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Jordan Eugene Brown escaped Palmetto General Hospital, at 2001 West 68th St., on Thursday morning in Hialeah, hurt a woman while stealing her car, and sped away, according to Lt. Eddie Rodriguez, a spokesman for the Hialeah Police Department.

Brown drove the wrong way several times and passed several vehicles, including a school bus. Law enforcement performed several maneuvers to try to stop him. Shortly after 1:10 p.m., the car spun out after a Florida Highway Patrol trooper struck it.

Miami-Dade County Sheriff’s Office deputies pulled Brown out of the car and handcuffed him at Northwest 17th Avenue and 79th Street. He was barefoot, shirtless, and wearing green pants.

Miami-Dade corrections booked Brown shortly before 8:45 p.m. on Thursday at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, according to inmate records.

On Friday morning, Brown faced 10 charges in six cases. Seven charges were in three new pending cases, and the three others were in three warrant cases, according to Miami-Dade County court records.

In one case, Brown faced charges of burglary with assault and battery, robbery or carjacking, and battery on a person 65 or older. He had a pre-trial detention hold.

In a second case, Brown faced a charge of fleeing and eluding a police officer. In a third case, aggravated fleeing while attempting to elude police after damage, aggravated assault on a police officer, and resisting arrest.

In a warrant case, he faced a charge of leaving the scene of an accident with property damage, reckless driving, reckless driving with damage to property or person.

Detectives asked anyone with information about this or other cases to call Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477 to remain anonymous.

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MDFR personnel treated and released four of the injured at the scene of the crash and rushed the two others to two hospitals, according to MDFR.

MDFR deployed more than 20 units, including two air rescue units, shortly before 11 a.m. on Friday, according to the public record on dispatch’s active calls.

MDFR used air rescue to take one of the injured to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center.

This is a developing story. Local 10 News Assignment Editor Sofia Mendez and Senior Assignment Editor Frine Gomez contributed to this report.

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Jordan Eugene Brown escapó del Palmetto General Hospital, ubicado en 2001 West 68th St., la mañana del jueves en Hialeah, hirió a una mujer mientras le robaba su auto y huyó a toda velocidad, según el teniente Eddie Rodriguez, portavoz del Departamento de Policía de Hialeah.

Brown condujo en sentido contrario varias veces y rebasó varios vehículos, incluido un autobús escolar. Las autoridades realizaron varias maniobras para intentar detenerlo. Poco después de la 1:10 p.m., el auto perdió el control y giró después de que un agente de la Patrulla de Carreteras de Florida lo impactara.

Agentes de la Oficina del Sheriff del Condado Miami-Dade sacaron a Brown del auto y lo esposaron en Northwest 17th Avenue y 79th Street. Estaba descalzo, sin camisa y llevaba pantalones verdes.

El Departamento de Correcciones de Miami-Dade ingresó a Brown poco antes de las 8:45 p.m. del jueves en el Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight, según los registros de reclusos.

La mañana del viernes, Brown enfrentó 10 cargos en seis casos. Siete cargos correspondían a tres nuevos casos pendientes y los otros tres a tres casos con órdenes judiciales, según los registros judiciales del condado Miami-Dade.

En un caso, Brown enfrentó cargos de allanamiento con agresión y lesiones, robo o robo de auto y agresión contra una persona de 65 años o más. Tenía una orden de detención preventiva.

En un segundo caso, Brown enfrentó un cargo de huir y evadir a un agente de policía. En un tercer caso, enfrentó cargos de huida agravada al intentar evadir a la policía después de causar daños, agresión agravada contra un agente de policía y resistencia al arresto.

En un caso con orden judicial, enfrentó cargos de abandonar la escena de un accidente con daños a la propiedad, conducción imprudente y conducción imprudente con daños a la propiedad o a una persona.

Los detectives pidieron a cualquier persona con información sobre este u otros casos que llame a Crime Stoppers del condado Miami-Dade al 305-471-8477 para permanecer en el anonimato.

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According to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, Johnathan Richard Albury sent the victim “multiple sexual videos of the two, including one in which she can be heard on the video stating she does not want to be recorded” and had multiple videos taken without her consent.

MCSO spokesperson Adam Linhardt additionally said Albury, 23, “called and texted the victim hundreds of times and waited for her at her place of employment without her consent” and “repeatedly threatened the victim.”

Authorities said they obtained a warrant for Albury’s arrest and took him into custody on Thursday on charges of stalking, digital voyeurism, and sexual cyber harassment.

He did not appear in MCSO’s active jail roster as of Friday morning.

Según la Oficina del Sheriff del Condado Monroe, Johnathan Richard Albury envió a la víctima “múltiples videos sexuales de ambos, incluido uno en el que se puede escuchar a ella decir en el video que no quiere ser grabada”, y tenía varios videos grabados sin su consentimiento.

El portavoz de MCSO, Adam Linhardt, dijo además que Albury, de 23 años, “llamó y envió mensajes de texto a la víctima cientos de veces y la esperó en su lugar de trabajo sin su consentimiento” y “amenazó repetidamente a la víctima”.

Las autoridades dijeron que obtuvieron una orden de arresto contra Albury y lo detuvieron el jueves por cargos de acoso, voyeurismo digital y acoso sexual cibernético.

Hasta la mañana del viernes, no aparecía en el registro de detenidos activos de MCSO.

MDFR desplegó más de 20 unidades, incluidas dos unidades de rescate aéreo, poco antes de las 11 a.m. del viernes, según el registro público de llamadas activas del centro de despacho.

Esta es una noticia en desarrollo.

Las ráfagas máximas de viento podrían acercarse a 97 a 105 km/h (60 a 65 mph) en el Cabo, Martha’s Vineyard y Nantuckety entre la noche del viernes y la mañana del sábado, en comparación con unos 80 a 89 km/h (50 a 55 mph) en el área de Boston y 56 a 64 km/h (35 a 40 mph) más hacia el interior, según Matthew Belk, meteorólogo del Servicio Meteorológico Nacional en Norton, Massachusetts.

“Definitivamente va a ser un caso en el que, cuanto más cerca de la costa se esté, más impactos de la tormenta es probable que se vean”, afirmó Belk.

Belk señaló que los ciclones extratropicales no son inusuales a medida que Nueva Inglaterra entra en el otoño, pero una preocupación tan temprano en la temporada es que las hojas aún permanecen en los árboles, lo que crea mayor resistencia al viento. Eso podría aumentar el riesgo de caída de ramas, lo que a su vez puede provocar cortes de energía y dejar escombros en las carreteras, explicó.

Cuando los residentes se preparaban para la tormenta este viernes, el equipo Medias Rojas, de Grandes Ligas, anunció modificaciones en su serie de fin de semana contra los Cachorros de Chicago. El equipo de Boston informó que trasladará el partido del domingo por la tarde al viernes para programar una doble cartelera dividida. Por otra parte, Ed Sheeran anunció la cancelación de sus esperados conciertos del viernes y el sábado en el Gillette Stadium de Foxborough, Massachusetts, debido a la tormenta.

El servicio público de ferry que conecta Cape Cod con las islas de Nantucket y Martha’s Vineyard registraba cancelaciones generalizadas el viernes debido a los fuertes vientos y el oleaje. En Rhode Island, también se cancelaron los ferris hacia Block Island. Se esperaba que las interrupciones del servicio de transbordadores se extendieran también al sábado.

Para las personas que viajan con regularidad hacia y desde las islas, la posibilidad de quedarse varados de un lado u otro es “parte de la vida”, comentó Sean Driscoll, portavoz de la Woods Hole, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority. La mayoría de la gente tiene planes alternativos para cuando se cancelan los barcos.

“Es una molestia, pero ya sabe, a estas alturas sabemos qué hacer con este tipo de cosas", añadió Driscoll. "Esto no está fuera de lo normal. Parte de vivir en esta región es, en cierto modo, saber cómo lidiar con estas cosas”.

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Willingham reportó desde Boston.

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

Nolo se encontraba a unos 338 kilómetros (210 millas) al sur de la Isla Grande la mañana del viernes y se dirigía hacia el noreste, con condiciones de tormenta tropical previstas para comenzar en tierra por la noche, informó el Centro Nacional de Huracanes de Estados Unidos.

Los meteorólogos advirtieron que las zonas orientales y meridionales de la isla podrían registrar acumulaciones de lluvia de entre 25 a 38 centímetros (10 a 15 pulgadas), con un máximo de 64 centímetros (25 pulgadas). Estas cifras son inferiores a las previstas anteriormente, que estimaban entre 38 a 76 centímetros (15 y 30 pulgadas), con un máximo de 89 centímetros (35 pulgadas). Se espera que los vientos máximos en tierra alcancen hasta 64 km/h (40 mph), con ráfagas de hasta 80 km/h (50 mph).

Se espera que Nolo se intensifique hasta convertirse en un huracán mayor el sábado.

“El aguacero podría producir inundaciones y deslaves catastróficos que pongan en peligro la vida, especialmente en zonas de terreno escarpado”, señaló el centro de huracanes.

Aunque no se pronosticaba que Nolo impactara directamente las islas, también era posible que hubiera lluvias intensas en las otras islas de Hawai, indicó el centro de huracanes. Maui también podría registrar lluvias fuertes e inundaciones y deslaves potencialmente mortales, advirtieron los meteorólogos.

Los vientos máximos sostenidos del huracán eran de 137 km/h (85 mph) la mañana del viernes y se espera que aumenten durante el fin de semana.

Hawai se prepara ante posible azote de extremo norte de Nolo

Autoridades de Hawai instaron a los residentes a reunir equipos de emergencia y el gobernador emitió una proclamación de emergencia, activando a más de 230 integrantes de la Guardia Nacional de Hawai. Las escuelas cerraron por el resto de la semana.

Es probable que la lluvia más intensa de Nolo caiga sobre la misma región del sureste de la Isla Grande que fue azotada en agosto por el huracán Lala y donde el terreno sigue húmedo por precipitaciones adicionales.

Hawaiian Electric, la principal empresa de servicios públicos del estado, informó que las cuadrillas que habían estado ayudando a restablecer la electricidad en Kauai tras el huracán Lowell de este mes regresarán a Oahu, Maui y la Isla Grande para prepararse ante la tormenta que se aproxima.

Residentes y turistas en la Isla Grande estaban ocupados preparándose.

“Supongo que esa será mi preocupación: si vamos a salir de aquí o no, pero, ya saben, en cuanto al clima, es lo que es”, comentó Daniel Compton, quien visitaba desde Seattle.

El gobernador de Hawai, Josh Green, solicitó el miércoles una declaración de desastre de emergencia para cuatro condados del estado. La solicitud está pendiente de aprobación por parte del presidente Donald Trump. Dicha aprobación permitirá acceder a fondos federales y a asistencia para cubrir necesidades inmediatas, como los servicios de emergencia y la retirada de escombros.

Polo se fortalece tras recuperar intensidad de categoría 5

El centro de huracanes señaló que Polo ganó fuerza de manera significativa durante la noche hasta la mañana del viernes, cuando se estimó que los vientos máximos sostenidos eran de 290 km/h (180 mph). Se mantenía mar adentro frente a la costa occidental de México, con rumbo al oeste, pero se espera que gire hacia el norte y llegue a la península de Baja California entre la noche del domingo y el lunes, indicó el centro.

No se reportaron daños importantes ni inundaciones a lo largo de la costa durante la noche hasta la mañana del viernes, aunque algunas localidades de Colima y Michoacán se vieron afectadas por las mareas.

Los residentes apilaron sacos de arena para reforzar los comercios frente a la playa y evacuaron sus viviendas en algunas zonas costeras el jueves. Las autoridades mexicanas abrían refugios y retiraban a la gente de las playas, y se desplegaron 15.000 elementos de seguridad a lo largo de la costa. Las escuelas cerraron.

En la ciudad portuaria de Lázaro Cárdenas, en Michoacán, el agua de mar ya había irrumpido en viviendas el jueves y dejó tablas de madera y muebles esparcidos en las calles. Habitantes y autoridades retiraban montones de tablas de madera de varias ramadas destruidas y paleaban el lodo espeso que cubría gran parte de la localidad.

Alicia Contreras contó que los muros y el techo de su restaurante habían sufrido graves daños por olas de 4,5 metros (15 pies). Cuando agentes y familiares ayudaban a revisar entre los daños en la vivienda, Contreras se preocupaba por cómo se recuperará económicamente.

“Esto es enorme porque no tenemos otra fuente de ingresos. Ahora sólo estamos sobreviviendo”, lamentó Contreras.

Se registran fuertes tormentas durante fenómeno meteorológico El Niño

El Niño está provocando importantes cambios ambientales en todo el mundo, avivando la sequía en algunas zonas y las inundaciones en otras. Tradicionalmente atenúa la temporada de huracanes en el Atlántico, pero tiende a intensificar la actividad de ciclones tropicales en el Pacífico con aire húmedo y poca cizalladura del viento.

Una tercera tormenta en el Pacífico, el huracán Odalys, estaba en categoría 4 y aún se encontraba lejos de tierra, aproximadamente a 1.537 kilómetros (955 millas) al oeste-suroeste del extremo sur de la península de Baja California. Tenía vientos máximos sostenidos de 215 km/h (130 mph) y se desplazaba hacia el norte. Podría intensificarse para la noche del viernes.

Otras dos tormentas poderosas se arremolinaban en el océano Atlántico, pero no estaban cerca de tierra.

En el Atlántico norte, la tormenta tropical Fay se reconstituyó temprano el jueves. Hasta el viernes, se encontraba a unos 1.674 kilómetros (1.040 millas) al oeste-suroeste de las Azores, informó el centro de huracanes.

Frente a la costa occidental de África, la tormenta tropical Gonzalo se fortaleció temprano el viernes al acercarse a las islas de Cabo Verde, con vientos máximos sostenidos de 85 km/h (50 mph). Se esperaba que el centro pasara cerca o sobre partes de las islas más tarde el viernes y que se debilitara gradualmente durante el fin de semana.

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Los periodistas de The Associated Press Dave Collins, en Hartford, Connecticut, y Kathy McCormack, en Concord, Nueva Hampshire, contribuyeron a este despacho.

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

The crisis could merge conflicts in several parts of Ethiopia and draw neighboring Eritrea into another war. Here are five things to know:

Fighting has returned to Tigray

Federal and Tigrayan forces accuse each other of restarting hostilities nearly four years after signing the Pretoria peace agreement.

Ethiopian Airlines suspended flights to Tigray this week following the seizure of Mekelle airport by Tigrayan forces. Residents told The Associated Press that roads connecting Tigray with the neighboring Afar region had been closed, although AP could not independently verify the closures.

Internet monitor NetBlocks also reported disruptions across northern Ethiopia, reviving memories of the previous war, when Tigray was largely isolated and civilians struggled to obtain food, medicine and reliable information.

Former enemies have joined forces

The Tigray People’s Liberation Front has joined six other opposition groups in an alliance that aims to remove Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government.

Its members include the Amhara Fano National Movement and the Oromo Liberation Army. Tigrayan and Amhara forces fought on opposing sides during the previous war.

Magnus Taylor, deputy project director for the Horn of Africa at the International Crisis Group, described the coalition as combining political opposition to Abiy with an “opportunistic military alliance.”

Effective coordination could force federal troops to fight across several regions. But it remains unclear whether groups divided by territorial disputes and deep grievances can conduct joint military operations.

The 2022 peace agreement is close to collapse

The Pretoria agreement ended major fighting in November 2022 but left disputes over territory, security and accountability unresolved.

Taylor said the agreement was “on life support.” A TPLF spokesman told the AP this week that it was no longer valid.

Laetitia Bader, a regional director at Human Rights Watch, said key provisions had been violated for years. She cited continuing abuses, including what the organization describes as the forced expulsion of ethnic Tigrayans from western Tigray. AP could not independently verify the allegations.

Eritrea could turn it into a regional war

Eritrean troops fought alongside Ethiopia’s federal forces during the previous Tigray war. Relations between Addis Ababa and Asmara have since deteriorated sharply.

Ethiopia has accused Eritrea of supporting armed opponents. Eritrea has accused Abiy’s government of preparing for war as Ethiopia presses for greater access to the Red Sea.

Taylor warned that the fighting could spread across Ethiopia and draw in Eritrea. That would create another regional conflict next to Sudan, which is already experiencing a devastating war and humanitarian crisis.

Civilians again face the greatest danger

Researchers at Ghent University have estimated that the earlier war caused about 500,000 civilian deaths in Tigray alone. The estimate includes deaths from direct violence, but researchers attributed most of the toll to famine and the collapse of the region’s health system. The conflict also displaced millions of people across northern Ethiopia.

The war’s effects persisted after the ceasefire, with researchers later documenting deaths from hunger in Tigray.

Bader warned that another Ethiopian conflict could deepen the wider regional emergency. Transport and communications restrictions could quickly interrupt supplies of food and medicine while making civilian suffering harder to document.

Preventing a wider war would require an immediate halt to the fighting, renewed negotiations and sustained international pressure before Ethiopia’s separate conflicts converge.

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The ad’s cost has jumped from $14,000 to $430,000 as it runs on a variety of network TV channels in markets across the country, according to AdImpact, which tracks media spending. The actual amount spent could be significantly more, depending on whether networks classified the ad as a political ad.

The 30-second spot features clips of Trump talking about defeating communism interspersed with onscreen text promoting the “largest tax cuts in history," “reigniting American manufacturing” and a call to “defend law and order and police.” The ad's soundtrack includes a chorus singing “love me” repeatedly and ends with a message disclosing it was paid for by the U.S. government.

Politicians of both parties on Thursday questioned whether the ad was appropriate, since laws prohibit taxpayer funds from being used for “publicity or propaganda” and limit the partisan political activities of government employees. Republicans running to defend their majorities in Congress in November's midterm elections have created ads with similar messaging about communism, the economy and crime.

Several House Democrats with senior committee roles on Thursday demanded that the ad be taken off the air, calling it “the sort of government propaganda one might expect in North Korea.” North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican who is not running for reelection, called the ad “inappropriate” and likened it to something he would expect from the former right-wing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

The White House defended the ad and said it is “educational and unapologetically patriotic.” It didn’t answer an inquiry about what part of the government supplied the funds.

“These public service announcements are about reminding Americans to love their country and understand what makes it worth defending, at home, at our borders, and abroad,” the White House statement said.

An embassy spokesperson in Harare confirmed the decision and released remarks delivered this week by U.S. Ambassador Pamela Tremont at an event titled “Beyond assistance."

Tremont said the end of U.S.-supported health programs followed “Zimbabwe’s decision to decline a bilateral health MOU." She added that the U.S. will now shift its relations with Zimbabwe “from one largely focused on health and humanitarian assistance, to one built on broader economic, trade and investment opportunities.”

Zimbabwe is among the first countries to face the consequences of Washington’s new approach to tie health aid to bilateral country-to-country agreements.

The withdrawal casts uncertainty over programs to combat HIV and other diseases in a country where shortages often force patients to bring basic supplies such as bandages to clinics and buy their own medicines.

For decades, the U.S. has been Zimbabwe’s largest health donor, supporting HIV prevention and treatment, tuberculosis and malaria programs, clinical care, laboratory systems, health workers, medical supplies and community-based programs.

Zimbabwean officials have raised concerns over diminishing international aid, saying the country would prioritize raising funds domestically as assistance from the U.S. and other Western countries dries up. Some health advocates, however, question whether Zimbabwe’s financially troubled government can absorb the costs.

“Zimbabweans have already been suffering gravely as a result of abrupt disruptions to lifesaving malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV programs caused by the U.S. stop work orders and USAID award terminations in 2025," said Asia Russell, executive director of Health GAP, an international advocacy group. “This deadly decision will trigger a public health catastrophe,” she added.

The dispute dates to February, when both countries announced the collapse of talks on a bilateral deal proposed under U.S. President Donald Trump’s “America First” approach to foreign aid.

Zimbabwe government spokesperson Nick Mangwana said the proposal contained conditions the country could not accept, citing concerns over data sharing, fairness, sovereignty and Washington’s shift away from global health institutions.

According to Mangwana, the proposal was tied to “comprehensive access to Zimbabwe’s sensitive health data, including virus samples and epidemiological information from our citizens.”

Namibia also rejected a bilateral agreement with the U.S. because of concerns about provisions for sharing health data and biological specimens, local media reported. In early September, the U.S. said it would start phasing out its financial support for Namibia’s HIV response programs. The U.S. will provide Namibia with $45 million for its HIV response in fiscal 2027 before shifting to “technical cooperation,” the two governments said in September, but did not cite the health data fallout as the reason for the development.

African governments have in recent months increasingly called for “health sovereignty,” reflecting efforts to finance and manage their health systems with less reliance on foreign aid.

Africa CDC has described the continent as facing “an unprecedented financing crisis,” saying official development assistance to Africa has halved over the last five years.

Under the Trump administration’s new approach, Washington has been negotiating country-by-country health agreements that it says will reduce donor dependency and increase domestic financing. So far, 35 countries have signed such agreements, the majority in Africa, according to KFF, a U.S. health-policy research organization tracking the deals.

At least four African countries — Ghana, Zambia, South Africa and Zimbabwe — have publicly resisted or failed to conclude new U.S. bilateral health agreements, while Kenya’s agreement has faced a legal challenge.

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

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

The court's three liberal-leaning justices publicly dissented from the decision.

The emergency order allows states, for now, to use the Department of Homeland Security program, called Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, in their efforts to verify the eligibility of voters on their rolls. But because existing law blocks most states from systematically purging voters from their rolls within 90 days of an election, the immediate impact on the upcoming midterms is likely limited.

States' use of the SAVE program is voluntary.

The court’s order puts on hold a federal judge’s June ruling that had deemed the Republican administration’s recently revamped version of SAVE illegal. U.S. District Court Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan had blocked the use of the tool, saying it violated Americans’ privacy rights and could result in voters being wrongly removed from the rolls.

A federal appeals court let her order stand.

But the Supreme Court majority found that a 1996 law explicitly allows DHS to get information about citizenship and immigration from other federal agencies. The federal government also has “an obligation to respond” to states seeking to verify citizenship.

“The order below prevents the Federal Government from using the program it believes is best suited to the task,” the majority wrote in the unsigned order.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor. The database has long been seen to fall under federal privacy laws, she wrote, and there are real risks that legitimate voter registrations could be mistakenly revoked.

“The harm caused by burdening or disenfranchising even a few lawful voters outweighs the nonexistent harm that the Government experiences when it is prevented from taking an action that it likely lacks the authority to take,” Jackson wrote.

The SAVE program was created under an immigration law mandating that DHS help federal, state and local agencies prevent government benefits from going to noncitizens. The Trump administration last year moved to significantly expand its search abilities. Since then, at least 67 million registrations have been scanned through the program, but critics worry it could end up purging valid voters from the rolls.

Some registrants have already been wrongly flagged. In Travis County, Texas, for example, officials said they investigated 97 voters flagged by SAVE as apparent noncitizens and found that at least 10% of them — and likely up to 21% — were U.S. citizens. The county urged the Supreme Court to reject the administration’s appeal, while the state of Texas submitted its own brief defending the database.

Even though the use of the SAVE program has been blocked for months, the administration said in court filings that DHS officials have continued using Social Security Administration data "in certain cases to verify information and help determine whether illegal voting may have occurred."

DHS in August launched its own investigation to find noncitizen voters on state rolls, according to a federal whistleblower statement that said the effort is rushed, filled with errors and potentially violates state laws. DHS has defended that investigation as being conducted “diligently and professionally.”

The effort to create a national voter list is among numerous steps Trump has taken during his second term to try to overhaul the way elections are run. Most of those steps have been blocked by various courts, in part because the Constitution gives states and Congress the authority to set election rules, but provides no such power to the president. In mid-September, the Supreme Court rejected a bid from Trump to restrict mail ballot procedures before the midterms.

Research shows that noncitizen voting, which is already illegal and punishable as a potential felony that could lead to deportation, is exceptionally rare. But Trump has remained fixated on the idea that massive numbers of noncitizens are voting in U.S. races.

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Associated Press writer Lindsay Whitehurst in Washington contributed to this report.

Breel Embolo will not join the squad in Scotland as planned, the Swiss soccer federation said Friday, due to fresh reporting in national media about his past case of obtaining forged test certificates in 2021.

“This decision aims to allow the team to remain fully focused on the next matches,” the federation said about the Atlanta United forward.

Switzerland captain Granit Xhaka agreed with team officials last weekend to withdraw from the squad because he is implicated in an investigation of a doctor issuing fake vaccination certificates during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Xhaka, the Swiss record holder with 152 caps, admitted getting the forged document in 2022 and accepted he made mistakes.

Switzerland starts its Nations League second-tier group Saturday at North Macedonia, plays at Scotland on Tuesday, then has home games in Lucerne against Slovenia and North Macedonia.

Embolo already was suspended for the game Saturday because of his controversial red card against Argentina in the World Cup quarterfinals.

Soccer’s Zurich-based rules panel, known as IFAB, later acknowledged Embolo was mistakenly sent off in a breach of video review protocol.

On Friday, the Switzerland Today outlet reported details of Embolo’s financial sanction imposed last year for the previously known false test result documents.

At the World Cup, the 29-year-old Embolo scored in Switzerland's opening game — a 1-1 draw with Qatar — despite arriving at the tournament days later than teammates because of a visa issue with United States authorities. He also scored in a round of 32 win over Algeria.

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See AP’s full soccer coverage here

Madison police said some of the men, who they described as pledges to the fraternity, had signs of being physically assaulted.

Police went to the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity house Wednesday night after receiving an anonymous tip. Two fraternity members, both 20, were arrested on tentative misdemeanor charges of hazing and disorderly conduct, police said. No formal charges had been filed against them as of Friday morning.

The university said it was taking the incident seriously and launching its own investigation.

“UW–Madison is fully committed to preventing and addressing hazing and takes all incidents involving our community seriously,” the university said in a Thursday statement.

Any student found to have broken the law or university policy could be subject to sanctions ranging from a written reprimand to expulsion, the university said.

Police released a photo that shows about two dozen men, all shirtless, in the basement of the fraternity with trash and other debris littered on the ground. The faces of the people in the photo are blurred out.

Police said the thermostat was set to 81 degrees, causing hot and humid conditions in the basement where the walls appeared to be painted black. A majority of those in the basement were 18 years old, police said.

The fraternity’s status as a recognized student organization on the Madison campus was terminated in 2015 for holding events while suspended. It had been suspended in 2013 for hosting a party in which a 17-year-old and another person were taken to detox after being served alcohol at a party hosted by the fraternity, according to university records.

The termination came after a fourth incident involving either events, alcohol or both, the university said.

Since 2016, there were seven additional allegations involving the fraternity related to intramural sports, disrespectful behavior, drinking and hazing, the university said.

Because the fraternity is still recognized by its national organization, it is able to operate as a fraternity chapter unaffiliated with the university, UW-Madison said.

Jon Pierce, spokesperson for the national fraternity, said it is taking the allegations “very seriously” and will cooperate fully with investigations. Any member found to have participated will be expelled from the fraternity, he said.

“Hazing is a betrayal of everything our fraternity stands for,” Pierce said. “There is no place for it in AEPi. No exceptions. No excuses.”

The fraternity house is located just blocks from the heart of the UW-Madison campus, which is home to about 52,000 students.

Police said their investigation is also ongoing. The university's Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards is also investigating in accordance with its nonacademic misconduct process, UW-Madison said.

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Morgan Cole was the apple of her grandfather’s eye, and he was the light of her world. When her grandfather was afflicted with a terrible disease, Morgan used her wit and ingenuity to improve his quality of life — and their favorite pastime.

“My grandfather was the best grandfather I ever could’ve asked for,” Cole said.

When Morgan thinks of her grandfather Howie, she thinks of him as a role model, a mentor and a friend.

“I could tell him anything. If I was having a good day. If I was having a bad day, he would listen to me for hours. We’d talk. We’d play games,” she said.

The pair would spend hours playing cards, and Grandpa would seamlessly turn fun and games into a workout for the mind.

“He would give us word problems or math problems and he would time my brother and I, and we would race to see who could guess them faster,” Morgan, a student at Pine Crest School in Fort Lauderdale, recalled.

But before Morgan finished elementary school, Grandpa Howie’s health took a dramatic turn.

“My grandfather was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2018,” Morgan said. “It was hard for my family to see him in some ways disappear.”

To help her grandfather and guard their time together, the Gen Alpha teen went online in search of games he would enjoy.

“He would get one of those ads and it would completely distract him,” Morgan said. “No matter how hard we looked, we couldn’t find something that worked for him.”

So she got to work. Harnessing her computer coding skills and penchant for taking on challenging projects, Morgan developed an inclusion-focused app at age 16.

“The whole process took two years,” she said.

The app was aptly named after Grandpa.

“Howie’s Place doesn’t have those extra buttons that can make an experience complicated for a user. all you have to do is click the buttons and play the game without every experiencing an interruption,” Morgan explained.

Howie’s Place boasts six interactive games, along with various modes for selecting a skill level. For the more challenging puzzles, there’s a lifeline.

Since its launch in April, the app has seen up to hundreds of downloads a day.

“We’ve seen kids playing with their grandparents, being able to have that engagement together through that technology,” Morgan said.

That was the goal: to create a platform that bridges generations and stands as a tribute to her beloved Grandpa Howie.

“I feel that in some ways his memory and his legacy is able to live on through the app,” Morgan said.

Howie’s Place is trademarked and completely free to download on both iOS and Android devices.

Grandpa Howie died in 2023, before the app was completed. But Morgan is confident he would have enjoyed it.

Reports Friday said an independent panel had upheld nearly all of the 100-plus financial charges against the club in a case that were put forth more than three years ago.

City did not confirm the decision, insisting its case with the Premier League was “ongoing” and yet to be completed.

City, however, would appeal a guilty decision and the process would take several months, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press.

The person spoke on the condition of anonymity to respect confidentiality conditions of the process.

The Athletic first reported that City has been found guilty of all but one of more than 100 charges laid by the Premier League, which accused the club in February 2023 of providing misleading information about its finances over a nine-year period from 2009-18. The report said the sanctions have not been decided and all possibilities remain open.

The BBC also reported the story.

In response, City said in a statement: “The Premier League process remains ongoing, with significant elements to be completed, and subject to strict confidentiality.”

City added that its position “remains consistent” with previously comments about the case. The club has always denied the charges.

“The club has diligently respected due process for eight years,” City said, “on the basis that the Premier League board and executive would behave as an independent, impartial and fair-minded regulator, free from partisan influence.”

City’s punishment could be a huge points deduction, and as extreme as expulsion from the Premier League.

When contacted by The Associated Press on Friday, the Premier League said it couldn’t comment on the reports.

City has always protested its innocence after supposed leaked emails and documents, likely hacked, were published starting in 2018 by German magazine Der Spiegel. The documents allegedly showed City tried to mask the source of revenue from deals tied to Abu Dhabi, whose ruling family bought the club in 2008 and has overseen the spending of hundreds of millions of dollars on some of the world’s best players over the following two decades.

City has been the most dominant team in England over the last 15 years, winning eight Premier League titles since 2012 as well as the Champions League in 2023. Over the period in question — 2009-18 — City won the league three times, in 2012, 2014 and 2018.

On Friday former Manchester United player Rio Ferdinand suggested those titles should be expunged and awarded to the runner-up for each season in question.

“Another premier league medal to be added to the cabinet,” he posted on X in reference to City’s 2012 title win over United.

The Premier League competition has had financial fair play rules designed to ensure clubs essentially spend what they earn from deals that are assessed to determine if they are at legitimate market value. City had previously been accused by UEFA, European soccer’s governing body, of overstating sponsorship revenue to comply with Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations.

In 2020, UEFA ruled City had committed “serious breaches” of FFP regulations from 2012-16. But a two-year ban was later overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport because allegations were either rejected or found to have happened too long ago to be investigated.

The Premier League charges came subsequently, after a four-year investigation. City was accused of more than 100 breaches including providing misleading information about its finances and failure to co-operate with the investigation.

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Douglas reported from Sundsvall, Sweden

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

Peak wind gusts could approach 60 to 65 mph (97 to 105 kph) on the Cape, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket on Friday night and Saturday, compared with about 50 to 55 mph (80 to 89 kph) around Boston and 35 to 40 mph (56 to 64 kph) farther inland, according to Matthew Belk, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Norton, Massachusetts.

“It’s definitely going to be a case of the closer to the coast you are, the more impacts from the storm you’re likely to see,” Belk said.

Belk said nor'easters are not unusual as New England moves into fall, but one concern this early in the season is that leaves remain on the trees, creating more wind resistance. That could increase the risk of downed limbs, which in turn can cause power outages and leave debris in roads, he said.

As residents braced for the storm Friday, the Red Sox announced their weekend series against the Chicago Cubs would be adjusted. The team said it was moving the Sunday afternoon game to Friday to create a split doubleheader. Separately, Ed Sheeran announced that his high-profile Friday and Saturday shows at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, would be canceled due to the storm.

Meanwhile, the public ferry service connecting Cape Cod with the islands of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard was experiencing widespread cancellations Friday due to strong winds and choppy water. Over in Rhode Island, ferries were also canceled for Block Island. The disruptive ferry service was expected to also spill into Saturday.

For people who regularly travel to and from the islands, the possibility of getting stuck on one side or the other is “part of life,” said Sean Driscoll, a spokesperson for the Woods Hole, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority. Most people have backup plans in place for when boats are canceled.

“It’s a nuisance, but you know, we know what to do with this kind of stuff at this point,” he said. “This is not out of the realm of ordinary. Part of living in this region is just kind of knowing how to deal with this stuff.”

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Willingham reported from Boston.

"As of right now, surgery is not on the table, and we haven’t discussed IR,” Peters said on 106.7 The Fan. “So it’s just a matter of how we’re going to get him back on the field. That’s still to be determined.”

Peters said Daniels returned late Thursday night and was meeting with the Commanders on Friday. Team officials have talked with medical officials around the country, and Peters called it a medical decision that Washington is working through.

Being placed on injured reserve would mean Daniels would miss a minimum of four games.

Daniels was hurt during Sunday’s loss at Dallas on a broken play at the end of the first half. He took a snap under center, and left guard Chris Paul stepped on Daniels' foot as he backed away from the line. Daniels used his non-throwing arm to brace his fall, which bent awkwardly under the pressure.

A similar thing happened last November, when Daniels used his left arm to brace himself and dislocated his elbow against Seattle. He returned just over a month later, only to aggravate the problem and miss the rest of the season.

Marcus Mariota is set to start Sunday’s home opener against Seattle.

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See AP’s full NFL coverage here

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Video shows deputies arresting Francisco Mendiola, 31, who officials said is homeless.

Investigators said Mendiola was drunk when he fired four shots inside an MIA garage. One of the bullets hit a car windshield.

Mendiola went before a Miami-Dade County judge on Thursday.

Mendiola was previously arrested in California in December for criminal charges at Los Angeles International Airport.

According to the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, he was sitting on a bench firing the gun when he was arrested.

It was a mad dash for cover as passengers were confused and worried there was an active shooter.

SKY10 flew over the chaos, which shut down parts of the airport for several hours.

Dozens of deputies with tactical gear could be seen swarming the departure area before it was opened back up.

Mendiola has been in Miami for a little less than a year.

He remains behind bars on a $26,000 bond.

Authorities said they are trying to figure out how obtained the gun.

Un video muestra a agentes arrestando a Francisco Mendiola, de 31 años, quien, según funcionarios, no tiene hogar.

Los investigadores dijeron que Mendiola estaba ebrio cuando disparó cuatro veces dentro de un estacionamiento de MIA. Una de las balas impactó el parabrisas de un automóvil.

Mendiola compareció ante un juez del condado Miami-Dade el jueves.

Mendiola fue arrestado previamente en California en diciembre por cargos criminales en el Aeropuerto Internacional de Los Ángeles.

Según la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade, estaba sentado en un banco disparando el arma cuando fue arrestado.

Los pasajeros corrieron desesperadamente para ponerse a salvo, confundidos y preocupados de que hubiera un tirador activo.

SKY10 sobrevoló el caos, que provocó el cierre de partes del aeropuerto durante varias horas.

Decenas de agentes con equipo táctico fueron vistos desplegándose por el área de salidas antes de que fuera reabierta.

Mendiola ha estado en Miami durante poco menos de un año.

Permanece tras las rejas con una fianza de $26,000 USD.

Las autoridades dijeron que están tratando de determinar cómo obtuvo el arma.

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The pursuit was after a shirtless man with green pants pulled a woman out of her car at about 10 a.m. in the parking lot at the Palmetto General Hospital at 2001 West 68th St., in Hialeah, according to a witness.

That man has since been identified as 35-year-old Jordan Eugene Brown.

“The suspect approached a female victim exiting her vehicle and forced himself inside her car and fled the scene,” Lt. Eddie Rodriguez, a spokesman for the Hialeah Police Department, said.

Shortly after 1 p.m., Brown drove on the wrong side of road several times, and passed a school bus. Law enforcement performed several maneuvers to try to stop him.

Shortly after 1:10 p.m., law enforcement hit the car twice until it spun out, and law enforcement approached, guns drawn.

About five minutes later, deputies pulled Brown out and handcuffed him at Northwest 17th Avenue and 79th Street. He was barefoot, shirtless, and wearing green pants.

Brown is facing charges of burglary, assault and battery, robbery, carjacking, battery on a person 65 or older, fleeing and eluding a police officer, leaving the scene of an accident with property damage and reckless driving.

He’s being held at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center with bond listed as “to be set.”

Detectives asked anyone with information about this or other cases to call Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477 to remain anonymous.

Morgan Cole era la niña de los ojos de su abuelo, y él era la luz de su mundo. Cuando su abuelo fue afectado por una terrible enfermedad, Morgan utilizó su ingenio y creatividad para mejorar su calidad de vida y su pasatiempo favorito.

“Mi abuelo fue el mejor abuelo que podría haber pedido”, dijo Cole.

Cuando Morgan piensa en su abuelo Howie, lo recuerda como un modelo a seguir, un mentor y un amigo.

“Podía contarle cualquier cosa. Si estaba teniendo un buen día. Si estaba teniendo un mal día, él me escuchaba durante horas. Hablábamos. Jugábamos”, dijo.

Ambos pasaban horas jugando a las cartas, y el abuelo convertía de manera natural la diversión y los juegos en un ejercicio para la mente.

“Nos planteaba problemas de palabras o de matemáticas y cronometraba a mi hermano y a mí, y competíamos para ver quién podía resolverlos más rápido”, recordó Morgan.

Pero antes de que Morgan terminara la escuela primaria, la salud del abuelo Howie dio un giro drástico.

“A mi abuelo le diagnosticaron Alzheimer en 2018”, dijo Morgan. “Fue difícil para mi familia verlo, de alguna manera, desaparecer”.

Para ayudar a su abuelo y preservar el tiempo que pasaban juntos, la adolescente de la Generación Alfa buscó en internet juegos que él pudiera disfrutar.

“Le aparecía uno de esos anuncios y lo distraía por completo”, dijo Morgan. “Por más que buscábamos, no podíamos encontrar algo que funcionara para él”.

Así que se puso manos a la obra. Aprovechando sus habilidades de programación y su inclinación por asumir proyectos desafiantes, Morgan desarrolló a los 16 años una aplicación enfocada en la inclusión.

“Todo el proceso tomó dos años”, dijo.

La aplicación recibió apropiadamente el nombre del abuelo.

“Howie’s Place no tiene esos botones adicionales que pueden hacer que la experiencia sea complicada para un usuario. Todo lo que tienes que hacer es pulsar los botones y jugar sin experimentar ninguna interrupción”, explicó Morgan.

Howie’s Place cuenta con seis juegos interactivos, junto con varios modos para seleccionar un nivel de dificultad. Para los rompecabezas más desafiantes, hay una opción de ayuda.

Desde su lanzamiento en abril, la aplicación ha registrado hasta cientos de descargas al día.

“Hemos visto a niños jugando con sus abuelos, pudiendo tener esa interacción juntos a través de esa tecnología”, dijo Morgan.

Ese era el objetivo: crear una plataforma que conectara generaciones y sirviera como homenaje a su querido abuelo Howie.

“Siento que, de alguna manera, su recuerdo y su legado pueden seguir vivos a través de la aplicación”, dijo Morgan.

Howie’s Place es una marca registrada y se puede descargar de forma completamente gratuita en dispositivos iOS y Android.

El abuelo Howie murió en 2023, antes de que se completara la aplicación. Pero Morgan está segura de que la habría disfrutado.

It was 1969, and he was fresh out of Illinois Wesleyan, where when not in class he had played football and baseball, and listened to Cubs and Cardinals games over the radio. Matthews had called some high school games, but when he applied for the Royals job almost on a lark, his big league experience consisted of a demo tape he'd made of a couple innings at Busch Stadium.

But the pool of applicants kept getting whittled down, from hundreds to dozens to just one.

So it was that a 26-year-old Matthews found himself in the broadcast booth at old Municipal Stadium, some 57 years ago, alongside the late Buddy Blattner, describing the action as the Royals beat the Minnesota Twins 4-3 in 12 innings.

On Friday night, Matthews will describe the action for the 8,000th time when the Royals play the Cleveland Guardians.

The 83-year-old Matthews is one of only four broadcasters in major league history to be with the same team for at least 50 seasons, and only the Dodgers' Vin Scully (67) and Jaime Jarrin (64) have done it longer. Over his 58 seasons, touching base in seven different decades, Matthews has called seven division titles, four pennants and World Series titles in 1985 and 2015.

The names of exactly 1,058 different players to wear a Royals uniform have tumbled out of his raspy-yet-somehow melodic voice.

And to think: Matthews never thought he'd get the job.

“I did have the advantage when I was growing up of listening to some really, really good broadcasters out of Chicago and St. Louis,” he recalled. "I would lay in front of the radio — I was 10, 11, 12 years old — and I had my baseball cards, and I just lay there.

“You never think you're going to be a broadcasters when you're 10 years old. You want to play. Get some kids in the neighborhood and go out and play. But I didn't know at the time, listening to those guys all those summer nights, I was getting a college education in how to broadcast baseball, and I didn't have to pay tuition. I didn't have to do homework. But I was still getting a great education."

The voice of Kansas City baseball

Even after Matthews was hired by longtime Royals owner Ewing Kauffman, it was never his intent to stay. His dream was to move to Chicago or St. Louis, and call games for one of the two clubs that had such a profound impact on him as a youth.

Yet when those opportunities came along — and they did, more than once — the tug of what had become home was too strong.

“I went to Ewing Kauffman, and I sat down,” Matthews said. “I was still a little intimidated by Mr. K, but he told me, he said, ‘I’ll tell you what, young man. You're going to have decisions to make as you work your way through this business.' And he said, ‘You have to weigh them carefully, and then you’ll make a decision. But I want to tell you one thing.' He said, ‘We like the way you do games, and you can stay as long as you want.’ And I said, ‘Wow. This is just my third year. So that’s pretty strong.'”

There was never a reason to move, even when teams in New York came calling.

“If you're unhappy in your job,” Matthews said, “you're probably looking to move. I've never been unhappy in this job, period.”

So, as the game went through changes large and small, Matthews' voice over the airwaves remained a Kansas City constant. He was there to describe the first games in the career of a scrappy third baseman named George Brett, and the last. He was there when labor stoppages turned fans away, and there to welcome them back. When the pandemic hit in 2020, and few people were allowed inside the ballpark, Matthews was still behind the mic, calling games from his suburban Kansas City home.

Asked the secret to his longevity, Matthews replied: “Luck.”

“Good health,” he added. “I mean, there's a lot to that. Take care of yourself. And again, be comfortable, as they say, in your own skin, and I've always been comfortable out here, because of the people. This is a comfortable place to be.”

The historical context of a Hall of Fame career

Matthews was bestowed the Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting excellence in 2007, and he was honored alongside Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn during the induction ceremony at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York.

Ripken played 3,001 games during his career. Gwynn played 2,440 of them.

That puts the 8,000 that Matthews will have broadcasted after Friday night into perspective.

Better yet might be this: The price of gas was 33 cents a gallon when he drove into Kansas City for the first time. Richard Nixon was the president, “The Brady Bunch” had just debuted on TV, and exactly 103 days after Matthews called that first ballgame against the Twins, the world sat in rapt attention in front of their televisions as Apollo 11 landed on the moon.

Over his first 32 seasons, Matthews called 5,061 games while missing just 23 for various reasons. And while he began to trim back his travel starting in 2001, he's continued to be a mainstay at Royals home games, with an occasional trip to Chicago or St. Louis.

Curt Nelson, the director of the club's Hall of Fame, has saved every scorecard from every game Matthews has called, and folks within the organization knew he was nearing 8,000. One day last November, more than a dozen people showed up at Kauffman Stadium for a counting party, and they realized that he'd hit the mark the final week of this season.

On Friday night, when the Royals played the Cleveland Guardians.

Matthews has thought about calling it quits over the years. He's even talked about it with Ryan Lefebvre, who has been calling games with him since 1999. Yet the pull of the game has always been too much, and Matthews plans to keep going next season.

“We decided that the end of the season is a terrible time to be thinking about retirement,” Matthews said, “because you're probably thinking, ‘Man, I’m tired of this season. I want to get some free time.' Then it's spring training, and here we go again. There's just something about spring training. The birds are chirping outside and it's getting warming, and you think, 'Spring training. Let's go.'”

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

The 41-year-old James revealed scant details about the free-agency process on his “Mind the Game” podcast with co-host Steve Nash that dropped Friday. James is scheduled to meet the press for the first time as a Sixer on Monday at the team's media day in Camden, New Jersey.

Training camp opens next week.

A four-time NBA champion, James wrote on social media when he signed with the Sixers that he felt he was “done” when his 23rd NBA season ended, his last with the Los Angeles Lakers. But after time away with family, and still feeling physically and mentally strong in offseason workouts, James decided he wanted to keep playing.

James has won NBA championships with every team he's played for: the Lakers, Miami and Cleveland.

“I think I'm more in love with the pursuit of how much more can I defy the odds," James said on the podcast.

James said “Philly was not even a question” early in his decision making until the Sixers pulled the surprising deal with Boston for NBA Finals MVP and champion Jaylen Brown. James and Maxey share an agent and have been friends and workout partners since the Sixers guard broke into the league, a friendship that turned into a recruiting pitch for the NBA’s career scoring leader.

“When I became a free agent and we decided to let the Lakers know that I wouldn’t be returning, he was one of the first people that was on my line, calling me,” James said of Maxey.

James also was intrigued with trying to help the oft-injured Embiid win his first title. Embiid has won an NBA MVP, two scoring titles, and Olympic gold medal, but has yet to lead the Sixers out of the second round of the playoffs since Philadelphia selected him third overall in the 2014 draft.

“He’s done everything in our league, and the only thing he has not done is win a championship. And I want to try to help him get that first one,” James said. "He has a city on his back. He’s been ‘The Process’ for 10 years, 12 years, however long he’s been there. But I think it’s time we even get you deeper into The Process. And I hope that I can be, kind of, that final little piece that can help him get over the hump.”

The Sixers went 45-37 last season and were swept in the second round by the eventual NBA champion New York Knicks.

James’ résumé is beyond compare in NBA history. He’s a 22-time All-Star, a 21-time All-NBA selection, a four-time Most Valuable Player, a four-time NBA Finals MVP, a three-time All-Star Game MVP, and was a member of the NBA’s 75th anniversary team.

He’s also coming off a season where he averaged 20.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 7.2 assists per game. For his career, he’s averaged 26.8 points, 7.5 rebounds and 7.4 assists in more than 1,600 games.

James’ eight seasons with the Lakers were the longest continuous stretch with a single team of his NBA career, and he helped the franchise win its 17th championship in 2020. He even became the first father to play alongside his son in league history, teaming up with guard Bronny James for the past two seasons.

James called it “humbling” to play for the Lakers and expressed disappointment he wasn't able to enjoy a championship parade because of the 2020 pandemic. James called Los Angeles home and said it would be for “the foreseeable future.”

So why not return to the Lakers? Or reunite with the Heat or Cavaliers or stay in California and sign with the Golden State Warriors?

James offered no real insight to any teams he may have talked to or how close he may have been with signing with another team. He said he wanted to bring the championship blueprint to Philadelphia and lead the Sixers to their first title since 1983. And he felt great during workouts in the summer, so why stop now?

“If you still have an opportunity to do what you love, then why just say I'm done? What is the reason? Do you have a real reason?,” James asked.

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At 7.36 mills, Miami Mayor Eileen Higgins celebrated it as the lowest in 60 years in her message about the proposed budget.

The operational budget includes $22 million more for the Miami Police Department and about $24 million more for Miami Fire Rescue.

During the process, Commissioner Christine King, who represents District 5, addressed the possibility that Amendment 3 could reduce property taxes after the Nov. 3 election.

Marie Gouin, the city’s budget director, said cuts would be inevitable.

“It doesn’t hit us until Fiscal Year 27-28, so we will be working as soon as whatever happens in November, if it passes, that’s when we start looking at everything,” Gougin said.

Editor’s note: The previous version of this article misidentified the city’s budget director.

Erdrich is this year's recipient of the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize. It's named for the late sisters — silent film actors Dorothy and Lillian Gish — whose will called for the establishment of an award for "an outstanding contribution to the beauty of the world and to mankind’s enjoyment and understanding of life.”

Since the prize began, in 1994, winners have included Bob Dylan,Frank Gehry, Merce Cunningham and Ava DuVernay.

Erdrich, 72, is already a Pulitzer winner for her 2020 novel “The Night Watchman” and a National Book Award winner for her 2012 novel “The Round House.” In 2015, she received the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction. During a recent telephone interview with The Associated Press, Erdrich said that after learning of the Gish award, she researched the lives of the two actors and was impressed by how they made everyone involved in a given film feel appreciated.

“They would talk to the stage hands and anyone else who was around, the people who helped put a production together. That's something very close to my heart,” said Erdrich, citing her experience as a bookstore owner. “I love being part of the entire structure of bringing books to people.”

Like such peers as Ann Patchett and Lauren Groff, Erdrich has firsthand knowledge in both the creation and selling of books. In 2001, she helped found Birchbark Books, an independent store based in Minneapolis that champions “the power of good writing, the beauty of handmade art, the strength of Native culture, and the importance of small and intimate bookstores.” (Erdrich, whose books often center on Native lives, is an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians.)

In a statement released Friday, Gish selection committee member Sara Reisman praised Erdrich's writing for its “indelible effect on my understanding of Indigenous life.”

“Adjacent to her writing practice is Birchbark Books," Reisman added, “a community-based teaching bookstore with international presence that amplifies the work of Native and non-Native writers (and) celebrates that which makes each of us different.”

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The statistics are sobering, but there is good news. When breast cancer is found early, it’s not only treatable. It’s beatable.

During Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, Local 10’s Kristi Krueger will file health reports that focus on breast cancer detection and prevention.

It’s all part of a new Local 10 campaign called “Proactively Pink.” The goal is to raise awareness that early detection saves lives and significantly improves treatment outcomes. Adopting a healthier lifestyle that includes maintaining a healthy weight and exercising regularly can lower the risk of the disease.

“Proactively Pink” runs every Thursday in October, beginning Oct. 1, during the 5:30 p.m. newscast.

Nolo was about 210 miles (338 kilometers) south of the Big Island on Friday morning and headed northeast, with tropical storm conditions expected to begin on land in the evening, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Forecasters warned eastern and southern areas of the island could see rainfall totals of 10 to 15 inches (25 to 38 centimeters), with a maximum of 25 inches (64 centimeters). That was down from an earlier forecast of 15 to 30 inches (38 to 76 centimeters), with a maximum of 35 inches (89 centimeters). Peak winds on land were expected to hit up to 40 mph (64 kph), with gusts of up to 50 mph (80 kph).

Nolo was expected to strengthen to a major hurricane on Saturday.

“This rainfall could produce catastrophic life-threatening flooding and mudslides, especially in areas of steep terrain," the hurricane center said.

While Nolo was not forecast to directly hit the islands, heavy rainfall also was possible on Hawaii's other islands, the hurricane center said. Maui also could see heavy rainfall and potential life-threatening flooding and mudslides, forecasters said.

The hurricane's maximum sustained winds were 85 mph (137 kph) on Friday morning and expected to increase into the weekend.

Hawaii prepares as northern edge of Nolo is expected to barrel through

Hawaii officials told residents to put together emergency kits and the governor issued an emergency proclamation, activating more than 230 Hawaii National Guard members. Schools were closed for the rest of the week.

The heaviest rain from Nolo is likely to fall over the same southeastern region of the Big Island that was hit in August by Hurricane Lala and where grounds are still wet from additional precipitation.

Hawaiian Electric, the state’s primary utility, said crews that had been helping restore power in Kauai after this month’s Hurricane Lowell would return to Oahu, Maui and the Big Island in preparation for the coming storm.

Residents and tourists on the Big Island were busy preparing.

“I guess that’d be my concern — whether we’re getting out of here or not, but, you know, as far as the weather goes, it is what it is," said Daniel Compton, who was visiting from Seattle.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green requested an emergency disaster declaration for four Hawaii counties on Wednesday. The request is still pending approval from President Donald Trump. Approval would unlock federal dollars and support for immediate needs like emergency services and debris removal.

Polo is strengthening after returning to Category 5 intensity

The hurricane center said Polo gained significant force overnight into Friday morning, when maximum sustained winds were estimated at 290 kph (180 mph). It remained well off the western Mexico coast heading westward, but is expected to turn to the north and reach the Baja California Peninsula late Sunday into Monday, the center said.

No major damage or flooding was reported along the coast overnight into Friday, although some towns in Colima and Michoacán were affected by tides.

Residents stacked sandbags to fortify beachfront shops and evacuated their homes in some coastal areas on Thursday. Mexican authorities were opening shelters and clearing people from beaches, and 15,000 security personnel were deployed across the coast. Schools were closed.

In the port city of Lázaro Cárdenas in Michoacán, seawater had already swept through homes Thursday and left wooden planks and furniture strewn on the streets. Locals and government officials were clearing out piles of wooden planks from a number of destroyed ramadas and shoveling thick mud coating much of the town.

Alicia Contreras said the walls and roof of her restaurant had been severely damaged by 15-foot (4.5-meter) waves. As officers and family helped pick through the damaged house, Contreras worried how she would recover economically.

“This is huge because we have no other source of income. Now we’re just surviving,” Contreras said.

Powerful storms come during the weather phenomenon El Nino

El Niño is prompting major environmental shifts across the world, fueling drought in some areas and flooding in others. It traditionally dampens the Atlantic hurricane season, while it tends to rev up tropical cyclone activity in the Pacific with moist air and little wind shear.

A third storm in the Pacific, Hurricane Odalys, was at Category 4 status and was still far from land, roughly 955 miles (1,537 kilometers) west-southwest of the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula. It carried maximum sustained winds of 130 mph (215 kph) and was moving north. It could intensify by Friday night.

Two other powerful storms were churning in the Atlantic Ocean, but were not near land.

In the northern Atlantic, Tropical Storm Fay re-formed early Thursday. As of Friday, it was about 1,040 miles (1,674 kilometers) west-southwest of the Azores, the hurricane center said.

Off Africa's western coast, Tropical Storm Gonzalo strengthened early Friday as it approached the Cabo Verde Islands with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph (85 kph). The center was expected to pass near or over portions of the islands later Friday and gradually weaken over the weekend.

___

Associated Press writers Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut, and Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire, contributed to this report.

“As of now, all systems are go,” said a person familiar with the pool, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the fluidity of the situation.

The pool consists of five major U.S. broadcast outlets that take turns shooting and sharing video. When the White House banned CNN — which belongs to the pool — and two other outlets from White House grounds, the other four declined to participate in a show of solidarity.

A judge temporarily struck down the ban of CNN, MS NOW and Politico on Thursday, but his ruling didn't directly address the pool. The networks continued to refrain from covering Trump as part of the pool even as reporters from all three outlets were allowed back in the White House.

As President Donald Trump prepared to take Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit the National Archives on Friday, the pool's live feed was being shared again.

CNN was not commenting directly on Friday, referring instead to its editorial coverage. But Brian Stelter, the network’s media analyst, posted on X that CNN had a pool assignment at the National Archives event and that the White House had approved the network’s credentials.

A daily White House press schedule listed CBS as one of the pool assignments Friday. CNN also had a pool assignment Friday, and an Associated Press journalist saw the network preparing on site.

The Czechs will face either Ukraine or two-time defending champion Italy in Sunday's final of the competition previously called Fed Cup.

Muchova, who lost to Noskova in the Wimbledon final, got Friday's semifinal started with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Jessica Bouzas Maneiro.

The No. 6-ranked Noskova then defeated Cristina Bucsa 7-6 (5), 6-2 to seal the team victory for the 11-time champion Czechs.

The Italy-Ukraine semifinal is scheduled for Saturday.

___

See AP’s full tennis coverage here

The focus will be on the lower humidity that we will first feel on Saturday with the bulk of it on Sunday. High temperatures will still be in the upper 80s with all the sunshine on the way, but at night and into the morning we’re expecting lows in the lower 70s. These will be the coolest mornings since early May.

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It happened on Thursday at approximately 6 p.m. along the 800 block of Northwest 19th Avenue.

According to police, officers responded to the scene and found a man who had been shot in the upper torso.

He was rushed as a trauma alert to Broward Health Medical Center for treatment.

Police said an Airbnb renter shot a would-be armed robber, identified as 18-year-old Darion Pubien, who broke into the home.

An investigation into the circumstances that led up to the shooting remained active and ongoing.

They said Pubien is expected to face charges. He remained hospitalized on Friday.

Meanwhile, a 25-year-old accused accomplice, Sean Thompson, was taken into custody on attempted murder and home invasion charge.

Ocurrió el jueves aproximadamente a las 6 p.m. en la cuadra 800 de Northwest 19th Avenue.

Según la policía, agentes acudieron al lugar y encontraron a un hombre que había recibido un disparo en la parte superior del torso.

Fue trasladado de urgencia como alerta de trauma al Broward Health Medical Center para recibir tratamiento.

La policía dijo que un inquilino de Airbnb baleó a un presunto ladrón armado que irrumpió en la vivienda.

La investigación sobre las circunstancias que llevaron a la balacera permanecía activa y en curso.

Dijeron que se espera que el presunto ladrón enfrente cargos.

Con una tasa de 7.36 mills, la alcaldesa de Miami, Eileen Higgins, la celebró como la más baja en 60 años en su mensaje sobre el presupuesto propuesto.

El presupuesto operativo incluye $22 millones USD adicionales para el Departamento de Policía de Miami y alrededor de $24 millones USD adicionales para el Departamento de Bomberos y Rescate de Miami.

Durante el proceso, la comisionada Christine King, quien representa al Distrito 5, abordó la posibilidad de que la Enmienda 3 pudiera reducir los impuestos a la propiedad después de las elecciones del 3 de noviembre.

La directora de presupuesto de la ciudad dijo que los recortes serían inevitables.

“No nos afecta hasta el año fiscal 27-28, así que comenzaremos a trabajar tan pronto como sepamos qué ocurra en noviembre. Si se aprueba, será entonces cuando empecemos a revisar todo”, dijo a los comisionados.

Nota del editor: La versión anterior de este artículo identificó erróneamente a la directora de presupuesto de la ciudad.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi detailed the proposal in a private gathering on Thursday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York, according to one attendee.

Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute think tank, said Araghchi suggested that a speedy agreement would help U.S. President Donald Trump ahead of November's midterm elections. The arrangement would also relieve enormous economic pressure on Tehran as the U.S. piles on additional sanctions.

Iran's disruption of the strait — through which a fifth of the world's traded oil and gas transited before the war — has emerged as its main point of leverage. The effects have been felt far beyond the Middle East.

There was no immediate comment from Iran's U.N. mission or other Iranian officials. A person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press that Saudi Arabia was skeptical of the latest push for a deal.

The proposal resembles a June deal that quickly crumbled

The proposal, conveyed to the U.S. by mediators, strongly resembles the so-called Memorandum of Understanding reached in June, but with an accelerated timetable. The earlier agreement, which called for a 60-day interim period, quickly collapsed as Iran resumed attacks on shipping in the strait.

Trump has said he is in no rush to reach a deal, even as high oil prices fuel inflation. On the Iranian side, there are questions as to whether the hard-liners who dominate the security forces would accept compromises championed by moderates like President Masoud Pezeshkian.

“If Trump calculates this arrangement is worthwhile and can bring political benefit before the midterms and reduce gas prices, perhaps we'll see flexibility not seen in previous weeks,” Parsi said. But he noted “deep suspicion,” especially around the prospect of Iran merely buying time to ship out more of its oil and ease its economic pain.

There are other signs of renewed diplomacy

In the latest sign of diplomatic movement, Pezeshkian hosted the prime minister of Qatar early Friday. Qatar has been a key mediator, including during hours of indirect Iran-U.S. talks at the U.N. this week.

It was not clear how long Pezeshkian and Araghchi would stay in the U.S. after Pezeshkian addressed the annual U.N. gathering of world leaders on Wednesday, ending his speech by saying Iran remained open to diplomacy.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, on the same day, said “if there’s an opportunity to exchange ideas and messages, we will.”

After multiple failed attempts at a deal, however, suspicion is high on both sides. The U.S. and Israel launched the war with a surprise attack on Feb. 28 while Iran was engaged in nuclear talks, killing Iran's supreme leader. Each side accuses the other of violating the June agreement.

Parsi said Iran’s current push for speed reflects Tehran’s suspicion that Washington is “using this diplomacy to make it harder for Iranians to launch pre-emptive strikes before the midterms.”

It's unclear if the proposal would include the conflict in Yemen

The proposal would include Lebanon, where Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah have been mostly observing a ceasefire. It's not clear, however, if it would include the revived conflict between Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels and Saudi Arabia, which has put even more pressure on global markets.

Iran appears to think the Houthis' newly enhanced ability to threaten the Bab el-Mandeb strait on the Red Sea — another trade chokepoint on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula — could push Trump to make a deal.

Maj. Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi, a military adviser to Iran's new supreme leader, told state television that the Americans “face a new problem called the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.”

He added: “I think the process that is unfolding is in our favor, and the Americans will be forced to accept Iran’s conditions.”

With the Houthis' latest surge in attacks, Saudi Arabia was skeptical of Araghchi’s latest push for a deal with the U.S., according to a person familiar with the matter.

The kingdom, along with other Gulf states, had advocated over the summer for a return to negotiations, saying they could live with an agreement that gave Iran a temporary role in managing the Strait of Hormuz, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private deliberations.

But the Saudi calculations changed as the Houthis seized Yemen’s strategic Red Sea coast from pro-government forces and a vital Saudi pipeline came under attack.

Earlier this month, Gulf leaders planned to gather in Oman to discuss an emerging agreement between Oman and Iran on the Strait of Hormuz, which runs between the two countries. But the meeting was canceled after Saudi Arabia called for amendments, only some of which were accepted by Iran, the person said.

Iran's leadership has shown signs of divisions

Iran's leaders have sought to project unity, but some hard-liners want to continue or escalate the war to secure bigger U.S. concessions and have criticized Pezeshkian and Araghchi's diplomatic steps this week.

Firebrand lawmaker Ebrahim Rezaei wrote on X that merely meeting with “the aggressor enemy” showed weakness. Iran’s Assembly of Experts, a panel of Shiite clerics who appoint the supreme leader, said “there is no path other than resistance.”

The head of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard, Brig. Gen. Ahmad Vahidi, highlighted the U.N. speech by “the esteemed president” while focusing on Pezeshkian’s comments that Iran doesn’t fear war.

Iran's parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, who served as chief negotiator in earlier talks with the United States, provided a rare public acknowledgment of the internal divide.

“There is a view that speaks of war but offers no prospect or mechanism for bringing it to a powerful conclusion,” he wrote on social media. “At the opposite end is a current that makes the error of underestimating national capabilities.”

He added: “The first error keeps the country in a state of permanent crisis, while the second hands national resources and dignity over to the enemy.”

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Below is our list of restaurants that recently accumulated 30 or more violations during an unannounced, routine food safety inspection.

These restaurants were not ordered shut, but 30 or more violations is still a serious red flag.

Do better!

**CHOW TIME GRILL AND BUFFET

6997 WEST COMMERCIAL BLVD.

TAMARAC

INSPECTION BASED ON COMPLAINT

INSPECTION DATE 9/21

34 VIOLATIONS FOUND

Air gap between water supply inlet and flood rim of equipment/sink is less than one inch. “At ice cream station no air gap on water inlet and floor rim, water inlet under water, discussed with operator to correct.”

Dish machine chlorine sanitizer not at proper minimum strength. Discontinue use of dish machine for sanitizing and set up manual sanitization until dish machine is repaired and sanitizing properly. “Dishwasher (Chlorine 0ppm) Discontinue use of dish machine for sanitizing and set up manual sanitization until dish machine is repaired and sanitizing properly.”

Employee failed to wash hands before putting on gloves to initiate a task working with food. “Employee handled raw chicken and without washing hands or changing gloves employee handle clean dishes, discussed with operator employee washed hands and changed gloves.”

Employee touched soiled surface and then engaged in food preparation, handled clean equipment or utensils, or touched unwrapped single-service items without washing hands. “Employee handled trash can and without washing hands employee handled container of raw fish, discussed with operator, employee washed hands.”

Food-contact surfaces not sanitized after cleaning, before use. Do not use equipment/utensils not properly sanitized. “Employee rinsed slicer with water and after without sanitizing placed on rack to dry, discussed with operator to sanitize utensil.”

Presence of insects, rodents, or other pests. “Approximately 1 live beetle on floor in electrical room. Approximately 38 dead beetles on floor in dry storage next to back door. Approximately 28 dead beetles on floor in electrical room. Discussed with operator to kill live beetle and clean and sanitize all areas.”

Raw animal food stored over or with ready-to-eat food in a freezer - not all products commercially packaged. “Non commercially packaged raw ground pork filled wontons stored directly above French fries, discussed with operator who corrected storage of products.”

Raw animal food stored over/not properly separated from ready-to-eat food. “In walk in cooler raw shrimp stored above cooked noodles, discussed with operator who corrected storage. In sushi bar reach in cooler raw tuna stored above cream cheese, discussed with operator who corrected storage of products.” REPEAT VIOLATION

Raw animal foods not properly separated from each other in holding unit based upon minimum required cooking temperature. “In walk in cooler raw chicken stored above raw beef, discussed with operator who corrected storage of products.”

Roach activity present as evidenced by live roaches found. “Approximately 1 live roach crawling up wall in employee bathroom in back of kitchen. Discussed with operator who killed roach and began to clean and sanitize area.”

Stop Sale issued due to food not being in a wholesome, sound condition. Commercially processed reduced oxygen packaged fish bearing a label indicating that it is to remain frozen until time of use no longer frozen and not removed from reduced oxygen package. See stop sale. “At sushi bar approximately 8 packages of Commercially processed reduced oxygen packaged tuna bearing a label indicating that it is to remain frozen until time of use no longer frozen and not removed from reduced oxygen package. See stop sale.”

Time/temperature control for safety food identified in the written procedure as a food held using time as a public health control has no time marking and the time removed from temperature control cannot be determined. “Establishment using time as a public health control for hot and cold buffet no products time marked. Written procedures state times will be marked on containers, discussed with operator to make chart of products and times prepared.” REPEAT VIOLATION

Vacuum breaker missing at hose bibb or on fitting/splitter added to hose bibb. “Under dish washer line splitter with no vacuum breaker installed on hose, discussed with operator install.”

Food being cooled by nonapproved method as evidenced by inadequate rate of cooling during time of inspection. “In reach in cooler at cook line plastic wrapped container of diced tomatoes (51F - Cooling) at 1:55 since 12:00 to 58F at 3:05, at this current rate of cooling product will not reach 41F within 4 hours, discussed with operator who removed plastic wrap to allow adequate air flow cooling. In walk in freezer large plastic tub of krab salad (58F - Cooling) at 2:25 since 1:25 to 58F at 3:05, at this current rate of cooling product will not reach 41F within 4 hours, discussed with operator who began to move products to shallow pans to allow air flow cooling.”

Handwash sink not accessible for employee use at all times. “Hand washing sink filled with dirty dishes, discussed with operator who removed dishes.”

Spray bottle containing toxic substance not labeled. “Unlabeled spray bottle with window cleaner discussed with operator to label bottle.”

Accumulation of dead or trapped birds, insects, rodents, or other pests, in control devices. “Approximately 100 small dead insects on glue sticky tape hanging from ceiling in front of walk in coolers, discussed with operator to discard sticky tape.”

Buildup of food debris/soil residue on equipment door handles. “Multiple reach in cooler door handles and gaskets soiled with accumulation of debris, discussed with operator to clean and sanitize.”

Ceiling/ceiling tile shows damage or is in disrepair. “Multiple ceiling and air vents damaged and in disrepair, discussed with operator to repair or replace.”

Commercially processed reduced oxygen packaged fish bearing a label indicating that it is to remain frozen until time of use no longer frozen and not removed from reduced oxygen package. See stop sale. “At sushi bar approximately 8 packages of Commercially processed reduced oxygen packaged tuna bearing a label indicating that it is to remain frozen until time of use no longer frozen and not removed from reduced oxygen package. See stop sale.”

Cutting board has cut marks and is no longer cleanable. “Multiple cutting boards grooved and no longer cleanable, discussed with operate repair or replace.”

Dead roaches on premises. “Approximately 2 dead roaches in electric room on floor. Approximately 2 dead roaches on floor under prep sink. Approximately 1 dead roach on floor at make line.”

Employee beverage container on a food preparation table or over/next to clean equipment/utensils. “At cook line open employee beverage stored on clean cutting board, discussed with over who removed drink.”

Floor area(s) covered with standing water. “Multiple areas of kitchen with standing water from leaking ceiling, discussed with operator to repair clean and sanitize areas.”

Floor tiles missing and/or in disrepair. “Multiple areas of kitchen floor tiles in disrepair with water and debris between tiles, discussed with operator to clean and sanitize.”

Ice buildup in reach-in freezer and/or walk-in freezer. “Walk in freezer has accumulation of ice buildup discussed with operator to clean and sanitize.” REPEAT VIOLATION

Ice scoop handle in contact with ice. “Discussed with operator who removed scoop.”

Nonfood-contact surface soiled with grease, food debris, dirt, slime or dust. “Back of reach in cooler has accumulation of grease and soil residues, discussed with operator to clean and sanitize.” REPEAT VIOLATION

Open dumpster lid. “Discussed with operator to close lids.”

Standing water in bottom of reach-in-cooler. “In reach in cooler at cook standing water in bottom discussed with operator to clean unit.”

Time/temperature control for safety food thawed in an improper manner. “Raw fish thawing in prep sink, discussed with operator who turned on cold water.”

Unwashed fruits/vegetables stored with ready-to-eat food. “In walk in cooler unwashed mushroom stored above cooked rice noodle, discussed with operator who corrected storage or products.”

Utensils in poor condition. “Dry storage bin lids have large cracks, discussed with operator to repair or replace.”

Wiping cloth chlorine sanitizing solution not at proper minimum strength. “Sanitizer Bucket (Chlorine 200+ppm) discussed with operator to correct to 100ppm.” REPEAT VIOLATION

**PICCOLA PIZZERIA PINECREST

11421 SOUTH DIXIE HIGHWAY

PINECREST

INSPECTION DATE 9/23

33 VIOLATIONS FOUND

Employee handled soiled equipment or utensils and then engaged in food preparation, handled clean equipment or utensils, or touched unwrapped single-service items without washing hands. “Observed food employee on personal phone while engaged in food prep.”

In-use utensil stored in unclean water. “Observed utensils in dirty water at cook line.”

Raw animal food stored over/not properly separated from ready-to-eat food. “Observed raw sausage over oranges in walk in cooler.”

Stop Sale issued due to food not being in a wholesome, sound condition. “Observed 1 salmon and 4 tuna filet thawed in ROP in cooler drawer under grill. Observed 8 fish filet thawed in ROP in walk in cooler.” REPEAT VIOLATION

Time/temperature control for safety food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit. “Observed in cooler across cook line: diced tomato (54F - Cold Holding); ham (48F - Cold Holding); Gorgonzola (48F - Cold Holding); cut romaine (47F - Cold Holding); cooked spaghetti (53F - Cold Holding) . As per operator, constantly opening doors and food being restocked.”

Vacuum breaker missing at mop sink faucet or on fitting/splitter added to mop sink faucet. “Observed splitter attached; no breaker.” REPEAT VIOLATION

Handwash sink not accessible for employee use at all times. “Observed cart blocking hand sink next to ware wash.” REPEAT VIOLATION

Handwash sink used for purposes other than handwashing. “Observed bucket in hand sink next to ware wash.” REPEAT VIOLATION

Menu contains an item made with a raw/undercooked animal food as an ingredient and description of item does not inform consumer of raw/undercooked animal food ingredient. “Observed tiramisu on menu not marked; made with raw egg.” REPEAT VIOLATION

Accumulation of black/green mold-like substance in the interior of the ice machine/bin.

Accumulation of debris on exterior of ware washing machine. “Observed exterior soiled.” REPEAT VIOLATION

Bowl or other container with no handle used to dispense food. “Observed bowl used as scoop in crouton container.”

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

Ceiling tile missing. “Observed in storage area.”

Ceiling/ceiling tiles/vents soiled with accumulated food debris, grease, dust, or mold-like substance. “Observed dust accumulation in kitchen.”

Cleaned and sanitized equipment or utensils not properly stored. “Observed ice picks for cooling of foods stored on floor in walk in freezer.”

Commercially processed reduced oxygen packaged fish bearing a label indicating that it is to remain frozen until time of use no longer frozen and not removed from reduced oxygen package. See stop sale. “Observed 10am on and 4 tuna filet thawed in ROP in cooler drawer under grill. Observed 8 fish filet thawed in ROP in walk in cooler.”

Employee with ineffective hair restraint while engaging in food preparation. “Observed no hair restraint for employees engaged in food prep.”

Floor area(s) covered with standing water. “Observed in front of mop sink.”

Floor soiled/has accumulation of debris. “Observed behind prep table and mixer.”

Floor tiles missing and/or in disrepair. “Observed in walk in.”

Food stored on floor. “Observed fires on floor of walk in freezer.”

Ice scoop handle in contact with ice. “Observed at bar ice machine.”

In-use knife/knives stored in cracks between pieces of equipment. “Observed in between table and cooler across cook line.”

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

No copy of latest inspection report available. “Observed no copy on site.”

Nonfood-contact surface soiled with grease, food debris, dirt, slime or dust. “Observed soiled gaskets in reach in cooler.”

Old labels stuck to food containers after cleaning. “Observed old labels on containers that are on dry storage rack.”

Reach-in cooler interior/shelves have accumulation of soil residues.

Reach-in cooler shelves with rust that has pitted the surface. “Observed in multiple reach in coolers.”

Standing water in bottom of reach-in-cooler. “Observed in cooler under stove.”

Unsealed concrete floor in food preparation, food storage, ware washing area or bathroom. “Observed at cook line.”

Walk-in cooler/freezer shelves with rust that has pitted the surface. “Observed in walk in.”

**CHINA LEE RESTAURANT

559 SW 8TH ST

MIAMI

INSPECTION DATE 9/23

32 VIOLATIONS FOUND

Employee began working with food, handling clean equipment or utensils, or touching unwrapped single-service items without first washing hands. “Observed employee going outside restaurant and engaging in food preparation and not washing hands first.”

Employee rubbed hands together for less than 10-15 seconds while washing hands. “Observed employee rubbed hands together for less than 10 sec.”

Employee switched from working with raw food to ready-to-eat food without washing hands. “Observed employee switching task with raw and ready to eat foot and no washing hands. Stop employee and coached how to wash hands properly.”

Employee touching ready-to-eat food with their bare hands - food was not being heated as a sole ingredient to 145 degrees F or immediately added to other ingredients to be cooked/heated to the minimum required temperature to allow bare hand contact. Establishment has no approved Alternative Operating Procedure. “Observed an employee handling diced ham and cooked beef without gloves, placing them into a single-use container to begin cooking.”

Employee washed hands with cold water. “Observed employee wash hands with cold water at hand washing sink.”

Observed Dish machine not sanitizing properly. Discontinue use of dish machine for sanitizing and set up manual sanitization until dish machine is repaired and sanitizing properly.

Observed Employee washed hands with no soap. Coached employee proper method.

Observed Nonfood-grade bags used in direct contact with food at chest freezer located at front counter.

Time/temperature control for safety food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit. “Observed cooked shrimp (52F - Cold Holding); diced ham (57F - Cold Holding); diced cooked beef (56F - Cold Holding); cooked beef (58F - Cold Holding); cooked ribs (47F - Cold Holding); breaded chicken (47F - Cold Holding) at reach in cooler across cooking line.”

Employee has not received adequate training related to their assigned duties as evidenced by lack of general knowledge in performing their assigned duties. “Observed employee with lack of knowledge for work assignments.”

Employee washed hands in a sink other than an approved handwash sink. “Observed employee taking out flour on two compartments sink, no soap.”

Records/documents for required employee training do not contain all of the required information. “Observed training records incomplete. Person in charge completed at time of inspection.”

Buildup of food debris/soil residue on equipment door handles. “Observed all reach in cooler and reach in freezer, handle with accumulation of food residue.”

Employee phone stored on top of preparation table across cooking line.

Employee personal items stored in or above a food preparation area, food, clean equipment and utensils, or single-service items. “Observed keys, cell phone and bandages stored on top of preparation table across cooking line.”

Floor not cleaned when the least amount of food is exposed. REPEAT VIOLATION

Floor soiled/has accumulation of debris. “Observed preparation tables, oven, wok station, and crash cart are soiled with an accumulation of grease.”

Food stored on floor. “Observed plastic bottles soda stored on the floor at front counter area.”

Hole in or other damage to wall. “Observed corner wall next to back exit door in disrepair.”

In-use knife/knives stored in cracks between pieces of equipment. “Observed knives between reach in coolers.”

Nonfood-contact surface soiled with grease, food debris, dirt, slime or dust. “Observed cooking line equipment’s soiled with accumulation of grease, also between equipment’s.”

Observed Accumulation of debris inside ware washing machine.

Observed Accumulation of debris on exterior of ware washing machine.

Observed Accumulation of lime scale on the inside of the dish machine.

Observed Cardboard used to line clean plates on top of steam table.

Observed In-use tongs stored on oven door handle between uses.

Observed a bowl (or other handle less container) being used as a scoop to dispense food inside the rice bin at the front counter, as well as inside the dry storage bin located at the back of the kitchen.

Observed all Cutting board has cut marks and is no longer cleanable in kitchen area.

Reach-in cooler interior/shelves have accumulation of soil residues. “Observed a mold-like substance and food residue inside multiple units: the front lobby reach-in cooler, the cooking line reach-in cooler, and all reach-in coolers within the kitchen area. All reach in coolers and freezers soiled at the bottom shelves. Heavy debris has accumulated on the sliding door gaskets of the produce reach-in cooler and the lobby soda cooler.”

Single-service articles improperly stored. “Observed single used items containers stored on top of cardboard on prep table.”

Time/temperature control for safety food not maintained frozen solid in a freezer. “Observed diced ham, chicken inside reach in freezer not frozen.”

Time/temperature control for safety food thawed in an improper manner. “Observed frozen chicken wings being defrosted inside sink with no running water.”

**RIO GRANDE CHURRASCARIA CORAL WAY

11995 SW 26TH ST

WESTCHESTER

INSPECTION DATE 9/23

34 VIOLATIONS FOUND

Employee handled soiled equipment or utensils and then engaged in food preparation, handled clean equipment or utensils, or touched unwrapped single-service items without washing hands. “Observed staff handle dirty dishes and not wash hands.”

Live, small flying insects found. “Observed approximately 10 flying insects with some landing on the ceiling and walls in dry food storage room.”

Nonexempt fish offered raw or undercooked has not undergone proper parasite destruction. Fish must be fully cooked or discarded. “Observed no parasite destruction for swai fish using in ceviche.”

Raw animal foods not properly separated from each other in holding unit based upon minimum required cooking temperature. “Observed raw sausage stored over raw bacon at RIC at cook line. Staff arranged product accordingly.”

Time/temperature control for safety food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit. “Observed Ceviche (50F - Cold Holding); Pico de gallo (48F - Cold Holding); chicken corn salad (45F - Cold Holding); cut tomatoes (45F - Cold Holding); tuna salad (46F - Cold Holding); cut melon (50F - Cold Holding). As per manager, 1 hour.”

Vacuum breaker missing at mop sink faucet or on fitting/splitter added to mop sink faucet. “Observed splitter missing vacuum breaker at mop sink.”

Employee has not received adequate training related to their assigned duties as evidenced by the inability to answer basic food safety questions. “Observed staff not knowing how to calibrate a thermometer using the cold method. Coached staff on correct procedure.”

Handwash sink used for purposes other than handwashing. “Observed utensil inside HWS at preparation area. Utensil was removed.”

No chemical test kit provided when using sanitizer at three-compartment ware washing machine or wiping cloths. “Observed no quaternary test strips.”

No measuring device available for measuring utensil surface temperature when using hot water as sanitizer in a dish machine.

No plan review submitted and approved - renovations were made or are in progress. “Observed equipment installed by new operator does not match plans approved on file.”

Spray bottle containing toxic substance not labeled. “Observed spray bottle of blue chemical stored over preparation table at dessert area.”

Water treatment device has not been inspected or serviced according to manufacturer’s instructions. “Observed large ice machine filter with no service date.”

Accumulation of black/green mold-like substance in the interior of the ice machine/bin. “Observed interior of ice machine near back exit area soiled.”

Accumulation of lime scale on the inside of the dish machine. “Observed at dish machine.”

Bathroom located inside establishment not completely enclosed with tight-fitting, self-closing doors. “Observed doors not self closing at employee bathroom.”

Cove molding at floor/wall juncture broken/missing. “Observed cove molding in disrepair at kitchen area.”

Cutting board has cut marks and is no longer cleanable. “Cutting board grooved at cook line.”

Exterior door has a gap at the threshold that opens to the outside. “Observed gap under back exit door”

Floor tiles missing and/or in disrepair. “Observed floor tiles in disrepair at bar area.”

Fly sticky tape hanging over food/food preparation area/food-contact equipment. “Observed fly sticky paper over preparation table at prep area. Tape was removed.”

Hole in or other damage to wall. “Observed wall in disrepair next to WIC entrance.”

Ice buildup in reach-in freezer and/or walk-in freezer. “Observed WIF door with ice buildup and inside chest freezer used for ice cream.”

In-use ice scoop stored on soiled surface between uses. “Observed ice scoop stored on soiled surface over small ice machine near back exit door.”

In-use tongs stored on equipment door handle between uses. “Observed tongs stored on oven handle at prepares. Tongs were removed.”

In-use utensil stored in standing water less than 135 degrees Fahrenheit. “Observed utensil container with water at 109F at cook line and at 99F at desserts area.”

Missing drain plug at dumpster.

No conspicuously located ambient air temperature thermometer in holding unit. “Observed no ambient thermometer at RIC across from grill.”

No handwashing sign provided at a hand sink used by food employees. “Observed no signage at HWS at cook line.”

Open dumpster lid.

Plumbing system improperly installed or repaired. “Observed 3CS faucet not reaching all compartments.”

Silverware/utensils stored upright with the food-contact surface up. “Observed spoons stored face up at desserts area.”

Wall soiled with accumulated grease, food debris, and/or dust. “Observed WIC walls soiled.”

Working containers of food removed from original container not identified by common name. “Observed container of sugar not labeled at bar area.”

**FRITANGA CAITA

11896 SW 26TH ST

WESTCHESTER

INSPECTION DATE 9/23

44 VIOLATIONS FOUND

Cooked/heated time/temperature control for safety food not cooled from 135 degrees Fahrenheit to 70 degrees Fahrenheit within 2 hours. “Observed Gallo pinto - (90F - Cooling). As per staff since 6 am. Also observed, Cheese (59F - Cooling). As per staff, cooling since last night. Shredded cooked chicken (62F - Cooling) and Chicken tacos - (56F - Cooling) both products cooling since last night.” REPEAT VIOLATION

Employee failed to wash hands before putting on gloves to initiate a task working with food. “Observed staff change gloves with no hand washing. Coached staff on correct procedure.”

Employee touched face/hair and then engaged in food preparation, handled clean equipment or utensils, or touched unwrapped single-service items without washing hands. “Observed staff touched face with no handwashing. Coached staff on correct procedure.”

Employee washed hands with cold water. “Observed staff washed hands with cold water at front counter area.”

Raw animal food stored over or with unwashed produce. “Observed raw shell eggs over unwashed vegetables at RIC at dry storage area.”

Raw animal food stored over/not properly separated from ready-to-eat food. “Observed raw cow milk containers stored above ready to eat cheeses in plastic bags inside RIC at front counter. Raw milk containers were removed.”

Stop Sale issued on time/temperature control for safety food due to temperature abuse. “Observed Gallo pinto - (90F - Cooling). As per staff since 6 am. Cheese (59F - Cooling). As per staff, cooling since last night. Shredded cooked chicken (62F - Cooling) and Chicken tacos (56F - Cooling) both products cooling since last night. Observed ham (56F - Cold holding). As per staff since last night in cold holding equipment. Observed Morsilla (102F - Hot Holding) As per staff, more than 4 hours.” REPEAT VIOLATION

Time/temperature control for safety food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit. “Observed ham (56F - Cold holding). As per staff since last night in cold holding equipment.”

Time/temperature control for safety food, other than whole meat roast, hot held at less than 135 degrees Fahrenheit. “Observed Morsilla (102F - Hot Holding) As per staff, more than 4 hours out of temperature control.” REPEAT VIOLATION

Commercially processed ready-to-eat, time/temperature control for safety food opened and held more than 24 hours not properly date marked after opening. “Observed cheese commercially packaged portioned and stored in individual bags with no labels inside reach-in cooler at front counter and breads at front counter.”

Employee has not received adequate training related to their assigned duties as evidenced by the inability to answer basic food safety questions. “Observed staff not knowing how to calibrate thermometer using the cold method. Coached staff on correct procedure to calibrate thermometer.”

Employee washed hands in a sink other than an approved handwash sink. “Observed staff washed hands at 3CS at front counter. Coached staff on correct procedure.”

Establishment has no written procedures for employees to follow in response to a vomiting or diarrheal event where the vomit or diarrhea is discharged onto surfaces in the establishment.

Handwash sink used for purposes other than handwashing. “Observed utensil inside HWS at cook line. Utensil was removed.”

Manager or person in charge lacking proof of food manager certification. “Observed Joshua with no certified training.”

No chemical test kit provided when using sanitizer at three-compartment ware washing machine or wiping cloths. “Observed no chlorine test strips available.”

No hot running water at three-compartment sink. “Observed water at 80F at both 3CS. Water ran for 3 minutes.”

No paper towels or mechanical hand drying device provided at handwash sink. “Observed no paper towels at HWS at cook line.”

No proof of required state approved employee training provided for any employees. To order approved program food safety material, call DBPR contracted provider: Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association (SafeStaff) 866-372-7233. “Observed Oscar, Pedro, and Crisbel with no food handlers training.”

No sanitizer of any kind available for ware washing. Only use single-service items to serve food to customers until sanitizer is available for ware washing. “Observed no sanitizer of any kind available. Staff purchased chlorine from convenience store located next to restaurant..”

Raw/undercooked animal food offered and establishment has no written consumer advisory. Raw animal foods must be fully cooked prior to service. “Observed no consumer advisory for carne asada. Provided consumer advisory during inspection and advisory was posted.”

Ready-to-eat, time/temperature control for safety food prepared onsite and held more than 24 hours not properly date marked. “Observed rice pudding with no date marking. As per staff, less than2 days.”

Water with a temperature of least 85 degrees Fahrenheit not provided/shut off at employee handwash sink. “Observed water at 80F at all sinks. Water ran for 3 minutes.”

Bathroom located inside establishment not completely enclosed with tight-fitting, self-closing doors. “Observed at only bathroom.” REPEAT VIOLATION

Bowl or other container with no handle used to dispense food. “Observed bowl with no handle used to scoop rice at dry storage area. Bowl was removed.”

Ceiling not smooth, nonabsorbent and easily cleanable in food preparation, food storage, or ware washing areas. “Observed through establishment.”

Cold holding equipment not maintained in good repair. Do not store time/temperature control for safety food in this unit until the unit is repaired. “Observed RIC across from mop sink with internal temp of 50F.”

Current Hotel and Restaurant license not displayed.

Employee personal items stored in or above a food preparation area, food, clean equipment and utensils, or single-service items. “Observed cell phone over food preparation equipment at preparation area.”

Employee with no hair restraint while engaging in food preparation. “Observed staff doing food preparation with no hair restraint at preparation area.”

Food stored on floor. “Observed frying oil containers on floor at cook line and dry storage area.” REPEAT VIOLATION

Ice buildup in reach-in freezer and/or walk-in freezer. “Observed ice buildup in small white chest freezer at dry storage area.” REPEAT VIOLATION

Ice scoop handle in contact with ice. “Observed ice scoop handle in contact with ice inside ice machine. Staff correctly placed ice scoop.”

No Heimlich maneuver/choking sign posted. REPEAT VIOLATION

No conspicuously located ambient air temperature thermometer in holding unit. “Observed not ambient thermometer at small RIC across steam table.”

No handwashing sign provided at a hand sink used by food employees. “Observed at only bathroom.”

No hot running water at mop sink. “Observed water at 80F. Water ran for 3 minutes.”

Open dumpster lid.

Plumbing system in disrepair. “Observed cold water handle at HWS not functioning at front counter.”

Silverware/utensils stored upright with the food-contact surface up. “Observed utensils not stored upright at preparation area.” REPEAT VIOLATION

Soiled dry wiping cloth in use. “Observed soiled WC at grill area.”

Wall soiled with accumulated grease, food debris, and/or dust. “Observed wall soiled behind cook line.”

Wet wiping cloth not stored in sanitizing solution between uses. “Observed thorough establishment.”

Working containers of food removed from original container not identified by common name. “Observed sugar container not labeled at front preparation area.” REPEAT VIOLATION

HONORABLE MENTION

**CHINA BUFFET II

1032 SW 67TH AVE

WESTCHESTER

INSPECTION BASED ON COMPLAINT

INSPECTION DATE 9/23

29 VIOLATIONS FOUND

Container of medicine improperly stored. “Observed employee medicine stored on shelves with food containers at back storage area.”

Employee began working with food, handling clean equipment or utensils, or touching unwrapped single-service items without first washing hands. “Observed an employee begin food preparation in the hibachi kitchen without first washing their hands. Discussed proper handwashing procedures with the operator and provided coaching on the required methods.”

Nonfood-grade bags used in direct contact with food. “Observed bitter melon stored inside nonfood grade bag. Manager removed product from bag.”

Raw animal food stored over/not properly separated from ready-to-eat food. “Observed raw bacon stored over cooked ribs at reach in cooler near kitchen entrance. Observed mushrooms stuffed with raw chicken stored over raw fish at reach in cooler near fryer. Employee rearranged products.”

Raw animal foods not properly separated from each other in holding unit based upon minimum required cooking temperature. “Observed raw chicken stored over raw beef at preparation cooler. Observed mushrooms stuffed with raw chicken stored over raw fish at reach in cooler near fryer.”

Time/temperature control for safety food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit. “Observed fresh garlic with oil (76F - Cold Holding) at room temperature at cook line. As per employee, for 2 hours. Employee placed product inside reach in cooler.”

Toxic substance/chemical improperly stored. “Observed container of chlorine stored next to clean glasses at dish area. Manager removed clean glasses.”

Food-contact surface soiled with food debris, mold-like substance or slime. “Observed slicer soiled with old food debris. Observed ice scoop soiled. Observed flour and corn starch scoops heavily soiled with old food debris. Observed stored baking sheets heavily soiled with old food debris.”

Handwash sink used for purposes other than handwashing. “Observed food debris inside hand sink near fryer station.”

No written procedures available for use of time as a public health control to hold time/temperature control for safety food. “Discussed and coached employee, and emailed form.”

Person in charge unable to answer basic Food Code questions pertaining to safe operation of establishment. “Observed person in charge unaware of probe thermometer calibration temperatures. Coached person in charge and demonstrated how to calibrate.”

Ready-to-eat, time/temperature control for safety food prepared onsite and held more than 24 hours not properly date marked. “Observed beef soup, cooked pork, cooked chicken and stuffed mushrooms at walk in cooler not date marked. As per employee, products prepared on the previous day.”

Accumulation of lime scale on the inside of the dish machine.

Bowl or other container with no handle used to dispense food. “Observed metal bowl stored inside of raw chicken container at preparation cooler.”

Ceiling tiles and vents soiled throughout kitchen, dish and storage areas.

Equipment in poor repair. “Observed meat grinder in disrepair near walk in freezer.”

Establishment using metal sponges on cleaned and sanitized, or in-use food-contact surface at wok station.

Exterior door has a gap at the threshold that opens to the outside. “Observed gap between double doors at dry storage area.”

Floor at walk in cooler and dish area covered with standing water.

Floor soiled at walk in cooler and walk in freezers.

Food stored on floor. “Observed plastic containers of bbq sauce and soy sauce stored on floor at cook line.”

Nonfood-contact surface soiled with grease, food debris, dirt, slime or dust. “Observed exterior of food storage containers soiled with black substance. Observed preparation cooler gaskets and side of exterior soiled.”

Observed dish racks soiled with black substance.

Reach-in cooler shelves at hibachi station have accumulation of soil residues.

Standing water in bottom of reach-in-cooler. “Observed at reach in cooler near kitchen entrance.” REPEAT VIOLATION

Stored food not covered. “Observed cooked pork and chicken not covered at reach in cooler near kitchen entrance.”

Ten (10) foot-candles of light at least 30 inches from floor not provided in walk-in cooler.

Unclean building components, attachments or fixtures. “Observed hood at hibachi station soiled with grease.”

Wall soiled near ice machines at back area and near soda syrup area. “Observed wall near electrical out let at hibachi station heavily soiled with grease.”

A continuación, presentamos nuestra lista de restaurantes que recientemente acumularon 30 o más infracciones durante una inspección rutinaria de seguridad alimentaria sin previo aviso.

Aunque no se ordenó el cierre de estos restaurantes, acumular 30 o más infracciones sigue siendo una señal de alarma importante.

¡Hazlo mejor!

**CHOW TIME GRILL AND BUFFET

6997 BULEVADOR COMERCIAL OESTE.

TAMARAC

INSPECCIÓN BASADA EN UNA DENUNCIA

FECHA DE INSPECCIÓN 21/9

Se detectaron 34 infracciones.

El espacio de aire entre la entrada de agua y el borde del fregadero/equipo es inferior a una pulgada. “En la estación de helados no hay espacio de aire entre la entrada de agua y el borde del piso; la entrada de agua está sumergida. Se habló con el operador para corregirlo”.

El desinfectante de cloro del lavavajillas no tiene la concentración mínima adecuada. Deje de usar el lavavajillas para desinfectar y realice la desinfección manual hasta que el lavavajillas esté reparado y funcione correctamente. “Lavavajillas (Cloro 0 ppm) Deje de usar el lavavajillas para desinfectar y realice la desinfección manual hasta que el lavavajillas esté reparado y funcione correctamente.”

El empleado no se lavó las manos antes de ponerse los guantes para comenzar una tarea que implicaba manipular alimentos. “El empleado manipuló pollo crudo y, sin lavarse las manos ni cambiarse los guantes, manipuló platos limpios. Se habló con el operador y el empleado se lavó las manos y se cambió los guantes”.

El empleado tocó una superficie sucia y luego preparó alimentos, manipuló equipo o utensilios limpios o tocó artículos desechables sin envolver sin lavarse las manos. “El empleado manipuló un bote de basura sin lavarse las manos; luego manipuló un recipiente de pescado crudo, habló con el operador y se lavó las manos”.

Las superficies en contacto con alimentos no se desinfectan después de limpiarlas, antes de usarlas. No utilice equipos ni utensilios que no estén debidamente desinfectados. «El empleado enjuagó la rebanadora con agua y, sin desinfectarla, la colocó en una rejilla para que se secara. Se habló con el operador para que desinfectara el utensilio».

Presencia de insectos, roedores u otras plagas. “Aproximadamente 1 escarabajo vivo en el suelo de la sala eléctrica. Aproximadamente 38 escarabajos muertos en el suelo del almacén seco junto a la puerta trasera. Aproximadamente 28 escarabajos muertos en el suelo de la sala eléctrica. Se habló con el operador sobre la eliminación del escarabajo vivo y la limpieza y desinfección de todas las áreas.”

Alimentos crudos de origen animal almacenados encima o junto con alimentos listos para el consumo en un congelador; no todos los productos están envasados ​​comercialmente. «Wantons rellenos de carne de cerdo cruda molida, sin envasar comercialmente, almacenados directamente encima de papas fritas. Se habló con el operador, quien corrigió el almacenamiento de los productos».

Alimentos crudos de origen animal almacenados encima de alimentos listos para el consumo o sin la separación adecuada de estos. “En la cámara frigorífica, camarones crudos almacenados encima de fideos cocidos; se habló con el encargado, quien corrigió el almacenamiento. En el refrigerador de la barra de sushi, atún crudo almacenado encima de queso crema; se habló con el encargado, quien corrigió el almacenamiento de los productos.” VIOLACIÓN REITERADA

Los alimentos crudos de origen animal no estaban debidamente separados entre sí en la unidad de almacenamiento, según la temperatura mínima de cocción requerida. «En la cámara frigorífica, el pollo crudo se almacenaba encima de la carne de res cruda; se habló con el operador, quien corrigió el almacenamiento de los productos».

Se detectó actividad de cucarachas, como lo demuestra el hallazgo de ejemplares vivos. “Aproximadamente una cucaracha viva trepaba por la pared del baño de empleados, en la parte trasera de la cocina. Se habló con el encargado, quien la eliminó y procedió a limpiar y desinfectar la zona”.

Se emitió una orden de cese de venta debido a que los alimentos no se encontraban en condiciones saludables. Pescado procesado comercialmente y envasado en atmósfera reducida, con una etiqueta que indica que debe permanecer congelado hasta su consumo, ya no está congelado y no ha sido retirado del envase. Véase la orden de cese de venta. “En el bar de sushi, aproximadamente 8 paquetes de atún procesado comercialmente y envasado en atmósfera reducida, con una etiqueta que indica que debe permanecer congelado hasta su consumo, ya no está congelado y no ha sido retirado del envase. Véase la orden de cese de venta.”

Control de tiempo/temperatura para alimentos seguros, identificados en el procedimiento escrito como alimentos mantenidos utilizando el tiempo como control de salud pública, no tienen marcado de tiempo y no se puede determinar el tiempo transcurrido desde que se retiró del control de temperatura. “Establecimiento que utiliza el tiempo como control de salud pública para buffet caliente y frío, sin productos marcados con el tiempo. Los procedimientos escritos indican que los tiempos se marcarán en los recipientes, se discutió con el operador para crear una tabla de productos y tiempos de preparación”. VIOLACIÓN REITERADA

Falta el interruptor de vacío en la llave de paso o en el conector/divisor añadido a la llave de paso. “Divisor de la línea del lavavajillas sin interruptor de vacío instalado en la manguera; se discutió con el operador durante la instalación”.

Alimentos enfriados mediante un método no aprobado, evidenciado por una velocidad de enfriamiento inadecuada durante la inspección. “En el refrigerador de acceso en la línea de cocción, recipiente envuelto en plástico con tomates en cubos (51 °F - Enfriamiento) a la 1:55 desde las 12:00 hasta 58 °F a las 3:05, a esta velocidad de enfriamiento actual, el producto no alcanzará los 41 °F en 4 horas, se discutió con el operador, quien retiró el envoltorio de plástico para permitir un flujo de aire adecuado para el enfriamiento. En el congelador industrial, recipiente grande de plástico con ensalada de cangrejo (58 °F - Enfriamiento) a las 2:25 desde la 1:25 hasta 58 °F a las 3:05, a esta velocidad de enfriamiento actual, el producto no alcanzará los 41 °F en 4 horas, se discutió con el operador, quien comenzó a trasladar los productos a bandejas poco profundas para permitir un flujo de aire adecuado para el enfriamiento.”

El lavamanos no está siempre accesible para los empleados. «El lavamanos está lleno de platos sucios; se habló con el encargado, quien retiró los platos».

Botella pulverizadora que contiene una sustancia tóxica sin etiquetar. “Se habló con el operador sobre la botella pulverizadora sin etiquetar que contenía limpiacristales para que la etiquetara”.

Acumulación de aves, insectos, roedores u otras plagas muertas o atrapadas en los dispositivos de control. “Aproximadamente 100 insectos pequeños muertos en cinta adhesiva que colgaba del techo frente a las cámaras frigoríficas; se habló con el operador para desechar la cinta adhesiva”.

Acumulación de restos de comida/residuos de tierra en las manijas de las puertas de los equipos. “Varias manijas y juntas de las puertas de los refrigeradores estaban sucias con acumulación de residuos; se habló con el operador para limpiarlas y desinfectarlas”.

El techo/las baldosas del techo presentan daños o están en mal estado. “Varias rejillas de ventilación del techo y del techo están dañadas y en mal estado; se habló con el operador para repararlas o reemplazarlas”.

Pescado procesado comercialmente envasado en oxígeno reducido con una etiqueta que indica que debe permanecer congelado hasta el momento de su uso, ya no congelado y sin retirar del envase de oxígeno reducido. Ver orden de cese de venta. “En el bar de sushi, aproximadamente 8 paquetes de atún procesado comercialmente envasado en oxígeno reducido con una etiqueta que indica que debe permanecer congelado hasta el momento de su uso, ya no congelado y sin retirar del envase de oxígeno reducido. Ver orden de cese de venta.”

La tabla de cortar tiene marcas de corte y ya no se puede limpiar. “Varias tablas de cortar están rayadas y ya no se pueden limpiar; se discutió con el operador para su reparación o reemplazo”.

Cucarachas muertas en las instalaciones. “Aproximadamente 2 cucarachas muertas en el cuarto eléctrico, en el suelo. Aproximadamente 2 cucarachas muertas en el suelo debajo del fregadero de preparación. Aproximadamente 1 cucaracha muerta en el suelo en la línea de producción.”

Envase de bebida del empleado sobre una mesa de preparación de alimentos o encima/al lado de equipos/utensilios limpios. “En la línea de cocina, bebida abierta del empleado guardada sobre una tabla de cortar limpia; se habló con el supervisor que retiró la bebida”.

Áreas del piso cubiertas de agua estancada. “Varias áreas de la cocina presentan agua estancada debido a una gotera en el techo. Se habló con el operador para reparar, limpiar y desinfectar las áreas afectadas”.

Baldosas del suelo faltantes o en mal estado. “Varias zonas del suelo de la cocina presentan baldosas en mal estado, con agua y suciedad entre ellas. Se habló con el encargado para limpiarlas y desinfectarlas.”

Acumulación de hielo en el congelador vertical y/o en el congelador industrial. “Se ha detectado acumulación de hielo en el congelador industrial; se ha informado al operador sobre su limpieza y desinfección”. VIOLACIÓN REINCIDENTE

Mango de la pala para hielo en contacto con el hielo. “Se habló con el operario que retiró la pala”.

Superficie que no entra en contacto con alimentos sucia con grasa, restos de comida, suciedad, lodo o polvo. “La parte posterior del refrigerador presenta acumulación de residuos de grasa y suciedad; se habló con el operador para limpiarla y desinfectarla”. VIOLACIÓN REINCIDENTE

Tapa del contenedor abierta. “Se habló con el operador para que cerrara las tapas”.

Agua estancada en el fondo del refrigerador. “Se ha informado al operador sobre la presencia de agua estancada en el fondo del refrigerador para limpiar la unidad”.

Control de tiempo/temperatura para la seguridad de los alimentos descongelados de forma inadecuada. “Pescado crudo descongelándose en el fregadero de preparación; se habló con el operario que abrió el grifo de agua fría”.

Frutas y verduras sin lavar almacenadas junto con alimentos listos para el consumo. “En la cámara frigorífica, se encontraron champiñones sin lavar almacenados encima de fideos de arroz cocidos; se habló con el encargado, quien corrigió el almacenamiento o los productos”.

Utensilios en mal estado. “Las tapas de los contenedores de almacenamiento en seco tienen grandes grietas; se habló con el operador para repararlas o reemplazarlas”.

La solución desinfectante de cloro para paños de limpieza no tenía la concentración mínima adecuada. “Se habló con el operador sobre el cubo de desinfectante (cloro 200+ ppm) para corregirlo a 100 ppm”. VIOLACIÓN REINCIDENTE.

**PICCOLA PIZZERIA PINECREST

11421 CARRETERA SOUTH DIXIE

PINECREST

FECHA DE INSPECCIÓN 23/9

Se detectaron 33 infracciones.

El empleado manipuló equipo o utensilios sucios y luego participó en la preparación de alimentos, manipuló equipo o utensilios limpios o tocó artículos desechables sin envolver sin lavarse las manos. “Se observó a un empleado de la cocina usando su teléfono personal mientras preparaba alimentos”.

Utensilios en uso almacenados en agua sucia. “Se observaron utensilios en agua sucia en la línea de cocción”.

Alimentos crudos de origen animal almacenados encima de alimentos listos para el consumo o sin la separación adecuada de estos. “Se observaron salchichas crudas sobre naranjas en la cámara frigorífica”.

Se emitió una orden de cese de venta debido a que los alimentos no se encontraban en condiciones higiénicas ni seguras. “Se observaron 1 filete de salmón y 4 de atún descongelados en ROP en el cajón refrigerado debajo de la parrilla. Se observaron 8 filetes de pescado descongelados en ROP en la cámara frigorífica”. VIOLACIÓN REINCIDENTE

Control de tiempo/temperatura para garantizar la seguridad de los alimentos refrigerados a más de 5 °C (41 °F). “Observado en el refrigerador de la línea de cocción: tomate en cubos (12 °C - Refrigerado); jamón (9 °C - Refrigerado); gorgonzola (9 °C - Refrigerado); lechuga romana cortada (8 °C - Refrigerada); espaguetis cocidos (12 °C - Refrigerados). Según el operador, se abren constantemente las puertas y se reabastecen los alimentos.”

Falta el interruptor de vacío en el grifo del fregadero para fregonas o en el adaptador/divisor añadido al grifo del fregadero para fregonas. “Se observó un divisor conectado; sin interruptor de vacío”. VIOLACIÓN REITERADA

El lavamanos no está accesible para el uso de los empleados en todo momento. “Se observó un carrito bloqueando el lavamanos junto al área de lavado de vajilla”. VIOLACIÓN REITERADA

Lavamanos utilizado para fines distintos al lavado de manos. “Se observó un cubo en el lavamanos junto al área de lavado de vajilla”. VIOLACIÓN REINCIDENTE

El menú incluye un plato elaborado con un alimento animal crudo o poco cocido como ingrediente, y la descripción del plato no informa al consumidor sobre dicho ingrediente. “Se observó tiramisú en el menú sin la indicación de que estaba hecho con huevo crudo”. VIOLACIÓN REITERADA.

Acumulación de una sustancia negra/verdosa similar al moho en el interior de la máquina/contenedor de hielo.

Acumulación de residuos en el exterior de la lavadora de vajilla. “Se observó suciedad en el exterior”. VIOLACIÓN REINCIDENTE.

Bol u otro recipiente sin asa utilizado para servir la comida. “Se observó un bol usado como cuchara en el recipiente de los picatostes”.

Acumulación de restos de comida/suciedad en las manijas de las puertas de los electrodomésticos. “Se observó que la manija del microondas estaba sucia”.

Falta una loseta del techo. “Observado en el área de almacenamiento.”

Techo/baldosas/rejillas de ventilación sucias con restos de comida acumulados, grasa, polvo o una sustancia similar al moho. “Se observó acumulación de polvo en la cocina”.

Se limpiaron y desinfectaron equipos o utensilios que no estaban almacenados correctamente. Se observaron picahielos para enfriar alimentos almacenados en el suelo del congelador industrial.

Pescado procesado comercialmente envasado en atmósfera reducida con una etiqueta que indica que debe permanecer congelado hasta su consumo, pero que ya no está congelado y no se ha retirado del envase. Véase la orden de cese de venta. «Observado a las 10:00 h: 4 filetes de atún descongelados en envase de atmósfera reducida en el cajón refrigerado bajo la parrilla. Observado: 8 filetes de pescado descongelados en envase de atmósfera reducida en la cámara frigorífica».

Empleado con sujeción ineficaz del cabello mientras preparaba alimentos. “No se observó sujeción del cabello en los empleados que preparaban alimentos”.

Área(s) del piso cubiertas con agua estancada. “Observado frente al fregadero para fregar.”

El suelo está sucio/tiene acumulación de residuos. “Observado detrás de la mesa de preparación y la batidora”.

Faltan baldosas del suelo o están en mal estado. “Observado en la cámara de entrada”.

Alimentos almacenados en el suelo. “Se observaron incendios en el suelo del congelador industrial”.

Mango de la pala para hielo en contacto con el hielo. “Observado en la máquina de hielo de un bar”.

Cuchillos en uso almacenados en las grietas entre los equipos. “Observados entre la mesa y el refrigerador, al otro lado de la línea de cocción”.

El interior del horno/microondas presenta acumulación de una sustancia negra/grasa/restos de comida. “Se observó suciedad en el interior del microondas”.

No se dispone de copia del último informe de inspección. «No se observó ninguna copia en el lugar».

Superficie que no entra en contacto con alimentos sucia de grasa, restos de comida, suciedad, lodo o polvo. “Se observaron juntas sucias en el refrigerador”.

Etiquetas viejas adheridas a los recipientes de alimentos después de la limpieza. “Observamos etiquetas viejas en recipientes que se encuentran en el estante de almacenamiento en seco”.

El interior y los estantes del refrigerador tienen acumulación de residuos de tierra.

Estantes de refrigeradores verticales con óxido que ha corroído la superficie. “Observado en varios refrigeradores verticales”.

Agua estancada en el fondo del refrigerador. “Observado en el refrigerador debajo de la estufa”.

Piso de concreto sin sellar en área de preparación de alimentos, almacenamiento de alimentos, área de lavado de utensilios o baño. “Observado en la línea de cocción”.

Estantes de la cámara frigorífica/congeladora con óxido que ha corroído la superficie. “Observado en la cámara frigorífica”.

**CHINA LEE RESTAURANT

559 SW 8TH ST

MIAMI

FECHA DE INSPECCIÓN 23/9

Se detectaron 32 infracciones.

El empleado comenzó a manipular alimentos, equipos o utensilios limpios, o a tocar artículos desechables sin envolver sin lavarse las manos previamente. “Se observó al empleado salir del restaurante y participar en la preparación de alimentos sin lavarse las manos antes”.

El empleado se frotó las manos durante menos de 10-15 segundos mientras se las lavaba. “Se observó que el empleado se frotó las manos durante menos de 10 segundos”.

Un empleado cambió de manipular alimentos crudos a alimentos listos para el consumo sin lavarse las manos. “Observé a un empleado cambiando de tarea, manipulando alimentos crudos y listos para el consumo, sin lavarse las manos. Detuve al empleado y le expliqué cómo lavarse las manos correctamente”.

Empleado manipulando alimentos listos para el consumo con las manos desnudas; los alimentos no se calentaban como ingrediente único a 63 °C ni se añadían inmediatamente a otros ingredientes para cocinarlos/calentarlos a la temperatura mínima requerida para permitir el contacto con las manos desnudas. El establecimiento no cuenta con un procedimiento operativo alternativo aprobado. «Se observó a un empleado manipulando jamón en cubos y carne de res cocida sin guantes, colocándolos en un recipiente de un solo uso para comenzar a cocinarlos».

El empleado se lavó las manos con agua fría. “Se observó al empleado lavarse las manos con agua fría en el lavamanos”.

Se observó que el lavavajillas no desinfectaba correctamente. Suspenda el uso del lavavajillas para desinfectar y realice la desinfección manual hasta que el lavavajillas sea reparado y desinfecte correctamente.

Se observó que el empleado se lavaba las manos sin jabón. Se le indicó al empleado el método correcto.

Se observaron bolsas no aptas para uso alimentario en contacto directo con los alimentos en el congelador ubicado en el mostrador principal.

Control de tiempo/temperatura para la seguridad de los alimentos refrigerados a más de 41 grados Fahrenheit. “Se observaron camarones cocidos (52 °F - Refrigeración); jamón en cubos (57 °F - Refrigeración); carne de res cocida en cubos (56 °F - Refrigeración); carne de res cocida (58 °F - Refrigeración); costillas cocidas (47 °F - Refrigeración); pollo empanizado (47 °F - Refrigeración) en el refrigerador ubicado en la línea de cocción.”

El empleado no ha recibido la capacitación adecuada para sus funciones, como lo demuestra su falta de conocimientos generales para desempeñarlas. «Se observó que el empleado carecía de conocimientos para las tareas asignadas».

El empleado se lavó las manos en un lavabo distinto al autorizado. “Se observó al empleado sacando harina de un fregadero de dos compartimentos, sin jabón”.

Los registros/documentos de la capacitación obligatoria de los empleados no contienen toda la información requerida. “Se observó que los registros de capacitación estaban incompletos. La persona a cargo los completó al momento de la inspección.”

Acumulación de restos de comida/residuos de tierra en las manijas de las puertas de los equipos. “Se observó acumulación de residuos de comida en todas las manijas de los refrigeradores y congeladores”.

El teléfono del empleado estaba guardado encima de la mesa de preparación, al otro lado de la línea de cocción.

Artículos personales de los empleados almacenados en o sobre un área de preparación de alimentos, alimentos, equipos y utensilios limpios, o artículos de un solo uso. “Se observaron llaves, un teléfono celular y vendas almacenados sobre la mesa de preparación al otro lado de la línea de cocina”.

El suelo no se limpió cuando había la menor cantidad de comida expuesta. VIOLACIÓN REITERADA.

El suelo está sucio y presenta acumulación de residuos. “Se observó que las mesas de preparación, el horno, la estación de wok y el carro de emergencias estaban sucios con acumulación de grasa”.

Alimentos almacenados en el suelo. “Se observaron botellas de refresco de plástico almacenadas en el suelo en la zona del mostrador.”

Agujero u otro daño en la pared. “Se observó que la pared de la esquina junto a la puerta de salida trasera estaba en mal estado.”

Cuchillos en uso almacenados en las grietas entre las piezas del equipo. “Se observaron cuchillos entre los estantes de los refrigeradores”.

Superficie que no entra en contacto con alimentos sucia de grasa, restos de comida, suciedad, lodo o polvo. “Se observó acumulación de grasa en los equipos de la línea de cocción, incluso entre los propios equipos”.

Se observó acumulación de residuos dentro de la lavadora de vajilla.

Se observó acumulación de residuos en el exterior de la lavadora de vajilla.

Se observó acumulación de cal en el interior del lavavajillas.

Se observó cartón utilizado para forrar los platos limpios sobre la mesa de vapor.

Se observó que las pinzas en uso se guardaban en el tirador de la puerta del horno entre usos.

Se observó que se utilizaba un tazón (u otro recipiente sin asa) como cuchara para servir comida dentro del recipiente de arroz en el mostrador principal, así como dentro del contenedor de almacenamiento en seco ubicado en la parte trasera de la cocina.

Se observó que todas las tablas de cortar tienen marcas de cortes y ya no se pueden limpiar en el área de la cocina.

El interior y los estantes de los refrigeradores presentan acumulación de residuos de suciedad. “Se observó una sustancia similar al moho y restos de comida dentro de varias unidades: el refrigerador del vestíbulo, el refrigerador de la línea de cocina y todos los refrigeradores de la zona de la cocina. Todos los refrigeradores y congeladores presentan suciedad en los estantes inferiores. Se ha acumulado una gran cantidad de residuos en las juntas de las puertas corredizas del refrigerador de frutas y verduras y del refrigerador de refrescos del vestíbulo.”

Artículos de un solo uso almacenados incorrectamente. “Se observaron contenedores de artículos de un solo uso almacenados encima de cartón en la mesa de preparación”.

Control de tiempo/temperatura para la seguridad de los alimentos que no se mantienen congelados. “Se observó jamón en cubos y pollo dentro del congelador sin congelar”.

Control de tiempo/temperatura para la seguridad de los alimentos descongelados de forma inadecuada. “Se observó que se estaban descongelando alitas de pollo congeladas dentro del fregadero sin agua corriente”.

**RIO GRANDE CHURRASCARIA CORAL WAY

11995 SW 26TH ST

WESTCHESTER

FECHA DE INSPECCIÓN 23/9

Se detectaron 34 infracciones.

El empleado manipuló equipo o utensilios sucios y luego participó en la preparación de alimentos, manipuló equipo o utensilios limpios o tocó artículos desechables sin envolver sin lavarse las manos. “Se observó al personal manipular platos sucios y no lavarse las manos”.

Se encontraron pequeños insectos voladores vivos. “Se observaron aproximadamente 10 insectos voladores, algunos de los cuales se posaron en el techo y las paredes del cuarto de almacenamiento de alimentos secos”.

El pescado no exento que se ofrece crudo o poco cocido no ha sido sometido a una correcta eliminación de parásitos. El pescado debe cocinarse completamente o desecharse. «No se observó eliminación de parásitos en el pescado swai utilizado en el ceviche».

Los alimentos crudos de origen animal no estaban debidamente separados entre sí en la unidad de almacenamiento, según la temperatura mínima de cocción requerida. “Se observó salchicha cruda almacenada sobre tocino crudo en la unidad de control de temperatura (RIC) en la línea de cocción. El personal reorganizó el producto en consecuencia.”

Control de tiempo/temperatura para la seguridad alimentaria: alimentos refrigerados a más de 5 °C (41 °F). Se observó ceviche (10 °C - Refrigeración); pico de gallo (9 °C - Refrigeración); ensalada de pollo y maíz (7 °C - Refrigeración); tomates cortados (7 °C - Refrigeración); ensalada de atún (8 °C - Refrigeración); melón cortado (10 °C - Refrigeración). Según el gerente, 1 hora.

Falta el interruptor de vacío en el grifo del fregadero para fregar o en el adaptador/divisor añadido al grifo del fregadero para fregar. «Se observó que falta el interruptor de vacío en el divisor del fregadero para fregar».

El empleado no ha recibido la capacitación adecuada para sus funciones, como lo demuestra su incapacidad para responder preguntas básicas sobre seguridad alimentaria. “Se observó que el personal desconocía cómo calibrar un termómetro mediante el método en frío. Se les instruyó sobre el procedimiento correcto”.

El lavamanos se utilizaba para fines distintos al lavado de manos. “Se observó un utensilio dentro del lavamanos en el área de preparación. El utensilio fue retirado.”

No se proporcionó ningún kit de prueba química al usar desinfectante en la lavadora de vajilla de tres compartimentos o paños de limpieza. “No se observaron tiras reactivas cuaternarias”.

No se dispone de ningún dispositivo para medir la temperatura de la superficie de los utensilios cuando se utiliza agua caliente como desinfectante en un lavavajillas.

No se presentó ni aprobó ninguna revisión del plan; se realizaron o están en curso renovaciones. «El equipo instalado por el nuevo operador no coincide con los planos aprobados».

Se observó un frasco pulverizador con una sustancia tóxica sin etiquetar sobre una mesa de preparación en la zona de postres.

El dispositivo de tratamiento de agua no ha sido inspeccionado ni revisado según las instrucciones del fabricante. “Se observó un filtro grande de la máquina de hielo sin fecha de mantenimiento”.

Acumulación de una sustancia negra/verdosa similar al moho en el interior de la máquina/contenedor de hielo. “Se observó suciedad en el interior de la máquina de hielo cerca de la salida trasera”.

Acumulación de cal en el interior del lavavajillas. “Observado en el lavavajillas.”

El baño ubicado dentro del establecimiento no está completamente cerrado con puertas que cierren herméticamente. “Se observó que las puertas del baño de empleados no se cerraban automáticamente”.

Moldura de cornisa en la unión del piso y la pared rota/faltante. “Se observó moldura de cornisa en mal estado en el área de la cocina.”

La tabla de cortar tiene marcas de cortes y ya no se puede limpiar. “La tabla de cortar tiene una ranura en la línea de cocción”.

La puerta exterior tiene una abertura en el umbral que da al exterior. “Se observó una abertura debajo de la puerta de salida trasera”.

Baldosas del suelo faltantes o en mal estado. “Se observaron baldosas del suelo en mal estado en la zona del bar.”

Cinta adhesiva para moscas colgando sobre alimentos/área de preparación de alimentos/equipos en contacto con alimentos. “Se observó papel adhesivo para moscas sobre la mesa de preparación en el área de preparación. Se retiró la cinta.”

Agujero u otro daño en la pared. “Se observó una pared en mal estado junto a la entrada del WIC.”

Acumulación de hielo en el congelador vertical y/o en el congelador horizontal. “Se observó acumulación de hielo en la puerta del congelador vertical y en el interior del congelador horizontal utilizado para helados”.

Pala para hielo en uso almacenada sobre una superficie sucia entre usos. “Se observó una pala para hielo almacenada sobre una superficie sucia encima de una pequeña máquina de hielo cerca de la puerta de salida trasera.”

Pinzas en uso guardadas en la manija de la puerta del equipo entre usos. “Se observaron pinzas guardadas en la manija del horno durante la preparación. Se retiraron las pinzas.”

Utensilio en uso almacenado en agua estancada a menos de 57 grados Celsius (135 grados Fahrenheit). “Se observó un recipiente con agua a 43 grados Celsius (109 grados Fahrenheit) en la línea de cocción y a 37 grados Celsius (99 grados Fahrenheit) en el área de postres”.

Falta el tapón de drenaje en el contenedor de basura.

No se encontró ningún termómetro de temperatura ambiente en un lugar visible de la unidad de retención. «No se observó ningún termómetro ambiental en el RIC, frente a la parrilla».

No se encontró ningún letrero que indicara la necesidad de lavarse las manos en el lavamanos utilizado por los empleados de la cocina. “No se observó ninguna señalización en el lavamanos de la línea de cocina”.

Abra la tapa del contenedor de basura.

Sistema de plomería instalado o reparado incorrectamente. “Se observó que el grifo 3CS no llega a todos los compartimentos”.

Cubiertos y utensilios almacenados en posición vertical con la superficie en contacto con los alimentos hacia arriba. “Se observaron cucharas almacenadas boca arriba en la zona de postres”.

Pared sucia con grasa acumulada, restos de comida y/o polvo. “Se observaron paredes sucias en el centro WIC”.

Envases de alimentos retirados de su envase original sin identificar por su nombre común. “Se observó un envase de azúcar sin etiquetar en la zona del bar”.

**FRITANGA CAITA

11896 SW 26TH ST

WESTCHESTER

FECHA DE INSPECCIÓN 23/9

Se detectaron 44 infracciones.

Los alimentos cocinados/calentados que requieren control de tiempo/temperatura para su seguridad no se enfriaron de 135 grados Fahrenheit a 70 grados Fahrenheit en 2 horas. “Se observó Gallo Pinto (90 °F - Enfriamiento). Según el personal, desde las 6 a. m. También se observó Queso (59 °F - Enfriamiento). Según el personal, enfriándose desde anoche. Pollo cocido desmenuzado (62 °F - Enfriamiento) y Tacos de pollo (56 °F - Enfriamiento), ambos productos enfriándose desde anoche.” VIOLACIÓN REITERADA

El empleado no se lavó las manos antes de ponerse los guantes para comenzar una tarea que implicaba manipular alimentos. “Observé al personal cambiarse los guantes sin lavarse las manos. Le expliqué el procedimiento correcto”.

El empleado se tocó la cara o el cabello y luego preparó alimentos, manipuló equipos o utensilios limpios o tocó artículos desechables sin envolver sin lavarse las manos. “Observé que el personal se tocó la cara sin lavarse las manos. Se le instruyó sobre el procedimiento correcto”.

El empleado se lavó las manos con agua fría. “Se observó al personal lavándose las manos con agua fría en el área del mostrador”.

Alimentos crudos de origen animal almacenados encima o junto con productos agrícolas sin lavar. “Se observaron huevos crudos con cáscara sobre vegetales sin lavar en el RIC, en el área de almacenamiento en seco”.

Alimentos crudos de origen animal almacenados encima de alimentos listos para el consumo o sin la separación adecuada de estos. “Se observaron envases de leche cruda de vaca almacenados encima de quesos listos para el consumo en bolsas de plástico dentro del mostrador de RIC. Se retiraron los envases de leche cruda.”

Se emitió una orden de cese de venta por control de tiempo/temperatura en alimentos seguros debido a abuso de temperatura. “Se observó gallo pinto (90 °F - Enfriamiento). Según el personal, desde las 6 a. m. Queso (59 °F - Enfriamiento). Según el personal, enfriándose desde anoche. Pollo cocido desmenuzado (62 °F - Enfriamiento) y tacos de pollo (56 °F - Enfriamiento), ambos productos enfriándose desde anoche. Se observó jamón (56 °F - Mantenimiento en frío). Según el personal, desde anoche en equipo de mantenimiento en frío. Se observó morcilla (102 °F - Mantenimiento en caliente). Según el personal, más de 4 horas.” VIOLACIÓN REITERADA

Control de tiempo/temperatura para garantizar la seguridad de los alimentos refrigerados a más de 41 grados Fahrenheit. “Se observó jamón (56 °F - Conservación en frío). Según el personal, desde anoche se encuentra en el equipo de refrigeración”.

Control de tiempo/temperatura para alimentos seguros, excepto asados ​​de carne enteros, mantenidos calientes a menos de 135 grados Fahrenheit. “Se observó morsilla (102 °F - Mantenimiento en caliente). Según el personal, más de 4 horas fuera del control de temperatura”. VIOLACIÓN REINCIDENTE

Alimentos listos para consumir, procesados ​​comercialmente y que requieren control de tiempo y temperatura para su seguridad, fueron abiertos y almacenados durante más de 24 horas sin la fecha de apertura debidamente marcada. Se observó queso envasado comercialmente, porcionado y almacenado en bolsas individuales sin etiquetas dentro del refrigerador en el mostrador principal, así como pan en el mostrador principal.

El empleado no ha recibido la capacitación adecuada para sus funciones, como lo demuestra su incapacidad para responder preguntas básicas sobre seguridad alimentaria. “Se observó que el personal desconocía cómo calibrar el termómetro mediante el método en frío. Se les instruyó sobre el procedimiento correcto para calibrarlo”.

El empleado se lavó las manos en un lavabo distinto al autorizado. “Observé que el personal se lavaba las manos en el mostrador de 3CS. Les expliqué el procedimiento correcto”.

El establecimiento no cuenta con procedimientos escritos que los empleados deban seguir en caso de vómito o diarrea, cuando el vómito o la diarrea se produzcan en las superficies del establecimiento.

El lavamanos se utilizaba para fines distintos al lavado de manos. “Se observó un utensilio dentro del lavamanos en la línea de cocción. El utensilio fue retirado.”

El gerente o la persona a cargo no presenta comprobante de certificación de gerente de alimentos. “Se observó a Joshua sin capacitación certificada”.

No se proporcionó ningún kit de prueba química al usar desinfectante en el lavavajillas de tres compartimentos ni paños de limpieza. “No se observaron tiras reactivas para cloro disponibles”.

No hay agua caliente corriente en el fregadero de tres compartimentos. “Se observó agua a 80 °F en ambos compartimentos. El agua corrió durante 3 minutos”.

No se proporcionaron toallas de papel ni secadores de manos mecánicos en el lavamanos. “No se observaron toallas de papel en el lavamanos de la línea de cocina”.

No se proporcionó comprobante de la capacitación obligatoria estatal para empleados. Para solicitar material del programa de seguridad alimentaria aprobado, llame al proveedor contratado por DBPR: Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association (SafeStaff) 866-372-7233. “Se observó que Oscar, Pedro y Crisbel no contaban con capacitación en manipulación de alimentos”.

No había desinfectante disponible para lavar la vajilla. Solo se utilizaron utensilios desechables para servir la comida a los clientes hasta que se dispusiera de desinfectante. «No se observó ningún tipo de desinfectante disponible. El personal compró cloro en la tienda de conveniencia ubicada junto al restaurante».

Se ofrecían alimentos de origen animal crudos o poco cocidos y el establecimiento no contaba con un aviso escrito para el consumidor. Los alimentos de origen animal crudos deben cocinarse completamente antes de servirlos. «No se observó ningún aviso para el consumidor sobre la carne asada. Se proporcionó un aviso durante la inspección y este fue publicado».

Alimentos listos para consumir, que requieren control de tiempo y temperatura para su seguridad, preparados en el establecimiento y conservados durante más de 24 horas, no estaban debidamente fechados. «Observamos arroz con leche sin fecha. Según el personal, tenía menos de dos días».

No se suministró agua a una temperatura mínima de 85 grados Fahrenheit en el lavamanos para empleados, o bien, el suministro estaba cortado. «Se observó agua a 80 °F en todos los lavamanos. El agua estuvo corriendo durante 3 minutos».

El baño, ubicado dentro del establecimiento, no está completamente cerrado con puertas de cierre automático y herméticas. “Observado únicamente en el baño”. VIOLACIÓN REITERADA.

Bol u otro recipiente sin asa utilizado para servir comida. “Se observó un bol sin asa utilizado para servir arroz en el área de almacenamiento de alimentos secos. El bol fue retirado.”

Techo no liso, no absorbente y fácil de limpiar en áreas de preparación de alimentos, almacenamiento de alimentos o lavado de utensilios. “Observado en todo el establecimiento”.

El equipo de refrigeración no se encuentra en buen estado. No almacene alimentos que requieran control de tiempo/temperatura para su seguridad en esta unidad hasta que se repare. «Se observó un refrigerador RIC frente al fregadero de fregonas con una temperatura interna de 50 °F».

No se muestra la licencia actual del hotel o restaurante.

Artículos personales de los empleados almacenados en o sobre un área de preparación de alimentos, alimentos, equipos y utensilios limpios, o artículos de un solo uso. “Se observó un teléfono celular sobre el equipo de preparación de alimentos en el área de preparación”.

Empleado sin sujeción para el cabello mientras preparaba alimentos. “Se observó a un empleado preparando alimentos sin sujeción para el cabello en el área de preparación”.

Alimentos almacenados en el suelo. “Se observaron recipientes de aceite para freír en el suelo, tanto en la zona de cocción como en el área de almacenamiento en seco”. VIOLACIÓN REINCIDENTE.

Acumulación de hielo en el congelador vertical y/o en el congelador industrial. “Se observó acumulación de hielo en un pequeño congelador horizontal blanco en el área de almacenamiento en seco”. VIOLACIÓN REINCIDENTE

Mango de la pala para hielo en contacto con el hielo. “Se observó el mango de la pala para hielo en contacto con el hielo dentro de la máquina de hielo. El personal colocó correctamente la pala.”

No hay ninguna señal de maniobra de Heimlich/asfixia colocada. VIOLACIÓN REINCIDENTE.

No se encontró ningún termómetro de temperatura ambiente en un lugar visible de la unidad de retención. «No se observó ningún termómetro ambiental en el pequeño RIC situado junto a la mesa de vapor».

No se encontró ningún letrero que indicara la necesidad de lavarse las manos en el lavamanos utilizado por los empleados de la cocina. “Solo se observó en el baño”.

No hay agua caliente corriente en el fregadero para fregar. “Se observó que el agua estaba a 80 °F. El agua corrió durante 3 minutos”.

Abra la tapa del contenedor de basura.

Sistema de plomería en mal estado. “Se observó que la manija del agua fría del calentador de agua no funcionaba en el mostrador principal”.

Cubiertos/utensilios almacenados en posición vertical con la superficie en contacto con los alimentos hacia arriba. “Se observaron utensilios no almacenados en posición vertical en el área de preparación”. VIOLACIÓN REINCIDENTE

Se utilizó un paño de limpieza seco sucio. “Se observó un inodoro sucio en la zona de la parrilla”.

Pared sucia con grasa acumulada, restos de comida y/o polvo. “Se observó la pared sucia detrás de la línea de cocción”.

El paño húmedo no se guarda en solución desinfectante entre usos. “Observado en todo el establecimiento”.

Envases de alimentos usados, retirados de sus envases originales, sin identificar por su nombre común. “Se observó un envase de azúcar sin etiquetar en el área de preparación frontal”. VIOLACIÓN REITERADA

MENCIÓN HONORÍFICA

**CHINA BUFFET II

1032 SW 67TH AVE

WESTCHESTER

INSPECCIÓN BASADA EN UNA DENUNCIA

FECHA DE INSPECCIÓN 23/9

Se detectaron 29 infracciones.

Envase de medicamento almacenado incorrectamente. “Se observó que el medicamento del empleado estaba almacenado en estantes junto con envases de alimentos en el área de almacenamiento trasera”.

Un empleado comenzó a manipular alimentos, equipos o utensilios limpios, o a tocar artículos desechables sin envolver sin lavarse las manos previamente. “Observé a un empleado comenzar a preparar alimentos en la cocina hibachi sin lavarse las manos. Hablé con el operador sobre los procedimientos adecuados de lavado de manos y le brindé capacitación sobre los métodos requeridos”.

Bolsas no aptas para alimentos usadas en contacto directo con alimentos. “Se observó melón amargo almacenado dentro de una bolsa no apta para alimentos. El gerente retiró el producto de la bolsa.”

Alimentos crudos de origen animal almacenados encima de alimentos listos para el consumo o sin la separación adecuada de estos. “Se observó tocino crudo almacenado encima de costillas cocidas en el refrigerador cerca de la entrada de la cocina. Se observaron champiñones rellenos de pollo crudo almacenados encima de pescado crudo en el refrigerador cerca de la freidora. El empleado reorganizó los productos.”

Los alimentos crudos de origen animal no estaban debidamente separados entre sí en la unidad de almacenamiento, según la temperatura mínima de cocción requerida. Se observó pollo crudo almacenado sobre carne de res cruda en el refrigerador de preparación. Se observaron champiñones rellenos de pollo crudo almacenados sobre pescado crudo en el refrigerador cerca de la freidora.

Control de tiempo/temperatura para la seguridad de los alimentos refrigerados a más de 5 °C (41 °F). “Se observó ajo fresco con aceite (24 °C - Refrigeración) a temperatura ambiente en la línea de cocción. Según el empleado, durante 2 horas. El empleado colocó el producto dentro del refrigerador.”

Sustancia tóxica/producto químico almacenado incorrectamente. “Se observó un recipiente de cloro almacenado junto a vasos limpios en el área de lavado de platos. El gerente retiró los vasos limpios.”

Superficie en contacto con alimentos sucia con restos de comida, moho o una sustancia viscosa. “Se observó una rebanadora sucia con restos de comida vieja. Se observó una cuchara para hielo sucia. Se observaron cucharas para harina y maicena muy sucias con restos de comida vieja. Se observaron bandejas para hornear almacenadas muy sucias con restos de comida vieja.”

El lavamanos se utilizaba para fines distintos al lavado de manos. «Se observaron restos de comida dentro del lavamanos cerca de la freidora».

No existen procedimientos escritos para el uso del tiempo como control de salud pública para mantener el control de tiempo/temperatura para la seguridad alimentaria. “Se habló del tema con el empleado, se le dio capacitación y se le envió el formulario por correo electrónico”.

La persona a cargo no pudo responder preguntas básicas sobre el Código Alimentario relativas al funcionamiento seguro del establecimiento. “Observé que la persona a cargo desconocía las temperaturas de calibración del termómetro de sonda. Le brindé capacitación y le mostré cómo calibrarlo”.

Alimentos listos para consumir, que requieren control de tiempo y temperatura para su seguridad, preparados en el establecimiento y conservados durante más de 24 horas, no estaban debidamente fechados. «Se observó sopa de res, cerdo cocido, pollo cocido y champiñones rellenos en la cámara frigorífica sin fechar. Según el empleado, los productos se prepararon el día anterior».

Acumulación de cal en el interior del lavavajillas.

Bol u otro recipiente sin asa utilizado para servir la comida. “Se observó un bol de metal guardado dentro de un recipiente de pollo crudo en el refrigerador de preparación”.

Los azulejos del techo y las rejillas de ventilación estaban sucios en toda la cocina, las zonas de lavado de platos y los almacenes.

Equipo en mal estado. “Se observó una picadora de carne en mal estado cerca del congelador industrial”.

Establecimiento que utiliza esponjas metálicas en superficies limpias y desinfectadas, o en superficies en contacto con alimentos que estén en uso, en la estación de wok.

La puerta exterior tiene un hueco en el umbral que da al exterior. «Se observó un hueco entre las puertas dobles en la zona de almacenamiento en seco».

El suelo de la cámara frigorífica y la zona de lavado de platos están cubiertos de agua estancada.

El suelo de la cámara frigorífica y de los congeladores estaba sucio.

Alimentos almacenados en el suelo. “Se observaron recipientes de plástico de salsa barbacoa y salsa de soja almacenados en el suelo de la zona de cocción.”

Superficie que no está en contacto con alimentos sucia de grasa, restos de comida, suciedad, lodo o polvo. “Se observó el exterior de los recipientes para almacenar alimentos sucio con una sustancia negra. Se observaron juntas y lateral del refrigerador de preparación sucios.”

Se observaron escurridores de platos sucios con una sustancia negra.

Los estantes refrigerados de la estación hibachi presentan acumulación de residuos de tierra.

Agua estancada en el fondo del refrigerador. “Observado en el refrigerador cerca de la entrada de la cocina”. VIOLACIÓN REITERADA

Alimentos almacenados sin tapar. “Se observó carne de cerdo y pollo cocidos sin tapar en el refrigerador cerca de la entrada de la cocina”.

Diez (10) candelas-pie de luz a una altura mínima de 30 pulgadas del suelo no se proporcionan en la cámara frigorífica.

Componentes, accesorios o instalaciones del edificio sucios. “Se observó la campana extractora de la estación hibachi sucia de grasa”.

Pared sucia cerca de las máquinas de hielo en la parte trasera y cerca del área de jarabe para refrescos. “Se observó una pared muy sucia de grasa cerca de la toma de corriente en la estación hibachi”.

Katalyst Space Technologies announced the demise of its three-armed spacecraft named Link. It reentered the atmosphere overnight, bringing the $30 million, NASA-sponsored salvage effort of the Swift Observatory to a close.

Swift is expected to follow in early November as its orbit steadily sinks.

“While we’ll be sad to see Swift’s mission come to a close, we knew this boost effort would be worthwhile either way,” NASA’s Shawn Domagal-Goldman said in a statement.

It provided valuable practice for future satellite-rescue missions and pushed teams to rush against the clock like never before, Domagal-Goldman added.

Thrown together in under a year, Link was supposed to capture the 22-year-old Swift and then boost it to a higher, longer-lasting orbit so it could keep observing some of the biggest explosions in the universe. The sun’s intense flare-ups had put the telescope on a downward spiral faster than engineers anticipated.

To buy time, NASA suspended observations early this year and repositioned Swift to minimize the atmosphere’s downward drag. Otherwise, the telescope would have come down before help could arrive, according to managers.

Link launched on July 3, but quickly ran into electronic problems that took out two of the three reaction wheels needed to turn the spacecraft. Then a bad valve sent the satellite into a fast spin that disrupted communication. Engineers regained control, but Link didn’t have enough fuel left to carry out its job and the rescue effort was called off in August.

Katalyst used the few weeks remaining to practice moving Link’s robot arms, each about 3 feet (1 meter) in length with a handlike gripper on the end. Flight controllers even managed to guide the spacecraft to within 7 miles to 9 miles (12 kilometers to 15 kilometers) of Swift, close enough to snap pictures.

“We knew from the beginning that this was an ambitious mission on an aggressive timeline,” Katalyst CEO Ghonhee Lee said in a statement.

Lee said the company will carry all the lessons learned to its future satellite-recovery endeavors. “This is a foundation we can build on," he added.

Swift is back to scanning the universe in the month or so that it has left.

Launched in 2004, the $364 million observatory is designed to pivot quickly — as its name suggests — to capture gamma ray bursts, exploding stars and other fast-breaking cosmic action. That ability allows Swift to serve as a lookout or first responder for other telescopes that can follow its lead. NASA is scrambling to see how it now will fill that gap.

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

The nine-city iHeartRadio Jingle Ball Tour will visit: Dallas/Fort Worth; Los Angeles; Chicago; Detroit; New York; Boston; Washington, D.C.; Philadelphia; and, for the first time, Nashville, Tennessee. The lineup will change depending on the city.

The tour will kick off at the Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, on Dec. 1 with Katseye, Raye, Ludacris, Myles Smith, Tove Lo, Kylie Cantrall, The Beaches and JYT.

Los Angeles is next with Rodrigo's only appearance on this tour Dec. 4; then Chicago led by Raye on Dec. 7; Detroit led by Warren on Dec. 8; Boston with Duff and Sombr on Dec. 13; Washington, D.C., with Jonas Brothers and Sombr on Dec. 14; Philadelphia with Puth and Sombr on Dec. 15; and Nashville with Duff and Warren on Dec. 17.

The Jingle Ball concert was first introduced in 1996 at Madison Square Garden by New York radio station Z100 and has since become a multicity tour and an annual tradition.

This year, the Dec. 11 Madison Square Garden concert will feature Duff, Sombr, Warren, Puth, Swims, Spiro, Tomorrow X Together & Yeonjun, Stella Lefty and Freya Skye with special guest performances from Bella Kay and The Beaches.

A presale for Capital One cardholders will begin Sept. 29 at 10 a.m. local time and end Oct. 1 or while supplies last. Tickets for the general public from Ticketmaster will go on sale Oct. 2.

The iHeartRadio Jingle Ball tour stops will be part of a nationwide television special as well, airing on ABC in December. It will be available on Hulu and Disney+ the next day.

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According to the Miami Police Department, officers responded to the 400 block of Southwest Eighth Court at around 5:45 a.m. and found the wounded victim.

Medics took the 33-year-old man to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center. Authorities said he was “stable” as of Friday morning.

Authorities have not announced any arrests or a suspected motive.

Police said they are investigating the “circumstances surrounding this incident.”

Según el Departamento de Policía de Miami, agentes acudieron a la cuadra 400 de Southwest Eighth Court alrededor de las 5:45 a.m. y encontraron a la víctima herida.

Paramédicos trasladaron al hombre de 33 años al Centro de Traumatología Ryder del Hospital Jackson Memorial. Las autoridades dijeron que se encontraba “estable” hasta la mañana del viernes.

Las autoridades no han anunciado ningún arresto ni un posible motivo.

La policía dijo que está investigando las “circunstancias que rodean este incidente”.

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It happened in the 700 block of Southeast Eighth Street in the city’s Rio Vista neighborhood.

According to Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue, nobody was hurt. The boom truck belonged to Cooper Crane, a company based in West Park.

“Luckily, there was nobody home at the time,” Frank Guzman, an FLFR spokesperson, said.

Officials said crews were working to install a fumigation tent when the weight of the load pulled the crane down.

Video from Sky 10 shows that the crane took out a small section of the outer portion of the home’s roof; it did not appear to have significantly penetrated it.

Guzman said that city inspectors “determined that it is an unsafe structure.”

Cooper Crane had to bring out another crane to lift the equipment off of the home. It, too, collapsed.

Neighbors said the mishap represents a setback for a family that was about to move into the home.

This financial move does not affect Brightline's sister company Brightline West, which is working to build a high-speed railroad between Las Vegas and a stop outside Los Angeles in Southern California.

The deal that Brightline worked out with its creditors will allow the railroad to borrow $490 million more as it works to attract enough riders to pay all of its bills. Assured Guaranty said on Friday that the financing commitments include $350 million of new junior debt and $140 million of additional senior debt.

Assured said that Brightline Trains Florida LLC, which runs the railroad, has not filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, but that certain other Brightline Florida entities did file for such protection.

“Brightline is a critical part of Florida’s transportation network that has changed the way people move around the state,” Brightline Florida CEO Patrick Goddard said in a statement. “Today’s agreement brings $490 million in new long-term capital to Brightline from the stakeholders who know this business, and it comes at a time of real momentum.”

Brightline earned the worst safety record of any railroad in the nation with more than 200 deaths along its tracks since it was founded, but Goddard said at a news conference earlier this month that the railroad has been working to improve safety with better safety measures around rail crossings.

The company has seen its ridership grow 14% for the year-to-date through August, with revenue up 17% for the same period when compared with last year.

But Tim Hynes, who is head of Global Credit Research at Debtwire, said Brightline's current ridership of about 3.5 million people a year that generates about $240 million of revenue is less than half the number of riders and one-third of the revenue the railroad predicted in 2024. He said that's why Brightline needed to rework its debt and obtain additional financing.

“The broader lesson is that intercity rail financed mainly with private high-yield debt is very hard to make work, so expect future projects to lean more on public money,” said Hynes, who also thinks investors will demand more conservative ridership forecasts.

Brightline first began running its trains between Miami and Orlando in 2023. The company began operating between Miami and West Palm Beach in 2018. But it is only able to run at its maximum speed of 125 mph (202 kph) on the stretch between the Orlando airport and Cocoa, Florida, because that section is totally fenced off and doesn't have any public grade crossings.

Brightline hopes to eventually extend its service to Tampa.

Nonprofits, foundations and corporations pack Manhattan ballrooms and closed-door meetings each September to direct some sliver of the world's attention — and funding — to their missions. Timed annually to the U.N. General Assembly's high-level meetings, the scramble is even more urgent after recent sharp declines in funding sent by some of the richest countries to poorer ones.

Across the many conferences, forums and roundtables, the week exposed the gulf between the biggest aid organizations, who have the money and connections to weather this period of public aid retrenchment, and others grappling with their role in the changing landscape for humanitarian funding.

Big movers still made big pledges. The Gates Foundation touted its $1 billion commitment to AI-powered tools for farmers, educators and health workers. Bill Clinton called on Clinton Global Initiative attendees to “step into the void created by retreating governments."

There, former USAID administrator Samantha Power highlighted the ways her coalition to end childhood lead poisoning adapted when U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration dismantled her former agency, USAID.

“Philanthropies took risks. Governments took ownership. Multilateral institutions invested and the coalition kept moving," Power, a Harvard professor, said Wednesday at CGI. "That is the story of optimism I want to leave you with today."

Other mid-sized actors described a mixed mood. Major foundations are still in “soul-searching mode,” according to Global Fund for Children co-CEO John Hecklinger. His fund serves as an intermediary between well-endowed foundations and more grassroots nonprofits. Funders, he finds, understandably can't fill every gap but are also hesitant to maintain the previous status quo.

“There’s not this forced, strategic approach. The vision is disjointed,” said Ann Lee, the co-founder and CEO of Community Organized Relief Effort. “It’s very, very sort of ad hoc.”

Nonprofits turn to new donor countries

Still, the U.N. sidelines brought out new nonprofits and funders eager for impact. Eleanor Crook Foundation CEO William Moore spent the week garnering support for his fledgling nonprofit to eradicate child deaths from acute malnutrition.

Operation End Starvation launched this summer with a $100 million, two-year commitment from the U.S. State Department. But Moore anticipates needing 17 times more every year to purchase enough therapeutic foods such as peanut butter paste and get them into starving children's mouths. On Wednesday, OES announced a $5 million grant from the Gates Foundation.

The goal is to eventually become for malnutrition what vaccines alliance Gavi is for immunizations or what The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is for the deadliest infections. His pitch: OES will pay for overhead and match one-third of government money through philanthropy if countries cover the costs of the foods and delivery.

Moore noted one lunch he had scheduled with Nigeria's health minister — part of a sector-wide shift to partner with the high-burden countries where aid organizations work.

“They've said, ‘We’re ready for this. We're ready to take on this additional responsibility. We want to own the systems that are needed to improve the livelihoods of our people,'" Moore said. "We're really excited as philanthropy also to be of service to that.”

Moore's nonprofit is among a growing number turning to Arab Gulf nations. Moore said Operation End Starvation is having good conversations with official state donor entities and the philanthropies affiliated with their royal families.

The region's leaders have recognized a need “to fund and to bridge the gap” created by aid cuts, according to Hammam bin Nasser bin Juraied, executive director of the Arab Gulf Programme for Development.

An ‘openness to collaboration’

Other aid groups are working more closely with local partners in hopes of reducing overhead costs and increasing their impact.

Education Cannot Wait Director Maysa Jalbout, whose nonprofit lost funding from the Trump administration, said they've committed to delivering at least half their funds through local organizations.

She's trying to raise $600 million to provide education for 10 million crisis-affected children by 2030. She's actually continued to see support from Germany, the United Kingdom and Switzerland. She found herself speaking more than usual this week with philanthropies and the private sector about their “collective responsibility” to meet the increased demand for aid. That includes new partners to provide meals, water and electricity in schools.

“There is this level of, at least on our part, openness to collaboration that comes out of need that maybe we haven't seen before,” Jalbout said.

Other leaders saw a greater presence from family offices — the private advisers who manage the affluent's wealth. Agnes Dasewicz, chief investment and program officer at the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet, said she encountered many family office advisers at a breakfast organized by an informal network of women in climate.

Their presence underscores what Dasewicz said is a growing number of individuals who want their personal wealth to have world influence but don't want the publicity or responsibility of a major foundation. Family offices can act much more flexibly. But they can be harder to find.

“You go talk to them and it turns out they gave out $200 million in grants last year. And you’ve never heard of them,” she said. “But they’re out there. And they’re very interested really in bettering the livelihoods of people in other countries.”

An appearance from a Buffett

Even Howard G. Buffett, the eldest son of mega-billionaire investor Warren Buffett and one of three children tasked with giving away their father's fortune after his death, ditched his private family farm for Midtown Manhattan this year.

He was motivated by what he saw as lagging support for Ukraine. Howard, who recently became Berkshire Hathaway’s new chairman, said Thursday at a forum hosted by the news organization Devex that “you cannot come to this week in New York without making Ukraine one of the highest priorities” of discussion.

His foundation, which doubled its spending when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, has given the country $1.4 billion. The World Bank estimates the total cost of reconstruction and recovery in Ukraine at almost $588 billion — or nearly three times the country's gross domestic product — over the next decade.

From grocery stores to mail delivery, Howard said, there are needs in Ukraine that American companies should invest in. His foundation pledged to finance the rebuilding of a Kharkiv-based publishing house destroyed by Russian missiles. An attack on the maker of children's books and educational materials, he said, is “how you destroy a society.”

It's “amazing” to Howard that he hasn't been joined by more U.S. foundations focused on democracy. “Ukraine is the fight today that is telling the world whether we have the wherewithal to protect those values,” he said.

He also hinted at how his foundation might give away some of his father's hundreds of billions of dollars. They'll have to take more risks, he said, while also finding some recipients prepared to absorb $500 million donations at a time.

“I couldn’t imagine not continuing funding in Ukraine for a lot of years," he added.

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

The European Commission fined X late last year for breaches of the bloc’s landmark digital regulations, stoking tensions with Washington.

The U.S. Justice Department said Thursday that it had filed an application to support X's bid to have the case annulled at the European Union's General Court. It was the second time in three months that the Justice Department has intervened to defend a company owned by Musk.

In July, the Justice Department filed a motion to intervene in a civil rights lawsuit that alleges Musk’s xAI is illegally running dozens of natural gas turbines to power a $20 billion AI data center in Mississippi.

In that case, the NAACP and other groups said xAI failed to get a permit for its power plant — which is located near homes, schools and churches — creating health risks for families in North Mississippi and nearby Memphis and violating the federal Clean Air Act.

Trump and the world's richest businessman appeared to dial down a war of words that stunned Washington and Wall Street alike last year after Musk called Trump's tax breaks and spending cuts a “disgusting abomination.”

Musk on Thursday evening attended a state dinner held by Trump honoring China’s leader Xi Jinping, along with other tech titans.

The EU fine against X, which followed a two-year investigation, was the first penalty issued under the bloc's digital regulations governing online content. Regulators said X’s blue checkmarks broke the rules because they involved“deceptive design practices” and could expose users to scams and manipulation.

European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier said Friday that it is the EU’s “sovereign right” to draft legislation aimed at protecting its citizens.

“We are enforcing our legislation objectively, transparently and with a solid case,” he told reporters. “We are ready to defend our position in court. We have a lot of evidence at our disposal, and it will be for the court to decide as always.”

The commission is the top enforcer of the 27-nation EU's Digital Services Act, which requires tech companies to clean up their online platforms under threat of hefty financial penalties.

But the rulebook has become a flashpoint with the Trump administration, and U.S. officials have criticized it as amounting to online censorship.

The Justice Department warned that the fine, if upheld, “may have significant implications” for U.S. online platforms and other companies providing digital services in the EU.

Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division said in Thursday's statement that the "European Commission inappropriately attempted to expand its regulatory authority to reach American companies not present or operating within its jurisdiction,”

“We will not tolerate the European Commission engaging in regulatory overreach to try and control American engines of innovation and economic growth,” he said.

When asked whether the Justice Department had informed the commission that it intended to back Musk, Regnier said: “We do not need to be informed about anything.”

He said the commission doesn't expect the case to hurt broader relations between Brussels and Washington, notably in talks to mitigate the damage of Trump administration tariffs.

“From our perspective, nothing will change because of a DSA case,” he said.

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AP Business Writer Kelvin Chan contributed to this report from London.

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This version corrects the day Regnier spoke to Friday instead of Thursday.

The zoo said the quintuplets — four males and one female — that were born on June 18 had faced a tough time from the start.

Their mother, Daenerys, opted to give birth in an outdoor enclosure with a period of strong storms hitting Prague soon after.

Despite her inexperience, Daenerys took “exemplary” good care of her first cubs under such weather conditions.

Daenerys protected the five from torrential rains, licking water from their fluffy fur to keep them dry, curator Pavel Brandl said.

In the wild, the cheetah’s infant mortality is high because of predators, and cheetah cubs also are vulnerable to diseases such as pneumonia.

To make things worse, Daenerys suffered from an intestinal infection in August.

But despite all odds, the five looked lively and healthy on Friday.

“At this moment, everything seems fine, but it’s still a long run,” Brandl said. He said that it might take a year before it’s clear that they will survive the crucial period after their birth.

Scientists say every cub is critical to saving the species, which is threatened with extinction.

Cheetahs are the fastest animals on land that can reach maximum speeds of between 70 and 75 mph (112 kph and 120 kph). It’s estimated that fewer than 7,000 of them remain in the wild.

President Trump announced two days ago that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has started negotiations once again with members of the Cuban government.

Cuba’s Vice Minister Fernández de Cosio was quickly to react and make it clear that such negotiations are not true.

In the meantime the support amongst the Cuban-American and Venezuelan community for Trump is eroding fast ahead of the midterm elections.

Sept. 24: The Trump administration needs a lesson in simple mathematics

At a press conference Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in reference to Cuba that we cannot expect to change a country that has been under a totalitarian regime for 60 years in six months. First, Mr. Secretary, this coming Jan. 1 will mark 68 (2027-1959= 68) years since the Castro’s took over power.

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Trump, Rubio and the Cuban American members of Congress from South Florida have said multiple times that by the end of 2026 the Cuban government would fall. Now they say by the end of 2029. Maybe the 6 was reversed from the beginning.

Secondly, we captured Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela this past January. The following week, President Trump said that in two weeks (a week has 7 days. 7x2=14), Cuba would be next. Let’s check the math, Mr. President. It’s been eight months since the capture of Maduro. That’s about 240 days.

The foreign policy of this administration continues to be a disaster. We have 101 ambassadorial appointments open around the world out of 196. 40 appointees are waiting Senate hearing and confirmation. But their qualifications are so bad they probably will not be confirm. 95% of President Trump’s ambassadorial appointments are political with limited international relations and diplomatic knowledge.

Furthermore, 42 times the Trump administration has announced a cease fire with Iran because both nations were close to a deal. So far the war goes on with no clear exit strategy.

In the meantime, Cuban Americans and Venezuelans in South Florida have realized that the Trump administration strategies are just a game with empty promises.

There is still time to correct your calculations but you are running out of time, mid-term elections are around the corner. Do the math.

Sept. 22: Trump calls Cuba ‘failed state that will fall’

This morning, President Donald Trump addressed the annual United Nations General Assembly meeting.

In his speech, he called Cuba a “failed state that will fall.” He further stated that “communism will never come to the U.S. but liberty will soon come to Cuba.” Trump further stated that Cuba represents a threat to U.S. national security -- all these accusations without giving any specific details.

Sept. 22: Wealthy, influential Cuban-Americans with ties to Trump planning for ‘post-communist’ Cuba if regimes falls

According to an article by the Wall Street Journal, wealthy and influential Cuban-Americans with ties to President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have been meeting in lawyer offices and hotel conference rooms to plan for a “post-communist” Cuba if the regime were to fall soon.

The “change” model seems to first attempt to stabilize Cuba by restructuring the economy that could possibly lead to a new form of government.

Many of these individuals are planning to personally play a role in rebuilding Cuba. These individuals run wealthy businesses. However, for the most part, the opposition groups in South Florida have been left out of these conversations or any role they might play in the future of Cuba.

Sept. 21: Cuba’s leadership continue to blame their problems on everybody else except themselves

Cuban Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Carlos Fernandez de Cossio made a surreal statement yesterday, claiming that everyone at the top of the Cuban government leadership get, on average, two hours of electricity per day.

We know that most of Cuba’s inner circle of power have generators or solar panels that provide them electricity around the clock each day.

What Fernandez de Cossio does not admit is that the electrical problem has been caused by the Cuban government not being able to fix the outdated electrical plans that are the cause of the problem.

Sept. 18: Republican Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar breaks with Trump over immigration policy

After supporting President Donald Trump’s policy on immigration, Republican Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar issued a video yesterday criticizing Trump.

The Department of Homeland Security was quickly to react and say that the Trump administration will continue enforcing the policy.

We need to ask ourselves whether Salazar’s change of heart has to do more with political survival since she faces a tough race in the midterm elections this coming November from well known South Floridian Eliott Rodriguez (D).

Sept. 17: Cuba is not Venezuela

A new poll recently done by FIU, inside Venezuela and Cuba, show how different the situations are for U.S. foreign policy.

The poll shows that 90% of Venezuelans want free and democratic elections this year, which I do not believe the current Interim President Delcy Rodriguez will agree to. I’m also sure that she will use Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s plan of “stabilization, recovery, and transition phase” to say that the first stage has not been fully accomplished. There was no timetable put on the plan.

The case of Cuba is very different. The population wants their economic and social needs met before political reforms, which goes to my argument that Cuba has a very short history of democratic governments.

So to remind our local members of Congress. To say that “we must return Cuba to democracy” will not happen anytime soon.

Sept. 16: Rubio’s latest actions on Cuba

Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently sent more humanitarian aid to Cuba, and it is being distributed by the non-governmental organization (NGO) associated with the Catholic Church, Caritas of Cuba.

At the same time, Rubio warned international banks and businesses not to collaborate with any Cuban business entities that have been sanctioned by the U.S.

Secretary Rubio also called for the Cuban government to change and become a democracy.

By now, we should understand that changing governments like Cuba, which have been under totalitarian control, is not easy and will take time. Especially countries like Cuba that, in their political history, have had unsustainable democratic governments.

Sept. 15: Cuba becomes a betting market for U.S. prediction markets

Cuba has become a betting market in the USA.

The betting site Polymarket shows how people in the U.S. are betting on everything from the removal of Cuba’s President Miguel Díaz-Canel from power to when and if the U.S. will invade Cuba or make an economic agreement with Cuba.

The last prediction is whether the U.S. will go and get indicted Cuban leader Raúl Castro.

Sept. 10: Russia denies Cuba full membership in BRICS

BRICS is an organization of 11 emerging economies around the world. The organization works to influence their global importance and reshape economic governance.

The membership includes Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates.

Partner nations include Belarus, Cuba, Nigeria and Thailand.

The Russians turned down Cuba for full membership into the organization because of Cuba’s poor economic conditions and poor predictions by economists moving forward.

Sept. 9: Cuba and the U.S. stuck in diplomatic rhetoric

Cuba’s Brigadier General Emir Mesa Corona, who is in charge of personal security at the Ministry of Interior, sent a strong message to the U.S. not to even think of trying to kidnap Raul Castro or anyone in Cuba’s government or they will face serious consequences.

At the same time, Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parilla admitted that backroom negotiations with the U.S. continue but the U.S. will not soften their positions. Cuba wants the economic embargo lifted while the U.S. wants regime change.

Sept. 8: Blind passion for Cuban politics leads to a political circus between Miami, Havana and DC

As a little boy growing up in Miami, I remember when every presidential candidate from both political parties would come to campaign in Miami and promised that if elected, they would work to see a “Free Cuba.” They would end their speeches with “Viva Cuba Libre.” Local politicians representing different municipalities in Miami-Dade would talk about U.S. foreign policy towards Cuba like they controlled it, and yet, they had nothing to do with it within their scope of responsibilities. But it got them the votes they needed to be elected and remain in power, while political leaders in Cuba continued to blame everything wrong on the island on the U.S. economic embargo, or as they call it, “the blockade.”

On Jan. 3, the U.S. military captured Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela with the assistance of their current Interim President Delcy Rodriguez and brought him to the U.S. to face justice. Shortly thereafter, President Donald Trump announced that Cuba would be next.

The Trump administration began to sanction Cuban organizations and individuals of the government in an attempt to squeeze them out of power. So far, they are still in power. The Cuban government began to prepare for a U.S. invasion. To this date, it has not happened and probably never will.

On May 20, the U.S. Justice Department indicted Raul Castro for the downing of the Brothers to the Rescue planes in 1996 in a theater-like political rally at the Freedom Tower in downtown Miami. So far nothing has happened and nothing is going to happen. There is no Delcy Rodriguez in Cuba. A week ago, many media outlets across Miami reported, based on sources from inside the island, that Raul Castro was gravely ill. This past weekend, Raul reappeared surrounded by Cuba’s military elite.

Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the three Cuban-American members of Congress from South Florida had announced that by the end of 2026, Cuba would fall. Now it has been pushed back to 2029. Furthermore, Rubio recently said that the problem in dealing with Cuba is the Helms-Burton Law (Senator Jesse Helms and Richard Burton, both Republicans) that was enacted by Congress in 1996, also with the hard work of the late Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart and signed into law by Democratic President Bill Clinton.

The three Cuban-American members of Congress made it clear that the goal was to return Cuba to democracy. What democracy? Cuba did not have a democratic government before Fidel Castro took power. How much do they really know about Cuban history? Or is it just a play on words and empty promises?

So as time passes each day, the Cuban-American community is beginning to ask itself, what is really going on in D.C.?

It would not surprise me that in the near future the Trump organizations would negotiate to buy the empty Melia Hotels in Cuba and put the Trump name on them. After all, we now own a big chunk of Venezuelan oil and there was no regime change as promised.

Will we ever learn? How much longer are we going to be blind by our passion?

Sept 6: Raul Castro makes public appearance

After much speculation about Cuba’s Raul Castro being close to death, the Cuban leader showed up at a military event yesterday accompanied by his grandson, Raulito, and Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel.

Sept 3: Raul Castro stable, according to sources

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sept. 1: Raul Castro hospitalized, sources say

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

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

Meanwhile, Trump is taking Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit the National Archives on Friday, showing off the sacred texts of U.S. democracy to the leader of the world’s most powerful communist country to cap off a three-day state visit criticized for being heavy on pomp and light on substance.

Here's the latest:

Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson to meet with tech CEOs on AI next week

The White House meeting set for Tuesday is something the House speaker has encouraged the president to do, suggesting the leaders should go behind closed doors to hash out a strategy as voices sound alarms about AI technology.

Johnson has dismissed concerns about AI as overhyped but the political leaders are under growing pressure from constituents and the tech executives themselves to chart a path forward. The meeting was first reported by Axios.

Xi calls the visit ‘very successful’ and says they are ‘very satisfied’

He expressed his thanks for the treatment he and his wife, Peng Liyuan, have received so far.

Xi thanked Trump and the first lady for “everything” they did for him and his wife.

“The highest courtesies, the most meticulous arrangements,” Xi said in Chinese. “This visit is very successful, and we also feel very satisfied.”

Supreme Court lets Trump administration use revamped federal voter eligibility database for now

The Supreme Court on Friday lifted restrictions on a controversial federal voter database before November’s elections, granting President Trump a temporary win in his aggressive campaign against noncitizen voting.

The emergency order allows states, for now, to use the Department of Homeland Security program, called Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, in their efforts to verify the eligibility of voters on their rolls. But because existing law blocks most states from systematically purging voters from their rolls within 90 days of an election, the immediate impact on the upcoming midterms is likely limited.

States’ use of the SAVE program is voluntary.

The court’s order puts on hold a federal judge’s June ruling that had deemed the Republican administration’s recently revamped version of SAVE illegal.

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After days of tirades against the press, Trump offers thanks for fair coverage

Speaking to reporters alongside Xi on Friday, Trump made a point of thanking the press.

“Thank you very much and we appreciate the fair coverage,” Trump told reporters. “It’s been very fair. We appreciate it.”

It was a hard turn from other comments Trump made throughout the week, attacking the U.S. press for what he sees as unfair coverage and attempting to ban CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House.

Xi and Trump have two more opportunities to meet this year

Chinese leader Xi Jinping said he expects to meet President Trump two more times this year as he wrapped up his state visit to Washington on Friday.

Xi extended an invite for Trump and his wife, Melania, to come to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, China, in November. He noted that they could meet again a month later at the G20 summit at the Trump National Doral Miami golf club in Florida.

“I do welcome Mr. President and the first lady to visit China,” Xi said.

Trump responded, “We will, and we’ll be speaking a lot.”

White House TV pool appears to be back in operation, but CNN’s media analyst calls situation ‘fluid’

The U.S. network video pool for the White House appeared to be back in operation Friday, although the situation “remains fluid,” according to the media analyst for CNN, one of three outlets that were banned for three days.

A judge temporarily struck down the ban of CNN, MS NOW and Politico on Thursday, but his ruling didn’t directly address the pool, which consists of five major U.S. broadcast outlets that take turns shooting and sharing video. In a show of solidarity, the other four had declined to participate in the video pool until CNN was reinstated.

CNN wasn’t commenting directly, referring instead to its editorial coverage. But Brian Stelter, the network’s media analyst, posted on X that the major networks plan to resume TV pool coverage of Trump events on Friday.

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Xi arrives at the White House for more time with Trump

The U.S. president ignored a series of questions from reporters as Chinese leader Xi Jinping came to the White House.

Trump was asked if he’d told Xi to stop buying Iranian oil. He was asked why he had chosen to try to ban some news outlets from the White House and if U.S. taxpayers should be paying for pro-Trump ads.

“Thank you very much,” was all Trump said.

Xi arrived with his wife, Peng Liyuan, and was met by Trump and his wife, Melania Trump, before entering the White House.

Iran has suggested a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in 7 days

Iran has offered to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume talks on its nuclear program in seven days if the United States lifts its naval blockade, waives sanctions on Iranian oil sales and observes a ceasefire that would include Lebanon.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi detailed the proposal in a private gathering Thursday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York, according to one attendee.

Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute think tank, who attended, said Araghchi suggested that a speedy agreement would help President Trump ahead of November’s midterm elections.

There was no immediate comment from Iran’s U.N. mission or other Iranian officials.

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Ukraine’s Zelenskyy says he urged Trump to enlist China’s help in ending Russia’s invasion

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters Friday he hasn’t yet received feedback from the White House about Trump’s talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping but expects to learn the outcome.

Zelenskyy, who’s keen to muster more international support for Ukraine’s defense, was in the United States this week on a trip coinciding with the U.N. General Assembly. He met with Trump on Tuesday.

NATO countries have called China a “decisive enabler” of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion.

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Xi’s day will begin at the White House

There, President Trump and first lady Melania Trump will host the Chinese leader and his wife, Peng Liyuan, for tea.

Macron says a U.S. diesel ban would inflict economic damage across the world

On Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview with French broadcasters that the diesel ban would damage economies across the world, including the U.S.

“This decision would be bad, not just for the rest of the world, but for the American economy, too,” Macron said. “I can tell you one thing: it wouldn’t be a good decision for his country and its economy.”

The European Union has increasingly turned to the U.S. for diesel since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the outbreak of the Iran war in February. The support Trump expressed this week for banning diesel exports to drive down U.S. prices worries the bloc, which would have to find alternative sources of the fuel.

Japan’s Takaichi says her country and the U.S. are allies

Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, asked about Trump’s remark during his talks with China’s Xi Jinping that their countries were “allies” during World War II, said Japan and the United States are close allies of mutual trust today.

“Japan and the United States waged war but we have since firmly reconciled, deepened our relationship and now we trust each other as strongly bonded allies,” Takaichi said.

Japan worries about closer U.S.-China ties at a time Tokyo struggles to mend worsening ties with Beijing. Takaichi’s comment last year that a potential Chinese military action against Taiwan could justify Japanese involvement outraged Beijing, spilling over to trade.

Protesters of Xi’s policies push for change in earshot of White House visit with Trump

Trump warmly welcomed Chinese leader Xi Jinping with a personal airport greeting, a tour of his new helipad and a candlelit dinner. But outside the White House, protests against Xi continued almost nonstop Thursday during his state visit.

The demonstrators represented a range of causes, from calls for religious autonomy and greater freedoms in Tibet, Hong Kong and the ethnic region of Xinjiang to demands to keep China out of self-governed Taiwan.

Protests against visiting Chinese leaders are nothing new — in 2006, a woman heckled Xi’s predecessor Hu Jintao at a White House welcome ceremony — but Xi has become the focus of attacks for his tough approach to tightening control over Xinjiang, Hong Kong and other regions and the Chinese military’s growing threats to Taiwan, which he says must come under Chinese rule.

Crowds gathered behind a fence along Lafayette Park, waving flags and holding signs. Loudspeakers carried their voices across the park to the White House’s North Portico, where an honor guard and a red carpet awaited guests attending the state dinner.

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Xi is wrapping his visit to Washington with a peek at the Constitution and Bill of Rights

Trump is taking Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit the National Archives on Friday, showing off the sacred texts of U.S. democracy to the leader of the world’s most powerful communist country to cap off a three-day state visit criticized for being heavy on pomp and light on substance.

Xi is expected to depart Washington after touring the nation’s vault of records, where the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are held. The two leaders have made a show of working to preserve harmony between the world’s two largest economies, though there were no major breakthroughs on issues such as trade or the safety of artificial intelligence.

The visit comes as the U.S. celebrates the 250th anniversary of its founding, and Trump said Thursday that he wanted to show Xi “some of the greatest treasures of that proud history.”

The U.S. president also said he wanted to show Xi artifacts about the relationship between the two countries.

▶ Read more

With his teammate Antonelli out of the running, Russell showed why Mercedes is such a big favorite at the Baku track as he went nearly a second faster than anyone else.

“When I crossed the line and I saw the gap. I was shocked. I knew the lap was was great,” Russell said.

Still, he added “you can't discount Kimi” for Saturday's race after Antonelli won from 19th on the grid at his home Italian Grand Prix this month. The 20-year-old Antonelli leads Russell by 81 points.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was .837 of a second off the pace in second and Oscar Piastri was third-fastest for McLaren, .001 further back. That was a big turnaround for Piastri after McLaren even resorted to using cable ties to hold together parts of the car's bodywork in a chaotic Friday practice.

“It’s been a little bit of a tricky one for us, but it’s not the first time this year," the Australian said. "I feel like we get to qualifying, we take all the fuel out and the car just comes alive more.”

Isack Hadjar was fourth for Red Bull on his return from injury and no one else got within a second of Russell on a disappointing day for McLaren's Lando Norris in fifth, Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton in sixth and Red Bull's Max Verstappen in eighth.

It's the first pole for Russell since the Austrian Grand Prix in June, which was also his last win. The long straight at Baku favors Mercedes' engine and car design.

Antonelli is set to start Saturday's race in 16th place on the grid after he clipped the wall and damaged a wheel and suspension in the first part of qualifying. He tried to get back to the pits but the team told him to stop because there was too much damage.

The Mercedes driver's previous lap time was enough to reach the second part of qualifying but he was unable to continue.

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See AP’s full auto racing coverage here

Ahead of his confirmation vote last year, Kennedy told lawmakers that he would not collect fees related to litigation he pursued before becoming a government official against the drugmakers of a cervical cancer vaccine, saying he would transfer his financial interests to his adult son.

The lawmakers say they recently learned, however, that shortly after his confirmation hearings, Kennedy quietly changed his ethics disclosures and transferred his stake to his former employer, the personal injury law firm Wisner Baum, apparently contradicting his sworn commitments to members of Congress.

In a letter sent to Kennedy on Thursday, Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Ron Wyden of Oregon, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland said the health secretary has provided no explanation for the change.

“Your decision to withhold this information from Congress and apparent failure to report this change to agency ethics officials is deeply alarming,” the senators wrote. “These troubling findings call into question the veracity of your public ethics commitments, your transparency with Congress and the public, and potentially, your compliance with federal ethics disclosure laws and regulations.”

Emily G. Hilliard, an HHS spokeswoman, told The Associated Press that HHS had confirmed Kennedy's compliance with his ethics agreement in May 2025. “Any claim that Secretary Kennedy maintained a financial interest in this litigation after taking office is false,” she said.

Kennedy's testimony to lawmakers during his confirmation hearing has come under scrutiny before.

During the arduous confirmation process in which he needed the support of some skeptical Republican lawmakers to advance, Kennedy pledged to maintain vaccine policies that, once in office, he moved to change. He also said a 2019 trip to Samoa had “nothing to do with vaccines,” an account refuted by documents recently obtained by the AP. The Department of Health and Human Services has denied Kennedy lied over the Samoa trip.

Kennedy's initial ethics disclosure, filed in January 2025, allowed him to retain a 10% contingency fee in cases that he had referred to Wisner Baum. After warnings from lawmakers about the conflict of interest, Kennedy agreed to amend his ethics agreement to divest his interest to his son.

But in an Aug. 25 letter to Warren, HHS revealed Kennedy transferred those fees to Wisner Baum. Kennedy’s son Conor Kennedy is employed at the firm.

“At the time, Secretary Kennedy intended to assign those interests to a non-dependent adult family member,” said the letter. “After further consideration, Secretary Kennedy irrevocably assigned his outstanding contingency-fee interests in the Gardasil cases directly to Wisner Baum.”

The senators are now pushing Kennedy for answers on what his agreement with Wisner Baum entails, noting that if it involves any agreement about future payments, it could amount to a conflict of interest.

“If you made any kind of implicit or explicit agreement for future payment or other future rewards with Wisner Baum in exchange for assigning them this stake, it would mean that you have an ongoing conflict of interest that calls into question your integrity and the motivations for your decisions as HHS Secretary," the lawmakers' letter to Kennedy said.

Zelenskyy told reporters he has not yet received feedback from the White House about Trump’s talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping but expects to learn the outcome.

Zelenskyy, who is keen to muster more international support for Ukraine’s defense, was in the United States this week on a trip coinciding with the U.N. General Assembly. He met with Trump on Tuesday.

NATO countries have called China a “decisive enabler” of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion.

Zelenskyy shared more details of his U.S. trip in voice messages to a group of journalists.

Here are other issues that were also on Zelenskyy's agenda:

Zelenskyy says the US wants initial technical talks

Washington is pushing for a three-way meeting involving delegations from the U.S., Ukraine and Russia, with officials holding technical talks in that format without the countries' leaders, Zelenskyy said.

Ukraine is waiting for the U.S. to propose a date for those meetings, he said, adding that American officials suggested the United Arab Emirates as the location for these talks.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday that Putin and Trump during their call earlier this month discussed holding such a meeting in the near future. “As of now, I can’t give you any specifics,” Peskov said.

Representatives from the three countries held three rounds of trilateral negotiations early this year, twice in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE, and once in Geneva, but the talks achieved no significant breakthroughs.

Hefty US sanctions on Russia are on hold

Zelenskyy met with U.S. senators and congressmen during his U.S. trip and said he thanked them for their bipartisan support in passing a powerful sanctions bill aimed at Moscow last month. Trump signed the bill into law last week but hasn't enacted the measures yet.

Sanctions are key in forcing Putin to the negotiating table, Zelenskyy said, adding that he hoped Trump would implement the measures.

“The sanctions are indeed strong ... all of this is now in the hands of the president of the United States. He can use this tool to pressure the Russian Federation,” Zelenskyy said.

Zelenskyy says he got Trump's OK for Patriot licenses

The Ukrainian leader said Trump confirmed he had made a final decision that Kyiv would get licenses to produce Patriot air defense systems.

Ukraine is desperate for more of the American-made air defense systems that are needed to stop Russia’s ballistic missiles, but they have been in short supply since the war in Iran started on Feb. 28.

Trump had said in July that he would allow Ukraine to make its own Patriots but later appeared to be reconsidering the move.

Countries urge free flow of food through Black Sea

Ukraine and Russia are both major global suppliers of wheat, barley, sunflower oil and other food that developing nations rely on. However, wartime attacks on cargo vessels in the Black Sea have choked that supply route, raising fears of shortages.

Zelenskyy said he held separate talks in the U.S. with the leaders of India, Turkey, Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries, that want unimpeded Black Sea shipping routes. He added that these leaders were also due to speak to Russian officials.

Kyiv wants Moscow to accept a Black Sea ceasefire that would allow full deliveries to resume, Zelenskyy said.

Ukraine needs more money

Zelenskyy said he also spoke in the U.S. with the heads of the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission about plugging Ukraine’s budget deficit as its finances are strained by wartime expenses and drops in production. Russia's economy is also hurting.

The European Union will extend its financial aid for Ukraine, and the IMF will continue its financial support programs, he said.

Most of the funding gap relates specifically to weapons purchases, Zelenskyy said, and future financing for Ukraine could come in the form of deals for sharing technology and joint drone production. Ukraine is a world leader in military drones.

A boy is killed in a Kyiv strike as Russia also reports civilian casualties

Russian aerial attacks on Ukraine overnight and into Friday killed four people and wounded 11, officials said, while Russian authorities reported one dead and 21 wounded in Ukrainian long-range strikes.

Zelenskyy said eight Ukrainian regions came under attack. Russia kept up its relentless round-the-clock attacks on the Ukrainian capital, where a 14-year-old boy was killed and at least seven residents were injured, according to officials.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces hit a missile engine depot near Kyiv, among other targets.

Ukraine hit two refineries as part of its sustained campaign to damage Russia’s economy, Zelenskyy said.

Unconfirmed Russian media reports said Ukrainian drones also struck a Russian military electronics plant and a synthetic rubber producer.

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Hatton reported from Lisbon, Portugal.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

“Sharia law has no place in America,” said Cruz. “We need to stand together and stop it now.”

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott chimed in moments later, vowing to “fully ban Sharia law in Texas.”

Muslim American civic leaders and scholars — in Texas and other states — are responding forcefully to this latest surge in anti-Sharia rhetoric that dates back more than 15 years.

They passionately defend Sharia — the way it’s practiced in the United States — as positive guidance that has elements in common with the codes of other faiths, such as the Ten Commandments and the collective body of Jewish law derived from the Torah. They rebut the claims of GOP critics that Sharia is a coercive code that threatens the U.S. Constitution and judicial system.

Though there are multiple interpretations of Sharia, its essence is to serve as a code for how Muslims should live and worship — covering such matters as prayer, pilgrimages, fasting, charitable donations and personal virtue.

Among the most energetic of Sharia’s defenders is Illinois-based Sabeel Ahmed, director of an outreach project called GainPeace. He travels widely around the U.S., with a recent focus on Texas, speaking at mosque-sponsored workshops and open houses.

“Sharia is often misunderstood,” Ahmed posted on Instagram after a midsummer visit to Plano, Texas. “Many people think Sharia is only about punishments, but in Islam it is Allah’s guidance for living with faith, justice, mercy, and responsibility.”

Ahmed attributes the durability of anti-Sharia vitriol to politicians and social-media influencers who want to rile up their voting base or their followers.

“They gain popularity by saying it,” he told The Associated Press. “It’s the job of the Muslims to educate what is the proper meaning of the word Sharia. We cannot be angry or hateful.”

Sharia's role varies significantly among Muslim nations

Among those appalled by the anti-Sharia surge in the U.S. is Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im, a Sudanese-born Islamic scholar who taught for many years at Emory University School of Law in Atlanta. He is a longtime critic of the relatively small number of governments in Muslim nations that coercively enforce Sharia, saying Muslims are better off in secular states where their religious observance is a matter of free choice.

An-Na’im says he and other Muslim Americans embrace Sharia willingly as a core part of their identity, even as they also embrace American values.

The demonization of their beliefs displays “a shocking ignorance of what Sharia means,” An-Na’im said. “It’s a total dehumanization of the other, the rejection of their right to be human.”

The rhetoric is similarly dramatic among Sharia’s opponents — epitomized by the two U.S. representatives from Texas, Republicans Keith Self and Chip Roy — who co-founded the Sharia-Free America Caucus in Congress.

“Sharia is a direct threat to our Constitution and Western values and seeks to replace our legal system and erode our basic freedoms,” Roy said earlier this year. “Our immigration system must be prepared to confront this challenge and defend our Judeo-Christian values.”

By last count, the caucus had more than 60 members. All of them are Republicans, and its members have introduced several anti-Sharia bills since the caucus was formed last December. None of those measures have been successful.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, has designated the caucus as an anti-Muslim hate group.

“The bigoted rhetoric used by this caucus resembles the hatred that anti-Catholic politicians once unleashed against Irish Americans,” said CAIR research and advocacy director Corey Saylor.

“Islam is an American faith, present for over 250 years,” he added. “No one who wrote the Constitution or enforced it since has empowered these legislators to pick which religions get to exist in America.”

Texas has been a battleground for Sharia disputes

There has been substantive anti-Sharia action in Texas. In August, Attorney General Ken Paxton demanded documents from the Dallas-based Islamic Tribunal, which provides religious guidance to Muslims.

Paxton said in a news release that the investigation by his office sought to determine if the tribunal was engaged in illegal activity, such as acting as a court, applying foreign laws that conflict with Texas or federal law, or issuing rulings that imply government authority.

“This is America, and we will not be governed by sharia law,” Paxton said.

The Islamic Tribunal subsequently updated its website with a “ Clarification of Mission and Activities,” stressing that its guidance “complements, and never replaces, the legal, social, and professional services available in American society.”

“The Tribunal does not function as a court of law and does not issue legally binding judgments,” it said. “Our role is limited to mediation and religious arbitration requested by members of the Muslim community in matters related to faith, family guidance, and internal religious affairs.”

Any matters requiring legal enforcement are referred directly to the Texas judicial system, said the tribunal, which likened its work to the services provided by Jewish Beth Din courts and Catholic ecclesiastical tribunals.

Sharia defenders seek to broaden understanding of its essence

Asma Uddin, a professor at Michigan State University’s College of Law, has argued in her writings that many American politicians are depicting ordinary Muslim religious practices — such as prayer, choice of apparel, family counseling and mosque attendance — as evidence of a political danger.

In an interview with the AP, Uddin depicted the current wave of anti-Sharia rhetoric as fearmongering by politicians who view the issue as advantageous for them.

“When politicians use this, it’s giving them exactly what they’re looking for,” she said. “They’re looking for a scapegoat … and this gets people riled up.”

Sabeel Ahmed, who has made three outreach trips to Texas so far this year, plans a trip to Houston in a few weeks for another mosque open-house. He’s also working on a book to be mailed to Christian clergy across the U.S., seeking to broaden their understanding of Sharia and other Islamic practices.

“Islam is not to be feared,” Ahmed said. “People should meet a Muslim, go to the mosque, reach out to us. Let’s emphasize the commonalities we have.”

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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.

His time was just 1.30 seconds off the world record held by Lukas Martens of Germany (3:39.98).

Zhang also won the 1,500, 800 and 200 free and added gold in three relays.

He celebrated at poolside by sitting on the lane divider and counting the golds with his fingers.

China claims a record gold haul in the meet

The Chinese won a record 30 gold medals — and 54 overall — during the six days of swimming at these Asian Games and surpassed the 28 gold medals they won three years ago in Hangzhou.

Japan was right there in many races, winning seven gold and 37 medals overall — also better than their totals three years ago.

Japan's 17-year-old Shin Ohashi set the only world record of the games, taking the 200-meter breaststroke on Thursday in 2:04.83. Ohashi obliterated the old mark of 2:05.48 set by China’s Qin Haiyang in 2023 at the world championships in Fukuoka, Japan.

China's 13-year-old Yu Zidi was the most talked about swimmer heading into the Asian Games. She did not disappoint, winning the 200 butterfly, and the 200 and 400 individual medleys.

Her time in the 200 IM was 2:06.10, just off the world mark held by Canadian Summer McIntosh (2:05.70).

Yu’s times are still a bit off McIntosh’s standard in all three events. But she is a legitimate threat at next year’s world championships and the 2028 Olympics where, of course, other swim powers like Australia and United States will be present.

China won gold medals in five of the seven races on Friday, just as dominant as it was all week.

Zhang Yufei won the women's 50 fly in 25.41 with teammate Wu Qingfeng taking silver. China's Qin Haiyang took the 50 breaststroke (26.68) with Ohashi — the record-setter on Thursday — settling for bronze.

Other Chinese winners were Li Bingjie in the 800 free (8:24.02), Zhang Zhanshuo in the 400 free (3:41.28), and the women's 4x100 medley relay (3:54.55).

Japan's Kodai Nishiono won the men's 200 backstroke (1:56.42), and Taiwan's Wang Kuan-hung claimed the 200 fly (1:55.05).

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See full AP coverage of Asian sports here

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s inaction on the mFlusiva vaccine marks a break in longstanding practice. It’s also an example of how the agency’s vaccine review-and-recommendation process has been blown up in the past year, grinding decision-making to a halt.

Efforts by vaccine-wary officials in President Donald Trump's administration to scale back shot recommendations have been put on hold. Federal guidance on new vaccines has stopped. And public discussion of vaccine policy questions that might cross political divides — including whether there’s solid evidence to justify giving fewer shots to kids — has diminished.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s crusade to upend vaccine policy and the legal action opposing it have disrupted longstanding systems that deliver crucial health guidance to Americans, affecting whether people are getting the best available protection against vaccine-preventable diseases.

“We find ourselves at a point where even if credible evidence (for a new vaccine policy) has reached a tipping point, we don’t have an obvious mechanism that can formalize that change,” said Jason Schwartz, a Yale University health policy researcher who studies government health agencies.

Many in the medical field praised a court ruling that halted Kennedy’s changes

For 60 years, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices guided the CDC’s vaccine recommendations. The committee met publicly, reviewed vaccine data and sought input from various health groups. The panel voted on recommendations that went to the CDC director, who almost always adopted them as the government’s guidance, leading public and private insurers to pay for the shots.

Trump, a Republican, appointed Kennedy to oversee federal health agencies, including the CDC. Kennedy last year dismissed the committee and replaced it with a group that included several anti-vaccine voices. Controversial decisions followed, leading to a lawsuit from the American Academy of Pediatrics and some other medical groups.

In March, a federal judge said Kennedy likely violated federal procedures, stopped Kennedy’s panel from holding further meetings and suspended Kennedy’s decision to reduce the number of vaccines recommended for children.

Many in the medical and public health communities celebrated the decision and took the order as a respite from what they saw as the Trump administration’s assault on vaccines.

Dr. Jason Goldman, president of the American College of Physicians, said he hoped “it will mean a return to a transparent and evidence-driven process that safeguards the health of all communities and the best interests of our patients.”

In reality, the process stalled and splintered

With Kennedy’s committee shut down by the court order, doctors’ groups that used to collaborate with the ACIP have gone their own way. Working with a University of Minnesota researcher, they have debated — not publicly — the kind of medical evidence formerly presented at ACIP meetings and issued their own recommendations.

The trade association for private health insurers decided to heed the medical societies’ choices, and the insurers have continued to pay for shots recommended by those organizations.

Many of the groups’ recommendations match prior ones made by ACIP and the CDC before Kennedy’s arrival. But they also made their own updates.

For example, ACIP previously recommended that a new shot be given to women late in pregnancy: a vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, which can be dangerous to newborns. The government panel recommended that the vaccine be given between September and January in most of the U.S., to coincide with the time of year when RSV infections are most common.

But RSV season sometimes remains active longer. For that reason, the medical groups recently said the shot should be offered to those women through the beginning of March.

“We all recognized this needs to evolve,” Chris Regal, director of clinical innovation at America’s Health Insurance Plans, the health insurance trade association, said in a recent webinar.

The official CDC guidance remains unchanged.

Unanswered vaccine issues are piling up

The mFlusiva flu shot is another example of the unusual way vaccine policy updates have stalled.

The shot is the first flu vaccine made with the mRNA technology that was key to ending the COVID-19 pandemic. Kennedy has criticized mRNA vaccines and last year canceled contracts for the development of new ones. The shots also took a tortuous path through the FDA, which finally granted full approval in people ages 50 to 64.

But the CDC this month quietly posted that it has decided to maintain its flu vaccine endorsements from last year due to “legal uncertainties and inquiries.” That means mFlusiva is not among the listed flu vaccines recommended to the public this fall.

The medical societies are recommending it as an option, however.

Another ACIP function was to vote on whether certain vaccines should be covered by Vaccines for Children, a government program that pays for shots for children who have no health insurance.

The FDA approved updated COVID-19 vaccines, but as the summer dragged on — and fall vaccination campaigns got underway — the government would not say if the VFC program will pay for those shots. It was only this week that officials confirmed orders could be placed through that program.

HPV vaccine reassessment is derailed

Another question concerns the HPV vaccine, given to preteens to prevent certain cancers.

Two HPV shots are recommended, but some recent research has suggested that perhaps one shot could be enough — at least for girls. Indeed, in 2024 the ACIP formed a working group to begin a reassessment of the recommendations.

That work was derailed when Kennedy fired the entire committee. In January, he decided on his own to order that the number of recommended doses be reduced to one as part of a dramatic contraction of the childhood vaccination schedule. His decision was suspended by the judge’s order.

Experts are trying to better understand the timing and the duration of protection from just one dose, particularly in boys. The American Academy of Pediatrics is weighing a change to its HPV vaccination recommendations and could reach a conclusion later this year, said the AAP’s Dr. James Campbell.

It’s possible that the medical societies will end up agreeing with Kennedy on just how many HPV shots make sense. But that might not necessarily clear up the current mess, Schwartz said.

“The credibility of the Trump administration, when it comes to vaccine recommendations, is so compromised in the eyes of the mainstream medical and public health communities,” he said, “that even recommendations that might align with where the public health community was trending are likely to be viewed with skepticism or distrust.”

Meanwhile, the Trump administration is considering changing the federal government's categories for vaccine recommendations, although a specific proposal has not been released and a Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson did not respond to questions about what is being contemplated. Public comments were due earlier this week.

An alliance of 15 Democratic state governors said the proposed changes are likely to increase confusion and administrative complexity.

“It’s Governors and their residents who bear the brunt of any increased disease outbreaks due to confusion related to hastily made federal changes,” Angela Botticella, managing director of the Governors Public Health Alliance, said in a statement.

___

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

Some told The Associated Press that internet service was disrupted across parts of northern Ethiopia, and roads connecting the northernmost region of Tigray with the neighboring region of Afar had been closed to civilian traffic.

“There is an atmosphere of fear,” said Selam Fantay, who sells garlic in the market in the Tigrayan capital of Mekelle. “People are deeply concerned that the suspension of transport services signals the outbreak of renewed conflict.”

The AP could not independently verify the reported closures.

Hailay Meles, a businessman in Mekelle, said he was worried that the disruption of transport links could increase the cost of essential goods. “As long as this conflict persists, it will continue to drive up the prices of basic commodities,” Meles said.

Valerie Browning, a co-founder of the Afar Pastoralist Development Association, a humanitarian group, said many people were fleeing Tigray into Afar. She said explosions were heard overnight.

She said that “too many people are being displaced. Our vehicles, including our ambulances are being taken from us by the government for use (in) the war.”

Federal troops and opposition fighters trade blame for violating peace deal

The renewed fighting has shattered a 2022 peace agreement that ended a devastating two-year war in Tigray, the epicenter of renewed hostilities between federal troops and fighters loyal to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front.

The TPLF is an armed political group based in Tigray, and for years it was the dominant party in a coalition that ruled Ethiopia between 1991 and 2018. It has been outlawed by Abiy's government.

After the November 2022 peace agreement between the TPLF and federal authorities, a caretaker administration reporting to Abiy took charge in Mekelle. But tensions remained, and in May caretaker leader Tadesse Werede was removed and replaced with a TPLF leader who led Tigrayans in the 2020-2022 war.

Both sides accuse each other of violating the peace agreement. In recent months, Ethiopian federal authorities accused the TPLF of seeking to build an alliance with neighboring Eritrea to destabilize Ethiopia. The TPLF accused Ethiopian authorities of conducting drone attacks in Tigray.

Neighboring Eritrea, whose soldiers fought alongside Ethiopian troops in the previous Tigray conflict, said it was alarmed by Abiy’s repeated assertions of his wish for sovereign access to the Red Sea via Eritrea.

Ethiopia’s military said Thursday that dozens of TPLF fighters had been killed in ongoing operations. It said other fighters were detained and that federal forces have seized weapons.

Opposition groups have joined hands to try to remove prime minister

Air travel into the region was suspended this week after fighters loyal to the TPLF seized Mekelle’s airport from federal police. Ethiopian Airlines canceled flights to and from the region.

Fighting erupted days after seven opposition groups said they were banding together in a coalition in a bid to remove the recently reelected Prosperity Party government of Abiy.

Magnus Taylor, an analyst with International Crisis Group, said the new alliance combines political opposition to Abiy with military coordination among armed groups operating in different parts of Ethiopia.

The alliance “is a combination of a political alliance based around mutual antipathy to Abiy Ahmed’s government and also a kind of opportunistic military alliance intended to threaten the Ethiopian military in the areas where the groups operate,” Taylor said.

In addition to the TPLF, the coalition’s other prominent members include the Amhara Fano National Movement and the Oromo Liberation Army.

Taylor pointed out that coordinated campaigns could open several fronts against the federal government.

“I think there is a real risk that the fighting could spread around the country,” he said, adding that the opposition alliance meant different armed groups can coordinate to “develop campaigns against the federal government in parallel to each other.”

___ Associated Press journalist Desmond Tiro contributed from Nairobi, Kenya.

Trump’s rare welcome of Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, at the airport, as well as the bilateral and cultural events the leaders attended were closely covered — and praised — by Chinese state media. Those who watched at home saw a China elevated in status.

“I read the news that the U.S. reception standards for President Xi are very high,” Xiang Ziyu, a postgraduate student in Beijing, told The Associated Press. “I’m quite impressed because it shows that our country has become really powerful.”

That takeaway was shared by several people interviewed by the AP as well as in comments on Chinese social media, which praised China's cooperation with the United States.

The official People’s Daily newspaper allocated the entire front page to the trip, featuring six photos of the Xi-Trump meetings.

Meanwhile, on the Chinese search engine Baidu, the three most popular search topics on Friday were the talks between Trump and Xi; the state dinner attended by Xi and Peng; and greetings extended by Xi to Chinese people on the occasion of the Mid-Autumn Festival being celebrated on Friday.

Shen Zuohang, a Beijing resident, felt reassured by the coverage and by Trump and Xi’s seeming agreeability on topics like trade, artificial intelligence and security.

“We have no trade war and no military conflict. Even on the issue of Taiwan we are moving in a good direction instead of having heated confrontation,” Shen said.

“The two sides are handling issues in a more acquiescent way.”

According to China’s Foreign Ministry, Xi called on Trump to oppose the independence of Taiwan, an island democracy China claims as its own territory, and to handle the issue with caution. Trump did not immediately make comments on Taiwan, but had previously described U.S. arms sales to the island as open to negotiations with China.

Xiang, the student, said the summit overall sent a positive signal and will help improve the Chinese public’s opinion of the relations between the two countries.

“It is better than not communicating,” he said.

___

Associated Press video producer Wayne Zhang in Beijing and writer Simina Mistreanu in Taipei, Taiwan, contributed to this report.

In New York, where the wars in Iran and Gaza have dominated the U.N. agenda, the leaders of Iraq, Lebanon and Egypt were scheduled to address world leaders later Friday.

Here is a look at the latest news from the Middle East. More coverage of the U.N. General Assembly is available here.

Proposal to reopen strait, resume nuclear talks on the table

Iran would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume talks on its nuclear program in seven days if the U.S. lifts its naval blockade, waives oil sanctions and observes a ceasefire that includes Lebanon, under a proposal discussed by the Iranian foreign minister at a private gathering on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.

Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute think tank, who attended the event, said Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi detailed the plan to those gathered Thursday. Iranian officials haven't commented.

The proposal resembles an agreement reached in June that later collapsed.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said he's in no rush to reach a deal. On the Iranian side, some question whether hard-liners who dominate the security forces will accept compromises championed by relative moderates like President Masoud Pezeshkian.

In the latest sign of diplomatic movement, Pezeshkian hosted the prime minister of Qatar early Friday. Qatar has served as a key mediator, including during hours of indirect Iranian-U.S. talks at the U.N. this week.

Top religious figure urges Saudi troops to be ready to defend the kingdom

With Saudi oil facilities, cities and ships off its coast coming under escalating attacks, the kingdom's top religious authority has called on soldiers to be prepared to defend the country from Iran-backed Houthis.

Grand Mufti Sheikh Saleh al-Fawzan, who traditionally avoids weighing in on politics in a country that holds enormous influence among Muslims worldwide, issued the strongly worded statement. Al-Fawzan addressed his message to soldiers defending the kingdom's borders and members of the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis in Yemen, peppering it with Quranic verses and religious edicts.

“Protecting this great nation, guarding its borders, defending against aggression and punishing those who want to harm any inch of it is one of the greatest duties,” he said in the statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency on Thursday.

UN Security Council demands halt to attacks by Houthi rebels

In a statement approved by its 15 members, the U.N.’s most powerful body condemned Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia and against commercial shipping in the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

The council called for “practical cooperation,” including with Yemen’s internationally recognized government, to prevent the Houthis from obtaining weapons, military material and training enabling them to carry out attacks.

It reminded all countries of their obligation to implement the U.N. arms embargo against the Houthis.

2 Israeli soldiers are killed in Gaza

Israel’s military said two of its soldiers were killed in northern Gaza on Thursday while inspecting an unexploded Israeli drone near a military post. They were the first Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza in months.

The drone exploded as the soldiers, Ofek Moalem and Nadav Kali, approached it, the military said Friday. They were evacuated to a hospital, where they were pronounced dead. The incident is under investigation.

Five other Israeli soldiers have been killed since last October’s ceasefire that attempted to halt a more than two-year war between Israel and the militant Hamas group.

While the heaviest fighting has subsided, almost daily Israeli fire has continued. Israeli forces have carried out repeated airstrikes and frequently fire on Palestinians near military-held zones and have killed 1,408 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials.

Hospitals in Yemen struggle as the country's civil war reignites

The human toll of renewed hostilities in Yemen has stretched beyond the battlefield, overwhelming a health system already battered by years of war.

More than 130,000 people have fled their homes as fighting escalates between the Houthis and Saudi-backed government forces. Fewer than 10% of health centers in affected areas are equipped to provide the care that wounded people need, according to the World Health Organization. Years of war have left hospitals with little capacity.

UNICEF says at least 15 children have been killed and another 14 wounded in the past three weeks. The agency’s representative in Yemen, Akhil Iyer, said Friday the conflict is also causing more children to go hungry in Yemen, where at least 2.2 million children under five were already projected to suffer from acute malnutrition before the escalation of violence.

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This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.

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You can watch a live feed of our news broadcast at Local10.com/Live.

United Russia, the main Kremlin party, will get more than three-fourths of the seats in the State Duma, a record high, according to returns released by the Central Election Commission.

Virtually any genuine opposition parties or candidates were excluded from running in the Sept. 18-20 election. A massive state media campaign and tight control over the voting process allowed the Kremlin to strengthen its political dominance despite Russia's economic troubles and long-range Ukrainian drone attacks.

Nearly 60% of the 111 million eligible voters turned out in the three-day balloting, the most for a parliamentary election in more than a decade. Authorities had spread the voting over three days and allowed online voting in some regions to boost participation.

The parliamentary election was the first since President Vladimir Putin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and the first to include residents of four regions of that country that were seized and illegally annexed by Moscow later that year.

Voting also was held in Crimea, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014. Kyiv denounced the voting in those regions as illegal.

Russia didn’t invite election observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Election commission chief Ella Pamfilova said United Russia got 349 out of 450 seats in the State Duma, the lower chamber. It polled 58% of the ballot for the 225 seats apportioned by parties and also won 209 single-seat races that fill the other half of the chamber.

On Wednesday, Putin declared that the election results were a show of public support for his policies.

Several smaller parties representing the “systemic opposition” that vote in line with the Kremlin on all key issues won 97 seats, and the remaining four seats were filled by regional officials who ran without a party affiliation.

Pamfilova said 46 Ukraine war veterans were elected, including 41 from United Russia.

“The experience of our heroes is in demand; the voting results have clearly confirmed this,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “They will make a maximum contribution to the shaping of various initiatives.”

The liberal Yabloko party, the only registered political entity that dared to publicly criticize the war, was removed from the ballot last month by Russia’s Supreme Court. It only had a few dozen candidates in the single-seat races and none of them won a seat.

Ahead of the campaign, some anti-war politicians were imprisoned or forced to flee abroad.

As the election commission announced the full results, Russian media reports said independent political analyst Alexander Kynev, who closely followed the campaign, had been arrested on drug charges, which he denied. He could face from 10 to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Earlier this year, Kynev has been designated as “foreign agent” by the Justice Ministry, a label that carries strong pejorative connotations in the country and brings additional government scrutiny.

The election took place against the backdrop of incessant Ukrainian drone attacks. Officials said air defenses downed over 1,100 Ukrainian drones, including 450 drones heading for Moscow on the final day of voting in what Mayor Sergei Sobyanin described as “the largest ever” attack on the capital. The attack, which damaged an oil refinery and a residential building, killed three people and injured 38 in the wider Moscow region, officials said.

Pamfilova said six poll workers were killed in Ukrainian attacks and 75 polling stations were damaged or destroyed by shelling.

The first session of the newly elected lower house has been set for Wednesday. Russian media reports said its speaker, Vyacheslav Volodin, is expected to retain his position.

A statement co-signed with the top leagues from Spain, Italy and Germany said soccer had “suffered one of the biggest abuses of power in FIFA’s history.”

It accused FIFA's president of actively promoting “exploitative ideas rather than safeguarding against them.”

The Premier League is soccer's richest and most popular league. Its collaboration with Europe's other leading leagues adds to the growing pressure on Infantino, who is facing the biggest crisis in his 10 years as FIFA’s leader.

While the leagues did not follow UEFA by specifically calling for Infantino to step down, their statement was highly critical, hitting out at FIFA's “relentless expansionism.”

“Football’s longstanding foundations have, in recent years, been threatened by a fundamental governance problem,” it said. “Now is the moment to decide not only who will lead FIFA, but also how FIFA should be led.”

It is the latest rift between leagues and Infantino, whose biggest projects have been seen as attacks on domestic soccer and were successfully resisted by a backlash from European officials.

The big four leagues also are members of the European Leagues network, which filed a formal complaint against “abusive” FIFA governance standards in 2023 at the European Commission in Brussels.

Despite the backlash over his controversial plan to sell profits in the World Cup through a commercial subsidiary, and losing the support of many national federations, FIFA says Infantino plans to stand again in next year’s elections for a final term in office through 2031.

The leagues in England, Spain, Italy and Germany said they wanted presidential candidates to stand on a manifesto of fundamental reform.

“FIFA’s governance problem goes far beyond the role of one individual. The wider question is whether FIFA’s president should simultaneously wield such regulatory, commercial and political power without effective checks and balances," they said.

Infantino's now ditched proposal to create a $20 billion company called the FIFA Forward Enterprise to run the World Cup with private investors including the Kushner family, caught the soccer world by surprise when it emerged in July.

The backlash came from both within world soccer's governing body and from other federations, with some declaring they had lost faith in Infantino as a result.

While he has tried to quell anger, with FIFA apologizing for errors and committing to “ensure they do not happen again,” criticism has not gone away.

The group of four leagues provide another critical voice, just days before the influential European Football Clubs group meets in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Nov. 18 is the deadline for candidates to enter the next presidential contest, exactly four months ahead of the vote in Morocco.

___

James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson

___

See AP’s full soccer coverage here

Leo spoke to reporters Friday on his way to France for a four-day visit. Asked by a CNN reporter about the Trump administration’s attempt to bar CNN and other reporters, Leo said the media was welcome on his plane.

“I am very happy that here, you are all welcome,” he said. Good media coverage is important, he said, and equally important "that we have it all the way around, for everyone”

CNN, MS NOW and Politico were back at the White House on Thursday after a judge handed them a reprieve from President Donald Trump's ban, but the extraordinary showdown between him and outlets whose coverage he dislikes continued.

On a high-profile day when Chinese leader Xi Jinping was visiting Washington and attending a state dinner, no major American network was airing live coverage, and both CNN and MS NOW said their journalists were denied access to Xi’s state dinner arrival.

The American pope has long affirmed the need for free and independent press, a point he made in one of his first audiences as pope. Speaking to journalists who covered the 2025 conclave that elected him, Leo called for the release of imprisoned journalists and affirmed the “precious gift of free speech and the press.”

That said, since the COVID-19 pandemic, independent media have been prevented from covering photo opportunities inside the pope's private studio when heads of state visit. Additionally, many of the pope's private audiences with other groups and individuals are closed to non-Vatican press.

Leo had opposed Trump on the war

Leo's airborne comments about Trump followed his April back-and-forth over the American president's criticism of his opposition to the Iran war. Leo's position won him points with some Parisans opposed to Trump's policies who came out in droves to celebrate the first official state visit by a pope in 18 years.

“He dared, at his level, to oppose the American president,” said retiree Thierry Marien, who lined up hours early to grab a spot on the popemobile route to Notre Dame cathedral, where Leo was to celebrate vespers later Friday. “Not because he is opposed to the American president but because he’s opposed to countries where we can see there’s a risk of their political systems becoming a bit more dictatorial and there are already enough of those in the world.”

“I appreciated that he did that. He could quite easily have said to himself, ‘In my situation, I won’t criticize any heads of state,'” he said.

Leo took further distance from the Trump administration policies later Friday by making a lengthy visit to UNESCO, the U.N. cultural and educational agency, from which the U.S. has withdrawn as part of its retreat from the international organization.

Leo, who has championed multilateral diplomacy, toured the UNESCO grounds inside and out, greeted its employees and received a guided tour of some of its art collections. He then delivered a speech on the values UNESCO espouses to promote peace through culture and education.

Leo apologizes to reporters

Also on the flight Friday, Leo also apologized for missing an opportunity to speak with the press the last time he traveled internationally, when his Iberia charter broke down in Spain's Canary Islands and he returned home solo on the king's private jet, skipping his traditional airborne press conference.

More than 70 reporters and the Vatican delegation waited for several hours at the airport for a replacement plane to arrive. Leo addressed the media's disappointment when he came to the back of the plane to greet reporters.

“A special mention I would like to make for those of you who were traveling with me when we returned to Rome from Spain,” he said. “I want to apologize personally for an incident, that I had nothing to do with, but which I know left a number of you unhappy with the fact that we couldn’t have the flight back together back to Rome.”

In other comments to reporters, Leo said he believed his alma mater Villanova would be the fan favorite when the Augustinian university plays the Catholic University of Notre Dame's basketball team in Rome on Nov. 1.

“They tell me that the people coming to the match, 90% are Villanova and 10% Notre Dame, so the voice of the people of God will be very strong on the Villanova side,” Leo said.

___

Associated Press writer John Leicester in Paris contributed to this report.

___

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

The cause of the explosion wasn't immediately clear, but local media said that a gas leak was suspected.

Rescue crews with a sniffer dog were searching the rubble for potentially missing people, the fire department said. Residents said that two people lived in one of the building's apartments, and there were media reports that three tourists may have been staying in a short-term rental apartment also in the building.

The fire department said that the explosion occurred in an old two-story building in the Plaka district, the historic part of Athens that lies at the foot of the Acropolis hill, Greece’s most visited ancient monument. The building collapsed, while neighboring buildings were also damaged.

Firefighters rescued two women from an adjacent building, with police saying both were being transported to a hospital. Local media and a resident said that a passerby was also slightly injured by the blast.

Video footage from the scene showed rubble strewn across the street, with parked cars smashed by falling debris.

Police cordoned off the area as rescue crews and the sniffer dog moved slowly over the rubble. The fire department said that the search and rescue operation was still ongoing several hours after the explosion.

“An elderly couple lived upstairs, on the second floor,” resident Andreas Martzaklis said, adding that he didn't know whether they had been inside at the time of the explosion or managed to get out. He said that one apartment in the building that collapsed had been operating as a short-term rental apartment, while the others were privately owned.

“Who got out of the building that is destroyed, we don’t know anything,” said Martzaklis, who lives in a nearby building and heard the blast while he was drinking his morning coffee.

The people rescued by the fire department from the adjacent building were all tourists, Martzaklis said.

The pastor of a nearby church said that this Sunday's service would be held outdoors because of damage to the church from the explosion.

“Of course we went in. It was heartbreaking. From the bottom to the top, there is no window that has not been broken,” said Giotis Kantartzis, pastor of the First Greek Evangelical Church in Athens.

But the policy has remained in force for the past 18 months, and Poland is now urging the 27-nation bloc to allow temporary suspensions of asylum applications during episodes of “instrumentalized” mass migration elsewhere — a move that rights advocates warn could violate international law.

The border between Poland and Belarus, a non-EU country that is aligned with Russia, runs for about 400 kilometers (250 miles).

Since 2021, EU authorities have accused authoritarian Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of weaponizing migration by luring people to his country to find an easier entry point into the bloc than the more dangerous routes across the Mediterranean Sea.

European Commission announces new emergency framework

The prospect of an EU-wide approach appeared to move closer on Sept. 16, when European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that the EU executive branch would soon propose a new “European emergency response framework” for cases of “engineered and weaponized” mass migration.

The new emergency framework would allow for “flexibility” in applying standard migration procedures under specific circumstances and for a limited period of time, she said.

Von der Leyen didn't specify what procedures would be made flexible. It's unclear what form this proposed framework would take, whether it would need approval from the EU Parliament and EU leaders, and how soon it might come into practice. The European Commission didn't respond to requests from The Associated Press to list those procedures.

But Poland’s deputy interior minister in charge of migration, Maciej Duszczyk, celebrated the announcement as a sign that Europe was becoming interested in what he calls “the Polish solution.”

“We are happy that what we’ve been saying for a year, or a year and a half, is now becoming mainstream in the EU,” Duszczyk told the AP in an interview.

He said that the July border crisis in Ceuta, when more than 70,000 people suddenly crossed from Morocco into the Spanish enclave in North Africa, “made the EU realize” that other countries can be affected by similar border crises as Poland.

Tineke Strik, a Dutch member of the European Parliament, told the AP that she fears von der Leyen’s new emergency framework is indeed poised to take the Polish model EU-wide and legitimize the curtailing of asylum.

“If you normalize it, if you make it the default policy of all EU member states, you (the Poles) are not falling outside of the framework,” Strik said. “It simply has been legalized.”

“That would of course really undermine the core of the European and international asylum law — namely that people always must have the possibility to ask for asylum before they can be returned because otherwise you don’t know what will happen to them,” she said.

Michael O’Flaherty — the human rights commissioner for the Council of Europe, which is unrelated to the EU — said that the fact that the suspension of the right to asylum now appears in discussions at the EU level “worries” him because “it can very easily cross the line into a violation of international law.”

Critics say legalizing the suspension of asylum would constitute a major blow to fundamental human rights, particularly the principle of non-refoulement, which bars countries from returning people to places where they may face persecution. The principle was enshrined in the postwar refugee protection system after Jews and others fleeing Nazi persecution were refused safe haven during World War II.

‘Polish solution’ contrary to international law, rights groups say

Duszczyk said that the suspension of the right to asylum in Poland is fully compatible with international law and that people in the most vulnerable categories — pregnant women, children or those facing persecution in Belarus — can still apply for asylum even under the current system.

“Each person who appears on the border has the right to speak to the Polish border guards and explain their situation,” Duszczyk said.

But the Polish ombudsman and nongovernmental organizations assisting migrants on the border contradict the minister.

“Visibly pregnant women might stand a chance, but in the case of sick people or teenagers who are minors, their arguments are typically undermined,” said Karolina Czerwinska from the Association for Legal Intervention, a Polish NGO offering legal aid to migrants.

Duszczyk said that the world today has changed since the 1950s, when countries recovering from the traumas of World War II created a system of international law, including refugee rights, meant to protect individuals from state violence.

Czerwinska said that “we Poles located on the front lines of the war in Ukraine should really make sure human rights are respected. We may need to make use of them ourselves.”

EU's new migration pact already outdated, Poland says

Human rights groups said that von der Leyen's announcement came as a surprise, because the EU’s new Pact on Migration and Asylum, which took effect three months ago, already allowed countries faced with border crises to deviate from standard asylum procedures by extending deadlines for processing applications and holding migrants in detention for longer periods of time.

But Duszczyk said that von der Leyen's announcement meant that the European Commission recognized the new pact was “not enough” and that “we need a new instrument in EU law which guarantees that sometimes we can suspend normal procedures and have a sort of state of emergency.”

According to the Polish minister, the European Commission is expected to give more details about the framework during a summit of interior ministers on Oct. 1, and discussions would continue during a European Council summit later that month.

___

Sam McNeil contributed to this report from Brussels.

Now, they want to win a World Series for the first time, having been there twice only to lose.

Manny Machado fielded Mookie Betts' groundout to third base for the final out in a 4-2 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday night that clinched a playoff berth, and the celebration was on.

“I was feeling nice,” Machado said in the cramped visitors' clubhouse, his bare chest soaked with a mix of beer and Champagne. “We're clinching!”

The Padres (89-70) partied inside and then came out on the Dodger Stadium field in matching black T-shirts to pose for photos. It'll be their third straight postseason as a wild-card team.

“I’ve never won a championship,” Machado said. “I know what winning looks like. It takes a whole village to do it and we’ve been showing it this year. There’s been a lot of guys contributing in so many ways. It’s awesome to see it being done.”

Fernando Tatis Jr. stole two bases for the fourth time this season and extended his on-base streak to 18 games with a walk in the fourth against the Dodgers. He was 2 for 3 with an RBI.

“Let's celebrate!” he screamed above the din in the darkened clubhouse. “We're here for a reason. We're ready to compete. We're here for the long run.”

The Padres made franchise history under rookie manager Craig Stammen, a surprise pick by general manager A.J. Preller to replace Mike Shildt, who suddenly retired less than two weeks after the Padres were eliminated by the Chicago Cubs 2-1 in the wild-card round last season.

The 42-year-old Stammen was hired less than three years after retiring as a player despite having no coaching or managerial experience at any level. He’s been with the organization since 2017 and is best known for starting the deciding Game 3 of the 2020 Wild Card Series against the St. Louis Cardinals, who at the time were managed by Shildt. He pitched 1 2/3 innings as the first of nine pitchers the Padres used in the 4-0 win, which clinched their first postseason series victory since 1998.

The Padres popped half a game ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers on May 18 after Michael King struck out nine and Miguel Andujar hit a solo homer off Yoshinobu Yamamoto in a 1-0 win at Petco Park on May 18. But they lost the next night and fell behind the two-time defending World Series champions by double digits by late June.

They were 48-48 at the All-Star break and in third place in the division and have gone 41-22 since then. They came up with a “pitching chaos” game plan to get them through a difficult period with their rotation, which is still thin without Yu Darvish and Joe Musgrove, who have missed the whole season. Nick Pivetta only recently returned from a long stint on the IL.

Pivetta fired 4 2/3 scoreless innings on Thursday in his eighth career start against the Dodgers, allowing four hits and striking out seven.

Perhaps the biggest pickup of the offseason was first baseman Ty France, who was signed to a minor league free agent deal and made the team out of spring training, his second stint with the Padres. He is from West Covina, California, and played for Tony Gwynn at San Diego State. He’s hit a career-high 21 homers and played solid defense.

“I still felt like I had a lot left in the tank and a lot to offer to a team,” France said. “Very grateful and fortunate that it's here.”

Tatis had an unfathomable home run drought to start the season. He didn’t hit his first home run until May 30 at Washington, his 56th game. He’s now recorded his fourth 25-homer season and has 38 stolen bases.

“We're one, we're one,” he said of the team unity. “It's been that way for the whole year and we're going to keep it that way.”

Infielder Jake Cronenworth has come on strong after missing significant time after getting grazed on the jaw by a 96 mph fastball at Anaheim on April 18, and center fielder Jackson Merrill, like Tatis, is a 25-25 guy.

Stammen hasn’t been afraid to experiment with the starting lineup, including moving Tatis from right to second for several games after Cronenworth was hurt.

Back in right field, Tatis had one of the biggest games of his career on Aug. 18 at the New York Mets when he robbed Francisco Lindor of a grand slam and hit two home runs.

The Padres were 58-54 going into the trade deadline on Aug. 3 and Preller not only kept All-Star closer Mason Miller, but added starters Robbie Ray and Casey Mize.

“You can never count them out,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said this week. “They're just too talented.”

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AP freelance writer Bernie Wilson in San Diego contributed to this report.

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

La catástrofe de finales de agosto “no fue solo una tragedia local. Fue una advertencia para el mundo. Y hoy les pregunto: ¿De verdad han escuchado esa advertencia?”, manifestó Balendra Shah ante la Asamblea General de Naciones Unidas el jueves por la noche. “Hace casi tres años, a la sombra de nuestro monte Everest, el secretario general de Naciones Unidas advirtió a la humanidad sobre la locura y el inminente desastre climático”.

“Ese grito desde la cima del mundo no se escuchó lo suficiente”, agregó Shah. “Nosotros en Nepal lo escuchamos. Nuestras comunidades lo escucharon. Científicos de todo el mundo lo escucharon. Lo reiteraron con pruebas. Pero nosotros, los líderes políticos, hemos sido negligentes al traducir esas advertencias en acciones con la rapidez y la escala que requieren las personas vulnerables”.

Científicos internacionales han vinculado el deshielo del permafrost debido al cambio climático —provocado por la quema de carbón, petróleo y gas— con la inestabilidad del glaciar, que colapsó parcialmente y desencadenó una inundación masiva que mató al menos a 1.400 personas y dejó cientos de desaparecidos.

Shah señaló que Nepal aportó menos de una décima parte del 1% de los gases de efecto invernadero que están detrás del cambio climático. Cerca del 99% de la electricidad de Nepal proviene de la energía hidroeléctrica, y muchos trabajadores quedaron atrapados en túneles por las inundaciones.

“Nosotros no creamos esta crisis y, sin embargo, estamos pagando un precio colosal por ella”, declaró Shah, un exrapero e ingeniero de 36 años que es el jefe de gobierno más joven en dirigirse a la Asamblea este año. “Nuestros glaciares retroceden, las laderas de nuestras montañas se vuelven inestables, nuestros ríos se vuelven menos previsibles y cada gran desastre amenaza con borrar años de desarrollo”.

El cambio climático “no conoce fronteras”

Con un topi negro —un sombrero tradicional nepalí sin ala—, Shah habló luciendo sus característicos lentes de sol oscuros, que usa por razones médicas. Afirmó que “las trágicas consecuencias de un calentamiento del clima" le dicen al mundo que “el cambio climático no conoce fronteras. Los glaciares y las inundaciones no viajan con sellos ni pasaportes”.

Subeksha Khadka, una activista humanitaria y ex Miss Nepal International, elogió el discurso del mandatario en una entrevista online y reiteró su advertencia: “Esta vez, Nepal ha estado en el punto de mira, pero podría ser cualquiera. Esta es nuestra historia ahora mismo, y mañana puede ser la de cualquiera. Así que es hora de actuar”.

Shah no pidió una cantidad específica de ayuda, pero calificó el sistema internacional de asistencia financiera como inadecuado y demasiado burocrático, incluyendo un fondo para pérdidas y daños acordado hace unos años para países pobres azotados por desastres climáticos que no causaron.

“La financiación climática no debe convertirse en otro laberinto burocrático en el que los países vulnerables pasen años” abriéndose paso cuando necesitan ayuda, manifestó. “Cuando una casa se está incendiando, no le pedimos a una familia que complete 50 formularios. Actuamos. Esto es lo que significa la justicia climática”.

Exhortó a la Asamblea General a actuar en materia de socorro, rehabilitación y reconstrucción —conceptos tradicionales de ayuda internacional—, pero también en “responsabilidad, reparación, resiliencia”. La reparación es una palabra y un asunto que irrita a naciones industriales occidentales como Estados Unidos, que, históricamente, es el mayor emisor de carbono del mundo.

"No es un desastre aislado”

En los últimos 75 años, Estados Unidos ha arrojado a la atmósfera alrededor de 1.500 veces más carbono que Nepal, según el Global Carbon Project, un grupo de científicos que rastrea las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero por países. Las emisiones históricas importan porque el dióxido de carbono permanece en la atmósfera durante más de un siglo atrapando calor.

Washington anunció esta semana 31 millones de dólares en ayudas a Nepal para la recuperación tras las inundaciones, lo que eleva la aportación total del país a 36 millones. Es menos del 1% de lo que se necesita.

“Las evaluaciones preliminares indican que, solo por el desastre reciente, Nepal ha sufrido pérdidas de más de 5.000 millones de dólares, casi el 15% de nuestro PIB y un tercio de nuestro presupuesto anual”, apuntó el miércoles Shisir Khanal, ministro de Exteriores nepalí, en la cumbre climática de la ONU. “Por lo tanto, para Nepal, esta catástrofe no es meramente una emergencia humanitaria. Es una emergencia de desarrollo que desmantela años de progreso. Es una crisis de justicia que deja al descubierto las desigualdades de la acción climática global y es una crisis existencial que golpea la propia supervivencia de nuestras comunidades y nuestro futuro”.

“Lo que ocurrió en Nepal no es un desastre aislado, sino un adelanto de lo que espera a muchas naciones vulnerables”, afirmó Khanal.

El exvicepresidente de Estados Unidos Al Gore dijo en una entrevista que el desastre de Nepal muestra que la crisis climática “estaba empeorando mucho más rápido” de lo que la gente puede soportar y anticipa problemas con el deshielo de los glaciares que alimentan todos los grandes ríos de Asia, amenazando el suministro de agua de 2.000 millones de personas.

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Delgado informó desde Nueva York. La periodista de The Associated Press Jennifer McDermott contribuyó a este despacho.

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La cobertura climática y ambiental de The Associated Press recibe apoyo financiero de múltiples fundaciones privadas. AP es la única responsable de todo el contenido. Consulte las normas de AP para trabajar con filantropías, una lista de patrocinadores y las áreas de cobertura financiadas en AP.org.

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

The Green Bay Packers are off to a 1-2 start following a lackluster performance in a 35-14 loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday night in their home opener at Lambeau Field.

“It’s three games in. We’re nowhere where we need to be but there’s a lot of ball left in front of us,” LaFleur said. “It was a butt-whipping.”

Since losing Micah Parsons to a torn ACL last December, the Packers are 1-7. The only victory came last week against the New York Jets, who helped give the game away.

LaFleur’s offense has struggled without running back Josh Jacobs, who is on the commissioner’s exempt list and isn't allowed to play. Jordan Love has been inconsistent behind a poor offensive line.

On defense, the Packers made Michael Penix Jr. look like prime Michael Vick in his first game back from a torn ACL. Penix was 18 of 25 for 256 yards with one touchdown and one interception and a 101.4 passer rating. They couldn’t stop Bijan Robinson, but that’s typical. Most teams can’t. Robinson had 194 yards rushing and two TDs.

LaFleur began his coaching career with three straight 13-win seasons. But his tenure has been marked by playoff failures. LaFleur’s first two seasons ended with home losses in the NFC championship game and then a home loss in the divisional round. Over the next four seasons, the Packers had double-digit wins once and went 1-3 in the playoffs.

Now, the Packers have opened the season with two losses in three games and have a tough road ahead in the NFC North.

Winning seasons and playoff appearances are expected in Green Bay. Nothing less than another Lombardi Trophy is considered a success. That means LaFleur, despite his regular-season success, hasn’t delivered.

In Tampa Bay, Bowles has been heavily criticized since the Buccaneers went 2-7 to end last season after a 6-2 start. There was surprise that management didn’t make a coaching change but Bowles signed a three-year contract extension before the 2025 season. The Bucs have opened with consecutive losses, including a 23-19 loss to the Browns last Sunday that increased the heat on Bowles.

He is 35-35 in four-plus seasons, His three division titles in a weak NFC South have resulted in a 1-3 record in the playoffs.

“I think if you lose the first two games of the year, that doesn’t determine the other 15 games,” Bowles said. “Right now, we’re 0-2 — we’re not 0-9 or 0-11. That doesn’t bother me as much from that standpoint. We’ve just got to get better and win a ballgame.”

The Buccaneers host the Minnesota Vikings (2-0) on Sunday.

“I think (there is) always pressure until you get your first win out (of) the way,” Bowles said. “You try to get it out the way at the beginning of the season so you don’t have to worry about it anymore. It’s not a different kind of pressure, so to speak. It’s probably a different kind of urgency — not that you’re not playing urgent already — but you just want to get that first win on the board.”

Steichen entered the season with a directive from Colts owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon, who made it clear the coach had to turn things around after Indianapolis lost seven straight games to end up 8-9 in 2025. The Colts got walloped in Week 1 by the Ravens but nearly upset the Chiefs on the road last Sunday night. Steichen was too conservative in overtime against Kansas City.

“We’re battling like crazy,” Steichen said. “That’s the message and we gotta continue to grow and learn, and we got a lot of football left. Like I said last week, we’re right there. We gotta find a way to win at the end. That was one of those games. It’s a freaking hard league and you gotta find a way to win these tight games.”

The Colts are home underdogs against Houston (0-2) on Sunday in a division matchup between two teams that came in with high expectations.

Jets coach Aaron Glenn also could end up on the hot seat at some point this season. Jim Harbaugh and DeMeco Ryans are both 0-2 but should be safe because of their success in recent seasons. Dan Quinn and the Commanders are 0-2 but expectations are low after losing Jayden Daniels.

Last season, the Titans fired Brian Callahan after a 1-5 start. The Jets fired Robert Saleh at 2-3 in 2024.

History says there’s a solid chance a coach loses his job next month.

A few wins can cool the seat.

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See AP’s full NFL coverage here

The Thunder won 64 games and took the San Antonio Spurs to seven games in the Western Conference finals, then traded longtime starter Lu Dort and key reserves Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins to shed salary needed to get below the second apron — a strict payroll threshold above the luxury tax that imposes severe roster-building and trade restrictions.

“I really do feel that by season’s end, we could have a really exceptional basketball team, if we stay healthy,” Presti said Thursday. “But, we’re gonna be different.

“There’s no way to avoid that because if you look over the last two years we’re losing about 10,000 minutes combined of those players. We’re losing about, oh, like a quarter, of our minutes played with that particular group.”

The new-look Thunder open the season Oct. 20 against the Spurs. The cupboard will be anything but bare when they head to San Antonio.

The Thunder still have plenty of firepower beginning with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the two-time reigning league MVP who averaged 31.1 points per game and shot 55.3% from the field. He will be reunited with 2025 All-Star Jalen Williams, who returns after missing 49 games in 2025-26.

Forward Chet Holmgren averaged career-highs of 17.1 points and 8.9 rebounds per game and made All-NBA for the first time and was named to the All-Defensive team for the first time as well. He also earned his first All-Star nod, plus was second in the Defensive Player of the Year balloting.

Jared McCain, Ajay Mitchell and Cason Wallace are all expected to take on larger roles this season and Presti said moving Dort “is how highly we think of Cason.”

The GM said the key to the Thunder's success this season starts with adopting a “beginner's mindset.”

Presti said the Thunder “can’t come in predetermining how the year’s going to go, who’s going to play where, how we’re going to play. We kind of just have to open our minds and let ourselves kind of take ourselves where ever this team's going to take us.”

The process rarely changes for the Thunder, who will pursue progress and not outcomes, Presti added.

“We've said the same things when we were winning 23 games as we were when we were winning 68 games,” he said. “We don’t know how many games we’re going to win this year. We’re not entitled to anything.”

Presti believes the Thunder are well-positioned for long-term success, particularly with recent changes instituted by the NBA — changes he believes has the league positioned for another golden era that will coincide with the his team's 25th year in Oklahoma City — in 2033.

“I think the current initiatives of the league are putting us on the doorstep of another great era to come,” he said. “And we as an organization, quite frankly, we want to be — and have the choice to be, a part of that when that comes around.”

Those initiatives include the impact of the new NBA draft lottery rules as well as the strict payroll threshold above the luxury tax that imposes severe roster-building and trade restrictions.

Net ratings, records and player statistics are expected to decline as a result, Presti said.

“But the key for us is to not let all of these different initiatives, all these different irons in the fire, distract us from the main thing and to keep it simple," said Presti, adding that means “making the Thunder better, day to day, season to season and believe it or not, decade to decade.” ___

See AP’s full NBA coverage here

Pressure? No problem. Getting everyone’s best shot? Bring it. Needing to stay on edge for five months? That should be relatively easy given the way last season ended.

“I don’t feel as stressed going into the season,” Golden said Thursday. “Last year, carrying the torch of the national championship into the season was a lot, and we had a new team. We had some returners, but we had a new team.”

It showed. The Gators started 5-4, fell out of the AP Top 25 College Basketball Poll and then dropped their Southeastern Conference opener. They struggled to make shots from 3-point range and didn’t find their identity and hit their stride until early January.

None of it should have been that surprising given the Gators lost arguably the best backcourt in school history, the trio of Walter Clayton Jr., Alijah Martin and Will Richard.

Now, though, no one should be shocked if they are favored in every game.

“We know we’re going to have a lot of expectations,” Golden said. “But we’re not as worried about it this year. I think we’ll collectively, myself included, be more prepared and better ready to handle that earlier in the year.”

Florida (27-8, 14-2 SEC), which lost to ninth-seeded Iowa in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in Tampa, returns four starters and is counting on guard Denzel Aberdeen to get a fifth year of eligibility through the judicial system. He has a court date scheduled for Tuesday in Alachua County, with hopes of landing a temporary injunction against the NCAA.

Aberdeen's petition for a fifth season was denied before the NCAA adopted the “5-for-5 rule."

“I think Denzel has the best case, individually, of any guy that’s kind of in this situation of dealing with the NCAA’s confusing, operative system that they’re employing right now,” said Golden, pointing to Aberdeen playing just 40 minutes as a freshman.

Aberdeen, who averaged 13.5 points and 3.4 assists at Kentucky last season, was an integral part of Florida’s 2025 national title run as a junior. Florida hopes he can team with point guard Boogie Fland to upgrade the backcourt.

“A deadly combination, for sure,” Fland said. "I feel like it goes on the court the way it goes off the court, you know what I mean? The brotherhood you have off the court, it trickles into the court.”

More importantly, All-SEC big men Rueben Chinyelu, Alex Condon and Thomas Haugh are back for their senior seasons along with seven bench players.

“We’re going to be the preseason No. 1 team,” Fland said. “It means you’ll get everybody’s best shot.”

Golden didn’t anticipate having such a loaded roster until after the season ended — and partly because of how and when it ended. The Gators had their sights set on back-to-back titles and came up short.

“Going out that way wasn’t something that we wanted to have or reminisce about,” Chinyelu said. “So it’s just going out there, taking every game out there and hunting down the games we have this year.”

Getting most everyone back started with Haugh and Condon, best friends who passed up NBA riches for another NCAA run. Chinyelu and others followed suit. Golden ended up with 81.8% of his team’s scoring back from last season’s SEC championship team, including six of eight primary rotation players and 11 guys in total.

Florida begins the season back where it ended — in Tampa – against Miami. The Gators also play Notre Dame, probably Houston, Duke and Georgia Tech in nonconference play.

The real expectations begin in March.

“Pressure is good,” Chinyelu said. “It just shows that you are in the right spot, you are doing something good.”

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Israel wants the agency known as UNRWA out of Gaza and has repeatedly accused it of being infiltrated by Hamas militants, allegations the International Court of Justice says have not been substantiated. And yet UNRWA remains the territory’s largest aid provider, playing a key role in health and education.

Philippe Lazzarini, who led UNRWA until earlier this year, told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview — his first since stepping down — that members of the Palestinian technocratic committee want to work with the agency. Another U.N. official shared minutes from meetings where UNRWA and the committee discussed collaborating on plans for Gaza.

A Board of Peace official confirmed that board members had met multiple times with UNRWA officials.

And while the agency’s days are over, its programs “may persist if they are serving Gazans well,” the official added, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Israel's Foreign Ministry did not comment.

UNRWA has more workers in Gaza than anyone else

There’s been no reconstruction in Gaza, almost a year since the ceasefire. Israel still prevents the entry of the Palestinian committee chosen by the Board of Peace to eventually govern the strip, saying Hamas must first disarm. The committee says it needs to be inside the strip to activate Gaza plans.

That's left UNRWA on the ground in Gaza, with far more workers than any other U.N. agency or nongovernmental organization. While Israel’s attacks on the agency neutered its role coordinating aid entry and distribution in Gaza, UNRWA’s core programs have remained.

“They want to get rid of the agency, but on the other hand they know that if you get completely rid of the agency today, it might have a further ... devastating impact on the population,” Lazzarini said.

UNRWA props up about half of Gaza’s public health system, said Lazzarini, whose last working day was March 31.

It still has around 11,000 Palestinian employees in Gaza. They conduct about 14,000 medical appointments daily, maintain water and waste management systems for over a million Palestinians, run digital literacy and math programs for over 280,000 children and staff temporary learning spaces for 60,000 more, UNRWA says.

UNRWA makes sure aid reaches people, Lazzarini said. “If you want the vaccine to end up in the mouths of the children, you still need the workforce, the presence of an agency like ours.”

UNRWA was told it's vital in planning Gaza's future

Publicly, the agency has not been included in the Board of Peace’s planning for Gaza. At the board's briefing to the U.N. General Assembly Wednesday, officials named various U.N. agencies as partners, but not UNRWA.

However, behind the scenes, the Palestinian committee that will eventually govern Gaza acknowledged that UNRWA is necessary for planning, Lazzarini said.

Two senior U.N. officials and the board official told the AP the board had met multiple times with UNRWA since the ceasefire was signed.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media, confirmed at least three meetings between UNRWA officials and the Palestinian committee this year, most recently this month. Two took place during Lazzarini’s tenure.

Shortly before the end of his tenure, Lazzarini said, he spoke to Ali Shaath, who leads the Palestinian committee.

“Basically, he said, ‘I don’t know how I can succeed without you’,” Lazzarini said. Shaath and a spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment.

An internal U.N. description of a Jan. 26 meeting in Cairo, held without UNRWA, said Shaath praised the agency, showed a clear intention to see it back on track and said the Palestinian committee's system would largely build on its work.

The Tony Blair Institute, a Board of Peace partner, also asked for UNRWA’s help and spoke to UNRWA personnel, one senior U.N. official said. In response, the institute said it works with multiple U.N. agencies and NGOs in Gaza "to understand the situation on the ground, the needs of the population and the practical requirements for improving conditions.”

At a pledging conference for UNRWA on June 30, the agency's current acting chief, Christian Saunders, called it “vital” to efforts by the board to move forward with the ceasefire.

But the Board of Peace official painted a different picture, saying the meetings focused on determining how UNRWA’s operations work in order to develop programs that are “far more efficient and accountable.”

“UNRWA’s days are over,” the official said. Still, its employees ”will remain if they pass vetting and are delivering on their mandate and not advancing ideology or Hamas interests.”

Lazzarini said it's an “absurd contradiction" — the Board of Peace says UNRWA is not wanted while U.N. member countries “expect it to deliver.”

“We continue to emphasize that UNRWA is indispensable,” Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told journalists Thursday, after over 50 countries attended a ministerial meeting on the agency at U.N. headquarters.

Lazzarini says he has faced personal attacks

UNRWA was established to help Palestinians who fled or were driven out of what is now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding its creation.

In January 2024, Israel claimed, without providing evidence, that hundreds of Palestinian militants worked for the agency and over a dozen employees took part in the Oct. 7 attack.

Lazzarini said that he was never given written evidence to back up the allegations despite asking Israel and UN member states, but that he doesn't regret his decision to fire the employees accused of taking part in the attack.

“I did because it was in the best interest of the agency and the population we were helping," Lazzarini said, adding that he has faced “extraordinary vicious, heinous attacks on social media” as well as being accosted in the streets, "in Geneva and in New York” and shouted at by "pro-Israeli groups.”

In his two-hour interview with the AP, he shared recollections from the Gaza war.

He remembered how Palestinians released from Israeli detention told his staff they'd worn diapers in detention and had spent days sitting in their own excrement. He remembered how a displaced father — staying in a school courtyard with four kids — slept with shoes at his head, in case they needed to evacuate from bombardment.

His book, “A Witness to Gaza: What Cannot Be Erased,” will be published in French in October, with an English version to follow.

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Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

Down 10 with three minutes to go, the Valkryies went on a 14-0 run to beat the Los Angeles Sparks 76-75 Thursday night and move into to the No. 2 seed on the final day of the regular season.

Golden State's win and Indiana's loss to Minnesota sets up a best-of-three series between the reigning champion Las Vegas Aces and the Fever.

The series beginning Sunday in Las Vegas will be a showcase between Wilson, the four-time WNBA MVP, and Clark, the 2024 rookie of the year and three-time All-Star.

The Aces, who have won three of the past four WNBA championships, beat the Phoenix Mercury 100-82, but dropped to the No. 3 seed with Golden State's win. Indiana fell to the No. 6 seed with its 86-66 loss to Minnesota on Thursday.

Golden State plays the No. 7 seed Dallas Wings and star Paige Bueckers in the opening round. Minnesota clinched the top seed for the second straight season and will face eighth-seeded New York.

The Atlanta Dream are the four seed after beating New York on Wednesday night and will face No. 5 seed Washington. The Mystics beat the Chicago Sky 101-93 Thursday night and earned the fifth seed with Indiana's loss to Minnesota.

“Everybody in the playoffs are capable of winning on the road and stealing a series,” Atlanta coach Karl Smesko said. “I definitely think it’s an advantage to have to play in front of your home crowd.”

The Minnesota-New York series will be a rematch of the 2024 WNBA Finals, won by the Liberty in seven games. The Lynx played without star point guard Olivia Miles the final two games of the regular season due to a left calf injury.

“You have to have a healthy dislike for one another and I think that exists,” Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said. “But also at the same time, a lot of respect. So it makes for great cinema and hopefully some great games for us, particularly at Target Center.”

The Liberty also have two key players dealing with injuries.

Star Breanna Stewart missed Wednesday’s game with knee soreness and Jonquel Jones went down with an ankle injury in the third quarter.

“The margin for error throughout this regular season is incredibly small and you’ll see that in the playoffs,” Stewart said. “Like one through eight you don’t know who will be playing at the end of October, which is exciting. I feel like for us we’re going to get a fresh start when it comes Sunday.”

With New York finishing at 26-18, this is only the second time in league history that all the playoff teams have won at least 59% of their games. The 1998 playoffs, which only had four teams, had all four teams at 60% or better.

In the four major sports it’s rare to find the last place team in the playoffs with such a high win rate.

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See AP’s full WNBA coverage here

Un hombre sin camisa sacó a una mujer de su auto en el estacionamiento del hospital, ubicado en 2001 West 68th St., y huyó, según un testigo.

“El sospechoso se acercó a una víctima que salía de su vehículo, entró por la fuerza en su auto y huyó del lugar”, dijo el teniente Eddie Rodriguez, portavoz del Departamento de Policía de Hialeah.

El hombre, quien escapó de la custodia policial en el hospital, chocó contra un auto mientras huía, según Rodriguez.

Los detectives pidieron a cualquier persona con información sobre este u otros casos llamar a Crime Stoppers del Condado Miami-Dade al 305-471-8477 para permanecer en el anonimato.

Tarek's father carried him on foot from the southwestern city of Mokha as Iran-backed rebels swept in this month, bringing a return to civil war. The boy reached a hospital two days later in the government-held city of Aden, 270 kilometers (170 miles) away but it said it had no beds. Like others, it was overwhelmed by the wounded. They finally found a therapeutic feeding center.

The boy arrived in “acute crisis” after the delay in care, according to the center's director, Dr. Arwa Atef, and he only began walking again on Wednesday, over a week later.

“I swear to God, when I look at him, my heart breaks,” said his father, Mohammed al-Salami. “He looks almost lifeless.”

This is how the already fragile health system in the Arab world’s poorest nation is collapsing, caught in a new front of the Iran war. The Associated Press spoke with patients, medical workers and aid groups in Yemen as medicines run short and some workers flee. A few facilities have been overtaken by the fighting.

Some health centers are turning pregnant women and others in need away to focus on trauma patients. Vulnerable children are filling incubators and sharing beds. Millions of people are affected by the fighting backed by two of the Middle East’s biggest powers as Iran-backed Houthis advance against government forces supported by Saudi Arabia. Over 130,000 have fled their homes.

The feeding center where Tarek and other children are recovering is struggling to cope with a rise in patients in a country where many already were hungry, Atef said.

“We can’t keep up with the situation,” she said.

Overwhelmed hospitals focus on the wounded

Most hospitals and primary health centers affected by the escalation in fighting closed for the first 48 hours before resuming services, the United Nations said. But the Houthis have seized the Red Sea coast, including key ports for aid.

“The areas with some of the highest health needs are increasingly difficult to reach,” the World Health Organization said Friday.

Less than 10% of the affected health centers are fully equipped with the trauma services that wounded people need, WHO has said. With resources thin, a painful triage is underway.

Fewer facilities are handling the pregnancy-related emergencies that were killing three Yemeni women every day even before the escalation, said Francesco Galtieri with the United Nations Population Fund. That's one of the highest rates in the Arab world.

"Around 2,000 pregnant women are on the move,” with over 200 expected to deliver in the next week or so, he said.

Maternity wards have been converted into emergency rooms in some hospitals close to the fighting, said Hashem Osseiran, an International Committee of the Red Cross spokesperson, adding that many lack enough anesthesia drugs, oxygen supplies and sterile surgical gloves.

At a hospital treating mothers and children in the government-held city of Marib, Dr. Ahmed Modhesh said they are seeing more emergency maternity cases as other city hospitals focus on the wounded.

But his facility, Martyr Mohamed Hayel hospital, lacks intensive care specialists and doesn’t have enough generators to keep all departments running if the power goes out.

A midwife said the number of childbirths the hospital is handling has basically doubled to about 80. One woman with an ectopic pregnancy arrived bleeding heavily, yet the under-resourced staff were still able to perform an emergency procedure to save her life, the midwife said. She spoke on condition of anonymity because she wasn’t authorized to speak with the media.

Yemen’s healthcare was in trouble before the fighting

Even before the escalation, hospitals in Yemen relied on limited government support and citizen donations. Some were not able to fully pay staff.

Now, “we are in a very dangerous situation,” said Fahd al-Nazari, manager of the health office in Taiz province, which has received most of the newly displaced. “Within a day or two, or a week at most, we might have to close down (some facilities). In fact, some hospitals are already closed.”

Three of the province’s 17 hospitals are no longer under government control. Hospitals across Taiz had received around 635 casualties, including 112 bodies, as of Thursday after the Houthis captured Mokha, al-Nazari said. They included civilians and combatants.

“We’re exhausted receiving wounded people under these circumstances,” al-Nazari said.

Medical supplies and fuel are running short after key supply routes between Mokha and Taiz were largely cut off, forcing convoys onto mountainous roads unsuitable for large trucks. Even before the escalation, public hospitals in the province had just one MRI machine available.

At the Yemeni-Swedish Maternity and Children's Hospital in Taiz, incubators were full and two or three children were sharing beds in the emergency room, general manager Sami al-Sharabi said.

“I’m scared that the conflict would reach the hospital,” he said. “Any explosive that could hit us would destroy the hospital, as some parts of the building are already weak.”

Even hospitals in Aden, where Yemen’s government is based, struggle to cope. Doctors Without Borders said more than 60 wounded people had been admitted to Al-Gamhouria hospital in a week. Many needed urgent surgery or blood transfusions.

Fighters are also seeking emergency treatment

At a private hospital treating rebels in the Houthi-held city of Sanaa, two medical officials last week said it was overwhelmed with hundreds of wounded. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of security concerns.

It was not clear how many Houthi fighters have been killed or wounded overall. Few aid agencies operate in rebel-controlled areas, as the group has detained and harassed dozens of humanitarian workers. Experts say the Houthis have struggled to pay salaries to civil servants, including public sector doctors and diverted most tax revenues to their military wing.

The ICRC, one of the few global agencies still able to operate in Sanaa, last week said it delivered 22 tons of badly needed medical supplies to support “overwhelmed” hospitals.

There is also little information about casualties among government forces, though one government-allied group has said over 1,500 of its fighters were wounded.

Some medical workers have fled the conflict, making it harder to find care.

In Mokha, Doctors Without Borders said its small team was still working “despite the severe shortage of health professionals.” The charity’s deputy coordinator of operations in Yemen, Emmanuel Massart, said three other hospitals there had closed for days before resuming services.

Resupplying remains a major challenge because of closed roads, Massart said.

“We should not forget about Yemen," he said. It “remains one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.”

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Khaled reported from Cairo and Anna from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Abdulnasser Alseddik in Aden and Toqa Ezzidin in Cairo contributed to this report.

The S&P 500 was virtually unchanged in morning trading, but only after flipping between earlier gains and losses. It's coming off a three-day losing streak marred by big swings caused by rising yields in the bond market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 155 points, or 0.3%, as of 10:30 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% lower.

Stock indexes initially rose after trading began, aided by a drop in oil prices. The most actively traded contract in the market for Brent crude, the international standard, eased 1.3% to $98.97 per barrel.

It’s been yo-yoing on uncertainty about when the war with Iran will allow oil to flow freely again from the Middle East. Prices go down when hopes rise for a possible deal to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz to oil tankers, and they go up when doubts resurface.

But a report on U.S. consumer sentiment released shortly after trading began undercut that support after it helped push Treasury yields higher. The report from the University of Michigan said U.S. consumers are bracing for inflation of 4.6% in the coming year, up from their forecast of 4% the month before. It also said that overall sentiment among consumers was not as bad as economists expected, even if it was the lowest in four months.

The expectations for high inflation are potentially dangerous for the economy because they could encourage behavior that leads to a vicious cycle that worsens inflation. Indeed, some consumers told the survey that buying some kinds of products now would help them avoid higher prices in the future.

Following the report, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 5.21% from 5.18% late Thursday and is near its highest level since 2007.

High yields slow the economy by making borrowing money more expensive for everyone, while undercutting prices for stocks and other investments. Rising yields worldwide are rattling all kinds of financial markets, and yields are climbing not only because of worries about high inflation but also because big government debt loads, signs of continued economic strength and other factors.

The 10-year Treasury yield was at just 3.97% before the beginning of the war with Iran.

High yields hit stocks seen as the most expensive in particular. That has pressured stocks in the artificial-intelligence industry that soared in earlier years because of the frenzy around the technology.

As the 10-year Treasury yield rose, Nvidia reversed an early gain to dip 0.2%. A day earlier, its fall of 0.9% was the single heaviest weight on the S&P 500.

On the winning side of Wall Street, Akamai Technologies rose 5.3% after the cloud company announced an $11.6 billion, multiyear agreement with Anthropic, the company behind the Claude AI chatbot.

Costco Wholesale added 2.6% after the retailer reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Such strong profit reports from most U.S. companies have helped the stock market remain resilient despite all the worries about high inflation and oil prices.

The S&P 500 is near its all-time high set last month and on track to finish its first winning week in the last three.

In stock markets abroad, indexes ticked higher in Europe following bigger moves in Asia. Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 1.3%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 1%.

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AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Michelle Chapman contributed to this report.

Leo raised existential concerns about scientific progress, life and human rights during his opening speech to President Emmanuel Macron and authorities at the Élysée Palace and then to diplomats and United Nations employees at the headquarters of UNESCO, the U.N. culture and education organization.

With wars plaguing Europe and the Middle East, he reaffirmed the Vatican’s opposition to nuclear weapons and said the nuclear deterrence doctrine was “mistaken” since it was just fueling a new arms race.

“Peace is not a balance of power; rather, it is built day by day through dialogue and justice,” he said.

Leo has an intense four days in France, where the Catholic Church has lost ground on influencing ethical issues given the strict approach to secularism that is enshrined in the French Constitution.

Yet thousands of people lined his motorcade route, waving French and Holy See flags, with some braving hours of the unseasonable heat to catch a glimpse of him. The turnout underscored the surprising level of interest in Leo’s visit, the first official state visit by a pope in 18 years.

Macron said Leo’s visit brings “a source of hope” to many French people.

A capstone visit as Macron’s term ends

For Macron, who is barred from seeking a third term in May elections, hosting the American pope is something of a capstone. Pope Francis had refused repeatedly to make a proper state visit to France during his 12-year pontificate and pointedly refused to join the inauguration of the rebuilt Notre Dame cathedral in 2024.

“For a president of the republic as Macron, who is at the end of his mandate, it can be important to be aside the pope and to capture a part of his popularity,” said Charles Mercier, director of history and sociology of Catholicism studies at Paris EPHE university.

With seven months left in his term, Macron’s approval ratings are near record lows, driven by anger over the rising cost of living and criticism of France’s growing debt and deficit and deteriorating public services.

Smiling broadly as Leo spoke French, Macron thanked the pope for visiting, saying: “You are here with us for an extended visit, giving us your time, and that is moving.”

The Rev. Aristide Ahidote, from Ivory Coast, was among those who planned to attend the pope's vespers service in Notre Dame later Friday. “God has given us a pope with vigor and strength,” he said.

Leo calls for the French to mull lofty questions about life

Unlike Francis, who liked to travel to small Catholic communities far from Rome, Leo has been keen to emphasize and reawaken Europe’s Christian roots. He is seeking to push the church’s message about the value and dignity of human life in a country where the right to abortion was enshrined in the constitution in 2024, and where lawmakers recently gave final approval to a bill allowing adults with incurable illnesses to receive lethal medication.

The French Catholic hierarchy strongly opposed the measures, in keeping with Catholic teaching that human life must be protected and defended from conception until natural death.

In his speech to Macron and other government and diplomatic authorities, Leo reminded France of its “deep Christian roots” and called for the French to remember that the right to life is the “indispensable foundation of every other human right.”

His concern about the dignity of human life and humanity as a whole extended to the threats posed by artificial intelligence.

“The paradox has become increasingly evident: while ‘intelligence’ is attributed to computational systems, we struggle to recognize the inalienable dignity of human persons, whose lives are judged according to the criterion of efficiency and, when deemed no longer productive, are rejected and discarded,” he said.

From the very start of his pontificate, Leo has identified AI as one of the greatest challenges facing humanity. He dedicated his first encyclical to the topic, “Magnificent Humanity,” calling for robust regulation and for AI developers to work for the common good rather than profit.

Leo also appealed to AI developers and political leaders responsible for regulating them to slow down, an appeal that several top AI companies seem to have taken to heart in recently.

“If we are to avoid losing our humanity amid a ‘paradise of machines’ invading and conditioning our daily lives, there is an urgent need for education in ethical discernment and the capacity to acknowledge the moral good,” he said.

Leo earlier told reporters that he was pleased his message was being heard and said he hoped the dialogue that the Vatican initiated with tech companies would continue.

“And I think from their perspective, many of them, they’re very much open to looking for ways of making sure that AI does not displace or ultimately destroy humanity, but rather than be a tool for human beings,” he said.

A visit to Notre Dame that Francis declined

Later Friday, Leo presided over evening prayers in Paris' soaring Notre Dame cathedral, the first pope to celebrate there since the devastating 2019 fire that consumed the cathedral’s roof and toppled its spire.

After being mobbed by a crowd of eager nuns outside, Leo walked down the central aisle to the combined thundering of the organ above and cheers from the pews below. As bells tolled, he knelt in silent prayer in the same spot where, in 2019, flames brought down scorched roof beams.

Leo marveled at the brilliance of the stained-glass windows and restored cream columns and praised the artisans who repaired them. He urged the priests and nuns gathered in the pews to be inspired by the combined effort to bring the Gothic masterpiece back to life.

Francis had refused to visit France on a proper state visit, and explicitly refused Macron’s invitation to come for the 2024 reopening of the cathedral that drew dozens of world leaders.

He did make three short trips to French cities, however, including Strasbourg in 2014 and Marseille and Corsica in 2024, a one-day visit that became his last foreign trip.

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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.

Across the world, communities are dedicating Friday to honoring the beloved country singer. The day is falling on Sept. 25, a wink at Parton’s hit song “9 to 5.”

Parton, who died of cancer last month at age 80, built an impressive legacy over the decades as a singer-songwriter, actor, philanthropist and entrepreneur — leaving big and small ways to honor the icon.

So whether it’s dusting off your rhinestones, donating a book or throwing back a pink-themed cocktail, here’s how you can celebrate Dolly Parton Day.

Join a celebration

In the U.S., a growing number of state and local leaders are establishing Sept. 25 as an annual Dolly Parton Day from California to the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The proclamations highlight Parton’s successful career and stress her lifelong commitment to promoting literacy.

In Nashville — where Parton had lived since she was 18 — the city will honor the singer with pink lights and posters and give away stickers, buttons and bookmarks. Meanwhile, Southwest Airlines announced that it would hold a Parton-inspired karaoke Friday for travelers and employees. Tennessee state and local officials are currently in the process of renaming the airport after Parton.

“Dolly Parton’s impact on Nashville will be felt for generations, through the music she has given us, the people she has helped and the example she continues to set,” said Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell in a statement. “She has shown us that caring for a community means showing up for one another.”

Over in New Orleans, the marching group Krewe of Dolly will lead a parade through the city’s French Quarter to honor Parton.

And in San Francisco, organizers are planning a public event in the heart of the city, called “Dolly Day,” designed to be a celebration of life that will include “singing loud, dressing up, and being a little kinder than usual in her honor.”

Donate a book to Imagination Library

For those chained to their actual 9 to 5 job on Friday, sneaking away for an event may be challenging. Instead, you can channel Parton’s giving spirit.

Parton made it her mission to improve literacy through her Imagination Library book giveaway program. The program has quickly expanded, resulting in more than a million books sent out each month to children in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia.

The Imagination Library is encouraging the public to give directly to their local Imagination Library Partner on Dolly Parton Day, or help establish a new program in their community.

Don’t know where to start? The Dollywood Foundation is directing people to ImaginationLibrary.com, where a ZIP code search can find nearby programs.

“For Dolly, giving was always personal and from her heart,” said Jeff Conyers, president of The Dollywood Foundation, in a statement. “She believed deeply in helping people, especially children, and she always felt if you are in a position to help, you should help.”

Get inspired by Parton's style and songs

The Queen of Country was known for her over-the-top style, proudly wearing sequins with big hair and plenty of fringe in her signature color pink.

Parton especially adored butterflies, singing that “love is like a butterfly, as soft and gentle as a sigh.”

Dig into your closet and throw on something extra flashy, shiny or sparkly. Feeling adventurous? Some tattoo artists are offering Dolly-inspired tattoos on Friday, but a butterfly clip will also work.

Of course, there's no easier way to celebrate Parton than by playing one of her many, many albums throughout the day.

Known for her hits “9 to 5,” “Jolene,” and “I Will Always Love You,” Parton's catalog runs deep, and there's room to discover new favorites.

It was Parton’s wish that her songs would have a lasting impact, and that in turn, she would be remembered for trying to make the world a better place.

“I hope that a lot of my songs may last that long. And I hope I’ll be remembered as somebody that tried to do some good in the world and left, you know, a few good things,” she told The Associated Press in 2024.

Even if a school policy was written without overt racial bias, it might unfairly hurt one group of students over another, the understanding went. The concept is known as systemic racism, and Republican and Democratic administrations agreed: Schools and universities that received federal funding had an obligation to address it.

Under President Donald Trump's administration, that's no longer the case. One by one, the administration has limited the remedies schools can use to address systemic racial injustice.

This summer, the Education Department rescinded a regulation that allowed schools to gauge potential discrimination by comparing outcomes across races, such as the racial breakdown of students in advanced classes. Then, it issued a letter to American schools, emphasizing it's illegal to consider race when crafting discipline policies — even if one particular racial group ends up suspended or expelled more often.

At the same time, Trump's Justice Department has stepped away from many school desegregation cases. In a news release Thursday, the department boasted of successfully working through the courts to close more than 50 desegregation cases since Trump took office, with motions to dismiss in the works in many other cases. Previous administrations had used these federal court cases to hold schools accountable when students of color had worse outcomes than white students — high rates of discipline, worse school facilities or reduced access to extracurriculars and advanced coursework.

While Trump's first administration deprioritized enforcing racial justice, his current administration has gone further — threatening to punish schools for any consideration of race in their policies and practices.

To the administration, the practice of examining different outcomes for particular groups of students, sometimes known as “disparate impact,” was itself a form of racial discrimination.

“The Obama and Biden Administrations weaponized disparate impact by effectively coercing schools to discipline students differently based on race in order to engineer equitable disciplinary outcomes across racial groups,” Education Department spokesperson Sabin Sidney said. "These practices unfortunately led to unsafe classrooms and undermined student learning."

Critics worry the administration's actions will make it easier to get away with racial discrimination.

“When they talk about returning it to the states and making America great again, they’re talking about returning to how it was before 1954,” when school segregation was legal, said U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va.

School discipline data had offered insights on discrimination

Since Trump's return to office, the administration has set its sights on school discipline.

In May 2025, the president signed an executive order directing federal agencies to stop looking for “ disparate impact," or policies that appear neutral but result in outsized impact to one group over another. Those policies had been examined for possible discrimination, regardless of their intent.

In education, that analysis had most often been applied to school discipline — especially to removing students from the classroom, such as through suspensions, expulsions and referrals to law enforcement.

Federal and state data have long shown students of color, particularly Black students, are more likely than their peers to be pulled from the classroom for similar infractions. Research shows that students who are suspended are more likely to become disengaged from school and to have worse academic outcomes.

In 2021, the Education Department began investigating a complaint alleging Black male students with disabilities in Denver Public Schools were being disproportionately pushed out of the classroom. Progress on the case halted after Trump took office in 2025.

Advocates had also filed the complaint with state authorities, who found violations of civil rights laws and ordered the district to mandate new training. Meanwhile, families have heard nothing from the federal Education Department.

The silence gives school districts permission to continue with business as usual, said Pam Bisceglia, executive director of Advocacy Denver, which filed the complaints.

“I’d like to say that we have overcome and that marginalized communities are enjoying equal protections. We see that, in fact, that isn’t true,” she said.

Trump's administration has changed which cases are investigated

Under Trump's first administration, the Education Department continued to investigate and resolve cases of racial discrimination against minority students.

In 2018, the Education Department reached a settlement agreement with Durham Public Schools in North Carolina, after examining whether the district's discipline policies, or their effects, were racially discriminatory. The investigation found Black students were disproportionately given out-of-school suspension — especially in instances involving subjective decisions on matters like disobedience.

For a time, Jovonia Lewis, a parent and former Durham school board member, constantly received calls about her son being kicked out of the classroom. She was told he couldn’t sit still. But the federal settlement agreement helped Black parents see their children's experiences were not occurring in isolation, Lewis said.

“We knew our kids were being treated differently, but this data gave us leverage,” she said.

The investigation had a significant impact in Durham, Lewis recalled. The district adopted a new student code of conduct and created an equity affairs office.

Under the Trump administration's new guidance, federal authorities are unlikely to take up similar cases.

“The federal government has chosen to close its eyes to that way of understanding discrimination,” said Catherine Lhamon, who oversaw education civil rights under Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, both Democrats.

The impact of the administration's changes will outlast Trump's presidency, said Johnathan Smith, a former attorney in the civil rights division at the Justice Department and a managing director at the National Center for Youth Law. Once the administration changes rules and regulations, future efforts to investigate civil rights could be held up in court.

“They're building an infrastructure that says, ‘Not only are we taking down these structures, but we are building in roadblocks to make it very difficult for any future administration to change course,’” Smith said.

Decades-old school desegregation cases are being closed

Across the South, the Justice Department has taken an interest in closing cases of court-mandated school desegregation, arguing the decades-old orders are outdated. But civil rights attorneys say the impact of segregation continues to be felt today.

Courts have long maintained the passage of time is not enough to rule that discrimination has passed, said Kelly Gardner, deputy director of litigation at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. To be released from a desegregation order, schools have had to show that they have removed the lingering effects of segregation to the extent possible. That can involve assessing extracurricular offerings, funding levels and the state of school facilities.

Now, the Justice Department is intervening to close cases, often without taking account of those considerations, Gardner said.

In January, a federal court granted a request from the Justice Department and the DeSoto Parish School Board in Louisiana to release the small district from its desegregation order. In the order, the district had allowed students to transfer out of racially isolated schools, with transportation provided. As recently as 2024, the order was used to ensure those students had equal access to extracurriculars in their new schools.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, a Republican, praised the court decision for freeing the district from federal oversight.

“After 60 years of litigation and federal control, the elected members of the DeSoto Parish School Board now have the full powers of their office, as our Constitution has always intended,” Murrill wrote in a social media post at the time.

A few months after the order was lifted, the school district amended its policies. The district would no longer accept new applications for transfers, and students in the transfer program would have to return to their zoned schools once they finished the highest grade at their current school.

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

The promise of more meetings to come capped off a three-day state visit that has been criticized by some in the U.S. for being heavy on pomp and light on substance. The two leaders have made a show of working to preserve harmony, though there were no major breakthroughs this week on issues such as trade or the safety of artificial intelligence.

Xi extended an invitation for Trump and first lady Melania Trump to go to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, China, in November and noted that they could meet again a month later at the G20 summit at the Trump National Doral Miami golf club in Florida.

“We do welcome Mr. President and the first lady to visit China,” Xi said.

Trump responded, “We will, and we’ll be speaking a lot.”

Trump is taking Xi to the National Archives

Trump on Friday was taking Xi to visit the National Archives, showing off the sacred texts of U.S. democracy to the leader of the world’s most powerful communist country.

Xi is expected to depart Washington after touring the nation's vault of records, where the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are held.

Trump, a Republican, has been seeking to demonize Democrats as communists during the run-up to the November midterm elections, a message that has been muddied by the red-carpet treatment he has given Xi this week.

The visit comes as the U.S. celebrates the 250th anniversary of its founding, and Trump said Thursday that he wanted to show Xi “some of the greatest treasures of that proud history.”

The Archives has a special exhibit marking the semiquincentennial, titled “The American Story,” which highlights the country’s accomplishments and advances, along with images depicting its darker moments.

Trump showed Xi one copy of the Declaration of Independence on Thursday — a wall-mounted copy he keeps in the Oval Office.

The U.S. president also said he wanted to show Xi artifacts about the relationship between the two countries.

“Just as our ancestors reached across the ocean centuries ago to trade, to learn, and to build a better world, our two countries do really the same thing, and we’re very proud of it,” he said.

The leaders and their spouses also had tea in the Red Room

Xi's day began at the White House, where Trump and the first lady hosted the Chinese leader and his wife, Peng Liyuan, for tea in the White House’s Red Room.

Their visit falls during China’s Mid-Autumn Festival, a national holiday when families traditionally gather to celebrate the end of harvest, sharing mooncakes, round pastries filled with a sweet paste, over tea.

Xi thanked the Trumps for the visit. "The highest courtesies, the most meticulous arrangements,” Xi said in Chinese. “This visit is very successful, and we also feel very satisfied.”

Trump grinned when an interpreter relayed what Xi had said.

“We’ve had a tremendous visit from two spectacular people, and we really enjoyed it, and I think we’ve made tremendous strides,” Trump said. “We’ve made great strides, very positive for both countries.”

Xi enjoyed a state dinner and a White House tour

The Trumps feted their guests Thursday night with a black-tie state dinner attended by technology industry titans. Earlier in the day, Trump gave Xi a personal tour of his White House flourishes, including a gallery wall of presidents and a new 100-foot-long (30-meter-long) granite helicopter landing pad — and pointed out his ballroom, still under construction. Melania Trump and Peng Liyuan toured the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art.

The two leaders also met behind closed doors for 90 minutes on Thursday, when they discussed issues such as the Middle East, Ukraine and the Korean Peninsula, according to the official Chinese government readout of the meeting. The White House has not provided any information about the private talks.

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This story has been corrected to show the anniversary is the semiquincentennial, not the sesquicentennial.

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AP writers Ken Moritsugu in Beijing and Didi Tang and Josh Boak in Washington contributed to this report.

Bijan Robinson rushed for 194 yards and two touchdowns as the Falcons capitalized on the return of quarterback Michael Penix Jr. and trounced the punchless Green Bay Packers 35-14 on Thursday night.

Atlanta (1-2) erased an early 7-0 deficit by scoring 27 straight points to take control amid a chorus of boos at Lambeau Field. The Falcons outrushed the Packers 242 yards to 17.

It was a stunning turn of events for an Atlanta offense that hadn't run a single play inside an opponent's 20-yard line during the first two weeks of the season.

“That was the weight off the shoulders — just getting back to the red zone,” Robinson said. “And we knew we had to punch it in every opportunity we get when we get down there. That was the main focus — to get the ball down there and let's put the ball in the end zone. When we scored, it was definitely something we enjoyed, and we kept on doing it.”

Penix went 18 of 25 for 256 yards with one touchdown and an interception in his first action since tearing the ACL in his left knee during a loss to Carolina on Nov. 16.

“I'm proud of him,” Falcons coach Kevin Stefanski said. “It's not easy to rehab from injuries. That's a tough thing to do, that he's put himself through — the extra workouts in the weight room, the extra treatments in the training room, all those times that he's out in the field and he's running when no one's watching.”

Atlanta had struggled to produce any offense whatsoever in two games with Cooper Rush at quarterback. The Falcons became the first team since the 2008 Rams not to run any plays in the red zone through the first two weeks of a season.

That wasn’t a problem Thursday.

Robinson and Drake London became the first teammates to each compile at least 190 yards from scrimmage in a road game since Lawrence McCutcheon and Ron Jessie did it for the Rams at Miami on Oct. 3, 1976. London caught nine passes for a career-high 194 yards.

“Me and Drake, that's my real-life brother," Robinson said. "I call him my blood brother. We do everything together.”

Green Bay (1-2) lost a home opener for the first time since falling 30-22 to the San Francisco 49ers in 2012. The Packers had won 13 straight home openers from 2013-25 to share the NFL record with the Miami Dolphins, who also won 13 in a row from 1976-88.

“We’ve got a couple extra days here, and everybody’s got to take a long, hard look at themselves,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. “We’ve got to find solutions and just come back ready to work.”

Green Bay's Jordan Love went 28 of 53 for 312 yards with two touchdowns — one to Christian Watson and another to Matthew Golden — and an interception. MarShawn Lloyd and Kaleb Johnson combined for 17 yards on eight carries.

Love was working behind an offensive line missing left guard Aaron Banks and right tackle Zach Bako-Bewele, who tore his patellar tendon Sunday and will miss the rest of the season. Banks was dealing with a toe injury.

Jager Burton, a rookie fifth-round pick from Kentucky, made his first career start at left guard, and 2025 second-round selection Anthony Belton started at right tackle.

The lack of discipline that hindered Green Bay in its first two games cropped up again Thursday.

Green Bay led 7-0 and had forced an apparent third-and-11 incompletion late in the first quarter when Brenton Cox Jr. was called for roughing the passer. Robinson delivered a 55-yard carry on the next play to set up his own 3-yard touchdown run.

The Packers had committed an NFL-high 26 penalties through the first two weeks of the season.

Atlanta dominated the rest of the first half and led 17-7 at the break.

Nick Folk put Atlanta ahead by hitting a 44-yard field goal with 4:48 left in the second quarter. After Atlanta’s Zach Harrison blocked Trey Smack’s 47-yard field-goal attempt, Penix threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Austin Hooper on third-and-goal with 59 seconds left in the half.

Green Bay wasted a red-zone opportunity on its first drive of the second half when Love couldn’t connect with Watson in the end zone on fourth-and-1 from the 7. Atlanta poured it on from there.

“It felt great to get a win. It felt great to come out of there healthy. Just blessed, just blessed,” Penix said.

Injuries

Falcons: CB A.J. Terrell (groin) didn't play after getting placed on injured reserve this week.

Packers: LB Edgerrin Cooper was evaluated for a concussion in the second half. G Jacob Monk hurt his quadriceps late in the fourth quarter.

Up next

Falcons: At New Orleans on Monday, Oct. 5.

Packers: At Tampa Bay on Oct. 4.

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See AP’s full NFL coverage here

“She said, ‘When I come back home, we will drink the tea made from Chinese flowers,’” said Oles Visich, Kalynychenko’s partner. He has now been waiting for news about her for a month, after she and thousands of others disappeared in catastrophic flooding along the Nepal-China border.

Her last known location was exiting China at a border post at 10:22 a.m. local time, 15 minutes before the flood.

Kalynychenko, 36, was part of a group of 56 people, mostly Ukrainians, who had traveled to Mount Kailash in Tibet for a spiritual retreat.

Their families' situation is a sign of how complex and time-consuming the process is of rescuing, recovering and identifying victims lost to the disaster. Given the number of missing, the process will likely take months.

They disappeared while heading from China to Nepal on their way home. Some relatives say they have received no information from authorities. The Chinese government has told at least two families that their relatives left Chinese territory before the flood struck, but they haven't been able to confirm whether they entered Nepal as Nepal's immigration complex and its records were destroyed in the floods.

Little information is reaching families

The floods killed more than 1,400 people and left more than 6,000 missing, most of them on the Nepali side of the border. Nepal has said that 636 foreign nationals remain missing, including 54 Ukrainians. China has reported 261 foreign nationals among the missing on its side, including one Ukrainian.

Families in Ukraine say most of them have not received any answers since realizing their relatives were among the missing.

“We only have the statistics that are being posted online — how many people have been found, how many are alive, how many are dead, and how many are still missing,” said Stanislav Solohub, whose brother and sister-in-law went missing on Aug. 25.

Nepal says it has recovered 1,451 bodies, but only 112 have been handed over to families so far.

The government said it has collected DNA samples from 2,035 relatives so far, but it has not disclosed how many victims have been identified.

Last messages were sent minutes before the floods began

The group, led by Irina Blonskaya, a spiritual teacher who often organized retreats, was returning from its journey home in China when the flood struck Aug. 26. Their plan was to travel by bus from the Tibet region to Kathmandu, where its members would board flights to their respective countries. The group’s last message was sent at 8:27 a.m. Nepal time, about 10 minutes before the mountain slope collapsed.

Many had not checked in with their loved ones that morning, owing to the time difference.

Authorities have said the were triggered when a section of ice and rock broke away from a Himalayan mountain slope, creating a fast-moving torrent of water, ice, mud and debris. It destroyed communities and Gyirong Port, a border crossing used by some pilgrims traveling to or returning from Mount Kailash.

‘Who is looking for them?’

Vladsylava Horlova’s mother, Elena, was traveling in the group as well. She initially found her mother’s name of the list of the missing from the Nepali government, but hasn't received any further information from the Nepali side. Later, the Chinese embassy confirmed her mother had left the country, and was not counted in China's list of missing people.

Horlova, a college student who is a refugee in Norway, worries that her mother was not recorded as being in either country, and that neither side is looking for her. There’s a stretch of road between the Nepali immigration building and the Chinese one along the border, videos from travelers show.

“You think about what if someone appeared to be in a no man’s land or that they left China, but not physically, who’s looking for them?” she asked.

Horlova has attempted to contact organizations ranging from the Ukrainian embassy in China, to Norwegian police, and even the Red Cross. She, like the others, have submitted their DNA samples to police to help the search.

On the other side of the border, China has said that when the remains of foreigners are identified, it will notify their respective embassies, but the authorities have not given any details about how many identities have been confirmed so far.

People still have hope

Though it has been a month since the original disaster, some families are still holding on to hope.

Just days before Kalynychenko left for her travels, she organized a retreat for women in Ukraine whose partners were fighting on the front lines of the war, some of whom had not heard from their partners for two years.

Visich, her partner, sees the irony of his situation, but like others in the group, has chosen to stay positive. Visich, also a psychologist, wrote a support guide for others like himself, offering tips on mental health.

“Because for my Olenka, for example, the most important thing in our connection, that each other … needs to be happy,” Visich said.

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AP writer Binaj Gurubacharya in Kathmandu, Nepal and senior video producer Volodymr Yurchuk in Kyiv, Ukraine contributed to this report.

The August disaster “was not just a local tragedy. It was a warning to the world. And I ask you today: Have you really heard that warning?” Nepali Prime Minister Balendra Shah said at the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday night. “Nearly three years ago, standing in the shadow of our Mount Everest, the secretary-general of the United Nations warned about humanity about the madness and impending climate disaster.”

“That cry from the rooftop of the world was not heard enough,” Shah said. “We in Nepal heard it. Our communities heard it. Scientists around the world heard it. They repeated it with evidence. But we, the political leaders, have been negligent to translate those warnings in action at the speed and scale that the vulnerable people require.”

International scientists have connected melting permafrost from climate — caused by burning coal, oil and gas — to the instability of the glacier, which partly collapsed and triggered a massive flood that has killed at least 1,400 people with even more still missing.

Shah said that Nepal contributed less than one-tenth of 1% of the heat-trapping gases behind climate change. About 99% of Nepal's electricity comes from hydropower, and many workers were trapped in tunnels by the flooding.

“We did not create this crisis, yet we are paying a colossal price for it,” said Shah, 36, a former rapper and engineer who is the youngest head of government to address the General Assembly this year. “Our glaciers are retreating, our mountain slopes are becoming unstable, our rivers are becoming less predictable, and every major disaster threatens to erase years of development.”

He said climate change ‘does not recognize borders’

In a black Dhaka topi, a traditional brimless Nepali hat, Shah spoke while wearing his signature dark sunglasses, which he uses for medical reasons. He said “the tragic consequences of a warming climate” tells the world that “climate change does not recognize borders. Glaciers and floods do not travel with stamps and passports.”

Subeksha Khadka, a humanitarian and former Miss Nepal International, in an online interview, praised Shah's speech and echoed the warning: "This time Nepal has been on the target, but it could be anyone. This is our story right now, and it can be anybody else’s tomorrow. So it’s time to act.”

Shah didn't ask for a specific amount in aid, but he called the international financial aid system inadequate and too bureaucratic. This included a loss and damage fund agreed upon a few years ago for poor nations hit by climate disasters not of their own making.

“Climate finance must not become another bureaucratic maze through which vulnerable countries spend years” maneuvering through when they need help. “When the house is burning, we do not ask a family to complete 50 forms. We act. This is what climate justice means.”

He exhorted the General Assembly to act on relief, rehabilitation, reconstruction — which are traditional international help concepts — but also “responsibility, reparation, resilience.” Reparation is a word and an issue that rankles industrial western nations like the United States, which is historically the world's biggest carbon emitter.

He says it's ‘not an isolated disaster’

Over the past 75 years, the United States has spewed about 1,500 times more carbon into the air than Nepal has, according to the Global Carbon Project, a group of scientists that track greenhouse gas emissions by countries. Historical emissions matter because carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere for more than a century trapping heat.

The U.S. this week announced $31 million in aid to Nepal for flood recovery, which bring America's total financial help up to $36 million. It's less than 1% of what they need.

“Preliminary assessments indicate that from recent disaster alone, Nepal has suffered loss of over $5 billion, nearly 15% of our GDP and a third of our annual budget," Shisir Khanal, Nepal's foreign minister, said Wednesday at the UN climate summit. "Thus for Nepal, this catastrophe is not merely a humanitarian emergency. It is a development emergency dismantling years of progress. It is a justice crisis exposing the inequities of global climate action and it is an existential crisis striking at the very survival of our communities and our future.”

“What happened in Nepal is not an isolated disaster but a preview of what awaits many vulnerable nations,” Khanal said.

Former United States Vice President Al Gore said in an interview that Nepal's disaster shows that the climate crisis “was getting worse much faster” than people can handle and foreshadows problems with melting glaciers that feed all of the great rivers of Asia, putting the water supply of 2 billion people at risk.

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Delgado reported from New York. Associated Press writer Jennifer McDermott contributed to this report.

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

Here in South Florida, that level of trust isn’t a movie plot, it’s a reality on the front lines for the men, women and canine officers of the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office every day.

Studio 10 went on location to the MDSO K9 training campus, where we received a firsthand look at how these incredible animals do extraordinary things all to protect and serve.

You can check out the full report by Local 10’s Jason Carter at the top of this page.

Leer en español

The tropical storm is expected to become the eastern Pacific’s ninth hurricane of the season on Thursday as it heads northward and hooks left near or to the south of the Big Island of Hawaiʻi as a major Category 3 hurricane (peak winds of at least 111 mph) this weekend.

As of Thursday morning, the official National Hurricane Center forecast tracked the center of Nolo to within 50 to 75 miles of the Big Island by early Saturday local time. It’s worth noting the average track error at this forecast time is around 50 to 75 miles so interests in the state – particularly from Maui, Molokai, and Lanai southward to the Big Island – should be prepared for the possibility of damaging hurricane conditions (winds of 74 mph or stronger) beginning late Friday local time.

The most serious hazard with Nolo will be the possibility of catastrophic flooding and life-threatening mudslides as it passes this weekend.

The National Weather Service is forecasting an incredible amount of rain – even for a place that’s considered one of the rainiest on the planet – with as much as 35 inches or more locally on windward facing slopes and along the southeast side of the Big Island.

An unprecedented third hurricane threat

Back in August, Hurricane Lala passed to within about 30 miles of the Big Island – the closest approach of a hurricane to the Big Island on record – delivering over 40 inches of torrential rain in spots as one of the most prolific Hawaiian rainstorms on record, causing catastrophic flooding across multiple islands, damaging roads and infrastructure, and knocking out power to most customers across the state.

Lala was followed by Category 2 Hurricane Lowell only 3 weeks later, whose center passed about 70 miles west of Kauaʻi and only 40 miles west of Ni’ihau, two of the westernmost main Hawaiian Islands. Lowell was the strongest hurricane to affect this part of the state since Category 4 Iniki hit Kauaʻi head on in 1992.

Now Nolo threatens to be the third hurricane hit on Hawaii this year. Although hurricanes can affect Hawaii from time to time, prior to this year only 6 hurricanes on record – Dot (1959), Iwa (1982), Iniki (1992), Iselle (2014), Douglas (2020), and Hone (2024) – have passed within 50 miles of the state.

With the possibility of Nolo being the 3^rd hurricane in 2026 to pass within 50 miles of Hawaii, this amounts to three decades worth of hurricane threats to Hawaii in one year.

Hawaii is under their 3^rd hurricane watch this year – the most hurricane watches ever issued in a single year for the state – and has triple the number of hurricane watches than the entire U.S. mainland so far in 2026.

Needless to say, it’s been an exhausting and unprecedented year of hurricane threats for our 50^th state.

Polo briefly back to Category 5, forecast to hit Baja California Peninsula

Hurricane Polo regained some vigor Wednesday evening and early Thursday, returning to its earlier Category 5 status while centered only about 115 miles south of the Pacific side of southwest Mexico.

As of late Thursday morning, Polo was back to a Category 4, experiencing the short-term intensity fluctuations common with high-end hurricanes, but remained an extremely powerful and durable hurricane. Although its dangerous core of destructive winds will stay offshore, winds gusting to 40-plus mph and periods of heavy rain will affect parts of southwestern Mexico into Friday.

Polo will gradually pull away from Mexico into Saturday, but forecasts have come into agreement with it bending back toward Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula by late weekend into early next week where it’s forecast to come ashore as a weakening but still dangerous hurricane late Monday into Tuesday.

Interests in the region should monitor the forecasts closely over the weekend.

Residual moisture from Polo could also sneak into the desert southwest, enhancing a heavy monsoonal rains for parts of Arizona, New Mexico, and into the Four Corners by early next week.

Fay the comeback kid while continuing to defy forecasts

Fay just isn’t wanting to hang it up over the open north Atlantic. The system, which had a short stint as a tropical storm earlier this week before unraveling Tuesday evening, made an unexpected comeback Wednesday and has restrengthened into a tropical storm while safely over the open waters of the central Atlantic.

Fay has been a thorn in the side of forecast models, which whiffed on its initial development and missed again on its comeback tour. Thankfully this one isn’t close to land so the blown forecasts haven’t been a problem, but it’ll be interesting to see whether Fay overachieves and makes another run as the Atlantic’s first hurricane today before it weakens again this weekend.

For now at least, Fay is expected to stay underneath the hurricane threshold.

Atlantic mostly quiet otherwise

A strong disturbance southeast of the Cabo Verde Islands – now designated Invest 90L – has a high chance of short-term development.

90L will hook a hard right and has a short shelf life it does develop. Other than some blustery weather and periods of heavy rain for the Cabo Verde Islands today through Saturday, this one won’t pose any issues to land.

Though there’s still a small chance of an organizing nor’easter off the Eastern Seaboard to gain some tropical characteristics this weekend, it won’t appreciably change the impacts regardless.

NHC has chosen to keep the non-tropical low off its outlook map, likely to avoid confusion in messaging and out of sensitivity to those affected by Superstorm Sandy in 2012 (this is NOT at a Sandy scenario).

The demonstrators represented a range of causes, from calls for religious autonomy and greater freedoms in Tibet, Hong Kong and the ethnic region of Xinjiang to demands to keep China out of self-governed Taiwan.

Protests against visiting Chinese leaders are nothing new — in 2006, a woman heckled Xi's predecessor Hu Jintao at a White House welcome ceremony — but Xi has become the focus of attacks for his tough approach to tightening control over Xinjiang, Hong Kong and other regions and the Chinese military's growing threats to Taiwan, which he says must come under Chinese rule.

Crowds gathered behind a fence along Lafayette Park, waving flags and holding signs. Loudspeakers carried their voices across the park to the White House’s North Portico, where an honor guard and a red carpet awaited guests attending the state dinner.

The crowd chanted, “Xi Jinping has got to go” and “Shame! Shame on Xi Jinping!” The chants grew louder throughout the ceremony.

Pro-China demonstrators also turned out in Washington. Around 200 supporters of Xi gathered outside the hotel where he was staying, waving Chinese and American flags and chanting, “Welcome, welcome, a warm welcome.” They had banners reading, “A warm welcome to Chairman Xi on his visit to the U.S.” and “Hello, Uncle Xi.”

Meanwhile, protesters of the Xi's government gathered outside the Chinese Embassy in the morning before marching through the city. By late afternoon, a few hundred people gathered at a park near the White House to “unwelcome” Xi.

Many waved Tibetan flags and called for a “Free Tibet.” Others carried flags bearing the Chinese words for “freedom” and “democracy,” along with signs reading, “Keep Taiwan Free” and “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times,” a slogan associated with Hong Kong’s mass protests in 2019.

Anjali Tenzin Sonn, 17, joined a mostly Tibetan group calling for a free Tibet outside the U.S. Capitol. She said she felt compelled to participate after growing up hearing stories about her mother fleeing Tibet on foot and her grandfather suffering as a political prisoner. She described the protest as “inspirational.”

“I hope Emperor Xi won’t remain in power. I hope he can give Chinese people real freedom — freedom of speech and religion,” said Zhang Na, a 31-year-old warehouse worker in Los Angeles who traveled to the same protest.

Zhang said she became weary of China’s prolonged COVID-19 lockdowns and flew to Ecuador three years ago before walking to the United States through the southern border.

Yang Fan, a 39-year-old Christian, attended with his wife and daughter and held a handwritten sign calling for “freedom of religion” and an “end to dictatorship.” He said he wanted to stand up for Christians in China and hoped Xi would release those imprisoned for their religious beliefs.

“I would like to see the liberation of Hong Kong and the complete restoration of its freedoms,” said Melody Calkins, 30, who spent much of her childhood in Hong Kong.

The firm's report published Wednesday found that Dale Caldwell violated the state’s policy prohibiting discrimination in the workplace. It said he made an advance toward a staffer’s friend and when he was rebuffed, he told the staffer, “you young women are looking for young sperm.”

“The investigation found that the Lieutenant Governor engaged in serious, repeated violations of state policy and failed to uphold the responsibilities of his office,” Gov. Mikie Sherrill said in a statement Thursday.

Caldwell’s lawyer, Thomas Calcagni, disputed the allegations, calling the investigation a one-sided operation that did not include necessary due process.

“The Lieutenant Governor was not provided a meaningful opportunity to address each of these anonymous allegations,” he said in a statement.

Caldwell “categorically denies” making the alleged statement about women wanting sperm, the lawyer said, adding that a state police trooper who was present at the time didn’t hear it said.

The report also accused Caldwell of breaking the state’s ethics rules by trying to get a promotion for a state employee he was dating.

In May, Caldwell emailed an unnamed official recommending his romantic partner, who he called a friend, for a promotion to a leadership position, the report said. He included her resume and a letter she sent expressing interest in a senior leadership position, according to the report.

Calcagni acknowledged that Caldwell had recommended a promotion for a woman with whom he had a personal relationship, but said he believed she was qualified for the job and hadn’t ordered anyone to promote her.

“There is a difference between failing to disclose a personal relationship when forwarding the resume of a qualified job applicant and actually using the power of public office to secure a job or financial benefit for someone,” Calcagni said.

The report also found seven ticketed events between Feb. 19 and May 23 where Caldwell reportedly brought one or more guests without paying for them. The events included one at the State Opera of New Jersey and a Rowan University Rosa Parks Scholarship Luncheon, with tickets ranging from $65 to $300, according to the report.

“Where a sponsor waives admission to an event for an official’s family member, friend, or date, the value of that admission is an impermissible benefit to the official,” the report said.

In May, Caldwell sent a message responding to accusations of ethical violations against him. He denied several claims, including that he gives out his businesses cards to women for inappropriate reasons, calling that “categorically untrue.”

“Unfortunately, in this current political environment, false accusations, especially against people of color, seem to be commonplace,” Caldwell, who is Black, wrote.

Sherrill, a Democrat, said Caldwell’s “ethical lapses” continued even with multiple warnings and trainings. She called his resignation “in the best interest of New Jersey residents.”

“These violations substantiated in the investigation reflect a pattern of behavior that does not meet the standards of this Administration,” she said.

A Methodist pastor, Caldwell was president of Centenary University for two years before being elected lieutenant governor, a post that has existed in New Jersey for around 20 years.

While candidates for governor get to pick the people who will appear on the ticket as their running mate, and serve as lieutenant governor, it is an independently elected position.

New Jersey’s governor cannot fire Caldwell. She has the power to assign, or remove, him from certain responsibilities, and could effectively sideline him from playing an active role in state government. But lieutenant governors can be impeached and removed from office by the Legislature.

As lieutenant governor, Caldwell is first in line to become the governor if Sherrill were to die, be removed from office or become incapacitated. The lieutenant governor’s office, while more than ceremonial, is largely subservient to the governor.

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Golden reported from Seattle.

En las últimas semanas han surgido tormentas tropicales en lo que parecería una cadena de montaje, ya que las condiciones de El Niño que aparecieron en junio han hecho que las aguas se calienten más de lo normal, lo que ha desencadenado una serie de fenómenos meteorológicos inusuales en muchas partes del mundo.

“Se encamina a ser quizá el El Niño más intenso que se haya registrado”, expresó Brian McNoldy, experto en huracanes de la Universidad de Miami.

La cantidad de huracanes en el Pacífico oriental ya ha superado lo que ocurre en una temporada típica. Tan sólo esta semana, el huracán Polo empapó la costa del Pacífico mexicano mientras oscila entre las categorías 4 y 5. Y en Hawai, cuya población está cansada de las tormentas, existe la posibilidad de que el huracán Nolo genere inundaciones catastróficas.

Durante El Niño, los vientos superficiales de baja altitud que soplan de este a oeste a través del Pacífico se debilitan o a veces se invierten. Eso provoca una alteración en la corriente en chorro e impulsa calor global récord, sequías severas, incendios forestales y la reducción de los suministros de agua.

Los episodios de El Niño no siguen un calendario regular y ocurren, en promedio, cada dos a siete años. Algunos pueden ser leves. Otros pueden golpear con fuerza. McNoldy pronosticó que el actual El Niño alcanzará su punto máximo durante el próximo invierno, pero se prolongará hasta 2027.

“No se desactiva de inmediato”, comentó.

Mientras que la atención se centra en el aumento del número de tormentas en el Pacífico, los fenómenos de El Niño, por el contrario, reducen la actividad de huracanes en el océano Atlántico: la actividad meteorológica tropical en ese océano ha sido prácticamente nula este año.

Un año turbocargado de huracanes en el Pacífico

Gracias a El Niño, el Pacífico oriental y el Pacífico central han registrado hasta la fecha cuatro tormentas tropicales más de lo normal, en un momento en que a la temporada de huracanes aún le faltan más de dos meses, señaló Matthew Rosencrans, principal pronosticador de la temporada de huracanes del Servicio Meteorológico Nacional, perteneciente a la Oficina Nacional de Administración Oceánica y Atmosférica de Estados Unidos (NOAA, por sus siglas en inglés).

De 1991 a 2020, hubo un promedio de 15 tormentas con nombre por temporada en el Pacífico oriental. La temporada en ese océano se extiende del 15 de mayo al 30 de noviembre.

Pero, ¿superar el promedio anual en septiembre? “Esa es otra historia”, apuntó Rosencrans.

Lo que también distingue a las tormentas de este año impulsadas por El Niño es que tres huracanes del Pacífico han alcanzado fuerza de categoría 5, igualando un récord establecido en 2002, también durante un episodio de El Niño, explicó.

La temporada más activa registrada en el Pacífico oriental fue la de 1992, cuando hubo 25 tormentas con nombre, explicó Rosencrans. En el Pacífico central fueron 14 en 2015.

En ese año hubo nueve huracanes de categoría 3 o superior en el Pacífico oriental, pero no se reportaron muertes. Debido a El Niño, los pronosticadores señalaron que las tormentas del Pacífico oriental se formaron más al oeste y siguieron trayectorias más en esa dirección, permaneciendo sobre el océano abierto durante todo su ciclo.

Durante otro fuerte episodio de El Niño en 1997, cientos de personas murieron cuando el huracán Paulina arrasó la costa del Pacífico de México. Ese mismo año, la tormenta tropical Nora empapó de manera inusual el suroeste de Arizona, una zona sin litoral. Y una tormenta de diciembre en el sur de California provocó inundaciones que arrastraron autos hacia un canal de tormentas y motivaron evacuaciones en algunos parques de casas móviles.

En 1998, se culpó a El Niño de inundaciones en China en las que murieron 4.150 personas, la mayoría a lo largo del río Yangtsé.

Hawai vuelve a quedar en la mira

El estado ha sentido la furia de dos huracanes durante el último mes. Lala en agosto y Lowell en los primeros días de septiembre se combinaron para destruir o dañar más de 510 viviendas y causar 168 millones de dólares en daños a la infraestructura pública. Lala también provocó 21,5 millones de dólares en daños en 38 escuelas.

Se prevé que Nolo, que se intensificó hasta convertirse en huracán la noche del jueves, sea el tercero. Los meteorólogos dicen que el meteoro podría arrojar en Hawai cantidades de lluvia medidas en pies, no en pulgadas.

Además, las fuertes lluvias de marzo causaron las peores inundaciones en Hawai en dos décadas. A eso le siguió en mayo un terremoto de magnitud 6,0, lo que llevó al gobernador Josh Green a señalar que este año ha sido “diferente a todo lo que recuerdo”.

Dos huracanes pasaron a menos de 320 kilómetros (200 millas) de Hawai en 1957, pero eso no volvió a ocurrir durante más de medio siglo. Luego sucedió en 2014, 2016 y 2018, antes de la tríada prevista para este año.

Los meteorólogos suelen preocuparse por la “fatiga de preparación”, cuando las comunidades se alistan para tormentas que nunca llegan o que están por debajo de su fuerza potencial. Pero John Bravender, meteorólogo de coordinación de alertas del servicio meteorológico, dijo que 2026 ha generado un tipo distinto de desgaste en la población de Hawai.

“El hecho de que hayamos tenido estos impactos dañinos que siguen ocurriendo y, mientras nos recuperamos de ellos, tenemos que prepararnos para el siguiente evento... eso es algo nuevo que realmente agota los recursos y conduce a esta sensación general de que esta es una temporada de huracanes muy ajetreada para nosotros”, expresó.

Los residentes entienden los riesgos y se están acostumbrando más a prepararse.

“Creo que los miembros de la comunidad se dan cuenta de lo peligroso que puede ser el clima, de lo importante que es que sean autosuficientes, tengan comida, agua y también cuiden de sus vecinos”, manifestó Bravender.

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La periodista de The Associated Press Gabriela Aoun Angueira contribuyó a este despacho.

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

Even as a sizable Cuban delegation was approved to come to the U.N. General Assembly this week, the State Department is now weighing “strict controls” on the officials who plan to return next month for an annual U.N. vote on the decadeslong U.S. economic embargo on Cuba.

That is according to U.S. officials and an internal document obtained by The Associated Press. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because a decision on the details of what the restrictions will entail has not yet been finalized.

Potential plans to further restrict officials in New York for diplomatic work come as Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez bemoaned the “lack of progress” in negotiations between Havana and Washington. He also blasted the oil blockade that the Trump administration imposed on the Caribbean island nation in January.

“What defines the present status of the Cuba-U.S. relations is the brutal tightening of the economic and financial blockade and the total oil siege imposed on our country, which is equivalent to a naval blockade,” Rodríguez said in Spanish during an AP interview on the sidelines of the annual U.N. General Assembly gathering of world leaders.

His comments, made through a translator, follow President Donald Trump's wide-ranging U.N. address Tuesday, when he again called Cuba a “failed state" and said he was “seeking a fundamental ⁠change in the situation in Cuba.”

His administration has been trying to force changes to Cuba’s political system by cutting off fuel to the island, leading to massive power outages that affect basic activities such as cooking, water supply, and internet and telephone service.

“Communism will never be coming to America, but freedom ​will be coming to Cuba," Trump said at the U.N.

US-Cuba negotiations once again reach an impasse

Rodríguez, who has served as foreign minister since 2009, said that while no meetings now are scheduled with U.S. officials, “Cuba remains willing to keep these channel of contacts open.”

He refused to say when the last talks took place, noting that while past conversations have been “respectful,” the public statements and policy decisions made by U.S. officials afterward have been “extremely aggressive."

Millions of people have lost access to electricity as Cuba’s power grid has collapsed at least six times since the U.S. energy blockade began at the start of the year. The restrictions prevent Cuba from importing fuel needed to operate its thermoelectric power plants or replacement parts to maintain infrastructure that in many cases has become obsolete.

Other U.S. measures have included imposing more economic penalties on industries in the already heavily sanctioned country and broadening enforcement of laws that bar Americans who visit the island from dealings with government-owned or -affiliated businesses.

"These measures hamper some processes that could lead to discussion of things in the common interests of both nations," Rodríguez said.

Havana has recently integrated historic economic reforms, opening up the island to the private sector. Officials, including Rodríguez, have said these are not concessions to the U.S., but they are moving in the direction the Trump administration wants.

Cuban delegation could face new obstacles to visit United Nations

Rodríguez and other members of his government are planning to return to New York next month for the annual U.N. General Assembly vote on the U.S. economic embargo against Cuba — a vote that has historically condemned American policy toward the island by overwhelming margins.

Cuban officials already face heavy restrictions in New York and Washington due to their U.S. designation as a state sponsor of terrorism, with travel and commuting limited to a 25-mile radius of the U.N. headquarters in Manhattan.

But any new U.S. travel restrictions could make it more difficult or impossible for Cuban officials to attend the vote, which has been taking place for more than three decades.

Last year, Washington’s isolation on the issue was softened as countries like Argentina, Ukraine and Hungary — all closely allied with the Trump administration — rejected the Cuban-backed effort even as friction has grown in the region around American military actions there.

While General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding, they reflect world opinion.

Rodríguez told the AP last year that the U.S. had mounted a pressure campaign to influence the vote. He said then that Havana had heard from other countries, mainly in Europe, that the State Department was encouraging them to vote against the resolution.

In response, a State Department spokesperson said last year that “the Cuban regime does not deserve the backing of America’s democratic allies.”

Democracy in action: Domestic vote-by-mail ballots were in the first batch, which makes up more than 300,000 voters.

“It is excitement because this is a huge job, getting them all processed, getting them organized on these containers and ready to go on the trucks, getting the postal service to bring out these 18 wheelers, having FHP here to escort the trucks, there is a lot of coordination and organization that goes into this,” said Joe Scott, the Broward Supervisor of Elections.

Scott said this is one of several major projects that have to happen during an election for a big county like Broward.

“We want to stop and celebrate those victories along the way because that is what keeps the team moving and pushing on to the next goal,” Scott said about his leadership style.

Scott had some tips for voters.

“There is no need to wait. You can get that ballot completed and mail it back to us, or you can bring it to one of our office locations,” Scott said.

Early voting begins on Oct. 19.

“We will actually have a ballot return station at all of our early voting sites, 30 locations across Broward County,” Scott said. “To vote early drop their vote by mail ballot there.”

Alina Garcia, Miami-Dade County’s supervisor of elections, also gave voters’ tips.

“It is important that you check your mailboxes,” Garcia said. She also added, “First, take your time and review your entire ballot carefully, read the instructions, review the contests.”

Scott said voters can rest assured that the system is going to work the way it has worked the past couple of cycles.

“You get your ballot, you make sure you sign that envelope, and you send it back to us, we are going to make sure that signature matches,” Scott said. “If that signature matches, your vote will be counted. If it doesn’t, we are going to reach out to you and make sure you are aware of the problem and have an opportunity to fix that problem.”

Garcia said there aren’t any problems with mailing it back.

“Either you put it in the mailbox, or you can bring it to one of our early voting locations,” Garcia said. “We are going to have 28 voting locations.”

Scott said there have been some pretty favorable court decisions that are going to make sure that the status quo is maintained.

“We continue to operate in a way that is proven and true over multiple election cycles now,” Scott said.

Related links

BY EXECUTIVE ORDER - https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/03/ensuring-citizenship-verification-and-integrity-in-federal-elections/

A MOVE REJECTED BY THE SUPREME COURT https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/26a305_4g15.pdf

ACCORDING TO REUTERS: “The White House defended U.S. President Donald Trump’s ability ‌to vote by mail, after reports the president cast his ballot by mail in Florida’s Republican primary despite previously blasting mail-in ballots as ‘cheating’.” https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/white-house-defends-trumps-ability-vote-by-mail-2026-08-18/

THE MIT ELECTION DATA AND SCIENCE LAB SAYS DOCUMENTED INSTANCES OF VOTE-BY-MAIL FRAUD ARE RARE “Documented instances of fraud related to VBM are rare and research finds no reason to believe that fraud is more common in VBM states.” https://electionlab.mit.edu/research/voting-mail-and-absentee-voting

THE BIPARTISAN POLICY CENTER SAYS MAIL VOTING IS SAFE - SECURE - AND RELIABLE - ADDING “Mail ballots suspected of fraudulent activity are set aside for further investigation and, when appropriate, are referred to law enforcement for prosecution.” https://bipartisanpolicy.org/report/mail-voting-is-safe-secure/

BY THE NUMBERS:

Miami-Dade: 202,547 VBM ballots to be mailed today

Broward: 136,000 VBM ballots to be mailed today

RESEARCH THE ISSUES AND CANDIDATES:

Registered Voters: Head to the Vote 2026 section of Local10.com to research the issues and candidates you have the opportunity to weigh in on.

STILL NEED TO REGISTER TO VOTE?

• Deadline to register to vote: October 5, 2026
• Deadline to request that ballot be mailed: October 22, 2026 Source: https://dos.fl.gov/elections/for-voters/election-dates/

Broward: https://browardvotes.gov

Miami-Dade: https://www.votemiamidade.gov/elections/detail.page?mduid_election=ele1787926699492371

Monroe Co FL: https://www.votemonroeflkeys.gov

Palm Beach: https://www.votepalmbeach.gov

Tropical storms have spawned in what seems like assembly-line fashion in recent weeks, as El Nino conditions that emerged in June have caused waters to grow warmer than normal, setting off a chain of unusual weather around much of the world.

“It’s ramping up to be perhaps the strongest El Nino on record,” University of Miami hurricane expert Brian McNoldy said.

The number of hurricanes in the eastern Pacific has already surpassed what occurs in a typical season. This week alone, Hurricane Polo drenched Mexico’s Pacific coast as it seesaws between Category 4 and 5. And in storm-weary Hawaii, there’s the potential for catastrophic flooding from a growing Hurricane Nolo.

During El Nino, low-level surface winds blowing from east to west across the Pacific are weakened or sometimes reversed. It causes a shift in the jet stream and drives record global heat, severe droughts, wildfires and shrinking water supplies.

El Ninos don’t follow a regular schedule, occurring every two to seven years on average. Some can be mild. Others can pack a punch. McNoldy predicted that the current El Nino will peak during the coming winter but linger into 2027.

“It doesn’t turn off right away,” he said.

While the focus is on the increased number of Pacific storms, El Ninos conversely curtail hurricane activity in the Atlantic Ocean: Tropical weather activity in the Atlantic has been virtually silent this year.

A turbocharged hurricane year in the Pacific

Thanks to El Nino, both the eastern Pacific and the central Pacific have seen four more tropical storms than is normal to date with more than two months left in the hurricane season, said Matthew Rosencrans, lead hurricane season forecaster with NOAA’s National Weather Service.

From 1991 to 2020, there was an average of 15 named storms in the eastern Pacific per season, which runs from May 15 to Nov. 30.

But surpassing the yearly average in September? “That's a different story,” Rosencrans said.

What also sets this year’s El Nino-fueled storms apart is that three Pacific hurricanes have reached Category 5 strength, tying a record set in 2002, also during an El Nino, he said.

The most active season on record in the eastern Pacific was 1992, when there were 25 named storms, Rosencrans said. For the central Pacific, it was 14 in 2015.

In 2015 there were nine major hurricanes, of Category 3 or higher, in the eastern Pacific, but no reported deaths. Due to El Nino, forecasters said the eastern Pacific storms formed farther west and tracked more westward, remaining over the open ocean throughout their cycle.

During another strong El Nino in 1997, hundreds of people died when Hurricane Pauline tore across Mexico’s Pacific coast. That same year Tropical Storm Nora gave landlocked southwestern Arizona an unusual soaking. And a December storm in Southern California caused flooding that swept cars into a storm channel and prompted evacuations of some mobile home parks.

In 1998, El Nino was blamed for flooding in China that killed 4,150 people, most along the Yangtze River.

Hawaii finds itself in the crosshairs again

Hawaii has felt the wrath of two hurricanes over the past month. Lala in August and Lowell in early September combined to destroy or damage more than 510 homes and cause $168 million in damage to public infrastructure. Lala also caused $21.5 million in damage to 38 schools.

Nolo, which strengthened to a hurricane Thursday night, is expected to make it three. Forecasters say the storm could drop rainfall amounts on Hawaii that are measured in feet, not inches.

On top of that, heavy rains in March caused the worst flooding to hit Hawaii in two decades. That was followed in May by a magnitude-6.0 earthquake, prompting Gov. Josh Green to remark that this year has been “unlike anything I can recall.”

Two hurricanes came within 200 miles (320 kilometers) of Hawaii in 1957, but that did not happen again for more than a half century. Then it occurred in 2014, 2016 and 2018 before this year's predicted trifecta.

Meteorologists often worry about “preparedness fatigue,” when communities gear up for storms that never arrive or fall short of their potential strength. But John Bravender, a weather service warning coordination meteorologist, said 2026 has yielded a different type of weariness in Hawaii.

“The fact that we’ve had these damaging impacts that keep happening, and as we’re recovering from them, we have to get ready for the next event — that’s a new one that really drains the resources and leads to this overall sense that this is a very busy hurricane season for us,” he said.

Residents understand the risks and are getting more accustomed to preparing.

“I think community members realize how dangerous the weather can be, how important it is for them to be self-sufficient, have food, water and also look out for their neighbors,” Bravender said.

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Associated Press writer Gabriela Aoun Angueira contributed to this report.

Min Woo Lee and Sungjae Im had the advantage on four straight holes along the back nine and finally converted for a 1-up lead. And then the Americans took over at just the right time. Burns hit an 8-iron to 2 feet on the 14th. Scheffler closed out the International side with a superb bunker shot on the 18th to secure par for a 1-up victory.

The lead fourballs match was the swing match as the Americans took a 3-2 lead.

“We certainly haven’t had the results that we’ve hoped for,” Burns said. “I feel like at times in the past we’ve played pretty well and just gotten beat. So it probably just was a little bit of a sigh of relief to finally get a point and just kind of let that out.”

It was the ninth time in the last 10 Presidents Cup the Americans won the opening session in a competition they have turned into an exhibition with 10 straight victories and only one loss since these matches began in 1994.

The Internationals showed plenty of fighting spirit, right down to the last hole in the lead match. Both captains came away pleased.

“A session win is a session win. We’re going to take it any way we can get it,” Snedeker said.

“We would have loved to have won the session,” International captain Geoff Ogilvy said. “But 2-3, we had a chat when we got back to the room, and I’m proud of the boys and I’m proud of how they played today. They’re all pretty excited to get out there tomorrow.”

Five matches of foursomes are scheduled for Friday at Medinah Country Club. Burns and Scheffler are out first against Canadians Corey Conners and Nick Taylor.

Jackson Koivun also wasted little time getting a point on the board. The 21-year-old Koivun, who turned pro just over three months ago, teamed with Justin Thomas in a 4-and-3 victory over Conners and Nico Echavarria, who managed only three birdies in the easier better-ball format.

Burns already delivered one big moment by making an 18-foot birdie putt on the par-3 ninth with Lee in tight for a sure birdie. But his 8-iron from 172 yards on the 14th swung momentum so much that Scheffler called it the “shot of the match.”

“I was basically out of the hole after my second shot. Sam was essentially was playing two-on-one there,” Scheffler said. “So for him to step up there and hit a really nice shot, I think you can definitely feel the momentum. He was put in a tough spot there, and he responded the way he knows how.”

The Internationals picked up two wins behind Hideki Matsuyama and Ryo Hisatsune — the first time for two Japanese players in the Presidents Cup since 1998 — and Tom Kim and Si Woo Kim in the anchor match.

“It’s been a long time. I’ve been waiting for another guy from Japan to come play with me, and I was really happy today,” Matsuyama said.

The Americans got their other win behind Wyndham Clark and Collin Morikawa, who never trailed against Adam Scott and Ryan Fox in a 3-and-2 win.

For so much of a cloudy afternoon at Medinah, two wins apiece looked certain for the Americans and the Internationals. Up for grabs was the opening match, which was tight the entire way.

Scheffler and Burns, 0-3-1 as partners in the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup, birdied the opening four holes. The Internationals ran off four straight birdies of their own to square the match through five holes. It was clear for so much of the day this would decide who had the lead.

Im and Lee, whose putting hurt them along the back nine, each missed par putts on the 17th to fall behind. Lee went long of the green, and Im gassed his 40-foot birdie putt some 15 feet by the hole. They couldn't catch up on the closing hole.

Koivun is the first player to win a Walker Cup point and a Presidents Cup point just over a year apart. He was part of Auburn's NCAA title team in June. He won his first PGA Tour title in the 3M Open in his third start. And now he's part of a dominant American team.

He said he told Thomas that “once I get my first tee shot out of the way, I’m going to be good.” His second tee shot went out-of-bounds, though Thomas saved it with a beautiful bunker shot to halve the hole. Koivun's wedge to 7 feet for birdie on the par-5 sixth gave them a 3-up lead, and the Internationals never seriously threatened the rest of the way.

Thomas improved to 7-0 in fourballs at the Presidents Cup.

“First two holes, definitely a little shaky,” Koivun said. “But after that kind of found a groove. Me and J.T., we played really well out there. He picked me up when I didn’t play too hot, so thankful for that, but we had a fun time.”

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See AP’s full golf coverage here

Rolando Alemán, 55, was born in the town of Cruces, in Cuba’s Cienfuegos province. Father and son were working for Professional Ocean Service Corp, a company that cleans planes at MIA.

“We arrived in this country 10 years ago,” Duviel Alemán, 32, said in Spanish.

On Sept. 6, the Boeing 767-300 cargo plane struck the white 2012 Ford E-150 Econoline work van that Rolando Alemán was traveling in.

Attorney Judd Rosen said Duviel Alemán is suing the plane’s owners, Amazon, the related Amazon companies, and anyone associated with the leasing.

“Their hearts have been broken,” Rosen said about the Alemán family.

Duviel Alemán was supposed to be in the van, but he was having a medical emergency.

“Duviel has experienced and will always experience what’s known as survivors’ guilt,” Rosen said."

The jet also struck Julio Pineda, Yoel Rodriguez, Carlos Acosta, Javierkys Reyes, Roosevelt Perdomo, and Ridoel Averhoff.

Pineda, 75; Rodriguez, 53; Acosta, 53; and Reyes, 47, died while working for Professional Ocean Service Corp.,

Perdomo, 36, and Averhoff, 32, were injured. The jet also struck Eugenio Corredor, who was driving a Toyota Corolla Cross SUV on Northwest 67th Avenue outside of MIA. Corredor, 79, was also injured.

Joseph Carroll and Jaime Silva, the pilot and the co-pilot of the Boeing 767-300 operated by 21 Air for Amazon, suffered minor injuries.

Carroll, 55, and Silva, 37, were released from the hospital to face federal and local scrutiny over the crash. Perdomo, Averhoff, and Corredor were at Jackson Memorial Hospital. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

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James' departure was still on general manager Rob Pelinka's mind when he held his start-of-the-season news conference with coach JJ Redick on Thursday. The general manager also exuded optimism about his first discussions with the Lakers' latest new owners, praised the continued additions to his front office and got excited about the major changes to their roster, headlined by the addition of center Walker Kessler.

Pelinka began the afternoon by thanking James profusely for their eight years together, but he declined to go into any detail about the dissolution of the Lakers' partnership with the top scorer in NBA history and the focal point of their franchise. James informed the Lakers on June 30 that he wouldn’t return, and he chose the Philadelphia 76ers on July 24.

“We’re grateful for the LeBron era, and I think the communications with him this offseason were held diplomatically and professionally and honestly,” Pelinka said. “It was done amicably, professionally, gracefully, and we look at the whole thing with gratitude. It was a great era, and we're grateful for it.”

James' eight seasons with the Lakers were the longest continuous stretch with a single team of his NBA career, and he won the franchise's 17th championship in 2020 while returning it to consistent playoff success, if not annual title contention. He even became the first father to play alongside his son in league history, teaming up with Lakers guard Bronny James for the past two seasons.

When James left his son behind to move to Philadelphia, he pointedly did it on a two-year, $8 million deal — a steep discount that the Lakers never got. But if Pelinka and the Lakers feel any disappointment about the circumstances of James' departure, the GM has no intention of revealing it publicly.

Instead, the Lakers are moving on with a firm focus on maximizing the talents of NBA scoring champion Luka Doncic and fellow high-scoring guard Austin Reaves.

“Luka is the world’s greatest offensive player, and for us to have an opportunity to have that player in our building every night as a 26-year-old is special, and it requires us to do special things to build a team around it,” Pelinka said. “That’s what we started this summer, and we’re really, really happy with the way it’s looking so far.”

The biggest move was the acquisition of Kessler, the 7-foot-2 center acquired from Utah for a host of first-round draft capital and then signed to a four-year, $130 million contract. Kessler fills Doncic's longstanding desire for a center who can impact the game on both ends, both as a rim protector and a rim-rocking lob finisher.

“I think Walker is a perfect fit for Luka and AR, just in terms of his rim protection and really being an anchor for our defense,” Redick said. “That’s an area we’ve struggled with.”

Redick is already working on the changes he'll make with James' departure and Kessler's arrival. The Lakers have done copious defensive switching in recent years, but Redick understandably wants Kessler to spend his time protecting the rim. Redick also intends to go deeper into his bench on a consistent basis, because that bench has improved: “We're going to play more guys this year. We're just naturally deeper.”

Those additions include Collin Sexton, Quentin Grimes, Kevon Looney, Sandro Mamukelashvili, Ziaire Williams, Matisse Thybulle and rookie Cameron Carr, who is already drawing rave reviews from the Lakers' staff.

When asked to speculate on the Lakers' starting lineup, Redick was typically blunt and sarcastic: “I'm pretty confident in three of the spots. The other two spots will not be white guys.”

Doncic, Reaves and Kessler are white, as is 15-year NBA veteran Redick.

Even after being sold for the second time in two years, the Lakers are continuing to bolster their infrastructure with changes begun during Dodgers owner Mark Walter's brief stewardship. Pelinka said he has added more than 15 people to his front office, investing heavily in scouting and development with the goal of becoming the NBA's best in those categories.

Pelinka also expressed a desire for continuity in the Lakers' roster after years of wholesale upheaval in their desperate attempts to assemble a championship-caliber team around James as he entered his third NBA decade.

“One of the things we really wanted to lean into was a team that lined up in age with Luca and AR,” Pelinka said. “We want this team to grow together, and I think we were very intentional to get younger and deeper. I think if you look at our roster, that thesis was consistent throughout.”

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See AP’s full NBA coverage here

Juszczyk was fined $14,926 after he imitated drinking a beverage following a catch in the third quarter of San Francisco's win over the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.

“Your imitation of chugging a beer constituted an offensive demonstration and could reasonably be construed as being in poor taste,” the league wrote in the fine letter to Juszczyk, which was obtained by The Associated Press. “Players are expected to conduct themselves in a manner that reflects positively on the game and is consistent with NFL standards of sportsmanship.”

Juszczyk, whose nickname is “Juice,” has been doing a version of that celebration throughout his career in San Francisco in response to 49ers fans chanting his nickname after catches or other big plays.

“I don't know how else to say it. I wasn’t drinking beer in my celebration,” Juszczyk said Thursday. “I think you guys all know my nickname is Juice. I have Juice on my pads. The stadium yells ‘Juice’ when I catch the ball. When I celebrate, I celebrate by drinking juice, and it’s been that way for years. So I was surprised as anybody when I got a fine this week.”

The fine was first reported by ESPN.

Juszczyk said he initially thought coach Kyle Shanahan was joking when he told him about the fine and hopes it gets removed after his appeal next week.

The NFL has vowed to crack down on celebrations this season and Juszczyk wasn't the only player to get fined this week. Juszczyk said he was told about six other players got fined. That includes Cincinnati receivers Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins with Chase saying the two were docked for their new “people’s elbow” celebration.

Chase insisted the “people’s elbow” celebration, which involves grabbing his right elbow with his left hand and flopping the right arm forward, isn’t the sort of off-color humor others have made it out to be on social media, and they are simply creating a new way to signal a first down.

Juszczyk said he doesn't remember what the players were told about the crackdown during preseason but he never would have thought it would have applied to his longtime celebration.

Juszczyk's teammates are amused by the situation, with tight end George Kittle saying that his new nickname will be “Beer” instead of “Juice.”

Juszczyk himself had fun with it. Before talking to the media, he put a container on his locker shelf wrapped in white paper and “NOT BEER” written on it. He also had a picture of a juice box with his uniform number 44 displayed.

“That’s the other side of it, is I don’t even drink beer,” Juszczyk said. “I maybe drink like five times a year in the offseason. It’s usually with George because he peer pressures me.”

Juszczyk has been the 49ers' nominee for the Art Rooney Award for sportsmanship for the past six seasons. The only fines he has had previously are for illegal use of the helmet and low blocks. Juszczyk was fined $20,033 for illegal use of helmet in Week 1 and will be appealing that as well next week.

Juszczyk is in his 14th season in the NFL and 10th with San Francisco. He has made the Pro Bowl 10 times and was an All-Pro in 2023 and '25.

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AP Pro Football Writer Rob Maaddi and AP freelancer Jay Morrison contributed to this report.

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See AP’s full NFL coverage here

Friday will offer sunshine, scattered clouds and a gentle, north breeze. Few showers could pop during the afternoon. Temperatures will make a run for 90°F. Conditions will be slightly less humid than the previous day.

Lauderhill Mayor Denise Grant told Local 10 the city is safer under her leadership.

“Crime has gone down in the city as data shows,” she said. “We have ensured that a geobond has been passed, which will help to fortify all of our capital improvements and making sure as well that there’s more police officers on the ground.”

Running against Grant is public administrator Pauline Ricketts.

“The reason that I’m running for mayor is I wanted to see the next generation of leadership take a stand for the things that we desire in our community,” she said.

A hot topic for Lauderhill residents is affordability in a state with a rising cost of living.

“I believe that one of the things that we can do is look at how we can revitalize some of the properties that are no longer being used and revitalize that to make affordable housing,” said Ricketts.

She also highlighted existing programs that can alleviate the housing struggles.

“The Lauderhill Housing Authority, they have a program where they’ve done it before, where they’ve taken old condos and revitalized them and rented them out at affordable housing rates at the different AMIs, 20%, 60%, and 120% AMI,” said Ricketts.

Grant emphasized assistance for families on a pathway to homeownership.

“We’re working with the county, making sure as well that we have programs in our city that will be able to help families that are first-time buyers,” she said. “We also are helping those individuals that are already in their homes and say for instance they have some challenges to pay their mortgage and their rent.”

The forward's goal made the score 1-1 early in the second half. He then jogged to the corner, pulled out the corner flag, dropped his right knee to the grass and rested the pole on the back of his left hand before making a firing gesture. It wasn’t immediately clear if Farchi was simulating a pool cue shot or a weapon.

The referee promptly showed the Colorado Rapids forward a second yellow card, just four minutes after his first, leading to a red card.

Romano Schmid’s penalty had opened the scoring. Phillipp Mwene and Saša Kalajdžić scored in the final minutes for Austria to win the game 3-1.

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See AP’s full soccer coverage here

Instead, they matter-of-factly formed a handshake line, as if their 9-1 win over the Royals was any 'ol mid-summer matinee.

They were saving the party for the clubhouse.

The White Sox clinched no worse than one of three AL wild-card spots with the rout in Kansas City, and in the plastic-draped visiting locker room, the bottles of Moët were stacking up quickly. Miguel Vargas was drenched, Munetaka Murakami was beaming and a team expected to finish last in the AL Central was relishing in a most improbable postseason appearance.

“This means a lot for us,” Vargas said. “We've been chasing this moment for a long time. It's special for us. It's special for the whole organization. This is a special group of guys, and this is the most fun we can have.”

That might be a bit of hyperbole. The White Sox could be replicating — or, one-upping — the celebration this weekend.

That's because they still have their sights set on a division title. The White Sox began the day just a game back of Cleveland, which was finishing a three-game set in Boston later Thursday. Chicago was headed home for three games against last-place Colorado, while the Guardians were getting ready to fly to Kansas City, where they wrap up their regular season this weekend.

Maybe that's why the White Sox showed some restraint in celebrating their postseason berth right in front of the Royals.

They could still use a little help from them.

“They know what this is about,” White Sox manager Will Venable said. “This comes with the expectation that this was going to happen, which is really cool. They're definitely letting loose right now, we'll have a fun plane ride, but then back to business tomorrow.”

It was a charmed all-around day for the city of Chicago. Just as the White Sox were securing a postseason pass, the Cubs were tying up a 2-1 win over the Marlins, clinching a wild-card spot of their own in the NL playoffs. Both Chicago teams reached the postseason for the fourth time after 1906, 2008 and 2020.

The Cubs made it last year, too, when the White Sox were busy losing 102 games and seemed to have little reason to hope.

It wasn't just that the White Sox were two years removed from losing 121 games, setting a post-1900 record, or that no team had made the playoffs after consecutive 100-loss seasons — let alone three in a row. But even midway through April, they were making good — err, bad? — on most folks' expectations, starting 6-13 and looking every bit the part of a perennial loser.

But then their youngsters starting slugging, and the White Sox started piling up wins.

Murakami, who signed a two-year, $34 million deal in December — after the White Sox paid a $6,575,000 posting fee to the Yakult Swallows — has 33 homers and drove in his 74th run Thursday. Vargas has been receiving some MVP hype after hitting 33 homers of his own and driving in 92. And Colson Montgomery, who on Thursday tied Mark Reynolds' season record of 223 strikeouts, has masked all those whiffs by hitting 31 homers and driving in 87 runs.

“W’s are all that matters,” Montgomery said, Champagne and beer dripping from his goggles in the middle of the pandemonium. “You see this? This is all that matters. Whatever I can do to help the team, that’s all I care about.”

Chicago's trade of left-handed ace Garrett Crochet to the Red Sox in December 2024 also has paid long-term dividends.

Three players that the White Sox landed in the deal — Kyle Teel, Chase Meidroth and Braden Montgomery — were in the lineup Thursday, and all played a big role in helping the White Sox clinch the 12th postseason appearance.

Teel homered, reached base five times and scored three runs. Meidroth had a couple of hits, extending his on-base streak to 15 games. And batting last in the order, Montgomery had a hit and scored during a three-run second inning that broke open the game.

It was 6-0 after two innings and 8-0 after four. And pretty soon, plastic tarps were going up in the visitors clubhouse, an almost unfathomable party just 90 minutes away.

“This is what the White Sox is. We come together,” Murakami said, “and this is not the end. We’re going to start from here.”

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

Looking glamorous in an animal-print coat, dark sunglasses and a blowout, the rapper took her seat next to stylist Kollin Carter and the show could go on.

Fausto Puglisi turned up the volume as he evolved the Cavalli vocabulary. His Spring-Summer 2027 womenswear collection piled animal prints, florals and feathers onto the house’s familiar foundation of exposed skin and embellished denim.

Flowing robes topped low-rise jeans worn with thongs and bra tops. Cropped jeans glittered with crystals and sprouted feathers, while a mesh minidress erupted into crinkled golden ruffles. Chiffon skirts fell into long shredded hemlines, and animal prints were pieced together in a mishmash suggesting a rumble in the jungle. Prints clashed joyfully in an exuberant collection that played on all the Cavalli codes of sex, glamour and animal instinct.

“What I like about Cavalli is that you have the possibility to create jeans as an object,’’ Puglisi said backstage. “You feel them, you have them and you put them in your wardrobe, and you feel better. It’s about joy.”

Copenhaver was in the bleachers during the event in Butler, Pennsylvania, when a 20-year-old gunman opened fire from a nearby rooftop, grazing Trump’s right ear with one bullet. Copenhaver was struck in the arm and in the abdomen, wounds that left him with lingering injuries and walking with a cane.

Two other attendees were also shot — David Dutch, who survived, and Corey Comperatore, who shielded his family from gunfire and was killed.

Copenhaver died Wednesday at Allegheny Health Network’s West Penn Hospital in Pittsburgh, according to a statement from the Allegheny County medical examiner cited in local media accounts.

Copenhaver’s lawyer, Joseph Feldman, said in a statement issued on behalf of the family that he died surrounded by loved ones. The statement did not specify if his death was directly related to the injuries he suffered at the rally.

Copenhaver and his wife, Marianne Copenhaver, sued the federal government in June, alleging that the Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security had “utterly failed” to provide appropriate security at the rally. Copenhaver’s injuries required multiple surgeries, including a transection of his colon, and he had lingering kidney and other damage, including a loss of feeling in his leg. The lawsuit described the wounds as “debilitating, grievous, permanent and life altering.”

The family's statement Thursday called Copenhaver above all else a devoted husband, father and grandfather who instilled the values of hard work, integrity and the service to others in his children.

“James’s dedication to this great country was a defining part of his life,” it said. “As a veteran, he proudly served our nation in the armed forces, and his love of country never wavered. James was a true American patriot who believed deeply in the freedoms and ideals upon which this nation was founded, and he embodied the very best traits of our great nation.”

In a statement posted to social media, Trump on Thursday called Copenhaver “a true American Patriot.”

“Jim showed tremendous bravery, courageously continuing to FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT, and maintaining a positive spirit despite unimaginable hardships,” Trump wrote.

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Johnson reported from Seattle and Smyth from Columbus, Ohio.

Gregory Diaz and Carlos Rodriguez said they have gotten used to the pollution, and they hope the U.S.-Venezuela deal raises money for cleanup.

“When there is a lot of oil, we don’t do anything, because if we cast our nets, they get filled with oil,” Garcia said in Spanish.

Once an icon of this country’s oil wealth, the lake has become a symbol of the deterioration of its oil sector. It is dotted with wells that have fallen into disuse. One exploded recently. It is leaking.

“The fish puffs up,” Rodriguez said in Spanish about the impacts of the pollution.

Up to half of the 17 oil fields that the U.S. will obtain a stake in as part of that massive new oil deal are in the lake.

Delcy Rodriguez, Venezuela’s interim president, has promised to clean up the spilled oil as repairs get underway to stimulate more oil production.

Decades ago, Rodriguez said the lake was safe. Now, the contact with the crude can result in skin rashes and respiratory issues. Area residents estimate there have been about a dozen spills annually.

“It was very different; the water wasn’t that dark,” Rodriguez said.

Los escombros fueron expuestos el jueves en la Feria Internacional de Arte de Bogotá, ARTBO, para convertirlos en una pieza de colección y recaudar fondos para la reconstrucción del museo.

“Fueron diez años construyéndolo y minuto y medio en que se nos rompió. Así que tenemos que volver a construirlo”, dijo a The Associated Press Rosa Ángel, artista y miembro de la Junta Directiva del museo.

Pereira, en el centro oeste del país, fue una de las ciudades más afectadas por el terremoto de magnitud 7,4 registrado el 10 de agosto, que destruyó en todo el país más de 19.000 viviendas por completo, hirió a más de 4.500 personas y mató a otras 335, según las cifras gubernamentales.

El día del terremoto solo una persona estaba dentro del museo en la planta baja que sufrió la menor afectación, por lo que no resultó herida. Sin embargo, Ángel asegura que perdieron las salas de exhibición, el techo del teatro con capacidad de 300 plazas colapsó y las paredes quedaron muy dañadas.

La reconstrucción, que calculan en 917.000 dólares, está fuera del alcance del museo, que funciona como una fundación sin ánimo de lucro. Así que decidieron buscar fondos vendiendo sus escombros.

“Lo que nosotros hicimos fue recoger los pedazos del museo, de la destrucción, y con cuidado, con amor, volverlos como unos dispositivos casi que de memoria”, explicó Ángel.

Al stand de exposición “Pedazo de Museo” se acercan con curiosidad los asistentes a la feria de arte para preguntar qué representan los escombros exhibidos en estanterías y guardados en un carro de mercado. Son 1.000 pedazos y cada uno es vendido a 61 dólares.

Aldo Arias, miembro de una compañía de artesanías de Barcelona, decidió comprar un escombro que contenía la palabra “proyectos”, era parte de una de las salas de exposición que estaban activas cuando sucedió el terremoto.

“Qué mejor momento de aportar y apoyar con todo lo mal que está pasando en Colombia y en el arte en general, y dejar un granito de arena”, aseguró Arias a la AP mientras sostenía una bolsa con el trozo de pared. “Esto al fin y al cabo es una roca, es un muro, pero lleno de sentimientos, lleno de historias y de sueños”.

Para Ángel la exposición es una de las muchas estrategias con las que intentan recaudar fondos para construir el museo en un tiempo estimado de dos años, con la urgencia de abrir de nuevo sus puertas.

“Sé que en principio le pueden decir a uno que no es prioridad (un museo). Sí, es prioridad... estamos pasando por un trauma colectivo y necesitamos esos lugares que reconfortan el alma”, enfatizó Ángel.