Douglas, listado con 6 pies y 3 1/2 pulgadas de estatura y 206 libras, registró 54 recepciones para 846 yardas y siete touchdowns en 2025. Sus siete anotaciones por recepción empataron en el séptimo lugar de la Conferencia Big 12.

El jugador de 22 años se une a un grupo de receptores que incluye a Malik Washington, Jalen Tolbert y Tutu Atwell, tras una temporada baja en la que Tyreek Hill fue dejado en libertad y Jaylen Waddle fue cambiado a los Denver Broncos por selecciones de primera y tercera ronda.

Con la selección número 87 global, los Miami Dolphins agregaron al ala cerrada de Ohio State Will Kacmarek a su clase del draft.

Los Dolphins renovaron al ala cerrada Greg Dulcich con un contrato de un año y $3.25 millones USD al inicio de esta temporada baja después de separarse de Julian Hill.

Con 6 pies y 5 pulgadas de estatura y 261 libras, permitió solo dos presiones en casi 100 jugadas de bloqueo de pase durante su tiempo con los Buckeyes, según ESPN.

El gerente general Jon-Eric Sullivan ha enfatizado que su club será enfocado en el juego terrestre, por lo que la capacidad de bloqueo de Kacmarek representa un impulso para el corredor De’Von Achane.

Los Dolphins se mantuvieron del lado ofensivo del balón con la selección número 94, eligiendo al receptor abierto de Louisville Chris Bell.

Bell es el segundo receptor abierto seleccionado por los Dolphins el viernes.

Registró 917 yardas por recepción y seis touchdowns en 2025, ambas marcas personales.

Sus 37 recepciones disputadas desde 2023 fueron la mayor cantidad en la Conferencia de la Costa Atlántica, y aporta velocidad a un joven grupo de receptores.

La selección número 94 fue una de las que los Dolphins recibieron de los Denver Broncos en el cambio que envió al receptor Jaylen Waddle el mes pasado.

Bell, con 6 pies y 2 pulgadas de estatura y 220 libras, viene de una rotura de ligamento cruzado anterior sufrida el 22 de noviembre de 2025 contra SMU.

Según Ian Rapoport de NFL Network, el médico que reparó el ligamento dijo a los equipos esta semana que Bell “va adelantado al calendario”, corriendo a más de 18 mph, y tiene una muy buena posibilidad de estar listo para el inicio de la temporada.

Los Dolphins previamente seleccionaron a Jacob Rodriguez con la selección número 43 global en la segunda ronda.

De cara al sábado, el capital de draft de los Dolphins incluye:

• Ronda 1, No. 12: tackle ofensivo de Alabama Kadyn Proctor (cambio con Dallas)

• Ronda 1, No. 27: esquinero de San Diego State Chris Johnson (cambio con San Francisco)

• Ronda 2, No. 43: apoyador de Texas Tech Jacob Rodriguez

• Ronda 3, No. 75: receptor abierto de Texas Tech Caleb Douglas

• Ronda 3, No. 87: ala cerrada de Ohio State Will Kacmarek

• Ronda 3, No. 94: receptor abierto de Louisville Chris Bell

• Ronda 4, Nos. 130, 138

• Ronda 5, Nos. 151, 177 (Dallas), 180 (Dallas)

• Ronda 7, Nos. 227, 238

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Douglas, listed at 6-foot-3 1/2 and 206 pounds, recorded 54 receptions for 846 yards and seven touchdowns in 2025. His seven receiving scores were tied for seventh in the Big 12 Conference.

The 22-year-old Red Raider joins a wide receiver group that includes Malik Washington, Jalen Tolbert, and Tutu Atwell following an offseason that saw the release of Tyreek Hill and the trade of Jaylen Waddle to the Denver Broncos for first- and third-round picks.

With the No. 87 overall pick, the Miami Dolphins added Ohio State tight end Will Kacmarek to their draft class.

The Dolphins re-signed tight end Greg Dulcich to a one-year, $3.25 million deal earlier this offseason after moving on from Julian Hill.

At 6-foot-5 and 261 pounds, he allowed just two pressures across nearly 100 pass-blocking snaps during his time with the Buckeyes, according to ESPN.

General manager Jon-Eric Sullivan has emphasized that his club will be run-heavy, making Kacmarek’s blocking ability a boost for running back De’Von Achane.

The Dolphins stayed on the offensive side of the ball with the No. 94 pick, selecting Louisville wide receiver Chris Bell.

Bell is the second wide receiver the Dolphins drafted Friday.

He recorded 917 receiving yards and six touchdowns in 2025, both career highs.

His 37 contested catches since 2023 were the most in the Atlantic Coast Conference, and he brings speed to a young receiving room.

The No. 94 pick was one of the selections the Dolphins received from the Denver Broncos in the trade that sent wide receiver Jaylen Waddle last month.

Bell, at 6-foot-2 and 220 pounds, is coming off a torn ACL that he suffered on Nov. 22, 2025, vs. SMU.

According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, the doctor who repaired the ACL told teams this week that Bell is “ahead of schedule,” running at 18-plus mph, and has a very good chance of being ready for the start of the season.

The Dolphins previously selected Jacob Rodriguez with the 43rd overall pick in the second round.

Entering Saturday, the Dolphins’ draft capital includes:

• Round 1, No. 12: Alabama OT Kadyn Proctor (trade with Dallas)

• Round 1, No. 27: San Diego State CB Chris Johnson (trade with San Francisco)

• Round 2, No. 43: Texas Tech LB Jacob Rodriguez

• Round 3, No. 75 Texas Tech WR Caleb Douglas

• Round 3, No. 87: Ohio State TE Will Kacmarek

• Round 3, No. 94: Louisville WR Chris Bell

• Round 4, Nos. 130, 138

• Round 5, Nos. 151, 177 (Dallas), 180 (Dallas)

• Round 7, Nos. 227, 238

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“Sometimes when you’re not looking for it, an angel shows up,” said Darin Jones, Maci’s adoptive father.

After surviving a brutal beating in 2017, a then-2-year-old Maci was left with severe brain injuries.

“Her head was bandaged and you could tell she didn’t know what happened,” Jones said.

“I couldn’t believe anybody could do that to a little kid,” he added. “I said, no one’s going to hurt this kid again.”

And no one has.

In 2018, Jones, a retired captain with the Indian River Sheriff’s Office, and his wife, Lisa, adopted Maci.

“We have the picture with the judge and everybody. It was a happy day,” said Jones.

Since then, the couple have surrounded their daughter with unconditional love, encouraging the now-tween’s passion for singing and dancing, while passing on their love for Miami Dolphins football.

In fact, it was after a weekend game last November when the family met angel number three: Gracie Williams.

“I really think it’s a Godsend that it happened that we met that night,” said Williams, Maci’s friend.

The Joneses got off at the wrong exit on the Turnpike and stopped at a Hooters in Pembroke Pines.

“The first thing that I saw when I came to Hooters was Maci,” Williams said.

Maci’s effervescent personality captured Gracie’s heart, and the two formed an immediate bond.

“We FaceTime every night,” Williams said.

“We went to the zoo, the circus,” Maci said.

Williams has also taken Maci to doctor’s appointments and hosted three fundraisers for a specialty $42,000 stand-up power wheelchair, a device Maci needs to strengthen her legs.

With that additional support, the Joneses surprised their daughter on Christmas Day — a gift that was as much for Maci as it was for her parents.

“We never expected what we got when we met Gracie. I don’t think she did either,” Jones said.

Three angels, three miracles for Maci — all examples that you can overcome evil with good, and with grace.

Of the $42,000 needed to buy the specialty wheelchair, Gracie raised $29,000.

But Maci says the friendship that followed is the bigger gift — one that is truly priceless.

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“A veces, cuando no lo estás buscando, aparece un ángel”, dijo Darin Jones, padre adoptivo de Maci.

Después de sobrevivir a una brutal golpiza en 2017, Maci, que entonces tenía 2 años, quedó con graves lesiones cerebrales.

“Tenía la cabeza vendada y se notaba que no sabía lo que había pasado”, dijo Jones.

“No podía creer que alguien pudiera hacerle eso a una niña pequeña”, agregó. “Dije, nadie volverá a lastimar a esta niña”.

Y nadie lo ha hecho.

En 2018, Jones, capitán retirado de la Oficina del Sheriff de Indian River, y su esposa, Lisa, adoptaron a Maci.

“Tenemos la foto con el juez y todos. Fue un día feliz”, dijo Jones.

Desde entonces, la pareja ha rodeado a su hija de amor incondicional, alentando la pasión de la ahora preadolescente por cantar y bailar, mientras le transmiten su amor por el fútbol americano de los Miami Dolphins.

De hecho, fue después de un partido de fin de semana el pasado noviembre cuando la familia conoció al ángel número tres: Gracie Williams.

“Realmente creo que fue una bendición de Dios que nos conociéramos esa noche”, dijo Williams, amiga de Maci.

Los Jones tomaron la salida equivocada en la Turnpike y se detuvieron en un Hooters en Pembroke Pines.

“Lo primero que vi cuando llegué a Hooters fue a Maci”, dijo Williams.

La personalidad efervescente de Maci conquistó el corazón de Gracie, y las dos formaron un vínculo inmediato.

“Hacemos FaceTime todas las noches”, dijo Williams.

“Fuimos al zoológico, al circo”, dijo Maci.

Williams también ha llevado a Maci a citas médicas y organizó tres recaudaciones de fondos para una silla de ruedas eléctrica especial para ponerse de pie de $42,000 USD, un dispositivo que Maci necesita para fortalecer sus piernas.

Con ese apoyo adicional, los Jones sorprendieron a su hija el día de Navidad, un regalo que fue tanto para Maci como para sus padres.

“Nunca esperábamos lo que recibimos cuando conocimos a Gracie. No creo que ella tampoco”, dijo Jones.

Tres ángeles, tres milagros para Maci, todos ejemplos de que se puede vencer el mal con el bien, y con gracia.

De los $42,000 USD necesarios para comprar la silla de ruedas especial, Gracie recaudó $29,000 USD.

Pero Maci dice que la amistad que siguió es el regalo más grande, uno que realmente no tiene precio.

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Funcionarios estatales dijeron a una corte federal que cumplir con una orden de finales de marzo causaría “daño irreparable”.

La orden exige que el estado proporcione a los detenidos acceso a llamadas legales salientes oportunas, gratuitas y confidenciales, con un mínimo de un teléfono funcionando por cada 25 detenidos.

“Lo que está ocurriendo es una grave violación constitucional, bloqueando el acceso a representación legal”, dijo Katie Blankenship, del grupo Sanctuary of the South, una organización que brinda servicios legales a inmigrantes. “Denles teléfonos. Dejen de quejarse por eso. Dejen de manipular. Dejen de quejarse ante la corte y cumplan con los requisitos básicos que se supone deben cumplir”.

El argumento del estado contra la orden se basa en parte en el costo, es decir, unos $180,000 USD.

Blankenship, quien es una de las demandantes del caso, se burló de esa cifra considerando los cientos de millones de dólares de contribuyentes ya invertidos para construir y operar el lugar.

“Millones, millones de fondos de contribuyentes de Florida fueron destinados a esta instalación y aun así no pueden gastar, ¿qué?, en su presupuesto unos míseros $180,000 USD solo para proporcionar acceso básico a teléfonos?”, preguntó Blankenship.

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En una presentación separada, un representante de la División de Manejo de Emergencias de Florida dijo a la corte que cumplir es difícil debido a la ubicación remota del lugar.

Funcionarios indicaron que “el servicio tradicional de línea fija no es una opción” porque el área “carece de infraestructura de proveedores”.

El representante dijo que el estado necesitaría construir una torre celular o utilizar varios sistemas Starlink y comprar teléfonos celulares. También tendrían que pagar por “técnicos especializados para configurar” el equipo y mantener la conectividad.

“Debieron haber pensado en eso, amigos, ¿verdad? Debieron haber pensado en eso”, dijo Blankenship. “Lo que estamos pidiendo, Christina, es acceso a teléfonos. Eso es todo, ¿verdad? Entonces, ¿cuándo? Como demandante en este caso, francamente no me importa qué hagan para darme acceso a mis clientes. Resuelvan lo que sea que los haga más felices, francamente. Solo háganlo”.

Todas las partes dijeron a la corte que los próximos pasos son una “emergencia”, ya que la decisión final probablemente impactará los derechos legales de detenidos en todo el país, mientras que “inmigración y detención”, dijeron los demandados estatales a la corte, “continúa convirtiéndose en un problema cada vez más complejo para los gobiernos federal y estatales”.

“Hagámoslo”, dijo Blankenship. “Sí, necesitamos establecer un precedente. ‘¿Los centros de detención se están volviendo más complejos?’ No, no lo están. Se están volviendo más inconstitucionales. Necesitamos que la corte establezca un precedente de entender lo que dice la Primera Enmienda.

“Que venga”.

Un analista legal dijo a Local 10 News que proporcionar a los detenidos acceso telefónico a sus abogados es parte del costo de operar, y agregó que se puede cambiar la política migratoria, pero no la Constitución.

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HSBC’s Cherie Wachter says Chichi is believed to be an 8-year-old Chihuahua mix.

Chichi may seem a little unsure at first -- especially when perched on a table -- but she quickly warms up, Wachter says.

At the shelter, she’s described as playful and energetic, rolling around like a puppy and tossing her favorite donut toy in the air.

She’s a small, fluffy dog with a big personality who enjoys car rides, belly rubs and toys that make noise. Staff say she does well with other dogs but would likely love being the center of attention. She’s also reported to be potty trained if kept on a schedule and would do best in a home with older children.

Also up for adoption is Ivan, a 4-year-old cat who was left behind when his owners moved away. The new resident of the home couldn’t keep him, so he was brought to the shelter.

Ivan weighs about 15 pounds -- nearly twice Chichi’s size -- and is described as affectionate and full of personality. He enjoys cuddling, belly rubs and has a mischievous side, even figuring out how to open drawers.

Both animals are available for adoption through the Broward Humane Society.

Cherie Wachter, de la HSBC, dijo que se cree que Chichi es una mezcla de chihuahua de 8 años.

Chichi puede parecer un poco insegura al principio, especialmente cuando está sobre una mesa, pero rápidamente entra en confianza, dijo Wachter.

En el refugio, la describen como juguetona y enérgica, rodando como una cachorra y lanzando al aire su juguete favorito en forma de dona.

Es una perrita pequeña y peluda con una gran personalidad que disfruta los paseos en auto, caricias en el vientre y juguetes que hacen ruido. El personal dice que se lleva bien con otros perros, pero probablemente le encantaría ser el centro de atención. También reportan que está entrenada para hacer sus necesidades si se mantiene en horario y estaría mejor en un hogar con niños mayores.

También disponible para adopción está Ivan, un gato de 4 años que fue dejado atrás cuando sus dueños se mudaron. El nuevo residente de la casa no pudo quedarse con él, por lo que fue llevado al refugio.

Ivan pesa alrededor de 15 libras, casi el doble del tamaño de Chichi, y es descrito como cariñoso y lleno de personalidad. Disfruta acurrucarse, caricias en el vientre y tiene un lado travieso, incluso descubrió cómo abrir gavetas.

Ambos animales están disponibles para adopción a través de la Sociedad Humanitaria de Broward.

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State officials told a federal court that complying with a late-March order would cause “irreparable harm.”

The order requires the state to provide detainees with access to timely, free and confidential outgoing legal calls, with a minimum of one working phone for every 25 detainees.

“What is happening is a gross constitutional violation, blocking access to counsel,” Katie Blankenship, with the group Sanctuary of the South, a group that provides legal services to immigrants, said. “Provide them phones. Stop complaining about it. Stop gaslighting. Stop whining to the court and do the basic requirements that you’re supposed to.”

The state’s argument against the order points partly to the cost: About $180,000.

Blankenship, who is one of the case plaintiffs, scoffed at that figure given the hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars already invested to construct and operate the site.

“Millions, millions of Floridian taxpayer funds went into this facility and yet they can’t spend, what, in their budget is a measly $180,000 to just provide basic phone access?” Blankenship asked.

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In a separate filing, a representative for Florida’s Division of Emergency Management told the court that complying is difficult due to the site’s remote location.

Officials stated that “traditional landline service is not an option” because the area “lacks carrier infrastructure.”

The representative said the state would need to either construct a cell tower or employ several Starlink systems and purchase cellphones. They would also need to pay for “specialized technicians to configure” the equipment and maintain connectivity.

“You should have thought of that about that, friends, right? You should have thought about that,” Blankenship said. “What we’re asking for, Christina, is access to telephones. That’s it, right? So, when? As a plaintiff in this case, I frankly don’t care what you do to get me access to my clients. Figure out whatever is the way that makes you the happiest, frankly. Just get it done.”

All sides have told the court that the next steps are an “emergency,” as the final decision will likely impact the legal rights of detainees nationwide, as “immigration and detention,” the state defendants told the court, “continues to become an increasingly more complex problem for federal and state governments.”

“Let’s do it,” Blankenship said. “Yes, we need to set a precedent. ‘Detention facilities are getting more complex?’ No, they’re not. They’re getting more unconstitutional. We need the court to set precedent of understanding what the First Amendment says.

“Bring it on.”

A legal analyst told Local 10 News that providing detainees with phone access to their attorneys is the cost of doing business, adding that you can change immigration policy, but not the constitution.

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Investigators said the teen was airlifted to a hospital, where he later died.

Deputies identified the victim as Trashawn Foster.

Miami-Dade Sheriff Office deputies are still trying to determine what led up to the shooting.

“We don’t know what led to the shooting,” a MDSO spokesperson said. “There’s a park nearby, so we’re not discarding the possibility that there was some sort of argument. Obviously, we have shots fired, and something led to that. That’s what detectives are going to be here looking for.”

The shooting happened near a park off Southwest 125th Court.

Detectives said they found a gun at the scene along with several bullet casings.

Officials also confirmed that two adults are in custody after deputies received a BOLO for a dark sedan. The vehicle was located and stopped, and the two people inside were detained. Investigators said it’s still unclear what their involvement may be.

“The two in custody are adults. However, at this time, we don’t know their involvement, if any,” the spokesperson said.

Deputies say there was an exchange of gunfire between Foster and one of the adults in custody.

A man who identified himself as Erik said he was walking his dog when he heard multiple gunshots.

“I was walking the dog, I was going to take him to the park, and I heard shots fired,” he said. “I saw a whole bunch of kids running, and I saw the kid that got shot. He was 17. He ran into the house where the police are right now, and that was his house.”

MDSO is asking anyone with information to come forward. No arrests have been announced.

Chatrie made off with $195,000 from the bank he robbed in suburban Richmond, Virginia, and eluded the police until they turned to a powerful technological tool that erected a virtual fence and allowed them collect the location history of cellphone users near the crime scene.

The geofence warrant police served on Google found that Chatrie's cellphone was among a handful of devices in the vicinity of the bank around the time it was robbed.

Now the Supreme Court will decide whether geofence warrants violate the Fourth Amendment's ban on unreasonable searches. It's the latest high court case that forces the justices to wrestle with how a constitutional provision ratified in 1791 applies to technology the nation’s founders could not have contemplated in their wildest dreams.

Chatrie's appeal is one of two cases being argued Monday. The other is an effort by Bayer to have the court block thousands of state lawsuits alleging the global agrochemical manufacturer failed to warn people that its popular Roundup weedkiller could cause cancer.

Geofence warrants turn the usual way of pursuing suspects on its head. Typically, police identify a suspect and then obtain a warrant to search a home or a phone.

With geofence warrants, police do not have a suspect, only a location where a crime took place. They work in reverse to identify people who were in the area.

Prosecutors credit the warrants with helping crack cold cases and other crimes where surveillance cameras did not reveal suspects' faces or license plates.

Civil libertarians say that geofences amount to fishing expeditions that subject many innocent people to searches of private records merely because their cellphones happened to be in the vicinity of a crime. A Supreme Court ruling in favor of the technique could “unleash a much broader wave of similar reverse searches,” law professors who study digital surveillance wrote the court.

Investigators used geofence warrants to identify supporters of President Donald Trump who attacked the Capitol in the riot on Jan. 6, 2021, as well as in the search for the person who planted pipe bombs outside the Democratic and Republican party headquarters the night before.

Police also credit these warrants with helping identify suspects in killings in several states, including California, Georgia and North Carolina.

An academic group that works to bridge gaps between the police and communities wrote that the court should avoid an all-or-nothing approach in Chatrie’s case.

The Trump administration's position would allow police to use geofence warrants and similar tools “with no judicial supervision or constitutional safeguards,” according to the Policing Project at the New York University School of Law. Chatrie's lawyers want the court to rule out any use of geofence warrants at all, impeding “legitimate law enforcement activities,” the group wrote.

In Chatrie's case, the geofence warrant invigorated an investigation that had stalled. After determining that Chatrie was near the Call Federal Credit Union in Midlothian around the time it was robbed in May 2019, police obtained a search warrant for his home. They found nearly $100,000 in cash, including bills wrapped in bands signed by the bank teller.

He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to nearly 12 years in prison. Chatrie's lawyers argued on appeal that none of the evidence should have been used against him.

They challenged the warrant as a violation of his privacy because it allowed authorities to gather the location history of people near the bank without having any evidence they had anything to do with the robbery. Prosecutors argued that Chatrie had no expectation of privacy because he voluntarily opted into Google’s location history.

A federal judge agreed that the search violated Chatrie’s rights, but allowed the evidence to be used because the officer who applied for the warrant reasonably believed he was acting properly.

The federal appeals court in Richmond upheld the conviction in a fractured ruling. In a separate case, the federal appeals court in New Orleans ruled that geofence warrants "are general warrants categorically prohibited by the Fourth Amendment.”

In the Supreme Court's last case on digital-age searches, in 2018, the court divided 5-4 in favor of a defendant whose movements were tracked by authorities for nearly four months, without a warrant, through the review of cellphone tower data.

An issue in that case that also appears in Chatrie's is whether the defendant had an expectation of privacy that would trigger Fourth Amendment protections.

The Supreme Court has previously ruled that information shared with third parties cannot be considered private.

But Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in his majority opinion about the extraordinary computing power of cellphones, describing “seismic shifts in digital technology” and "the exhaustive chronicle of location information casually collected by wireless carriers today.”

Investigadores dijeron que el adolescente fue trasladado en helicóptero a un hospital, donde luego murió.

Agentes identificaron a la víctima como Trashawn Foster.

Agentes de la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade todavía intentan determinar qué llevó a la balacera.

“No sabemos qué llevó a la balacera”, dijo un portavoz de la MDSO. “Hay un parque cerca, así que no descartamos la posibilidad de que hubo algún tipo de discusión. Obviamente, hubo disparos y algo llevó a eso. Eso es lo que los detectives estarán investigando aquí”.

La balacera ocurrió cerca de un parque en Southwest 125th Court.

Detectives dijeron que encontraron un arma en la escena junto con varios casquillos de bala.

Las autoridades también confirmaron que dos adultos están bajo custodia después de que agentes recibieron una alerta BOLO por un sedán oscuro. El vehículo fue localizado y detenido, y las dos personas dentro fueron retenidas. Investigadores dijeron que todavía no está claro cuál pudo haber sido su participación.

“Los dos bajo custodia son adultos. Sin embargo, en este momento no sabemos cuál es su participación, si alguna”, dijo el portavoz.

Los agentes dijeron que hubo un intercambio de disparos entre Foster y uno de los adultos bajo custodia.

Un hombre que se identificó como Erik dijo que paseaba a su perro cuando escuchó múltiples disparos.

“Estaba paseando al perro, iba a llevarlo al parque, y escuché disparos”, dijo. “Vi a un montón de jóvenes corriendo, y vi al joven que recibió el disparo. Tenía 17 años. Corrió hacia la casa donde está la Policía ahora mismo, y esa era su casa”.

La MDSO pide a cualquier persona con información que se presente. No se han anunciado arrestos.

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This time, Gov. Ron DeSantis is demanding action on property taxes.

And if lawmakers can’t agree, he’s threatening to call them back again and again.

To get property tax cuts on the November ballot, lawmakers have to act by August — with 60% support in both chambers.

“There will be a special session to do the property tax, and my sense would be, we’ll get there, probably on the first try, but if not, there will be more of those sessions until they put something on the ballot,” DeSantis said.

The pressure comes after a regular session where property tax reform stalled.

House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami-Dade, notes his chamber tried, passing a plan eliminating non-school homestead taxes. But the Senate didn’t take it up and DeSantis didn’t back it.

Perez has said the House remains ready to act, putting the onus back on the governor.

“For the last 18 months or so, he’s been stating to the public and on Fox News and on anyone that’s willing to listen, that he’s going to abolish property taxes,” Perez said. “I’m still waiting for a proposal that has anything to do with property taxes, even if it’s an increase of the homestead exemption by $5,000. I’m opening to having a conversation on anything.”

In the Senate, there’s caution.

Appropriations Chair Sen. Ed Hooper, R-Clearwater, says senators are still studying the issue, warning Florida’s counties are not all built the same financially.

It means any serious plan may have to include state help for fiscally constrained governments — something Senate President Ben Albritton has questioned, and the House has resisted.

Meanwhile — Democrats have warned lost property tax revenue will just result in new local taxes elsewhere.

Esta vez, el gobernador Ron DeSantis exige acción sobre los impuestos a la propiedad.

Y si los legisladores no logran un acuerdo, amenaza con convocarlos de nuevo una y otra vez.

Para colocar recortes al impuesto a la propiedad en la boleta de noviembre, los legisladores tienen que actuar antes de agosto, con apoyo del 60% en ambas cámaras.

“Habrá una sesión especial para tratar el impuesto a la propiedad, y mi impresión es que llegaremos a eso, probablemente en el primer intento, pero si no, habrá más de esas sesiones hasta que pongan algo en la boleta”, dijo DeSantis.

La presión llega después de una sesión regular en la que la reforma del impuesto a la propiedad se estancó.

El presidente de la Cámara Daniel Perez, republicano de Miami-Dade, señaló que su cámara lo intentó, aprobando un plan que elimina impuestos de vivienda principal no escolares. Pero el Senado no lo consideró y DeSantis no lo respaldó.

Perez ha dicho que la Cámara sigue lista para actuar, devolviendo la responsabilidad al gobernador.

“Durante los últimos 18 meses más o menos, le ha estado diciendo al público y en Fox News y a cualquiera que quiera escucharlo, que va a abolir los impuestos a la propiedad”, dijo Perez. “Todavía estoy esperando una propuesta que tenga algo que ver con impuestos a la propiedad, aunque sea un aumento de la exención de vivienda principal de $5,000 USD. Estoy abierto a tener una conversación sobre cualquier cosa”.

En el Senado, hay cautela.

El presidente de Asignaciones Presupuestarias, senador Ed Hooper, republicano de Clearwater, dijo que los senadores todavía estudian el tema, advirtiendo que no todos los condados de Florida están construidos financieramente de la misma manera.

Eso significa que cualquier plan serio podría tener que incluir ayuda estatal para gobiernos con limitaciones fiscales, algo que el presidente del Senado Ben Albritton ha cuestionado, y a lo que la Cámara se ha resistido.

Mientras tanto, los demócratas han advertido que la pérdida de ingresos por impuestos a la propiedad solo resultará en nuevos impuestos locales en otros lugares.

Agentes de la Oficina del Sheriff de Broward arrestaron a Lewin, de 43 años, el jueves y el personal correccional lo ingresó en la cárcel principal del condado Broward en Fort Lauderdale.

Dos bomberos y la víctima de 65 años, quien usa silla de ruedas, reportaron que el ataque ocurrió durante una llamada médica el 31 de enero dentro de una ambulancia en Northwest 31 Avenue y First Street, muestran los registros.

Según la orden de arresto, Lewin y la víctima discutieron por un monitor GPS, y la víctima usó palabras obscenas.

“Lewin instruyó a ambos bomberos ... a colocar a la víctima en el vehículo de rescate, donde no hay cámaras para mostrarle lo que les hace a las personas”, escribió un detective, según la orden de arresto.

Una vez que la víctima estaba en una camilla, Lewin “se acercó” por detrás, le agarró la cabeza y la golpeó con fuerza contra la camilla durante unos 30 segundos, según la orden.

Luego, Lewin “bajó la camilla, presionó sus pulgares en los ojos de la víctima y estranguló al paciente” durante unos 10 segundos, según la orden.

La víctima, que inicialmente llamó al 911 por dificultad para respirar, se quejó de dolor en la cabeza, cuello y ojos, y sus ojos parecían enrojecidos, según la orden.

Personal de rescate de bomberos trasladó a la víctima al Broward General Medical Center.

La víctima dijo a un detective de la BSO que había sido “violentamente maltratado” y afirmó que Lewin colocó sus pulgares sobre sus ojos y “los empujó hacia mi cráneo”, según la orden.

Durante la audiencia de fianza de Lewin el viernes, la defensa dijo al juez del circuito del condado Broward Corey B. Friedman que Lewin es “un hombre de familia”, que llevaba unos 11 años en BSFR y no tenía antecedentes penales.

Lewin enfrentó dos cargos de agresión grave en tercer grado contra una persona de 65 años o mayor. Friedman fijó su fianza en $50,000 USD.

Según los registros judiciales, el juez del circuito del condado Broward Thomas Coleman estaba programado para presidir el caso.

El sheriff de Broward Gregory Tony emitió una declaración sobre el caso la tarde del viernes.

“El arresto de nuestro teniente de bomberos demuestra nuestro compromiso de responsabilizar a los nuestros por sus acciones ilegales”, escribió Tony. “El público puede tener la seguridad de que el debido proceso interno será justo, y cualquier disciplina resultante será apropiada y consistente con la política. Aplaudo a los dos bomberos que reportaron este incidente. Seguiremos exigiéndonos los más altos estándares y sirviendo al público con profesionalismo”.

Lewin salió de la cárcel bajo fianza la noche del viernes.

Lea una sección de la orden de arresto.

La editora de asignaciones de Local 10 News Sofia Mendez y la editora senior de asignaciones Frine Gomez contribuyeron a este reporte.

This will allow for the seabreeze to develop each day getting us scattered mainly afternoon and evening showers & storms today and tomorrow. The best chance of seeing some of those storms will be between 3PM-9PM so plan accordingly this weekend.

Fortunately, beach and boating conditions have improved with no advisories in effect but watch for some of those showers and storms later in the day. Highs will be in the middle 80s this weekend but climbing to near 90 degrees next week.

Los cuerpos de cuatro de las víctimas fueron hallados entre las ruinas de una casa destruida en los ataques nocturnos, indicó el jefe regional de Dnipropetrovsk, Oleksandr Hanzha.

“Los rusos han estado golpeando Dnipro y otras ciudades y comunidades prácticamente toda la noche”, escribió Hanzha en Telegram acerca de los ataques, que provocaron incendios en distintos puntos de Dnipro y destruyeron parcialmente varios edificios de apartamentos, negocios y una vivienda particular, además de causar 27 heridos.

Otra persona perdió la vida en otro ataque ruso contra Dnipro el sábado por la tarde en la misma zona residencial golpeada durante la noche, indicó Hanzha. Otras siete personas resultaron heridas.

En el suroeste del país, dos personas resultaron heridas en ataques nocturnos con aviones no tripulados sobre la región de Odesa. Edificios residenciales, infraestructura portuaria y automóviles sufrieron daños en el sur de la provincia, explicó el jefe regional, Oleh Kiper, el sábado.

En Rusia, una mujer murió y un hombre resultó gravemente herido por un ataque con drones ucranianos en la región fronteriza de Bélgorod, de acuerdo con funcionarios locales.

Tras los ataques nocturnos, el ministerio de Defensa de Rumania dijo el sábado que se encontraron fragmentos de drones en una zona residencial de la ciudad de Galati, en el sureste del país, cerca de la frontera del socio de la OTAN con Ucrania. No se reportaron víctimas.

Rumania ha confirmado el hallazgo de fragmentos de drones en su territorio en múltiples ocasiones.

Los ataques nocturnos se produjeron luego de un canje de prisioneros el viernes, en el que Rusia y Ucrania intercambiaron a 193 militares.

Los intercambios periódicos de prisioneros han sido uno de los pocos resultados positivos de unas negociaciones de varios meses, mediadas por Estados Unidos, entre Moscú y Kiev que, por lo demás, han sido infructuosas. El diálogo no ha logrado avances en cuestiones clave que impiden poner fin a la invasión rusa de su vecino, que está ya en su quinto año.

Durante una reunión con su homólogo de Azerbaiyán, Ilham Aliyev, el presidente de Ucrania, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, dijo el sábado que Kiev está abierta a continuar las conversaciones de paz con Moscú en Azerbaiyán.

“Hemos celebrado ya esas conversaciones — en Turquía y con nuestros socios estadounidenses en Suiza”, apuntó. “También estamos listos para próximas negociaciones en Azerbaiyán, si Rusia está lista para la diplomacia”.

Trump will be watched closely at the event held by the organization of reporters who cover him and his administration. Past presidents who have attended have generally spoken about the importance of free speech and the First Amendment, adding in some light roasts about individual journalists.

The Republican president did not attend during his first term or the first year of his second. He came as a guest in 2011, sitting in the audience as President Barack Obama, a Democrat, made some jokes about the New York real estate developer. Trump also attended as a private citizen in 2015.

Past dinners have also featured comedians who poke at presidents. This year, the group opted to hire mentalist Oz Pearlman as the featured entertainment.

Trump’s planned appearance is rekindling a longer running debate about the dinner and events like it — in particular, whether it is poor form for journalists to be seen socializing with the people they cover. The New York Times, for example, stopped attending the dinner more than a decade ago for that reason.

“What was once (a fairly long time ago) a well-intended night of fundraising and camaraderie among professional adversaries is now simply a bad look,” wrote Kelly McBride, ethics expert at the Poynter Institute, a journalism think tank.

A contentious relationship

Between berating individual reporters, fighting organizations like the Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press in court and restricting press access to the Pentagon, the administration’s animus toward journalists has been a fixture of Trump’s second term.

On the eve of the dinner, nearly 500 retired journalists signed a petition calling on the association "to forcefully demonstrate opposition to President Trump’s efforts to trample freedom of the press.”

“The White House Correspondents’ dinner reinforces the importance of the First Amendment in our democracy," said the WHCA president, Weijia Jiang, a CBS News reporter. "As we mark America’s 250th birthday, our choice to gather as journalists, newsmakers and the president in the same room is a reminder of what a free press means to this country and why it must endure. Not for the media or the president, but for the people who depend on it.”

Many reporters who attend, however, consider it a valuable opportunity get story ideas and establish personal connections with those in government, one that may pay dividends with returned telephone calls in the future.

Some news organizations invite sources as guests

Journalists often invite sources as guests at the dinner. It will be noticed Saturday whether administration officials who have also expressed hostility to the press will attend, and with whom they will be sitting.

The AP has invited Taylor Budowich, a former White House deputy chief of staff who left last fall for the private sector. The invitation is notable because Budowich, in his role crafting White House communications policy, was a named defendant last year when the AP sued the administration after it reduced its access to the president because the news outlet did not follow Trump's lead in renaming the Gulf of Mexico.

“We maintain professional relationships with people across the political spectrum because we are nonpartisan by design — focused on reporting the facts in the public's interest,” AP spokesman Patrick Maks said.

The White House correspondents will also hand out awards for exemplary reporting. That includes some stories that displeased Trump, such as one from the Journal about a birthday message Trump once sent to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The story led to a presidential lawsuit.

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David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for The Associated Press. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social.

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Police say a car involved sustained heavy damage, with its back window completely shot out. The driver reportedly made it to a Miami fire station to get help.

Local 10 News cameras were rolling near Northwest 20th Street and 12th Avenue, where part of the investigation was unfolding.

No one was hurt.

What led to the gunfire remains under investigation, and there’s no word yet on any arrests.

La Policía indicó que un auto involucrado sufrió daños severos, con la ventana trasera completamente baleada. Según reportes, el conductor logró llegar a una estación de bomberos de Miami para pedir ayuda.

Las cámaras de Local 10 News estaban grabando cerca de Northwest 20th Street y 12th Avenue, donde parte de la investigación se desarrollaba.

Nadie resultó herido.

Lo que provocó los disparos sigue bajo investigación y aún no se informa sobre arrestos.

“People in this neighborhood aren’t receiving the benefits of trees,” said Natasha Harrison, executive director of the Newport Tree Conservancy. “They need more.”

The conservancy has planted hundreds of native trees to create a healthier forest in a 30-acre city-owned park, Miantonomi Memorial Park. Fifteen volunteers met staff from the conservancy at the park in the northern part of the city on Wednesday for Earth Day.

Many native trees in the park’s forest have been crowded out by invasive plants, killed by disease or eaten by deer, rabbits and squirrels. This year, for the first time, the conservancy wanted to dig up native seedlings to nurture the trees in their nursery and replant them in the forest to better their chances of survival.

The conservancy's goal is to grow the tree canopy in the area and raise its low “tree equity score.” The score is a measure of whether there are enough trees in a neighborhood for people to experience the health, economic and climate benefits trees provide.

The conservancy's work was supposed to be aided by federal funding the U.S. Forest Service awarded to the Arbor Day Foundation, a global nonprofit dedicated to tree planting and conservation, Harrison said. As President Donald Trump's administration sought to end environmental justice initiatives, the Forest Service terminated a $75 million grant last year to the foundation, which was working to plant trees in neighborhoods that might not otherwise be able to afford them.

Harrison said the conservancy expected to receive $150,000 from the foundation. The conservancy's donors made up the difference after the cancellation, and volunteers help the nonprofit to achieve its mission.

“It was stressful, but I didn't want to let it derail us,” Harrison said.

The conservancy has been partnering with the city to plant trees throughout Newport for almost 40 years and improve the tree canopy.

At Miantonomi Park, Joe Verstandig, the conservancy's living collections manager, led the group into the forest. He pointed out the invasive species they are working against, like the groves of Aralia spinosa, commonly called devil’s walking stick, Norway maples and Japanese knotweed. He showed them how to methodically dig up the plants they wanted to save, such as the arrowwood that is common throughout Rhode Island, elderberry and American holly.

The group included friends Allie Bujakowski and Mara Swist. Bujakowski lives a mile from the park and walks her dog there. Swist lives nearby in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. They both said they wanted to get their hands dirty for Earth Day and help the conservancy, which planted a tree in Bujakowski's front yard.

“They are getting trees in spaces in the community where we really need them,” said Bujakowski, who wore a Newport mansions hat. “It makes a big difference visually. I see the trees they planted two years ago and they're bringing the birds back.”

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

3 strips thick-cut, naturally cured bacon

2 slices high-quality sandwich bread, such as pan de mieux, milk bread or a good brioche

2 tablespoons of your favorite great quality mayonnaise (I love Kewpie!)

1 cup finely shredded iceberg lettuce

2 to 4 thick slices ripe tomato

Maldon Salt

freshly ground black pepper

Place a griddle or skillet over medium-low heat. Add the bacon and place a press or skillet on top of it to keep it flat as it cooks. Cook until lightly browned on both sides and the fat has rendered. Transfer bacon to a paper towel–lined plate to cool and set aside.

Place bread on the same skillet or griddle and toast in bacon fat over medium-low heat, swirling occasionally, until evenly browned on the first side. If there is too much bacon fat in the pan, you can remove a little before toasting the bread. Flip and brown second side.

If you find this to be just too much bacon, you can use ghee or oil instead to toast the bread.

Lay the toasted bread on a work surface and spread mayonnaise on both top slices. Divide lettuce evenly between both pieces of bread. Layer tomato slices on 1 piece of bread and sprinkle generously with coarse salt and freshly ground pepper.

Break bacon slices in half and layer them onto the sandwich in 3-4 half slices each, alternating the orientation of bacon in each layer for more structural stability. Close the sandwich and cut in half. Serve immediately.

For the salad:

6 bacon strips

2 heads of romaine hearts or 4 heads of gem lettuce, cut in ½-inch pieces

2 heirloom or vine-ripe tomatoes, cored and medium diced

2 ripe avocado, peeled and medium diced

3 Kirby cucumbers, cut into obliques

¼ cup picked dill

¼ cup picked Italian parsley leaves

crumbled blue or goat cheese, if desired

creamy Italian vinaigrette (recipe below).

For the creamy Italian vinaigrette:

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

¼ teaspoon onion powder

¼ teaspoon dried oregano

3 tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper, to taste

Cook the bacon strips in a skillet over medium heat until crispy. Drain on paper towels, then chop or crumble into small pieces. Reserve the bacon fat in the pan for another use, if desired.

Whisk together all the ingredients for the vinaigrette; season to taste with salt and pepper

Combine salad ingredients with as much vinaigrette as desired; top with optional cheese and crispy bacon.

1 cup small diced pancetta

1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

kosher salt and pepper, to taste

1 cup fresh ricotta

zest of 1 lemon

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 garlic clove

2 pieces store-bought flatbread or naan

2 cups fresh arugula

¼ bunch fresh basil

¼ cup freshly grated parmesan

Cook the pancetta in a small sauté pan over medium low heat; It will take quite a few minutes for the pancetta to begin rendering, once it does, lower the heat a little and cook until crispy. Drain the pancetta and if you desire, keep the fat drippings for other things. Set the pancetta aside for finishing the flatbread.

Using the same pan as the pancetta (DO NOT WIPE IT CLEAN!), heat over medium-high heat and add the cherry tomatoes, sauté for a couple of minutes or until they start getting a little color. Season them with salt and pepper.

Mix the ricotta with the lemon zest, olive oil and a pinch of salt and black pepper until smooth and creamy.

Rub the flatbread or naan with the garlic clove then brush with the olive oil, a little dust of salt. Toast in a 400°F oven for 6-8 minutes until golden and crispy at the edges.

Spread the whipped ricotta generously over each flatbread. Top with the tomatoes and crumbled pancetta. Toss the arugula with a drizzle of olive oil and place on top. Top with basil leaves and parmesan cheese.

Some U.S. doctors are worried about the potential for a bad year for tick-borne diseases.

“If you have a lot of exposures, there will probably be more cases of tick-related infections,” said Dr. Alina Filozov, an infectious disease doctor at Middlesex Hospital in Middletown, Connecticut.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an early advisory to the public this week to guard against ticks.

Tick bites typically spike in May, but “the data are telling us now is the time to take action,” said Alison Hinckley, a CDC Lyme disease expert. “Ticks are out and people are getting bitten.”

ER visits for tick bites are running high

Current data is very limited, but the early signs are not good.

The CDC's tracking system shows that weekly rates of ER visits for tick bites are the highest for this time of year since 2017. That's true in all regions of the country, except the south-central United States.

About 85% of U.S. hospital emergency departments send data to the surveillance system, but it doesn't capture people who didn't go to a hospital.

It will take months for systematic tick sampling by researchers to chart changes in tick populations. And because not every bite results in an infection, it will also take time for medical experts to know whether there’s an actual surge in Lyme disease or other illnesses.

Ticks cause disease, including a meat allergy

Ticks are small, eight-legged bloodsucking parasites — arachnids, not insects — that feed on animals and sometimes people.

Tick populations vary throughout the year, and their numbers depend on a few factors. Climate change is widely believed to be having an effect: Ticks like warm, humid weather, and more can be seen after a mild winter. The more deer and mice available for them to feed on may also factor.

Some ticks are infected with germs that can cause serious diseases, including Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever and alpha-gal syndrome, a red meat allergy. Lyme disease is the most common, with an estimated 476,000 people treated for it each year, according to the CDC. Infections are commonly treated with antibiotics.

So far this year, most ticks seen in the Northeast have been large adult ticks. But in the weeks ahead, juvenile nymphs will become more common. The emergence of nymphs, along with more people spending time outdoors, are among the reasons tick bites tend to be highest in May. Worse, tiny nymphs attached to people are harder to see — and often are there longer — leading to an increased risk of infections, experts say.

A notorious hot spot is seeing a tick surge

Connecticut has a connection to tick-borne disease — Lyme disease is named after a town there. And earlier this month, the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station reported that residents were already submitting an average of 30 ticks per day for testing.

State officials also said an unusually high percentage of the submitted ticks — 40% — tested positive for the bacteria that cause Lyme disease.

Several factors have been helping tick populations expand, including unusually high numbers of mice in the last two years, said Scott Williams, a tick researcher at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station.

All we have so far is an early snapshot, said Megan Linske, a wildlife biologist with the same agency. She expects the problem to continue to worsen, with more ticks spreading over more areas.

How to prevent tick bites

Experts advise that if you go outdoors, note any wooded areas and grassy properties that start bleeding into wooded areas. Ticks tend to perch on ankle-level vegetation with their upper legs outstretched, waiting to latch on to an unsuspecting dog or human.

Try to walk in the middle of paths. Wear light-colored clothing treated with the insecticide permethrin. And use Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-registered insect repellents.

If you do find a tick, remove it immediately. It's not necessary to go to a doctor unless you think the tick has been on you for days or if you develop a rash or other symptoms, experts said.

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

“Turn and burn,” top Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino called the strategy, with relentless displays of force and teams of agents descending on restaurant kitchens, bus stops and Home Depot parking lots.

In December, arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents peaked at nearly 40,000 nationwide and were nearly as high the next month, according to data provided to UC Berkeley’s Deportation Data Project and analyzed by The Associated Press.

In late January, the killings in Minneapolis of two American citizens by immigration officers and growing concerns over the government’s heavy-handed tactics led to a shake-up of top immigration officials. In the weeks that followed, ICE arrests across the country dropped on average by nearly 12%.

Polling has found the general public felt the immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota went too far, a factor that may have contributed to the abrupt firing of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in early March.

The numbers don't follow the same pattern everywhere

Bovino, who swaggered through raid scenes in tactical gear and was the public face of the Trump administration crackdown, was pushed aside following the killings in Minneapolis of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Border czar Tom Homan was then sent to the Twin Cities to chart a new course for immigration enforcement, and he announced the drawdown of immigration agents in the state on Feb. 4.

An AP analysis of ICE arrest records show the department averaged 7,369 weekly arrests nationwide in the five weeks after Homan’s drawdown announcement, , the most recent period for which data is available, down from 8,347 per week in the previous five weeks. Those arrest numbers were still higher on average than during much of the first year of President Donald Trump's second term, and were dramatically higher than during the Biden administration.

The numbers were not, however, uniform across the country.

ICE arrests rose significantly in Kentucky, Indiana, North Carolina and Florida during those five weeks, in some cases hitting their highest weekly count since the start of Trump’s second term.. In Kentucky alone, weekly arrests more than doubled, reaching 86 by early March.

Those increases were offset by steep drops in a handful of large states, including Minnesota and Texas.

Many arrested were not Trump's ‘worst of the worst’

The Trump administration insists it is targeting the most vicious criminals living illegally in the U.S., and the president has referred to them as “ the worst of the worst.”

In some cases the description is accurate, but the reality is complicated.

Many of the toughest criminals taken into ICE custody were already in prison, but many others who were arrested have no criminal history.

Nationally, some 46% of the people ICE arrested in the five weeks before Feb. 4 had no criminal charges or convictions, dropping to 41% in the five weeks that followed.

Yet that’s still above the 35% weekly average for the time since Trump returned to office. And in a number of states, even after Feb. 4, the share of noncriminals being arrested went up, not down.

Has there been a change in approach?

Across the country, thousands of federal court filings offer an imperfect window into how the Trump administration’s deportation tactics remain in high gear, even if activity has waned.

Like the 21-year-old Honduran man with no criminal record who has filed a petition for release after being arrested Feb. 22 in a suburban San Diego traffic stop. The father of three U.S. citizen children — ages 5, 3 and 10 months — had been under ICE surveillance, the petition says, before officers in tactical gear pulled him over.

Or the 33-year-old Venezuelan woman, a well-known South Texas doctor who worked in a region designated as medically underserved, who was arrested earlier this month with her five-year-old daughter, a U.S. citizen, on her way to her husband’s asylum hearing.

She was arrested, officials said, for overstaying her visa.

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow with the research and advocacy group the American Immigration Council, says he sees signs of change in lower arrest and detention numbers but warns it’s too early to know if those shifts are permanent.

“The Trump administration says: ‘We’re not slowing down,’ ‘Nothing has changed,’” in immigration enforcement, he said. “But it’s very clear that they have pulled back from some of the tactics of Operation Metro Surge,” the crackdown that swept Minneapolis.

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Kessler reported from Washington and Sullivan from Minneapolis. Associated Press reporters Elliot Spagat in San Diego and Gisela Salomon in Miami contributed.

The toll on Friday included two men who were killed in Gaza City, and eight others killed in the southern city of Khan Younis, according to local hospitals. Officials at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis said the eight people, including four police officers, were killed after Israel targeted a police vehicle.

Khalid Al-Tanani, of Beit Lahiya, recalled the series of strikes that killed his wife and two of his four children in the northern Gaza Strip.

“With the first shell, thank God we all survived and were calling out to each other. Then they fired the second, third, and fourth shells one after the other. Their voices fell silent. I went inside and found my wife, Islam Al-Tanani, martyred, and my son, Hamza, and Naya in her mother’s arms. I found them martyred.” The children were 4 and 13 years old.

Hamza’s 13-year-old twin survived, along with another of the couple's children. Al-Tanani said they had just started talking about gathering baby items and clothes for the twins.

Family members wailed over the bodies on Saturday. “You took my soul with you, Hamza, you took me with you and broke me, Hamza,” his grandmother sobbed.

Israel's military said several militants had threatened troops in the area and the military targeted them in an airstrike after warning civilians. Al-Tanani said the strikes came without prior notice.

Israel’s military said it had targeted two militants that threatened its troops in Gaza City and did not comment on the third strike in Khan Younis that killed eight.

While the heaviest fighting has mostly subsided, deadly Israeli strikes have repeatedly disrupted the truce since it took effect on Oct. 10. The escalating Palestinian toll has prompted many in Gaza to say it feels like the war has continued unabated.

Israeli forces frequently fire on Palestinians near military-held zones. Militants have carried out shooting attacks on troops, and Israel says its strikes are in response to that and other violations. Four Israeli soldiers have been killed since the ceasefire.

Israeli attacks have killed more than 790 people since the fragile ceasefire between Hamas and Israel was put in place six months ago, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry, part of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. It does not give a breakdown of civilians and militants.

Overall, the health ministry says 72,300 Palestinians had been killed since the war in Gaza began with the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel

The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel and killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, on Oct. 7, 2023.

“America’s energy policy should be grounded in facts, fiscal responsibility, and the national interest — not ideology or politics,″ they wrote.

One of the lawmakers is Rep. Jen Kiggans, a former Navy helicopter pilot who represents a coastal district in Virginia where an $11.5 billion wind farm is expected to create 1,000 jobs. Her support for an initiative targeted by Trump shows the scrambled politics of clean energy in an election year where Republicans are at risk of losing the House.

Kiggans could be even more at risk after Virginia voters on Tuesday approved a new congressional map that makes her competitive district more Democratic than before.

Trump's broader campaign against clean energy resulted in the cancellation of nearly $35 billion in U.S. projects last year, according to a report by E2, a clean energy business group. Republican-held congressional districts lost nearly twice as much in investments than did Democratic districts, the report said.

For now, the Virginia project is back on track, along with the other four, because of federal court rulings. But Elaine Luria, a former congresswoman who is seeking the Democratic nomination in the 2nd Congressional District represented by Kiggans, said the incumbent's efforts have been futile in the face of Trump’s onslaught.

“Her advocacy did nothing," Luria said. Kiggans did not respond to requests for comment.

A president who hates ‘windmills’

Trump has treated energy issues as another front in the nation's cultural clashes, referring to Democrats' support for clean energy as the “Green New Scam.” He frequently talks about his hatred of “windmills,” which he described as “STUPID AND UGLY” on social media. He issued an executive order on the first day of his second term blocking wind projects and he has insisted that “smart countries” do not use wind power.

Solar farms are not much better in his mind.

“You go around and you see all these things that are 3 miles long by 3 miles wide and you say what the hell is that,” Trump said at the White House last summer.

The administration even agreed to pay $1 billion to a French company to walk away from two U.S. offshore wind leases and instead invest in oil and natural gas projects.

Kiggans voted in favor of Republican legislation to gut clean energy tax credits as part of Trump’s sweeping tax and spending bill even though she has long portrayed herself as a champion of renewable energy. Democrats have turned the issue into campaign advertisements, and Luria said it undermines Kiggans' attempt to “sell herself as if she's a moderate.”

Luria said Kiggans “voted for a bill to make energy more expensive.”

In a Facebook post after the bill was passed in July, Kiggans said her vote “wasn’t about politics — it was about overall results.”

“I had ONE vote, and I voted YES on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act not because it was perfect but because it delivers permanent tax relief for families & small businesses, rebuilds our Navy & invests in national defense," she wrote.

Stephen Farnsworth, a political science professor at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia, said front-line Republicans have been put in a difficult position.

“Kiggans is not the only Republican being squeezed" as Trump focuses on his own priorities and the country faces economic headwinds exacerbated by the war with Iran, he said. Although few want to risk upsetting the president, Farnsworth said, “in coastal Virginia politics, there’s not much upside to opposing wind."

U.S. Rep. Tom Kean Jr., R-N.J., has been caught up in a controversy over the Gateway Tunnel, which will add new rail tracks under the Hudson River to alleviate congestion between his state and New York City. Trump tried to block federal funding, a potential setback for commuters in towns that Kean represents. A judge ordered the administration to restore money for the project after Democratic leaders in New Jersey and New York went to court.

An opportunity to lead on offshore wind

Although Trump has dismissed offshore wind turbines as ugly, the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project is about 27 miles (43 kilometers) out into the ocean, making it difficult to see from land. On a recent visit to the Portsmouth Marine Terminal, where construction is staged, the turbines were impossible to discern along the horizon.

Dominion Energy, which operates the wind farm, says it delivered its first power to the grid last month. The project, first announced in 2013, is expected to create 1,000 jobs and generate about $2 billion in economic activity, the company said.

Once finished, the 176-turbine project could deliver 2.6 gigawatts of power to the grid — enough to supply more than 660,000 homes — at a time when Virginia faces growing energy demand from an expanding hub of artificial intelligence data centers.

“There's an opportunity here for Hampton Roads to be a national leader in offshore wind,'' said Andrew Nissman, a spokesman for the Hampton Roads Workforce Council, which has trained maritime workers for the project.

Nissman declined to comment on the congressional race, saying, ”as with any stop-and-start challenge, it's important the project is moving forward.''

While the wind farm is now partially online, "Kiggans nearly cost her constituents this project by standing with an administration dead set on dismantling the offshore wind industry and voting to repeal critical clean energy tax credits last year,'' said Dan Taylor, Southeast regional field manager for the BlueGreen Alliance, which coordinates labor unions and environmental groups.

“Kiggans claims to prioritize jobs, lower energy costs for Virginians and reducing emissions,” Taylor added. “Yet she voted to kill jobs, skyrocket energy costs to families and increase the emissions driving climate change.”

Mali’s army said in a statement that “unidentified armed terrorist groups targeted certain locations and barracks” in Bamako and that soldiers were “engaged in eliminating the attackers.” It said in another statement later the situation was under control.

Mali has been plagued by insurgencies fought by affiliates of al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, as well as a separatist rebellion in the north.

An Associated Press journalist in Bamako heard sustained heavy weapons and automatic rifle gunfire coming from Modibo Keïta International Airport, around 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the city center, and saw a helicopter over nearby neighborhoods. The airport is adjacent to an air base used by Mali's air force. A resident living near the airport also reported gunfire and three helicopters patrolling overhead.

The U.S. Embassy in Bamako issued a security alert citing reports of explosions and gunfire near Kati and the international airport, and urged U.S. citizens to shelter in place and avoid travel there.

Attacks across the country

Residents in other cities in Mali reported gunfire and blasts on Saturday morning, suggesting a possible coordinated attack by armed groups.

A resident of Kati, a town near Bamako that is home to Mali’s main military base, also said he was woken up early in the morning by the sounds of gunfire and explosions. Gen. Assimi Goita, the leader of Mali’s military junta, resides in Kati.

Videos on social media showed militant convoys in trucks and motorcycles moving through the town's deserted streets, while residents looked on fearfully. Other videos in the northern towns of Kidal and Gao showed gunfire exchanges in the streets, with dead bodies lying on the ground.

Gunmen entered Kidal, taking control of some neighborhoods and leading to exchanges of fire with the army, a former mayor of the town told AP over the phone. He spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear for his safety.

Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane, a spokesperson for the Tuareg-led Azawad separatist movement, said on Facebook its forces had taken control of Kidal as well as some areas in Gao, another northeastern city. The AP could not independently verify his claim.

Kidal had long served as a stronghold of the separatist rebellion before being taken by Malian government forces and Russian mercenaries in 2023. Its capture marked a significant symbolic victory for the junta and its Russian allies.

The Tuareg-led separatists have been fighting for years to create an independent state in northern Mali.

A resident of Gao, the largest city in northern Mali, said gunfire and explosions started in the early hours of Saturday and could still be heard in the late morning.

“The force of the explosions is making the doors and windows of my house shake. I’m scared out of my wits,” the resident told AP by phone. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of concerns for his safety. The resident said the gunfire came from the army camp and the airport, which are right next to each other.

Largest coordinated attack in years

Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel program at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, said the assault seems to be the largest coordinated attack in years in Mali.

“It’s especially concerning that JNIM (al-Qaida affiliated group) apparently has been coordinating today’s attacks with Tuareg rebels: Jihadists and Tuareg rebels teamed up in 2012 when they overran northern Mali, sparking the region's security crisis.” Laessing said.

Mali, alongside neighboring Niger and Burkina Faso, has long been battling armed groups affiliated with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, a fight that has escalated over the past decade.

Following military coups, the juntas in the three countries have turned from Western allies to Russia for help combating Islamic militants.

But the security situation in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso has worsened in recent times, analysts say, with a record number of attacks by militants. Government forces have also been accused of killing civilians they suspect of collaborating with militants.

In 2024, an al-Qaida-linked group claimed an attack on Bamako’s airport and a military training camp in the capital, killing scores of people.

The statement Saturday by foreign ministry spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi comes after reports emerged that the Trump administration is in discussions to potentially send 1,100 Afghans who assisted the U.S. during its war in Afghanistan and relatives of U.S. service members to Congo.

An organization called #AfghanEvac that supports Afghan resettlement efforts said Wednesday that U.S. officials had informed the group of discussions between the United States and Congo about taking the Afghan refugees who have been in limbo at Camp As-Sayliyah, a U.S. base in Doha, for the past year.

The State Department said it is working to identify options to “voluntarily” resettle the refugees in a third country, but did not confirm which nations were being discussed.

An alternative provided to the refugees was to return to Afghanistan, #AfghanEvac said, where they fear reprisals or even death at the hands of the Taliban, who have been running the country since they seized power in the wake of the chaotic withdrawal of U.S.-led forces in 2021, for working alongside the U.S. during the two-decade war.

Afghanistan’s foreign ministry “reiterates that Afghanistan constitutes the shared homeland of all Afghans and it invites all those concerned, as well as others sharing a similar situation, (to) return to their homeland, whose doors remain open to them, to do so with full confidence & peace of mind,” Balkhi wrote in his statement.

He added that “those intending to travel to another country may do so at an appropriate juncture through legal & dignified channels.” Afghanistan’s foreign ministry “stands ready to engage with all countries,” Balkhi said, adding that the foreign ministry “underscores to all sides that there exist no security threats in Afghanistan, & none is compelled to leave the country on account of security considerations.”

In a joint statement posted by the #AfghanEvac group on behalf of those in Camp As-Sayliyah, the Afghans said they had received no information from U.S. officials about the talks to potentially relocate them, and had found out about it from the press. The state of limbo they have been living in is taking a severe toll on them, they said.

“Many of us are not well. The uncertainty has been more than some of us can carry. There is deep depression,” the group said, adding that some were struggling with their mental health because of the situation.

“We will say this plainly. We do not want to go to the Democratic Republic of Congo,” the group said, adding that “it is a country in its own war. We have been in enough war. We cannot take our children into another one.”

The African country has been battered by decades-long fighting between government forces and Rwanda-backed rebels in its eastern region.

The Afghans in the camp in Doha said returning to Afghanistan was also not an option. “The Taliban will kill many of us for what we did for the United States,” the group said in their statement. “This is not a fear. This is a fact. The United States knows this, because the United States is the reason we cannot go home.”

The relocation discussions, initially reported by The New York Times, come more than a year after President Donald Trump paused his predecessor’s Afghan resettlement program as part of a series of executive orders cracking down on immigration.

That policy left thousands of refugees who fled war and persecution, and had gone through a sometimes yearslong vetting process to start new lives in America, stranded at places worldwide, including the base in Qatar.

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Becatoros reported from Athens, Greece.

The bodies of four people were found in the ruins of a house destroyed in overnight attacks, Dnipropetrovsk regional head Oleksandr Hanzha said.

“The Russians have been hitting Dnipro and other cities and communities practically all night,” Hanzha wrote on Telegram of the attacks, which caused fires to break out across Dnipro and partially destroyed several apartment buildings, businesses and a private house.

Another person was killed in a separate Russian attack on Dnipro Saturday afternoon, according to Hanzha, in the same residential area hit by the overnight strikes. He said that 46 people were wounded in total.

To the southwest, two people were wounded in overnight drone attacks on the Odesa region. Residential buildings, port infrastructure and cars were damaged in the south of the region, regional head Oleh Kiper said Saturday.

In Russia, a woman was killed and a man was seriously wounded by a Ukrainian drone strike in the border region of Belgorod, local officials said.

Leonid Pasechnik, the Russia-installed governor in Ukraine’s Luhansk region — of which Russia earlier this month said it had taken full control, a claim denied by Ukraine — said Saturday that three people were killed in an overnight Ukrainian drone strike on a village. Ukraine did not comment on the attack, and the claim could not be independently verified by The Associated Press.

Following the overnight attacks, Romania’s Defense Ministry said Saturday that drone fragments were found in a residential area of the southeastern city of Galati, as well as on a farm some 30 kilometers (18.5 miles) from Galati, near the NATO member’s border with Ukraine. No casualties were reported.

Romania has confirmed drone fragments on its territory on multiple occasions.

The overnight attacks followed a prisoner swap Friday, in which Russia and Ukraine exchanged 193 service members.

Periodic prisoner exchanges have been one of the few positive outcomes of otherwise fruitless monthslong U.S.-brokered negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv. The talks have delivered no progress on key issues preventing an end to Russia’s invasion of its neighbor, now in its fifth year.

While meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine is open to continuing peace talks with Russia in Azerbaijan.

“We have already held such talks — in Turkey and with our American partners in Switzerland,” he said. “We are also ready for upcoming negotiations in Azerbaijan, if Russia is ready for diplomacy.”

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Morton reported from London. Associated Press writer Stephen McGrath in Leamington Spa, England, contributed to this report.

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This story has been corrected to use the Ukrainian transliteration of Hanzha.

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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

The league confirmed the suspension in a statement late Friday, warning that the decision amounted to “a serious and arbitrary violation of freedom of association” and “a direct assault” on one of Tunisia’s key democratic gains.

President Kais Saied has often cited foreign funding, which rights groups sometimes rely on, as a threat to Tunisia, using it to fuel a populist narrative and accuse his political opponents and social justice activists of being foreign agents and stirring unrest at home.

“This measure cannot be seen in isolation from a broader context in the country marked by increasing systematic pressure on civil society and independent voices,” the group said, adding that it would challenge what it called an unjust decision in court while continuing to defend victims of rights violations without discrimination.

The suspension follows a series of similar measures targeting rights groups in the North African country, where courts last year ordered multiple prominent NGOs to halt activities for a month, including organizations focused on migrants’ and women’s rights.

The decision comes as journalist Zied El-Heni was placed under 48-hour detention over a Facebook post, amid a broader pattern of arrests and legal pressure targeting critics.

Mohamed Yassine Jlassi, a former president of the Tunisian journalists union SNJT, told The Associated Press on the sidelines of a protest in Tunis on Friday that hundreds of people are being detained over speech-related charges, including social media posts.

“Repression has come to affect everyone. Journalism has become a crime, civil society work has become a crime, political opposition has been criminalized,” he said.

“People now increasingly find themselves facing arbitrary prosecutions without the bare minimum guarantees of a fair trial.”

Meanwhile, the investigative outlet Inkyfada faces a court hearing on May 11, as authorities pursue the dissolution of Al Khatt, the association that publishes it.

The group said in a statement that it disputes the legal basis of the case and says the claims cited by the government have not been examined by Tunisian courts since 2024.

These developments add to growing concerns among rights advocates over restrictions on independent media, civil society and any dissenting voices under Saied, who has consolidated power since 2021 and has increasingly targeted groups he repeatedly accuses of receiving foreign funding to stir unrest and destabilize Tunisia’s national interests.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Islamabad on Friday to take part in Pakistani-led mediation efforts, and held a series of meetings with Pakistani officials. He met with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday.

Iran’s government said there would be no direct negotiations with U.S. representatives during Araghchi’s visit to Islamabad.

Pakistan was preparing to receive U.S. special envoys Witkoff and Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, although officials have not specified when they are due in Islamabad. Vice President JD Vance will not attend, the White House said.

Separately, the Trump administration announced it is placing economic sanctions on a major China-based oil refinery and roughly 40 shipping companies and tankers involved in transporting Iranian oil. The move appeared to be part of the administration's threat to impose secondary sanctions on entities doing business with Iran in order to cut off Iran’s oil exports, a key source of its revenue.

Here is the latest:

Israeli airstrikes kill 4 people in southern Lebanese village

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said that Israeli airstrikes on the village of Yohmor in southern Lebanon targeted a pickup truck and a motorcycle, killing four people.

Saturday’s airstrikes came despite a 10-day ceasefire in place since April 17.

Since the truce went into effect, it has been repeatedly violated by both sides.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that Lebanon and Israel agreed to extend the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah by three weeks.

Pakistan’s prime minister meets with Iran’s foreign minister

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Saturday at the prime minister’s office in the capital, Islamabad.

Sharif’s office issued a statement saying the meeting was ongoing.

It said Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir were also present.

No further details were immediately available, and the statement only said the “current regional situation will be discussed.”

Iran’s top diplomat meets with Pakistan army chief

Iran’s top diplomat and Pakistan’s army chief have discussed efforts to launch a new round of talks with the United States.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Telegram that he met with Pakistan’s Field Marshal Asim Munir Saturday morning in Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital, and explained Iran’s views on ending the war between the Islamic Republic and the U.S.

Araghchi didn’t offer further details, but said Tehran will continue engaging in the Pakistani-led mediation efforts “until a result is achieved.”

Iran’s president calls on people to save electricity

Iran’s president has urged people to reduce their use of electricity after American and Israeli strikes damaged the county’s energy infrastructure, state media reported.

President Masoud Pezeshkian said the government aims to “control consumption” of electricity, according to the Iranian state television.

“Instead of turning on 10 lights at home, turn on two lights. What is wrong with that?” he said.

He said the U.S. and Israel “destroyed our infrastructure,” and noted that the U.S. imposed a blockade on Iran’s ports.

Commercial flights resume at Tehran’s airport

Commercial flights resumed Saturday at Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran for the first time since the war with the United States and Israel started about two months ago.

Iran’s state-run television reported the airport has flights to Istanbul in Turkey, Oman’s capital Muscat and the Saudi city of Medina.

Flightradar24, a flight tracking platform, showed at least three Istanbul-bound flights departed Saturday morning.

Iran partly reopened its airspace earlier this month during a ceasefire with the U.S.

Germany to deploy minesweeper ships

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said his country plans to deploy minesweeper ships to the Mediterranean, which later could be transferred to the Strait of Hormuz.

“We will deploy a minesweeper to the Mediterranean and provide it with a command and supply ship,” Pistorius told the Rheinische Post newspaper Saturday.

He did not say exactly when the ships are scheduled to depart.

After an end to hostilities between the U.S., Israel and Iran, the German minesweepers could be deployed in the Strait of Hormuz, though such a mission would need to be approved by Germany’s parliament.

“To save time, we have decided to deploy part of the German units to the Mediterranean early on so that — once the mandate is approved — we do not lose any further time,” Pistorius said.

Islamabad locked down before talks

Pakistan’s capital Islamabad appeared to be in a near-lockdown Saturday morning, hours after Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived on a closely watched visit as Pakistan attempts to ease tensions between the United States and Iran.

The weeklong security restrictions have disrupted daily life, with hundreds of thousands of residents struggling to commute even short distances. Checkpoints, road closures and diversions have become routine sights, particularly around sensitive zones.

The usually busy arteries leading to the airport and the heavily fortified Red Zone were largely deserted early Saturday, with movement tightly restricted. Soldiers and police were at key intersections while helicopters circled overhead.

The measures were reinforced over the past 24 hours on the city’s outskirts with additional forces stationed along key airport access routes. Soldiers were visible on rooftops overlooking major approach roads, particularly near the airport where the Iranian delegation arrived late Friday.

Iran executes another man over alleged ties to Mossad

Iran hanged a man Saturday over alleged ties to Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency and his participation in anti-government protests in January.

Erfan Kiani was the latest in a series of executions in Iran following the war and nationwide protests.

The Mizan news agency of Iran’s judiciary announced Kiani was convicted of charges including attacks on security forces in the city of Asfahn in January.

The agency claimed he was on a “mission for Mossad” without offering evidence.

Human rights activists long have said Iran convicts people in closed-door trials without allowing defendants to properly defend themselves.

There recently have been multiple executions of alleged spies, as well as protesters and those affiliated with an Iranian exiled opposition group.

Pakistan president will travel to China

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari is expected to travel to Beijing on Saturday to begin a weeklong visit at the invitation of the Chinese government.

Discussions will include economic and trade cooperation and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

China has played a role in facilitating Pakistan as a host for ceasefire talks between the United States and Iran. Zardari is expected to discuss his country’s efforts to host a second round.

The visit is part of a longstanding tradition of high-level exchanges between Pakistan and China and holds special significance as they mark the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said.

“It reflects the deep commitment of both countries to further strengthening the all-weather strategic cooperative partnership,” the ministry said.

Iran's foreign minister arrives in Pakistan

Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met late Friday with Pakistan Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir shortly after arriving in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad, officials said.

On Saturday morning Araghchi met with Munir and Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, officials said.

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said the Iranian delegation will hold talks with Pakistan’s senior leadership on the latest regional developments and efforts to promote peace and stability.

The visit comes as Pakistan is also preparing to receive U.S. envoys, although officials have not specified when Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are due in Islamabad.

Egyptian and Pakistani officials discuss the Iran war

Egyptian and Pakistani foreign ministers late Friday discussed efforts to launch a new round of talks between the United States and Iran.

Badr Abdelatty of Egypt spoke by phone with his Pakistani counterpart Mohammad Ishaq Dar.

The Egyptian foreign ministry said the diplomats affirmed that negotiations are the best way to end the war.

Dylan Harper added 27 points and 10 rebounds for the Spurs, who trailed by 15 points in the third quarter. Game 4 of the first-round series is Sunday at the Moda Center.

Before the game Spurs coach Mitch Johnson announced that Wembanyama would not play while he continues to recover from a concussion sustained Tuesday night in Game 2.

Jrue Holiday had 29 points for the Trail Blazers. Making their first home playoff appearance since 2021, they couldn't ultimately take advantage Wembanyama's absence.

Portland led 82-67 in the third quarter but the Spurs clawed back with a 21-5 run to take an 88-87 lead into the final period. Castle's step-back jumper and a pair of free throws gave the Spurs a 105-95 lead midway through the fourth and the Trail Blazers collapsed.

“I feel like we have a lot of confidence in ourselves. We know how good we are,” Castle said. “So, down 10, down 15, in a game like that, with a lot of time to go, we just need to string some stops together and keep fighting. I feel we have a lot of dogs that arent going to quit on our team.”

Wembanyama — the league’s first unanimous Defensive Player of the Year and one of three finalists for the Most Valuable Player award — went down in the second quarter of the Spurs' 106-103 Game 2 loss in San Antonio.

Johnson would not elaborate on Wembanyama's condition, only to say he was progressing. He averaged 25 points, 11.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists and a league-best 3.1 blocks per game this season. His status for Sunday's game was not known.

Luke Kornet started against the Trail Blazers as Wembanyama’s watched from the banch, finishing with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Portland went on a 15-2 run in the first half to go up 50-43 and led 65-59 at the break after Jerami Grant's 3-pointer.

In the final moments of the half Fox was handed an offensive foul when he charged toward the basket and elbowed Deni Avdija in the face. Johnson challenged the call and it was overturned to a defensive foul on Avdija, who had a chipped a tooth but kept playing.

“This loss hurts, but we've got another one Sunday, so you can't really hang your hat on it too low,” Holiday said. “Maybe take it on the chin tonight, and then tomorrow, we've got to get back to work.”

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While none of this dissent indicates an imminent threat to Putin’s rule, analysts say it presents a new and growing challenge for the Kremlin.

“Greater and greater effort needs to be spent on maintaining the status quo,” Mark Galeotti, an expert on Russian politics who heads the Mayak Intelligence consultancy, wrote in an analysis.

Here’s a look at the public outcry in Russia and what is driving it:

Influencers appeal to Putin, while his approvals drop

A 19-minute video by popular Russian blogger Victoria Bonya has received 31 million views on Instagram since it was published 10 days ago.

In the video, Bonya, who has 13.6 million followers on the platform, complained to Putin that he was probably misinformed about some things — local authorities' poor handling of recent floods in the southern province of Dagestan, the culling of livestock in Siberia that prompted protests from farmers, crippling internet restrictions and strains on small businesses.

Bonya, a popular Russian TV host who now lives abroad, emphasized that she supports Putin, but she said ordinary Russians and his own officials are too scared to tell him the truth.

“There’s a lot you don’t know,” she said. “People are screaming at the top of their lungs now. They’ve been robbed of everything they have, and they continue to be robbed. Businesses are dying.”

Reactions to the video snowballed. Other Russian influencers aired similar sentiments in their videos, some of which were later deleted.

In a rare acknowledgment of the public criticism, Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Kremlin officials saw the video and that “a lot of work is being done” on the issues Bonya mentioned. “None of it is being ignored,” Peskov said.

Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, a longtime Putin supporter, lambasted the government Tuesday in a speech to parliament, saying that his party had raised the issues before. He threatened a repeat of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution if measures are not taken to deal with the problems.

Forecasts of a revolt also have been regularly floated in pro-Kremlin Telegram channels and by loyal military bloggers.

In the meantime, Russian state-controlled pollster VTsIOM has reported a consistent decline of Putin’s approval ratings in recent weeks. Data released Friday showed his approval at 65.6%, the lowest level the pollster has reported since before the war in Ukraine, down from the 77.8% in late December 2025.

Russia's top independent pollster, the Levada Center, also reported a slight decline in Putin's approvals, from 85% in October 2025 to 80% in March.

Internet restrictions trigger a wave of discontent

Russians across the vast country have faced regular cellphone internet shutdowns since last spring. The authorities have justified them as a way to thwart Ukrainian drone attacks, but critics have argued that the outages are another step in a yearslong effort to bring the internet under tight government control.

The shutdowns came on top of sweeping, ever-growing internet censorship that over the years saw thousands of websites and platforms in Russia blocked or throttled, including the two most popular messaging apps — WhatsApp and Telegram.

Authorities are promoting a new state-backed messaging app, Max, seen by many as a surveillance tool, while also blocking VPNs to stop widespread censorship circumvention.

Public frustration over the measures elicited acts of resistance, including petitions to the presidential administration, a class-action lawsuit against the government, a few street pickets and multiple attempts to organize bigger protests that were quashed by authorities.

The Kremlin appears unfazed. At a government meeting Thursday, Putin again justified the shutdowns as necessary to “prevent terror attacks” and urged authorities to better inform the public about restrictions.

His remarks indicate that the security services “are doing everything correctly, and it will continue for as long as they see fit," Tatiana Stanovaya of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center wrote in a Telegram post.

Strained economy fuels frustration

The critical videos have emerged at a time of growing strain on the country’s wartime economy.

Economic growth stopped after the initial boost from massive military spending wore off. High interest rates imposed by the central bank to control inflation and increased taxes have also weighed on businesses.

Economic Minister Maxim Reshetnikov said recently that the economy's reserves “have been largely depleted,” and Putin said at a televised government meeting earlier this month that economic growth has declined for two months in a row. Russia's gross domestic product shrank by 1.8% between January and February, he said.

Denis Volkov, director of the Levada Center, said economic problems are the main driver of the growing dissatisfaction and declining approval for Putin and the government.

“It begins to show in the opinion polls, when the mood starts to get worse, just because life becomes harder,” Volkov said.

No end in sight for the war in Ukraine

Sam Greene, professor of Russian politics at King's College London, also points to dwindling hopes that Russia’s war in Ukraine, now in its fifth year, could soon end.

Those hopes coalesced after U.S. President Donald Trump took office in January 2025 and spearheaded an effort to negotiate a peace deal that has since stalled.

“The Kremlin was really putting some weight behind that idea as well. And I think that became priced into public opinion,” Greene said. “And yet that’s not happening."

The resulting disappointment and frustration means that Putin “pays a bit of a price.”

No imminent demise for Putin either

Galeotti said in his analysis that “none of this can be taken to herald the imminent end of Putin’s rule.”

There is “no meaningful organized opposition,” and Putin’s “control of the security apparatus is unchallenged," Galeotti said. In a war, "even his critics do not want to destabilize the country.”

Volkov echoed that thinking and said the discontent grows only slowly. Putin’s approvals are declining “from a very high point.”

“For now, we shouldn’t downplay or exaggerate this, because we’re only at the very beginning of the road,” he said.

In the meantime, frustration will continue to deepen, with people feeling empowered by popular public figures voicing criticism, said Abbas Gallyamov, a former Putin speechwriter turned political analyst.

“The feeling of power in politics," he said, "is largely tied to how widespread the position that you share and defend is.”

Craig Counsell reached 899th managerial victories.

Swanson's 413-foot shot off Tanner Scott (0-1) landed in the left-field pavilion, scoring Pete Crow-Armstrong who singled leading off.

The Cubs trailed 4-0 against Dodgers starter Emmet Sheehan, who allowed one earned run over 6 1/3 innings and tied his career high with 10 strikeouts. The right-hander struck out seven of the first nine batters he faced.

Then Chicago got to the Dodgers' bullpen.

The Cubs scored six consecutive runs off the erratic trio of Alex Vesia, Blake Treinen and Scott.

They closed to 4-3 in the seventh off Vesia. With two outs, Swanson tripled to center for two runs and Nico Hoerner followed with an RBI single.

Alex Bregman homered leading off the eighth against Treinen, tying the game 4-4.

Ryan Rolison (1-0) got the win with three scoreless innings of relief. Corbin Martin retired the side in the ninth to earn his first save.

The Dodgers led 4-0 on Will Smith's three-run homer with two outs in the third and Hyeseong Kim's RBI single in the fourth.

The Dodgers' big hitters got shut out. Shohei Ohtani struck out three times to go with a walk, while Freddie Freeman was 0-for-4 . Kyle Tucker went 0-for-3 with a walk against his former team.

Up next

Cubs RHP Colin Rea (3-0, 3.00 ERA) was scheduled to start Saturday against scuffling Dodgers RHP Roki Sasaki (0-2, 6.11).

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Jeffrey Viel and Jackson LaCombe also scored in the third and Lukas Dostal made 20 saves for the upstart Ducks, who have poured in 16 goals in three games to take an early lead in this first-round series against the two-time Western Conference champion Oilers. Mason McTavish and Alex Killorn scored early goals to the soundtrack of a raucous sellout crowd hungry for Orange County's first postseason hockey since 2018.

“It sounded like an army out there almost,” Sennecke said. “They've been waiting eight years for this, nine years for a win, so it was pretty special.”

Just as they've done so many times over their first season under coach Joel Quenneville, the Ducks overcame their clear defensive shortcomings by simply outscoring the powerhouse Oilers, thriving even after Connor McDavid recorded his first points of the series.

“I thought we had a great start to the game (and) did a lot of good things most of the night,” Quenneville said. “It was nice to see the crowd get rewarded with a win. Been a long time coming.”

Game 4 is Sunday night in Anaheim.

McDavid had a power-play goal in the third period and an assist, although the NHL scoring champion still doesn't appear to be at full health. Vasily Podkolzin, Kasperi Kapanen and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins also scored, and Connor Ingram stopped 32 shots.

“You look at the goals against, and just some stuff that shouldn't happen, especially at this time of year,” Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. “There was lost coverage in front of the net. Couple of times we were careless with the puck. Early on, they were much more intense. They definitely looked like they wanted it more in the first period. We were able to find our legs. We started skating later in the game.”

Appropriately for a defense-deficient series, the Ducks capitalized on two transition sequences early in the third to take control.

Moments after Sennecke ripped a wrist shot for the tiebreaking goal and the precocious rookie's first playoff point, Carlsson clinically finished a textbook 2-on-1 rush with Troy Terry.

McDavid trimmed the Oilers’ deficit with a fortunate deflection off Pavel Mintyukov’s stick, but the superstar short-circuited another power play later in the third by cross-checking Tyson Hinds.

Viel then flipped home a backhand with 3:03 left to cap a strong game by the Ducks' fourth line, and LaCombe lofted an empty-net goal all the way from the Ducks' goal line to seal Anaheim's first home playoff victory since May 14, 2017, in the conference finals against Nashville.

“We couldn't even hear ourselves out there,” Viel said. “Definitely got us going right from the start.”

The clubs split the series' first two games in Edmonton, but the Ducks demonstrated they could stay with the playoff-tested Oilers despite the obvious deficiencies of an inexperienced group that allowed more goals this season than any other playoff team.

Anaheim rode the wave of crowd energy and dominated play early in Game 3, putting 20 shots on Ingram in the first period. The Oilers surged to a 3-2 lead early in the second, but Killorn tied it with his 39th career playoff goal.

Oilers forwards Adam Henrique and Jason Dickinson missed Game 3 with injuries.

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

Así se acordó durante una conversación telefónica que sostuvieron el viernes ambos gobernantes para evaluar las inversiones y los acuerdos comerciales bilaterales.

Alterno a los diálogos que tiene con Canadá, México también ha mantenido en las últimas semanas conversaciones con la administración del presidente Donald Trump previo a la revisión del T-MEC prevista para julio. A inicios de esta semana visitó la capital mexicana el principal negociador comercial estadounidense Jamieson Greer para avanzar las negociaciones con el secretario de Economía, Marcelo Ebrard.

La Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores de México dijo la noche del viernes en un comunicado que en el diálogo telefónico, Sheinbaum y Carney se comprometieron a seguir fortaleciendo la hoja de ruta para “estrechar aún más la cooperación bilateral” y la amistad ante el “gran momento” que atraviesa la relación.

México es el tercer socio comercial más grande de Canadá, después de Estados Unidos y China. Canadá fue el quinto socio comercial más grande de México en 2024. Pero el comercio con Estados Unidos sigue siendo primordial para ambos países y la continuidad del T-MEC es un tema crucial para los gobiernos de Sheinbaum y Carney.

Sobre los temas abordados en la llamada telefónica, el gobierno canadiense expresó en un comunicado que Carney y Sheinbaum dialogaron sobre oportunidades para ampliar la colaboración en áreas estratégicas como minerales críticos, tecnologías limpias, energía y manufactura avanzada, y celebraron la firma de un memorando de entendimiento sobre seguridad sanitaria industrial y biomanufactura para fortalecer la cadena de suministro farmacéutico.

Además, abordaron la situación humanitaria en Cuba y acordaron apoyar a la isla.

En septiembre pasado, durante la visita que realizó Carney a la Ciudad de México ambos gobiernos acordaron un plan de acción para fortalecer la cooperación entre ambas naciones en diferentes áreas, incluida la seguridad.

Ebrard tiene previsto viajar a Canadá entre el 7 y 8 de mayo junto con una delegación de empresarios mexicanos para explorar oportunidades de inversión, tal como lo hizo en febrero pasado el ministro de finanzas y comercio de Canadá, Dominic LeBlanc, en una visita a México.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was seen off at an airport, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. He had met with Pakistani Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif about what he called Iran’s red lines for negotiations, and said Tehran would engage with Pakistan’s mediation efforts “until a result is achieved.”

It was unclear when President Donald Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were due to arrive in Islamabad. The White House declined to comment.

An open-ended ceasefire has paused most fighting, but the economic fallout grows with global shipments of oil, liquefied natural gas, fertilizer and other supplies disrupted by the near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian officials have openly asked how they can trust the U.S. after talks last year and early this year over Tehran’s nuclear program ended with it being attacked by the U.S. and Israel.

Iran has said talks will be indirect

Islamabad had been in near-lockdown ahead of the expected talks. Pakistan has been trying to get U.S. and Iran back to the table since Trump this week announced an indefinite extension of the ceasefire, honoring Islamabad’s request for more diplomatic outreach.

The White House on Friday said Trump was sending Witkoff and Kushner to meet with Araghchi. But Iran's foreign ministry said any talks would be indirect and Pakistani officials would convey messages.

The first round of talks in Pakistan, led on the U.S. side by Vice President JD Vance, lasted over 20 hours and were face-to-face, the highest-level direct talks between the longtime adversaries since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

Araghchi and Trump's envoys held hours of indirect talks in Geneva on Feb. 27 but walked away without a deal. The next day, Israel and the United States started the war.

The standoff around the strait continues

The price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, is still nearly 50% higher than when the war began because of Iran's grip on the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil passes in peacetime.

Iran attacked three ships this week, while the U.S. maintains a blockade on Iranian ports. Trump has ordered the military to “shoot and kill” small boats that could be placing mines.

Germany’s Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Saturday his country is sending minesweeper ships to the Mediterranean to help remove Iranian mines from the Strait of Hormuz once hostilities end.

The squeeze on shipments through the strait has rippled through global maritime trade, including through the Panama Canal nearly halfway around the world.

Also Saturday, Iran resumed commercial flights from Tehran’s international airport for the first time since the war began with U.S. and Israeli strikes two months ago. Flights were scheduled to depart for Istanbul, Oman’s capital of Muscat and the Saudi city of Medina, according to Iran’s state-run television. Iran partly reopened its airspace earlier this month due to the ceasefire.

A growing toll even as ceasefires hold

Since the war began, authorities say at least 3,375 people have been killed in Iran and more than 2,490 people in Lebanon, where new fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah broke out two days after the Iran war started.

Additionally, 23 people have been killed in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Fifteen Israeli soldiers in Lebanon, 13 U.S. service members in the region and six members of the U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon have been killed.

Trump announced Thursday that Israel and Lebanon had agreed to extend a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah by three weeks. Hezbollah has not participated in the Washington-brokered diplomacy.

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Ahmed reported from Islamabad and Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writers Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel; Bassem Mroue in Beirut; and Will Weissert in Washington contributed.

The bronze figure of Rocky Balboa — arms raised in victory, clad in boxing trunks and boots — has become a point of pilgrimage for people around the world.

For decades, the museum kept an uncomfortable distance from this kind of devotion. Now, it is embracing it — and inviting Rocky in.

Opening this weekend, “Rising Up: Rocky and the Making of Monuments” examines how a fictional fighter became a real-world symbol, placing the statue within the sweep of art history and Philadelphia’s identity. The exhibition is the brainchild of guest curator Paul Farber, who spent years exploring the meaning of the statue and public monuments — including through his NPR podcasts — before bringing the conversation into the museum.

The exhibition spans more than 2,000 years of boxing imagery, tracing a thread of human struggle that Louis Marchesano, the museum’s deputy director of curatorial affairs and conservation, said helps explain Rocky’s enduring pull.

“The common theme that runs throughout 2,000 years of boxing imagery is that people respond to the body under struggle, a conflict in much the same way today as they did 2,500 years ago,” Marchesano said. “It’s not simply about watching two people beat each other up — it’s about endurance, internal fortitude and internal struggle.”

When the bronze statue was left on the steps after filming the “Rocky” movies, the museum fought to have it removed. It was eventually relocated to South Philadelphia before returning to the bottom of the steps in 2006. It was welcomed back, but never fully embraced. The city owns the spot where the statue sits — not the museum.

“The museum has had — and I hate to say this, no pun intended — a rocky relationship with the statue,” Marchesano said.

“It took us decades to come to terms with it,” he added. “But I’m glad that we did.”

According to the Philadelphia Visitor Center, about 4 million people visit the steps each year — rivaling the nearby Liberty Bell in annual foot traffic.

David Muller, a wrestling coach from France who recently brought his students to the steps, said he thinks Balboa’s trials and travails are “good for the next generation.”

“The movie ‘Rocky’ is important for the mind of sport and the mind of life,” Muller said, after running with them up the steps as they raised their hands at the top, smiling and punching the air like boxers.

Kate Tarchalska traveled from Poland with family and made the statue one of their stops.

“He was my hero when I was younger,” she said. “And now I am so glad I could be in the same spot as him.”

Suraj Kumar, visiting his aunt in Philadelphia from St. Louis, made a point to photograph the statue to share with his father, who first introduced him to the films when he was growing up in Bengaluru, India.

“When I got to know this statue is here, I was like, I really have to come down here,” he said.

One gallery places Rocky in the global boxing fever of the 1970s, featuring works by Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol — all created during a time when boxing had the world’s attention.

“In the 1970s, we knew minute by minute who the heavyweight champion of the world was,” Marchesano said. “The artists in this gallery are responding to that global frenzy. Sylvester Stallone, in ‘Rocky,’ was doing the same — thinking about internal and external struggle.”

Another gallery turns to Philadelphia itself, presenting photographs of the Blue Horizon boxing gym and a section on Joe Frazier, whose real-life story at least partially inspired Rocky.

“Without Joe Frazier, Rocky doesn’t exist,” Marchesano said.

When the exhibition closes in August, the statue inside will move to a permanent home at the top of the museum’s steps — a place it has never officially held. The statue currently outside remains on loan from Stallone.

Rocky’s longtime spot at the bottom of the steps won’t be empty — a statue of Frazier will replace it.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Friday that the EU is ready to work with Persian Gulf countries for new projects conveying energy to global markets that wouldn’t be held hostage to war or geopolitical strife.

"The events of the past month have taught us a hard lesson,” von der Leyen told a news conference at the end of an informal meeting of EU leaders in the capital of Cyprus. “Our security is not just related, it is intrinsically linked. A threat to a merchant vessel in the Strait of Hormuz is a threat to a factory, for example, in Belgium.”

The EU executive called for ramping up defense ties and promoted the bloc's maritime security mission in the Red Sea as a possible naval security option in the Persian Gulf, but focused her public remarks on European support for repairing and building Middle East energy sites.

Diversification of Middle East energy infrastructure

“We are also ready to team up with the Gulf countries to diversify export infrastructure away from solely the bottleneck of the Hormuz Strait," she said, also offering to help repair Gulf energy infrastructure damaged in the war.

A fifth of the world's oil and gas normally passes through the Strait of Hormuz, but the war has largely closed the waterway, spiking fuel prices.

Early Friday, Brent crude was up 98 cents at $100.33 a barrel. U.S. benchmark crude picked up 81 cents to $96.66 per barrel.

Von der Leyen repeated that as a result of the oil and gas price hikes, the 27-nation bloc’s energy bill in the last 43 days skyrocketed by 25 billion euros ($29.3 billion.)

Neither she nor European Council President Antonio Costa offered precise details on which projects are being considered or when they’ll move forward. But von der Leyen referred to the India-Middle-East-Europe Economic Corridor between the EU and the world’s largest democracy.

Von der Leyen said a summit between the EU and the Gulf Cooperation Council scheduled for later this year will give both sides the opportunity to explore such projects.

The EU's focus on its southern neighbors

The rotating EU presidency is currently held by Cyprus, an island nation adjacent to Lebanon, Syria, Israel and Turkey. Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides has sought to bring the bloc closer to countries in the Middle East to shore up their economies and bolster their security.

That focus was underscored by his guests at the EU leaders informal summit: Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El Sissi, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, Jordan's Crown Prince Hussein and GCC Secretary-General Jasem Mohamed AlBudaiwi.

“We know that Europe needs Syria as much as Syria needs Europe,” Al-Sharaa said, while Aoun called on EU support for rebuilding his war-ravaged country.

Costa praised Aoun for banning the military activities of Hezbollah that he called “an existential threat” to Lebanon, pledging to assist the country in disarming the militant group.

Costa said that “the European Union is not part of the conflict, but we will be part of this solution.”

Human rights groups blasted EU leaders for not increasing pressure on Israel over its military campaigns in the Middle East.

EU leaders including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said they would not lift sanctions on Iran until a wide array of issues were resolved, including ending its missile program and support for proxies within the region.

“It’s too early to talk about relief of any kind of sanctions,” said Costa.

Cyprus itself came under attack early in the war when a Shahed drone fired from Lebanon on March 2 damaged an aircraft hangar at a British military base on the island’s southern coast. Greece, France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands dispatched warships with anti-drone capabilities to defend the island.

That has spurred renewed interest in a clause in the EU's foundational treaties about mutual assistance if a member nation is attacked.

Christodoulides said the EU leaders had agreed to start creating a formal mechanism for such responses because they agreed that “ad hoc arrangements” are unreliable.

——- McNeil reported from Brussels. Associated Press writer Baraa Anwer in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia contributed to this report.

The late Queen Elizabeth II wowed Congress in 1991 with a speech that celebrated the shared democratic traditions of Britain and the United States, quoted Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Ralph Waldo Emerson, and highlighted the deep bonds between the two nations.

Those themes will also be at the top of Charles’ agenda as he celebrates America's 250th birthday and seeks to calm tensions surrounding Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s refusal to support U.S. President Donald Trump’s war against Iran, said Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian at Rice University in Texas.

“We’ve got to always make the distinction that there’s a difference between the government of the U.K. and the kings and queens of Great Britain, who are really always coming to try to put (on) a good face,” Brinkley told The Associated Press. “Politics come and go, prime ministers, presidents, come and go, but there’s something deeper about the special relationship between the United States and the U.K.”

Behind the scenes

Beneath the pomp and pageantry of Charles’ four-day trip to Washington, New York and Virginia beginning Monday is a carefully choreographed diplomatic event staged, like all royal visits, at the request of the British government. Starmer resisted pressure to cancel it after Trump belittled the British military’s sacrifices in Afghanistan and criticized him personally for failing to back the U.S. in Iran.

Despite those tensions, Trump has continued to speak warmly about Charles.

“History has shown that President Trump really tries to be impressive whenever he’s dealing with British royalty,” Brinkley said. “And I’m sure it’ll be the same this time around.”

Ever since 1939, when King George VI became the first British monarch to set foot on the soil of the country’s former colony, there’s been a special sort of excitement whenever the royals come to the United States.

Take that first visit, which took place as World War II loomed over Europe. The royals toured the east coast and attended a “picnic” at Roosevelt’s private home in Hyde Park, New York. “King tries hot dog and asks for more,’’ declared the New York Times.

But the big moment was when the royals traveled to Mount Vernon to lay a wreath at the tomb of George Washington, America’s first president. It showed respect at a time of isolationism.

“People could see the handwriting on the wall and know that it was going to be important for the United States and Britain to stay strong for fighting against Hitler,” said Barbara Perry, a presidential scholar at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center.

But bonding over sausages had broader benefits, helping the royals build links to the general public as well as its leadership. After war broke out in September 1939, Queen Elizabeth, the wife of George VI and mother of the future Elizabeth II, wrote to first lady Eleanor Roosevelt to say how moved she'd been by letters from Americans who enclosed small sums for British forces.

“Sometimes, during the last terrible months, we have felt rather lonely in our fight against evil things, but I can honestly say that our hearts have been lightened by the knowledge that friends in America understand what we are fighting for,’’ she wrote.

The queen's connection

Queen Elizabeth II built on those relationships, making four state visits to the U.S. during her 70-year reign. She helped President Gerald R. Ford celebrate America’s bicentennial in 1976 and met with President George W. Bush in 2007 as British and American forces fought in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Smoothing turbulent waters and reminding both sides about their common bonds were what those trips were all about.

Charles’ visit will be no different. It includes a commemoration of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, a ceremony honoring fallen service members and an event to be attended by Queen Camilla to mark the 100th anniversary of Winnie the Pooh stories by British author A.A. Milne.

Awkward events will be avoided.

The royals won’t meet with Jeffrey Epstein's victims, despite calls for the king to address his brother’s links to the convicted sex offender. Nor are there plans for Charles to meet with his son Prince Harry, who has been a critic of the monarchy since giving up royal duties and moving to California.

Those issues aren’t the priority, said Robert Hardman, author of “Elizabeth II: In Private. In Public. The Inside Story.”

“He’s going because 250 years ago the Founding Fathers of the USA kicked out his great-times-five grandfather, and he’s going to say, `No hard feelings, it’s been a great divorce, we’ve had a lovely 250 years and let’s reflect on the high points,’’’ Hardman said. “I mean, there are going to be some very, very large elephants in the room during that visit … but, you know, there are plenty of other things for the king to focus on.”

History, not politics

Charles’ speech to a joint session of Congress offers the chance to deliver the message that long-term friendship is more important than transient disputes.

He is also likely to offer a bit of humor, as his mother did when she faced lawmakers in 1991.

Wearing soft peach amid a sea of gray suits, the diminutive monarch began her remarks with a joke about an earlier blunder at the White House when her lectern was so tall it obscured the audience’s view of her.

“I do hope you can see me today from where you are,’’ she deadpanned.

The chamber erupted in laughter. A standing ovation followed. Then she launched into a speech about democratic values, the rule of law and the Atlantic Alliance.

But Charles will have to offer his own take on those ideas, Brinkley said.

“The theme of the speech is going to be American exceptionalism, American history, the importance of U.S.-British alliance, and some memories from the past,” he said. “But also about the love affair the two countries share with each other, even though it goes over rocky rapids from time to time.”

More than 70,000 people are eligible to vote for municipal government in Deir al-Balah, a central Gaza city that has been damaged by airstrikes but was spared an Israeli ground invasion. The single-city vote is a largely symbolic “pilot," election officials say, part of an effort to politically link Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Palestinians see both as integral to any future path to statehood.

Voters spoke about the near-total absence of public services and said the devastation in Gaza compelled them to participate.

“I came to vote because I have a right to elect members to municipal council so they can provide us with services,” Ashraf Abu Dan said outside his Deir al-Balah polling place.

There and throughout the occupied West Bank, voting will determine the makeup of local councils tasked with overseeing water, roads and electricity. Turnout may reflect the level of public trust in a broader system led by aging leaders in the West Bank and as Gaza prepares for an anticipated transition from Hamas rule.

Some polling places in the West Bank and central Gaza's Deir al-Balah were busy on Saturday, though others were more empty. Election officials reported 24.5% turnout as of 1 p.m.

Voters who turned out said they wanted a say over decision-making in their cities.

“Municipal laws need to be enforced so people feel there’s justice,” Khalid al-Qawasmeh, a voter in the West Bank city of Beitunia, said outside his polling place in the West Bank city Beitunia. His finger was inked blue to mark having voted.

Linking the West Bank and Gaza politically

Though it has not held presidential or legislative elections since 2006, the Palestinian Authority promoted the local races after reforms it enacted last year in response to demands from international backers.

Under the slogan “We Stay,” the Ramallah-based Central Election Commission campaigned to encourage participation and reflect how Palestinians living amid war and occupation want a say in how they're governed.

“We’re talking about geographically linking the West Bank and Gaza Strip,” Rami Hamdallah, the commission's chairman, said.

With Gaza mostly decimated after more than two years of war, the commission chose to hold its first vote in Deir al-Balah but had to improvise because it was unable to conduct traditional voter registration.

Hamdallah said Israel blocked the entry of materials like ballot paper, ballot boxes or ink into Gaza. The commission repurposed material instead, using wooden ballot boxes and blue ink leftover from a vaccination drive last year.

The commission said it did not coordinate directly with either Israel or Hamas ahead of the vote. Associated Press footage showed security officers keeping order outside polling stations. COGAT, the Israeli military body that oversees humanitarian affairs in Gaza, did not respond to questions about blocking materials.

Though Palestinian voter turnout has gradually decreased, it has been relatively high in past local elections by regional standards, averaging between 50% and 60%. By comparison, turnout in recent local elections in Lebanon and Tunisia was under 40% and 12%, respectively.

A thin candidat

e pool

Ninety-year-old President Mahmoud Abbas signed a decree last year reforming elections in line with some demands of Western donors, including allow voting for individuals rather than slates.

In January, another Abbas decree required candidates to accept the program of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the group that leads the Palestinian Authority. The program calls for the recognition of Israel and renouncing armed struggle, effectively sidelining Hamas and other factions.

Campaign posters have been plastered across cities, though many — including Ramallah and Nablus — don't have contested elections.

Slates in major cities are dominated by Fatah, the faction that leads the Palestinian Authority, and independents, some with ties to other factions. However, it’s the first time in six local elections that no faction besides Fatah has put forward its own slate — an absence that analysts say reflects political disillusionment under Abbas and the authority’s aging leadership.

In Qalqilya, a city where no slates registered to participate at all, Marwan Ennabi said elections didn't reflect that Palestinian democracy was thriving. He said he expected more of the same from officials regardless of what happens in any city. The Palestinian Authority will appoint councils in cities without contested races.

“This isn't transparency," he said. "This is chaos, chaos, chaos!”

The Palestinian Authority’s power has withered amid years without peace negotiations and Israel tightening its grip on the occupied West Bank. But it sees local elections as a low-risk way to demonstrate progress on reforms, said Aref Jaffal, director of the al-Marsad Arab World Democracy and Electoral Monitor.

“The PA wants to show it is on the right track on political, financial and administrative reforms, and is using local elections as a symbol of that,” he said.

With the authority incapable of addressing hundreds of new military gates and settler outposts constricting movement in the West Bank, he said councils have taken on greater importance, overseeing local health centers and schools that residents once accessed elsewhere.

Deir al-Balah will be Gaza's first election since 2006

Hamas won parliamentary elections in 2006 and violently seized control of Gaza from the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority a year later. It did not put forward candidates Saturday.

Hamas controls the half of Gaza that Israel withdrew from last year, including Deir al-Balah, but the coastal enclave is preparing to transition to a new governance structure under U.S. President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan.

The plan established an international Board of Peace and a committee of unelected Palestinian experts supposed to operate and govern under it. Progress toward further phases, including disarming Hamas, reconstruction and transferring power, is stalled.

Though elections in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem are regular points of contention between Israel and Palestinian leaders, the Oslo Accords did not include provisions about holding local races there.

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Metz reported from Ramallah, West Bank. Associated Press writers Jalal Bwaitel and Imad Isseid in Ramallah, West Bank, contributed to this report.

The Dolphins’ lone second-round pick Friday (No. 43 overall) was Texas Tech linebacker Jacob Rodriguez.

At 6-foot-1, 231 pounds, Rodriguez, 23, forced 13 fumbles, recovered five and had six interceptions in his career as a Red Raider.

Rodriguez’s seven forced fumbles in the 2025 season tied a single-season NCAA record.

The Hastings, Minnesota native previously played quarterback for the Virginia Cavaliers.

He was voted the 2025 Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and won the 2025 Chuck Bednarik Award, given to the top defensive player in college football.

Rodriguez will join a linebacker group anchored by Jordyn Brooks, who led the Dolphins with 183 tackles last season.

The last time the Dolphins drafted a Texas Tech linebacker, it was Zach Thomas - who eventually earned a place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

As of Friday, the Dolphins’ draft capital includes:

• Round 1, No. 12: Alabama OT Kadyn Proctor (trade with Dallas)

• Round 1, No. 27: San Diego State CB Chris Johnson (trade with San Francisco)

• Round 2, No. 43 Texas Tech LB Jacob Rodriguez

• Round 3, No. 75 Texas Tech WR Caleb Douglas

• Round 3, No. 87: Ohio State TE Will Kacmarek

• Round 3, No. 94: Louisville WR Chris Bell

• Round 4, Nos. 130, 138

• Round 5, Nos. 151, 177 (Dallas), 180 (Dallas)

• Round 7, Nos. 227, 238

The Lakers rallied from a six-point deficit with under 30 seconds remaining and can sweep the series Sunday night in Houston.

“It’s tough to win on the road in the playoffs and even without KD they’re a great basketball team,” coach JJ Redick said. “And that was a huge test for us, especially in that moment when we’re down six.”

Los Angeles opened overtime with a 6-2 run, highlighted by a 3-pointer from Smart to take a 107-103 lead.

Smart made two free throws with 35.5 seconds to go to make it 111-105. Reed Sheppard made a 3-pointer to get Houston within three with less than 30 seconds left in overtime but Smart made 1 of 2 free throws to push the lead to 112-108.

The 41-year-old James played more than 45 minutes Friday night. He said with top scorers Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves out with injuries he has no choice but to do whatever he can.

“Everyone has to do a little bit more because of how much we’re missing,” James said. “It’s a challenge for all of us and just trying to figure it out together.”

Smart added 21 points and 10 assists, and Rui Hachimura added 22 points for the Lakers.

Even with Durant out for a second game in this series — this time with a sprained ankle after missing Game 1 with a knee injury — the Rockets were in position to close out the game after James had consecutive turnovers that Houston turned into a 101-95 lead.

Houston struggled at times to close out games in the fourth quarter and the problem continued Friday night.

“It’s obviously a weakness of ours to close out and finish,” coach Ime Udoka said. “The amount of mistakes or the type of mistakes are egregious and you can’t have those.”

Durant wasn't on the bench Friday night and Udoka said it was because he was receiving treatment on his injured ankle.

Alperen Sengun led the Rockets with 33 points and 16 rebounds. Amen Thompson added 26 points and 11 rebounds.

The Lakers led by 15 early, but were down six before Smart was fouled on a 3-point attempt with 25 seconds to go after a Houston turnover and made all three free throws.

“It was a smart play, and that’s part of my vet savvy, being in the league for 12 years,” Smart said. “I picked up some tricks from some guys, right. So, that helped us a lot.”

James then stole the ball from Sheppard and his 3-pointer tied it at 101-all with 13 seconds to go in the fourth.

Sengun missed a 7-footer and the Lakers had a chance to win, but James' 3-point attempt bounced off the rim to send it to OT.

James, who threw an alley-oop pass to his son Bronny for a basket in the first half, also had 13 rebounds.

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

The Trump administration's campaign of blowing up alleged drug-trafficking vessels in Latin American waters has persisted since early September and killed at least 183 people in total. Other strikes have taken place in the Caribbean Sea.

The military has not provided evidence that any of the vessels were carrying drugs.

The attacks began as the U.S. built up its largest military presence in the region in generations and came months ahead of the raid in January that captured then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. He was brought to New York to face drug trafficking charges and has pleaded not guilty.

In the latest attack Friday, U.S. Southern Command repeated previous statements by saying it had targeted the alleged drug traffickers along known smuggling routes. It posted a video on X showing a boat floating in the water before a explosion left it in flames.

President Donald Trump has said the U.S. is in “armed conflict” with cartels in Latin America and has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States.

Critics, meanwhile, have questioned the overall legality of the boat strikes.

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Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested Lewin, 43, on Thursday and corrections booked him at the Broward County Main Jail in Fort Lauderdale.

Two firefighters and the 65-year-old victim, who is a wheelchair user, reported the attack was during a medical call on Jan. 31 in an ambulance at Northwest 31 Avenue and First Street, records show.

Lewin and the victim got into an argument over a GPS monitor, and the victim used expletives, according to the arrest warrant.

“Lewin instructed both firefighters ... to place [the victim] in the rescue vehicle, where there are no cameras so he can show [the victim] what he does to people,” a detective wrote, according to the arrest warrant.

Once the victim was in a stretcher, Lewin “approached” the victim from behind, grabbed his head, and forcefully struck it against the stretcher" for about 30 seconds, according to the warrant.

Lewin then “lowered the stretcher, pressed his thumbs into the victim’s eyes, and choked the patient” for about 10 seconds, according to the warrant.

The victim, who had initially called 911 for help with shortness of breath, complained of “head, neck, and eye pain, and his eyes appeared bloodshot,” according to the warrant.

Fire rescue personnel took the victim to Broward General Medical Center.

The victim told a BSO detective that he had been “violently manhandled” and said Lewin had placed his thumbs over his eyes and “pushed them down into my skull,” according to the warrant.

During Lewin’s bond court hearing on Friday, the defense told Broward County Circuit Judge Corey B. Friedman that Lewin is “a family man” who had been with BSFR for about 11 years and didn’t have a criminal record.

Lewin faced two counts of third-degree felony battery on a person 65 years of age or older. Friedman set his bond at $50,000.

According to court records, Broward County Circuit Judge Thomas Coleman was set to preside over the case.

Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony released a statement about the case on Friday afternoon.

“The arrest of our fire lieutenant demonstrates our commitment to holding our own accountable for their unlawful actions,” Tony wrote. “The public can rest assured that internal due process will be fair, and any resulting discipline will be appropriate and consistent with policy. I applaud the two firefighters who reported this incident. We will continue to hold each other to the highest standards and serve the public with professionalism.”

Lewin bonded out of jail Friday night.

Read a section of the arrest warrant

Local 10 News Assignment Editor Sofia Mendez and Senior Assignment Editor Frine Gomez contributed to this report.

Skenes (4-1), the NL Cy Young winner, didn’t allow a base runner until Jake Bauers’ sharp single to right with two outs in the seventh. He was vying to become the first pitcher to throw a perfect game in American Family Field, previously known as Miller Park, which opened in 2001. There have been two no-hitters.

Skenes gave up one hit over seven shutout innings. He struck out seven and didn’t walk a batter. He threw 93 pitches — 62 for strikes.

Mason Montgomery and Isaac Mattson completed the one-hitter.

Skenes had another no-hitter close call in Milwaukee on July 11, 2024, when he allowed no hits over seven innings in a 1-0 win. The Brewers’ only hit in that game was Bauers' single off Colin Holderman in the eighth.

Griffin hit a solo shot off Brewers starter Brandon Woodruff (2-1) in the third.

Nick Gonzales’ run-scoring single in the fourth extended the Pittsburgh lead to 2-0. The Pirates added another run in the fifth on Oneil Cruz’s RBI force-out. Ryan O’Hearn doubled and scored on Spencer Horwitz’s single as the Pirates lead grew to 4-0 in the sixth.

Griffin’s two-run single in the eighth put the Pirates up 6-0.

The Brewers made a series of moves prior to the game, recalling first baseman/outfielder Tyler Black and left-hander Shane Drohan from Triple-A Nashville. They also optioned right-hander Carlos Rodriguez to Nashville and designated outfielder Luis Matos for assignment.

Up next

RHP Mitch Keller (2-1, 2.79 ERA) was set to start for Pittsburgh on Saturday against Jacob Misiorowski (1-2, 3.04).

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Despite homers from Trea Turner and Bryce Harper, the two-time reigning NL East champion Phillies dropped 10 1/2 games behind the first-place Braves with the season not even a month old. Atlanta has won nine of 10 for the best record in the majors (19-8).

Ronald Acuña Jr. hit a two-run homer for the Braves, but it was Harris who delivered the biggest hit on a night when it appeared he wouldn't play at all.

Harris was a late scratch from the lineup as a precautionary measure after tightness in his left quad forced him to leave the previous day's victory over Washington.

But when the Braves, trailing 3-2, put two runners aboard with two outs in the sixth against Andrew Painter (1-1), the call went to Harris as a pinch-hitter for Eli White.

After getting ahead 2-0 in the count, Harris pounced on a 96 mph fastball. The ball cleared leaping left fielder Brandon Marsh while Dominic Smith and Mauricio Dubón raced around the bases with the tying and go-ahead runs.

Harris showed no pain at all as he chugged into second base, but he was immediately replaced by pinch-runner Jorge Mateo, who gave the Braves an insurance run by stealing third and coming home on a wild pitch by Painter.

Grant Holmes (2-1) surrendered a two-run homer to Turner in the third inning and a solo shot by Harper leading off the fifth. But he lasted six innings to pick up the win, avoiding further trouble by striking out Kyle Schwarber with the bases loaded to end the fourth.

Robert Suarez earned his third save as a fill-in for injured Atlanta closer Raisel Iglesias, retiring Marsh on a weak grounder to end the game with runners at second and third.

Painter gave up nine hits and all five Braves runs over 5 2-3 innings.

Up next

RHP Zack Wheeler finally makes his season debut for the Phillies on Saturday after coming back from thoracic outlet surgery. The Braves will counter with RHP Bryce Elder (3-1, 1.50 ERA).

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Game 4 is Sunday in Philadelphia.

Tatum was 5 of 9 on 3-pointers in just his 19th game this season following surgery last May to repair his Achilles tendon. Brown scored eight straight points late in the fourth for a 96-92 lead that put some distance between them and a Sixers team brimming with confidence following a surprise Game 2 win in Boston.

“We definitely wanted to come back and respond after dropping one on our home floor,” Brown said. “We can't lose two games in a row in the playoffs. It's tough. So this was a big win for us.”

Tatum and Brown did their part in the fourth, scoring 19 of the Celtics' 29 points.

Tatum buried a 3 for a 100-96 lead and Payton Pritchard hit a step-back 3 to make it 103-98. Tatum, still looking to regain his top form after not playing for nearly a year, may just be there and hit the final 3-point dagger for the 106-100 lead that even sent Allen Iverson headed toward the exit.

Pritchard scored 15 points and the Celtics shot 44% from the floor.

Philadelphia played again without center Joel Embiid for Game 3 as he continues to ease his way back into practice following an appendectomy on April 9.

Tyrese Maxey scored 31 points and Paul George added 18.

“We were in a position to win this game,” Maxey said. "Come in Sunday, got to get one. Got to protect home court and even the series.”

The more games Embiid misses, the more Maxey and VJ Edgecombe have played their way into the faces of the franchise.

Fans were already on their feet when the Sixers brought the ball down in the fourth and roared when Maxey let a 28-footer fly and hit it for an 85-84 lead.

Yet growing pains are inevitable in the playoff process.

Tatum took the lead right back on a goaltending call against Edgecombe. Edgecombe paired his second double-double of the series - 10 points and 10 rebounds — with a brutal 0-for-7 effort from 3-point range. With Boston up 90-85, Edgecombe was whistled for his third foul when he smacked Brown on his way to the bucket. Brown hit both to stretch the lead to seven.

Boston's 32-point Game 1 win stands as the outlier so far of two otherwise fantastic playoff games. What has stayed steady, the team with the 3-point edge wins. Boston hit 16 in Game 1 and the 76ers had the advantage with 19 in Game 2. Led by five each from Tatum and Pritchard, the Celtics made 20 of 47 in Game 3 while the Sixers were just 12 of 35.

“They did make some pretty heavily contested ones, especially late in the game," 76ers coach Nick Nurse said.

The Sixers got only a combined 22 points from Embiid replacements Adem Bona and Andre Drummond.

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Wembanyama — the league’s first unanimous Defensive Player of the Year and one of three finalists for the Most Valuable Player award — went down in the second quarter of Game 2 on Tuesday night and did not return.

Portland went on to win the game 106-103 in San Antonio. The series is tied heading into the third game.

“Victor is not playing tonight. Obviously there's a lot that goes into that, but he's doing well and progressing,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said.

Wembanyama had traveled to Portland with the Spurs on Thursday afternoon while continuing to complete the steps mandated by the league’s concussion protocol. Earlier, he was listed as questionable for Friday’s game.

Johnson said he was going to keep details of Wembanyama’s condition "in-house,” except to say he’s continuing to progress.

Wembanyama was putting up shots at the team’s shootaround Friday morning at the Moda Center.

Johnson said Luke Kornet would get the start against the Trail Blazers in Wembanyama’s absence. Kornet has played in 68 games this season with 25 starts, averaging 6.5 points and 6.1 rebounds.

Players must clear a series of benchmarks before being cleared for play under the concussion protocol. The results are compared to baseline neurological evaluations players take at the start of the season.

Any extended absence by Wembanyama could be a massive blow to San Antonio, which finished with the league’s second-best record behind the versatile 7-foot-4 center from France. They were 12-6 in the regular season without Wembanyama.

Wembanyama averaged 25 points, 11.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists and a league-best 3.1 blocks per game this season. He was also with his teammates on Wednesday evening, when they all donned cowboy hats and surprised teammate Keldon Johnson after he was announced as the league’s Sixth Man of the Year.

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Nick Kurtz, Carlos Cortes and Tyler Soderstrom each hit a ball over the outfield wall — just seven pitches into the game – all off 15-season veteran Nathan Eovaldi.

“Three runs on the board is huge,” said Cortes, who also homered off Eovaldi in the fifth with two runners on. “That guy’s a legend, great pitcher. I just felt good today. Excited to come through in some big situations.”

Kurtz launched Eovaldi’s first-pitch fastball over the right-field wall. Cortes sent another shot to right, and Tyler Soderstrom homered on the first pitch he saw to straight-away center.

“It’s kind of great from pitch one to be able to put a score up on the board,” Kurtz said. “The boys followed up that with two more. It’s pretty cool. We usually get a heater, so I was looking for it, and he threw it in a place where I could hit it.”

It was the first time in franchise history the A’s homered three times in the top of the first inning, according to Elias and Sarah Langs. The last time they homered three times in the first came at home on July 8 last season against the Atlanta Braves.

Eovaldi gave up at least three homers in an inning for the fourth time in 15 big league seasons, the first time since he came to Texas in 2023. He allowed a career-high five to Houston in May 2022, while with the Boston Red Sox.

The 36-year-old right-hander had no trouble with the Athletics’ batting order when he faced them on April 13 in California, shutting them out over seven innings on three hits in an 8-1 Rangers victory. He entered Friday with a career ERA against the A’s of 2.54, his lowest against any opponent he has faced at least six times.

“We’ve had our struggles against him,” Athletics manager Mark Kotsay said. “We came out tonight and got some balls up in the zone. It’s obviously a great start when your leadoff guy hits a homer. There’s a lot of excitement, a lot of momentum.”

“Early on they were really on top of the fastball,” Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said. “First pitch of the game, obviously, their game plan was on the attack, and they executed it.”

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

But the Heisman Trophy winner had been working on making a strong impression long before he arrived in Las Vegas to be formally introduced by the Raiders.

He worked with former quarterback Brian Griese — both attended the same Miami high school — on what his role in the West Coast offense could look like, giving him a head start in preparing for a similar system used by new Raiders coach Klint Kubiak.

“I needed some guidance on how to become the best NFL quarterback,” Mendoza said. “Not just for a pro day or the combine, for September, October, December. With that, we went over some general under-center concepts and installed basic bread-and-butter concepts that any team would have.”

That dedication and mental approach to the game, as well as Mendoza's physical traits, sold management on the idea that he was the quarterback the franchise has long searched for in hopes of returning to the days when the Raiders were regular contenders.

General manager John Spytek marveled at Mendoza's ability to recall plays from even early in the season at Indiana. Spytek didn't have to hit the play button while they watched video before Mendoza not only recognized the play, but explained it in detail. Mendoza also acknowledged those plays that didn't go well and what he might have done differently.

“There was an honesty and a self-awareness to it,” Spytek said. “I’ve been a part of a few other quarterback interviews like that before, but not very many.”

Much has been made of how quickly Mendoza can transition from a college system in which he was in the shotgun nearly every down to an offense in which he will be under center the vast majority of snaps.

“His skill-set fits with any offense in professional football,” Kubiak said. "The No. 1 thing that I love about Fernando is his leadership, the way that he relates to his teammates and his ability to win. We’re looking for a competitor to be our quarterback, and he went 16-0 last year with a heck of a team, and he led that group.”

Mendoza's focus in Las Vegas will be to learn from veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins, whom the Raiders signed earlier this month, and to begin to live up to the expectations of being the first-overall pick. Kubiak and Spytek have talked about how they don't want to throw a rookie right into the starting lineup, but also said the best player will get the job.

Mendoza also has another mission. He is launching the Mendoza Family Fund, contributing $500,000 out of his pocket, to try to find a cure for multiple sclerosis. His mother, Elsa, uses a wheelchair because of MS, but made the cross-country trip with her family to Las Vegas for Mendoza's first full day with the Raiders.

“I believe one of my pillars and my identities is giving back and helping fight MS, giving to the community,” Mendoza said. "So that was a huge part of my identity, and it’s something that our family really wanted to do.”

He credited his mother with helping revive his football career.

Mendoza was mostly overlooked coming out of high school and spent three years at California, redshirting in 2022 and then starting most of the following two seasons. After earning a bachelor's degree in just more than three years, he transferred to Indiana and put together his breakout season as he led the Hoosiers to the national championship.

“My mom always saw more in me than I saw myself at that time, and she essentially pushed me to take a swing at trying to become a great NFL player,” Mendoza said. "That first step was transferring and challenging myself by being in an uncomfortable environment. When you’re uncomfortable, you’re able to grow.

“She said, ‘Hey, if you step to the plate, if you swing and you miss, at least in 20 years you knew you did everything possible to try to accomplish your dream.’ And I stepped to the plate, and luckily enough, I was able to hit a home run last year.”

The Raiders hope there are plenty of long balls left.

Kubiak raved about watching Mendoza at his Indiana pro day on April 1 as he directed his receivers on which routes to run and then delivered on-target passes.

“Then took him upstairs and talked football with him and just listened to him communicate the game and how quickly he picked things up,” Kubiak said. “We already liked how he played the game on film, but seeing him in person was really helpful, and it allowed us to watch film on a lot of other guys. We knew we had the guy.”

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During oral arguments last fall, the Supreme Court appeared poised to strike down Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which has been used to counter racially discriminatory election practices. A decision in the case, Louisiana v. Callais, is expected before the court’s term ends in June.

Overturning Section 2 would give state legislatures and local governments the opportunity to redraw maps while preventing minority voters from challenging ones that dilute their influence.. A decision wiping out a pillar of the 1965 Voting Rights Act could help Republicans gain seats in the U.S. House by eliminating Democratic-leaning districts that are majority Black or Latino, especially in the South. Most of those redraws would not happen in time for this year's midterm elections.

The special session proclamation, signed by Reeves on Thursday, relates to a specific case involving judicial districts for the Mississippi Supreme Court. Last August, a federal judge ordered Mississippi to redraw its Supreme Court electoral map after finding it violated Section 2 by diluting the power of Black voters.

In his proclamation, Reeves wrote that the lack of a ruling in the Louisiana case "deprived the Mississippi Legislature of its undisputed federally recognized right' to remedy the Section 2 violation.

The governor in a social media post said he hoped the Supreme Court "will reaffirm the animating principle that all Americans are created equal.” He said the Legislature will convene the special session 21 days after the Supreme Court issues its ruling in the Louisiana case.

There's still no projected timeline for Lindor's return, but the five-time All-Star will wear a protective boot on his lower left leg for the next week. He will undergo imaging again in three weeks and then be re-evaluated.

Lindor was placed on the 10-day injured list Thursday because of a left calf strain, with manager Carlos Mendoza saying only that the switch-hitter was "going to be down for quite a bit here.”

“We've still got a lot of people looking at this,” Mendoza said before Friday night's game against the Colorado Rockies.

Lindor got hurt while scoring from first base on Francisco Alvarez's double Wednesday night in a 3-2 victory over Minnesota that ended New York's 12-game losing streak.

The injury came just hours after star slugger Juan Soto was reinstated from the IL after missing 15 games with a right calf strain that wasn't as severe as the one sustained by Lindor.

“We've got to see where this is in three weeks and see how the healing goes,” president of baseball operations David Stearns said.

Ronny Mauricio was recalled Thursday from Triple-A Syracuse and he started at shortstop Friday for the second consecutive game.

Soto was the designated hitter for the third game in a row since returning, even though he initially had been slated to play left field Thursday night. Mendoza said keeping Soto at DH allowed him to start three straight games.

“Finding ways to keep his bat in the lineup while we’re not putting him at risk," Mendoza said. "If he needs a day, he needs a day. As much as we need his bat in the lineup, he’s going to get days (off).”

Right-hander Christian Scott was optioned back to Syracuse after a wild outing Thursday against the Twins in his first major league start since undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2024. New York selected the contract of veteran right-handed reliever Carl Edwards Jr. from its top farm club.

Scott issued five walks and lasted only 1 1/3 innings. He also hit a batter with a pitch and committed a balk, but the Mets pulled out a 10-8 victory despite a late mix-up with their bullpen.

Left-hander David Peterson is scheduled to pitch Wednesday night against Washington when that turn in the rotation comes up next — although it could be in a bulk-relief role again, rather than a start.

In another update, Stearns described Jorge Polanco's status as week-to-week, rather than day-to-day. The first baseman and DH is on the 10-day injured list with a bruised right wrist — although he's also dealing with bursitis in his left heel, which has bothered him since very early in the season.

Mendoza said Polanco is feeling better. He is scheduled to undergo more testing this weekend.

Left-handed reliever A.J. Minter remains on target to return in early May from left lat surgery that cut short his 2025 season.

“Injuries are part of this, and injuries to good players are part of this," Stearns said. "We’re certainly not the only team in baseball that deals with this, and we just have to get through it.”

The 12-game skid was New York's longest since August 2002. The Mets won back-to-back games once Soto returned to the lineup, but no team has ever made the playoffs during the same season in which it lost 12 consecutive games.

“I still think we're a good team. I recognize we had a stretch where we did not play good baseball and it cost us, and cost us repeatedly, but I think we're a good team and I think we will show that,” Stearns said.

“Yes, it's a frustrating stretch and we didn't play well. We're also not going to wholesale-change our evaluation of our team over a two-week stretch. This is a long season. Going through a 12-game losing streak is difficult and it's not usual. There's a reason it doesn't happen very often. Even with that, I don't think it should change our overall evaluation of the team — especially this early in the season.”

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The players remained backstage while the 15 other NFL draft prospects in attendance made their way to the stage to hug NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell after being selected in the first round.

McDonald and Hood's time would have to wait until Friday, though not for very long.

The Houston Texans selected McDonald, the burly 6-foot-3, 326-pound defensive tackle from Ohio State with the fourth pick of the second round. Hood, a cornerback from Tennessee, went to the New York Giants with the next selection.

McDonald chose to return to the green room on Friday, though this time he had traded the suit he had on Thursday while walking the red carpet for a far more casual fit. Wearing a black short-sleeved button down shirt, a white T-shirt and a chain, McDonald was visibly shaken as he made the slightly delayed talk toward Goodell.

The commissioner and McDonald embraced for a long moment, the tears streaking down McDonald's face hard to miss.

“It’s emotional man,” McDonald said. “I knew I’m supposed to be here. I’m just so blessed.”

McDonald added he's blessed to join the Texans, who finished last season with the NFL's top-ranked defense and bludgeoned the Pittsburgh Steelers in the opening round of the playoffs.

Asked what he can add to a unit that's already among the league's best, McDonald didn't hesitate.

“Disruptive, making it easier for the (defensive) end,” McDonald said. “We all go to work.”

While McDonald stuck around, Hood did not, opting to head home to Atlanta instead, where Hood said he felt more comfortable because he could be surrounded by even more friends and family.

When Hood's name was called by Goodell, who had former Giants star defensive end Osi Umenyiora at his side, the videoboard behind them merely flashed a picture of Hood wearing Tennessee orange.

“Way to go Colton,” Goodell said before retreating backstage before the next selection.

The distance between the epicenter of the NFL universe this weekend and Atlanta did little to dampen the joy Hood felt when a lifelong dream was realized.

While sitting around on Thursday was disappointing, Hood doesn't view having to wait an additional 24 hours as a bad thing.

“I know God does everything for a reason,” he said. "He was probably preventing me from something, or he has something better in store for me and that being the Giants.”

Hood admitted he was a little surprised he heard from New York. Maybe he shouldn't have been. First-year Giants coach John Harbaugh coached Hood's uncle, former NFL defensive back Roderick Hood, when both were in Philadelphia in the early 2000s.

If anything, what happened on Thursday night just added a significantly large chip to Hood's shoulder.

Asked if the perceived first-round snub is motivation, Hood said "for sure, but I’d say it’s more just wanting to prove the Giants right and just thanking them for taking the chance on me.”

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AP Sports Writer Stephen Whyno contributed to this report.

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The announcement comes amid a national debate over election security and what type of requirements voters should face to show they are qualified to cast a ballot. In Congress, Republicans are pushing a strict proof-of-citizenship proposal for residents to vote, encouraged by President Donald Trump.

The California plan — also backed by Republicans — is being pitched as a common sense idea to strengthen confidence in voting in a vast state with more than 23 million people registered to cast a ballot. State officials said its backers submitted sufficient petition signatures to qualify for the November ballot.

“We already show ID for everyday activities like flying, opening a bank account and picking up prescription medications. Thirty-six other states and many countries around the world already use voter ID,” said state Sen. Tony Strickland, a Republican from Huntington Beach.

“Californians deserve secure, transparent elections,” added Strickland, a proponent of the proposal.

If approved in November in the heavily Democratic state, other provisions would require those who vote through popular mail-in ballots would have to give the last four digits of a government-issued ID, such as a Social Security number.

California is among 14 states and the District of Columbia that do not require voters to show some form of identification at the polls or to register to vote.

While California at times has faced questions from critics about the legitimacy of its vote tallies, research shows voter fraud in the country is rare. Voting by noncitizens has occurred, but reviews of state cases have shown it to be uncommon and typically a mistake rather than an intentional effort to sway an election.

Most California residents vote by mail, and in the pursuit of accuracy, thoroughness and counting every vote, the nation’s most populous state has gained a reputation for tallies that can drag on for weeks — and sometimes longer.

The effort to tighten restrictions on voter registration and mail ballots will come in a critical election year, when Californians will be picking their next governor and with control of Congress on the line.

Opponents argued that such requirements make it more difficult for people to vote, especially the elderly, those with disabilities and those without driver’s licenses.

The president continues to claim that he was not the loser in the 2020 presidential election — and has long falsely said the election was marred by widespread fraud. Trump’s claims were rejected by dozens of judges, including several he appointed. His own attorney general and an exhaustive review by The Associated Press found no evidence of widespread fraud that could have changed the results. Multiple reviews, audits and recounts in the battleground states where Trump disputed his loss confirmed Democrat Joe Biden’s victory, including several overseen by Republican lawmakers.

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Associated Press writer Trân Nguyễn contributed from Sacramento, California.

Dube was in Massachusetts when a fight against an infection triggered his immune system to attack his peripheral nerves.

“I had a cold, that turned into bronchitis, that turned into a respiratory infection,” Dube told WJAR. “I go to the emergency room and they gave me some antibiotics. I came home and started to get some tingling in my fingertips and within a few hours the whole left side of my face started to droop. My wife was worried I was having a stroke.”

An ambulance rushed Dube, 50, to Rhode Island Hospital. He was paralyzed, intubated, and on life support. He could not move or speak for about four months.

“I could only move my feet and my right eye,” Dube said.

During his hospital stay, Dube said he prayed a lot and had a revelation about the time he had wasted living in fear when he was healthy.

“I remember laying in the hospital bed, and my whole life I’ve been petrified to fly. If I was going on vacation right now, I would be anxious about the flight,” Dube said. “I remember thinking, ‘Boy you got robbed. What a waste of a fear, like, that fear you had and now and here you are, you’re going to die in a hospital bed.’”

GBS is usually treated with immunotherapy, such as plasma exchange to remove antibodies, and treatment is most often beneficial when initiated a week or two after symptoms appear.

Dube survived, and his doctors released him from the hospital in 2024. Most people recover. Some have permanent nerve damage.

“I still have tingling in my fingers and weakness in my fingers,” Dube recently said. “My tongue and my lips are paralyzed, which affects my speech.”

Dube had overcome adversity before.

“When I was in my 20s, I had a severe addiction to opioids. I ended up going to a rehab, a Christian rehab, in Brockton. During rehab, I lost my dad to cancer. After I got clean and worked on myself, I pursued a master’s degree and half a doctorate degree,” Dube said. “I became a lead pastor in 2009.”

Dube said that after he was released from the hospital in 2024, he still couldn’t lift his arms or walk. As his health improved, he set new goals.

His son-in-law, a flight instructor at Alpha One Flight School in Plymouth, Massachusetts, helped him to become a pilot. His first flight was on Sept. 15, 2024.

“I’ve had 27 since, and I love it,” Dube said. “Before I got in the plane, I’m like, ‘Give me the book, I want to read it, I want to understand how these heavy objects stay in the sky.”

Dube said he is very grateful. His goals also include finishing his doctoral degree and writing a book.

“Everything I’m doing now, at one point, I couldn’t do.”

His message: “Life is a gift and you don’t know what can happen the next day, and so be grateful, be grateful for the moment and embrace it. I tell people I’m in the bonus round, I didn’t think I was going to be here. I’m not afraid to die because as a Christian my life isn’t my life, it’s His.”

Here is a list of symptoms of GBS

• Weakness and tingling in the hands and feet
• Shortness of breath when lying flat
• Weakness in the legs and upper body
• Unsteady walk
• Trouble with facial movements, including speaking, chewing, or swallowing
• Double vision
• Severe pain that may feel achy, shooting, or cramp-like
• Trouble with bladder control or bowel function

Sources: The U.S. CDC, The Mayo Clinic and the World Health Organization

Local 10 News Digital Journalist Andrea Torres contributed to this report.

“We barely missed a shot,” Matt Fitzpatrick said. “We’re in good stead going into the weekend for sure.”

Smalley and Springer, having tied the tournament record with a 58 in better-ball play in the opening round, had a 70 to get to 16-under 128.

“We scrambled pretty well and hung in there,” Springer said. “We kind of picked each other up where we needed to and made the putt where we needed to.”

The third round Saturday will tee off with nine teams within two shots of the leaders — a pair 29-year-old Americans who are winless on the tour.

Matt Fitzpatrick, ranked third in the world after edging world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler in a playoff in the RBC Heritage last weekend, highlighted his round with a chip-in birdie on the par-5 18th.

Alex, a European tour regular, made four of the tandem's six birdie putts, the longest from more than 17 feet. He credited his older brother, a 2022 US Open winner known for a meticulous green-reading routine that includes dropping into a near-prone position for a ground-level view.

“I didn’t feel like I did much. (Matt) read the putts for me, and I just keep listening to him, and they go in,” Alex said. “It’s much easier having somebody who reads the greens very well by your side.”

Shane Lowry and Brooks Koepka missed the cut by a stroke despite combining for five birdies. They were done in by bogeys on a pair of par 3s: Nos. 3 and 17.

Koepka had a 5-footer for par on No. 3 and slid it 3 feet past, after which he pounded the bottom of his putter into his palm. Lowry, a 2024 Zurich winner with Rory McIlroy, narrowly missed a birdie putt from inside 10 feet on their closing hole — the par-3 ninth — and disgustedly slapped his right hand on the side of his leg.

The format switches to better ball Saturday, as it was in Thursday, and returns to alternate shot Sunday.

Billy Horschel — the only player to win the Zurich in both single-player and team formats — sank a 19-foot birdie putt on 18 to briefly pull himself and teammate Tome Hoge into a first-place tie at 15 under.

“This tournament does mean a lot to me. I’ve created a lot of special relationships with the fans here,” Horschel said. “It’s nice that we’re in a good position going into the weekend to do something special.”

Moments after Horschel's putt, Tony Finau missed a birdie chance on the same green from within six feet that would have seen him and Max Greyserman through. Instead, they finished with a 135, one stroke below the cut line.

Americans Davis Thompson and Austin Eckroat also were tied for second after a second-round 70.

Five teams were tied at 130 in the PGA Tour's only team event: Matt McCarty and Mac Meissner; Doug Ghim and Jeffrey Kang; Nick Dunlap and Gordon Sargent; Kristoffer Reitan and Kris Ventura; and Sam Stevens and Zac Bouchou.

Other higher-profile teams in striking distance included Aaron Rai and Sahith Theegala at 132, and 2023 US Open winner Wyndham Clark and Taylor Moore at 133.

Defending Zurich champs Ben Griffin and Andrew Novak narrowly made the cut at 134. They were in trouble after Novak missed a 5-foot par putt on 17 to drop them to 9-under. But Novak redeemed himself with a 281-yard shot from the 18th fairway that set Griffin up for an eagle putt from the back fringe. Griffin rolled his ball to 16 inches and Novak sank the do-or-die bridie putt, smiling in relief as it went in.

Koepka — in his first season back on the PGA Tour after four years with LIV Golf — needed a good showing to earn his first exemption for a signature event. He'll likely be left out of the field next week at Trump National Doral in Miami, unless he gets in as an alternate.

The Fitzpatricks are playing together a fourth straight year in New Orleans and the Englishmen have been in form lately. Matt Fitzpatrick has won twice since March and Alex won his first European tour title at the Hero Indian Open last month.

When the second-round ended, Alex — who could earn a career-changing, two-and-a-half-year PGA Tour exemption with a win, was looking forward to his preferred New Orleans meal at Mr. B's Bistro in the French Quarter: garlic truffle fries, roasted garlic chicken with orzo pasta and a warm white chocolate brownie.

“I don't even need to look at the menu,” he said.

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

Korda has made only one bogey through 36 holes at Memorial Park, missing a 3-foot putt on the sixth hole after a nifty chip from below the green.

Otherwise, the two-time major champion has been practically flawless in reaching 14-under 130 that makes her appear to be playing a different course.

“I'm comfortable with my game," Korda said. "I think where I’m the most comfortable is definitely with my mindset of knowing when I mess up I’ll figure it out. Sometimes I think you get stuck in wanting to play well and wanting to be at the top always that you have this tension of not wanting to make a mistake.

“I think there is a power in knowing it’s OK to make a mistake and just bounce back.”

Patty Tavatanakit had another bogey-free round with a 69. Another shot behind were Ina Yoon (68), Ryan O'Toole (68) and Texas junior Farah O'Keefe (69), one of five amateurs to make the cut.

O'Keefe didn't get her invitation to The Chevron until after the Augusta National Women's Amateur three weeks ago, and she's making the most of it. She played bogey-free in the second round, though she only managed one birdie on the par 5s.

But her scrambling saved her, and the 20-year-old didn't seem all that fazed by Korda on the verge of running away with this major.

“I compared it to Rory (McIlroy) at the Masters. You never know what can happen in golf,” O'Keefe said, referring to McIlroy losing a six-shot lead on the weekend at the Masters before going on to win for the second straight time.

“There is so much random out there that you can get a bad break and it’s just kind of that thing,” she said. “My dad and I called it that golf is a staring contest and all you have to do is not blink first. So I’m just trying not to blink. Just trying to keep playing my game, and whatever that ends up at the end of the week is where it ends up.”

Korda, however, has hit her stride again. She won the season opener in a weather-shortened event, and has played in the final group in all four of her tournaments.

She looks calm and poised, and there is power.

Korda began her great closing stretch with a 3-wood into the wind from 221 yards that landed in the perfect spot to roll out 15 feet beyond the hole, leaving an eagle putt that grazed the right edge of the cup.

She missed an 8-foot birdie chance on the par-5 16th, and then finished with a flourish — a 7-iron that danced around the cup and settle 10 feet away for birdie, and then a 9-iron that again scared the hole and left her 4 feet for her 15 birdie in 36 holes.

It was the lowest 36-hole score in her career in the majors, and the third-best 36-hole score in LPGA majors behind Jeongeun Lee6 (127), Brooke Henderson (128) and In Gee Chun (129), all at the Evian Championship, the tournament in France the LPGA chose to designate as a major in 2013.

For for all the birdies, some of the pars were the best example of Korda showing great patience and smarts in taking on some deceptively tough pins on the heavily contoured greens.

One example was the par-3 15th, a left pin with a steep slope falling off to the left. Lilia Vu went over the edge, her pitch over the slope was too strong and it rolled 45 feet away. Korda went for the fat of the green, leaving a 30-foot putt she lagged to tap-in range.

“I’m just hitting it in the spots that I want to, missing it into the spots that I want to,” Korda said. “If there is a tucked pin and it’s kind of stupid, I would rather give myself a longer lag putt and give myself the best opportunity for par. That’s kind of the way we been playing the past two days, not taking kind of stupid risks.”

She also played away from the pin on the 13th, tucked to the right with another massive slope. Korda watched defending champion Mao Saigo roll a 45-foot past the cup and down off the green. She lagged hers to 2 feet for a simple par.

“We’re going to go after the ones we can and where we have to play back and miss in the right spots, that’s kind of what I’m doing,” she said. “I think overall everything is really flowing.”

Her shot into the 17th might be an indication of where Korda is going as she tries to reclaim her spot atop the world ranking.

She was waiting in the fairway as Jeeno Thitikul in the group ahead ran a long birdie putt some 12 feet by the hole and missed that coming back for a bogey that led to a 73, meaning the No. 1 player in women's golf missed the cut.

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

Union leaders said 90% voted to approve the deal struck between the Writers Guild of America West, Writers Guild of America East and Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. Studios will now shift to negotiations with actors and directors.

Leaders of the unions emphasized gains in health coverage.

“In the face of industry contraction and runaway health care cost inflation, writers were able to secure a contract that returns our Health Fund to a sustainable path and builds on gains from the 2023 strike,” WGA West President Michele Mulroney said in a statement.

Guild leaders said the deal also includes minimum pay hikes, especially for comedy and variety writers, with more money in residuals for the re-airing of their work.

The AMPTP congratulated the union on the ratification.

“This deal reflects a collaborative approach that supports both writers and the industry’s long-term stability,” it said in its own statement.

An April 4 tentative agreement came about three weeks after negotiations began — a stark contrast to the contentious contract negotiation that along with an actors strike brought the industry to a standstill in 2023.

The Writers Guild has had its own labor struggles with its staff, whose strike brought the cancellation of their annual awards ceremony in March.

Actors, through their union SAG-AFTRA, are still negotiating their new contract. The groups have negotiated for about a month and are set to resume Monday after a break.

SAG-AFTRA President Sean Astin said in a February interview with The Associated Press that he has seen signs that the studios want “to work as partners again."

The Directors Guild begins its contract talks May 11.

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The incident occurred on April 11 during the Baynanza beach and bay cleanup attended by hundreds. Weinsier was attempting to question Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava about more than $60 million in taxpayer funds spent on electric buses that were later taken out of service.

Video of the encounter shows a man in plain clothes, later identified as MDSO Deputy Lester Aguilar, physically intervening as questions were being asked.

Aguilar did not verbally identify himself as a law enforcement officer and had no visible badge or credentials during the initial interaction.

The confrontation has drawn scrutiny from legal experts and organizations that monitor press freedom and government transparency.

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, a nonprofit that provides legal support to journalists and advocates for First Amendment rights, called the incident troubling.

Jennifer Nelson, an attorney with the organization, said, “Threatening to jail a journalist attempting to interview an elected official at a public event is an egregious infringement on basic First Amendment rights. This kind of on the ground reporting is a fundamental part of providing communities with information about important issues, and incidents like this one risk deterring other reporters from asking questions of government leaders.”

The incident is also drawing national attention. Jennifer Dunham, a contributing reporter for the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, which documents press freedom violations across the United States, is reporting on what happened.

The Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Project at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications also weighed in. The project focuses on open government laws, public records access, and transparency issues.

David Cuillier, director of the Brechner Freedom of Information Project, said he was disturbed after reviewing the video.

“I watched the video and was horrified. This is PR spin gone wild, and unfortunately, we are seeing more and more of this across the nation,” Cuillier said. “This never should have happened, irrespective of the law and basic fundamentals of basic constitutional rights and liberty.”

Cuillier said the incident reflects a broader trend of government message control limiting access to information.

“In my research, I have found that government message control continues to restrict more and more information from the public,” he said. “In many cases, policies punishing government employees from speaking to the press are flat out unconstitutional, yet they continue to be employed.”

He added that increasing secrecy poses long term concerns for public access.

“Government secrecy continues to spread and close off information to the public. Today, if you ask the federal government for a public record you will get it only one out of ten times. What happens when it gets to zero?”

Cuillier also emphasized the importance of public accountability.

“No doubt they are operating with good intentions, but the public should push back and demand more open, accountable government. It is essential for our Republic, if we are to keep it,” he said.

Weinsier also shared the video with First Amendment attorney Thomas Julin, who has more than three decades of experience handling free speech cases.

“I see you’re just standing there with the microphone asking a question,” Julin said. “You weren’t threatening the mayor in any way. You were simply asking a question.”

“He’s not wearing any indications that he is a law enforcement officer. You don’t know who this guy is,” Julin said.

“It’s an infringement of your First Amendment rights to ask a public official a question,” Julin added.

The confrontation followed weeks of unanswered interview requests to the mayor’s office regarding the electric bus program.

Local 10 News has also submitted a public records request seeking the MDSO policies governing how plainclothes officers are expected to identify themselves when interacting with the public. That request remains unanswered.

MDSO officials have confirmed that the agency’s Professional Compliance Bureau has opened an internal affairs investigation into the incident. The agency says it cannot comment further while that investigation is ongoing.

Following the incident at Haulover Park, Levine Cava did agree to answer questions regarding the bus program.

Press freedom advocates say the situation underscores the importance of clear rules governing interactions between law enforcement, public officials, and journalists in public spaces.

The investigation into both the confrontation and the taxpayer-funded bus program is ongoing.

Even when he's ailing, he still finds a way to come up with the biggest hit of the game.

After being scratched from the lineup because of tightness in his left quad, Harris delivered as a pinch-hitter against the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday night.

Harris drove a two-run double against the wall in left-center off Andrew Painter to lead the Braves to a 5-3 victory, handing the Phillies their 10th straight loss.

“He's really feeling it right now," manager Walt Weiss said. “We've seen him like this before, but this might be another level."

Harris left the previous day’s victory at Washington in the seventh inning, and the Braves decided to play it safe by not starting him in the opener of a weekend series against the struggling Phillies.

But with Atlanta trailing 3-2, two runners aboard and two outs in the sixth inning, Weiss decided to send Harris up against fading Phillies starter Andrew Painter.

One could hardly blame the manager. Harris is off to a blistering start for the first-place Braves, hitting .326 with six homers and 18 RBIs.

“If the situation showed itself, I was going to use him,” Weiss said. "That was probably the only time we could guarantee he was gonna face a right-handed pitcher. With a couple of guys on and two outs, we took a shot right there. Mikey was ready. He had been swinging in the cage. He was ready for that moment and got a huge hit for us.”

Harris had faced Painter just last weekend in Philadelphia. He homered in a 4-2 victory that completed a three-game sweep.

“I kind of knew what he had,” Harris said. “I just went up there and tried to put a good swing on it.”

Harris looked just fine as he jogged into second base. He didn’t even feel his quad as he watched the ball sail over the head of leaping Brandon Marsh in left field.

“I couldn’t even tell you” if it was hurting, Harris said. “I was worried about the ball getting down.”

Even so, he was immediately replaced by pinch-runner Jorge Mateo, who stole third and came home for an insurance run on a wild pitch by Painter.

It's been quite a season — on and off the field — for Harris. He and his wife, Esther, welcomed their first child two weeks ago, a boy named Michael Harris III. He's known as Trip, which is short for triple.

“It's pretty good,” Harris said, breaking into a big smile when asked what it was like to a new father.

The NL rookie of the year in 2022, Harris struggled mightily to regain the form he showed in that debut season. But he started to turns things around in the second half of 2025, and that momentum has carried through the first month of this campaign.

Asked to explain his turnaround, Harris replied, “I don't think I can, and that's the best thing about it. Just let it happen. I can't really figure out what's going right and what's was going wrong before. I just know what feels good and trying to stay this way.”

The Braves have nine of 10 for the best record in the majors at 19-8. Most notably, they already have a 10 1/2-game lead over the two-time reigning NL East champion Phillies with the season not yet a month old.

“We can't take that for granted," Harris said. “We've got to keep our foot on their necks.”

Harris' status is day to day. The Braves hope he'll be back in the lineup Saturday, but they're not taking any chances.

“We're gonna be cautious," Weiss said. “That soft-tissue stuff can be tricky. We want to use good judgment here.”

Besides, Harris showed he can do plenty of damage with just one swing.

“He’s the GOAT,” said Braves starter Grant Holmes, who picked up the win off Harris' big blow. "It’s crazy. It’s like every time he’s up there, he gets a hit. He’s coming through big time for the guys.”

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

Saturday gets off to a mostly dry start. As temperatures march toward the mid 80s, few showers or a thunderstorm or two could pop over inland areas.

Sunday starts with ample sunshine. Scattered, afternoon storms will be possible. Indeed, it will be a warm day with temperatures expected to make a run for the mid and upper 80s.

The grand entrance for the development will be right at the end of Southwest 97th Street and Calusa Club Drive. It will be near an area a bird nesting ground that so many fought to protect.

It’s on what used to be a golf course inside the Calusa Country Club community in West Kendall.

After seven years of pushback from groups and residents the Miami-Dade County Commission gave the developer the green light.

“I guess it’s difficult to be so passionate,” Amanda Prieto, who led the residents in fighting the development, said. “But then to have something of this scale built in its place is sad.”

The developer was pressed by activists and some commissioners to make concessions.

The original plan envisioned 1,300 homes. Instead, will now build just over 500.

“We’re glad that once again, (commissioners) saw their way to approving this community and providing more housing for Miami-Dade County,” Richard Norwalk, a GL Homes executive, said.

And while concerns of traffic remain, the project will bring some improvements including three lane extensions and a traffic light.

And the line of homes will now be built at 330 feet ― instead of just 100 feet ― from the area now a designated protected nesting site for birds.

Prieto says it was worth the fight.

“We made a difference,” she said.

The developer has not shared what the homes will cost. In the meantime, Prieto said she and her attorney are weighing their options.

Police say the clip shows a red sports car and a marked Homestead police vehicle stopped at a traffic light. The driver of the sports car recorded the interaction using a 360-degree camera mounted on the back of the vehicle.

In the video, there appears to be a brief verbal exchange between the driver and the officer. The driver claimed the officer asked, “if I wanna run it,” suggesting a race. The driver wrote in a caption that they initially thought the officer was joking, but then the patrol car sped off. The sports car attempts to follow but cannot keep up.

“The biggest reason we put out the press release is to make sure that not everyone paints the picture that this is what the Homestead Police Department does,” said Oscar Roque, the department’s public information officer.

Homestead police say Internal Affairs is now investigating the incident, including who was behind the wheel of the patrol car.

Roque said he does not have details on whether the officer or the driver has been identified.

“At this moment, I’m not privy to that information because our professional compliance bureau replies directly to the chief, and once the chief gets all the information and makes a decision as to who, what, when, where, why and outcome when it comes to that situation,” he said.

There is no timeline for when the investigation will be complete. The department says appropriate action will be taken based on the findings and that updates will be provided once a conclusion is reached.

“Not the Iranians,” Bessent told The Associated Press. "We have the blockade, and there’s no oil coming out.”

"And we think in the next two, three days, they’re going to have to start shuttering production, which will be very bad for their wells.”

Bessent's statements come as the world is on edge over the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran, and global energy markets have been ensnarled by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

The U.S. originally issued a waiver for Russian oil sales and petroleum products in March with the intent of stabilizing global energy markets after crude oil prices surged above $100 per barrel.

The Treasury Department renewed the waiver two days after Bessent said at the White House that he had no plans to extend the sanctions relief.

In an AP interview about the impact of the U.S.-Israeli war on the global energy market and other topics, the U.S. treasury secretary explained his previous change of heart and ruled out the notion of renewing sanctions waivers for both Russia and Iran.

Bessent said during the World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings last week, “More than 10 of the most vulnerable and poorest countries came to me and said, ‘Can you help?” Bessent said.

"It was for those vulnerable and poor countries. But I wouldn’t imagine that we’d have another extension. I think the Russian oil on the water has been largely sucked up.”

In a post on Substack on Friday, Jake Reiner shares his sweetest memories of the beloved Hollywood director and the photographer and philanthropist who was his wife for 36 years. And he describes the horror of losing them when they were stabbed to death on Dec. 14 in the Los Angeles home he grew up in. It is his first detailed public account of his experience. He had previously only issued brief joint statements with his sister.

“Nothing can prepare you for what it feels like to lose both parents instantly at the same time,” Jake Reiner writes. “It’s too devastating to comprehend. I still wake up every morning having to convince myself that, no, it’s not a dream. This truly is my living nightmare.”

The long post makes only two fleeting mentions of his younger brother Nick Reiner, who has been charged with killing their parents, and he does not use Nick's name.

“Sure, any loss of a parent is devastating, but nothing compares to losing both of them at the same time and, on top of that, having your brother be at the center of it,” Jake Reiner writes toward the end of the post.

He also says, switching to the present tense, that the "love they have for me, my brother, and my sister is truly unconditional.”

Jake Reiner writes that he was at a memorial service for one of his best friends when he got the news.

“I received a call from my sister Romy telling me our father was dead,” he says. “Minutes later, she called back telling me our mother was also dead.”

He says his parents “were robbed of so many things that day" and that it “simultaneously breaks my heart and enrages me."

He writes that he cannot stop thinking of how frightened they must have been in their final moments.

But much of the piece invokes fond memories.

“The way my dad presented himself in the public eye was exactly the beautiful person he was at home,” Jake Reiner writes. “He was authentic, passionate, and his sense of humor has always been my sense of humor.”

The two especially connected over baseball.

“We loved the Dodgers more than anything,” he writes. “We went to so many damn games.”

He calls his mother "the engine, the backbone, and the heart of our entire family. And not just our immediate family. She was the reason behind why we spent time with our extended family too.”

“My mom was really funny and constantly complained about how nobody in the family thought she was,” he writes.

Rob and Michele Reiner had three children together: Jake, Nick and Romy. Rob Reiner was also father to Tracy, a daughter with his previous wife, Penny Marshall.

Jake Reiner writes that Romy, who was the first family member at the scene of the killings, will tell her own story when the time is right.

Nick Reiner has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder. His next court appearance will be at a pretrial hearing Wednesday. Authorities have said nothing about possible motives and have withheld most details about the deaths.

Rob Reiner was a prolific director whose work included some of the most memorable and endlessly watchable movies of the 1980s and ’90s. Friends and colleagues, including Billy Crystal, paid him an extended tribute at this year's Oscars.

His credits included “This is Spinal Tap,” “Stand By Me,” “A Few Good Men” and “When Harry Met Sally…,” during the production of which he met photographer Michele Singer. They wed soon after and were married for 36 years.

The odds of Kevin Warsh becoming chair by the time Jerome Powell's term ends May 15 shot higher Friday when U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., Jeanine Pirro, said she would drop her probe into Powell over his testimony last summer about the Fed’s costly building renovations.

But should he be confirmed, Warsh will still face several hurdles to reducing rates, including rising gas prices that are pushing up inflation, questions about his political independence, and 11 other Fed policymakers who have a vote on the decision, with most of them not ready to cut.

At a Senate hearing Tuesday, Warsh pledged to be independent from White House pressure, but said relatively little about the direction he would take rates. While economists say he was likely just being cautious, he missed a chance to lay out an argument for rate cuts.

“Warsh’s stated outlook is much more consistent with an extended hold than additional cuts,” Aditya Bhave, head of U.S. economics at BofA Securities, wrote in a client note.

Trump, meanwhile, has kept up the pressure. When asked last week on Fox Business whether he still expects interest rates to decline, Trump said, “when Kevin gets in, I do ... interest rates should be much lower.”

Here's what you need to know about Warsh and what he will face as next Fed chair:

Rising inflation will make it harder to cut rates

Warsh, who was a member of the Fed's governing board from 2006 to 2011, regularly argued for rate cuts last year as he sought Trump's nomination to replace Powell. But since being named in late January, he has kept quiet, and hasn't made any public comments since the Iran war started Feb. 28.

The war has pushed up oil and gas prices, which caused inflation to spike to a two-year high of 3.3% in March, above the Fed's target of 2%. The Fed typically keeps its short-term rate — currently at about 3.6% — elevated to combat inflation, or even raises it.

The Fed reduces its rate to spur more spending and hiring, and earlier this year several Fed officials worried that a slowdown in job gains demonstrated that the rate was too high. But in recent weeks there are signs the job market may be stabilizing, possibly undercutting the need for a rate reduction.

Christopher Waller, a Fed governor who voted in favor of a rate cut in January, last week expressed concerns that rising inflation could mean the Fed would have to stand pat. He also suggested that with the unemployment rate a still-low 4.3%, rate cuts might not be necessary.

And Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said last week that if the Fed wanted “to wait for some clarity” before cutting rates, "I understand that,” a statement widely seen as providing some cover for Warsh to keep rates unchanged for at least a few months.

For now, Wall Street investors see little chance for a rate cut until October 2027, according to futures pricing.

Certainly, if inflation cools in the coming months and unemployment worsens, more Fed officials could end up supporting a rate cut. The economy has been volatile for the past year, at times looking healthy and other times anemic.

Warsh is just one of 12 voters at the Fed

Another challenge for Warsh is that he will be just one of 12 voters on the Fed's rate-setting committee, which meets eight times a year to decide on where to set its overnight interest rate. Most have indicated in recent speeches or votes that they are reluctant to lower borrowing costs with inflation as high as it is. The committee voted 11-1 to keep rates unchanged in March.

Next week, at a meeting likely to be Powell's last, the committee is widely expected to keep rates where they are.

Stephen Miran, a governor Trump appointed last September, was the only official to vote for a rate cut in March and has voted to cut rates at every meeting he has attended. But Warsh will replace Miran. Another governor Trump named in his first term, Michelle Bowman, has also occasionally dissented in favor of a rate cut.

But there is a larger faction on the committee that wants the Fed to start considering the possibility of hiking rates, rather than cutting them, at upcoming meetings, according to minutes of their March gathering.

Members of the Fed's board typically seek to support the chair, former Fed officials say. But rarely can a chair single-handedly and quickly swing an entire committee in his or her direction.

Jon Faust, an economist at Johns Hopkins and former adviser to Powell, said that the last time a chair was able to achieve something close to that was in the late 1990s, when then-chair Alan Greenspan famously persuaded the rest of the committee that rising productivity from the Internet would prevent inflation from taking off, and so the Fed didn't need to raise rates.

Yet that was after Greenspan had been chair for several years and had built support on the committee, Faust said.

“Warsh comes in with essentially none of the gravitas that Greenspan had,” Faust said. “Instead, Warsh comes in with the baggage that Trump has really loaded on him. It’s not Warsh’s fault, but Trump has led to legitimate questions about whether he’ll act independently.”

One way to establish independence would be for Warsh to not cut rates right away, economists have said.

Warsh didn't make a big case for cuts

In his remarks at Tuesday's hearing, Warsh acknowledged that “we have a short window to try to bring inflation back down to where it should be,” which some economists said sounded more like an argument for rate hikes, rather than cuts.

Warsh also said that the job market is essentially at what the Fed considers “maximum employment,” or the lowest the unemployment rate can go before it starts to push up inflation. That also suggests the Fed doesn't need to cut to boost hiring.

Before being nominated, Warsh had often argued that artificial intelligence would accelerate growth and make the economy more efficient. Similar to the Internet, he often said, it would allow the Fed to reduce interest rates without worrying about inflation.

At his hearing, Warsh repeated his claim about AI, but added, “we don't know that, we can't bank on that,” which struck many economists as a step back from his previous stance.

Warsh's views "didn't have a lot of clarity going in,” Claudia Sahm, chief economist at New Century Advisers and a former Fed economist, said. “And then he muddied the waters. There were so few specifics.”

Baton Rouge Police Chief TJ Morse said the shooting Thursday at the Mall of Louisiana was not a random act and seemed to be driven by “social media beefs and maybe gang-related stuff," adding that the investigation was ongoing.

“We know that this was two groups of people that met up at the mall, exchanged words and then pulled guns and innocent people were hit,” Morse said.

The chief spoke at a news conference alongside Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, who vowed to crack down on gang violence in the capital city and said he had spoken with FBI Director Kash Patel. The Republican governor promised to use state, local and federal resources to address the issue and that consequences "are going to start being felt immediately.”

Landry said he was asking all levels and sectors of law enforcement to “prepare for a targeted warrant sweep” for anyone connected to the mall shooting. He said it would focus on the “neighborhoods that these individuals came out of" without naming specific parts of the city.

“We are not going to allow our streets, our schools and our public spaces to become your battleground,” Landry said. “Those who brought this violence into our public spaces and into the lives of our ordinary citizens, I want you to know you are now the criminal problem and we are focused on you.”

Shoppers and workers inside mall fled and hid for cover as shots rang out at in the food court. Morse said that two officers on duty at the mall ran toward the gunfire without hesitation and rendered aid. Their quick action helped save lives, he said.

Hundreds of police officers — some wearing tactical gear and carrying long riffles — descended on the mall.

Authorities say Martha Odom, a 17-year-old high school student from Lafayette, died in the shooting. Odom was visiting the mall with friends for her “senior skip day,” The Advocate reported. Two other high school students from Odom's school, Ascension Episcopal School, were among the injured.

In a social media post by the school, Odom was described as “a joyful presence whose kindness and infectious enthusiasm brought light to all who knew her.”

Five people were initially taken into custody following the shooting but later released. A 17-year-old was arrested Friday after turning himself in, Morse said. The teen has been charged with first-degree murder, five counts of attempted first-degree murder and a count of illegal use of a weapon.

Under recently enacted Louisiana law, 17-year-olds are treated as adults in the state's criminal justice system.

The deadly shooting is the second high-profile case of gun violence in Louisiana this week. A father fatally shot eight children, including seven of his own, in an attack on his family Sunday morning that stretched across two houses in a Shreveport neighborhood, police said. Two women, including the gunman’s wife who was the mother of their children, were critically wounded.

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“It was a lot of mail. I didn’t know you could take that much mail,” neighbor Tyler Berry said.

According to Davie police, the group used a master U.S. Postal Service key and a coordinated plan to target mailboxes at the Shalimar Apartment Complex off South University Road.

Investigators say the suspects unlocked and emptied mailboxes, stuffing stolen mail into large garbage bags before leaving.

Residents believe the thefts began late last year and escalated during the holidays and peak tax season.

“That’s very crazy. I didn’t think something like that actually happened,” said victim Aja Angus.

Angus said she realized she had been affected after ordering a credit card that never arrived.

“I ordered a credit card and I realized someone took that credit card and tried to use it at one of the AT&T’s down the street. Then when I heard, I was like, ‘oh, that’s probably what happened,’” she said.

Other neighbors said they noticed large amounts of missing mail, even if they weren’t personally targeted.

“They didn’t steal any of my mail personally, but they took a lot of people’s mail,” Berry said.

Police say surveillance footage helped investigators identify patterns and develop leads. On April 7, authorities say the suspects returned to the mail room -- and officers were ready.

When police moved in, investigators say the suspects tried to flee. The driver of the getaway car hit an exit gate before crashing into a Davie police patrol vehicle.

“To see that I was actually affected by it, as well, I was like, ‘that’s an insane thing to happen,’” Angus said.

Police say the stolen mail from that incident was recovered. It remains unclear how the suspects obtained the master key.

With the arrests, neighbors say they finally have some peace of mind.

“I’m glad. I’m happy,” Angus said. “I work hard, and for things like that to happen, it sucks.”

“Era mucho correo. No sabía que se podía llevar tanto correo”, dijo el vecino Tyler Berry.

Según la policía de Davie, el grupo utilizaba una llave maestra del Servicio Postal de Estados Unidos y un plan coordinado para atacar buzones en el complejo de apartamentos Shalimar, en South University Road.

Los investigadores dicen que los sospechosos abrían y vaciaban los buzones, metiendo el correo robado en grandes bolsas de basura antes de irse.

Los residentes creen que los robos comenzaron a finales del año pasado y aumentaron durante las fiestas y la temporada alta de impuestos.

“Eso es una locura. No pensé que algo así realmente pasara”, dijo la víctima Aja Angus.

Angus dijo que se dio cuenta de que había sido afectada después de pedir una tarjeta de crédito que nunca llegó.

“Pedí una tarjeta de crédito y me di cuenta de que alguien tomó esa tarjeta e intentó usarla en uno de los AT&T más abajo en la calle. Entonces cuando escuché, dije, ‘oh, eso probablemente fue lo que pasó’”, dijo.

Otros vecinos dijeron que notaron grandes cantidades de correo desaparecido, incluso si no fueron afectados directamente.

“No robaron mi correo personalmente, pero se llevaron el de mucha gente”, dijo Berry.

La policía dijo que las imágenes de vigilancia ayudaron a los investigadores a identificar patrones y desarrollar pistas. El 7 de abril, las autoridades dicen que los sospechosos regresaron a la sala de correo, y los agentes estaban listos.

Cuando la policía intervino, los investigadores dicen que los sospechosos intentaron huir. El conductor del vehículo de escape chocó contra una reja de salida antes de estrellarse contra una patrulla de la policía de Davie.

“Ver que yo también fui afectada, dije, ‘eso es algo increíble que pase’”, dijo Angus.

La policía dijo que el correo robado de ese incidente fue recuperado. No está claro cómo los sospechosos obtuvieron la llave maestra.

Con los arrestos, los vecinos dicen que finalmente tienen algo de tranquilidad.

“Me alegra. Estoy feliz”, dijo Angus. “Trabajo duro, y que pasen cosas así, es horrible”.

Según la portavoz de la policía de Miramar, Janice McIntosh, los agentes respondieron alrededor de las 2 a.m. a una llamada inicial sobre un robo cerca de Pembroke Road y Hiatus Road.

McIntosh dijo que esa llamada luego fue actualizada a una balacera mientras los investigadores trabajaban para reconstruir lo ocurrido.

La policía dijo que una mujer fue encontrada con una herida de bala y fue trasladada a un hospital.

Los investigadores dicen que un hombre que vive en el apartamento fue quien disparó, pero el motivo sigue sin estar claro.

“En este momento, todavía estamos tratando de averiguar exactamente qué ocurrió”, dijo McIntosh. “Las dos personas involucradas se conocían, y obviamente una persona recibió un disparo. La persona que fue baleada ha sido trasladada, y el otro individuo está siendo interrogado, pero está cooperando plenamente con la policía”.

Las autoridades dijeron que ambos individuos se conocían y podrían haber tenido una relación casual.

Indicaron que el hombre ha sido detenido para ser interrogado, pero no está claro si enfrentará cargos. Ninguno de los dos ha sido identificado por la policía.

La policía continúa investigando mientras los vecinos despertaron con una fuerte presencia policial y una parte del complejo acordonada con cinta de escena del crimen.

La balacera reportada ha dejado a muchos residentes con temor.

“Vivo al lado, así que da bastante miedo escuchar esto sabiendo que tengo un niño de cinco años”, dijo la residente Karina Barajas.

Cualquier persona con información sobre la balacera debe llamar a Broward Crime Stoppers al 305-471-8477.

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According to Miramar police spokesperson Janice McIntosh, officers responded around 2 a.m. to an initial call about a robbery near Pembroke Road and Hiatus Road.

McIntosh said that call was later updated to a shooting as investigators worked to piece together what happened.

Police said a woman was found with a gunshot wound and was taken to a hospital.

Investigators say a man who lives at the apartment pulled the trigger, but the motive remains unclear.

“Right now, we’re still trying to find out exactly what happened,” McIntosh said. “The two persons involved were known to each other, and so obviously one person was shot. The one who was shot has been transported, and the other individual is being questioned, but he is fully cooperating with the police.”

Authorities said the two individuals knew each other and may have been in a casual relationship.

They said the man has been taken into custody for questioning, but it remains unclear whether he will face charges. Neither individual has been identified by police.

Police continue to investigate as neighbors woke up to a heavy law enforcement presence and a portion of the complex taped off with crime scene tape.

The reported shooting has left many residents in fear.

“I live next door so that’s pretty scary to hear knowing I have a five year old,’ said tenant Karina Barajas.

Anyone with information on the shooting is urged to call Broward Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.

France will remain as NASCAR's chairman and his majority ownership stake will not change.

O'Donnell will be the first person outside the France family to hold the CEO title of NASCAR. Bill France Sr. founded the United States' most popular racing series in 1948 and always had a family member in the top role prior to the changes expected to be announced at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama on Saturday.

Ben Kennedy, France's great-nephew, will be promoted to chief operating officer.

Jim France had been chairman and CEO of NASCAR since the 2019 resignation of his nephew, Brian.

France took a hardline stance in negotiations for the 2025 revenue-sharing agreement, triggering an anti-trust lawsuit by Michael Jordan's 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports. The sides reached a settlement in December that granted NASCAR teams the permanent charters they had sought.

France was soft spoken, needed several questions repeated and struggled to remember several topics during his first day of testimony in the anti-trust trial before a stronger second day.

NASCAR Commissioner Steve Phelps resigned earlier this year after inflammatory texts he sent during contentious revenue-sharing negotiations were revealed during the trial.

___

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

Un grupo de perros se involucró en una pelea alrededor de las 9:30 a.m. en el área de Northwest 11th Avenue y Seventh Street en la zona de Homes Beautiful Park.

Uno de los dueños de los perros estaba armado con un arma de fuego y disparó a cuatro perros, incluidos dos que murieron en la escena de la pelea, según la policía.

Un segundo dueño de perro sufrió una mordedura mientras intentaba separar la pelea, y personal de Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue respondió para atenderlo, según la policía.

Oficiales de la Unidad de Crímenes contra Animales del Departamento de Policía de Fort Lauderdale respondieron para investigar el incidente.

La editora de asignaciones de Local 10 News, Mercedes Cevallos, y la editora sénior de asignaciones, Frine Gomez, contribuyeron a este informe.

Ubicación

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After the opening night of the 2026 NFL Draft, Sullivan said both players stood out because of their traits, upside and fit within Miami’s long-term plans.

“He’s unique. He’s rare,” Sullivan said of Proctor. “He’s a 350-pound man with unique athletic traits that can play four spots across the line of scrimmage — left tackle, right tackle, both guards. The athletic traits for a man his size are through the roof.”

Proctor, 20, is 6-foot-7 and 359 pounds and is expected to compete for a starting role on the Dolphins’ offensive line. Sullivan said the team was fully aware of concerns about Proctor’s weight but felt confident after extensive evaluation.

“We did our due diligence with our resources. We feel really good about where he is at,” Sullivan said. “We brought him in on a 30 visit. I could feel his conviction and his desire to be a good football player and do the things that he needs to do to be the best pro that he can be.”

Sullivan added that Proctor’s versatility made him too valuable to pass on.

“There wasn’t another one in the draft like him, period,” he said.

While some observers projected Miami could target other top prospects, including Ohio State safety Caleb Downs or local defensive lineman Rueben Bain Jr., Sullivan said the Dolphins never wavered.

“Downs and Bain are marvelous players,” Sullivan said. “But we had a lot of conviction on Proctor being a very unique player in this draft and one that we can build around for years.”

Sully on why he selected Kadyn Proctor over Rueben Bain Jr. and Caleb Downs: pic.twitter.com/CHk8Cl3agW

— Ryan Mackey (@RyanMackeyWPLG) April 24, 2026

Sullivan also said protecting quarterback Malik Willis was part of the long-term vision.

“We invested in Malik, and it was important for us to protect him,” he said. “We feel really good about what we invested in tonight.”

Later in the first round, Miami traded up three spots to select Johnson, a 6-foot, 193-pound cornerback who broke out at San Diego State with elite production and ball skills.

“When you watch Chris, he’s got great feet, great balance and body control,” Sullivan said. “He’s physical. He’s a big corner. He can play nickel, play outside corner. He’s got ball skills.”

Johnson, 21, finished his college career with 13 passes defended, four interceptions and two pick-sixes in his senior season, earning All-American honors and Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year.

Sullivan said Johnson’s athletic testing helped confirm what the Dolphins already believed.

“You watched him play in the fall, and then he ran real fast and jumped real high,” Sullivan said. “It just gives you peace of mind. Not only is the film really good, but all the traits in the world that you could want in a guy who has to cover players at this level, he’s got them.”

Sullivan emphasized that both selections reflected organizational alignment between scouts, coaches and analytics.

“When you have conviction on a player, organizational conviction, I think you have to listen to that,” he said. “At the end of the day, the buck stops with me.”

Miami entered the night with multiple trade scenarios in play but ended with two first-round picks and additional assets, a result Sullivan said the team felt strongly about.

“We started the day with 11 picks, we’ve got 11 now,” he said. “We stayed whole. We feel really good about it.”

Sullivan acknowledged that every draft brings scrutiny but said the Dolphins are confident in their process.

“I understand the questions, that’s just the way this business goes,” he said. “But we really like what we did tonight.”

As of Friday, the Dolphins’ draft capital includes:

• Round 1, pick 12: Alabama OT Kadyn Proctor

• Round 1, pick 27: San Diego State cornerback Chris Johnson (trade with San Francisco)

• Round 2: No. 43

• Round 3: Nos. 75, 87, 94

• Round 4: Nos. 130, 138

• Round 5: Nos. 151, 177 (Dallas), 180 (Dallas)

• Round 7: Nos. 227, 238

Miami traded its sixth-round pick to the New York Giants in exchange for tight end Darren Waller.

The 2026 NFL Draft continues Friday at 7 p.m. ET for Rounds 2 and 3.

Tras la primera noche del Draft de la NFL 2026, Sullivan dijo que ambos jugadores destacaron por sus cualidades, potencial y encaje dentro de los planes a largo plazo de Miami.

“Es único. Es raro”, dijo Sullivan sobre Proctor. “Es un hombre de 350 libras con cualidades atléticas únicas que puede jugar en cuatro posiciones a lo largo de la línea de golpeo: tackle izquierdo, tackle derecho, ambos guardias. Las cualidades atléticas para un hombre de su tamaño están por las nubes”.

Proctor, de 20 años, mide 6 pies 7 pulgadas y pesa 359 libras y se espera que compita por un puesto titular en la línea ofensiva de los Dolphins. Sullivan dijo que el equipo estaba plenamente consciente de las preocupaciones sobre el peso de Proctor, pero se sentía confiado tras una evaluación exhaustiva.

“Hicimos nuestra debida diligencia con nuestros recursos. Nos sentimos muy bien sobre dónde está”, dijo Sullivan. “Lo trajimos para una visita de 30. Pude sentir su convicción y su deseo de ser un buen jugador de fútbol americano y hacer las cosas que necesita para ser el mejor profesional que pueda ser”.

Sullivan agregó que la versatilidad de Proctor lo hacía demasiado valioso para dejarlo pasar.

“No había otro como él en el draft, punto”, dijo.

Aunque algunos observadores proyectaban que Miami podría apuntar a otros prospectos destacados, incluidos el safety de Ohio State Caleb Downs o el liniero defensivo local Rueben Bain Jr., Sullivan dijo que los Dolphins nunca dudaron.

“Downs y Bain son jugadores maravillosos”, dijo Sullivan. “Pero teníamos mucha convicción en que Proctor es un jugador muy único en este draft y uno sobre el que podemos construir durante años”.

Sully on why he selected Kadyn Proctor over Rueben Bain Jr. and Caleb Downs: pic.twitter.com/CHk8Cl3agW

— Ryan Mackey (@RyanMackeyWPLG) April 24, 2026

Sullivan también dijo que proteger al mariscal de campo Malik Willis era parte de la visión a largo plazo.

“Invertimos en Malik, y era importante para nosotros protegerlo”, dijo. “Nos sentimos muy bien con lo que invertimos esta noche”.

Más tarde en la primera ronda, Miami subió tres posiciones para seleccionar a Johnson, un esquinero de 6 pies y 193 libras que destacó en San Diego State con producción de élite y habilidades para el balón.

“Cuando ves a Chris, tiene grandes pies, gran equilibrio y control corporal”, dijo Sullivan. “Es físico. Es un esquinero grande. Puede jugar nickel, jugar como esquinero exterior. Tiene habilidades para el balón”.

Johnson, de 21 años, terminó su carrera universitaria con 13 pases defendidos, cuatro intercepciones y dos touchdowns tras intercepción en su temporada senior, obteniendo honores All-American y el premio al Jugador Defensivo del Año de la Mountain West.

Sullivan dijo que las pruebas atléticas de Johnson ayudaron a confirmar lo que los Dolphins ya creían.

“Lo viste jugar en el otoño, y luego corrió muy rápido y saltó muy alto”, dijo Sullivan. “Simplemente te da tranquilidad. No solo el video es muy bueno, sino que tiene todas las cualidades que podrías querer en un jugador que tiene que cubrir a jugadores a este nivel”.

Sullivan enfatizó que ambas selecciones reflejan alineación organizacional entre cazatalentos, entrenadores y análisis.

“Cuando tienes convicción en un jugador, convicción organizacional, creo que tienes que escuchar eso”, dijo. “Al final del día, la responsabilidad recae en mí”.

Miami llegó a la noche con múltiples escenarios de intercambio en juego, pero terminó con dos selecciones de primera ronda y activos adicionales, un resultado con el que Sullivan dijo que el equipo se siente muy satisfecho.

“Empezamos el día con 11 selecciones, tenemos 11 ahora”, dijo. “Nos mantuvimos completos. Nos sentimos muy bien al respecto”.

Sullivan reconoció que cada draft genera escrutinio, pero dijo que los Dolphins confían en su proceso.

“Entiendo las preguntas, así es como funciona este negocio”, dijo. “Pero realmente nos gusta lo que hicimos esta noche”.

Hasta el viernes, el capital de draft de los Dolphins incluye:

• Ronda 1, selección 12: OT de Alabama Kadyn Proctor

• Ronda 1, selección 27: esquinero de San Diego State Chris Johnson (intercambio con San Francisco)

• Ronda 2: No. 43

• Ronda 3: Nos. 75, 87, 94

• Ronda 4: Nos. 130, 138

• Ronda 5: Nos. 151, 177 (Dallas), 180 (Dallas)

• Ronda 7: Nos. 227, 238

Miami intercambió su selección de sexta ronda a los New York Giants a cambio del ala cerrada Darren Waller.

El Draft de la NFL 2026 continúa el viernes a las 7 p.m. ET con las rondas 2 y 3.

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Four unleashed dogs attacked a dog and the dog’s owner at about 9:30 a.m. at Northwest 11th Avenue and Seventh Street in the Homes Beautiful Park area, according to investigators.

The dog owners grabbed a gun and shot the four fighting dogs, and two died at the scene, according to police.

Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue personnel responded to treat a dog owner who was injured while trying to break up the dog fight, according to police.

Police officers with FLPD’s Animal Crimes Unit responded to investigate the incident.

Local 10 News Assignment Editor Mercedes Cevallos and Senior Assignment Editor Frine Gomez contributed to this report.

Location

Japanese radio plays music every morning at 6:30 to accompany basic instructions for calisthenics, and millions perform in the choreography: in parks, workplaces, schools — and at home.

Radio Taiso has an almost 100-year history, formally introduced in 1928 and coinciding with the enthronement of Emperor Hirohito. The tradition endures because the exercises are suitable for all ages and capabilities, and easily accessible.

We're talking about basic exercise movements: reach to the sky to limber up, twist at the torso, bend at the hips, swing the arms and get the shoulders loose, or jump or run in place.

Exercisers can make it as strenuous as they wish, and it's over in just 10 minutes, all done to the rhythm of a soft piano melody. Japan has one of the longest-lived populations on Earth, and this ritual is credited for promoting physical and social well-being.

If you’re interested you can find Radio Taiso routines on YouTube in English and in other languages.

The basic moves for all

There are about a dozen basic moves that can be done standing or seated. The idea is to keep moving and, though the program runs early in the morning, many devotees repeat it on their own later in the day.

The routine features a trio of three-minute segments that get slightly more difficult — but not much. Most Radio Taiso followers know the sequences by heart, but beginners can join in and quickly pick up the routines. No equipment is needed.

The program begins with arms exercises — lifting the arms, circling the arms and stretching the arms side-to-side. It's followed by bending from the waist and twisting at the waist.

Shoulder raises are incorporated with a few mini-jumping exercises and marching-in place moves. Along the way you add in neck exercises, moves to stretch the chest and small squats for leg power.

Each movement is repeated four to eight times with instructions throughout to relax, breathe, and inhale and exhale slowly.

A social event, too

Mieko Kobayashi is 88 and goes to Kiba Park — an expansive layout in the east Tokyo area — almost every day, where a large group gathers without fail.

“If it's cold or raining, I don't go,” she said. “By moving my body, I feel better.”

She and her 77-year-old friend, Yoshiko Nagao, said that some who go to the park daily live alone, and this is an important social anchor — particularly for the elderly.

“Laughing and chatting while taking a walk after (the exercise) is also good,” Nagao added. “We come even on New Year's Day.”

Kenji Iguchi is 83 — he'd pass for 60 — and he's been a regular for about 20 years.

“It's for my joints, mainly the knees and back, because of my age,” Iguchi said.

“I get up a 5 a.m. anyway,” he added. “I come to the park about 6 and do a round of walking ahead of the Radio Taiso session. Most of the faces are familiar, and coming here and getting together with them is also one of the things I look forward to.”

Japan has one of the world's longest-lived populations, attributed to its diet, healthcare system and a lifestyle that encourages the elderly to be active. The average life expectancy is about 85, and only Hong Kong is reported to be slightly higher. By comparison, the United States life expectancy is about 79.

The Japanese government announced late last year that 99,763 people were alive in Japan at 100 or more, a new national record for the 55th straight year. The breakdown was 87,784 female (88%) and 11,979 male (12%). Japan holds the record for the most centenarians relative to its population, which is about 122 million.

American roots

Radio Taiso was inspired a century ago by a similar radio program in the United States sponsored by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. The Japan Radio Taiso Federation says officials of the postal ministry visited the United States in the 1920s and returned to Japan with the concept.

Within a decade, millions were participating. The federation says the program was led by postal workers who distributed pamphlets and organized training sessions.

Japan was under United States occupation after its defeat in 1945 in World War II, and the exercises were banned — largely because they were done in groups. The federation says the practice was seen as “totalitarian" with a possible air of militarism.

The group exercise were resumed in 1951, backed by popular demand as the American occupation ended in 1952.

According to a 2023 survey by the federation, more than 20 million people in Japan practiced a Radio Taiso session at least once a week.

Radio Taiso has caught on in many countries abroad, most notably in Brazil, which has the largest population of people of Japanese decent living outside Japan.

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Mayuko Ono and Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.

___

Follow AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on all aspects of wellness, at https://apnews.com/hub/be-well

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Leaders at the Randazzo School, located at 2300 NW 39th Ave. in Coconut Creek, confirmed that Evan Michael Sands worked at the private school. A statement from the school did not elaborate on what the 26-year-old’s position was, other than describing him as a “staff member.”

A federal criminal complaint states that the investigation into Sands, of Tamarac, began with a tip from the messaging platform Discord.

That tip, sent to the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children and forwarded to the South Florida Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force in December, pertained to two child sexual abuse videos shared through Discord depicting girls who appeared to be 6 years old, authorities said. The videos, they said, were found in Sands’ account.

Federal agents said they applied for a search warrant for Sands’ Discord account in January and got data from the company in March.

“The Discord data revealed that Sands, using the username, astraldrag0n#0, engaged in numerous conversations with children under the age of 18, some under the age of 12, where he solicited the children to send him sexually explicit images and videos of themselves,” the complaint states.

Sands, authorities said, also sent the children explicit videos of himself and identified himself “by name and address and his place of employment.”

They said the search warrant revealed that he was also sending child sexual abuse images and videos through the platform.

According to the complaint, agents executed a search warrant on Sands’ home in the 8100 block of Northwest 105th Avenue on Thursday. They said they also pulled him over after seeing him leave before the raid.

The complaint states that agents searched his phone and saw videos depicting the rape and sexual abuse of children as young as babies.

It states that during an interview, Sands admitted to sending the explicit content on Discord and admitting to enticing children by giving them “Robux,” a virtual currency used on the online game Roblox.

Agents said that Sands “admitted that he believed the youngest minor that he solicited” was 12 and confirmed that he send children explicit videos of himself.

“He estimated his sexual conduct with minors started in 2021,” the complaint states.

Sands now faces two federal charges related to the possession and distribution of child sexual abuse material, as well as one count of enticement of a minor to engage in illicit sexual behavior.

In a statement, Randazzo School administrators said authorities informed them of Sands’ arrest on Thursday and said they were “shocked and saddened by this development.”

They said Sands “will not be returning to our school.”

“We are fully cooperating with law enforcement as their investigation continues,” the statement reads. “The safety and well-being of our students is our highest priority. Based on the information the U.S. Marshals provided, there is no evidence that any of our students were involved or affected.”

Records show he was scheduled to appear in Fort Lauderdale federal court at 11 a.m. Friday.

According to court documents, prosecutors are expected to ask that he be held on pre-trial detention.

As of Friday morning, Sands was being held in the Broward Sheriff’s Office Main Jail facility on behalf of the U.S. Marshals Service.

The executive order, which acting Attorney General Todd Blanche signed Thursday, does not address current penalties for possessing and selling marijuana or those jailed with yearslong sentences.

“While this is a victory, the fight is far from over," said Jason Ortiz, director of strategic initiatives for the Last Prisoner Project, a nonprofit focused on cannabis criminal justice reform.

Proponents of legalizing marijuana as well as overhauling prison sentencing say this order, which does not completely decriminalize the drug, benefits only cannabis researchers, growers and others in Big Weed. Meanwhile, thousands — many of whom are people of color — are stuck serving harsh sentences for marijuana-related offenses. Or they have served their time but having a conviction on their record has made life difficult.

Now, advocates are calling on Congress and state lawmakers to take concrete steps to ensure those with marijuana-related convictions receive fair treatment or be forgiven altogether.

Prisoners and their families look for hope

Blanche's order reclassifies state-licensed medical marijuana as a less-dangerous drug. The major policy shift, which both Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden had considered, means cannabis won’t be grouped with drugs like heroin.

But it does not legalize marijuana for medical or recreational use. It shifts licensed medical marijuana from Schedule I — reserved for drugs without medical use and with high potential for abuse — to the less strictly regulated Schedule III. This will likely give licensed medical marijuana operators and cannabis researchers a major tax break and less stringent barriers to doing normal business.

Virtually no one imprisoned at the federal level is there solely for marijuana possession. But many are there for large-scale possession, trafficking offenses or both.

Hector Ruben McGurk, 66, has been serving life without the possibility of parole since 2007 for transporting thousands of pounds of marijuana and money laundering. He is currently imprisoned in Beaumont, Texas, over 800 miles (1,290 kilometers) from his son's El Paso home. His incarceration has been hard on his son, said McGurk's daughter-in-law, Ferna Anguiano. And the distance makes visits logistically difficult.

So it's tempting to see this order as a glimmer of hope, given that the family believes McGurk's punishment far outweighs his crimes. But Anguiano has no idea how to navigate lobbying for his release.

“His release date is death," Anguiano said. “I mean, we see all this stuff on the news — bigger cases, fatal cases — and people are going in and out of prison and coming out to their families.”

They try to keep in touch through phone calls and a prison texting service. They're concerned about McGurk's health and his diabetes management. It would be a dream come true for him to come home.

“He deserves a second chance,” Anguiano said. “Yes, it was a poor decision he did in his lifetime. He was younger. But he is not a bad person. I think it's fair to say he has served enough time for it.”

It's not clear whether punishments would be different had marijuana always been scheduled differently, drug policy experts say.

“In addition to schedule-specific penalties, there are marijuana-specific penalties that have nothing to do with the schedule,” said Cat Packer, director of drug markets and legal regulation at the nonprofit Drug Policy Alliance. “Even if marijuana were to be moved to Schedule V, those criminal penalties would still exist and there are mandatory minimums for simple possession.”

Racial disparities exist in convictions and Big Weed

Destigmatizing marijuana has long been an issue for both political parties. Obama commuted the sentences of about 1,900 federal prisoners, almost all of whom were incarcerated for nonviolent drug crimes. Biden pardoned 6,500 people convicted of use and simple possession of marijuana on federal lands and in the District of Columbia. President Donald Trump's administration has taken far fewer drug clemency actions and does not have an overarching policy directing such actions.

“What many people on the right and the left would like is to move marijuana from this ‘just as bad as heroin’ category and to just sort of de-schedule it entirely,” said Marta Nelson, director of sentencing reform at the Vera Institute of Justice. “Regulate it like you do alcohol or tobacco.”

Studies show Black Americans are roughly 3.7 to 4 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than white Americans, despite usage rates being roughly the same across racial groups. Federal-level marijuana cases are pretty small today, but those serving sentences for federal drug offenses are overwhelmingly Hispanic and Black, according to Justice Department and Bureau of Justice Statistics data.

The racial disparity with drug convictions is reminiscent of 2010 legislation Obama signed reducing the gap between mandatory sentences for crack cocaine versus powder cocaine. In 2018, Trump made it apply retroactively.

Because business owners with state medical marijuana licenses are predominantly white, the tax relief created by the rescheduling will also likely give a leg-up to mostly white businesses, Packer said. A lot of equity programs won't apply.

“This is going to, in my mind, widen the gap, the financial disparities, the business disparities that currently exist between Black and brown, Latino and white owners in the cannabis industry because licenses were not distributed equitably,” Packer said.

Possible next steps for marijuana convictions

In theory, Trump could issue a blanket pardon like he did for Jan. 6 rioters. But Nelson thinks that is highly doubtful.

“Having marijuana convictions on the record for things like mass immigration enforcement is helpful to the administration,” Nelson said.

An impactful next step would be for Congress to outline very comprehensive legislation addressing existing marijuana-related convictions, expungements and industry regulations, she added.

The Last Prisoner Project and other organizations are planning to renew a dialogue with federal lawmakers, including the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, which includes Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar and Republican Rep. David Joyce. They will also continue to lobby for Trump to conduct a large-scale act of commutation and clemency.

Advocates are also hoping Trump's order will prompt every state to rethink their marijuana classification and penalties.

“It is imperative that every state review their situation, as a lot of their controlled substances at the state level are tied to the federal government,” Ortiz said. “We’re gonna see other states that are going to need a little help from the public to remind them what the right thing to do is.”

En el palacio de Miraflores en Caracas, la presidenta en funciones y Petro encabezaron la firma del Acta Final de la tercera Reunión de la Comisión de Vecindad e Integración Colombo-Venezolana donde se discutieron temas de cooperación en áreas de seguridad fronteriza, asuntos migratorios y consulares, educación, industria, turismo y salud.

Los mandatarios también discutieron formas de profundizar los lazos comerciales y energéticos, que se vieron en su momento afectados por la ruptura de relaciones en 2019. El intercambio, que llego a exhibir la cifra de 7.000 millones de dólares en su mejor momento, se redujo entonces drásticamente a unos 70 millones de dólares.

Con la llegada al poder de Petro —el primer mandatario de izquierda en Colombia— en agosto de 2022, se restablecieron las relaciones diplomáticas y comerciales con Caracas. Su antecesor Iván Duque (2018-2022) tildaba de “dictador” a Maduro.

Desde entonces “hemos venido recuperando el comercio entre nuestros países y hoy podemos decir que "hemos llegado a tener el año pasado un comercio que asciende a los 1.200 millones de dólares”, acotó la mandataria,

Rodríguez además resaltó la decisión de establecer de manera inmediata “mecanismos para compartir información y para el desarrollo de inteligencia".

Venezuela y Colombia comparten una frontera de 2.200 kilómetros en la que bandoleros, narcotraficantes y guerrilleros se valen de lo remoto y desolado de la zona para operar, según las autoridades de ambos países.

Tres días antes, Petro adelantó que entre sus prioridades figuraba abordar la situación de la región fronteriza del Catatumbo, en la cual durante años los narcotraficantes y grupos rebeldes han luchado por el control de ese territorio, una de las principales áreas productoras de coca de Colombia.

La coordinación militar entre ambos países fue fundamental en el pasado para controlar las actividades criminales en la región fronteriza.

En ese sentido, Petro comentó que se habló de “configurar un esfuerzo común, coordinado a fondo para liberar a los pueblos de la frontera de las mafias dedicadas a diversas economías ilegales, comenzando por la cocaína, el oro ilícito, la trata de personas”, entre otros delitos. Esa liberación “implica acción militar, acción policial, acción social”, agregó.

La cooperación energética fue otro elemento clave del encuentro.

El interés de Colombia en el gas venezolano se reavivó en el gobierno de Petro, especialmente desde 2024 cuando se empezó a hablar de un posible déficit de gas. Sin embargo, no se ha concretado por asuntos técnicos en el gasoducto binacional y las sanciones estadounidenses a la estatal Petróleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA).

Colombia tramita con la administración del presidente Donald Trump una licencia de la Oficina de Control de Activos Extranjeros para reactivar los proyectos de gas e interconexión eléctrica. También logró acuerdos con PDVSA para reponer la tubería del gasoducto en el tramo colombiano.

El tema fue parte de la conversación que sostuvo Petro con Trump en febrero. Según el colombiano, hablaron sobre cómo reactivar a Venezuela con la ayuda de Colombia y sobre el papel de Estados Unidos, que a su juicio debería ser “levantar las sanciones” sobre Venezuela.

El gobierno de Trump busca revitalizar la economía venezolana atrayendo inversión extranjera a sus vastos recursos naturales, principalmente el petróleo. Bajo el gobierno de Maduro Venezuela sufrió una profunda crisis económica que empujó a millones a la pobreza y 7,7 millones de personas al exilio.

La reunión se produjo en Caracas luego de que se canceló un encuentro que se había programado inicialmente para el 13 de marzo en la frontera común. Petro había realizado una visita oficial al país en abril de 2024 para reunirse entonces con Maduro.

Maj. Kenneth Chungag, a nurse who lives and works on Fort Belvoir in Virginia, is accused of using his military training and experience to assist the Ambazonia Defense Forces in Cameroon.

Chungag is “greatly dismayed by these charges and looks forward to a timely and just resolution of the matter,” defense attorney Robert Jenkins told The Associated Press in an email Friday.

Chungag, a 50-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen, and co-defendant Mercy Akwi Ombaku were arrested Monday on federal conspiracy charges. A magistrate judge ordered their release from custody after initial court appearances in Alexandria, Virginia. Prosecutors didn’t seek their pretrial detention.

In 2020, Chungag was stationed at Fort Meade in Maryland when he first expressed interest in assisting members of the ADF, according to the FBI affidavit. In online chats with ADF members in Cameroon, Chungag falsely claimed to have combat experience in Iraq but appeared to be embellishing his military background to raise his profile in the group, the affidavit says.

Chungag is accused of plotting with Ombaku, a Maryland resident, to transfer money from the U.S. to Cameroon for the purchase of AK-47 assault rifles. Investigators believe Chungag grew disillusioned and withdrew from the organization in 2024. Later that year, FBI agents questioned him about his ADF-related activities. Investigators believe he tried to destroy incriminating evidence by deleting ADF-related messages from his phone after the FBI contacted him.

Cameroon, with a population of roughly 31 million, has been ruled by Paul Biya since 1982, making him one of Africa’s longest-serving rulers. The ADF is a separatist military organization in southern Cameroon fighting for the Anglophone region to break away from the central African country.

The separatist movement dates back to the early 1960s, when the British Southern Cameroons, a United Nations trust territory previously governed as part of Nigeria’s eastern region, was joined with Cameroon. In 2017, English-speaking separatists launched a rebellion aimed at establishing an independent state. The conflict has killed at least 6,500 people and displaced over 600,000 others, according to the Belgium-based International Crisis Group.

Pope Leo XIV on his recent Africa trip presided over a peace meeting last Thursday with community leaders in one of the two Anglophone regions. During the pope’s visit, separatist groups announced a three-day pause in fighting.

Chungag has worked as a nurse at a Fort Belvoir community hospital, according to a base spokesperson. The spokesperson referred questions about Chungag’s employment status to the medical center, which didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Ombaku, a healthcare worker who also is a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Cameroon, is charged with conspiring with Chungag to financially support the ADF. She denied having any ADF affiliation when the FBI questioned her last July. An attorney for Ombaku, 38, of New Carrollton, Maryland, didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Fort Belvoir is located about 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of Washington along the Potomac River.

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Adetayo reported from Lagos, Nigeria.

Shouldn't TMZ have been in Washington already?

The tabloid gossip site that reinvented Hollywood and celebrity gossip coverage is taking a swing at the nation's capital of late with TMZ DC, deploying staff to confront lawmakers paparazzi-style in Washington and turning to the public to capture candid images of politicians living it up on the road. The push has already created viral moments, including an image of Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., holding a wand at Disney World as chaos gripped airport security lines because of congressional inaction on a funding bill.

On Friday, TMZ put its Beltway foray on display at the Pentagon, with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth calling on the outlet and singling them out as “new members of our press group here” — a subtle dig that mirrored his not-so-subtle campaign criticism of legacy media outlets.

Washington and Hollywood have long had an awkward relationship, with players in each power center harboring insecurities and misunderstandings about the other as politics and entertainment have steadily merged into a single cultural force.

Earlier efforts by TMZ to build a Washington bureau faltered. But this time may prove different.

President Donald Trump’s return to the White House further normalizes a particular brand of celebrity culture in the nation’s capital that made him a tabloid fixture for decades. Moreover, Congress is currently gripped by scandal, with three lawmakers resigning in April alone after varying allegations, which include sexual misconduct and fraud.

Also, Gallup polling released this week found that disapproval of Congress has climbed to 86%, tying the record high. Only 33% of U.S. adults approve of Trump's overall job performance, according to AP-NORC polling released this week. That’s a decline of 9 percentage points since early in Trump’s second term.

Washington's institutions are held in low regard

With Washington's institutions held in such low regard, the bigger surprise may be that TMZ hasn't attempted such a flex here sooner.

“I am legitimately surprised they weren't already there,” said Ana Marie Cox, who wrote the Wonkette blog, which covered Washington with an irreverence that was rare in the early 2000s. “They're actually a little bit late to the game.”

A representative for TMZ did not respond to a request for comment.

TMZ was founded in 2005 and is still run by hard-charging Los Angeles lawyer and media figure Harvey Levin, who has had an off-and-on relationship with Trump. Within a decade, TMZ made its name with a combination of sleazy and sensational celebrity news. Early in its life, TMZ broke stories that included antisemitic statements made by actor Mel Gibson during an arrest and an angry voicemail message left by actor Alec Baldwin to his daughter.

But the site, whose initials reference the 30-mile zone from the historic center of the television and film industry in Los Angeles, really established itself by breaking news of Michael Jackson’s death in 2009 and the drug use that led to it.

Its tactics can cross traditional journalistic boundaries, particularly when it comes to paying sources. Beyond the professional breach involved with such arrangements, the payments could run afoul of congressional ethics rules. Levin has not denied paying for story tips, which is frowned upon by traditional journalism outlets.

And TMZ has also had some high-profile failures, including reports that Beyoncé would perform at the 2024 Democratic National Convention, which didn’t happen.

Some of TMZ's work is being applauded

Yet some of TMZ's early work in Washington is being applauded.

Robert Thompson, a trustee professor of television and popular culture at Syracuse University, said the photo of Graham at Disney World was genuinely newsworthy because it showed lawmakers away from Washington during a political crisis. A representative for Graham didn't respond to a request for comment.

TMZ published images of lawmakers from both parties who left Washington during the recent congressional recess that overlapped with the ongoing Department of Homeland Security shutdown. Beyond Graham, the site published pictures of Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Rep. Robert Garcia of California.

TMZ is not currently credentialed by the congressional press galleries. That limits its Washington coverage to walk-and-talk interviews on the sidewalks outside the Capitol or in the hallways of public office buildings — a feature of its ambush-style celebrity interviews.

Some of the interviews are entertaining for audiences who are in on the bit. In one video this week, Rep. Troy Downing, R-Mont., seemed confused by questions about a party hosted by the gay dating and hookup site Grindr ahead of this weekend's White House Correspondents' Dinner.

“I don't understand,” Downing said. “Are they a media company?”

Others go in unexpected, sometimes touchingly personal, directions. When Rep. Lateefah Simon, D-Calif., was asked how lawmakers celebrate the 4/20 marijuana holiday, she spoke of how the day marked the anniversary of her father's death.

“4/20 is the day that my daddy died,” she said. “My dad was an amazing man in San Francisco. I think about him every single time there's 4/20.”

And sometimes the gotcha nature of the reports backfires. Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., was among the lawmakers whose image was captured away from Washington during the DHS shutdown. He was shown at his son’s basketball game, prompting defense from colleagues, including Republicans, who said he shouldn’t be shamed for being a present father.

At Friday’s briefing, TMZ’s Charlie Cotton eagerly played into Hegseth’s branding of “the Department of War,” and the Trump administration’s claim that the war in Iran is necessary. “Would you consider changing the name again to the Department of Peace since that’s what we’re all after?” Cotton asked.

Hegseth gushed over the “great question” and declared that “the one institution that should win the Nobel Peace Prize every single year is the United States military.”

The long history of the ambush interview

The TMZ approach isn't particularly new. Longtime CBS correspondent Mike Wallace made a habit of the so-called ambush interview, catching unprepared subjects on camera.

Before he broke the news of an extramarital affair that would doom Democrat Gary Hart's 1988 presidential campaign, Tom Fiedler confronted the Colorado senator in a Washington alley. A reporter for the Miami Herald at the time, Fiedler said he “didn't set out to do that.”

“We simply found ourselves in that situation,” he recalled this week. “At that point, we knew that he knew we were there to observe what he was doing. Our feeling was we needed to let him know who we were so he wouldn't think there was, in the worst case, an attempted assassin stalking him.”

Nearly 40 years later, journalism in Washington is drastically different.

The Washington Post cut nearly a third of its staff in February in a brutal blow to the legendary newsroom. Other outlets are growing. The website NOTUS is rebranding as The Star, with ambitions to fill the gap left by the Post, particularly in local and sports coverage.

Cox, the former Wonkette blogger, is now a writer living in Austin, Texas. Reflecting on her time in Washington, she said her goal was to “demystify politics and show that these are people who don't necessarily deserve our respect.”

But she expressed concern about coverage whose tone reinforces the eye-rolling aspects of Washington. If she were starting Wonkette today, she said, “I don't think I'd be as funny.”

“Funny is how we got here,” she said. “Making fun of Donald Trump did not work.”

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AP Media Writer Dave Bauder and Bill Barrow contributed to this report.

At a press gathering April 16, President Donald Trump was asked about “10 missing scientists with access to classified stuff, nuclear material, aerospace, they've all gone missing or turned up dead in the last couple of months" and whether he thought there were ties among them.

“Well, I hope it's random, but we're going to know in the next week and a half, ” Trump said.

Those speculating about the cases suggest that the individuals were targeted, perhaps by global U.S. adversaries, because of the sensitive nature of their work related to topics such as astrophysics, nuclear weapons and pharmaceuticals. But so far no evidence has been found that definitively links them or establishes coordinated foul play.

Jen Golbeck, a professor at the University of Maryland who studies conspiracy theories, said the idea of a sinister connection between tragedies involving scientists is a common trope within conspiracy theory communities.

“There are a lot of people who work for national labs and universities and government research centers and some of them will go missing or commit suicide or die,” she said. “Any year you could take a bunch of those and name them as something sinister if you wanted to."

The path from niche online communities to the mainstream

The deaths and disappearances in question garnered suspicion from online sleuths as they occurred, but it was the disappearance of 68-year-old William “Neil” McCasland, a retired Air Force general, on Feb. 27 that fueled a wider belief that there could be a nefarious connection between these incidents, spurred in part by his high-ranking military work and connection to the UFO community.

Around this time people began pointing to other examples of scientists who had died or gone missing, ultimately going as far back as June 2022.

The Daily Mail published an article on March 22 naming five individuals and reporting that “a chilling pattern has emerged after a string of US scientists died or went missing in recent months.”

On April 15, a question about the missing or dead individuals came up at a White House press briefing and by the next day Trump said he had met with advisers and the issue was being investigated. FBI Director Kash Patel reiterated the importance of looking for connections in these cases Sunday on Fox News. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is conducting its own investigation.

“That’s pretty typical for how a lot of this stuff works, is that there are these fringe online spaces, they start it, it spreads, it gets picked up by ... the more conspiratorial-minded politicians who do have platforms and makes its way onto more mainstream social media and then grabs that attention,” said Golbeck.

Callie Kalny, co-director of the Center of Media Psychology and Social Influence at Northwestern University, agreed that these conspiracy theories are following a familiar pattern of starting in more niche venues before finding their way into the national conversation.

“Once it’s made it to the mainstream and once we experience this repeat exposure to it, it sort of just embeds into our minds as something that maybe we just take as fact or we just take as something that is common knowledge without ever really critically thinking well, where did this come from to begin with? And is there any validity to this?” she said.

Correlation does not imply causation

There are some parallels among the dozen or so individuals at the heart of these conspiracy theories, such as associations with Los Alamos National Laboratory and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and some of those named had specialized knowledge and high-level security clearances. But the list contains many reasons to doubt the claims spreading online.

In some of the cases, investigations had already been conducted, with suspects identified or charged. In others, no connections were apparent or evidence was lacking or not as convincing as it first appeared.

For example, Nuno F.G. Loureiro, a physicist and fusion scientist who was a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is on the list. He was fatally shot on Dec. 15 by Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, who was also responsible for a mass shooting at Brown University days prior. Neves Valente took his own life. A motive has not been established, but the two men knew each other decades earlier as classmates in Portugal studying physics.

Carl Grillmair, an astrophysicist at the California Institute of Technology who discovered water on a distant planet, was fatally shot on Feb. 16, according to local reports. Authorities charged 29-year-old Freddy Snyder with Grillmair’s murder and carjacking. Snyder is being held on a multimillion-dollar bond.

Melissa Casias, then 53, went missing on June 26 in New Mexico. She worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory and while some online assumed she was a scientist there, according to her LinkedIn profile Casias actually worked as an administrative assistant.

As for McCasland, he left home without his phone, prescription glasses and wearable devices, according to the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office. His hiking boots, wallet and a .38 caliber revolver could not be found at the house. There is no evidence indicating foul play and he remains missing.

McCasland’s wife, Susan Wilkerson, wrote in a Facebook post on March 6 responding to online rumors that since his retirement 13 years ago, McCasland “has had only very commonly held clearances” and that “it seems quite unlikely that he was taken to extract very dated secrets from him.” She added that although he “had a brief association with the UFO community,” he does not have any privileged knowledge about aliens.

“In the face of tragedy or uncertainty, people seek patterns and explanations rather than accepting ambiguity or coincidence,” said Donnell Probst, executive director of the National Association for Media Literacy Education. “Narratives suggesting hidden connections or intentional wrongdoing can feel more satisfying than incomplete or evolving information, even without supporting evidence.”

The Richmond school’s board of visitors voted Friday to fund what VCU calls the East Marshall Street Well Project, an effort to right wrongs committed more than a century ago. Construction of the memorial and burial site are expected to start in summer of 2027.

“Years ago, VCU initiated this journey because we recognized a profound obligation to restore the human dignity of the people who were not afforded respect in their physical existence," VCU President Michael Rao said in a story about the effort posted on the school's website. "The East Marshall Street Well Project’s sacred mission is to ensure every life is honored with the permanence and reverence they deserve.”

The circular memorial will feature a “unity chamber” inspired by the Toguna structures of Dogon culture in West Africa. Its design “is intended to encourage humility and thoughtful discussion by purposefully having a low roof to facilitate seated reflection,” said Stephen Davenport, assistant vice president for social and economic development in the VCU Division of Community Engagement and the administrative lead for the project.

Workers in 1994 uncovered a brick-lined well containing human bones during construction of the Kontos Medical Sciences Building on the VCU medical center campus. Sifting through mud, researchers also found hair and skin, as well as remnants of leather shoes and glass bottles.

Based on archival records from the Medical College of Virginia, researchers believe the remains were dumped in the well between the 1840s and 1860s.

“A preliminary anthropological analysis of the recovered human remains showed some postmortem signs of dissection and amputation consistent with anatomical training and surgical procedure practice,” VCU researchers concluded in a paper published this year. “The constant demand for cadavers led to routine grave robbing practices, mainly targeting African American burial grounds, to supply the medical school.”

Archaeologists were given a short time to examine the burial site after the 1994 discovery. Before construction continued, the remains were removed by backhoes and sent to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Initial analysis estimated that a minimum of 44 adults and nine children were recovered from the well.

Interest in the remains was renewed in 2011 after the release of a film by a VCU professor and a separate report by two forensic anthropologists.

DNA study results released in February identified at least 43 distinct adults and three juveniles of “predominantly African heritage,” most likely from Central-West Africa. Several sets of remains bore traces of European ancestry.

Skeletal analysis “provided insight into the heavy labor endured by these individuals during their lives and the disregard for their bodies after death,” the study found.

The use of the bodies of people of African descent for medical research in Europe and the U.S. stretches back centuries. And it was frequently done without the expressed permission or knowledge of descendants.

In 2024, the University of Pennsylvania laid to rest the remains of 19 Black Philadelphians it kept for research, including studies once used to promote white supremacy through racist scientific theories.

The same school also discovered it had the bones of people who died in a 1985 police bombing of the headquarters of a Black liberation group in Philadelphia. City officials had assured the victims' families that they had turned over all of the remains that were collected, according to lawyers who represented the families.

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Associated Press reporters John Raby and Aaron Morrison contributed to this report.

El incidente ocurrió el 11 de abril durante la limpieza de playa y bahía Baynanza, a la que asistieron cientos de personas. Weinsier intentaba cuestionar a la alcaldesa de Miami-Dade, Daniella Levine Cava, sobre más de $60 millones en fondos de contribuyentes gastados en autobuses eléctricos que posteriormente fueron retirados de servicio.

El video del encuentro muestra a un hombre vestido de civil, posteriormente identificado como el agente de la MDSO Lester Aguilar, interviniendo físicamente mientras se realizaban preguntas.

Aguilar no se identificó verbalmente como agente del orden y no tenía una placa o credenciales visibles durante la interacción inicial.

La confrontación ha generado escrutinio por parte de expertos legales y organizaciones que monitorean la libertad de prensa y la transparencia gubernamental.

El Comité de Reporteros por la Libertad de Prensa, una organización sin fines de lucro que brinda apoyo legal a periodistas y defiende los derechos de la Primera Enmienda, calificó el incidente como preocupante.

Jennifer Nelson, abogada de la organización, dijo: “Amenazar con encarcelar a un periodista que intenta entrevistar a un funcionario electo en un evento público es una grave violación de los derechos básicos de la Primera Enmienda. Este tipo de reporteo en el terreno es una parte fundamental de proporcionar a las comunidades información sobre temas importantes, y incidentes como este corren el riesgo de disuadir a otros reporteros de hacer preguntas a los líderes gubernamentales”.

El incidente también está atrayendo atención nacional. Jennifer Dunham, reportera colaboradora del U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, que documenta violaciones a la libertad de prensa en Estados Unidos, está informando sobre lo ocurrido.

El Proyecto de Libertad de Información Joseph L. Brechner de la Facultad de Periodismo y Comunicaciones de la Universidad de Florida también se pronunció. El proyecto se enfoca en leyes de gobierno abierto, acceso a registros públicos y temas de transparencia.

David Cuillier, director del Proyecto de Libertad de Información Brechner, dijo que se sintió perturbado tras revisar el video.

“Vi el video y quedé horrorizado. Esto es manipulación de relaciones públicas fuera de control y, desafortunadamente, estamos viendo cada vez más de esto en todo el país”, dijo Cuillier. “Esto nunca debió haber ocurrido, independientemente de la ley y de los principios básicos de los derechos constitucionales y la libertad”.

Cuillier dijo que el incidente refleja una tendencia más amplia de control del mensaje gubernamental que limita el acceso a la información.

“En mi investigación, he encontrado que el control del mensaje gubernamental continúa restringiendo cada vez más la información al público”, dijo. “En muchos casos, las políticas que castigan a empleados gubernamentales por hablar con la prensa son completamente inconstitucionales, sin embargo continúan aplicándose”.

Agregó que el aumento del secretismo plantea preocupaciones a largo plazo para el acceso público.

“El secretismo gubernamental continúa expandiéndose y cerrando el acceso a la información para el público. Hoy, si le pide un registro público al gobierno federal, lo obtendrá solo una de cada diez veces. ¿Qué sucede cuando llegue a cero?”

Cuillier también enfatizó la importancia de la rendición de cuentas pública.

“No hay duda de que están operando con buenas intenciones, pero el público debe responder y exigir un gobierno más abierto y responsable. Es esencial para nuestra República, si queremos conservarla”, dijo.

Weinsier también compartió el video con el abogado de la Primera Enmienda Thomas Julin, quien tiene más de tres décadas de experiencia manejando casos de libertad de expresión.

“Veo que usted solo está ahí con el micrófono haciendo una pregunta”, dijo Julin. “Usted no estaba amenazando a la alcaldesa de ninguna manera. Simplemente estaba haciendo una pregunta”.

“No está usando ninguna indicación de que es un agente del orden. Usted no sabe quién es este tipo”, dijo Julin.

“Es una violación de sus derechos de la Primera Enmienda hacer una pregunta a un funcionario público”, agregó Julin.

La confrontación ocurrió después de semanas de solicitudes de entrevista sin respuesta a la oficina de la alcaldesa sobre el programa de autobuses eléctricos.

Local 10 News también ha presentado una solicitud de registros públicos buscando las políticas de la MDSO que regulan cómo los agentes vestidos de civil deben identificarse al interactuar con el público. Esa solicitud sigue sin respuesta.

Funcionarios de la MDSO han confirmado que la Oficina de Cumplimiento Profesional de la agencia ha abierto una investigación de asuntos internos sobre el incidente. La agencia dice que no puede comentar más mientras la investigación está en curso.

Tras el incidente en Haulover Park, Levine Cava sí accedió a responder preguntas sobre el programa de autobuses.

Defensores de la libertad de prensa dicen que la situación subraya la importancia de reglas claras que regulen las interacciones entre las fuerzas del orden, los funcionarios públicos y los periodistas en espacios públicos.

La investigación tanto de la confrontación como del programa de autobuses financiado por los contribuyentes continúa en curso.

La detonación ocurrió en las inmediaciones del Cantón Militar Pichincha de la Tercera Brigada, en una acción que fue atribuida preliminarmente por el Ejército a la facción Jaime Martínez de las disidencias de las extintas Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) que no negociaron la paz en 2016.

Imágenes reproducidas por medios colombianos muestran la humareda que provocó la explosión en medio del nerviosismo de militares y civiles que se encuentran en las inmediaciones del lugar.

Un reporte de la institución militar en X indicó que el ataque afectó las instalaciones de la unidad militar sin ocasionar heridos.

Un dispositivo de seguridad fue activado para ubicar a los responsables del “hecho delictivo”, señaló el Ejército que pidió a la ciudadanía denunciar acciones sospechosas. El ataque levantó una ola de rechazo.

“Un acto cobarde contra nuestra fuerza pública”, escribió en X la vicepresidenta Francia Márquez y aseguró que el Estado actuará “con toda firmeza” para dar con los responsables.

El Alcalde de Cali, Alejandro Eder, alertó en declaraciones a la prensa que si bien el acto no dejó víctimas los territorios aledaños a Cali como Jamundí son “victimizados por grupos narcoterroristas” que operan en esa zona considerada estratégica por conectar las zonas de cultivo de hoja de coca y producción. Ofreció una recompensa de 50 millones de pesos (más de 14.000 dólares) por información que permita capturar al responsable.

Según Eder, Cali acumula ocho atentados explosivos que en 2025 dejaron más de una decena de muertos y 150 heridos.

La semana pasada el ejército colombiano informó de la captura de cinco presuntos miembros del grupo residual Jaime Martínez quienes operaban en el departamento del Valle del Cauca al que pertenece Cali.

Los detenidos son considerados “presuntos responsables” de delitos de extorsión, instalación de retenes ilegales y de actividades de presión e intimidación, entre los habitantes de la región, señaló un boletín de la institución.

Las disidencias de las FARC abandonaron en 2024 una mesa de negociación de paz con el gobierno de Gustavo Petro, el primer presidente izquierdista de Colombia.

En esta ocasión, según los informes de arresto, los sospechosos no solo procedían de los condados de Broward y Miami-Dade, sino que uno de ellos venía desde la zona rural del condado de Glades, cerca del lago Okeechobee.

La policía informó que llevó a cabo la operación encubierta en un hotel no revelado con la ayuda del Grupo de Trabajo contra la Trata de Personas de la Fiscalía del Estado de Miami-Dade.

Los detectives publicaron un anuncio en línea haciéndose pasar por la madre de dos niñas de 13 y 15 años, y les dijeron a quienes respondieron que “estaban disponibles para servicios sexuales a cambio de dinero”.

Según los informes, los nueve hombres buscaban tener relaciones sexuales con la joven de 15 años.

La policía identificó a los sospechosos como:

• Jacinto Brito Raymundo, 23 años, del suroeste de Miami-Dade
• Carlos Adrián Flores Rojas, de 27 años, de Miami Gardens
• Mandy González, de 39 años, de Moore Haven
• Oisnel González Rodríguez, de 25 años, de Miami
• Creshawn Akcire Lewis-Starks, de 24 años, de West Park
• Frank Carlos López de la Rosa, 24 años, del oeste de Miami-Dade
• Kalaivanan Murugan, 25 años, de Doral
• Jonathan Lee Testa, de 25 años, del suroeste de Miami-Dade
• Jony Esaú Zeledón Rizo, 33 años, del noroeste de Miami-Dade

La policía señaló específicamente en el informe de arresto de Flores que él “solicitó ser un cliente VIP”.

Según cuentan, tras su detención, le dijo a un detective, en español: “No soy mala persona”.

Todos fueron llevados a prisión acusados ​​de trata de personas y delitos informáticos.

Leer en español

This time, according to arrest reports, the suspects not only came from Broward and Miami-Dade counties, but one came all the way from rural Glades County, near Lake Okeechobee.

Police said they conducted the sting at an undisclosed hotel with the help of the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office Human Trafficking Task Force.

Detectives posted an online advertisement posing as the mother of two girls, aged 13 and 15, and told those responding that they “were available for sexual services in exchange for money.”

According to the reports, all nine men were seeking sex with the 15-year-old.

Police identified the suspects as:

• Jacinto Brito Raymundo, 23, of southwest Miami-Dade
• Carlos Adrian Flores Rojas, 27, of Miami Gardens
• Mandy Gonzalez, 39, of Moore Haven
• Oisnel Gonzalez Rodriguez, 25, of Miami
• Creshawn Akcire Lewis-Starks, 24, of West Park
• Frank Carlos Lopez de la Rosa, 24, of west Miami-Dade
• Kalaivanan Murugan, 25, of Doral
• Jonathan Lee Testa, 25, of southwest Miami-Dade
• Jony Esau Zeledon Rizo, 33, of northwest Miami-Dade

Police specifically noted in Flores’ arrest report that he “requested to be a VIP client.”

They said he told a detective after his arrest, in Spanish, “I am not a bad guy.”

All were taken to jail on human trafficking and computer crimes charges.

The move, announced Friday and first reported by The Associated Press, makes good on Trump's threat to impose secondary sanctions on companies and countries that do business with Iran. It's also part of his Republican administration’s overall ramped-up campaign to cut off Iran’s key source of revenue — its oil exports.

Concurrently, the U.S. this month imposed a physical blockade on the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf waterway that is crucial to global energy supplies.

The sanctions, which cut off the companies from the U.S. financial system and penalize anyone who does business with them, come just a few weeks before President Donald Trump and China's Xi Jinping are due to meet in China.

Included in Friday's sanctions is Hengli Petrochemical’s facility in the port city of Dalian, which has a processing capacity of roughly 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day, making it one of the biggest independent refineries in China.

The Treasury Department says Hengli has received Iranian crude oil shipments since 2023 and has generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for the Iranian military.

The advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran said in February 2025 that Hengli is one of dozens of Chinese purchasers of Iranian oil.

China is the biggest buyer of Iranian oil, importing 80% to 90% of Iranian oil before the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran broke out, though the crude — transported by a shadow fleet of vessels — often has its origin obscured but arrives in China as oil from countries such as Malaysia. Smaller refineries, known as teapot refineries, typically are the buyers of Iranian oil.

Iran has previously said that its demands for ending the war include the lifting of sanctions.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday that his agency “will continue to constrict the network of vessels, intermediaries and buyers Iran relies on to move its oil to global markets.”

Earlier this month, Bessent's department sent a letter to financial institutions in China, Hong Kong, the UAE and Oman threatening to levy secondary sanctions for doing business with Iran and accusing those countries of allowing Iranian illicit activities to flow through their financial institutions.

Bessent said during a White House press briefing on April 15 that the administration has told countries “that if you are buying Iranian oil, that if Iranian money is sitting in your banks, we are now willing to apply secondary sanctions, which is a very stern measure.”

The sanctions come as the global energy trade is in turmoil as war around the Persian Gulf chokes off oil and natural gas shipments, causing prices to soar.

Treasury has tried to quell the impact of rising oil prices issuing temporary sanctions waivers on Russia oil and a one-time waiver on Iranian oil already at sea.

The AP was making efforts to contact Chinese officials for comment on the sanctions.

China has disagreed with previous U.S. sanctions, but its major companies and banks still comply with U.S. sanctions because they are more exposed to the U.S.-dominated financial system.

After the U.S. earlier this month sanctioned a Chinese refinery accused of buying Iranian oil, Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for China’s embassy in Washington, said the use of the sanctions “undermines international trade order and rules, disrupts normal economic and trade exchanges, and infringes upon the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies and individuals.”

The Justice Department is also reauthorizing the use of single-drug lethal injections with pentobarbital that were used to carry out 13 executions during the first Trump administration — more than under any president in modern history. The Biden administration had removed pentobarbital from the federal protocol over concerns about the potential for unnecessary pain and suffering.

The moves were announced as part of a broader push to step up federal executions after a moratorium under the Biden administration. Only three defendants remain on federal death row after Democratic President Joe Biden converted 37 of their sentences to life in prison, though the Trump administration has so far authorized seeking death sentences against 44 defendants.

“The prior administration failed in its duty to protect the American people by refusing to pursue and carry out the ultimate punishment against the most dangerous criminals, including terrorists, child murderers, and cop killers,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement. “Under President Trump’s leadership, the Department of Justice is once again enforcing the law and standing with victims.”

The federal government has not previously included firing squad as a method of execution in its protocols, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Five states currently allow executions by firing squad: Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Utah.

The pentobarbital protocol was adopted by Bill Barr, attorney general during Trump’s first term, to replace a three-drug mix used in the 2000s, the last time federal executions were carried out before Trump's first term in office.

Attorney General Merrick Garland in the final days of the Biden administration withdrew the pentobarbital lethal injection policy after a government review of scientific and medical research found there remains “significant uncertainty" about whether its use causes unnecessary pain and suffering."

In 2020, under Barr's leadership, the Justice Department published a rule in the Federal Register to allow the federal government to conduct executions by lethal injection or use “any other manner prescribed by the law of the state in which the sentence was imposed.”

A number of states allow other methods of execution, including electrocution, inhaling nitrogen gas or death by firing squad.

The Trump administration, in a report released Friday, said the Biden administration “got the standard and the science wrong." The Biden administration's findings, among other things, “failed to address the overwhelming evidence” that an injected with pentobarbital quickly “quickly loses consciousness—rendering him unable to experience pain," the report said.

Currently on death row are are Dylann Roof, who carried out the 2015 racist slayings of nine Black members of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina; 2013 Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev; and Robert Bowers, who fatally shot 11 congregants at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue in 2018, the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S history.

Thornell died Thursday at a hospital in the New Orleans suburb of Metairie from complications from kidney disease, his son, Jay Thornell said Friday.

He worked for the AP from 1964 to 2004 and had a variety of assignments over the years, photographing politicians, natural disasters, crime scenes. But the struggle for racial justice punctuated Thornell’s wire service career from the beginning. He covered the integration of a Mississippi Gulf Coast school on his first day of work for the AP New Orleans bureau.

In June 1966, Thornell, then 26, was assigned to cover a civil rights march led by Meredith, who had already made history by integrating the University of Mississippi in 1962, and was mounting a “March Against Fear” through the state encouraging Black residents to register and vote.

Meredith was walking on U.S. Highway 51 near Hernando, Mississippi, and Thornell and a rival photographer were in a car parked roadside, when the sound of the first shotgun blast sent them scrambling.

One resulting Thornell image remains a sobering photographic reminder of the violent resistance to desegregation. It shows a wounded Meredith grimacing in agony as he dragged himself to the road’s edge. Along with it was the Pulitzer-winning photo Thornell didn’t initially realize he had captured: Meredith is on the ground at the edge of the highway with arms extended and hands on the pavement — it’s unclear if he is still falling or pushing himself up after the fall. His head is turned and he appears to be looking at his would-be assassin, visible at the extreme left of the picture in a weedy ditch.

Meredith was hospitalized and recovered. Aubrey James Norvell, who was apprehended at the scene, pleaded guilty and served 18 months of a five-year prison sentence.

Until he developed the film and pored over the negatives, Thornell believed he might be fired. He feared his competitor had an image of the gunman and he didn’t. Instead of dismissal, Thornell won the Pulitzer in 1967.

Decades chronicling history

Jay Thornell remembered his father as a loving dad, but said he could be “regimented” and “stubborn,” saying that the stress of covering the Civil Rights Movement could sometimes kept Jack Thornell from realizing his own achievements at the time.

“He never really enjoyed or appreciated what he was accomplishing and doing,” Jay Thornell said. “Through his pictures, he was serving the world and exposing things that were going on in places that other parts of the world and country didn’t know about during the Civil Rights era.”

In 1964, Jack Thornell photographed the burned-out station wagon in Neshoba County, Mississippi, that belonged to civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, James Chaney and Andrew Goodman, whose bodies were found buried in an earthen dam weeks after Ku Klux Klansmen abducted and killed them. And Thornell would hurriedly snap a photo of the local sheriff being arrested by federal agents on conspiracy charges in connection with their deaths. Thornell got the shot while backing away as a supporter of the sheriff threatened him with a knife.

Thornell chronicled violence leading up to the integration of schools in Grenada, Mississippi, in 1966. One of his photos showed a Black man covering his ears as he moved away from a cherry bomb tossed by angry white people.

Thornell photographed the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. multiple times, including during the Selma-to-Montgomery march in Alabama in 1965, and demonstrations in support of striking sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1968, the week before King was assassinated there.

Thornell had returned to his home base in New Orleans before King was assassinated, but later was dispatched to Atlanta, where he photographed King’s family viewing the body at Spelman College’s Sisters Chapel.

He was late for that assignment. He said in the 2018 interview that he dashed around another photographer and climbed atop a pew, clambering toward the casket by stepping over pew after pew to get in position to make the picture.

“I was shaken when I left there. I had my eyes on the floor because I knew everyone was looking at me for my despicable behavior,” Thornell said in the interview at his home in Kenner, Louisiana. “But I didn’t leave without the picture.”

Years later, in 1977, King’s assassin, James Earl Ray, escaped from a Tennessee prison. Thornell was on hand when Ray, muddy and haggard, was recaptured.

A photographer by chance

Thornell was born and raised in Vicksburg, Mississippi. His career as a photographer might not have happened but for an Army snafu in the late 1950s, according to a 1967 account in the AP World corporate magazine.

“The U.S. Army had decided to make a radio repairman of him. But at Fort Monmouth, his name got mixed up with that of a camera bug who wanted to attend photographic school. So Thornell, who didn’t know an aperture from a back focus, took the short course in picture-taking while the camera bug learned to fix radios.”

After leaving the Army, Thornell got a job with the Jackson (Miss.) Daily News before he was hired by the AP in New Orleans.

Hired during a turbulent time in the South, Thornell recalled the fear he sometimes felt amid violence and threats. But there was a greater fear than physical harm.

“The greatest fear for me was coming back without the photograph,” he said. “The things that were happening there, you just kind of dealt with it and tried to photograph what was happening, because that was your bread and butter, that was your career. And your success depended on how well you did that day. Because tomorrow there’s always another newspaper coming out.”

But Jay Thornell said that later in life, his father got to survey his achievements without that deadline pressure, enjoying autographing his photos sent to him by others. Jay Thornell said a recent cherished memory is Jack Thornell telling the stories behind some of his famous photos to his granddaughter.

Thornell is survived by his son Jay, his daughter Candy Gros, and a granddaughter.

___

Amy reported from Atlanta.

Zamil Limon’s remains were found on the Howard Frankland bridge Friday morning, but Nahida Bristy is still missing, Hillsborough County Chief Deputy Joseph Maurer said.

Limon’s roommate Hisham Saleh Abugharbeih, 26, was taken into custody at his family's home nearby on preliminary charges that include unlawfully moving a dead body, failure to report a death, tampering with evidence, false imprisonment and battery. He was expected to make a first appearance in court Saturday morning.

“We are still actively searching for Nahida,” Maurer said, appealing to the public to share any useful information. Law enforcement dive teams were searching the bay near the bridge as part of those efforts, the sheriff's office said.

Officers encountered Abugharbeih as they responded to a report of domestic violence at his family's home, just north of the campus, and were able to move his relatives to safety. But then he barricaded himself inside and refused to come out. A SWAT team responded — along with a drone, a robot and crisis negotiators — before Abugarbeih came out with his hands up, apparently wearing nothing but a blue towel.

“This is a deeply disturbing case that has shaken our community and impacted many who were hoping for a safe resolution,” Sheriff Chad Chronister said. “While the discovery of Zamil Limon’s remains is heartbreaking, I want the public to know that our detectives worked and are working tirelessly and relentlessly to uncover the truth.”

Limon and Bristy, both 27, were considering getting married, a relative said. They disappeared from campus on April 16. Limon was last seen at his home in an off-campus apartment complex where he lived with Abugharbeih. Bristy, who lived on campus, was last seen an hour later at a campus science building.

A family friend contacted authorities last Friday after being unable to contact either one, USF police said.

Investigators spoke with Abugharbeih, who is a native-born U.S. citizen, on Thursday, Maurer said, but after initially talking, Abugharbeih chose to end the interview. He said Abugharbeih was speaking with detectives again after his arrest Friday morning.

There are no other suspects in the investigation at this time, Maurer said.

An autopsy is being done on the remains to determine the manner and cause of Limon's death, and those results are expected Saturday morning, he said.

Abugharbeih had been a USF student but was not currently enrolled. University records showed he had attended the school from Spring 2021 through Spring 2023, and had pursued a BS in Management, a university spokesperson said.

Limon was studying geography, environmental science and policy, and Bristy is studying chemical engineering.

Abugharbeih had several previous arrests, the sheriff’s office said. He was charged with battery and burglary of an unoccupied dwelling in September 2023, and with battery that May — both classified in court records as misdemeanors. Court records show Abugharbeih entered into a diversion program for first-time offenders charged with misdemeanors. He completed the program in 2024 and the charges were discontinued. A phone call to his lawyer in that case was not immediately returned.

Hillsborough County Court records also showed two domestic violence petitions filed by a family member in 2023. A judge granted an injunction in one case and denied the other petition. He also was accused of traffic violations.

____ This story has been updated to correct that it was Hillsborough County Chief Deputy Joseph Maurer who spoke Friday morning, not the sheriff.

___ Lauer reported from Philadelphia and Boone reported from Boise, Idaho. Associated Press reporter Michael Schneider in Orlando, Florida, contributed.

The Omni Ride and Fairfax Connector transit buses struck each other shortly before 7:30 a.m., according to a press release from the Pentagon Force Protection Agency. Emergency personnel transported 18 of the injured to local hospitals for further medical evaluation. Five were treated at the scene.

Ten of the 23 injured passengers are from the Defense Department.

The Metro Access Road was closed pending an accident investigation.

The accident altered mass transit operations for several hours. Camera footage from the scene showed the two buses colliding.

The Arlington Fire Department confirmed that the crash occurred and that it responded, but it referred questions to the Pentagon Force Protection Agency, the federal law enforcement agency at the Pentagon.

It was unclear what caused the crash.

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Authorities said Skylee Merino was last seen on Tuesday and has been missing for three days.

Investigators believe she may still be in Florida, possibly in the Coral Springs area, and could also travel to nearby Tamarac.

Authorities say no one has seen or heard from her since she was reported missing earlier this week.

Investigatiors say Skylee is 5 feet 4 inches tall, weighs around 120 pounds, and has brown eyes and black hair.

Anyone with information on her whereabouts is urged to call the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST or the Coral Springs Police Department at 954-344-1800.

Authorities said Skylee Merino was last seen on Tuesday and has been missing for three days.

Investigators believe she may still be in Florida, possibly in the Coral Springs area, and could also travel to nearby Tamarac.

Authorities say no one has seen or heard from her since she was reported missing earlier this week.

Investigatiors say Skylee is 5 feet 4 inches tall, weighs around 120 pounds, and has brown eyes and black hair.

Anyone with information on her whereabouts is urged to call the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST or the Coral Springs Police Department at 954-344-1800.

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The stabbing was on Thursday night in Miami, police said. Donald Hutchinson, Jr., was among the witnesses who saw the victim bleeding in a white car.

Police officers found the victim shortly after 8:20 p.m. on Thursday in the area of Northwest 25 Avenue and 57 Street, according to the Miami Police Department.

“The guy wasn’t moving for about 30, 40 minutes until the ambulance came ... I don’t know what they did, but then he started moving his arm,” Hutchinson said about the victim.

Surveillance video shows the white car. Hutchinson said the driver of the white car told him that he was trying to take him to the hospital himself.

“Passenger car seat was like soaked in blood, full of blood, a lot of blood,” Hutchinson said.

Fire rescue personnel rushed the victim to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center, according to police.

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

Location

Local 10 News Assignment Editors Sofia Mendez and Mercedes Cevallos contributed to this report.

El apuñalamiento ocurrió la noche del jueves en Miami, dijo la policía. Donald Hutchinson Jr. estuvo entre los testigos que vieron a la víctima sangrando dentro de un auto blanco.

Agentes de policía encontraron a la víctima poco después de las 8:20 p.m. del jueves en el área de Northwest 25 Avenue y 57 Street, según el Departamento de Policía de Miami.

“El hombre no se movía durante unos 30, 40 minutos hasta que llegó la ambulancia, no sé qué hicieron, pero luego comenzó a mover el brazo”, dijo Hutchinson sobre la víctima.

Un video de vigilancia muestra el auto blanco. Hutchinson dijo que el conductor del vehículo le dijo que intentaba llevarlo al hospital por su cuenta.

“El asiento del pasajero estaba empapado de sangre, lleno de sangre, mucha sangre”, dijo Hutchinson.

Personal de rescate trasladó a la víctima al Ryder Trauma Center del Jackson Memorial Hospital, según la policía.

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

Ubicación

The U.S. National Science Foundation’s NOIRLab released the latest photo of the popular hat-shaped galaxy on Friday. A telescope in Chile observed it four years ago, but the color imaging was not completed until this week.

Located approximately 30 million light-years away, this spiral galaxy — formally known as Messier 104 — is one of the largest in the constellation Virgo cluster. It’s an estimated 50,000 light-years across. A light year is about 6 trillion miles.

Captured in incredible detail, the galaxy's stellar halo appears to be triple the size of the sombrero itself.

A dark energy camera on the telescope also caught a stream of stars pouring out of the galaxy's southern edge. Scientists believe the stars in this stream, as well as the halo, were ripped from other galaxies in a long-ago collision.

Astronomers discovered the galaxy back in the 1700s.

___

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.