sure that victims were protected.

But Democrats cried cover-up, bill sponsor Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., accused the Justice Department of breaking the law by missing the deadline and redacting too much, and some Epstein accusers also questioned the extensive redactions.

January 2026: The big release

The Justice Department began releasing a huge cache of additional Epstein documents, videos and photos, though others remained under wraps.

The records pulled back a curtain on favor-trading and frank communications in a chummy elite that looked past Epstein's 2008 guilty plea to solicitating prostitution from an underage girl in Florida. Some high-flying Epstein friends resigned or lost jobs in corporate America, academia, big law firms, the British, Slovakian and Norwegian governments and beyond.

But the documents disclosed highly personal information about some victims while redacting the names of Epstein correspondents in, for example, emails that appeared to refer to the sexual abuse of underage girls.

Gloria Allred, an attorney for numerous Epstein victims, said Thursday that Bondi betrayed them by failing to protect personal information in the files.

“She has destroyed the trust in the DOJ that victims had a right to expect, and her termination may be the only type of justice that survivors will receive from the DOJ,” Allred said by email.

February 2026: The hearing

At a congressional hearing, a combative Bondi tried to quell the Epstein files controversy. She defended how the Justice Department dealt with it, lobbed personal insults at Democrats and lauded Trump over, among other things, the performance of the stock market.

Bondi said she was deeply sorry for what Epstein victims suffered. But she declined a request from Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., to face and apologize to them for the Justice Department's actions, and Bondi dismissed Massie’s critiques of the release of victims’ personal information.

March 2026: The subpoena

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform subpoenaed Bondi to answer questions on April 14 about the Justice Department’s handling of the Epstein investigation and file release. With five Republicans joining Democrats to support the subpoena, it reflected widespread discontent, including in the GOP base, over Bondi’s management of the matter.

The future

For now, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche will be the acting attorney general.

Michaels, who traveled to the Capitol last year to press for the files’ release, wanted Bondi gone. But will Blanche do better?

"We can only hope. But given that they worked together, I don’t have great expectations,” she said.

The Associated Press generally does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly, as Michaels has done.

Robert Glassman, an attorney for a woman who testified as “Jane” in the 2021 criminal trial of Epstein confidante Ghislaine Maxwell, noted that agency leaders come and go.

“For victims of sexual abuse, what matters is whether the institutions meant to protect them actually do their job,” he said.

The sizable increase for the Pentagon, some 44%, had been telegraphed by the Republican president even before the the U.S.-led war against Iran. The president's plan would also reduce spending on non-defense programs by 10%.

“President Trump promised to reinvest in America’s national security infrastructure, to make sure our nation is safe in a dangerous world,” wrote Budget Director Russell Vought.

The president’s annual budget is considered a reflection of the administration’s values and does not carry the force of law. The massive document typically highlights an administration’s priorities, but Congress, which handles federal spending issues, is free to reject it and often does.

This year’s White House document is intended to provide a road map from the president to Congress as lawmakers build their own budgets and annual appropriations bills to keep the government funded. Vought spoke to House GOP lawmakers on a private call Thursday.

Trump, speaking ahead of an address to the nation this week about the Iran war, signaled the military is his priority, setting up a clash ahead in Congress.

“We’re fighting wars. We can’t take care of day care,” Trump said at a private White House event Wednesday.

“It’s not possible for us to take care of day care, Medicaid, Medicare — all these individual things,” he said. “They can do it on a state basis. You can’t do it on a federal.”

Money for immigration enforcement, air traffic controllers and national parks

Among the priorities the White House called for:

—Supporting the Trump administration's immigration enforcement and deportation operations by eliminating aspects of a refugee resettlement aid program, maintaining Immigration and Customs Enforcement funds at current year levels and drawing on last's year's increases for the Department of Homeland Security funds to continue opening detention facilities, including 100,000 beds for adults and 30,000 for families.

-- A 13% increase in funding for the Department of Justice to focus on violent criminals and the president's promise to stop what the White House calls migrant crime.

-- A $10 billion fund within the National Park Service for "construction and beautification” projects in Washington, D.C..

-- A $481 million increase in funding to enhance aviation safety and support an air traffic controller hiring surge.

Cuts to green energy, housing and health programs

— Cancels more than $15 billion from the Biden-era bipartisan infrastructure law, including funds for renewable energy projects and cuts to the National Oceans and Atmospheric Association, or NOAA, grants.

— 19% cut in the Department of Agriculture, ending certain university grants, a 13% cut for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and about a 12% decrease to the Health and Human Services department, including cuts to a low-income heating assistance program.

The White House is touting cuts of what it calls “woke programs” that often direct federal investments toward low-income communities. The budget used the word “woke” 34 times

For example, the administration is looking to cut Community Services Block Grants, which funds activities such as financial and job counseling and helping people obtain adequate housing. The administration says its cuts would target grants “hijacked by radicals" to promote equity-building and green energy initiatives.

The president also seeks to cut $106 million in funding from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, which it says has “pushed radical gender ideology onto children.”

Supporters and detractors

The Republican chairmen of the House and Senate Armed Services committees applauded Trump’s request for defense spending, saying the money would ensure the country’s military remains the most advanced in the world while confronting growing threats from China, Russia, Iran and others.

“America is facing the most dangerous global environment since World War II,” said Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala.

The top Democrat on House Budget Committee, Rep. Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, said the president was demanding a massive increase in defense while cutting billions from health care, housing and more.

“This budget represents ‘America Last,’” Boyle said.

Debt, deficits and tough choices ahead

With the nation running nearly $2 trillion annual deficits and the debt swelling past $39 trillion, the federal balance sheets have long been operating in the red.

About two-thirds of the nation's estimated $7 trillion in annual spending covers the Medicare and Medicaid health care programs, as well as Social Security income, which are essentially growing — along with an aging population — on autopilot.

It's the rest of the annual budget where much of the debate in Congress takes place, as Democrats over the years have insisted that changes in the level of spending for defense and non-defense need to be equitable.

The GOP's big tax breaks bill that Trump signed into law last year boosted his priorities beyond the budget process — with at least $150 billion for the Pentagon over the next several years, and $170 billion for Trump’s immigration and deportation operations at the Department of Homeland Security.

The administration is counting on its allies in the Republican-led Congress to push part of president’s beefed up defense spending through its own budget process, as it was able to do last year.

It suggests $1.1 trillion for defense would come through the regular appropriations process, which typically requires support from both parties for approval, while $350 billion would go in the budget reconciliation process that Republicans can accomplish on their own, through party-line majority votes.

Congress still fighting over 2026 spending

The president's budget arrives as the House and Senate remain tangled over current-year spending and stalemated over DHS funding, with Democrats demanding changes to Trump’s immigration enforcement regime that Republicans are unwilling to accept.

Trump announced Thursday he would sign an executive order to pay all DHS workers who have gone without paychecks during the record-long partial government shutdown that has reached 49 days.

Last year, in the president's first budget since returning to the White House, Trump sought to fulfill his promise to vastly reduce the size and scope of the federal government, reflecting the efforts of billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency.

However, while Trump had sought a roughly one-fifth decrease in non-defense spending, Congress kept such spending relatively flat.

Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, called Trump's new budget “morally bankrupt.”

“Trump wants to build a ballroom," Murray said, referring to the White House renovation. "I want to build more affordable housing, and only one of us sits on the Appropriations Committee.”

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Associated Press reporter Bill Barrow in Atlanta contributed to this report.

Now, it is not so clear-cut, and that confusion now gets wrapped into virtually any conversation about the state of college sports. Not surprisingly, it's bubbling up at the Final Four, where Illinois has five players on the roster who boast pro experience in Europe, and Arizona has a couple of starters who came out of the European pro leagues.

An NCAA playing field founded on the idea that amateurs play college sports has become much more of a business in which players get paid — forever considered the best way to define a pro — while their eligibility hinges on where that money comes from.

All the Illinois players with European roots are allowed to play because their pro teams were more like club teams; they didn't enter a draft or actually get drafted, the way a player might if he was looking to go to the NBA.

The topic is still so fresh that the NCAA announced just this week it was considering changing rules to bar athletes who enter and stay in a pro sports draft from coming back and competing in college, as happened in two instances earlier this season.

All of that is further jumbled by the fact that many of these players will probably make more in college than they would at their “pro” jobs — whether it be basketball, finance or coaching — thanks to the influx of name, image and likeness payments that now permeate college sports.

“The way I would describe it is it's a middle ground, between what college athletics used to be about, which was not paying, to now, where you're paying student-athletes,” Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel said. “But in a way, we've always paid student-athletes. We've given them a scholarship. We've given them something of value. Now, the only difference is, we’re adding cash to that for their name, image, likeness.”

That cash has widened the recruiting pipeline to Europe and other points overseas. Nobody has exploited it better this season than the Illini, whose “Balkan Bloc” — including twins Tomislav and Zvonimir Ivisic and David Mirkovic — accounts for 36% of both their scoring and their minutes.

Illinois' key recruiter in Europe, Geoff Alexander, explained that a European “pro” who comes to the U.S. for college is something much different than, say, a player with experience in the NBA.

“In Europe and around the world, they don't have high school basketball," Alexander said. "They go to these clubs as youths and find their path. That's like their high school. So anyone who wants to pigeonhole these guys into all this discussion about college eligibility, it's apples and oranges.”

The eligibility discussion concerns an NCAA proposal that came out this week to tweak the rules about who can play and who can't. It was partly a reaction to two players, Alabama's Charles Bediako and Baylor’s James Nnaji, who each played in college this season after entering the 2023 NBA draft.

Bediako's case drew headlines because he actually played three years in the NBA's developmental G League. He sued the NCAA after it denied Alabama's request to allow him to return to college this season, arguing he remined within his five-year eligibility window. One judge issued a temporary-restraining order that allowed Bediako to play. That lasted five games until new rulings barred him again.

Looming next could be the case of 22-year-old Amari Bailey, a former UCLA star who played 10 games in the NBA with the Charlotte Hornets. He has hired a lawyer and is seeking a return, telling ESPN, "right now, I’d be a senior in college. I'm not trying to be 27 years old playing college athletics."

Neither are the European transplants, though many certainly do play against players 27 and older in the overseas leagues before they arrive in the U.S. college system.

“If you've played in the EuroLeague, you are not a freshman,” Michigan coach Dusty May said, in reference to Arizona freshman Ivan Kharchenkov, who has played at different levels for a club team in Munich since he was 12 and could end up in the NBA soon.

Another Arizona starter, Motiejus Krivas, is from Lithuania.

Wildcats coach Tommy Lloyd spent decades at Gonzaga, a school that took a lead in international recruiting (Domantas Sabonis, Rui Hachimura) long before the onset of NIL made coming to America a more lucrative proposition for the up-and-coming European club players.

“To be honest with you, I think it’s maybe opened a few more doors,” Lloyd said. “One of the detriments to international recruiting back in the day was if a kid wanted to get paid, the European clubs could pay them legally, and obviously we couldn’t.”

Lloyd predicts that soon, “the convoluted notion of who's eligible” will get sorted out and it will become more clear that college sports is for players in their late teens and early 20s.

Illinois coach Brad Underwood acknowledges that no matter where the players come from, the business model of college sports has changed.

“I’d argue that in today’s world, all these kids are finding opportunities that allow them to receive compensation,” he said.

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

Instead, when winner Seth Clevenger’s name was announced, the other seven runners stepped off their perches and walked away.

With the NCAA holding its biggest party of the year at this week’s Final Four, the protest over Clevenger’s alleged use of performance enhancers at one of its smaller championships is a telling illustration of what critics see as a glaring weak spot in college sports.

They point to an NCAA anti-doping policy rife with imperfections, all of which undercut the association′s ability to provide a level playing field -- a responsibility that means more than ever with growing name, image and likeness opportunities that raise the stakes for players.

“In the NIL era, failing to have a robust anti-doping program doesn’t just invite doping into college athletics — it undermines fairness, the very heart of the game,” said Travis Tygart, the CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.

USADA has no authority over the NCAA, though college athletes who also compete on national and Olympic teams are subject to the world anti-doping protocols.

Video of Clevenger being ghosted on the podium has garnered more than 10 million views on social media, part of a mushrooming protest against the former Iowa State distance runner who moved down to Division III Rowan University earlier this year. More than 750 D-III runners have since signed a letter to school and conference officials demanding a “full and public investigation” into Clevenger.

Last month, Clevenger won NCAA indoor titles at 3,000 and 5,000 meters, setting meet records in both. His wins allowed his new school to eke out the team title by one point.

Clevenger did not respond to multiple requests for comment from The Associated Press. In response to a series of questions about its anti-doping measures, the NCAA said it has a “rigorous drug-testing policy.” Shawn Tucker, the athletic director at Rowan, declined to comment on Clevenger specifically.

″In line with Rowan athletics and NCAA policies, we assure you that all rostered student-athletes competing for Rowan have been both academically and athletically eligible to compete this academic year,” Tucker said.

Clevenger is not known to have tested positive for either of the banned drugs he is alleged to have used: a hard-to-detect and widely available peptide called BP-157 that some believe is key to injury recovery; and erythropoietin (EPO), a well-known red blood cell booster detectable through blood tests, the likes of which the NCAA is not known to administer.

Because Clevenger let his membership to Olympic-affiliated USA Track and Field lapse after 2023, he only needs to follow NCAA rules, which are far less demanding than the system that governs international sports and is helmed by USADA in the United States.

With that agency on the sideline, the NCAA’s handling of cases like Clevenger's has largely stayed under the radar, below ever-rotating headlines about the transfer portal, eligibility lawsuits and, more recently, the new college landscape's impact on a March Madness tournament that was built on underdog stories but has tilted recently more toward deeper-pocketed programs.

Those who track doping issues have taken notice. They see the Clevenger case as something with implications far beyond a single D-III school.

“In this case, there was enough conversation, and you had people walking off the podium,” said researcher Oliver Catlin, president of the Anti-Doping Sciences Institute. “If you ignore something like that, that’s going to send a horrendous message through the rest of the ranks. And people pay attention and it’s going to get repeated.”

A supsension at Iowa State and a move to Division III

The seeds of this saga were planted at Iowa State, where Clevenger spent most of his three years low on the depth chart for the highly rated Cyclones.

Given a chance to race at the Nuttycombe Invitational in Wisconsin last October while Iowa State rested its top runners, Clevenger ran the 8-kilometer championship in 23 minutes, 37.9 seconds. That was 4.5 seconds better than a personal best he had topped by 28 seconds only three weeks earlier.

Eight days after that, Iowa State suspended multiple athletes, including Clevenger, “for breaking team rules.” The school did not specify which rules had been broken but Clevenger did not race for Iowa State again and wound up at Rowan, less than 20 miles from his childhood home of Haddonfield, New Jersey. Cyclones coach Jeremy Sudbery did not respond to requests from AP for an interview.

Since then, Clevenger has admitted to using BP-157, a person close to the case told AP, speaking only on condition of anonymity because that detail has not been made public by the runner or his attorney. The track website letsrun.com published a story last month about the allegations; an Instagram page soon after carried a post that purportedly shows a receipt for an order of EPO placed through Clevenger’s email account.

The AP could not confirm the authenticity of the email, nor of a letter to Iowa State administrators that has also shown up on social media and appears to be from Clevenger’s mother, who insists her son never took EPO.

The email and letter are among evidence that Catlin and other anti-doping experts said could be used to investigate a case under world anti-doping rules. The ability to investigate potential evidence other than blood and urine samples led to the ban of cyclist Lance Armstrong and dozens of other athletes even though they did not test positive for drugs.

The NCAA’s lack of tools to open those sort of investigations is viewed as a big hole in its drug-fighting program.

“An effective anti-doping program can’t just test -- it must also investigate,” Tygart said. “Without both, cheaters game the system and clean athletes may be falsely harmed on just suspicion, not evidence.”

The NCAA has a difficult history with anti-doping efforts

Five years ago, the NCAA got great reviews for putting on a successful post-COVID version of March Madness in Indianapolis – the site of this year’s Final Four – filled with constant testing and a solid list of protocols to handle players who fell ill.

It received virtually no blowback when AP reported that not a single test for performance enhancers had been conducted the entire tournament.

Six years before that, the NCAA’s own medical chief at the time, Brian Hainline, said the association’s drug-fighting program “could be improved considerably." That was in response to AP reporting that revealed the Final Four teams were subject to different drug-testing policies based on their on-campus policies.

College sports still operates under essentially the same system, leaving schools in charge of the bulk of their anti-doping efforts and how to sanction those who get caught.

The NCAA said its program “undergoes regular review by the membership, including two reviews in the past five years.”

“Each academic year, 10,000 NCAA student-athletes are tested without notice in year-round testing or at one of the 92 NCAA championships in 24 sports," the association said. Privacy laws typically prevent schools from making public statements about doping cases and the NCAA doesn't disclose test results.

Year-round, out-of-competition testing is considered the gold standard, and while the NCAA does have a program for that in Divisions I and II,, officials in Division III studied a year-round program but never adopted it. The NCAA drug testing handbook says D-I and D-II athletic departments are, under most circumstances, notified at least two days in advance of a visit from testers.

“Giving notice of testing, even a couple of hours before the collection, is mostly theater — just to say you test," Tygart said.

The lack of a true investigatory arm also denies Clevenger the chance to clear his name if, as his school claims, he has done nothing wrong.

“There’s got to be due process,” Catlin said. “You’ve got to protect the athletes to one degree. And, from the NCAA's perspective, you have to protect your sports environment. And based on this case, it certainly doesn’t sound like that’s happening.”

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AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports

En paneles públicos y en reuniones a puerta cerrada, los líderes tribales han debatido sobre el crecimiento explosivo de plataformas como Polymarket y Kalshi, y la posible amenaza que representan para el estatus que las tribus han conseguido con tanta dificultad y que está fuertemente regulado en el sector estadounidense de los juegos de azar.

Las empresas tribales de juegos de azar generan más de 40 mil millones de dólares al año, ingresos que financian la atención médica, la vivienda, la educación y otros servicios sociales en las comunidades de indígenas de Estados Unidos. En las apps de mercados de predicción, miles de millones de dólares cambian de manos durante eventos destacados como el Super Bowl.

David Bean, presidente de la Asociación Indígena de Juegos de Azar, acusó a los mercados de predicción de dar una imagen falsa de sus productos para eludir un marco legal cuidadosamente negociado que incluye leyes federales, estatales y tribales.

“Esta no es ninguna innovación”, declaró Bean el miércoles durante una conferencia de prensa. “Esto es juego de azar ilegal disfrazado de finanzas”.

La asociación instó al Congreso a tomar medidas enérgicas contra los mercados de predicción, y anunció un fondo de defensa para apoyar acciones jurídicas contra las plataformas.

Kalshi, Polymarket y Robinhood dicen que sus usuarios realizan operaciones de futuros, no apuestas. Refutan las acusaciones de que eluden las regulaciones.

¿Qué son los mercados de predicción?

Los mercados de predicción permiten a los usuarios apostar con respecto al resultado de prácticamente cualquier evento, desde el torneo universitario de básquetbol hasta la guerra en Irán. Estas plataformas, que antaño fueron un experimento de nicho acogido en círculos de ciencias políticas, han ganado una popularidad enorme y también son motivo de controversia desde las elecciones de 2024.

Los operadores del mercado dicen que sus usuarios negocian entre sí a través de la compraventa de “contratos sobre sucesos”. Argumentan que su producto es único y debería estar regulado por la Comisión de Negociación de Futuros de Productos Básicos (CFTC, por sus siglas en inglés), de la misma forma en que están regulados los mercados de materias primas agrícolas y los del petróleo.

La comisión sopesa establecer nuevas normas para los mercados de predicción. No obstante, hasta ahora el gobierno del presidente Donald Trump ha respaldado a estas plataformas, las cuales enfrentan demandas de más de una docena de estados de Estados Unidos y en cuatro entidades indígenas estadounidenses.

¿Cuál es el origen de los juegos de azar gestionados por indígenas estadounidenses?

En la década de 1970, durante la época conocida como la era de la autodeterminación tribal, los pueblos indígenas de Estados Unidos buscaban instrumentos para sacar a sus comunidades de la pobreza. Surgieron salas de bingo y de baraja en gimnasios comunitarios y en estructuras improvisadas en las reservaciones de todo el país.

Patrice Kunesh, investigadora de la Brookings Institution —una organización sin fines de lucro que realiza investigaciones para mejorar políticas en todos los niveles de gobierno—, explicó que los pueblos originarios, cuya capacidad para recaudar impuestos es limitada, utilizaron esta nueva fuente de ingresos para reconstruir sus gobiernos tras décadas de control federal.

“Las tribus estaban reivindicando su soberanía. Eso irritó a los estados”, narró Kunesh.

Tras una decisión de la Corte Suprema federal en 1987, que bloqueó el intento de California de cerrar las salas de baraja en dos reservaciones ubicadas dentro de sus fronteras, los estados cabildearon ante el Congreso para obtener un papel en la regulación de los juegos de azar en las comunidades indígenas estadounidenses. El resultado fue la Ley Reguladora del Juego Indígena (IGRA, por sus siglas en inglés) de 1988, un complejo sistema regulatorio que Kunesh describió como un acuerdo con los pueblos originarios.

La ley amplió los tipos de juegos de azar que las tribus podían ofrecer, lo que allanó el camino para que las improvisadas salas de bingo se convirtieran en casinos sofisticados al estilo de Las Vegas, y en una industria multimillonaria. La IGRA también impone estándares estrictos, y exige que las tribus negocien convenios de juegos de azar con los estados.

¿Podrían los mercados de predicción amenazar la participación de mercado de los pueblos originarios?

El sector de los juegos de azar gestionados por indígenas estadounidenses no es ajeno a la competencia. Cuando se aprobó la IGRA en 1988, los casinos comerciales eran legales sólo en dos estados de Estados Unidos. Desde entonces, esa cifra ha aumentado a 27. Actualmente, el sector enfrenta también las apuestas deportivas legales en 39 estados y el auge de los casinos en línea.

El expresidente de la Comisión Nacional de Juegos de Azar Indígenas (NIGC, por sus siglas en inglés), Jonodev Chaudhuri, refirió que los mercados de predicción son únicos en que irrumpieron en el mercado del juego en línea prácticamente de la noche a la mañana, con una supervisión mínima. Describió el ánimo en la convención de la Asociación Indígena de Juegos de Azar de este año como de preocupación colectiva.

“Hay una intensidad en los debates que es más incisiva de lo que quizás haya visto nunca en estas salas”, agregó Chaudhuri.

La Asociación Indígena de Juegos de Azar indicó que se realizan estudios sobre el impacto financiero.

¿Cómo desafían los pueblos indígenas a los mercados de predicción?

Cuatro entidades indígenas estadounidenses han demandado a Kalshi y Robinhood ante un tribunal federal, y acusan a las plataformas de violar la ley federal y los convenios entre los estados y las tribus. En los documentos presentados en la corte, dichas plataformas dicen que ellos operan mercados financieros, no casinos ni casas de apuestas deportivas, y que no realizan negocios en tierras de indígenas estadounidenses.

Entre los demandantes se encuentra la entidad tribal Ho-Chunk, uno de los 11 pueblos originarios reconocidos federalmente con derechos exclusivos de juego en virtud de un acuerdo con el estado de Wisconsin. Jon Greendeer, presidente de la Nación Ho-Chunk, lo describió como un enfrentamiento de David contra Goliat, en el que la red de seguridad social de su tribu está en juego.

“Nos enfrentamos a alguien que gana más dinero en un solo evento que nosotros en todo un año”, agregó Greendeer.

La Asociación Indígena de Juegos de Azar ha presentado escritos en apoyo de una creciente ola de demandas contra las plataformas de mercados de predicción, y reúne recursos para su propia posible batalla jurídica. Pedirle al Congreso que actúe no es una apuesta segura, dado que el gobierno de Trump respalda al sector de los mercados de predicción.

“Estamos viendo cierta reticencia por parte de los legisladores, que no quieren molestar al gran jefe”, expresó Bean.

¿Cuánto dinero generan los juegos de azar gestionados por pueblos indígenas?

Las empresas tribales de juegos de azar generaron casi 44 mil millones de dólares en 2024, una cifra récord, según la NIGC.

Menos de la mitad de los 576 pueblos originarios reconocidos federalmente en el país ofrecen algún tipo de juego. Muchos casinos tribales, sobre todo los de zonas rurales, generan apenas ingresos suficientes para cubrir los gastos básicos de su gobierno y los servicios sociales.

Según Kunesh, los costos de cumplir con la IGRA reducen significativamente los ingresos de las tribus. Esta ley también les permite a los estados negociar convenios de reparto de ingresos con los pueblos indígenas, a menudo a cambio de cierto grado de exclusividad.

“La gente cree que las tribus se enriquecen a manos llenas. Ese es un terrible malentendido”, añadió Kunesh.

Third in the Western Conference and the NHL's stacked Central Division, Minnesota secured the postseason spot in 75 games after getting in last season in the 82nd and final game before falling to Vegas in the first round.

Ryan Hartmman scored twice in the third to reach 20 goals, and Filip Gustavsson made 29 saves to help the Wild rebound from a 6-3 loss at Boston on Saturday.

Former Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes had his 67th assist. He joined the Wild in a blockbuster trade in December that sent Marco Rossi, Zeev Buium, Liam Ohgren and a first-round pick in 2026 to Vancouver.

Tom Willander and Jake DeBrusk scored for NHL-worst Vancouver, and Nikita Tolopilo stopped 32 shots. The Canucks were coming off an 8-6 victory at NHL-leading Colorado on Wednesday night.

Boldy tied it at 2 on a wrist shot at 23 seconds of the second period, and Kaprizov followed on a snap shot at 06:08 of the period. Hartmman scored on a tip at 6:03 of the third and had an empty-netter.

The Wild are six points behind Dallas and 12 back of Colorado.

Up next

Canucks: Host Utah on Saturday.

Wild: At Ottawa on Saturday.

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

Leer en español

It happened along the 2900 block of Northwest 13th Street around 3:15 p.m.

According to authorities, Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue crews responded to the home and found a woman inside the SUV.

She was suffering from a leg injury and bleeding, officials said, and after being extricated from the SUV, she was rushed to Broward Health Fort Lauderdale as a trauma alert.

They said the woman’s injuries were considered non-life-threatening.

“We was lining up in the parking over there waiting to be called to get in the food bank line,” said Al, who saw what happened.

No additional injuries were reported among the five people inside the home, according to BSFR.

“I came home and I saw the car in my house,” said resident Goldie Pitts. “I just hoped out the car and started running, like ‘oh my God, what happened’ because my niece was here, I didn’t know whether she was hurt or what happened. It’s nerve wracking. They speed through this neighborhood everyday like they’re on I-95.”

The home, which Pitts has lived in since the 1980s, has been deemed unsafe. The American Red Cross is assisting.

The investigation is ongoing, and it remains unclear if speed was a factor.

Por eso, y después de años de recomendaciones, utilizó un recurso inédito: pedir a la Asamblea General que examine la situación y proponga medidas para ayudar en la crisis, porque México no puede hacerlo solo.

El gobierno de la presidenta Claudia Sheinbaum rechazó el planteamiento y definió el documento como “tendencioso" y sin rigor jurídico.

El Centro de Derechos Humanos Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez, una de las organizaciones no gubernamentales mexicanas expertas en el tema, lo consideró "la evaluación reprobatoria más contundente del fracaso del Estado mexicano frente a la crisis de desapariciones a lo largo de cuatro gobiernos de tres partidos distintos”, es decir desde 2006.

En un comunicado, casi medio centenar de colectivos de familias pidieron diálogo al gobierno y que asuma su responsabilidad, porque mientras continúe negando la evidencia condenará a México a que los crímenes se repitan y mantendrá a los familiares "en un camino de tortura".

Estas son algunas claves para entender la crisis de las desapariciones en el país:

El tamaño del problema: 132.000 desaparecidos, 72.000 restos no identificados

Durante el último tercio del siglo XX hubo desapariciones fruto de las políticas represoras del momento pero, a partir de 2006, cuando se inició la guerra frontal contra el crimen organizado, las cifras se dispararon y, de pocos miles, ahora el registro oficial tiene más de 132.000 desaparecidos.

Además, se siguen descubriendo enterramientos clandestinos y, según los datos de la ONU, hay unos 72.000 restos humanos no identificados en distintas morgues o fosas del país.

El registro oficial ha sido cuestionado de distintas maneras. El expresidente Andrés Manuel López Obrador (2018-2024) intentó depurarlo, pero la persona responsable de hacerlo se negó y dimitió.

El gobierno de Sheinbaum acaba de decir que no tiene datos suficientes para buscar a un tercio de la cifra registrada, y que otro tercio ha tenido algún tipo de actividad después de la desaparición y podrían ser ausencias voluntarias, por lo que aquellas personas que habría que buscar serían sólo el tercio restante.

Las familas criticaron este análisis, exigieron saber cómo se llegó a esos datos y recordaron que hay miedo o problemas para denunciar. Según el informe, hay menos de 4.000 investigaciones en marcha.

El diágnostico de la ONU: crisis generalizada en un México desbordado

El Comité de Naciones Unidas contra la Desaparición Forzada (CED) concluyó que existen “indicios bien fundados de que las desapariciones forzadas se han perpetrado y se siguen perpetrando en México como crímenes de lesa humanidad”, y por eso pidió la intervención de la Asamblea General.

En el documento, reconoció que no hay una política federal que ordene cometer tales crímenes, pero sí ataques generalizados o sistemáticos en diversos lugares con patrones conocidos que, aunque los realicen organizaciones criminales, cuentan con la “autorización, apoyo o aquiescencia” de las autoridades, entendiendo esta última frase también como el hecho de no prevenir, no investigar o no llevar a los culpables ante la justicia, con lo que el problema se perpetúa.

La respuesta oficial: rechazar los datos

México contestó al CED que la mayor parte de las desapariciones las realizan los cárteles, no el Estado, y que la falta de debida diligencia al investigar no puede considerarse complicidad.

En un comunicado, señaló que la decisión del Comité “es parcial y sesgada”, no tiene “rigor jurídico” y que el gobierno “ha emprendido una reforma legislativa e institucional, en coordinación con colectivos de familiares, para atender este flagelo”. Luego un alto funcionario de la cancillería escribió en la red social X que México no niega los retos que tiene y que está abierto al diálogo, pero que el Comité se excedió en su mandato.

Los avances y los pendientes

México cuenta desde 2017 con una ley general sobre desapariciones, y en el gobierno de López Obrador se pusieron en marcha protocolos y comisiones oficiales de búsqueda, pero tanto organizaciones no gubernamentales como académicos coindiden en que faltó coordinación entre los distintos estados, recursos y voluntad política con visión de largo plazo.

Ahora el Comité le pide a la Asamblea General que brinde cooperación técnica en las áreas de búsqueda, análisis forense e investigación, que se busque apoyo financiero y se establezca un mecanismo eficaz para esclarecer la verdad y proporcionar asistencia y protección a las familias.

La ONU ha matizado que el objetivo es movilizar la atención y el apoyo internacional, pero no establecer responsabilidades penales individuales.

Desconoce cuándo se debatirá el tema en la Asamblea General, y cuáles serán las propuestas exactas que presentará a ese foro el secretario general António Guterres pero, para que cualquier medida se concrete, México tendría que aceptarla.

El gobierno mexicano anterior no aceptó un mecanismo internacional para la crisis forense (los restos no identificados), aunque sí asesoramiento. Pero la estructura que creó no avanzó. Dada la respuesta oficial actual, la negativa de México podría repetirse.

Las familias, en el desamparo

En la últimas décadas las familias se han organizado para presionar a las autoridades, para lograr avances jurídicos, para encabezar las búsquedas —aún jugándose la vida—, y para pedir ayuda internacional.

Guadalupe Fernández, de 76 años, lleva 17 buscando a su hijo José Antonio Robledo, un ingeniero desparecido en el norteño estado de Coahuila por miembros del cártel de los Zetas, coludidos con autoridades estatales.

Fernández recibió la decisión del Comité con euforia, porque fue una de las personas que viajó hasta Ginebra para dar su testimonio en 2015 y siempre confió en que se activaran mecanismos para que México trabajara con la ONU. La respuesta del gobierno la dejó sumida en la desesperanza.

“Si miramos para otro lado como país, vamos a seguir desamparados”, señaló.

La mujer dijo estar harta de que cada gobierno que llega “primero muestre sensibilidad y luego todo queda en el olvido”. Subrayó que las leyes ya están, “el problema es que se apliquen”.

Mientras cuida a su esposo enfermo, resumía con una frase el malestar de muchos familiares como ellos: “Mientras no encontramos, nos estamos muriendo”.

Morris had filed a lawsuit in Charlottesville (Virginia) Circuit Court last month seeking the injunction after the NCAA denied his medical redshirt waiver and appeal. A circuit court judge ruled against Morris on Thursday.

“The NCAA is pleased by the court’s decision today, which protects the integrity of collegiate competition," the NCAA said in a statement. "As additional lawsuits challenging common-sense, academically-tied eligibility rules are filed, the NCAA will continue to defend against attempts to rob high school students across the nation of the opportunity to compete in college and experience the life-changing opportunities only college sports can create.

"The NCAA and its member schools are making changes to deliver more benefits to student-athletes, but the patchwork of state laws and inconsistent, conflicting court decisions make partnering with Congress essential to provide stability for all college athletes.”

Morris' case is one of 71 eligibility lawsuits that have been filed. Of those cases, 33 preliminary injunctions have been denied and 13 have been granted. Twelve eligibility lawsuits are still pending in lower courts and 13 have been voluntarily dismissed prior to a decision on a preliminary injunction.

The dispute surrounding the 25-year-old Morris involves his 2022 season with TCU and whether it should count against his eligibility. Morris suffered a knee injury that season and applied for a medical redshirt, but the NCAA denied that request after Morris made limited appearances in three games later that season.

Morris, the son of Clemson offensive coordinator Chad Morris, has thrown for 9,185 career yards while playing at Oklahoma (2020), TCU (2021-23), North Texas (2024) and Virginia (2025).

He passed for 3,000 yards and 16 touchdowns with nine interceptions, while also rushing for 245 yards and five touchdowns at Virginia last season.

Virginia ended last season 16th in the AP Top 25 after posting an 11-3 record that included a 27-20 overtime loss to Duke in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game and a 13-7 victory over Missouri in the Gator Bowl.

The Cavaliers’ 11 wins set a school single-season record. The Gator Bowl marked Virginia’s first bowl appearance since 2019.

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Hubbard broke out of six-way tie for the lead that included Tony Finau, among dozens of players hopeful of a win to get into the Masters next week.

He was in the middle of the pack when Hubbard began his remarkable finishing kick on the Oaks course at the TPC San Antonio. He made a 25-foot birdie putt sandwiched between a pair of birdies from the 6-foot range. He got up-and-down on the par-5 14th for a fourth straight birdie.

He also hit it tight to 6 feet for birdie on the par-3 16th. And moments before the horn sounded to stop play, Hubbard drilled a fairway metal from the rough over the winding creek in front of the green about 30 yards short of the flag. He pitched to 3 feet for his last birdie.

The round was delayed about 90 minutes at the start because of dangerous weather in the area, with 24 players having to complete the round Friday morning. That shouldn't affect the timing of the second round.

Finau is trying to pull his game together, falling to No. 107 in the world. He is not eligible for the Masters for the first time since 2017, and this is his last chance. There have been stretches of good golf, and Finau is hopeful of a few more days of this.

It didn't start off great. He had to make a 7-foot par putt on No. 10, his opening hole. He had to chip to tap-in range on the 11th.

“And then I was kind of on my way after that,” said Finau, who holed a 40-foot eagle putt on the par-5 14th hole that sent him on his way to a 66.

He was joined by Andrew Putnam, Steven Fisk, Davis Thompson and Robert MacIntyre, who birdied his last two holes. MacIntyre is the only one in that group who already is in the Masters.

The large group at 67 included some players tuning up for Augusta National, some just hopeful of a tee time. Tommy Fleetwood, Ludvig Aberg and Maverick McNealy are in the Masters. Among those on the outside is Will Zalatoris, who already has gone through three back surgeries as he tries to play his way back into form.

All of them caught the TPC San Antonio in benign conditions with very little wind, and morning rain that not only softened the course but led officials to allow for preferred lies.

It was still a big deal to Zalatoris, despite two late bogeys in his round of eight birdies.

“The reality is that I’m 10 months removed from basically having my back reconstructed,” Zalatoris said. “If I’m complaining about just a little thing here and there, I’ll still take it. The patience game is obviously brutal because it’s even like a day like today, where I make eight birdies, and we’re still talking about it, but that’s been my last three years.”

Jordan Spieth is trying to clean up the way he finishes rounds — a pair of closing double bogeys at The Players Championship, more dropped shots at the end of Valspar Championship. And then on Thursday, he was on the verge of a birdie-birdie finish until missing a 7-foot birdie attempt on the 18th hole and then missing the 30-inch par putt.

The bogey gave him a 71.

Austin Smotherman is having a week he won't forget after his 68. It started with news that his wife gave birth to their third daughter, even though he had to watch it remotely.

Smotherman had a plan to catch a short flight home to Dallas is his wife went into labor. What he didn’t plan on was the timing. His wife went into labor about 9:30 p.m. on Monday. Grace Elizabeth was born two hours later.

“I was stuck here in the hotel watching on FaceTime,” Smotherman said. “It happened so fast we couldn’t get back in time, driving or flying.”

There were no flights, and to make the four-hour drive to Dallas would have put somewhere around Waco when the baby was born. But daughter and wife are doing well, and she has family to help.

And then his week took another happy turn. Smotherman hit 6-iron on the 220-yard 13th hole for a hole-in-one, leading to a solid round that left him two shots off the lead.

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

“I didn’t wake up to my alarm. Slept through it," Jensen told The Kansas City Star and other outlets. "Don’t really have an excuse — nor should I. It sucks. It happens. I feel like I let teammates down, coaches down. Just learn from it and just know it won’t happen again.”

Jensen eventually arrived, but not early enough to prepare adequately to start the game. He did end up coming in as Kansas City’s catcher in the ninth inning of the Royals' 5-1 loss.

Salvador Perez, who was expecting to be Kansas City’s designated hitter Thursday, ended up catching the first eight innings.

“First and foremost, I’m glad Carter’s OK,” Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino told reporters. “I mean, that was kind of the initial thought when you’re trying to get a hold of his parents and everything like that — just make sure he’s OK.”

Pasquantino said Jensen, a 22-year-old rookie, needs to learn from this experience.

“There are some things that cannot happen, and that’s one of them,” Pasquantino said. “So he’s going to have to wear it on the chin — same way anybody would have to. It can’t happen, and hopefully it doesn’t happen again. But it’s one of those things that you just can’t afford mistakes like that in this game. Just got to move forward the best that he can. I know he feels really bad.

“I know it was not his favorite drive to the field this morning, but it wasn’t our favorite morning either, trying to figure out what was going on. He’ll learn from it, grow a little bit. We’re here for him, though. It’s not like anybody’s mad at him. Things happen. But you’ve got to learn from mistakes like that — and maybe get another alarm clock or something.”

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

Un comunicado dado a conocer en medios de prensa oficiales indicó que la decisión “partió de un análisis cuidadoso de las características de los hechos cometidos por los sancionados, la buena conducta mantenida en prisión, haber extinguido una parte importante de su sanción y estado de salud”.

La medida se produce en momentos en que Estados Unidos sostiene un fuerte cerco petrolero a la isla presionando un cambio de modelo político y funcionarios estadounidenses como el secretario de Estado Marco Rubio exigieron públicamente a la isla la liberación de presos condenados por protestas que terminaron en actos vandálicos o desórdenes.

De acuerdo con el comunicado, del total de excarcelados figuran "jóvenes, mujeres, adultos mayores de 60 años, los que arriban al término de libertad anticipada en el último semestre y próximo año; así como extranjeros y ciudadanos cubanos residentes en el exterior”.

El texto no aclaró los cargos de las personas por liberar, ni si entre ellos se encuentran algunos condenados luego de protestas que terminaron en actos vandálicos y que fueron sancionados como terrorismo, desacato o desórdenes públicos en 2021.

El gobierno cubano no reconoce la existencia de presos políticos, pero el de Estados Unidos los considera bajo este estatus. Organizaciones que monitorean la situación de los encarcelados como Justicia 11J o Prisoners Defenders estiman en más de 1.000 los sancionados de esta naturaleza.

Las autoridades de ambos países informaron que sostienen negociaciones pero hasta la fecha se desconoce la agenda de las mismas, si estas avanzaron o detalles sobre ellas.

Según el comunicado para la conformación de la lista de indultados se descartaron a aquellas personas que cometieron delitos de agresión sexual, pederastia con violencia, asesinato, homicidio, drogas, hurto y sacrificio de ganado, robo con violencia o fuerza con la utilización de armas o menores víctimas, corrupción de menores.

También especificó que se excluyeron “delitos contra la autoridad, reincidentes y multirreincidentes y algunos que fueron beneficiados con indulto anteriormente y cometieron nuevos delitos”.

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

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The temporary charge is effective April 17 for many of the sellers who use Amazon’s fulfillment services, the online behemoth confirmed to The Associated Press in an email Thursday.

“Elevated costs in fuel and logistics have increased the cost of operating across the industry,” Amazon said in the emailed statement.

The Seattle-based company said it has absorbed these increases so far but similar to other major carriers, when costs remain elevated, it implements temporary surcharges to partially recover these costs. It noted the charge is “meaningfully” lower than surcharges applied by other major carriers.

“We remain committed to our selling partners’ success and to maintaining broad selection and low prices for customers,” Amazon added.

Amazon’s fuel and logistics-related surcharge will apply to U.S. and Canadian sellers using its Fulfillment by Amazon option. Starting May 2, the surcharge will take effect with sellers using the Buy with Prime and Multi-Channel Fulfillment options.

Amazon joins a growing list of carriers imposing surcharges to recoup rising energy costs as the Iran war drags on.

United Parcel Service and FedEx have increased their fuel surcharges. The United States Postal Service announced last week it was imposing an 8% fuel surcharge that would apply to packages to be shipped starting April 26. The surcharge would remain in place until Jan. 17 2027, it said.