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For the fatal 1996 shootdown of two Brothers to the Rescue planes, the indictment charged Castro, 94, with conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, two counts of destruction of aircraft, and four counts of murder.

“The United States and President Trump does not and will not forget its citizens,” Blanch said during the announcement.

RELATED VIDEOS: Watch the speeches during Raul Castro indictment announcement at Freedom Tower

A Miami grand jury also indicted five co-defendants — Cuban military pilots Lorenzo Perez, Emilio Palacio, Jose Gual, Raul Simanca, and Luis Gonzalez — with charges of conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, two counts of destruction of aircraft, and four counts of murder.

“They have been looking for this moment for 65 years,” Trump said on Wednesday about Cubans and Cuban Americans in Miami.

Castro was accused of ordering the Cuban Air Force shootdown of two Brothers to the Rescue Cessna 337 Skymasters that had departed from the Opa Locka Executive Airport at about 3:20 p.m. on Feb. 24, 1996.

“The passage of time does not erase murder, it does not diminish the value of those lives, and it does not weaken our commitment to the rule of law,” U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones said.

During their last flight, Carlos Costa and Pablo Morales were in the Cessna 337C, and Mario De La Peña and Armando Alejandre were in the Cessna 337B. Both planes were registered in the U.S., records show.

RELATED DOCUMENT: Read the 19-page indictment

“For 30 years, their families waited for answers. This FBI never forgot,” FBI Director Kash Patel wrote in a statement released on X.

FBI Deputy Director Christopher Raia, a former member of the U.S. Coast Guard in Miami Beach, was at the Freedom Tower. He said he remembers the refugee crisis and Brothers to the Rescue.

“Four humanitarians were on a noble mission to help those fleeing oppression,” Raia said.

Air-to-air missiles fired from Cuban Air Force MiG-29 fighter jets that had flown out of the San Antonio de los Baños airfield in Cuba hit both planes — killing Alejandre, 45; Costa, 29; and De la Peña, 24, who were U.S. citizens; and Morales, 29, a U.S. resident.

“Both Cessna aircraft broke up in the air from the explosions of the missiles, the wreckage impacted the sea and sank,” according to the International Civil Aviation Organization’s report.

Sylvia Iriondo, who was born in Havana and lived in Miami, survived the attack and was at the Freedom Tower on Wednesday. She and her late husband were Brothers to the Rescue volunteers who were in a third Cessna that was able to get away.

“We had hoped this was coming. We have been hoping for 30 years,” Iriondo, 80, said. She added, “All of us have not wavered in our pursuit of justice. We are hearing that, and we are nearing that moment that justice will be done.”

RELATED DOCUMENT: Inter-American Commission on Human Rights 1999 report

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• Cuban exiles at Freedom Tower react to Raúl Castro indictment
• Cuban exiles at Miami’s Cafe Versailles react to Raul Castro indictment news: ‘All for it’
• Republican lawmakers from Florida react to Raúl Castro’s indictment
• Trump, Rubio signal support for change in Cuba amid historic indictment remarks
• Rubio releases message in Spanish to Cubans suffering on the island
• Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel reacts to Raúl Castro’s indictment

INTERACTIVE GRAPHIC: Remembering the victims

The allegations come as part of escalating pressure by the Trump administration on Cuba's socialist government to open its economy to American investment and remove U.S. adversaries. In addition, a U.S. blockade of fuel and other goods has caused widespread blackouts, food shortages and an economic collapse on the island.

Castro, now 94, was Cuba's defense minister at the time the two small planes were shot down. They were operated by the exile group Brothers to the Rescue, which had been dropping leaflets over Havana urging Cubans to rise up against their government. Russian-made fighter jets downed the two unarmed civilian aircraft, killing all four men aboard the planes.

Here's what to know about Castro, the indictment and the 1996 incident.

What does the indictment allege?

Castro is accused in the indictment of authorizing the use of deadly force against Brothers to the Rescue, after the group had flown planes that dropped pro-Democracy leaflets over Cuba in January 1996. U.S. prosecutors said Castro and his older brother, Fidel Castro, who was president at the time, were the final decision makers on orders to kill.

In February 1996, Raúl Castro ordered Cuban military officials to begin training, using MiG fighter jets from Russia, on finding, tracking and intercepting the group's small planes off the island's coast, the indictment says. The two planes were shot down on Feb. 24, killing four U.S. nationals, including three U.S. citizens. A third plane managed to escape.

Castro and five other people, including MiG pilots, were charged in the indictment. Castro is accused of conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals and multiple counts of murder and destruction of aircraft. The murder and conspiracy charges carry a maximum punishment of the death penalty or life in prison upon conviction, but it's unclear whether Castro will ever set foot in a U.S. courtroom.

Will Castro ever face the charges in U.S.?

Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche, who announced the indictment Wednesday in Miami, said he expected Castro to appear in the U.S. for prosecution, either by “his own will or by another way.”

Blanche said the federal government often indicts people who are outside the United States and uses a variety of methods to bring them to justice.

Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was indicted on drug-related charges before he and his wife were seized by U.S. Special Forces in the Venezuelan capital in January.

What happened in 1996?

At about 1:30 p.m. on Feb. 24, 1996, the three Brothers to the Rescue planes took off from an airport in Miami-Dade County, Florida.

Over international waters, outside of Cuban airspace, two of the three unarmed Cessna planes were shot down by the Cuban MiG pilots without any warning, U.S. prosecutors said. The MiG pilots then began following the third plane, which escaped being destroyed, authorities said.

A Cuban official, however, insisted at a United Nations Security Council meeting in late February 1996 that the two planes were violating Cuban airspace when they were shot down and one of the civilian pilots had ignored warnings to not enter that airspace, according to Security Council records. The official also alleged the U.S. took no effective measures to prevent such airspace violations by U.S. pilots, despite warnings from Cuba.

Brothers to the Rescue dates back to 1980, during the unexpected emigration of 125,000 Cubans to the United States. It aimed to help the Cuban refugees in the Florida straits by dropping supplies from small planes and alerting the U.S. Coast Guard during the monthslong crisis.

What has been the reaction to the indictment?

Cuba's current president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, condemned the indictment against Castro and accused U.S. officials of lying about the 1996 shootdown of the planes. He called it “a political action without any legal basis, that only seeks to bolster the case they are fabricating to justify the folly of a military aggression against Cuba.”

He wrote on X that the shootdown of the planes was “legitimate self-defense” after repeated and dangerous violations of Cuba's airspace by “notorious terrorists.”

The Cuban government said in a statement that the Cuban people fully support Castro. “Homeland or Death, We Will Prevail,” the statement said.

Marlene Alejandre-Triana, whose father, Armando Alejandre Jr, was among those killed in the 1996 shootdown, called the charges “long overdue.” She said her father only wanted to bring freedom to his Cuban homeland.

The charges against Castro were also welcomed by members of the Cuban community in Miami.

“He's a criminal,” said Peter Hernandez, whose family owns a fruit and vegetable market in the Little Havana neighborhood and whose parents moved from Cuba to South Florida before he was born. He added he would support the U.S. sending its military to arrest Castro.

Who is Raúl Castro?

Castro served as minister of the Cuban military during his brother Fidel Castro's decades-long reign as president. He took over as president in 2006 while his brother was ailing and served until 2018, when he handed over power to Díaz-Canel, a trusted loyalist.

In 2008, Castro launched a series of reforms that expanded Cuba's private sector and allowed citizens greater freedom to travel and access information. In 2014, he led historic talks with former U.S. President Barack Obama that resulted in the reopening of embassies and the re-establishment of diplomatic relations.

While he retired in 2021 as head of the Cuban Communist Party, he is widely believed to wield power behind the scenes.

Los medios de prensa estatales que suelen tardar días en reportar noticias sensibles desde Estados Unidos sobre Cuba difundieron de inmediato esta vez la decisión de emitir una orden de arresto contra Castro, de 94 años, anunciada por el secretario de Justicia interino Todd Blanche en Miami.

La administración del presidente Donald Trump incrementó la presión sobre el gobierno cubano desde comienzo de año, tanto con una retórica que no descartó la intervención militar, como con un cerco petrolero que ha dejado a la isla semiparalizada y a su población con f uertes carencias de suministros básicos.

Además, el gobierno estadounidense usó una acusación judicial contra el entonces presidente Nicolás Maduro –-un fuerte aliado de la isla-- para intervenir en Venezuela, el puntapié inicial en la actual coyuntura contra la isla.

“Raúl Castro es un expresidente y el que está ahora es otro… no creo que haya que buscar una persona para enjuiciarla para que Cuba cambie”, dijo a The Associated Press Debrezei Barreras, una ama de casa de 43 años y madre de una niña.

La AP habló con una decena de personas y salvo un par de ellas todas habían escuchado incluso en días previos los rumores sobre las intenciones contra Castro por parte de Estados Unidos en redes sociales.

Barreras aseguró que no está de acuerdo con una acción directa de Estados Unidos a la isla bajo ninguna excusa.

“Una intervención básicamente militar puede hacerles daño a los cubanos. No creo que sea conveniente. Lo que sí creo que es conveniente es que se pongan de acuerdo ambos estados y que lleguen a acuerdos para que entonces Cuba pueda salir de esta crisis”, expresó Barreras.

Por su parte, el arquitecto Rodny Amaguer, de 38 años, consideró que “no hay necesidad de que venga nadie desde afuera a arreglar los problemas que los propios cubanos junto con su gobierno deberían ser capaces de resolver”.

Amaguer recordó que era apenas un niño cuando las avionetas de la organización con sede en Florida, Hermanos al Rescate, fueron derribadas tras incursionar varias veces por las costas cubanas. “Ellos violaron (los pilotos) el espacio aéreo cubano, hay leyes internacionales y ellos las violaron” enfatizó.

Más radical fue Rolando Mesa, un empleado estatal de 61 años.

“Al primero que habría que enjuiciar entonces es a Donald Trump. ¿Por qué no enjuician a Donald Trump? Todas las guerras que ha armado”, comentó enfático Mesa.

“Pero aparte, (sobre) el derribo de esas avionetas, pongamos un ejemplo: si fuera al revés, si Cuba hubiese mandado esas avionetas a Estados Unidos, nosotros llegamos a Miami, ¿Qué hacen? Nos tumban como palomitas”.

Autoridades cubanas: acusación es una acción política

Desde la parte oficial la reacción del anuncio estadounidense fue contundente en defensa de quien consideran un líder de la revolución.

El presidente Miguel Díaz-Canel escribió en su cuenta de X que la “pretendida acusación” contra Castro es “una acción política, sin ningún basamento jurídico, que solo busca engrosar el expediente que fabrican para justificar el desatino de una agresión militar a Cuba”.

“Cuba actuó en legítima defensa, dentro de sus aguas jurisdiccionales, tras sucesivas y peligrosas violaciones de nuestro espacio aéreo por connotados terroristas, de lo cual la administración estadounidense de turno fue alertada en más de una decena de ocasiones, pero hizo caso omiso de las advertencias y permitió las violaciones”, agregó el mandatario.

“Pretextos endebles” con posibles consecuencias

Para el experto Lee Schlenker, investigador asociado del Instituto Quincy en Washington, el anuncio y su contexto de tensión podría incluso tener consecuencias para la propia administración estadounidense.

“Los recientes intentos de generar consenso para la guerra en Cuba —como la acusación formal contra Raúl Castro, de 94 años, los informes sobre la adquisición de drones por parte de la isla para repeler un ataque estadounidense y su designación infundada como Estado patrocinador del terrorismo— no son más que propaganda para Miami y pretextos endebles para una acción militar”, dijo a la AP Schlenker.

“Incluso sin una acción militar, las sanciones secundarias cada vez más severas contra la isla, sumadas al bloqueo petrolero vigente, corren el riesgo de precipitar una grave crisis humanitaria y, potencialmente, una migración masiva que pondría al presidente Trump en una situación comprometida a pocos meses de las elecciones de mitad de mandato”, advirtió el académico.

Gunther Manfred Jekschtat, 63, Laubach, Hesse, spoke exclusively to Local 10 News a day after he and fellow German tourist Christoph Rehak, 58, of Gedern, Hesse, were arrested on criminal mischief charges tied to the vandalism at Lummus Park.

Miami Beach police said the graffiti — which included a swastika and the phrase “Adolf was here” — was discovered Monday on an “LGBTQIA+ bench” near 12th Street and Ocean Drive.

As Jekschtat walked out of jail Wednesday, he stopped to answer questions from Local 10 News instead of avoiding cameras.

“I sit beside the other boy. I don’t know. I sit beside the other boy (who) wrote it down,” Jekschtat said.

When asked what he wanted to say to people offended by the graffiti, Jekschtat repeatedly apologized.

“Sorry, I can say sorry for this,” he said. “It’s not OK what they do, what we do. Sorry, sorry for this.”

Jekschtat also said, “It was a big mistake,” adding, “We are also no Nazi boys.”

Rehak, who bonded out Tuesday night, did not speak to Local 10 News and ran from cameras.

According to arrest reports, surveillance video showed Rehak borrowing a marker before the two men sat on the bench together. Police said Rehak wrote the graffiti while Jekschtat used his body to block others from seeing what was happening.

Investigators said both men later admitted involvement. Police said Rehak described the message as a “joke,” while Jekschtat said he was trying to “defend his friend.”

Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner condemned the vandalism, calling it “horrific” and saying there is “no place for hate, bigotry, racism, antisemitism in our city.”

The bench has since been removed for repairs.

Authorities said both men remain charged with criminal mischief and were ordered to stay away from the area of 12th Street and Ocean Drive.

While it was learned in court that they have both been in the U.S. for 3 1/2 weeks on vacation, they will now need permission from the judge to leave the country. Their next court date has been scheduled for May 28.

The reckless events, often involving drivers spinning donuts and blocking intersections across South Florida, have become a growing problem in recent years. Now, local agencies are launching a zero-tolerance enforcement campaign to stop the chaos.

“Over the past several years, we have seen several reckless driving behaviors escalate into crashes, injuries, intimidation of motorists, assaults on officers, property damage, dangerous disruptions to traffic flows,” said Fort Lauderdale police chief Bill Schultz.

During a multi-agency news conference, officials showed video of a recent arrest in Fort Lauderdale involving a man accused of fleeing police and driving recklessly. Authorities said he is one of thousands of people arrested or cited across Florida this year.

Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis said residents have been frustrated with the issue for years.

“This has been an issue close to my heart for many years because I’ve heard directly from neighbors throughout Fort Lauderdale,” Trantalis said.

According to the Florida Highway Patrol, there were 13,835 citations issued for street racing or stunt driving between 2020 and 2026. Officials said most participants are between 16 and 29 years old.

Fort Lauderdale police said since January 2022, officers have made 118 arrests connected to takeovers and reckless driving, along with filing 343 misdemeanor charges and 149 felony charges.

Police say they’ll continue stepping up enforcement throughout the holiday weekend, with a clear warning for anyone planning to participate.

“The message today is clear: reckless ATV, automobile, motorcycle and e-bike driving will not be tolerated in Fort Lauderdale or any of our jurisdictions in Broward County,” Schultz said.

Officials also reminded the public that even watching a street takeover as a spectator can still result in a non-criminal traffic citation.

In letters dated May 11, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. notified the two doctors who chaired the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force that he was terminating their appointments immediately, before the end of their multiyear terms.

The Department of Health and Human Services already had largely sidelined the task force, indefinitely postponing scheduled public meetings over the past year and thus leaving some long-expected updates on cervical cancer screenings and other topics in limbo.

The panel, first created in the 1980s, is composed of experts who scrutinize the latest evidence behind a wide array of disease prevention tools, such as depression screenings ad the use of statins to prevent heart attacks. The panel updates guidelines with letter grades showing the strength of the science. Under the Affordable Care Act, most insurance plans must cover preventive services given an “A” or “B” grade without requiring a co-pay.

Kennedy’s letters don’t make clear why he ousted Drs. John Wong and Esa Davis from the panel. He wrote that their “leadership, contributions and expertise” have advanced the task force’s work “to improve the health of Americans” and encouraged them to reapply. He said he was reviewing task force appointments “to ensure clarity, continuity and confidence” in HHS oversight.

The letters were first reported by The New York Times. An HHS spokesman didn’t respond to questions about why the two were fired.

Kennedy told lawmakers last month that he was reforming the task force, calling it “lackadaisical,” so that it would meet more frequently and “have, for the first time, transparency.” The panel holds public meetings, opens its draft guidelines to public comment before finalizing them, and publishes the scientific evidence behind them.

Some health advocates had worried that Kennedy was preparing to replace the expert panel with less experienced political appointees, like he had done with a critical vaccine advisory committee. Over the past year, the task force wasn’t allowed to publish its final update to the cervical cancer screening guideline or take steps to update recommendations about maternal depression, said former task force chairman Dr. Michael Silverstein, a pediatrician.

“This is a level of government intrusion into scientific processes that I’ve not experienced in my 10 years on the task force,” he said.

The panel has staggered terms so that normally health secretaries can regularly appoint new members, making their mark on the task force without upending it, said Aaron Carroll of the nonpartisan healthy policy group AcademyHealth.

—-

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

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BSO deputies said they responded around 8:45 p.m. to a reported stabbing in the 200 block of Southwest Third Court in Deerfield Beach.

Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue said paramedics transported the victim to an area hospital for treatment.

Authorities said the victim’s injuries were not considered life-threatening.

Jail records show deputies arrested Michael Allen Stafford on one count of attempted first-degree murder in connection with the incident.

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

A motive for the stabbing remains unclear at this time.

Agentes de la BSO informaron que respondieron alrededor de las 8:45 p.m. a un reporte de apuñalamiento en la cuadra 200 de Southwest Third Court en Deerfield Beach.

Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue informó que los paramédicos trasladaron a la víctima a un hospital del área para recibir tratamiento.

Las autoridades dijeron que las heridas de la víctima no fueron consideradas de riesgo vital.

Los registros de la cárcel muestran que los agentes arrestaron a Michael Allen Stafford por un cargo de intento de asesinato en primer grado en relación con el incidente.

Hasta el miércoles, permanecía detenido sin derecho a fianza en la cárcel principal del condado Broward.

El motivo del apuñalamiento sigue sin estar claro por el momento.

Por el derribo fatal en 1996 de dos aviones de Hermanos al Rescate, la acusación imputa a Castro, de 94 años, por conspiración para matar a ciudadanos estadounidenses, dos cargos por destrucción de aeronaves y cuatro cargos de asesinato.

VIDEOS RELACIONADOS: Vea los discursos durante el anuncio de la acusación contra Raúl Castro en la Freedom Tower

Castro fue acusado de ordenar el derribo por parte de la Fuerza Aérea Cubana de dos avionetas Cessna 337 Skymaster de Hermanos al Rescate que habían despegado del Aeropuerto Ejecutivo Opa-locka alrededor de las 3:20 p.m. del 24 de febrero de 1996.

Carlos Costa y Pablo Morales iban en la Cessna 337C, mientras que Mario De La Peña y Armando Alejandre iban en la Cessna 337B. Los registros muestran que ambas aeronaves estaban registradas en Estados Unidos.

Misiles aire-aire disparados desde aviones de combate MiG-29 de la Fuerza Aérea Cubana impactaron ambas aeronaves, causando la muerte de Alejandre, de 45 años; Costa, de 29; y De la Peña, de 24, quienes eran ciudadanos estadounidenses; y Morales, de 29, residente de Estados Unidos, según los registros.

“Ambas aeronaves Cessna se desintegraron en el aire debido a las explosiones de los misiles, los restos impactaron el mar y se hundieron”, según el informe de la Organización de Aviación Civil Internacional.

Documento relacionado: Informe de 1999 de la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos

Historias relacionadas

• Exiliados cubanos reaccionan en la Freedom Tower a acusación contra Raúl Castro
• Exiliados cubanos en el Café Versailles de Miami reaccionan a noticia de acusación contra Raúl Castro: “Totalmente a favor”
• Republicanos del sur de Florida respaldan acusación contra Castro
• Rubio publica mensaje en español para cubanos que sufren en la isla

Gráfico interactivo: Cuatro integrantes de Hermanos al Rescate murieron

Unfortunately for the Cleveland Cavaliers, it turned into Brunson versus James Harden in the fourth quarter of Game 1.

Brunson continuously attacked the matchup to spark one of the largest postseason comebacks on record, as the New York Knicks rallied from a 22-point deficit in the fourth quarter for a 115-104 victory. A day later, the Cavaliers shrugged off concerns that one of the most accomplished offensive players in league history might be too poor of a defender to give them NBA Finals hopes.

“I know everybody’s putting it on James, but I’d say a lot of, it’s on the team, our team defense,” coach Kenny Atkinson said Wednesday after the Cavaliers practiced at Madison Square Garden. “And we were great for three quarters. Like, really, really great. So we can do it.”

The Cavs will try again Thursday, hoping to even the series before it shifts to their home court over the Memorial Day holiday weekend.

Atkinson took as much, if not more, heat than Harden for waiting too long to use a timeout to stop New York's momentum after Brunson kept driving right at Harden as the catalyst for an 18-1 run.

“Kenny’s a great coach and we know that they’re going to come out ready to play,” said the Knicks' Mike Brown, who worked with Atkinson when both were assistants to Steve Kerr in Golden State. “They came to New York to get one game and it’s still within reach.”

The Cavs know they should have it already. They controlled the middle two quarters against a Knicks team that showed plenty of rust in its first game since May 10. Looking nothing like the team that won by 19.4 points per game in the previous two rounds, the Knicks finally went to an offensive scheme that forced Harden to switch onto Brunson, and the All-Star guard had four straight New York baskets during the run.

Cleveland reserve guard Dennis Schroder credited Brunson more than blaming Harden.

“Jalen Brunson is one of the most clutch players in the NBA. Social media for that is just in a bad place,” Schroder said. “I think that we lost the game. Basketball is a team game. It’s everybody on the bench, coaches, the guys who were on the court. At the end of the day, he made some tough shots and good credit.”

The Cavaliers surged late in the season after acquiring Harden from the Los Angeles Clippers. Harden is ninth in NBA history with nearly 30,000 points and also 12th in assists. The 2018 NBA MVP was playing on an MSG court Tuesday where he shares the record with Kobe Bryant for points by an opponent with 61.

But he's had some sloppy performances in the postseason and Game 1 was another. Harden shot 5 for 16 overall and 1 for 8 from 3-point range, and had twice as many turnovers (6) as assists. He's bounced back before and Atkinson believes he will again.

“I said, ‘Without you, we’re knocked out in the first round.’ That’s my first (opinion). My personal opinion," Atkinson said. "So, let’s just stop that. We’re in a great position. ‘You’ve played great.’ You know, sometimes micro experiences get exaggerated. ‘So, you know, keep being yourself.’”

The Knicks, who have won eight straight games, understand how the Cavs must be feeling, after a loss that was every bit as gut-wrenching in Game 1 of the 2025 East finals.

New York led Indiana by 14 points with under three minutes remaining in regulation. The Pacers rallied to tie when Tyrese Haliburton's long jumper bounced high off the rim and fell through as time expired, then won 138-135 in overtime.

“Obviously they’re looking at it like that was our game that we gave away,” Knicks forward Josh Hart said of the Cavaliers. “And they’re looking at film of, ‘If we fix this here or fix this here, we would have won the game.’ And that’s what they’re going to try to do tomorrow.”

___

AP freelance writer Adry Torres in New York contributed to this report.

___

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

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Salazar and Giménez had already held a news conference with U.S. Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart on Wednesday morning to call for Raúl Castro to be brought to justice in the U.S.

“This was premeditated murder of three Americans and one U.S. resident,” Díaz-Balart said.

During an event on Wednesday at the Freedom Tower in downtown Miami, Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanch announced there was a warrant for Raúl Castro’s arrest after an indictment for the fatal 1996 shootdown of two Brothers to the Rescue planes at sea.

“It is justice delayed, but at least it’s justice,” Giménez said.

Before the second news conference, Salazar said there was still a lot to be done in Cuba, which she said was “the epicenter of evil in the western hemisphere,” and added that the communists in power were “thugs.”

Salazar said she supported President Donald Trump if he decided to treat Castro just as he treated former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who was captured in Caracas and was behind bars in New York.

“All of the problems we have in Latin America start with the Cuban regime,” Scott said.

Watch their speeches

SCOTT

SALAZAR

GIMENEZ

DONALDS

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For the fatal 1996 shootdown of two Brothers to the Rescue planes, the indictment charged Castro, 94, with conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, two counts of destruction of aircraft, and four counts of murder.

RELATED VIDEOS: Watch the speeches during Raul Castro indictment announcement at Freedom Tower

“The purported accusation against Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, just announced by the U.S. government, only reveals the arrogance and frustration that the representatives of the empire feel toward the unyielding resolve of the Cuban Revolution and the unity and moral strength of its leadership,” Díaz-Canel wrote, according to the statement in Spanish released on his X account.

Acting U.S. Attorney General of the United States Todd Blanch and FBI Deputy Director Christopher Raia were among the U.S. officials who announced the charges on Wednesday at the Freedom Tower in downtown Miami.

“This is a political maneuver, devoid of any legal foundation, aimed solely at padding the fabricated dossier they use to justify the folly of a military aggression against Cuba,” Díaz-Canel wrote.

Carlos Costa, Pablo Morales, Mario De La Peña and Armando Alejandre died after the Cuban Air Force shootdown of two Brothers to the Rescue Cessna 337 Skymasters that had departed from the Opa Locka Executive Airport at about 3:20 p.m. on Feb. 24, 1996.

“The U.S. lies and distorts the events surrounding the downing of the planes belonging to the narco-terrorist organization Brothers to the Rescue in 1996,” Díaz-Canel wrote. “It knows full well — given the abundance of documentary evidence — that no imprudent action was taken nor was international law violated.“

Brothers to the Rescue has been known for decades as a Miami-based nonprofit organization that counted on volunteers to help spot Cuban migrants, who needed to be rescued in the Florida Straits.

“Cuba acted in legitimate self-defense within its jurisdictional waters, following repeated and dangerous violations of our airspace by notorious terrorists — a fact of which the U.S. administration at the time was alerted on more than a dozen occasions, yet it ignored the warnings and allowed those violations to continue,“ Díaz-Canel wrote.

Related stories

• U.S. indictment charges former Cuban President Raúl Castro with 7 counts
• Cuban exiles at Freedom Tower react to Raúl Castro indictment
• Cuban exiles at Miami’s Cafe Versailles react to Raul Castro indictment news: ‘All for it’
• South Florida Republicans make case for Castro indictment
• Rubio releases message in Spanish to Cubans suffering on the island

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“This should have been done at the moment they shot down two humanitarian planes over international waters with two fighter jets,” said Adrian Rodroguez, who came to the U.S. from Cuba 12 years ago. “That’s an act of terrorism.”

In South Florida, Café Versailles in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood has been an unofficial headquarters for Cuban-Americans and Cuban exiles.

It was the scene of a massive series of demonstrations following the death of Fidel Castro.

“Definitely, I would like to see that,” Cuban-American Roberto Somoza said when asked about Castro’s indictment. “He’s a murderer. He’s been killing Cubans since 1959 and before that.”

One couple who came from Cuba to South Florida as children in 1961 spoke about what it would mean to see Raul Castro held accountable for his actions.

“I will be here celebrating that day, here at the Versailles, which is the historic capital of the exile people,” said Ana Maria Hernandez.

“I’m all for it,” added Luis Hernandez. “Especially because he’s the one that gave the order for the Brothers to the Rescue airplanes to be shot down. Two civil airplanes that were just trying to help people. He deserves the maximum penalty.”

Local 10 News reached out to the Miami Police Department for information on whether they have a plan for any large gatherings or demonstrations that may occur in the coming hours and days.

“We are not expecting any large crowds to gather at Versailles at this time, however the Miami Police Department remains prepared to ensure the safety of all participants, residents and visitors. Increased police presence will be deployed, along with traffic management measures, if needed if any affected areas.”

Miami Police Department

“We are older people now, but we were exiles when we were children,” said Ana Maria Hernandez. “In 1961 we were one of the first refugees and exiles, and we have never gone back to Cuba, never.”

Added Luis Hernandez: “It’s time for them to go to the trash can of history.”

En un mensaje de ambos funcionarios a medios de prensa, Arévalo recordó que es la primera vez que un presidente del Consejo Europeo visita el país, lo que muestra que la relación entre ambas partes ha madurado “y somos socios más cercanos”.

Costa dijo que se presentaba en nombre de los 27 Estados miembros de la Unión Europea (UE) “como aliado y amigo que ha venido a apoyar firmemente la democracia guatemalteca". Señaló que Guatemala es un aliado clave para la UE en Centroamérica.

El Consejo Europeo es la máxima institución política de la Unión Europea y define las estrategias generales y las prioridades del bloque europeo.

La sede de la UE en Guatemala anunció que Acosta firmará tres acuerdos de contribución por 6 millones de euros para fortalecer la ciberseguridad institucional, reforzar capacidades del ecosistema electoral, modernizar el Ejecutivo y fortalecer la gobernanza territorial inclusiva con enfoque en derechos humanos, género e interculturalidad.

El funcionario europeo felicitó a Arévalo por “el compromiso de su gobierno con la democracia”. Asimismo se ofreció a seguir acompañando al país en la defensa de la democracia, las inversiones y la seguridad.

“En tiempos convulsos, caracterizados por la incertidumbre, polarización y crisis globales, este espacio de intercambio franco y constructivo con la Unión Europa es particularmente valioso”, dijo por su lado Arévalo.

El presidente guatemalteco destacó además que el intercambio comercial bilateral ha crecido de forma sostenida y que las exportaciones guatemaltecas hacia la UE se han duplicado desde 2013. También agradeció el apoyo de las misiones que han llegado al país, como el de acompañamiento al proceso electoral en 2023.

Documents filed on Wednesday show Musk’s SpaceX lost $2.6 billion from operations last year on $18.7 billion in revenue, and the losses kept piling up at the start of this year, too.

Still, the initial public offering is expected to rank among the largest ever, possibly surpassing the current title holder, Saudi Aramco, the oil giant that went public seven years ago.

The prospectus did not put a dollar figure on the amount Musk hopes to raise but various reports have put it at $75 billion or so. The company has said the money will help to finance projects to put men on the moon and maybe some day Mars in his quest to make making humans an intergalactic species as it faces existential threats that could wipe out civilization.

“We do not want humans to have the same fate as dinosaurs,” the filing stated.

The initial offering could also make Musk, a major holder of SpaceX equity, the world’s first trillionaire.

It will also give Musk big control over the business.

The document says that Musk and certain other shareholders will receive shares in a special class of stock that gives them 10 votes for each share they hold. Those shareholders will be able, among other things, to elect a majority of the company’s board of directors.

“This will limit or preclude your ability to influence corporate matters and the election of our directors,” SpaceX said in a warning to prospective investors.

The 193-member world body approved a nonbinding resolution endorsing the landmark advisory opinion by the U.N.’s top court last July that called failure by countries to protect the planet from climate change a violation of international law. The vote was 141-8 with 28 abstentions.

The U.S., Russia, Iran and Saudi Arabia — some of the highest oil-producing nations and major greenhouse gas emitters — opposed the measure.

The text included adopting a national climate action plan to limit global temperature rise to below 1.5 degrees Celsius; phasing out subsidies for fossil fuel exploration, production and exploitation; and urging those in violation to provide “full reparation” for damage.

The resolution had initially included stronger language from the International Court of Justice opinion that called for establishing an “International Register of Damage” to record evidence and claims, but it was removed after nearly a dozen consultations in order to receive more support.

The adoption came despite reporting by the Associated Press in February that the Trump administration had been urging other nations to press the small island country of Vanuatu — the draft's original sponsor — to withdraw it from consideration.

In guidance issued to all U.S. embassies and consulates, the State Department had said it “strongly objects” to the proposal and that its adoption “could pose a major threat to U.S. industry.”

On Wednesday, Tammy Bruce, the deputy U.S. ambassador to the U.N., blasted the measure once again, calling it “highly problematic” and maintaining that Washington has serious legal and policy concerns despite changes to the draft.

“The resolution includes inappropriate political demands relating to fossil fuels and on other climate topics,” Bruce told the assembly before the vote.

But representatives from Vanuatu and other island nations, who fear for their survival because of the impact of climate change, said it was important for the General Assembly to back the court opinion, which was hailed as a turning point in international climate law.

“We should be honest with one another about why this matters,” Odo Tevi, the Vanuatu ambassador to the U.N., said before the vote. “It matters because the harm is real and it is already here, along our islands and coast lines, for communities facing drought and failed harvests.”

He added, “The states and peoples bearing the heaviest burden are very often those who contributed least to the problem.”

The action by the world body follows decades of frustration for Pacific nations that are watching their homelands disappear.

In Tuvalu, where the average elevation is just 2 meters (6.6 feet), more than a third of the population has applied for a climate migration visa to Australia. By 2100, much of the country is projected to be underwater at high tide. In Nauru, the government has begun selling passports to wealthy foreigners — offering visa-free access to dozens of countries — in a bid to generate revenue for possible relocation efforts.

Gabriel García Luna, quien tomó posesión el domingo, en sustitución de la sancionada exfiscal general Consuelo Porras, ordenó que la destitución sea inmediata. Un día antes, el nuevo fiscal ordenó liquidar la Fiscalía Especial Contra la Impunidad, que dirigía Curruchiche, con el argumento de que había perdido credibilidad.

Curruchiche era uno de los fiscales cercanos a Porras, ambos sancionados por más de 40 países por haber socavado la democracia y obstaculizado la lucha contra la corrupción en Guatemala.

Al ahora exfiscal también se le acredita haber impulsado una persecución penal contra el partido político Movimiento Semilla, con el cual llegó al poder el presidente Bernardo Arévalo e intentar detener su toma de posesión al solicitar a un juez cancelar al partido así como investigar un presunto fraude electoral, el cual no fue probado.

El martes las nuevas autoridades de la fiscalía también prohibieron a sus funcionarios y empleados públicos filtrar o divulgar, reproducir o difundir información institucional o de los procesos judiciales a su cargo mediante cualquier plataforma social, “que tengan por objeto beneficiar o perjudicar intereses políticos partidarios o de personas que desvirtúen el carácter objetivo... del Ministerio Público”.

Curruchiche era uno de los fiscales que más usaba las redes sociales para hablar de los casos que llevaba. En sus publicaciones amenazaba o insultaba a gremios y personas. Uno de sus blancos más frecuentes era su antecesor, el reconocido exfiscal Juan Francisco Sandoval, actualmente exiliado, a quién constantemente llamaba corrupto.

Otra de las fiscales que también realizaba publicaciones con acusaciones, burlas o insultos era Cinthia Edelmira Monterroso Gómez, recordada por allanar la casa del reconocido periodista José Rubén Zamora y solicitar a un juez iniciar proceso legal contra ocho periodistas del extinto medio El Periódico por sus publicaciones sobre abusos de poder de jueces y fiscales.

Monterroso también está sancionada por varios países que le han prohibido la entrada a sus territorios por utilizar el sistema de justicia y la fiscalía para realizar amenazas e intimidación e interferir en un proceso policial o judicial en relación con casos graves de corrupción.

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Amid rising tensions between Cuba and the United States, the Department of Justice announced an indictment against Cuban communist leader Raul Castro.

“It sends the right message, not only to us, but to the opposition inside Cuba,” said Miami-Dade Commissioner Juan Carlos Bermudez.

The indictment comes in connection with the deadly Brothers to the Rescue plane shootdown in 1996.

“That massacre is an open wound in this community because four young, idealistic men who were known for their hard work and their seriousness were killed for trying to save the lives of others,” said Orlando Gutierrez-Boronat with the Assembly of the Cuban Resistance.

According to Brothers to the Rescue founder Jose Basulto, audio recordings of Raul Castro, who was then head of Cuba’s military, show him ordering the attack on the humanitarian group’s planes as they searched to help Cubans at sea fleeing the communist island.

“We were attacked by Cuban MiGs,” said Basulto.

A MiG is a Soviet-designed Mikoyan-Gurevich fighter jet.

“It means a lot to me as a Cuban American because justice will finally be done,” said Bermudez, who was friends with Mario De La Pena, one of the four men killed in the Cuban attack.

“Died at a very young age, 25 years old,” said Bermudez. “It was a crime committed by the Cuban government.”

The indictment comes as Cuban democracy advocates remain steadfast in their decades-long quest for transition in Cuba from dictatorship to democracy.

“The indictment is a very important step, but of course the end goal here is the return of sovereignty to the Cuban people,” said Gutierrez-Boronat.

En medio de las crecientes tensiones entre Cuba y Estados Unidos, el Departamento de Justicia anunció una acusación contra el líder comunista cubano Raúl Castro.

“Envía el mensaje correcto, no solo para nosotros, sino también para la oposición dentro de Cuba”, dijo el comisionado de Miami-Dade, Juan Carlos Bermudez.

La acusación está relacionada con el derribo fatal de los aviones de Hermanos al Rescate en 1996.

“Esa masacre es una herida abierta en esta comunidad porque cuatro jóvenes idealistas, conocidos por su arduo trabajo y seriedad, fueron asesinados por intentar salvar las vidas de otros”, dijo Orlando Gutierrez-Boronat, de la Asamblea de la Resistencia Cubana.

Según el fundador de Hermanos al Rescate, Jose Basulto, grabaciones de audio de Raúl Castro, quien entonces era jefe de las fuerzas armadas de Cuba, muestran que ordenó el ataque contra los aviones del grupo humanitario mientras buscaban ayudar a cubanos en el mar que huían de la isla comunista.

“Fuimos atacados por MiGs cubanos”, dijo Basulto.

Un MiG es un avión de combate Mikoyan-Gurevich de diseño soviético.

“Significa mucho para mí como cubanoestadounidense porque finalmente se hará justicia”, dijo Bermudez, quien era amigo de Mario De La Peña, uno de los cuatro hombres asesinados en el ataque cubano.

“Murió muy joven, a los 25 años”, dijo Bermudez. “Fue un crimen cometido por el gobierno cubano”.

La acusación surge mientras defensores de la democracia en Cuba continúan firmes en su lucha de décadas por una transición de la dictadura a la democracia en la isla.

“La acusación es un paso muy importante, pero por supuesto el objetivo final aquí es el regreso de la soberanía al pueblo cubano”, dijo Gutierrez-Boronat.

The company said Wednesday it earned $58.32 billion, or $2.39 per share, in the February-April period, up from $18.78 billion, or 76 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, Nvidia earned $1.76 per share.

Revenue jumped 85% to $81.62 billion from $44.01 billion.

Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of $1.75 per share and revenue of $78.91 billion, according to a poll by FactSet. Nvidia's results have exceeded the analyst projections that shape investors’ perceptions since Nvidia’s high-end chips emerged as AI’s best building blocks three years ago.

“The buildout of AI factories — the largest infrastructure expansion in human history — is accelerating at extraordinary speed,” said CEO Jensen Huang in a statement.

Along with higher profit and revenue, however, Nvidia's operating expenses increased by 49% to $7.75 billion.

For the current quarter, Nvidia forecast revenue of about $91 billion. Analysts are forecasting $87.29 billion.

Despite the solid results and outlook, many investors still evidently are worried about a comedown after a three-year boom that has seen Nvidia’s market value soar from $400 billion at the end of 2022 to $5.4 trillion as of Wednesday.

Shares of the Santa Clara, California-based company dipped slightly after-hours to $222.12 after closing at $223.47 in the regular trading session.

“Time and time again, (Nvidia) obliterates expectations and consensus; it delivered exactly on what people wanted, especially regarding data centers,” said David Wagner, head of equity and portfolio manager at Aptus Capital Advisors. “But the market doesn’t always act as you would expect after a strong report like this one.”

The company also announced plans to return some money to shareholders. It authorized a plan to buy back $80 billion worth of stock and increased its quarterly cash dividend to 25 cents per share from 1 cent.

Funcionarios de Oakland Park Fire Rescue informaron que el tren impactó la SUV y la arrastró aproximadamente entre 200 y 300 yardas por las vías. El conductor de la SUV, cuya identidad aún no ha sido revelada, fue declarado muerto en la escena.

Sky 10 sobrevoló las vías cerca de Oakland Park Boulevard alrededor de las 10:25 a.m. mientras los socorristas inspeccionaban el área.

Las autoridades informaron que los carriles en dirección oeste fueron reabiertos, pero todos los carriles en dirección este permanecían cerrados en Northwest 18th Avenue mientras continuaba la investigación.

Tony Carruthers' attorneys twice asked the Tennessee Department of Correction last month whether it had secured the appropriate drugs for his execution date and for assurance the drugs had not expired.

Assistant Attorney General John W. Ayers' response did not directly answer but said the department will comply with its lethal injection protocol — which includes regular inventory of the drugs to monitor expiration dates.

Carruthers, 57, was sentenced to death after being found guilty of the 1994 kidnappings and murders of Marcellos Anderson, his mother Delois Anderson, and Frederick Tucker.

The Tennessee Department of Correction declined to answer on Wednesday when asked by The Associated Press whether the drugs they plan to use to kill Carruthers are expired. Gov. Bill Lee’s office did not immediately respond to a similar inquiry.

Federal Public Defender Amy Harwell said in an email that expiration dates reflect when a drug can no longer be safely relied upon to obtain the desired result.

“In the execution context, this may mean a slow, lingering death without a reliable loss of consciousness, as the body painfully and fitfully shuts down,” Harwell wrote.

Public opposition to executions has made it difficult for prisons to obtain execution drugs, among the lingering issues for those who use lethal injection. Some states have been forced to speed up executions or stop them entirely due to expiration dates on drugs.

In South Carolina, executions were on hold for 12 years while the state struggled to obtain drugs. They were eventually able to get them only after the state passed a shield law that would keep the identity of the supplier secret.

Tennessee has argued in court that its shield extends to revealing expiration dates. Just before the December execution of Harold Nichols, Tennessee Deputy Attorney General Cody Brandon offered instead to provide a declaration “attesting that the chemicals to be used in Mr. Nichols’ execution will not expire before his execution and have not expired,” according to a transcript of the proceedings.

“The fact that TDOC was willing to provide such assurances to Mr. Nichols, but not Mr. Carruthers, raises serious concerns that TDOC is, in fact, intending to use expired drugs,” Harwell wrote in a May 18 follow-up to Ayers’ letter.

Arkansas, Idaho have faced challenges

In 2017, Arkansas’ then-Gov. Asa Hutchinson issued death warrants for eight prisoners on the state’s death row in an effort to beat the clock on a batch of lethal injection drugs that were set to expire. The state executed four of the men, but four others were granted stays.

Arkansas has not had any executions since then, in part because of the difficulty in obtaining drugs.

A group of Texas inmates in 2023 unsuccessfully tried to stop the state from using drugs they alleged were expired and unsafe. Prison officials denied their claims and said the state's drug supply was safe.

Attorneys for Idaho’s death row inmates raised similar concerns in 2024, when the state planned to take a second try at executing Thomas Creech after the first attempt was botched.

The Federal Defender Services of Idaho told a federal judge that prison officials apparently failed to even check the expiration date of the execution drugs before obtaining a death warrant for Creech in October 2024. Nine days later, the drugs were returned to the supplier because they were expired, according to court documents. A new Idaho law has changed the state’s primary execution to firing squad in part because of the difficulty of getting lethal injection drugs.

Tennessee has had problems with execution drugs

Tennessee has a history of problems with its execution drugs. In 2022, Oscar Smith came within minutes of being executed before Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee issued a surprise reprieve that revealed the state's lethal injection drugs were not being properly tested for purity and potency. Executions were on hold for two years to allow for an independent investigation into the problems.

The state attorney general’s office was also forced to concede in court that two of the people most responsible for overseeing Tennessee’s lethal injection drugs at the time “ incorrectly testified ” under oath that officials were testing the chemicals as required.

Tennessee released a new lethal injection process in December 2024, and restarted executions in 2025. Several death row inmates have sued over the new protocols, arguing that the Correction Department did not follow the recommendations from the investigation.

Meanwhile, the new process has not been completely smooth. When Byron Black was executed by lethal injection in August, he said he was “ hurting so bad.” Prison officials have offered no explanation for what might have caused the pain.

But he says that could change now after his legal team forged a deal with the Justice Department this week that includes permanently dropping tax claims against the president, his family and associates.

“I may even release my current returns,” the president told reporters Wednesday.

If Trump makes good on that suggestion, it would end years-long speculation over how much the Republican president owes the federal government. But Trump has made dozens of promises in years past to release his returns, as other presidents routinely have done, only to renege on that commitment.

This week, the Justice Department said the government is “forever barred and precluded” from pursuing or prosecuting current tax examinations of Trump, his sons and the Trump Organization — part of the settlement deal meant to resolve Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over a leak of his tax returns.

The Justice Department has said the settlement refers only to existing audits, not future examinations.

The move came after the Justice Department announced, as part of the lawsuit settlement, the creation of a $1.776 billion fund to compensate Trump allies who believe they have been unjustly investigated and prosecuted. Democrats and government watchdogs have called the arrangement “corrupt” and unconstitutional.

With the settlement putting an end to any ongoing examinations of the president's finances, the question arises about whether Trump will in fact release his returns. The White House referred The Associated Press to Trump’s comments when asked when his returns may become available.

Trump has said on numerous occasions over the years that he would release his tax returns. In May 2017, Trump said in an interview that he “might” release his tax returns after he stepped down as president.

During his first presidential campaign, he made a commitment to release his tax returns once they were not under audit.

In 2022, after Trump had left office, Democrats in Congress released thousands of pages of his tax returns for the years covering 2015-2020, showing how Trump used the tax code to lower his tax obligation and revealing details about foreign accounts, charitable contributions and the performance of some of his highest-profile business ventures.

“It would be unprecedented,” said Jodi Balsam, a former arbitrator of NCAA infractions cases who is director of the Sports Law Clinic at Brooklyn Law School. “They have never excused betting on one’s own sport or team and it routinely has been met with the harshest of penalties.”

Texas Tech said Monday it had declared Sorsby ineligible after it finalized an agreed-upon stipulation of facts between the school, the NCAA and Sorsby. A school is required to declare an athlete ineligible before it can initiate the reinstatement process.

On the same day, Sorsby filed a lawsuit in Lubbock County, Texas, alleging the NCAA was slow-walking his case and asking for an injunction allowing him to play for the Red Raiders this season after he was one of the biggest transfers of the offseason. Balsam said the claim of stalling is likely baseless since the NCAA had not received a reinstatement request as of Monday.

Sorsby has acknowledged wagering on sports, including on his own team his freshman season at Indiana in 2022. His school said he entered residential treatment for a gambling addiction three weeks ago.

History on NCAA's side

Balsam said courts historically have sided with sports governing bodies when it comes to administering rules concerning gambling and integrity of the game.

“I see the NCAA fighting this one. I don’t see them settling,” she said. “I do believe this is within their core legal authority.”

Sorsby is the highest-profile college football player to face permanent suspension for gambling since Iowa State quarterback Hunter Dekkers three years ago. Dekkers was found to have wagered on a 2021 Cyclones game in which he didn't play.

Iowa State filed two appeals with the NCAA to have Dekkers' eligibility reinstated and was denied each time, a school spokesman said. Dekkers sat out 2023, played at a junior college in 2024 and signed with the New Orleans Saints as an undrafted free agent in 2025. He was released in January and is the starter for the Houston Gamblers of the UFL this spring.

Sorsby's options

At stake for Sorsby is the multimillion-dollar deal he signed with Texas Tech for what was supposed to be his final season of college football. Sorsby alleges the NCAA abandoned “its obligations and duties to promote" his well-being and that the lawsuit was filed to expedite the reinstatement process.

Sorsby is seeking a hearing for a temporary injunction by June 15, one week before the deadline to file paperwork for the NFL's supplemental draft.

Balsam served from 2019-24 on the NCAA’s since-dissolved Independent Resolution Panel, which adjudicated and administered penalties in select Division I infractions cases. She said the NCAA would create a “real slippery slope” if it didn't make Sorsby permanently ineligible.

“To exonerate entirely somebody who has admitted violating this core policy is to open the floodgates for anybody who is ever engaged in gambling that violates the policy and tries to defend, justify or rationalize their behavior," she said.

In the lawsuit, Sorsby acknowledged that in his first year at Indiana, he wagered between $5 and $50 on the Hoosiers football team to win and made prop bets on teammates to exceed statistical predictions. He said he did not bet on the one game in which he played.

Sorsby said he never bet on a game involving Cincinnati after he transferred there in 2024, but he continued to be out of control, even placing wagers on Turkish basketball and Romanian soccer games.

Sorsby contends there is hypocrisy in the NCAA's harsh discipline for gambling violations at a time it has a partnership with Genius Sports, the exclusive distributor of official NCAA data feeds to authorized sportsbooks.

“Maybe that will invite some skepticism by courts,” Balsam said, “but ultimately ... sports gambling bans have always been considered essential to the public trust in the game.”

Judge recuses himself

Balsam said there was “perhaps a little bit of forum shopping” with Sorsby's lawsuit filed in Lubbock, home to Texas Tech, reflecting a trend of eligibility cases being heard in state courts.

The judge initially assigned to the case, Phillip Hays, grew up in Lubbock and earned his undergraduate and law degrees from Texas Tech. Hays recused himself with no explanation in a court filing Wednesday, Bloomberg reported, and the administrative judge who will pick Hays' replacement has no ties to the school.

Balsam said it's conceivable a judge would grant Sorsby a temporary injunction but only to make the NCAA set a clear timetable for processing Sorsby's request so he isn't in jeopardy of missing the supplemental draft.

“I’d be floored if a court said at the end of the day, after a hearing on the merits, that the NCAA could not enforce its gambling policy,” Balsam said.

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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

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Oakland Park Fire Rescue officials said the train struck the SUV and pushed it approximately 200 to 300 yards down the tracks. The driver of the SUV, who has not yet been identified, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Officials with the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority told Local 10 News that the southbound Tri-Rail train with no passengers onboard was heading to a maintenance yard when it struck the SUV on the tracks near Oakland Park Boulevard around 10:20 a.m.

Sky 10 flew over the tracks near Oakland Park Boulevard around 10:25 a.m. as first responders surveyed the area and surrounded the mangled SUV.

Authorities confirmed that Oakland Park Boulevard is closed in both directions just west of Interstate 95.

Jose Gonzalez, who was walking by the crash scene told Local 10 News that he was shocked to hear that someone had died.

“I don’t know who the person is, but my heart breaks thinking about it,” he said. “My wife is always like, ‘Be careful,’ you know, when they put the crossing arms down. I see people all the time trying to beat it, and I say a quick prayer because, obviously, it’s not worth it.”

They urged drivers to seek alternate routes to avoid delays.

Authorities said traffic homicide unit detectives with the Broward Sheriff’s Office were notified and are investigating the circumstances surrounding this crash.

A Tri-Rail spokesperson told Local 10 News that the agency had to make adjustments to its service after the crash, but operations have since returned to normal.

No other details about the crash were immediately released.

The deal with Vox, widely seen as liberal-leaning, represents a major move toward his own media empire for the 53-year-old younger son of Rupert Murdoch, who himself owned New York Magazine from 1976 until 1991. And it comes less than a year after the Murdoch family reached a deal on control of the 95-year-old mogul’s media empire after his death, ensuring no change in direction at Fox News, the most popular network for conservatives, under Rupert's chosen heir, Lachlan Murdoch.

Under the new deal, expected to close within weeks, Lupa Systems, James Murdoch’s media company, acquires the three divisions — about half of Vox Media. Neither Vox Media nor Lupa was disclosing the sum. The New York Times cited people familiar with the matter saying it was more than $300 million. The acquired divisions will operate, according to a statement, as a subsidiary of Lupa — called Vox Media.

Lots included and some excluded

Not included in the deal are the Vox brands Eater, Popsugar, SB Nation, The Dodo, and The Verge. But the deal does include, along with New York magazine, its verticals The Cut, Vulture, Intelligencer, The Strategist, Curbed, and Grub Street.

It also includes the Vox Media Podcast Network. which features wildly popular shows like “Criminal” and “Pivot” with Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway. The network “has been the fastest growing business within Vox Media and will immediately put Lupa at the top of the podcast field,” said the Vox statement.

James Murdoch, a former CEO of 21st Century Fox who resigned from the board of News Corporation in 2020 over differences about content and direction, is known to hold less conservative views than his father. In the deal reached last year, James and his two older sisters. Prudence MacLeod and Elisabeth Murdoch, gave up any claims to control of Fox in exchange for stock valued at the time at $3.3 billion.

That deal created a trust establishing control of the Fox Corp. for Lachlan Murdoch, along with his younger sisters, Grace and Chloe.

In his own remarks about the Vox deal, James Murdoch said the acquisition “aligns well with our existing holdings and investments and reflects both our interest in the forward edge of culture and our deep commitment to ambitious journalism and agenda-setting conversations.

It will allow us to apply new tools across the businesses we are building, adding substantial production, distribution, and editorial capability to our group," Murdoch said.

Continuity in leadership expected

Current Vox chairman and CEO Jim Bankoff will lead the new Vox Media, becoming CEO of the new company upon closing.

“We are incredibly proud to have built and scaled several of the leading media properties of this generation,” Bankoff said. “Together under Lupa’s stewardship we are primed to be the best home for talent and the most dynamic media company of this new era.”

David Haskell, New York magazine's editor-in-chief, noted in an email to subscribers that Lupa now becomes the magazine's sixth owner since 1968.

Haskell promised that the magazine would continue with “the fearless, independent journalism that you expect from us."

“We will continue to create news cycles, start conversations, contribute to the most important debates in politics and society, identify and explore what’s most interesting in contemporary culture, and always do our best to challenge our readers, surprise them, and help them make sense of the modern world,” Haskell said.

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Jocelyn Noveck covers the intersection of media and entertainment for The Associated Press.

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Trump spoke outside Air Force One on Wednesday, as he weighed in on the historic indictment, calling it a significant moment for many people.

“It’s not going to be like the biggest thing we’ve ever done, but I can tell you to a lot of people. It’s going to be one of the most important,” he said. “They have been looking for this moment for 65 years.”

The comments came as Rubio marked Cuban Independence Day with a video message directed at the people of Cuba.

“In the U.S., we are ready to open a new chapter in the relationship between our people and our countries,” he said. “And, currently, the only thing standing in the way of a better future are those who control your country.”

Rubio blamed Cuba’s communist leadership for keeping resources such as food, gas and electricity from the Cuban people. He said the U.S. blockade has only exaggerated the problem.

Trump also spoke about the Cuban people and the large Cuban-American community in Miami.

“No energy at all, but they do have great people, a lot of great people,” he said. “I have so many Cuban friends, mostly in Miami in Florida, and they are unbelievable people and they want to go back. Hopefully they’re going to want live here, but they want to go back. Maybe they’ll invest. We’ll see what happens.”

Trump habló el miércoles afuera del Air Force One, donde opinó sobre la histórica acusación y la calificó como un momento significativo para muchas personas.

“No será como la cosa más grande que hemos hecho, pero puedo decirles que para mucha gente será una de las más importantes”, dijo. “Han estado esperando este momento durante 65 años”.

Los comentarios surgieron mientras Rubio conmemoraba el Día de la Independencia de Cuba con un mensaje en video dirigido al pueblo cubano.

“En Estados Unidos, estamos listos para abrir un nuevo capítulo en la relación entre nuestros pueblos y nuestros países”, dijo. “Y actualmente, lo único que se interpone en el camino hacia un mejor futuro son quienes controlan su país”.

Rubio responsabilizó al liderazgo comunista de Cuba por privar al pueblo cubano de recursos como alimentos, gasolina y electricidad. Añadió que el embargo de Estados Unidos solo ha agravado el problema.

Trump también habló sobre el pueblo cubano y la gran comunidad cubanoestadounidense en Miami.

“No tienen energía en absoluto, pero sí tienen grandes personas, muchas grandes personas”, dijo. “Tengo muchos amigos cubanos, principalmente en Miami, en Florida, y son personas increíbles y quieren regresar. Esperemos que quieran vivir aquí, pero quieren regresar. Tal vez inviertan. Veremos qué pasa”.

Members of the House Committee on Homeland Security held a hearing on ways to modernize the TSA nearly 25 years after it was created in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. But the morale of TSA officers who went without pay during three funding lapses since Oct. 1, and whom the administration wants to replace at small U.S. airports, overshadowed the talk about better machines and reliable funding.

“Between the 2025 and 2026 shutdowns, transportation security officers endured a total of 119 days impacted by shutdown conditions," Republican Andrew Garbarino of New York, the committee’s chairman, said in his opening remarks. "That means TSA officers spent roughly 40% of this fiscal year reporting to work without a paycheck while continuing to carry out one of the most important security missions in the federal government.”

Several other committee members noted that Congress has failed to pass any of the pending bills seeking to guarantee continued pay for TSA workers. Rep. Lou Correa, a California Democrat, said if TSA workers don't get paid during shutdowns, neither should lawmakers.

Correa also took aim at President Donald Trump's proposed budget, which in addition to spending $477.3 million to have private companies take over airport screening at about 250 smaller airports would cut more than 4,500 TSA positions to save $529.3 million in compensation and benefits. The TSA this week also authorized contractors in its airport staffing program to acquire and maintain screening equipment, which previously was strictly a government function.

“Technology alone can’t replace the experienced people who make the security checkpoints work as they have for the past 25 years,” Correa said. “It's about pushing an antigovernment privatization ideology.”

About 20 U.S. airports already staff their checkpoints through the Screening Partnership Program. Currently airports choose whether or not to opt in. Under Trump's proposed budget, smaller airports would be required to participate.

The TSA has proposed letting private screeners handle security at airports with scheduled flights of passenger planes with 10-30 seats and ones that accomodate charter flights and private planes without fixed schedules. Examples include Oxnard Airport in California, Ocala International Airport in Florida, Alabama's Tuscaloosa International Airport and Gary-Chicago International Airport in Indiana, according to a spreadsheet maintained by the Federal Aviation Administration.

The witnesses at the hearing included Christopher Sununu, president and CEO of the airline trade group Airlines for America; Dallas Fort Worth International Airport CEO Chris McLaughlin; American Federation of Government Employees President Everett Kelley, whose union represents TSA workers. All three said they thoughts airports should get to decide whether to employ private screeners.

“Ensuring SPP remains an option for airports and does not become a mandatory program is paramount to the U.S. aviation industry,” Sununu said.

Kelley took a strong stand against the plans in Trump's budget.

“I'm totally against the privatization of any airport,” he said. “You don't contract out the CIA, do you?”

After several more Democrats on the committee said they thought that handing off airport security to businesses would leave U.S. airspace more vulnerable, Garbarino interjected to point out that “the very conservative cities of San Francisco, Seattle and Atlanta” all use private screeners at their airports, “so yeah, maybe it's not a Republican thing.”

Garbarino and Rep. Tim Kennedy, a New York Democrat, championed legislation he and three other committee members introduced earlier this month that would double, from $250 million to $500 million, the amount of money the TSA administrator is required to set aside to reimburse airports for capital costs associated with security. The bill also would establish an annual TSA fund of $250 million for airport screening technology.

Revenue for both would come from a $5.60 fee that airline customers pay for each one-way trip they take on U.S. flights. The 9/11 Passenger Security Fee has existed since 2002, but Congress decided in 2013 that a certain amount had to be used each year to reduce the federal deficit. Since then, an estimated $15 billion went to the U.S. Treasury for that purpose, according to the bill's co-sponsors,.

“Americans and Congress expected this fee to directly fund our aviation security system, but that is not the case. Nearly half the fee's revenue goes to something else,” Garbarino said. “Congress must restore the passenger security fee to its original intent, to fund the next generation of screening technology that protects our people in the skies.”

Trump's fiscal 2027 budget proposal would end the practice of diverting passenger fees and fund the TSA partly with the $1.68 billion that was expected to go to deficit-reduction.

Exiliados cubanos esperan el anuncio oficial del Departamento de Justicia de Estados Unidos la tarde del miércoles en la Freedom Tower, en el centro de Miami.

Castro fue acusado de ordenar el derribo por parte de la Fuerza Aérea Cubana de dos avionetas Cessna 337 Skymaster de Hermanos al Rescate que habían despegado del Aeropuerto Ejecutivo Opa-locka alrededor de las 3:20 p.m. del 24 de febrero de 1996.

Carlos Costa y Pablo Morales iban en la Cessna 337C, mientras que Mario De La Peña y Armando Alejandre iban en la Cessna 337B. Los registros muestran que ambas aeronaves estaban registradas en Estados Unidos.

Misiles aire-aire disparados desde aviones de combate MiG-29 de la Fuerza Aérea Cubana impactaron ambas aeronaves, causando la muerte de Alejandre, de 45 años; Costa, de 29; y De la Peña, de 24, quienes eran ciudadanos estadounidenses; y Morales, de 29, residente de Estados Unidos, según los registros.

“Ambas aeronaves Cessna se desintegraron en el aire debido a las explosiones de los misiles, los restos impactaron el mar y se hundieron”, según el informe de la Organización de Aviación Civil Internacional.

Documento relacionado: Informe de 1999 de la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos

Gráfico interactivo: Cuatro integrantes de Hermanos al Rescate murieron

Salazar y Giménez ya habían ofrecido una rueda de prensa con el representante estadounidense Mario Díaz-Balart el miércoles por la mañana para pedir que Raúl Castro fuera llevado ante la justicia en Estados Unidos.

“Se trató de un asesinato premeditado de tres estadounidenses y un residente de Estados Unidos”, declaró Díaz-Balart.

Durante un acto celebrado el miércoles en la Freedom Tower, en el centro de Miami, el fiscal general interino de Estados Unidos, Todd Blanch, anunció que existía una orden de arresto contra Raúl Castro tras su acusación formal por el derribo fatal en 1996 de dos aviones de la organización Brothers to the Rescue en alta mar.

“Es justicia tardía, pero al menos es justicia”, dijo Giménez.

Antes de la segunda rueda de prensa, Salazar dijo que aún quedaba mucho por hacer en Cuba, que según ella era “el epicentro del mal en el hemisferio occidental”, y añadió que los comunistas en el poder eran “matones”.

Salazar afirmó que apoyaba al presidente Donald Trump si decidía tratar a Castro del mismo modo que trató al expresidente venezolano Nicolás Maduro, quien fue capturado en Caracas y se encuentra tras las rejas en Nueva York.

“Todos los problemas que tenemos en América Latina comienzan con el régimen cubano”, dijo Scott.

Mira sus discursos

SCOTT

SALAZAR

GIMÉNEZ

DONALDS

Historias relacionadas

• La acusación formal presentada por Estados Unidos imputa al expresidente cubano Raúl Castro siete cargos.
• Vea los discursos durante el anuncio de la acusación contra Raúl Castro en la Torre de la Libertad.
• Exiliados cubanos en la Torre de la Libertad reaccionan a la acusación contra Raúl Castro.
• Los exiliados cubanos en el Café Versailles de Miami reaccionan a la noticia de la acusación contra Raúl Castro: “Todos a favor “.
• Los republicanos del sur de Florida defienden la acusación contra Castro.
• Rubio publica un mensaje en español dirigido a los cubanos que sufren en la isla.
• El presidente cubano Miguel Díaz-Canel reacciona a la acusación de Raúl Castro

Por el fatal derribo en 1996 de dos aviones de Brothers to the Rescue, la acusación imputó a Castro, de 94 años, los cargos de conspiración para matar a ciudadanos estadounidenses, dos cargos de destrucción de aeronaves y cuatro cargos de asesinato.

VIDEOS RELACIONADOS : Vea los discursos durante el anuncio de la acusación contra Raúl Castro en la Torre de la Libertad.

“La supuesta acusación contra el general del ejército Raúl Castro Ruz, recién anunciada por el gobierno estadounidense, solo revela la arrogancia y la frustración que sienten los representantes del imperio hacia la inquebrantable determinación de la Revolución Cubana y la unidad y fortaleza moral de su liderazgo”, escribió Díaz-Canel, según el comunicado en español publicado en su cuenta X.

El fiscal general interino de los Estados Unidos, Todd Blanch, y el subdirector del FBI, Christopher Raia, figuraban entre los funcionarios estadounidenses que anunciaron los cargos el miércoles en la Freedom Tower, en el centro de Miami.

“Se trata de una maniobra política, carente de fundamento legal, cuyo único objetivo es engrosar el expediente fabricado que utilizan para justificar la insensatez de una agresión militar contra Cuba”, escribió Díaz-Canel.

Carlos Costa, Pablo Morales, Mario De La Peña y Armando Alejandre murieron después de que la Fuerza Aérea Cubana derribara dos aviones Cessna 337 Skymaster de la escuadrilla Hermanos al Rescate que habían despegado del Aeropuerto Ejecutivo de Opa Locka alrededor de las 3:20 pm del 24 de febrero de 1996.

«Estados Unidos miente y distorsiona los hechos que rodearon el derribo de los aviones pertenecientes a la organización narcoterrorista Hermanos al Rescate en 1996», escribió Díaz-Canel. «Sabe perfectamente —dada la abundancia de pruebas documentales— que no se llevó a cabo ninguna acción imprudente ni se violó el derecho internacional».

Brothers to the Rescue ha sido conocida durante décadas como una organización sin fines de lucro con sede en Miami que contaba con voluntarios para ayudar a localizar a los migrantes cubanos que necesitaban ser rescatados en el estrecho de Florida.

“Cuba actuó en legítima defensa dentro de sus aguas jurisdiccionales, tras repetidas y peligrosas violaciones de nuestro espacio aéreo por parte de terroristas notorios, un hecho del que la administración estadounidense de entonces fue alertada en más de una docena de ocasiones, pero ignoró las advertencias y permitió que esas violaciones continuaran”, escribió Díaz-Canel.

Historias relacionadas

• La acusación formal presentada por Estados Unidos imputa al expresidente cubano Raúl Castro siete cargos.
• Exiliados cubanos en la Torre de la Libertad reaccionan a la acusación contra Raúl Castro.
• Los exiliados cubanos en el Café Versailles de Miami reaccionan a la noticia de la acusación contra Raúl Castro: “Todos a favor “.
• Los republicanos del sur de Florida defienden la acusación contra Castro.
• Rubio publica un mensaje en español dirigido a los cubanos que sufren en la isla.

Las medidas endurecen el entorno en Brasil para gigantes como Google, Meta y TikTok, que desde hace tiempo intentan desvincularse de los delitos online cometidos por usuarios.

El primer decreto introduce adaptaciones clave a las normas gubernamentales para alinearlas con una decisión del Supremo Tribunal Federal de Brasil que responsabiliza a las empresas tecnológicas si se niegan a retirar contenido por orden judicial. También permite que la agencia nacional de protección de datos del país investigue esos casos. El segundo decreto establece directrices para la protección de las mujeres en el entorno digital.

El gobierno indicó en un comunicado que, a partir de ahora, las plataformas deben analizar cualquier denuncia y, si el contenido se considera delictivo, retirarlo de inmediato, al tiempo que comunican la decisión a la persona responsable. Entre las posibles sanciones por incumplimiento figuran advertencias, multas y suspensión temporal.

Las empresas no han comentado sobre la decisión del gobierno.

Patricia Peck, consejera de la Autoridad de Protección de Datos de Brasil y autora de 46 libros sobre derecho y tecnología, señaló que los poderes Ejecutivo y Judicial del país han presionado para que las grandes tecnológicas sean proactivas contra los delitos en línea, pese al evidente estancamiento del debate en el Congreso.

“Como no tenemos una legislación específica para responsabilizar a estas plataformas, estamos tomando un camino alternativo”, declaró Peck a The Associated Press. “Quienes desarrollan estas tecnologías deben pensarlo con una perspectiva de ética, privacidad y seguridad como estándar”.

Desde el fallo de la corte suprema el año pasado, estas empresas han tenido que monitorear activamente el contenido que incluye discursos de odio, racismo e incitación a la violencia y actuar para retirarlo.

El anuncio de Lula también amplía la capacidad de la ley vigente para abordar el crecimiento del fraude digital, las estafas y nuevas formas de violencia en internet.

Mattheus Puppe, experto en derecho digital de Brasil, afirma que los decretos buscan impedir que las plataformas se beneficien de publicaciones ilegales y reforzar la decisión del tribunal federal. Pero duda de que las iniciativas del gobierno realmente obstaculicen los delitos en línea.

“No está claro qué tan bien funcionará esto porque la agencia elegida para investigar los casos apenas puede hacer su trabajo ahora”, sostuvo Puppe. “Pero es cierto que no debería depender de las empresas saber qué es legal y qué no”.

El enfoque de Brasil se parece cada vez más al de la Unión Europea, que ha buscado poner freno al poder de las redes sociales y otras plataformas digitales.

Pero ha inquietado la relación entre la nación sudamericana y el gobierno de Estados Unidos. Los críticos manifestaron preocupación de que la medida pueda amenazar la libertad de expresión si las plataformas retiran de forma preventiva contenido que pudiera ser problemático.

A principios de este año entró en vigor una ley que busca proteger a los menores de contenido en línea adictivo, violento y pornográfico. La legislación exige que los menores de 16 años vinculen sus cuentas de redes sociales a un tutor legal para garantizar la supervisión y prohíbe que las plataformas utilicen funciones adictivas como el desplazamiento infinito y la reproducción automática de videos.

_________

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

Leer en español

The shooting happened at the corner of Northwest 27th Avenue and 90th Street.

Video from Sky 10 showed blood spattered on the sidewalk at the intersection and Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office deputies at the scene.

An MDSO spokesperson said deputies arrived just before 2:30 p.m. and found a man “laying on the ground suffering from an apparent gunshot wound.”

A Miami-Dade Fire Rescue spokesperson said medics took the victim to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center.

Authorities did not provide additional details about his condition or whether they had a suspect in custody.

Traffic on Northwest 27th Avenue was being diverted as deputies blocked off the road.

La balacera ocurrió en la esquina de Northwest 27th Avenue y 90th Street.

Video de Sky 10 mostró sangre esparcida sobre la acera en la intersección y agentes de la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade (MDSO) en la escena.

Un portavoz de la MDSO indicó que los agentes llegaron poco antes de las 2:30 p.m. y encontraron a un hombre “tirado en el suelo sufriendo una aparente herida de bala”.

Un portavoz de Miami-Dade Fire Rescue dijo que los paramédicos trasladaron a la víctima al Ryder Trauma Center del Hospital Jackson Memorial.

Las autoridades no ofrecieron más detalles sobre su condición ni informaron si había algún sospechoso bajo custodia.

El tránsito en Northwest 27th Avenue estaba siendo desviado mientras los agentes bloqueaban la vía.

Instead of hearing the warm, roaring cheers like other great IndyCar champions and popular personalities, Palou has started hearing a different chorus from the crowd, boos. No, it's not an overwhelming sentiment, yet, but the Spaniard got a first-hand glimpse of what could lie ahead during the parade lap of this month's Indianapolis Grand Prix.

Of course, the four-time series champion understands why it's happening — fans are weary of seeing him reach victory lane race after race — even though Palou isn't tired of winning.

“It was the first time I heard the boos like from multiple sections and I was like, 'All right,’” he said during practice for the sold-out Indianapolis 500. “I think till now, it's been very friendly and now it's getting like more toward boos. But I think it's good, you need to have that. We're getting booed for being successful and for doing the right thing.”

The quick transition from champion to villain is nothing new in sports.

Dynasty teams or even top athletes such as Tom Brady, LeBron James, Jeff Gordon or Jimmie Johnson have all experienced — and embraced — the boos reserved for only the best of the best. Right now, Palou certainly fits the definition.

But in the relatively friendly confines of IndyCar racing, he's a rarity.

Palou has won three straight series titles and holds a 27-point lead in this year's standings thanks to three win in the season's first six races. He owns 11 wins in IndyCar's last 23 events, and just when it appeared Palou's success may finally be waning with an unlucky decision relegating him to fifth place in the Indianapolis GP, Palou's pole-winning qualifying run has made him the betting favorite to win the 500 again.

For Palou, it's a strange place to be. Here, in Indianapolis, he's a big hit on the defending winner's appearance circuit and many fans clamor for photos with the 2025 Indy champ. At the same time, many others want to see someone else win if only to add some intrigue to the championship chase.

Yet in many ways, it appears Palou can do no wrong.

Despite drawing a late spot in the qualifying line on a hot, windy Pole Day and nearly missing the 12-car pole shootout on his first four-lap attempt, Palou somehow surprised himself by delivering on the bold pre-qualifying prediction of Chip Ganassi Racing managing director Mike Hull by putting his car at the front of Indy's first row. Palou's teammates, six-time series champ Scott Dixon and 21-year-old Kyffin Simpson, couldn't pull that off.

Dixon, the 2008 Indy winner, is starting 10th. Simpson qualified seventh, the inside of Row 3 and now they, like everyone else are find themselves chasing Palou.

“It’s something I’m absolutely, like, ‘How is he doing that week in, week out?’” 2018 Indy champ Will Power said recently. "Well, it’s one, he’s qualifying well. Two is he executes in the race and three is the pit stops, you know, top notch, there’s no mistakes in there. And he’s fast. So that’s what it takes when you’re driving out there.”

Just how dominant has Palou been lately?

He has two top-five finishes to his three wins this year, bringing his three-year totals to 14 victories and an additional 17 top fives in 41 races. His remarkable run of success is even more surprising because he's doing it in a spec series that is supposed to be relatively even.

Palou didn't reach this place by happenstance.

“They (the three drivers' teams) work so well together,” Hull said. “They help each other. We’re able to map the racetrack pretty quickly as well as collectively. That’s been a big deal for us. That’s always what our culture has emphasized.”

Hull's comment may explain why Palou and Dixon have combined to win seven of the last 11 series crowns for Ganassi.

But it doesn't explain why Palou is so far ahead of teammates such as Dixon, who has spent 5 1/2 seasons pursuing a record-tying seventh series title only to watch Palou take the crown four times. Only A.J. Foyt has more all-time series championships than Dixon.

Palou has a difficult time explaining the secret of his success, too.

“I just try to prepare as much as I can before going out on the track,” he said. “Then you have a list of things you need to do as a driver, like hitting references or just following the workload the engineer and mechanic have and that keeps you focused.”

In Palou's case, it's all about being first in practice, qualifying or on race day.

He's less concerned with what fans think though he certainly reveled in the warm, post-qualifying celebration fans gave him after winning the pole with a four-lap average of 232.248 mph. Or whether he'll hear more cheers — or jeers — on Sunday if he becomes the seventh driver in race history to win back-to-back 500s.

“You need to win again. Obviously, that's what they pay us to do as drivers,” Palou said. “We all need to be fighting for wins and winning things. Getting the first (500 win) is probably the toughest or the thing you chase the most, so I feel a little bit of a relief there. But I still want to win more.”

___

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Leer en español

Sánchez, 71, was convicted of contempt of court after refusing to testify about Cuban exiles’ militant activities. After serving time in prison, he said he was committed to nonviolent resistance.

RELATED VIDEOS: Watch the speeches during Raul Castro indictment announcement at Freedom Tower

On Wednesday morning, at the Freedom Tower, where Cuban refugees arrived to ask for help in the 1960s, Sánchez said he was ready to witness history. He is expecting the U.S. Justice Department to announce the indictment of Raúl Castro there.

“It means one step closer to justice,” Sánchez said.

Luis Zúñiga Rey was also among the Cuban exiles at the Freedom Tower who have been calling for Castro to be brought to U.S. justice for the fatal 1996 shootdown of two Miami-based Brothers to the Rescue planes at sea.

“We are happy to have this justice come into reality,” Zúñiga Rey, 78, who was born in Havana, said on Wednesday.

As a college student, Zúñiga Rey was arrested for conspiring against the regime. He was a political prisoner when he escaped in 1973 through Guantánamo during a hospitalization.

Zúñiga Rey returned to Cuba to try to help dissidents escape, and he was rearrested and sentenced to 25 years in prison. A Catholic Cardinal helped to get him expelled out of Cuba in 1988.

“Crimes against humanity never expire,” Zúñiga Rey said.

Orlando Gutiérrez-Boronat, who was born in Havana and was also a teenage member of Alpha 66 and the Cuban Patriotic Union, serves as the spokesperson for the Cuban Democratic Directorate.

“This man who has ordered so many killings, Raul Castro, who has committed so many massacres, may finally have to face the consequences of his vicious crimes,“ said Gutiérrez-Boronat, also a member of the Assembly of the Cuban Resistance.

Miami-Dade Commissioner Juan Carlos “JC” Bermudez was also at the Freedom Tower.

“It sends the right message not only to us, but to the opposition inside Cuba,” Bermudez said.

Madeline Pumariega, the president of the Miami Dade College, said she was glad the announcement was at the Freedom Tower.

“The Freedom Tower stands as that symbol of liberty and justice, so for this to be here at the Freedom Tower, I think means so much to our community.”

THE 1996 SHOOTDOWN

Fidel and Raúl Castro were accused of ordering the Cuban Air Force shootdown of the two Cessna 337 Skymasters that had departed from the Opa Locka Executive Airport at about 3:20 p.m. on Feb. 24, 1996.

Carlos Costa and Pablo Morales were in the Cessna 337C, and Mario De La Peña and Armando Alejandre were in the Cessna 337B — both planes were registered in the U.S., records show.

Air-to-air missiles fired from Cuban Air Force MiG-29 fighter jets hit both planes — killing Alejandre, 45; Costa, 29; and De la Peña, 24, who were U.S. citizens; and Morales, 29, a U.S. resident, records showed.

“Both Cessna aircraft broke up in the air from the explosions of the missiles, the wreckage impacted the sea and sank,” according to the International Civil Aviation Organization’s report.

Related stories

• U.S. indicts former Cuban president Raúl Castro
• South Florida Republicans make case for Castro indictment
• Rubio releases message in Spanish to Cubans suffering on the island

Interactive graphic: 4 Brothers to the Rescue killed

Broadcaster Jim Nantz handled emcee duties, and country star Eric Church sat in the front row of a news conference that was more a celebration of landing the biggest event in Tennessee sports history. NFL owners voted unanimously Tuesday to award Nashville the 2030 Super Bowl.

Nantz, who has called seven Super Bowls for CBS and now calls Nashville home, said Music City knows how to host big events.

“We are, among many things, we’re in the entertainment business, and I don’t have a doubt that we’re going to entertain the people that travel to our city and our state to the greatest experience they’ve ever had at a big event,” Nantz said. “That’s what we do, and now we get to show them.”

Weather permitting, a party also was open to the public Wednesday night on Lower Broad, anchor of the 2019 NFL draft with music, a special guest or two and even a drone show.

The bid committee helping Nashville land this Super Bowl included comedian Nate Bargatze, Church and another star in Tim McGraw.

Questions already are flying about who will handle the halftime show, with Taylor Swift a popular suggestion.

Peter O’Reilly, NFL executive vice president of club business as well as international and league events, recalled a big thunderstorm barreling toward 200,000 people during the 2019 draft only to split and go around the town. O'Reilly called that a bit of Nashville magic.

Nashville finished with record-setting attendance, helping reset the standard for host cities since. O’Reilly expects Nashville to do it again.

“Super Bowl 64 in 2030 is going to be a game-changer for the Super Bowl,” O’Reilly said. “Super Bowl 64 in 2030 is going to be a game-changer for the NFL.”

The same people that helped Nashville put on the 2019 draft are still around. Burke Nihill, the Tennessee Titans’ president and CEO, said they will be involved with planning as Nashville puts its Music City stamp on everything up to and including the Super Bowl itself at the new Nissan Stadium.

“Let’s not start with a base understanding of how it’s always been done," Nihill said of going beyond the NFL's expectations. "How can we create something new that’s very different?”

Nantz also is the co-chair of Nashville's Super Bowl host committee with Bill Haslam, a former Tennessee governor and majority owner of the NHL's Nashville Predators. Nantz made clear he believes 2030 will be just the first Super Bowl played inside Nissan Stadium, which opens in 2027.

Deana Ivey, president and CEO of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp, said she is focused on 2030 first.

“I haven’t asked that question,” she said. "I’m focused on the first time.”

___

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Fox has indicated it likes the 24-team idea, but embedded within that equation is the critical calculation of how much that network, or any broadcast partner, would pay for a new set of games involving second-tier teams that might not garner the same TV ratings as some of the biggest programs in the sport.

“The answer is ‘less,’ but not nothing,'" said Ed Desser, a former NBA executive and media rights expert who co-authored a paper about the value of college football on TV with former ESPN executive John Kosner. “There will be perceived value. It becomes a question of, on the margin, can you create good, meaningful games that enhance the value of the playoff? Or are you just kind of making people wait longer for the entree, for the game they really want?”

The CFP deal that starts this season with ESPN is worth $7.8 billion over six seasons. That network would have first dibs on the first two games added to any package. The rest are up for grabs.

“I want to see whoever is committed to making it work,” Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti said this week when asked which TV partner he'd like to see jump in. “I think it's about whoever has the commitment to scheduling it right and who's going to bring the right resources.”

Figuring the size of the playoff is a puzzle that continues to confound the sport. On one side is the Southeastern Conference, which has held steady to the idea of not expanding past 16 teams though commissioner Greg Sankey teased that some might come around to 24 at meetings next week.

On the other is the Big Ten, which now also has backing from the Atlantic Coast and Big 12 conferences for a move to 24.

The SEC’s idea would more or less keep the overall schedule where it is, including preserving the conference championship games that Petitti estimated to be worth a combined $200 million to the four power conferences.

Sankey has said the league has contracts for its title game and it has to honor those contracts; Petitti didn't seem as tied to the title games, saying he thought the Big Ten could “undo our championship games” as soon as the 2027 season if needed.

A 24-team playoff would eliminate automatic qualifiers and render conference title games virtually meaningless. According to many in the Big Ten, they would give all programs what they crave — more access to the playoff, and a reason for fans and boosters to keep bankrolling all those player salaries.

“I think if we went to 24 teams, there might be 24 teams that could win the national championship,” said Illinois coach Bret Bielema, who is on the board of the American Football Coaches Association that also recently voiced support for the expanded field. “I don’t know if that was true 10 years ago.”

There is still the issue of paying for it.

While popular, college football only captures a fraction of the viewers as the NFL.

The 30.1 million who tuned into last season’s college final between Indiana and Miami would have ranked fifth on the NFL’s list of most-watched regular-season offerings. The Super Bowl drew more than 125 million viewers.

For the weeks when the CFP goes against NFL regular-season games – first-round contests the past two years have taken place opposite NFL games on Saturdays – the NFL games have drawn between 2.5 times and 5 times the viewers. Part of this is because the NFL games are over-the-air on Fox and the college games were on cable, TNT/TBS/TruTv.

There is also the issue of how much networks or streamers will have to spend.

The NFL's recent move into streaming and adding new broadcast windows — for example, Christmas Day and the days before and after Thanksgiving — has led to thoughts that the league will press for sooner renegotiations of its own deals that currently have an opt-out clause in 2029.

While the league controls all its games, college football's rights are spread out among the individual conferences and the CFP.

“We don’t feel that the current Balkanized state of college football lends itself to maximizing (revenue) across the board,” Kosner said. “Nor do I think that just doubling the CFP at this stage is going to be such a revenue motherlode that it's going to make a difference."

Pettiti views filling the gaps from the lost title-game revenue differently. He sees an influx of on-campus games, which generate $6 million or more in ticket sales and other receipts, as part of the equation.

The SEC, once seemingly in the majority in seeking a move to 16 teams, is now in the minority. Sankey said the league will have to do its own research to see how a bigger expansion would impact the college football calendar, the title games and, of course, the financial bottom line.

“I think there's going to be a lot of pressure on the commissioners to help make it happen," Kosner said. "I would kind of be surprised if, within two years, it hasn’t happened. But I’d also be surprised if it winds up being the sort of business boom that they might hope that it would be.”

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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

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Rubio blamed Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A., or GAESA, a secretive business megaconglomerate owned and operated by the Cuban military, for the failings on the island.

“Today, while you suffer, these businessmen have $18 billion in assets and control 70% of Cuba’s economy,” Rubio said. “They profit from hotels, construction, banks, stores, and even from the money your relatives send you from the U.S.”

Rubio said GAESA’s profit wasn’t for every day Cubans on the island because those who control it created a small elite class.

“They buy fuel for their generators and their vehicles, while the people are asked to sacrifice,” Rubio said.

Rubio blamed the ongoing fuel crisis and power outages on the leaders of GAESA.

“Instead of using the money to maintain and modernize the damaged power plants, they use the money to build more hotels for foreigners and to send their relatives to live in luxury in Madrid and even here in the United States,” Rubio said.

The Cuban government, Rubio said, represses anyone who dares to complain. He added that President Donald Trump wants to change the relationship between the U.S. and Cuba.

“It must be directly with you, the Cuban people, not with GAESA,” Rubio said. “First, we are offering $100 million in food and medicine for you, the people ... distributed directly to the Cuban people by the Catholic church or other trusted charitable groups.”

Watch the complete video

Related coverage

• U.S. indicts former Cuban president Raúl Castro
• Cuban exiles calling for Raúl Castro to be brought to justice arrive at Miami’s Freedom Tower
• South Florida Republicans make case for Castro indictment
• Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel reacts to Raúl Castro’s indictment

“This is it,” Rodgers said Wednesday when the four-time NFL MVP was asked if this would be his final year.

The 42-year-old did not expand on why he came to that conclusion. Maybe because there was no need.

Rodgers acknowledged that he thought his time in Pittsburgh — and perhaps the league — was over when Steelers coach Mike Tomlin stepped down the day after a blowout first-round playoff loss to Houston in January.

Things changed when Pittsburgh hired Mike McCarthy a few weeks later, a decision that Rodgers said he may have played a small role in when he encouraged Steelers general manager Omar Khan to talk to McCarthy. Rodgers and McCarthy spent 13 years together in Green Bay, winning a Super Bowl while becoming a playoff fixture.

McCarthy and Rodgers stayed in constant communication in recent months as Rodgers weighed whether to run it back one last time. While there was no one tipping point, the relative health of his 42-year-old body and the chance to have his career come “full circle" with a team that spent the offseason upgrading the offense in hopes of ending a lengthy playoff victory drought led to a reunion he called “surreal.”

“It is like a (bunch of) ‘pinch me’ moments that have happened in the last few days,” Rodgers said following the second day of Pittsburgh's voluntary organized team activities.

Perhaps because McCarthy hardly came back to his hometown alone.

The familiar faces from Rodgers' time in Green Bay are everywhere inside the Steelers' facility, from defensive coordinator Patrick Graham to offensive line coach James Campen. There are “getting the band back together” vibes everywhere Rodgers looks.

When Rodgers plopped into a chair for a meeting on Monday, in many ways it felt like it was 2006, when he was entering his second year in Green Bay as Brett Favre's backup and McCarthy was a first-year head coach still finding his way.

“Took me back to being a 22-year-old kid,” Rodgers said with a smile.

Only he's hardly that anymore. While the oldest player in the NFL turned back the clock enough last season to throw for 24 touchdowns against seven interceptions and guide the Steelers to the AFC North title, he also missed a game after breaking several bones in his left wrist and looked very much his age during the second half of what became a blowout loss to the Texans that ended both Pittsburgh's season and Tomlin's largely successful 19-year run as head coach.

Still, Rodgers believes he has enough left to attempt the rarest of exits for players of his stature: the ability to go out on his own terms.

McCarthy said Rodgers “can still throw it with anybody," though the time of year when Rodgers will be asked to really cut it loose is still months away. Perhaps Rodgers' most important job through OTAs, minicamp and training camp is helping the Steelers prepare for life without him.

While McCarthy and Rodgers stayed in constant communication as Rodgers hung out in Malibu, California, with his wife and weighed his options for 2026, the Steelers selected Penn State quarterback Drew Allar in the third round of the draft, and McCarthy has talked up 2025 sixth-round choice Will Howard at every turn since taking over.

Allar and Howard figure to be in the mix this time next year when the Steelers restart their quest to find a long-term solution at the game's most important position, a search that's been ongoing since Ben Roethlisberger's retirement in January 2022.

Rodgers' presence offers a cheat code of sorts. He knows all the answers to the test, particularly when the test is offered by McCarthy. Allar and Howard will get to spend the next seven or so months soaking up what they can from Rodgers about what McCarthy wants and perhaps more importantly, how he wants it.

McCarthy called Rodgers “a tremendous resource” who also happens to be a future Hall of Famer, giving him a certain cachet that might make him a better conduit for what McCarthy is trying to teach than the coach himself.

“It's like parenting,” McCarthy said. “I could sit there and tell my kids something, and then, like if he’d walk in and tell my son George something, he’d jump out the window and do it.”

While Rodgers took a friendly jab at Favre — whom he sat behind during the first three years of his career — by borrowing a phrase from Favre that mentoring is “not in my job description,” the reality is it's a role he relishes.

Just not as much as the chance to win. When Rodgers signed with the Steelers a year ago, he called the decision “best for my soul.” It's much the same this time around.

He likes what the team has done by trading for wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr., signing running back Rico Dowdle and drafting wideout Germie Bernard. The offensive line could be better with Troy Fautanu moving over to left tackle. The defense still has a pair of franchise icons in defensive lineman Cam Heyward and outside linebacker TJ Watt.

And now it has a quarterback eager to soak up every last bit of the final chapter of a career that will end with a gold jacket and a bust in the Hall of Fame. Just not quite yet.

“I am excited about these guys," he said. “I’m excited about the team.”

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

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Republican Reps. Mario Diaz Balart (FL-26,) María Elvira Salazar (FL-27), and Carlos A. Giménez (FL-28) held a press conference in Washington Wednesday morning to argue in favor of bringing the charges against Castro. They were joined by Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY.) In February, the same group of lawmakers signed a letter to the Department of Justice urging the indictment.

RELATED VIDEOS: Watch the speeches during Raul Castro indictment announcement at Freedom Tower

Last week, sources close to the matter revealed federal prosecutors were preparing to bring charges against the 94-year-old Castro in connection to the 1996 shootdown of two planes from the Miami-based group Brothers to the Rescue.

The attack on the two civilian planes sparked international outrage. The aircraft were shot down by a Cuban fighter jet outside of Cuban airspace, killing four people. At the time, Castro was the leader of the Cuban armed forces.

At Wednesday’s press conference, Diaz Balart took to the podium first, telling reporters that the U.S. has “looked the other way” for decades now, which was “unacceptable” and “unforgiveable,” but that the Trump administration is now willing to take action.

In 2011, Raul Castro would become president of Cuba’s communist government, a position he served in until 2021. Despite being retired, Castro is widely believed to still hold immense power and influence behind the scenes.

The looming indictment against Castro comes as tensions rise between the U.S. and Cuba. For months, the U.S. has blocked virtually all oil from reaching Cuban shores, triggering the island’s worst energy crisis in decades. Last week, the communist government announced it had officially run out of fuel.

In the last year, the Trump administration has increasingly leaned into military power to achieve its foreign policy goals. In January, U.S. forces entered Venezuela to capture President Nicolas Maduro, who was facing a federal indictment. Maduro is now being held in a federal jail in New York City facing charges for alleged narco-terrorism, drug trafficking and weapons offenses.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly suggested the U.S. could stage what he calls a “friendly takeover” of Cuba, raising questions about a possible military intervention.

On Sunday, Axios reported the Cuban government had acquired more than 300 military drones and developed plans to use them against U.S. targets, including the military base at Guantanamo Bay and possibly Key West.

Speaking to Local 10’s “This Week in South Florida” over the weekend, Gimenez, who sits on the House Homeland Security Committee, said he had not yet been briefed on the reported drone threat from Cuba, but emphasized the communist government has always been hostile to U.S. security and interests.

“What we know is that Cuba has always been a national security threat,” Gimenez said. “Everything in the state of Florida is inside the range of those drones.”

Axios reported the presence of the drones could serve as a pretext to U.S. military action against Cuba.

Interactive graphic: 4 Brothers to the Rescue killed

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The charges stem from the Cuban Air Force shooting down two Brothers to the Rescue airplanes in February of 1996, an operation that Castro is accused of ordering.

RELATED VIDEOS: Watch the speeches during Raul Castro indictment announcement at Freedom Tower

There are also ongoing tensions between the U.S. and Cuba, which some fear could lead to military action.

Joining Local 10 News to discuss the indictment and continuing unrest between the nations was John Suarez, the Executive Director at the Center for Free Cuba.

Suarez spoke to Local 10’s Kristi Krueger and Eric Yutzy, and their full conversation can be seen at the top of this page.

RELATED STORIES

Cuban exiles calling for Raúl Castro to be brought to justice arrive at Miami’s Freedom Tower

Rubio releases message in Spanish to Cubans suffering on the island

U.S. indicts former Cuban president Raúl Castro

The moves toughen the environment in Brazil for giants like Google, Meta and TikTok, who have long tried to dissociate themselves with crimes online committed by users.

The first decree makes key adaptations to government regulations to align them with a decision by Brazil’s Supreme Court making big tech companies liable if they refuse to remove content by judicial order. It also enables the country’s national agency of data protection to investigate those cases. The second decree establishes guidelines for the protection of women in the digital environment.

Brazil’s government said in a statement that from now on platforms must analyze any complaints, and if the content is deemed criminal, remove it immediately, while communicating the decision to the person responsible. Possible penalties for non-compliance include warnings, fines and temporary suspension.

Big tech companies have not commented on the decision by Brazil’s government.

Patricia Peck, a council member of Brazil’s Data Protection Authority and author of 46 books on law and technology, said the country’s executive and judicial branches have pushed for big techs to be proactive against crimes online despite evident stagnation of the debate in congress.

“We don’t have specific legislation to hold these platforms responsible, we are taking a side road,” Peck told The Associated Press. “Those who develop these technologies must think about it with perspective of ethics, privacy, and security as a standard.”

Since the Brazilian Supreme Court ruling last year, these companies have had to actively monitor content that involves hate speech, racism and incitation to violence and act to remove it.

Lula’s move also expands the current law’s capacity to address the growth of digital fraud, online scams and new forms of online violence.

Mattheus Puppe, an expert on Brazil’s digital law, says the decrees seek to stop platforms from profiting from illegal publications and reinforce the country’s Supreme Court’s decision. But he has doubts on whether the government’s initiatives will indeed hinder online crime.

“It is not clear how well this will work because the agency that was chosen to investigate cases can barely do its job now,” Puppe said. “But it is true that it shouldn’t be up to companies to know what is lawful and what is not.”

Brazil’s approach to big techs is increasingly similar to that of the European Union, which has sought to rein in the power of social media companies and other digital platforms.

But it has unsettled the relationship between the South American nation and the U.S. government. Critics expressed concern that the move could threaten free speech if platforms preemptively remove content that could be problematic.

Earlier this year, a law that seeks to shield minors from addictive, violent, and pornographic online content took effect. The legislation requires minors under 16 to link their social media accounts to a legal guardian to ensure supervision and prohibits platforms from using addictive features such as infinite scroll and the automatic play of videos.

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For the fatal 1996 shootdown of two Brothers to the Rescue planes, the indictment charges Castro with conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, two counts of destruction of aircraft, and four counts of murder.

Here are their speeches:

FBI Deputy Director Christopher Raia

U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones

U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier

Miami Dade College President Madeline Pumariega

Question and answer session with reporters

Related stories

• U.S. indicts former Cuban president Raúl Castro
• Cuban exiles at Freedom Tower react to Raúl Castro indictment
• Cuban exiles at Miami’s Cafe Versailles react to Raul Castro indictment news: ‘All for it’
• South Florida Republicans make case for Castro indictment
• Rubio releases message in Spanish to Cubans suffering on the island

Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences announced Wednesday that it would limit the number of A grades awarded to undergraduates, adopting one of the most ambitious efforts by a major university to curb grade inflation. The decision was made by faculty vote earlier this month.

The move comes after top grades became so common that some Harvard faculty argued they no longer reliably distinguished exceptional work. More than 60% of all grades awarded to undergraduates in recent years were in the A range, according to university data cited by faculty members who supported the measure.

“The Harvard faculty voted to make their grades mean what they say they mean,” members of the faculty subcommittee that proposed the changes said in a statement.

They said the reform would ensure that “a Harvard A grade will now tell students, as well as employers and graduate schools, something real about what a student has achieved.”

Harvard is not the first elite university to confront grade inflation. Princeton University adopted a policy in 2004 to limit A-range grades to 35% of those awarded, though it abandoned the system a decade later after criticism that it disadvantaged students in competition for jobs and graduate school admission.

Nationally, grade-point averages at four-year public and nonprofit colleges rose more than 16% between 1990 and 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

Amanda Claybaugh, Harvard’s dean of undergraduate education, called grade inflation a “complex and thorny issue” and a “problem that many people have recognized, but no one has solved” in a statement Wednesday.

Steven Pinker, a cognitive scientist and Harvard psychology professor who has long criticized grade inflation, said in an email to The Associated Press that he was “delighted” by the result.

For too long, Pinker said, professors “who held the line with challenging material and high standards would see their enrollments plummet.” Failure to address the issue turned “universities into national laughingstocks.”

“Grade inflation forced a race to the bottom,” he said, adding that the problem could only be solved through a university-wide policy.

In an emailed statement Wednesday, Zach Berg and Daniel Zhao, the co-presidents of the Harvard Undergraduate Association, said they recognized concerns with the current grading system but were disappointed that student voices “have not been centered throughout the decision-making process.” In a February survey of students conducted by the association, nearly 85% of roughly 800 responding undergraduates opposed the proposal to limit the share of A-range grades awarded in Harvard courses.

Beginning in fall 2027, instructors in letter-graded courses at Harvard College will be allowed to award A grades to no more than 20% of students in a class, plus four additional students. Other letter grades, including A-minus, will not be subject to a limit.

Faculty also approved a proposal to use average percentile rank rather than grade-point average when comparing students for honors, prizes and awards.

A separate proposal that would have allowed courses to opt out of the A-grade cap by switching to a satisfactory/unsatisfactory system with a new SAT+ designation for exceptional performance failed.

The new policies will be reviewed after three years. The Faculty of Arts and Sciences is Harvard’s largest school, comprising 40 academic departments. It is the home of Harvard College, Harvard’s undergraduate program, and all of Harvard’s Ph.D. programs.

Max Abrahms, a political science professor at nearby Northeastern University who studies terrorism and international security, was among those outside Harvard who applauded the decision.

“When everyone gets an A there is no signal,” he wrote on X, calling Harvard’s vote “a huge win for higher education.”

Pressured by the White House, Republicans have tried to add the money to a roughly $70 billion bill to restore funding to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol. But the security proposal has met with backlash from some GOP lawmakers who are questioning the cost and the lack of detail from the White House and U.S. Secret Service about how the taxpayer dollars would be used.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said Wednesday that the bill was “back to square one” without the security money because “the votes are not there.”

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said the effort to add the security package to the bill was a “bad idea” and he does not think there is enough backing to pass it, even if it were reduced.

The text of the bill has not yet been released. But Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., acknowledged “ongoing vote issues” as leaders try to measure Republican support, as well as “ongoing parliamentarian issues” as they try to figure out what will be allowed in the bill under the chamber's rules.

The wrangling comes as Democrats have criticized Republicans for trying to fund Trump’s ballroom when voters are concerned about basic affordability issues — and as some GOP lawmakers have grown increasingly frustrated with Trump. Several have spoken out against the administration’s $1.776 billion settlement fund designed to compensate Trump’s allies, and many were upset by the president’s endorsement Tuesday of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the party primary runoff next week against Sen. John Cornyn.

“There’s always a consequence with taking on United States senators,” Thune said. Trump “obviously has his favorites and people he wants to endorse and that’s his prerogative. But what we have to deal with up here is moving the agenda, and obviously that can become slightly more complicated.”

Republican opposition blocks Secret Service request

Under the Secret Service request, about $220 million would pay for security improvements related to the ballroom. The rest would go for a new screening center for visitors, training and other security measures.

Tillis said the bill should not have included the other security improvements “because it’s just giving everybody the ‘billion-dollar ballroom.'"

"They need to explain to me why we need this,” Tillis said, noting that Trump had originally said private money would cover the project.

Several other Republicans in the House and Senate have questioned the request, and senators left a briefing with the director of the Secret Service last week saying they needed a lot more information.

People “can’t afford groceries and gasoline and healthcare, and we’re going to do a billion dollars for a ballroom?” asked Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, who lost reelection in the GOP primary on Saturday after Trump endorsed one of his opponents.

Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.Va., said he is supportive of the security money and thinks it is necessary to protect the president. But he acknowledged that the optics are not very good for Republicans, and that they have not communicated about it well.

“We’ve got people out there who are worried about how in the world they’re going to have enough gas to get home,” Justice said.

Tensions rise between Senate and White House

As Republicans challenged parts of his agenda, Trump unloaded on the Senate in a social media post.

He urged Republicans to fire the Senate parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, who said over the weekend that parts of the $1 billion security proposal cannot remain in the ICE and Border Patrol bill. Trump renewed his long-standing calls for the Senate to pass the SAVE Act, a Republican bill that would require all voters to prove U.S. citizenship, and to end the Senate filibuster.

“Republicans play a very soft game compared to the Dumocrats,” he wrote. “It is their single biggest disadvantage in politics.”

Trump said Democrats would eliminate the filibuster “on the First Day” if they ever get full power in Washington again and that Republicans need to “get smart and tough” or “you’ll all be looking for a job much sooner than you thought possible!”

Republicans have been loyal to Trump on most issues, but they have resisted his repeated calls — even in his first term — to kill the filibuster, which triggers a 60-vote threshold in the Senate.

Hanging over the growing GOP rift is Trump’s surprise endorsement of Paxton. That intervention has Republican senators privately fuming that it could cost them their majority in November as they view the incumbent, Cornyn, as the better candidate in the November general election.

Democrats test Republicans on settlement fund

As Republicans move forward on the immigration enforcement legislation, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Democrats plan to force a vote on Trump’s proposed settlement fund.

Democrats have an opening because Republicans are trying to pass the immigration enforcement bill through a complicated budget process that requires a long series of amendment votes. Democrats are considering multiple amendments potentially to block that new fund outright or to ban any payments to Trump supporters who harmed law enforcement officers in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Those amendments, along with others, could pass as a growing number of Republicans speak out against the fund and other parts of Trump’s agenda.

Thune said he was “not a big fan” of the new fund, which the administration announced as a part of a settlement that resolves the president’s lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns. Cassidy called it a “slush fund” and said “you can’t just make up things.”

Tillis said he thinks it is a “real risk” that some of the rioters charged — and later pardoned by Trump — in the Jan. 6 attack could get compensation through the fund. He said that would be “absurd.”

On Wednesday, two police officers who helped defend the Capitol in the 2021 assault sued to block the payouts. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, a personal attorney for Trump before joining the Department of Justice in Trump’s second term, would not rule out the possibility that rioters who assaulted police on Jan. 6 would be eligible for compensation when he testified in a Senate hearing this week.

Sixteen known moons circle Neptune, our solar system’s eighth and most distant planet. Neptune’s biggest moon, Triton, barged in from the solar system’s frigid outskirts billions of years ago, scattering the planet’s original moons and putting them on destructive collision courses.

A team led by the California Institute of Technology used NASA’s Webb Space Telescope to study Nereid. Their observations suggest that Nereid is no party crasher like Triton and likely survived by escaping into its extreme, elliptical orbit around Neptune.

“What we know about Nereid is very limited. For its size, Nereid is extremely understudied,” said study author Matthew Belyakov, of Caltech.

Neptune has only been visited by one spacecraft, NASA’s Voyager 2 in 1989. Nereid was discovered 40 years earlier by Dutch astronomer Gerard Kuiper, who named the moon after the sea nymphs in Greek mythology.

Roughly 220 miles (350 kilometers) across, Nereid has an extremely eccentric orbit for a moon. It takes practically an entire Earth year for Nereid to orbit Neptune, with the moon passing less than 1 million miles (1.4 million kilometers) from the giant icy planet at one end of its egg-shaped loop and as far as 6 million miles (9.6 million kilometers) at the other end.

Like so many other moons in the outer solar system, Nereid was long suspected of migrating to Neptune's neighborhood from the frigid outlying expanse known as the Kuiper Belt. But using the Webb telescope, scientists determined that Nereid’s composition was inconsistent with Kuiper Belt objects — it had too much ice. That suggests it was part of Neptune's system all along.

“We don’t have all that much evidence left around Neptune — the system doesn’t have very many moons left,” Belyakov said in an email. But the latest observations “strongly rule out” that Nereid wandered by like so many others and got ensnared by planetary gravity.

The findings appear in the journal Science Advances.

This is “an exciting result," said Carnegie Science planetary astronomer Scott Sheppard, who was not part of the study.

The observations show for the first time that Nereid’s peculiar orbit matches “the history we might expect from a moon that originally formed close to Neptune and was later pushed outward from the capture of Triton,” Sheppard said in an email.

Neptune's innermost moons likely formed out of the shattered remains of the originals that were Triton's casualties, according to Belyakov and his team.

All three of the solar system’s other giant planets have more moons, with Saturn topping the charts at 292.

A visiting spacecraft could clinch the Neptunian system's origin story, according to scientists, although none are currently planned.

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Castro was charged for his alleged role in the 1996 shootdown of two planes operated by the Miami-based exile group Brothers to the Rescue. Castro was defense minister at the time.

President Donald Trump has been escalating talk on regime change in Cuba after the military action in Venezuela early this year resulted in the capture of President Nicolás Maduro. In addition, a White House-ordered economic blockade has led to blackouts, food shortages and a collapse in economic activity across Cuba.

The indictment comes amid rising tensions between Trump's administration and Cuba’s government. Meanwhile, the U.S. is in the midst of an uneasy ceasefire in the U.S. war against Iran.

Here’s a closer look at developments over the year between Cuba and the U.S.

Jan. 4

A day after the operation in Venezuela that captured Maduro, Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared Cuba's government was “in a lot of trouble," as the president renewed calls for an American takeover of the Danish territory of Greenland.

Jan. 11

Trump fired off a warning to the government of Cuba as the close ally of Venezuela braced for potential unrest after Maduro was deposed. Trump called for the Cuban government “to make a deal BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE."

Cuba’s president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, responded, “Those who turn everything into a business, even human lives, have no moral authority to point the finger at Cuba in any way, absolutely in any way.”

Jan. 30

Trump signed an executive order to impose a tariff on any goods from countries that sell or provide oil to Cuba, a move that could further cripple the island.

Feb. 27

A day before the war in Iran began, Trumpsaid the U.S. was in talks with Havana and raised the possibility of a “friendly takeover of Cuba,” though he didn't offer any details.

Trump said Rubio was in discussions with Cuban leaders “at a very high level.”

Trump didn’t clarify his comments but seemed to indicate that the situation with Cuba, among Washington’s bitterest adversaries for decades, was coming to a critical point.

Sometime in February

Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, the grandson of Castro known as "Raúlito," secretly met with Rubio on the sidelines of a Caribbean Community summit in St. Kitts in February.

March 13

Díaz-Canelsaid Cuba and the U.S. held talks, marking the first time the Caribbean country confirmed widespread speculation about discussions with the Trump administration amid an energy crisis.

He said the talks “were aimed at finding solutions through dialogue to the bilateral differences between our two nations. International factors facilitated these exchanges.”

March 31

A sanctioned Russian oil tanker arrived in Cuba, the first time in three months fuel reached the island.

April 9

Diaz-Canel said he would not resign.

April 10

Two senior State Department officials — Jeremy Lewin, who is in charge of all U.S. foreign assistance, and Michael Kozak, the top U.S. diplomat for Latin America — led a delegation to Havana and met with Rodríguez Castro, according to one U.S. official familiar with the meetings.

April 12

Díaz-Canel said in an interview he would not step down and that the U.S. has no valid reason to carry out a military attack against the island or to attempt to depose him.

Speaking in the interview on NBC's “Meet the Press,” the president said an invasion of Cuba would be costly and affect regional security.

April 16

Díaz-Canel spoke during a rally that drew hundreds of people to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the declaration of the Cuban Revolution’s socialist essence.

“The moment is extremely challenging and calls upon us once again, as on April 16, 1961, to be ready to confront serious threats, including military aggression. We do not want it, but it is our duty to prepare to avoid it and, if it becomes inevitable, to defeat it,” Díaz-Canel said.

April 17

News emerged that an American delegation recently met with Cuban government officials, marking a renewed diplomatic push. This was at least the third meeting with Rodríguez Castro.

A senior State Department official met with Rodríguez Castro earlier in the month, according to a department official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.

The official did not say who from the U.S. met with Rodríguez Castro, whose grandfather is believed to play an influential role in the Cuban government despite not holding an official post. A second U.S. official said Rubio was not part of the delegation that visited Havana.

April 23

A Cuban diplomat speaking at the United Nations said Havana will not abide by any American “ultimatums” to release political prisoners as part of new talks.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Cuban Ambassador to the U.N. Ernesto Soberón Guzmán said internal issues regarding detainees “are not on the negotiating table.” The release of political prisoners was a key U.S. demand as the longtime adversaries held discussions in Cuba for the first time in a decade.

April 28

Senate Republicans rejected legislation from Democrats that would have required Trump to end the U.S. energy blockade on Cuba unless he receives approval from Congress.

The vote on the war powers resolution showed how Republicans continue to stand behind Trump as he acts unilaterally to exert American force in a range of global conflicts, including Venezuela, Iran and Cuba — one of the U.S.’s closest neighbors.

May 7

U.S. officials said the United States was not looking at imminent military action against Havana despite Trump’s repeated threats that “Cuba is next” and that American warships deployed in the Middle East for the Iran conflict could return by way of the island.

The officials involved in preliminary discussions with Cuban authorities also told the AP that they are not optimistic the communist government will accept an offer for tens of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid, two years of free Starlink internet access for all Cubans, agricultural assistance and infrastructure support.

But they said Cuba had not yet outright refused the offer, which came with conditions that the government has long resisted, even after the Trump administration imposed new sanctions on Havana.

May 14

U.S. and Cuban officials said CIA Director John Ratcliffe met with Cuban officials including Raúl Castro’s grandson during a high-level visit to the island.

Ratcliffe met with Rodríguez Castro, Interior Minister Lázaro Álvarez Casas and the head of Cuban intelligence services, and discussed intelligence cooperation, economic stability and security issues. A CIA official confirmed the meetings to the AP.

May 15

The Justice Department was preparing to seek an indictment against Castro, three people familiar with the matter told the AP.

One of the people said the potential indictment was connected to Castro’s alleged role in the 1996 shootdown of two planes operated by the Miami-based exile group Brothers to the Rescue. Castro was defense minister at the time.

All three people spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation. The Cuban government did not respond to a request for comment on the potential indictment, which was reported earlier by CBS.

May 18

The State Department imposed a new layer of sanctions on several Cuban government agencies, including the Interior Ministry and National Police and Intelligence Directorate, as the Trump administration continued to ratchet up pressure against the island.

May 20

Federal prosecutors announced a grand jury indictment against Castro in connection with the shootdown of the two Brothers to the Rescue planes in 1996.

___

This story has been corrected to reflect that two planes, not four, were shot down in 1996.

But the gutsy (in more than one way) Vought Cinematic Universe is not coming to an end, with two spinoffs on the horizon at Amazon's Prime Video: “Vought Rising” and “The Boys: Mexico.” “Vought Rising” is due out in 2027 and traces the origins of the titular corporation's “supe” program, bringing back fan favorite Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles).

“I mean, look, you hope it’s received well. We don’t necessarily know just yet, my fingers are crossed,” Ackles said at “The Boys” series finale's premiere Tuesday in Los Angeles, praising “The Boys” cast and crew for building a remarkable fanbase. “So, I’m hoping that we can just capitalize on that as much as we can and that they will go with us on this new journey.”

How last season of ‘The Boys’ came together

Showrunner Eric Kripke said the final season — in which Homelander essentially takes control of the United States — was based on history but developed “unsettling” parallels to current events. The show, which premiered in 2019, is adapted from Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson's comic book series, which ran from 2006-2012.

“We were looking at what happens in countries that have authoritarian creep, like what happens in Eastern Europe or South America or Germany,” Kripke said, pointing to leaders building statues of themselves, asserting they're ruling by divine right and building internment camps. “And the fact that all of these things happened before we even aired, we genuinely thought we were doing something a little out there. And it ended up sort of becoming reality in a way that’s not great for reality.”

He does see an upside to on-the-nose satire.

“I actually feel like if there’s any silver lining to get out of this dumpster fire, it’s that especially young people might see a golden statue of Trump and say, ‘Oh wait, I saw something like that on “The Boys” and it was so ridiculous that this is completely ridiculous,’” he said. “I think there’s real value in that kind of satire of just pointing out how silly it all is.”

Daveed Diggs felt “very privileged” to join the show as Oh Father, a supe leading a church that evangelizes Homelander as God.

“People aren’t leaning on satire as much as I think we should in these times. You know when stuff gets the hardest, the darkest, when fascism is the most present, that’s when satire is really supposed to kick off,” he said.

For those who have been there from the start, saying goodbye to their characters was emotional. Karen Fukuhara, who plays the regenerating supe Kimiko, said her final scene was with Erin Moriarty and Karl Urban (who plays Billy Butcher, leader and sometimes bane of The Boys).

“I got anxious and it’s hard for me to let go,” she said — so the assistant director had to trick her into thinking it wasn't the final shot so she wouldn't cry during the take.

Moriarty plays the supe Starlight/Annie January — a former member of the Homelander-led group The Seven who joins The Boys in the resistance — and strove to maintain the character's humanity throughout the show.

“I’ll just miss playing this badass female who has this level of strength that is totally defined by her humanity and her flaws, as opposed to... being this invincible superhero. It’s the definition of the humanity behind that superhero that really makes her who she is,” she said.

The wildest stunts and the memes

Emotions aside, it wouldn't be “The Boys” without out-there, gross-out stunts and profane lines just waiting to be turned into memes.

At the season's March premiere in Rome, Jack Quaid — who plays the eminently normal Hughie Campbell, a gadget-store employee who gets pulled into the vigilante group after his girlfriend is thoughtlessly killed by a supe — described the show as a “funhouse mirror, distorted slightly, version” of the world.

“As much as we try to do our best to add a little bit of what our art can do to influence reality, reality is still crazier than fiction. Reality still out-crazies us, and we’re a crazy show,” Laz Alonso, who plays The Boys member Marvin/Mother's Milk, said in Rome. Some of that crazy?

“What am I doing with my life?” Jessie T. Usher, who plays superspeeder A-Train, thought to himself in Season 1 while filming a scene where his girlfriend sucks on his toe.

“I just remember sitting there and it’s like a whole thing and like the makeup team is coming in in between takes and they got wet wipes and they’re wiping my toe down. And I was just sitting there and I was like, ‘Where did I go wrong in my life? I felt like I was on the right path and now they’re prepping my toe to be sucked,’” Usher recalled in March. “I hate foot stuff.”

And what about the big man himself, Antony Starr, who plays the seemingly all-powerful but curiously stunted Homelander? He made a discovery about himself on “Gen V,” the college-set spinoff that was recently canceled after two seasons.

"It was on ‘Gen V’ when he (Kripke) put me up in the air, 80 feet or whatever it was. And I found out that I’m actually terrified of heights. Swore like a truck driver,” Starr recalled during the March junket.

Starr's Homelander — a far cry from the brown-haired New Zealander with his blond hair, American flag-themed suit and perpetually twitching (laser-enabled) eyes — delivered a bounty of memes, something that Starr encouraged Kripke to incorporate into the show.

“Ant had this idea of, like, ‘Let’s have memes be the real thing that get to me.’ He pitched it. I was like, ‘That’s hilarious,’” Kripke said in March.

“The real problem is memes,” Starr said.

___

Jaleru reported from London. Associated Press journalists Paolo Santalucia in Rome and Mallika Sen in New York contributed reporting.

Según la Policía de Miami, Biscayne Boulevard, entre las calles 8 y 9, fue cerrada en ambas direcciones tras el ataque.

La Policía indicó que la víctima fue apuñalada en el rostro con algún tipo de objeto afilado, pero no se conocía de inmediato una descripción más detallada del arma utilizada.

Los agentes dijeron que están trabajando para detener al sospechoso.

Las autoridades confirmaron que la víctima fue trasladada al Centro de Trauma Ryder del Hospital Jackson Memorial en condición estable.

No se divulgaron de inmediato más detalles.

Giovanni Galizia has been the cover shot for the so-called sexy priest calendar for many of the last 23 editions. In the same photo used year after year, Galizia wears a clerical collar and flashes an enigmatic smile worthy of the Mona Lisa against the granite wall of a church in his native Palermo.

“It was the smile of an embarrassed kid, because I saw all my friends in front of me laughing out loud because I was dressed like I was a priest,” Galizia told The Associated Press during an interview Wednesday in his Verona living room.

For Galizia, the shoot was a lark that left no mark on his life, until a story in the Rome daily La Repubblica this week revealed that the “sexy priest calendar” could be more accurately called “the fake priest calendar,” drawing nationwide attention.

The calendar is not affiliated with the Vatican, which declined to comment.

A popular souvenir with 12 black-and-white portraits

Now a 39-year-old flight attendant for a Spanish airline, Galizia was just 17 years old when mutual friends put him in touch with photographer Piero Pazzi, who has also created a calendar featuring Venetian gondoliers and has founded museums in Budapest and Montenegro on the history of cats.

Officially named Calendario Romano, each edition features 12 black-and-white portraits of men mostly in clerical attire — many of which are recycled year after year. Galizia only knew one of the other subjects, a French man who also was not a priest.

Pazzi told the AP that at least one-third of those pictured in the already released 2027 calendar are actually priests but provided no details.

Galizia said he has never been stopped on the street, though his cousins once gave the calendar to their grandmother as a gift, “and they all died laughing.”

The calendar was intended as art, not deception

Galizia sees the photographs depicting priests as part of an artistic tradition, noting that no one watching a TV drama involving priests believes they are actually played by clergy.

“Of course, it winks a bit at the dynamic between the sacred and the profane, because it is clear that seeing a world that is distant and in some ways so lofty as the ecclesiastical world, with such a fresh-faced young man, creates a kind of dissonance,” he said.

But he also said he doesn't understand why the black-and-white close-ups have been interpreted as sexy. Pazzi also said that was not the point.

“There’s a tendency to confuse what is beautiful with what is sensual, because nowadays, especially in today’s world, which is quite sexualized, beauty is expressed only through sensuality,” Galizia said.

“That said, I appreciate the observation and take it as a compliment — because managing to be sexy in a priest’s collar is no small feat.”

It has the blessing of at least one real priest

Pazzi won’t say how many of the Roman calendars have been sold — but estimates several thousand a year. While Pazzi says he receives royalties, Galizia, who signed a release form when the photo was taken, said he has never sought payment.

The calendar sells for around 8 euros (around $9.30) in shops that surround the Vatican and crowd Rome’s historic center. One shop clerk, Hassam Mohammad, said he sells a handful of them every day.

Pazzi includes a page of information about the Vatican in the calendar, but its production is independent and unrelated to the Holy See.

A priest from South Korea walking near the Vatican this week said that the calendar is well known in his home country, especially among young people who view the calendar with humor.

“They often think priests are stiff and distant,” said the priest, who identified himself informally as Father Domenico. “But looking at this calendar, they think priests are more familiar, and priests can be funny. I think in Korea this calendar is very famous, and it is OK.”

____

Barry reported from Verona, Italy. Giada Zampano in Rome and Nicole Winfield in Vatican City contributed.

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According to Miami police, the victim was walking her dog along Biscayne Boulevard when the man approached her from behind and stabbed her in the face with a pen in what investigators believe was a random attack.

Police have since confirmed the arrest of Raydean Johnson, 49, in the case, who they listed as homeless.

Sky 10 was above the scene as officers surrounded the suspect near a CVS across from the Kaseya Center.

Authorities said Johnson refused to surrender, leading to a standoff that shut down part of Biscayne Boulevard for nearly two hours.

Video obtained by Local 10 shows officers eventually using a Taser to take Johnson into custody before handcuffing him.

Police said Johnson was being evaluated and was likely to be Baker Acted.

The victim, meanwhile, was transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center in stable condition, authorities confirmed. Police also said she was not robbed by Johnson.

A male witness described the scene as shocking.

“Her face was just coated in blood like it was almost like makeup,” he said. “It looked like studio makeup. She was saying, it was random. He just came from behind me. I didn’t even look at the guy.”

Biscayne Boulevard, between Eighth and Ninth Street were temporarily shut down in both directions following the attack, but all lanes have since reopened.

Johnson is facing felony charges of attempted murder, aggravated battery with great bodily harm, criminal mischief and resisting an officer with violence to his person.

As of Tuesday night, he remained behind bars at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center with bond listed as “to be set.”

Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, pleaded not guilty to starting what became one of the most destructive wildfires in California history. Prosecutors say Rinderknecht started a fire on Jan. 1 that burned undetected deep in root systems before flaring back up a week later. The Palisades Fire began Jan. 7, 2025, and burned through the hillside neighborhoods of Pacific Palisades and Malibu, eventually killing 12 people.

Rinderknecht’s trial is set to begin June 8. His lead attorney, Steve Haney, has said that Rinderknecht is being used as a scapegoat for the Los Angeles Fire Department’s failure to fully extinguish the earlier blaze.

During Wednesday's hearing, Judge Anne Hwang ruled that depositions by members of the fire department and a state park ranger cannot be introduced at trial because she thinks the information is irrelevant to the charges against Rinderknecht and could confuse the jury.

The evidence that defense attorneys intended to use included testimony from a firefighter, fire captain and a state park ranger that the New Year’s Day 2025 blaze was visibly smoldering when first responders left the scene. That testimony was gathered as part of a lawsuit filed by fire victims against the city.

Hwang also barred prosecutors from introducing AI-generated images of a city burning that prosecutors said Rinderknecht created a few months before the fire.

Haney said the exclusion of the ChatGPT images was important to his client because they are “very, very prejudicial” and taken out of context.

Other fire department actions can be discussed, including its initial response to and investigation of the Jan. 1 fire that burned some brush. Haney said he plans to argue that the government does not have solid evidence linking Rinderknecht to that fire, and that first responders had heard fireworks in the vicinity of where the blaze started.

An outline of prosecutors’ strategy — with details about the defendant’s alleged state of mind on the night before the first fire began — appeared in an April 29 pretrial memo filed by the U.S. attorney’s office. Prosecutors will claim he was upset that he didn't have plans for New Year's Eve and ranted about being angry at the world before the initial blaze was sparked.

Carmen Lineberger, who worked in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida and managed its Fort Pierce branch, faces charges including theft of government property and concealment of government records. She pleaded not guilty during a court appearance in West Palm Beach. Her attorney did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

Prosecutors allege that while serving as a Justice Department prosecutor last December, Lineberger sent a copy of the report that special counsel Jack Smith and his team had prepared, recapping their investigation into Trump’s retention of top-secret documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, to her personal email account. At the time she did so, the indictment says, a judicial order barred Justice Department employees from sharing, transmitting or distributing copies of the report.

The indictment alleges that Lineberger sought to conceal her actions by altering the original file name of the report to “Bundt_Cake_Recipe.pdf” before saving the re-titled file on her government computer and emailing it to her personal email account with the subject line of “Bundt_Cake_Recipe,pdf.”

Several months earlier, according to the indictment, Lineberger created on her government computer a document consisting of portions of internal Justice Department messages, along with portions of an internal memorandum with header and footer markings that indicated it was for official use only.

She sent the material to her personal email address via an attached file titled “Chocolate_cake_recipe.pdf,” prosecutors say.

The indictment does not explain why Lineberger may have wanted to send the report, which prosecutors say she had access to in her professional capacity as a prosecutor, to her own email account.

The volume detailing Smith's findings in a criminal investigation once seen as posing significant legal peril to Trump has never been seen by the public. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon sided with Trump’s lawyers, who argued that releasing the report would be unfairly prejudicial after Smith abandoned the case following Trump's 2024 election victory.

Lineberger worked in the same judicial district where Smith's case against Trump was filed. That case accused Trump of illegally retaining at the Mar-a-Lago property dozens of classified records from his first term and obstructing government efforts to get them back.

“This FBI will not hesitate to bring to account those who violated the trust of the American public in an investigation that should’ve never been brought to begin with,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement posted on X.

But President Donald Trump is facing his own pressure at home for shipping to resume through the vital corridor off Iran's coast. Fellow Republicans in Congress are battling political headwinds ahead of November's midterm elections as gasoline prices skyrocket and global energy markets churn.

Meanwhile, the Senate on Tuesday advanced legislation seeking to force Trump to withdraw from the Iran war, with a growing number of Republicans defying the president in the 50-47 vote.

U.S. Central Command said on social media that the M/T Celestial Sea was searched and redirected after being suspected of trying to head to an Iranian port. It’s at least the fifth commercial vessel to be boarded since the Trump administration imposed the blockade on Iranian shipping in mid-April, several days into a ceasefire, to pressure Tehran into opening the strait and accepting a deal to end the war.

The military boarded the tanker after Trump said Monday he had called off renewed military strikes on Iran in an effort to make progress in negotiations to end the war. Trump said he had planned “a very major attack” for Tuesday but put it off, saying America’s allies in the Gulf asked him to wait for two to three days because they feel they are close to a deal.

Trump has repeatedly set deadlines for Tehran and then backed off.

Before the U.S. blockade, Tehran had allowed some ships perceived as friendly to pass while charging considerable fees, leading to accusations it is holding the global economy hostage.

The U.S. military recently said that 1,550 vessels, from 87 countries, are currently stranded in the Persian Gulf.

Nearly three months since the war began with U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Feb. 28, Iran maintains a chokehold on the strait, while the U.S. military has enforced its blockade on Iran's ports as well as Iranian-linked ships that are far away from the Middle East.

Last month, U.S. forces boarded an oil tanker previously sanctioned for smuggling Iranian crude oil in the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean. A couple days later, the U.S. seized another tanker associated with smuggling Iranian oil in the Indian Ocean between Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

In early May, Trump said the U.S. military would begin to “guide” stranded ships from the Iran-gripped strait. The next day, he announced that the effort to protect ships was paused to see if an agreement could be reached.

Days later, U.S. forces fired on and disabled two Iranian oil tankers after exchanging fire with Iranian forces in the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. military said the tankers were trying to breach the blockade. The day before, the military said it thwarted Iranian attacks on three Navy ships and struck Iranian military facilities in response.

The lawsuit challenges the state's practice of assigning students to schools based solely on where they live, which can lead to patterns of housing segregation being replicated in school systems.

The case is the latest example of efforts to address segregation and funding inequities through state-level litigation. Even before the Trump administration began taking steps to release districts in the Deep South from court-ordered desegregation efforts, integration efforts had fallen far from their peak decades ago when the federal government intervened in school systems around the U.S.

The plaintiffs include nine students and four community organizations from segregated school districts across Massachusetts, including Springfield, Holyoke, Boston, Lawrence, Brockton, Lynn, and Worcester. The districts border more affluent, predominantly white districts where the plaintiffs are unable to enroll.

In response to the lawsuit, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education said it does not have the authority to change school district boundaries, nor the power to compel schools to allow students from other districts to enroll. It said in a written statement the state has invested in efforts to reduce gaps in graduation rates, and sought additional investments for high-poverty districts.

“Massachusetts leads the nation in student achievement, and we are committed to building on this progress to strengthen our education system for every student in our state,” spokesperson Jacqueline Reis said.

Plaintiffs argue the state is failing Black and Latino students

A 2024 state advisory council report found that 63% of all schools in Massachusetts are segregated or intensely segregated, and that the state education department had fallen short in its oversight duties. Schools that have higher concentrations of students of color saw worse outcomes on metrics like graduation and college matriculation.

While the state constitution guarantees students a right to an adequate education and equal protection under the law, it has failed to do so in practice for Black and Latino students, said Jillian Lenson, senior attorney at Lawyers for Civil Rights, which filed the suit with Brown's Promise.

“It's not student potential, it's the conditions of their schools that drive these disparate outcomes, conditions that the state has maintained and perpetuated for decades,” Lenson said.

The lawsuit filed in Massachusetts state court in Suffolk County asks to compel the state to address the disparities that emerge from rules assigning students to schools in areas where they live.

GeDá Jones Herbert, chief legal counsel at Brown's Promise, said the lawsuit is not seeking mandatory integration, but rather an investment in evidence-backed practices that benefit all students.

Those include expanding regional magnet programs and investing more in under-resourced schools. The state has regional vocational schools and voluntary inter-district transfers, but a complex system of opt-outs and the small size of most programs prevent equal access, the plaintiffs said.

“Black and Latino students are blocked out of access to those opportunities, and that's unconstitutional,” Jones Herbet said.

Advocates are seeking segregation remedies at the state level

Other recent examples of state-level litigation also have focused on addressing residential segregation.

In 2018, the Latino Action Network and the New Jersey chapter of the NAACP, among other plaintiffs, filed a suit arguing that the state’s system of assigning students based on their residence has created racially segregated schools. And in Minnesota, a 2015 lawsuit asserted that the segregation of schools in Saint Paul and Minneapolis led to inadequate and unequal educations for students of color.

Both cases have been winding their way through state courts, with no decisive resolution.

The state cases come amid shifts in federal enforcement of desegregation in schools. By the early 2000s, a series of Supreme Court cases had significantly limited the tools available to districts to meaningfully integrate schools on the basis of race.

State constitutions, which often have clauses enshrining equality and education, can serve as a pathway for challenges to segregation that results from economics and housing patterns, said Robert Williams, a professor of law emeritus at Rutgers University.

“The government knows about it, but it’s not the government that did it directly,” Williams said. “These cases argue that having so many different school districts that align with housing patterns and having laws that say that you have to go to school where you live, all of those things sort of amount to government segregation.”

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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.

“La salud es un derecho, no una mercancía”, “El ajuste de Milei mata” decían algunos de los carteles que llevaban los manifestantes mientras marchaban por las calles de Buenos Aires.

Bajo la consigna “La salud no puede esperar” sindicatos, asociaciones médicas y trabajadores sanitarios se movilizaron desde el Ministerio de Salud hasta la Plaza de Mayo frente a la Casa Rosada, la sede del gobierno argentino.

Los manifestantes sostienen que el sistema de salud enfrenta una crisis cada vez más profunda a raíz de las medidas de austeridad impulsadas por el gobierno de Milei. Denuncian recortes presupuestarios en hospitales públicos, demoras en la entrega de medicamentos y mayores dificultades para acceder a tratamientos médicos.

“El sistema de salud argentino se encuentra en una situación crítica”, dijo el médico sanitarista Leonel Tesler a The Associated Press antes de la protesta. Agregó que el sector público de salud es el más golpeado por el desfinanciamiento.

La semana pasada el gobierno anunció un recorte de 63.000 millones de pesos (unos 44 millones de dólares) en el presupuesto de salud. Una de las áreas afectadas es la vinculada a la investigación, prevención, detección temprana y tratamiento del cáncer. Además, redujo los recursos destinados al acceso a medicamentos, insumos y tecnologías médicas, así como a la respuesta frente a infecciones de transmisión sexual, hepatitis y otras enfermedades.

Desde que Milei llegó al poder en diciembre de 2023 ha implementado un plan económico que incluye un recorte de casi un tercio del gasto público para equilibrar las cuentas fiscales, uno de los ejes de su política económica.

Desde entonces el gobierno redujo o eliminó programas sanitarios, el presupuesto destinado a la producción y distribución de vacunas y las partidas para la distribución de medicamentos, incluidos aquellos con cobertura gratuita para jubilados.

Saúl Flores, secretario de Gestión Sanitaria del Ministerio de Salud, dijo a Radio Mitre que “no existe un ajuste, no existe un desfinanciamiento; sí existe una configuración sobre la eficiencia y lo que lleva consigo esa eficiencia, que es el ahorro en los manejos de los recursos”.

El ministro de Salud de la provincia de Buenos Aires, Nicolás Kreplak, anunció la víspera que el sistema sanitario provincial se encuentra sobrecargado y que los niveles de ocupación de terapia intensiva en hospitales de la provincia se ubican entre el 80% y el 90%. Además, señaló que aumentaron las internaciones por causas prevenibles debido a la falta de medicamentos y a la interrupción de tratamientos especialmente para adultos mayores.

Axel Kicillof, gobernador de la provincia de Buenos Aires y opositor del gobierno de Milei, anunció que adherirá a la marcha federal por la “verdadera catástrofe sanitaria” que están viviendo los argentinos tras el “abandono explícito del gobierno nacional”, según publicó en su cuenta de X.

Sin embargo, antes de la movilización el Hospital Garrahan, el mayor centro público pediátrico del país, denunció al gobierno de Kicillof por demoras en el envío de insumos necesarios para cirugías. El hospital afirmó que la provincia adeuda desde 2022 el envío de cientos de prótesis y que, hasta mayo de 2025, el número de pedidos pendientes ascendía a 814.

Trabajadores denuncian cierres de empresas

Trabajadores de pequeñas y medianas empresas (pymes) y representantes gremiales de la Asociación Trabajadores del Estado (ATE) también se movilizaron el miércoles para protestar por el cierre de unas 25.000 pymes en el país durante el gobierno de Milei.

Los manifestantes responsabilizan al gobierno del deterioro de las condiciones laborales y de la situación económica que, según sostienen, provocó el cierre de pequeñas empresas en distintos sectores.

La protesta derivó en enfrentamientos entre manifestantes y efectivos policiales que avanzaron sobre la movilización con empujones y gas pimienta. Hubo heridos entre los manifestantes y los policías.

Sánchez fue condenado por desacato al tribunal tras negarse a testificar sobre actividades militantes de exiliados cubanos. Luego de cumplir tiempo en prisión, dijo que se comprometió con la resistencia no violenta.

La mañana del miércoles, en la Freedom Tower, donde refugiados cubanos llegaban para pedir ayuda, Sánchez dijo que estaba listo para presenciar un momento histórico. Espera la acusación formal de Estados Unidos contra Raúl Castro.

“Significa un paso más cerca de la justicia”, dijo Sánchez.

Durante décadas, exiliados cubanos en Miami han pedido que Castro enfrente la justicia estadounidense por el derribo fatal en 1996 de dos aviones de Brothers to the Rescue con base en Miami en el mar.

Fidel y Raúl Castro fueron acusados de ordenar al ejército aéreo cubano derribar los dos aviones Cessna 337 Skymaster que habían despegado del Aeropuerto Ejecutivo de Opa-locka alrededor de las 3:20 p.m. del 24 de febrero de 1996.

Carlos Costa y Pablo Morales estaban en el Cessna 337C, y Mario De La Peña y Armando Alejandre estaban en el Cessna 337B. Ambos aviones estaban registrados en Estados Unidos, muestran los registros.

Misiles aire-aire disparados desde aviones de combate MiG-29 de la Fuerza Aérea Cubana impactaron ambas aeronaves, matando a Alejandre, de 45 años; Costa, de 29; y De la Peña, de 24, quienes eran ciudadanos estadounidenses; y a Morales, de 29 años, residente de Estados Unidos, muestran los registros.

“Ambas aeronaves Cessna se desintegraron en el aire por las explosiones de los misiles, los restos impactaron el mar y se hundieron”, según el informe de la Organización de Aviación Civil Internacional.

Gráfico interactivo: Cuatro integrantes de Brothers to the Rescue asesinados

En el sur de Florida, el Café Versailles, en el vecindario de La Pequeña Habana de Miami, ha sido una sede no oficial para cubanoestadounidenses y exiliados cubanos.

Fue escenario de una serie masiva de manifestaciones tras la muerte de Fidel Castro.

Una pareja que llegó de Cuba al sur de Florida cuando eran niños en 1961 habló sobre lo que significaría ver a Raúl Castro rendir cuentas por sus acciones.

“Estaré aquí celebrando ese día, aquí en el Versailles, que es la capital histórica del pueblo exiliado”, dijo Ana Maria Hernandez.

“Totalmente a favor”, agregó Luis Hernandez. “Especialmente porque él fue quien dio la orden de derribar los aviones de Hermanos al Rescate. Dos aviones civiles que solo intentaban ayudar a las personas. Merece la pena máxima”.

Local 10 News se comunicó con el Departamento de Policía de Miami para obtener información sobre si tienen un plan para posibles grandes concentraciones o manifestaciones que puedan ocurrir en las próximas horas y días.

The company's announcement Wednesday comes a day after the Toronto-based Sherritt said it is no longer pursuing a plan to dissolve its Cuban joint venture, reversing a decision it announced last week amid expanded U.S. sanctions on the country.

The preliminary private placement deal would see Gillon hold a warrant that would allow it to buy enough shares to give it a 55% stake in the company. If the deal goes ahead, Sherritt says it expects the price paid by Gillon will be at a discount to its closing share price on May 15.

Sherritt, which has a 32-year presence on the island, suspended direct participation in its Moa joint venture in Cuba earlier this month after the U.S. ramped up pressure on the Caribbean country.

Gillon is the family office for the Washburne family. Ray Washburne was appointed by Trump as head of the U.S. development bank known as Overseas Private Investment Corporation from 2017 to 2019. He later served as a member of the president’s intelligence advisory board. He was vice chairman of the Trump Victory Committee in 2016 and has been a major Republican fundraiser.

Gillon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In connection with the agreement, Sherritt says it has confirmed that the U.S. State and Treasury Departments do not object to Gillon’s talks with the company, but that any deal would require their approval.

“Sherritt has engaged constructively with the United States Department of State, which has confirmed that the Department of State and Department of Treasury do not object to Gillon Capital’s engagement in negotiations with the Corporation and, based on the information provided to date, do not consider such negotiations to be contrary to U.S. law,” Sherritt said in a statement.

Rubio responsabilizó al Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A., o GAESA, un megaconglomerado empresarial secreto propiedad y operado por el ejército cubano, por los problemas en la isla.

“Hoy, mientras ustedes sufren, estos empresarios tienen $18 billion USD en activos y controlan el 70% de la economía de Cuba”, dijo Rubio. “Se benefician de hoteles, construcción, bancos, tiendas e incluso del dinero que sus familiares les envían desde Estados Unidos”.

Rubio afirmó que las ganancias de GAESA no benefician a los cubanos comunes en la isla porque quienes lo controlan crearon una pequeña clase élite.

“Compran combustible para sus generadores y sus vehículos, mientras al pueblo se le pide sacrificarse”, dijo Rubio.

Rubio responsabilizó a los líderes de GAESA por la continua crisis de combustible y los apagones.

“En lugar de usar el dinero para mantener y modernizar las dañadas plantas eléctricas, usan el dinero para construir más hoteles para extranjeros y enviar a sus familiares a vivir con lujos en Madrid e incluso aquí en Estados Unidos”, dijo Rubio.

Rubio dijo que el gobierno cubano reprime a cualquiera que se atreva a quejarse. Añadió que el presidente Donald Trump quiere cambiar la relación entre Estados Unidos y Cuba.

“Debe ser directamente con ustedes, el pueblo cubano, no con GAESA”, dijo Rubio. “Primero, estamos ofreciendo $100 million USD en alimentos y medicinas para ustedes, el pueblo… distribuidos directamente al pueblo cubano por la Iglesia católica u otros grupos benéficos de confianza”.

Los congresistas republicanos Mario Díaz-Balart (FL-26), María Elvira Salazar (FL-27) y Carlos A. Giménez (FL-28) ofrecerán una conferencia de prensa el miércoles en Washington para defender la presentación de cargos contra Castro. También estará presente la congresista Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY). En febrero, el mismo grupo de legisladores firmó una carta dirigida al Departamento de Justicia solicitando la acusación formal.

La semana pasada, fuentes cercanas al caso revelaron que fiscales federales se preparaban para presentar cargos contra Castro, de 94 años, en relación con el derribo en 1996 de dos avionetas del grupo Brothers to the Rescue, con sede en Miami.

El ataque contra las dos aeronaves civiles provocó indignación internacional. Los aviones fueron derribados por un avión de combate cubano fuera del espacio aéreo cubano, matando a cuatro personas. En ese momento, Castro era el líder de las Fuerzas Armadas de Cuba.

En 2011, se convirtió en presidente del gobierno comunista de Cuba, cargo que ocupó hasta 2021. A pesar de estar retirado, se cree ampliamente que Castro todavía mantiene un enorme poder e influencia tras bastidores.

La inminente acusación formal contra Castro surge mientras aumentan las tensiones entre Estados Unidos y Cuba. Durante meses, Estados Unidos ha bloqueado prácticamente todo el petróleo destinado a Cuba, provocando la peor crisis energética de la isla en décadas. La semana pasada, el gobierno comunista anunció que oficialmente se quedó sin combustible.

En el último año, la administración Trump ha recurrido cada vez más al poder militar para lograr sus objetivos de política exterior. En enero, fuerzas estadounidenses ingresaron a Venezuela para capturar al presidente Nicolás Maduro, quien enfrentaba una acusación federal. Maduro ahora permanece detenido en una cárcel federal en la ciudad de Nueva York enfrentando cargos por presunto narcoterrorismo, tráfico de drogas y delitos con armas.

El presidente Donald Trump ha sugerido repetidamente que Estados Unidos podría llevar a cabo lo que él llama una “toma amistosa” de Cuba, lo que ha generado preguntas sobre una posible intervención militar.

El domingo, Axios reportó que el gobierno cubano adquirió más de 300 drones militares y desarrolló planes para utilizarlos contra objetivos estadounidenses, incluida la base militar en Guantánamo y posiblemente Key West.

Durante una entrevista el fin de semana en “This Week in South Florida” de Local 10, Giménez, quien forma parte del Comité de Seguridad Nacional de la Cámara de Representantes, dijo que aún no había recibido información oficial sobre la supuesta amenaza de drones cubanos, pero enfatizó que el gobierno comunista siempre ha sido hostil a la seguridad e intereses de Estados Unidos.

“Lo que sabemos es que Cuba siempre ha sido una amenaza para la seguridad nacional”, dijo Giménez. “Todo en el estado de Florida está dentro del alcance de esos drones”.

Axios reportó que la presencia de los drones podría servir como pretexto para una acción militar de Estados Unidos contra Cuba.

Los cargos se derivan del derribo por parte de la Fuerza Aérea Cubana de dos aviones de Hermanos al Rescate en febrero de 1996, una operación que Castro está acusado de ordenar.

También continúan las tensiones entre Estados Unidos y Cuba, lo que algunos temen podría llevar a una acción militar.

John Suarez, director ejecutivo del Center for Free Cuba, se unió a Local 10 News para hablar sobre la acusación y la continua tensión entre ambas naciones.

Suarez conversó con Kristi Krueger y Eric Yutzy de Local 10, y la entrevista completa puede verse en la parte superior de esta página.

HISTORIAS RELACIONADAS

• Exiliados cubanos que exigen que Raúl Castro enfrente la justicia llegan a la Freedom Tower de Miami
• Rubio publica mensaje en español para cubanos que sufren en la isla
• Estados Unidos acusa al ex presidente cubano Raúl Castro

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According the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, deputies were alerted after a license plate reader flagged a stolen vehicle in the area of Northwest 79th Street and Seventh Avenue just after 9:30 a.m. Wednesday.

A MDSO detective briefly observed the vehicle, a 2024 white Acura MDX, near Northwest 12th Street before losing sight of it, deputies said.

At that point, deputies conducted a canvass of the area and eventually located the SUV in the area of Northwest 57th Street and Eighth Avenue after it had been involved in a hit-and-run crash, according to MDSO.

Deputies said they observed the suspect who was driving the stolen SUV running away from the crash scene, leading to a perimeter being established.

Soon after, authorities said they took the suspect, who has not been identified, into custody without incident.

There were no injuries reported, deputies said.

Agentes del condado Miami-Dade realizaron un arresto tras un choque con fuga que involucró un vehículo robado.

Según la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade (MDSO), los agentes fueron alertados luego de que un lector de matrículas detectó un vehículo robado en el área de Northwest 79th Street y Seventh Avenue poco después de las 9:30 a.m. del miércoles.

La MDSO informó que un detective observó brevemente el vehículo, un Acura MDX blanco modelo 2024, cerca de Northwest 12th Street antes de perderlo de vista.

En ese momento, los agentes realizaron una búsqueda en el área y finalmente localizaron el SUV en el área de Northwest 57th Street y Eighth Avenue después de que estuvo involucrado en un choque con fuga, según la MDSO.

Los agentes dijeron que observaron al sospechoso que conducía el SUV robado huyendo de la escena del choque, lo que llevó al establecimiento de un perímetro.

Poco después, las autoridades informaron que detuvieron al sospechoso, cuya identidad no ha sido revelada, sin incidentes.

Los agentes indicaron que no se reportaron heridos.

Ujiri also said he wasn't referring to the trade of Luka Doncic, or anyone connected to the February 2025 deal that ended up being a huge setback for the franchise.

“Honestly, that trade has played no part in how I have thought about anything,” Ujiri said at a news conference Wednesday. “I’m in no position to criticize or blame or even really investigate some of the things that happened then. We have to figure out a way to slowly move on from this, and I have to hold myself accountable for doing this.”

Ujiri said he spent plenty of time talking to Kidd since he was hired two weeks ago. He declined to share details of those conversations.

“Being transparent with everybody, I think a new slate was a good way to look at this,” Ujiri said. “I feel sometimes in this organization we needed clarity in where we’re going. We need to really work in one direction and how we build this team and how we create winning.”

Dallas made two deep playoff runs with Kidd and Doncic, reaching the NBA Finals in 2024, two years after a loss to Golden State in the Western Conference finals.

The Mavericks traded Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers during the 2024-25 season, getting Anthony Davis as their centerpiece in return. Dallas missed the playoffs that season and again in 2025-26, during which the oft-injured Davis was traded while sidelined with an injury.

Kidd, the Hall of Fame point guard who led the franchise to its only championship as a player in 2011, finished with a .500 regular-season coaching record (205-205) with the Mavs. In two of the three years Dallas missed the playoffs under Kidd, it was clear the club was focused on draft positioning as the seasons ended.

“What he’s done for this organization we truly respect, so this was a very, very tough decision,” Ujiri said. “I have to be accountable with a decision like this. I also have to be very active in how I look at the organization from top to bottom.”

Ujiri has already touted building around Cooper Flagg, the 19-year-old who won Rookie of the Year after being the top draft pick last summer following a standout one-and-done season at Duke.

Flagg still hasn't had a chance to play with fellow Duke alum Kyrie Irving, who thrived under Kidd before tearing the ACL in his left knee in March 2025 and missing all of the 2025-26 season.

When Irving arrived in Dallas, he was coming off tumultuous tenures in Boston and Brooklyn. He enjoyed a career renaissance while teaming with Doncic on the run that ended with a five-game loss to Boston in the 2024 NBA Finals.

Now the 34-year-old awaits word on Kidd's replacement.

“Kevin Durant once told me that there’s only one Kyrie walking around in the world,” Ujiri said. “I think we have to figure out a way, how Kyrie fits with our program. And I’ve had those conversations with Kyrie. And I think Kyrie will fit. As I said it before, there’s a huge curiosity in our minds to see how Kyrie fits playing with Cooper Flagg.”

Ujiri hired Mike Schmitz as general manager three days after he was introduced, and confirmed Wednesday that former co-interim general manager Matt Riccardi is leaving the organization.

Ujiri said discussions continue on a potential role for Michael Finley, the former Dallas player who was promoted alongside Riccardi in November when Nico Harrison, the engineer of the Doncic trade, was fired as general manager.

Moving on from Kidd was expensive for the Mavericks, who had signed him to multiyear extensions during the playoffs in 2024 and again last year after denying the New York Knicks permission to talk to him about their head coach opening.

“I am going to sit here and take responsibility for any of the decisions that we are going to make,” Ujiri said. “It’s not about being defensive. We’re just going to have a vision here that we are going to follow.”

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

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“I don’t know why he died,” his grandmother told Local 10 News. “Love your kids…I love all my grandsons. I love him. I always cook for him.”

According to the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, the boy’s family had reported him missing from a home in the area of Southwest 284^th Street and 142^nd Avenue.

Deputies said aviation and K-9 units were requested to assist in the search.

A responding deputy then checked a nearby pond and found the child, authorities said.

MDSO officials said the deputy jumped into the pond, pulled the boy out and performed CPR on him until Miami-Dade Fire Rescue personnel arrived.

The child was then airlifted to HCA Florida Kendall Hospital in critical condition, but despite life-saving efforts, he later died at the hospital, authorities confirmed.

“Our deputies arrived 3 minutes right after this call and they began to search for this child,” Detective Joseph Peguero said. “It is our job to save lives and our deputies did their best this night, and we want to keep this family in our prayers alongside our deputies that will take this home with them tonight.”

Further details about how the boy was able to leave his home without someone noticing have not yet been released.

“He was just always playing and just being him, you know -- just being him,” the boy’s aunt said. “And it’s sad that it was sudden and it was so random, and you know, this is something that has impacted our family for the rest of our lives too.”

The boy’s death is being investigated by MDSO’s Homicide Bureau.

Coach Jared Bednar announced after the morning skate that Makar was out and called the standout blueliner “day to day.”

“I think he's doing a lot better,” Bednar said. “He's on the ice again this morning, feeling pretty good.”

Makar left the ice holding his right arm following a collision late in Game 5 against Minnesota last Wednesday but returned as Colorado won the game in overtime. He also briefly left Game 1 after taking a hit along the boards, with his right leg flying into the air before he fell to the ice.

Makar's absence is a blow for the Avalanche, who are 8-1 in this postseason. This is the first time Makar has missed a playoff game for the Avalanche with an injury. He was suspended one game for interference during a series against Seattle in 2023.

The Norris Trophy finalist has four goals and an assist while averaging nearly 25 minutes of ice time through the opening two rounds. Makar also is an integral part of Colorado's special teams.

“Best defenseman in the world,” Avalanche forward Logan O’Connor said. "He’s not going to be easily replaced. There’s not one guy that’s going to be able to do it. I think the advantage we have with the group we have in the game tonight is a lot of guys can be minute-munchers for us.

“Cale presents a dynamic ability that is super-unique in the league. No one’s going to replicate that tonight, but it’s on the D-core as a whole, and our group as a whole, to try and pick it up when we can.”

Bednar said defenseman Jack Ahcan will step into the lineup. Ahcan made his Stanley Cup playoff debut in Game 4 against Minnesota and played limited minutes in Game 5. Ahcan also skated in four Calder Cup playoff games this season with the Colorado Eagles of the American Hockey League.

Forward Artturi Lehkonen is expected to be in the lineup as well. Lehkonen missed the final two games of the Minnesota series with an upper-body injury.

“He touches every aspect of our game, five-on-five, power play, penalty kill," Bednar said. "He’s a big-time playoff performer, a great two-way player, so just helps us slot all of our lines where we need them in order to play a team like Vegas.”

___

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

El accidente fue reportado poco antes de la 1 a.m. en el área de North Ocean Drive y Hollywood Boulevard.

Un equipo de Local 10 News estuvo en el área más tarde en la mañana y observó que una patrulla marcada de la Policía de Hollywood fue impactada por un BMW rojo.

El accidente cerró la carretera durante varias horas, pero todos los carriles ya fueron reabiertos.

Local 10 News se comunicó con el Departamento de Policía de Hollywood para obtener más información sobre el accidente.

Vea Local 10 News o actualice esta página para obtener actualizaciones.

Según la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade, la familia del niño lo había reportado como desaparecido.

Las autoridades indicaron que un agente respondió al llamado, revisó un estanque cercano en el área de Southwest 284th Street y 142nd Avenue y encontró al menor.

Funcionarios de la MDSO dijeron que el agente saltó al estanque, sacó al niño y le practicó CPR hasta que llegó el personal de Miami-Dade Fire Rescue.

Luego, el niño fue trasladado por aire al Hospital HCA Florida Kendall en condición crítica, pero pese a los esfuerzos para salvarle la vida, posteriormente murió en el hospital, confirmaron las autoridades.

“Nuestros agentes llegaron tres minutos después de esta llamada y comenzaron a buscar al niño”, dijo el detective Joseph Peguero. “Es nuestro trabajo salvar vidas y nuestros agentes hicieron lo mejor posible esta noche, y queremos mantener a esta familia en nuestras oraciones junto con nuestros agentes, quienes se llevarán esto a casa esta noche”.

No se han divulgado más detalles sobre cómo el niño pudo salir de su casa sin que nadie lo notara.

La muerte del menor está siendo investigada por la División de Homicidios de la MDSO.

Trump's remarks to the class of 2026 were the first time he has given a commencement address at one of the nation’s military academies after sending U.S. troops to fight a new war.

He told the cadets that they will be America's “first defenders” and “first responders.”

“You’ve all been tested. You’ll be tested further and probably at higher levels as your career goes on,” Trump said.

During his address, Trump quickly touched on the war with Iran, now in its 12th week, as a sign of U.S. success from “the hottest country anywhere in the world.”

“The only question is, do we go ahead and finish it up or are they going to be signing a document? Let’s see what happens,” Trump said.

The Republican president had threatened to launch renewed strikes on Iran this week as talks with Tehran seemed to have stalled and a fragile ceasefire appeared to be teetering. But Trump on Monday said he was giving Iran a few more days because “serious negotiations” were underway.

He has not offered details and has in the past backed away from following through on threats to Iran, citing breakthroughs in talks that have not publicly materialized.

Earlier Wednesday, he told reporters that he's “in no hurry” to strike a deal to wrap up the war because of political concerns and the November midterm elections.

The commencement was held on a day with scorching heat and there was little shade available as the crowd waited for the ceremony to begin.

At least one person required medical attention after passing out. Others pleaded with organizers for elderly attendants to sit in the shade under tents. Chilled water bottles were distributed freely but quickly became warm.

Trump, who spoke at the academy’s graduation in 2017 during his first term, said he was proud to be the first president to give two commencement addresses at the school.

“We’re going to have to try it maybe a third time, too, to keep that record intact,” Trump said Wednesday.

Trump told the cadets that they were graduating at “an incredible, exciting time for our nation,” a time he described as resurgence of national strength, morale and confidence.

As he declared “America is back,” the president departed from what is traditionally a nonpolitical speech by the commander in chief to military graduates and shifted to critiques of his predecessors, saying the country had been “run by foolish politicians.”

He promoted his tariff policies and immigration crackdown and said that "under this administration, we don’t apologize for American power or wealth.”

“What we do really is we want to maximize it. We take advantage of it,” he said. “We unleash it, and we wield it to pursue our country’s glorious destiny and our beautiful American Dream.”

The president and vice president traditionally speak at one of the military service academies every year. Vice President JD Vance is set to give the commencement address on May 28 at the U.S. Air Force Academy.

Before he flew to Connecticut, Trump told reporters that his message to the cadets would be, “Just enjoy your life.”

“You know, you don’t really realize how important Coast Guard is until you have a hurricane,” Trump said as he praised the maritime service.

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Price reported from Washington.

Philadelphia shifted to remote learning for students at 57 schools, saying that while the district has made progress, a number of them continue to have inadequate air conditioning.

The heat sneaked up on some Philadelphia residents and had them concerned about electricity bills before summer has even set in, said Lauren Authur, who lives in the city.

“Today has been like a heatwave,” Authur said, “and when you have little children, you use more of your air conditioning than anything to try to prevent them from being sick.”

“It honestly got hot sooner than we expected it to be,” she said.

The National Weather Service said another day of record heat was expected from the mid-Atlantic to New England before a cold front brings rain later in the week. Daily high temperature records were broken Tuesday in Portland, Maine, at 92 degrees Fahrenheit (33 degrees Celsius), and in Boston at 96 (35.5 Celsius).

Temperatures were expected to plunge as low as 45 Fahrenheit (7 Celsius) in Portland and 50 (10 Celsius) in Boston as soon as Thursday.

In Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood, officials at one high school set up fans, passed around bottled water and allowed students to wear shorts and T-shirts instead of their usual uniforms.

“The heat outside feels like it’s manageable because of the wind but inside it feels just tight and burdening because we also have to go through quizzes, exams, there is no excuse,” student Ariolainy Baez told CBS News.

A heat advisory was in effect for portions of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island through Wednesday evening.

In Maine, temperatures soared again Wednesday for Portland, and the small town of Fryeburg also sizzled a day after setting its own local heat record. Authorities advised people to use caution when outside.

“Our bodies are not adapted to the heat yet. On the first hot days of the year, it’s especially important to take breaks in the shade or A/C and drink plenty of water,” the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement.

Some people coped by flocking to beaches that were not yet besieged by summer tourists. Others turned front lawn sprinklers into makeshift water parks for their children and neighbors.

In New York City, officials opened cooling centers.

“Just as New Yorkers look out for one another through the coldest days of winter, we must do the same through the hottest days of the year,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said.

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Whittle reported from Scarborough, Maine. Associated Press writer Holly Ramer contributed from Concord, New Hampshire.