The governor announced the task force will now expand into the Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio and Austin metropolitan areas after what state leaders are calling a successful rollout in Houston.

Greg Abbott expands task force targeting repeat offenders from Houston to other large cities

According to the state, the operation has led to 728 repeat offender arrests, including 455 high-threat offenders.

But before calling the task force a success, KPRC 2 reviewed Houston Police Department crime data to answer a key question: Did crime actually go down in Houston after the task force launched?

HPD data shows violent crime was already falling before October launch

The task force officially launched in the greater Houston area on Oct. 1, 2025.

However, HPD data from April 2025 — months before the task force began — shows violent crime in Houston was already trending downward compared to the same time in 2024.

According to HPD’s Year-to-Date April 2025 crime report:

• Violent crime dropped 14.3%
• Non-violent crime dropped 8.5%
• Total crime dropped 9.7%

The report showed violent crime fell from 8,814 incidents in 2024 to 7,556 incidents in 2025.

Some of the largest decreases involved crimes the task force says it specifically targets.

Which crimes dropped the most in Houston?

HPD data showed:

• Robbery dropped 16.9%
• Aggravated assault dropped 14.5%
• Auto theft dropped 26.8%
• Burglary dropped 11.1%

Murders were the only major category that increased slightly, rising 6.3% from 95 cases to 101 cases through April 2025.

Violent crime not evenly spread across Houston neighborhoods

While crime impacts every part of Houston, the data shows violent crime varies significantly depending on the area of the city.

District B reported highest violent crime total

District B — which includes parts of northeast Houston, Kashmere Gardens and the Fifth Ward area — recorded the highest violent crime total citywide in 2025 with more than 1,100 incidents.

According to HPD data, the district reported:

• 787 aggravated assaults
• 223 robberies
• 13 murders
• 63 sexual assaults
• 23 kidnappings
• 2 human trafficking cases

District E reported lowest violent crime total

District E — which includes Kingwood and the Lake Houston area — reported the lowest violent crime total citywide with 276 incidents.

That district reported:

• 197 aggravated assaults
• 50 robberies
• 2 murders
• 20 sexual assaults
• 7 kidnappings
• 0 human trafficking cases

Questions remain about Houston task force impact

There are still several unanswered questions surrounding the task force and its direct impact on crime in Houston.

KPRC 2 asked DPS and the Governor’s Office:

• How many arrests are specifically tied to Houston and Harris County?
• How many officers are assigned locally?
• Whether violent crime dropped further after the task force launched on Oct. 1?
• Which neighborhoods saw the biggest impact?

DPS directed KPRC 2 to file a public information request for additional details. That request has been submitted.

KPRC 2 will continue following the response and any additional crime data tied to the task force.

Now, the Texans’ absolutely loaded defense will begin the season with a home game against Allen and the Bills on Sept. 13 at Reliant Stadium after sacking him eight times last November in a 23-19 win that was part of their nine-game winning streak.

The Texans have made major investments in their roster, especially on defense (Will Anderson Jr., three years, $150 million as the highest paid non-quarterback in NFL history along with Danielle Hunter, one year, $40.1 million extension, Azeez Al-Shaair, three years, $54 million contract), across the offensive line (Wyatt Teller, two years, $23 million, Braden Smith, two years $25 million, Ed Ingram, three years, $37.5 million, drafting Keylan Rutledge in the first round) and at running back by trading for David Montgomery and signing him to a two-year, $16.5 million extension. The Texans also signed former Philadelphia Eagles safety and team captain Reed Blankenship to a three-year, $24.75 million free agent deal.

Now, they’re looking for immediate dividends. They’re chasing a Super Bowl after losing three consecutive AFC divisional round playoff games under coach DeMeco Ryans and are 0-7 all-time at that stage of the postseason.

“We get paid to do this, it’s our job,” Anderson said. “I think everybody comes in with the right mindset, the right mentality. I think everybody in that locker room knows we have the guys to get it done. So, I don’t think it’s ever a question of like, ‘I got to do this again.’

“It’s like, we get to do this again. I get to go out with the same group of guys again that we had so much success last year. I know we’re going to have even more success this year. We have a great bunch of people in the building that want to see this place succeed, that want to take this place somewhere that it’s never been.”

The Texans are hoping for a resurgent season from quarterback C.J. Stroud, a former NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year who struggled in two playoff games last season with a combined five interceptions and five fumbles, including a career-high four interceptions in a divisional round loss to the New England Patriots.

Stroud is noticeably leaner and has drawn praise from Ryans, ownership and teammates.

“He’s been doing a tremendous job,” running back Woody Marks told KPRC 2 last Sunday. “I’d say he got bigger and stronger. His times when we were running outside, he’s getting faster. I’d say he should be using his leg a lot this year, too.”

The Texans need to get off to faster start than last year when they began the season 0-3 before finishing 12-5 behind a strong finish. Six of their final 10 games are on the road.

The Texans have a lot of travel cumulatively with 28,400 miles for their games, ranking third overall, primarily due to the London game.

That includes likely cold-weather games against the Pittsburgh Steelers, an AFC wild-card playoff rematch on Dec. 6 on NBC on Sunday Night Football, the Washington Commanders on Dec. 13, the Philadelphia Eagles on Dec. 24 in a Thursday Amazon Prime game and at the Green Bay Packers on Jan. 4 on Monday Night Football on ESPN.

The Eagles’ game on Christmas Eve is particularly high profile against a team that has been to two of the past four Super Bowls and won it all two seasons ago.

The Texans’ schedule, which includes an international game against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Oct. 18 at historic Wembley Stadium, is ranked 26th out of 32 teams in terms of difficulty. Their opponents this season had a combined record of .474 with six returning playoff squads: the Bills, AFC South defending champion Jaguars, Los Angeles Chargers, Steelers, Eagles and Packers.

The Texans have a well-timed bye in the eighth week of the 17-week regular season.

They face several top quarterbacks. That starts with Allen and continues in the second week of the regular season at home against the Cincinnati Bengals and star quarterback Joe Burrow.

They also host the Dallas Cowboys and quarterback Dak Prescott on Oct. 4 and his receiving tandem of CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens.

Other accomplished quarterbacks on the schedule include Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, a former NFL Most Valuable Player, on Nov. 29 at Reliant Stadium, potentially Aaron Rodgers against the Steelers, Jayden Daniels at the Commanders, the Eagles’ Jalen Hurts, a Channelview graduate, the Packers’ Jordan Love, plus two games against the Jaguars’ Trevor Lawrence.

“We just seen it on our first team meeting back, trying to be the first team to put a bull on the ring,” Marks said. “Really believe that, we really want that to come true this year.”

Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com

The new U.S. House districts, which still need House approval, would be used for primary elections poised to be postponed from Saturday until November.

The high court's ruling has led to a flurry of redistricting efforts in Southern states as Republicans seek to capitalize on a weakened federal Voting Rights Act. While most of those efforts are voluntary, Louisiana must redraw its U.S. House map in response to the ruling that it had illegally used race to gerrymander a majority-Black district.

The debate over the shape of Louisiana's new districts is playing out as South Carolina's governor ramps up pressure on lawmakers to also redistrict ahead of the midterms. Republican Gov. Henry McMaster on Thursday called a special session on redistricting to start Friday.

President Donald Trump has encouraged numerous Republican-led states to redraw House voting districts to their advantage in a bid to hold on to control of the closely divided chamber in November.

Republicans think they could win as many as 15 additional House seats in seven states that already have adopted new voting districts. Democrats think they could gain up to six seats from two other states because of new House districts. But there's no guarantee those seats will turn out as expected. Litigation is continuing in some states, and voters will have the ultimate say on who wins.

Democrats had hoped to win up to four additional seats from new House districts in Virginia. But Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s office confirmed Thursday that the state will hold this year’s elections under the current districts as it appeals last week’s Virginia Supreme Court ruling invalidating a voter-approved amendment authorizing the new districts.

Louisiana map scraps snaking district

Legislation in Louisiana seeks to address the Supreme Court ruling by scrapping a district that snakes over 200 miles (321 kilometers) northwest from the capital, Baton Rouge, to Shreveport, creating a voting bloc with a majority of Black residents. Democratic U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields represents the current 6th District.

Under the new plan, that district would instead be clustered around predominantly white communities in the Baton Rouge area and southern Louisiana.

The new plan keeps a New Orleans-based, majority-Black district represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Troy Carter while also adding a portion of Baton Rouge to it.

Fields, a Baton Rouge resident, said he won’t decide whether to seek reelection until the maps are finalized. But he said he won’t challenge Carter in a primary.

The newly proposed House map is similar to one used in 2022 that resulted in five Republicans and one Democrat winning election. Republican state Sen. Jay Morris said the new map packs Democrats into the 2nd District held by Carter to allow Republicans to prevail elsewhere.

“These maps are drawn to maximize Republican advantage for the incumbent Republicans that we have in Congress,” Morris said.

Democratic state Sen. Sam Jenkins suggested Republicans are “using partisanship as cover for discriminatory practices against a group of people, particularly Black voters and Democrats.”

“If it looks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, it’s probably a duck,” Jenkins said.

“It’s not quacking,” Morris said.

“It’s quacking pretty loud, it’s quacking all over the state,” Jenkins replied.

Republican senators defeated an alternative from Democrats that would have kept two Democratic-leaning districts. Republicans opted not to pursue a 6-0 Republican map because it was infeasible, said Louisiana Senate President Cameron Henry, a Republican.

A federal judge struck down Louisiana's 2022 map for violating the Voting Rights Act. Then in 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Alabama had to create its own second largely Black congressional district. In light of the Alabama ruling, the Louisiana Legislature passed a revised map, creating a second majority-Black district that was used in the 2024 elections. That map also was challenged, leading to an April 29 Supreme Court ruling that Louisiana’s districts relied too heavily on race.

Louisiana House primary could shift to November

After the Supreme Court ruling, Republican Gov. Jeff Landry postponed Louisiana’s U.S. House primaries, which were scheduled for Saturday.

A bill given final approval Wednesday by the Legislature would shift the election to an open primary on Nov. 3. All U.S. House candidates, regardless of their party affiliation, would be on the ballot for voters in their district. If no one wins a majority outright, the top two vote-getters would enter a run-off on Dec. 12.

A new qualifying period for House candidates would run from Aug. 5-7.

The system is similar to how Louisiana's congressional elections previously occurred. Landry pushed the Legislature to end the state’s unique jungle primary system in 2024. Closed party primaries went into effect this year, and more than 250,000 votes already had been cast, according to the Louisiana secretary of state. The canceled congressional votes would be shielded from public records law.

Rep. Beau Beaullieu, the bill’s Republican sponsor, said that with congressional redistricting, there would not be sufficient time for closed primaries and a primary run-off before the Nov. 3 general election.

A closed primary remains in place for Louisiana's U.S. Senate race, which has not been suspended and pits incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy against Trump-backed challenger U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow.

South Carolina to work overtime on redistricting

South Carolina's regular legislative session ended Thursday, but McMaster quickly called lawmakers back into session Friday to continue working on redistricting and other matters.

It could be next week before the House can finish the redistricting bill, which would also move congressional primaries to August, Republican House Majority Leader Davey Hiott said. All primaries are currently scheduled for June 9. Early voting begins May 26, and that’s likely the deadline to finish redistricting, he said.

The redistricting work “will be long. It will be boring. It will be confrontational,” Hiott told reporters.

If the proposal passes the House, it then heads to a more skeptical Senate, where Republican Judiciary Committee Chairman Luke Rankin has said he will “demand the process” without elaborating. During the last regular redistricting at the start of the decade, Rankin’s committee held a month of meetings across the state and encouraged the public to submit its own maps.

Only one of South Carolina's seven U.S. House seats currently is held by a Democrat — longtime U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn. Some Republicans worry it is impossible to guarantee seven GOP districts in a state where the Democratic presidential candidate has gotten more than 40% of the vote every election this century. There are also concerns about holding two statewide elections in a little over two months. South Carolina’s elections leader said it may require employees to work 24 hours a day.

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Brook reported from Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Collins from Columbia, South Carolina; and Lieb from Jefferson City, Missouri. Associated Press reporter Safiyah Riddle contributed from Montgomery, Alabama.

They’ve won two AFC South division titles during that span, winning three wild-card playoff games and going 0-3 in the divisional round.

And they’ve built a combined record of 32-19 in the regular season since Ryans was hired, including a 12-5 record last year. They won nine consecutive games after an 0-3 start last year.

Now, the Texans have high expectations again as a returning playoff squad.

Here are the KPRC 2 Sports staff predictions for the Texans’ regular season and how it might unfold:

Sports Director Randy McIlvoy predicts an 11-6 overall regular-season record with the following wins and losses:

Outcome Opponent Date

Win Buffalo Bills Sept. 13

Win Cincinnati Bengals Sept. 20

Loss at Indianapolis Colts Sept. 27

Win Dallas Cowboys Oct. 4

Win at Tennessee Titans Oct. 11

Loss at Jacksonville Jaguars Oct 18

Win New York Giants Oct. 25

Loss at Los Angeles Chargers Nov. 8

Win at Cleveland Browns Nov. 15

Win Indianapolis Colts Nov. 19

Win Baltimore Ravens Nov. 29

Win at Pittsburgh Steelers Dec. 6

Loss at Washington Commanders Dec. 13

Win Jacksonville Jaguars Dec. 20

Loss at Philadelphia Eagles Dec. 24

Loss at Green Bay Packers Jan. 4

Win Tennessee Titans TBD

Sports Anchor/Reporter Nick Mantas predicts a 10-7 regular-season record with the following wins and losses:

Outcome Opponent Date

Win Buffalo Bills Sept. 13

Loss Cincinnati Bengals Sept. 20

Loss at Indianapolis Colts Sept. 27

Win Dallas Cowboys Oct. 4

Win at Tennessee Titans Oct. 11

Loss at Jacksonville Jaguars Oct 18

Win New York Giants Oct. 25

Loss at Los Angeles Chargers Nov. 8

Win at Cleveland Browns Nov. 15

Win Indianapolis Colts Nov. 19

Loss Baltimore Ravens Nov. 29

Win at Pittsburgh Steelers Dec. 6

Loss at Washington Commanders Dec. 13

Win Jacksonville Jaguars Dec. 20

Loss at Philadelphia Eagles Dec. 24

Win at Green Bay Packers Jan. 4

Win Tennessee Titans TBD

Texans and NFL reporter Aaron Wilson predicts a 12-5 regular-season record with the following wins and losses:

Outcome Opponent Date

Win Buffalo Bills Sept. 13

Win Cincinnati Bengals Sept. 20

Loss at Indianapolis Colts Sept. 27

Win Dallas Cowboys Oct. 4

Win at Tennessee Titans Oct. 11

Loss at Jacksonville Jaguars Oct 18

Win New York Giants Oct. 25

Loss at Los Angeles Chargers Nov. 8

Win at Cleveland Browns Nov. 15

Win Indianapolis Colts Nov. 19

Loss Baltimore Ravens Nov. 29

Win at Pittsburgh Steelers Dec. 6

Win at Washington Commanders Dec. 13

Win Jacksonville Jaguars Dec. 20

Loss at Philadelphia Eagles Dec. 24

Win at Green Bay Packers Jan. 4

Win Tennessee Titans TBD

Please drop your season predictions in the comments section below.

Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com

FIFA announced Thursday that, for the first time, the final at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on July 19 will include a Super Bowl-style concert.

Soccer's governing body said the show would support the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund, which is raising $100 million to help children access education and soccer.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino said it would bring together “music and football on the biggest stage in sport for a very special cause.”

“When you have a position of responsibility, you want to do everything you can to have a real impact,” Infantino said at the Global Citizen NOW conference in New York Thursday. “Not everyone can become a world champion, but everyone can become a little bit better by having the right education. So we embrace that.”

The show will be curated by Coldplay's Chris Martin, who came up with the idea four years ago while watching the previous World Cup, said Hugh Evans, CEO of the nonprofit Global Citizen, which has partnered with FIFA on the halftime show and the education fund.

Shakira said at the conference that she’s spent her entire adult life “making songs and building schools,” referring to her nonprofit Barefoot Foundation’s work.

“Finally, during this World Cup, those two paths meet,” said the “Hips Don't Lie” superstar, who added she is hoping for her homeland of Colombia to make it to the World Cup final.

The Super Bowl is famed for its halftime show, attracting the world's biggest stars for spectacular performances. This year featured Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny. Previous headliners included Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, Madonna, Prince, Bruce Springsteen and Rihanna.

But halftime shows are not commonplace in soccer, with events such as the Champions League final featuring a prematch concert. On May 30, the Killers will headline European club soccer's biggest game between Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal in Budapest.

Evans told The Associated Press in an interview that everyone involved in the halftime show are huge soccer fans who wanted to ensure the performances would be “significantly shorter than the 15-minute mark,” which is the traditional interval in a match. “Soccer fans around the world can be rest assured knowing that we’re very respectful of the game," Evans said.

Hamish Hamilton, who directed the London 2012 Olympic opening ceremony and most Super Bowl halftime shows in recent memory, will direct the World Cup halftime show, said Evans.

The World Cup is co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico and runs through June and July.

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

In announcing the partnership, the kingdom's public investment fund (PIF) said sport was a “priority sector” and soccer was crucial to the “ongoing transformation of Saudi Arabia.”

PIF announced this month that it was pulling the plug on future funding for LIV Golf, the breakaway tour that it has poured billions of dollars into, raising questions about its long-term plans for other sports after its enormous spending in recent years.

While the value of the World Cup deal, which covers North America and Asia, was not disclosed, it further strengthens ties between Saudi Arabia and world soccer's governing body FIFA.

2034 host and TV

The oil-rich kingdom has won the rights to host the 2034 edition of the World Cup and PIF was a commercial partner for last year's Club World Cup.

The PIF-owned SURJ Sports Investment also owns a stake online streamer DAZN, which broadcast the Club World Cup.

According to FIFA accounts, television broadcasting rights had contributed “the lion’s share” of its annual revenue in 2025, worth more than $1 billion.

Soccer has been a major focus for Saudi Arabia as it looks to move away from its heavy reliance on oil and explore other revenue-generating sectors.

That has included enticing some of the sport's biggest stars like Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar and Karim Benzema to its domestic league and buying Premier League club Newcastle. Winning the right to host the World Cup is its standout achievement so far.

F1 and boxing, tennis

Investment in other sports includes hosting a number of world championship boxing matches, Formula One racing and tennis.

Critics have accused the kingdom of “sportswashing” — using sports to rebrand its public image in the face of its human rights record and the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

The launch of the contentious LIV Golf tour in 2022 was a major disruptor for the sport, luring top players like Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson away from the PGA. LIV Golf's spending is expected to exceed $6 billion by the end of the year.

While there has been a slowdown of top soccer players heading to the Saudi league after its earlier aggressive recruitment drive, PIF outlined its ongoing commitment to the world's most popular sport.

“PIF continues to expand its global footprint in sport, with football at the heart of this growth," head of corporate brand Mohamed AlSayyad said.

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James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson

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

The court’s order allows women seeking abortions to continue obtaining the drug, mifepristone, at pharmacies or through the mail, without an in-person visit to a doctor. Access is likely to remain uninterrupted at least until into next year as the case plays out, including a potential appeal to the high court.

The justices granted emergency requests from makers of mifepristone, who are appealing a federal appeals court ruling that would require women to see a doctor in person and halt delivery of mifepristone through the mail. The federal Food and Drug Administration, which first approved mifepristone for use in abortion in 2000, stopped requiring in-person visits five years ago.

Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented, with Thomas writing that the two companies, Danco Laboratories and GenBioPro, are not entitled to the court's action to spare them “lost profits from their criminal enterprise.”

Anti-abortion groups, frustrated with President Donald Trump’s administration, are pushing the FDA to move faster with a review that they hope will result in restrictions on mifepristone, including blocking its prescribing via telehealth platforms. The Republican administration says the work takes time.

Earlier this week, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary resigned after months of criticism from Trump’s political allies, including abortion opponents.

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America and similarly aligned groups had called on Trump to fire Makary over the slow pace of the mifepristone review.

The court is dealing with its latest abortion controversy four years after its conservative majority overturned Roe v. Wade and allowed more than a dozen states to effectively ban abortion outright.

The case before the court stems from a lawsuit Louisiana filed to roll back the Food and Drug Administration’s rules on how mifepristone can be prescribed. The state claims that the policy undermines the ban there, and it questions the safety of the drug, which has repeatedly been deemed safe and effective by FDA scientists.

Alito, who wrote the opinion overturning Roe, agreed that the state's efforts have been thwarted by medical providers and private organizations that mail the pills to women in Louisiana, despite the abortion ban. Danco and GenBioPro “are obviously aware of what is going on yet nevertheless supply the drug and reap profits from its felonious use in Louisiana,” he wrote.

Thomas said those who mail the pills are in violation of the Comstock Act, a 19th-century law that has long gone unenforced and bans mailing any “article, instrument, substance, drug, medicine, or thing which is advertised or described in a manner calculated to lead another to use or apply it for producing abortion.”

Lower courts concluded that Louisiana is likely to prevail, and a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that mail access and telehealth visits should be suspended while the case plays out.

The drug is most often used for abortion in combination with another drug, misoprostol. Medication abortions accounted for nearly two-thirds of all abortions in the U.S. in 2023, the last year for which statistics are available.

Telehealth prescribers were prepared to switch to sending abortion patients a regimen that uses only misoprostol.

While Thursday’s ruling keeps the status quo in place for now, abortion-rights advocates warn that the case isn’t settled forever.

“We are relieved that access to mifepristone remains protected for now, but this should never have been on the table in the first place,” Serra Sippel, executive director of The Brigid Alliance, which helps coordinate and fund travel and other logistics to assist women traveling for abortion, said in a statement. “Patients and providers should not be forced to wait on court rulings to know whether people can access critical health care.”

The decision is “extremely disappointing” but not a defeat, said Gavin Oxley, a spokesperson for the anti-abortion advocacy group Americans United for Life. “The Supreme Court still has the opportunity to hear the case in full and bring justice to Louisiana,” he said.

The current dispute is similar to one that reached the court three years ago, when the justices blocked a 5th Circuit ruling in a suit filed by anti-abortion doctors and kept mifepristone widely available, over dissents from Alito and Thomas.

Then, in 2024, the high court unanimously dismissed the doctors’ suit, reasoning they did not have the legal right, or standing, to sue.

In the current dispute, mainstream medical groups, the pharmaceutical industry and Democratic members of Congress have weighed in cautioning the court against limiting access to the drug. Pharmaceutical companies said a ruling for abortion opponents would upend the drug approval process.

Debate over the safety of mifepristone has churned for more than 25 years. The FDA has eased a number of restrictions initially placed on the drug, including who can prescribe it, how it is dispensed and what kinds of safety complications must be reported.

Despite those determinations, anti-abortion groups have filed a series of petitions and lawsuits against the agency, generally alleging that it violated federal law by overlooking safety issues with the pill.

Trump’s administration has been unusually quiet at the Supreme Court. It declined to file a written brief recommending what the court should do, even though federal regulations are at issue.

The case puts the administration in a difficult place. Trump has relied on the political support of anti-abortion groups but has also seen ballot question and poll results that show Americans generally support abortion rights.

Both sides took the administration’s silence as an implicit endorsement of the appellate ruling.

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Associated Press writer Ali Swenson contributed to this report from New York. Mulvihill reported from Haddonfield, N.J.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court.

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

Ratcliffe was there "to personally deliver President Donald Trump’s message that the United States is prepared to seriously engage on economic and security issues, but only if Cuba makes fundamental changes,'' the CIA official said.

An official statement from Cuba's government noted that Thursday's meeting "took place ... against a backdrop of complex bilateral relations.”

While the U.S. stressed that Cuba cannot continue to be a “safe haven for adversaries in the Western Hemisphere,” the Cuban delegation insisted that the island presents no threat to U.S. security. Cuban officials also took issue with the nation's continued inclusion on the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Rodríguez Castro previously secretly met with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the sidelines of a Caribbean Community summit in St. Kitts in February. While he’s never occupied a government post, he served as his grandfather’s bodyguard and later as head of Cuba’s equivalent of the Secret Service.

U.S. and Cuban officials also met earlier this year i n Cuba. The ongoing meetings between U.S. and Cuban officials mark the first U.S. government flights to land in Cuba other than at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay since 2016.

Thursday's meeting comes weeks after the Cuban government confirmed that it had recently met with U.S. officials on the island as tensions between the two sides remain high over the U.S. energy blockade of the Caribbean country and as Cuba’s power grid has collapsed and energy to its eastern provinces has been cut. The U.S. blockade of fuel to the island has heightened its economic woes, with reduced work hours and food spoilage as refrigerators stop working.

Earlier this week, the U.S. State Department reiterated that the U.S. will provide Cuba with $100 million in humanitarian assistance and support for satellite internet “if the Cuban regime will permit it.”

In late January, Trump threatened tariffs on any country that sells or supplies oil to Cuba. Though Trump also has threatened to intervene in the country, and Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said recently that his country was prepared to fight if that should happen, sources told the AP earlier this month that military action is not imminent.

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

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Tucker reported from Washington, D.C.

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This version is corrected to show that the U.S. aid offer is $100 million.

Houston police arrested Christopher Lee Bowden, who records show is homeless, on Wednesday.

A Harris County District Court judge set his bond at $1 million on Thursday.

ALSO READ: Catalytic converter theft suspect caught after wild chase by car, scooter and swim through Houston bayou

The victim, identified by police as 54-year-old Chun Chen, was found dead in the kitchen area at the bar in the 10500 block of Bellaire Boulevard on May 8 by coworkers who hadn’t heard from him.

Captured on surveillance video, Bowden allegedly came into the back of the business last Thursday night and approached Chen behind the bar counter before repeatedly hitting him with a hammer, according to a law enforcement source, who said Chen fell to the ground and Bowden appeared to continue hitting him with the hammer.

After setting the hammer down, Bowden allegedly started taking money from the cash drawer, the source said. Other employees later told detectives the drawer usually had about $100 in it, but all the money except for coins appeared to be gone during the investigation.

While Chen remain laying on the ground, the source said Bowden allegedly poured hot oil from the fryer all over him, and detectives found Chen’s cell phone and credit card melted and deformed near him when they responded to the business the next day.

• Former Katy ISD paraprofessional accused of sexually assaulting 13-year-old student

Surveillance video shared with KPRC 2 News appeared to show Bowden leaving the business after the attack in Chen’s minivan, which the law enforcement source said police later recovered near the business.

Police got called to the restaurant after colleagues said they hadn’t heard from Chen and found him with an injury to his head at the business. The front door was also locked, investigators said, after finding the back door unlocked.

In 2021, Bowden pled guilty to two criminal mischief charges, and court records show he has previous arrests for trespassing, burglary, and driving while intoxicated.

Bowden now has a court-appointed defense attorney and isn’t due back in court until late June.

Newsom is eager to safeguard programs that have defined his tenure as the leader of the nation’s most populous state and one of the world’s largest economies. As he gears up for a possible presidential run in 2028, the Democrat is promoting the budget as fiscally responsible, saying it protects California's values but also builds up the state's rainy day funds — a pointed rebuke to critics who say the state spends more than it has.

The state’s spending has grown more than $100 billion since 2020, according to legislative budget analysts.

“We’re cutting deficits. But we’re not cutting corners,” Newsom said.

Newsom can’t seek a third term and will leave office in January.

Revenues, driven mostly by the booming stock market and the artificial intelligence industry, are $16.5 billion higher than projections in January. That will help the state avoid a $2.9 billion deficit projected in January, guarantee no budget hole next year and cut the shortfall the following year in half, his office said. Newsom also wants to set aside $9.7 billion in a holding account to help balance future budgets.

California faced tens of billions of dollars in budget deficits several years in a row, forcing painful cuts last year such as a rollback on a promise to provide free healthcare to low-income immigrants without legal status. Nonpartisan budget analysts previously projected the state will see budget holes upward of $20 billion each year in the next few years. Newsom and the analysts sometimes differ in their estimations.

Still, Democrats are bracing for federal funding cuts in healthcare and the impacts of high costs on everything from gas to energy because of the war in Iran. State officials repeatedly have said California can't backfill all the federal dollars.

Republican lawmakers said Newsom's plan didn't go far enough to address future budget problems. Republicans are largely excluded from budget negotiations because Democrats have supermajorities in both chambers.

“Governor Newsom appears to define fiscal success narrowly: if the budget doesn’t collapse on his watch, it’s a balanced one,” Assemblymember David Tangipa said in a statement.

Newsom also blasted President Donald Trump and his policies, including in his budget presentation a photo depicting the president and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as characters in the movie “Dumb and Dumber.” Trump “doesn’t particularly give a damn about the financial situation of the average American," Newsom said.

The budget proposal will officially kick off the final stretch of negotiations between Newsom and Democrats in the Legislature, who have to pass a budget by the end of June.

State lawmakers this year are considering several proposals to increase taxes on corporations to help with budget problems. Newsom has largely avoided raising taxes to boost revenues in past years. Now, he wants to cut fees for new small businesses, limit some tax credits starting in 2027 and impose a sales tax on some digital software and cloud-based services.

The two tax measures could generate more than $1 billion the first year of implementation, according to the governor's estimation. Newsom is against a ballot initiative for a one-time tax on billionaires that will likely go before voters in November.

He also proposed to increase the monthly premiums for adult patients without legal status in the state-funded healthcare program, up to $50 from $30. The premiums were part of last year's budget and are set to take effect in July for adults under 60 years old. Democrats in the Senate already signaled they will fight the plan.

California has a progressive tax system that relies on rich people, meaning it gets about half its revenues from just 1% of the population. When the economy is good, rich people pay more in taxes and revenues can soar quickly. When the economy is bad, they pay less and revenues can drop just as fast.

The state could also see a revenue boost from expected upcoming initial public offerings by several major artificial intelligence companies, which are expected to be the largest IPOs in history. But legislative budget experts warned of a potential AI bubble that could worsen the state's finances.

Newsom’s Thursday proposal also includes a $300 million plan to backfill some of the loss of government-sponsored health subsidies, a $5 billion education grant for teacher training and $100 million to help Los Angeles-area homeowners rebuild after the devastating wildfires last year.

“Lamine Yamal chose to incite hate against Israel while our soldiers combat the terrorist organization Hamas, an organization that massacred, raped and burned Jewish children, women and the elderly on Oct. 7, (2023)” minister Israel Katz wrote on X on Thursday.

The 18-year-old Yamal waved a large Palestinian flag from an open-top bus during a victory parade by Barcelona’s team through the city on Monday. The parade drew some 750,000 people to celebrate the league title clinched the previous day, local authorities said.

Yamal, who is Muslim, posted pictures of him holding the flag on his Instagram account.

Spain’s government and a large part of its population have been highly critical of Israel’s military operations that killed tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza in response to the 2023 Hamas surprise attack.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who has previously called for Israel to be banned from sports events over its actions in Gaza, defended Yamal on social media.

“Those who consider waving a state’s flag to be ‘inciting hatred’ have either lost their minds or been blinded by their own ignominy,” Sanchez wrote on X. “Lamine has simply expressed the solidarity with Palestine that millions of Spaniards feel. Yet another reason to be proud of him.”

There has been a global backlash against Israel over the humanitarian toll of the war in Gaza, which has spread to sport and culture. Protests have been seen in soccer, cycling and basketball. Last year's Spanish Vuelta was repeatedly disrupted by protesters angry with the participation of an Israeli-backed cycling team.

Spain is also one of five countries boycotting this year’s Eurovision Song Contest to protest Israel’s inclusion.

Yamal is set to star for Spain at next month’s World Cup to be played in North America.

___

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

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During his nearly 30 years behind bars, Glossip came so close to execution multiple times that he was served “last meals” on three separate occasions in 2015. He has long insisted he is innocent in the murder of his former boss, Oklahoma motel owner Barry Van Treese. The U.S. Supreme Court threw out his conviction and death sentence last year.

Here is a look at key events in Glossip's case and appeals.

Jan. 7, 1997: Barry Van Treese is beaten to death at an Oklahoma City motel that he owned. Two of his employees, Justin Sneed and Richard Glossip, are soon arrested in connection with the killing.

Aug. 14, 1998: Glossip is convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Prosecutors argue at his trial that Van Treese was killed in a murder-for-hire scheme. Motel handyman Sneed testified that he killed their boss after Glossip promised to pay him $10,000.

July 17, 2001: The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals throws out Glossip's murder conviction and orders him a new trial.

Aug. 27, 2004: Glossip is sentenced to death again after second trial ends with a new murder conviction.

April 29, 2014: Oklahoma uses the surgical sedative midazolam for the first time during the execution of Clayton Lockett, who writhes and groans on the gurney. The execution process gets halted, but Lockett dies 43 minutes later. The state later blames an improperly placed intravenous line, not the new drug mix.

Nov. 20, 2014: Glossip’s scheduled execution is delayed to allow Oklahoma to obtain drugs and train staff on a new protocol.

Jan. 28, 2015: After Glossip has been served what is supposed to be his final meal, the U.S. Supreme Court halts his execution and those of two other Oklahoma prisoners while considering their legal challenge to the state's use of midazolam in executions.

June 29, 2015: A divided U.S. Supreme Court upholds Oklahoma’s use of midazolam during executions.

Sept. 15, 2015: For the second time, Glossip is served what is supposed to be his last meal: chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and a dinner roll, fish and chips, a bacon cheeseburger and a strawberry malt.

Sept. 16, 2015: Hours before Glossip is scheduled for execution, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals grants him a two-week reprieve to review claims of new evidence supporting his innocence.

Sept. 29, 2015: For the third time, Glossip is served what is supposed to be his final meal: a medium pizza, two orders of fish and chips, a bacon cheeseburger and a strawberry malt.

Sept. 30, 2015: Prison officials are preparing to execute Glossip when Oklahoma's governor stays the procedure because one of the lethal drugs being used didn't match the state's execution protocol.

Oct. 2, 2015: The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, at the request of the state's attorney general, puts all executions on indefinite hold as officials review Oklahoma's execution procedures.

Feb. 13, 2020: Oklahoma announces plans to resume executions using a three-drug lethal injection protocol.

May 5, 2023: The U.S. Supreme Court again halts Glossip's execution, set for May 18, at the urging of Oklahoma's Republican attorney general, who has concluded Glossip's trial was “unfair and unreliable.”

Feb. 25, 2025: The U.S. Supreme Court throws out Glossip's murder conviction and death sentence, ruling prosecutors violated his right to a fair trial by allowing Sneed, their key witness, to give testimony they knew was false.

June 9, 2025: Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond says he plans to try Glossip again for murder. While agreeing his previous trial was unfair, Drummond says he doesn't believe Glossip is innocent.

May 14, 2026: An Oklahoma judge orders a $500,000 bond for Glossip, granting him a chance to leave jail while awaiting trial. Hours later, Glossip walks out of an Oklahoma City jail.

___

Bynum reported from Savannah, Georgia.

In a letter to a lawyer for Yale, Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights, said a DOJ investigation found that Black and Hispanic students have a much higher chance of admission to the medical school than white or Asian students, despite having lower grade-point averages and lower test scores.

“Yale has continued its race-based admissions program despite the Supreme Court and the public’s clear mandate for reform,” Dhillon said in a statement. “This Department will continue to shed light on these illegal practices, and demand that institutions of higher education comply with federal law.”

The university replied in a statement that its School of Medicine “is confident in the rigorous admissions process we follow,” and it will review the Justice Department letter.

“The students admitted to Yale School of Medicine demonstrate exceptional academic achievement and personal commitment; its program of medical education encourages curiosity and critical thinking, and its graduates go on to become leaders in clinical care, research, and public service,” the school said.

Since President Donald Trump returned to office last year, his administration has been putting pressure on universities to stop using race as a basis for admission, which conservatives view as illegal discrimination. And a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2023 banned the use of affirmative action in college admissions, in cases involving Harvard and the University of North Carolina.

Last week, the Justice Department notified the University of California, Los Angeles, that its medical school illegally considered race in admissions.

In the letter to Yale, Dhillon alleged the New Haven, Connecticut, school was violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibiting discrimination and said the DOJ is seeking to enter into a voluntary resolution agreement with the university. She also noted in the letter that the agency has the authority to take the school to court to enforce Title VI if it cannot obtain compliance through voluntary means.

The DOJ cited differences in grade-point averages and standardized test scores as evidence of racial preferences in the incoming classes of 2023, 2024 and 2025. In Yale’s most recent class, Black students had a median GPA of 3.88 and a median MCAT score in the 95th percentile, compared to Asian students who had a median GPA of 3.98 and white students with a 3.97 median GPA. Both Asian and white students of that class had median MCAT scores in the 100th percentile.

“Based on our preliminary review of the applicant-level data, Yale’s use of race resulted in a Black applicant being as much as 29 times higher odds of getting an interview for admission than an equally strong Asian applicant with similar academic credentials,” Dhillon's letter said.

The Justice Department also described Yale’s use of a holistic admissions process as a means for the school to consider race.

The letter also cited Yale’s amicus brief in the Student for Fair Admissions lawsuit that led to the 2023 Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action, where the school said it would not be able to maintain diverse classes without explicit consideration of race. The department said the fact that Yale was able to maintain similarly diverse classes despite that brief as evidence that the school had engaged in race discrimination.

Dhillon wrote that the lack of any change in Yale's admissions outcomes after the Supreme Court ruling showed "a willful failure to comply with that decision.”

In March, a coalition of 17 Democratic state attorneys general filed a lawsuit challenging a Trump administration policy that requires higher education institutions to collect data showing they aren’t considering race in admissions.

____

Associated Press writer Annie Ma in Washington contributed to this report.

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols didn’t rule from the bench on the plaintiffs’ request for an order blocking officials from implementing Trump’s March 31 order, his second related to elections since winning his second term in the White House. The case is one of multiple lawsuits filed to block the order on the grounds that only states and Congress, and not the president, are given power under the Constitution to decide how elections are run.

Trump's initial executive order to revamp elections by requiring documentary proof of citizenship, issued last year, was largely halted by multiplefederal judges on similar grounds. He issued his latest order only after the voting bill he backed stalled in Congress. The current legal fight comes as the country is in the midst of primary elections and election officials are preparing for the intricacies of holding the fall's midterm elections.

“I understand the time pressure here,” said Nichols, who questioned both sides but gave no clear indication of which way he's leaning.

The president can’t rewrite election rules to give himself and the Republican Party a partisan advantage, the plaintiffs’ attorneys said. They argued that the executive order’s requirements are illegal and designed to coerce states into limiting voter registration and ballot access.

“It is harming our clients every day in the middle of an election season,” said Orion Nevers, an attorney representing the NAACP.

Democrats are more likely to vote by mail. Since even before his 2020 loss, Trump has falsely implied there is mass fraud involved in the practice and fought to curtail it, even after his baseless claims led to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and were repeatedly debunked by audits and reviews, including some run by Republicans.

Since returning to office, Trump has said he wants Republicans to “take over” elections in Democratic areas and launched investigations of the 2020 vote.

His latest executive order calls on the Department of Homeland Security to make a list of eligible voters in each state and seeks to prohibit the U.S. Postal Service from sending absentee ballots to those not on each state’s approved list.

The administration is asking the judge to dismiss the plaintiffs’ claims. Justice Department attorney Stephen Pezzi on Thursday suggested that the litigation is premature, calling it “shadowboxing” for the plaintiffs to challenge a list that hasn’t yet been created.

“It’s a little hard to address these questions in the abstract,” Pezzi said.

Nichols, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, asked Pezzi why it would be lawful to disseminate the list to states.

“I think it would be the plaintiffs’ burden to explain why it’s unlawful,” Pezzi replied. “I don’t mean to be cute with that answer.”

Trump’s executive order requires federal agencies to compile a list of adults the U.S. government has purportedly “confirmed” to be U.S. citizens and to share it with each state at least 60 days before each federal election.

“There isn’t a way to lawfully compile it,” said Lalitha Madduri, an attorney for Democratic Party plaintiffs.

Danielle Lang, who represents the League of United Latin American Citizens, said the executive order is aimed at creating “the maximum amount of chaos and confusion” for local election officials.

“They need clear direction,” Lang said.

___

Riccardi reported from Denver.

The court’s brief order comes almost a week after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals halted Busby’s execution after defense lawyers argued that Busby is intellectually disabled, making him ineligible for capital punishment.

The court’s three liberal justices opposed the order, with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson submitting a two-page dissenting opinion admonishing the court for being “unable to tolerate even a brief delay.” 

“In capital cases, we rarely intervene to preserve life,” Jackson wrote in the dissent joined by Justice Sonia Sotomayor. “I cannot understand the Court’s rush to extinguish it, much less in the circumstances of this case.”

Justice Elena Kagan also would have upheld the stay of execution, the order said.

Busby was sentenced to death in 2005 in the deadly robbery and kidnapping of 78-year-old Laura Crane, suffocating her by wrapping her face with tape. His execution had been halted twice before: in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic, and again in 2021 by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to review a separate intellectual disability claim.

Busby’s execution would be Texas’ 600th since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstituted the death penalty in 1976. Texas accounts for roughly 36% of the country’s executions in the time since, more than the next four states combined, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

According to federal officials, Santos Guerrero, 42, pleaded guilty to violating the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act after authorities say he shot the bird on Oct. 11, 2024.

Investigators responded after receiving reports about the shooting and reviewed video footage that allegedly showed the eagle being shot before falling from a tree.

• Catalytic converter theft suspect caught after wild chase by car, scooter and swim through Houston bayou

Authorities later went to Guerrero’s residence, where they matched the tree seen in the video and located the injured eagle still alive.

The bird was transported to an animal hospital but had to be euthanized because of the severity of its injuries.

A necropsy found the eagle suffered major trauma, including severe wing damage caused by the bullet. Officials said the fall also resulted in liver fractures, internal bleeding and a broken leg.

The Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act makes it illegal to kill, possess, sell or transport bald or golden eagles — including their nests, eggs or body parts — without a permit.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Peter Bray accepted Guerrero’s guilty plea and scheduled sentencing for July 30. He faces up to one year in federal prison and a maximum fine of $100,000.

Glossip wore a gray short-sleeved shirt and jeans as he walked out of the jail hand-in-hand with his wife, Lea Glossip.

“I'm just thankful for my wife and my attorneys. Just thankful,” he said. "It's overwhelming, but it’s amazing at the same time.”

Earlier Thursday, Judge Natalie Mai issued an order setting bond at $500,000. Glossip must wear an electronic monitoring device and will not be allowed to travel outside Oklahoma. He also must not contact any witnesses in the case, or consume any drugs or alcohol.

His attorney Donald Knight had suggested Glossip was counting on contributions to raise the money.

“Mr. Glossip has many supporters and we are hopeful those supporters can afford the bail,” Knight said.

Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court threw out his conviction, and his longstanding claims of innocence have drawn support from Kim Kardashian and other prominent figures.

Glossip had been sentenced to death over the 1997 killing in Oklahoma City of his former boss, motel owner Barry Van Treese, who was beaten with a baseball bat in what prosecutors have alleged was a murder-for-hire scheme.

The Supreme Court ruled last year that prosecutors’ decision to allow a key witness to give testimony they knew to be false violated Glossip’s constitutional right to a fair trial.

Glossip has remained behind bars after Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond announced the state would seek to retry him on a murder charge but not pursue the death penalty again.

“The court fully expects that the state will rigorously prosecute its case going forward and the defense will provide robust representation for Glossip,” the judge wrote in the order. “The court hopes that a new trial, free of error, will provided all interested parties and the citizens of Oklahoma, the closure they deserve.”

During his time on death row, courts in Oklahoma set nine different execution dates for Glossip, and he came so close to being put to death that he ate three separate last meals. In 2015, he was even held in a cell next to Oklahoma’s execution chamber, waiting to be strapped to a gurney and die by lethal injection.

But the scheduled time for his execution came and went. Behind the walls of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, prison officials were scrambling after learning one of the lethal drugs they received to carry out the procedure didn’t match the execution protocols. The drug mix-up ultimately led to a nearly seven-year moratorium on executions in Oklahoma.

“Mr. Glossip now has the chance to taste freedom while his defense team continues to pursue justice on his behalf against a system that the United States Supreme Court has found to be guilty of serious misconduct by state prosecutors,” Knight said.

Van Treese’s family had asked the Supreme Court to leave Glossip’s conviction and sentence intact. Attorneys for the family did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment.

Glossip’s case attracted international attention after actress Susan Sarandon — who won an Academy Award for her portrayal of death penalty opponent Sister Helen Prejean’s fight to save a man on Louisiana’s death row in the 1995 movie “Dead Man Walking” — took up his cause in real life. Glossip’s case also was featured in the 2017 documentary film titled “Killing Richard Glossip.”

“Both Richard and I are grateful for the court’s decision,” Glossip’s wife, Lea, said in a text to The Associated Press. “We have been praying for this day.”

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling, stemming from a Louisiana lawsuit, would block a 2023 Food and Drug Administration rule allowing mifepristone to be delivered by mail — a provision commonly used to get around Texas’ abortion ban.

The Supreme Court issued a potentially monthslong pause on the 5th Circuit’s ruling on Thursday, granting telehealth access to mifepristone until the 5th Circuit hears full arguments in the Louisiana case, extending access for at least several months. The court’s pending ruling means the future of Texans’ long-term access to mifepristone is still uncertain.

Abortion advocates celebrated the Supreme Court’s extended stay while condemning the appellate court’s initial ruling as a gateway into a national abortion ban. Anti-abortion groups heralded the 5th Circuit’s decision as a first step in the right direction.

Here’s what to know about the drug, court ruling and more.

Are abortion pills illegal in Texas?

Mifepristone and misoprostol, pills commonly taken to end a pregnancy, are not illegal in Texas and often prescribed to manage miscarriages, but it is illegal to supply them for elective abortions because of Texas’ ban on abortions.

Providing abortion pills in violation of the state’s abortion ban can result in criminal charges. Over the summer, a North Texas man was charged with capital murder after slipping mifepristone into his girlfriend’s food and she miscarried. That case is still pending.

Additionally, state law allows private citizens to sue virtually anyone who assists in providing abortion, including medical professionals, companies that facilitate the movement of abortion pills into the state and family or friends who purchase pills for a pregnant person. Any individual can file the suit to seek up to $100,000, a provision commonly referred to as a “bounty hunter” law.

Women who seek out abortions or take abortion pills are exempt from criminal charges or lawsuits under Texas’ abortion restrictions.

Despite Texas laws that penalize the supply of abortion pills, thousands enter Texas from 22 other states with “shield laws.” Texas has sued medical providers in New York, Delaware and California who have sent abortion pills over alleged violations of Texas’ abortion restrictions, but those states’ shield laws provide civil and criminal protections over their healthcare providers against Texas’ legal actions. These providers continue to provide prescriptions, often through telehealth appointments, to people in states like Texas that have abortion bans.

Roughly 25% of abortions nationwide are done through telehealth, an estimate that is “likely an undercount” because it may not include those having abortions illegally, University of California Davis Law professor Mary Ziegler, said.

What would the ruling restrict and why?

The 5th Circuit’s ruling on May 1 only restricts mail access to mifepristone, one of two drugs commonly used in medication abortions, including in managing miscarriages. With the Supreme Court stay in place, telehealth access to mifepristone is still permitted.

The FDA approved mifepristone in 2000, and also approved two generic versions of the drug in 2019 and 2025. Multiple studies have shown the drug to be a safe and effective means of ending a pregnancy.

In 2023, the FDA established a rule allowing doctors to prescribe mifepristone remotely and for the drug to be mailed to patients, including those in Texas from other states where abortion is legal. The May 1 ruling overturned that rule, arguing it was put in place without proper FDA review of the drug’s effects.

If the 5th Circuit’s full ruling causes the 2023 rule to go away, people will not be charged with a crime for possessing or using mifepristone and the drug would still be available for in-person prescription. Mifepristone is solely used in ending pregnancies, unlike the second drug it is commonly paired with, misoprostol, which is used to treat ulcers but prescribed off-label to end pregnancies.

Pairing mifepristone and misoprostol helps the body to safely speed up the passing of pregnancy-related tissue, which is particularly important during miscarriages to avoid complications like increased bleeding, infection, scarring of the uterus and future invasive procedures.

The Supreme Court initially blocked the 5th Circuit’s ruling on May 4 and restored medical providers’ ability to provide the drug through mail after a brief pause. The court extended an initial order allowing for telehealth mifepristone access before granting the potentially monthslong stay. On May 7, Texas joined 22 other states in filing an amicus brief to the Supreme Court asking them to let the 5th Circuit’s ruling stand.

Rachel Rebouche, a University of Texas at Austin law professor, said the Supreme Court’s order was unsurprising and likely designed to offset disruption in medical care caused by mifepristone’s sudden unavailability. The court’s one-page order did not provide an explanation for the block.

“It’s really hard to have a legal status for a drug that thousands and thousands of people use flicker,” Rebouche said. “Just maintaining the status quo is a way to damp down the confusion that occurs when something changes overnight.”

Will out-of-state organizations that mail abortion pills stop sending them to Texas?

While mailing of mifepristone is expected to stop if the 2023 FDA rule goes away, abortion pills will still be mailed into the state. That’s because providers will likely switch to misoprostol-only prescriptions, Ziegler and Rebouche said.

Studies have shown misoprostol-only abortions to also be safe, and the prescription is commonly used around the world, Ziegler said, but may come with additional side effects and potential for complications.

Shield laws would not protect the continued mailing of mifepristone under the 5th Circuit’s ruling and the 2023 FDA rule’s withdrawal because mailing the drug would violate federal regulations and result in penalties. But, the switch to exclusively sending misoprostol would likely make that moot, Ziegler and Rebouche said.

What are anti-abortion advocates saying about pulling the 2023 FDA rule?

Texas Right to Life president John Seago described the ruling as a restoration of a “common sense safeguard,” but stopped short of calling the ruling a full win, as he and other anti-abortion groups have urged the federal government to get more involved in halting abortion access.

“This is not an ultimate victory by any stretch of the imagination,” Seago said.

Seago said that the FDA could pause distribution of abortion pills nationally, and suggested that President Donald Trump could enforce a 150-year-old federal law called the Comstock Act to ban mail access to mifepristone and misoprostol. Texas joined Florida in filing a lawsuit in December seeking to challenge the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, arguing the agency did not properly evaluate the drug and also citing the Comstock Act.

“The rhetorical point we’ve been making is, we expect more and have higher expectations of the federal government, [and] for the FDA there’s a couple of things immediately they can do,” Seago said.

Rebouche said the FDA or Trump administration can’t simply “snap their fingers” and suspend availability of the two drugs, both because the FDA has not shown an immediate harm from the drugs and because any changes would likely be immediately sued and enjoined by a court.

“Somewhere, a court will do that, because there isn’t credible evidence that mifepristone is in any way dangerous or not effective,” Rebouche said.

What are abortion advocates saying about the latest ruling?

Groups that support and help assist access to abortion nationwide called the 5th Circuit’s ruling and subsequent stay from the Supreme Court “chaos” as access to mifepristone was limited and subsequently restored over the course of a few days. They say the latest court actions further chills people from trying to obtain the drug because they think it’s illegal, even though the drug itself is not.

“Today’s stay gives patients and providers only a brief moment to breathe as the dust settles on the most severe blow to abortion access since Dobbs,” Reproductive Freedom for All President and CEO Mini Timmaraju said on May 4 when the Supreme Court issued its temporary block.

In states where abortion is still legal, advocacy groups have pushed for legislators to pass and bolster shield laws allowing residents in states like Texas to maintain access in part through telehealth prescriptions. The courts’ rulings underscore the unpredictable nature of the courts and need for federal abortion protections, Timmaraju said in her statement.

“Blocking the baseless in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone from going into effect for a week may help to offset some disruptions to care following the Fifth Circuit ruling last week — but the underlying threat to access remains just as dire as it was before,” said Kelly Baden, vice president for public policy at the Guttmacher Institute in a statement.

When will a permanent decision be made about mifepristone?

It is currently unclear when the 5th Circuit or the Supreme Court may rule more definitively on the 2023 FDA rule, as the blocking of the 2023 rule came “very quick on the draw” in the appellate court case, Ziegler said.

Disclosure: University of Texas at Austin has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

Flanked by several Republican state lawmakers, the governor rolled out his agenda at a campaign event at the Austin Police Association’s headquarters. Topping his wish list was denying bail to all unauthorized migrants accused of certain felonies. He also will champion creating a statewide prosecutor and the ability to impeach what he characterized as rogue district attorneys.

It could prove difficult for lawmakers to pass Abbott’s agenda, as some would entail a constitutional amendment, which requires supermajority support in the Legislature.

“When these strategies get passed, we will achieve our goal to make sure as a state, we are protecting our communities,” Abbott said.

Much of the event’s focus was on Travis County District Attorney José Garza, who has faced intense criticism from the police union and conservative state leaders as soft on crime. He was also scrutinized for failing to indict some felony suspects within the 90-day deadline, leading some to be released and others to remain in jail longer than they should have.

Garza defended his record after Abbott’s event, telling The Texas Tribune that there is a “disconnect” between the reality of prosecution work and the political rhetoric. He also said his office has worked to eliminate the backlog of unindicted cases.

“What happened today was a political stunt and a distraction from the governor’s litany of failures over the last several years,” he said.

But for Abbott, who started floating the idea of a statewide prosecutor on social media last year, the role could help fix the problem of “rogue” district attorneys.

He said a statewide prosecutor — appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate — would monitor cases to prevent failures by local prosecutors. For instance, referencing Garza’s failures to bring timely charges, the governor noted that a statewide prosecutor would have had the option to step in on the 90th day and bring indictments instead.

In an interview with KVUE, Abbott said the Legislature has the “full constitutional authority” to create a new district attorney and define their jurisdiction as encompassing the entire state. He pointed to the establishment of the 15th Court of Appeals in 2023 as further evidence of this power.

“There’s really no doubt at all about the constitutionality of it,” he said.

Abbott also is pushing for a new law that would allow district attorneys to be impeached.

According to the Texas District & County Attorneys Association, locally elected prosecutors currently could be removed from office by a district court judge following a jury trial. They could also face accountability through state bar discipline, a criminal investigation, a court of inquiry or at the ballot box.

Following a 2023 law passed in an effort to rein in left-leaning prosecutors, the courts could also remove district attorneys for misconduct if they decline to pursue certain types of crimes. At least two petitions have been brought by residents against Garza under this law, though they failed.

“It’s a cumbersome tool that basically is ineffectual,” Abbott said about the petitions. “We just want to make sure that we add more tools to the toolkit to make sure that there is accountability for DAs across the entire state of Texas.”

The governor will again push for legislation that would deny bail to any unauthorized immigrant accused of certain felonies, such as murder, kidnapping, sexual assault and indecency with a child.

The bail and impeachment provisions would require a constitutional amendment. The bail proposal related to immigrants last year failed to clear the 100-vote mark in the Texas House, where there were 62 Democrats, although the Legislature passed an extensive package of other bail restrictions.

Abbott said lawmakers who opposed the bail proposal will have to answer to voters for failing to support a measure that would protect communities. He is also taking his bully pulpit on the road, with his campaign announcing that he will promote his public safety agenda Friday in San Antonio.

Besides the legislative wish list, the governor also touted the success of a task force targeting violent repeat offenders, which has led to 728 arrests, including 455 individuals considered to be a high threat. The Texas Department of Public Safety launched the task force in Houston in October and recently expanded its operation to the Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth and San Antonio metro areas.

It is the latest step that President Donald Trump's administration has taken to pull back regulations on coal mining and coal-fired power and empower fossil fuels as a primary energy source to feed the rapid growth of artificial intelligence data centers.

In its proposed rule, the EPA said a 2024 rule under President Joe Biden misjudged the effectiveness and cost of the regulation, and had the effect of shutting down coal-fired power plants at a time when energy demand is spiking.

Changing the rule is critical to making electricity more affordable and reliable, while advancing the economy, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement.

“The AI and data center revolution is creating an electricity and baseload power demand that cannot be met under the overly restrictive policies of past administrations,” Zeldin said. “The Trump EPA will continue doing its part to address these burdensome regulations on the coal-fired power plant sector that hold American communities back from the new opportunities presented by this new 21st century energy reality.”

In 2024, the EPA strengthened wastewater rules over coal-fired power plants that keep coal ash — a byproduct of burning coal — in unlined, uncovered dumps that leach toxic heavy metals such as mercury, arsenic and selenium into groundwater.

In the rule, the EPA required plant owners to report whether the groundwater was contaminated and, if so, pump and treat the contaminated groundwater before discharging it into streams and rivers, Thom Cmar, an attorney for environmental advocacy group Earthjustice, said.

The EPA initially had given power plant owners until Dec. 31, 2029, to meet the new limits.

The EPA said the rule proposed Thursday, if finalized, would reduce power generation costs by as much as $1.1 billion a year. Coal and power industry trade associations cheered the EPA's move. Environmental groups slammed it as a public health danger and giveaway to the coal-power industry.

Earthjustice said the lakes, rivers and other waterways that will see more pollution as a result of the EPA’s proposal are often sources of drinking water that tens of millions of people rely on. Coal-fired power plants are by far one of the largest sources of toxic pollutants in America’s rivers, lakes and streams, Earthjustice said.

“This plan would eliminate safeguards on hundreds of millions of pounds of wastewater with neurotoxins and cancer-causing contaminants. It would allow coal power plants to avoid cleaning up contamination that threatens our drinking water sources," Cmar said.

The proposal unveiled Thursday would exempt contaminated groundwater seeping into waterways from the mandatory treatment requirements, Earthjustice said. Power plant owners would only be required to treat the contaminated groundwater if they were already complying with the 2024 rule to pump it to the surface to treat it, Earthjustice said.

States could, however, still investigate whether power plants are polluting the groundwater and, if they are, try to force owners to treat the polluted groundwater under federal clean water laws, Cmar said.

“The problem is, at the state level, many states are reluctant to use that tool that they all have to hold up the permitting process and force the companies to do an adequate job of documenting and limiting the pollution,” Cmar said.

The EPA said dozens of coal-fired power plants — likely up to 104 — are polluting groundwater through the uncontrolled runoff. It found seven plants were complying with the rule to pump and treat the groundwater, it said.

The EPA had estimated in 2024 that its new rule that year would reduce pollutant discharges by 660 to 672 million pounds per year, provide $3.2 billion in public health benefits each year and especially benefit “low-income communities and communities of color that are disproportionately impacted by pollution from coal-fired power plants.”

It had projected that electricity bills for the average residential household would increase by less than $3.50 per year.

___

Follow Marc Levy at http://twitter.com/timelywriter

Texas bans drivers from reading, writing, or sending electronic messages while operating a vehicle, and that includes while sitting in traffic or waiting at a stoplight.

What is illegal in Texas?

Under Texas law, drivers cannot:

• Text while driving
• Read or send emails
• Use messaging apps or social media behind the wheel
• Hold or use a handheld device in a school zone
• Use handheld devices at all if under 18 years old

TxDOT says distracted driving remains a major problem statewide. In 2025 alone, distracted driving was linked to more than 86,000 crashes in Texas, killing 299 people and seriously injuring thousands more.

So… does a red light count as “driving”?

Texas law focuses on whether you are operating a vehicle on a roadway, not whether your car is moving at that exact second.

That means if you’re sitting at a red light, stopped in traffic, or creeping through congestion, officers can still cite you for texting or messaging on your phone.

Unlike some states with strict “hands-free” laws, Texas does not completely ban holding a phone while driving statewide. However, texting, emailing, and similar electronic messaging are illegal.

What about GPS or music apps?

Texas law does allow some phone use behind the wheel, including:

• Using GPS navigation
• Playing music
• Reporting an emergency or crime
• Hands-free calls in many areas

But officers may still stop drivers if they believe the phone use is distracting or unsafe.

How much is the fine?

Drivers caught violating Texas’ texting law can face:

• Up to $99 for a first offense
• Up to $200 for repeat offenses

Some Texas cities also have stricter local ordinances that limit handheld phone use even more.

TxDOT’s advice: Pull over first

TxDOT recommends drivers completely pull off the road and stop in a safe place before using their phones for calls or texts.

The agency’s message is simple: “Phones down, eyes up, Texas.”

On Iran, Trump said Xi told him that China wants to help negotiate an end to the war and a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. China is the largest buyer of Iranian oil — and Trump has hoped Xi would use that leverage to prod Iran into a deal on U.S. terms. Trump also said Xi assured him that China wouldn’t provide Iran with military equipment.

In a closed-door meeting, Xi warned Trump that differences over Taiwan, a self-governed island that Beijing claims as its own territory, could bring the U.S. and China into clashes or conflict. In December, Trump authorized an $11 billion arms package for Taiwan, but has not yet moved forward with delivery. Secretary of State Marco Rubio later warned that it would be “a terrible mistake” for China to take Taiwan by force.

Trump also hopes to focus talks on trade and deals for China to buy more agricultural products and passenger planes, setting up a board to address their differences and avoid a repeat of the trade war ignited last year after Trump’s tariff hikes.

Meanwhile, Adm. Brad Cooper, a top U.S. military leader in the Middle East, is testifying before the Senate for the first time since the Iran war began.

Here's the latest:

Trump says Xi wasn’t talking about him when he called the US a ‘declining nation’

Trump started his last day in Beijing with a defensive social media post, claiming that Chinese leader Xi Jinping was not talking about him when he “very elegantly referred to the United States as perhaps being a declining nation.”

The U.S. president, who did not explain the origin of those remarks, said they referred to former President Joe Biden.

The U.S. president said that Xi had only been complimentary about Trump’s own actions after returning to the White House last year.

“In fact, President Xi congratulated me on so many tremendous successes in such a short period of time,” Trump posted.

Trump administration uses X. Lawsuit plaintiffs use court

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s X posting Thursday in which he released images of design plans for one of Washington’s historic golf courses has begat a court filing by the lawyers in a civil case against those plans.

Lawyers representing the DC Preservation League filed a plaintiff’s notice of factual development to alert the court that members of the Trump administration continue talking about design plans for one of the city’s most popular and historic golf courses even though the legality of its plans is tied up in court.

“As with every other public development since Plaintiffs filed this case, this announcement further confirms that Defendants ‘will’ be converting East Potomac into championship-style course at the expense of numerous existing features of East Potomac Park,” lawyers for the DC Preservation League wrote.

US Supreme Court preserves access to abortion pill mifepristone, while lawsuit plays out

The Supreme Court on Thursday preserved access to a drug used in the most common method of abortion, rejecting lower-court restrictions while a lawsuit continues.

The court’s order allows women seeking abortions to continue obtaining mifepristone at pharmacies or through the mail, without an in-person visit to a doctor. Access is likely to remain uninterrupted at least into next year as the case plays out, including a potential appeal to the high court.

The justices granted emergency requests from makers of mifepristone, who are appealing a federal appeals court ruling that would require women to see a doctor in person and halt delivery of mifepristone through the mail.

The federal Food and Drug Administration, which first approved mifepristone for use in abortion in 2000, stopped requiring in-person visits five years ago.

CIA director meets with officials in Havana, Cuban government says

The Cuban government says CIA Director John Ratcliffe met Thursday with counterparts from the

Caribbean country ’s Ministry of the Interior during a high-level visit to the island.

According to official reports, the meeting served as a platform for Cuba to present evidence asserting that the nation poses no threat to U.S. national security.

An official statement noted that the meeting took place “against a backdrop of complex bilateral relations.”

Thursday’s meeting comes weeks after the Cuban government confirmed that it had recently met with U.S. officials on the island as tensions between the two countries remain high over the U.S. energy blockade of Cuba.

House Republicans barely defeat legislation to halt Iran war

A Democratic effort to pass legislation that would have put a check on Trump’s ability to launch further attacks against Iran barely failed to pass the House in a tie vote.

The war powers resolution failed on a 212-212 vote tally. Three Republicans, Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Tom Barrett of Michigan, joined with Democrats to vote in favor of the resolution. Democratic Rep. Jared Golden of Maine voted against it.

It was the first time the House has voted on the war since the close of a 60-day window in which presidents must gain congressional approval for such a conflict.

The House vote — and a close Senate vote the day before — showed how a small but potentially crucial number of Republicans are now standing in opposition to Trump continuing the war without congressional approval.

Justice Department accuses Yale medical school of illegally using race in admissions

The Department of Justice is accusing Yale University of illegally considering race in its medical school admissions. This is the second such DOJ allegation against a medical school this month.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said in a letter to Yale dated Thursday that data show Black and Hispanic students have a higher chance of admission to the medical school than white or Asian students, despite slightly lower grades and test scores. Last week, the DOJ notified the University of California, Los Angeles, of similar allegations.

The DOJ seeks a voluntary resolution with Yale but says it may take legal action if compliance isn’t achieved voluntarily. Yale officials haven’t commented yet.

▶ Read more

Trump administration aims to relax limits on toxic wastewater from coal-fired power plants

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wants to relax limits that require coal-fired power plants to prevent the release of toxic heavy metals into streams and rivers.

The EPA said Thursday that a 3-year-old rule was unduly costly for the energy industry at a time when energy demand is spiking, and that its new rule will lower the cost of power generation.

It’s the latest step that President Donald Trump’s administration has taken to pull back regulations on coal mining and coal-fired power. Coal and power industry trade associations cheered the EPA’s proposal.

Environmental groups slammed it as a public health danger and giveaway to the coal-power industry.

“This is another example of the Trump administration endangering the health of Americans as a favor to corporate polluters,” Thom Cmar, an attorney for environmental advocacy group Earthjustice, said in a statement.

▶ Read more

In new lawsuit, Justice Department challenges efforts to sanction Trump administration lawyers

The Justice Department is challenging efforts to sanction attorneys from the first and second Trump administrations, asserting in a lawsuit that the District of Columbia Bar is unfairly playing politics with the legal disciplinary process.

The lawsuit represents a direct challenge to the authority of the office that enforces ethics standards for attorneys in the nation’s capital where several high-profile investigations of Trump-allied lawyers are playing out.

The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in federal court in Washington. The D.C. Bar’s Board on Professional Responsibility did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

▶ Read more

House Democrats call for Lutnick to resign as commerce secretary

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee are telling Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to resign following the release of his interview transcript in the House’s investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.

Lutnick was neighbors with Epstein for years in New York City. The commerce secretary has insisted he barely knew Epstein, a wealthy financier who died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while facing sex trafficking charges.

But discrepancies have emerged between an interview that Lutnick gave on a podcast in 2025 and his later admissions that he had actually met up with Epstein twice after a 2005 tour of Epstein’s townhouse that disturbed Lutnick and his wife.

Demanding his resignation, Democratic lawmakers told Lutnick in a letter, “You lied to the American people and attempted to conceal your relationship with Jeffrey Epstein in your public statements.”

Emails show FBI Director Kash Patel’s Hawaii trip included ‘VIP snorkel’ at a Pearl Harbor memorial

Government emails obtained by The Associated Press show that FBI Director Kash Patel went on a “VIP snorkel” session last summer at the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor.

The FBI didn’t publicize the excursion or Patel’s return to Hawaii after official visits to Australia and New Zealand.

With few exceptions, snorkeling and diving are off-limits around the USS Arizona. The sunken battleship is now a military cemetery reachable only by boat. It has stood as one of the nation’s most hallowed sites since Japan bombed and sank the ship in 1941. It entombs more than 900 sailors and Marines at Pearl Harbor.

A Navy spokesperson confirms the outing but says the service wasn’t able to track down who initiated it.

▶ Read more

US Border Patrol chief announces his resignation in a Fox News interview

The head of the federal agency that patrols the borders of the United States says he’s resigning.

Michael Banks of the U.S. Border Patrol told Fox News on Thursday that his resignation was effective immediately, saying, “It’s just time.”

In the interview, Banks said he believes he’s improved border security significantly.

“I feel like I got the ship back on course from the least secure, disastrous, chaotic border to the most secure border this country has ever seen,” he said.

The Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection had no immediate comment.

▶ Read more

US announces additional $1.8 billion in funding for UN humanitarian aid

By EDITH M. LEDERER

Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, made the announcement at a press conference Thursday, saying the money will be earmarked for life-saving aid to victims of natural disasters, famine and “people who are truly in critical need.”

The $1.8 billion, to be allocated over the coming year, is in addition to the $2 billion the Trump administration announced in December.

President Donald Trump shut down the international aid agency USAID, throwing global humanitarian efforts into turmoil.

U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher called his agency “overstretched, under-resourced and literally under attack” and reiterated its 2026 plan to reach 87 million of the world’s most needy at a cost of $23 billion — even though 300 million people need humanitarian help.

Before Waltz’s announcement, he said, the U.N. had raised about $7.4 billion. He said the U.S. is now “the single largest national donor” to the United Nations.

Top Democrat on Senate Foreign Relations Committee criticizes Trump’s China summit

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Trump’s visit to China has so far demonstrated a “lack of a coherent foreign policy” and that the U.S. is in a weakened position as a result of the war with Iran.

Shaheen told reporters that she had wished Trump had taken a stronger stance at his summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, especially regarding Taiwan.

Trump in December authorized an $11 billion arms package for Taiwan — the largest weapons sale ever to the island — but has not yet moved forward with delivery.

Shaheen, who led a bipartisan group of senators on a visit to Taiwan in March, said the American president has “missed the fact that strong deterrence is the best way to have a stable relationship with China.”

Interior Secretary releases plans for historic DC golf course

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced the design plans for one of Washington’s historic golf courses.

In a posting on the social platform X, Burgum promised local golfers in the National Capital Region would enjoy “championship-quality golf at affordable, highly discounted rates.”

Commenters were overwhelmingly critical, suggesting better uses for taxpayer dollars.

The golf course is the subject of a lawsuit by the nonprofit DC Preservation League. It is challenging the Republican administration’s takeover of the golf course and its use as a dumping ground for debris from the demolition of the East Wing of the White House. Democracy Forward, a national legal organization that is co-representing the league, did not respond to a call for comment.

The suit is one of several legal battles challenging Trump’s efforts to remake public spaces in the city, including plans to build a 250-foot-tall (76-meter-tall) triumphal arch near the Lincoln Memorial. Preliminary site work began there this week.

Vance talks up Sen. Susan Collins during Maine appearance

Vice President JD Vance used part of a speech in Bangor, Maine, to promote the state’s Republican candidates.

Sen. Susan Collins is in a tough reelection fight this year with progressive activist Graham Platner as the likely Democratic opponent. Vance praised Collins for her independence and lack of partisanship.

“Sometimes I get frustrated with Susan Collins. I almost wish she was more partisan,” Vance said. “If she was as partisan as I wish she was she would not be a good fit for the people of Maine.”

Vance also encouraged attendants to vote for former Gov. Paul LePage, who is seeking election to a congressional seat held by Democratic Rep. Jared Golden, who is leaving office.

Senate hearing on Middle East ends with thoughts on disarming Hezbollah

The Senate Armed Services Committee hearing with the top U.S. military leader in the Middle East ended with a focus on the challenge of disarming Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group.

Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker, the committee’s Republican chair, noted how Hezbollah has continually fired rockets into Israel, while Israel had launched a ground offensive into southern Lebanon focused on Hezbollah, displacing a million people.

Wicker asked Adm. Brad Cooper, who leads U.S. Central Command, if the offensive was necessary.

“It is an option among options, of which there are few to deal with the Hezbollah problem,” Cooper said.

Wicker later said, “It would be a tremendous achievement” for Israel, Lebanon and the United States “if Hezbollah could be eliminated.”

Senators approve withholding their own pay during government shutdowns

Senators have unanimously approved a resolution to withhold their pay during government shutdowns. Lawmakers said the measure approved Thursday would discourage future funding standoffs after a series of record-breaking shutdowns.

The proposal requires the secretary of the Senate to hold senators’ salaries during shutdowns and release the money once funding resumes. It’ll take effect the day after the Nov. 3 general election.

Republican Sen. John Kennedy, the bill’s sponsor, says the measure ensures lawmakers share the burden faced by unpaid federal workers.

“This is about putting our money where our mouth is,” said Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, in a floor speech Wednesday.

Two shutdowns in the past year created significant financial hardship for tens of thousands of federal workers, particularly at the Department of Homeland Security. The department reopened last month after a 76-day partial shutdown and a 43-day full government shutdown last year.

▶ Read more

Trump says Xi told him China would not give Iran ‘military equipment’

The U.S. president said that Chinese leader Xi Jinping assured him in their conversations that China would not provide weapons to Iran.

“He said he’s not going to give military equipment. That’s a big statement,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity. “He said that today. That’s a big statement.”

Trump has previously said that Xi has offered him this same assurance on weapon sales.

But the statement sidestepped questions about China providing Iran with intelligence, electronic components or revenues from the purchase of oil.

Trump said that Xi said China would like to continue buying petroleum from Iran.

“But at the same time, he said, you know, they buy a lot of their oil there and they’d like to keep doing that,” the president said.

Trump says Xi offered to help broker peace with Iran

President Donald Trump said that Chinese leader Xi Jinping told him in meetings that his country “would like to be of help” in negotiating an end to the Iran war and reopening the Strait of Hormuz to oil shipments.

“But he said, ‘I would love to be a help, if I can be of any help whatsoever,’” Trump said in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity. “He’d like to see the Hormuz strait open. He said, ‘If I can be of any help whatsoever, I would like to help.’”

Before leaving for the state visit in Beijing, Trump said the U.S. did not need China’s assistance on resolving the conflict.

US commander says reducing civilian deaths is a passion, but admits to job cuts

Adm. Brad Cooper, the top U.S. military leader in the Middle East, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that reducing civilian casualties is a particular passion of his. But he admitted that an office in U.S. Central Command focused on civilian-harm reduction was cut from 10 employees to one.

Cooper said those people are still focused on reducing civilian casualties but are “integrated into other capacities.” The admiral added that dozens if not hundreds of people are focused on reducing civilian deaths.

Under questioning from Democratic lawmakers, he declined to estimate civilians casualties in the Iran war. He said the bombing of a school at the beginning of the war is still under investigation. He said there’s no evidence that corroborates reporting that several schools and hospitals were also bombed.

Elon Musk’s young son accompanies him in Beijing

His 6-year-old son was spotted in a Chinese-style outfit as he walked with his father in the Great Hall of the People, where Trump and Xi met in a high-stakes summit.

Musk is part of the U.S. business delegation that met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Thursday in the same venue.

In a video posted by China’s state media, the boy is seen wearing a blue Chinese-style vest with golden-colored knot buttons on the side, drawing praise on Chinese social media.

Musk posted on his social media site X that the boy is learning Mandarin Chinese.

US commander says Iran can still strike targets in the region

The top U.S. military commander in the Middle East conceded that Iran still maintains a “very moderate if not small capability to continue strikes” in the region amid questions from lawmakers Thursday.

In response to questions from Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin, Cooper also said the U.S. has the military power to permanently reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

However, when Slotkin pressed on why Cooper hasn’t done so, especially amid rising gas prices rising for Americans, Cooper deferred to policymakers amid ongoing peace negotiations.

American forces battling Iran are adopting tactics from Ukrainians, US commander says

Adm. Brad Cooper told the Senate Armed Services Committee that American forces have learned a lot from the Ukrainian military, which is battle-hardened from its war with Russia.

“We adopted a large number of tactics, techniques and procedures that the Ukrainians have passed us that have helped us defend Americans,” Cooper said.

Ukraine has passed on expertise to the U.S. specifically regarding anti-drone warfare. Iran had launched swarms of drones against U.S. and allied forces, killing some Americans.

A report from SmartAsset found Texas is the No. 33 state in the country for reported fraud incidents involving people age 60 and older.

The study analyzed Federal Trade Commission data and measured how often seniors reported being targeted by fraud and scams.

Key findings for Texas

• Texas recorded 4.3 reported fraud incidents for every 1,000 residents age 60 and older.
• About 6% of all reported fraud cases in Texas involved seniors.
• The most common scams targeting older Texans were business imposter scams, where criminals pretend to represent trusted companies such as banks or credit card providers.

Researchers say business imposter scams often involve fake calls, texts, or emails claiming there is suspicious account activity or urgent payment issues.

States with the highest rates

According to the study, the states with the highest rates of senior fraud reports were:

1. Florida
2. Delaware
3. Nevada
4. Georgia
5. Maryland

Why experts say seniors are often targeted

Fraud experts say scammers frequently target older adults because many have retirement savings, own homes, and may be more likely to answer phone calls or respond to messages appearing to come from trusted businesses.

The report comes as consumer protection agencies nationwide continue warning about rising scam activity involving AI-generated voices, spoofed phone numbers, and fake customer service agents.

Click here for the full SmartAsset study.

New Mexico produces more oil than any other state besides Texas, and the state's revenue from taxes, royalties and lease sales helps cover the cost of college tuition, all school meals, health insurance and a new initiative for free universal child care.

Now that oil prices are surging from the conflict with Iran, money is flooding into the state treasury and creating an uncomfortable situation for Democrats who oppose the war and would rather reduce their reliance on fossil fuels.

“It’s hard for people to think about, ‘Oh great, we have this windfall,’ and children are getting killed on the other side of the world,” said Deb Haaland, the former U.S. Interior Department secretary running for governor.

Haaland is one of two Democrats running to succeed Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who is wrapping up her second term in office. A former congresswoman and state party chair, Haaland worked to limit unfettered oil and gas exploration while serving in President Joe Biden's Cabinet.

Now she wants to use money amid the energy boom to increase New Mexico's child tax credit and boost the refundable working families tax credit, payouts that would most benefit people with low incomes.

“We have obligations to try to have a better world overall," said Haaland, a member of Laguna Pueblo who could become the first female Native American governor in the U.S. “I think we can do that.”

Her rival for the Democratic nomination, Albuquerque-based District Attorney Sam Bregman, said he wants to offset inflation with one-time $500 checks from the state to residents making less than $200,000 a year. He also wants to waive personal income taxes on residents 65 and older.

“It is the resources of the people that’s generating that revenue,” he said. “We ought to give it back to the people."

For every $1 fluctuation in the average annual price of oil, New Mexico sees a roughly $59 million swing in state government income.

That means the state is likely to see a $850 million surge in annual state government income for the budget year ending in June alone based on war-time price changes — equivalent to 12% of annual general fund spending, according to the state Legislature’s budget and accountability office.

New Mexico sends much of its relatively heavy crude oil from its patch of the Permian Basin to Texas distribution hubs and refineries along the Gulf Coast. Prices could remain high with no end in sight for the war despite a fragile ceasefire.

A nest egg that moderates dependence on oil

In New Mexico, surges in oil income automatically flow into a series of trust accounts designed to gradually reduce the state’s reliance on fossil fuels, helping the state generate investment income to underwrite Medicaid, early childhood education, infrastructure projects and an expansion of mental healthcare.

The strategy has tempered discomfort among many Democrats with dependence on oil income, in a state with entrenched swaths of extreme poverty and the nation’s highest enrollment rate in Medicaid.

“For New Mexico and New Mexicans and especially the progressive left — which sort of controls the state — it’s always something they really don’t want to admit or talk about or get angry about,” said Lonna Atkeson, a political science professor who has analyzed voting behavior in New Mexico and directs the LeRoy Collins Institute at Florida State University. “Like, ‘We should not be funding our stuff with that money.’ I’ve heard those arguments."

The winner of this year's governor's race will take the helm of a state investment council overseeing a roughly $68 billion state nest egg, including investments that defray costs for K-12 public education.

New Mexico is not alone in reaping the financial benefits of the war. In Alaska, the state forecast an additional $1.05 billion for the current fiscal year and the one beginning July 1.

“It really is this small group of energy-reliant states like North Dakota, Alaska, New Mexico and Wyoming that are going be affected most directly,” said Justin Theal, who researches state fiscal trends as a senior officer for The Pew Charitable Trusts. He described the situation as “a double-edged sword.”

“It raises costs for households and businesses which can potentially dampen consumer spending and reduce sales taxes that almost every state relies on as well,” Theal said.

Wartime oil prices hold silver lining for New Mexico

Three contenders for the Republican nomination are advocating for even more aggressive tax relief while oil prices are riding high.

“Republicans are using the ‘e-word' — eliminate income taxes,” said Albuquerque-based pollster Brian Sanderoff, president of Research and Polling Inc. A Republican last won election to statewide office in 2016.

At the same time, they're questioning whether universal childcare will be financially sustainable.

The program is coming under direct fire in a lawsuit from cannabis entrepreneur and Republican candidate for governor Duke Rodriguez. He previously served as human service secretary under former Gov. Gary Johnson, a crusader for limited government who unsuccessfully ran for president as a Libertarian.

The lawsuit alleges the childcare program was implemented in November by Lujan Grisham without required authorization from the Legislature — though supporting legislation was passed this year. A court has ordered the administration to respond within 30 days.

Reflecting on the state’s oil income, Rodriguez says, “We don’t have a resource problem, what we have is a real results problem. We just spend and spend and spend with no accountability.”

Republican businessman Doug Turner describes wartime oil prices as an opportunity to overhaul the state tax code and wants means testing for childcare benefits. He lost the 2010 Republican primary to then-district attorney Susana Martinez, who went on to serve two terms as governor.

Gregg Hull, a former three-term mayor of Rio Rancho on the outskirts of Albuquerque, wants New Mexico to join the ranks of states with no personal income tax like Texas and Wyoming. Personal income taxes account for about $2.2 billion in annual state government income, offsetting about a fifth of annual general fund obligations.

Hull said he wants to double down on the oil economy by funneling budget surpluses to infrastructure projects in the state's main oil-production zone.

“This morning, when I was looking at a price of a barrel of oil, I said, ‘Well, that’s not great for consumers, but it’s awesome for New Mexico,'” Hull said.

___

Associated Press writer Becky Bohrer in Juneau, Alaska, contributed to this report.

Musk, the world's richest man, was a co-founder of OpenAI, which started in 2015 and went on to create ChatGPT. His lawsuit filed in 2024 accuses OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and his top deputy of betraying a plan to keep it as a nonprofit and shifting into a moneymaking mode behind his back.

The trial’s outcome could sway the balance of power in AI — breakthrough technology that increasingly has raised fears about its potential impacts on the economy, society and even humanity's survival. Scrutiny of Altman’s leadership comes at a crucial time for the company and its competitors, Musk’s own AI firm and Anthropic, formed by a group of seven ex-OpenAI leaders.

All three firms are moving toward planned initial public offerings that are expected to be among the largest ever. Musk is seeking damages and changes to OpenAI’s business structure, as well as Altman’s ouster from company leadership. If Musk wins, it could derail OpenAI’s IPO plans.

Timing of lawsuit is key question

One of the jury’s tasks is to decide if Musk filed his lawsuit in time. Much of the testimony has centered on OpenAI’s early years after its founding, but there’s a relatively short timeline to allege the claims Musk is making of breach of charitable trust and unjust enrichment.

OpenAI has argued that Musk waited too long and cannot claim harms that occurred before August 2021.

The judge wrote in a court filing last month that “if the jury finds that Musk failed to file his action within the statute of limitations, it is highly likely” that she will “accept that finding and direct verdict to the defendants.”

If the jury decides the lawsuit was filed in time, it then has to decide if OpenAI had a “charitable trust” that was broken by OpenAI and its executives. Musk's other claim means jurors must determine whether Altman, Greg Brockman — co-founder and president — and OpenAI unjustly enriched themselves at Musk's expense.

For Microsoft, a co-defendant in the trial, the jury has to decide whether the company aided and abetted that breach. Musk invested $38 million in OpenAI during its first years, and Microsoft became OpenAI's biggest investor after Musk's departure.

Musk lawyer focuses on Altman's credibility

Altman and Brockman were in the courtroom Thursday, while Musk was in China with President Donald Trump and other prominent tech executives.

Musk’s attorney, Steven Molo, told jurors the Tesla CEO was “sorry he could not be here.”

In his closing arguments, Molo doubled down on claims of Altman's untrustworthiness, pointing to testimony from witnesses who called the OpenAI CEO a “liar.”

"I confronted Sam Altman with the fact that five witnesses in this trial, all people that he’s known for years and worked with, called him a liar under oath. Liar’s a very powerful word in a courtroom,” Molo said.

Those five people were Musk and another co-founder Ilya Sutskever, who was OpenAI’s chief scientist, as well as OpenAI’s former chief technology officer Mira Murati and two ex-board members, Helen Toner and Tasha McCauley.

“Sam Altman’s credibility is directly at issue in this case. He’s the defendants' main witness. The defendants absolutely need you to believe Sam Altman. If you cannot trust him, if you don’t believe him, they cannot win. It’s that simple,” Molo said.

Because Musk, Altman and Brockman never signed a contract that could show they had a charitable trust that OpenAI then broke, Musk's side has made the case that jurors should consider emails and other communication between them — along with everything from OpenAI's website to press interviews — as constituting such a trust.

A question of money

In a terse exchange while jurors were out of the room, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers sharply criticized Musk’s attorney for suggesting to jurors Thursday that Musk wasn’t seeking any money in the lawsuit.

While Musk, before the trial, abandoned a bid for damages for himself, he is still seeking an unspecified amount of money to be paid to fund the altruistic efforts of OpenAI’s charitable arm.

Musk is seeking “billions of dollars of disgorgement,” the judge said, ordering Molo to either retract his statement or “drop your claim for billions of dollars.” They later agreed that the judge would correct the statement to jurors.

OpenAI says Musk has no evidence

Sarah Eddy, a lawyer for OpenAI, said it was Musk who has misrepresented details surrounding OpenAI's nonprofit founding and his subsequent falling out with the other co-founders.

“Mr. Molo says that Sam Altman can’t be trusted,” she said. “Mr. Musk is the one whose testimony is contradicted by every other witness.”

As OpenAI has argued throughout the trial, Eddy said Musk knew of and supported plans for OpenAI to form a for-profit company that would still support its mission to benefit humanity.

“Mr. Musk, he has tried to persuade you that his years-ago donations to OpenAI came with specific strings attached, that these strings were strong enough to last forever to tie OpenAI up in knots as it tries to pursue its mission, and that these strings gave Mr. Musk perpetual rights over OpenAI,” Eddy said. "But Mr. Musk has come nowhere close to making that case.”

She brought up testimony that Musk had discussed his children inheriting control of OpenAI.

“He wanted dominion over AGI,” she said, referring to artificial general intelligence, a term for advanced AI technology that surpasses humans at many tasks. “That’s why this was such a high stakes conversation. Mr. Musk wanted total control. Maybe, maybe he’d give it up over time, or maybe not. But it was up to him and that was the problem.”

Protesters outside court bash both sides

Outside the courthouse, more than a dozen protesters bashed both parties as billionaires who were eroding the environment, workforce and people’s mental health and whose industry would wipe out humanity.

There were signs that read “Stop replacing healthcare workers with chatboxes!” and “No future for workers in Musk-Altman fascist world.”

It doesn’t matter which side wins in court, said Saru Jayaraman, who is part of a campaign to push a $30 hourly wage on election ballots this fall.

“The thing is, we’re all losing, that’s the main point. Who’s really winning? The two of them,” she said, referring to Altman and Musk.

Phoebe Thomas Sorgen, a peace activist from nearby Berkeley, said there needs to be a global ban on artificial intelligence and used a slang term to say everyone is awful here, except for the jurors and activists.

“Both parties in this trial are completely hypocritical. They both claim that they’re developing AI for the benefit of humanity and that’s a lie. They’re developing it for greed.”

___

Associated Press Writer Janie Har contributed to this story. O'Brien reported from Providence, Rhode Island.

High pressure aloft and plenty of sunshine is creating an air quality issue for most of metro Houston today, and likely for the remainder of the week.

Staying hot and sunny Thursday evening

Heating Up:

Friday morning waking up in the upper 60s to low 70s, the heat continue to build fast. By the afternoon highs reach the low 90s.

The heat will start to feel different as a stronger pull off of the Gulf for the remainder of the week, so expect to see temps moving back up to near 90.

Your 10 Day Forecast:

Next week high pressure gets shoved out as multiple disturbances move through. This will increase rain chances next week.

Have you captured a dramatic rain photo or video? Share your weather moments with the KPRC 2 community through Click2Pins at Click2Houston.com/pins.

Thursday, May 14

• Musaafer Houston Beekeeper cocktail program highlights honey from local neighborhoods
• • Musaafer
• Help us save lives at the KPRC 2 Community Blood Drive with Gulf Coast Blood
• • Schedule an appointment
• Port Aransas
• Children’s Museum Houston

Wednesday, May 13

• Why one Fulshear homeowner calls his generator “The Easy Button”
• • GenPro.com
• Family fun meets coastal charm in Port Aransas, Texas’ premier Gulf Coast getaway
• • Port Aransas
  • Red Dragon Pirate Cruises
• Local chef turns pandemic setback into a thriving Filipino food pop-up business
• • Aleng Nina’s
  • Chef Nina’s Pop-up Event at Third Place

Tuesday, May 12

• Rob Riggle among authors featured in ‘A Celebration of Reading’ 2026
• • Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation
• Texas’ legendary 1877 tall ship ELISSA joins Sail250 voyage to New York Harbor
• • The Official Official Tall Ship of Texas
  • Galveston 250 Kickoff Party Tickets
• The Future of noninvasive wellness is in Sugar Land
• • Oasis Aesthetics & Wellness and Oasis Dry Eye Center
• Chef Jose Hernandez on his roots, restaurants, and fresh pasta
• • Savoir Restaurant
  • Patton

Monday, May 11

• Texas breweries shine at World Beer Cup as American Craft Beer Week kicks off
• • What’s on Tap Radio
• Could Retirement Living Actually Feel Like a Resort? Inside Life at Eagle’s Trace
• • Eagles’ Trace by Erickson Senior Living
• Empty Bowls Houston returns for its 20th anniversary
• • Empty Bowls Houston
  • Houston Food Bank

Friday, May 8

• HL Rhythm Energy Question of the Week
• Children’s Museum Houston and Houston Life present a first look inside the ‘Gallery of Wonder’ on KPRC 2
• Easy at-home kitchen STEM activities to spark curiosity with Children’s Museum Houston
• • Children’s Museum Houston
• Rung Film Festival returns to Houston, highlighting Pakistani storytellers on the big screen
• • Rung Film Festival
• Scammed out of $90,000: Houston woman shares warning for seniors
• • AARP Houston
• KPRC 2’s “Eat Like a Local”

Thursday, May 7

• Celebrate National Hamburger Month with OMG! Burger
• • OMG! Burger
• How Houston City College Is Building the City’s Workforce
• • Houston City College
• The Insperity Invitational presented by United Healthcare happening in The Woodlands this weekend
• • Insperity Invitational
• Bridge the Gaps

Wednesday, May 6

• From local finds to feel-good vibes, ‘Shop Fulshear First’ family-friendly night market
• • “Shop Fulshear First”
• Why you keep repeating the same unhealthy relationship patterns and how to change them
• • Jenn Pinkerton
• Houston Grand Opera

Tuesday, May 5

• Bun B announces “UGK Been Ridin’ Dirty,” Celebrating 30 Years of a Southern Hip-Hop Classic
• • Bun B Presents “Been Ridin’ Dirty” Tickets
• From classroom to center stage: The Tommy Tune Awards showcase Houston’s rising theatre talent
• • Tommy Tune Awards Finalists List
• Houston Life co-hosts learn calligraphy with live event artist Jenny Blaschke
• • Jenny Blaschke

Monday, May 4

• “Houston’s Enchilada Queen” Sylvia Casares serving up big flavor & family tradition
• • Sylvia’s Enchilada Kitchen
• This Houston program uses comedy to build confidence and change lives
• • Comedy Unlocked
  • The Opportunity Center
• Hot products: Summer grillin’ and chillin’ with Lifestyle and Home Improvement expert Kathryn Emery
• • Kathryn Emery
• New Smile: AI-driven design at Texas Dental Implant Center
• • Texas Dental Implant Center

Friday, May 1

• HL Rhythm Energy Question of the Week
• Teatro Indigo
• Teatro Indigo at Hobby Center for the Performing Arts
• Mahjong for a Cause
• Sam Houston Race Park

Thursday, April 30

• St‑Germain Elderflower Liqueur
• National Pet Month is here! Houston SPCA offers tips for responsible pet ownership
• • Houston SPCA
• From Knee Replacement to the Boston Marathon: A Story of Movement, Medicine, and Meaning
• • Dr. Richard A. Berger Outpatient Hip and Knee Surgery
• Tyler Henry “The Hollywood Medium” heading to Houston for unforgettable live show
• • Tyler Henry Live at Smart Financial Center
  • Connect with Tyler Henry

Wednesday, April 29

• In the Kitchen with Kroger: Celebrate Mother’s Day with Kroger, the world’s largest florist
• • KPRC 2 INSIDERS: Enter for your chance to win a $250 Kroger gift card!
• Sail into Alaska with Princess Cruises - tips from The Travel Mom, Emily Kaufman
• • The Travel Mom
  • Princess Cruises
• How wearing denim became an international symbol of supporting assault survivors and victims
• • National Denim Day
  • Fort Bend Women’s Center
• Country superstar Parker McCollum surprises nurses ahead of National Nurses Week

Tuesday, April 28

• Inside Golden Roastery: A popular Middle Eastern shop serving traditional desserts and coffee
• How to make a popular Arab dessert Kunafa
• • Golden Roastery (Walk-in offer only; get 20% off Kunafa items from now to May 10)
• Help us save lives at the KPRC 2 Community Blood Drive with Gulf Coast Blood
• • Community Blood Drive at KPRC 2
• Cedric The Entertainer brings the laughs in new Netflix animated film ‘Swapped’
• • Netflix’s ‘Swapped’

Monday, April 27

• Summer safety for kids: what parents need to know
• • Bivona Law Firm
• From Blueprint to Backyard Oasis: A Missouri City Transformation Designed for Real Life
• • Allied Outdoor Solutions
• First annual AAPI Fest coming to Alief
• • AAPI Fest
  • Kaminari Taiko of Houston,
• The story behind Agnes and Sherman where Asian flavors meet American comfort food
• • Agnes and Sherman
  • AAPI Restaurant Weeks
• Hosts Mike “The Miz” Mizanin and Rocsi Diaz chat reboot of ‘American Gladiators’
• • American Gladiators

Friday, April 24

• HL Rhythm Energy Question of the Week
• Step inside August Wilson’s “Fences” at Houston’s Alley Theatre - A timeless story of love, legacy, and second chances
• • August Wilson’s “Fences” at Alley Theatre
• Prime Video’s ‘Cocaine Quarterback’ Owen Hanson visits Houston, shares incredible comeback story
• • “Cocaine Quarterback” on Prime Video
• National Bucket List Day: A Trafalgar River Cruise with The Travel Mom
• • The Travel Mom
  • Trafalgar

Thursday, April 23

• Silambam Houston highlights the beauty of Indian classical dance at the Hobby Center
• • Silambam Houston
• A preview of Great Age on the Green, Houston’s new festival celebrating aging boldly
• • Great Age on the Green
• Kids learn money the fun way with Financial Fortunes card game
• • Financial Fortunes Card Game
• Teeing off for the LPGA’s first major of the season - The Chevron Championship
• • The Chevron Championship

Wednesday, April 22

• Houston is driving the Biotech future - starting with students
• • Texas Medical Center BioPath Program
• From ‘Dance Moms’ to the stage and page: Nia Sioux’s next act
• • Follow Nia Sioux on Instagram
• From ‘Dance Moms’ to the stage and page: Nia Sioux’s next act
• • Nia Sioux’s Memoir “Bottom of the Pyramid”
• Wildflowers, western heritage, and a Mother’s Day to remember at The George Ranch
• The George Ranch

Tuesday, April 21

• Orchid care 101: Simple tricks to keep your orchids blooming longer
• • Ace Berry
  • Flora & More
• Affordable luxury: New upholstered bed collection unveiled at Texas Mattress Makers
• • Texas Mattress Makers
• Music, food and rodeo fun for all at the Galveston County Fair & Rodeo
• • Galveston County Fair & Rodeo
• Texas Dental Implant Center

Monday, April 20

• Robins Landing Neighborhood Floor Plans - Houston Habitat for Humanity
• Homeownership Process - Houston Habitat for Humanity
• Volunteering - Houston Habitat for Humanity
• ReStore - Houston Habitat for Humanity
• Third Ward - Houston Habitat for Humanity

Friday, April 17

• ‘Houston Life’ is live today at the Houston Ballet Nutcracker Market Spring
• • Houston Ballet Nutcracker Market® SPRING
  • Dog Collar World
  • Linked by Stevi
  • The Hive
  • Big Creek Farms
  • EK The Boutique
  • House of Cottonwood
  • ParkerJoe

Thursday, April 16

• TUTS presents ‘Monty Python’s Spamalot’ rides into the Hobby Center
• • Monty Python’s Spamalot at TUTS Tickets
• One ticket, endless fun at the Galveston County Fair and Rodeo
• • Galveston County Fair and Rodeo
• Carpet Giant celebrates 50 years of proudly serving generations of Houstonians
• • Carpet Giant Website (mention Houston Life to get $150 off your purchase of $1,000)
• Faith ‘One Arm Wonder’ Malton and Zack ‘Pitbull’ Ruhl rappel 30 stories for non-profit Camp For All
• • Camp For All
  • Faith Malton

Wednesday, April 15

• Brush up on your makeup routine at Blushington River Oaks
• • Houston Life Deals (Get 20% off beauty services at Blushington River Oaks)
  • Blushington River Oaks
• The King himself shares how to save 20% on tickets to the Texas Renaissance Festival
• • Texas Renaissance Festival
• Ethan’s Ohana
• Cube Against Cancer 2026 Houston
• Cube Against Cancer
• Fortis College

Tuesday, April 14

• Former Texans WR Steven Sims Jr. to host FREE youth football camp
• • Must See Foundation
• Why it’s not just the generator - it’s the company behind it
• • Gen Pro
• How the Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce helps local companies grow
• • Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
• Step Onward Foundation uses music to fight homelessness in Texas
• • Step Onward Foundation
  • Sunday Funday Community Celebration

Monday, April 13

• Robins Landing Neighborhood Floor Plans - Houston Habitat for Humanity
• Homeownership Process - Houston Habitat for Humanity
• Volunteering - Houston Habitat for Humanity
• ReStore - Houston Habitat for Humanity
• Third Ward - Houston Habitat for Humanity

Friday, April 10

• Your guide to the Houston Barbecue Festival this weekend: Top pitmasters, unlimited BBQ samples, and more
• • Houston BBQ Festival
• Texas CASA’s partner agencies train volunteers to be a voice and a lifeline for children in the foster care system
• • Become a CASA
• ‘Grow the Game’ Initiative expands soccer access in Houston ahead of the World Cup with Guinness World Records attempt
• • Airbnb GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™
• Houston’s Garden Theatre celebrates 5 years with Stephen Sondheim’s “Company”
• • The Garden Theatre
• Father daughter duo Steve Zahn and Audrey Zahn chat new film ‘She Dances’

Thursday, April 9

• The Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary kicks off 22nd annual ‘Chic Boutique’
• • Chic Boutique
• Aramie Payton brings Broadway pedigree to Alley Theatre’s revival of “Fences”
• • Alley Theatre
• Layoff leads Houston creator to viral small business mission
• • Follow David on Instagram
• At just 19, Jalyn Hall is stepping into his moment
• • NBC’s “The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins”
• KPRC 2’s “Eat Like a Local”

Wednesday, April 8

• Houston Underwater Film Festival returns this weekend with stunning ocean films 🌊🌊
• • School, college and scuba students: claim a free ticket by emailing huff@hups.org
  • Houston Underwater Film Festival Tickets
• Celebrate Earth Month by sipping sustainably!
• • Wine and Travel Contributor Daniela Garrido
• Shred Day Houston: Safely destroy documents and fight hunger on April 18
• • Comerica Shred Day Houston
• Trade-show-tested home picks: Coffee, Water, Bidets and Moving Gear
• • Kathryn Emery Home Improvement & Lifestyle Expert
• A kid’s guide to top play picks to cut screen time and spark creativity
• • Kid-trepreneur Dylan Emery

Tuesday, April 7

• Grand Marshals Kam Franklin & Brian Ching preview the 39th annual Art Car Parade
• • Houston Art Car Parade
• This Texas artist is turning Titanic artifacts into art
• • Souls of the Titanic
• In Houston, Your Windows May Not Last as Long—Here’s What to Know (and What to Do About It)
• • Pella Windows and Doors
• Houston’s Trillest Chef bringing bold flavors of H-Town the national stage
• • Follow Chef Machete on Instagram
• Texas Dental Implant Center

Monday, April 6

• Houston’s Garden Theatre celebrates 5 years with Stephen Sondheim’s “Company”
• • The Garden Theatre
• Sysco’s World Cup-themed food show is a preview of how Houston plans to feed the world
• • Sysco World Cup-themed food show
• The Houston Art Car Parade

Friday, April 3

• HL Rhythm Energy Question of the Week
• WWE Wrestler Je’Von Evans
• WWE Monday Night Raw at Toyota Center Tickets
• IBEW Local 66
• KPRC 2’s “Eat Like a Local”

Thursday, April 2

• Disney on Ice
• The Chevron Championship
• Maxine Sharf brings ‘Maxi’s Kitchen’ to Houston Life with her mom
• • Follow Maxine Sharf on Instagram
  • "Maxi’s Kitchen: Easy Go-To Recipes to Make Again and Again"
• Father daughter duo Steve Zahn and Audrey Zahn chat new film ‘She Dances’

Wednesday, April 1

• Spring gets sweeter with two easy recipes: Carrot cupcake and blueberry crumble bun
• • Follow Cookbook Author Florence Jackson on Instagram
• This Houston Restaurant Hasn’t Raised Prices Since Its Food Truck Days
• • Black Restaurant Week
  • Chitalian Pizzeria
• Tarot, the Fool card and finding meaning on Derrick’s birthday (April Fool’s Day)
• • Tarot Card Reader Amber Ambrose
• Theatre Under the Stars presents ‘Back to the Future: The Musical’ through April 5th
• • TUTS “Back to the Future: The Musical”

Tuesday, March 31

• Send Well Wishes to Tessa on her last day
• • Tessa Barrera announces she’s leaving ‘Houston Life’
• Calling all book lovers: Houston indie bookstore crawl returns for its third year of literary adventure
• • 2026 Houston Bookstore Crawl
• Preview the 13th annual Insperity Invitational presented by United Healthcare
• • Insperity Invitational
• Texas roots and coastal growth, how the Oyster Bros in Palacios are redefining the gulf oyster
• • Oyster Bros
• Goodtaste with Tanji Patton

Monday, March 30

• How Autism Moms of Houston became a lifeline for families raising children who are neurodivergent
• • Autism Moms of Houston
  • Autism Awareness Festival
• An offer fit for a new you! Grab the Alloy Personal Training Houston Life Deal
• • Alloy Personal Training Houston
  • Houston Life Deals
• Who’s responsible when a child is hurt at daycare?
• • Bivona Law
• At just 19, Jalyn Hall is stepping into his moment
• • NBC’s “The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins”

Friday, March 27

• Family fun, charity, & of course golf shine at Texas Children’s Houston Open ⛳
• • Texas Children’s Houston Open
  • TCHO Cleats for Kids

Wednesday, March 25

• Tessa Barrera announces she’s leaving ‘Houston Life’
• Plan aims to turn Garden Oaks Theater into an arts hub before it’s too late
• • Save the Garden Oaks Theater
• Fore! Preview the 2026 Texas Children’s Houston Open
• • Texas Children’s Houston Open
• Women, Wealth, and breaking ‘The Success Lie’
• • Chantell Preston
  • “The Success Lie” by Chantell Preston
• McGovern Allergy & Asthma Clinic
• Gexa Energy

Tuesday, March 24

• From puppy playtime to pesky nipping, helpful springtime tips for dog owners
• • Stephanie Bennett’s Believe in Dog Training
• How one Houston program is helping kids discover confidence—and their future
• • Sam Houston Area Council Boy Scouts of America
• Houston Ballet’s Busy Spring: Nutcracker Market, Sons de L’âme & YAGP Finals
• • Houston Ballet
• Breaking barriers and popping corks with CEO and Master Sommelier June Rodil
• • Master Sommelier June Rodil
  • Goodnight Hospitality

Monday, March 23

• Blooming Wonders at ARTECHOUSE
• • Spring arrives at ARTECHOUSE Houston with ‘Blooming Wonders’
• Texas Dental Implant Center
• • Trusted Dental Implant Care in Houston — Board-Certified Periodontist Helps Complex Cases
• Disability Attorney Marc Whitehead
• • Expert tax advice: Are your Social Security and Disability benefits taxable?
• Allied Outdoor Solutions
• • From basic to beautiful: See this stunning backyard transformation in Weston Lakes

Thursday, March 19

• Springtime fun at the Houston Zoo
• • Zoo Bloom
  • All you can Zoo
  • Saving the Galápagos Islands

Wednesday, March 18

• Houston Latino Film Festival celebrates 10 Years with Cheech Marin
• • Houston Latino Film Festival
• Find the good vibes every weekend for Jazzy Sundays in the Parks
• • Jazzy Sundays in the Parks
• Get to know Dash rising star, Avery Patterson
• • Houston Dash
• Kevin Williamson makes fans SCREAM all over again in latest franchise installation
• • Kevin Williamson
• Self Employed? Tax Filing Moves That Help You Qualify for a Mortgage
• • Habayit Home Loans
  • Mortgage Expert Rich Bonn’s Upcoming Webinar

Tuesday, March 17

• Houston’s Mezclada Dance Company blends hip hop, Latin and contemporary dance forms into high-energy performances
• • Performing Arts Houston New/Now featuring Mezclada Dance Company
• METRO rolls out systemwide changes: A first look at the new technology to help streamline your ride
• • Metro Houston
• Houston Life Deals: Fun & savings for the entire family
• • HoustonLifeDeals.com
• Frontier Utilities teams with Kids’ Meals Houston to pack thousands of meals
• • Frontier Utilities

Monday, March 16

• Affordable rodeo-ready outfits you can find at Target this season
• • Target.com
• Houston’s growing need for linemen: Why the trade pays and how to start
• • IBEW Local 66
• ET hosts Nischelle Turner and Kevin Frazier share highlights from the 98th Academy Awards
• • Entertainment Tonight Oscars Coverage
• Houston Ballet principal dancer Karina González brings Frida Kahlo to life in Broken Wings
• • “Broken Wings” at Houston Ballet Tickets
• The Largest Indoor Waterpark in the U.S.? It’s Just a Road Trip from Houston
• • Kalahari Resorts and Conventions

Friday, March 13

• HL Rhythm Energy Question of the Week
• Houston Life Deals: Fun & savings for the entire family
• Outriding the Devil: Angela Ganter’s incredible rodeo comeback
• • Outriding the Devil premieres at River Oaks Theatre
• ‘Aliens’ 40th anniversary cast reunion and more at Pop Culture Con 2026
• • Pop Culture Con
• Alley Theatre brings Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest” to Houston with a fresh twist
• • “The Importance of Being Earnest” at Alley Theatre Tickets
• Bounce your way to better fitness: trampoline workouts in West U
• • Motiv Fitness at West University
• Moon 2 Mars Festival returns to Space Center Houston with out-of-this-world fun and concerts this spring break
• • Space Center Houston

Thursday, March 12

• KPRC 2 INSIDERS: Enter for your chance to see Tim McGraw at RODEOHOUSTON
• The Birthday Joy Program helps kids in foster care, shelters and group homes celebrate their special day
• • the Birthday Joy Program Website
• Inside “The Feminine Universe” Houston’s new all-women immersive art experience
• • The Feminine Universe Art Show Tickets
• Bring the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo home with these sips and bites
• • Entertaining Expert Paul Zahn
• Spring is in full swing at CITYCENTRE Houston
• • CITYCENTRE
• Kalahari Resorts and Conventions

Tuesday, March 10

• Enjoy Spring Break at the Houston Museum of Natural Science
• • Houston Museum of Natural Science
• Honoring the fallen & recognizing community heroes
• • Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo
  • BP America
• Houston author Margie Seaman proves it is never too late to chase a dream
• • Margie Seaman
  • “Someday Is Our Horizon” by Margie Seaman on Amazon

Monday, March 9

• NestFest beach cleanup invites volunteers to protect nesting sea turtles on the Galveston Coast
• From bumper boats to STEAM activities, enjoy a FUNonmenal spring break at Discovery Green
• • FUNomenal Spring Break at Discovery Green
• This veteran-owned business is helping Houstonians keep the heat the out and the savings in with new windows
• • The Window Source
• You’ve been diagnosed with cancer, now what? Non-profit CanCare pairs you with survivors who can help
• • CanCare
• Spring Break Staycation: Why The Travel Mom says Houston families love Great Wolf Lodge
• • The Travel Mom
  • Great Wolf Lodge

Friday, March 6

• Houston Life Deals
• Pickle vs. anime: Largest pickle festival in Texas comes to Rosenberg with anime-inspired food
• • In A Pickle Festival
• Expedia’s 2026 Air Hacks: Best days to book, when to fly and top savings
• • Expedia Air Hacks Report
• The Parking Spot making airport parking a breeze
• • The Parking Spot
• A rustic dream venue just outside Houston
• • Country Oaks Venue
• Rare Texas artifacts step out ‘From the Vault’ at The Bryan Museum
• • The Bryan Museum
• Rhythm Energy Question of the Week

Thursday, March 5

• Gold Buckle Foodie Awards at Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo
• Houston Life Deals
• Avoiding vacation headaches: New Vrbo survey on group travel reveals common pet peeves
• • Vrbo
• Houston wellness trend: A local body sculpting technique focused on lymphatic health
• • The Tox
• Catching up with Russell Dickerson ahead of debut RODEOHOUSTON performance
• • RODEOHOUSTON

Wednesday, March 4

• Houston Life Deals
• Moon 2 Mars Festival returns to Space Center Houston with out-of-this-world fun and concerts this spring break
• • Space Center Houston
• What to Wear to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo: Your Ultimate Style Guide 
• • Boot Barn
• Destin-Fort Walton Beach, more than beaches: reefs, fishing, little adventures
• • Visit Destin-Fort Walton Beach
• Baz Luhrmann’s ‘EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert’ gives fans a front-row seat to The King
• • “EPiC: Elvis Presley In Concert” Film

Tuesday, March 3

• Diana Ross coming to Smart Financial Centre at Sugar Land
• Learn about the untold history of Black baseball
• • Houston Freedmen’s Town Conservancy
• Houston Life Deals
• Modern dental implants give Houston patients natural, comfortable smiles
• • Texas Dental Implant Center
• Houston native Kyrie McAlpin Talks ‘The Burbs’, Keke Palmer & a very Seth MacFarlane Christmas party

Monday, March 2

• Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo
• • Houston Life kicks off opening day at 2026 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo
• Suits & Boot Injury Lawyers

Friday, February 27

• Gabriel Basso takes us behind the scenes of Netflix’s ‘The Night Agent’
• • Netflix’s “The Night Agent”
• Mudbug Mania: Tanji Patton celebrates crawfish season in Houston
• • Goodtaste with Tanji Patton
  • Crawfish Shack
  • Crawfish Hideaway
• Theatre Under The Stars reveals 2026-27 season with Broadway tours & local shows
• • Theatre Under the Stars
• Boot Barn
• What to see and do in Malta — beaches, history and booking tips from The Travel Mom
• • The Travel Mom

Thursday, February 26

• Diana Ross at The Sugar Land Smart Financial Center
• KPRC 2 INSIDERS: Enter for a chance to see Creed perform at RodeoHouston
• Get a peek inside RodeoHouston’s World Championship BBQ Cookoff
• • Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo
• Soulful river cruises that connect Black travelers to heritage and culture
• • AmaWaterways Soulful Experience River Cruise
• Houston Life Deals
• Allied Outdoor Solutions
• HCC Southeast College

Wednesday, February 25

• Behind the scenes of TUTS’ ‘Million Dollar Quartet’
• • Tickets to ‘Million Dollar Quartet’ at Theatre Under the Stars
• Houston influencers share their best thrifting tips for Rodeo
• • Find your nearest Goodwill store
• Plan the ultimate spring break getaway for everyone at Moody Gardens
• • Moody Gardens
• Ride along: METRO Police Chief explains new safety measures for Houston transit
• • Metro Houston

Tuesday, February 24

• Spring Break, but make it San Antonio
• • Visit San Antonio
• Alley Theatre’s ‘English’ explores identity, belonging, and the weight of learning a new language
• • Tickets to ‘English’ at Alley Theatre
• Looking for a Career Change? Here’s How You Could Be Job-Ready in 10 Months
• • Learn more about programs at United Education Institute Houston

Monday, February 23 (WE ARE BACK!!!)

• Indian Film Festival of Houston celebrates France with film, food and culture
• • Indian Film Festival of Houston Website
• KPRC 2 INSIDERS: Enter for a chance to see Riley Green perform at RodeoHouston
• • Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo
• Chris Hemsworth will keep you on the edge of your seat in ‘Crime 101’
• • “Crime 101” Movie Times
• Modern dental implants give Houston patients natural, comfortable smiles
• • Texas Dental Implant Center

February 6 - 20

• Houston is off air due to the Winter Olympics, but that doesn’t mean we’ll stop entertaining you. Be sure to follow us on social media to see all the HL fun. We’ll be back Feb. 23.
• • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • Pinterest

Thursday, February 5

• Papa Johns Pizza
• The Cody Stephens Foundation saves lives with free heart screenings for young athletes
• • Cody Stephens Foundation
• Get ready for the return of the one and only Monster Jam in Houston
• • Tickets to Monster Jam at NRG Stadium
• Getting your best night’s sleep: How the latest materials and technology can help you sleep better
• • Texas Mattress Makers
• What is an “Orphan Generator”? And why it could put Houston homes at risk during an outage
• • GenPro.com
• Follow Mersha the Mini Panther on Instagram (Use MERSHA20 to get a discount at PrettyLitter)

Wednesday, February 4

• Simon & Garfunkel Story at The Sugar Land Smart Financial Center
• Behind the scenes of ‘Real Women Have Curves’ on stage at Alley Theatre
• • Tickets to ‘Real Women Have Curves’ at Alley Theatre
• Decoding body language: How to spot liars, read subtle signals, and communicate with confidence
• • Jan Hargrave
• In the Kitchen with Kroger: Why they are your one stop shop for the Big Game and Valentine’s Day
• • Kroger

Tuesday, February 3

• MFAH’s new exhibit explores Frida Kahlo’s lasting legacy
• • ‘Frida: The Making of an Icon’ at MFAH
• United Way of Greater Houston’s 211: Help is one call away
• • United Way of Greater Houston’s 211 Helpline
• After the freeze - now what? How to care for perennials and shrubs in Houston
• • Gardening with Skip
  • Houston Home and Garden Show
• Go back in time at Popfancy Dessert Bar’s new retro 80’s sci-fi arcade cafe
• • Popfancy Fan Cafe

Monday, February 2

• Kenny G at The Sugar Land Smart Financial Center
• The relationship advice that helps couples feel closer — even during hard conversations
• • Connection Expert Jenn Pinkerton
  • Connectin Cards Couples Edition on Amazon
• Paris Hilton’s “Infinite Icon”
• Arandas Bakery
• Texas Dental Implant Center

Friday, January 30

• Monster Energy Supercross heads into Houston featuring the world’s fastest racers
• • Monster Energy Supercross at NRG Stadium This Weekend
• From Trinidad and Tobago to Top Chef: Tristen Epps’ journey is rooted in culture
• • Chef Tristen Epps
  • A Classically Black Dinner - Vibrant + Modern + African
• Few physicians leave a legacy like this: Houston honors cancer pioneer Dr. Philip Salem
• • Salem Oncology Center
• The Travel Mom: Family-Friendly Wave-Season Deals from Princess
• • The Travel Mom
  • Princess Cruises

Thursday, January 29

• The Simon & Garfunkel Story at The Sugar Land Smart Financial Center
• Former KPRC 2 reporter shares ‘With Love From Harlem’: The story behind America’s First Black power couple
• • ReShonda Tate’s new book ‘With Love from Harlem’
• American Home Buyer
• How personalized aesthetics - Botox, fillers & lasers - can help you age better
• • Anti Age Institute
• The cast of ‘Bridgerton’ takes us behind-the-scenes of the ton for season 4
• • Netflix’s Bridgerton Season 4

Wednesday, January 28

• KPRC 2’s new evening anchor Stephania Jimenez makes her Houston debut with passion and purpose
• • Follow Stephania on her KPRC 2 Instagram Account
• Cars, boats and more: What to know about this year’s Houston AutoBoative Show 2026
• • Houston Autoboative Show (Save $20 with Family Four Pack Option)
• Get a taste of Old Town Katy with Tanji Patton of Goodtaste TV
• • Goodtaste with Tanji Patton
  • Peanut Butter Pie from Southern Dough
  • Southern Dough Baking Co.
  • Humble Grounds Coffeehouse
  • Harvest Kitchen & Bakery
• A Family Business Built on Trust: Luke’s Plumbing & Air Conditioning Serves Houston for Over 30 Years
• • Luke’s Plumbing & Air Conditioning

Tuesday, January 27

• Remembering the iconic artist David Adickes on his 99th birthday and his lasting legacy in Houston
• • David Adickes Art Website
  • Follow ‘Adickes Art’ on Instagram
• Plan a Vacation Day: Experts share 2026 travel trends and how to protect your trip
• • The Travel Mom
  • Follow The Travel Mom Emily Kaufman on Instagram
  • Travel Guard Insurance
• Texans Serving Texans: Gexa Energy gives back
• • Gexa Energy
• Bill Skarsgård steps beyond horror roots in new film, ‘Dead Man’s Wire’

Monday, January 26

• Houston relationship and intimacy expert dishes on the small relationship habits that make love last
• • Houston Relationship Therapy
  • VIVID Relationships app
• Crawfish & Noodles gearing up for a busy crawfish season
• • Crawfish & Noodles
• Traveling smarter in 2026: What travel experts say to book now
• • Travel Expert Jeanenne Tornatore
  • Follow the Outside Insider on Instagram

Friday, January 23

• Discover why Sam Houston Race Park is a top spot for family outings with “Houston Life”
• • Sam Houston Race Park
  • Corgi Races
  • Shannon Jewelers Presents Diamond Dig
  • Wiener Dog Races

Thursday, January 22

• WEIGH IN: What are your must have products during a freeze?
• Cars, boats and more: What to know about this year’s Houston AutoBoative Show 2026
• • Houston Autoboative Show (Save $20 with Family Four Pack Option)
• Honoring Dr. Philip A. Salem for innovations in cancer care and research
• • Salem Oncology Center
• Bert Kreischer talks fatherhood, fame, and his new scripted comedy series, “Free Bert”
• • Netflix’s “Free Bert”
• Last chance to enjoy the Green Mountain Energy Ice at Discovery Green
• • Ice at Discovery Green

Wednesday, January 21

• Seth Rogen, Ike Barinholtz & Chase Sui Wonders chat comedy series ‘The Studio’
• • Apple Tv+’s ‘The Studio’
• Allied Outdoor Solutions
• Living Designs Furniture
• The Women’s Resource empowers women and girls through free financial and career coaching services
• • The Women’s Resource
• Houston woman helps bring Black cowboy history to PBS
• • Alma’s Way on PBS Kids
  • Black Cowboy Coalition

Friday, January 16

• School Makes You Super: KPRC-TV reporter and mom Haley Hernandez debuts first children’s book to ease school anxiety
• • Buy ‘School Makes You Super" here
• Children’s Museum Houston celebrates the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
• • MLK Day Celebration at Children’s Museum Houston
• Two experts explain why Key Largo, Florida should be on your 2026 travel list
• • The Travel Mom
• The man known as “the human lie detector” works to keep serial killers behind bars
• • Killer Confessions

Thursday, January 15

• Young voices, lasting legacy: Houston students honor Dr. King in 30th Annual Oratory Competition
• • Foley MLK Jr. Oratory Competition
• Breaking through the plateau with Dr. Ian Smith’s ‘The Last 15′
• • Follow Dr. Ian Smith on Instagram
  • Purchase “The Last 15″ on Amazon
• Mindful eating tips and a pesto vinaigrette recipe to kickstart a healthier new year
• • Leaf & Grain
• Stay powered and protected with GenPro.com, Houston’s premier generator specialists
• • Call or log on to book an estimate and receive a functional mini generator worth $50 for FREE

Wednesday, January 14

• Check out the fun, food and giveaways for Houston Rockets fans this week
• • Houston Rockets Game Day Tickets
• A Kroger pharmacist’s guide to everyday wellness in 2026
• • Enter for a chance to win a Kroger gift card
  • Kroger
• Mix-MATCH Festival returns with over 20 performances celebrating Houston’s creative spirit
• • Tickets to 3rd Annual Mix-MATCH Festival
  • Daisies & Pancakes

Tuesday, January 13

• Kick off the new year with magic: Magician Curt Miller returns with his show “The Conjurer”
• • Curt Miller
  • Tickets to The Conjurer: An Intimate Magical Experience with Curt Miller
• Brad Meltzer Book Signing
• • Follow Brad Meltzer on Instagram
• Innovative Lasers of Houston

Monday, January 12

• Turn to tea this year to slow down, reset, and satisfy without regrets
• • Tea Please
• The Travel Mom: Family fun at Knott’s Berry Farm - a California getaway everyone will love
• • The Travel Mom
  • Visit Buena Park
  • Knott’s Berry Farm
• Pet adoption events for the new year at Fort Bend County Animal Services
• • Fort Bend County Animal Services
• New Year, New Smile: AI-driven smile design at Texas Dental Implant Center
• • Texas Dental Implant Center

Friday, January 9

• Shop The Sale Houston with proceeds benefitting childhood cancer research
• • The Sale Houston
• A new chapter begins: Jenna Bush Hager and Sheinelle Jones chat about their new pairing
• • TODAY with Jenna & Sheinelle
• Former radio personality, Sarah Pepper returns to Texas to emcee 2026 Chevron Houston Marathon
• • Follow Sarah Pepper on Instagram

Thursday, January 8

• Belle comes to Houston - Kyra Belle Johnson stars in Disney’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’ now at the Hobby Center
• • Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” Tickets at Hobby Center
• Mathew Knowles launches new Destiny’s Child nationwide tribute tour; Houston is first stop
• • Destiny’s Child: Iconic Reimagined Tribute Tickets
• Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo

Wednesday, January 7

• The story behind Luke’s Plumbing and Air Conditioning serving Houstonians since 1991
• • Luke’s Plumbing & Air Conditioning
• Where karaoke meets claw machines: Welcome to Klaw‑Oke Kingdom in Pearland
• • Klaw-Oke Kingdom
• Brace yourself, the 1993 Oilers vs. Bills game is featured in new docuseries ‘Don’t Call it a Comeback’
• • VICE TV’s “Don’t Call It A Comeback”
• New Year, Strong Start: EōS Fitness Experts Share Tips to Crush 2026 Goals
• • EōS Fitness

Tuesday, January 6

• Houston bagel pros talk schmear, slices and specials ahead of National Bagel Day
• • Bagel Shop Bakery
• Comedian Chinedu Ogu takes H-Town-rooted comedy on a national tour
• • Chinedu at Punch Line Houston
• Start your new year weight loss journey at Health Solutions and Weightloss
• • Health Solutions and Weightloss
• Enroll Now: Key deadlines and tips for 2026 Marketplace coverage
• • Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas

Monday, January 5

• Rosca de Reyes Season is here - and this Houston bakery is busy
• • Arandas Bakery
• Damp or Dry January? These non-alcoholic wines actually taste like wine
• • Daniela Garrido | Wine and Travel Expert
• New Year, New Smile: AI-driven smile design at Texas Dental Implant Center
• • Texas Dental Implant Center
• Freeze Miser

Friday, January 2

• Tough but fair: NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Llamas visits Houston Life
• • NBC Nightly News
  • Tom Llamas
• Tarot Card Reader Amber Ambrose
• Opening weekend kicks off at Sam Houston Race Park TODAY!
• • Sam Houston Race Park

Thursday, January 1

• New Year’s fitness made simple: Tips and a low-impact workout for beginners
• • Hoodfit
• Chantell Preston
• HiFi at The Finn

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The case has drawn attention to Becerra in his bid for California governor, with voting underway and concluding June 2.

Dana Williamson entered the plea in court in Sacramento. In the agreement, she admits to three of the 23 counts of which she was initially charged. Williamson is a former top campaign adviser to Becerra and formerly served as Gov. Gavin Newsom's chief of staff. Neither have been implicated.

The plea deal says the maximum sentence for the bank fraud charge is 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine. But Williamson’s defense attorney, McGregor Scott, said he expected it to be no more than three years based on federal sentencing guidelines. He plans to argue for even less.

The federal indictment alleged that Williamson developed a plan with co-conspirators including Sean McCluskie, a longtime Becerra aide. The scheme was to siphon money from one of Becerra's dormant state campaign accounts to give to McCluskie to pad his salary after he accepted a job as Becerra's chief of staff in Washington.

McCluskie signed a plea agreement Oct. 30 in which he admitted to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud, according to court filings. He agreed to pay back the $225,000 he took from the account.

Scott said McCluskie dreamed up the theft scheme because he was facing financial difficulties and Williamson joined because she wanted to help him out of a tough spot.

“She was simply trying to help a friend in a pinch as best she could,” Scott told reporters.

Becerra is a former member of Congress who was appointed California attorney general in 2017 to fill a vacancy and reelected in 2018 with Williamson running his campaign. Former President Joe Biden later appointed him as secretary of Health and Human Services.

Becerra hasn't commented on Williamson's plea deal. In November, he said the “accusations of impropriety by a long-serving trusted adviser are a gut punch.”

Williamson is a longtime Democratic power player in Sacramento known for her savvy and aggressive style, often unafraid to spar publicly and privately with those who disagree with her. She was a Cabinet secretary for former Gov. Jerry Brown before opening her own political affairs firm and later rejoining state government as Newsom’s chief of staff.

The indictment accused Williamson of filing fraudulent tax forms for her business from 2021 to 2023 claiming more than $1 million in business deductions for personal expenses, including luxury handbags and jewelry; private jet travel; vacations in Mexico; installation of a home HVAC system; and several hundred thousand dollars paid to various relatives for fake jobs.

Lebanese officials are hoping that the two-day negotiations will yield a new ceasefire deal and pave the way for tackling a series of thorny issues, including the withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon and the disarmament of Hezbollah.

A U.S. State Department official described the full day of discussions on Thursday as “productive and positive” and said the U.S. looks forward to day two on Friday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the closed-door session and did not offer additional details.

The Trump administration has been pushing for a breakthrough between the two neighbors that have been officially in a state of war since Israel was created in 1948.

Hezbollah, however, is not part of those talks and has been vocally opposed to Lebanon engaging in direct negotiations with Israel.

Israel and the Iranian-backed militant group have continued to trade near-constant fire across the border despite a U.S.-brokered ceasefire on April 17. Initially a 10-day truce, it was then extended for another three weeks.

Talks move to a higher level

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who attended the first Israel-Lebanon meetings in Washington in April, was with President Donald Trump on a visit to China and did not attend Thursday's session.

The current round of talks represents a step toward more serious negotiations, with higher-level envoys from Lebanon and Israel taking part after the initial preparatory sessions were headed by the ambassadors of the two countries to Washington.

Lebanon's envoy heading up Thursday's talks, Simon Karam, is an attorney and well-connected former Lebanese ambassador to the U.S. who recently represented Lebanon in indirect talks with Israel over implementation of the ceasefire that preceded the latest outbreak of war between Israel and Hezbollah. On the Israeli side, Deputy National Security Adviser Yossi Draznin was set to attend.

There are still large gaps in what the two sides want from the direct talks. Israeli officials have focused on disarming Hezbollah and described the negotiations as a precursor to a potential normalization of diplomatic relations. Lebanese officials have said they are seeking a security agreement or armistice that would stop short of normalization.

Trump has publicly called for a meeting between Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while Aoun has declined to meet or speak directly with Netanyahu at this stage — a move that would likely generate blowback in Lebanon.

Lebanon hopes for ceasefire

A senior Lebanese official familiar with the negotiations in Washington said Thursday Lebanon wants a complete ceasefire first and then would negotiate withdrawal of Israeli forces. The issue of Hezbollah’s weapons would be dealt with politically in Lebanon after that, he said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to speak frankly about the talks.

He said Lebanon is “relying heavily on the U.S. administration” to provide it with leverage in the negotiations with Israel and believes that Trump is “sincere” in his desire to help Lebanon.

The official said that when Trump and Aoun spoke recently, Trump did not pressure Aoun to meet or speak with Netanyahu and was understanding when Aoun explained his reasons for declining. According to the official, Aoun told Trump that if he went to Washington and shook hands with Netanyahu and the talks later fell apart, it could have internal repercussions in Lebanon and discredit Trump.

Aoun told Trump that if the two countries are able to reach a security deal, he would come to the White House and “inaugurate” it and Trump responded by saying “I like that,” the official said.

If Israel agrees to a ceasefire and withdraws from the territory it is occupying in southern Lebanon, the official said, he believes Hezbollah would agree to an arrangement under which it would hand over its weapons to the Lebanese army, which could keep some of them and destroy others. Under this plan, Lebanon could consider allowing individual Hezbollah fighters to join the Lebanese army if they meet eligibility requirements, he said.

Meanwhile, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter in an interview with Israeli news site Walla News Thursday said Israel aims “to negotiate for full peace as if Hezbollah does not exist — borders, embassies, visas, tourism, everything.” Despite Lebanese officials’ assertions that diplomatic normalization is not currently on the table, he said he believes “it is possible to reach such an agreement within a few months.” But, he added, “it would be conditioned on the success of the second track — dismantling Hezbollah.”

Hezbollah and Israel trade fire

Thursday’s talks opened hours after a Hezbollah drone exploded inside Israel, injuring three civilians, two of them severely, according to the Israeli military and hospitals. It was the first instance of civilians injured by Hezbollah projectiles since the ceasefire, according to reports from Israel’s rescue service, Magen David Adom.

Israel has struggled to halt frequent Hezbollah drone attacks on Israeli forces in southern Lebanon and over the border in northern Israel.

Israel has also continued to carry out strikes in Lebanon. On Wednesday, Israel struck seven vehicles in Lebanon — three of them on the main highway just south of Beirut — killing 12 people including a woman and her two children, the Lebanese Health Ministry said. Later strikes in southern Lebanon killed another 10 people, including six children, the ministry said.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry says that since the war began on March 2, 2,896 people have been killed — including around 400 since the nominal ceasefire was implemented — and 8,824 wounded. Eighteen Israeli soldiers, two Israeli civilians inside Israel and a defense contractor working in southern Lebanon have been killed on the Israeli side.

U.N. peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon have also been caught in the crossfire and six have been killed.

___

Associated Press writers Joseph Federman in Jerusalem and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.8% to set an all-time high for a second straight day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 370 points, or 0.7%, and finished above the 50,000 level for the first time since the war with Iran began, while the Nasdaq composite added 0.9% to its own record.

Cisco helped lead the market after reporting better profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The tech giant’s stock leaped 13.4% for its best day in nearly 15 years, and CEO Chuck Robbins said it saw “very strong, broad-based demand for our products.”

Big Tech behemoths in particular are pouring cash into artificial-intelligence technology, and Cisco gave a forecast for profit in the current quarter that easily topped analysts’ expectations.

Such voracious demand for AI, and the big profits it’s producing, have been major reasons the U.S. stock market has set records throughout this year. Cerebras Systems, an AI processor company, raised $5.55 billion after selling its stock in an initial public offering, and its shares surged 68.1% in their debut on the Nasdaq Thursday.

Corporate earnings reported so far this season have “reinforced that this is still an AI-led market, but one where the impact is broadening quickly,” according to Gargi Pal Chaudhuri, chief investment and portfolio strategist at BlackRock.

“What started with a handful of companies is now driving earnings growth across semiconductors, infrastructure, and even parts of the industrial economy,” she said.

Outside of AI, other stocks rallying after delivering better-than-expected profit reports included StubHub Holdings, up 13.7%, Viking Holdings, up 5.5% and Yeti Holdings, up 6.2%.

All three companies sell products that aren’t day-to-day essentials, such as concert tickets, river cruises and insulated water bottles. Strong results from them could be an indicator that customers are still willing to spend even though U.S. consumers have been telling surveys they’re feeling discouraged about the economy.

Whether U.S. households will keep spending and support the economy is a big question because pressure has been bearing down on them due to high oil prices and inflation created by the Iran war. A report released Thursday said that shoppers overall spent less at U.S. retailers last month than economists expected. But the deceleration after factoring out gasoline and automobile sales wasn’t quite as bad as economists thought it would be.

A separate report, meanwhile, said more U.S. workers filed for unemployment benefits last week, which could be an indication of more layoffs. The number, though, remains relatively low compared with history.

Treasury yields flitted up and down in the bond market immediately after the reports, but they largely remained steady. The yield on the 10-year ticked up to 4.47% from 4.46% late Wednesday.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 56.99 points to 7,501.24. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 370.26 to 50,063.46, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 232.88 to 26,635.22.

In stock markets abroad, indexes rose in Europe following a mixed finish in Asia. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1%, while South Korea’s Kospi jumped 1.8% to another record thanks to gains for AI-related stocks.

Stocks were virtually flat in Hong Kong and down 1.5% in Shanghai as Chinese leader Xi Jinping met with U.S. President Donald Trump in Beijing.

Some investors hope Trump could encourage Xi to use China’s close economic ties with Iran to get it to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The strait’s closure because of the war has kept oil tankers pent up in the Persian Gulf instead of delivering crude to customers worldwide, which has driven up prices.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose 0.1% to settle at $105.72 Thursday, and it remains well above its price of roughly $70 from before the war.

___

AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Matt Ott contributed to this report.

The money will be allocated over the coming year and adds to the $2 billion that the Trump administration pledged in December. Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said at a press conference that the new funding is just “the latest step.”

The new contribution brings total U.S. support for U.N. humanitarian programs to $3.8 billion across 21 countries, according to the State Department, which said the money would be prioritized for locally run projects that help the most vulnerable populations.

The department said the initial contribution delivered "life-saving assistance to 21.1 million people more quickly, more efficiently, and with greater focus on those facing the most acute humanitarian needs in less than four months.”

Still, the money is a fraction of what the U.S. has contributed in the past and reflects what President Donald Trump’s administration believes is still a generous amount that will maintain America’s status as the world’s largest humanitarian donor.

The Trump administration has cut billions in U.S. foreign aid, prompting U.N. agencies to slash spending, aid projects and thousands of jobs. Other traditional U.N. donors like Britain, France, Germany and Japan also have reduced aid allocations.

U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher called his agency “overstretched, under-resourced and literally under attack” and reiterated its 2026 plan to reach 87 million of the world’s most needy at a cost of $23 billion — even though 300 million people need humanitarian help.

Before Waltz’s announcement, he said, the U.N. had raised about $7.4 billion. He welcomed the new U.S. contribution and called the United States “the single largest national donor” to the United Nations.

Fletcher urged donors to reach the $23 billion goal this year, but also to provide more funding to help some of the 200 million-plus people worldwide not expected to get aid this year because of the financial crisis.

Waltz pointed to significant changes in U.N. humanitarian operations that the U.S. has pushed for to cut costs, including pooling warehouses, vehicle fleets and back-office operations among U.N. agencies.

He slammed what he called a narrative in the media that the U.S. has walked away from helping people in need, saying it’s “absolutely false.”

Under Trump, the U.S. has been taking an à la carte approach to paying dues to the United Nations, picking which operations and agencies it believes align with Trump’s agenda and avoiding those that no longer serve U.S. interests. The State Department has said that “individual U.N. agencies will need to adapt, shrink, or die.”

Critics say the Western aid cutbacks have been shortsighted, driven millions toward hunger, displacement or disease, and harmed U.S. soft power around the world.

The United Nations says the U.S. owes $2.2 billion to its regular operating budget and $1.8 billion to a separate budget for its far-flung peacekeeping operations, though the Trump administration insists it owes less.

In February, the administration paid about $160 million to the regular budget. Waltz said Thursday that “we will have an additional substantial tranche towards the regular budget coming soon.”

According to the district, they became aware of the allegation and referred the matter to the Cleveland ISD Police Department.

District officials said the employee is no longer on campus or in contact with students. Cleveland ISD stated that established safety protocols remain in place to help ensure a secure learning environment for students and staff.

• Former Katy ISD paraprofessional accused of sexually assaulting 13-year-old student

“Student safety remains our highest priority,” Superintendent Dr. Glenn Barnes said in a statement. “The district acted immediately upon receiving this information and continues to fully cooperate with law enforcement and all appropriate authorities.”

The district said it is limited in the amount of information that can be publicly released at this time, citing privacy laws

• Man arrested, charged in stabbing, robbery of Houston Methodist employee in TMC parking garage

The district is also encouraging parents and guardians to maintain open, age-appropriate conversations with their children and to report any concerns to campus administration or district officials.

No additional details about the employee or the investigation have been released.

The Michelin-starred restaurant is known for its innovative flavors and its approach to cultural storytelling, extending beyond food and into its beverage program. At the bar, ingredients are treated with the same level of detail and creativity as the kitchen, resulting in cocktails that highlight both technique and local sourcing.

Launched in late 2024, the “Beekeeper” cocktail program transforms locally sourced honey into a menu of drinks inspired by Houston neighborhoods. Each cocktail is named after the area where its honey is collected, including Montrose, Bellaire, West University, Meyerland, Third Ward and Gulfton. The concept connects each drink to a specific part of the city.

The restaurant works with beekeepers located within about 6.5 miles of the restaurant to source honey used in the program. That hyperlocal approach is designed to support sustainable practices while emphasizing the role of pollinators and seasonal sourcing.

Ahead of World Bee Day, observed by the United Nations to raise awareness about bees and biodiversity, head bartender and 2026 Truffle Masters Cocktail Competition winner Aniket Bhingare joins “Houston Life” to share three signature cocktails from the menu.

See how he makes the drinks in the video above.

The featured drinks include:

• Montrose: Pisco, rhubarb blend, cherry bitters and Montrose honey
• Bellaire: Casamigos Reposado, peach and grapefruit bitters and Bellaire honey
• University West: Brugal 1888 rum, black walnut bitters and West U honey

To learn more about Musaafer’s Beekeeper cocktail program and seasonal menu, visit www.musaaferhouston.com.

Tyler Brown, 46, who appeared in Cambridge District Court via video from a hospital bed, did not speak and appeared to have his eyes closed for most of the brief hearing. He nodded when the judge said not guilty pleas had been entered on his behalf to charges of armed assault with intent to murder and six other charges, including possessing a gun without a license.

Judge David Frank ordered him to remain in custody, either at the hospital or in jail, pending a hearing on May 21. Brown's attorney, Carolyn McGowan, declined to speak at the hearing other than answering the judge's questions about scheduling matters. The Committee for Public Counsel Services/Public Defender Division, where she is listed as a senior trial counsel, did not respond to a request for comment.

Brown is accused of opening fire Monday afternoon on a heavily traveled road along the Charles River in Cambridge. Panicked drivers abandoned their vehicles or hid under them seeking cover.

One man, who was struck in the back of the head, has since been released from the hospital, while another driver who was shot four times in the leg remains hospitalized, Middlesex Assistant District Attorney Nicole Allain said.

About an hour before the shootings, Brown connected with his parole officer via video conference. Armed with a gun, he said on video that he had relapsed and wanted to end his life. The parole officer called police, who began searching for Brown and, using phone records, found him in Cambridge.

The complaint describes what led up to the shootings. According to investigators, Brown had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression and had been released Friday from a psychiatric hospital.

According to the complaint, Brown is on parole and probation for offenses including armed assault to murder and other gun-related convictions. His parole was set to end this week, though his probation continued.

Meghan Kelly, a spokesperson for the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office, said Brown was not licensed to carry a firearm.

Allain described Brown’s criminal history going back to 1994, when he was convicted of armed robbery in Michigan. He also was convicted of escape in Michigan in 1997 and drug offenses in New Hampshire in 2007.

In Massachusetts, he has been convicted of multiple assault and gun-related charges, most recently in 2021, when he was convicted of firing at officers.

Prosecutors said then that he should serve at least 10 years in prison, due to the “level of brazen violence” and because he was on probation for a 2014 conviction on assault and witness intimidation charges. A judge instead ordered Brown to serve five to six years in state prison and three years of probation with credit for nearly 18 months spent in custody.

At the time, the judge’s decision sparked outrage and criticism among local officials concerned that violent offenders were not being held accountable — concerns that have resurfaced. “Talk about a ball drop,” said the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association in a statement on social media.

During a 2021 sentencing hearing, a police officer who Brown shot at called him "a very dangerous individual who doesn't care who he hurts," according to an audio recording of the proceedings. A probation officer expressed concern that the incident he was on probation for and the one he was being sentenced for were similar and he was a “danger to the community due to his random acts of violence.”

Suffolk Superior Court Judge Janet Sanders told the court then that she considers factors like psychiatric issues and childhood trauma Brown endured in imposing a sentence. But Sanders seemed especially moved by the support expressed in letters from Brown's family and the community, including city officials, who were impressed with “his commitment to turn his life around.”

“Mr. Brown, I do realize I’m kind of taking a chance on you,” the judge told him. “When experienced officers, experienced probation officers tell me this guy is a danger to the community, I hear that. I can't look into a crystal ball and figure out what is going to happening once you get out. But I do understand I am taking a risk here. I just pray that you know my intuitions are right.”

___

An earlier version of this report misattributed information about the suspect's background to Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan. It actually came from Middlesex Assistant District Attorney Nicole Allain.

This comes after Paxton’s investigation of over 1,000 Texas cities to ensure none are unlawfully raising taxes, in violation of SB 1851, a law passed during the 2025 legislative session that bars cities from raising property taxes above the no-new-revenue rate if they do not meet Texas’s financial statement audit and transparency requirements.

The 130 cities named failed to comply with the statutory requirements for the new fiscal year, according to Paxton’s office.

• RELATED: 1,000 cities in Texas, including Houston and Galveston, under Paxton investigation

Now, Attorney General Paxton has notified those cities that they are subject to the enforcement provisions and penalties established under SB 1851 and may not adopt property tax increases above the no-new-revenue rate.

These letters are addressed to an initial list of non-compliant cities, and the investigation remains ongoing.

The OAG will continue to take additional action and make further determinations as more cities are found to be out-of-compliance with audit requirements.

“I will not allow cities to unlawfully raise taxes on hardworking Texans. That is why I took aggressive action against over 130 Texas cities to hold them accountable and ensure they comply with state law,” said Attorney General Paxton. “Cities cannot fail to abide by state audit requirements without consequences. My office will continue to aggressively enforce Texas law to protect taxpayers across the state.”

The following list of cities have been sent violation determination letters

Alpine, Aspermont, Baird, Balch Springs, Balmorhea, Bedias, Berryville, Big Spring, Bishop, Blooming Grove, Blue Mound, Briarcliff, Brookside Village, Buffalo Gap, Calvert, Cameron, Campbell, Centerville, Chico, Chireno, Clarksville, Clear Lake Shores, Combine, Corrigan, Crane, Cross Timber, Crowell, Crystal City, Cuero, Dalhart, Danbury, De Leon, Eagle Lake, Elkhart, Eureka, Eustace, Fairfield, Farwell, Flatonia, Franklin, Fritch, Fulton, Gordon, Grandfalls, Gregory, Groesbeck, Groom, Hale Center, Hamilton, Hearne, Hempstead, Higgins, Hillcrest Village, Horizon City, Howardwick, Howe, Huntington, Industry, Ingleside On the Bay, Jewett, Jonestown, Keene, Kemah, Kenedy, Kerens, Kermit, Lamesa, Livingston, Lott, Lumberton, Manvel, Marquez, McCamey, Megargel, Menard, Mertzon, Mexia, Miami, Midway, Miles, Mount Enterprise, Natalia, New Home, New Waverly, Newcastle, Oyster Creek, Paducah, Panorama Village, Pelican Bay, Pleak Village, Plum Grove, Port Lavaca, Quanah, Red Lick, Redwater, Rockdale, Rocksprings, Roma, Rusk, San Elizario, San Felipe, San Perlita, Seabrook, Shepherd, Smiley, Snyder, Somerville, Southmayd, Spring Branch, Spur, Sterling City, Stinnett, Sunray, Surfside Beach, Taft, Tehuacana, Texas City, Texline, Three Rivers, Tiki Island, Tom Bean, Tool, Turkey, Valley Mills, Valley View, Victoria, Weslaco, Weston Lakes, Wharton, Wickett, Wimberley, Wolfe City, Woodloch, Yantis, and Yoakum.

Of those cities, these are the cities in Southeast Texas and the Houston area

Bedias, Brookside Village, Clear Lake Shores, Danbury, Hempstead, Kemah, Livingston, Manvel, New Waverly, Oyster Creek, Panorama Village, Plum Grove, Seabrook, Shepherd, Surfside Beach, Texas City, Tiki Island, Wharton, Weston Lakes, Woodloch.

It happened in front of Clute Intermediate School. Police were called at 7:20 a.m.

Police say the girl was riding her bike to the school when she collided with a GMC Sierra pickup truck exiting the school parking lot.

• Man arrested, charged in stabbing, robbery of Houston Methodist employee in TMC parking garage

The driver immediately stopped and attempted to render aid, but police say the girl succumbed to her injuries at the scene.

Multiple agencies investigated the accident, including the Clute Police Department, Lake Jackson Police Department, Lake Jackson Fire Marshal’s Office, and the Brazosport ISD Police Department.

The push is part of an ongoing effort by Paxton to make sure cities aren’t unduly raising property taxes under Senate Bill 1851, which passed last year. That law is part of a GOP-led push to rein in the state’s high property taxes. It bars cities from raising more in property taxes than they did the previous year if they don’t conduct an annual financial audit and release an annual financial statement based on that audit.

“I will not allow cities to unlawfully raise taxes on hardworking Texans,” Paxton said in a statement. “That is why I took aggressive action against over 130 Texas cities to hold them accountable and ensure they comply with state law. Cities cannot fail to abide by state audit requirements without consequences.”

Last year, Paxton requested financial documents and other information from a majority of the state’s 1,200 cities to determine whether they’re following the law. His office said some 135 cities “failed to comply” with the law but did not say how.

Among those cities were Alpine, Balch Springs, Victoria and Wimberley. Paxton’s office said those cities comprised “an initial list of non-compliant cities, and the investigation remains ongoing.”

Small cities told lawmakers that the bill’s provisions would disproportionately impact them because they do not have the manpower or time to produce audits within the 180-day requirement. The penalties that bar them from collecting some taxes would hurt their already paltry budgets.

The Texas Tribune reached out to several cities Paxton notified, but they have not immediately responded to questions.

Larger cities like Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth and Corpus Christi were among the cities first subject to Paxton’s tax probe. Those cities were absent from the list of towns Paxton ordered not to raise their taxes.

So was Odessa. Paxton put the city on notice last year after officials adopted a tax hike, but has not responded to city officials after they supplied his office with documents justifying the increase.

He struggled mightily off the tee, a recipe for trouble at Aronimink. He was tentative over his putts, with three misses from the 7-foot range that could have made him feel a lot better.

The result was a 4-over 74 that left McIlroy chasing the wrong kind of history as the Masters champion goes for the second leg of the calendar Grand Slam. Not since the late Payne Stewart in 1989 has a player started the PGA Championship with a 74 and gone on to win.

The question by a PGA of America moderator when it was over sounded innocuous: “How would you describe your opening round?” The response was one word. A four-letter stinky word.

McIlroy had said earlier this week at Aronimink that “strategy off the tee is pretty nonexistent. It's basically bash driver down there and then figure it out from there."

He never quite figured it out Thursday.

McIlroy was hanging around par for so much of the day, right there with Jordan Spieth and Jon Rahm in his group, not bad golf given the testing conditions at Aronimink.

But he started missing fairways — a lot of them.

His lone bogey on his front nine came on the opening hole from the right rough — he managed to only get that scooting down the fairway. But the miss to the right on the par-4 fourth (his 13th of the day) cost him another bogey. He holed a 30-foot birdie putt on the par-3 fifth. All was well.

And then it wasn't.

“I missed the fairway right on 4, the fairway right on 6, the fairway right on 7, fairway right on 9,” he said. "From there, it’s hard. I didn’t have great angles, either. Then obviously you start missing it just off the edges of these greens, it gets tricky.

“I just got on that bogey train at the end.”

McIlroy also opened with a 74 at Quail Hollow in the PGA Championship last year, his first round as the Masters champion. The frustrations were different. A year ago, he was irritated about learning the face of his driver had become too thin to conform to regulations (and then even more irritated when the news was leaked to the media without context).

This was simply a weakness in his game he thought he had corrected.

“I’m just not driving the ball well enough. It’s been a problem all year for the most part,” McIlroy said. “I miss it right, and then I want to try to correct it. And then I’ll overdo it, and I’ll miss it left. It’s a little bit of back and forth that way. So that’s pretty frustrating, especially when I pride myself on driving the ball well.”

He hit only five of the 14 fairways. He was in the short grass on No. 1 after making the turn. He played from the rough the rest of the round. McIlroy was in the hay right of the seventh hole and could only manage to hack that across the fairway into more rough on the left, leaving him 15 feet for par that he didn't convert.

His final hole was the par-5 ninth, another drive that sailed right. From there, he put it in the worst spot — a bunker 67 yards from the pin — and barely got that onto the green, leaving him 70 feet a way for birdie. He ran that 8 feet by and missed it coming back.

As for that blister causing problems, McIlroy offered another one-word answer: “No.”

This was about his driver, mainly, which McIlroy felt good about after his final round Sunday in the Truist Championship, and the 12 holes of practice at Aronimink he played this week.

“I honestly thought I’d figured it out,” he said. “Just once I get under the gun, it just seems like it starts to go a little bit wayward on me.”

___

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

Weinstein, who's 74 and has a history of heart trouble and other health woes, looked pale but alert as he was brought into court in the wheelchair he has used for years. He said he felt “good, fine.”

The ex-studio boss was in a courthouse holding area Wednesday when jurors, after a few hours of deliberating, sent a note asking to rehear some of accuser Jessica Mann ’s testimony and to review a lengthy prosecution timeline of emails and other evidence.

After defense lawyers, prosecutors and Judge Curtis Farber convened in court to decide how to respond, Weinstein attorney Marc Agnifilo said court officers had told him Weinstein was experiencing chest pains.

Weinstein wasn't brought into court at that point, and Farber ultimately sent jurors home Wednesday a bit earlier than planned, telling them there were “unforeseen reasons” for the early dismissal.

Jurors got the requested information Thursday, revisiting testimony that Agnifilo had highlighted in his closing argument: a moment when Mann said she was “spacing out” as a defense lawyer asked why she didn’t want a friend to know that anything sexual had happened between her and Weinstein. The defense was trying to suggest that she was worried about her reputation, not an alleged rape that Weinstein says never happened.

Jurors returned to their closed-door discussions. Over the ensuing hours, the jury asked to rehear Mann's testimony about the alleged rape and the lead-up to it, and to go over the judge's instructions on reasonable doubt. That's the legal bar that evidence must clear to justify a conviction.

Jurors ultimately went home for the night without reaching a verdict. Deliberations are to resume Friday.

Mann, 40, has testified that she willingly had some sexual interludes with the then-married producer, but that he subjected her to unwanted sex in a Manhattan hotel room in March 2013 after she repeatedly said no.

Weinstein's lawyers maintain that the encounter was consensual. They have emphasized that Mann subsequently continued seeing Weinstein and expressing warmth toward him. Mann has said she was mired in complicated feelings about him, herself and what had happened.

Her viewpoint changed in 2017, when a series of sexual misconduct allegations against the Oscar-winning Weinstein propelled the #MeToo campaign to hold people — especially powerful men — accountable for sexual misbehavior. Weinstein has said he “acted wrongly” but never assaulted anyone.

Some of those accusations generated criminal convictions against Weinstein in New York and California.

An appeals court overturned his 2020 New York conviction on charges that involved Mann and another accuser. At a retrial last year, jurors failed to reach a verdict on Mann's portion of the case, leading to this retrial. Weinstein is charged with one count of rape in the third degree.

The current jury heard nearly three weeks of testimony, five days of it from Mann. Weinstein did not testify.

The Associated Press generally does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted. Mann, however, has agreed to be named.

They also are extremely competitive when it comes to their investment in their undrafted class.

Iowa State offensive lineman James Neal, a two-year starter for the Cyclones, signed a four-year, $3.13 million contract that includes one of the larger guarantees among all NFL rookies: $277,500. That includes a $30,000 signing bonus and a $247,500 guarantee of his base salary.

The Texans reached a three-year, $3.12 million deal with Oregon running back Noah Whittington. That includes $267,500 total guaranteed with a $20,000 signing bonus and $247,500 of his base salary guaranteed.

He was an honorable-mention All-Big Ten Conference selection. The Western Kentucky transfer rushed for 829 yards last season and six touchdowns. He averaged 6.4 yards per play. He finished his college career with 2,950 rushing yards and 21 touchdown runs.

Whittington participated in the Texans’ rookie minicamp despite undergoing offseason toe surgery. He is a few weeks out from being 100 percent, per a league source.

Stanford corner Collin Wright joined the Texans after the Missouri City native worked out for them at their local prospect day. The Manvel graduate was a three-time all-state and all-district selection who has 156 tackles and 13 interceptions in high school.

He signed a three-year, $3.125 million contract that includes $262,500 guaranteed with a $20,000 signing bonus and $242,500 of his base salary guaranteed.

At Stanford, Wright (6-foot, 195) was a defensive captain who had 33 tackles and one interception last season. He returned it for a touchdown against Boston College. He was an all-academic selection.

Incarnate Word wide receiver Jalen Walthall, a Manvel graduated, joins the Texans after piling up over 2,000 receiving yards and 22 touchdowns in the past two seasons with 155 total catches. His undrafted deal includes $220,000 total guaranteed with a $20,000 signing bonus and $200,000 of his base salary guaranteed.

Former South Dakota State offensive lineman Sam Hagen’s three-year, $3.12 million deal includes $195,000 total guaranteed with a $20,000 signing bonus.

Missouri corner Stephen Hall signed an undrafted deal that includes $190,000 total guaranteed with a $15,000 signing bonus, per a league source. He recorded 96 career tackles and an interception.

North Carolina State defensive end Sabastian Harsh joined the Texans on an undrafted deal that includes $165,000 total guaranteed with a $15,000 signing bonus and $150,000 of his base salary guaranteed. A transfer from Wyoming, Harsh recorded 25 career tackles for losses and seven sacks with 138 tackles. He had 7 1/2 tackles for losses and 2 1/2 sacks last season.

The Texans signed University of Tennessee defensive tackle Dom Bailey to an undrafted deal that includes $150,000 of his base salary guaranteed, plus a $10,000 signing bonus.

Bailey had 77 career tackles, eight sacks, 12 1/2 tackles for losses, three fumble recoveries and two forced fumbles for the Vols.

Illinois State wide receiver Daniel Sobkowicz had 1,141 yards and 18 touchdown catches for the Red Birds as they reached the FCS national championship game. He is now a Texan on an undrafted deal that includes $110,000 total guaranteed, including a $10,000 signing bonus and $100,000 of his base salary guaranteed.

The Texans signed Syracuse punter Jack Stonehouse after special teams coordinator Frank Ross met with him virtually before the draft. He will compete with former New Orleans Saints punter Kai Kroeger, who was acquired in an offseason trade. His deal includes $75,000 guaranteed, with a $15,000 signing bonus.

Stonehouse was a first-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference selection and the third-highest graded punter in the nation last seaon. His father and cousin both played in the NFL. He averaged a school-record 47.1 yards per punt with a long of 64 yards, six touchbacks, 25 fair catches. He set a school career record with 45.8 yards per punt average.

Stonehouse went to the NFL scouting combine and East-West Shrine Bowl. He participated in the Buffalo Bills and Los Angeles Chargers’ local prospect days and met privately with the San Francisco 49ers. A Missouri transfer, his average hang time was 4.29 seconds, fourth in the nation.

The Texans added Ivy League Player of the Year running back Josh Pitsenberger from Yale. Pitsenberger, a team captain, rushed for 1,571 yards and 19 touchdowns last season. His deal includes $62,000 guaranteed with a $12,000 signing bonus

Colgate wide receiver Treyvhon Saunders, who had over 200 catches and 12 touchdowns for his career, agreed to terms on a three-year, $3.105 million deal that includes $10,000 total guaranteed.

Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com

Vance, dubbed the “fraud czar” by President Donald Trump, made an appearance in the state's politically competitive 2nd Congressional District to stump for former Gov. Paul LePage, a Trump ally who is vying to flip the U.S. House seat being vacated by Democratic Rep. Jared Golden.

He compared LePage to the current governor, Democrat Janet Mills, who has sparred with the Trump administration over the issue of transgender athletes in high school sports. Mills is prevented by term limit laws from running again and recently dropped out of a heated Democratic primary race for the Senate seat held by Republican Susan Collins, one of the most vulnerable candidates in the chamber.

“Let’s kick Janet Mills to the curb and let’s send Paul LePage to Washington to help us fight the fraudsters and protect all of you,” Vance told the crowd of a few hundred people at Bangor International Airport.

While Vance has mentioned the anti-fraud efforts in his stops around the country in recent weeks on behalf of Republican candidates, Thursday’s visit was the first expressly billed as a stop to talk about the fraud-fighting efforts rather than the economic-focused message he’s delivered in other visits.

The event showcased how the vice president is leveraging his high-profile role leading Trump's anti-fraud task force for Republicans as they face crucial midterm elections this year, especially as the administration’s economic message has been clouded by rising costs from the Iran war. Early voting is already underway in Maine for the state’s June 9 primary elections for offices including governor, the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House.

The state has supported Democratic presidential candidates in consecutive elections going back to 1992, though Trump carried Maine's 2nd Congressional District in the last three elections, capturing one of the state's four electoral votes.

Vance could make fraud a centerpiece of a 2028 run

Vance’s message also provided a preview of how the vice president, seen as a likely 2028 GOP presidential candidate, could use the fraud crackdown as a central piece of his own political message in a future campaign.

“You are the first victim of fraud,” Vance told attendees as signs hung nearby that read “PROTECTING TAXPAYER DOLLARS” and “FIGHTING FRAUDSTERS.”

Vance went on and added a few minutes later, “My friends, this has gone on for far too long. You have been fleeced by your own government for far too long, and we are stopping it every single day.”

Mills said in a statement that Vance’s attacks were an attempt to distract from surging costs and the unpopular Iran war.

“Maine people deserved to hear about how the Trump Administration is making their lives better by lowering costs, improving health care, building housing, and fixing child care — but we got none of that because the President and Vice President don’t actually care about these issues or the hardships they are causing our state and people,” Mills said.

The visit to Maine came after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said earlier in the year that he was calling for corrective action on alleged fraud in government health programs in Maine, a request characterized by Mills as a “political attack.”

Mills recently dropped out of the Democratic primary race to challenge Republican Sen. Susan Collins, effectively ceding the nomination to progressive activist and oyster farmer Graham Platner. The seat is critical to Democratic hopes of reclaiming control of the chamber in this year's midterms.

Vance, however, didn't mention Platner and instead focused much of his attention on Mills and LePage, the sole Republican vying for the nomination in Maine's 2nd Congressional District.

Republicans are bullish about their chances of the seat, which encompasses Bangor and which backed Trump for president in the last three elections even as the state itself supported the Democratic presidential candidate.

Vance portrayed LePage as a partner-in-arms with his anti-fraud effort and told the crowd Thursday: “Fraud has festered in Maine because this guy is no longer the governor of Maine.”

Collins draws praise from Vance for her independence

While Collins is not always a reliable vote for the Trump administration, Vance took pains to praise the longtime senator for her independence and lack of partisanship.

“Sometimes I get frustrated with Susan Collins. I almost wish she was more partisan,” Vance said. “If she was as partisan as I wish she was, she would not be a good fit for the people of Maine.”

Collins was in Washington on Thursday and not among the candidates who joined Vance for the trip.

Before Vance arrived, LePage told the crowd that if elected to represent Maine's 2nd Congressional District, he would work with the Trump administration to crack down on fraud in social safety programs, which he characterized as rampant in his state.

“The American people are done being taken for a ride. It’s time for the Maine people and the Maine taxpayer to be put front and center,” he told the crowd.

Maine Center for Economic Policy, a left-leaning policy group that advocates for low- and middle-income residents, said in a statement that the Trump administration's characterizations of fraud and social programs in the state were inaccurate.

“Fraud should always be investigated and stopped. But Mainers deserve facts, not political fearmongering designed to undermine health care for hundreds of thousands of people,” the statement said.

In the governor's race, seven Republicans, five Democrats and sevreal independents are vying to replace Mills. Vance noted that some of the candidates were in attendance at the rally but declined to endorse any of them when a reporter asked whether he would.

A few dozen demonstrators stood across the street from the airport holding signs denouncing Vance and the Trump administration. One held a giant caricature of the vice president’s head that has become a popular meme.

Nirav Shah, the former Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention director who is running for governor, said in an email to supporters and the media that Vance is visiting Maine as the costs of necessities such as heating oil and gas surge in the state.

“That is the record JD Vance is bringing to Maine on Thursday. That is the record the Maine Republicans hosting him are ‘honored’ to celebrate,” Shah said.

___

Price reported from Washington.

Soto exited a 3-2, 10-inning win over the Tigers in the seventh inning on Wednesday night, four innings after he fouled a ball off his right foot. X-rays were negative and Soto batted third as the designated hitter in Thursday’s matinee.

“I wasn’t concerned, I’ve done it before,” Soto said Thursday. “It was getting swollen big time, so I just tried to make a smart move. I know how to handle it.”

Manager Carlos Mendoza said Lindor, who was injured April 22 while scoring from first on a double hit by Francisco Alvarez, underwent an MRI Wednesday that showed “signs of healing,” though the All-Star shortstop is nowhere near a return.

Mendoza said Lindor has been cleared to do more work in the weight room before beginning a running program.

“Positive sign,” Mendoza said. “We’ve just got to let it heal.”

Mendoza said there was no timetable for Lindor to begin baseball activities. Lindor has been sidelined for the Mets’ last 18 games — four more than he missed the previous four seasons combined.

Alvarez, who suffered a torn meniscus in his right knee while fouling off a pitch in Tuesday’s 10-2 win over the Tigers, underwent surgery Thursday morning. Mendoza said the Mets expect Alvarez to miss up to eight weeks.

Alvarez is the Mets’ 12th player currently on the injured list, joining Lindor as well as right-handers Reed Garrett (Tommy John surgery), Justin Hagenman (fractured rib), Tylor Megill (sprained right elbow), Dedniel Núñez (Tommy John surgery) and Kodai Senga (lumbar spine inflammation); left-hander A.J. Minter (left lat surgery); infielders Ronny Mauricio (broken left thumb), Jorge Polanco (bruised right wrist) and Jared Young (torn left meniscus); and outfielder Luis Robert Jr. (lumbar spine disk herniation).

In addition, Soto missed 15 games last month because of a strained right calf.

___

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

According to Houston Police Department, officers from multiple different branches of the department worked together to track down the suspect Thursday.

Downtown, Central, Patrol Support, K9 and Fox have a catalytic converter/ evading suspect in custody. Suspect fled in a vehicle, on an electric scooter, ran on foot and swam in Little White Oak Bayou. Team work resulted in suspects apprehension. 202 pic.twitter.com/mP6A77Z3JO

— Houston Police (@houstonpolice) May 14, 2026

Authorities said the suspect initially fled in a vehicle before abandoning it and attempting to escape on an electric scooter.

The chase continued on foot before the suspect jumped into Little White Oak Bayou in an apparent attempt to evade officers.

Despite the unusual escape efforts, police said coordinated teamwork between ground units, K9 officers and aerial support ultimately led to the suspect’s arrest.

Authorities have not yet released the suspect’s identity or the charges they may face.

The incident remains under investigation.

The 41-year-old man slipped unnoticed past motion detectors in a remote corner of Denver International Airport, which sprawls across open plains and covers an area twice the size of Manhattan. He quickly scaled an 8-foot perimeter fence topped with barbed wire, then walked unobstructed onto the runway where he was fatally struck by a Frontier Airlines jet as it attempted to take off late Friday night.

Surveillance video showed the man getting pulled into an aircraft engine that instantly burst into flames, forcing the pilot to abort the takeoff and evacuate the 224 passengers and seven crew members. Twelve people had minor injuries.

Aviation and risk experts said the Denver runway collision represents a clear security failure. They noted it could have been far worse if the pilot didn't safely stop the aircraft that was traveling 150 miles per hour (241 kph).

“People ought to be concerned. This was really an unprecedented risk. But now there is precedent,” said Eric Chaffee a law professor at Case Western Reserve University and an expert on risk, including in the aviation industry.

“The individual ended up with a bad result. But having somebody basically damage a plane is really quite concerning because of all those lives aboard any given aircraft,” Chaffee added. “There ought to be new measures put into place to prevent this type of tragedy."

15 seconds to scale the fence

Some aviation experts disagreed that new regulations were needed. They said installing blanket surveillance or impregnable defenses around airports was cost prohibitive, given the relative rarity of dangerous events like Friday's collision.

The Denver medical examiner ruled the intruder's death a suicide.

Officials from the city-owned airport promised a review of their protocols and defended their perimeter security program. During a Tuesday news conference, Denver airport CEO Phillip Washington said the airport received “perfect scores” following federal inspections of airfield safety and perimeter integrity.

Airport officials said in response to questions from The Associated Press that annual inspections by the Federal Aviation Administration found two discrepancies over the past decade, both from 2019. One was a response vehicle that got delayed 20 seconds during an aircraft rescue firefighting drill, and the other was a problem with driver training records.

The airport did not answer questions about inspections of the perimeter fence and whether any problems have been found. Those fences are under oversight from a separate federal agency, the Transportation Security Administration.

The FAA referred questions about the perimeter security to TSA. The AP sent emails to TSA seeking comment on Denver’s inspection results and documents detailing its security protocols.

“Safety is something we take very, very seriously,” Washington told reporters Tuesday. He added that making the perimeter fence taller or topping it with razor wire wouldn’t necessarily have made a difference, because someone who was motivated could still find a way in.

During Friday's breach, an alarm from a ground detection sensor was triggered shortly before the intruder entered the airport along its eastern boundary, about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) from the terminal. An airport worker watching video surveillance cameras attributed the alarm to a herd of deer — and missed the intruder.

It took the man about 15 seconds to scale the fence and two minutes more to reach the runway, Washington said. Airport officials didn't know he was on the runway until the pilot notified the control tower that the plane hit somebody.

Airport perimeter breaches are a regular problem, with perhaps dozens annually nationwide, said security expert Jeff Price, who managed security at the Denver airport in the 1990s. Denver International Airport is surrounded by about 36 miles (58 kilometers) of fence, which officials say is patrolled by security workers and continuously inspected.

The vast majority of airport trespassers don’t pose a real threat to others, according to Price and other experts. A man died at the Austin airport in 2020 after a Southwest Airlines jet struck him on a runway. Police later ruled it was a suicide.

Worries about copycats

Two law firms notified Denver officials Tuesday that they are preparing to sue on behalf of Frontier passengers, seeking in excess of $10 million in damages. The firms alleged “multiple failures” in the airport perimeter security system, without providing specifics, and said their eight clients suffered mental and physical injuries.

Steven Wallace, former director of accidents investigations at the Federal Aviation Administration, described the Denver fatality as a “one-off event” that would not justify costly improvements to airport perimeter security programs nationwide.

Wallace acknowledged that some perimeter fences can easily be breached. There are no set rules for their construction, and their primary role is to keep out wildlife that could interfere with flight operations, he said.

“I just don’t see how you’re going to think of and deal with every possible way a human could get into an airport,” he said.

Jim Hall, a former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, suggested there is now a higher likelihood for a repeat of Friday's collision given the potential for copycats. Hall said Denver should consider adding more personnel and surveillance to properly monitor its fence.

“With the amount of cameras and technology that is available, they need to address the problem,” he said. “They've had a failure, and they don’t need to have another one."

Samuel Perez, 25, was arrested last week.

Harris County court records show he posted a $75,000 bond this morning.

ALSO READ: HCSO investigating Klein HS head football coach for alleged inappropriate relationship with Tomball HS student years ago

According to a search warrant affidavit, the investigation began last November after the 13-year-old student reported she had been sexually assaulted by a former paraprofessional later identified as Perez.

The student said Perez messaged her through Instagram and TikTok, and would send her nude pictures of himself, according to the affidavit.

Investigators said they reviewed messages exchanged between Perez and the student from June through July 2025.

Some of those messages include:

• “You can always share with me if you are feeling lonely [wink face]”
• “Are you ever home alone?”

Between August and September of 2025, the student also reported having sex with Perez at least five times inside of a classroom, the affidavit states.

The court document further states Perez discussed sexual acts, asked the student for nude photos, and referenced wanting to “run away” with her.

Authorities said the IP address was tied to the Katy home searched under the warrant. Employment records and Perez’s driver’s license also linked him to the address, according to investigators.

The warrant allowed investigators to seize computers, phones, cameras, internet records, digital storage devices, and materials tied to the alleged sexual abuse or exploitation of children.

The warrant was signed May 7 and executed May 8 at the home in Katy.

Katy ISD provided KPRC 2 with the following statement:

In coordination with local law enforcement agencies, District police investigated allegations involving inappropriate solicitation between a staff member and a student. The District takes all allegations of this nature extremely seriously and is fully cooperating with law enforcement and relevant agencies.

Following the investigation, former staff member Samuel Perez was arrested and charged with a felony. Mr. Perez has not been present on District property for most of the current school year and is no longer employed by Katy ISD.

The safety and well-being of our students and staff remain our highest priority, and we are committed to responding promptly and appropriately whenever concerns arise.

Authorities identified the woman as Kaitlyn Graves.

Deputies with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office responded to the apartment complex at 905 Cypress Station Drive near Hollow Tree Lane around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday for a welfare check.

Sgt. Jason Brown with the sheriff’s office homicide division said family members had contacted the apartment management after they had not been able to reach Graves for several days.

“Deputies came to the location after management made entry into the apartment and discovered a deceased female inside the apartment,” Brown said.

• RELATED: Woman found dead inside Harris County apartment after family reports not being able to reach her for several days

Brown said Graves had suffered “pretty severe trauma” and investigators are treating the case as a homicide.

Investigators said there were no signs of forced entry into the apartment. Brown said detectives are reviewing surveillance video from inside and outside the complex and speaking with neighbors.

Brown said investigators do not have any obvious suspects at this time. He said detectives are still speaking with family members to learn more about who Graves had been in contact with.

Graves’ mother, Laronda Angelo, declined a recorded interview but told KPRC 2 over the phone that her daughter was a kind person who collected water bottles and umbrellas every week to give to people experiencing homelessness.

A neighbor, Rondell Woodson, said he had interacted with Graves at least once before.

“She was out there feeding cats,” Woodson said.

Woodson said he was shocked to learn Graves had been killed.

“Life is short and I guess you gotta watch out for people,” he said.

Woodson said he was in the process of moving out of the complex because of what he described as rising crime in the area.

“It got worse,” Woodson said. “It’s a lot of crimes.”

In February 2025, KPRC 2 reported a shooting in the same area at another apartment complex that left a woman and a man dead.

“I think we need more security over here, because we only got one security, and he got to patrol other complex,” Woodson said.

Woodson said the fact that no suspect has been announced is concerning.

“There’s a lot of eyes, a lot of cameras,” Woodson said.

Anyone with information in Graves’ death is asked to call the Harris County Sheriff’s Office Homicide Unit at 713-274-9100 or contact Crime Stoppers of Houston at 713-222-TIPS (8477).

Laredo Police Chief Miguel Rodriguez Jr. confirmed in a Thursday news conference that they were being smuggled, and that the Union Pacific train originally departed from Long Beach, California.

Webb County Medical Examiner Corinne Stern said two of the deceased individuals found inside a shipping container at the Union Pacific Railyard on Sunday were from Honduras: a 14-year-old male and a 24-year-old man. Three others were from Mexico: A 29-year-old woman and two men, 45 and 56 years old.

The age of the remaining male, who is Honduran, has not been determined, according to the medical examiner.

Stern determined that the woman died due to hyperthermia, or overheating. Hyperthermia is also suspected to have caused the death of the other five individuals, though formal examinations are still pending, according to a news release issued by the county.

Stern found identification cards and cellphones that indicated the individuals were from Mexico and Honduras, according to the Associated Press. Their fingerprints were also shared with the U.S. Border Patrol to help confirm their identities and nationalities through the Missing Alien Program.

The medical examiner’s office is also working with the Mexican Consulate to confirm the identities of individuals, notify their families, and repatriate their remains.

Laredo Mayor Victor D. Treviño issued a statement lamenting the deaths, which he called a “tragedy.”

“In our close-knit binational community, every loss is felt deeply,” Treviño said. “Our hearts are with the families and loved ones affected, and we thank our first responders for their efforts during this difficult time. Our community stands united in prayer and compassion.”

The six people were discovered at approximately 3:30 p.m. on Sunday in a Union Pacific train boxcar. The train left Long Beach last Thursday and arrived in Del Rio on Saturday, Laredo officials said Thursday. Rodriguez said according to a preliminary investigation, the six people who died boarded the train in Del Rio. From there, they went to Bexar County and then Laredo.

On Monday, a man was found dead on a rural road in Bexar County, and county Sheriff Javier Salazar later that day linked the individual to the six found dead in Laredo. Salazar said the man was found with a Mexican voter ID, but his nationality or age had not been confirmed.

Union Pacific did not respond to questions but issued a statement saying the company “is saddened by this incident and is working closely with law enforcement to investigate.”

Migration to the U.S. continues to be a high-risk endeavor.

Immigrant deaths are a common occurrence for the Webb County Medical Examiner’s office, which serves 11 counties on the South Texas border, Stern told the AP.

“This spring has been busier than it was this time last year,” she said.

In 2025, at least 131 people died along the U.S.-Mexico border, according to the International Organization for Migration. About 15% of those cases were due to extreme environmental conditions and lack of access to water, food, and shelter.

In 2022, 53 people from Mexico and Central America died after being transported in a sweltering tractor trailer the driver abandoned in Southwest San Antonio.

In that case, considered by officials to be the deadliest migrant smuggling case in U.S. history, 64 migrants were packed into the trailer without water or air conditioning, on a June day that reached 100 degrees.

Federal prosecutors indicted two Texas men over the deaths. Both of them pleaded guilty and await sentencing.

Alex Nguyen and Colleen DeGuzman contributed to this story.

Michael Banks' decision, announced in a Fox News interview and later confirmed by the Department of Homeland Security, is the latest leadership shake-up of officials implementing President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown and comes as the Republican administration appears to be recalibrating its approach to its centerpiece policy of mass deportations.

“It’s just time,” Banks was quoted as saying in a report on the Fox News website, which said the resignation was effective immediately. “I feel like I got the ship back on course," he said, referring to what he described as previous chaos at the southern border. Banks said it was “time to enjoy the family and life."

In a statement, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection commissioner, Rodney Scott, thanked Banks for his service “during one of the most challenging periods for border security.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

It was not clear who will replace Banks. He led an agency at the forefront of Trump's high-profile immigration enforcement efforts but kept a lower profile than some other officials such as Gregory Bovino, a now-retired commander who became a public face of the immigration crackdown.

Border Patrol participated in immigration enforcement operation in US cities

CBP is one of the federal agencies that participated since last year in a series of immigration enforcement operations, carried out primarily in cities governed by Democrats — an effort that triggered a spike in arrests and led to the fatal shooting of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis this year at the hands of federal immigration officers.

Banks' resignation takes place two months after Markwayne Mullin, a former Republican senator from Oklahoma, became homeland security secretary. DHS oversees CBP and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, commonly known as ICE.

Banks is stepping down at the same time that ICE is also going through a leadership transition. Todd Lyons, the acting ICE director, is leaving later this month and will be replaced by David Venturella, who worked for years for private contractors before returning to government service.

CBP was established in 2003 and handles customs, immigration, and agricultural regulations to secure U.S. borders. It has a workforce of over 20,000 agents assigned to patrol the more than 6,000 miles of land borders, and an operating budget of $1.4 billion, according to information from its website.

As head of CBP, Banks became a pivotal figure in the Trump administration’s hardline policy to reconfigure immigration law enforcement in the United States. He oversaw the expansion of prosecutions for illegal border crossings, intensified coordination between the Border Patrol and ICE, and supervised the implementation of broader internal enforcement operations within the country’s borders.

Banks had a long career at Border Patrol

Banks returned to the Border Patrol last year after a long agency career that had never landed him in its senior ranks. His star had risen as border czar to Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, during a period when illegal crossings reached record highs and the state launched a multibillion-dollar enforcement surge that led to turf battles with the Biden administration.

Banks kept a relatively low public profile as arrests for illegal crossings that have plunged to their lowest levels since the mid-1960s, a trend that began toward the end of that Democratic administration.

Banks did not appear publicly at the Border Security Expo this month in Phoenix, an annual conference at which government officials update contractors on the state of the border. Scott, who was Banks’ supervisor, is a close ally of Trump border czar Tom Homan and has acted more as the agency’s public face.

Banks, who grew up in a small town in Warner Robins, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) southeast of Atlanta, Georgia, has said his first job was picking peaches at an orchard when he was 14 years old. He worked with migrant farm workers and learned “compassion and humility,” he said, in an interview published last year on the CBP website.

Banks, in the interview, said he was “honored” to have returned to the agency.

“The United States Border Patrol will be unapologetic in its enforcement of our nation’s laws,” he said.

——-

Elliot Spagat in San Diego, California contributed to this report.

The top-ranked Sinner landed shots on the lines repeatedly in a 6-2, 6-4 triumph over No. 14 Andrey Rublev to reach the semifinals Thursday and move past Novak Djokovic with a record 32nd consecutive victory in Masters 1000 events — the biggest tournaments outside the Grand Slams.

“I don’t play for records. I play just for my own story. And obviously at the same time it means a lot to me,” Sinner said.

The last Italian man to raise the singles trophy on the red clay of the Foro Italico was Adriano Panatta in 1976. Panatta will present the title to this year’s champion on Sunday, with Italian President Sergio Mattarella also slated to attend the final.

“It’s a special tournament for me,” Sinner said.

Sinner’s semifinal opponent will be 2023 Rome champion Daniil Medvedev, who came back to beat Spanish qualifier Martin Landaluce 1-6, 6-4, 7-5.

The other semifinal will feature Casper Ruud of Norway against Luciano Darderi, an Argentine-born Italian.

With nearly everyone inside the 10,500-seat Campo Centrale cheering for Sinner, many supporters wore hats and T-shirts in orange — his theme color.

One group of fans held up a sign that said, “Sinner, Facce Sogna” — “Sinner, Make us dream.”

Sinner lost last year’s final in Rome to Carlos Alcaraz, who is now sidelined due to a right wrist injury, while Jasmine Paolini in 2025 became the first Italian woman to raise the trophy in 40 years.

Sinner broke serve in the opening game for a third straight match and never lost control against Rublev, who was once ranked as high as No. 5.

Rublev noticed there were “many points where he played really well or close to the line or in a line. But he’s No. 1 and it’s normal. You need to force him to miss and it takes a lot of focus to be able to play at that level.”

Sinner had only one brief lapse when Rublev broke him late in the second set.

“It was a bit breezy, a bit windy, so it was very tough conditions,” Sinner said. “I felt we both didn’t play at our best today.”

Sinner said he felt fatigued toward the end.

“I’m going to be all right. It’s normal that one day in the tournament you are slightly tired,” he said. “It has been very long days for me.”

Sinner hasn’t been beaten in a Masters event since he retired with cramps in extreme heat against Tallon Griekspoor in Shanghai in October.

Djokovic won 31 straight Masters matches in 2011.

Including all tournaments, Sinner’s winning streak reached 27 matches. He was last beaten by Jakub Mensik in the Qatar Open quarterfinals on Feb. 19 — and he hasn't even dropped a set since his opening match of his previous tournament, the Madrid Open.

Sinner is also aiming to become the second man after Djokovic to triumph at all nine Masters events. Djokovic has won each event at least twice.

The Italian Open is the only Masters event that Sinner hasn’t won.

Coco Gauff back in final

In the women’s tournament, Coco Gauff beat 36-year-old Sorana Cirstea 6-4, 6-3 to reach the final for a second straight year.

Gauff saved a match point in a three-set victory over Iva Jovic in the fourth round and then came back from a set down to defeat Mirra Andreeva in the quarterfinals.

Against Cirstea, Gauff got 78% of her first serves in and had only one double fault.

“I'm just happy to be through in straight sets today," Gauff said. "It's been a marathon week.”

Gauff was beaten by Paolini in the 2025 Rome final, then went on to win the French Open.

In Saturday's final, Gauff will face three-time Rome champion Iga Swiatek or two-time winner Elina Svitolina, who were playing later.

___

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

The former University of Michigan team captain Marlin Klein follows him being selected 59th overall after being projected later in the draft by most analysts.

Klein has run the 40-yard dash in 4.61 seconds with a 36-inch vertical leap and a 9-9 broad jump.

“They’re going to get a fast and physical football player that’s willing to do whatever,” Klein said. “I don’t care if I have to play running back, wide receiver, defensive end, safety, special teams. I don’t care what I have to play. I just want to play and help the team win.”

A 6-foot-6, 248-pound native of Germany, Klein moved to the United States to attend a boarding school in Rabun Gap, Georgia to start playing American football.

This was done through the assistance of Gridiron Imports Foundation, a registered United States nonprofit organization. He attended the Rabun Gap-Nacooche School. Klein grew up playing soccer and basketball.

Bjorn Werner, a former Florida State and Indianapolis Colts first-round draft pick, runs the nonprofit and connected with Klein.

“He gave me the opportunity to change my life,” Klein said. “I moved to Georgia all by myself to boarding school at just 15 years old. I didn’t speak any English. I didn’t really know what football was about. They just told me to run fast towards the end zone and they were gonna throw the ball up.”

A three-time academic All-Big Ten Conference selection, Klein caught a career-high six passes for 93 yards and one touchdown against New Mexico last season.

At Michigan, he won a national championship. He caught 24 passes for 248 yards and one touchdown last season and was named honorable-mention All-Big Ten Conference.

The Texans had options to trade back, but opted to stick at 59 and make the Klein selection.

“We had multiple discussions,” Texans general manager Nick Caserio said. “We were kind of potentially trading a pick, moving it, had a few deals in place. Then, those fell apart. We had a couple of guys we were talking about picking and then Marlin was one of them.

“Marlin was kind of a no-brainer. It’s a player we really liked. His story is really impressive. Good size, runs well. I would say his best football is probably right in front of him. The type of player that has the right mentality, the right mindset, good work ethic, really smart.”

The Texans drafted Klein after Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq was the only tight end to go in the first round, selected by the New York Jets.

In the second round, the Philadephia Eagles drafted Vanderbilt tight end Eli Stowers five picks before Klein. Two picks later, the Jacksonville Jaguars drafted Texas A&M tight endnate Boerkircher.

The Los Angeles Rams drafted Ohio State tight end Max Klare two picks after Klein. Klare visited the Texans.

In the third round, the Chicago Bears selected Stanford tight end Sam Roush, the Miami Dolphins drafted Ohio State tight end Will Kacmarek, who visited the Texans, the New Orleans Saints drafted Georgia tight end Oscar Delp, who ran the 40-yard dash in 4.48 seconds and met virtually with the Texans, and the New England Patriots drafted Notre Dame tight end Eli Raridon

“The beauty of all this is everybody has their own board,” Caserio said. “So, you have your grades. You’re probably not all grading players the same way. When you go through this third round, the reality is they were basically coming out of the woodwork. There’s a lot of players that got drafted where you’re looking up there going, ‘Okay, I probably wouldn’t have drafted that player.’”

Klein met formally with the Texans at the NFL scouting combine, and he made a strong impression.

The Texans were sold on him as a person right away.

“Really after the combine we were done with him as far as the person because there really wasn’t much more there that we needed to talk about,” Caserio said. “We liked him from the beginning of the process until drafting him.”

Klein texted Texans new tight ends coach James Ferentz on Friday: “Let’s work, bring me home.”

“I wanted to come to Houston from the beginning,” Klein said. “My fiancee can tell you that. My family can tell you that. It’s a tough, physical football team. That’s the kind of place I would love to be a part of.”

Two seasons ago, Klein caught 13 passes for 108 yards.

He finished his career with 38 career catches for 364 yards and one score.

He played behind Chicago Bears standout tight end Colston Loveland and Dallas Cowboys tight end Luke Schoonmaker and A.J. Barner in Ann Arbor initially.

“I chose Michigan because I knew these guys were going to be in the room,” Klein said. “Being around that caliber of players has taught me so much. They showed me the daily grind, the work that you have to put in every single day to make things happen and be successful.”

Klein has been to Houston before, winning a national championship at Reliant Stadium.

“I remember standing on the field, FaceTiming my best friend, just taking in the moment,” Klein said. “One of the most memorable days in my life.”

Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com

Health Secretary Wes Streeting became the first senior minister to quit Thursday in what was seen as a precursor to challenging Starmer's leadership. He said he had lost confidence in Starmer, who should not serve out the rest of his term.

“You have shown courage and statesmanship on the world stage — not least in keeping Britain out of the war in Iran,” Streeting wrote in an excoriating resignation letter. “But where we need vision, we have a vacuum. Where we need direction, we have drift.”

But Streeting stopped short of saying he was the best candidate to lead the party at the next election due by 2029, suggesting Starmer should step aside to allow a “broad” field of candidates to debate the future of the party.

Starmer is under growing pressure to step down after disastrous results for his Labour Party last week in local and regional elections. The election drubbing cemented doubts among many party members about Starmer’s judgment, vision and leadership ability — a brutal indictment on a leader who returned Labour to power in July 2024 after 14 years in opposition.

Starmer responded in a generous letter to Streeting, saying he was “truly sorry” to see him leave the government and praised his stewardship of the state-run National Health Service.

Making no reference to Streeting's criticisms, Starmer laid out his hope the two “can work together to show that Labour in power can address the problems our opponents exploit, can install hope where they want despair, and can bring people together where they want division.”

Starmer moved quickly to replace Streeting, appointing James Murray, formerly a Treasury minister, to the health portfolio.

If Starmer doesn't step down, any challenger would need support from a fifth of Labour lawmakers, or 81, to trigger a leadership contest.

For days, Streeting had been expected to launch a bid Thursday, but the wording of his statement stoked speculation he doesn't have enough votes yet, or that he is giving Starmer a chance to announce his resignation on his own terms.

Another likely challenger, former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, said Thursday that she had reached an agreement with authorities to clear up questions about her taxes that forced her to leave the Cabinet last September. Rayner told the Guardian newspaper that Starmer should “reflect on” his position, adding that she was ready to “play my part” in any leadership election if Streeting triggered a contest.

A third rival, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, is ineligible for the leadership because he doesn't have a seat in Parliament, but on Thursday afternoon a Labour lawmaker said he would step aside to make room and Burnham said he would seek permission from party to enter a special election. He could then mount a leadership challenge if elected.

“I grew up in this area and have lived here for 25 years,” Burnham said on X. “I care deeply about it and its people. I know they have been let down by national politics.”

Race to unseat Starmer heats up

Pressure for Starmer to step aside has intensified since Labour suffered heavy losses in local and regional elections last week, underscoring voter frustration with a government that has failed to deliver on pledges to boost economic growth and improve living standards for working people.

A stagnant economy and stubbornly high inflation have made it difficult for Starmer’s government to deliver on the promises it made when winning a landslide election victory less than two years ago.

Starmer has vowed to remain in office, warning lawmakers that any leadership contest would destabilize the government when it should be focused on issues like the cost of living crisis and war in the Middle East.

The leadership wrangles overshadowed some positive news for the government.

Official figures showed the British economy grew 0.6% in the first three months of the year — more than had been anticipated and larger than the previous quarter, despite the negative impact from the Iran war. More growth means more tax revenues to fund Labour’s priorities and potentially lower borrowing.

Treasury chief Rachel Reeves said the figures showed her policies were working and the party shouldn't put hard-won economic stability at risk “by plunging the country in chaos at a time when there is conflict in the world.”

Streeting himself hailed figures showing that waiting lines for NHS appointments — one of his signature priorities — fell for the fifth straight month, an achievement he is likely to point to if he runs for leader.

Streeting comes from a faction of the left-leaning Labour Party that sees itself as the modernizing wing, as does Starmer. Rayner is a favorite of members who think the party has strayed too far from its working-class roots and those who want the party to do more to boost the minimum wage and raise taxes on the rich.

Efforts to depose a Labour leader are relatively rare

Unlike the Conservative Party, Labour has never ousted a prime minister in midterm.

“They don’t do ruthless on their leader,’’ said Jonathan Tonge, a professor of politics at the University of Liverpool. “They don’t tend to depose their leader. The Conservatives, they readily do ruthless.’’

Even if Starmer survives this current bout of jitters, he will likely face another challenge in a few months given the level of fragmentation in British politics, he added.

“He’s got a huge parliamentary majority, he’s got more than 400 MPs, and yet his prime ministership may be on the brink of disintegration,” Tonge said.

The league has scheduled a record nine international games across four continents and seven nations this season as a wave of global football games has emerged as a key initiative for the NFL.

Beyond the Texans’ Oct. 18 road game against the Jaguars, marking the second time they’ve faced Jacksonville in England, the NFL has inaugural games in Melbourne, Australia between the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams in the first week of the regular season. Paris, at Stade de France, is the site of a game between the New Orleans Saints versus the Pittsburgh Steelers on Oct. 25.

“We are proud to return to London and the iconic Wembley Stadium this season,” Texans chair and CEO Cal McNair said in a statement. “We look forward to competing against the Jaguars and contributing to the continued global growth of the NFL. As we celebrate 25 seasons of Houston Texans football, this marks another significant moment for our organization and for Texans fans in Houston and around the world.”

Pack your bags, WE'RE CROSSING THE POND 🇬🇧

Full schedule release Thursday, May 14 at 7pm CT on NFL Network pic.twitter.com/OhjtwnxcUP

— Houston Texans (@HoustonTexans) May 13, 2026

The Dallas Cowboys and Baltimore Ravens play in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in the third week of the season. And the Cincinnati Bengals and Atlanta Falcons have a game in Madrid, Spain in the ninth week of the regular season.

The Jaguars host consecutive games in London, partially because of their ongoing stadium renovations. The Detroit Lions have a November game in Munich, Germany against the New England Patriots.

“It’s the ambition we have to be a global sport, but it’s also the demand we’re having,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said this offseason. “We’re hearing from cities all over the world that want to host these games and that really want to get more American football. That’s one of the things we’re really focused on.”

That focus on international strategy is underscored by the rapid increase of Mexico and Brazil as two of the largest international markets for the NFL with nearly 40 million fans in each nation.

The league is embracing Latino culture, including having Bad Bunny as the featured headliner for the annual Super Bowl halftime show.

The NFL has celebrated Latino Heritage Month through its Por La Cultura campaign highlighting Latino football players.

Bad Bunny’s featured role at the Super Bowl displays the NFL’s commitment to international growth and Latin America as they seek to leverage his global influencer status to provide a significant bump in engagement and buzz.

Popularity and cultural connections sells.

The ultimate goal for the league: having all 32 teams playing at least one overseas game annually. This is all part of a longer play by the league.

“I’ve said many times 16 games, so that every team is playing a regular season game every season,” Goodell said. “I think that’s an important mark for us to go for. I think we’re well on our way, with the desire we have from our side, but also the desire for people to have this in their communities, and some of the greatest cities in the world are asking to do this.”

The Texans previously played internationally in Mexico and London, falling to the Las Vegas Raiders in 2016 in Mexico City and beating the Jaguars, 26-3, at Wembley Stadium in 2019.

The Texans hadn’t previously confirmed their inclusion in the international series necessarily this season, but had expressed interest in future games.

“Yeah, we’re open to it,” Texans team president Mike Tomon said during the NFL annual meetings in March at the Arizona Biltmore. “We want to make sure it makes sense for football. So, we have to really think through those things. We also want to be able to promote the city on that global stage. And, so, those are all things that we’re open to.

“I think one of the things that we’re very supportive of is this international growth. And we think we’ll play a key role in that at some point. At some point is probably the thing you put in quotations right now. So, we’ll see when that is.”

Peter Reilly, the NFL executive vice president of club business, international and major events, has led the shift from occasional international showcase games to a permanent annual global sports program.

In 2024, the NFL hosted five international games. In 2025, the league had seven international games.

Reilly’s vision is for the aggregate pool of international games as something of a ‘33rd franchise’ to boost commercial revenue.

The NFL footprint, which expanded to South America two years ago and this year in Spain and Melbourne, is conducting due diligence regarding other markets across the world. That includes Ireland, Saudi Arabia, Italy, Greece and the United Arab Emirates under the NFL global markets program. Teams are awarded marketing, fan engagement and commercial rights to build their fan bases outside the United States.

The Texans’ designated global market is Mexico.

And the league is using flag football as an onboarding global tool, heavily lobbying for flag football to be included in the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028 to capitalize on 20 million participants across 100 countries.

“The 2026 NFL season will feature our most expansive and ambitious international slate yet, with regular-season games spanning Melbourne, Rio de Janeiro, London, Paris, Madrid, Munich and Mexico City,” O’Reilly said. “This year’s record-breaking schedule will see a host of world-class NFL franchises and star athletes play in some of the most iconic sporting venues in the world, underlying the league’s global growth vision and bringing our fans internationally closer to the game than ever before.”

Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com

Flash forward and Fisher is an NFL linebacker as the Texans’ seventh-round draft pick.

How that happened is a testament to his talent and work ethic.

Fisher was recruited by Curt Cignetti to transfer to Indiana when the coach was hired. He emerged as the leader of the national champion Hoosiers’ defense, earning All-American and All-Big Ten Conference honors.

Now, Fisher is off to a strong start with the Texans.

The Texans see upside with Fisher, who was the green dot for the Hoosiers as their designated defensive signal caller in communication with the coaching staff.

“What I liked about Aiden Fisher, you put on the tape and you instantly see a guy who’s a great communicator,” said Texans coach DeMeco Ryans, a former Pro Bowl linebacker. “You see him pointing, talking, directing traffic. That’s something you don’t see a lot in college football.

“You can see a guy who’s very sharp. He understands the entire defense of how the puzzle fits together. So, a really smart football player, made a ton of plays there in Indiana to lead them to a national championship. I’m excited to add another tough, smart, dependable football player to our team.”

A two-time All-American and a two-time All-Big Ten Conference selection, Fisher recorded four tackles and a sack in the Hoosiers’ national championship win over Miami.

The Texans have signed seventh-round linebacker Aiden Fisher, an All-American and All-Big Ten Conference selection for the national champion Indiana Hoosiers, to a four-year, $4.507 million deal that includes a $127,568 signing bonus.

“He’s a reactive and instinctive player that plays fast,” Cignetti said. “Very dependable, smart player and he’s in the right place. He’s where he’s supposed to be, which is what playing football is all about.”

Fisher has run the 40-yard dash in 4.75 seconds with 37 1/2 inch vertical leap, a 10-3 broad jump and bench pressed 225 pounds 18 times.

The approach to football from Fisher is simple, and blue-collar.

“Very hungry,” he said. “I’m just trying to prove something. I’m going to work my butt off. I’m going to be the hardest worker in the room. Whatever role you give me, I’m going to embrace it and I’m going to run with it. And I’m going to do my best to be the best at it.”

And that’s what Fisher did at both of his college stints. He recorded 113 tackles, six for losses and an interception before entering the NCAA transfer portal.

At Indiana, he was on the Butkus Award watch list.

His experience with Cignett, at JMU and Indiana, was life-changing.

“The amount of things I’ve learned from coach Cignetti and that entire staff, what I’ve learned from my teammates, it’s changed me for the better,” Fisher said. “Being able to take away different things in football, but in life is more important to me. I’ve learned how to be a better teammate.

“I’ve learned how to be a better leader. And that’s why I’m here today. I’ve been able to try to elevate other people’s games while also improving mine. Unbelievable journey. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

Although Fisher isn’t the biggest or fastest linebacker at 6-foot-1, 232 pounds, he plays the game with intelligence and toughness.

“That’s kind of the story of my life,” Fisher said. “Nothing’s been given to me easy. I’ve worked for everything that I’ve had. I’ve worked harder than anybody. I put more time in than anybody. I’m ready to do it again.

“I have no doubt in my mind I’ll be successful at it, to be able to put my head down and be as humble as possible and just hungry to learn, to work, and impact the football team to win some football games.”

Fisher had an informal meeting with the Texans at the NFL scouting combine before follow-up calls with them on Zoom.

Playing for a former NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year and the leader of the NFL’s top-ranked defense is something Fisher is embracing.

“I’m pumped up,” Fisher said. “I cannot wait to get to work with DeMeco Ryans. Unbelievable player, I remember watching him growing up, and then being able to play for him is one thing. When you have a defensive coach that is always innovating the defense and kind of has a hand in it, it’s going to be an unbelievable experience.”

Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com

Aldrich Potgieter, Stephan Jaeger, Min Woo Lee and Ryo Hisatsune mixed in enough birdies to offset mistakes, each of them at 67.

Xander Schauffele, who set the major championship scoring record in the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla with a 21-under 263, opened with a 68 and was pleased.

“I think really, really thick rough and wind and really difficult greens and tucked pin locations is why you’re seeing what you may feel like are higher scores,” Schauffele said.

That also was the recipe for McIlroy, a bad mix for the Masters champion. He struggled out of the damp, dense rough. He struggled on the greens. He closed with four straight bogeys and described his round in one word that translates loosely to doo-doo.

Some overnight rain only dampened the course, but did little to soften it. And the greens on this Donald Ross original design lived up to the fears with its massive undulations.

Potgieter, a big-hitting South African, put himself in a good position on the severe greens and an even better position when he finished his round. He was in the first group off the 10th tee and the first to post 67, a round with six birdies.

Hisatsune was even better with his seven birdies — four of them immediately after making bogey. Jaeger ran off three in a row on his front nine.

The damp air gave way to clearing skies by mid-morning, and then the wind arrived, enough to make a strong test even tougher. McIlroy hit one approach on the 15th that shot forward some 20 feet on its second hop.

“I think I hit it on the right spots on the golf course, especially on the greens,” Potgieter said. “I didn’t feel like I had to putt over some of these big slopes we had. So I definitely left myself in really good positions on the green.”

No one struggled quite like Bryson DeChambeau, who didn't make a birdie until he ended on the par-5 ninth. That kept him from matching his highest score in the PGA Championship. He shot 76 and now has to work toward avoiding a second straight missed cut in a major.

Garrick Higgo had the worst start imaginable — a late one. The South African was seconds late getting to the first tee when his group was announced. He was assessed a two-shot penalty before he even hit his opening drive. He still managed a 69.

“Unfortunately golf has these situations where we get penalized for things,” Higgo said. “But it is a rule and I obviously broke the rule. I would love to have 3 under. Hopefully, I can make a good story out of it.”

The main story Thursday morning was Aronimink, which hasn't hosted a major championship since Gary Player won the 1962 PGA Championship. It hosted two PGA Tour events in 2010 and 2011, and then another in 2018 after a restoration project.

But this is major — an old slogan the PGA Championship once used — and while this one is famous for creating a firm but fair test, this was everything the players could have wanted.

“There was a couple pins that were on hills and they were tough,” Lee said. “I think they did a really good job on putting them in tough positions, enough to think about it coming into the greens. It’s a course where you don’t want to leave it in bad positions just because it can bite you in the butt pretty quick.”

Among those at 69 was Jordan Spieth, who lacks only the PGA Championship for the career Grand Slam. This is his 10th shot at that feat, and he's rarely been in the mix on the weekend. For one round, he raised hopes with great control off the tee and enough good putting.

Spieth was tied for the lead late in his round until a long three-putt on the seventh, missing the green well to the right on the par-3 eighth and failing to get up-and-down for a birdie chance on the par-5 ninth. He was hoping for better.

“Just didn’t quite finish the way I wanted to the last three holes, but under par was a good score,” Spieth said. “It was blowing really hard, and it was cold this morning. The course played very, very difficult. It was a good start. I’m going to need to improve on it, I think, each day.”

Scottie Scheffler, the defending champion, played in the afternoon along with Cameron Young and Matt Fitzpatrick.

Jon Rahm was headed for another rough start in a major until he holed out for eagle from the 11th fairway, chipped in for birdie on the tough par-3 eighth and got up-and-down for birdie on his last hole for 69.

He was told some people thought scoring would be better in the morning. This surprised him.

“People thought it would be lower?” he replied. “Have you been out there? Have you seen this course?”

Rahm said the numbers — width of fairways, for example — can be misleading. The subtle slopes can put decent shots into the rough. And that was enough to make it tough to get it close to the hole. Throw in some wind, and it was no picnic.

“So I can see how in appearance it might be easier, but it’s not,” he said. “You need to play really good golf to shoot lower than 3 under. And then on top of that, those pin locations today are good ones. I mean, they’re tucked. They’re not easy.”

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

Aliyah said she has difficulty focusing, and she finds it hard to concentrate when she’s learning from a screen. She’ll watch Netflix in class on her school laptop, hiding her earbuds behind her long, curly hair.

“It’s very hard to get into the mindset of being in school,” Aliyah said.

Aliyah’s mother saw her grades were falling and asked the school to take away her laptop. But she was told that wasn’t possible.

Across the country, parents are voicing concerns about excessive screen time in schools and lobbying educators to go back to pencil and paper. In places like Lower Merion Township, where Aliyah goes to high school, some are taking it even further. Over 600 people in the affluent Philadelphia suburb have signed a petition asking to preserve parents' ability to opt their children out of using digital devices during the school day. The public school district has pushed back, saying it’s not feasible to let hundreds of students opt out of technology that is essential to the curriculum.

Disagreement over how tech is used in the classroom

At a meeting Monday night, school board members said they were considering many ways to respond to parental concerns about technology, but allowing opt-outs was not one of them.

“There is not an option for us to not have technology in schools,” said Lower Merion School Board member Anna Shurak.

The board was meeting to discuss updates to the district’s technology policies, including repealing a policy that allows opt outs. Over 100 people showed up to protest, many wearing buttons that said “Screens Down, Pencils Up.”

Many emphasized they’re not anti-tech — in fact, most parents agree that learning how to responsibly use computers is an essential life skill. They just don’t want tech to dominate the classroom.

“Teaching how to use technology is not the same thing as using technology to teach everything else,” said Sara Sullivan, a parent.

Technology has become inescapable at schools

The debate in Lower Merion raises the question of whether technology has become so intertwined with learning that it’s impossible to opt out. Kids use devices to play educational games, submit their homework, access online resources and write essays — but parents are questioning the value of gamified edtech software.

Subashini Subramanian said the software her second-grade daughter uses for math, DreamBox, incentivizes rushing through levels to gain points. When she encouraged her daughter to think through the problems methodically, the 8-year-old said, “If I go through all the steps, it’s slowing me down. I have to click, click, click.”

At the school board meeting, many parents said they were exhausted from battling their kids over screen time. Adam Washington says his son struggles with screen addiction, so sometimes he takes away his phone or TV — only to find him watching YouTube on the school laptop instead.

“The screen is killing him. It is killing me, and him, together with our relationship,” Washington said.

Another parent at the meeting questioned what students would do instead of using their computers.

“Opting out is not a solution. It’s avoiding the hard work of finding a solution,” Seth Ruderman said.

Parental pushback on edtech has led to change

The pushback on technology in the classroom has gained steam around the country. At least 14 states have proposed laws to limit screen time in schools, according to Ballotpedia, with four states — Alabama, Tennessee, Utah and Iowa — passing such legislation.

In Los Angeles, the nation’s second-largest school district said it will ban screens until second grade, require daily caps for screen time per grade, ban YouTube and require an audit of all education technology contracts.

In Vermont, proposed legislation would allow not just parents but also teachers to decline to use classroom tech. Democratic State Rep. Angela Arsenault, a bill co-sponsor, said she’s responding to parents' worries about edtech.

“Parents in many districts and states just aren’t being listened to or not being heard when they ask that their students not be forced to use these products,” Arsenault said.

The Lower Merion school district said it’s listening to community concerns and has already made changes, including blocking some problematic websites flagged by parents.

“We have wonderful teachers who have continuously prioritized human interaction and relationships,” Superintendent Frank Ranelli wrote in a letter to parents. He declined to comment to the AP for this story.

The district said it is looking into possible changes, including stronger cellphone restrictions, not allowing the youngest students to take devices home and installing software to monitor students in class.

However, surveillance software can bring its own problems and poses risks to student privacy. In 2010, the Lower Merion School District paid $610,000 to settle lawsuits by two students who alleged the district had spied on them via the webcam on their school-issued laptops.

Kids want ways to hold themselves accountable

High school student Mia Tatar, 16, raised concerns at the board meeting that there’s been an unintended consequence to the anti-tech backlash. The internet filters on school computers are now so strict, she said she’s been blocked while doing research on appropriate topics for school, like breast cancer.

Mia said students need to learn how to responsibly use technology, and adding filters or getting rid of laptops won’t do that.

“It doesn’t teach kids how to hold themselves accountable and how to be responsible for regulating their own screen time once they’re in the world,” Mia said in an interview.

Her friend Elliot Campbell, 15, said there should be strict limits on screen use in the youngest grades, but students should get more freedom as they get older.

“If we lose our laptops or if we lose the partial freedom we have on them, it’s not going to prepare us for college,” Elliot told board members at the hearing.

Fellow high schooler Joaquin Imaizumi takes a different view. He said it’s “completely unfair” to expect children to regulate their usage of devices that even adults find addictive.

“This isn’t about learning to constrain yourself,” he said in an interview. “We don’t give someone drugs and say, ‘OK, now learn how to deal with this.’”

His biggest concern is that devices make it far too tempting to access AI tools like ChatGPT, which he sees eroding his classmates' ability to think for themselves.

“I’ve seen the atrophy of my peers’ thinking, which is existentially concerning,” Joaquin said.

The influence of AI starts early. A second-grader named Lillian Keshet, who got up to speak at the board meeting, said Google Docs will give her “suggestions” about what to write in class.

“I’m a pretty good writer by myself,” Lillian said. “I don’t need your suggestions, Google!”

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Associated Press writer Jocelyn Gecker contributed to this report from San Francisco.

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

HPD says the technology can instantly interpret nearly 200 languages using handheld devices and dispatch systems, helping officers, 911 operators, victims, witnesses, and tourists communicate more clearly when every second counts.

Why HPD says this matters

Houston is one of the most diverse cities in the country, with residents and visitors speaking dozens of languages every day.

Police leaders say misunderstandings caused by language barriers can delay emergency response, escalate tense situations, or leave families confused during crises.

With the World Cup expected to bring a global audience to Houston, HPD says the system is part of a larger effort to improve safety and communication citywide.

What the technology will be used for

HPD plans to use the translation system in several real-world scenarios, including:

• Traffic stops
• 911 emergency calls
• Crowd control at major events
• Conversations with victims and witnesses
• Assisting tourists unfamiliar with English

The department says officers and dispatchers will receive training on when and how to use the technology.

Questions the community wants answered

Community advocates say the technology could help build trust, but they also want accountability and proof the system works under pressure.

Key concerns include:

• How accurate translations are in noisy environments
• Whether dialects and slang are interpreted correctly
• What happens if the technology fails
• Whether conversations are recorded or stored
• How quickly officers can access translations during emergencies

Immigrant advocates, neighborhood leaders, and international visitors are also expected to weigh in on whether the system improves confidence in public safety.

A safety upgrade before Houston takes the global stage

HPD says the goal is simple: help officers and residents understand each other faster and more clearly during high-stress situations.

As Houston prepares for one of the world’s biggest sporting events, city leaders say communication could become just as important as security.

Edward Harold King, who left the bench at the end of last year, and Yechiel “Sam” Sprei, a politically connected real estate developer, were arrested by IRS Criminal Investigation agents on wire fraud conspiracy charges after federal prosecutors say they duped a pair of investors into forking over $6.5 million for a bogus property bid and then failed to return all but a fraction of the money.

The allegations are similar to claims made against King in civil lawsuits and in complaints to the state Commission on Judicial Conduct, whose investigation precipitated his resignation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Wang told a judge at the men’s initial court appearance on Wednesday that the transaction described in the criminal case was “one of several schemes that the government has been investigating." Discussing Sprei's finances, the prosecutor said “it’s safe to say many, many millions of dollars” have moved through his bank accounts in the last few years.

King, 72, and Sprei, 37, were released on bail and are scheduled to return to Brooklyn federal court on Monday to finalize their bond arrangements. King and his lawyer, Michael Vitaliano, declined to comment as they left the courthouse. The former judge cut through trees in a nearby park to avoid reporters and photographers. Sprei's lawyer, Ezra Lent, declined to comment.

In court, Wang said that during Sprei’s arrest, the developer lied to federal agents that he had no electronic devices on him other than his cellphone. Agents executing a search warrant seized the phone and then found a second phone while patting Sprei down, Wang said.

If convicted, King and Sprei could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.

“As alleged, the defendants stole millions of dollars from investors by cynically leveraging King’s position as a sitting judge to lend false legitimacy to supposed investment opportunities,” U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. said in a statement.

King resigned on Dec. 31, 2025, just three years after becoming a judge, after the Commission on Judicial Conduct informed him that it was investigating complaints mirrored in his criminal case.

Among the complaints, the commission said, were that King was involved in a scheme to defraud real estate investors and that he continued to act as a lawyer — including by accepting funds into his own attorney escrow accounts — despite rules barring full-time judges from practicing law, acting as fiduciaries or engaging in business activities. King denied the allegations.

According to federal prosecutors, King and Sprei pitched investors on fictitious investment opportunities with false promises that their money would be kept safe in attorney escrow accounts and returned on demand if the investors decided to end their involvement.

In November 2024, prosecutors said, Sprei and King offered two investors an opportunity to buy commercial real estate in Freehold, New Jersey, through a bankruptcy auction. In order to proceed, Sprei told them, all bidders first needed to show “proof of liquidity” and that they could do so by depositing $6.5 million in King’s escrow account, prosecutors said. Sprei told the investors that King was both an independent escrow agent and a judge, according to prosecutors.

The investors wired the money to King's account, where they were told it would be left untouched and not spent or transferred without their permission, prosecutors said. Within days, prosecutors said, King and Sprei transferred several million dollars to a bank account in Sprei’s name.

Later, when the investors exercised their right to have the money back, King offered up excuses and alternatives, at one point saying he would have his lawyer deposit the funds with an unspecified court, prosecutors said. King and Sprei eventually returned $1.5 million to the investors, but have yet to cough up the rest, prosecutors said.

King became a judge in 2023. He won a seat on the New York City Civil Court in Brooklyn and was appointed to the state’s main trial court in June 2024.

Prior to that he was in private practice and, according to news articles about his campaign, was appointed by courts to manage assets in real estate disputes. He also served as an administrative law judge for the city's Parking Violations Bureau and as legal counsel to the state assembly.

When the state commission accepted King's resignation, its administrator Robert Tembeckjian called the allegations "so egregious as to warrant his permanent departure from the bench.”

Records show Judge Chad D. Bradshaw imposed sanctions against attorney Micheal Phillips after finding he used “a racial slur numerous times in court in a derisive manner.”

The court sentenced Phillips to three days in jail and issued a $500 fine, but both punishments were suspended on the condition that he file a written apology to the court and a separate written apology to attorney Brenda DeRouen by June 30, 2026.

• RELATED: Brazoria County attorney held in contempt after repeating racial slur during custody trial

The contempt finding comes from a custody modification trial held earlier this month in Brazoria County Family Court.

Previous court records stated that, outside the presence of the jury and while arguments were being made on the record, Phillips “repeated a racial slur several times,” prompting the judge to find him in direct contempt of court.

The courtroom exchange drew strong reactions from attorneys involved in the case.

DeRouen previously described the conduct as “deeply disturbing,” saying the repeated use of the slur “had no legitimate evidentiary purpose” and appeared “demeaning” and “taunting rather than advocacy.”

“As a Black woman attorney practicing in Texas family courts, attorneys should be able to advocate fiercely for their clients without being subjected to racially charged conduct that undermines professionalism and dignity in the courtroom,” DeRouen said in an earlier statement to KPRC 2 News.

Phillips disputes accusations that he used the slur in a derogatory way. In a previous statement, he said the comments happened during an evidentiary argument outside the jury’s presence while objecting to testimony and language he said had repeatedly been introduced during trial proceedings.

Phillips also said he apologized immediately after the exchange.

On May 14, 2026, KPRC 2 News confirmed that the charges against the woman were dropped.

The lawsuit represents a direct challenge to the authority of the office that enforces ethics standards for attorneys in the nation’s capital. where several high-profile investigations of Trump-allied lawyers are playing out.

“The D.C. Bar will no longer be permitted to probe sensitive executive branch deliberations and target executive branch officials with whom they happen to politically disagree, and federal attorneys will once again be free to share their candid legal advice with their bosses and colleagues,” Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, a top Justice Department official, said in a statement.

The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in federal court in Washington. An email seeking comment to the D.C. Bar's Board on Professional Responsibility, among the defendants named in the complaint, did not receive an immediate response.

The complaint chiefly concerns the ethics case against Jeffrey Clark, a senior lawyer in the first Trump administration Justice Department who was deeply engaged in legal efforts to undo the results of the 2020 election that President Donald Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

A disciplinary panel hasrecommended that Clark be stripped of his law license, but the lawsuit seeks to bring an end to those proceedings, calling them “unlawful” and tainted by politicization.

Clark, who has denied any wrongdoing, applauded the lawsuit on X on Wednesday evening, saying, “This is an important step to vindicate the separation of powers.”

In an attempt to bolster its claims of bias in the disciplinary process, the Justice Department asserted that bar authorities had treated Clark more harshly than a former FBI lawyer, Kevin Clinesmith, who pleaded guilty to doctoring an email during the investigation into ties between Russia and Trump’s 2016 campaign.

The lawsuit also backs Ed Martin, an ardent Trump loyalist who now serves as the Justice Department's pardon attorney. The Office of Disciplinary Counsel accused Martin in March of professional misconduct for a threatening letter that he sent to Georgetown Law School’s dean last year, when Martin was the top federal prosecutor for Washington.

Martin was the interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia when he warned the Georgetown dean that his office wouldn’t hire the private school’s students if it didn’t eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

“The Office of Disciplinary Counsel and the Board on Professional Responsibility, as D.C. institutions, have no authority to decide whether a federal government attorney — no less the interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia — is upholding his oath of office or whether his official acts comport with the Constitution," the lawsuit states.

The Justice Department last week filed what's known as a statement of interest in support of Martin, who had earlier complained about “uneven behavior” by the disciplinary counsel who filed the ethics charges against him.

The WNBA and NBA Board of Governors unanimously approved the sale and relocation of the Connecticut Sun to Houston beginning with the 2027 season, officially reviving the Comets franchise.

The team will be owned and operated by Fertitta Entertainment, the company owned by Houston Rockets owner Tilman J. Fertitta.

The Comets will play their home games at Toyota Center starting in 2027. The Sun will remain in Connecticut through the end of the 2026 season.

REATED: WNBA returning to Houston, Comets make a return in 2027

“This is a historic and proud day for our organization and the City of Houston as we officially welcome the Houston Comets back home,” said Patrick Fertitta, Vice Chairman of the Houston Rockets and Comets.

The return marks the first time Houston will have a WNBA team since the original Comets folded in 2008. One of the league’s original eight franchises, the Comets became the WNBA’s first dynasty, winning the league’s first four championships.

The franchise featured Hall of Fame stars including Cynthia Cooper, Sheryl Swoopes, Tina Thompson and coach Van Chancellor. Team officials said the Comets’ history and records will carry forward into the new era of basketball in Houston.

“The Comets helped shape the foundation of the WNBA and created a championship legacy that still resonates today,” Patrick Fertitta continued.

The announcement also comes as the WNBA continues a major expansion push, with the league planning to grow to 18 teams by 2030.

Team officials said the returning Comets will benefit from major upgrades already underway at Toyota Center as part of the “Toyota Center Reimagined” project.

READ MORE: ‘Reimagined’: Harris County officials approve $180M Toyota Center renovation ahead of return of Houston Comets

The new indictment is identical to the previous one, court records show, and alleges Grief misused his office to defraud the state during the Lotto Texas drawing on April 22, 2023, a first-degree felony. A court summons was also issued Wednesday.

The 2023 Lotto drawing drew scrutiny after a group led by an international gambler used several lottery ticket printers to buy almost all of the 25 million possible ticket combinations to win the $95 million jackpot, a Houston Chronicle investigation revealed. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said the jackpot was “stolen” from Texans, investigations followed and the Texas Lottery Commission was ultimately dissolved, its duties transferred to another state agency.

In a written statement to the Houston Chronicle, Sam Bassett, Grief’s attorney, called the indictment “the product of politics, not facts demonstrating a crime.”

“Gary cooperated with the Texas Ranger investigation but neither he nor his counsel had input with the Grand Jury. The Rangers had their direction from politicians searching for a scapegoat,” Bassett said. “When all facts are revealed in court, the public will see that Gary’s leadership at the Lottery Commission generated millions of dollars for Texas schools and veterans and there was no crime.”

The Travis County district attorney’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Grief resigned from the lottery in February 2024 before scrutiny over the jackpot had mounted.

WACO — In the move-fast-and-break-things world of high tech, a global investment firm and small Central Texas town have joined a global race to build a hyperscale data center — in two years.

But that race may put them on a collision course with neighboring Waco, which holds power over infrastructure needed for the $10 billion project pushed by Infrakey and Lacy Lakeview.

Top Lacy Lakeview officials say there’s good reason for the haste.

Potential investors don’t want to wait. And city officials don’t want to lose the chance to lasso $50 million a year in tax revenue for this suburb of 8,000 just north of Waco.

That urgency is creating sparks with Waco officials, who say they have been kept in the dark about the project. It has also fueled the flames of opposition in the Ross area, where the 520-acre data center is proposed.

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And on May 2, Lacy Lakeview voters sent a message of their own, electing a data center opponent to the city council.

Layering onto those challenges are technical roadblocks that could stall the project before it starts – and that would need Waco’s help to resolve.

Lacy Lakeview would need to annex not only the data center property, but also a three-mile corridor 1,000 feet wide through a mosaic of private property. Those owners would have to agree to be annexed.

Infrakey would need to build miles of new sewer mains and repurpose existing lines to push wastewater uphill to the site. The company would have to build a sewer plant capable of treating up to 2 million gallons of wastewater a day to reuse as cooling water.

Building the elaborate infrastructure for the project would require close collaboration with Waco, which owns the regional sewer system and holds the water service rights to the Infrakey site.

Waco officials are increasingly vocal in their skepticism about the project’s benefits beyond Lacy Lakeview, which stands to benefit from up to $10 billion in new tax base. Their questions come amid a growing state and nationwide backlash against the data center industry, and as state lawmakers discuss regulations to rein them in.

Waco City Manager Ryan Holt learned about the project from a Waco Bridge article in November. Lacy Lakeview officials didn’t meet with his team until January. It was April 22 before engineers met to discuss technical details, and Waco officials say they still are lacking basic information about the project.

“If this is so urgent, wouldn’t you think engineers would have been in the same room by now?” Holt said in an April 8 interview.

Some Waco officials are deadset against the project.

Waco Council Member Darius Ewing said he would have considered a good-faith discussion between Waco and Lacy Lakeview about cooperating on the project. Instead, he said the small city’s approach has been “almost oppositional.”

Ewing is not convinced that data centers pay off for communities in general and said this one seems like a bad bet.

“Even if they had an airtight way to make sure that it was not a drain on resources and they were recycling everything correctly, it was minimally invasive, I think it would still be a poison pill,” Ewing said.

Lacy Lakeview Mayor Chuck Wilson said his city is just now firming up technical details to discuss with Waco.

“I think Waco was brought into the project at about the right time,” Wilson said. “I know that may not seem that way to them, but we brought them in when we were asked to do so.

“I’m very pleased with the effort we have made to include other elected officials. I can’t think of anybody who needs to be informed that hasn’t had several phone calls or lunches. This has been very well coordinated.”

Opposition expands

Rural residents around Ross and Elm Mott in northern McLennan County began organizing to fight the data center almost immediately after learning about it in November.

Now critics of the project are emerging in nearly every quarter of local politics.

Many share the usual concerns about data centers, including their impact on water, electricity and land use. But many are especially critical of the approach Lacy Lakeview and Infrakey are taking.

State Rep. Pat Curry, R-Waco, is open to data centers but deeply critical of the Infrakey proposal. He frequently speaks at Sunday strategy meetings that data center opponents host at the Ross Volunteer Fire Department.

“It’s not the right deal in the right place, with the right use of resources,” Curry said in an interview with the Bridge. “Without the City of Waco agreeing to it, Lacy Lakeview can’t do anything out there and neither can Infrakey. … Those guys don’t know what the hell they’re doing.”

He plans to support legislation creating guardrails on the industry, including local land use powers allowing cities and counties to turn down a bad deal. Many data centers are being developed outside of city limits, and counties have no zoning powers in Texas.

Sujeeth Draksharam, Infrakey spokesperson and engineer, dismissed the legislative threat to the project.

“If the Legislature wants to take us to the Stone Age and try to put zoning or something to pander to the political stuff? Come on,” Draksharam said. “This is Texas, where property rights prevail over anything.”

The data center project became a unifying issue in the March primary elections in McLennan County. All three candidates for Texas Senate District 22, which includes this county, pointed to Infrakey’s project as an example of residents being overpowered and left in the dark.

State Rep. David Cook, R-Mansfield, won the primary and is favored in the November election to win the heavily Republican district, which has several data center flashpoints. He has said he wants to allow limited local control over data centers, possibly including special permits that allow public input for approval.

Meanwhile, Rick Tullis, who is unopposed in the November election for county judge, said he would oppose tax abatements for the Infrakey project. As the top county official, he said he would only support data center projects that involve robust communication, and would prefer them to be placed in industrial parks.

In the May 2 local elections, Lacy Lakeview voters elected Amy Gage, a data center opponent, to the council with a strong margin. Richard Lednicky, a council incumbent and the only candidate to come out in support of the Infrakey development, lost his seat.

Gage described the results as a referendum on the project and its city backers.

“It’s reassuring but also worrisome that other leaders are experiencing the same level of frustration that residents and community members are feeling when trying to get straight answers from the leadership of Lacy Lakeview,” Gage said on election day.

Power of the pipe

Lacy Lakeview Mayor Wilson said he hoped to reach an understanding with Waco on the issue of recycling wastewater in a matter of weeks. The fate of the Infrakey data center may depend on it.

Infrakey hopes to separate itself from the pack of hyperscale developers by sourcing nearly 100% of the water to cool the data center from sewage flows in Lacy Lakeview and the Waco area.

The “sewer mining” approach could sidestep the usual red-hot debates about the data center industry’s thirst for water. But the planning, infrastructure and intercity partnerships required to build the system by 2027 are substantial.

The project’s first phase would require about 300,000 gallons of wastewater per day, but Lacy Lakeview produces only about 250,000 gallons per day, said Draksharam, the Infrakey spokesperson and engineer. Ultimately, the project would need some 2 million gallons per day, he estimated.

For reference, Waco is spending $78 million to expand the Bull Hide Creek wastewater treatment plant’s capacity from 1.5 million to 4 million gallons a day.

To solve the sewage shortfall, Lacy Lakeview wants to tap into Waco’s sewer flows and pump the wastewater miles north to a yet-to-be constructed treatment plant, all of which Infrakey promises to pay for.

“We’re not asking for a dime from Waco,” Wilson said. “Waco gets some deferral of capital expenditure. They get some relief on their existing (sewer) infrastructure, and they don’t have to pay anything for it, (while) Infrakey gets the effluent that they would like to have to cool their plant.”

But basic questions about the plan have not been answered yet, including how the two city’s wastewater systems would connect, how many miles of new pipeline and pumping infrastructure have to be built or what the work would cost.

Environmental Systems Group, or ESG, the engineering company Infrakey tapped for the job, has not completed its feasibility study of the sewer mining project yet. ESG’s engineers only began meeting with Waco engineering staff in late April, months after Waco officials found out about the project.

Water questions

Draksharam, the Infrakey engineer, acknowledged the communication gap in an interview.

“I do take the criticism that we haven’t been engaged,” Draksharam responded in a comment to the Bridge. “That’s a fair comment.”

Infrakey’s site is located in Waco’s water and wastewater service jurisdiction; under maps approved by the state. Waco must provide those services but has power to set the price. Also, it is under no obligation to pump wastewater to a customer, only to take it away.

Waco also owns the regional wastewater system of which Lacy Lakeview is a member. Lacy Lakeview’s 50-page wastewater contract with Waco does not specifically address how a sewer mining operation would be approved.

Additionally, Waco officials believe the filtration technology at the core of the proposal is excessively expensive, raising questions about who would pay to keep the plant operating if Infrakey pulled out.

At full buildout, the sewer mining plant would cost an estimated $1.3 million a year to run, according to an ESG project brief sent to Waco and obtained by the Bridge through an open records request.

If the wastewater reuse plan falls through, the Plan B for supplying water by 2027 is unclear. One option listed in the project brief is a proposed reallocation of Lake Whitney water previously reserved for hydropower.

But the reallocation proposal is still in its study phase, sponsored by the Brazos River Authority and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. A BRA spokesperson said that if the recommendations are approved, obtaining state water permits for users would take three to five years.

To list Lake Whitney water as a contingency source for the data center “would have been done without the BRA’s knowledge and without a contract guarantee,” the BRA spokesperson said in a statement to the Bridge.

ESG also lists well water as a contingency option. But any new use of groundwater in McLennan County would have to be approved by the Southern Trinity Groundwater District, and Infrakey officials say they are not pursuing groundwater.

Annexation hurdle

Lacy Lakeview will have to annex Infrakey’s 520-acre site to reap the property tax benefits that prompted its partnership with the data center company.

Under state law, the newly annexed area would have to be connected to the remainder of the city by a corridor at least 1,000 feet wide.

Rep. Curry expressed doubt about how easily Lacy Lakeview could annex a distant property.

“You can’t just jump out there and go, ‘Yeah, we’re going to do this. And the land doesn’t even touch our city limits. It doesn’t touch anything we have,” Curry said.

Taking all the challenges into account, Hodde returned to the financial realities facing the city if the data center never materializes.

He said Lacy Lakeview would be staring at a backlog of maintenance and infrastructure problems, with little tax revenue to address them.

“If the data center doesn’t happen, we still have to be able to upgrade our capital improvements where we need to,” he said.

The new inductees into the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress include Swift’s blockbuster 2014 pop album “1989,” Beyoncé’s era-defining 2008 anthem “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It),” Khan’s genre-blending hit “I Feel for You,” Vince Gill’s emotional ballad “Go Rest High on That Mountain” and The Go-Go’s groundbreaking debut album “Beauty and the Beat.”

They were among the 25 recordings entering the archive in the class of 2026, acting Librarian of Congress Robert Newlen announced Thursday. The selections were chosen for their “cultural, historical or aesthetic importance in the nation’s recorded sound heritage.”

“Music and recorded sound are essential, wonderful parts of our daily lives and our national heritage,” Newlen said in a statement. “The National Recording Registry works to preserve our national playlist for generations to come.”

Other recordings entering the registry include Ray Charles’ groundbreaking country crossover album “Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music,” Reba McEntire’s “Rumor Has It,” Rosanne Cash’s “The Wheel” and Weezer’s self-titled debut known as “The Blue Album.”

Classic singles from Gladys Knight and the Pips, The Byrds, José Feliciano and Paul Anka also earned inclusion.

Among the more unconventional selections are the soundtrack to the influential 1993 video game "Doom" and the radio broadcast of “The Fight of the Century,” the legendary 1971 heavyweight boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier.

The oldest recording in this year’s class is Spike Jones and His City Slickers’ 1944 single “Cocktails for Two.” The newest is Swift’s “1989.”

This year also marks the first recordings by Swift and Beyoncé selected for the registry. The Library of Congress said more than 3,000 public nominations were submitted for consideration this year.

With under two weeks to go until the May 26 runoff, an array of political action committees — some powered by untraceable dark money — has spent close to $6 million since the March 3 primary across seven of Texas’ most meaningful congressional runoffs.

They range from perennial players, like the Democratic centrist Blue Dog PAC and the conservative Club for Growth, to well-heeled PACs supporting the cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence industries. And one mysterious group seemingly aligned with the GOP is boosting a candidate with a history of antisemitic comments in a San Antonio-area Democratic primary, suggesting an effort to line up a candidate the party sees as more easily beatable.

Voters from Abilene to Dallas to Houston to Lubbock are being blitzed with ads, mailers and texts from these groups. And while overall House ad spending on television, digital and radio lags prior cycles, the share covered by outside sources has skyrocketed, according to AdImpact, an ad tracking firm.

Of the nearly $4.6 million shelled out for TV, digital and radio ads in Texas’ congressional runoffs, 89% has come from PACs, super PACs and nonprofits operating independently from the candidates. That’s up from 29% in 2020; 50% in 2022; and 68% last cycle, per AdImpact.

Some of the phenomenon can be traced to last year’s GOP redistricting, which yielded a wave of competitive primaries by forcing Democrats into overlapping districts and creating free-for-alls for newly drawn seats where there is no incumbent. It is also a sign of the political stakes in Congress’ lower chamber, with party leaders and other insiders keen to put forward the most competitive nominees for a general election that will decide control of a closely divided House.

With limited budgets of their own, candidates may also be relying on more deep-pocketed outside groups to break through the noise of the pricey U.S. Senate and attorney general runoffs, which have otherwise dominated the airwaves.

The influence of outside spending is perhaps most notable in the 35th Congressional District, where a pop-up PAC apparently linked to the GOP is spending to boost a fringe candidate in the Democratic runoff. The district is among the five seats targeted by Republicans’ new redistricting map.

Maureen Galindo, a progressive sex therapist who has raised little money, finished first in the Democratic primary with 29.2% of the vote. Galindo has trafficked in antisemitic conspiracies, saying Jews run Hollywood and referring to the “synagogue of Satan.”

She is running against Bexar County sheriff’s deputy Johnny Garcia, who finished second in March with 27% of the vote and is backed by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee — House Democrats’ main campaign arm — and the centrist Blue Dog PAC. The runoff is highly consequential to both parties, given that the Texas Legislature redrew the San Antonio-area seat last summer to favor Republicans. The district would have voted for Donald Trump by a 10-point margin in 2024; it is majority-Hispanic, fueling Democratic hopes of overcoming the gerrymander if they can make up lost ground with Hispanic voters.

Galindo first received outside support on May 6, when a shadowy group called Lead Left PAC spent over $40,000 on pro-Galindo mailers touting her progressive credentials. The group, which registered as a PAC in late April, will not have to report its donors until after the runoff. But the metadata of its website included links to Republican fundraising platform WinRed.

Lead Left PAC has since placed an $80,000 ad buy, according to AdImpact, and dropped additional mailers, bringing its total spend to over $340,000.

“This has now become an all-out arms race,” Garcia said. “Republicans are frightened for me to make it out of the runoff.”

In the wake of Democratic outrage over Galindo’s comments and Republican meddling, Garcia received the endorsement of Rep. Greg Casar, D-Austin, the Congressional Progressive Caucus chair whose district was redrawn to form the one Garcia is running for. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries…

Galindo, for her part, said over text that she doesn’t believe Republicans are behind the spending, because, “I don’t trust anything in the establishment political and media world.” She said she’s the strongest candidate in the general election and that the recent focus on the race, including being accused of antisemitism, has increased her reach.

“Even after this recent smear campaign claiming I’m antisemitic for being anti-Zionist has boosted my broad support,” she said. “We know what we see WITH OUR EYES and are sick of politicians and media trying to gaslight us. Zionists are the anti-semities.”

Beyond suspected GOP spending in the 35th District, outside groups are deploying millions in safe districts where the primary is the true contest.

The most expensive House runoff in Texas is the contest between two sitting members of Congress, Houston Democratic Reps. Al Green and Christian Menefee, in the 18th Congressional District. Fittingly, it includes the single biggest spender — Protect Progress, a pro-crypto super PAC powered by the blockchain industry.

Protect Progress has spent $1.8 million on the airwaves and over $350,000 on mail pieces supporting Menefee in the runoff. One of the group’s TV ads praises Menefee’s record and calls for voters to “pass the torch” to the new congressman, who is 40 years younger than Green. Another features Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas, who endorsed Menefee. Cryptocurrency is never mentioned.

“Democrats used to be the party of the future, but lately, we’ve been running on the past — and losing,” the ad’s narrator says. “It’s time to pass the torch — and Democrat Christian Menefee is ready to continue the fight.”

Similarly, in Texas’ 19th Congressional District, where Lubbock agriculture lobbyist Tom Sell is facing conservative activist Abraham Enriquez, a pro-AI super PAC is the biggest runoff spender. American Mission, a Republican group connected to OpenAI’s political network that favors light-touch AI regulation, has spent nearly $600,000 airing a biographical ad about Sell that never mentions AI.

The Sell campaign, by contrast, has spent under $200,000 on ads, per AdImpact. Enriquez has spent less than $5,000.

The AI industry is playing in the 9th Congressional District as well — through a rival group. Defending Our Values PAC, which is affiliated with an Anthropic-backed effort to install candidates favoring heavier industry guardrails, has spent over $400,000 backing Alex Mealer and opposing her GOP runoff opponent, state Rep. Briscoe Cain.

The PAC has also spent over $560,000 supporting Carlos De La Cruz in the Republican runoff in the 35th District, running ads touting his Trump endorsement that also do not mention AI.

Seven different conservative groups have spent money in the 9th District Republican runoff, a contest that pits Mealer, a Trump-backed veteran, against the Abbott-backed Cain. Nearly all are working to get Mealer, who finished first in the primary, over the hump in the runoff.

The Club for Growth, an influential conservative group with significant fundraising prowess, endorsed Mealer. Between the group’s action fund and an outside group tied to CFG called Win It Back PAC, they’ve spent over $1.1 million to boost Mealer and oppose Cain. Their investment has included everything from a door-to-door field program to mailers to text messaging to ads.

On the airwaves, Win It Back PAC spent over $280,000 on an anti-Cain ad attacking the state lawmaker for receiving past campaign contributions from the developers of the controversial Colony Ridge project. The development, located in the Liberty County territory newly added to the 9th District, came under Republican scrutiny for selling land to undocumented immigrants.

“Briscoe Cain said Colony Ridge represented the American Dream,” the ad’s narrator says over spooky visuals. “So out of touch, it’s scary.”

There’s been over $650,000 in TV, digital and radio ad spending alone in the 9th District runoff — more than 99% of which comes from outside groups backing Mealer. Conservatives for American Excellence, a super PAC funded by GOP megadonors that has intervened in past Republican primaries against prospective Freedom Caucus hardliners, has put over $370,000 into an ad bashing Cain as a “liberal lightweight.”

The same group has also spent over $40,000 on pro-Sell mail in the 19th District.

Cain, a Republican from Deer Park, has routinely been among the most conservative lawmakers at the Capitol over nearly a decade in the state House. But he has come under fire from Mealer for supporting the lower chamber’s impeachment push against Paxton in 2023.

The only outside group supporting Cain in the runoff is a group called Building a Strong America, which received all of its funding from a dark money group that does not need to disclose its donors. The group has funded over $85,000 in anti-Mealer texts and digital ads.

The justices ruled unanimously in favor of Shawn Montgomery, whose parked vehicle was hit by a speeding truck driver on an Illinois highway in 2017. He wants to sue C.H. Robinson, the country’s largest freight broker by size, over its role in putting the driver on the road despite what he called “serious red flags.”

The decision does not mean Montgomery will necessarily win the lawsuit, which the company is contesting. But the ruling opens the door to increased liability for freight brokers, a key part of the industry.

The Trump administration and companies such as Amazon had argued that letting the suit go forward would expose logistics companies to liability under a “patchwork” of state laws.

The Transportation Intermediaries Association, an industry group, said the decision was “deeply disappointing.”

“This is like asking travel agents to evaluate the safety of a given airline despite the fact that the airline has been licensed to fly by the federal government,” said Chris Burroughs, the group's president and CEO. “We are working with our members to assess potential next steps to mitigate the consequences of the Supreme Court’s decision."

Montgomery's lawyers say the trucker had been cited for careless driving in another crash months earlier and that the carrier he worked for had been involved with at least three crashes in a span of about five months. Montgomery's lawsuit said C.H. Robinson should share liability because it hired the carrier despite those problems.

Montgomery's appeal was backed by more than two dozen states. They said a win for him would help bolster safety in an industry that moves billions of tons of goods across billions of miles every year.

The company argued the suit, filed under state law, must be tossed out because brokers rely on the federal government to regulate carriers and federal law trumps state law.

But in an opinion by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, the Supreme Court disagreed. The justices found Montgomery's claims can move forward because they fall under an exception for safety regulations. The high court overturned a lower-court ruling in the company's favor.

The decision could increase insurance costs for freight brokers that eventually “cascade through the economy" and result in higher prices for consumers, Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in a concurrence joined by Justice Samuel Alito.

Still, “truck safety is a matter of life and death," Kavanaugh wrote.

C.H. Robinson, which is based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, pointed to another part of his concurrence, where he said the decision does not mean brokers will be “routinely subject” to lawsuits.

“We will keep working with policymakers, advocates, carriers, our customers, and others across the industry to strengthen the national safety system and advance practices that reduce accidents on America’s roads," said Dorothy Capers, the company's chief legal officer.

The ruling could have far reaching effects if brokers can be held liable for the actions of the trucking companies they hire, said Brian Watt, who runs a freight logistics company in Florida.

Brokers will now have to focus more on the safety records of the truckers they contract with to haul all kinds of goods, including hazardous materials, instead of just looking for the cheapest and fastest option.

“More than 28,000 federally licensed brokers currently operate in the United States with virtually no meaningful federal safety oversight regarding how they select carriers,” Watt said in a post on LinkedIn. He said there are tougher standards for brokers that arrange shipments out of ports and on railroads, but that highway shipments face fewer restrictions.

The Transportation Department has been cracking down on the trucking industry over the past year by trying to force unqualified drivers, trucking companies and schools out of the industry.

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Associated Press writer Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska, contributed to this report.

The bipartisan support for the measure comes at a time when federal closures have become longer and more frequent, frustrating lawmakers who say there should be punishment when Congress fails at its most basic legislative duty.

Under the resolution, senators’ pay would be withheld by the secretary of the Senate whenever a government shutdown affects one or more agencies, then released once funding is restored. It will take effect the day after the Nov. 3 general election and does not apply to the House.

“Shutting down government should not be our default solution to our refusal to work out our issues and our differences,” said Sen. John Kennedy, the bill’s sponsor, in a floor speech Wednesday.

“This is about putting our money where our mouth is,” said Kennedy, R-La.

Two shutdowns in the past year created significant financial hardship for tens of thousands of federal workers, particularly at the Department of Homeland Security. The department reopened last month after a 76-day partial shutdown, the longest agency funding lapse in history.

The DHS shutdown came just a few months after a 43-day lapse of the entire federal government, which was the longest such closure on record.

The Constitution stipulates that lawmakers must be paid so they have received salaries during shutdowns even as federal workers went without paychecks. When the full government shutdown began in October amid a dispute over health care subsidies, Sen. Lindsey Graham proposed a constitutional amendment to require members to forfeit their paychecks when the government is closed.

“If members of Congress had to forfeit their pay during government shutdowns, there would be fewer shutdowns and they would end quicker,” Graham, R-S.C., said at the time.

Graham said his legislation was the most “constitutionally sound” way to deal with the problem, but the process would have been much more laborious as three-fourths of states must ratify an amendment.

Lawmakers in previous shutdowns have often pledged to forgo their paychecks while federal workers went unpaid. Senators earn an annual salary of $174,000, but many are independently wealthy.

Kennedy told reporters Wednesday that he pushed his measure to ensure there is “shared sacrifice” during shutdowns. He added that it does not go as far as he would like, but that it’s a start.

Asked why it does not extend to the other chamber of Congress, Kennedy said “the House’s business is the House’s business” while also touching on the tensions between the Senate and House.

“There’s a very strong undercurrent of animosity among some of my friends in the House,” Kennedy said.

“It’s quickly becoming like two kids fighting in the back of a minivan,” he said.

Imagine what that can do to a human body. Now, imagine that it’s almost completely exempt from gun regulations.

How can that be? Well, under federal and most state laws, many antique or replica guns aren’t technically considered firearms. In most places, even convicted felons can own them.

“I suspect the average judge would be surprised to find that out,” says Second Amendment scholar and gun-rights attorney Dave Hardy, himself the proud owner of two Civil War-era long guns.

During a National Rifle Association event back in 2000, the late actor Charlton Heston famously hoisted a flintlock — the single-shot weapon that won the Revolution and was still in wide use a half century after Congress debated the Second Amendment — into the air and said the Democrats would have to take it “from my cold, dead hands.”

He needn’t have worried.

A blast from the past

During debate over the Gun Control Act of 1968, Sen. John Goodwin Tower argued that flintlocks and many other antique or replica guns should be exempt from regulation.

The Texas Republican said it was needed “to relieve an unnecessarily burdensome problem for serious collectors of antique firearms and for historians and museums.” Treating all weapons the same, he argued, would unfairly target collector items “which have little, if any, practical use as a firearm in the modern connotation.”

The provision defines an antique as any weapon “with a matchlock, flintlock, percussion cap, or similar type of ignition system” manufactured “in or before 1898” — as long as it hasn't been modified to fire modern ammunition. This generally means muzzleloaders that use black powder or a black powder substitute, though some early cartridge guns are included.

You can even own and fire a cannon.

Don't go off half cocked

Most states have adopted that language either verbatim or by direct reference to the federal provision. But, as military historian Patrick Luther says, “it’s a patchwork.”

“I live in NY (New York) and bought a civil war musket,” Luther, a Marine veteran with the website milsurpia.com, said in an email. “It was very similar to buying a regular firearm. Buying the blackpowder for the rifle felt not much different than buying a T-shirt.”

At least three states — Hawaii, Ohio and North Dakota — treat a smoothbore musket the same as an AK-47 or AR-15. Reenactor Jason Monhollen, an officer in the U.S. Army, says that’s “comparing apples and oranges.”

“It seems silly to put restriction on something that would be such a terrible weapon if you wanted to, you know, kill people,” says Monhollen, who portrays a private and carries a French Charleville musket in the 2nd North Carolina Regiment. “There’s just much better things. You can kill more people quickly with a car than you can with a musket.”

But these weapons are still deadly.

Not just a toy

Maryland changed its law after a convicted sex offender killed his ex-girlfriend with a six-shot, .44-caliber cap and ball revolver purchased on the internet.

“It may have loaded like an 1851 weapon, but it fired like a 2017 manufactured modern handgun that was capable of lethal force,” Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy told reporters at the time.

Shadé's Law, passed in 2019, now prohibits people convicted of certain violent crimes from buying or possessing such weapons. But many states allow convicted felons to have these weapons; West Virginia makes an exception for people under an active protective order.

Some states’ laws are confusing or vague.

Montana law mentions “antique or replica arms” in a code regulating firearms and ammunition manufactured in the state. But nowhere in the code are those weapons defined.

Wisconsin uses the federal definition, but the only reference comes in a law regarding “look-alike” firearms.

And, of course, many local ordinances, like the one in Wake County, North Carolina, prohibit the firing of any “barreled weapon capable of discharging projectiles.” In many jurisdictions, it’s illegal to brandish even a toy gun at someone.

“Federal law does not exclude antique firearms from location-based restrictions,” Austin Gunderson, counsel for the North Dakota Legislative Council, said in an email.

Stray bullets

Sometimes, attempts to strengthen gun laws have had unintended consequences.

The attorney general of New Jersey, one of the 13 original states, recently had to offer guidance when a new law targeting ghost guns seemed to require all firearms — including antiques and even air guns — to have serial numbers.

When New York toughened its gun laws in 2022, it required background checks for transfers and purchases of antique guns, and barred firearms of any kind from certain “sensitive places” like parks and museum sites — just the kinds of places reenactors appear most.

An exemption was later carved out for people “lawfully engaged in historical reenactments, educational programming involving historical weapons of warfare, or motion picture or theatrical productions.” But that hasn’t stopped out-of-state reenactors from worrying their muskets will be confiscated at the George Washington Bridge, says Justin Costantino, adjutant of the Long Island Companies of the 3rd New York Regiment.

“If the New York State Police department wants to charge me with weapons possession while I’m wearing a cocked hat and carrying around a Charleville ’66,” says Costantino, a graduate student in history, “then please, don’t call my lawyer. Call the New York Post!”

Then again, Costantino hates to hear a mother at a reenactment tell her child, “Oh, no. Don’t worry, sweetie. It’s not real.”

“It’s not really loaded, but it is really a weapon,” he says. “It’s really gunpowder. And if you stand close to it, you’ll feel the kind of breath of hot air ... They’re still things that we have to take very seriously, and you have to be safe with.”

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AP Writer Jack Dura in Bismarck, North Dakota, contributed to this report.

U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy's Wednesday ruling is the latest setback for the U.S. Department of Justice, where at least seven other federal courts have agreed to quash or limit the expansive civil subpoenas sent to more than 20 doctors and hospitals last summer.

McElroy's decision also echoed similar concerns raised by judges surrounding the expansive scope of the subpoenas, describing the Justice Department as having “immense prosecutorial authority and discretion” but no longer trustworthy it will enforce its power fairly and honestly.

“DOJ has proven unworthy of this trust at every point in this case,” McElroy wrote.

A DOJ spokesperson said Thursday that they would appeal and continue with their investigations.

“The Rhode Island court’s attack on the professionalism and integrity of DOJ attorneys is outrageous and unjustified,” the department said.

According to the subpoenas, the DOJ had demanded Rhode Island Hospital hand over the birth dates, Social Security numbers and addresses of every patient who received transgender care over the past five years. It also included instructions to provide all documents detailing adverse side effects in minor patients who received gender-related care, assessments that formed the basis for prescribing puberty blockers or hormone therapy, as well as patient intake forms and guardian authorization.

The Justice Department has repeatedly argued that the information sought in the subpoenas is needed to investigate possible fraud or unlawful off-label promotion of drugs. Most recently during a hearing in Rhode Island, the DOJ said that the investigation was taking place in the Northern District of Texas, where the court's chief judge ordered Rhode Island Hospital to comply with the subpoena before McElroy's decision voided the subpoena.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Brantley Mayers told McElroy during the hearing that the DOJ is investigating potential “misbranding” of drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, such as puberty blockers for young people. While off-label prescribing is legal, Mayers said that the DOJ is concerned that pharmaceutical companies are providing “financial incentives” to Rhode Island doctors to prescribe the drugs.

The subpoenas were crucial in getting the names of children and their families so the DOJ could interview them.

McElroy rejected that argument.

"The administration has publicly characterized gender-affirming care for minors as abuse, directed the DOJ to bring its practice to an end, and celebrated when hospitals curtailed such programs as a result of this subpoena campaign," McElroy wrote.

The Rhode Island decision is the latest development in the fight over transgender youth health records. Earlier this week, 11 families filed a class-action lawsuit seeking to block the DOJ from obtaining the documents. The lawsuit, filed in Maryland’s federal court, is backed by families with transgender children who have received care from hospitals across the U.S.

And separately, a New York hospital announced that it received a grand jury subpoena from federal prosecutors in Texas seeking information about children who received gender-affirming care and the medical providers who administered it.

NYU Langone is the first hospital system to publicly acknowledge receiving a subpoena for such records as part of a federal criminal investigation. But the institution said in its statement Tuesday it was one of several that received a subpoena out of the Northern District of Texas on May 7. It said it was deciding on how to respond.

“The government cannot use its subpoena power to intimidate families out of seeking lawful medical care. To trans and gender-diverse children and their families, we want you to know that you are valued, you are not alone,” Kevin Love Hubbard, an attorney with the Lawyers’ Committee of Rhode Island, who represented the plaintiffs in the case, said in a statement.

Gender-affirming care includes a range of medical and mental health services to support a person’s gender identity, including when it’s different from the sex they were assigned at birth. It may include counseling, medications that block puberty, hormone therapy to produce physical changes or surgeries to transform chests and genitals, although those are rare for minors.

Most major medical groups say access to the treatment is important for those with gender dysphoria and see gender as existing along a spectrum.

At least 27 states have adopted laws restricting or banning the care for minors, while several others have adopted laws or policies protecting access to transgender health care.

The exchange at a highly anticipated summit in Beijing underscored just how far apart Trump and Xi still are on thorny issues, including the war in Iran, trade disputes and Washington's relations with Taiwan, which is self-ruled but which China claims as part of its territory.

It also suggested that Trump’s three-day visit to China is likely to be longer on pageantry and symbolism than substantive political or economic breakthroughs.

The pair met for about two hours behind closed doors at the Great Hall of the People after an elaborate welcome ceremony featuring booming cannons, a band playing “The Star-Spangled Banner” and China’s national anthem, and hundreds of schoolchildren jumping and waving flowers and American and Chinese flags.

According to a post on X by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning, Xi told Trump that “the Taiwan question is the most important issue in China-U.S. relations.”

"If it is handled properly, the bilateral relationship will enjoy overall stability. Otherwise, the two countries will have clashes and even conflicts, putting the entire relationship in great jeopardy,” she wrote.

That comment followed a brief public exchange before the meeting began in which Trump told Xi: “You’re a great leader. Sometimes people don’t like me saying it, but I say it anyway, because it’s true.”

“It’s an honor to be your friend,” Trump said before promising that the U.S.-China relationship "is going to be better than ever before.”

Trump later told Fox News' Sean Hannity in an interview that Xi said during their conversations that he “would like to be of help” in negotiating an end to the Iran war and reopening the Strait of Hormuz to oil shipments.

Xi was far more stark in his opening public remarks, expressing hope that the U.S. and China could avoid conflict and asking “whether the two countries can transcend the ‘Thucydides Trap’ and forge a new model for relations between major powers.”

That's a term, popular in foreign policy studies, referring to the idea that when a rising power threatens to displace an established one, the result is often war. Xi has used the term for years, but using it as Trump offered optimism was noteworthy and foreshadowed his closed-door comments on Taiwan.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio later said U.S. policy toward Taiwan was “unchanged” but warned that it would be “a terrible mistake” for China to take Taiwan by force.

“They always raise it on their side. We always make clear our position, and we move on to the other topics,” Rubio, who is traveling with the president, said in an interview with NBC News.

Both emphasized the importance of China-US relations

After their meeting, Xi took Trump on a tour of the Temple of Heaven, then hosted a state banquet for him. The Chinese leader used his evening toast to note that he and Trump had kept U.S.-China relations “generally stable” in a turbulent world.

“Achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and making America great again can go hand in hand,” Xi said, referring to Trump’s political movement. “We can help each other succeed and advance the well-being of the whole world.”

In his toast, Trump said his visit had been “a great honor” punctuated by a “fantastic" day. He said matters “all good for the United States and China” were discussed.

Trump also said Xi would make a reciprocal visit to the White House on Sept. 24 — a date not previously announced.

The positive tone was reflected in the White House assessment of the earlier meetings, which said both leaders had touched on ways to enhance economic cooperation, including expanding market access for American businesses in China and increasing Chinese investment into U.S. industries.

The White House readout did not mention Taiwan directly, but, in relation to Iran, said both sides had agreed that the strait must remain open. The strait’s closure has stranded tankers and caused energy prices to spike, threatening global economic growth.

The war is dominating Trump's domestic agenda and stoking fears about the prospect of a weakening U.S. economy as November’s midterm elections — when Republicans hope to maintain control of Congress — approach.

China is the largest purchaser of Iranian oil, and Rubio said in an interview with Fox News that Trump would make the case for Beijing to exert its influence on Iran, noting that administration officials would underscore that “economies are melting down because of this crisis,” which means consumers are “buying less Chinese product.”

It's not clear if Trump persuaded Xi to wield his influence. The White House instead said Xi opposed any implementation of tolls on vessels crossing the strait — as Iran has proposed — and expressed interest in China potentially purchasing more U.S. oil to reduce Chinese dependence on Gulf oil in the future.

When asked Thursday at a congressional hearing whether China is providing intelligence to Iran to help it target U.S. forces, Adm. Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, would not discuss intelligence but said the Iranian military "is largely made up of Russian and Chinese equipment.”

Taiwan issues remain contentious

Xi's warning about Taiwan reflects China's displeasure with a U.S. plan to sell weapons to the island. The Trump administration has approved an $11 billion arms package for Taiwan, but has yet to begin fulfilling it.

The U.S. has a longstanding commitment to help the island defend itself if attacked, but Trump has shown greater ambivalence toward Taiwan, fueling speculation about whether the president could be persuaded to dial back American support.

Taiwan said after the Xi-Trump meeting that it was grateful for Washington's “long-term support.”

“The government views all actions that contribute to regional stability and the management of potential risks from authoritarian expansion positively,” Michelle Lee, a spokesperson for Taiwan’s premier, told reporters. She added that the U.S. “has also repeatedly reiterated its firm and clear position of support for Taiwan.”

US still hopes to secure trade wins

The White House has insisted that Trump would not be making the trip without an eye toward securing concrete results, suggesting there could be coming announcements on trade.

That likely includes a Chinese commitment to buy U.S. soybeans, beef and aircraft. Trump told Fox News that Xi had indicated a commitment to buying 200 jets from Boeing.

Trump administration officials also want to work toward establishing a board of trade with China to address commercial differences between the countries.

Trump and Xi discussed trade on Thursday, with Xi saying that China’s door of opportunity will open wider. Xi also met with a collection of U.S. business leaders who accompanied Trump.

The U.S. and China reached a trade truce last year that calmed each side’s threats to impose steep tariffs on the other. The White House says there have been ongoing discussions and mutual interest in extending the agreement.

The leaders also discussed further stemming the flow of fentanyl precursor chemicals into the United States and increasing Chinese purchases of U.S. agricultural products, according to the White House.

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Associated Press writers Seung Min Kim, Darlene Superville and Michelle L. Price in Washington, Simina Mistreanu in Bangkok and Kanis Leung in Hong Kong contributed to this report.

Houston police say the incident happened around 9 p.m. in the 8600 block of Broadway.

Investigators said the suspect appears to be in her 40s.

The woman first started a disturbance at a convenience store near the apartment complex. Police say she pulled out a knife and began chasing a man. He was able to get away unharmed.

But officers say the woman then walked into the nearby apartment complex, where witnesses say people were already running from her before anyone was stabbed.

According to investigators, the woman approached a mother and her 7-year-old child and threatened to stab them. The two made it safely back inside their apartment without injury.

Moments later, police say the woman encountered a group of four people outside the complex.

Two people managed to escape.

But investigators say a 42-year-old woman was stabbed three times in the stomach, and her 69-year-old husband was stabbed twice in the stomach and once in the back.

Despite their injuries, both victims were able to make it upstairs to their apartment before family members called 911.

The woman was later taken into custody without further incident.

Police say investigators are still trying to determine whether the woman was experiencing a mental health crisis. Authorities said she mentioned that she had been taking seizure medication.

The victims’ conditions have not yet been released.

Editor’s Note: This story has been corrected to reflect the suspect is an adult female, not a teenager as initially reported.

Raymond Johnson, 52, was pronounced dead at 10:12 a.m. Thursday following a three-drug injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, prison officials said.

He was sentenced to death for killing 24-year-old Brooke Whitaker and her 7-month-old daughter, Kya, in June 2007.

“To Brooke and Kya and your family, I want to apologize for my actions and the pain I caused you,” Johnson said while strapped to a gurney inside the death chamber. “I hope people can speak your names without my name attached to it. I hurt you. One day, I hope you can forgive me.”

Johnson's spiritual advisor, Kurt Borgmann, read Scripture in the chamber during the execution, which lasted about 11 minutes. A tear rolled out of Johnson’s left eye as Borgmann began to speak. A doctor entered the room and declared Johnson unconscious about six minutes after the first drugs began to flow.

Oklahoma uses the sedative midazolam, followed by vecuronium bromide to halt breathing and potassium chloride to stop the heart.

Angie Short, one of Whitaker's aunt, criticized the delays in an execution originally scheduled for May 2024, saying Whitaker's mom died about five months after that.

“Because of the delays, my sister didn't get to witness justice,” Short said. “This couldn't bring them back. But we'll no longer have to see his face on TV. He's no longer associated with Brooke and Kya. Now I think we can finally begin to heal after 20 years.”

Prosecutors said Johnson and Whitaker had been arguing at her home in Tulsa before he repeatedly hit her over the head with a metal claw hammer. Whitaker’s skull was fractured and she had more than 20 lacerations on her face and scalp. But she was still conscious and begged Johnson to spare her and Kya, who was sleeping in a bedroom, prosecutors said in documents prepared for Johnson’s clemency hearing in April.

“She begged him to call 911. She begged him to let her mom come get baby Kya. She begged him to think of her children,” the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office said. Whitaker had three other children.

Johnson retrieved a gas can from a tool shed in the backyard, doused Whitaker and the house with gasoline, lit a dish towel on fire, threw it at Whitaker and left, the attorney general’s office said. Whitaker died from head injuries and smoke inhalation while her daughter died from severe burns.

“I pray that Brooke’s and Kya’s family find some measure of peace today after enduring unimaginable pain and grief for nearly two decades,” Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said in a statement.

Johnson’s attorneys did not file a last-minute appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court to stop his execution. His attorneys unsuccessfully argued in earlier appeals that Johnson’s arrest was illegal, police coerced his confession from him and that his trial lawyer conceded his guilt in Whitaker’s death without his permission.

In April, Oklahoma’s five-member Pardon and Parole Board voted unanimously to deny Johnson clemency. During that clemency hearing, Johnson apologized to the victims’ family and asked for forgiveness, saying he was a changed person.

“I apologize. No excuses, no justifications, a sincere apology. And to know that it’s sincere, look at my actions. Look at my life. Look how I’ve changed. I’m living a remorseful life. I’m living it,” Johnson said in an interview with Death Penalty Action, a national anti-death penalty group.

Whitaker’s family members asked for the lethal injection to proceed.

“Executing him will not give me my mom or sister back, it will not take away almost 20 years of pain. What it will do is finally stop him from continuing to hurt us,” Logan Kleck, Whitaker’s oldest daughter, said in a letter to the board. Kleck did not witness the execution.

In addition to his first-degree murder conviction, Johnson also served nine years of a 20-year sentence after being convicted of manslaughter in 1996.

Johnson was the second person put to death this year in Oklahoma and the 11th in the country.

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Lozano reported from Houston. Follow Juan A. Lozano: https://x.com/juanlozano70

Named Psyche like the asteroid it’s after, the robotic explorer will slingshot past the red planet at 12,333 mph (19,848 kph) on Friday.

It will be an especially close flyby, with Psyche passing within 2,800 miles (4,500 kilometers) of Mars, equivalent to the distance between the U.S. east and west coasts. Then it will barrel toward the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter that is home to its enticing target.

All of the spacecraft’s science instruments will be on for the Mars pass. NASA’s two Mars rovers along with a small fleet of U.S. and European orbiters will make surface and atmospheric observations at the same time for comparison.

Psyche's cameras already are photographing Mars, appearing as a crescent on approach and a nearly full sphere once it’s in the rearview mirror. The different views will serve double duty, allowing operators to fine-tune their instruments while providing “just plain beautiful photos,” Arizona State University’s Jim Bell, the imaging team leader, said in a statement.

While the asteroid belt is swarming with millions of objects, most are made of rock or ice. Only a small percentage are thought to be metal-rich like Psyche, a potato-shaped asteroid roughly 173 miles long and 144 miles wide (278 kilometers by 232 kilometers).

Scientists suspect the asteroid may be the exposed nickel and iron core of a fledgling planet that was stripped down by cosmic collisions. Studying such an object up close can yield information about the dawn of our solar system 4.6 billion years ago, and why and how Earth spawned life.

Launched in 2023, the spacecraft is midway through its six-year roundabout journey to Psyche in the outer fringes of the asteroid belt, three times farther from the sun than Earth. It should arrive in 2029, slipping into orbit around the asteroid for two years of study. The van-sized spacecraft runs on solar electric propulsion, using xenon gas thrusters.

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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.

The district’s latest groundwater report shows measurable land subsidence...the gradual sinking of land caused by groundwater withdrawal... across parts of Katy, Fulshear, Cypress, Spring, Tomball and The Woodlands.

One monitoring station in Katy recorded more than 14 inches of subsidence between 2007 and 2025, according to the report.

“It is alarming at first,” said Casey Hughes with the Harris-Galveston Subsidence District. “But your water providers are working very hard on a plan.”

Subsidence happens when too much groundwater is removed from underground aquifers, causing layers of clay, sand and silt beneath the surface to compact. Once the ground sinks, experts say you can’t fix it.

“Once it happens, it’s permanent. It’s irreversible,” Hughes said.

Historically, Houston relied heavily on groundwater pulled from wells beneath the region. But as suburban development expanded west and north of Houston, demand for water grew rapidly in communities still transitioning to surface water systems.

The district said subsidence is not happening evenly across the region. Instead, it occurs in localized pockets depending on groundwater use, development patterns, and geology.

In Fulshear, homeowner Alisha Moore said she has noticed visible changes around her property over time.

“When we moved in, the ground level was even with the curb,” Moore said. “It’s now several inches below where it was.”

Officials caution that not every foundation issue is directly tied to subsidence. Many homes in the Houston area also experience movement caused by shifting clay soils and drainage problems, especially in neighborhoods built over former rice fields.

Still, the district warns subsidence can also be a contributing impact and worsen flood vulnerability over time by lowering elevation and disrupting drainage patterns in a region already prone to hurricanes and extreme rainfall.

Houston has seen severe subsidence before. In Baytown, decades of groundwater pumping caused parts of a waterfront neighborhood to sink nearly 9 feet over four decades starting in the 1940’s. The neighborhood was abandoned, and much of that area is now part of the Baytown Nature Center.

The Harris-Galveston Subsidence District was created in 1975 to regulate groundwater pumping and help reduce future sinking. Officials say stricter rules near the coast have helped slow subsidence in some areas.

The district is now pushing communities in Regulatory Area 3, which includes much of north and west Harris County, to cut groundwater reliance from about 40% today to 20% by 2035 through expanded surface water use and conservation efforts.

“Everybody has a role to play,” Hughes said.

Officials say large-scale infrastructure projects are already underway to help reduce dependence on groundwater. One example is the expanded Northeast Water Purification Plant in Humble, which now provides up to 400 million gallons of drinking water a day to the Houston region, up from about 80 million gallons just a few years ago.

The district also encourages residents to conserve water at home and stay informed about where their water supply comes from as the region continues to grow.

Scientists with the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences say they’ve identified a biological pathway that may explain why coffee has long been linked to longer life and lower risks of diseases like cancer, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

The research, recently published in Nutrients, focuses on a receptor in the body known as NR4A1, described by researchers as an “aging protective gene” that helps the body respond to stress and damage.

“We think we linked how coffee might work and that wasn’t known before,” said Stephen Safe, distinguished professor and Sid Kyle Endowed Chair in Veterinary Toxicology. “Coffee can work on many different mechanisms and we think we’ve identified a major mechanism.”

Researchers found compounds in coffee, particularly polyphenols and caffeic acid, can activate the NR4A1 receptor. According to the study, that activation may help reduce cellular damage and slow cancer cell growth in laboratory models.

“If you damage almost any tissue, NR4A1 responds to bring that damage down,” Safe explained. “If you take that receptor away, the damage is worse.”

Scientists say the findings may help explain why coffee has consistently been associated with lower risks of neurological disorders, metabolic disease and some cancers in population studies.

The study also suggests caffeine itself may not be the main reason coffee provides health benefits.

“Caffeine binds the receptor, but it doesn’t do much in our models,” Safe said. “The polyhydroxy and polyphenolic compounds are much more active.”

That could explain why both regular and decaffeinated coffee have shown similar health benefits in previous studies.

Researchers emphasized the study does not prove coffee alone prevents disease, but it does provide a stronger scientific explanation for coffee’s long-observed health effects.

Safe says one future goal is to create a coffee-based nutraceutical, essentially a capsule that could deliver coffee’s beneficial compounds without the acidity.

“Coffee is a very complex mixture of compounds,” Safe said. “It’s a very potent combination.”

It wasn't immediately clear who was behind these incidents, but they happened as a senior Iranian official reiterated his country’s claim of control over the waterway and another said it had a right to seize oil tankers connected to the U.S.

The turmoil in the strait, which a fifth of the world’s oil passed through before the war, has been a sticking point for weeks in talks between the U.S. and Iran to end the conflict. Iran's grip on the vital waterway has jolted the world economy and spiked fuel prices far beyond the Middle East.

The ongoing instability in the region comes as U.S. President Donald Trump met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing. The White House said both sides had agreed that the Strait of Hormuz must remain open.

Just last week, tensions flared in the strai t when U.S. forces fired on and disabled Iranian oil tankers that it said were trying to breach its blockade of Iran’s ports.

Seizures and attacks in Hormuz ongoing

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said it received reports that the ship seized Thursday was taken by unauthorized personnel while anchored 38 nautical miles (70 kilometers, 44 miles) northeast of the UAE port of Fujairah, an important oil export terminal that has been repeatedly attacked during the war with Iran.

The U.K. maritime center did not name the ship seized Thursday and said it is investigating. The British military said the vessel is heading toward Iranian waters.

Indian authorities said Thursday that an Indian-flagged cargo ship sank off the coast of Oman after an attack sparked a fire aboard the vessel while it was en route from Somalia to Sharjah, another UAE port. They did not say who attacked the ship.

The attack on the Indian-flagged cargo ship Haji Ali occurred Wednesday, according to Mukesh Mangal, a senior official in India’s shipping ministry. He said all 14 Indian crew members were rescued by Oman’s coast guard and were safe.

India’s foreign ministry called the incident “unacceptable” and condemned continued attacks on commercial shipping and civilian mariners. The ministry did not identify who carried out the attack.

Seizures come at tense diplomatic moment

Iranian semiofficial news agencies reported that Chinese ships began passing through the strait Wednesday night under new Iranian protocols. According to the reports, Tehran agreed to facilitate the passage of several Chinese vessels after requests from China’s foreign minister and Beijing’s ambassador to Iran. The ships began their passage as Trump arrived in China.

The seizure of a ship off the coast of the UAE happened hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced he had quietly visited the country during the Israeli-U.S. war with Iran, though the UAE swiftly denied it.

The Gulf nation normalized relations with Israel in 2020. Iran has criticized that agreement and has repeatedly suggested over the years that Israel maintained a military and intelligence presence in the UAE.

Netanyahu’s decision to go public with the sensitive meeting was likely an effort to drum up support for his flagging party ahead of Israeli elections, said Yoel Guzansky, a senior researcher at the Institute of National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.

“It’s amazing, it’s the deepest cooperation we’ve ever had … that during a war, Israel is defending an Arab state against Iran. It shows how complicated the Middle East is,” he said.

The UAE is trying to highlight its cooperation with Israel but not with Netanyahu and his government, Guzansky said, because many in the UAE are against Israel’s policies in Gaza.

“They’re trying to differentiate between security cooperation and cooperating with this government,” said Guzansky, who previously worked for the national security council within the Israeli prime minister's office.

Iran sets demands for new talks

Iran said it will not enter more talks with the United States unless five conditions are met, including paying reparations for the war and accepting Iran’s sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s semiofficial Fars news agency reported, citing an informed source.

The White House is again unlikely to accept those demands, which would essentially formalize Iran's control over a waterway that was open to international traffic before the war.

Iran’s senior vice president, Mohammadreza Aref, said Thursday that the strait belongs to Iran and that Tehran would not give it up “at any price,” state TV reported. “It has always been our property,” Aref said.

Iran defends right to seize ships

Iran’s judiciary spokesperson told the state-owned Iran Daily newspaper on Thursday that Iran has the legal and judicial right to seize oil tankers in the strait that are connected to the U.S. because the U.S. has violated international maritime laws and committed piracy. The spokesperson, Asghar Jahangir, did not explicitly refer to the tanker seized on Thursday.

Iran seized a number of ships, including a tanker identified as the Ocean Koi, last week, saying it was attempting to disrupt oil exports and Iranian interests, according to the official IRNA news agency. It said the tanker was seized in the Gulf of Oman and carrying Iranian oil when it was taken to Iran’s southern coast.

The U.S. sanctioned the Ocean Koi in February as part of a “shadow fleet” transporting Iranian oil.

Top US military leader says Iran's threats impact shipping

The top U.S. commander in the Middle East said Thursday he believes Iran’s military capabilities have been “dramatically degraded,” but its leaders are impacting shipping in the strait with rhetoric alone.

“Their voice is very loud, and the threats are clearly heard by the merchant industry and the insurance industry,” Adm. Brad Cooper told lawmakers in Congress.

He said the U.S. has the military power to permanently reopen the strait and escort ships. But he deferred to policymakers about the best path forward amid a “time of sensitive negotiations.”

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Lidman reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Natalie Melzer in Nahariya, Israel, Sheikh Saaliq in New Delhi and Konstantin Toropin in Washington contributed to this report.

Researchers and supporters of the change said the old name, often shortened to PCOS, is inaccurate. It reduced a complex hormonal or endocrine disorder to a misunderstanding about cysts and a focus on ovaries, contributing to missed diagnoses and inadequate treatment, said the Endocrine Society, a global group of physicians and scientists.

“The thought behind that is that one, there’s no cysts in the ovary, so it’s very confusing,” said Dr. Melanie Cree, one of the authors of the Lancet article and a pediatric endocrinology expert at the University of Colorado Anschutz. “The hope was that with a more comprehensive and accurate name change, that it would start to enable and push better care.”

The name change – made after 14 years of collaboration between experts and patients – was published in The Lancet on Tuesday.

Now PCOS is called PMOS

The condition is characterized by fluctuations in hormones that can affect weight, metabolic and mental health, the reproductive system and the skin.

It is associated with metabolic syndrome, a group of health conditions that increases your risk of Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke, Dr. Sarah Hutto with the University of Minnesota Medical School said in an online article put out by the university.

No one knows exactly what causes the condition, but there’s evidence that genetics and obesity play roles, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

What are the symptoms of PMOS?

Symptoms vary, which can make it tough for doctors to diagnose.

It is associated with irregular menstrual cycles and excess production of a group of hormones known as androgens, which can cause acne and hair growth or thinning. It may also cause follicles on the ovaries, although not abnormal cysts. But not all of these findings are required for the diagnosis.

To make the diagnosis in teens, Cree said, the patient has to have both irregular periods and signs of high androgens. This can include high blood levels of the hormones or symptoms such as severe acne or chest hair.

PMOS is associated with infertility problems

Cleveland Clinic experts say it is the most common cause of female infertility, because not ovulating frequently can result in not being able to conceive.

Having the condition may also increase your risk of certain pregnancy complications, such as gestational diabetes or preterm birth. Still, most people with the condition can successfully carry a pregnancy.

How PMOS can be treated

Cree says the No. 1 treatment is lifestyle changes, such as eating less processed food, exercising and getting a good night’s sleep.

“We’re not trying to be judgmental. There is science to back this up,” she said. “So in PMOS, there is too much of the hormone insulin in many women, and that insulin confuses the ovary to make too much testosterone. And it’s the high testosterone that is causing all the symptoms.”

Other treatments include insulin-sensitizing medicines such as Metformin, medications that block androgens and hormonal birth control.

But Hutto stresses that management of the condition should be individualized to address specific symptoms and concerns. For example, those who plan to get pregnant may want to focus on fertility treatments while others may be more interested in options like hormonal birth control.

How will the name change help?

Researchers and doctors are spreading the word about the name change to their peers at meetings and through medical societies and other means. They hope it raises awareness about the reality of the condition and how they can best help patients.

“I’m very excited about the name change,” Cree said, “as are the majority of my colleagues.”

———-

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.

Celina, Princeton, Melissa and Anna — all part of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex — were the Nos. 1, 3, 4 and 5 fastest-growing U.S. cities with populations of 20,000 residents or more from mid-2024 to mid-2025, according to population estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Fulshear, in metro Houston, was the second-fastest growing U.S. city. The five Texas cities' year-over-year growth rates ranged from almost 15% to almost 25%.

In pure numbers, Celina, with only 64,000 people, grew by more residents — 12,700 — than Seattle and Houston, cities that are 12 times and 37 times larger respectively.

Small- to medium-sized cities hit a sweet spot between the largest U.S. cities, which were most impacted by the loss of immigrants from the crackdown started last year during the second Trump administration, and anemic growth in small towns, according to Matt Erickson, a Census Bureau statistician.

Texas cities dominate

Nine out of 10 of the largest population gainers in pure numbers were cities in the South because of a healthy job market and its comparative affordability. The biggest numeric gainers were Charlotte, North Carolina; Fort Worth, Texas; San Antonio, Texas; and Celina.

Fort Worth leaped over Jacksonville last year as the 10th most populous U.S. city, putting four Texas cities in the nation's top 10 most populous, with the other cities being Houston, Dallas and San Antonio.

Austin skipped over San Jose for the 12th most populous spot, as Texas’ capital city surpassed 1 million residents for the first time. It is now one of a dozen U.S. cities with 1 million residents or more.

Seattle makes a comeback

Seattle was the only non-Southern city to crack the top 10 in numeric population gains last year, at the No. 5 spot.

Like many large cities, particularly on the coasts, Seattle lost population during the height of the pandemic a half-decade ago. But recent construction of new housing has helped ease the city's affordability, making it more attractive for residents to stay in the core city rather than move to farther out suburbs in the metro area, according to the Washington State Office of Financial Management.

The growth was driven by immigrants, particularly from China and India. International migration accounted for almost three-quarters of the area's population gains, according to county-level population estimates released in March.

Tight housing market and natural disasters drive population losses

The two cities with the greatest rates of population loss last year — Twentynine Palms, California, by Joshua Tree National Park and Key West at the southern tip of Florida — were in places with tight housing markets. Their losses ranged from -2.4% to -2.9%.

In Twentynine Palms, a large chunk of the housing stock has been converted into short-term rentals for tourists heading to the national park. Just under 40% of its housing is occupied by its owners, compared with the national average of 65%, according to Census Bureau figures.

Hemmed in on all sides by water, the limited housing stock in Key West, as well as some of the highest home insurance rates in the U.S., have driven up housing costs for the Conch Republic. The median price for a home in Key West was $1.3 million at the start of this year, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

Other cities that had some of the biggest rates of population loss last year were hit by natural disasters.

Hurricanes Helene and Milton struck Florida’s Gulf Coast within weeks of each other in late 2024. Remnants of Helene blew through western North Carolina, leaving behind damaging tornadoes and flooding. Among the cities with the greatest rates of loss were Asheville, North Carolina, and several cities on Florida’s Gulf Coast, including Pinellas Park, Dunedin, Largo and Clearwater.

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Follow Mike Schneider on the social platform Bluesky: @mikeysid.bsky.social.

The season kicks off on Sept. 9 when the Seattle Seahawks raise their Super Bowl banner. It’ll be the second time the NFL season opens on a Wednesday — the Giants hosted the Cowboys on Sept. 5, 2012.

Several games already were announced, including a record nine international games across four continents. The San Francisco 49ers face the Los Angeles Rams in Melbourne on Sept. 10 in the first international game of the season.

The Pittsburgh Steelers play the New Orleans Saints on Oct. 25 in Paris in the NFL’s first regular-season matchup in France.

Sixteen of the league’s 32 teams will play at least one of their 17 regular-season games outside the United States. The 49ers and Jacksonville Jaguars each have two international games. San Francisco also faces Minnesota in Mexico City in Week 11. The Jaguars have consecutive games in London in Weeks 5 and 6 against the Eagles and Texans. The Colts-Commanders also face off in London in Week 4.

The Dallas Cowboys and Baltimore Ravens go head-to-head in Rio de Janeiro in Week 3. The Bengals-Falcons are in Madrid in Week 8 and the Patriots-Lions play in Munich in Week 9.

Other highlights already announced include the Cowboys-Giants in the first Sunday night game and the Broncos-Chiefs in the first Monday night game.

The Packers-Rams are playing on Thanksgiving Eve and it’ll be the Lions-Bears and Eagles-Cowboys in two of the Thanksgiving Day games.

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

Still, economists worry that spending will fall off more dramatically in the coming months as benefits from the refunds dissipate, and shoppers continue to grapple with the cumulative impact of rising gas prices at the pump.

Retail sales rose 0.5% in April, a slowdown from the revised growth level of 1.6% in March, according to Commerce Department data released Thursday. March marked the largest one-month increase in retail spending in more than three years, largely because gas prices spiked higher rapidly.

Excluding sales at gas stations, retail sales in April were up 0.3%. That's a slowdown from the 0.7% pace, excluding business from gas stations, in March.

Elsewhere, shopping was uneven.

Sales at department stores fell 3.2%, while sales at furniture and home furnishings stores slipped 2%. Business at building material and garden equipment had a modest 0.1% increase. But online retailers and electronics and appliance stores both posted solid sales gains.

The snapshot offers only a partial look at consumer spending and doesn’t include things like travel and hotel stays. The lone services category – restaurants – registered a solid 0.6% increase.

The so-called control group—which excludes food services, autos, building materials and gas station sales and is used to calculate economic growth—rose 0.5%. That offered a good sign of solid spending by consumers, economists said.

The Iran war that began in late February has led to the shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz, cutting off one-fifth of the world’s daily oil supply. The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline rose again overnight to $4.53 on Thursday. That’s $1.35 more than it cost a year ago, according to motor club AAA.

Economists had believed that larger tax refunds from President Donald Trump's tax cut legislation would kick start spending at the start of the year. But soaring gas prices are taking a bigger slice out of American paychecks, leaving less for things like dining out, new clothes or other treats.

Oliver Allen, senior economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, estimated in a report published Thursday that individual income tax refunds in April were $22 billion higher than in the same month in 2025, equivalent to around 3% of monthly retail sales and slightly bigger than the hit to households from the jump in gas prices over the same period.

“Some of this money will have been saved, but much of it has been spent,” he wrote. “But the flow of refunds will taper dramatically in May, leaving consumers far more exposed to the surge in fuel costs. ”

Allen expects a “meaningful pullback” in discretionary spending in the second half of the second quarter.

Michael Pearce, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, estimates that higher tax refunds have offset the impact of gas prices by a ratio of around 2 to 1.

“With refund season behind us and gas prices still creeping higher, that will flip in the months ahead, putting downward pressure on spending growth,” he wrote Thursday.

Still, U.S. employers have so far defied the economic shock from the war and last month added a surprisingly strong 115,000 jobs. And Thursday the Labor Department reported weekly applications for unemployment benefits of 211,000, within a historically low range.

But concerning data about rising prices has arrived in waves this week.

The Labor Department reported Wednesday that the U.S. producer price index — which tracks inflation before it hits consumers — shot up 1.4% in April, the biggest monthly gain in more than four years. A day before that, the closely watched consumer price index jumped 3.8% from April 2025 — the biggest year-over-year increase in more than three years. Those price hikes, again, largely do to soaring energy prices, have begun to show up in everything from plane tickets and baggage fees, to soap and toothpaste.

A clearer picture of how inflation is impacting Americans may arrive next week when major U.S. retailers like Walmart and Target begin to release quarterly financial results.

Some companies are already seeing warning signs.

Coulter Lewis is the co-founder of Sunday Lawn and Garden, a Boulder, Colorado-based vendor of lawn care products like fertilizer. Lewis noted that from January through the end of April sales soared 70% compared to a year ago. But underneath that growth, he’s seeing growing financial strain from customers dealing with higher prices from the gas pump and elsewhere.

Its wholesale business is faring well, but shoppers are leaning away from committing to the company’s subscriptions, which cost $300 a year. At the same time, Sunday Lawn and Garden is benefiting from shoppers trading down from professional lawn services, which could cost $1,000 a year, to its products and services for do-it-yourself projects.

“They’re spending more money on fewer things,” he said. “That trade-down from pro service is like, ‘okay, well we’ve got to make room for these other increases in our life, and so I’m going to try to do this myself.’”

As dawn broke on a clear day in Kyiv, a scene of devastation came into focus in the capital’s leafy Darnytsia neighborhood, located between a suburban forest and the Dnieper River.

Wisps of smoke rose from the collapsed nine-story apartment block, where emergency workers dug under concrete slabs and took people away on stretchers. The building's entrance was smashed in the strike, preventing residents from escaping.

All 18 apartments in the building were destroyed, officials said. Among the dead was a 12-year-old girl, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Nine people were killed, according to Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration. About 20 were people believed to be missing.

Klitschko declared Friday to be a day of mourning for the victims.

Ukrainian officials noted that the attack coincided with U.S. President Donald Trump’s trip to China. Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping have sufficient leverage to compel Russian President Vladimir Putin to end his 4-year-old invasion of Ukraine.

“At the very time when leaders of the most powerful countries are meeting in Beijing, and the world hopes for peace, predictability and cooperation, Putin launched hundreds of drones, ballistic and cruise missiles at the capital of Ukraine,” Sybiha wrote on X.

“Only pressure on Moscow can make him stop,” Sybiha said of Putin.

Massive aerial assaults on Ukraine this week

Russia fired ballistic and cruise missiles in the attack, Zelenskyy said, adding that Moscow had launched more than 1,560 drones against Ukrainian population centers since Wednesday. In all, some 180 sites across the country were damaged, including more than 50 residential buildings, he said.

British Defense Secretary John Healey called Thursday's attack “shocking” and said he had accelerated U.K. deliveries of air defenses.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said the military aimed at Ukraine’s military-industrial complex, including air bases and fuel and transport facilities, claiming it hit all its targets. Among the weapons deployed, it said, were Kinzhal missiles, which Moscow says can fly 10 times the speed of sound.

Russia has hammered Ukraine with large-scale aerial attacks following a May 9-11 ceasefire that Trump said he asked Zelenskyy and Putin to heed. Fighting continued over those 72 hours, although reportedly at a reduced intensity.

The attacks undercut recent suggestions from Trump and Putin that the war, which began with Moscow's all-out invasion of its neighbor in 2022, is nearing its end.

Residents describe '

a terrible night’

More than 30 people were injured in the apartment building collapse, while emergency workers rescued 28 residents, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said.

Lyudmila Hlushko, 78, said she heard explosions and the sound of rockets about 3 a.m. “Then the house shook violently and there was a loud bang, breaking the glass in my house,” she told The Associated Press.

The blast shattered windows throughout the neighborhood.

“It was a terrible night,” said another resident, Nadiia Lobanova. “We’re used to this. Well, it’s impossible to get used to this, but somehow we held on.”

Damage was reported in six districts of the capital, Tkachenko said.

The Kyiv office of defense contractor Skyeton, specializing in reconnaissance drones, was destroyed in the overnight attack, although the company said it had anticipated such a development and had relocated its production.

Russian drones also struck a vehicle carrying U.N. staff who were delivering aid to residents of Kherson in southern Ukraine, Sybiha said. The vehicle was marked and was attacked twice, in two different locations, but nobody was hurt, he said.

Russia's biggest attacks since its full-scale invasion

The Ukrainian cities of Kremenchuk, Bila Tserkva, Kharkiv, Sumy and Odesa also were bombarded, officials said.

“We are now experiencing the largest strikes since the start of the full-scale invasion,” air force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat told Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne.

Ukraine’s air defense forces are under severe strain, he said. Even so, the interception rate of drones and missiles was over 93%, Zelenskyy said.

Air defenses shot down or jammed 693 Russian targets overnight, including 41 missiles and 652 drones of various types nationwide, the air force said.

Fifteen missiles and 23 drones scored direct hits across 24 locations, it said. Debris from downed drones fell in another 18 locations.

Strikes on energy infrastructure left customers in Kyiv and 11 other regions temporarily without power, national grid operator Ukrenergo said.

On Wednesday, a rare daytime attack on Kyiv killed at least six people, Zelenskyy said. That assault, which involved 800 drones, struck about 20 regions and was among the longest such attacks of the war.

In other developments Thursday:

— The Hungarian government summoned the Russian ambassador over a drone attack near Hungary’s border with Ukraine. The step marked a stark shift in tone by new Prime Minister Péter Magyar toward Moscow after years of cozy relations with the Kremlin under former leader Viktor Orbán.

— Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina resigned after her government’s coalition partner withdrew its support and left her without a majority. The government has been under pressure over its handling of multiple incidents involving stray drones suspected to be from Ukraine crossing into Latvian territory.

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Associated Press journalists Hanna Arhirova in Kyiv, Ukraine, and Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal, contributed.

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

The singer, songwriter and actress also performed the anthem before the 2015 and 2024 races. This year's “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” is scheduled for May 24.

“Jordin knows how important the national anthem performance is to the pre-race ceremonies of the Indianapolis 500, and we have been moved by her two previous renditions,” Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Doug Boles said in a statement released by track officials. "This year’s performance will be a special moment as we mark the 250th birthday of our nation and prepare for another incredible edition of the world’s greatest race.”

Boles announced Wednesday that reserved seats for the race have been sold out, though there are still general admission tickets available. Although race officials do not announce attendance figures, the grandstand capacity is estimated to be 275,000 and the world's largest single-day spectator sporting event typically has an estimated 350,000 fans in attendance.

Sparks became the youngest winner of “American Idol” in the television show's sixth season. Since then, her singles have generated more than 10 million digital tracks sales in the U.S. Sparks also co-wrote Ariana Grande’s smash single, “The Way.”

She has toured with superstars such as Britney Spears, Alicia Keys, The Jonas Brothers, New Kids on The Block and Backstreet Boys in addition to headlining her own tours. Sparks owns two BET Awards, one American Music Award and one People’s Choice Award and was twice nominated for Grammys.

Sparks also has performed on Broadway, made her film debut by paying the lead role in the film “Sparkle,” opposite the late Whitney Houston, and has most recently worked on network news programs.

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

The collection is a partnership between Swiss luxury watchmaker Audemars Piguet and Swatch.

KPRC 2 crews stopped by the Galleria Wednesday night and found dozens of chairs lined up outside the store as people camped out waiting for the release.

Some people in line said they had already been there since Monday in hopes of securing one of the limited-edition timepieces.

The watches are being marketed as a “three-in-one” accessory and can be worn as a pocket watch, necklace or attached to a wristband.

According to reports, the watches will retail between $400 and $420.

But many people waiting in line said they are hoping to resell the watches because traditional Audemars Piguet watches can often cost tens of thousands of dollars on the luxury market.

Houston’s Galleria is one of only 19 stores in the United States selected to carry the release.

The watches are scheduled to officially go on sale Saturday.

French authorities had initially ordered over 1,700 passengers and crew on The Ambition cruise ship to remain on board, but then decided late Wednesday to let those unaffected disembark. One passenger was spotted raising his arms in triumph while leaving the vessel.

It was not immediately clear how many left the ship, but the British operator of the ship said Thursday that passengers are able to disembark “with all scheduled shore excursions operating as planned today.” As of Thursday morning, 60 passengers and four crew members were experiencing gastrointestinal illness, according to Ambassador Cruise Line.

French authorities said there is no link to a deadly hantavirus outbreak on a Dutch vessel that has put European health authorities on alert in recent weeks.

The Ambition was midway through a 14-night cruise from Belfast and Liverpool, with scheduled stops in northern Spain and along France’s Atlantic coast. It reached Bordeaux on Tuesday evening.

The boat will remain in Bordeaux overnight before continuing its journey on a revised itinerary from Friday to avoid bad weather.

“This will allow the ship to avoid forecast unsettled weather conditions in the Bay of Biscay this evening which would be less than ideal for guests and crew recovering from gastrointestinal illness while also providing valuable additional time for crew who have worked exceptionally hard in challenging circumstances over recent days,” Ambassador Cruise Line said.

Samples analyzed at Bordeaux University Hospital confirmed an outbreak of norovirus. Local authorities said at this stage no serious cases have been reported and that sick passengers were cared for onboard by the ship’s medical team.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which tracks outbreaks on voyages that call on U.S. and foreign ports, recorded 23 gastrointestinal outbreaks on cruise ships last year. Most were caused by norovirus, including a new strain.

Ambassador Cruise Line, a British operator catering to passengers over 50, was founded in 2021.

The operator said a 92-year-old male passenger died on Sunday but did not report any symptoms consistent with gastrointestinal illness.

David Northern, who resigned as president and CEO of the Houston Housing Authority amid an investigation into his spending, was hired as CEO of the Flint, Michigan Housing Commission — putting him back in charge of the same type of federal dollars he had been accused of misusing in Houston.

SEE MORE: KPRC 2 Investigation into the Houston Housing Authority

A familiar name helped him land the job

The person who helped bring Northern to Flint appears to have had a prior financial relationship with him in Houston.

Damon Duncan served as interim CEO of the Flint Housing Commission and announced on LinkedIn that his company helped recruit Northern for the role.

Records obtained through an open records request show that just seven months before Northern’s hire in Flint, Northern signed a Houston Housing Authority check paying Duncan nearly $13,000. The memo line on the check noted the payment was for “technical assistance at a Cuney Homes on-site visit.”

Duncan did not return calls for comment.

Northern did not respond either.

Neither did the mayor of Flint.

Houston’s mayor weighs in

Houston Mayor John Whitmire does not oversee the Houston Housing Authority directly. The agency is funded primarily by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and is governed by an independent board — one the mayor appoints.

“I think everybody should be held accountable. But I just can’t speak to Flint. HUD has all of our records. We’re pretty clear that we think they should review them carefully,” Whitmire said.

The mayor was quick to note that the board members who hired Northern in 2022 were appointed by his predecessor.

“One thing, when I watch your reports, I always will say, come on, Amy (Davis). Emphasize this was all before I got here,” Whitmire said.

When Whitmire took office in January 2024, one of his first actions was replacing the Housing Authority board members. That new board launched the investigation into Northern that ultimately led to his resignation.

“I got him off his position, the CEO of the board as quick as possible, replaced it with some fine Houstonians,” Whitmire said.

When asked whether Northern was fit to lead a housing authority in another city, Whitmire didn’t hold back.

“Flint, Michigan, I can’t speak for them, if they would have done their due diligence and been above board, I don’t believe Mr. Northern would be fit for that job. Based on his record here,” the mayor said.

Federal investigators and a frustrating silence

The FBI and HUD’s Office of Inspector General were among the agencies examining the Houston Housing Authority’s records.

“The FBI was there, OIG of HUD. I would assume it gets all the way up to the top, the secretary,” Whitmire said, when asked specifically which law enforcement agencies were investigating Northern’s actions at HHA.

When asked whether HUD’s inspector general was tracking Northern’s move to Flint, the agency responded: “It is the policy of the HUD OIG to neither confirm nor deny any investigative actions that may or may not be underway.”

For Whitmire, the lack of communication from federal agencies has been its own source of frustration.

“We send the files, and then nothing. You know what’s even frustrating? How about just a report? What if they said, we don’t like what we see, but it hadn’t reached a certain level?” Whitmire said.

“They just leave you in limbo, but I do my job and then I move on to the next challenge,” he added.

The Flint Housing Commission has since developed its own financial scandal.

Signs of progress in Houston

The newly restructured Houston Housing Authority — now rebranded as Housing Alliance HTX — has passed new rules governing credit card purchases and financial oversight. Spending on those cards is down 58% since Northern’s departure.

At Cuney Homes, Larry Grisby said the new administration eventually installed missing tables and benches at the pocket park Northern’s contractor had left unfinished.

“Yeah, I sit out here every morning. I used to clean it. I ain’t got no rags,” Grisby said with a laugh.

At Kelly Village, some windows remain boarded up — but residents say crews have been slowly replacing the windows the previous contractors removed.

Grisby said he never expected Northern to resurface in another housing role.

“I was saying to myself, ‘He’ll never work for housing no more. Never,’” Grisby said. “Cause what he did, you know. Things that he did.”

The original investigation: What KPRC 2 uncovered

More than a quarter of renters in Harris County spend over half their income on housing. For thousands of Houstonians on waiting lists for federal rental assistance, every dollar counts — which is what made the findings so striking.

The original KPRC 2 investigation found Northern spent millions of federal dollars on expenses that had nothing to do with helping families.

Housing Authority credit card statements showed Northern’s senior policy advisor, Na’Shon Edwards, spent more than $9,400 dining out — including at least six visits to Steak 48. Nearly $100,000 was spent on travel. Northern himself charged more than $2,300 for workout equipment and another $2,300 for chair massages for employees at work.

“It means a lot. It means almost a few months of rent paying,” said Janet Hoffart, who relies on housing subsidies and receives about $1,600 a month in disability and Social Security payments.

“I am one illness away from losing everything. I am one disability check from losing everything,” said Jessica, who was waiting on a housing voucher at the time of the investigation.

A cooling project that left residents in the cold

One project meant to help public housing residents beat the Houston heat ended up making their homes less safe.

Northern hired contractors to install window air conditioning units in every apartment at Kelly Village, Cuney Homes and Irvington Village — Houston’s three public housing communities. The investigation found Northern went more than $3 million over budget, hiring inexperienced contractors who blocked fire escapes during installation.

“I thought it was a good thing, until you know, everything transpired,” said Shamica Killings, who worked at Kelly Village during the project.

To fix the fire hazards, crews had to remove the newly installed units — but the original windows had already been discarded. Workers boarded them up and moved on.

Northern hired 22 different companies to install the units. One supervisor, who made $75 an hour working for one of those companies, started his own company just four months later. Northern then awarded that new company more than $1 million to fix the fire hazard issues the original project had created.

One of the companies hired for the AC installation was a clothing company based in Chicago — connected to a Housing Authority employee Northern had recently brought on from Chicago.

“That’s odd because you would expect to want to hire companies that had the experience to do the job, and you would want to go local,” said Houston City Council member Julian Ramirez. “Houston’s a huge city. We have plenty of companies that can do good AC work, so why would you have to go to Illinois?”

Incomplete park, silenced employees, a growing tab

Here’s more on the park project mentioned above. Residents at Cuney Homes were also left with an incomplete pocket park — missing tables, benches and lighting — even after records showed Northern approved paying the contractor more than $766,000.

“There’s supposed to be two benches. Supposed to have been a bench here and a bench right here. And there’s supposed to have been a table right here,” said Larry Grisby, a Cuney Homes resident.

The spending didn’t stop there.

Northern paid out $289,133 in settlements to housing executives he dismissed — always keeping payouts just under the $100,000 threshold that would have required board approval. Every employee who received a settlement signed a non-disclosure agreement.

In February 2024, Northern announced that funding for housing vouchers for low-income families had run out. Around the same time, he distributed more than $166,000 in raises to five employees in a single round of increases.

When the investigation added it all up, the total tied to mismanagement, waste or questionable decisions surpassed $4 million.

Suspension, resignation — and six-figure payouts

Within six weeks of the investigation’s publication, the Housing Authority board voted to suspend Northern with pay while it conducted its own review. Northern ultimately resigned. The board also eliminated the position held by Edwards.

Both left Texas — each with six-figure payouts. Northern received $210,252. Edwards received $27,692.

The total connected to Northern’s tenure, including those payouts: more than $4.2 million.

KPRC 2 will continue to follow this story as federal investigators review the Houston Housing Authority’s records. Until those answers come, the team will keep pressing — because for the thousands of Houstonians still waiting on housing assistance, accountability isn’t optional. If you have a tip or question, email Investigator Amy Davis at ADavis@kprc.com.

Knoblauch coached the Oilers to the playoffs three times since taking over as a midseason replacement when Jay Woodcroft was fired following a bad start in November 2023. They won 166 of their 286 total games behind the bench, and Knoblauch's .623 regular-season points percentage ranks sixth among active NHL coaches.

The Oilers are now set for their sixth coach since Connor McDavid entered the NHL in 2015 and became the best player in the world, skating alongside fellow MVP Leon Draisaitl. The two still have not won a championship, now going into their 12th season together.

Moving on from Knoblauch comes in the aftermath of a report earlier this week that Edmonton had sought and were denied permission from the Vegas Golden Knights to speak to Bruce Cassidy, whom they fired as coach in late March but is still under contract. Teams making offseason changes typically wait until there is a vacancy before reaching out about prospective candidates.

General manager Stan Bowman getting to make this move seems to indicate he will keep his job, along with president of hockey operations Jeff Jackson, who joined the organization in August 2023. Jackson took over control of hockey operations following the team’s first trip to the final in 2024 and hired Bowman as GM that summer. Assistant coach Mark Stuart was also fired.

“Following a thorough review of this past season, we believe these changes are needed,” Bowman said. “We are grateful for the contributions both Kris and Mark have made to our organization and we wish them the best moving forward.”

The Oilers fell behind 3-0 in their first final matchup against Florida before pushing the Panthers to a Game 7 and losing by a goal. They made it back the following year and had home-ice advantage but seemed to regress in a six-game series defeat that could be blamed on poor defense and goaltending.

Those problems continued this season, before and after Bowman made a goalie swap to get Tristan Jarry and send Stuart Skinner to Pittsburgh. It made the situation worse, as Edmonton ranked 29th out of 32 teams in the league in save percentage at .883.

McDavid late in the season heaped praise upon Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper after the Lightning beat the Oilers 5-2. Even if it was not meant as criticism of Knoblauch, it stood out from a player who usually speaks more about taking responsibility for losses.

Edmonton was eliminated by the less-experienced Anaheim Ducks, when he was unable to find someone to stop the puck between Jarry and backup-turned-starter Connor Ingram. They combined for an .880 save percentage, worst in the playoffs, and the Oilers’ 4.33 goals allowed also ranked last.

The three-year contract extension the Oilers signed Knoblauch to in October kicks in next season and runs through 2028-29. They are obligated to pay him until another team hires him and would be on the hook for any differential in salary over that time.

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

Police said the attack happened around 6:47 a.m. on Monday inside Garage 1 at the Houston Methodist campus, where the victim — a Houston Methodist employee — was stabbed in the upper body on Level 5.

PREVIOUS REPORT: Photo released of man accused of stabbing Houston Methodist nurse in Texas Medical Center parking garage

She was taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital, and hospital officials later told employees she was expected to be released the same day.

Officers with the HPD Major Assaults unit, the South Central Crime Suppression Team, and Houston METRO Police arrested Green on Wednesday, police said.

Authorities previously said the incident did not appear to be a targeted attack. Houston Methodist also temporarily placed some buildings on lockdown after the stabbing and announced increased patrols and security visibility across the Texas Medical Center area.

But some critics call the Rededicate 250 event an effort to “hijack” U.S. history with a false, Christian nationalist narrative — one they say fuses American and Christian identities and threatens a constitutional separation of church and state.

The daylong program is being organized by a nonprofit called Freedom 250. Its website describes it as a public-private partnership “leading the presidential programming for America's 250th anniversary,” which culminates with the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on July 4.

Congressional Democrats have questioned the organization's structure and finances, which they see as a Trump-controlled end run around a separate commission charted by Congress a decade ago to prepare semiquincentennial events.

Top Republican officials promote event

Organizers expect thousands of people to attend Rededicate 250, which will include worship music, prayers and speeches from Cabinet heads and other Republican officials, along with religious leaders and others. Trump and several other speakers are addressing the crowd by video, while others will speak in person. The scheduled participants include Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.

"Our founders knew two simple truths," Hegseth said in a promotional video for the event featuring a montage of Cabinet secretaries.

"Our rights don’t come from government, they come from God. And a nation is only as strong as its faith,” added Hegseth, whose use of Christian rhetoric to justify the U.S. and Israel's war against Iran and in other official settings has drawn scrutiny.

Another promotional video for Rededicate 250 blends various Christian and American imagery — scenes of a cross laid on an American flag, a robed choir, people raising their hands in worship — along with a brief scene of a man praying while wearing a Jewish skullcap. Voices of prominent preachers are heard, one proclaiming, “Faith in God is the value that most shaped America.”

Religious leaders on the Rededicate 250 program include several longtime Christian supporters of Trump, among them evangelist Franklin Graham and pastors Paula White-Cain, who heads the White House Faith Office; Robert Jeffress; and Samuel Rodriguez. Also scheduled are Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan and Bishop Robert Barron and Orthodox Jewish Rabbi Meir Soloveichik, the only faith leader on the program representing a non-Christian faith.

Musicians on the program include Grammy-winning contemporary Christian artist Chris Tomlin.

Some leading participants portray Rededicate 250 as a Christian gathering.

“I believe it’s a moment when the Body of Christ, the church, comes together and will boldly declare that America still needs God,” said Georgia pastor Jentezen Franklin in a social media video posted on X. “This is an opportunity for believers to stand together as one nation under God. ... I’m honored that they’ve asked me to speak and share the Gospel.”

Johnson noted that the event comes 250 years after Congress declared May 17, 1776, a “day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer” on behalf of the Revolutionary cause.

Critics say event 'hijacked’ by Christian nationalism

Critics say Rededicate 250 is shaping up to promote Christian nationalism — whose adherents typically believe that the United States was founded as and should be a Christian nation.

“What should be a broadly unifying celebration has been politically hijacked and wrapped up in this MAGA narrative that tries to rewrite our history and promote the president’s agenda,” said U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman, referring to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement.

Huffman said the movement erases the diversity of America’s religious and nonreligious populations throughout its history and threatens the constitutional protections against government-established religion.

The event "would have the founders rolling in their graves,” said Huffman, a California Democrat. He co-chairs the Congressional Freethought Caucus, which emphasizes separation of church and state.

“They have narrowly defined what it means both to be American and to be Christian, and they are wrapping that in the official sanction of the U.S. government," Huffman said.

He said it's a movement that doesn't speak for all Christians, noting Trump's recent sparring with Pope Leo XIV.

Conservative Christians cheer multiple Trump initiatives

The Rededicate 250 event is occurring in tandem with other White House initiatives appealing to Trump’s loyal base of conservative Christians, particularly white evangelical Protestants.

Several participants — including Graham, White-Cain, Dolan, Barron and Soloveichik — also serve on the Religious Liberty Commission. That Trump-appointed panel is preparing a report on its findings after a year of hearings, many of which were focused on conservative Christian and right-leaning political grievances. Its chair, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Republican, repeatedly denies that the Constitution establishes a separation of church and state.

Several participants in Rededicate 250 joined with Trump himself in a Bible-reading marathon.

And a separate Trump administration task force recently alleged discrimination against Christians under Democratic President Joe Biden — a report criticized by progressive groups as “advocacy dressed up as investigation.”

That report alleged that such a bias resulted in heavy fines imposed on two Christian colleges — Grand Canyon University for allegedly deceiving thousands of students over program costs, a decision later reversed, and Liberty University for its handling of crime statistics and sexual assault cases. Choirs from both colleges are performing at Rededicate 250.

Beliefs about Christian nationhood

About 2 in 10 U.S. adults and about one-quarter of Republicans, said the federal government should declare Christianity the official religion of the nation, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in April.

Some 43% said the government should not do so, but should promote Christian values, while 38% said it should do neither. The report said 13% of U.S. adults and 18% of Republicans said the government should stop enforcing the separation of church and state.

Historians generally agree that the founders’ religious beliefs varied, that the U.S. Constitution doesn’t establish an official religion and that it was significantly influenced by Enlightenment thinkers.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation, which advocates a strict separation of church and state, hopes to stage a demonstration elsewhere in Washington on the day of the rally.

“This is the government putting on a Christian nationalist event,” said Annie Laurie Gaylor, the foundation's co-president. “Even if it is accepting private money for it, it’s still putting it on. It’s outrageous.”

Brian Kaylor, a Baptist pastor and president and editor-in-chief of Word&Way, a progressive site covering faith and politics, said that while the Continental Congress did call for a day of prayer, the founders crafted the Constitution to prevent the establishment of religion. Two early presidents, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, thought such official events were harmful to religion, he wrote.

The event "simply doesn’t represent what type of nation the founders later decided to create,” Kaylor wrote.

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

Some of the other ripples, though, aren't as obvious. They're the ones we carry inside us — grief over lost loved ones, chronic health conditions, the sense of lives interrupted. And in recent days, another one has made itself known in the wake of a rare hantavirus outbreak aboard a cruise ship: the fear, despite official reassurances, that it might be happening again.

But the flourishing of fear, whether on a personal or societal level, can also be an indicator that something else is missing. Perhaps there's no post-pandemic reality more entrenched than the damage done, in the U.S. and globally, to the bonds that in the before times, many would have considered secure — science, government, information itself.

“COVID undermined our trust in what most of us used to trust,” said Elisa Jayne Bienenstock, a research professor and sociologist at Arizona State University. “When general trust goes down, when there’s a lot of cynicism, who are people looking to, to explain what to do and how the world works?”

What it used to be and what it is now

Before 2020, the outbreak of some illness somewhere didn't usually cause massive concern outside of the specific areas impacted, even as some epidemics caused significant numbers of deaths.

Some of that was complacency in the face of a world where widespread travel wasn't as accessible to the masses as it has become, which was a key part of COVID-19's spread.

In fact, there have been outbreaks of the current strain of hantavirus in some South American countries through the decades, like one in 1997 in Chile. Other countries have had epidemics of a range of illnesses from cholera to dengue to SARS, and the U.S. has seen West Nile, Legionnaire's and more.

But in a post-COVID-19 world, it didn't take long before questions and concerns surfaced about disease spread in the days immediately following the first reports that three people had died from hantavirus on the ship. Since then, there have been reports of 11 hantavirus cases around the world linked to the cruise, according to the World Health Organization, and that includes the deaths. Lab testing has confirmed eight of the cases.

Health experts have repeatedly emphasized that even though the virus can cause serious illness in those infected, the risk of spread in the general public is low. Despite that, when ship passengers were taken to the Spanish island of Tenerife to disembark, residents like Samantha Aguero were concerned.

“We feel a bit unsafe. We don’t feel as there are 100% security measures in place to welcome it," she said. “This is a virus, after all, and we have lived this during the pandemic.”

Institutions are diminished for many

Bienenstock points to three institutions that have suffered from the public's loss of trust: government, media and science itself. But government officials and journalists were dealing with issues of public mistrust well before the pandemic.

The mistrust of science got ammunition not because scientists were making mistakes in their processes but because nonscientists didn't have the same understanding, she said.

“Most people don’t think of science as a process. In their mind, science is an answer, it’s a fact. And so when those facts showed that they weren’t 100% reliable and assured, it started undermining trust in the science,” she said.

“One of the problems with COVID is it undermined that confidence in science for people who don’t understand how science works. It showed the process. And it showed that scientists don’t always have the answer,” Bienenstock said. “A lot of people in crisis, when they fear things, don’t care what the answer is, as long as there’s a definitive answer. And science doesn’t provide that when it doesn’t know."

Now what?

It's not just about the issue at the forefront of people's attention at the moment. There are ripple effects as well.

“COVID ... didn’t just heighten people’s sensitivity to health threats. It did so unevenly, in ways often disconnected from actual risk,” said Michele Gelfand, professor of organizational behavior at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. “As trust in institutions has weakened, people have lost a key way to navigate uncertainty together. Without trust, people rely more on rumor, fear, and emotion, which can lead them to overreact to small risks and underreact to serious ones.”

Karlynn Morgan, a 76-year-old retired nurse-anesthetist in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, has seen that heightened attention, with more people without a medical or science background talking about health issues than before the pandemic.

She has also been disturbed by the increase in what looks to her like a lack of trust in science, as seen in falling vaccination rates and rising instances of diseases like measles.

“I think people are far less trusting because people used to take their children and just get the vaccine," she said. "When I was a kid, there was no question you were going to go get your shot.”

If trust is going to be rebuilt, Gelfand said in an email, then leaders have to get involved.

“They set the threat signal. They determine whether people get accurate information about the level of danger or distorted information that serves a political agenda. When leaders send clear, honest signals, people can calibrate in the face of threat. When leaders manipulate threat for their own purposes, norms erode and and trust collapses,” Gelfand said.

“Strong, reliable institutions have historically been our superpower as a society. They’re what allow millions of people to coordinate under uncertainty without knowing each other personally," she said. "Without that institutional backbone, we lose the very capacity for collective action that has helped human groups survive for millennia.”

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Follow the AP's coverage of the hantavirus outbreak at https://apnews.com/hub/hantavirus.

No games were scheduled for Thursday — the league's first day with no games in a month — meaning the playoffs will resume Friday with two games.

Detroit, trying to keep its season alive, will play in Cleveland. And Minnesota, trying to keep its season alive, will play host to San Antonio.

The Cavaliers and Spurs hold 3-2 leads in those series. If Game 7s are needed, they would be Sunday in Detroit and San Antonio.

Thursday's schedule

— No games scheduled.

Friday's schedule

— Game 6, Detroit at Cleveland, 7 p.m. EDT (Prime)

Series: Cleveland leads 3-2.

Odds: Cleveland by 3.5.

The Pistons are already 3-0 when facing elimination in these playoffs, with one of those wins coming on the road — the one where they rallied from 24 points down in the second half to beat Orlando in Game 6 of Round 1.

— Game 6, San Antonio at Minnesota, 9:30 p.m. EDT (Prime)

Series: San Antonio leads 3-2.

Odds: San Antonio by 4.5.

Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs are one game away from a showdown with Oklahoma City. Minnesota let Game 5 get away in a hurry in the second half, but remains alive in the chase for what would be its third consecutive appearance in the Western Conference finals.

Wednesday's recap

— Cavaliers 117, Pistons 113, OT for a 3-2 series lead. The Pistons are in trouble.

Conference finals schedule

The NBA Finals will start on June 3. And there is a chance that we won't know where Game 1 of that series is going to be until June 1.

Conference finals schedules are out, with start dates contingent on Friday's results. Here are the scenarios:

— If Detroit-Cleveland ends in six games, then the Cleveland-New York series (with the Knicks having home-court) would be played May 17, 19, 23, 25, 27, 29 and 31.

— If Detroit-Cleveland ends in seven games, then the Cavs/Pistons winner-New York series (with either the Pistons or the Knicks having home-court) would be played May 19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 29 and 31.

— If San Antonio-Minnesota ends in six games, then the San Antonio-Oklahoma City series (with the Thunder having home-court) would be played May 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, and 30.

— If San Antonio-Minnesota ends in seven games, then the Timberwolves/Spurs winner-Oklahoma City series (with the Thunder having home-court) would be played May 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, and June 1.

Awards watch

A breakdown of this season's NBA awards:

— Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year: DeAndre Jordan, New Orleans.

— Hustle Award: Moussa Diabaté, Charlotte.

— Defensive Player of the Year: Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio.

— Clutch Player of the Year: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City.

— Sixth Man of the Year: Keldon Johnson, San Antonio.

— Sportsmanship Award: Derrick White, Boston.

— Most Improved Player: Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Atlanta.

— Rookie of the Year: Cooper Flagg, Dallas.

— Executive of the Year: Brad Stevens, Boston.

Among the announcements still to come:

— Most Valuable Player: Gilgeous-Alexander, Wembanyama or Denver's Nikola Jokic.

— Coach of the Year: Johnson, Detroit's J.B. Bickerstaff, or Boston's Joe Mazzulla.

Betting odds

Defending champion Oklahoma City (-165) is favored to win the NBA title, according to oddsmakers.

The Thunder are followed by San Antonio (+320), New York (+550), Cleveland (+4000), Detroit (+5000) and Minnesota (+12500).

Key dates

— Through Sunday: NBA draft combine.

— Sunday or Tuesday: Eastern Conference finals begin on ESPN and ABC.

— Monday or Wednesday: Western Conference finals begin on NBC and Peacock.

— June 3: Game 1, NBA Finals on ABC. (Other finals dates: June 5, June 8, June 10, June 13, June 16 and June 19).

— June 23: Round 1, NBA draft.

— June 24: Round 2, NBA draft.

Quote of the day

“It was preparing for moments like this. I knew that I was going to come back this season. I knew that this team was good enough to make a run and I was just preparing myself, preparing my body, preparing my mind for these moments, to be the best player that I can be to help us win.” — Cleveland's Max Strus, on how he handled missing 70 regular-season games but was ready for the playoffs.

Stats of the day

— Cleveland's James Harden is up to 4,144 career playoff points, three away from tying Golden State's Stephen Curry for 10th on the all-time playoff list. Harden would move into third among active players if he passes Curry, behind only LeBron James (8,521) and Kevin Durant (5,008).

— San Antonio's Victor Wembanyama is up to 14 3-pointers and 38 blocks so far in these playoffs. Every other player with that many 3s and blocks in a single postseason — Rasheed Wallace in 2004 and 2005, Draymond Green in 2016 and Myles Turner and Chet Holmgren last year — saw their teams reach the NBA Finals. (Wembanyama is the first player to have that many 3s and blocks in just the first two rounds of the playoffs.)

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

Previous statements doubting Venezuela’s sovereignty over the past 25 years have been met with immediate derision from senior government officials, including the president. The ruling party even organized demonstrations in the capital, Caracas, as recently as Jan. 3, hours after then-President Nicolás Maduro was captured by the U.S., that included chants of “Gringo go home.” This time around, however, the government has mostly kept quiet, save for a brief statement to reporters Monday from acting President Delcy Rodríguez.

The approach demonstrates the balance Rodríguez must strike between external and internal politics following the January U.S. military attack in Caracas. The Trump administration has since implemented a phased plan to try to turn around the crisis-wrecked country and has forced Rodríguez’s political movement, Chavismo, to abandon the anti-U.S. sentiment that long accompanied its teachings.

“This is probably the most public and sharp manifestation of the government’s transactional, self-survival approach above everything else right now, above even that sort of basic tenet of Chavismo,” said Christopher Sabatini, senior fellow for Latin America at the London-based Chatham House think tank. “It’s better that they hold their tongue, not offend the U.S. right now. Why overreact to a ridiculous claim by Donald Trump?”

Rodríguez on Monday told journalists that Venezuela had no plans to become the 51st U.S. state, but her comments were much more reserved than past presidential addresses deriding these types of U.S remarks. They came after Trump said he was “seriously considering” the move. Trump has made similar comments about Canada.

“We will continue to defend our integrity, our sovereignty, our independence, our history,” Rodríguez said. Venezuela, she added, is “not a colony, but a free country.”

The Trump administration stunned Venezuelans by choosing to work with Rodríguez, instead of the country’s political opposition, following Maduro's ouster. She has since led cooperation with the administration’s phased plan, pitching her oil-rich nation to international investors and opening its energy sector to private capital and international arbitration. Rodríguez has also replaced senior officials, including Maduro’s faithful defense minister and attorney general.

Trump has praised her work, and his administration has lifted economic sanctions against her personally and eased sanctions against the country, though some still remain in place. The U.S. now also recognizes her as the “sole” head of state of Venezuela.

The U.S. stopped recognizing Maduro as Venezuela’s legitimate leader in 2019, the year after he claimed reelection victory in a contest widely considered a sham as opposition parties and candidates were barred from participating.

Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were taken to New York to face drug trafficking charges after their Jan. 3 capture. Both have pleaded not guilty and remain jailed at a Brooklyn detention center.

In Caracas, some residents on Wednesday viewed the government’s response as submitting to Trump, but they also acknowledged that Rodríguez is not in a position to unleash Chavismo’s characteristic anti-U.S. propaganda.

“She knows that it’s wise not to engage in direct confrontation because she knows she’s bound to lose,” college student Adonai Osoria said. “Now, are there some who disagree, who don’t like it? Well, yes, of course. But I consider her reaction right now to be a common, understandable reaction.”

Government supporters last showed their inflammatory attitude against the U.S. in the days after Maduro was captured, burning U.S. flags and carrying signs that read “Gringo go home.”

Among the government’s strongest supporters across the country are the armed groups known as colectivos. The groups are a staple of pro-ruling party demonstrations. Local leader Jorge Navas characterized Trump’s comments as “irresponsible acts of provocation” and praised Rodríguez for her diplomatic response.

“We are bending, strategically, but we will not break,” Navas said of Chavismo’s current approach to U.S. pressure. “We continue to resist, that is, realistically, given the country’s economic situation.”

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Garcia Cano reported from Mexico City.

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

Leo’s speech at Rome’s La Sapienza University marked the first time a pope has visited the campus since Pope Benedict XVI called off a planned speech there in 2008 in the face of protests from faculty and students.

The American pope was warmly welcomed on Thursday, including by some of Sapienza’s newest students: Young Palestinians who arrived in Italy this week on a “humanitarian corridor” from Gaza to continue their studies at the university. The Italian government, working with Catholic organizations, has brought hundreds of Palestinians to study and receive medical care in Italy since the Israeli war against Hamas in Gaza began in 2023.

Leo met some of the Gaza students during a brief greeting at the campus chapel, and again after his speech in the main lecture hall of the university, which was founded by Pope Boniface VIII in 1303.

In his speech, Leo denounced how military spending had increased dramatically this year, especially in Europe, at the expense of education and healthcare, while “enriching elites who care nothing for the common good.”

He called for better monitoring of how AI was being developed and used in military and civilian contexts “so that it does not absolve humans of responsibility for their choices and does not exacerbate the tragedy of conflicts.”

“What is happening in Ukraine, in Gaza and the Palestinian territories, in Lebanon, and in Iran illustrates the inhuman evolution of the relationship between war and new technologies in a spiral of annihilation,” he said.

The pope said education and research must move instead in the opposite direction that values life “the lives of peoples who cry out for peace and justice!”

Leo has identified AI as one of the most critical matters facing humanity, especially its application in warfare and everyday life. They are themes he’s expected to explore more fully in his first encyclical, due to be released in the coming weeks.

Nada Rahim Jouda, 19, was one of the Gazans who met Leo, just two days after she arrived in Italy. She was still marveling at her new life studying business science in Rome, a city that she said was “like heaven for me.”

“Everything here is green and it’s not gray and troubles everywhere and miserable people in the streets,” she said.

But Jouda remains concerned for the family she left behind: her mother, recovering from leukemia, and younger sisters aged 17 and 13. Over the course of the war in Gaza, the family was forced to move four times, and her mother was unable to receive care or check-ups for her cancer.

“They all rely on me. I’m the only hope that they have,” she said.

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

Uthmeier, who threatened possible enforcement actions against the league in March if it didn’t suspend the 23-year-old rule, sent the subpoena along with a letter to NFL executive vice president and attorney Ted Ullyot on Wednesday.

The subpoena commands the league to appear at the attorney general’s office in Tallahassee, Florida, on June 12. It asks the league to produce extensive documents, including “all diversity reports, coaching census data, or demographic surveys that reflect the race and sex of coaching staffs of the teams from 2017 to the present.”

"All in all, the Rooney Rule and the NFL’s related ‘inclusive hiring’ policies — and the NFL’s representations about these policies — continue to raise significant concerns under Florida law,” Uthmeier wrote in the letter.

The Rooney Rule requires teams to interview at least two external minority candidates for head coach, general manager and coordinator positions. At least one minority candidate must be interviewed for the quarterbacks coach position.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, speaking at the league meetings in Phoenix in March, acknowledged the changing political landscape for diversity initiatives in the U.S., but added that he didn’t believe there should be any legal issues with the league’s policy. “The Rooney Rule has been around a long time,” Goodell said then. “We’ve evolved it, changed it. We’ll continue to do that.”

The NFL didn't comment Wednesday on the subpoena.

But in a letter to Uthmeier on May 1, the league said: “The NFL’s pursuit of top-tier talent led to the adoption of the Rooney Rule in 2003. Importantly, the Rooney Rule does not impose any hiring quotas or mandates, and it does not license clubs to consider race or sex in making hiring decisions. Hiring decisions for NFL teams are made by the individual clubs — not the League — and those decisions are based on merit. The Rooney Rule neither requires, nor permits, any team to make a hiring decision on the basis of race, sex, or any other protected characteristic. To do so would be an express violation of League policy.”

Uthmeier commended the league for altering the Rooney Rule language on its website after receiving his initial warning letter in March but added the revisions raise more questions.

The updated terminology on the NFL site says: “The Rooney Rule establishes best practices designed to expand opportunity and strengthen the NFL’s talent pipeline across leadership roles. It is part of a broader effort to develop a deep and sustainable talent pipeline across all levels of the NFL. The policy is intended to ensure that qualified candidates from a wide range of backgrounds are identified and considered for leadership roles.”

The website previously stated the Rooney Rule aims to “increase the number of minorities hired” in leadership positions and said that diversity “enriches the game and creates a more effective, quality organization.”

“We appreciate how quickly the NFL changed its website in response to our letter and capitulated on some of their discriminatory hiring quotas,” Uthmeier said. “But their response raises more questions about the Rooney Rule, and we look forward to their cooperation with the investigative subpoena we issued them today.”

In the May 1 letter, the league had told Uthmeier: “We appreciate that your letter has brought to our attention some outdated information on the NFL’s website regarding these programs. This information is in the process of being updated to accurately reflect the NFL’s current programs and policies.”

Uthmeier sent his first letter to Goodell in March, saying the Rooney Rule amounts to “blatant race and sex discrimination.”

The subpoena expands the focus beyond the Rooney Rule and includes other NFL diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, including a discontinued mandate that required teams to hire a minority offensive assistant; the diversity accelerator program; the Mackie development program for college officials; and the resolution that awards teams draft picks if one of its minority assistant coaches or executives is hired to be the coach or general manager of another team.

The NFL's front office and coach accelerator program will be held next week in Orlando after it was paused in 2025. The program was created as an extension of the Rooney Rule in 2022 to increase diversity among coaches and front office executives. It will now include nonminority participants.

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

Yet the area’s greatest contribution to the game may have come a few miles away in West Philadelphia, where a rebirth is taking place at Cobbs Creek Golf Club.

While Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan and Gary Player were competing for titles and trophies at the venerable Main Line layouts, Cobbs Creek offered something more tangible: inclusion and opportunity.

Opened in 1916, Cobbs Creek welcomed golfers of all backgrounds. Women could play at Cobbs Creek before they were eligible to vote. And, while very few golf courses were open to Blacks, there was no segregation at the course.

Hall of Famer Charlie Sifford took advantage of the course's open-door policy. He claimed it as his home and honed his skills there on the way to breaking golf’s color barrier in 1961 as the first Black member of the PGA and among its first Black winners.

Sifford’s success and connection to the course helped spark a groundswell of support for the Cobbs Creek Foundation and its effort to restore the long-neglected 350-acre parcel that also touches Delaware and Montgomery counties. The effort got a significant boost with backing from Tiger Woods.

A place for golf where everyone feels welcome

The relationship between Woods and Sifford is well-documented. Woods credits Sifford for helping pave the way for his success and referred to him as “the grandfather I never had.” He even named his son, Charlie, after Sifford.

That connection led Woods to get involved with the Cobbs Creek project, opening his foundation’s second TGR Learning Lab there in 2025. The educational facility with golf-related activities for youth in underserved areas is one of the cornerstones of the revitalization efforts and has been an immediate success.

Woods says the renovation is as much about education and giving back to the community as golf.

“Coming here, to a place he (Sifford) played, he grew up, he called home, and for me to have the support of the entire community, to be able to build something,” Woods said. "A home, a safe place, innovation. ... I didn’t start the foundation to produce golfers that hit golf balls. I started the foundation to produce the greatest humans possible.”

The learning lab also has a junior practice putting green, built with a $250,000 donation from the foundation of three-time major champion Jordan Spieth. Also on property is a 68-bay driving range and a short course designed by Woods’ company. All the elements play a role in the bigger project: the championship course restoration.

“There’s a lot of new ways that people are picking up the game now, and you’ll have all of that available here,” Spieth said at the opening of the putting green. “The accessibility for anybody, of any age, to come. Do golf however you want to do golf.”

The grand plan is to restore the course to the original design by Hugh Wilson, the golf course architect responsible for crafting nearby Merion. The rebuild has been made more daunting by near-constant flooding and decades of disrepair that led to the course closing in 2020.

The hope is to eventually host a PGA Tour event at the site. For now, golf is just piece of the puzzle.

“We knew we were going to restore this golf course and it was going to be for the good of the public,” said Cobbs Creek Foundation COO Enrique Hervada.

“Golf is very exclusive in many ways. This is extremely inclusive. Everybody is welcome here. It was always that way, too.”

For decades, Cobbs Creek delivered on its promise

Philadelphia-owned Cobbs Creek was established to serve those unable to golf at private clubs.

Wilson is credited with the design of Cobbs Creek’s “Olde Course,” with an assist from noted golf course architects George Crump (Pine Valley), A.W. Tillinghast (Winged Foot), George Thomas (Riviera) and William Flynn (Shinnecock Hills).

The layout hosted the USGA’s Amateur Public Links in 1928. A nine-hole layout, the Karakung Course, was established in 1929. In 1947, Cobbs Creek was the site of the Negro National Open, with heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis as the first-round leader. It became one of only a handful of courses in the National Black Golf Hall of Fame in 2021.

Sifford and Howard “Buth” Wheeler, a pioneer among Black golfers and multi-time United Golf Association national champion, were notable players at Cobbs Creek. Sifford was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2004 and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in 2014. He died in 2015.

In the 1950s, the original layout was tweaked to make room for four missile silos and barracks as part of the U.S. air defense system. The original layout was reconfigured and the course continued to deal with flooding. Conditions also deteriorated while under the control of different management companies.

The renovation comes with a $180 million price tag. There have been numerous stops and starts during the rebuild while awaiting permitting and other hurdles. Fundraising is a near-daily endeavor for Hervada.

Golf architects Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner, who led the restoration of Aronimink, are refurbishing the “Olde Course.” The drainage issues have been dealt with and the plan includes restoring three miles of creek and creating more than 20 acres of wetlands.

“The people involved knew it was going to be a herculean effort,” Hervada said. “We’re really close, but we have a long way to go. We’re building this for the next 100 years."

Profits from much of the golf will drive the TGR Learning Lab

The 30,000-square foot educational facility for grades 1-12 was the first building to open on the Cobbs Creek campus, in April 2025. It is the second TGR lab, after the first in Anaheim, California, opened in 2006. Others are planned for Georgia and California.

The plan is for the profits from the golf operations to help fund the STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) after-school and weekend programs.

The learning lab got off to a fast start, thanks to Woods’ TGR Foundation.

Meredith Foote, the lab's executive director, said when the facility first opened, schools within a mile and a half radius were the targets. Now, all are welcome, and Foote says that 7,000 students have been served.

“We exist to open up doors and opportunities,” Foote said. “And when the right doors to educational enrichment open, there is no limit for our students. It’s really expose, expose, expose."

Corrine Schultz, 18, of Upper Darby, was excited about joining the learning lab from the moment she saw what was offered. The homeschooled high school senior is on a robotics team at TGR.

“Opportunity,” Schultz said of what was offered. “To be part of a competitive team with the robotics. I had never been a part of a competitive team.”

Schultz will continue her education in the fall at Drexel University and plans to return to the lab.

“I’m a student here,” she said. “But whatever future career I decide, I want to give back to the community, to people in general.”

And that is exactly what Foote wants the learning lab to instill in its participants.

“The legacy of this program is the kids who come in and are trying to find their passion and going on to do amazing things in life because of the opportunities they received here at the TGR Learning Lab,” Foote said. “We’re using golf as a driver to lift up this entire community.”

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

It's all added up to being the first team in the big leagues to 30 victories.

The Braves improved MLB's top record to 30-13 with another thrilling triumph Wednesday night, scoring three runs in the eighth inning to beat the Chicago Cubs 4-1.

Mike Yastrzemski came off the bench to contribute a pinch-hit double that drove in the tie-breaking run, and jack-of-all-trades Mauricio Dubón followed with a two-run homer into the Chicago bullpen that finished off the Cubs.

Throw in another stout performance by the Atlanta bullpen, which got one scoreless inning apiece from four relievers, and this team is threatening to run away with the NL East before the calendar turns to summer.

The Braves are up by nine games on second-place Washington and have a double-figure margin over everyone else in the division.

“There's no egos here,” said Yastrzemski, who contributed his first homer of the season the previous night in a 5-2 victory over the Cubs. “Nobody feels like they own any piece of this team. We're all pulling on the same rope together, the same direction. Whatever opportunities come for you that day, that's good enough.”

While stars such as Matt Olson, Drake Baldwin, Chris Sale and Ozzie Albies are having big years, some lesser-known players are also having a significant impact.

That includes Dubón, who was acquired from Houston over the winter for journeyman Nick Allen and has filled in wherever needed.

Dubón started the season at shortstop while Ha-Seong Kim recovered from an injury but now is largely playing the outfield, even taking the leadoff role in the lineup while former NL MVP Ronald Acuña Jr. is on the injured list.

The clinching homer showed how much faith the Braves and their first-year manager, Walt Weiss, have in their utility ace.

“In years past for me, I would've gotten pinch-hit right there and they wouldn't let me hit,” Dubón said. “But I ended up putting up a two-run homer. I think it's that confidence he gives you when you're playing."

Dubón is still motivated by being picked in the 26th round — the 773rd choice overall — of the 2013 draft.

“I'm trying to prove people wrong,” he said, breaking into a satisfied smile. "I've been doing that for a while now.”

Weiss, who took over when long-time manager Brian Snitker retired after a disappointing 2025 campaign, has the Braves solidly on track for a return to the postseason.

He's not looking at the big picture by any stretch, but he can't help but be satisfied at the way his managerial tenure has started.

"I'm so engrossed with the day to day," Weiss said. “You want to attack each day the best you can, and these guys are doing that. They confront every challenge that comes our way.”

Yastrzemski, like everyone else on the roster, is eager to step up whenever he's called upon.

“Some days your role is going to be a cheerleader. Keep everyone in a good mood, pull for the guys, bring somebody a water when they're thirsty," he said. "Those things, it’s real. When you see that happening with other guys, you can't help but do it yourself.”

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

The announcement was made Wednesday.

The task force, which originally launched in Houston, is a joint operation involving federal, state and local agencies focused on identifying and arresting repeat offenders accused of violent crimes.

According to the governor’s office, Abbott is now ordering DPS to expand the initiative into the Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio and Austin regions.

Officials say the Houston-area operation has already resulted in hundreds of arrests and multiple drug, weapons and stolen vehicle seizures since its launch last year.

Abbott said the goal is to disrupt what he called a “revolving door” of violent offenders and improve public safety across Texas.

The task force works alongside local police departments and federal partners as part of coordinated enforcement operations.

The expansion takes immediate effect, according to the governor’s announcement.

U.S. applications for unemployment benefits for the the week ending May 9 rose by 12,000 to 211,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s slightly more than the 207,000 new applications analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet had forecast.

Weekly filings for unemployment benefits are considered a proxy for U.S. layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market.

Despite relatively few layoffs, the labor market appears to be stuck in what economists call a “low-hire, low-fire” state. That has kept the unemployment rate low at 4.3%, but left many of those out of work struggling to find new employment.

Though U.S. employers delivered a surprising 115,000 new jobs in April, the Iran war has injected a large degree of uncertainty about the broader U.S. economy and labor market.

The Strait of Hormuz, where one-fifth of the world’s oil travels through, remains closed. Since the beginning of the war in late February, oil prices have spiked more than 50% and the average price for a gallon of gas in the U.S. has climbed to $4.53 from less than $3. Besides hitting consumers’ pocketbooks, those higher costs can discourage businesses from hiring.

Data from the U.S. government this week revealed that inflation at the consumer level rose 3.8% from April 2025, the biggest jump in three years. Food prices are also up, but may not yet fully reflect rising energy costs due to the Iran war, analysts say.

Another report this week showed that wholesale prices shot up 6% from a year ago, the highest point in more than three years. The Labor Department’s producer price index — which tracks inflation before it hits consumers — shot up 1.4% from March to April, the biggest monthly gain in more than four years.

This comes at a time when U.S. inflation is already above the Federal Reserve’s 2% goal. Two weeks ago, the Fed opted to leave its benchmark rate alone, citing economic uncertainty caused by instability in the Middle East and still-elevated inflation.

Lower interest rates can boost the economy and hiring, but also tend to stoke inflation, leading a number of Federal Reserve policymakers to say they are willing to consider an interest rate hike this year.

On top of that, the recent artificial intelligence boom and the investment required to develop it could alter or even replace some jobs.

A number of high-profile companies have cut jobs recently, including Verizon, UPS, Amazon, Disney and Walmart.

Weekly jobless aid applications have stabilized in a range mostly between 200,000 and 250,000 since the U.S. economy emerged from the pandemic recession. However, hiring began slowing about two years ago and tapered further in 2025 due to President Donald Trump’s erratic tariff rollouts, his purge of the federal workforce and the lingering effects of high interest rates meant to control inflation.

Employers added fewer than 200,000 jobs last year, compared with about 1.5 million in 2024, according to the data firm FactSet.

The Labor Department's report Thursday showed that the four-week moving average of jobless claims, which evens out some of the week-to-week gyrations, inched up by 750 to 203,750.

The total number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits for the previous week ending May 2 jumped by 24,000 to 1.78 million, in line with analyst forecasts.

Houston police say the shooting happened near the 9600 block of Tidwell.

Investigators say officers were originally called to the area for reports of a suspicious person inside a newer housing development where residents have reportedly dealt with ongoing trespassing problems for weeks.

According to police, the man who was later shot was homeless and had repeatedly been seen walking through backyards and entering homes that were still under construction.

Investigators say several homeowners had previously reported the man.

Police say the homeowner involved in Wednesday’s shooting spotted the man in his backyard earlier in the day. Another witness also reportedly saw the man near their property.

According to investigators, the homeowner confronted the man outside a vacant home and attempted to get him to leave the neighborhood.

Police say the man initially left the area but later returned through a wooded section near Tidwell that leads into the subdivision.

That’s where investigators say the confrontation turned physical.

According to police, the homeowner told officers the man attacked him during the encounter. The homeowner then pulled out a pistol and fired at the man.

Investigators say the man ran off after being shot.

The homeowner later went looking for him because he was unsure whether he had actually hit him.

When officers arrived on the scene, they searched the area and found the man dead inside a ditch near a playground.

The deceased man has only been described as a man in his 30s.

Police say the homeowner has been cooperative with investigators. No charges have been announced as the investigation remains ongoing.

Let’s jump straight into the news of the morning.

The heat is back, and it looks like it’s here to stay, well, at least for the rest of the week. For the first time in six weeks, we will have a rain-free weekend. Yaaay! This is good news, so I hope you grab the swimsuit and BBQ pits and make the best of it.

But, something to keep note of, air quality. Today, we’re tracking an air quality alert for the Houston, Galveston, and Brazoria areas.High pressure aloft and plenty of sunshine is creating an air quality issue for most of metro Houston today, and likely for the remainder of the week.

To read more, click here.

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YOUR MORNING FORECAST ☀️

TODAY: 90° TONIGHT: 69°

KPRC 2 Meteorologist says:

“This morning you will be waking up in the upper 60s, but then the heat will continue to build fast, and by the afternoon, highs will reach the low 90s. The heat will start to feel different as a stronger pull off the Gulf for the remainder of the week, so expect to see temps moving back up to near 90.”

Get your forecast details here.

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What is Saharan Dust? How it travels to Texas and impacts hurricanes, air quality, sunsets and the whales

Saharan dust is something we talk about almost every summer in the Houston forecast, but it’s often misunderstood. Each year, plumes of dust from the Sahara Desert travel thousands of miles across the Atlantic and sometimes reach the Gulf Coast. While it can create hazy skies and lower air quality, Saharan dust also plays a surprising role in our weather, from hurricane activity to vibrant sunsets and even ocean ecosystems. Let’s break down how it works.

Husband, wife stabbed multiple times by woman outside SE Houston apartment complex

Two people were stabbed, and several others narrowly escaped after a woman allegedly went on a violent rampage Wednesday night at an apartment complex in southeast Houston, according to police.

Houston police say the incident happened around 9 p.m. in the 8600 block of Broadway.

Investigators say the suspect, a 40-year-old woman, first caused a disturbance at a convenience store near the apartment complex. Police say she pulled out a knife and began chasing a man. He was able to get away unharmed.

Homeless man shot, killed by homeowner after trespassing in NE Houston neighborhood

A homeless man is dead after a homeowner shot him during a confrontation in a northeast Houston neighborhood Wednesday, according to police.

Houston police say the shooting happened near the 9600 block of Tidwell.

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